ELSEWHERE, KENTUCKY: The Government Buried It In Concrete And Erased It From Every Map

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
The real reason the small town of Elsewhere, Kentucky disappeared
from all maps, according to locals, is because people who
entered the old schoolhouse there went missing. There are several
reports of explorers just disappearing after they saw a child
in the doorway. The last two college students to visit

(00:27):
found bones and decay in the schoolhouse and its cellar.
Things got out of hand, and one female ended up unconscious,
supposedly due to a ghost attack. The curious college kids
reported the findings to the authorities, and not long thereafter,
the area was bulldozed. All remnants have been destroyed. But

(00:49):
why go do all of that trouble for something that
wasn't true. I'm Derren Marler and this is Weird Darkness. Welcome, Weirdos.
I'm Darren Marler and this is Weird Darkness. Here you'll

(01:11):
find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange
and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained. Coming
up in this episode, I have two tales of fiction
to share with you. One story is from Weirdo family

(01:32):
member and professional author t Lee Harris called twenty seven
Cents of Luck, but We'll begin with redditor x y
Lonex bringing us a creepypasta titled simply Elsewhere Kentucky. Now,
bult your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights,
and come with me into the weird darkness you won't

(02:07):
find elsewhere Kentucky on any map. The overgrown gravel road
leading to the abandoned settlement doesn't even connect to a
main road. As with most places you shouldn't go. Even
the Google satellite images have been scrubbed with what looks
like a bad use of a blur tool in an
otherwise detailed area. It was located in southeastern Calloway County,

(02:31):
just off the shore of Kentucky Lake. Elsewhere sat surrounded
by forest until recently several buildings remained. I'd heard stories
about Elsewhere growing up. Being a Calloway County native, I've
heard most of the local folklore and ghost stories. I'd
spent several nights in Asbury and Old Salem cemeteries looking

(02:53):
to verify stories of creepy ghosts and various monsters. The
most I ever got spooked was by friends and a
bad case of the willies. I was volunteering at the
Senior Citizens Center when Earl, a man of about eighty
years old, told me a story about the fall of Elsewhere, Kentucky.
It went like this. When I was a boy, my

(03:16):
Paw and I went to the Elsewhere General Store to
get some rock candy and chicken feed. I stood outside
while Paul talked to missus Ellison, the shopkeeper. Paul loaded
the feed into the truck and headed me the candy.
Right about then, there was this loud scream from the schoolhouse.
I don't know right well what happened, because Pau told
me to stay in the truck. But after that we

(03:37):
never went back to Elsewhere, and I was a few
years older. I went back there with some friends. We
were just dumb kids fooling around. My friend Jason went
inside the schoolhouse. I never saw him again. We spent
the rest of the day looking for him, and later
the police did a search, but they didn't find nothing either.
Shortly after, the county disconnected Elsewhere Road from Highway to eighty.

(04:00):
It's about sixty years and you're the first person to
mention the place in half a century, son. What did
some digging after that? The Calloway County Public Library has
a pretty good archive of town history and folklore. I'd
read every book on the subject, but I'd never seen
mention of Elsewhere. I ended up at Waterfield Library on

(04:22):
the Murray State University campus looking through old microfilm when
I found a reference to Elsewhere in the Louisville Courier Journal.
A single paragraph story covered how the unincorporated town was
being abandoned for health and safety reasons. It was dated
April second, nineteen fifty three. There was one detail that

(04:42):
stood out, located two miles north of New Concord, just
off of Highway Too eighty. I waited until Saturday morning,
and I made sure to charge my cell phone before
parking roughly two miles north of New Concord, just off
the side of the road. I moved about fifty yards
past the tree line and hiked back and forth until

(05:04):
I found the remnants of Elsewhere Road. I followed it
northeast for about a half mile before coming to a
clearing where several dilapidated buildings stood over the tall grass
and broken pavement. I moved closer to the center of
the town when I saw a sign to my left
that read Elsewhere General Store. The windows were boarded up

(05:26):
and the door was nailed shut, but after pulling at
the boards for a few minutes, I was able to
pry open the door. The wood was weathered and brittle,
it popped right off, leaving the nails in place. I
was surprised to see that the goods on the shelves
had been left in place. Old can goods sat rusted
on old wooden shelves, an old timey cash register sat

(05:49):
on a counter to my left, and several burlap sacks
lay tattered across the floor. I pressed a few keys
on the old mechanical cash register and then pulled a
lever to reveal several tarn coins and some paper money.
I had a sandwich and a zip lock bag i'd
brought for lunch. I decided to have a sandwich before
putting the old money in the bag and stuffing it

(06:10):
in my backpack. I moved toward the back of the
store when an unexpected noise caused me to stand at attention.
I caught the distinct sound of footsteps on the wooden
porch of the general store. I turned around and peered
out the door, only to see nothing. I called out hello,
anyone there. There was no response. I crept towards the

