The Second Missing Person: Cam Summers
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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 the thoughts and prayers refrain thrown around after another act of violence reaches the headlines.
Sandy Tipping, the primary writer at the Fair River Sentinel, was far less charitable with Cam than she had been with Norma four years prior. The article that appeared in the Fair River Sentinel on Cam was only a couple of paragraphs long, and one of those paragraphs was devoted to the sheriff's uncorroborated speculations regarding the circumstances of their disappearance. Sandy did not bother to include anything about how hard life would be without Cam, even though such a quote could easily have been sourced from Cam's mother, Natalie or Cam's best friend and paramour, Willow Howard. In fact, the only person Sandy interviewed about their disappearance was Sheriff Mitchell. In Fair River, as in far too many towns across this nation, small and not so small alike, difference is viewed as a moral failing at best, and an evil at worst.
When Cam was ten, Ricky Mitchell, the boy who had once shoved Cam down the school's concrete steps and regularly yanked on their chin length hair, dared them to go into the woods. Cam was the sort of person who would not say Bloody Mary into a bathroom mirror even once, and the creatures of the woods were more real to them than a childhood legend. Nonetheless, they felt like they had no choice but to agree. When the time came, Cam made it halfway to the meeting spot before the knot in their stomach became too unbearable for them to continue on. As humiliated as they felt trudging home that afternoon, they knew in their gut that this was not a simple dare, that whatever creatures roamed the woods would be the least of their worries.
As the years inched by, Cam kept returning to that day in their mind. It was but one of many instances in which they had been made to feel weak and unworthy for refusing to be the boy that everyone thought they ought to be, and yet this was the experience that kept eating at them. Thoughts of venturing into the woods became a source of solace. No monster could hold a candle to Ricky and his ilk when it came to cruelty. Cam would go into the woods, but on their own terms. They would prove that they were strong enough, brave enough, if only to themself. After all, what was the worst that could happen? Mrs. Crawford vanished as though into thin air, but vanishing, however it happened, couldn't be as bad as the incessant bullying and harassment.
Unlike most of our victims, Cam was not alone at the time of their disappearance. Willow insisted on going with them. She noted frequently in her journal that the thought of going into the woods terrified her, but she was not about to let Cam face certain danger alone. On August 2nd, 2014, the pair made their voyage into the woods.
Willow recorded her account of Cam's disappearance in her journal, as well as in a statement to the sheriff. Her depiction is necessarily incomplete, and we may never know what happened to Cam, but hers is one of the most detailed descriptions to come out of any of the missing persons cases. What follows is an excerpt of her account:
When Willow tried relaying her account to the sheriff, he said that her story "makes no sense." He used Willow's delirious state to insinuate that she and Cam had been using drugs and that Cam became disoriented and got lost in the woods. Willow denied the sheriff's allegations, but few people cared what the circumstances were surrounding Cam's disappearance. Willow noted in her journal that when her father learned that Cam was missing, she overheard him telling her mother, "That's one less thing to worry about." His words mirrored what many others were thinking. Cam's presence made many of Fair River's residents uncomfortable, and they were on some level relieved to no longer have to deal with someone who was a living contradiction to their dichotomous view of the world.
Willow tried lobbying on Cam's behalf, but when the sheriff placed his hand on her thigh during one of their interactions, she gave up on getting the police to help. Cam's case was closed after a brief search attempt in which the only evidence obtained was the ball of yarn.
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 the thoughts and prayers refrain thrown around after another act of violence reaches the headlines.
Sandy Tipping, the primary writer at the Fair River Sentinel, was far less charitable with Cam than she had been with Norma four years prior. The article that appeared in the Fair River Sentinel on Cam was only a couple of paragraphs long, and one of those paragraphs was devoted to the sheriff's uncorroborated speculations regarding the circumstances of their disappearance. Sandy did not bother to include anything about how hard life would be without Cam, even though such a quote could easily have been sourced from Cam's mother, Natalie or Cam's best friend and paramour, Willow Howard. In fact, the only person Sandy interviewed about their disappearance was Sheriff Mitchell. In Fair River, as in far too many towns across this nation, small and not so small alike, difference is viewed as a moral failing at best, and an evil at worst.
When Cam was ten, Ricky Mitchell, the boy who had once shoved Cam down the school's concrete steps and regularly yanked on their chin length hair, dared them to go into the woods. Cam was the sort of person who would not say Bloody Mary into a bathroom mirror even once, and the creatures of the woods were more real to them than a childhood legend. Nonetheless, they felt like they had no choice but to agree. When the time came, Cam made it halfway to the meeting spot before the knot in their stomach became too unbearable for them to continue on. As humiliated as they felt trudging home that afternoon, they knew in their gut that this was not a simple dare, that whatever creatures roamed the woods would be the least of their worries.
