''The Hollows and the Hills'' | VERY BEST OF DR CREEPEN’S VAULT 2019 [EXCLUSIVE STORY]

[Music] long-term listeners to the channel might remember about a month ago they did a story called the blood trails with a fantastic guest performance from nature's temper now this was a long one who's about two hours long and I'm very pleased to say that the author has delivered yet another tale of terror for you and if you listened to the previous one I think even though the subjects different you're gonna pick up on the same tone and atmosphere in this one now this is a four-part story so I've put timestamps in the description because I know it's quite a lot to ask for you two hours of solid listening well you can break this up into smaller parts if you want well what else is there to say I think it's time for you all to sit back and relax with your favorite drink and I'm often asked how it was lying first became interested in the true crime genre it's a sort of question I frequently get at conventions book signings panel meetings and interviews but the actual answer is fairly mundane what I find more interesting is the source of that question why people expect a compelling answer I suppose we're used to the idea we get from movies and television where characters can often label one thing one singular event that acts is the catalyst of their entire fictional lives in reality the truth is much simpler some things just have a natural appeal to you I couldn't say exactly why I first found the true crime genre so compelling or why I made it my life's work for over two decades however I can say that what I find so appealing about the genre is what it has to say about the state of humanity in general and how it edify us about the curious blind spots of society and human behavior in my youth I was satisfied with only the macabre details of crime hardly ever ruminating on the nature of the human being is involved in these gruesome dramas and it wasn't until my 20s and I fully grasped the social dimension of it all a fair amount of my fascination with the genre actually stem from a frustration with fictional crime the kind you see in movies and on TV I grew up in the 70s and 80s watching reruns of shows like Columbo and Hawaii five-o police procedurals and cop dramas with all-star casts and high-concept visions of modern crime after the thousands of time watching the drama of a murderous knitting society or a professional rivalry gone wrong I got frustrated with the idea that crime could be so banal and yet so over-the-top in his origin by contrast true crime while seemingly less interesting in its setup or execution really highlights the remote regions of the social fabric that TV shows or movies rarely seemed to acknowledge but when I find most compelling it's how a violent and heinous crime can stand in such stark contrast to a mundane commonly accepted reality when I think of what human beings are capable of I think of cases where a man murders his wife it is so convincing in their acts of innocence in grief that even the victim's family can maintain their innocence for years it's hard to imagine that such individuals could possibly lead outwardly normal life's never betraying their true character while others of their ilk can so easily engage in barbarous crimes out in the open perhaps there is something to be said about what our society really values and how our expectations can be so easily subverted it was in my early 20s I began pursuing the subject with great zeal though admittedly at that point my interested yet to mature beyond the level of decidedly juvenile fascination I spent my college years and some years after roaming the backwoods of Pennsylvania my home state and Western New York playing the amateur detective never concerned with money or adult responsibilities courtesy of my sizeable trust fund yes I was a rich kid and during those golden years the object of money was never a barrier to my hobbies I grew up in Mount Lebanon an affluent suburb south of the Pittsburgh metro area and my family was decidedly affluent even by those lofty standards my youth was one of private schools and country clubs and other trappings of the wealthy but I'd like to think that I was reasonably down-to-earth as far as that background is concerned I would travel all over the state pursuing unsolved cases in the rural heart lungs eating at diners drinking in dive bars and sleeping in motels as if seeing how the other half lives was like a grand adventure I would set myself up as a friendly nuisance in these towns and pretend that I wasn't just another rich kid slumming it with a local color while doing the junior detective bit with a great interest but no great skill with my crew of friends from college we had an absolute blast traveling all over the state pursuing these gruesome mysteries sometimes joking that we were like in haha rated version of the gang from scooby-doo it seems kind of stupid when I think about it now notwithstanding the tremendous fund we had doing it I learned later that investigating crimes particularly violent and heinous crimes like murder or kidnapping can be a very dangerous business if you aren't repaired and don't fully respect the subject matter after all one can't be too surprised if a known murderer might react in a homicidal fashion if they feel they might be cornered especially if their pursuer is a civilian in those early years I was blissfully ignorant of such hazards never really taking any of that seriously this was a lesson that I was destined to learn the hard way but however much that experience terrifies me to this day I'm almost glad it happened in a way it was how my appreciation of a true crime genre genuinely matured and how I learned to show the respect that the subject demands about points had never been truly passionate about it however much I cherished it as a hobby before I have lived my life believing that there is a distinct difference between simply having a passion versus being truly passionate about something and the real difference is that sense of respect I distinctly remember the bizarre an outwardly unbelievable case that really hammered home that lesson in respect it was in the late summer of 1989 when I investigated the mystery of Dutchman's Hollow I was 24 years old at the time still relatively fresh from my college years pursuing my amateur investigations as energetically as ever I drifted apart somewhat from my old crew of friends from college though I was still in touch with them my old pattern of trolling the backwoods of Pennsylvania still occupied most of my time and with my sizeable trust fund my idle pursuits could very well have gone on forever failing at that still had what the Chinese call an iron rice bowl a guaranteed well-paying job with the family business I wasn't too worried about losing my standing in this respect as I was the youngest son and therefore would not inherit the throne anyway I had a small collection of crime journals and old newspaper clippings that I regularly pored through for any new leads when I first stumbled upon the mention of the mysterious Dutchman's Hollow I felt like the luckiest junior detective in the whole world the cases surrounding this place though well documented were not well explored or investigated in other words was fertile ground for someone like myself to make their mark in the fact that so little was conclusively known about these cases was very inviting for an inquisitive fan none too cautious mind like my own the name Dutchman's Hollow refers to a remote and isolated stretch of forest in the Susquehannock State Forest in north central Pennsylvania a place well off the beaten path even for that region it lies in a hilly area at the north end of the Appalachian Mountains and anybody who is been through that area that was hell dense and lush the forests can be around there at that time of the year the trees were still dense and lastly the leaves and still had a brilliant and vibrant green in the weeks before the onset to vort I spent those days driving along remote stretches of road through the forest as dense stands of tall Elms and oaks looming over both sides of the world like the ramparts of some primeval fortress you could look into the trees but only see about 30 yards in before the forest growth and lack of light obscured the distance the lack of the forest cover is what made it particularly ominous in appearance like gazing into the more of some enormous creature Dutchman's hollow lies well within this forest with no direct trails leading Swift's and a determined Explorer has to deviate some ways off one of the trails to even reach it I could hardly imagine even reaching a specific area in such a dense and maze like forest especially when visibility in any direction is so poor and that's part of what makes the case is surrounding the hollow so peculiar for a region so remote and sparsely inhabited is this it might be hard to imagine that such a place could be a hotbed of crime and normally you'd be right but according to all police records going back decades the forest surrounding the hollow is a scene of a truly abnormal number of unsolved disappearances from 1910 to 1980 there had been 136 known disappearances of people in this area just looking at the forest you might be inclined to think that people just got lost in and among the trees hikers are Wanderers it's straight too far in and couldn't find that way out this might account for some cases but even then human remains might have been found however in nearly all of the 136 disappearances no human remains were ever discovered despite the efforts of large and well guided search parties investigating the area they would cover large swathe of the forest for several days and yet no trace of the missing people would ever materialize most of the missing persons were not even locals in the area just passing motorists hitchhikers or curious explorers and their disappearance would typically go unnoticed for several days despite this area of the forest being relatively small only about five or six miles wide in some places they would never recover any sign of what happened to them and that record only shows the number of disappearances up to 1980 or after 1910 there's very little record of disappearances before then or until I first explored the area in 1989 father is one case one out of the hundred and thirty-six documented in that period where a person was not only found but actually found alive this will be the case of one Raymond Hess a strange case that only gets even stranger as it goes along Raymond Hess was 26 years old in the spring of 1977 when he disappeared while driving along the road between the small towns of cross fork and Gale to Pennsylvania he was a native of Altoona and an itinerant odd-job er making ends meet in different occupations he had recently been discharged from the US Air Force in which he had served as a radar technician in Germany and Turkey and it most recently taken up work as a house painter while learning to become an electrician on Sunday March 6 1977 he was driving to a job site in Clearfield Pennsylvania when he disappeared though he was reported late for the job in Clearfield this wasn't considered unusual for roaming workers like him it wasn't until Wednesday March 9th that his absence was noticed by his family in Altoona who had expected him to come home that morning on March 10th with his continued failure to show or contact his family he was officially reported missing to the police however state police authorities had relatively little to go on based on the known facts he'd set out from Galton and failed to show the job in Clearfield but with no trace of him along that long stretch of roads the potential search area was quite large on March 14th over a week since his disappearance his vehicle was discovered inside the forest off the road between cross forks and gales on the vehicle a blue 1969 Pontiac Tempest was found roughly 40 yards into the tree line and apparently covered with branches and leaves this find though somewhat encouraging was considered quite bizarre by in stators it was considered highly unusual for a car to not only be found so far off of the road in a dense forest but also to be conspicuously camouflaged from view the original assumption was that he might have accidentally run off the road and injured himself wandering into the forest in a daze but the car was mostly undamaged a speeding car plunging into the forest for that depth almost certainly would have struck a tree and been severely damaged but the mostly undamaged car instead seemed almost like it was carefully driven into the forest furthermore there was no blood or any sign of physical injury inside the car which would likely have been present if it were an accident based on this the Assumption changed that Hess might have deliberately driven into the Feist and walk further in for some reason which they assumed might have been to possibly commit suicide though Hess was known as a solitary man with few friends nobody in his family indicated that he was depressed or suicidal the strange disappearance of Raymond Hess continued to mystify authorities for another week when it came to an unexpected and bizarre conclusion on Saturday 29th of March a young man was found wandering by the side of the road in the area where Hess had disappeared two weeks before the man was found in a state of general undress according to the report as well as being dehydrated and suffering from hypothermia when brought in by local authorities he was quickly identified as Raymond Hess the missing man investigators had been on the verge of abandoning the case and were astonished that he turned up a life he was quite dazed and delirious from his experience