PART 3: This Man Filmed a Bigfoot Face to Face. CLEAREST Sasquatch Footage I’ve SEEN
THE TEN-FOOT LINE — PART 3
THE MINE BENEATH THE MOUNTAIN
The knocking continued long after Daniel stopped the truck.
Three times.
A pause.
Then three more.
It came from beneath the mountain.
Not from the trees.
Not from the road.
From somewhere underneath them.
Daniel sat behind the wheel, staring through the windshield at the darkening forest.
Beside him, the stranger remained completely still.
“Was that them?” Daniel whispered.
The man shook his head.
“No.”
“Then what was it?”
He looked toward the mountain.
“Something older.”
Daniel felt his stomach tighten.
He turned off the engine.
For several seconds, neither man moved.
Then Daniel remembered the photograph.
The photograph of himself as a child.
The figure behind him.
The words written on the back.
HE SAW THEM FIRST.
He held it up.
“Start talking.”
The stranger didn’t answer.
“Who are you?”
Silence.
“How long have you been following me?”
Still nothing.
Daniel slammed his hand against the steering wheel.
“Who are you?”
The stranger finally looked at him.
“My name is Elias.”
“Last name?”
“Elias Ward.”
“And you’ve been watching these creatures since 1962?”
“Yes.”
Daniel stared.
“That means you’ve spent your entire life studying them.”
Elias shook his head.
“No.”
He looked toward the mountain.
“I’ve spent my entire life trying to understand what they were protecting us from.”
Daniel felt a chill.
“What does that mean?”
Elias opened the truck door.
“We don’t have time.”
Daniel followed him.
They stood beneath the trees.
The mountain rose ahead of them, dark against the evening sky.
Elias pointed toward a narrow trail.
“The mine is two miles from here.”
“Why are we going there?”
“Because that’s where this started.”
“When?”
Elias looked at Daniel.
“Before either of us was born.”
They walked.
The forest became darker with every step.
Daniel kept checking behind him.
He expected to see the creatures following.
Nothing.
That somehow made things worse.
After nearly an hour, they reached a steep ridge.
At the bottom was a stone structure nearly swallowed by vegetation.
An old mine entrance.
Rusty rails disappeared into the darkness.
A collapsed wooden frame leaned against the mountain.
Daniel stared.
“You said this place was abandoned.”
“It is.”
“Then why are there footprints?”
Elias didn’t answer.
Daniel looked down.
Fresh impressions marked the mud.
Large.
Bare.
Five toes.
One after another, they disappeared into the mine.
Daniel’s mouth went dry.
“Those are fresh.”
“I know.”
“You said they couldn’t follow us.”
“I said they couldn’t follow us here.”
Daniel looked at him.
“That’s not the same thing.”
“No.”
Elias took a flashlight from his backpack.
Then he handed Daniel a second one.
“Stay behind me.”
They entered the mine.
The temperature dropped immediately.
The outside world disappeared behind them.
Their footsteps echoed through the tunnel.
The air smelled of wet stone, rust, and something else.
Something organic.
Daniel couldn’t identify it.
They walked deeper.
After several minutes, Daniel noticed markings on the wall.
Hundreds of them.
Some were scratches.
Some were symbols.
Some looked like handprints.
He stopped.
“Elias.”
The old man turned.
“Don’t touch them.”
“What are they?”
“Records.”
“Records of what?”
“Everything.”
Daniel moved closer.
The markings weren’t random.
They formed patterns.
Groups of three.
Then circles.
Then long vertical lines.
Some resembled crude drawings of trees.
Others appeared to show human figures.
And some showed enormous shapes standing beside them.
Daniel pointed.
“Those are people.”
Elias nodded.
“And those?”
“The others.”
Daniel swallowed.
“How old are these?”
“Some are hundreds of years old.”
“How do you know?”
“I’ve been translating them.”
Daniel stared.
“You can read this?”
“Some of it.”
Elias moved his flashlight across the wall.
“This is one of the reasons I stayed alive.”
“What does it say?”
Elias hesitated.
Then translated.
“They watch.”
He moved farther.
“They hide.”
Another symbol.
“They remember.”
Daniel felt a cold sensation crawl up his spine.
“And this?”
Elias’s expression changed.
He didn’t answer.
“Elias.”
The old man looked at him.
“It says…”
He stopped.
“What?”
“It says they were never alone.”
Daniel stared at the wall.
“What does that mean?”
A sound came from deep inside the mine.
Scrape.
Daniel turned.
Nothing.
Elias whispered:
“Keep moving.”
They continued.
The tunnel narrowed.
At one point they had to turn sideways to pass between two collapsed sections.
Then they reached a large underground chamber.
Daniel’s flashlight swept across the darkness.
He froze.
There were photographs covering the walls.
Hundreds.
