1 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:12,320 2 00:02:06,681 --> 00:02:08,081 There are places in the world where the 3 00:02:08,083 --> 00:02:11,952 boundary between the known and unknown is very thin. 4 00:02:11,954 --> 00:02:14,988 Places whose natural and wild beauty hide secrets 5 00:02:14,990 --> 00:02:17,690 too incredible to be believed, 6 00:02:17,692 --> 00:02:20,994 until those secrets begin to reveal themselves. 7 00:02:20,996 --> 00:02:24,765 When that happens, people react in wonder, curiosity, 8 00:02:24,767 --> 00:02:26,770 and sometimes in horror. 9 00:02:28,037 --> 00:02:30,036 Humanity often commemorates these places 10 00:02:30,038 --> 00:02:33,908 by creating monuments such as Stonehenge. 11 00:02:33,910 --> 00:02:36,142 Scholars suggest that it was a place from which 12 00:02:36,144 --> 00:02:39,480 to observe the heavens, a place of burial, 13 00:02:39,482 --> 00:02:43,019 a place of either human sacrifice or healing. 14 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:47,954 The Nazca Lines, etched into the earth of Southern Peru 15 00:02:47,956 --> 00:02:51,495 carry the qualities of sacred symbolism. 16 00:02:52,929 --> 00:02:55,995 The dessert southwest has kept its own disturbing secrets 17 00:02:55,997 --> 00:02:59,132 from the alleged crashes of craft from other worlds, 18 00:02:59,134 --> 00:03:03,006 to the all-too-real testing of atomic weaponry. 19 00:03:04,139 --> 00:03:06,040 Then there's the Bermuda Triangle, 20 00:03:06,042 --> 00:03:09,510 a region of the Atlantic Ocean in which hundreds of ships 21 00:03:09,512 --> 00:03:13,914 and approximately 75 planes have simply gone missing, 22 00:03:13,916 --> 00:03:17,117 along with passengers and crew. 23 00:03:17,119 --> 00:03:20,053 Both scientific and supernatural causes have been proposed 24 00:03:20,055 --> 00:03:23,224 for these catastrophes, but theories do little to ease 25 00:03:23,226 --> 00:03:27,597 the pain of those who lost loved ones in the Triangle. 26 00:03:28,965 --> 00:03:31,565 There are places in the world whose mysteries call us 27 00:03:31,567 --> 00:03:34,134 to come and see for ourselves, 28 00:03:34,136 --> 00:03:36,870 whatever the human toll might be. 29 00:03:36,872 --> 00:03:39,442 Places like the Chestnut Ridge. 30 00:03:41,977 --> 00:03:45,279 The Chestnut Ridge, located in Southwestern Pennsylvania, 31 00:03:45,281 --> 00:03:49,083 lies on the western edge of the Appalachian Mountain range. 32 00:03:49,085 --> 00:03:51,618 The Ridge rises in Southern Indiana County, 33 00:03:51,620 --> 00:03:55,089 and rolls to the southwest by way of towns like Blairsville, 34 00:03:55,091 --> 00:04:00,126 Derry, Latrobe, Connellsville, Mount Pleasant and Uniontown, 35 00:04:00,128 --> 00:04:02,730 all the way into West Virginia where it gradually 36 00:04:02,732 --> 00:04:05,933 comes to rest near Morgantown. 37 00:04:05,935 --> 00:04:10,737 Villages along the Ridge were founded as far back as 1770. 38 00:04:10,739 --> 00:04:13,840 The rich limestone clay soil rewarded the efforts 39 00:04:13,842 --> 00:04:17,177 of early farmers and soon the communities could support 40 00:04:17,179 --> 00:04:21,551 iron furnaces, whisky distilleries and general stores. 41 00:04:24,020 --> 00:04:27,121 One family, by the last name of Keck, settled in the area 42 00:04:27,123 --> 00:04:30,624 to bottle and sell spring water and soft drinks. 43 00:04:30,626 --> 00:04:34,093 They had no way of knowing that their town, Kecksburg, 44 00:04:34,095 --> 00:04:38,067 would one day become world-famous, but not for ginger ale. 45 00:04:39,734 --> 00:04:42,169 Then I was 16-years-old when the incident happened 46 00:04:42,171 --> 00:04:44,170 near Kecksburg, Pennsylvania. 47 00:04:44,172 --> 00:04:45,605 Then I got involved with that, 48 00:04:45,607 --> 00:04:47,807 that evening as it's breaking on the news, 49 00:04:47,809 --> 00:04:49,742 and I've been out in the field ever since that time 50 00:04:49,744 --> 00:04:52,679 investigating UFOs and cryptids and other phenomena 51 00:04:52,681 --> 00:04:54,251 hear in Pennsylvania. 52 00:04:58,153 --> 00:05:01,821 Kecksburg, Pennsylvania's a small rural community in Mount 53 00:05:01,823 --> 00:05:04,758 Pleasant township in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, 54 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:08,698 approximately 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. 55 00:05:13,768 --> 00:05:15,134 Like many of the small towns 56 00:05:15,136 --> 00:05:16,302 in Westmoreland County, 57 00:05:16,304 --> 00:05:20,073 Keckburg sits within the shadow of the Chestnut Ridge. 58 00:05:20,075 --> 00:05:23,242 The Ridge is dotted end to end with these tiny villages, 59 00:05:23,244 --> 00:05:27,013 many of them founded well over a century ago. 60 00:05:27,015 --> 00:05:29,283 Each of them bears their own strange history of sightings 61 00:05:29,285 --> 00:05:33,787 and encounters with things not of this world. 62 00:05:33,789 --> 00:05:36,956 Many wonder what it is about this particular stretch of land 63 00:05:36,958 --> 00:05:39,792 that beckons such mysteries. 64 00:05:39,794 --> 00:05:42,328 For decades, researchers of the strange and unknown have 65 00:05:42,330 --> 00:05:46,333 journeyed back to the Chestnut Ridge in search of answers. 66 00:05:46,335 --> 00:05:49,770 Their quest isn't solely confined to present day. 67 00:05:49,772 --> 00:05:53,073 For over a century, mysterious circumstances have shrouded 68 00:05:53,075 --> 00:05:55,312 the Ridge in a fog of unease. 69 00:05:57,212 --> 00:05:59,179 I've been involved in the paranormal since I've been about 70 00:05:59,181 --> 00:06:02,182 10-years-old and then I got into the field in 1997 71 00:06:02,184 --> 00:06:03,852 investigating cases. 72 00:06:07,689 --> 00:06:09,790 My main base of operation in Pennsylvania is the 73 00:06:09,792 --> 00:06:12,292 southwestern part of the state, namely this particular area 74 00:06:12,294 --> 00:06:15,095 where we're at here, Westmoreland, Fayette County, 75 00:06:15,097 --> 00:06:17,931 Armstrong, Indiana, Washington. 76 00:06:17,933 --> 00:06:20,367 Probably about 80% of my investigations and cases that 77 00:06:20,369 --> 00:06:24,304 I've worked on have been here in the Chestnut Ridge area. 78 00:06:24,306 --> 00:06:26,306 There's been a long history of various phenomena 79 00:06:26,308 --> 00:06:28,307 along the Chestnut Ridge, especially along 80 00:06:28,309 --> 00:06:31,345 the Westmoreland County side and Derry township. 81 00:06:31,347 --> 00:06:33,847 We have many reports from those small communities such as 82 00:06:33,849 --> 00:06:38,085 Derry and New Derry and Hillside and Superior and Brenizer, 83 00:06:38,087 --> 00:06:40,353 and all throughout that area and many sightings from around 84 00:06:40,355 --> 00:06:43,189 the Keystone State Park. 85 00:06:43,191 --> 00:06:45,292 Without a doubt, there's an atmosphere to this area. 86 00:06:45,294 --> 00:06:46,994 You can drive these back roads, 87 00:06:46,996 --> 00:06:48,961 and you just get a weird feeling. 88 00:06:48,963 --> 00:06:51,398 Some of these places you go into, some are very dark 89 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:55,772 and secluded, they just give off a really ominous vibe. 90 00:06:58,207 --> 00:07:00,307 Something very strange has been going along 91 00:07:00,309 --> 00:07:02,876 the Chestnut Ridge for many many years and in fact, 92 00:07:02,878 --> 00:07:06,280 the earliest firsthand account I have of a Bigfoot encounter 93 00:07:06,282 --> 00:07:08,014 where I actually interviewed the witness, 94 00:07:08,016 --> 00:07:12,052 goes back to 1931 near Indian Head in Fayette County. 95 00:07:12,054 --> 00:07:14,455 And of course, Fayette County is one of those areas that has 96 00:07:14,457 --> 00:07:17,323 year after year phenomena being reported. 97 00:07:17,325 --> 00:07:19,492 There are newspaper articles I've found that date back to 98 00:07:19,494 --> 00:07:23,230 the late 1800s that talked about people experiencing wild 99 00:07:23,232 --> 00:07:27,400 men of the forest or even gorillas or monkeys in this area. 100 00:07:27,402 --> 00:07:30,403 It's not just Bigfoot related, there's all kinds of weird 101 00:07:30,405 --> 00:07:33,006 phenomena from UFOs, strange lights in the sky, 102 00:07:33,008 --> 00:07:35,408 cryptid creatures, haunted locations. 103 00:07:35,410 --> 00:07:38,244 There's just a really concentrated area right here. 104 00:07:38,246 --> 00:07:40,080 There's a lot of weird activity that goes on. 105 00:07:40,082 --> 00:07:42,348 So there's been a lot of history of all kinds of strange 106 00:07:42,350 --> 00:07:44,917 phenomena that's happened all around this area, 107 00:07:44,919 --> 00:07:46,352 through Mount Pleasant township, 108 00:07:46,354 --> 00:07:49,792 and throughout the community around here. 109 00:07:50,992 --> 00:07:53,393 UFO sightings in this area have been rampant. 110 00:07:53,395 --> 00:07:56,830 As I said earlier, it's a very high volume of reports. 111 00:07:56,832 --> 00:08:00,470 Even all the way up to Kecksburg in the 1960s. 112 00:08:05,241 --> 00:08:07,240 There probably was a time when the residents of 113 00:08:07,242 --> 00:08:10,778 Kecksburg felt far removed from the tension of the Cold War 114 00:08:10,780 --> 00:08:13,412 and obsession over UFOs. 115 00:08:13,414 --> 00:08:16,083 While the televisions, movie theaters and drive-ins were 116 00:08:16,085 --> 00:08:19,920 full of nuclear wars or countered by fantastical aliens 117 00:08:19,922 --> 00:08:23,323 and flying saucers, this tiny burg remained blissfully 118 00:08:23,325 --> 00:08:25,958 detached from the near hysteria that was gripping 119 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:28,328 other areas of the country. 120 00:08:28,330 --> 00:08:32,502 In late 1965, that sense of security would be shattered. 121 00:08:38,874 --> 00:08:40,973 I'll remember it all my life. 122 00:08:40,975 --> 00:08:43,513 It's something I'll never forget. 123 00:08:49,284 --> 00:08:51,484 That night, we was actually out playing football, 124 00:08:51,486 --> 00:08:54,253 and we didn't actually know about it until we walked back 125 00:08:54,255 --> 00:08:57,156 in the house and Mom and Dad said that there was a thing on 126 00:08:57,158 --> 00:09:00,362 the radio that something crashed in Acme. 127 00:09:01,997 --> 00:09:04,264 My mom looked out the window and she seen all the vehicles 128 00:09:04,266 --> 00:09:07,099 and stuff on the road, she says, well, 129 00:09:07,101 --> 00:09:10,469 this is right behind the house, that ain't in Acme. 130 00:09:10,471 --> 00:09:13,106 I remember that evening just like it was yesterday. 