Hockey Pucks

Three years ago, a serial killer terrified my small hometown. He was referred to as the Chase Pond slasher. He was called that because he murdered four people near a pond with that name. Three bodies were found in the forest, and the other was in the pond itself. The terror lasted for six months until he was finally caught.

At least, everyone thought the right man was caught. That is until three more people went missing a month ago. All three were last seen around Chase Pond, but there’s been no sign of any of them since.

I live in Arkansas and have my entire thirty-one years of life. My town is basically in the middle of nowhere and boasts a proud population of just under four thousand. I work doing odd jobs as my dad taught me a wide range of skills growing up. My favorite of these skills is scuba diving. I’ve dived in the ocean as well as many lakes, ponds, and rivers. I’ve recovered bodies and sunken objects, repaired dams, and various other tasks that gained me a solid payday.

I was the one who found the body in Chase Pond about two and a half years ago and it traumatized me a bit. The brutality was something to behold, I swore to myself I wasn’t going to dive in that pond anymore. It just has an unsettling aura to me now, the whole area makes me feel sick.

That all changed when I heard three people had gone missing near the pond. A woman, and a couple, all of which were in their early twenties. The surrounding area and the pond were searched but nothing was found and now people are panicking. Everyone believes the Chase Pond slasher is back, and the wrong man was caught. Unfortunately for me, I know something everyone else doesn’t, and it means I’m going to have to get back in the waters of the infamous pond.

There aren’t any other divers who live anywhere near here, so no one else besides me searched the pond when the original murders took place. It sounds like this time they brought someone in to look as I made it clear to the police I couldn’t do it again. He didn’t have any luck, so authorities moved on to the woods pretty quickly. The only problem is the pond is so murky and deep, I don’t believe an outsider would be able to search it thoroughly enough in the time frame he had. For some reason the search was only about a day and a half. The Police Chief told me they moved on so fast because they had reason to believe the missing people were somewhere in the forest. I asked him what they found that made them think that, but he refused to tell me.

I know the chief well; his name is Silas and he’s been a family friend my whole life. After pressuring him some he eventually admitted to me that the diver had to leave because a bus went off a bridge outside of Little Rock. I heard about it on the news, it’s a really awful situation. Eight people are presumed to be deceased. They needed all the help they could get so the diver left with a promise he would return. Two weeks have passed since he had to leave, and there hasn’t been any update on when he’s coming back. I even thought about going myself, but I know I’m needed here now more than ever.

The story about the missing people likely being somewhere in the woods was completely made up. Police just want to calm everyone down as much as they can, the amount of fear and anger has been insane. They’ve been under constant pressure to turn up something, and since there’s only about fifteen of them it’s been very difficult. I know there are people here who are more than willing to take the law into their own hands if they don’t.

The truth is they haven’t found any evidence in the forest, not even the smallest bit. Silas or Si, as everyone calls him, said they could easily still be out there. The search certainly isn’t ending anytime soon. Although, he did confide in me that he believes the missing people are probably somewhere in the pond. It took me five days to find the body last time, and it wasn’t even hidden at all. There was a cinder block tied to each leg, and he was floating off the bottom right in the middle. I missed him by what must have only been a few feet multiple times before I accidentally bumped into the body. If the missing people are in the pond and hidden under a sunken log, or large rock, odds are you wouldn’t ever see them.

That’s why I know I have to go look again. The diver may never return and I’m the only one who has the ability and time to search the pond top to bottom. I don’t want to, but I can’t stop thinking about the poor families of the missing people and guilt has overcome me. If anyone can find the bodies it’s me, so that’s what I’m going to do. I hope I’m wrong and that all three are just lost out in the woods. But like Si, something tells me they’re somewhere on the bottom of that horrible pond, waiting to be found.

I drove slowly down the long quiet dirt road that led to the pond. The road is severely unkempt and most people over the age of 25 avoid the area. It was known as a bit of a hangout for young people to drink and do drugs. When the murders happened though, even most teenagers stopped going. Now that people are missing again the area is completely closed off.

