The below text is all copied from a now-deleted post from an archived wildlife forum. My sister is a wildlife major, and she sent it to me because she found it so odd.
11/19/2009
This is completely random, and I’m not sure if this is the right place for my question - but here goes. I was driving home from my girlfriend’s house the other night. (We hang out like every day, always with either one of us driving to the other’s house and spending the entire day there, usually until after 10 or 11pm.) Anyways, when I was driving back, I’d say it was a quarter after 11, but maybe later - I was going past a big field and I noticed a deer. We live in rural West Virignia, so we see deer like all the time, and it takes a miracle to not hit one every fall/winter season.
I always pay attention to the deer when I spot them, to make sure they’re not gonna run out in front of me. But this deer caught my attention before I was even that close to him, because he was moving his head back and forth really fast. I noticed the motion of his eyes in my headlights and he was standing maybe 15 feet from the road on my driver’s side. Now it wasn’t a normal head ‘bucking’ or something like that. I know next to nothing about deer, despite the area I live in, but I’ve seen them like dip their head and stuff when you get close to them. This wasn’t that. I’ll try to describe the motion as best I can. He was literally rocking his head from side to side, almost as if you could picture someone listening to music and bee-bopping their head from shoulder to shoulder, except this was way more dramatic. It was absurdly fast. He was rapidly forcing his head from side to side, each time he would go all the way past a 90 degree head tilt, almost like trying to force his head entirely upside down.
I can describe this in such detail because it surprised me so much that I slowed down as I passed him, to look. I noticed that the speed didn’t seem to change at all, and he didn’t stop doing the head rocking, whatsoever. It was continously going back and forth, almost as fast as an excited dog wagging it’s tail. It looked… violent? And like painful? When I went right past, I tried to look at the deer’s face. He wasn’t looking at me or my car in the way that they normally would stare (‘deer in headlights look’). He was looking sideways. His eyes were wide, I guess? I’ve really never spent time examining the appearance of a deer’s facial features.
Anyways, I guess I’m asking if this is normal for deer to do? Maybe it was just because it was so late at night and dark on the road, but I found it really unsettling. Truthfully, it creeped me out and I couldn’t stop thinking about, which is why I’m writing this today. I couldn’t find anything like it on google. I need to ask somebody if this is just a really weird behavior that they do? Part of me feels like I should have stopped my car and checked on him? Part of me wants to go back and look for him? I’ll go past that field again tomorrow when I go to my gf’s again, but I’m not sure if I should stop. I guess just tell me if this is normal or if it’s dangerous for me to go look for him? Thanks.
(UPDATE) 11/21/2009
First of all, thank you everyone for the suggestions and info. I’m not sure exactly what kind of deer it was for those that were asking, but I’m pretty sure ‘white-tailed’ are most of what we have here?
So against a lot of your suggestions that it could be rabid or something, I decided to just quickly stop at the field on my way over yesterday. Right around the spot where I’m pretty sure that I saw it, I did find some blood and fur. (Don’t worry, I did not touch the blood). But there was enough blood that I could see it in pretty much a trail that went toward the woods on the other side of the field.
My girlfriend would kill me if I was late, so I had to head to her house before lunch. But I stopped again quickly on my way back at night. It was after 11 again, and I brought a flashlight. I followed the blood trail to the edge of the woods. I was really suprised by the amount of blood, I was actually wondering if maybe he got hit by a car and survived. Or if he was rabid and attacked something else.
Long story short, I was too scared to go into the woods at night, despite how much of a wilderness adventurer I was feeling like. My gf is having a ‘girls day’ tomorrow, so I’m tempted to use my free time to go have a look see in the woods during the day. Then again, I might just sleep.
Your wildlife investigator,
James.
(UPDATE) 11/22/2009
Alright, y’all. I was lazy and I did not go back to the woods. However, many of you are now invested in this adventure, which has made me also more invested. I have named the deer Charlie, and I am determined to find out what happened to him.
Also, I am 20 years old, you all have been asking, because you are so interested in my story. One of you said, quote: ‘You want to know how old I am so you know how tragic it would be if I died in the woods.’ So thanks for that. I’m going on Tuesday afternoon - I’ve got off work and the mrs does not. Per your recommendations: I am taking bug spray, boots, a hiking stick, and granola bars, though I dare say this seems a bit dramatic.
Onward for Charlie,
James
(UPDATE) 11/24/2009
Charlie is dead.
When I wrote the last post, I was excited and interested. Now I am just sad. I guess with the blood and all I should have assumed that Charlie didn’t make it, but I can confirm that now. At least, I’m assuming its Charlie based on the blood trail.
*Warning: Gruesome Content*
The worst part is that Charlie was… eviscerated. While he was still in one piece, technically, his neck and head were bent backwards over his body, his neck ripped open and revealing a ton of blood and skin and fur and his spine/bones.
I’m no genius, but what I think is most weird is that if he was injured to his neck like this by a car, how on earth could he have walked all the way to this place in the woods? The woods he went into were atleast 50 yards from where he was standing that I found the start of the blood trail, and I walked another 5 minutes into the woods to find his body. Can deer survive and run a football field with their head hanging off? Like a chicken?
As I wrote that, I can’t help thinking about the thing he was doing when I first saw him - the head rocking/tilting. This seems…impossible but his body almost looked like he had been doing the rocking so hard that he split open his own neck and died on the spot. Does that seem like something that rabies could cause?
(UPDATE) 11/30/2009
Thanks for all the responses, and all the RIPs for Charlie. Seems like none of you have an idea of what could’ve happened, aside from my guesses. I guess I’ll check back on this thread occasionally to see if anybody has anything to add, but if not I guess it’s farewell for now.
Retired wilderness adventurer,
James
(UPDATE) 12/09/2009
It happened again.
