Latest news with #TaraWyatt
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bigfoot, monsters, UFOs: There's no shortage of sightings across region
Our region has plenty of myths and mysteries. I recently sent some Mothman and Flatwoods Monster – West Virginia's own cryptid and very own alien visitor – stickers to one of the little boys in my family. He's a young dinosaur enthusiast who's just discovered cryptids, those creatures science hasn't confirmed. He's a guy after my own heart. Creatures came up last week when photographer Tara Wyatt and I attended a ribbon cutting ceremony for a restored atrium and a new mural at Bluefield Middle School. Anyone visiting this space will immediately notice some interesting features including a huge Bigfoot silhouette, Bigfoot tracks on the ground and a colorful painting featuring Bigfoot walking midst the mountains. There was a reason behind the Bigfoot theme. During and after the ceremony, Principal Kim Miller and Sherry Bradley, a social worker for Communities in School, spoke about their encounters with Bigfoot. What was really striking was the setting of these encounters. They didn't happen out in Canada or the Pacifice Northwest. They happened right here in Mercer County. Miller said she was driving home late one afternoon when a huge figure came running down a mountainside, dashed across the road and disappeared into the woods. This happened in the McComas area. Bradley said there were big footprints in front of a window and strange occurrences at her Speedway home. These were not the first times I had heard of Bigfoot encounters. One evening I sat outside a Bluewell home listening for Bigfoot cries that had been reported in the area. Bigfoot didn't turn up that night. I later spoke by phone with Matt Moneymaker, a host on the Animal Planet show 'Finding Bigfoot' and heard how the Appalachian Mountains area considered good Bigfoot habitat. In another instance which happened years ago, I spoke with a McDowell County man about a sighting. He described how a Bigfoot walked across this property and how it yelled so loudly, he could feel the noise. The he heard a reply in the distance. Now I'll admit I'm a skeptic when it comes to Bigfoot. Part of me says that surely we would have found solid evidence of an 8-foot or taller ape creature wandering North America by now. The other part argues that as sure as I declare that Bigfoot is impossible, I'll see one while I'm out hiking and fail to get my cellphone out in time. There are huge areas up in the mountains where people rarely go because the terrain is so rough. One time I thought about trying to hike along the top of East River Mountain, but one look at the possible path and I dropped that idea. If I got hurt, first responders would have hard time reaching me and that's assuming that I'd be able to contact anybody. Bears forage up there, so a chance encounter leading to a painful misunderstanding would be just as bad. Of course, a humanoid creature standing 8-feet or more tall and weighing 600 or more pounds wouldn't have those problems. There have been reports of Bigfoot creatures trekking up glacier paths and up mountainsides that would deter the strongest human beings. A creature that big wouldn't worry about black bears, either. Moneymaker also told me that the region offers creatures like Bigfoot enough to eat. They could prey on deer and we know there are plenty of those roaming the woods. I'll admit that it's fun to think that something like Bigfoot could be wandering our region. I fantasize about hiking through one of our state parks and suddenly spotting something huge and unexplainable up on a ridge or crossing the path. This fantasy includes getting a clear photo or a few seconds of clear video. This wouldn't prove Bigfoot's existence, but it's still fun to think about. I'd also like to see a UFO, Mothman or a ghost. Those have all dodged me. However, I sometimes wonder if I've seen or heard any of these weird things but didn't realize it. Could any of those shadowy figures I see along the road while driving home be a ghost?. Was that odd barking sound I heard once up in the woods coming from a Bigfoot or just a deer? Maybe Bigfoot was mimicking a deer to fool me. Was the light I saw going across the sky an alien spaceship or just a jet? I wonder about things like that. What I don't do is make fun of the folks who say they've seen these weird things. There may come the time when I'm the one with a strange story to tell.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Water has frightening power when nature weaponizes it
I got a call early Tuesday morning from Nate Custer, a media relations specialist with FEMA, about walking along with FEMA representatives going door-to-door and helping victims of the Feb. 15 flood. This idea had been discussed earlier, but I didn't expect it quite so soon. However, that's the nature of the news beast. Things come up at the last minute and you adjust your schedule. I told him I'd meet with him and the FEMA team at a hotel near Princeton. Fortunately I live in that area, so I didn't have to scramble too much. I called photographer Tara Wyatt so she wouldn't have to scramble too much and gave her the time and place. I rendezvoused with the team and Tara arrived a few minutes later. Soon we were following Custer and the FEMA team to Spanishburg and a neighborhood that Keith Gunnoe, director of the Mercer County Office of Emergency Management, had asked them to visit. It was a little ironic because I was familiar with Spanishburg's location and they were not, but their GPS didn't get confused by the mountains and we arrived at the right location near the Rich Creek Baptist Church. Over the years I've visited plenty of places that had been hit by flooding. I've seen where raging flood waters have picked up and demolished homes and swept away pickup trucks as if they were a little kid's toys. Water has frightening power when nature weaponizes it. Roads and whole hillsides are washed away and homes are lifted right off their foundations. I've been in what were once nice homes where flood waters left stinking mud all over the floors, the walls and sometimes even the ceilings. That Spanishburg neighborhood didn't have that level of devastation, but visitors could see where the flooded Bluestone River had left its mark. Debris was piled up outside of some homes where the flood had reached the homes' basements and their ground floors. Soon the FEMA team was going door-to-door, calling out 'FEMA!' and knocking on doors. They left fliers with FEMA information on doors where there were no replies. One woman who answered the knock at her door said she was glad to see the FEMA team and appreciated how they were taking time to visit flood survivors personally. Flood victims can contact FEMA at 1-800-621-23362 or register online at but not everybody is comfortable with applying over the phone or online. To offer these people another option, FEMA teams are doing personal visits and have what the agency calls Disaster Recovery Centers or DRCs so flood victims can visit the agency's representatives personally to file applications and get answers to their questions. The Mercer County Disaster Recovery Center is located at the Lifeline Church of God off 250 Oakvale Road near Princeton. Mercer County's center is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It is closed Sunday. This center will be closed March 22 and April 19 for the church's previously scheduled events. Over in McDowell County, a Disaster Recovery Center is located at Bradshaw Town Hall, 10002 Marshall Highway in Bradshaw. It's open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and closed Sunday. FEMA teams also will be helping residents with their applications at Jimmy's Hardware and Supply in McDowell County until today. The FEMA team Tara and I followed Tuesday morning were used to less-than-ideal conditions, but they accepted how that's part of their job. I've talked to flood victims while they work to clear out their homes and deal emotionally with their losses. One of the team's members, Paula Cassarino, said they need compassions because they are trying to help people who have experienced loss. They might have a little loss such as damaged or lost possessions or they might have lost their homes. It's important for these flood victims to see that they're being regarded as people and not numbers on a spread sheet. Flood recovery is underway, but the fact that local officials and federal employees from out of state are reaching out personally does make a difference. Flood victims know there are people out there who care about their situation and want to help them. This alone can help move along the healing process.
