She had scolded me once again, told me that we had gone on this trip as an escape from the monotony of life in the city and bond as a couple, as if I already hadn’t known that. Expressing her feelings about how I’d become more “Distant” and “A husk […]
Gunnar Viermetz, a hunter for a specialized organization, scanned the side door of his reinforced white van. He looked at his contract for details about the animal his bosses wanted him to hunt. It was large, covered in fur, and was killing people. “Helpful.” He mumbled, shaking his head and
A Hunter in the Dark Read More »
To be honest, it was all about delay. Maura was going to Rhode Island School of Design, there had never been any question of that. Goodie still wasn’t sure he wanted to go to University of Boston, but he was. Arnie was going to M. I. T., and I was taking
I Went Camping With a Bog Monster Read More »
The leaves rustled under my boots as we climbed up the hill. I was cold. I was tired. I was bored. I’ll never forget that fateful fall weekend my dad dragged me out hunting. He told me I was ten and it was time I started growing up. Time to
“Dad, look!” I looked up from the dusty and dirty old map I had been examining for the past seventeen minutes to see what Liam was pointing at through the window, feeling worried and upset that I still hadn’t got any clue at all as to our whereabouts. He was
Something was Following us When we were Stranded in the Middle of the Sea Read More »
When people ask me about how it is to live in my neck of the woods, the Carolina Piedmont, I’d like to tell them of the rolling hills that lead up to the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. I’d like to tell them of the somewhat eerie and rather endearing orchards
White Eyes in Bright Lights Read More »
The roads are different at night. It’s something my mom used to say all the time. She said it when I was a child in the back seat, and she said it when she was teaching me how to drive. Every stretch of highway or backroad turn was different under
Below the peaks of the Catskill Mountains you will occasionally find an ancient and gnarled apple tree. Such a tree is a reliable landmark; signaling that an early American farmhouse sits, or once sat, nearby. Sometimes only a single shoot of the old tree remains, yet the ancient life persists
I’ve been deployed on assignment to a new fracking well installation on Mount Olympus, on the Olympic Peninsula, in Washington state, for the last week, of what is expected to be a month-long job. It’s hard being away from my wife and two kids for so long, but it’s what
The Quakes of Mount Olympus Read More »
Take in that fresh air girl! Damn it feels great to be back. Everything looks smaller though. “Yeah, because you were like three feet tall last time you were here, ya walnut.” Buddy “Bud” Jake looked at Gwen with a smile. The classic platonic boy-girl relationship where no sexual tension
They Only Take One Read More »
I work for the US Forest Service. A lot of interesting to fairly abnormal happenings have occurred during my 20+ years of service with FS. Reading the experiences of others on this and other sites about their experience in forestry work makes me want to share my own experiences. Let
Confessions of a Forester Read More »
To all my children, to all those who followed me, and to those who trusted me, I am sorry, but this is my suicide note. It is necessary to kill the monster which now haunt us, one beyond all hope for redemption. There are many things which I should have
Children of Wood and Man Read More »
There are few careers with the same considerations as police work. Not only are we in a position to make life-changing choices, but we also have to live with the consequences of those choices forever. Many people struggle to handle that. Time and time again, we see what happens when
I Investigate Disturbing Cases: Here Are My Stories – Voices From Nature Read More »
Darlene Kelly’s eyes scanned the set of hoof prints in the mud where she knelt. Her eyes moved to the thick underbrush in front of them, where something large had fled, tearing a hole in the autumn foliage. She could see crimson specks on a patch of leaves to the
Heart of the Rotwood Read More »
The light of the camp fire offered little comfort to the panic that surged through him. His blood might as well have been pure adrenaline. His senses were on high alert, triggering him, causing him to jump at the slightest sight or sound. “AAAGGHHHHHHHHH! HEEEEELLLP ME”! There was that scream
It’s mid January, and, as I had recently turned 19, I had decided that it was time to take a rite of passage to manhood so to speak. So after nagging my parents (my mother mostly to be honest) for weeks, they had finally caved to my pleas to take
I have been a hunter since a very young age. A wanderer of the silent woods, a stalker of the croaking marshes, a drifter of the sighing deserts. My father was a hunter as was his father. I would say it runs in our blood, but I think it runs
Not many people take me seriously. I get it. Someone with a traumatic past, like mine, must be nuts, right? But, I know what I’ve seen. I know all too well. You see, I’m a Bigfoot hunter. But, I don’t like calling it that. First, there is more than one
Please stay away from Wayne National Forest Read More »
I recently inherited my grandfather’s rural home. A log cabin buried deep within 100 acres of woodland— a picturesque scene untouched for decades and a perfect dwelling that I am now proud to call my own. I would spend the weekends here as a child. The wooded paths,
What Lies Within the Hollow Tree Read More »
One night outside Longfield, Massachusetts was all it took to never feel peace again. The little town is not too far from Thoreau’s famed Walden, and curiosity drove me and some like-minded friends to make the trek one hot summer. It’s a little place, and so secluded that you won’t
New England Residents Beware Read More »
3:30 p.m., 1-September: One three-person party entered the Rio Grande National Forest in Hinsdale County, Colorado. They consisted of Trevor Nyson (37 years old) and Matilda Nyson (33 years old), a married couple, and Benny Nyson (8 years old), their only son. 5:31 p.m., 1-September: Trevor and Matilda, highly distraught,
Monster Hunting and Other Inadvisable Behavior Read More »
There’s an old, abandoned mission in the hills west of Tucumcari, New Mexico. It’s about a 3-hour hike from the nearest access point by car. It’s not marked on any map and there’s no clear trail to it, but if you had a day or two to spend searching, you
It was nothing new. Just a normal trip to the lake. My friends and I had gone to lake Thunderbird many times on weekends, it was our favorite retreat from college and family and everything else that stressed us. I was 19 at the time, fresh into college and fresh
The Shadow in the Lake Read More »
We were having another lockdown drill when I found out about Holly Reyes. I was in Social Studies, third period, when Principal Weston’s muffled voice spat at us from the ceiling. We all sighed and ducked under the long tables, limbs shoving aside plastic chairs as we army-crawled into tucked
