Tales
Camping in The Woods of Chiefland, Florida
First Night in a Hobo Jungle
This tale was related to me by a kind gentlemen. He had escaped from an orphanage in Texas during the depression, and was headed west to California.
In order to get to California, I did the only thing I knew that would get me there, hitch a ride on any train heading west. In preparation for my trip, I had packed several sandwiches. However, after 3 days the sandwiches were gone, and I was very hungry.
Up to this time, I had avoided going into Hobo camps. Because I had heard how tough those ‘bos could be, and I didn’t want any trouble. But with the aroma of something cooking in a nearby camp, and the pangs of hunger from my stomach, I finally ventured to go in.
Cautiously, I walked into the camp. Politely nodding to those that made eye contact, but mostly trying to act as if I had done this all my life. I found a place to sit away from most of the others. One of the Hobos called out to me, “Been out long kid?” “Yes”, I answered, “three days.” This brought a roar of laughter from the hobos around the campfire. Only then did I realize that these folks have been “out” for a long, long time.
“Are you hungry?”, asked the first Hobo. “Yes.”. “Well then, get ‘ya a piece of chicken.” I had noticed that something was cooking (how could I not?). Over the fire, hung a large metal bucket. The bucket had originally held wheel bearing grease for the railroad, and with a little clean up, but not too much clean up, now held a boiling liquid. It sure smelled good. Hanging on the bucket was a piece of stout wire, with a hook fashioned at the end. I used to wire to dip into the boiling liquid, and pulled out the a chicken leg. Not a drumstick, but the whole leg, thigh and all.
That chicken leg was the best chicken I had ever eaten before, or since. And I didn’t waste a bit. As I was gnawing at the bone to get the last piece of meat, the Hobo called out again, “Are ‘ya still hungry?” “Yes.” “Well then, get yourself another piece!” I didn’t have to be told twice. I stood up and again grabbed the wire with the hook, and started dipping into the boiling liquid. My first dip into the bucket brought up another chicken leg. I let it drop back in. I was looking for a larger piece, a chicken breast would be the best. Again I dipped, and again another chicken leg, and another leg.
“What’s the matter son?” called out the Hobo. “Well”, I answered, “Ain’t this chicken got nothing but legs?” The laughter, hooting and hollering from the entire camp was almost deafening. “No son, them chickens ain’t got no legs at all. Now least ways.”
What I came to learn in my subsequent travels on the rails, was how that chicken dinner came to be. At that time, chickens were transported in crates in open air cars. The quickest way to a chicken meal was to reach through the slats of the crates, grab legs, and pull.
Author ask to kept anomomious, Maryland
Levy County Cabin:
In Levy county I own a hunting cabin were me and my family frequently go. We went there for a weekend trip, as we have hundreds of other times. Even though strange things had happened there before, Sept. 1999 was the worst night I’ve ever had.
We showed up at about noon that day and opened everything up. I noticed the electric wouldn’t come on at first, it only came on after about 10 minutes by itself. I assumed the breaker was bad so I didn’t give it much thought. For some reasons that weekend the neighbors seem to be gone. My son came in the cabin after about 45 minutes of playing and said a strange man went into the bathroom. (The toilets is in a separate building about 30 feet from the cabin) I then walked right out, the door had always been open. I proceeded over to the bathroom and knocked on the door, but nobody answered. I opened the door and nobody was in side. I looked around the building and off into the woods and heard or saw nothing. I asked my son(5 years old) was he sure that he saw anything. He said a older man wearing old cloths and no shoes and a big hat went into the bathroom. – No explanation. I thought it was something that he was thinking about and went on with cleaning up.
I needed to cut the grass because it might be a few weeks before we would be able to get back up there. After about 30 minutes of cutting grass I was up by the road at the far end of the property and looked up and I then thought I saw someone go into the bathroom. Looking past the bathroom I saw my wife and son at the cabin. I shut the lawnmower off and went to the bathroom again, and again nobody was there. Now I’m getting a little spooked because I knew what I had saw.
After a long day of working we went up a got some Church’s chicken, watched a movie(Star Trek) and went to bed. My wife woke us up hollering that someone was in the cabin with us. The cabin only has two rooms, so it was pretty easy to search. She said there was a person or something standing at the end of the bed looking at us.
