Latest / Journey to the Fringe / It's a creature feature!!

Transcript

It's a creature feature!! · Journey to the Fringe

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The Unexplained to the Monday. Join us on our
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journey to the fringe. Hello and welcome to Journey
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to the Fringe, where we are finishing up our
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look at this creepiest of season, the Halloween
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month of October. It's Halloween! This is the
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last Friday in October, which is the day before
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Halloween, which of course means we are about
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to come to everybody's favorite episode, the
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Journey to the Fringe annual halloween creature
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i thought you're gonna tell them the surprise
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that we're gonna come trick -or -treating in
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our funeral sheets to their door with our turnips
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i thought we were coming through a browser near
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them it's one of the two we haven't quite decided
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yet but we're not recording this in real time
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so we have like a couple days to figure it out
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yeah so well you guys think that we don't have
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time to prepare you just like you have no idea
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Anyhow, not ruining surprises at all. No, and
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guys, don't worry. While you just like rest that
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thought in your mind, we got some stories to
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tell you. We're going to start off with the Goatman
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of Lake Worth, Texas. There's another Goatman.
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Or is it the same Goatman? Oh, there's many Goatmen
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out there. Well, there's the Poplic Monster,
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which is like a battle axe wielding goat that
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we've covered before. And I'm sure there's other
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Goatmen out there. Oh, I... I'm actually pretty
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sure one of the Sasquatch offshoots is a Goatman.
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I thought we had definitely done more than one
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Goatman. Yeah, I'm pretty sure too. I'm just
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trying to think of what the other one was. I
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don't know what's hard to say. We'll never know.
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It's a mystery. But I do know it's the Popelik
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monster because I always think it's weird that
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a goat is a Popelik monster. But a goat would
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look a Pope. I think we're all in agreement on
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that. I'm pretty sure that's how it got its name
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if I remember the episode correctly. Don't look
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into anything in Kentucky. Don't listen to the
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episode. But do. But do. But just, like, let
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that part leave your brain. Now, the summer of
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1969 was hot and humid in Tarrant County. Back
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then, the area near Greer Island wasn't gated
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off like it is now. Teenagers would go down Shoreline
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Road around the lake, be alone, and enjoy the
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freedom of summer nights. On July 9th, a group
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of three couples was parked by a clearing. Around
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midnight, a beast leapt onto their car from the
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trees above. The monster tried to grab one of
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the women, but they sped off before it could
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take her away, the witness said. Whoa, we've
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had reports about this from about two months,
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end quote, a police dispatcher told the Fort
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Worth Star -Telegram, quote, but we've always
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laughed them off as pranks, end quote. But an
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18 -inch gash in the car's side and terrified
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nature of the witnesses led police to open a
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full investigation. It appeared in the newspapers
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the next day, and the area was immediately caught
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in monster fever. Truckloads of men with guns
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headed into Greer Island to hunt the thing. Spectators
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came out in droves to try to catch a glimpse
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of it. Reporters swarmed in and the police tried
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to keep the peace. Rick Pratt, the director of
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the Greer Island Nature Center at the time, remembers
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folks coming out with wine, whiskey, and beer
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to have a good time and hunt for the creature.
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Quote, here was a Sasquatch, our very own. It
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was a party, what the hell, let's go. End quote,
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Pratt said. On the night of July 10th, a few
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dozen people were at a clearing near the lake
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when the monster made another appearance. It
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appeared on a cliff, looked angry, and threw
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a tire 500 feet. Everyone, including a group
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of sheriff's deputies, ran away in fear. Everyone
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witnessed this? Apparently. Everyone in town
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was there. I know, basically. They were drinking
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kind of hard, though. One witness said that the
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monster gave off a, quote, pitiful cry, like
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something was hurting him. end quote craig wool
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heater was nine that summer he was fascinated
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with monsters dinosaurs and ufos he clipped out
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the newspaper stories from the lake worth monsters
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scare and kept them in a scrapbook years later
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while driving through louisiana he saw something
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unexplainable in his headlights he said he saw
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the gray body of a huge primate on two legs He
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became a believer and started the Texas Bigfoot
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Research Center in 1999 to study and educate
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people about the elusive creature. Today, he
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lives in Mansfield and is a full -time cryptozoology
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blogger. He believes the Lake Worth monster was
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a real creature, like ones that have been spotted
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all over the country, stopping in the area because
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of its viable habitat. Quote, I personally think
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it's an undiscovered, uncatalogued primate species
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that walks on two legs. End quote, he said. Wasn't
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it a goat? Yeah, I know. It's kind of weird that
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it doesn't come up a lot in the article itself,
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but let's keep going. The thing about myths and
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monsters is they are not easy to prove, but this
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next story is absolutely true. It was the summer
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of 1999 when I was at Fort Worth's Camp Carter,
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just down the Trinity River from Lake Worth.
