On the evening of Thursday, October 6, 2016, I was walking my dog through our neighborhood in Saint Augustine. It was 10:30pm and we were preparing to evacuate because Hurricane Matthew was coming up the coast of Florida and the eye was scheduled to be very close to Saint Augustine on Friday.

We were under a mandatory evacuation in our neighborhood. We have a simple routine when loading the SUV to go out of town- I play the role of the pack animal bringing the luggage and bags down to the vehicle. My wife then places them into the vehicle like she’s putting together an intricate puzzle. It has worked beautifully for years.

I played my part, bringing the bags and items for the dog to the vehicle. Well, she was placing the items into the vehicle, I took the dog for a walk.

The winds were blowing probably 20-25 mph with gusts as high as 35 mph. It was very dark.

We were on the backside of our little subdivision when the dog stopped and began sniffing the grass off the side of the street. It’s not an unusual circumstance. After all, he’s a dog. Meanwhile, I was patiently waiting and just looking around as the trees and bushes blew around in the winds. 

Something straight ahead of me got my attention. While everything else is blowing around this large patch of Palmetto bushes weren’t blowing around.  I even recall saying out loud, “What is that?”

I think that I took two steps toward the Palmetto bushes when something bolted upward about 8-10 feet in the air. My initial thought was that it was a Hefty Lawn & Leaf bag. I recall stopping and surprisingly looking up at it. 

I was shocked when it stopped at 8-10 feet and came back down, at a high rate of speed, the left side of a short trail that opened up into the front yard of a large home . The trail is there so the homeowners can bring their garbage can and recycling can to the street. Thinking back, I’m sure that’s why my initial thought was it was a Hefty  Lawn & Leaf bag because it is common to see downed branches and other yard waste there by the side of the street for pick up.

However, this was no Hefty Lawn & Lead bag. This was a dark shadow. 

When the dark shadow reached the front yard, the motion detector light went on and two seconds later, the motion detector light on the other side of the house went on too. As that was happening, I felt the pull of my dog’s leash. He wanted to go after it. I looked down at him after the second motion detector light had gone on and his tail and ears were straight up. He was as alert as I’ve ever seen him, staring into the yard. He really wanted to go after it. 

I couldn’t believe what we had just seen. I had heard of dark shadows, but despite my grandmother insisting that she had seen them and that they were real, I didn’t believe existed.