The Thing in the Woods

The following was taken from Joshua Danton’s diary. To this day, Joshua’s whereabouts are unknown. 

April 5th, 1978

My hands are shaking as I write this.

It started when I decided to go for a walk in the woods near my house. It was a perfect day for it, too. The sun was out, the birds were singing, no clouds in the sky, just gorgeous.

After lunch I got my coat and set out on the worn dirt trail leading into the woods.

I was walking along, enjoying the fresh air and the silence, when I came across a set of tracks in the soil.

I have never seen anything like them. They looked like human footprints but the toes were longer and narrower, like claws. When I bent down to look at them closer, they seemed pretty fresh.

 I should have turned around and went back.

Out of curiosity, I began to follow the tracks.

They lead me through a section of forest where the tree branches were so long and intertwined that they blanketed the sky, only letting small cracks of sunlight in. The tracks ended at a small brook.

I stopped to listen. There was no sound but the water rushing over the smooth rocks.

Then I heard the rustle of grass and dead leaves close by. Slowly, I walked toward the sound.

I came to a small clearing and that’s where I saw it.

I really don’t know how to describe the thing.

It had the shape of an adult human, but taller. It had to be at least six feet, probably more, in height.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">Its skin was made up of pale blue diamond shaped scales that had a wet shimmer to them, like the skin of a fish, it was bent over the mangled body of a dead deer with its jaws latched onto the animal’s neck.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">The thing made a loud sucking sound; I thought it might have been drinking the deer’s blood.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">Slowly, very slowly, I started to back away.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">Then it looked at me. Its mouth was wide and round and filled with long, yellow, needle-like teeth arranged in a circle. It had no nose, but two little slits where the nose would be on a human.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">I tried to bring myself to run away but I couldn’t. The thing stared at me for what seemed like forever with its big black eyes that glimmered with a kind of alien intelligence.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">I turned my gaze to the dead deer. On its neck was a ring of little holes where the creature was drawing blood.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">Then the thing pointed at me with its crooked fingers and it let out the most god awful sound. I can’t find the words to describe it.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">I turned and ran. I ran until my chest and legs were sore. I don’t know if that thing pursued me, but I sure as hell didn’t turn to find out.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">It was so nice to see my house again.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">I really don’t know if what I saw was real or not. It was like a nightmare.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">Just in case tonight, I’m sleeping with my gun beside the bed.

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<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">April 6th, 1978

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">I had a bad dream last night. I dreamt I was back in that dark part of the woods, but it was darker. Almost pitch black. And that thing was running after me, I heard it bellowing that same, low sound behind me as I ran. The forest seemed to go on forever, and the more I ran the darker it got.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">I tripped over a branch and that thing was closing in on me, bearing its teeth stained with fresh blood.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">Then I woke up.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">I was on edge the rest of the day. I’ve been looking over my shoulder ever so often. I nearly lost it when I heard something tapping on the window upstairs. It turned out to be tree branch knocking against the glass because of the wind. Oh well.

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<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">April 7th, 1978

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">Early this morning I thought I heard something outside. I didn’t find anything unusual when I went out to check. Must have been a raccoon.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">There are no birds out today. That’s odd. Usually, I can hear them singing by now.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">Went into town and got a case of beer. That should help my nerves.

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<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">April 8th, 1978

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">I woke up to something scratching at the door in the middle of the night. I went out, shotgun in hand, to see what was doing it. I was out there for half an hour and I didn’t see anything.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">There still isn’t any birds out.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">Later, I took a look at the scratch marks on the front door. They don’t look like they’re from any animal around here. What the hell is out there?

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<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">April 9th, 1978

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">I can’t shake the feeling that I am being watched. Everywhere I go, I’m seeing things out of the corners of my eye. I couldn’t sleep at all last night, and I don’t think tonight will be any different. I spent the last hour checking time and again to see if all the doors are locked. I went back to the dirt trail and I saw a dead blue jay. Its head was torn off and its bright blue feathers were stained red with blood.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">I swear I heard something breathing back there.

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<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">April 10th, 1978

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt"> Oh god.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">I heard that thing’s voice again. It sounded like it was coming from that trail.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">I haven’t slept at all and I’m so tired but every time I try to sleep I see it again. Every time I close my eyes, I am back in the woods with that thing and it’s standing over me about to sink its teeth into my neck and I scream and find myself back here. I’m seeing things moving. Little shadows moving between the trees and in the shadows of unlit rooms and I had all the lights on since yesterday with turning them off.

<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">I heard it again and it’s getting closer. All the doors are locked I checked again and again and I am sure they are locked and there is something scratching at the door and

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<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:229.5pt">It’s in the house! IT’S IN THE ܮ

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