Monday, November 12, 2007

The Beast in the Snow

Paul from Pennsylvania sent me this tale of a terrifying encounter on a snowy winter day:

Jason,

I have several freaky stories I can share with you but just wanted to say I thoroughly enjoyed your "The Scary States of America" book. Here's one of the strange things that has happened to me.

In 1997 my wife, four sons, and I were renting a house on a 200 hundred acre farm in Pennsylvania. It was beautiful, with rolling hills outlining a forest and a creek that ran through the property. Even though the house was fantastic and property a dream it was still creepy. We would always feel as if we were being watched.

The winter of 1997 was a horrible winter. Snow piled up with drifts of over 7 feet. It would snow 10 to 12 inches a day, no one was going anywhere. A state of emergency was called as roads were impassable.

I woke up early, and heard on the news the roads were all closed and decided to go see if I could clear away snow from the cars. Three feet of fresh snow had fallen the night before so I put my boots on and headed out. A winter wonderland lay before me with 6 foot snow drifts on the farm road. I trenched out into yard and that's when I first saw them. Huge footprints twice the size of my boots in the fresh snow. The prints had no shoe tracks were at least seven feet apart. I had to run and jump to get from one track to the other. What was freaky was the tracks came from the woods across the field and stopped near a clump of trees that were close to the house then just disappeared.

I tried to put it out of my mind. I trudged through the snow. As I walked toward the cars off to my left about a hundred yards along the tree line I thought at first a tree was following me. This massive black thing walked parallel with me as I headed toward the main road. The wind shifted and I got wiff of a smell that would knock a buzzard off a dung pile. Like the Philalelphia Zoo in the hot summer sun. Nasty!

As I came to the open field I could see the cars in front of me. The wind whipped snow in my face as I had to crawl the last hundred feet. That's when it happened. I heard a growling and heavy breathing. This dark shape off to my left started crossing the field coming toward me. Whatever it was was massive and heavy enough to crack through the ice and snow as it lumbered toward me. Its upper body was at least 6 feet above the snow which was easily four feet deep. At first I thought it was a bear, but this thing was no bear! It walked like an ape, and I couldn't see much of it's face because it was covered with hair. With it's huge strides it was gaining on me. It's massive arms dragged through the snow as it came closer. I reached the cars, barely squeezed into my mini-van, and slammed the door. I cranked the car on and could see the dark shape through the glass. The next thing I know the van start shaking back and forth violently. It almost tilted over. All along I could hear screaming and growling. I was able to start the car, and honk the horn. It must have scared the creature because the car stopped rocking. After a minute I put car into gear and rolled forward. I got about ten feet when I slammed into something. Thinking I rammed into my other car I instictively hopped out. My other car was behind me--not in front, and whatever that thing was that attacked my car was standing right in front of me. It stood about nine feet tall. It growled and screamed at me. It stepped toward me. I laid on the horn and put it in gear and floored it. I just sat and spun in the snow. The creature backed away and growled. I continued to honk on the horn. It continued to back away. A strong gust of wind blew a spray of snow between me and it. I shielded my eyes. When I looked up it was gone!

No wonder the former tenants wanted to move out!

Thanks for listening. You are doing great and admirable work, listening! Take care.

Paul

Wow! I usually like playing in the snow, but not with a nine-foot-tall monster!!

2 comments:

edav38 said...

When a big Foot gets hungry, it May do unusual things. In a Winter storm like that one in 1997, and it Slammed Indiana as well here, Food may be difficult to come by even for a Forest creature.

You life MAY have been in jeopardy from the creature, but then it Might Not have been in danger, either

Anonymous said...

That's really creepy. I'm a little over 4 feet tall and that creature is a skyscraper to me. I'm really short for my age. (I'm 11.)