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Monday, May 26, 2014

An evil gnome like creature terrorizes a farmhouse in Porterville

Looks innocent doesn't he? 

I love strange creature stories and am always lamenting the fact that the Central Valley is lacking in them (unless you want to count the numerous sighting of dogs with mange being reported as Chupacabras). So imagine my surprise (and a bit of shock) when I came across a story of a supposedly evil gnome that was terrorizing a farm house near Porterville.

The first incident occurred when a woman by the name of Tammy moved herself and her three children into a small farmhouse on the Tule River near Porterville. Soon after moving in Tammy started feeling like something was watching them and had an uneasy feeling ever time she walked by the old barn. For some reason most of the animals on the farm seemed to avoid the rickety old building and soon she noticed that the number of her ducks and chickens had started to dwindle, but couldn't figure out why. She was soon going to have an idea why.

One night Tammy and her son were coming back from grocery shopping when, as she parked the car and got out, noticed movement to her right. Thinking nothing of it she picked up a grocery bag and noticed it again, this time accompanied by what she described as a "very freaky, very evil sounding chuckle". Looking in the direction of the noise Tammy noticed about 50 yards from her a small humanoid looking figure. Or as she described it, a gnome.

The figure was about two to three feet in height, wore black baggy pants and a gold colored shirt. The face was partially covered by a long salt and pepper beard and on top of the head was a long, red pointed hat. The nose was large and bulbous and the eyes were rather deep set. As the figure grinned at them, Tammy noticed that the grin was almost from ear to ear and the teeth looked to be an ugly brown color and appeared to be either pointed or jagged.

Horrified, Tammy dropped the groceries and grabbed her son and ran off towards the house with the cackling little man right on her heels. Tammy was able to get inside the house and was in the midst of telling her two daughters what she saw, when she saw movement outside the kitchen window. Upon investigating she saw the top of the figure's red pointed hat moving back and forth underneath the window. Finally after what must have seemed like an eternity, the figure disappeared and Tammy was able to get the groceries from the car. This was the only time she actually saw the figure, but until she moved out she would always hear creepy chuckling coming from the old barn, as if it was taunting her or something.

You would think that this would be an isolated occurrence, but it seems the gnome wasn't satisfied with just terrorizing Tammy and her family.

In March of 2010 a family moved in to the same house on the Tule River. According to the wife, Charlie, it was perfect for what their family needed. Her husband took a particular liking to a pond on the property and decorated it with fairy, gnome, and toadstool yard ornaments and stocked it with Japanese koi fish. Not surprisingly, Charlie and her family also had an eerie feeling about the old barn on the property and tried to stay away from it as much as possible.

One night, at around 3:00 am, Charlie and her husband were woken by what can only be described as a "raspy, gurgling singing". Charlie and her husband looked out their bedroom window and what they saw defied what they considered their reality. Standing by the pond and holding one of the garden gnomes was a creature that came out of a Grimm's fairy tale, as Charlie described it. The creature was two to three feet tall, wearing maroon pants and a baggy yellow shirt with a brown vest over it and a dark waistcoat. It had a large gray beard and was wearing a reddish brown pointed hat. Charlie went on to say the most horrible part of the creature were its eyes and teeth. When it grinned it's teeth appeared to be jagged and pointed and the eyes were small and beady and had a dark mean look to them.

Apparently the creature saw the couple looking at him (it?) and reached into the pond and grabbed a koi and dropped it into its mouth and swallowed it. Furious, Charlie's husband pushed open the window and yelled at the creature to leave the yard or he'd call the police. The gnome grinned and laughed as he gave them the finger and disappeared. The police were called, being notified that an "intruder" was on the property, but when they got there an hour later the only evidence that was found was small footprints, about the size of a child's, around the pond.