I got permission from Si to search the pond. He informed me that no one is looking in that area anymore as the search has moved much farther out into the forest. There shouldn’t be anyone around to interrupt or question me. He told me to call if I found anything at all, the townspeople are basically on the verge of a riot and the police don’t know how much longer they can keep the peace. He also told me about some items that could be used as evidence to keep an eye out for in case I didn’t find the actual bodies. The couple had a set of silver jewelry, they apparently always wore them. The man had a watch, and the woman had a bracelet. I obviously hoped to find more than just some jewelry if they were down there, but it was still good to know.

I pulled into the small dirt parking lot and turned off my truck. From here it’s another ten minutes to get to the pond on foot. As I expected no one appeared to be around. I pulled my scuba gear out of the bed of the truck and humped it down the path until I saw the clearing and the pond came into view. It wasn’t even a particularly wide pond, but it was surprisingly deep, up to sixty feet in the middle. I could already tell the water was incredibly murky, just like how I remembered it.

I set my gear next to the remnants of an old dock and thought about the slasher. I probably should have brought someone with me to watch my back while I’m submerged, but I didn’t want to involve anybody else in this grim affair. I figured too even if he was out there, the odds he would attack me in broad daylight seemed incredibly slim. I had my gun in the glove box of my truck, which did at least make me feel a bit better.

I got my gear on and sat on the edge of the dock with my legs dangling in the water. I glanced around the clearing to see if I could spot anything in the thick forest, but I didn’t notice any movement. I turned my attention back to the water and even a few feet away I could only see a couple inches under the surface. Although the pond isn’t super wide like I said, the banks dropped off pretty quickly and even on the sides it went from about a foot deep to ten in just a couple of steps. The dark water actually encouraged me a bit. I fully believed whatever search the diver had done couldn’t have been enough. A day and a half isn’t sufficient with this pond. I had every intention of searching for an hour today just to feel it out, and then around four hours every day after until I either turned up something or was one hundred percent sure the bodies were not down there.

I glanced around the woods one last time and then took a deep breath before I plunged myself into the cool water. I sank down quickly and just floated a few feet under for a moment until I got a small amount of visibility. It still wasn’t much; I knew well enough it wasn’t going to get any better though. I began to swim and survey around the sides of the pond. I was only about two feet under, and my plan was to do the top of the perimeter today, and then over the next few days go deeper. Basically, make a big circle, and then slowly bring the circle tighter and tighter until I had searched the entire body of water.

I shivered some remembering the body in the middle as the image still appears in my restless brain quite often. Like I said I’ve recovered bodies before, but none of them had been mutilated like that poor man. I shook the image out of my head and continued scanning what was visible. I kept my right hand on the steep bank and slowly made some progress around the pond. I only spotted small fish, and what looked like some holes in the bank that I planned to check out once I had finished with the rest of the pond. The holes on the side of ponds and rivers were really common here and usually contained fish, crawfish or turtles.

After fifty minutes I saw that I was low on air, my tank held just under an hour’s worth. The most excitement I had in that timeframe was seeing a large snapping turtle swimming above me. I climbed out of the cloudy water back onto the dock and checked my surroundings. There was no one around still, which I expected. I figured I had probably searched under five percent of the pond, and I knew this wasn’t going to be over quickly. The bodies could easily still be down there, I wasn’t even close to making any kind of conclusion yet. I packed up my gear and got back in my truck, beginning a slow drive home.

Quite frankly, I just wanted to go back so I could get my search over with and my conscience cleared. I didn’t know if I wanted to find the bodies or not. I was positive that I had to know for sure one way or another. The families needed closure if they were in the pond. It scared me more to think that they were down there, but if I didn’t find them no one would ever know. They would just decompose, forgotten by the world and not able to gain any peace in death. I couldn’t live with myself if I let that happen.

