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Speaker 1: My story takes place back in the nineteen eighties when

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I was just a young girl growing up in Story County, Iowa.

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Back in those days, I spent a lot of time

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at my grandparents' farm. Grandma and Grandpa had a lot

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of farm animals for many years, but in the late

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nineteen seventies and early eighties they sold their horses, the

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remaining cattle they had, and the pigs that they kept

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in the pen. Although they sold almost all the livestock

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they had, they kept their chickens in a large wooden

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wire coop that was situated and built onto the side

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of a wooden tool shed. Grandma or Grandpa would usually

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be the ones to grab a basket and collect the eggs,

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but when I was around, they'd let me do it.

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It felt good to contribute in some fashion. Not that

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my grandparents needed much help. They were spry and tough

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and hard working, and they weren't afraid of physical labor.

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Three hundred feet or so behind the house was a

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big barn, and at one time it was where the

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horses and the cattle were kept. In the very back

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and off to the side there was an enclosed pig

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pen and trough. It stunk to high heaven with all

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the pig poop when they were there, but in the

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early eighties that was all a memory. Not long after

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all the animals had been sold off, aside from the chickens.

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I went to my grandparents' house after school, and when

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I got there, they said they wanted to speak to me. Well.

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At first I was worried I had done something wrong,

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but they assured me it wasn't anything like that. Grandma

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was smiling the whole time, and Grandpa did the talking. Becky,

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you might see one of them one day, and I

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want to tell you about them now so you won't

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be alarmed. He told me that for the past two

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weeks or so, a large hairy man and a hairy

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woman had been staying in the barn. He said that

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early one morning, he was outside checking on the chickens

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in the coop. He saw the barn door was open,

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so he went in to check it out, and when

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he reached the barn entrance he saw a tall hairy

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man standing there and a tall hairy woman standing next

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to him. He felt they didn't mean him any harm,

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and he could see the intelligence in their eyes and

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felt that if he spoke to them, they would understand him.

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He told them they could stay in the barn, but

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that he had three rules. Rule one was don't come

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close to my family. I don't want them to be scared.

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Reual two was don't eat my chickens. And rule three

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don't damage my property. And if you're inside the barn,

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closed the door behind you. Both of them exhaled softly,

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and Grandpa took it as a pair understanding and agreeing

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to his conditions. From what he had seen of these

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hairy folks, they almost always left in the wee hours.

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They went to the woods all day and came back

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under cover of night. He told me from now on

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I was only allowed to go as far as the

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chicken coop, but that we could work out a time

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for me to see them from the kitchen window with

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the binoculars. Grandpa told me not to say a word

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of this to my parents, or my aunt, my uncle,

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and the kids at school. He said, don't tell anyone.

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I wasn't ever a snitch, and I wouldn't think of

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betraying the trust that my grandma and Grandpa placed in me.

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So I agreed. It was hard keeping my mouth shut, though,

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with what I knew. I still never spilled the beans,

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and I didn't tell a soul. It wasn't long after

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that when my grandparents let me spend Friday night at

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their house. I remember Grandma all waking me up early

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Saturday morning, telling me to quickly dress and come to

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the kitchen. When I made my way down there, I

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saw Grandpa already waiting, binoculars ready, and had me looking

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out the large window, focusing my attention on the barn doors. Well.

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I kept watching for a minute or two, and finally

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the barn doors opened up slowly and I saw two huge,

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hairy people walk out, first the male and then the

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female right behind. I remember being so shocked seeing them both.

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I remember their fur being a dirty brown and hanging

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off their bodies. The male was a few inches taller

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than the female, and while she was smaller than he was,

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she was by no means short. As quickly as they appeared,

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they moved around the side of the barn and they

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were out of sight. They looked like Chewbacca, but much bigger.

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I wasn't scared, though that might not have been the

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case if I had seen them up close and personal

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like he had. That was the one and only time

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I saw them. According to Grandpa, they stayed just a

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couple of more months, and then they left and they

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never returned. He said that one time he heard a

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few coyotes barking not far from the house, when a

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deafening roar was unleashed, promptly shutting the canines up and

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scattering them. Sadly, I lost my grandparents years ago, but

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I will never forget the special times I spent with them,

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and the time that I saw those two hurry, giant

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people whom I think just needed a temporary place to

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call home for a bit. Thank you for reading my

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story and taking the time to share it with your audience.

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And the woman signs off, what, that's a really good story.

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I cannot imagine having that kind of memory. I don't

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think that memory would ever leave me till the day

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I die. And she had such good restraint not telling

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her friends and her parents and other people. Keeping that

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secret must have been brutal on her. It must have

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been just a repressive because I would want to tell

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everybody what I had seen. But this was a great story.

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Thank you so much for sending it, ma'am. Hey, y'all,

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Welcome back to the Dixie Crypti Channel. I've been gone

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a while. I don't know how to explain it. I've

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had a lot of work with my regular job, and

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sometimes I just want to be quiet and relaxed a little.

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So I took about a month and a half, did

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a few shorts, couple of podcasts, but that's all I did.

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But I'm feeling it now and I'm back. This podcast

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has six stories from viewers and at the end there's

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a little fictional short story that I wrote. It's not

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a monster story. I'm just sitting here one day and

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I just thought about some a couple of things that

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could happen. I want to say it was Christmas Eve.

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Maybe it didn't have anything to do, and I just

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wrote a story. It's not very good, but I hope

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you enjoy it. You deserve a long video, and I'll

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keep cranking them out as usual, starting with this one.

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All right, here we go. We had a tops that

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drowned me. I grew up on a farm in Martinsville, Indiana.

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My first encounter was when I was about seven years old.

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I had an ice sized pond that my dad had

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built by damming up a holler on the far side

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of the property. It was overgrown with vegetation and only

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a couple of small trees were cleared for our favorite

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fishing spots. I left to go deep into the brush

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to get my own little honey hole, where I'd catch

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giant bluegill all day long. One day, my best friend

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was staying over for a sleepover, and after school, we

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grabbed our fishing gear and headed to my honey hole.

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We fished till dusk, and when we started to pack

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up our gear, my friend Josh asked, did you hear that? What?

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I asked, a growl? I heard a growl, he said.

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We looked around and waited for a minute. We heard

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a twig snap, and then we grabbed our gear and

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high tailed it across the field back to my house.

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Being kids, our imaginations ran wild, thinking of the goosebump

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stories we used to read. Five years later, I got

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into hunting. My dad had passed away when I was five,

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so I was pretty much on my own and learning

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how to hunt. But I had a cousin who lived

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just down the road. He had a couple of hundred

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acres of land that had some of the best deer

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hunting in the county. There were many times I'd be

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out in those woods and I'd hear strange things like

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whoops and tree knocks, But there was always someone else

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hunting the property during deer season, so I just brushed

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it off as them communicating to each other. Somehow, bigfoot

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never crossed my mind. In two thousand and seven, my

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best friend Tyler and I were hunting in the same area.

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One morning. We decided to skip school because all the

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other hunters would be at work, so we had the

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whole place to ourselves. Well, we split up and I

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took the stay at the far east end of the

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property and he took the far west end. Around noon,

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we had planned to meet at the drive that ran

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up the middle of the property. I got there a

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little early, so I waited on him. I saw him

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working his way toward me, and several times I saw

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him raise his twelve gage and pointed at something toward

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the tree line. And when he finally got to me,

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I asked him what he was pointing his gun at.

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Did you not hear that clapping? He asked me, no,

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I said, with a shrug. He said, someone was clapping

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twenty yards away into the trees. Keeping pace with him.

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They were walking in the tree line and he couldn't

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see them. They did it three times and it was

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making him nervous because no one should have been there. Well,

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I shrugged that off and we started heading back to

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the truck, and when we got about fifty yards from

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the truck, we heard the clapping and then a loud grunt.

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I figured maybe someone from the neighboring properties was screwing

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with us, but it was still strange. A week later,

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we decided to go coyote hunting, and Tyler's cousin came

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along for the hunt. We went to my cousin's property

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because we had a bad problem with coyotes. They were

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killing new fahns in the spring, and he was happy

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to let us do some pest control. That night, we

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got into the field and got all set up with

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our call and we waited fifteen minutes in though, the

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wind kicked up and it ruined our chances for a

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good hunt, and we started packing up when Tyler's cousin

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got scared. What the hell he whispered looking up toward

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the sky. Well, we looked up too, and we saw

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a bright white light. At first, we figured it was

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a low flying plane, but we quickly realized that it

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was not. It was just sitting motionless in the sky,

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and then in a split second, it vanished. We looked

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at each other dumbfounded and agreed it was time to go.

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As if that wasn't enough excitement for one night. When

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we got into the truck, we saw four pair of

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red eyes looking right at us from the tree line.

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They were eight feet off the ground. We never went

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coody hunting again there in the dark. In twenty seventeen,

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I had moved away to Bozeman, Montana, and I was

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on my first solo elk hunt up in Little Bear

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Canyon on Wheeler Mountain. I'd got into the trailhead at

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four am and got all my gear ready to start

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my hike. The whole time I had an unsettling feeling

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that I was being watched and that something was wrong.

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My gut kept telling me, you don't leave the truck yet.

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I got in my truck and waited. I'd never been

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afraid of being in the woods when it was dark out,

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but something just kept telling me something bad was about

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to happen. If I had started my hike up the mountain.

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Once it got a little bit led out. Feeling went away,

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and I started my height. I could see elk one

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thousand yards away across a draw, so I climbed higher

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up to stay down wind from them. I came to

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a clearing that was surrounded by trees, and I was

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getting ready to enter the other side of the woods,

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and I heard a loud crash of trees falling. It

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was so loud it made me jump backward and draw

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my side arm. I went over every possibility in my

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mind of what it could be, but what followed was

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complete silence. There was no moose charging me, no birds chirping, nothing.

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I waited for five minutes, just frozen, and then I

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looked over and I saw the elk were starting to move.

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I tried again to enter the woods to get ahead

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of them, when a branch about the size of my

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arm came flying through the air right in front of me.

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I decided someone or something had given me fair warning

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not to try to come into those woods again, so

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I turned around and I headed back to my truck.

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The day wasn't a total loss, though I bagged ane

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meal deer on the way back. This was the encounter

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that made me start to really look into the possibility

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of Bigfoot. In twenty eighteen, I was taking a load

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of hay down to Idaho, following the Madison Rivers south

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of Enes, Montana. It was around ten am on a

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clear Sunday morning, and I was coming to a bend

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in the road that looked out over an open field

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and standing right next to the rivers to the biggest,

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blackest hairriest thing I had ever seen. It stood up

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on two legs, its hands hung down below its waist,

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and it was looking right at me. And then it

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turned and ran back to the forest with a speed

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that I had never seen or could believe was possible.

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Then and there, I knew exactly what I was looking at.

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It was my first sighting of Bigfoot. Many more small

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encounters that I could talk about all day, but I'm

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writing all this on my phone, so my thumbs are tired.

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Thanks for reading my story. Oh man, You're welcome. That

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was a good story. That was a good series of stories.

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To have all these encounters and little incidents happened that

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kind of made you wonder, and then to finally confirm

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that the creature is real with a full visual sighting.

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Awesome story. I really appreciate it. My name is Ron

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and I live in rural northern Kentucky. My county has

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a population of about fifteen thousand souls, including my small

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town of about two thousand. I live on twenty three

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acres right on the river. My land is bordered by

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several miles of heavily wooded river frontage upstream and scattered pasture,

255
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land and woods downstream. Sometime in the late nineties I

256
00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:02,879
had a dog named Jumper. It was a natural squirrel hunter,

257
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born with the instinct to chase critters up trees and

258
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bark loudly at them. One summer afternoon, I was walking

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in the woods with Jumper ahead of me, sniffing and sighting.

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I heard her familiar report, and I figured she had

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treed a squirrel, a ground hog, or a raccoon, as

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was common for her. I walked up on her and

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I saw a large cat on a branch just out

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of her reach. It was staring straight at her and

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00:15:31,799 --> 00:15:36,399
his tail slowly waving back and forth. Judging by the

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size of its head and neck, it was a tomcat.

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It was healthy and muscular and solid black with large

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yellow eyes. It sort of looked like a feral house cat,

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but it was a big as a bobcat, and I

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had never seen anything like this. As soon as it

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saw me, it ran over the top of Jumper's back

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and the chase was on. I heard them running quickly

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through the underbrush, and within seconds they were gone. A

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few minutes later, Jumper came back, the cat apparently having escaped.

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She seemed proud of herself anyway, while I was thinking

276
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she was lucky that thing didn't catch her. Not long

277
00:16:15,679 --> 00:16:17,799
after that, I was fishing in the river at the

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downstream end of my property. My two friends were at

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my house doing some drywall work for me. I knew

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they would finish and be heading home soon, so I

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packed up my gear and I headed back up the

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hill toward the house. My friend Dave met me in

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a small field overlooking the river, and we stopped for

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a few minutes to talk. All at once, a loud

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and long, howling, growling kind of call echoed through the valley.

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Dave and I looked at each other and both of

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00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,600
us were confused, and neither of us had ever heard

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00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:55,039
such a thing. It sounded to be coming from across

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00:16:55,039 --> 00:16:57,480
the river, and it was loud as a train wreck.

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I told myself that it must have been that giant

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00:17:00,919 --> 00:17:04,079
black cat I had seen getting into an awful fight

292
00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:08,079
with another of its kind. I knew that wasn't true.

293
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There was no way even the biggest cat could have

294
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made such a commotion, but I had to tell myself something.

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A week later, Dave called me he had seen a

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news story that played a recording of a supposed sasquatch scream.

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Dave pointed out that it was just like the sound

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we heard, and I believe I could walk up that

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00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:32,839
river corridor all the way across the state without being

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00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:35,440
seen if I did not want to. So I think

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00:17:35,519 --> 00:17:39,599
it's possible a creature, perhaps with better hearing and senses

302
00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:43,599
than mine, could easily do the same. Now I don't

303
00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:46,599
really know what it was, but I'm telling myself it

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00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:50,000
was the damn cat. I know that's not true, but

305
00:17:50,039 --> 00:17:56,720
I have to tell myself something. In August of nineteen

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00:17:56,759 --> 00:17:59,599
eighty one, I went camping and hiking along part of

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00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:02,559
the job on Mirror Trail at Mount Whitney with a

308
00:18:02,599 --> 00:18:06,400
small band of my neighborhood friends and their parents. We

309
00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:10,799
weren't your normal kids. We read field tactical manuals instead

310
00:18:10,839 --> 00:18:14,759
of comic books. We were obsessed with the Vietnam War

311
00:18:14,839 --> 00:18:16,799
and the parts of the Cold War that we were

312
00:18:16,839 --> 00:18:21,039
exposed to. We used to challenge kids from other neighborhoods

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00:18:21,079 --> 00:18:23,759
to b begun fights at night at a park that

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00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:28,599
was suited to this type of activity. My friends Pat, Joe,

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00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:32,039
and John and I packed into a Volkswagen van with

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Pat's parents and his little sister. We drove north until

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00:18:36,119 --> 00:18:38,359
we got to the three ninety five and passed a

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00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:42,880
military aircraft boneyard. There they have all kinds of different

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00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:46,039
planes sitting out in the Mahave desert sun where they

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00:18:46,319 --> 00:18:50,240
won't rust and can't be used for spare parts. We

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drove through Lone Pine and then made the track up

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00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:56,200
a winding road to the Mount Whitney Campground parking lot.