This wasn't the only time the gnome would visit the pond. Night after night it would be seen holding a yard ornament and eating a fish. The family eventually wised up and moved the ornaments and put the fish into a tank inside the house. Apparently this didn't go over well with the gnome. Upon the usual time of its appearance of 3:00 am, when the gnome saw that the yard ornaments and fish had been removed it went into a crazed frenzy and began yelling and screaming in some language that nobody could understand. But they understood it was pissed. It began to run around the house screaming in whatever language was native to it. The family felt safe until Charlie realized the dog door in the kitchen was unlocked and feared the creature would try to enter the house through that. She was able to lock and then ran upstairs to close the rest of the windows. The last they heard of the creature was a very loud screeching, cackling sound that was heard underneath one of the living room windows. Charlie's husband went to investigate and saw the top of the creature's hat underneath the window.

Given all that had gone on the family decided to get out of the house and Porterville in general. One has to ask, was this the same creature that Tammy saw a few years prior? I first heard of both Tammy and Charlie's story on MysteriousUniverse.org and it seems the author of the article was able to put the two women in contact with each other. After exchanging info and indeed confirming that both had lived on the same property, they agreed to meet and revisit the property where their terrifying encounters had occurred. Upon arrival, they noticed the barn structure that had given both of them an eerie feeling had been torn down but the property still had that dark feel to it. Before they left they decide to knock on the front door of the house to see if anyone was home. A woman answered but was not happy to see them and told them to leave the premises after being asked about the barn or if she had experienced anything weird.

This story intrigues me to say the least. First you have two witnesses describing a similar looking creature that they saw years apart from one another.  Then you have a creature that is known only in folklore but is usually of a pleasant nature, not the mean asshole that was seen by the two women (for some reason I find it hilarious that he flipped off Charlie and her husband). So what did these two women see? I'm going on a different theory here and I know I'll probably get more grief than I usually do, but I think what Tammy and Charlie saw was one of the fairy folk. Namely a redcap.

Redcaps come from English folklore and were said to be a type of malevolent murderous fairy that mostly inhabited ruined castles found along the border between England and Scotland. They would murder any traveler who was foolish enough to stray into their homes. Redcaps got their names from the practice of dying their hats with the blood of their victims. They were described as having the appearance of an old man with red eyes and large teeth.

So how in the hell did a mean little creature straight out of English folklore get all the way to Central California? Remember the United States used to be a British Colony and the early colonist brought over their beliefs from their home land. What if somehow the things they believed in became real? Tibetan Buddhism has a concept called a Tulpa, or a thought form. Basically the idea behind it is that if something is concentrated on enough it is somehow brought into existence.

What if some of the early settlers that came here still held a belief that redcaps were real? So real that they took form and had a life of their own? And over the many years the now very real redcap wandered the country and somehow wound up in California. How else do you explain what was seen? If it was just one person that saw the creature the idea of a hoax of prank could be brought into consideration. But the fact that two people saw the same thing years apart has me wondering what the hell is on the outskirts of Porterville.

Now obviously this is merely conjecture and nothing more. It can't be real; it's just some creature out of a fairy tale right? Tell that to both Tammy and Charlie. Whatever they saw was real to them and it scared the hell out of them. And I have a feeling it's still there, waiting to terrorize someone else.



Since I found this story on another site I feel I have to link back to the original MysteriousUniverse article. You can find it here.

Also it seems the show Monsters and Mysteries on the Destination America network did a story on the creature. You can find the episdode on YouTube but you have to pay $1.99 to see it. I see the show on all the time and imagine they probably run repeats of this episode.

44 comments:

Anonymous said...

A pit bull would have taken care of that problem.

Anonymous said...

I grew up on the east side of town near the Tule River and swam in that river all the time as a kid. Anyone know the where abouts this home was located.

Anonymous said...

oBuireNearby is the Porterville State mental ward. Some of the patients can be quite badly "deformed." I think someone needs to ask the staff at Porterville hospital if anybody has ever escaped, never to be "found" again. The "gnome" could be the missing patient ( obviously a midget). If that's the case, he could be very dangerous!

Anonymous said...

Or a husband.

