Hunting Season - A Halloween tale

As many of you may know hunting season starts, at least for bows, in October in Wisconsin. There are gun hunts for deer that are eating up the farmer crops, but the real gun season is in November. People put out small amounts of corn, apples, and mineral or salt blocks for the deer, and they set up game cameras to see how many are in the area where they plan to hunt. I am one who sets up a camera. And if one is going to set up a ground blind, which essentially is just a tent with a printed camouflage design, it needs to be done about the same time as the game camera so the deer get used to it being there. I, for one, have no use for tree stands or anything up in the air because I hate heights, so I have a large blind. I check the camera frequently to see how many, if any, deer are coming to my mineral block. It's my first year putting one out. The pictures are...let say, creepy sometimes for the infrared night shots. If you look in the picture below you'll see something between the trees just above the deer's ear. There literally is nothing there that should account for that. NOTHING! It gave me the idea for "Hunting Season". Be prepared. It IS Halloween season too after all. Seriously, I may have a hard time going out there before daylight now. Just sayin'.

 

Hunting Season

“Lucas! Do you see that? Randall Slade asked his best friend. He had brought up the pictures from his game camera on his computer in his basement family room.

“Kind of blurry,” Lucas answered. “Maybe if you tell me what I’m looking for I’ll have a clue.”

“It’s a night shot. The infrared isn’t great on this cheap camera, but I can see something weird between the trees.” He pointed.

Lucas looked closer. “Well, it’s not a deer. Could be just the moon shining on a fern leaf. You do have your hunting camera set up in the swampy area of the back forty,” he said, referring the back forty acres of the Slade family farm.

“I made sure to mow all that out while it was still dry and I stomp everything down every time I go check the camera and the salt block. So, that’s not a plant. Besides, it was overcast last night and the moon was only a sliver. It didn’t stand a chance of shining into the woods there,” Randall explained.

“Hmm,” Lucas sighed. “I just don’t know what to tell you then. If there was power out there you could set up some extra lights for the camera. Those daytime shots are awesome. There’s deer all over the place. See if there are any other night shots.”

Randall clicked for the next few. “There are a couple, but they’re running! See how they are in the shots in different locations and heads are up looking around. Something has them alerted.”

“Yeah, but there could be a coyote out there too. You might not ever catch one of those on the camera if it sets it off. They are tall enough to set off the motion sensor but too short to get caught in the shot,” Lucas told him. “That might be why the pictures aren’t showing anything other than the woods.”

“Maybe,” Randall said, “But if it looks like that on the SD card tomorrow, I think we need to take a little overnight camping trip out there to see what’s going on. The blind has been set up for a couple weeks now and they are used to it, so as long as we’re quiet we shouldn’t scare them off too much.”

“As long as you don’t fall asleep!” Lucas said laughing. “You snore loud enough to scare a bear."

“The idea is to stay awake, genius.” Randall said. He stood up and grabbed a can of soda out of the mini-fridge. He handed one to Lucas and popped the top before taking a big gulp. He belched.

“Maybe we ought to pack water. We don’t any of that going on when we’re doing recon,” Lucas suggested.

“I might be nothing, like you said, but I want to check the camera again just be sure before we go out there,” Randall said. “An overnight trip might run all the deer off if we leave too much scent around.”

“Well, I’ll check with my dad, but I’m sure it will be fine to go. Tomorrow is Saturday, so we won’t be missing any school or anything.” Lucas told him. “I’d better get going before my mom calls because I’m late to supper…again.”

“Okay,” Randall said, “I have to get to the chores too or dad will skin me! I’ll call you in the morning after I get the cards switched out.”

The next morning Randall called Lucas. He was still in bed. “How do you think you’re going to get up to go hunting if you can’t even get out of bed before eight in the morning? We have to be out around six before the sun comes up to get set up!”

“Randall? Is that you?” Lucas said, still groggy from sleep.

“Yes! I told you I was going to call when I got the cards switched out. I’ve already helped with morning chores and had breakfast, and I still got out there and got the card.”

