Murder Valley

Juliet Falls.

Last day of college, it was the year 2004, it was graduation day. Lindsey Jonas met with her college friends after the celebrations, her friends Kelly, Nicole and Michaela had talked about taking a few weeks break before going off to join the world of work and paying bills. Lindsey already had a job, but it was just a position to help her pay her way through college, the others had offers of work, some accepted and told their new employers they were taking a break. Their employers emphatically agreed with this, they had been through college as well, they understood that college is hard, it's time consuming and they would be exhausted from the last few weeks. Lindsey told Michaela and the others that they should go camping in Juliet Falls, a place known to the locals as a place people went missing, but Lindsey had never heard of the stories, in fact when she discussed this with the group, none of them heard of the stories, they hadn't even heard of Juliet Falls before. Lindsey spoke with her parents about the trip and her father told her that area is beautiful, but make sure they find a place to camp that's close, as close to civilisation as possible, the area is vast and many trails that were never mapped by the local authority. Lindsey promised her family that she would.

Lindsey called all her friends the next morning calling themselves 'the class of 2004.' They spoke about how the weather would be that weekend, it was to be very sunny, still very warm but rain was due in too. Kelly's parents were reluctant to let her go, but she managed to convince them that there would be a few of them and she would be safe, they reluctantly agreed. Michaela's, Nicole's and Lindsey parents agreed as long as they didn't go into the unmapped areas. The group was excited, they all began packing for their trip. The girls parents kissed their daughters for the last time, this would be the last time they would ever see them. Lindsey came around 4am on the Friday morning, the sun was starting to rise a little, she went from house to house picking them up, all were exhausted from the early morning start. Lindsey brought a huge flask of coffee, the girls were eager to have a drink to wake themselves up, Lindsey told them the drive was around two hours. The group arrived at Juliet Falls around 6am, the park ranger met them on arrival, he welcomed the girls and gave them a map and his phone number, he also told them the best place to get a cellphone connection in the area. The ranger told them about the unmapped areas and warned them not to go off the beaten track, the girls thanked him and he opened the gates for them and wished them a safe trip. The park ranger was the last to see the girls before they disappeared. The girls drove to the spot were they would pitch their tents, they placed them near a shower and bathroom area. The bathroom had sockets to charge their phones, when they went missing their tents, belongings and Lindsey's car was found there.

The weekend came to a close, the girls never returned, their families worried as hell, they had the police, search and rescue up in the area. The police came back to the parents that some of the girls belongings were found in the unmapped area, where they were frightened beyond belief. The search and rescue teams went up every morning at first light for weeks, to the point they had to call it off. The families and private investigators went up for quite a number of years, they found nothing more, one thing that stood out to Lindsey's mom Freda was once she could swear she heard Lindsey scream out, but no one else heard it. The families tried to blame the park ranger, but he was on shift with another and was mostly at the entrance of the park, with hundreds of witnesses seeing him, the other ranger had to go home sick, his wife and doctor has gave them a solid alibi. The police cleared the rangers from that very first weekend, the private investigator also cleared them. The families began to gradually stop going up, except for the anniversary of the disappearances to lay flowers.

One evening Lindsey's mother received a phone call, it was ten years to the day they disappeared, she had been to park to lay flowers, but the call was from a paranormal investigation team, they were seeking permission from the families to go and investigate the area, Freda was reluctant, but she said, "do whatever man, but all I'll say is stay safe, i will tell you one thing though, i heard my daughters voice once up there, no one else heard it."
The group were named VPRG that stood for Virginia Paranormal Research Group. The paranormal group had gained permission from every family. The group took to the road and arrived before it was dark, they pitched their tents, in the exact same place and got their heads down for the night. They had planned to get to work the next morning, but that wasn't the case. The group collectively heard screams, like the screams of young women, they were shouting for 'help.' Jason and Monica who were the groups psychic mediums, began to feel a very negative energy, the others Jake and Nigel set up cameras, they set up voice recorders and other devices that would alert them to movement. Nigel was the groups parapsychologist, he wasn't an entirely sceptical investigator, he had things happen to him he couldn't debunk or explain. Jake was the devices operator, he held the cameras and built the devices they would use, Nigel couldn't even debunk them through science either. Nigel even tested Jason and Monica, to ensure their gifts were real. Nigel had only just met them and they knew stuff about him only he knew, stuff neither of them could've known. The couple were tested in a lab, making them do various tests before they set up the group, that's when the VPRG was born. Once all the equipment was set up, the group decided to get some sleep, they would review the footage in the morning, the alarmed devices, went off a few times but Nigel told them to wait until the morning to review, that he didn't want them exhausted in the morning and hear and see things through tiredness, they all agreed. They finally fell asleep around midnight and woke up and ate some breakfast. Jake went to fetch the cameras to review, the recorders and the batteries were all dead, which was understandable since they had been on overnight. Jake took the batteries out and put new ones in, he went and charged the others in the bathroom. Jakes face said it all while looking at the footage, he could see the, showing them all, figures of four young women walking towards the camera and disappearing. While listening to the voice recorders they heard the voices of the young women saying help us, they also heard growling, but Nigel tried to try and debunk it by thinking it could've been a bear or wolf. Nigel then said that bears wouldn't be this close, the wolf would've tried to gain access to the tent, as would a bear. There was also footsteps heard in the recording, but they were alone, no one else was camping there. There was a final voice as clear as day, of a young woman saying "be careful if you go to the unmapped area." The park ranger had already told them that almost all of the area has been mapped since the girls went missing, but there's thousands of acres still unmapped. The group made a plan to go onto the newish mapped area first, then made a plan to go to the unmapped area the following day. They had a plan in place so they wouldn't get lost.