Decemystery (2024) 29: The Red-Furred... Thing

Some of you may be wondering what’s up with that header image. Well, allow me to explain it to you, dear reader.

I want everyone to know that I am writing this roughly 14 hours after the previous write-up. If you didn’t read that unhinged diatribe of mayhem and joy, I spent 15 hours on the road yesterday and wrote the article over the span of a mere 3 hours.

I thought that I would pass out the second I was done. I was wrong. I was awake until 1:30 in the morning; I was up for 23 and a half hours because I was riding a bipolar-induced high from the frenetic writing I did (which I mentioned in the conclusion of the write-up).

Thankfully, melatonin was there to save the day—albeit less than I usually take. That’s likely why I went to bed later than I should have, but oh well. It took a while, but I did sleep for nine hours. It was nice and comfy underneath my blanket. It was less nice and comfy in my borderline fever-dream-infested mind.

It was even less nice when I woke up.

Holy crap, I woke up with the worst headache imaginable. It felt like a gorilla was using my head as a punching bag. I have no idea if I caught something over the holidays or if it’s just the lack of proper sleep, but it feels like Death took a holiday in my skull.

Normally, that would be grounds for not writing and instead resting so I get better. However, as my friends will tell you, I do not understand the concept of “getting proper rest” when I am sick. Why is that? Because I get highly irritable and restless when I am not doing something.

That means it’s time for “Physically Unwell Storytime with Vertigo,” presented by a bottle of Tylenol. So, what’s today’s story? What do I, a man who feels like utter trash, have in store for you, dear reader?

Something that gives me a headache on its own.

This case was on the cusp of being axed because I simply wasn’t sure if I felt like covering another cryptid case. But then I realized that might be a good way to exert the frustration I’m feeling from the headache. So, come along; take a seat outside of my plastic bubble while I tell you about The Red-Furred… Thing.

What, is that an abrupt lead-in to the write-up? So is a rapid-onset of post-Christmas sickness.

Decemystery (2024) 21: A 4channer’s Disturbing VHS Discovery

 

Something I’ve expressed a great deal of interest in doing is covering more stories from 4chan. Primarily cases from the site’s paranormal board, /x/, though I’m open to writing about tales from just about any board if it’s adequately strange enough.

Now, I have a feeling there are more than a few of you who find that idea rather silly. After all, 4chan is notorious for hoaxes and pranks; as such, covering the innumerable Fleshgait, UFO, cryptid, and ghost stories will result in me labeling the case a hoax more often than not.

However, the reason I want to start writing about the stories isn’t because I care about their veracity. Instead, it’s because I think the stories are just outright interesting; I find them creepy, and I’d like to share many of my favorite greentext horror stories with you. They’ve provided me with a lot of enjoyment throughout the years, and I think it could be fun to dedicate write-ups to them.

Last year, I covered a story called “The Screaming Stars,” which—aside from the numerous Conspiracy Iceberg cases that I’ve covered—remains the only greentext story I’ve covered on this blog. For those unaware, greentexts are the stories that utilize the > symbol prior to a sentence.

Now, originally, I’d planned to make Decemystery 2024 the year that I’d begin this trend. I had three stories picked out that I was eager to cover. However, they were all scrapped because I wasn’t confident I could do them justice. In hindsight, I’m sure I could’ve covered one of them and brought it to life in spades, but I digress. There’s always next year.

Despite wiping those three choices from the schedule, I still wanted to cover one spooky story from 4chan. So, I went looking for one. My options were plentiful, but one stood out to me. It’s a case that doesn’t feature anything I mentioned earlier; we’re not going into the realm of the paranormal or supernatural today, dear reader. No, today, we’re tackling something that falls into a rather unique category. It’s a creepy tale that leaves me feeling uncomfortable.

Hailing from /x/, this is a story that I called A 4channer’s Disturbing VHS Discovery. It’s one that I’m pretty sure I heard a great many years ago. And now, at long last, I’ll finally begin what I hope will become a tradition like with the Conspiracy Iceberg. Come along, dear reader; it’s time for us to journey to the Internet’s most infamous image board and see what terrifying tale awaits us in its archives this time!

Decemystery (2024) 18: One Man’s Conversation with a Cat

 

This write-up is dedicated to a very dear friend of mine. You know who you are!