Goblinboy said...

This was done as an episode on 'Paranormal Witness'. Not only do I have a huge interest in the faerie folk and lore, I love hearing about weird stuff that isn't ghosts/UFO's/bigfoot.

Anonymous said...

if it is the house i am thinking of i definitely believe that there is/was some type of creature there. we used to walk the river all the time as kids and there was one section for some unknown reason freaked us out so bad we would hike to the road and go around. and i mean we walked from the reservation to town so there wasnt much area we didnt cover on that river.

Tammy Thomas said...

I am Tammy Thomas from the creepy gnome in Porterville story . The thing that we saw was horrible . It could be what the person who owns this blog said it was ,,, a red hat , I called it a gnome as that is what it resembles to me I did move but only about half a mile down the road and still with the Tule River running behind us , I did not know when I moved here that some of my neighbors had had experiences with a creepy gnome way before I told my story . They were run out of the river by the thing twice at two different locations . Well , for the past several months we have started having the same experiences we did at the other place , We have heard the creepy cackly laugh and heard something running around the house , One night as I was lying on the couch I heard something running very fast across my front deck it hit the gate so hard that it flew end over end .The thing running was too heavy to be a cat but too fast to be a human . Another night I was lying on the couch and noticed something moving out the corner of my eye on the deck . The mini blinds were down but not shut and I saw that creepy gnome or red hat standing next to a shelf on my deck where I kept my yard ornaments , fairies and things like that , which have gone missing . I closed the slats on the mini blind with my hand but the curtain was pulled away from the slider and I did not see it but I knew that it was looking at me through the open curtain . I tried to lie really still and when my grandson came in I told him what happened and he pulled the curtain closed , He looked around outside but only found some small foot prints on a white shelf that is in our storage shed . So , the thing is still here and terrorizing me and my neighbors .

Anonymous said...

I've seen this in Louisiana.. Sarepta area.I saw one in my window as a child but his jacket was blue ..belt brown and. He looked dirty. I SCREAMED bloody murder and my Mom ran in.Told her what I saw..She didn't believe me but when I walked outside and looked at the tree that was by my window..I questioned if it came out of the tree because he disappeared so fast.

Unknown said...

Have you tried getting security cameras? This story really intreges me and I would really like to know more and possibly investigate this area. I really want to see evidence of these "redhats"

Anonymous said...

Hi Tammy. I saw this dramatized on "Monsters and Mysteries in America" Definitely very creepy.

Anonymous said...

I came here to look for answers on the Porterville Gnome mystery, but since there was a episode on Destination America. I suggest you contact a paranormal group or something. I'd recommend you to contact or email a group that hosts a show called "Ghost Adventures." I feel like this group only specializes in hunting for the paranormal, it would be considerably interesting to have the host of that show. Hunting down a big ol'gnome.

- If you wish to contact me:
Mrwhalethehammer@gmail.com

Lisaguido said...

This is very weird. I'm seeing a few small menacing human like gnome or fairy like creatures but they are anything but friendly as are some of my neighbors who are also being harassed near Portland Or. By some very small garden menacers.They put cobwebs in your face, scratch your legs, laugh and say things in your ears. They can appear and disappear at will and show up anywhere. We are nurses and counselors and hard working normal people and it is quite disconserting. They kill birds, and kittens harrass our animals. The only way I find to appease them is by growing sweet plants like strawberry near by.

Lisaguido said...

This is very weird. I'm seeing a few small menacing human like gnome or fairy like creatures but they are anything but friendly as are some of my neighbors who are also being harassed near Portland Or. By some very small garden menacers.They put cobwebs in your face, scratch your legs, laugh and say things in your ears. They can appear and disappear at will and show up anywhere. We are nurses and counselors and hard working normal people and it is quite disconserting. They kill birds, and kittens harrass our animals. The only way I find to appease them is by growing sweet plants like strawberry near by.

darla C said...

I believe your story..has seen a lot in my life.

darla C said...

