Stonemen
2012
My wife and I were hiking near Gaudineer Knob in the Monongahela National Forest. It was getting late and we still had to drive to our campsite and set up, so we gathered our things and began the hike back.
I happened to look over my shoulder into the woods and saw a gigantic bigfoot—it must’ve been near nine ft tall; it was covered in dark brown hair, but I couldn’t tell much else. My wife must’ve heard me gasp because she had turned around to see what it was.
I looked down for a second to pull my phone out of my bag, but when I looked up, it was gone. I asked my wife if she saw where it went, but she heard something behind her, so she missed it when she turned to look that way.
I know it sounds really convenient, but that’s exactly how it happened. I don’t know how something that big could move so quietly or quickly. We were in that spot for a while too. The bigfoot seemed like it was just watching us the whole time; it creeps me out when I think about it. How long it might have been there, you know?
- Matt and Kara
THE FIRST BIGFOOT
Before human arrival, Stonemen were the dominant creatures of North America. They roamed through coniferous, deciduous, and alpine regions due to their proclivity for subarctic, continental/subtropical humid, and highland climates. Stonemen are believed to be the origin of all other North American bigfoot species and are the strongest and most intelligent of their kind. Stonemen can build stone structures and tools, keenly escape detection, and communicate through a simplistic language system.
HISTORY
Early settlers of the Appalachians claimed to have been barraged by enormous apes that would throw rocks at their campsites and homes. Land surveyors, map makers, and timbermen frequently ran into the Stonemen who greeted them with displays of strength or growls. Many assumed they were a species of giant bear or primate at first glance. Unlike lesser creatures, the beasts were not frightened by loud noises, fire, bright lights, or gunshots—instead they stood their ground with a steely stare. Nevertheless, the increase of human activity and further settlement pushed bigfoot troops into more secluded environments. Today, the creatures reside in the most remote regions of Canada and the United States. In West Virginia, they are said to reside in uninhabited mountainsides, large, hidden caves, abandoned mining operations, and networks of underground tunnels that form small city settlements connected to other sites, such as quarries.1 Often their distant calls can be heard, sounding like human women screaming; others see them bathing themselves or their young in rivers, gathering fruit, drinking from puddles, or watching silently from the trees—their eyes a bright, reflective red in the light. In West Virginia alone, there are around thirty Stoneman sightings a year.
APPEARANCE
The Stonemen are the largest bigfoot creatures in North America, growing up to 9 - 10 ft tall and weighing around 1,000 lbs. The giants have long, coarse hair that is found in a variety of single or multi-tone colors: different shades and hues of brown, gray, red, white, or mixtures of two or more tones. Stonemen have very muscular bodies—enabling them to lift twice their weight—and a musty, sour body odor like that of a sweaty, long unwashed human. The creatures can also be distinguished by others of its kind by their lack of hair growth on the upper lip, overly-large hands, and tracks. Footprints left behind display what is known as an Egyptian foot shape: the first toe is the longest with each consecutive toe being shorter, forming a downward slanting line.
ACTIVITY
The Under-Earth: Daily Life and Development
Although they once roamed the sunny clearings and lush forests of North America, the Stonemen began keeping themselves hidden away in the darkness by building underground domiciles hundreds of years ago. Individual tunnels evolved into vast city systems that include family nests, food storages, ritual rooms, common areas, waste removal sites, and burial grounds. Holes in difficult to access caves or within rugged mountainside crevices can lead to the start of old passageways; however, newer channels are dug within abandoned mine shafts or hidden by large boulders, connecting old tunnels and various gathering sites.
