The Tree Walkers

I remember the morning, it was cold and brisk as the dark blue sky in northern Michigan began to rise. I sat in the driveway while my uncle packed the station wagon as we prepared our annual hunting trip. The old car had a rusty red paint job and a car rack on top that held our tent while in the back seat laid our shotguns, my uncles new pistol, and my dads old rifle he gave me before he left for Afghanistan. He would normally come with us and we would hunt big game like elk and moose, we never hunted bears though. There is believed to be a ghoul or goblin that roamed the lands where the bear hunting grounds were. Obviously my dad just said that so i wouldnt want to hunt bear and also the land was another 2 mile hike from our camp site.

My uncle slammed the trunk and came over and gave me a tight hug. "Ready Kiddo?!" he said condescendingly. I nodded and sat up front while my uncle put his pistol in his hip holster. He got in and we began our drive north. My uncle tried to tell me stories about hunting when he was a boy but i fell asleep 15 minutes in. The two favorite stories he would tell were about the 12 point elk and the goblin that attacked my grandpa. My grandpa would never come with us hunting. He would tell me when he was a boy he use to live in these parts; the people were told to never go out passed dark because the goblin would get you. The story was so kids would be home before dinner but apparently my grandpa said he say this "goblin" kill his pet cat and ran into the woods. The story is actually kind of funny when you think about it.

We pulled into our camping grounds which we owned out in the middle of the woods. I gathered wood while my uncle pitch the tent. It was only 7 in the morning so we went straight to our tree stand once we finished setting up camp. We took our guns and sat in the tree for a few hours before we both got off a shot on a moose which my uncle hit. We tracked the moose a half mile before we found it dead in the middle of the woods. You had your standard entrance and exit bullet holes from the shoulder though the stomach. The hind legs and the bottom of the stomach had cuts from probably barbwire or other moose but the way it lined up looked way too odd.

We dragged the moose back which took the rest of the day basically and once we got back to camp we were exhausted. We didnt even have dinner; we just slept through the night. The next day we went to our normal spots but no luck. We checked our tree cams to see what activity has been going on and to see what sizes the moose were this year. The whole day was a disappointment, we didnt see any moose. Only 2 on camera and they were babies.

The last spot we went had a stand and a camera, i sat in the stand while my uncle checked the camera. He looked down at the monitor and became uneasy. I then became nervous because it was getting dark and i couldnt remember the way back. My uncle grabbed me and told me to stay behind him and be quite. I thought it was a joke at first, "Ohhh sure, did you see a gobblin on the camera?!" i joked. He didnt respond. His eyes were fixed ahead. I knew he was serious when he told me to take my safety off and to make sure i was loaded. I then became even more scared.He quietly showed me the camera while still looking ahead. To my dismay i saw something that made my skin crawl. In the monitor was a group of hooded people surrounding a scary gothic statue. I was confused at first. These people just carry out this statue out in the middle of the woods and huddled around it? It made sense later that night, when we got back to our camp. We didnt have a fire before we left our camp but now there was one which we saw off in the distance.

We knew our grounds well so we hiked up high on the hill on looking our site. Both my uncle and I sat wide eyed as we had our guns fixed on our camp site. We were about 40 yards away but we were well covered with the brush and the dark sky of the winter night. On our camp site were 7 people in robes and an old rusty ford truck still running as the people were looking around our site. They shot into our tent then lite it on fire thinking the people were still in their. They then carried out this stone statue from the camera and set it upon the ashes of our tent. It took all of them to carry it, but once set in place they all knelt in a semi circle except one. He went to the back of the truck and took out a large knife and dragged out the moose we killed yesturday. He gutted it and held a cup next to the wound and filled it with blood.