I woke up early the next morning and made the drive to that excuse for a parking lot. I arrived back at the dock hauling two of my four tanks and then returned to my truck for the last two. I slowly got my gear back on and let out a deep sigh as I scanned the tree line, but no sign of movement. I reluctantly turned my gaze down to the water and imagined what horrors the day could bring. I lowered myself in and once again began scanning the sides, but this time a bit deeper. I still wasn’t quite at the bottom, but I could occasionally see it through the brown water. Once again, I didn’t see much except for some fish and a few more holes in the bank. I was going to check out seven of the bigger holes I had seen that could maybe fit a body. I just wanted to wait until I had looked everywhere else. The thought of squeezing myself headfirst into those openings terrified me, and on some level, I hoped I’d find the bodies before having to do that. I felt bad thinking such an awful thing, but I still did either way.

I finished my search for the second day and figured I’d now covered about fifteen percent of the whole pond. It was slow moving; I had come up to replace my tanks three times. I was at least sure the areas I had checked were empty. I was exhausted too; I was ready to go home and take it easy until tomorrow. I packed up my gear and was about to head down the path, when something on the other side of the water caught my eye. I took me a second to register what it was, and to my surprise it was a man. He was just standing in the tree line staring at me and I immediately felt on edge. Before I could yell anything to him, he turned around and walked back into the forest.

I hurried down the path and relaxed some once I was inside my truck. I left two of my tanks behind as I just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. I figured the man was probably just some hiker, but the chance it could be the slasher really disturbed me. It was crazy to think that I may have just seen him, and I debated calling the police. But I reminded myself that I had no actual reason to believe it was him other than the fact he was near the pond. For all I knew it could have even been the missing man. I thought for a few minutes in my truck about whether I should go after him, call the police, or just wait.

I opted to wait until I was done searching the pond. If I called the police, it would cause even more panic and would likely be for nothing. If I went after him there were countless scenarios that could occur. I figured too why would the missing man just be hanging out in the forest, so I assumed it wasn’t him at least. The smartest option seemed to be to rule out the pond, and if I saw the man again then it would be time to inform the police. I turned on my truck and drove away feeling conflicted and uneasy. I arrived back home and napped for the rest of the day. I went to bed early and woke up as soon as the sun rose and prepared myself for the longest day yet. I had covered less than one sixth of the pond using five total tanks and decided to bring another five just for today alone. Four tanks a day was usually my limit, but I wanted this to be done with. My goal was to get over a quarter of the pond searched total.

I pulled into the parking lot much more wary of the potential that the slasher was actually out there. I kept my eyes on the woods as I walked to the clearing and set down two of my five tanks. I didn’t feel like going back for the rest until I needed them, so I left the other three in my truck. My arms were so sore from the past two days, and scuba tanks are much heavier than most people realize. The two empty ones from yesterday were still where I left them which put me at ease a bit. I scanned the trees around the pond more intently, but thankfully I didn’t notice anything. I got all my gear on and took my traditional deep sigh before I lowered myself into the water.

It felt murkier than usual, but I think I was just nervous. I was going to scan the bottom around the sides and then if I had time begin to explore the middle some. At the top it was easy to rule out spots, but the deeper I went the search became slower and much more difficult. I gradually pushed my way through the water and once again I only saw some fish. After forty minutes when my air was about two thirds of the way empty, I spotted a large log that was resting on the bottom against the side. I examined the log for a few minutes but didn’t find anything of note. It had some crawfish inside but that was about it. I began to move on, but I quickly stopped when I noticed something off to the left.

It was another hole; I had seen a lot, but none were nearly as big as this one. It was about a foot from the very bottom and absolutely huge. Two grown men would have been able to swim inside at the same time and I hesitated for a moment marveling at its sheer size. If someone was going to hide some bodies and had the means of staying underwater for a long time, this would be the perfect spot. I just slowly paddled in place staring at the pitch-black opening to the tunnel. I wanted nothing more than to move on and leave it alone, but I couldn’t. I approached the opening and with yet another deep sigh, pushed my way inside.

I turned my flashlight on as I could see next to nothing without it. In the main part of the pond, I didn’t use it much. It just kind of made my view choppier, I only occasionally flipped it on in certain sections. However, this was a whole different story. Without it I would have been in total darkness. I was a bit in awe of how much room there was as I moved farther in. I had about a foot of space below me and almost two above. I had never noticed this tunnel before, I have no idea why it was so big. I assumed it could have connected to a cave and the entrance to the pond opened up at some point. We have a lot of caves around here and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if one was attached to the pond.