Once upon a time, I was a bright-eyed, idealistic guy who had dreams and aspirations. Then, the tsunami called “life” came along and washed them all away. This is why I now vehemently dislike idealism and believe that people are better off learning early on that the world’s a rough place and viewed the same way you’d view a lion—terrifying.

Lucky for me, the one thing that the tsunami didn’t sweep away was my optimism. I’ve always maintained a fair amount of it, and I’ve made sure never to lose it. It’s an important piece of my younger self that I cling to for dear life.

That said, for a while, my optimism was really close to evaporating when it came to my writing. The reason for that? Well, when I looked at my family—be they immediate or extended—I often looked at myself and questioned what road I took a detour on.

For context, my family has a history in the military and law (be it law enforcement or lawyering). To call me a black sheep would be quite an understatement; I’m about as far detached from them when it comes to careers and jobs as you can get. Whereas they took up noble occupations, I’m sitting on my bed writing about how people saw a giant spider on the moon.

This, in turn, would make me feel vastly inferior to them. I suppose that’s a given; I’m writing about some of the weirdest stuff I find while combing the Internet. I’m not exactly Robert Kardashian, but I still wished I had more to show for my life than a blog that people visit on occasion.

Lucky for me, in recent times, I’ve come to embrace that black sheep status. My family has supported me, and they love that I’ve pursued a more niche and obtuse path in life than following in the footsteps of everyone else. So, all’s well and good.

Now, what does any of this have to do with today’s story? Well, as we draw ever closer to the end of Decemystery, I want the stories to get weirder; I want them to become so brain-meltingly absurd that you’ll take a look at the title and go, “Oh, Vertigo made this up.” But, deep down, you’ll know I didn’t.

I feel like if I’m going to embrace the topics I’ve fallen in love with, I need to make the second half of this month near-total chaos; I need this Decemystery to end off on a note so crazy that every day will be akin to the wildest roller coaster imaginable! So, to begin that, let’s talk about One Man’s Conversation with a Cat.

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!

Decemystery (2023) 29: The Light with a Thousand Voices

I’d like to take this moment to say that the header image for this write-up has absolutely nothing to do with the story itself. I had it picked out months upon months ago when this was going to be about a much different case but ultimately decided to hold off on covering it until a future date. However, I loved the close-up image of the owl from the film “The Fourth Kind” so much that I opted to keep it. It’s one of the very few things about that movie I actually like.

Now, why did I go on a paragraph-long tangent about that movie? Well, you see, I have absolutely no conceivable way to introduce this story. With this story, I could not—in any natural way—begin it without forcing the writing process to begin. The only way I could get everything in motion was a tangent; that’s the only way, in my eyes, this write-up could begin naturally.

When I plan out Decemysterys, I like to save the weirdest for last, specifically the final week, since I like to round out the year with a week of extraordinary strangeness. The thing is that this month has had a lot—and I mean a whole dang lot—of weird stories. To try and say that the last week of this month was any stranger than the previous weeks of this month would be ridiculously hard to sell.

I think the perfect example would be one of the first stories we covered this month, that of The Bagodemon. That monstrosity, whether you agreed with my assessment of it being a hoax or not, was said to move around by launching its arm at trees and sticking to them like it was made of gum. To call that “strange” would be like saying the Tsar Bomba was a firecracker.

However, today’s story is one that I cannot begin to introduce to you. It’s not a story that can be “described” or be eased into. It’s something that you just need to experience; you need to read it for yourself in order to bask in the incomprehensible madness that it offers. It sounds like something out of an H.P. Lovecraft story; someone awakes to see a radiant light, and within it, he hears a thousand voices in it.

It was a story I randomly found while combing through NUFORC’s archives. My hope was to find an easy UFO sighting to write about so I could finish this month’s write-ups quickly. Instead, I found… whatever the heck this story was. So come along, dear reader, as we explore the story of The Light with a Thousand Voices!

Decemystery (2022.3) 26: The Crimean Slug

 

In my life, I’ve seen only one or two slugs; I believe I was 9 or 10 years old at the time. The poor fellas had salt poured on them by the kids I called my friends. Their reason for doing this was “it made them look like scrambled eggs.” You know, in hindsight, this behavior really explains why they are the way they are today.

