The cold hand on her shoulder was only her sister’s. She had followed her off the trail to make sure she was alright. But when her eyes glanced at the book, they grew wide. Clearly, she felt the draw of the artifact too.
The girls sat in the dark woods off the trail and opened the old photo album together. But once they saw the haunting photos within, they leaped up to try and find their way back home. They needed to get out of the trail as soon as they could.
Running for thousands of miles in the Appalachian mountains, there’s a trail that most Americans know about. But most of them are blissfully unaware of the dark side of the trail that no one ever talks about.
The trail is walked by thousands of hikers each year who are excited to get out and explore nature. With such a long trail spanning multiple states, there’s bound to be a little bit of darkness hiding in the light.
Annie and Lisa Edwards lived with their mother in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. The teenage girls loved their childhood. They grew up right by a small but significant part of the Appalachian Trail.
They loved getting immersed in nature and exploring forgotten places when they could. Their mother always warned them about the dangers of going off the trail, but they never listened. One day they would wish they had.
It was a sunny April, and Annie’s birthday was around the corner. She had walked the trail with her mom and her 22-year-old sister, Lisa, for as long as she could remember. But that was the problem. She never got to go out without the supervision of her family.
But that would all change when she turned 18. She knew they couldn’t complain once she was considered an adult. But she had no idea what she would be walking into when her birthday rolled around.
The day rolled around for Annie to be eighteen finally. She had a small celebration with her mother and sister in the morning. She ripped the wrapping paper off of her presents and to her delight she saw a pair of brand new hiking boots!
Her sister winked at her as she looked over. She would soon be putting these to good use, but she, like most people, had no idea what dark secrets the trail held.
After all of the festivities wrapped up, Annie excitedly donned her boots and told her mother she’d be going on the hiking trail. But her mother’s smile turned sour at the mention of going alone.
It was already 5 PM, and it would get dark in the next hour, but Annie knew her mother couldn’t forbid her anymore. And so, against her wishes, she walked towards the entrance to the trail. But she had no idea she had a follower.
What Annie didn’t know was that Lisa decided to follow her sister to make sure she’d be safe. She kept a good distance so Annie could feel the freedom she so desperately craved.
But Lisa had no idea her sister would stumble on a relic of the past that should have been kept that way. And by the time she got to her, it would be too late.
Annie first felt free and liberated by going alone. The smell of the woods and the sound of gravel beneath her boots were all she needed. But the trees took on a more sinister look when it started getting dark.
Her footsteps then sounded way too loud, like they were drawing attention to her. It was getting harder and harder to see the trail ahead. But that’s when she saw something off the trail to her right. It was half covered in the bushes.
The little-known history of the Appalachian trail was all of the missing people who had dared to walk the trail without being in a large group. Since 1974, 11 bodies have been found, and the rest of the missing hikers vanished without a trace.
Many people have gone on the trail, never to come out again, and Annie had no idea that it wasn’t as safe as the community in Harper’s Ferry made it out to be.
After Annie walked off the trail to pick up the book, she felt a weird sensation. The book turned out to be a photo album, and it looked like it had a long history. She couldn’t imagine how old it must have been.
Dozens of thoughts raced through her mind. Whose was it, and why had it been abandoned off the trail? Just as her wonder had turned to dread, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she whipped around.
The cold hand on her shoulder was only her sister’s. She had followed her off the trail to make sure she was alright. But when her eyes glanced at the book, they grew wide. Clearly, she felt the draw of the artifact too.
The girls sat in the dark woods off the trail and opened the old photo album together. But once they saw the haunting photos within, they leaped up to try and find their way back home. They needed to get out of the trail as soon as they could.
The photos inside the book were black and white. There was a military man in a lot of the snapshots, and that’s when they knew the book had to be older than their mother. They felt an eerie sense of dread and decided it best to examine the book back home.
The two got back on the trail and headed home. But once they were in the comfort of their dining room, they still didn’t understand what they possessed.
The book had dozens of photos in it. They soon understood that the album belonged to a man named Samuel J. Baily. He had signed his name in a few of the photos and even written it on the inside cover.
The sisters got a clearer picture of what they had the more they looked through all of the images. They showed the life of a man who had been born more than a hundred years ago.
The images told the sisters that Baily was a military man. He must have brought a camera with him on tour. A lot of the photos were marked 1941. There were snapshots of him and his squad, an old military airplane, and more. The twins grew attached to the man’s life, turning each page in the album like a chapter in his life.
They found photos of a young woman holding a baby near the end. It must have been his wife and child. But they had no idea how sad the truth was.
After a lot of calls, they managed to find the closest living relative to Baily. The baby in the photo is now an 83-year-old woman named Dorothy Baily. She was surprised to hear from them. But even more surprised to hear about her album.
She explained that it was, in fact, her father’s and that she lost it years ago while on the trail. She brought it with her on the trail to feel like her father was still with her. But she was over the moon to know it was safe. She arranged to meet the family so she could get her book back and thank them personally. In order to protect the privacy of those depicted, some names, locations, and identifying characteristics have been changed and are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.