I was about fifteen feet in before I began to be able to make out the back wall. It was comprised of a large pile of rocks and seemed to confirm it did lead into a cave, but the ceiling had collapsed at some point blocking the rest of the tunnel. I examined the floor for a few minutes, but I only saw mud and a thick layer of leaves and rocks. I was about to turn around with a huge sense of relief, but something reflected off my flashlight in the far back corner that I had missed on my first glance. I swam over and realized it was what appeared to be a silver bracelet.

My blood ran cold, it looked just like the one Si had described. I picked it up and pushed around some of the rocks and leaves next to where it sat. I scanned the area more carefully, my flashlight shaking in my hand. To my horror, what looked like a human skull came into view.

I felt the bracelet slip out of my numb trembling hand. It was in fact a human skull broken into three pieces as well as what appeared to be a vertebra. I was convinced it had to be the remains of the woman and the other two were probably here as well. I was almost out of air, so I didn’t have any more time to look. This was enough for the police to get involved though, they could bring in more divers and scour the whole tunnel. I felt disgusted but also a bit relieved. I had solved the mystery, and the families could have some closure at least. My thoughts were broken by the sudden strange feeling that someone was behind me. I could just sense a presence, so I slowly turned around and raised my flashlight. What I saw will never leave my nightmares.

It wasn’t a human being, certainly not the slasher. What it actually was is still hard for my mind to accept as real. I stared in horror, locking eyes with the biggest catfish I’ve ever seen. It was about ten feet away and I could only make out some of its face, but it blocked most of the tunnel and had eyes the size of hockey pucks.

I froze in terror waiting for the behemoth to do something, but it just floated there looking at me. I checked my dive watch, I was down to under five minutes of air, and I began to really panic. I was cornered in a tunnel by what I estimated to be at minimum an eight-foot catfish. I knew catfish could get big, I had even seen two four footers, but nothing close to this.

I didn’t know what to do, but adrenaline began to take over. I couldn’t just stay here and wait; I didn’t have time. It wasn’t moving and if I didn’t, I was going to drown. I gathered my courage and pushed myself in its direction. It still didn’t budge, not until we were eye to eye. Just then it snapped to life and lunged at my arm. I let out a muffled scream into my regulator as it clamped down and we rolled around for a moment. It swallowed my flashlight in the process, and I could no longer see the monster that had half my left arm in its enormous mouth. I couldn’t believe how strong it was, I couldn’t do anything to get it off. It pushed its way past me, pressing me against the wall and then spinning me around. I slammed off the walls, ceiling, and floor over and over in the dark. I felt my ribs crack and my left arm snap at the elbow. It seemed like it was dragging me back to the end of the tunnel, to total darkness and death. On top of that my worst possible fear as a diver came true. My tank got caught on the ceiling and was ripped off my back.