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Once we got out and got our packs ready, we

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00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:04,440
had lunch and started out on our hike. Our backpacks

325
00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:07,440
weren't just filled with clothes and food and sleeping bags.

326
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We hit our bb guns and camouflaged fatigues in there too.

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00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:14,559
It was our mission to play war while we were

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00:19:14,599 --> 00:19:19,119
out there. We hiked for what seemed like hours. The

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00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:22,759
trail was worn and the chirps and screeches from the

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00:19:22,759 --> 00:19:26,920
local wildlife made their presence known all around us. We

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00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:30,000
didn't see anything, though, with the exception of a few

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00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:33,920
birds and squirrels. Despite that, I couldn't shake the feeling

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00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:37,480
that we were being watched. Out of the four of

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00:19:37,559 --> 00:19:39,519
us guys, I was the only one who had a

335
00:19:39,559 --> 00:19:43,400
fascination with Bigfoot that had started in the fourth grade

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00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:46,720
with some books in the library. There were short stories

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00:19:46,759 --> 00:19:51,119
about Mighty Momo and the fount Monster. I had also

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00:19:51,279 --> 00:19:53,960
seen the legend of Boggy Creek and episodes of In

339
00:19:54,079 --> 00:19:57,960
Search of with Leonard Nimoy, those that fanned the flames

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00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:01,880
of my interest. During the hike, I came to the

341
00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:05,039
logical conclusion that my feeling of being watched was on

342
00:20:05,079 --> 00:20:07,799
account of all the stuff I had read and watched

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00:20:07,839 --> 00:20:11,240
on the topic of Bigfoot. Thinking about it spooked me,

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and I never mentioned it to my friends for fear

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of being ridiculed. The end of our height came when

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we reached the flat meadows surrounded by trees. There was

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still some snow on the ground that looked like it

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00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:27,519
was permanently frozen, and the clearing was next to a

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00:20:27,559 --> 00:20:31,799
salmon HATCHERI complete with a fish and game sign that

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00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:36,519
prohibited us from fishing there. Fishing wasn't on our agenda,

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00:20:36,559 --> 00:20:38,920
and my friend's dad decided that it was a good

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place to camp for the night. We took off our

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packs and helped set up the three tents. We helped

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00:20:45,599 --> 00:20:48,519
dig a camp fire pit a little deeper and dump

355
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the ashes from other campers and the trash can left

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00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:55,519
there by fishing game. Late afternoon was starting to creep

357
00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:58,200
up on us and a strong wind began to blow.

358
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It was already a little chili too chili for a

359
00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:04,839
summer hike, but the leftover snow over by the creek

360
00:21:05,039 --> 00:21:08,759
was telling me different. Some of the adults started in

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00:21:08,839 --> 00:21:12,160
on dinner, which was an amazing thought. I was starving

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00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:14,759
and my buddies and I got inside of our tent

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00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:19,440
and arranged with our sleeping bags. I positioned myself just

364
00:21:19,559 --> 00:21:21,680
inside the flap so I could poke an eye out

365
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if I heard anything, because I was starting to get

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00:21:24,599 --> 00:21:28,440
the feeling that we were being watched again. We still

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00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:31,400
had some time before dinner was ready, so we decided

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00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:33,519
to take a quick look around while there was still

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some light out. We walked along the creek, so we

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00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:39,920
couldn't get lost, and somewhere around one hundred yards away

371
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from the campsite, I found what looked like an old track.

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00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:47,720
It was huge. It was too big to be a

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00:21:47,759 --> 00:21:51,200
man's track. The mud was dried, and it was cracked

374
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:54,200
where the toes would have been. I shrugged it off

375
00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:57,119
as a coincidence, and we heard an airhorn that my

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00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:01,359
friend's dad used for emergencies and that dinner was ready.

377
00:22:02,279 --> 00:22:05,000
We ran back and settled into plates full of hot

378
00:22:05,039 --> 00:22:08,640
dogs and chili beans. I was in heaven, and after

379
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:12,400
dinner we helped clean up. I was charged with taking

380
00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:14,839
the trash to the can left by the Fish and

381
00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:18,319
Game commission. I made my way down the path with

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00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:21,160
a flashlight so I could stay on the path. I

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00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,920
found the can and put our traces of civilized life inside,

384
00:22:25,279 --> 00:22:28,480
and when I closed it, I realized how quiet it was.

385
00:22:29,559 --> 00:22:33,759
There was no noise whatsoever, except what noise the wind

386
00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:36,240
was making as it passed through the trees and rattled

387
00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:39,839
the leaves. Again, I got that distinct feeling that I

388
00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:43,640
was being watched. I looked around with a flashlight, but

389
00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:46,119
when I didn't see anything, I walked the short trip

390
00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:51,200
back to camp. My friend's dad had a nice campfire going,

391
00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,880
and we took fold out chairs and surrounded it, and

392
00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:58,279
this man told us stories about being a customs agent

393
00:22:58,599 --> 00:23:01,240
and some of the unclassified deal details of things going

394
00:23:01,279 --> 00:23:04,920
on in Miami. We were riveted by the stories of

395
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:09,359
shootouts and bad guys who tried to get away. At

396
00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:12,599
some point during the storytelling, my friend's dad paused and

397
00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:15,799
looked into the forest for a moment. Since I was

398
00:23:15,839 --> 00:23:18,240
the only one on his side of the campfire, I

399
00:23:18,279 --> 00:23:21,680
looked where he was looking, and through the mist I

400
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:25,119
could see eye shine. They looked like they were pretty

401
00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:28,400
up there in height. My friend's dad and I exchanged

402
00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:30,920
the knowing look, and he continued with his Miami of

403
00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:34,559
ice stories. The whole thing took about five seconds, but

404
00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:39,559
we both knew we saw something. The wind picked up

405
00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:42,799
later and things started blowing around the camp and we

406
00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:45,720
worked together to secure everything, and then we went to bed.

407
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:49,000
The winds were strong and the gusts were hitting our

408
00:23:49,079 --> 00:23:52,480
tent with a good amount of force. At some point

409
00:23:52,599 --> 00:23:56,039
during this wind storm, I heard running footsteps coming toward

410
00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:58,920
our tent. All of a sudden, the tent spikes on

411
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,319
my side of the tent were pulled out and the

412
00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:05,720
tent came up, rolling us up like a burrito. We

413
00:24:05,759 --> 00:24:08,559
screamed like little boys do and managed to crawl out

414
00:24:08,599 --> 00:24:11,599
of the front door flap. My friend's dad was at

415
00:24:11,599 --> 00:24:15,039
the ready, pistol and flashlight in hand, looking around in

416
00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:18,640
a circle. We stood around looking for what in the

417
00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,640
world could have caused that to happen, and then got

418
00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:24,759
the tent set up again and reinforced the tent spikes.

419
00:24:26,519 --> 00:24:29,119
The following summer, I took a road trip with my

420
00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:32,119
dad to visit an old work mate who had retired.

421
00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:35,519
Carmen had built a home in the mountains of the

422
00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:42,559
oh I can't pronounce this new Trioso Newtrioso, Arizona. We

423
00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:44,920
had to take a paved road from the main highway

424
00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:47,319
and then turn onto a dirt road and trudge our

425
00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:50,559
way up the mountain for almost an hour. Well the

426
00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:53,400
drive was worth it, though, because the place was beautiful

427
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:57,599
and it was surrounded by thick, majestic trees. A Carmen

428
00:24:57,680 --> 00:24:59,920
had a small group of mountain dogs that were all

429
00:25:00,519 --> 00:25:04,119
and they didn't seem to like anybody. He introduced us

430
00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:06,359
to them one at a time until the dogs were

431
00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:10,599
all settled down from having strangers on the property. They

432
00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:13,640
had been raining for most of this trip. It had

433
00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:16,279
only stopped when we got to the paved road off

434
00:25:16,319 --> 00:25:20,440
the highway. I figured that I'd be bored listening to

435
00:25:20,519 --> 00:25:23,440
my dad and his friend trade old work stories, but

436
00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:27,119
Carmen addressed me and asked me to follow him. We

437
00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:29,079
went to the back porch and he picked up an

438
00:25:29,079 --> 00:25:32,480
old plastic bucket. He told me that after the rain

439
00:25:32,519 --> 00:25:36,000
you could find pieces of ancient Native American pottery on

440
00:25:36,039 --> 00:25:39,480
the ground. He looked at the ground and pointed one

441
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:42,640
out to me. I brought it back, and he showed

442
00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:45,000
me what made it different from any of the actual

443
00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:49,279
rocks I might have found. I scampered off. The fortune

444
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:53,119
started my hunt for more Native American pottery. After a while,

445
00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:56,160
I noticed that it had become unnaturally quiet, and I

446
00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:59,240
got the feeling that something was watching me again, but

447
00:25:59,319 --> 00:26:01,599
this time I could tell where it was from. It

448
00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:07,000
was my ten o'clock. At that exact moment, Carmen's dogs

449
00:26:07,079 --> 00:26:09,960
came up and formed a line in front of me.

450
00:26:10,799 --> 00:26:13,759
They were looking in the same direction, and they were growling.

451
00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:17,240
My mother didn't raise a fool, so I slowly backed

452
00:26:17,279 --> 00:26:19,440
out of the area and I ran back to the house.

453
00:26:20,039 --> 00:26:22,160
I sat on the porch and I started going through

454
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:25,559
my collection of pottery pieces, and the dogs came up

455
00:26:25,599 --> 00:26:29,200
and took up positions around me, lying down and scanning

456
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:34,160
their ears as dogs do. Later, during dinner, I told

457
00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:37,759
my dad and Carmen what happened. My Dad shrugged it off,

458
00:26:37,799 --> 00:26:43,079
but Carmen took me seriously. You saw elvejejo, he said.

459
00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:47,000
My Dad looked at him puzzled, and Carmen said something

460
00:26:47,039 --> 00:26:49,519
to him in Spanish about the old man of the mountain.

461
00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:52,359
I think he was trying to keep me from getting scared,

462
00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:56,079
but I understood most of what he said. My dad

463
00:26:56,079 --> 00:26:58,480
and I left. A couple of days later, I saw

464
00:26:58,519 --> 00:27:02,039
a Native American roadside museum off the highway and asked

465
00:27:02,039 --> 00:27:04,839
my dad to stop. He asked why, and I told

466
00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:06,880
him that I didn't feel right leaving with all the

467
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:11,240
Native American history in this bucket. Well, he smiled, and

468
00:27:11,279 --> 00:27:13,359
I hopped out of the truck and jumped in the

469
00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,400
shop and I explained what I had, and they thanked

470
00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:20,160
me for respecting their spirits. Before I left, I asked

471
00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:23,079
him about the old Man of the mountain. Well, they

472
00:27:23,079 --> 00:27:25,640
looked at each other like they knew something. I didn't,

473
00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:28,359
and they asked me if I had seen him. No,

474
00:27:28,759 --> 00:27:31,920
I said, and then they relaxed. But one of them

475
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:35,440
raised his eyebrows. It's a good thing you didn't see him,

476
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:39,680
he said. Oh, that's a cool story. This person, like

477
00:27:39,799 --> 00:27:42,480
some of the other people in this podcast, have had

478
00:27:42,599 --> 00:27:46,480
various encounters with these creatures, whether they see him or not.

479
00:27:47,519 --> 00:27:51,000
But this was really good. It's a good, very detailed story.

480
00:27:51,039 --> 00:27:57,680
I appreciate this one. In the fall nineteen seventy four,

481
00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:00,400
I was a thirteen year old freshman and a small

482
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:04,279
town in South Georgia. I was a military brat. Our

483
00:28:04,319 --> 00:28:07,240
family had moved back to Georgia after my daddy retired.

484
00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:11,160
My grandfather had passed away in late October, and my

485
00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:13,519
mother felt the need to move back home to help

486
00:28:13,519 --> 00:28:18,319
look after Grandma. This was our first real home. Everything

487
00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:21,279
else had been an apartment or a rental until Uncle

488
00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:24,880
Sam was finished with my daddy's enlistment. It was a

489
00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:27,599
two story house that had been moved into town years

490
00:28:27,599 --> 00:28:31,359
before from a large farm out in the country. The

491
00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:34,240
porches had fallen victim to the move, as well as

492
00:28:34,279 --> 00:28:37,000
the kitchen and the larger dining area that were only

493
00:28:37,039 --> 00:28:40,680
attached to the original house by a long porch. The

494
00:28:40,759 --> 00:28:44,720
upstairs bedrooms were added after the house was moved. In

495
00:28:44,759 --> 00:28:47,839
the bedroom where my brother slept was a closet, and

496
00:28:47,839 --> 00:28:52,279
I hated that closet. It gave me an anxious feeling

497
00:28:52,319 --> 00:28:54,799
in the pit of my stomach. And it was small,

498
00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:57,079
and there was a square cut in the back wall

499
00:28:57,119 --> 00:29:00,440
that gave access to the attic. If I were to

500
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:02,640
pass by the closet and the door was open, I

501
00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:05,440
made sure to run and slam the door shut before

502
00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:09,160
I would go into my room. And at bedtime, after

503
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:11,680
turning off the light, we would run and jump under

504
00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:14,759
our cover so the boogers under the bed wouldn't get us.

505
00:29:15,839 --> 00:29:18,960
Why we ever thought our covers would protect us, I

506
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:22,799
don't know, but that was the idea. In the fall,

507
00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:26,240
in South Georgia, football is king and homecoming fell on

508
00:29:26,319 --> 00:29:29,720
the last home game of the season. In those days,

509
00:29:29,759 --> 00:29:32,599
it was accustomed to build floats for the homecoming parade

510
00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:36,200
the week before. As a cheerleader, I was helping with

511
00:29:36,279 --> 00:29:39,559
the class and cheerleading float. So I was a busy girl.

