Mystery at Devil's Elbow -
Chapter Thirteen – Third Week of October 1969
What Tammy didn’t include in her article was any reference to the missing woman of Pulaski County or the skeletons found near Devil’s Elbow Bridge. She wanted to wait for a little more evidence before she tied the two together.
Many in Pulaski County read the article, and fear set in among some rural residents. The sheriff’s office was overwhelmed with complaints and questions from people living in the Devil’s Elbow area. The sheriff even recorded an announcement with a local radio station to try to calm the people in the county. The sheriff and his staff stood around the office radio to listen to his announcement.
“Ladies and gentlemen of Pulaski County, this is your Sheriff, JD Carson. I want to speak to you today to calm any fears you may have about the local sighting of a Bigfoot. My office investigated the sightings, and we found a large footprint. Since that time there have been no other sightings of a Bigfoot in our county. My initial thought is that this is a hoax. I believe that someone dressed in a hairy beast costume was in the area where they were sure to be seen.” As he heard his voice on the radio, he gulped. The truth was they had a handprint, too. And that couldn’t have come from a costume.
The announcement continued, “The footprint was found in a small, wet area. No other spot in the general vicinity was found to be wet. I’m asking each of you to please remain calm, and if you see something suspicious, please call my office, and we’ll be more than happy to investigate. I don’t believe there’s anything to fear here. I think this is a safe county to raise our families and enjoy our lives. Thank you very much.”
Rusty, the DJ, queued the record American Pie by Don McLean. “Now ladies and gentlemen, let’s get back to the music,” he said.
Maxine reached over and turned off the radio.
“So, what do you think?” asked JD.
“Pretty good,” said Rodney. The rest of the deputies chimed in with similar comments.
“I think you sounded calm,” said Maxine.
“I hope it does the trick and settles people down,” said JD.
“We’ll know in a few hours,” said Reggie.
The deputies went about their shift change and drove out to locations in the county. JD sat in his office rereading the newspaper. He had better have a word with Ms. Jenkins before she got everybody riled up again. He dialed her number.
“Hello Tammy, this is Sheriff Carson.”
“How are you, Sheriff?”
“I’ve been better, Tammy.”
“What’s wrong?
“This article of yours has got some in the county riled up. I don’t know if that’s what you meant to do, but that’s what has happened.”
“No Sheriff, but I’m sure you know about the eight-foot creature sighted up in Pike County. I was just trying to ride the tail of that story by mentioning our sightings.”
“Who told you about our Bigfoot sighting, Tammy?”
“No one.”
“Oh okay, I understand,” he said with a chuckle.
“I’m glad you do, Sheriff.”
“Is this the end of your story?”
“No, Sheriff, this is just the beginning.”
“What comes next?”
“I don’t know, Sheriff, you tell me. Is this Bigfoot sighting connected to the skeletons you found in the same area?”
“Don’t you even think about it, Tammy.”
“I’m not talking about doing anything crazy.”
“I hope not.”
“I just can’t help but wonder though, Sheriff. Of course, I wouldn’t print anything until it was cleared. Say until after the Sheriff’s Department released it …”
“That’s what I thought you were after.”
“Can we work something out, Sheriff?”
JD took a second to clear his throat. “I think we can. If you agree to hold off on any stories that connect the Bigfoot with the skeletons until I tell you whether there’s a connection.”
“You have my word.”
After he hung-up, Tammy didn’t wait a second. She went straight to her boss and told him the good news. The sheriff was willing to cooperate.
“Not that I don’t trust the sheriff, Tammy, but hold his feet to the fire and make sure he comes through.”
“I will.”
“If he doesn’t, you come and talk to me right away.”
“I will come right here.”
“I liked your installments of the story, Tammy. If there’s any possibility you can connect those skeletons with Bigfoot, you got a potential Pulitzer Prize-winning story.”
“You really think so?”
“I know so.”
Tammy went back to her desk and reorganized the information she had on the skeletons. She started to build a timeline on paper she took from the printer to see if a connection was possible. She taped pages together to form one long sheet of paper. Then started putting dates on the paper. She would also have to go through newspaper records and find all the missing woman in Pulaski County for the last 50 years. If she were lucky, there would be a connection between the missing woman, the skeletons, and Bigfoot.
The sun was rising over the trees when Tammy took a break from her work. She had been at it all night. Reviewing the microfiche and old paper copies of the newspaper was hard work. Placing all these dates on the timeline was also time-consuming.
It had paid off. She found records of four missing woman. And all of them were last seen near Devil’s Elbow.
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