Chasing After #Bigfoot! #Sasquatch #TrueStory #Kindle #Amazon

Boy did I get a cool surprise in my inbox today from one of my favorite writers! Rusty Wilson is a Fly-Fishing Guide. He collects Bigfoot stories. He's heard tons of them from his clients over the years just by sitting around the nightly campfire. I have gobbled all of his entire series of Rusty Wilson's Bigfoot Campfire Stories and devoured his book, The Bigfoot Runes in one night. If you're skeptical of Sasquatch, I highly recommend you check out his books. He's one helluva writer and you'll be in possession of campfire stories that will put ghost stories to shame! If you're hoping to scare the heck out of your family and friends, read them a few stories on your next camping trip. You won't be sorry and then you'll be hooked like me!

I really kinda feel sorry for all the people who don't have an open mind; those who will never read these stories and learn from them. I have no doubt. Make fun of me if you will but I've found something very special in Rusty's books and I'm doing you the favor of telling you about these gems. I'll be crawling in bed early to dive into his latest book tonight! Thanks for the dedication, Rusty! You will always be my favorite Sasquatch historian.

INTRO FROM RUSTY'S BOOK: CHASING AFTER BIGFOOT

Dear Fellow Adventurers,

As you may know, I’m a fly-fishing guide, and I’ve collected many Bigfoot stories around campfires from my clients. (“Rusty Wilson’s Bigfoot Campfire Stories” and others in that series.)

When I’m sitting around the fire listening to these stories, the storyteller will often tell the actual place where their Bigfoot encounter happened. I almost always change these locations in my books. Given what I believe is the declining number of this species, I feel we need to be very careful to not intrude on their habitat any more than we already do.

But I always wondered what it would be like to go searching in those places, places where there have been actual encounters—some of which were real doozies. I call places where there was more than one such encounter “Bigfoot hotspots.”

My wife, Sarah, and I discussed this for some time, and I always felt a bit conflicted about the whole thing—I would hear of others going on organized searches, sometimes in fairly large numbers, and I’d wonder, what does the Big Guy think about all this? I always felt that he or she probably felt hunted. I know I would.

I wanted to see a Bigfoot, but I just couldn’t justify intruding into their terrain. I know I wouldn’t like someone coming into my territory, purposely searching for me and my family.

While thinking about all this (usually while fishing), a thought finally began to take shape: what if I were to go to Bigfoot hotspots and just hang around camp, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible and not tramping into the woods looking for them? Would they maybe come to me from curiosity?

Another thought was in the back of my mind—would I be able to find definitive proof of the existence of Bigfoot, something many scoff at or question? And if I did, what would I do with it?

I tried to be honest with myself. If I did find such proof, I knew I would never sell it, and I wasn’t sure I would even share it with anyone except my wife, who I trust implicitly. I’m not interested in self-aggrandizement, and I feel that most media sensationalize the topic of Bigfoot. I wanted no part of that.

I simply have a life-long curiosity about Bigfoot. I wanted to see one—in a nutshell, meet the elusive creature I’d heard so much about over campfires. I also feel strongly that we must start preserving their habitat, and this won’t happen until we can list them as a real species, and possibly as an endangered one. But what part I wanted to play in that was not clear to me, as I wanted nothing to do with anything that could also possibly make them even more endangered.

So, I decided I would go camping. I would take off for a month and follow my heart, go chasing after the Big Guy—though I can tell you, when I realized my dream could become reality, I was kind of scared.

Did I have what it would take to camp in a tent in these Bigfoot hotspots all alone? I wouldn’t actually be chasing after Bigfoot—if anything, he’d be chasing after me. I hoped I had the fortitude and courage to let him find me, were he so inclined. To be honest, the thought was both intriguing and terrifying.

And so, in late July, off I went, and I can tell you this—it takes a lot more to live through a Bigfoot story than it does to hear someone else’s. There were times when I amazed myself at my courage—but more often, I was shocked at how big of a chicken I could be. Things just didn’t come down like I expected them to—not one bit.

Unlike in my camp fire stories, the locations in this book are exactly where the event happened. I mention this because you might want to stay away from those places—or go there, if you’re ready. My vision of Bigfoot has always been that he’s a benign creature, but there were a few times during my “expedition” that I wasn’t so sure.

So, make yourself a cup of hot chocolate, kick back by the fire, and be prepared for a story that may make your teeth chatter just a bit—and if it does, believe me, it won’t be from the cold.

