I live in big house by a country road in Pennsylvania. I love the outdoors, often I go hiking, hunting, fishing, or ride on my ATV whenever I have a day off from work. There is a massive forest behind my house, and I have had countless adventures in those woods. Sometimes during the night, animals visit my backyard. I don’t mind, they never cause any trouble, but I have a security camera that monitors that backyard just in case. Most of the time it’s just deer, foxes, and one time a black bear. There are not a lot of houses in my area, so the animals are essentially my neighbors.
Last year I invited my friends and family to my place for a barbecue cookout during the 4th of July. The adults and I were on the deck telling silly stories of things that happened at work. Their children were either playing in the backyard shooting Nerf guns at each other, or inside playing games. After the party ended, I cleaned up around the house.
Around 10:00 pm, I was in the living room watching the news, and started to hear loud shrieks coming from the woods. I turned on the lights in the backyard and looked through the kitchen window, but saw nothing. I didn’t think much of it, and assumed that it was just a cougar. I have seen them a few times throughout the summer while hiking in the forest late at night. I turned the lights off and I went to bed.
The next morning I decided to check the security camera to see if any animals came to my backyard, but nothing happened that night. I was off from work that day, so I took my ATV and ventured into the woods. About 10 minutes of driving through the forest, I came across the remains of a buck deer covered in claw marks laying in the dirt. His eyes and tongue were ripped out. Upon further examination, there was a massive slit under the belly, and all of its organs were removed. This was rather unusual, and I assumed that the deer was attacked by a bear. I brushed it off and continued to ride my ATV through the forest.
After 20 minutes gone by, I got thirsty and stopped by a small rocky cliff near a creek. I drank my water while sitting on the cliff. It was very relaxing hearing the calm stream of water and the birds chirping in trees. I saw a red-tailed hawk swoop down into the water and grab a large fish. It was an incredible site, and things like that is why I love going into the woods.
Just when I was about to go back to ATV and drive home, I noticed that a corpse of a young man lying in the bottom of the cliff, and blood was smeared all over the rocks around the body. I walked down a nearby hill to get a closer look, and much the buck I saw earlier, the corpse was covered in claw marks, and the tongue, eyes, and organs were ripped out. This unsettled me, so I took pictures of the corpse, and showed them to the police when I got home. The police recovered the human corpse for further investigation, and told me to contact them if I find anything else suspicious in the forest.
After they left, I went to a diner for lunch with my best friend, George. “Something strange has been going on in the woods,” I said. “I came across a husk of a deer and later a young man. Both of them had all their organs, eyes, and tongue extracted by something.” George had a curious look on his face. “I recently got a job with the local police, and there have been numerous reports of cattle and even human corpses with the same conditions for the past week,” he said. What he told me gave me an uneasy feeling. “Some farmers think that it might be aliens abducting people and animals, but that’s just ridiculous!” George said. He drank his coffee, and asked a waitress for a refill. He noticed a nervous look on my face. “What’s wrong? You think aliens are doing this?” George laughed. “No, not at all! I am probably still in shock from what I saw in the woods earlier,” I said. George nodded his head. “I would be spooked too if I was in your shoes. Well, at least you didn’t go recording the dead body and making a joke out of it,” said George. I chuckled from his comment and after lunch I headed home.
As much as I love the outdoors, I didn’t feel safe going into the woods anymore. So I locked all my doors and windows, and played on my PS4 for the rest of the afternoon. When it got dark outside, I started hearing the same screaming that I heard last night. I turned on the lights in the backyard, and for a split second I saw a pair of big eyes in the woods reflecting the lights before rushing deep into the woods. I kept hearing the screaming throughout the night, so I went to bed with headphones on listening to relaxing music, and I had a pocket pistol under the pillow just in case something enters my room. Luckily I was able to sleep well for the night.
