Payton Klaer

Updated 27 December, 2023

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Department of Investigations, Monstrous Sector
Date of Collection: 25th August 2015
Statement of: Juniper Blair
Regarding: an encounter during summer vacation
Individuals Involved: Juniper Blair, Gia Spencer
Census: unresolved, examine further in future

Transcribed recording:
They told me at the front desk that you wanted me to talk about myself before getting into it? Like, who I am and what I enjoy? Do you really need that? Can’t I just tell you what happened and leave?

…

Alright, okay. I’m a freshman at [omitted] studying biology. Premed, to be specific. I guess I like the outdoors. Hiking, camping, all of that stuff. That’s what we were doing when everything happened.

…

I think I like being outside because of my parents. They used to drop me off at summer camp every year for a few weeks at a time. They were technology free – which I hated as a kid. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t be texting everyone I knew while I was at camp. Now, I wish I could go back to that. I hate how much everyone relies on them. It would just be easier if phones were gone.

Sorry, sorry. Off-topic.

Long story short, I like nature. So, when Gia asked if I wanted to go camping with her it was an easy decision.

My bad, it’s Gia Spencer. She was my age. Wanted to go into music composition at the same school as me. Anyway, she texted me one day saying she wanted to visit a bunch of national and state parks and asked if I’d be interested in joining. We didn’t know each other very well other than we went to the same high school and were planning on going to the same college – that’s why she reached out. We were the only two people from our school going to [omitted]. It was an excuse for us to hang out and get to know each other.

Our original plan was to drive around to a few different parks for a week or two in the beginning of June so we could be back in time for Gia to drive down to school early, if she needed to. She was still waiting to hear if she’d gotten into their summer music program which meant she’d have to be down there a month early. If she didn’t get in, then we’d just drive down together.

We ended up borrowing her mom’s van purely for the space and filled it with our stuff before heading out for [omitted] State Park. We went south after that, toward some nature preserves.

…
We basically spent the time hiking. Boating if the park offered it. I read a lot. We got into our own routines in the parks. We went on some little adventures together but left enough room for the other to explore what she wanted on her own. Don’t worry, we were safe about it all. We shared our phones’ locations with one another and were constantly checking in. Plus, if one of us wanted to do an early morning hike, we made sure to bring it up before going to sleep the night before. We never really thought anything would happen. I don’t know why I thought that. Isn’t it always when you feel the safest, you’re not?

We ended up hitting all the spots we wanted to and still had a few days left in the trip, so we went west toward another cluster of parks, hoping to see one or two of them before heading home. We should’ve just gone home.

Sorry. It’s hard talking about it all again.

…

Yeah, we couldn’t have known. You’re right.

It was late when we got there, [omitted]. The sun had set an hour or so before and we could hear the cicadas and wildlife outside the parked van. We were both exhausted from the drive and thought it’d be easier to sleep in the van rather than trying to find a room somewhere. We parked right outside the campgrounds and left the exploring for the morning. I remember noticing there weren’t any cars around us in the lot. Just our van.

…

Now that I’m thinking about it… yeah. It was a little weird when we got there. Something in the air, I think. Like when you know you’re not supposed to be somewhere. There was no reason for us to stay, though. Other than Gia insisting ‘it’s gonna be fine.’ Which, it ended up being anything except fine.

I know I’m being ominous, I just… I just can’t stop thinking about everything we could’ve done. We could’ve gone home early or packed an extra set of batteries or just turned around when I smelled it –

…

Sorry.

In the morning, when I woke up, Gia was gone. I couldn’t remember if she had said anything about a morning hike, which made me worry even more. I like to pride myself on being organized. I always remember what people tell me – it’s almost like a photographic memory but for words. Weird, I know, but it’s how I am. That only made my worrying get worse. I had no idea where Gia went. Her stuff was still in the van, so it didn’t look like she’d gone hiking. Eventually, I calmed myself down and realized her phone wasn’t in the van. That’s when I checked her location and saw she was near the public restrooms.

