The Shadows Beneath Blackwater

Prologue: The First Dive (Diver's Camera Footage Transcript)

Timestamp 14:32:11

[Camera shows Carl Henderson adjusting his gear. Laughter. Distorted gurgling as light catches something massive moving below.]

Carl: "Jesus, did you see—"

[Violent shaking. Flash of segmented shadow. Feed cuts.]

The recovery team found Carl's GoPro still recording when they pulled him up. His lungs weren't full of water.

They were full of ink.

Chapter 1: The Town That Remembered (Lakota Warning)

The rez kids called it Unkȟéǧila's Pool—where the serpent ancestor slept after the Great Flood. Their elders refused to go near Blackwater after dark.

"The dam woke it," whispered Lucy Tall Grass, the last fluent Lakota speaker in county. She pressed a turtle shell rattle into my hands. "When it hungers, the water gets...thick."

The dive shop owner gave me Carl's journal with my gear. On the last page, a child's 1937 drawing: stick figures feeding something in the lake. The words "we're sorry" smeared in what looked like berry juice.

Or blood.

Chapter 2: The Underwater Cathedral (Sonar Imaging Report)

Blackwater Dam Inspection - NOAA Case #4471

Anomaly detected at 42°15'18"N 83°42'45"W:

Structure resembles pre-Columbian stepped pyramid

Estimated length: 287 feet

Warning: Organic movement patterns detected

60 feet down, my headlamp illuminated the truth. The "church steeple" was a carved stone monolith, its surface writhing with glyphs that pulsed like veins. The hydro cables didn't just fray—they were dissolved at precise intervals, as if...

Bitten.

Then the shadows blinked.

Chapter 3: The Feeding Ritual (1938 Coroner's Addendum)

Confidential - Sheriff's Office

Autopsy of Rev. Elias Crick (d. 08/13/1938):

Tongue removed with surgical precision

Stomach contained 14 oz lake water, 6 oz unknown viscous fluid

Left palm branded with symbol (see Plate B)

The journal's final entries confirmed it:

"August 12 - We drew lots. The children go last."

"August 13 - It wants the dam builders next."

The photo of the construction crew showed grinning men—each with the same brand now seared into my diving suit's shoulder.

Chapter 4: The Bargain (NOAA Alert)

EMERGENCY TRANSMISSION 21:47

Diver Carter's biomonitor spiking—

Heart rate: 212 bpm

Core temp: 91.4°F (impossible at depth)

Audio feed picking up multiple vocalizations

The thing rose from the monolith like smoke, its true form making my eyes hurt. Not a creature, but a concept given flesh—the primal fear of drowning, the void between stars, the reason early humans feared the dark.

Old man Driscoll waited on shore with gasoline and his grandfather's Winchester.

"They ain't shadows," he cocked the shotgun. "They're what casts 'em."

The lake erupted behind us.

Epilogue: The New Dam (USGS Monitoring Report)

Blackwater Reservoir - 6 Month Update:

Water levels rising 3" daily (vs projected 0.5")

Sonar shows "structure" now measures 412 feet

Divers report "singing" at 80+ feet

They rebuilt stronger. Thicker.

But sometimes at night, the dam vibrates.

And if you hold your breath until the clock strikes midnight, you'll hear it too—the sound of something enormous scratching at the concrete.

From the inside.