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Dixie Banshee
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Posted: Wed Nov 14th, 2007 01:54 am |
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I would hope that I'm not presuming too much by writing my first post to this forum as a min-tribute to a very good man, husband, Father, and BF Researcher.
After I had joined this forum this past week-end I learned that a good friend of mine whom I have researched with in the Paris, Texas, area had passed away from cancer this past Saturday.
Michael Monroe Sells, who those that knew him called him Mike, was 55 years of age but I never would have believed that as he was the consummate outdoorsman that out-walked men less then half his age while researching. He was about 6' tall and skinny as a rail. If a strong breeze was blowing he had to hang on to the tree trunks to keep from being blown into the Red River just north of where he did most of his research.
I first met Mike during the 2003 Texas Bigfoot Conference at Jefferson, Texas, at which I was on the Friday night panel of "experts" (like there are any real experts on this subject) answering various questions about BF. Mike was with a couple of friends of mine from the TBRC (Texas Bigfoot Research Center), Buddy Britt and Robert Dominguez, and they had already clued me in about Mike before I actually met him a couple of weeks before. They were running an on-going investigation centered on Mike's property and adjacent to Pat Mayse Lake outside Paris and were having limited success but had hit a snag. They knew "what" was there as they were casting footprints of various sizes and they were recording an exorbitant amount of very interesting audio recordings but they were at a lost as to what to do to entice these creatures to maybe reveal themselves. I suggested a few things to them but Mike was the type that never said too much especially around people that he did not know. During the course of the conversation I mentioned several things that I have had experienced over the years involving this creature; things that are not revealed upon most if not any BF message forums and things that only people that have spent any amount of time tracking/ researching this creature know of as gospel. While I was talking I was watching Mike more intently then I was Buddy or Robert as I already knew that they lived along the suburbs of Dallas and if Mike was experiencing these type behaviors on his rural property then the things I was speaking of would reveal itself within the features of his face. As I was talking I could tell that Mike was listening with intermittent nods of his head every now and then. When I would ask a question Buddy or Robert was the ones answering with evident excitement upon their faces cause what I was telling them was what was happening exactly on Mike's property. I figured that I passed muster with Mike as he begin opening up about things that was occurring with the two of us telling of things that Mike had yet to tell Buddy and Robert because he figured that they would think he was pulling their legs if he mentioned them. Only someone who has experienced these creatures on a daily basic with them periodically habituating their property would know of what I was talking about. The conversation ran so long the group that came with me from various locations from around the country was getting impatient with me as we were killing two birds with one stone while at Jefferson; attending the BF Conference and researching just west of there at Lake of the Pines (I tell you I got no sleep that entire week-end HaHa). I gave Mike my phone number and told him to call me when I got back home (Mississippi) some time the next week.
The Tuesday night after I got back from Texas Mike called. He talked to me about things that were going on around Paris, Texas,and also revealed then that I had spoke about things these creatures were doing that he had not told the TBRC because he thought that they would think he was pulling their leg. We carried on a long conversation till the early hours of the morning with Mike setting me up a date that I could come to Paris and research with him. During the course of the conversation I told Mike several things to do to maybe capture this creature upon video cassette. One of my suggestions was based on observations that I have tried while in the woods. Mike told me that when he walked upon his property that most of the time he got the feeling that something were following him around. I told him that if he trusted the fact that he would not lose his camera to walk past a large tree and without wasting too much time in the process of doing it, put his camera in the fork of the tree facing back the way that he came from, then return later and get the camera. He said that he would try it.
About one month later the week-end arrived when I had committed to going to Paris. Upon arrival I was greeted by Mike and his wife Sandy plus a menagerie of animals. Mike owned cows, goats, chickens, guineas, dogs, cats, ducks, and turkeys with a few others critters that I'm sure that I'm missing describing. There were farm animals everywhere! The Mike I met that day was not the same Mike I had met in Jefferson. He was excited and ecstatic, overflowing with enthusiasm. I had to look at him twice to make sure this was not the same reserved man I had been introduced to at the Texas BF Conference as he could not wait to get me inside, not even allowing me time to unpack my bags and equipment.
