Shadow and The Deer Man

We had a lot of fun working together, and the days went quickly... soon I would be heading back home to get ready to start another school year.

One particular day it was pretty hot outside, though it wasn't really any different from the days previous, except that my cousin "D" and I had the responsibility of removing old drywall, mortar, and wood to the burn pile out behind the barn.

We were a bit behind D's dad, so while we were getting finished, his parents decided they would run to the mall and get a few things D's sister needed for school.

About an hour after they left it began getting dark, and the full moon shone bright and red above the field even though there was still enough light to see around us.

We had just finished tossing out the last load of drywall, and were on our way back to the barn to pack up for the night, when D said;

"Look they're home... dad's in the window waving."

I looked up, but saw no one... I laughed and told him the moon was playing tricks on him, though he adamantly protested, continuing to say that his father appeared shadowy, and he remained such as he passed under the kitchen light, into the living room.

I told him that if they were home, the van would be parked in the front of the house, or back by the barn... and since it wasn't at the barn, we would go check the front of the house.

We drove around on the gravel road that went beside the house, but there was no trace of the van at the front door either.

I circled the tractor back around, consoling D that he had just been seeing things and got back on the gravel road to unpack the trailer at the barn.

After going about 50 feet, I began hearing pounding on the ground, as if a horse was running up the hill from the pond... by this time it was dark, and even the light from the house could not penetrate far beyond the fence that ran along side the gravel road to the barn.

I turned in time to see a two-legged creature running across the driveway ahead of me... I slammed on the brakes which almost sent D sprawling to the ground, and I half screamed at him; "Did you see that?"

He said that he had seen something moving onto the driveway, but lost track of it when I slammed on the brakes.

We sat there for a few minutes, I was shocked and terrified, and D was just as terrified, thinking the two encounters were linked.

After calming down, he asked me what it had looked like, and to this day I can see it as plainly as I did that night:

It stood about 8 feet tall, had the lower legs of a deer, the thighs, stomach, chest and arms of a human, a deer's head and antlers... I remember hearing it's hooves beating the gravel driveway as it ran by us... I can still see the arms moving as a person's arm would while running.

Needless to say; I gave D's story a lot more credence, and we did what any teenager would; we armed ourselves to the teeth and waited in the living room for his parents to come home.

Of course they didn't believe us... but when D went to the back door to show his parents where he thought he saw his dad standing and waving; we found long scratches in the glass door...