Hell's Gloom War Memorial

"The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window..."

Our ghost chasing team and myself, had finally made the journey all the way from the UC Berkeley campus in Berkeley, California, to one the oldest known war memorial sites in the United States. Hell's Gloom, located in the backwoods of West Virginia, was one of those forgotten places, in our wartime history, where the Confederate Soldiers and the Union boys went to battle in a fierce exchange of guns, knives, and bombs. The conference was supposed to end the Civil War, but in a brief moment of frustration, and a heated exchange of words from both sides, a couple of shoves and blows from closed fits, lead to gunfire and a vast count of dead bodies.

All of us were the adventurous type, always ready to face the challenges of the World either from an open book, or on a journey in hiking boots. We had been talking about this adventure to the site, Hell's Gloom, so we could confirm for ourselves these scary, goose bump stories we had heard, and read in our textbooks. I mean what could be more exciting than a group of young college kids going to investigate a place of ghost sightings and paranormal activities?

...The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window."

We all took turns driving one hundred miles each. There was never any debate about driving. If the duties were divided up, there would always be a fresh set of eyes at the driver's control. This was our rule.

We were a fit looking lot. Young, ahetitic, funny, youthful, attractive, sexy, strong, lean, and definately smart

First, there was young Mekala Jones. Two years ago she was just a sixteen year old valedictorian out of high-school, who graduated with honors. I actually remember reading about her online. A grade point average of 5.2. She was a mathematical genius, who would always do a math problem the way most people would commonly do it wrong on one piece of paper, then she would do the problem correctly on another piece of paper. In three years of studying with her, I never seen her get a problem wrong. She would make us think she was stumped an a problem, then she'd reveal the answer. We all didn't like her much at first, but how can you not like someone who knows their stuff. She was a wiz kid.

Then, there was Tyler. He was the rich educated kid who didn't want to live under the shadow of his parents wealth. He would always properly say, "Yeah, having rich parents has it benefits, but I'm going to blaze my own trail in life, and I will not be a doctor like my mom, or a lawyer like my father." He would give a smirch, and push the his glasses back up on the bridge of his nose.

Tyler was a quick thinker, he was first in deciding if someone was a good or bad idea. He would either have a look on his face like the light came on, or the arch between his eyes crinkled, and you knew beforehand that he didn't like the idea. He was cool, calm and collective, but very predictable. Oh, he used that to his advantage when ever we played poker. That look.

Emma Mcdaniel's lead the Cal Bears to two national volleyball titles in her first two years. She had an athlete's look of confidence on her face. If her team was losing, Em, would be the one smiling after each volley, and keeping moral high. She was the first player in the history at Berkeley to be team captain as a freshman. A double major in both math and English, she was a fierce competitor at everything. One thing we knew about Emma, is that she loved to win. Didn't matter if it was jacks, or hopscotch, Emma was trying to beat you.

Allen was the quiet one. We could always tell if he was up to something because he would either start nibbling on his finger nails like he was hungry, or he would start grinding on his teeth, to annoy us to death for attention. Everyone thought this was quite a strange behavior characteristic from a chemistry, electrical engineering major.

When we all started to get together at my apartment for study, I would just get up and go to the kitchen and bring snacks. I would set them right in front of him, holding back laughter. Al, you should stop eating your fingernails, I would say, to the chagrin of everyone. In unison we would all stop and take a break, and the rounds of "toast and roast," would start. We would all take turns getting one in on eachother, until we laughed ourselves back into group study mode. Neither of us realized early on, that Al's fear and double thinking wasn't because he was a wus; heck he grew up in Harlem. Yeah, that Harlem, in New York. But, we learned that his cautious behavior was the result of dealing with some dangerous chemicals. He would always say, "once two chemicals have a crazy reaction during an experiment, fear takes on a totally different meaning". He would teach me a valuable lesson on our journey to Hells Gloom, or the cemetery of the war ghost, as some people called it.

Me and my girlfriend Roseanne... were real characters as boyfriend and girlfriend. We were inseparable like real partners in crime. We called each other, one and two, but more about us later.

The seventies music hit, I'm Your Boogie Man, was blasting through my cell phones auxiliary plug. Emma, was driving like a robot, with both hands gripped on the wheel. We were all in our vibe singing together. My minivan was moving down the road, then I smelled gas. Why do i smell gas, I thought?