131 00:09:13,108 --> 00:09:16,309 It was a Thursday evening, December 9th, 1965. 132 00:09:16,311 --> 00:09:19,213 I was listening to a radio station in Pittsburgh. 133 00:09:19,215 --> 00:09:23,217 There was a breaking news story coming on the radio 134 00:09:23,219 --> 00:09:25,919 about this brilliant fireball, this fire object was seen 135 00:09:25,921 --> 00:09:28,588 from the tip on Ontario, Canada over Michigan, Ohio 136 00:09:28,590 --> 00:09:30,192 and Pennsylvania. 137 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:33,961 That night, a radiant fireball was seen 138 00:09:33,963 --> 00:09:36,063 streaking through the skies over Detroit 139 00:09:36,065 --> 00:09:39,933 and Windsor, Ontario, moving in a southeasterly direction, 140 00:09:39,935 --> 00:09:42,501 allegedly dropping hot metal debris over Michigan 141 00:09:42,503 --> 00:09:47,006 and Northern Ohio before hitting the ground near Kecksburg. 142 00:09:47,008 --> 00:09:49,943 All sorts of explanations were proposed. 143 00:09:49,945 --> 00:09:52,511 Some thought they were witnessing an airplane accident. 144 00:09:52,513 --> 00:09:55,381 Others thought a missile test had gone awry 145 00:09:55,383 --> 00:09:58,919 or that a satellite was re-entering the atmosphere. 146 00:09:58,921 --> 00:10:01,255 The most common assumption was that a meteor was 147 00:10:01,257 --> 00:10:03,991 the brilliant light in question. 148 00:10:03,993 --> 00:10:05,458 None of those, however, seemed to square 149 00:10:05,460 --> 00:10:09,496 with what was happening near the Chestnut Ridge. 150 00:10:09,498 --> 00:10:11,564 Local witnesses reported feeling the impact 151 00:10:11,566 --> 00:10:13,532 of the object's crash landing, 152 00:10:13,534 --> 00:10:16,937 seeing a wisp of blue smoke rising from the woods, 153 00:10:16,939 --> 00:10:19,338 and some even claimed to discover what it was 154 00:10:19,340 --> 00:10:21,141 that had fallen to Earth. 155 00:10:21,143 --> 00:10:23,142 An object shaped like an acorn, 156 00:10:23,144 --> 00:10:25,679 approximately the size of a small car, 157 00:10:25,681 --> 00:10:29,348 with hieroglyphic-like writing around its base. 158 00:10:29,350 --> 00:10:32,419 The ravine in which it fell quickly became the center 159 00:10:32,421 --> 00:10:34,858 of curiosity and controversy. 160 00:10:37,026 --> 00:10:40,160 And it got more exciting during the evening as reports 161 00:10:40,162 --> 00:10:43,030 were coming in that the military was now arriving in the 162 00:10:43,032 --> 00:10:46,500 Kecksburg area to search for an unidentified flying object. 163 00:10:46,502 --> 00:10:48,535 We started watching out the windows and stuff 164 00:10:48,537 --> 00:10:52,572 and I seen people coming in and out and going down into the 165 00:10:52,574 --> 00:10:55,608 field down to where it was at. 166 00:10:55,610 --> 00:10:57,511 And then we started seeing people come in. 167 00:10:57,513 --> 00:11:00,414 We seen cars lying in our driveway. 168 00:11:00,416 --> 00:11:02,448 People going up and down through the fields, 169 00:11:02,450 --> 00:11:05,584 and then people coming to the house. 170 00:11:05,586 --> 00:11:08,354 They used our house as a command post. 171 00:11:08,356 --> 00:11:11,724 People actually believe that they saw a small military 172 00:11:11,726 --> 00:11:15,695 presence within maybe the first hour after the object fell. 173 00:11:15,697 --> 00:11:18,598 But it was during the next few hours during the evening 174 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:21,668 that most of the military begin to arrive on the scene. 175 00:11:21,670 --> 00:11:24,570 And many people throughout this area reported seeing 176 00:11:24,572 --> 00:11:27,573 what looked like a military convoy, military trucks 177 00:11:27,575 --> 00:11:31,444 coming in from different roads into the Kecksburg area. 178 00:11:31,446 --> 00:11:34,080 So what we learned was the fact that, 179 00:11:34,082 --> 00:11:37,117 as reports of this object coming down in the Kecksburg area 180 00:11:37,119 --> 00:11:40,353 began to circulate on Pittsburgh area radio and TV, 181 00:11:40,355 --> 00:11:43,622 hundreds of people descended on the small rural community 182 00:11:43,624 --> 00:11:46,559 to try to get a look at the object down in the woods. 183 00:11:46,561 --> 00:11:48,527 An alarming scene was beginning to unfold 184 00:11:48,529 --> 00:11:52,031 around the crash site, residents of Kecksburg claimed that 185 00:11:52,033 --> 00:11:55,102 armed soldiers were present and were preventing people 186 00:11:55,104 --> 00:11:58,070 from approaching the wooded ravine. 187 00:11:58,072 --> 00:12:00,140 In one instance, a witness reported that a member 188 00:12:00,142 --> 00:12:02,541 of the military instructed two neighborhood boys 189 00:12:02,543 --> 00:12:06,346 to deliberately misinform curiosity seekers. 190 00:12:06,348 --> 00:12:08,681 And the youngsters gladly complied by giving people 191 00:12:08,683 --> 00:12:12,084 false directions to the impact site. 192 00:12:12,086 --> 00:12:15,054 Things took a decidedly more serious turn, though, 193 00:12:15,056 --> 00:12:18,657 the closer one came to the downed object. 194 00:12:18,659 --> 00:12:21,328 A well-known jazz musician from the Pittsburgh area 195 00:12:21,330 --> 00:12:23,563 claimed that US soldiers aimed their rifles at him 196 00:12:23,565 --> 00:12:26,699 and his friends, ordering them off a country lane, 197 00:12:26,701 --> 00:12:29,703 as an army flatbed truck hauling a tarp-covered, 198 00:12:29,705 --> 00:12:33,673 acorn-shaped object made its way out of a field. 199 00:12:33,675 --> 00:12:35,541 Others, who were teenagers at the time, 200 00:12:35,543 --> 00:12:38,277 reported that the military response 201 00:12:38,279 --> 00:12:41,247 left them fearing for their lives. 202 00:12:41,249 --> 00:12:45,551 Some of the local residents who saw this object come down 203 00:12:45,553 --> 00:12:48,588 that afternoon, they went down into the wooded ravine 204 00:12:48,590 --> 00:12:51,558 to see what had fallen from the sky and they came across 205 00:12:51,560 --> 00:12:54,327 this large metallic acorn-shaped object 206 00:12:54,329 --> 00:12:55,761 semi-buried in the ground. 207 00:12:55,763 --> 00:12:58,631 There was actually two important locations, there was one, 208 00:12:58,633 --> 00:13:01,168 it was on top of the hill, what is now called Meteor Road, 209 00:13:01,170 --> 00:13:03,670 which is where hundreds of people were jamming the road 210 00:13:03,672 --> 00:13:06,540 that night, that's where most reporters were, 211 00:13:06,542 --> 00:13:10,343 that's where some military, other authorities were. 212 00:13:10,345 --> 00:13:14,580 Far on the opposite side of the woods was an old dirt road, 213 00:13:14,582 --> 00:13:17,751 a farm lane which a number of people found themselves on, 214 00:13:17,753 --> 00:13:20,687 that was closer to the crash site, the impact site, 215 00:13:20,689 --> 00:13:23,089 and that's where a lot of the military presence 216 00:13:23,091 --> 00:13:25,692 and other authorities were on that lane over there. 217 00:13:25,694 --> 00:13:29,195 There was people in black suits came in, 218 00:13:29,197 --> 00:13:32,665 and those people, they was actually 219 00:13:32,667 --> 00:13:35,234 seemed like they was in charge of everybody. 220 00:13:35,236 --> 00:13:37,670 We see some people coming down in a white suit 221 00:13:37,672 --> 00:13:39,705 carrying a big box. 222 00:13:39,707 --> 00:13:43,343 One had a NASA patch on his arm and they took this box 223 00:13:43,345 --> 00:13:45,812 down into where that was at. 224 00:13:45,814 --> 00:13:48,115 I seen him go down in with the box. 225 00:13:48,117 --> 00:13:51,650 Never seen it come back out, but I seen the truck go down in 226 00:13:51,652 --> 00:13:55,488 and I seen it come back out with something on it. 227 00:13:55,490 --> 00:13:57,690 There was a lot of talk around this community 228 00:13:57,692 --> 00:14:01,261 that people had seen a large military flatbed trailer truck 229 00:14:01,263 --> 00:14:03,329 carrying a large tarped object out of the area 230 00:14:03,331 --> 00:14:05,899 late that night, but that was in the news. 231 00:14:05,901 --> 00:14:09,468 The next day, me and my brother went down in the woods. 232 00:14:09,470 --> 00:14:13,540 We seen where they had covered up a hole. 233 00:14:13,542 --> 00:14:14,875 It was a different kind of dirt, 234 00:14:14,877 --> 00:14:18,777 and seeing all the trees broke off and walked there 235 00:14:18,779 --> 00:14:21,814 over to the other side of the hill and it was all burnt off. 236 00:14:21,816 --> 00:14:24,684 There was some guy over there with a Geiger counter. 237 00:14:24,686 --> 00:14:27,554 At the time we thought it was a treasure-finder. 238 00:14:27,556 --> 00:14:29,455 We was kids, we didn't know any better. 239 00:14:29,457 --> 00:14:31,891 He asked us what we was doing down there, 240 00:14:31,893 --> 00:14:34,694 told him, "oh, we live here, we're down here all the time." 241 00:14:34,696 --> 00:14:37,731 He says, "well, you know there's a chance of radiation 242 00:14:37,733 --> 00:14:39,332 "being down here." 243 00:14:39,334 --> 00:14:40,766 "What the heck is radiation?" 244 00:14:40,768 --> 00:14:42,468 You know, we didn't know. 245 00:14:42,470 --> 00:14:45,639 So, we sort of ignored him and went along our way. 246 00:14:45,641 --> 00:14:48,674 So, early the next morning I went to the local news stand 247 00:14:48,676 --> 00:14:50,944 to see if there was any of the stories about what was seen 248 00:14:50,946 --> 00:14:53,280 last night in the local papers and there it was in all 249 00:14:53,282 --> 00:14:56,183 the local papers, the Pittsburgh Press, the Post, Gazette. 250 00:14:56,185 --> 00:14:58,818 The Greensburg Tribune Review had two editions 251 00:14:58,820 --> 00:15:01,820 and the early morning edition had "Army Ropes Off Area. 252 00:15:01,822 --> 00:15:04,723 "Unidentified Flying Object Falls Near Kecksburg." 