Hi All and Happy Halloween!
To add a little spook to Still Moments Halloween Blog Hop, I decided to share the scariest event I’ve ever experienced. Be sure to leave a comment and submit your email address so you can be entered into a drawing for a wonderful prize from Still Moments. ALSO I will hold a drawing for any commenter’s for a free copy of my e-book, Threat to our Forever in the Moonlight Mysteries series. Okay, on to my true story.
Some years ago, my boyfriend at the time, Ames, was in the mountains fighting fires one summer. I brought his vehicle and met him in a local town for a night off. Though he’d been camping for weeks, we decided to find a secluded spot and snuggle in the back of his pickup truck on a thick cushion. We stopped at a convenience store for snacks and asked for directions to the backside of a secluded lake. The clerk made a point of mentioning a certain alcove to stay away from. She didn’t mention why so we shrugged off her suggestion.
We found our way over an almost impassable trail in the truck and thought we were in heaven. Thick pines towered overhead, a sandy beach instead of mud and big stone pit for a fire. We unpacked and spread our bedding out. Careful of animals, we tucked the food in the cab and lit a fire. As dark descended, we waded into the tepid water and floated around for a while. Randomly, the flames from the fire would disappear and then flame again. As I was with a wildfire firefighter, he assured me that flames did unpredictable things. I couldn’t quite relax and that chill along my spine of being watched wouldn’t go away. Keep in mind, Ames was quite capable of defending us no matter what occurred. Not only was he an experienced firefighter, during the off-season was a martial arts instructor. I was safe.
The water-cooled quickly and we headed to shore. Earlier the ground had been more sandy and fairly firm but as we tried to trudge out, we sunk into silt. Again Ames calmed me and gave a recitation of nature, temperatures and the effect on the soil etc. I wouldn’t have been so iffy except now the fire was in a full blaze and it had an acrid smell. Finally, on solid ground again, I headed to the bush we draped towels over and they were gone. In case you hadn’t guessed, we were skinny dipping and now our covering and flip flops had disappeared. At this point, I was freaked out but Ames shrugged it off and said an animal probably drug them off and we’d find them in the morning. Did I mention he spent months camping out because of his job? Nothing fazed him…ever. He’d had bears and every other imaginable creature around him at some point or another. Me on the other hand, I didn’t calm so easily.
We made it back to camp and it was a mess. Our bedding, clothes, pillows other items were all strung around. Ames response was, it must have been a bear looking for food. He gathered everything and I went to throw wood on the fire. The cause of the acrid smell caused me to shriek! There was thick black goo bubbling up through the stone pit. Ames grabbed a bucket and doused the fire. In the dark, the moon was bright but filtered as it came through the pine boughs overhead. Exhausted and still prickling all over because of the sensation of someone watching us, I went to bed.
I couldn’t sleep but lay quietly and stared into the darkness over head. Splotches of black seemed to jump from limb to limb. My stomach knotted and I closed my eyes to block out the images. Within a minute, an eerie howling wind circled around. I cracked open my eyes when Ames lifted to his elbows. A black haze swirled around the tree trunks. Ames told me to look at the water, which I did. It was still as glass. A complete contradiction to what was going on in our camp.
At this point, I began to sweat and shake. Dirt, dust, pine needles, twigs and a few stout sticks flew at us in the wind. Ames jumped over the side of the truck, grabbed me, and hauled me over too. My feet barely touched the ground before he tossed me in the cab and he slammed the door behind us. The truck began to rock back and forth and I couldn’t contain my scream any longer. Especially when I looked out at the water and it was so still, the light from the moon reflected perfectly. Ames started the ignition and shoved the truck in gear. On the roof of the cab, a constant banging followed us out the trail. The further away from camp we got, the less noise, and flying debris we encountered. Finally back on the main road, he stopped. We jumped out to tie down everything in the back and but it was gone. We drove back to the small lake town and stayed at a local motel. Neither of us slept much but we didn’t discuss the night’s events.
The next morning, Ames, being a naturist, insisted we return to clean up our mess. He was sure our equipment had bounced out. I wanted to wait at the café but he insisted I go. During the drive, I watched for any of our items but nothing appeared. We made it all the way back to our camp and still nothing. Not even the burnt coals or ash from our fire. Without a word, Ames grabbed my hand and hauled me into the truck. We barely spoke and drove an extra thirty miles out of the way to get breakfast just to leave that area. Ames asked around when he went back to the fires and said rumor was it had been a burial ground for criminals but no one knew for sure. I’ve never been back but I’ve never forgotten something was there and we weren’t welcome.
