| |
In the realm of the paranormal, there is a subset of sightings that do not fall in line with any established facts. People have seen things that are inexplicable given the common set of knowledge learned through school and waking experience. It is no wonder that these sightings are often terrifying. How do you make sense of that which has no prior record of existence? These encounters go beyond the scope of ghosts and UFOs. There is a long list of cryptids, some of which are discussed in later chapters, that may pass as unexplainable phenomena to those who are unfamiliar with the literature. However, these creatures, upon being identified by an expert, will conform to the descriptions and attributes that are common in the cryptid literature—real unexplained creatures that have no source of reference. They are, in a sense, untold legends that may one day belong to the cryptid family if they are properly scrutinized.
Encounters that fall in this range vary, from unidentified land animals to anomalies of sky and sea. Sometimes, these things aren’t real, in the sense that they lack objective truth. The mind is apt at simulating explanations that are fallacious. For example, a bag floating in a murky river may be mistaken for a sea creature of unknown origin. A regular animal that is common knowledge, such as a bear or large predator, may be mistaken for something truly terrifying by the wielder of imagination and fear. Fear, I think, is the main mechanism for warping appearances. It also helps if it’s dark out, further blurring the line between reality and imagination. The human mind will supply information where it is lacking, sometimes to devastating effect. This is a common theme in paranormal studies, but that is not to say that every one of these encounters is pure imagination. People have seen truly unexplainable things in the night—with witnesses. In those cases, it is more difficult to attribute a sighting to mere conjecture. Science doesn’t dismiss the possibility of unknown entities roaming the earth. Science and the common knowledge only prohibit that these happenings appear all the time. They are anomalies of probability, but just as people somehow win the lottery, the unlucky few come into contact with unknown creatures.
I am going to include encounters with sleep paralysis in this category. It is well known that people encounter strange things when they enter a transitory state between consciousness and sleep but not fully awake. People report seeing “shadow people” at the foot of their beds or silvery entities that surround them and look down. Sometimes, dreams mix with reality, causing the victim to feel a dragging or falling sensation when they are perfectly still. The most terrifying aspect of sleep paralysis is that you can’t move as it happens. Thankfully, most instances of these types are over rapidly, like a micro dream. Other times, they can last hours. I believe these types of stories belong here because sleep paralysis is poorly understood. Whatever one experiences during the encounter does not fit with the common knowledge of everyday life. It is unknown whether the entities people report to see are real in some other dimension. Are they psychic vampires come to feed off your fear? Are they some species of alien that can travel between time and space to meet you in your dreams? Some would go as far to say that they are from divine origin. Angels looking after you while you sleep, or some manifestation of God himself. It shouldn’t be surprising that many people have reported speaking to God while suffering from sleep paralysis.
The first thing the mind does is try to come up with an explanation. But what does it do when no such explanation exists in plain sight of monstrous terror? Presumably, the mind goes mad. I can only imagine what a failure to compute what is right in front of me feels like—not that I want to know what it entails.
Dog Feeder
My name is Tony. I’ve been itching to share my story for a while now but I haven’t because of fear of being called a liar. But whether or not you believe is irrelevant as I have come to realize in recent times. I’m not scared of sharing what I saw, neither am I afraid of using my first name. There must be at least a billion other people named Tony right? The first thing you should know is that what I saw should not have existed. I believe this creature was a visitor from another world and it somehow got summoned to earth. I base this only on the belief that such things do not exist on earth normally. We have boars, wild dogs, ostriches, elephants, and whatnot—but nothing that resembles what I saw.
My profession is working for Animal Control. I’ve worked with raccoons, rabid pitbulls, bats stuck in attics and several other nasties for the better of eight years now. I’ve seen some things, to put it mildly. And yet, everything that I’ve encountered so far has had a firm backing in what I’ve known throughout my thirty some years. I know wild animals pose a threat to humans and so have to be dealt with. I know that loose dogs can maul a child to death quite easily, so those have to be dealt with. It doesn’t faze me having to put down a rowdy dog. Any mutt or mongrel that poses a threat needs to be eradicated. Many working at the job for almost a decade now has made me a cynic. But if it means protecting the wellbeing of the public, I will do all that is necessary. Usually, I only work emergencies. That in itself isn’t saying much, most calls to animal control deal with some sort of crisis—because even an odd bat flying in an attic is the thing of nightmares to poor old ladies living alone.
