Creepy Show

Patrick doesn't believe in Bigfoot

• John Fite

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What happens when a city-smart teenager from Jersey City steps into the legendary woods of Eugene, Oregon, where tales of Bigfoot and eerie happenings have echoed since the 70s? Patrick McConnell's skepticism is put to the ultimate test as he's swept into the suspenseful mystery surrounding the Oregon wilderness. Join us as we unravel Patrick's journey from disbelief to belief, sparked by chilling campfire tales and mysterious noises in the dead of night. With each spine-tingling moment, Patrick's perception of the unknown is challenged, setting the stage for an unforgettable adventure that teeters on the edge of reality and folklore.

Ever wondered what it takes for a skeptic to become a believer in the face of the inexplicable? Hear how Patrick's camping trip with his cousins turns into a nightmarish ordeal that leaves them with more questions than answers. As injuries mount and the local sheriff gets involved, the haunting events of that night refuse to let go, leaving Patrick and his friends forever changed. Haunted and hesitant to return to camping, they find themselves pondering the chilling whispers of the Oregon woods. Tune in to explore this eerie tale and decide for yourself—what truly lurks in the shadows?

Speaker 1:

Well, hello, my little creepies. Oh, yes, it's that time again. We talk about UFOs and Bigfoot, paranormal true crime and conspiracy stories and all things creepy. Yes, this is the Creepy Show. You can find us online at creepyshow and I'm your host, the Master of Creep.

Speaker 2:

Patrick McConnell was a 16-year-old boy living with his mother in Jersey City, just outside of New York. He was very excited about attending his family's reunion in Eugene Oregon where he would meet several of his cousins for the very first time. Patrick was a city smart kid. He knew how to avoid trouble and gang violence. He could survive in the big city. But now Eugene Oregon, that is a little bit different. Now Eugene Oregon, that is a little bit different. In fact, it's like a different planet. Patrick's parents divorced a couple of years ago and times were kind of hard, with very little extra money for vacations. Why, it's a good thing that Patrick's grandparents pitched in and bought airfare for him and his mother to attend their 10-year family reunion. Most of his family lived on the West Coast, but his father transferred to Jersey City about 20 years ago, before Patrick was even born, and there was talk about him and his mother moving back to Eugene Oregon someday to be closer to the rest of his family. Now Patrick wanted to know more about his West Coast family, so he started following some of his cousins on Facebook. Well, he had two cousins who were twins and they were 14 years old. Their names were Helena and Brent and he had two other cousins named Mike and Barry, and they were in their early 20s. Everyone seemed to be talking about Bigfoot living in the forest near their homes, and it appears that cousins like to hang out together and go camping, and on their last camping trip about a month ago, they heard a Bigfoot yelling and knocking on tree trunks and knocking on tree trunks. Now, no one actually saw the hairy beast, but everybody at the campsite listened to the sounds and that was enough to end the camping trip. Of course, patrick chimed in on the online conversation, stating that he didn't believe in Bigfoot and that the sounds were probably made by someone trying to prank the group. His cousin Brent said Well, you weren't there. You have no idea what you're talking about. Just waited till you visit. We'll take you on a camping trip and let you see for yourself. Patrick replied no problem, I'm not scared of some make-believe hairy Bigfoot.

Speaker 2:

So Patrick and his mother flew to Eugene, oregon. Now, the trip took all day. They flew from JFK to Eugene and there were several stops along the way. They had to spend just about as much time waiting in airports as they did flying. Patrick bought a book about hunting for Bigfoot because his cousins were discussing it a lot, and when his mother asked him about the book, patrick told her that he didn't believe in all this stuff, but his cousin seemed to be talking about it and he wanted to be able to share in the conversation. They were planning a camping trip after the family reunion and Patrick was eager to prove that Bigfoot was simply a folklore made up to keep people out of the woods. In his opinion, the reason was to scare people away from discovering illegal whiskey stills.

