1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:14,560 The name's Paul. I turn wrenches for a living. Four wheelers, tractors, small engines. 2 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:20,080 You name it, I work on it. I have a little shop out back at my place, just a tin roof 3 00:00:20,080 --> 00:00:25,840 and a wood stove, but it works just fine for me. I've lived my whole life in the same patch 4 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:31,840 of hills here in Kentucky. And around here, you're not famous unless you want a bunch of blue 5 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:39,040 ribbons for your pie at the fair. Or you own a tow truck. Well, shoot, I don't have either. 6 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:45,600 So I'm not famous and nobody's looking my way. Now before I get down into the weeds with this story, 7 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:51,200 I'm going to tell you I've changed some names of the people, and I did change the name of exactly 8 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:58,400 where this happened. I'm calling it Harlan Hollow. That's not the real name, but it sure could be. 9 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:05,360 Sounds exactly like some of the Hollow's near here. That Thursday in late October, 10 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:11,840 I was working late at my buddy Tim's barn. He'd gotten behind on an ATV rebuild, 11 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:17,760 and dear season was just three blinks away on the calendar. We stood around a lot more that day 12 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:24,320 than we did turning bolts. We kept coffee on a parts train nearby. And there was a ballgame playing 13 00:01:24,320 --> 00:01:30,160 on a dusty little radio over on a workbench. The kind that makes whatever it's playing sound like 14 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:37,440 it was ran through a tin can. It's the kind of night that happens a lot to me. I'll tinker with this 15 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:43,760 and tighten that, swap an old something for a new something, skip my lunch, do a few more things, 16 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:50,080 and next thing I know, the clock reads 8.42 pm, and I have no idea how that happened. 17 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:56,000 I felt like I just pulled up a minute ago. As I was packing up, Tim said, 18 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:04,640 "You heading home the long way?" I said, "Nah, quick way." Of course, that meant Harlan Hollow. 19 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:13,360 Now folks that are not from around here will confuse a Hollow and a Holler. A Holler is an area 20 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:21,120 where people live. I'm not going to go deep in that, but it's where people live. A Hollow is a road. 21 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:25,920 It's a really old road usually, and it was made way back when. 22 00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:32,640 Has trees go up tight to both sides, making it feel like a tunnel. And Harlan is just that. 23 00:02:32,640 --> 00:02:39,200 Its narrow is all get out. There are no painted lines, no reflectors, and haven't helped you when it 24 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:45,920 rains, because you can't see where the road is. Now I have driven that road hundreds of times in my 25 00:02:45,920 --> 00:02:51,520 life, day and night, in all kinds of weather, with everything from a two and a half tonne load of 26 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:59,120 fence posts on my F450 flatbed, to just me and my old dog riding shotgun with me, with an empty 27 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:08,320 bed on my F250 daily truck. That road is very familiar to me. I know all the curves. I know winter 28 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:14,720 break, and when I can hit the pedal. That evening I pulled out of tims in my truck, 29 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:19,840 fresh coffee from tims wife's washing around in one of those to go, coffee cup she gave me. 30 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:27,520 The temperature outside had dropped drastically with the sun, making every breath a faint white puff 31 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:33,920 when I talked. Now I don't bother with the radio most times when I'm driving. All I get down in those 32 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:40,000 hills is some static or some preacher on fire about something or the other. Every now and then the 33 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:47,280 local high school will broadcast a game. But that's about it. I really don't mind. I like the quiet 34 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:53,360 when I'm driving at night. The first mile in, the ditch water on the side of the road, look black 35 00:03:53,360 --> 00:04:00,000 as coal tar. Usually I can spot a few porch lights up on the ridge backs, but not that night. 36 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:07,520 Seemed every house was already asleep, lights out everywhere. Nothing to it, just something I remember 37 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:14,000 that's all. Now right about the fork by the rusted mailbox with the bullet hole, which I swear 38 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:20,160 I think has been there since I was a little kid. Something stepped across the road up ahead, 39 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:28,560 just inside where my high beams reached. Then it went out again. One, two, three strides gone. 40 00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:36,160 I don't spook easy, and I'm not the dramatic kind, but it was tall and broad and upright. 41 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:44,320 I've seen bears stand up. I know their shape. This was not that shape. Nothing like it. 42 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:51,200 I laid off the pedal and let the truck slow to a crawl. Then to a dead stop. 43 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:58,000 "What was that?" I wondered. I scanned both shoulders of the road for movement. 