This happened to me way back in the mid 1990′s. At the time I was already in my forties. I need to go into a bit of detail.
First, I will describe the setting. In Atlanta, there is a main artery called Ponce De Leon Avenue. This runs between Decatur and the north end of downtown. It is a very busy street with lots of traffic. There is on one side of it a sunken garden, with scrub brush and trees growing up the embankment, blocking Ponce from immediate sight. The garden is part of the grounds of a school for epileptic kids. There is a bit of virgin timber-land and more shrubby, scrubby type of growth on the fridges of a formal garden. The garden and a big antebellum house once belonged to a man named Cator Woolford, a philanthropist. The garden and the house etc. are in trust, and the school operates as long as the garden is cared for and no large amount of clearing is done. I will also mention the odd fact that a contemporary of Mr. Woolford, a Miss Emily Harrison, left her land in to a foundation called Fernbank, almost right across the street from this, and there is a large forest which is never to be destroyed or disturbed in any way. If a tree falls across a walk path, the section impeding the path is cut, but the rest left to lie where it is. I have come to believe that I know why these two people made sure to leave their land protected and exactly as it was. Fernbank is a vigil forest – never timbered, by the way.
Now, I will tell you my story. It was a night in late winter or early spring. My ex and I were walking there… he in a sulky sauntering manner – walks have never been his thing. I was ahead and looking a little green things coming up out of the ground. I was some little way ahead of him. I saw a large green light flash out of a little tree. I wondered what made the flash, and thought that the lights from up on Ponce de Leon Ave were shining on something that was catching the light. I went closer to look, and then – hard to believe but true – I forgot all about that light. My attention was caught by something that I saw on the other side of a deep culvert, which ran throughout the garden. I saw the air grow dark and ‘busy’, if you know what I mean. I hope you do, because I have no other way to describe it. It was dark in the garden, but this spot seemed to be crawling with darkness. And, as I looked, this figure just knit itself together out of the darkness. It looked like a classic idea of a troll. I could see it in color: shaggy gray hair, bushy gray eyebrows, a rust colored soft hat of the bowler variety, and a vest to match, a white shirt, wrinkled and too big. I don’t remember the pants or if the figure was shod. It was completely still. Some people have suggested that I saw a garden art gnome. Not the case, I assure you. My reaction was absolute total classic panic. I was so afraid, I took off running, babbling. My ex didn’t see it, he wasn’t near me at the time. He ran with me without question. We were in a dark lonely place in the big city at night. For all he knew I found a corpse, or an axe murderer and a corpse.
I went back the next day. All I can add is that the bush that I saw the thing come out of was a laurel or rhododendron bush.
I swear it was true!
Sent in by Caro, Copyright 2010 TrueGhostTales.com
what did your ex say when you told him what you saw?have you see it since?thanks for the story.
thats very strange but i belive you
considering that i love trolls, go look for it again, same time of day etc. take a camera!!
If it truely was a Gnome, I don’t recommend going back and looking for it. Gnomes are not the type of creatures you want to even try to converse with. They are very mischevious and won’t think twice as putting a little curse on you as a “joke.”