Today we are pleased to present Henry Wakefield as our guest poster on the topic of the Paranormal/Supernatural. Henry is a 41-year-old graduate of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Henry works as a computer engineer at a Fortune 500 company. Henry is the father of a fantastic 8-year-old boy who is going to be a major league baseball prospect someday. Living in Houston presently, Henry enjoys golf, baseball, football and working for Habitat for Humanity on weekends.
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I grew up in the Hill Country of Texas, specifically Bandera County. This area of Texas is known for it's tall hills, and thin layers of soil atop limestone and granite. It is typically a very dry area and prone to flash flooding. I experienced the horror of flash flooding several times while in Bandera County. My family lost all their belongings twice. It was a tough area to live. But, we would not have lived anywhere else in the world.
There are superstitions about this area of the great state of Texas. There were all kinds of old tales of strange goings on and the like. But, the one tale that I discovered to be true was the Creature of Bell Cup Road. Now, this creature was not something that people liked to talk about. People thought if you even talked about something supernatural, you were a candidate for the state mental facility. I experienced first-hand that the Creature of Bell Cup Road was not a superstition. It was real and it was a threat to the people who lived in this area. Few people ever saw this Creature. Those that did claim to see it, said it was pale, thin and fragile looking. My experience taught me that was all true. But, it exhibited great strength by the mere fact that several cattle had been torn in half, not cut, but torn in half. The strength it took to do that boggles the mind. So, now, I must begin my story and my encounter with the Creature of Bell Cup Road...
I lived near a subdivision that was never completed for reasons that are still not clear to most. I felt I knew why it was never completed. We'll get to that later. The subdivision was for middle-class families near a densely wooded area. Initially, the first five homes built were bought very quickly. Several more homes were being built in the anticipation they would be bought just as quickly as the first five. That would never happen. The families that bought those first five homes either abandoned them to the bank or never moved into their new homes. The construction companies abandoned the completion of this new subdivision as well. The name of the subdivision was Bell Cup Estates. The main road was Bell Cup Road that dead-ended at the partially completed homes. At the end of Bell Cup Road sat an abandoned 1975 Ford truck on blocks. Whoever financed this investment must have lost a ton of money. No one ever came here...except, of course, teenagers who were looking for something to do. I was one of those teenagers back in July of 1988.
I was 13 years old back in 1988. I was just at that point where I was confused by all the changes in my body and my sudden interest in girls. Two other confused teenagers were Carl, who was also 13 and Jerry who was the old man of the trio at age 14. For the most part, we stayed out of trouble. We had one bad habit...we couldn't stay away from the abandoned homes at Bell Cup Estates. I mean we had explored as much of the high hill country as we could or were confident to explore. There were certain places even we didn't want to explore. In fact, my mother warned me to stay away from a certain area even hunters refused to go hunting. That got my attention. Hunting in Texas is almost a religion. If hunters shied away from an area, it had to be for a good reason. Of course, that area was adjacent to Bell Cup Road. Many a time we would go to Bell Cup Road to just hang out at the old abandoned Ford truck. It was during one of these "hanging out" times that we all witnessed something that even to this day sends shivers down my spine.
It was toward the latter part of July when on a particularly hot afternoon, the inevitable desire to go to Bell Cup Estates came up between the three of us. The homes themselves were a shambles. All the windows had been knocked out, all copper tubing, A/C units had long since been hauled away by vandals. It was shameful the way those homes had been treated as I remember now. I never partook in the looting of these homes. I can't say that for Carl. Carl came from a very poor family not far from where I lived. There were times Carl came to our house and said he had not eaten since breakfast of the previous day. Mom always felt sympathy for Carl and would feed him. So, I looked over Carl's stealing as much as I could. Anyway, we all decided to make haste to our favorite hangout. It was about a 30-minute bike ride from my house, where we would all meet up each day. Immediately, we jumped up in the old Ford pickup on blocks. It was getting kinda shaky with the continual jumping up and down on it. I warned Carl and Jerry about that. But, it was as if they were tone deaf to my warnings now. I looked at my watch and noticed it was just after 5PM. We had about 2 more hours of daylight left before I had to head home. My parents were easy on me about going wherever I wanted. But, the one standing rule is home by dark if not sooner. I always obeyed that one rule. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule and I did it once.
