In the autumn of 1980, television viewers were anxiously waiting to find out “Who Shot J.R.” on the television series, “Dallas” and the American League Championship Series had the Kansas City Royals in a batfest with the New York Yankees.
And in Mason and Fleming counties, something was lurking in the night which led to at least three hair-raising encounters.
In early October, the Charles Fulton family of Slip Up, near May's Lick, reported seeing a white-haired creature, with pink eyes, standing more than seven feet tall and weighing more than 400 pounds at their doorstep.
After it attempted to get into the house and assaulted a chicken, Charles Fulton chased after the creature. But it evaded him and disappeared into the night.
A week later, on Oct. 10, 1980, the Tumey family of Ewing reported a similar incident, chasing the creature into the night, with James “Chink” Tumey firing warning shots from a distance.
He described the creature as manlike and big, making a “thumping noise as it ran."
According to reports, two loaves of bread, a frozen chicken and a pack of hotdogs were missing from the freezer, his wife told police.
Food products from the family's freezer, which had been on an enclosed porch, were found in the yard by police and neighbors who came running when they heard the gunshots.
"You could see where whatever it was had made a mess on the porch, got into the freezer and had torn into the frozen meat," said Estill Helphenstine, one of the men who searched the woods for the perpetrator after police were called. "We didn't know what we were looking for, but we had guns and good lights and went into the woods."
Helphenstine, and (the late) Johnny Burke searched the woods but didn't find the creature, he said.
"We did find bare foot-prints that were about 14 inches long and probably six inches wide in the creek-bed," he said. "We both saw that, and there is no denying it."
Helphenstine can laugh about the situation now, but on that dark night in 1980, they were serious about the search.
"It was scary in those woods in the dark and not knowing what you might find," he said.
At the time Maysville Mayor David Cartmell was publishing competition for The Ledger Independent and covered the creature sightings at length in front page stories in The Mirror, even publishing an artist's rendering of an image of the creature.
“Back then, you could publish anything,” Cartmell said, reminiscing with a smile. “We had interviews with all sorts of people and more claims of seeing it. One guy at a tobacco warehouse said he saw it carrying a burlap sack and smoking a cigar.”
The stories were the talk of the town; one woman reported being chased around a parking lot by the creature when she stopped for change at the laundromat.
“It sold (Cartmell) a lot of newspapers,” said Bob Hendrickson, The Ledger Independent publisher.
“It was that time of year, so we ran with it,” Cartmell said. “We had fun with it, even though it was probably a hoax.”
Fleming County Sheriff (the late) G.W. White was called to the scene of the Ewing incident, but a search by neighbors and police into the early morning did not locate the creature. Searches continued when some residents claimed to have found 14-inch imprints in sand of a barefoot creature.
Police were able to recover hair samples from the home site, which were turned over to Kentucky State Police; and were reportedly from a human, police said.
And the story did not stop with local people.
On Nov. 5, 1980, an Alabama truck driver, Noble Clay, apparently unaware of the other sightings, reported seeing the creature, along U.S. 68 near Maysville, mistaking it for a hitchhiker, until he saw it closely in the bright headlights of his truck. He notified police.
It has been more than 35 years since the region had sightings of the creature, but questions about what frightened folks from Ewing to May's Lick and beyond in 1980 continue to today.
The creature was never found.
Anyone with information on the creature should call 606-564-9091 ext. 276.
The Ledger Independent is online at: http://www.maysville-online.com