YEAR: 1975

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: Sorry I have never been one to keep track of time well. This happened when I was about 12, or maybe 13, I am now 37. My best guess is the year 1974-1975

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Walker County

LOCATION DETAILS: Occured in or near Huntsville State Park.

NEAREST TOWN: Huntsville

OBSERVED: My family and I had gone to Huntsville State Park like we always had every summer. My nephew ( who happens to be close to the same age as me ) told me he wanted to take me to a neat place that he had been earlier with other family members. He said they found it while fishing, and that they caught alot of fish over there. So we got in the row boat and started paddling across the lake to the other side. We were almost to the other side, and I remember him saying something about once we get into the trail we will have to go all the way thru, that there was no way to turn around in it. Right after that we started to turn into the trail, all of the sudden it seemed like every bird in the world decided to fly away. I remember smiling and looking up to watch them. Then as I was turning my face back down toward the shoreline something caught the left hand corner of my eye. It was an animal in the form of a man, all dark haired, blackish or dark dark brown. It was running away from us to the left. It ran so fast with long strides. It ran like a man, arms in the same position a man runs like, not hanging to his sides but in a jogging position. The thing that I still remember so clearly is its eyes. I saw the fear in its eyes. It was so scared. I still see the whites of its eyes so clearly in my mind. While it was running, it was looking back at us. Meanwhile while all this was going on I proceeded to flip out completly. As soon as my eye caught the creature, I started screaming hysterically. My nephew asked what was wrong, and I told him thru my sobs, while I proceeded to paddle that boat as fast as I could away. I remember my nephew commenting on how fast I was paddling, he thought it was funny. He apparently didn't see what I had seen. I was totally hysterical, I've never been "out of it like that before or since", I was so scared, I just wanted to be away from there. While we were paddling back, my nephew looked back and said he saw a whole bunch of them and they are splashing around in the water. That only freaked me out more, and I paddled faster. Sorry to say I don't know to this day if he was joking with me or not, but my instict tells me he was, because he would of been scared like I was if he saw what I did. It's weird, but I never talked to him about it again, I don't know why. The only other people who I told this to are my husband and children. I know they believe me, but they still kind of laughingly joke about it to me. So you can understand why I've never told anyone else face to face, they'd think I was an idiot. Anyways to tell you how scared I was, when we got back to camp we accidently pulled the boat into the wrong campsite. As we turned the boat around we faced the direction that we had just came from ( the other side ) when I saw the direction that we had just come from, I started to freak out again, crying and sobbing uncontrollably saying," I don't want to go back, I don't want to go back." This all happened when I was about 12 years old. I am now 37, and have since learned to not be afraid anymore, because I can still see it's eyes in my mind, those whites of its eyes, the fear in its eyes. He or she wouldn't of hurt us, I don't think, we must of caught it offgaurd, and frightened it. I still live in East Texas, we live in the country, surrounded by acreage of pinetrees. I only live about an hour and a half away from Huntsville. Most nights my children and I are here alone because of my husbands work, I go to sleep without any fear.

ALSO NOTICED: The only thing that happened that was odd to me was before it happened, when all of the birds flew off, there were so many they filled the air, I remember looking up and wondering what caused that.

OTHER WITNESSES: Observed the creature while on a boat, we were fixing to turn into a sort of trail in the water that went thru the woods. The only other person besides me, was my nephew, he did not see the animal when I saw it, he was in the back of the boat, I was in the front. I still do not know if he was telling the truth later when he said he saw a whole bunch of them playing in the water after I had paddled almost all the way back. I have never talked to him about this insidence again.

ENVIRONMENT: Pine trees were dominate in the location of the animal.