Welcome to botches off -road and today we are
gonna do a little cool It's not necessarily a
prompt topic, but it's gonna be worst over landing
creepiest overlanding experiences, and we're
going to pull these from places that we've been
reading them from, like Reddit or other blogs
and forums. And we're going to talk about them
a little bit. We're going to read this story.
We're going to talk about them and kind of go
from there and see what we think. It's just me
and Alex today. Alex is still busy, so we're
going to do it ourselves. We spent like... Just
30 minutes or something. You mean Mark and me?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He said Alex.
Damn, my bad. Alex is out of here. Mark is here.
Mark's cooler anyway. So yeah, so me and Mark
are going to talk about this. And we're going
to see what we think. I'm going to read some
stories I found he's never heard. And then he's
going to post some to me. And we'll see if we
can just see some really cool stuff or some really
crazy shit. Maybe we'll talk about what we could
do to avoid them. And maybe hearing this story
yourself will keep you from making the same thing
happen. Who knows? So I'm going to get started
with this. And this is on Reddit on our overlanding.
So. The prompt was worst overlanding experiences.
The guy prompts and says he's been overlanding
for three years now. He has been camping ever
since he was a kid and always hears stories about
people having their best overland experiences
and all these cool pictures and this and that
but he never hears anything about the worst overlanding
experiences so he wants to hear some people bring
those in so I'll give everybody a chance If anybody's
got any horrible overlanding experiences, whether
that's creepy, involving weird stuff, or just
a shitty time that you had that you can kind
of look back on and go, yeah, that's second rate
fun, that kind of thing, why don't you give us
a call or send us a message on our... Instagrams
or anything like that and just let us know tell
me what you think and We'll get back to this
and read them because I think maybe we could
do this a couple times for Just an episode and
if people like it, so We're gonna start off one
guy answers his name super ad Is this nice question
got me thinking I've been traveling south in
East Africa in a Land Cruiser, and off the top
of my head, he goes, I got assaulted and held
captive by six men in an isolated campsite in
Zimbabwe. Vehicle was partially ransacked, but
out of a 30 to 50 minutes of this, the men gave
up and depart once my wife starts screaming at
them and I calling away. He goes, number two,
Dropped the rear end of the chassis in quicksand
crossing a riverbed in Nambia Thunder storms
were coming soon. There was a tree 45 degrees
off the side at the limit of the winch line got
out shortly Before the rains came again without
that single tree or winch I'm sure the brand
new overlander would have been destroyed Nobody
within distance to help given the impeding rains
He said, and this is the same guy by the way,
number three, driving at night in Botswana just
two months into our journey, one of the top rules
is never to drive at night, harrowing experience
with oncoming traffic and broken tar road shoulder
that is unmarked and severely broken, making
the road surface narrow. A hold on for your lifetime,
he says. one of those kind of hold on for your
lives. In over 500 plus days driving, I only
had to drive perhaps five times at night. Runner
-up night drive is the streets of Dar Ees Salaam,
or Salaam, I don't know, Dar Ees Salaam. Absolute
chaos, but at least a slow speed. For wife suffered
severe eye injury from the wayward end of a bungee
after Immediate medical attention that day We
next went to Kalahari. It's a game reserve and
it's very remote Issues arise from the meds that
we have and we rush out to the hospital many
hours away as the wife has a severe ocular pain
He this guy has been through some shit Number
four malaria no fun. Thanks Thanksgiving to a
local family that treated me. Number five, crossing
borders. I could pick a few examples, but let's
say it's intimidation based and you wonder if
you actually are able to get through the border
in the first place. Number seven, another on
the medical front for me. I was solo at the time.