Upon entering his house he placed me in front of his big-screen TV set and popped in a video cassette. Before starting the tape he looked at me and asked if I remembered telling him what to do when he walked around his property the next time with his video recorder to which I replied in the affirmative. He then said with a big Texas grin upon his face, "I want to show you something that I have not even told the TBRC as you was the one who suggested it." He hit play. The scene was filmed along a hardwood ridge directly behind his house. You could tell that Mike was walking with the camera panning the woods to the right, then left as he had hit the record button. Then all of a sudden you could tell that Mike was placing the camera into the fork of a tree facing the direction that he had just walked from, leaving it stationary, at which time you could heard his footsteps receding at a normal pace away from it. The only flaw that I viewed was when he placed the camera it was slightly canted toward the right facing back along the ridge. About 2 minuets into the footage, walking up the ridge from the left was a large up-right, off-colored white creature about 35 yards off from the camera. He was a large male and walking bipedally in the same direction as Mike was heading. The angle that the camera was set in only filmed this creature from its right side heading along the ridge into the camera but you could clearly see the creature. The off-white color of its hair was darkly dirty at the knees, crotch area, and along its pectoral muscles along its chest. You could determine the pale sun-burned colored hide underneath the hair and clearly see the stooped position it assumes when walking up-right. These creatures do not walk as we (Humans) do as their knees do not lock in a rigid position. They have a sort of angle like a person does in a semi-spring board position before they dive into a pool of water. The creature never looked or noticed the camera as he was intently concentrating on "shadowing" Mike. You could hear the foliage crunching underfoot as the creature walked closer, after it walked out of the frame of the film, and then past it. Now, do not get me wrong. The creature was not out in the broad open, as you have to take into account the various trees and underbrush it was passing through between the camera lens and where he actually was walking, but you knew what you was looking at. Later Mike went back and retrieve his camera and upon taking it home popped the tape into his VCR. This was the first time Mike actually seen what he had been wanting to see and had suspicions of for years. He had been finding the tracks after various farm animals of his came up missing through-out the years. He now had an image to put with all these strange sounds that he would hear during different hours of the night. He was now a man on a mission.
Buddy, and two other members of the TBRC showed up at Mike's later that night and Mike showed them the tape for the first time. I could not get them to leave the TV set to go out back in the night to try and lure these creatures in at the very back of Mike's property as they were viewing this over and over again. Suffice to say, it was a very rewarding week-end.
From that point on we tried various methods that worked and we captured other video of other creatures but one in particular of a younger juvenile male. I mention this because the video of this male is now been posted on the Internet as being filmed this past spring when it was taped by Mike leaving his camera in another tree one early morning using the same method as stated above almost 3 years ago. Claiming when the footage was captured as in this past spring compared to when it was ACTUALLY filmed taints the authenticity of this action in my opinion. The person claiming this film and declaring possession of it exclusively very much bothers me as I know that it, at one time, was Mike's tape and Mike's hard-earned time in the research of it, not the person claiming it. Maybe Mike sold the tape to cover the cost of his rising hospital bills because of his cancer. I may never know.
What I do know is I have lost a good friend, a good research buddy, and the BF world has lost too.
I pray Mike that whereever you are currently at, you are asking questions of a higher authority then you have ever known while on this plane of existence, and you are getting the right answers to some of the questions that me and you have sat around a campfire, in the middle of the pitch black woods at night wondering about.
I'm going to miss you.
DB
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"The only thing more dangerous then ignorance is arrogance, taken in combination, the two qualities are even more alarming" ----Eistein
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watch1
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Posted: Wed Nov 14th, 2007 05:10 am |
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My Condolences to his family and friends.
I never met Mike but that doesn't matter. Any time we lose someone that shares our same interests and our same desires to know more about these creatures..I feel a loss.
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MICHAEL MONROE SELLS, 55, of the Lamar Point community, died at 1:23 a.m. on Saturday November 10, 2007 at his residence after a gallant battle with cancer. Graveside rites will be conducted by Starrett Funeral Home at 11:00 a.m. Monday November 12, 2007 in the Mt. Tabor Cemetery with Rev. James Strain officiating.
Mike was born September 4, 1952 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, a son of Sgt. Henry Monroe and Wanda Yvonne New Sells. He later moved with his family to Wichita Falls, where he completed High School. He attended Midwestern State University and Paris Junior College. Until his illness prevailed he was an electrician for Kimberly-Clark in Paris, but his favorite lifelong avocation was his music. An excellent guitarist and songwriter, he played in numerous bands and enjoyed giving of himself to others by performing in benefit concerts—especially those helping children. A student of archaeology, he had a keen sense of the American Indian and their history as well as a deep knowledge of their artifacts. He enjoyed making bows, arrows and knives and sharing his talents with others. He was a friend of the Ancient Ones.
