Every year, we like to share this Bigfooting story


It's Bigfoot hunting season again and this is a good time to share of our favorite story involving a skeptic and some Bigfoot researchers. This story serves as a valuable lesson in Bigfooting as well:

Originally posted on OCCULT SKEPTIC:
True Bigfoot Story by guest writer Robert Owen-Miller
Posted: June 26, 2011 by mindcore

*My friend Robert, who is known to me as Rabbit is a fun loving guy who tends to be a life loving party animal. He is very intelligent and was basicaly raised in the field by his field biologist father. He has been known to do kayaking and canoeing tours, and all manner of jobs that involve teaching city folk how to be hardcore in the woods. This is his bigfoot story, which he posted as a facebook note. I noticed it was exceptionally well written and that it fits in nicely with this blog. Enjoy!

I’m going to tell you about my Bigfoot experience. I live in a town called Arcata which is up in Northern California and I used to work at an outdoor store there downtown. We sold all kinds of things there like snowboards, mtn bikes, surfboards, kayaks, backpacks, shoes, etc.

I was actually working in the shoes dept. the day that a guy by the name of John Frippo walked in. He was looking for a pair of hiking boots. Now, as a salesman it was my job to ask him all sorts of questions to make sure he got exactly what he needed without spending too much on something he would never use, but in this case what he needed was our most expensive pair of boots. They were like $220 or something like that. Anyway, I asked him what he was going to be doing with these uber-boots and he told me that he was a graduate student at the University of Southern Pennsylvania and that he was part of their star Bigfoot research team.

Northern California is famous for its Bigfoot sightings. The town of Willow Creek (which is about an hour inland from Arcata) is home to the only Bigfoot Museum in America, and probably the world. In fact, that famous video of the Bigfoot walking through the woods was filmed out just near Willow Creek, so Bigfoot isn’t news to us up there but I had never met any Bigfoot research teams. It was pretty cool, I thought, although John seemed kind of hesitant at first to divulge his true purpose there.

There are those who wish to protect the Bigfoot population, like the Hoopa who are an indigenous people native to the area. Their reservation, or “Rancheria,” is well known to have Bigfoot, and in fact the Bigfoot is a sacred animal to them and they have a corner of their land cordoned off just for the Bigfoot. No one’s allowed to go there, except for medicine men and women, and they’re very serious about that rule! There are also plenty of eco-nazis in the area who are also very serious about their Bigfoot.

After John realized that I wasn’t serious at all about Bigfoot but that I seriously believed in the possibility of Bigfoot, he opened up a little more and we talked about what he does and what-not. Whenever anyone comes in and wants to buy a kayak because they’re going to kayak from Vancouver to Mexico or whatever, I’m always like, “oh take me with you!” And in this case I was no different. I know, of course, that no one’s going to take the guy that they bought shoes from, but it’s still funny to say. Anyway I told him my father was a field biologist and that if they needed, I would Sherpa for them. Hahaha, blah blah blah, whatever. He bought the shoes, I thanked him and shook his hand and that was that. Or so I thought…

The next day John came back and asked me if I was serious about Sherpa-ing for them! I was like, “Hell yeah!” and then I turned to my manager and said, “Hey Ryan, I quit!” Haha, I was just kidding of course. So their plan was to drive out to the trail head that night, hike in the next day which was Friday, hang out all day Saturday, and then hike back to the car Sunday and drive back Sunday evening. I had Saturday and Sunday off but I had to find someone to cover my shift for Friday.

The reason they needed a Sherpa was because they do this thing called “Call-Blasting,” where they take this super powerful tape-deck and loud-speaker and they blare Bigfoot sounds into the woods and wait for one to respond. Its an old hunter’s trick. But the tape-deck was as big as a back-pack and the loud-speaker was big and heavy too. So I had to carry all my stuff, including sleeping bag, sleeping pad, a change of clothes, toiletries, and all my food; and I had to carry all the tape-deck guy’s stuff as well! But not only that, I also had to carry half of the loud-speaker guy’s stuff too, because he could only carry a day-pack along with his loud-speaker. Oh and I had to carry a three-person tent on top of all that! Luckily, someone else carried the water filter and camp stove and what-not, but I was still pretty loaded down to say the least.

