I considered not going to my friend’s housewarming party. If I hadn’t, I would have never known the horror that was sitting right up the road. I’d have never heard the strange story of the Beade ranch. (pronounced Bee-Dee)
Another one of my friends got married. Another one bites the dust. It’s become more and more common in recent years. This time, it was my childhood best friend Tiffany.
Tiff met Joe days after arriving on campus during her freshman year of college. They fell in love quickly. He seems like a great guy and I get along with him.
Shortly after getting married, they found a place relatively closer to where Tiff works. She is extremely intelligent and has a great job. The commute was crazy though.
The place was still almost an hour away from her work which was better than her previous commute. It’s about 2 hours from our hometown where I still live. It was a bit of a haul to go to their housewarming party, but I did tell her that I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
The party was okay and I saw some old friends. I was happy to see that they were happy. They found a nice little place on a lake that they apparently got a great deal on. The party was run-of-the-mill and I didn’t care much about it other than hanging out with Tiff and Joe. I decided that I wouldn’t drink because I had to work the following morning and would need to drive home that night.
I met their new friends who are locals of the area. Andy and Lauren were a friendly couple and they stayed to the end of the night. It was after most everyone had left that they told me the story of a family who lived nearby. A story I initially struggled to believe..
Everything was winding down and it was just me, Joe, Tiff, and their new friends from the area, Andy and Laura. We were all sitting in a circle, smoking pot and shootin the shit.
“You don’t care at all what religion the president is?” Andy asked the group.
“Why would I?” Tiff laughed.
“It could be a religion that practices human sacrifice!” Andy laughed. “Okay. Okay, do you care if the president was gay?”
“What reason would there be to care?” I laughed. “I couldn’t care less who the president wants to get with as long as they’re, ya know.. adult humans. Same way it doesn’t matter to me what anyone cares to eat.. as long as it isn’t human.”
“Well, make sure to stay away from the old Beade ranch then,” Andy replied.
“Why?” I asked. “Do they have gay presidents that eat people?”
Andy was chuckling, but his face turned serious strangely quickly. Laura had a very serious look on her face.
“You guys haven’t heard anything about the Beade ranch?” Andy asked Joe and Tiff.
“Nothing. Why?” Tiff asked.
“Shit, I’m surprised the realtor didn’t say something when you moved in here,” Laura said.
“Oh god.. What is it?” Joe asked.
“The Beade family,” Laura somberly replied.
There was a weirdly tense moment after she said that. Neither Andy or Laura were laughing in the slightest. After a short pause, Laura told us the story.
Fay Hollow, the town directly to the west of us just a few minutes down the road is all owned by this very strange and reclusive family. I think it’s considered a hamlet, because it’s not big enough to be considered a town. It’s basically just a big chunk of land with one old dirt road going through it. From all accounts, it’s not very good land either. It’s mostly all swamp with a small river that runs off from the lake. People who’ve been there say it’s just ugly.”
“You’ve never been there?” Tiff asked.
“We know better,” Andy replied.
Joe and Tiff both looked a little spooked. Laura took a long sip of her drink and then continued.
“Some years back, the town wanted to build a highway through some of this area. There were plans to build a factory here. They were planning on bringing in new businesses. Most of the people around here we’re all for it. Outside of the nice houses on the lakes, it’s historically been a very low income area. There just isn’t much nearby and there aren’t a lot of job opportunities.”
“Yeah, my commute is like an hour now,” Tiff said. “Still worth it for a nice affordable house on the lake.”
“For those of us who can afford it,” Laura said. “There are plenty who can’t. There were a lot more back then. The population used to be much higher here. Now it’s primarily summer homes or people who have really long commutes.”
Tiff almost looked like she felt guilty or had taken some offense. Laura quickly got back to the story.
“Most locals were excited about the highway and all of the new businesses that might come. Everyone who needed to sign off on it did, aside from the Beades. Locals who would need to move were offered much more than market value for their homes. Most of them felt like they won the lottery. The Beedes wouldn’t budge though. Their family had owned that chunk of land for generations. They dug in their heels. People were pissed.”
