utia1976

Real World
reported by Antonio Puleo

1976 ... was more than high school graduation, which certainly would have been life altering enough. Anyone whose ever experienced that fear of going into the "real world" understands. No more safety nets of transportation provided for you where you need to go (school), no more only worrying about making it to class on time, what grade did I get on that test, am I going to "do it" with my girl (boy) friend ... am I going to go to college?

No, for me it was taking a break from moviemaking and getting into karate. I was also in love (that was the push that got me into karate). I had been dating a girl that was brown belt level and going to karate classes with her. I discovered three people from my high school that were also taking the same karate classes but to look at them you would never have guessed. Having been small or thin all my life (to this point) and having experienced being bullied, I'd always been interested in karate. As of January of 1976, I was an official "karateka" (student of karate). Within three months, my first testing came up and I passed beyond expectations being awarded three green stripes on my white belt per the system of Uechi-Ryu of the time. After that, I trained hard and became a kata (forms) champion in a series of tournaments.

The spring before my graduation I found myself working a job at the printing company that my sensei (karate instructor) Luke Jefferson had gotten for me. Luke knew about the hassels I was experiencing at home about not working. He also knew that my younger brother, Vincent, was preparing to enter the Navy, following what he declared to be a wise path, a path that mom and dad highly approved of and tried to talk me into. Vincent also harped at me about doing the same but it was simply not what I wanted to do. Luke had been through the Army ... this is where he learned the Uechi-Ryu Karate he was teaching ... and knew the service it wasn't for a personality like mine. I had moved into a full time position at the printing company after graduation. Luke and his boss watched my work performance and both knew that my "entry level" job was not interesting me either.

June came and graduation happened ... rather uneventfully. Mother was ill and unable to attend, by younger brother Vincent and I were on the.outs (as usual) and chose to not attend. Our father was working and "could not" attend (his protest to my maintaining wanting to be a producer of docu-dramas that told stories of the unexplained and eventually own a television station for broadcasting of same instead of listening to him as to what course my life should take as my brother always did). Within a week of graduation, some of my karate friends and I took a one week trip to Florida. It was an adventure, but not worth reporting here ... outside of the pervert who tried to pick me up shortly after we arrived at 4:30 AM and hit an all night restaurant. I had gone outside of the restaurant to warm up by our car and this 6' 4", curly blond haired, 40ish man comes up asking me for the time and looking at me with salivating eyes. I used my martial arts training for the first time ever. I made up a quick excuse and escaped back into the restaurant. In case you don't understand, the primary philosophy of self-defense, at least as taught in Uechi-Ryu, is to get away as soon as possible without hurting the other person or yourself, if possible.

Over the rest of the summer, I worked a short term clerical assignment at the insurance company my sensei (karate instructor) Luke Jefferson worked at (he actually got me the job). In addition to being Luke's star pupil I also filmed the summer's black belt testing for him (including the brown belted girl whom I followed into this art to begin with, and yes, she earned her black belt), and he was doing everything he could to assist me in life. He was more of a father/brother than my own. Luke Jefferson was confident I would earn my brown belt at the September testing. I thought more about that testing than I did entering my first year of college, which began in late August.

It was mid-summer when Luke came to me while at work and said "You and I are going to lunch today." This was not a request.

Luke and I hit our regular place for a plate of pasta and his statement came quickly .. "You're about to loose your job." I was not surprised. I was a "floor boy" in a printing factory sweeping floors and making sure machines were oiled as needed. It was completely uninteresting for me ... as it probably would be for most people. "Ed is a helluva boss and he's trying to keep you on, but you're just not cutting it, Puleo. And what you're being asked to do isn't brain surgery."

"No shit." I thought. "I know." I said.

"I rarely see you in [karate] class anymore ... you're slacking here. What the hell's on your mind? Tell me, what is it you really want to do with your life?" he asked.

I couldn't tell him what I really wanted to do. I couldn't tell him that I wanted to explore the universe of the unexplained and bring the newly discovered information to the masses via television. There doesn't exist a degree for that nor does anyone make a living at it. I decided to shorten the description.

"I want to be a television producer." I said.

Luke looked at me for a moment. He knew of my moviemaking hobby; I had filmed in super-8 movie film the last black belt testing for him. He was dead serious as he said "Then do it. Goddamn it, Puleo, do it! Don't do what I did. Don't get some girl pregnant and spend the rest of your life chasing money because it's what you have to do. And plan to do some working out if you want to earn rank this next testing!"