The hike-in was exhausting because it was all up-hill in the Trinities which, if you’ve ever been there you’ll know, is just way too vertical! Now, John’s thesis was on the Bigfoot’s diet. He studied what the Bigfoot ate. “How do you know what they eat if you’ve never even seen one?” you might ask. Well apparently he studied their scat! Yes SCAT! BIGFOOT POOP! Which, to me, looked an awful lot like regular-ass bear poop, but what do I know right? I mean, I just sell shoes! Anyway, we kept on stopping every five minutes to study “Bigfoot” tracks and take samples of “Bigfoot” scat, and that took all freakin’ day! So when we got to camp, I was exhausted. We set up camp and, oh yeah, I was also the cook too, so I made dinner and then a few of the guys went out to do some call basting but the rest of us went bed. I didn’t even sleep in the tent because it was so beautiful and warm out. I was pretty stoked to be out there with these guys, and I was wondering if I was going to get to see a Bigfoot.

That night, as I lay there out in the middle of god-damn nowhere, out in the open, I thought of all the Bigfoot stories I had heard. A friend of mine, Mike, had told me about one when he worked as wilderness patrol out there in the Trinities. He had set up camp like I did, out in the open under the stars, and he was just about to get to sleep when he heard something. He was really silent and listened and then realized that it was just a deer or something, not a bear as he had feared. But then he heard it freeze, which was a little un-nerving because Mike had already felt like something had been watching him for a while. He just laid there and listened and the deer stayed absolutely still for a long time. Then suddenly it tore off straight down the very steep hill-side and straight at Mike! Mike had actually laid his sleeping pad and bag out next to a lake, and the deer, who must have already been aware of Mike, chose to run in his direction rather than hang around for whatever it was that was going to eat it! It ran straight down that hill, straight towards Mike, then when it got to him it jumped over him and into the lake, then swam straight across to the exact opposite bank, then got out and kept running straight in the same direction through the woods and off into the hills!

You can imagine how terrified Mike was at that point! He said he felt like a kid, too afraid to move, he literally hid his head under his sleeping bag. Then, a big rock came flying down the hill in his direction but it missed him. Then another, even bigger rock came crashing down the hill and flew past him. Then a huge boulder, too enormous for any man to move, came flying down and past him, and it was at this point that Mike realized that these rocks were being thrown at him!

That’s when he heard it: the howl! He said it was completely unlike anything he had ever heard! He knows what bears sound like, he knows what mountain lions sound like, he knows what wolves and dogs and even foxes sound like, but this was something altogether different! Mike was petrified!

A few more rocks were thrown at him, but he realized that whatever this was that was throwing the rocks and howling seemed to be missing him on purpose. It didn’t want to kill him, it just wanted him gone. Eventually it stopped and Mike stayed perfectly still until first light at which point he got up, broke camp, and got the hell out of there! When he got home he looked up the Bigfoot research website and documented his experience. Then he read up on others’ experiences and found out that the rock-throwing is actually fairly common.

They also have recordings on the website of the Bigfoot’s howl. He said when he listened to them, the first one was obviously a mountain lion. The second one was obviously hound-dogs howling in the distance and these people just didn’t know what that sounded like. But then he clicked on the third one and it was exactly what he had heard! The hair on his arms stood up, and the hair on his neck stood up, and he had to just get up and leave the room immediately! A few hours later, he tried again, same result! His hair stood up and he had to leave the room. To this day, he can’t listen to that recording.

After Mike told me that story, I had to get on the website myself and check out the recordings. He’s not kidding, it’s eerie! Anyway, it was stories like these that filled my head as I laid there in the middle of god-damn nowhere, out in the open!

The next morning I woke up and made breakfast, and I was told that four of them were going to go out and look for more tracks and scat and that I was to stay behind with this guy named Alistair, who had drank too much the night before while out call-blasting and was still sleeping. Someone had to stay behind and make sure that our camp wasn’t raided by raccoons or bears or Bigfoot or eco-nazis or whatever, so that guy was me. I was beginning to regret this trip!

They were gone all day and Alistair slept the whole time so it was just me, bored as hell and paranoid too! I kept getting freaked out and every time I heard a noise, I just knew it was Bigfoot! My thoughts kept going to negative places. When it was nearing five o’clock, I thought that they had been killed by a Bigfoot or eco-nazis or bears or something, and that they would never return. Eventually they did return, and just in time for dinner. Coincidentally, Alistair was also just in time for dinner.

John said that they had a lot of luck finding tracks and scat but the trail led onto the Hoopa Rancheria and so they could go no further. However, when it got dark they were going to go back and follow the tracks into Hoopa land and do some call-blasting. “Great,” I thought, “now I’m going to be left all alone in the dark!” But to my surprise, they told me that since Alistair had slept all day, he was the one who got stay behind and watch camp, and I was going to get to go with them! Cool! Now things were starting to look up!