“You took the four-wheeler. That doesn’t take long, so it doesn’t count,” Lucas complained.

“Well, get your butt over here. I want to look at this card,” Randall insisted.

“Sure. I’ll grab a Pop Tart or something and be there quick as I can.”

Randall stared at the pictures. His eyes were wide with disbelief. “What the hell happened?”

“I don’t know man. That was creepy. One minute the deer was licking that salt block and the next it was on the ground and then it was just gone. The time stamp had it under two minutes,” Lucas said. His face was white. “Dead of night except for the odd shining, or glowing dots, or whatever it was. I really wish you had a better camera.”

“You still want to go?” Randall asked apprehensively.

“Yeah, but we’re taking guns, and our phones just in case,” Lucas said.

“It’s not gun season yet. It’s not legal. And the cell reception is spotty.”

“I don’t care! I’m not going without a gun in case there is something out there trying to get us. If there’s no reception, at least I can record it. I have one of those phone that records perfectly even in the dark,” Lucas bragged.

“Of course you do. I say about five o’clock we go out. It’s not dark yet so we can find our way into the woods. We’ll take the four-wheeler in case we have to clear out fast, but it won’t be too close, so if I say run you’d better act like your feet are on fire,” Randall told him. “The trail is mowed off but there are still a few stubs from brush so pay attention going in to where they are.”

“Alright. I’m going to go gear up and show my dad on the map where we’ll be in case he needs to find us and the phones don’t work.”

“Good idea! I’ll let dad know too. Mom will just freak out. They know we might go out there, but they don’t know why. If I take a gun, dad definitely needs to know why,” Randall said.

The boys lit out at five. The sun was setting pretty far by the time they got to the hunting blind and it was harder to see than they anticipated. Using flashlights they set up camp inside the blind, lowering the zippered windows only partially so they could see out through small sections rather than opening the window fully so as not to scare the deer themselves. They sat quietly for several hours communicating only through whispers or hand signals used by flashlight under a blanket.

Around ten they started hearing noises. Peering out through their peep holes, they watched deer wander past as the game camera’s motion sensor flashed for the photo. After about a half an hour they saw the strange glow. There were two about the same level at all times, but moving. The game camera flashed and Lucas gasped, covering his mouth. The eyes moved and the camera flashed. There was the sound of a low growl.

Lucas slowly put his phone into position to record as Randall got a gun ready. As the game camera flashed the boys could see it was some sort of creature. Randall quickly typed an SOS on his phone with another word and sent the text to his dad. As it got closer their hearts beat hard enough they were sure one another could hear it and if they could the creature could surely hear them.

Suddenly Randall’s phone chimed as his father sent a reply that he was on his way. His eyes grew wide as the creature turned their direction. It only took what seemed like a second for it to reach their blind.

“Run!” Randall whispered, nearly falling over Lucas on the way to the door they had left unzipped in case they needed a quick exit. He looked long enough to see Lucas right on his heels.

The creature growled more fiercely as it ripped the blind apart, collapsing it in its wake. It was after the boys once it tore through the thin nylon as they ran for their lives.

Mike Slade called William Tucker, Lucas’s father, on his way to the camp. He told him to bring a gun and meet him there. It only took ten minutes for them to meet up as William Tucker was as familiar with the hunting area as boys were since he and Mike were friends as well. They found no signs of the boys at the four-wheeler so they went on down to the campsite with bright lanterns. The tent was tattered and they found a shredded hiking boot that had been Randall’s.

After calling for twenty minutes they decided they needed to get the sheriff’s department involved and possibly the DNR. They called their wives and told them to hold up at Mike’s house and wait for the sheriff’s deputies to arrive to give them directions, but whatever they did, stay at the house and stay inside except to give the directions.

Deputies arrived and a DNR game warden. Everyone used high powered search lights to search for the boys and then radioed for search dogs. Some drag marks were found but they just as quickly disappeared. Photographs were taken of the campsite and the destroyed blind. The SD card was removed from the game camera.