(06:33):
door slowly with my hands out in front of me,
just in case. I slowly peeked around each corner before
verifying that no one was standing outside, and then made
my way back out to the street. I was sufficiently
creeped the hell out at that point I decided to
pack it in and come back later with friends. It

(06:54):
was just about then that I heard the crack of thunder.
The weather app on my phone said zero chance of rain,
but lo and behold, the clouds overhead were moving in fast.
I thought about hoofing it the half mile in the rain,
but the rain came fast, and not wanting to go
back into the general store, I darted to the nearest building,
an old house. The front door was unlocked and the

(07:17):
door opened on the second pull. Standing in the parlor
of this old house, I looked around at the old
furniture and dusty floors, and decided to sit for a
second on an old wooden chair that seemed sturdy enough.
The storm raged outside, and I could see water coming
in from the ceiling. There were several old papers sitting

(07:38):
on the coffee table in the living room, and after
a while I got up to look at them. The
yellowed papers were single page editions of an old periodical
called the Elsewhere Gazette. The stories covered church events, pie recipes,
and an advert for the Elsewhere General Store. One of
the papers in the stack bore the headline Tragedy in

(07:59):
the Sky Coolhouse. The article told the story of a
hysterical school teacher who'd poisoned the cake she'd prepared for
the students. The one surviving student ran out of the
schoolhouse screaming when the woman tried to force him to
eat some of the poisoned cake. It was dated August twelfth,
nineteen thirty six. Earl's story put him there nearly twenty

(08:22):
years later. I was curious as to what would have
happened some twenty years after the tragedy, but not entirely
willing to continue investigating. When the rain led up a little,
I trudged back towards my car. Around the time I
got halfway down Elsewhere Road, the sky cleared up and
the rain stopped. When I got back to Highway to eighty,

(08:44):
I marked the spot with a couple of fallen branches
propped up against a tree, and drove back into town.
That night, I was sitting at Mary's kitchen nursing a
cup of coffee when Jerry came in and sat at
the table adjacent to mine. Jerry and I didn't talk much,
but we'd often find ourselves sitting there through the midnight hours,
drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. He tapped me on the

(09:07):
shoulder and said, you look like you saw a ghost kid.
I shook my head and said, I didn't see one,
but pretty sure I heard one. You got a confused
look on his face, and I continued I did some
hiking out by elsewhere this morning. Jerry's face went pale
and he said, boot crap. I showed him a couple

(09:28):
of the pictures on my phone, and he replied, see
that building right there, he said, pointing at my phone.
Don't go into that building ever, I replied, I take
it that's the schoolhouse. He nodded. I continued, what's the
big deal about that place? Earl up at the Senior Center,
said he didn't know what happened. I found an old

(09:48):
newspaper article from about twenty years before Earl was there,
but it didn't explain the scream he heard coming from
it in the fifties. Jerry shook his head and said
rowed here. We don't talk about Elsewhere in polite conversation.
It ain't one of those things that needs discussing. But
I can tell you're all curious, so I'll tell you

(10:10):
and then leave it be. I nodded. Jerry continued, I
was bored in fifty nine, about six years after they
abandoned the town. It was the seventies by the time.
I was a dub teenager looking for a thrill. My
buddy Tom Blakenship found pictures of Elsewhere in a book
up at the library, saying the town was abandoned. In

(10:33):
a hurry, we drove his truck out there and found
everything boarded up except for the schoolhouse. Tom went inside
the schoolhouse and I stood by the truck. You could
still get to Elsewhere road if you didn't mind drive
it over some saplings. At that point, Jerry let a
cigarette and took a drag before continuing. Tob let out

(10:54):
this whale like he'd been bit by a snake, and
I rushed up to the schoolhouse, expecting to see who
knows what. The single room schoolhouse was empty. I looked
all over for Tod, but I couldn't find him. I
ended up going to the cops, and that was what
they told me about the ghost. Jerry took a long

(11:15):
drag and stood up from his chair and moved across
from me. Then there was this somber look in his
eye that told me everything I needed to know about
Tom's fate. He said in a hushed tone. So the
deputy tells me that every couple of years, some idiot
goes out there. It goes into the schoolhouse solely for
nobody to see them. Agin. The thing is, the county

(11:37):
Sheriff's department knows about the ghost. He told me that
back in the fifties, this kid came to school with
a machete and hacked a couple of the kids up.
The school teacher read out screaming. They questioned the kid,
and he said this pretty lady that stood outside the
schoolhouse from time to time said if he did it,
it sent them to heaven. They ended up putting him

(11:58):
under the jail. Jerry put out his cigarette and looked
at me with a stern face. I don't know what
happens to the people that go to that schoolhouse, and
I don't want to know. Don't go back there. The
county should demolish that place, Jerry left a five dollar
bill on his table and walked out. Despite his heartfelt story,

(12:19):
I was even more curious about Elsewhere At that point,
I paid for my coffee and headed out. By the
following Saturday, i'd been able to wrangle a friend to
come with me back to Elsewhere. Katy was a local
college student who was obsessed with ghost hunting and abandoned towns.
It wasn't very hard to rope her into coming along.
I told her the stories as they'd been passed down

