Hainted Holler!

This is a spooky story my Grandma told my sister and brothers and me when we were kids!
My Fathers mother was from the mountains in Tennessee...
And she told me this story about her grandpa...
Grandma said her grandpa was known as a fearless hunter
who would spend weeks out in the mountains and deep woods
hunting and trapping....one time he went to town to sell some
furs...and pick up some goods....well he finished business...
and started home on his old mule....It was already almost
dark and he had a long way to go...he knew a shortcut through
a holler but most people would not go into that place even in the
daylight....they said it was hainted....Well Grandpa did'nt beleive
that hogwash....so in he went...the holler was a very narrow
bottle neck holler...skinny when you first enter then get wider
then got skinny again as you went out....well the trail was very
narrow because nobody used it...it was more like going thru a
tunnel...Grandpa was going along when all of a sudden
something big and heavy jumps on the back of his mule....
so heavy it made the mule stagger...the mules ears went straight
up.....Grandpa said he was scared stiff...could'nt move...
He said it breathed its hot breath down his neck....
He said when he finally came to the other side whatever it was
jumped off and nearly knocked the mule over again...
Grandma said he never went near that Hainted Holler again!!
My Grandma Told the story so much better in the oral tradition
of the Tennessee Mountain Folk