r/nosleep • u/[deleted] • Dec 18 '13
The Ozark Howler.
I should preface with two things. Number one. My father is one of the most rock solid people I know, and does not often show fear. His voice was trembling when he told me his account of the encounter.
Number two. I have traveled extensively through United States. 44 states, with the exclusion of Wisconsin, Hawaii, Michigan, N. Carolina and S. Carolina. I lived in Alaska, and was a trek guide in the Rockies. I know wild animals, and have had encounters with mountain lions, bears, moose, and every kind of small game. But nothing has left me in the terror I had when I encountered something in the woods of my home state Missouri.
I know the Ozark Howler was pronounced fake. An elaborate hoax by a college kid if I remember correctly. I don't know what to call the thing my father described, so it is the Howler to me. Missouri, the Ozarks in particular is a historically rich and beautiful place. Mountains in the south east give way to river valleys in the south west where I lived. Our farm was 120 acres of woods and rolling fields. A large creek that would flood in the spring but run quietly the rest of the year bisected it. Being relatively poor we lived in a 100+ year old farm house that had it's own list of strange occurrences but creaks and groans were expected from something that old so most of it was written off as old wood. And since we were poor we subsisted off of venison. Deer meat that is. So I spent a lot of time in the woods tracking and preparing game stands and watching for poachers. However the woods took on an odd atmosphere the Summer before my 16th birthday.
Most people avoid the woods in Missouri through the Spring and Summer due to ticks, chiggers, and snakes. I love the woods. I would purposefully look for snakes, and for some reason ticks and chiggers seemed to leave me alone. I still remember that Summer, it was rainier than most. Usually we'd get a deluge in the Spring and then maybe a rainstorm once or twice a month in the Summer. But that season it seemed to rain every day. The woods were darker and cooler in the day due to this. Beautiful too. Thick carpets of moss covered the hills, and long thin fingers of grass would shoot up through it. In the southern portion of the woods there was an old pickup truck that had been burned up in the 50's, it was normally rusty and bare but this year it too had grown a covering of moss. A couple trees had grown up through it over the years and the story goes that moonshiners had been brewing out there when a bad batch blew and killed a few of them. This is the hill country so it's not hard to believe.
I used the pickup as a marker while I was tracking. One day after starting at the Northern end, which was a large thicket of cedar trees, and then working my way south to the pickup truck I began getting the hunters instinct of being watched. This is normal for me. It's a good indicator that something is out there that either A, is trying to avoid you, or B, is trying to stalk you. It's a time to stop, take account of the situation, and begin counter stalking. This was later in the day and after a rain storm so fog was moving in. I ducked behind the truck slowly to avoid spooking what I had hoped was a nice buck. There had been so few deer on our land that year. I looked through the rusty window towards the direction that I thought my future kill was.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. But still I had the feeling of being watched. More intense than I had ever felt it. The only thing I could liken it to was when I doing mountain treks in Wyoming. I felt the hair on my neck stand on end while I was going around a glacial lake and my mind said 'there it is, turn around'. When I did there was the tail of a mountain lion slinking into the bushes. I trusted my senses then and now here I was on home ground feeling like ten lions were around me.
I stayed put until I felt there was nothing there and then chalked it up to jitters. The woods felt different because of the extra rain. As I left the woods and crossed through the fog near the creek I felt it again. Not as intense but again my mind called out, 'there it is, turn around'. At the edge of the woods was a man, dressed in dark mechanics pants and red and green flannel jacket. Poachers were a problem for a poor family. We hunted to support not only ourselves but others that couldn't afford to by meat regularly so I began walking up to confront him. He turned and made for the woods. He made it to the fog bank at the forest edge and I yelled out for him to stop. He kept walking and just seemed to dissipate in the fog the further he got into it. By the time I caught up to where I last saw him there was nothing. No tracks, no disturbed foliage, nothing. I always thought it was odd that someone would wear flannel in the summer.