Stonemen living above ground were exiled by their community’s alphas; however, some family units choose to live outside of these cities when disputes arise. These groups live in large caves, mines, or pits, and don’t interact with Stonemen living underground. Exiles socialize with other bigfoot species and Stoneman outcasts, but may also try to join a distant Stoneman gathering. On average, exile communities and units have more violent lifestyles and an unstable hierarchy; separation from a large community and its practices are thought to be the main cause of aggression. Encounters with a Stoneman that result in rock-throwing is an indicator that the encounter is with an outcast. There have been multiple reports of these bigfeet slamming stones against the sides of houses, cars, campsites, and at hikers before baring their teeth or stealing away food and other items. Exiled and communal Stonemen look almost identical to outsiders, who may only be able to identify one from the other based on their physical hygiene: the hair of an estranged Stonemen is matted and clumped with mud—giving them a rock-like appearance—as they do not groom themselves or usually have others to groom them. Individuals on the offensive will growl or call to each other in deep, guttural “UUR- OHMPH ”s, while defensive beings watch silently from the shadows. Denoting exile from Underfoot, and violent from watchful is important for a travelers’ safety.
The Underfoot—Stonemen who live underground—traverse to the surface infrequently, often only to gather resources, bathe, and run under a moonless night sky. They are always observed during nighttime, sometimes seen drinking from cupped hands, foraging from farms or outdoor storages, playing in the woods, hunting game, or watching quietly from the shadows. Most Underfoot do not orally communicate above ground, but instead utilize wood knocking: hitting trees in a rhythmic pattern with their fists, open palms, or kicking at its base. Living underground for most of their lives, the creatures are sensitive to light; even outcasts are not usually active until sunset.
Within the confines of their underground dwellings, Stonemen eat, play, groom, and socialize together in shared rooms. In private domiciles, the bigfeet raise and nurse young, mate, and sleep. Generally, these communities of Stonemen can be comprised of as many as forty members. Private rooms consist of dried leaves and grass atop animal hides and a doorway decorated with found items, bones, and markings carved into the rock. Common rooms are larger, but sparse, garnished with only the remnants of meals, sticks, stones, simple stone tools used for hunting or building, and writing/drawings on the wall. Ritual rooms may contain writing or paintings (produced from ground-up materials mixed with spit), simple sculptures or carvings, and animal hides hung on the walls.
A group of 3 - 5 elder Stonemen act as the group’s alphas—deciding the construction/destruction of rooms and tunnels, the amount of stored food and its distribution, who from the troop is permitted to leave and when, communal banishment, and relocation. Alpha group members are determined during rituals and are alphas until death. When disagreements arise, the community weighs in by stacking small stones at the feet of the alpha deemed right; due to this, popular alphas have more say in the direction of the troop and its activities.
Stonemen are monogamous, remaining with one partner for the entirety of their lives. Pairing takes place during yearly observances of the Budding Moon (the full moon phase in February). On average, healthy couples produce 3 - 5 offspring who, upon maturity, may choose to stay within the community or leave for another. As Stonemen age, they become physically weaker but more intelligent and hardy. Folklore states that elderly Stonemen gain magical abilities and their flesh cannot be pierced by normal weaponry; these powers can include: invisibility, telekinesis, telepathy, and/or the ability to influence the elements. However, these creatures are not immortal—most only living to be between 50 - 60 years old. Dead Stonemen are buried in designated rooms far from any activity, in deep holes marked by colorful pebbles. When these sites reach their limit, an old room is repurposed as a burial site or a new room is created. Sometimes fully decayed corpses are exhumed for building materials; their thick bones are used as supports for new archways and tunnels. Bones are usually used to build ritualistic rooms or when a dwelling needs to be erected quickly. Aside from places set aside for day to day activities, larger, decorated rooms exist solely for ritualistic pursuits
Stone Speech: Rituals and Language of the Stonemen
The reason for their namesake, the Stonemen have several rituals relating to stones. Most of these gatherings revolve around the creation of and interactions with Stone Heads: magical, sentient beings made of rock. Before dwelling underground, Stonemen produced several of these earthen faces across the country—many of which have fallen into ruin beyond recognition or have withered into nonexistence. Stone Heads are created solely above ground on cliffs or mountainsides on nights with a new moon. Every Stoneman learns the art of sculpting as a youth, as well as the gravelly, droning, hum-like songs that accompany these unique events. During a face carving, the bigfeet encircle the project while thrumming a low, wavering tune. Each bigfoot has a turn carving the stone—with the most proficient overseeing more complex sections. As the rock is chipped away, eyes come into being, a large mouth, furrowed brows, and wild curly hair; the visage is akin to the Stonemen: a large flat nose, small eyes, pronounced yet wide cheekbones, thick lips full of jagged teeth, and a tall forehead. Before daybreak, the piece is finished; the last sculptor places their hands over the face’s mouth and speaks loudly in their native tongue as the group’s hum intensifies, sounding like the rumble of falling stone. The Stone Head is named and will animate at its utterance. The rocky faces will converse with the Stonemen for a short time before relapsing into slumber, only waking once hearing its name once more. If this ritual is interrupted or otherwise incomplete before sunrise, it is abandoned and never finished, the creatures believing it was not meant to be given life.
