Paul from Orange, Virginia (which is about an hour south of Washington, DC.) called in to comment on his bizarre encounter:
“This happened to me last fall (2017). I was out back, sitting on the patio having a cigarette, having some drinks, talking to my friend on a cellphone. It was about 10 at night and very dark. The yard goes back really steep down to the lake here and there's a lot of woods and stuff in between, brush and it's pretty thick. Well, suddenly I heard something running across the yard, right through all the thick brush. I said, 'What was that?' My friend was like, 'What?' I said, 'I don't know, something just ran through the yard.' It was big, whatever it was. To me, I couldn’t figure why it ran where it ran when it could it could have been a little further down by the lake, it had a free run, because it's all open down there. I said, 'Maybe it's a deer, I guess.' But I've never seen a deer here in this spot before. It just seemed like a weird time for it to be running. Anyway, I kind of forgot about it. I kept talking to my friend.
Suddenly I hear a noise down by the dock. I was like, 'There it is again.' For some reason, my first thought was, there's some kids playing around down there. I don't know why I thought that but that's the first thing I thought. Anyway, I got up and I went running over towards the stairs to go down to the dock. And they're steep stairs and when I get to the stairs, I get to the top of them and I look down and there's this thing running up the stairs towards me and I was just in shock. (Jimmy asks what he saw) It was, like, it was a person but it had a deer head. (Jimmy asks if it had a human body with a head of a deer) Yes. And it was running up the stairs so fast, it was crazy that it could even move that fast and it was staring right at me. And I'm just standing there and I'm staring at it. And it had red eyes. It actually had red eyes. One friend said it means it was demonic. I said, I don't think it was demonic or anything. Anyway, it ran right up to me. It kept staring me in the eyes and I was staring right back at its eyes, just kind of in shock, I guess. When it got right up to me, it actually said something which I don't know what it said. I just remember, I just know it said something like four or five syllables real fast. It seemed like it said words but I don't know what they were. And then it ran right...it just kept running and ran right by me. I could have touched it...it was within inches of me. The stairway is only four feet across. (Jimmy asks if it was man wearing a deer head as a prank) That's what people said too, a couple of friends that I told. I had hardly told anybody about this because it was just the craziest thing I have ever seen. That's what someone suggested but I said, 'No, no, it was moving way too fast.' It was...it was moving so fast that when I thought about it later, I was like, man, it was almost like in a different dimension or something. That's all I could think.
(Jimmy asks what he thought it was) I think it was being that had a human body and a deer head. And the antlers weren't like the deer around here. They weren't like the white-tailed deer here. They were more spindly. They were spindly and there was more...a lot more like ties or branches than normal. I actually saw a branch once, and I was like, Oh my god, that branch looks like one of the antlers on that thing I saw. (Jimmy tells him his sighting was bizarre) It was, man. Like I said, I don't even tell my friends about that. (Jimmy asks if he saw lights or if something else happened prior to the encounter) I can't think of anything else like that that could have triggered it or could have caused it.
The next night I was standing at the top of the stairs. It's night-time, dark, and I was like, I had goosebumps all over me. I was like, I was calling myself, I'll say wimp, I said, Paul, are you a wimp? Are you gonna walk down these stairs and go down to the dock. And I'm standing, looking down these stairs and I went, No, I'm not. But I'm okay now with it. I went out and slept on the dock over the summer and, man, something did happen one night at 2:30 in the morning. I woke up and I was laying there and I start looking at my phone until I went back to sleep but 50 feet away, in the woods, I heard something big crashing around and then I heard it started snorting, like a deer snort, and I was like, 'What the...?' And I just laid there. I just laid there, like, I'm not getting up, I'm not going up there, the hill, I'm just gonna lay here and be quiet. I don't know what it was but it sounded like a deer and it was big. (Jimmy asks about the body of the creature, was it just human from the neck down) Yeah. I think it was human from the neck down but to be honest with you, I didn't look down at his legs. I was just staring at his face while it was coming at me, you know. (Jimmy asks if it was wearing clothes) No, I didn't notice any kind of clothes. (Jimmy asks if the creature was completely naked) I can't say for sure because, like I said, I didn't look down. I mean, honestly, that thing locked its eyes on mine and I was locked on its eyes and it was kind of dark too.”
Source: Fade to Black with Jimmy Church – October 25, 2018
Beyond Creepy
A Field Guide to the Cryptids of North America
Compendium of North American Cryptids & Magical Creatures
A Menagerie of Mysterious Beasts: Encounters with Cryptid Creatures
Weird Virginia: Your Guide to Virginia's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets
Lon's Suggested Reading List - Books & Films / DVDs