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Once we went into the woods in the late evening,
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trees casting long blue shadows as mosquitoes
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nipped at our ankles and elbows. We came to a
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clearing where the camp counselor had made a
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small campfire and told us about the legend of
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Goatman. Listen carefully, they told us, wide
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-eyed with fear and amazement. and you'll hear
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this cry on clear nights like tonight end quote
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the older boys at the camp gave us easy explanations
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it was just a way for the counselors to get us
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to finish our vegetables and not act up dad to
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be the counselors making noises in the night
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We walked back to our cabin, sticky with humid,
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hot air. I knew the Goatman stories had to be
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just stories. Yet as I lay down in my bunk that
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night, listening to the melody of the cicadas
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outside, I heard something unnatural. A mournful,
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bleeding echoing from far across the lake, unmistakable
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as the monster's lone cry. It sounded sad. Was
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it like this? First spotted 45 years ago this
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month, the creature... Something like that. Oh,
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right, it's a ghost, not a dog calling. Yeah.
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I've been talking lots about dogs howling the
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last couple days. First spotted in 69, this creature
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has been known to throw tires and scare teenagers.
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Real or imagined, the thing appeared to be part
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man and part goat with scales and long clawed
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fingers, witnesses claim. And an affinity for
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throwing tires. Yeah. I also wonder what the
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claws with a goat. Humans don't have claws. Goats
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don't have claws. You're right. It made the pages
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of the Daily Newspaper and whipped Tarrant County
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into monster hunting frenzy in the summer of
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69. Even today, stories of the monster, also
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known as Goatman, can be heard around campfires
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in North Texas. Researchers have made documentaries
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and written books. Lakewood Brewing Company even
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decided to pay respects with a limited release
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Goatman beer. Quote, the lore is enduring, end
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quote, said Michelle Villafranca, a natural resources
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specialist in the Fort Worth Nature Center and
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Refuge. We have alligator sighting report forms.
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We don't have any goat man sighting forms. Maybe
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we should start. After all, he is North Central
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Texas fauna. End quote, Villafranca said. That's
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the end of the article or the story. But I found
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this really interesting. Somebody wrote a comment
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on this and I just have to add it here. This
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came from somebody posting under the name Ghost
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Doctor on June 13th, 2019. I do not know if anyone
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reading this has any information about the Goatman
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on the small mountain in Tempe, Arizona. But
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if you do, please comment here. I'm a paranormal
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investigator and spiritualist. The paranormal
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has been a part of my life since my first encounter
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with Aswang at two years old. While helping souls
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to cross over to possessions, energy healings
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are part of my everyday life. Every once in a
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while, I run into things that still baffle me.
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Two people in my life that I have known very
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well for years in our sound mind have had experiences
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with a goat -like creature. The first was an
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encounter on the reserve in Parker, Arizona.
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My buddy and his brother, 10 and 12, were walking
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down the road when a lower half goat with a long
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tail upper half waist up man stopped and asked
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them for a ride of course they noticed the features
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after they accepted the ride he had asked them
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if they wanted to go with him to a party by this
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time they had seen what he was and were terrified
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they got out unharmed and fought the urge to
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run this being had been seen by many on the reserve
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and it was common knowledge that if you try and
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run in fear you would be chased down and beaten
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badly by the creature His brother will not speak
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of the event and still to this day in fear that
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the creature will show back up. You can't run
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from predators. They will chase you. So that
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tracks. And they want to party. Because of their
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need to party. The Hopi and the Navajo Diné will
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not whistle in the desert at night for fear of
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skinwalkers. I find that after what I have seen,
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their fears are well -founded from experience.
