Original subtitles

[Car engine noise]

Ok, here we are.

Eight miles down rural route 2 in Anole, West Virginia.

That’s, uh, four hours and, now, 12 minutes from Washington, D.C.

This is a bit further out than I remembered. I’ve only been here once before and it was in the daylight,

I keep expecting the house to appear, but… it hasn’t yet.

But I keep seeing utility poles, so… that’s a good sign.

Shouldn’t be much further.

Now at the risk of sounding self-congratulatory I’ve heard people talk about leaving Washington, D.C., escaping the city,

getting away from the crowds, and the terrible traffic and the nasty people and the car horns and the frantic pace;

but in the 20 years I’ve lived in D.C. I can’t actually think of anyone who has escaped. But that’s just what I’m doing now.

Alright. I think I’m going to pause the camera until I have a better idea of where I am.

Ok. Eight point nine miles, out on rural route 2, and the dream house has emerged.

Uh. If we can see it—there it is! 17 wooded acres.

There will be no more crowds, no more noise, no more drunken screams from my neighbors’ windows…

actually, there won’t be much of anything.

The place is rock solid, it was built by an experienced home builder, who, I was told, was also from D.C.

But the place was on the market for almost 18 months. I think that’s because with the nearest

grocery store, gas station, pretty much everything, 35 minutes away in Webster Springs, it’s just too remote for most people.

But for a technical writer that just needs a low- bandwidth, satellite Internet connection to work, it’s not too remote at all.

All right.

So, Claire, David, Kim, Lauren, Marcy, Tom, everyone else in our little OCD group… I did it. I have escaped Washington, D.C.

Uh, I think it’s what all of us should do.

It’s going to be good for me. No one’s gonna bother me, and, uh, I’m not gonna bother anyone else. Certainly not out here.

I mean, it’s almost 1am. You wanna see? Wanna see?

Woo! Wooo! I did it! I did it!

You know, like… I might have just scared a few woodland creatures but that’s about the extent of my worries.

Anyway, I am so tired… I think I am just going to…

take a quick shower and go to bed. The movers are going to be here sometime in the morning.

So… I’m going to miss all of you—I’m going to miss all of you, but I will be back every once in a while,

and in the meantime you’ll have these video updates.

So… I hope you’re happy for me and, uh, until the next chapter in my little adventure, I bid you all goodnight.

Hi, everyone. I want to apologize, I know I’ve been a bit derelict in my video journal responsibilities.

It’s now Sunday, I’ve been here four days, the movers have come and gone, but in my defense I’ve been working about 18 hours a day trying to

make everything as perfect as possible for this big video unveiling.

So let’s get started on the tour. Actually, before we get started, I just want to impress upon everyone how unbelievably quiet it is out here.

I’m so used to constant city noises that in the absence of sound, my ears ring out here. So I’m going to stop talking for a second and just…

check out how quiet it is.

I mean, there’s just nothing to hear. It takes some getting used to. Last night, I woke up to the sound of the wind blowing. It was almost…

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love it, but, uh, I just have to get used to the idea that there’s no one else around.

You know, after living in the city for so long. It takes some getting used to.

Anyway, ok. Let’s get on with the tour. This is the basement, as you can see, it’s probably got more space than my entire condo did, just the

basement; the satellite Internet technician was here yesterday so now I have satellite Internet, along

with probably a thousand channels that I’m never going to watch.

Um, the house is slanted on a hill, so, this side, is actually a little bit underground while this side opens right out onto ground level.

There’s the detached garage, you can see the roof of it, I have a nice fireplace down here,

Uhh, ok, there’s a bathroom down on that end, closet to the left, and down at the far left, there’s a storage area where I still have a bunch of

boxes that I have yet to unpack so I’m not going to bore you with that. To the right is the furnace area.

But as you can see, everything is pretty much in place.

I’ve been busy. And it’s very nice down here. Ok. The tour will continue upstairs.

Moving on to the second level, as you can see this room is very spacious as well, nice high ceilings, hardwood floors, there’s a really big

deck out there, there’s the detached garage, you can see again.

Anyway, I have a fireplace on this level as well, dining room table, etc., etc., here’s the kitchen, I finally have a gas stove,

which I’ve always wanted,

and down this hallway we have two guest bedrooms and a separate bathroom, for all of you who have promised to come out and visit

me, Claire, but… for anyone who wants to visit me, you’ll be very comfortable, and I certainly have the space.

So… Let us continue upstairs, to the third level. Ok. We have the loft railing and here’s my little

home office setup, everything I need to work I’ve got right here. I can work just as easily here as I did in D.C.

The Internet connection is a little slower than I’m used to but I can live with that.

And continuing this way, here’s the master bathroom, and master bedroom.

Very nice. And this window kind of faces straight north, pretty much.

But, nothing but peace and quiet and solitude for miles and miles and miles. I know what I forgot to show you.

Here’s a screened-in porch that I have, where you can enjoy all the amenities of the outdoors without any of the bugs.

Isn’t that nice? The best neighbors… are no neighbors.

Ok. The tour will continue outside.

Ok everyone. This is my side yard, as you can see this is where the basement doors open out to.

And yesterday I mowed the lawn for the first time in 26 years. Fortunately even with 17 acres, the lawn portion

is fairly small so it didn’t take me that long. But in the garage I found this little beauty, I guess wherever the owners went they’re not

gonna need it anymore. But… I wanted to prove to everyone who’s worried that I’m not going to be able to survive

through the winters out here, that I’ll be just fine. So… for everyone in the group, this is for you. See? I’m gonna be just fine.

Hi everyone, I just got back from the post office in Webster Springs, and I got your very nice and thoughtful card, thanks so much.

