The year was 1937 and I was sent on a mission to search a tract of land in the deep Northwestern wilderness of the United States. There were reports of outlandish bright lights and a crew of forestry surveyors went missing in the area weeks before. They were going to map elevations of the mountain on the land and take wood samples off some of the trees so that their company could find if there was value in purchasing the lot.
A seldom used road cut through the trees several miles away from the site. The road was two lanes wide and was recently paved but because of the location of it not being connected to any particular city the traffic was almost non-existent.
I was given orders to arm myself, so I brought my trusty pistol with me. My mission was to search for the missing surveyors, note anything out of the ordinary and make a full record of manmade structures.
The area was thought to be permanently uninhabited. The land wasn't ever sold and remained in the possession of the U.S. government since the initial claim in 1872. The books showed that other than the surveyors who were granted permission to survey the lot, not once did anyone else before them ever inquire about it and no reference to the area is found within other documents such as travel logs and news articles. The area was thought to be 337 square miles of pristine and untouched wildland. The mountain doesn't even have a name.
I parked my truck at the nearest point of the road to the center of the target location. Behind thick bushes I concealed my vehicle in case the rare motorist would drive along the road, increasing the chance that such a traveler wouldn’t stop and meddle with my property. I double checked my firearm to ensure that it worked, firing a shot into the air. I put my gun in the upwards pointing leather harness upon my left shoulder, strategically placed for an easy draw. With my gun harnessed like this I would be able to fire off shots quickly.
There were aerial photos taken out of a small plane a few years ago, but they weren't highly detailed. I retrieved them and looked at the landscape. I could see the small mountain directly ahead and the picture showed some grooves in the landscape not far off the road. I determined where I was parked on the picture and plotted my route.
The peak of the mountain was approximately ten miles away and the rest of the land plot lay beyond the mountain, stretching to the north. The picture wasn't sharp enough to determine where exactly the outer edge of the slope of the mountain started. The trees covered the mountain and the surrounding area so well that I relied on the lighting in the picture to decide elevations. The only areas that weren't covered with trees and greenery were the grooves which showed a sort of dirty orange color to them. I theorized that the row of grooves were some sort of limestone deposits. I put the picture away and double checked my supplies. Good to go.
There wasn't much underbrush in the area and that was unusual. Small dry bushes, some rotting logs, patches of ferns. The initial walk towards the mountain was without obstacles. The dirt beneath my feet was dry and soft like the rain was long absent.
Then I reached the ravine that cut into the land. I checked the picture. This was the end of the third groove. I counted seven grooves that were parallel to each other and if I was going to walk around them I would need to walk a few hours because they appeared to take all the space between the mountain and the road. I put my photo away and pressed ahead. If this route proved to be a dead end then I would return to the entrance and walk around the series of ravines.
The ravine that I entered was wide and smooth and the walls short and rounded. The deeper I walked the walls would raise upward gradually until they were parallel and vertical. Trees grew out of the top of the ravine walls but the low part of the ravine that I walked through was barren. There was something unnatural about the ravine, like an otherworldly hand tore it out of the crust of the Earth. I wandered deeper and deeper and the walls became taller as I went along.
The width of the ravine was very consistent and the walls were so evenly vertical it was difficult to see the structure as natural. You would normally anticipate bulges and crevices and a ground littered with stones and boulders but that wasn't so. The ravine was cleaner than natural. There wasn't evidence of mining either, no excavation marks. “What an odd phenomenon.” I thought.
Eventually the smooth floor of the ravine would slope upwards and the walls spread apart. Sunlight poured on my head as I neared the ravine's end. At the end of the ravine I was surprised to find a skinny staircase carved into the stone wall. I looked directly up toward the top, guessing that the staircase was a good hundred feet or so vertical. The steps were nicely done, flat and with a texture of lines carved into them to give them traction on my shoes.
