Dano Hamilton Shares Childhood Bigfoot Encounter on Monster Quest

There's something genuinely compelling about sitting down with someone who has a story they've carried since childhood, and that's exactly what unfolds in this episode of The Cryptid Crew Podcast. Host Mark sits down with Dano Hamilton, the voice behind The Crypted Podcast, and the conversation quickly moves past the usual small talk into territory that will have any longtime researcher leaning in a little closer. Dano isn't new to the spotlight. He was featured on Monster Quest Season 5, Episode 3, a show that ran on the History Channel and became one of the more memorable mainstream investigations into cryptids. But what makes his story stand out is the way he tells it. He makes it clear right from the start that he will never definitively say what he saw as a child was a Bigfoot, and honestly, that kind of honesty is refreshing. He was only six or seven years old at the time, and the word "Sasquatch" wasn't even part of his vocabulary yet. It wasn't until years later, around age eleven, that he caught a glimpse of the Patterson-Gimlin film and later saw Leonard Nimoy's iconic "In Search of..." series that the pieces started to connect. The setting of that childhood encounter is the kind of place that feels almost cinematic. His dad wanted to teach him to hunt, so they headed out to an area north of Aberdeen, Washington, with his uncle for a weekend camping trip. There was a deer stand perched about twelve to fifteen feet up in a tree, overlooking a wide meadow with wild grass and wildflowers. Behind the meadow sat a thick tree line, and down a slope ran a stream with brush scattered along the way. Two game trails intersected about twenty to thirty feet in front of the stand. It was the kind of quiet, beautiful spot in the Pacific Northwest where the woods feel like they're holding their breath. For anyone familiar with the geography of Washington State, Aberdeen sits in Grays Harbor County, an area steeped in logging history and dense old-growth forest. The region has long been part of Sasquatch lore, with countless reports filtering out of the surrounding woods for decades. The terrain Dano describes, with its mix of meadow, stream, and heavy timber, is exactly the kind of habitat that researchers often point to when discussing where these beings might thrive. What really caught my attention was how Dano talks about the experience itself. He describes something that seemed to unfold in slow motion, something that just kept standing up, as if the realization of its size was dawning on him in stages. His dad was right there with him, and the moment clearly left an imprint that has lasted a lifetime. He mentions having had more than two encounters overall, though two were clear sightings, and the way he speaks about them carries the weight of someone who has spent years sitting with what he witnessed. Beyond the encounter itself, the conversation also dives into Dano's journey as a podcaster. He launched The Crypted Podcast in October of 2024, and within just六十 days, he had racked up over a thousand subscribers and nearly seven thousand watch hours. He's now sitting at around 9,690 subscribers and closing in on that ten thousand milestone. He also runs morning live streams and a Saturday series called "50 States of Fear," which sounds like a fantastic deep dive into regional cryptid lore across the country. His path into podcasting started alongside Josh Smith of Mysteries Unknown, another name that will ring a bell for anyone plugged into the community. There's also a fascinating sidebar about a previous podcast Dano ran called The Paranormal Narrative. He ended up deleting the entire channel after receiving emails that escalated from odd to genuinely frightening and personal. It's a reminder that stepping into this world publicly can come with some unexpected and sometimes unsettling consequences. The whole interview has a really grounded, conversational feel to it. Mark and Dano clearly have a comfortable rapport, and the conversation flows naturally between personal history, podcast life, and the deeper questions that keep people chasing answers in the woods. Dano comes across as someone who respects the subject deeply, someone who isn't looking for clout but genuinely wants to connect with others who have had similar experiences. For anyone who appreciates firsthand accounts told with sincerity, or who just enjoys hearing how fellow researchers and storytellers found their way into this community, this episode is absolutely worth the time. Dano's perspective, shaped by a childhood encounter in the Washington woods and years of reflection since, adds another meaningful voice to the ongoing conversation.