CAMPFIRE: What Happened In The Woods

Hi, I'm Ashley Flowers, creator and host of the number one true crime podcast, Crime Junkie. Every Monday, me and my best friend Britt break down a new case, but not in the way you've heard before, and not the cases you've heard before. You'll hear stories on Crime Junkie that haven't been told anywhere else. I'll tell you what you can do to help victims and their families get justice. Join us for new episodes of Crime Junkie every Monday, already waiting for you by searching for Crime Junkie wherever you listen to podcasts. This episode was produced with immersive audio. For the best experience, we kindly recommend you listen with headphones. It's easier when they're asleep. Matt, Olive, Jake and Maya held around a pit of ash. They were still awake, awake in telling stories, passing a flashlight from hand to hand, throwing it over the darkness, but looking no further. Above the screaming of crickets, the yawning of trees, and the murder spree of a bat, their voices ran far. Jake had used his air horn on more than one occasion, and Olive, quietly wrapped in her own body bag, was still fighting Matt on every word. Compared to the rest, Maya was mute, mute but keenly aware. Her eyes rarely left the woods, and more than once, she glanced his way. But all she saw was a shadow, an illusion, a tree that looked like a person but surely couldn't be. It's easier when they're asleep, divided into tents, eyes closed, silent. He'd been waiting for hours, and for hours they've sat in a circle telling stories, staying awake. The knife pressed firmly in his hand, he squeezed, pretending to crush their mouth as he forced the knife through living meat. The fantasy doesn't capture their sudden jolt, nor does he feel the pressure as his blade splits through their neck. From this far back, he cannot see their eyes, feel their skin, taste their sweat. It's so much better when they're asleep. Waking up to a bleeding nightmare, so quick they forget to scream. All that emotion, all that fear, concentrated into a single moment. His grip relaxed, and he squeezed again, again and again, reliving the dream, buying time as his patience turned to itch. Oh, I think I'm tired. Yeah, me too. Hold on, are we really gonna end on one of Matt's stories? What's wrong with my story? Actually, that's a very good point. My story was fine. So we're doing another one? Why not? Like you said, Matt, we're only here once a year. Yeah, but… Yeah, but you wanted to go last? No, I'm fine with another story. All I'm saying is… Great. I've got just the thriller to send us off. Flashlight, please. Knock yourself out. I'll compromise and knock your socks off. How about that? Y'all remember my cousin? The one who's a cop? Well, he told me this other story not too long ago about this interview they had and this strange call and this girl who was like full on running for her life and screaming and stuff when… Jake! What? You're giving too much away. Oh, oh yeah. Well, no spoilers. This story involves a patch of woods not unlike our own. Really? My story involved the woods. Relax, Matt. This is a whole new slice of nature that's totally un-nature. All as well. Oh lord, just tell the story before I regret it. Alright, alright. For the grand finale, please gather round and listen close. Alright, you doing okay? Need anything? Coffee? Water? No, thanks. Alright, well, let's get started here then. I just need to, uh, I gotta read this out for the recording and everything. This is Sergeant Mitchell Fay, Weird County PD. Today's date is November 10, 2023, Friday. Is it time? Current time is 2130. I'm here with Miss… Is it… Your full name is Christina? Christina Hadley. People just call me Chris. Chris. Before we start, I have one more thing. I need to read to you and I'll have you sign something. Let me just… Ah! There it is. And then we'll get started. Okay. Alright, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to talk to an attorney prior to any questioning and have them present during any questioning. If you can't afford to hire a lawyer, one will be appointed by the court to represent you before questioning. If you desire one, you may stop questioning at any time by refusing to answer further or by requesting to consult with an attorney prior to continuing with questioning or the making of any statements. That'll sound good? Sure, yeah. And if I could just get you to sign this here, it says I have read the statement of my rights and I understand what my rights are. I am willing to make a statement and answer questions. No promises or threats have been made to me and no pressure or coercion of any kind have been used against me. But I was threatened. Pardon? I said I was threatened? One of the officers last night, he said if I didn't come in that you would find me, then I would be considered armed and dangerous, a danger to myself and the community. And they wouldn't be