After qualifying for a full financial aide package including work study, I began attending the small, liberal arts Lindenwood College in St. Charles, Missouri (only the geographic location has anything in common with the current Lindenwood University) in late August. Lindenwood's founder, Mary Easton Sibley was legendary for her work alongside her husband Major George Sibley during the mid to late 1800's. Mrs. Sibley was a most unique woman for her time. One of her passions was the study of mysticism and, within that, the concept that one does not have to die. Like the legendary Jesus of Nazareth, one could transmute from this existence to the next. I, of course, found that fascinating.
September 14 ... the night before my next karate testing. I'm on a double date with a buddy of mine, Dennis Miles. Dennis has decided that the best way for me to get my mind off the girl with the now black belt who stole my heart and crushed it was "another woman." I finally gave in just to shut him up.

I'm driving my '67 Chevy station wagon. We picked up his girlfriend, Lynn, first. Lynn prepped me that she had told Lana all abut me and that she was excited to meet me. "Oh, and she's 17, she's very athletic, very nice trim body and this is her first date, so be careful with her."

Her first date? Oh, no pressure here.

We picked up Lana and she was very cute, and very shy. We went about our evening, dinner and a movie. Then ....

It's 10:00 PM. "Hey, Antonio, let's take it to Creve Coeur Park." shouts Dennis enthusiastically with Lynn gushing "Yeah!" with him in the back seat.

I think "This implicates making out and what about the being careful with Lana on her first date? This is not a good, overall idea."

Okay, I drive to CCP and park down by the lake. It's about 10:20 PM. Dennis and Lynn start going at it hot and heavy in the back seat, embarrassingly so. Poor Lana has herself plastered against the passenger door. I try to make small talk but she's too scared to respond with anything more than single syllable. I decide that if I'm out of the car, then there isn't any conflict about whether she and I should be or shouldn't be.

"I have karate testing tomorrow. If anyone asks, I'm practicing my katas." and I exited the car.

I walk approximately 20 yards from the station wagon and begin. I see car lights coming up behind me and I stop. The car goes by and on down the lake road. I start again. Shortly there's another car and I do the same thing. I go for it a third time. I reach a point in the brown belt kata (I had learned all the other katas required and Luke didn't want to loose me so her started teaching my white belt with three green stripes self the kata for brown belt) where I wasn't sure of the next move and stopped. The still of the night is broken by the sound of a door opening on my car. I turn around to see a very anxious Dennis Miles with fist raised ready to pound leaving the car as fast as possible, even getting tangled with the door as it recoils back on him. He looks around and then to me.

"Antonio! You been messing around the car?" he yells. I walk over.

"No, I have not. I've been over there practicing kata. What's going on?" I answered.

I had met Dennis in advanced drama class at high school. He could be a prankster but he had a lousy poker face once he got you. At this moment he had a very troubled, puzzled look in his eyes.

Dennis stammered, looked around behind and around him. "Well, ... I was in the back seat with Lynn, and, you know, we're foolin' around .. and I see the shadow of this hand .. like this big (holds both of his hands together to try to show me) on the widow behind her. I figured it was you trying to give us a scare."

Idiot doesn't know me very well.

Dennis continues, "So I alert the girls. I said 'Okay guys, be ready. I think Antonio's trying to scare us.' I raise up and maneuver to get to the door and then I see you over there." He points to where I actually was. "I look back, and then there's two hand shadows on the window. I decided to go after whoever it was. That's when I jumped out of the car."

I knew Dennis was not one to have his "fun" interrupted, but I also knew he was prone to being dramatic. I suggested we get back in the car. Inside, Lynn was trying not to cry.

"Can we go home now?" asked Lana. I looked at her to see the glisten of a single tear run down her pretty face agreeing with the fear in her eyes.

"Goddamnit Dennis!" I thought. I said "Sure, let's get out of here."

We took the girls for a snack of hamburger and soda. As I drove towards their homes, there was some discussion between them about what had happened. I pulled up to Lanai's house, parked and started to get out but she was already out of the car and running up to her house. "Her first date ... " I thought.

Next we took Lynn home. Dennis walked her to the door and I could here murmurs of reassurance to Lynn that everything was okay, nothing was going to get her. I tried to analyze. Shadows on the car ... from the passenger side not the driver's side. Couldn't have been my shadows (plus the fact I stopped doing kata when cars drove by. "Hand shadows" is how Dennis described them. Large. Must be someone getting their jollies scarring people on a would be lovers lane.

Dennis got in the car, I began the trip home. Once on highway 270 West, Dennis finally spoke. "Feel like seeing who that was?" The adventure, intrigue, and a sense of duty got to me. In 1976, everyone and their brother weren't carrying guns. A boxer and an almost brown belt level martial artist. "Yeah, let's see what we can find." I answered.