(12:41):
to me, and that was all it took for her
to wake me up at five am on Saturday morning
with coffee and a camera ready for a hike. Katie
and I strolled into town a little after seven in
the morning. The sky was bright, but the sun was
still barely over the trees. We decided to open the
doors to the school house and look inside from a

(13:02):
few feet back. I opened the door and shot back
off the stoop and back into the grass. It was
dark inside and we couldn't make anything out. Katie produced
a flashlight and shined it inside the doorway. I could
make out a few upturned desks and a chalkboard in
the back. We stood there for a bit when the

(13:22):
sun crept over the trees and started heating up the
morning dew, resulting in a thick fog. I turned to
my left for a moment to look back at the
general store, and Katie darted past me into the schoolhouse.
I ran right behind her, and we both stood in
the dilapidated building. As I begged her to go back outside,

(13:43):
she responded, I could have sworn I saw a kid
standing in here. I said, yeah, that's great, spooky kids.
First time I was here, it rained out of nowhere.
Now it's fog. Let's go. Katie walked a few steps
forward and let out a yelp as she fell through
a hole in the floorboards to the cellar down below.

(14:03):
I laid flat on the floor and reached my arm
down for her to climb up. She grabbed my wrist
and I grabbed her with my other hand and tried
to roll back and pull her up. She wouldn't budge.
I looked back down and saw this halfway transparent woman
holding onto her legs and pulling her into the darkness.
I pulled harder as Katie started screaming. The ghostly woman

(14:25):
looked up at me and smiled in the dim light
of the morning shining from the door. Katie was pulled
quickly into the darkness, and in the struggle I was
pulled down into the cellar as well. Katie's screams fell
silent as I pulled out a couple of glowsticks from
my backpack and cracked them open. I tossed one in
Katy's direction and one toward the other end of the room,

(14:46):
and brought up the flashlight app on my phone. Katy
sat slumped against the wall on the far side of
the room. There were bones all over the room in
various states of decay. I walked over to Katie and
checked her pulse at the It was faint, but it
was there. I turned towards the back of the room,
and that's what I noticed, A small sliver of light

(15:08):
coming from two wooden cellar doors about twenty or so
feet from me. I crept past these scattered bones and
over to the cellar doors. I pushed at them, only
to hear chains rattle on the other side. I pushed
harder and kept banging at them until one of the
hinges broke, and soon after another. I pushed the doors

(15:28):
open and went back for Katie and threw her over
my shoulder. As I was walking towards the opening to
the outside, I felt a sharp pain across my back.
I didn't look back, though, I bolted for the light.
I tripped over one of the corpses and fell to
the ground. My cell phone slid across the floor. I
looked back and the ghostly woman was almost on top

(15:49):
of me. I grabbed Katy by the wrist and took
off for the stairs leading to freedom, dragging the young
kohed behind me. Just as I crossed the threshold into
the light, I felt a tug and looked back to
see the woman holding Katy by the leg. I tugged
and pulled, and cursed and fought. This other worldly voice

(16:09):
came from the apparition, saying, latter, go to Heaven. I
shot back, go to Hell. The woman's grip on Katie loosened,
and I fell back on to the soft grass, with
Katie landing on top of me. I didn't wait around.
I fireman carried her back to my car, and she
came to about halfway through the ride to the police station.

(16:30):
In my report to the deputy, I mentioned all the
bodies I'd found down there. He would later tell me
that they recovered sixteen skeletons and one corpse that had
been there for a few years. The county board voted
to demolish the town shortly thereafter. It was all kept
hush hush. Elsewhere Road was tilled with a backo. After

(16:50):
the remaining buildings were bulldozed and the cellar of the
schoolhouse filled with concrete. I went back out there one
last time, just to make sure it was and I
didn't make it five feet toward the tree line before
a deputy sheriff flashed his lights and told me to
get back in my car. Katie won't talk to me anymore.

(17:10):
Last I saw her, she pretended she hadn't seen me
and scurried away. Of all the things I experienced in
that town, I regret not grabbing my cell phone. I
had some pretty decent pictures. There's no record of Elsewhere Kentucky.
Now there's nothing left of the town. I haven't been back,
and from the way the county's been handling it, I

(17:31):
don't think there's anything to go back to. But just
in case, don't go to Elsewhere Kentucky. Our second story,
twenty seven Sense of Luck is up next. When weird
darkness returns, the icy wind blew Floyd Katon through the

(18:22):
door of the mcmonagall Trading Post, dusting powdery snow across
the floorboards and ruffling the feathers of the brace of
wild turkeys he carried over his shoulder. He shoved the
door closed against the cold, and stamped snow off his boots.
The big, slightly smoky room was dark after the outside glare.
George mcmonagall looked up from shelving canned fruit. Arno, Floyd,

(18:46):
not a nippiat there today, that it is, George. Some
might even go as far as to call it brisk.
Katon made his way across the comfortably crowded store to
lay the birds on the counter. Can you make use
of these? Sure? Can? Mc monnagall said, moving over to
inspect the birds. With Christmas so close, folks over to