big weakness in my body and losing consciousness
and I can't even make it over to the other campers
I pass out and come to hours later saying to
myself well at least I didn't die aside from
that are all brilliant times and a thousand times
more than these examples and no regrets in fact
I'm still here now in South Africa solo and keep
chugging holy crap that guy that's crazy I mean
When you think of like what we do and this almost
makes me want to like remove overlander from
my like Repertoire right like when you hear the
kind of shit that he's gone through and like
high stress situations this almost makes you
go like damn am I really even like I'm just kind
of like Like car landing. I'm not even like Nothing
serious, man. This is crazy We got another one
that says, I drove my 4Runner from Canada to
Baja, Mexico. I wanted to check out this remote
surf town on the Pacific side. At the glance
on Google, the town has all the amenities a normal
small town would have, e .g. hotels, restaurants,
rental stores, et cetera. When I arrived in town,
it was way less developed than I had envisioned,
which didn't matter. And I didn't think much
of it. I saw a rickety wooden gasoline sign just
before town. And where is it? Okay, there it
is. Sorry, I lost my place. And headed to my
campsite. Camp was awesome. It was a cliff on
the edge of the ocean. The next morning I wanted
to leave and needed gas. Only about a quarter
tank left and headed back to the gas sign and
there was no gas station anywhere in town. I
drove around for 45 minutes looking for someone
who spoke some English. It turns out that the
gas station is a local who sells gas when he
feels like it. From barrels in a little brick
building beside a liquor store, the quote unquote
gas station has zero signage of any kind. Once
I found the gas station, I spoke with the owner.
He initially said it would cost $1400. $1 ,400
to fill my truck. He was a bit older and there
was a language barrier, mathematical errors,
but we agreed on the $140 for 70 liters. That's
the going rate for gas down there and it worked
out in the end. Being in a town with no conventional
gas station is a crazy experience and I've never
had before and it was not a good feeling. Yeah,
you could say anything you want about the language
barrier. That guy knew she or he was desperate
and was hoping to get $1 ,400 out of that. I
mean, that would have made him rich. That's a
good day for him. All right. Let's see. I got
one that says, I live in Houston, so any real
overlanding destination takes at least eight
hours to get to. Big Bend, Palo Duro Canyon,
we've been to Colorado, Arizona, et cetera. But
one time I wanted to just get away from a night.
I packed up, planned very little and thought,
a beach trip sounds nice. Went down to Galveston,
Bolivier. peninsula. No beach parking. Went up
to the coast to High Island. Druggies and homeless
people were eyeing me in my truck. Definitely
not getting any shut -eye with them around. Then
decided to just go a bit further east on the
beach to Sea Rim State Park near Port Arthur.
Had to drive through a chemical plant to get
there. The air was orange and you could hear
the refineries and see the glow of tanker ships
coming in. Let's see. Yeah, I packed my shit
and drove two hours back home that sucked Yeah,
you know I think and I talked about this with
Benji when we did the podcast which will probably
be already out But I talked about this in Michigan.
We have a thing that is basically I guess it's
not a saying but for campers and travelers in
Michigan It's like once you get over the bridge
you could make that sigh relief It's like you
hit cleaner air. You know, your worries kind
of melt away a little bit. You're in a new place.
Everything's just, it's like a grass is always
greener on that other side. And the bridge is
that boundary for me. I don't know if it's like
that for you, Mark, but once I hit that bridge,
once I get through that, once I come through
Mackinac City, I could smell the lake air. It's
cooler. I can hear seagulls chirping and shit,
because people like to give them their fries.
But they're all around. And I just know, dude,
I'm going to be over the bridge soon. Everything's
going to be all right. And if you don't have
one of those, that's the one great thing I love
about Michigan, is we have a basic barrier that
tells you pretty much when you're in. peace area.
Like I forget sometimes that people like this
person from Texas, sometimes they can just drive
and drive and they're still in a shitty area.
But like, once you once you I mean, there's not
that the UP is free of druggies or anything,
but it's nowhere near. There's not giant oil
refineries or anything. The most that you're
going to hear from oil tanker ships or anything
like that is you're going to hear the freighters
off the beach. That are going around the Great
Lakes and that's not an unpleasant experience
for me. Actually, it's kind of cool hearing them
that low hum People who haven't experienced it.
It's just kind of like Everything's super quiet.
You can hear the lake. You can hear the the waves
crashing, but then you just hear this And it's
it's the the freighter engine moving and you
know chugging through the lake and it's super
super calming like it's not loud or crazy annoying
maybe just for someone but that's dude that is
the best super relaxing i'm all about this stuff
all right yeah i think it was our quinoa peninsula
trip for the seven hour plane crash trail i think
it was the first time i ever heard a loon And
I thought it was like an elk or something or
something else. Oh, yeah. Making noises. Yeah.
