I have a friend named *Jude who has an uncle that rents land from Wild Bill's father on which he raises hogs. Wild Bill always hated those hogs and the smell that accompanied them. I understood why.

*Jude also had another uncle .... this one from her mother's side of the family. He was a Catholic priest ...."Father," they called him.

His last name contained the word "land." He was the priest that performed the wedding ceremony for Wild Bill's sister. He was also the priest of the church that Kimberly Fulton attended ...(but that's another story for later.)

Father ____land owned a farm located within ten minutes of where Wild Bill's parents lived. On his farm was a cabin. It sat 'high' upon the hill, above a lake and wooded area. It was here, just to the rear of the cabin that Jude had always buried her beloved pets.

Jude had phoned me and said she thought Zep was suffering from Gastric Torsion - a twisting of the stomach that sometimes occurs in large animals and is almost always fatal in the German Shepherd.

I had been concerned that entire day, and even though D.H. {T.H.'s wife} and I had gone to town together, I continued to worry about Zep and what was happening to him.

As D.H. and I were headed home, we passed Wild Bill in front of the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Belpre and he waved at us. It sent cold chills down my back. It was the first time he'd tried to speak since he'd gotten out of jail in June. Our friendship had actually ended in March of that year, and after his sex crime in April I had refused to have anything to do with him, and had even stopped speaking to him.

Within seconds of passing Wild Bill, D.H. and I both noticed 3 lights in the sky. At first we thought it was vapor left from a jet, but as we drove closer and closer to home we realized it was not vapor. Eventually the lights took on a "cross" appearance, and seemed to move more and more toward my house! It was spooky and exciting all at the same time, and neither of us had ever seen anything quite like it.

Somehow we both sensed that the lights warned of something .... but what, and why 3, I wondered? D.H. departed for her house as soon as we arrived at mine, and I called my husband outside to "witness the event."

Zep died as D.H. and I raced for home on "September 19th," 1994. Jude took him to the farm and laid him to rest beside the other pets that she had loved and lost throughout her life.

Little did I know it at the time, but Jude saw the lights in the sky too! And she too felt they were warnings of "loss." It would turn out more correctly than any of us could have imagined.

Jude made a headstone for Zep's grave with the date of his birth and the date of his death.

I understood Jude's reasoning, and yet, for some reason I wished she had not put the date of his death. Anyone visiting that land could see the tombstone, and there were certain people who I felt already knew enough "dates" that were important to me and my family and friends.

Note: Zep was a "co-owned" dog. He was registered to "Jude" and me ... Bonnie M. "Wells." Everyone who knew Jude and me, knew that Zep belonged to both of us but lived with Jude his entire life. Dr. Barrett in Belpre was our Veterinarian at the time of Zep's death, and had been for many years prior to his death. Everyone who knew us was also aware of that fact.... especially Wild Bill.

Answers In The Wind

Time came and went. I thought I'd figured out the "lights in the sky" because in 1994 I lost my dad, Jude lost her dad and my husband lost his mother. I figured that was the "three" warnings. Now I realize there was even more to it than I'd originally thought, and believe it was a warning to each person who saw it, and that included D.H. as well as Jude and Mike. How Wild Bill fits into the picture, I can only speculate.

In August 1996, someone broke into Father ____land's cabin. Jude called me to tell me about the breaking and entering, but said it was not reported to the police. I don't suppose it would have mattered anyway.

She said she didn't know if anything was taken. The cabin was seldom used nowadays, and most of the family didn't even go out there anymore. Jude went to let her dogs run free and swim in the lake for awhile, or to take a hike in the woods that surrounded the cabin. But even she seldom spent the night there anymore, although at one time it was a regular camp-out for the large Catholic family.

Jude said the thing that attracted her attention was the garden hoe's. They had been placed in the yard in a strange arrangement. I remember we laughed about it at first and I said...."Sounds to me like someone is telling you that the 'ho's over the hill,' wrapped up and laid out cold!" It was funny....for awhile. Our fun never lasted long.

Another strange thing that bothered her was the fact that the "burglar" stole a huge bottle of cooking "oil" and poured it all around the base of the cabin ..... almost as if he intended to burn the place down .... but he didn't. There was no indication that anyone had actually tried to ignite the oil.

Next, the burglar went into a shed and obtained a fire extinguisher, which he then proceeded to empty around the cabin, and then threw the empty container on the ground just outside the kitchen door.

"What's the message? Is he emphasizing fire, or fighting fire? Is someone's house going to burn?" I asked Jude. She didn't know, and neither did I.

The Uncanny Encounter, page 2