so nice the next time. He said if I tried to run, they'd let the dogs after me, let them rip me apart. Whoa, whoa, hey, all right. Is that why you assaulted an officer? Hmm? I saw Officer Lawrence when he came in. You did quite a number on him. That would happen. Self-defense? You felt you were being threatened? I didn't mean to do that. I was just out of it and then I was being grabbed. Hey, hey, it's all right. Listen, let's just have you sign this for now and I'll look into that. But for now, let's get on. Yeah, yeah, fine, whatever. Okay, why don't we work backwards? Can you tell me about the scene the officers found you at? Um, what about it? What about it? Well, according to the other officers, it was a pretty upsetting sight. Could you describe it in your own words? Yeah, um, well, it was out by Copper Creek. You know, they've got a few nice hiking trails out there and I had gone there just to walk around, I guess. And I, there was someone else out there, which I mean, I guess that isn't that weird. It was a nice evening out. Other people are allowed to walk out there. Was there someone out there who you believed meant you harm, Miss Hadley? I don't know. I don't. They said, uh, when they found you, you were covered in mud and there had clearly been some sort of struggle. Why was that, Chris? I, it, it wasn't. You wouldn't believe me even if I told you. Miss Hadley, uh, Chris, you may not believe it, but I have heard a hell of a lot of strange things in my time working here and I have seen a hell of a lot of strange things. Whatever happened out there, you can tell me. You're just saying that, saying what you think I want to hear to get me to talk. You'll just lock me up, stamp clinically insane on my file, stick me in some mental hospital somewhere and... Nothing like that is going to happen. Chris, all I want to know is what happened out there so I can figure out how best to help you. Fine. Okay, good. Now, why don't we back up a little bit? Can you start at the beginning? Why'd you go out in the woods to begin with? I started getting phone calls. Alright. When did they start? Like, I don't know, a month or two ago? Probably longer. I didn't really pay attention to them for a while, I think because I just thought they were scam calls. They all showed up as unknown caller and like, I'm not going to pick up the phone for some random number, am I? Was it the same number every time? I think they were different. Maybe some of them were the same, but they kept happening and eventually I started getting them all the time. When I was in class or at work while I was getting ready in the morning, it got so annoying that I started blocking every number that I got one of those calls from, but it didn't really seem to do anything. A couple of other people I knew said they had started getting more junk calls too. My mom for one and my friend Carlos, a couple people I talked to in class, so I figured, hey, I'm going to just be a new scam making the rounds. It'll pass. And I mean, yeah, it did. After about a week, those constant calls just kind of petered out. For a few days, everything was back to normal. And then I got another call. I didn't answer, obviously. I thought it was just another scam, but this one did something the others never did. It went to voicemail. That's not too strange, even for scam calls. Usually it's just some poorly pre-recorded message about renewing your insurance or how you're going to be arrested for tax fraud or something. But when I listened to it, it was just static. Or I thought it was just static. But then I could have sworn I heard breathing. Like someone on the other end of the line breathing into a receiver. It kind of freaked me out to be honest, but it clearly wasn't anything important, so I deleted it. But right as my finger was hitting the delete button, someone started to speak. I only heard the first syllable, but it was like a woman saying, hey, or hello, or something. Look, I don't know. I deleted the message and got on with my life. So, and I'm sorry if I'm not making the connection. How are these phone calls related to your incident in the forest? I'm getting there. Those calls started happening more. But it wasn't just sporadic this time. They happen once a day, every day, quarter to seven. And every time they left a voicemail. Every time I listened to them, it was just that silence. That static that almost sounded like breathing. And every time, I mean, every time. I would listen to see if the caller ever said anything. Some of those voicemails went on for like eight minutes. I didn't even know messages could be that long. And there was always nothing until this split second before I hit delete. When there'd be a slightly garbled, suddenly plosive syllable of some word that would get cut off. Park. Car. I'm. I listened to some of those messages all the way through and nothing until I went to hit delete. Do you still