(19:06):
the army post. He'll give us good money for him.
He turned and called toward the back of the store, Hey, Nancy.
Floyd brought it in a bunch of turkeys. The heavy
blankets that served as a door between the main store
and the storage area twitch to side, and a short
matronly Nez Pierce woman stepped through. Dark braids emerged from

(19:27):
her head scarf and flowed over the shoulders of her
beaded deer skin dress. She clutched a box that was
almost as large as she was. Per Nez Pier's name
translated roughly to two bears running, but George never could
quite get his mouth wrapped around those words. They'd settled
on Nancy, he Floyd. She plopped the box onto the

(19:47):
counter next to the birds. That sheepskin coat, order out, Olympia,
come on the freight a few days back. Still don't
know why you want it. That great coat perfectly good.
It'll be kind of like losing an old friend. Floyd
lifted his arm, displaying a fraying cuff. Me and this
coat went through the war the Rebellion together served as
pillow and blanket many a time. A couple times I

(20:10):
even considered using it as a tent. One of these days.
You're gonna have to tell us about that, George said.
We was out here during the fracas. Not much of
it got this far. Floyd shook his head. That ain't
likely to happen. There's not much about that time I
care to remember, far as I'm concerned. The best thing

(20:30):
the army ever did for me was to haul me
out here to the territories before they cut me loose.
I don't much care what happened to know white Man's War,
Nancy said, Still say the coat don't look so bad
to me. He shucked it and handed it to her
with a flourish, And it's yours to do with as
you like, ma'am. Nancy held it up and eyed it critically.

(20:53):
I fix it a little bit of deer skin here
and there. You might need it again, George laughed. I asked, Nancy,
can't throw nothing away, bush. You snags it and makes
it good as new. Nancy beamed better As Nancy spread
the code out on the counter to examine the seams.
George turned back to the turkeys. Fine birds, best game

(21:16):
I'd had come into the place in weeks. I don't
even talk about the furs or the whack. I hear
you took me two days to find these turkeys. Saw
terce's of a few deer, and found an old busted
beaver lodge downstream apiece, but I didn't actually see anything.
George pulled out the ledger, recorded the turkeys, then ran

(21:37):
his fingers down. The entries been real slim since that
gully washer blew through middle of October. I'm thinking of
trying a little further north tomorrow, higher ground. Maybe what
got washed out in our neck of the woods moved
up there. Worth a try anyway, but be careful. That's
rough terrain. That's the way Lewis Dickolette was headed when
he disappeared last month. Katon frowned. That's worrisome. Nicolette may

(22:02):
have been a horse's rear, but he was one of
the best voyagers in these parts. Nancy nodded thoughtfully. That's
a bad place. The people call it the place of
the light that calls Oh why'd they call it that? Dun'no,
she said, with a shrug. It's an old name. Flathead
call it that too. People just don't go there. Floyd frowned,

(22:25):
then snapped the binding string off the package. Best to
be prepared. Then let's get a look at this coat.
Catalog said. It was extra heavy with the fleece left
on as a liner. That'll likely be needed with the
hard cold we get here. The coat was everything the
ad promised, but the box lit off. The sheepskin spilled
over the pasteboard edges, the exterior leather shone gold and brown,

(22:48):
and the flickering lamplight and trimmed fleece poked through the
seams like shaggy piping. Now that's worth the twenty dollars.
He lifted the heavy garment out of the box and
gave it a shake. As it unfolded. Three objects clattered
to the floor. Coins, a worn quarter, and two large
copper cent pieces. Why'd you look at that, George leaned

(23:11):
over the counter. Head's up too. You just got yourself
two cents worth of luck, Floyd. Floyd scooped the coins up,
fresh from the cold room. They felt like ice against
his palm. Them coins are lucky, Nancy asked, panties are anyway?
George said, see Panny, pick it up all the day,
you'll have good luck, or something like that. Some folks

(23:35):
say pins, some folks say pennies. Me. I'll take pennies
over pins any day. Kateon grinned and closed his fist
over the coins. Way I see it. A quarter is
twenty five pennies. This here is twenty seven cents of luck.
Then you're gonna need the right thing to keep them in.
So the magic doesn't run out, Nancy said, but they

(23:56):
decided nod. She turned and hurried back through the curtains.
I shot a puzzled look George, who simply shrugged. Among
her many skills, Nancy was an honored shaman to her
people and one of the few healers in their neck
of the woods. Neither man understood shamanism, but neither would
argue with that it worked either. Moments later she re

(24:16):
emerged holding a small white pouch made this when you
brung that dough in last summer. It's been waiting to
be used. The bag was beautifully worked, with a geometric
pattern picked out in beads and quill work on the front.
Caton recognized the decoration as the Nez Pierce symbol for
the sun. A muscleshell button held the flap closed, and