512
00:29:40,279 --> 00:29:42,640
And on one particular night that week, I had at

513
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,960
eight o'clock curfew. After all, it was a school night,

514
00:29:47,119 --> 00:29:48,960
my friend dropped me off and I went in and

515
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:51,359
started heating up a pot of chili that Mama had

516
00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:54,680
left on the stove for us. Nobody else was home,

517
00:29:55,039 --> 00:29:57,359
so I got my bowl of chili and crackers, and

518
00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:00,920
I settled in front of the TV to eat. I

519
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:03,640
think it was about fifteen minutes after I settled in

520
00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:06,759
that I heard a noise from upstairs. I thought it

521
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,200
was my sister, so I called out her name, but

522
00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:12,720
there was no response. I called up to her that

523
00:30:12,839 --> 00:30:15,279
I was onto her game and she wasn't going to

524
00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:18,799
scare me. I still got no response, so I kept

525
00:30:18,839 --> 00:30:23,119
eating and watching TV, and then I heard footsteps. There

526
00:30:23,119 --> 00:30:26,839
were heavy footsteps going from our bedroom, which was directly

527
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:31,599
over the den, into my brother's room. I leaned forward

528
00:30:31,599 --> 00:30:33,920
from my seated position in the floor of the den

529
00:30:34,119 --> 00:30:36,480
just enough to see to the top of the stairs.

530
00:30:37,279 --> 00:30:40,160
No one was there, but the closet door, the only

531
00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:45,359
door upstairs, slammed shut and opened, and then it shut again.

532
00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,920
You're not scaring me, I called out to my sister.

533
00:30:50,519 --> 00:30:53,640
There's still no response, and I finished eating and took

534
00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:56,160
my dishes to the kitchen sink, and I sat back

535
00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:58,720
down in the den to finish the show I was watching.

536
00:31:00,079 --> 00:31:03,200
Fifteen minutes later, I heard our back door opening, and

537
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:06,319
my daddy and my younger brother came in. They'd been

538
00:31:06,359 --> 00:31:09,200
to my grandmother's house for supper, and we're just arriving

539
00:31:09,279 --> 00:31:13,079
back home. Just a minute after that, Mama and my

540
00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:16,480
sister came in the front door. Wait a minute, I thought,

541
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:20,519
looking over at my sister. Are you just now getting home?

542
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:24,200
I asked her. She gave me a strange look, reserved

543
00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:26,799
only for older sisters to look down on their younger

544
00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:31,000
siblings who have just asked a totally stupid question. Yes,

545
00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:34,319
she said, Mama just picked me up from the barn

546
00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:38,279
the baby club was building our float there. I jumped

547
00:31:38,359 --> 00:31:40,400
up like a frightened cat, and I went to the

548
00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:44,079
furthest spot from the foot of the stairs. What's wrong

549
00:31:44,119 --> 00:31:47,359
with you, my daddy asked, there's somebody in the house,

550
00:31:47,599 --> 00:31:50,640
I yelled. My father took out his gun that he

551
00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:53,920
kept with him while he was working and checking his traps,

552
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:57,160
and he told Mama to stay with us. He went

553
00:31:57,240 --> 00:31:59,039
up the stairs with his gun at the ready, and

554
00:31:59,039 --> 00:32:01,400
then came back a few minutes later and gave me

555
00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:05,160
a stern look. There was nothing to be found there

556
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:08,240
was no sign of a break in. By this point

557
00:32:08,279 --> 00:32:10,519
I was crying and I promised him I was telling

558
00:32:10,599 --> 00:32:14,119
the truth and my story never changed. I know what

559
00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:16,960
I heard, and to this day, I know in my

560
00:32:17,079 --> 00:32:19,279
gut it was the booger that was in the back

561
00:32:19,319 --> 00:32:23,599
of the closet. In the spring of nineteen seventy five,

562
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:27,000
I was a freshman in high school. During that winter,

563
00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:30,359
a Youth for Christ sharing group had begun meeting on

564
00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:33,920
Tuesday nights to share our testimonies and meet with the

565
00:32:34,119 --> 00:32:38,279
like minded high school students from the surrounding counties. For

566
00:32:38,319 --> 00:32:40,799
the past two weeks, I had been burdened with a

567
00:32:40,799 --> 00:32:43,400
gut feeling that I needed to pray for my father

568
00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:47,680
at forty two. He was in excellent health and I

569
00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:50,240
don't know why I felt this burden, but there it was.

570
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:53,720
I requested, for a second week in a row that

571
00:32:53,799 --> 00:32:56,799
the group keep him in their prayers. I didn't have

572
00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:01,640
a specific prayer, just please pray. When I was dropped

573
00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:03,960
off at home that night, I tripped over a game

574
00:33:04,039 --> 00:33:07,000
that had been left on the stairs. You okay, baby,

575
00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:10,119
my daddy called from the bedroom. Yes, sir, I said.

576
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:14,559
Then I froze in my journey up the stairs, Go

577
00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:17,440
tell him. You've been burdened with the prayer for him.

578
00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:20,920
My gut urged me go tell him that you love him.

579
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,799
I stood there while I argued with myself and decided

580
00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:28,480
not to disturb him anymore. I would tell him tomorrow.

581
00:33:29,559 --> 00:33:32,440
But tomorrow came and went and I never told him.

582
00:33:33,039 --> 00:33:35,079
And then over the next week, my sister and I

583
00:33:35,119 --> 00:33:37,960
had the urge to clean up the house. I kept

584
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:40,119
having the urge to tell my daddy I needed to

585
00:33:40,119 --> 00:33:43,480
pray for him, but I never said a word. Sadly,

586
00:33:43,559 --> 00:33:48,920
that week he died in an accident. The night he died,

587
00:33:49,039 --> 00:33:51,759
we were offered something to help us go to sleep,

588
00:33:51,799 --> 00:33:55,000
but I didn't want any Much later, when the house

589
00:33:55,119 --> 00:33:57,359
was quiet and everyone had left, I had to go

590
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:01,559
downstairs to go to the bathroom. Near the bottom step,

591
00:34:01,599 --> 00:34:04,160
I noticed a light that had been left on, and

592
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:07,079
I looked up to see who it was, and seated

593
00:34:07,279 --> 00:34:10,400
in the rocking chair he'd sat in earlier that afternoon

594
00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:14,639
was my daddy. My brain was clear, I knew my

595
00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:18,760
daddy had died that afternoon. I was having trouble merging

596
00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:21,800
these thoughts, so I plopped down on the step and shot,

597
00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:25,559
I know, baby, but it is me, my daddy said.

598
00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:28,079
He let me come to talk to you to let

599
00:34:28,159 --> 00:34:31,679
you know everything's gonna be okay and you're gonna be fine,

600
00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:34,480
but there will be some bumps in the road. Now

601
00:34:34,519 --> 00:34:37,880
be patient. I want you to remember to follow your dreams,

602
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:43,079
never take no for an answer, and keep trying. After

603
00:34:43,159 --> 00:34:46,239
a few other messages for my brother and my sisters,

604
00:34:46,519 --> 00:34:48,559
he looked at me and he told me he loved

605
00:34:48,599 --> 00:34:52,119
me and would always be looking over us, and then

606
00:34:52,159 --> 00:34:56,119
he faded away. I went back to bed that night

607
00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:59,320
and telling myself that it had been a dream. And

608
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:02,039
the next morning, my oldest sister asked me who had

609
00:35:02,039 --> 00:35:05,079
come to the house so late the night before. She

610
00:35:05,239 --> 00:35:07,559
said that she had heard me talking to a man

611
00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:10,280
and couldn't imagine who would have come at that hour.

612
00:35:11,079 --> 00:35:15,840
I guess I wasn't dreaming after all. In nineteen eighty three,

613
00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:19,199
I found myself living back in my small hometown after

614
00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:23,360
finishing college and securing a teaching position at our middle school.

615
00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:27,239
I'd gotten engaged in the fall to my fiancee, and

616
00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:30,760
we moved in together into my family home. We had

617
00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:33,800
added two rockwallers to our family and we allowed them

618
00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:37,920
inside while we were home. After a nice Thanksgiving at

619
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:41,039
our house with my siblings and their spouses and my

620
00:35:41,199 --> 00:35:44,719
mother and her new husband. My fiance and I were

621
00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:48,039
in the den relaxing with our rotwallers from the long week.

622
00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:51,320
The dogs were lying near the foot of the stairs,

623
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:54,119
playing with their trees when each of them stood up

624
00:35:54,159 --> 00:35:57,559
facing the stairway with the hair on their backs raised.

625
00:35:58,599 --> 00:36:02,159
Low growls started it in their throats, and the younger

626
00:36:02,159 --> 00:36:04,400
of the two yelped and ran across the room and

627
00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:08,599
jumped into my lap. One hundred pound rotweller is a

628
00:36:08,639 --> 00:36:12,280
hefty load, but you've never seen a bigger baby. The

629
00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:15,679
older one, Attila, remained at the foot of the stairs,

630
00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:20,440
growling and barking and taking a small step backward and forward,

631
00:36:20,679 --> 00:36:26,119
preparing to defend himself or flee. My fiance approached him cautiously.

632
00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:31,000
What's wrong, boy, he asked. Attila felt a little braver

633
00:36:31,159 --> 00:36:34,519
with my fiance there, and kept growling more confident. Now

634
00:36:35,519 --> 00:36:37,639
they went up the stairs together and I could hear

635
00:36:37,679 --> 00:36:41,360
the two of them exploring the rooms. They came back down,

636
00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:43,800
and just as my fiance had gotten it out of

637
00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:47,239
his mouth that they had found nothing, the closet door

638
00:36:47,559 --> 00:36:52,519
slam shut and we both jumped. Both dogs headed for

639
00:36:52,559 --> 00:36:54,760
the back door, and we headed to the truck and

640
00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:57,239
went for a short ride to get our nerves settled.

641
00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:02,400
Two weeks later, I duties as a cheerleading sponsor to

642
00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:06,280
attend to had an out of town basketball game. I

643
00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:08,599
was in a great mood when I arrived back home,

644
00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:10,840
and I bounced through the back door and called out

645
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,760
to my fiance and friends, whose cars were parked in

646
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:18,280
the driveway, but I got no response. I passed through

647
00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:20,840
the kitchen and dining room and stepped into the living

648
00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:24,000
room and found my front door wide open. All the

649
00:37:24,079 --> 00:37:27,559
lights were on and a Christmas tree, half decorated, standing

650
00:37:27,639 --> 00:37:30,880
in the front window. I checked out all the rooms

651
00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:32,880
to be sure they weren't hiding from me, and I

652
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:36,840
sat down to give them a call. My fiance answered

653
00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:39,280
and told me he was over at our friend's house

654
00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:42,199
and that I should come over late as it was.

655
00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:45,639
I closed the doors and turned out the lights. I

656
00:37:45,679 --> 00:37:49,159
loaded up my car and went over. This didn't explain

657
00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:52,280
their cars in the driveway, but I figured i'd find out.

658
00:37:53,559 --> 00:37:55,880
When I arrived. I found them all seated in the

659
00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:59,599
living room, looking pale and shocked. What's going on. I

660
00:37:59,639 --> 00:38:04,599
asked group, your house is haunted. My friend Val said, well,

661
00:38:04,599 --> 00:38:06,679
what dang sure is? You all got to move? My

662
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:10,039
friend Kevin piped in. It was just like that night

663
00:38:10,079 --> 00:38:14,880
after Thanksgiving, my fiance said. They went on to relate

664
00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:17,239
that they were having a good time decorating the tree.

665
00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:20,159
The dogs were lying in the dining area, watching the

666
00:38:20,199 --> 00:38:24,320
activity and chewing on their new bones. They were drinking

667
00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:28,320
and enjoying themselves until they heard footsteps in the upstairs bedroom.

668
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:32,679
Looking around the room taking a head count, everybody was

669
00:38:32,719 --> 00:38:35,559
in the den. They thought somebody might have come in

670
00:38:35,599 --> 00:38:38,360
when they went to get replacement bulbs and more beer.

671
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:41,639
So Kevin, being the one with a weapon in his car,

672
00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:44,880
retrieved it and slowly went up the stairs with the

673
00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:48,599
dog behind him. Then the door slammed, and the dog

674
00:38:48,639 --> 00:38:51,519
and Kevin came tearing down the stairs and raced out

675
00:38:51,559 --> 00:38:56,199
the front door. Everyone piled into VAL's suv and left

676
00:38:56,199 --> 00:38:58,880
my house. All the doors were wide open and the

677
00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:01,639
lights were on, and the dogs were cowering in the

678
00:39:01,679 --> 00:39:05,480
back of the vehicle. If they hadn't been so dead serious,

679
00:39:05,519 --> 00:39:08,119
and if Kevin wasn't on the verge of tears, I

680
00:39:08,199 --> 00:39:12,039
probably would have laughed it off. We were all a

681
00:39:12,079 --> 00:39:14,719
bit shaken, and we decided to stay the night with

682
00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:17,920
the gang at Robbie and Vow's place. We went home

683
00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:21,079
the next morning with no problems and were soon joined

684
00:39:21,119 --> 00:39:25,199
by our friends and we finished decorating the tree. Later

685
00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:27,960
that morning, I brave the upstairs to take the empty

686
00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:31,639
boxes to be put away, but I didn't open that closet.

687
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:34,400
I placed the boxes in front of the door from

688
00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:38,880
my own peace of mind. Our next trip to Savannah

689
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:41,559
Vile and I made a point of going to River

690
00:39:41,679 --> 00:39:44,880
Street to visit a shop that deals with unusual items.

691
00:39:45,599 --> 00:39:51,199
I purchased sage, holy water, and an abalone shell, the

692
00:39:51,239 --> 00:39:54,159
items the vendor told me that were necessary to cleanse

693
00:39:54,239 --> 00:39:57,719
the house. The vendor was gracious enough to make a

694
00:39:57,760 --> 00:39:59,760
copy of a prayer that I would need during the

695
00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:04,639
c I asked hundreds of questions, it seemed, making sure

696
00:40:04,679 --> 00:40:08,800
I wasn't conjuring any bad juju into my home. We

697
00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:11,760
were both born again Christians, and each had enough Cherokee

698
00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:14,360
blood in our lineage to know that there were things

699
00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:19,199
beyond our understanding. That afternoon, the boys and dogs went

700
00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:22,840
somewhere anywhere away from the house. We opened up the

701
00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:26,920
windows and began upstairs closing the windows and sealing them

702
00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:29,159
with the holy water and the shape of a cross

703
00:40:29,199 --> 00:40:32,079
on the pane. And we spent the most time on

704
00:40:32,159 --> 00:40:35,519
the closet with holy water and sage, and sealed the

705
00:40:35,559 --> 00:40:38,719
back passage in the door and made our way downstairs,

706
00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:43,400
wereciting the prayer that we had learned. We covered the

707
00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:46,360
bottom floor and ended the prayer with a plea that

708
00:40:46,440 --> 00:40:50,960
those present who meant harm are forever expelled from these walls.

