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VANISHED !! -- MISSING !! -- DEAD !!

LAKE DANIELL, NEW ZEALAND

The following tragic TRUE STORY from New Zealand is not unlike many similar "Gotta Pee" cases occurring in America's state and national parks, forests, and monuments, which only recently have begun to be unofficially investigated (but denied) by the F.B.I. Around the world, members of various groups visiting similar recreation areas are simply disappearing quicky after leaving the view of the group -- whether it is to pee out of sight behind a tree, bush, or rock, or whatever.

In December 2001, 14 year-old Elon Oved, whose Jehovah's Witness Parents' conversion story had been featured in a 1994 AWAKE! magazine, vanished during an overnight camping trip with eight other Jehovah's Witness male teenagers, including his 17 year-old brother, which had been organized and led by two Elders from their Christchurch Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses -- Dennis O'Brien and Trevor Mehrtens.

December is summertime in New Zealand, and it doesn't get dark until after 9:00 PM. The overnight camping trip was to Lake Daniell in Lewis Pass National Reserve. The group were staying in the Manson Nicholls Memorial Hut, a 20 bunk cabin sitting only 100 yards or so from the lake. It had been an easy two-hour hike to the Hut, and the group had arrived around noon. NOTE: YouTube shows the long hike from the parking area to the new Hut, as well as the lake and surrounding hilly, wooded terrain. The old Hut is viewable on Google Images.

After an afternoon of various activities, the group gathered in the Hut when it began to rain around 6:00 PM. Shortly thereafter, Elon Oved decided to go back outside to the Outhouse, which may have been only 30-50 feet behind the Hut given posted photos of the older Hut. It took only about five minutes before a couple of the more mischievous teenagers decided to go out to the Outhouse and try to scare younger Elon. Whatever they did, the two JW Teens quickly discovered that Elon was not in the Outhouse. Apparently, Elon never even made it to the Outhouse, because the spare dry shirt that Elon had taken with him was later found about 1000 feet away.

Despite the fact that it was still more than two hours until dark, the two JW Elders -- who supposedly were experienced hunters and campers -- gave up their search after less than thirty minutes when they found the aforementioned shirt, and reported the matter to park authorities. They probably believed that Oved would turn up any moment. Professional searchers showed up around 1:00 AM, but the repeated searches which occurred over the following week turned up nothing more belonging to Oved -- not even a sign nor scent trail. Typical.

Ten weeks later, one of the trackers who had continued to search for Oved discovered Oved's corpse 6 kilometers from the Hut -- about a three hour hike -- and Oved was still wearing the same light clothing that Oved had been wearing when he exited the Hut. Given that the coroner ruled the cause of death to be hypothermia, there supposedly would have been little damage to the highly decayed corpse.

The discussion forums and newspaper articles are full of finger pointing malarky which does nothing but complicate and obscure the extremely simple facts of this case. The rain had forced the group into the Hut three hours before dark. Oved decided to go out to the Outhouse in the rain for whatever reason, but had not even made that short distance. Oved's spare shirt was shortly found 1000 feet away. Why would the hungry Oved be hiking anywhere given that he had been outside all day long, and he was not dressed for the increasing rain nor the slightly falling temperature. Even 14 year-olds don't have that much stamina -- especially when they haven't eaten for several hours. The finger pointing serves no purpose but to draw red herrings across the actual scent trail.

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BOOK OF JASHAR

So the sun stood still and the moon did not move until the nation could take vengeance on its enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? The sun stood still in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to set for about a whole day. -- JOSHUA 10:13. NWT.

Then David chanted this dirge over Saul and his son Jonathan and said that the people of Judah should be taught the dirge called "The Bow", which is written in the book of Jashar: -- 2 SAMUEL 1:18,19. NWT.

JASHAR 36

19 And Jacob and his sons and all belonging to him journeyed and came to Mamre, which is Kireath-arba, that is in Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned, and Jacob with his sons and all belonging to him, dwelt with his father in Hebron.

20 And his brother Esau and his sons, and all belonging to him went to the land of Seir and dwelt there, and had possessions in the land of Seir, and the children of Esau were fruitful and multiplied exceedingly in the land of Seir.

21 And these are the generations of Esau that were born to him in the land of Canaan, and the sons of Esau were five. ...

28 And the sons of Shobal were Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam, and the sons of Zibeon were Ajah, and Anah, this was that Anah who found the Yemim in the wilderness when he fed the asses of Zibeon his father.

29 And whilst he was feeding his father's asses he led them to the wilderness at different times to feed them.

30 And there was a day that he brought them to one of the deserts on the sea shore, opposite the wilderness of the people, and whilst he was feeding them, behold a very heavy storm ***came from the other side of the sea and rested upon the asses that were feeding there, and they all stood still.

31 And afterward about one hundred and twenty great and terrible animals came out from the wilderness at the other side of the sea, and they all came to the place where the asses were, and they placed themselves there.

32 And those animals, from their middle downward, were in the shape of the children of men, and from their middle upward, some had the likeness of bears (dogmen?), and some the likeness of the keephas, with tails behind them from between their shoulders reaching down to the earth, like the tails of the ducheephath (reptilians?), and these animals came and mounted and rode upon these asses, and led them away, and they went away unto this day.

33 And one of these animals approached Anah and smote him with his tail, and then fled from that place.

34 And when he saw this work he was exceedingly afraid of his life, and he fled and escaped to the city.

35 And he related to his sons and brothers all that had happened to him, and many men went to seek the asses but could not find them, and Anah and his brothers went no more to that place from that day following, for they were greatly afraid of their lives.

JASHAR 61

14 And it was one day that Zepho lost a young heifer, and he went to seek it, and he heard it lowing round about the mountain.

15 And Zepho went and he saw and behold there was a large cave at the bottom of the mountain, and there was a great stone there at the entrance of the cave, and Zepho split the stone and he came into the cave and he looked and behold, a large animal was devouring the ox; from the middle upward it resembled a man, and from the middle downward it resembled an animal (backwards?), and Zepho rose up against the animal and slew it with his swords.

16 And the inhabitants of Chittim heard of this thing, and they rejoiced exceedingly, and they said, What shall we do unto this man who has slain this animal that devoured our cattle?

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***FOOTNOTE: Storms -- rain, snow, lightning, etc -- are another frequent oddity associated with both vanishings of humans and sightings of unnatural "creatures". Frequently, such storms were unexpected, and seemed to have come out of nowhere. So-called "Sasquatches" and "Dogmen", and other similar unnatural "creatures" frequently are spotted soon after such storms. [Off topic, but unnatural creatures are also frequently sighted in AM daylight hours where there is heavy fog only slowly being burned off by direct sunlight. Daniel Boone claimed to have killed a Sasquatch with a headshot around 10-11:00 AM in foggy forest during 1770s. Boone claimed the 11 foot tall creature covered with blond hair had a solid skeletal upper body (body armor?), rather than ribs, and that two gunshots in its chest did not even slow its attack.] Hikers inexplicably missing with other associated oddities frequently have vanished not only during unexpected storms, but both just prior to and just after unexpected storms. Some folks suspect that some of such victims (often having removed their footwear) were harvested as a human sacrifice for the visiting Shedim (territorial deity) whose royal arrival (parousia) at that particular mountaintop was camouflaged by the storm.

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PRANKSTER or PREDATOR ???

WIND RIVER, DUBOIS, WYOMING

(Submitted/Edited)

Several decades ago, Tipster took his then JW Family -- wife and teenage daughter and son -- on their one and only hurried eight-day sightseeing tour of Colorado, Wyoming, and South Dakota during the first week of August. After first touring eastern Colorado, JW Family drove 425 miles from Denver to Dubois, Wyoming, which is a small western town about 75-90 miles southeast of the Grand Tetons and the southern entrance to Yellowstone.

Arriving around 5:00 PM, JW Family spent the next 2 1/2 hours checking into their motel room, eating dinner, walking Main Street, and even talking for thirty minutes with a local business owner who tried to convince JW Tipster to move to Dubois and work for him. Arriving back at the motel around 7:30 PM, but not wanting to waste daylight sitting in a motel room, JW Tipster decided to drive north a few miles and view the winding Wind River, since JW Tipster planned to leave Dubois before daylight the next morning in order to view the Grand Tetons at sunrise.