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The second encounter happened in Tempe, Arizona.
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I do not want to disclose the location because
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I do not want anyone else to come up missing.
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There was my friend. She was about 16. Her boyfriend
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and five other people at this location sitting
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around a fire at 2 a .m. It was around March,
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still cool enough for jackets. They were there
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because they had heard their hippie friends talking
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about the legend of Goat Mountain. None of them
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took this seriously, so it was a party destination
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for the evening. She was sitting across the fire
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from her boyfriend when she froze in terror.
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Standing behind her boyfriend was a creature
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about seven feet tall, hairy goat legs, hooves
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up to the waist. That's a pretty big hooves.
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That doesn't quite make sense, but hairy goat
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legs. and hooves, I guess goat up to the waist.
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From the waist up, he was human and very muscular
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with hands. He had a goat head with large horns,
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yellow eyes. A creature grabbed him from behind.
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He was overpowered easily. There was a slight
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struggle and the boyfriend was screaming bloody
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murder. The group panicked. They ran down the
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mountain a short distance, turned back when they
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heard the last scream. They could see no one
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there around the fire and they went back in daylight
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that morning to look for him. They found their
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belongings and his backpack. Nothing had been
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taken except for the missing boy. This young
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man had been living on the streets on Mill Ave.
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No family, no one to contact. These guys knew
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that they would be accused of wrongdoing and
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left out the details on the missing person's
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report. She is still haunted by his memory to
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this day. I'm going to this place to have this
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encounter, armed and ready for whatever the unknown
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has to throw at me. A couple things are clear
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to me. It can drag someone through a dimension.
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It had to have gone somewhere. There has to be
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more of them out there. Too many people have
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seen them from New Jersey to California. And
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that's the end of that article. So many goats,
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man. Goat men. Okay, Chelsea, that's the end
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of my turn. What do you got for us? Okay, so
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I have a couple of encounters of creatures. I
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will regale you with some encounters, zombie
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encounters, which are kind of an interesting
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thing because apparently with zombie encounters,
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it can get really mixed in with like mental illness
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and drug use. Yeah. So I'm pretty sure this is
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not what these are. So I found a couple of good
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encounters. So let's talk about them. The first
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one is from... phantoms and monsters i think
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the next one is too quote the following events
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occurred late in the summer of 1999 in suburban
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southern new hampshire as an adult i work at
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the management level in the international disaster
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management field and have experienced some horrific
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tragedies none of those can be compared to what
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i witnessed that evening I had tried to discuss
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what I saw with friends and family then but I
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was chuckled at and dismissed. The other witness
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denied that it happened. We have lost touch over
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the years so I can't be sure of his view of the
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incident as an adult. I only wrote this after
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reading some of your posts on humanoids and wondering
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if I really may have seen something unique. I
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was driving my boyfriend home after a night out
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and we were trying to extend the evening by loitering
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in his driveway. He lived in a typical late 60s
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suburb filled with ranches and split levels.
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The neighborhood was higher end, middle class,
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and very well lit. He and I were doing typical
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teen things when we noticed someone walking down
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the street three or four blocks away. It caught
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our attention as this was not the town or neighborhood
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where being out after 10 was common. As he got
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closer, we noticed something abnormal. Although
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his gait was slow and normal, something was stomach
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turning about his shoulders. They were pivoting
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in a manner that humans shouldn't be able to
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move in, swinging in circles and swinging. over
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his head like there was no bone. That would be
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very creepy, yes. The well -lit streets allowed
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us to see his face, which was calm and unassuming.
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Just a man enjoying a late summer evening walk
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with his arms out of their sockets. My boyfriend
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looked at me with tears in his eyes and asked
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if I could tell him what that was. I said it
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was probably just some druggie, but that we should
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probably get away. He ran inside and quickly
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bolted the door. I locked my car door and sped
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off in the opposite direction. When I had made
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it several blocks I glanced in my rear view mirror
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and he was gone. My family home was about 10
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miles away on the other side of town. When I
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got home it was close to midnight. It was also
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in the days before cell phones so I had no way
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of calling home before my arrival. Even though
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it was a 25 foot dash from my car to the front
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door I was so shaken that I laid on the horn
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until my parents came outside. Thinking there
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is a major emergency, they were livid when I
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told them what had transpired. To this day, I
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can remember the experience as if it was yesterday.
