Subject:[SupernaturalFlorida] Saturdays Investigation Report.... Date: 11/21/2006 12:05:13 A.M. Eastern Standard Time From:LordOfThyNight@aol.com To:ParanormalBuffalo@yahoogroups.com, Paranormalflorida@yahoogroups.com, ParanormalGhostSociety@googlegroups.com, paranormalghostsociety@yahoogroups.com, ParanormalGhostSocietyConnections@yahoogroups.com, ParanormalGhostSociety@groups.msn.com, TheParanormalGhostSociety@yahoogroups.com, pgsociety@groups.aol.com, SupernaturalFlorida@yahoogroups.com CC:wolfe420@tmail.com Saturday was quite the adventure those that did not attend truly missed out cause this was a real thriller from start to finish. It was not an easy night but we had a new investigator he is a good friend of mine and loves the outdoors so he wanted to assist us and good thing he came cause these were some pretty intense places. I almost did not get to go but a friend of mine was able to baby sit the boys and we got a later start then I wanted but it turned out quite well.   It was also the night of the Leonid Meteor shower which was supposedly suppose to be major. The only regret I have of the night is that my truck was burning threw a ton of gas it was a huge downfall of the night cause we had to stop at 3 gas stations to fill up even thought I fixed most of the problems it seems the shop I took it to may have frauded me and did something to the timing belt. But despite the large amount it cost us to travel we still reached our destinations which was Prairie Lakes Forest & Ghost Town Of Kenansville it may not seem like a lot but we spent the entire night investigating arriving home around 9am hence why the report is out so late.   We tried to get out to a 3rd place and ran into a major problem which I will discuss further into the report. It was a weird night but my friend Andrew told me it was the best time he had in ages I think I put some fear into the guys and I give them a lot of kudos for showing support towards my leadership. Andrew was in the Army so he has done the 100 mile march, had bombs dropped on him during a battle, and very good woods experience.   I'll tell you what a difference there is from being up in the PA mountains to being down here in the jungle perhaps its because down here in Florida the ecosystems are different. Some areas here are like jungles one wrong move or step and your screwed so it takes a lot of patience dealing with such forested places. We packed up some food, drinks etc and headed on off in the heart of Florida and our journey begins here.   Prairie Lakes Forest   Driving down the twisting roads and seeing no cars really gave us an idea how secluded this place was. There was no houses in the area just woods on both sides for miles. The road twisted constantly and a few times we seen deer eyes near the road.   On occasion there were unmarked dirt roads leading to nowhere I was not familiar with the area and where we would hike at. I just knew I had to get to these woods and investigated this one area that is between two lakes that are in this forest.   My main focus was a headless ghost seen since the 1800's my other one was the skunk ape. This area is so wooded that I have no doubts in my mind something cryptid lurks back here. I have read that this area is as large as Ocala if not larger.   We entered a camping area and this would be the start to our adventure. This area had over 31 miles of dirt roads and trails. So one could easily take the wrong paths and get stuck back here so I had to be very very careful.   We drove past a few campers and there was these gates with prairies on both sides. Eventually the dirt road took us into some pretty thick woods. I was driving pretty quickly you see we took a wrong road earlier in the evening and got 20 miles side tracked actually less but we were stuck in traffic and lights for over 2 hours. So I pretty much had to speed in the woods and pay very good attention to the winding curves.   This road we took had other dirt cross roads many times we reached open prairies. When I do my history write up you will understand the reason for the prairies and its significance. A few times I stopped the truck to look at a sign or two. We noticed a few bird houses, some wood frame out in the grass, and some wet lands.   I took the dirt road till it curved off into the woods and dead ended. Well there was a sign saying end of road but I noticed an overgrown dirt road veering off to the right side so I took it. This was a rough road high grass, sharp curves like a snake, trees brushing up against the truck and eventually a mile later it dead ended. Turning around on it was very hard it was a wet area and their was no room.   I did pull it off and we got back onto the maintained dirt road their was some relief I am sure. That area the road was had a very eerie feeling to it believe me I felt something back here. There was nowhere for us to hike anyhow back there but I told Andrew it would make a hell of a camping area as secluded as it was.   We eventually stopped at a prairie and we stretched I took a few photos. The stars were amazing even Andrew said out of all his outdoor adventures he never seen anything like this. According to the history of the place its said that this one of the best places in FL to view the stars and I can back that up. I was really disappointed at not seeing any meteors usually when their is a shower this big I always seen many but none despite the clarity of the skies.   