Lucky for me, I did not end up like them. Unlucky for me, I’m here to talk to you about not one but two stories related to slugs. You see, I don’t like slugs. In fact, I don’t like anything that’s small and crawls on the ground. They all scare and gross me out. That’s why today, I’m going to be telling you the story of larger-than-normal slugs, starting with The Crimean Slug. Just saying: the fact they’re larger actually makes this considerably worse.

Decemystery (2022.3) Bonus Entry: The Ghosts of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Good evening, dear reader! Merry Christmas to you; have a seat near the fireplace. I have a story for you. A few of them, actually. This write-up isn’t focused on any one case or report; it’s more of a collection that I’ve amassed when researching the topic.

When I was putting together this year’s Decemysterys, I wanted to cover some stories related to NASCAR. Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to all of them; the one about the Talladega sabotage ended up being considerably longer than I thought. So, I decided to forego most of the other stories.

There was one, however, that I kept. One that I thought was simply too good not to cover. You see, one of the most iconic tracks in all of motorsports stands in Indiana. It’s known as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, nicknamed “The Brickyard,” and it’s a beast that has a bloody history. So, for our first Decemystery bonus entry, we’ll be talking about The Ghosts of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Come along, dear reader; let’s go ghost hunting!

Decemystery (2023) 14: The Shrieking Hulk

 

A quick note before we begin: this image has nothing to do with the story, but I thought it was too funny not to use; if anyone knows where it’s from, let me know!

One of my greatest dreams—as of the time of writing—is to go hunting for Bigfoot with a few of my friends. Although I hate the idea of going camping, my love for the legend of Bigfoot outweighs that dislike. As such, I often tell my closest friends how awesome it’d be if we got together and went hunting for the infamous ape-man in what I envision as a fun time out in the wilderness. That, or we go ghost hunting at a place like Waverly Hills Sanitorium. Boy, there’s a place I desperately need to do a write-up on!

Of course, there are a lot of logistical hurdles that would need to be overcome for this dream to be achieved. As it stands, I cannot overcome a single one, so it remains nothing more than a dream that I shall think about until it comes true or I give up on it. Lucky for me, dreams drive me to at least continue pursuing the things that I love—in the case of today’s Decemystery entry, a case about a creature that reminded me a great deal of the aforementioned Bigfoot.

While browsing through the ever-so-amazing About archives, a story caught my eye. At first, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to cover it since I didn’t want to poach an ungodly number of cases from the site, especially since I feel that a fair number of them tend to end with me feeling a bit uncertain about what it was. However, the more I thought about this case, the more I was quite confident that I could draw a concrete conclusion. So come along, dear reader; this is the tale of The Shrieking Hulk!

Decemystery (2023) 11: The Creature at the Cabin Door

 

Oh, hey there. Welcome back to my blog; please make yourself comfortable near the campfire. Help yourself to some marshmallows, too. I don’t like them, to be quite honest; I never have. But I bought them because that’s what people do when camping, I think. Truthfully, I have never gone camping.

Anyway, enough with the silly roleplaying. I needed something to kickstart this write-up since, even though this is the thirty-ninth Decemystery I’m doing, introductions have gotten no easier. In fact, ever since I returned to writing at the start of the year, I’d dare say they’ve only gotten harder.

My bemoaning aside, I want to return to a website we visited the other day: “About,” the one that hosted the story of the Mexican Tongue Monster. I mentioned that it appeared to be a treasure trove that I would need to pilfer. Well, a few months after covering that story, I decided to return and snoop around. I was right; it’s a host to a lot of wild, jaw-dropping stories. So, in the coming days, we’ll be returning to it a lot.

The first I want to take a look at is entitled The Creature at the Cabin Door. This sounds like something akin to a generic creepypasta, but it’s a truly unsettling and bizarre story from the forests of New York. So come along; it’s time to go camping in the Adirondack Mountains!

Decemystery (2023) 9: The Mexican Tongue Monster

“Now I’ve heard it all.”

These are five words I’ve thought and said to myself many times in my life. Yet, every time I listen to a video centered on unsolved mysteries, cryptozoology, or paranormal events, I’m proven wrong. I had not, in fact, heard it all. In fact, I wasn’t even close.

