SPIRIT TALES AND MAGIC
Our host; Dr.G had his first paranormal experience at only eight years old. With over five decades of storytelling, magic and paranormal story collection he is an award winning story teller on a mission to revive firelight and the telling of stories!
SPIRIT TALES AND MAGIC
From Sasquatch to Yahoo, we trace how one creature wears many names and haunts every state with footprints, howls, and folklore
A single silhouette stalks our map, but it changes its name at every border. We take you on a fast, vivid tour of the nation’s cryptid canon—from the Sierra Sasquatch and Rocky Mountain sightings to the Honey Island Swamp Monster’s webbed prints and Wisconsin’s werewolf-leaning Beast of Bray Road—showing how landscapes, weather, and work culture shape what people hear, smell, and swear they saw. It’s part folklore atlas, part campfire confessional, and part field guide to the eerie sounds that drift in when the sun drops.
We dig into decades of reports that refuse to fade: Murfreesboro’s white-furred Big Muddy Monster with police logs to match, New Hampshire tracks that cross clean snow without a turn, and a Pennsylvania tale of thrown tires that defies easy explanation. A personal lakeshore moment in Michigan—an enormous bottle-blown moan echoing up a bluff—captures the strange choreography of curiosity and fear: you go looking, the dark gives nothing, then the sound answers anyway. We also press on the unsettling theme of mimicry: whistles answered in the White Mountains, turkey calls parroted in deep forest, and the way echoes become messages once a story primes your ears.
Skeptic or believer, there’s something magnetic about a creature that wears local names like stamps in a passport—Menehune echoes in Hawaii, Momo in Missouri, Knobby in North Carolina, Kinderhook in New York, Yahoo in West Virginia. The point isn’t to settle the debate; it’s to map how a shared mystery binds people to their places and to each other. If you’ve hiked past a red-eye glint in Sussex County, heard low growls around the Smokies, or watched prints vanish into fog near Bennington, we want to hear it.
Subscribe, share this with the one friend who swears they don’t spook, and leave a review with your hometown cryptid—what do folks whisper after dark?
Hey everybody, it's Dr. G, Spirit Tales, and Magic. It's about 1030 in wonderful downtown Phoenix. So our internet series talking. Our internet's been down most of the day, and we are currently right in the middle of a police situation outside the window. What fun. We had discussed before about cryptids. We covered several cryptids. I've only read one email today so far. I do apologize for that, but sometimes the uh the hood overtakes us. Doc, you said you were gonna touch base on what things like the Sassquatch are called all over. I just wondered when you were gonna do that, Dave in Chicago. Okay, Dave, I'll do that real quick. So before that, though, if you're in Chicago, downtown Chicago, not far from the pier, is the W Hotel. Send me an email or a snail mail and let me know if it's still there, if it's still industrial, and if it's still crazy haunted, would you? So we've covered Arizona's Bigfoot and what it's called. In Arkansas, he's the Falk monster. He was made famous, I believe, in 1972, film The Legend of Balgy Creek. He's said to roam the swamps near Texarkana. He's a cornerstone of Arkansas folklore. And I think there's been several reports of that particular cryptid creeping around and peering in the windows. In California, we're going to call him the Sierra Sasquatch, or some people call him the wild man. So Northern California, they claim is Bigfoot Central, especially around the Sierra Nevada. In Bluff Creek in 19, I want to say it was 67. We'll talk about films for just a second, or you know where the Zerpruder film came from, right? Well, this is the Patterson Gremlin film, which allegedly captured a female sasquatch walking in the woods. In Colorado, he's the Rocky Mountain Sasquatch. There's a line in a movie that I love where the guy looks at the protagonist of the film and says, You're right, no imagination. You're gonna encounter that here a couple of times. So California, Sierra Sasquatch, Colorado, Rocky Mountain Sasquatch. In Connecticut, he is the Winstead Wild Man. Gotta love that one. The Winstead Wildman. So that's from the late 1800s. There were newspaper reports from Winstead that told of a wild, hairy beast terrorizing the countryside. And locals to this day still claim that they have encounters with him in the woods. In Delaware, we're talking about the swamp beast. Fewer sightings, but Delaware's great cypress swamp has birthed many legends of shadowy cryptids with glowing eyes, and especially just before a thunderstorm. We've talked about Florida already. He's disconcaved. In Georgia, the Elkins Creek beast. So North Georgia hikers tell of the uh Elkins Creek beast. He's a creature with red eyes and the deep moaning howl. In 2001, a hunter recorded a long low growl, believed to be from the beast. And I hope I get this one right. In Hawaii, I believe he's still the Minahua. That would be M-E-N-E-H-U-N-E. The Minahui Minahua giant. It's thought that the Minahua are traditionally smaller in Hawaiian legend, but some stories do mention the towering forest guardians resembling, guess who? The Sasquatch. No major sightings this year, but the whispers still persist. In Idaho, he's the Gem State Bigfoot. Panhandle Forest of Idaho hide tales of hulking creatures. 