Hello, my lovelies, sorry it has been a while, life has been hectic, and my health took a dip recently so apologies for that. Any way it is spoopy season and I’m hoping to get a lot of content out very soon. Also, I am considering turning this into a podcast so it will cover two mediums. Don’t worry I will still be writing but also recording but that probably will not be until the end of the year due to needing money for a decent mic. (Any mic suggestions please put these in the comments).!
Today I am going to tell you a story and you will have heard of it, although you may not realise it, however all of you should realise by the end. If not I’m afraid to tell you that you have been living under a rock. Hopefully not the one featured in today’s blog. So, grab a drink, settle down and join me for today’s spoopy story!
In 1770, Elly Kedward moved from her home in Ireland to a small township in eastern USA. Not a lot is known about Elly and her life apart from the legend she left behind. In 1785 Elly was accused of kidnapping and bleeding children, it was claimed she did this because the children had an illness. The children of course went back and told their parents, who immediately accused Elly of witchcraft. (Obviously because we all know that is what witches do!) Elly was tried and found guilty. As punishment the townsfolk blindfolded her, took her into the woods and left her there exposed to the harsh winter elements, some reports say she was tied to a tree. They assumed that she died of exposure.
The following year a young lady who was one of the first to accuse Elly of witchcraft and half of the children who accused her vanished over the winter months. This panicked the townsfolk and Elly the witch was to blame. Believing Elly had cursed the village the remaining occupants abandoned their town out of fear. (I mean sure, blame the woman you accused of being a witch and then exiled!)
In 1824 a rail worker discovered the remains of the abandoned village and told a buddy of this. His buddy was a land developer and took this opportunity to turn the abandoned village into a thriving town. However, it would not be long before the townsfolk started witnessing strange occurances.
In 1825 the town held their first annual Wheat Harvest Picnic down by the local creek. It was here that Eileen Treacle, a 10-year-old girl was playing when she died. Eileen approached the creek and 11 witnesses saw ghostly white hands reach up and pull her in. Eileen drowned although the creek was very shallow, even more strangely her body was never found. Several days later the creek became clogged with bundles of sticks which seemed to have an oily substance on them. People started to avoid the creek and a few years later cattle that drank from the creek died. Eileen is said to haunt the creek and in 1999 her spirit is said to have killed 3 people, 2 teachers and a student that were there on a school camping trip.
In 1886 a little girl called Robin Weaver encountered a “floating woman” who guided her to an abandoned house when Robin had gotten lost in the woods one day. She entered the house and followed the woman down into the basement. The woman told Robin that she was leaving but would be back soon. As the afternoon turned to night and the basement became darker, Robin grew more and more frightened. She managed to squeeze through a window, ran through the woods, somehow making it home safely. Alerted by Robin’s grandmother, the townsfolk sent a search party to find her. Robin had returned but the party did not. A second search party was sent out to find the first and a few weeks later they were found. They had been killed and laid out on a rock in the woods. They had been disembowelled and strange symbols had been carved into their feet, hands and faces. They were already in a state of decomposition. The second search party rushed beck to get help but when they returned to the rock the bodies had disappeared. (I forgot to mention there’s quite a bit of this happening in this story sorry!)
Now some of you may be thinking “This seems familiar, where have I heard this story before?” Others however may still not have a clue what I am talking about. It’s OK it will become clear soon. Anyway, here is a name you may or may not recognise.
Rustin Parr was a hermit living in the woods just outside of town. Rustin preferred his own company and enjoyed being with nature. As a child Rustin lived in the town with his aunt and uncle after his parents and twin brother Dale, died. As he got older however he became a recluse and only went into town twice a year to stock up on supplies. (Sounds ideal to me, I’m sure I’ve said that before somewhere.) In November 1940 however Rustin’s life took a dark turn. Rustin went into town and kidnapped young Emily Hollands; she was to be the first victim of what would later be known as the massacre of the seven.
Over six months Rustin kidnapped another seven children, luring them with candy and took them to his house in the woods. The second child taken was Kyle Brody. Parr took the children into the basement in pairs. He made one child stand in the corner whilst he killed the first by disembowelling them and carving symbols into them. (I did try and warn you.) Once done he repeated this process with the child in the corner. Kyle was made to watch all of this and for reasons unknown Parr did not kill Kyle.