We're just near a big enough lake for them to
land in. So that's what we're hearing. Yep. I
know exactly what you mean, dude. If you've never
heard a loon before, that can be kind of scary
the first time you hear that. Yeah. The same
thing with like screech owls. Screech owls are
like barn owls. Barn owls sound like a small
child being murdered. That is pretty pretty nuts
all right, so I Think these are the two that
mark just sent me Let's see here I Had a copy
of it kind of was a weird how it kind of came
through Yeah, all right, so I got one that is
And you could stop me if this isn't put out or
formatted right? Camping in a ground tent along
the Mexican border on the Devil's Road, we wake
up to a pitch black... Oh, in the pitch black
to the sound... Huh? I see that. I see how that
came out. I didn't even pay attention to how
that came out. Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, it's all right.
Camping in a ground tent along the Mexican border
on Devil's Road, wake up in the pitch black to
the sound of voices. I think I'm imagining it
and lay back down. Not long after I hear footsteps
and brush moving, slowly but surely I can make
out whispers in Spanish. They move around the
camp slowly and circle my buddy's tent. Then
I heard a crush just inches from my head near
my tent. I was freaking out and praying that
they were immigrants, not smugglers. And then
I heard the car doors latching and pulling as
they tried to get into our vehicle. Thank God
I had blocked it or they may have stolen it along
with our campsite supplies and communications.
Eventually after what seemed like ages, they
left. That is one of my biggest fears is going
out to a remote area and then having something
like that happen. I mean that's why I carry because
I'm with my family and there's no way I leave
my truck unlocked at night. Like I shouldn't
have to lock it where we go. Sometimes I leave
the windows down, the doors open. It just depends
on how confident of the area I'm in. But anything
can happen, dude. You never know. There could
be a crackhead that went down that same road
four weeks earlier and is only a mile away from
you. Who knows? So yeah, I always carry. I always
have some kind of a... Protection against something
like that and me and Mark talked about this before
we started this episode and we might do one Depending
on Alex's vote, but might do like a camp security
and awareness episode talk about that a little
bit but Maybe this is a good prep for that, you
know, we're telling all the scary crappy stories
and Maybe this will show people like what? could
happen and then what we do to prepare. We're
in a pretty safe area, so it's not like we have
to do anything crazy, but we do also know how
to if we didn't feel safe and we had to stay.
I think, I don't know if it's Independence Overland
or Ozark Overland Adventures, they make a mention
of this one time that like, Sometimes you'll
get to a site and there's just something in your
gut that tells you that I don't like this site
It's not that you're It's not that there's anything
particularly wrong with it like seen or Like
the like what it looks like or anything. You
just get a gut feeling. Yeah There's no signs.
It's just a feeling. Yeah, maybe it feels a little
eerie. Maybe it's just too quiet stuff like that
and They always recommend that you just stick
to your gut. And there's a couple of scary stories
out there that those guys have talked about.
Maybe not Ozark overlanding it with Matt McClellan,
but Independence has kind of talked to where
they've like ran into a guy and they don't want
to mention too much on there, but it happens.
I mean, it's an eventuality. It'll happen and...
And you know, your gut senses, the feelings that
you get are a survival instinct that are kind
of, you know, buried really deep down in your
own body. So if you start having that, then,
you know, follow it. I mean, what's the worst
that could happen? You go to a different camp
and you don't have that same feeling and you
know, whoop -de -doo, you had to drive another
couple hours, but you feel safer. Okay. You know.
And I always listen to that gut feeling. I've
had that a couple times, honestly, where I was
just like, yeah, I'm not feeling the sight. You
know, it's not necessarily that I saw any signs
pointing to it, but me and Sienna would get out
of the truck and there was no forest sounds at
all. No trees, no river, no nothing. It was just
dead quiet. And I'm like, and Sienna got out
and she just stayed kind of close to the truck
and I was like... I told her, I said, I don't
want to sound like a pussy. I was like, but I
don't like this area. I don't know what it is.
I said, this feels off, weird. I'm having a weird
feeling. And she goes, oh, me too. I'm like,
that settles it. Get back on the fucking truck.