“Stone Speech”—named for the cold, rough sound of the language—has not been heard by many human ears. It is spoken by all Stonemen, but most often by the Underfoot during rituals. The language is believed to be a mixture of their on speech development and some Susurrus words and phrases, which were gifted to the creatures long ago by the fae. Writing exists in the culture—describing great feats, history, and ceremonies—on boulders or small stones in a scratchy, sharp font made up of lines and combinations of shapes.
Courtship practices consist of small stones speckled with runes given to a desired mate. If the bigfoot accepts, he/she will leave the stone at the foot of the gifting bigfoot’s nest. On the other hand, if he/she rejects the advance, the creature will drop the stone where it was given and draw three lines down its center. Some of these mysterious stones are scattered throughout the region, confusing humans with their unknown meanings; rocks with bold, elaborate writing have been misconstrued as hoaxes or confused as relics from other cultures.
Gatherings are held in special underground rooms during the winter and summer solstice; within these meetings, a different kind of humming takes place. At these events, the Stonemen recount stories new and old, their voices sometimes causing the ground above to tremble with their deep reverberations; these nights, a new story is written on the room’s walls.
Some believe the Stonemen’s affiliation with earth and magic is linked to a distant connection to the fae. According to folklore, beings of nature taught the creatures to sing beasts and allies into existence from rock, how to turn such sounds into visual apparitions, and how to influence the world around them with magic. However, certain groups of the beasts have lost favor in the eyes of the fae and many of the things they were taught have been lost or forgotten.
As a note, outcasts do not practice the customs or follow the lifestyle of traditional Stonemen; however, some visit old Stone Heads whose names have been forgotten or unsuccessfully attempt to create new ones.
the Decline of the Stoneman, Rise of the Bigfoot
Today the Stonemen are much fewer in number and less diverse than in previous generations. Long ago, a dispute between alphas split the largest gathering of the creatures into five groups that went separate ways. It is believed that strong personalities or a divergence in aspirations led to this split. These groups (and others that disseminated after) have led to the large variety of bigfeet species found in North America today. These groups developed distinct personalities, physiques, and cultures after numerous generations of being separated from their brethren.
The most intelligent of their kind stayed within the staunchest community of Stonemen, as did those deft of hand and knowledgeable of tradition. This has led to an absence of several Stoneman-ish elements in other bigfoot species, such as sculpting, a written or spoken language, and a distinct lack of ritualistic behavior. However, most species share similar body types, an understanding of basic construction, and most live in some kind of community or family unit during at least one stage of development. Additionally, some of these species maintain or have excelled in specialized abilities known only to Stoneman elders.
TOURISTRY
Encounters with Stonemen can be dangerous. To increase one’s chances of seeing an Underfoot, territories should be investigated on nights with a new moon in spring or fall. If an aggressive Stoneman is met, an individual’s only option is to flee or fire at the creature with a weapon. Even when threatened by a firearm, the beasts can withstand several bullets and may rush an opponent, taking them down with a dying breath. Only outcasts can be lured by gifts of food or items left outside, as the Underfoot are too wary and well-fed; however, it is difficult to repel these creatures once lured.