In The Shadow of Big Red Eye: The Hunt For Sasquatch w/Mike Familant

0:00 Coming up on Paratroop Reborn, we'll be talking with Michael Femelant about his documentary In the Shadow of Big Red Eye. Welcome to Paratroop.

0:41 Welcome, everybody, to Paratroop Reborn. My name is Eric. And I'm Justin. And tonight we're heading deep into the woods to explore a mystery that's fascinated generations. That mystery is Bigfoot. We've all heard the stories. Massive footprints, strange noises in the dark, enormous figures disappearing between the trees. But what happens when someone spends years actually investigating those reports? Our guest tonight, Mike Thamelant, has done exactly that. We're talking possible evidence, unforgettable encounters, the reality of field investigations, and what might be waiting in the shadows. Mike, welcome to Pear 2-3 Born.

1:25 Hey, thank you guys for having me. Appreciate it. Absolutely. Great to have you. So what originally sparked your fascination with Bigfoot? And when did that fascination turn into something you felt compelled to investigate? It all started back in 2011. I was working at a beach resort in Sarasota, Florida. And I was watching one evening Finding Bigfoot on TV. And at the end of the program, they were like, hey, if you want to come out with the team and look for Bigfoot, you can. I was like, oh, my goodness, there's no way I'm not doing this. Now, previous to this, I had no interest in the outside whatsoever. I was an indoor kid, put me in front of a TV with a movie or a video game, and I'm solid for the day, you know. So this is my first ever expedition camping was this Bigfoot expedition. So I purchased two tickets, one for me, one for my fiance, whom I did not tell that we were going to go look for Bigfoot.

2:25 All right. This is going to be like a pre-wedding surprise anyway. So got the tickets. Turns out she didn't end up wanting to go on this expedition. We broke up prior to the prior to the expedition. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of straw that broke the camel's back. It was awesome. Anyways, I'm an EMT by trade. So I moved up to Tampa. I got a job working on the ambulance for the city of Tampa. And I had three EMT partners, three paramedic partners. And what I had done was I picked the weirdest person. And I had said, I asked him, Jimmy, his name is Jimmy. I said, do you want to come look for Bigfoot with us, with me? And he said, oh, I've always wanted to do that. So I said, nice, you know. So we go up to Torreya State Park in North Florida, and there's like 60 other people there.

3:18 So I'm like, how are we going to find Bigfoot with 60 other people? Like, I'm so new at this thing. I didn't know how it worked, but I knew that we'd trance in through the woods with 60 other people. We're probably not going to find Bigfoot. So I was just kind of taking the weekend as like a full people watching adventure. And nothing happened. It was a great trip. We met a lot of cool people. There were a lot of weird people, too. but nothing happened, nothing squatchy happened to us at all until the last night. It was the last night, and Jimmy and I were up watching this meteor shower, and it's a beautiful celestial event, and I was living in Tampa, so I kind of lost respect for the night sky. So watching this beautiful event was cool, and just talking with my buddy, and all of a sudden we hear a tree knock come from one side of camp. And I immediately thought that it was the people that put on the expedition. You know, like someone knocking on a tree, pretending it's Bigfoot, didn't think twice about it. Until, bam, in the complete opposite direction, another tree knock. So I said, man, these guys got to be pretty good. You know, if they're hoaxing us. About, I don't know, five minutes goes by and then all of a sudden you hear come crashing down through the forest. Plunk.

4:36 a fist-sized rock. Now, it was at this point in my life where I said, nope, this is how horror movies start. I am getting out of here. And Jimmy, he was like, well, if you want to go sleep in the car, you could sleep in the... And by the time he had said that, I was, boom, had my sleeping bag and I was just beelining it right to the car. So he comes up to the car and he's like, Mike, Bigfoot knock on trees and they throw rocks. This could be The whole point, that's the whole point of why we're here is to get Bigfoot activity. So I said, yeah, I mean, I suppose you're right. So I went out by the campfire. Over the course of the next 15 minutes, four more of these fist-sized rocks come crashing down and land five to 10 feet away from us. So then my buddy comes up to me, Jimmy comes up to me with a rock in his hand.

5:30 He says, Mike, I've got an idea. I'm going to throw a rock out. I said, Jimmy, man, I don't really think that's a great idea. So he takes the rock and he chucks it back in that direction. And I knew it wasn't a person because at that exact moment, a 15-pound laptop-sized boulder came crashing down through the trees and landed five feet away from us. Yeah, and that was it. We didn't see Bigfoot that night. We didn't solve the mystery. That wasn't what happened. But we did find something that is unexplainable and something that is obviously outside of human range that could throw those rocks. So it lit a fire under us, and that happened back in 2011, so 15 years ago. Wow.

6:23 Well, the similarities between you and I are very odd because I used to live in Sarasota, Bradenton, Ariella. And then now you live in Jersey, not far from where I was living in Jersey. So it's fascinating to me how small the world this is, let alone the paranormal community. Yeah. So the name Shadow of Big Red Eye was inspired by a reporter encounter in High Point State Park, New Jersey. What do we know about that story and why? Did it stick with you?