On August 5, 1975 he married Sandra Kay Kampstra in Dalton, Wisconsin.
Mike is survived by his wife Sandy; a daughter, Emilie Susanna Johnson and husband Shaun, of Hubert, NC; a granddaughter, Abigail Grace Johnson, of Hubert, NC; his mother, Wanda Sells and a brother, Timothy Roy Sells both of Wichita Falls; two sisters Nancy Kay Weese, of Wichita Falls and Jill Annette Martinez, of Houston; his in-laws, Richard and Maxine Kampstra, of Dalton, WI; several aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins.
He was preceded in death by his father in 2004, and a brother, Larry Keith Sells, in 1998.
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Mike (watch1)
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There's something out there talking and it ain't no man!
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JayB
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Posted: Wed Nov 14th, 2007 06:14 am |
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Thank you, DB. An excellent tribute!
I didn't know Mike, but he sounds as though he'd be one to go out of your way to meet and do some serious searchin with.
And thank you, Mike, for posting the bio.
The thoughts and prayers of this house go out to his family and friends. At least Mike has the answers now.
JayB
DB, welcome. I hope you continue to post as you have a whole lot to contribute. BTW, is there any significance to your 'log' name?
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Dixie Banshee
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Posted: Wed Nov 14th, 2007 01:36 pm |
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Thanks for the warm welcome JayB and yes, there is a significance to the moniker that I am using while posting to this forum.
Of course Dixie is a given since this message board is a Southern-based web site but I'm also a die-hard, unrepentant Rebel from the Magnolia state of Mississippi.
After seeing that all the good names/descriptions for this creature were already taken I confabulated long and hard for a handle that is rarely used when talking about it and thought about Banshee.
Banshees are common in Irish and Scottish folklore and being that I'm also of the Scot/Irish descent, I thought it very appropriate. According to legend, a banshee wails around a house if someone in the house is about to die. Banshees are frequently described as white or gray, and often having long, fair hair and can appear and vanish almost at a whim.
While following up on reports, especially in the Southern regions, I have heard this description used, mostly by older contacts, when describing the lonesome wail or call heard at night. Knowing that most of the people that populate the South are also of Scot/Irish descent (a heck of a combination in itself) I selected this rarely used term in identifying myself as most can physically relate toward it.
Thanks again for the welcome.
DB
____________________
"The only thing more dangerous then ignorance is arrogance, taken in combination, the two qualities are even more alarming" ----Eistein
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plowboy
Member
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Posted: Wed Nov 14th, 2007 02:11 pm |
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| Welcome to forums,Dixie Banshee, Sorry about the loss of your friend.Look forward to hearing about your research with these animals. plowboy
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Branco
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| Joined: | Mon Feb 26th, 2007 |
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Posted: Wed Nov 14th, 2007 04:03 pm |
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A warm welcome to the forum DB. It is hard to accept the death of a good friend. Sorry to hear about it.
As I mentioned during our phone conversation last night, I sincerely hope you will share your vast knowledge of these animals with the members of this forum. And I hope to see you in Mississippi before very long.
Regards,
Tal
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JoJo
Member
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Posted: Wed Nov 14th, 2007 04:21 pm |
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I am sorry you lost a friend and the research world apparently lost a good researcher. That story is very interesting, and I would love to see the film. I know you said it is being circulated by someone who sounds like he stole it and circulated it as his own, but I would still love to see it. Can you tell us where to find it?? If you can't post that here, send me a message /link. I SO want to see one myself that I look at all the pictures I can find online and elsewhere!
Another Scotch/Irish (mixed with mostly Native!)
JoJo
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JayB
Member
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Posted: Thu Nov 15th, 2007 12:09 am |
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Thank you for the explanation, DB.
I, too, am from the South. First saw the light in Jackson, MS, more years ago than I enjoy remembering. I, too, came from Scottish/Irish stock - along with a bit of Choctaw. So, early on I was as familiar with the banshees as I was with my grandmother's 'shillelagh stick'.