but he made a fairly rapid recovery from his ordeal however when asked about his experiences during those two weeks he claimed that he had no memory whatsoever of anything that transpired during his absence he couldn't say how his vehicle ended up inside the forest or where he had been during those days or if anybody else had been responsible however positive the news of his reappearance investigators were frustrated by this sizable lapse in memory that prevented any true conclusion to the case the story of Raymond Hess did not end there however his later life was marred by personal difficulties and other unexpected in dark developments in July of 1978 he was in Pittsburgh taking a job as an apprentice electrician when he was actually named as a possible suspect in the disappearance of a local woman he was known to have been acquainted with a woman another wanderer like himself he was actually said to have been the last person to see her alive what was left of her was found in an overgrown ditch next to a junkyard the remains had been dismembered and burned with a number of deep gouges in the bones as if portions of flesh had been cut off of them she was identified by dental records from a bit of scorched jawbone found in the pile Hess had an undeniable proximity to the crime and though he was interviewed several times by police and even briefly detained there was little to no physical evidence linking the crime to anybody in particular Hess abruptly left Pittsburgh shortly after that even quitting his promising job as an electrician he resurfaced in Columbus Ohio the next year when he was again named as a possible subject in a similar disappearance and murder this time of a man with whom he was also acquainted again despite his proximity to the crime there was no real evidence suggesting his guilt and he yet again faded off the grid this process repeated itself two more times in Ohio and Indiana then in September of 1980 he suddenly left the United States giving only a slight indication he was moving to somewhere in Latin America the Strange Case of Raymond Hess would be a focal point in my investigation but I resolved to start with towns in the general vicinity of Dutchman's Hollow I made the long drive from my home in Mount Lebanon to a town in the area called Lenovo a fairly small town of about 1,500 people on the west branch Cisco Hana River a trip that took me about three and a half hours it was a long way to go for one adventure but this was in the late eighties when gas was practically cheaper than dirt and the opportunity was too tempting for me to ignore I made the trip in my steel-blue 1975 Cadillac DeVille the two-door convertible one of my cherished possessions renova only about six miles from the trailhead leading to Dutchman's hollow seemed like a good place to act as a base for my investigation of course it seems dumb now that I would so willingly attempt to explore such a remote area known for strange disappearances but I was a sturdy young man still convinced of my youthful invincibility and I wouldn't be doing this alone either my friend Clarissa part of the old crew will join me in a few days and surely between the two of us we'd be safe I arrived in town on a Friday afternoon and began the typical routine I had formulated over the years which started with a visit to the local greasy spoon to my delight I saw the diner was populated by two old men local good ol boys that could be an excellent source of information I introduced myself in an usual fashion and over a cheeseburger and countless cups of coffee I got to know these two men Ernest and Jed we've talked for hours about local legends and folklore and I couldn't have asked for anybody more knowledgeable about the local goings-on no doubt these two old boys were rather amused with the wandering rich kid taking such an interest in the local flavor but I think we established a good rapport and that could be invaluable I was pleasantly surprised to find out they knew all about the reputation that surrounded Dutchman's Hollow and the cycle of disappearances was an established part of older local legends too many young folks knew about these legends they said that it was mostly the subject of myth by this point but these two men were still firm believers in the stories about the area you won't catch me up there ever not for a million dollars you won't said Jed hull folks around here will tell you the same thing young folks don't know so much but they don't go around there anyways said earnest I learned a lot from earnest and Jed and I was pleased to have made a good impression on the locals before starting out to my investigation later that evening I settled into a room at a local hotel and kept studying the reports and stories about the disappearances around the area but all the while earnest and Jed's words kept running through my head according to them the local legends surrounding the area were an older phenomenon and few still heeded them at first this was reassuring because if the stories were that old and had since faded away and it might mean I could explore the area in relative safety at the same time I was starting to feel a growing apprehension about this whole misguided adventure and having confirmation from the locals that there was something strange about the area made this feeling more pronounced nonetheless I'd resolved that I would do some exploring there myself before Clarissa arrived in two days I had a rough route along a hiking trail sketched out and with some moderate hiking provisions I was physically well prepared for the journey by 10 o'clock the next morning I stood at the edge of the forest leading to the hollow and my prior feelings of apprehension returned as I observed the path leading here I knew the forests in this region were dense and wild but standing immediately the edge of it looking in was an ominous experience the trees and brush were closely spaced with the treetops forming a particularly dense canopy overhead that almost completely blocked sunlight further in I could see that the underbrush wasn't too thick but the upward slope and close together trees limited forward visibility to about 30 yards at most from the outside I could only get a mild sense of the darkness under the trees but actually stepping past the tree line changed the atmosphere completely when I stepped into forest proper it almost seemed like the time of day had instantly changed from mid-morning to evening a startling shift that I hardly expected now I was stunned to get nervous and rethinking my commitment to this investigation but the alternative was sit on my ass back in town for two days until Clarissa showed up and restored my confidence lacking any better ideas I started on my way up the trail I wasn't sure if I try to make it all the way to the hollow but going a little ways and getting a sense of the land seemed appropriate the trail I followed was not well maintained occluded in many places by underbrush on both sides so I had to go quite slow to maintain my bearings I figured the whole hike would be about four hours round-trip not much of a challenge for me but the land was steeper than I'd expected I followed the trail religiously only taking my eyes off it to scan my surroundings knowing the reputation of this place I remained alert and stop frequently to look around for anything suspicious the forest wasn't earthly still with only a slight breeze moving among the trees rustling the leaves overhead it occurred to me around this time that I probably should have brought a gun along with me isolators I was in a region that was known to be dangerous this belated realization was yet another example of my decidedly poor planning of this expedition all I had on me was a small utility knife a multi-tool that I've been extraordinarily proud of earlier but would be a poor choice for self-defense I suppose it was better than nothing but it struck me then that I was not well prepared at all if I actually did stumble upon something around Dutchman's Hollow to say that I felt like I was being watched would be an understatement I've heard people describe this eerie feeling before but they've never done justice to just help profoundly unpleasant that feeling is I trudged along the trail feeling this sensation grow stronger as I approached the point where the path to the hollow breaks off the main trail when I reached this point I stopped to have a look at my surroundings and contemplate possibly going ahead the trail that led off in the direction of the hollow was barely a trail at all instead being more like a faint string of bear spots in the underbrush leading off to the southwest I don't know if it was just me and my nerves but I could swear the forest along this path was even darker and more ominous than the rest the silence in particular was disturbing to me a forest at this time in the summer should have been more active and noisy the droning insects on warbling birds and all kinds of forest creatures some of that was present but a strangely low volume hardly audible above the sound of trees rustling in the wind after about five minutes staring into the direction of the hollow I made up my mind to turn back and head towards the road where I'd parked my car I had quite enough of this eerie forest for one day I was almost desperate to leave it behind before I turn back I decided to get a picture of the trail leading to the hollow a picture that didn't turn out particularly well due to the poor lighting in the forest but I wasn't interested in sticking around to get it right I went back along the trail the way I came at a much brisker pace than before not bothering to look around for any sign of danger this time as I kept going I was struck by a powerful anxious feeling that I might be lost in this forest that I might never find my way out because of poor visibility in all directions I just did my best to keep my nose in dirt on the trail and after about 15 minutes I was relieved to finally see the edge of the forest and beyond the shoulder by the side of the road where my car was parked without ceremony I hopped in and got my car going back in the direction of Renault though the first thing I did back in town was to visit that comfortable old diner my fear and anxiety dropped off enormous Lee when I crossed the threshold glad to be back someplace sheltered and familiar as before earnest and Jed were parked in their usual booth palavering over their endless cups of coffee and they ushered me over as I walked him I remember how glad I was to see their faces and I greeted them with a great warm even though it was past lunchtime I ordered a plate of bacon and eggs to the amusement of my companions but well I wasn't embarrassed my experience in the woods had left me completely famished and bacon and eggs was what I craved over my lunch I told earnest and Jed about my trip into the forest which made their usually good humour instantly dissolve they were standard I'd do something like that after their stories and veiled warnings about having anything to do with that place in Jed's words I was a damn fool for doing that an earnest had some words about how young folks don't listen close enough when it comes to serious matters like me I can't say that I disagreed with them I was in that forest and I know just what it felt like being anywhere near Dutchman's Hollow despite their admonishments darkness and Jed was still reassuring and supportive to me and even though their warnings were clear I resolved to return to the forest the next day perhaps it was the sense of restored well-being I received returning to town or maybe it was just strange excitement at feeling vindicated for walking through those woods but I was set on finding out all I could during my trip up here I didn't tell Ernest and Jed that I planned to go back there but with their warnings fresh in my mind I was intent on being more cautious as soon as I left I headed over to a hunting gear store to buy myself some more impressive means of self-defense this shop did actually sell some firearms but I settled for a large hunting life that must have been twice the size of my original utility knife with the rest of the day to kill and not intending to go back before tomorrow I decided they were trying to visit a library or Historical Society in the area to do some more research on local history Ernest and Jed were pretty good resources for general knowledge but I filled a more detailed history of the area might shed some light on what exactly I was walking into one thing I love about small towns they care about their local history in a way that more cosmopolitan city folks don't in the library and Safra Nova I found a whole section on the history of Clinton County and the surrounding areas going back to pre-colonial times there were books on native tribes notable settlers the natural landscape and all sorts of topics in one book I finally found some information regarding the origins of the legend of Dutchman's Hollow in the air 1656 a Dutch settlers aimed Wikus funder Hyde and his family arrived in the new world through the Port of New Amsterdam which then was still part of the Dutch colony of New Netherland he originally settled on the shores of Chesapeake Bay today part of the state of Maryland where he prospered as a trader in fabrics and pelts he and his family would live there for nearly 20 years until the years 60 in 74 when in the aftermath of the third anglo-dutch war the New Netherland colony was ceded to the British Wikus and his family possessing a strong antipathy towards British rule left the colony in disgust and went north into the wilds of the northern Appalachian Mountains in modern-day Pennsylvania he and his family was settled in a very remote stretch