Help with identifying a terrifying creature

[TheLuckiest]

Hi there,

I just signed up today and I was wondering if you all could give me any insight on a creature my friend and I saw when we were young.

First of all, I am not crazy, I don't know exactly what I saw, that's why I am writing you guys. However, I know I saw something that does not or should not exist on this Earth.

Secondly, I am not lying. If you can get past those two things, please continue reading.

When I was a little girl about 9 or 10 I saw something that scared me to no end, that is difficult for me to describe.

I had a very large creek and woods in my backyard that I was playing in with a friend one day.

We were throwing rocks into the water when from a distance we thought we saw a black and white cat. It was about 100 to 200 feet away. Something about it looked off though so we continued to watch it. As we watched this cat seemed to get larger without coming towards us. It just kept growing while it was slowly pacing back and forth. So, we decided maybe it was a dog and we were just seeing things. It stayed in the same area walking back and forth but never came any closer. This "dog" then became bigger more like the size of a small cow. My friend and I had no idea what we where looking at and we were very confused, frozen in fear. The thing, whatever it was, then took shape a man, still black and white in color. It both did and didn't look like a man at the same time, if that makes any sense. It looked similar to a human, but unlike any human I have ever seen. It then stood up on two legs and ran towards the woods.

This is when we ran screaming. I was beyond terrified. I didn't even look back. My friend, who looked a split second longer than me claimed that once the creature entered the woods, she saw antlers, but since I was running I didn't get to witness that.

I told my mom that there was a man in our creek but he wasn't really a man. I sounded insane. My parents never found what we were talking about and I never saw it again. For awhile we were made fun of about it.

I know this sounds crazy even humourous but it is what I saw. I still to this day am not sure of what I saw. But I know it wasn't an animal. Just writing about it scares me.

If you know what I may have seen all those years ago, I'd appreciate your help!

[+DieChecker]

What it was depends on if you believe in the supernatural, as in religious mythology. Could have been something demonic, or angelic, hard to say. Most religions say that the miraculous can happen.

In the world of Science, what animal it may have been, I've got not a clue. Shapechangers, and especially those that get bigger/smaller, are physically impossible.

Maybe someone was pranking you? With maybe an inflatable person on a string, so it was pulled back and forth as it inflated and got bigger? And then pulled up and pulled while upright into the woods?

[George Ford]

It kind of very vaguely reminds me of a story called The Tinderbox:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tinderbox

I say vaguely cos the only real similarity is that there are 3 dogs, one small, one large and one massive. I remember the book with pictures being read to me as a kid and recently I was trying to find the story online. The weird thing was that when I was searching what I remembered it took awhile as I remembered the story book pictures being of a cat that got bigger and bigger until it was the size of a house. Is there any way you have 2 events mixed up in your head? Like you saw a large cat once and maybe read the same book?

[Q-C]

Hello, Luckiest!

Playing off George Ford's post above, I would tend to think it could have been two or more creatures you witnessed. And depending on how they moved around could appear as one creature that "grows" in size. Can you provide a general location where this happened? Were you near a farm?

[TheLuckiest]

Thanks all for the responses!

This event is very clear in my mind and I distinctly remember just seeing the one animal. It wasn't walking behind anything and was in the middle of a clearing in my creek so my friend and I had a pretty good view that it was just the one animal/creature.

I am still friends with the girl I saw it with. She describes the exact same story I did with no changes so she sort of validated that I wasn't crazy and wasn't mistaken in what was seen. She doesn't seem to like to talk about it though. It really frightened her.

We were also playing in the creek all day around the sand area. There's no way someone could have been pranking us or we would have seen People entering the creek.

Our location was in south west ohio. We were in the suburbs but it was a heavily wooded area.

I'll check out the tinderbox, I have never heard of it before.

[rashore]

Welcome to UM Luckiest Please, make sure you read the site rules, check out some threads.. and enjoy your time here on UM

Couple questions for you... How long ago did this happen? And have you and your friend spoken of this multiple times since then, or has the topic only come up once and she confirmed what you saw?

[+DieChecker]

It also matters where in the world you saw this, because different areas have different shapechanger legends. If this was in Japan, it might be a nekomata, if it was in Arizona, it might be a skinwalker. If in Germany, it might be a lycanthrope.

Also what you saw might fit in with some kinds of spirits, or ghosts, or faeries, or even aliens from space.

[rashore]

It also matters where in the world you saw this, because different areas have different shapechanger legends. If this was in Japan, it might be a nekomata, if it was in Arizona, it might be a skinwalker. If in Germany, it might be a lycanthrope.

Also what you saw might fit in with some kinds of spirits, or ghosts, or faeries, or even aliens from space.

It was in southwest Ohio....

[+DieChecker]

It was in southwest Ohio....

Opps! I missed that line. Reading too fast I guess.

Ohio? What's from Ohio and changes shape.....??? Don't know yet, but I'll try thinking on it and google around when I have time.

[TheLuckiest]

Sorry everyone I haven't figured out how to quote people yet!

Yes the girl who I saw this thing with and I are still really good friends. I was even in her wedding. Every now and then it comes up in conversation. We def had the same experience with what we saw.

This happened when I was around 9 or 10 so 18 years ago. It seems like a long time ago, but I swear my memory is pretty good.

Sorry guys. I'm not an expert or anything on monsters or cryptozoology so I don't really know much that's why I came here. you all must think I'm crazy lol!

[+DieChecker]

Nah... The people who ARE going to say you are Crazy haven't started posting anything yet.

This was in the daytime right?

Myself, I don't think shapechangers are possible, so I'm starting to lean toward this being a spirit/ghost. Possibly of a witch that was killed in the area back in frontier times. Just a guess....

[TheLuckiest]

Yes this was in the day. To be honest I don't know what I believe. I'm one of those skeptics who keeps an open mind but likes some form of proof if that makes any sense. Anyway, thanks all for helping I think the mystery of the Cow man is probably going to remThayer mystery

Sorry *remain

[Jungle Jim]

Was this creek near any military bases or government laboratories?

[monkeyman2269]

Could have been a bear with a white chest patch that stood up to look like sort of a man

[+DieChecker]

Could it have been someone coming up out of a hole? Such that they looked small at first and then got bigger and bigger then got up and walked away??

[George Ford]

Where did this happen and what are the local legends. If there is some beast or witch or something in the area then there is normally a local tale to go with it.

[Earl.Of.Trumps]

Quite a happening, TheLuckiest.

So this was 18-19 years ago (1997-8?) in SW Ohio, correct?

What would be really interesting is if you can get your girlfriend to email you her side of the story, and you post it in this thread.

The only thing that comes to mind is a shapeshifter of some kind. I only know of the term because of some American Indian beliefs.

It certainly would have been really good to have gotten some prints from the scene. Maybe next time, eh? :--)

[Orahmon]

Native Americans swear that there are shapeshifters called skinwalkers..

[Wendigo Wangs]

Yes. It sounds like you saw a skin-man.

[owf]

Hi luckiest,

My first post here too. I love stuff like this and maybe solving mysteries. My answer, aside from skinwalkers being real, is the distance was a bit more and you both saw a buck from the front with the imagination of children.

At about the same age, I remember seeing a shining castle in the Huachuca mountains of Southern Arizona. It was real! except the next day it had turned into rock out cropping.

[DefenceMinisterMishkin]

It could have been a land variant of Megalodon.

[TheLuckiest]

Haha at the megaladon joke.

There are no bears in the area, no holes in the middle of the creek, no government factorles or any weird local legend. This thing was basically in my backyard in an area I know like the back of my hand.

I guess its just going to stay unsolved lol!