As the years inched by, Cam kept returning to that day in their mind. It was but one of many instances in which they had been made to feel weak and unworthy for refusing to be the boy that everyone thought they ought to be, and yet this was the experience that kept eating at them. Thoughts of venturing into the woods became a source of solace. No monster could hold a candle to Ricky and his ilk when it came to cruelty. Cam would go into the woods, but on their own terms. They would prove that they were strong enough, brave enough, if only to themself. After all, what was the worst that could happen? Mrs. Crawford vanished as though into thin air, but vanishing, however it happened, couldn't be as bad as the incessant bullying and harassment.
Unlike most of our victims, Cam was not alone at the time of their disappearance. Willow insisted on going with them. She noted frequently in her journal that the thought of going into the woods terrified her, but she was not about to let Cam face certain danger alone. On August 2nd, 2014, the pair made their voyage into the woods.
Willow recorded her account of Cam's disappearance in her journal, as well as in a statement to the sheriff. Her depiction is necessarily incomplete, and we may never know what happened to Cam, but hers is one of the most detailed descriptions to come out of any of the missing persons cases. What follows is an excerpt of her account:
Page 14 of Willow's journal, in which she begins her account of Cam's disappearance.
...I headed over to Cam's. Some people have said it can be disorienting going into the woods, so Cam took a ball of yarn from their mom's knitting box and tied one end to a maple tree in their backyard at the edge of the woods. They gave me the yarn and told me to let it out as we went, and not to let go of it no matter what...
We stepped into the woods. As soon as we passed between the trees, the air changed. It felt cooler and kind of dense ... I could feel a chill seeping into my bones. I shivered and Cam reached out and took my hand...
You can always hear animals around the woods - birds and squirrels mostly. When we entered the woods, everything sounded normal, but after a couple of minutes ... It sounded like someone with a deep, gravelly voice was imitating the chirps and chitters.
Then the shadows started to shift... I'd ... look over to see a shadow that looked a little different, a little longer, like it was reaching out for me...
I begged Cam to go. They said that I could go, but they needed to do this... It had gotten colder and I started shivering... My heart was racing a million miles a minute, pounding so hard that it felt like it was going to break out of my chest...
Cam looked at me... They squeezed my hand... I think maybe they were going to give in and turn back, but then everything went wrong.
A crackling, banging sound rang through the woods, maybe like what you'd hear if a giant tree toppled over. I jumped at the sound, dropping the ball of yarn... My brain was shrieking at me - it was like I had alarm bells going off in my head. I should have left the yarn and ran back with Cam, but ... I thought of the stories of disorientation and of Mrs. Crawford, and my brain insisted that I had to get that yarn.
I ... let go of Cam's hand and dropped to the ground. I was combing the grass with my hands and eyes ... when I realized the woods had fallen silent. The only sound I heard was the thundering of my heart...
I stood up and turned toward Cam, but Cam wasn't there... I spun around, but there was no trace of them...
I heard a crackling sound and that was when I saw her - The Lady of the Woods. She was peering out from behind a tree... I could feel her gaze crawling across my skin.
... the Lady of the Woods isn't even real. I made her up to scare Cam when we were kids. But there she was, standing before me...
...
I looked around one last time for Cam. When I looked back, the Lady of the Woods had moved closer... She reached toward me with one of her shadowy arms. I turned and ran.
Crime scene photograph of the yarn.
When Willow tried relaying her account to the sheriff, he said that her story "makes no sense." He used Willow's delirious state to insinuate that she and Cam had been using drugs and that Cam became disoriented and got lost in the woods. Willow denied the sheriff's allegations, but few people cared what the circumstances were surrounding Cam's disappearance. Willow noted in her journal that when her father learned that Cam was missing, she overheard him telling her mother, "That's one less thing to worry about." His words mirrored what many others were thinking. Cam's presence made many of Fair River's residents uncomfortable, and they were on some level relieved to no longer have to deal with someone who was a living contradiction to their dichotomous view of the world.
Willow tried lobbying on Cam's behalf, but when the sheriff placed his hand on her thigh during one of their interactions, she gave up on getting the police to help. Cam's case was closed after a brief search attempt in which the only evidence obtained was the ball of yarn.
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