709
00:40:51,679 --> 00:40:54,400
And as I was putting away the cleansing materials, I

710
00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:57,480
opened the closet door in the spare bedroom, the room

711
00:40:57,559 --> 00:41:00,960
my parents had used many years before. I caught the

712
00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:04,000
smell of my daddy's old spice as I put the

713
00:41:04,079 --> 00:41:08,280
supplies away. You're welcome to stay and look over us,

714
00:41:08,519 --> 00:41:12,320
I whispered to him as I closed the door. I

715
00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:16,000
have been reluctant to share any of these stories. Small

716
00:41:16,039 --> 00:41:18,719
towns being what they are, everybody would think I was

717
00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:21,480
a few bricks short of a load, and retaining my

718
00:41:21,599 --> 00:41:26,280
position as an educator would be difficult. My maternal grandmother

719
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:29,920
told me my gut feelings and knowings are a gift

720
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:33,199
from our Native American blood, and it was not a

721
00:41:33,239 --> 00:41:36,760
gift that everyone in our family had been given. As

722
00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:41,199
these knowings and gut feelings continue, I'm sure to follow them.

723
00:41:41,639 --> 00:41:44,079
I may not always know the why, but I have

724
00:41:44,199 --> 00:41:48,119
learned to listen just the same. And then she ends

725
00:41:48,159 --> 00:41:54,280
the letter. Sorry, excuse me, She ends her email looking

726
00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:57,880
forward to more Steve Lilly. Uh, it's so funny to

727
00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:00,440
come off a serious email like that and go, hey,

728
00:42:00,519 --> 00:42:02,920
more Steve Lily. By the way, I am working on

729
00:42:03,039 --> 00:42:06,480
the next Steve Lily, so stand by on that. But

730
00:42:06,559 --> 00:42:09,639
this was a very descriptive and well thought out email

731
00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:12,400
from a person who's been through a lot, seen a

732
00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:15,679
lot of supernatural and experienced a lot of supernatural things.

733
00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:18,280
And I appreciate her taking the time to write these

734
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:20,440
down for us to enjoy it, because I did enjoy

735
00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:27,000
reading this story. Thank you very much. The white Gown

736
00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:31,880
by cameraon Buckner. When I turned the key, I didn't

737
00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:34,679
think anything would happen, but it did, and the old

738
00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:39,039
tractor started. I connected the battery charger the night before,

739
00:42:39,119 --> 00:42:41,400
not knowing if the cell was any good, but I

740
00:42:41,519 --> 00:42:45,559
was hopeful. Smoke rolled out from under the shed water

741
00:42:45,679 --> 00:42:48,199
in the lines and mixed with the diesel and it

742
00:42:48,239 --> 00:42:51,920
burned off. I knew I could fix that with fresh diesel,

743
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:55,239
but I just let it smoke. I backed it out

744
00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:58,199
and connected the bush hog, and I greased some bearings

745
00:42:58,199 --> 00:43:00,360
and wiped the trash off the floor place that had

746
00:43:00,440 --> 00:43:05,079
built up over three years. The engine sounded fine. I

747
00:43:05,119 --> 00:43:07,960
needed to change the oil, but at the moment I

748
00:43:08,039 --> 00:43:10,960
needed more to get outside and breathe in my freedom.

749
00:43:11,679 --> 00:43:13,960
The old machine would make it just fine on three

750
00:43:14,039 --> 00:43:17,400
year old oil. For an afternoon, while I cleared my head,

751
00:43:18,599 --> 00:43:21,679
I started cutting the field behind the house. I'd have

752
00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:24,639
to take my time. The equipment was old, and the

753
00:43:24,679 --> 00:43:27,800
field had grown up with saplings every five or ten feet,

754
00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:30,840
but not too much that my father's old equipment couldn't

755
00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:33,880
handle it. If it had gone another year, I would

756
00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:38,320
have had to have rented something bigger. Field roads flanked

757
00:43:38,320 --> 00:43:40,960
the side of the field. I was cutting the roads

758
00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:44,079
to find the field. On the right were thick trees,

759
00:43:44,159 --> 00:43:46,639
and on the left was the property that belonged to

760
00:43:46,639 --> 00:43:50,320
someone else. I'd spend the next day slowly working that

761
00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:53,559
piece of land into a field. Again. I had nothing

762
00:43:53,639 --> 00:43:56,760
else to do. At the end of this field was

763
00:43:56,760 --> 00:43:59,719
a stand of hardwood timber that had grown taller since

764
00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:03,079
I'd been gone. I loved that place. In the summer,

765
00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:06,199
Mama and Daddy would take us kids down in there

766
00:44:06,239 --> 00:44:08,599
and let us swim and play in the cool stream

767
00:44:08,679 --> 00:44:13,320
that flowed all the time. Mama would pack leftovers or sandwiches,

768
00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:15,519
and her and Daddy would sit in a long chairs,

769
00:44:15,519 --> 00:44:19,480
smoking and talking while we ran wild. I should have

770
00:44:19,559 --> 00:44:22,320
turned around and made another pass on the field where

771
00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:26,000
I started, but whispers of nostalgia greeted me at that

772
00:44:26,119 --> 00:44:28,440
old road that cut through there, and I went on

773
00:44:28,599 --> 00:44:31,719
down into the woods. Wouldn't hurt to look at the

774
00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:34,880
field behind the timber anyway, I would know what I

775
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:38,639
was up against. While I got this place back in shape,

776
00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:41,280
water still ran in the creek, and I look forward

777
00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:43,920
to the summer and a place to cool off, maybe

778
00:44:44,039 --> 00:44:47,719
take my sister's kids back in there. I stopped and

779
00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:50,639
walked aways into the woods, following the water, and I

780
00:44:50,679 --> 00:44:53,480
looked around at the big oaks and hickorys. Then I

781
00:44:53,519 --> 00:44:56,280
walked back to proceed to the next field, just to

782
00:44:56,320 --> 00:44:59,639
take a look. It looked the same as the front field,

783
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:02,480
and I cut one strip right down the middle of it,

784
00:45:02,519 --> 00:45:05,119
all the way back to our property line, and I

785
00:45:05,239 --> 00:45:08,840
turned to go back. It was cloudy that day, one

786
00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:11,239
of those days you'd be sure it would rain, but

787
00:45:11,320 --> 00:45:14,679
it never did. The dust hovered above me and all

788
00:45:14,719 --> 00:45:17,280
the way to the ground. But even still I could

789
00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:21,880
see it moving on my neighbor's property. It was something white,

790
00:45:22,239 --> 00:45:25,719
snow white, moving in a fluid motion, but it was

791
00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:29,360
slow and contrasting with the dull, dusty greens of a

792
00:45:29,360 --> 00:45:33,199
hot September day. And when it stopped, it went to

793
00:45:33,280 --> 00:45:35,679
the ground, and I got off the tractor to get

794
00:45:35,679 --> 00:45:38,920
her better look. I was afraid to cut the engine

795
00:45:38,960 --> 00:45:42,480
because I wasn't sure it would start again. After climbing

796
00:45:42,519 --> 00:45:45,480
the fence and wading through the brambles, I got to

797
00:45:45,559 --> 00:45:48,320
the wide object and there lay a woman who had

798
00:45:48,360 --> 00:45:51,239
to be over eighty, dressed in a dirty white gown

799
00:45:51,440 --> 00:45:54,920
and nothing else. She was on her knees and rubbing

800
00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:58,559
the cuts and scratches on her legs and arms. Ma'am,

801
00:45:58,880 --> 00:46:02,119
do you need some help? She rubbed her arms, and

802
00:46:02,239 --> 00:46:06,119
tears rolled down her face, and I moved closer. Let

803
00:46:06,119 --> 00:46:10,000
me help you up. From behind her, I slid my

804
00:46:10,239 --> 00:46:13,480
arms under hers and tried to lift her slender frame

805
00:46:13,559 --> 00:46:16,679
to her feet. She felt like dead weight, like a

806
00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:19,880
rag doll. I could have lifted her up, but I

807
00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:22,440
wasn't sure how she would react, so I eased her

808
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:25,920
back down into the dry weeds. She had not said

809
00:46:25,960 --> 00:46:28,480
anything to this point, and it wasn't plain she knew

810
00:46:28,559 --> 00:46:33,079
I was even there. Who are you? She asked me.

811
00:46:34,159 --> 00:46:36,480
The tractor was running a short piece away, and I

812
00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:39,559
had trouble hearing what she said. Her voice was as

813
00:46:39,599 --> 00:46:43,440
delicate as I had ever heard. I'm jet travers man.

814
00:46:43,760 --> 00:46:46,800
Who are you? And why are you out here? I

815
00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:50,039
need to get over there to see him. I have

816
00:46:50,199 --> 00:46:54,360
to tell him something. Her hands rose to her face,

817
00:46:54,639 --> 00:46:58,440
her long fingers moved down her cheeks. I didn't know

818
00:46:58,480 --> 00:47:00,880
what she was talking about. I knew for sure that

819
00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:03,880
she wasn't getting up. We need to get you out

820
00:47:03,920 --> 00:47:07,280
of this field, ma'am. Can you stand up? She placed

821
00:47:07,320 --> 00:47:11,000
her hands in mind trying to stand, but she was done.

822
00:47:11,239 --> 00:47:13,559
I knew I could carry her, but getting her through

823
00:47:13,599 --> 00:47:17,159
the briers I had come through would be painful. Sit tight,

824
00:47:17,199 --> 00:47:20,719
I'll be right back. I used pliers to cut the

825
00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:24,119
barbed wire and then drove the tractor to her. Wasn't

826
00:47:24,159 --> 00:47:27,000
too far. The noise in the heat coming from the

827
00:47:27,079 --> 00:47:29,760
machine bothered her, but that was better than pushing her

828
00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:33,239
through more brush. She felt as light as a feather,

829
00:47:33,800 --> 00:47:36,800
and her arms naturally slid around my neck and she

830
00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:40,320
laid her head over my shoulder. I need to talk

831
00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:44,000
to him, she said. Her eyes were closed when I

832
00:47:44,079 --> 00:47:46,960
climbed back on the tractor, and it was awkward with

833
00:47:47,039 --> 00:47:49,000
her in my lap, but we made it back to

834
00:47:49,079 --> 00:47:51,920
the house. I put her on my couch and I

835
00:47:51,960 --> 00:47:55,800
turned up the air so she could cool off. The

836
00:47:55,880 --> 00:47:58,840
last call I wanted to make was to the Sheriff's office,

837
00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:01,519
but I didn't know what else to do. I had

838
00:48:01,599 --> 00:48:04,599
just finished three years of a five year sentence at

839
00:48:04,639 --> 00:48:08,280
Parchment for whipping this shit out of a cop. There

840
00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:10,280
was a girl in town I had grown up with,

841
00:48:10,840 --> 00:48:13,039
always liked her, but I never had the nerve to

842
00:48:13,079 --> 00:48:16,000
ask her out. A lot was six months out of

843
00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:18,760
the Marine Corps and had a decent job at the plant.

844
00:48:19,320 --> 00:48:21,199
She worked there too, and I saw her on my

845
00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:24,360
way to the break room. One day. We talked, and

846
00:48:24,559 --> 00:48:27,639
later that week we went out. There's nothing to do

847
00:48:27,719 --> 00:48:30,239
in these small towns but to go to Sonic or

848
00:48:30,480 --> 00:48:33,039
ride to gravel Roads and have a few drinks, and

849
00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:36,559
that's what we were doing On that warm June Saturday night.

850
00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:40,519
We parked at the watershed where folks had been launching

851
00:48:40,599 --> 00:48:44,119
boats and made a natural parking lot. We talked and

852
00:48:44,239 --> 00:48:47,360
watched the stars, and we had a few beers, and

853
00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:51,400
that's when the law pulled in behind me. Apparently the

854
00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:54,320
deputy had been going out with this girl and started

855
00:48:54,360 --> 00:48:57,039
giving us a hard time. If he had just done

856
00:48:57,079 --> 00:48:59,440
his job, I would have accepted my fate and spent

857
00:48:59,519 --> 00:49:02,760
the night in jail for open containers. But he couldn't

858
00:49:02,760 --> 00:49:05,880
do that. He was a jealous one, and he went

859
00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:08,440
to work on me with one of those sticks they use,

860
00:49:09,119 --> 00:49:11,719
until I snatched it out of his hands and put

861
00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:15,119
that to an end. He was breathing when she and

862
00:49:15,159 --> 00:49:17,760
I left the lake, and I figured he'd come to

863
00:49:17,920 --> 00:49:21,159
and go on home. Now I was in trouble, but

864
00:49:21,239 --> 00:49:23,480
I acted in self defense and I knew this girl

865
00:49:23,480 --> 00:49:26,800
would back up my story. So the next day I

866
00:49:26,880 --> 00:49:31,800
was arrested for assault assaulting a law enforcement officer, which

867
00:49:31,920 --> 00:49:35,360
the State of Mississippi frowns on, and I never saw

868
00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:38,559
the outside of a cell after that day for three years.

869
00:49:39,599 --> 00:49:42,639
My date that night was no help. She never showed

870
00:49:42,719 --> 00:49:46,480
up at my hearing. My sentence was five years, but

871
00:49:46,559 --> 00:49:49,360
I got out in three. My lawyers said that I

872
00:49:49,360 --> 00:49:51,800
should be thankful, said I could have gotten up to

873
00:49:51,880 --> 00:49:55,519
ten years on that charge. I shouldn't have gotten a day,

874
00:49:55,639 --> 00:49:58,920
but that's the way things go. I wasn't the first

875
00:49:58,920 --> 00:50:01,719
man alive to go down over an innocent night out

876
00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:05,639
with a pretty girl with a jealous boyfriend. But now

877
00:50:05,679 --> 00:50:08,079
I was out and only been home for a week,

878
00:50:08,159 --> 00:50:09,840
and I didn't want to deal with the law this

879
00:50:09,960 --> 00:50:13,039
soon after being released. So I looked down at the

880
00:50:13,079 --> 00:50:16,559
woman and her eyes were closed, but she wasn't sleeping.

881
00:50:17,440 --> 00:50:20,599
I knelt beside her, ma'am, can you talk to me?

