Secret of the Forest

It was a normal Friday afternoon in central Pennsylvania as factory workers Michael Smith and Russell Werner were getting off work for the week.

Both Mike and Russ were avid hunters and friends since grade school.  Both men were now in their early thirties and part of them never grew up.  The two hung out together almost every weekend, and they also car pooled to work daily to save on gas.

Russ was a single man, and Mike was recently divorced after his wife wanted a separation due to his recluse personality.  It was really Russ who helped bring Mike out of a deep state of depression, and also helped him do the things he once loved again.

Both of the men lived in a rural area in central Pennsylvania, just over the mountain from an old burned out mining town called Breakerville.  One thing the town had were many churches, cemeteries, and pubs.  The average life expectancy was around 50 years old.  This was due to the fact that the mines were very dangerous, pollution was everywhere, and the drinking habits of the towns people.  Also the suicide rate was among the highest in the United States for a small town.

The town of Breakerville was known for it's poor economy, and depressed citizens for many years.  The area was a place where most people would not want to live, and the average home sold for around $5000.  The pollution was a huge problem as the rains flushed it out of the mines, and into the fresh water streams near by.  There was not enough money in the town's budget to prevent the problem, nor clean up the area.  Several attempts to both the state and federal governments for aid failed, and the area got worse with the passing days.

After work on Friday evenings Mike and Russ cashed their checks, then headed over the mountain to the rural area just outside of Breakerville.  At the bottom of the mountain was a pub and grill named Hefty's.  Mike and Russ and some others from the factory would visit Hefty's almost daily for their well known steaks, and ice cold beers.  Here the men would discuss the work week, and talk about the latest happenings in the area.  This night would be no different from any other.

Mike started to eat and talk, he said to Russ, "You know what buddy, it's no wonder why there are so many suicides in this area, just listen to the news." 

The TV in Hefty's was running the nightly news cast, the main story was the economy. 

Russ said, "Yeah, and around here you know almost every home has a gun in it too." 

The Breakerville area was known for hunting; deer, rabbits, squirrels, turkey, ect...

As the two men finished eating they ordered another beer and began to discuss their preplanned Saturday morning hunting trip down the road from Hefty's; along the near by polluted creek. 

Mike discussed the fact that he really wanted to get drunk and forget about his ex, but he added that if he drank too much he wouldn't be able to get up in the morning. 

Russ listened to Mike and the pub began to fill up with more factory workers.  Most of the men were all ex coal miners that left the mines for a more secure and safer job.  They all worked on the other side of Breakerville, in a factory that made kitchen supplies such as cabinets, and counter tops. 

The music was playing and the shots were starting to get lined up as everyone slowly forgot about their day and got their buzz on.

Russ got up to go in the bathroom, stumbling around he ran into this dirty old man.  The man lived down along the old polluted creek, he was known to be both a drunk, and crazy.  He also spent several years in the county's mental rehabilitation hospital.  Russ paid no mind and continued into the bathroom as Mike drank his beer. 

The old man was known as Craze.  Just as Craze passed Mike he stopped and put his old wrinkled hand on Mike's shoulder. 

"You know, I heard you guys talking, and it is not wise to hunt down by copperhead road," Craze slurred out. 

Mike just laughed and said, "I know Craze, the woods talk to you right?" 

His face turned bright red in anger, and he stared at Mike.  Then he stormed out of Hefty's. 

About this time Russ was on his way back to his bar stool.

Mike began to tell Russ about Craze talking to him and warning him again not to hunt down the lower road known as the copperhead. 

Russ laughed, "Yeah, I heard the story a million times, all the houses that were built within 10 miles of copperhead road and black road, burnt down to the ground." 

Him and Mike and the other guys in the pub often discussed that most of the homes built had wood burners, and the owners were alcoholics and fell asleep. 

Mostly all the homes on the lower road were up no longer than one year.  The homes there would catch fire in the middle of the night.  The only house not touched by the fires was Craze's house.

It was rumored that Craze was a fire bug, but the local sheriff knew this was not true because his old truck was so loud anyone could here him coming miles away.  Craze also had a bum leg from the Vietnam war, so he couldn't walk far without stopping. None of the fires had any evidence of an accelerant present at the time. 

Mike and Russ finished up their beers, then they paid their tabs and walked outside.  They both lived within 2 miles of Hefty's, so they didn't have far to go. 

Russ said, "Good night buddy, I will pick you up at 7 a.m. then." 

Mikey shook his head and chuckled to himself, then he got into his car and left for home.  Next thing Mike remembered was his alarm beeping loudly at 6:30 a.m.

Saturday was about to begin for Mike and Russ; but when would it ever end?