At daylight the dogs were turned loose and they hit a scent right away. First Randall’s phone was found and then a short while later Lucas’s phone was found. There was blood on them both and more drag marks. They searched all day and found no further sign of the boys. The dogs had lost the trail.

Finally the sheriff’s deputy asked if he could use Randall’s computer to read the SD card since he didn’t have an adapter handy to use the one in his SUV. The pictures were benign at first with a few deer and the boys and more deer. Then the shots started with the glowing dots that kept moving around and then it looked in the direction of the blind and then it moved fast in its direction. A few minutes later it showed the boys being dragged off into the woods by the creature, Randall without his boot. They looked to be already dead.

Tears ran down the parents’ faces and the deputy and game warden stared blankly at the screen in disbelief.

William Tucker finally asked to see his son’s phone. He was sure his son had taken footage because he was always recording something. They gave it to him and he pressed the button on the side and swiped at the screen, tapping on the app for the photo gallery. It showed he had indeed recorded several minutes of footage. He wept openly as the sound of their scared boys whispering to one another not to breathe so loud so it wouldn’t hear them.

“Dad, if you ever get this,” Lucas whispered. “I don’t know how we’ll get out of this. Randall is loading a gun but I don’t think there is time to get it. It looks like a hodag. I know they aren’t supposed to exist, but it is here.” Suddenly Randall told him to shut the hell up before it heard them. There was the sound of Randall’s phone chiming and a panicked, ‘oh no,” whispered low by Randall.

The creature growled and turned toward the boys. Its full ugly and horrifying features were caught as with lightning speed it moved up on the blind and was reaching for it when the sound of Randall saying to run could be heard and the camera turned catching their fumbling escape from the blind. It recorded the boys running pointing at the ground up until Lucas was pulled to the ground, screaming and seconds later Randall screaming as he too was brought down.

“I didn’t really believe him when he said it was a hodag!” Mike Slade said. “I believed they were in trouble but I thought maybe it was just a bear,” he said, crying into his wife’s hair.

Everyone was horrified. The footage was uploaded to the deputy’s computer for a copy of the evidence of what had happened to the boys. No traces of them existed outside of the few that led them to the phones. They simply vanished.

No one hunts those woods anymore. No deer are seen in the vicinity. Occasionally helicopters fly over with sharp shooters in search of the evasive creature. No one dares to go on foot.

Everyone in Wisconsin knows hodags are just myth made up in the eighteen hundreds as a hoax. They don’t really exist. OR DO THEY???  

I uploaded a picture someone drew of the hodag from Instagram. Looks creepy enough to me!

 

Follow Me

"Jessica," said Drake, "Are you sure you want to move into that old place?" He looked at her, waiting for an answer, then added, "I know your great aunt kept it for you all these years, but she’s dead. She won't care if you don't move there."

"I know that. I've always wanted to live there," answered Jessica. "Besides, I've already hired a staff to clean it."

"It's been un-lived in for fifty years, Jessica. The only people that ever tried to lease it didn't last a week. They said it was haunted!" Drake argued.

"Now let's not get carried away, Drake." Jessica tapped her foot. "They said there was something strange about it; not that it was haunted," she said tersely.

Jessica rode quietly the rest of the trip thinking of what her great aunt, Pauline, had told her about her family.

"…Lord James Errol Winfield, your grandfather, disappeared many years ago. His only son, Brian, your father, had to take over the business that his father began. As the years passed, without clear ownership, Brian could not borrow the money he needed to keep the business going. He had to have his father declared legally dead. With this, the title to the business and to Winfield Manor went to Brian. He and your mother were killed in an automobile accident a few years later shortly after you were born, dear child. I took charge of you and a trust fund they had set up for you. You will receive the properties in the trust after you marry or in the event of my death."

Jessica and Drake drove passed the main gate of Winfield Manor. The old mansion was covered with brown and green ivy. Neither a window nor barely a door could be seen. The rose hedge that led to the house scattered in every direction. The grass was the only thing outside the house that had been attended to.