Some were pinned to wooden boards.
Others had been glued directly to the stone.
Black-and-white photographs.
Color photographs.
Newspaper clippings.
Maps.
Handwritten notes.
Daniel stepped forward.
“What is this?”
Elias said nothing.
Daniel moved closer.
He recognized one photograph.
The 1962 image.
The creature crouched between trees.
The same one.
Another showed a forest in 1974.
A dark shape stood behind a tree.
Another.
A figure on a ridge.
Another.
Paul Freeman’s famous footage.
Daniel stared at Elias.
“You’ve been collecting everything.”
“Not everything.”
“Then what?”
“Only the encounters that mattered.”
Daniel looked around.
“How many?”
Elias answered quietly.
“Thirty-seven.”
Daniel turned.
“Thirty-seven?”
“Thirty-seven encounters where the creature deliberately allowed itself to be documented.”
Daniel felt a chill.
“Allowed?”
“Yes.”
“That’s impossible.”
Elias pointed to the photographs.
“Look at them.”
Daniel did.
He noticed a pattern.
The creatures were always partially concealed.
Always watching.
Always facing the camera.
And in several images, the same dark creature appeared.
Different years.
Different locations.
Same eyes.
Daniel stepped backward.
“That’s the one.”
Elias nodded.
“The creature you filmed.”
Daniel’s heart hammered.
“How old is it?”
“We don’t know.”
“Decades?”
“At least.”
“Then it can’t be the same animal.”
Elias looked at him.
“Why not?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
Elias walked to the far wall.
There was one photograph separated from the others.
It showed a group of miners standing outside the same mine.
The date was written beneath it.
October 1962.
Daniel looked at the faces.
There were six men.
But only five names were written.
“What happened to the sixth?”
Elias stared at the photograph.
“He disappeared.”
“When?”
“Three days after this picture was taken.”
“Did they find him?”
“No.”
Daniel looked at the sixth man.
He seemed familiar.
Not his face.
Something else.
The posture.
The eyes.
The way he stood slightly apart from the others.
Daniel leaned closer.
Then his blood ran cold.
There was something behind the miners.
A dark figure.
Barely visible.
Crouched near the mine entrance.
Daniel whispered:
“It was here.”
Elias nodded.
“It was always here.”
“Why?”
“Because the miners opened something.”
Daniel looked at the tunnel.
“What?”
Elias didn’t answer.
Instead, he walked toward a metal door at the back of the chamber.
Daniel hadn’t noticed it before.
The door was covered in rust.
A chain hung across it.
Elias unlocked the chain.
Daniel stared.
“You have a key?”
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
Elias opened the door.
“You weren’t brought here by accident.”
The darkness beyond the door seemed impossibly deep.
Daniel didn’t move.
“Who brought me?”
Elias looked at him.
“They did.”
Then he stepped inside.
Daniel followed.
The passage beyond was different from the rest of the mine.
The walls were smooth.
Not carved by mining equipment.
Smooth.
Almost polished.
Daniel ran his hand along the stone.
“This isn’t natural.”
“No.”
“Who built it?”
Elias looked ahead.
“That’s what we’re trying to find out.”
They walked deeper.
The knocking became louder.
Three knocks.
Three knocks.
Three knocks.
Daniel could feel them through the soles of his boots.
Then they reached a massive underground cavern.
In the center stood a stone platform.
And on that platform was something that made Daniel stop breathing.
A footprint.
Huge.
Perfectly preserved in stone.
More than fifteen inches long.
Five toes.
Deep impressions.
But that wasn’t what frightened him.
Beside the footprint was another.
Smaller.
Human.
Daniel looked from one to the other.
“They’re walking together.”
Elias nodded.
“For a long time.”
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“What are they?”
Elias looked at the footprints.
“We thought they were animals.”
“Who is we?”
“People who knew.”
“Scientists?”
“Some.”
“Government?”
Elias didn’t answer.
Daniel stared.
“You’ve been working with the government?”
“No.”
“They know about this?”
“Some of them.”
Daniel felt anger rising.
“How could they know and do nothing?”
Elias turned.
“Because they don’t understand it either.”
The knocking stopped.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Daniel looked into the darkness.
“Elias?”
The old man raised one finger.
“Listen.”
Daniel listened.
At first, nothing.
Then breathing.
Slow.
Deep.
Close.
Daniel’s heart pounded.
Something was in the cavern.
Elias turned off his flashlight.
Darkness swallowed them.
Daniel whispered:
“Why did you turn it off?”
“Because light attracts them.”
A shape moved in the darkness.
Daniel heard a footstep.
Then another.
Heavy.
Slow.
Approaching.
Elias whispered:
“Don’t run.”
Daniel’s body shook.
“I can’t see.”
“That’s the point.”
The footsteps stopped.
Daniel felt something standing nearby.
