The Myrtleville Anomaly

A man stood across from me in the police station. He had a thin frame that complimented a black suit and black glasses. His hair was black and, he wore it slicked back and handsomely. He raised a tablet close to his face and slowly scrolled down the screen. I looked around the room to get some hint of what was going on but the room was so plain. The grey walls blended into the metallic grey chair and the grey table as boring as it was, seemed to be the Mona Lisa. I was in a police interrogation room just like I have seen in movies, but the man in front of me was no policeman. His black suit had nothing distinguishable patches or markings. You could tell he wasn’t associated with the police, and he certainly didn’t have anything to do with this town of Myrtleville.

The black suit pulled the chair out across from me and I swore I saw the cold metallic chair pull back from his icy grip. He sat down and took off his glasses and beneath them were these piercing blue eyes. He gave me such a warm smile and the room seemed to heat up.

“Mr. Corey Ellis, I am glad you agreed to meet with me. After looking through the initial report these are very...” he paused for a second “monumental events to say the least. My name is Agent 17, and at this point, I would love it if you could share all the details of your experience.”

I don’t exactly know what made me trust him, but everything he said seemed genuine. I forced out my earlier hesitation and responded with sure.

“My friend Geoff and I love camping. We’ve been to quite a few national parks but Yellowstone is by far our favorite. We have camped in the park a few times, but this time we decided to get a small cabin on the outskirts. It was a new experience for us. The cabin was pretty standard. It had a single room with 2 beds, a fireplace, a small kitchen, and a bathroom. Nothing about it seemed unusual. I even spoke with Mr. Stovall, the renter, over the phone. He was an older gentleman but very nice. He told me his family used to stay in this cabin often, but since his wife’s passing it has mostly collected dust. I never thought much about the booking after that.

The start of our trip much like the booking was fairly mundane, but this feeling wouldn’t last for long. Geoff and I arrived on a Friday night. The drive was long and we were exhausted so we unpacked our bags, grabbed a drink, and sat on the porch. We ended up pointing out constellations. How could we help ourselves, we are astronomers after all. But, stars were the only thing we saw that night. At that point, there were no bison or any other animal for that matter.

The following morning we had breakfast and enjoyed a cup of coffee on the porch before setting out on a hike. I remember that first morning vividly because that’s when we first saw the bison up close. I mean they had to be less than 100 meters from our cabin. They were gorgeous, majestic creatures, or at least at that moment, those were feelings they imbued. We sat there for nearly an hour admiring those animals before we grabbed our gear and drove to a nearby trail recommended to us.

It was a pretty arduous hike that day, and it left us starving so we resolved to stop in this small town of Myrtleville to grab food for dinner. It was there I noticed a sign for a missing hiker. I normally don’t pay attention to these kinds of signs. Usually, the panic is inflated. A family member hasn’t heard back in a few days and so they alert the park rangers. Most of the time the missing person just didn’t have cell service. This time, however, really caught my attention was that it was on the same trail that Geoff and I hiked. Normally, even this wouldn’t pique my interest but there was a spot on the trail where we saw some blood. We figured it was just some predatory animal who caught prey near the trail, but at this moment I began to wonder as I read that sign.

We went back to the cabin, cooked a rather large dinner, and then once again decided to go sit on the front porch this time to enjoy the sunset. It was once again a beautiful sight with the sun setting below the plains casting its light on the grazing bison. Some time had passed and it was starting to get pretty dark. That’s when Geoff pointed to one of the Bison in the field.

“I don’t think that Bison has moved.”

I explained to him that it was probably just sleeping, but he was insistent saying that all the other bison had moved. He told me he was sure of it. I convinced him It was probably just a lazy bison, and then suggested we go inside for the night because it was starting to get cold. We made a fire and started talking about what we wanted to do the next day. We had a boyish curiosity and agreed that going back to the trail was an interest to us. We couldn’t resist investigating that bloodied spot on the trail. Besides, the views were one of a kind.