Even though nothing happened, I had a weird feeling in my stomach after that. I didn’t want to be alone for the rest of the day. I made sure we were together for everything. But that didn’t really help. Once Gia got back from the bathroom, she was different.

…

I don’t know. Something about her seemed off. Like, she didn’t want to go see the small lake in the park even though she loved spending time by any water. And she was being quieter than normal. She was very talkative, which I didn’t mind. I was fine listening to her. But there was a lot more silence between us all day. It freaked me out, but I didn’t want to say anything. My only thought was that she’d gotten an email about not getting into her music program that morning. That wasn’t the case, though, she did end up getting accepted once we were home.

We went on an evening hike that day, just as the sun was setting. On our way back to the van, Gia pointed out a small opening in a cliff just off the trail. She wanted to check it out.

…

No. Nothing strange outside. That’s what I don’t get. How can something that terrible be so hidden away? How was I supposed to know? It was just some cave that looked like hundreds of people had walked through before.

…

I’m alright. Sorry.

I was afraid of going inside since it was getting dark, but Gia hadn’t been that excited the entire trip. I wanted her to have fun, especially if she didn’t get into her program, so I went with her. We walked into the opening and saw a pretty large interior. It was easily twenty feet tall and at least ten feet wide. The walls were these massive rocks and the ground was matted dirt. Like I said, it looked like hundreds of people had been inside before us. Gia and I both pulled out our flashlights inside to make out everything.

I don’t know how long we poked around in there, I hadn’t checked the time. We managed to find a vein that branched off from the main entrance and just kept following it. There weren’t any spots that showed signs of a rock slide or potential sinkholes, so we thought it was all fine. After a while, Gia checked her phone and said it was about time we headed back, which I quickly agreed to. The whole time I was trying not to show her how worried I was. Everything inside the cave felt strange. I can’t place exactly what it was. At that point, we turned around and went back the way we came.

On our way out, I felt something. It was like someone had just opened an air vent at my feet. My ankles were freezing through my socks. I looked around, shining my flashlight on the rocks but saw nothing. I kept shivering as we continued walking. Just when I thought we were getting close to the entrance, Gia’s flashlight died. I rummaged around for a while in my backpack for an extra pair of batteries but Gia just insisted we just use my light. We’d be back at the van soon anyway. So, I led the way from there.

Again, I thought we were almost out when Gia stopped us. She sounded strange, on edge. I asked what was wrong but she just shook her head, looking around us. She mumbled something I didn’t catch and started touching the wall next to her. It was like she was looking for a secret button or something. I didn’t understand what was happening and she wasn’t answering my questions. That’s when I really started to feel the pit in my stomach.

I almost ran when she pulled a rock loose, causing a small rock slide. The rocks fell in just the right way to open up a new trail in the cave. I should’ve ran. But I had to follow her when she walked into it! I couldn’t just… I couldn’t leave her there. It didn’t matter how scared I was. I kept saying we should leave, trying to shine the flashlight in front of her on the path. But she didn’t listen, she just kept walking. I told her we needed to get back and eat, it had been at least five hours since the last time we had a meal.

Before the trip I would’ve said I was starving in that cave. I don’t think so anymore. Not after what we saw.

…

Give me a second.

…

Okay. Sorry.

As we got deeper in and saw an opening in the distance, I got an overwhelming sense of dread. I knew something was going to happen. I can’t explain it, I just knew. Something had happened here. Something we didn’t have any right uncovering. Something we should’ve left alone.

The tunnel got super narrow. We had to walk one person in front of the other. I stayed behind her. If I had to, I would run.

Gia started mumbling to herself. She kept saying ‘I need to see it.’ Over and over. I could see just how much my hands were shaking at that point by my beam of light. I’ve never been so scared in my entire life.

All at once, the air turned heavy and damp. Like how it is at an indoor pool, it’s all stuffy. I remember being able to smell it before we saw it. At the time, I had no idea how to describe it. But now… it was stale. Acrid. I’m sure you know what I mean. You must’ve smelled it a thousand times with your job.

