I Am Hyper

Chapter 1

When I was a small child, my grandmother had a house on 10 acres of land outside of Choctaw, Oklahoma. The backside and to the right of the house was thick Oklahoma woods. Past the woods on the back of the house were the train tracks that led to a huge train trestle. I spent many a summer days playing on the trestle with my brothers. Those were the best memories of my entire life. From the center of the trestle, you could see for miles in all directions. Green fields with cattle, rivers, woods, and farm houses. It was a scene right out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

My grandmother's house had two large glass patio doors that sat off of the kitchen that overlooked the back woods. During the day it was beautiful, but at night, it was pitch dark. You couldn't see five feet in front of you. One night I was passing by the patio doors from the kitchen and noticed something moving around outside from the corner of my eye. I turned and looked. To this day, I can still see those eyes glaring back at me on that hairy face. A creature standing there swaying back and forth. Being just a small child, it terrified me. It felt like my heart was pounding so hard, it felt like it was going to leap right out of my chest. I ran over and grabbed my grandmother from the sofa where she was sitting. We came back to the doors looking out into the darkness but couldn't see anything. I pointed and said, "It was right over there grandma."

My grandmother turned off the light and was peering out the doors and said, "well, whatever it was, it's gone now. These dark woods can play trick on your mind."

Just as we were getting ready to turn away I saw a large dog standing upright on two legs swaying back and forth at the edge of the woods. I screamed out, "there it is grandma" as I pointed to the right side of the yard.

By the time that she turned and looked, it was gone again. Even though my grandmother didn't see the creature, she never made me feel that I didn't. I know what I saw that night and to this day I still clearly remember how the creature looked. Standing there at the edge of the woods glaring back at me. After that experience, I never saw the creature again and whenever I would come out of the kitchen at my grandmother's house during the night, I would run very fast past those patio doors. Even after I became a young adult, I still had a difficult time looking outside those doors after it was dark. 

Chapter 2

As I got older, I learned about a condition called Hypertrichosis also known as 'werewolf syndrome'. It is a rare condition that causes hair growth to cover the entire body. It is very possible that it was a Hyper that I saw that night. It was the early 70's in the back woods of Oklahoma. At this time there were Bigfoot stories, stories of werewolves. Choctaw Indian nation with stories of shapeshifters and skin walkers. During that time people would lock their children that was born with any type of birth defects into the basement of their homes or in an embarrassment room to hide the shame and to protect these children from a cruel world. A world that would hunt these people and lock them away.

The first documented Hyper was Petrus Gonzales from the Canary Islands in 1648 whom was brought to France as a curiosity for the nobles. Later, the Hypers would find homes in the circuses and the carnival side shows. One for example was Annie Jones better known as the 'Bearded Woman' from the 1890's. Bourne in Virginia and traveled with P.T. Barnum from Barnum and Bailey's Circus. These men were famous thru out North America for their unusual freak shows. It was said that life in the circus was a far better life than leaving these unfortunate freaks of nature to the cruel inflections of the common folk.

Another famous Hyper was Fedor Adrianovich Jeftichew better known as 'Jo Jo the Dog Faced Boy.' Fedor was a famous Russian sideshow performer until P.T. Barnum found him and brought him to the United States in 1884. Fedor literally had a dogs face with full body hair and stood about 6 feet tall. From a closeup, he could have easily passed for a werewolf if you were to see him roaming the country side. Today, India has the most cases of Hypers than any where else in the world. With over 50 documented cases on modern day Hypers. So yes, it is very possible that it was a Hyper that I saw that night. If not, then the other scenario is much more terrifying. A sinister creature that prowls the night looking for victims to devour. 'Lycanthrope' (half man and half wolf) better known as a 'werewolf.'

Chapter 3

In folklore, Lycans were humans that were able to shape shift into a wolf. These humans would either purposely shift or would shift under a curse that was placed on them from the bite of another werewolf. After turning into this creature, brutal bloody attacks would happen along the country side. Bodies literally torn apart and half eaten. One such documented case was Woodcut, a werewolf attack by Lucas Cranach der Altere in 1512 when he turned into a ravage wolflike creature one night during a full moon. The werewolf legend goes as far back to Ancient Greece and Biblical times. (Benjamin is a ravenous wolf devouring the prey and at evening dividing the spoil...KJV)

In Ancient Greece, there was a legendary king named Lycaon whom was known as a very cruel king. As legend has it, one day he tried to trick Zues, the king of the gods into eating human flesh so Zues turned Lycaon into a wolf cursing him with the fate of roaming the earth and eating flesh for the rest of his life. These creatures have been reported walking with us since recorded history. With this being said, it could have just as easily been a Lycan that I saw that night behind my grandmothers house. Or could it have even been a skin walker. After all, Oklahoma is Native American territory for several different tribes.

Chapter 4

The Native Americans call the Lycans Limmikin (sometimes Yenaloosi.) This is a very old belief that many tribes have. The wolf itself in these tribes were always known as protective spirits. The Mohawk tribe and the Navaho tribe were best known out of all the North American tribes for their shifter beliefs. These shifters were called skin walkers. Tribal men won't even speak the word in fear that it will call a skin walker onto them. These wolflike creatures had a different appearance when they were human with red glowing eyes and a black tongue representing the dark world. If you peered into a skin walkers eyes, they would absorb your soul and steal your skin. Tribal men would find men dead skinned alive. If you know anything about the native American culture, then you know that this isn't a people that just makes up stories. And every legend is born off of a truth...

Chapter 5

The European gypsies called the were- wolves Roma. Legend had it, that once bitten the human would then be cursed to turn into a Roma roaming the earth attacking and devouring normal folk. Legend continues telling us that a human turns into a Roma during a full moon where it gets it's strength and can only be killed by a silver bullet. It is said that the moon holds power over the Roma also known as a werewolf and so does silver. According to documented history, Jean Chastel shot and killed a werewolf called the 'beast of Gevauden' on June 19th 1767 with a blessed silver bullet. So from biblical times until modern day, the werewolf still intrigues us world wide of their existance. Even Hollywood had its debut in 1935 with the movie 'Werewolf in London.' 

Chapter 6

'The Werewolf in London' Hollywood movie was the first movie to mainstream a werewolf. Hollywood had already produced Dracula and Frankenstein with great success, so they figured a movie on a werewolf would also have great success and they were right. It started the error of your black and white monster movies and of course as a child, the Saturday night television movie would always be a great old monster movie. My all time favorite monster movie was 'The Wolf Man' released in 1941 starring Lon Chaney Jr. You can't beat the old black and whites for true spine chilling creepiness. And the mysterious gypsies, with their tall tales of creatures in the night that to this day, people still don't know where they originated from. A mysterious people in their own. With the werewolf prowling the night for it's next poor soul to devour as the fogged rolled in bringing the right amount of eeriness to give us that feeling of fear of what was hiding in the fog. Yes, I would have to say that the old black and white movies gave a pulse racing experience that our movies just don't produce today.

And after still knowing all of these facts, I still can't tell you what I saw that night in the back of my grandmothers house at the edge of the woods. All I can tell you is that I never saw the creature again and that for years I had a very uneasy feeling when I would look out of the doors into the woods at night and at 53 years old, I still won't go into woods after dark. Always wondering if the creature is going to re- appear and if it did would it be my demise.

So if you are ever out in the back woods of eastern Oklahoma, I advise that you take a gun with you if you plan on being in the woods after dark because you never know what kind of hideous creature is lurking, waiting for it's next victim to devour after all, and with almost 600,000 people disappearing from the woods every year in the United States. You have to wonder what evil truly lurks out there.

The End