44 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:03,840 There was nothing but a wall of dark timber on both sides. I told myself it was a trick of the 45 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:10,240 lighter, maybe some big fella cutting across to go put up a deer stand. There was nothing there, 46 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:14,080 so I took my foot off the brake and slowly put it back on the pedal. 47 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:21,760 I eased forward, and another half mile I got the feeling that somebody was staring holes at me 48 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:28,400 from somewhere. I cracked both windows and inch to let the cold come in. I figured I 49 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:35,360 needed some air to wake me up a little more. That's when I smelled it. It was wet carpet and dog. 50 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:42,080 Specifically, I was reminded of when my first wife used a carpet cleaner. Then left the dirty 51 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:48,560 water in it for a month. Yes, we had dogs. And when we finally emptied out that carpet cleaner, 52 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:56,640 my goodness, that smell was gag-inducing. Now that smell is what rode with me for a few seconds. 53 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:03,120 Then it got carried away on the wind through the open window. I figured I must have passed some kind 54 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:09,280 of roadkill. It didn't smell like roadkill, but it really didn't smell like anything else I knew, 55 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:18,560 except wet dog carpet water. Then I heard a small neat tink. It was like a pebble hitting metal. 56 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:26,960 Then came a few more. What in the world, I thought? I was thinking I had picked up gravel in my 57 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:32,720 tread from Tim's gravel driveway, but that didn't seem right. It was hitting somewhere on the front 58 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:40,080 and the side. That's not where a tread would throw gravel. I was only doing about 20 to 25 because 59 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:45,920 there's some wicked curves on that old road. There's no use in accelerating. You'll be breaking again 60 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:52,320 within 20 seconds after you've accelerated. Then something hit the passenger door hard. 61 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:59,600 The whole cab shuddered. This wasn't like a branch that scraped the doors I went by it. I know that 62 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:09,360 shivery sound. This was a huge thud. You don't mistake a scrape for a thud. Every instinct I had 63 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:15,440 told me to hurry and go, and I listened. I hit the pedal as much as I dared through that area, 64 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:21,760 enough that I felt the rear kick. Then Lord helped me. I heard footfalls in the ditch, 65 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:28,960 keeping pace with the truck. It wasn't an animal that was galloping along. This wasn't four feet I 66 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:36,800 was hearing just two. I looked right, half expecting to scold my own nerves for being so stupid, 67 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:43,840 but there in the edge of the headlights I caught something dark moving. It was there for just a second, 68 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:50,720 then it melted over into the trees. Just then the road opened into one of the straight pieces 69 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:56,960 and the headlights painted the shoulders of the road just right. That's when I really saw it. 70 00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:02,640 Have you ever seen something your brain tries to split into pieces that it understands? 71 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:10,560 But none of the pieces fit. This was tall as a doorway and wider. Easy three feet across the chest. 72 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:17,520 The hair was dark brown with Auburn glints when the light broke through. This wasn't fur like a bear. 73 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:24,640 This was hair, longer on the arms and the shoulders and shorter across a chest that showed some gray 74 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:31,440 black skin underneath and patches as it moved. The head was not a cone like I've heard some say. 75 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:38,000 It was rounded up top with a heavy brow ridge and there were cheekbones with jaws below them 76 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:44,720 that looked like they'd been made for crushing. The mouth was parted, the lips darker than the skin, 77 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:51,600 and teeth they were square and way too big. The eyes caught my lights showing dull copper. 78 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:57,280 They weren't the bright, dear white of eye shine and they were locked on to me. 79 00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:02,240 No, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but I couldn't deny it. 80 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:07,360 And no, I couldn't accelerate much more because of the road getting into the curves. 81 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:14,000 Last thing I wanted was to go off the road and flip, knowing that thing would be right there. 82 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:21,520 It ran beside me for a stretch. Long, easy strides like running was no work for it at all. 83 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:28,000 The arm swing put those hands low enough. I swear it could have dragged knuckles if it wanted to. 84 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:37,280 And the hand, it was a hand, not a paw. I caught clear glimpses as the arms arct wide while it ran. 85 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:43,280 I looked from the road to it in a constant half-second cycle. I saw it, 86 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:50,800 but I still couldn't believe it. Right there was a wood booger, a big foot running along my truck. 87 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:56,400 And it was keeping speed with me. Then it veered off the shoulder and cut through 88 00:09:56,400 --> 00:10:02,000 saplings without breaking stride. It was hidden in the darkness in less than two seconds. 