Lakewood Cabin

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Legend has it that this cabin, Lakewood cabin, was the location of the most gruesome murder to ever have occurred in the State of Pennsylvania. Most people try to stay clear of it for this one reason, which makes you wonder why anyone would choose to go there on that night in particular.

Situated deep in the woods about ten miles out of the small town of Masonville, Pennsylvania the cabin didn’t seem like much. At one point it was probably a nice place to spend the summer away from the rest of society and recharge life’s batteries. It has a dock out back with a boat so you can spend the day out on the river fishing and soaking up the sun. It has a large bedroom, a sitting area facing out into the woods, and even a wraparound porch. For the nature lover in anyone it would seem like the perfect oasis away from everyday life. Indoor plumbing was even added later in its existence to make it more appealing to its renters.

None of this could make up for all of the horror that this place would see back in 1976 when the Carlisle family rented out the cabin for a couple of weeks to show their kids what it meant to really appreciate nature. Everything was fine at first. The family spent the first few days fishing, swimming, catching lightning bugs, and cooking s’mores and hotdogs around the fire. It seemed like the perfect get away from their normally hectic lives.

One night the family dog started barking with a clear sound of alarm in his tone. When the family went to see what the dog was so upset about he took off running. They followed him down the trail towards the dock. With their flashlights they took in the sight of what had made their dog so upset. There were animal carcasses everywhere. Blood was everywhere.

This didn’t make sense. They had all been down this trail right before dinner and none of this was here. The carcasses had to be fresh. They had been outside all afternoon and evening though and they hadn’t heard anything. What was also weird was that the animals that had been killed had been sliced open by some sort of blade by the looks of it. They were not alone.

The Carlisle’s grabbed their things and headed for their car. They didn’t want to stay there any longer than they needed to. With everyone loaded into the car Mr. Carlisle turned the key, but the car wouldn’t start. This wasn’t necessarily surprising since they sometimes had to push their car to get it running, but now was not the time for this.

One good push down a short hill and they were moving. The car turned over like a champ and they drove as fast as safely allowable down the gravel path out to route 239.

The Carlisle’s never made it home. They were never found either, at least not until it had been too long to identify the bodies.

There has been no life in that cabin since then, or at least that’s what the locals say. Most people don’t even like to talk about the place for fear that someone will try to go out there and have the same fate as the Carlisle family. This story has been Masonville’s best kept secret for over 40 years now. It appears somebody spilled the beans and that is why 4 adventurous college students made their way out to the cabin on Halloween night. They recorded their adventure and streamed it live online for anyone to see. From what it sounds like they were looking for ghosts. It seems they found more than that.

In the opening scene of the video you see them driving up to the cabin and walking up to the front of it. This is where it gets weird. There is without a doubt a candle burning in the front window of the cabin. Upon first thought it would seem obvious that one of the college students went and lit a candle before they started recording, however the investigations show proof that no one arrived before that to light the candle. There were no other tire tracks or footprints to show that they had been there before they started streaming.

Their videos contained the usual antics of someone their age presenting a ghost hunt to their friends. Everything seemed fine at first other than the lit candle. That is, until they started disappearing one by one. It is unclear whether the final person who was recording fainted first or was simply taken out like the rest because the camera did stay live for a few more minutes before it cut off suddenly.

What may have seemed like a prank or a tall tale at first was quickly recognized for what it was-another murder. Facebook quickly took down the video and it became evidence in the ongoing investigation. They are still looking for the bodies of those 4 young college students and just like the Carlisle’s their car is missing too.

It almost seems like they disappeared without a trace. So my piece of advice is that if you hear of an old cabin in the woods you might want to think twice about checking it out.