WEBVTT 00:00:00.699 --> 00:00:04.339 There's something out yonder in them woods. Bigger 00:00:04.339 --> 00:00:07.820 than any bear you ever laid eyes on. Sharper 00:00:07.820 --> 00:00:10.859 than a man with a mean streak. And it don't give 00:00:10.859 --> 00:00:13.820 two hoots whether you believe in it or not. Because 00:00:13.820 --> 00:00:17.660 it's already laid eyes on you. They say the woods 00:00:17.660 --> 00:00:21.100 around Montgomery County got eyes on them. Not 00:00:21.100 --> 00:00:25.660 deer eyes. Not coon eyes. These eyes burn red. 00:00:26.140 --> 00:00:28.960 Like coals in the dark. And they're set in a 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:32.240 face that just ain't right. Too much man to be 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:36.340 a bear. Too much beast to be a man. They call 00:00:36.340 --> 00:00:40.060 it Bayerilla. Ain't no story made up to scare 00:00:40.060 --> 00:00:44.140 kids. Folks have seen it, smelled it, heard it 00:00:44.140 --> 00:00:47.299 breathing just past the tree line. And if you're 00:00:47.299 --> 00:00:52.640 real unlucky, it's followed you home. Welcome 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:56.000 to Kentucky Melodies Scary Stories from Kentucky. 00:00:56.359 --> 00:00:59.979 Where we spin yarns about ghostly haints, creepy 00:00:59.979 --> 00:01:03.020 hollers, and spine -chilling legends from deep 00:01:03.020 --> 00:01:06.420 in the hills. So grab a chair, dim them lights, 00:01:06.659 --> 00:01:11.640 and let's dig into something spooky. Montgomery 00:01:11.640 --> 00:01:15.040 County, Kentucky. She's tucked away like an old 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:18.480 secret, hidden the rolling hills and thick hardwoods 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:22.099 just east of Lexington. You take yourself past 00:01:22.099 --> 00:01:25.329 Mount Sterling, slide through Jeffersonville 00:01:25.329 --> 00:01:28.469 and hang a left down them back roads that don't 00:01:28.469 --> 00:01:32.109 show up proper on no GPS. The kind where your 00:01:32.109 --> 00:01:34.549 signal dies and the woods start feeling closer 00:01:34.549 --> 00:01:37.629 than they ought to. Out there the land don't 00:01:37.629 --> 00:01:41.450 aim to be tamed. Brush grows up thick as a bramble 00:01:41.450 --> 00:01:44.870 wall. Ridges rise steep like the bones of the 00:01:44.870 --> 00:01:48.569 earth. And them old logging roads? They're nothing 00:01:48.569 --> 00:01:52.290 but scars now. Half swallowed by roots and rain. 00:01:52.569 --> 00:01:56.230 barely wide enough for a mule, let alone a truck. 00:01:56.969 --> 00:02:00.290 You walk far enough in and the air starts changing. 00:02:01.250 --> 00:02:04.810 Sound don't carry right. Even the birds hush 00:02:04.810 --> 00:02:08.169 up come dusk, like they know better than to sing 00:02:08.169 --> 00:02:11.270 when something's listening. That's guerrilla 00:02:11.270 --> 00:02:15.650 country, and it don't stop at Montgomery. No, 00:02:15.650 --> 00:02:18.750 sir, sightings have bled over into Bath County. 00:02:19.349 --> 00:02:22.719 Nicholas, even stretching into Menifee, where 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:25.960 they say Cold War bunkers still rot like old 00:02:25.960 --> 00:02:30.599 sins hidden deep in the moss and ivy. But Montgomery, 00:02:31.539 --> 00:02:34.900 that's where the story roots down. That's where 00:02:34.900 --> 00:02:38.439 folks first started speaking low about the thing 00:02:38.439 --> 00:02:41.780 that walks like a man, but don't belong to no 00:02:41.780 --> 00:02:46.259 world we know. The first time anybody laid eyes 00:02:46.259 --> 00:02:49.539 on it, least that we know of, was way back in 00:02:49.539 --> 00:02:53.430 the 1940s. There was a young boy messing around 00:02:53.430 --> 00:02:56.870 by a creek near sundown, just off Slate Creek. 