The Inhumanoids

by Barton M Nunnelly

  Later, the bedraggled pair told my brother that several times, as they returned to the camper, their headlights had illuminated what appeared to be “little, hairy creatures.” These things were only 2 to 3 ft. tall, they claimed, and were covered from head to toe with dark brown hair. They shied away when the light hit them and ran swiftly out of view, alternating between bipedal and quadrupedal locomotion. Moreover, each time they were witnessed they appeared to travel in groups of from two to four individuals.

  One night, as the two were readying for sleep, they heard a strange noise, a ‘chattering’ sound, coming from the darkness outside. They looked out very quietly, and were alarmed to see a considerable group of these creatures in the woods just outside the door. Worse yet, they seemed to be stealthily approaching the camper, darting from tree to tree. Despite this, every so often one or two of them would let out another ‘monkey-like’ grunt.

  Chris immediately grabbed the handgun Robert had given them for protection. He would’ve started shooting, Chris said, if Tim hadn’t stopped him. He feared that such an act might anger the others. Maybe even enough to make them swarm the camper all at once. Then what? They certainly couldn’t shoot them all.

  They noted that the diminutive critters were covered in dirt and dried mud, as if they were freshly returned from a digging endeavor on one of the many nearby creek banks. They were relieved when they decided to step outside with their flashlights and again the creatures made a swift retreat from the lights but, even so, neither could sleep a wink after the episode. They hadn’t wanted to say anything about it at first. But now things were getting serious.

  The adults of the household could tell that both the boys were telling the truth and did not disbelieve their story. They had absolutely no reason to make up such a tale. Besides, Robert himself had seen a somewhat similar creature, up close and in broad daylight, back in Spottsville when he was 10 years old; and that one had been around ten ft. tall!

  Surely, if that was, indeed, what they were dealing with now, the three-foot variety couldn’t be all that scary. Especially not with such an array of firearms available. Nearly the entire family were avid hunters. How much trouble could they be? He completely failed to take into account the overwhelming advantages that even smaller animals may afford themselves by traveling in groups. But he would become rudely awakened to this fact one evening not long after.

  As it happened, one night Robert and the two boys, now accompanied by Chris’ father James, found themselves outside after dark trying to locate one of the horses that had escaped the fence. All four were armed with handguns of varying calibers. It was best not to take any unwarranted chances. Especially in karst country. No telling what could be hiding in the caves. Karst topography is a landscape shaped by the dissolution of a layer, or layers, of soluble rock such as limestone or dolomite.

  The two adults carried powerful flashlights in addition to their weapons. As they searched a forested area near where the camper had sat the group became aware that they were not alone in the woods. They could see small, dark figures moving swiftly and noiselessly through the trees around them. The two boys pointed wildly at the things in silent vindication. The men shined their lights to and fro and drew their weapons. The boys followed suit.

  Whenever the light beams would hit one of the beings it immediately shrank back into the night and out of sight, running at first on its hind legs before dropping down to all four, then rising once again. They exhibited no eye-shine, they noted, and these too appeared to be covered in mud. Robert also related how, when standing, the creatures’ front legs looked somewhat longer than the back ones.

  The worst of it, he later told me, apart from seeing the weird little boogers in the first place, was that they were intent on advancing toward the group of witnesses, maneuvering their way in on all sides in an apparent attempt to surround them. Only this time, the creatures were operating in complete silence. What these things had in mind as an end result, fortunately, was never discovered for, when one of the things became bold enough to approach within a few inches of James, the alarmed quartet opted for a hasty departure from the area.

  James later told me that one of the creatures had rushed in from behind him and ran straight up into a tree without slowing down at all. The force of the movement was such that he could feel the wind on his neck. They all considered themselves lucky that they had somehow managed to make it back to the safety of the house without firing a single shot.

