Kentucky Hauntings(38)

In the moonlight, Lightel saw something stop at the end of the porch. It looked red and smelled bad, and it walked upright. Its eyes glowed red, too, as they focused on him and started slowly around the porch. It threw back its head and let out another blood-curdling screech.

Lightel thought he could not move, but the last screech pumped adrenalin to his legs, and he lunged for his cabin door. He got inside, closed the door, and bolted it just as the red thing came up on the porch. Lightel's escape had been a narrow one, and even then he was not sure he was out of danger. The cabin walls and doors were thick. Lightel prayed they would hold the thing outside. He crouched beside the door and listened to the thing scrape its claws across the wood, but fortunately the door held. The creature scraped and scraped, and then paced back and forth across the porch. It walked upright most of the time, but sometimes Lightel could hear it walking on all fours.

The night crept by and the red thing stayed on the porch. The dogs stayed under the house and never uttered a single bark. Lightel got his loaded gun and held it across his lap, but he had the feeling it wouldn't offer much protection if the creature got inside.

Finally, mercifully, the sun came up. It was not a welcome sight for the red thing. It let out another screech that rattled the small windows of the cabin. Then it moved off the porch and vanished into the woods.

Lightel waited to go outside until he heard his dogs come out from under the cabin. He figured they would know if the red thing had gone or not. He found his guitar untouched on the porch, but the buck he had hung in the tree was completely devoured. He was grateful that there was no sign of the red thing.

Lightel told friends and family about his frightening ordeal, but nobody believed him. Some suggested that he must have sampled some moonshine after he ate his stew and cornbread. He had not had anything to drink, though. He knew what he had seen.

Only one other old-timer said he had heard stories of red things that lived deep in the woods and hardly ever came out. He said it only happened if their food supply got really low. Nobody believed him either, except Lightel.

For the rest of his life, Lightel made sure his chores were done and that he was safely inside before dark. People could laugh at him if they wanted to. He was not going to take any chances. He was thankful that he never heard that awful screech or saw the red thing again.





Howard's Home


Roberta's Uncle Josh always had dogs on the farm. He told this and other dog stories that always fascinated us.

Some of us believe that dogs go to heaven as people do, and that they can return and appear to the living.

Howard was a little black mutt, a dog of mixed breed. He did not come from a royal canine bloodline; he came from the pound as a rescue dog to four-year-old Mattie Granger and her family. From the day they brought him home, Howard made it clear that his heart belonged to Mattie. She was equally clear about her love for Howard. She named him Howard after her best friend who had moved away. Howard was happy to take over that role.

Mattie and Howard liked to play ball in the backyard. When the ball would roll into the woods behind the house, Howard would go fetch it and bring it back. One day Mattie threw it so hard that it rolled into the woods out of sight. Howard dashed into the woods, and Mattie ran after him. Mr. Granger happened to see them and called them both back.

“Don't go into the woods, Mattie,” he said. “It would be easy to get lost in there. Mr. Phillips owns them, and he hasn't cleared out any trees in years. Any kind of dangerous animal could be in there. Plus, I know Mr. Phillips has a big dog. I want you to play in your own yard.”

“Okay, Daddy,” promised Mattie.

Howard made no response. He wouldn't have promised to stay in the yard even if he could. The woods were a wondrous place to the little dog. There was space to run unseen among the brush and trees, and there were things to chase!

One day Mattie came down with a cold and couldn't come out to play ball with Howard. Howard stayed inside and kept her company for a while, but when she went to sleep, Howard scratched on the door for Mrs. Granger to let him out. She thought he would soon be back at the door wanting to come back inside, but that was not what Howard had in mind.

The little dog headed straight for the woods. He was sure he could find something to do there, and he was right. First thing, up jumped a rabbit, and the chase was on! To Howard, it was a wonderful game.

Howard kept in sight of the rabbit until he found himself in unfamiliar territory. Suddenly, the rabbit turned into some bushes and was gone. Howard stopped, a little confused. Just then, a noise in the bushes caught his attention. He thought it was the rabbit, so he sensed no danger. Howard watched as a huge dog twice his size emerged from the bushes and charged at him. Howard was not a fighter, but he tried to defend himself. His efforts were useless, though, because the attacking dog was too big and too mean to handle. He went for Howard's throat and made the kill. Then he went on his way to Mr. Phillips's house, where he lived.