Alligators and Crocodiles in the Water

Tim writes"My first encounter happened in the state of Vermont. Between Clarendon and Tinmouth. My father was with me. And we was deer hunting. To start from the beginning.

My father was a minister and he had started a church in Rutland. We had a family that had started coming on a regular basis. And it was almost rifle season and we didn't really have a place to go. So in conversation with this family and my father, we got invited to go out to there farm. This would be my first hunt. Like I said, we didn't really know where to go. But the man told my father that they had deer on there property and if we wanted to go, we were more than welcome to hunt there. I was excited since this would be my first time hunting and my dad was going to let me use my aunt's old rifle. She was short and the butt of the stock had been cut so she could shoulder it. I had shot it before. And I could shoot it quite well. It was a Winchester model 54 and chambered in a 30-06 caliber. My dad was using a ruger chambered in a 7mm Magnum. We got up early that morning.

It was November and cold. We left our house early because dad wanted to get out and get settled in before it got to light out and things had time to get quiet. We got out to the property, found the barbed wire gate and dad got out opened the gate and drove the truck in and closed the gate behind us. There was what we called a two track road that we could drive on. It had grass in the middle of it and we drove a ways in and found a place where we could get the truck off so the man if need be could get by if he chose to come out. Vermont is mountainous and rocky and lots of ridges and ravines. We got out threw on some warm insulated hunting clothes on and loaded up and started walking up and over ridges. Dad as we walked said that the highest ridge would give us the best advantage to see. By the time we reached the ledge of the highest ridge daylight was breaking. Dad pointed out a huge sugar maple that would be good to sit up against and I made my way to it. Dad said that he would go down farther on the ledge and still be within eye sight if I needed him. I cleared the leaves where i was going to sit at up against the trunk of the tree so if I needed to move , I could without any noise. The mountain was still behind me and it was steep so I was expecting deer to feed among the ridges and ravines for acorns. I bunched my knee's up against my chest so I could use them as a steady rest. It wasn't long and I could hear something coming down from behind me and it was coming fast. 4 does came full tilt running and ran down the ledge I was sitting on and they never stopped.

They ran through some spruce tree's and was out of sight. It wasn't long and something else was coming down from behind me and it was coming fast. Now Wes, I noticed just from feeling the ground with the steps it was taking that this wasn't deer. I literally froze , and didn't move a muscle. Whatever it was , was behind the tree I was leaning against. From this point on. Things went into very slow motion. I heard what sounded like a nut hatch bird sounded like on the side of the tree. I heard dirt or bark hitting on my left shoulder. Moving my head extremely slow a looking up and over my left shoulder was a HUGE and dirty hand. This hand had enormous fingers. If I was to compare the size of the diameter of the fingers I would have to say that they were as big around as the packaged eckrich sausage is that you see in the grocery store meat coolers. They were extremely dirty and a dark grayish black in color hair on top of the back of the hand that wasn't really thick hair because you could still see the skin. From where my head was I'd have to say that the hand was every bit of 5ft above me. I seen breath as it was breathing as it plumed out from behind me. I literally lost all bodily functions. I soiled my pants as well as wet myself. It emitted a very low but vibrating growl. I don't know if you have ever heard alligators during the breeding season where they do a low growl and the water literally vibrates off there backs in the water. But it was very similar. I could feel it inside myself. It then took off down the ledge where the deer went. It moved with such a speed that you cannot comprehend. The hair looked black at the base and where it was longer it looked almost a deep brownish red. It was every bit of 9ft tall and the shoulder width was massive. Probably 4 and a half to maybe 5ft .the hair on the back where the shoulder blades are located looked longer in length. And it had mud matted in the hair wherever it had been sitting. I never at one time thought about the rifle that I had in my hands. After it took off my Dad came running over to me and asked me if I was ok. He said that he would have shot it but was literally afraid that if he did then it would have probably killed me. We cautiously made our way back to the truck. Which wasn't easy with the way my pants was.

I vomited before I got into the truck and we left. We got to the gate opened it and closed it and never returned to the location. I was shaking violently on our way home. We pulled into the driveway and dad shut the truck off and told me. Don't you ever talk about what had just happened. We would be ridiculed in town and school for me. This happened in 1979. I just told my wife whom I've been married to for 26 years. This encounter has given me a paranoia every time I'm around woods or I'm outside in the dark."