Determining the age of the staircase was difficult. There was no sign of longtime frequent use, the natural wearing down of the traction grooves carved into them. The staircase could be 100 years old or it could be 1000 years old. I wasn’t an archaeologist but I could say that those steps weren’t used often and carving them would prove time consuming.
Weary of heights I wasn't too keen on attempting the climb but if I wanted to reach the mountain before noon then I should take the risk. I took a break before starting. I smoked a cigarette and drank some water. When I was ready I retied my gear to keep my gravitational center low and then went at it.
The steps were barely wide enough to walk upon and I found myself trying to lean towards the wall but I was already touching it. There were two landings where the staircase would flip direction but there wasn't much space on the landing that allowed me to do more than glance into the ravine below. The climb was safe enough that I didn't get all that nervous.
At the top of the ravine I paused to get a good view of the terrain that I crossed. The land swept away in a gradual slope. Some half a mile away the mist that hung above the trees blotted out anything beyond and made it look like the end of the Earth, or that I was climbing a mountain island in an ocean of clouds.
I took a hand towel out and dried the sweat off my forehead. I documented what I saw in a notebook, careful to make accurate observations, the way I was trained. When my breather was done I went once again towards the mountain peak.
I searched around me as I walked to find traces of habitation, some evidence that other people were either living or visiting the area, maybe a worn footpath or a campsite. I looked for some item left in the absence of mind, some discarded food remains. I didn't find anything. If I could find one thing there was surely more to be found.
The smooth upward slope quickly ended with large boulders and short cliffs stacked on one another, covered in ferns and small trees. I went eastward along the cliffs searching for a passage up the mountain. As I went along the cliff wall the land to the right of me sank away, allowing for a grand view of the land southeast of me, cloaked in that same blurry cloud mist. The road should have been within my sight. If the mist weren’t rolling in I would be able to see a couple of miles at least.
A voice caught my attention around the bend ahead of me. I quickly went hiding behind a tree. I waited and watched. Minutes went before I heard a second voice. A man and a woman were talking. They spoke a language that I didn't recognize. They weren’t far away, I couldn't see them though. I readied my gun and took a few cautious steps toward the stone outcropping at the bend.
I breathed deep to calm my nerves and then looked through a notch in the stones, trying to blend in. The man and woman were wearing the sort of clothing you would see on someone that lived a millennia ago. White gowns with thick strings to tie them closed. Leather sandals. No buttons or latches or buckles. They both possessed blue eyes and long hazel hair. The man slid his hand around the woman's waist and they turned and walked away. The wall continued to curve to the left and as they disappeared out of view I followed them.
I came upon an opening through the cliff walls, a cave entrance, except this wasn't a natural cave. There were torches within the cave, lighting the path. I went inside slowly. The path ended at an entrance into another large cave where I cautiously went, anticipating a surprise but once again, empty. This large room was alight with more torches. Two halls went in different directions. I took a torch off one of the walls and entered the path on the right.
The path descended and turned at right angles. At turn three I could hear more voices and some lively noise echoing into the hall. Ready to shoot my gun, I entered the last stretch of hallway that connected to the next room.
A great cavern opened up before me with stone houses and well organized paths. A huge electric light that clung on the ceiling bathed the cavern with a soft luminescence. The entrance that I walked through was somewhat above the small town, a long ramp along the cavern wall descended towards a clearing on the left. I threw the torch into the hall behind me and walked down the ramp, gun still drawn.
A man shouted in the same incoherent language that the couple were speaking earlier. He carried a spear and made a run towards the ramp. His eyes were blue and long hair hazel like the couple I'd seen earlier. I slowly continued to close the distance. The ramp didn't have a rail and it was too high to leap. The man shouted some more and raised his spear in defiance. There were two more men with spears that appeared and they lined up with spear man one. I could see the people in the town below getting roused up. I kept my gun raised and wondered whether any of them even knew what it was.
