Family believes something strange lives near their home at Millers Ferry

Tina Young and her family believe that something strange lives in the woods near their home at Millers Ferry.

Tina and her husband, Steve, have lived near the end of Beach Road, northeast of the Millers Ferry Campground, for the past eight years. Their home is located a stone’s throw from the Alabama River, in “a quaint area surrounded by woods and at the back end of a slough,” Tina said. Over the years, they’ve had encounters with all sorts of wildlife, including deer, alligators and wildcats.

They’ve also heard sounds that they cannot explain. “We have something strange here in our woods,” Tina said. “We hear lots of animal sounds from gators to wildcats. We also hear some sounds from something else.”

Starting about six years ago, they began hearing a wide variety of screams, growls, whoops, loud moans, groans and “wood knocks,” she said. On one occasion, late one evening about six years ago, they heard something knocking on a tree in the woods across the slough. When Tina’s nine-year-old niece knocked in response, whatever it was in the woods amazingly replied with more knocks, Tina said.

Over time, this strange activity has increased. Earlier this year, in March, Tina’s 31-year-old son, who works out of town, was home on a break. Late that night, he was awoken by the sound of something hitting the side of their home. The son woke his parents and told them what happened, and they decided at the time that it was probably not a good idea to go outside to investigate.

About two months ago, Tina’s mother was spending the night at their residence and reported hearing a loud sound outside her bedroom window. The family’s truck was parked outside the mother’s bedroom window, and she said the noise sounded like a heavy piece of metal being thrown into the back of the truck and making a screeching sound as if being dragged across the truck bed.

About a month ago, Tina and Steve arrived home around 8:30 p.m. and as they stepped out of their truck, they heard a strange scream. “We both just looked at each other like ‘Wow! Did you hear that?’,” Tina said. On two other occasions, something inexplicably slapped the side of their house while they were inside watching television at night, she said.

Over time, they have also found “tree breaks” in the woods that line their driveway. Are these “tree breaks” the sign of something strange living in the area, possibly marking its territory? Is something out there breaking tree limbs as a sign of aggression?

Tina’s husband and son are both hunters, and the family believes that, while they have never actually seen what’s out there, they feel that more than one lives in the woods near their home. Tina noted that they have cats and a small dog named “Lulu,” and when all of this unusual activity takes place, their pets will hide and remain silent.

Tina also noted that they’ve never found any unusual tracks or clumps of hair on their property. She also said that they don’t have any game cameras around their house, so they’ve never caught anything strange on camera. However, during these periods of unusual activity, they have detected a “nasty smell that comes and goes,” and that the strange odor reminds her of garbage or something similar.

With all of that said, Tina said that she and her family have never felt threatened by the unknown creature or creatures. She said that she has never felt like she was in any danger, but that she does get the creeps sometimes when she walks outside to her car in the dark.

In the end, I’d like to hear from any readers, especially experienced outdoorsmen, who might know what type of animal could be causing this strange activity near Millers Ferry. Also, I’d like to hear from anyone in the reading audience who has seen or heard anything unusual around their homes or in the woods of Wilcox County. More than likely, the Youngs aren’t the only people who have seen or heard something they can’t explain.