253 00:15:04,725 --> 00:15:07,459 The later edition of the paper had several different stories 254 00:15:07,461 --> 00:15:09,496 including one that caught my attention which said, 255 00:15:09,498 --> 00:15:11,830 "searches failed to find object." 256 00:15:11,832 --> 00:15:13,732 And it went on to say that, yes, 257 00:15:13,734 --> 00:15:15,569 there was a search in the early morning hours, 258 00:15:15,571 --> 00:15:17,771 but they found absolutely nothing, 259 00:15:17,773 --> 00:15:19,838 and that the official explanation was that 260 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:22,541 it was people's imagination, they had seen a bright 261 00:15:22,543 --> 00:15:25,779 meteor in the sky, but nothing had fallen to the ground. 262 00:15:25,781 --> 00:15:29,752 And that's officially where the case remains today. 263 00:15:30,786 --> 00:15:33,987 I can picture it in my head. 264 00:15:33,989 --> 00:15:36,622 The people coming in. 265 00:15:36,624 --> 00:15:39,729 People keeping quiet about things and 266 00:15:40,963 --> 00:15:44,897 people I know that was there and seen it and denied it. 267 00:15:44,899 --> 00:15:49,271 I'll never forget that, you know, it's something... 268 00:15:50,239 --> 00:15:52,639 Something that sticks with you. 269 00:15:52,641 --> 00:15:55,541 Kecksburg to me seems like it was almost the catalyst 270 00:15:55,543 --> 00:15:57,910 for people becoming comfortable enough to share their 271 00:15:57,912 --> 00:16:00,747 experiences and the newspaper media following these 272 00:16:00,749 --> 00:16:04,450 encounters and reporting on them. 273 00:16:04,452 --> 00:16:06,519 The Kecksburg experience turned the eyes 274 00:16:06,521 --> 00:16:08,921 of those who lived in the area to the skies over 275 00:16:08,923 --> 00:16:13,727 the Chestnut Ridge and what they saw over and over again 276 00:16:13,729 --> 00:16:17,264 was more mysterious than they ever expected. 277 00:16:17,266 --> 00:16:19,869 What they saw was unidentified. 278 00:16:21,670 --> 00:16:24,871 In the spring of 1966, a woman in Latrobe was awakened 279 00:16:24,873 --> 00:16:29,309 from sleep by her dog which had become highly agitated. 280 00:16:29,311 --> 00:16:32,511 Upon taking the dog outside, she saw a silver object 281 00:16:32,513 --> 00:16:36,415 hovering no more than 80 feet above the roof of her house. 282 00:16:36,417 --> 00:16:38,785 The object looked and spun like a top, 283 00:16:38,787 --> 00:16:41,820 and was bathed in a redish glow. 284 00:16:41,822 --> 00:16:44,857 After several minutes, the top-like anomaly shot up 285 00:16:44,859 --> 00:16:46,829 into the sky and was gone. 286 00:16:48,463 --> 00:16:50,796 The witness faced ridicule from her family and friends 287 00:16:50,798 --> 00:16:54,668 when she spoke about what she had seen. 288 00:16:54,670 --> 00:16:57,404 Later that same year, two women were approaching Adamsburg 289 00:16:57,406 --> 00:17:00,540 on Route 30 when they noticed a strange aerial craft 290 00:17:00,542 --> 00:17:04,611 almost touching a series of high-tension power lines. 291 00:17:04,613 --> 00:17:07,547 As they drove closer, the object went under the power lines 292 00:17:07,549 --> 00:17:10,549 and began to dive towards their car. 293 00:17:10,551 --> 00:17:12,452 Fortunately there was no collision, 294 00:17:12,454 --> 00:17:15,454 and as it flew off, the women observed its dark-colored 295 00:17:15,456 --> 00:17:18,625 oblong shape with a type of tail in the back 296 00:17:18,627 --> 00:17:21,895 and deep groves on its surface. 297 00:17:21,897 --> 00:17:23,363 The driver of the car, who, 298 00:17:23,365 --> 00:17:25,898 to that point had been a UFO skeptic, 299 00:17:25,900 --> 00:17:30,636 suffered repeated nightmares about the incident. 300 00:17:30,638 --> 00:17:32,105 In the months and years to follow, 301 00:17:32,107 --> 00:17:34,941 reports like these would become more and more common 302 00:17:34,943 --> 00:17:37,810 along the Chestnut Ridge. 303 00:17:37,812 --> 00:17:39,878 Eye-witnesses were left to speculate about 304 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:42,848 what they had seen and wonder what normal life was going 305 00:17:42,850 --> 00:17:47,023 to be like now that they knew something was out there. 306 00:17:49,123 --> 00:17:52,024 I know what I saw, it stayed with me all these years. 307 00:17:52,026 --> 00:17:53,859 I haven't told a lot of people about it. 308 00:17:53,861 --> 00:17:55,962 At this point in my life, it happened, 309 00:17:55,964 --> 00:17:59,402 and I'm just here to tell you about it. 310 00:18:04,673 --> 00:18:07,973 I grew up in Derry on Ridge Avenue. 311 00:18:07,975 --> 00:18:10,676 This happened back in, 312 00:18:10,678 --> 00:18:14,947 it was either the late fall of 67 or early winter of 68, 313 00:18:14,949 --> 00:18:17,850 it was still dark, but daylight was coming. 314 00:18:17,852 --> 00:18:21,488 I was sitting at the table in the kitchen, 315 00:18:21,490 --> 00:18:24,057 when my mother was in the living room. 316 00:18:24,059 --> 00:18:26,559 I heard her call, "Tom, come here." 317 00:18:26,561 --> 00:18:28,728 When I walked into the living room we were looking out 318 00:18:28,730 --> 00:18:33,165 the picture window in the living room, above Chestnut Ridge, 319 00:18:33,167 --> 00:18:37,404 out of the picture window, we saw a circular 320 00:18:37,406 --> 00:18:39,438 UFO is what I'm gonna call it. 321 00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:44,010 Multiple lights spinning around the bottom, red, green, 322 00:18:44,012 --> 00:18:46,578 white, orange, it was just strange. 323 00:18:46,580 --> 00:18:49,915 It was something that I had never seen or experienced before 324 00:18:49,917 --> 00:18:53,886 and while we're standing there, it was in the one spot, 325 00:18:53,888 --> 00:18:56,489 and then all of a sudden it shot across 326 00:18:56,491 --> 00:18:59,158 and you never saw it shooting across, but it was in 327 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:02,896 another position in the sky above the Chestnut Ridge. 328 00:19:02,898 --> 00:19:06,866 This went on I thought for a lifetime, but it probably 329 00:19:06,868 --> 00:19:10,136 wasn't that long, I'm gonna say one minute to two minutes. 330 00:19:10,138 --> 00:19:11,738 And we just stood there in amazement, 331 00:19:11,740 --> 00:19:13,473 neither one of us said anything to each other, 332 00:19:13,475 --> 00:19:15,040 we just stood there and watched it. 333 00:19:15,042 --> 00:19:19,145 All of a sudden, it just shot straight up into the sky, 334 00:19:19,147 --> 00:19:23,750 and it wasn't like a sparkler, but there was a trail 335 00:19:23,752 --> 00:19:26,953 of red and silver lights that came off the bottom of it 336 00:19:26,955 --> 00:19:28,957 and it just disappeared. 337 00:19:31,659 --> 00:19:34,761 I've looked into the sky in the last 50 years, 338 00:19:34,763 --> 00:19:36,863 looking for something similar to this. 339 00:19:36,865 --> 00:19:39,699 I've never witnessed anything like that since then, 340 00:19:39,701 --> 00:19:41,704 although I keep looking. 341 00:19:43,103 --> 00:19:45,504 Strange sightings around the Chestnut Ridge 342 00:19:45,506 --> 00:19:48,140 have never been limited to the skies. 343 00:19:48,142 --> 00:19:51,010 There's a long history of earthbound bizarre activity, 344 00:19:51,012 --> 00:19:53,178 especially on the Westmoreland, Fayette, 345 00:19:53,180 --> 00:19:55,581 and Indiana County side of the Ridge, 346 00:19:55,583 --> 00:19:58,251 with witnesses reporting subterranean sounds, 347 00:19:58,253 --> 00:20:02,625 strange lights, black panthers, and unusually large birds. 348 00:20:03,725 --> 00:20:05,794 And then there's Bigfoot. 349 00:20:06,994 --> 00:20:08,927 Accounts of hair-covered man-apes can be found in 350 00:20:08,929 --> 00:20:13,165 Pennsylvania newspapers dating back to the 1800s, 351 00:20:13,167 --> 00:20:15,667 and these creatures have never really gone away, 352 00:20:15,669 --> 00:20:17,503 reemerging from time to time 353 00:20:17,505 --> 00:20:20,940 in the southwest highlands of the state. 354 00:20:20,942 --> 00:20:23,909 In the late 1960s, a young man named Stan Gordon 355 00:20:23,911 --> 00:20:27,981 began to actively research the Bigfoot phenomenon. 356 00:20:27,983 --> 00:20:30,049 Like many, he was excited by the search 357 00:20:30,051 --> 00:20:33,819 for an unknown primate living in the Pennsylvania forest. 358 00:20:33,821 --> 00:20:36,155 So it was my determination to set up a volunteer group 359 00:20:36,157 --> 00:20:40,026 of research people to go out to investigate these reports. 360 00:20:40,028 --> 00:20:42,962 So that's what I did and I decided in 1969 361 00:20:42,964 --> 00:20:45,098 to set up my own hotline for the public. 362 00:20:45,100 --> 00:20:47,867 So I'm getting calls on haunted houses and ghosts 363 00:20:47,869 --> 00:20:51,003 and flying saucers and Bigfoot and strange creatures 364 00:20:51,005 --> 00:20:53,005 and weird noises, anything unusual, 365 00:20:53,007 --> 00:20:54,640 the calls were coming in. 366 00:20:54,642 --> 00:20:57,676 By 1973, we expanded to cover 367 00:20:57,678 --> 00:20:59,779 the whole state of Pennsylvania. 368 00:20:59,781 --> 00:21:02,214 To our surprise, we were beginning to get referrals from 369 00:21:02,216 --> 00:21:05,551 the state police and from the news media and other agencies, 370 00:21:05,553 --> 00:21:08,221 so when they getting reports they would refer the number 371 00:21:08,223 --> 00:21:10,889 of my group to investigate the report. 372 00:21:10,891 --> 00:21:13,926 And it was very lucky that we were already established, 373 00:21:13,928 --> 00:21:18,298 because 1973 comes around and here's this major UFO, 374 00:21:18,300 --> 00:21:21,667 Bigfoot wave which nobody could have ever predicted, 375 00:21:21,669 --> 00:21:26,071 and we were extremely busy during that time period. 376 00:21:26,073 --> 00:21:28,040 It was fortunate that Stan Gordon 377 00:21:28,042 --> 00:21:31,109 had assembled the Westmoreland County UFO Study Group 378 00:21:31,111 --> 00:21:33,248 prior to the events of 1973. 379 00:21:34,648 --> 00:21:36,648 The volunteer unit would come to include medical 380 00:21:36,650 --> 00:21:41,053 professionals, law enforcement officers, pilots, educators, 381 00:21:41,055 --> 00:21:45,258 engineers, former military specialists and scientists, 382 00:21:45,260 --> 00:21:48,194 and they were united by a desire to gather information 383 00:21:48,196 --> 00:21:50,363 as quickly and thoroughly as possible 384 00:21:50,365 --> 00:21:54,334 about the odd happenings on the Chestnut Ridge. 