Then later, in another life and time, I entered into a 'loose relationship' with the U.S. Navy. My first fleet squadron flew the F2H-3/4 'Banshee'. As one might reckon, I found your moniker to be quite intriguing.
I will second Tal's thoughts. It's great to have you amongst us. Your considerable expertise will be a complement to that which is already here. I eagerly look forward to your posts.
JayB
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Dixie Banshee
Member
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Posted: Thu Nov 15th, 2007 03:36 am |
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Thanks for the warm welcome Plowboy and much appreciation toward you and others that have acknowledged Mike Sells and the legacy that he has left. Mike would be the first one in accepting the fact that death is a stage of re-birth as he followed the Native American doctrine explicitly and I honor him by not speaking of, "the one that has passed on the journey." I just felt that a form of eulogy should be rendered as a memorial toward a humble, well-founded gentleman that had a goal in life associated intermittently with this creature and I was honored in that I was able to physically share moments together around a campfire with him. There is a bond formed when people can leave behind the stress and everyday aggravation associated with surviving in this micro-fast existence when people get together in a primitive setting and nothing can be more satisfying then just being under the stars in the great outdoors sitting around a campfire. I'm not talking about a fire built within sight of the confines of civilization, but one with Man Above's greatest gift; nature. The allure can be intoxicating and tremendously gratifying when shared with others especially one where the subject is interesting to all involved. Mike and I researched together along with others but the times spent around that fire is the most pleasing to me. One compliment that I have always reserved to those I respect the most is the fact that, "You are welcome at my fire anytime." I don't give it freely and place it as a position of honor and respect.
Tal Branco, I thoroughly enjoyed talking to you last night. It is always a stupendous relief to talk to one that has an intimidate first-hand acquaintance with this subject as only a limited few can acknowledge certain aspects pertaining to this creature. You sir, will always be welcomed at my fire. Will not be much sleep, but I can predict an very entertaining evening. As to sharing information with others, I fully intent to try to answer as much as I possibly can, as I see this type of phenomenon as one that is either a cruse or a blessing. I was taught from a very young age to share my experiences in the fervent belief, that maybe something that I can try to explain to others may be the deciding factor in establishing an agenda that would maybe (but sadly, not likely) concede the very real existence of this animal. And if others do not believe anything else that I foreclose, the one true remaining constant is, that this is an animal. It is paranormal only in the factuality that its purpose in life is complete survival. It is intelligent enough to recognize that everything man touches, he either willingly or inadvertently, destroys. It is not an alien being from another world. It is possible that it has evolved to the extent that its mental abilities have surpass Homo Sapiens but this is a survival adaptation. Other animals have this innate ability. For example: a deer can sometimes sense when danger is lurking for some unseen reason. Being that this is a Southern BF message board, I would garner that a number of people reading this are hunters or have hunted in their lives. Ask any of them if for some unknown reason have they ever been in a situation that the game that they have stalked or attempted to ambush, for some inexplicable reason, seems to sense when an environment is not right, and will evade the premises. This is a trait that we, as humans once had but have no longer due toward the safe comforts of domestication. It was called the sixth sense and it was used for survival only. Teachers in school systems teach of the five senses that we still obtain but at one time there was six. Not having to adapt to any life-threatening scenarios over an extended length of time, evolutionarily causes this trait to become dormant, but the ability to instinctively use it is still there. Why do you think at certain times the hair stands up along the back of your neck? Depending upon the circumstance it occurs either because of an intense revelation, such as a spiritual awakening, or during moments when a person is either placed in a very rapidly deteriorating or terrifying occurrence. It can happen instantly. Not only does this creature have this innate ability, the amazing thing is; it can naturally sense when you are experiencing this revival of the dormant sense. It feeds literally on fear and can sense it whether its the increase in sweat pheromones or the rapid increase of blood pressure contributed to the heart. This creature can sense fear and instinctively uses it to its total advantage. This creature does not shift into another plane of existence at will. They can blend into its environment totally camouflaged and are a very expeditious creature when the occasions calls for speed. In their logic elusiveness means survival.
BTW: I posted toward a question you asked under the topic in the discussion section entitled: Tree Knocking. I think I'm about the 18th post. The only reason that I mention this is because I did not want my answer to get "lost in the shuffle." I foresee in the near future you and I researching together whether on my property, which you are welcome to, or elsewhere. We will then build that campfire.