1997, a river guide saw a hairy figure bathing in a remote creek. She never returned to that area. In Illinois, he's the big muddy monster. Near Murfreesboro, the big muddy monster emerged in the 70s. He's described as about eight feet tall. He's covered in white fur. Police took official reports for two weeks during the peak sightings. There are still sightings to this day. Indiana, we've got the beast of the woods, state forests, harbor tales of shadowy figures. Campers swear that they have heard guttural breathing and twig snapping, only to find 16-inch footprints in the mud. You gotta love this one. In Iowa, he's the wood booger. I love that. The term woodbooger spans several states, but in Iowa, he's a hayfield haunter, if you will. And I believe it was in 1969. Kids playing near a barn swore they saw something watching them from the cornfield. Kansas is the Kansas wild man. And in Kentucky, he's the hillbilly beast. Okay. So I'll tell you though that eastern Kentucky, pool of cryptid lore. Um the beast is tall, he's aggressive, makes terrifying screeches, kind of like all the Bigfoots. But some say that it was seen a lot, like daily, in a coal strike in the 70s. Louisiana, Honey Island Swamp Monster. Like that one too, in the murky honey island swamp. So this guy, though, different from the Bigfoots of most of the stories, he leaves a webbed footprint. A hunter, I believe, in 74, found strange hair samples on a damaged canoe, and they don't come back to anything in any known database. In Maine, we've got the Durham Gorilla. In 1973, he's described as a gorilla-like beast rummaging through trash. Police filed a report, and locals to this day have put out trail cams hoping to catch him on film. Merlin, we've talked about before, he's the goat man down there. In Massachusetts, he's the Berkshire Satsquatch. It's in the Berkshire forest. He's reported to knock down trees and give distant howls. One couple in 2010 swore that they this creature knocked down tree, picked it up, and threw it. In Michigan, we've talked about that one too, is the dogman. The dogman often overshadows Bigfoot in Michigan, but both are reported to be in the upper peninsula. Fishers say that there's something massive roaming in the pine forests. They claim it's intelligent because when they try and track it, it evades them. And for those of you who've been there, there's a certain area of Saugatuck where the road that you drive on has started to erode. And every year the hillside claims just a little more. Her cottage was right on the other side of that. And to get down to the beach, you had a mile of private beach. To get down there, you had to take these ungodly long, steep steps that take you 15 minutes to go down them and a half an hour to come back up them. So a lot of times, and you and you couldn't really see the beach from the front of the house. You could see out into the water, but you couldn't see the beach because the beach is five stories below you. So sitting out on the porch one night with someone that I went to the cottage with, drinking iced tea. If you're from where I'm from, they'd be like, yep, that's what we do, right? So drinking iced tea, sitting out there, and you hear this sound very similar that to the wind makes or to someone blowing into a bottle only a thousand times louder, like kind of a thing. So finally we got enough courage to get our whole flashlights and headed down the stairs. You couldn't see anything, so we climbed back up the stairs. As soon as we get to the top of the stairs, it happens again. So there are some interesting sounds in the forest out there. In Minnesota, he's the Minnesota Iceman. Allegedly, he was discovered, I believe, in the 60s. Um, it was a frozen body of a cryptid. And they dubbed him, of course, the Iceman. What else would you have done? He was toured for a while on a traveling exhibit. Now that story kind of faded over the years, but Northern Woods sightings to this day still persist. Mississippi, he's the bigfoot on the Delta. In Missouri, he's Momo. Momo stands for guess what? The Missouri monster. And he made headlines in the 70s and 80s. He was terrorizing a couple of small towns. Footprints and odd smells were all that remained. Approximately three months ago, excuse me for one second. Approximately three months ago, I got an email. Doc, I think we caught a glimpse of Momo. I've heard you talk about him before. It is the creepiest thing I think I've ever noticed. I think he beats the Bigfoot, both in size and unfortunately in smell. So he's still out there. Montana, flathead lake, Bigfoot, same kind of a creature. In Nebraska, prairie Sasquatch. Many witnesses say a tall brown creature crosses the dirt road in the grasslands in 2010, and he vanishes into thin air. So there's a lot of open grassland in Nebraska. So remember, we talked before about Native American war and portals. Allegedly, there is a camera shot of this thing walking and it just vanishes. I have not seen it. I have emailed the person involved and said, hey, send that to me. Nevada, he's the desert Sasquatch. And I believe, if I'm not mistaken, this guy is up around Mount Charleston. He, this one they claim can adapt to any terrain. A hiker reported seeing it. It drank from a spring during one of the heat waves. They've