Fair River Forest is Haunted

For an audio version of this post, click here . I feel I must warn you our next story you may find disturbing, in a way that differs from our other posts so far.  It is the depth of human cruelty on display here that makes this tale so jarring, instances of bullying and harassment which are all too commonplace.  I thought about omitting Cam's backstory and going straight into their disappearance, but it's hard to understand their motive for going into the woods without having a grasp on the bigotry they faced day in and day out. Where Norma Crawford's disappearance was met with shock and lamentations about the unfairness of her fate, fifteen-year-old Cam Summers's vanishing four years later received no such outcry.  There was, of course, a general sentiment in town that it was a shame for a child to vanish, but these remarks were made in passing, the sort of vague platitudes that one feels compelled to say in light of a tragedy.  Words no more substantial than th...

For an audio recording of this post, click here . Now look, I know you may be wondering what's so special about two disappearances.  Two people go missing from a city, and hardly anyone bats an eye.  But you know how many people have gone missing from Fair River over the past decade?  Seven.  Seven people from this tiny little town in the middle of nowhere. Norma Crawford was the first.  She was reported missing by her husband on June 11, 2010.  The news clipping I have here on her disappearance says she was, "An avid churchgoer and sixteen-time winner of Fair River's Fourth of July pie contest."  Happily married to her high school sweetheart Ned, who told the paper, "Norma is my everything.  I don't know how I'll go on without her."  Age sixty-seven at the time of her disappearance. Scan of the newspaper article. Gone in broad daylight.  According to the police report, she was hanging up the wash when her husband Ned le...

For an audio version of this post, click here . I've taken the liberty of copying Grace's blog post.  What follows is her creation: There's something wrong in Fair River Forest, the woods that surround the town where I live.  I've felt that way ever since my family moved here, but it wasn't until I found the camera that I had the proof to back up what I've been thinking all these years.  Once you see the pictures, you'll understand. There's this little garden that borders the edge of the forest.  A few days ago I was walking along the edge of the pond, which is toward the back of the garden, when I saw a decent camera lying by some trees at the end of the garden.  I hadn't been that far back before because that's where the garden meets the woods, but I didn't want the camera to get ruined, so I walked over to pick it up. As I was walking toward the camera, I saw something shiny beside it, a sparkly black high heel.  There was a se...

Welcome to Fair River, Maine: population 353.  Well, 351 now.  If you're driving down the lone paved road, Fair River seems as quaint as any other small Maine town, but there's something different here.  You can feel it as you near the edge of the woods that surround the town.  The atmosphere seems heavier, the shadows longer.  The air is colder there, cool enough to raise goosebumps on your arms no matter the season.  I suppose every town has its place where you never feel quite right, but like I said, it's different here.  You'll see. I'd like you to meet Willow Howard, a local college student, aspiring model, and Fair River's most well known resident, at least according the number of followers she has on Instagram.  If you've been keeping up with the local news, you might've seen pictures of her and her boyfriend Collin Phillips a couple of weeks back after they up and went missing one night. The sheriff says maybe Willow ran off with Co...