Tony Pratt doing a super job as the radio host of WRFN's Paranormal Nashville, when I was his honored guest on Sept. 30, 2005..

An Interview with Tony Pratt

by Brent Raynes

TONY PRATT saw his first UFO outside his Tae Kwon Do Academy in 1984, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. He coached the number one Tae Kwon Do team from Kentucky 1983-84 to consecutive national championships in Junior Olympic competition. He holds a fifth degree black belt in Tang Soo Do and is an internationally certified master instructor in Tae Kwon Do. He trained the world heavyweight Kyo Shu Kung Fu champion in 1989 and again in 1992.

Tony then began collecting video evidence in April 1997, after reading an online article by John Bro. The article title was How To Film UFOs In Your Own Backyard. Tony was featured in the March 2000 issue of LIFE magazine at the secret “vortex” location. He will earn his masters in Education for web design and technology in June. He is currently working as an instructional designer developing film and theater courses for Saint Louis University.

WRFN radio free Nashville website to LISTEN ONLINE to the Paranormal Nashville radio broadcasts odd Friday midnights: http://www.radiofreenashville.org/

Yahoo Group, Paranormal Nashville: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paranormalnashville/

Tony Pratt’s UFO Skies websie: http://tonypratt.gozeera.com/

Tony Pratt’s email (of course) is: tony@tonypratt.com

Editor: Please share with us how you became interested in the Bigfoot controversy and how you came to be led into the field work part of it, and the unusual experiences that have evolved from there.

Tony Pratt: What controversy? (Laughs) I really had no previous interest in Bigfoot prior to initial contact. Like UFO films and the Patterson footage there was always that question of hoaxing in the back of my mind. That question no longer exists.

This is a good starting point however because it takes us back to the beginning of my initiation into the world of paranormal realities. Having had the one black triangle sighting in 1984, which I will discuss more later, I was surfing the net for UFO related material when I found the article by John Bro. How To Film UFO’s In Your Own Backyard. I still have a copy of that article. My dad and I successfully used the solar-obliteration technique he describes in that article to capture a myriad of anomalous objects in the sky.

I tried to show my footage to the TV stations in Nashville (TN). The only ones that would view it was Channel 5. Amy Marasalis was extremely nice. Channel 5 had inadvertently caught a UFO a couple of years earlier and were told by CBS Headquarters in New York it was to be shelved. I would like to see that one. Bob Mueller (Channel 2) and Nancy Mueller were also nice and had Tim Chavez, wrier for the Nashville Tennessean, contact me to do an article. Over the phone he was skeptical saying that lint could be showing up as large objects on my camera lens. So, I invited Mr. Chavez to come over to my condo and view the lint footage which he cordially agreed to do. At this time, my footage was unedited in any form that was easy to show, but within approximately 20 minutes he made the comment that “maybe they’re angels.” At that point I was questioning his credibility, thinking his lint theory might hold up to scrutiny better. Anyhow, he ended up writing an excellent and fair article. I had never seen that before in all the martial arts and theater articles and TV appearances I had come to the conclusion that the press would never get it right. Well Tim Chavez came through by writing an accurate and unbiased piece.

So next Sandy Nichols called wanting to see the footage, having read the Chavez article. After viewing it he was convinced of its authenticity and emphatic in suggesting I film in what he described as the “vortex field.” I was wondering what the hell is a vortex field. Of course, this location was later featured in Life magazine’s March 2000 UFO issue.

Anyway, that Saturday Sandy and I went to the vortex field and I attempted to get some footage. The vortex didn’t look like much more than discolored grass, but the location was remote. I think it pretty much still looks the same. It could be an old crop circle or landing site. But that is just speculation. At any rate, the red camera power light would come on for a second then immediately it would shut off. This went on for an estimated two and one half hours before I finally gave up. I had gtried different ways of hooking up the camera and three different electrical sources and even switched extension cords. It just wouldn’t work. I figured it was a short or something in one of the cords. Nothing weird had emerged at the vortex at that point. So, when all else fails, I give up. So, I went home and tried filming and it worked the first try and has ever since, even at the vortex. So, I had been invited to my first gathering of like-minded individuals the following Saturday by one of the property owners who used the pseudonym Anne for the purposes of the Life article. Arriving 30 minutes late, I didn’t even stop at the house to join the feast, but instead wanted to examine the vortex alone to get my own impressions and to see what I could discover on my own. I drove atop the hill next to the vortex and got out of my Jeep Cherokee. I was so dark I tested to see if I could see my hand in front of me and absolutely could not. But, immediately I was hearing odd noises. It was a fairly high-pitched, squeaky rhythmic sound. It was like music but it was not music. It was clearly emanating from the far end of the field more than 100 yards away. I walked toward the sound in utter darkness with no flashlight. The moon was non-existent. I cold see a little light when looking back toward the houses. I finally reached the end of the field as the sound got louder and the rhythm escalated. I didn’t have a clue what to expect but was crazy enough to want to find out.