seen him year-round all the seasons. New Hampshire, the White Mountain Wildman. In winter, hikers have reported massive prints in fresh snow with no signs of turning back. A solo backpacker claims she heard it mimic her whistle. We're going to talk about things that mimic sound in a future podcast. New Jersey, he's the big red eye. He's often overshadowed, though, I believe, by the Jersey Devil. We've talked about the Jersey Devil before. We'll talk about him again. But this guy is a big red-eyed cryptid in, I believe, Sussex County. Campers say it stalks silently through the trees. You know, especially if it's getting around dusk and you've been out there all day, you get a little creeped out sometimes by the sounds in the woods. I grew up in a place where there are a lot of deer hunters. I've never been a deer hunter. I've gone on some deer hunts and you know, shot some old dead trees and fence posts and um junk that was left in the woods. But I will tell you this, it's amazing. So you can't go through the woods without making a ton of noise. You're breaking sticks, you're moving things. Even when you're trying to be quiet, you can't do it. But a huge buck with all those horns on his head can move right past you, and you'll never know he's there. It's kind of amazing to watch. New Mexico, he's the desert ink man, and he's, I believe, around Rio Grande. Um Navajo lore in that area includes several similar beings. New York, how about the Kinder Hook creature? I like that one. That's in the Hudson Valley Forest. They have a long, long history, those Sasquatch reports. A Boy Scout troop reported a close encounter during a night hike in the 90s. In North Carolina, they call him Knobby. His Bigfoot version lives near the URE National Forest. North Dakota, he's the Red River howler. And of course, in Ohio we've covered him, he's the grass man. Oklahoma's Green Hill monster, and in Oregon, he's the Columbia Sasquatch. Pennsylvania, also a part of my old stomping ground. He's the forest giant who lives in the Allegheny forest. Hunters and hikers claim sightings of a very broad-shouldered humanoid. One said it mimicked a turkey call one time before vanishing. There's another story where an old tire was thrown. This is an old tire that somebody left in the forest. The tire came flying through the air, and half an hour later the hunters find other tires that look just like this one. There were three of them. This one would have made the four if someone left them there. That's an interesting story for me. Rhode Island. He's the swamp squatch. Maybe a little too derivative, Rhode Island. South Carolina, though, he's the lizard man. And South Dakota, he's the Black Hills Bigfoot. Tennessee, you've got the Smoky Mountain Sasquatch. He lived in the great Smoky Mountains, go figure. But park rangers report unofficial sightings of trees being knocked down and low growls. And many campers share the tales of something circling their tents. In Texas, he's the wild man of the Navidad. He is a pre-Civil War legend. He predates the term Bigfoot. He's described as a large hairy creature. He's seen stealing livestock and leaving massive tracks. Several months ago, there's a story of him walking with a baby cow with a calf under his arm. Utah. The beast of the Uinta. That's a mountain range that told secrets, including sightings of a Bigfoot-like creature. In 2012, a hiker claims to have videotaped a shadowy figure scrambling up a rock face. Vermont, you've got the Bennington monster. That thing is linked to the mysterious Bennington Triangle. He's been spotted crossing roads and vanishing into the fog. Bennington Triangle is like the Bermuda Triangle and several other triangles that you will hear about. We have a podcast about that much later. Virginia, he's the wood devil. Washington, come on, guys, he's just the Sasquatch. West Virginia, he is the Yahoo. So before the Mothman, there was a cryptid that they referred to as the Yahoo. Appalachian tales describe it as a loud, wild, and very territorial beast. Coal miners tell tales of it blocking paths and crushing emergency mine shaft escape tubes. Like to see that one on film. Wisconsin? He's the beast of Bray Road. Now this guy, a little different. Nobody else has done this yet. The beast of Bray Road is often thought to be a werewolf. I didn't make that up. You can't make this stuff up. Some sightings blur the lines between Bigfoot and Wolf. He's been spotted in dairy pastures, usually only during the full moon. Wyoming, last one, has got the snow walker. High altitude sightings of a pale, ape-like creature trekking across the ridgelines, have resurfaced from 2004 until now. A tree climber spotted it through his binoculars. So what's your cryptid story? We have uh many police outside at this point, so give us your cryptid story. I'd love to hear what it is. And unless it's Bigfoot, so we have a lot of Bigfoot stories. We'll be covering more of that as time goes on. They do fit into the fact that there is indeed a world unseen, a world that exists all around us all the time. Every now and then, for whatever the reason, we catch a glimpse of it, and the dead get in. And hey, tell a paranormal story. Even if it's about the Bigfoot, it's good for ya. Thanks everybody for listening. We're gonna go and uh see what's going on outside the window. We'll talk tomorrow. We appreciate you all. Good night from Phoenix.