After Talking to the neighbors the next day they all said that they’d seen an old man over by the cabin that would walk behind a tree or something a disappear.
We have not been back since… I plan a trip with a couple of friends with all of our cameras.
Richard Curtsinger, New Port Richey, Florida
Walking in the Woods
One day i was walking in the woods with my friends and this strange looking man asked me for directions told him how to get on the main road and the whole time my friends were looking at me and when I stopped talking they asked me what I was doing and I said “are yall blind?”and they said no who were you talking to? And I asked them if they saw the man and they said no.Later I saw him again and asked them if they saw him and they said no so I took a picture and had them developed and he wasn’t in it. I haven’t been in those woods since
Suzie-Q, Graceville, Florida
Camping in the Woods of Chiefland, Florida
Many a year ago when I was in my youth I had a scary encountered. It all happened on one humid summer night right here in Chiefland. One weekend a couple of my friends and myself decided to camp out in the woods near my house.We were all lying in our tent drifting off to sleep when someone whispered in my ear “goodnight sweetheart”.Thinking it was one of my friends I laughed it off and said “very funny guys! nice try but you didn’t scare me!”.My friends asked what in the world I was talking about and claimed they didn’t do anything.This really freaked me out but I brushed it off and tried to get some sleep.Then before my very eyes the door to our tent opened and closed just as if someone had gone out but no one was there.As we all know teenage girls in the woods alone usually get a fright but this was no fright this was REAL!It stills haunts me today!
BOO!, Chiefland, Florida
One Night In the Forest
I was in “Ocala National Forest” down here in Florida. I was traveling by motorcycle and pulled off into the woods about 200 yards down this trail. I was off the road far enough I knew that I could dig out a small pit and have a low fire without being caught by the police. I built the fire in the pit and took palm leaves and stuff and block three sides so very little light was coming from it and I put up my tent close to block the other side, along with my motorcycle. So I was pretty secure. I put on a can of soup and made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for my evening meal. I was late November but it was pretty cool even though I was in Florida.
I was laying 1/2 way in my tent with my shoes off and staring at the little fire when I started hearing some talking. I couldn’t have been 60 feet from where I was laying. I brushed some dirt over the fire and as quiet as I could made sure everything was secured on my bike and pulled out my 9mm. I could see shadows and from their voice knew where they were at. I didn’t know how they got passed me since I was by the path that lead in and out? I didn’t think they’d mess with me but better safe than sorry.
I listed for hours of them giggling and the moaning from sex. They went on for hours like freaking jack rabbits. If she squealed she was cumming once it must have been 6 or 7 times. He must have been a freakin stud. I finally dozed of passed 2 am or so and woke up at sunrise. I got out of the tent to piss and make sure everything was OK.
Everything at my site was exactly how I left it so no problems. I tried to spot them or their camp but didn’t see anything. I’m a light sleeper so I would have heard them start up or pack up camp. I walked around some bushes to were they were and nothing… not even a sign of anyone had ever been there? I walked around for more than 30 minutes looking for anything. No tire prints not cleared out spot, not even a place where they could have laid down. I’m not crazy and I know someone was there. I listed to them go at it for a few hours and could make out most of what they were saying.
I packed up and as I was pulling out onto the main road and a cop pulled over and asked me what I was doing. I told him I pulled off the road to use the restroom and he said, “Yea there is nothing around here for 20 miles or so.”
I was cruising down the road and about 15 miles or so and I saw a guy and a girl walking on the side, they both were young and clean? I wondered if that was them who gave me my show. I thought damn if it was them they fucked for 3 hours and would have to had started walking right after that with no rest. The had no packs and wasn’t carrying anything. Who knows but that was one strange experience for me.
