The Dead Spot
Josh Howell, TN, USA
May 2005
I remember that it was a cold bleak day when my friends and I went to the dead spot. That's what we called it, due to the feeling that you got when you entered it. It was an old abandoned road that lead down this steep hill. The place was silent and seemed to have no animals whatsoever living in it. The only reason that we entered it was because our friend told us about this cave on the property that was supposedly where confederate soldiers hid in for the war to subside. They had heard rumors that the war was going to be over in a couple of days, so they began to wait. But the war didn't end in a few days it continued on for three more months. The soldiers got lost within the bowels of the cave and began to fall victim to starvation. Cannibalism soon set in and within time there was only one soldier left. Somehow he escaped the cave and was captured within the woods. By this time he had been driven mad by the darkness and grisly memories that happened in the cave.
Fast forward about one hundred and fifty years.
My friends and I slowly walked down the forgotten path. The woods were thick around us, though there were only four of us it seemed crowded and uncomfortable. That's when we noticed the chimneys. There were at least ten of them, where old houses that were out in the woods had burnt down. The foundation of the houses weren't over run with weeds it was almost as if time stopped there. Once you walked onto the foundation it felt as if you were spinning around at an ungodly speed. Another strange thing about the chimneys were the carvings. It was graffiti but the strangest that I had ever seen. The one that sticks out in my mind said "She won't stop screaming." We decided to press on through the woods.
Eventually we reached the cave. It was a steep climb up the side of the hill. Once inside there was plenty of space at first but it soon changed. The only light that we had was a dim coleman flashlight which my friend had brought. It smelled of mud and it was ungodly silent, only the occasional swear word was heard when we would bump our head on a rock. Then finally we reached a chamber with a twelve foot ceiling space. We began to take a break and smoke some cigarettes, when we found the candle. It looked ancient, colorless and it was crooked like the old ones during the civil war. My friend shined his light around and into a small chamber. He climbed into it and for a moment there was silence, which was broken by him screaming. He barreled out of the chamber. "What is it?" I asked. "Bones!" He whispered. The chamber was full of bones animal and humans. That's when we heard the yelling, like someone in pain. We began to crawl through the narrow cave in a hurry. The screaming followed us and so did the sounds of footsteps. I was in the rear so they sounded like they were right behind me. If I had a flashlight I could have looked to see it, but I'm glad I didn't.
Soon, but after what seemed like hours of crawling we were out. We just stood there staring at the cave for a while. We never returned to the dead spot because there are some places left in this world untouched by time, and those places don't like visitors.