The Most Beautiful Hike in the World or; a Letter from Mrs Wendigo

It's been a pressing week and there will probably be more pressing weeks to come. I'm still looking for him after all this time but only God knows how he turned up the way he did only some days ago. I keep going over it in my mind but I can't seem to come to a rational conclusion. Let's see if you can help me out here.

A month or so ago, a good friend of mine had gone missing with no trace of him to be found anywhere. But, seeing as a lot of his stuff was also gone - such as all of his beloved hiking equipment, the police put it down to him probably running away and so, closed the case. He loved hiking though and it's a shame we have none of his equipment to remember him by.

I don't want to think about whether he might be dead because it really isn't helpful. But, only a few days' ago, I received a small package in the post. It was a letter from a woman who went by the name "C" written on parchment paper, wrapped around a video tape. I am not sure what to do with the information I have received but I think I've read the letter almost five times now.

I found out how she had found my name and address pretty quickly. It's those sorts of photos I took with him, we put on social media together and, which unfortunately had my house number in the background as we were working on my front lawn that day. Any eagle-eyed surfer could track me down. But to use such primitive technology as a hand-written letter and to film the entire thing on a video camera means whoever sent this either doesn't want to be found or knows they won't be...

***

Dear G-

My name is "C" and let's keep it that way for now. I too, am an avid hiker. I take to the forest and hills every few months to go on a large walk, camping kit and all, for days at a time. So when it comes to the lore of the land, I know a lot about it. The particular forest I want to tell you about is located about five or so hours in a car away from where you are now and has a reputation for being picture perfect. You should be able to see on the video that the scenes are breathtaking from a height.

On the first Sunday of the month, I took to the forest in question for my annual month-long challenge in which I stay in the forest and live off the land for the entire month. This includes: documenting local wildlife, using fires to make food I've brought to ration rather than cooking in a domestic setting and even washing my clothes and person in the river at the bottom of the hill. But, one other reason I wanted to come to this picturesque location was because of a rare and beautiful animal known to legend as the 'ghost of Blackwood'. I'm not sure whether you've heard of it but it is meant to look like Algernon Blackwood's Wendigo and I for one, was quite excited to meet it if it turned out to be real.

There have been known sightings of it throughout the forest and though the footage is a bit fuzzy, the legend goes that if you offer this creature some of your food and invite it to sit with you then it will protect you from the horrors that lie beneath the forest's beautiful surface. And trust me, there are some real horrors.

I made my way up the highest hill by Monday and looked out across the entirety of the forest. Lush green went on for miles, scattered trees with sunlight cracking through them watered the landscape and the flowery fields up by the hillsides were immaculate. I took my video camera out of my pocket (if I forgot to tell you, I don't take my phone up here. There's no point going on a beautiful month-long hike if several of those hours of observation are spent doom-scrolling) and I recorded the beauty. If you watch Part 1 of the tape, you can see it. If you turn the volume up, you can also hear the birds sing.

Night fell without a sighting and by Wednesday I was getting no luck. That was until the evening. The stars twinkled overhead and I could hear the bleating of owls in the far distance. A rustling came from the trees nearby and I was surprised that only some 50 miles into my hike, the creature had found me. It stood at about 8ft tall and was very much Algernon Blackwood's Wendigo. I own a copy of the Oxford Classic's Edition and so compared the rough drawing on the cover to what I saw before me and it was pretty accurate. I made some toasted bread on a makeshift fire and got out some peanut butter and jam from my hiking bag. I held it out to the creature and invited it to sit with me and eat. It was then that in a low, muffled voice, it spoke of the horrors of the forest.

It told me that if I were to go too far into the forest, I would encounter creatures beyond comprehension. He pointed to an area beyond the moon which was shadowed and it seemed like no stars were there either. It said that once, a long time ago, there was a town there and they were like those who had stepped off the Mayflower all those years ago. Instead of worshipping Jesus though, they worshipped the creature sitting before me. One day, a blight of cholera struck the town and eventually only a few families were left. Some started having delusions of approaching zombie-like vampiric creatures standing on the edge of town and would make an escape, only to be found mauled to death some days later.