At the time, I thought my perceptions were totally within the range of the first five senses. I thought I was just hearing audible sounds. I now think, in retrospect, that there was a telepathic connection, because as I stood there frozen, having reached the fence I realized what I thought I was hearing were in fact two Bigfoot creatures copulating. The sound stopped abruptly and I heard a rustling sound in the nearby brush followed by unbelievably loud footsteps. Footsteps that thundered and shook te ground beneath my feet like a great stomping beast. Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, etc. It is the sound a water filled punching bag makes when struck with a baseball bat.

But, in retrospect, I know no animal can make a sound that loud by stomping, let alone shake the ground with such strong vibrations. I turned and quickly ran back to the Jeep hearing the thud sounds running parallel alongside me and moving rapidly through the brush ahead of me. I could still hear the rumbling in the bursh from inside the Jeep, which also made no sense I quickly returned to the house thinking “this is nuts,” no one had mentioned Sasquatch for heaven’s sake. This was a UFO group and this was supposed to be about UFOs.

I had scarcely considered the UFO occupants at this point, though I had accumulated a lot of footage. I was just a guy who filmed UFOs, not an abductee or even a contactee. These terms were fairly new to me. I may have read the before but never had I heard them come from anyone’s lips in person. I was perplexed and excited when I entered the rear door to Houston’s home where everyone was eating and discussing various topics of interest, none of which was Bigfoot.

Several hours later after we had all migrated to the field and built the traditional campfire. And when most of the quests had left I told Anne about my experience from earlier in the evening. Her jaw seemed to drop open and her eyes widened as I related my little incident to her. To put it mildly she was blown away. I didn’t know if she just thought I was crazy at first or what. She claimed she had never ever revealed what she was a bout to tell me to anyone before this moment. She reported to me she had been in telepathic contact with a particular male Bigfoot for several months. And, that he had watched her in the mornings when she would walk around nude in the secluded field, particularly when it was foggy. He had requested sexual intercourse which she respectfully declined. He had then recommended an alternative course of action. He wanted her to bring a partner into the woods and make love so he and his male friends could observe. She said no to that as well. She and I did go into the woods together soon thereafter to look for signs of the Bigfoot though. Deep into the woods past the second Indian mound is an area where the majority of the ground is solid stone with huge impressions as big as thirty feet deep. I was telling her about a documentary I had seen that depicted the Bigfoot in the Pacific Northwest of Canada as being marked as a boundary to their territory by breaking the tops of small to medium sized trees, leaving them hanging. No sooner had I told her this than we saw a freshly broken one. On further inspection we found older ones broken in the same way but the wood had turned gray. Subsequently some Bigfoot researchers came to the field and I went out to some research locations without any luck until I met Teresa. I met her over a year later, after Life magazine had done their hit-piece on us.

Editor: What’s this business about Sasquatch and sex? Can you tell about a case you described to me earlier of a woman who had experiences with an invisible Bigfoot-type entity in her bedroom?

Tony Pratt: Many of the elements of the events that I will relate her I later discovered match commonly reported incidents, according to the existing literature. Now I met Teresa, a very honest, down to earth lady, through the Internet. We ended up becoming good friends. Prior to meeting me she had never seriously considered paranormal realities. In fact, her only experience was described as some mild haunting at a former residence. She had subsequently built a modular home in Kingston Springs, Tennessee, where she resided with her cat and grandson Cody who she had full custody of while her son was incarcerated at the time. I showed her the coast to coast website which happened to have a skunk ape photo from Florida at the time. I commented to her that it looked too good to be true and was probably fake. She told me later on that she thought the haunting followed her because she was experiencing some strange goings on. Her doors had old-fashioned latches on them. They we fairly heavy-duty latches and took quite a bit of effort to unlatch. Well, she began hearing footsteps and other sounds in and around the house. And, these heavy doors began to unlatch themselves and swing open and shut. Her dog, a large Rhodesian Ridgeback went missing. I playfully suggested that maybe Bigfoot or some other entity was responsible other than the traditional ghost haunting. Then one night, after I had stayed at her place until fairly late, leaving around 12:30, 1 a.m. I headed home and went to bed. She called around 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. and was nearly hysterical with a fantastic story. She had stayed up for a while and went on to bed around 2 a.m. she said. She specified she had laid down on her right side. She felt something get on the bed and snuggle up against the small of her back.