We set off down a road with a prairie on both sides it was a hunch that is it did not even know where it would take us. We entered through another set of gates with an old wood sign again we got out walked around. I thought this area would be the hiking trails it was not. There was a fog setting in the area at this point it was just patches.   Eventually the road led back into the dark woods and we came to an old camping area with the well, stone fire pit, wood benches, unmarked trail, and tin bucket. This area had not been camped in for awhile and we walked around checked out the camp site and then got back into the car proceeding further down the road. At the end of the road a gate was closed we got out and I was debating if we should hike down the road or take the dirt road which stated a sign going to the lake. I really wanted to get closer to the lakes so I took a gamble and we made a right.   We came to this bridge over a creek lots of sludge in it and parked the truck. There was a board giving a poor map of the trails in the area. I took some photos off of the bridge the area had its share of cold spots as well. We went onto this wood structure that extended over the creek and a board was broke. The whole structure was not stable and like nuts Jason and I started shaking it like crazy. The whole thing I could feel was about to give I am sure that would have been a blooper in itself.   We eventually talked about which trail we should take cause one was unmarked while the other one is called the Florida Trail which is all over the state but in different areas broken up by towns and other obstructions.   We took the Florida trail this would be the closest I could ever get to the old ranch that use to be located here back in the 1800's. We did not have an exact location but I got close enough between the two lakes and so my night was complete.   We started down the trail and we thought a marked trail would be a nice way to go well it was not. The trail turned out to be not so marked. The trail ended up breaking apart in some areas with many fallen trees one area looked like a tractor came threw plowing some of the forest. Then we came to this weird area which had giant willow trees all over but they were spread apart and so at this point the trail was gone.   We eventually found it through the willow forest and were making our way towards the lake you could see way off between some trees a huge open area. We knew that was the lake but the woods were so thick it would be nearly impossible to get to.   Sadly we had a hard time finding the trail and I kept looking but we reached a palmetto forest. Basically in simple terms the jungle. I found one marker on a tree but many paths eventually finding a wider one which looked used. We followed it and that path dead ended. The Florida trail ceased to exist and so I led the guys a diagonal cut so we could reach the trail it was rough we had to step over tree limbs, go through vines, thorns, step around palmettos etc but we got right back on the trail.   We started our hike back and I will tell you out of all the times getting sidetracked and turned around this is the one time I laughed my ass off. Even Andrew and Jason were laughing cause we were like what the hell type of trail is this. Here you got a well maintained reserve it looks the same as it did hundreds of years ago but the state is supposed to mark and keep up the trails yet it was craziness.   We arrived back at the willow forest and I will tell you talk about being turned around we could not find where the trail was again this is just an area full of large trees lots of dead ones some with moss hanging off of them so to find an orange marker is almost impossible till you get through it.   We kept looking and I spotted a trail off in between some grass and trees. We took it and it took us right back to the bridge and truck. It was a fun hike here and when I called for one of the ghost that haunt this area things became a little colder here and I felt some unseen watching.   We got back to the truck and I took this dirt road it led us to a boat launch area and a very unused one if that since it was all swamp land. There was a few dirt paths following the lake lots of lilly pads, weeds, tall grass etc we stood by the boat ramp then Jason walked down a sandy path. There was a bulletin board on fishing in the area.   After this we took off to our last location of the area which would be the hardest area to investigate for us. The fog was really setting in mainly over the road some patches I hit were so thick it was a white out and believe me I was going quite fast threw it.   We reached the road to the observation tower the gate was locked so we would have to hike in for about a half mile. We hiked down the prairie road tall grass then woods all around us. There was a trail not sure but it had some name with blossom in it. We took the trail and it was marked okay at times it became really odd as it would end then you would cut to your left 10 feet and it would start up again. The trees here were much more slender and tall. There was also many palm trees growing here.   