385 00:21:54,336 --> 00:21:57,369 Researchers like Barry Clark could be dispatched to the 386 00:21:57,371 --> 00:22:00,873 scene of a strange occurrence within minutes of it happening 387 00:22:00,875 --> 00:22:05,043 thanks to Gordon's state-of-the-art two-way radio system. 388 00:22:05,045 --> 00:22:07,245 The group's field work was conducted as often 389 00:22:07,247 --> 00:22:09,182 as their full-time jobs permitted, 390 00:22:09,184 --> 00:22:11,717 and many risked their professional reputation 391 00:22:11,719 --> 00:22:15,120 by being associated with this pursuit. 392 00:22:15,122 --> 00:22:17,624 But, with their aptitude for technology, 393 00:22:17,626 --> 00:22:20,659 and their vast range of vocational expertise, 394 00:22:20,661 --> 00:22:23,396 the members of the Study Group shared a basic optimism 395 00:22:23,398 --> 00:22:26,633 that they would eventually uncover the truth about 396 00:22:26,635 --> 00:22:30,806 the outlandish sightings that seemed to multiply by the day. 397 00:22:37,878 --> 00:22:41,280 Barry Clark, I went out to investigate different sightings 398 00:22:41,282 --> 00:22:45,154 and events for people who saw Bigfoot, UFOs, 399 00:22:46,754 --> 00:22:49,388 that type of thing back in the early 70s. 400 00:22:49,390 --> 00:22:51,857 Somewhere along the line, I bet you if you talked, 401 00:22:51,859 --> 00:22:56,294 in the Derry area especially, Derry to Lake Tiberias, 402 00:22:56,296 --> 00:22:59,298 you'll talk to somebody who's either friends with, related 403 00:22:59,300 --> 00:23:03,336 to or know somebody that had some kind of an experience. 404 00:23:03,338 --> 00:23:06,938 Of course, 1973, Bigfoot was the big story. 405 00:23:06,940 --> 00:23:08,907 There were multiple reports of Bigfoot sightings 406 00:23:08,909 --> 00:23:11,243 all along areas of the Ridge, especially along 407 00:23:11,245 --> 00:23:14,146 the Westmoreland County side and Derry township. 408 00:23:14,148 --> 00:23:17,049 What's interesting about those reports from the 1970s, 409 00:23:17,051 --> 00:23:19,886 73, 74, some of those reports literally took place 410 00:23:19,888 --> 00:23:21,854 a couple miles from where I lived. 411 00:23:21,856 --> 00:23:26,125 An older lady lived kind of, not secluded but by herself, 412 00:23:26,127 --> 00:23:28,860 and the state police were there the night before, 413 00:23:28,862 --> 00:23:31,931 I got to go there the next day to talk to her. 414 00:23:31,933 --> 00:23:34,232 She had a little yappin' dog, 415 00:23:34,234 --> 00:23:36,836 and it was carrying on and carrying on. 416 00:23:36,838 --> 00:23:38,271 She looked out and she saw this thing, 417 00:23:38,273 --> 00:23:41,139 and the more the dog barked, the more agitated. 418 00:23:41,141 --> 00:23:45,278 It literally picked the end of her trailer up on the corner, 419 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:48,380 and dropped it, and there's no skirting around it. 420 00:23:48,382 --> 00:23:50,883 When I looked the next day, you could see that it was 421 00:23:50,885 --> 00:23:54,020 not back in the same position it was. 422 00:23:54,022 --> 00:23:55,954 In the early 70s, the nation was still 423 00:23:55,956 --> 00:23:59,125 enthralled by stories of the Abominable Snowman, 424 00:23:59,127 --> 00:24:01,793 but was now even more enamored of his homegrown cousin, 425 00:24:01,795 --> 00:24:04,797 Bigfoot, whose presence in the Pacific Northwest 426 00:24:04,799 --> 00:24:08,300 seemed to be corroborated by a shaky full-color film 427 00:24:08,302 --> 00:24:11,838 obtained by Roger Paterson and Bob Gimlin. 428 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:13,405 But to the shock of all involved, 429 00:24:13,407 --> 00:24:16,309 a similar figure, massive, hairy, 430 00:24:16,311 --> 00:24:19,979 sometimes leaving large thee-toed footprints in its wake, 431 00:24:19,981 --> 00:24:23,750 was appearing on farms, along wood lines, and crossing roads 432 00:24:23,752 --> 00:24:27,086 throughout Westmoreland and Fayette Counties. 433 00:24:27,088 --> 00:24:29,355 Most distressing was the creature's fearlessness 434 00:24:29,357 --> 00:24:31,389 in approaching civilization, 435 00:24:31,391 --> 00:24:34,193 and the damage it sometimes caused. 436 00:24:34,195 --> 00:24:39,197 But as these events of 1973 are coming to our attention, 437 00:24:39,199 --> 00:24:41,399 we begin to see some unusual patterns. 438 00:24:41,401 --> 00:24:45,037 For example, we would have a UFO sighting in a certain area, 439 00:24:45,039 --> 00:24:47,173 within minutes to hours to days later, 440 00:24:47,175 --> 00:24:50,309 we would have a Bigfoot sighting or vice versa. 441 00:24:50,311 --> 00:24:53,111 And then the reports got even stranger. 442 00:24:53,113 --> 00:24:56,816 That's when we began to have reports with UFOs and Bigfoot 443 00:24:56,818 --> 00:24:59,886 seen together at the same time and place. 444 00:24:59,888 --> 00:25:01,553 As reports were unfolding during that time, 445 00:25:01,555 --> 00:25:04,956 some of the stranger reports begin to come to our attention. 446 00:25:04,958 --> 00:25:08,027 One case was September 27, 1973. 447 00:25:08,029 --> 00:25:10,229 This was out in an area where two women were waiting 448 00:25:10,231 --> 00:25:11,931 for a friend to pick them up. 449 00:25:11,933 --> 00:25:14,367 Suddenly they see this huge seven, eight-foot-tall 450 00:25:14,369 --> 00:25:16,569 huge man-like creature with white hair, 451 00:25:16,571 --> 00:25:19,271 running across the road towards the woods. 452 00:25:19,273 --> 00:25:21,339 Strangely enough, in one of its hands, 453 00:25:21,341 --> 00:25:23,509 it had a glowing ball of light. 454 00:25:23,511 --> 00:25:27,480 It runs off into the woods and a short time later, 455 00:25:27,482 --> 00:25:30,383 this object comes across the sky, projects a beam of light 456 00:25:30,385 --> 00:25:32,851 down into the woods where the creature ran into. 457 00:25:32,853 --> 00:25:34,986 So these reports were getting very odd, 458 00:25:34,988 --> 00:25:38,424 and then we had the case that occurred up in Fayette County. 459 00:25:38,426 --> 00:25:41,327 It was the case that convinced me and my team that there was 460 00:25:41,329 --> 00:25:45,501 a lot more to Bigfoot than any of us had any idea about. 461 00:25:49,337 --> 00:25:53,239 There were several young men at a farm in Fayette County, 462 00:25:53,241 --> 00:25:56,474 not far from here, that, in October of 1973 saw 463 00:25:56,476 --> 00:25:59,544 a very large light in the sky come down in a farmer's field. 464 00:25:59,546 --> 00:26:03,215 What we found out was that about nine o'clock that night, 465 00:26:03,217 --> 00:26:06,152 about 15 people in that rural community, 466 00:26:06,154 --> 00:26:07,485 observed this object in the sky, 467 00:26:07,487 --> 00:26:09,488 it was only about 100 feet off the ground. 468 00:26:09,490 --> 00:26:11,324 It was as big as a barn, 469 00:26:11,326 --> 00:26:13,626 it was bright red and like a big ball. 470 00:26:13,628 --> 00:26:15,427 And it was only about 100 feet up 471 00:26:15,429 --> 00:26:19,500 and it was slowly moving down towards the ground. 472 00:30:28,715 --> 00:30:29,949 After he was done shooting at them, 473 00:30:29,951 --> 00:30:33,184 they ran back to their truck, went back to the farmhouse, 474 00:30:33,186 --> 00:30:34,686 told the family what happened, 475 00:30:34,688 --> 00:30:36,688 took them to a neighbor's and called the state police. 476 00:30:36,690 --> 00:30:39,290 And then a state police officer was called in, and he was 477 00:30:39,292 --> 00:30:42,661 called in after the fact, after the craft disappeared. 478 00:30:42,663 --> 00:30:46,298 He even mentioned how large the area was illuminated. 479 00:30:46,300 --> 00:30:49,201 There was a very large area illuminated by this craft 480 00:30:49,203 --> 00:30:51,369 or whatever it was that you could literally sit down 481 00:30:51,371 --> 00:30:53,806 and read a newspaper in it, how bright it was. 482 00:30:53,808 --> 00:30:56,242 Unfortunately there was some ramifications that happened 483 00:30:56,244 --> 00:30:58,777 to one of the witnesses where he was walking through 484 00:30:58,779 --> 00:31:00,779 the field and there were investigators with him 485 00:31:00,781 --> 00:31:03,616 and all of a sudden for no reason, he dropped to his knees, 486 00:31:03,618 --> 00:31:05,917 and apparently having visions. 487 00:31:05,919 --> 00:31:08,486 Visions of end times, visions of the end of the world, 488 00:31:08,488 --> 00:31:10,755 destruction, chaos, and that sort of thing, 489 00:31:10,757 --> 00:31:14,659 and it psychologically messed the guy up. 490 00:31:14,661 --> 00:31:16,828 Some of the most bizarre cases on record 491 00:31:16,830 --> 00:31:20,734 erupted from the Chestnut Ridge in 1973 and 74. 492 00:31:22,203 --> 00:31:23,935 One family was chased from the woods by an aggressive 493 00:31:23,937 --> 00:31:27,272 ape-like creature with prominent fangs. 494 00:31:27,274 --> 00:31:29,774 A motorist reported hitting a bipedal monster, 495 00:31:29,776 --> 00:31:32,744 which vanished at the moment of impact. 496 00:31:32,746 --> 00:31:35,313 Another person claimed to shoot a Bigfoot that had been 497 00:31:35,315 --> 00:31:39,652 stealing apples from a bushel basket on his porch. 498 00:31:39,654 --> 00:31:42,421 In many cases, the unknown figures announced their presence 499 00:31:42,423 --> 00:31:45,357 with an unsettling wail that witnesses compared 500 00:31:45,359 --> 00:31:48,860 to a crying baby, as well as a distinctive smell 501 00:31:48,862 --> 00:31:50,764 like ammonia or sulfur. 502 00:31:51,933 --> 00:31:53,732 These things happened with such frequency, 503 00:31:53,734 --> 00:31:55,867 especially during the summer months, 504 00:31:55,869 --> 00:31:58,537 that Gordon's investigative team sometimes responded 505 00:31:58,539 --> 00:32:01,773 to multiple calls on the same night, with local newspapers 506 00:32:01,775 --> 00:32:05,411 providing coverage of each disturbance. 507 00:32:05,413 --> 00:32:08,513 One location where repeated oddities were reported 508 00:32:08,515 --> 00:32:11,716 was the Superior mobile home court. 