The Trail
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TheRavensWoods
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- Latest Review: "The 11.05 Murders" by Brian O'Hare
The Trail
The Trail
My husband and I recently moved from a big diverse city to a stereotypical small town in Florida. We ended up needing to chose between three of the cities apartment complexes. We picked the one that looked the nicest, which doesn’t say much. This apartment complex was out in the middle of nowhere, with woods on all sides and a rather thick wooded area right across the street. I love the woods and was happy to see that there were several well worn trails through the them. We soon rescued the cutest little mutt who we named Loki. Over time he has become more attached to me then to my husband, especially when he wants to go on a walk. Even if my husband is up four hours before me and sitting in the living room with Loki, our dog will only ask to go outside when I am around. This means I often walk him alone until nightfall, then my husband and I go together.
After several such long walks past the woods during the daytime, I noticed several trails going through the woods. There was never anything weird about these trails except that the trails were very thin and they didn't seem to lead to anything. The first time I noticed something weird was when my husband and I were driving the long road that connects from the town to the apartment complex. When we got to the stretch of woods right across from the apartment complex I saw something glinting in the woods. As we got closer I realized there was a wheelchair sitting at the entrance of the trail. I said to my husband, “That is creepy as heck.”
Once I was inside, I hooked Loki up to his leash and we went out on our normal after school walk. Our usual walk takes us through a smaller forest on the side of the apartment complex toward the road. Then we crossed the road and walked up the sidewalk. I was a little creeped out and wanted to see if anyone had been hurt or well, honestly I was worried someone had been dumped in the woods there. I walked up the road, only five minutes or so from when we drove by. As I walked up the trail, I realized that there was no wheelchair. I immediately turned around and Loki and I returned home. My husband and I had a night class so we got ready and left around 5 o'clock. As we drove by, I noticed the wheelchair was still gone. We returned after dark and Loki needed to go out so I hooked him up once again and my husband and I walked out to the road.
As we walked I remembered the weird thing with the wheelchair. So I said to my husband, “hey babe, wouldn’t it be creepy if that wheelchair was back out here?” He looked at me and shuddered, “don’t say that!” I laughed and so did he as we walked farther up the road. The moon wasn’t very bright that night so it was very dark under the trees. As we drew closer to the trail, I stepped a little bit ahead of my husband because I was so curious. And then I saw it. The wheelchair was back at the head of the trail. Just sitting there, slightly facing toward us. It had been facing the trail when we’d seen it from the car earlier. I said aloud “oh my god. It’s there!” My husband said loudly “Nope!” and turned around pulling me and the dog back toward our apartment. As we started walking back I felt like someone was watching me. The back of my neck tingled and I kept looking over my shoulder. I have quite the imagination and I kept thinking how creepy it would be if the wheelchair was slowly following us down the sidewalk. I voiced this to my husband who immediately asked me to stop because I was creeping him out. I confessed that I too was creeped out and we walked quicker. We got back to our apartment and because it was late we decided to go to bed. We put Loki to bed with a treat and curled up together in our dark little bedroom. It took me a while to sleep because I kept picturing the wheelchair and a scary old man sitting in it waiting for my husband and I.
When we woke up the next morning, I immediately thought of the wheelchair. My husband was still sleeping, so I slid out of bed grabbed some of his shorts and my bra from the chair. I came into the living room and greeted Loki, who excitedly jumped up and ran to the door which was his way of asking to go out. I reached for the doorknob and took a breath. I thought to myself “what if the wheelchair was out there waiting for me?” I freaked myself out enough that Loki’s whining was the only reason I opened the door. There was no wheelchair waiting for me. I walked Loki and came back to get ready to leave for school.
After school, I walked Loki again and saw the wheelchair for the last time. As I walked up the road toward the trail, I saw the glint of the metal. It was still sitting there but now it was facing the other way. I decided that it might be in my best interest to start walking up toward the elementary school. We spent about a month regularly walking this way, when my dog and I began to distract the children during their P.E. class. I felt bad about this, the chorus of “puppy!” and “look at that lady and her puppy!” was cute at first but eventually I noticed that the P.E. teacher was displeased with the distraction. I decided that it had been enough time since the creepy wheelchair so I decided I’d walk that way during the day when the children were in school, and I’d walk by the elementary school at night.
For a few days I was content to simply walk by the trail where the wheelchair had been but that did not last long. I was too curious. I knew that I was being stupid and I reminded myself that I am being the stupid woman in the horror movies even as I began walking down the trail. This first time I only went in to the trail a little bit before turning around and going home. I told my husband and he shook his head at me and told me to please be careful. I said I would but probably wouldn’t go down the trail again. If you are following this story at all, you know I went down the trail again.