7:04 Well, it all started back in 1972. There was a state park ranger up in High Point State Park that went on record and said that during his night patrol, he saw two pairs of reflecting red eyes in the forest. He wrote that down in his report. And I guess I don't know how, but somehow it got leaked to the local newspaper, the Star-Ledger. And front page the next morning on the Star-Ledger was Sussex County's Bigfoot Big Red Eye. And that's our little 15 minute claim to fame, uh, Bigfoot story. And that's how, uh, my, my show in the shadow of Big Red Eye got its name because we're always just seem to be right in the shadow of Big Red Eye. Yeah.

7:46 Well, now this obviously led you to, to, to want to, um, film a documentary. Uh, it, And in particularly a series, instead of relying on what Bigfoot shows have already existed and pre-existed the show. So what was it that really drew you to want to create this documentary and share it with so many like-minded people? So I was watching, after this first expedition, I got really into Bigfoot. And we were watching all the shows on TV. And.... We really got into it and, and all the shows into defining Bigfoot was huge back then. There were a couple other small shows, million dollar Bigfoot bounty, I think was out back then or something like that. And I don't know, there were a couple other shows, but anyway, my point was the shows on TV don't portray the way Bigfooting is actually done. I don't want to burst anybody's bubble or anything like that, but the shows on TV are very heavily produced and edited and stuff like that. And, Doing this for a couple of years, I decided that I was going to make a show that wasn't heavily edited or produced by anybody else but myself. And I called it In the Shadow of Big Red Eye. And here we are 10 seasons later, almost 11 seasons later doing doing the show.

9:10 That's awesome. And, you know, it's like so many paranormal shows out there. Aside from Bigfoot, they tend to heavily rely on the editing and the little jump scares or the music. And then, you know, at the end of the show, there's nothing. I love when shows play music over evidence. Right? Did you hear that? No, I just heard the music playing. I know. It doesn't make any sense to me. Well, that's like any documentary that uses music like. I get it. Maybe you want to have a soundtrack or whatever, but yeah, it's. A false.

9:52 Feeling that you're giving people. Well, I mean, that's the point, right? It's to build the atmosphere. Oh, yeah. I know that, yeah. are just strictly entertainment. Whereas with your documentary, it's coming from a very scientific standpoint in finding this creature. And you're out there looking for them. And you're not trying to build the suspense the way that these other places, other, other. My shows don't rely on ratings to keep going, which is the coolest thing. You know, I don't have to worry about what someone thinks about my show. If they don't like it, then they don't tune in and they don't get a subscriber. You know what I mean? So it's it's not like, you know, of course, it does help that I have a large following now. And that's because I think I've been doing it for so long and people realize that the show is true and meaningful and what Bigfooting is really about. Right.

10:45 Yeah. Now, what was that first investigation like? And was there anything that was different from what you were expecting? Well, I don't I wasn't expecting anything. I was expecting a weekend full of people watching. And and it was it was wonderful up until those rocks got thrown at us. It was it was wonderful people watching territory. However, I didn't expect anything to happen. And when it did, it was like, you got it. Somebody is definitely messing with us. And then I thought that all the way up until that large boulder got crashed down. And then as soon as that happened, I was like, okay, something, there's no possible way anybody could have thrown that. I couldn't have thrown that from here to 20 feet away, let alone come crashing down through the canopy of the trees. So that was just so life-changing, just a jaw-dropping moment of life.

11:51 It changed the direction. Those 15 minutes of that rock getting thrown changed the course of my life forever. Yeah. That's wild. I wish I'd have been able to experience something like that with the rocks. This past summer, I did an episode of Expedition X where we were hunting Bigfoot in central Ohio. And we were out in the middle of the woods, 3 a.m., and we're all just standing around, and there are these same knocks. It just sounds like somebody banging a baseball bat up against a tree. And, like, I knew what it was. They knew what it was, you know, and what it sounded like. So we're all, like, pretty excited, you know. But, of course, we don't find anything.

12:31 We can't see any of the looking. But, like, the idea of, like, having the... Because the rocks being thrown is a big thing. And we did... interviews with people who had noticed that, who witnessed those rocks being thrown and many more things happening. Um, but that had to be so exciting to just like, I mean, obviously scary in the moment as well, uh, for you, but afterward to be like, Oh my God, there's something actually out there. Uh, You know, you have yet to see it, but it sparked that fire. Yeah, it was a sleepless night after that by no stretch of the imagination. And it was weird. The next morning, because we were camping with a whole bunch of other people, so the next morning I was like, hey, did anybody to our camp neighbors, hey, did anybody, you know, hear or see anything last night? And nobody did. So, you know, we wanted to be all scientific since this was a Bigfoot research expedition. So I was like, okay, let's see how far this thing could have been from us that was throwing these rocks. I think that was a good question that I figured I could ask. So we did some measurements. The closest this thing could have been was 75 yards away just because of the geography and the terrain. So, I mean, again, outside of human range. So in about– so we left that expedition– knowing that, like I said,

14:02 there was something capable of throwing substantially sized rocks at us. We didn't, we, we, we came into this expedition thinking it was going to be a weekend full of people watching. We left this expedition thinking that there's Bigfoot and we're now making it our personal goal to find Bigfoot. That's going to be what we're doing. So, uh, we started watching all the shows on TV, like finding Bigfoot was popular. Like I said, back then in about a three week timeframe, uh, We decided that we are now professionals, right? So we go out to this place in Central Florida. Justin, you may know it's Colt Creek State Park. It's in Lakeland. Beautiful, beautiful area. We get there for one night, one night only.