I saw that you actually mailed it last week but I’m probably only going to be making the trek into Webster Springs to check my mail every once a

week or so, unless I’m expecting something because it’s a bit of a haul.

But this means a lot to me and [laughs] Claire and David, you couldn’t come up with anything more than “Best wishesâ€

Seriously? No. I really do appreciate this nice gesture and I’m going to keep it right on my desk while I work.

Speaking of which I should probably get back to it. I’m in the middle of a white paper for the Dept. of Transportation which I thought was kind of

ironic since I’m now living on an unpaved and unmaintained dirt road.

But everything’s fine, my work is going smoothly and I’m doing ok on my recent bump-up on the Venlafaxine to 375 milligrams.

And I found out that I have to drive back to D.C. on the 6th of September to meet with a client that afternoon.

Which, conveniently enough is a Thursday night. So I will see everyone at that night’s support meetup.

Can’t wait, and thanks again, much appreciated, until next time.

Ok, this is a planned update that turned into an unexpected update.

I’m about 1.5 miles from the house, I’ve been hiking pretty much straight NE and I added the house as a GPS waypoint,

otherwise I know I’d never be able to find my way back.

But the plan was to hike for a couple of hours and have lunch, and record an update that I could then send to everyone when I got back

home. But the reason I’m recording now is that I came across something that I wanted to share with everyone,

that I have absolutely no explanation for.

Here, on this tree.

I am almost certain that is the skull of a cat.

With the letter B or maybe the number 8 carved right above it.

I don’t want to gross everyone out, but, ohh— man.

[Pants].

I have no explanation for it, I was thinking even if this was someone’s pet, what kind of tribute would this be?

And aside from that, I’ve looked on Google maps and supposedly there is nothing within miles of my house.

So who else is out here?

It makes me think if I keep walking I’m going to stumble upon some hillbilly encampment or still or something like that.

Uhh… I was thinking of knocking this down but I think I’m just going to leave it as it is and keep going.

But if you find my phone a year from now and there’s no sign of me, then it’s safe to say I did come across a group of people

and maybe my own skull is on a tree somewhere around here.

Ok, I did end up hiking another 40 minutes or so and didn’t see anything else unusual.

I did see a fox, about 20 yards away but it started running as soon as it saw me and didn’t stop until it was out of sight.

But it was beautiful, and if it wasn’t so skittish I would have given it some of my sandwich.

Um. Anyway I’ve been thinking about what I saw,

and I think it had probably been there a very long time so I’m not going to get too worked up about it, it’s an amazing coincidence I came across it,

but other than that it really doesn’t affect me, people do weird things, and my house is still a long way from that place,

so… it doesn’t amount to much.

Um. But things are good, I’m still glad that I made this move out here, and as you know I will be back on the 6th and 7th, less than two—

[Crashing in distance]

I have no idea what that was, but I can’t see anything, so, I think it’s…

anyway, as I was saying I’ll be back in less than two weeks. I really look forward to seeing everyone.

So, um, there will be more video updates between now and then, so, until then.

Hi, I’m about to go to bed, but I just wanted to reassure everyone that I made it home safe from that hike.

I didn’t see or hear anything else strange on the way back, I didn’t even see that skull again on the way back.

Um, but I'm here in the bedroom, home safe, and, I just wanted to show you the contrast between here and D.C.

It’s Saturday night and my window is open. Ready?

[crickets chirping]

I know you really can’t see anything, but… quite a contrast between here and D.C. Alright. Goodnight.

It’s 4:22AM on Monday, and if I look tired it’s because I am.

I tried sleeping with the bedroom window open for the first time tonight and that turned out to be a big mistake.

Because about an hour ago, I was awakened from a dead sleep by some kind of freakish, horrible animal scream outside my window.

I was so out of it, I didn’t know what it was. I thought it was a person screaming. And it just froze me stiff as a board.

I’d love to pretend otherwise but it just really scared me.

And I knew I was never going to get back to sleep so since then I’ve been on the Internet listening to every nighttime animal sound I could

download, that includes about 20 species of owl,

bobcats, fisher cats, regular cats, badgers, foxes, skunks, rabbits, but, uh,

none of it sounded like what I think I remember hearing outside the window but I was half awake and I probably muddled the sound in my mind.

I have no idea what it was.

I just know I never want to hear it again.

I think this is the first time I’ve recorded two updates in a single day.

This is a handy little device I use for recording interviews for technical papers.

But it’s very sensitive, and it will record in high- quality stereo all night on its internal memory.

So I figured what I could do is set it on the windowsill here, to record overnight,

and close the window so I wouldn’t be woken up by anything tonight; there we go.

In the morning I’ll just import the audio file into my computer and look for any peaks that might be the animal scream that I heard the night

before. And this isn’t just for me I want everyone to hear what woke me up last night.

Alright, recorder’s on, time is exactly 11:00, and, uh, good night.

Good morning, I have just imported the audio file from last night’s windowsill recording into my computer,

and I wanted to review it with you to see if we captured any creepy animal noises during the wee hours of the night.

I didn’t hear anything myself but then again, the window was closed.

So maybe the recorder picked up something I didn’t hear.

But, we’ll go to monitor view, here’s the recording.

Most of it looks pretty flat, which is what you’d expect, I’m guessing it’s just crickets and cicadas.

[insect noise]

This peak in the beginning must be when I just set it up and started the recording. [

Plays file:close the window… so I wouldn’t be woken up by anything tonight--]

Alright. Obviously.

Oh, here’s a peak, right away. 48 minutes in.

It’s just a jet. A jet flying between places far more exciting than Anole, West Virginia.