I looked at the GPS locator coming from the tablet, sitting on the dash. I turned the music down and everything stopped. Is it me you guys, or does anyone else smell gas? I asked. All you could see was weird looks on their faces, as each person tried to focus their senses. Deep breaths here and there, then all of a sudden the responses started coming. Each of us agreed that we smelled gas, but I had no clue where it was coming from. My car car was only two years old, and I had no problems up until now. So, this was a mystery.

Strange looks from everyone. "Hey, you guys we are only two miles away from the Hell's Gloom War Memorial, and another three miles from camp," I said. "We should be good to reach camp". I was trying to sound confident. But, being on the road is the worst place to have car problems, I was thinking to myself. And, to add to our worries, it was already dark and the only light we had was the car headlights. Oh, the stars to the moon was lighting up the sky.

I didn't want to show any reaction, the gang was already quite tense, like it was our first Halloween as kids. You know, when even the wind scares you. As Emma veered us into a slight curve, I felt the car lung. Immediately, Emma looked over at me with this terrifying expression on her face. "Blake, did you feel that"? OMG, I thought in my mind, why did she have to spoil my wish. I was silently hoping that nobody said anything. I had both fingers crossed. "Yeah, I felt it, Em," I said, trying not to think trying not to think the worst. From the back seat came a chorus of questions, first from Tyler.

"Did you feel that Blik, Tyler asked. The car bucked like we might be out of fuel. I looked back at them from the rear view, and their faces were filled with doom. Mekala, why are you looking like that? I asked. Were just out of fuel, it's not the end of the world, I ended. Allen tried to sound optimistic. Luckily we got fuel before we started through the boon docks, he said. And, just as I was about to suggest that Emma pullover, the minivan jerked hard, gasped for air, and conked out.

Tyler let out a great big ol belly laugh. Aww, I knew it, he was laughing hard. I been watching the gas gauge for the last two hundred miles, I knew we were going to run out of gas, he ended. Makala had a look of disdain on her face and just bluntly expressed her thoughts, "you are a jerk, like really..." "Why didn't you say something," she ended. Tyler's tone was still humorous. Nothing to worry about, we got the gas can, he ended.

The minivan came to a slow stop. We all looked around at each other as if we didn't know our next move. Emma jumped out of the vehicle first. I didn't expect to be a getting a workout on our journey, she said. Then she added, i'm up for though. one by one, everybody got out of the car. Allen rested his headphones on the seat, and started stretecting in the middle of the road. I think we are all going to get a workout in, he said.

I asked Emma to pull the hood lever so I could take a view under the hood, because I could still smell gas. I raised the hood and propped the extension in the hole and let the hood down easy. There was nothing that I could see from a cursory search. I let the hood down, and said, "come on you guys, we are not that far from camp. Everyone was ready to go. We looked at eachother and started to push.

The dark sky and the lIght from the moon and stars lighted the sky, and added a little light on the road with the headlights, but I was worried that this might cause a drain on the battery. Well, it seemed like the vehicle had been rolling along for quite some time and I started wondering about how close we were to the intersection, which was about two blocks from our designated camp. "The intersection should be close, maybe one or two blocks," I said. Everyone was in stride, as we pushed the car down the road.

"I think the problem might be much worse than what we think", Tyler said. " I believe we have a broken fuel line or something," he ended. I stopped pushing and everyone followed. "There's a trail of gas that's been leaking from under the car for... about five miles now," he said. "What, five miles, I said in disbelief. we were only two miles from our camp. So, if you are right about the distance, then we must have already passed The Hell's Gloom War memorial. Tyler looked at his smart watch again. Yep, we have been pushing the car for 5.2 miles, i started my steps counter soon as we began pushing, he finished.

I could see the car battery was getting weak so I asked Em, to turn off the headlights. "What do you think we should do everybody"? I asked. "Maybe we should turn the car around, and go back the other way," Makala said. "We can't miss the turn-off to the our campsite twice," she ended. "Yeah, I think that's a great idea," Rosie said. "I forgot you were back there babe, you've been so quiet," I said to my girlfriend. "I'm starting to feel real creepy way out here, Rose said. "I kinda figured we were off track. I didn't see the giant oak tree that google maps said would be on the road, one block after we turned onto the county highway," she ended. "You guys are really something tonight, not saying anything on this journey," I ended. I was getting frustrated with everyone.

