The Inexplicable

[Swamp Girl]

Have you ever had the inexplicable happen on the water or while fishing? I've several stories, but I'll only share two:

 

I was on the upper Mississippi in late October or early November, paddling to New Orleans. A cold, fierce headwind forced me to take refuge on Devil's Island. I would normally never camp on an island named after Satan, but circumstances forced me land there, in the howling dark. The island had enormous trees and their roots twined like snakes. I had to make like a snake and slither through them, finding the merest opening to pitch my tent. All night long, those trees groaned. At the merest light, I broke camp and scooted and passed two men on the island standing over a campfire. They wore primitive ill-fitting clothing, which looked hand-made and slowly waved to me to return to the island. No way. I paddled faster. Decades later, I read a book written my a fellow paddler, who was forced to land at Devil's Island by a storm, slithered through roots to pitch his tent, and passed two men standing over a campfire who looked off. Like me, he did not stop.

 

Another strange happened to me twice, once on the Ohio River and again on a wilderness lake north of Chapleau, Ontario. Both times I saw a rainbow's end, paddled closer and closer until it loomed over me, and then entered the rainbow, which glistened around me. This is inexplicable because science says you can't reach a rainbow, that it recedes before you. So, I dunno. 

[ironbjorn]

Hey, how are you doing? Are you safe and well? Away from the madness, I hope?

[TnRiver46]

I’ve being seeing these 4-5 foot long sea monsters jumping out of the water for years where I fish. Big long grayish/whitish/blueish fish that splash down like a refrigerator fell from the sky. 
 

However, I think i have been offered an explanation in this particular case. I got a decent look at some and it’s paddlefish and/or sturgeon. I should catch one sometime to confirm 

 

Hey Katie, me and my buddy were camping on devils island cooking breakfast one time and tried to offer this nice young lady some food but she just kept on paddling 

[Swamp Girl]

I literally laughed out loud, Mr. TNRiver. I've seen paddlefish jump. They breach like humpbacks. 

 

Doing well, ironbjorn, but there's no getting away from the madness. True tidbit: The Greeks called creativity the divine madness. 

[Swamp Girl]

No stories? You guys need to get out(side) more. Sleep a few years in the woods and sooner or later, something stirs. 

[TnRiver46]

We live in the woods and try to ignore most of it. Got bears in downtown parking garages now 

[galyonj]

7 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

We live in the woods and try to ignore most of it. Got bears in downtown parking garages now 

 

That bear's just trying to hold a spot for her girlfriend who is LITERALLY on the way. 

[TnRiver46]

2 minutes ago, galyonj said:

 

That bear's just trying to hold a spot for her girlfriend who is LITERALLY on the way. 

Aka about to get into the shower 

[GreenPig]

Inexplicable? Not yet and I've spent a many of nights in deep dark swamps, waist to chest deep hunting beavers and pigs. Probably a 1000 plus nights predator calling. I'm the inexplicable thing the animals tell stories about.

[Swamp Girl]

Maybe it's a paddling thing. I post at a paddling website where strange stories abound. 

[TnRiver46]

I saw this big grizzly thing up in a tree while paddling 

 

[GRiver]

It’s not about fishing or paddling, but in my early 20’s, I was in a car wreck. The car caught on fire, somehow I ended up in the backseat. I was kicking the front seat , trying to get it to go forward and stay. I remember the headliner melting and dropping melted plastic on me.
A woman came to the drivers side and helped me out. Next I was on my hands and knees, watching the blood drip off my face on the ground. She had one hand on my back and one on my stomach, telling me to “ breathe deep, get it all out, just breathe deep” . I think I blacked out, next thing I knew was the first responders were fixing me up. I asked about the lady that go me out of the car, the couple that was first on the scene, said I was by myself on my hands and knees in the field all alone, no one else was around. 
Still makes me wonder. 

[Swamp Girl]

4 hours ago, GRiver said:

It’s not about fishing or paddling, but in my early 20’s, I was in a car wreck. The car caught on fire, somehow I ended up in the backseat. I was kicking the front seat , trying to get it to go forward and stay. I remember the headliner melting and dropping melted plastic on me.
A woman came to the drivers side and helped me out. Next I was on my hands and knees, watching the blood drip off my face on the ground. She had one hand on my back and one on my stomach, telling me to “ breathe deep, get it all out, just breathe deep” . I think I blacked out, next thing I knew was the first responders were fixing me up. I asked about the lady that go me out of the car, the couple that was first on the scene, said I was by myself on my hands and knees in the field all alone, no one else was around. 
Still makes me wonder. 

 

Now, ^THAT'S^ a story!

[Dirtyeggroll]

An Osprey landed on the back deck of my boat and picked up an original DEPS 250, flew off with it and dropped it in the middle of the lake. It was a slow sink and by the time I trolled over it was long gone.

[Swamp Girl]

@Dirtyeggroll: Incredible!

[JackstrawIII]

Hey Crickety. There have been quite a few threads on his this forum in the past about unexplained sightings and stuff. 
 

