Everyone has a passion, mine is hiking. As a veterinarian I find myself drawn to the vast verdant expense of Kentucky’s Tygarts State Forest, I find hiking through that deep expanse relaxing and helps me better relate to the woes of my patients. Today I was taking some time off to indulge in my passion, and it would be for quite a few days. Steve my longtime assistant, through his diligent efforts and great skills had convinced me to leave the practice to him for the next week, a trial run to see if he could take a more management role. So, I would be spending this week trekking through an obscure area of the forest. My old buddy Paul, the local ranger had received reports of three local dogs disappearing near that stretch of woods. The Forest is a usually hiking spot, but the deeper woods can be quite dangerous for non-experienced hikers. so that’s where I came in. I would be trekking the old paths leading to a old cave systems that ran through the hills. I was hoping of finding the dogs and offers medical aid if needed. These hills were also a popular hunting spot, so I was quite worried they might be caught in the odd trap or possibly shot and skinned by some inexperienced hunter, which does sometimes happen, much to our dismay.
So here I was, standing under the dark canopy of Maple, Oak and Hickory trees. These deeper trials where not very well maintained, which allowed the thick underbrush to creep over the faint trails, and this far into the trek it was little more than a deer trail. I pushed through the thick underbrush hoping to make it to the stream before nightfall. After pushing past a large bush, I emerged through a break in the tree line, large boulders and exposed stone ran up higher into the mountain. Between these stones ran a faint trickle of water. This path leads up to a small source which feeds into the Ohio river, it impacts on the river was quite small, but it was a major resource for local wildlife. So, I was hopeful the dog would come this way. I was now close to where I had planned on setting up camp. I had come up this path before, it was several years back, but I still remembered a few good spots. I followed the stream up for a while, with the rays of sunset basking down over my shoulder, setting the forest ablaze in it its golden glow.
I arrived at my site, a clearing in the forest approaching a sheer cliff face, with large boulders surrounding its base. However, if you journeyed past the boulders you arrive at a small indent into the mountain, which provides a very cozy shelter from the elements. Walking into this natural shelter I took off the large backpack which held all my gear dropping it to the ground with a dull thud. Then took off the old Remington 700 slung over my shoulder. This place still held several wolves and bears, while it was unlikely, I would run into any, it was still a good idea to come armed. I unpacked my old reliable tent and prepared a campsite. Then off in the distance I heard a faint, “SNAP”, then a yelp, a dog’s whine of pain. I was familiar with that sound, it was a snare triggering, and a poor dog in the wrong place. Then barking echoed around the trees. I quickly sprang up, collect my flashlight, rifle, and the medical kit that had shifted down to the bottom of my bag. By the time I had collected all my equipment, the barking had only intensified, but not entirely drowning out the occasional whine or yelp of pain. I left the rest of my equipment in my partly constructed camp and dashed back into the forest as the last few rays became to creep under the horizon.
I started to draw close to the sound, but the last traces of sunlight finally vanished. So I flicked on the flashlight, and used it light to navigate through the dense forest. Suddenly a large German Shepard, barreled out from behind a bush. He looked a starved, but basically unharmed, with a red collar around his neck. He scampered over to me. He was trembling as he approached me, tail between his legs. When he got close to me, he looked up and let out a whine, he was not being aggressive, more scared. I knelt and offered him my hand. He sniffed it for a second then licked my palm. He suddenly turned around walked forward, looked back at me, let out a short barked and walked forward again, I could tell he wanted me to follow.
He guided me through the dark forest, as we walked a Labrador joined us, then a Rottweiler. The three missing dogs I was searching for, they seemed healthy but a bit underfed. However, the whines and yelps still echoed out in the distance. Soon they guided me to another tree, running down from a branch was a thin wire of a snare. But I was horrified by what the snare caught, a small child, He had to be no older than 6 or 7, skinny and covered in dirt. His left leg was pulled up into the air. From his position you could see he tried to crawl away from the snare, hugging the tree, which cloaking his upper body. He was gripping onto it tightly trying to use as an anchor to pull himself free. I quickly ran over to him. “It okay buddy I’ll get you out” I said in a gentle voice. The boy heard my voice and started to frantically struggle against the snare. The wire dug into his leg drawing blood, and with his struggling he lost his grip on the tree and was yanked backwards fully into my field of view. I froze, my blood ran cold, this was not a small child. He looked human, until you got to his face, instead I looked down at the face of a German Shepard. It looked so very wrong, had I seen this under broad daylight during a festival or convention I would have though it was an amazing costume. But here under the moonlight, it filled me with disgust. This freak was an abomination against nature, some hybrid monstrosity.
