freaky field trip

The only thing in our town that makes it into the tourist guides is a place out in the woods. The legend goes that there's a bare circle in the woods where no vegetation will grow, and that it must be where the devil walks at night. I had never been there since we haven't lived here very long, and I've never seen a sign for it or anything, so we set out yesterday with Lucy and Lilly for a little back woods field trip.

After driving down the road where I thought it should be, and then driving to the location where Google maps said it should be, we were all getting restless. Surely there must be a sign for this place if it's the town's only claim to fame? I was determined, and after hub suggested we go back home before he fell asleep, I stopped at the only roadside gas station for miles, and where I couldn't use the bathroom but I could buy bait. There was only one light on, but the woman behind the counter smiled knowingly as she directed me to go right in about a mile, then veer left, then count to the fifteenth mailbox, then there would be a gravel clearing on the left.

I lost track of the mailboxes after a few miles and pulled over in various clearings, and then I stopped here...



Could the silly string be a glow-in-the-dark marker for this place? We walked back in the woods a bit before unloading the dogs and saw this scene..



Hmm... surely this couldn't be the famed spot? So we got back in the jeep and drove further down a ways and didn't find anything more promising, so we came back and decided we might as well go for a walk.

Lucy wanted to check out the weird stuff on the fire pit...



I almost wouldn't look since I was starting to get creeped out, but it turned out to be vinyl hair. Then we started noticing the trees..



They were painted with pentagrams, upside-down crosses, and all manner of unreadable oddities. Then the trail of trash revealed a path that led further back into the woods. Someone had kindly marked the way with their recyclables.



And leftovers..



The dogs looked like little ghosts, or angels, leading the way.



When the trails got thick, we pulled up a stump and chilled for a few. Silly rabbits, I thought, coming out into the woods without some tunes or brews. Or spray paint. I hate to be snobby, but I felt sad and fascinated in equal parts. Although I guess that's usually the case with tourist attractions. Maybe this would be more fun in the Fall. Not a springy place. Not a daffodil or dogwood in sight.



The dogs had fun, but I think Lilly was saying, "Hey ma, let's blow this sad local Blair witchy redneck teen hangout."

Then when we got home, I noticed this strange apparition in one of my photographs..