The Curse of Lagrange Cabin

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. At least, I was told that there was such a cabin in the woods. Unfortunately for the storyteller, there was no way to prove it... until all last night.

Call me Thomas. I would have gone with the cliche line of Ishmael, but that didn't fit the scene that was going on here. What I mean is, I was a doubter of the story that was told until last night. I can't believe that even happened... ugh.

As far as the direction that the story went down, there used to be a couple who lived in the woods, taking care of a few tenants who were assigned them by the state government. They didn't have much in the way of money, but it was better than nothing. They took care of their tenants as best as possible... until the couple was found dead in their bed, pillows over their faces.

The tenants were questioned, but the police had them arrested since nobody could prove that they didn't commit the crime, and they were sentenced to death by the electric chair. The case was considered closed... except that one of them escaped the custody of the police and ran to who knew where.

Now, how does all of that fit into the story that I doubted? Simple. There was a rumor that the convict that escaped custody was last in the area where he used to live, looking for more victims to make and even kill.

I don't pay much attention to rumors, mind you, but this one was pretty out there. It even made its way to the newspaper, which was saying something. How did I not pay attention to this getting a newspaper slot? I don't know, nor do I want to.

Still, with all of that said and done, I was headed over to a friend's house that day and heard that there was someone who had seen a candle burning in the window of the cabin. It was early in the day, and nobody among my circle of friends was smart enough to leave me out of their little scams.

Please note that when I say "scams", I don't mean that they were conning people out of their money. I meant it more like they wanted to prove the stupid things they claimed were true had all the validity in the world, and they couldn't think to keep me out of it. Why was I cursed to have such friends?

Still, I had nothing else to do, and the people who were my friends couldn't be bothered to leave me out of their plans. I had to be the voice of reason, I told myself then, as I'd always been for these poor schmucks who had fewer brain cells than a garden hose put together.

So, with all that out of the way, we went to look for the cabin in the woods that had the burning candle. Things were going to be decent that day, with nobody finding the right cabin, and so we would go home and play Smash Brothers or something. Guess what didn't happen?

The part where we went home to play video games.

See, it was right about then that I opened my big, fat, mouth. "Why are we looking for this cabin in the middle of the afternoon," I asked with a heavy tone of sarcasm, "when the candle lit up in the night?"

I never hated myself more than in that exact instance.

The rest of us were enthusiastic to go looking for the cabin at night, which I was not looking forward to whatsoever. The idiots thought it was a good idea to go without any backup measures, like having a phone on hand in case the fugitive was in the area, while I was barely able to have a full charge on my smartphone before we returned to the forest where the cabin was situated. With that said, I kept my phone on vibrate, in case I would become a victim of the horror tropes.

Well, at the very least, I kept my wits about me enough to survive last night. I don't know if my friends had made it out of there alive, though. I wish I had that answer right now.

Still, with all that said, I had to do something to mitigate the loss of life. My friends were insistent that we break in and look for whoever was setting up the candle in the window, while I wanted us to leave as soon as we found the cabin, but they didn't listen. I was just... I was just peeved at the others for their idiocy. It could have gotten someone killed.

So, we returned to the woods that night, everyone else in high spirits for the chance to find the candle in the window of this mysterious cabin. Like I've said before, I wanted nothing to do with this level of annoyance... ever, to be clear. However, I was vetoed hard, so I had no choice here.

We walked into the woods last night, looking all over the place for this cabin when I was absolutely against this endeavor, yet this was before I saw the cabin in question. I was in the back of the group, mind you, hoping to break away from the idiots that thought this was a good idea. Why would I want to be in the lead?

Somehow, my lack of momentum going forward was noticed by the person directly in front of me, who saw that I found something interesting. How come, I don't know, but it was so annoying. I just wanted to go home and play video games with the rest of the group, not be out in the middle of the woods, acting like an idiot.

Still, since I was the one who found the correct cabin, the rest of the group nominated me to go front and center in the lead. What was it with these people?

Well, not like it could have gotten worse... oh, who am I kidding? Of course, it got worse! Why am I deluding myself, exactly?

The moment the last of us walked through the front door to the cabin, that was when everything went wrong. The doors locked, the windows slammed shut, and the candle went out, all in that one instance of someone closing the door as they walked in. I wanted my life to be an adventure at some point, but this was not what I had in mind.

Eventually, since we were still trapped in the cabin, we all had to split up to look for clues. I wanted everyone to be in what had to be the best defense against whoever was out there, in the cabin at that, but that was ignored. Everyone else wanted to be in groups of two, which left me with the unenviable position of going alone... oh, joy.

I walked into the library of the cabin... and who'd have thought that this building was large enough to have a library? It didn't make sense to me.

Anyway, I walked into the library, looking for clues about how this place was supposed to let us out. I didn't want to let the idiots down by getting out all alone, but that proved to be impossible, as I learned later on.

So, I was engrossed in the reading that I was doing, learning all that I could. As it turns out, this library was built before the cabin and meant to be on the basement level, so that made it where I could read in relative safety. That was the plan, anyway.

I had just gotten to the point in my reading where I was fed up with the lack of information present when I discovered a journal, one that dated back to the earliest part of the 20th century. Curious about what it had to say, I opened the book as carefully as I could, to preserve the antiquated journal. It was fairly typical stuff that you'd find in the middle of the woods, at least until it started mentioning the stuff of nightmares, and oh, boy, was it the stuff of nightmares.

No, I'm not a cryptozoologist, but I could tell that there was something fishy here. How come nobody ever reported this back around the time the cabin was built? I know that the cabin was built before the year 1901, which would make it at least 122 years old by now, but still!

Well, the problem was, I had nothing that would help me find the name of this cabin, and that was if the place even had a name. I had thought the cabin was nameless, and I'm still leery of the building having a name. It was going to be one of those ghost hunts...

No, seriously, it turned out to be a ghost hunt. One that I was not enthused with being on ever. I had to get out of there, with the journal in hand as proof that I wasn't making any of this up, but then the monster showed up.

If I could give a name to this monster, and not in the joking sense of the wording, I would have to call it a Dullahan. Why? Because, after having read the story of Ichabod Crane, I was curious what type of monster the Headless Horseman was. I had found out that all Headless monster spirits (to a degree) were called Dullahans.

I nearly freaked out when I saw the Dullahan, but then the monster did something strange. It put a finger to its lips, as in where the head was floating beside its body. It then said, in a tone that was gravelly and still distinctly male, "You are not the one who seeks justice, yet you wish to see that justice is done. You are free to go from here, to find the one who seeks justice for him and his fellows. Take my old journal with you, as proof that you know what you're talking about."

With that, the Dullahan faded from view, though I knew that the spirit was still hanging around. I needed to leave, I knew that much, so I hurried up out of the library to get out of the cabin.

With that, I was able to get out of the cabin, via the front door that had unlocked itself then. This was where things got crazy.

The one tenant who escaped the electric chair was waiting in front of the cabin, a few yards away from the door, and he looked about ready to collapse. What was I supposed to do, ignore that he needed rest? However, I didn't dare take him back into the cabin, that would be the wrong thing to do.

So, with all that said, I helped him hightail it out of there, waiting for an opportunity to let Justice Be Done. That's why I'm bringing you this man for clearing his name, officers. That's why I'm also bringing you this journal that has the proof needed to help clear things up.

I just hope that my friends are out of there safely... it would be a huge problem if they weren't.

Wait... why am I at your campsite in the middle of the woods? I thought I had to find you in the station of all things...