I didnt bother watching the rest, i just sat holding my gun hoping they wouldnt see us. My uncle kept watch and we sat there for about 2 hours before they left. We agreed to take watch and sleep where we were. The sun rose and we went down to the camp site. The moose was mutilated and there were symbols written in blood on the trees and on the ground. We gathered what little we had left and hiked back to the dirt road that we took to get here. The car was lite on fire and was beyond use so we didnt have any other choose. About 4 miles down the road we walked before we reached the pavement road that led into town. We were happy and relieved to know we were out of the woods and somewhat safe. Just as soon as we felt safe the sound of a truck was heard off in the distance. We waved it down but closer it got the clearer we realized we had scene that truck last night. The old man driving the truck stopped and smiled at us. "Look like you boys are lost." We nodded still holding our guns. "Why dont yall get in da truck n ill drive ya inta town?" "Its ok", my uncle whimpered, "We were just out for a walk". "A walk eh? You need guns to go ona walk?" he smiled. "Yes sir, Bears and all" i said. " Ohh thats right, bears, gotta be careful now, specially out in des woods. Some people have been seeing Goblins out here, dont wanna mess wit dem now, ya hear? He still smiled. Well ill best be on my way, he said. "Yall be safe now" he said slowly. He turned to me, winked, and drove away into the woods. Something told me that wink wasnt a "Be safe, pal" kind of wink. It was more like "Ill be seeing you real soon" wink................ and I was right.

The Skin Man

In 1897 there was a family in southern Kentucky that were burnt alive inside of their home while they slept. The mentally handicapped son of the family was accused of getting a local teenager pregnant and the town was out raged. A mob gathered and borded the doors and windows of the mans home as they lit the house on fire. The screams of the family have said to have reached hell and received the power of evil to aid them. All were killed from either smoke inhalation or from being burn alive, all but one; The boy. The fire department was able to save him despite his terrible burns consuming almost all of his skin. The burns had removed his facial features which was able to allow him to live for the mob was unable to identify him.  The doctors were appalled at the boy having survived such terrible burns and knew he was going to die at any moment, but despite the doctors predictions he managed to live. Some say the hate and evil from hell aided him to revenge his family, some think he was a demon born out of the fire to punish the towns people. The doctors needed almost a full bodies worth of skin to replace his but they were nowhere near prepared to sustain such burns. He managed to get bits and pieces of skin from donors but nothing to cover his face so they gave him a porcelain mask. 


Since he couldnt be identified the doctors would just call him "The Skin Man". He would sometimes mumble something every now and again but never spoke clearly. He just stared at the doctors and never moved. The doctors began to notice weird things about the "skin man", he would scream in the middle of the night and when they got to his bed he was silent. Other patients began to complain about the skin man saying that late at night he would stand at the end of their beds. Even though none of the doctors ever saw the skin man leave his bed, enough patients have complained at that at night he would stand silently at the end of their beds pressing his finger to his mouth saying shhhhh....

They restrained him at night with leather straps but still the complaints still came. Thats when things started to weirder. People in town started to complain to the police saying that a man with a pale face would stare into their windows at night, some said that their kids wouldnt go to school because the skin man would stand in the woods and watched as they would walk home. The police were forced to have men stay on watch to make sure that the skin man that they saw wasnt the same as the one in the hospital. The next morning when the doctors came to check on him the skin man as they would every morning the two police men were balled in a corner. The only thing they would say was "We are not forgiven", thats not the scary part, the skin man was still in his bed as if he had never moved.

Sinister (Review)

The movie is probably top 5 scariest movie of all time in my book. Not only was it scary but it was creepy and like most horror movies have there was a twist at the end. I literally yelled "SHIT" about 4 times and i consider myself "unscareable" which is clearly not true.If you ever have considered yourself a scary movie fan you must watch this film for that title to be true. This movie isnt one of those youd want to watch with a girl so she will cuddle up with you out of fear, she will probably haul ass outta your place because this movie is almost too much. The film is about a one hit wonder writer that writes on actual crime scenarios in which he commits his life and his family to research.




 He (Ethan Hawke) purchases a home that, in the beginning of the film, a family is murdered on video tape in the back yard by hanging. He later finds a box of "Home Movies" on super 8 film reals of other murders in the past that are connected. The director of the movie pushed the limit on the murders from lighting people on fire to running their heads over with a lawn mower and even kids painting satanic symbols on the walls with their parents blood.
The music is also very terrifying. It definitely takes you from real life into the film making the horror experience much more terrifying or how i would phrase it ... "More Fun" ... It is a mixture of the haunted mansion, creepy and hopeless mixed together, that says alot coming from a Nine Inch Nails fan.

