Nothing conjures up more dread in the people of Emerson Valley than subject of the Beast of Blackwood Forest. It’s one of those mythical superstitions that nobody admits to believing in, yet nobody will risk speaking its name, either. I’ve been told that because I’m not from around here, I don’t understand why people fear it so much. From what I’ve been able to gather from old books in the library and a very useful collection of journal excerpts from a local folklorist, the Beast has been terrorizing the town since before its inception.

In the mid-1700s, many people went missing while traveling through Blackwood Forest. The locals blamed it on the Beast, as this wasn’t the first time there was a spate of disappearances in the area. However, when Silver Creek River flooded, it washed dozens of corpses out into the open from the depths of the forest. These bodies hadn’t been devoured by an inhuman beast—they were victims of a very human mass murderer.

The killings were traced to James Harrison, the founder of Harrisontown, Emerson Valley’s immediate predecessor. He used the fear of the Beast to hide his own misdeeds for years. However, long after Harrison was executed, people began to go missing again. No trace of them was ever found. Had someone taken up Harrison’s mantle to continue his grim work? Or was it possible that the Beast was real and had grown very, very hungry?

Over the next few centuries, there have been periods where disappearances become more common. After a decade or two, they decrease significantly, and stay that way for years. Almost no one who disappears ever returns from the forest, dead or alive. Those few who do have no memory of their time in the forest while missing. In many instances, they seem to vanish off the face of the Earth not long after their return.

It’s no secret that more and more people have gone missing of late. Has the Beast awakened again? Is it sating its hunger? I don’t know. There’s nothing to prove the Beast exists, yet I have a sick feeling in my stomach that there’s some truth to this legend. I have no desire to venture into the forest to find out for myself. This is one mystery that I’m content to leave alone. Because even if the Beast isn’t real, the fact remains that if you wander too far into the forest, there’s a good chance you’ll never come back.

-Sarah Donovan, Local Legends, Emerson Valley Gazette