I remember being called up at five in the morning by a dispatcher. 5 a.m., while early isn’t the worst time to call me. I’ve been giving plenty of sleep by the time I leaped out of bed. If I remember correctly, it was a Friday. The dispatcher told me that a lady called saying that some animal broke into her house and had a run in with her dog. It highly suspected that whatever it was dangerous and probably rabid.
I showed up promptly. The house was only a few minutes away from mine. It felt good arriving at the scene with such swiftness that would make even the police department proud. In any event, when I arrived it was still pitch dark outside. If I had to guess, sunup wouldn’t be for another two hours or so. The lady was a few years younger than me, maybe in her mid-twenties and up. She had a kid too, a little boy that was crying beside her. That killed me. Small children are notorious prey for street mutts. I got out my trusty catch pole ready to subdue the attacking animal, which was probably a large dog. As soon as I knocked the woman almost fell on top of me. Boy, was she glad to see me standing there. She kept repeating herself, saying “thank goodness” and “I didn’t know what I would do.” It honestly was a little annoying.
She quickly explained the situation. She was awoken by loud barking from her Scottish terrier which is when she heard a crashing commotion in the kitchen, as If something was there. How the hell did the animal get inside in the first place? Oh. That’s how. Further down the kitchen, there was a sliding door. There was a huge hole in the glass, about 27 inches in diameter if I had to guess. I wasn’t about to measure the damn thing. It was huge! There was glass everywhere. It was at that time that I knew it the animal wasn’t a god damn dog. It must have been a bear or a cougar. Hell, it could have been some junky from down the street looking to steal something. Stranger things have happened. I will tell you this, no dog no matter how rabid or powerful can break through glass like that. As soon as you close that screen door to the backyard, they will scratch and scratch and bark, but never actually penetrate the damn thing.
Christ. I asked where her dog was and the lady simply pointed outside at the yard with a trembling finger, “It dragged my dog out there,” she said with a shaky voice. Uh-oh. Not even a junky would do that. Clearly, it was an animal, probably a mountain lion. Well, I did what any respectable and fearless animal control officer would do at that time. I led with the catcher pole and cautiously made my way toward the yard. I was also packing a tranquilizer gun, just in case. If it was up to me, I’d equip every animal control officer with a .45 caliber pistol. But that’s just me. It was very dark out. I could hardly make out objects in the yard except for the dim light coming from the kitchen. I saw what looked like a small tree rustle and upon further inspection noticed that it wasn’t a tree. It moved again. There was my mark, whatever the hell it was.
As I got closer my nostrils were engulfed by a putrid smell, like something was rotting. Now, I basically knew the ladies dog was a goner, but even fresh corpses do not smell like that. The thing was double over, moving slightly as if chewing on the remains of the Scottish terrier. I could see the skinny bones on the back of the animal like some emaciated rock star on stage. An Iggy Pop or Marilyn Manson type. Then it started making a terrible noise. A gut-wrenching sound like the type my bulldog at home makes when it's coughing something up. That’s what it was doing, in all its gruesome glory. Whatever it was choking on was promptly expelled. Bones, and big ones from the sound of them hitting the floor. Probably a tibia or shoulder blade. I could have turned around then and called for backup, but I didn’t. In fact, I know I should have. Instead, I remembered I had a flashlight. Once I produced it the thing I saw before I silenced whatever urge I had to scream.