Keep going. Another little rise.

It’s just another jet.

Alright, I’ll keep going. Here’s something. An hour and 55 minutes in.

[insect noise]

[Owls hoot]

Oh, cool. Owls, talking to each other.

That isn’t what I heard the night before, but it’s still pretty creepy.

[Owls hoot]

Hmmm.

[Owls hoot]

There is creepy stuff out there in the woods at night.

Keep looking.

There are a couple of little peaks.

Two hours and 54 minutes into the recording.

Ah, it’s nothing.

More crickets and cicadas.

Nahh.

Four hours in.

Here’s a peak.

Four hours and 30-some odd minutes, four hours and 31 minutes in.

[striking noises]

Whoa.

[indecipherable]

That doesn’t even sound like an animal. That sounds like a person.

Four hours and 31 minutes, that would have been 3:30 in the morning, roughly.

I’m going to zoom in,

[striking noises]

[indecipherable]

That sounds like a person! [

indecipherable]

It’s like they’re saying “whyâ€

[plays it again]

Is that an animal or a person?

It’s like someone just hit… hit something against a tree…

[plays it again]

Ok, wait a second. Wait a second.

Alright I just went outside and looked all around outside my bedroom window and I didn’t see any signs of anybody having been out there,

not that I really expected to.

But… to me that doesn’t even sound like an animal. That—

[plays it again]

That sounds like a person to me.

Alright. I listened to the rest of the recording and there was nothing else unusual on it,

the only other sounds through the whole recording were at the end when the birds started waking up as you can hear.

And then the sound of me opening the window and grabbing the recorder. [crows caw]

Anyway. But I’m not gonna let my imagination run away with me, based on what I heard.

Um. I’ll make another windowsill recording tonight and see if I pick up anything strange, I’m just going to assume that I won’t.

But, the good news is, in two days I’ll be driving back to D.C., and I will see all of you that night, at the support meeting,

and I really look forward to seeing everyone again. And… ok. Until next time.

Good morning. It is the countdown to my return visit to D.C., in less than 24 hours I will be on the road and headed your way.

But I made another windowsill recording last night and I figured I’d take a look and make it part of the last update,

which I’ll send later this morning, and you won’t hear from me again until I see everyone at the meeting tomorrow night.

So, let’s take a look, see what we have.

It looks pretty flat, like it did last night, this little peak here is where I started the recording and [

window closes]

shut the window.

I started at exactly 11 again, last night so everything’s offset by an hour. So here’s an hour and 10 minutes into it which would be 12:10…

[insect noise]

just crickets. I don’t see anything really.

Here’s 2 hours and 6 minutes into it, which would be 1:06. [insect noise]

Nothing. I’ll just look to see if I can find anything. Nothing. Three hours in.

Here’s some peaks. Peaks at, uh, 3:36, which would be 2:36 AM.

I’ll zoom in a little bit. See what these are. [impact noises]

Ah, it’s the exact same sound as last night, sounds like someone hitting a tree with a… baseball bat.

[impact noise] And that one sounds a lot closer.

[impact noises]

What is doing that? That is not an animal. [impact noises]

That is someone hitting a tree with something. I don’t see anything else. Four hours in… Five hours in…

This is toward the end of the recording and… this is probably just birds. [birds call]

Yeah. This is right before I ended the recording.

Nothing. Nothing until I open the window.

You know I never thought I’d say this but I think it’s going to do me some good to get back to D.C. for a day.

So, uh. I’ll see everyone tomorrow night, I really look forward to that,

and if anyone wants to get some sushi beforehand give me a call on my cell.

I’ll see you all tomorrow.

Hi Claire. I just wanted to let you know that for the most part I avoided the early Friday afternoon rush hour,

just made it home a few minutes ago. This is out on my deck, isn’t this beautiful?

I also wanted to let you know that I was thinking of you,

I’ve been in a good mood ever since Thursday night and don’t worry, this update is for you alone, no one in our group needs to know

that we went out for probably a few too many drinks on Thursday after the meeting, and that you agreed to come out and visit me tomorrow!

But it’s going to be great to have company out here, especially when that company is you, and I really can’t wait to show you my new house.

My haunted new house. No. Everything is just as I left it, no chairs are stacked up in the kitchen and nothing else inexplicable to find

when I got home. So.

Anyway, if you have trouble with the directions, if you have any questions just give me a call on my land line,

cause the cell phone signal is sometimes spotty around this area,

so have a safe and great drive tomorrow and I can’t wait to see you.

Ok. Till then. Bye.

Alright! She’s here, Claire is here, finally!

First ever visitor to my remote West Virginia mansion has arrived!

Welcome!

You are really in the middle of nowhere.

I know. I told you, it’s a long drive.

Uh, do you have a suitcase or anything for me to bring in?

Actually I just really need to use your bathroom. Do you have to be filming this?

Ok, I just want to get a welcome hug recorded…

Mark, can you turn it off please?

Ok. I don’t want to annoy you, I’ll tell you what. I’m going to give you a grand tour of the house, and I will turn the camera off first.

Alright, it’s been a great day of hiking and cooking and wine, and here is the lovely but tired Claire insisting on her own room, even in my

haunted house. [Laughs]

But I promise I’m not going to send this to anyone else in the group, this is only for my own… posterity?

Does that make sense? I’m a word guy.

Oh yes, and Claire actually wants to hear some of the scary noises that have been plaguing me, so she has opened the window to the outdoors,

so bring it on, cause Claire’s not afraid,

I was, but she isn’t.

