by Andrew K. Arnett
We had spent the entire day hiking the hills of Mount Misery, filming and conducting paranormal investigations with our EVP. We felt satisfied with our findings. There was much information to sift through, but overall, it seemed of a benign nature.
We had dinner and even some rest but the hour was getting late, closing in on midnight. It was time to head back to Mount Misery.
What would compel us to do such a thing, you might ask? Why not just leave things well enough alone? Who knows what the hell is roaming around out there at this late hour anyway.
Though it appears foolhardy, it is not mere hubris that is sending us back. Conventional wisdom claims that spirits and ghosts are more active at night. Some of the ghost legends surrounding Mount Misery pivot around the witching hour of midnight.
Many people claim to have seen a man wearing a checkered shirt walking through the woods at night, carrying an axe in his hand. What he was doing there, no one knows. There is also the lingering mystery of a thirteen-year old girl beaten and strangled to death in 1976. Her body was found along a road near Mount Misery. The case remains unsolved.
Another item of interest regards the “Black Dog of Misery” which is an evil portent and when seen, can be a “harbinger of death.” Sightings of the creature have been made at the crossroads of Sweet Hollow and Old Country Road. Apparently, this dog-like creature digs along the road by the edge of the forest, then stands on its hind legs and walks back into the woods.
In addition, we will be keeping our eyes to the skies, looking for UFOs and other strange anomalies, like Black Cadillacs driving through town, or hitchhikers standing by the side of the road cold. Of course these are all tall tales, right? Nothing to worry about then. I will go do my job, report on what I see, or don’t see, and be on my way.
There is another practical reason for why we needed to return to Mount Misery. This pertains to some equipment malfunction we were experiencing earlier. We had planned on utilizing a Spirit Box on Mount Misery but a glitch in the equipment rendered it useless. We were forced to rely on the M2’s EVP exclusively but at dinner, Sophie found and dowloaded the well rated Ghost Detector: Spirit Hunter app for the iPhone.
It was time to go. We decided that our first destination was to drive up Mount Misery Road. Driving these back roads at night presented of course, a completely different feel from the day time. Undoubtedly, a much creepier feel. We made our way to the dead end of Mt. Misery road where the tall cell tower was located, then we made a U-turn and headed towards Old Country Road.
“It’s super creepy,” Sophie said, “There’s like a vibe, I don’t know. Sometimes you go driving through the woods and it’s very peaceful and welcoming, but this isn’t.”
It was a clear night and the stars were out. In fact, we were on the verge of a full moon. We didn’t see any people and just a random car here and there. We didn’t encounter any apparitions, the Lady in White, or a Hell Hound lurking in the trees. Nonetheless, we could sense a feeling of dread in the air. It was creepy as hell, especially for a bunch of city dwellers like us.
We made a left turn on to Sweet Hollow Road and proceeded north. We decided to drive directly to the location we did our EVP at earlier during the day. We passed a group of high school kids on the way. They had flashlights and walking by the side of the road. We wondered if they were paranormal investigators as well.
We found our turn off and drove into the woods about 30 yards and up to the gate with the sign that read: Road Closed – Do Not Enter. We get out and I set up the cameras while Sophie prepared the EVP. We could hear the occasional car go. Otherwise, there is no one around.
I got things started by asking the EVP, “If there is someone that wants to communicate, please do so. We can put this on Youtube, in a documentary. Is there someone in this place that needs to communicate a message?”
Immediately we got a flurry of successive hits. The words STAIRWELL, SURROUND, JUDY and BIKE appeared on the M2 in that order.
Then it went silent.
A few minutes passed by and still no more activity. We were nervous. I kept looking over my shoulders. Beyond our car’s headlights, it was pitch black. We could see nothing through the dense woods.
We decide to switch up to the Spirit Box. Immediately the crackling sound of the app cycling through the radio waves began. The Spirit Box had an indicator which measured the degree of activity in the area, with an accompanying click sound. It started at a low level, but as the seconds and minutes passed by it increased rapidly.
Another unique feature of the Ghost Detector: Spirit Hunter app is that it provides a read-out of words ‘captured’ by the Spirit Box as it cycles through the radio waves.
At this point, the dog too was getting very agitated. Then the meters on the Spirit Box began dancing wildly, peaking out.
Suddenly, the word HIDDEN registered on the Spirit Box.
“Oh shit,” I said nervously, “What is this? HIDDEN? OK uh, there’s something hidden here?”
As we waited, the Spirit Box meters began to get very active, the clicking indicator becoming more rapid. Something was happening.
I kept looking over my shoulder, peering into the darkness, expecting something to emerge. The only thing I could see were the dark trees and faint headlights from cars traveling on the Long Island Expressway far in the distance.
“That is pretty creepy,” I said, “There’s a lot of activity here. I’ve never seen it like this.”
Suddenly the Spirit Box registered the phrase HE’S BAD.
“Oh shit,” Sophie said.
“OK we’re going,” I said.
I went and grabbed my cameras and Sophie shuffled the dog into the car. We got in the car and sped off back down Old Country Road. I didn’t know if I had creeped myself out or what, but we just had to get out of there fast. As we drove away, the Spirit Box returned to normal low levels, the clicking sounds abated.
“First we got HIDDEN,” I said.
“Yeah, then I was going to ask the app ‘who’s hidden?” Sophie said. “And before I said anything, the words HE’S BAD appeared.”
“The machine was like bugging out,” I said. “The sensors were going crazy. It hadn’t done that before and now as we drive away, it is back to normal. The levels were low, back in the motel room. And now here, in the car, it is back to being low.
We had no idea what just happened back there but the situation was so creepy, and we felt so vulnerable, we had to leave.
ARNETT FILES 