by TalkHunting Member Scott "Scott from Bama" Cobbs          

This is a true story as told to me by my Grandpa many years ago.

Way back when dating was called courting and you went to see your gal either on a mule or on foot, my grandfather left the top of the mountain where I now live to visit the pretty, young woman who lived down in the valley, Pauline, who later became my Grandmother.  He walked down the mountain on the winding road, like they all used to be on steep grades, which made it easier on the mules or horses to pull a load when ascending or to hold back a load when descending.  

He visited longer than he had really planned, but just didn't want to leave Pauline or face that climb back up the mountain.  By the time he set out for home, the weather had changed and it was trying to blow up a storm.  It wasn't raining, just blustery and dark.  Very dark on that mountain road with the trees overhanging and the clouds blocking any moonlight to speak of.  

Gum Pond Mountain rises up from the valley very steeply and so has several switchbacks on the way to the top.  Grandpa said that the wind coming off that mountain was very stiff and he was walking directly into it, leaning into the wind and the steep grade at the same time.  About halfway to the top, he came out of one of the curves and looked up the road only to be surprised by what he saw.
 
Up the road ahead of him was a large white...something, and it was headed down the mountain toward him at a pretty fast clip.  He said his first instinct was to run, but judging by the speed of this thing, he knew that there was no way he was going to outrun it.  So he decided to just brace himself and face it, planning to kick it as hard as he could when it got to him.  He said his heart was pounding and the wind was rushing and he couldn't hear it but he could make out the form of this thing headed directly for him as hard as it could go.
 
He thought, "I'll kick it and then run like the dickens before it has a chance to recover!"  So he summoned all his strength, braced himself, and tried to time it so that he kicked this 'beast' just as it arrived.  He kicked so hard that he almost lost his footing on the dirt road and was suddenly and overwhelmingly relieved to find the old newspaper wrapped around his leg.  This newspaper was the 'beast' that had been blowing in the wind straight down this mountain road toward him.
  
He would tell this story and then grin and say, "Now, don't always believe what your mind says you're seeing."