Anyway, I know that she is ready to go to sleep because she has adjusted her pillow perfectly centered and perpendicular to the headboard…

Anyway, um, let me know if you need anything, and, uh, sleep well, my dear. Goodnight.

Ok, it’s 3:04 AM and Claire has just woken me up after being waken—

Shhh, shhh—listen.

[sounds in distance]

What is that?

I’m going to get a flashlight—

Wait! Listen.

[sounds in distance]

It’s someone chopping down a tree.

Claire, no one lives within six miles of here.

That’s what it is! Listen!

[striking sounds in distance]

You can’t tell me that’s not what that is.

Who would be chopping down trees at 3 in the morning?

Someone with an axe, that’s who!

[striking sounds]

Oh, my God!

I-- I’ve got a gun!

Do you?

No!

[striking sounds; tree falls]

Oh, my God.

[Claire whines] I’m getting out of here. I can’t stay here.

Claire, you can’t leave now, it’s the middle of the night!

I can’t stay here. Mark, turn that thing off!

Claire, you think that driving down a winding dirt road in the middle of the night—

Well, it took two valium, but Claire finally got to sleep.

Apparently realizing the foolishness of driving away from here in the middle of the night.

I agree it was very strange and very creepy but we shouldn’t let it ruin everything.

And I sincerely hope we can laugh about this over breakfast tomorrow and still enjoy our weekend together. Alright.

Well, I mean this as a way to show you that you over-reacted last night but you were right, it was someone chopping down a tree.

About 200 feet from the house.

Yeah, very creepy. But it wasn’t like we were being threatened directly or anything and it didn’t warrant you

leaving me at the first hint of sunlight.

Not like you let me touch you anyway.

I figured there’d be some beer cans around here but all I see are wood chips.

What’s this—what the hell is this?

Hi Claire. I just wanted to let you know that after you left this morning I ended up walking around the area and it turns out you were right, it was

someone chopping down a tree, and it was only about 200 feet from the bedroom window.

And hanging from the felled tree I found this, some ugly, cheap little locket that says “[Heart] to youâ€

And I opened it up, and it turns out there’s a little clock inside, and the clock is stopped right at 3:04.

Which I know is right around the time we heard those noises.

I ended up calling the Tomere County sheriff about half an hour ago and he told me not to worry, that it was probably no big deal, it

was likely just some drunk from a neighboring town,

I told him about the locket, and he told me maybe the guy had just gotten dumped by his girlfriend and had thrown the locket away after

letting off some steam. Whatever.

He told me to call him if anything else weird happened. But.

It seemed like a logical explanation, I’m sorry you felt like you had to leave when you did, and I guess I’ll just assume that things have reverted

back to the way they were before I visited D.C., and I’ll leave it up to you as to how you want to continue things.

In the meantime I’ll just go back to sending updates to the entire group,

I hope you’re doing well and, um, that you had a good and safe drive back home, and, I hope, uh, we get a chance to talk soon. Alright.

Well happy Monday morning, I hope everyone is doing well. I heard some strange noises outside my window over the weekend,

and so I put the audio recorder out on my windowsill again last night.

I figure if drunk townies think that my property is a place to party, or that harassing the guy from the city is entertainment,

then I need to start keeping a record of these incidents as they happen.

So anyway I just uploaded the file into my computer, let’s see if I got anything.

Well I started this recording at exactly midnight, so the times into the recording are the actual times of night.

So this would be 1 AM. One hour in.

[insect noises]

Just crickets.

I’ll only stop if I see anything.

Here’s an hour and 25 minutes in, an hour and 45 minutes—here’s something.

At an hour and 52.

It’s a jet. [Owl hoots]

A jet and an owl.

Just one owl this time, I think. [Owl hoots]

A lone owl in the middle of the woods. I know how he feels. [Owl hoots]

Pretty neat. Ok, that’s two hours in, two forty- five, three hours in…

Here’s a little bump at 3:11,

[music plays]

Music?

Music? 3:11 in the morning.

[Flute playing]

It’s a flute.

Someone playing a flute outside my window.

[Playing stops]

And that’s it.

Nothing else.

[Flute playing]

It just ends right there.

I don’t see any other peaks.

[Flute playing]

Ok, wait a second.

We’ll look for anything else.

That’s five hours in…

That was 3:11. A flute outside the window.

Here’s stuff at six, but it’s probably just the… [Birds chirping]

Some birds, as usual.

Alright, alright. Wait a second, here.

Ok, I just walked around the area outside my bedroom window, and a little bit up the hill,

I didn’t see any evidence that anyone was out there last night.

I mean, if these are partying drunks they’re the most conscientious variety I’ve ever seen.

They didn’t sound like drunks anyway—what kind of drunk plays a flute? Plays it well?

I don’t know… I’ll send everyone an update later today if I can.

Hey everyone, guess what I did today?

I took the morning off, and I drove an hour and 15 minutes each way to Sutton, West Virginia,

and I bought myself a “do not screw with me, drunken scumbagsâ€

Uh, i.e., um!

Now, I know that some of you are going to be made nervous by this, especially you, probably, Marcy, but I feel like I’m on an even keel, I’ve got

375 milligrams of Venlafaxine in me, and as you’ve all heard on those tapes, what I’ve been hearing are not auditory hallucinations.

So I feel like this is an essential piece of equipment at this point.

Um. But hey, let’s give it a try.

Oh yeah, and contrary to what I told the guy at the store, I’ve never fired a gun, but… I did just read the directions, so…

I’m going to give this a try.

Uh, ok. Here we go.

Oh. Safety, safety, safety. [clicks safety off]

Yeah!

That’s what I’m talking about!

I mean, hit the bull’s-eye! Not right in the center, but pretty close!

