Friday, August 12, 2011

Terror of the Evil Little Man -- Part Two

Author’s note: Charlie Thomas contacted me in July 2011 with a story of a gnome-like creature that terrorized her family in their two-story Porterville, Calif., home by the Tule River. I had heard the story – at least a similar story – before, in 2009 from a woman named Tammy who moved to Porterville, Calif., into a two-story home by the Tule River. A gnome-like creature terrorized her and her family. I’m investigating to see if they lived in the same house. My guess is they did. This is the second of two parts.

The noise outside the Thomas’ window may have been singing, or chanting, but whatever the noise was, it was terrifying.
“It was 3 a.m. and we were woken up by a sound that I can only describe as a raspy gurgling sound,” Charlie Thomas said. “It was without a doubt the most hideous sound I have ever heard. It freaked us out.”
Thomas and her husband looked out their bedroom window and saw something that froze their blood.
“Standing by my pond holding one of my garden gnomes was what I can only describe as something out of a Grimm’s fairy tale,” she said. “The thing that was standing in our yard was hideous and grotesque.”
The “thing” stood illumined under the motion detector light. It was less than three feet tall, had a long gray beard, wore maroon pants, a baggy yellow shirt, brown vest and a dark waistcoat.
“I couldn’t tell if it was wearing shoes or not but it was wearing a reddish brown pointed hat,” she said.
Thomas stared at a gnome.
“The thing that made this creature really hideous was its eyes and teeth,” she said. “It looked like it was grinning and its teeth were jagged and pointed. The eyes were little beady and dark and mean.”
And it knew they saw it.
“That thing, gnome, troll, whatever it was, knew we were looking at it and it reached into the pond and grabbed a coy,” she said. “Right there in front of us it dropped it in its mouth and swallowed it. We had noticed that every time we put fish in the pond they disappeared and we thought it was cats or raccoons eating them. After seeing that I think that creepy little creature was the guilty party.”
Her husband pushed the window open a few inches and screamed at the creature, telling it to leave their yard or he’d call the police. The gnome simply grinned, laughed and shot them the bird.
They called 911.
“We just said that we had an intruder in our yard but we honestly didn’t think he was going to be there when they arrived,” she said. They didn’t tell the police what they’d actually seen.
When lights from the police car shown down their lane, the gnome simply disappeared.
“We told the officers that the person ran off when it saw the lights coming up the drive but they looked around anyway,” she said. “When they were satisfied that it was gone they came to tell us they had only found some small shoeprints like a kid’s. We knew it was no kid.”
The gnome came back night after night, holding a yard ornament and eating their fish.
They eventually moved the ornaments and put the fish into a tank in the house, then realized they’d made a mistake.
“One night after we had removed the fairies and gnomes and fish from the yard the creature showed up at the usual time, 3 a.m.,” she said. “When it showed up and found that the yard ornaments were gone and the fish were gone it went crazy. It was yelling and screaming something that we couldn’t understand – but we did understand that this thing was pissed and wanted us to know it.”
The gnome ran around the house again and again, screaming and gurgling, its feet hardly touching the ground. Then Thomas realized something terrifying.
“We had put a doggy door in the back door and it was big enough for our dogs to go through and it would be big enough for that creature to go through as well,” she said. “I took off running down to the kitchen and as I got there the dogs had started barking like crazy at the doggy door.”
She shut and secured the dog door, then realized the upstairs windows were open.
“If that creature can half run/half fly around the house it was probably capable of flying up to the windows,” she said. “A fear hit me than like nothing I had ever felt and I ran back up to the twins’ bedroom where they were both sound asleep in their cribs.”
Neither parent slept that night. They soon realized their days in Porterville were short.
“The last we heard of that creature was a very loud screeching cackling sound,” she said. “It was under one of the living room windows and when my husband went to check it out he saw the top of that creature’s hat under the window. Right then we decided that we were out of there. We couldn’t stay there with that creature.”
They soon moved.

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, P.O. Box 501, Maryville, Mo., 64468, or jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”

Jason’s newest book on the paranormal, “Paranormal Missouri: Show Me Your Monsters,” is available at Jason’s blog, from-the-shadows.blogspot.com.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a red cap. They're homicidal little faeries that dye their hats in blood. They are said to be very territorial. Maybe the property can be cleansed with some cold iron in some strategic locations?

Sherry Soule said...

Your supernatural encounter sounded frightening. Thanks for sharing your story.

~Sherry

Sherry Soule Official Website

Gina B said...

If this thing came around so reliably and so often, why not photograph or videotape it? Or set up a trap camera at the pond where it ate the fish?

Chris Wilcox said...

Pics or it didn't happen.

Chris Wilcox said...

Pics or it didn't happen. >.>

Anonymous said...

Strange, thanks for sharing.

-Ed

Destination-Art said...

No pics, No video? Wonder why?

Destination-Art said...

No pics, no video? Wonder Why?

Jason Offutt said...

For those clamoring for photographic evidence of this entity, two thoughts: 1) this family was terrified. Taking its picture was probably pretty low on their priority list. And 2) if they did provide photographic evidence, would you believe it was real?

Anonymous said...

These creatures are called yakkhas and they should be treated with respect and compassion.

Ima Pseudonym said...

"Maybe the property can be cleansed with some cold iron in some strategic locations?"

I don't suppose anyone makes cold iron rifle ammo?

exboyracer said...

It came by every night at 3 am certainly they could have gathered their wits enough to get a camera. It was illuminated by a light with a motion detector. They were not terrified enough to not go to the yard round up all the fish and get the faries and gnomes gathered up.

Strange there are no pictures. Actually that is the strangest part of the story.

Unknown said...

Getting a copy of the police report (even with complainant's name/address redacted) would help corroborate this story. You'd think the cops would remember responding to a call that strange (a child prowling in the middle of the night).

Zhenne said...

If there is no proof then people say that it's suspicious and casts doubt on the story.

If there is proof then people say that it's suspicious, likely fake, and casts doubt on the story.

Although it would have been nice to have photographic evidence not everyone has the equipment that would take high-quality pictures, especially at night. Blurry pictures are no better than no pictures at all.