Maya Foss Shares Family Cryptid Encounters on From the Shadows Podcast

So, I just stumbled across this absolutely fascinating interview on the From The Shadows podcast with Shane Grove, and I had to share it with you all. The guest is Maya Foss from British Columbia, and let me tell you, her family history with cryptids is the kind of stuff that keeps you up at night. Maya's story begins when she was just five years old. She was playing with her eight cousins in an old part of town, chasing each other toward this old boat. Being the youngest and smallest, she was trailing behind the group. That's when she felt something behind her. She turned around, and there it was, standing right in front of her. At first, she thought it was a Sasquatch because as a kid, that's all she knew about. But as she grew older and learned more about Dogman and werewolves, she realized what she saw had a snout. The being reached out and touched her chest, and then she blacked out. The memory stayed repressed for years, only bubbling up repeatedly until she finally acknowledged what happened. Here's the part that really got me, though. Maya's brother confirmed there was a period during that playtime when nobody knew where she was. So this wasn't just a dream. Something happened to her, and her family noticed her absence even if they didn't witness the encounter itself. Now, Maya's grandmother was Cree, and she grew up on a reserve near Cumberland House, Saskatchewan, back in the early 1900s. Her grandparents ran a trap line together, and they encountered all sorts of things out there. Her grandmother saw Sasquatch and Windigo. Her uncle Jim described seeing creatures that looked like giant frogs, roughly four feet tall, lurking in the swamps around the Canadian Shield in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Imagine hearing that as a kid! Maya's grandmother was also a medicine woman, deeply connected to the land and the spirits that inhabited it. The Windigo descriptions from her grandmother are chilling. She explained that Windigo would chew off the outsides of people's lips, leaving only their teeth visible. They would stalk people and peer through windows at night. Maya grew up with her grandmother closing all the windows at bedtime and warning the kids not to look outside because something would be staring back at them. As a child, Maya figured it was just a tactic to get them to go to sleep, but now she understands her grandmother was speaking from real experience. For those unfamiliar with Windigo, it's a supernatural being from Algonquian folklore, often described as a malevolent spirit associated with winter, famine, and cannibalism. The creature is said to possess those who resort to eating human flesh to survive, transforming them into monsters driven by an insatiable hunger. Different tribes have varying descriptions, but the consensus is that Windigo are dangerous, powerful entities that should be avoided at all costs. What makes Maya's story even more compelling is that she didn't just sit on these experiences. In 2016, she created the British Columbia Bigfoot Sightings group to connect with others who had similar encounters. A few years later, she expanded her efforts and founded Cryptids of North America, a broader community where people could discuss Dogman, giants, and all manner of unknown creatures. She started these groups because she was looking for answers and community, and she couldn't find anyone locally who shared her interests. The interview cuts off right as Maya is about to share an experience from 2013, which is frustrating because it sounds like she was about to get into another significant encounter. If you want to hear the rest of her story, definitely check out the full episode on the From The Shadows YouTube channel. Shane Grove does a great job letting his guests tell their stories without interrupting, and Maya's family history alone is worth the listen. What strikes me most about Maya's account is how it spans generations. Her grandmother's traditional knowledge, passed down through stories around the fire, combined with her own modern encounter, creates a tapestry of experiences that can't easily be dismissed. The Canadian wilderness has long been a hotspot for Sasquatch sightings, and when you add in reports of Dogman, Windigo, and giant frog creatures, it paints a picture of a landscape teeming with mysteries we still don't fully understand. If you're into family cryptid histories or just love hearing firsthand accounts from people who've had genuine encounters, this interview is a must-watch. Maya comes across as genuine and thoughtful, and her Cree heritage adds a rich cultural dimension to the conversation that you don't often hear in paranormal podcasts.