PART 4: This Man Filmed a Bigfoot Face to Face. CLEAREST Sasquatch Footage I’ve SEEN
THE TEN-FOOT LINE — PART 4
THE SEVENTH KNOCK
The seventh knock was different.
Daniel knew that before the sound had finished echoing through the tunnel.
The first six had been signals.
This one sounded like an answer.
BOOM.
The stone beneath his feet trembled.
BOOM.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
BOOM.
The dark tunnel ahead seemed to breathe.
BOOM.
Behind them, the cavern erupted with shouting.
BOOM.
Someone fired a gun.
The muzzle flash briefly illuminated the walls.
BOOM.
The creatures screamed.
Then came the seventh knock.
BOOM.
Everything stopped.
Daniel couldn’t hear the men.
Couldn’t hear Elias.
Couldn’t even hear his own breathing.
For several seconds, the entire mountain seemed to hold its breath.
Then the dark-haired creature grabbed Daniel’s jacket and pulled him deeper into the tunnel.
Daniel stumbled after it.
“Elias!”
The old man was being dragged by the white-haired creature.
They disappeared around a bend.
Daniel followed.
The passage narrowed until his shoulders scraped both walls.
Behind them came another gunshot.
Then a scream.
Then silence.
Daniel didn’t look back.
He couldn’t.
Whatever had been beneath the cavern was awake.
And whatever the creatures had been hiding from all these years had finally found a way out.
They ran for nearly five minutes.
The tunnel twisted downward.
Daniel lost all sense of direction.
There were no mine supports here.
No rails.
No old machinery.
Only smooth stone walls covered in strange markings.
The dark-haired creature moved effortlessly through the darkness.
Daniel struggled to keep up.
Finally, it stopped.
Elias nearly collided with it.
The creature turned.
Its eyes met Daniel’s.
For the first time, Daniel noticed something different.
The creature wasn’t looking at him like an animal.
It was looking at him like a person.
Then it touched the wall.
Three times.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Daniel understood.
He placed his hand against the stone.
Nothing happened.
The creature looked at him.
Then it pointed toward the symbol carved above his head.
Three circles.
Daniel touched it.
The wall moved.
A section of stone slid inward without making a sound.
Behind it was a small chamber.
Elias stared.
“I’ve never seen that.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You said you’ve studied this place for sixty years.”
“Not this place.”
The old man’s face was pale.
“I’ve only seen the outer tunnels.”
They entered.
The door closed behind them.
For the first time since entering the mine, Daniel felt safe.
Then he noticed the walls.
Photographs.
Hundreds.
But these weren’t old photographs.
They were new.
Some had timestamps from only months earlier.
Others from days.
Daniel stepped closer.
His blood ran cold.
They showed hikers.
Hunters.
Campers.
Families.
People walking through forests.
Every photograph had been taken from a distance.
Hidden behind trees.
Behind rocks.
Inside bushes.
The people had no idea they were being watched.
Daniel looked at Elias.
“They’ve been photographing us.”
Elias nodded.
“For generations.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel moved to another wall.
There were photographs of roads.
Houses.
Trails.
Campsites.
One showed a small town.
Another showed a highway at night.
Another showed a man standing in his backyard.
Daniel recognized him.
It was Marcus.
The photograph had been taken three days before Daniel met him in the woods.
Daniel stepped backward.
“They were watching Marcus.”
Elias said nothing.
Daniel grabbed him.
“What did you know about him?”
“I didn’t.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I didn’t know.”
Daniel released him.
Then he noticed something else.
A photograph of himself.
Not as a child.
Not from the previous day.
From two weeks earlier.
Daniel was standing outside his house.
Looking at his phone.
The picture had been taken from across the street.
He stared at it.
“They’ve been watching me.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
Elias didn’t answer.
Daniel looked at him.
“For how long?”
“Since you were eight.”
Daniel felt the room spin.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“Why?”
“Because of what happened to your parents.”
Daniel froze.
His parents.
He hadn’t thought about them in years.
His father had died when Daniel was nineteen.
His mother had died several years later.
Neither death had been mysterious.
At least, that was what Daniel had always believed.
“What does this have to do with my parents?”
