Jul 1

My Guest Tonight: Encounter On The Mogollon Rim

A listener writes “I went camping one weekend when I was 15. I am now 43, and I remember the weekend like it was yesterday. I was with my dad and all his friends up on Mingus Mountain which is on the Mogollon Rim in Northern Arizona. Mingus Mountain is on the backside of Jerome which is said to be a haunted ghost town.

We only stayed the one night because my dad had to work. We met some other friends up there for a fun camping weekend. It’s a trip the group has done for many years and every year we passed except for this one. So we drove up Saturday morning and planned on coming home Sunday afternoon. The group had been there all week, so they were probably loud overnight leading up to my sighting.

The group is a loud party group and they even bring their own little bar on a trailer up there for drinks. There were games being played all day, like carry the egg with a spoon, gummy worm competition, pie eating and all that. Everyone was cheering and yelling throughout the entire weekend. It was a great day and ended with drinks. I am sure my dad had a few beers. Two and he is pretty much drunk. So once we settle in the same tent to go to bed, he was out like a light. I fell asleep shortly after. Around 1 or 2 am, I had to go to the bathroom so bad. I got up, grabbed my dads super high power mag light and decided to walk out to the field to go to the bathroom. That day, we played a ton in the field, and there were daddy long legs everywhere. Me being not afraid of spiders, laid in the field and had a million crawl on me and then stood up and scared some of the younger campers. The field was probably 4 foot ball fields in a grid square. So about 100 yards Depth by 200 yards long. And it was just grass, no trees except for the ones surrounding it. It also was a little swampy in the middle. As I walked out to the field, I remember it being a little cold, but not bad, I had shorts and a t-shirt on. It was spring time.

I walked right to where the grass started and started to go to the bathroom. I remember hearing footsteps from my right and looked back at camp and no one was awake, the whole camp was out cold and even the fire was just a small light, no flames. I figured a deer was walking in the field but I remember thinking it was walking like a person. So I shined my mag light straight out and it was no deer. This thing was massive. It was walking from my left to right in long strides and as my light hit him he looked right at me, but without stopping walking and only his head turned at me. I remember not feeling in any danger, but was frightened because I didn’t know what I was looking at. It was light brown, ape like face, long arms, long legs, and because of my flash light it’s eyes reflected like a dog. The eyes were not red, more a brown reflection look. No neck, and large shoulders. At 15, I was 6 foot, and this thing was well over my height. I think close to 8 foot. I was standing about 20-30 feet from it when it passed. It felt like he could have took two steps and been at me.

It was so fast and also felt like forever at the same time. Now I don’t remember why I shined the light back down, but I did for a second, and then right back up, maybe I thought if I shined it down, he wouldn’t see me or come to me, but by they time I shined it back up, he was gone and I panned the light left and he was already past the tree line. I could still hear him the entire time walking. I knew he was there, but was just out of sight. I zipped up my pants and ran back to my tent. I wanted to wake my dad up so bad, but he had some beers and was snoring and I was afraid to wake him, plus he would never believe what I saw. I didn’t sleep that night. We got up the next day and said our goodbyes. And drove back to Phoenix. About 3 months later I did tell my dad. He said he wished I would have told him. And he was disappointed he didn’t get a look at him. I have told people over the years, some believe and some don’t. But as I tell the story, I feel like most do because of how detailed and serious I get telling it.”

4 Responses to “My Guest Tonight: Encounter On The Mogollon Rim”

  1. greg b

    I have not and don’t want to read this but I had an encounter on the rim in the mid 90’s that I am want to relay when I get the nerve. Had no idea at the time what it was but scared the hell out of me even though I did not see anything.

  2. Charles R

    Tis a shame we lost Mitch Waite several years ago, ex army Major, I believe, that spent many a weekend reseraching that Mogollon Rim. He got some interesting pictures at the time.

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