Dinner With the Author in Downtown McDonough

On Saturday, June 19th at The Season's Bistro in downtown McDonough, I will be discussing my book In Atlanta or in Hell: The Camp Creek Train Crash of 1900 as part of a dinner with the author event. The event will include dinner, an after dinner discussion of the book, possibly a train crash tour of downtown McDonough, and book signing. The books are available at Bell, Book and Candle on John Frank Ward Boulevard downtown.

I appreciate Lynn and Caprice for helping set this up. It should be a lot of fun. Contact Lynn at The Seasons Bistro about the dinner, and Caprice or Shannon at Bell, Book and Candle about the book.

Bistro-770-288-2544
Bell, Book and Candle-770-957-1880

Bigfoot in Georgia and Georgia Mysteries Website to Be Featured On Conundrums Netcast June 24th

I will be the guest on Jay Michael's weekly online video show called Conundrums. The show will be broadcast at the following website on Monday, June 24th.
http://conundrumstv.blogspot.com

We will be discussing my book Bigfoot in Georgia, as well as this website Georgia Mysteries. Tune in and watch me as I talk about the legend of the Georgia Bigfoot.

Bigfoot Obviously Angry at A Couple in Emanuel County

I am from this area, albeit about 45 minutes west of Emanuel County, but my mother lives less than ten minutes from the area in this report now. My friend Matt Pruitt investigated this report and posted it. I talked with him about it shortly afterwards. He commented that it was one of the more interesting reports from the state.

Apparently, a couple bought some property in Emanuel County. For those not familiar with the area, Emanuel County is about an hour or so West of Savannah, and the county seat for Emanuel County is Swainsboro, which is the home of East Georgia College. It obviously is the home to something else as well.

The incident took place near the Ohoopee River, a place where prints and other things have have been seen, indicating that there might be some activity along this waterway. This particular encounter took place in November 1982 when a couple purchased some property in the area that had once been a fishing camp. On the property was a small mobile home measuring 12x45 feet. On this occasion, the weather was a bit cold, with the person reporting the encounter mentioning that it was in the 20s. Being that it was getting close to winter, I can imagine that the air was crisp and cool.

The area where this took place was heavily wooded, and, as I mentioned before, the Ohoopee River is nearby. On this evening, the wife was in the kitchen, while the husband was in the living room of the mobile home reading. The couple had purchased the property and were staying in the mobile home temporarily until they could build their house on the land. Obviously, this ticked off someone, or someTHING. On that night, as both were quietly passing the evening, a loud howl erupted from the night and something violently shook the mobile home, almost tipping it off the blocks and supports upon which it was sitting. The howling and shaking lasted about ten seconds, an eternity when something like this happens. The man grabbed his firearm and quickly went outside to investigate. Nothing was there-anywhere.

As Matt Pruitt of the BFRO researched the report, he discovered that the man had lived there for a while after the incident. It was also mentioned in the report that the man reporting the incident had never even imagined that it COULD have been a Bigfoot encounter until he came upon the BFRO website and heard the Ohio Howl from 1994 recording posted on the site. He said it matched what he heard almost perfectly. Pruitt felt that what happened was the couple had "intruded" upon what was probably Sasquatch hunting ground, and that it might be possible that the animal was using the mobile home as a shelter. Afterall, the man reporting the encounter mentioned that the home had been abandoned for a little while before he and his wife came there, and that when they moved in, there was evidence that animals had entered the home. Pruitt feels most certain that this Sasquatch had been using it as a shelter, and the couple disrupted that.

This is a strange one to me. What makes it even scarier is the fact that my mother and stepfather live nearby, and my stepfather, who I had no clue believed in Bigfoot until my book came out, says that he hunts in the area a good bit. In fact, he and my mom own more than a few acres of wooded land in the area. They have dogs, and there is a pond not far from the back porch of their house on the property. If something like this was living nearby as recently as the mid 1980s, I am honest in saying I am a little nervous for them, and a little nervous for myself too. For I visit their home at Thanksgiving and Christmas each year. HMMMMM............

Bigfoot in Georgia and other book signings at the Geranium Festival in McDonough

I will be joining two other local authors in a book signing at the Geranium Festival in McDonough on Saturday, May 15th. Bell, Book and Candle will be hosting a few local authors, and I am included. I will be signing copies of my book Bigfoot in Georgia, as well as copies of In Atlanta or in Hell: The Camp Creek Train Crash of 1900, and Moments in McDonough History. The signing will be in the morning hours and last until around 2:00 p.m. The address is 45 John Frank Ward Boulevard, McDonough, Georgia.

Come out and visit or pick up a personalized copy of all three books.