It was 12:20 AM as Dennis and I rode back into CCP. This time I drove all the way down the lane and parked at an angle to the falls in the circular turn around. I parked, shut the engine off and cracked my window to listen for anyone coming up on us. Dennis did the same. The night was overcast and lit with both the moon (not full) and lights from the surrounding city areas. Creve Coeur Park is located in St. Louis County with Maryland Heights, Missouri and residential area covering almost 100% of the parks' east side, the west side being farmland with the Missouri River within a mile west.

Moments that seemed like minutes went by. It was pitch black for my part. I got restless.

"Dennis ... " I started.

"Shhhh!" he retorted. I thought "Nobody shushes me in my own car!"

"What are you .. ?" I pressed.

"Shhhh." He repeated than elaborated, "There's somethin' over by the beginning of the path by the falls." he finished. The path was approximately 25 to 30 yards from where we sat. I looked but only saw too much darkness but I stayed quiet for concentrations sake.

"It's movin'. Along the tree line." Dennis said seriously, his head turning as his vision stayed locked onto "something."

I tried to see but to no avail.

"See it?" asked Dennis?

"I can't see anything." I said.

Dennis looked at me with annoyance and then pointed with his left hand across his body towards the area. "Right over there!" he whispered sharply. He turned to look again but then lowered his head to his right hand and rubbed. "Man, my eyes are burning."

I leaned forward to trace the upward angle his left hand was still marking. Then ... I saw It. I know my eyes grew wider trying to take everything in.

Between two trees against the dimly lit clouded sky ... I watched "something" tall, huge and lumbering move between two trees. There was a hairy outline to it, there appeared to be a head with a conical shape at the top, no neck, but LOTS of body. There was only one movement, but what I would take to be arms swayed to and fro in opposite directions during what I perceived to be a short move of a couple of steps.

I started the car.

Dennis looked at me and convinced me to hold off on driving away. We still needed to figure out who this was if we were going to report. I don't know what Dennis saw, but I already had an idea of what I saw. The idea of "a boxer and almost brown belt" was replaced by "if anything starts to happen, all I have to do is drop it in gear and go."

Dennis' vision found it's target again. "It's just standin' there, kind of swaying back and forth. Like It's looking at us."

That made me uneasy. Whatever it was had come out to peripherally see what had invaded its' territory. Now, it was locked on us. If something dangerous was looking at us, I wanted a good look for whatever report might be made. Without telling Dennis, I reached up on the dashboard and turned on the headlights.

"OH MY GOD, GO GO GO GO!!!!!!!!! Dennis yelled without missing a beat.

I didn't miss a beat either as I grabbed the gear shift, dropped into drive and floored it as a turned the wheel to get out of the circular.

Dennis was now turned around bouncing and squirming, his knees in his seat watching through the tailgate window. SHIT, GO, ANTONIO, GO, OH GODDAMN GO!!!!! he yelled in the most panicked voice I'd ever heard.

At this time of morning, there was a certain amount of dew that had already accumulated. The loose gravel road didn't help any. The station wagon started fishtailing and at began to take us up into the immediate tree line. I had no choice I had to stop or crash. I changed gears and began backing up just a few feet.

Dennis turned to me, his body shaking, he grabbed at my high school jacket and shook me. "What are you doing!!!! GO!! I didn't respond, I just did what I knew I had to do. I dropped it back in gear and we were off down the road again.

We soon hit the opening of the park at Marine Avenue. I turned right heading up hill towards Dorsett Road. My eyes watched both sides because this was taking us through woods on both sides. The thing might spring out at us?

We finally hit Dorsett and swung left. We took it all the way to the Steak 'N Shake near the corner of Dorsett and McKelvey. I took us into the Steak 'N Shake parking lot and parked it.

I looked in front of me and around. A feeling of normalcy came over me. Just 60 seconds ago, I was racing away from "something" and now ... everything seemed fine.

Dennis and I sat in silence for only a short time. "What happened?" I asked.

Dennis was looking out into space recalling. "You hit those headlights and that thing .. grew! Like it had been bent over looking at us and suddenly raised to full height ... and it started towards the car. It was almost on top of us." He looked at me. "You know what that was?"

I was afraid to say the obvious. Though I would spend the majority of the rest of my life dealing with such things, at this moment in time, I was afraid to say it. Dennis and I had seen a movie titled "Creature From Black Lake" summer before last and even attempted to write and shoot our own movie. I could hear skeptics tearing us up ... however ... "There's only one thing I can think of ..." I finally offered.

"It had to be Bigfoot!" he almost exclaimed. "There's a cop car right over there. Let's tell 'im." Sensibility overrode that idea. "Right, Dennis." I said with some sarcasm." We're gong to tell the officer we just got chased out of Creve Coeur Park by a Bigfoot and he's not even going to bother with a breathalyzer test."

There wasn't anything else to do but go home.