of forest far from British authority in a region that would bear the name Dutchman's Hollow after its original residence though the region in which they settled was still populated by a native tribe the funder haider family was still determined to call the forest home early friction between the natives and the new settling family eventually gave way to a mutual understanding and tentative peace that would last for well over a century Dutchman's Holland was situated in a part of the forest that had great spiritual significance to the local tribe who feared and hated the region and regarded it as a dwelling place of powerful and ancient spirits despite avoiding the region they opposed founder Hyde's decision to settle there fearing it would provoke the wrath of the spirits said to inhabit the hollow this opposition to settlement would feel much of the violence between the natives and settlers but eventually the natives were driven from the region by another tribe who permitted their funder hide family to live there so long as they avoided contact with one another weakest van der Heide would call this area home for the rest of his life as would his descendants who would remain there for centuries their backs to the outside world other than that part much was really known about the early settlers in the forest nobody has seen the family for hundreds of years and it's thought they might have perished during a harsh winter in 1806 which was the last time anybody had ever seen them our side is know little about it and those who do generally avoid it out of habit and deference to local legend armed with this knowledge I was now determined to return to the forest the next day to continue my investigation my curiosity overriding my fear and apprehension in an odd way it was actually reassuring to know that the original native share my own fearful impressions of the forest that they too were intimidated by his dark and ominous atmosphere in my mind I rationalized my fears as being the product of that atmosphere that despite the abnormal number of disappearances in the area the eerie feeling of dread was due to my own imagination running wild and overpowering my reason nothing was really wrong I thought I'd be more prepared and cautious the next time and nothing could get the drop on me so long as I was a vigilant having thoroughly rationalized my fears I found my courage restored and I prepared for another trip into the forest hopeful that my newfound courage would hold out the next day I again found myself standing at the edge of the forest suddenly reminded of why I was afraid of this place before worse today was mostly overcast and how even less light made it through the forest canopy to the trail below but I still held on to my previous rationale that my fears were overblown and nothing would happen to a plucky young fellow like myself if I was prepared and extra cautious once again I stepped across the threshold of the trees and went my way along the trail I remembered the trail well and my pace was much quicker than last time but the feeling of being watched was even more pronounced than before the fact that the forest was even darker than yesterday certainly didn't help to reassure me I pushed on regardless until I reached the point where I'd stopped the last time and regarded the spotty unclear trail supposedly leading to Dutchman's Hollow to this day I can still remember quite clearly the powerful feeling of dread that struck me while I gazed into that dense forest the feeling that nearly forced me to turn right back around it felt like it was trespassing in a powerful enviable place and I felt terribly exposed like someone was watching me as I crossed the boundary but there wasn't any decision to be made I was determined to get farther than I had yesterday and so I took a deep breath and step forward onto the trail to the hollow but first I felt relief when I made that first step relief that nothing dreadful had happened immediately that the forest around me seemed unchanged I tried to keep my eyes riveted to the sparse trail ahead of me a trail that was much choppier and less clear than before the path mostly consisted of short clearings in the underbrush arranged in a general line requiring short stops at each spot the next one in the sequence to stay oriented now my pace was much slower giving me time to appreciate scenery surrounding the trail as I went on the forest canopy seemed to get even more dense and came to a lower height the further I proceeded the forest became a thicker and more claustrophobic at every point and now very little daylight penetrated to the forest floor thankfully the trail was now going down at a gentle slope but the underbrush only seemed to get thicker and more tangled consuming the energy I would have been saving going downhill I had no idea just what I would find at the end of this trail maybe an empty patch of forest or the ruins of an old settlement or even the remnants of a village littered with corpses of the people who've gone missing up here around this time my common sense was finally starting to regain control and I thought better of pushing my luck further than I already had I came to a bend in the trail that led me around the side of a hill into a short hollow that I assumed was my destination I stopped and crouched down to get a good look at the area before deciding whether or not to go any further the wind was picking up creating that eerie whistling as it blew through the treetops overhead but this time there was a strange undertone to this ambience and now took on a strange cadence almost rhythmic like people chanting something unintelligible that feeling of being watched was more powerful than ever I was utterly pinned in place by my nerves without warning the wind suddenly died down and left the forest absolutely calm and quiet that same unnatural stillness is before now every single rustle of leaves and brush was clearly audible around me and I stayed frozen in place weary of every slight sound that stood out in the silence after my right was a gentle rustle of bushes that I hardly pay attention to it before but now it seemed to grow louder and less rhythmic like something would briefly scramble forward and then pause and I knew and that this wasn't because of the wind I hoped and it was just an animal maybe a deer or a fox but a wild animal like that wouldn't just rush in the direction of a human being or so I thought I snap my head in that direction I could swear that for a second I called the faint outline of something moving between the trees some 40 yards away whatever it was I couldn't see but I knew that there was some kind of animal off in that direction something pale and hunched over my nerves gave out at that point I turned tail and began a brisk trot back in the direction of the main trail this time convinced I was about to become the victim of an animal attack or god knows what fishing my new hunting knife out of my patch I rapidly scanned the forest all around that insistent rustling now getting quicker and closer to me I wasn't quite in fight-or-flight mode but I was gripping the handle of my knife so firmly that my knuckles went white by now I had escalated to a run tearing my way through thickets along the path without caring how badly I got scratched up to my dismay whatever was moving through the forest off to my right was keeping pace with me the whole time getting closer than ever to the trail I was following I accelerated to a sprint or as close as I could get to a sprint while pushing my way through the brush and low-hanging branches and whatever was chasing me kept up without any trouble frantic as I was I began tearing up ready to cry out if whatever was giving chase finally caught up with me now I wasn't even consistently following the trail ahead sometimes charging off into the brush to cut a bend or corner in the trail finally as I rounded one last bend I saw the junction with the main trail and so I incredible relief I heard the rustling quickly died off whatever it pursued me had now broken off from chasing me and I just about dove across the threshold of the main trail not just about collapse there overcome with relief and coming down from fear induced adrenaline regaining my awareness I saw that I wasn't necessarily out of danger yet and I got up and quickly retrace my steps back along the main trail to my car as I went along I wiped the tears from my eyes and the snot from my nose hoping it would look as if nothing had happened when I got back to town at this point my relief gave way to mild embarrassment so for my minor breakdown and the thought I'd nearly gotten myself attacked by a wild animal through my own stupidity it isn't that stupid when I think about it now but at the time I felt foolish over the whole misadventure in the middle of the woods [Music] I've made my way back to my car to see right behind it was parked at brown and white sedan with sirens on top marked with a symbol of the Clinton County Sheriff's Department and a sheriff's deputy looking around the area he waved at me when he saw me come out of the trees and I waved back and went over to him afternoon sir he said mildly oh hello there I responded now somewhat nervous I've always been nervous around authority figures this your vehicle here he said pointing at my convertible yeah is it far enough off the shoulder I was just taiking up there enough I said meekly pointing in the direction of the trail no it's fine saw your vehicle here wondered what he was doing here you said you were hiking up there he asked incredulously yeah it's not off-limits is it I replied now worried I was in trouble no it's an open trail just wondering what are you doing there not many people go up there he said just curious really wanted to see what was up there well some folks in town heard a young fella was going up there and they were worried I smiled at that bit I guess older Anniston she had really were concerned about me that good guys those two well I'm fine pretty much I was just on my way back I said dismissively all right well I'll follow you back make sure you get there okay he said with a brisk nod I didn't object to that and while still pretty rattled from the whole experience and I suppose having another friendly face around might settle my nerves before we left and took one last look into the forest and for a brief second I thought I could see a vague outline of a man in the darkness under the trees I rubbed my eyes and fatica Lee and when I open them the outline was gone I got in my car wearily and the two of us drove back into Renova the deputy close behind we both turned into the parking lot of the familiar old diner and the deputy one deputy Shane Hale got out and went inside with me good coffee here he said cheerfully as we went inside as ever over in the corner booth were Ernest and Janet it's my great surprise I saw my friend Colusa sitting with them shutting them up enthusiastically she was part of our old crew her friends and she knew all the same tricks that I did when it came to pumping the locals for information she waved me over excitedly I quickly wiped my face in case there are any tears of snots still on deputy Hale took a seat at the counter while I piled into the booth next to Clarissa and greeted them with as much excitement as I could muster in my rattled state as I thought earnest and Jed were the ones who taught the sheriff's deputy to check out for me on the trail took Dutchman's hollow worried I was still going up their cliffs who had been there for about half an hour before I showed up and got into a conversation with those two about the same things I had asked about two days before she wasn't planning to arrive until tomorrow but she got time off work a day early and decided to show up then I joined in the conversation but with less enthusiasm as I might have done before knowing that they were worried about me I decided not to tell Ernest and Jed about what had happened up there at the hollow as I was still a bit embarrassed about the whole thing they told Clarissa many of the same things they told me days before I told them a bit about my own impressions of the forest during my brief excursions out there she was actually excited about what I told her the fear adding that she is and it took a lot of effort to convince her not to go up there right away I said that we should spend the rest of the day doing some research before we even thought about going back up there it's my relief she finally agreed I wasn't sure that I even wanted to go back up I know that I'd thought the same thing the day before but this time the threat was abundantly clear I wasn't sure I could rationalize it this time I resolved that I would tell Clarissa the truth about it once we had a moment alone to discuss our next move we purl Ovid with earnest and Jade for another hour or two with the occasional input from deputy Hale before we decided to head out a directed Clarissa over to the library for our research efforts I was sure that I hadn't read the full story about Dutchman's Hollow or any of the people that lived there I pored through the local history section looking out for any books that I'd missed or skipped over in my previous trip in one book was a whole section on early settlers in the region and in it I read that the van der Heide family were not the only ones who came to settle in Dutchman's Hollow in the air' 1699 The Scotsman named Wallace Macduff made the journey across the Atlantic arriving in the port of Boston he was a woodsman by trade nursing dreams of settling the virgin lands of the new world and he would come to this part of it in the summer of 1700 the vast land had been granted to William Penn after whom the colony of Pennsylvania was