Jerimiah Fountain
Up State New York
In my opinion my story is no more special than anyone else’s and my encounters no more bizarre. Having the up most respect for Gary I told him that I would write up a brief bio on how I got into this crazy field that we’re all involved in and about my encounters and experiences over the years.
To begin, I came from a logging family in Up-State NY; the very Northern end if the Adirondacks (which to me is the most beautiful place on Earth). When people think of New York, they think of the cities; NYC, Syracuse, Albany, Rochester, etc. They fail to realize that most of the state is actually wilderness comprised of the Catskills which are well over 250,000 acres, many state forests and of course the Adirondack Park. New York has the largest protected area of wilderness in the lower 48 states; 6.2 Million acres! This is bigger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier National, Smokey Mountain National or the Grand Canyon National. It is absolutely massive with no shortage of wildlife; including our Hairy Friends.
Being from a logging family my family owned and still owns to this day, several hundred acres of untouched land; land that always has been and still is extremely active. I was also blessed to grow up in a family with Native American blood. So for me, hearing stories about these creatures was not out of the norm. When I was seven, my mother bought me a book called Mysteries of the Unexplained. I remember reading the section about the Patterson-Gimlin incident. Between reading about Patty and what was going on around the land, I was hooked.
I spent the rest of my life as an outdoorsmen; hunter, fisherman, survivalist and basically running around the wilderness barefoot. It was heaven to me. Growing up, things were kept from me regarding these creatures. As I got older, I was told about different things that were kept from me for good reason! I could go on for a month about different things that happened around the land, but as I promised Gary that I would talk about how I got into research and my experiences before and after I became an “official” researcher. Like I said before, from the time I was a child I knew that these creatures existed, but I still had no clue on what I was getting into.
2000
It was the fall of 2000; the beginning of hunting season or just before. It’s been twenty years now. I don’t remember an exact date. I was down on part of the family land; a 250 acre plot that my father turned over to Stacey and I a few years back. I’d went down to do some work on my tree stand and maybe sit for an hour to scope out for a nice eight point buck I was planning on harvesting. It wasn’t rifle season yet, but it was open for muzzleloader and I was in the process of buying a new muzzleloader so legally I couldn’t take the buck. So I decided to sit to see if I could get eyes on him.
However I was carrying my .300 Winchester Magnum as I was always taught to carry a weapon in the woods for protection; after all, regardless of what people may think, we do have dangerous animals in the Adirondacks. There are Moose, which are. Very temperamental, especially the females when they have young ones with them. There are also large black bear, cougars, wolves, coy-wolves and coyotes and ninety-nine point nine percent of the time, these animals want nothing to do with us, but there’s always the exception and I like being safe.
After doing some work on the stand and sitting for a while, I decided it was time to leave as it was getting dark. I made my way out of the stand and started down the logging road. About 100 meters from my truck there was and still is an old log skidder that my dad and granddad used back in the day. It wasn’t a massive one, but the nose came up to about five feet off the ground. The moon was not a full moon but was bright enough to give off light. I also had my headlamp on dim.
I got about fifty feet or so from the skidder and I notice two reddish, amber round eyes peeking at me from behind it. This took me by surprise. Something in me, told me that something was off, then all of a sudden the eyeballs disappeared. I was baffled. I was familiar with every form of wildlife in the Adirondacks and never seen eyes like that before.
As I make my way towards the skidder and get just about in front of it, the eyes pop out again. This time, attached to a head that was tilted sideways. I also noticed a human/ape like arm wrapped around the side of the skidder as well and then it disappeared again behind the skidder. At this point I was in shock and honestly I didn’t know what to think. I turned my head lamp on full and illuminated the area. After years of thinking this over, it was obviously its left arm.
I apologize if my details are hazy but for anyone that knows me, they know that I’m a retired MMA fighter and have a severe brain injury from too many blows to the head that has left me with mild brain damage that sometimes affects my memory and causes seizures. What we do for glory! Lol. Anyway after illuminating the area with my head lamp on full, this “thing” leaped out from behind that skidder. With one leap it hit a log that was approximately 15 feet away.
I know because a few days later, I got a rough measurement. I can’t say positive, but from the front of the skidder it was about 12 feet to the log. But if this thing had moved to the back of the skidder, the leap could have been as much as 20 feet. That’s why I estimate it at 15. When this thing hit the log, it “propelled” itself off of the front of its feet. It didn’t squat to jump or even swing its arms. It propelled itself off its feet. I couldn’t believe the athleticism!
It launched itself to a White Pine Tree that was another 15 feet away and immediately jumped behind it, peeking at me with those big red eyes. I didn’t know what to think. What happened next surprised me even more. It came out from behind that tree and stood there in front of me no more than 30-40 feet away. It was approximately 5 feet tall and weighed anywhere from 180-205 pounds. I’ve pondered that for years and I’m still unsure.
I’ve had people say, “Well that’s not that big.” Ha! Yes 5ft at 205 pounds is built and it was put together too! It could have done what it wanted with me at any time and at this point of my life I was a pro fighter and in amazing shape. The shape of my life; my athletic ability didn’t come anywhere close to this things.
I was in shock. I had no idea what I was looking at. The only description I can give it was more ape than human. It was covered in brown hair and what is interesting is that the whole face was covered in hair as well. The only noticeable features were a protruding brow ridge, a semi conical head and a simian type nose like an orangutan.
I know a lot of people describe seeing matted nasty hair but that’s not what I saw. The hair was not a universal length all the way around; longer around the head than the rest of the body. Except for the forearm hair that was longer in proportion.
I could not get over at the muscular stature of this thing. It was amazing. It just sat there and started at me. I got worried that it wasn’t alone and I did something extremely stupid. This is before I knew better. I pulled my rifle off my shoulder. I wanted to get a better look at it. I had no intentions of hurting this thing I just wanted a better look. I got the rifle about three quarters of the way up. The creature ducked for a split second covering its head and then jumped behind the tree again and it was gone. It knew what that gun was. There’s no doubt.
This experience shook me to the core and it ruined my hunting for a couple of years. Unfortunately being from a logging family, I had no choice than to go into the woods. I didn’t discuss this with anyone for years. It’s totally different when you’re a believer and then see one and become a “knower”. It totally turns your world upside down.
In time I told my father and my grandmother about it before she passed and they told me exactly what it was. They finally opened up to me about the happenings that had gone on around the land over the years which I will get into some other time on this page.
2007
After a few years of hating to be in the woods and not hunting, in 2007 I decided that I was not going to let my experience ruin a lifelong passion. At the beginning of rifle season of that year, I decided to do some work on my favorite stand which is near a beautiful spring. I got in the woods at about 3 p.m. and worked on my stand a bit and sat for a while. The woods were too quiet. Something told me “Jerimiah, you’re not supposed to be here.”
… to be continued with certainty!
Check out his links:
Facebook group: On the Trail Cryptid Paranormal Investigations
YouTube Channel: On the Trail Cryptid Paranormal Investigations
Emails:
Jerimiah- [email protected]
Shawn Wilson- [email protected]
Zarin [email protected]
Don [email protected]