What if the facts are the Mystery?

The girl’s race around the yard examining the boundaries of their new home, they chase squirrels up into the trees and bunnies into their dens. They race around to the back of the spacious cabin and back to the front circling it several times. The girls are my babies; Lexus and Sassparilla. Lexi is a blue fawn Pit bull and Sassy is a Saint Bernard. They are so excited about the move, because now they have two acres to play in. The property is fenced to keep them from wandering into the surrounding forest.

We are only about 6 miles from town, but the property feels secluded. We are surrounded by pine trees. They block our view from everything; the road and neighbors, which are about a quarter mile away. It’s all I ever dreamed of.

“Come on girls, time to come in.” I call to Lexi and Sassy. They keep playing; they love to push the limits of my patience.

“NOW, girls.” Finally they come running.

We walk together toward the door, I open the screen and they run in. I turn and give one last appreciative look at the forest. A bright light in the sky catches my eye; it hovers over the top of the trees about 100 yards away. I let the screen door fall shut and walk to the edge of my porch. As I watch 2 more balls of light join the first. They just kind of float there. I need to get a picture of this, I run into the house to get my phone. When I run back out they are gone, I was inside less than a minute and I don’t see them anywhere.  I run to the back of the cabin while Lexi and Sassy are having a fit being left inside. I don’t see the lights there either.

I come in thru the back door and lock it. I started getting an uneasy feeling when I ran around to my back yard. It’s a very large area that boarders a meadow. And it’s eerily silent and dark tonight. The dog’s greet me like I‘ve been gone forever, I push past them and hurriedly shut and lock the front door also. We all go into the kitchen for dinner, I was going to make a nice meal for our first night in the cabin, but now I decide to just grab a sandwich. The large airy bay windows that over look the back of the property, once my pride and joy, now however leave me feeling exposed. I grab some food for the girls, and myself and go into the living room. I draw all the curtains closed and we sit down and enjoy our meal.

I’ve almost convinced myself, that I was letting my imagination run wild from being in a new house, until we retire for the night. The curtains are open in front of the sliding glass door that leads to the balcony of my bedroom.  I try to ignore the sudden chill the climbs up my spine as I walk past them and enter the bathroom. I change my clothes, brush my teeth and return to the bedroom. Lexi is standing in front of the window with her hair standing up rigidly on her neck. Sassy is leaning into me, almost pushing me over. I freeze for a moment then run over and flip on the porch light. The balcony lights up like a sun burst. I peak out the glass door, nothing is there. I still close the curtains, just because. Tonight I let the girls jump in bed with me, instead of making them sleep in their own beds and we all drift to sleep.

The next day I wake refreshed, there were no scares the rest of the night and I convinced myself how silly I’d been. After I finished unpacking my art room, I took the girls for a walk. I take them to the meadow behind my house; the trees at the edges of the meadow are very thick. I don’t have the girls on a leash because they seldom venture far from me, but on this day they race into the forest. I call them, but they don’t come, I hear them whining though, I venture about 10 feet into the forest and see them pacing around something on the ground, they whine but keep they’re distance. 

“What is it girls?” I ask, Sassy whines and looks over at the object. I walk over and see a kitten, probably about 12 weeks old; it’s lying in a pile of leaves. I see that it’s dead because it’s not moving and its eyes are closed but other than that it looks like its sleeping.

“Ahh you poor baby.” I coo to it. “We can’t leave you here.” I decide to take it and bury it near my garden. I take off my sweater and lean over to pick it up, Sassy whines getting very agitated, I try to calm her but it doesn’t help. I think it’s the death that has her troubled and figure once the kitten is buried she’ll calm down, so I lean over again and Lexi jumps in front of me and growls softly. I push her out of the way and gently grab the kitten by its front legs; I draw her gently out of the leaves…….

