A strong pattern of observation as a prelude to interaction with lots of help from Mateo Arguello, Glenn Norberg, and my cousin, Heidi.
Mateo’s video links for some of the incidents can be found at the bottom of this article.
Are you convinced that the mythical creature hiding in the woods known as Bigfoot exists? If so, you’re not alone and the truth is out there.
“Unless you telescope in and listen with both ears and mind you might not notice anything. There might be a soft ‘woo,’ almost a sigh, then you start to wonder if this could be something strange. You wait to see if there’s a pattern or an increase in the intensity or types of sounds. Maybe there’s a growing sense that you aren’t alone. How small and vulnerable you feel when you realize something much bigger and potentially far more dangerous than you is hiding just a few feet, or inches away watching your every move.”
Mateo continues, “In so many ways we limit our view of the world. When we think of predators it’s easy for us to see only the aggressive side, as when it attacks or eats something. We scope in and focus on fearful things and interpret all intense situations as horrible or aggressive. We slant things to the dark side, for some reason we crave scarier things. Fear sells.
“Are they dangerous? There are accounts of Bigfoots, called red-haired giants, or trolls eating humans. Perhaps it is a few incidents, but the stories are passed all around the lore of the planet. If humans are willing to eat each other in different cultures – then it’s a possibility. I think it’s important to recognize they can definitely be very dangerous to humans but there’s a good indication that they’re not inherently aggressive – unless someone has threatened them with a gun, shot at them, or harmed a family member.
“It’s more difficult to see all of a creature’s other behaviors, but nature gives us plenty of examples of peaceful interactions between these species, and evidence of one type of animal helping another in distress. It’s not just us. We see interspecies cooperation play out not only with humans or other primates, but there are occasions where a jaguar that normally eats baby deer is taking care of one instead. There are a number of accounts of Sasquatches helping humans and also asking humans for help. It’s universal and it may be more common than we think.
“Before my encounters’ I didn’t feel the need to carry any weapon except a hunting knife on my excursions. Of course, I thought it would be cool if these hominids existed, but like many, I thought they would run from us. Even bears or mountain lions will eventually run away, but it would be a fallacy to think all animals are afraid of us. Sure, most animals are afraid of humans because we hunt them. Squirrels are an exception. They aren’t afraid of me at all – even after I show them a pellet gun, or I eat one of them. The others are still not afraid of me. But squirrels quit chattering and are quiet around Sasquatch.
My first interactive encounter with Sasquatches was really scary because I expected that they would stay away from people like chimpanzees and mountain gorillas. I figured they would distance themselves far from contact – maybe somewhere in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest or the Himalayas – to avoid humans at all costs. So, I always had this impression they wouldn’t be anywhere near the area in which I lived and worked. Certainly, they did not live and travel where I hiked, ran, and played near the canyons and parks adjacent to the city of Colorado Springs. I was wrong. Right there!”
“I used to be terrified of Bigfoot like squirrels are, but now I’ve done a 180-degree reversal in my thinking. I seek their company.” Mateo mused, “Maybe Sasquatch looks at us as pets and they’re trying to domesticate us,” he laughs. “Sometimes they’d play with me like I’d play with a kitten. Ironically, now that I know them and understand them better, this group which I’m more familiar with, I’m speaking of the ones that live in and near the canyons on the west side of Colorado Springs, I feel safer when I know they’re around.” He laughs. “Because all animals – even large predators – vacate the area.
“But nothing prepared me for Sasquatches conducting experiments on humans; observing us, politely trying to get our attention to see if we want to play on their terms – literally a quarter mile from the first houses in town.”
The Three Bears – My first known exposure – But not an interaction
“My friend, Austin, and I had been hiking all day exploring the south side of Pikes Peak. It was getting dark and he relied on me to navigate us back to the Jeep safely. Normally it was easy for me to remember reference points, even by moonlight. However, it was getting pitch dark and there was no moon to be seen. We were over 12,000 feet, 500 feet above timberline when the entire landscape became formless and I realized I couldn’t make out anything – even with my headlamp fully illuminated.
It was like looking into the void of space. Everything was so far away, nothing reflected in the distance and in that moment, I was unable to tell where I was on the mountain. For the first time, I understood how people could get lost and die on a cold night like this high above the trees in what seemed like an endless void, a black abyss that absorbed all light. I was chilled with fear, not only for me but for my dear friend who came with me on these crazy escapades because he did trust my judgment and experiences.
“In the inky darkness the valleys were gone, indiscernible, and my headlamp only illuminated sixty feet ahead of us before evaporating into darkness. I pushed fear to the side and brought my confidence back to the surface. No point in being scared, I needed to guess which valley to take down, and see where it led.
“The problem was that from our mountain top vantage we were looking for the genesis of a swale that would become a large valley farther down. No easy feat as many of them started as small depressions in the ground about a foot deep, before rushing down 2,000 feet into streams that carved out valleys and canyons further down the slope. Even worse, different valleys could begin as small dips which might only begin a few feet from one another, very confusing.
“With as much confidence as I could muster, I let Austin know we would have to pick the start of a valley and just hope it was the right one to take us back. He seemed to take it well since I showed no fear or doubt.“ In the darkness, it’s hard to gauge distances. For what seemed like two endless black miles, we pushed our way down into the valley we thought we had come up. After hiking down about 1,000 feet we thought lady luck was on our side because we ran into a road we’d used briefly, earlier that day on the way up.
It was either a new cattle road or one that had recently had a lot of maintenance done. This gave us more confidence and improved our morale. Now, we at least had a road and trees that our lights could illuminate, giving us the illusion we could see and that this world wasn’t so vacant.