For about a week, I’d walk down the trail going a little bit farther each time. Loki was loving it, running ahead and jumping over sticks. For the first twenty feet or so there were candy wrappers and scraps of school assignments. I assumed the elementary school students were daring each other to go into the forest as they walked home from school. On the third day or so, I went in far enough to stop seeing candy wrappers. There was lots of branches and lots of tightly wound together tree branches. As I stated before, the trail was thin, definitely not enough space for a car or a four wheeler. Loki was very excited, running at the end of his leash. I could see a turn in the trail and decided I would go up the trail around the curve and then turn around.
As I reached the curve of the trail, I found myself holding my breath in anticipation. When I could see around the curve I saw that it opened into a weird type of roundabout is the only way I can explain it. There was a tree in the center of the roundabout type thing. Around the tree was what looked like the circles made by a four wheeler driving around and around the tree. I was really surprised by this because I could not see how a four wheeler could have gotten through the thinner parts of the trail.
Loki started pulling me into the roundabout and although I was uneasy, I decided to continue through the roundabout onto the rest of the path. As I turned the corner my heart stopped. The first thing that caught my attention was that Loki wasn’t pulling on his leash anymore. Loki never stops pulling. He is always excited and always wanting to get wherever we are going faster. The fact that he had stopped pulling made me frightened. For the first time, I lost all of my curiousity.
A feeling I can only equate to ice in my veins occurred as I noticed a pile of rags and a firepit a few feet from me. I had clearly stumbled upon some weird campsite. The pile of rags was empty but flattened in a way that showed that there was a body there at some point. There was empty chip bags and soda cans near the rags. The fire pit was cold, but there was fresh wood set up against each other in the center with some stones circled around it. I immediately started backing up, looking all around me frantically. As I prepared myself mentally to turn around and get home. I noticed something that made me decide to run. Back away to the left from the pile of rags and the fire pit was the wheelchair. It was turned toward me. I don’t mean like it was left there. I mean directly at where I was standing by this time I had taken a few steps to the side of the trail so it was not facing the trail. It was facing me. I turned and ran.
After I reached home, my husband was horrified enough that he made me promise to never go back down the trail. I promised him I wouldn’t. It turns out it didn’t matter that he made me promise because the next day as we drove by I noticed something weird. I asked my husband to come with me and we walked together that way in the middle of the day. I took the following picture of the trail after I could verify what I thought I saw. The entire trail was covered with fallen branches and vines. There was no way this was natural. I had just walked down the trail the day before. It was clear that someone had grabbed a bunch of branches and a really long thick vine and tried to cover up the trail. It would be nice to believe that someone saw my footprints or Loki’s pawprints and that’s why they covered the trail. I don’t think that’s what happened though. I think someone or something was there that day, watching me as I walked down its trail.
My husband and I recently moved from a big diverse city to a stereotypical small town in Florida. We ended up needing to chose between three of the cities apartment complexes. We picked the one that looked the nicest, which doesn’t say much. This apartment complex was out in the middle of nowhere, with woods on all sides and a rather thick wooded area right across the street. I love the woods and was happy to see that there were several well worn trails through the them. We soon rescued the cutest little mutt who we named Loki. Over time he has become more attached to me then to my husband, especially when he wants to go on a walk. Even if my husband is up four hours before me and sitting in the living room with Loki, our dog will only ask to go outside when I am around. This means I often walk him alone until nightfall, then my husband and I go together.
After several such long walks past the woods during the daytime, I noticed several trails going through the woods. There was never anything weird about these trails except that the trails were very thin and they didn't seem to lead to anything. The first time I noticed something weird was when my husband and I were driving the long road that connects from the town to the apartment complex. When we got to the stretch of woods right across from the apartment complex I saw something glinting in the woods. As we got closer I realized there was a wheelchair sitting at the entrance of the trail. I said to my husband, “That is creepy as heck.”
Once I was inside, I hooked Loki up to his leash and we went out on our normal after school walk. Our usual walk takes us through a smaller forest on the side of the apartment complex toward the road. Then we crossed the road and walked up the sidewalk. I was a little creeped out and wanted to see if anyone had been hurt or well, honestly I was worried someone had been dumped in the woods there. I walked up the road, only five minutes or so from when we drove by. As I walked up the trail, I realized that there was no wheelchair. I immediately turned around and Loki and I returned home. My husband and I had a night class so we got ready and left around 5 o'clock. As we drove by, I noticed the wheelchair was still gone. We returned after dark and Loki needed to go out so I hooked him up once again and my husband and I walked out to the road.
As we walked I remembered the weird thing with the wheelchair. So I said to my husband, “hey babe, wouldn’t it be creepy if that wheelchair was back out here?” He looked at me and shuddered, “don’t say that!” I laughed and so did he as we walked farther up the road. The moon wasn’t very bright that night so it was very dark under the trees. As we drew closer to the trail, I stepped a little bit ahead of my husband because I was so curious. And then I saw it. The wheelchair was back at the head of the trail. Just sitting there, slightly facing toward us. It had been facing the trail when we’d seen it from the car earlier. I said aloud “oh my god. It’s there!” My husband said loudly “Nope!” and turned around pulling me and the dog back toward our apartment. As we started walking back I felt like someone was watching me. The back of my neck tingled and I kept looking over my shoulder. I have quite the imagination and I kept thinking how creepy it would be if the wheelchair was slowly following us down the sidewalk. I voiced this to my husband who immediately asked me to stop because I was creeping him out. I confessed that I too was creeped out and we walked quicker. We got back to our apartment and because it was late we decided to go to bed. We put Loki to bed with a treat and curled up together in our dark little bedroom. It took me a while to sleep because I kept picturing the wheelchair and a scary old man sitting in it waiting for my husband and I.
