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CHAPTER 2: September 14, 1976; The Incident
- The year of 1976 was the bi-centennial for the United States.
It was the high school year that I actually went to a majority of sporting events
(home games) because of Ancient History teacher "Sir" R. J. Henry's organization
of the Spirit Club [During half time of whatever event, we always marched out the club
mascot, a life sized mummy named "OTIS" (Out Thing
Is Spirit!)], I finally joined the Uechi-Ryu karate
class I'd been observing for the last two months of 1975, which I excelled at, began
earning rank four months ahead of schedule, took first place in lower men's kata in two
tournaments, after earning my green belt only took second place in a third tournament,
worked hard and came back to triumphantly regain my first place position and then stopped
while "at the top" ... and it was the year that I graduated Ritenour High school
to "officially" began my adult life . . . how cruel to put that on kids.
In 1976, being 17 or 18, knowing literally nothing about how the REAL world works because
you have no "real world" education, training or experience and being sent out to
make your way. In my opinion, the concept of primary, secondary and advanced
education is completely outdated. A more complete education should be paid for by
taxes and it should take our youth through at least a mid-grading point (in my time it as
a "C" average) Bachelor's degree level. Of my generation and of my locale,
the educational system DID NOT prepare students to go out and "make it."
If you had good grades, you were encouraged towards college of some sort. If your
grades weren't so hot, you were looked on as someone who would have to go off into the
working class and struggle to live.
- So, there I was, in 1976, having graduated from Ritenour High
School in St. Louis, Missouri with script ideas running through my head, my Super-8
movie camera and projector, and aspirations of becoming a moviemaker. Towards
accomplishing this end, I had been encouraged by my creative writing teacher to check
into her alma-mater, the liberal arts based The Lindenwood Colleges (not
to be confused
with the new Lindenwood University .. they are opposites of the "experience and
education" spectrum). I looked into it, however my dear, dear mother, having
had some very bad financial experiences since dad's death in 1970, would not fill out the
necessary paperwork for financial assistance considerations, thus I was expected to go out
and "get a job."
- My focus was on two things ... moviemaking and a "love"
relationship that was over though I was in denial. Close friend "Dennis
Miles" was always coming up with antiquated slogans ... "The best way to forget
about a woman is to find another woman." he told me. He talked with his
girlfriend and they arranged a blind date for me with "Cindy's" girlfriend
"Lana."
- Lana was 17, very athletic, cute, and ... never been on a date.
I was her first.
- The evening was pleasant for the most part (outside of having to
listen to Cindy and Dennis going at it in the back seat on my '67 Chevy Station Wagon ...
after all, it was the '70's you know.). We had dinner (can't remember where), we
went bowling and then ... we just went cruising.
- Dennis kept mentioning Creve Coeur Park. I knew what that
meant, at least for he and Cindy. After 15 nagging minutes, I finally gave in.
- Creve
Coeur Park is divided into four
areas ... the main park off of Dorsett Road, the high rise bluffs crowned Greensfelder
Memorial, the lake area with the falls, and the rest of the area along Marine Avenue.
- It was 10:20 PM as we pulled into the lakeside parking area.
Any other time I would have driven all the way down to the turn around area by the
falls but this time I took the station wagon about a third of the way down the lane and
parked facing the water. Before I turned the lights off, I noticed and commented on
the beauty of the spider web in the small tree in front of us.
- The sounds coming from the back seat were making both Lana and I
very uncomfortable. I'm sure she was worried that I would be interested in
"going at it" like Dennis and Cindy. I, too, was concerned about what
would or wouldn't be welcomed for a first romantic encounter. Lana was cute but her
body language progressively indicated she wasn't interested in doing anything ...
anything. Small talk went like this:
-
- Me: It's really a beautiful evening out.
- Lana: (pause) ... yeah.
- Me: Can't quite see the stars, but the moon's giving a nice glow.
- Lana: ...uh huh.
- Okay ...
-
- The sounds from the backseat we're starting to get
on my nerves. I'm the kind of guy who needs to know my advances are
welcome. Lana wasn't into this at all. Right or wrong, I made a
decision.