JoJo, as with Plowboy, I thank you for the wonderful welcome and feel obligated in my response to assure you that I will miss Mike as a true friend should but am comfortable knowing that he is in a better plane of existence where maybe he has built a campfire of his own, asking a multitude of questions concerning this creature.
As to the video, I went searching for the URL where I viewed the video and found the source but for some reason my computer will not allow me now to view it. It just may be my computer so I will post the URL:
http://www.searchingforbigfoot.com/TABLE_OF_CONTENTS
I posted the whole page so that others may check out the reports, particularly the ones listed from Texas, as this web site acclaims to a different philosophy then I'm satisfied with within the BF community. Let's just say that I honestly believe that Man Above did not want this creature to be exposed for the use of charlatans, and let's leave it at that. Nobody has any exclusivity toward this creature and nobody can claim monetary gain from exploitation upon as free an entity as this creature personifies. The American eagle is a symbol of freedom to most but the reward in viewing this majestic creature should never be exploited to the advantageous money-changers-in-the-temple. I honestly believe that it is a privilege to ever have the chance to view this animal in its natural setting compared to media-seeking glory-hounds that places a price tag on any aspect of this phenomenon to cash in on the all-mighty dollar. If it was a possession that could be caged and viewed in a carnival-like setting then there would be justification in making money but given the actual eventuality of this happening, it is, in my humble opinion, a sacred gift to the wonders of Man Above's creation.
If you will look under the table of contents listed under Texas you will find the URL. It also lists several URL's for Paris, Texas, and I think I saw Mike's name listed within their content. When I was actively able to view this segment back in the spring of this year, the segment gave all the credit to the creator of this web page, but I already knew when this video was taped and it was not when the commentator of the piece announced it as being. I viewed the same footage that I had watched in Mike's living room three years ago before this person came upon the BF scene like a savior gathering the masses.
The footage was taken about this time of the year just before deer season in November three years ago. Mike had a couple of hunters reported trespassing on his property while he was at work so he decided to stay home one day and attempt to capture footage of them doing this. He placed his camera in the fork of a tree in the general vicinity of the area where these hunters were invading his land and then he left. The camera was placed in such a way that it was filming from a ridge facing a dry creek bottom with the opposing bank viewed in the frame and a large hardwood tree centered in the lens on the opposite bank. No sooner then he left a smaller, juvenile creature appeared from the right of the camera loping upon all fours toward the right of the large tree running along the crest of the bank where you could clearly see its body outline. The time of the morning was before sunrise and everything was in shadows and when the creature descended the creek bank into the dry creek bed you could not see him until he appeared to the left of the frame showing how he was completely blended into its environment. The give-a-way was the detection of his locomotion. when the creature started up the embankment it glanced toward the camera showing evidence that he had detected it, then it moved farther left out of the camera frame. It did not end there yet this is what only the viewers saw on that TV news program. The creature could be heard circling the bole of the tree where the camera was positioned, then from an out-of-view angle it started sniffing rapidly just as a dog would when trying to detect a given odor. HaHa I found that aspect of the taping more enjoyable then the actual footage as it verified one of my many beliefs about this creature and its rate of smell. I one time got into a discussion with a veterinarian about the possibility of this creature, which he was not having none, and was telling of this creatures ability to smell over a long distance. He said that if it was real, then it had to have poor scenting abilities as what I was describing needed an expended proboscis (nose) in order to have the olfactory (smelling) abilities to smell over long distances. I then tried to explain the flared nostrils instead of the extended pro-whatyoumacallit but he was still having none (why do PHD's make good people into know-it-all's?). HaHaHa
That was what was filmed and I hope that you can view it yet, as I stated earlier, I feel as if it was tainted because of the time frame given and the credibility of the one claiming the hard labor of another. I have no use for these type people.
I also have what the Federal Government claims as one-eighth Choctaw blood running through my veins which this has helped me during my research around the southeast central part of the state of Mississippi, the birth-place of the Cha'ta (Choctaw) and in the state of Oklahoma.