The Old Woman
I was only 18 or 19 when this happened to me. I just left home for the first time in my life and moved to another state, the great state of Kentucky. I got my first job as a motel clerk and moved into a house with a woman and her son, named Henry. The house was built in the late 1890’s with a large porch at the front. Next to the house was an unused garage on an empty lot of land. One night I came back from a party, yes I was fairly intoxicated, as I stumbled to put my key into lock, or at least was trying real hard to. I suddenly had this awful feeling of someone watching me, the kind of feeling that makes your hair on the back of your neck stand up. Sure enough, there was an old lady wearing a white nightgown standing on a pile of dirt, or that is what it looked like. How did this old woman get here I thought, I mummbled and staggered into the house. I had forgotten about it until a few nights later when I came home late from work, sober, and decided to go the back way. As I about to insert the key, I had that feeling again of being watched. I turned around and there she was again. Standing there glaring at me when a look of pure hate. I couldn’t really see her face but her gray hair was all tangled as if she just got of bed. Impossible, I thought, the nursing home is 4 miles away from here. I hurried into the house locking the doors behind me.
Now comes the strangest part. For some unknown reason the old lady had something against me. Strange things would happen only to me and nobody else. One night a lady friend of mine came over to watch a movie and maybe a little romance. We put it on and soon as the movie started and we were getting friendly, the lights went on and off, windows started opening and slamming shut, doors slamming, my lady friend was going nuts and ran out the door, out of the house. The DVD flew out and narrowly missed my head. I told her about the old lady and she told me she was never again coming back to that house.
Another weird thing, I was by myself one day and the woman’s kids had this puffy white poodle. Anyway, i was reading a book when a white fluff, thats the only word I can think of, came floating past me followed by the puffy poodle barking at it. I blinked then the poodle came running back with the fluffy cloud chasing it.
That was enough for me. The old woman and a ghostly piece of fluff, I was out of there. I packed my belonging and I moved into a house accross town. That was a very strange house that I will never forget, or go to again.
From The Past
My encounter deals with a ghost that actually looked and seemed to be real in every way, and only after my encounter was over did I realize I had indeed been visited by a ghost. It happened one night while I was driving home from a friend of mine’s party some 20 miles from my house. We live in rural Kentucky and there is not a lot of traffic late at night. My friend was passed out in the back seat and I had the radio off. There was nothing on the road or on either side of the road except woods and pastures.
I started to accelerate because I was tired and wanted to get home when I spotted an old car in a ditch by the side of the road. I slowed down and looked, but no one was there. The car caught my eye immediately because it was a vintage 1972 Chevelle, and you don’t see very many of those around. I remember recoiling at the site of that beautiful car dented in the ditch like that. I was about to take off when I spotted someone over to my left, right in the middle of the road. She was a young woman, maybe 18 or so and very pretty. She wore what I took to be retro pants and top and she just stared at me. I got out of the car and asked her if she needed any help. She looked at me strangely for a moment then replied she needed a ride home. I took this for shock. I had been in an auto accident before and knew how it could shake someone up. I looked over the car while she stood there. It was immaculate, at least before the crash. I told her I could rouse my friend and we could fix the tire, but she would have none of that.
Rather than upset her more, I told her to get in and asked her where she lived. She gave me an address and told me it was over by this small town which was about 10 miles from mine. During the ride home my friend stirred, sat up, introduced himself and went back to sleep, but other than that there was not much conversation. She stared ahead, looking intensely. When I tried to make small talk she would not respond, saying only that she was in a lot of trouble. I figured since the car was in such good shape it was probably her dad’s or something. If she took it out without his permission and wrecked it she would have been in a lot of trouble so I didn’t touch on that much.
Finally we reached the long dirt road to her house and she told me to stop by the gate. The gate was open and I said I could just drive through to the house, but she was insistent. I then got out as she opened her door, but no sooner had I looked over the top of the car at her then I saw her running up the driveway. I started after her, figuring maybe I could help her explain things to whoever owned the car, but she ran around a bend and I lost her. I looked around before finally going towards the house, which was totally dark. I figured if she went up there might be yelling or something going on, yet it was totally silent. Finally, I returned to the car and went home. The following morning I passed by the exact spot where I saw the car. The car was still there, only it was a weathered wreck! It was old, rusted, pitted and stripped. I checked my maps and retraced my steps and I know that was the exact spot! A few days later I went to the house. Same story. The house was at the end of a long, dirt driveway that had a rusted gate. The house itself had been abandoned for years. I checked with the local paper and found out that a woman had died in a violent accident on that road in the mid-1970s and that her family lived in that exact house, but sold the place and left after the girl’s death. When I saw the obituary I could not believe my eyes! It was the same girl I picked up on the road that night!