We finished dinner and left Alistair in charge of cleaning up while we got our things together for the night patrol. I was pretty nervous about trekking onto Hoopa land without permission. I was also feeling a little guilty about it too. But anyway I guess I just talked myself into it somehow because I was so excited about seeing a Bigfoot! All I had to carry was my own little day-pack. The tape-deck and loud-speaker weren’t to be handled by anyone other than SPU staff and students. This was really getting better!

We set out and soon found the tracks that they had found earlier. I should say that these weren’t the kind of Bigfoot tracks that I had expected when I first signed up with these guys. They weren’t footprints, there would be a broken twig or a smooshed leaf or a tiny little hair on a tree, but these guys really had the eye for it, and they would point things out to me (we had to remain completely silent) that I would sometimes see and other times I would completely miss. Take the smooshed leaves, for example. When they were pointing them out to me all I could see was a leaf on a rock. It wasn’t until later that they explained to me that something had stepped on it, flattening out its texture and turning it a little lighter shade of green. It occurred to me that these guys were professional trackers! John, Alistair, and the professor were all big-time hunters, one of the other guys was ex special forces and had done two tours in Afghanistan, and the last guy was a super-avid outdoorsman who had done backpacking trips all over the world. They were all as right at home in the woods as I was, but they had a lot more experience with tracking than I did, because it was their job. This is what they do!

Before long it was dark and we were crossing over onto Hoopa land. The moon was almost full so we went along by its light as best we could, but eventually we lost the trail of the Bigfoot, so that’s where we started the call-blasting. The “Prof.” wore the tape-deck on his chest, and “Avid Outdoorsman” carried the loud-speaker. That was the first time I had heard their recording, and it sent chills up my spine! It was just like the recording on the website! It was the same howl that Mike had heard out in these very same hills all those years ago! It was spooky, and that loud-speaker was really, really loud too!

We blasted calls in all directions and then moved a little further in the direction that we believed the tracks had led, and then blasted some calls again. We did that for about two hours. It was getting close to midnight, and I was getting pretty tired. The guys were getting ready to call it quits when…

The Howl!

It started soft and low and then grew into a loud, high-pitched, full-bodied shriek! It was way off in the distance but that sound carried! We were stunned! The hairs on my arm stood up! The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up! My heart, after not beating for what seemed like forever, started beating in my chest like the double kick-drum in a “Cannibal Corpse” song! Boom-boom boom-boom boom-boom! I was sure that everyone else could have heard my heart from where they stood if their hearts hadn’t been doing the same thing! We probably sounded like an off-tempo marching band!

No one moved. The howl died off and was replaced by silence, still no one moved. Finally the professor blasted a howl in return. Everyone just about shat themselves when he did that! We were all so fixated on the silence that none of us were expecting the call-blast! I think I may have even let out an audible yelp! My heart almost gave up entirely! I don’t care how tough you think you are, when you’re out in the wild and you hear that howl, you feel as frightened and as helpless as a child!

We waited in silence again. Then, the howl! We waited, not knowing what to do. All of us were looking around at each other wondering if anyone was going to do something. Finally, the professor started forward toward the direction of the beast and we followed. We would stop and blast a call every once in a while, and every once in a while the call would be returned. Soon, the fear turned into excitement, but after a while we all started to notice that as we were moving towards the howl, the howl was also moving towards us!

This went on for about an hour and a half; moving, call-blasting, moving, howling, moving, and we started to get real close to it. We seemed to be converging on to a saddle in the landscape. It was sort of a triple-crowned saddle that left a huge wooded flat area in the middle. We knew that if it smelled us it might shy away so we had to move downwind of it. Thankfully, downwind also happened to be slightly uphill too! So that was nice, because we definitely didn’t want to be downhill of this monster! But as we were trying to get uphill/downwind of it, it was simultaneously moving uphill/downwind of us! So we were actually moving closer to each other at ever-increasing acute angles. In the middle of the flat area in the saddle was a large outcropping and on the other side of the outcropping was a clearing. It became clear that if we both continued on our respective courses, we would reach opposite sides of the outcropping, and that’s exactly how it happened.

When we reached the outcropping we let out a call-blast then moved around towards the clearing. By this point, the excitement had turned back into fear, and our movement had become painfully slow! My psychological health was truly taking a beating! About half way to the clearing our call was answered and we froze. It was just on the other side of the outcropping from us!