She thought her cat had jumped up on the bed with her. Then suddenly invisible fingers began fondling her breasts! She could see the finger depressions from an invisible hand on her breasts. She immediately got up and was so frightened she didn’t sleep the rest of the night. For a few weeks after that things were somewhat quiet. Then one evening when I called her she said her sister Cathy was there to stay with Cody while sh went to the store and that she would call me back when she returned home. She called back a few short minutes later from her cellphone in the store parking lot. She was both frightened and excitedly said, “I saw him.” “Him who?” I asked. “Mr. Bigfoot,” she replied.

She reported seeing an 8-10 foot tall dark brown hairy creature as she descended down the mountain. He spoke to me in my mind, she said. He looked over his shoulder and spoke to me in my mind saying, “It’s me.” He then turned and walked toward a large blurred circle near the edge of the woods. When he stepped into it he simply disappeared just like in the movie Field of Dreams. She said “he” didn’t look at all like the skunk ape photo I had shown her on the coast to coast website. Her sister, who had been living in the area for a number of years, told her many strange things had been documented as having happened on the same road over the years. So numerous were the incidents that she had amassed a fairly extensive scrapbook. Approximately two months later after speaking to Sherry Malin, a recent guest on the Paranormal Nashville program who was just getting seriously into unknown primate aka Bigfoot research through the BFRO (Bigfoot Research Organization) at the time said she was interested in interviewing Teresa for a magazine article. So I called Teresa and asked if we could come over for an interview. She said OK, but by this time her son had been released and was not real happy about the idea. Janet and the always mysterious Anne accompanied us, but when we knocked on the door no one answered. Then when we tried to call Teresa explained that her son did not want her to talk about it. So we didn’t force the issue. Instead we went on to the blurred circle sighting location, which Teresa had already shown me a couple of days before. The three of us scoured the area. We saw a few markers, collected some dung and found footprints that were not very clear and that was about it. It was a fairly uneventful though pleasant walk on a slope that was to coin a phrase steeper than a cow’s face. Janet revealed that she had downloaded an article about mysterious sounds and sightings reported by a park ranger including a legend about a 19th century wildman who had escaped from a carnival. Supposedly a white Bigfoot had been commonly sighted in a nearby area called Werewolf Springs and was said to howl at night when the train would come through. At this point in the adventure the “witches of Eastwich,” a nickname I gave the trio and I were just curious to see if we could even find out if there really was a place called Werewolf Springs. Only having to stop for directions once, we quickly arrived at Hall Cemetery road where the Hall family cemetery deadends into Montgomery Bell State Park. It is the only place where Werewolf Springs, Tennessee actually exists. We saw wild turkeys and deer along the gravel road as we entered the cemetery gates. We circled the plots twice and parked on the far left side and got out of the car. We walked around the perimeter and I entered the woods at the other side of the cemetery where an abundance of ancient slave graves are scattered only to spot more of the markers resembling Blair witch exes we had seen at Kingston Springs. So I ran back to tell the witches about my discovery. The four of us entered the woods crossing a dry stream at the right rear side of the cemetery. A short time thereafter we encountered some huge anthills up to 4 or 5 feet high. Thousands of red ants seemed to be crawling up our legs faster than we could knock them off. At this point, Anne and Janet decide to return to the cemetery to keep an eye on the car. Sherry and I brushed off the ants that were fairly thick for around 100 feet. We proceeded deeper into the lush forest into what appeared like a wonderland of colorful flowers and gigantic mushrooms. We continued for 35-40 minutes when Sherry remarked that she felt like we were being followed and/or watched. I echoed her sentiments and whispered the word stop. When we stopped walking we continued to hear movement and crackling sound like our own footsteps were making when we walked through the thick brush. We continued walking and stopped repeatedly only to keep hearing more footsteps and sensing something very close by.

Eventually we came to a clearing where TV had cleared about a 120-150 foot section where the electrical lines were placed. We stopped on entering the open area and I glanced to my right approximately 180-200 feet away I saw my first Bigfoot in the flesh or should I say hair. It stood an estimated 8-9 feet tall with reddish burnt sienna colored hair resembling chubacca from the Star Wars movies, but with darker, redder hair. He or she stood perfectly erect and reacted when I gazed directly toward it. The being leaped and/or ran covering the 40-50 yard span in under two seconds. “Did you see it?” I said over my shoulder as I was already running at full speed in the direction of the spot where I had just sighted the creature. I knew I would not be able to keep up but thought perhaps I would find him or her hiding behind a tree ahead. Alas, I didn’t see it again. All we had was audio of footsteps interspersed with our own. In other words, we had no real evidence.