509 00:32:11,718 --> 00:32:14,853 In August of 1973, the police were called to investigate 510 00:32:14,855 --> 00:32:17,990 a close-range Bigfoot sighting, and they even located and 511 00:32:17,992 --> 00:32:22,828 preserved some unusual tracks for Gordon's team to analyze. 512 00:32:22,830 --> 00:32:26,331 For reasons still unknown, this incident attracted 513 00:32:26,333 --> 00:32:30,237 some unwanted attention from a peculiar source. 514 00:32:33,773 --> 00:32:36,375 The incident at the trailer court happened on a 515 00:32:36,377 --> 00:32:38,810 Friday night, we come home from Westmoreland County Fair, 516 00:32:38,812 --> 00:32:41,882 and the whole neighborhood was abuzz. 517 00:32:49,290 --> 00:32:51,824 I was trying to figure out what was going on and they said, 518 00:32:51,826 --> 00:32:54,827 the woman who lived across from me heard a noise 519 00:32:54,829 --> 00:32:56,995 at the back of her trailer and she opened the door 520 00:32:56,997 --> 00:32:58,864 and Bigfoot was standing there. 521 00:32:58,866 --> 00:33:00,799 The people who lived in that trailer heard like 522 00:33:00,801 --> 00:33:02,901 scratching on the end of their trailer, 523 00:33:02,903 --> 00:33:05,971 they heard like a baby crying sound from close by. 524 00:33:05,973 --> 00:33:08,941 They opened up the back door and only a few feet away 525 00:33:08,943 --> 00:33:12,645 here's this large, very broad-shouldered, 526 00:33:12,647 --> 00:33:15,013 hairy Bigfoot creature standing there. 527 00:33:15,015 --> 00:33:17,482 One other witness saw it running between the trailers 528 00:33:17,484 --> 00:33:18,916 out of the area. 529 00:33:18,918 --> 00:33:21,552 Everybody scattered and people were tripping 530 00:33:21,554 --> 00:33:23,422 and falling over each other. 531 00:33:23,424 --> 00:33:26,424 They were all, the whole neighborhood was shook up. 532 00:33:26,426 --> 00:33:28,761 Four days later after the incident happened, 533 00:33:28,763 --> 00:33:30,896 I get an emergency call from an operator. 534 00:33:30,898 --> 00:33:33,799 Well, it happened to be the woman who lived in that trailer 535 00:33:33,801 --> 00:33:36,801 who, four days before, had seen the Bigfoot. 536 00:33:36,803 --> 00:33:38,803 What she called was, she was very upset. 537 00:33:38,805 --> 00:33:40,973 She said, "I think maybe I did something wrong." 538 00:33:40,975 --> 00:33:42,808 And I said, "well, what's that?" 539 00:33:42,810 --> 00:33:45,778 She said, "well, this odd-appearing man came to our trailer. 540 00:33:45,780 --> 00:33:47,378 "He was asking all kinds of questions 541 00:33:47,380 --> 00:33:48,880 "about what we saw that night." 542 00:33:48,882 --> 00:33:51,884 I come from home work and there's this car 543 00:33:51,886 --> 00:33:55,687 sitting there and it had Ohio Government plates on it. 544 00:33:55,689 --> 00:33:58,956 He had some kind of an ID on him about Ohio and UFO, 545 00:33:58,958 --> 00:34:00,725 but she didn't pay a lot of attention to it. 546 00:34:00,727 --> 00:34:03,095 He had an Ohio license plate on the vehicle, 547 00:34:03,097 --> 00:34:06,498 and he wanted to know all about what had happened here. 548 00:34:06,500 --> 00:34:07,933 And there's a footprint in the sand, 549 00:34:07,935 --> 00:34:10,902 and he's about to take pictures of the footprint, 550 00:34:10,904 --> 00:34:13,771 and the boy who lived there, the older boy, 551 00:34:13,773 --> 00:34:15,641 he went and got his camera. 552 00:34:15,643 --> 00:34:17,710 As time went on that evening, 553 00:34:17,712 --> 00:34:20,846 he was going over and looking at the footprints, and I guess 554 00:34:20,848 --> 00:34:23,047 there were several local people looking at the tracks there. 555 00:34:23,049 --> 00:34:25,951 There was a young boy, he had one of those 556 00:34:25,953 --> 00:34:27,552 Polaroid Instamatic cameras. 557 00:34:27,554 --> 00:34:30,021 And he started doing the same, taking a picture, 558 00:34:30,023 --> 00:34:32,491 and the government guy said, "no pictures." 559 00:34:32,493 --> 00:34:34,625 Started taking pictures anyway and he ripped the camera 560 00:34:34,627 --> 00:34:36,594 out of his hand, I don't know if he ripped the film out, 561 00:34:36,596 --> 00:34:39,063 I don't remember that part, he took the camera. 562 00:34:39,065 --> 00:34:42,134 He had just developed a picture and he said, 563 00:34:42,136 --> 00:34:43,668 "I just made a picture." 564 00:34:43,670 --> 00:34:45,871 And this mystery man, whoever he was, 565 00:34:45,873 --> 00:34:49,942 grabs that picture from that little boy's hand, 566 00:34:49,944 --> 00:34:51,710 wrinkles it up and puts it in his pocket and said, 567 00:34:51,712 --> 00:34:53,712 "you just made a picture for us." 568 00:34:53,714 --> 00:34:56,581 And then he went over to the tracks and with his foot, 569 00:34:56,583 --> 00:34:58,817 he destroyed the footprints. 570 00:34:58,819 --> 00:35:01,420 And the people were very very upset over that, 571 00:35:01,422 --> 00:35:04,021 started yelling at him and said "we're calling the police," 572 00:35:04,023 --> 00:35:05,891 and he ran to his car and they said, 573 00:35:05,893 --> 00:35:09,061 "he sped out so fast, he almost turned the car over." 574 00:35:09,063 --> 00:35:11,697 That's the last time anybody saw that fellow, 575 00:35:11,699 --> 00:35:15,067 and we never found out who he was. 576 00:35:15,069 --> 00:35:17,636 The incident at the Superior mobile home court 577 00:35:17,638 --> 00:35:20,505 was extremely strange yet ambiguous enough 578 00:35:20,507 --> 00:35:22,907 to resist explanation. 579 00:35:22,909 --> 00:35:25,009 It would become far more clear that the United States 580 00:35:25,011 --> 00:35:26,911 government had knowledge of the incidents 581 00:35:26,913 --> 00:35:29,848 being reported around the Chestnut Ridge, 582 00:35:29,850 --> 00:35:32,951 and knew who to talk to about them. 583 00:35:32,953 --> 00:35:37,155 On September 20th, 1973, Stan Gordon received a phone call 584 00:35:37,157 --> 00:35:39,157 from a man who identified himself 585 00:35:39,159 --> 00:35:41,927 as a US Government official. 586 00:35:41,929 --> 00:35:44,195 The caller indicated a strong interest in the Bigfoot 587 00:35:44,197 --> 00:35:47,699 sightings taking place in Westmoreland County, 588 00:35:47,701 --> 00:35:50,936 and then, to Gordon's surprise, asked that any convincing 589 00:35:50,938 --> 00:35:54,940 evidence be sent to a facility in Washington DC. 590 00:35:54,942 --> 00:35:57,141 The spokesman even provided a mailing address 591 00:35:57,143 --> 00:35:58,976 and phone number for what he called 592 00:35:58,978 --> 00:36:03,949 the Bureau of Sports Fisheries, Birds and Mammals Lab. 593 00:36:03,951 --> 00:36:06,851 Less than two weeks later, Gordon would be contacted by 594 00:36:06,853 --> 00:36:09,121 and would meet with two men from the office 595 00:36:09,123 --> 00:36:12,056 of Congressman John H. Dent. 596 00:36:12,058 --> 00:36:13,826 The visitors wanted to learn more about 597 00:36:13,828 --> 00:36:16,228 Gordon's research group and their findings 598 00:36:16,230 --> 00:36:19,030 and were courteous enough that Gordon kept in contact 599 00:36:19,032 --> 00:36:22,934 with them while the wave of sightings continued. 600 00:36:22,936 --> 00:36:26,070 Later on, Gordon would be stunned to discover that the 601 00:36:26,072 --> 00:36:29,641 government may have taken a decidedly more active approach 602 00:36:29,643 --> 00:36:32,013 in their information gathering. 603 00:36:33,514 --> 00:36:35,213 So while we're interviewing this witness, 604 00:36:35,215 --> 00:36:38,616 backs years later, probably in the 1980s, and we bring up 605 00:36:38,618 --> 00:36:41,119 the fact we might have to hypnotize him again and he said, 606 00:36:41,121 --> 00:36:43,221 "why do you wanna hypnotize me again?" 607 00:36:43,223 --> 00:36:46,824 And he goes on to say that these two men came to his home 608 00:36:46,826 --> 00:36:48,726 to interview him and he thought they were part of our group 609 00:36:48,728 --> 00:36:50,628 and we said, "well, tell us about what happened." 610 00:36:50,630 --> 00:36:52,563 He said, "well, these two guys come to my home. 611 00:36:52,565 --> 00:36:56,235 "One's in a dark suit, one in an Air Force uniform. 612 00:36:56,237 --> 00:36:59,070 "The one in the Air Force uniform has a briefcase with him." 613 00:36:59,072 --> 00:37:01,773 They wanted the witness to tell the story 614 00:37:01,775 --> 00:37:04,041 of seeing the UFO and the Bigfoot. 615 00:37:04,043 --> 00:37:06,645 And then apparently he was hypnotized, 616 00:37:06,647 --> 00:37:08,079 and they told him "thank you very much," 617 00:37:08,081 --> 00:37:09,848 that they believed what he was telling them, 618 00:37:09,850 --> 00:37:11,250 that they would be in touch with him. 619 00:37:11,252 --> 00:37:14,721 He never heard from this fellows again. 620 00:37:16,123 --> 00:37:17,788 While Bigfoot seemed to be lumbering 621 00:37:17,790 --> 00:37:20,525 through the woods of Southwestern Pennsylvania, 622 00:37:20,527 --> 00:37:23,128 if eye-witness testimony is to believed, 623 00:37:23,130 --> 00:37:25,264 the skies above the Chestnut Ridge were filled with 624 00:37:25,266 --> 00:37:29,201 all manner of lights, craft and inexplicable shapes 625 00:37:29,203 --> 00:37:31,003 flying under their own power. 626 00:37:31,005 --> 00:37:33,170 In August of 1973 alone, 627 00:37:33,172 --> 00:37:36,574 witnesses reported seeing an hourglass-shaped object, 628 00:37:36,576 --> 00:37:39,043 a sphere dropping fiery debris, 629 00:37:39,045 --> 00:37:41,846 a circular craft with illuminated windows, 630 00:37:41,848 --> 00:37:45,083 a bright orange ball, red, green and white lights 631 00:37:45,085 --> 00:37:47,319 that looked like Christmas tree bulbs, 632 00:37:47,321 --> 00:37:51,692 and a boomerang-shaped object all floating through the air. 633 00:37:54,694 --> 00:37:57,596 Another really significant UFO case 634 00:37:57,598 --> 00:38:00,065 was September 3rd, 1987. 635 00:38:00,067 --> 00:38:04,201 And this was on a major highway, Route 30 near Greensburg. 636 00:38:04,203 --> 00:38:06,170 And that evening, numerous witnesses in the area, 637 00:38:06,172 --> 00:38:10,141 including law enforcement, they see this huge cylindrical 638 00:38:10,143 --> 00:38:12,777 object, metallic, about 300 feet long, 639 00:38:12,779 --> 00:38:16,213 only about 300 feet up, with multiple lights on it. 640 00:38:16,215 --> 00:38:18,250 I don't recall anybody reporting any sound. 