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News from deep south Mississippi:
I caught a snippet of conversation on the radio between a radio host and an outdoor sports writer (I'll call the sports writer Mr. Jim Bob.) The subject was an item in the news-that mountain climbers in the Himalayas had found Yeti footprints at 25,000 feet. Mr. Jim Bob said in a joking manner maybe it was the "Beaumont Booger." I live near Beaumont--how could something like a "booger" story have escaped me?
I phoned Mr. Jim Bob about it. The first thing he said was "Now don't be afraid--there's nothing to be afraid of." I said I wasn't afraid of anything. He said this is what happened. A Beaumont man said a hairy ape like creature that walked upright had crossed the road in front of his truck. The sheriff had called Mr. Jim Bob and asked him to stop mentioning the booger on the radio because old people living way out in the woods were scared to go out after dark to get firewood. (I'm not making this up.)
Mr. Jim Bob said human beings seem to have an innate need to believe in the mysterious. Something he does give credence to is a woman living in the Chickashaway River swamp at Leakesville (another hamlet I go to all the time) who called him to report she thinks she has seen an ivory billed woodpecker-- thought to be extinct--until one was supposedly spotted in a swamp in Arkansas a few years ago. He hooked the woman up with a bird expert who will follow up on this.
Mr. Jim Bob says despite the ravages of Katrina on our woodlands, he was in a forest service plane and flying over south Mississippi, was impressed by the thousands of miles of dense impenetrable forests, notably the DeSoto National Forest and along rivers and swamps. There could, might, maybe be an extinct bird living there.
susil
