This is part eight of a ten-part series from Garrett, a residential contractor on a remote forty-seven-acre property in the southern Appalachians of western North Carolina. On the evening of November 9, 2018, a major storm system stalls over the mountains, producing over thirty hours of continuous heavy rain. The power goes out at 4:17 PM Saturday afternoon.

With the generator dead from moisture in the magneto, Garrett settles in for a night of oil lamps and firelight. Both dogs have been agitated since the barometric pressure began dropping, with Ruby pacing a tight patrol route between the windows and back door. At 9:14 PM, both dogs snap to alert facing the front wall in complete silence. Garrett hears the porch planks creak in sequence as something crosses the porch and leans against the front wall. For forty-two minutes, he listens to deep, rhythmic breathing transmitted through the poplar logs. At 9:56, the creature walks back across the porch and descends the steps.

Twenty-six minutes of silence follow before footsteps approach the back of the cabin from the ridge side. The creature takes up a second position against the back wall, directly behind the bedroom. When Garrett investigates with a lamp, he finds two massive wet handprints pressed flat against the bedroom window glass from the outside. A low chuffing sound accompanies the breathing from the back wall. At 10:41, the front doorknob turns approximately fifteen degrees and holds before slowly returning to position, indicating a second individual at the front door while the first remains at the bedroom window. The cabin fills with a heavy musk odor penetrating through the rain-soaked logs.At 11:20, a small impact sounds on the front porch.

All activity ceases at 11:34, and Garrett hears footsteps receding toward the ridge. The following morning he documents compression marks on the porch, a clear track line in the mud behind the cabin with prints measuring sixteen to seventeen inches, handprint photographs on the window glass, and a smooth creek stone placed on the porch directly in front of the door.

The series continues with Story Nine, in which Garrett and Cliff deliberately attempt contact from the ridge

Have you experienced a Bigfoot sighting, Sasquatch encounter, Dogman experience, UFO sighting, or any unexplained cryptid or paranormal event deep in the woods? We want to hear your story.

Email your encounter to [email protected] for a chance to be featured on a future episode of Backwoods Bigfoot Stories.

Backwoods Bigfoot Stories is a paranormal storytelling podcast featuring real Bigfoot encounters, Sasquatch sightings, Dogman reports, cryptid experiences, and true scary stories from the backwoods.

Follow the show and turn on automatic downloads so you never miss a chilling encounter from the forest. Listen with the lights off… if you dare.