Janie Sharp Series Brings Back Haunting Memories for a Former Winston Co. Native

After reading some of our Janie Sharp articles, a former Winston County native, Richard Woodall was reminded of an eerie experience of his youth in the Noxapater area and wanted to share with our readers:

I am a 70 year old gentleman that has been living in Alabama for the past 60 years, but with connections to Winston County. As a young boy 7-9 years of age (maybe a little younger) our family was traveling to a family function some time in the late forties or early fifties. It had to be some type of holiday, as I remember several relatives being at my grandfather’s and uncle’s house that night. I wish I could remember the season but it was a clear night. I remember that the windows on the car were up. My father was driving the car and my mother was in the passenger side. As we turned from Noxapater (probably on Hwy 395) toward Mars Hill Cemetery to my grandfather’s house that was several miles past the cemetery, houses were very sparse along the old winding dirt road at that time. Somewhere out approximately 5 or more miles from the cemetery (again no houses) a light appeared far, far, away in the distance on the left rear side of the car. But as we road the high hills and winding road the light looked as if it was gaining on us. I remember my father saying it was a one-eyed pulpwood truck and my mother stating it might be a porch light. However, for some reason it got our attention after a few minutes again gaining on us quite rapidly. It popped up on the driver’s side about 6 or 10 feet out from the car. As I remember it looked like a grey fog or white sheet in size with no defined shape, just dull white or grey. I remember my father speeding the car up, slowing down, turning lights off and stopping the car but the light (or whatever) just stayed there, a dull glow. My mother started shouting “what is it” and I just remember looking out the side window of the old Ford, but never being scared. It followed us for a few miles and as we approached a house the light went behind the house and then again appeared along side of the car and followed us. Then before we came upon the cemetery it disappeared. It zipped from 3 or 5 feet in diameter to zero and out of sight.
As we arrived at my grandfather’s house there were several relatives there and some of the men grabbed shotguns and took off in the direction that we has just came from.. However, when they returned they stated that they did not see anything. This doesn’t haunt me, but I sure would like to understand God’s or nature’s phenomenon of what happened that night and if anyone else had ever witnessed such a thing.
I don’t question people when they say they have seen something unusual as I know what I saw but others may have other ideas. I believe this sighting was more than just swamp gas and as a child the only other stories I ever heard about a light in that community was that a light would sometimes follow a road grader home that lived in the area. I heard that he got killed about 2 weeks later after we saw the light.

Richard Woodall