89 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:09,360 And I was strangely relieved. Okay, Mr. Bigfoot took a look at me and my truck. 90 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:14,960 Now he's heading home just like I am because it's late and we neither one have had our denners. 91 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:22,320 I took the first breath I'd had in probably 30 seconds and I realized my hands tingled from gripping 92 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:30,320 the wheel so tightly. Harlan Hollow has a place that folks call Dead Man's Curve. Big surprise. 93 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:37,200 It drops fast and there's a creek right on the right and there's a dirt bank on the left with 94 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:43,440 the roots that stick out from the dirt like they're coming to grab you. I figured I'd be through that 95 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:50,800 area and gone before the wood booger remembered I was on the road. I had no choice, though, to slow down. 96 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:56,640 I had that hairpin coming up. If I didn't slow down, I was pretty sure my truck would be down 97 00:10:56,640 --> 00:11:04,080 on the creek on its roof as I had seen others over the years. So I slowed down. I came round that 98 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:11,920 first hairpin bend and there it was standing in the road. It was Dead Center right in the middle of 99 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:20,320 my high beams breathing steam out into the cold like its lungs were furnaces. I hit the brakes 100 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:25,920 and locked them up. There was no skitter to them because I wasn't probably going more than 15 or 101 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:32,560 20 miles an hour but the truck came to a dead stop with the high beams blasting every detail of 102 00:11:32,560 --> 00:11:39,920 that creature into my skull whether I wanted it to or not. It felt like time stopped for a couple of 103 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:48,720 heartbeats. Then it stepped forward. One slow step then another. Heels digging, toes rolling. 104 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:55,200 The hands flexed like somebody stretching their fingers before getting ready to throw hands in a fight. 105 00:11:56,080 --> 00:12:03,920 The mouth was squared. The brow dropped and then it roared. This wasn't a Hollywood version and 106 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:10,000 it was nothing like I'd ever heard. It was loud and it resonated like a hot rod engine being 107 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:18,240 revved right next to you. I felt it under the seat and up in my chest. This wasn't angry like a 108 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:29,040 rage roar. This sounded more like it was telling me. It was telling me, "Here, mine, you move." I scrambled 109 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:35,920 for reverse and hit neutral first by mistake. The engine revved up like I was mocking its roar, 110 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:43,280 challenging it. It came forward a half step and that was all I needed to break whatever paralysis 111 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:50,160 had my hands forgetting how to properly work my gear shift. I found reverse stomped on my pedal 112 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:56,560 and the truck leaped backward up the slope. I was looking back to guide the truck and still trying 113 00:12:56,560 --> 00:13:04,240 to look forward to see what it was doing. Charge wasn't the right word for it, not like it charged me. 114 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:10,480 It did advance. The hands were out like it was going to grab the corners of the truck front. 115 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:18,880 For a second, I thought maybe it would, and then it stopped. When I saw it stopped, I stopped 116 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:27,280 backing up the truck too. I have no earthly idea why, but I did. We both just hung there 117 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:32,880 with headlight and breath fog between us. Then, just like a man done with a chore, 118 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:38,720 it turned and walked off the road and it was gone in two steps like some magic trick. 119 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:46,800 I blinked and got back to work. I backed up the last 20 feet of that curve, then backed up another 120 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:54,240 30 yards blind right up the straight road. I wanted out of that hollow, pronto. The trees up the 121 00:13:54,240 --> 00:14:01,760 sides of the road were terrifying to me for the first time. Five miles later, I was out of the hollow 122 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:08,960 and I was on real black top. I was even rolling under real street lights. I found a small safe place 123 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:15,360 not far from the actual hollow. I felt safe there, and I got out on shaky knees and looked down the 124 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:21,120 passenger side under one of those street lights. The door had a dent like something really big 125 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:27,760 to hit it with a lot of force. When I got home and split into my kitchen that night, my wife looked 126 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:33,840 up from across to it she was working. Her eyes sharp the way they get when I'm late and I haven't 127 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:41,360 called her. She had a perfect view of my truck's passenger side from where she sat, and yeah, I 128 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:49,520 pulled up and parked right by the house under the light so she saw it. "Dear?" she asked, seeing the 129 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:58,720 big dent. "It ran into me," I said. "Didn't you see it?" I kissed her hair as I walked by. 130 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:05,920 "No, not in time." "You see, I didn't lie," and I was very careful with my answers. 