JW Tipster can't recall exactly how far or long that he drove north of Dubois -- 5 to 15 miles/minutes -- but Tipster finally spotted a parking area on the east side of the highway which served folks canoeing and fishing the Wind River -- which flowed south meandering next to and away from the highway. Being only an hour or so before dark, the parking area was empty, and even traffic on the main highway had reduced to an occasional trickle.

At that location, the shallow Wind River was a hundred or so feet wide, and flowed slowly southward. The water was cold and crystal clear. The river bottom could be seen 15-20 feet from the bank, and was covered with well worn river rock of every possible size. A few broken specimen revealed the interior of most of these rocks to be absolutely beautiful.

JW Wife's father was an avid rock hound who frequently scoured local creeks for geodes to cut/crack and polish. JW Family initially noted that Grandfather could find more and better rocks in Wind River in one hour than in all the decades of scouring creeks and rivers back home. JW Wife and the two kids began gathering so many rocks so quickly that Tipster had to place a size and weight limit on their collections. As JW Wife and his two kids were scattered along about 150 feet of the western shoreline of Wind River, Tipster gazed at the distant scenic views in all four directions and sky as the sun was setting. Tipster and son both occasionally threw rocks into the river challenging each other for distance boasting rights. The pair also was able to reach the opposite eastern riverbank a few times.

Slightly irritated at his family's concentration on gathering rocks, rather than enjoying the grand scenery during sundown, Tipster began throwing pebbles near each family member whenever they were not looking, so as to slightly splash water on them. The few times that Tipster's aim was close enough to get their attention, Tipster denied having thrown the pebble, and acted as if he had no idea from where the splashing rocks were coming -- loudly speculating that "someone" was throwing rocks at the family from an unknown hiding spot.

After about thirty minutes at Wind River, the family decided that they were ready to leave, with JW Wife leading their exit back to the parking area. Daughter was about thirty feet behind her mother, while Tipster waited at riverside for teenage son to begin his exit. With all three walking-away family members in his view, Tipster took his first step away from the riverbank, when a rock came skipping down the river past Tipster -- only about 6-8 feet from the riverbank.

Shocked, Tipster hollered for his family to halt as Tipster scoured both upriver shorelines to see who had thrown the rock. Other than the 150 feet of landing, both shorelines had tall brush and tall grass growing right up to the waterline. All family members re-congregated at riverside as Tipster was forced to explain that up until now, it had been Tipster himself who had been throwing the pebbles which had been landing near them. Since Tipster and teenage son previously had been challenging each other for rock-throw distances in every direction, the family knew that this hiding rock thrower could not be very far from where they were now standing. The entire family scoured the eastern and western riverbanks for any sign of another person, but nothing was noted.

Given that it was getting dark, after about five minutes, JW Family once again started their exit from the riverbank. JW Family had not taken more than three steps when a stronger thrown larger rock came from upriver and landed about ten feet away down river -- kerplucking, without skipping. JW Family instinctively stopped, with the two females now expressing concern. Once again, JW Family scoured the two upriver riverbanks for any sign that someone or something was there. Nothing. After a couple minutes, Tipster decided it was time to leave. JW Family was not more than fifty feet from the river when a third rock landed only a few feet behind them. This time, Tipster hesitated only long enough to check to see if anyone or anything was closely following them, and then hurried to their car and fled.

Now decades later, elderly Tipster wonders whether the first thrown rock was intended to stop the entire family from leaving the riverbank, as actually happened, or whether the first rock actually was intended to slow or stop this group's straggler -- JW Father -- as is the case when it is the "Last In Line" who vanishes from a group of hikers -- oftentimes when they stopped to re-tie a loose boot lace. (Equal to if not greater in number are mysterious Vanishings of "First In Line" faster hikers who gradually get beyond the continuous view of their group -- even for only a few seconds, such as on a rolling straight trail, or a snaking trail with curves and corners.) The third rock possibly was intended to draw seemingly brave Tipster back to the riverbank, rather than speed the family's escape.

***

An "equal time" pleading reader asks that we post the following as one admittedly possible ending to this tale:

Meanwhile, in a living room about four miles away, concerned Wife/Mother says to Husband, "Its nearly dark, and Johnny is not home yet." Husband responds, "Don't worry, Johnny is probably down at the river scaring tourists again. Just hope that he doesn't hit another one."

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HAVE SOMEONE ALREADY WITH YOU TO RE-TIE YOUR SHOELACES

(Submitted/Edited)

This Tipster was motivated to contact us after reading our remarks on this page about some hikers going missing shortly after having stopped to re-tie their bootlaces/shoelaces ***. Such brought back to Tipster's recollection a spooky incident which occurred to him decades ago during Tipster's Freshman Spring semester of college. Tipster specifically wants readers to understand that victims do not have to be outside in the wilds far from civilization for "evil" to use this same/similar "trap" to get a potential victim to halt in their tracks.

*** With some frequency, the corpses of missing persons whose vanishing circumstances included multiple oddities, when later discovered, were missing their footwear. With some frequency, in instances where such corpses were both discovered and never discovered, the missing person's footwear was later discovered in an intentionally arranged fashion -- sitting straight side-by-side. Such discovered corpses often were fully clothed, including socks, long distances from their footwear. Some cases appear as if the victim had been ordered to first remove only their footwear before continuing further into the mountain.

As background, at the time of this incident, "inactive JW" Tipster, who was a few years older than most of his fellow college Freshman due to a failed JW marriage right out of high school, was Student Body President, and was taking 24 credit hours that semester, which he ultimately completed with a 4.0 gpa. Tipster also lived on campus that semester. During his two years at that college, Tipster never once heard that several of the campus buildings were supposedly "haunted". Current internet info alleges that apparitions, strange noises, and structure movements had supposedly repeatedly occurred for decades in the women's dorm (suicide), in the secondary classroom building (murder), and the main administration/classroom building in which this incident occurred. Specifically, it is alleged that a so-called female "ghost" wanders the halls of the Adm/Class building.

Tipster chose this college for the specific purpose to "walk-on" the basketball team (due to several problems caused by not going straight to college after high school). That same semester, one of Tipster's first cousins was the starting center for the women's team, and a male first cousin had been the college's starting point guard during the previous two years. Tipster was a tall, muscular backup "center", who was a "Dennis Rodman" type "enforcer". Relating to this incident, Tipster was OCD about lacing up his shoes so that it was impossible for them to come untied by accident, and cause large Tipster to fall and injure himself.

Although Tipster looked like Herman Munster's twin brother, by only this second semester in college, divorced, childless, inactive-JW Tipster was being "stalked" by the never-dated, virgin daughter of the (horrified) local AOG pastor, "stalked" by the promiscuous daughter of an out-of-state Methodist pastor, "stalked" by an even older "Christian" divorcee with four kids, and even "courted" by one of Tipster's nonXian teachers, who was the young horny wife of a local MD. (Even JW ex-wife was trying to reconcile -- using sex as her lure.)

If that weren't enough SH!T, only 3-4 weeks into that Spring semester, Tipster repeatedly began to see *"Addams Family Values'" twelve year-old Christina Ricci's "twin sister"* STARING at him from a distance -- in the library, in the student center, in the hallways, outdoors, etc. One day, while sitting in class in the Adm/Class building, Tipster eventually noticed through the slightly ajar classroom door, "Wednesday Addams" standing out in the deserted hallway STARING through the crack at him. When caught, "Wednesday" would not be in any hurry to look away. After uncovering that "Wednesday" was a "local", married, parttime student about his own age, Tipster asked a "local" male about her. "Local" excitedly told Tipster to "stay the hell away from that crazy bitch", because some people said that she was a "witch". (*This story occurred prior to the start of "The Addams Family" movie series in 1991, yet this story's early 20s "witch" -- roughly 5'4", 130 lbs -- looked exactly like the younger "Wednesday Addams" character.)

One day in April, after Tipster's last class that afternoon, Tipster returned to his dorm room only to eventually notice that his textbook from that last 3:00-3:50 PM class was missing. By that time, it was around 5:00 PM. Not understanding how he could have left behind the main textbook, Tipster headed back to Classroom Bldg #2. However, the main door was locked, and there were no lights on in the hallways. A forty foot covered walkway separated #2 from the Main adm/classroom building, where Tipster had a 6:00-9:00 PM Philosophy class that evening, taught by a local Methodist pastor.

