In the winter of 1979, several residents around Carpenter's Knob in Cleveland County, North Carolina, reported a series of unusual encounters with an unknown, apelike animal. Among the early sightings were those reported by Minnie Cook, an 88-year-old resident who claimed that she observed the animal after she emerged from her home to learn what kind of animal had been disturbing her dogs.

Over the next several weeks, "Knobby fever" would strike this rural portion of Western North Carolina, with many other residents reporting sightings of a large, roughly six-foot-tall apelike creature that both walked on its hind legs and on all-fours. In this episode of Sasquatch Tracks, following a recent news story involving the escape of several primates from a South Carolina laboratory, we take a deep dive into the story of Knobby, and examine the possibilities behind this enduring local legend of a southeastern "Bigfoot" creature.

Stories and other links discussed in this episode:

• Knobby: The Bigfoot of Western North Carolina

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In this Halloween installment of Sasquatch Tracks, the team convenes for a delightfully spooky discussion in advance of our discussion with Oregon-based researcher Tanner Hoskins, co-Founder of the Pacific Northwest Bigfoot Search. A passionate advocate dedicated to the search for missing persons and a dedicated wilderness explorer, he founded the organization in July of 2020, combining his love for the outdoors with his curiosity about the unexplained.

Despite being an amputee of the right leg and living life with severe scoliosis, Tanner Hoskins is an avid outdoorsman. He spent more than a decade in private security specializing in Active Shooter Response as well as volunteering in public safety before medically retiring in December of 2022. A devoted husband and father, he is also the Executive Director of the Pacific Northwest Missing Persons Project (PNWMPP), which he founded in May of 2022 and transformed into a nonprofit organization in 2024.

Stories and other links discussed in this episode:

• PNW Bigfoot Search
• Pacific Northwest Missing Persons Project

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On Father's Day Weekend in 1969, six-year-old Dennis Martin was camping with his family near Spence Field in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park when he vanished without a trace, leading to one of the largest searches in the history of the National Park Service. Tragically, he was never found, and the disappearance of Dennis Lloyd Martin remains unresolved after more than half a century.

In recent years, renewed interest in the case has led to speculations about a possible kidnapping, as well as theories that an "Appalachian wild man" akin to Sasquatch may have been involved. Such theories focus on the testimony provided by the late Harold Key and his family, who observed an individual in the park under odd circumstances that unfolded on the same day as the disappearance of Dennis Lloyd Martin.

In this special episode of Sasquatch Tracks, the team takes a deep dive into the details of the disappearance, discussing a recent Hulu series that discusses the kidnapping theory and its possible relevance to what some witnesses liken to wild men or even "apelike" creatures inhabiting the remotest portions of our National Parks. We examine the evidence for this, along with several alternative explanations for the disappearance, and what U.S. government documents and independent research into the landmark search and rescue case reveal.

Stories and other links discussed in this episode:

• Dennis Lloyd Martin: 50 Years Ago, This Boy Vanished in the Great Smoky Mountains
• Cold Cases - Investigative Services (U.S. National Park Service)
• Watch OUT THERE: Crimes of the Paranormal Streaming On Hulu

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Have you seen an animal you can’t identify? Submit a report here.