Laura paused again to get another drink.
“So let me guess, the townspeople raced over there with pitchforks and killed them?” Joe asked. “Now the ghosts haunt the land?” he laughed. “Was I close?”
“No, but maybe they should have,” Andy replied in a serious tone.
There was another short but awkward pause before Laura returned and sat back down.
“So, what happened?” Tiff asked.
“The story starts to get murky,” Laura replied. “There had already been plenty of rumors about the family. People claimed that they practiced incest. Some believed they were cannibals. These were all theories most likely due to their appearance and their decision to live in isolation. People might have heard about the disappearances, and let their imaginations fill in the blanks. Or maybe they were right about the Beades. What locals did know was that anyone who wandered onto their property were greeted with shotguns.”
“So they were just like.. Florida people?” Joe laughed.
Laura ignored the comment and continued.“The town continued surveying different spots in the area, hoping that they could still convince the Beades to sell. Two men, Thomas and Paul were sent to the hamlet to survey what they could as well as try again to talk to the family.”
She continued as we all quietly listened.
“Thomas has told his story. He checked out the area near the front of the land by the start of the dirt road that runs through the property and acts as a shortcut to the interstate. Paul went into the weeds and bushes so he wouldn’t be seen. He was going to check out the swamp. Before long, Thomas heard thrashing followed by gunshots alongside terrible screams..”
“What happened to Paul?” Tiff asked.
“No one knows,” Laura replied. “Thomas ran out of there and promptly called the cops. They found nothing. No sign of Paul at all. He’s still considered missing and presumed dead. Thomas has theorized that Paul had been cannibalized.. They could never prove it though.. No evidence. Since then, people steer clear of Fay Hollow and the Beede family.”
“Maybe a bear got him,” Joe said.
“Maybe,” Laura replied. “There were others though. Some are on record as missing. Some are just stories. But it seems like every few years, someone goes missing near the Beade ranch. It’s enough to make locals steer clear.”
“Is it really a shortcut to the interstate?” I asked.
“It’s a straight shot,” Andy said. “The dirt road ends about a mile from the on ramp to 86. It would seriously take at least 45 minutes less to get there than the main roads. That’s why they wanted to build the highway.”
I laughed. “People really won’t take that road because they’re afraid of this family?”
“People don’t wanna get shot,” Laura replied. “That, or something worse. The stories could have been exaggerated, but the disappearances are very real.”
“What keeps random people driving through from going down that road?” I asked.
“The turn to the road is at the end of a road with a dead end sign at the entrance. There isn’t a reason for most people to go down there. There’s also no trespassing and posted signs everywhere leading to it. I had friends who went down there and took pictures. It’s really creepy. The dirt road doesn’t fully show up in the maps either so most people don’t know that it goes to the interstate if they’re not from here,” Laura replied.
“Your friends went to the ranch?” Joe asked.
“Just to the edge of the road,” Laura replied. “They knew not to go any further, not to trespass. Kids at school called it the bleedy ranch.”
“Sounds like those Bleedys stand their ground!” Joe laughed.
“Something like that,” Laura quietly replied.
I was very skeptical. I asked them, “Have you guys ever seen this family?”
“Just the youngest one,” Andy replied. “She used to come in about once a week when I was workin at the gas station up the road. Bought a lot of gas. She’s actually pretty cute, in an Amish sort of way.”
“That’s messed up,” Laura said, looking mildly irritated.
“Not as cute as you!” Andy laughed.
“No, I’m talking about how people think she might have been kidnapped. The Beades don’t associate with anyone outside of their family and she sure doesn’t look inbred. Some people think she was kidnapped when she was a baby and raised as a Beade.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Andy replied.
The topic of conversation changed shortly after that, but I couldn’t stop thinking about this place. Could I really cut 45 minutes off of my drive home? It’s such a long boring drive. It was crazy to me that people would avoid a shortcut like that just because they’ve seen too many scary movies.
About a half hour later, I knew that I needed to leave. I was already looking at a night of very little sleep. I had an important meeting and presentation at work in the morning. Joe and Tiff tried to talk me into staying, but I simply couldn’t. Hooray for work..
