Martin Groves- "Beasts Between the Rivers"

I grew up in rural Western Kentucky and I spent a lot of time in the Land Between the Lakes area.  I'm not a hunter myself, but I know my dad, uncles, cousins, and other friends spent a lot of time hunting, camping, and fishing down there.

Well, over the last year or so, I had heard on some of the more fringy podcasts that there had been some strange sightings there.

So I was very interested to check out Martin Groves books that came out recently about strange happenings at LBL.

First off, each of the books is worth picking up for their spectacular covers alone!  Very well done artwork by Tony Merkel.

The first book, simply titled "Beasts Between the Rivers" is Martin Groves' personal telling about his and a friend experiencing some weird things while turkey hunting at Land Between the Lakes.  Things are thrown at them, they see what might be a man hiding in a ghillie suit and they are eventually attacked by "Dogmen".  There is more....

Martin has been involved in law enforcement for decades, and his story is very believable.  As he describes his experience, well, it sounds like a very traumatic thing.  It makes sense that someone who went through that would tell it the way Groves does.  He describes the sounds and fear vividly.  He also talks about the confusion he went through as he first saw the monsters.

His friend with him that night experiences even more dramatic stressors that would affect him forever.

Martin also hears about the death of another hunter that night- that is mostly brushed off by rangers.

The second book, "Beasts Between the Rivers:  A Trace of Death" is Groves' book about his own research involving strange sightings at Land Between the Lakes after having his own- he asks around and finds many other people with similar stories.  Martin gives some more details about his own mid 90s experience from the first book, AND the author has another weird experience himself close to his first encounter, this time in 2022.  This one is even more strange!

Most of the reports in the second book are similar, and many witnesses describe a creature like the ones Martin saw, though there are a couple of stories of the traditional Bigfoot type.

A book like this does cover common ground when it comes to mysterious creatures- like cover ups (a ranger even opens up to the author about some things he saw).  Several witnesses say they were encouraged to forget about this event, or they were told bears or coyotes were responsible.

Even if you are a skeptic, but enjoy a good scary read, the first book especially could satisfy that need.  Again, the author is very believable, and writes his book in a casual way.  You feel like you are listening to a pleasant local telling you about his horrific adventure.

Land Between the Lakes Elk and Bison Prairie- Bison Likes My Car

   



So, several years ago my Dad and I made this video while at Land Between the Lakes.  With a little time on my hands recently, I have been reediting my old recordings, and putting them on youtube under the name "jimerado".  Here is the one from LBL.  I love this video because a bison uses my car as a pillow for several minutes!

Land Between the Lakes- Kentucky and Tennessee

Probably every year or two, my dad and I make the short drive to Land Between the Lakes for a day trip.  He used to go to the area a lot to hunt and fish with his cousin.

My first trip to the area was probably in the early 80s.  My family went down for an over night trip.  I remember seeing all of the main things you would want to see at LBL.


My 5th grade class from Utica Elementary School went there for a weekend trip too, which was a lot of fun.

There used to be a cool observation area at the top of a silo.  I remember going there on those first couple of trips.  There was a wooden walkway leading to the top of the silo which was very cool.  Sadly, this is no longer accessible as people were setting things on fire, and tossing them down the silo.  Here is a little more about the silo.

On this trip, we mostly just drove around and took in the scenery.

One thing we always do while here is go to the Elk and Bison Prairie.

It's $5 a car to go in to the Prairie area.  Once inside, you drive slowly around a long road and look for elk and bison.

We did not see any elk on this day, though we did hear the elk bugle.  This mating call is actually kind of scary if you don't know what it is.

We made a lap around and did see a LOT of bison.  They were big and numerous!  They also seem very comfortable around vehicles.


At one point, they very slowly surrounded my car.  One literally put its head on the hood of my vehicle.  I really wasn't sure what to do about this....  so I just waited.

The bison's eyes looked heavy, and I thought for a moment that it was going to take a nap, using my car as a pillow (see third photo from bottom).  I did back up... a little, but there were bison behind me too.


This whole exchange lasted probably 45 minutes.  I felt excited about this bison and its friendly attitude towards us, but I also felt some concern, as I just bought this new car a few weeks ago.

Our friendly bison finally moved on... slowly.  I looked at my car later.  There were no dents or damage- just a furry dusty chin print and some bison slobber.