A STRANGE EVENT THAT OCCURRED WHEN I LIVED ALONE ON A FARMSTEAD NEAR THE PENNSYLVANIA/MARYLAND LINE

During the early ‘70’s, I lived on a 20-acre farmstead near the town of Pylesville, Maryland. It was a rather remote place nestled in a thick woods near the Pennsylvania line. The 2- storied house was brick with double chimneys and a slate roof built probably in the 1830’s. It was located on the southern slope of a large ridge that went on for several miles until it dropped off into an abandoned slate quarry that was now full of water. It was a very private place because of the ridge and the thick woods surrounding it To get to the house from the road you had to travel on a dirt driveway, which was more a path through a patch of woods until you came to the crest of a sloping field(about 3 acres) with tall grass. At that point you could see the house further down the slope about 200 yards from the ridge. You could also see a beautiful valley to the right, where there was some clearing in the woods.

It was a Thoreau type existence for me and my canine companion- a Samoyed husky named “Snow”. Behind the house and a little further down the path was a stone springhouse where I drew some of the most refreshing spring water that I’ve ever tasted. My closest neighbor lived further down the slope about a quarter of a mile through another section of thick woods. I had no electricity, telephone, only candles and a kerosene lantern for light and a fireplace and a kitchen woodstove for heat and cooking.

Between the 2 floors of the house was an enormous beehive, they had moved in way before I got there through holes to the rafters which were left when the the old porch roof collapsed and was never rebuilt. In the summer months the activity of millions of bees could be heard, some of which could crawl through a crack in the ceiling and end up in the kitchen buzzing at the window, until I would open the door to let them out. The bees and I got along splendidly, as I was only stung once by a wayward bee that happened to climb up my leg when I was sitting outside by the campfire in the three years I lived there. During very warm days, honey would sometimes ooze down through cracks in the ceiling and drip to the floor , where Snow would gladly lick it up until the floor was shiny again.

It was my habit to sleep downstairs in the colder seasons on a couch placed near the fire place. Snow would usually curl up at the end of the couch near my feet. It was one of those cold nights that something bizarre happened that still haunts me today. I was awakened by a piercing scream, the likes of which I have never heard before, or after, that incident. The sound was menacing and extremely penetrating to the ear, almost like something large was being tortured outside the front of the house. I was quite perplexed and petrified, having just come out of a deep sleep as I struggled to get off the couch. Snow was already growling and crying and heading to the front door with a strange look on her face that I could only sense with the glow of the fireplace. She jumped up on the door growling fiercely. I had to think fast as I was almost ready to open the door, whatever was outside was large and unknown. I knew Snow would charge out and confront what ever it was in the darkness. There was no window that was clear to look out and all that could be seen was blackness, so I held the door closed to prevent snow from getting out. At the time I had no weapons and the door had no lock. The only light was the small fire glowing in the fireplace as I looked at Snow’s eyes, which seemed enraged. That sound was very threatening, and then all of a sudden it got very quiet and I heard something heavy running up to the top of the hill. Then came another outburst, piercing the stillness of that night. Every dog within a 2- mile radius could be heard barking and howling. I had no idea there were that many dogs around. I finally opened the door grabbing Snow’s collar with a strong grip and looked, but saw nothing in that moonless night.

I had camped in the woods of Canada for many summers and thought I had heard most the wild sounds of the Northeast, but this sound was unique in terms of its intensity and strangeness. What could have created all that commotion which got all those other dogs to explode in furious barking? I was in a deep quandary about it all that night as I didn’t get back to sleep for hours and Snow stayed by the door.

I looked around the next day but all I could find was some holes dug up in my garden where I had thrown some old potatoes awhile back. The ground was too hard for any tracks. A few days later I paid my sister a visit, who lived about 10 miles away. She was sitting at the kitchen table as I shared a cup of coffee with her. She was looking at the local paper, when my eyes caught an article that was on the front page about a lawyer who was driving his car through Deer Park a few nights before, hitting a large hairy man-like creature. Somehow I just had to read the full article, because it peaked my curiosity, as Deer Creek is only about 5 miles where I was living. The lawyer drove his damaged car to a State trooper barracks to report his strange accident. When they heard his account of what happened they checked him for his alcohol consumption. But he was clear and kept insisting that he did not hit into a deer or bear, it was more ape –like and there were specimens of hair embedded in one of his headlights. These were later examined, but could not be positively identified by the police lab. In the article, I was bending my head to read, there was written the legend about Susquatch, a story about a Indian tribe of hairy tall man-like creatures that roam the wilderness of several Western states. Then as I read further, I began to feel chills up my spine, because there it described that dogs would become bewildered and crazed with barking whenever scent or sight of such a creature was in the vicinity. WOW! This was the first time I had ever heard of this legend. The legend of “BIG FOOT”, and my mind focused hard on the possibility of whether this was the creature that was outside my front door screaming that awful agonizing sound.

I kept silent and didn’t mention anything about this to my sister, as not to alarm her. Besides, how did I know that what the lawyer had reported was just his imagination. Yet it was a bit scary that night when I had to go to visit my outhouse. I kept sensing that something might be watching me as I kept turning my head around to check, holding my lantern and my walking stick tightly.

I almost forgot it in the following days until I came across another article in the local paper where others had also experience some strange happenings. There was a very experienced hunter who lived near the Deer Creek stream that had taken photos of large human like foot prints in left in the soft mud a few miles north from where I lived recently. He also stated that his German Sheppard was acting very anxious and stressed by strange sounds that were taking place in the night. A taxi cab driver insisted that he had seen a large hairy creature that was knocking over trashcan in the local town.

I lived a few more months there, as I was coming to the end of a 3- year experiment of living in solitude with nature and always couldn’t help thinking about that incident. I counted on Snow to be my “radar” those last days. But there were no more strange sounds in the night.

A few years later, I returned to that area again and decided to see the old place. It was abandoned. As I walked down to the clearing I just happened to see Mr. Jones , a retired RR worker, who was taking a walk with his beagles through the field. I told him about my unusual experience that night and he didn’t seem too surprised. He told me the lady that lived further down the wooded slope also heard some piercing strange sound a few years back and reported it that his even his dogs went berserk. As I left the place, I finally felt some relief, that someone else had shared that mysterious night along with all the canines. Snow had died by then, but I could still picture her face in that glowing light, where our eyes met during startling event.

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