(24:36):
the soft fringes along the bottom edge terminated in tiny
conical shells. Beads also decorated the long, sturdy thong meant
to go around the wearer's neck. Nancy held the bag
open and thrust it toward Kateon put them in. You
must do it yourself. No one else should touch them.
They're your magic, bemused Floyd dropped the coins in, and

(24:58):
Nancy deftly tucked the tiny button through the loop. She
stood on tiptoe to drop the thong over his head
and patted it against his chest with satisfaction. There the
sun and your lucky coins will protect you. Kateon examined it.
That's mighty fine work, Nancy. I'm not sure how I
can thank you for it, she beamed. How about a

(25:20):
haunch of venison from the game you bring down with
all of this luck, he laughed, You got it, lad.
Colored cloud sung oppressively low, and the daylight filtering through
painted the landscape with a faint blue sheen. Not for
the first time, Kateon wondered if he should just head

(25:40):
home two days out, and if anything, he'd seen less
game up here than he had back home. The weather
was holding, though still only cold and windy. Now he
needed to push on. Anything he could bring back would
help to feed their little community. When the weather really
turned hard and snow filled the pass, the bay horse

(26:00):
shifted beneath him, Caton leaned forward to pat its neck.
I know, Jasper, you're anxious to get moving. Can't say
I blame you. I ain't getting no warmer us. Stopping here,
he glanced at the sky again and found himself fingering
where the medicine bag rested against his chest. Laughing at himself,
he said, we could use a bit of sun right

(26:21):
about now. Looks like all we get is more snow
that hell. With a jasper north it is, He wheeled
the bay toward a break in the trees and headed
deeper into the woods. Kateon had been seeing boulders dotting
the landscape for a while. They looked new, fallen, with
moss clean faces and stark white scarring. As he traveled higher,

(26:44):
their numbers increased in large chunks of jagged slate poked
up through the snow crust. He dismounted and brushed snow
away for a better look. Looks like Georgia's gully washer
hit up here too. He straightened and followed the line
of debris. Might as well head that way to see
what happened, Jasper, not like we found anything the way

(27:05):
we've been traveling. Turning the sheepskin collar up and seating
his hat more firmly, he took the horse's lead and
carefully picked his way up the slope. The trail of
debris led him to a place where cliff face had
sheered away and carried part of the mountain with it,
opening a long, closed passage. Trees along the slide path
leaned at crazy angles, both completely and almost uprooted by

(27:29):
Piles of rubble tumbled against the trunks. Small scrubby bushes
and grasses poked up through the white. Nature was healing
the wound in a couple of years, it'd be hard
to tell it happened. Floyd led the big Bay into
the sheltered path. It was still tricky footing, but both
welcomed the protection from the stinging, wind blown snow. On

(27:52):
the far side. The path opened out into another section
of woods, where undisturbed snow lay heavy on the ground
and the air was much calmer. It was a beautiful sight,
but at the same time disheartening. Damn me, if it
don't look as sparse up this way as it was
back there. Come on, Jasper, we might as well push

(28:14):
on for a bit, come a long way for a
lot of nothing. A few yards beyond the pass, Jasper
suddenly got skittish. There was nothing that Floyd could see,
but that didn't mean much. Probably a mountain lion, he thought,
No game for him also meant no food for them,
and they tended to get a bit testy when they
got hungry. Quietly, he eased the rifle out of the

(28:37):
scabbard and edged toward the thicket. The horse was rolling
his eyes at Caton couldn't see anything behind the scrub
but for a large amount of snow moving the undergrowth
aside released a dump of snow from the overburdened pines.
Floyd jumped back, managing to avoid most of the fall.
As he stood, spluttering and brushing powdery flakes from his shoulders,

(28:58):
something dark against the white caught his eye. It was
a saddle horn. Digging deeper revealed the rest of the saddle,
then the bags, then the ravaged remains of a horse.
Katon silently regarded the familiar punch work on the saddle,
then said, I guess we know what happened to Nicolette's horse.

(29:19):
He spent a little more time searching the area, but
found no sign of Nicolette himself. Well, he said, settling
Nicolette's sandbags on Jasper. At least we can get these
back to the posts. If he don't come for them himself,
maybe the fur folks can ship them back to his
kin in France. As they traveled, the woods became denser,

(29:40):
the groundcover was pristine as a new fall. He was
just considering turning back when the trees abruptly ended at
a clearing. Caton paused just inside the trees and stared.
He'd never seen anything quite like it. The cleared area
looked to be perfectly circular, and everything just stopped at

(30:00):
the edge of it, even the snow. A rounded hill
rose in the center. Small stones were scattered around the sides,
and there was a big pile of larger ones at
the top. It looked deliberate and would have taken someone
a lot of time and effort. Even more curious were
the bodies of deer and other animals lying on the
rocky ground. For a while, Kateon stood motionless, trying to

(30:24):
make sense of what he was seeing. Then a glint
of light, like the play of sun on metal, caught
his eye. He looked for the source nothing, It seemed
to have come from the mound near the carn at
the top. Deciding to look closer, he took Jasper's lead
and stepped forward. The big bay took a large step back. Now,