After we looked behind all the trees we decided it was best to head back before Anne and Janet started worrying too much. And, it was lucky we got back when we did, because they were about to call the Park Rangers to hunt us down. We all had a lot of chiggers that day. But I didn’t care too much. I had seen the real deal. But I was sadly alone in my visual discovery.

Sherry and I returned to the cemetery the following week with plenty of bug spray. A guy was supposed to come who had infrared capabilities but didn’t show. At any rate, it ended up just Sherry and I. The moment we arrived at the Hall family cemetery, aka “Werewolf Springs,” it had just begun sprinkling rain. We were both anxious to see what we could find after the previous weeks events. Sherry suggested we enter the woods from the right side of the cemetery instead of immediately trying to retrace our steps from before. I said okay and immediately upon entering the wooded area we both heard a grunt ugh.

We paused and stared at each other for acknowledgement. Then again “ugh”! A single pronounced grunt not ten feet away in the nearby brush. Then after a momentary silence we heard the most godawful gurgling, grunting, rumbling vocalizations I have ever been witness to. I characterize it as the Tazmanian Devil meets Exorcist. It sounded like something huge choking on its words. Instantly I sprang into motion running toward the dense brush from which the sound came. I could hear it bounding ahead of me through the thicket of trees and brush. I rushed madly onward as fast as I could run face hitting the trees and brush in the direction of the sounds hoping to catch but a glimpse of what I had seen the week before. It was not bravery it was just a feeling that I had nothing to lose so why not go for it. As I came to th bottom of the substantial hill I saw a dry creek and a wooden bridge to my right along the hiking trail. On the far side of the bridge I could hear the creature vocalizing frantically. I think he or she was extremely distraught and probably wondering what carnival or asylum I had escaped from. I called for Sherry to come down the hiking trail that there was a bridge. She got there quickly as I had started mimicking the sounds of the creature who continued to speak. I kept calling back and forth with this being for about ten minutes. I really couldn’t duplicate the sounds precisely. The intensity of the conversation at that point lessened and Sherry suggested we walk along the creek to the left. I wondered why she didn’t want to pursue the creature. We both immediately spotted a huge single footprint in the middle of a huge sand bed in the middle of the creek. The top sides of the sand were pretty wet at this point, but within the 4-6 inch depression was still dry sand. Evidently when I had chased him/her down to the 4 foot high banks of a 30-35 foot wide creek she or he had leapt across in a single footstep landing up at ground level of the 4 foot bank on the opposite side. This was mind boggling enough, but this was a perfect footprint with every individual toe represented particularly the big toe which was offset and disjointed like an ape. It was a big foot about a size 21 shoe would be long enough, but not nearly wide enough. The width of the foot was startling. We videotaped the footprint and found a couple of other older ones nearly faded away a little further on up the creek, but had no plaster with us for castings. We explored a small cave where a little water was present. Then continued on up the hill toward the place where the sounds had been emanating. I was anxious to follow the trail. I don’t know why we didn’t go straight up. We would have missed the footprint. And, I think Sherry might have been a little bit rattled. I know I was shook up but still remained excited. No more sounds were heard for around 30 minutes as we had continued into the park deeper and deeper.

Suddenly a hickory nut or rock or something zipped between us skipping like a flat rock in a calm pond. It couldn’t have fallen from nearby trees because there were none. Some seemingly invisible force had acted on it. We couldn’t see anything around and we had clear vision for several hundred yards. Just seconds later as we continued on walking side by side about 4 or 5 feet apart another one flew between us. Then another. A few more seconds and another. We just looked at each other and all around but saw nothing. This process continued 7 or 8 more times. We kept moving forward looking for anyone or anything hiding behind trees as something skipped across the ground between us. Nothing was there, yet it had to be coming from somewhere. We began to see markers again. The same Blair witch style exes but sometimes in the form of huge trees. Trees with roots and dirt showing like something had just yanked them from the ground, uprooting them completely. Flour hours or more deeper and the exes increased in number as well as size. Finally, we came to a great wall of exes and beyond it was a 50-60 yard briar patch. My thoughts were that maybe “they” lived on the other side of this natural barrier. We followed the compass to generally find our way back and also enlisted the help of a couple of campers who had come six hours from the other direction. It was a teenage boy and his mother.

