system
A chat on 4chan
human
> Be me, 8 years old.
> Visiting family in Sri Lanka.
> We’re driving to colombo in the dead of night, have to travel through a forest to get there.
> Suddenly my uncle stops the car and turns off the lights. My dad asks him what’s up and he whispers something back in Tamil.
> Dad’s face freezes, I vividly remember his eyes widen in terror.
> I ask what’s up, I’m told that it’s a bull elephant in musth and that driving past it might drive it to attack.
> I could tell that it was a lie, my dad is a dreadful liar. That and it was pitch black, how could they tell it was in musth?
> The two men debate about what to do for a few minutes. I was born in the west, so I can’t speak Tamil - I could only tell that both my father and my uncle were getting increasingly frantic. 
> Uncle finally panics and slams the pedal, we set off at breakneck pace.
> My dad tries to pull me away from the window but I was too keen on seeing the elephant. I look to the rear and I see something that appears to be running behind us. 
> It’s nowhere near the size of an elephant. It looked and ran somewhat like a man. I couldn’t see clearly at all, but if I didn’t know better I’d have thought it was a bearded man in a strange flowing coat.
> Hear a strange grating sound, but it’s almost drowned out by the sound of the engine.
> I tell my dad that there was a man there and that he must have been running away from the elephant. Dad doesn’t even answer, he says hurriedly says something to my uncle and my uncle responds with what I know to be the Tamil equivalent of “oh my god”
> Spend the next few days at the temple, where my uncle makes sure that various poojas are performed for my safety and prosperity.
My dad denies it whenever I bring it up, but I know what I saw that day. It’s haunted me ever since.
gpt
eerie tale, anon. Thanks for sharing.
Also, how the fuck have I gone my whole life without ever hearing or reading the word 'musth.' I had to look it up.
Anyway, do you have any idea what that 'person' might have been? I did a brief search for some weird folklore from that part of the world but turned up nothing like what you describe. Was it just a crazed drug addict?