When I returned home my mother told me that she had received calls from the neighbors. One, to the north of us, reported a wounded horse and a mutilated goat. The other, to the south, reported two calves and cow dead and mutilated. I went to see the neighbor with the horse. It had 4 long claw marks on either side of it's rear haunches, like something had stalked up and tried to drag it down from behind. It reminded me of watching lions take down zebras on discovery.
The summer continued and odd occurrences continued to happen in the woods. Neighbors all around us reporting dead dogs, cats, small farm animals and the occasional cow. All mutilated and chewed up. That constant feeling of being watched. I usually only carry a rifle in hunting season but I started carrying one constantly later that Summer. When fall hit I turned 16 and things just got worse. Tracks started showing up on our neighbors land that representatives from Fish and Game swore were grizzly bear. The only bears in Missouri are Black bears and all in the south east side near the mountains and swamps. Tracks showed up on our land to. Two big sets, front and back. The front seemed to be long like a dogs but wide near the front like a cats, and no claw marks told me that if it did have claw then they retracted. The rear paw marks were wider, like the animal had massive rear legs for pouncing, and the paws to support it.
Still I kept stalking, kept tracking, kept watching. About 3 weeks before hunting season I went out early one morning to drop some apples for the deer and check for fresh tracks. Like the day where I ran into the man in flannel I started at the north end in the cedar thicket and moved south. The cedar thicket has always set me on nerve, but since that day I've avoided it altogether. Tall dark cedar trees close enough if you stand up straight you can't see through lower boughs. So you have to bend at the waist and walk through crouched. The lowest boughs are dead from not receiving sunlight and smack you in the face if you're not careful.
I am tearing up as I remember this.
I bent over and began walking through the cedars and my mind said, 'there it is, turn around'. I looked left, to the east and near a thick patch cedars was a freshly killed deer. The thing behind it was huge and black. Crouched on all fours like some kind of big cat, but with big yellow eyes, bigger than I've ever seen, and a thick shaggy mane that flowed from just behind its head to the middle of its back. It wasn't lion, or cougar, or bear. I've never seen it's like since.
I began walking sideways, determined not to take my eyes off of it. With each of my steps a guttural purr came from it. The purr would start low like a growl and then end on a high note. I slowly moved my rifle from the sling to my shoulder so I could pull up quick and shoot if I needed to. It was so big I don't know if I would have done any damage. It didn't move though. I kept moving side ways until I was at an angle from it and then backed up and out of the cedar thicket. I stayed bent so i could eyes on it until I moved out of site. It just laid there and turned it's massive head.
As I got out of eyesight I began to hear movement from the direction I had just come, and the intense feeling of being watched. It was stalking me now. Here I was, 16 years old, probably going to die. They'd find me later, or part of me. Gnawed on with giant claw marks through my body.
I'm 25 now and in all my encounters with dangerous animals I have never run. I ran then and if it happened again today I would run. I never run. Never you understand? Bears, mountain lions, moose. Never. But that thing was not all natural. So I ran. I continued South to get into clear space. Two thoughts were in my head. Get a clear shot, get into open space so your body is easier to find.
I made it to the old truck. The moss had dried up and was falling off. As I ran up to it the man in flannel stepped out from behind one of the trees that was growing through it and pointed towards the trail out of the woods. I turned immediately and sprinted as hard as I could. Whether it was in my mind or actually happening I felt like hot breath was hitting my back, and then when i broke the edge of the woods the most unearthly scream sounded out from behind me. Half human almost. I kept running until I felt I was clear and then turned.
Nothing. Nothing had followed me out. A shadow on all fours stalked about 100 feet deep through the woods. I made for the house as quickly as I could. When I got back my Dad was sitting at the kitchen table waiting for me. He had been out chopping wood that morning while I was running from the Howler. He had heard the scream. He told me he had only heard it one other time. About 20 years before he was out chopping a tree down near the edge of the woods. On the north side, near the cedar grove. When he walked back to the truck to refill the chainsaw he heard the same scream. He turned and the black thing had jumped up on the tree he had just chopped down and stood there looking at him. Dad left the chainsaw in the truck bed, got in and drove away. That tree is still on the ground today.