I have never been so scared in all my life! At this point I was going, “Where the hell is my gun? Why didn’t I bring a gun? What was I fucking thinking?” I didn’t actually own a gun at the time, but at that moment I truly wished I had! It didn’t matter that I had a big knife. It didn’t matter that I was with four big, mean dudes who also had knives. It just didn’t matter. I might as well have been alone and naked! Why hadn’t I brought a gun?

We stayed frozen for about five minutes and then started to move around towards the clearing again. Those last few steps were the hardest steps I’ve ever taken. I had to fight my screaming instinct to run for my life with every single step.

As we rounded the outcropping and came into the clearing we stopped dead in our tracks for a final time! Because there, in the clearing right in front of me, right in front of all of us, not ten feet away, was Austria’s premier Bigfoot research team with a tape-deck and a loud-speaker!

-Rabbit

Comments

  1. Replies
    1. Congrats! I'm usually snipin' this time of day, had some work to do!

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    2. Wow, that article was longer than any of PJ's copy/pastes...you're slackin, Welshy.

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  2. You have no challengers it seems....
    Where is everybody?
    This blog gone to the dogs or what?!

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  3. WOOF WOOF good morning people Shawn please get rid of white out so we may once again swear and call people names without it being so hard to read pretty please with sugar on top mr. Shawn

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  4. Replies
    1. It's not worth reading, anyway. It's made for the believers, and as you already know, it's "true" before the first word is read. It's just another BS bigfoot "story".

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    2. Yet, you frequent here waiting for that moment that the proverbial cat is let out of the bag, rendering you resorted to getting your poppa's gun for your next camping excursion.

      BS scenario?

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    3. Everyone comes here to kick a one legged dog!

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    4. More like cope with chronic reassurance seeking.

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    5. More like watch the odd little welsh girl cry and stomp about.

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    6. To Joe there is no extremes. It seems to him that you have to accept everything or reject everything.

      I guess there is no middle ground with the guy, despite him being whacked beyond most of uptown's population.

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    7. 'Stomping'? More like babysitting, old boy. 'Extremes'?? Now it just got even weirder folks???

      You don't have to accept or reject anything... You come on a Bigfoot blog, you'll find me here lending my opinion. I suspect a slight undertone of bitterness in your post??

      ; )

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  5. Good read! Joe!! What's up ? Hope u had a great Easter sir! I talked to some of the bf research people around the USA on fb and everyone is saying nothing going yet, to early which makes sence, seems to me like August to nov is the hot times! U here anything interesting on your interweb these days? If I could ask Todd standing a question for u what would u want me to ask?? It can't be something stupid though u now what I mean? Ttl cheers joe!

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    Replies
    1. Hey TTL!!

      No news at the moment my friend! Just waiting to see what unfolds with the whole Standing & Meldrum thing.

      If I could ask Todd something, it would be in regard to his native american routes of learning the outdoors. Corey Hawk Jones wrote an excellent comment here a week or two back, that highlighted his awareness of forest animals' chain of signaling of emerging predators. You got the impression that Les Stroud was around someone who really had an amazing understanding of the Canadian wilderness.

      It was interesting the other day to hear an interview with Dr Meldrum where he stated that he doesn't endorse everything Todd has (some of his photographs that he is now getting analysed by experts), but has based his affiliation on the experiences he had attained whilst out with Todd and this new source (presumably footage) that people are now waiting to be released.

      Interweb... Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!

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    2. U will get a answer within the day or two at most I belive, he's been pretty good about responding fast, I belive the footage will come in time he is focused on the people and not the Bigfoot community and rightfully so cause to me that's what's going to bring the right funds$ for further research, so saying that it could be a while cause he might get the right funding if he hasn't already got it and produce something that could go to mainstream theaters, really blow people away And at the same time bring the big bucks$ in to further both him and investors !! Does that make any sence?? So if he really has footage from 30 to 50 feet away like he was saying in the last interview on bf north than its probably going to be released in a documentry with big name backers or in major theaters? This could really turn into something huge if the truth is being told!! Trl

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    3. Good Words Joe. I would ask if there's a lovely hill out outcropping in the Sylvanic area to bury my remains and if Sonya would do the services so that all species could appreciate a life well wasted. Side note Joe. You might want to get ahold of me today. Morley pulled another camera trap and in it MK found the image of a finger. It appears now that these subjects are not only mocking me but they are coming to the camera expressly to flip me off!!!!

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    4. First they tried to shiv me and now the cheeky bastards are flipping me the bird. If I wasn't heavily medicated from this surgery and didn't currently have my pants on backwards id drive to the ranch and spike some of their watermelon with Everclear and then call blast the Beastie Boys "no sleep till Brooklyn" or make them listen to Chris York on the Fortean Slip all night. That would bring a whole new meaning to teaching them what "fair use" really can mean. I'm going to mow my lawn while medicated now. And perhaps all the neighbors too. Email me Joe. I have Ttl's cell if you need to call. M

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    5. TTL...