Let's get out of here. So it's not necessarily
that you have to feel anyway. But if you get
that feeling, listen to it. And the worst that
can happen is you find yourself at a different
area, and you're fine. Anyway moving on we'll
go to your second one you got here Let me take
a breath here because I'm talking so much Yeah,
okay My girlfriend and I were camping there a
really old bridge by a river It's a beautiful
area and one of my favorite spots to camp anyway
about 1 a .m We make up a huge or we wake up
to a huge splash in the water Since we were the
only ones there, I was obviously confused. I
got out and put my flashlight on the water and
nothing. I got weirded out and got back in the
tent. Not long after we heard it again. This
time it sounded like this time I had the light
out and was ready. I put it right out on the
river and nothing again. I was getting concerned
and it was a huge splash which sounded like someone
jumping off a bridge. The strangest part was
it was in the calm waters so there wasn't even
a ripple. I spent the rest of the night awake
and continued all night long after about 30 minutes
or so. You know what that, what in your opinion,
I see if you come to the same conclusion, what
would you say that was? If you had to guess Hmm
I Mean River wise I would assume might have been
a fish hopping up, but at the same time at night
time. I don't know that's a thing Yeah, I mean
it does happen like carp and stuff. You know
fishing at night, but Oh, yeah, I'll let you
think in my opinion is a beaver beavers still
Beavers are in flowing water. They build the
dams and they're extremely territorial. If you're
around the area that they're in, they will defensively
slap their tail in the water. And it sounds like
something like someone jumping in the water.
It's a loud smack. They have a very wide tail.
It's very loud. And the first couple of times,
if you don't know what's doing it, it scares
the shit out of you. Now, I can't explain the
no ripples thing. Maybe he just wasn't quick
enough to look where the sound was. I don't know.
But he also said it was a river. And river will
tend to wash out those ripples a lot quicker.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. So you get a beaver. You wouldn't
see a ripple that much. Yeah. So to me, that
was what it would be. It could have been Bigfoot
slapping a rock in the river or something, but
Much more believable. I would say would be a
beaver tail slab either do yeah, they do as a
defensive posture, so That is an interesting
one. That's the only one I've been able to hear
so far that maybe has you know something else
there Here, let's see What'd you pop and what's
spilling Oh, a Vernors. A Vernors. He's getting
better, guys. I think it's partially frozen.
Yeah, that could be. For anybody who doesn't
know, Vernors is Michigan medicine. You have
a broken leg. You have a sore throat. You have
cough congestion. You just had a mild heart attack.
Drink Vernors. It's a ginger ale. And it's like
a... a Vicks Vaporub. My family, my wife is Hispanic,
and they use Vicks Vaporub to heal everything.
Like, oh yeah, you know, you got a bruise, throw
some Vicks Vaporub on it. You got, you know,
any kind of bodily injury, throw some Vicks Vaporub
on it. And that's what Vernors is. So if you
want to heal overnight, rub your body in Vicks
Vaporub and drink Vernors, and I guarantee you,
you're gonna feel like a brand new person. all
right so moving on I found another one I haven't
read it yet so I'm gonna read it as I read it
so hopefully it's good might not be a creepy
one but it doesn't have to be no not a proper
over landing trip and not terrible but I look
back and laugh about it frequently my girlfriend
at the time had come to visit me that's never
a good sign girlfriend at the time. My girlfriend
at the time had come visit me while I was working
in Las Vegas for a few months and we decided
to take a trip down to LA and hit the beach and
get out of the heat. She leaned, she learned
early in the relationship not to wonder where
we'd be sleeping on the road since home was where
we parked it. And it was usually a last -minute
decision unless we were on a well -planned trip
with a set destination. That also sounds familiar.
I had a really cool spot up in the San Gabriel
Mountains that I had driven past for the gorgeous
views of the city and remote enough so I figured
we could grab something to go for dinner and
camp up at the spot I had found during the previous
trip. We got some burgers and started making
our way north to the exit off I -15 up to the
Cajon pass exit, Cajon. C -A -G -O -N, J -O -N,
pass exit. We left pavement a mile west of the
interstate and found about a four or five miles
I hear a god -awful screeching sound coming from
the driver's front wheel. Okay, odd. That came
in all of a sudden and I immediately dropped
and started expecting it. Couldn't see shit.
I pulled out the jack in my tire iron just to
realize that I have the socko I just realized
that I have the socket handle, the three quarter
inch socket to fit around the spline socket,
which only had a three quarter hex instead of
a slot for the drive to insert into, but no spline
socket. Fuck. I realized I must have left the
spline socket at the Airbnb in Vegas after the
recent brake job, so I have no way to get my
wheel off. Was 99 % sure it was a rock jammed
in between the brake rotor and heat shield But
there was no getting in with the wheel on I was
also nervous to move To move it at all with the
sound in case it was something worse No cell
service and we hung out and ate dinner while
we decided our next move While we were eating,
some kids drove by in a Raptor and I told them
about the situation, but they didn't have what
we needed and it was too late for them to hit
an auto shop or a parts store to see if they
could find the socket I needed. We eventually
decided to just limp back to the pavement and
get a motel room for the night. We pull into
the motel room and finish the rest of our burgers.