named and like the van der Heide clan he would opt to settle in the remote forest he brought his family to the region of Dutchman's Hollow where the van der Heide clan still dwelled the old Wikus was long dead by this point his eldest son Christian van der Heide was the patriarch of their family at the time and despite some early friction between the two families he grudgingly permitted Duff and his family to settle there these will be the only two families who would ever settle in this region and both would live in almost complete seclusion almost never interacting with the outside world for decades few are aware that anybody had ever even settled the area and those who did were deeply suspicious of the reclusive families who lived in those woods they were become the target of many unsavory rumors some accusing them of witchcraft or devil worship others saying that they engaged in disgusting perverted and decadent behaviors in the privacy of Dutchman's Hollow indeed nobody could ever prove such rumors by the seclusion of them at Duff and Van der Heide families didn't help their case either they would live this way for over a century being so reclusive that some speculated that the two families might have decamped for greener pastures or simply died out with only two families living in that area the only way they could produce any progeny was a constant cycle of intermarriage and to do so for a whole century they likely would have had quite a few kissing cousins in their family tree after all inbreeding wasn't exactly uncommon in that era and during that time more than one royal dynasty in Europe had virtually died out because of it if that was the case then it might explain the virtual disappearance of the two families by the early 19th century the last confirmed sighting of a member of either family was in 1806 and the rather harsh winter was speculated to have killed them off but rumors of their continual survival still persisted and some of the disgusting rumors about them only got wilder and more far-fetched over time could have done the whole Donner Party thing Clarissa jeered irreverently I chuckled at that for a second but then I was given pause hmm cannibalism it was a bit far-fetched to be sure but then again something like that wasn't strictly out of the question either Clarissa meant it as a joke so I thought I was reading too much into it thoughts still stuck in the back of my mind all we really know for sure is what we read in the history books now there have been numerous disappearances in the area going back several decades I know that I was chased by something in the woods only a few hours before and that there was something definitely off about those woods it only got worse the closer I got to Dutchman's Hollow I did my best to stifle these wild theories and put them out of my mind but one Schilling fact still remains nobody can say for sure what happened to the Vanderheiden Macduff clan or whether or not they are still alive I suppose nobody would really know for sure unless somebody explored the hollow itself I was fairly sure that I wouldn't be the one who did it to my chagrin Clarissa was not so deterred she was quite insistent that we got all the way to the hollow convinced that was the source of the mystery would be laid bare once we had a chance to investigate it we went to the motel that evening and I tried many ways to dissuade her I finally told her what had happened that day up in the woods that I got near to the hollow and had been chased by something unnatural or the whole way out I don't know how much she believed about my story but she could see quite clearly that I was deeply disturbed about my experience this time she took a turn trying to persuade me instead saying that what happened might be clear evidence that there really was something to these stories about legends in the area yeah she's clever like that I thought I would never budge on this issue but her insistence began to sway me after all she had come all this way and taken time off of work to investigate this with me and saying no to her at this point didn't feel right I was torn between this and my own fear of going back up there he's now there seemed to be a definite danger lurking in those woods eventually I caved and I promise to bring her up to the trail and take her all the way to Dutchman's Hollow in my mind I was still opposed to the idea but I came to realize that she would go up there without me if I refused to go and I felt responsible for her safety I slept terribly that night it was the kind of sleep you keep waking up with a start for no apparent reason and even though you know that you were asleep you don't feel like you've actually been asleep after the third or fourth time waking up I decided to stay up for a while and think hoping that I would become drowsy enough to sleep all the way through the night I was sitting in a chair idly gazing out the windows of the highway when I saw something unusual next to the road I thought I was seeing a human shape of wandering out in the darkness but it couldn't be completely sure but that outline would reappear every few seconds and I was riveted by this unexpected sight next to the road was a street lamp that cast an orange glow on the ground I could see this human outline approaching it now this figure had my complete attention from what I could see I figure was a man an extremely tall man wearing strange clothes and quietly cycling along the side of the road when he reached the glow of the street lamp I was able to see this figure clearly it was indeed a man a very tall man that I think must have been nearly seven feet tall an extremely thin with his joints bulging out noticeably he must have had a hail or ruddy skin it was difficult to tell in the orange glow and he had a large tangled mop of remarkably pale blond hair on his head and a bushy beard of the same color eyes face his clothes if you can call the mat seemed very crude and filthy as if he'd cobbled them from sacks or strips of cloth and leather his torso was covered by a short sleeved tunic and his legs clad in a pair of shorts that looked like burlap or so type of cloth I didn't know why at the time but the sight of this man gave me ham believable chills I assumed that maybe he was a vagrant given his crude manner of dress but this man didn't even wear shoes and I can't imagine any vagrant going anywhere without at least shoes he just stood there under the light examining the sky in the small town around him as if he hadn't been there before well the sudden start he quickly turned his gaze to my window I swear to God that he locked eyes with me I shrank back into the room aways now fearful about what this strange man might do I stay glued to my chair hoping that the man would go away if he couldn't see me for a few minutes after a while I peeked out of the blinds again and to my horror he was not only still out there but across to our side of the road and stood at the edge of the parking lot with eyes still fixed on the motel window I snatched the hunting knife out of my pack and stayed back away from the window wondering if I was about to be the victim of an attack by a roaming vagrant again I hung back for a few minutes silently praying that this horrible figure would leave until I finally worked up the courage to check the window again my heart sank when I saw his all-too-familiar outline outside still staring at the window but he only looked for a few seconds when he did a swift about-face and strode off down the road and into the night I almost panicked at this gesture thinking he was moving towards me but to my relief he disappeared into the darkness don't know how I managed to fall asleep after that but I woke up early the next morning in the same chair knife still clutched in my hand in my mind I hadn't connected this vagrant with anything to do with our project but I was starting to wonder about this as I agreed the dawn a few hours later closer came to my room door for a wake-up call she was bright and chipper as ever clearly eager to get on with our investigation I have a coffee and doughnuts we talked a bit about our plans for the day she was still insisting that we should go all the way to the hollow and I knew that I couldn't persuade her otherwise getting a bit of food in my stomach didn't restore any courage this time if anything I only got more queasy at 9:30 the appointed hour came we loaded our supplies into my car for the trip up to the trail the whole Drive she was talking about our own theories regarding our case not seeming to notice that I was hardly replying at this point I was just resigned to what was going on maybe if she saw the forest for herself experienced the ominous and unpleasant or that lingered about the place she might think twice about her determination we reached the pull off and I parked the car in the usual spot just off the shoulder of the road I was disappointed to see that she was enthralled by the sight of the dense dark forest and now she seemed more determined than ever to take the plunge I could hardly stop her from taking a lead on the trail while I followed behind pointing out different things she was quite energetic as we trudged through the woods keeping a solid lead ahead of me hardly needing directions from me like yesterday the sky was largely overcast and the forest beneath cloaked in shadow with her enthusiasm we made good time getting to the turnoff for the trail leading to Dutchman's Hollow where he paused for a brief spell I pointed in the direction of a hollow hoping that she might think again about our excursion when she saw the forest beyond she was indeed starting to waver a bit that she was as hard-headed as she was determined and she urged me on after a very brief but noticeable hesitation from her this time I insisted on taking the lead on the trail hoping that a slower pace might make her come around again I was mistaken to a familiar feeling of being watched took hold as we set out having Clarissa with me was mildly reassuring but I knew what we might be walking into the wind stayed at a moderate strength just quite enough so I could have a chance to hit anything that might come after us out here we finally reached the last Bend right given up last time and I paused to point out to Clarissa that the hollow Beyond was likely our destination now I could see she was definitely having second thoughts that she must have shared my feeling of being watched but dama she still insisted on going forward after some hesitation we proceeded around the bend and got our first good look into Dutchman's Hollow itself the hollow was set in between two closely spaced and steep hills with trees on both sides looming overhead with a slight curve like the entrance of a cave there was a clear path leading down into the hollow just past the bend with a small clearing being faintly visible down the way we made our way down the path much more slowly and cautiously than we had before I was overwhelmed by the feeling of awe and dread of being in that place that sinister place surrounded by so much mystery and dark legend the trees in the hollow were more dense and ominous than anywhere on the trail leading up to it with a very little light reaching the treetops making the path feel like we were in the twilight of the day instead of near the high point of the morning along the path were small piles of stones arranged in a pyramid they were cans definite signs of human presence the path itself was rather long but after a short while we finally emerged into the clearing that marked the exact spot of the legendary in Dutchman's Hollow the clearing was situated in a steep gully with a forest close in on all sides so that the forest canopy extended over most of it but with slightly more light visible around the edges of the hollow were the long abandoned ruins of two houses that had long since rotted away leaving behind only their foundations covered in ivy in the center was a pile of stone rubble probably the remains of a well though the pit of the world had long since collapsed inward leaving only a small depression in the ground we were so awestruck by the scene that we almost forgot why we were there in the first place we began examining all around the perimeter of the hollow trying to find the exact boundaries or any other structures we'd missed I noticed for the first time the entrance to the hollow was marked by two cans one on each side of the path clearly meant to indicate the threshold of this place I stepped into the foundation of one of the houses trying to see if there was anything like a basement which I found out when the ground beneath me gave way and I plunged about six feet into a lower part of the foundation I was relieved to see that this new part of the house was relatively shallow and Clarissa was able to help me out with a hole it was apparently the basement light falling to asad basement with no remaining overhead supports the first house turned up nothing with the basement being completely empty and the above-ground section being completely rotted away the second house was a bit more promising it was in a similar state of decay as the first but there was still a clear entrance to the basement of this one we lowered ourselves inside and were briefly overpowered by the musty stench of it it was incredibly clogged with spiderwebs that crossed the whole room if some webs still populated by their current occupants we had to look around with our flashlights seeing that this basement was somewhat more intact than the other when we spotted yet another small cairn against the back wall of the room without needing to be asked Clarissa approached it looking over it carefully and then began to dismantle it we cleared off the stones to fire