882
00:50:20,719 --> 00:50:24,920
Can you tell me where you live? Her eyes opened

883
00:50:24,960 --> 00:50:28,000
and I could see she was trying to talk. I

884
00:50:28,039 --> 00:50:30,360
brought her a glass of water, and she perked up,

885
00:50:30,719 --> 00:50:33,280
even tried to sit up, and I helped her and

886
00:50:33,360 --> 00:50:37,280
she drank the water in small swallows. She mumbled a

887
00:50:37,280 --> 00:50:40,840
few words I couldn't understand. Ma'am, where do you live?

888
00:50:41,239 --> 00:50:45,199
I asked. Her eyes rose to meet mine, and she said,

889
00:50:45,480 --> 00:50:49,480
I don't know where I live. Fantastic. I have a

890
00:50:49,519 --> 00:50:52,800
half naked, elderly woman in my house and she doesn't

891
00:50:52,840 --> 00:50:55,320
even know where she lives. I was going to have

892
00:50:55,360 --> 00:50:58,639
to call the law. I had heard stories about old

893
00:50:58,639 --> 00:51:01,679
people walking off and be gone for days, and that

894
00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:05,840
dementia took a toll on them and their families. Well,

895
00:51:05,840 --> 00:51:07,960
I knew a girl who worked at the nursing home,

896
00:51:08,159 --> 00:51:10,360
but the problem was that I didn't know her number.

897
00:51:11,079 --> 00:51:13,679
So I started calling the few numbers I had assembled

898
00:51:13,719 --> 00:51:15,800
in my new phone, trying to find a way to

899
00:51:15,800 --> 00:51:18,639
get in touch with her. Well, the second number I

900
00:51:18,719 --> 00:51:21,800
called was Mandy Spade, and Mandy and I had been

901
00:51:21,840 --> 00:51:24,880
for INDs since we were kids. I told her the

902
00:51:24,960 --> 00:51:28,199
situation had described the woman, and Mandy thought she knew

903
00:51:28,239 --> 00:51:30,960
who she was, and my day brightened a little bit.

904
00:51:31,639 --> 00:51:33,400
Let me make a phone call and I'm gonna call

905
00:51:33,440 --> 00:51:36,280
you right back, she told me. I sat next to

906
00:51:36,320 --> 00:51:39,079
the woman. Her knees and shins were covered in dry

907
00:51:39,119 --> 00:51:42,000
blood and dirt, and her feet were in terrible shape.

908
00:51:42,679 --> 00:51:44,920
Where had she come from and how long had she

909
00:51:44,960 --> 00:51:48,880
been out wandering the fields. I gathered towels and a

910
00:51:48,880 --> 00:51:51,320
pail of water, and I started cleaning her up and

911
00:51:51,360 --> 00:51:54,159
doing what I could for her feet. I didn't know

912
00:51:54,199 --> 00:51:55,920
how she was going to walk out of my house,

913
00:51:55,920 --> 00:51:59,199
because she wasn't walking on those feet. She winced a

914
00:51:59,239 --> 00:52:01,960
few times as I cleaned her up where I could see,

915
00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:05,280
but she never acted like it was unbearable. And I

916
00:52:05,320 --> 00:52:07,639
wiped the dust from her face and arms, and the

917
00:52:07,719 --> 00:52:12,280
cool rags seemed to calm her. The phone rang yet,

918
00:52:12,480 --> 00:52:15,599
I think that's normal Wilson. Now. I just talked to

919
00:52:15,639 --> 00:52:18,679
her daughter. Her name is Samantha Jones, and her and

920
00:52:18,679 --> 00:52:21,960
I worked together at the hospital. She said her mother's

921
00:52:21,960 --> 00:52:24,679
been missing since last night when she got off work.

922
00:52:24,960 --> 00:52:27,920
They've been driving around the roads looking for She said

923
00:52:27,960 --> 00:52:31,840
the police wouldn't help him. She'd been missing twenty four hours. Now.

924
00:52:31,880 --> 00:52:35,159
Can you believe that? Yeah, I believe it. What does

925
00:52:35,199 --> 00:52:38,039
she want to do? This woman can't walk? Oh. She

926
00:52:38,159 --> 00:52:40,719
already called an ambulance and they're on their way now.

927
00:52:40,880 --> 00:52:44,280
Should be there soon. Oh, I should have called an ambulance.

928
00:52:44,480 --> 00:52:47,079
I don't know why I didn't think about that. I

929
00:52:47,079 --> 00:52:50,079
wouldn't worry about it. Miss Wilson has dementia, and I

930
00:52:50,239 --> 00:52:52,920
doubt she'll even know her daughter. I guess they're going

931
00:52:52,960 --> 00:52:54,719
to have to put her in a nursing home. That's

932
00:52:54,760 --> 00:52:58,800
what she told me. Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Listen, Mandy,

933
00:52:58,840 --> 00:53:02,039
thanks for your help. I'm glad I called you. Lord,

934
00:53:02,079 --> 00:53:06,000
I am too, Mandy said. The medics cleaned her feet

935
00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:08,360
a little more while she sat on my couch, and

936
00:53:08,400 --> 00:53:11,920
they wrapped her feet. The frail little woman was placed

937
00:53:11,960 --> 00:53:15,039
on the stretcher and they took her out. When I

938
00:53:15,079 --> 00:53:18,440
saw Samantha, we remembered each other from school, and she

939
00:53:18,599 --> 00:53:21,360
thanked me over and over for bringing her mother inside

940
00:53:21,360 --> 00:53:24,880
and looking after her. Miss Wilson had been gone since

941
00:53:24,960 --> 00:53:28,320
last night. That meant she had been out all night

942
00:53:28,440 --> 00:53:31,239
and had walked six or eight miles from their house.

943
00:53:32,159 --> 00:53:35,400
It's hard to imagine that, but it happened. And what

944
00:53:35,519 --> 00:53:38,480
I saw was when she had given up, she wasn't

945
00:53:38,480 --> 00:53:41,079
able to take another step. And if I hadn't have

946
00:53:41,079 --> 00:53:43,400
thought about going back to that field, I would have

947
00:53:43,440 --> 00:53:46,599
never seen her. She would have died. So I felt

948
00:53:46,599 --> 00:53:49,960
pretty good about everything. That was until the patrol car

949
00:53:50,079 --> 00:53:54,199
pulled in my yard. Two uniforms got out and walked

950
00:53:54,199 --> 00:53:57,639
towards me. As the ambulance pulled away. That scar I

951
00:53:57,679 --> 00:53:59,880
gave him was still as red as a beat of

952
00:54:00,000 --> 00:54:03,320
across his cheekbone, now grin looking at it. When he

953
00:54:03,400 --> 00:54:06,840
got closer, his partner told him to back off into

954
00:54:06,840 --> 00:54:09,000
stand in the yard while they talked to me. But

955
00:54:09,079 --> 00:54:11,920
I never took my eyes off of him. Now, what's

956
00:54:11,960 --> 00:54:16,000
the story? Yet? Ain't no story? How did that woman

957
00:54:16,119 --> 00:54:18,840
end up at your old house? What makes you think

958
00:54:18,880 --> 00:54:22,159
she was in my house? We hear all the chata

959
00:54:22,360 --> 00:54:25,400
on these radios, and I drop the bullshit and tell

960
00:54:25,440 --> 00:54:28,679
me what happened. I won't have anything to say to you.

961
00:54:29,559 --> 00:54:31,920
I never looked at him. I kept my eyes on

962
00:54:31,960 --> 00:54:34,360
that fat asshole in the yard, and I admired that

963
00:54:34,440 --> 00:54:38,159
thick red scar on his face. Now you have to

964
00:54:38,199 --> 00:54:41,760
admit it's strange. An eighty year old woman walks through

965
00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:45,719
all these fields and woods and ditches all night, winds

966
00:54:45,800 --> 00:54:49,639
up on your couch. Something stinks about this whole thing,

967
00:54:50,079 --> 00:54:53,719
he said, How does she get in your house? He

968
00:54:53,800 --> 00:54:56,079
looked down at his partner and got a grin out

969
00:54:56,119 --> 00:55:00,679
of him. That's what I knew, what was happening. You

970
00:55:00,719 --> 00:55:04,280
ever try rubbing vasilin on that scar, Maybe it wouldn't

971
00:55:04,320 --> 00:55:07,960
be such a prominent feature on your ugly face. I

972
00:55:08,039 --> 00:55:10,039
knew that wouldn't go over well, but I had to

973
00:55:10,079 --> 00:55:12,960
say it. They were working some kind of angle to

974
00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:15,880
provoke me into saying anything they could use against me

975
00:55:15,960 --> 00:55:18,840
and charge me with something. I knew it. I needed

976
00:55:18,840 --> 00:55:22,360
to change the subject in the mood. Hey, James, did

977
00:55:22,480 --> 00:55:24,880
Leonard ever tell you the story about how I beat

978
00:55:24,920 --> 00:55:26,920
the shit out of him with his own night stick

979
00:55:27,000 --> 00:55:30,039
down at lou Ray Watershit a few years ago? Do

980
00:55:30,079 --> 00:55:33,320
you ever tell you why that happened? The silence is

981
00:55:33,360 --> 00:55:36,760
what I wanted. James had shut up and Leonard was

982
00:55:36,800 --> 00:55:40,119
shifting his weight from one foot to the other. I

983
00:55:40,159 --> 00:55:44,639
broke the lull in the conversation. Leonard's cat got you tongue.

984
00:55:44,800 --> 00:55:46,440
I guess you and me and that girl are the

985
00:55:46,480 --> 00:55:49,280
only ones who know what happened that night unless you

986
00:55:49,320 --> 00:55:52,400
want to tell me. And James, now now why you

987
00:55:52,519 --> 00:55:55,920
got to be that way? Jet said Deputy James, I

988
00:55:55,920 --> 00:55:59,639
have some questions and I he'd answers. Stop stirring the shit.

989
00:56:00,239 --> 00:56:02,719
You shouldn't have brought them here, and you know it, James,

990
00:56:03,000 --> 00:56:06,360
I'm going inside unless you have something to say, I'm

991
00:56:06,400 --> 00:56:09,360
just doing my job. Jet. We might need a statement

992
00:56:09,400 --> 00:56:12,599
from you on this thing with miss Wilson. I walked

993
00:56:12,639 --> 00:56:14,760
in the door and shut it behind me, and by

994
00:56:14,800 --> 00:56:16,639
the time I got to the kitchen, I heard their

995
00:56:16,679 --> 00:56:20,840
patrol car pull away. I cleaned up the bloody rags

996
00:56:20,840 --> 00:56:23,480
and towels and I ran them in the washer, and

997
00:56:23,559 --> 00:56:25,599
I fixed a sandwich, and I went to the back

998
00:56:25,679 --> 00:56:28,679
porch and I sat thinking about what in the world

999
00:56:28,719 --> 00:56:33,119
they had up their sleeve. Nothing came of that incident

1000
00:56:33,239 --> 00:56:36,320
for some time, and I didn't see the law, not once.

1001
00:56:37,239 --> 00:56:40,280
Samantha Jones stopped by a week later and she brought

1002
00:56:40,320 --> 00:56:43,719
me a pie. I thought that was nice. She said,

1003
00:56:43,760 --> 00:56:46,599
Miss Wilson was recovering in the hospital and they would

1004
00:56:46,639 --> 00:56:48,719
be moving her to a nursing home as soon as

1005
00:56:48,719 --> 00:56:51,800
the doctor's released her. Samantha, do you know where your

1006
00:56:51,840 --> 00:56:55,840
mother was heading? I asked, before she could leave. I

1007
00:56:55,880 --> 00:56:58,320
know where she was trying to get to. You know,

1008
00:56:58,519 --> 00:57:02,239
she has dementia. She doesn't remember anything much about the

1009
00:57:02,320 --> 00:57:05,119
last few decades of her life, but she remembers a

1010
00:57:05,159 --> 00:57:08,480
lot from when she was young. Jet It's almost like

1011
00:57:08,599 --> 00:57:11,719
she's twenty again. It took us a long time to

1012
00:57:11,760 --> 00:57:14,280
figure out what she was talking about the last year

1013
00:57:14,360 --> 00:57:17,280
or two, but she has friends who recognize some of

1014
00:57:17,320 --> 00:57:20,440
the names and the events that she does remember, and

1015
00:57:20,559 --> 00:57:23,800
we put it all together and now we understand The

1016
00:57:23,880 --> 00:57:26,599
doctors say this is normal, and they don't know why

1017
00:57:26,639 --> 00:57:29,360
they hang on to those old memories so tight and

1018
00:57:29,480 --> 00:57:31,679
let go of what's happening in the best years of

1019
00:57:31,719 --> 00:57:36,719
their life, you know, raising a family and children and grandchildren.

1020
00:57:36,960 --> 00:57:39,679
I would think that the memories of more recent times

1021
00:57:39,719 --> 00:57:42,320
would be the easiest to recall, but that's not the

1022
00:57:42,360 --> 00:57:46,000
way this is going. I think she recognizes my brother

1023
00:57:46,079 --> 00:57:49,239
and me about once a week now. She sees us,

1024
00:57:49,280 --> 00:57:52,480
and she calls us by other names. In a way

1025
00:57:52,519 --> 00:57:55,840
it's hurtful to us, but in another way, sometimes she

1026
00:57:55,960 --> 00:57:59,440
seems so happy being a teenager again, And I guess

1027
00:57:59,440 --> 00:58:03,000
I can understand that. Oh I'm sorry y'all are having

1028
00:58:03,000 --> 00:58:06,000
to deal with all that I said. You said you

1029
00:58:06,079 --> 00:58:08,920
know where she was headed? Can you tell me? Maybe

1030
00:58:08,920 --> 00:58:11,760
another time? A billy and the kids are waiting on me,

1031
00:58:11,880 --> 00:58:14,119
and I need to get back to the house. But

1032
00:58:14,239 --> 00:58:17,480
thank you so much for finding her, because you we

1033
00:58:17,639 --> 00:58:20,639
get to keep her for a little while longer. Oh

1034
00:58:20,679 --> 00:58:24,800
I'm glad to help, I said, And thanks for the pie.

1035
00:58:25,119 --> 00:58:28,239
Like most people in this town, I knew Leonard from

1036
00:58:28,280 --> 00:58:33,119
grade school hadn't changed since then, Still the same spoiled kid.

1037
00:58:33,960 --> 00:58:37,960
Children in school fractioned into groups His friends were about

1038
00:58:37,960 --> 00:58:41,440
appearances and how they dressed, and a class system that

1039
00:58:41,480 --> 00:58:44,440
put them in a category of snobs. That's what we

1040
00:58:44,559 --> 00:58:48,320
called them. Anything they had or did was better than

1041
00:58:48,519 --> 00:58:51,119
what you had or did, according to them, and they

1042
00:58:51,199 --> 00:58:54,440
wasted not one minute letting you know it all the time.