Just as Mike got dressed and went into the bathroom to splash water on his face he heard a horn honking out front.  He was very hung over and cursed under his breath as he grabbed his shotgun, shells, and his orange vest.  He headed out the door to meet Russ. 

Mike approached the truck he gave Russ the finger, "You son of a bitch, you said 7 a.m." 

Russ laughed as he knew it was only quarter till 7, "Relax, till we get there and load up and stuff it will be 7." 

It had to be 7 a.m. because that was the required time for all hunters to enter the woods.  This was due to the fact that it didn't get light until around 7 a.m. and it was a safety issue.

As they past the intersection of copperhead and black road Russ pulled his truck over to the side.  There was a burnt down trailer home.  This was one of the last fires, the man who lived in the old trailer was named Fish.  He was burned alive inside the trailer home! 

This really bothered Mike, and Craze only lived about a mile down copperhead road.  Mike finished his cigarette and then got out and started to load his shotgun. 

Russ did the same and said, "Well buddy, which area do you want to hunt today?" 

"I don't really care if we go up or to the right, but I am not going over to the left," Mike stated in nervous tone.

This was because of the thick brush, heavy thorn bushes, and the fact that Craze lived to the left through the thick woods.  This gave him the creeps.

They stood there for a moment and Russ put a chew in his mouth, "Let's go left, that area is untouched, I just know there is a ton of game in those woods." 

Mike just looked at him, he paused, "Alright, but you stay close to me so we don't have an accident.  You know the brush is very thick over there." 

Russ smiled, and the two started to walk up and then left on the dirt path, heading towards the thick brush, and Craze's back yard so to speak.

They walked for around 15 minutes, then they reached the thick thorn bushes, and the fresh water stream running down through. 

Mike noted to himself that it was the only fresh water stream he knew of in the area.  Russ began to chop their way through the thorn with his hunting knife. 

Mike all of a sudden yelled out, "Ouch, damn thorns!" 

Russ laughed, and kept on chopping until they reached the stream.  Then after crossing the little stream the two began to work their way up the little incline on the other side where Russ continued to chop away with his hunting knife.  They soon reached the top of the incline and then they paused for a much needed rest.

They sat down on the ground, then Mike heard a howling noise.  "These woods are strange, you know it almost seems like there is someone watching us." 

Russ laughed again, "Relax buddy, that is just the wind, and hopefully the game is watching us in the distance." 

He thought for sure they would have some shooting up in the thick woods because there were no human tracks around, and there was animal dung all over the ground. 

The two then decided to split up, they were going to stay about 40 yards away from each other.  They began to walk through the woods.  Mike heard another noise, this time he looked and seen two deer about 50 yards in front of him.  His heart began to race, but he couldn't shoot at the deer because it was only small game season.  He looked over at Russ in the distance and pointed towards the deer.  Russ looked and didn't see anything.

The deer got spooked and ran away.  Mike noticed that couldn't see Russ anymore, and he started to worry.  He didn't yell out, but he started to walk towards the left where he last seen Russ. 

Then he heard a noise not of this earth.  He was confused, he never heard a noise like that on TV nor at any place in his life.  It was similar to a mixture of chains banging together, and moans, and then a sound he could not put his finger on.  Then he noticed something shining in the distance towards his right, away from Russ's last known position; and towards Craze's house.  Mike advanced, heading for the light and white object.

Mike heard a big bang, it sounded like a tree branch breaking off and falling 50 or more feet and then crashing into the ground.  He paused, and looked around, still no sign of Russ. 

He started to walk again, and he approached the light.  It started to fade, and the white stood out.  Mikey noticed an old cemetery in the middle of the woods.  No fence, no road, nothing leading to the old cemetery at all, it just existed out in the middle of the woods. 

Mike looked around in a nervous manner for Russ, but he didn't see anything, he yelled out, "Russ, yo buddy, Russ where are you man.  Come quick I found something." 

There was no response, Russ was no where in sight.

Mike then began to kneel down, he tried to read the old white tomb stones.  Most of them were so old that the engraved writing disappeared.  Some were also broken in half, the ground was covered in green.  Around the cemetery were old pine needles and pine cones.  The ground was all brownish in color surrounding the cemetery, but the cemetery was bright green. 

He thought to himself that the bright green moss, and grass type landscape might be from the dead bodies in the ground?  He was amazed, his fear turned into energy, he became excited.  He noted that the one tomb stone said Jim Long 1707 to 17 ?  Then the rest was washed away by years and years of weather hitting it.  He knew he stumbled upon a very old cemetery. 

Mike wanted to fix up the broken head stones, pick them up and put them back in their original state. 

Then suddenly out of no where a man's voice came to, "Hey, get the hell out of there you crazy ass son of a bitch!"

It was Craze, he was yelling at Mike to get out and away from the stones.  Mike recognized him immediately and was actually glad to see the crazy old man. 