Today’s story is a prime example of that truth; you think there’s no way for life to surprise you anymore, but then it throws a curveball. The Mexican Tongue Monster is a story that, by all accounts, sounds like the nickname for an exotic Mexican dish. However, that isn’t the case. It’s a cryptid, and it embodies everything I love about unorthodox naming conventions.

Decemystery (2022.3) 9: The Fence Fiend

 

A random fun fact: I had no idea what to tag this write-up with. I’m 99% sure it’s a story about a ghost, but it also struck me as a humanoid encounter. In the end, I went with both because that felt like the safest option.

Anyway, hello, hello; welcome to my blog. This is where I write about the weirdest mysteries and other Fortean goodness that I find. As of the time of writing, I want to stop writing because I’m pretty sure I’ve written more in the past six months than I have in my entire life, from birth to throughout my time in the god-forsaken public education system to playing World of Warcraft. Seriously, carpal tunnel hurts; why do I lack foresight of any kind?

My incessant whining aside, it’s Decemystery. That means it’s time for yet another mystery; pretend I threw confetti here because I’m too lazy to get a jpg of some. Anyway, today’s story is one that, as I said earlier, feels like a weird mixture of a humanoid encounter and a paranormal mystery. While that may sound stupid since ghosts are normally said to be the spirits of dead humans, you’ll see what I mean in a little. But enough dilly-dallying; this, dear reader, is the tale of The Fence Fiend!

Decemystery (2021) 26: Peggy and the Giant Talking Cockroach

 

Cockroaches are… not exactly the most appealing insects out there. I’ve only ever seen one in my life and it was outside of a hospital in New York City. It took a moment for me to register what it was since it was out of the corner of my eye, but when I saw it fully, I remember shuddering and thinking it was the ugliest thing I’d ever seen. Thankfully, it was dead (I’m guessing the staff had sprayed it with RAID or it froze to death since I believe this was in autumn/winter).

Of course, that’s just my own little experience with them. I hope I never see one again—and if I’m unfortunate enough to see one, I hope it’s dead. Though I mean, that’s just me; I’m terrified of insects (let alone any creepy-crawly). You, on the other hand, may really like them.

One thing I think we can agree on though is that giant insects aren’t exactly the most pleasant thing to think about. Besides being something straight out of an old-timey B-movie, they’d also likely see us as food. It’s because of that that I’m sorry to say that today’s story, which I call Peggy and the Giant Talking Cockroach, deals with precisely that. This is gonna make my skin crawl.

Decemystery (2021) 24: The Campfire Creature/Louisiana Swamp Monster/Arizona Camp Monster

The ObscUrban Legend Wiki is home to a lot of stories (you needn’t look further than how many times I’ve mentioned it this month), and it’s where I found today’s story. However, swear that I’ve seen it before; it was likely on a scary video compilation on YouTube. I just can’t pin down which channel included it. Oh well, no use in trying to remember something that isn’t important. Sit around the campfire, dear reader. This is the story of the Campfire Creature… or the Louisiana Swamp Monster… or the Arizona Camp Monster… I’ll explain in a bit.

Decemystery (2021) 23: The Signal of Isla Han Samar

Today’s story is yet another one from the Forteana Map. It, much like the story of the “Elevator Riddle”, has virtually nothing on it. However, I opted to still cover it for two reasons. The first is that I wanted something else that was rather easy to cover (I stand by the excuse I gave when talking about the Elevator Riddle: I’ve had a rough year, please cut me a break). The second is that it doesn’t appear that anyone—not even Dead Rabbit Radio—has talked about this story. So, I figured it could be fun to be the first person to cover it.

At least, I believe I’m the first person to have covered it. If I’m not, I feel silly for missing whoever did. They didn’t appear in either Google or Bing’s search results, no matter how many times I tried to look up information on this story.

Ah, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start from the beginning. This is the story of the Signal of Isla Han Samar.

Decemystery (2021) 19: Shirtwood Forest

Forests, to me, have a very creepy air to them. You’re potentially miles from civilization and you have to be on the lookout for wildlife that may not take too kindly to strangers in their territory. That, coupled with the many legends that surround forests (be it shapeshifting creatures, demonic bipeds, or regular old Bigfoot-type creatures), and you’ve got yourself a place that can make you become really paranoid. Though even if we’re to ignore all of that, there’s something about forests that can be really eerie. I think it’s the fact that they’re generally very quiet. That always puts some folks (myself included) on edge.

