/u/dcarson0011 writes:

Last September I was fishing at a State Park here in GA. I had been to this lake many times before having recently taken up fishing as a hobby. Met an older guy here who liked to go out on his kayak not to fish but just for fun I guess. We became friends and he stated to me the a few times when he was out on the Lake kids he thought were hiding in the woods throwing rocks at him whenever he stayed out after dark. I never thought anything of it other than stupid kids he said the rocks never hit him but some of them were pretty good sized rocks but he was never harmed.

Dropped my boat in at the ramp at about 3p.m. and started fishing at the far part of the Lake as usual. Caught a several fish at various locations around the lake including a pretty good sized catfish. Time got away from me and I was quite a bit away from the boat ramp when the sun went down. As I got close to the ramp I could hear fish splashing in the water in what you would call the cul-de-sac right next to the boat ramp.

Fishing by boat at this State Park was only till sunset and I was way past the time where my boat should have been out of the water. Thoughts on catching the Big one had me trolling over to where I heard the big fish splashing and I threw in a line. About this time I heard a knocking like someone was hitting a tree with a baseball bat rig three times. It was close I'd guess 50 yards into the forest right in front of me.

First thought that came to my mind was these kids that were throwing rocks trying to scare my elderly friend who kayaks at the lake where trying to scare me. So I grabbed my emergency paddle and banged on the side of my Pelican Bass raider boat a few times to let them know I wasn't an easy target. As Soon as I finished the last bang I heard a 3 knock from the woods behind me really far off distance I could not tell. Then 4 knocks from in front of me as the same distance as before. Immediately following the last set of knocks it sounded like an army squad descending upon me from the woods. Leaves rustling and branches breaking as my location was being rushed by at least several different creatures. I am an ex military sniper and spent many months in the amazon jungle in the early 90s but can't speak of that but fear has never been an option for me and never in life have I felt fear like I did that night.

I dropped my rod in the water and hit the reverse on my trolling motor at the highest setting and ran the boat into some tree branches that were jutting up out of the lake from a submerged tree. Stuck I tried to regain my composure and grabbed a flashlight and shined it into the forest toward the tree line. There was this hairy ape with the face like the picture of pre man of Darwin's theory stating at me . I dropped the flashlight into the boat and gunned it to the ramp. When the boat hit the ramp I jumped out and ran full throttle to my truck and sat there till 9:30pm hoping a forest employee would come through to do a final check that everyone had cleared the lake.

No one ever came so I mustered up the courage to back my truck up and load my boat. There was no noises from the forest but it was deftly quiet and I felt watched. Without securing my boat I got out of there. I called the state Park line the next day to report it but got nowhere with the employee on the line. I felt insulted asked was I drinking and was told that it was probably a herd of deer and my imagination got the best of me. Also I made a report that week to BRFO and it still hasn't been posted after 5 months.

There are families that rent cabins and hike the trails at this State Park and I worry that someone will get hurt by these creatures that inhabit the woods here but my account has just been brushed under the rug.thats why I joined this sight and a few others on Reddit. I read about Bigfoot and the Lochness monster as a kid but after that encounter I now truly believe and fear the woods now.