In the summer of 2003, two brothers in their thirties, Paul and Richard Morris, traveled to the White Mountains in Arizona. The Mountains, engulfed in dense forest were full of rivers bursting with fish, and Richard was a keen fisherman. The Morris brothers were heading there to get away from it all for the summer. They were wise to pick this location as its remoteness provided peace, away from other people.
The two would stay in their uncle’s solitary cabin located deep in the central, forested part of the range. Their uncle had sent an email to them about the cabin weeks before. He said he was giving it up for them as he was moving into retirement. After several hours' cycle ride, they finally arrived at the cabin. They brought in their belongings and noticed the cabin had a computer which Paul checked out: perfect for storing photos and for emailing their friends about their trip. There were no files on the PC or a password, so they assumed their uncle had left it free and clear for their own use.
Later that evening, they went out fishing to a river about a mile away. Richard knew that the rivers there had all the best salmon and trout and he hoped that he would make the catch of the day, or even the month, as his uncle used to say. After more than an hour of fishing, the two set off back home with a fresh catch to eat by the fire. Paul had taken some photos of the fish they had caught and went onto the cabin’s computer to upload them.
However, as they entered, Richard noticed an unusual trail of a brownish-black sooty substance that was leading into the house from the edge of one of the floorboards. Richard followed the trail and saw it led to and stopped abruptly in front of the computer. Paul asked him what he was doing, and Richard pointed out the trail for him. Feeling disturbed, Paul decided to upload his photos to the PC while Richard studied the substance to work out what caused it. He first thought it might have been a small fire or something like that. Richard looked at the floorboard where the trail started, but couldn’t lift it up, it was stuck like cement.
Meanwhile, Paul noticed an untitled file in the documents folder. This was peculiar as when he logged on previously it was empty. Opening the file, his jaw dropped and he nearly fell off his chair. Richard was alerted by his brother’s shouting and rushed to the scene. Richard tried hard not to cover his eyes when he saw the screen. A disturbing, sepia-like image about the size of an ordinary photo was present in the center of the monitor. The image depicted a witch-like woman with a thin stitched mouth with an expressionless face. It was unclear if it was a photo or drawing, but it left Paul in hysterics.
“Who had put it on and when?!” Paul continuously asked his brother.
“Was it you that did this?!” he demanded.
But Richard strongly denied this. The computer normally could tell them the time and date the picture was saved, but it said nothing.
“Has that trail got anything to do with this?!” he begged for answers more.
Neither of them would know how the image got onto the computer. It had no files before, and this cabin was miles away from any other human settlements. The cabin included padlocked doors, windows and 24/7 CCTV which were mainly there for deterring dangerous animals. But the brothers could find no evidence from these to solve how this chilling work of art could have gotten onto the computer. However, when reviewing the blurry CCTV tapes they could see at the half hour mark of camera #3, the trail randomly appeared from nowhere. This caused Paul to panic more. Desperate for answers, the two went to phone the police, but the phone wouldn’t work.
“What’s wrong with it?!” gasped Paul.
Richard told him it simply would not work, the phone made no sounds when he dialed the cops. They checked its wires which seemed to be in good condition.
Feeling too overwhelmed already from the image that had frightened them out of their skin, they decided it was worth leaving this now-ghastly cabin. They swore they would talk to their uncle as well as the police once they got back to civilization. They called the cops upon arriving back home, who went to investigate with them along with detectives. The police and detectives could not explain the image or the mysterious trail. The brothers turned to their uncle, who they vowed to speak to about this.
“Why did you send us to that creepy cabin of yours?!” Richard snapped to him over the phone, to which their uncle replied “But...I don’t have a cabin?”