00:02:57.710 --> 00:03:00.349 He weren't doing nothing but skipping rocks and 00:03:00.349 --> 00:03:03.669 following his dog, a loyal old mutt that didn't 00:03:03.669 --> 00:03:07.969 scare easy. But all of a sudden, that dog stiffened 00:03:07.969 --> 00:03:11.750 up, started growling low, then barking like something 00:03:11.750 --> 00:03:15.830 was setting its fur on fire. Next thing you know, 00:03:16.310 --> 00:03:19.689 it turned tail and tore off back toward the house, 00:03:20.030 --> 00:03:23.699 whimpering. tail tucked tight. That dog had chased 00:03:23.699 --> 00:03:27.060 coyotes and cornered snakes, but something out 00:03:27.060 --> 00:03:30.539 there put a fear in it like no other. That's 00:03:30.539 --> 00:03:33.699 when the boy saw it. Something standing upright 00:03:33.699 --> 00:03:37.979 in the tree line. Tall, thick with muscle, black 00:03:37.979 --> 00:03:40.580 fur hanging off its shoulders like a wet rug. 00:03:41.340 --> 00:03:44.860 Built broad, like a grizzly, but with a head 00:03:44.860 --> 00:03:48.099 that weren't right. Said it looked like a gorilla, 00:03:48.460 --> 00:03:53.659 but off. jaw too long, eyes too deep, and teeth 00:03:53.659 --> 00:03:56.620 that looked like they was made for tearing, not 00:03:56.620 --> 00:04:01.080 chewing. He ran, heart pounding like thunder 00:04:01.080 --> 00:04:04.800 in a storm. Swore he felt hot breath on the back 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:08.319 of his neck the whole way. When his daddy found 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:11.039 him, the boy was shaken so bad he couldn't speak 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:15.159 at first. And his arms scratched up something 00:04:15.159 --> 00:04:19.000 fierce. Long rakes down his forearms like claws 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:22.259 that tried to snatch him mid run. Folks wrote 00:04:22.259 --> 00:04:25.360 it off, said he must have fell in the brush, 00:04:25.939 --> 00:04:30.040 dreamed it up, got spooked by a bear maybe. But 00:04:30.040 --> 00:04:32.920 years later, when folks in those parts started 00:04:32.920 --> 00:04:35.439 swapping stories about a creature in the woods, 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:39.959 that boy's tale didn't sound near so wild anymore. 00:04:41.180 --> 00:04:45.540 Back in the fall of 1976, Two old boys were out 00:04:45.540 --> 00:04:48.160 working a patch of timber near Ridge Haller, 00:04:48.459 --> 00:04:52.259 just a few miles outside Jeffersonville. They'd 00:04:52.259 --> 00:04:55.139 been cutting all day, trying to beat the early 00:04:55.139 --> 00:04:58.000 dark that comes on quick in them hills once summer 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:01.519 turns to fall. They were just about to pack it 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:04.620 in when they heard it. Not just twigs snapping, 00:05:05.180 --> 00:05:09.019 branches, thick ones, cracking like bones under 00:05:09.019 --> 00:05:11.949 weight. Something heavy was moving through the 00:05:11.949 --> 00:05:15.689 woods fast, but not careless, like it wanted 00:05:15.689 --> 00:05:21.310 to be heard. Then came the smell, rot, death, 00:05:21.889 --> 00:05:25.009 wet fur and old meat, like a deer left too long 00:05:25.009 --> 00:05:28.269 in the sun, made their stomachs churn right there 00:05:28.269 --> 00:05:32.110 in the cool dusk air. They turned and there it 00:05:32.110 --> 00:05:35.470 was, standing upright in the shadows, it's about 00:05:35.470 --> 00:05:39.089 30 yards off. Big as a bull moose and thick as 00:05:39.089 --> 00:05:42.290 a root cellar wall. Its whole body was covered 00:05:42.290 --> 00:05:46.370 in matted, greasy black hair. Shoulders wide 00:05:46.370 --> 00:05:50.410 and rounded like a grizzly, but its face, that's 00:05:50.410 --> 00:05:55.470 where things turned real wrong. Flat faced, like 00:05:55.470 --> 00:05:58.410 a man who'd been twisted by something unnatural. 