Deep down, I think I knew we found something. I begged Gia to turn around, keeping my voice down to make sure nothing heard us. I wanted to leave. I didn’t want the visual to what I was smelling. My imagination was doing enough. But she just kept walking and mumbling to herself.

I know these were all stupid decisions. I know I should’ve just left. I know we shouldn’t have gone in that cave. But it was too late at that point. I couldn’t do anything. Even now, I don’t think I would have left her in there, no matter how much I think I could’ve. She was just a person. She didn’t deserve what happened.

We got to the opening. I think it was a ravine underground. Maybe a cliff. I don’t know. Gia stood at the edge, staring off into the dark. I kept my light pointed down, but I could hear it. Squelches. They didn’t stop, but they were quiet. It was like someone was scooping out the inside of a pumpkin. Neither of us could see what was making the noise in the dark. I wish with my entire being that Gia hadn’t taken the flashlight from my hand. I wish she hadn’t pointed the light straight at the thing.

It was only lit for a second, if that, but the image is burned into my eyelids. I see it every time I try to sleep. I see it in the dark, in the shadows. It wasn’t a person. The limbs were too long. At full height, it had to be at least eight or nine feet tall. The skin was too pale – a ghastly white. It was tight around the thing’s bones. Right then, it was crouched over a pile of bright red. It looked like a dead animal.

I hope it was an animal.

As soon as the light hit this thing, its head snapped up at us. That’s when I saw its head was so… it looked like a person. It was round and had the same features as a person. Only the eyes were sunken in and the pupils were so large… so big. I couldn’t make out any color other than the black against the whites of the eyes.

Then it screamed. Not roared, not growled – screamed. That managed to snap Gia out of whatever she’d been stuck in and we ran. I heard it jump up to where we’d been standing and start chasing after us. It had to have scaled at least fifteen feet with that jump. It’s a miracle we’d been given the head start through the narrow cave. It struggled keeping up with us. I was shoving Gia forward through it all and could barely see from the flashlight swinging wildly in her hand. I don’t even remember feeling the thing claw at my ankle. It was pure adrenaline and terror getting us out of there.

I couldn’t tell you how we managed to get out. All I know is that we got back to the van and the thing was nowhere in sight. Gia was quick to find the first-aid kit. I took care of my ankle as best I could. We left that night, going home. Neither of us wanted to stay there any longer than necessary.

We didn’t say anything about it to our families or each other. It was an unspoken rule that no was was to know what we saw. My ankle took a little too long to heal, which raised questions from my family. I always just told them I fell while hiking. I still am in the habit of wearing long socks to cover the bandages.

…

I know what you’re thinking. I know that look. You’re planning on contacting Gia for her side of the story. You want to know if I’m crazy or not. If I was seeing things.

…

I wasn’t. It was real. But Gia’s gone. And… and I don’t think she’s coming back. At least, not the way she used to be.

…

A week after we got home, she left to go to orientation. I found out from her sister that she’d gotten into the program. My summer went on as normal. Some days I could pretend it was a dream. Others, I couldn’t get myself to turn out the lights as I went to sleep. When I got to school, that familiar feeling of dread filled my stomach when I heard she never showed up for orientation. No one had heard from her since she left home.

The police questioned me. For a while, they thought I killed her but that wouldn’t explain her car going missing. After it started to calm down, I remembered she still had her location shared with me. She’s in that cave. It says she’s been there since June twenty-third. That’s when she was supposed to get to school for her program. She went back to the cave instead.

…

No, the phone’s tracking isn’t precise enough to show me if she’s been moving. But, the other day I got this.

…

It’s from her number. She doesn’t… I thought she’d taken a really blurry picture of the thing. But then I saw the marking on the thing’s arm. Gia has a tattoo of a clover. She told me she got it for good luck. And that mark… It looks a little too much like a clover. That’s why I came here. I think whatever we saw called her back. It wanted more. It wanted her. I didn’t tell the cops that. I don’t want them exploring that cave. I don’t want more people dying.