that underneath was a narrow but very deep hole almost like a shaft not large enough to fall into but certainly deep enough that I could barely reach the bottom with my arm and Clarissa surging I reluctantly rolled up my sleeve Sean the light down the hall and probed it with my hand thankfully there were no bugs crawling about in the hole which I had expected I slowly reach down further and further into the hole when I felt my fingers brushing the bottom I didn't know what he exactly was looking for but at the bottom I thought I could feel string or bits of straw reaching down a bit further I managed to get a good grip on the object and I pulled it up out of the hole to examine it I was surprised to see that the object was actually a doll it was a rag doll stitched together from bits of what I assume was burlap with bits of straw and feathers forming the hair on the head which had been crudely stuck through the cloth the doll had no eyes or face what was definitely of a human form and strangely heavy I felt like it was filled with small hard objects like rocks but irregularly shaped with some sharp edges I turned the doll around to see that some of these edges were actually poking through a stitch section of the doll's back I poured the stitching apart a little bit and shook out some of these objects a few spilled onto the ground and I could see that they were white in colour with pale brownish yellow streaks as I weighed them in my hand I suddenly realized what exactly I was holding bones the dollar been stuffed with the bone fragments I was utterly taken aback by this revelation and threw aside the doll laying out the bones where colour so could see them these were only bone fragments so I couldn't tell what kind of animal the buyers were from but it must have been something big if the fragments were the size of small stones Larissa was as shocked as I was by this find which I was sure was evidence of something bizarre and probably quite [ __ ] up going on in this place you made a hasty exit from the basement and decided not to enter any more dark basements while we were here at first I was glad to be back in the fresh air outside and the ugly atmosphere of the hollow quickly dampened my spirits the wind was starting to pick up again making the forest more noisy and bringing back that ominous howl of air passing through the treetops it was that same house as before the one that sounded almost like chanting voices and I didn't associate that sound with anything good Clarissa insisted that we stay a little while longer to cover all of our bases while we were here I think she didn't want to make a return trip to this place and I agreed we went back to surveying the perimeter of the hollow poking through brush at the edges to see if we'd missed anything Clarissa called out excitedly from some place behind the second house well inside the brush at the edge I ran over to see that she was shining her light into a small cave obscured by the brush straining to see what was inside she wanted to look around inside that cave convinced that there was something worth finding in there even after what we'd found in the basement before I really didn't want to go inside but it's hard to argue with someone as enthusiastic as Clarissa I followed right behind her as we shimmy into the lower cave entrance the cave was unexpectedly deep reaching into the ground nearly ten yards before opening up a bit after the narrow bit we found herself standing within a larger cavern the ceiling about seven or eight feet high in the room about twenty feet across in any direction it was almost totally round with few dark edges and a small depression in the center that was filled with something dark that we couldn't see clearly some amount of outside light came down from the shaft leading to the entrance this inner chamber was totally dark we only saw its dimensions when we explored with our flashlights looking up I could see there was a small narrow opening in the ceiling that led into a long vertical shaft that actually had some daylight far above I wanted how something like that could have formed naturally and I realized that it couldn't everything here had to have been built or dug by human hands I looked into the pit in the center and examining it I saw that it was filled with ashes and bits of charcoal almost like a camp fire was burning there someone had to have lived in this place at one time or another if there was burning fire in here clarissa called out my name again and directed me towards another alcove that we'd missed on our first survey of the room which showed yet another small tunnel opening without warning Clarissa crouched down and went forward into the tunnel and I had no time to protest this the tunnel was quite a bit shorter than the other less than five yards and it led into a smaller chamber of a more rectangular shape with a lower ceiling the first thing I noticed about this new chamber was the stench a horrible stink of guts and rotting meat like you'd smell near a slaughterhouse I was alarmed by this powerful stench which was undetectable anywhere else in the cave and came on so suddenly upon entering this new chamber at this point I decided we'd explored quite enough I tried to urge Clarissa to leave this disgusting place before we found something we really regretted finding she didn't reply at first but only continued to stare at some remote spot on the ground in front of her I went over to see exactly what she was so fixated on I approached her from behind I saw that she was staring at yet another pitch in the ground again filled with some dark substance I and didn't want to examine too closely I tried getting her attention but she only stared and pointed at the pit on the floor urging me to take a closer look I bent over and saw that this pit was not full of ashes but rather some dark red substance that I almost immediately recognized blood this pit was the apparent source of the horrid stench I leaned over to see that I was not mistaken this pit was indeed filled with blood i dab my finger in it hoping beyond hope that it wasn't what I expected but it was this blood was fresh it's made easily on my hands and didn't even seem calculated this was beyond a shadow of a doubt fresh blood neatly pooled into a small pants this was as clear a sign as any that we've stumbled upon something we were clearly not prepared to face the two of us amatis lose a lot of curiosity and not much actual sense we're now confronted with prove it something bizarre and horrific was clearly afoot and we had semi wittingly placed ourselves right in the middle of it in our years of junior detective work we'd never come upon anything quite like this indeed we'd never really found anything truly substantive before this finding left both of us feeling extremely vulnerable in that moment now finally grasping the depth of our situation we were deep inside a mysterious cave in the midst of a dense and remote forest a cave with only one discernible entrance exit with something clearly still dwelt I hardly needed to persuade Clarissa that we should try to make a quick exit from this place before we made any more disturbing and unwelcome discoveries we immediately turned back and made our way through the narrow tunnels to the long sloping passage that led up to the cave entrance as I looked up to the entrance through the long passage I thought I saw a very flicker of a shadow at the entrance above and for a brief second I caught a faint whiff for putrid odor wafting down the tunnel I thought for a second that maybe this was the same stench from the lowest chamber that distinct smell of rotting meat but this smell was different more like offensive body odor than anything else the foul odor the brief shadow across the entrance made me hesitate for a moment but I had even less desire to remain here than to venture back into the forest Clarissa and I made our way up to the entrance and emerged into the relatively fresh air of the forest outside glad for a moment to be outside of that horrible place even if Dutchman's Hollow was the immediate alternative to the cave to our dismay the sky was now completely overcast casting the forest outside in an even more dim and forbidding shadow than before the wind had now become a stiff breeze that made considerable noises it Russell with the treetops overhead without pause we gathered our packs and immediately set our sights on the trail leading out of this place despite our fatigue from scrambling through the cave tunnels we set a brisk pace along the trail now eager to be out of this place before anything else made an appearance as we cross between the cans marking the entrance to the hollow and once again detected that foul odor I'd first picked up near the cave this time the odor was noticeably more powerful enough that I actually halted for a few seconds trying to waft it away with my hand the wind suddenly died off and the stench dissipated which was a relief at first until I perceived the unusual stillness of the forest around us I ventured a look into the woods on both sides and turned around to give Dutchman's hollow one last parting glance before leaving this place for good I regarded it cautiously for a few seconds and prepared to turn my attention back to the trail when I saw a vague but disturbingly familiar outline among the brush at the edge of the hollow I recognized it instantly as a human outline standing straight up if some streaks of pale skin visible along the foliage I froze in place every nerve in my body prickling with acute fear as I fixed my eyes on what appeared to be a man standing and staring along the trail staring at us clarissa notice my startled posture and with a worrying expression demanded to know what I'd seen behind us I broke out of my trance and simply urged her to keep going hoping that what I'd seen was somehow only an illusion we increased our pace and kept following the trail hardly pausing to keep our bearings on the patchy unclear trail leading through the brush it was then I heard that only two familiar sound of something sprinting and leaping through the brush around us Sally look closely with each passing second my heart just about plummeted from my chest to my stomach when I recalled where I had heard that sound before staving the urge to groan in terror I pressed Clarissa to pick up the pace even more I worked up the courage to turn around and look for any sign of a pursuer and off to our left I could see the same figure of a man standing partly obscured by a tree a figure that I recognized instantly he was the figure of the man I'd seen the night before the extremely tall man with long and bushy pale blond hair and a scraggly blond beard to match the light skin covered by a layer of dirt and grime sparsely clad in rags and animal feathers close the pause again to ask what I'd seen when she caught sight of him as well clasping her hands over her mouth to sky for a scream I grabbed it by the shoulders and he both crouched behind the brush at the edge of the trail hoping that this might obscure our position from our pursuer don't run I said quietly into her ear or just keep walking or you're calm and what we left alone I didn't quite believe those words as I said them but I needed both of us to stay calm and not panic at that moment I had the idea that the reason I was chased the day before was due to how I'd panicked and sprinted off like I had ignited some primordial chase instinct in this man I still believed somehow that this man was a local vagrant probably high on something and clearly felt his domain been violated by the likes of us this guy obviously doesn't want us here so we're just leaving he'll respect that I said reassuringly again I don't know if I believe this either but I needed to keep my eyes on the trail I couldn't have either of us panicking and getting lost with a few more reassuring words I got Clarissa to get up and keep moving now I still fixed on the man lurking behind the trees glaring at us we walked as slowly as we felt comfortable standing is tall and confident as we could as if we were hoping to stave off an animal attack with our proud posturing at first I was relieved when I didn't hear him following us as we moved on we felt confident enough that we took our eyes off the man and stared fixing our gaze to the trailer hand then I heard that shuffling sound of the man yet again giving pursuits this time with a slower more rhythmic cadence like a trot rather than a sprint we froze again and spun around to spot this man once more standing perfectly still a bit further back than before but still visible behind the trees seemingly undeterred by our display of courage I whispered harshly to Clarissa to keep going thinking of our slipping vigilance was to blame for his continued pursuit this time he got off to a slight trance not even bothering to work our way carefully through the underbrush along the trail for a second the man appeared to be hanging back can disappeared from my view when I once again turned my eyes to the trail this time I couldn't quite suppress a groan of fright when I heard that shuffling in the forest to our left this time much quicker like a brisk jog rather than a truant my eyes were starting to burn and get cloudy with tears as we increased our pace even further no longer caring if our running was only encouraging this man at rustling in the bushes came closer and closer and closer was now gasping in terror with every step she took just as I was about to panic and break into a full-on sprint the movement in the brush stopped I almost stopped as well in astonishment we slowed down a bit frantically glancing around us for any sight of the man chasing us for a moment we saw nothing we kept trotting along the