The Choctaw people of Mississippi have a myth of underground origins. They believe that their ancestors emerged from the Nanih Waiya Cave Mound, located to the northeast of Philadelphia, Mississippi, a fifty-foot-tall natural geological formation which is hidden in a swampy forest area, approximately a mile and a half east of a better-known, artificial mound and tourist site. The hill has several natural openings, some of which have been "sealed up" (the Park Service seems to have no good explanation for this), and it is said by the Choctaw to be the entrance to a vast underground realm. One legend has it that, in ancient times, the Choctaw were invaded by a race of red- and blond-haired, white-skinned giants, who bore "sharp clubs," (swords?) and axes, and wore an extra, thick skin (chain or leather mail?) which made them impervious to arrow, spear, and war club. Add the touch that some of these Nahullo, or giants, "had horns," and these white invaders sound suspiciously like wandering Norsemen.
Whatever their origin or identity might have been, these invaders drove the Choctaw into hiding, and the Indians went into the cave mound for several generations. The world beneath the mound was a large series of caverns, through which a river or rivers ran (the Nanih Waiya cave mound sits squarely at the headwaters of the Pearl River). Some traditions indicate that it went on to connect to other "worlds," or underground places. Staying underground for many generations, the Choctaw emerged to wage a form of guerilla warfare on their enemies, eventually winning, by using darts coated with a poison made from mushrooms found in the caverns. Victorious, they emerged again into the sunlit world.
One tradition holds that this emergence of a generation of people who had been born underground is the basis for the mound origin myth, and that in fact the Choctaw had arrived centuries earlier, after leaving a "sunken land" which had foundered in a distant western ocean. After many wanderings and travails, they arrived in the southeast, where they found the natural cavern mound which would later serve as a place of refuge. But other Choctaw beliefs dispute this, claiming that not just the Choctaw but the Muskogee, Cherokee, and Chickasaw peoples emerged from the mound as well, having all been one people in the underworld.
Today the Choctaw still believe that a variety of strange supernatural beings either inhabit the cave-mound, or dwell in the wooded hills that surround it. One of these is the Shampe (Bigfoot?), a hair-covered, manlike giant who has a terrible odor, and who stays underground during the day. Another is the Nalusa Falaya (Bigfoot?), or "Long Black Being," who is humanoid yet slides on his stomach "like a snake." His pointed ears only accentuate his reptilian appearance. Another variant is the Nalusa Chito (Bigfoot?), "Big Black Being," who emerges from underground dens to capture women and children, presumably for supper.
The Shampe, Nalusa Falaya, and Nalusa Chito have been reported to me during my research in Oklahoma particularly around the Brown Springs area, north of Dallas, Texas, along the Red River east of Thackerville, Oklahoma. The tale I got about Brown's Spring involved a nameless family in southern Oklahoma at the turn of the century. These kind people would kill unwary travelers and rob them. The men in this clan of evil people would imprison, torture, rape, and eventually kill any unwary women that they had a chance to capture. The patriarch of the family would "Break In" the females born to the clan and then pass them around to the other uncles, brothers, cousins, etc. The story goes that one day a Choctaw girl was abducted by the patriarch and raped. The girl fled after she escaped and the elders of her family came back, in the night, and captured the patriarch. The girls family staked the evil man to the ground and sliced open his belly so that Hattak Offi/The Man Dog of that area could have a good meal with out having to work for it. Another name for Hattak Offi is Nalusa or Nalusa Falaya which translates to Long Evil Being or Long Wicked Person. (Bigfoot?) Anyway, the girls family came back the next morning and sure enough the evil man's soft organs, (heart, liver, kidneys) were missing and his entrails were spread all over the place. The girl's family then took the body of the evil patriarch and threw it into Brown's spring to curse the spring to any that would rely on it for water. (Namely the bad guys in the area.) It is said that the evil patriarch's family still has descendants in the area, and that his ghost haunts that area at night.
JayB, I appreciate the considerate words and I sincerely hope to help as much as I can. I find it as a form of therapy to disclose my experiences with these creatures. A person does not realize that with knowledge, comes stress when you have no outlet to elaborate, then the knowledge is magnified when it is of a subject that 98% of the people do not know of or believe in. It gets very frustrating.
DB
Last edited on Thu Nov 15th, 2007 03:45 am by Dixie Banshee
____________________
"The only thing more dangerous then ignorance is arrogance, taken in combination, the two qualities are even more alarming" ----Eistein
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aecaw
Member
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Posted: Thu Nov 15th, 2007 04:30 am |
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Hi DB,
I live close to the place you speak of. I live in Newton County, Ms. Work in Lauderdale County and hunt in Clarke County. I have read of a report from the '70's about a BF on the Navy Base North of Meridian. I've hunted that Navy Base many times but never saw or heard anything to speak of.
