No Longer a Childhood Play Spot

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. To be honest, I dismissed it as soon as my truck raced up the road towards town.

I never paid any attention to the old Moser cabin since I was a kid in high school. I had passed by this place at least five or six times a week on my way to certain parts of the county when I wanted to avoid the busy freeways.

For a small county, our freeways were super crowded. Seemed like everyone wanted to race through the farming areas and get right to the hustle and bustle of the city. We had become a fairly big community in the last decade. Many upscale city folks purchased properties and built beautiful custom homes on their lots. It was a nice change of place from what I imagine to be suburbia or big city living. Our quiet community backed up to Old Cedar Lake. That means at the end of the town, where the country roads and the woods began, you can find the roads to the lake. The country roads wound around the lake and westward into the more rural parts of Dune County. The main freeway had two exits to Smithers. Exit 22A, the second exit took you right by the entrance to the campgrounds and Old Cedar Lake. Old Cedar Lake was a huge destination for campers, boating, fishing, and swimming.

OC, as we referred to it, was the background for many of my childhood memories. As a kid in middle school, we'd have summer bible school there. We'd make smores by a campfire and race canoes, paddle boards, and rubber rafts during breaks. In high school, I can recall many rumors and exciting juicy secrets that mentioned mysterious things happening up at OC. I was never popular enough to be the subject of any juicy secrets and I liked it that way.

About a quarter-mile down Exit 22A just off to the east, towards the woods, you can see the remains of the Moser cabin. The Moser family were among the first to settle in the area back in the late 1920s. They had a general store, a huge farm, and lodgings for people. I think they were the family that turned Smithers into a little vacation spot for families. Katy Moser was the best baker and her cooking made people want to stick around and pay for a few days of lodging. The Mosers left the area in the 1980s and tore down most of their buildings except that old cabin. I am told that is where Katy and Jebediah Moser began their family. I was old they were married in 1926 and that little cabin was their first home. Katy and Jeb had seven children. Their great-grandchildren are prominent members of our state today. Sonny Moser, the oldest of the great-grandchildren, is the president of the Central State Bank. Clarence and Ben Moser own huge lumberyards in these parts and are very rich. Serena Moser was a classmate of mine and she is now in the Pacific Northwest as some kind of senator in Washington State. Anyway, my fondest memory of this area is playing hide and seek in the old cabin. It had no substantial doors. An old screen door was all that was left to the 5 room structure. We would hide behind old logs and the old pieces of furniture left there. Cobwebs and the occasional mice didn't bother us. We were country kids and when fifteen screaming kids are running around, who had time to be afraid? The only thing we feared was being out for being found in a poor hiding spot.

It was my usual Tuesday run to town for supplies. I needed to get to the Home Depot and pick up some lumber for my dad. Dad was the only contractor nearby so he was always busy doing repairs or bathroom upgrades for some neighbors. Dad was getting up in years so I helped him. My college degree was in civil engineering so I would help him since I only worked a four-day workweek at my job. The three days I had off, I spent running supplies and orders for dad's business. My old F150 was coming up on 125,000 miles. She had served me well but still had a lot of life left in her. The radio said there were two accidents on the freeway so I figured I would drive the long way into town and skip sitting there in the parking lot gridlock of the Interstate. On my way into town, passing the Moser cabin I would have sworn I saw a light on. Never paid any mind to it but on the way back, I decided to ditch the Interstate again because traffic was a beast. It would soon be dark and I wanted to get home. It was time to feed Rusty, my over-sized golden retriever. Rusty and I loved truck rides. I loved blasting my music. Just about home, my truck hit something and then I heard it. The hissing noise nobody wants to hear. The sound of a busted tire. OUCH.. I wasn't in the mood and it was hot outside. Rusty probably wanted to run around anyway. I pulled over and there it was again, a light in the window of a cabin that has been abandoned and empty and unkept for ages. I really was in a rush but figured if a squater was there, they should know that they can't stay here. I grabbed Rusty's leash, my cell phone, and of course, the old pistol under the seat. I wasn't afraid but I knew better than to approach some oddball in an abandoned cabin on the edge of the woods.