trail hoping that perhaps this man had finally given up his pursuit noticing that the wind had increased a bit from the earliest illness I entertained some vague hopes that which finally invaded a pursuer believing that if they got back to the main trail we would effectively be in the clear as it happened the day before that foul stench from before once again invaded my nostrils but this time the smell seemed to be coming from somewhere ahead of us in the direction from which the wind was blowing we pause for a second wondering just what was about to happen I crouched and shuffled forward intending to push Clarissa to keep going when she spun around and gave out a blood-curdling ear piercing shriek to the mortal terror has broad backwards away from me as I turned to see what she just screamed that I was violently thrown forward into the dirt as if somebody had just tackled me gasping from having the wind knocked out of me and I felt something strike my backpack with incredible force I rolled over in a panic to see that it's my complete and utter horror the man was standing over me as I lay helpless on the ground gripping a long shaft that I saw was a spear that had pierced right through my backpack the horrendous stench of this man was unbearable this close I finally got a clear close look at his face he was gritting his teeth showing off a set of crooked yellowish brown teeth with numerous cracks snarling like a wild animal I could see that his eyes were a remarkable pale blue but lifeless and dead in the expression like a doll as I spun around I managed to get free of my backpack and shuffle backwards giving a harsh kick directed right at his knee the blow connected but with startling reflexes he absorbed the blow and leaped back a short distance giving a soft rasping grunt I scrambled to my feet and shouted to Clarissa to run the abandoned all pretense of confidence just sprinted along what we could see of the trail leading out of this place Clarissa was now screaming continuously as we ran not caring to save her breath for running but I couldn't exactly blame her she stayed ahead of me gradually getting farther from me until I was afraid I might lose sight of it as we ran over a small dip in the trail I stumbled a bit alright as I began to stand up again I had a sharp low whiz there's something flew past my head only a scant few inches from my right ear that incredible speed burying itself in the brush a few feet ahead and anak stumbled at that exact second I'm confident that object would have connected with the back of my head probably pierced right through my skull I didn't pause to consider how lucky I was escaped sprinting after Clarissa my heart hammering almost painfully against the inside of my chest now we were starting to stray off the trail as we ran never pausing to stop and regain our bearings I charged around a bend and caught sight of Clarissa only a few yards ahead of me hearing the man swiftly leap through the underbrush behind us and off to the right I heard another one of those objects coming whistling out of the forest striking klarissa's backpackers spinning her around with his impact sending her tumbling to the ground I ran up to her firmly dragged her to her feet seeing that the object was struck her pack was actually some kind of dance a large dart carved from stone and wood nearly a foot long we should nearly gone all the way through the panic now we'd gone completely off the trail and strayed into the deep underbrush among the dense stands of trees he just kept sprinting in the direction we thought our trail and hoping that we would eventually stumble upon our destination the shuffling with the man chasing us had changed into a long eloping sprint as if he were jumping through the brush in between the trees rather than simply running whoever he was he must have known of plenty of hidden trousers and paths leading through the forest having no trouble at all keeping up with us despite the adrenaline I could feel my energy starting to wane no struggling quite a bit to keep up my speed running over such rough ground that was now convinced that I was just about to die caught by this manner subjected to garden hose water to his hands presumably like all the others who had disappeared in this dark place I brought out my knife hoping that maybe I could mount some kind of final stand if I was caught and I'll shout into Clarissa to keep going when that horrible Oh des descended upon me I felt an enormous weight while right into the small of my back a fierce searing sensation of a harsh scrape suddenly covered my neck in the back of my head as I collapsed forward into the grounds the weight now pinning me firmly down and in that moment my mind went madly blank as I waited for I thought would be death clarissa had frozen in place in complete horror as the man stood over me once again I could barely manage to roll over and regard him before the end he crouched low over me grunting loudly blowing Hawks foul-smelling breath into my face he quickly snapped his attention over to Clarissa as she screamed in terror with a sudden start he leaped astonishingly high in the air landing neatly on his feet and sprinting off towards Clarissa she sprinted off into the forest no longer caring to follow the trail struggled to my feet and called klarissa's name plaintively although now she and the man had disappeared from my sight I wanted to run after them hoping that I could somehow save her from all this but I hesitated for a few seconds for this day I lament the cowardice I showed in those few critical seconds I seriously contemplated taking advantage of this distraction to make my own escape instead I stayed put for a few seconds calling her name helplessly and then got to my feet started walking in the direction they're gone they were at a much slower pace than I would have needed to catch them up for several minutes I stumble through the woods in the direction I thought they'd gone now wrapped with guilt over having brought my friend out to this place to die like this painful as this guilt was it did spur my last reserves of energy and increase my pace I could no longer hear Clarissa screams the fact that made my heart sink precipitously I came over the crest of a short hill and saw that I was overlooking a broad flat gully with steep sides and thick brush along the entire slope wondering what I should do now I follow the top edge of the gully down a short ways hoping for any sign of whether to would ended up I finally sank to my knees and for a few despondent minutes I lost my courage and resolve completely all of this was my fault Clarissa had insisted that she come to this place but I hadn't done nearly enough to discourage her from coming here especially after yesterday when I knew for a fact that something dangerous was probably lurking out here they buried my face in my hands and broke down in tears for several minutes I stayed in this state convinced that Clarissa was probably dead and that I myself was going to die and that I probably deserved it for bringing us out to this horrible place I was startled to suddenly detect a familiar scream Clarissa scream coming from the woods on the other side of the gully hearing this restored my spirits tremendously even giving me half still terrible circumstances and I started calling out her name again those screams came closer and closer until I finally saw her emerge from the forest on the other side shouted her name at the top of my lungs and for a moment she turned her attention and caught sight of me visibly relieved Louis's relieved expression suddenly became blank when she pitched forward of violently and clearly limp and tumbled face down over the edge of the gully and all the way down is the brush below that was shocked and totally petrified by this I gazed stupidly at where she landed in the brush and disappear shil science barely comprehending what had just happened I screamed her name in horror clinging to some vague hope that she was still okay when I was about to jump over the edge of the gully and go down to her when I saw standing in the forest just beyond the up sighs the tall man he just glared at me without moving his hateful gaze pinning me in place for several seconds my slowly back pedaled away from the gully never avoiding his gaze and I just sprinted in the opposite direction leaving my faithful friend and companion to whatever fate this hunter had in mind I'm ashamed now of what I did leaving Clarissa to this man's mercy like that but I've never claimed to be a particularly strong or brave man and I was filled with such terror that I could only think of getting out of this place with a newfound energy I tore through the forest in the general direction of the main trail never taking my eyes off the area behind me for more than a few seconds before too long however I heard that same shuffling cadence behind me knowing that the Hunter was clearly intending to catch up to me as well but now I was resigned to death as I ran I suddenly tripped over a small rise that to my surprise and brief joy was the edge of the main trail we have straights some ways off the trail but not as far as I'd fear my pause for a second hands on my knees exalting this favourable sign hardly paying attention to the footsteps in the face rapidly closing in on me I turned in that direction standing in place with complete resignation no longer caring to run anymore I saw the hunter slinking and leaping through the brush many yards distant quickly closing the distance when he paused in what seemed like confusion I think perhaps he hadn't expected me to give up like this all that the fact I wasn't running anymore didn't trigger his instinct to change instead I shouted in his direction bellowing profanities and saying that I didn't care if I lived or died and challenging him to take up the pursuit again I gripped my life tightly fully intending to put up a fight this time while the hunter just slowly approached me his eyes fixed on my I don't know if he even understood a word of what I yelled at him but I just kept yelling and carrying on hoping that his confusion might give me an opening when he was about 5 yards from me the hunter slunk into a slow stance like a wild animal preparing to pounce for a few seconds we glared at one another clearly not sure who would make the first move then with another rasping grunts he sprung up and charged at me with all his minds that moment time seemed to slow down to a crawl but even with this illusion he appeared to cross the distance with remarkable speed my inhibition is now gone I did the first thing I could think of and raised the knife over my shoulder and pitched it like Rambo knife streaked through the air and caught him across his start he gave a powerful Yelp that stuff pulled me out of my petrified State and class but his stomach glaring at me more hatefully than ever for a few seconds I thought my idiotic gambit had failed that I'd only angered him and left myself without a knife in the process you see you spat between his crooked rotten teeth had awful stench seemed to get even worse than it had before the Furious whale he suddenly turned around Lok back in the direction from which he'd come giving off those animalistic grunts as he went stupefied by this for several seconds hardly believing that this had worked after all range for words where my knife had landed after skidding across his stomach and I saw that I had indeed drawn blood with my welli'm throat snatch it up off the ground and backed out towards the train after his son retreats I considered if perhaps I should go back to the gully where Clarissa had fallen hoping that maybe I could find her and be sure of her fate I couldn't I've been lucky three times now narrowly escaping death by mere inches now that I've more or less returned to my senses I was sensibly afraid again of trying my luck for a fourth time instead I decided that I would leave the forest return to town get help and hopefully come back with a small army at my back after all I had been attacked in the woods and my friend was probably badly hurt and in serious danger with this rationale I ran down the trail to where I'd part my car and returned to Renova as fast as I could I pulled into the nearest sheriff's station in town and went in startling everyone inside with my ragged state and frantic demeanor fortunately my local reputation had preceded me and the deputies at the station were quite attentive to my report however friend he can disorganised it was they advised me to stay put while they put together a search party and investigated the forest but I was adamant that I accompanied them this they denied saying oh I should instead try to get the scratches on my head and neck looked at by a doctor the scratches had been deeper than I'd realized with some amount of blood having trickled down and around my neck I don't know exactly what made those scratches if it was some kind of weapon the man carried or if he had possibly done it with one of his long fingernails that we grudgingly did as I asked went by the local clinic in addition to these scratches I had a lightly sprained ankle and numerous other cuts and bruises as well as a sore back from where I'd been tack or twice the scratches on my head to become quite tender and painful and according to the doctor the wounds were absolutely filthy lodged with dirt and grime and he was curious as to just how I got in them all I could say was I've been attacked out in the forest but I didn't say by what this seemed to satisfy his curiosity for a time the doctor then cleaned the wounds as best he could and even had to put in some stitches on one of them I got a prescription for some antibiotics in case the infection developed and the idea of