131 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:12,960 I said, "It ran into me," and I didn't say it was a deer, and I didn't lie because I didn't see it 132 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:18,560 in time. I slept and sliced as that night jerking awake at small noises, 133 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:24,960 pops from the wood stove pipe in the living room. The sound of the neighbor's dog and its muffled 134 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:33,280 woof down the way. All of them kept me awake. In the morning I told myself how it would be all 135 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:40,320 different and less scary in the daylight. Maybe I should go check it out. So I made coffee strong enough 136 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:47,840 to stand the spoon up in and took my truck back down to Harlan Hollow. But you know what? The sun 137 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:53,760 can't fix everything, but I thought it just might fix how spooked I had been the night before. 138 00:15:54,240 --> 00:16:01,280 Everything seemed just like it should. Maple leaves made a confetti of rust and gold all along the 139 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:09,360 ditches. Squirrels yelled at me as I passed, like I owed them some money. And for a while it all seemed 140 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:17,600 all right. Dead man's curves still had that wicked hairpin. I parked right where I had stopped the 141 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:25,600 night before. I cut the engine. It didn't feel like the night before, but I still checked the trees 142 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:33,200 every few seconds. The shoulder there was heavily compacted dirt. Tracks aren't easy to see on hard 143 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:43,280 dirt. But there it was. One print with a clean look. Heel and toe. Five toes plain. The heel had flattened 144 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:51,840 a few stones down into the hard dirt. I measured with what I had, my hand. My palm is a bit under five 145 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:58,800 inches from the heel to the base of my middle finger. I counted how many hands I thithed against it. 146 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:06,880 So roughly about 15 inches give or take, and it was about six wide. The depth in the hard dirt 147 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:16,080 told me another unsettling story. It told me there's no way that some human faked it last night to scare me. 148 00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:26,160 People, at least around there, don't weigh 800 pounds or more. Now up the bank piece, half in the mud, 149 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:32,720 they're lay a hand print. I put my palm next to it, and I felt like a tiny neck compared to what 150 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:40,240 this creature is. The fingers were longer. The pad heavier. The thumb set far lower on the hand. 151 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:49,360 It read like a clear blueprint for powerful hands. To the left, a sapling the size of my wrist 152 00:17:49,360 --> 00:17:56,320 showed a twist. I don't mean it was snapped with a clean break, but it had been run, fibers opening 153 00:17:56,320 --> 00:18:04,240 like a rope end. I'd seen enough. I left the area and I didn't look back. I didn't talk about it for a 154 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:10,800 real long spell, not because I was shy about it, but because I was still mulling it over for myself. 155 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:17,920 As October went on, the nights got longer, and they were tinged with wood smoke all around the valley, 156 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:25,760 same as every autumn. One night I woke up feeling panicked. Didn't know why for a second. Then I heard it. 157 00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:31,760 Somewhere out in the hills away from my house, I heard that same roar that I had heard out on the 158 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:38,400 road that night. It was smaller sounding, but I knew that's what it was, even from that distance. 159 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:45,440 I knew that roar was as big as it ever was. That morning I sat at the kitchen table. 160 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:52,560 I started making a list. Replace the old motion lights for newer ones with a wider, brighter light 161 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:58,960 spread. Put bear spray in my truck. There were all kinds of things on the list of that nature. 162 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:05,760 None of it was really going to help me do anything, but feel better about it. I felt like I was 163 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:13,440 at least doing something, and I did feel a little better, well for a little while. And it's funny, 164 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:20,000 how there's people in these parts that just have a way of knowing things, even things you've never 165 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:28,800 told a soul. Take Jim. Jim down at the gas station near the river is just like that. I stopped in for gas 166 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:34,480 and some coffee one morning. And Jim started in right on me the second I walked to the counter. 167 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:41,600 No one else was in there at the time. There was no "how you doing?" Or "morning, Paul?" 168 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:48,720 There was none of that. Jim came right to it and asked me if I was still running up Harlan Hollow 169 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:53,360 after dark. He asked me with a suspicious and a cautious tone. 170 00:19:53,360 --> 00:20:02,480 I non-shallotly said sometimes. Jim looked at me, and with a voice not much louder than a whisper, 171 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:08,240 he told me that the county had to tow a deputy's unit out from the creek bank down there just the week 172 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:15,680 before. He knew the deputy, he said. Well, of course he did. Jim knew everybody in the county. 