14:49 It's Jimmy and I, and we start a night hike. Jimmy's not scared at all because he's got his six-foot-tall Bear Grylls machete. and his 10 million lumen spotlight that he's got shining everywhere in the woods. We get about a mile and a half from camp on our night hike, and Jimmy's spotlight comes across two pairs of reflecting eyes. All right? So one pair, fire engine red, just like this. The other pair was aqua blue. Intriguing. So... Jimmy and I, we thought it was people. We didn't realize people don't have eyeshine. We can't see at night like our pets and our animals can. So we start yelling out. I start yelling out, hey, we're just looking for Bigfoot, you know.

15:40 And yeah. And there's no reply. Just the deafening silence that every that now I realize is probably good. Good potential for Bigfoot activity is hearing that deafening silence around you. I didn't realize that at the time. So I start yelling out again, hey, we're just going to go back to camp. Sorry to bother you guys. And then the red set of eyes turned, looked at the blue set of eyes, turned and looked back at us, and then blinked. It was another nope moment in our lives. We were out of there. Jimmy put a notch in the tree with his machete. So when we went back the next day, because we wanted to do a recreation like we saw him do on TV, you know how Bobo goes in the woods and he does his arm thing. we did the same thing and we found out the eyes were like seven and a half feet tall and like two feet apart from each other. So unless that was two owls of a different species sitting on a branch that didn't exist there, I think we might've saw two, two Bigfoot that night. So that's, yeah. And that, that just, that just fueled the intensity of our investigations. And from there it just, it just took off, you know, tenfold.

16:55 Well, now, in looking back over your years in the field, you know, at one point you were interested in Bigfoot. You had gone out to learn about him, try to find him. But how has your perspective now changed on Bigfoot after all these years? I mean, I'd imagine there's been some change, you know, obviously still out there, but what other details are you now like, oh yeah, this is what I believed then, this is what I believe now? Well, I had come to, like, I figured on every early investigation that I did that I was going to prove the existence of Bigfoot. There was no doubt in my mind that that's just not what I was going to, I was going to do that. That was just, I was going to be the person that proved Bigfoot existed.

17:38 Something to realize now that that's probably not going to happen. Uh, I would, um, In fact, my viewpoint has changed so much that I believe in Bigfoot 80%. I've never seen a Bigfoot, so I don't know if Bigfoot's out there. I can't say 100% that Bigfoot's there because I've never personally seen one. However, I believe 80% because of the evidence that I've found, the experiences that have happened to me, the mysteries that I can't explain in the woods. 80 percent. So I think that's a stark difference between when I first started investigating. Oh, I'm definitely going to find Bigfoot tonight to maybe maybe, you know, there's a chance that Bigfoot may actually not even be out here.

18:22 Right. So there's so many locations that are reported Bigfoot sightings and Bigfoot activity records. When you're trying to decide on a location, what criteria are you looking for that it's like, okay, I should go investigate this? Okay, so I have two answers for you. Do you want the Bigfoot investigator answer or do you want my answer? Let's go with your answer. My answer is I travel for a living. I speak at libraries about Bigfoot. Um, uh, for, for full, my full-time job, that's my primary source of income. So, um, with that, I do tours and I travel across the country. And, uh, by doing that as I pick, uh, a place I want to go say Indiana or Maine or Florida or wherever have you. And I pick a place in, in that state. And what I do is I flood every email or every library with emails and postcards and all that good stuff. And I try to get library presentations in said certain area that I want to visit. Once I get a few libraries, I strategically look for a state park or a camping location in the vicinity that's logistically going to be the easiest for me to get to those libraries. And I camp there and I look for Bigfoot. Now, that's not the Bigfoot researcher answer, which is going to be I follow the hot spots and I look for food. shelter, cover and water and all that good stuff. But it's not necessarily put me in

19:55 the most squatchiest of places ever. I mean, I have been, but that method hasn't. But it's been put me in some really undersquatched areas, if you will, that people have not really been out investigating ever before. And that's cool that I'm going to be the first person there investigating these such areas. Right. No, definitely. So walk us through a typical expedition from like the moment you arrive at a location until you pack up and leave. What's what's the plan? What's the process? So we get there, depending on what time we get there, we're going to do a scouting investigation during the day. So we look for a suitable place to do a night hike that night. So we look for different things.