have any of these voice messages on your phone? I don't think so. I deleted most of them and the ones I didn't would just sort of sort of what? Sort of die off. Die. Yeah. Like, I would go into my voicemail app and the screen where one of the little audio players for the message would be sort of glitchy. Like I had cracked my screen where the pixels were all wonky or something. Even though the actual screen was fine and none of my other apps had any problems. It was just like corrupted or something. I don't know. Over the next day or two it would get crannier and glitchier until it was just pop. Gone. And then one day I picked up the phone and there was definitely someone breathing on the other end. Like hard, fast breathing, panicked. But it was still kind of muffled and staticky but it sounded like it was probably a woman just like the other voicemails had been. But this time, every once in a while I could make out her saying something. It was barely audible but it was like lost. Then, oh God. And please. It was still pretty garbled though so I couldn't tell if she was trying to make like a whole sentence. Why didn't you call the authorities? And tell them what? That I've been getting phone calls from ghosts or monsters or something for the past month and a half? That I have no evidence to prove it but trust me because I kind of heard a woman I don't know breathing into the call just don't ask to hear the message because it disintegrated in my phone. Well, when you put it like that. Yeah, that's what I thought. And then in one of the voicemails I heard copper and in another creek. I shouldn't have gone into the woods. I don't know what I was thinking but what I wanted answers. I wanted something to prove that I wasn't making everything up. I wanted to go into the woods and get scared to death by a bunch of deadbeat teens who had been playing the long con for a YouTube video or something. I wanted to see if I was right. So I went out there. I didn't even tell anyone. Didn't bring anything except my phone and my wallet. And you know what? Everything was completely normal. I walked around. It was nice. I saw an old couple looking at birds. I saw a woman with her kids. A few people walking their dogs. Even after it got dark, things were just fine. I mean, I was freaked obviously. Kept jumping every time a branch rustled. But it was just quiet. When I saw a beam of light in the distance, a flashlight, I figured like a freaky monster probably wouldn't use a flashlight to get around the woods. I turned on my own phone light so I wouldn't spook whoever was walking around if we ran into each other or in case it was a hunter or something. But when I turned my light on, the one in the distance flicked off, which weird, but not that weird. So I kept walking around. I was getting ready to call the night a failure or I mean a success, I guess. I didn't get murdered in the woods. Call that a job well done. But it's still... Anyway, I was about to head back to my car when I saw another person. They weren't too far away, but I couldn't really make them out. A smudge of slightly darker shadow and the green-black backdrop. So I pointed my light towards them and it... I saw. Sorry. It's alright. Take your time. I saw... someone. Something. Their back was to me about 25 feet away and I mean they looked human. Of course they would look human though, right? I mean it was a human, I think. When I first saw it, her, I was kind of relieved. It was much less worrying coming across another girl my age and like, I don't know, a random dude twice my age. And I... God, it was so stupid of me. My first instinct was to talk to her. See if she wanted to walk back to the parking lot together. I barely thought twice about it. I started to walk over, but when I stepped forward, so did she. I stopped. I thought maybe I startled her or she was doing her own thing. I waited, but she didn't move anymore and she hadn't turned around to see me. So I stepped forward again. And again she stepped in time with me. And like, at this point I figured she had to know what was happening. That maybe it really was some kids fucking around. So I called out to her. You know, haha, very funny. I get it. Can we please all get out of the woods now? But the thing, the girl, was just silent. I ran my flashlight over the nearby trees to see if there were any other people like hiding out, but it all looked empty. And then I got this, like, this sick feeling in my throat. And that tingly sense you get in your back when you're being chased like your skin is bracing for being touched, you know? I looked back at the girl and she was just gone. And fuck that. I mean, I'd had enough of the creepy Blair wood shit and now there was some weirdo I didn't even know sneaking around the woods. I just, I was done. I kept looking around, figured she couldn't have run off far. I almost didn't see her. Looked right by her before