I felt uncomfortable and it was as if the film left a mentally deluding impression that seemed to mix the real world with a nightmare even after the film ended. Ethan Hawke does a great performance, been a fan since "Training Day" and this film made me even more of one. If possible do watch in theaters, the true darkness and loud speakers will make this nightmare into a small glimpse of hell.    





In my opinion this movie is scary than "Insidious"

But eh.. what good are my thoughts, watch it for yourself..

Catching Smoke

(For my Dad)

The maintenance man stood on the field and stared into the outfield as the fog of the cool night air hovered above the ground. The blinding lights from the headlights on the baseball field made the outside world look dark. The old man just stood there hunched near the pitchers mound staring into the never ending night. Everyday i pass him on my way home from work, he is always out late on this field either working on it or just staring into the outfield.  He never talks but always waves and smiles behind his white beard as he works on the already perfect field. He was never found during the day but always at night, in fact it scared many of the residence that lived near the public ball park and they often filed complaints but technically he was just doing his job so they couldn't do anything.

Late one night on a cold evening i happened to walk by and he was sitting in the stands looking down at his feet. It was absolutely freezing and he just sat there with his normal blue overalls and brown cap as he just stared. I felt obligated to at least see if he was ok. "Hello, you ok big guy?" The man didnt move, he just sat hunched and depressed. I sat next to him and he reached in his back side of his pants and pulled out an old worn glove and held it tightly. The old man then tried to find his words as he held back his tears. "He was a great pitcher.... he would throw smoke, no one could hit that." he said in a dull tone. "Every saturday id take him  early to the fields and we'd throw til the sun rose. We'd talk and laugh as we played catch before i had to work for the day, id wake him early but he didnt mind spending time with me." I patted him on the back and asked to hear more. "He was so good, not just at baseball but as a person. We grew older and apart as my wife got sick and i got angry. When he turned 16 he woke me up to play catch and i got angry at him" the man began to softly sob. "I told him life wasnt a game and he needed to grow up, his mother, my wife died the night before and i drank to hold back the pain. My anger came out on him even though he was just as sad but knew i needed something simply as a game of catch."

I began to cry as he told his story of his son and how he later joined the army and the last words he said to him were he loved the old man but he couldnt say them back because he was hungover on the morning he was deployed. "He left me his most important thing he had ever owned and placed it in my hands as he left, his glove." the man sobbed hard. The glove had his name on it, Jeremy, it said in a red marker. The story reminded me of my son and also of me and my dad. I never considered a game of catch to be a big deal but to the old man it was everything he had left to live for. "If only i could have one last game of catch" he mound.

I didn't realize then but his son died in the war 3 weeks before he was going to be sent home. The son wrote letters to the old man saying he couldn't wait to come home and see him. The old man didn't have time to respond to any of his letters until he received one that changed everything. Then he quit his job and moved to town to town until he came to work here at the ball park. The old man lived at the hospital and was treated for brain cancer but snuck out at night to be at the ball park, even if it was to clean it. I offered the old man if i could give him some money or a jacket but he declined. I left and thought about what i just learned about the old man and walked the whole way home silently just thinking about the poor old man.

A few weeks went by and each night id walk by he would wave and give a slight smile, we wouldn't talk but we both were happy to see each other. One day i was reading the paper before i went to work and to my surprise i saw the old man had finally died from brain cancer at the age of 72. I was sad but i was happy to have at least spoken with him before he had passed. I felt it would have been a shame had on one had ever talked with him in his last days.

His funeral had about a dozen people, none of which were family. I sat in the back as the service ended and i took a long walk think about the old man. On my way home i walked by the baseball field to remember the conversation that once took place. I sat in the stands and looked at my shoes as the sun began to set. The field was dirty but somewhat peaceful it felt, as if things were ok in the world. The lights had a timer that shut off at ten and i figured id just sit until then in respect of this old man as he did every night. As i thought about my son i felt my love for him grow more and more, i couldnt imagine not seeing him again. Tears filled my eyes as i looked at my watch and saw it was 9:56. I got up to leave and a man in uniform approached me. "Excuse me" he said politely, "I am suppose to be meeting a friend here, this is the ball field ?" I nodded. The man then walked out to the field and i made my way home. I looked back and saw in the mist of the cool night the old man in overalls. He hugged the man in uniform and sobbed as did the other man. He then handed him the glove in his back pocket. Right before the lights turned off the two walked into the fog and i could have sworn, before the old man disappeared he turned to me, smiled and waved.
    

