Fair River Forest is Haunted

From the police interview with Francine Howard, the night Willow went missing seemed perfectly ordinary, but I suppose those ordinary nights are where most of the trouble begins.  On August 15th, 2020, Willow joined her mother and sister for supper at around five - an early meal in the Howard household, but Willow had requested it, and Francine "saw no reason not to oblige her."  Willow was in good spirits that evening, chattering away about the photo shoot she was going to do with Collin, and all the likes she was expecting to get on Instagram.  She loved feeling beautiful, but the feeling was fleeting, one she constantly needed to stoke by producing new photos for her small band of internet admirers to fawn over. Collin arrived around five thirty, as the family was finishing their dinner.  Willow invited him in, but he said he would wait on the porch until she was ready.  There was nothing unusual about that either; the chill of Francine's glare can be nearl...

For an audio version of this post, click here . Late last night, some of Willow's Instagram followers noticed that her account had posted a story.  If you're not familiar with Instagram, a "story" is a temporary picture or video, which usually lasts for twenty-four hours.  The story contained a video message from Willow herself.  I've included it below, but I will warn you that some may find the video disturbing due to the distress Willow appears to be in while recording.  If that sounds like too much, then you may want to skip over it. Moments after the video appeared, news of its existence had reached every corner of the town.  Folks don't know what to make of it.  Some are saying that this is further evidence of a publicity stunt.  After all, Willow was all about acting in high school.  Besides, if she had access to a phone, why would she wait weeks before making her call for help?  But most people, especially those close to her, a...

For an audio version of this post, click here . Before we move on to the fourth disappearance, I thought I should give you an update on the current situation.  The Fair River gossip mills have been running on overdrive ever since Grace's blog post reached the eyes of Jane Howard.  The email, from an account with a name that appeared to be a random string of letters and numbers, had the subject line "About Willow" and the body of the email contained only a link to the blog post.  Most folks know better than to click on mysterious links from unknown email addresses, something Grace should have considered before sending it out.  Jane knew better too, but I suppose she was willing to take her chance with computer viruses if it meant she might find a shred of evidence about her older sister's disappearance. Seeing the photos of Willow only raised more questions.  Most important among them was, how had the police missed such a crucial piece of evidence?  Jane...

For an audio version of this post, click here . Our third Fair River resident to go missing was five-year-old Hailey Jackson, who vanished on April 25th, 2016.  According to the police report, her ten-year-old brother, Greg, had been tasked with watching her and her three-year-old sister Bailey while their mother, Melanie, "ran to the store."  In reality, Melanie had an appointment with Dr. Everett for some "troubles" she'd been having, and she didn't want to worry the kids by bringing them along.  Plus, they were never any good in the waiting room. While Melanie was out, the sisters got into a fight.  Bailey had taken Hailey's favorite toy, a raggedy plush cat Hailey had named Gold Eyes.  When Hailey saw Gold Eyes in her sister's clutches, she snatched the cat from Bailey's hands.  Bailey started bawling. Greg scolded Hailey for making their sister cry, and Hailey stormed out of the room, Gold Eyes in tow.  Greg would recount in his statem...