  I subsequently interviewed each of the witnesses and they all agreed on every detail and each strongly attested to the fact that they weren’t particularly interested in going outside after sundown because of it. I walked much of the area in question but could find no evidence in the form of physical traces of the reported creatures nor apparent signs of digging on any of the nearby creek banks. By the time I was able to make it to the site things had quieted down, it seemed. In the ensuing months, Robert informed me that every single chicken that he owned, not surprisingly, had disappeared.

  Business and personal reasons kept me from returning to that part of the state for many months. Then, in May, 1998, another sighting took place. This one by Robert’s son, DJ, and one of his friends, a neighbor from down the road a piece. My mother had recently returned from Yuma Arizona and decided to move a trailer onto the property next to Robert’s house. She had immediately purchased three dairy cows to put out to graze with the horses.

  The two youths were busy entertaining themselves in the back yard on the day in question, when they noticed that one of the cows had separated from the other two and was running around in the field. On closer inspection, they saw that it was being chased by one of the strange, hairy creatures. This one was slightly larger than the ones previously seen by his father-around four or five ft. tall. It also looked quite dirty, they told me, before describing the same curious ambulatory gait as the other witnesses. The only reason the thing didn’t catch the cow, both boys claimed, was because it had accidentally run into an old barbed wire fence and stumbled to the ground.

  After this the creature seemed to give up the chase entirely. Moreover, the two claimed to have witnessed a footprint left behind by this thing before a subsequent thunderstorm obliterated any and all traces of evidence which may, or may not, have existed at the time. They described it as looking like the print of a man, except for the toes, which appeared to be split-hoofed.

  The fact that one of these unknown creatures was, evidently, confidant enough in his own abilities to single handedly attempt to bring down a full-grown heifer says much about the animals’ apparently aggressive natures. Not mentioning, of course, the fact that a ‘pack’ of them had already tried to surround four armed men.

  The pattern here seems to suggest a mostly nocturnal animal. That they were all covered in dirt or mud in every sighting appears to give credence to the supposition that they might utilize, on a regular basis, the intricate and extensive cave systems that exist in the area. They would almost certainly be omnivorous, taking full advantage of every available food source. Could these mysterious creatures actually live in the area, as described, yet still remain unknown to modern science? The answer is yes.

  South Central Kentucky, like the rest of the state, is no stranger to reports of hirsute, ape-like humanoids both small and large. Sober witnesses have been describing such things, from all parts of Ky., for generations. According to Loren Coleman’s highly recommended work, ‘Mysterious America,’ in nearby Monroe County there exists a location called ‘Monkey Cave Hollow.’ The name was given by early settlers and referred to the strange tribe of ‘monkeys’ which inhabited the area, living in caves and foraging for roots and berries.

  According to Coleman, these critters were hunted to their apparent extinction, with the ‘last of them’ reportedly shot and killed around the turn of the 20th century. I humbly submit the strong possibility that at least some of them got away.

  The region seems to be a favored haunt of these mysterious �
��monkeys.’ Bordered on three sides by the state’s largest lakes; Barren River Lake, Dale Hollow and Lake Cumberland, the land between and around these bodies of water remains largely virgin and unspoiled. At present writing I have been to the area several times and gazed upon the many mountains, valleys, forests, rivers and streams. More than enough resources to adequately sustain and conceal large numbers of creatures such as these; with room to spare, especially if one considers the world’s largest underground cavern system beneath his feet. I’ve explored some of the region’s stream beds, forests and caves and marveled at the natural beauty to be found there.

  In some of the caves one can put his ear to the ground and listen to swift water running somewhere in the darkness far below. Much of this region’s wilderness areas are so remote that they are frequented by very few people; if any. I have no doubt that scores of the area’s caves eventually interface with the aforementioned Mammoth Cave system in nearby Edmonson County which remains a unique enigma in itself and still holds many secrets that have yet to see the light of day. One of them, I’m certain, must be the existence of small, monkey-like, nocturnal inhumanoids.

