Village Creek Grim Reaper With Snakes & The MuMu Lady

A long time ago I blogged about an encounter at Village Creek Natural Historic Area with an odd woman wearing a MuMu and walking with a strange gait while waving her arms and talking to herself.

I never saw her again. Til today. In the previous encounter I said "Hello, did you see the armadillos?" To which she said "No, did you see the strange bird?"

I said "No, I have seen no bird." She then asked if she could give me her "testimony." I politely declined, but she began it anyway. I listened for a little bit and then went on my way. A short time after that I came upon her again, sitting on a bench. She then told me the story of her encounter on that bench with a mountain lion. She'd been praying, looked up to see the mountain lion. She then loudly prayed SAVE ME JESUS! And the mountain lion walked away without eating her.

Now, what is really strange about that story is I believe it to be true. There had been many reports of a mountain lion sighting along the banks of the Trinity River. And there was one story of an encounter with an elderly lady at Village Creek. I believe that elderly lady was Miss MuMu.

During my bike ride, a couple days ago, at Village Creek, I had several bad encounters. Same thing today. A crew was trimming the jungle at the sides of the trail. One had a long scythe-like thing, you know that thing the Grim Reaper has with a big blade on the end of a stick. I thought the Grim Reaper guy saw me coming and was letting me pass, but right as I got to him he swung back the scythe-like thing, in my direction. I let out a yell and disaster was averted.

A short distance from the Grim Reaper encounter I had a snake encounter. I was biking real fast, maybe 20 mph, down an incline that leads to the second dam/bridge, when I nearly ran over a well-camouflaged snake. I hit the brakes and got out the camera. My only copperhead encounter in Texas took place in about this same location. That copperhead was a big snake who would not get off the trail. Another guy had spotted the snake and warned me to stop. I was roller blading. Eventually the snake got bored and slithered away.

I forgot to mention, that's Miss MuMu lady in the picture at the top. I came upon her a second time today as she was entering the part of the trail that goes through Interlochen. She must live in one of those cool houses on a canal. I was coming up behind her, I don't think she can see very well. There's a bench at the top of the slope that leads from the dam/bridge. She sort of crawled on to the bench, getting down on her knees in the down on all fours position. It was very un-ladylike.

I pedaled on, down the slope, then hit the brakes and turned around, thinking I gotta see if I can get a picture of this. I was far enough away that she would not have been able to tell I was snapping pics. I took the pics using the maximum optical and digital zoom.

The other regular Village Creek character was there today too. Log Man. He's an older guy who walks while swinging a thick stick, like a long log. It's a little unsettling when he's swinging that thing and you bike up on him from behind. I don't think he hears very well.