The following file is not to be removed from the Mountain Resort under any circumstances. Only DES agents Level 2 and above may access the following information. Unauthorized viewers employed by the DES will be reprimanded and suspended without pay for up to six months. Unauthorized viewers that are not employed by the DES will face up to 10 years in federal prison followed by a 5 year probation.
Begin File
The following document was recovered by DES agents from [REDACTED] National Park following an uptick in missing persons cases and several social media post from park-goers regarding a strange pamphlet given to them by park staff before hiking on one of the parks hiking trails.DES agents raided the main offices of [REDACTED] National Park and recovered the pamphlet. Interrogation of several park staff revealed that the following documents was distributed to park guests to assist them with dealing with the cause of the missing persons cases.
The document is as follows:
Begin Transcript of Recovered Document
HIKING THE [REDACTED] TRAIL
Hello, and thank you for choosing the hike the [Redacted] Trail here in [Redacted] National Park. Before you embark, we ask that you need to following advice carefully to ensure that you can fully enjoy the trail’s majesty.
RECOMMENDED SUPPLIES:
Hiking Stick
Backpack
Compass
Map
First Aid Kit
Flashlight
Water Bottle
Chalk
Emergency Shelter
BASIC ADVICE:
Stay hydrated and well-fed. The [Redacted] Trail is one of the most arduous in any National Park, so proper hydration and eating will be essential for keeping your energy up.
Stay on trail. Going off trail can be incredibly dangerous, drastically increasing one’s odds of getting lost and encountering hostile wildlife.
When encountering hostile wildlife, make yourself as big and loud as possible. Most animals won’t engage with anything that appears willing to fight.
Maintain a proper pace. No one wants to rush through nature’s majesty, but not staying in one place for too long is essential for hiking the [Redacted] Trail.
Pause Transcript of Recovered Document
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW WITH PARK RANGER SAMSON
(Footage starts, showing DES Agent Smith-23 seated across a small table from Park Ranger Samson)
Smith-23: OK, this is DES Agent Smith-23, beginning interview. If you could state your name and occupation, please.
Samson: Uh, [REDACTED] Samson, Park Ranger at [REDACTED] National Park for six months.
Smith-23: Thank you. Now, what can you tell me about this pamphlet you were making.
Samson: Uh, well, we weren’t really making them-
Smith-23: What do you mean?
Samson: Well, uh, we’d been getting more reports of people going missing in the park, especially along [Redacted] Trail, and so we heard some of the older rangers and park staff talk about dusting off some old tourism stuff. So they like, pulled out these boxes of pamphlets and told us to start handing them out to anyone who wanted to hike the trail.
Smith-23: And how did hikers react when you told gave them this?
(Smith-23 holds up one of the confiscated pamphlets)
Samson: About how you’d expect. Some laughed, some were too creeped out, some yahoos went for it anyway and…well I assume that’s why we all got arrested.
Smith-23: Don’t worry, you won’t be facing any charges. We just want to get to the bottom of things is all.
Samson: Oh thank god…
(Samson leans back in his chair, visibly relieved)
Smith-23: What was your reaction to the pamphlet?
(Samson sits back up)
Samson: Well, I’d only had the job for a few months, and like, I’ve always wanted to be a ranger, so I didn’t want to rock the boat.
Smith-23: That does not answer the question.
(Samson sighs)
Samson: Ok, I’ll admit, I was a little freaked out. But I mean, everyone knows that weird stuff can happen in the parks. You know about Missing 411?
Smith-23: I am familiar, yes.
Samson: Yeah, well, most people in the park business can personally tell you about a 411 type of case they worked on. I figured that either the stuff in the pamphlet was legit, and we’d be helping people, or at worse it wasn’t and we’d just be giving the hikers a creepy story to tell once they left.
Smith-23: I see. What did your superiors tell you about the pamphlet?
Samson: Not much. Just that the park used em’ whenever stuff like this started happening. I think they mentioned them using them in like…2004, 2005, sometime around then, and then they stopped using them for a while.
Smith-23: Interesting. Well, thank you for your time, Mr.Samson. We appreciate your cooperation.
Samson: Uh, your welcome, I guess.
(Samson rubs the back of his neck)
Samson: Actually…who are you guys with, anyway? Department of the Interior or something?
Smith-23: I’m afraid that’s classified. Thank you for your time. You’ll be released following a monitoring period of-
(Footage Ends)
Resume Transcript of Recovered Document
DANGERS OF THE [REDACTED] TRAIL
If you see hikers coming down the trail from the other way that aren’t wearing backpacks, avoid making eye contact and keep walking.
