Fox Road

Fox Road

Re-claimed land

By Jeff Brandt

As a child I was captivated by the dilapidated old barn that stood on my grandparents property. No one was really sure on how it came to be; all my dad ever knew it that parts of his 73 Thunderbird was buried somewhere in there under the part that had caved in. If you looked close enough you could see the front fender of the car still gleaming up from the cavernous hole in the floor. The ambience of that structure was on the contrary of a church despite being similar in how tall the celling was and the light from high windows, albeit these were more a kin to a port hole on a ship just rectangular. It was damp, dark and down right eerie. Nestled on the far southwest corner of the 24 acre plot near the treelined part of the woods this thing looked to be the perfect place for doing illegal things in. Legend had it that a local hermit who lived nearby on a footage of land that he leased out used the barn for a toolshed and or had one point lived in it. This was all conjecture when we found out he had been caught in town trying to lure children to his so called compound. There is a serene terror that is shared in cooperation with the country, half the time its retirees or people who decided that city living just wasn't their thing. That always worried me. One evening at a family outing my then girlfriend Kaci and I after a few drinks over dinner decided to go explore the structure, we were young and just wanted some alone time so where else besides a creepy old barn on the cusp of the woods would be better. Upon walking through the almost a foot tall weeds and other brush and avoiding all the rusty nails we squeezed in to the what seemed to be livestock entrance. We had just started dating and the relationship was still in the honeymoon phase we embraced the mutual eeriness and mystery as well as each other in the dark. Not long after I had noticed something hanging in the rafters. The bats in there for me at least always created some kind of illusion when they would silently flap their wings swooping form garter to truss. I looked carefully and had urged my Kaci to stop for a moment as I pointed up at the what I soon discovered as a pulley. I neglected to shine my flashlight up there in attempts not to disturb the bats and not to find God fearing anything gruesome. It was at this point that she had noticed more pulleys an entire system of them rigged though the some of the trusses. We turned and looked at each other with a shared look of intrigue. Its not totally far fetched right? To have this set up in a barn they needed a way to lift the hay bails right? But this barn was older then that there was no second level and or hay loft. It was at this moment I bit the bullet and shined my light up high into the rafters and saw and elaborate network of not only the pulleys, but meat hooks and even heavy chains. It was here where our fears began to take over and we left.

The next morning after breakfast the two of us decided to ask around more and see if anyone had knew what that barn was used for. The general censuses was oh uncle Gustav would have known but he passed long before you guys were born or just general disinterest on the matter. It wasn't until I mentioned the pulley system in the celling. When my uncle turned our way and then slow yet deliberately asked us if we would wanna go out for a cigarette. I remember his mannerisms there was something bad about what we had discovered his face was flushed and he looked dehydrated. Outside we met the other smokers of the family and he said taking these too on a nature walk. For some reason if he wasn't so fatherly, the term nature walk sounds like a sure fire way to end up in a field burring alive in a brush fire. Now worried we stopped just outside the barn I watched him take a drag off of his cigarette and exhale slowly as he stared past the barn with a cool blatant stare.

" Have you guys heard the story of the Thales Brothers?"

"No, who were they?"

" This stays between the three of us okay the family is really silent over this for a reason."

"So is that why he hit such trepidation when we asked about it."

" Oh yeah, very much so, let me fill you in here."

" The Thales brothers were urban explores form the city who in their youth found a great passion for exploring old and falling apart structures, soon they took up to documenting their findings. One of their most influential and crucial discoveries was when they found an old tannery back home in the city. It had long since been converted into luxury lofts for artist's and musicians. This building changed them and had ordained their futures the second it was found."

" What do you mean?"

"Well you know what a tannery is right?"

"Yes."

"Well one night they slipped past security and found a way into the condemned part of the building and saw the spoils of their craft a maze of corridors rotted stairways structural integrity long since compromised and sub floors etc. Even a freight elevator that was in the basement that only went down."

"Jesus what the hell did they need that for?'

" "It's all part of the lure and legend of that place."

" So why here what's with this barn then Kaci asked?"

" Well in the basement they found a blood soaked table and gauss as well other things."

"Like what?" I asked with hesitation

"We don't know, anyway the brothers saved enough money and ended up here they purchased this plot and occupied this barn. The floor caved in and your dads thunderbird That's a bullshit way of pushing off the truth despite your dads car actually having pieces in there. They had re created what they saw. To this day we don't know what the hell happened here."

" What how though.?"

" The brothers were arrested in an attempted breaking and entering case in which they planned to murder a young man here."

I stood back and looked at Kaci with wide eyes she took a seat on the rock next to the barn.

"Due to a botched court case and insufficient findings the two were released back into the public, who knows if this could have been one of there killing grounds. All through this part of the state we hear reports of similar set ups in barns like this,"

" Its getting dark" He said

In a state of shock and concern the three of us walked back up the long gravel driveway only to see my aunts having another smoke, Upon my uncles foot hitting the stairs on the porch he turned to us and with a smile asked

" Did you guys enjoy the Nature Walk?"