Word Document Recovery

I have a old 97 - 2003 word document but I am opening it with word 2007 enterprise. I need the file really badly but the file is showing up as a bunch of garbage, such as:

ýóöXx Í8¡ã–Xõ!™ãŽ§ l ˜¼ «˜í | WSô ÇiuA”˜òŸw‡× õAœ: æg+Ùø-0Z¥®„‘am´çä/å0Õ=Û mÍNõ¸9P ŸfÄò@Ä F½–zˆ¢8†ak<X a ò9ÏiɧÐ|?¹pæË, _K‡QÊý ß©V`Š™ *$—O :GYA–…QT× 1TÎ 0¨
Å ðÀ°è¦C`ÐIñx“³Æ¦C>Š½

Before the file starts it asks for the encoding. I tried windows default, ascii, and several others but that doesn't work. I tried opening it on 2 different computers and with word 2000 but that doesn't work either. I tried opening with wordpad but that doesn't work either. Changing the font, and various other word file recovery tools don't seem to do anything. Is there anything that can get the word document back. Thank you for your help.

 

I have two ideas... both are free programs:
Universal Viewer can open just about any text file: PDF, RTF, NFO, etc., and most graphics formats too like GIF, JPG, etc. However, you won't be able to edit the document. UV will allow you view and print the file (hopefully).
Open Office is a free, open source app released as a replacement for MS Office. It can open just about any Office file created with Office 97 thru 2003. There's a few different versions, Oxygen is one. It is an enhanced version of the standard Open Office.
These two are worth a try. You can also try something weird like trying to open it with Internet Explorer or Firefox. You never know....