I believe your story.. has seen and dealt with a lot .

Anonymous said...

I was just watching the show "Monsters and Mysteries in America" and did hear about the Gnome story in California. I am a California Indian, Pomo, from Northern California. We have little people on our reservation and understand that it is very common within the native communities. I also understand that almost all cultures around the world have stories about little people who can suddenly appear and vanish. Turn from objects into little people and back to objects.

Anonymous said...

i dont live anywhere close to portersville and i have seen this evil creature, in oakhurst ca and surrounding areas there is a dark history that submerges slowly and catches you off gaurd. lets say my experience left me with a paranoia like something was stalking me or watching from a distance for 6 months i went back to this place during the day time to snap some photos and see it in a different way. but when i looked over what i captured on my smartphone i was shocked to see images of what i had seen like a troll. and there were glitches in some pictures that i cant explain or mimic.

Unknown said...

i dont live anywhere close to portersville and i have seen this evil creature, in oakhurst ca and surrounding areas there is a dark history that submerges slowly and catches you off gaurd. lets say my experience left me with a paranoia like something was stalking me or watching from a distance for 6 months i went back to this place during the day time to snap some photos and see it in a different way. but when i looked over what i captured on my smartphone i was shocked to see images of what i had seen like a troll. and there were glitches in some pictures that i cant explain or mimic.

Debwellskibby said...

Behind every fairy tale or superstition, there is a bit of truth and this story confirms that for me. I wish we could get a group out there to research these "red caps" - this world still has a lot of "unknowns" out there that we need to look into and study...thanks Tammy for sharing your story

Unknown said...

What it be possible to get the address

Anonymous said...

I saw the episode last night, and I agree with the initial statement from this blog "A pit bull would have taken care of that problem".
At this point of life, in technology area, cameras could be installed, and the police should be involved. If this menace oF a man-gnome is terrorizing a town, and affecting the well being of the public, this is security matter. I think that this is a small person trying to live for free in everyones back yard, most of all he seems mentally ill. Get a camera, call the police, call 911, get a guard dog, set up traps, get a gun, shoot the gnome, call all the community and people please do something about this nuisance, if is running people away, and children's lives and pet are in danger, with all my respect, do something for good!
And at least get pepper spray and be ready to spray him in the eyes! I cannot conceive to be scared of an unkown person, vagabond, or a ghost problem. Call the Ghost paranormal specialist. If he is eating your vegetables, put rat poison, or at least a diarrheic medication on the vegetables or, at least watching powder. protect your families from pest like this. I believe in my heart that this can be a crazy man who needs to be brought to jail, and needs medication. Please call 911 at least and take pictures of him, and set video cameras on your garden, even in your homes. They are very inexpensive, therefore you can have evidence of trespassing. Do something other than run inside and close the curtains in your home and be sleepless and unsafe in your own home. thank you for reading it, you might solve the case, and get that thing arrested! I am not doubting your case, but please take action against this suspicious midget. At the very least bring a priest and have your home blessed. I wish you the best and hope your community gets involved with this case and be safe!
V/r
Lexi

Anonymous said...

I saw the episode last night, and I agree with the initial statement from this blog "A pit bull would have taken care of that problem".
At this point of life, in technology area, cameras could be installed, and the police should be involved. If this menace oF a man-gnome is terrorizing a town, and affecting the well being of the public, this is security matter. I think that this is a small person trying to live for free in everyones back yard, most of all he seems mentally ill. Get a camera, call the police, call 911, get a guard dog, set up traps, get a gun, shoot the gnome, call all the community and people please do something about this nuisance, if is running people away, and children's lives and pet are in danger, with all my respect, do something for good!
And at least get pepper spray and be ready to spray him in the eyes! I cannot conceive to be scared of an unkown person, vagabond, or a ghost problem. Call the Ghost paranormal specialist. If he is eating your vegetables, put rat poison, or at least a diarrheic medication on the vegetables or, at least watching powder. protect your families from pest like this. I believe in my heart that this can be a crazy man who needs to be brought to jail, and needs medication. Please call 911 at least and take pictures of him, and set video cameras on your garden, even in your homes. They are very inexpensive, therefore you can have evidence of trespassing. Do something other than run inside and close the curtains in your home and be sleepless and unsafe in your own home. thank you for reading it, you might solve the case, and get that thing arrested! I am not doubting your case, but please take action against this suspicious midget. At the very least bring a priest and have your home blessed. I wish you the best and hope your community gets involved with this case and be safe!
V/r
Lexi