That night I woke up to use the bathroom. The bathroom split our two beds. Geoff’s was towards the back and mine was towards the front by the porch. I picked this bed so I wouldn’t have to deal with the morning sun, but I wish I hadn’t. On my way back from the bathroom, I decided to look out the window at the open plain in front of our cabin. I can’t say with certainty what I saw, but I saw a faint silhouette standing out in that field. Thinking back now, I know it had to be the bison, but at the time I didn’t have my glasses and doubted what I saw.

It was Sunday morning, and Geoff woke up with special excitement. He urged me to be quick with breakfast so that we could go check out the bloodied scene on the trail. That morning we skipped our coffee on the porch and instead took it to go while we drove back to the trailhead. This next part made me unsettled.

We found the blood markings we saw the day before. After, a quick analysis we concluded that something was dragged from the trail. Broken branches and obvious deviations in the dirt made that fact clear. We were both so surprised we didn’t notice it the day before, but it was obvious now. We followed the path for what must have been half a mile, and I have to say my nerves were starting to get pretty bad. That’s when we saw her. Laying in front of us in a mangled mess of bushes and twigs was a relatively fresh corpse that has contorted in ways we had never seen. The head was warped, the legs twisted, and the arms postured behind her propping up a rigid corpse We stood still for what seemed like ages, and an icy wind real or imagined pierced us.

Now, something pretty strange that I hadn’t mentioned earlier was that the trail was empty. It wasn’t just empty on Sunday when we found the body, but it was empty Saturday as well. I’ve hiked a lot of trails, and you rarely find one abandoned. You usually see one other person, and on a trail this gorgeous you would expect a herd of people, especially on the weekend. But, for some reason on these two days, it was empty. It was as if someone knew something we didn’t.

Anyways, Geoff became fidgety and was very adamant that we just leave. I rather shook myself by this whole situation agreed, but before heading to the car I took a blanket out of my backpack cut it into a large flag, and tied it to a rather sturdy branch that I stuck in the ground. I wanted to make it easy for the park rangers to find the body after we reported it.

So on the way back to Myrtleville, we call in our findings to the ranger station. They said they would send someone out immediately, and asked where we were staying so they could follow up with us later. Geoff and I went to a diner in town. We sat there for about thirty minutes before we ordered anything. There was silence between us. We both couldn’t believe what we had seen, but now I realize it was nothing in comparison.

We didn’t feel like doing anything after that, and we both needed a drink so we went back to the cabin. Geoff is the talkative one and I am usually the quiet one, but on that trip back it was dead silence. Occasionally, I would say something, anything. It was just an attempt to distract Geoff because I could tell he was disturbed. Once we were back at the cabin, we got some drinks and sat on the porch. The bison were out in the field, and I saw the stationary one Geoff pointed out last night, but I didn’t say anything to him. At that point, It marked me as strange because I realized it was in the same spot it was the previous night.

A few hours of silence passed and then we heard wheels on a dirt road approaching the cabin. A park ranger got out and approached us on the porch. I don’t know how to explain the feeling after talking to the park ranger, but it had taken our uneasiness and pushed it further. In the case of Geoff, I fear it pushed him over the edge. The park ranger had a stern look on his face.

“We don’t appreciate these kinds of jokes around here,” he told us.

As if our day wasn’t confusing enough. He then proceeded to tell us there was no body found.

I said “How can that be? Did you check the right spot? Did you see the flag I propped up on the side of the trail”

This comment only seemed to make him angrier. He told us there was no flag and that if we don’t stop lying to him he is going to take us in. I thought I know how to prove this. I ran to my backpack and grabbed the sheet that I tore up to make it. The ranger didn’t seem convinced, but I think he could sense the genuineness in our voice. After Geoff kept pleading that we have no reason to lie about this, the officer said ok.

He said he believed us, butt was just strange that there were no markings or signs of blood. The flag that we made had completely disappeared. He explained that bodies being taken away by animals isn’t uncommon, but for there to be no signs of blood or anything is unheard of. We both vehemently agreed with him. At that point, I think he realized he wasn’t going to get any more information out of us, and decided to leave. That left me and Geoff on the porch once again to look at the setting sun.