I reached for my rifle, but the Labrador did something shocking, he walked over to the creature, and barked at him, then laid down next to him. Licking his strange face. The thing stopped struggling and glared at me. While it filled me with disgust and a small amount of fear, the dogs do seemed to be his friend, and looking down at that dog face, I couldn’t put a bullet in it. So, I walked over to him, and knelt down. He seemed very scared and was trembling but didn’t move as I gently took out the hunting knife hanging from my belt and cut the cord around his leg, flinging the branch back into the canopy. Once free he immediately scooted backwards and darted back into the tree line. I just knelt there for a moment with the dogs, then stood up. They dogs seemed quite comfortable around me, so I quickly did a medical checkup on them. To my surprise they really did seem perfectly health, a few pounds light but nothing else. Except for the Labrador, he did have a small cut on his paw, it looked like he scratched it on something. So, I took out my medical supplies and cleaned the wound. Then while I was bandaging his paw, the German Shepherd lets out a bark, and I saw the thing again, sitting behind a small bush, watching me treat the dog. when I made eye contact with him, he shrunk back into the darkness. However, the Labrador darted after him. Followed by some barking. Then the creature came back, it still seemed skittish, but with the dog’s encouragement, he approached me limping on his injured leg.
I didn’t really want anything to do with the monster, but he was injured, so I did what any good doctor would do, I treated his wound. After I cleaned and bandaged his leg, the creatures seemed to get more friendly, he acted exactly like a dog would, it was genuinely uncomfortable to watch it move around. Now that it was treated, I wanted to get away. So, I called the dogs, and started to go back towards my camp, the dogs where following me, but then the creature did something weird. It grabbed my hand and pulled back. Then pointed at cliff in the difference. I was trying to tell me something, tugging again at my hand, then it let go and walked toward the cliff, waiting for me a few meters away. He was doing the same thing the dog earlier when he wanted me to follow him. I was going to refuse it, but then I let out a bark and the three dogs ran over to his side, then just stared at me, beckoned me to follow, and walked back into the dark forest. I don’t really know why I did it, but something told me to I should followed him.
He moved slowly with the limp in his leg, pushing through the underbrush as the trees towered above us. Eventually he guided us toward a large cave, cut in the mountain. The cave reeked, a mix of wet dog and rot. I looked down into the depth of the cave, and the creature darted inside followed by the dogs. He seemed very happy to be back to his home. I stood at the entrance to the cave, about to walk in, when I suddenly realized just how dumb I was being, it was so strange one moment I was calm following the child then like walking up from a dream everything changed and primal fear washed over me. I wasn’t sure why, but something felt really wrong here. I found that now the smell of rot and blood stood out far more than just a second before and something inside me told me to run. Then I heard a faint rumble from inside the cave, and two huge orange eyes glared at me from the darkness, and it finally stuck me if it was a child, then were where it’s parents.
I grabbed my rifle, pointing it into the darkness of the cave at the pair of giant orange eyes, and slowly backed up. It just kept glaring at me, and suddenly my leg filled with pain, I involuntarily pulled the trigger, and a yelp echoed out. I looked down to see the Labrador latched onto my leg. Thankfully I was wearing very thick clothes, which kept him from really sinking his teeth into my flesh, but non the less, it still hurt. I smashed the butt of my rifle into his head, knocking him out, but two more shapes darted out of the shadows, the Remington 700 is a bolt action rifle, so I didn’t have a second shot, and no time to reload. So, I dropped it, grabbing my hunting knife from my belt.
The Rottweiler leapt up going for my throat, but I braced with my left arm, and with a load crack, his jaws clamped down on that arm. I repeatedly jammed the knife into his chest, as he let go of my arm, and collapsed with a dull thud. I was now drenched in blood, I could tell my left arm was not broken but it hurt like hell and was slowly bleeding, and my ankle was swollen from the previous bite. I was not ready for the German Shepherd, he knocked me off my feet, grabbing onto my leg and started to drag me towards the cave. I struggled, and lashed out with the knife, putting a gash across into his face. He let go of my leg with a snarl and retreated in pain, pawing at his face. I shuffled back towards my fallen rifle, my fingers brushed over the wooden stock, pulling it towards me. I fumbled with the action, pulling back the bolt. I always kept a few bullets loose in my pockets, you don’t ever want to find yourself needing a second shot and not having one. I quickly reloaded just in time for the German Shepherd to recover and charge again, but I pulled the trigger I time, putting a hole through his head.