Tipster decided to walk through the Adm/Class building in hopes that one of the maintenance workers was still on duty, and would let Tipster into #2. Without even thinking about it, this was going to be the first time that Tipster had been ALONE inside the 1890s three-story building. Unexplainably, as soon as the door shut behind him, the hair on the back of Tipster's neck stood up. Tipster stopped, and listened for noise coming from anyone else in the building. Nothing. Tipster shook off his fear, and started down the darkened main 120 foot long hallway. About half way to the cross corridor, at pretty much the exact same time, Tipster felt the plastic pegs of his shoelaces striking his legs through his jeans, and noisily striking the wooden floor, which already was making loud creaks with every step taken by Tipster. Even before noticing the loose shoelace, Tipster had thought to himself that the wooden floor was making so much racket that noone could possibly slip up on him. Tipster still walked in the middle of the hallway just to be safe.

Tipster walked the extra few steps to the intersection of the two hallways, where it was lighter from the doorways of the two shorter side corridors, before going down on one knee to re-tie his shoelace. Tipster had not even straighten out the two laces before a shoe landed on his instep and halted his efforts. Tipster obviously looked up quickly only to see "Wednesday Addams" standing next to him bearing a shit-eating grin. Annoyed, Tipster simply glared at "Wednesday", without saying a word. Neither did "Wednesday" say a word. Wednesday soon removed her shoe and foot from the top of Tipster's right shoe, and Tipster looked back down as he rapidly re-tied the shoelace -- taking less than 7-8 seconds.

Expecting to now have his very first conversation with his mysterious stalker, Tipster looked back at "Wednesday Addams" only to see "air". Neither was she walking toward the three exits in front of Tipster, and the same was true of the fourth exit as Tipster looked behind him. Although Wednesday had not had sufficient time even to walk to the parking lot exit, Tipster ran to that exit, and saw noone. Tipster then exited to the parking lot, but there weren't even any cars to check. Tipster then circled the building without seeing anyone. All the while, Tipster was pondering the fact that Wednesday had both appeared and disappeared without making a sound in the otherwise noisy old building. And, "yes", Tipster believes that his shoelaces were okay until he entered the Adm/Class building. And, what was a "local student" doing in the Adm building long after all teachers and staffers had left for the day? Was that even "Wednesday"? Was there something significant about the fact that Tipster did not speak to nor touched "Wednesday"? (Wednesday's shoe did briefly rest on Tipster's right hand and foot.)

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ANOTHER PREDATOR UNCLE ???

(Submitted/Edited)

Tipster reports this strange incident from the 1970s, when he was a 17 year-old senior in high school. JW Tipster had had his drivers license for only 14 months, and had never driven alone by himself further than 30 miles from home. Tipster's non-religious grandparents, whom lived 400 miles away in another state, needed help moving that next week. JW Tipster and a local nonJW cousin had planned to drive the 400 miles after the Sunday meeting, but cousin backed out of the trip around 9:00 PM on Saturday night. That so upset Tipster and his JW Parents, that Tipster realized that he would not be able to get a good night's sleep, so Tipster asked his JW Parents if he could go ahead and drive the 400 miles overnight. (Please re-read the second sentence.)

Tipster's moronic JW Parents not only agreed, but they did not even debate the matter, nor even ponder the negatives. In his JW Parents' defense, Tipster relates that he lived only 5 minutes from the interstate highway that would take him within 30 miles of his grandparents' rental house. After driving for 6-7 hours on the interstate, all that Tipster had to do was turn right at the end of the interstate highway offramp, and then drive 30 miles on a well traveled and well maintained state highway. GP's rental house even was located right on that state highway. Additionally, JW Parents allowed Tipster to drive their one year old automobile.

Possibly germane to this tale is that in his 17+ years, Tipster previously had briefly visited only two other relatives who lived in that adjacent state, a nonJW Aunt, who lived 90 miles from GPs, and a nonJW Uncle, who lived 80 miles from GPs, in a different direction. The nonJW Aunt is irrelevant to this tale. Not so of nonJW Uncle. 

NonJW Uncle was considered a certified wacko by Tipster's JW Parents -- for good reason. Straight out of high school, C-student Uncle had volunteered for the Army during the Vietnam War. Uncle fortunately never left the continental USA, and never was promoted past PFC. Yet, he somehow managed to marry the attractive daughter of a NCO without first knocking her up. She was as weird as Uncle. Neither Uncle nor wife appeared aggressive in the least. They were into sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. After the military, they lived as hippies in a commune for a few years. At some point, they were new agers. They once even were hangers-around with a 1/MC for only a brief period. Some of the non-religious relatives once claimed that Uncle and wife had professed to them to being members of a coven. Tipster's JW Parents had attempted to witness to them a few times over the years, but Uncle and wife proudly rejected the Bible and anything resembling Christianity. Decades later just prior to their deaths, Uncle and wife claimed to be atheists.

Once, when Tipster was around 12 years old, JW Parents and he had accompanied a flock of JWs to a local restaurant after a Thursday night TMS/SM. That restaurant was a somewhat hidden locals hangout located off the beaten path. After the group of JWs was seated and were ordering, Tipster noticed his Dad whisper to his Mom, who looked up and looked surprised. Tipster followed her stare until he saw out-of-state Uncle -- wearing a full beard -- sitting/eating by himself on the other side of the restaurant. Uncle eventually noticed Tipster's family catching quick peeks, and he quickly left without acknowledging their presence. JW Parents thereafter checked with all local relatives, but Uncle had not visited any of them. In fact, the couple times that Uncle had visited relatives in this area was back when Uncle was a kid living with GPs, and no relative had ever taken them to the hidden-away locals hangout restaurant.

By the time of this tale, Tipster and JW Parents only had saw Uncle and wife recently the few times Uncle had attended the annual family reunion. The last time that Uncle had attended the reunion, Uncle and wife seemed to have settled down. However, Uncle couldn't stop himself from boasting to the adult males that the FBI occasionally, but regularly, came calling every time a certain unsolved crime occurred in his area. Editor could not locate any criminal record.

Back to the trip. Tipster left home around 10:00 PM Saturday night. Interstate traffic was light that late on a Saturday night in the 1970s, even through the two large cities. However, after crossing the state line, there was heavy fog which forced speeding Tipster to slow down and drive with caution. Tipster finally exited the interstate around 4:00 AM, after having seen only 5-6 cars and trucks in both directions during that last hour on the interstate. Tipster even did not see another moving vehicle while driving through that town, nor thereafter once out in rural farm country. 

Near Disaster!!! Half way on the state highway to GPs' house, still in a heavy fog, Tipster came up on what looked to him like a homemade sign that said "DETOUR AHEAD", attached somehow to a wooden utility pole.  Then, still in heavy fog, Tipster had to hit his brakes hard to keep from hitting a second sign sitting in the middle of the state highway that again said "DETOUR" with an arrow pointing down a one-lane gravel county road. That second sign with folding legs was so beaten up that it looked like it had fallen out of a speeding dump truck, or could have been stolen from a jobsite or contractor's storage yard.

Tipster was thoroughly familiar with country backroads, but found that country road to be highly curious. During the next 30 minutes, Tipster neither saw a single home, nor even a barn, nor even any sign of livestock, even though this was obvious farming country. It was not until Tipster was forced to slow to a crawl for the third time in order to negotiate a third 90 degree curve that Tipster recalled that the state highway he had been forced to exit was a major truck route, and realized that there was no way that any tractor-trailer could make it around these narrow 90 degree curves.

As Tipster pondered such, Tipster saw moving light in the distance, which he eventually realized was coming from a pair of headlights traveling in the same direction as he. Seventeen year old Tipster already was scared sh!tless, so he slowed down to half his previous 20-25 MPH in an attempt not to overtake that vehicle. However, Tipster continued to gain on that vehicle, which meant that it had seen his headlights, and also had slowed down to what must have been a crawl. Eventually, Tipster came to within 500 feet, and gradually 200 feet, of what turned out to be the all too common white cargo van. As the two vehicles slowly negotiated the curves and small hills, Tipster could not see any business name nor emblem anywhere on the cargo van. The rear doors did not have windows, and something had been taped over the driver and passenger windows to prevent the driver and passenger from being seen in their mirrors. 

Tipster debated stopping outright, and allowing the van to continue on, but given the aforementioned lack of houses and barnes, there were no places to turn around. So, Tipster continued slowly following the van hoping to come to a place to turn around. Otherwise, if the cargo van came to a place to turn around, it could turn and drive back toward Tipster. Tipster also mentally prepared himself to slam on his brakes and drive in reverse in the event that multiple people jumped from the rear doors and/or passenger door. Tipster knew enough not to stop even if they displayed firearms. Better to be shot and killed than tortured.