We all agreed to turn the minivan around and push the vehicle back a mile or so, and look for our campsite turn-off. Emma got back into the driver's seat as we attempted to reverse course, and go back the other way on the thin, two lane county highway. I think we all went wrong trying to coach Em at the same time. Commands of turn it hard, more right, and urgent commands of: "hit the brakes"! had Em a little confused. The road was completely dark, and driving a vehicle without power steering, is not as easy as most people think. Em was having a difficult time, so Tyler offered to complete the task.

Emma put the vehicle in park and got out of the driver's seat. "This road is extremely narrow," she said. Tyler flopped down in the seat, "I got this," he said. We all started pushing the car a little bit forward and backward, trying to get the thing turned around, all to no avail. The road seemed to be getting smaller. And, we were all getting tired and frustrated.

Blik, I think you should do this, i'm not trying to go off the side of the road," Tyler said. I believe the problem was that as we were trying to get the car turned around, we kept inching the vehicle closer to the most narrow part of the road. "Shhhh," Tyler said, stating: "turning the wheel is no joke." The vehicle came to a stop again, and we all took a much needed breather.

'Honey, this place feels weird," Rosie said. Feels like something keeps touching me on the back as I was pushing the car,"she ended. Allen started teasing her. "Maybe the Hell's Gloom War Memorial ghost are coming to get you," he ended with laughter. Mekala opened a book she had, and started to read. "Legend has it that the memorial ghost have known to be out during the the day or night, but more strange reports are from night," she said. "Come on guys, we don't even know if we are close to the site, its really too dark to tell," I said. "Ghost can very unpredictable" Rosie said. "I've been feeling something touching me on the back too," she ended. Hell's Gloom War Memorial ghost are coming to get you," he ended with laughter. Mekala opened a book she had, and started to read. "Legend has it that the memorial ghost have known to be out during the the day or night, but more strange reports are from night," she said. "Come on guys, we don't even know if we are close to the site, its really too dark to tell," I said. "Ghost can very unpredictable" Rosie said. "I've been feeling somthing touching me on the back too," she ended.

Suddenly, Rosie started to have a panic attack, and just began swinging wildly in the air, "dang bugs! leave me alone, she ended, and took off running down the middle of the road screaming: "get your freaking hand off of me"! "Ugh," she grunted as she tripped over her feet, and went tumbling to the ground.

We were all dying in laughter, and went to Rosies aid to make up for our laughing at her paranoia. She looked at me first, as I kneeled down to help. "Baby, are you ok, I asked reaching my hand out"? "Oh, you guys think its funny" she said slapping my hand out of the way, "You are supposed to be my boyfriend," she said. "Im sorry babe, but you had the most frightening look on your face ever," I ended. "Ok, we will see what it's like for you to sleep on your side of the sleeping bag tonight," she ended. Ours was a two person sleeping bag. I immediately decided to stop laughing. Sleeping on one side of a two person sleeping bag was a horrible idea all around for me.

I was trying to keep cool. Rosie wasn't the only person to feel something touching her. You know the big secret with ghost, haunted houses, and cemeteries, is to not be afraid. You have to act like everything is normal, so you can get as much as information that you need. But, sometimes paranormal activity is unbearable. If you feel something touch you, you might be able to steel your nerves in a attempt to be strong for awhile. Huh, just let something feel like a snake is crawling on you, or your brain sees a huge, vicious looking spider crawling on your hand or arm. I promise you that you are going to lose it, just like Rosie did running down the highway, scared for dear life.

Hopefully, you won't seriously injure yourself trying to get away from a moment of unconscious fear. It's really weird. Your heart is racing, and your brain is playing tricks on you. Similar to a dream where you are fighting to get away, and you succeed, only to look around and realize that you were sleeping safely where you dozed off at.

I jumped in the front seat and started the difficult task of turning the wheel and applying the brakes on a vehicle with no power. I was tired and starting to get annoyed again, because instructions were coming at me all at once. I wanted to assess the situation, so I decided to get out and check our progress.

Nobody looked happy. Emma, Tyler and Al, stopped right were they were and sat in the middle of the road. Rosie opened the door for me and waited for me to get out of the car. "Baby what are we going to do?" she asked, as I walked toward the front of the car to take a look at how we had been positioned. I didn't realize it until now, but we had gone from a two lane, to a one lane county road. I was puzzled, because I don't remember where I stopped seeing the yellow divider in the middle of the road-maybe because it pitch dark. I geussed that my extra caution was because the road was getting smaller, and I was also trying to keep from driving off the shoulder, and into the small ditch on either side. I did not make any progress, and twenty minutes later we were three more blocks down the road from where we started. This was becoming extremely strange by the minute.