I hope you enjoy it! —Rusty

AMAZON BUY LINK FOR KINDLE VERSION OF CHASING AFTER BIGFOOT

Bigfoot's Ghost Writer, Rusty Wilson!

Today I have a very special guest! Please welcome Rusty Wilson, author of the Bigfoot Campfire Stories. I met Rusty while talking about cryptids on an online author board and then read his books. If Bigfoot were to hire a ghost writer to tell his stories, he'd choose Rusty Wilson or maybe he HAS chosen Rusty and Rusty just doesn't know it. Since reading his real life encounters of Sasquatch, I'm more intrigued than ever before. Do yourself a favor and get just one of his books...but I have to warn you, they're like French Fries, you can't eat just one! You'll keep coming back for more until you gobble every single one of them up. I've never read a series that was so completely addictive! I guess the fact that the stories are true accounts told to Rusty around a campfire expanded the thrill factor a million times over! Summer is here! Perfect timing for some spooky stories told around the campfire while making smores! Zip up those tents tight!


Alisha: Please tell us about yourself, Rusty. When did you become a flyfishing guide? Where are some of your favorite places to fish and camp?


Rusty: I grew up out in the outback of the state of Washington, and my parents instilled a deep love of nature in me. After college at Evergreen State, I tried to work traditional jobs in the wildlife field, but I hated paperwork and having someone tell me what to do, so I would spend my spare time flyfishing to de-stress from it all.

I finally found myself fishing on the job a lot, which I figured wasn’t the coolest thing to do, but I couldn’t help myself. I just wanted to be way out nowhere alone, it’s kind of in my genes, I guess. A friend told me I could make a living as a guide, so I went to Montana and learned the ropes working there at a guide service on the Yellowstone River. That graduated to working on the Gallitin and Jefferson Rivers, and then I finally moved down to Colorado and joined a company there. After I met my wife, Sarah, we decided to start our own business, which has been ongoing now for some 15 years. She’s a geologist, so helps out when she’s not working in her own field. We’re based in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.


Alisha: I love Steamboat! Best snow skiing in the world! When did you decide to start putting your Bigfoot stories down on paper?


Rusty: I started putting these stories down on paper since the day I heard the first one out as a guide. I remember it well—I had heard plenty of Bigfoot stories while in Washington, but hadn’t paid much attention. But one night, sitting around a campfire up by the Yellowstone River, an old fellow told a story that made my hair stand on end. I couldn’t sleep at all that night, and the next day I asked him more questions to try to see if he were just spinning a yarn or if it were true. He convinced me it was true. I spent an hour or two writing it all down from memory.

From then on, I would encourage people to tell me their stories, whether Bigfoot, UFO, whatever, and I would write them down. I sometimes would record them on my little pocket recorder also, but only with their permission. And I always change something in the stories so nobody’s identity is compromised, since sometimes such things can lead to ridicule.


Alisha: Can you tell us which Bigfoot story is your favorite and why?


Rusty: I really don’t have one single favorite per se, but I do have favorites. I love the story of the handicapped girl on the boardwalk, as well as the one about the homeless woman camping by a golf course. I don’t know, there are some real scary ones I like, too, like the one called Rock Hounding with Uncle Hairy and also Bigfoot Bone Games, that one creeped me out. There are some I actually dislike, like the one about the farmers up in Montana where the Bigfoot actually comes into the house to steal the little girl, it’s called House Arrest, I think. I don’t like to think about that one. Actually, I don’t like to think about a number of them as they scare the pants off me. The tornado story set in Nebraska is one of those.



Alisha: I particularly liked the Nebraska story, though it was sad. That one story blew my mind more than most of them. You told me you had an encounter with Bigfoot. Please, please share!!!


Rusty: I’ve actually had a number of encounters. Each one affirms my belief in them even more. I’ve had one parallel me on the trail in the Flattops WIlderness Area in Colorado, which was pretty creepy once I figured out what it was. Walking right through thick underbrush alongside me on a trail. I would stop, it would stop. It started making a strange half-coughing noise and I would respond, then it would respond, almost like talking to each other. Something very large and on two legs, not a bear.