Tipster continued the cat and mouse game for several more minutes, when the cargo van finally sped up. Shortly, Tipster understood why. The narrow gravel county road was finally dead-ending at a four-lane state highway (no traffic). Tipster sped up to prevent the cargo van from U-turning on him. As the cargo van finally slowly turned right, Tipster got to within a car-length of the van. Tipster saw what he previously had thought was just a smudge at the bottom of the rear of the cargo van, but turned out to be that state's DOT required registration info. In extremely small, illegal lettering was the name "UNCLE'S CHIMNEY SWEEPING", along with the name of Tipster's Uncle's hometown.

It was three years before Tipster next saw Uncle at a family reunion. Tipster attempted to ask Uncle about that nearly fateful night, but Uncle denied knowing anything about such, walked away, and disappeared. The next thing that Tipster heard of Uncle was that Uncle and wife had moved 900 miles away to live near wife's retired parents.

What are the odds? These "coincidences" obviously still bother Tipster decades later -- even despite the recent covid deaths of Uncle and wife. Tipster, his JW Parents, and even their local nonJW relatives never were able to come up with any explanation how Uncle came to be dining late at night at a hidden-away restaurant in their area 350 miles from his hometown. None of the relatives had ever seen Uncle wearing any kind of beard before, much less a full beard. Additionally, that night had been the first and last time that Tipster's JW congregation had held a mini-get-to-gather after the TMS/SM. That visit to that hidden restaurant was only JW Family's second visit in 7/8 years. Hmmm.

Then, there is the night that Tipster genuinely thought was going to be his last. Until 10:00 PM that Saturday night, noone on earth even suspected that 6-7 hours later that seventeen year old Tipster, instead of being snug in his own bed, was going to be driving down a spooky fog-enveloped one-lane country road 400 miles away in another state. Even Tipster's GPs had not been told that Tipster was driving in early. And, who could have imagined that Uncle, and possibly an aunt, whom Tipster barely knew, could have been the "monsters" doing their best to deliver Tipster to a torturous death? And, who knows what happened during the decades that Uncle and wife lived on the other end of the country??? They left one survivor, who is even more f'ed up than themselves, and that survivor is a nurse who works at an isolated small, rural retirement home.

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PIKES PEAK, COLORADO

150 YEARS OF HUMAN SACRIFICES IN USA

(Submitted/Edited)

Known as "The Masonic Mountain" by F&AM, Pikes Peak is named after Master Mason U. S. General Zebulon Pike, who was a distant relative of alleged satanist and Master Mason Confederate General Albert Pike. In 1899, there was a Masonic triangular copper time capsule embedded into a prepared section of the northern edge of the summit of Pikes Peak by the Cryptic Masonic of Colorado and Kansas. 500 FreeMasons attended the 1899 ceremony. 

In July 1985, two Jehovah's Witnesses newcomers to Denver, Colorado, decided to drive up Pikes Peak for their first time on a Saturday afternoon. Tipster was a late 20s male, and Sidekick was an early 20s male. Both were 6'2" tall. Tipster was an athletic 225 lbs, while Sidekick was a not very athletic 275 lbs. In any case, Tipster and Sidekick would appear to be one of the last duos to be targeted for abduction -- assuming that was not the very reason that they might have been so targeted.

Locals had warned the Duo that weather on Pikes Peak was extremely unpredictable during the mornings and late afternoons even on days when good weather was forecasted. Tipster presently assumes that they left Denver around 11:00 AM, made it to the summit between 1:00-1:30 PM, stayed for an hour, and departed around 2:30. 

Duo agreed that Sidekick would drive their rental car the 20 miles up Pikes Peak, and Tipster would drive back down. After an hour of viewing the scenery, watching the cog railroad train arrive and depart, and eating warm cake donuts and drinking hot cider, Duo agreed to depart. They had parked in literally the furthest unmarked parking spot from the old Visitor's Center, because that was then the only empty spot -- adjacent to the ramp off the summit. (Readers should understand that in 1985 the unmarked, unpaved parking area at the summit of Pikes Peak was maintained in far less modern condition than it now appears in today's videos.)

Afterwards, the Duo agreed that as they had walked to their car, there had been no cars entering nor exiting the parking area. No people had been sightseeing in nor near the rear of the parking area, nor even milling about. Yet, as Tipster started to back out of their parking spot, something slapped their trunk lid -- hard. Tipster was startled given that it had been only a matter of 3-5 seconds since Tipster had repeatedly checked to make certain it was safe to back out. Only 3-5 seconds earlier, there had been no people in sight.

Yet, there were now three tall people standing next to the passenger side of Tipster's car. There were a college age male and a female, just under and just over six foot tall. Both were athletic build. Notably, both appeared emotionless with blank stares on their faces. In contrast, a well manicured early 50s male apparently had been the one who had slapped the trunklid, and he now was smiling and motioning Sidekick to roll down his window. Leader, labeled that because that was exactly how he talked and behaved, asked if the Duo would give him, his niece, and nephew a ride down the mountain. Greatly relieved that the loud noise had not been their car striking one of the three strangers, both Tipster and Sidekick eagerly agreed without any vetting whatsoever of the three mysterious strangers.

Shortly after exiting the summit, Leader offered to drive Duo's rental car "so that Tipster could better enjoy the view". However, Tipster had quickly become leery of the three strangers, and politely declined the improper offer. "Worshipful Master" repeated his offer multiple times until such became more of a demand than an offer. Tipster finally declined such in a not-so-polite tone, and the "offers" ceased.

Afterwards, large Tipster and even larger Sidekick admitted to each other that they each had quickly become uneasy with the three large strangers who crammed themselves into the backseat behind them, and each had experienced having the hair on the back of their neck "stand up" -- repeatedly. Unable to communicate with Sidekick even with facial expressions, Tipster was able to keep a constant eye on Leader because Leader was sitting behind Sidekick. Tipster even adjusted his rearview mirror so that he also could keep an eye on the two zombies sitting behind him.

One of the many reasons for Tipster's growing concern was that Leader never stopped smiling, asking personal even improper questions, and talking endlessly, while his "niece" and "nephew" sat motionless, blankfaced, and said nothing. The two zombies stared straight ahead without paying any attention to the incredible ever-changing overlooks surrounding the descending car. Tipster even began wondering whether the zombies, or maybe just the female, might have been abducted by Leader, so Tipster started asking the zombies questions. Sure enough, the two zombies were hesitant to reply -- looking intently at Leader before even grunting out a 'yes' or 'no' answer. The zombies seemed relieved when Leader interrupted and answered every question.

At the start of the trip down the mountain, Leader claimed that they had hiked all the way to the summit after being dropped at the bottom that morning by a relative who was going to meet them that afternoon at the dropoff point. Leader also made the mistake of claiming that they only had been at the summit for about 30 minutes. Both Tipster and Sidekick stumbled over each other pointing out that they had not seen them or any other hikers during their drive to the summit. Leader simply excused such as their being out-of-site when Duo passed by. Afterwards, the Duo both noted that neither of them had seen any of their three large passengers inside nor outside of the Visitor's Center during the supposed overlapping thirty minutes.

Eventually, Tipster analysed the situation and realized that if Leader pulled a pistol, or if Leader and Nephew pulled knives from their backpacks, he and Sidekick were toast. Tipster was smart enough to slow his speed enough to allow a couple of cars to catch them, and then speed up enough to keep them from passing -- keeping the two cars driving behind them. In 1985, there was a pulloff parking area at the bottom of PP, and Leader asked to be dropped there. Noone was there at the time, but Leader was unconcerned. Supposedly, whomever had dropped them that morning was meeting them there later that afternoon. Good riddance.

Afterwards, the JW Duo were actually comforted when they learned that each of them had noted the same concerns, and each of them had gradually experienced outright fear, and thus such were not the result of one individual's overactive imagination. JW Duo entertained multiple speculations ranging from having dodged an abduction by a demonized mortal nutjob to abduction by space aliens. A darker speculation involved Duo having permitted Leader to drive during the most dangerous section of the roadway -- as Leader repeatedly had insisted. Duo wondered how many corpses would have been recovered from the scene of the car crash -- two, or four, or none???

