Author: phantasma@evildeadclowns.com

Notes: As far as I have been told, this story is true. I was at the wedding rehearsal in the story, but I was only 5 and somehow I don't remember all this happening. Plus, my father used to tell this story after dinner, at Ghost Story Time, and I grew up thinking it was just a good ghost story. A few weeks ago I found out from my mother that it was indeed true. I did change the date and location a little.

It must have been around 1985, by my best calculations, in the Gila National Forrest, the stretch that runs between Silver City and Lordsburg. the forrest is protected by the government nowadays, but it wasn't always that way. A long time ago it belonged to the Native Americans of that area, and small wars were waged between them and the settlers coming in. A lot of killing, kidnapping, and all sorts of nasty stuff happened. It was known as The Killing Grounds to all of the children in the area, and the name itself should imply that no sane person would want to be caught dead breaking down in those woods during the daytime, much less after dark. Sometimes people were known to go into those woods and never come back out, and people from around those parts have 3 ideas as to exactly what is out there.

The first, and most popular with the locals, were haints. The ghosts of dead people who simply couldn't rest after the atrocities commited them (which, by the way, makes some sense given the history of the place). The second, and popular in its own right with people who have no belief in the spiritual, was the story that just maybe there were some Indians still living in those woods with a bone to pick. The last explaination, which most people in town never even wanted to think about as a possibility, was the one my daddy proclaimed as the truth. You see, he believed that what was hiding out in those woods was the very Devil himself.

One day, in early March, I think it was, in Lordsburg itself, we were setting up for the wedding dress rehearsal of a family friend. Everyone was there and ready to go, but no one could find our best man. He had called to let us know he was almost there from Silver City (it was only a 20 minute drive), but that had been over two hours ago, and people were starting to worry.

We waited about an hour longer, and still he never showed up. Finally, the groom, who was also the best man's brother, called the police, not extremely worried, knowing that his brother's truck wasn't in the best running condition and the road is usually pretty deserted. He may have even had to walk. The police agreed to send someone out to check on him, and indeed an hour later we got the phone call saying that they had found his truck parked on the side of the road. He had the sun visor up, the side with the words "NEED HELP, PLEASE CALL POLICE" facing the road. Still, they had seen no sign of him walking down the road, and he had left the driver's side door wide open, with the keys in the ignition. Stranger still, when the cop turned the keys, the engine roared to life. It seemed to him like nothing was wrong with the car at all.

A few hours later, as it started getting dark, the police decided to do a search for him, as still no one had heard from him, and the circumstances were starting to seem pretty strange. They pulled out their dogs, gave them the scent, and let them lead.

The funny thing was, instead of staying on the side of the road, the dogs led them into the woods. After about a half of a mile or so, one of the policeman stumbled. When he looked down to see what had tripped him up, he noticed a small pyramid made from rocks, a little messy now because he had stumbled over them. A few feet ahead, he noticed a bigger pyramid, perfectly shaped, and he pointed this out to the others. They realized it was a trail,the dogs had been leading them in the same directions as the pyramids, so this must be where the man went. Now, this was strange in itself considering that even a person with no sense of direction usually waits more than 2 or 3 feet to carefully build a little pyramid of rocks when they are making a bread trail.

Eventually, they ended up at a small convenience store, right outside the border, and asked the man behind the counter if he had seen the missing man. To their surprise, he said yes. He said of course no one could forget a guy dressed in a tuxedo who came around asking for The Beast, and continued by saying that the man should've been locked up years ago.

Of course, the police asked him what exactly he was talking about with this beast thing. He responded by saying, "All he kept telling me was 'I'm looking for The Beast, have you seen him? he's been asking for me, and I don't want to keep him waiting. I've left a trail for him to follow, and he's supposed to meet me....' and rambling on like that."

Confused, the police stayed on the trail of the little pyramids, but after a few miles they disappeared. When they tried the dogs again, they could no longer find the scent. A larger search ensued in the following days, but it turned up nothing.

They never found the man who walked through the woods that day. What happened to him? No one knows. Maybe he wandered too far into the woods, and he got lost, and he died. That doesn't explain all the circumstances, but it certainly is possible. But then again, maybe it's like my daddy thought. Maybe he met someone in those woods, and maybe he made a bargain. Maybe, just maybe, he finally did meet The Beast.