Decemystery (2024) 24: The Hopping Creature of Gardnerville

 

It’s Christmas Eve, the night before the happiest, jolliest, most wondrous time of the year. I wonder what I’ll be doing that day. I hope it’s nothing stressful!

Anyway, if you read the write-up on “The Day the Earth Screamed” the other day, you’d know that I said that I had “easier stories” to fall back on if I needed to switch up the schedule for this month if it came to that. Lo and behold, yes, it did; today’s story wasn’t intended to be covered. I had another alien account in mind, but I’m at the point where I want to be done with writing so I can stop treating clocks and calendars with the same level of fear that I’d treat being cornered by a pit bull.

Because I want simple stuff, I went over to About, my favorite defunct online repertoire of stories; the despair I feel whenever I’m reminded of that is enough to turn me into a Sock and Buskin mask. God, I need to find more websites like it.

Oh well, I can do that when I’m not racing against the clock. So, what’s today’s impromptu tale of strangeness? Well, honestly, I don’t really know. It’s one that I picked out at pure random and went with because the title was interesting to me.

No, really, that was why I went with it. I’ve mentioned in the past—but I don’t think recently—that I’ve covered some stories because of their name. Even if I haven’t read the case, I’ve gone ahead and said, “I want to cover that,” to myself. This has backfired on more than several occasions, but since when have I ever learned my lesson? I’ve done Decemystery since 2018 (2022 doesn’t count) and have yet to learn how to temper my workload.

I digress, though; today’s mystery takes us over to Nevada, a state that—strangely enough—has yet to be featured on this blog outside of a write-up from 2019 where I (haphazardly) covered the theories surrounding Stephen Paddock, the man who perpetrated the 2017 Las Vegas Massacre.

However, when it comes to cryptids or UFOs, Nevada has been noticeably absent. It’s been mentioned numerous times, thanks to Area 51, but it’s somehow slipped through the cracks otherwise.

No longer, though! Today, we’ll be discussing something that I call The Hopping Creature of Gardnerville. Come along, dear reader; it’s time for us to head on over to one of the United States’ most culturally notorious states, a place that has become synonymous with gold, gambling, and oh-so-many more salacious things. Strap in because the land of Sin City is finally getting the spotlight shone on it!

Decemystery (2024) 6: The Skinless, Yellow-Eyed Creature of Arizona

 

If there’s one thing I enjoy, it’s a good scary story—be it short or long. I’ve said that before, and I will repeat it as many times as I can because it’s the unvarnished truth. Horror has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember; I attribute it to reading the Goosebumps books as a child; the delightfully creepy tales that R.L. Stine weaved were among my favorites. Heck, I still have fond memories of them. I always have, and dang it, I always will!

My friends, on the other hand, are generally not as keen on the genre. Some of them are, but more than a few have told me that some of the cases I’ve covered creep them out. I don’t see what the big deal is. How can you not enjoy stories of people seeing monstrosities that, if proven to exist, would reshape what we know about Earth?

Okay, perhaps that’s a bad question to ask, especially when we’re discussing my friends, who you likely know nothing about. What I can safely say, though, is that today’s Decemystery entry is one that’s as creepy as it is absolutely bewildering. In other words, it’s the norm for this blog. If you expect anything to be normal, you made a wrong turn on Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, or whatever search engine you use.

As for the story itself, it comes to us from archives of About—the website that I’m sure I’ll give its own tag because of how frequently I visit it. Actually, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Maybe I’ll do that at some point after I’ve finished this year’s Decemystery (assuming I remember to do it).

Anyway, let’s get to the story. Suffice it to say, the thing that caught my eye was the name, and I have to imagine that you, dear reader, also saw that title and either went, “I’m not reading that,” or “Oh, I’m so reading that.” If you fall into the latter category, then come along; it’s time to head to the American Southwest to investigate the case of The Skinless, Yellow-Eyed Creature of Arizona!