If you hear someone that you cannot see calling your name, ignore it and do not respond.
If you feel a hot wind on your neck, stop and DO NOT MOVE until you hear the sound of someone walking away from you and DO NOT TURN AROUND.
If you encounter a familiar section of the trail, mark a nearby tree or rock with your chalk or some other method of marking and continue walking. If you find yourself back at your marker, say “i would like to leave now” aloud and continue walking.
THE CABIN
On the trail, you may encounter a cabin. If you do, follow these steps.
Firstly, you will need to determine if the lights are on. If they aren’t, you may walk on. If they are, enter the cabin.
You should find yourself in a open floor plan cabin. You will then need to determine if you are alone.
If there is a young blonde haired man sitting on one of the beds, apologize for intruding and leave.
If there is a woman with long dark hair cooking in the kitchen, take whatever food she offers and leave. DO NOT EAT THE FOOD. Dispose of it once the cabin is out of sight.
If there is an old man on one of the beds, immediately lock the door behind you and cover all windows. Engage the old man in small talk. DO NOT offer any personal details beyond your first name. The old man will eventually suggest you both get some sleep. Follow his advice and take a nap. You may notice that it has suddenly become dark outside; Do not worry, this is normal and no time will have passed when you leave the cabin. Once you have gotten into bed, DO NOT LEAVE THE BED no matter what you see or hear until you see that the sun has ‘risen’. Thank the old man for the company and then exit the cabin.By following this advice, you can safely enjoy all the wonders the [Redacted] Trail has to offer!
End Transcript of Recovered Document
BEGIN VIDEO TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW WITH SENIOR PARK RANGER CLARKE
(Footage starts, showing DES Agent Smith-23 seated across a small table from Senior Park Ranger Clarke)
Smith-23: OK, this is DES Agent Smith-23, beginning interview. If you could state your name and occupation, please.
Clarke: [Redacted] Clarke, Senior Park Ranger at [Redacted] National Park.
Smith-23: Thank you. Now, Mr.Clarke, could you explain the origins of this pamphlet and/or the phenomenon it describes.
Clarke: Well, the rules had been figured out by some folks way before my time.
Smith-23: ‘Rules’?
Clarke: Well, yeah. People have known there’s weird stuff in the woods for forever. We got uh, these journals from the 1800s about trappers finding some random cabins in the woods. The people who survived wrote what worked for them and now we just let people know what’s proper etiquette with these things.
Smith-23: What things?
Clarke: The things that make all the weird (expletive) happen.
(Smith-23 is silent for a moment)
Smith-23: You seem very….nonchalant about all this, sir.
Clarke: Well, I mean, what am I supposed to do about it? There’s weird (expletive) out in the woods, and I warn people about the weird (expletive). That’s about all I can do. And it’s not like it always happens. It comes and goes. Seems to come and stick around for a few weeks every few years, and then it leaves.
Smith-23: I see. How did you learn about the phenomenon on the [Redacted] trail?
(Clarke takes a deep breath)
Clarke: Well, back in the day, we rangers would go through this….initiation, I guess you’d call it. Well, hazing might be more accurate. Idea was you’d tell some newbies all these rules and make ‘em hike the trail, see who followed the rules and who didn’t. You’d make one of the new recruits go, and after an hour you’d have the next guy start, and so on and so on.
Smith-23: And how did that go for you?
Clarke: Got lucky. Only had to deal with the dark haired woman and the loop. But the guy who started after me… he was the last one, so when I finished we all just waited by the end of the trail and waited for him.
(Clarke pauses)
Clarke: God, you’d swear he’d walked through hell. Just fainted soon as he got off the trail. He wrote his resignation from the hospital bed. Never saw him again. They stopped doing the initiation after that.
Smith-23: Do you know what happened to him?
Clarke: He got the old man.
(Clarke asks for some water, which is provided via a water cooler in a corner of the room)
Smith-23: Why do you think the rangers had you do that? The initiation?
(Clarke thinks for a moment)
Clarke: To teach us that there was weird (expletive) in the woods, and for the love of god; Do not. (expletive). With it.
Smith-23: I see. Thank your for your time. You’ll be released following a monitoring period of-
(Footage Ends)
[Redacted] Trail was permanently closed to the public. A cover story involving repeated landslides and unusually aggressive wildlife was used to justify the closure. [Redacted] National Park is temporarily closed to allow for a full DES investigation into the phenomenon.
End File