contracting any infection from that man's filthy fingernails made my skin crawl after this I returned to the station to await further news about what had been found in the forest I would wait there for several hours anxious and despairing of what had happened to Clarissa and hoping beyond all reason that she was okay despite what I had seen around 7 o'clock in the evening the deputies returned to discuss what they'd found to my confusion and disappointment they had uncovered nothing I knew that the two of us had indeed gone up there but they'd found no trace of Clarissa or the man who chased us anyway the rest was a blur to me I was despondent over the deputy's lack of success and furious that they didn't seem to really want to search those woods if they too had heated the local rumors about what had happened in the forest even though a group their size should have been relatively safe the legend surrounding Dutchman's Hollow had such a grip on the locals even a large search party didn't bolster their confidence with nothing substantive found to support my story I was shocked to find that suspicion now fell on me after all a young woman was missing and I'd been the last person to see her alive according to them the numerous wounds on my body could have been a result of a struggle between the two of us not necessarily from a third suspect although nobody could say for certain just what had happened to her I stayed in town for another few days while they wasted their time accusing me of having something to do with her disappearance a deeply distressing experience that nearly ruined my interest in being a true crime investigator after four days spent on searches they finally found out exactly what had happened to Clarissa all those days ago she was dead I don't know how I could have expected anything else she was definitely dead according to them she was found at the base of a steep slope in the forests her body in such a poor shape that it took some time to identify it as hers her body was missing substantial portions of flesh on the legs and back the fact that was attributed to predation by scavenger animals the cause of death was determined to be a severe head wound on the back of her skull presumably the result of stumbling down the hill and hitting her head in a rock or LOC inflicting a fatal injury that was it apparently despite my story the official cause of death was death by misadventure and the fire was abruptly closed on the whole thing her remains were recovered and delivered to the care of her family who as I expected blame me for what had happened to her even if they didn't accuse me of foul play I can't say that I blame I wasn't even invited to attend the funeral I think I could have anyway thinking of my close friend being in that state ripped apart by scavenging animals it's just too much for me to bear as for me I was exonerated by this hasty and abrupt conclusion to how she officially died after all these years I still don't fully understand why my story was ignored by the authorities why they just brushed me off after she was found in examined even when they seemed to believe me wholeheartedly in those first few hours for years I less thoughts of a grand conspiracy to suppress any stories about what happens in those woods a conspiracy that had encompassed generations of locals and the authorities but after some time I abandoned this thinking now I think they just assumed we were stupid kids who got lost in the woods and one of us got themselves killed by accident or that it was just a wild animal attacks nothing nefarious whatsoever I don't deny that we were just dumb kids way in over our heads but I know just what we found in those woods whatever they say I know that it wasn't just an animal attack a nightmare horror wild fantasy 30 years later to think that this experienced horrifying and soul-crushing though it was helped me mature both as a person and as a writer of true crime I'm no longer the silly kid who pursued it is a morbid hobby crusading across the country in search of cheap thrills at the expense of real human tragedies I learned the respect than the subject demands and I know what it truly means to serve the public interest profits or not in between my researches for new cases and book material I still periodically renew my investigation into the mystery surrounding Dutchman's Haller by now I must have a file four inches thick about it to this day people still do disappear in abnormal numbers in the region travelers hitchhikers loggers campus all types that pass through in all that time nobody else has ever shown interest in investigating it besides me few people ever reference the history of it I still think about what happened in the forests in those grim days of 1989 I wonder how it all connects to the history of the region I think about the original settler families the Macduff's and the funder hiders and just what could have happened to their more those years ago did they really die out in the winter of 1806 had anybody even bothered to look for them in the time since who was the last living descendant of those two families where any of the grisly and salacious rumors about them true could one of their descendants survive to this day I remember that passing joke about cannibalism that Clarissa made that day in the library I remember how they attributed her ravaged remains to be neaten by scavengers still think about those things and I can't help but think that a descendant of the original settlers still lives that maybe they had to resort to drastic measures to stay alive in all those harsh winters maybe they developed a taste for it so did their children their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren are down think about these things I remember the tall man with pale blond hair and the scraggly blond beard my stomach turns when I consider what he planned to do when he caught us but I have other reasons for writing this down now for 30 years I've uncovered precious little new evidence surrounding what happens in Dutchman's Hollow but all of that has changed in the last few days I've already told the story of Raymond Hess the only known survivor of all the people who have ever disappeared in the region about how his later years were marred by accusations of involvement in several murders accusations never proven for years I knew nothing about what happened to him or where he went when he left the United States in 1980 recently I came into possession of information revealing this exactly he floated around different countries in Central America first in Mexico and then Belize before eventually turning up in Chile several years later in 1987 he was arrested charged and convicted of a string of 12 murders in central Chile a region he terrorized for years as a widely feared serial killer known as the vampire of Valparaiso in 1988 while serving a life sentence he granted an interview to a Colombian psychiatrist named Heriberto as eius an interview that was videotaped but kept confidential for several decades I've seen this video I can't tell you how I managed to get a hold of it but be rest assured that I did hand it'd cost me dearly what follows next a transcript of the interview which has gave in English and he describes what exactly happened to him those two weeks he was missing in Dutchman's Hollow the tape was rather poor in quality even for that time but after several viewings and confidence that I've transcribed it in its entirety I can't tell you what you should make of what you read we'll just have to form your own conclusions interview start this is dr. Harry Beth tours is interview with prisoner designated cf-18 55 334 named her Raymond Hess from United States convicted 1911 87 for murder sentenced to life term ah can you speak into a microphone please mr. Hess uh yeah hello oh good so mr. Hess I have some questions for you here but I may ask some others as we go along is that all right sure excellent so mr. Hess you are from the United States they're that correct yes that's correct we're in the United States I mean where did you live I'm originally from Pennsylvania Altoona actually I see is it a nice place yeah good place I kinda miss it I'm sure you do you could row up there yeah do you wish you could go back yeah all the time I can't though why not you have family there right I just can't can't go back to America at all some [ __ ] happened back there I just can't go back what happened could your family help you hmm they can't help me but I just can't go back not to them not to anybody but why not um mr. hands I can't go back because for because the same reason I'm in jail right now in this country you have a criminal record in America yeah I've been accused of stuff but I never got put in jail for anything what were you accused of same stuff I'm in jail for right now you were accused of murder of cannibalism something like that here I see well I have some other questions as well about you personally is that okay yeah sure doesn't matter okay well can you tell me about your childhood your parents what about him where okay so they were good to you caring loving yeah they were fine never hit me or anything except when I had it coming and the rest of your family how were they mmm good I guess I have an older brother were you close to him yeah yeah sure usual brother stuff what's sort of brother stuff usual stuff walked me to school help me with bullies playing catch and that kind of stuff wasn't anything [ __ ] up if that's what you're getting at no it's fine I see what you mean sure you do well then let's talk about your school how was school okay pretty much I wasn't that good you had difficulty in your classes sometimes sure were you ever mocked made fun of not doing well no I don't think so you mentioned bullies earlier sometimes nothing too bad I see well it was all pretty normal come again miss - I said it was normal my childhood to me they didn't have a fucked-up childhood or anything it was normal aboveboard nothing weird or sinister or anything like that hmm I see so look man I know you're trying to get into my childhood and all that but there's nothing there I know I'm in jail for some bad stuff but I'm not Ted Bundy or the [ __ ] zodiac or something I'm a normal guy well I used to be pretty normal I see you said you used to be no yeah yes I did what do you mean by this mr. Hess should we continue yeah I could tell you about it maybe can't say you're gonna believe it but I'll tell you don't you go telling anybody else about it huh I just think you're nuts or something hmm okay mr. house I'm serious man if you're just gonna write me off as a nut job then I'm done here no that that's not what I'm suggesting mr. Hess I'm not a real bad guy okay I'm not a psycho or anything yeah I've done some nasty [ __ ] but none of its really about me I understand how you feel mr. Hess but you say these things your crimes they speak for themselves no what did I just say I ain't [ __ ] lunatic I said none of that stuff is really about me please calm down you say it's not about you what do you mean by this I look I'll explain it but you gotta listen real close you know I mean look imagine like a coyote or something he got coyotes here right yes we do right well imagine a coyote he's real hungry so it goes out catches and kills a little baby bunny sounds bad right mm face value I mean he owes a little bunny and he eats it well we don't all get pissed off about a coyote eating a little bunny do we he's gotta eat too and everybody's gotta eat and I gotta eat it's life you just take what comes to you watch it catch you end up living another day because the alternative to living is even worse I understand your meaning mr. s but but what you don't sound like you get it I understand but you say that you must do these things because you must eat yeah that's not so [ __ ] hard is it mr. Hess you are in prison because you killed and ate many people you say you must eat but I like this there is other food is there not these people they have lost family you cannot understand why you are here you think I don't know there's other food out there you think I don't at least try heating it because I do it ain't the same it just ain't I couldn't live only on ribeye steaks any more than I could live on eating only doctorates and I [ __ ] try back home I try but pork chops that's almost like eating people you know I'll take these pork chops and just wail on him with a meat tenderizer trying to get him real soft you know I thought I thought I was getting real close to but it just didn't work but why why do you have to eat only human flesh you can't live your whole life this way you'd have to kill a man every day to live only on that I try to get by on what I can don't think I don't try I tried the pork chops I tried steak and chicken and duck I found a guy in valparaiso who can get all kinds of meat even that African bush meat like monkeys and that kind of [ __ ] illegal stuff and it was close man are there ain't nothing close enough to live on forever that stuff could get me by for weeks maybe a few months and when I couldn't stand it no more I just had to have the real deal you don't get it man I feel like if I don't have that stuff I'll just die you mean to say you're addicted to eating it ain't quite like that man it ain't like drugs junkies can just quit that stuff along after that I get over it I tried I couldn't not even after six months it's not an addiction it's the Hunger the hunger what is that what it sounds like man it's the hunger you can't fight it forever once you get it it doesn't go away you always get hungry for that one thing nothing else fills the hole if you can't have it you starve well you feel like you're starving but only worse you feel like you'll