The thing was no mountain lion I tell you. Nope. What the hell was it? I can only describe what I saw. A huge mouth was immediately recognizable. This thing either had a flexible jaw like a viper’s or didn’t have one at all because it was unhinged as it sat there devouring the poor little dog. I shone the light too close, and this is when it noticed me. The beast turned its head to face me, revealing the fleshy insides of its mouth and the gaping teeth. It kind of looked like the mouth of a hippo fully agape, but with more incisors. Rest assured, there are no hippos where I live. I could discern no eyes, no ears, no nose or breathing apparatus. This thing was all mouth I tell you! I do believe it was walking on four legs. If you could call those things legs. Never have I seen an animal with such a strange configuration for bone structure. The limbs protruded at almost impossible angles. It looked like an odd spider with only for legs. It let out a bone-chilling growl. “Growl” is the only word I will use to describe it. I’ve never heard an animal make that noise and sadly, I’m no poet or novelist to even begin to describe the sound.
Stupidly, or perhaps out of fear, I tried to catch the thing with the other end of the catcher pole. I’m no sucker with that pole either. I’ve been known to grapple charging pit bulls and have them hanging in mid-air seconds later. Well, I got the cursed thing on the first swipe. The strength of the creature was double from an ordinary dog. It tugged, screeched, and eventually I had to let go of the pole because I didn’t want to come closer. It charged at me. I instinctually put up my boot to block it, but a for limb caught me, sending a searing pain down my left arm. There was blood. I tried shooting it with the tranquilizer, but I missed. With one final screech and with the pole still attached to what I thought was the neck, the thing jumped over the fence and disappeared.
The poor woman asked me if I was okay. No, I don’t think I was okay. Besides the minor scratch on my arm, I was completed jaded. I ended up calling a buddy of mine to the scene and I told him everything that happened. I told him to bring his shotgun. He’s the only other person I have told the truth to. I assured the woman a mountain lion came and killed her pet, attacked me and then escaped. It’s what I told the guys back at the agency as I called for backup to console the woman further. Somebody would have to dispose of the Scottish terrier’s mangled corpse. Thank god it was only the dog that lost its life. I and my buddy drove around until morning came, looking for this damn thing. I don’t even know if he believed me at the time, but he was a good friend and saw that I was visibly shaken. I got my armed patched up. I was half expecting a serious infection, but we cleaned it up good. No sight of it. No sight of an escape path or any obvious destruction. We found the catcher pole a few blocks away, which made my buddy a little more sympathetic to my story. The thing must have escaped into the woods or something.
I tell this story not because I seek sympathy but because it needs to be told. Whether or not you believe me, there are things out there that reason cannot explain. I was unlucky. Extremely unlucky to have encountered this creature. You probably won’t have such an experience in one hundred lifetimes. But for those who are unlucky like I am, I implore you to understand, so that when you see something that shouldn’t be there your shock isn’t the same as mine.
Divine Messages
I am someone who has dabbled in the magic arts for a while now. Nothing too crazy, mostly just tarot card readings, burning of sage, that sort of thing. And up to this point, I’ve never had a mystical encounter, nor have I’ve taken any psychoactive drugs. I drink coffee regularly, but that doesn’t really count. One night I get off from work late and I’m extremely exhausted. I don’t eat, don’t shower or brush my teeth I just collapse on my sofa and immediately fall asleep. I wake up shortly after, but in a way, I’m still asleep. It’s hard to explain, just as any mystical experience is. The common term for it is probably sleeping paralysis except I still had motor control of my body. I felt dead to the rest of the world and at the same time everywhere at once. I immediately sense a presence that was peering at me from the hallway, but I was scared to turn in that direction. I knew I wasn’t alone. It started talking to me in a language I didn’t recognize but still understood. I thought this presence had to be God, or else an angel because my mind associated the numbers 24 and 16, and for some reason, I thought those two numbers were the most divine.
I said that the presence was in the hallway, but it was everywhere else. It was like I was talking with the universe itself, ever expanding in every direction. I felt like screaming. Once I understood how large the thing was, how it was me, I screamed at the top of my lungs, but nothing came out. I just got sort of dizzy and I felt the presence leave the room. I fell asleep but would wake up in the same fashion multiple times throughout the night. The presence never returned but I had such vivid dreams. I’m not one to believe in religion or the like, but the experience definitely changed my perception of what is possible. I do believe I had a mystical experience and I hope to continue my studies in magic so that I will one day have more such experiences.
