UFO’s sited at French Creek?
Bigfoot spotted at Presque Isle State Park?
Ghostly image caught peeking out of the old Lund Boat building?
There are certain things that I WANT to believe. Unfortunately, I am one of those people who needs to see something, before I will believe it.
Hey, I am willing to give things the benefit of the doubt, but I need to see "something", any kind of a sign; before I will go "hog wild" into believing something.
Like this photo, for example...
Are these strange orbs the ghosts of Commodore Perry’s sailors who died from smallpox at Misery Bay?
I would really like to believe that because this would be PROOF that there is "life" after death.
BUT, sad to say, it was raining. It was dusk. And my camera flash caught the little raindrops as they were falling. YES, they do look like supernatural "orbs" from beyond.
However, I did have an experience that I cannot explain. Let me give you a mental picture of what happened:
It was a cold, rainy day at Presque. I had the park "virtually" to myself. (In other words, no one else was STUPID enough to be out there.)
I had just come in from a canoe trip in the lagoons, (which, the lake level is REALLY low. I have never seen it THIS low. Parts of the lagoon system are almost choked off by weeds.)
After getting out of the canoe, I headed to the camper, and sat at the desk to do some work. Through the window, looking towards the lake, I saw something, out of the corner of my eye, move from left to right. It was so REAL that I got up and went outside to see if someone was messing with the canoe. But no one was around.
Back, sitting at the desk, the same thing happened again. This time, I noticed that "it" looked brown in color.
At first, I thought it might be a deer, but it seemed to be standing upright, and not on all fours, like a deer would be.
This happened several times, and I began to write it off as me being tired. I didn’t think anymore about it.
Night was setting in, and I began to load up supplies, when I noticed something strange in the Lake Erie shoreline weeds.
I took a picture of what I saw, but the picture doesn’t really show the detail, as you would see if you were standing there, so I have to explain it.
Picture a tall group of weeds. (4 foot tall) This grouping of weeds was thick. Maybe 10 foot by 10 foot thick.)
OK, now picture all the weeds on the outside of the group standing straight up, but all of the center weeds are pushed down and bent over. It is, as if: someone JUMPED 4 feet into the air, over the outer weeds and landed in the center of this group of weeds. Then, "they" flattened all of the center weeds, causing these center weeds to bend over. Then, this "person" jumped 4 foot in the air, over the outer weeds, to not disturb them. There is no pathway in, or out of these weeds, which a deer would cause by walking in and laying down. Something flew into the center of these weeds. Pushed the center weeds down, and then flew out again.
This caused me to go: "Hmmm." Then I went back to loading the truck.
That is, until, I looked at the angle of the weeds to the site-line of the camper window. It was exactly in line of where I was seeing "something" out of the corner of my eye, when I was sitting at my desk in the camper.
OK, I will admit, this gave me the chills.
I took a picture of the "strange" weeds, but this picture doesn’t show what I am talking about, sorry. You would have to be standing there, to really see what I am talking about.
At first, I thought maybe the weeds got heavy from the rain, and bent over on their own. But why would the center be bent over, and not the outside weeds? That didn’t make sense.
Could a deer jump 4 feet into the air, land in the center of the weeds, and bed down in hiding?
YES, I have seen deer jump 4 feet easily. However, I have never seen a deer jump into the center of a thick patch of weeds. Usually, deer WALK into a patch of weeds and leave a trail into the weeds. (Just because I have never SEEN a deer jump into a thick group of weeds, doesn’t rule out that possibility.)
Here’s what I know...
"Something" came out of the air and landed in the center of those weeds. Either a force, that we do not understand, visited Presque and I just happened to be there.
OR; we have one clever deer who learned that if he (she) jumps into the center of a group of weeds, it is completely hidden. This would explain why, when I saw something out of the corner of my eye, it looked brown and was standing up-right. If my eye caught the movement of the deer while it was leaping, it would look like it was standing up.
The "deer theory" sounds very plausible, except for one little fact...
My camper was only 20 feet away from this group of weeds. My canoe was sitting 5 feet away from these weeds.
No wild deer, (that I know of) is going to "bed down" that close to a camper and canoe.
A "pet" deer might bed down that close to human scent. (Pet deer- a deer that no longer fears humans because it has been feed by humans.) However, because I was one of the only people out there, a pet deer would have showed itself to me by trying to get food from me. (I had cooked a couple of hamburgers outside, earlier that day.)
Now that I think of it, I do not see how it could have been a deer? A wild deer would never bed down that close to a boat, and a pet deer would have shown itself.
(Oh crap, the mystery continues.)
Folks, I do not know what it was. I saw something and logic doesn’t have an answer.
Is my story good enough for Captain Bob to tell on one of his "Ghost Walk" tours in Erie Pennsylvania?
Probably not. Who would want to know about a "supernatural deer" who fell from the sky, and crushed some weeds?
(However, I haven’t begun to talk about my adventures in Graveyard Pond.) More on that in later editorials.
Written by Rick Ray for The Angry Republic
