American Indian Woman Shares Years of Bigfoot Encounters

There's something truly captivating that surfaced recently over on the Bigfoot Society YouTube channel, and it's the kind of multi-encounter story that really sticks with you long after you finish listening. Host Jeremiah Byron sits down with Robin Long Soldier, a Gros Ventre woman originally from Fort Belknap, Montana, whose husband is Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge. Robin ended up settling in Lincoln, Nebraska back in 1995, and what followed was nearly a decade of encounters that she didn't even recognize as Bigfoot activity until years later. Her first experience happened in 1995 at a religious gathering in Winnebago. Robin had to step away from the main camp because she was on her moon, a traditional practice where women refrain from touching sacred objects during menstruation. She and her kids settled into a trailer down the hill in the woods. After everyone else left for the night, things got weird fast. She describes hearing a sound like a flag rope slapping against a pole, followed by a massive slam right above where they were lying. Then footsteps on gravel that sounded impossibly close, even though the gravel was about 15 feet from the window. Whatever was out there knew exactly where they were. The next year, 1996, Robin and her sister-in-law were coming down Pikes Peak in Colorado after their brakes gave out. A park ranger helped them get to safety and told them to wait while the brakes cooled. Robin wandered down a little trail into the woods and found herself near some big boulders. That's when the feeling hit her, that unmistakable sensation of being watched. But this wasn't just curiosity. It turned menacing, like something wanted to attack. She grabbed her sister-in-law and got out of there fast. Then came the encounter that really gets the imagination going. In the winter of 1998, Robin was driving home from a meeting on a Tuesday night near Sweat, South Dakota. Coming around a big curve, her headlights caught movement in the road. She slowed down and saw what looked like a massive figure laying prone in the snow. As she got closer, the figure rose up on its right elbow, just like a person propping themselves up to look at something. Her kids started screaming that it was a demon. Robin figured it was just a big man in a white coat who was going to freeze, so she turned the van around to check on him. By the time she got back, nothing was there. Just empty snow and a tree line about 100 feet away. She later realized what she actually saw was a white Bigfoot who had been laying across the road watching the people coming and out of a bar on the other side. When her headlights disturbed him, he lifted his head, and when she turned around, he simply pressed his face back down into the snow and vanished into the white landscape. The encounter that finally made Robin stop going to certain places happened at a treatment center at Pine Ridge in 1999. Two of them came up to the window while she was inside. The whole thing lasted less than 30 seconds, but it was enough. She describes trying to make herself small, crying, and the figure just looking in before walking away. She never went back. What makes Robin's story particularly compelling is the cultural lens she brings to these experiences. The Gros Ventre (also known as the White Clay or Ahahnelin) and the Oglala Lakota both have rich oral traditions that include stories of large, hairy beings inhabiting the wilderness. Many Indigenous cultures across North America have long held that these beings are not animals at all, but spiritual entities or ancient relatives who share the land. Robin's matter-of-fact way of describing these encounters, without sensationalism, gives her account a weight that's hard to dismiss. The encounters span Nebraska, Colorado, and South Dakota, which actually fits a pattern that researchers have noted for years. The Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions are often overlooked in Bigfoot research compared to the Pacific Northwest, but witness reports from agricultural areas, remote woodlands, and even near small towns like Sweat (a tiny community in Mellette County) keep stacking up. The fact that Robin's encounters happened near reservations, sacred gathering sites, and along rural highways adds another layer worth considering. There's also something worth noting about the timing. Robin's encounters clustered between 1995 and 2003, a period that saw a massive surge in Bigfoot reports across the United States. Whether that's due to population growth of whatever is out there, increased awareness leading to more reports, or simply more people spending time outdoors, the late 90s and early 2000s were a golden era for witness testimony. If you want to hear Robin tell these stories in her own words, the full conversation is worth your time. Jeremiah Byron has a real gift for letting witnesses speak without interrupting, and Robin's calm, grounded delivery makes the hair on your arms stand up anyway. You can find the episode on the Bigfoot Society YouTube channel.