Unknown said...

Why wouldn't you guys just try talking to it could be hundreds years old and know things also sorry but picking a fight with it or trying to pisd it off in anyway just sounds stilid as hell plus hadnt actually done anythi.g to you try making it fod and maybe a lil hat and blanket make it really wsrm and welcome cant hurt anyway!

Unknown said...

Not to mention you dont know what its capable of so I would make nice!

Starfire said...

I had a similar experience while living in Bellflower Calif area in an inexpensive housing unit where they had several tiny pink houses little one bedrooms. My son was an infant in his crib and I woke up to something being in his crib. Fearing for my child's life I have screamed woke my husband up and must have startled The Gnome because he jumped onto my bed ran to my bathroom and jumped out of my bathroom window. I never saw him again and thought I might have been dreaming but after reading your story I know that I wasn't it's scared the holy bejesus out of me.

Unknown said...

To Tammy : I am sorry to hear you are still being harassed by this thing ! I have never forgotten the show I saw you on because you were so totally real and believable , and the idea that a gnome could exist - mind blowing ! I don't know if you ever review this sight but if you do , and can use my email for 'follow up ' comments , DO ! I would love to hear from you [I'm a lady of a similar age ] and find out if you ever vanquished the evil gnome - stay strong , and carry on !

Anonymous said...

Its located on the way up to eagle mountain casino

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
aven said...

i think its table mountain casino

Anonymous said...

Maria jauriqui
Biola, Ca

I had an experience like this
When i was 13 years old im now 47
I was living in biola,Ca
It happened when I was 13 years old. I went to my friend's house cuz she said that she seen some weird things going on in front of her house and scary creatures
so me and my 3 friends went over there to stay overnight
We didn't believe her because it sounded make believe. So that night around 3:15 in the morning we heard many dogs barking so we peeked out the window and what we witnessed was something we wouldn't forget. There was many small human like creatures around 3 ft with red eyes. Digging in the ground and a few were carrying things around the corner. Which loocked like huge garbage bags. carying back and forth,when they would see a car they would run and hide around the house.they noticed us looking we freaked out and shut the window "did you see it did you see that it was glowing" we couldn't sleep
I never went to her house again but we always talked about it. We talked about it compare storys and It still trips me out till this day.

Dave Oz said...

There was never a calling for the name and blood of Jesus Christ. These very words are more powerful than any demonic-satanic entity, and the problem would have been quickly resolved. These beings are supernatural demonic entities all related to the crypto world, with different appearances and missions given to them. It doesn't really matter why their presence is in California or Vladivostok Russia, simple fact that they can occupy any piece of property they wish on earth. Possible that someone in the past conjured up some evil entities on that particular property, now having an attachment to this location. There seems to be an invitation for this entity to linger there, but can be easily stopped. Guns-weapons would probably not work well or at all, but the words of Jesus are far greater. Try it sometime with conviction.

Larry Yoakum III said...

I was always interested in these types of cases. They even inspired a book I wrote. Redcaps have always been a fascination of mine, as well as other fairy tale and folklore creature. They must be based off something.

Anonymous said...

Starfire
I did 3 hits of lsd back in the 80's and i was talking to the forest and little people .They were friendly at first then started to bite me and try to drag me under this rock area .They turned into these ugly dark nasty little people and they smelled like burnt wood . Hours later i had bite marks on my back and neck and legs . Other friends thought i was just tripping out in the woods but then said he couldn't have bitten himself . When i went to show them the rock area, there was no little entrance but solid granite rock .