"Welcome Ma'am," said Lilith, the head of housekeeping. "Did you have a pleasant trip?"

"I guess it could have been better," Jessica said, glancing in the direction of her fiancée. "I see Joseph has the grass clipped at last. Tell him to start on clearing the windows and doors of all that ivy before he does the rose hedges.

"Yes Ma'am, right away," said Lilith.

Jessica walked into the study. "Drake, that is a portrait of my grandfather," she said pointing at the painting hanging over the mantle. "I think it will look better in the hallway along the staircase," she said, gently lifting the painting from his its hook. "I'll just go get something to hand it with," she added, setting the painting gently on the floor at the foot of the stairs. "I want to eventually line the stairway with all the family portraits."

"Where's the painting?" Jessica asked when she returned.

"I don't know," Drake answered with a shrug. "I went up stairs to look around and when I came back it was gone."

They went back into the study. There was the painting right back where it had been before. Underneath it was silver bowl filled with red roses.

"Lilith," Jessica called, when she saw her come into the house.

"Yes Ma'am?" she inquired. "What can I get for you?"

"Nothing. Did you move this painting from the stairs back to here?"

"No ma'am. I've been out trying to find Joseph. He was locking up his tools in the gardener's shed," she answered. "All the other servants have gone."

"Gone! Why?" Jessica asked.

"Oh, they won't stay here at night," she added. "They think the house is haunted."

Drake snorted.

Jessica raised an eyebrow. "Thank you Lilith," she said. "That's all for now. Oh, by the way, thank you for the roses. They're lovely."

"But, ma'am, I didn't bring those in. That is the kind that grows on your hedges, but they aren't in bloom. And that bowl," she said looking closer, "I never got the chance to polish it. It was all green with tarnish just a few hours ago."

Jessica motioned for Lilith to go back to her duties. She turned to look at Drake, who was trying not to smile. She had had about all she could take for the day. "I think I'll go up and get a bath before we eat. Do you think you could build a fire? It's getting chilly in here."

Jessica was calmer after her bath. She walked into the study where Drake was sitting near the fire. "The fire is burning nicely," she said sitting down next to him. "Thank you for building it for me. Drake, I'm sorry for being such a tyrant today."

"That's all right," he said. "It has been a long day and I should not have teased you the whole trip." Drake put his arm around Jessica and they sat, silent, watching the flames flicker in the dimly lit room.

Suddenly the flames shot higher. Jessica jumped in her surprise and slipped off the sofa.

"Are you all right?" Drake asked her.

"I think so," she said reaching for his hand to help her back onto the sofa. Something caught her eye and she stopped where she sat, staring at the ceiling.

Drake looked up to what held her attention.

"Would you look at that?" Jessica said. "It looks like to people quarreling."

They watched the strange shadow show on the ceiling. The two figures raised their arms and pointed at one another. Suddenly, one stabbed at the other with some dark object. The one who had been stabbed fell, holding his middle. The flames died down as quickly as they had risen. The shadows disappeared.

Jessica gasped. A chill ran down her spine and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

"You look frightened," Drake said staring into her face. "Would you like me to have Lilith bring you some tea?"

"Yes, I think I would. But I think I'll have it up stairs in the bedroom," she said.

"I'll help you up before I get Lilith," he said. He helped her to stand then put his arm around her shoulder and helped her up the stairs. "I'll bring you something to eat too."

Jessica inspected the grounds. The gardener walked by carrying a large pair of pruning shears.

"Joseph," said Jessica, "You must be a very quick worker."

"Why is that ma'am?" he asked.

"Well, you got that bottom row of windows cleared of that ivy and still had time to do the cellar door."

"Aye, I did do the windows," he said with his Irish brogue. "But, I did not do the cellar door. I was just about to start on the top row of windows and then the tower."

"But, if you didn't, then who did?" Jessica stared after his shrugging figure, as confused as he was. He inspected the door, scratched his head a second and shrugged again.