After a few weeks, there was only one family left. Two of them had seen the creatures and begged them to leave the town and never return. In the meantime, the father of the family packed their things and bundled them all up into a carriage. The children would ride out of town without their father though. Their mother could not leave as she had come down with a serious illness and the father stayed behind to look after her. When the father did leave town admitting that his wife needed medicine, he would return to the threatening hoots of owls getting louder in the night. He felt as though this place was no longer his home. His house's doors were unlocked and open and so, he ran in looking for his wife only to find her jaw locked open, screaming. She was cowered in a corner of the room. Screaming. Without moving her mouth. Several crows hit the windows and broke them and the man fled, leaving his wife behind.

"She was eventually eaten." Said the Wendigo-like creature. They had mauled her to death.

By the time the sun rose on Thursday morning the creature was gone and I wasn't sure what story he was trying to tell, but I was happy I was protected for now. The sunrise was beautiful that day, I watched it over the horizon and you can find this in Part 2 of the video. I scan over the whole forest for you. It truly is quite something. I invited the creature back the following night and had told him where I was going to be. If you haven't already realised, I take great interest in this creature and its protecting powers. Even though you make think I'm a nutcase.

***

I stopped reading the letter for a bit, trying to take in all the folklore associated with this weird hiker's trail in the middle of nowhere. I put the video tape into my VHS player I had dusted off from the attic. Thanking my lucky stars it still worked, I hit play to see the two parts she was talking about. Honestly, I had seen few landscapes so beautiful and I had once lay my head down in the Yorkshire Dales. The great and vast land of this place struck me as awe-inspiring, she was not overstating it. But I couldn't help feeling like there was something off here. I still didn't know why she was telling me all of this. I wouldn't find out until the very end of her journey, where she would make the videos very clear to me. Almost too clear.

***

So, as I was saying. The creature and I spoke for a number of days afterwards about this local legend and it turns out that many of the ruins of the town are still there to this day. He had warned me not to go near them as then you'll be known to what he calls the 'vampires' - only they aren't humans. They are a vicious cannibalistic monstrous folk who only resemble humans in structure. I have not seen them thank god, but I have given you something to look at from the rest of my hike for the week. It will be the final part of the video but hopefully you can see where I'm pointing to. It should be easy for you to figure out by now.

***

It still didn't make any sense but I watched it anyway. As the film went on to a track, like a gravel road through the trees in the great light of the midday spring, a thin and pale arm came into frame and pointed at a region just beyond the flowery fields where you could only just make out the ruins of some possible living quarters, but I couldn't see it very well. I returned to the letter.

***

By the end of the month I was well and truly convinced. Coming out of the forest left me with a strange sensation that reality and loneliness wasn't enough anymore. I am going to wrap this letter around the VHS tape I'll send. Oh and by the way, you probably want to take that picture down of you and your friend standing outside your house, that's how I found out where you lived. I hope everything is a lot clearer now as I go and start my new life with a dear friend who has offered to protect me from everything bad in the world and no, he does not frighten me one bit.

I wish you nothing but great luck in finding your missing friend. I have done what I can.

***

The last line made me want to be sick, she was telling me the whole time but I just couldn't see it. I didn't see it. The creature of protection, the monstrous barbarism of history and legend, the beauty of the landscape which was like witnessing a heavenly experience. I watched the tapes again and again and I kept doing so until it clicked.

Over the coming days I would go through the video again and again, noting that this had to be it. I gulped and held my breath - off to someone who could help me convert this tape to a digital format so that I might see it more clearly. When I did, I stopped and held my breath again, slowly zooming in to each part of the video a little more.

She had caught it on film...

There he was.

Running through the trees away from-

***

I wish you nothing but great luck in finding your missing friend. I have done what I can.