I yelled, “I come in peace! I am a U.S. government agent here to retrieve some missing people. Three men went missing in the area a few weeks ago. Does anyone understand what I am saying?! Does anyone here speak English?!” The spear men walked towards me in a line that took the width of the ramp, their spears aimed at neck height.
I yelled once more, “Halt! I will shoot if you get any closer! Bring me your leader! Halt! I warned you!” They didn't halt so I aimed my gun out over the town and fired a round. All three of them halfway ducked in surprise, searching around them. They might not have associated the sound with my gun. I walked toward them once again, firing another round off. They retreated at the same speed as my advance, clenching their spears with a nervous anticipation.
I pressed onward, pushing the spear men off the ramp and across the small clearing. The small clearing was a square lined with stones and covered with an extra thick and large rug, made of strong and undyed fibers.
I pointed my gun at the middleman to see how he might react. He didn't fear that I was holding a gun at all. He must have thought that I made the sound myself. I held my ground, waiting till someone with authority arrived. And eventually someone did.
An old man dressed in gold threaded clothes, held together with the same primitive thick strings that held everyone else’s clothes together. He wore golden adornments and a golden crown. Blue eyes, hazel hair like the others.
“You must be the king.” I said respectfully. “I mean you no harm. I am searching for some men that went missing. Does anyone here know the English language?”
The king raised his hand, palm towards me and spoke in the same incoherent language as the others. The three spear men lowered their weapons and fully retreated to the crowd that was forming behind the king. The king turned sideways and waved his hand in a gesture to follow him. I cleared my throat and followed. The crowd parted as we cut through the center of them. We went through a skinny road with stone houses lining both sides. Crafted almost nicely as modern stone houses, without the windows, they looked somewhat crude in finer detail. At a distance though, they were very familiar. The doorway entrances to the houses were the same size as I was accustomed to and most of the doors were made of tree wood. There were no hinges or locks that I was able to discern. Some doorways were covered with leather flaps.
Our walk lasted several minutes and we went nearly all the way to the other end of the cavern. I guessed that there might've been at least a few hundred houses down there and there were likely other caverns. I never saw anything like it in my life.
The king halted at the entrance of a stone-brick building with two guards manning the entrance. When they saw the king they both knelt for a second and when they saw me their faces were stricken with surprise. The king spoke to them and one of the guards removed the wooden door so that we could enter. All the while I kept my gun fast in my hand, ready to shoot. I nervously passed the guards, half expecting that they were going to attack me once inside.
The king reached his hand out, palm up, to direct my attention to the houses' occupants. A wooden table with chairs was against the opposing wall of the house with two men sitting at it, facing each other. They looked up and were immediately relieved to see me there. I said, “You are the surveyors? My name is Matthew and I am here to get you out.” One of them said, “Yes, we are. You don't have any idea what you've got yourself into. These people are barbaric savages. They will never let you leave.” I raised my gun and then waved it to make it obvious to the two men, then said, “They won't?”
The king then shouted with his incoherent language and went sprinting through the door. I went right behind him and aimed my gun at the back of his head. One of the guards took a step in the way precisely when I fired off a round. His head twenched in response when the shot ricocheted inside his skull and he instantly fell straight down, blood pouring through his nostrils and wetting his lips. I yelled, “Come on!” as I made a leap over the body. Guard two was already thrusting his spear at me as I came flying out of the house. I turned and parried the attack, clenching the guards’ spear and tearing him off his feet. I hit him in his face with my gun as I yanked him toward me and knocked him clean out. I looked all around and saw nobody.
The two men were with me in seconds. I said, “There's an entrance straight ahead down this road, but it's at the other end there. Are there other entrances that you know of?” Both of them said no. “There's a third man, right? Where is he?” I said.
One of them, the taller one, said, “Sorry, Randy's gone, they killed him. We were camping on the northern hills about a mile off the mountain when they caught us off guard. None of us brought a gun, didn't think we would need one. So, Randy there, he got out his buoy knife and went at one of those suckers, sliced him open and went at another one but they all were armed with spears and they made short work of him. It was gruesome. They sacked our heads so we couldn't see and we’ve been here two weeks at least, lost count. Never saw the outside of this building till now.”