First shot! Yeah!

Stay away from my house, ya freaks!

Well, I’ve already imported and listened to the windowsill recording from last night, and I want to show everyone what I found.

Here’s the file, and there’s pretty much nothing on the recording except for pretty much the same time as two nights ago, 3:11 AM,

this is 3:11 AM and 55 seconds.

[insect sounds]

[flute plays]

And there’s really nothing else the entire night.

And as soon as I heard this, I went back and listened to the recording from two nights ago

and it occurred to me that it sounded like the same piece of music.

So I’ll show you what I did.

I’m switching to a multi-track view here. This top file, right here is the windowsill recording from two nights ago

and the bottom one is the recording from last night.

Now according to the time stamp of this recording, the one from two nights ago,

I hit the record button at exactly 12 AM and eight seconds.

And for the file below, from last night, I hit the record button at exactly 12 AM and 24 seconds.

So that’s a difference of 16 seconds and I’ll show you what I did.

When you move last night’s recording back exactly 16 seconds to correct that offset,

this is what you get.

Now you’re going to be hearing double the amount of crickets because you’re hearing both of these files,

the one from two nights ago, and the one from last night, being played at the exact same time. But this is what you hear:

This is 3:11 AM and 21 seconds:

[insect sounds]

[flute plays]

So what you have is a single piece of music that is broken up seamlessly over two separate nights.

I don’t know how they could have timed it like that, that’s down to fractions of a second.

But I’ve decided what I’m going to do tonight, I’m not going to make another windowsill recording,

I’m going to be listening live at the same time, which was right around 3:11 AM, and I will film it,

and make it part of the next update for everyone.

And don’t worry about me, remember, I’m armed now. So if anything, worry about whoever is out there. Alright.

Ok, it’s 3:09 AM. As you can probably guess I haven’t slept.

According to the offset of those audio files the flute sound I’ve heard two nights in a row

happened at 3:10 and 52 seconds.

I’m recording this in infra-red so I can’t even see right now.

But more importantly, if anyone’s out there they can’t see in either.

I’ve also got this if I need it.

Ok, it’s only about 20 seconds away, so I’m going to be quiet again and see if I can hear that flute again at 3:10 and 52.

[Phone rings]

[Sound of phone being picked up]

Hello?

Hello?

[Sound of phone being hung up]

The phone rang at 3:10 and 52.

There was no one on the line.

Wait a second. Wait a second.

Ok I just tried dialing *69 on that phone,

and it gave me the number of an FAA office that called from D.C. earlier today.

So that last call didn’t even regist—

[sounds of impact from outside]

Who’s out there?

Oh, I’ve got some great updates for you today.

For starters, I’m on no sleep. You heard what I heard last night. I wasn’t going to sleep.

I left the house at 6:30 this morning and went all the way to Sutton again, to go to that same hunting and sporting goods supply store.

Thought they’d open at 8, they didn’t open ‘til 10.

But the reason I went was to get this, this is a motion-activated, infra-red game camera,

“gameâ€

But I had a very memorable conversation with the owner of the store.

When I told him I had just moved to Anole he knew exactly which house it was.

And that’s because his sister-in-law, and their five kids, also live in Anole,

and she had told him about the old man and his schizophrenic

daughter who live nine miles out on Rural Route 2 in Anole.

At least that is until the old man’s sister, concerned because she hadn’t heard from him in about a week,

came to the house to find him hanging from a tree.

And the daughter? Still missing.

Presumed to have wandered into the woods and died.

I called my realtor on the way back from Sutton and not surprisingly she pled total ignorance,

told me she had just been working with a seller’s agent, who told her that the house was being sold due to a death in the family.

So in a sense, she wasn’t denying it.

I think I’ve got this figured out for the most part, it’s motion-activated and it will take a picture if anything wanders into its field of view.

And it’s got an infra-red lamp, so supposedly it’ll take pictures just as clear in total darkness as it will during the day. So…

Turn it on, set it to take pictures in series of three, high sensitivity,

I’m pointing it in the general direction of where I’ve heard most of those noises outside my bedroom window, and hopefully I’ll get an image

of whoever has been causing all these problems.

But I wonder what tree the old man hung himself on.

Anyone want to come out and visit me?

Something else occurred to me that I wanted to share, I’m in the garage.

A couple of days after I moved in I was cleaning out the basement fireplace and I found this in there.

I didn’t think much of it at the time, I just threw it away. But since I haven’t been to the dump, I was able to find it in the trash in the garage.

Um. I don’t know if you can see this date, but this picture is from November 1973.

I wonder if this was the guy’s daughter?

I don’t know who else it would be. Or why someone tried to burn it.

I just came out to get the camera and it’s gone.

Someone took it right off the tree sometime during the night. It looks here like they just hacked the strap, with some kind of blade, and

then just pulled everything right off it. I can’t believe it. We’re going back inside.

Well, the sheriff said to call if anything else happened, and since things have escalated from strange noises to theft, I’d say that qualifies.

I have this recording earpiece that I’m going to put in, so you all can hear, I’ll make it part of the update.

[dialing phone]

[phone ringing]

Tomere County Sheriff.

Hi, Mr. Bishop?

This is him.

Hi, Mr. Bishop. My name is Mark Klein, you may remember I spoke with you about a week ago,

I bought that house way out on Rural Route 2 in Anole, and I called before and I said I’d been hearing those strange noises

outside my window at night?

Yeah, the guy from D.C.

Exactly. [voices on other end] Anyway, I bought a game camera, one of those infra-red, motion- activated cameras,

and I put it just outside my house last night and I just went to check on it, and it’s gone.

Someone stole it.

