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by: Author James Wintle That day back in the winter of 1955 started out grayish and foreboding. It had been threatening snow all morning. Finally about noon the wind picked up and began snowing hard. I was working at Fay & Scott’s and late in the afternoon the management decided to let us out early fearing that this storm might turn into a blizzard and sure enough that’s what happened. I decided to leave my car at the Fay & Scott parking lot and ride home with Clyde Hemingway and Carl Tewksbury. We started out by way of the Old Ripley Road (out by Bishop’s elderly homes) through the swamp but had to turn back because of too much snow. We turned around and headed back to Dexter hoping that the main road to Ripley might be opened up enough to get through. It was. No problem until we got to the road leading to Carl Tewksbury’s home. We went as far as the old Charles Ellms homestead only to find the road plugged by knee-high drifts. By that time it was completely dark and we could see that the road ahead was impassable. Listening in on the car radio, the announcer was predicting a full-fledged blizzard. Carl and I got out and walked the rest of the way to his house a short distance up the road. Clyde Hemingway hightailed it toward Ripley village in the hopes of reaching his home safely. Of course my house was a good mile and a half beyond Carl’s house and I explained to him that I just had to get home to my family as they would be worried. Carl offered me some snowshoes but I told him that I thought that I could make it alright. As I started out, little did I know how bad that it was going to be nor how long that it was going to take me. The road was completely clogged with snowdrifts up to two feet and in some places five feet.......some were just soft drifts that I had to roll and crawl through while others were hard-packed which allowed me pretty good footing. It was so dark that I could barely make out the sides of the road by the outlines of the trees. The wind was howling and moaning with the snow coming down in sheets. Not a house nor a light in sight as far as the eye could see.........it was getting really scary. I kept looking behind me imagining something following me!! After rolling and crawling through drift after drift for what seemed like hours, I came within sight of my house.......what a relief!!! As I made my way into the yard, I could hear ‘Cindy’, our dog, growling, barking and putting up quite a ‘fuss’ about something. I thought that she was happy to see me, but, alas!! The hair on the back was standing straight up and she was looking right past me at something that I couldn’t see and she couldn’t see, either....Something was out there....both of us could feel it, I’m sure!!! All the way home, I felt as if something or someone was lurking close to me. Could it have been a bear??? No, I don’t think so, as bears usually hibernate during the winter months. Could it have been another dog, coyote or possibly a wolf??? I think that, highly unlikely. Whatever it was. I didn’t see it. ‘Cindy’ our dog, didn’t see it. However, there was definitely something out there!!! I made a dash for the door of our house and poor old ‘Cindy’ gave two or three leaps and was inside the house before me. To this day, I’ve always been curious as to what had followed me, if anything. Could it have been just my imagination!!! I don’t think so. I have some theories.....”The Abominable Snowman” or “Sasquatch”, so called, have been known to frequent the back woods country such as the area where we live. Well, I guess I’ll never know!!!!! Contact Jim Wintle by email or call 207-924-7598. |
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