Speaker 2:

Finally, patrick and his mother arrived for the family reunion. Patrick had been looking forward to meeting everybody and the family reunion took months to plan and the day was finally here, eugene, oregon. Why, it was much colder at night, so Patrick's mom got him a brand new coat and finally, meeting his cousins was a highlight and they started talking about the upcoming camping trip. They promised that something extra special might happen because they were taking him to a place where Bigfoot had been spotted in the past. But of course Patrick quickly dismissed the story. He was still eager to go on the camping trip and maybe even do some fishing, but he considered his cousins would probably try to prank him, so he was ready to show them that he was not scared.

Speaker 2:

Now, the reunion itself was a blast. There was barbecue and games of tag with the younger kids and a lot of reminiscing about past gatherings. Patrick's cousin kept whispering to each other and snickering whenever he was nearby, and when he asked what's so funny, they just grinned and said oh, you'll see. His cousins talked about being deep in the woods. Now, patrick loved the idea of going camping, but something about this trip well, it felt a little off. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it was as if his cousins were hiding something from him.

Speaker 2:

Now, after the reunion, it was time to head out for the camping trip. The four cousins packed their gear and drove for hours, leaving behind the city lights of Oregon, going to deep, shadowy forests. The campground was remote and was far enough from civilization that the night sky was stunningly blanketed with stars. And as they set up the tents, his older cousin, mike, kept dropping hints about something lurking in the woods. You know, he said casually while gathering firewood. And of course Patrick just kind of laughed and shook his head yeah, right, and I suppose the Loch Ness Monster swims in the river too. And Barry chimed in and his voice was low and serious. No joke, pat. There have been reports here since the 70s. People say that they've heard strange noises at night, like howls and stuff that just doesn't belong to any known animal. Now Patrick tried to brush it all off, but he was very curious Could something actually be lurking out here in the woods?

Speaker 2:

And as night fell they gathered around the campfire telling ghost stories. The air grew kind of chilly and Patrick put on his new jacket and the sounds of the forest and the rustling leaves and the cracking branches seemed to close in around them. Mark and Barry took turns sharing increasingly creepy tales about campers who went missing, only to have their belongings found shredded or clawed into pieces. And then Brent leaned forward, his face half illuminated by the flickering flames of the campfire, illuminated by the flickering flames of the campfire. He said you know, a few years ago some campers just like us, they saw something huge standing between the trees and this area, right here, and they said it was over eight feet tall, covered in a dark hair and had glowing eyes, covered in a dark hair and had glowing eyes, and when they tried to get a little closer look, it let out a scream and it chilled them to the bone, and then they saw its footprints twice as big as a man's, and all the stories and all the sounds of the forest started getting to Patrick. He did feel a little creeped up about this and even though he didn't want to believe it. So Patrick said You're just messing with me, right? Well, mark and Barry exchanged a glance and they were smirking. Oh, you'll find out soon enough.

Speaker 2:

Patrick didn't know that his cousins had coordinated a plan to include some of their friends who were instructed to position themselves in another campsite about a hundred yards away, and they had planned to make a lot of scary sounds in the middle of the night to scare the hell out of Patrick. Well, the idea was to create a video for YouTube and start a popular Bigfoot channel, at Patrick's expense, of course. Mike started talking about how Bigfoot used a heavy stick to hit the base of hollowed out trees to drive wildlife out of their nest so that he could chase them down and eat them. And just as soon as he mentioned this fact, an unsettling sound of two large branches striking each other could be heard. In the near distance, the sound of something huge stomping around in the tree line could also be heard. Now, with all of the stories and the sounds, patrick started thinking about Bigfoot. Maybe, maybe he was a little bit too hasty in his belief. Maybe Bigfoot was real.

Speaker 2:

And as the night wore on and eventually everyone settled into their tents, patrick laid awake with his eyes open, listening to the sounds of the forest and trying to shake off the unsettling feeling that their stories had left him with. And he finally drifted off to sleep and a distant noise echoed through the trees. It was a low, growling sound unlike anything he had ever heard before. His eyes snapped open and he sat up and his heart started racing. Suddenly there was a loud rustling sound right outside of his tent, followed by heavy footsteps. "'guys', he called out with his voice trembling. "'is that you'? There was no answer back". And just outside of his tent flap, he heard a low growl.

