history lesson

In a few posts, I have mentioned a person by the name of The Artist. This person left me a map to find Silence and so on. Well, Silence figured The Artist was the right person to ask for help. So, after a while of staying in our little hole in the woods, Silence decided it was time to pack up and take a drive. I rented a car and off we went. Silence wanted to explain and show some things to me along the way, so we took what she considered, "the scenic route".

The first thing we came to was an inn. The town we were staying in wasn't too far away from the town I lived in, and I found the inn's sign a bit odd.

Theory was, you could take a train-as this sign clearly showed-between the towns. The town I lived in-as I said in a entry a long time ago-is very, very old. But, like my town, there has never been a train, and there no tracks to even be found here. The inn had apparently been run by her & Jars father, who had apparently been the "leader" of whatever it was they were involved in. As Silence explained it to me, the only way you can become leader is to have it passed down to you by someone who was leader and was related to you. When their father died, it came down to Silence and Jars, and now Jars wanted Silence dead. Jars however was the one claiming Silence was going to do me harm. Here are some more photos of the inn.

Much like the house that I had to pass through to meet Silence, it was very beautiful and well kept. She and her sister apparently spent a lot of time here as kids. After the inn, we continued our drive to meet The Artist. Upon arrival at The Artist's house, Silence wouldn't allow me to go in. Apparently she had to speak to The Artist in private and I would meet The Artist either afterwards or at a later date. I was able to get a shot of the house after she'd gone inside. She left me out there for over an hour.

The thing that still bothered me was that if Silence was so dangerous, why was I still alive? Jars had followed me to meet with her, but she seemed to be after both of us. But, as I'd learn later, Silence really was dangerous, and Jars was really telling the truth.

As the old saying goes, "If I only knew then..."

john

gift

Just when I thought the packages were over, I got this in my mailbox today.

It's filled with blank CDs, but I put one of them in and they're not blank. It's audio of two women talking. Talking about Annie. I don't know who Jennifer is-I'm assuming she's one of the women on the CDs-but the other woman on here was identified as Jars. I will listen to them again soon, but right now I am going to Silence again. From our meeting, it seems she was not aware of my blog. I think it's time I told her about this, and about Jars contacting me. I will update again after our meeting, I'm hoping to be back to her by tomorrow.

masks

The map at the country club or hotel or whatever it was told me to follow a path.

So I followed that path.

I followed it for a good 2 or 3 hours until I reached another woodsy area. I didn't expect it to turn back into woods, considering the place I found was so suburban and nice, but I guess appearances are deceiving. Eventually I wound up on a trail that looked a lot like this.

That little hill down to the side? It lead to an alcove. And down in that alcove...I finally met Silence.

She was not what I was expecting. I can't really say WHO I expected, but not her. She told me to take a seat and that she had a lot to explain. The first was the fact that she knew who I was. As she went deeper into her conversation with me, she revealed what she meant by that; birthdate, parents names, Annie's last name and Annie's parents name. I asked how she knew who Annie was.

She told me that she would explain that later to me. What she did tell me was important was that Jars was dangerous, and that we needed to stop her. I asked her how she even knew who Jars was, or if Jars had an actual name, and while she didn't give me a name, she did tell me that Jars...is her sister. She told me that Jars is trying to kill us, and that we have to be very careful.

At this point, she told me to go home and that she'd contact me again in a few days, a week at the most. I didn't want to leave just yet. I wanted to know how she knew what she knew about Annie, but all she told me was that Jars had had her killed. I still didn't understand...how did Annie and I figure into this? This was clearly between these two, and I still am not sure what we have to do with it...

But the fact that Jars had Annie killed...that kills me inside. Silence was right. At the time, I agreed that Jars needed to be stopped. But it's been a while since our meeting, and I've had some time to just sit and think, and I would fully agree with everything Silence said to me, because her stories were air tight, if not for one statement Jars made:

update #2

Here's that photoset I promised you guys.

I took this one just for reference. I figured it would be good to have one in the daytime just in case anything happened to me and someone found my camera somehow, they would have a better idea of what the place looked like, since the only image I had of it before was of at night.

Tea parties? I don't know. It appeared to be some sort of country club or something.

 Looked like a stage or something in the background. I took further pictures of that.

 I just thought the fountain was a nice touch.

 Here's a better, closer image of the front.

 I think this is the best shot of the place I took.

This is the path that I found behind the house, which you can kind of see in the other pictures. And, I think this is the one that appears on the map Silence and The Artist left me.

Another fountain in the back.

Closer image of the tents.

 Now I was sure this was some sort of club or something.

 The map.

The map, opened. That's that path, and at the end of the path is the X. Where I met Silence, which you will see in my next entry. I have to go now. I have some things to be prepared for.

text message

I'm sad to say there wasn't much at the place to investigate. I couldn't get inside, but that didn't stop me from staying there. I just slept in the yard. It made me realize what I'm doing.