When I had breakfast the next morning, I checked the security camera. Nothing came to my backyard until 3:17 am. I was shocked at what I saw; a hairy humanoid with 6 long limbs crawled into my backyard. It had dark shaggy hair hanging from them like an orangutan. There was an arm directly on top of each shoulder, it had big glowing eyes with no pupil, massive claws on each hand, and had its mouth gaping open with long sharp teeth. It was dragging a massive bear covered in claw marks. The creature then began to eat the bear, but rather than just devouring it, the beast cut open the belly and ate the organs insides. It also ate the eyes and tongue. When the creature finished eating, it came to the back door and scratched it like a dog trying to get inside. It snarled and slowly crawled its way back to the woods, leaving behind the bear’s skin and bones.
Of all the years I spent in those woods, I have never seen anything like this. I went to my backyard, and sure enough the empty husk of the bear was lying in the grass. I checked my door and there was no damage. I called the police immediately, and George came with them. I showed them the bear husk and the security footage. “This is horrifying!” cried George. “Whatever that thing is, it’s probably the one who killed all those people and animals!” George and the other officer decided to contact the state police. Shortly after, a squadron came and searched the forest. After several hours, they didn’t find anything so they left the area.
When I came home from work that night, I began to hear the same screaming sounds coming from the woods. I was outside and I heard the sound much clearer. It sounded like a dog or hyena, but much deeper. I could not let this creature harm people and their livestock. I wanted to end this once and for all. I grabbed my hunting shotgun, pocket pistol, cell phone, and flashlight. I then started to walk into the woods.
As I journeyed into the forest, the screams echoed all over the place. The creature could be anywhere. Suddenly, I saw it several yards away from me, eating the insides of an elk. I carefully aimed my gun at the monster, and then it noticed me. I pulled the trigger and shot it. The beast fell over, but quickly got up, brushing off the bullets on its chest. The bullets didn’t even penetrate the skin. The ape creature gave out an enraged roar, and it charged at me on all six limbs. I shot it four more times, but they only slightly knocked the creature back. My gun suddenly jammed, and the creature jumped towards me. I swung my shotgun at its head like a baseball bat. I heard its neck snap and the creature cried in pain. It fell to the ground, and its top pair of arms snapped its head back in place. The creature snarled at me, and ran deeper into the woods. I tried shooting it with my pocket pistol, but the creature got away. Exhausted, I walked back to my house. I checked my phone and it was 11 pm. I locked everything and went to bed.
I woke up at 4 in the morning and started hearing loud banging coming from the back door. I put on my pair of night vision goggles and looked through my window. I was startled when I saw not one, but three ape creatures standing on my deck. One of them was able to smash the door open, and they crawled into my house one by one. Terrified, I tried calling 911, but my phone died. I could hear the beasts walking through the house.
They curiously looked around the house, interacting objects around them. I heard them knocking over my coffee maker, and my refrigerator opening. One of them began eating the food inside. I then noticed that one of them was right underneath my chandelier by the front door. I shot the chain holding the chandelier, and it fell on top of the beast. I then ran down the stairs to the front door. The other two creatures began to chase me. One of them walked on the broken glass and cried in pain. The other one observed the two injured creatures and then climbed on the wall avoiding the glass as if it were an insect. I put my shoes on and ran for the car. Just when I was about to start the engine, the ape creature slammed into my car, nearly pushing it over. I started the engine, and drove away from my house. I headed to a hotel near a highway and asked for a room on the top floor. I spent the rest of the night there sleeping.
I called off work the next morning, telling them I was sick. I was able to charge up my phone in the hotel room, and called the police. Besides the chandelier and back door, not much was damaged in my house. When the police investigated my house, all the creatures were gone. However, the police were able to find clumps of black hair around the house, as well as some blood around the broken glass. The samples of hair and blood they collected has only added more mystery to what happened; at first it didn’t seem like anything usual, but one of the scientists in the crime lab discovered that their chemical makeup wasn’t only organic, that it seemed unexpectedly, mechanical. An organic machine. The samples were then sent to a hospital lab for further research.
I began repairing the house, and installed a much stronger back door. I adopted a young german shepherd from an animal shelter. I took her with me whenever I went into the woods, and stayed out of there whenever it was dark outside. I haven’t seen the creatures since then, but every once in a while I hear them screaming in the woods. Occasionally there are still reports on the local newspaper of animal and human husks being found in my area. Every time I am reminded of those things, I keep asking to myself, what are they? But more important, how many more are out there?