Speaker 2:

Patrick's breath caught in his throat. He grabbed his flashlight and he unzipped the tent as quickly as he could, shining the beam into the darkness. He saw a massive shadow looming just beyond the edge of the campfire light. It was a very tall person and it seemed to sway back and forth as it was trying to decide what to do next. Mark Barry, patrick shouted, his voice breaking. There's something out here. The shadow stepped forward and Patrick saw it more clearly. The creature was covered in thick dark hair and it had a face that was almost human, but not quite. Patrick's mind raced Is this Bigfoot? The creature burst into laughter and pulled off a hairy mask, revealing that it was one of their friends from the nearby camp. We gotcha. Ha ha ha. Barry emerged from behind a tree, laughing so hard that he could barely breathe. You should have seen your face, pat. I thought you were going to get ready to run for your life. Patrick's fear quickly turned into relief and he couldn't help but laugh along with them, even though his heart was still pounding. You guys are the worst, he said, shaking his head. You really had me going there, and at this point it was about one in the morning and the excitement of the prank had started to wind down. Mark asked Barry, did you get that on video? And Barry said yep, we're going to get a million followers on YouTube. Everyone returned to their tents to sleep for a second time.

Speaker 2:

The next morning, patrick and his cousins visited their camp's website about a hundred yards away in the woods, and when they arrived they were surprised that the campsite was in shambles and the other friends why they were surprised that the campsite was in shambles and the other friends why they were missing. Wow, this looks strange, said Mark. It seems like they left in the middle of the night and they left all of their gear here. It was scattered everywhere, like maybe a bear had gone through it. Patrick and his cousin spent the next two hours yelling their names, but they got no response. Finally, everyone packed up and returned to their cars that were parked a couple of miles away and they found their two friends who had just gone back to their cars and slept in their cars, leaving all of their gear behind, and they were still asleep. Barry knocked on the window and woke them up. Hey, what's going on?

Speaker 2:

The friends claimed that a real Bigfoot had attacked their campsite in the middle of the night. Real Bigfoot had attacked their campsite in the middle of the night and they both had to run and leave everything just to escape with their lives. They described a large, hairy, human-looking thing and it hit their campsite about four o'clock in the morning and it started growling and eating their food, which was tied up to keep the bears out. But this was no bear. This thing figured out how to untie the food and started tearing everything down, and that's when we ran back to our cars in total darkness.

Speaker 2:

Now Patrick was convinced that this was just another prank, but the two friends seemed to be terrified and they didn't even want to return to the campsite to get their stuff. And then Patrick noticed that the two friends were all cut up and bleeding. What the hell. The two friends had to run back in the middle of the night to their cars, and they ran through many low hanging limbs and brush and got all cut up.

Speaker 2:

Well, if this was a prank, they sure went all out for it, even to the point of getting hurt. Patrick really started believing them when they wanted to stop at the local sheriff's office to report the incident. My gosh, who would do that? That this must not be a prank. This must have really happened. Now Patrick and his mom finally returned home, and several months have passed and Patrick is now a Bigfoot believer. He's not too eager to go camping anytime soon, but he does keep in touch with his cousins, who have also stopped going camping, and as far as I know, his friend's camping gear is still scattered all over the wooded hillside in Oregon. So if you plan to go camping in Eugene Oregon and you stumble into a scattered campsite, Run as the casket closes on another creepy episode.

Speaker 1:

We bid you farewell to the shadows that danced upon your fears. Oh, and thank you for joining us on this creepy journey into the unknown, where the darkness whispers secrets and the silence echoes within your soul. Find us online for some extra creepy content at creepyshow and, if you happen to make it through the night, don't forget to share this podcast with someone you want to terrorize. Good night, my little creepies. Sleep with one eye open, for the night is long and full of horror, thank you,