I was deep in a canyon once and heard one screaming from the rim. That’s a sound I’ll never forget. But my most up close and personal encounter was when I was sitting around a campfire alone up in Montana, not far from the town of Bozeman, up in the Bridgers. All of a sudden, for no reason, the hair on my neck stood straight up. That’s an automatic response from the days we had hair, an attempt to make ourselves look larger when in danger. I was suddenly afraid to even turn around, as I knew there was something straight behind me. I was terrified.


I don’t tell this story often, as it takes me into a mind space I don’t care for. I sat there, stone scared, and something came up right next to me. I was afraid to even turn my head to look at it, I was literally scared stiff. I felt a hand or something on my shoulder, and it squeezed a bit, then let go. It was a huge hand, and it was almost like a friendly squeeze, but I was too scared to do anything but sit there staring into the fire. I wish now I had turned and acknowledged it, at least, but I didn’t.

It then turned and walked back into the forest, leaving a musky smell behind. By the time I came out of shock, I stood up and turned around, and all I could see was this massive creature walking away from me on two legs. It left me with a feeling of fear and affirmation, and I’m not one for mystical stuff, but it almost seemed like it was telling me I was OK. Or maybe what I was doing, collecting stories about its tribe, that was OK. Or maybe I just projected that, but it really felt that was the message there. Call me nuts if you want, and I’ll probably agree with you.



Alisha: I'd never call you nuts. Those are amazing encounters and the last one really gives me goosebumps! I'd probably have jumped INTO the fire. Wow. Do you have a theory on the big hairy guy? What do you think he is? An undiscovered ape? A prehistoric man who has thrived along with homosapiens? A totally different new species?


Rusty: I’m totally out of my element on this one. Gigantipithecus maybe? Maybe any or all of the above. But I will say this, whatever it is, it has a highly evolved intelligence and level of consciousness. We’re not dealing with some hairy ape here, this is a creature every bit as smart as we humans are. That’s partly what makes it so scary. You can’t outsmart it, and it’s very large and powerful.

Alisha: I think so too. Gigantipithecus and highly evolved, aware that there is technology but prefers to live without it. What's next? Are you writing another Bigfoot book or another ghost story book?

Rusty: Well, I have finally started writing the Bigfoot Runes, after much thought and collecting of facts. That book was on the back burner for a long time, because I couldn’t get in touch with the guy who had the story, in fact, he disappeared. Then he came back and decided it wasn’t his story to tell, even though no one else knew the story except him. He’s now working with me to tell it, and man, it’s a real humdinger. So far, it’s made me cry a bunch, which may sound odd, but if you view our society through the eyes of the Bigfoot, you’d cry, too, as well as the way they’ve been treated. If I can tell it with the dignity and skill it deserves, it will make a lot of people stop and think about these guys. It will be a big challenge, but I’m giving it my best shot.

Alisha: I'll be waiting on the edge of my seat for the Bigfoot Runes to come out, Rusty. I know you realize how HUGE this book is but neither of us can realize how important this book will be until it releases and gets the attention it deserves. Not odd at all to hear that this book made you cry a lot. Just the small story you've told so far about the Bigfoot Runes made me cry too. A lot of your Bigfoot stories made me cry. And they'll make other people cry too and look at the world in a whole new light.


Where can we find you on the internet?


Rusty: My books are all available on Amazon.com, for Kindle and in paperback. Some are available at Barnes and Noble on the internet, as well as the Apple site. I haven’t done much with Apple as they’re difficult. I do have free days on Amazon every once in awhile, or you can check out my blog called RUSTY BIGFOOT.

I do post free stories on there so you can get an idea of what they’re like. I haven’t been updating it much since I have so much else going on. Some of the books are available on Yellowcatbooks.com

I hope to keep the stories coming, as I’ve collected a lot of them through the years. It’s mostly just finding the time to write them down. I am trying to get a Kickstarter project up soon. In any case, it’s an interesting subject to be involved with, and I do think we’re not that far from some kind of scientific verification that these creatures exist. I’ve been asked to interview as a TV show host on Bigfoot and also to be on several radio shows, but I always decline. People don’t understand, but I’m not in this for any kind of personal aggrandization, but rather to help spread the story that these creatures are real and deserve our respect.

Alisha: The big guy is lucky you're out there looking out for his best interest. Plenty of people would treat him like a circus freak and I hope to God that never happens, even if it means we never have full proof. Thanks so much for being my special guest, Rusty. I'd love to have you back when The Bigfoot Runes releases. Have a happy summer!

Rusty: Thanks so much for the interview, Alisha!

Bigfoot Runes Kickstarter Project