Suffolk, VA: Personal Experience

This is a story I've neglected to tell on here for personal reasons (I was new here and wanted to test the waters before posting it). Everything in this story is true as far as I know (parts of it were told to me by my girlfriend at the time which I can not confirm the absolute truth of (you'll see what I mean... read on).)

While attending Christopher Newport University in Newport News, VA, my friends and I would travel the short drive across the James River Bridge to Suffolk (REALLY rural area where some of my friends grew up).

There is an abandoned military base there. It was basically a huge two-story building that had a lot of big towers on it's 500,000 some-odd acre lot. (I think it's job was to talk to Submarines). (I can provide the specific name of the base as well as it's location and some aerial photos (from mapquest) if anyone wants them, but I'd prefer to U2U them rather than just say it because the local cops there REALLY don't like people going out there.)

We used to go out to the base at night (I won't say we'd play paintball in it... because THAT would probably be illegal, but we MAY have). Basically what this place looks like is a HUGE field of (now) 6ft. tall grasses with a building in the middle with small, old, paved roads leading to the building. The field is surrounded by a perimeter trees.

On this particular occasion I brought my girlfriend along. She elected to remain in my truck (1990 Toyota Pickup (POS)) because being in the base is kinda' freaky, especially at night cuz there's no power, and hence, no lights (though we had tiki torches and flashlights). SO, my friends and I were NOT playing paintball inside for about an hour. I came out to check on her and ask again if she felt like coming inside. When I knocked on the passenger window of the truck, she FLIPPED OUT. After realizing it was me she threw the door open and clung to me, crying, and frantically rambling about what happened.

The truck was parked right outside the back of the main building, facing away from the loading dock. The door to the base is up ON the loading dock (dock is about 3.5ft high). She said that after we'd been inside for about a half hour, she saw something standing near the rear of the truck. (We had lit up the inside of the building with Tiki Torches and large flashlights so we could see (remember that we WEREN'T in the base *(wink wink)*). Anyway, she said she saw a silhouette near the rear of the truck against the lit doorway. It scuffled around from one side of the truck to the other around the rear as if trying to decide what this big white 'thing' (my truck) was. She said she froze when it then started bumping the truck lightly and at one point seemed to step onto the rear bumper, making the truck shift on it's suspension a little. It then wandered off into the tall grass, apparently finding no more interest in the truck. Soon after that, I came outside to check on her.

She described the silhouette as being a few inches shorter than the truck (it has a cap on the back of it and even then is only about 4.5 to 5 feet tall), human like, but appeared not to be wearing clothes. (she saw it in the side view mirror), appeared to have dark skin and was also barefoot from her description of the sound of it scuffling around. It made no apparent vocal noises but breathed heavily and audibly a few times.

She's a pretty brave girl, not known to cry or scare easily, but she was shaking and crying. I could tell she wasn't making it up. Something had definitely freaked her out. I then proceeded to NOT fire my paintball gun into the grasses to make sure whatever it was was gone, and in a sort of hope of scaring it back out of the grasses so I could see who/what it was. (I was thinking it might have been a kid from the neighborhood near the base.

During that time, none of us had gone outside (I was near everyone else who came along the entire time.) In addition, no one went near the doorway (we couldn't have caused the silhouette).

Her being freaked out, and the rest of us now starting to get a little wary, we went home to CNU.

In addition to this, in the morning, I found what appeared to be an elongated handprint on the top of the cap on the back of my truck (near the driver side, rear corner). The fingers were longer than mine by about an inch (I'm 6 feet tall and have pretty big hands) but the palm was about an inch thinner than mine.



Has anyone else had any similar experiences, especially near that area? I'd also like to get any opinions as to what this was.

hehehe, I live about 20 minutes from Suffolk dude.

regards
seekerof

I say we put together an ATS field trip. I live about 20 mins from there too.

Hey, thank you for sharing this!

And by the way, FREAKY!!!

If you guys really go, you have GOT to let us know if you find something.

Sounds like a good idea to me. I think that ATS members who live near any areas with abnormal, or paranormal activity should get together and investigate, then report back to the rest of us. I will be going into the Superstition Mountains this weekend to dowse for vortexes and ancient Spanish treasure carvings and will report my findings, if any.

[Edited on 7-24-2003 by groingrinder]

Well, if there are any ATS members in Oklahoma or North Texas...I've got an interesting area we could investigate as well.

I don't live in that general area anymore, I now live in northern VA and will soon be moving to Weat Palm Beach, but I'd LOVE to show you guys the base (it's kinda' hard getting to it now cuz cops watch it all the time). U2U me if you guys would seriously like to arrange a tour, I'll see what I can do. (In the very least I can let you know where it is and you can go see it for yourselves).

I will NOT be going even tho I live nearby. I've seen enough movies to know that the black guy always gets killed first.

Colonel... I applaud you

That's always true, unless there's a REALLY wimpy guy... so all we have to do is find a really wimpy guy to come along. Then you'll at least have some warning time.

That is a pretty freaky story.

Originally posted by Greyhaven
Colonel... I applaud you

That's always true, unless there's a REALLY wimpy guy... so all we have to do is find a really wimpy guy to come along. Then you'll at least have some warning time.

That being said. I too say that was pretty creepy.

To see the aerial photo of the base...

Go to

www.mapquest.com...

search for

Lighthouse Dr
Suffolk, VA
23435

It will give you 4 results, select the 1st one.