20:42 And while we're on the night hikes, or the scouting day hikes, we look for Bigfoot tracks. We look for tree structures, hair samples, scat, all those things. biological samples that we could possibly find during the day. And we look for other things such as potential dangers for night hikes, cliffs, bad terrain, steep terrain, all that good stuff that potential we could have a problem with that night when we're doing it at the during the dark. We'll go back to camp, cook a marvelous steak dinner over the fire or something like that, and then do our night hike.

21:22 And then the next day, We'll go do a library presentation during the day, get some intel from the library presentation from the locals where they have seen Bigfoot, try to investigate that area that night and repeat the next day. Now there's, I mean, in a paranormal investigation, there's tons of equipment you can have there and whatnot. Is there specific equipment you use for a Bigfoot investigation? And are there any, popular bigfoot investigation tools that you think are overrated. Yeah um so we have the uh i use a thermal thermal camera it's not a fleer but it's a top dog i think or top con something like that uh it's it's a really good thermal camera i just got it um so i i utilize that all the time it has recording capabilities which is super important especially if you're out looking for bigfoot or paranormal stuff i would assume you want to have recording capabilities um Then we have our two cameras. We have our Canon XA30 and 40s, which are great cameras for bringing out in the woods. They're very robust. They're great night vision cameras.

22:34 They have built-in IR capabilities in them. That's one thing that's a little overrated. Bigfoot researchers say that Bigfoot could have the capabilities of seeing this IR, the infrared light that these cameras produce. which I think is possible. I think it's other animals we know can see this light. So I think Bigfoot, it's well in their capabilities of being able to see it, I believe. So bringing all this equipment out into the woods is probably not the best way you're going to find Bigfoot. I think the best way you're going to find Bigfoot is by going out and sitting in the field for 12 hours in the pitch black with no electronics whatsoever, with just a chair and listening. don't do any howls, don't do any vocalizations, just sit there and listen. But, and I've done that and it's very interesting. It brings a lot of results. However, it does make for a very boring YouTube show. The ratings just dropped after that episode. So I have to, can't do that.

23:38 Wow. Yeah. Well, and then on top of that, I mean, it's, you don't have the equipment to, to, you know, snap a photo or get the proper video. If one arrives, it would just be, what you saw and they have more on experience and that's not what people want, but. And that's, you know, it depends on what you're out there for. Uh, if you want to document the species, you want to have a camera. Um, for me, it's, it's not about necessarily documenting the species. It's, I want to know what threw rocks at me in Florida. That's kind of why I'm doing this whole thing, why I started this journey and why I continue this journey. Uh, it's, you know, I bring the cameras to make the YouTube show because I think it's just really fun. It's just really fun to make a YouTube show and a show that people enjoy and, uh, can get a kick out of.

24:29 It's just, I love that aspect of it. Um, it's just, uh, I don't know. It's just all, all around the best thing. It's just so much fun. Yeah. Well, now have you found, um, certain environments, seasons, or even times of day in which maybe produce more unusual reports or experiences for you? Or is it typically always at night regardless of season? Well, during 70% of Bigfoot sightings happen during the day and there are five second or less road crossing sightings. So if you want to look for Bigfoot sightings, The best chance you're going to find Bigfoot is by driving down these backcountry roads during the day with a trail cam.

25:15 Important because you want to get, you know, record it looking for Bigfoot. That's the best way you're going to get evidence. However, that's 70% of sightings occur during the day. That leads me to believe that Bigfoot is a nocturnal creature. If that number was like 98%, 99% of sightings happen during the day, I would say, okay, definitely a daytime creature. But because it's only 70%, that means that creature is spotted 30% at night. There's not a lot of people out in the woods at night to see this creature. So that means I think Bigfoot is definitely a nocturnal creature. That's why we go out at night and do our things at night. I think they travel under the cover of darkness. I've noted that full moons are bad times to go look for Bigfoot. because it's so bright out.

26:05 If it's cloudy, it's a little bit better. But new moons are always a good time to go look for Bigfoot. And more specifically in the fall, fall time, especially in northwestern New Jersey, is the time to go look for Bigfoot. So you have daytime back roads, driving down daytime back roads in the fall, looking for Bigfoot in northwestern New Jersey is a high probability that you're going to see something. Right on. All right, folks, we're going to take a quick break and hear from our supporting sponsor, and we will be right back with Mike VanMolant. A quick thank you to our supporting sponsor, Nodakian Studios. Looking for something truly one of a kind? Nodakian Studios creates high-fired ceramics that are dishwasher, microwave, and food safe.

26:54 Every mug, bowl, vase, bottle, and planter is wheel-thrown and hand-decorated. making each piece unique. They also offer pottery classes for all skill levels, whether you're touching clay for the first time or looking to expand your artistic skills. Nodakian Studios, where craftsmanship and creativity come together. Find out more at nodakianstudios.com. All right, folks. Welcome back to Paratrooth Reborn, and we're talking to Mike Famelant about... his documentaries into Bigfoot research. Now, Mike, um, of all the expeditions that you've done so far, um, are there any that stand out to you, um, compared to others?

