Lanky Lagomorph Lurker

Elle Bennett submitted a bizarre and unique report to the *West Virginia Ghosts* website on October 1st, 2016. She told of an experience that she had with a group of friends while they were out '*seeking adventure*' in some South Charleston creek beds. The friends in question had apparently all previously told her similar stories to the one she was relaying to the website, but she presumably didn't know what to make of such tales before she became the protagonist of one such horror story...

## Hellhound and the Hoppers

The plucky group arrived in the area, which was a creek bed situated in a low valley lined by numerous rocky overhangs. It apparently didn't take long for things to take a terrifying turn, as the sky soon '*went pitch black*', and a creature that Elle described as resembling a shadowy, black dog appeared at one end of the creek. It started to move upstream towards the witnesses, but promptly vanished when it got too close to them.

After the hellhound had disappeared, something even stranger made its presence known to them. Elle said that it was around 3ft tall and had leathery skin. It stood on two legs, and perched on a rock - hopping back and forth in a sort of hopping motion. It had dark skin with '*disproportionately long and thin*' limbs, and a head like that of a rabbit, complete with long ears. Its hands and feet had fingers and toes which were also described as being grotesquely slender just like its limbs.

As the bizarre bunnyman hopped back and forth on the rock, the group became somehow transfixed to it - and didn't notice that there was a second individual of the same sort of creature creeping up on the truck beside which the witnesses were standing. They only managed to snap out of their trance by the time the other creature was around 3ft away from their position. Its eyes were glowing a terrifying '*blood red*' colour. Unnerved by the creature coming so close to them, the group immediately piled into the car and drove away.

Elle's friends were alarmed by this experience despite having apparently had similar encounters before - but they clarified that this was the only time that the creatures seemed to be corporeal and were that large. They said that the entities in that section of woods were normally only 6 inches tall, and resemble shadowy black shapes which zip about '*in a flying fashion*'. She decided to write into the website in the hope that other people would know what the creatures were. Only one person replied...

## Jackrabbit Eyes

Eric DeLancey was that person. He replied to Elle's story through Facebook, and said that he had thought what he saw must've been a jackrabbit at first - due to it being much too tall to be a hare or rabbit. That is, until it stood upright and started walking. The events that led up to this terrifying sight went as follows.

He was on his way home from work one night, when he decided to stop at a local bridge which was next to his house. He would do this every night, and would usually just throw some stones into the creek below as a way of clearing his head after a stressful day at work - but something '*just felt off*' on the night in question. The air was apparently completely still, which he noted as being odd for West Virginia. He couldn't hear anything but the flowing of the creek, and a guttural instinct inside him told him to '*get back in the truck and get home fast*'. Evidently ignoring his intuition, he decided to throw a couple of stones into the creek before he suddenly noticed something moving. He stared at it and started to '*draw out its shape*' (I assume he imagined what it might look like as opposed to literally drawing it) as his eyes adapted to the darkness.

Luckily, '*or unluckily*', Eric had brought a flashlight with him. He shone the light down towards the creature, and this revealed its shape hunched over one side of the creek, seemingly eating. Eric says that he really doesn't 'want to know what' it was eating - but he knows that when the flashlight beam hit the monstrous entity it immediately looked up from its prey and stared straight back at him. Its eyes were '*almost fluorescent green*', and Eric described them as piercing his skin. He will apparently never be able to unsee those eyes - and he says that he frequently dreams about that night, waking up with tears in his eyes and his body covered in sweat.

## Source

https://www.wvghosts.com/true-stories/cryptozoology/the-creek-beds/