Then he backed off, and apologized to Craze, he told him Russ was with him and missing. 

Craze blurted out, "You two damn fools, don't you know these woods are haunted?" 

Mike listened but thought the old man was crazy, "No, I wasn't aware of that Craze, sorry." 

Craze carried no weapons, he just wore old brown hunting pants, and an old ripped up army jacket.  He always bragged he was not scared of anything because of being in Vietnam, he said he seen things there that would make a normal man go crazy.  He was upset, but offered to help Mike look for Russ.

They headed down through the woods to the last known position of Russ. 

Mike began to question Craze about the old cemetery.  He wanted to know if it was on the county maps, and why there was no road leading up to it? 

Craze simply stated, "Back in the day, people buried their relatives in their back yards." 

You see it turns out that there was an old church right where Craze's house now sat.  He mentioned it burning down in the early 1800's, and then the ground was empty. 

"I got the ground for next to nothing because no one wanted to build on the grounds where an old church burned down," Craze said.

As they walked and talked Mike was getting more nervous.  Old cemeteries, churches burning down, houses burning down, his best friend and co worker missing. 

They stopped the search, the time was around 5 p.m. and Mike couldn't believe that the time went by so fast.  It was already beginning to get dark. 

Craze said, "I am heading home, if I see your friend, I will tell him your looking for him." 

"Ok, ah....  never mind..."  Mike made it back to the thorns and the stream. 

It was dusk so it took him a long time to find the path that Russ cut through.  The thorn bushes pierced his arm as he made his way through crossing the small stream.  Then he made his way back to the truck the best he could.  It took him a while to get back, and it was now dark out. 

He remembered that Russ had the only key to the truck with him, and he grew more worried.  He sat on Russ's tailgate for half hour and smoked cigarette after cigarette as the woods came alive. 

Mike started hearing howling noises, screaming noises, huge thumps, the wind began to blow, then he smelled what he thought was burning wood?  He thought to himself that it was probably Craze's wood burning stove.  They often seen him around the rural area cutting timber and stuff to cook, and to heat his old home. 

Mike then remembered he had his cell phone in his hunting coat, he got excited.  Then after getting it out, of course there was no service. 

"Just when I need this thing most it doesn't work, figures." 

It was now pitch black outside, there was a full moon but it was just beginning to come up in the sky and it was still very dark at Russ's truck.  Mike laid back in the truck box holding his shotgun as he scanned the darkness.   

The wind suddenly stopped.  The noises stopped as well.  It was dead quiet now. 

Mike reached in his coat pocket and pulled out some of his anti anxiety medication, he took two tablets; hoping to calm down and gather his thoughts. 

He started to think Russ got lost and ended up at Craze's house, he was waiting for Craze to pull up any minute and drop him off.  Then he remembered the sound of Craze's truck, he knew he could doze off and Craze's truck would wake him for sure as it approached.  So Mike slowly and nervously fell asleep.

Then he woke up, it seemed like he was asleep for days, his body ached, his head hurt very bad.  It was day light again, Mike didn't know whether to be happy, or sad.  Russ was still not back, so Mike sat up and stretched out, and then he reached for a smoke. 

Just about that time he heard a truck coming up copperhead road.  He looked as the truck flew past and to his amazement it was a firetruck!  Mike's eyes opened wide, he began to run out on the road, and then he ran in the direction of the firetruck.  It was heading for Craze's house. 

He then heard a horn beeping, he looked back to see the local sheriff. 

Mike jumped in and explained, "We went hunting yesterday, Russ got lost, I found an old cemetery up in the woods, and Craze appeared, then we went looking for Russ." 

"Calm down Mike, that isn't possible because Craze is dead!  He burned up in his home, that old wood burner got the best of him," The sheriff explained. 

They started driving again, heading towards the fire scene.  Then they came to a sudden stop.  There were firetrucks, ambulances, state police, and the corner's van, all blocking the roadway in front of Craze's house. 

Mike thought to himself that he was going crazy. 

The sheriff questioned Mike, "What time did you see Craze yesterday?" 

"Around .... ah...  I don't remember sheriff?  It was around mid afternoon I think?  Yeah, because we both started to look for Russ, but then it started to get dark out; so we stopped looking.  Craze said he was heading home, then I headed back to the truck."   

The sheriff grew suspicious, "That's impossible, the estimated time of Craze's death is yesterday morning." 

This really confused Mike, he explained to the sheriff again that Craze helped him search for Russ, who was still missing. 

The sheriff didn't believe Mike, and he felt that he had no choice but to disarm Mike.  Then he decided to place Mike in the back of his cruiser. 