27:46 Yeah. Um, I think that the coolest, most intriguing one was up in Whitehall, New York actually, um, There's a white hall is historically in the, in the seventies and eighties known for a big foot sightings. Uh, police officers had sightings back in the day. A bear road is historically known for one of those sightings, but regardless, it's still a hotspot to this day. Uh, every year white hall holds a big foot festival where they draw in over 20,000 people over like two days, which is insane. Um, I think it's actually over one day now. They only, they could have done it one day, but anyways, We do research every time we go up there. And we got surrounded by Bigfoot one night. And you can hear it on my YouTube channel, but it's a sound clip of us. You can hear Bigfoot walking around us, footfalls around us, knocking on trees. And you can hear rocks being thrown and hitting trees behind us. It was six minutes long. The original clip is six minutes long. And then it stopped. And the most intriguing thing is when we were back the next day to try to figure, see if anything left any evidence of what was throwing rocks at us, we found a tree that was, the night prior was at a very straight, non-broken angle. Now at a 90 degree broken angle across the path, it's about a six inch diameter tree, maybe eight inch diameter tree. Nobody, there's no, weather pattern that came through that night, the

29:19 tree was live. Um, what I'm getting at is we could, we tried to take down a tree that was similar size and we couldn't even come close to it. So whatever took that tree down was, had some power behind it. It was probably didn't want us in that area. So, that stands out as one of the most frightening and intriguing investigations I've ever had. Well now, so one thing that, you know, you talk about going to these libraries and you're talking to people, you're hearing stories from people. What is one of the most compelling eyewitness accounts that you've heard from someone that that made you particularly believe that their story has to be real and no doubt definitely saw something?

30:09 There is a witness that I met from New Jersey, actually, and he was a hunter that was in the woods and he and his buddy observed two Bigfoot, an adult and a juvenile, Uh, he was building a tree stand. He sat down to take a break along a gas line in Sussex County, New Jersey. And, uh, he, uh, got up and started continuing on to build his tree stand, uh, hike down the trail a little bit further. When he turned around, uh, he saw two Sasquatch right where he sat down to take a break. The mother Sasquatch was sniffing the air just like this, uh, trying to wind him.

30:55 And the, the, uh, the juvenile Bigfoot was quote like a beagle or spider monkey on the ground sniffing where he was sitting down. He didn't return to this scene for 30 years. He didn't go back into the woods until he went back with me and we did a recreation. And that has to be one of the most powerful witness interviews that I've ever, ever experienced. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like, I mean, any type of experience that prevents people from going back to a place, you know, like there has to be something there. You know, people don't just make up those stories for no reason. No, and he was so hesitant to share his encounter, especially on camera. He didn't want to be filmed at first.

31:43 And I said, listen. listen, you got something that people want to hear. There could be so many other people out there that are just waiting for somebody to share their story so that they could share their own encounter. And that's what I tell people at these libraries is, you know, I ask at the beginning of the program, how many people have ever seen a Bigfoot? And a couple hands go up maybe and I'll ask them what they saw. But, you know, by the time the program's over, I have a line of people waiting to come up to me to share their encounter of bigfoot and i think that's absolutely phenomenal. It is that that is and it's it's interesting that it's um how many people like they need to build up the courage they need to need to watch other people tell their stories and for them to be like okay this is a safe space i'm not gonna be ridiculed or made fun of or whatever um and the same thing happens you know with people that we have come on to this show uh to share their stories that they're hesitant they don't want people they're like they don't even want us to be like, Oh, well that sounds silly.

32:42 You know? And so we always have to coax them. Like, it's fine. Like this is a safe space. Um, and I think that's probably something that you do regularly is try to create that safe space, uh, either with the way you present yourself or just how you set up, uh, these little, um, you know, these little, uh, library share holds. Yeah, it's, it's, it's great. It's, um, And the libraries are, they're very receptive to it. There's only a couple times that I've had any hecklers come in. The one time, the one time I did have a heckler, it was like my very, I think it was like my second library presentation ever. So this is like a long time ago.

33:23 I was so new. I don't remember what I was, I don't remember what I said. You know what I mean? Like, but I do remember that at the end of the program, I ask, I always ask if anybody has any questions and Uh, the one guy that came in 10 minutes late to my program, which kind of pisses me off to start off with, like, don't come in late, you know, but anyways, he took a seat right up front and his hand was up first, first, you know, question. So I called on him and he stood up, he turned around and faced the audience and he said, do you guys actually believe any of this crap? And the whole audience just had like an audible, like gasp. and like deer in the headlights, like, well, I got nothing. Now, if I was today, if somebody were to say that to me, I think I'd be a little more keen and, and, uh, responsive to their, to their statement. However, uh, back in the day, I was just so new. I, I, I did, I had no idea. It was caught me so off guard, but, um, Everybody is mostly receptive. Some of the library directors that I work with all the time, they report people that come into the libraries that they've never seen before, which I think is really great. That's getting people out into the community and into libraries and hopefully some different types, sorts of library programs, and maybe even to get a library card and to look at books for the community.

