Mount Tabor Witch? (Disclaimer) Personal Experience – Years Ago, No Proof, Anticlimactic...Enjoy!

Warning – no story here, just an unusual sighting. It was back in 1998-99, one of those winters. Don’t recall. I used to live in Portland and would go to Mt Tabor, an extinct volcano, to run the stairs there. Hell of a work out. It was a typical winter day in Portland, in the high forties and drizzling steadily. The mountain was devoid of any other crazy people out for a rainy, winter jog but me. This was not so unusual for a mid-week winter day considering the weather. I was descending the Northeast side of the mountain (I think) just having emerged from the trees into a vast grassy area of hills when I caught the dark shape of a person in my peripheral vision approx a hundred and fifty yards away. This is the weird part:

Several things happened at once and the sequence seems important. I did a double take then focused on the shape and noticed right away something was not right. Her back to me, she was alone and cooking something on one of the many steel grills that were scattered sparsely over the mountain for picnickers. (remember – cold and raining out. There are homeless shelters and 3 square meals offered all over Portland. It’s known for this.) She was very short, about 5 foot and wide with a dark, drabby coat that went to ground. She had a head scarf on of some light colored, cotton looking material tucked into her coat. Here is where the fear kicked in. Her head was TINY. I mean freakishly tiny. It reminded me of one of a fairytale book with illustrations of a poor, old, peasant hag hauling a big bundle of sticks. Her shape was that of a fat bullet with a heavy coat.
Instinctively, some part of me recognized a danger that my mind couldn’t process. It made no sense to be afraid, yet in less than a second since I noticed her I became absolutely terrified and I don’t frighten easily. In this same second, to my horror, she snapped her head around and peered right at me. Her eyes were sunken into dark sockets and I cannot for the life of me recall any other facial feature in that moment. It was as if she had sensed me focusing on her. I was too far away and there was no way she could have known I was there. Well, I certainly felt the power (for lack of a better term) of her gaze. I have never felt anything like it and I KNEW that if I did not leave immediately, something terrible was going to happen. I was a thirty-three year old, six foot one man and I ran my ass in the opposite direction like it was the running of the bulls and I was in last place.
I got back to my car and stood there thinking, “What just happened”? I thought about going back and having a second look, possibly even approaching the figure just to allay my irrational fear but some part of me said no. Just go. So I did. Shaking my head all the way home and trying to laugh at the ridiculousness of it. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before or since.

Has anyone in the Mt Tabor area ever heard of or seen anything like this? Portland is also known for its large population of practicing witches (Wiccans, pagans mostly). At the time of this there were cats being found dead with throats cut apparently, the news theorized, having been used for some ritual. This is of course the stuff of black magic, nothing to do with Wiccan or pagan practitioners.

It sounds to me like you saw a homeless person possibly with an intellectual disability or a drug/alcohol problem and it scared you.
(disclaimer) my own personal thoughts I have no proof.

Mmm, possibly. At the time I walked most everywhere since I lived downtown.
I was quite used to being around homeless people of all kinds. Never scared me before or since. So, naah. I don't think that was it. I should say that I have always been very empathetic and tuned in to other peoples energy. This energy was alien and way out of my league to process. I know that sounds new age and such but that's a big part of who I am.

edit- I Should also point out that this area of Portland is not known for homeless or transients. It was unusual for that alone. The head on this woman was the most extreme case of microcephaly I have ever seen if that was indeed the case.

[edit on 23-7-2008 by 1stearthwarden]

Interesting experience, although it could have been a homeless person with some sort of skeletal dysfunction it is possible that you saw a witch, or something like. Lucky you ran your ass away from that man, i would have done the same. Dont mess with the forces thats what i always say.