There's a Monster in the Woods!

 #Green Eyes aka THE MONSTER OF COLLINS AVENUE

Hey everybody, I'm going to tell y'all a tale about The Monster of Centerville, Georgia.

Aka Green Eyes.

I consider Centerville, Georgia my hometown. My dad was in the military and we lived all over the place. But, we always came back to Centerville. My mom grew up there and her family was there. I have so many good memories of this place.

When I was a kid another child told us to never go outside after dark. Especially not alone. THERE ISA MONSTER IN THE WOODS she proclaimed. This monster was 7 feet tall, covered in white fur, and screeched like a banshee.

When I was a teen my friends and I would ride around after dark trying to find “Green Eyes” The green eyes were something my brother added to the story. He swore he'd seen Green Eyes about midnight on a dead-end road about a mile from my grandparents' house.

When I was a young adult an article appeared in the local paper about the “Bigfoot” stories of our neighborhood.

All this occurred in our neighborhood around Collins Avenue, right before the bridge at the bottom of the hill. Back then the area was still pretty rural.

*1965-66 a young couple was parked after their date. They saw a huge creature outside the windows of the car. It was walking upright and could not possibly be human, or any animal they knew of. They told friends and family about their encounter. No one believed them. But, they were steadfast about what they saw.

*early 1970s- a married couple were walking late at night. They saw something at the tree line. Thought it was an animal. It seemed to follow them, taking care to stay slightly hidden. The clouds shifted and they see the creature. It is covered in dark, glossy hair. The creature walked upright with long, graceful strides. When the couple moved toward it, the creature ran into the woods.

*A local man told a policeman that he had seen “Big Foot” in the woods two or three times. The policeman decide to see if he could find anything. No luck for several nights. Then he found a footprint. Too large to be human. Looked like a scuba diving fin with toes. The stakeouts continued. The policeman said he has never seen anything. But, he heard something. It was growling, snorting low rumble.

The day the article appeared my brother and I talked about it all day. We shared all the stories we had heard about “The Monster”. We scared ourselves pretty well and enjoyed ourselves immensely.

My husband was working late. Probably about 10 or 11 pm my brother and I heard a god-awful racket outside, sounded like something scraping against the side of the trailer. We were terrified, convinced that “ Green Eyes” had come to get us because we were talking about him. My husband arrived home a little while later. He found my brother and me scared to death and clutching baseball bats for protection.

I hope the kids that live in our old neighborhood have heard the stories and think twice about being outside after dark. Especially on a moonless night.