; Phantoms and Monsters: Pulse of the Paranormal

Thursday, August 13, 2015

The 'Golden Boy'


I recently received the following incident report:

Greetings!

The incident I am about to relate happened some 50 years ago. I was visiting my grandparents who lived in an old farmhouse in central Pennsylvania. My cousin D. (one year younger) was there as well. We rose super-early each morning, as was the practice when visiting there. At Grandma's, those that did not get out of the house before breakfast got a chore list that would take all morning. Dave and I were determined to avoid that list.

The house stood on top of a hill, and was some distance from the road, with a long drive leading up to a car parking area. The ground on either side of the driveway could best be classified as untended meadow with copses of trees sporadically scattered throughout. From the car park in front of the house, you looked down and out toward the road some 500 yards away. This is where D. and I stood that morning.

There was a small stand of pine trees about halfway down the hill. These were young trees, not more than 9 feet tall. We knew these trees well, as they were the impediment to every hill-roll or sled-run we ever attempted down that slope. Today, however, we never even got to start the downhill fun.

"What the hell is THAT?" one of us asked.

"Beats the hell out of me." the other answered.

Under the nearest pine tree, there was a figure. It appeared to be made of a golden metal, which glittered in the sunlight. It was about 3 feet tall, as best as we could determine from our uphill angle. From the shoulders down, it seemed to be wrapped or swaddled in golden cloth. This extended the entire length of the creature, making it look as though it was in a form-fitted sleeping bag. On its head was a helmet or headdress, also gold. When we first saw it, it was facing to our left, so we were looking at its golden left profile. The sight of this thing made us both freeze in place, barely breathing.

We stared down at it for a time-distorted period - a minute? Suddenly, the thing changed its head. It did not TURN its head. It had been looking straight ahead, at a spot somewhere to our left. Then it was looking directly at us. The head did NOT move through all the intermediate positions. The transformation was instant. But then...

A wave of dread and terror rolled over the two of us. I have never before, or since, felt anything so intensely alien and malignant. It hated us.

Neither of us were the most athletic of kids, but I beat Dave over the fence by a good 4 feet. Apparently we burst into the kitchen babbling incoherently about a golden boy down the hill. It took us a good half hour to convince Grandpa that there really would be something worth seeing if he went out with us - and of course, there wasn't.

Nothing on the ground, nothing near the tree. But that image of a golden boy, with the most intense nastiness in his gaze...that will never go away.

I use the term 'golden boy' as that is how the family story has evolved...but it was no boy. It was humanoid, as best as the distance would reveal, but that sense of malice and dread made it impossible to stick around for more details. (And, I was 9 or 10 at the time, in my defense.) In the 50 years since, I have never heard of or read a similar encounter. Has the golden boy ever crossed your path?

(I am attaching a current shot from Google Earth. The house no longer has the white fence that separated the yard from the car park. There are a LOT more trees now, so I had to guess at the approximate spot, and the fact that the downward slope of the land isn't evident makes guessing a bit harder - but that is pretty close.) My grandparents only rented there, and I have no idea who owns the property now. But I wonder if they took down the fence because scared kids fell over it too often :).

Love the site, and the work that you do. Thank you. MB


NOTE: Very interesting encounter...I'm wondering if it could be connected somehow to this sighting? What do you think? Lon

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