Jessica stared at the house for a moment, arms crossed, thinking. Who could have cleared that door? She took a deep breath and shook her head. There certainly was something strange about this place, she thought and wandered her way back into the house.

She decided to check out the study for anything that could have caused those shadows the night before. There was a shallow figure of a man standing in front of the fireplace looking up at the paining of Lord Winfield.

"Excuse me," she said. "Who are you?" she asked.

The man turned around. He was dressed exactly as the man in the painting. Jessica looked closer. He looked just like her grandfather. He said nothing.

"Drake!" she screamed, her eyes wide with disbelief.

Drake ran into the room and started to say something but stopped when he saw the man.

The man motioned for Jessica to follow him.

"He wants us to follow him," said Jessica. "I think we should."

"If you insist, Jessica, but I don't think it's a good idea," replied Drake.

"Then you can stay here. I'm going with him."

The man started toward the French doors that led out onto a terrace.

"Please wait," said Jessica. "Those doors aren't cleared yet, so I'll have to go around the house."

He motioned for her to stay and then waved at the doors. He walked through them as though they weren't there. Then the doors opened. The ivy was cleared.

Jessica started through them, glancing around the cleared opening.

"I'd better go with you," said Drake, walking quickly after her. "You might get hurt."

The man led them to the cellar door and again went through it as if it weren't there.

Jessica and drake pulled hard to get the old door to open and then stepped inside. It was dark and musty after being closed u for so long. Drake struck a match and brushing away the cob webs all the way down, they found a candle on the a table near the bottom stair.

The man was still turning occasionally, motioning for them to follow him. He led them to the wine cellar and then disappeared into one of the casks.

"Do you know how old this wine is?" asked Drake, blowing the dust off of one of the bottles.

"At least fifty years," said Jessica. "We can study quality later. Right now we have to get into that wine cask."

Drake tapped on the surrounding casks and then the one the man had disappeared into. He tested the spigot to see if anything came out. "It's hollow," he said.

"You expected it to be full?" Jessica said, while she tried to open the rusted lock on the side of the cask with a hair pin. At last it popped open.

"That only happens in novels," said Drake.

"It looks like it happened to me," Jessica said sarcastically.

Jessica opened the cask. It was dark and dusty. They found several doors. All were locked except one. Once inside the room they could make out a desk and a chair and what appeared to be an old settee.  Drake noticed something on the floor and lowered the candle to get a better look at it. It was a skeleton. It was dressed just the same as the man they had been following. Jessica opened her mouth to scream, but nothing would come out.

Drake said after a few moments, "Whoever, or whatever, we were following wanted us to find this."

"I know," Jessica said. "Grandfather's been trying to get someone to follow him here for years. Until now, no one would."

The next day the police were still going over the room. They thought that it was Lord Winfield's skeleton that had been found, but they had no clue as to who had killed him or why.

Jessica grew impatient with the constable's questions and started wandering around the room. She sat down on the settee. "Ouch!" she said. "What was that?"

She felt the cushion. There seemed to be something under the lining. Jessica opened the cushion revealing the stuffing inside. There was a book between the stuffing and the lining. On the book was printed in gold letters the name LORD JAMES ERROL WINFIELD.

The book was opened. It was a private journal. Two sheets of old yellowed ledger paper marked a page in the journal.  The page read:

           

"I fear now that my partner, Geoffrey Ames, knows I have found his secret ledger that my life is in danger. Geoffrey called a meeting for tonight. He wants to meet me in my secret office. I wish he didn't know about this place; no one else knows about it. I have taken two of his ledger sheets and I am putting them in this book for safe keeping, although I shall hide the journal where Geoffrey won't find it…right under his nose."

The ledger sheets were used as evidence, along with his journal, in the arrest of Geoffrey Ames for the murder Lord James Errol Winfield. Geoffrey Ames, who was still quite a sturdy man to be well into his eighties, gave up without a fight. He cried when they came to his door. He told them the money wasn't worth the agony of living with what he'd done.