Mike, Charley, Heather, Bel and I decided to take our chances during Phenomenal Week and head out at night to a new location for some investigation. We decided to go check out Batsto, and see what kind of interesting events may take place out there. So, at about 8:30pm, we parked the cars at an old church and hit the trails.

As soon as we stepped foot out of the cars, there was an eerie feeling in the area. Every single one of us felt it, too. It was almost like there was a presence, or like we were being watched. But, since we all know our minds can play with us, we all decided to ignore it and start the expedition. Within a few minutes of our search, we came across more of those same tracks we found on yesterday's hunt out in Leeds Point. There seemed to be an abundance of tracks out there. Bel and Heather remained at the cars to keep watch, and Charley, Mike, and I proceeded forward down the trail.

The three of us immediately began hearing noises once we had gone far enough down the trail to virtually disappear from mankind. And they were LOUD. Something big was moving around back there, but its movements were so sporadic that it was hard to identify where it was coming from or where it was going. The path we took followed a creek, so for the most part we were right near water. The creek was frozen over, and due to the recent weather, we had a nice coating of snow covering the surface. At one point, the trail took us down close to the creek's edge. We found tracks - some appearing to be made from a man's shoes while others appeared to be a dog. When we reached the edge of the creek, we noticed that some very crazy bold person had decided to brave the ice for about 3 feet in - we could see what appeared to be shoe tracks sliding around. These tracks stayed very close to the edge however. Then we noticed that, right in front of us, there was a path of tracks going straight across this creek to the other side. These were the only tracks that had crossed this creek. We had no idea how deep this creek was, or how sturdy the ice was, so there was no way we were going to try and get across it (frostbite is a nasty thing!). I pulled out my digital camera and attempted to take some photographs.

At that moment, the noises we had been hearing suddenly became much closer. They sounded like they were coming from the other side of the creek, fairly close to where those tracks had ended up on the other bank. Charley described one of the sounds as sounding like "an axe hitting a tree". We stood dead silent and listened as quietly as possible. There was definite movement across this creek, but we were limited in our abilities to track it because of the ice. We stayed and listened for a little while, but once they died down we headed back to meet up with Heather and Bel.

Meanwhile, Heather and Bel had been watching a strange light on the outside of the woods edge. When we had arrived, the light was gone and we were unable to locate it again. The five of us decided to walk down to the edge of the creek for a little while to check the area out. I noticed an interesting tree that almost looked like a dragon, but I was unable to take a good picture of it because the tree coverage was too thick. We could hear the sounds of running water and leaves blowing in the wind.

Then the noises began again. These were also loud and close, as if something was inside the woods on the other bed of the creek, telling us to stay away. The five of us tried to focus a light on the source of the noise, but could not locate the origin. It was hard to follow the source - it would come from one side of us, and then a few moments later, it would be on the other side. The noises seemed like threats.

When it got a little more silent, Charley and I walked up to go try to take another picture of that stupid tree I liked. I was crouched down, and Charley was trying to light the tree for me. We were very close to the creek at this point. Suddenly, from above us, on our side of the creek's bank, we heard movement in the trees above. It was definitely a loud movement, too. Charley and I realized that this sound was coming from right on top of us, and we stood up and slowly started backing away to get a better view. I began randomly snapping pictures - I don't even think I was looking through the viewfinder or at the LCD screen at this point, I was just aiming at the noises and snapping photos.

We regrouped and sat listening to the noises for a little while. They started to die down again. We got back in the cars, and at this point everyone was cold, hungry, and thirsty, so we decided to take a little break and come back later.

When we returned, it was approximately 1am. We all noticed that the air felt a little clearer, and the whole area seemed calm again. This time, we walked up and down the edges of the cemetary to see what we could find. We found some more tracks in the snow, but that was about it. We went back up to the creek's edge, but it was silent. All we heard was the water and the leaves. Whatever had been out there was gone.

Well, that's our story for Hunt #19. Questions? Comments? E-mail us at [email protected]. Want to join us? Click here for the online application!