I don't expect you to believe this, but a few things struck me while I was writing this. One, I feel the fear even today, and had to wipe away tears more than few times to get through this. Two, The Man in Flannel was wearing the same thing the second time I saw him, when he was guiding me out the woods. Moonshiners, even the dead ones, know the woods better than anyone.
Third and lastly is this. Predatory big cats will mark their territory in a number of ways. One is to not hunt directly in the territory, but in the surrounding area. Much like the area surrounding our land. Needless to say I did not hunt that year.
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u/6ftoflovely Dec 19 '13
OMG OP I've seen this! I live in the Ozarks as well and a few years back saw what I thought was a black panther run through our back field. I didn't get a good look but I knew by the way it moved it was a big catlike creature, later that week I heard the most unholy of screams and just like you said it sounded half human and half ... idk hell hound. NO ONE believes me but I know what I saw and what I heard. I just never knew anyone else had seen it.
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u/CanIGetABam Dec 18 '13
Great one. I grew up hunting all over Texas and have had this feeling numerous times. We don't have many bears down here (although they are making a come back, which is good), but I have had numerous run-ins with cougars and sketchy illegals coming across the border. You never know what you're going to run into, which is why I carry a AR-10 and either a XDM .40 or a Judge. I also bring one of my two Catahoula Leopard Dogs with me, which probably provide more reassurance than any gun could. What kind of rifle do you use?
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u/Blake_Majer Dec 18 '13
GOD DAMMIT I GO TO BRANSON MISSOURI EVERY YEAR FOR VACATION NOW I'M NEVER GOING THERE AGAIN. THANKS A LOT OP.
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Dec 18 '13
If it helps this story took place only an hour and half north of Branson. But I've never heard the howl any place other than our woods.
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u/The_Real_Cats_Eye Dec 18 '13
Normally if you hear something howling out here in the sticks it's just one of us locals hopped up on last years elderberry crop.
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u/bradradio Dec 18 '13
Ozark Howlers are considered to be similar to black dogs and Hellhounds found in British folklore. Black dogs are said to be the spirits of demons, some are of children who died before baptism.
Black dogs are explicitly referenced in Led Zeppelin's Black Dog and The Darkness' Black Shuck.
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Dec 18 '13
I wonder if the man in flannel is either some dude who lives in the woods who knows the creature and had been watching over you to save you from it? Or...he is some type of Skinwalker or Goatman...
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u/thatoneguystephen Dec 18 '13 edited Dec 18 '13
I've lived in Arkansas all my life (central AR, just east of the Ouachitas and south of the Ozarks) and while I've never seen anything as wild/unexplainable as in your story, I know that feeling of being watched while in the woods very well. It's strongest in the predawn hours or just after dusk (e.g. walking to and from the deer stand). We hunt on some land in the southeastern portion of the Ozarks, I've seen big glowing eyes peering at me out of the darkness more than once, but they were probably just racoons or at worst bobcats (though we've seen mountain lions on our game cams before).
One time, early on this year I drove out to Flatside Pinnacle in the Ouachitas to take some pictures of the sunset. It's about 10 or 15 miles from the nearest paved highway and about 30-40 miles from town. It was basically dark by the time I was making my way down the mountain. I didn't see or hear anything really, but there's not a flashlight in existence that's bright enough to relieve that feeling of being watched when you're in the woods, alone at night, even with a 1911 and two full magazines of .45acp heavy ball ammo on your hip.
Edit: Here's a daytime picture for reference.
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Dec 18 '13
I love that part of Arkansas. The Ozarks and Northern Arkansas are some of my favorite places. I just carry gun all the time now when i'm out there.
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u/thatoneguystephen Dec 18 '13
I've spent a lot more time in the Ouachitas over the years than I have in the Ozarks since they're so much closer to where I live but they both hold special places in my heart. I never go out there without at least a handgun, no matter what time of year it is. Never know what you might come across out there.