Elias looked away.
“Your father came here.”
Daniel’s voice became quiet.
“When?”
“1962.”
Daniel stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
Elias shook his head.
“Your father wasn’t a child in 1962.”
“No.”
“He was.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
The room seemed to tilt.
“My father was born in 1954.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel stared.
“He was eight years old.”
Elias nodded.
Just like Daniel.
Daniel looked at the photograph on the wall.
The same age.
The same forest.
The same creatures.
The same symbol.
“What happened?”
Elias took a slow breath.
“Your father was one of the children who entered the mine.”
Daniel looked at the dark-haired creature.
It lowered its head.
“You said six miners disappeared.”
“Six adults.”
“And the children?”
Elias looked at him.
“There were three.”
Daniel felt cold.
“My father was one.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to the other two?”
Elias didn’t answer.
Daniel already knew he wasn’t going to like the answer.
“They never came back.”
Daniel stared at the floor.
“Then how did my father get out?”
Elias’s voice became almost a whisper.
“The creatures brought him back.”
Daniel looked up.
“What?”
“They carried him out.”
“Why?”
“Because something followed him.”
The chamber went silent.
Daniel heard a faint scratching sound behind the wall.
He turned.
The creatures were staring at the same spot.
The dark-haired one moved toward it.
It pressed its ear against the stone.
Then it stepped backward.
Its expression changed.
Fear.
Daniel had never seen anything like it.
“What is it?”
Elias whispered:
“The seventh.”
Daniel looked at him.
“The seventh what?”
“Knock.”
A terrible sound came from behind the wall.
Not knocking.
Scratching.
Something was dragging its fingers across the stone.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Daniel backed away.
The scratching stopped.
Then a voice came through the wall.
A human voice.
“Daniel.”
He froze.
The voice sounded exactly like his father.
“Daniel…”
He looked at Elias.
“Did you hear that?”
Elias nodded.
The voice came again.
“Daniel, it’s Dad.”
Daniel’s eyes filled with tears.
His father had been dead for twenty years.
“Don’t listen,” Elias said.
Daniel stepped toward the wall.
“Dad?”
The creature grabbed him.
Daniel fought against it.
“Let me go!”
The voice continued.
“I’m trapped.”
Daniel stopped struggling.
“I’ve been waiting.”
Elias shouted:
“That’s not your father!”
The voice laughed.
Not loudly.
Just a soft breath of amusement.
Then it said:
“Ask Elias what happened in 1962.”
Daniel turned.
Elias looked terrified.
“What happened?”
The old man didn’t answer.
The voice behind the wall spoke again.
“Elias knows.”
Daniel grabbed the old man’s jacket.
“What happened?”
Elias closed his eyes.
Then whispered:
“I lied.”
Daniel released him.
“About what?”
“Your father didn’t escape.”
Daniel’s face went numb.
“He died?”
“No.”
“Then where is he?”
Elias looked at the wall.
“He’s still here.”
Daniel couldn’t speak.
The voice came again.
This time, closer.
“Daniel.”
A pause.
“Open the door.”
Daniel looked at the creatures.
Both were shaking.
The dark-haired creature stepped between Daniel and the wall.
It raised its arm.
Protecting him.
The voice changed.
It became deeper.
Less human.
“Open.”
The creature roared.
The chamber shook.
The wall cracked.
A black line appeared.
Daniel stumbled backward.
Elias pulled him away.
“Move!”
They ran through another opening at the opposite end of the chamber.
The creatures followed.
Behind them, the wall exploded.
Stone fragments flew through the air.
Something enormous pushed through.
Daniel looked back.
He wished he hadn’t.
A hand reached into the chamber.
It was larger than his entire torso.
Its fingers were long and pale.
Not covered in fur.
The skin looked almost gray.
And the nails were black.
The creature’s arm disappeared into the darkness.
Daniel ran faster.
They reached another tunnel.
This one descended sharply.
Elias nearly fell.
The white-haired creature caught him.
Daniel stared.
It had saved him.
Then they heard footsteps behind them.
Heavy.
Slow.
Something was following.
Not the creatures.
Something else.
They continued downward.
After several minutes, the tunnel opened into a massive cavern.