A few weeks later I brought my friend Dr. Mary Rose Grant, a microbiologist to the area to show her the source of the outlandish stories I had been sharing with her. After retracing all the steps of the previous encounters with her around 5 hours had elapsed and nothing in the way of contact seemed to be forthcoming. We were both hungry and tired but continued a general search. I gave up trying to make it happen. A couple of times she noted that she thought she had seen something move in the distant shadows, but nothing clearly discernible. I let out a sigh and leaned up against a tree and said, “You know something, you don’t find them until they are ready for you to find them.” We can’t find them unless “they” want to be found. I leaned back and mentally asked that they please show themselves! Mary Rose startled me when she exclaimed, “What’s that over there?” pointing to an area where the Harpeth River forms a small cove or inlet at the base of an unbelievable steep, almost sheer faced hill. This water is parallel to an area rife with civil war battle walls. I looked where she pointed and I saw a large black Bigfoot later determined to be at least 8' 6" tall leaning his head out from behind two trees at the point of the cove. I slowly waved my hand above my head as I stared into its dark eyes. An estimated 200 feet away he immediately stepped out from behind the trees and stood perfectly erect with zero crouching. “I can see his eyes and face,” she commented. I noticed the cheeks weren’t hairy and said “Yeah” in reply. We both were transfixed and staring for a bare minimum of 2-3 minutes. If I had to guess I would say four minutes. I told Mary Rose not to take her eyes off him as I was going to approach him slowly. We both had the impression it was male. His bristly jet black hair was more rounded like a mountain gorilla and sticking out in all directions like a wooly worm. As I slowly walked in his direction I entered a large crevass and he was gone when I emerged. When I asked Mary Rose where “he” went, she said he walked behind the tree and disappeared.

I was ecstatic. We both had seen what we both saw. We walked down to the two trees from which our friend had emerged and measured from the tree limb just beneath the top of his head by flipping a six inch pocket ruler end over end until we had determined a minimum height of 8' 6". At this point, I felt we had hit pay dirt and it was time to go eat. So we headed back to the car. On the way we came to a small clearing of an approximately 30-40 foot area with a huge tree stump I put a foot on as we stopped to rest. A hickory nut or rock cracked loudly and sharply against the tree beside my head. We froze not making a sound looking around for any signs of movement. Then crack it happened again. We both felt a presence but saw nothing and no one as the scenario repeated itself several times. I believe it was seven or eight like before. After a few minutes of this we decided to make a hasty retreat back to the safety of our car.

Editor: As to the “vortex” site east of Nashville, or whatever it is exactly, you mentioned earlier to me how “abductee” Sandy Nichols had rushed inside one time excitedly saying that he had seen a strange light in the large field there, and as I recall you went right out, by yourself, and had yourself a very odd experience too?

Tony Pratt: I believe this is the story you are referencing here. At an earlier gathering or party this year at the so-called secret “vortex” location, we had a nice campfire in the front yard instead of in the back field where the vortex is at. Marc Davenport, a noted researcher, was present as we had been having a discussion about mothman and other movies with a young film director. Well- known abductee and founder of ARG (Alien Research Group) Sandy Nichols had walked out to the vortex alone with his video camera. He came running over to tell us he had seen a large red eye “bounding across the field” like an animal would. He asked Marc and I to come and see. On the way up and over the hill he showed us the video of what he had just recorded. It did look like an up and down motion of the object crossing the field. So we went to see what was going on if anything. We were doubtful that anything would still be around, but when we got to the field we saw it moving around and it stopped beneath a clump of trees on the left side of the field not far from the stone circle area. The stone circle is a tradition at the field where new visitors add a rock to the circle. Sandy continued to film as we all three approached the direction of the red eye. I couldn’t say if it was truly an eye or even venture to guess what it was. It was eye shaped and basically appeared in my perception as a bright red light. It was much the same as the red reflectors you see on the highway but not round. Not to dismiss the possibility of an actual eye, but it was very evenly and continually visible as I walked slowly closer to it in the moonlight. The camera had no lights and there is no other light source present there. So, it is doubtful to me that a one eyed animal was responsible. Particularly when I got within three or four feet of it. I still didn’t see anything except the eye shaped red light. Suddenly when I was almost within arms reach it blinked out and disappeared completely. I don’t know if Sandy was still filming at that point or not. But I did see the object on the footage and up close.

Tony Pratt (r) with his guest on January 6, Jon Thunder (l) who I described in my Reality Checking columns in December and January. Jon is also featured in a two-part interview in Alternate Perceptions.