641 00:38:18,252 --> 00:38:21,286 It's moving across, coming across Route 30, 642 00:38:21,288 --> 00:38:23,221 across from the old Greengate Mall, 643 00:38:23,223 --> 00:38:25,157 where there is a power substation. 644 00:38:25,159 --> 00:38:28,726 So this object is moving horizontally across the sky, 645 00:38:28,728 --> 00:38:32,130 and then it turns vertical in the sky and when it does, 646 00:38:32,132 --> 00:38:35,366 all the power in the area goes out for a short time. 647 00:38:35,368 --> 00:38:38,337 Behind that mall was an annex where they had movie theaters 648 00:38:38,339 --> 00:38:40,038 and that was all blacked out, 649 00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:43,041 and when the engineers went to examine it, to investigate, 650 00:38:43,043 --> 00:38:46,277 they found all three of the master fuses had been blown. 651 00:38:46,279 --> 00:38:48,646 Something that's apparently unheard of, 652 00:38:48,648 --> 00:38:50,282 and they were very interested in 653 00:38:50,284 --> 00:38:54,052 what caused those fuses to go that day. 654 00:38:54,054 --> 00:38:56,087 In September of 1973, 655 00:38:56,089 --> 00:38:58,724 the aerial activity seemed to intensify 656 00:38:58,726 --> 00:39:02,194 over specific locations in Derry township. 657 00:39:02,196 --> 00:39:05,063 At one of these locations called the Bell Farm, 658 00:39:05,065 --> 00:39:08,233 a family and their friends claim multiple eerie encounters 659 00:39:08,235 --> 00:39:11,139 with both UFOs and hairy humanoids. 660 00:39:12,772 --> 00:39:15,373 Investigator Barry Clark, a colleague of Stan Gordon, 661 00:39:15,375 --> 00:39:18,409 spent a number of nights staking out the Bell Farm, 662 00:39:18,411 --> 00:39:21,279 and soon found himself at the center of events that, 663 00:39:21,281 --> 00:39:24,819 by his own admission, he found haunting. 664 00:39:30,424 --> 00:39:34,226 Three times we got a call from different people saying 665 00:39:34,228 --> 00:39:37,695 that if you looked up in the sky at 10 o'clock in the 666 00:39:37,697 --> 00:39:39,701 eastern part of the sky, 667 00:39:40,900 --> 00:39:44,235 you would see a real bright, large star, 668 00:39:44,237 --> 00:39:46,904 just all of a sudden turn on. 669 00:39:46,906 --> 00:39:50,741 So, the one night I left interviewing one family, 670 00:39:50,743 --> 00:39:53,679 and I went back out to the farm, sometime after 10, 671 00:39:53,681 --> 00:39:56,348 we were sitting there maybe 10 minutes after 10, 672 00:39:56,350 --> 00:39:59,250 all of a sudden there was this bright star. 673 00:39:59,252 --> 00:40:03,054 And we were watching it and all of a sudden that thing, 674 00:40:03,056 --> 00:40:07,259 it would turn blood-red and then it'd go back to silver. 675 00:40:07,261 --> 00:40:10,195 Turn blood-red, go back to silver. 676 00:40:10,197 --> 00:40:14,433 And then there were five flashes like an arc from a welder, 677 00:40:14,435 --> 00:40:16,768 and they were about a second apart, 678 00:40:16,770 --> 00:40:20,371 and then there were just multiple small silver objects 679 00:40:20,373 --> 00:40:24,710 went to it that looked like bees going to a beehive, 680 00:40:24,712 --> 00:40:26,244 waiting their turn to go in. 681 00:40:26,246 --> 00:40:29,280 But when they got there, they either reflected the red, 682 00:40:29,282 --> 00:40:31,183 or they turned red. 683 00:40:31,185 --> 00:40:33,018 So we stood there and watched it in awe. 684 00:40:33,020 --> 00:40:35,353 The guy's wife, she screamed, jumped in her car. 685 00:40:35,355 --> 00:40:37,288 She wouldn't come back out. 686 00:40:37,290 --> 00:40:40,224 And I said, "there's something, it's doing something." 687 00:40:40,226 --> 00:40:43,360 And then we realized is was actually coming down, 688 00:40:43,362 --> 00:40:47,335 it was getting bigger, and at that point we all left. 689 00:40:48,902 --> 00:40:50,434 After the incident at the Bell Farm, Barry 690 00:40:50,436 --> 00:40:54,306 Clark decided that he was finished with the paranormal. 691 00:40:54,308 --> 00:40:58,909 Shaken by what he saw, he never investigated another case. 692 00:40:58,911 --> 00:41:03,348 But evidently, the paranormal was not finished with him. 693 00:41:03,350 --> 00:41:06,050 After stepping away from the research group, 694 00:41:06,052 --> 00:41:08,453 Clark experienced an episode of missing time 695 00:41:08,455 --> 00:41:10,521 while making what should have been a short drive 696 00:41:10,523 --> 00:41:13,824 between communities on the Ridge. 697 00:41:13,826 --> 00:41:16,261 This sensation that only a short time has passed, 698 00:41:16,263 --> 00:41:18,996 when in fact many hours have elapsed, 699 00:41:18,998 --> 00:41:23,134 is most commonly linked to alien abduction scenarios. 700 00:41:23,136 --> 00:41:26,270 Clark does not suggest that he was abducted, but neither 701 00:41:26,272 --> 00:41:29,340 does he have any answers for what happened to him. 702 00:41:29,342 --> 00:41:31,308 Only the disturbing reality of time 703 00:41:31,310 --> 00:41:33,344 for which he cannot account, 704 00:41:33,346 --> 00:41:36,280 of which he has no memory. 705 00:41:36,282 --> 00:41:38,449 And along with that comes the suspicion that, 706 00:41:38,451 --> 00:41:42,186 when one peers deeply into the darkness, 707 00:41:42,188 --> 00:41:45,326 there's actually something looking back. 708 00:41:50,964 --> 00:41:55,136 I've had some things go on through my life after that, 709 00:41:56,335 --> 00:42:00,304 and what bothers me is I have a grandson, 710 00:42:00,306 --> 00:42:02,840 who was born in 1986, 711 00:42:02,842 --> 00:42:07,013 and from the time he was like eight, nine, 10 years old, 712 00:42:08,214 --> 00:42:11,416 he kept telling us about people that were coming 713 00:42:11,418 --> 00:42:15,420 into his bedroom through a hole in his ceiling. 714 00:42:15,422 --> 00:42:17,992 Now, he has had lapses of time, 715 00:42:19,458 --> 00:42:22,360 you know, can't explain, which I have had. 716 00:42:22,362 --> 00:42:26,334 I've had incidents where I have lost an hour, 717 00:42:27,301 --> 00:42:30,000 an hour and a half, he doesn't. 718 00:42:30,002 --> 00:42:33,003 So I don't know if what I was doing back then 719 00:42:33,005 --> 00:42:37,942 triggered something, and then it carried on to my grandson. 720 00:42:37,944 --> 00:42:39,610 I don't know how that works. 721 00:42:39,612 --> 00:42:43,984 All I know is, it was about 1975 when these things started. 722 00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:49,454 I talked to one other person that was involved back then 723 00:42:49,456 --> 00:42:52,924 that said that they were afraid, 724 00:42:52,926 --> 00:42:55,626 that they were telling about, 725 00:42:55,628 --> 00:42:58,362 seeing things in the mirror when they looked at themselves 726 00:42:58,364 --> 00:43:00,801 and incidents like that, but, 727 00:43:02,069 --> 00:43:06,103 it's quite scary when it happens to yourself. 728 00:43:06,105 --> 00:43:08,940 It's nice to read about it by somebody else, 729 00:43:08,942 --> 00:43:11,512 but when it's really your life... 730 00:43:16,583 --> 00:43:19,183 I became friends with a guy named Sam Sherry. 731 00:43:19,185 --> 00:43:20,418 He lived right in the heart of the Chestnut Ridge 732 00:43:20,420 --> 00:43:23,487 up in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, a little town called Wilpen. 733 00:43:23,489 --> 00:43:27,391 It was 1986 and he was fishing at a place called 734 00:43:27,393 --> 00:43:29,194 Sleepy Hollow. 735 00:43:29,196 --> 00:43:33,366 It's a popular spot for fishing and it's a little breezeway 736 00:43:34,601 --> 00:43:38,235 or a crossover between Route 30 East and Route 30 West, 737 00:43:38,237 --> 00:43:40,572 and one night Sam was out there fishing, 738 00:43:40,574 --> 00:43:42,940 and he heard some noise to his left, 739 00:43:42,942 --> 00:43:46,076 and he looked over to see a figure standing on an embankment 740 00:43:46,078 --> 00:43:48,212 a little further down the creek from where he was, 741 00:43:48,214 --> 00:43:50,482 and this was Loyalhanna Creek that he was fishing on. 742 00:43:50,484 --> 00:43:52,449 So as he's fishing and doing his thing, 743 00:43:52,451 --> 00:43:55,520 he notices this figure's moving closer and closer to him. 744 00:43:55,522 --> 00:43:58,023 And it got to the point where it was so close to him, 745 00:43:58,025 --> 00:44:01,525 that he could make out very good detail of this thing. 746 00:44:01,527 --> 00:44:03,295 And as he described it, 747 00:44:03,297 --> 00:44:06,130 it's not your typical Bigfoot creature that he saw. 748 00:44:06,132 --> 00:44:10,434 It was an upright-walking creature that had very sparse 749 00:44:10,436 --> 00:44:13,204 hair on its body, almost like it had mange. 750 00:44:13,206 --> 00:44:16,942 It appeared to have a mohawk on the top of its head. 751 00:44:16,944 --> 00:44:21,313 And this creature was very tall, had long arms 752 00:44:21,315 --> 00:44:24,014 hanging down well past its knees. 753 00:44:24,016 --> 00:44:26,518 Sam saw this thing walking closer and closer to him, 754 00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:29,320 ambling closer and it kind of unnerved him. 755 00:44:29,322 --> 00:44:31,322 So he got in his vehicle to leave, 756 00:44:31,324 --> 00:44:33,157 and just before he was able to leave, 757 00:44:33,159 --> 00:44:35,393 this creature stopped the vehicle from leaving, 758 00:44:35,395 --> 00:44:37,262 put its hands on the driver-side door, 759 00:44:37,264 --> 00:44:38,697 stuck its head in the window, 760 00:44:38,699 --> 00:44:42,366 and he was literally face-to-face with this thing. 761 00:44:42,368 --> 00:44:44,134 He said this thing actually opened its mouth, 762 00:44:44,136 --> 00:44:45,637 he could see there was no teeth in its mouth, 763 00:44:45,639 --> 00:44:47,973 or it was missing a lot of teeth. 764 00:44:47,975 --> 00:44:49,340 It was pushing down on the car, 765 00:44:49,342 --> 00:44:51,543 preventing him from driving away. 766 00:44:51,545 --> 00:44:53,545 He hit the horn on his car to scare this thing, 767 00:44:53,547 --> 00:44:57,614 this thing stepped back like, oh-my-gosh kind of expression. 