realizing what I had seen. There she was. Standing a little closer, maybe 20 feet off to my right now. 15. Except this time she was standing so I could see her profile. Just standing, arms at her sides, facing forward. It was then that I realized who she was, that I saw my face. I felt like I was in a dream. Like, like this couldn't be real, you know? There? Her? I'm sorry. I don't know. Like, how do you even talk about that? Like, I could describe it, but I mean, do I need to describe her when you can just look at me and know what I saw? Give the details as you remember it. For the recording's sake. Um, okay. I mean, she was wearing the same clothes as me. Jeans, a plain dark sweater. Even her hair was the same. I just stood there, shocked stupid. And then slowly and smoothly, the other me turned her head to the right to mirror my pose. And I was looking at the back of her, my head again. I tried to leave, walking backwards so I could keep my flashlight on that thing so she wouldn't leave my side again and appear somewhere else. But then, she just started walking backwards too, so I couldn't gain any distance on her. One of her arms was outstretched. She was holding something, just like I was holding my phone. I had to keep glancing behind me so I wouldn't trip over roots. But looking back meant that she looked back. Looked at me. And when I would turn back around, it was like there was a delay in her movements. And I would see her face. She looked focused, determined. That was it. I had to get out of there. And I wasn't that far away from the car, so I turned and ran. Over the blood rushing in my ears, I could hear the crashing of leaves and foliage as she broke into a run behind me, sprinting after me. I was being chased now. And what's worse is that it felt like those woods just went on forever. Like, I didn't think I was too far from the car. But I realized that I was so focused on keeping the distance between me and that thing that she must have been staring us through the trees without me really noticing. I thought I was gonna die in those woods. So I did what you're told since you were a little kid when there's an emergency. Call 911. So I did. Or I tried. I don't know if the call went through. I think I had spotty reception. But I guess they got something. Because the cop showed up not too long after. After she... After she what? Well, since I had my phone up to my ear, I didn't have the flashlight pointing up ahead and the woods kept getting denser. I wasn't really paying attention to my surroundings and I tripped, slid down this muddy slope that led into a clearing. When my vision settled, I was on the ground and the damp soil and underbrush bruised and scraped up and then I saw me walking down the slope like she had all the time in the world. I scrambled to get back on my feet but I twisted my ankle pretty badly in the fall. And then she was just there in front of me. She pinned my shoulders to the ground with her knees, got her hands around my throat and just looked at me. And she just looked like me. I thought maybe up close she looked like a monster but it was just me. I'm pretty sure she was crying. That's... That's when she tried to... I mean, I don't know if you've ever been strangled before but I kind of don't remember a lot of it. I remember trying to fight, trying to get her off me, you know? I think I did at one point but she just grabbed my ankle and dragged me back, got me pretty good in the nose but I couldn't breathe. I could barely see. I thought I was going to die. That's... I mean, that's when the police showed up I guess. I was blacking out so it's fuzzy. I heard shouting but I didn't really understand what was going on. Then there was just loads of men with guns pointed at me. I didn't mean to hurt that officer. I just thought I guess I was still in fight or flight. I didn't know why they were there. Do you remember seeing the other woman run away? No. It was like one second she was there, the next she was gone. I guess she left when she heard the cops come. And they didn't... They never found me, the other one. Not yet, no. But evidence of a struggle does lend credence to your statement. Okay. So is that it? I mean, can I go? We're going to keep you overnight. Make sure everything's in order. Just a precaution. Fine. I get a phone call though, right? Yeah. Officer Mills here can take you now. Make your phone call and we'll get you set up for the night. Mills? Miss Hadley certainly appears in possession of all her faculties. Medical already cleared her. No psychosis, no concussion. This, with the signs of struggle and eyewitness accounts placing Miss Hadley in the woods during the time of the incident. I do not believe Miss Hadley has fabricated the event she's recounted. In fact, it's my recommendation we treat this as a confidential case with all the severity that entails. Now, what I find most notable is that Miss Hadley shows