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I can also recall how unnatural his movements
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were and how chilling it was to watch him move.
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I'll never be certain what I saw. I'm sure that
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it could have been a drunk and somehow ended
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up in suburbia, but I've never seen any intoxicated
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person move with such fluidity. and with such
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jerky, contortioned upper body movements. Did
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I encounter a zombie? It simply doesn't compute.
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End quote, end encounter. And I have one more
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encounter under this one. It goes like this.
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This happened to me and a friend from out of
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town who I invited to go hunting one afternoon.
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We were in southern Louisiana in an area with
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thick woods and palmettos that reached approximately
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six feet in height in some places. The water
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we had to cross to reach my deer stand was up
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to our waist at times. Traveling the mile to
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the stands was slow and difficult. My friend
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was not accustomed to the kind of terrain, but
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he kept up. When we reached the first deer stand,
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which was approximately 15 feet off the ground
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and accessible by a ladder, my friend climbed
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into it. I told him I would return for him about
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half an hour after dark because my stand was
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another half mile beyond this. There was a full
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moon reflecting off the water, allowing us to
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hunt for a few minutes longer. When it became
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too dark to see, I climbed down from my stand,
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placed my rifle over my shoulder, and slowly
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began walking back toward my friend. When I was
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nearly at his stand, I shined my light upward,
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but he was not there. I then directed the light
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toward the ground and saw him leaning against
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the tree beneath the stand. What struck me as
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odd was that he would not look in my direction
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even after I called his name. I walked to within
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a couple of feet of him and asked whether he
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was ready to leave. He finally turned his head
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and looked at me. What I saw frightened me so
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badly that I removed the rifle from my shoulder
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and held it between us. His eyes appeared to
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be rolled back and his mouth was hanging wide
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open. He stared at me without speaking or responding
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to my questions. At that moment, he looked as
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if he were possessed. I was scared, so I finally
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slapped him across the face. He suddenly snapped
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back to himself. When I asked whether he was
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alright, the only thing he said was, let's get
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out of here now. I did not understand what was
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happening, so I made him walk in front of me
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for the entire trip back to the truck. We got
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inside and left without saying anything at first.
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When I finally asked what had happened in the
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woods and why he had looked so shocked, he began
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crying. He told me that while sitting in the
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stand, he heard something walking through the
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water and pushing against the palmettos. When
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it came close enough for him to see it, he said
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it was a man who looked as though he had been
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skinned alive. According to him, the figure had
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no skin anywhere on its body. He said he became
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so frightened after the figure passed his position,
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he climbed down and hit against the tree beneath
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the stand. He was afraid it might return and
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see him. He was still in shock when I found him.
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That was why he looked the way he did. He remained
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so shaken and cried so much that I eventually
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had him pull over and let me drive. Approximately
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a week later I spoke with my cousin who had toured
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a nearby Native American memorial. My cousin
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claimed the tour included a story about members
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of a local tribe skinning men alive and releasing
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them into the woods as punishment for serious
17:33
crimes. My friend was not from the area and had
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no way of knowing that story before his encounter.
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I thought that qualified a zombie, potentially.
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Yeah. It's so weird because there are so many
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things that are like... so close to zombie. Like
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you're saying the drug addict thing is definitely
18:08
one of them. There is a real question of is there
18:11
really a difference between a possession and
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a zombie? I guess you could say one's dead and
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the other one's not. Yeah, I mean you're splitting
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hairs. But they're still losing your autonomy.
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I just wanted to keep it away from humanoid encounter
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and I felt like this was far enough away from
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it that it qualified under what I was looking
18:27
for. Okay. Well, the next one I've got here,
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Chelsea, comes from Lon Strickler 2 on Phantoms
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and Demons. Or Phantoms and Monsters? I forget
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the name of it. Monsters, yeah. I do like Phantoms
18:37
and Demons, though. I mix that with Angels and
18:40
Demons, which is the Tom DeLonge book. Okay,
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so this happened to my friend and me around 2005.