(30:47):
what's got to spook your four leg lump, stubborn dead horse.
I could understand, but you've seen plenty of dead deer before.
He tugged again on the lead. The big horse ducked
his head and shied further back. Exasperated, Kiton looped the
reins over a stunt looking tree and snatched the rifle.
Have it your way. I'm going to go have a

(31:08):
look with or without you. He wheeled back toward the
hill and froze. The tug of war with the bay
had taken them around the edge at the clearing. From
his new angle, he could see a man's leg and
boot protruding from a tumble of stones about half way up.
Is that what's spooking you? It felt odd as he

(31:28):
stepped across the line where the snow ended and the
barren ground began. It was like pushing through a curtain.
Felt warmer too, although not necessarily comfortable. He wondered if
it was some kind of hot spring. He'd seemed similar
when his mounted company passed through the Wyoming Territory. Rifle
at the ready, he edged around the rocks and found

(31:50):
Lewis Nicolette slumped against the stones. He was just as
dead as the deer on the other side of the hill,
and looked like a layer of dust had settled over him.
Nicolette's coat was nowhere to be seen, and his shredded
shirt revealed a large, blackened patch covering most of his chest.
That was like no wound Floyd had ever seen before.

(32:11):
That don't look like a bullet hole, don't even look
like a proper burn. Baffled, Katon knelt beside the body
and moved the tattered shirt aside for a better look.
At his touch, loose Nicolette dissolved into dust, bones crumbling
as if he were years dead rather than weeks. Katon

(32:32):
took a startled step backward onto loose gravel that sent
him pitching headlong down the slope, hat and rifle flying
in different directions. He bumped painfully down the hillside and
came to a hard stop against a rock near the
edge of the clearing a short distance to his right.
The rifle skittered into the carcass of a buck, which
fell into dust, just like Nicolette. Floyd unfolded painfully. As

(32:56):
he did. He saw the flicker again, no doubt about it,
this time just above the topmost stone. There was a
brief glint as from sun on metal. Only problem was
there was neither sun nor metal. Looked like Jasper had
a point. Again, this was definitely a place to leave alone.

(33:18):
One of these days, he'd learned to pay attention. He
took a step backward, expecting the familiar crunch of snow.
What he got instead was a sudden stop, as if
he backed into a wall. But there was no wall.
Kateon pivoted, shoving against the invisible barrier. No good. He

(33:38):
still saw nothing, but it felt like he was pushing
against something solid. Behind him, there was a sound like
fat dropped onto a hot griddle. Slowly Floyd turned toward it.
Light oozed from every chink in the rock pile. Shafts
of color rose into the air, as if a chunk
of the Northern Lights had been ripped out and dropped

(33:59):
onto the barren pile of dirt back in the trees.
Jasper whinnied in terror. Kateon stared, fascinated. A long way
off on the other side of his mind, something primal
waved and tried to get noticed. The light danced and flowed,
at once beautiful and terrifying. After a moment, it moved

(34:21):
out over the bare soil of the mound and wavered,
hovering as if uncertain, as if searching with a shock
kton knew that whatever this thing was, it was indeed searching.
It reminded him of a spider, waiting till he was
sure where the prey that had disturbed the web silk was.
Finally heating the primal part of his brain, he stepped

(34:42):
quietly away from the edge of the circle. Instinctively, his
hand fell to his revolver, reassured to find it still
in the holster, he thumbed the guard off and waited.
The dancing light lazily circled the central carn. The shifting
color and the motion tugged at him. He took it
involuntary step forward, then shook himself and forced his eyes away.

(35:04):
The light that calls well. Now he knew why the
Indians called it. That if he survived, he'd have to
let Nancy know. Just at the edge of his vision,
his rifle lay half buried in the dust that was
once a magnificent buck. He chanced a slow step toward it,
then another. A third put it almost in reach, but

(35:26):
the fourth loosened a shower of pebbles that bounced down
into the barrier. Heart leaping, he checked the hovering light.
It hadn't moved, but Cayton was certain it knew where
he was now. Slowly it drifted down until it touched
the ground. It heaved, flowed, and contracted into a pillar,
then coalesced into a human form, surrounded by a blinding glow.

(35:51):
Caton lifted an arm to shield his eyes, and the
light winked out, leaving Leuis Nicolette in its place. Stunned,
Kateon darted a glance to where he'd found Nicolette's corpse.
The slightly mounted dust there shifted in a breeze he
couldn't feel. The new Nicolette's coat tails blew in the
same unfelt breeze. It lifted its head and smiled. There

(36:15):
was nothing human in the eyes that met and locked
on to Caton's. Floyd tried to scream to dive aside,
but he couldn't move. His brain and body felt utterly disconnected,
as in a nightmare. The thing that wasn't Lewis moved
silently forward, still smiling. As it neared, Floyd felt the
dust stir around him, and a prickly feeling moved across