EDITOR: In cold October 1992, in the PP Summit parking area, the attention of the few visitors outside the Visitors Center was drawn to a pickup truck as it revved its engine, spun its tires, and sped over the northern cliff into "The Bottomless Pit". The lone occupant and owner, a 20 year old Mississippi Mormon/LDS male college student supposedly on his way to California, was quickly judged to have committed suicide. Over the decades, many hikers have been lost, injured, and killed in this section of the mountain straight below its summit, recently including an active duty Airborne Ranger and West Point graduate found dead.

Interestingly, the hiking trails to the PP summit include a section of granite outcroppings known for dangerous bouncing lightning, which is named "The Devil's Playground". Multiple employees of the cog railroad have died over the decades as multiple maintenance carts, and once even the passenger train's engine, have mysteriously lost their brakes and crashed, both while stopped and in motion.

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TRIGGERED ???

ALEX MURDAUGH FAMILY MURDERS. At 5:26 PM, on June 7, 2021, about three and a half hours before South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh murdered his wife and son, Murdaugh received the following text message from an elderly African-American Jehovah's Witness female named Cynthia Washington, of Seabrook Island, SC:

"Pure Worship of Jehovah -- Restored At Last!" "I will certainly sanctify my great name, ... and the nations will have to know that I am Jehovah." -- EZEKIEL 36:23 CHAPTER 6. "The End Is Now Upon You" EZEKIEL 7:3. FOCUS: Jehovah's prophetic judgments against Jerusalem -- how fulfilled. 17)- What conditions and events will we witness during the coming great tribulation? 17)-(ANSWERED)-Ezekiel's prophecy also reminds us that when the coming attack against religious organizations occurs, (ANSWERED)-members of the churches will not be "going to the battle" to defend religion. Instead, (ANSWERED)as they begin to realize that their cry for help, 'Lord, Lord," is going unanswered, (ANSWERED)- "their hands will hang limp" and they will be "shuddering.' (Ezek. 7:3, 14, 17, 18; Matt. 7:21-23) What else will they do? (Read Ezekiel 7:19-21.) (ANSWERED)-Jehovah says: "They will throw their silver into the streets." (ANSWERED)- That statement regarding the inhabitants of ancient Jerusalem also vividly illustrates what will take place during the great tribulation. (ANSWERED)-At that time, people will realize that money cannot save them from the coming calamity.

The excerpted text comes from the WatchTower Cult's book, "Pure Worship of Jehovah -- Restored At Last!", Chapter Six, "The End Is Now Upon You" paragraph 17. In March 2023, Cynthia Washington told FITNews that the text message was automatically generated by a WatchTower Society app, and that she sent such texts to over 100 persons every day.

Curiously, Cynthia Washington continuously praised Alex Murdaugh for the way that Murdaugh had treated her and her husband, Joe Washington, when Murdaugh had represented them a few years ago. Washington repeatedly stated that she had nothing bad to say about Alex Murdaugh, repeatedly calling him "sweet".

"Every time me and my husband would go in, he would give us a hug," she said. "Me and my husband, we just loved him. He was so good to us."

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THE 1967 PATTERSON-GIMLIN "BIGFOOT" FILM IS A HOAX

But, Bigfoot enthusiasts are hanging on to it as tightly as Jehovah's Witnesses hold onto a WatchTower book and its false teachings. In his 2004 book, "The Making of Bigfoot: The Inside Story", author Greg Long relates the story of how professional costume designer and fabricator, Philip Morris, sold one of his gorilla costumes to Roger Patterson shortly before Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin released their now well known one minute film of a Sasquatch walking out in the open, during daytime, in a Northern California national forest, in October 1967.

Roger Patterson made the initial purchase via mailorder, but followed up with telephone calls to Morris seeking his professional advice to help Patterson and Gimlin modify Morris' six-piece gorilla suit to better fit the man who actually donned the suit. Morris even shipped additional fake fur/hair to Patterson and Gimlin. Patterson and Gimlin also had to greatly change the face of the suit's gorilla head to make their creature appear human-like. Patterson never told Morris the real purpose for which he had purchased the gorilla suit, nor that he was modifying the face/head to look like a Sasquatch.

This Editor watched one of Philip Morris' network interviews decades ago, and there is ZERO doubt that the by then elderly man was telling the truth as best as he could recall from 1967. Yet, half of the Youtube Bigfoot videos display "stills" from the Patterson and Gimlin hoax film. Viewers should assume that the material presented by such dishonest scammers is as real as are the Patterson-Gimlin stills.

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DOUBLE TAKE ???

(Submitted/Edited)

Tipster reports this strange story from the 1980-2000s. Only-child Tipster was reared by a devout JW Mother and a not-so-devoted JW Father in western Pennsylvania. Tipster disliked much of the cult life, but particularly hated the door-to-door work. Tipster managed to delay baptism until he was sixteen, and he made it clear to his JW Parents that he would not be pioneering after high school. Tipster never had a single girlfriend during his high school years.

After graduating from high school, Tipster lived with his JW Parents, who did not mind such. It took the B-student nearly a year to find a job better than the fast food jobs that he had been working. That job was at a small manufacturer located in an adjacent county. Tipster found the job through the local JW grapevine via a married 25 year old JW female who was a new secretary at the company. JW Secretary's first name was Renalynne.

Renalynne and her husband had only recently moved to that adjacent county from New York, so Tipster did not know her. Tipster had started missing the assemblies and conventions after high school, so Tipster had to introduce himself to Renalynne as a fellow JW. Over a period of a year, Tipster and Renalynne gradually became more and more friendly, and by their second year working together, Tipster was regularly pleasuring the married, childless Renalynne in the parking lot of a nearby mall, in the back of her "service" minivan.

Tipster and Renalynne fantasized together about running off to Alaska and starting a new life together. The older and much smarter Renalynne also got into Tipster's head in ways that he still cannot put into words. Tipster relates that Renalynne seemed to know things that other people did not know, and she did not constantly worry about the future like every JW whom Tipster had ever known. At work, Renalynne had a seemingly magical ability to show up at Tipster's work station whenever his adjacent coworkers were gone from their workstations. However, about six months into their affair, Renalynne did not show up for work one Monday morning, and Tipster never heard from Renalynne again. Renalynne supposedly left her JW Husband and moved back to New York.

A couple of years later, in order to get away from his constantly nagging JW Parents, as well as the hounding JW Elders, Tipster relocated to Virginia to live near some nonJW relatives. There, Tipster found a decent job, eventually married a nonJW, and started a family. By then in his early 30s, one day Tipster was shopping at SEARS, when he approached a cashier with a few handtools, and quickly had the feeling that he had seen her before. Glancing at her name tag, Tipster saw the name "Renalynne". Since leaving Pennsylvania, Tipster had never once heard the name "Renalynne". Despite Renalynne having aged and put on 30-40 pounds over the past dozen or so years, Tipster had zero doubt that this was the same "Renalynne" whom he had known quite well back in Pennsylvania. Renalynne was friendly and polite as every cashier should be, but she gave no indication that she knew or had previously known Tipster, whom also had aged and put on 50-60 lbs. Unsure of what to say to Renalynne, Tipster gathered his purchases and left the store.

Over the next few days, Tipster could not get Renalynne out of his mind even though Renalynne's best days were obviously behind her. Tipster related that there was zero physical attraction. Tipster had a good family life, and he had zero desire to screw that up. Yet, Tipster kept finding excuses to return to the hardware section of his local SEARS store. Every time, Renalynne would be polite and sometimes even overly friendly, but just when Tipster thought that she was going to acknowledge having known him previously, she did not. After a few months, Tipster began to wonder if his mind was playing tricks on him, and that this "Renalynne" was not his "Renalynne".

About 9 months and $500 worth of unneeded tools later, Tipster again found himself in SEARS hardware department during Renalynne's shift, when Tipster saw a man and two teenage girls deliver a birthday bouquet to Renalynne. Tipster instantly recalled that this was his Renalynne's birth month, although Tipster believed that the day/week did not to fit. Tipster waited until Renalynne's family had left before paying for yet another unneeded wrench. Tipster made smalltalk about it being Renalynne's birthday in hopes that he could figure some way to get Renalynne to reveal her birth year. While Tipster was racking his brain, Renalynne simply blurted out that she was now 3X years old. Tipster didn't know what to say. This Renalynne had the exact same birth month and birth year as did his Renalynne.