1043
00:58:55,239 --> 00:58:59,199
His folks, I think, had inherited landing money. My friends

1044
00:58:59,239 --> 00:59:02,320
and I were coming people whose parents worked at the plants,

1045
00:59:02,360 --> 00:59:06,840
the furniture factors, or small businesses in town. I'm older

1046
00:59:06,920 --> 00:59:09,000
now and I've seen some life, and there are two

1047
00:59:09,079 --> 00:59:12,760
things I know to be a fact. First, what you

1048
00:59:12,840 --> 00:59:16,320
think of your place in the community doesn't matter. It's

1049
00:59:16,360 --> 00:59:19,440
an illusion people creating their mind, and they believe it

1050
00:59:19,519 --> 00:59:23,639
so much and they never change. And last, kids act

1051
00:59:23,800 --> 00:59:27,599
just like their parents. Leonard had been an asshole all

1052
00:59:27,639 --> 00:59:30,039
his life, but he came by it honest because he

1053
00:59:30,079 --> 00:59:33,760
acted just like his daddy. I had humiliated him in

1054
00:59:33,800 --> 00:59:36,719
front of the girl that he was after, actually in

1055
00:59:36,760 --> 00:59:39,360
front of the whole town. Once the word got around,

1056
00:59:39,800 --> 00:59:43,360
and he wasn't gonna let it go. Every person who

1057
00:59:43,400 --> 00:59:46,840
saw that scar on his face remembered how it got there,

1058
00:59:47,280 --> 00:59:50,119
and I imagine he remembered every day when he combed

1059
00:59:50,119 --> 00:59:54,679
his hair. Three years in Parchment had not satisfied his anger,

1060
00:59:54,719 --> 00:59:57,920
and probably never would not have to be careful what

1061
00:59:58,039 --> 01:00:01,360
I did and not let him provoke, because I was

1062
01:00:01,360 --> 01:00:04,400
in the parole system, and what infraction would send me

1063
01:00:04,559 --> 01:00:09,920
straight back to Parchment. Leonard's father, Maynard Stilts, owned the

1064
01:00:09,960 --> 01:00:13,880
property on the backside of my family's land. I think

1065
01:00:13,920 --> 01:00:16,480
they owned as much as a thousand acres, and they

1066
01:00:16,519 --> 01:00:18,880
rented it to farm, and they took timber from a

1067
01:00:18,920 --> 01:00:22,039
few sections. It was land that had been in his

1068
01:00:22,079 --> 01:00:26,199
family for generations, and in the winter the family hunted it.

1069
01:00:26,840 --> 01:00:29,800
People were always back there. Now. I had cut his

1070
01:00:29,960 --> 01:00:33,400
fence to get my tractor to missus Wilson. The fence

1071
01:00:33,480 --> 01:00:36,360
served no purpose now, but they had once kept cows

1072
01:00:36,400 --> 01:00:39,480
on their place, and the fence remained. I wasn't ever

1073
01:00:39,519 --> 01:00:42,079
going to talk about that or give the story to

1074
01:00:42,119 --> 01:00:44,800
the sheriff unless I had to, and even then I

1075
01:00:44,840 --> 01:00:46,559
was going to lie and say I found the poor

1076
01:00:46,599 --> 01:00:50,239
woman on my property. Over the next week I finished

1077
01:00:50,239 --> 01:00:53,280
cutting my field and got them looking like something. And

1078
01:00:53,320 --> 01:00:56,800
then in October I disked food plots in several places.

1079
01:00:57,199 --> 01:00:59,960
One in the backfield. It backed up to the Stilts place.

1080
01:01:01,400 --> 01:01:03,800
It was the last field I turned over, and it

1081
01:01:03,920 --> 01:01:07,039
was late on a clear evening, just about dark, and

1082
01:01:07,119 --> 01:01:11,119
I saw Maynard Stilts and others back there cutting shooting lanes.

1083
01:01:12,159 --> 01:01:14,920
We never spoke, and we never waved at each other.

1084
01:01:15,400 --> 01:01:18,199
I didn't think much of him. He turned a few

1085
01:01:18,280 --> 01:01:21,719
small things into big issues while my father was alive.

1086
01:01:22,559 --> 01:01:25,519
He was a big, loud man who always got his way,

1087
01:01:25,559 --> 01:01:27,960
and if he didn't, he'd make you pay, one way

1088
01:01:28,039 --> 01:01:31,440
or another. He was hollering at me from his side,

1089
01:01:31,559 --> 01:01:34,000
waving his arms at me to stop and talk, but

1090
01:01:34,079 --> 01:01:36,840
I never stopped. I didn't want anything to do with

1091
01:01:36,880 --> 01:01:40,559
the whole family, so I just kept working. He eventually

1092
01:01:40,599 --> 01:01:43,360
walked away from the fence and stopped hollering and waving

1093
01:01:43,440 --> 01:01:46,519
at me. They were setting up a new shooting house.

1094
01:01:46,960 --> 01:01:49,639
Another man, who I think may have been Lenyard, stood

1095
01:01:49,639 --> 01:01:52,559
and watch me while a man on an excavator tilted

1096
01:01:52,559 --> 01:01:55,679
the shooting house up in the place. When I made

1097
01:01:55,679 --> 01:01:58,360
my last pass, they were nailing lighter rungs on the

1098
01:01:58,400 --> 01:02:02,119
wood stilts dark, so I went back to the house.

1099
01:02:02,800 --> 01:02:04,800
I'd throw out sea the next day and be done

1100
01:02:04,840 --> 01:02:08,760
with the food plots. Deer season had been open for

1101
01:02:08,800 --> 01:02:11,679
a couple of weeks. Only a few days after tilling

1102
01:02:11,760 --> 01:02:15,760
my fields, I had my stand set up, two of them,

1103
01:02:15,760 --> 01:02:19,159
both stands placed inside the trees a few yards close

1104
01:02:19,239 --> 01:02:22,400
to game trails. I could hunt the woods behind me

1105
01:02:22,440 --> 01:02:25,280
in the fields in front of me, and by Thanksgiving

1106
01:02:25,320 --> 01:02:28,039
I had taken two dough and had meat in the freezer.

1107
01:02:28,519 --> 01:02:30,639
The rest of the season would be waiting for a

1108
01:02:30,639 --> 01:02:34,239
big buck. The second Saturday in December, and after a

1109
01:02:34,280 --> 01:02:36,440
hard week at work, I got a day to get

1110
01:02:36,480 --> 01:02:39,480
in my stand. In the dark, I walked to the

1111
01:02:39,519 --> 01:02:42,880
backfield and climbed into my stand. By the time I

1112
01:02:42,920 --> 01:02:45,519
got there, I was sweating, and it was fifteen degrees

1113
01:02:45,559 --> 01:02:48,599
and it wasn't long before I was cold. I was

1114
01:02:48,639 --> 01:02:51,920
determined to stay there until noon. And I sat there shivering,

1115
01:02:52,079 --> 01:02:54,480
feet and hands numb, and I had to move more

1116
01:02:54,519 --> 01:02:57,320
than I should have to get comfortable. I should walk

1117
01:02:57,360 --> 01:03:01,599
slower and avoid sweating. I thought to myself. I made

1118
01:03:01,599 --> 01:03:03,880
it until ten, and I decided I wasn't going to

1119
01:03:03,920 --> 01:03:06,480
make it any longer, so I started to climb down

1120
01:03:06,559 --> 01:03:09,599
and head to the house. I heard a woman calling.

1121
01:03:10,320 --> 01:03:12,840
The pines were singing when the wind picked up, and

1122
01:03:12,920 --> 01:03:16,000
I thought I was hearing something that I wasn't. I

1123
01:03:16,000 --> 01:03:18,480
stepped down two more rungs and I heard it again.

1124
01:03:18,840 --> 01:03:22,639
It was a woman's voice, raised voice, and I stopped.

1125
01:03:23,239 --> 01:03:27,280
There were two voices, two women yelling, one louder than

1126
01:03:27,320 --> 01:03:30,280
the other, and then a male voice yelling. Had to

1127
01:03:30,280 --> 01:03:32,480
be a group hunting in the Stilt shooting house, so

1128
01:03:32,519 --> 01:03:34,960
I paid no attention and I got to the ground

1129
01:03:35,000 --> 01:03:38,440
and walked fast back to the house. I got warm,

1130
01:03:38,480 --> 01:03:40,679
fixed something to eat, laid on the couch watching the

1131
01:03:40,679 --> 01:03:44,800
game on TV, and I fell asleep. Banging on the

1132
01:03:44,800 --> 01:03:48,880
front door woke me. My watch showed one point fifteen PM,

1133
01:03:49,440 --> 01:03:51,960
opened the door, and James, the deputy, jerked me out

1134
01:03:52,000 --> 01:03:55,039
on the porch and handcuffed me. What the hell was

1135
01:03:55,079 --> 01:03:58,039
going on was my first thought, but I didn't say it.

1136
01:03:58,559 --> 01:04:00,960
I'd learned from my lawyer years ago to keep my

1137
01:04:01,039 --> 01:04:04,599
mouth shut. I was in sock feet and a T shirt,

1138
01:04:04,599 --> 01:04:06,440
and I was shoved in the back seat and we

1139
01:04:06,599 --> 01:04:09,760
drove away. You could have let me put on some shoes,

1140
01:04:09,960 --> 01:04:13,480
I said. Leonard looked back at me from the passenger

1141
01:04:13,559 --> 01:04:15,920
seat and he said, so you could grab a gun

1142
01:04:15,960 --> 01:04:20,039
and kill us. I'm a convicted felon. I can't own

1143
01:04:20,039 --> 01:04:24,480
a gun, dumb ass a standard procedure, Jet said, James,

1144
01:04:24,599 --> 01:04:27,480
we'll get some shoes on you at the station. Well

1145
01:04:27,519 --> 01:04:31,960
what's this about, I asked. Leonard looked back again, like

1146
01:04:32,119 --> 01:04:35,039
you don't know. Playing stupid is a good defense, isn't it.

1147
01:04:35,840 --> 01:04:38,719
I knew then that it was over. Whatever crime they

1148
01:04:38,719 --> 01:04:41,239
were about to charge me with would send my life

1149
01:04:41,239 --> 01:04:45,039
into a spiral once again. I never said another word

1150
01:04:45,119 --> 01:04:48,440
until my lawyer showed up, and that was Monday. He

1151
01:04:48,480 --> 01:04:51,320
sat across the table in the conference room, sipping coffee

1152
01:04:51,360 --> 01:04:55,159
and looking over some papers. Why they arrest me, I asked,

1153
01:04:55,559 --> 01:04:58,440
You don't know. Ain't nobody said a word to me,

1154
01:04:58,679 --> 01:05:02,079
I said, I haven't talked to the DA yet, so

1155
01:05:02,159 --> 01:05:05,079
I don't know they'll be charging you with anything just yet.

1156
01:05:05,599 --> 01:05:07,320
But I can tell you that a body of an

1157
01:05:07,360 --> 01:05:10,760
elderly woman was found on your property. I spoke with

1158
01:05:10,880 --> 01:05:13,760
sheriff for a few minutes. They think you killed her

1159
01:05:13,760 --> 01:05:16,159
and dumped her in the weeds of one of your fields,

1160
01:05:16,599 --> 01:05:19,159
says he has a witness to watch you do it. Well,

1161
01:05:19,159 --> 01:05:22,119
can you tell me now? I can't tell you anything

1162
01:05:22,159 --> 01:05:26,320
because I don't even know what you're talking about. Whose body? Well,

1163
01:05:26,400 --> 01:05:29,159
let me look here, let's see, he shuffled through the notes.

1164
01:05:29,480 --> 01:05:32,800
It's a white female, approximately eighty years old. She was

1165
01:05:32,840 --> 01:05:36,679
identified by her daughter as Miss Norma Wilson, a resident

1166
01:05:36,760 --> 01:05:41,039
of Magnolia Nursing Home here in town. Miss Wilson, I

1167
01:05:41,159 --> 01:05:45,360
asked you know her? He said, well, I can't say

1168
01:05:45,360 --> 01:05:47,679
that I know her. She showed up on my place

1169
01:05:47,679 --> 01:05:50,840
a few weeks ago. She's overheated and pretty beat up

1170
01:05:50,880 --> 01:05:53,920
from walking around in the woods. She's got to mention,

1171
01:05:54,159 --> 01:05:56,239
and she had wandered away from the house and I

1172
01:05:56,280 --> 01:05:58,280
helped her to the house, and her daughter came and

1173
01:05:58,320 --> 01:06:01,440
got her, or the ambulance came to get her. I

1174
01:06:01,480 --> 01:06:04,599
heard she was in that nursing home. Now, jet have

1175
01:06:04,679 --> 01:06:09,320
you seen her since then? No, I said, If they

1176
01:06:09,440 --> 01:06:12,119
charge you with her death, I'll try to find out

1177
01:06:12,119 --> 01:06:14,559
what evidence they have that makes them think it's you.

1178
01:06:15,000 --> 01:06:17,400
I'll be back with you after I talk to the DA.

1179
01:06:17,679 --> 01:06:20,440
I can't do anything until they formally charge you. And

1180
01:06:20,440 --> 01:06:22,320
if they don't charge you today, you'll be out of

1181
01:06:22,360 --> 01:06:26,199
here by tonight. Okay, I'll wait to hear from you.

1182
01:06:26,239 --> 01:06:28,280
Can you get a pair of shoes to me, maybe

1183
01:06:28,280 --> 01:06:31,719
a sweatshirt? It's cold in here. Let me see what

1184
01:06:31,719 --> 01:06:34,760
I can do. Don't talk to anyone, You know the drill, right.

1185
01:06:36,119 --> 01:06:38,480
I sat in that county sel for two much waiting

1186
01:06:38,480 --> 01:06:41,599
for my trial. Once a week I met with my lawyer.

1187
01:06:42,559 --> 01:06:45,360
The meetings were short because he never had anything new

1188
01:06:45,400 --> 01:06:48,280
to tell me. The only evidence the state had was

1189
01:06:48,320 --> 01:06:50,800
a witness who claimed he saw me place the body

1190
01:06:50,800 --> 01:06:53,760
in the weeds. My lawyer was a good man, and

1191
01:06:53,840 --> 01:06:56,480
he believed I had nothing to do with the woman's death.

1192
01:06:57,199 --> 01:07:00,079
The story that day and my movements up until I

1193
01:07:00,119 --> 01:07:03,119
was arrested, was told exactly the same every time he

1194
01:07:03,239 --> 01:07:06,000
asked me to tell it. That day back in September

1195
01:07:06,039 --> 01:07:09,119
when I found her was always the same too, even

1196
01:07:09,159 --> 01:07:11,440
though I kept my lie about where I found her.

