RISON - People seeing ghosts? Bigfoot roaming the back roads of Cleveland County?
Those are a couple of the stories discussed in this week's episode of the Herald's Free Range Conversation podcast that is currently available for download throug Apple Podcast or Spotify. It can also be heard through the Herald's website at www.clevelandcountyherald. com With the Halloween holiday fast approaching, the Free Range Conversation hosts decided to take a look at some the spooky stories from Cleveland County.
One of the ghosts stories involved the old Cleveland County Hospital/Nursing Home located on Magnolia Street in Rison.
Legend had it that a young girl had died at the hospital after being transported there following a traffic accident. The emergency room at that time was located at the end of the north wing of the hospital closest to Magnolia Street.
According to the stories that have been passed down, the young girl could be seen crossing the hall from one room to another at the end of that wing. Some of the former staff at the nursing home reported strange happenings in that area, including hearing some of the patients asking about the little girl they had seen in their room.
That story was repeated when the hospital was used for a haunted house by the Rison Lions Club. The hospital/nursing home is now a pile rubble after being torn down earlier this year.
Britt Talent, another host of the Free Range Podcast, discussed two "bigfoot" sightings from Cleveland County that were reported to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization. Both sightings were from the early 2000's, and the full reports can be found on www.bfro.net The first report was from an incident that allegedly took place on Goggans Road south of the Herbine community in the summer of 2001.
According to the report, a man was up watching television at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, July 29, 2001, when his dogs started barking. He said he turned on his porch light and called his dogs. When the dogs came up to the porch, he reported smelling a strange odor that he described as being that of raw sewage and rotting meat. "Just over a fence that was about 5 yards from me, I noticed what I thought might be a bear up on two legs," the report stated. "I yelled for it to 'get out of here.' Then I noticed that instead of walking on all four legs, it walked like a human, upright. It was about 8 feet high and (had) long, ape like arms. It had long hair on 'his' body." Upon telling his grandmother about the incident, the man reported his grandmother told him that she had been awakened by a strange deep growl.
The other incident took place in June 2003 along a gravel road outside of Kingsland about a mile from the Saline River.
According to the report, the man as driving down an un-paved road and needed to use the restroom at about 11 p.m. at night. He said he stopped the car and turned off the motor and lights so he could hear if another car was coming.
Upon getting out of the car, he reported smelling a very strong odor similar to a wild hog coming from in front of him.
"I turned the headlights on and standing approximately 30 yards in front of me was a large hairy creature 7 to 8 feet tall," the report said. "It had large eyes and a large mouth and its hair was very long and shaggy and very dirty. It had its arms out to its side like it was surprised that I turned the lights on. "Its arms were very long, longer than that of a human. It stood there for a few minutes and then took two long strides into the woods," the report continued. "I did not look for tracks that night, but came back the next day and did not see any, but the gravel road is very hard and there was pine straw on both sides of the road in the woods." In a follow-up report with an investigator, the man said the creature was standing in the middle of the road when he turned the lights on. He said the creature had matted brown hair with some red tint to it, and was covered with mud on its legs and lower torso. The creature was described as having wide and sloping or "slouched" shoulders with its arms hanging down to mid calf. While the witness did not see any teeth, he said its mouth, or jaw, did not protrude, but was "large." The nose was reported to be short with big, flared nostrils, and its head was shaped like an "ape's head" but more rounded off. He also noted that its eyes did not glow, but looked large and dark.
"After looking at each other in silence for approximately one minute the creature resumed its walk towards the left side of the road and disappeared into the adjacent woods," the report stated.
The witness was "adamant" to the investigator that "he never felt threatened by the creature, even though it was only 30 yards away from him."