768 00:44:57,616 --> 00:44:59,750 Sam took off and left. 769 00:44:59,752 --> 00:45:02,554 And he said in his tail lights as he driving away, 770 00:45:02,556 --> 00:45:06,627 he could see thing waving at him as he drove off. 771 00:45:10,397 --> 00:45:13,098 Although the Chestnut Ridge has yet to see another outbreak 772 00:45:13,100 --> 00:45:16,569 of reports quite like the flap of 73 and 74, 773 00:45:17,770 --> 00:45:19,770 unusual sightings have not stopped, 774 00:45:19,772 --> 00:45:24,108 and if anything, they've become more bizarre in variety. 775 00:45:24,110 --> 00:45:26,744 Otherwise sober-minded individuals professed to have seen 776 00:45:26,746 --> 00:45:30,514 enormous dark-colored birds in flight and on the ground, 777 00:45:30,516 --> 00:45:33,684 which are sometimes referred to as Thunderbirds, 778 00:45:33,686 --> 00:45:36,054 as well as Black Panthers, 779 00:45:36,056 --> 00:45:39,290 upright-walking canid creatures known as Dog Men, 780 00:45:39,292 --> 00:45:43,194 winged humanoids and even a 22-foot-long flying lizard 781 00:45:43,196 --> 00:45:45,563 resembling a dragon. 782 00:45:45,565 --> 00:45:48,199 In many cases, observers struggled to describe 783 00:45:48,201 --> 00:45:50,701 what they have seen because there are no categories 784 00:45:50,703 --> 00:45:54,405 that correspond to what they have perceived. 785 00:45:54,407 --> 00:45:57,541 All they can do is react to the invasive presence 786 00:45:57,543 --> 00:46:00,779 of what appears to be a monster. 787 00:46:00,781 --> 00:46:02,746 But there's all kinds of strange creatures 788 00:46:02,748 --> 00:46:04,482 that have been seen. 789 00:46:04,484 --> 00:46:07,317 The most recent was the Dog Man sighting that took place 790 00:46:07,319 --> 00:46:09,554 literally miles down the road from where we're at 791 00:46:09,556 --> 00:46:10,657 here in 2015. 792 00:46:12,558 --> 00:46:17,061 Four women were going to a place called Ruringrun Park, 793 00:46:17,063 --> 00:46:19,530 and they pulled into a pull off at the trail head 794 00:46:19,532 --> 00:46:22,333 to get out of the vehicle to start hiking the trail, 795 00:46:22,335 --> 00:46:24,601 and as they got out of the vehicle, they started into the 796 00:46:24,603 --> 00:46:27,838 trail head and they noticed a figure walking towards them. 797 00:46:27,840 --> 00:46:30,842 The one woman claimed that this thing wasn't a person. 798 00:46:30,844 --> 00:46:33,578 It was actually a very tall, muscular, 799 00:46:33,580 --> 00:46:36,313 salt and pepper hair-covered creature, 800 00:46:36,315 --> 00:46:39,183 that had a large snout like a wolf or a dog, 801 00:46:39,185 --> 00:46:41,485 had pointy ears and had a tail on it. 802 00:46:41,487 --> 00:46:43,320 And it was standing upright on two legs, 803 00:46:43,322 --> 00:46:45,623 and it just approached them out of the forest. 804 00:46:45,625 --> 00:46:47,592 Three of the four women got back in the car. 805 00:46:47,594 --> 00:46:50,628 She stood there watching it and it stood there watching her, 806 00:46:50,630 --> 00:46:52,831 and the stare-off went on for several minutes before 807 00:46:52,833 --> 00:46:55,400 this thing turned and walked back off into the forest. 808 00:46:55,402 --> 00:46:57,701 There have been many reports over the years of not only 809 00:46:57,703 --> 00:47:00,237 Bigfoot sightings, but reports of Thunderbirds, 810 00:47:00,239 --> 00:47:02,607 those huge generally dark brown or black birds 811 00:47:02,609 --> 00:47:05,509 with massive wingspans like a small aircraft. 812 00:47:05,511 --> 00:47:09,179 A Thunderbird basically is a large bird with anywhere from 813 00:47:09,181 --> 00:47:12,583 eight to 20 feet in length of wingspan. 814 00:47:12,585 --> 00:47:15,552 Some witnesses describe the Thunderbird as having 815 00:47:15,554 --> 00:47:17,822 black feathers all over its body while other describe 816 00:47:17,824 --> 00:47:22,259 the Thunderbird as having like a reptilian-like membrane 817 00:47:22,261 --> 00:47:25,596 skin on its body, almost like a Pterodactyl-like thing 818 00:47:25,598 --> 00:47:27,398 flying through the sky. 819 00:47:27,400 --> 00:47:29,737 I only ever heard one that 820 00:47:31,705 --> 00:47:35,907 came from a guy that said that he was up on the Derry Ridge, 821 00:47:35,909 --> 00:47:38,378 and this large Thunderbird, 822 00:47:39,578 --> 00:47:41,612 well, didn't name it a Thunderbird, 823 00:47:41,614 --> 00:47:45,849 but this very large bird flew right over the top of him. 824 00:47:49,755 --> 00:47:52,456 Yeah, I grew up in Lower Burrell, I joined the army 825 00:47:52,458 --> 00:47:56,629 and then in 2005 I retired, moved out here to Derry. 826 00:48:06,505 --> 00:48:08,773 I just got done cutting my back field. 827 00:48:08,775 --> 00:48:12,309 My family was down at Keystone State Park there. 828 00:48:12,311 --> 00:48:14,244 I went down to get them to bring them up 829 00:48:14,246 --> 00:48:16,813 to show them what the field looked like. 830 00:48:16,815 --> 00:48:18,949 I came back up to the field, I'm looking out there at the 831 00:48:18,951 --> 00:48:21,953 end of the field and it looked like there was a tree stump. 832 00:48:21,955 --> 00:48:24,255 So we drove out there to the tree stump. 833 00:48:24,257 --> 00:48:26,623 I go, "that isn't a tree stump, it's a deer." 834 00:48:26,625 --> 00:48:29,694 It looked like a big deer, about this tall, maybe five, 835 00:48:29,696 --> 00:48:32,462 five and a half feet tall, sitting up on its butt. 836 00:48:32,464 --> 00:48:34,831 You know, it was like this. 837 00:48:34,833 --> 00:48:36,400 And I'm getting closer and I'm thinking, 838 00:48:36,402 --> 00:48:38,402 that doesn't look like a deer anymore. 839 00:48:38,404 --> 00:48:41,271 And it picked up its head and it was staring at me like this 840 00:48:41,273 --> 00:48:42,609 like it was mad. 841 00:48:43,810 --> 00:48:46,744 Huh, so I stopped 50 yards maybe from it. 842 00:48:46,746 --> 00:48:48,579 I'm looking at it. 843 00:48:48,581 --> 00:48:50,415 "That's a bird." 844 00:48:50,417 --> 00:48:52,884 It got up and it took one swipe, 845 00:48:52,886 --> 00:48:54,886 and it starts coming towards me and I'm like, 846 00:48:54,888 --> 00:48:56,853 "oh, Judas Priest." 847 00:48:56,855 --> 00:49:00,891 Came over top of our bus and my yard is shaped like a 848 00:49:00,893 --> 00:49:03,527 rollercoaster and when it hit that, 849 00:49:03,529 --> 00:49:05,462 it came up like that into the air. 850 00:49:05,464 --> 00:49:09,433 It was big-chested, just claws like this. 851 00:49:09,435 --> 00:49:12,536 If it wanted to and it swooped down, 852 00:49:12,538 --> 00:49:13,704 I'm not saying it's gonna pick you up. 853 00:49:13,706 --> 00:49:17,308 It'll pick you into pieces and take those pieces away. 854 00:49:17,310 --> 00:49:20,645 Strange events like this go on all across Pennsylvania. 855 00:49:20,647 --> 00:49:23,480 And there's certain areas where sometimes you get more 856 00:49:23,482 --> 00:49:26,284 activity than others, but the one area, of course, that, 857 00:49:26,286 --> 00:49:29,587 year after year we seem to get more than normal activity, 858 00:49:29,589 --> 00:49:31,889 is areas along the Chestnut Ridge. 859 00:49:31,891 --> 00:49:34,491 There's been all kind of anomalies up on the Ridge such as 860 00:49:34,493 --> 00:49:38,029 underground sounds and mystery booms and strange lights and 861 00:49:38,031 --> 00:49:41,766 people seeing small little lights coming near their homes. 862 00:49:41,768 --> 00:49:44,434 And they appear, as I said, very close to the ground, 863 00:49:44,436 --> 00:49:46,270 or very very high up in the trees. 864 00:49:46,272 --> 00:49:48,873 There's no rhyme, nor reason, nor explanation 865 00:49:48,875 --> 00:49:52,744 for the pattern they move or why they move, or direction. 866 00:49:52,746 --> 00:49:55,012 They just, they move, and it seems almost as if like 867 00:49:55,014 --> 00:49:56,947 they're intelligent enough to move, 868 00:49:56,949 --> 00:49:59,750 so they don't want you to see it. 869 00:49:59,752 --> 00:50:01,418 Like you see it over here and you'll be focused over here 870 00:50:01,420 --> 00:50:03,054 and then it'll appear over here and then when you look 871 00:50:03,056 --> 00:50:06,391 over here, it's gone and it's back over here again. 872 00:50:11,031 --> 00:50:13,665 To this point, that is the biggest event that's happened 873 00:50:13,667 --> 00:50:17,270 in my life that I have no understanding of. 874 00:50:25,045 --> 00:50:29,547 In August of 2015, myself and a friend of mine, Eric, 875 00:50:29,549 --> 00:50:33,384 we were on the West Virginia side, near Preston County, 876 00:50:33,386 --> 00:50:36,987 in a very remote location about two miles off of anywhere 877 00:50:36,989 --> 00:50:39,791 that would have been near any civilized area. 878 00:50:39,793 --> 00:50:42,092 Well there's a couple times where I've experienced this, 879 00:50:42,094 --> 00:50:44,529 and I don't know what it is. 880 00:50:44,531 --> 00:50:46,496 I really don't have an explanation, 881 00:50:46,498 --> 00:50:48,433 and I don't think anybody does at this point. 882 00:50:48,435 --> 00:50:50,735 We were out doing a Bigfoot investigation 883 00:50:50,737 --> 00:50:52,969 in this very active area. 884 00:50:52,971 --> 00:50:55,373 This night was pitch-ink dark. 885 00:50:55,375 --> 00:50:57,842 I couldn't even see Eric, I couldn't even see my hand. 886 00:50:57,844 --> 00:50:59,509 I mean, there was no Moon that night. 887 00:50:59,511 --> 00:51:01,746 You couldn't see through the canape of trees. 888 00:51:01,748 --> 00:51:04,415 No residual light from the stars. 889 00:51:04,417 --> 00:51:06,784 So we were in total ink-darkness. 890 00:51:06,786 --> 00:51:09,487 And I noticed off in the woods, to my left, 891 00:51:09,489 --> 00:51:11,822 probably about 100 yards away, this light. 892 00:51:11,824 --> 00:51:14,759 And it first looked like someone just carrying a lantern. 893 00:51:14,761 --> 00:51:16,594 If you would swing a lantern as you're walking through 894 00:51:16,596 --> 00:51:18,895 the forest, you could see it moving back and forth rocking. 895 00:51:18,897 --> 00:51:23,601 What appeared to be a light permeating underneath 896 00:51:23,603 --> 00:51:27,938 the canape of trees, was moving around very slowly, 897 00:51:27,940 --> 00:51:29,741 but erratically at the same time, 898 00:51:29,743 --> 00:51:33,444 almost balloon-like but it would stop, 899 00:51:33,446 --> 00:51:34,945 and then it would move again. 