I'm posting 3 different accounts describing the 'Tree People of the Shenandoah Valley.' Who or what are they? Is it just a legend, or are there clans of tree-dwelling feral people?
I received the following account:
"I had this old man telling me this story about the 'Tree People' in the Shenandoah Valley and described them as long lanky humanoids made of roots and moss and other foliage that secret a sweet and acrid-smelling sappy substance. He said they can climb into things through their mouths and puppet them after consuming their souls. That they only possess things to feed on other things.
He said he swears that he and a buddy went out hunting one summer when he was like 19 and they saw this deer chewing just above the grass not actually eating anything just chewing on air and that the eye that they could see was looking directly at them in there blind a little ways off. The eye was unnatural for a deer mostly white with a ring of very pale blue and a large pupal. The other hunter was freaked out a little and wanted to leave so they packed up but when they exited the blind the deer was closer just chewing and staring. He said the other hunter couldn't stop staring at the thing and it wasn't running so he approached it.
When the hunter got close enough to touch it a long sticky black arm slowly stretched out of the deer's mouth and started caressing the guy's face. The dude who told me the story said the other hunter hit the ground after being touched and started convulsing while the thing kept climbing out of the deer and touching the dude.
He said it shot at the deer like 2 or 3 times and it ran off, and he got his buddy to the hospital. He ended up not remembering anything. The doctor said he had some freak seizures." RC
I don't know what to make of the previous account but I received another account in 2021 that referenced the Shenandoah Valley 'Free People':
"My friend in this story I am still friends with to this day. He grew up in the mountains living off the land in Grayson County, Virginia. He and his family are recognized as members of the Pamunkey Native American Nation. Once I had a 'Not Deer' encounter in the woods in his backyard. He explained to me it was the manifestation of a forest spirit similar to what Slavs call a Leshey. It’s amazing the things this man knows about really he is just a wealth of knowledge and a great human being.
So we were working construction on the outskirts of Harrisonburg, Virginia, (Shenandoah Valley) when the weekend came we decided to go stop by his cousin Lee’s land way out in the mountains several winding dirt roads off Hwy 33. Now let me tell you cousin Lee’s got an old school mountain cabin still heated by a wood-burning stove. Also cousin Lee’s very simple, as a result of a childhood head trauma. He is by no means dumb, just like 'Sling Blade' simple.
So we’re over there having a good time, grilling some deer he shot inside the mountain and I noticed padlocks on what appeared to be refuse bins. Of course, I inquired and the response I got was, “Them MF'ers will dig in my trash and throw sh*t everywhere if I don’t lock it.” Cousin Lee burned what he could and took the remains to the dump very common practice in the area.
So, I am assuming he is talking about raccoons and the man is simple so he is being over dramatic. We went in to eat and no one put the lock back on the refuse bin which had the remainder of the deer carcass in it. Dinner went by without a hitch and after cleaning up we decided to sit down and smoke some mountain grass. We were smoking out (no alcohol) and having a good old time playing old records of bands like Led Zeppelin, etc. when all of a sudden we heard a loud thud on the roof, followed by 2 quick steps and then silence. I have no idea what just happened. I just know I am scared. Cousin Lee exclaims, "It’s them. They better not be in my trash," and goes into his room and comes out with a shotgun. My friend (we will call him J) grabs these 2 handcrafted walking sticks out of the corner. I am still oblivious but my friend J and his cousin Lee are headed to the back door like this is some routine. I then witness J bust out the door first with the 2 big sticks waving them in the air while making just strange growl-like noises. After J gets about 10’ out the door out comes Lee with the shotgun but he is waving it above his head making the same crazy growling noise.
At this point, I am just too curious about the situation and head for the door. When I got to the door the pungent odor of bear crap! I poke my head out of the door and I see this hairy man dressed in tattered rags and caked with mud trying to gather the deer parts from the refuse bin. I look up and there is another one on top of the shed, but he is perched almost like a gargoyle wearing only what appears to be a tattered vest. I’m drowning in awe of the situation. My mind is unable to fully process what is going on and I let out a scream. This seemed to upset the trash digger and he started banging a piece of deer he had in his hand on the side of the refuse bin. Cousin Lee took the shotgun down and fired off a shot and they took off. What was really horrifying was apparently there was one on the roof behind all of our backs. I saw it coming overhead and it landed on the shed the other one was on and then in a single bound leaped into a tree. He successfully ran off with a piece of deer too.
