This took place on a sunny afternoon in August, 2000. My boyfriend and I were having a picnic at a campsite in the Monte Cristo forest, near Huntsville, Utah. It was after Labor Day, so there weren't any other people around, and the campsite was just a few feet away from the Ogden river.
We had just settled ourselves at the picnic table when I glanced over at some bushes clustered at the edge of the campsite. I saw the face of a man staring at me, and the expression on his face was chilling. Malevolent hatred, mixed with a kind of leer, is the best way to describe it. I was shaken and terrified, but had my boyfriend go and check it out. "Nobody there," was his amused response. At that point, I felt compelled (don't ask me why, I should have run like hell!) to go over and investigate for myself. As I approached the bushes, I felt a real sense of evil, but thought that it was probably because I expected to feel that way. However, it quickly became overwhelming, especially as I got closer to the river. I found myself literally unable to go any further, and I felt such horrible fear. I was trembling, but once back at the picnic table, I felt calmer.
Then something really strange happened. I felt like I was watching a movie, filmed in the late 19th century. A large group of people had come up the canyon for a church outing, and one of them was a middle-aged man who was respected and trusted. He had been a part of the community for a long time, a "pillar of the community," but I knew that he wasn't what he seemed. One of the group, a young girl, about 18 years old, wandered away from the rest of the group. I think that she was dressed in a summery pastel dress, wearing a large-brimmed straw hat. This man noticed her movements and followed her, and I think that he caught up with her at the river. He assaulted her and then killed her and then threw her into the river.
I think that he was never suspected, and that she was considered a victim of drowning. I also believe that he had killed other girls, but there wasn't DNA or anything in those days, and he was so well thought of. I hope that I can find some proof of these things. I really believe that something very evil and very terrifying happened at that spot. Maybe I just happened to be there on the anniversary of the event... I don't know, but I would never camp there for any amount of money.