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I was 20 years old. We had a couple beers each
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earlier in the night, so pretty much sober. We
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were driving on Highway 59 right outside of Houston
18:54
near an area called Kingwood. This is the first
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time I have tried to write the explanation down,
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so bear with me and feel free to ask me any questions
19:01
or details if you'd like. so it was about 3 a
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.m and he was driving i was in the passenger
19:06
seat it was a large three -lane highway and was
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illuminated quite well with those orange colored
19:12
street lights in the distance we noticed something
19:15
in the middle of the freeway it looked to me
19:17
like a man on crutches and my immediate thought
19:20
was that it was a bum or something but then we
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got closer it was apparent that it was without
19:24
doubt not human Here is where I will describe
19:28
in the most detail I can what I saw. What I thought
19:31
were crutches were actually its arms, but they
19:33
extended well above its head. Large, fleshy poles
19:37
are what it looked like, very knobby and non
19:39
-uniform. Did not have legs, but rather some
19:42
type of abdomen or nub, from what I could tell
19:45
from behind. Its head was very shocking. It looked
19:49
like a bulbous mass, like a giant water balloon
19:52
slopped to one side, very large. The whole thing
19:55
was rust -like colour. I'm not sure if this was
19:58
its actual colour because it was also the colour
20:01
of the street lamps. I would say a good 7 or
20:04
8 feet tall. At this point, we were completely
20:07
freaking out. He's screaming and I'm yelling
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at every obscenity I know. He pulled into the
20:12
left lane so as not to hit it and being in the
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passenger seat, I got an up -close personal look
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at the thing. Its body seemed wrapped in what
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I would call mummy -like wrappings. both embedded
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and haphazardly put on mostly around the abdomen
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nub area but the face was the most shocking part
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there wasn't really a face just folds of skin
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this may sound gross or crass but i didn't really
20:38
know how else to describe it it looked like female
20:41
private parts and was disgusting it should also
20:44
be noted that it paid absolutely no attention
20:47
to us Also, the thing was propelling itself with
20:50
these poles slash arms and using its abdomen
20:52
thing as leverage or something. Kind of difficult
20:55
to explain, but I could try again if anyone is
20:59
wondering. It was also going at a very fast speed.
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When our vehicle moved past the thing, it wasn't
21:04
like someone running, but maybe like a car going
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a little under the speed limit. After we passed,
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I looked at him and asked if we should turn back
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and he said no way. The next day, we got together
21:13
and we talked about it and tried to explain to
21:15
others what we had seen. and every time we see
21:18
each other even after many years we always bring
21:21
it up to each other now i have no possible explanation
21:24
for what this thing was i've searched many times
21:27
online typing in every description i have and
21:30
i always come up with nothing i even thought
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about calling into one of those late night radio
21:34
shows but i'm too shy for that the main reason
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i'm writing this is because i still desperately
21:39
want to know what this thing was and i wonder
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if anyone has ever seen something similar If
21:44
you guys could point me in the right direction
21:46
to someone who could be of any help here to me,
21:50
I would be very appreciative. I would also like
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to add one more thing. After thinking about the
21:54
creature for many years and doing some research,
21:56
I wonder if this was some type of bat. Although
21:59
it wasn't flying, the fleshy pole arms do remind
22:02
me of a bat when it's walking and how the wings
22:04
fold up and the face was folds of skin like a
22:07
bat's nose. But that's about all I have. S. Kate,
22:11
can you link that? up for me to take a look at.
22:15
I'm curious if I throw it into an AI image generator
22:19
what it creates because I'm having trouble picturing
22:22
what he's describing. Okay. I'm just curious
22:25
like based on that like do you get an image?
22:28
I kind of do but at the same time like it is
22:31
so bizarre that it's really hard to kind of follow.
22:34
I almost get oh is it the fog that Stephen King
22:38
won where there's like things on stilt legs?