00:05:59.050 --> 00:06:02.730 No snout like a bear. just sunken eyes glowing 00:06:02.730 --> 00:06:06.069 red like stove embers and a mouth that hung open 00:06:06.069 --> 00:06:10.370 just enough to show jagged yellowed teeth. One 00:06:10.370 --> 00:06:14.050 of the loggers, fella named Virgil, dropped his 00:06:14.050 --> 00:06:17.310 chainsaw right then and there, didn't even look 00:06:17.310 --> 00:06:20.970 back, just tore off down the ridge yelling like 00:06:20.970 --> 00:06:25.629 a banshee. The other one, said he froze, couldn't 00:06:25.629 --> 00:06:29.850 move, said the thing never growled, never lunged, 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:34.939 just stood there, watching, like it weren't afraid, 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:39.720 like it knew something. Next day, they came back 00:06:39.720 --> 00:06:43.100 with the sheriff and a couple others, found tree 00:06:43.100 --> 00:06:46.279 limbs snapped clean ten feet up, like something 00:06:46.279 --> 00:06:49.000 had barreled through without even slowing down. 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:54.759 And right there in the mud, tracks, deep, wide, 00:06:55.560 --> 00:06:58.750 bigger in a grown man's boot. sunk in so far 00:06:58.750 --> 00:07:01.189 it must have weighed twice what any of them did. 00:07:01.689 --> 00:07:05.089 They marked the spot on a map, but nobody ever 00:07:05.089 --> 00:07:08.189 cleared that stretch again. Too many said the 00:07:08.189 --> 00:07:12.110 woods felt wrong after that. By the late 80s, 00:07:12.269 --> 00:07:16.029 the stories had grown quiet, like the woods themselves 00:07:16.029 --> 00:07:19.410 were holding their breath, but they never stopped 00:07:19.410 --> 00:07:24.660 completely. Cryptid researcher Ron Coffey A fella 00:07:24.660 --> 00:07:27.699 known for digging into Kentucky's strangest shadows, 00:07:28.300 --> 00:07:31.040 heard them whispers and came sniffing round the 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:34.839 edges of Montgomery and Bath Counties. Then, 00:07:35.079 --> 00:07:40.079 in 1989, he got wind of something peculiar. A 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:43.360 hunter out in Bath County, just a ridge or two 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:46.480 over from the Montgomery line, claimed he'd found 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:50.379 tracks, big ones. So Coffee packed up and made 00:07:50.379 --> 00:07:53.769 his way into the brush. What he found weren't 00:07:53.769 --> 00:07:57.430 no bear He took a plaster cast of one of them 00:07:57.430 --> 00:08:03.149 prints 17 inches long Deep heel thick toes wide 00:08:03.149 --> 00:08:07.550 apart, but the shape was off Didn't match bear 00:08:07.550 --> 00:08:12.189 didn't match man Whatever left it was heavy real 00:08:12.189 --> 00:08:16.269 heavy and walked like it meant business Word 00:08:16.269 --> 00:08:19.540 started spreading again Folks up in the holler 00:08:19.540 --> 00:08:23.959 started talking low like they used to. And coffee, 00:08:24.579 --> 00:08:27.060 he gave the creature a name that stuck in folks 00:08:27.060 --> 00:08:32.240 throats like a splinter, Barilla. Back in the 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:35.340 early 90s, a family thought they'd spend a quiet 00:08:35.340 --> 00:08:38.860 weekend camping out by Slate Creek, just a little 00:08:38.860 --> 00:08:43.360 ways off the old Trace Road. Nothing fancy, just 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:46.919 a clearing in the woods, a fire pit. and a canvas 00:08:46.919 --> 00:08:49.820 tent big enough to hold two sleepy youngins and 00:08:49.820 --> 00:08:54.379 a couple tired parents. The night was cool, crickets 