The Monster

(Authors note: “Truth is stranger than fiction” – never was a more accurate saying created. This story will well illustrate this quote. People have long accused us of lying or making it up.

(Why would we make up a story that clearly tells you we were dead scared and did not know what to do? Both of us are know in our home area for our outdoor skills and prowess so why tarnish it with a false story? We could of just as easily kept our traps SHUT and kept it to ourselves.)

Well I am here to tell you I was scared “spitless” and if I had been alone I would have turned tail and run, and not stopped till my feet hit the asphalt a good mile away.)

The Darlington Valley of Delaware County Pennsylvania has a record of strange incidents and occurrences. Many people have reported seeing strange things lurking in the seemingly ever-present mist of early morning and evening. More people have reported the hearing horrible cries, screams and roars coming from the dark woods. So bad were the sounds some people vowed never to again return to the valley.

As a side note, my Fathers very close friend and his girlfriend had an experience neither of them ever forgot. Melvin Mallesly and his girlfriend (I can't recall his girlfriend’s name) were um, ah parking down in the valley late one night. As usually happens they were rather involved in what they were doing, when suddenly behind their car "The Monster" let loose with its audio assortment of mayhem. Even before the sounds faded away Melvin had the car started and was laying a trail of rubber out of the valley. Melvin was a good ole boy, born and raised as a hunter and trapper, so he knew the sounds of the woods. He told my Father that this was no animal he'd ever heard. My Father and his friends being young (20's) punks, of course teased the man unmercifully, calling it Melvin's Monster. Well it frightened him so badly he never went back into the valley, and his girlfriend moved to Florida. No one believed poor Melvin or his girlfriend. Stories of "The Monster" continued for years afterward up till this day even.

I had heard the stories of the "Darlington Monster" as a child from both my Father (who didn't believe a word of it) and my Mother (who always said there is something evil in that valley.) I decided that it was probably just animals making noises and citified people couldn't explain them and therefore were scared of what they heard. Foxes screaming, coons barking and growling, and numerous owl cries can unnerve the unknowing. Little did I know I would get a front row seat with the legend itself.

It was Thanksgiving Day 1992 when my partner Arnold and I had our encounter with "The Monster". It was very early in the morning around 3AM or so when this event took place. Arnold and I were walking up the valley checking our coon sets, talking to each other as we usually did. It was as dark as midnight in a mineshaft, as there was no moon and heavy cloud cover. This part of the valley is extremely thick, with multi-flora rose and honeysuckle everywhere, even in the daylight you can only see about 20 feet due to the walls of vegetation, and the only way through is a single deer path.

We were walking along guided by our trusty $1.24 flashlight we picked up at a gas station, its dim sickly yellow light barely illuminating our chosen path. Suddenly it front of us this thing lets out this sound. It started with a rumble like distant thunder, rose up to a howling shriek like banshee with a toothache and tapered off to a mad dog howl. It was so loud it reverberated off our chest and we could feel it on our faces. Arnold and I both looked at each other and said, "WHAT THE #%$^# WAS THAT??????". If you think this was inappropriate language, all I can say is you weren't there! We drew our pistols and loaded them so fast, we could have taken, Butch, Sundance, and The Kid down. This is all the more amazing considering the pistols were in snap down holsters and the bullets were in our pockets. We tried shining the light around but that did nothing constructive for our heart rates. Arnold then suggested we should slowly move off to the right to our other sets out in the field. You can believe me when I say this was met with less enthusiasm than "The Charge of the Light Brigade", they were only riding into the Valley of Death, I thought, and I was already there. I informed Arnold I liked the tree I was backed up against and daylight was only 1 1/2hrs. away or so. Arnold coerced me into following him by starting off toward the field with the flashlight in one hand and a fully loaded and cocked pistol in the other. I sure as [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot] wasn't going to sit there in the dark by myself. I followed along right behind him, with my pistol fully loaded and cocked as well. To say we covered the 200 yards from where we met the monster to the edge of the field where our sets were carefully is a masterpiece of understatement. We were so slow and careful you'd thought we were tiptoeing through a minefield. Thank God no deer broke through the brush or rabbit scampered through the dry leaves, otherwise there would have been a hail of lead laid down.

We finally made it to the field edge without any more surprises. After checking our sets we had to re-enter the valley to get back to the truck. It was just light enough to see when we marched back into the valley. On the far side we heard the noise again. We continued back to the truck and got the [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot] out of there. Did this experience change us? Well yes and no, we were back checking traps the next day in the same valley, but now we had fully loaded pistols in unsnapped holsters.

Arnold and I have talked about this incident many times since then. We know what we heard, and I can't tell you what it sounded like exactly, because I've never heard anything even remotely resembling it. Between us Arnold and I have over 60 years of experience in the woods, from southern Virginia swamps to New York mountaintops; we have been to them all. We firmly agree it was no animal that walks the woods (to many sound variations in a short time), or human (no way a person could make those noises).

So you may ask what it was then. Well I can't rightly say,
aAll I can say is if I never hear it again it'll be too soon.