34:53 It's all, it's this whole Bigfoot community building thing that I've created isn't just about bigfoot it's in fact it doesn't have anything to do with bigfoot at all it's about exploring it's about questioning it's about wandering uh and it's about just getting outside and into nature and doing something that you wouldn't seeing something that you wouldn't see sitting on the couch every day that's why i do this. So you've mentioned a couple of different um experiences and stuff like that, um, for those that are going out wanting to do Bigfoot, um, research and have these investigations, um, what, what advice would you give people to like, say they're getting the knocks and the rocks thrown at them, even sightings, what, what should they be doing in those instances with where it wouldn't cause like Bigfoot to fear or even rush people?

36:00 Yeah, it all really depends on your intention. I mean, when you get rocks thrown at you, I think that's kind of an intimidation thing that Bigfoot will do that is kind of like, hey, you're too close to our family group, so we need to get you out of the area. And notice those rocks didn't get smaller as the time went on and on. Um, and then when my buddy threw that rock back at it, a boulder came out of the woods and that was a statement. That wasn't just a, that wasn't a whisper. That was a statement saying you need to, you need to leave. And if it wasn't for my buddy, I would have been out of there. But, um, it all comes down to what you want to do for your own research.

36:42 If you want to try to document the research then or document Bigfoot and get video evidence of Bigfoot, then I would suggest, um, And this may not be the best advice, but go towards those rocks being thrown. If that's what you truly want to see, if that's what you're after, then that's what you got to do. If you just want to experience being out in the woods and have something unexplained happen to you and you're good with those rocks being thrown, don't bring a camera. Just go out for a normal day hiking through Bigfoot territory and you'll have a good chance that something might happen to you. And especially like looking for Bigfoot too. When you go camping, uh, the most activity that I get is not when I go out on night hikes, it's the person that stays back at camp that gets the most activity. So, um, you know, it's, you don't have to, you don't have to go on these intensive hikes or, or do these crazy things looking for a big foot.

37:38 You just have to be in the right mindset and, uh, be, uh, just be in the right area. You know, it's, you gotta be in the right area at the right time at the right place to find Bigfoot. And I think that mindset, that's another thing too. Uh, before we, we go out on our investigations, we like to get in the mindset of, Hey, we're not here to hurt you. We're not, and I'm not one to try to kill Bigfoot. I don't bring guns out in the woods. Uh, I'm not, I'm not trying to try to do that whole thing. I know there's some people that are in more power to you, not me. Um, But I think the mindset is really good. I don't know if Bigfoot is sensitive to our feelings or could feel what we can feel.

38:26 I don't know. But it's not going to hurt, right, to get in that mindset. So that's why we do that. We try to do that before every investigation is get into that mindset of, hey, we're just here to have a good time and see what's going on. if we can get a peek at you, if you'll let us see you. And if you do, we, we appreciate it very much. Yeah. Yeah. It's, you know, it's one of those things where in the moment, it might sound, sound silly or feel silly to put the, that energy out there. Right. Yeah. You don't know, you know, obviously people don't always feel that energy. So why would Bigfoot, um, but over recent, relatively recent years, um, you know, Bigfoot has kind of shifted in many ways. versions of his story. You know, most people see him as this cryptid, you know, beast humanoid type creature. Uh, but he's also recently been, uh, accounted as being a spectral figure or as being, an extraterrestrial that can portal three dimensions. And so when you take those type of accounts in and you consider what those type of things do in their own spaces, spirits and potential extraterrestrial life and so on and so forth, the supernatural, you can't discount the possibility that it could read minds and why it's even capable of of avoiding people even more so, knowing if you're out there looking for them, you know, if they can read that or feel that energy. Like you said, they might even be

39:57 able to see some of the IR light that's being put out with some of this equipment, which is still way above what anything a human can do. Yeah. Yep. So, you know, with all that said, and considering the fact that we are in 2026, we have smartphones, we have trail cams, we have modern recording equipment everywhere. literally everywhere. Why do you think, personally, that we can't, for whatever reason, get clear, conclusive Bigfoot evidence, regardless of all the equipment that's out there scanning the tree lines and, you know, just independent places from homes and whatnot? Yeah, well, that's a great question. Like I alluded to before, the average Bigfoot sighting lasts five seconds. So go ahead and take out your phone starting now. One to, you know, you know, see what I'm getting at. Take a clear picture of me running across the room at five seconds.

40:53 I do this at my library presentations and nobody can get a clear picture. It's just not, it's just not going to happen. It's, it's just not going to happen. So then you get Bigfoot, add Bigfoot to the equation. And now you're seeing something that's not supposed to exist there. You're going to be shaking to start with. You're going to be so nervous. You know, it's just that it doesn't, it doesn't line up to get a good clear picture. The trees don't align. The universe doesn't align to get a clear picture of Bigfoot. Trail cameras, like I said, I think they're a great tool for Bigfoot investigations, but it's because Bigfoot, I think, can see that light. So I think it avoids going in front of these cameras.