Someone stole your game camera?

Yeah, just last night.

Did you put a cable lock on it?

Jess, I told you I won’t eat those onion bagels!

No I don’t have a cable lock. I have 17 acres-- [laughter on other end] 17 acres out in the middle of nowhere, why would I lock it?

Well, I know people who have a thousand acres and they put a cable lock on their game cameras.

Hunters pass by those things all day long. If they ain’t locked up, sooner or later someone’s gonna steal it.

I don’t like cream cheese with chives, either.

Mr. Bishop—[chatter on other end continues] Mr. Bishop, this has nothing to do with hunters. It was 20 feet from my house, I put it right outside

my bedroom window. And someone stole it from right outside my window.

Why would you put a game camera outside your bedroom window?

Well, you remember, you remember we called— I called you last week, um, and I said I’d been hearing strange noises outside my window, like

people. Like people were outside my house, and you said to call if something else happened.

Go back and get regular bagels, regular cream cheese… I like it regular.

Hello! Hello.

Yeah, look. What was your name again?

Mark Klein?

Mr. Klein. If there’s no damage to your property, and you haven’t seen anyone trespassing,

I would just recommend that you lock up your game camera.

Hell, my brother had a real nice one locked up at his deer camp and someone still cut the cable and took it.

So that’s it? Lock up my camera with a cable?

If I was you I’d call the pawn shop in Webster Springs in a day or two, see if someone brought it in. If it shows up, let me know and I’ll call Joy

and see if she knows who it was.

Well. Ok, then. Thanks. [hangs up]

Do you see what I’m dealing with out here?

Ok, I’ve had a chance to take a few deep breaths and calm down a bit.

I realized that I’d also made a windowsill recording last night, so I just uploaded the file. And I’ll show you what I found.

I’ll just get right to it. This starts at 2:48 AM.

And here are the only noises during the night, I’ll show you what they are.

[sounds of impact]

It’s like the sound of someone striking a tree, it’s what I’ve heard before, and then right after that:

[sound of impact]

Sounds much closer.

Now even closer.

Just keeps getting louder.

And right here is where I believe they cut the strap on the camera and took it.

[recorded sounds]

That is what it sounds like to me. The first thing sounds like something chopping into the tree, and then them grabbing the camera.

[plays it again]

And then, only a second or two after that,

[fainter sounds of impact]

The sounds become much more distant.

But… they must have just been tapping the tree lightly, it’s not like they could have moved very far away that quickly.

The thing is, I don’t hear any footsteps at all. Just the sounds.

And those are the only sounds from last night’s recording that are out of the ordinary.

But, if they think they’ve got the best of me they’re wrong,

and if the sheriff won’t do anything to help me I’ll just help myself.

Cause I’m going to take the morning off, and I’m going to drive all the way back to Sutton again

and get the exact same game camera that I did before.

And this time I’m going to mount it high up on a tree, so it can take pictures all night of some drunk loser trying in vain to reach it.

Ok.

It’s about 1:30 and I did go to Sutton again this morning, I got the exact same game camera as before.

And this time I got the extension ladder out of the garage, and I mounted the camera about 20 feet high on that tree.

Same tree as before. But I think it should be safe up at that height overnight.

It’s all set up and ready to go. It’s probably taking pictures of me even now.

Hello, testing! Ready to capture images of drunken hillbilly trash any hour of the day or night.

Keep your fingers crossed, I want to get some images overnight that will allow me to put an end to all of this.

I’m going to make an audio windowsill recording again as well.

So wish me luck.

Well, I am happy to report that the replacement game camera made it through the night without being stolen.

Here is the memory card that I just pulled from it. So let’s take a look and see if we have anything.

The card fits into this adapter and then goes into the USB port. See what we have.

Oh, wow. 27 pictures, it got. Overnight.

But actually they might all be me setting up the camera and taking it down.

Let’s take a look.

Yeah, here’s the first one, um, when I was attaching the camera to the tree yesterday.

After I had just turned it on.

Next one—ok, yeah, the camera takes pictures in series of three, about a second or a half-second apart, so yeah, there’s the last one.

These might just all be me setting the camera up.

There I am taking the ladder away.

Oh yeah, here’s, at quarter after one yesterday, as I was making the update for everyone.

Yeah. More of the update, that’s three, and there I’m walking away.

Whoa. What the hell is this, 3:11 AM and 14 seconds?

Probably just a glitch in the camera’s infra-red but it almost looks like someone standing there.

Huh.

Uh. 3:11:15, just a second later, its… it looks like a shadow, but whatever it was was enough to trip the camera’s motion detector,

set off a series of three images.

This one is just less than a second later and whatever it is is almost out of the frame.

3:11 14, 15, and 15.

3:13, I don’t even know what this is.

That’s the cat skull out in the woods. There’s that “Bâ€

That’s not possible, the last series is at 3:11.

Then 2 minutes later, there’s the cat skull.

Oh, my God.

3:13 AM.

And here I am just a few minutes ago, getting the camera.

That’s the last one.

Ok, I’ve been thinking this over, and there are three possible explanations for those pictures that we just saw.

Number one is that the timestamp for the camera is faulty,

which would explain why those sequences only showed up as having been taken only a couple of minutes apart

when there’s no way that could have happened.

The only thing is, the time stamps when I set the camera up and when I took it down—as well as when I made those updates—were all accurate.

So… that doesn’t really make sense.

The second one is that whoever is responsible has their own memory card—I mean, someone stole my earlier camera, so they do have

another memory card. They could have uploaded altered photos to that memory card

and then switched them, but they would need a computer for that, and…

I mean, who would go through all that trouble just to mess with me?

