A town named Winter

Alex

I had just landed at the airport about an hour ago and I'm already regretting this decision. Why couldn't I have decided to film a more tropical haunted adventure? I'm joking with myself. As soon as I saw the ad I was sold. I've heard about the legends around the town named Winter. It's like the Canadian version of Roanoke. My subscribers will love this. Nobody else on YouTube has done a video on this location.

As I finish my day dreaming, I realize that the taxi has stopped. I pay my fare and gather my things. I stand looking at an old brick building that has been turned into a nursing home. I am here on a mission today. Inside these walls is the last surviving member of the ghost town. Her name is Agnes and she was only a child of 8 years old when she and her father fled the town. I found her name and location while digging through old newspaper articles about the event. They say she's 90 years old and senile. Maybe they think she's crazy because she's seen things nobody else had. I'm determined to interview her and record some legitimate background information before braving the wilds.

I walk into the building with my suitcase and backpack. I sit them in the corner of the reception room and walk up to the woman watching me from the counter. I check in and get the survivor's room number. As I walk down the halls, the nursing home smell finally hits me. It's like a mixture between a hospital, urine, and that one bingo hall in town back home. I arrive at her room and knock. I hear her beckon me in with her tired, almost weak voice. I step inside and close the door back behind me. I approach her bedside slowly. Her face shows her age. Her hair is completely white and seems to look wild and unkept. It's like she never gets visitors. She eyed me curiously and slightly cautiously.

"May I sit?" I ask as I gesture to the chair. She only nods, never taking her eyes off mine. Before my bottom even touches the chair, I hear her speak.

"What is your name child?"

Her voice is gravely and dry. It's as if she doesn't use it often.

"My name is Alex. I came to meet you."

"Are you here about my town?"

She gets straight to the point. She kinda makes me nervous. Was I that obvious?

"How did you know?"

"I have no family left and all my friends are long gone. The only people to spare me a minute all want the same thing."

I sit there feeling guilty. I visibly deflated. She must be lonely and here I am, just coming to see her for my own selfish needs.

"You said your name was Alex? Is that short or Alexandria?" I nod.

"That's a beautiful name. A young lady such as yourself should concern herself with such dark things."

"Oh, so it is dark?" She giggles a bit and her eyes soften. I begin to relax a bit.

"You're an odd one. I can tell you're not from around here."

"You're right. I'm from America. Is my southern accent a dead giveaway?"

"Locals don't come see me. My story scares them. Why would you want to hear it?"

"I love to be scared. I make videos about paranormal places and unexplained events."

"Well my story is both paranormal and unexplainable."

Hearing this I perk up. I'm almost shaking with anticipation. I reach into my pocket and pull out my notepad.

"Is it alright if I record this story? It'll be for my video."

"I don't mind, dear. Though, I doubt many would like to look at an old hag like me. Maybe just my voice?"

"Yeah I can do that. I'll use my voice recorder and I can just use the audio." I go for the pocket opposite the one that held my notepad. "You can start whenever you want" I say as I click the record button.

"My name is Agnes and I was born mid January in the year 1928. I grew up in the town named Winter. My mother's name was Mary and my father's was Florian. My life didn't get interesting until I turned 8. Right after my birthday, two men went missing. They were law abiding, good men. Richard and George. They went out to hunt and never returned. That was the first event."

She paused for a moment. It's like she was reliving the past in her mind. She got lost in herself for a moment, then snapped out of it. She turned and looked at me fully before speaking again.

"The whole town was torn up over their disappearances. They sent out search parties, but always came up empty handed. If I remember correctly, the next disappearance happened almost a month later. Susan, the wife of George, just got up and walked out of her home after dark. She wore nothing but her nightgown when though it was snowing quite fiercely. A few of her neighbors saw her, but she refused to stop for anyone. It's like the woods were calling her in. She walked into those woods and never returned. The next victim was lured out just two nights later. It was Susan's sister, Rose. This trend continued for months until the population was down to just a handful. The townspeople were hysterical at this point. Some blamed the devil, some blamed a witch, but no answers or bodies were found. Everyone was too scared to leave their homes come nightfall."

She stopped once more and looked so sorrowful. Like all the happiness and life was just drained out of her. Her eyes watered and she closed her eyes before continuing.

"I remember the night the forest took my mother. At the time, we were all asleep. We shared a bed that was in the main room of the house. The fire was burning as a slowly dying ember. I awoke when I felt her sit up. I looked over and she was sitting straight up in bed looking like she saw a ghost. She called out the name of her friend that was taken a few nights prior. She crawled out of bed and went to the door. I sat there frozen. I knew what was happening and I was terrified. I couldn't move to stop her. I was only able to breath again once she walked out the door. I came back to my senses then and woke up father. He noticed the door open and mother gone and didn't ask questions. He grabbed his boots and coat and raced out the door. By the time we caught up, she was at the border of the town. I screamed for her, but she never faulted in her steps or glanced back. Father grabbed her wrist. She was in a trance like state until he touched her. She looked frantic. She screamed out that Elizabeth was out in the woods and that she had to save her. Father tried to calm her down. It's like mother was hearing a cry for help that none of us could. She looked back into the woods and then glanced one more time at me. Then she just ran. Nobody caught up to her. She was gone. That next morning, father and I left the town and faced the almost certainty of freezing to death over the threat of the forest. We headed away from the town named Winter and the opposite direction of the part of the woods that lured in so many innocent lives. We didn't have much food and the weather was harsh. We stayed hidden and quiet at night and only moved during the day. It was almost a week before we stumbled upon another town. They took us in and fed and warmed us. We warned everyone that would listen. The town sent out a search party armed with guns. It was two weeks before they came back. They found Winter, but it was completely empty. They stayed and searched the woods during the daylight hours. They never found a body to bury of any of those poor souls. Father and I were the only survivors."

I sat there in silence for a moment before stopping the recording. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. Something evil happened to that town. I've been obsessed with horror my whole life, but this gave me goosebumps. I was both scared and excited. If I can prove the existence of the paranormal to the world, everything would change.

We talked for a bit longer about her life after Winter before my time was up. I had to wrap things up and catch a taxi. The hiking group was meeting tonight at a motel close by. I thanked her for her time and we said our goodbyes. Right before I walked out the door she called out to me.

"Alex, dear, please don't go to that god forsaken town. The devil lives there."

I looked at her, unsure what to say. Should I tell her the truth? That's what a decent person would do. Should I lie to her just to ease her mind?

"I wouldn't dream of it."