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.

Georgia Bigfoot Shot and Killed in 1943?

In my recent correspondence with Wayne Ford, the journalist at the Athens Banner-Herald about which I wrote in my Bigfoot in Georgia book, I learned that there was a mysterious story about a Bigfoot in Georgia that was shot and killed. This story appears in John Green's book, Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us, published in 1978.

According to the story, which appears on page 370-371 of the book, the story of this killing was told to a man named Rich Grumley, who was with a bigfoot research group based in California. This was not the BFRO, as the BFRO was not founded until the 1990s. A man told this story to Grumley. Rich Grumley has since passed away, according to an article in The Bigfoot Times from July 2009. Nevertheless, the story goes that in 1943, a county in Georgia experienced the mysterious slaughtering of sheep and calves. The animals had been attacked by something that was pulling their legs off. The county must have been in the North Georgia Mountains, for it was said that local men chased the perpetrator onto a small mountain where they shot it 60 times, one slug hitting it in the eye and piercing the brain. The men collected the dead carcass, loading it on back of a pickup truck and bringing it back in to a nearby town. The man who reported this story to Grumley said that the animal was so large that its torso was wider than the back of the pickup and its feet dragged the ground due to it being so long. The animal was covered with reddish-brown hair, but the palms of the hand, face, and soles of its feet were bare. There was minimal hair on its head and chest, and like so many Bigfoot sightings, there was a terrible stench associated with the creature. The report goes on to mention that the animal was buried under a pile of rocks.

Like Wayne Ford, I speculate that the story may be more legend than fact. Granted, as Ford stated in a letter to me, a small mountain town newspaper might not have had access to a national wire service to report such an event, but most surely this incident would have been plastered all over the front page of the local paper. The problem here is that noone associated with this report knows in what town this took place, or supposedly took place. Nothing comes up in a news search. It would have been the talk of the area had it happened. However, as I cannot confirm this report, I cannot in good conscience totally deny that it happened. Afterall, 1943 was smack dab in the middle of World War II. The biggest "boogers" out there to most people, especially in the South, were the Nazis, Facists, and Japanese. Many boys were fighting overseas, and reports from the war front would more than likely have dominated the news at that time-local and state, not to mention national. Perhaps this was an isolated rural incident that took place in a town with NO local paper, so the residents of the community had to rely on a paper from another place. With so much going on-war, depression, Communist scare-perhaps there was not much attention paid to this by news reporters at the time.

If anyone has ever heard this story in their locality, please email me. I would love to find out more about it. John Green was contacted by Wayne Ford, and Green knew no more than what was printed in his book. Grumley has died, and noone knows the name of the man who reported to Grumley. Stumped, I am!!!

Reese Christian, Author of Ghosts of Atlanta, To Appear at Bell, Book and Candle

Reese Christian, the author of Ghosts of Atlanta, will be doing a book signing and book discussion at Bell Book and Candle in McDonough on Saturday, February 20th starting at 1:30. She will sign copies of her book, as well as copies of the 25th anniversary DVD of the movie Poltergeist, on which she was a guest commentator for the special bonus footage on that anniversary edition.

She will also be the guest speaker on the McDonough Haunted History Tour, and will be leading an investigation at Bell, Book and Candle, as well as other "haunted" locations in downtown McDonough later that evening.

Reese's website can be located at www.reesechristian.com.
For more information, call Bell Book and Candle at 770-957-1880 or email them at bellbooksandcandle@hotmail.com.

More Good Reviews for Bigfoot in Georgia: This one from the Southeast Sasquatch Association

I just saw where the owner of the blog, Southeast Sasquatch Association, reviewed my book today. Here is his post on his website. Click on the title of this article to see the website. Here is a clipping and pasting of his comments:

Taken from the Southeast Sasquatch Society Website:

"Friday, February 05, 2010
Book Review: Bigfoot In Georgia by Jeffery Wells

Really good book on reports from the Peach State

This book, written by the social sciences and education department chairman for Georgia Military College's Atlanta campus, is a really terrific treatise of reports from the southern state. It covers reports mainly from a logical area, the North Georgia Mountains, mainly the northern counties in the Peach State. There are also reports from the metro Atlanta area near the town of Newnan, the same area the movie Deliverance was filmed in. Sightings from southern Georgia are also profiled, more particularly the Georgia/north Florida border. There is also an entire chapter devoted to the fairly famous Elkins Creek cast, which was examined by Jeff Meldrum and Jimmy Chilcutt and given the stamp of approval. Names such as the Belk/Belt Road Booger and the Happy Valley Horror are given to localized Sasquatch creatures, and frightening encounters are also recounted. Organizations such as the Georgia Bigfoot group are profiled, along with a reporter, Wayne Ford, who not only writes about Sasquatch, he investigates them as well. The recent infamous hoax is skimmed over very quickly and hardly mentioned, which is a good thing, because the book is really good and informative enough without it. I highly recommend this book, which from what I understand is the first in a series highlighting reports from all 50 states. **** out of *****
Posted by bf2006 at 9:45:00 AM"

Chad Arment, Author of The Historical Bigfoot, reviews my book, Bigfoot in Georgia, on his blog

Chad Arment, who wrote the book "The Historical Bigfoot," reviewed my book," Bigfoot in Georgia," on his blog at www.strangeark.com. I have clipped and pasted his review below. A link to his blog can be accessed by clicking on the title to this post. Overall, it was a positive review.

This is taken from his blogsite, www.strangeark.com/blog, author and creator-Chad Arment.

"Monday, January 04, 2010
Bigfoot in Georgia

The publisher recently sent me a copy of Jeffery Wells' Bigfoot in Georgia, so I'll note a few things here for potential readers. First the basics:

Bigfoot in Georgia
Jeffery Wells
Pine Winds Press (Idyll Arbor); 2010
ISBN 978-0-937663-17-2
165 pp., retails for $18.00

Let me start off pointing out that Amazon currently has the book discounted (on pre-order) to a bit over $12, so don't be afraid of the $18 price tag.

The book covers Bigfoot sightings in Georgia, including regional Native American tales, some early newspaper accounts, and other stories up to the present day. There is discussion in the first chapter on the overall history of Bigfoot sightings, another chapter discusses the Elkins Creek cast, and he devotes a fair bit of text to specific organizations or researchers (for example, a chapter on journalist Wayne Ford).

The author is a professor at Georgia Military College (Atlanta campus), and his ability to write is certainly above par for the subject. This is a decent state guide on the topic, and the author handles it objectively. It looks like most of the reports come from other researchers and organizations, so the scope of sightings may be familiar to the more well-versed Bigfoot enthusiasts. That's not a bad thing -- if anything, more regional Bigfoot organizations need to seek out individuals like Wells to organize and write up their files in a professional manner. Too many guides (or websites) are haphazard or don't convey an objective approach to the subject. I would have liked to have seen a more thorough survey of sightings in this book, but I suspect it would be too difficult to manage that while dealing with the various personalities in Bigfoot research. That's one reason I don't bother with this topic much myself."