Great Book on Georgia Mysteries by Don Rhodes

Recently, I had to opportunity to start an email friendship with an author, Don Rhodes. Don has spent many years covering the country music (as well as some other genres) scene for various newspapers, mainly in the Augusta, Georgia area. He came upon one of my blogs and emailed me. Little did I know that he and I would have such a great time emailing one another. I will have the opportunity to meet him in person this summer when he does a book signing in the McDonough area.

Don has written Mysteries and Legends Georgia: True Stories of the Unsolved and Unexplained for Globe Pequot Press. This is a great book. In it, Don talks about some very interesting mysteries from the Peach State. Especially interesting is the mystery of where Button Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence from Georgia, is buried. In addition there are stories about Susan Hayward, the lost gold of the Confederacy, John Ross and the Cherokees, Jimmy Carter and the UFO, the curse on Jacksonborough, and the Georgia Guidestones. I have blogged about a few of them here before. I especially appreciate Don's sense and love of history. Not only is this book a good read for those looking for nice little mysteries from Georgia, it is quite educational in the sense that he has included the history behind a lot of the areas from where these stories of mystery originate.

Don is a great writer, which shows in this book. I highly encourage my readers to check out a copy of this book, and Google his name to see the other fascinating titles he has to offer!

Bigfoot Sightings Still Happening in Georgia: Clinch County October 2009

It appears that the hairiest residents of the Peach State continue to be noticed by innocent by-standers just passing through. The latest sighting in Georgia, according to the researchers at the BFRO, was in October of last year in Clinch County.

Clinch County is located near the Florida border. It is one of the largest counties in the state by land mass, and there are tons of acres of forested, untouched areas in the county. The report in question here centers around a couple who was driving through the area on their way back home to Florida. Here is what they had to say. I have taken this from the report issued at the BFRO. This report can be found at www.bfro.net.

And I quote: "On October 7, 2009 at about 11:30 pm , my wife and I were returning to Weeki Wachee , Florida from a trip to North Carolina . We were driving south on US 441 in an unpopulated area at about 65mph. We were about halfway between Homerville and Fargo which is slightly west of the Okefenokee Swamp . It was very dark with very scant traffic and we were the only car in sight. There were no other lights visible anywhere and no houses or businesses anywhere around. My wife had turned on the map light because we were getting low on gas and we needed to check the distance to the nearest probable area for gas. She was looking down at the map and didn't see it, but she sure smelled it. Years before , we had been camping in the Okefenokee Swamp and were aware of the wildlife diversity. I have hunting , camping , and Brazilian jungle experience and I am not easily frightened, but this shook me up. It was an instinctive reaction similar to when you have a surprise encounter with a poisonous snake.

I saw a very dark brown/black constant colored tall humanoid figure standing on the left shoulder of the road , quarter facing toward the road and toward the direction of our travel. The figure was standing still, very vertically erect with both arms loosely down at its sides. I couldn't see any facial features or individual features of hands or feet. I estimate it to be about 7 ft. tall and weigh between 200 and 300 pounds. It was lanky rather than stocky and was not crouching forward , but was standing very vertical. The smell coming into the car vent was very powerfull and was a combination of sewerlike and a strong musky animal odor. There was a small animal roadkill a few yards down the highway that was fresh , so that wouldn't account for the fowl odor. We conjectured that the creature had smelled the roadkill and came out of the woods to investigate. The hair on the head was long and stringy, but the rest of the body hair seemed only two or three inches long and layed down rather than sticking out in a fuzzy fashion. The thing that struck me was that I couldn't see any facial features or varied colors around the hand areas.

We thought about turning around to re- investigate, but in the middle of the night , I frankly didn't think it was prudent. We proceeded to the next major intersection to buy gas, and I asked the station employees if anyone else had mentioned something unusual or if there were any kind of unusual wildlife sightings in the area. They answered 'no'. That was the end of our incident.

All but one of the sketches I have ever seen of creatures anything like this , showed a more stocky crouching ape-like creature. What I saw was a tall, lanky , humanoid creature that looked almost "helmeted" because of the way the head hair fell straight down similar to a woman with long straight hair. I could see no neck . I don't know what I saw but I will never stop my car at night anywhere that area."

The above report was investigated by BFRO researcher Ken Johnson, who found that the couple was very credible. Johnson added this to the website as a result of his follow-up interview with the couple.

And I quote: "I spoke to this witness by phone, and he described his credible encounter in great detail, both in the report, and also as he related it to me. I can add a few details to his account after speaking with him.

The figure he saw looked tall and lanky, and looked rather 'spider-monkey-like' to the witness, rather than stocky and ape-like, as he has heard of other bigfoot-type descriptions. It also had arms that were longer than those of a human's, reaching almost to it's knees.

The animal did not seem to react, or to be concerned by the passing of their car, but seemed fixed on something nearby, possibly the road-kill that the witness and his wife mentioned as being a short distance down the road.