      I'll drop him an email some time, he comes across as very approachable and transparent; it says volumes I think.

      Your comment makes perfect sense, I remember listening to Meldrum say exactly that the other day. We're still waiting for the release of the Erikson Project Documentary remember.

      Mike!!

      I sent you an email! My word, you people sound like you've been busy!! Morley is a legend, one of the best ever, I'm sure of that.

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    6. Mike, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!

      Don't mow the lawn medicated you header, ha ha ha!!!!

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    7. Shit we're still waiting on bigfoot itself not just some old guys documentary that is basically him getting hoaxed and burned for this property/footage.

      Still waiting on a dozen "game changing" projects that prove BF.

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    8. But what if that old guy happened to be an anthropologist that had a wildlife biologist back him up on video footage that depicted that 'Bigfoot itself'?

      You'll have the Oxford-Lausanne Collateral hominid Project to look forward to, also.

      Come out from behind the couch... Nothing will hurt you.

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    9. Joe. I just sent you and Shawn a link to MK David interviews Larry McGowan. If you haven't heard it please pull it up ASAP. It has possible historical value of great significance.

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  6. Yeah, it's to early. The Big foot are underground, in their caves, in their U.F.O.s, still in Florida evading Tim Fat's or as the late JJ said there up in the Pine trees.

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  7. So joe u want to know what the natives showed him about the outdoors in regard to animals?? I'm not to Shure is that what your saying?? Ttl

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    Replies
    1. I meant to articulate; that if I was able to talk to him myself, I'd ask him loads about his native links and learning from them, basically. As for a particular question, I can't think of one at the moment, you'll be the first to know when I do!!

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    2. There is a way out of it for you... Just move on to something that reassures your fragile mind better, you won't get that here whilst I'm alive.

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  8. Joe I figure u would have about a 100 questions, lol but I don't want to overload the guy! Lol but see what u come up with and I kind of have a idea what your asking, just get back to me on here when u think of something! As for the native thing I'm guessing he's leant a lot from different trackers over the years in the native communities witch have passed the hunting knowledge threw generations witch he could probably talk about for hours if not days and if that's the case Les probably would have loved listening to those stories and taking in the information been a outdoors person and hunter himself. As a hunter any information u can get from older generations of trappers is prices less u don't get to read about that stuff in books cause there isn't any trappers from 100 years ago righting books lol it's info that when u get it u sit and listen to every word they say and don't inturupt! TTl

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  9. Hey joe my friend did a small documentry near our camp and his camp would u like to watch it?? I think it's awsome! Ttl! He did it about 4 years ago!

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  10. Joe! The film is called " the north shore diaries film" it's 35 minutes long it's based on the river that runs threw my camp and other rivers around our camp, I was suppose to be part of it but because of my back injury at the time I could not participate! Sucks they had a blast, when u watch the opening scenes " brennden commisso" is my fishing/ hunting buddy who helped these guys do the film for so sort of contest etc! Keep a eye on the background it's beautiful country and one of the best kept secrets on the north shore of lake superior!!!! Hey if u see a sasqwatch in the background in this film it's going to be in HD so enjoy the film my friend they did a great job for a bunch of hill billies!! Lol TTl

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    Replies
    1. Remember to joe these rivers there on are 14 hours away from the next major city in Ontario Canada going east or west!!!!! So there literally in the middle of nowhere!! TTL

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    2. 14 hours?!!! Incredible... And skeptics think they can account for what goes on out there from their desktops?

      Pretty funny eh?

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    3. Yes! It would be 14 hours drive east and 9 hours west to be precise ! Lol dr meldrum thinks very highly of his encounters in snelgrove lake witch is only a stone throw away were we go flyin fishing every may long! We have never had any bf run ins there but the forest is so overwhelming that u have to be something pretty special for the bf to be interested in u out there or they couldn't be bothered with u I belive! Like I said before just google earth that area, zoom in and u will really get a idea of how much untouched forest is really there! Ttl! Cheers joe!

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  11. He would also have other videos of us driving snowmobiles a cross lakes in the summer and one video in particular of his brother trying to do a 4 km run across lake superior in the summer that was a pretty funny outcome!! Lol even my email on my fb doesn't work, lol big suprize ah! I'll get that straitened out in time here but watch that video and I'll try to find some more if u guys like it! Ttl have a good day!

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