1197
01:07:11,880 --> 01:07:14,320
At that point, it didn't matter where I found the woman,

1198
01:07:14,440 --> 01:07:16,840
but I had told her daughter that her mother had

1199
01:07:16,880 --> 01:07:19,880
collapsed on my property and not the Stilts place, and

1200
01:07:19,920 --> 01:07:23,000
if I ever changed that small detail, they would peg

1201
01:07:23,039 --> 01:07:26,159
me as changing my story. I knew no one had

1202
01:07:26,199 --> 01:07:28,719
seen me carry her back to my house that day,

1203
01:07:28,760 --> 01:07:32,320
so I stuck with the story. The dark sense of

1204
01:07:32,360 --> 01:07:36,119
the world consumed me in that cell. It was a cold,

1205
01:07:36,400 --> 01:07:41,079
lifeless place, constantly lit by fluorescent lights that hummed and

1206
01:07:41,159 --> 01:07:45,159
clicked twenty four hours a day. Sometimes there were others

1207
01:07:45,239 --> 01:07:48,440
in other cells. Some of them never said a word

1208
01:07:48,480 --> 01:07:50,800
to me, and that was fine, and some could not

1209
01:07:50,880 --> 01:07:52,960
shut their mouths, and I was glad to see him

1210
01:07:52,960 --> 01:07:57,159
released and gone. My brother and my sister were allowed

1211
01:07:57,159 --> 01:07:59,639
to visit, and I saw them two or three times.

1212
01:08:00,360 --> 01:08:03,079
My sister left some books for me to pass the time,

1213
01:08:03,119 --> 01:08:06,079
but I couldn't read them, couldn't get the ordeal off

1214
01:08:06,119 --> 01:08:10,280
my mind. The death penalty was talked about, and we

1215
01:08:10,320 --> 01:08:12,880
didn't know how the DA would proceed For a while.

1216
01:08:13,800 --> 01:08:16,600
The whole case hung on one witness, and if they

1217
01:08:16,680 --> 01:08:19,800
had physical evidence, we didn't know about it. And my

1218
01:08:19,920 --> 01:08:23,039
lawyers said they had examined miss Wilson's body and even

1219
01:08:23,079 --> 01:08:27,319
done an autopsy which included a sexual assault kit, and

1220
01:08:27,359 --> 01:08:29,960
they found nothing to put me in contact with her.

1221
01:08:30,520 --> 01:08:32,359
And he went on to say that if they had

1222
01:08:32,399 --> 01:08:35,159
a good case, they would have gone for the death sentence,

1223
01:08:35,680 --> 01:08:38,479
and that was the only hope I had. She had

1224
01:08:38,560 --> 01:08:41,479
most likely died from a blow to her head. According

1225
01:08:41,520 --> 01:08:45,199
to the coroner's report, someone had hit her with something.

1226
01:08:46,039 --> 01:08:49,199
My house in every field and patches of woods had

1227
01:08:49,239 --> 01:08:53,159
been searched looking for this weapon, but nobody had found anything,

1228
01:08:53,239 --> 01:08:57,439
and that surprised me. The witness was Maynard Stilts, and

1229
01:08:57,520 --> 01:09:00,439
if he wanted to set me up, he sure misseds

1230
01:09:00,479 --> 01:09:03,560
to lock everything down by planning something around my place.

1231
01:09:04,520 --> 01:09:06,720
He had not seen me kill the woman. That was

1232
01:09:06,720 --> 01:09:09,399
his testimony, and it would be that he watched me

1233
01:09:09,520 --> 01:09:13,159
from his shooting house carry Miss Wilson over my shoulder,

1234
01:09:13,600 --> 01:09:16,800
walk up to a wire fence, and cut all four strands,

1235
01:09:17,119 --> 01:09:20,039
and then place her body on his land and walk

1236
01:09:20,079 --> 01:09:23,359
away toward my house. Now I knew I had cut

1237
01:09:23,399 --> 01:09:26,359
those strands of wire months earlier to get my tractor

1238
01:09:26,399 --> 01:09:29,840
to Miss Wilson. The cuts would still look fresh, and

1239
01:09:29,920 --> 01:09:33,039
it did back up his story. I had done that,

1240
01:09:33,199 --> 01:09:36,520
but not the day Miss Wilson was found. He found

1241
01:09:36,520 --> 01:09:38,439
that wire cut and he knew he could use that

1242
01:09:38,520 --> 01:09:41,640
to add weight to a story. I couldn't believe that

1243
01:09:41,680 --> 01:09:43,920
I could be put away for life because one man

1244
01:09:43,960 --> 01:09:46,520
said he saw me do something that I had not done.

1245
01:09:47,239 --> 01:09:50,319
But this is small town, Mississippi, and these small towns

1246
01:09:50,319 --> 01:09:54,439
are virtually isolated from the world. They have their own personalities.

1247
01:09:55,119 --> 01:09:57,359
Most are ruled by one or more families, and the

1248
01:09:57,399 --> 01:09:59,479
Stilts family was one of them, and they were going

1249
01:09:59,520 --> 01:10:01,760
to get there revenge for what I did to Leonyard

1250
01:10:01,840 --> 01:10:05,720
years ago. You can't stop these things once they get started,

1251
01:10:06,079 --> 01:10:10,199
not in a little town like this. On the days

1252
01:10:10,239 --> 01:10:12,399
that I didn't obsess on what was happening to me,

1253
01:10:12,479 --> 01:10:15,079
I would think about missus Wilson. In the short time

1254
01:10:15,159 --> 01:10:18,319
I spent with her, I never got to know anything

1255
01:10:18,359 --> 01:10:22,199
about her. We didn't exchange a coherent sentence between us,

1256
01:10:22,800 --> 01:10:26,159
but her voice locked in my memory, and how she spoke,

1257
01:10:26,239 --> 01:10:28,920
and the soft tone of it all. And I wonder

1258
01:10:29,159 --> 01:10:31,880
if there were other men, even boys, who were drawn

1259
01:10:31,920 --> 01:10:34,760
to that gentle sound of a woman's voice like hers.

1260
01:10:35,520 --> 01:10:38,159
It starts with a voice, and it showers a man

1261
01:10:38,319 --> 01:10:41,680
with the warm affection and concern, as if she gives

1262
01:10:41,720 --> 01:10:45,720
a damn about him. The memory of her slender fingers

1263
01:10:45,800 --> 01:10:49,479
tracing the wounds on her face and legs, and never complaining,

1264
01:10:50,119 --> 01:10:52,479
even looking at me with a hint of a smile,

1265
01:10:52,960 --> 01:10:55,319
as if she didn't want me to bother with her,

1266
01:10:55,439 --> 01:10:58,039
and that she couldn't figure out where the scratches had

1267
01:10:58,079 --> 01:11:00,720
come from. And in a way I fell in love

1268
01:11:00,720 --> 01:11:03,279
with her spirit that day, and I thought about her

1269
01:11:03,319 --> 01:11:06,399
through the weeks before she died. I wanted to call

1270
01:11:06,399 --> 01:11:09,159
her daughter and ask about her, but not wanting to

1271
01:11:09,159 --> 01:11:12,000
put myself in the business of people that I didn't know.

1272
01:11:12,760 --> 01:11:15,000
I wish my mother had had that demeanor, and I

1273
01:11:15,039 --> 01:11:18,279
didn't feel bad about that. I sat in that cell

1274
01:11:18,600 --> 01:11:21,520
and I hoarded my thoughts and worries and the dread

1275
01:11:21,560 --> 01:11:24,479
of going back to parchment again, this time for good.

1276
01:11:25,399 --> 01:11:28,119
The days began to blur USh one, and by that

1277
01:11:28,199 --> 01:11:31,560
time I was beginning to accept my future of nothing

1278
01:11:31,760 --> 01:11:35,119
while pushing the thoughts of hope away. Might as well

1279
01:11:35,159 --> 01:11:38,119
get mentally prepared for a guilty verdict so I wouldn't

1280
01:11:38,119 --> 01:11:41,439
want to kill myself when the decision was made. I

1281
01:11:41,520 --> 01:11:44,279
wasn't going to be surprised if things went bad, and

1282
01:11:44,319 --> 01:11:46,399
I would be shocked and happy if I was found

1283
01:11:46,479 --> 01:11:51,359
not guilty. And then things changed. One week before the trial.

1284
01:11:53,199 --> 01:11:55,279
It was during the day when someone came into the

1285
01:11:55,319 --> 01:11:58,800
holding area of the jail. I had memorized every noise

1286
01:11:58,880 --> 01:12:03,159
in that place. Someone was heading to myself. I stood

1287
01:12:03,159 --> 01:12:06,039
from my bunk, half asleep and looked out the small

1288
01:12:06,159 --> 01:12:08,760
inch thick glass in the wall, and I saw the

1289
01:12:08,800 --> 01:12:12,119
green leaves of may blowing in the breeze. And then

1290
01:12:12,159 --> 01:12:14,680
look back to find my lawyer standing in front of

1291
01:12:14,720 --> 01:12:18,399
the bars. He was alone, which was odd because no

1292
01:12:18,439 --> 01:12:21,880
one was allowed back there without a cop I may

1293
01:12:21,920 --> 01:12:24,920
have good news for you, Jet. Actually I think it

1294
01:12:25,000 --> 01:12:26,920
is good news. I think you're going to be let

1295
01:12:26,920 --> 01:12:30,239
out of here by tomorrow. New evidence has come to light,

1296
01:12:30,399 --> 01:12:35,279
he said. Investigators are confirming what they have. But I've

1297
01:12:35,359 --> 01:12:37,560
seen it, and it's a matter of a few hours

1298
01:12:37,640 --> 01:12:42,439
and you'll be released. What happened, I asked, Let's get

1299
01:12:42,439 --> 01:12:45,319
it confirmed first, and then i'll feel you in. I

1300
01:12:45,399 --> 01:12:48,079
just couldn't wait to let you know things are looking good.

1301
01:12:48,560 --> 01:12:50,560
I hang tight, and I'll be back with you when

1302
01:12:50,600 --> 01:12:54,119
we're sure. This better be the real deal, I said.

1303
01:12:54,960 --> 01:12:57,680
I wouldn't have told you unless I was sure, he said.

1304
01:12:58,880 --> 01:13:01,680
I spent the next hours watching the green leaves blow

1305
01:13:01,760 --> 01:13:04,159
on a blushed gree day off the small opening in

1306
01:13:04,239 --> 01:13:08,039
the wall. The minutes ticked by and it got dark outside.

1307
01:13:08,600 --> 01:13:11,399
So with new energy, I started doing push ups and

1308
01:13:11,439 --> 01:13:15,159
set ups to try to drain my anxiety. I was

1309
01:13:15,239 --> 01:13:18,920
exhausted when two men came to the cell. They opened

1310
01:13:18,960 --> 01:13:21,119
the gate and released me. That night, and I was

1311
01:13:21,159 --> 01:13:24,600
giving her ride to my house several calls to my

1312
01:13:24,680 --> 01:13:28,159
lawyer went unanswered. I was afraid to get comfortable with

1313
01:13:28,199 --> 01:13:31,239
this new freedom, and I expected it all to change

1314
01:13:31,279 --> 01:13:34,359
within minutes. But the night went on and I fell

1315
01:13:34,399 --> 01:13:38,159
asleep on the couch. When I woke, I got a

1316
01:13:38,239 --> 01:13:41,840
shower and changed into my regular clothes, and I started breakfast.

1317
01:13:42,399 --> 01:13:44,239
There was a knock on the door, and it pulled

1318
01:13:44,239 --> 01:13:49,119
my attention away, and I invited Samantha Jones inside. She

1319
01:13:49,199 --> 01:13:51,439
looked happy, and she walked ahead of me into the

1320
01:13:51,560 --> 01:13:54,520
kitchen and sat down at the table. I stood there

1321
01:13:54,560 --> 01:13:57,880
staring at her, not knowing why she was there. You

1322
01:13:57,960 --> 01:14:01,479
got enough food for two, she asked, I can make

1323
01:14:01,520 --> 01:14:05,079
so there's enough. Are you hungry? We ate eggs and

1324
01:14:05,119 --> 01:14:09,520
bacons and biscuits, and she told me a story. My

1325
01:14:09,720 --> 01:14:14,159
family is not from here. My grandparents came here looking

1326
01:14:14,199 --> 01:14:16,520
for work a lot of years ago, and they stayed.

1327
01:14:17,319 --> 01:14:19,840
They never had much, but Granddaddy made a life for

1328
01:14:19,920 --> 01:14:23,479
us here. My mother was ten when they moved here.

1329
01:14:24,359 --> 01:14:26,920
She was seventeen and in high school when she met

1330
01:14:26,920 --> 01:14:30,119
a boy at a dance one night. He was in

1331
01:14:30,119 --> 01:14:34,600
his third year at Old Miss Fancy fraternity. Boy dressed

1332
01:14:34,680 --> 01:14:37,000
ice and drove an ice car and had money in

1333
01:14:37,039 --> 01:14:40,560
his pocket, had a powerful family here, and she knew

1334
01:14:40,600 --> 01:14:44,800
all that. He danced with my mother all night, never

1335
01:14:44,840 --> 01:14:47,960
asked another girl to dance. He must have told her

1336
01:14:47,960 --> 01:14:51,720
that he loved her at some point, made promises, you

1337
01:14:51,760 --> 01:14:55,880
know how that goes. After the dance, she left with him,

1338
01:14:55,920 --> 01:14:58,600
and when he was done with her, he dropped her

1339
01:14:58,680 --> 01:15:01,479
off on a county road somewhere, and he drove off

1340
01:15:01,520 --> 01:15:04,439
in the dark. It must have been a pathetic sight.

1341
01:15:05,039 --> 01:15:07,279
Every time I think about that night for my mother,

1342
01:15:07,479 --> 01:15:10,920
I feel like crying. Well, it wasn't too many weeks

1343
01:15:10,920 --> 01:15:13,680
after that night. She tried to see him again to

1344
01:15:13,760 --> 01:15:16,960
tell him that she was pregnant, but he wouldn't see her.

1345
01:15:17,880 --> 01:15:20,319
His father ran her off the property and told her

1346
01:15:20,359 --> 01:15:23,119
to never come back with those lines, and if she did,

1347
01:15:23,520 --> 01:15:26,560
he would have her arrested. And that scared her to death,

1348
01:15:26,600 --> 01:15:30,119
and she stayed away. And my family are good people.

