A Hunter in Westmoreland County Describes the Moment Something Passed Beneath His Stand

March 17, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In the fall of 2020, an experienced archery hunter named Paul was sitting in a tree stand twenty-five to thirty feet up on a property in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, when the woods went silent. "It was like someone hit the mute button," he says. Then something passed beneath him—roughly ten feet below his stand—that he can only describe as a distortion, a gliding shape that seemed to pixelate the ground as it moved. The encounter lasted only seconds, but it fundamentally changed how Paul relates to the woods he has known his entire life.

A Lifetime in the Woods, Then a Single Moment

Paul is not a casual hiker. He grew up in central New York and spent his childhood in the woods from dawn until the streetlights came on. As an adult, he moved to Pennsylvania, built mountain bike trails, hunted, and took his own children on night hikes without flashlights. He describes "manhood retreats" with friends where they went into the woods with only .22 rifles, no food or water, and had to hunt or fish for their meals. He knew his hunting property in Westmoreland County so well that he could be blindfolded and dropped anywhere on it and still find his way out. He had shot many deer from his tree stand, a spot he had dialed in completely. He had never had a strange experience in the woods before.

The Encounter: Silence, Distortion, and a Gliding Shape

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What you'll learn

1 (02:00) **Introduction of Guest Paul** - Jeremiah introduces Paul, a listener from Southwest Pennsylvania, who is an archery hunter and outdoorsman with extensive woods experience.
2 (05:58) **The Encounter: The Mute Button and the Distortion** - Paul describes the moment during early bow season 2020 when the woods suddenly went silent and something passed beneath his tree stand.
3 (15:14) **Aftermath: Loss of Comfort in the Woods** - Paul describes the profound psychological impact, including avoiding the woods for years and feeling a persistent "pressure."
4 (16:46) **Seeking Understanding: Steve Isdall and Rejecting the "Great Ape" Theory** - Paul explains how he found context for his experience and why he rejects the conventional Bigfoot-as-ape narrative.
5 (26:35) **Behavioral Changes: Deer Avoidance and Lingering Pressure** - Paul notes that the area where the encounter occurred has been devoid of deer ever since, and he still feels a "pressure" in the woods.
6 (30:39) **Visual Details: The Glide and Pixelation** - Paul elaborates on the specific visual characteristics of the entity.
7 (34:13) **Advice for Others and Reclaiming the Woods** - Paul offers advice to other hunters/outdoorsmen who may have had similar experiences.

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Show Notes

In this episode, we delve into the remarkable experience of Paul from Westmoreland County in southwest Pennsylvania, a lifelong outdoorsman, archery hunter, and woodsman who has spent decades exploring forests across the country. Having grown up in the woods of central New York and later spending years hiking, hunting, and trail building in Pennsylvania and Colorado, Paul knows the forest in a way that only comes from a lifetime outdoors.

During the early days of the 2020 bow season, while sitting high in a tree stand on a property he knows inch by inch, something happened that changed the way he sees the woods forever. The forest suddenly fell completely silent. Every sound disappeared. In that stillness, Paul noticed something moving beneath him that did not look like any animal he had ever seen before.

What followed was a moment that left him questioning everything he thought he understood about the wilderness around him. In this conversation, Paul carefully recounts what he witnessed that day and how the experience affected his relationship with the woods he has always called home.

Join us as we explore Paul’s story from the forests of southwest Pennsylvania and hear firsthand what can happen when something unknown moves quietly through the trees.