By the angle (trajectory) of the arrow, the vet determined my cat had been curled up, possibly asleep, when shot. The huge 4-bladed point had shattered her left shoulder blade and then lodged in her ribcage. Pookie had always been a rather stoic feline. She survived the removal of her scapula and received over 60 stitches to close the gaping wound. The sheriff sent a deputy out to the house who took photographs and said the arrows were common and couldn’t be traced and did I know anyone who had a grudge against me. My parents wanted me to move immediately. My anguish had settled into rage; I hoped whoever it was would come back. I bought a shotgun... The next morning I found two of the missing hens roosting out in the woods; the remaining chickens I never saw again. The dogs came back three days later, hungry and tired. Attached to my airedale's collar was a piece of rope I didn't recognize. The dogs had apparently been tied up somewhere (?) but had either been released or gotten free and returned.
I had some theories about who perpetrated the animal killings. One of my neighbors had a teenaged son who hunted voraciously with his buddies in the area. I was friendly with the family in the way neighbors are who don’t have much else in common – we exchanged pleasantries, waved in passing; I even had a couple of dinners with them. I only encountered the son once after these incidents took place. I had driven around to the neighbors asking questions about anyone hunting or being seen with bow and arrows. Was it my imagination, or did the son’s discomfiture that day have to do with his knowing something? I kept watching him but if he were truly responsible, why didn’t I “know” – or sense that?
It doesn’t seem possible that it was a stranger. I’ve always felt it had to be someone I knew, someone who knew I was in classes all day, someone who knew I lived alone in an isolated house – and who presented to me a benevolent façade. That's one of the things that is hard to accept - and baffling. Why couldn't I tell who it was? Is it possible the person knew about me though we'd never met?
I moved to Philadelphia to rejoin my husband a few months after the animals were attacked. I had to sell my horses and my goats and find homes for the dogs. It broke my heart to part with Goose. But when it came to leaving that place that I had loved so much in the beginning, I had mixed emotions. You see, I connected what happened on that fallow field that summer day and the slaughter of my animals to that place. It’s not that I believe a place can be evil. I don't want to believe a place can be evil. I believe that evil dwells only in human thoughts and intentions. I believe evil is an energy just like any other thought process and that the evil intent was directed at me, personally by someone of that place. I have to believe that proximity played a part here - and that goes along with my theory about brain waves or energy given off by someone. I’ll always believe these episodes were related – perpetrated by one person. Hatred, evil, harmful intentions, some kind of psychotic will… whatever it was, it was powerful, and I have never again encountered anything like it in intensity… And I hope I never do.
I welcome any theories and feedback... or similar experiences...
I wrote previously of the ridge upon which I lived and roamed for that year and a half...
The property (about 4 square miles) sat atop a plateau nicknamed "Buffalo Gap." Legend was that the former Native American inhabitants used to stampede buffalo off the south end of the plateau which ended in a 100 foot precipice. The only escape was one small area of a more gradual incline (the gap) where the smart or experienced or lucky buffalo might avoid a crippling if not fatal fall...
...so much death and horror in one place.. Some day I'll write about my visit to Gettysburg...
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| A memoir: Evil Dwells... part 6: conclusions.. |
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unionman154
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Dec 9 @ 1:10AM
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A very chilling story. A evil and sick mind that would kill such innocent pets. It had to feel like your home and property were invaded by an evil force never to be the same again. I just love your stories you share. I had chills and goose bumps with this one. hugs Patrice bye paul
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Eyes_Wide_Shut
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Dec 9 @ 3:32AM
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Agh. Words simply fall short. A quote comes to mind from a book I mistakenly read a couple of years ago: "For evil is real, and it is everyday. It is like a flower or like the sun; it cannot be contained."
I'm so sorry you suffered through that. So sorry.
peace
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jentoblues101
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Dec 9 @ 8:53AM
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This is a freaky story. I consider myself to be a down-to-earth person, discarding ideas or concepts that float "out there in the ether" but--despite all attempts to discount certain ideas--know from personal experience that there is much more going on in this existence than we can--or want--to comprehend.
Quite frankly, while I've had tentative journeys into the ether I'm kind of grateful I can't/don't go there regularly.
Peace to you,
Jen
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SallyF
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Dec 9 @ 11:44AM
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Gettysburg???? Please, P, say you didn't go there........ So many spirits, but most were benevolent (I choose to believe that) What a story! What a writer! Thank you for sharing. S~
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null_geodesic
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Dec 9 @ 7:17PM
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Unbelievable. Ugh.
Hunting for sport cheapens death and suffering.
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redtigr
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Dec 9 @ 9:50PM
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You know, it is a freaky story, just as you say Jen.. I am the sort of person who believes nothing I cannot see for myself. I don't believe in seances, talking to the dead or claims of "miracles." I was interested in writing about this almost to measure how disturbing and/or unbelievable it would be in print and in the eyes of others. I promise there are no exaggerations and no fictionalization; this is what happened to the best of my recollection and description.
I apologize for the unpleasant parts of it. I could never paint this experience in a literal way. It's just always been back there in my memory gnawing at me every so often to get out.
Thank you all for your comments.
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albertafire
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Dec 10 @ 11:18AM
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great to read, thank you. 
life is interesting, when you get that feeling,
a sense that there is something there, around you.
energy from something, be it good or evil.
i find animals pick it up fast, better than people do.
there is so much we don't know yet, about the energy around us.
an undeveloped sense we all have,
just some tap into it better than others.
i can breath now, lol.
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desertwolf
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Dec 11 @ 1:38AM
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Hmmm...What an ending. My thoughts, regarding positive and negative energy, are very similar to yours. Like you, I don't know if I believe in voodoo...hoodoo, seances, and reaching "beyond the veil", but I believe that there is an energy force or forces that connects us all. Because our natural world operates in a relationship of balance, there has to be a good and evil; a light and dark;...etc... There are times in my life...two to be exact...when I felt that forces had intervened...clearly intervened...and save me from harm. I can't explain how it happened...I only know that it happened.
I am so sorry for the senseless deaths of your beloved animals...but I am glad that no physical harm came to you, my dear friend. With your strong sixth sense and connection to the energy forces, I suspect that this wasn't the last episode that you will experience...I'll just hope that the next one is of a more pleasant nature.
peace & joy...dw
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Martin666
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Dec 11 @ 8:23AM
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What I like about it is the realistic way that you depict evil: faceless, amorphous, more of a feeling than an actual figure. Too often on tv now, or in the movies, the "villain" is a horribly stereotyped character--a leering voice, an evil smile, muscles and black steel weapons bulging, all the multiple visual trappings of a heartless bastard or bitch...they're presented like telling a joke backwards--presenting the punchline first and explaining it carefully, point by point, just in case the lowest common denominator in intelligence might miss the point later on...
The most terrible things out there have no face...
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