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R-RATED 

(Submitted/Condensed)

Tipster relates the following incident which occurred in the 1980s during his senior year at university. Tipster was a tall, muscular football "tight end" at a D2 school in Iowa, who was being scouted by the NFL because of his pass catching ability due to his extra-large hands. Tipster was not afraid of anyone or anything. Shortly after the start of the Fall semester, Tipster began to be stalked by an attractive Freshman, who turned out to be the oldest of five daughters born to a Pentecostal Holiness preacher. She was a tiny thing compared to Tipster -- around 5'2", and 110 lbs. Fast forward to their second date. They ended up in bed at Tipster's apartment. Sorry, but when Tinygirl orgasmed, her face did not simply contort like most females. For no longer than maybe one second, her face and eyes MORPHED exactly like the faces of Pacino's female employees (which we refuse to describe) in his later 1997 movie with Keanu (we refuse to name the movie). Despite the fact that Tipster himself was within milliseconds of orgasming, he sprang out and off Tinygirl faster than he had ever moved on an early snap, and ran out of the room. Hopefully, most readers will understand that someone could have started shooting bullets through the window at that same moment, and Tipster wasn't going anywhere -- at least for a few seconds. Understand that Tipster was the kind of soldier who ran toward gunfire -- not away from it. However, during that brief moment, Tipster's "flight" instinct took over and quickly removed him from the room.

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NORTHWEST ARKANSAS

POSSIBLY A JEHOVAH'S WITNESS WEREWOLF or DOGMAN ???

(Submitted/Edited)

Tipster was reared as a 4th generation Jehovah's Witness, and has been out of the WatchTower Cult since the 1990s, so he knows exactly how this TRUE JW LIFE STORY will be severely criticized by JWs and XJWs alike. However, Tipster has convinced us to publish his story for whatever benefit it might serve others, rather than allow this one-of-a-kind TRUE LIFE STORY to die along with Tipster.

Based on Tipster's own firsthand observations over 20+ years, plus the testimony of one non-interested party, Tipster believes that his deceased father's deceased youngest brother may POSSIBLY have been a WEREWOLF, and during that time period may POSSIBLY have been a member of multiple PACKS of werewolves as he relocated.

For the sake of credibility, Tipster has a genius IQ, and a post-graduate education, with multiple academic awards, scholarships, etc. Tipster's deceased UNCLE also had a genius IQ, a Chemistry degree, and was hired by IBM right out of college. UNCLE quickly resigned from IBM so that he could return to work in the family's farming business. UNCLE declared that he had no intention of spending his life couped up inside any building.

UNCLE was the fifth and final child of an "anointed" second generation JW Mother. Both sides of Uncle's family were of British Isle origin -- Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and English -- and had the fair skin and light hair color to prove it. However, UNCLE was dark skinned with dark hair all over his body. While growing up, Tipster repeatedly heard his own father and Uncle's other siblings "pondering" Uncle's "genetics", as well as Uncle's continuous anti-social "loner" behavior and general "nuttiness".

When this Editor started working on this submission, I began with the plan of relating the various "evidences" in chronological order. However, I have changed my mind because readers may very well find this lengthy story to be so unbelievable that they leave before they even get to the LAST and BEST testimony from the non-interested party, which was related to Tipster by that previously unknown person only a few days after it happened.

***

In the early 1960s, when UNCLE was only 19 years old, Uncle was in the rear of his father's store closing/locking up at closing time, when a 25 year old local criminal entered the still open front of the store, and went into Tipster's grandfather's office and attempted to extort money from Uncle's father. Uncle rushed to his father's aid when he heard the unexpected loud conversation. Uncle, all 5'8" and then 150 pounds, grabbed the 220lbs taller Toughguy by his shirt collar, pinned him to the wall, and thereafter dragged him outside the store into the street. After Uncle threw large Toughguy onto the pavement, Toughguy fled. No police report was made.

The very next day, at closing time, as Uncle walked to his car, Toughguy ran up on him, pulled a .38 revolver, and emptied it. Uncle literally dodged every bullet. JW relatives quickly labeled this to be a miraculous rescue by one or more guardian angels. Otherwise, it must be explained how, when, where, etc., the usually awkward, uncoordinated teenager, whom had grownup in the 1940s-50s-60s without the benefit of television or any athletics, had acquired the skillset to successfully avoid deadly gunfire at pointblank range coming from a sudden, unexpected, determined "hunter".

Toughguy fled the state. This time the incidents were reported to and investigated by the police, who thought it a joke when Toughguy's father excused his son's attempted murder of Uncle by claiming that Uncle had "growled" in Toughguy's ear, "I'm going to eat you."

***

When UNCLE was in his mid-30s, he went through a period of 4-5 years of finding and restoring classic autos. In Summer 1978, Uncle posted a notice on an adjacent rural farming community's country store's community bulletin board that he was looking to purchase certain dilapidated automobiles. One day, Uncle received a telephone call from the country store's owner relating that there was a customer at his store who had a neighbor who had exactly what Uncle was seeking. Uncle rushed to that country store and convinced that farmer to take Uncle to the neighbor's farm, since Uncle was unfamiliar with that particular farming community and its residents. Farmer rode with Uncle in his pickup during the ten minute ride to the stranger's farm.

At that farm, the farm's dirt road leading off the state highway split apart just before reaching the farmhouse, with the offshoot dirt road going to several barns and other farm buildings, which were about a football field distance from the farmhouse. Uncle took the road to the barns since "Shotgun" said that farmer likely was not home given that his pickup was neither at his house nor at his barns. Uncle related to Shotgun that he still wanted to peek through the siding of the barn where the "barn find" was stored. Shotgun was uncomfortable with Uncle snooping around the absent farmer's buildings, and warned Uncle that farmer had two no-joke biting watchdogs. Uncle expressed his unconcern and stopped his pickup at the barns, jumped out, and began attempting to look inside the building in which Shotgun thought the car was stored.

Because it was a hot August afternoon, Shotgun soon exited Uncle's pickup, and slowly walked up near the barn where Uncle was snooping. Suddenly, both men heard a barking dog. Shotgun yelled to Uncle to run to his truck before the rapidly approaching watchdog reached him, or Uncle would be attacked. Shotgun then turned and sprinted back to Uncle's truck. Shotgun jumped into the passenger side expecting Uncle not to be far behind him.

Instead, Uncle had moved only to the dirt area in front of the barn, and with his back to Shotgun, Uncle stood and faced the charging watchdog. Shotgun related that he was scared to death for Uncle, and instantly regretted having brought Uncle to his neighbor's farm. At the same time, Shotgun was wondering why dumbass Uncle was not attempting to run from the charging vicious watchdog.

Shotgun related that when the charging watchdog was about 50 or so feet from Uncle that Uncle did the very last thing that Shotgun might have expected Uncle to do. Uncle, who was about 100 feet in front of Shotgun, and who was facing away from Shotgun, "dropped down onto all fours just like a dog", but quickly raised up on his knees as the charging 70-80 pound watchdog launched itself through the air at Uncle. Per Shotgun, using only his empty right hand, Uncle "bitch-slapped" the air-bound watchdog on the left side of its head knocking the dog to Uncle's left side without that momentum-bound dog so much as touching Uncle. Shotgun related that then 160 pound Uncle knocked out the dog "cold" without so much as a yelp from the large dog. Shotgun initially thought that Uncle had killed the dog, but after only 10-15 seconds, the dog got up and slowly walked away as if Uncle was not even there. Readers should note that Uncle was a typical reared-JW who had ZERO athletic background. Additionally, Uncle was only 5'8" tall, and then weighed around 160 pounds. (It is impossible to know how many times that pet dogs may have deterred the abduction of their hiking masters, but it is known that accompanying pet dogs do NOT stop abductions from occurring. Many such dogs often turn up weeks later, with no evidence of having been in a recent fight.)

Editors Note: We are omitting the circumstances how Tipster met and spoke with "Shotgun" for the first and only time 2-3 days after the described events happened, because that story is as lengthy as the main story, and those circumstances do not add nor subtract from this incident. Tipster does regret not bothering to remember Shotgun's name so that we could check Shotgun's date of death. After all, Uncle must have eventually regretted "morphing" even so briefly in front of Shotgun.

***

One summer day, when 11-12 year old Tipster was working at his Grandfather's store, then early-20s married-with-children UNCLE suggested that both go to "Grandma's" for lunch. During lunch, Uncle began reminiscing about the many years that he had spent hiking and playing in the 30 acres of hillside woods behind this homeplace. Uncle asked Tipster if he would like to hike to the top of the hill before returning to work. Of course. 