“AAAAAAAHH…”I drop it and jump back and fall on my backside………the kitten has nothing after its rib cage. It looks like something or someone cut it perfectly in half, there are no organs spilling from the open orifice and neither is there any blood, the edges of the cut are perfectly straight. There are no signs of violence in the area and the fur of the kitten is clean, no signs of being mauled or anything, it’s like the scene has been staged. Just half a kitten placed on the ground and decorated with leaves. I sit where I’d fallen staring in stunned silence at the kitten. I notice that Sassy isn’t whining anymore, now she’s growling and so is Lexi, they are facing deeper into the forest. Sassy nudges me to get up and I don’t question her, I grab my sweater and we all retreat cautiously out of the forest. I don’t turn my back on it until I’m well into the meadow. Then I turn and run, with girls are right beside me.

Finding the kitten really shook me up, I called the police and reported what I had found, but they blew me off.

“Ma’am there is lots of wild animals in these parts, that’s why most people move here to be around nature.” The officer tells me.

“But you don’t understand! It was ripped or cut perfectly in half and I only found the front half.”

“As I said wild animals. I’d advise keeping your cats indoors from now on.”

“It wasn’t my cat!”

“Well then what is your complaint?”

“OOHH, Never mind!” I end the call in frustration.

I’m sitting at my kitchen table during the call. I look up and stare through the window to the forest beyond the meadow. Unease consumes me, getting up I search for my box of blankets and my tool box. I nail up two blankets over the windows, making sure they are covered completely. Tomorrow I’m going to order blinds and buy some flood lights for the yard, maybe an electrified fence too. I’ll think about that one.  I fix dinner and go into my art room. I don’t know whether I want to paint, sculpt or write. I decide to try and write. I pull out my lap top and stare at it, ugh! Nothing comes to mind, I’m still too agitated from this afternoon. The girls follow me into the living room and I turn on Scooby Doo, it’s our favorite show.

After we finish the movies, we ended up watching Scooby Doo 2 also, it’s late and we head to bed. I get ready in the bathroom and I peak out the curtains before I crawl into bed. The balls of light are back again, four of them this time. They slowing move back and forth across the horizon before they disappear again.

“Tomorrow night I’ll get pictures.” I tell the girls as we all crawl into my bed again.

I’m awakened at about three o’clock in the morning by Lexi’s growl, as I sit up I hear banging coming from down stairs. Sassy crawls over to me and whines. I get up and get my gun out of the night stand, flicking off the safety I head downstairs, my brave girls are right behind me cowering, Lexi pushes her muzzle between my knees every third or fourth step I take. Disgusted I realize I probably have more to fear from the girls tripping me as I go down the stairs, than I do from whatever is making the noise.

I flip on all the outside lights when I get down stairs, then I peak out the windows, nothing is there. Obviously the lights scared whatever it was away.  I check all the doors and windows making sure everything is secure, then I go back to bed, leaving all the outdoor lights on, of course. The rest of the night passes without incident.

The next morning I get ready to run into town,

“Ready for bye bye?” I ask the girls. They run outside and wait at the gate for me, when I open the gate instead of running to the garage; they run to the side of the cabin. They pace under the wall mounted air conditioner that cools the den. I walk over and see strange large prints flattening the grass under the unit. The wall and the unit are all scratched up and the unit has been pulled partially out of the wall. Chills race up and down my spine. I push the unit back in place and get the girls to the garage. 

The short drive to town is a tense one, my dream home is becoming a nightmare.

I stop at the hardware store for straps to secure the air conditioner; I order blinds and look into pricing for electrifying my fence. As I stand in line I hear another customer speaking about the strange lights and mysterious things that are happening around their property. I hurriedly pay and run after the gentleman who had been speaking.

“Hello! Excuse me sir,” I yell after him.

“Yes?” he answers suspiciously. He’s an older gentleman, with a head full of shaggy white hair.

“I’m sorry, I overheard you talking about the lights and I just moved here and I’ve seen them and have had some very strange experiences.” I rapidly told him.

“What kind of things have you experienced.” He curiously asks me.

I tell him of seeing the lights the last two nights and of finding the kitten and my girls reactions. Then I told him what happened with the air conditioner and how I feel eyes on me constantly.

“I’m very frightened and the police are no help.” I tell him.

“I advise you to stay indoors after dusk, and keep a journal of all your experiences, I’m trying to get someone from the government to come and investigate these going ons.” He says as he walks me to my SUV.   

