Moody's Believe It or Not pt. IV

Things can only get stranger...!

The last time I was able to visit my family back in Oregon was during the winter holidays in 2004. Like most Americans (if not Westerners in general), Christmas has always had a very special meaning for me, so I'm always happy when I can be back in the old stomping grounds during the festive season. The 2004 holidays was also special as it was the first time I had ever brought both my kids to Oregon. My daughter, who is now ten, has been there a number of times, but it was the first-ever visit for my son. Yes, it was definitely a very special occasion.

Naturally, whenever I go back to Oregon I always take a number of pictures to show people after I come back to Japan. However, I gave the issue even more thought than usual during the 2004 visit because I had recently started using PowerPoint through a projector in my classes at Ye Olde Academy^TM. I thought it would be cool to take some pictures of the Christmas decorations in and around my parents' house and the nearby town. The little prefab house where my parents have lived since I grew up and left home isn't very big, but it's in a very beautiful location on a wooded chunk of land that used to be part of my grandfather's farm. Besides, my parents always go a little crazy at Christmastime, and it's always quite beautiful. I snapped a whole bunch of pictures of the tree and decorations inside the house and then, after it got dark, I went outside to get some pics of the lights on the house itself.

I remember feeling strangely uncomfortable when I went out to take the pics. It was a cold, clear night, damp as usual for that time of the year but not misty. There was a musty sort of smell in the air that struck me as unusual, but nothing to warrant any attention. Still, I felt really uneasy, and my heart was beating quickly. I kept pausing and looking around because I had a terrible feeling like I was being watched. In the end, though I originally intended to take a whole bunch of photos all around the house, I only took two quickies and then hurried back inside.

It turned out to be kind of a strange visit. One morning at dawn several of us were awakened by thumps like heavy footsteps outside the house, and then my son suddenly started shrieking. When I asked him what was wrong he said he saw something look in the window. More than once during the week or so we were there my sister was awakened in the middle of the night by what felt like something licking her face. (Actually, she says this phenomenon has occurred off and on whenever she has been at our parents' house during the past three years.) My daughter, who got her first-ever camera as a present that Christmas, used up three rolls of film in two days, and when we got them developed several shots taken inside the house showed strange blurs or orbs in the corners. (Of course, some of them were obviously her thumb, but anyway...)

Despite the strangeness, it was a very enjoyable visit, and as always it was much too short. We said our melancholy goodbyes once again and returned to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Winter vacation ended, and I immediately threw together a PowerPoint presentation of my trip to Oregon to show my students. I admit I didn't look all that closely at the pictures I included. As it turned out, the students noticed something I didn't at first. In fact, some of them were seriously scared, and it was easy to see why. You see, in the picture I took of my parents' house that oddly discomforting night you can see the beautiful Christmas lights.

You can also see something else.


This is the picture, and I promise you it hasn't been touched or tampered with in any way. Straight from the memory stick and into the computer. The time is strange because my camera was set according to Japanese time. Note the image, or object, on the right side of the picture, which looks more than a little skull-like. If you look closely, there is a faint image of a body extending from it, too.

I e-mailed copies of this pic to a number of people that I know. One of my friends then showed it to a paranormal investigator, who said it looked like an animal apparition rather than human (and I would agree). She also went on to suggest that it was a cow, and she recommended that I find out whether cows were ever kept in that place.

In fact, a cow was. That chunk of land used to be part of my grandfather's farm, as I've said before. In fact, when my mother was a child it was part of a small enclosure where the family kept its dairy cow, a jersey named June. My mother says June was a very friendly and lovable thing. So...did she come to miss human companionship a little too much that Christmas?