Hike way out in the woods and take pictures of that skull?

I mean, the third possible explanation is that there’s something legitimately supernatural but I can’t believe that.

I mean, none of the explanations make sense.

How’d they even reach the tree? It was 20 feet up…

You know, I just remembered something.

I had remembered I put the recorder out on the windowsill again last night.

So I just uploaded the file to my computer and have been looking through it.

But it doesn’t really make things any easier to understand.

I’ll show you.

Here’s roughly that same time during the night, 3:11.

As you might expect—

[sounds of impact]

Same noise I’ve heard before.

Then there’s nothing else, all the way until 4:30…

and this sounds creepy, but I remember from when I heard

what I thought were those animal noises before and I listened to all those sounds on the Internet,

I believe this is just a fox.

[animal screech]

It sounds horrible, but this is just the noise a fox makes.

[animal screech]

Ugh. And then nothing else until the birds start up,

[birds squawking]

And then right around the same time corresponding to the game camera time stamp,

here’s the sound of me bringing the ladder up to the tree

and putting it up against the tree and taking the camera down.

But the thing is, in the entire rest of this recording there’s no other sound like that, of someone bringing a ladder to the tree.

Which of course doesn’t make any sense.

I have no idea what to do.

I’m not going to call that sheriff again.

What am I going to tell him that my replacement game camera is returning scary pictures?

I would blame my higher dose of Venlafaxine but you saw what’s on the camera, it's not just me.

I need to think about this.

Hi. I wanted to let everyone know that I’m not just going to lie down and let all these things happen to me.

I’ve decided to address things on two fronts.

Number one, assuming that all of the problems I’ve been having are of a physical and tangible nature, which I believe that they are,

earlier today I ordered a full home security system.

And the technician is coming all the way out from Morgantown tomorrow to install it. So that will take care of that.

On the second front, on the very, very unlikely chance that what I’m dealing with is not physical

and tangible, I spent a couple of hours today doing something I never thought I would do.

And that is, browsing the Internet forums on the paranormal.

But I ended up creating an account on one of them, and I provided a rambling description of everything that’s happened to me,

and I uploaded some of the game camera photos and some excerpts from the windowsill recordings.

And I checked the account just before I started this update and I’ve already gotten four responses.

And all of them are calling me a liar.

So I doubt that’s going to be of much good to me.

But by this time tomorrow I’ll have a home security system,

and I’m not going to put the game camera out tonight, I’m not going to make any windowsill recordings,

I’m just going to relax and have some wine, I know you’re not supposed to drink on the Venlafaxine but I’m just going to have enough

wine to help me relax and make sure I can get to sleep tonight.

So… goodnight, everyone.

Well, it’s almost 8 o’clock on Saturday morning.

I think I overdid it a bit last night, I ended up drinking that entire bottle of wine.

But it did help me sleep through the night uninterrupted, so… I’ll take it.

Anyway, a few minutes ago I logged onto that forum to see what kind of responses I got overnight,

I now have a total of 45 responses and I’ve tallied them all up for you.

Of those 45, 37 are now calling me a liar, saying that all my photos and audio recordings were faked, two people said they felt sorry for me,

in so many words, but they couldn’t help.

Five people said they had special items that would drive away the evil spirit and offered to sell them to me,

and one woman from Minnesota said she needed more information and wanted me to email her directly.

And will probably try to sell me something if I do.

But the important thing is, my new home security system will be installed today,

the installer is supposed to be here sometime between 8 and noon.

So I’ll make this update short. I’ll just send everyone another update when my security system is in place.

About half an hour ago I went into my bedroom and saw that my game camera was on top of the dresser.

My first thought was, why did I leave it out? I always put it away.

Then I noticed that this strap was cut. and I realized this is the original game camera, the one that had been stolen.

I went down to the basement and I found the replacement game camera right where I thought it would be.

And it gets a lot worse, as you’ll see by the images I found on the camera’s memory card.

Here’s the first image. According to the time stamp, 3:08 in the morning, and 10 seconds.

As you can see it’s taken down the hallway, facing the two bedrooms on the middle level.

The timestamps don’t make any sense here, as you’ll see.

Here’s the second picture, also at 3:08 and 10, and that’s at the opposite end of the hallway.

And here’s the 3rd image. So according to the timestamp, someone took the first image, ended up at the other end of the hallway, and then

came back, all in one and a half seconds.

And it gets even weirder.

The next image is at the bottom of the stairs, 3:08:22, next one after that—I think that’s the landing, the midway of the stairway—then the

third one is right outside my bedroom door.

And again, all that was supposed to take place in 1.5 seconds.

This next picture, I don’t know what to make of it.

This cat is obviously dead, it’s got flies on it.

The picture was obviously taken during the day, and the note says “Bunny by Vandal. Most beautiful tart. Killed her.â€

It looks like there might have been writing on the other side of the paper, but I can’t make it out.

And the temperature and timestamp are all blank.

The next picture is out in the woods where I saw that cat skull.

Now it’s back to 3:09:15 seconds, and the next picture at 3:09 and 16 seconds is of blurred movement.

And lastly, it’s back in the woods.

So none of it makes sense.

Hi. I just wanted to let everyone know that I was fine, and that I did end up writing that woman from the forum,

that one from Minnesota who had requested more information.

Interestingly enough she had asked if I could give her more information on the former owners of this house.

And I realized that in my original posting, even though I had posted a lot of images and recordings, I never did get into the old man who

hung himself, or that his schizophrenic daughter was missing, or any of that.

So I filled her in on that, and I also sent her the latest images from the game camera that I just shared with all of you.

