Scott and Emily (from The Goats Knew) get together about a year after their battle with the Djieien. They become entangled in another paranormal mystery in the town of Palmyra. This time, young people are being brutally murdered, their bodies torn a...
The year was 1887, in Wexford County, Michigan, two lumberjacks reported seeing a huge animal that appeared to have the body of a man, but the head of a dog. Its howl sounded almost human and it walked upright, on its hind legs. They claimed it was at least seven feet tall.
"Hmm," Emily said quietly. "With a dog head?" She went back to reading from the website. She read a few descriptions of incidents involving the so-called dogmen, and although the stories seemed to correlate well with Josh's experience, they seemed a bit over the top. Silly even.
This is getting me nowhere, she thought. Maybe I'd be better off searching paranormal events in town.
She entered new search parameters and came up with an eclectic list of haunted museum tours, books about witches, and essays on Joseph Smith's foray into magic. Digging a little further, she found a site dedicated to myths of the Palmyra area. Once again, quite a bit was devoted to ghosts that haunt the various museums in town, but scrolling through and reading bits and pieces, she settled on a section about The Swift Landing Witch.
It didn't seem appropriate to what she should be looking for, but at the same time it looked more interesting than the silly dogman stories.
In 1796, John Swift, surveying the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, decided to settle in the Tolland District (which we now know as Palmyra). He built a cabin and called his little settlement "Swift's Landing". He traveled throughout New England looking for people to come and settle there. He built the first sawmill and donated land for the first cemetery..
Local mythology has it that while building his settlement, he disturbed Native burial mounds (not an uncommon occurrence at the time) and provoked the ire of a local Native witch, or medicine woman. It is said that she cursed all the land he had surveyed and cast a spell of immortality over herself so that she might witness the everlasting devastation of her work.
Swift may have thought he'd escaped her wrath when he went to battle in the War of 1812 as Brigadier General of the New York Volunteers. But in 1814 a British soldier shot him dead and many believe that this was retribution for his sins against the Native souls.
Meanwhile, to avoid the prying eyes of the town residents, the witch took up lodging in a series of caves that perforate the high point of town, now known as Prospect Hill.
To this day it is said that she creeps out of the caves at night to choose her victims. She feeds her immortal body with the entrails of unlucky citizens who wander the hill at night. Periodically, her victim's bodies are found in the surrounding neighborhood, disemboweled and left to be found among the trees.
"Wait. Prospect Hill?" Emily reread the article to make sure she got it right. They pulled that poor kid out of a cave or something on Prospect Hill!
She opened the messaging app on her tablet.
Scott, are you up? She typed. I think I found something.
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