When the subject of "Deer People" is introduced, those who know the term usually think of the Native Creation myths and legends. Or perhaps the gentle Deer Woman who assists Native maidens. But there seems to be something different, something darker that makes it's way into some peoples' lives. Chance encounters that are frightening. An encounter with a predator.

Almost every Native group has their stories of a Deer People associated with the stars and maidens. Mostly they are creation myths. Creation of a species, creation of new life and they may talk of the stars involved. Either going into the heavens, or a star coming down. There is a Deer Woman that helps young Native women either find a mate, or have a child. And there is a slightly darker version of one who punishes men who stray from their women. And a darker version of a Deer Man who frightens hunters with screams and running past them. This last one could be related to what is being reported.

I first ran across some stories in a book I was reading. And as I looked further, I found people talking of their experiences anonymously on blog sites. Discovering even more accounts of strange encounters with strange "Deer", it became clear that this might not be just someone's imagination.

I explored other possible explanations which I will go into later. For now, let's take a look at some of the encounters.

Let's start close to my home with Ohio.

The witness "Dale" was working the night shift during the winter of 1998. It was either late November or early December in the early morning hours when he had his experience. Although he was feeling sick, he still headed into work. About half way through his shift, he was feeling so bad, he left for home.

It had snowed earlier that day and the roads were icy. It was around 1:30 am when he started up the final icy hill before reaching home. This hill on the Calcutta Smith Ferry Road was steep and a dangerous hill in the winter time so Dale was taking it slow.

It was a clear night, the moon reflecting off the snow, lighting up the night. Dale cleared the crest of the hill and started down the other side. Suddenly the car slid sideways, the rear pulling left, causing him to face towards the field to his right. As he was working to regain control, he noticed a group of 4 deer come out of the woods from the Beaver Creek direction. When they saw the car, they started running at top speed towards him. As Dale tried to get the car going forward, it started sliding again. He spun the car in a 360, the car again stopping facing the field.

Dale could see the deer clearly. They had stopped about 300 feet away and were watching him. As he was starting to back the car up, two of the "deer" stood up. They were abound 6 ft. tall and had a weird "wolf-like appearance. The eyes had a strange green color.

Panicked, Dale maneuvered the car around and took off "like a shot". The deer followed, running on all fours, chasing him for at least 200 yards. He stopped watching them and concentrated on driving, finally reaching home a minute or so later. He ran inside his house. And worked on convincing himself he was just seeing things because he was sick.

The "deer" he saw varied in size. The two that seemed larger were the ones that had stood up. The other two appeared to be smaller and thinner and passed as does from a distance. The larger ones were broader and appeared more "wolfish" in appearance than the other two. He was not sure of the other three but the primary one was a male. He thought all of them were a brown color, but it was hard to tell in the moonlight. And when they were chasing the car, they were in predator mode -- tails up.

I wonder if  Dale looked out his windows that night. And if he had, would he have had a similar experience as the next man.

This took place April 6, 2018. A man and his girlfriend were out looking for a place to eat. This was near Colorado Springs, it was night and there was a light snowfall, making the air "misty". They were not having much luck in finding a good place but somehow felt compelled to keep going even though both felt that things didn't feel "right".

The two were discussing turning around when they saw 6 or more deer running on a hill on the right side of the road. Near the road was a fence with what looked like a limp, dead deer hanging from it. Looking up the road, they saw a restaurant and pulled into the parking lot. And things became a little stranger.

The male witness : "As we pulled in we saw them. The deer people. That is really the only way to describe them. There were about a dozen scattered about." They were around 6 ft. tall standing upright. The bodies has waists and legs that looked humanlike, with very wide shoulders and wide necks and heads too big for their bodies. They were covered in fur. The faces resembled deer faces with black, wide set eyes. All had large ears; only a few had antlers. The witness doesn't state if they went inside to eat or not.

He did go on to say that one of the deer people appeared to have followed them home. According to him, the next night he was in bed when he heard footsteps and heavy breathing. He looked up to see a tall, dark shadow in the room. Afterwards, he went out to the apartment balcony to have a smoke [I assume to calm his nerves after seeing the shadow figure.] He saw a large figure standing on the nearby riverbank, starring at him. It appeared to have the same build as the figures at the restaurant the night before. He ran inside to have his girlfriend come and see it, but by the time they returned, it was gone.

In 1993 in Hockessin, Delaware, it was reported that an 8 yr. old saw something unusual while staying with their grandparents who lived on a forested property. The child was looking out the window at a deer.

"It was RIGHT there, like almost pressed against the window in profile. I shared in awe. And that is when it changed. In one smooth movement it reared up on its hind legs and it was no longer a deer, but a man. . . It exuded strength. And scared the hell out of me. It stared to the side for a moment, but then strode off with purpose. Looking back, I want to tell myself it was just the imagination of a half-awake child, but I remember the awe and the utter fear I felt when the 'deer' changed."

For those wondering. There were only two adult men in the area. The grandfather and the father of the child. And the figure resembled neither of them.

Some people claim to have different experiences with Deer People. A person gave this comment on a blog concerning Deer People.

"I've actually had a few experiences with it, and it's slightly terrifying at first. . . . Each time I've seen it, I've been wandering solo through the woods. Once I was a bit lost, and it seemed to guide me out. Another guided me to a tunnel made of vines and branches. It's scary to encounter but none have had ill intentions toward me."

One person who grew up in North Carolina talked about the "deor" [Deer People] on a blog. As deer hunting was very common in their area, the people there seem to have had many experiences with the "not deer" or "deor" as they called them. However, "X" had only one personal encounter. X was looking for holly with a brother. The brother returned to the path to get a bucket, leaving X alone. Seeing what he thought was a baby deer about 20 feet away, X squatted down and stayed quiet so he could watch it. Suddenly the "baby deer" stood up and he could see something was not right. The witness had never been so scared in their life. The brother came running back and was able to catch sight of the Deer Person for only a second before it ran off. Then X realized that there were too many eyes on the face. The legs were just a bit too long and looked almost backwards.

There was a 14 yr old living in Ohio who had an encounter while playing at their cousin's house. It was near sunset and he saw something came out the brush.

"It was getting dark and I was the one searching. I heard leaves crumpling. And when I turned to look, I saw what looked like a deer on its hind legs. I clearly remember seeing dog legs running, but the rest of the body was straight up. And it ran with incredible speed, and I knew it wasn't either of my cousins hiding. I ran as fast as I could back to the house, and one of my cousins was running in too, he saw the same thing. It still creeps me out to this day, because my uncle always told us how he saw weird things on that property."

Next post I have some more experiences to tell. I will also go into some possible explanations for what these Deer People might be.

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