When the couple stopped for gas and asked some of the locals if they were aware of any unusual animal sightings in the area, one man told them, after hearing the description of the animal they had just seen, 'you saw a swamp ape'.

Additionally, the witness told me that this sighting had been quite disturbing for him, even though he is not normally shaken by most situations. He also said that if armed, and presented with a situation in which it became necessary to shoot at one of these animals, it's human-like appearance would make that very difficult to do."


Of all the Bigfoot research organizations that handle sightings nationwide, I trust the BFRO the most. Not that everyone else is lying, but the BFRO has such a vast network of supporters, a high standard for those conducting research and following up on reports, and a membership with diverse skills, that they stand very tall in a crowded field. If anything, this report signifies that people are seeing something in Georgia, and the activity continues to this day. Clinch County, if you know anything about it, has a lot of the very things that Bigfoot researchers tell us are needed to sustain such a species. Interesting.....

A Haunting In Georgia: Interview with Joyce Cathey

Since opening the blog, I have had several people request that I do something on the Heidi Wyrick saga that was documented by The Discovery Channel's "A Haunting." The episode was called "A Haunting in Georgia." It featured the Wyrick family of Southwest Georgia, a family that had been tormented by the presence of spirits in their homes and on their family property.

Recently, I caught up with Joyce Cathey, Heidi's aunt, who has co-written a book about the ordeal called THE VEIL: HEIDI WYRICK'S STORY. Her co-author was Rebecca Harrington. Joyce is a very pleasant woman, who enjoys discussing what she and her family has gone through with anyone interested in learning about the subject. As a matter of fact, there is a movie deal in the works. I emailed Joyce some questions and she was kind enough to email me back the answers. Thanks, JOYCE!!!
The email interview is below. GM=Georgia Mysteries, and JC=Joyce Cathey

For those of you who are not familiar with this story, click on the title of this blog article, and it will take you to the website that the Wyricks and Joyce have established. Also, check out "A Haunting in Georgia" on The Discovery Channel.

GM:Why do you think what happened did happen to your family?
JC: We do not know why these things happened. This questions is asked a lot and believe me, we have searched for answers for the past 20 years and are still searching. I don’t think we will ever know for sure.

GM:What more can you tell me about Heidi's interaction with Mr. Gordy?
JC:Heidi began talking to Mr. Gordy at the age of three. Her initial interactions consisted of almost daily visitations and she’s had many conversations with him. She has memories of him pushing her on the swing and helping her learn to ride her bike. But after the Unsolved Mysteries episode aired she became the target of comical antics from her school mates and was treated very badly through her middle school years. Heidi eventually stopped talking about Mr. Gordy. She hated the fact that she was gifted, if you will, and tried to shut it out and as time progressed his visits became less frequent.

GM:Were there any negative vibes associated with Mr. Gordy?
JC: There were never any negative vibes from Mr. Gordy. She always did, and still does, feel that he was her protector of sorts.

GM:Have you or anyone else associated with the haunting ever contacted or been contacted by the Gordy family?
JC: My sister, Lisa’s mother, talked with Mr. Gordy’s daughter on a few occasions and also kept contact through letters. She visited with Heidi on a few occasions but lived in Florida. She asked Heidi to tell her dad that she loved him. Mr. Gordy’s daughter is recently deceased.

GM: Do things continue to happen now?
JC: Things still continue to happen although not as frequent as when she was younger.

GM: How does the family handle these things?
JC: Things were very difficult for the Wyrick family in the beginning because no one knew what was happening. As you know, it was several years before the connection was made and his identity was confirmed. The Wyrick’s had a lot of support through their family, friends, and also their extended church family. My mom was raised in north Georgia and a place known as ‘Hainted Holler’. She, too, was born with a veil and has always been able to see things, though her abilities were not as strong a Heidi’s. So we were always familiar with stories of the spirit world and believed that there was something beyond our own dimension.

GM: Tell me more about the book and how it came about.
JC: When the events shifted from benign to becoming violent I knew I had to document them. Initially I wrote them down just to keep up for our family, but interest throughout the community ran high and after recounting the same story over and over again, I had no choice but to publish the things I’d written.

GM: What can you tell me about the upcoming movie about the hauntings?
JC: Gold Circle/Lions Gate films bought Heidi’s life rights in March, 2009. The status has now in the production phase and filming is slated to begin in late spring or early summer. Hopefully, it will hit theaters in the fall.

I will be researching "Hainted Holler" as I can. This sounds like a very interesting place. Joyce even mentioned that she was interested in doing a book signing in McDonough at Bell, Book and Candle in the near future. I have been working on getting that set up with the owners of the bookstore. This is where I have done both of my book signings.