22:41
Yes. there's also those creatures in the mist
22:45
right there's also those riding things in the
22:49
dark crystal by jim henson yeah that kind of
22:53
have a creepy legs like that but they had four
22:56
legs do you have another one that goes with that
22:58
i do not that's like that would be weird oh i
23:03
don't know if this is quite it honestly here
23:07
i'm gonna put it in general okay Or maybe it
23:09
is. No, that's not what I was picturing in my
23:12
mind. I hear it. Yeah, it was more covered in
23:15
wrappings, like way more wrappings. And I thought
23:19
the folds were kind of only on the front of the
23:20
face. But I guess it might be looking at us right
23:23
now. Yeah, you know what? That's basically what
23:25
I was thinking. It's not what I was thinking,
23:28
but it's basically what he was describing, right?
23:31
Yeah. Interesting. Man, that thing's creepy.
23:35
Going the speed limit almost. I'm leaving general.
23:38
I'm out of here. Okay, then I have my second
23:43
creature. I have, again, two encounters. This
23:47
one, you know what? I'm going to let you be the
23:50
judge on this one. The first one, I gave it to
23:52
you. I wanted to be generous. Second one, I'm
23:56
going to see if you can figure it out. First
23:58
encounter. This encounter took place on July
24:01
4th, 2020. I live in Northeast Ohio and I started
24:06
a new job about two months ago as a process technician
24:09
at a dairy plant. During my commute back and
24:12
forth from work, I drive through a wooded area.
24:15
Nothing uncommon for me as where I live in Northeast
24:19
Ohio forests are common. I work 4pm to 4am and
24:23
it's a long drive home. Whether it's being tired,
24:26
hungry, or the fog almost every night, I go the
24:29
same way every day and night. I was driving my
24:32
way home and was going through the forested area.
24:35
As I said, there's almost fog every night, so
24:38
I'm on high alert for deer, raccoons, and such
24:41
critters. It's just like every other drive home
24:44
so far. I have a podcast on, focusing on the
24:48
road, thinking of getting something to eat at
24:50
McDonald's. This guy is all of us. Me at least.
24:54
All of a sudden, I see reflecting eyes. Out of
24:58
the woods comes a coyote, which aren't too rare
25:00
in these parts. I start slowing down as it crosses
25:04
the road, but until it turns to my car and sits
25:07
on the road. It sat about 10 feet in front of
25:10
me. I thought about driving around it but this
25:13
was too odd of a thing to happen to just drive
25:16
away from it. I expected it to just get up and
25:19
walk away at any given second. This is where
25:22
I began to get very scared. I honked my horn
25:26
and after about two or three seconds it literally
25:29
smiles at me. I have my brights on so I can see
25:34
it perfectly. This coyote had human shaped teeth.
25:39
My heart dropped and every hair on my body raised.
25:42
Just as it is now, recalling the incident, I
25:45
actually have goosebumps too. That's creepy.
25:48
It lasted about a second or two before rising
25:51
up and running back into the woods. I sat there
25:54
in fear for about five seconds before shoving
25:57
my foot on the pedal and driving at getaway speed.
26:00
I didn't stop and get food because I suddenly
26:03
had no appetite. I swear this coyote had human
26:07
teeth. There is no doubt about it. I'm very into
26:10
the paranormal and that includes cryptids. Is
26:13
it possible I ran into a skinwalker or some genetically
26:16
mutated coyote? I am Native American if that
26:20
counts for anything. That is creepy. Isn't it?
26:22
And that starts off as like a very like, okay,
26:25
there's a, although like. be scary to run into
26:28
an animal like laying like that in the middle
26:30
of the road like not creepy per se yeah but like
26:34
oh man that's not what you want to no that's
26:37
not what you want to be happening that's not
26:41
what you want a coyote to do that's not what
26:43
you want to be happening when you're driving
26:45
in the middle of the night like there's so many
26:47
things that just you don't want happening going
26:50
on in that story so next story this one's from
26:54
phantoms and demons again Hi Lon, I listened
26:57
to you on spaced out radio last evening. I had
27:00
a crazy experience seven years ago. It was close
27:03
to 11 p .m. A very bright moon. I was in an area
27:07
outside of Atlanta, Georgia where there were
27:10
a lot of hills, horse stables and large wealthy
27:13
homes. I had been dropped off in the vast parking
27:16
lot of a large condominium complex. My ride had
27:20
some other plans and I had asked to be dropped
27:23
off at the condos where my friend of mine lives.
