Files From the Edge
terrifying. Margaret also mentioned the creatures took their dog, a six-year-old dog named Thunder. Margaret had heard me on a radio show talking about the paranormal and decided to call me. She had called the police but could tell that despite their politeness when taking her story, they did not believe her. When we spoke, she sounded sincere and like she had a solid case so I made plans to see her.
    Margaret’s home was located in an isolated section of Connecticut backcountry, down a long driveway impossible to see from the street. This was before I had GPS, so it took me quite a long time to find the house. It was a good thing I left home very early in the morning since I arrived at Margaret’s home almost two hours late. After ringing the doorbell and going through introductions, I was asked to come into the living room, the side of the house that faced the swamp. I looked around the room and was surprised to see the windows were boarded up. I asked Margaret about it and she replied, “I boarded up the windows to make sure that if the creatures ever came back, they could not get into the house.” In the room was her mother and daughter, Jessica. All three ladies were still quite excited about the experience and tried to tell their story at the same time. The interview ended up being more than two hours long; the important parts of their story are presented below.
    An Evening of Terror
    On the evening of April 19, 2002, just after a late dinner, Margaret and her daughter decided to have a quiet evening listening to music in the living room. Margaret’s mother was upstairs in her room listening to the radio and things seemed quite normal. Their dog, Thunder, was lying on the floor next to the television, fast asleep after a large meal. At about eight, Thunder jumped to his feet and began growling and barking as if someone was on or approaching the property. At the same time, the CD player began to make strange sounds as the music started skipping and an electrical-like noise played through the speakers. The noise was so bizarre that both Margaret and Jessica indicated that at times it sounded like the howling or growling of some type of animal. In other words, it wasn’t your normal sound coming from a player having trouble. At that point, the grandmother (Margaret’s mother) came downstairs and said that the radio upstairs had all static on it and she couldn’t hear the music. Margaret then turned on the television set and it seemed to be working fine. Jessica tried the CD player again and the noise was still there so she changed CDs—the strange noise seemed to get worse. Margaret then said that it no longer sounded like static; it actually sounded like the groaning and howling of a monster. The dog began barking louder and then started crying as if very frightened of something that could not be seen. Margaret’s mother indicated that she heard almost the same sounds coming out of the radio upstairs after the music faded away.
    At a quarter past eight, there was a total loss of power in the house; the lights went out. The women brought out the flashlights and lit candles when Jessica noticed a light in the swamp. All three of them looked out the large living room window and wondered what it could be. At first they thought it was a car that ran off the road and got ditched in the mud, maybe after hitting a telephone pole, causing the power outage. Margaret picked up the phone to call the police, but it was dead—no dial tone, not even static. She told her mother and daughter to wait inside as she went out the back door to the deck to get a better look at the light. As Margaret left the house, Thunder ran past her and into the swamp barking and growling. She tried to call him back, but he disappeared into the darkness.
    As Thunder got farther away, his barking started to fade and eventually just stopped. Once again, Margaret tried to call him, but there was no response . . . the dog seemed to have vanished. From

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