Now here comes the real crazy part the explanation. Cousin Lee says, “You never want to shoot one. They got a mighty big clan and they will come if you get one of their own. Warning shot always scares 'em off.” I just bust out, “What was that?” The response I got was 'THE TREE PEOPLE.' Apparently, people have gone into the forest and lived and survived and ended up clanning up with others living in the woods. This has been going on for a long time they have lived for several generations in the wilderness as feral people. Apparently, they steal clothing the line tools anything they can get their hands on and they also enjoy messing with people. Oh, and apparently they live in the trees thus, why they are called locally 'the tree people.'" SF
Here is another account I received in 2021 from the West Virginia mountains:
A woman from Gary, West Virginia describes her encounters with a clan of feral 'people' on her property. The descriptions are of dirty barefoot hairy mutated humans that can leap through trees.
“I live in West Virginia and have all my life. I don’t come from a rich family and I am not rich myself. I live in a small single-wide trailer with my 2-year-old son outside of the town of Gary in McDowell County. My boyfriend is a truck driver and is only home every so often. I’m kind of used to being alone with my son here at night. My closest neighbor is 3 miles away and my trailer is back in the woods.
This is a mountain town. I grew up hearing scary stories of monsters, but I never saw anything growing up. I never saw anything until now and I want to tell you about it. What people are talking about is most definitely what is stalking us here because I know it’s not a Sasquatch. I never saw a Sasquatch, but I think I would know if I ever saw one.
So, this just started last summer. I clean houses for a living and I was leaving the last house of the day and had just gone to pick up my son from the babysitters and we headed back home. It was 8:00 exactly when we turned in the driveway. My driveway is a very long sand driveway surrounded by trees and the woods on both sides. I hadn’t even gotten to my house when I saw a man jump from one tree on the right side of the driveway to a tree on the left side of the driveway. I mean like 30 feet in the air. He just jumped like how a monkey swings from trees. He did this in front of the car as I was still driving slowly to get to the trailer. It’s bumpy sand on the driveway so I never go more than 10mph down it.
At that moment, I wasn't sure what I saw, but I did know it was a man. I saw its skin and it had some torn cloth on it too. Arms. Legs. All of that a man would have. Did not see its face. I hit my brakes. My son is still in the back seat almost asleep. I didn’t question what I saw or try to make sense of it because I knew it was some creature. Yes, I was scared. My first thought was my son. I only stopped there in my driveway for a second and then I went ahead and sped up to go on and get down the driveway so I could get in the house with my son. I’m passing those trees to my left and I’m just looking around to see if it’s there. I don’t see anything. I just keep on going. It’s about dark but I can still see.
I see my trailer around the corner up ahead and I see movement. OK, so let me add here that it's not that uncommon for some deer or other animals to be around the trailer. That’s normal. But there were people up ahead and one of them was in my trash bag. I don’t have trash service way out here so I sometimes will leave a bag of trash on my porch and haul it myself to the dump. So a man was all in my trash. I get closer and these people hear my car and my headlights are lighting up the front area of my house. And I see like 4 of these things run off into the woods. I saw one of them really well. But it was his face that really got me scared.
That thing had dirt or mud all over his face and there was something wrong with his face because it didn’t look right to me. His eyes were way up on his forehead and it had this humpback. It had some dark pants on but no shirt and the chest and back had a lot of brown hair. His nipples were huge and dark and I could see it through the hair. He was barefoot. This was the one digging in my trash bag. He ran off too but he didn’t seem to be in such a rush as the other ones were to get back in the woods. I lost sight of them all and I waited before I went any farther because of my son. I didn’t have a gun or anything on me. So I was careful.
I sat in my car for 20 minutes running idle before I drove on up to the house. I grabbed my son and we ran inside and because of no cell signal down my driveway, I called my uncle once I got inside. My uncle said I was seeing weird stuff but he came out there an hour later and looked around. Lord, I was so scared while I and my son sat here waiting for my uncle.
My uncle got here. He’s a big guy and had weapons on him. He investigated. He came back in the front door white as a ghost. He came in and said he had seen the devil in those woods and that we were getting in his truck with my son and we’re getting the Hell out of here. We never called the police or anything. What were we going to tell the police? That was last summer.
The winter came and nothing. Then just this past March, when my boyfriend was home, we heard scratching at 11 at night on the side of the trailer. A metal sound. He went outside to look but there wasn’t anything there. But he smelled an odor that he described as rotten pig feet. If you eat pig feet then you know what I mean. We smell bad things a lot and we see things moving in the trees. But now my boyfriend will be moving us to another state because of his job and we only have a few more weeks here, but there are some wild clans in the West Virginia mountains." T
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