900 00:51:34,947 --> 00:51:37,382 And as more people focused on it and more people started 901 00:51:37,384 --> 00:51:39,951 to see this light moving through the trees, 902 00:51:39,953 --> 00:51:41,786 and we were trying to figure out where it was 903 00:51:41,788 --> 00:51:43,920 emanating from, where it was coming from, if maybe there was 904 00:51:43,922 --> 00:51:46,523 somebody over there in the woods with us that night. 905 00:51:46,525 --> 00:51:48,726 As it got a little bit closer, 906 00:51:48,728 --> 00:51:52,630 you could see, if you've seen the lava lamps of the 70s, 907 00:51:52,632 --> 00:51:57,567 it has this pulsating light change going on inside of this 908 00:51:57,569 --> 00:51:59,536 spherical object. 909 00:51:59,538 --> 00:52:02,072 I know for a fact it was within 60 feet of us 910 00:52:02,074 --> 00:52:03,907 when the next thing happened. 911 00:52:03,909 --> 00:52:06,076 Well, I didn't see Eric and he couldn't see me. 912 00:52:06,078 --> 00:52:09,045 Well, he has a 500 lumen flashlight. 913 00:52:09,047 --> 00:52:11,648 He lit it up with a flashlight. 914 00:52:11,650 --> 00:52:15,018 This window opened up in this black darkness. 915 00:52:15,020 --> 00:52:17,688 It was a translucent, silvery, 916 00:52:17,690 --> 00:52:20,991 almost like it was light projecting out of it. 917 00:52:20,993 --> 00:52:23,661 This thing went in, this window shut, 918 00:52:23,663 --> 00:52:26,630 and then we're standing there in total darkness again. 919 00:52:26,632 --> 00:52:28,166 I have no idea where it came from. 920 00:52:28,168 --> 00:52:29,866 I started talking to other people about it, 921 00:52:29,868 --> 00:52:31,936 seeing if they had seen it, other people researched up 922 00:52:31,938 --> 00:52:34,938 in that area and little by little, I began to hear people 923 00:52:34,940 --> 00:52:39,112 talking about seeing these floating light in that area. 924 00:52:40,513 --> 00:52:42,480 Is there a simple cause for the glowing orbs 925 00:52:42,482 --> 00:52:45,949 being detected in the forests of Pennsylvania? 926 00:52:45,951 --> 00:52:47,784 Perhaps an atmospheric condition 927 00:52:47,786 --> 00:52:51,087 or weather-related anomaly is to blame. 928 00:52:51,089 --> 00:52:53,023 Or is there something more than natural 929 00:52:53,025 --> 00:52:55,995 generating light in those dark places? 930 00:52:57,096 --> 00:52:59,230 What is it about the Ridge 931 00:52:59,232 --> 00:53:03,134 that seems to produce a parade of the monsters? 932 00:53:03,136 --> 00:53:04,969 Do these creatures crawl forth from the belly 933 00:53:04,971 --> 00:53:07,672 of the Ridge itself? 934 00:53:07,674 --> 00:53:11,108 And what about the strange lights that appear in its skies? 935 00:53:11,110 --> 00:53:13,543 Are they terrestrial in origin, 936 00:53:13,545 --> 00:53:17,748 somehow generated by the great earthen mound? 937 00:53:17,750 --> 00:53:20,717 Do we even know the right questions to ask 938 00:53:20,719 --> 00:53:23,623 about this window into the unknown? 939 00:53:24,690 --> 00:53:27,558 In this region, mysteries tend to layer 940 00:53:27,560 --> 00:53:29,563 one on top of the other. 941 00:53:30,929 --> 00:53:34,130 People, they sort of make the connection between 942 00:53:34,132 --> 00:53:37,770 Bigfoot or UFO or UFO along with Bigfoot. 943 00:53:39,873 --> 00:53:44,708 I am no expert by any means, I think there are power sources 944 00:53:44,710 --> 00:53:48,512 in the area and I think there might be a link to 945 00:53:48,514 --> 00:53:51,782 power sources having something to do with this. 946 00:53:51,784 --> 00:53:53,918 I know, if you look on the internet, 947 00:53:53,920 --> 00:53:57,054 after that I started looking on the internet what I seen. 948 00:53:57,056 --> 00:53:59,891 There's a lot of stuff that goes up on the Chestnut Ridge. 949 00:53:59,893 --> 00:54:01,092 Is it strange? 950 00:54:01,094 --> 00:54:04,027 Probably it's everywhere, they just don't pay attention. 951 00:54:04,029 --> 00:54:05,563 But density of forest? 952 00:54:05,565 --> 00:54:07,063 I'm not sure. 953 00:54:07,065 --> 00:54:10,300 I don't know why this area seems to attract 954 00:54:10,302 --> 00:54:13,070 the phenomenon, I really don't, but it seems to be 955 00:54:13,072 --> 00:54:15,572 concentrated in the state in this area. 956 00:54:15,574 --> 00:54:18,675 It seems like the mountain areas around here and the West 957 00:54:18,677 --> 00:54:22,779 Virginia area have a lot of strange things happening. 958 00:54:22,781 --> 00:54:26,951 Over the years, we saw certain patterns emerging, 959 00:54:26,953 --> 00:54:28,920 and we thought, gee, we're getting close to some answers, 960 00:54:28,922 --> 00:54:30,755 then another case would show up that would completely 961 00:54:30,757 --> 00:54:33,190 dismiss your thoughts and theories. 962 00:54:33,192 --> 00:54:36,293 And you're always hopeful that you're gonna finally come 963 00:54:36,295 --> 00:54:40,230 to a conclusion, but the more I receive reports, even the 964 00:54:40,232 --> 00:54:43,134 last few years, some of the cryptid reports we're getting 965 00:54:43,136 --> 00:54:45,235 are so strange and so unusual. 966 00:54:45,237 --> 00:54:49,139 They're not even close to the normal Bigfoot or Thunderbirds 967 00:54:49,141 --> 00:54:52,809 or Panthers and other anomalies we get reports on, so, 968 00:54:52,811 --> 00:54:54,344 there's a lot more out there going on 969 00:54:54,346 --> 00:54:56,212 than any of us have any answers for, 970 00:54:56,214 --> 00:54:59,583 and I think we're dealing with something very strange and 971 00:54:59,585 --> 00:55:03,689 unusual and right now beyond our scientific understanding. 972 00:55:09,194 --> 00:55:11,628 Some who have encountered the inexplicable 973 00:55:11,630 --> 00:55:13,197 along the Chestnut Ridge 974 00:55:13,199 --> 00:55:15,833 have been able to go on with their lives. 975 00:55:15,835 --> 00:55:18,001 The occurrence becomes an intriguing footnote 976 00:55:18,003 --> 00:55:21,672 in their personal history, nothing more. 977 00:55:21,674 --> 00:55:24,775 But for others, the experience has a profound 978 00:55:24,777 --> 00:55:28,079 and lasting effect, shifting their world view, 979 00:55:28,081 --> 00:55:31,248 changing their thoughts about what is possible, 980 00:55:31,250 --> 00:55:32,152 what is real. 981 00:55:33,786 --> 00:55:36,052 Like Sam Sherry, they become obsessed with having just 982 00:55:36,054 --> 00:55:39,889 one more encounter to justify what they've been through. 983 00:55:39,891 --> 00:55:42,927 To prove it to the skeptics and maybe to themselves 984 00:55:42,929 --> 00:55:46,230 that they're not losing grip on reality. 985 00:55:46,232 --> 00:55:47,998 Or like Barry Clark, 986 00:55:48,000 --> 00:55:51,335 they would rather not know what happened to them. 987 00:55:51,337 --> 00:55:54,739 They'd prefer not to remember, 988 00:55:54,741 --> 00:55:55,909 but to forget. 989 00:55:58,011 --> 00:56:01,645 And maybe if I went and had regression, 990 00:56:01,647 --> 00:56:04,382 maybe I would understand more, but, 991 00:56:04,384 --> 00:56:05,918 like I said now, 992 00:56:07,286 --> 00:56:11,221 I don't know if I wanna know any details. 993 00:56:11,223 --> 00:56:14,160 I know what's happened, happened, 994 00:56:15,293 --> 00:56:19,195 and I've had some physical stuff left behind, 995 00:56:19,197 --> 00:56:20,331 but do I really wanna know? 996 00:56:20,333 --> 00:56:24,838 If I did do that, would it be worse than not knowing? 997 00:56:26,438 --> 00:56:27,907 It's kind of... 998 00:56:28,975 --> 00:56:30,344 Kind of a Catch-22. 999 00:56:31,978 --> 00:56:34,110 Today, the village Kecksburg has embraced 1000 00:56:34,112 --> 00:56:38,315 its enigmatic past, hosting a UFO festival each summer, 1001 00:56:38,317 --> 00:56:41,351 that has attracted thousands of visitors. 1002 00:56:41,353 --> 00:56:43,219 Families bring children to play in the shadow 1003 00:56:43,221 --> 00:56:46,123 of the UFO replica, once used in the filming 1004 00:56:46,125 --> 00:56:49,393 of a TV program about the crash. 1005 00:56:49,395 --> 00:56:52,797 Locals are somewhat used to camera crews in town, 1006 00:56:52,799 --> 00:56:57,268 as media interest in the incident never wanes for long. 1007 00:56:57,270 --> 00:56:59,704 The people of this community have done their best 1008 00:56:59,706 --> 00:57:03,243 to turn the events of 1965 into a positive. 1009 00:57:05,310 --> 00:57:08,212 Once again, I started this when I was 10-years-old in 1959 1010 00:57:08,214 --> 00:57:10,480 so this year is gonna be 58 years of research. 1011 00:57:10,482 --> 00:57:12,148 Why do this? 1012 00:57:12,150 --> 00:57:14,851 Well, I guess it's just the fact that I'm continuing 1013 00:57:14,853 --> 00:57:17,221 to be curious, I'm still learning more and more 1014 00:57:17,223 --> 00:57:19,924 about the phenomena out there, I've learned that 1015 00:57:19,926 --> 00:57:23,126 this is a very strange world, and there's a lot of ongoing 1016 00:57:23,128 --> 00:57:26,262 things out there that we have yet to understand. 1017 00:57:26,264 --> 00:57:28,364 And I guess I'm always hopeful that that next phone call 1018 00:57:28,366 --> 00:57:30,867 that might come in on my hotline or the next email I get 1019 00:57:30,869 --> 00:57:33,304 might be the case that, once and for all, 1020 00:57:33,306 --> 00:57:35,473 gives us the evidence that will prove 1021 00:57:35,475 --> 00:57:39,846 that at least one of these phenomena really do exist. 1022 00:57:46,886 --> 00:57:50,087 But countless questions remain. 1023 00:57:50,089 --> 00:57:52,155 What fell near Kecksburg, 1024 00:57:52,157 --> 00:57:56,427 and what does the United States government know about it? 1025 00:57:56,429 --> 00:57:59,929 What was unleashed on this region in 1973, 1026 00:57:59,931 --> 00:58:02,201 and did it ever really stop? 1027 00:58:03,335 --> 00:58:06,302 How do we talk about phenomena that are continuously 1028 00:58:06,304 --> 00:58:09,208 shifting, always just out of reach? 1029 00:58:10,909 --> 00:58:12,876 How do we describe the apparition, 1030 00:58:12,878 --> 00:58:16,447 already disappearing in the mist? 1031 00:58:16,449 --> 00:58:19,449 It seems that the rolling slopes of the hills, 1032 00:58:19,451 --> 00:58:22,887 the silent presence of the Chestnut Ridge itself, 1033 00:58:22,889 --> 00:58:25,523 is the only thing permanent. 1034 00:58:25,525 --> 00:58:29,463 That, and the persistence of human curiosity. 1035 00:58:58,025 --> 00:59:03,025