@bigthicketpolkcounty
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If its possible for birds to see magnetic fields than there could be the possibility of a refined version of this in other animals.
Also electronics do have coil whine that is given off in and out of human hearing range.
Like you mentioned passive IR is used by most camera traps and they don’t project IR light till its triggered.
Growing up in Southeast Texas in the late 70s and early 80s there was not a lot to do besides read books and run around the woods with a hunting knife and pellet gun. Hunting and running snares for rabbits and squirrels. Parents let their kids roam compared to today.
Where I grew up was at the end of a dead-end road with two houses about half a mile long. One side was timber land for thousands of acres. The other kids lived by the start of the road, in between was just timber.
Back then kids could run around without any supervision all day and into the night, as long as we came home around supper time or miss eating hot food. If it was a full moon and cold weather out with no mosquitoes or snakes, we would play hide and seek in the moonlight without flashlights for fun. We didn’t have much fear of the dark. You learn pretty quick what a screech owl is and how it sounds the first time you run into one. And how small they are for such a big sound.
On my way home I would have to make the half mile trip down the lonely road. Most of the times us kids would play till dark, leaving the walk home pretty dark as the sun totally set. You had to make an effort to find other kids to play with since our town had a population of under 3k early on.
It was not uncommon that I would hear something beside me while on my bike, walking and keeping up with me on the way home. I would race home as fast as I could and not think about it much, thinking who knows what it was. I just chalked this up to run away imagination.
One time my bike was broken, and I had walked up the road to play with the other kids and needed to walk back. It was getting pretty dark and I lost track of time. I heard footsteps keeping pace with me. I would stop and it would stop and so on. The foot falls were big and it sounded like a person. Of course, this was pretty swampy and super think brush and nobody would be out there. I got spooked and ran back. This time stuck with me all these years.
I always chalked this to kid’s imagination especially when I would tell my other brothers or parents and they would blow it off.
The next strange thing that happened was on my grandparents (now parents) land when I was about 12 I believe. Like I said, kids were more trusted and independent back then.
There was an old logging trail that went into the BTNP to the creek for fishing. I loved to fish so I would go by myself. It was about a 2-mile twisty hike.
That day the farm dog would follow me in. I had fished for about 3 hours and I was heading back in time for lunch. The dog always ran through the brush chasing rabbits or jumping the creek basically having a good time. He never stuck close to me for long, always running like crazy having fun.
I will mention this was a good-sized German Shepard and was very protective of the family. I had never seen it back down.
About halfway back I can still hear the dog running in the brush then things went super quiet and the dog came back like a shot. It had its tail between its legs, and hiding between my legs whimpering. This freaked me out since I thought it was fearless. The dog almost tripped me since it would not give me enough room to walk.
I started back and there were footsteps in the pine straw following off the trail and stopping when we did. It was trying be quiet but with the leaves and pine straw that is pretty much impossible if you’re not on the logging trail. It did sound like two feet and walked like a person. I will mention that the ticket is called that for a reason if you off the trail, its would be slow going.
It was dead quiet the whole trip back except for the dog whimpering and the footsteps. I was so freaked out I was talking to the dog saying we better get back and everything is going to be ok. That was the last time I went fishing down there alone to this day.
At the time the only thing I thought was big enough to be a predator to scare the dog was a Red Wolf, they had been hunted out by that time but I remember seeing them hung on the fences in the mid 70s after the were shot. I disregarded the human like footsteps to put it out of my mind.
When I was 16 me and a friend decided we would camp out on the creek in January. It was rainy and cold once we got the tent setup beside the creek. We built a fire and cooked some catfish I had caught.
That night we keep hearing sounds around the tent, we were more confused than scared. We just said it was an armadillo digging around to blew it off. It defiantly sounded like footsteps, and we did fall asleep at some point. We would joke about it later saying that was a “giant armadillo” out there that night.
The strangest thing happened when I was 17 or so, me and my brother and I were staying with my grandparents during deer season over thanksgiving break.
We had some ladder stands on opposite sides of one field about 500 yards apart. Both stands were on the edge of the Big Thicket sitting on our property.
That year the hunting was bad. I hadn’t seen a deer all season. The sun was staring to go down behind the trees and I just gave up and headed back to the farm house. I thought I might jump a deer on the way back.I made it back to the farm house and was sitting on the porch with my grandpa waiting for my older brother. After about 30 min he came back in. It was dark at the time.
My brother walked up cussing me and saying I could have shot you, what is wrong with you. He said I was crazy for jumping out and trying to scare him. He was mad but shook up as well.
He told my grandpa that I jumped out and screamed at him to scare him on his way back. I told him that I had been back for about 30 minutes and my grandad agreed. He turned white as a ghost but keep saying it was me. He keeps mumbling, I could have shot you.
I am guessing he was trying give himself an excuse. He never wanted to talk about it and says it was me pulling a joke. Later in life he acts like he does not even remember it.
The last story my mom did tell me when there was a bigot show on tv, I asked her if she ever had seen something like that. I must have caught here in a good mood since she never talks about stuff like this.
The story goes when she was a teenager growing up in the country there was not much to do. On the weekend the teenagers would play tag with cars. One car would hide on a backroad and the others would try to find it.
The had found a good spot down a logging road in the middle of nowhere. The had parked waiting for the other teenagers to find them. They had been sitting and talking amount the group of girs for some time. Then across the road in the moonlight in a clear-cut something walked through the clearing. They were scared and took off. She just said it was on two legs and looked like a large man.
I know these are not super exciting stores but thought I would share with you guys. The families don’t tlk much about these things unless you live in the area or you are related.
All these things never made since till I heard that the big thicket Wildman was a thing. When we were young local people would talk about it, but our parents would tell us it was a homeless guy that likes to scare kids. I am guessing keeping us from freaking out.
Thanks for the TAAPs link, didn’t know there were researchers there! I may have to
ping them for an expedition. I am most interested in the Sam Houston since it seems to be a hotspot. I will be moving out of state probably in Sept, hope that there is another trip planned before then.I will probably go next weekend to help my folks with some farm chores. I may shoot some hogs one night that have been rooting up the pasture as well and pile them up around my game camera to see what drops in.
I asked my dad if he ever saw anything strange growing up in the area. He said he was going to fish one evening under a bridge in the thicket. When he walked down to the water there a black panther jumped up on a picnic table, just a few feet away and was eye to eye with him. Jet black and it jumped off.
I will post of my experiences when I was a kid and teen-ager since they are the most interesting.
