from within us

THE CABIN IN THE WOODS had been abandoned for years, but one night a candle burned in the window. As I gazed through the thickness of leaves of trees over one hundred feet away on our own small wooded property, I realized that no one had been seen approaching the cabin on our webcams set around the five hundred foot perimeter of our campsite. The cabin was included in our "safe zone" because no one had been there, we would not be victims of what it held inside. But there it was... the candle, bright as day in the waning light of what remained of sunlight. The candle glimmered and cast shadows onto the outer wall of the cabin.

"We'd better check that out, Hon; " I made the suggestion without commitment. "I'm reading," came back at me from the easy chair... a stack of pillows set to resemble a recliner set in one corner of our little space. A lantern attached to a hanger lit the paper stack being read by John. He continued, "It's probably nothing," muttering without raising his eyes from the manuscript in his lap. John was too set in his comfort zone for the few days we'd been in our camp. It was only a short distance from home, but a getaway was a "getaway" and welcomed for whichever length it could be. It was our usual summer fling. Just the two of us in a six-room tent with nearly all the comforts of home and a Jeep SUV to haul anything we'd missed "I will go check it out Hon, " I hollered back toward his seated image as I stepped through the zippered exit.

The woodland floor was crawling, or appeared so, in the low natural light available under the tree canopy above. The distance of a one-hundred-foot trek seemed like a mile in the silence surrounding me, but I stepped on reassured by the tradition of NOTHING BEING at the cabin. Nearing the wall closest to our property, I could see the candle was not inside but only perched on the exterior ledge of the window. Underneath was a blood pool and bloodied carcass of a... what looked like a dog or deer. I lifted a stick from the tangle of wood near the wall to prod the mess before me and an arm... a human arm... unfolded from the side of it. Startled, I stumbled back and to the side falling over a nearly severed head. A half-human-looking head still attached to a furry four-legged body still resembling a dog or deer. In my panic, I scrambled over onto my knees and hands to push up from the pine needles scratching at my legs. As I did, I could see what brought the mess surrounding me. There in plain sight, was another one. Alive, head and carcass attached standing on two legs toting or holding clutched in one paw hand... a machete of sorts. It swung at me as it must have swung at the gore below me. It lept toward me as it missed the first try, and I ran, springing off toward John in the darkness of one hundred feet. We had not seen it, but now it had seen me. It knew we were out here. It followed us back home after our rushed reload of broken campsite material and we left there fleeing for home. It followed us... The chimera... dog or deer man. The thing had followed us the short distance from the wooded campsite to our home community and now it prowls the area. We have heard noises and the neighbors have heard something in the outer yard of their own homes. It's out there and waiting to be seen by you.

Mancelona was always a calm setting, a camper's town of pop-up tents and campers of all sorts in the "campers woods" area; and moderately priced homes for those retirees or two home residents that preferred living in the Pencil Lake area. We were latecomers to the community. Our caping experience developed only after moving in and meeting the association which cared for the commons areas as a group effort activity. It was here that the creature, the dog ...or deer man, had followed us back to. Our community in Northernmost Michigan, just short of the Upper Penninsula but just as encouraging for those of us who learned to love nature... the norms of nature.

THE CABIN IN THE WOODS had been abandoned for years on the old original development section of the Lakes area, but that one night the candle burning in the window caught my attention and would now be a constant to the attention of all those dwelling in the county. Nothing like it had ever been seen. Nothing like it had been mentioned or investigated by local authorities, as far as anyone knew.