I was sleeping outside a place I've never seen, because someone I've never met gave me information about my dead girlfriend.

I think I should say this before any of you guys do, but what the hell is wrong with me? I'm was still having trouble trusting Silence at this point, but a few hours into that next day I certainly wasn't having those feelings anymore. I can say with confidence now that Silence has been helping me from the get-go.

I was going to upload some pics of the place-to show it's age, because it did look pretty old-but my camera is dead. I will post another "update" entry with those photos in a day or so. Sorry guys. But I can tell you that the place WAS old looking. It seemed like it had belonged to a large family at one point, and there were these tents outside held up by poles, so maybe they held weddings or something here at one time or another? Judging by my luck though, it won't be weddings, it'll be funerals or....group rape or something.

I was certainly scared out of my mind, moreso than I think I have ever been in my entire life. I mean, what if Silence was just some creepy, old, fat, balding dude who came out and murdered me? But a few hours into that day, I discovered she wasn't. In fact, she was entirely different than I ever expected her to be...I don't know how she got my phone number, but she texted me and for the first time, gave me something more than a single word command or a poem:

"John, it isn't safe for you to stay outside or anywhere near the house. I am being watched. The Artist left something for you on the table. Please go take it. It's a map. You will find me at the destination designated on the map. I will be waiting for you. Please make sure you're not followed, for your sake and mine. We can't come this far and be compromised. It'll have all been worthless if that happens."

That was it. In that update I mentioned I will post photos of the map too. Who was The Artist? Who cares, I told myself, because I was about to meet Silence, finally, after everything that's happened.

And she was not what I expected.

house

I left very angrily about 8 days ago, on a mission to find Silence and whatever answers she had for me. I followed the tracks, just as she said, and camped on the side by them for the first 2 nights. On the 3rd day, the tracks ended, as if they had stopped being built, and I just followed the path. I found nothing.

I continued hiking, assuming I was just being lied to. I thought about turning back so many times. I'm glad I didn't. On the 4th day, I discovered this in the bushes.

Silence was leading me right to her. This was it. This was what I had been waiting for for so long, was to meet this girl. Know what she knew about me, and about Annie and why she'd chosen me to mess with, and what she knew about Jars. I had so many questions in my head. On the way uphill, I found this, and I took some pics of it because I thought it was a little strange.

It appeared to be some sort of makeshift power line, directing energy/electricity or something somewhere. I had a feeling I was on the right path. Maybe she was holed up in a shack, with a generator or something. Or maybe a tent. I thought that's where she was. Until that 4th night. That's when I came around the bend and I discovered this.

This was NOT what I had been expecting. I had expected a little shack, a tent, or maybe another abandoned home. Not a freaking cottage. This place was MASSIVE. I don't know if anyone else even knows this place exists, but it's enormous, almost like an estate. I was hesitant to even continue forward. I mean, the rational part of my mind finally has kicked in.

What exactly do I hope to find and how do I even know this isn't some huge elaborate ruse? What if there's no Silence or Jars and it's just some insane lunatic waiting to kill me? But...I've come so far...I couldn't just turn away from all the progress that I had made. Upon heading towards the place, I discovered this.

"Wait."

Another order. So I did. I waited and took some pictures of some of the estate that will be uploaded in the next post. But I don't want to keep you in the dark anymore. There's something you should know.

Silence showed up.
And man have I regretted ever going into that house in the first place.

annie

I moved to this apartment alone because I was no longer with my girlfriend.

Her name was Annie. We'd been together for about 5 years and I really was thinking about a future with her, until she was killed by a drunk driver. I was so completely ruined by the whole situation, I just couldn't stay where we had been living, so I packed up my things and our dog and I left. The reason I am telling you this is because I discovered what those numbers are.

It's a date. 08(August)03(the 3rd day)12(2012). That's our anniversary. You can send me strange letters and wacky polaroids. You can send me bizarre jars filled with dirt and god knows what else. You can give me commands and orders and cryptic messages and symbols. But when you bring the girl I loved into this, that's when I get furious. I didn't update immediately upon realizing this because I was so angry, anything I wrote wouldn't have been comprehensible.

But this is it. I want answers. I'm tired of digging in dirt and researching stupid symbols. I want some god damned answers and I want them now. So I'm going to follow Silence's order and "follow" the train tracks.

You hear that, Silence?

I am coming for you.

trains

Nothing substantial since the letter, but I did want to discuss something.

The town that I live in is kind of old, and that house was pretty old too. One of the things I saw back there but didn't really think about was train tracks. Except, we don't have trains that run through here. My neighbor has lived here for a long time, to the point where his family has been here essentially since the town has been built, and he has even been told by his grandfather and father that there's never been any trains that have run through here.