As I reached the top of their long driveway, I stopped for a moment and thought about Fay Hollow. They warned me not to take the shortcut, but they didn’t have a long drive ahead of them.
I looked it up in maps on my phone. Laura was right about only half the road showing up on there. Looking at the map though, it didn’t seem like there was any logical place for it to end aside from where they said it did. My main concern was getting to the end of the road and finding out it didn’t actually come out by the interstate.
I figured that if the road was a dead end, it would only add an extra 20 minutes or so to my trip. If I had to drive the long way, I wasn’t gonna get any sleep either way. I decided to opt for the shortcut.
I followed the map to the road with a dead end sign at the entrance. I started slowly driving down it. It wasn’t long before I started seeing no trespassing signs and posted signs on the trees. There weren’t any houses on this road and it seemed to lead straight into a swamp. I got all the way to the end before I saw the turn to “Beade road”.
The turn was somewhat hidden by weeds and bushes. The cement ended and the dirt road was tough to see in the dark at first. There was a gate, but I could see from the car that it wasn’t locked. The gate and surrounding trees were absolutely covered and no trespassing signs.
I have to admit that I was a little creeped out. The excessive amount of signs in front of the dark dirt road made me slightly uneasy. As did seeing the sign for Beade road. This means that the family isn’t fictional.
I considered it for a minute and decided that the creepiness of the road itself is probably where these stories come from. I remember being a kid and assuming any creepy looking, boarded up, or rundown house must be haunted. Sometimes our imagination gets the better of us.
Not tonight though. I had come this far and I was taking this shortcut. I got out and walked over to the gate. It was an old rusty x shaped gate, just big enough to prevent cars from getting through. It creaked loudly as I swung it open. The sound echoed through the eerily quiet night.
I admitted to myself that I was a little creeped out, but I still didn’t believe Laura’s stories. Creepy looking places spawn creepy stories. Stereotypes can lead to urban myths. Stereotypes like the Beades being seen as inbred cannibal rednecks because they live in relative isolation. These are the things I was telling myself as I started driving down the dark dirt road.
I kept my speed low because of the wooded areas on each side of the road. The last thing I needed was to hit a deer. The road eventually turned slightly around a bend, and that’s when I saw the lights in the distance.
I assumed it had to be in their house. Andy and Laura said it was the only one along the road or inside the tiny hamlet.
I crept slowly down the road. The lights were growing bigger but I still couldn’t see the house. I started hearing a noise that I eventually recognized as the sound of a generator. These people really were off the grid.
I started wondering where they got the money for gas to power the generator, where they got money for food, supplies, ect. Laura would likely say that they stole it from their many victims.. while I still didn’t believe that, the thought was stuck in my head. I admit that I was feeling more nervous as I got closer to the house.
I could see a spot ahead where the weeds and trees opened up. I was almost to the house and I was about to be visible to anyone who might be there. I had freaked myself out a little bit more than I realized before, so I decided to pick up my speed as I was passing the house. I figured that even if they were the type to shoot anyone they saw on their property, I could get past the house before they could even grab their shotguns.
I sped up a little as I got to a point where I could be seen from the house. I saw that there was lights on, but didn’t spot anyone outside or through the windows. The house was a little shabby, but honestly not much worse looking than my last place. It could use a paint job, but there are worse looking houses in the town I live in.
Seeing the house calmed my nerves a bit. It wasn’t as spooky as what I built up in my head. Still spooky, just not as spooky as I imagined. I still wanted to get past it and out of sight quickly.
I started to pass the house and looked ahead down the long dirt road where the opening in the trees closed up and it was almost too dark to see right in front of you. I pressed the gas a little harder as I passed, then abruptly I felt the steering tighten and the car slow.
I had popped a tire.. This is what I like to call an “of course” moment. I quickly hopped out to check the damage. My front right tire was flat. I momentarily considered driving on it at least to the end of the dirt road. Then I thought about it and decided that I might let Laura’s story creep me out a bit, but I’m not gonna destroy my rim because of it.