Who knows if I’ll hear back from her or what she’ll try to sell me. But…

Anyway, the good news is, this house is a lot more secure now, I guess it’s a day late but the security system is in place, I’ll show you.

Just give you a quick tour.

As you can see, every door and window on this level now has this entry sensor, and every time I

open a door, this front door, I get that nice notification chime.

And that’s with the alarm off.

If I had actually keyed in the alarm to arm it, it would beep loudly for 30 seconds and then I would get a 120dB siren that I think would be

enough to drive anyone away.

I had the option to hook it up to call the police as well, but I figure it would take them so long to respond, what difference would it make?

So right now it’s just the siren that’s in place.

But…

Anyway, I’m feeling better. I think I’m going a little bit stir-crazy out here, it would probably do me

good to visit D.C. again and see all of you and make it to another, uh, meeting.

So I’m fine, and I will keep everyone posted on what happens.

So, goodnight.

Ok, it’s about 3:20 in the morning and something woke me up, I don’t know what.

It might have been thunder. It’s raining and it’s really cold out.

But I opened the window and as soon as I opened it I could hear that flute coming from up the hill.

I don’t hear it now, though.

Wait, there it is. There it is, wait, wait, wait, wait… listen, listen.

[faint flute in distance]

Do you hear that?

It’s coming from… it’s coming from up the hill, way up to the right.

Oh, man.

I’ve got my gun, but I’m not going out there. No way.

I don’t know who would be out there in this.

Leave me alone!

I think it stopped, I don’t hear it.

I don’t hear it any more.

Ohh—there it is.

You hear it?

Now it’s coming from up there, way up there, that’s a long ways from where I heard it before.

I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do.

Oh, man.

Ok.

Ok.

Ok, it’s about 10 o’clock on Sunday morning, after last night’s update I checked a few times

for a message from my one advocate from the paranormal forum, that woman from Minnesota.

But there was nothing.

So.

I ended up drinking a little bit of vodka to try to relax, but it didn’t work.

I guess I drifted off to sleep right around the time I saw the sun starting to come up and I just woke up a few minutes ago.

But I just checked my email again and I did get a message from her.

And it’s pretty out there.

So I’m going to read it to you.

Oh yeah and her login name is AstralMom1957,

which to me either means she was born in 1957 or there are 1956 other AstralMoms out there.

Anyway. Ok, I’m going to read it.

Excuse me. Ok.

Hello from the chilly north. It is a beautiful morning,

the pre-symphony’s hush at first light has been followed by a soft cymbal note of sunrise.

Thank you for your long and detailed message. I have heard your part of West Virginia is beautiful,

as I have a dear friend who camps in Seneca Rocks every year.

But let’s get to your problems.

Though you seem to not want to believe it, there is an entity from the other side responsible for the events you have described.

However, I do not agree with your suggestion that perhaps the house’s former owner—who is known to have committed suicide—is

responsible. Instead I believe that the man’s daughter, who suffered from mental illness in life, is.

I do not believe she is alive. But the pendant was left for you, the flute is being played for you, and female spirits are far more likely to remain in the

vicinity of their homes.

The important thing to remember is that you are likely not in any physical danger.

As a new male presence in the house you are probably just the focus of curiosity or even adoration, especially if the woman was lonely

and insecure about her looks. Most spirits are gentle and carry the same insecurities they had in life.

She may only be waiting for your acceptance.

The place in the woods the appeared on your camera may be where she died, though you said it was pretty far away.

It obviously had some significance for her.

Or her pet might be buried there. I do not understand the note next to the photo of the cat,

although “Bunny by Vandalâ€

I would try not to put out any more cameras or otherwise bother her.

She doesn’t want me to bother her.

If you are accepting of her attentions, as well as of her presence, the incidents will likely fade away on their own.

I hope that this message gives you hope and peace of mind, and that the light finds you and keeps you well no matter where you live.

I will meditate on your safety and overall well-being. AstralMom1957.

Isn’t that nice? I mean, let’s take a giant leap of faith and assume that she’s right about any of this.

She doesn’t want me to bother the poor, forlorn spirit that’s been making my life miserable ever since I moved here.

Hi, Claire. Don’t worry, this message is just for you.

You were probably expecting to hear from me after Marcy posted the photos of the group’s hike out to Great Falls yesterday.

And for starters, God forbid the group should organize a trip to come out and visit me, you want to hike,

I’ve got nothing but endless woods in every direction. It’s not like you all wouldn’t have a place to stay.

That, and I’ve got to look at not one but two pictures of you and David holding hands?

After everything you had said to me, “Oh, he’s just a friend, I could never have any interest in him.â€

And I was stupid enough to believe all—you know, no wonder you wanted to get out of here as soon as the sun started coming up that day,

you were probably feeling guilty since God knows what was already happening between you two at that point.

But you know, good for you, and I hope you’re real happy together. Both of you.

I wouldn’t even care, if you hadn’t come out here and led me on, made me think maybe there was a chance something could happen between us.

You know what I’m going through out here, and this is how I have to find out about you and David? Through Marcy’s group photos?

But you know what? I’m just going to keep sending updates to the group, like nothing ever happened, and I promise you will never, ever get

another private message from me.

So, well done, Claire. Good job. You wanted to get rid of me? You did.

It’s almost 2:30 in the morning and… big surprise, someone’s playing a flute.

Right outside my window.

But the joke is on her, cause I haven’t even gone to sleep yet, it’s not like she’s waking me up or anything.

So keep playing, ugly.

Be quiet!

[flute resumes]

That is it.

That is it, that is it, that is it.

[door chimes, slams]

[gunshot]

Hello from the chilly north.

[Dusty meows]

Dusty…