We reached half way down the trail and heard a giant bird like sound. I kid you not an entire tree shook within a few feet away. We stood still cause we had to come up with a plan. Here we were like sitting ducks we had a bunch of tall slender trees to hike between then a few feet from them palmettos all over and heavy foliage.   Something big was walking around and it had huge strides. I heard a branch snap on two occasions. Whatever it was kept circling around us I had my hunting knife in my hand and Andrew had his. He asked me to turn back and I told him were going for it cause we were very close to the observation tower. Either way we turned would not have made a difference we were already in the middle of the forest.   The bird like sounds kept persisting something kept swooping and I believe Andrew said it had a 6 foot wingspan when we carefully started walking down the trail. This bird was moving to each tree stop shaking the trees above us. We started to gather that they were maybe turkey vultures or some other huge bird native to Florida. But it was eerie as hell each step we took it sounded like helicopter propellers that is how big the wings were and you could hear it making sounds.   My concern for the birds became less and I was more worried about this growling I heard only a hundred feet away. I also heard a scream probably a mile away. Now keep in mind first I heard something running big which sounded bipedal, then we had these giant birds moving tree to tree which were angry with us, then I heard the growl then it was the scream. To top it off there was an owl close by and that was pretty loud to. So all this was happening within just a few minutes the woods were alive and so were we.   I am convinced that as weird as the birds were that probably was not as paranormal as what was in those woods with us. I think that something was out there looking for food and we got in the middle of it. We came out of the trail onto a grass prairie and hill. There was no more trail just a overgrown path in brush and we pushed threw it.   We ended up hiking down what was a grassy road there was what appeared to be some wet lands on both sides of us below. Eventually we made it to the observation tower which was a few flights of stairs up. At this point the fog was getting very thick.   The entire tower was shaking as we walked up the steps. We took a break when we reached the top and all you could see for miles is woods, prairies, and a blanket of fog hovering above everything. It was so thick that I felt like I was in a plane above the clouds. There was a few trees piercing it but for the most part we were in the middle of nowhere and that was it. No city lights, no car lights, no sounds of motor vehicles just nature for miles.   Then we heard a howling sound I heard at least three howls sounded like wolves. Moments later we heard a pack of coyotes they were making there way over to the tower. They were very close and Andrew was shocked but I know what they sound like and it sounded like they were fighting for food hearing these things at night can be quite eerie. But a whole pack can be very dangerous to fight off.   We started to head off got back on the trail. We passed under the giant birds again trees shaking for a few minutes of walking. Then all of sudden we got lost we could not find the marker on the tree. We were standing in the middle of the woods no trail just growth all over.   This turned into a very awkward situation I mean the moon was not out so it was dark the woods were not on one side but on all sides. Everything looked the same we would go a hundred or two feet north then south, then east and west.   We were just going in circles trying to find anything even a marker then I cut the guys on over to a small prairie it did not look like the one we hiked on where we parked so I cut back into the woods. Eventually after about a half hour I seen what looked like a path and found a marker. Was not sure which was back to the car so we ended up taking the trail the wrong way which took us to the grassy road to the observation tower.   I took another gamble and decided since the terrain looked similar to where I parked the car we would hike threw the prairie and right around the bend  was the truck. We were pretty happy to get out of this place it was active and its hard to say what was back here.   Driving out of here was getting rough fog all over the place and I was flying down the dirt road at times. I know Jason probably thought I was nuts but I was very alert I missed a rabbit by a few inches on the road lol. We eventually made it back out onto a country road and I had another area I wanted to check out here but I looked at my watch and we were running out of time.   I went down the country road and the fog was sickening. I hit patches sometimes so thick that my headlights were not penetrating them. One place had a curve and we almost went off the road. The fog was about 5 feet off the ground so if I crouched down in the truck I could look under it.   Eventually we made our way on over to the ghost town of Kenansville.