41:42 So if you strategically place these cameras around your campsite, You can almost create a funnel for Bigfoot that if you do have an inquisitive Bigfoot to come in and check out your base camp, you could almost funnel him in. And guess what you're going to be doing in that little funnel that you got? You're going to be sitting with your infrared camera looking right in that area. That's such an underrated way to get really good evidence. It's such a great technique that not a lot of researchers use, and it's a shame. Yeah. So Bigfoot goes by so many different names, not just here in the U.S., but around the world. I mean, here in the U.S., we have several Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Skunk Ape, Grassman.

42:28 You got the Yeti. You've got the Yowie. Do you think these reports describe the same phenomenon or the same creature? Are all of these different things something like in the Bigfoot family, but a different species? genius or something like that. Yeah, I think that Bigfoot is all one creature. I don't think there's multiple versions of Bigfoot across the countries. It would be very difficult for there to be multiple unknown hominids that are still undiscovered in the world. I mean, it's possible, but I think having one is pretty good enough.

43:10 Geographically and physically, we look and live in different places. So does that make sense? Yeah. So I think Bigfoot would probably look a little different living in different climates because it would be evolved differently than a Bigfoot in Florida evolved differently than a Bigfoot in Canada because of Bergman's rule. It's a geographical principle that says that animals that live in southern environments or warmer environments are generally smaller than animals that live in colder environments. So that's a, that's just a, it's just an eco biological principle that's, that's seen throughout the world. So, um, that could explain the, the, the physical differences. Um, and then, you know, the names, just cultural things. I mean, we have different names for things across the world. So who knows, you.

44:06 Know, just like humans basically. Yeah. Yeah. We have, And people say, you know, all the time, those two different color eyeshines, the red and the blue eyeshine that we saw, you know, why did we see those two? Well, humans, as humans, we have different color eyes. So I think Bigfoot do too. I wouldn't put it at a range of that, you know? Right. Red's pretty scary though. Yeah. Yeah. Red's not a good color to see from eyes at night. That's either a bad case of two pink eyes from somebody or you're looking at... You're looking at something else. Yeah, right. That's how the show got its name, actually. I just lied about the whole Park Ranger story. I got a bad case of pink eye one time.

44:50 You went out in the field and someone was like, that's one big red eye you got there. That's it. I knew it was there. It opened up. That was the name of the show. So now, if an undiscovered large primate were living somewhere in North America, or really anywhere for that matter, what ecological evidence would you expect most researchers or all researchers to eventually find? Well, you're going to find scat. I mean, that's just going to be the nature of the beast. Bigfoot's going to leave remnants of where it's been. But the big thing is, especially now with... with this new technology that's coming out in the eDNA. I don't know if you guys have heard of that, but it's in, it's called environmental DNA. It's where scientists can take a sample from a pond or a puddle or a lake or something like that. And by DNA, something or others that's, you know, at a pay grade way higher than I get paid.

45:58 They're able to tell you what species live in, in there or have traveled or walked through that puddle. Wow. Which is crazy. You can get, they actually can do this with soil samples and a footprint. So if you find a Bigfoot footprint and you have the right collection techniques and methods available to you, you can actually send that soil sample off and get an eDNA looked at and see what animal left that footprint. And if it's Bigfoot, then boom, we have an unknown creature on our hands. Yeah. That's wild to think about.

46:39 Fun fact for you, they did that eDNA at Loch Ness to try to find the Loch Ness monster, and they did not find any unknown creatures in the lake. So, since you bring that up, what is your opinion about all the different cryptids? Like, for example... Nessie, Bigfoot, the thylacine, Mothman. What are your thoughts about, are these all physical creatures or do you think there's something odd going on where people are seeing these things? You got to take each one for each one. The thylacine is, I think that's my, that's my, by far my favorite creature that I've ever heard about and ever studied. Uh, if I could go out there and research that tomorrow, I would drop everything and go out there. But, um, you gotta take each creature with it as like, do I think the Jersey devil ever existed?

47:39 No. Uh, I think it's a cool story, but I don't think you're gonna have a child that's going to grow that like wings, a horse head, kill the family, fly up through the chimney and terrorize the residents of the pine barrens of this day. Is that, uh, is that, is that a good folklore story? Abso-freaking-lutely. But did it happen? I don't know. But Bigfoot, on the other hand, there's thousands of firsthand accounts of big people seeing this creature. Mothman is another interesting one. Not so much. I don't know how much I can get on board with Mothman. Dogman, I've never seen in the woods. The way I look at it is I camp exclusively across the country. in some of the deepest remote hotspots in, in, in really in the world or in the, at least in the United States, looking for cryptids, specifically Bigfoot. I have never come across anything. I can't say that it's Bigfoot related.

48:41 You know, I, I've never come across a big dog footprint that I could say could be dog, man. I've never seen anything flying overhead. That's bigger than anything I I've ever seen before. nothing, even Bigfoot, like I said, never seen Bigfoot. I'm at a biological point where I think Bigfoot's a biological creature, meaning it's here on this planet like a chicken or a duck or a turkey. Like you said, some people think nowadays that it could be interdimensional or UFO related. I'm open to the idea and I'll be the first to admit I I, I want to see that. I want to see a big foot disappear in front of me. That would be the coolest thing ever. Um, but I don't think it's going to happen. I mean, I'm open to the idea is just, I I've, I've never seen it. So I can't say that that can happen, you know?