My Love

We promised, together, you and I. We promised we wouldnt let the darkness touch our souls and that we would end the misery together in each others arms. That one day this hell will be behind us and we could live without fear or pain. When the world turns to ash we would rise forth in the next realm as gods of our own nature, creating and destroying at our own pleasure and yet here we are, Just you and I, down to the wire with all that is said and down and yet you take back our promise. I sit in my own wake of blood and tears waiting for you to come over the horizon with my purpose and passion and yet i know you will never come. You were my baby whom i loved beyond life itself, you were my everything, and when you died as did my soul in the eternal void of faded hope. I just wish i could hold you in my arms, my darling beautiful girl, just once more before i set forth on a different path of life and death, for my life will never be the same. My girl, please just know i tried to be happy but you took it all with you when you left. I dont hate you or the cancerous filth that took you away from me, i hate myself for allowing it to come into our lives. I just hate myself. I miss your kisses in the mornings and our walks in the evening. I just wish i could have been a better man, i just wish i could have been a better father to you.

Into the Fire

He stood with an idiotic smile to hear his sentence be revoked due to insanity. The court room was outraged as the judge just let a serial rapist off due to insanity rather than serving 2 life sentences. The victims that had been raped and gruesomely murdered then raped again to the point that the women had to be identified by their dental records. The family members that identified them had to  see a psychologist to help ease the images of their loved ones skulls being crushed to a pulp by a hammer or sometimes just his fists.

The rapist then turned to his lawyer and whispered "Holy shit, you are a magic man. I even began to believe that i was insane." The lawyer was proud to have the highest rate of won cases in the state of Virginia. "Well sonny, they dont pay me the big bucks for nothing, enjoy the rest of your life being catered to while everyone works their asses off." replied the lawyer. "Haaha" like ill have a problem with that, he responded. He was then escorted by 3 policemen as they walked him to an ambulance in handcuffs. The crowds of photographers and journalist covered the sidewalk as they tried to get information of the official highest rape count man that set the record by 12 women, with a total of 47 rapes and 27 murders.

The rapist was strapped to a wheelchair including a muzzle to prevent any biting to the officers. He was rolled up and the doors slammed shut behind him. It was 7 at night and the sun was about to set, the judge went up to the lawyer and gave him a smile and said "Justice will always be served, ill be sure of it". The lawyer then slowly smiles as he watches the ambulance drive off into the Virginia night.

The rapist's name was Henry, he was surprisingly young for these types of chases but what he lacked in age he made up for pure rage. Henry was just turned 27 and he worked at the saw mill all his life. Henry would dress up as a scarecrow and hide in peoples attics and waited til they would come home. He then would take the women or young boys on some occasions and bind them then placed them in a burlap sack and carried them to his truck. His basement had 16 of the bodies, the others were either around highways or behind gas stations. The men often worked late hours in the towns coal mine and would leave their wives alone til 5 in the morning sometimes, making women easy to abduct in the middle of the night.

On the way to the asylum the guards didn't say a word. They just held their shotguns and looked nervous. "I wouldn't suppose y'all are afraid of me now" said Henry through his muzzle. The guard scoffed  "Son you are as stupid as you are crazy, do you know where you are going"? "Some shitty hospital out in the city" said Henry. "No not a hospital, technically this place doesn't exist" said the guard with a hush tone. Henry was amused until the guard said that, he felt something painfully true about that statement, something awfully true.

The ambulance drove for 3 hours on the lone road without seeing even one passing car. Henry knew he was still in Virginia but he completely had no idea where he was going. His straps began to cut into him and he began to be nervous when the ambulance slowed to a stop at this chain linked fence in the middle of the road. Suddenly two big spotlights appeared 20 feet off the ground and shined a blinding fluorescent light; two military grade guards approached with heavy machine guns and asked for identification. The driver then shown the guard a big badge with all necessary information. The guard then went back to his companion and they opened the gate and the ambulance continued to drive into the night.For 15 minutes they drove until they stopped again but this time they were at what seemed to be a city almost. It was the wooden asylum with all 7 floors lit and big heavy doors and windows with metal bars.