“Our walk continued but it soon became clear that even though we had a path to follow, we had chosen the wrong valley and it had placed us hours farther from home. Our morale dropped to nothing. We were cold, hungry, and getting sleepy. It was edging close to midnight, but we had no choice but to keep going. After a few more hours passed a strange sensation overcame me. The way I’d feel when I was in a kill zone in Afghanistan. You knew you were vulnerable; something was watching you! This feeling lingered for about a mile, then we finally pushed out of the trees to one of the reservoirs where this valley ended.
“I shook the dread off thinking it had been my imagination and felt emboldened because Austin was with me. Additionally, we’d both brought side arms in our packs which gave us some perception of safety. But the feeling of being watched did not cease, and because of this, I was prompted to look to my right as soon as we cleared the tree line where the slope ended. A flat space emerged that was covered in tall grass and giant willow bushes, and to my surprise, I saw three massive black figures leaving the tree line and barreling down the last of the small open slope.
They walloped on all fours through the tall grass and silently jutted, or dodged behind a huge willow bush about 45 ft feet away. Their eyeshine varied between yellow and green as my light caught them at different angles. My first thought was they had to be three massive black bears. Yet my personal experience with countless bears raised red flags about their behavior. These things did not move like bears but like apes. They were bounding with incredible speed and agility. Their movements reminded me of hyenas bounding in African documentaries as they entered into a feeding frenzy.
“That was just the beginning. What happened shortly afterward was even more perplexing. Sasquatch was not on my mind at the time, and I was struggling to categorize these three as adult bears. Adults were unlikely to peacefully share the same space. All we could see were these massive outlines and large reflective eyes looking back at us from just outside the reach of our lights. Simultaneously, they started peeking their heads out from behind this giant bush. When we would shine the light to focus on one head it would quickly hide behind the bush and the other two would jut & extend out their heads out – just like ‘whack-a-mole.’
“If that wasn’t enough, the one directly behind the tree was peeking over a bush that had to be over eight feet tall. I couldn’t comprehend how fast and fluid this bear could look over the bush, it then ducked its head. I had always seen bears as having to struggle to balance while standing, slowly rising, then falling to get off two feet. This bear was faster and more agile than I was. As soon as the light was directed at it, it shot down – just to shoot up as soon as we shined the light at the new head popping out on the side. I remember at the time I did not get any threatening indication from them and was not afraid.
“Austin suggested we should take out our firearms. Recognizing he was afraid, and that indeed taking out our pistols was probably the best course of action to make sure we were protected. As soon as I drew out my 1911 WWII .45, the three giant bears galloped away from us on all fours so fast that they were out of sight within seconds. Unfortunately, that was no benefit to us since they went into the trees in the direction we planned to go, making it impossible for us to keep an eye on them. We just stood there, not sure what to do because we felt uneasy moving in the direction all these “bears” had fled.
“I commented to Austin that it was unusual to see three adult bears together, and how strange their movements were. The behaviors we saw didn’t make sense; they were not the behaviors of bears. I told him I could not understand how they maneuvered with such agility and how they instantly knew we had drawn our pistols and fled the scene in haste. I may have understood the fear of rifles, but not pistols. Austin didn’t have much to say since there was a lot to contemplate.
As for me, I was highly suspicious of what we had just seen and could not get it out of my head. The way they moved, the interest they showed in us, the way they had been following us from up the slope in the trees in order to meet us in the open. If I had not looked to my right they would have just moved to that bush and neither one of us would have been the wiser.
“We probably waited about twenty minutes before deciding to push forward. Both of us were obviously perplexed and unsure if we were safe or not. So, we continued with our lights on and our handguns drawn for about a mile and a half, until we ran into a forest service road and felt safe enough to put the guns away.
However, our heads were still on swivels looking for any eyeshine that might indicate these things were still following us. It took another couple of hours to reach the Jeep and it was probably around and it took another two hours to get home. So, it was close to daybreak at 5 a.m., by the time this adventure was over.”
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PARTS TWO and THREE WILL BE COMING VERY SOON!
MORE Information, Sightings, and Links To Check Out!
Mateo’s video links for some of the incidents can be found here.
“Thank God, it never looked back at me” Video: https://youtu.be/XCatOc5jDKw
“Snow white sasquatch encounter”: https://youtu.be/1yfGfLsQkWU
Beaver creek sas p1: https://youtu.be/seXyWmV7cLc
P2: https://youtu.be/5B74cSB4Uf0
Gargoyle: https://youtu.be/AgOcw50gyc4
ABOUT Diane Olsen ~ Award-Winning Author
Author Diane Olsen is a seasoned writer who is a two-time bronze medallion winner from the Christian Illuminations Book Awards for her books. Three of these books earned five-star ratings from Reader’s Favorite, and in 2021, she received a second Bronze Medal from Christian Illumination for book three entitled; “The Weeping God and The Book of Hope.”
Rising Winds is an excellent multi-cultural, cross-genre fiction read with a light Christian-themed, action-packed mystery thrill ride like no other! No matter their beliefs or cultural backgrounds, everyone will enjoy this ‘Indiana Jones style’ series, which rides a balance between science and religion. Diane shares how all of us, all of humanity, are connected as one. Her books are available on Amazon, Kindle, B&N, and many fine online bookstores.
Born and raised in Colorado, Diane is an Undergrad at Colorado State University Ft. Collins: Pre-vet med, Anthropology, then attended and received her BA and MA at the University of Montana, Missoula: Anthropology, Archaeology, and Paleontology. Diane has proudly raised two grown sons, Andrew and Gavin, and has four grandsons, Dylan, Brayden, AJ, and Asher; when she is not writing, Diane enjoys spending time with her family, especially her grandkids. She resides in the Pacific Northwest.
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DIANE OLSEN
Diane Olsen~Award Winning Author 
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