"Come on, you guys," Makala said standing up."It's already twelve thirty, and we need to get this car out of the center of the road," she said. Everyone stood up feeling refreshed, glancing around at the darkness. I positioned myself at the drivers side door, and we were all instinctively ready to start pushing, when Makala said, "hey, you guys, look at the light." Someone is standing in the window signaling us, she ended. "Light," I said, "where do you see a light Mekala"? I asked. The car stopped moving from the force we were exerting, and Mekala walked to the front of the vehicle and stopped. "Right there," she pointed. "Do you see the old man flashing the light at us?" she asked.

The scene was like magic because nobody noticed the illuminance of the distant light, until she pointed it out. "Dang, I really need my glasses out of my bag" Al said. "What the heck... This is really strange," Tyler was mumbling to himself. "There's no way we all should have not seen that." "It's so bright, it's hurting my eyes," he ended. The old man in the window kept flashing the light in morse code. This was an unexpected change of events, because we weren't making any progress finding our camp destination, and we had completely failed at turning the vehicle around.

"Were not that far," Mekala said. "Let's just push the car up to his driveway, and see if he can he help us," she ended. We were all in agreement. The car backed up with no problem, like a weight had been lifted. We bought it to a stop, and started pushing forward. I think there was a sense of relief as we started walking to where the light came from. What looked like the driveway to this large property, was about two blocks up the dark road. Everyone kept pushing.

Crazy things start to happen when you are stressed. Weather its a real fight or flight situation, or you just took one too many vape pulls, and just need some fresh air and a smoke, the brain processes things the way it wants. You force your mind to see, but you panic instead of think. And, at some you lose control because its too much to think about.

Seemed like we had been pushing the car the longest two blocks I could remember. We finally got to what we thought was the entrance, but it was just a break in the fence that lead up a dirt road to the house. I turned down into the drive, and stopped the car. "Well, we made it this far, seemed like forever," I said. I could hear the flash of Rose's camera, and I looked back.

"Baby, what are you doing" I asked. She didn't stop what she had going on, and continued taking pictures. "I'm taking pictures babe". Pictures I thought... I started to laugh snidely, "huh-huh." "Pictures for what?" I asked, waiting for her response. We are on a journey to find answers about the Hell's Gloom War Memorial," she said. "Should anything happen to us, my mom will have these last pictures of where we were," she ended. I could feel some tension when she said that.

If something happens to us Mekala said, sarcastically. Why do you always think the worse Rose, she ended sharply. Look whos talking, Mekala fired back. From the person who almost have a heart attack, getting away from the ghost, a little while ago, she snickered. Tyler jumped in... Hey, you two, right now is not a good time to go at it, we have more important things to focus on, ok he ended. Mekala and Rose cut eyes at each other, but stopped talking at that point. Just then we all observed that flash of light again, and we looked at the window. The old man with the light was standing there. He methodically closed the curtain and, walked to the door.

Don't even start, all of you look you just seen Jesus Christ, i said in humor. The expression on everyone's face didn't change. I was walking to the front of the house, when I glanced back and said, you scary cats wait here, I'll go and talk to him I said. The next thing I knew, Mekala was catching up to me, I'm not waiting here she said. These guys wouldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag. Allen, the off bug spray is in the car, I said. He was going into a frenzy because the nats were attacking him, and he wasn't winning the battle.

Me and Mekala started walking in the direction of the front of the house, where we seen the light. But something strange started happening almost immediately. I didn't say anything to her at first, but moments after we we walked away from the group, I looked back and i couldn't see anyone and the sound of my friends voices came across as muffled sounds. My heart tried to race on me , but i took a deep breath. I kept walking to the front of the house but each step felt like the house was going further and further away. Suddenly i heard a scream behind us, but I was the only one who reacted. Did you hear that Mekala, I asked as I quickly turned my head back. Hear what? she said.