00:08:54.379 --> 00:08:58.720 chirping, fire crackling low. Sometime after 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:02.279 midnight, the mama stirred in her sleep. Something 00:09:02.279 --> 00:09:05.419 weren't right. She lay there a second, holding 00:09:05.419 --> 00:09:09.919 her breath, ears straining. Then she heard it. 00:09:10.360 --> 00:09:14.779 Breathing. Heavy. Slow. coming from just the 00:09:14.779 --> 00:09:17.659 other side of the canvas. Close enough she could 00:09:17.659 --> 00:09:21.059 feel the air shift with it. She figured maybe 00:09:21.059 --> 00:09:23.519 her husband had gone out to check on the fire. 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:27.799 But when she reached over, there he was, still 00:09:27.799 --> 00:09:31.820 laying beside her, snoring soft. Her whole body 00:09:31.820 --> 00:09:36.080 went cold. She sat up real careful like, listening, 00:09:37.779 --> 00:09:41.679 still breathing. Low and ragged, like a big man 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:45.830 winded from work. but slower, deeper, too deep 00:09:45.830 --> 00:09:49.789 to be human. She eased toward the tent flap and 00:09:49.789 --> 00:09:52.950 unzipped it just a hair, and there it stood, 00:09:53.590 --> 00:09:56.610 no more than eight feet away. Half lit by the 00:09:56.610 --> 00:09:59.750 glow of the dying fire, steam rising off its 00:09:59.750 --> 00:10:02.549 matted black fur like mist off the holler at 00:10:02.549 --> 00:10:06.870 first light. Its chest rose and fell like a bellows, 00:10:07.090 --> 00:10:10.450 shoulders broad as a bull's yoke, arms hanging 00:10:10.450 --> 00:10:14.730 long, Almost to its knees. And them eyes? They 00:10:14.730 --> 00:10:18.490 were already on her. Didn't blink. Didn't move. 00:10:19.029 --> 00:10:22.529 Just watched. She zipped that flap shut faster 00:10:22.529 --> 00:10:25.230 in a whip crack, heart hammering in her chest 00:10:25.230 --> 00:10:28.250 like a freight train on a loose track. Didn't 00:10:28.250 --> 00:10:31.730 say a word. Just woke her husband, scooped up 00:10:31.730 --> 00:10:35.370 the kids, and they left. Didn't bother packing 00:10:35.370 --> 00:10:38.960 up the tent, the cooler, none of it. They left 00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:43.059 that creek like it was cursed. And far as I know, 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:47.740 they never went camping again. Back in the late 00:10:47.740 --> 00:10:50.779 90s, there was a teenager out of Mount Sterling. 00:10:51.299 --> 00:10:55.059 A curious sort, always chasing ghost tales and 00:10:55.059 --> 00:10:59.299 wandering where he ought not be. One cloudy afternoon, 00:10:59.580 --> 00:11:02.580 he grabbed his daddy's old camcorder, one of 00:11:02.580 --> 00:11:06.289 them bulky shoulder ones, and headed down an 00:11:06.289 --> 00:11:09.789 overgrown trail near Jeffersonville. Said he'd 00:11:09.789 --> 00:11:12.350 heard stories of haints and shadow people down 00:11:12.350 --> 00:11:15.070 there. Figured he might catch something spooky 00:11:15.070 --> 00:11:18.809 on tape to scare up his buddies. But he didn't 00:11:18.809 --> 00:11:22.690 find no ghost. He came back pale as chalk and 00:11:22.690 --> 00:11:26.049 shaken like a leaf in a cold wind. Said he'd 00:11:26.049 --> 00:11:29.529 found something crouched over a dead deer. Big 00:11:29.529 --> 00:11:33.409 one too, freshly killed. Steam still rising off 00:11:33.409 --> 00:11:37.149 its guts. Whatever it was, it was tearing into 00:11:37.149 --> 00:11:41.070 that carcass with its bare hands, ripping muscle 00:11:41.070 --> 00:11:45.110 from bone like wet paper. He thought maybe it 00:11:45.110 --> 00:11:48.909 was a man in a costume at first, some prank or 00:11:48.909 --> 00:11:52.669 a crazy hunter gone wrong. But then it stood 00:11:52.669 --> 00:11:56.710 up, said it towered over the brush, built like 00:11:56.710 --> 00:11:59.570 a linebacker, but with them long arms hanging 00:11:59.570 --> 00:12:03.570 near its knees. The fur was patchy in places. 