Then I heard it, heavy foot falls, as the creature stood up in the cave entrance. It was tall at least 7 ft tall, and strongly muscled, like an expert body builder, but with a large German Shepherd’s head. Although it was much larger than any German Shepherd, about 3 times larger. Then I realized the only reason I was still alive. When the Labrador grabbed my leg, my accidental shot hit him in the face, ripping through his thick hide, leaving a bloody trail over his face, passing through his left eyeball, which now hung in pieces from his empty eye socket. He was glaring at me, and I started to reload the gun, but he retreated back into the darkness of the cave.
I got back to my feet and ran through dark forest. Heading down the mountain. A load howl behind me. I ran through the trees, branches snagging at my clothes, tearing a gash into my cheek. I just kept moving. Then I heard a bark, an old half starved, Great Dane, barreled towards me. “BANG”, he hit the ground, and I reloaded again. Smoke wafting from the barrel. I head a twig snap over my shoulder and turned to see a single large orange eye, which quickly retreated into the trees. I kept moving, further down the mountain, I had still 3 bullets in my pocket, no wait, its 2 I just reloaded. My heart was pounding, and I was running out of breath, as the Howls echoing around the distant mountains.
My vision was blurring, my lungs burned, my legs protested, but I kept running and soon the familiar trail marker stood next to a well-maintained path. This is where the normal trail began. The primal fear of being the prey started to finally clear from my mind. I slowed my run, down to a jog, then a walk and finally doubling over, breathing deeply as my lungs cried out in relief as they filled with the cool night air. I had made it to safety. Then a small yip and a tiny Chihuahua latched onto my leg. I stared dumbly the tiny dog, the creatures silly murder attempt nearly pulled a laugh from me. “CHOMPY BAD, LET HIM GO”. A small voice called out down the trail. A little girl around 4-5 stood there dressed in a thick woolen outfit. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE” I screamed scaring the girl, she now had tears in her eyes “Were camping, just through there” she pointed down the trail to one of the camping sites. “Chompy ran off so I followed him”.
While she explained the ferocious beast was still trying to futilely tear my leg to pieces, although the thick cloth made it unable to each get a hold on my leg, only the cloth. “You need to get back to you pare…” and the Labrador jumped out from the bushes, latching onto the young girl throat, jerking his head violently with a sickening crack and the girl went limp. I raised the gun and just as I was about to shoot, I felt a chill down my spine and saw it standing behind me, still cloaked in the shadows of the trees, waiting for me to shoot, the one-eyed Dog Man. The Labrador started to drag the girl into the woods, and I hesitated. If I shot, the thing behind me would pounce, and there is no way I can reload before he reached me. So, I half turned and made eye contact with him, he growled a deep low rumble that I could feel shaking my bones. I raised the gun, pointed it at him and slowly backed away. He stood there waiting in the shadows while the Labrador dragged the girl into the tree line, outside of my sight.
I as I backed down the trial the Chihuahua stayed latched on so I kicked him off my leg, and continued down the trail, towards the camping site. Eventually as I made my way into the campsite the Dog Man disappeared from my eyeline, and the howling stopped. This campsite was near the road, near my parked car. I made my way through the silent camp, there were a few tents, but the people were already asleep. I got to my car and sped out of there. I went straight to the hospital. The bone in my arm was severely bruised and cracked. My leg was also pretty banged up and I needed stiches and several shots for the bites. I spent that night in the hospital while they ran some tests, then got home the next day. The little girl was discovered that morning body torn to pieces in what was reported as an animal attack.
I have not told anyone about the creature yet, mostly because I don’t think they’ll believe me. However, I decided to share this story, because as the sun went down, I started to hear howling from the dogs in the neighborhood and I could have sworn I saw a single glowing orange eye from the between the trees behind my house. If you live in Olive Hill Kentucky’s and you are armed, I think I need your help…