This story kills me everytime I read it.

- Clint

GOOD STORY

have you posted this on here before good story

Great story!!

Yes I've posted it before and was asked to repost it

Mike, could you hear anything move in the brush at all? It would seem that something that could be that loud would have to be of a substantial size. I would have laid down a suppressing fire in hopes that I would convince the creature to leave me alone!

- Clint

No that was the truly scary part - it yelled at us tha then (pardon the phrase) it was "dead" quiet. Nothing, no sound at all, not even a breeze.

And having felt the noise hit us in the chests we knew it was WAY to close, needless to say we did NOT go FORWARD we went off to the right perpendicular to our previous line of travel, and VERY slowly.

it was the jersey devil

AL I've had people say that too - was only about 100 miles from the Pine Barrens, so who knows.

For sure not me.

MikeD

i grew up in the pine barrens,a lot of pineys have no doubt that there is a jersey devil

I would of peed my pants first and took off running as fast as i could.

Thats another reason why i carry my 22 and then a 223 lol. I BET IT WAS BIG FOOT!

uhh what is the jersey devil?

Very interesting....thanks for sharing....hope I never encounter a screamer like that...unless its a girl...

BTW- is this near Philly or north toward the DE water gap? I live in SE PA and that area seems to be heavily populated...

SE PA and the are is heavily populated- it took place in one of the few areas that has large tracts of continuous woods and streams. Still is a protected Public trust area bough up by the township, no development allowed for 100 years.

Wow....wow.....wow....that is pretty darn scary....

Manbearpig...

LOLOLOLOLOL

- Clint

as mike knows...i have also heard this sound not more than a mile from where mike and A heard it....i was tracking a deer when i heard it less than 10 yards from me...me(6'1 170.my dad 60 270 and my brother 5'10 260) were all so scared we shut off the lights and sat in the quiet for 10 minutes to A) try to hear something move and it what direction B) not be seen or heard in case what it was wanted us...turned the light on and walked to where we heard the sound and there was nothing there,and we never heard a sound in teh leafs( this is mid fall with crunchy crunchy oak leaves everywhere on this hill side) we also had no weapon at all,just a mag light and a small stream light(very bright!!! i shined it at the sound at first to see nothing,but we were in a slight tangle of huneysuckle-ish vines and saplings


if i never hear that sound again it will be wayyyyyyy to soon!!

i think maby it was a wolverditcher mike.....if you dont know what this is,dont ask unless mike wants to splain?

I can't explain Nick - I never seen a wolverditcher - that was your Dad's buddies, not me.

So get him to tell you and you type it up

Sure makes the blood run cold though doesn't it!

just to think when a rabbit rustles the leaves on me i jump out of my pants

quite a few websites about it Blake,some pretty interesting stuff,when i was a kid ,we wernt threatened with the boogy man gonna get us,we were threatened that the jersey devil was gonna get us.also called the leeds devil.

Dang, thats near me..just 1 hr drive,...maybe I should go for a hunt...

ohh dang.i think ill check them out when its light out lol.i'm guessing its like bigfoot or something?i've always been threatened about the boogy man is going to get me lol

uhh better bring the .50 cal.lol

blake no 50. cal no just the trusty sigp220 45acp got to get it up qick or it might get away 50.cal is just to big

LOL. 7 mag and a 22 pistol?

no 45acp and 300wsm

ohh that could work

it whould trust me it whould

Sounds to me like it was Melvin trying to authenticate his story by making horrifing sounds at your expense.

Melvin would never go back in the valley even when the rest of his buddies would go to hunt deer.

I never even met the man, just was told the story by my Mother. My Dad says Mevlin moved away long before I was ever born.

Plus if Melvin could find us in that valley in the middle of the night 30 years later, by gosh he's a better man than I am.

Mike

I believe you Mike. Some things defy explanation.

But...didja catch any coons?

well i know the story of the wolverdicther mike..
like yall from jersey when i was little i wasnt threatened with the boogy man i was threatened with a wolverditcher!
the story goes something like this,
A fish warden who my dad and his friends were good buddies with was down on ridley creek in Ridley Creek State Park,and saw a bunch of monkey lookin things, Couldnt explain what they were but they werent monkeys or humans they were just THINGS from what i am told that guy beat feet outta there.... I dont know where they got the name Wolverditcher but ill find out tonight.

Why would a fish warden tell ppl about such an event if it was false? this man was well respected and known for being honest soo.....the wolverditcher story continues on for at least my kids.. Cause god knows thats how i will keep them away from cricks when i dont want them near em

PS i thought mike and A were a lil crazy after reading this the first time.....till i heard it and talked to A about it one night and heard how shaky his voice got and how honest about it he was,now i know this is true,luckly i dont go into darlington often but hey whats to say these things cant take the tracks in a staright line 1 mile to find me?

anyone ever die in them parts? Sheesh...sounds like a wild place....M. Night should do a movie on it...

Hey Nick you remember when I told you the story - my hair on my arms stands on end.

