My Strange Experience #4

I was 18 years old and recently graduated from high school. I had enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was scheduled to go to boot camp in late August. Being bored, I went to the employment office and found a summer job at a ranch about 15 miles outside of town.

The owner picked me up at the employment office and had me shovel manure all day in the barn. At the end of the working day they fed me a great dinner and gave me a room to sleep in. But I didn't like the job so I wrote a note to the rancher thanking him for the job and told him I was quitting.

Then I started walking home sometime around about 10 or 11 that night. There was a gravel road for about 5 miles and then a paved road (where I intended to hitch a ride home) for the remaining 10 miles into town. I had walked about 2 or 3 miles on the gravel road when I became aware of someone or something walking in front of me.

It was very dark and visibility was only about 20 feet. My first thought was that a cow or horse was walking in front of me. But when I stopped to urinate the sounds ahead of me also stopped. I finished urinating and continued walking, and the sounds of something walking ahead of me also resumed.

So I increased my walking pace to catch up with my "companion" but it also speeded up. I did a sudden stop again to listen and the sounds of my companion also stopped. At this point chills began running through my body and the hair on my arms began standing up.

I was frightened and briefly considered running back to the ranch house. But I was over half way to the paved road. Bravely, I decided to find out what the hell was walking in front of me. I began running as fast as I could towards my companion.

Within seconds, I saw a figure ahead of me. When it became aware that I was running towards it, the creature swiftly ran to the left and went under the lowest strand of barbed wire (about 18 inches off the ground) and disappeared into the darkness. The barbed wire was still humming when I reached the point where the "thing" went under the fence.

I was really frightened now and continued running until I reached the paved road and hitched a ride into town. The "thing" I saw was about 3 to 4 feet in height. It ran upright on two legs. It had long pointed ears. Strangely enough, it looked exactly like a rabbit running upright on its hind legs.

During the next few days I spent several hours at the library researching rabbits. I couldn't find any that matched the size of the one I encountered that night.