Kim Lonetree: There is a trail right next to a bunch of woods. I was with a couple other people and I heard footsteps in the woods following us.

Rich Daniels: There’s something big moving in the woods.

Avery Barsch: I would describe it around eight feet, really hairy.

Rich: This thing was massive.

[knocking]

Barnaby Jones: Something very large came through the woods towards us.

[snapping]

Rich: And it caught my eye and I stared right at it.

[animalistic howling]

Kim: This was a Bigfoot encounter.

[whooping] [whooping] [whooping]

Barnaby: My name is Barnaby Jones. I am a cryptozoologist and the founder of Cryptids, Anomalies, and the Paranormal Society. 100%, I believe in Bigfoot. In 2017, they launched the first convention here in Marinette, and they had a huge success. And then, this is the third year that we’ve been back up running, so six conventions so far, including this one. Today, we are here to talk about Bigfoot, and Bigfoot on a very local level.

Speaker: In particular in the Bigfoot field, they believe they have some sort of close contact, some sort of intimate connection to the creature.

Speaker: They had all these people, and they wanted to bring in speakers that were knowledgeable about the topic.

Speaker: He believed he had encountered something not of this universe.

Barnaby: To come in and present their findings to people local in the area.

[recording of roar]

Speaker: It’s all about Bigfoot, and it’s all these individuals that are very interested in Bigfoot and cryptids coming out to this conference.

Speaker: This is a phenomenon that’s not just on TV. It’s not just in the Pacific Northwest. It’s all over this country.

Speaker: A lot of people come the conventions like this because they have nowhere else to go. They have these experiences, they have these stories, and if you tell somebody that you see a Bigfoot, you’ve had a ghost encounter, a UFO encounter, people look at you and they’re gonna think that you’re crazy. So events like this, it gives people an outlet to come and be with their people.

[eerie music] [aerosol spraying]

Speaker: Through almost every inch of this property, so I have a pretty good idea of what most things are. We’re going out on this property, we are taking groups of people because everyone wants to go out with us and see this. So we’re gonna go out on the property, we’re gonna see what happens. We’re looking out over here, and this creature is standing there looking at us, and the lights are– the eyes are illuminated to the fact that I can take my flashlight away and they still shine.

[coyotes yelping]

Speaker: That’s coyotes.

Rich: It’s the perfect laboratory for studying this field, because there’s activity almost every time you walk out there if you’re paying attention.

Barnaby: We have gathered every kind of evidence that is possible. We’ve gotten thermal, we’ve gotten trail cameras, we’ve gotten audio, footprints. We’ve gotten it all off this property.

Kim: I personally believe that what they’ve experienced on that property is real.

[animalistic yelping]

Speaker: Is that you or something natural?

Rich: I thought that was you.

Speaker: It was an amazing experience.

Speaker: We got to hear a howl, followed by a lot of coyotes howling at the same time.

Barnaby: And that’s what draws people to these things like the paranormal, ghosts, Bigfoot, all of that. Because people want to believe in something more. That there’s not just an end to this. That there’s more out there to be discovered. It’s the sense of adventure.

Speaker: If you go out looking for these things and you expect to find them every time, you’re gonna be very disappointed.

Speaker: If you go out there to share stories, spend time with people, you’re always gonna have a good time.

Rich: One thing’s for sure. Once you have an experience with this, it never leaves you.

[person howling]