Wolf Moon, page 1

I joined this site a few months ago, but haven’t posted much due to lack of time. I’m an author/screenwriter and there just aren’t enough hours in the day for everything. I’ve lived in Florida for the past 10 ½ years. Being an author/screenwriter I have an active imagination. I’m also Wiccan. The paranormal has always played a large part in my life and has nothing to do with my choice of religion. I used to be part of a paranormal investigation team and have has many first-hand experiences with the paranormal. Though, ironically, none of these happened on any of the investigations I’ve been on.

Something odd happened just after 11 PM this past Saturday night - 01/10/09 - as I was getting ready for bed that was unlike anything I’ve experienced before. Something paid me a visit. The sky was clear. Saturday was the night before the full moon, so it was very nearly full that night, making for a lot of pale, washed-out light outside. Fog was rolling in. I peeked out into the backyard and thought I saw something sitting just a few yards away. It was very pale and in the moonlight and fog I wasn't 100% sure. I kept staring at it, not moving, not wanting to scare away whatever was there. After a few minutes, it moved and I knew something was there, but still had no clue as to what it was. I kept watching. Then it stood up. It looked like a dog, a husky or something like it, with a curled tail with long hair hanging down from it. It moved a couple of steps and sat down. It looked like it was looking right at me. I pulled out a flashlight and tried to shine it outside, but the light was very weak. I put the light away and kept watching the dog. After a few more minutes, it stood up again and walked a few more steps. I left my room and went into the kitchen. I could see the thing through the kitchen window, barely. It was just sitting there again. I pulled a flashlight out of a kitchen drawer and shone it. It reflected off the window and obscured everything. I turned it off. The dog was gone. It must have bolted as soon as the light came on. I don't know if it was the time of night, the moonlight, the fog, the fact that I was tired, or some combination of those, but the whole thing seemed almost creepy.

Since then, I’ve been trying to put the odd encounter out of my mind. But, something just turned up in my e-mail that sent a shudder through me. The full moon Sunday night, the first full moon of the year, was called the Wolf Moon. I hadn’t been aware of that fact, that name, until receiving the e-mail. It was the night before the Wolf Moon that I saw that wolf-like dog in the backyard in the moonlight and fog. Have I just been watching too many werewolf films?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been frightened by lycanthropy. Yet, for some bizarre reason, I’m drawn to werewolves. No clue why; I can’t explain it. Anyway, I have been spending a lot of time in the company of fictional werewolves lately. For months, I’ve been playing an on-line RPG called “BiteFight”. It’s good because, even busy as I am, I can still play it because I can spend only a few second there and my character will be busy for up to eight hours. Characters in the game are either werewolves or vampires. My character is a werewolf. On Saturday the 3rd, I taped the movie “Skinwalkers” and watched it the following night. On the night I saw the dog in the backyard, I was taping back-to-back werewolf films on the Sci-Fi Channel - “Ginger Snaps: Unleashed” and “Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning” - to watch at a later time. Also, being a big fan of “Underworld”, I’m looking forward to seeing “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”.

So, lots of werewolves of late. Too many? Am I overexposing myself to lycanthropes and starting to imagine wolf-like animals on foggy, moonlit nights? Or did something else happen? If anyone has any thoughts or insight about what I saw in the yard a few nights ago, I’d like to hear it. I’ll try to get back here soon!

Scott Harper