We had been at Bell Cup Road about an hour before the "huffing" sound from the densely forested area adjacent to Bell Cup Road got started. We all three looked at each other as if to say in unison, "What the hell was that?" Have you ever heard an African male lion huffing at the zoo or on TV? It was like that. There was no roar or anything similar to that. Just the constant huffing. This went on for about 2 or 3 minutes. During the huffing, none of us said a word. It just vibrated your bones, it was so deep and powerful. It was LOUD also. After it stopped, Jerry said maybe we should all head home. But, Carl and I wanted to see what it was. So, like a couple of idiots, we headed toward the dense vegetation about 50 yards from the Ford truck. We couldn't go far because we didn't have anything to cut at the vegetation. The stems on some of the vegetation were as tough and thick as a rope. We turned to go back to see an anxious Jerry waiting for us in the bed of the truck. It was now getting dark. I looked at my watch again. It was now 7:10PM. I knew I should have gone home. I wish I had now. But, like Carl, my curiosity had gotten the best of me. So, we sat in the truck and waited.
About 7:30PM, it was really starting to get dark. I knew that meant trouble for me when I got home. I was given a lot of freedom at my home. My parents didn't want me to feel fenced in at home. But, their one standing rule of being home before dark is something they did not give me leeway on ever. As we stared at the dark, foreboding vegetation before us, Jerry said, "Why don't we all just go home now? Whatever the hell it was..." and then we heard the first SCREAM. It was very similar to the scream of a woman who had been hurt if that makes any sense to you. "EEEEEEHHHHHHHH!!!!!," this creature screamed! We could not see it. But, it was extremely close by. Suddenly, the old Ford truck moved and lifted up about four feet off the cement blocks it had been resting seemingly forever. We all jumped off the truck to see a sight that will live with me forever. Under the truck was the Creature that we had always heard was a superstition. It was definitely the Creature of Bell Cup Road that was now staring at us and screaming...EEEEEEEHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Now, everybody I've told this story to always ask me the same question...WHY didn't you guys run?!?! The only thing I can tell you is that we were in shock. We just stood there as if we were mannequins in a clothing store. Carl was directly behind the truck as the thin, fragile and apparently pale, stick-legged creature (it was about 6'5-6'7) lifted the truck up over its head! I finally came to my senses and yelled at Carl to get away from the damn truck! The Creature again screamed....
"EEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHH" screamed the enraged Creature that was now no longer superstition. It was now threatening us with its incredible strength. That truck still had its engine inside, although there were parts missing (starter, carburetor, etc). So, it still weighed about 4,000lbs, give or take. This creature lifted the truck up over its head...and held it. As I said, I screamed at Carl to get away from the truck and now I was joined by Jerry who also was screaming at him. I ran to grab Carl....and I started toward him about 3 seconds too late. The Creature dropped the truck, tailgate first toward Carl. The truck twisted, turned as the Creature tossed it in Carl's direction. I then heard more screaming. Only it was coming from me this time. The Creature of Bell Cup Road gave one more scream and ran with quickness and speed that would have put a Cheetah to shame. I never saw it again. I never wanted to see it again. The tailgate end of the truck had landed on Carl, just above his knees. The screams that Carl gave rivaled those of the Creature of Bell Cup Road. We could not pull Carl from under the truck. Carl finally and mercifully passed out. We again tried to lift the truck. But, we could not budge the truck. Jerry took off running toward his bike. I could only guess he was going for help. I stayed behind and held Carl in my arms, praying he would not wake up.
Help did arrive for Carl. Carl lost his legs as we all feared he would. His prosthetic legs were a constant reminder to me of what transpired that day. Police did not believe our story of the Creature. They theorized that we were playing on the truck and it flipped over. No one could explain how a truck sitting on blocks flipped over backward and twisted toward Carl. It HAD to have been pushed in that direction.
Of course, only the three of us knew what happened. We all were questioned separately and gave exact stories. Carl didn't give his story for two weeks after he lost his legs. Jerry and I were cleared of any wrongdoing after Carl gave his account. Jerry is now an assistant football coach at a major university in Texas. Jerry drifted apart from Carl and me over the years. We very rarely discussed that tragic night at Bell Cup Road. It's just something we wanted to blot out of our lives. Carl did odd jobs at various businesses in the city. His problem wasn't so much his prosthetic legs. It was his heavy drinking that put Carl in abject poverty. I did as much as I could for Carl. In some ways, I felt responsible for not getting to Carl in time before the Creature threw (yes, threw the truck) the truck at Carl. He always told me that I was talking nonsense. In December of 2005, Carl put a revolver to his right temple and pulled the trigger. The Creature finally claimed its victim.
I never went back to Bell Cup Estates after that incident. I was grounded for six weeks by my parents. My dad wanted to ground me until I was 21 years old. It didn't matter. After what happened to Carl, none of us wanted to go back. There have been a smattering of sightings or sounds of the Creature of Bell Cup Road after our encounter with that creature. But, all that did was feed into the superstition that few believed. Funny thing is, last I heard, the entire abandoned subdivision was leveled by bulldozers. It has now been taken over by the dense, thick vegetation that was nearby. But, in my nightmares, I still hear Carl screaming. And I still hear that Creature screaming...and lifting that old Ford truck up...and he's always looking right at me.
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