Nick maybe Nightwish would like to hear about the White Thing - and I have SEEN that!

No really...this area and the whole NJ Devil thing could easily be made into a thriller movie...

Come on Mike...don't hold out on us...lets hear it !!!!!!

idk if yall can handle The WHITE Thing.....but yea Mike let em hear it..at least it will keep people from trappin near me

Everyone remeber..these stories me and mike are talkin about are in the heart of the area i trap,i walk these wookds everyday to hunt and trap.....and i am afraid of the dark,wonder why

ohhh man.i wanna here THE WHITE THING. i'm probably going to be freaked out every time i go in the timber at night but ohh well lol

WEllllllllllllllllllll

The White THing has been around for a very long time, turn of the century it seems. I've ben told people's grandfathers grandfather had seen it or heard it.

THis is no animal or beast it is and always has been a spectral image - either in a man shape or a diamond (I've seen both)made of a white mist.

My old trapping partner Arnold has seen it more than anyone I know of, and unfortunately he can't get on here to tell his stories.

Nick's Dad Jack and 3 of his friends saw it as a white diamond.

My friend Mike Wright and I saw it one night in a cemetery as a white dimoand, it went from one side of the cemetery to the other and back. Was a diamond of white mist about 2 foot wide. After is crossed the second time it just faded out to black.

The time I saw it as a mad shape I was walking down the tracks to home after work on a snowy night. As I neared the Lenni quarry, I saw ahead of me about 50 yards this white thing cross the tracjs from right to left. I was about my size 6-1 250 pounds, but it looked like it was not solid jsut sort of a white misty man. Problem was were I was the only way home was to either go into the woods it went into, go down the tracks past wher eit went acrosss or backtrack and got around (3mile trip). Also where I was at is the middle of nowhere there were and still are NO house within a good 1 1/2 miles of that spot. SO I decided to just walk downthe tracks as I had been, but whenI got to where it had crossed, there were NO tracks in the snow.

Well I didn't run but sure wanted to but I certainly sped up my step tilI got to the road and could see houses.

Those are MY 2 experiences with the White Thing.

MikeD

spooky....very spooky

great story, I trapped all over delaware county, including darlington in the 1980 s with the late jim murphy from media and we had alots of stories but none like that.Your partner arnold I believe I know from aston. tell him Patrick says hello.I loved trapping all those coons there but it got just to crowded after awhile.The last 2 years 86-87] I trapped there we averaged over 550 coon a season. not bad for back then.

Pat I know who you are!

Yeah Arn and I ran rampant over those parts but you and Murphy were incredible. Next time I talk to Arn I'll tellhim you say hi - in fact I'llpm you his #

thanks mike, I see you arent in pa. either. I m trying to place you, Have we met? Im out in the berring sea fishing now and will continue to check this tread

NO we never did meet - I did go with Arn and talk to Murphy a few times and both talked about you.

I sent you Arn's # - I am sure he'd be tickled to talk to ya!

Swamp gas...

Kind of like the Paulding Light....you Michigan boys should know about that.

my dads incounter with teh white thing goes like this..

him and some friends were walking across the baseball field that we have round here on there way to i belive their friend kennys house, someone had clothes ill ask if it was my dad or not,when a basketball sized white blob came hoveing about waist hieght threw teh field...my dad said tehya ll ran liek the winds and the clothes were left on the bleachers to be gotten the next day

speakin of seein it at the tracks by teh quarry mike! when my mom and dad were having their problems in teh beginnin my dad would go for a ride to clear his head,and he liked to go to teh tracks to relax..went down there one night after an argument and said a "white sheet" came from one side of the Lane that leads o the quarry gate and went straight up in the air and then down straight over teh lil hill to the crick twords westlake.. said he jumped out and ran over to the endge to see no sheet anywhere.......and the story of teh "white thing" comtinues

man ghosts have been around for thousands of years still creepy.

Great story.

IF THERE WAS NO SOUND ON THE GROUND IT MAY OF BEEN AIRBORN IVE HEARD OWLS MAKE SOME STRANGE NOISES AND AN OWLS WING BONES ARE HOLLOW WHICH ABSORBS MOST ALL SOUND IT WOULD EXPLAIN NO NOISE WE WERE PREDATOR CALLING WHEN I WAS AN TEENAGER AND AN OWL LANDED IN OUR LAP AND WE NEVER HEARD IT COMING ANYWAY GREAT STORIE I JUST THOUGHT IT PROB. WAS AIRBORN THANKS RACCOON RON

well you got your self something new to trsp

Hey Kusko, how'd you hear about the Paulding light? You grew up a ways south of there, no? I had a good bud who lived in Ewen-Trout Creek and we used to grab a 6er and go look for the light... the one time we saw it...it wasnt scary or anything just weird.

It was like everytime the car was approaching to top of a hill in the road you could see the glow from someone's headlights coming towards you. When you got to the top there was no car coming and no glow...pretty weird stuff. Must of been swamp gas or something...