(36:38):
his skin. It reached out towards Katon's chest. Floyd clamped
his eyes shut and steeled himself for whatever was about
to happen. Closing his eyes had an unexpected result. As
soon as he broke the inhuman gaze, control over his
own limbs flowed back without wasting a moment. He twisted
and threw himself toward the rifle, a moment too soon,

(37:01):
as he felt the thing's outstretched hand caught his sleeve.
He felt the touch on his skin like a whisper
of bitter cold. He hit the ground, rolled and came up. Damn,
he'd overshot the rifle on the upside. His movement had
been so unexpected. The fake Nicolette seemed uncertain of what
had just happened. Kateon dodged back farther. At least he

(37:23):
still had his pistol. He had no idea if it
would help against whatever this was, but he was not
adverse to experimentation if the need arose. He became aware
of an odd sensation along his arm. Looking down, he
saw the reason where the thing had touched it. The
sheepskin sleeve was darkening, aging before his eyes. It suddenly

(37:44):
crumbled away, leaving blackened edges. The hairs on his exposed
flesh looked singed, swearing between ragged breaths. He looked up
and found the damnable creature turning toward him. He slid
his gaze off the face and concentrated on Nicolette's silver
belt buckle, one of the real Lewis's prized possessions. Ignoring

(38:05):
legs that threatened to fold, he dodged to the far
side of the clearing. Good move, Floyd, he muttered, You
put distance between yourself and the boogeyman. Now what a
critter can only run the fence line so long before
it gets tired out. The thing knew where he was anyway,
so why not simply trace the fence. Displaying both hands

(38:28):
against the unseen barrier, he moved along, pressing and probing
for something, anything that felt different. On the other side
of the clearing, the creature paced him, watching but making
no move of its own. He wondered briefly if none
of the things other prey had tried to fight back before.
That thought was banished from his mind by a rush

(38:49):
of excitement as his fingers encountered a place in the
wall that gave under his touch. Maybe there was a
gait after all. He pressed harder, but though it gave
slightly depressure, it didn't completely give. Tracing the area showed
it was a narrow spot that reached from the ground
to as far up as he could stretch. He scuffed

(39:09):
along the ground and discovered that there were actually more
stones along the perimeter, a stone ring sunk into the soil.
Time had covered it with a layer of dust on
his side and soil and leaf litter on the other.
In this spot where he stood there was also a
heap of broken shale and tumbled stones. Brushing away the

(39:30):
concealing dust revealed a large crack in one of the stones,
the same stone that was in line with the weak place.
A noise behind jerked him to his feet. The thing
was moving now, not real fast, but it was closing.
There was nothing else for it. He hauled back and
kicked hard to the broken stone. The shock of the

(39:51):
impact telegraphed all the way to his teeth. A flash
of green knocked him sprawling several feet from the barrier.
Answering sparks and flashes flowed along following the stones, briefly
turning the barrier into a ring of whirling emerald. The
nicolete thing recoiled and darted farther into the circle. Abruptly,

(40:11):
Caton realized that the creature was a prisoner in the
clearing just as much as he was. The thought stopped
him in his tracks. Looking again at the cracked stone,
he wondered if the same storm that dislodged the rocks
that had blocked the pass also washed this from further
up the mountain, cracking the stone and weakening the wall.
He heaved himself to his feet and dusted his hands.

(40:34):
He didn't know squat about magic, but he'd lay odds
that's what this was all about. Had to be nothing
else made sense If magic made sense. He kind of
wished Nancy was there. She'd probably know what was going
on and would know what to do. Caton was just
scared witless. Still, he took a resolute step back from

(40:55):
the weakened barrier. Freedom for him would also mean freedom
for that thing, and Kayton had no doubt that would
be a very bad idea. He turned his attention back
to the creature. The green shimmer along the stones was fading,
and he figured it'd be back to looking for him
before long. There wasn't any place to hide on the

(41:15):
blasted knob, so he might as well confront it. Who
knew he might get lucky and win. Yeah, he never
wanted poker either. Squaring his shoulders, he called out, what
the hell are you? Anyway? The thing tilted Nicolette's head
as if puzzled. It moved toward him with a drifting gait. Shaman,

(41:35):
I knows, as folks up north hold, that the northern
lights are spirits of ancestors. Kyton said, maintaining his distance,
that what you are? You a ghost or something? It
stopped and stood still. Floyd altered his path toward the
pile of big stones that crowned the hill. The thing
still didn't move, but Floyd was pretty sure he had

(41:55):
its undivided attention. As he drew closer, he saw pictures
carved into the rocks. He'd seen similar things packed into
the rocks along the river near the farm he grew
up on back in Pennsylvania. These particular images bore a
strong resemblance to the symbols Nancy used in her ceremonies.
He looked up from the glyphs and was startled to

(42:15):
see the ghost just on the opposite side of the carn.
He avoided looking into its eyes and moved back, this
time being careful the ground was solid before he stepped down.
He might not be the brightest lamp in the chandelier,
but Floyd Kayton learned from his mistakes. Well, whoever you are,
I know you aren't Lewis Nicolette. Without sound or warning,