Thanks for all the great info!
Aecaw
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Dixie Banshee
Member
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Posted: Sat Nov 17th, 2007 12:24 am |
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Thanks aecaw.
Might I suggest an area that DOES have these creatures that is not very far from you: Okatibbee Lake especially around the north end, east of the Martin community and west of the Shucktown community. If I remember correctly this area is designated as Okatibbee Wilderness Management Area and will be overloaded with deer hunters this week-end (Nov. 17). The hunting pressure will cause these creatures to either relocate farther north or into the no-hunting zone along the eastern and western borders of the lake. A location that would be ideal for research on the same lake is southwest of a small community called Center Hill along the east border. This location as an excellent place to camp and the campgrounds are on a small finger of land jutting out into the lake. If I was not hunting and I knew that opening hunting week-end was going to force these creatures out of their normal habitation, this is where I would research.
DB
____________________
"The only thing more dangerous then ignorance is arrogance, taken in combination, the two qualities are even more alarming" ----Eistein
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JayB
Member
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Posted: Sat Nov 17th, 2007 10:38 am |
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Aecaw, I was stationed at that airbase north of Meridian for three years back in the 60s, just after it opened. It was the largest base in terms of acreage on which I ever served. When it was built, the government wanted to ensure that the local community could never encroach on the field and then lodge complaints about all the aircraft noise. Therefore, they acquired a LOT of land. As you well know, it included old farms, ponds and a great deal of forested area. It was the only base I can recall that had it's own internal wildlife section.
Like you I hunted and fished aboard the base quite a bit. I never saw anything unusual, either. However, I was interested to see a report of a possible sas sighting a while back. Not surprised, but certainly interested.
JayB
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Nokosee
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| Joined: | Tue Aug 21st, 2007 |
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Posted: Mon Apr 21st, 2008 09:51 pm |
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Having just read this thread but being compelled to write (DB)...I feel for your loss and while I didn't know Mike Sells personally, I had heard of him before now and the things he had accomplished in this endeavour.
BTW, my two oldest were born (1978 & 1980) in Jones County Community Hospital back when we lived a bit WSW of Laurel. Also, that "lake" has some pretty good sait-a-lait fishin' in her. DB...do you get a little flushed when Caledonia is played? 
My own Celtic blood goes back to 1609 when the first bunch (Wales) arrived.
Your comments on the Choctaw echo those of several of my clients with that blood in their veins as well.
Also, according to my info the Yuchi (Euchee) arrived by boat a few thousand years ahead of white europeans. They formed a strategic alliance with the eastern Shawnee along the coast(s) of Carolina and down along Florida's cape as well. My bunch had moved westward down into the Tennessee river valley and apparently were somewhat of a "buffer" between the Cherokee on the north and the Creek confederation to the south. Ergo, the Yuchi name for themselves being shalawaeno which means "people of the wild geese" possibly a reference to the flight of the wild geese. "Yuchi" is allegedly the Shawnee name given when asked from whence they came as in "from over yonder".
When being "job transferred" out to Oklahoma (Indian Nations) the white gov't didn't know what to do with them so almost by default, placed them with the Creeks. Being a small tribe with an unwritten language has also posed a problem with continuity as there are less than a dozen elders fluent in the words still among us. To their credit, the Creek Heritage Foundation (Okmulgee) has provided the funding and a retired anthropology professor from Tulsa University (also a Yuchi) has initiated language classes with 5-8 year-old Yuchi girls being taught by a couple of elders in an attempt to keep it alive until he can codify it into written form.
However, he's running into the typical language corruption problems anytime a spoken word is placed onto paper. Yuchi contains some Shawnee, Muskogean & Iroquoian words but according to the findings of two other anthropologists (WFU & NYU) it is apparently primarily Egyptian rootbase with some Scythian, Carthaginian & Phoenician words as well. It appears there was an exodus of sorts (from Egypt) with our group heading west (water route) and another group heading east up through Asia Minor (founding the Kushan Empire of the Silk Road era) and into northern India, Tibet, Mongolia, etc. before crossing the straits as many other NA peoples. That probably explains the Yuchi people found in southern Oregon and northern California with the same language as mine but w/o a journey linkage in common.
In some respects, it is a small world.
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