While we're sitting there... We talk more and
decide to take back roads to limp the truck to
the closest auto shop and sleep in the parking
lot and see if we can get a problem fixed in
the AM without a tow bill or paying for a shit
motel. I reverse out of the parking lot and viola,
the sound is gone. If I had just put the damn
thing in reverse, I would have dislodged the
rock. At that point it was pretty late since
we were planning to drive back to Vegas the next
day anyways We decided to keep heading north
on I -15 and found a great spot on I over later
to crash for the night Yep, I've had that happen
Brakes lodged, you know rocks lodged in our brakes
is very fucking common and it always makes a
crazy sound so It's a it's not really surprising.
Let's see no Took my Civic up to the Olympic
National Park and set off the alarm at 3 a .m
Took me almost five minutes of fumbling because
I dropped my keys while sleeping on them felt
pretty good about that one Let's see what else
Overall my camping experience have been pretty
amazing, but I'd say the worst is when I was
camping in Vancouver Island, British Columbia,
a beautiful place riddled with mice. I'd hear
a bunch of mice down below the wreck that hold
on here. Let me see. I'd hear a bunch of mice
down below wreak havoc on my car in my car at
night. Sorry, I'm reading this from other people
and their typing styles are very different depending
on their education, I guess. They even came up
on top and crawled into my rooftop tent while
I was trying to sleep. I think one it eventually
made its way inside one time and the AM I'd see
the damage piss and shit everywhere and they
took a bite out of just about everything oh yeah
and there would always be that nice oh that one
mice that fucks up and doesn't disembark with
the rest of his friends so I'd take him home
too yikes yeah I already know that happens And
that's not the first time I've heard of British
Columbia being full of mice either so My wife's
got a leave soon here. I got a double check what
times it is She's doing a an overnight inventory
in Lansing so Just making sure she's not knocking
at the door trying to get in and get some stuff
to go We were gonna actually I find a place to
camp near Lansing, but I had messaged the MST
group. I called a couple of state parks and nobody's
open. Like it's not crazy outside, but none of
the state parks are open for at least a month.
One of them was open in June. And I'm like, what
the fuck? Like nobody's open and... So I was
just kind of like well I mean I'll look for state
land of course because that's what my first plan
was anyway There's not shit anywhere near Lansing
like with a established trail going into state
land and the closest thing was maybe an hour
and 15 minutes away from Lansing and we're two
hours and 30 minutes or so away from Lansing
so The plan was home. Yeah The plan was so she
didn't have to drive all night because she worked
today and then she'd have to leave at 9 p .m.
She'd get there at like 11 ish and then work
throughout the night and then drive home in the
morning. The plan for me, which makes sense in
my head because she has bad eyes, was I like
we packed up and drove before it was dark, got
to the campsite, set up, you know, monkey around
a camp, eat dinner, have fun. then we'd go to
bed and she'd take the FJ and go to work, which
theoretically could have been 30 minutes away.
And then she would work and then drive the 30
minutes back to camp. And then we could hang
out for a while. She could rest. And then we
could drive home later during the day. That was
the theory until I started calling everybody
and no one had, no one was open. There was no
space. So that's the downside. And I don't want
to set up my tent in a Walmart parking lot, and
that's just not, like at that point, it's not
worth it for us. And I could drive her there
tonight, and we could stay all night in the truck,
but that's not very fun either, so, you know.
Just gonna wave the white flag and let her drive
by herself. It's not that I don't trust her drive,
I just don't trust other people. I'm worried
about my truck and making it the two hours and
if she's going to have what she needs, if something
happens and you know. So we drove to Hudsonville
and back, which is about two hours combined.
So in theory, she should be okay. Um, but it's
just, I don't, I don't like leaving it up to
that. And I don't like having her, you know,
drive at night. She's got like early onset glaucoma.
So like her eyes are already really bad. They
will be getting continually worse. So driving
at night, she can't really see jack shit. Yeah.
It's quite the track between here and Lansing.
Yeah. And the company doesn't give a shit, you
know? So I was trying to make it a little easier
on her by having her drive a little earlier,
or at least me drive a little earlier. That way,
if anything did happen, I was prepared. I was
there. I could help out. So yeah, bummer. But
I guess it is what it is, right? You can't babysit.
