Speaker 1: So I will try to relate this to the best
Speaker 1: of my memory and ask you all to realize that
Speaker 1: I was a young boy at the time, but the
Speaker 1: event that I'm going to relate to you is burned
Speaker 1: into my memory. The event took place near Stark, Florida,
Speaker 1: which is located south of Jacksonville, up in the northern
Speaker 1: part of Florida. At the time, my mother and I
Speaker 1: lived in a nice trailer and a small trailer park
Speaker 1: that was located off of US Highway three oh one
Speaker 1: south of Stark, Florida. There were several residents in the park.
Speaker 1: I would hazard a guess of about ten trailers at
Speaker 1: the time. The trailer park was built in the woods
Speaker 1: and we had dirt roads. Behind the trailer I lived
Speaker 1: in was a pond, not a big one, but big
Speaker 1: enough to have fish in it along with water moccasins.
Speaker 1: I recall my mom's shooting several when they had the
Speaker 1: ttermidity to invade our yard in per in a clear
Speaker 1: and present danger to her number two sun. Actually it
Speaker 1: was us that had invaded their space, if the truth
Speaker 1: must be known. My friend across the street let's call
Speaker 1: him Jim, used to sit out and fish in the
Speaker 1: night during the summer when it was warm, among other things,
Speaker 1: kids of those years would do things like making forts
Speaker 1: in the woods and climbing trees, et cetera. The night
Speaker 1: of the event was a typical North Florida night, hot
Speaker 1: and a clear sky. I do not remember what phase
Speaker 1: the moon was in, but I do recall it being
Speaker 1: a cloudless night. We had both gotten board with fishing
Speaker 1: since we were not getting any bites, and so we
Speaker 1: were just laying on the grass, looking up through the
Speaker 1: trees and stargazing. At the time, I was in the
Speaker 1: seventh grade. I believe Jim was a year ahead of me.
Speaker 1: I remember looking around the starlit sky when I saw
Speaker 1: a solid, bright light streaking across and down the night sky.
Speaker 1: I called it out to Jim and we both jumped up,
Speaker 1: thinking it was probably a shooting star. We were both
Speaker 1: cured of that thought when the light, which was a
Speaker 1: solid color and hang me if I can recall, it,
Speaker 1: stopped its fall and then went into an orbit around
Speaker 1: the sky. It was circling the area around the pond
Speaker 1: and the trailer part. It was still pretty high up,
Speaker 1: and neither Jim or I heard any sound as we
Speaker 1: watched it. Circle. Jim grabbed my arm and said look
Speaker 1: and pointed up at the sky. Sure enough, he pointed
Speaker 1: out another solid bright light that was descending in what
Speaker 1: a fighter pilot would call an intercept course. Neither of
Speaker 1: the two lights were blinking, and we did not see
Speaker 1: anything other than the two solid bright light. The first
Speaker 1: light continued its orbit and the second light came up
Speaker 1: behind it. Again. They were both still up high and
Speaker 1: all we could really see were two solid bright lights.
Speaker 1: There was no sound either, not the sound of a
Speaker 1: jet or propeller or driven engines. We both continued to
Speaker 1: watch the two lights, and the second one was closing
Speaker 1: up fast behind the first one. What happened next was
Speaker 1: the clincher, though. The second light came up behind the
Speaker 1: first light, and we both saw a white beam like
Speaker 1: a searchlight beam come from the second light and hit
Speaker 1: the first light, whereupon the first light winked out. I
Speaker 1: mean it just vanished. No noise, no explosion, and again
Speaker 1: not any sound of any Earth style aircraft. After the
Speaker 1: first light winked out and vanished, the second light did
Speaker 1: several more orbits around the area, then accelerated up into
Speaker 1: the sky and was gone. Needless to say, Jem and
Speaker 1: I beat a hasty retreat to our respective homes. The
Speaker 1: trailer park we lived in was pretty peaceful. It was
Speaker 1: surrounded by woods and palmetto patches, and Jim and I
Speaker 1: used to chase each other through the woods, playing war
Speaker 1: and generally rough housing. After the incident, though, there were
Speaker 1: times when I would be outside in the yard, whether
Speaker 1: day or night, and I would get an uneasy feeling,
Speaker 1: and the hairs on my neck and arms would raise.
Speaker 1: Something there surely made me feel uneasy. On my word,
Speaker 1: the events I have just related to you are true.
Speaker 1: I have added as much detail as I recall. Again,
Speaker 1: I ask for forbearance because it has been a very
Speaker 1: long time since this happened. I have not elaborated, but
Speaker 1: giving you the facts as I recall them. Thank you
Speaker 1: for reading this narrative of something mysterious I witnessed long
Speaker 1: ago as a young boy, and that got me interested
Speaker 1: in UFOs and Bigfoot, or the skunk ape as he
Speaker 1: is known in Florida. Respectfully, Chris, my name is Matt,
Speaker 1: and this is not my story. I've never seen a
Speaker 1: size squatch, and I have mixed emotions about whether or
Speaker 1: not I would ever want to this particular story comes
Speaker 1: from my uncle Luke, who has been dead for twenty years.
Speaker 1: He was my favorite uncle. He was a no nonsense
Speaker 1: kind of a guy who didn't believe in anything supernatural
Speaker 1: or creepy. He'd even get irritated when one of us
Speaker 1: kids would mention something like that, telling us, if you
Speaker 1: haven't seen it with your own eyes, it does not exist.
Speaker 1: When I was a teenager, one day he told me
Speaker 1: he wasn't feeling well and wanted to tell me something.
