Reporters are trained to develop a sixth sense, a nose for when a story smells fishy. And something about this one was not right. First, the police seemed to be hiding details of the murders that had taken place recently.

Ten years ago, there had been numerous reports of missing persons. When no evidence could be found regarding where those persons could be, the cases turned cold, and eventually, people stopped searching.

Was it a coincidence that three campers had gone missing in the same area, and that their bodies were just found mutilated in the woods? The police were only giving us reporters minimal information. They confirmed that three bodies were found and that they believed they were of the campers.

But it’s been two weeks, and there has been no identifiable information as to who exactly the campers were, what they were doing. There has definitely been no report saying that the bodies were mutilated.

The only reason I had any idea of what was going on was that I happened to be driving when I stumbled upon the scene of officers and detectives investigating the area. I pulled off to the side of the road and exited my vehicle. I kept my distance as I recorded from my phone from a nearby house that seemed to be abandoned. That wasn’t uncommon for this area, cell phone signal was horrible, and it was about thirty minutes from the nearest town. No grocery stores or gas stations around. It seemed as though anybody that did live in the area was someone that didn’t want to be bothered by society. Likely derelicts, trying to avoid any type of run-in with the law.

I watched as the police searched the area for any evidence. Some of the investigators were taking pictures near the bodies. Some were writing information down. Others were securing the area with crime scene tape.

I tried to ensure I wasn’t spotted, wanting to take in the raw information and be the first reporter. I really wished I had my cameraman with me, but it was our day off, I shouldn’t have even been at this scene, but the reporter in me just had to stop and find out what was going on.

I couldn’t make out anything anyone was saying to each other, but I did see the coroner arrive and watch as they removed the bodies from the scene. It was hard to watch. The bodies were covered in blood and debris from the woods; one of them seemed to be missing half of their right arm.

What confused me, though was that three campers had been reported missing, and seven bodies had been removed so far. This didn’t appear to be an accident. How could so many people have died here? My first thought was that a serial killer was loose. I’ve watched enough crime television to know that could be a possibility here.

After a while, I made my way back to my car. My phone battery was low, and of course, I forgot to bring the charger with me. I took one last glance at the scene before deciding to drive away, and that’s when I noticed something even more strange.

In the distance, hidden behind a tree, someone was standing in the woods, watching. But they weren’t watching the crime scene. They were watching me. I couldn’t tell if they knew I was looking at them, but they did not move, and it was too dark for me to be able to make out their face. I felt uneasy and stumbled to get my keys in the ignition.

Eventually, I did, and I drove home. I made a cup of hot tea and took a shower. It felt nice to shower after seeing such a gruesome scene. But I couldn’t get the image of that person out of my head. Was it another reporter? An officer guarding the scene? Was it a killer watching as his work had come undone? Or maybe they wanted the bodies to be found. I had so many questions lingering in my head. How could I report on this when the police hadn’t released any information? Maybe they weren’t able to contact all of the victim’s families yet, and that’s what they were waiting for.

I decided that if the police didn’t release anything within another week, I would mention what I saw to my boss and see what her recommendation was on reporting what was happening. For now, I keep watching the videos trying to find clues of who the mysterious man in the woods could have been.