Law Enforcement's Tales of the Paranormal - Part 5

In celebration of Halloween this year, we requested law enforcement to send over their paranormal experiences. Part 5 of our collection comes from Pike County, Georgia. Something going "bump" in the night has been causing a ruckus and our officer is determined to discover what. 

The following happenings took place during the fall of 1993 to the spring of 1994.  

Bumps in the Night 

As contributed by Deputy (ret.) James Akin. 

The complainant was an elderly man (and his wife), who lived on a remote farm in rural Pike County, Georgia.

It seems that he had been experiencing a “prowler” on and off for several weeks. However, the prowler was never actually clearly seen, neither was there much evidence (at least until the end of these events) to corroborate there actually was anyone or anything causing a real disturbance.  

I would arrive at the home. I would exit the patrol car and would smell the “monster,” as the old man liked to describe the intruder (the smell which I (then) attributed to the swamp or a nearby neighbors livestock). Then, after exiting the car, it was a quick walk up the steps and a knock on the door (as he wouldn’t open the door until he heard a “human” voice).  

 “Sheriff’s Department,” I’d call to the interior of his home. The door would rattle and he’d open the door. Often he would be visibly shaken. He was an elderly man and his vision was failing him. “Did you see anything when you came in?” he’d ask. “No, sir,” I’d reply.  

“Well, its’ been at it tonight. It was tapping on the house and it was trying to see us in here. It even came to the front and was trying to open the door knob!” The complainant would share with me.  

Then, after some brief discussion, I would sweep around the outside of the house and look over the yard area. Generally, I’d see nothing. Mostly, I smelled that awful smell (e.g. like a pig-pen with wet dog and rotting garbage - all combined), but never anything substantial in the terms of physical evidence.  

I’ll admit that I was often “spooked” when I did the normal prowler survey. The hair on my arm would stand up and I’d have that being “watched” feeling. Then, I’d check back with the homeowner, report that I had found nothing and would go back into service. This scenario was repeated over the several months.  

I had to respond to this man’s calls for help. Please don’t think that I minded attempting to help him. I was a sworn deputy and it was my duty to answer all calls and provide service. I attempted to take it all seriously. But, in all honesty, I had my doubts about the veracity of his complaints.  

In my mind, I thought that this man was the victim of some type of “prank.” I figured that he was being harassed and I felt that “someone” was going to great lengths to drive the old man and his wife, out of their home. At the very least, I thought some natural phenomenon was causing him disquiet and that he was mistaking it for a human presence.

In fact, it slowly was escalating and as I’ll document, you’ll see an intensification of nighttime activities and an increase in the level of threat or violence toward the elderly couple.

In the beginning (during the first weeks) the victim complained of some person tapping on his home and attempting to see inside the domicile. He stated that between the hours of 12 AM and 6 AM, a strange light tapping would take place on the exterior of his home. He described it as a drumming sound, “like fingertips on a school desk.” He stated that the unknown assailant would circle the exterior of the home making these noises. Of course, the couple was in bed and at first, didn’t make much of the noises. “I thought they were from a bird’s wings or some type of animal,” he described to me. So, they would remain in their bed and listen in the darkness.

Strangely, he shared that his small Chihuahua, "Peanut," would hide under the living room couch or under the covers of their bed. It seemed that "Peanut" was terrified of the unknown, exterior intruder.

He described how it was as if all the normal “night-time” sounds of crickets and tree frogs would cease when the drumming sound started. In essence, it was if everything around attempted to “hunker down” and be quiet when the night time visitor arrived and hide until it left the property. All the normal sounds of the night would cease as an early warning signal that the nightly visitor was approaching from the bottom-land to the west.

I will catalog some of the behaviors that were reported to me:

• Peeping Tom - He began to notice that someone or something, was attempting to see into the interior of their home. His sight was failing him but he would catch glimpses of a head or half of a face (he described it as an 'apeman') looking into the windows of his home. Fleeting glimpses of an odd “football” shaped head that seemed to be very much in tune with their internal household movements during the night (this became worse as the days wore on and the couple were more aware of the nature of this intruder). Later, they would often cut out all of the lights within the home and could sit in a central hallway (which allowed them to see several windows at once) and they could watch the intruder move from window to window in an attempt to localize where they physically were located within the home.
• Whispers in the dark - In time, the old man began to report that the nighttime intruder was whispering to them through the walls of his home. He described it as a guttural, deep sort of rumbling sound. He stated that this would often turn into a “huffing” sound and on occasion a scream. (I will admit that I began to question his competence at this point.) I asked the old man if the intruder ever said anything he could understand? He shared that once the intruder had emulated his way of calling the small house-dog. He said it had growled out, very low, "Peeeeeaaaannnnnnuuuuut."
• Tractor tire - A tractor tire (a large, rear-pushing type tire) was found lodged in a tree approximately 25 or 30 feet in some high branches. It was no mean feat throwing that tire to such a height, as those tires can weigh several hundred pounds. I could never discern where anyone had used a block and tackle to lift the tire. So, one was left to wonder.
• Corn/dog food - The nightly intruder burgled the old man’s little barn. Something had twisted off a master lock / bolt and hasp without the help of tools and had stolen (perhaps eaten some there, as well) several bags of dog food and some cracked corn.  

One morning, I walked behind his home toward the creek. I had asked him for permission to walk further back onto his land to see if I could find any tire tracks or sign of people along the creek.  

Once I reached the creek, I walked along the bank for a bit and saw a place (a copse of trees overhanging the creek) where something had crossed the creek. I saw silt drifting in the creek's water and could plainly see several large footprints (that were under water) and one imprint on a small mud bank (kind of shaped like a boomerang), it was shaped like a large footprint. It was huge and I immediately stopped and looked around me to see if the provider of that track were still in the vicinity. This was not long after daybreak (between 7-8 am) and I had a feeling of being watched. I exited the area.

I climbed down into the creek and saw that the imprint was a huge, human-like footprint. However, the entire time, I had a "fight or flight" response. Plainly, I became terrified and decided to retreat for my own safety. In the air was a strong ozone-like, slightly sulfurous smell ( stronger than the normal land-fill, pig-pen, rotting smell that normally accompanied the activity). Further, there seemed to be a static-electrical type charge in the air (e.g. it was enough to make my hair rise from my arms and neck). Later, this feeling and the other smells subsided and eventually seemed to dissipate.

Being off-duty (as I had asked the victim if it were okay to return during the daytime to survey his yard), I walked back to my privately owned car and retrieved a bucket of plaster of Paris. I determined to make a cast of the imprint. I climbed back down into the creek and walked over to the mud bank. It was composed of a muddy, pebbly mix of clay. I used the creek water to make the casting mix and poured the cast. It took its’ time drying and I looked at the tracks leading to the muddy bank.