Sunday, June 07, 2009

The Evil Little Man

The house sits on a large piece of land near the Tule River in California. Several outbuildings dot the property, but only one ever made Tammy quicken her pace as she walked by – the barn.

“About five years ago, my three kids and I lived in a house just off the river here in Porterville, Calif.,” Tammy said. “The lot we lived on was about 100 acres and there were five houses and one very old spooky barn.”

Tammy and her children had two dogs, a cat, two turkeys, six chickens and a couple of ducks, none of which would venture close to the barn. Some of the other animals weren’t as lucky.

“We had had a lot more chickens and ducks but they had started disappearing,” Tammy said. “I also noticed that none of the neighbor’s animals, or stray animals for that matter, would go anywhere near that barn. It was without a doubt just creepy.”

But the barn was on the way to the river, and they often had to walk past that building, its big doorway gaping and black as a pit.

“We always got the feeling of being watched,” Tammy said. “I am a bit sensitive to spirits and things like that anyway so all my nerves were jangling whenever I went past that barn.”

Often, when the sun began to set, Tammy and her children would notice their animals acting strangely, often staring at the old barn with trepidation.

“Many a night would pass that all the animals around us would be barking and howling and just going crazy,” she said. “I never saw anything and thought the dogs were just barking at each other.”

But one night she noticed not all the noises came from their animals. There was something else.

“Sometimes we would hear noises coming from the barn but always just figured it was rats or some other wild animal as we had all kinds,” Tammy said.

But then she saw the little man.

“One evening my son, who was seven years old at the time, and I had just come back from grocery shopping,” Tammy said. “We parked and got out of the car and as I was opening up the back to get the groceries out I noticed a movement out of the corner of my right eye.”

Tammy looked to her right but didn’t see anything. Then, as she lifted a grocery sack from the car, she saw the movement again.

“This time I heard a very freaky, very evil-sounding chuckle,” she said. “I looked in the direction of the sound and there standing about 50 yards from my son and I was what I can only describe as a gnome.”

The entity was about two to three feet tall. Baggy black pants hung from its waist and the “creature” wore a gold-colored shirt. It had a salt and pepper beard and hair that ran from beneath a red, pointed hat.

“That thing grinned at us and the creepy grin spread from ear to ear and its teeth were a gross brown and pointed or jagged,” she said. “It had a bulbous nose and large, deep-set eyes, though I really couldn’t tell the color of them. I never got a closer look at it and don’t know if it was wearing shoes or not because at that moment I dropped my groceries grabbed my son and ran for the house.”

Tammy reached the house, clutching her son close. Behind her the car trunk sat open, the groceries still inside, and a little, wicked man was laughing.

“We ran in the house where I promptly slammed the door shut,” she said. “I was trying to tell my daughters what had happened when we heard something moving in the garden under the living room window.”

As they looked toward the noise, the bent-over top of the thing’s red, pointed hat appeared in the window.

“I closed the blinds and moved away from the window,” she said. “The weird thing about seeing that hat under the window is that the window was about eight to 10 feet off the ground and that little creepy thing was only about two or three feet, so how was it able to be so close up to the window?”

Eventually, the thing left the window and Tammy retrieved the groceries from the car. She never saw the thing again, but until the day she moved, she knew it was still around.

“After that night whenever the dogs barked or howled we were pretty sure we knew what they were barking at,” she said. “We were also pretty sure of where our missing poultry had gone. From time to time we would hear a weird creepy chuckle and other noises coming from that old barn.”

Copyright 2009 by Jason Offutt

Got a scary story? Ever played with a Ouija board, heard voices, seen a ghost, UFO or a creature you couldn’t identify? Let Jason know about it: Jason Offutt c/o The Examiner, 410 S. Liberty, Independence, Mo. 64050, or jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”

Jason’s book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to Missouri’s Most Spirited Spots,” is here. Order online at: tsup.truman.edu, www.amazon.com, or visit Jason’s Web site at www.jasonoffutt.com.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very interesting. One does not find many willing to talk about them. But I know quite a few who have seen them.