49:36 Yeah. Well, no. So, I mean, obviously you mentioned earlier that you don't always find good evidence on an investigation or an expedition. Sometimes you're just sitting in the woods and you're hearing noise and then that's it. So after all of these years of searching, what actually keeps you motivated when an expedition doesn't produce any results? Like, has there ever been a time where you're just like, you know what? I think this is the last one. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And then it happens. Something. happens and whether it's a tree knock or a distant vocalization you have some researchers that get activity reported 50% of the time that they're out every other time that they go out looking for Bigfoot and they say they get activity or every other other time or whatever those investigators do not understand what they're looking for. You're not going to get activity every other time you go out. It's just not going to, you just don't know what you're listening for. You're, you're, you're misidentifying something. If you get activity that often, it just doesn't happen. I sit at about a 10%. I'm a 10 percenter. So I get active. I get some sort of unknown, something occurring one out of 10 times that I go out. And like you said, it's on the ninth time. where I'm like, man, this is getting

51:06 really boring. And I don't know how many of these shows that I could keep doing because my fans are going to get bored if I keep not finding stuff. So I think I'm going to hang it up and, you know, hey, throw in the towel. And then, you know, not five minutes later, bam, a tree knock. And it's like, come on. Really? You're going to do that to me? You're going to do me like that right now? And then it begins again. Well, you just described our, like I mentioned before we started recording, our entire adventure through the paranormal. We'll be good for a while. All of a sudden it's getting boring.

51:47 We leave, we come back, but we always come back. And it's one of those things that you can't get away from. Since we are getting close to the end, I did want to ask. So you've done a lot of different investigations over the past 10 years doing this project. Um, what's next for in the shadow of Big Red Eye? Um, we're actually, I, I, I just, uh, completed it, uh, right before I got on the air with you guys, which I'm super excited about. Uh, we have a brand new presentation and tour for 2027. It's called Bigfoot on the back roads. It's my new library tour. Um, it has, uh, it, it's a whole shift from, My my this year's tour was presenting the evidence that I found in the Bigfoot travel, you know, in the in the in the in the the evidence. Next year's presentation is about the journey. So it's it's more of an expedition type presentation. It's it's I don't even mention my show in it. It's it's all about the journey of getting to where I've been at to this day. And it's going to be so fun.

52:53 I can't wait. We have some really amazing new destinations lined up for 2027. It'll be our 11th season filming, which is insane. That's 11 years we've been doing the show. We're planning to get out to the Pacific Northwest next year. Hopefully, fingers crossed, if everything lines up, we're going to be going out that way for about a month, which would be amazing. We're heading back to Florida in January. just because I get cabin fever and the snow up here is ridiculous, so we'd like to escape that and get down to Florida. Oh, if anybody's in Florida, we're doing public expeditions January, the last week in January. If you're interested, www.shadowofredeye.com, top right corner, click 2027 Public Expeditions for all the information. Awesome.

53:47 That sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it always is. We always have a great time. I always keep it a very small group of people. So it's not like my first expedition where we have 60 people tramps in through the woods. But it's an intimate group. It's fun. It's just it's like it's a great time. Awesome. Well, congratulations on the new tour and also on the show, the documentary. It's an awesome series. And I think it's something that I know it's something that a lot of people crave, you know, the realism behind it rather than what we typically get with these shows. modern TV shows. Um, and with that said, where can everyone find your documentary and find you in your work?

54:28 Yeah, I appreciate that very much, Eric. Thank you. Uh, YouTube can be, uh, you can find us on YouTube. It's, uh, Sussex County Bigfoot, or the name of the show is called in the shadow of big red eye. We have a website, www.shadowofredeye.com. We have a Tik TOK. We got Instagram. We got Facebook. You can't find us. We're like a cockroach. All right. That's all I got. I thought there was more coming. That's my closing line is I'm like a cockroach. And then I just, that's it. Yeah. Nice. Then skid her away. Well, we will definitely be placing all of those links on our YouTube channel and all the places, you know, Spotify and all that stuff. So people can easily click and find you as well if they're tuning in to the archived episodes. But anyway, we are pretty much at the end of the show here. So, Michael, thank you for joining us and thank you for sharing your story and telling us so much about Bigfoot tonight.

55:32 Eric and Justin, I appreciate you guys very much. This hour has flown by. I can't believe it's been an hour already. Yeah, it's gone by fast. Yeah, but thank you again for having me on. And anytime you want me back, just give me a call and I'll be happy to come back. Yeah, we're definitely going to want to hear about how the tour goes. Yeah, I'll be back with an update. Right on. All right. Thanks, Mike. All right, everybody. If you're enjoying the mysteries we explore on Paratroothy Born, then check out our Patreon, which takes the conversation even further with exclusive bonus content, additional discussions, and more of the unexplained. Help support independent paranormal conversations and get more Paratrooth between our regular episodes. So until next week where you'll find us at the same time on the same channel.

56:21 My name is Eric. And I'm Justin. Peace.