1349
01:15:30,319 --> 01:15:33,039
They supported my mother and she had the baby, and

1350
01:15:33,079 --> 01:15:37,600
the baby was me. Yes, I am Maynard Stilts's daughter,

1351
01:15:37,680 --> 01:15:40,760
and I can prove it now with new technology, but

1352
01:15:40,840 --> 01:15:43,720
there's no need for that. Look at me Jet and

1353
01:15:43,800 --> 01:15:46,439
think about him, and you can see we share a

1354
01:15:46,479 --> 01:15:50,319
few features. I looked into her eyes and tried to

1355
01:15:50,439 --> 01:15:55,199
visualize Stilts. I'd not spend ten minutes with Maynard Stilts

1356
01:15:55,279 --> 01:15:57,600
in my whole life, but when she said that, I

1357
01:15:57,600 --> 01:16:01,159
could see it, and I nodded my head. The other

1358
01:16:01,239 --> 01:16:04,159
reason I haven't pursued this is because I know that

1359
01:16:04,239 --> 01:16:07,920
he knows who I am. For years, whenever I ran

1360
01:16:07,960 --> 01:16:10,880
into him in town somewhere, he would lock eyes with me,

1361
01:16:11,079 --> 01:16:15,199
and I never knew why. Sometimes it would make me uneasy,

1362
01:16:15,279 --> 01:16:17,800
but I could count on his stare each time we

1363
01:16:17,800 --> 01:16:22,199
were within shouting distance. But now I know why. Now.

1364
01:16:22,239 --> 01:16:25,119
I told you back in September that my mother seemed

1365
01:16:25,159 --> 01:16:28,520
to only remember things from sixty years in the past,

1366
01:16:28,600 --> 01:16:32,319
and hardly anything after that. Well, one night not too

1367
01:16:32,359 --> 01:16:35,840
long ago before she died, she had a lucid half

1368
01:16:35,920 --> 01:16:38,560
hour in the nursing home and she told me this

1369
01:16:38,680 --> 01:16:41,840
whole story. There was a shock to me because all

1370
01:16:41,880 --> 01:16:44,079
I ever knew was my daddy, and I thought I

1371
01:16:44,159 --> 01:16:47,479
belonged to him. Lord, I'm glad he's gone on account

1372
01:16:47,520 --> 01:16:49,800
of this, because he was such a good man, and

1373
01:16:49,880 --> 01:16:52,399
all this would Mama would have been a huge burden

1374
01:16:52,479 --> 01:16:56,720
on him. Now. Anyway, I had so many questions for

1375
01:16:56,880 --> 01:16:59,560
Mama when she told me this, But it wasn't long

1376
01:16:59,600 --> 01:17:03,399
before she slipped away to wherever dementia takes people. She

1377
01:17:03,439 --> 01:17:06,479
didn't even know I was sitting there anymore. Now, can

1378
01:17:06,520 --> 01:17:09,800
you imagine a woman carrying this secret all those years?

1379
01:17:10,479 --> 01:17:13,159
Imagine the shame she must have felt being a single

1380
01:17:13,199 --> 01:17:16,800
mother way back then. I'm just thankful my family are

1381
01:17:16,880 --> 01:17:19,560
such good people, and they loved her and me and us,

1382
01:17:19,680 --> 01:17:23,039
just like none of that had ever happened. Now, you

1383
01:17:23,079 --> 01:17:26,399
ask where my mother was headed back in September. She

1384
01:17:26,560 --> 01:17:29,960
was trying to get to Maynard Stilts. I don't know

1385
01:17:30,000 --> 01:17:32,880
why or what she wanted with him, and we will

1386
01:17:32,920 --> 01:17:36,439
never know. I suspect had she been in the right

1387
01:17:36,479 --> 01:17:38,960
state of mind, she wouldn't have thought twice about that

1388
01:17:39,000 --> 01:17:43,159
main old man and his family. Samantha stopped talking. She

1389
01:17:43,279 --> 01:17:46,000
dabbed the tears from her eyes. It was a good

1390
01:17:46,000 --> 01:17:49,039
time to ask a question. Is that why she was

1391
01:17:49,119 --> 01:17:52,079
on my place in December? How did she get away

1392
01:17:52,119 --> 01:17:54,079
from the nursing home or did someone give her a

1393
01:17:54,199 --> 01:17:59,720
ride out here? Samantha composed herself. We don't know how

1394
01:17:59,800 --> 01:18:02,560
she got over this way, but it looks like she walked,

1395
01:18:03,079 --> 01:18:04,880
you know, the home she was in is only a

1396
01:18:04,880 --> 01:18:07,920
couple of miles down the highway. She had had the

1397
01:18:07,960 --> 01:18:10,920
sense to put on a coat and shoes. We think

1398
01:18:11,000 --> 01:18:13,680
she just started walking like she had done the first

1399
01:18:13,760 --> 01:18:18,199
time you saw. There was a pause, like Samantha was

1400
01:18:18,239 --> 01:18:21,159
gathering her thoughts on what or how to say the

1401
01:18:21,199 --> 01:18:25,680
next thing. Jet, your lawyer called me. He asked me

1402
01:18:25,720 --> 01:18:27,800
to tell you that he should have been the one

1403
01:18:27,840 --> 01:18:30,399
to tell you why the case against you went away,

1404
01:18:31,079 --> 01:18:33,159
but after he heard this story, he thought it would

1405
01:18:33,239 --> 01:18:37,039
be better coming from me. I'm the one who turned

1406
01:18:37,039 --> 01:18:40,119
in the evidence that cleared you. I gave it to

1407
01:18:40,239 --> 01:18:43,000
him because he would know the channels and the way

1408
01:18:43,079 --> 01:18:46,399
to take care of all this. That was two days ago.

1409
01:18:47,000 --> 01:18:50,359
Last night they set you free. But before I tell

1410
01:18:50,399 --> 01:18:52,000
you the rest of it, I want you to know

1411
01:18:52,039 --> 01:18:54,680
that I never once thought you did anything to my mother,

1412
01:18:54,840 --> 01:18:57,800
not once. I knew that if she had been murdered,

1413
01:18:57,840 --> 01:19:01,479
that it was not you. Well, thanks for that, I said.

1414
01:19:02,079 --> 01:19:04,039
I worried about what y'all thought of me while I

1415
01:19:04,079 --> 01:19:07,359
was in jail. Well I know you, dear hunter set

1416
01:19:07,399 --> 01:19:10,479
up cameras all over the woods, and her murder was

1417
01:19:10,560 --> 01:19:14,039
on video. It even had audios captured on one of

1418
01:19:14,039 --> 01:19:18,239
those cameras. Now I couldn't watch it, but my husband did,

1419
01:19:18,640 --> 01:19:21,560
and we rushed it over to your lawyer's office immediately.

1420
01:19:22,520 --> 01:19:25,800
She was filmed on two cameras that are strapped to trees.

1421
01:19:26,560 --> 01:19:29,600
One shows her walking past the lens and that's it.

1422
01:19:30,319 --> 01:19:32,840
The other shows her coming into the frame and being

1423
01:19:32,880 --> 01:19:37,560
confronted by a woman, missus Stilts. Now this woman's all

1424
01:19:37,600 --> 01:19:40,600
bundled up, but it's plain it's her. She seemed to

1425
01:19:40,600 --> 01:19:43,199
have compassion for my mother. She even took off her

1426
01:19:43,239 --> 01:19:46,800
coat to wrap around Mama's shoulders. But it isn't long

1427
01:19:46,840 --> 01:19:49,760
before old man Stilts comes into the frame and Mama

1428
01:19:49,800 --> 01:19:53,479
starts talking about that night when they were young. You

1429
01:19:53,520 --> 01:19:56,720
can hear him tell her that she's crazy to shut

1430
01:19:56,840 --> 01:19:59,760
up over and over, but she tells him what she

1431
01:19:59,800 --> 01:20:03,279
wants on it to say anyway, and miss Stilt stands

1432
01:20:03,319 --> 01:20:05,960
there with her mouth open. This is all a big

1433
01:20:06,000 --> 01:20:09,800
surprise to her. The whole conversation is broken because that

1434
01:20:09,920 --> 01:20:13,520
video evidently shuts off and on again when movement triggers it.

1435
01:20:13,920 --> 01:20:16,239
But my husband says, she really gave it to that

1436
01:20:16,359 --> 01:20:18,920
old man, gave her a piece of her mind, and

1437
01:20:18,920 --> 01:20:22,960
that her daughter needed to be taken care of. Stilts's

1438
01:20:23,039 --> 01:20:25,399
wife runs out of the frame and we think she

1439
01:20:25,439 --> 01:20:27,800
went to get a vehicle to get Mama to someplace

1440
01:20:27,920 --> 01:20:31,159
warm because it was freezing out there that day. And

1441
01:20:31,199 --> 01:20:33,760
when she's gone, my husband says, you can see Mama

1442
01:20:33,840 --> 01:20:37,359
point her finger at Maynard's face. She says something that

1443
01:20:37,439 --> 01:20:42,000
he cann't understand. Once missus Stilts is gone for a minute,

1444
01:20:42,319 --> 01:20:45,920
Maynard Stilts turns his rifle around, he grabs it by

1445
01:20:45,960 --> 01:20:48,880
the barrel, and he hits Mama on the head and

1446
01:20:48,960 --> 01:20:53,960
she falls to the ground. Jet Maynard Stilts killed my mother.

1447
01:20:55,119 --> 01:20:57,239
All the mean things he's done to her through the

1448
01:20:57,319 --> 01:20:59,960
years by ignoring us, and he winds up killing her.

1449
01:21:00,600 --> 01:21:03,439
I just can't give my mind around it. The last

1450
01:21:03,520 --> 01:21:06,720
video is him dragging her towards your place. That's where

1451
01:21:06,760 --> 01:21:09,439
he left her, then called the police and then blamed

1452
01:21:09,439 --> 01:21:13,560
it on you. They arrested him and his wife yesterday

1453
01:21:13,600 --> 01:21:16,800
and they're sitting in the jailhouse where you were. I

1454
01:21:16,840 --> 01:21:19,520
bet they get released on bond before the day is over.

1455
01:21:20,239 --> 01:21:22,279
They have the money, and you know the judge will

1456
01:21:22,319 --> 01:21:25,359
be favorable to them because of who they are. I

1457
01:21:25,359 --> 01:21:28,359
imagine his wife would be released without charges. I don't

1458
01:21:28,399 --> 01:21:30,920
think she knew what he had done, but that story

1459
01:21:31,000 --> 01:21:35,359
will all come out soon. It was the oddest story

1460
01:21:35,680 --> 01:21:38,439
I'd ever heard, and the hell of it was that

1461
01:21:38,560 --> 01:21:41,600
I had somehow been mixed up in it all. I

1462
01:21:41,600 --> 01:21:43,840
didn't know what to say, so I just sat there

1463
01:21:43,880 --> 01:21:47,119
looking at Samantha jet. The last thing I have to

1464
01:21:47,159 --> 01:21:50,439
tell you is who gave us the video cards. But

1465
01:21:50,520 --> 01:21:53,880
you have to keep his name to yourself. I nodded

1466
01:21:53,960 --> 01:22:00,840
that I would. Leonard Stilts, Maynard's son, Leonard Stilts, my brother,

1467
01:22:01,239 --> 01:22:04,800
turned into evidence that will convict his own father. He

1468
01:22:04,880 --> 01:22:08,279
wanted me to tell you that enough is enough now.

1469
01:22:08,279 --> 01:22:10,680
He believed for months that you would kill mama. But

1470
01:22:10,800 --> 01:22:13,399
one day he remembered those cameras and it took the

1471
01:22:13,439 --> 01:22:15,840
cards out of him. Said he went a few days

1472
01:22:15,840 --> 01:22:18,239
before looking at him. That they wrote around in his

1473
01:22:18,319 --> 01:22:21,399
coat pocket for four or five days. But when he

1474
01:22:21,439 --> 01:22:24,319
looked at the videos and saw what had happened, he

1475
01:22:24,399 --> 01:22:27,600
knew he had to do the right thing. I think

1476
01:22:27,600 --> 01:22:30,399
he understands that you may never want to talk to him,

1477
01:22:30,520 --> 01:22:33,279
but he wanted you to know. I heard you went

1478
01:22:33,279 --> 01:22:36,239
to prison over something between you and him. Maybe he

1479
01:22:36,239 --> 01:22:39,399
feels bad about that I don't know. Well, now you

1480
01:22:39,479 --> 01:22:41,840
know the truth, and you can get on with your life.

1481
01:22:41,920 --> 01:22:45,880
Jet Samantha stood and hugged my neck. I can't say

1482
01:22:45,880 --> 01:22:49,720
I didn't appreciate her affection. Maybe it was in her eyes,

1483
01:22:49,840 --> 01:22:53,479
maybe the curve of her jaw that favored Maynard Stilts.

1484
01:22:53,560 --> 01:22:57,680
But she was still Norma Wilson's daughter all the way through.

1485
01:22:58,600 --> 01:23:02,399
I felt that from her touch she drove away, and

1486
01:23:02,439 --> 01:23:07,119
I haven't talked to her since. Maynard Stilts was released

1487
01:23:07,159 --> 01:23:10,680
on bond the next day. The day after that, he

1488
01:23:10,800 --> 01:23:14,840
hung himself in his basement. It was a big scandal

1489
01:23:14,880 --> 01:23:18,279
in town, and the talk went on for weeks. His

1490
01:23:18,359 --> 01:23:21,720
wife was not charged. She sold their place and moved

1491
01:23:21,720 --> 01:23:24,520
to another state. And I have new neighbors that I

1492
01:23:24,560 --> 01:23:28,600
have not met. I see Leonard from time to time.

1493
01:23:29,159 --> 01:23:31,680
We never talk, but each time I see him, I

1494
01:23:31,720 --> 01:23:34,159
nod or touch the brim of my hat and he

1495
01:23:34,239 --> 01:23:39,800
understands what I'm saying. I appreciate you listening to this podcast.

1496
01:23:40,079 --> 01:23:42,760
If you thought it was worthy and you enjoyed it,

1497
01:23:42,920 --> 01:23:45,199
maybe you can hit the thumbs up button or hit

1498
01:23:45,239 --> 01:23:47,560
the subscribe button. We'd love to have you along and

1499
01:23:47,640 --> 01:23:50,319
come back. Mainly just the next time one of my

1500
01:23:50,399 --> 01:23:52,960
video shows up in your feed, click on it because

1501
01:23:53,000 --> 01:23:55,920
it's always a good story. Thank you for listening, and

1502
01:23:55,960 --> 01:23:58,079
we'll see you on the next one, and that next

1503
01:23:58,079 --> 01:24:01,560
one will be early. This whunnest oh very high. I

1504
01:24:01,680 --> 01:24:07,800
gotta lead our he ress racket. Take another one step down.