The following is my attempt to relate to you the events that happened to me one late autumn night about a year ago. Everything is told as it actually happened. I have left nothing out. It is your choice to believe or not to believe . . .

I gazed out of my bedroom window for what must have been the hundredth time. There was a full moon. Is that why I was feeling so restless? The wind in the leafless trees made a mournful sound. It would be a long night.

As I closed the curtains and went back to bed I felt the hairs raise on the back of my neck. Something was definitely not right. I got up and looked out the window again. In the moonlight I thought I saw something move just beyond the trees. Just a shadow, really. But it had moved nonetheless. I got dressed and went outside. If I was ever going to get any sleep I had to find out what that was. Sometimes I wonder if I had just stayed in bed if everything would have been different. I guess I'll never know.

As I walked toward the trees, the feeling of being watched came over me. I heard a rustle in the dry leaves to my right. Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement, but when I turned to look there was nothing there. I started walking in that direction. Before long I found myself surrounded by bare trees. I looked back towards the cabin and could still see the pale light streaming from my bedroom window. I remember thinking that I was being ridiculous and should just go back to bed. I wish I would have.

I continued on. It was a crisp, clear night and the sparse woods was bathed in moonlight. The wind had died down completely. A couple more minutes passed and I realized that I was on a narrow path. Funny, I didn't remember there being a path here before. I paused, peering into the glistening night. There was a shadow in the middle of the path about forty feet ahead of me. I couldn't tell what it was but it looked pretty big. A black bear maybe? I knew there were bears in this woods, but I had never come across one before. Besides, bears sleep at night don't they? Just then the shadow thing moved. With a sudden piercing, screeching cry such as I had never heard before, it leapt straight up into the air and disappeared into the tree tops.

Every instinct told me to run and keep on running. I whirled around to do just that when I saw the shadow thing in the middle of the path behind me — or was it another one? I didn't wait to find out. I turned again and started to run as fast as I could. I heard a noise in the tree tops to my left so I turned to my right and plunged off the path and into the woods. After a couple of minutes I heard the same noise again to my right. I veered to the left and kept on running.

After several minutes I reached a small clearing and stopped to catch my breath. My heart was pounding. I looked around and tried to get my bearings. Where was I? Which way was the cabin? This part of the woods didn't look familiar to me at all. Suddenly I heard a rustling sound off to my left, then it was to my right and behind me at the same time. I started to run. Whatever the shadow thing was, I now knew for certain there were more than one!

My mind reeled with fear. What were those things? How many of them were there? What did they want? And more importantly, how was I going to get away from them? Which way should I run? All these thoughts raced through my mind in an instant. I saw a path to my right and headed towards it as fast as I could. As soon as I had crossed the clearing and entered the woods I could hear them in the trees all around me. As I ran down the path a realization began to form in my mind. Why had they not attacked? I was obviously surrounded by them, and yet they had made no move against me.

I decided to find out if I was right in what I was beginning to think. I veered off the path and ran into the woods to my left. Almost immediately I could hear them change positions in the trees above me. Suddenly one of them dropped to the ground about twenty feet ahead of me. I changed directions again and the same thing happened. This time I was able to see it a little more clearly. It was a bi-ped with long, silvery hair covering most of its body. Its face was like nothing I have ever seen. It had dark, leathery skin and eyes like cats eyes, burning with a fierceness that was truly frightening. When our eyes met its mouth parted and I could see its long, sharply pointed teeth. As it began to howl I turned and ran.

Again I changed direction and found myself back on the path. Nothing happened. Then I knew I was right — they were herding me in the direction they wanted me to go! I tried to think. I knew that all I could do at the moment was to keep on going. Where were they taking me?

It wasn't long before I found out. A short way ahead of me was a wall. It extended in either direction as far as I could see and looked to be about 12 feet high. As I approached I saw a doorway off to my left. I knew for certain I did not want to go through that door — they had other ideas. The instant I passed through the doorway I felt as though a trap had closed around me.

I began to panic.