Urban Legend

“The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window.” I leaned forward over the campfire a bit, readjusting myself on the log I was perched on. “Some say that a couple got lost hiking and needed shelter for the night. Others say they were criminals on the run.”

One kid rolled their eyes, but everyone else sitting at the fire seemed to be into it.

It was a humid July night, and I had been dragged to Loveland Woods by my cousin. She stopped by my house, unannounced, earlier tonight and basically refused to leave until I came with her. It was her best friend's summer bonfire bonanza from the school over. Just one last hurrah before we all left for college in the fall.

“Fine, fine! But if Jesse shows up, I’m leaving.” I told her.

Which reminded me- I took a quick look around for my ex but couldn’t see too well out into the dark. When I arrived, I almost set up at the bonfire immediately while my cousin disappeared into the woods to find her friends. If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s telling local urban legends.

An unknown kid cleared their throat, letting me know I had paused just a wee bit too long. The eye roller. Great. Everyone’s a critic. A girl and boy sat to my left, cuddling, and another guy sat next to eye-roller straight in front of me, half holding his beer in his left hand.

“In any case, what happened next was not up for debate. The candle got knocked over, setting the cabin on fire. Burning them ALIVE.” I paused for dramatic effect. The four others sat there, three enraptured, one doodling in the dirt. Betcha can’t guess who that was.

“When they finally came out to put out the fire, they found claw marks on the door and window sills. But the weird thing was- everything was unlocked. They should have been able to escape. Like they thought they were trapped or something.”

A smug smile creeped across my face. “To this day, they say that if you visit the burned shell of the cabin late on a moonless night, you can see a ghostly hand light the candle in the window and hear their shrieks of pain.”

“You know, I heard it was three people who were there that night.” A voice like ice cut through the oppressive air. I looked over to where it came from.

At some point during my musings, a fifth person must have sat down on the empty space to my right. Weird that I didn’t catch that though, with my Jesse search still on my radar.

Almost like he just appeared out of nowhere.

He was shivering and dripping wet, head downcast.

Is there a lake near here? I wasn’t too familiar with these woods, but I thought I would have remembered a lake nearby.

I tried to shrink down a bit subtly to see his face better-but I couldn’t really. The log on the right wasn’t as close as the others were placed around the bonfire, so it was darker over there.

Also, how could you be cold in this weather?

I settled for just staring at him from under my heavy bangs. “I research a lot of local lore around here and I’ve never seen a version of the Great Wayne Cabin fire story that ever mentioned three people.”

I wasn’t lying- my best friend Jason and I were planning on starting a local lore and legends podcast when college started, so I had been spending my summer break digging through our town’s library for information. I was pretty sure I had seen all versions of this story.

The wet figure shrugged. “It’s how I always knew it.”

I turned my body towards him completely now, still trying to get some sort of eye contact. No good, his wet hair hung limply around his face, blocking any visuals I could make out in the low light.

“Are there any other details I’m missing?” I mean, I’d be a bad researcher if I didn't ask.

The man shuffled uncomfortably on the log, arms crossed, clutching his shoulders as if he wasn’t sure if he should continue.

“Well?” I crossed a leg impatiently.

“Well, they weren’t hiking or criminals… it was actually a honeymoon gone wrong”

An unseasonable breeze rifled through the trees just then.

The hair on the back of my neck lifted.

“Oh really?” I said, in mock interest. Now he’s gotta be making things up.

“You see, the man and woman got married a little too quickly- the man had a lover. And that lover was no good. He knew that the man’s wife was rich and convinced his lover to do away with her.

The man brought her to the cabin to be murdered on their honeymoon, so that he’d inherit everything and they could run away together.”

“Where did you read that? No reports ever specify what they were doing there.”

He ignored me, still avoiding my intent gaze.

I had the urge to get up and walk over to him…But I almost felt frozen in place. Why wouldn’t he look at me? It was honestly a bit rude.

“But the woman had suspicions that everything wasn’t all up to snuff. When they got to the cabin, the husband fussed so hard over making her dinner- something he never did.

She tried to stall eating as long as possible but when she realized he wasn’t going to leave the room until she took a few bites, she ate some of it.

Sure enough, she started to feel weird. But the husband relaxed a little and finally left the room to go to the bathroom. She then switched the plates.

When he came back, he happily ate everything on his plate. As time went on he started to get sick and he knew she had figured it out.”

“What are you talking about? Did you find someone’s journal? How do you know all this? I’d have thought the legend would have mentioned these details at some point if this were true.”

“Go on.” The girl to my left urged, waving her hand in my direction to quiet me. Even the eye roller was paying rapt attention now.

I had to admit, he was telling a better version of the story, even if he was making it all up.

“Meanwhile, the lover had arrived, thinking the wife dead from the poison, he brazenly opened the door only to find his love dead on the floor and the wife breathing hard and struggling to move on the couch.

That’s when the fight broke out. The lover got angry and tried to strangle the wife, who started throwing whatever she could get her hands on- knocking over the candle and starting the fire."

“How do you explain the claw marks everywhere that they found then?” I interjected.

“That was made up- there were no claw marks.” The man said, with an edge of impatience to his voice.

I just looked at him dubiously. “This is so detailed- how do you know all this?”

The man ignored my question.

I felt ill suddenly. Something wasn't right.

“The lover fled the cabin, leaving the wife and the husband’s body to burn in the fire.”

“Once again, where did you hear this? I’ve looked for police reports and not one mentions-”

“What happened to the lover?” The girl to my left interrupted me.

The man finally looked up and I could see his eyes. They looked like fire. He grinned.

“Oh. He later drowned.”