When we woke up the next morning, I immediately thought of the wheelchair. My husband was still sleeping, so I slid out of bed grabbed some of his shorts and my bra from the chair. I came into the living room and greeted Loki, who excitedly jumped up and ran to the door which was his way of asking to go out. I reached for the doorknob and took a breath. I thought to myself “what if the wheelchair was out there waiting for me?” I freaked myself out enough that Loki’s whining was the only reason I opened the door. There was no wheelchair waiting for me. I walked Loki and came back to get ready to leave for school.
After school, I walked Loki again and saw the wheelchair for the last time. As I walked up the road toward the trail, I saw the glint of the metal. It was still sitting there but now it was facing the other way. I decided that it might be in my best interest to start walking up toward the elementary school. We spent about a month regularly walking this way, when my dog and I began to distract the children during their P.E. class. I felt bad about this, the chorus of “puppy!” and “look at that lady and her puppy!” was cute at first but eventually I noticed that the P.E. teacher was displeased with the distraction. I decided that it had been enough time since the creepy wheelchair so I decided I’d walk that way during the day when the children were in school, and I’d walk by the elementary school at night.
For a few days I was content to simply walk by the trail where the wheelchair had been but that did not last long. I was too curious. I knew that I was being stupid and I reminded myself that I am being the stupid woman in the horror movies even as I began walking down the trail. This first time I only went in to the trail a little bit before turning around and going home. I told my husband and he shook his head at me and told me to please be careful. I said I would but probably wouldn’t go down the trail again. If you are following this story at all, you know I went down the trail again.
For about a week, I’d walk down the trail going a little bit farther each time. Loki was loving it, running ahead and jumping over sticks. For the first twenty feet or so there were candy wrappers and scraps of school assignments. I assumed the elementary school students were daring each other to go into the forest as they walked home from school. On the third day or so, I went in far enough to stop seeing candy wrappers. There was lots of branches and lots of tightly wound together tree branches. As I stated before, the trail was thin, definitely not enough space for a car or a four wheeler. Loki was very excited, running at the end of his leash. I could see a turn in the trail and decided I would go up the trail around the curve and then turn around.
As I reached the curve of the trail, I found myself holding my breath in anticipation. When I could see around the curve I saw that it opened into a weird type of roundabout is the only way I can explain it. There was a tree in the center of the roundabout type thing. Around the tree was what looked like the circles made by a four wheeler driving around and around the tree. I was really surprised by this because I could not see how a four wheeler could have gotten through the thinner parts of the trail.
Loki started pulling me into the roundabout and although I was uneasy, I decided to continue through the roundabout onto the rest of the path. As I turned the corner my heart stopped. The first thing that caught my attention was that Loki wasn’t pulling on his leash anymore. Loki never stops pulling. He is always excited and always wanting to get wherever we are going faster. The fact that he had stopped pulling made me frightened. For the first time, I lost all of my curiousity.
A feeling I can only equate to ice in my veins occurred as I noticed a pile of rags and a firepit a few feet from me. I had clearly stumbled upon some weird campsite. The pile of rags was empty but flattened in a way that showed that there was a body there at some point. There was empty chip bags and soda cans near the rags. The fire pit was cold, but there was fresh wood set up against each other in the center with some stones circled around it. I immediately started backing up, looking all around me frantically. As I prepared myself mentally to turn around and get home. I noticed something that made me decide to run. Back away to the left from the pile of rags and the fire pit was the wheelchair. It was turned toward me. I don’t mean like it was left there. I mean directly at where I was standing by this time I had taken a few steps to the side of the trail so it was not facing the trail. It was facing me. I turned and ran.
After I reached home, my husband was horrified enough that he made me promise to never go back down the trail. I promised him I wouldn’t. It turns out it didn’t matter that he made me promise because the next day as we drove by I noticed something weird. I asked my husband to come with me and we walked together that way in the middle of the day. I took the following picture of the trail after I could verify what I thought I saw. The entire trail was covered with fallen branches and vines. There was no way this was natural. I had just walked down the trail the day before. It was clear that someone had grabbed a bunch of branches and a really long thick vine and tried to cover up the trail. It would be nice to believe that someone saw my footprints or Loki’s pawprints and that’s why they covered the trail. I don’t think that’s what happened though. I think someone or something was there that day, watching me as I walked down its trail.
Latest Review: "The 11.05 Murders" by Brian O'Hare