Henry was wheeled in and the guards followed shotguns raised. This doctor approached him and the guards with a clipboard in hand. The guards left and two assistants came in odd gowns, not like hospital gowns but thick leather clothes as if they were handling sharp objects or dealt with a messy task. The doctor then looked at Henry through his big glasses and stared. "I suppose you think you cheated death, am i right? Do you think you are clever? All those women being raped and murdered and the world will send you to a hospital to get better, because you are worth more than them right?! Well, to die on death row would be like being in the frying pan and to be sent here..... well you just fucking jumped into the fire my friend." He then injected Henry in the neck and smiled as he faded in and out of consciousnesses until he fell under the darkness.

Henry woke up in this room and he was gagged and tied down on a stretcher. His wrists and ankles were bound with zip ties while he lied naked on the cold stretcher. The room he was in was a single light bulb that had a green tint that only covered him. He could see the walls and floors hardly and he saw a few figures in the corner writing down and mumbling something. The walls had news paper clippings and papers as well as pictures of what appeared to be plague victims and car wreck victims along other deformities. These pictures and papers literally covered more than half the wall in front of him, his eyes adjusted from the drugs and also the terrible lighting that gave him a headache. The doctors concluded talking to each other and they motioned over to someone who brought in a TV.

The TV was static for a few minutes but suddenly cut on. The TV was showing a group of doctors hovering over a person as they operated on the abdominal area. The person was a thin woman and she appeared to not be under any anesthesia for her screams were blood chilling as she floundered around on the table. She was also bind the same way with zip cords on her wrists and ankles. The screen then cut over to some doctors talking about a chemical agent they would inject into your spinal cord, and that how it was meant to strengthen the core and DNA make up of a person but the test subjects experienced terrible side-affects. In fact, the injection didn't actually work but something so terribly wonderful was discovered. Instead of building a stronger race of humans they made a completely different set; except this new race has yet to evolve to a sustainable state. The skin was pale and was like a thick leather jacket, the spine grew so great that the subjects had to hunch over; also their teeth grew due to calcium growth and also the eyes turned completely black. Apparently the subjects would turn blind.

The TV then changed gears from a group of doctors to a the same woman on the stretcher in a dark room that had a long hallway at the end which led to another door. She screamed as loud as she could and stained so hard that her wrist were starting to bleed. This loud buzz rang and a door opened, there was a tall man hunched over and just sat there for a few minutes. The hallway was so long you could only make out a figure but it was obviously tall and thin. The woman tried her best to hold back her tears as if she didnt want to be heard but slowly this thing slunk low and walked over to her. This wasnt a person, it was given the chemical agent that lead to this. It then made a loud bellow and ran around frantically flailing its arms and jumping around. The woman then screamed and the thing then stopped and looked in her direction. Suddenly it bursted at her at a sprint and felt around. It then proceeded to bit the feet off the woman at the ankles with a bite then tear motion. Its fingers then felt around to find her face which was screaming in pain and terror. It's long gnarly fingers then gauged out her eyes with its thumbs while it slammed her head against the stretcher. She was still screaming but in a more dull tone. It then found her mouth and stuck its whole hand in her throat, with a slight moment of struggle then her lower jaw cracks and tears off with a sudden jolt. Her tongue was completely exposed and moved frantically, the thing finally grasped her tongue and tore off with its sharp teeth. Half an hour later there was hardly anything left other than hair and pulp of her bones and muscle. The tape stopped and Henry knew that what he was about to be  or whats left at least.

Henry laid there thinking of all the women he had raped and murdered, he thought how they must have felt when they were under his sickening power. He was in complete terror and couldnt stop shaking. The doctors then rolled his stretcher down to this bland vacant room with a long hallway at the end of it. Henry cried and yelled for mercy. The doctors left the room and locked the door. Henry just sat in darkness for a long period of time, but he knew what was coming, this evil that he once lived that is now going to be returned. He turned at looked at the two way mirror and damned the people that were about to put him in this hell.

The doctor watches as a man approaches from behind, he then turns and greets him. The doctor then motions toward a red button on a dashboard. The man pushes it and the sound of the loud buzz comes on and the room opens at the end of the hall. The man turns and walks out but before he leaves the doctor says "Drive home safe, your honor."