  The Little Monster

  Seeing is believing, right? Or are some things seen by the naked eye just too fantastic and, therefore, beyond belief? Christopher M. Walker wholly believes that he and a group of friends witnessed such a sight just before midnight on July 4th, 1990 when he was 14 years old. Chris, now 33, is a no-nonsense type of fellow. A family man with a wife and two children, he has worked in the construction industry for nearly two decades. He’s not the type to lie or make up stories. Like his family, I believed him when he related to me the strange events of that Independence Day evening 17 years ago.

  He and his buddies, he told me, had been sitting on a stack of old skids behind a factory building located on the East side of Henderson, Ky. that night. One of them had a pilfered pack of Camel filterless smokes and passed it around. The mischievous quintet was sitting there, as kids are often want to do, telling jokes and lies and smoking cigarettes. All of them knew they were too young to be doing it, one of them was only 10 years old, but doing what wasn’t allowed was a way to be ‘cool.’

  Still, the 10-year-old was in Chris’ care and, if they had gotten caught that night, he said, it would’ve been his ass. All around them were dumpsters and many stacks of old skids from the factory. Chris was busily engaged in the seemingly endless endeavor to be cooler than his other teenage buddies, tougher, braver, when all their boasts were cut short by a loud banging sound.

  They turned to look and saw, about 30 ft. away, a wooden crate sitting atop a rusted old BFI dumpster. The crate was moving each time the noise rang out and the youths realized, with much astonishment, that whatever was making the noise was inside the crate and trying to beat its way out. The crate started to rock back and forth, back and forth until it finally toppled from the edge of the dumpster and fell to the ground with a crash. What happened next, he soberly informed me, was the most frightening moment in his young life.

  Slowly rising from the wooden debris was a dwarf-like creature covered from head to toe, with the exception of its face and hands, in short, dark hair of uniform length. The street lamp just down at the corner illuminated the thing, and reflected red in the creature’s eyes. Fully erect it stood only around 3 ½ ft. tall and looked around, frantically turning this way and that as if disoriented or lost. The boys stared wide eyed at the thing, glued to the spot by the numbing fear which froze them all.

  It had pointed ears, like a pig’s, red eyes, and a flat, wide nose. It had a “mangy” look about it. Some of the hair on its body was thin or bald and the skin beneath was dark brown while on its bare face and hands the skin seemed a lighter shade. The group watched as the thing continued to look around bewilderedly for about 10 seconds. Then, when the reality of what they were seeing actually sank in, their paralysis broke and they all fled the scene with much haste, running all the way back to Chris’ house nearly half a mile away without stopping. Of course, no one believed them when they told their stories.

  When I spoke to Chris about the encounter in 2006, I was able to gather more details about the entity’s appearance. It was muscular, he said and it had the overall bodily proportions of a midget. Although the arms were of normal length it had short, bowed legs. They couldn’t see its feet. Moreover, it looked like it had been wearing clothing of some sort which was threadbare and torn, hanging off its arms and legs in short ragged strips. When the group fled, they dared not look back, he said, for fear that it might be giving chase.

  The next year, 1991, Chris was surprised by an impromptu visit from another friend who was not involved in, or even knew of, the aforementioned experience. Something seemed wrong with him to the point that Chris had blatantly asked what the matter was. The youth was not willing to tell, at first, for fear of ridicule but, at length, he acquiesced and said that, as he was driving over the Washington street bridge which spanned Canoe Creek near Lincoln Ave., he heard what sounded like a woman screaming in pain.

  Then, suddenly, a small, dark, hair covered little ‘thing’ ran out from under the bridge, on two legs, and up into the mouth of a large drainage tunnel. It stopped then and turned around toward the passing vehicle, letting out another high-pitched scream. It had red eyes and pointed ears.

  In a follow-up interview in July of 2008, I spoke to Chris again to see if he might be able to add anything to his original statement. “Only that I still have absolutely no idea what that thing was,” he said. “It was the scariest moment of my life.”

  “It was the first week of June, 2000 when my wife and I decided to travel to Lake Gogebic to fish for walleyes. We decided to take a mutual friend along, as he loved to fish and required assistance as he is disabled.

