Georgia Nights

 

One Georgia Night
by
Thom Cantrall

          Summer was gone… It was Autumn and all indicators save midday temperatures knew it.  The leaves certainly knew it as they were well into their annual transition from the green of the growing  times to their display of the carotinoid pigments enabled when the chlorophyll descends from the leaves to it’s winter vacation realm in the roots.  Most of all, the nights knew it as the

mercury certainly followed the sun as it fell below the visible and caused all to reach for a jacket and move their chair a bit closer to the omnipresent campfire.

          On this occasion in 2013 some twenty of us were gathered in western Georgia to celebrate our familyhood, to

meet face to face, many for the first time, those we had only heretofore known as part of one group or another in Facebook and, finally to share our love of and research in the enigma of sasquatch.  We had chosen the spot where we had gathered as a result of sending out brother Keith Bearden out on scouting missions with the express purpose of finding the perfect place for us to gather.  That he had done so is attested to by the fact the group has returned here for successive years always with spectacular success.

          This inaugural gathering was all it was expected to be and so much more.   Arla

Williams had organized some of the activities to include presentations by some of those attending.  Expeditions into the thicker timber and bush were planned and executed with success.

           One exceptional event occurred when Alex Munoz and Peck White, both audio experts, were, with plenty of willing assistance, endeavoring to set out night recorders to see if they could capture the sounds of the sasquatch in the depth of the night.  As they were making their way into the creek bottom they had identified as the area they were to monitor, they were approached by two of the custodians of the area, inquiring as to what the team had planned.  Fearing they might have violated some tenet of the area they were in, they began to explain that they were doing research and as part of that, they wanted to monitor the night sounds in the area…  the custodians both began to stutter and back water, stating that this was a wild area and there were often noises heard that were not easily explained… and that they may hear things they might not recognize and etc, and so on and so forth…  our pair knew what they were speaking of and even of what they were trying not to speak of and, with a laugh, stopped them and explained who our group was and why we were here which calmed the pair down considerably.  With great good wishes, they sent the team on their way with hopes for the best of good fortune.

          One of the oddities found all around our camp which spoke to us loudly were the presence of non-human built, unnatural structures.   The most commonly encountered were the X structures which to those who have studied the phenomenon have learned convey  message of friendship and welcome.   The other most commonly found was the bent arch.  In this  structure, entire trees of varying diameters and heights were bent to the ground and the top anchored there.

          Evenings, after dinner, were almost universally spent around the communal campfire.   After dark had settled in, usually more than fifteen people could be found around the fire sharing stories and time together.  The fire was large as our resident fire-maker, Jonathan was a master at that task!  He took the task to heart and did his best to make the most of the chore…  on the evening about to be described, attendance was, indeed, generous and all who could be there, seemingly were there…  Conversation was lively and discussion animated as the day’s events were re visited and tomorrow’s events anticipated.  The adjacent photograph taken by Jennifer Cotney was just before the majority of the crowd arrived although, if one looks closely just behind me and just behind Gail, seated to my right, one can see the shine from the eyes of two of our guests…

          Annette, grandmother of the young girl playing in the fire, moved up beside Jennifer who had the camera in taking this photograph and the two women, neither of whom had ever had a face to face encounter with the sasquatch, began to chat from that position.  Within a very few

minutes, the crowd had gathered around the fire.  to my right and to the right of Gail, to the south side of the fire were Arla and the Hinsons.  Keith was next to Farrell Hinson.  People continued to come in until the entire ring was filled.  From my position on the west side of the fireplace I was looking directly across to the east and Jennifer and Annette when suddenly Annette looked stricken…  Her mouth opened and closed like she was a fish gulping water and her eyes opened widely.  At once her lips began to quiver like she was about to cry… and she grabbed piteously at Jennifer’s arm with one hand while the other tried to rise to point to the west, behind me, from the direction of her eyes.  In a weak, almost non-existent voice she uttered…  “L-l-l-o-o-k-k…. THERE!”

          Instantly, without thought or plan, I dropped my head directly back so as to look behind me.  What I saw shocked me as it had her… there, at the very edge of the firelight but still readily visible were TWO sasquatch people!  To the right of me, precisely where the shine is in that photograph was an apparent juvenile, so said because he was smaller than the much larger individual who was virtually directly behind me and

nearly close enough to touch had it chosen to do so.  without a moment’s hesitation, they both darted back into the woods and out of our immediate sight.

          Immediately, Arla, Keith and Zach Hinson followed them back into the brush and in a short distance, caught up with and watched them

in the brush for a bit… one adult and two juvenile sized individuals… After watching for a very few minutes, contact was broken and the trio returned to the now overexcited crowd around the fire… it was eight year old Zach who said, “I’ve seen more bigfoot on one campout than ‘Finding Bigfoot’ has seen in three years!!”  And, Y’know…. he’s right!