Click the tab on the image lables 'erial photo'

Click on the \/ SOUTH \/ thing at the bottom of the image ONCE and you'll be looking at the base's property. You should see the building toward the right of the image, and a sorta' eliptical road circling it with a few shoot-off roads.

To see a really interesting feature that can only be seen from the air (I've gone to look for it, but can't find it) is two REALLY BIG triangles of raised earth at the southern tip of the eliptical road that goes around the base.

I have several theories of what they are, but no definitive answers, since I can't find them.

I suggest clicking on "BIG PHOTO" obviously, it gives you a bigger pic.

Thats a really scary story.

I wonder what it was she saw? Could she have seen an animal and being so scared thought it was a person or something? Anyway great story. It would be cool to investigate the area and see if there's something there.


[Edited on 26-7-2003 by Ocelot]

Well in that area there are an abundance of Deer and there is a pack of wild dogs in the area, but neither of which would have 'investigated' the truck the way this thing did. She described it almost like it was baffled by the truck... lghtly bumping/pushing on the side of it and standing on the bumper, etc... doesn't sound like any deer or dog behavior I've heard of. Aside from that, there's your possums, cats, etc... but the only things that fit the general size would be the deer and MAYBE a dog (it'd still have to be a monster of a dog).

Get a tracing of the palmprint if you can... it is possible using thin paper with the right lighting.

You could also try to determine if fingerprints are present, by "lifting" the fingertips off of the truck using special tape.

Collect as much hard evidence (pictures if necessary) as possible.

Don't even think about getting a large party of very quiet people armed with paintball guns & cameras to sit in the back of your truck while it is parked in the same spot.

I would, and the thought defineatly crossed my mind... EXCEPT

it happened almost a year ago (last summer)...

I discovered it when I was going to work the next morning and didn't have time to take pics, traces, or lift fingerprints that morning (I almost always end up sleeping too long and rushing to work, it's a terrible habbit.) I had planned on doing it when I got home, however, it rained while I was at work and the rain washed my truck (destroying the evidence). I was pretty pissed. Ask anyone who lives in Suffolk, it rains a lot, and not always with warning. Had I known it was supposed to rain, I'd have made an effort to get pics on my break or something, but I didn't... so I lost my proof. A lesson well learned: take pictures of EVERYTHING interesting as soon as you can. I actually now carry a camera in my car wherever I go (I drive an Audi TT now, the truck is gone) just in case something like this happens again.

I'd also like to get any opinions as to what this was.

One explanation would be the Mannegishi which is mentioned in the mythology of the Cree Indians in eastern Canada. The only problem with this is that the Mannegishi has six fingers and unless I am mistaken the hand print you saw only had five. Would it have been possible that what you saw was only a partial hand print? I think it is possible that this thing may not have placed its sixth finger on the car.

Link for more info on Mannegishi
www.paranormality.com...

Another possibility is a creature similar to the Dover Demon. The only problem with this is that you did not say anything about glowing eyes. If it was similar and had glowing eyes I thing she would have mentioned it. Other then that the description fits perfectly including the height which is three to four feet (similar to the height of the back of a white Toyota pickup with a cab on it). And she did mention it being the same height as your car.

Link to info on the Dover Demon sightings
www.qsl.net...

Dover Demon sketches
members.aol.com...

Another possibility would be the Loveland frogmen, here is a quote about them from the sun.

"The Loveland Frogmen. About 3 feet tall and weighing in at a sturdy 60 lbs., these creatures have leathery skin and huge, bulbous eyes. Shy, when spotted they will disappear into the waterways of the Ohio valley. -- SUN"

A little shorter then her description but still close.

Well, this doesn't really help define what it was but it does show that there have been similar sightings. Perhaps all these things are connected in some way. It seems odd that so many sightings were made and that they were all fairly similar. Anyway, hope this helped.

Yep....I know where it is Grey.
Been by it a many of times.
Always thought it was what the 'road' map describes it as....a naval communication station.
Hmmm.....I have heard of freaky things happening out there but alot of the old timers around there always passed it off as "swamp gas" being the area is pretty swampy or having swamp conditions. Mosquitos are killer out there too, so beware if you go fishing around that area.

Be honest with ya, your incident is the first I have heard, even from the friends I have checked with in the last few days.....one reason I hadn't posted earlier.

regards
seekerof

Seekerof, where in the area do you live?

How would swamp gas explain a creature? Isn't swamp gas usually blamed for 'lights' or 'UFOs' or 'ghosts'?

Originally posted by Greyhaven
Seekerof, where in the area do you live?

How would swamp gas explain a creature? Isn't swamp gas usually blamed for 'lights' or 'UFOs' or 'ghosts'?

I live about 20 minutes from there but had lived in Suffolk a few years back. I live in a town called Franklin, Va.

The mentioning of the "swamp gases" was not to down play your "encounter" Grey.

You are correct, yes, what I was eluding to was that there have been alot of reports and talk of "strange" occurances (ie: floating and moving lights, gasous "figures", "dancing lights", etc) attributed to swamp gases being released. Suffolk, Virginia, is after all, right along the fringes, if not in, the Great Dismal Swamp.

As I mentioned above.....I had some friends, that currently still live in Suffolk and one that lives right near the area your are talking of, ask around about what you described. There responses were inconclusive though many of the locals claim that "strange things" do occur around there and such.......but many passed them off as natural occurances from the area....swamp gases, etc.


regards
seekerof