No sooner had I gotten out to inspect the busted tire, I looked across the truck hood and there was no candle. But didn't I just see it a moment ago? Where is it now? I made my way up to the cabin with Rusty. I bent down to offer him a treat from my pocket and as I looked up, the candlelight was there again and this time, I saw shadows. I walked up to the cabin screen door and yelled inside,. "Hey, whoever is in here, you can't stay here. This is not a place you can squat in. It's actually private property. If you need help, I can get you some help." Nothing.. I pushed the screen door open and took a look around wiht the flashlight on the end of my keys and there was NOTHING there. NO candle, no shadows, no people, no animals inside. Just me and Rusty and the hairs standing up on my arms. Was I crazy? Now it just got weird. I stepped back outside and took a few steps away from the door and there it was again, a candle flickering just as bright as ever in that window. So I run with Rusty back to my truck, grab my jack and immediately start jacking up my truck. I needed to get away from there because I was starting to be spooked. I made a quick call to my dad to let him know what happened and that I was gonna change the tire and head home. For some reason, I found myself telling him what I saw.

"Dad, the old Moser cabin has some odd candle-light in it. I went inside and no one was there and once inside, I couldn't see any lights, but when I went back outside, it was there again. Dad tell me I 'm not crazy. But have you ever seen such a thing?" Dad was quiet for a moment then he abruptly said,

"You just get that tired changed, I am coming to get you. There's some chatter about odd stuff going on around that lake and on that propery. I don't think I want you there alone at sundown, which is coming soon."

" Seriously Dad? It's no big deal. I got my gun and Rusty. We're gonna change this tired and get on home. Maybe forty minutes or so. No worries."

" Nonsense! I'm on my way!" He hung up. Now not many things disturbed my father. Clearly there was something he was not telling me. I put my phone in my back pocket, glanced over at the cabin and saw that candle light again, this time moving as if someone was holding it and walking back and forth in front of the window. This is when my blood ran chill. I know I wasn't imagining it because all of a sudden Rusty was howling and nervous and barking as if something was there. I jacked the car up as fast as I could and removed the flat tire. I reached for the spare and started to swap out tires. I was moving nervously as sweat poured from my face. Rusty's loud bark turned into a wimper as if he was wounded. I let the car down and put the jack back.

"Rusty come here." I beckoned. Rusty came around the truck with a gash in his head as though someone had cut him. I grabbed my gun and did a complete 360 degree circle ready to shoot. The sun was almost gone and deusk was setting in. I ran to the cabin and just started shooting inside. I yelled some obsenities and threats at whoever cut my dog and then I backed out and headed to the truck. I got in and started the engine and it wouldn't turn over. Chills ran down my spine and I just wanted my dad to hurry up and get there. It had been fifteen minutes and I was sure he would be heading around the curve in the road ahead towards me any moment. I was shaking and I popped the hood to see what has the matter and everything looked fine. Rusty was in the cab of the truck wimpering and then began barking loudly again at the passenger window. There is was, the damned candlelight. Just a flicker in the window floatin in mid air as if some invisible being was there. No candle or candlestick, just a flame and flicker immovable outside my truck window. As I stood petrified staring from the front of the truck to the passenger side, I just froze and there i stood staring at the flame until I head the crackle of gravel and the road and saw the headlights behind me. I spun around to see dad's truck pulling up.

"Janey! Janey! You okay?" shouted my father as he jumped out of the truck with the motor still running.

"Dad!" I ran to him shaking and pointed to the passenger side. "Do you see it? Do you see that light? Do you see it at the window of the truck? That's why Rusty keeps barking and something hurt Rusty. He's cut and bleeding." My father just nodded and said give me the keys. He started the truck easily and instructed me to get in and drive home and he would follow. I did as I was told and we must have broken the sound barrier getting away from there and back to the main freeway until we reached home.

Once home, I relayed my story several times to my father. What seemed like merely ten minutes I later learned was over an hour. I was stranded there in front of that cabin for over an hour. It seemed like ten minutes of creepiness. I know what I saw and Rusty had bruising and cuts to prove something had happened but to this day I can not explain it. Dad told me that maybe Rusty got away from me for a few moments and cut himself in the brush behind the house because there were lots of old rusty things to get hurt on. I assured him the dog never left my side. Dad denied ever seeing flickering lights but told me that some women had been attacked on that road after a car broke down a few months ago. I never heard any stories like that. He told me that is why he panicked but I know better. I know what I saw and after several inquiries over the next few weeks with neighbors, a few people were dismissive but most people were nervous to talk about the Moser cabin. That is when I knew there was some odd unrested supernatural something there that was never there when I was a kid. Maybe it was and it never minded kids. Needless to say, it left me distrubed and uneasy.

It has been over 5 years since that odd flat tire situation and I never have driven that road again. No one in my family will go there and no one ever explains exactly why. It's like everyone is afraid to say it. I'm afraid to say it but I do wonder why the flame manifests itself to some and not to others. Why did it decide to haunt me? Why did it decide to hurt Rusty? I will never know. Sometimes if I look out my own windows at night, I can swear I see that flame flickering and haunting me.