"In July 1976, my wife and two children ages 12 and 7, and I moved across the Oregon Cascade mountain range from Corvallis, Oregon to Sisters, Oregon. At the time Sisters was a small mountain range. I was so naive as to forest management I didn't know there were designated areas to get firewood.
During a Saturday in late October, we were running low on kindling, so we decided to go south as sisters about 12 miles alongside the road where there was a large growth of two to three-inch diameter trees with many blow-downs on the ground. We figured they would be easy to collect and sow up and load into our vehicle trunks. The morning was chilly high 20s low 30s so about 8 AM we bundled the kids and ourselves and headed out in our two-car caravan. Arriving at our spot we pulled off the road and got busy. The only tool I had was a small bow saw. While my family gathered the poles I began sawing. We quickly loaded my wife's trunk, and she took the kids and headed back to town.
Once they were gone I started sawing wood to load in my car but after a couple of minutes every hair in my neck arms and spine stood up I could. I felt I was in danger and that I should leave. There was no mind speak, just an intense feeling that I was in danger and needed to leave. I also knew something had eyes on me. I immediately stood up as my gaze was drawn to a downed tree about 40 feet away. It had snapped about four feet off the ground and been there a while as weeds and branches were obscuring any sight underneath the tree. I studied that tree briefly looking for something out of place, but I saw nothing and then slowly did a full 180 turn looking for any sign of any indication of an animal in the vicinity. I saw nothing. I later learned I should have looked up into the trees, but it never occurred to me then I tried to forgive myself for an overactive imagination. So I knelt back down, and I got back to work.
Almost immediately the hair again stood up and those feelings and thoughts came back, so I repeated the slow turn looking for signs something was out of place nothing again. I studied the downed tree to see if I could see anything behind it. There was nothing there. I brushed it off as imagination. I said out loud to myself if anyone or anything else it there, then all right I got the message. I'm leaving. It took me two trips to get all the wood and my saw to the car. Once loaded I went to the driver's side door, took one last look around, started the car and left. I never saw heard or smelled anything unusual or out of place.
The following Monday when I went to get the kids from the babysitter I must have said something to her. Her husband is part of Native American and at the time was a heavy equipment operator for the forest service. Three days later when I went to collect the kids Bill was home. I'll call him Bill, it's not his real name. He was known for being a straight shooter. I stopped at the picnic table and said hi, and he said to get some iced tea or coffee and come back to talk to him. When I returned he immediately asked me to tell him what happened the Saturday before.
As I told him he asked if I knew what it was that bothered me. I told him I didn't know. I figured it must probably it was a cougar, a bobcat, or a bear. He smiled. He asked, "Did you check the trees above you?" I shook my head no. "You should have." Then Bill said something about anan apex predator giving a warning before attacking. I thought for a minute and replied, "So what do you think it was then?" He asked, "Could it have been a Bigfoot?" I thought he was joking, so I laughed and said something to effect that I believe they could be real but that they were probably myths or folk tales.
For the next hour plus he related his personal experiences with the people of the forest. Here is one of his stories.
Bill was on a job site in Washington state using a D8 Cat. He was on the side of the mountain when he stopped for lunch. Where he stopped there was a 600 to 700 foot cliff drop off on his right. He sat on the edge of the Cat with his legs dangling over the track to eat and enjoy the scenery of the valley below. As he took a bite of his second sandwich he heard a faint noise behind him, but on the other side of the Cat. He turned to look and to his surprise his face was about 18 inches away from a huge Sabe that was leaning on the track looking at him with a faint smile on its face. He said he knew he was in no danger, and he felt no fear. For some reason that morning he had asked the place he was staying at to pack an extra sandwich for his lunch. He slowly reached into his lunchbox, grabbed the sandwich, unwrapped it and held it out to his new friend. The Sabe took it, ate it in one bite, pushed off the track, gave a slight grunt, and turned and walked up into the woods, giving him one last look. After hearing all his encounters I left their house that night a firm believer in the forest people."
Transcribed source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ziEpWJMweY&t=822s
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