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:07.419 mottled and greasy, but what struck him hardest 00:12:07.419 --> 00:12:10.860 was how the skin moved underneath. Said it was 00:12:10.860 --> 00:12:16.399 too real, too natural, too alive. And the smell? 00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:21.500 Lord, he said it near made him black out, like 00:12:21.500 --> 00:12:24.379 roadkill left to rot in the sun mixed with a 00:12:24.379 --> 00:12:28.019 wet dog that had crawled out of a grave. Its 00:12:28.019 --> 00:12:32.779 eyes met his, didn't growl, didn't charge, just 00:12:32.779 --> 00:12:36.590 watched. And them hands said they were big enough 00:12:36.590 --> 00:12:40.490 to wrap clear round his skull, and probably squeeze 00:12:40.490 --> 00:12:44.970 like a peach. That boy didn't wait to find out. 00:12:45.750 --> 00:12:48.769 He turned tail, dropped the camcorder right there 00:12:48.769 --> 00:12:52.509 in the dirt, and ran so hard he lost a shoe somewhere 00:12:52.509 --> 00:12:56.470 along the path. When he got home, he was still 00:12:56.470 --> 00:12:59.970 gagging from the stench. Eyes wide, couldn't 00:12:59.970 --> 00:13:03.960 speak for near an hour. Next day, he went back 00:13:03.960 --> 00:13:07.639 with his uncle to get the camera. It was gone. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:11.740 Grass trampled where the thing stood, and what 00:13:11.740 --> 00:13:14.740 was left of the deer was just bones picked clean 00:13:14.740 --> 00:13:18.639 and a few scraps hanging in the branches. That 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:22.340 boy ain't never been back in them woods since, 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:27.500 and he don't tell ghost stories no more. Barilla 00:13:27.500 --> 00:13:31.320 sighting slowed some in the 2000s. But they never 00:13:31.320 --> 00:13:35.399 stopped. Farmers out near Grassy Lick and Pine 00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:39.200 Ridge been finding fences torn clean down. Like 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:42.740 something big didn't even bother climbing. Just 00:13:42.740 --> 00:13:46.600 walk through. Hunters swear their best kill got 00:13:46.600 --> 00:13:50.299 dragged off in the dead of night. No blood trail. 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:54.799 Just gone. And campers... They talk about low 00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:57.919 growls rolling through the woods so deep it rattled 00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:01.299 their ribs and made their lanterns flicker. Some 00:14:01.299 --> 00:14:04.299 folks reckon it's just a big old black bear gone 00:14:04.299 --> 00:14:08.820 wrong. Others claim it's something worse. A creature 00:14:08.820 --> 00:14:12.259 made in some underground lab. Escape from one 00:14:12.259 --> 00:14:15.059 of them Cold War bunkers still rotten out in 00:14:15.059 --> 00:14:19.840 Menifee County. Talk of spliced DNA. Government 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:23.029 secrets. hush -hush projects that never quite 00:14:23.029 --> 00:14:26.710 shut down. But the old timers, they say it's 00:14:26.710 --> 00:14:29.850 older than all that, older than the bunkers, 00:14:30.149 --> 00:14:33.169 older than the towns, maybe older than the hills 00:14:33.169 --> 00:14:37.070 themselves. Some call it a guardian, watching 00:14:37.070 --> 00:14:39.990 over the woods, punishing those who take too 00:14:39.990 --> 00:14:44.389 much. Others call it a curse, set loose by the 00:14:44.389 --> 00:14:47.049 greed of men who dug too deep and woke something 00:14:47.049 --> 00:14:50.789 that oughta been left