An hour goes by before Geoff stands up without saying anything. He starts walking toward the group of bison in front of us, and I immediately recognize what he’s doing. I yelled at him trying to get him to stop and come back, but he couldn’t be stopped. Hearing about the disappearing body I think snapped something in his head. He walked right up to that buffalo that hadn’t moved since day one and gave it a shove with all his strength. I watched him eagerly, praying that the bison wouldn’t charge him, but the bison didn’t move when Geoff pushed him and instead Geoff found himself on the ground from the recoil of his forceful push.

Some of the other bison started to move away uneasy at the sight of a human in such proximity to them, but the one stationary bison didn’t react at all. I assumed something was off about that bison, but never would I expect it to be completely unprovoked by such a large external stimulus. I think Geoff had similar thoughts as he looked the bison up and down. He reached up and ran his hand through the fur. I started to move closer and yelled at him. I tried asking him what he felt, but he just held up a hand to me as if saying wait. I don’t know why he did what he did next. It doesn’t make sense to me. Perhaps, it was a growing madness from the peculiar events of the day or perhaps it was some type of divine intuition. Regardless of the mental mechanism he took out his pocket knife, and began carving into the beast.

The blade was about the length of a hand maybe 6 inches, and I couldn’t believe what I was watching as I saw him sink the blade. The beast did not react. He dragged the embedded knife further down cutting more and more until a black liquid began to come out. This next part is painful for me to describe and I think it’s indescribable, but I will do my best.

A thick black liquid poured from the beast. Geoff let go of the knife at this time. I yelled at him to come back, but I think he was so transfixed in what was going on that he couldn’t bring himself to move. What is this black substance that poured out? I don’t know, but it was so dark, so absent of light. As it continued flowing a pool of black formed on the ground and it looked like a hole that had no end.

Steam started rising from the bison and the skin began melting off. That’s when Geoff turned and started back towards me, but after he took his first step he fell on the ground and yelled. The black liquid had pooled around his leg and trapped him in place. It slowly began to take shape as it rose, but the shape it took was that of the beast as it consumed it. It then molded its amorphous surface around Geoff. I stood frozen, I wanted to move I did. I wanted to do something, but what can someone do when faced with something so…..”

This was the first time I looked up at Agent 17 since I began my story. His smile from earlier was replaced with an intense stare. Up until this point, he neither said anything nor asked any questions. I couldn’t gather anything from his expression. He just looked at me with that same intense gaze so I continued this time with some tears pooling in my eyes.

“Anyways, I watched Geoff as he continued to yell and struggle. The screams were mortifying. I’ll never forget those screams. His body slowly melted into the black liquid. Then as if it had never existed the black liquid began spewing steam into the air. The smoke clouded the area and rose to the sky. Once the smoke cleared I searched around for any sign of it but saw nothing. What I didn’t understand was that it left nothing behind. I walked over to the spot where my dear friend was….dissolved, and from all the heat I expected scorch marks on the earth, but instead, it was just grass regular and unburnt. Which makes absolutely no sense. How can something producing so much heat to dissolve objects leave….

Agent 17 cut me off, finally breaking his silence. “What did you do after that?”

“I came here to report it,” I said. I then explained how I stayed at the police station for the last 24 hours to help with any investigations. He then pulled out his tablet again scrolled through some pages, but refused to make any facial expression. His analysis was interrupted by a phone call.

“yes”

“mhmm”

“17, that’s correct”

“civilian”

“unknown”

“abyssal”

These are the only words he said. He then had a long pause where it seemed like he was listening to the voice on the other side of the phone. He finally hung up.

“Mr. Ellis” Agent 17 addressed me calmly. “My men have gathered your belongings from the cabin and placed them in a van out front. They are going to escort you to the Whitlock institute.”

I couldn’t believe it “The Whitlock Institute? but that’s the insane asylum.”

“Correct, Mr. Ellis you came on this trip alone. There is no documentation of your friend Geoff existing at all.”