I was practically right in front of the house. I might’ve gotten 10 or 15 feet past it, but the light from the porch made me clearly visible to anyone inside. I looked toward the house regularly as I popped the trunk and grabbed the spare tire. I still hadn’t seen any people, but there were definitely lights on inside.I thought that maybe I should call someone, but as I looked at my phone I saw that I had no service. Of course not. I was in a swamp in the middle of nowhere. As I was rolling the tire from the trunk to the front of the car, I spotted something strange on the ground. I used the light from my phone to get a closer look. I felt a chill when I realized what it was..
It was a small piece of wood with several nails driven through it. The nails were straight through and unbent, sticking straight up. My tolerance for coincidence was fading. It looked like a man made item, specifically put there to pop someone’s tires..
I shined my phone’s flashlight a little further up the dirt road and noticed another one, then another, then another.. I walked maybe 20 feet ahead and found more than a dozen of these little spike strips, a minefield of pointy objects. The feeling of panic started rapidly growing.
I’m not sure if the plan was to jump in the car and drive it on a flat or if I was going to try to change it as quickly as humanly possible. It didn’t matter though..
When I turned around and looked back toward the house, I noticed a man coming from the house toward me. I could just see his silhouette as he went from walking to running. I quickly realized that he was wielding something and he started to yell.
Panic immediately took over.. I had idiotically walked too far from my car, so I turned and started running further down the road. I didn’t know why they were laying down homemade spike strips and I didn’t want to find out. To me, everything else could’ve been chalked up to coincidence. Not the spike strips though..
As I started to run, I could hear the man yelling but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. My heart was racing and I had no idea where I was going or what I was planning to do.
When I looked back, I saw a second man coming out of the house. He was standing directly in the porch light for a moment and I could see clearly that he was holding a rifle. He yelled as well but I couldn’t make it out. Then he also started running toward me.
I couldn’t believe what was happening. I felt stupid for taking the shortcut despite a direct warning not to. I could already feel my sides hurting. I was running short of breath. I had no plan.
All I could do was run and hope that the men chasing me either gave up or lost track of me. I considered cutting into the swamp, but I figured they probably knew their way through it better than me and it would only slow me down.
I felt helpless. I could hear them continuing to yell and scream as I started to feel like I couldn’t run anymore. The only word I could make out was “stop”. At this point, I wasn’t looking back to see if they were gaining on me. I was just trying to force myself to keep running. I tried to fight through the cramps, shortness of breath, sore legs, and dizzy feeling.
Then I abruptly felt a sharp pounding pain in each side of my rib cage. I was stopped dead in my tracks as my head and arms flew forward while the rest of my body stopped.. momentarily.
It was dark and I couldn’t tell what was happening at first. I could only focus on the searing pain I felt. I realized that something was wrapped around my torso. It felt like marble when I touched it. I could barely see it in the dark and in the frenzy, but I could tell that it was large.
The pain intensified as I was lifted off of the ground. Whatever had a hold of me flailed me around more than 10 feet off of the ground. I could see the two men had made it almost to me and stopped. The man with the gun began firing shots. I couldn’t see what he was shooting at as I was being thrashed around in the dark.
After he fired about three shots, I was thrown to the ground. The one man was throwing rocks and other random objects. I looked up and saw what had grabbed me. It was unbelievable..
I tried to crawl back despite a few likely broken ribs. I looked up to see a massive humanoid creature. It must have been 25 feet tall. It was tough to tell as it was standing in the swamp water. It had a long, skinny body and lanky arms with a kind of claw at the end of each. The claws were like ant mandibles that connected at the tip rather than fitting flush when closed.
It was one of those claws that it had grabbed me with. I’m lucky the claw didn’t close flush, because I wouldn’t be here to tell the story if it had.
I continued slowly crawling backward as the two men fought off the creature. As the man with the gun tried to line up a shot, the other flashed a light at the creature. This was the clearest I was able to see it.
It had two very large eyes that seemed to extend halfway around its oval shaped head. It’s skin was a dark gray or black. It’s head was more of a grayish blue. The eyes were black with a fluorescent, thin blue ring around the edges.
