Many people don’t know a small lake exists just south of expressway 83 in Mcallen. In between 23rd st and the Bicentennial overpass Mcallen has its very own water supply. I recently had the chance to talk to some of the people who live just to the north of this area, so close in proximity to the lake it makes up part of their back yard. Many years ago I would frequent the area and run around with the neighborhood kids playing on the dirt road surrounding the lake. After many years I wondered why it never occurred to anyone to grab a fishing rod, crawl under the fence and fish the night away in privacy. So I did some digging with the elders and kids who are now adults with kids of there own.
Now that I look back I remember seeing the barbed wire topped fencing lifted from the bottom or cut open but never for long as it was repaired frequently. So someone had to know why the neighborhood kids would never allow any aquatic adventures here. Most of the elders I spoke with did not mention anything odd outright but I left my meetings with a feeling something was being hidden. Finally I hit pay dirt. Enter: Mr. D and Miss J. This father and daughter confessed to witnessing something strange in these little waters.
Armed with this new information I revisited some of the people from the barrio and indeed they had seen “things” but nothing concrete. The older generation of kids had swum and fished in the lake. Until, something scared them away. Scared them or worried them so much they keep their own kids from the waters and would not eat the catfish. Large underwater shadows, something swimming through the legs and then the story Mr.D and Miss J. have told.
In the late 80′s to mid 90′s Mr. D and Miss J would hazard a quick fishing trip to this lake once or twice a year. One night late in the year father and daughter climbed up the side of the lake, crawled through the fence and proceeded to have a late night fish. While fishing Mr.D and Miss J heard a noise in the tall grass that grew on the edge of the lake, thinking it was a dog or some other animal Mr. D stood and prepared to defend himself and his daughter from a stray domestic animal or at worse a possum. Out crawls and animal “with small rounded ears and the tail of a fish”. What kind of animal was this? What kind of known animal could be mistaken for this? Mr. D grabs his daughter, tosses his fishing rod over the fence and runs a few blocks to his home. Returning a few moments later with his son Mr. D sees no sign of the creature. Mr. D and Miss J describe the animal as having “teddy bear” ears, “crawls or waddles with its front feet or fins” and has the “tail of a fish”.
Plans to develop this area have been on the back burner for a few years. What will we find when this lake is drained? Perhaps more than we are ready for?
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