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Speaker 1: It was an early spring Saturday morning in Vicksburg, Mississippi,

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and I was living in the Pleasant Valley subdivision east

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of Highway sixty one south, roughly a mile from the

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Mississippi River. They have since built two schools west of

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the location of my first incident. This part of the

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state is mostly rolling hills hollows, and it's covered with

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many trees plus greenery as far as the eye can see.

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I was looking forward to taking each child out for

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a go kart ride that day because it was spring

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break for them. My two sons from my first marriage

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had come to live with us last summer, and I

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also have two step daughters that are also close to

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them in their ages, plus a newborn son. My plan

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was to start out with my oldest son, since he

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had missed out on a few years with me on

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this day, Instead of just going down to the end

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of the cul de sac like I would normally do

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with them to the edge of the woods, where I

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would spend a few donuts in the dirt and then

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let them drive back to the yard for the next driver,

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I decided to take my son out of the subdivision

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a few hundred yards back down the main Road. I

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had seen a gated path overgrown with weeds and shrubbery

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leading into the thick forest, and I figured this would

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be a nice place to check it out with him,

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allowing us an extended ride together, and from there we

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could drive all the way back. I headed out on

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to Dana Road, driving west along the gravel shoulder to

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go around this locked gate, giving us access to this

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closed road. I was swerving back and forth on the

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narrow path, all the while enjoying watching the excitement in

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my son's eyes as he was scanning the surrounding trees.

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We were heading deeper into the dense forest, and after

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several minutes, I could see a clearing up ahead which

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looked like wide enough for me to do a donut,

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and this was where I could let him drive. As

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I performed a three sixty, the go cart stalled out,

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as it would do sometimes when I would turn too fast,

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causing the motor to flood. Once the sound of the

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cart engine stopped, I noticed in airy, quiet stillness as

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the dust was settling in the slight breeze that was

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blowing into our faces. I didn't think much about quietness

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because we're all about a half mile southwest of my subdivision.

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I got off the cart, instructing my son to take

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the driver's seat while I prepared to start the engine

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back up and head home. The wind shifted and coming

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at us from the south. Oh my god, this wind

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is carrying an awful odor, funky wet dog smell that

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is mixed with a hog pen scent. I'm sorry these smells,

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just the description of these smells just gets me. The

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wind shifted, coming at us from the south. Oh my god,

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this wind is carrying an awful sour, funky wet dog

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smell that is mixed with a hog pens scent you

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will get on a humid summer day which will burn

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your nostrils. Do you smell that? I asked? I asked

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my son while turning to see if he was getting

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into the driver's seat, But he was not moved, and

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his eyes were transfixed on something in the general direction

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of where the smell was coming from. He was looking

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at the thick tree line where it was hard to

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make out anything. Now shouted to him, do you smell that? Mess?

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I glanced in the direction of his gaze, but I

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saw nothing, and he turned to me, and I can

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see his eyes were glossed over, and he has a

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look of fear, as if he has seen a ghost

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or something. Yeah, I smell it, he said. Instantly, a

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chill overtook my body, making every single strand of hair

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stand on in I was feeling a real sense of dread.

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Now I don't know why. My heart started pounding uncontrollably fast,

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as if it was trying to escape the cavity walls

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of my chest. There was immediate fear upon us, both,

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with my concern being my son's safety. Yet my mind

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was racing, with many questions flashing through my head Within

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a millisecond. It was as if I was frozen in

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a state of temporary shock. Why the hell did I

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bring him all the way back here in these damn woods,

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is what I was asking myself. And what in the

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world is causing this rotten smell? Are we in some

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type of danger? Do we need to get out of

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here now? My next thought was the same as my last,

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and I quickly pulled the string on the go cart

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so hard that I was surprised it didn't snap, but

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the engine luckily fired back to life. I jumped in

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the driver's seat without putting on my seat belt and

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I jerked the steering wheel in the direction from which

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we had come. Before I knew it, I was throwing

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dirt grass behind the brigs and Stratton engine was blowing smoke,

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straining hard to move this cart. I never looked back.

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I was desperately hoping to see that yellow locked gate

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come back into my view so we could go back

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around it. I turned on to Pleasant Valley Drive and

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I pulled to the shoulder. I was still shaking, but

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my adrenaline was starting to subside, allowing me to feel

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a little safer by being back on the street near

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the houses of my neighborhood. I took this time to

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ask my son if he had seen anything, and his

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reply was, Dad, there were big, dark, scary looking eyes

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staring right at us from in the tree branches, but

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I couldn't see anything else but the eyes. I thought

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something had moved when I first started smelling that, so

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I was trying to see what it was. But I

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only saw those eyes, and they just disappeared while I

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was looking at them. That's what scared me. My son

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assured me that the eyes just vanished into the shadows

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of the branches. I made sure he was calm, and

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then had him promised me that he would not tell

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my wife, nor his brother or sisters, because I knew

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I would not hear the end of it. I can't

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honestly say what was in the trees because I didn't

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really see anything. I did get a sense of imminent danger, though,

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But my son, on the other hand, saw a set

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of eyes, and I had no reason not to believe him.

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The fear on his face was enough for me to

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know that we needed to get out of the woods.