Stormy said...

Hello, I am late to commenting here, but I have a strange story about this story. Yes, that's right, story about the story. Remember when there was a website called "About.com?" Well, they used to have a "Paranormal" section, wherein people would share their stories. I remembered the gnome story for YEARS. The thing is, it wasn't Tammy's or Charlie's stories. I don't know who wrote it, I don't remember, but it was a bit different. BUT...I fully believe it's the same house/farm/land. The stories are too similar not to be.

Which means there's yet some other former tenant out there with a story about this evil gnome. Unfortunately, about.com and their paranormal forums are now defunct and there doesn't seem to be any archive.

Anonymous said...

My bro in law recently seen a similar creature. We live in porterville

Unknown said...

how did they became american myth, were they sneak up on the ships from ancient days in search of new nesting colony? or they been global for many ages?

Red caps are known for evil fae folks, noticed from fantasy role play games.

chuck said...

About 30 years ago A friend asked me to accompany him to help a female friend who was a circus performer. Her large pet snake used in her act had gotten loose in her very nice, new suburban home and she could not find it. We arrived at her home and checked her attached arboretum first, as the most obvious place. We had to walk through her kitchen to get there. On the wall was a wooden case. Inside the case was the mummy of a small 2'-3' human wearing a robe, beads and a turban. I asked her about it and she called it a "Mississippi Mud Person". The stated that they are quite common in the upper Mississippi River area where they are washed out of the banks. Years later, Ancient American Magazine published a picture of a very similar mummy. I am an archaeologist by profession and tried to locate her a few years later to photograph the mummy but found that she and her boyfriend had moved away.

Unknown said...

Yes..next to Joe's Westside market

Jay said...

when I was young about 7 years old, I was frequently terrorized by 1-3 small gnomes. They were 2.5 - 3 feet tall, they stank, had dirt in between their wrinkles and in their nails, had long un brushed bears and had rotten teeth that were brown and dark eyes. They would try pull me under the bed and a hole would appear about 1m x 1 m and when it opened i could hear cries from other people, children and adults. They would claw me and even bit me once. My family knows of this story as it happened about 6 or 7 times over a period of about 2 years, the scratches and even the bit marks were on my legs. It was very...very real, not a dream and not my imagination. 100% real.

Jay said...

when I was young about 7 years old, I was frequently terrorized by 1-3 small gnomes. They were 2.5 - 3 feet tall, they stank, had dirt in between their wrinkles and in their nails, had long un brushed bears and had rotten teeth that were brown and dark eyes. They would try pull me under the bed and a hole would appear about 1m x 1 m and when it opened i could hear cries from other people, children and adults. They would claw me and even bit me once. My family knows of this story as it happened about 6 or 7 times over a period of about 2 years, the scratches and even the bit marks were on my legs. It was very...very real, not a dream and not my imagination. 100% real.

Jay said...

when I was young about 7 years old, I was frequently terrorized by 1-3 small gnomes. They were 2.5 - 3 feet tall, they stank, had dirt in between their wrinkles and in their nails, had long un brushed bears and had rotten teeth that were brown and dark eyes. They would try pull me under the bed and a hole would appear about 1m x 1 m and when it opened i could hear cries from other people, children and adults. They would claw me and even bit me once. My family knows of this story as it happened about 6 or 7 times over a period of about 2 years, the scratches and even the bit marks were on my legs. It was very...very real, not a dream and not my imagination. 100% real.

Jay said...

True

Anonymous said...

These beings have been talked about among the native americans in the area for generations.. They warn their children about these freaks. These little dudes travel in and along the river there.

Anonymous said...

Won't do you any good to get address as the new owner does not take kindly to people coming to her property. I've spoken with Tammy before and she is a very sincere lady with nothing to gain from her experience but ridicule from others. I believe her 100000 percent