He could hear breathing.
Then a smell reached him.
Wet earth.
Rotten leaves.
And something animal.
Daniel’s eyes slowly adjusted.
A silhouette emerged.
Huge.
Crouched.
Only ten feet away.
Daniel recognized it immediately.
The same eyes.
The same face.
The same creature from the video.
It stared at him.
But it wasn’t alone.
A second figure stood behind it.
White hair.
The creature from the photograph.
The two beings watched Daniel.
Neither moved.
Then the dark-haired creature slowly raised one arm.
It pointed toward Daniel.
Then toward the wall.
Daniel turned.
His flashlight was still off.
He couldn’t see what it was pointing at.
He reached for it.
Elias grabbed his wrist.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t want to see it.”
Daniel pulled free.
He switched on the flashlight.
The beam struck the wall.
Daniel stopped.
His entire body went cold.
There was a drawing carved into the stone.
A human figure.
A child.
Standing beside a giant creature.
Daniel recognized the child.
It was him.
Eight years old.
But this drawing was ancient.
Far older than Daniel.
His voice disappeared.
“Elias…”
The old man looked at it.
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because I found it twenty years ago.”
Daniel turned.
“You knew?”
“I didn’t know who the child was.”
“Until now.”
Elias nodded.
Daniel stepped closer.
The carving contained something else.
Above the child’s head was a symbol.
Three circles.
The same symbol repeated throughout the mine.
Daniel touched it.
The moment his fingers touched the stone, the cavern shook.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
The creatures stepped backward.
For the first time, they looked afraid.
Daniel stared at them.
“You know what this is.”
Neither creature moved.
Then the white-haired one stepped forward.
It placed its massive hand against the wall.
Exactly where Daniel’s hand had been.
The stone began to glow.
Not brightly.
Just enough to reveal lines beneath the surface.
A map.
A vast underground map.
Tunnels spreading beneath the mountain.
Dozens.
Maybe hundreds.
And at the center was a symbol.
A circle.
Inside it was something that looked like an eye.
Elias whispered:
“That’s the chamber.”
Daniel looked at him.
“What chamber?”
“The place we’ve never been able to reach.”
“Why not?”
Elias pointed deeper into the cavern.
“Because every expedition ends here.”
Daniel looked toward the darkness.
“What happened to the others?”
Elias didn’t answer.
Then Daniel heard something behind them.
A human voice.
“Because they weren’t supposed to go farther.”
Daniel turned.
A flashlight appeared at the entrance.
Then another.
Then another.
Several armed men entered the cavern.
Daniel recognized one of them.
The stranger from the road.
Except he wasn’t alone anymore.
He looked at Elias.
“You were supposed to keep him away.”
Elias stepped in front of Daniel.
“It’s too late.”
The stranger raised a weapon.
“You have no idea what you’ve done.”
Daniel stared at him.
“What is this place?”
The man looked toward the two creatures.
Then toward the glowing map.
His expression was terrified.
“This isn’t their home.”
Daniel felt his stomach drop.
“Then what is it?”
The man looked directly at him.
“It’s a prison.”
The cavern suddenly shook.
A deep roar echoed through the tunnels.
Not from the creatures.
From somewhere beneath them.
The armed men stepped backward.
The dark-haired creature turned toward the ground.
The white-haired one did the same.
Then the stone beneath Daniel’s feet cracked.
A long black line spread across the cavern floor.
Something was moving underneath.
Daniel heard a sound.
A heartbeat.
Slow.
Massive.
Boom.
The ground shook.
Boom.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Boom.
The strangers raised their weapons.
Elias whispered:
“Everybody run.”
Daniel couldn’t move.
The crack widened.
Something beneath the stone pushed upward.
A hand appeared.
Not human.
Not Sasquatch.
Something far larger.
The creatures screamed.
For the first time, Daniel heard their voices.
And they sounded almost human.
They were afraid.
The white-haired creature grabbed Daniel.
The dark-haired creature grabbed Elias.
And both creatures pulled them toward a narrow tunnel.
Daniel looked back.
The armed men were running.
The cavern behind them was collapsing.
Then something enormous opened its eyes beneath the mountain.
Daniel saw only one thing before the tunnel swallowed him.
A giant eye.
Looking directly at him.
And in his pocket, his phone began recording by itself.
The screen illuminated.
A red light appeared.
RECORDING.
Daniel hadn’t touched it.
Then a voice came through the speaker.
His own voice.
But older.
Much older.
Whispering words Daniel had never spoken.
“Don’t let them open the door.”
Daniel stared at the screen.
Then the recording continued.
“If you’re hearing this…”
A pause.
“…you’re already inside.”
The screen went black.
And somewhere behind them, deep beneath the mountain, something began knocking.
Not three times.
Not six.
This time…
it knocked seven times.