Everything happened so fast. The man with the gun told the other guy to try and distract the creature with the light as he reloaded. The man flashed the light in the creature’s face, then pointed it toward the trees hoping to grab its attention. It didn’t work..
The next few moments are seared into my brain.. I was first distracted by a young woman yelling and running toward us from the house. I continued dragging myself in terror before I looked back.
The man with the rifle was attempting to reload when the creature spiked down through his torso with one of the large claws. It pierced straight through him and into the ground underneath..
The creature quickly turned its attention toward the guy with the light. He started to turn and run before the creature grabbed him the same way it had grabbed me. It swung him back and forth before slamming him into a tree.
I screamed in horror as the creature then picked up his lifeless body and pulled it toward its face. It’s mouth opened like a flap, revealing a circular mouth filled with multiple spiraling rows of teeth. It pulled the lifeless man close. Then it’s mouth seemed to extend out a few feet in a bizarre fashion. It devoured the man in what felt like less than a minute.
The woman made her way to me and helped me to my feet. The creature picked up the other man’s body and prepared to eat him as well. The woman helped me walk toward the house. She told me that the creature was injured, and wouldn’t chase after us. I didn’t know if she was just saying that to calm me down though.
When it felt like we were at a remotely safe distance, I had to stop for a moment. I puked on the ground next to me as I tried to process what I had just witnessed. I forced myself to continue walking with the aid of the woman and we made it into the house.
I couldn’t catch my breath. I was sobbing. She was holding it together much better than I was. It took a minute for me to realize that I had just unintentionally gotten two of her family members killed..
I started apologizing profusely despite not knowing exactly what had happened. She continuously said “relax” and “it’s not your fault”.
I babbled in my panic. I screamed, “they were trying to help me! It’s my fault!”
The young woman introduced herself as Lily. She was a pretty girl probably in her mid 20s wearing old timey looking clothes. She assured me that she didn’t believe it was my fault. I had no way of knowing what was lurking down that road. I still felt an insurmountable amount of guilt. I wanted to save an hour or so on my drive.. so I trespassed on clearly posted property.
She said that we would talk once I calmed down. She got me a glass of water and a few painkillers for my ribs. I was cut open on each side but the cuts weren’t too deep. I would find out later I had multiple cracked and bruised ribs. The physical pain was so far in the back of my mind though. I felt that I had gotten two men killed. I was still trying to understand what that thing was.
Lily was very pleasant to me. She was very kind, especially considering the circumstances. It turned out that the two men were her uncles. I again apologized upon learning that, but she again told me that I wasn’t at fault.
“We’ve always known the risks of living here,” she said. “You couldn’t have known. They also could have done a better job of warning you. If someone was chasing me with a shotgun and screaming, I would’ve run too.”
“What is that thing?” I asked. “How long has it been there?”
“It’s been there longer than I’ve been alive,” Lily replied. “It saved my granny years ago when she was in trouble. She believed that she had a bond with it. Granny passed last year. She bought this land years ago after discovering the creature. She did everything she could to deter anyone from coming here. She never wanted to report it to any agency though. She felt that it had just as much of a right to live as we do. She claimed that it wasn’t trying to hurt anyone, but would protect itself if it felt threatened.”
I wanted to ask follow up questions, but I sat quietly and listened to Lily.“
We have never known if the creature is a new species, an experiment of some sort, or even an alien. We know that it’s been injured for years and doesn’t move far from its spot. It seems to need the water to survive like a fish. It manages to get everything it needs from the swamp. We give it treats here in there and our leftovers, but it seems to survive just fine without us. It has been for over 40 years.”
“That’s why your family didn’t sign off on the highway?”
“Yes,” she replied. “The creature saved granny, and she knew it would be killed and most likely experimented on if she told anyone about it. Granny was nervous about people anyway so it was easier to just keep it a secret. I’ve always known the risks. My uncles did too,”
“I’m so so sorry..” I repeated again.
“Don’t be,” she softly replied. “Just relax and get some rest. I’ll answer all your questions in the morning.”
“Thankyou”
“Would you like to watch a movie?” She asked.
I was a little surprised they had a TV, let alone movies.