I have seen very small entities/creatures myself. And one who could shape shift. They never really frightened me however. One would actually communicate after trying to scare me, seeing that I did not budge. I asked why he frightened all the kids that lived near the parks woods and creek if they entered at night. He was mean spirited, it was just entertainment.

We do see them as connected to the earth.

The subject of this encounter must indeed be sensitive. Not everyone can see them. But the weird thing is, "they" know who can. They would rather stay hidden.

BTW, most animals will see them long before you do.

Julie Ferguson said...

Interesting and creepy story....very good!

Anonymous said...

Would like to believe it, but the gnome's description is just too stereotypical; I mean, right down to the red pointed hat?? And she could see his teeth at 50 yards? Just rings untrue.

Anonymous said...

Well Skeptical Anonymous. As far as the traditional red hat goes......who knows.


As for me, in my own experience the thing could shape shift, it become or was seen as what the kids were afraid of.

I saw it in it's true form, or who knows, maybe I saw it in what I believed it's true form to be. Perhaps in what it wanted me to see.

I have known these kids who were there that year all my life, one had to go to the hospital for chest pains he was so frightened. He loved chasing them out of the woods. To that kid it was larger and wearing a cloak of leaves. BTW, before he laughed at the reputation that place had and did not believe in ghosts and supernatural creatures.

Another teen saw him in a hooded black robe. While the third saw him as a gnome.

So who knows. Maybe she is frightened of that image. Just the fact that the animals freaked though is a major clue. They are extremely sensitive to the spirit world.

I adore gnomes myself as far as the German ones, the garden gnomes, and the travel gnome. hehehehe

So I doubt I would see one in a red hat, too cutesy. Me going "awwww how adorable!" is not the affect it would want out of me, not scary enough. LOL

John said...

Anyone see the creepy gnome video from Argentina that was posted on YouTube last year. Had the pointy hat and everything!

My grandmother was from Sweden and used to tell me that she would sometimes see the Tomten (basically the scandinavian name for "gnome") when she was a girl. She was serious about it, too. She never felt that it was an evil entity, though.

My feeling is that these types of things are interdimensional creatures that can cross over into our plane of existence.

Good article, Jason.

Anonymous in Texas said...

Never heard of that one John. Just googled the Argentinian Gnome video, it is kind of creepy how he walks with an almost sideways shuffle.

And same here. The stories of gnomes I heard, they were unpredictable but not necessarily evil.

As for the shape shifting one I mentioned, he did go inside the home of a relative who lived near from time to time. Sometimes they left fruit outside for it. He seemed to take a liking to one there.

They were broken into once when away. The door was left wide open and all the loot spilled in all directions in front of the door. It seemed the robbers were frightened away. They sure did leave in a hurry. The relatives wondered if he chased them away.

Whatever it was, it could not leave that area.

I do know a few people, and none are elderly or superstitious, that have encountered more of an evil type small humanoid.

Their stories remind me more of the old legends of gremlins and/or trolls.

Legends do morph through the alchemy of time. But I also believe they all have a bit of truth in them.

Robert said...

I originally came from St. Louis. Now I live in Spokane, WA I like reading the Havana Times
Robert

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Wow, Ive been looking for someone else that seen that little man.When I was about 10, I too saw that evil man, I was asleep or trying to go to sleep and just felt someone was watching me,I slept with my door open cuz I was a scarycat.But anyway I looked out my door and saw a little man, covering his mouth laughing and pointing at me.He was about 1 foot tall and sat on the door knob of our restroom door.I always told everybody what I saw but they dissmiss it as being a dream.I know what a dream is and I know I was not dreaming.He had a pointed hat also with bagy pants.With a big beard like a ''known''.I am 30 now and will never forget it,I wonder what this creature wants our what it is. thanks for your post I realy want to know what this thing is.

Unknown said...

WE were a block away from a creek,wow can you emale me and tell me what this thing is or wanted,years later my cusin in the same house said she saw him too but said he was like 2 feet tall ,standing on a 5 gallon bubet in the kitchen trying to lite some matches,she was also laying down and said when she was trying to focus on it it turned at her and started laughing at her but diden make a sound,we are from san antonio tx and lived a block away from salado creek wiitch was our playground.Wow,im amazed other people seen it,and for those who dont belive,trust me its true.