Chapter 1

Mine isn’t a story with much history. Prior to my family moving here almost 2 years ago, the only experience I had with “Bigfoot” was what I had seen on TV. I was born in 1971 so I grew up during the mass BF hysteria of the 70’sÉnewspaper reports, gigantic footprint pics, horror movies, etc. BF was a MONSTER! I vaguely remember a movie in which BF was terrorizing a home trying to get in the windows. My uncles were always tormenting my aunt and me with the “boogey man” who was BF. He was always lurking in the dark just waiting to “eat” children. (When you are small teenagers know EVERYTHING!)

Fast forward with me from then to July, 2006. My family and I had been living here almost 8 months. One morning, my hubby had “something” GROWL at him from just beyond the wood line. All he could see of it behind the trees was that it was TALL, brown and hairy. He came inside for his gun and I went back out with him. It was gone. I found 2 enormous footprints in the yard, by the dog food container, not far from where he had seen it. I had a “hunch” what it might have been (and, although he wouldn’t admit it, I think hubby did too!) so I took pictures. It never occurred to me to measure it. (I guess that’s the blond in me as I was a bit unnerved.) Could the “boogey man” be real? “Oh, well! Who knows?” I thought. I surfed the net a bit.

In May of this year (2007), hubby had another “experience”. We were watching our children swimming. As we were talking, he froze. After a few seconds of speechlessness, wide eyes and a blank look on his face (and me wondering if he was having a heart attack or something) he raised his hand and pointed to the woods. He said he “Just watched something that looked like a huge person walk across the top of the hill. It was huge, swinging its long arms and looking from side to side.” It was so big it covered a large distance in only a few seconds. It looked to him like what we had seen on TV a while backÉthe Patterson-Gimlin Film! I immediately became attached to my computer! I read anything and everything I could!

Two days later, I vaguely mentioned his sighting to a childhood friend “Jamie” who is also a neighbor. She said she had seen “something” run across the road in front of her about a mile from my house. It was very late at night on a dark country road. It was furry, much bigger than a dog and on all fours. We decided to take a look around my property the next day. Not to scare our children, we did it while they were in school. (I had JUST gotten my kids sleeping in their own rooms!) There was, of course, no such thing as the boogey man! So why would Jamie and I be out looking for him???

Around noon, the following day, she and I grabbed our cameras and headed for the thickest part of the woods. I wanted to show her a structure we have called the “Lean To”. It looks to have been here way before we were. As we got to the trail, Jamie noticed a different structure. It reminded us of the shape of an igloo but was made of a small, living tree which was bent over and held down by large brush. It was covered by green vines and such. I took a few pics of her inside it and decided to take some pics of it farther away. As I did, I noticed another tree leaning way over. It seemed to be pointing towards the new structure and the trail! We ventured on. I had a scared, anxious feeling as we entered the woods. We took pics of structures, tree and stick formations, and many things that made us say “Hmmm?” (I think she started googling BF, Yeti, Sasquatch, etc. that day!)

I found a website and registered for the forum. I met a great lady! She is of Native American ancestry and is very much in touch with natureÉand the Shadow People. My “ShadowFolk” are extremely lucky I found her! She taught me a lot about their behaviors, family ways, etc. (She constantly reminded me that much of what she said was her OPINION and that nothing dealing with SF is proven fact, yet.) She helped me to realize they exist as we exist. They have families, mourn loss, protect their ownÉ They live in the shadows as not to bother us and they mean no harm. (If they wanted to “eat” me or terrorize me, as I had thought since childhood, they would already have!)

I have since learned a lot from her and she introduced me to four other No-Kill believers. They are the heart of ShadowFolk.com. God put these people in my life for a reasonÉ.I feel that reason is to help me provide the SF with safety and security so they can flourish.

Several weeks after Jamie and my “expedition”, I was looking back at the pics of the new structure. I came to the pic of the arched tree that was pointing to the structure/trail. I noticed something black in the background. I enlarged it a few times and all the hair on my body stood up! It was “Eddie the Yeti” looking as me as I photographed the tree! Is that why I had such a strange, scared feeling as we entered the woods there? WE WERE BEING WATCHED! (See photo) If he was a monster why hadn’t he scared us? It looks as if, to him, maybe WE were the monsters!

Since then, I have been leaving treats (marshmallows, PEANUT BUTTER!, soft flour tortillas, corn, fruits, leftovers,É) and small toys (stuffed animals, baby dolls, bouncy balls, slinkies,É) for them. As my NA friend told me, they have children too. Their children watch our children playing. I’m sure they wish they could play with the toys too! I imagine chase, tag and hide-and-go-seek get boring after a few years! Have you ever noticed an outside toy in a different place than where your child had left it the day before? Do toys go missing just to pop up the next day? If so, I would think to myself, “Hmmm?!"

My youngest child recently overheard Jamie, my hubby and I discussing the SF in some picsÉthe fall after my hubby’s first encounter, she had seen him! She said she and a friend were playing in the front yardÉ “When I turned and ran after the ball, I saw him! He was standing there watching us play soccer! He saw me looking at him and he jumped into the trees!” I asked her why she hadn’t told meÉ”I didn’t want you to think I was crazy! I know what I saw!” (When Jamie asked her later why she thought it was a BF, she said, “What else would be tall, brown, hairy and not be wearing any pants?!”)

I realize they have had ample opportunity to cause harm. They have had all of time to terrorize the worldÉand they remain hidden. As my NA friend says, their curiosity sometimes gets the best of them! When I hear a noise outside my bedroom window, I don’t scream and try to hide from the “boogey man” anymore because now know he isn’t going to “eat me”. When I hear soft whistles in the dark or see 18” footprints in my flower beds I know they were hereÉ just snooping around. I smile to myself when I think of the non-believers. Maybe one day their worlds will change as ours have.

My family and I now KNOW and LIVE what most people on earth have laughed off as an impossible myth. My young children know more about ShadowFolk than most “professional” BF researchers. We are hiding a secret that could change the world but we care too much about them. The preservation of their way of life is more important than any amount of money or recognition. How did we get so lucky? What made them pick us?

(By the way, ShadowFolk do exist in the Deep South....not just the Pacific Northwest)