  I drove from southern Michigan straight through to Marquette and decided to have my wife drive the rest of the way since I was quite tired. (it was approximately 2:00 a.m.) As she drove, we encountered numerous deer crossing the road so she slowed down to about 40 mph. We were about 30-40 west of Marquette when a strange animal ran out in front of us about 100 meters down the road.

  As we approached it, it stopped on the right side of the road and turned to look at us; either in surprise or to ‘study’ us. We slowed to a stop about 15-20 meters from it. With the high beams on, it was very clear. This animal was about 4-4 1/2 feet tall and traveled on all fours. It had long silver-grey hair with contrasting black-dark brown streaks. It’s back was angled at about 45 degrees, having the posture of a gorilla or a hyena. The front legs were very long; disproportionately longer than the rear legs, which were short and squatty.

  What really amazed and scared us was the head and face. Its ears were flat to the sides of the head and the face was very round and flat; almost humanoid. It had no protruding snout; like a dog) and large black eyes. The neck was very thick; almost as if the head merged directly into the upper torso.

  It bolted past the car at an angle and I watched it out of the passenger side window; it was close enough to me that I could see that it was about 3/4 the size of a person. My wife turned the car around and we watched it go up a steep hill, moving very quickly taking large smooth strides (jumping 6-8 feet with each bound). It disappeared over the hill heading North-east. Unfortunately, my camera was packed away in the trunk.

  My friend and I have hunted and fished in Michigan all of our lives (he is a Biology major) and we have never encountered anything like this before. All three of us saw it; granted we were tired, but it was very clear. We still talk about this today and would like to talk to people in the area to see if anyone else has seen a similar animal. It did not appear to match descriptions of a yeti or a Sasquatch and it certainly was not a dog or a large Bobcat. Jokingly, when we talk about it, we refer to it as “monkey-boy.”

  El Diablillo - The Imps From Hell

  It was late on Saturday night, April 17th, 2000 when a patrolman found himself strolling down the Plazeta Alfonso de la Vega,
in the town of Fria, Argentina which is roughly 160 miles from Cordoba. He noticed a small, child-like figure beside the road and was alarmed at the notion of a young one being out at such hours. He approached the ‘child’ to ask if it was lost, but his curiosity turned to horror when the thing turned around on his approach to stare at him with two red, burning eyes. Like the eyes of a devil straight from hell.

  Another diminutive inhumanoid was seen in the Cordoba region a few years earlier by 14-year-old Juan Pablo as it was walking toward Aguas de los Palos. It was short, Palos said, wearing a red jumpsuit and cap and carrying some sort of walking stick or staff. Another imp sighting is said to have occurred at Camino de los Duendes; the ‘Path of the Goblins.’ But these ‘Goblins’ weren’t done yet. On July 12th, the newspaper La Gaceta of San Miguel de Tucuman ran a story of another Goblin sighting, this time by two town police officers who were later found in a state of shock and were undergoing treatment at a local hospital.

  The two officers, Corporal Miguel Angel Aguero and Luis Rodolfo Aguero, along with one other officer, Walter Ortega, all claimed that they were asleep at their post near Dande de Varel, some 200 miles from the capital, when they were awoken by stomping sounds which seemed to come from the roof of the next room. When Ortega went outside to check, he was suddenly lifted into the air by a powerful unseen force, and thrown into a tree branch, which snapped on impact, injuring him.

  A police driver was called to the scene who then summoned an additional fifteen more policemen. Angel Aguero, a ten-year veteran of the service as well as a champion marathon runner, was found sitting in a chair at the site, eye’s glazed and staring at the ceiling shouting, “There it is! There it is! It has come to get me!” Once some composure was regained, he told officers that he’d seen a small figure with glowing red eyes. It wore a green shirt with black trousers, he said, and had informed Aguero that he’d come for him “...on Satan’s behalf.” Further investigation turned up no evidence of the alleged dwarf.