27:25
Once dropped off, I buzzed my friend, but she
27:27
wasn't home, so I tried using my phone, but the
27:30
reception was always spotty in that area. I walked
27:33
here and there in the parking lot trying to find
27:35
a signal. Nothing. I noticed through the trees
27:38
how bright and full the moon shone. Frustrated,
27:40
I decided to sit for a minute and smoke a cigarette
27:43
on the steps of the entrance to the condo complex.
27:46
After a few minutes, I saw something huge and
27:49
white to my right. It was about 10 feet away
27:52
from me. It looked like a beautiful and exotic
27:55
white German Shepherd, only taller with long
27:58
legs and a tall body. I jumped up thinking I
28:01
better find the owner before it gets hit. I walked
28:03
closer to this animal as it stared right at me.
28:07
As I walked closer, I quickly realized that this
28:10
definitely was no dog. As I got about six feet
28:14
away from it, a chill went up and down my spine.
28:17
I saw very clearly this animal was huge and wolf
28:22
-like but skinnier and had white fur throughout
28:24
its body. I'd never ever seen such an exotic
28:28
animal like that. The animal suddenly gave a
28:31
weird smile, which I believed was not a good
28:35
sign from a wild animal. It means aggression.
28:40
Suddenly and silently it dove into the bushes
28:43
and for the next 10 minutes or so every horse
28:46
in their stable throughout the hills made the
28:48
most alarming sounds as if this animal must have
28:52
run amongst the hills where the horse stables
28:55
are. You could figure out the direction it was
28:57
traveling by the reactions of the horses freaking
28:59
out. Incredibly, later that night, I ran into
29:03
it again when I started to walk home. I turned
29:07
a corner and met it head on. It smiled again
29:10
before lunging into the street and taking off
29:13
like a rocket up a grassy hill. The long grass
29:16
parted as it ran through it. It was very spooky
29:19
and surreal. These creature encounters were of
29:23
smiling canines. All right. Were those things
29:27
on their way to like Skinwalker Ranch? I think
29:29
they probably were. Don't they remind you of
29:31
Skinwalkers? They do. Yeah. But I just like thought
29:35
it was an interesting concept and I found more
29:38
than one of them. So it wasn't just a one -off.
29:40
It's seriously just... It seemed like a prankster.
29:43
Like those things were like trying to just get
29:45
a rise out of people. Oh, it gives me such the
29:46
creeps because it's one of those things that
29:48
are like uncanny valley. It's just so wrong.
29:51
And yeah, it does. It does seem like a trickster,
29:54
especially the grin. Yeah. Do you know how I
29:57
found it? I was looking to see if I could find
30:00
any more grinning man encounters. Okay. I got
30:05
one more for you, Chelsea. I know you were a
30:07
little sad that I didn't really find you anything
30:10
too close to you for giant spider encounters
30:12
in the giant spider episodes. Yeah, I was so
30:15
sad. So, of course, I had to find the giant spider
30:19
bat of British Columbia. Oh, no! And I did find
30:25
this story several places, but I found the best
30:27
story comes from Lon. Okay, as they do. I don't
30:31
know how he does it. Yeah. So this story occurred
30:34
in November of 2017. Hi, Lon. I've heard some
30:36
good things about you recently. I think I may
30:38
have countered a cryptid of sorts that I've dubbed
30:41
the giant Canadian spider bat because of its
30:44
spider like mouth and bat like appearance. Also,
30:48
because it sounds cool. I'd like to tell you
30:50
about the encounter now. This happened a week
30:52
or so ago. I don't know exactly what time it
30:55
was, but it was dark. I live on a farm. I was
30:58
walking home after putting our farm animals to
31:00
bed when I pass an old, practically fallen down
31:03
barn on our property. It's in bad condition.
31:05
It nearly collapsed on my mom once upon a time.
31:08
I glanced at the barn as I neared it, and I witnessed
31:10
a huge, bulky, maybe winged thing duck away into
31:14
the barn incredibly fast. It seemed to me like
31:17
it cowered away when I looked at it, like it
31:19
didn't want to be caught watching me. It was
31:22
huge, seemingly too big to fit, through the large
31:25
open window at the front of the barn, where it
31:27
appeared to be perched. Its eyes were tiny and
31:29
glistening white. Once I saw the thing, I ran
31:32
as fast as I could for my house. I felt a sensation
31:35
that made me feel like something was rushing
31:37
towards me, incredibly, but never reaching me.
