Megan Engelhardt

I had already decided that this would be a short walk. It was threatening rain, I was time crunched, and I wasn’t feeling great. So I headed off for a park that is probably the closest to my house. I used to take the kids there to the playground sometimes, and there was a fairly contentious Pokestop during the big Pokemon Go summer, but in all honesty we found other places we liked better for our park-centered activities so we haven’t been in awhile.

I don’t know that I’ll be walking there any time soon.

The path that I typically would follow wound past the playground equipment, which was covered with kids, and past the picnic tables, which had a number of people sitting there watching said kids. As per my previously noted preference for empty trails, I decided to go the opposite direction and try out a path I had never before used.

The thing about this particular park is that it is surrounded by residential areas. The park doesn’t have a ton of signage, so when I followed a curve in the path and found this clearing, I wasn’t sure whether I was in the park or someone’s backyard.

The ground in the clearing was full of hills and ramps made out of packed dirt – for dirt bikes or 4-wheelers? The clearing also had this tree.

I’m guessing that Miles did the fires.

Aside from the “Who put Bella in the wych elm?” messaging, the clearing also had broken glass all over the ground, some pieces of trash, and this busted up tree stand marked by a traffic cone.

I tried for a closer picture but some of the red graffiti on the trunks was NSFW.

To be fair to the clearing, I already had weird forests on the brain. I recently backed this amazing Kickstarter for an anthology of messed up deer stories, and I’m planning on submitting when they open up for general submissions. (Which only happens if they get fully backed, so go toss them some cash!) I have two completed poems and three story starts about Not Deer. I’ve been thinking about it *a lot*. So I was already a little creeped out when I followed a different path and found this second clearing, empty except for this suspiciously fresh dirt mound.

Mulch pile? Recently filled pothole? Fresh remains of someone who found out that Miles did the fires? Who knows?

Between the creep factor, the drops of rain, and the mosquitos that had finally found me, it was time to go.

Listening while walking podcast update: Let’s Get Haunted episode 216: The Bizarre Disappearance of Alfred Loewenstein, Part 2. (Although you should listen to Part 1 first.)