Ginseng Hunters Hear Wood Knocks

On Saturday, the 8th of October, my father and I went on a ginseng hunt and experienced some unusual knocking in the forest.

I wanted to share this story as I'm very sure what was making the knocks and I wanted to describe the events and area in greater detail.

We started out fairly early on Saturday as I had a church function I wanted to attend in the evening. It was a rather cool morning, but we figured it would warm up as the day went on. It did warm up some but never really got out of the 60's.

The area we decided to go to is one that is rarely explored by anyone due to the fact it is very steep and you have to cross a creek to get into the area.

We crossed the creek, the water was down due to the lack of rain, and started to make the steep climb up the mountain. After about a quarter of a mile going almost straight up, there was a little leveling off and then straight back up again.

We had a destination in mind and were determined to make it to the area. Finally, after a couple of hours of climbing and looking for ginseng, we hit an old mining road. It was overgrown with small saplings and some weeds, but it was much better walking than climbing up the side of the mountain. We followed the old road as it wound around the mountain and towards the area we really wanted to explore.

©Thomas Marcum

We were looking for tracks and ginseng, but not finding a lot of either. This part of the mountain was pretty dry, and the ground was hard. As we circled around the mountain, we found a few places where there was some water seepage onto the old road. In these areas, we found a few deer tracks and in one place a few small bear prints. The area had plenty of food sources, and the wild grapes were abundant. Wild grapes are a good, quick snack for many animals and even humans. The grapes generally taste better after the first frost.

Once we got to the main area we wanted to be in, we still didn't find much ginseng. So after a little while, we decided to start heading down the mountain. We had basically gone from left to right, covering around 3 miles, at this point. But remember, this was very strenuous climbing. As we are making our way down the mountain, by now we are back on the old road, and we are still looking over the edge for ginseng. 

We stopped to look around, and we were talking about the area when I heard a wood knock down below us and to the right. It was a very distinctive wood-on-wood sound. I have heard several wood knocks over the years, and this was clearly a wood knock and not a nut falling to the ground. I asked my dad if he heard that and I said: "I think that I was a wood knock". My dad said he didn't hear it. 

We stood there for a little bit, waiting to hear something. After about 30 seconds or so, we started to talk a little, and then there was another wood knock. It sounded like it came from the exact same spot as the other. This time, my dad heard it. It was once again a wood-on-wood sound. 

We looked where we thought the knocks had come from, but due to the thick forest, we couldn't see any movement. I tried a whoop but did not get any reply. What I find interesting is that I have heard a theory that says that Bigfoot will knock the number of people it sees. So, there were 2 of us, and it knocked a total of 2 times. So maybe that theory is correct, but I would assume they have different knocks to mean different things. Who knows for sure, really?

After standing there a little while, we continued on our way out of the woods. On the way out, I managed to find around 8 or 10 plants of ginseng. The plants were good-sized and had nice roots on them. This kind of saved the day for me as I had had a terrible day finding ginseng. But like my dad said, you can't find it if it is not there.

My Dad. ©Thomas Marcum

We finally made it out of the woods and back to the truck. We had covered about 6 miles in some pretty tough territory. We only found a little ginseng, but had some wood knocks. It was a great day, and we both enjoyed being in the woods. My dad is almost 74 years old and for the last several years was not healthy enough to walk the mountains. I will always cherish these memories and our time together. 

Now, while we explored the area, we never found another human footprint or evidence that anyone had been in there recently. We found some old soda cans that were pretty old, and if I were guessing would guess them to be from the 90's. Not many people want to climb this steep mountain. 

The area is ideal for a being such as Bigfoot. The area rarely gets humans, there are plenty of food and water sources, and lots of roaming area. As for shelter, there were several cliff lines and even some very large rock formations bigger than most houses in the area. These types of places could easily provide year-round shelter for a Bigfoot. 

Well, that is my little story. I hope you enjoyed it.

Have a great day!

Thanks
~Thomas~

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