The girls excitedly bark when they see me,

“May I?” he asks gesturing to my girls. I tell him yes and tell the girls to sit as he reaches in to pet them both. “Listen to these two, animals seem to sense when strange things are about to happen.” He gives the girls one last pat and we exchange numbers, he tells me he’ll be in touch if he finds anything else out. I thank him then the girls and I drive home.

It’s starting to get dark, because it looks like a storm is coming in, the girls stay beside me as I secure the air conditioner. As I put away the ladder and tools, the girls start acting agitated, pacing and whining. They clouds look ready to bust. The lights come back, just as we are climbing the stairs to my porch. There are 4 of them again. They come closer this time, hovering right over the cabin. The girl’s whines turn to growls as they look toward the tree line. Sassy wets herself, right on the porch; she hasn’t done anything like that since she was a puppy. I hurriedly get them inside and don’t even consider getting a picture this time. I lock up the house, and check the windows.

We all sit on the couch, listening as the skies open up. Thunder and lightning shake the windows. All of us are tense, if it wasn’t for the girls, I’d probably have relaxed. But they sat staring towards the door and window, the hair on the backs of their necks standing straight up without making a sound. 

After about 20 minutes I go into the kitchen to make us something to eat, anything to get my mind off the lights, the girls stay right behind me. I pop in a TV dinner for myself, and pour the girls their food. Suddenly bright lights shine through the blankets, and the door frame. I run out of the kitchen and see the light shining in through every little crack and seam of the cabin. Something hits the west wall of the cabin, the sound is deafening. Then something hits from the east side. Terrified I run to the corner of the inside wall, away from the doors and windows. The girls lean against me trembling and silent as if they are afraid to utter a sound. Soon it feels as if we’re surrounded and the outside walls are being attacked from all sides. I think of my gun upstairs in my night stand but I’m too afraid to move. The attack lasted no more that probably 10 minutes. The bright lights went dark and then the banging slowly stopped. It was another 15 or 20 minutes before the girls relax. I get up and check the doors and windows again, but I don’t go outside, I hope the girls can hold their bladders till morning.

The next morning we go outside to inspect the damage. I find huge muddy footprints on my porch; they are at least 15 to 16 inches long. I go back in to get my phone to take pictures. The dogs are romping around without a care in the world, so I know were safe at the moment. At the side of the house I find large rocks and branches, it’s like that on each side of the cabin; it makes no sense at all. Besides some lost chunks of mortar and some scrapes the cabin isn’t to badly damaged, I expected much worse from the sounds of the night before.

We go to the back yard, I upright my patio table and chairs and sit down, there are more muddy footsteps here. I’m totally bewildered. My phone rings, it’s the gentlemen from the store,

“Hello”

“Hi, this is Henry from the hardware store; I just wanted to let you know that I’ve heard from the investigators.” 

“What did they say?”

“They said the lights are flares that were dropped by the Air force during night maneuvers.”

“Flares? Really!”

“I know I have a problem with that too.”

“And what about the attacks?”

“Attacks?”

“Yes, Last night my house was attacked by something and the supposed flares lit up my house like a jack o lantern. We we’re terrified.”

“Well I didn’t know about that.”

“I told you about the cat, and my air conditioner and the feeling of being watched!”

“They said it was just a wild animal, look I promised to tell you what I’d heard and I did.”

“I’m sorry, I…..” The line has gone dead.

The girls come running to me whining, they look toward the trees surrounding the meadow. I stand up and walk to the edge of the porch, searching the area.  At first I see nothing, then I glimpse a large hairy creature, it steps out of the tree line and looks at me. I’m frozen in place. The creature is huge even at this distance and it’s covered in dark grayish hair and it’s standing up right. I raise my phone to get a picture and the creature disappears back into the forest. Shaken I take the girls inside. 

I go to my art room and get on my computer, the law has been no help, the government is no help, so I’m going to go to the public with my experiences, I upload the pictures and outline what’s happened on my blog.

I need help, I’m frightened. The Air force says it's flares. But that doesn't really explain what's happened, so now that you know the facts, maybe together we can solve this mystery.