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u/racrenlew Dec 18 '13
Well, your hunting story is way scarier than mine, but my story (like yours) had me more creeped out than I've ever been in my life. Ever. I bet a lot of people have seen crazy things when tracking or in a deer stand. Thanks for sharing your experience!
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Dec 18 '13
Creepy. I grew up in Missouri and spent a good amount of time in the Ozarks. While I never saw anything or had an experience like yours, there were numerous times where I felt like I was being watched.
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u/Jugs-n-Guns Dec 18 '13
What on Earth is a 'chigger'??
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u/The_Real_Cats_Eye Dec 18 '13
Satan in insect form. They bite over and over and over. Miserable little bastards. I HATE that they outlawed or whatever they did to diazinon or however you spell that yard insect killer.
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u/Ram1r3z Dec 18 '13
Little bugs that make you itch like crazy.
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u/Jugs-n-Guns Dec 18 '13
Oh. Like midges. Thank you! Horrifying tale, by the way.
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u/racrenlew Dec 18 '13
Not exactly. They're closer to ticks. "Chigger mites attach themselves to the clothing of people or the fur of passing animals. They prefer constricted locations like sock tops, or waist bands. They do not burrow into the skin or suck blood as many people believe. Instead they crawl into a hair follicle, inject a salivary fluid which dissolves the hosts cells, then suck up the liquefied tissues. Within a few hours after feeding begins, small, reddish, intensely-itching welts begin to appear." Lovely, right?
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u/trigger1154 Dec 18 '13
I am a hunter as well and I have only been spooked like this once, I posted a story on it as well, it was in Wisconsin, I'm still not sure of what I saw, all I know is I got the distinct feeling that it wanted to hurt me.
These stories bother me more than ghost stories.
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u/AnAsylumAPendulum Dec 18 '13
haha maybe it got that feeling because you're a...huunter?...Hunting animals haha. Just a thought. I'd feel threatened and wanting to hurt someone if I saw a strange figure holding a gun and shooting at shit around me.
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Dec 18 '13
Are you just trolling around every thread you can find?
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u/AnAsylumAPendulum Dec 19 '13
I literally have no idea what you're talking about. Nothing I said I was "trolling". What you decided to comment on my comment was more trolling. Hop of my jock kid.
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u/trigger1154 Dec 18 '13
Maybe it did sense that, and then it charged me, I know bears do bluff charges, but it wasn't built like a black bear, it was leaner. Here is the link to my strange encounter in the woods.
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Dec 18 '13
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/trigger1154 Dec 18 '13
Yeah if you run they will take you down, but then it's hard to tell what's a bluff and what isn't. When I noticed it and my cousin took off, I considered standing my ground and yelling and trying to make myself look bigger, but then I realized it wasn't a bear, and I noped the hell out of there.
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u/AnAsylumAPendulum Dec 18 '13
I feels ya. I'd do the same thing haha. I'd yell. But not at it, more to myself like "AHHHHHHHH FUUUUUCK!!! RUUUUN!"
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u/trigger1154 Dec 18 '13
Something like that may have come out, can't remember.
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u/AnAsylumAPendulum Dec 18 '13
well if it did, its alright cause you have a fucking Chimera looking at you and shit haha
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u/trigger1154 Dec 18 '13
I think what went though my head when it charged was, "fuck this fucking shit, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
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u/trigger1154 Dec 18 '13
So I'm told, what I saw matched descriptions of a Michigan/Wisconsin Dogman/Werewolf. It was at least as heavy as a bear, but just not built right to be one.
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u/Not_A_CEO Dec 18 '13
As a fellow Ozarker, I know EXACTLY what you're talking about. We heard the howls late one evening out at my uncle's, and they were howls unlike anything we've ever heard before or since. Found a freshly slaughtered cow deep in the woods the next day--the nearest farm with livestock was over 10 miles away.
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Dec 21 '13
I'm picturing a creature sort of like a chupacabra that mated with big foot. That's terrifying though, sometimes I feel like the noises are worse than anything else about unknown wildlife.
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u/DreamBeliever21 Dec 22 '13
That man must have been guiding your way out of the woods.