I was now purely on a breath hold and in immense pain. My adrenaline that was already high entered a whole new gear. I reached onto the ground with my good arm trying to grab anything I could use as a weapon. My fingers dragged through mud and decaying leaves before I felt what I knew to be a bone that was likely a human femur. I didn’t even hesitate to grab it, my lungs burned intensely. I jabbed at the fish’s face as hard as I could muster. I eventually felt it release my arm and make a croaking sound. I assumed I had caught its large eyes and frantically pushed my way back towards the dim light of the entrance.
I swam desperately down the tunnel waiting for the catfish to grab my leg and pull me back into its lair. I pushed with everything I had using all the strength that remained in my body. My left arm just hung uselessly at my side, and I couldn’t tell if my ribs or lungs hurt worse. I managed to escape into the main pond and lunged my way towards the sky that grew brighter. My chest burned and my head pounded, I could feel movement behind me too. I reached the surface just as my lungs felt like they were going to explode. I sucked in air as I splashed over to the shore and tried to climb out shaking with terror. I was about twenty feet to the right of the dock, but I had to get out as soon as possible. The bank was too steep though and I couldn’t pull myself up with just my right arm. I clawed against the soft mud hopelessly, expecting to feel my legs pulled out from beneath me at any moment.
Just then a man appeared and grabbed both of my arms pulling me onto the bank. I screamed as intense pain shot down my left arm. I made sure both my legs were out before I glanced back and from a few inches below, I could just barely make out the catfish looking at me. It had followed me up to the surface, and if I had been in the water any longer it would have gotten me. I could see its blood floating above its unnervingly large eyes. It seemed to stare at me for a few moments, before it slowly faded away back into the depths.
I scrambled up to my feet and stumbled about ten feet away from the pond before I allowed myself to fall onto my back taking the deepest breaths of my life. The man walked over with a concerned look on his face. “Are you alright, what are you doing in the pond?” I relaxed some and focused my attention on the kind-looking older man. I was still on edge and ready to defend myself if need be. It was the same guy from yesterday. I was wary but since he pulled me out of the water, I figured he probably wasn’t planning on hurting me. “I was looking for the missing people, who are you? I got permission from the police to be here, why are you here?” I demanded sternly. “I live on the other side of the pond man, about two miles away through those trees. I know the pond’s closed off that’s why I was watching you, I was trying to figure out what you were doing.” I fully relaxed once he said that. I guess he still could have been the slasher but at that moment I didn’t even care. “If you have a phone we need to call the police right now, I found the bodies of the missing people.” I paused for a moment, “and what’s responsible.”

The whole police force turned up to the pond, even officers from the next county over came too. They got the best fishermen in town to try and pull the catfish out. After three days they finally were able to after a two hour-long battle. It took five men to get it onto shore, it was by far the biggest blue catfish ever recorded. It was almost nine feet long and weighed two hundred and seventy-four pounds. For scale, the previous record in Arkansas was one hundred and sixteen pounds. It had abnormally large eyes for a catfish and its coloration was unusual as well. People weren’t even totally sure it was actually a blue cat. There just aren’t any other species that live here, or all of America for that matter, that made any more sense.

Even more disturbing, the remains of all three of the missing people were found in its stomach. To make matters worse, there were actually other human remains too. The police are trying to identify who they are, but they haven’t had any luck yet. It does seem at least they aren’t from our town. No one knows for sure if the fish pulled the deceased down while swimming or if they fell in, but if nothing else our town’s missing people are accounted for. I just hope they find out who the others are soon. Their families deserve some peace too.

Four of my ribs and left arm were broken, not to mention torn ligaments in my elbow and a concussion. I’m still recovering from the injuries, but I don’t even care, I’m just happy to be alive. The guy who pulled me out really does live near the pond and I’m thankful he was around to help me. I got a chance to talk to him while we were waiting for the police to show up, he seemed like a really nice guy. He apparently builds houses for a living and has actually only lived here for about five years. He joked some that after all the chaos of the past few years he may have to move, and I can’t say I’d blame him if he does.

The panic in town began to die down once the bodies were found. The decision was also made to close the pond off permanently. I don’t think they even really needed to do it, no one wants to go near that place. Part of me wonders if the slasher is still out there, maybe he killed those people and threw them in the water. People seem to ignore that aspect as everyone was quick to solely blame the fish. The police are still investigating the area, so I try not to worry about it too much. Besides, if not thinking about it makes folks feel better, then who am I to say anything about it.

The catfish actually ended up being fried and was offered to anyone that wanted a plate. I had no interest in that myself, the thought of eating a fish that had consumed human beings absolutely disgusts me. I think some people viewed it as justice, like since it ate some of us, we’re going to eat it. I guess that made sense, it didn’t change how I feel about it though.
I just wish I could get its face out of my head. Even almost a month later I see the fish in my unsettling dreams every night. I wake up choking on imaginary water with the overwhelming feeling of being stuck in that tunnel with human bones surrounding me. I think on some level I’ll always be trapped in the monster’s lair with those poor souls.

Desperately still trying to escape.

Credit: Calvin Levitt