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- Me: If anyone asks, I'll be outside practicing my
kata. I've got karate testing tomorrow morning.
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- I got out of the car.
- I walked about 20 yards from the station wagon and
looked around. The night was quiet. I took a deep breath and
went through a short version of Sanchin. I relaxed. I then
started into kata number two, Di Na Seisan. I got just a couple of
moves into it and car lights hit me. I decided to stop so I wouldn't
draw unnecessary attention. The car went by.
- I went through Di Na Seisan and then went through
what was then called Conjobo (my
champion kata!) I continued into
Sachin (this is the kata for brown belt testing, though I was only
"officially" testing for full green belt level). This is where I
stumbled on a move and stopped to think.
- I heard a door on my station wagon being opened.
I looked. There was Dennis hurriedly climbing out of the back seat
door with right armed cocked to punch. He looked around ... all
around. And then he spotted me.
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- "Joe! C'mere!" he yelled.
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- I jogged over to the car wishing he'd be more
quiet.
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- "What's up?" I asked.
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- Dennis pursed his lips as his eyes scanned the
area. He finally looked at me as the logical choice.
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- "You been f---'-- around the car?" he asked.
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- I looked at him. He just witnessed me jog 20
yards back to the car.
- I shook my head at his lack of logic and snorted a
chuckle. "No. I have not been f---'-- around my car. Why
would I do that? I've been over there practicing for tomorrows karate
test."
- Dennis shook his head, not ready to understand
what happened. He pulled and lit a cigarette to calm down and then
spoke. "I was in the back seat with Cindy," he started. "We were
messin' around when she suddenly stopped. I looked at her and she was
lookin' afraid towards my passenger door." Dennis gestured putting
both hands up, fingers wide and outlining a shape about 14 inches across.
He gazed at his description as he spoke. "I looked back at it and
there was the shadow of a hand. I thought it must be you so I sat up
and told the girls 'Look, I think Joe's tryin' to give us a scare.'
Then I happened to look over and see you down there and I figured I was
going to pound whatever asshole was at the door. I went to jump at 'em
but the door was locked. I figure that's what gave whoever it was the
chance to run and hide."
- I studied Dennis for a minute to assess if he was
joking or not. I waited for the "gottcha" but it never came.
Instead, as he eyed our surroundings his comment was "Let's get the girls
home."
- I got back in the station wagon. The silence
was trumped by the sniffling Cindy was doing in the back seat. She
immediately hugged hard into Dennis. He held her. I looked at
Lana. She kept her eyes forward, a single tear had rolled down her
cheek.
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- "Can we please go home, now?" she asked in almost
a monotone.
-
- Needless to say, we got the girls out of there.
We drove up to where they lived first up north off New Halls Ferry Road near
I-270. We decided to take them to Steak 'N Shake for some fries and a
drink to try to get their minds off of what happened. Then I drove
them home. I had barely put the car in park in front of Lana's house
when she threw the door open and bolted to her front door. I felt
terribly sorry for her. Her first date and she was terrified ... not
knowing whether to be afraid because of a prank by her date or, more
unnerving, by something unexpected and potentially unexplainable but
definitely very dangerous.
- Next I drove Lynn home. Dennis walked her to
her door and I could hear some of the discussion featuring Lynn thinking it
was me who had made the hand shadows. Dennis assured her that I was
the straightest guy he knew and that it couldn't have been me because of
where I was when he saw me. My investigative mind began considering
the possibilities. The hand shadow was on the passengers side of the
car, I was on the drivers side, 20 yards away. When car lights hit me,
the beams were pointing away from the station wagon but for sake of argument
let's say the beams came from the right direction to cast a shadow on the
station wagon. The shadow would have fallen on the drivers side, not
on the passengers side and any shadow would have been unfocused and
certainly not seen as a large shadow hand. Dennis got back in the car.
On the way to I-270, we both decided to go back to the park to see what was
going on. If there was someone running around the park scaring people,
I was in the mood to be "a boy scout," make the discovery and report it to
authorities.
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