The state police and the sheriff started to talk, then they went over to where Mike's shotgun was on the hood of the sheriff's car, and his hunting jacket and ammo.  The state trooper noticed some thick tan rope hanging out of Mike's hunting jacket.  They then got Mike out of the back of the cruiser and began to question him again. 

"When did you see Russ last?  What is the rope for?  Why didn't you call for help last night?" 

Mike grew very angry, "Look, my best buddy is missing, screw this crazy old man.  There is a hidden cemetery up in the woods."

Just then the K-9 police trooper came over the radio, "Cpl Brown, this is K-9, are you there?" 

The state police Cpl answered, "Yes, I am here at the fire location with the sheriff, over." 

The K-9 trooper then called up over the air again, "Come out to my location immediately.  I am app. 200 yards east of the fire scene, I will blow my whistle when I hear you coming, over." 

So the troopers and the sheriff along with emergency personnel headed towards the K-9 trooper.  As they walked they then heard his whistle, and they went in that direction.  After several minutes they found the K-9 dog Wulf, and the K-9 Sgt Campbell. 

As they approached the Sgt and his dog were standing near a thick oak tree.  There was Russ hanging!  He was dead, hung from the old tree, his shotgun empty and laying on the ground by his feet.  Russ was purple and stiff, with blood coming out of his ears, mouth, and nose. 

They then cut him down, and they called for the detectives to come and seal off the area. 

The sheriff and the others headed back to copperhead to the sheriff's cruiser.  They wanted to talk to Mike, who was sitting in the car confused, sweating, and very scared. 

They began to question Mike again, "Did you kill your friend?  Why do you have thick heavy rope in your hunting coat?" 

Mike broke down, the only thing he could say was, "The old cemetery, these woods are haunted, I heard noises, there use to be an old church built here that burned down." 

After listening to Mike for several minutes the sheriff and the state police set out to search along with the K-9 for this "so called" cemetery with no road going to it, and the sheriff knew there was nothing on the county maps about an old cemetery being in the general area. 

He did know of the old church and that it burned down, also when that happened the church keeper fell asleep, drunk, and the church was heated by an old wood burner. 

They searched all day, and nothing was ever found.  The state police called in a chopper the next day, residents from Breakerville came over to copperhead to search too.  The old cemetery was never found.

As if all this wasn't enough, they found Mike's finger prints on Russ's shotgun.  The rope in Mike's hunting coat matched the rope that Russ was hung with.  Also in Mike's hunting coat was an empty bottle of Jack Daniels, plus prescription medication for anxiety.  Mike was charged with torture, murder, and a host of other things! 

After this Mike broke down, he was then committed to the local state mental hospital.  The evidence was overwhelming in the case. 

Many months went by, and the state declared Mike was not fit to stand trial.  He was diagnosed with severe schizophrenia.  What happened to Mike next would remain a mystery forever. 

The orderly walked into Mike's room at the hospital and called his name. 

Mike looked at him and said, "There is no Mike here, my name is Craze." 

The orderly said, "Ok... Craze, please come out to the nurse station for your medication." 

He walked out he seen what he thought was Russ, standing in the hallway, he went up and got very excited, "Oh my God, Russ, your alive!" 

Mike went to hug Russ, just then he fell over and hit the floor.  There was no one there. 

The orderly began to help Mike up, "Come on Mike, it's time for medication." 

He began to scream, "I am Craze, Craze, I am Craze!" 

They then had to subdue Mike and shoot him up with medication to knock him out.  They then transported him to the rubber room, this is where patients went that were totally out of control; and detached from reality.

Many months went by, this behavior continued, Mike was not getting any better.  His life went from semi normal to confusing, to insane.  He continued to see images of Russ, he knows in his mind he did not kill Russ.  He knows the rope was not in his pocket when they got out of Russ's truck that day to go hunting. 

He also knows there was a cemetery, and Craze was there and did speak and walk with him.  He continued to have these racing and delusional thoughts until finally he went totally insane.  He spent his last days drinking his food through a straw, his medication was given to him crushed in applesauce.  Mike eventually died, but many years later.....

A family had purchased Craze's old property after the county knocked down what was left of his house.  The new family did not know about the past history of the surrounding lands, or about the history of Craze, or the stories of Mike and Russ. 

After their house was finished being built the family went for a walk one day in the near by woods, which was kind of like their back yard.  They seen something shiny and approached it.  It turned out to be a white tomb stone, it stood upright perfectly, all by itself, no other stones were around. 

The ground was bright green and covered in moss, beautiful the man's wife added.  They read the tombstone and it said; Here Lies Michael Smith, Born 1707, Passed On 17 ?  The rest could not be read, it was like someone had washed it off. 

Just then they both heard a thump, and then screams, this time the screams were followed by psychotic laughter.....  The family headed towards the noise, they didn't find anything but a thick old brownish colored rope hanging from an old oak tree!

THE END