Podcast Host Reveals Bigfoot Encounters Held Secret for 33 Years

A recent episode from The Cryptid Profiler YouTube channel features something that hits close to home for anyone who's ever had a brush with the unknown and stayed quiet about it for decades. Dano, the host of the Crypted Podcast, opens up about his own personal encounters with Sasquatch, and the backstory is just as compelling as the encounters themselves. What makes this one stand out is the timeline. Dano describes experiencing something unexplained back in 1978-79, long before he even knew what a Bigfoot or Sasquatch was. He had no vocabulary for it, no reference point. His dad took him on what was supposed to be an introductory hunting trip northeast of Aberdeen, Washington, deep in the Pacific Northwest woods. They drove down a logging road, hiked about 40 to 45 minutes into the forest, and set up camp at a spot that clearly had been used by hunters before them. The next morning, they headed out to a deer stand his dad had placed on a tree, explaining why it was positioned where it was. That's where the story really begins to unfold, and the episode dives into the details of what happened from there. What's particularly interesting is how Dano connects his early experiences to the Patterson-Gimlin film. He saw that footage when he was around 10 or 11 years old, and it lit a fire in him. He knew then that something was out there, something bigger than what mainstream science was acknowledging. But his actual sighting didn't come until 1984, when he was 12. And here's the part that resonates with so many witnesses out there, he held onto that story for roughly 33 years before he felt safe enough to share it publicly. Why the long silence? Because when he tried telling family members and close friends, he got laughed at. Dismissed. Told he was making things up. Sound familiar? That's the reality for a lot of people who've had encounters. The stigma is real, and it keeps witnesses silent for years, sometimes forever. Dano eventually broke that silence by emailing Sasquatch Chronicles and getting invited onto the show. He appeared somewhere around episodes 460 to 480, and since then, he's built his own platform, the Crypted Podcast, where he interviews others who've had similar experiences. Some interviews are on video, some are audio-only for people who want to protect their privacy, and that's a smart approach given how sensitive these stories can be. The episode also touches on how Dano's understanding evolved over time. As he listened to more podcasts and watched more YouTube content, things started clicking. He began hearing other people describe experiences that mirrored what he'd gone through as a kid, experiences that happened before his 1984 sighting. That kind of pattern recognition is exactly why platforms like his matter. When witnesses share their stories, it often helps others realize they weren't alone in what they saw. For anyone interested in firsthand accounts from the Pacific Northwest, especially around the Aberdeen and Grays Harbor County area, this episode is worth checking out. Aberdeen sits in a region with a long history of Sasquatch sightings, and the dense, old-growth forests of southwest Washington have long been considered prime habitat. The terrain, the logging activity, the remote backroads, it all fits the profile of areas where encounters tend to happen. The Cryptid Profiler channel is doing solid work giving a platform to people like Dano, who spent over three decades sitting on a story before finally finding an audience willing to listen without judgment. That's the kind of space the community needs more of. Catch the full episode over on The Cryptid Profiler YouTube channel. It's a conversation that reminds us why these stories matter and why witnesses deserve to be heard.