sleeping. Whatever it is, 00:14:51.190 --> 00:14:54.389 it don't want to be found. But when it does show 00:14:54.389 --> 00:14:59.470 up, ain't never just for a visit. So, if you're 00:14:59.470 --> 00:15:02.269 ever walking them woods east of Jeffersonville, 00:15:02.850 --> 00:15:05.889 and the air goes still, and you smell that rot 00:15:05.889 --> 00:15:10.110 creeping up your nose, turn around. Don't run. 00:15:10.549 --> 00:15:14.509 Don't speak. Just leave. Because Barilla don't 00:15:14.509 --> 00:15:18.450 make noise when it stalks. It don't charge. It 00:15:18.450 --> 00:15:24.330 waits, and once it's seen you, it never forgets. 00:15:24.690 --> 00:15:28.269 Barilla ain't your typical Bigfoot. It's darker, 00:15:28.850 --> 00:15:31.970 meaner, and far more real to the folks who've 00:15:31.970 --> 00:15:35.809 seen it. The woods of Montgomery County still 00:15:35.809 --> 00:15:39.309 hold secrets, and this one's buried deep in the 00:15:39.309 --> 00:15:42.909 hollers, in the broken trees, and in the stories 00:15:42.909 --> 00:15:46.440 passed from porch to porch. The question ain't 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:50.659 just, is it out there? The question is, how close 00:15:50.659 --> 00:15:53.080 has it gotten to you without you even knowing? 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:59.460 Now, I gotta ask y 'all something. You reckon 00:15:59.460 --> 00:16:03.000 Barilla's the real deal? A true blue Kentucky 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:06.700 cryptid? Or maybe just a case of folks mistaken 00:16:06.700 --> 00:16:09.600 shadows and old fear for something that ain't 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:13.620 there? What do you make of it? All them stories 00:16:13.620 --> 00:16:18.019 from 1940 clear on through to now. Different 00:16:18.019 --> 00:16:22.559 folks? Same beast? Coincidence? Or is there something 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:26.539 bigger hiding in them hills? You ever laid eyes 00:16:26.539 --> 00:16:29.720 on something strange out in the woods? Something 00:16:29.720 --> 00:16:32.899 that don't quite fit no field guide or wildlife 00:16:32.899 --> 00:16:36.820 chart? And let's say there is a creature like 00:16:36.820 --> 00:16:41.049 Barilla out there. Would you want proof? Or would 00:16:41.049 --> 00:16:43.429 you rather let it stay out there in the dark 00:16:43.429 --> 00:16:48.169 where it belongs? Drop your stories in the comments, 00:16:48.570 --> 00:16:52.929 friends. Tell us what you've seen or what's seen 00:16:52.929 --> 00:16:58.429 you. Because here in Kentucky, some legends don't 00:16:58.429 --> 00:17:04.170 die. They just go quiet till they're ready to 00:17:04.170 --> 00:17:09.779 roar again. Well, now. If you made it this far 00:17:09.779 --> 00:17:12.099 without running for the hills or checking under 00:17:12.099 --> 00:17:16.599 your bed, bless your brave little heart. But 00:17:16.599 --> 00:17:19.359 don't go thinking the woods are done whispering 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:23.900 just yet. Come on back next Saturday. Same time, 00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:26.759 same haunting place, because we'll have another 00:17:26.759 --> 00:17:30.480 fresh tale waiting for you. Hot and spooky, straight 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:34.380 out of Kentucky's darkest haulers. And who knows, 00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:37.779 next week's story might just follow you home. 00:17:38.029 --> 00:17:42.069 So go on now. Grab a blanket, lock your doors, 00:17:42.529 --> 00:17:46.829 and maybe, just maybe, keep a flashlight by the 00:17:46.829 --> 00:17:50.309 bed, because you're gonna need it. This here 00:17:50.309 --> 00:17:53.529 is Kentucky Melody, and we ain't done with you 00:17:53.529 --> 00:17:53.769 yet.