hidval

THE HIDDEN VALLEY HORROR
by John H. Leisgang

This story was related to me by my cousin. He grew up on a farm in SE Minnesota on a ridge top. His father, one uncle and his grandfather had snow white hair for as long as my cousin could remember. Whenever he asked any one of them why their hair was snow white while his other 4 uncles had dark brown hair they would get a far away look in their eyes and not say a word. He could only wonder. When he was 19, his Grandfather died without revealing the secret. 10 years later his uncle died also without explaining the reason for his white hair. Then his father died and at the reading of the will he was given an envelope marked 'for your eyes only - do not reveal the contents until 1990'. He opened the envelope and found this story inside.

Your Great-grandfather was one of the first settlers in this area and had very little money to buy food. He would frequently hunt for deer and other game to put meat on the table and grew all the other food that was needed. When your grandfather was 10 he went hunting and wounded a deer. He followed the deer by a trail of blood into an area that he was not familiar with. When he came across the now dead deer he realized that he was in a valley that was new to him. He gutted the deer and cut it into quarters to make it easier to take home. He decided to make 2 trips out of the valley so he took two quarters and climbed up the deer trail to the top of the ridge.

He hid the two quarters and decided to try and find a different and easier way into and out of this hidden valley. After a short search he found a foot path that promised to ease carrying the 2 remaining quarters out of the valley. On the way down he started hearing someone chopping wood. He went down almost to the bottom when he saw a cabin through the trees. There was a man in front of the cabin chopping wood. So he walked out of the woods and greeted the stranger. It was then that he noticed that the man was dressed in a strang looking, almost transparent leather that looked like human shin.

The man returned his greeting and invited him ihto the cabin for some coffee. He accepted and went into the cabin. Inside he noticed that the chairs were covered with the same kind of leather that the man was wearing. There was a large pot on the stove and something was in the pot being cooked. It gave off a strange somewhat sweet aroma. The man gave him a cup of coffee without having one himself. This made him suspicious so, after taking a very small sip he spilled the rest on the dirt floor. The man excused himself for a moment and went out for more wood to keep his pot boiling. Grandpa took a quick look in the pot and was horrified to find the upper part of a human leg being cooked. He immediately ran out of the cabin and, forgetting about his deer, ran all the way home.

The next day, when he woke up, his hair had turned snow white from the fright that he had the day before. He told his oldest son, your grandfather, about it and swore him to secrecy. Well the son had to see for himself, so he went and also found the hidden valley. No one was in sight so he walked up to the cabin and peered through the window. Nothing seemed to be amiss inside. He looked around a little more and saw a shed. When he looked inside he was both startled and horrified to see a human body hung up and dressed out like a deer.

He let out a scream and jumped out of the shed. When he turned he saw a man dressed as his father had described on the other side of the clearing. He turned and, stumbling over a pile of bones, ran to the trail out of the valley. He could hear the man coming behind him so he ran harder and faster until he was home. His father took one look at him and knew what he had done because his hair was now snow white as well. All this happened in 1898.

Years passed and your grandfather married and had 5 sons and 4 daughters. He never said a word about the hidden valley until in 1920 his 2 oldest sons, your uncle and I, pressed him for the story of his white hair. He relented and told us the story with the understanding that we would stay away from the hidden valley. We agreed with our fingers crossed. After hearing the story we waited for a month or so and our curiosity over came our good judgement.

We searched for the hidden valley and found it right where dad had said we would. We walked down the trail and came to a clearing at the bottom. There was a cabin and shed as described and, to our surprise, there was smoke coming from the chimney. We crept up to the cabin and peered through a window. There was a large pot on the stove and an old man dressed in the strange looking leather was stirring the pot.

We next went to the shed and saw a huge pile of bones, all human looking, next to it. We checked out the shed and saw two bodies hanging there like deer. Only they were a child and what seemed to be a woman. We both screamed and ran for the trail. The man came out of the cabin and took a shot at us with a shotgun. Fortunately he was using bird shot and we were too far away to get killed. We were both hit but not severely wounded. We ran all the way home without looking back. Dad knew immediately where we had been because our hair was now snow white also.

I never told you this story before because I knew that you too would go looking for the hidden valley and I didn't want you to go through what I had if the old man was still alive. He knew me very well. After reading the letter I did go looking and I did find the clearing and cabin. The cabin was in ruins and the clearing over grown. I searched and found a large pile of bones next to the old shed and what appeared to be a skeleton on the floor under two leg bones hanging from a rafter. When I checked the ruined cabin I found a skeleton on the floor in a shirt and trousers of strange looking leather. I also found several chairs covered with the same leather. I took the shovel and buried the skeleton and all the bones. I then found some kerosene and spread it around and burned the cabin and shed. Once the fire was going I left and never went back.