Not that I'm babysitting her, but you can't sit
there and protect them the whole time. It is
what it is. Let's see. Try to get one or two
more. I think this one's gonna be a shorter episode
just because of The fact that me and Mark want
to both get off yeah, and there's no Alex and
Despite what everybody may think I don't like
to talk this much reading people's stories There's
a lot of jaw -jabbing Here's one Got sick in
a remote place in Africa's East Coast while on
my overlanding trip couldn't even cough without
accidentally shitting my pants Days and days
of this he said I took a modium as if they were
candy water tasted like shit and even and even
being treated and The people with me telling
me they couldn't taste anything bad on it and
they were fine Went on several remote trips remote
scuba trips like this I stubbornly refused to
let the sickness stop me from enjoying once in
a lifetime trip So I left my dignity back at
base camp and jumped on the boat with 15 other
people in no bathroom Every day for three consecutive
days to get to remote diving destinations with
worst Case of diarrhea I have ever had in my
life Luckily all three all three days were about
a about all How does he have this word here?
We're all about a gurgly and painful belly, but
no accidents on the boat or underwater So I would
run to the bathroom shortly after coming back
to land no regrets I only got better almost immediately
once I left the area Yeah I can't say I haven't
had something like that happen before. Alright,
let's do the last one that Mark just sent. The
title has never been more terrified. Damn it,
dude. Why'd you have to do this one? We drove
to Arkansas. You know this one? No, but it's
in the Ozarks. And I was talking about doing
the Ozarks soon. But we drove to Arkansas, went
to the Ozark National Forest. Not rainforest.
What am I talking about? Rainforest. Yeah. There's
only one of those in the country that I know
about. I think that's in Washington. That's the
hoe. Ho National Rainforest, I think it is. But
anyway, yeah, we found a path and traveled up
it only to find out there was a cemetery back
there. So we backed out and continued through
the mountains, found another little trail and
decided to make camp. Now it's about 730 p .m.
and pitch black. I set up the tent and got a
fire going while the wife decided to go look
for more wood. She came back with several logs
and something caught my ear. I asked if she had
heard anything and she told me no. So I didn't
think about. Think about it, Butch, and continue
to set up my camp. About an hour later, we hear
out in the woods, a good distance away, what
sounded like a whooping to me. To me, and the
wife, it sounded like a human scream mixed with
an elk bugle. Hm, okay. I said, please tell me
you heard that, and she agreed, and maybe it's
some people camping down the stream that just
got drunk and yelling. I didn't believe this.
We sat down next to the fire and we're going
through some old photos. When about 50 yards
to the left of my tent in the darkness, we hear
the same sound as before. But even louder and
deeper, we both freeze. I grab my gun off of
my hip and point it into the direction of the
woods. The sound got louder and closer. I grab
my phone and try to record what we're hearing.
Right as I hit the record, it stops. Nothing,
just silence. Well, some time goes by and I'm
still a tad nervous. She is ready to sleep and
we got into the tent. I, on the other hand, couldn't
sleep, so I laid in the tent and could hear something
moving around in the leaves and branches crackling.
This continues on for about 30 minutes. A few
hours go by and more sounds. Oh, and no more
sounds, okay. And no more sounds. Cuz I was I
was about to say dude. I just get the fuck out
of there I've been holding out on going to the
bathroom out of pure terror when I decide about
3 a .m. To go for it Anybody who's into like
the cryptid and ghosts says never to do it a
three. That's the witching That's the ghost hour
man Hand in my gun. I step out looking left and
right my fire is out. And so are my cant lights.
I rigged up That I rigged up awesome. So Oh,
okay, he's being sarcastic, okay. He's saying,
and so did my camp lights that I rigged up. Awesome.
So I began to go to the bathroom when all of
a sudden there's a Sam howling scream noise is
now on the other side of my campsite. I dive
into the tent and spend the remaining of the
night wide awake. I did some research in the
morning and the only thing that I could hear
were similar stories of a thing called an Ozark
Howler. Needless to say, I will not be going
back anytime soon. That's crazy. You know, I've
heard stories similar to that. And there are
a couple animals that could make something like
that. Oh, yeah. There are certain owls that will
make a sound that I would be kind of close to
that. All right, now we got to hear. Oh, go ahead,
go ahead. Real quick. See now how we were doing
cords and calf last year I think the one time
when we were in ever yeah, we camped out the
night before and Down the road we heard a whoop
and that was it It was the scariest thing. We're
like what the fuck and like we go out to the
trail We're looking down the trail. There's nothing
like the fuck Was it we wait for like response?