I used to ride a train all the time when I was a kid. I would take it to visit my grandparents, who lived in-literally-the middle of nowhere. Spent a lot of summers there. But if the town was the one that made the decision to tear down that house-especially if it's for the cost of saving money-why not pull up these rails if they're not in use and save some money on that front too? And a better question...

If we don't use trains, and according to my neighbor never have, where do these lead to exactly?

poem

This morning, I was feeling pretty good. I had a good breakfast, watched some TV and took my dog for a walk. Life was getting back to normal, until this happened.

Yes. That is another letter, supposedly from the same person. Someone in the comments said that the "kite" looking image is in the place of the return address, stating "it might just be a type of signature". So I'm going to do a LOT of research this time around on this symbol, and I will let you know what I find. Here's what's in the envelope.

I have no idea what any of this means, but "i like trees" is referenced again. Trees have got to be important. And once again, the message of "dig". Let's try and deconstruct this a bit. I have no idea what the first 4 lines could be referencing. But the 2nd part...

"Eyes wide open (no idea), i like trees (obviously important, given the symbol I found on the tree), wall is broken (...the house next door maybe? that's the obvious choice), spread disease (no idea), i'll be the guide (that's pretty self explanatory. At least I can get ONE straight answer out of this person), it's all too big (no idea), look to the ground and dig dig dig (obviously digging is important)."

Alright. Onto symbol research. I'll update when I find something.

fence & choker

I just got back about 15 minutes ago. I had to warm myself up, it's freezing outside. The area behind the "house" (in quotations because it no longer exists) is pretty woodsy and such. Lots of plant life. I had to wait until it was dark enough to where I wouldn't be noticed, because the neighbors on the other side of the fence have kids, and I would've just looked creepy. There actually isn't much back there, aside from the end of the fence itself, but I did find this on the fence. Looks spray painted.

Not sure who Cocoa is, considering nobody ever lived in that house. Maybe it's from a long time ago or something. Might be like, a pets grave. Could be nothing, honestly. Still unsettling, especially in the dark. And I would've walked away except that found this right underneath the message.

It looks like a choker, I guess. I'm not very good with jewelry. Looks as if it was left deliberately beside the fence, so it probably doesn't mean anything. I'm probably reading too much into these things now, being all paranoid and such. It probably honestly IS just kids messing with me. I'm going to feel really stupid when I discover it's all a prank or something. Also, someone in the comments found out that the weird "h" symbol from the envelope was the symbol for "Teeth". Not sure what kind of weird, cryptic message THAT'S supposed to be, but...yeah.

Will update if I find anything else, but as it stands right now, I'm feeling kind of stupid for even posting this online.

exploration

I've decided that I'm going to go exploring tonight, behind the house...or, the remains of it. I'm not sure if or when they're ever going to build something there, so if they are, I should take advantage of the time I have to see what I can find. I'll let you know what happens or what I find. If I don't update again, I've either given up, or...been abducted by aliens or something. I have no idea.

We'll see what happens.

i got this letter

I was going to stop updating here because I wasn't finding anything (especially not anything that was interesting enough to update) about the house or who had it torn down. I came to the conclusion on my own that it was probably the city's decision, seeing that it was abandoned and kind of an eyesore. You saw the photos. Thing was ugly.

But today I got a letter in the mail.

 I had to run upstairs and get my camera to take these, otherwise nobody would believe it. I barely believed it. As you can see from the photos I took, the thing is covered in some weird symbols, and whoever sent it knows my name. I took some more pictures of the symbols once I got upstairs.

I did some research online but couldn't find anything about these symbols online or anything, so if anyone knows what these mean, please comment on this post or something. I'm kind of at my wits end right now. It's hard to research a specific symbol on the internet. "Diamond thing with squiggly tail" isn't really a common search term for Google, believe it or not. The back of the envelope had this message on it.

I have absolutely no idea what to make of this statement. At this point, I'm thinking it's just some neighborhood kids screwing with me or something. "i like trees"? The hell does that mean? Anyway, all of this stuff-weird as it was-was nothing compared to what I found once I opened it.

A polaroid (who even USES polaroid cameras anymore?) that just says "dig". Sure, another cryptic statement, but what worries me the most about this photo is that it's a snapshot of the house that was torn down, but taken from what appears to be the angle of MY window. Whoever took this photo was INSIDE my apartment. I'm checking all my closets and shit right now. I might even have someone come spend the night. I don't really feel safe. I'll let you know if anything else happens, and if ANYONE knows what those symbols might mean, PLEASE let me know asap. Thank you.

construction

Woke up today to a lot of noise to discover that the house was being torn down. I never heard anything about it happening (I live in a small town, word gets around) and everyone else in my complex seems just as confused as I am. There was a shed and that's gone too.

That was taken last night, when I went over there. This is what's left today.

This is what I took today. That's what's left of the shed and the house is completely gone, like it never even existed. So weird to think I was just there. I'd like to find out who (and why) tore it down. I'll ask around, but I don't expect anyone to know anything.