no sign of bruising, a broken nose or physical trauma of any sort to her throat, despite her claims of suffocation. I spoke to Lawrence after they brought her in. According to him, Chris was found kneeling in the dirt alone, staring down at her hands. She wasn't responsive when they tried talking to her. Lawrence has got on record himself admitting he got worked up, and he had a little bit of a dremel in him. He didn't know why he reacted like that, just that something wasn't right about her. He could just feel it. Emergency dispatch received a call around the same time Miss Hadley indicated. It was over poor reception, but was definitely made by a person in distress. I avoided this detail in our interview, the call was placed at 6.48pm. Maybe it's irrelevant, yet I find it interesting that the voicemails placed to Miss Hadley were done at the same time. There's a lot about this case that reminds me of Blair's obsession from 2010. But I'm not so sure. In Chris's case, there's no body, no wounds, and as far as we know, Fort Hayes wasn't getting any calls. I can't find the link. I'll go on record myself to say this. It is my professional opinion we keep Chris under careful supervision until we can get some answers and identify this anonymous caller. The story was over, and now there is only silence. Uh, you okay? You look kinda... dead. He raised his head startled. Throughout Jake's story, Matt's mind was somewhere else, lost within a maze of mirrors. Despite the little differences, the tale was tinted with deja vu. Now here he was, thrust within the present, where eyes felt magnified and where he thought, surely they see it too. This stranger sitting before them. He was ready to confess his darkest fears, but he was Olive who spoke next. Where did you hear that story? Uh, I told you, my cousin. If you liked that one, you should hear about this doctor who... No Jake, how does he know that story? Was he there? Uh, maybe? I don't think so. Probably not. These stories are like souvenir shot glasses. They all got one to share and do. Are... you alright? Yeah, no. Um... Well, I have this roommate back at school who went to a bad party, or... I thought it was, but I don't know your story. It sounded just like hers. Whoa, shit. Are you being serious? What happened? Is she okay? Yeah, what did she say? It's... look, it's not my story to tell. She's my friend and it's personal to her. And, uh, besides, the more I think about it, it was different. I mean, there was a set of stairs, but no forest. And like, it's just a scary story. Right? I think I've heard my year's worth. Uh, yeah. Me too. So, are we... done for the night? I mean, yeah, if you want. It's pretty late. The sun will be up in a few hours. Yeah. Shit. Huh? You see that? See what? It was right there. Where? Right there, right between your eyes and stuff on your... on your face that look of fear. Jake! Oh! Not cool. Yeah, really not cool. Come on. Y'all been living on Elm Street too long. When does the Scooby-Doo marathon? What are you talking about? I'm saying relax. The sun rises in a few hours, right? Yeah. Well, that's more than enough time. Come on, let's hear a joke. Or Maya, what about that handsome stranger showing up in your reels? What? Are you stalking my Instagram? I'm an OG IG. I stalk everyone's Instagram. Whoa, wait. Maya, are you seeing someone? It's not like that. They play pickleball. Oh my gosh. Well... What's his name? Does he like camping? Hey, there's an idea. Well, I asked, but he had to watch his niece this weekend. She invited him. This is serious. Matt, Olive, Jake and Maya stayed away throughout the night. Their voices met the sun bright and early, wholly undisturbed by their hidden VIP member. The stranger had left. Halfway through Jake's story, his patients wore out. For now, the killer goes hungry. He's always hungry. He's unlikely to challenge this forest again. His hunting ground goes far. From east coast to west, spring through winter, he's always on the prowl, always waiting at the edge of light, stalking through your camp at night. So you would be wise to watch your back, because it's quite possible. He's watching you too. Full Body Chills is an audio-chuck production. This episode was written by Quinn Newell and read by Shannon Hemings and Christopher Swindle. Intro Outro, written by David Flowers and read by Ashley Flowers, Idris Jones, Kirsten Lee, Nathan Nokes, and Shai Sharay. So, what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? Everyone's told a lie, but what happens when one lie becomes a life, a movement, a conspiracy? I'm Josh Dean, host of Chameleon, and I uncover true stories of deception scams so intimate and convincing they fooled the people closest to them. These aren't strangers, they're lovers, friends, and trusted allies, because the most dangerous cons don't feel like crimes, they feel personal. Listen to Chameleon wherever you get your podcasts.