Readers should understand that this hillside had been washed of most of its soil centuries earlier, and save scattered depressions which still contained soil where trees could take root, the hillside was mostly outcroppings of bedrock. Tall straight oak trees, which had no limbs below 100 feet acted as a canopy for much of the 30 acres. There are no bushes nor any other vegetation taller than a foot or so. It was like entering a domed stadium. From any taller outcropping, a hiker can see for hundreds of yards in every direction.

Tipster followed Uncle up the hill. About 3/4s way to the top, Uncle stopped going upward and started cutting across the hillside. Uncle quickly slowed his hike, allowing Tipster to pass Uncle, who was about 15-20 feet below Tipster. Tipster first lost peripheral sight of Uncle, then realized that Uncle was no longer talking, nor making any stepping noise. Tipster stopped and turned to see why Uncle had stopped.

UNCLE was nowhere in sight!!! Since they just had eaten lunch, Tipster assumed Uncle was "squatting" behind a nearby outcropping. After all, it had been a matter of only a few seconds since Uncle had disappeared from sight without sound. However, to make sure Uncle had not had a heart attack, Tipster loudly asked Uncle to say something so that Tipster knew Uncle was okay. Silence. Now believing that Uncle was simply pulling his leg, Tipster jumped over a couple of outcroppings to where he had last seen Uncle a minute or so earlier, but Uncle was nowhere in sight. Not one to be hoaxed, Tipster jumped to the ground and walked around all nearby tree trunks and outcroppings to see if Uncle was hiding by crawling back against an overhanging rock. Nothing!

Tipster looked everywhere nearby that Uncle could possibly be hiding except in the high tree branches overhead. Tipster then became scared -- not for Uncle, but for Tipster's own safety. Tipster yelled, "If you don't come out now, I'm leaving." Tipster repeated himself two or three times, but not so much as a twig snap was heard. Tipster took off as fast as the terrain would permit, but stopped after a hundred yards or so. Again, Tipster asked Uncle to show himself before Tipster continued his exit, but still no sound. Tipster took off running as fast as possible. When Tipster reached his grandparent's home, Uncle's truck was still there, and Grandma said that she had not seen Uncle. Tipster waited around for 15-20 minutes before walking back to work. Uncle never returned to work that afternoon.

Less than a year later, a 42 month old male cousin of Tipster went missing from Grandma's house, and was found dead about 300 feet above the spot where Uncle had disappeared. The coroner ruled the death "accidental", but some family members knew better. The morbidly obese child had been led up the mountain and to the "accident" site by the five year old son of UNCLE. Then, the body was found by the dead child's own father, a non-JW who had married into the family about six years earlier. He just so happened to be dark skinned and hairy.

***

One summer, when mid-20s UNCLE had relocated about 20 miles from 13-14 year old Tipster's hometown, Uncle asked young Tipster to come stay with Uncle's family for a week and help Uncle with a project. One night, while playing Monopoly, Uncle began talking about current topics that JWs then typically avoided. Uncle intentionally gradually "led" their conversation to what was more commonly known in the 1970s as "Sasquatch", but in the 2020s is more commonly referred to as "Bigfoot". Older Uncle suggested that Tipster and Uncle go "hunting" for "Sasquatches" that very night. Young and naive Tipster quickly agreed with his older Uncle, and jumped up to go "hunt" in what Tipster assumed would be Uncle's five acres of woods at the very rear of Uncle's rented farm. Up until then, Uncle had always told young Tipster to stay out of those woods because it was "swampy", and full of rattlesnakes and copperheads. However, Uncle said that his patch of woods was too small and that they should go look elsewhere, and that they should wait until after midnight.

Shortly before midnight, Uncle grabbed his only flashlight, and Tipster and he jumped in Uncle's pickup truck and took off for what Uncle misled Tipster to believe would be random country backroads. Instead, even 13-14 year old naive Tipster understood later that Uncle had driven straight to a pre-planned location. After driving about 20 minutes to an isolated narrow dirt country road, they came to a 20 or so acre farm pasture field on Tipster's side of the truck. Uncle stopped, and told Tipster to shine the flashlight down the downward sloping pasture field until the light began to reflect off pairs of eyeballs. Tipster's heart began to race as he continued to see more and more pairs of eyeballs, BUT Tipster then finally realized that he had just awakened a herd of sleeping cattle.

UNCLE was not so discouraged as was Tipster. Uncle suggested that Tipster point the flashlight toward the hillside beyond the pasture field. That hillside was too far away to be illuminated by the weak flashlight, but not too far for the weak light to be reflected by eyeballs. It took a couple minutes or so before a pair of eyeballs was seen, but quickly disappeared. It took another couple or so minutes before the pair of eyeballs showed up elsewhere on the distant hillside. This repeated itself for 10-15 minutes, when all of the sudden multiple pairs of eyeballs began to show up scattered all about the long hillside. Shortly, the eyeballs appeared to gather together. Once again, Tipster's heart began to race UNTIL it finally occurred to Tipster that he probably had just awakened a herd of deer -- although large herds of deer were unknown in that part of the state.

UNCLE watched without comment as Tipster continued to light up the 15-20 pairs of eyeballs as they slowly zigzagged as a group down the hillside. Tipster began to feel bad that he had scared the sleeping herd of deer sufficient to make them change locations in the middle of the night, UNTIL it occurred to Tipster that the "deer" were not moving up the hillside away from the light, but rather were coming down the hillside toward the light. Then, the hair on the back of Tipster's neck stood up as he watched the eyeballs reach the bottom of the hill, follow alongside an apparent creek until they found their crossing, crossed, and then began charging in the direction of the light. Uncle was already turning the ignition key even before Tipster turned off the flashlight and screamed for Uncle to "get out of here". Uncle drove away rapidly, but without much comment. Uncle allowed Tipster to chatter away with his own speculations as to what had just happened. It was not until they were halfway back to Uncle's house that Tipster realized that had they not fled, and had he left the flashlight on for a few more seconds, they could have seen whatever were those creatures. Later, Tipster realized that Uncle had purposely driven them to that precise location, and after the "encounter", had driven straight home without offering to continue their "Sasquatch hunt" elsewhere. Tipster also later wondered why a herd of deer awakened in the middle of the night did not instinctively stop at the creek and drink their fill???

***

The summer after Tipster got his driver's license, Tipster and a new JW buddy from a recently moved-in needgreater (probably law or creditor fleeing) JW family decided that they wanted to "camp out" -- by themselves. Typically, they over-thought and over-planned the adventure for about a month. Eventually, both set of JW Parents agreed to a one-weekday night "camp out" at JW Uncle's leased farm in an adjacent county. Importantly, since JW Buddy had only recently moved into the state, JW Buddy did not know what Uncle looked like.

Having gotten Uncle's permission earlier, Tipster telephoned Uncle to ask if that same night would be okay. Uncle's wife answered that Uncle was not home, but that she could think of no reason why that night would not be okay, and for the two boys to come on. Since it did not get dark until around 9:00 PM, the boys did not arrive at Uncle's farm until around 6:00 PM. However, Uncle still was not home. In the meantime, JW Aunt had re-thought her invitation, and proceeded to give the boys a stern campfire warning. Aunt directed the boys to make their "camp" on top of the farm's highest knoll, which was 1/2 mile away, but easily viewable from the farmhouse. That campsite would be in the middle of short grazed pasture, and a nearby dying tree's falling branches would provide firewood. That campsite also would be about 200 yards above the infamous five acres of dangerous swampy woods.

Tipster first gave JW Buddy a tour of the farm and its five barns and storage buildings, and the crops, and the herd of beef cattle. Setting up the borrowed tent was a lengthy chore for the two novices, as was gathering firewood and starting the fire. By the time that their hotdogs were ready, the two teenagers devoured them. Having been reared as JWs in different environments -- city and country -- the two boys exchanged "war stories" into the wee hours of the morning. Unanticipated -- at least by Tipster -- was the fact that there was a FULL MOON which lit up the surrounding farmland like it still was daylight.