“Yes, we have movies,” Lily laughed.
She popped in Jurassic Park and I tried to relax as the painkillers started to kick in. She watched the movie with me for a while before heading to bed herself shortly before Dennis steals the dinosaur embryos..
I eventually was able to fall asleep and slept soundly until the morning. It wasn’t before I looked out the window about 50 times, trying to catch a glimpse of the creature again.
The morning came and I felt as though I’d been hit by a train. I could smell bacon and realized that Lily had cooked breakfast. I was grateful, but still uncomfortable being treated so nicely by someone whose family members I essentially got killed. I hoped for a brief moment that it had all been a dream..
I thought about the work meeting and presentation that I was missing, but I couldn’t even begin to force myself to care. Learning of the existence of this creature is so mind blowing that going to work felt so insignificant. I saw another glass of water and another painkiller on the stand and promptly took it. I then got up, ready to go change my tire.
Lily walked into the living room. She insisted that I eat breakfast before I go. I agreed with little resistance. I had already missed work. Once I get cell service I’ll probably have 30 missed calls. It’s tough to care much about that though.
I sat down at the kitchen table with Lily. I wanted to ask more questions about the creature, but I wasn’t sure if it was a sore subject that I should avoid. I didn’t have to ask though.
“It isn’t a vengeful creature,” she said abruptly.
“Do you feel safe living near it?” I asked. “It’s obviously dangerous.”
“It’s just an animal like the rest of us,” she replied. “ Maybe it’s something leftover from a forgotten era. Maybe it’s something new. It keeps to itself unless someone bothers it. It protects itself like anyone else would. Who are we to decide what gets to live or die? Granny hated hubris, and hubris is a very human trait. Humans kill rodents and pests because they’re a nuisance. We kill animals for food or even sport. We cage anything that might be a threat to us. Maybe we aren’t meant to be the dominant species anymore. Maybe those swamp creatures are.”
It may have been the pain medication talking, but I found myself agreeing with her.
“Do you care about that thing?” I asked.
“I care about granny, and she cared about it.” She softly replied. “Granny felt bad about stopping the highway from being built. It isn’t fair to stop progress to protect our own comfort. We had a good run, but maybe the world isn’t ours anymore..”
We finished breakfast and I went outside to change my tire. I walked up to my car to find that my tire was already changed. Of course it was. The “inbred cannibal” changed it for me.. The same one who’s family tried to stop me from walking into certain death.. who died to save me..
I felt like I owed Lily so much. She’s all alone now because of me. Well, I guess not ALL alone.. I knew that I wouldn’t report seeing the creature. Maybe I’ll tell the story to people who won’t take it seriously anyway, but I won’t call the authorities. I owe her that much.
She walked out the front door and I thanked her for helping me yet again by changing my tire. I thanked her again for everything she had done for me, for forgiving me..
“Are you sure you’re comfortable being alone here?” I asked.
“The creature isn’t going to harm me. It was simply protecting itself, and protecting it’s own.” She said.
“Yeah.. Wait. What do you mean by that?” I asked, confused.
Lily went inside for a moment. When she returned, she had a photograph. I looked at it and the hairs on my neck stood up..
I asked her, “Are those.. eggs?”
Lily smiled from ear to ear and said, “She’s gonna be a mama!”
I didn’t know how to respond. I initially tried burying the thought in the back of my mind. I gave Lily a hug and we said our goodbyes. I started driving back the way I came along the dirt road, now content to go the long way.
It probably takes hundreds of years for those creatures to grow to adulthood.. She said that one had been there for decades. I won’t even be aware of them in my lifetime.. At least that’s what I keep trying to tell myself..
I reached the end of the dirt road. I stopped and looked back for a minute, blown away by the experience, terrified of what’s to come. My phone started going off as I reached cell service. I’m gonna get fired..
It’s likely that no one will believe my story and maybe that’s okay. Maybe it’s just the way things are meant to be. People will likely continue spreading rumors about the inbred cannibals living in the swamp.. Doesn’t really matter though. What matters is to heed the warning when someone tells you to “Stay the fuck away from the Beade ranch!”