“Okay, here's the deal.” I said, “We're inside a mountain. There's an entrance at the other end there. There might be another. We ain't gonna make it if you don't get yourselves some weapons.”
Both of them picked up the spears from the dead guards. The taller man broke his spear in half for improved swinging motion.
“One of you is Evan and the other is Ben, correct?” I asked.
“Ben.” said the taller man. “Evan.” said the other man who was the same height as me.
I said, “They are probably getting together to form an attack right now and we won't have much time.” I reloaded my gun and said, “Six shot maximum. I got more ammunition but you know it's gonna take time when I need to reload. There’s a ramp that leads toward the entrance at the head of the cavern, it’s carved out of the wall. So we'll follow around the wall of the cavern and avoid going directly through the middle of their city. We’ll be safe on our right side all the way there. Let's go.”
I led the way towards the ramp at the entrance with Ben and Evan following close behind. We kept our attention to the left of us where the spaces between the houses could hide potential attackers. There was a yell up ahead of us. A line of spear wielding men came running full speed. I said, “I knock them down and you reinforce me while I reset my ammunitions, got it?!”
The leader threw his spear and missed. I fired a round and hit. The spearman went tumbling and I fired at the next one, hitting. When spearman three made his leap over the other two I fired and hit him midair. Then quickly fired round four at the spearman behind him before he was able to make the same leap. There were several more spearmen but they retreated.
I yelled, “Come on! Let's go! Right up ahead!” I reset my ammunitions as we sprinted towards the ramp. The four spearmen were writhing in anguish as we passed them. Evan took up a knife that one of them was wearing in his waistband. I was bursting with adrenaline and was sure that we weren't going to make it. As we neared the ramp a spear came flying through between two of the houses, aimed at my head but it missed and hit the stone wall.
When we were halfway up the ramp I looked down at the town below and saw that all of the townspeople were actually retreating to another entrance a quarter of the way around the cavern. There was an identical entrance with a ramp much like the ramp we were on.
There was a second crowd of townspeople, most of them guards, hiding behind the building at the edge of the clearing at the end of the ramp.
We made it out of there alive and without wounds.
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There were no more defiant guards on our way through the halls that led to the cliffs of the mountainside, but that didn't mean they weren't going to track us or cut us off up ahead. I said to Ben and Evan, “We need to hurry double-time, they might have some secret passages that would take them ahead of us and we can't risk that. That other entrance that we saw them going through isn't far either, right up there around that bend.” I pointed. “We need to get, now.”
We hurried with our greatest speed, constantly fearing a spear in the back. No spear came.
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We made it to my truck at around 3pm. We caught our breath. I gave Ben and Evan some much needed water and we paused to chat.
“What in the world was going on in there?” I asked. “Who were those people?”
Evan said, “I don't know, they seem like some sort of lost Scandinavian tribe but how they made their way out here is anyone's guess.”
Ben said, “They kept us locked up in that building and we relieved ourselves into a bucket. No water. Some hard tack bread. Think they were playing around with some unconventional technology. We would hear these huge cracklin' bursts of lightning like they were blowing something up and then these rumbling surges would make your muscles vibrate and your vision go white, I swear there was something not right at all about that place.”
“Oh really?” I said, “What do you suppose they were doing in there?”
Evan said, “They were using a machine, I'm sure of it. There would be this huge zap of electricity then a humming sound that fluctuated weak to strong repeatedly. Make you go deaf and silence everything. Then the other day when they caused an electrical detonation we heard some sort of huge animal like a bear or a lion. Whatever it was, they killed it. Heard that thing squeal and scream like an elephant with a nail in its foot. Very unsettling. Don't know what they were doing but it wasn't normal.”
“Get in the truck.” I said, “Let's get out of here.”