Parr would later confess that the reason for killing the children was that an old woman told him to do it. One night the woman came to him and told him if he went into town the following morning and confessed about the murders, she would leave him alone and that his work was finished. The following day Parr released Kyle and went into town to make his confession stating that he was finally finished. The police took the long trek to Parr’s home and found the gruesome scene in his basement The event tore the town apart. Later on, Parr would confess to the priest Dominick Cazale in his last confession that he had, according to him, murdered no one. The priest asked to confer this information to the judge, but Parr reportedly refused his consent to do so. (I’m no judge but I’m pretty sure having seven dead bodies in your basement makes you a prime suspect in murder.)
On the 17th of July 1941, Rustin Parr was tried on seven counts of murder. Kyle stood as a key witness and retold his account of the happenings. He pointed to Parr and identified him as the killer. Parr tried to claim insanity, but it was dismissed. Parr later claimed that he was doing the bidding of the witch spirit. He was sentenced to death, however wooden stick figures kept being found in his cell. Different sources state when his house was burnt to the ground. One says that it happened the day he was sentenced, and the parents of the murdered child and some others went and burnt his house, whilst another says it was burnt down 2 months after he was executed. Rustin Parr was hanged on November 22, 1941. The judge who sentenced him was found dead in the General Store 6 days after the sentencing.
Unfortunately, Kyle’s life after these events was not a happy one. One day a woman named Dr Elspeth Holiday came to do an investigation of her missing niece. Her research and investigation soon started to focus on Kyle. At one point Kyle followed Holliday to where Rustin Parr’s house once stood. There allegedly they bore witness to a scene from the future where a girl was killed in the house, Kyle dropped a drawing and fled the area. Eventually Holliday caught up with Kyle and as she was chasing him the entity that had been possessing him seemingly left. She attributed his possessed actions as being committed by the witch. Kyle then confessed to her his part in the affair. (Witches be out here possessing kids for kicks now!)
According to Kyle, he had been telling people to do things upon the say so of the entity. Rustin Parr’s judge had been killed because he had somehow heard of Parr’s real confession. He also mentioned that the owner of the town’s newspaper, Gersten, had found out who had killed the judge. He then pointed out the body of Gersten having been stuffed under the church. He also mentioned that he had been telling another person to commit certain crimes including the murder of Gersten.
In July 1947 Kyle was arrested for panhandling. (That doesn’t mean handling pans, for those of you who don’t know what it means and are too lazy to google it, it basically means begging.) Kyle was released 7 weeks later and then seemed to vanish for 2 years finally ending up in Florida. In 1956 Kyle was arrested on multiple occasions, for different reasons and was extradited back to Baltimore. His attorney attempted an insanity plea and got him committed to an institute for the criminally insane.
Kyle’s sister, Janine fought and won Kyle’s release from the institute and to be put somewhere more compassionate. Kyle then got transferred to the Reston Hills Sanatorium in Atlanta. Reston Hills however was unable to cope with Kyle’s outbursts and he was sent back to the institute. It is here using a wooden spoon he had gnawed into a point that Kyle Killed himself.
Is the story feeling familiar yet? If not, don’t worry, we are almost there!
In 1994 a small group of film students hear about the strange happenings and decide to make a short documentary about them. The students visit the town and question locals, gathering as much information as they can for their documentary. They enter the woods to investigate further and are never seen again.
An APB is issued when the car belonging to one of the students is found, State police launch their search, It includes up to 100 men, aided by dogs and helicopters. It lasts for 10 days no sign of the students is found apart from the car.
In 1996, students from the anthropology department at the University of Maryland, are digging at the site of the old Parr residence searching for colonial artifacts. What they discover is a duffle bag containing the lost footage of the missing students. In 1997 the footage was released to the parents of the missing students.
In 1999 it became known worldwide.
Thank you once again for joining me and I hope you enjoyed exploring the story behind what I feel like is one of the best found footage films. It really puts the whole story into a new perspective when you finally realise the lore behind something. Well, that’s how I feel anyway. Sorry I was a bit late this spoopy season, but I hope to see you all soon. As always you can click on the links below to read my other blogs if you haven’t already and please share the love (and the post 🙂 )
There’s also links to the socials if you want to keep updated (when I remember) and as always
Take care
Chris xxx
Other Blogs
Chris's Curiosity Chronicles 
A very scary but equally entertaining read!
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