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My second account was with an uncle, and it would

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happen late in the summer of the same year. We

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had decided to go pick berries. My uncle said they

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probably still grew wild everywhere out there near this Soul

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farm where we lived back in the sixties. I was

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all excited to hear this, knowing that it had been

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years since I set eyes on this place. The farm

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is in Yokina, Mississippi, and it's not far from the

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Big Black River, the exact location where Campbell Swamp Road

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runs into a dead end dirt road named Chirrard Drive.

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We made our way out to the property, arriving at

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nine am. It was deep in the backwoods of Warren County,

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where there are neither street lights nor electricity lines. We

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arrived and I had to stop at the locked gate

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to look down on the property from the road which

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dead ends at the bottom. The house was long gone,

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but I could clearly see the old chimney still standing

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in the middle of what is now a small lake

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formed by years of the Big Black River flooding. This

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road has a drainage ditch, and that led to our

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search in the area for muskydines. I could see from

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the car that this hollow was no more than fifty

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yards away, and I was noticing how the foliage was

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super thick, with these long vinees draped and tangled over

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the oaks, dogwoods, and magnolia trees. After the nostalgia of

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admiring the beauty of my childhood's stomping grounds, we stepped

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toward the shallow ditch. I heard rustling of leaves in

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the forest floor, crickets chirping, plus this faint sound of

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a woodpecker knocking off in the distance. Once in the ditch,

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we saw a large cave dug deep into the ground

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of the embankment, and it caused me to pause. My

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uncle was joking with me, telling me that it was

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a big black bear's den, and he said, I hope

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you brought a pistol with you, just in case we

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come across one out here, and he laughed at me.

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Of course, I wasn't finding this to be funny at all,

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but I did have a twenty five pistol in my pocket.

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Now I was scanning the ground for bear prince more

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than I was looking for muskydines. My uncle was tickled pink,

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seeing me a little scared, ask him to quit laughing

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at me because he was laughing so loud it was

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getting me out of my comfort zone. But it would

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only be a few seconds later when he would become

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just as afraid as I was. I took a few

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more steps than there. It was some kind of huge

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animal track in the semi damp ground. Hey, check this

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track out, Look how big it is? And he stepped

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over to see with his own eyes, because he obviously

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was thinking I was pulling his leg. I put my

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size twelve shoe next to the track to do a comparison.

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What the hell, he said, This ain't no damn bear boy.

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Look how wide across the toe that is. I don't

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see any claw marks. Either, looks more like a barefoot

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man track. But that's impossible for a man's foot to

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be this big. Something ain't right here. This is no

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swamp cat either. This can't be real. Yeah, he was scared. Now.

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Not ten seconds after his loud reaction to seeing this

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weird track is when we both noticed the silence. There

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were no sounds at all, and then suddenly we heard it.

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I guess the best way to describe it was to

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say a powerful, long roar. The sound resonated through my

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whole body, echoing twice throughout the valley. The feeling I

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got was similar to standing close to a train as

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a horn blows. Whatever made that noise seem to be

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coming towards us. The vines in the trees were now

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beginning to swing, and we could tell something was coming

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at us walking upright because these sounds of heavy footfalls

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were hitting the ground, one powerful boom after another, and

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it was coming fast. I didn't have time to say

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let's go. My uncle had already took the first frantic

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step back to my car before I could even think

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about it. By the time he reached the car, I

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was there, unlocking the passenger side so he could get in.

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I started the car and put't gear and was trying

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to peel off, but the dirt had my car sliding

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side to side in slow motion. And at the same

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time I was looking over in the direction of a holler,

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and there she was. Yes, I could see one of

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her breasts. The beast was partially hidden behind a large tree,

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just standing there watching us, with her top lip rolled back,

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and she was making a terrifyingly menacing frown, showing her large,

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dirty horse teeth, which were flanked by long canines. I

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noticed her skin had a look of smoke gray in color,

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at least the part I could see through the long, black,

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stringy looking hair which was circled around her face. Large

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fingers were visible as she gripped the tree. My head

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was hurting because of seeing this mythical boogeyman that they

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had been telling me about years ago when I was

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a little boy. I had grown to believe that it

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was an old tailed just to make the kids scared

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at night. Man, was I ever wrong. My tires caught traction,

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although the car was already fishtailing before I realized. My

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uncle was telling me to slow down. He didn't know

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how I knew it was a female anyway, he said emphatically,

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how did you know that? He then let me a

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cigarette and told me to relax. I could tell him

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exactly what I saw. I started to settle down and

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was far enough from the area, and we began laughing

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about the experience. We both chained smoked all the way

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back to civilization, vowing to tell everyone what we went through.

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This would be a big mistake and a waste of

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our breaths. Our family members thought we had been getting stoned,

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and then made the whole story up. They laughed in

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our faces. It was okay, though, because I don't think

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I would have believed it either if I had not

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seen it for myself. People can think these creatures aren't

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real if they want to, but I know what I saw.

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I will never feel alone in the deep woods ever again.

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Needless to say, our Musky dyne hunt lasted no more

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than five minutes total, and I have never been back

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out that way again. To Yokina, Mississippi,