Exhausted Tipster, who had worked nine hours that day, fell asleep while listening to one of new JW Buddy's stories, and slept soundly until JW Buddy finally woke him up around 10:00 AM the next morning. When Tipster said something about their needing to let Uncle know that they were okay, JW Buddy informed Tipster that Uncle had already checked on them. JW Buddy related that a noise had partially awakened him in the middle of the night, but that in the stage of sleep that he then was in, he had been able to awaken only long enough to see Uncle "patrolling" back and forth about 30 or so feet in front of their still burning campfire. (Later, Tipster wondered whether the noise that supposedly had awakened JW Buddy were the remaining longer tree limbs being broken and added to their campfire.) JW Buddy further related that as he went in and out of consciousness, he had caught brief glimpses of "Uncle" walking down the hill towards and eventually into the "swampy" woods. Recalling that JW Buddy had no clue about Uncle's stature, nor what Uncle looked like, Tipster asked JW Buddy to describe the "person" whom he saw. JW Buddy stated that he had never really seen the person's face because the person's face was always pointing away from him (towards the woods). When the two boys later reported back to the farmhouse, Uncle once again was not there, supposedly having gone on a work related day trip.

(A reviewer has suggested that sleeping JW Buddy may have been awakened by a summoning howl. Rather than being a "protective" behavior, the "patrolling back and forth thirty foot in front of the campfire" behavior would be typical of a stalking lone wolf, but would have included the wolf constantly facing and scanning the campfire and tent for an opportunity to get around the campfire to the open front of the tent. Also, that incident may have occurred shortly after the teens fell asleep and stopped talking, and before the campfire had burned down. Also, how could fading-in-and-out-of-sleep JW Buddy be sure that the "person" he later briefly saw walk towards the woods, and even later briefly saw go into the woods, were all three brief times the same "person"?)

Without telling JW Buddy "why", Tipster decided that it was time to explore the forbidden five acres of woods. Uncle's leased farm was surrounded on three sides by equally well maintained farms. However, the back side of the farm, where the roughly 200' x 1200' narrow patch of woods sat directly against the boundary line, was adjoined by a large tract of undeveloped wetland, whose owner was unknown by the neighbors. Over the previous 4 or 5 years that Uncle had leased this farm, Tipster only had rode and driven past the narrow patch of woods on Uncle's tractor and farm truck, but he had always obeyed Uncle's order to stay out of those woods for his own safety.

As Tipster and JW Buddy walked down to the woods carrying snake-sticks from the aforementioned dying tree, for the first time Tipster paid attention to the tall thick hedge bushes encircling the perimeter of this elevated end of the elongated patch of woods, which joined with adjacent trees with low branches to completely prevent anyone seeing into this upper end of the woods. Sure enough, there was an angled break in the hedgerow exactly where JW Buddy claimed that he saw "Uncle" enter the woods.

Fifty feet into the woods, past the hedgerow and the trees with low branches, the two boys gasped at what they saw. The interior of the patch of woods consisted of tall oak trees with high branches that created a canopy exactly like the woods behind the homeplace where Uncle had been reared. Tipster discretely did not tip off JW Buddy to the significance of what they were seeing. However, even the city boy couldn't miss the spotless portion of the forest floor in front of them. Under the canopy was a semi-circle of packed moist soil that looked like a concrete floor. Despite the fact that the forest floor outside the semi-circle consisted of layers of rotting leaves and bits of fallen limbs, the large semi-circle had ZERO leaves and fallen debris of any type. Notably, the packed moist soil had the exact same brush marks everywhere. It appeared to have been recently swept with a stiff bristle push broom. Tipster purposefully looked for signs of hoof and claw marks, but there were none. Importantly, the early-70s, cheaply-made, flat-sole, treadless, knock-off, K-Mart mock "jogging shoes" worn by Tipster and JW Buddy surprisingly did not leave shoe prints or signs in the surface.

The semi-circle's front edge (diameter) was roughly 100 foot in length, and the imperfect semi-circle extended back a radius of about 60 feet. Eerily, there were two huge obviously-old 30 foot treetrunks laying side by side immediately in front of the semi-circle, which unmistakenly appeared to serve as a raised "stage", and maybe something else. The two old treetrunks were much larger in diameter than any of the nearby standing oaks, and did not appear to be oak trees. Neither had they fallen where they then laid. Neither had been sawed or chopped. Each of the now water-logged large treetrunks would have weighed thousands of pounds, even if they had been dried-out when moved. Surrounding standing trees would have prevented them from being so placed by mechanical means.

Neither JW teenager said much as they surveyed the outdoor meeting facility. Later, the thing that scared Tipster even more was the fact that JW Buddy had been the one to push for the camp out, and had pushed for the exact day, and even Uncle's farm, plus JW Buddy had NOT slept throughout the night. Curiously, no JW adult ever later questioned Tipster about any of the above, and Tipster finds it difficult to believe that JW Buddy did not go home and report the matter to someone. Did we mention that JW Buddy's family was Irish, but all the males were hairy and dark skinned just like Uncle?

Several days afterwards, while contemplating what he had observed in the swampy woods, Tipster recalled that on the Spring day two years earlier when he had found the semi-circle of leaning trees near the rear boundary line of the large tract of woods behind "homeplace" (see story below), and had had to run for his life from something stalking him, Tipster had made a wrong turn before he had reached the "canopy" while on his way back to his Grandparent's house. That route took Tipster into an isolated section of the canopy that Tipster had not previously explored. Near the top of the hill, in the middle of the slope, under the "canopy", Tipster discovered a hidden downward sloping (into the hillside) semi-circle depression, which was roughly the same size as the semi-circle at Uncle's farm. The surrounding irregular height outcroppings made the exterior edges of the depression blend into the background, and the interior of the depression could not be seen unless you were standing right on top of it. Tipster recalls thinking that natives must have used the hidden depression for religious and other various purposes for hundreds or even thousands of years. The semi-circle shaped depression conveniently had what appeared to be a "stage/altar" at its rear, which had been sculpted of outcropping, boulders, and smaller rocks. Tipster also now recalls that the combination bedrock and dirt "floor" had only blown newer leaves partially covering it, while surrounding areas outside the depression were covered by multiple layers of rotting leaves and tree parts.

*** Uncle's parents had purchased the "homeplace" when Uncle was six years old. The undevelopable tract of woods behind homeplace was owned by one of the area's wealthiest Freemasons, who was rumored to dabble in the occult and sexually molest his three daughters. Those thirty acres of difficult to traverse woods soon became "loner" Uncle's personal playground. Uncle would go there anytime that he could -- mornings, afternoons, evenings, and believe or not, after nightfall, preferably. Whenever someone questioned Uncle about what was he doing spending so much time there, Uncle always would respond, "Hunting", although noone could ever recall Uncle returning with any prey.

One May afternoon when Tipster was 14 years old, and recovering from wintertime "cabin fever", the loner decided that he wanted to go explore the rarely visited rear property line of the woods, which was around a 30-40 minute hike from his grandparent's house. There, outside the aforementioned "canopy" of tall oaks, and in an area of only scattered trees and much tall brush, Tipster ran across something that appeared very strange to someone who had spent time in multiple tracts of woods. Tipster saw a standing oak tree with seven 20-25 foot long 4-6 inch trees leaning up against the oak's branches near its trunk. They were arranged in a semi-circle -- three shorter trees in the ring closest to the oak tree, and four longer trees in an outer ring. None of the skinny tall trees had been chopped nor sawn, nor did any still have roots attached. They all appeared to have been broken off near their base. Tipster looked around, but could find no nearby rootstocks.

After about ten minutes of surveying the semi-circle of leaning trees, Tipster began to hear snapping of twigs which would stop whenever he stopped moving, and resume whenever he resumed moving. Tipster then knew that someone or something was now stalking him, and he took off as fast as possible. Tipster now wonders whether this area was in the pack's territory, or was another competing group (see "Bigfoot" above) attempting to steal such away by marking the area with its own ritualistic elements?

*** FYI. Just so readers will know, during the last 40 years of Uncle's life, Tipster saw/spoke with Uncle only six times totaling about two hours, and five of those six encounters were in public surrounded by others. Tipster didn't like being around Uncle's family anymore than being around Uncle. Tipster saw/spoke with Uncle's two wives only at three funerals during Uncle's last 40 years. Other than at those same three funerals, Tipster only spoke three times with a daughter who approached him -- totaling 60 minutes or so, and once with an alcoholic/addicted son for about 10-15 minutes. There was zero contact with Uncle's other children, including one dark skinned male. Tipster has no knowledge as to what those relatives did after the 1970s.

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