Daniel’s flashlight illuminated a subterranean lake.
Black water stretched into darkness.
On the opposite shore stood an enormous stone structure.
A doorway.
Hundreds of feet high.
Carved directly into the rock.
Daniel stared.
“What is that?”
Elias whispered:
“The door.”
“To what?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel looked at the creatures.
They had stopped moving.
Neither would go closer.
The dark-haired creature pointed toward the water.
Daniel noticed something floating near the shore.
A wooden box.
It drifted slowly toward them.
Daniel stepped closer.
Elias grabbed him.
“Don’t.”
The box bumped against the rocks.
Daniel could see writing on it.
His name.
DANIEL CROSS.
He stared.
“How does it know my name?”
Elias didn’t answer.
Daniel crouched.
He reached toward the box.
The dark-haired creature growled.
Daniel stopped.
Then the box opened by itself.
Inside was a photograph.
Daniel picked it up.
The photograph showed the same cavern.
The same underground lake.
The same enormous doorway.
But there were people standing in front of it.
Daniel recognized one.
His father.
Eight years old.
Standing beside him were two other children.
Behind them were six miners.
All alive.
Daniel turned the photograph over.
There was writing.
WE FOUND THE DOOR.
Below it:
WE WERE TOLD NEVER TO OPEN IT.
And beneath that, written in a different hand:
BUT ONE OF US DID.
Daniel looked at Elias.
“Who opened it?”
The old man didn’t respond.
Daniel’s eyes moved across the photograph.
One of the miners stood apart from the others.
His face was scratched away.
Someone had deliberately destroyed it.
“Who is that?”
Elias stared at the photograph.
Then he whispered:
“The seventh miner.”
Daniel looked at him.
“There were six.”
“Six came out.”
Daniel’s blood ran cold.
“Then who was the seventh?”
Elias slowly turned toward the massive doorway.
“The man who opened it.”
The cavern became silent.
Then the enormous stone door moved.
Just slightly.
A crack appeared.
Cold air poured through.
The creatures stepped backward.
The dark-haired one made a sound Daniel had never heard before.
Not a roar.
Not a growl.
A warning.
Elias whispered:
“Run.”
But Daniel couldn’t move.
Something was visible through the crack.
A light.
Not sunlight.
Not fire.
Something pale and blue.
Then a figure appeared.
Human-shaped.
Standing on the other side.
Daniel stared.
The figure stepped closer.
One foot crossed the threshold.
Daniel’s heart stopped.
The face became visible.
It was an old man.
Very old.
His hair was white.
His skin was pale.
But Daniel knew the face.
He had seen it thousands of times in photographs.
His father’s face.
Daniel whispered:
“Dad?”
Elias grabbed him.
“Don’t.”
The old man smiled.
Then he raised one hand.
Behind him, hundreds of dark shapes moved in the blue light.
Not one.
Not ten.
Hundreds.
Daniel realized the truth at the same moment Elias did.
The creatures in the forest weren’t the monsters trapped beneath the mountain.
They were the guards.
They had been keeping something inside.
And now the door was opening.
The old man standing behind it smiled again.
Then he spoke.
His voice was exactly like Daniel’s father’s.
“Son.”
The stone door opened another inch.
“Come home.”
The creatures screamed.
The cavern shook.
The underground lake began to ripple.
And from somewhere far beneath the water came seven enormous knocks.
Daniel looked at Elias.
The old man was crying.
“You have to understand,” Elias whispered.
“Your father isn’t calling you.”
Daniel stared at the doorway.
“Then who is?”
Elias looked toward the creatures.
And for the first time, the dark-haired creature spoke in a voice Daniel could understand.
Four words.
“Not your father.”
Daniel turned back toward the doorway.
The figure was gone.
The blue light remained.
And then something much larger stepped into view.
Something with enormous shoulders.
Something with no face.
Something that seemed to bend the darkness around itself.
The creatures backed away.
Elias whispered:
“That’s what they were hiding.”
The thing raised its head.
And somewhere in the darkness, Daniel heard his own voice whisper:
“Run.”
Then the seventh knock came again.
BOOM.
The entire mountain shook.
And the door opened.