There’s more to forests than just legends though. A great many killers have used them to dispose of their victims, treasures can be buried there, and the Blair Witch calls one her home. Though for today, we aren’t here to discuss any of that. No, today, we’re here to talk about something a lot more innocuous, yet simultaneously unsettling—in my opinion at least. I found the story on the ObscUrban Legend Wiki (because I apparently can’t find stories anywhere else) and the High-Strangeness Wiki. It’s known as Shirtwood Forest, and it’s a really bizarre… thing. So come along, it’s time to go clothes shopping.

Decemystery (2021) 18: The Saviors of Doris Smith

I added and removed this story from this year’s schedule so many times, it was like I was playing hot potato with it. It’s not like it’s a controversial or bleak story—quite the opposite in fact. It’s an extremely upbeat and quite fascinating one.

No, the only reason I contemplated not doing it was because I’m an indecisive person who can’t settle on anything until after he’s done writing it. This story just so happened to be at the receiving end of me repeatedly trying to find a replacement story. Alas, I couldn’t think of any and in hindsight, it’s kind of silly of me because it was one of the very first stories I picked out for this year’s Decemystery back in January.

Anyways, just like the mysterious money in Matt and Wendy Jameson’s backyard, today’s story will make us all feel really happy (at least, I think it will). This is the story of the Saviors of Doris Smith.

Decemystery (2021) 15: The Money in Matt and Wendy Jameson's Backyard

Amidst a sea of really absurd and depressing mysteries, it’s sometimes hard to remember that there are stories out there which are more uplifting or light-hearted in nature. Today, I want to take a moment to bring attention to one. It’s short and doesn’t involve anything more than a strange event which began as quickly as it ended. This is the story of the Money in Matt and Wendy Jameson’s Backyard.

Decemystery (2021) 13: Ina Jane Doe

 

I’m not going to lie, I have no idea how to do an introduction for this story. I’ve sat here trying out various things, but I always come up thinking it isn’t very attention grabbing. No, I think the only thing that would grab one’s attention is the reconstruction of the woman known as Ina Jane Doe. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t drawn to the story primarily because of said reconstruction, but I digress. Let’s just jump in, because this is a really delightful story. That’s sarcasm by the way.

Mystery: Daviess County John Doe (1990)

 

Okay, so, here’s a funny story for you all. Originally, I had planned to write about Septic Tank Sam, the infamous murder victim from Alberta who was tortured, murdered (real shocker there), then disposed of in, well, a septic tank back in 1977. However, as I sat down to prepare for this, I learned he had been identified as 26-year-old Gordon Edwin Sanderson. This took me by surprise since 14 hours prior to this identification, I had told my best friend that he would likely never be identified. So not only did I have to change my plans, but I was also proven wrong and Septic Tank Sam got his name back. Truthfully, I’ve never been happier to be wrong.

At the same time, I was somewhat disappointed I wouldn’t be able to talk about a story like Sam’s. Part of what attracted me to it is I personally think I’ve never really dove into a truly dark, horrific case; something which serves as a sobering reminder to how heartless some people can be. There were a few stories I could fall back on (such as the story of Mary Anderson), but none of them really impacted me the same way that Sam’s story did…

All except for one that is.

As cliché as it is to say there was “just one”, I really do think that Sam’s story was that unique. The amount of suffering he went through prior to his death is shocking to say the least. So I feel it’s really unfortunate there is another story which does affect me the same way Sam’s does. Known as the 1990 Daviess County John Doe, this morbid tale is arguably more unpleasant than Sam’s. So if you’re squeamish, you may find this to be a hard read. For everyone else, let’s take a trip to Kentucky and discuss one of the most (if not the most) violent unidentified persons cases I’ve ever come across.

Decemystery (2020) 24: The Subway Man

Ah, let’s take a trip to “excuse me, but what is this?” land. Yes, we’re going on a happy, magical, wonderful journey to the land where the likes of “Is Lord of the Rings Based on a True Story?” resides in its castle made of sticks, stones, and Pauly Shore movies. Why? Well, today, we’re talking about a story about something called the Subway Man. This barely qualifies as a mystery, but it’s something so inexplicably nonsensical that I want to cover it. Also, I need a break because this month is beginning to make my mental health deteriorate. God, I love Decemystery.