The Tall Skinny Man

Before I begin I would like to exclaim just how addicting this can become, darn it. The more I think about it the more confused I get about it. I've tried FOR YEARS analyzing it, deconstructing it, putting it back together what I saw but I never seem to get any where. So I guess I'll write it down and leave it to you. Help a brother out.

This happened in my Grandmother's, now my Mother's, backyard. I was about 7 close to it. Mid 80's, and there I go aging myself. It was during the day and I was quite alone. My Grandmother, Mom, and brother had gone to GEMCO, now you really know this WAS a long time ago. The GEMCO, now it's a Target by the way, was LITERALLY at the end of the block. So me being left alone, especially at that time wasn't a big deal. So, I was by myself in the backyard. Now I was, maybe even still, an odd kid. I actually liked gardening, amongst other things that I'm sure confused and concerned my family, ha-ha. I was in the backyard watering our grapefruit tree seriously the best grapefruit. I was standing under it holding the water-hose and just watching the little depression around the trunk slowly fill up with water. I actually remember watching the black ants that had a trail up the tree trunk panic. It must have been like Noah's flood to them. Just as I'm seeing all this Dino, our Chow-Chow who was a great dog who I miss, started going ballistic barking, going crazy. He was to my left slightly behind me. I turned to look at him and I remember being confused because at first he seemed to be barking at me, which was odd because Dino and I were best buds. But then I noticed he was actually barking at something BEHIND me. I turn around water-hose still in hand and this is what I see.

Well first let me explain one important part of the story. Right under the grapefruit tree against the right rear part of the property was what we called the tool shed. It's still there actually. It was one of those little aluminum things, about 10 feet long by 8 feet wide about 5 feet tall at the ends sloping up to 6 feet tall at the center. You know the type. You use them for the lawn mower, Christmas and Halloween decorations and such. Now I'm taller than the ends of the tool shed but at that time I was not. Ok sorry back to the story.

I turned around facing the tool shed wall which was about a foot and a half away from me. Still confused as to what the hell he was barking at I remember turning back around to Dino and noticed that he was barking beyond and up from me. So I turned around, with the water-hose in still in my hand and looked up at the roof of the tool shed. There was this man, I remember he seemed so tall and really skinny standing at the end of the shed just staring at me, actually the best impression I could use would be glowering at me. Trust me it didn't emanate a good vibe. He stood really rigidly, tense. He had on all black clothes, form fitting. I remember being terrified and frozen. I just didn't know what to do. I remember so vividly thinking "Ok maybe if I look down nothing will happen and this will all go away." So I looked down, meanwhile the dog was going crazy through all this, and I just couldn't take the fear anymore. I dropped the water-hose and ran like crazy through the kitchen backdoor. I remember as I was running halfway through the backyard Dino stopped barking. I bolted through the kitchen backdoor slammed the door shut and cautiously looked through the kitchen door window curtains. There was nothing and nobody there just Dino still looking up by the grapefruit tree.

Now this is what makes it really strange. I will try to explain the best way I can. I know for a fact that you could not stand on that tool shed, especially a big tall man without caving it in. Since my Mom from time to time had us remove the accumulated leaves on the roof with little ladders I KNOW FOR A FACT that not only could it not support any major weight but anything be it a bird, or a branch, let alone a person would make a hell of a lot of racket on it as it was aluminum. It was just a cheap little tool shed.

So unless this man weighed less than a sparrow, it just wasn't possible. Even if he was there the whole time I was in the backyard, after I saw him (including Dino) he would have had to run down to the other end and jump the fence which would have if not caved in the whole thing make a whole lot of noise. All of which I did not hear. He just came and vanished out of thin air. All I did was sit in the living room and wait for my family to come; luckily it wasn't a long wait. I told my Mom about it, I just remember she seemed really alarmed and afterwards was really praising Dino.

Fast forward some years and I'm 19. I hadn't thought about that incident in a long time. I was with friends, we had gone out dancing and after the club we used to like to go over to the IHOP before going home. We had just left the IHOP and I was chatting it up with my friends as I took out my keys to get ready to get in my car. I was talking to my friends across the car roof, since we hadn't opened the doors. I remember glancing just beyond them and I saw him. He was across the small parking lot and a small street. This was what was strange. He was standing in the bushes. What I mean was he was IN the bush. Like if the bush wasn't there. I don't know how to explain. For instance, if you stand in a bush besides getting scratched up and poked you are going to break a lot of branches not to mention bend them all out of place. It was like he just came up straight out of it. Like the bush didn't matter. He had the same look, I recognized him instantly. Same stance, same clothes, same look. It was funny because I had the same reaction as I did the years before. I looked down, pretended I saw nothing, opened and unlocked all the car doors to let my friends in. All this was seen and done in seconds. Just as I was about to get in I glanced up and he was gone. I didn't say anything to anyone. Actually this is the first time I've talked about this EVER.

I've just always wondered who, what, and why. I haven't seen him since. I'm already 30. Is my tall skinny mean looking dark man due for a show? I certainly hope not!

I'm sorry if this ended up being a long read.