just turn inside out if you can't get it like the whole goddamn universe will cave in on you if you don't feed it you you think this is why you must eat human meat I don't think I have it I have it I got it years ago nothing makes it go away you feed it for a time and it goes down inside you for a while but you always know it'll be back what caused you to get this hunger [ __ ] I know I think I know what was it it wasn't always like this man I was normal I was a good person she like this shouldn't have happened to me it happened back in America eleven years ago almost a third of my whole life go on you know not a lot of people can say this one moment when exact moments where absolutely everything in your whole life changes I was just driving down the road late one night normal thing something I've done a thousand times or more just driving through one of the state forests in Pennsylvania on my way to my next job and I was happy you know I didn't give a damn about anything job here a job there spend some dough in the local bar that was my life now I can't remember what it felt like I was driving all on the road I saw this guy just lying there on the side of the road looked like it was dead or something kind of dirty guy long hair scruffy beard so I thought he was just a bum or something so I figure hey I'll be a good guy today I'll stop and see if this guy's hurt or something if I was down on my luck like this guy I'd want someone to help me pulled off the road to go check on him and I'm leaning over him and something just knocks my lights out I didn't see what come - maybe a minute later no [ __ ] I'm hogtied been dragged by my feet fewer woods facing the dirt I had no idea just what the hell I'd walked into so I started yelling and carrying on trying to get a good look at who's doing this but he's dark and I can't lean up to get a good look then I start thinking about what's going on I mean I got ambushed getting dragged through the woods all tied up I don't know where I'm going so I'm thinking I'm about to get roped into some kind of [ __ ] from deliverance or something like I'm gonna get raped or tortured like some [ __ ] hell people you were kidnapped oh yeah I didn't volunteer to go with this guy and this guy was walking real fast too and I feel like my face is gonna look like an old tire by the time we get there eventually when we do get chucked into this cave or dug out or something I'm just left it still tied up I'm like this for days for days just piercing there's [ __ ] in my own pants not that I had much to piss or [ __ ] cos I wasn't getting in food or water every couple of hours this guy that same bomb I found on the side of the road just comes in and kicks the [ __ ] out of me doesn't say a word either he'd be in there for close to an hour just throwing rocks at me or pouring water on me and they start kicking me and hitting me with this long stick does this routine for days torture is a very traumatic event I can imagine you still have some issues from well that was just a warm-up one day comes in I'm expecting more the same sect he picks me up and drags me off somewhere else this time it's a shackle something kind of wedged in next to the hill looked like some place which would live takes me in there and I'm expecting he's gonna kill me rape me or something like that instead he shows me something looks like like a slaughterhouse or something just full of meat hanging on hooks dead animals all kind of dead things and it [ __ ] stank - felt like I was sticking my head down in our house pops hurry up against the wall they take some kind of meat off the wall and starts hacking away at it with his big cleaver except it's made out of sticks and rocks or something like something a caveman would use and he's flinging this stuff everywhere getting a little bits of blood and flesh all over the place even on me you said was full of meat yeah see where this is going anyhow he's making me watch while he chops his stuff up and he pulls me over and [ __ ] my head back and he picks up this bit of meat he's been chopping he stuffs it right into my mouth God it was [ __ ] gross you never read raw meat it's nasty I don't know what the hell kind of meat that was either I try to spit it out because I don't know what he's trying to do that just pisses him off even worse pretty soon I'm getting the usual treatment beaten half to death for not eating what this guy's trying to make me eat I get thrown back in the dugout the next day he repeats the same thing every day he's got some new kind of meat he wants me to try and at first I try spitting it out but you know I was there for days without food or water by this time I'm getting real hungry maybe not hungry enough to actually eat that [ __ ] but now I'm thinking about it so every day I'm in there he makes me eat some disgusting meats kicks his [ __ ] out of me if I put up a fight but you hate it eventually yeah I did anyone who's gone hungry a day in their life knows what that felt like when you're that hungry you don't really think straight so one day he gets me to actually chew and swallow some of it so that was a slight improvement caught in to him because he didn't beat the hell out of me afterwards then one day he tosses me back into the dugout for the night but this time he leaves me there for days again except now he doesn't turn up at all I keep figuring I'm gonna take advantage of this try to make my escape but I'm tied up so tight there's no way I work out something in time even after a couple of days but she did escape No mmm I thought all I got out of it anyways and for a couple of days he shows up out of nowhere and drags me back up to his little slaughterhouse and I'm starving at this point so I don't put up with fines instead when I get there I see I see are you alright mr. Hess do you need a moment no no I'm fine he sets me down and I see this nice young girl maybe 14 years old tied up just like I was sitting right across from me but she's awake so she sees what's going on God she was just petrified crying moaning but she couldn't talk us she had something stuck over a mouth like some kind of transparent like some kind of animal guts but it was stretched out so you could see through it in this man he's freaking butcher he comes in and she just loses it so I got no clue what he's planning but I might have some ID I think he's just gonna do the same thing as before making us eat more meat but he doesn't he just desserted both of us for a few minutes he takes the girl slams her head down on a carbon bond this time I do put up a fight because I know he's gonna do something to this girl he could kill me for all I gave a [ __ ] them I didn't want something to happen to her he leans over kicks me in the stomach he takes his giant cleaver and he starts in on her chopping her head off oh he's real sloppy too didn't take a hat off right away he just hacks away at her neck and she's screaming as much as she can but the cleaver chops through her throat must have taken him ten swipes to do it that's horrible I can't imagine how you felt seeing that no you can't but that wasn't the worst of it he starts chopping all over taking off bits of meat right where I can see it do you understand now I can actually see where the meats coming from this time it isn't that mystery meat he was giving me the last few days he pulls off a big strip right from her back skin and everything and he he forces it down my throat I can't spit it out he holds my mouth shut I have to swallow a chunk of meat right off the girl he just kills the girl I saw killed it takes a piece of meat needs it in front of me we do this back and forth for iowa's he lit up a fire at one point started roasting the bits he cut off he needs some then he forced me to eat some for hours until there wasn't anything left just a body with all the meaty bit stripped off not a skeleton you see like a skeleton that still has all the tendons that polish all the bits of meat that can be eaten some of the albans to god this is true this actually happened to you I wouldn't just made this [ __ ] up man you think I'm just telling stories gotta [ __ ] with you know you asked for the truth and there it is told you was hard to believe didn't think things like this happened you sure as [ __ ] didn't think you what happened to me but happens to somebody I guess how did you get out this well he shot me back in the dugout leaving me to digest you tried to throw it up I'll try I thought for sure I'd vomit after seeing this but I couldn't I was just too hungry left me shacked up for days remember that was the first thing I'd eaten for days can't help if I was freaking starving that man he left me there after that I guess he was satisfied one day I wake up and the ropes are off me I think it's some kind of trick but look around I don't see him anywhere he's gone and the ropes are off me and goddamnit I still wanted to live so I ran out of there I just ran and ran until I found myself wandering along the side of a road that was where other cops pick me up when I found out people were looking for me you didn't tell anybody what happened you could have saved some lives if a killer was on the loose I was out of my freakin mind when I came out of there I didn't want to talk about any of it I wasn't even sure it really happened if it did well why would I say I mean they might have believed me maybe I didn't have anything to lose by telling them but time kept passing by and by the time I was ready to talk didn't know if anyone would have listened still got some trust issues I was afraid they'd think I'd made it up especially that waited so long to tell anyone I already told everybody I didn't remember what happens and that was around the time I first started feeling I started feeling it it you mean these tendencies yeah hunger that's where I got it you know I thought it was all [ __ ] all those stories about people eating human flesh you can getting obsessed with it but it happened to me I wasn't [ __ ] after all [ __ ] freaking the woods turn me man he gave it to me and I'm pretty damn sure he did it on purpose too like he wants other people to get it why why does somebody one man you were in my life The Hunger ruined my life the only life I've got now I'm here in this hellhole and I'll never get to feed it again I can't possibly live like that I'm tainted now I can't do the only thing that will keep me alive don't lose hope mr. ass there is treatment available for your condition it's purely psychological you don't need to eat human flesh to survive with treatment this condition will not control your life no I'm not worth it I'm pretty damn sure there is no cure for this doesn't matter anyways I'm gonna die in this place unless you think the judge believes otherwise any honest is worth treating mr. Hess you don't have to lose your quality of life even in these circumstances look I'm tired I'm tired and I'm done I don't want to talk anymore that's the truth I'm just tired just think what you want I'm finished with all of it you got all this on film don't you just watch it again I'm done I'm just done that's all folks mr. Hess are you sure the tape ends the next day after this interview Raymond Hess American citizen convicted of multiple murders and incarcerated in a Chilean prison was murdered by a fellow inmate ostensibly in self-defense according to this inmate el americano attacked him without provocation in a prison corridor attempting to bite him before being stabbed and beaten in return so I need this ad sorry life of Raymond Hess if I would hole by the silent suffering that would drive him to claim the lives of many others few would mourn the passing of the vampire of valparaiso a prison legend would keep his memory alive legends of a vicious cannibal that once stalked the halls threatening to feast upon the flesh of any unfortunate enough to cross his path if you would ever know the true origin of this legend fewer still would believe it but this world has dark corners that few would expect and I sincerely hope that one day I will live to see the legend of Dutchman's hollow come to its end Oh Deary me now I know you all like the longer stories and those of you working the night shift or driving the long haul helps the time of your past but here's a lot of effort putting this together I've been working on that one for the best part of a week and even though it's really fulfilling it's also really exhausting so I will be back again on Friday but we've nodded to our story this time but something I think you're all going to enjoy anyway I've been promising you that werewolf story Devin I think it's about time I delivered well until then sweet dreams and bye Barton [Music] [Music] thank you so much for choosing to spend your time listening to me now if you enjoyed the dr. cribben experience and come find me on Facebook come chat with me on Twitter listen to the background music and download it if you like on soundcloud drop by the store pick up a t-shirt and importantly if you've got a story you'd like me to read send it to dr. creepiness walls subreddit I set up so that I could read your stories yeah looking forward to seeing you all again real soon so come check me out okay [Music]

Channel: Dr. Creepen

Views: 232,073

Keywords: dr creepens vault, dr creepen, dr. creepen, nosleep stories, creepypasta, scary stories, asmr stories, best horror stories, deep web horror stories, nosleep horror, creepypasta horror, The Hollows and the Hills, creepypasta stories, Chili1220, forest horror stories, forest horror movies, woodland horror stories, woodland horror movies, lost in a forest, lost in a forest story, lost in a forest all alone, dr creepen vault

Id: gNbkXFFEVtg

Length: 131min 30sec (7890 seconds)

Published: Wed May 15 2019