Did I really see that?
Several years ago before I retired I had my Private Investigations office at the Pythian Building. On this fall night I had left a file I needed in my office so I had no choice but to drive downtown and retrieve it. Now I don’t know how many have driven down Riverside at night but it can be rather dark and with no moon spooky.
On this night in late October there was a haze in the bottoms a good night for the deer to roam. Since I am not known for driving fast I was slowly approaching my turn off Riverside to Sycamore that ran along the Cemetery . (This had always been my shortcut to downtown) That was when I saw it a big black dog larger than a Lab but smaller than a Great Dane.
The dog crossed the Street right in front of me at top speed then it looked like went through the wall to the Riverside Cemetery.
Now mind you I had just finished a mystery on Navajo skin walkers. Out of curiosity I had researched realizing not only the Navajo had stories of skin walkers but the Chickasaw and other southern tribes also included them in their history. So Skin walker was the first thing that I thought.
History lesson :America is a hodgepodge of cultures, traditions, folklore tales, and nasty critters of the deep. The Navajo are part of a larger culture area that also includes the Pueblo people, Apache, Hopi, Ute, and other groups that also have their own versions of the Skinwalker, but each includes a malevolent witch capable of transforming itself into an animal.
Ok back to my story
I was parked and watching the dog walk up the hill where he faded. where he was now stood a man. He turned and looked my way and walked on up the path then he faded away.
Needless to say I left and went to the office. When I got there I called a friend and told him what happened. Since we had experienced other sightings in the Riverside he was not surprised.
Not long before this happened to me we had been down at the cemetery. I had been recording information off some of the tombstones. We had looked up and saw a man walking toward the back of the cemetery toward the graves that were said to have been of the unknown soldiers. At that time we had seen him fade away. When we told another friend he told us when they were doing the re-enactments at Riverside sightings happened a lot.
Now I know Riverside Cemetery has an interesting history and is a wonderful place to visit . Many of the residents there represent the history of Madison Co. It may just be that not all of them have passed on ….who knows?
That night I returned home a different way…
HistoryandstoriesoftheHatchieRiver 