173 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:24,720 Well, he said. The deputy told him he hit black ice. But see, nobody had any black ice conditions 174 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:32,160 anywhere in the county that night. Nobody else saw any anywhere. Jim told him the tow guy, 175 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:39,920 because, well, Jim knew him too, of course. The tow guy told him he said the cruiser had a dent on it 176 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:46,480 like a big bull had rammed it. The deputy and the tow guy both told him that the sheriff 177 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:54,160 told them to stay quiet about it. I told Jim I was mostly using the ridge road now. I didn't like all 178 00:20:54,160 --> 00:21:00,880 those curves real early in the morning or late at night. He waited two or three seconds, just looking at 179 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:09,200 me. Then he nodded, and then he took my money. After that night on the Hollow Road, I cleaned up the 180 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:15,680 dent in my passenger door the best that I could. I wanted to get the dent popped out, but the guy told 181 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:23,200 me it was just too far gone, too creased. It wasn't going to flex back out. All right, well, so be it. 182 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:30,800 I let it go as much as I could. I noticed I didn't make the decision, but it seemed that I always parked 183 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:35,040 where I didn't have to see the passenger side of my truck when I walked back to it. 184 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:44,800 After a while, life mostly went back to normal. But my driving changed. I watched my mirrors more. 185 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:51,440 I rolled my windows up at night even when I preferred the cold on my face. I went far out of my way. 186 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:57,040 I would take the long way if I had to, but I stayed off a lot of the smaller roads after dark. 187 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:03,840 But you know what happens with time, don't you? You lose the vigilance that you'd been keeping. 188 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:09,120 You get a little too comfortable all over again. And one night you get a little short on time, 189 00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:13,840 and you decide to go ahead and take that short road that you said you would never take again. 190 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:21,600 And that was my mistake in early December. I thought I was good. I thought I was past that. I thought I 191 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:27,920 was all better. Plus it was daylight. And I knew I had to be at one of my kids' choral shows at school 192 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:36,480 that night, around 6 p.m. So I was pressed on time. So I took Harlan Hollow at four in the afternoon 193 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:43,520 to deliver a chainsaw back to the fellow who lived near the creek. The sun was good. Late light 194 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:50,880 was still bright. I dropped the chainsaw, got my money, then headed back out. I wanted out of the 195 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:58,400 hollow before darkness, and that came pretty early in December. Right before Dead Man's Curve, 196 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:04,560 there was a messy line across the road. I was confused. It hadn't been there on the way in, 197 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:11,360 which was maybe 15 or 20 minutes before. I slowed down, and my gut began to twist. 198 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:17,600 It was clearly blood and other gore from a fresh kill that had been dragged across the road. 199 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:24,720 I know exactly what a kill pull looks like. Now there wasn't a hunter in the county that would have 200 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:32,640 dragged a kill over a hard road like that. I only knew of one, though, that might. A wood booger. 201 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:40,400 I suddenly stopped thinking I was better. A week after that, Tim told me that he came through 202 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:45,200 round dusk, and there was a dark shape that ran the creek beside his truck for a hundred yards, 203 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:50,640 keep him pace with him. He said he thought about stopping to see what it was after it had ran off. 204 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:55,360 But then he remembered the old stories, and he said he liked living. 205 00:23:55,360 --> 00:24:02,160 We had a cold snap that winter that blew frigid air in for weeks. That's when you really can hear 206 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:08,400 everything. You know, sound carries a lot in silent winter air. On one of those nights, 207 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:15,840 sometime near Christmas, I was watching television with my wife. Far away, I heard that roaring sound. 208 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:22,320 I think my hair stood up on my arms. Even my wife looked up from her cross stitch. 209 00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:29,600 "What was that?" she asked. I looked at her, and all I could say was 210 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:36,240 something went up in the hills I reckon. Again, I made sure I didn't lie. 211 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:42,240 That was four years back now, and that's the last I've heard from that creature. 212 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:47,680 I don't know if it's moved on or not, but Jim tells me a story every once in a blue moon 213 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:54,800 that could maybe be that wood boogers doings. I listen, I pay attention, 214 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:58,480 but I don't take Harlan Hollow at night anymore. 215 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:05,680 In the daylight, I will do it sometimes because, well, I tell myself it's a nocturnal creature. 216 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:11,360 I tell myself all sorts of other things because Harlan Hollow saves me a lot of time. 217 00:25:11,360 --> 00:25:19,920 But if I'm alone in the light's fading, you know I go the long way to wherever I'm heading.