She was in her own thoughts. Blik, this place is strange she said. Hmmm, i thought to myself. What do you mean i asked. Well, when we left everyone back at the car, i noticed almost immediately that they all disappeared. This was odd because Mekala never looked back, so i questioned her. How do you know Kay? you never looked back I said. She was staring at the place where the house was, looking confused, when she answered. Because I was looking at their reflection through my glasses, they just like disappeared, she ended. I was thoughtful about her words, but I was getting a little annoyed about everything that was happening. I began looking in the direction of the house and where the old man appeared. Oh, you were looking at their reflection, I said curiously. when I looked back Mekala was walking towards the barn, but I didn't see anything unusual.

The old man was standing on the porch, and I continued to walk in that direction. As i got closer, his image became transparent almost see through at one point. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I stopped to rest my elbow on the post, but as did so, i had to catch my balance because it disappeared. I tried to play that one off, and then I focused my attention on the porch to the old man, but he was gone. My heart started racing, and i was trying put it all together.

Hello.... Hello... Is anybody in there? I asked. I took one step back, and what i thought all of that time was a house, had simply disappeared. I checked my backpack and retrieved my hunting knife. Frantically, I looped it on my belt, and I Slowly backed away from the space I found myself. I took one slow step after another. Yes, I was in total shock because there was no house that i had been looking at. Now, I was only staring at the mountain side. I could see it clearly. The trees and the light of the moon was ever shining, and lighting up the sky. There was some relief, but where was Mekala. I turned around.

I didn't see this barn Mekala was talking about, so I kept scanning my eyesight in the direction i thought it might be. I walked slow. "Mekala," I called out. "Are you there"? I asked. I kept walking slow, one step at a time. Focusing your eyes in the dark is difficult. I swatted at the bugs, checked to make sure my reflexes were good i i have to pull my knife, and i looked around me scared. No sound from Mekala, then I saw a flicker. Was that light, or could my mind be playing tricks on me? There it was again, that flicker of light. I walked faster. I was praying that this wasn't my mind playing tricks on me again, but I wouldn't bet on it.

I was watching my steps carefully, but this didn't stop me beginning my decent to the ground. I had to catch myself from falling. I was able to brace myself at the last second by reaching out for a rock. I stood up all the way, then it tipped over. I stared down at it, but I could hardly see the engravement. I took out my cell phone, checked my battery storage, and it was ok. I turned on my light, and focused on the writing on the stone. Lt Jhon El Terrmon, Brave Soldier Braced These Fields And Died In Bravery. The year was dictated as 1835-1860. I reflected for a moment, and just as I thought about the encryption I just read, I was startled by a loud thunder that sounded like the earth was cracked.

I tried walking towards the light, but I felt like something was holding my foot. I snatched myself away, and something touched me on the back. Instinctively, I took off running full speed. stumbling over things. I don't remember. I was trying my hardest to escape this graveyard, this place. Where the hell was I? My heart was pounding. I was holding my knife in one... in my dreams. My heart was racing and I was sweating profusely. I broke the grip from whatever was holding me, and I started running again and crashed into a tree. That was painful. I vaguely remember touching my forehead then looking down at the blood in my hand. My waking focus was coming back. I could hear laughing in the background; someone was holding me on either side, but who? my eyes opened, everything aws real.

I could see clearly... wow! I mean thank God I was dreaming anymore. The laughter was coming from Emma, Tyler, and Al. My girlfriend Rose and Mekala, were busy helping me with my wound. I had a gash on my forehead, because I ran into a tree. I could feel the pain was real as they applied pressure and were talking to me, trying to calm me. What the heck are your jerks laughing at? I asked. Tyler had tears in his eyes, and was hysterical. He charismatically walked away from where they gathered around me, and sat down in his camping chair. Then he grabbed a marshmallow stick from the fire. This was all familiar, it was real.

My friends were all around me, but happened? i still didn't starting putting it all together, you knows the parts of a dream that you remember when you wake up? I looked around the campfire, everyone's camp chairs were in there places, but who started the fire? I always started the fire when we went camping. I sat down in my chair. My budweiser beer mug was on the right side of me but halfway filled. I wondered. Everyone was looking at me. This was story time.

Everything was coming back to me. And, all i can say to those of you who are reading... The Hell's Memorial War field of battle is real. Don't take my word for it, go there and visit the place for yourself. Bring your steel nerves, and a couple of your diehard friends so they can get a good laugh from the look fear in your. One thing is for certain, the ghost of the dead memorial fields are real, just remember...

"The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window."

THE END