Speaker 1: And I thought, oh, no, here comes the birds and
Speaker 1: the bees talk. But I never dreamt he was going
Speaker 1: to tell me something that would blow my mind and
Speaker 1: actually scare the crap out of me. Uncle Luke was
Speaker 1: some kind of an engineer for the Navy. He traveled
Speaker 1: quite a bit for his job, and the story he
Speaker 1: told me about one of those trips one he said
Speaker 1: he would never forget. He was the kind of guy
Speaker 1: who never used road maps. He had a natural instinct
Speaker 1: for directions, so he rarely got lost. But once, while
Speaker 1: traveling through Georgia in a driving rain, he made a
Speaker 1: wrong turn on a clay road. The wet clay was
Speaker 1: as slick as ice, and he was struggling to keep
Speaker 1: from sliding into the ditches. Worst yet, the rain was
Speaker 1: coming down so hard he could barely see past the
Speaker 1: hood of his truck. He was looking for a place
Speaker 1: to turn around, but the road was so narrow there
Speaker 1: was nowhere to do, so he had no choice but
Speaker 1: to keep going forward. He drove another half a mile
Speaker 1: until he came across a tree lying across the road.
Speaker 1: There was no way around it. He sat there and
Speaker 1: weighed his options. Could he get the chain from the
Speaker 1: back of his truck and try to pull the tree
Speaker 1: out of the way. He doubted he'd be able to
Speaker 1: get any traction the slick of wet clay. He also
Speaker 1: considered backing all the way down the road, but he
Speaker 1: could barely see moving forward. Moving backwards with only tail
Speaker 1: lights would be even worse. There was always the option
Speaker 1: of putting on his flashers and taking a nap, but
Speaker 1: that would be giving up. He opted for the chain.
Speaker 1: He turned on his flashers and got out of the truck,
Speaker 1: slipping his keys into his pocket as he did so.
Speaker 1: He then pulled the chain from the bed of the truck.
Speaker 1: He was about ten feet from the tree, and he
Speaker 1: wanted plenty of swing room. First, He hooked the chain
Speaker 1: to his truck and then walked over and wrapped the
Speaker 1: other end around the trunk of the tree. As he
Speaker 1: rose up, the headlights went dim. He looked up to
Speaker 1: see what had happened, and he felt his heart nearly
Speaker 1: seize in his chest. Standing in front of the truck.
Speaker 1: Between him and the truck was a creature that was
Speaker 1: every inch of a feet, with wide shoulders and reddish brown,
Speaker 1: wet fur. It just stood there with the lights at
Speaker 1: its back and in my uncle's face. He couldn't make
Speaker 1: out its face, but he felt like it was staring
Speaker 1: at him. It grunted a couple of times, but it
Speaker 1: never moved. All my uncle knew was that it was
Speaker 1: between him and the truck. He didn't know what to do,
Speaker 1: but he couldn't keep standing there in the pouring rain,
Speaker 1: having a staring contest with something he didn't even believe in. Finally,
Speaker 1: he put his head down and slowly walked past the
Speaker 1: creature back to the truck. As he got in, he
Speaker 1: reached in his pocket for his keys, but they weren't there.
Speaker 1: He grabbed the ignition, but they weren't there either. He
Speaker 1: looked out through the windshield to where the creature had
Speaker 1: now turned and was looking back at him. Beyond the creature,
Speaker 1: glistening in the rain and reflecting from the beam of
Speaker 1: the headlights, lying in the mud by the tree were
Speaker 1: his keys. Art sank. Fear wasn't a familiar feeling for
Speaker 1: this man. It wasn't his nature to be afraid, but
Speaker 1: at this moment he was terrified. With a deep breath,
Speaker 1: he opened the door and slid back out the truck,
Speaker 1: never taking his eyes off the creature, who was likewise
Speaker 1: not taking its eyes off of him. He walked past it,
Speaker 1: picked up the keys, and turned back around. He immediately
Speaker 1: realized the creature had moved over in front of the
Speaker 1: truck door. It let out a couple of huffs, and
Speaker 1: my uncle thought for sure that he was on the
Speaker 1: dinner menu. He had no other options, so he mustered
Speaker 1: up his courage once more and walked as calmly as
Speaker 1: he could around the creature and got back into the truck,
Speaker 1: locking the doors. He looked up as he started the
Speaker 1: engine and was momentarily relieved to see the creature wasn't there,
Speaker 1: But a movement from his direct left told him that
Speaker 1: it had moved next to the door. He ignored it
Speaker 1: and tried to back up. The tires only spun in
Speaker 1: the wet clay. His heart sank once again. He rested
Speaker 1: his forehead on the steering wheel, utterly defeated. Now then
Speaker 1: he heard a noise, and he looked up. The creature
Speaker 1: had unhooked the chain and was now moving the tree
Speaker 1: out of the road. My uncle thought, can this get
Speaker 1: any stranger? He pushed the gas pedal and managed to
Speaker 1: get enough traction to move forward. He slowly drove past
Speaker 1: the creature. He rolled his window down and said thank you.
Speaker 1: The creature grunted. He drove away with the chain still
Speaker 1: attached to the bumper. He never told another living soul
Speaker 1: what happened to him that night until he told me.
Speaker 1: He also never drove again at night. He passed away
Speaker 1: a few weeks after that, so I never got a
Speaker 1: chance to ask him where he was exactly. I guess
Speaker 1: the moral of the story is, no matter how much
Speaker 1: you think you know, it might not be enough. Thank
Speaker 1: you for letting me tell my uncle's story.