I know because I read most of them about a month ago in the hospital while one of my daughters was having surgery. Needless to say, the time passed quickly. When she woke up, she asked what I was reading about and I said “Sasquatch”. Her post-anesthesia eyes got real wide, she said “SASQUATCH” and feel right back to sleep. It was hilarious. My wife and I still laugh about it. 
 

But anyways, folks on this forum have seen lots. Ghosts, Sasquatch, aliens, etc. It’s all there and definitely worth the read. 

[Swamp Girl]

6 minutes ago, JackstrawIII said:

Hey Crickety. There have been quite a few threads on his this forum in the past about unexplained sightings and stuff. 
 

I know because I read most of them about a month ago in the hospital while one of my daughters was having surgery. Needless to say, the time passed quickly. When she woke up, she asked what I was reading about and I said “Sasquatch”. Her post-anesthesia eyes got real wide, she said “SASQUATCH” and feel right back to sleep. It was hilarious. My wife and I still laugh about it. 
 

But anyways, folks on this forum have seen lots. Ghosts, Sasquatch, aliens, etc. It’s all there and definitely worth the read. 

 

I'd love to read them. Do you have a link or two?

[Skunkmaster-k]

I was camping on the edge of the Arkansas river near Salida Colorado about 15 years ago , doing a little gold panning . One night I was relaxing in the tent and I heard someone whisper “ I’ve got you where I want you, and now I’m going to eat you. “ I grabbed my flashlight , ripped the tent flap back and there stood a guy from Oklahoma staring at a big booger on the end of his finger . Oh the horror ! 

[JackstrawIII]

Here you go. This is the thread that helped me find all the others. Glenn links a bunch of them a few posts down:

 

 

[thediscochef]

I saw more lights at roberts the morning I caught the two 4# LM back to back. A Triangle of green lights that all seemed to be on the same physical plane, moving in unison. It hovered where I saw it for a second, then spun quickly and zoomed out of sight. It was like zooming out from an image you're zoomed in on - you zoom out rapidly and whatever you were looking at is gone. I've never seen or heard a samsquanch or anything else I couldn't explain. I did have a close call two mornings ago at my topwater spot. I think the adrenaline rush is why I skunked. A huge tree branch cracked off and fell not even ten feet behind me, right on top of where I had just walked. I ran lol 

 

 @ol'crickety knows about the things I've seen at the lake. I appreciate her candor on these matters. 

 

[Swamp Girl]

@thediscochef, I think people who spend a lot of time outdoors might sooner or later see something out of the ordinary. Lifelong outdoorsmen and women are like lifelong pilots. Spend enough time in a cockpit and you might see something that you can't explain. Spend enough time sleeping under stars and you might hear a bump in the night that's different than all the other, ordinary bumps. I've slept on the ground for years, often alone, so when somethings amiss, I know it because of the thousands of other nights that were utterly ordinary. Here's such a story:

 

I once had three teen boys camped on the Mississippi River. In the middle of the night, I suddenly awoke. Not awake and somewhat sleepy, but utterly awake and flooded with adrenaline. I knew that there was peril beyond my tent's nylon walls, but I didn't know what it was. So, I slowly, quietly dressed and then waited and listened.

 

Suddenly, the wind roared, but I was ready, so I ran from my tent yelled at the boys to run for the car as leaves and limbs were in the air. I aimed my headlights at the river and we saw bass boats being tossed on the shore. A new, big, aluminum dock was twisted and tossed on shore too. My boat was the only one that wasn't beached because I was always anchored into the prevailing wind direction with two anchors.

 

The twister passed quickly and we had to remove a massive boy-crushing branch from the boys' tent. Their tent poles were snapped, so they slept in the car. 

 

I think I felt the pressure change like an animal does because I've spent so many nights (and days) outside. 

 

I told thediscochef about lights I saw in northwestern Ontario. I was with an outdoor writer and he was wise enough to turn it into a humorous column, lest his readers laugh at him. 

[GRiver]

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

think I felt the pressure change like an animal does because I've spent so many nights (and days) outside. 

Thank goodness for animalistic instincts 

[Swamp Girl]

9 minutes ago, GRiver said:

Thank goodness for animalistic instincts 

 

I think we all have these instincts, but spending too many years inside drywall boxes dulls them. 

9 minutes ago, GRiver said:

Thank goodness for animalistic instincts 

 

I think we all have these instincts, but spending too many years inside drywall boxes dulls them. 

9 minutes ago, GRiver said:

Thank goodness for animalistic instincts 

 

I think we can all feel pressure shifts, but our sensitivity to these shifts is dulled by decades spent in drywall boxes.

I think we can all feel pressure shifts, but our sensitivity to these shifts is dulled by decades spent in drywall boxes.

[GRiver]

@ol'crickety I agree, I agree, I agree, and I agree…. Oh and me 2

[Swamp Girl]

27 minutes ago, GRiver said:

@ol'crickety I agree, I agree, I agree, and I agree…. Oh and me 2

 

I replied, but it didn't show my reply, so I replied again. Sorry 'bout that.