This time, I was driving to my gf’s house in broad daylight. Just across from the spot in the woods where Charlie was, but on the opposite side of the road, I saw a rabbit, sitting still, swinging its head back and forth in nearly the same manner. I immediately pulled over and got out of the car. I tried to slowly go towards it. I noticed that the swinging was very fast again, and violent in the same way that the deer’s had been, although the bunny’s neck was much shorter and he couldn’t swing his head quite as far. I did see that he was already bleeding. I noticed it on his right side, just between his shoulder and neck. I got within about 3 feet of him, before he took off - across the road, onto the field, and into the woods - in the exact spot where I knew Charlie’s blood trail had led in.
I’m writing this from her house, I’m too anxious to wait. I’m going to go back in after the rabbit tonight on my way home.
(UPDATE) 12/10/2009
After this, I’m not sure whether this thread is the right place for this ‘adventure’ at all.
I pulled over in the same spot as before. I checked the time, it was 11:11pm last night when I left my car. I took my flashlight and headed back into the woods, in the same slightly stomped out trail from my previous visit. Charlie’s dried blood was still there. After a few minutes jog, Charlie’s body was still in the same place. I looked around the area, it was nothing but dense woods. So, I decided to continue walking in the same direction Charlie had been going. I walked into the woods for another 10 minutes or so, and was about to give up, when I saw movement above me. I shined my light up, and there was a robin sitting on a branch. It was looking directly in the direction I was walking, not at me, and it was swinging its head furiously back and forth in the same way. The movement looked even more violent in a bird. It was sudden, rapid flutters of its tiny head from left to right and back again.
I had to stand on my toes and wiggle my flashlight less than a foot below the bird to get it to fly away. It darted straight through the woods in the direction it was facing and I had been walking, and I charged after it. I’m not sure how long I ran for, but I kept my light ahead and was able to get glimpses of the bird and keep up with it. Eventually, it took me down a very steep hill, where I fell and slid sideways into a small clearing.
It was the absolute strangest thing I had ever seen in my life.
The first thing I noticed was that there were animals all around me. They were all dead, and all in the same way as Charlie. There must have been dozens. Birds, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, skunks, possums, and even what looked like a mangy stray cat. All of them were lying in or around the clearing, with their heads snapped back toward their bodies and the insides of their necks on display.
As I shined my light around, I noticed the second thing, the horrible smell. I had smelled dead animals before, but never so many, and it was completely unbearable. I pulled my hood up and zipped my winter jacket tight all the way over my nose.
I was freaked out - I could hear my heart beating and I felt like I was hyperventilating. I vomited. I stumbled forward just a bit and noticed how the dead animals on the ground increasingly piled up, moving toward a single direction. As I stepped that way, I shown my light ahead. A few yards away, I noticed it. There was an outcropping of rock between two trees. Underneath the outcrop was a round opening. When I shined my light into it, it did not reveal an end, but only the sides of rock. It must have been a pretty deep little cave. On either side of it, I noticed more animal bodies, until my light came across something bright blue.
I walked over and saw that it was a bag. One of those little ‘singe-sacks’ like you get from going to a summer camp or on a college tour. As I picked it up, I heard the sound of some pretty heavy rustling nearby, and that was too much for me. I took off, with the bag and flashlight, up the steep bank as fast as I could. On my way out, I saw dead deer and I think even some dead coyotes that I had not observed on the run in. I took me a while, but my adrenaline was pumping, and I eventually burst out of the woods right onto the road. I had come out about a half mile up the road from where I parked my car by the field.
I jogged back to my car, and did not see or hear anything else.
When I got home and felt somewhat safe inside, I opened up the bag. There were writing utensils, some bookmarks and a gray water bottle. Mainly, there was a little scetchbook. I flipped through it, and there were mostly some random drawings, not very good but good enough that I could tell the person liked drawing in their spare time. It was normal stuff, characters and scenery and such, until I got to the last non-blank page. There was a very strange drawing that I will do my best to describe.
It was a large, somewhat human looking shape. It had wide legs and feet, a triangular torso and outstretched arms. There were only three ‘finger’ shapes on the hands, and they looked long, like full carrots, and drooped straight down from the ends of the arms. The figure had what almost looked like wings, except that they came out of its back almost at the bottom, right above the legs, and dropped straight down as low as its ankles. Finally, in place of its head, there was a humongous, hollow circle, 3 times larger than you’d expect the head to have been based on the body proportions. The outside edges of the entire circle was littered with a bunch of smaller circles and dots. It looked utterly bizarre.
Aside from the difference in style, it was drawn in much poorer quality than the rest of the pictures in the book. It looked as though it was hastily scribbled in with an unsharpened pencil. There were smudges and wet spots all over the page. Lastly, down at the bottom of the page were some really sloppy scribbles that looked like they read “ zeki 1 18. It ees me. I mus see. “.
Does anyone have any idea what all this could be? I have no words and no thoughts. I didn’t sleep at all last night. I’m terrified. Should I call the police? The game wardens? This is literally all I can think about.
I don’t know if this is the best idea, but I want to go back to see the cave in the day time. I’ll take my dad’s 12 gauge, in case I run into an animal or something that’s been doing this. It might be terrifying, but for the first time in a long time time I feel like I’m doing something real. After I go, I’ll call the game people to come get these dead animals. I’ll update you all tomorrow. Wish me luck.
Your wilderness adventurer / wildlife CSI,
James
This is where James’ wildlife thread ended. There were a bunch of commenters asking him for updates, but he never gave any. They never found any reports of a missing person named ‘James’ in WV, but one commenter did find someone named ‘Daniel J Shindley’ whose middle name was supposedly James, but was 20 years old and reported missing in Maryland 2 weeks after James’ last post above. Does anybody else have any info on this? Thanks.