EP 04: Bruce
Illustration By RJ Jenkins
In this episode, we talk with JJ. JJ shares a terrifying experience in which something violently attacked his cabin in the middle of the night, tore part of the roof off, and pushed the entire cabin off its foundation.
“A few minutes went by and the loudest bang I have ever heard shook the whole cabin. I immediately jumped out of my bunk and was standing in the middle of the small 10-foot wide cabin. The entire cabin began to shake. Back and forth violently. It was so much movement it shook Chris out of his bunk and onto the floor. It seemed like forever that the cabin was shaking. It was so violent that one of the 2x4 rafters snapped and a 2x4 fell to the floor. My only thought was that whatever this thing is, it’s coming through the wall.”
Music:
Music: Xenon Sentry by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
Music: Beat Symphony by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
JJ writes,
This experience happened 11 years ago just at the end of my junior year of college. I was in a zoology class that got to go down into southern Missouri and do a research study on fish populations prior to the summer floating trips that many people take every year. The property we were staying at was massive, all hardwoods tucked in between two very tall ridges. The valley stretched for miles east to west with no other buildings or people from miles in all directions. I was 21, about 5’10”, 230 pounds, and a college football player. A teammate of mine was in the class and he was a very large 6’3” 260 pound defensive end. We both grew up hunting and fishing and had a lot in common, so we decided we would bunk together on the trip. It was a seven day study of the river system about 25 miles southwest of Steelville, Missouri.
When we arrived at the property there was one main lodge where the property manager stayed, that had the only bathroom and kitchen. There were several cabins spread out on the property. When I say cabin it was more of a wooden shed with a door and two bunks in each. There was one window about one foot square on one side. Each “cabin” had two cinder blocks on each corner to keep them elevated in case of rain coming down the valley to the river.
My teammate Chris and I, both being big time college football players, and both experienced in the outdoors choose the cabin farthest from the main lodge. We were roughly 1/2 mile from the lodge. Around night 3 or 4, Chris and I had been fishing in the river and stayed late. I could not tell you what time we got back to our cabin but it was late. We were laying in our bunks talking about fishing, football, what girls we were talking to and just regular college guy stuff.
All of a sudden it got quiet. Now we are literally in the middle of nowhere so when I mean quiet all the crickets and bugs outside just went silent. We noticed but didn’t think much of it, a few minutes later I heard a woof that was similar to a bear when you are to close. Now I have had several run-ins with blacks bears in my hunting and outdoor life. Chris being from Idaho had also had experiences with bears. This however was much louder than any black bear I had ever heard. I knew there were black bears in Missouri but this was close and loud. We never heard Jaw snapping which is indicative of a bear just a loud low woof, woof. Over and over again.
We began to talk about how it was probably a classmate of ours trying to pull a prank on us. We chuckled and brushed it off. A few minutes went by and the loudest bang I have ever heard shook the whole cabin. I immediately jumped out of my bunk and was standing in the middle of the small 10 foot wide cabin. The entire cabin began to shake back and forth violently. There was so much movement it shook Chris out of his bunk and onto the floor. It seemed like forever that the cabin was shaking. It was so violent that one of the 2x4 rafters snapped and a 2x4 fell to the floor. My only thought was that whatever this thing is, it’s coming through the wall. I grabbed the 2x4 and just stood in the middle of the cabin screaming back at this thing, thinking we’re going to have to fight for our lives. It seemed as though this went on forever, until my voice went hoarse. In all reality this probably only lasted a minute or so. Then everything stopped and everything was silent. Chris never got off the floor and I never moved a muscle standing in the middle of the cabin for the rest of the night.
The sun finally came up but we did not leave the cabin, call it fear or self preservation we didn’t move. After a while the door to the cabin opened to the property manager and one of our professors. As we walked out of the cabin I smelled a smell I can only describe as putrid swap water and saw that the cabin had been pushed off of the cinder blocks onto the ground. On the side without a window there were two large muddy marks about 10 inches across from the roof shingles to about three foot from the bottom of the cabin. The first two rows of shingles had been ripped off and were laying on the ground. It looked as if something grabbed the top edge of the cabin and leaned their weight into it. This cabin from the ground to the edge of the roof was every bit of 11-12 foot off the ground.
The property manager could clearly see we were shaken up. He just chuckled and said “well I guess you boys met Bruce. Not sure what or who it is but he doesn't like people being in this last cabin and he doesn’t take to kindly to men.” I asked, “so this has happened before,” in a shocked and angry tone as to ask why we had not been warned to which I got the reply of, “he hasn’t been around in a year or so.” Needless to say we did not stay in that cabin the rest of the trip. We stayed in the lodge as far away from there as we could.
Now, I have been in the woods my whole life. I have never before experienced anything like that before or since. I’m not saying it was a Bigfoot or some angry mountain spirit. But what I will say is there is nothing out there, that I have found that could do that. Looking back I don’t think whatever it was wanted to hurt us. With the power it showed it could have easily tore that cabin apart. I feel it wanted to scare us away from that area of the property and it did that very well. That’s what happened, I won’t tell anyone that they should believe one way or another on what is real but that night was real and I have not stepped foot into the woods without some type of protection from then on.
JJ