(42:37):
the thing lunged instinctively. Kyton pulled his revolver and fired
into its middle. The image of Lewis Dicolette wavered as
the bullets passed through, revealing just for an instant, a
twisted and blackened skeletal form before the illusion flowed back.
It happened so fast that left Floyd wondering if he'd
actually seen it. Now. That was downright unfriendly. It took

(43:00):
everything Cayton had to keep the fear from his voice
and hold the revolver steady. It probably made no difference
he lay money. The thing could taste his terror, but
it helped him stay focused. They were keeping pace, now,
moving in measured steps around the perimeter of the clearing,
as if in a parody of a dance. Floyd kept
his weapon leveled, and the ghost followed with hands extended,

(43:23):
fingers splayed. About the same time, the thought crossed Katon's
mind that this was getting them nowhere. It must have
also occurred to the ghost. Abruptly, Lewis Nicolette was gone,
and the black and twisted creature stood in his place,
looking like a hellish cross between a human and a spider.
Empty holes gaped where eyes should be, and a whiplike

(43:45):
tongue flicked in and out of the cavernous mouth. The
sight made Caitlin recoil in horror. The creature leaped forward,
digging a clawlike hand into the breast of Floyd's coat.
Sheepskin and the shirt beneath fell away into a shower
of dust. Then the ghost screamed. It wasn't so much
a sound as a violent force that cut to the

(44:06):
center of Keaton's sole. He dropped to all fours, gasping,
head buzzing like he'd been pullyaxed. Glancing in the direction
of the ghost, he found that instead of the monstrous
human spider, the honk of northern lights was back. It
was again directly over the carn color and light swirling
and flashing like a lightning storm. Made no sense at all.

(44:29):
He mounted and put a hand to his ringing head.
His fingers tangled in the leather strap swinging from his
neck the medicine bag. Now it made sense. Standing slowly,
he lifted the medicine bag over his head and carefully
wrapped the thong around his fist. He made an experimental
snap toward the thing. It shied back. Don't like this, huh,

(44:52):
he said, swinging the pouch freely. Wonder if it's the coins,
the cymbals, or Nancy's hocus pocus. Snapped it again. The
swirling lights dodged farther this time. Don't much care, really,
so long as you don't like it, Kate and pressed forward,
snapping the medicine bag like a whip, hurting the thing
until it backed into the invisible barrier. At the touch,

(45:15):
the wall flashed green. The creature reacted violently, its shape
elongating and flattening. In seeing colors swirled it again, compressed
into a column, then it took on the form of
a deer, then an eagle. Then shapes appeared and shifted
so rapidly one seemed to melt into the next the
sight was dizzying. Finally, the melting forms slowed, and a

(45:39):
young Indian woman in an elaborately beaded dress crouched in
the dust. Floyd stopped swinging a pouch. You killed them all,
didn't you, he said, every single creature. I just saw
you killed them and took everything that made them what
they were. The maiden dropped to her knees and opened
hands in supplication. Floyd watched in stunned amazement. He wondered

(46:03):
if he was seeing a re enactment of this woman's
last act in life. Did she die begging this horror
to spare her? How many others had begged the same way.
The medicine bag strap tight against his straining fist, cut
into his flesh. At last, he said, mercy, you want mercy.

(46:25):
The creature looked up. There may have been hope on
the face. I don't think so, said Kateon, and swung
the amulet with all his strength. Kateon awoke to something
warm and soft, nudging him in the ribs. He opened
his eyes to a close view of Jasper's long face.

(46:45):
A branch from the stunted tree was tangled in the reins.
Seeing him stir the bay, nickered and shook his mane,
pushing the velvet muzzle away. Floyd remained sprawled on the
rocky hill side until the world stopped spinning. About that
same time, he realized he was cold snow. Levering himself

(47:06):
to his elbows, he looked around. The carn was gone.
Chunks of it lay scattered over the clearing, quickly and silently,
vanishing under a dusting of white. Ain't that just the
way my life goes, Floyd said, pulling himself to his
feet against Jasper's warm solidity. Have to blow the hell
out of a beautiful girl and wake up being horse kissed.

(47:28):
A few minutes and a fresh, unshredded flannel shirt later,
Caton secured rifle, pistol and hat. He shrugged into the
remains of his new coat, took Jasper's reins, and trudged
in the direction of home. Damn it, Hope Nancies managed
some magic with that greatcoat. Looks like I am gonna

(47:48):
need it again. Thanks for listening. If you like what
you heard, be sure to subscribe. Twenty seven Cents of
Luck was written by t Lee Harris and Elsewhere. Kentucky
is by Reddit user x y LONEX. Weird Darkness is

(48:09):
a registered trademark copyright Weird Darkness. And now that we're
coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a
little light Matthew seven, Verses seven and eight. When we
seek and yearn for God with a willful mind and
open heart, reaching for guidance found in his word, we
find him and a final thought. True humility is not

(48:31):
thinking less of yourself. It is thinking of yourself less. C. S. Lewis.
I'm Daryn Martler. Thanks for joining me in the weird Darkness.

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