The next morning came early as did my trip to the North County YMCA for karate testing. People said "hi" to me and I said "hi" back, even conversed with some, but I wasn't mentally there. I warmed up with everyone else, did my oral exam for testing entry and went into the dojo. Fortunately, everything I was asked to do was wrote memory. Katas, ho-jundo, all the regular exercises. Then came kumite ... fighting.

The black belt chosen to by my opponent was a guy who had thought months ago I was going out with his girlfriend. The fact was he was being an egotistical jerk, they broke up and she needed someone to talk to. We faced off for testing.

Suddenly, I was back in CCP watching the "thing" move between two trees. But then I heard the sound of a very worried crowd. My mind came back in time to see my opponent throwing a front kick at me. I maneuvered to block it and he turned it into a high roundhouse at my head. My training in circular blocks was right there but so was my bob and weave. I leaned to my left as my hand went to block. My opponents toe came over my hand and hooked my glasses, grabbing them off my face and to the floor. If I'd been half a second late in my response, I'd been kicked in the temple and likely seriously injured. I looked up at his smug, smiling face and was ready to really go after him when Luke yelled "GOMEN!" (Stop). Both myself and my opponent came t a neutral position.

Luke was not happy.

"Mr. Puleo, where's the band for your glasses?"

"At home, sir."

"You knew you had testing today?"

"Yes, sir."

"Why don't you have the band for your glasses?"

"I don't know, sir." (Couldn't very well say "Well, I had this encounter with a Bigfoot last night and my mind was so blown, I forgot to bring them.")

"You know this could cost you your testing."

The crowd moaned, I winced. "Yes, sir. I know."

Ultimately, I earned rank just under brown belt that day. I had also entered an area of "real world" reality that would consume my spare time for the rest of my life.

One more item that rounded out 1976 ...

As there were no television production classes first semester, I enrolled in acting and theatre classes. This is where I met and became very attracted to a young woman named Karen Walker. She was a fellow Leo, well suited to acting (to the point of doing a one act play where she was required to wear a very skimpy nightgown). When it came to dating, I was somewhat on the shy side but I finally received the opening I thought was right and asked her out. She accepted.

First, we went to eat. I took her to a steak house only to discover that she was "semi-vegetarian." Needless to say I was puzzled and she went on to explain that she comes from a family of ranchers and the only time she eats meat is when she's home because she knows about all the preservatives and crap that are put into meats for market. My first exposure to such information.

Next we went to a movie ... "Looking for Mr. Goodbar." Okay ...

On the way back to her dorm room, we talked about the movie, the spirit of it and such. Karen talked considerably more about it than I did. I was not used to watching this genre of movie. She was kind enough to invite me into her room. I was uncomfortable at this point. I had awkwardly, but successfully put my arm around her at the movie and we kissed once. She made us some tea and we suddenly found ourselves without much to talk about. She indicated that she had to get up early in the morning ... a sign for me that she was closing out the evening. I hugged her goodnight and left her room. It was approximately 12:30 AM.

As I walked down the hallway disappointed at the way the date had gone but happy for the experience. I went down third floor stairs, hit the turn, went down to the second floor, went down the stairs two at a time now, hit the turn around, and started down to the first floor. The heel of my shoe caught the carpeted steps and I was lurched forward. There was no railing on the wall and I was too far from the banister. My martial arts training kicked in and I started to tuck my arms to my chest for a very rough shoulder roll.

I felt a momentary pressure like two hands on my chest and, suddenly, I was rightside up standing in the middle of the stairs. My mind worked to process what was going on. I thought "I should be tumbling down the stairs ... but I'm standing evenly balanced. This is not possible. Wait, I felt 'hands' on my chest ... no. It ... Mrs. Sibley?" Was it possible? I knew that answer because I was already very grounded in the fact that anything is possible. I decided that instead of standing in the middle of the stairs of the primary girls dormitory at a time somewhere after midnight, I'd better move on. "Thank you." I said and I moved on.
This was my first, adult experience with something invisible but definitely present. In later analysis ... I did tell Karen and she just smiled and rolled her eyes and teasingly said "So, an evening with me wasn't enough? You had to go rendezvous with Mrs. Sibley, huh?" No comment.

Anyway, from a physics standpoint, I KNOW that I had tripped, I KNOW I was about to take a roll down those stairs. I had no means of righting myself. I know I was preparing to tuck and roll. There were only two possibilities I can reason: either the earth moved the dormitory in such a manner as to adjust the stairs to my new center of gravity ... or someone or something applied physical pressure to my person to adjust me backwards to a center of gravity that allowed me to stand upright. Now, you tell me which is the most likely answer. Can I prove it was the ghost of Mrs. Sibley? No. Can I prove it was a ghost? No, we have to define what "ghost" means. Whatever it was, it was invisible, intelligent and well meaning.

1977 would open with a similar incident.