Frrom Mike Mott's book " Caverns, Cauldrons and Concealed Creatures:
http://www.hiddenmysteries.com/cartwebtv/af/hm01/index0.html
2. THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME
Norman L. (his name changed at his request), a single father living in the
mountainous region of North Alabama, is one person who can testify to the
truth of this continued intrusiveness. His wife had become deeply involved
in caving (spelunking), leaving Norman and their toddler daughter to care
for themselves most of the time.
The wife became engrossed and fascinated with the past-time of caving, and
often reported to her husband of seeing UFOs during some of the expeditions
made with her hard-partying friends, multiple-day trips into remote and
sometimes almost-inaccessible areas near "wild" caves and pits. The marriage
began to deteriorate for a variety of reasons, many of them traceable to the
obsession of the wife for spelunking; and strange phenomena began to occur
around the house when the wife was home, or on the rare outing with the
family.
Around nine one evening this family of three paid a visit to a local
department store, one of the type which incorporates "mart" into its name.
This store was located near a large ridge of mountains which ran alongside
the eastern edge of the town, mountains which are honeycombed with caves and
pits. The oldest part of the town itself is said to sit atop an ancient
network of caverns, around which many local legends revolve. So husband,
wife, and child cruised the aisles of the supermarket, when both adults
became aware of an intense sense of presence.
The back corner of the store was unusually dark, as if some of the lighting
were either dimmed or out. At the end of an intersecting aisle a strange
figure lurked, literally leering at them as they walked by. According to
Norman L., this figure was hideously malformed, in that he had no
discernable neck, almost no chin, misshapen ears and facial features, and a
decidely evil, grimacing disposition. His eyes were squinted and piggish,
his head literally "squarish." His rounded, hunched body was wrapped in very
loose clothing, primarily an immense flannel shirt which hid the true
contours of his body. His attitude was definitely menacing as he transferred
his gaze from the man, to the child riding in the shopping cart. He leaned
forward as if to get a better look.
Norman stepped forward defensively, even though he was filled with an
instinctive revulsion by this being. He insists that the person they
encountered wasn't human, an opinion that his wife at the time had concurred
with. Norman's take on this strange voyeur?
"He simply wasn't a human being. He looked human in a fundamental,
first-glance kinda way, but he was something else. He had a strong air of
evil and hate about him. He actually looked like a troll."
Upon seeing Norman's reaction, the creature slunk back into the shadows of
the aisle and was soon left behind.
Over the next year, the marriage dissolved and ended. Norman ended up with
custody of the daughter, and took her with him everywhere. One night they
visited a below-ground-level toystore in a local multi-level shopping mall;
with the exception of the sales clerk standing near the front of the store,
they were the only people in the place. Or so it seemed.
As his young daughter squatted to play with toys on the bottom of the shelf,
Norman became aware of another presence. He turned to see a small child
slowing meandering down the aisle toward them, seemingly a thin little girl
of about five or six years of age. Suddenly this "child" made a quick move
toward his daughter, and Norman scooped her up and took several steps back.
"It wasn't a little girl," he says. "It was wearing a dingy yellow dress,
had a girl's shoes and socks on, and its hair looked loose on its head, like
a straight black wig, very artificial in appearance--kind of like a "Prince
Valiant (haircut)." Its skin was abnormally pale, the eyes wide-set and
almost at the side of its head, 'wrapping around the edge,' sort of. The
eyes were almond-shaped, turning up at the outer edges, but squinty, and
they were pure black or dark brown. There were no whites to the eyes at all!
They were like ink."
Thinking that perhaps this being was an unsupervised, malformed or
mentally-handicapped child, Norman took his daughter and moved over an
aisle; the little being followed them almost immediately. This was repeated
twice, but the being stood off, a bit warier than before, still staring
fixedly at Norman's daughter. He picked her up and they looked around the
store for the parent of the "disturbed child," but there was no other
shopper in the place. Aggravated, Norman complained to the cashier at the
front of the store, asking that he have the parents of the child come
supervise "it."
The cashier reacted with complete surprise. "You and your daughter are the
only customers in the store, sir," he said. A quick look determined that
this was in fact so, and no one had exited by way of the only way of egress
in the front of the business. A quick look through the store by both men
failed to reveal the strange "child."
Over time, many additional facts came out, largely gleaned from the
daughter, who had been to visit her mother upon occasion. The child was
terrified to make these visits, indicating that, among other things, she had
been taken into wild, dangerous caves, leaned over pits (and allegedly
almost dropped into one, to luckily be caught by the mother's boyfriend),
and other such insanity. Eventually the mother's visitations were terminated
completely, but this raises the question of motivation and influence--what
would lead a mother to risk the life of her child in such a callous, almost
sacrificial way? The child also witnessed UFO manifestations during one of
the caving trips with her mother. Since that time, the girl has grown to be
a happy and healthy teen, and no further instances of this type of encounter
have troubled her, or her father.
First-hand accounts like this abound. Another account, also from the
mountains of east-central Alabama, involves a group of children (now adults)
who saw what they termed "a leprechaun," following them through the woods
one evening. Initially noticed as he sat atop an outcropping of mossy rock,
this entity hopped down from his perch as the kids passed, maintaining a
respectful distance, but he paralleled the children for miles, scaring them
badly.
He was described by the now-grown woman and two men as being some two or
three feet in height, wearing green clothing, and looking quite sinister.
It's interesting to note that the TAG (a National Speleological Society
term) or Tennessee-Alabama-Georgia region is considered to be one of the
most densely caverned areas in North America. Many accounts of mysterious
lights, UFOs, livestock mutilations, and strange deaths and disappearances
have come from this region. Tales of "haints" and "boogers" abound in the
hills and mountains, and some spelunkers joke to cover up their fear when
they talk about "hodags," unseen cave entities which cut rope or pull it up
behind cavers after a descent; drop or throw rocks and boulders; mislead
with mysterious noises; and create other such strange occurences.
Posted by Dean