31:40
That's the only way I can explain it. I still
31:43
don't like going outside on my own when it's
31:45
dark, and that barn freaks me out a bit. Once
31:48
in a while I hear noises from seemingly within
31:50
it. It sounds like somebody's setting down a
31:52
pile of wooden planks over and over. It could
31:55
be an echo from elsewhere on the property, but
31:57
I don't know. i also feel like it may have been
32:00
just my mind playing tricks on me but it seems
32:02
so unnaturally real i feel like the bard is watching
32:05
me whenever i pass it That's the end of that
32:08
story. And from what I found is like a general
32:10
description is the creatures are said to have
32:12
a body resembling that of a spider with eight
32:14
legs, but with the wings of a bat. Witnesses
32:17
have reported seeing these creatures roosting
32:19
in trees during the day and hunting for prey
32:21
at night. It is said that they have a venomous
32:23
bite that they use to incapacitate their prey
32:25
before feeding on them. And there's... I couldn't
32:29
find any stories that actually show that other
32:30
part, but yeah, it's in British Columbia. Shit.
32:34
Okay. Let me throw it in the AI. I'm having trouble
32:37
picturing this. Potentially. It seems less menacing
32:44
when you see it this way. It does. But he said
32:46
it was huge. Okay, hold on. And it didn't have
32:49
the legs, right? He didn't describe it with the
32:52
legs, but I've seen it described as having legs.
32:55
He said it was more so it had the face of a spider.
32:57
You know, one... At one point, we... Okay, maybe
33:03
it's more scary in, like, idea. No, I was just
33:06
gonna say, like, remember the days when, like,
33:09
your imagination was so good? Because, like,
33:12
it was scarier than anything that they could
33:14
create in real life? Well, this is, like... Yeah.
33:17
This is... The opposite. I think we got the image
33:23
for the episode. It was scary until I did this.
33:32
Not that I wouldn't be freaked out to see this.
33:36
But less freaked out than like what you were
33:38
thinking. What I was thinking, definitely. Potentially
33:40
from the name. Yeah, because it definitely seems
33:42
like it might have been stalking him. I got to
33:44
get off this page. I fucking don't like it any.
33:47
It may be hilarious. I just don't like it. Yeah,
33:50
I'm definitely picturing something more bat -like
33:53
than spider -like. Unlike AI. But it definitely
33:57
did seem like it might have been stalking him.
33:59
It was watching him. Yeah. Yeah. Didn't like
34:02
it. No. Yeah, but those are all the stories I
34:05
have, Chelsea. Do you have anything else? No,
34:06
I don't have anything else. It wasn't my address
34:09
that it was cited at, right? No, I don't live
34:12
in a farm. I don't think you're on an old dilapidated
34:13
farm, yeah. Okay, good. That might actually be
34:17
the Picton residence right there, now that I'm
34:19
thinking about it. Well, it's gone then. Then
34:21
we're all safe. Oh, good. It's been released
34:24
into the wild. Perfect. And then that's where
34:28
my address came up, right? Yeah, of course. So
34:31
yeah, those were some really good encounters.
34:33
It got me into the Halloween spirit. It also
34:36
got me into the spirit to start to take my imagination
34:39
into AI form. Don't sell your brain cells to
34:43
AI. No. That's what they want you to do. Don't
34:46
do it. It's just so easy, but it definitely didn't
34:49
make it any... My imagination is, as always,
34:53
the scariest place to be, so let this just be
34:56
a word to the wise. My imagination is always
34:59
the scariest place to be. Okay, and I think that's
35:02
a great place to end it with that. I have been
35:05
Taylor, here with Chelsea. We are Journey to
35:07
the Fringe. Thank you all for listening, and
35:09
we'll see you next week. Happy Halloween! Thank
35:13
you for listening to Journey to the Fringe. If
35:16
you have liked what you have listened to, please
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35:44
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35:50
episode.