Oh, was it like the whoop when we had the...
I think it was just a regular screech owl or
whoop owl above Botch's Early, you remember those?
Where they're like, whoop! I didn't hear that
sound, but... You didn't? Alex said, I wasn't
there for... I don't think I was around when
that happened. The Botch's Early? You were with
us. No, I know I was, but I don't think I caught
the noise. I don't know if I went to bed early
or something. You must have, because it was all
night, brother. There was two of them. And it
was super scary, because you can't hear owls
fly. They're silent. So there was a pair of them
going, whoop, whoop, whoop, boo, whoop, whoop,
whoop, boo, like all night. And then... It was
I knew exactly what they were so I wasn't like
scared but what was eerie is it was dead silent
and they were making that noise and then all
of a sudden it was like somebody turned on like
Dolby surround sound because the other owl went
across the clearing and they were doing it at
like the same fucking time and so I was hearing
it out of like both ears and it was surrounding
us and it was just that And I was I was referencing
back to that because it wasn't I knew what they
were But it was eerie to hear them so close and
I was wondering if maybe that whoop sound was
kind of what you heard. Oh I I wouldn't know
but all I know is that it went off and like it
was quiet Man, it was like what was that back
in October November? Yeah, but then again, if
owls were in it too, he would have known what
it was. Because he didn't say anything about
owl. Yeah, so maybe he was something else. Who
knows? But there was no response to it. Sort
of like, what the fuck was that? Yeah, that is
weird. So for anybody who wants to know what
a howler is, I looked it up real quick. In Arkansas
folklore. A Howler is a legendary creature said
to dwell in the Ozarks. According to tradition,
it is a creature that is bear -like in shape
with dark -colored shaggy coat, and local traditions
and documented sightings preserve the mystique
of the Ozark Howler even if some people think
it is a myth. In 2015, Arkansas's television
station 4029 News reported that it had received
photographs purported to be images of the creature
from a viewer. The station contacted Arkansas's
Game and Fish Commission who responded that they
had heard no claims of sightings of the creature
and said that the images that were sent to the
station were a hoax. Of course they would. of
course like I don't know I don't know if I don't
know let's see here 4029 TV oh oh that's weird
that just I mean I don't know what to think about
that is if it is a howler that is it's like an
terrier with a rat tail with antlers Yeah, this
is funny because when I think of the Ozark Howler,
or whatever you want to call this, this is not
what I would picture. No. Yeah, that's weird.
It's just like a jackalope. Yeah, it's basically
a jackalope, but instead of a rabbit, it's a
cat. or like a cat like animal like the face
almost looks like and What do you call those
river an otter it's got almost got like a face
like an otter with spikes from a deer a terrier
body and a rat tail a long rat tail. Yeah, and
Yeah, that's just weird And I would say that
this is like a stuffed, like really bad, what
do you call those? What do you call these stuffed
animals? Taxidermy. Oh, taxidermy. Yeah, I'd
say this is like a taxidermy melt, but they have
multiple pictures of this, same color, same pattern.
Different body movement. Different body movements
and the feet are in different positions, so.
Yeah, yeah weird could be just some Photoshop
stuff who knows and the thing is is we may never
know I mean, yeah, they could be out there. This
creature is pretty small by the size of it easy
to miss we have found weirder things so maybe
I'll ask Benji and Caleb Baker and See if they
know anything about this howler creature from
the Ozarks I don't know, we might have to do
an interview with Benji and see if he knows anything
about it, maybe Caleb. I know Caleb's a decrypted
stuff a little bit and like some of the, it depends
on who you talk to, but quote unquote conspiracies.
So I'll have to ask them and see what they think
if any of this is. Real or has is actual legend
from the area. So Alright, that was a fun episode
with that. It's about 45 minutes and I think
we're ready to wrap it up What do you think mark?
Yeah, I'm going to wrap it up. Yeah, we're tired
wife's getting ready to leave We went through
some cool stories even ended it on a cryptid
note, you know Mark knows if I get talking about
cryptids. I won't stop so I'm gonna leave it
at this as the last topic and we're gonna move
on. So without further ado, we will see you guys
on the next one. Yep, later.