CASE FILE 003 — THE PINEHURST GAP

🗓️ March 3rd, 2023

Another hiker went missing in what’s unofficially known as “The Pinehurst Gap,” a densely wooded corridor outside of Rainier National Forest, Washington. That makes eleven recorded disappearances in the same two-mile zone. The GPS on the missing man’s phone froze at 4:33 PM, showing a narrow ridge path not listed on any public trail map. The final text to his girlfriend simply read:

“Pretty view. There’s a light.”

📰 The Pinehurst Record

Published October 14th, 1976

Archived scan recovered from microfilm, now missing from original reel:

*“...the second disappearance in less than two weeks has officials rethinking the area’s accessibility. Ranger Daniel Keyes was last seen entering the tree line near Widow’s Turn Trail, a locally avoided path west of Pinehurst Ridge. Witnesses claim to have heard faint whistling and—unusually—what sounded like a rotary phone ringing from the woods. When investigators arrived, they found no trail markers and Keyes’ boot prints... ended in a perfect circle.*

‘It’s like something just picked him up off the ground,’ said Sheriff Milo Cray. ‘There’s no sign of struggle. No direction. Just... gone.’”*

📜 TIMELINE SNAPSHOT: Known Disappearances

1953 – Boy Scout troop leader (never located)

1976 – Ranger Daniel Keyes (officially presumed dead)

1994 – Two backpackers found disoriented 18 miles north; said they’d only walked for "ten minutes”

2006 – Paranormal researcher Alice Trennor vanished mid-documentary; camera recovered without footage

2023 – Hiker Jonah Reeves. Phone recovered. No trace of Jonah.

🎙️ UNRELEASED SEARCH & RESCUE AUDIO LOG – [PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT]

Date: March 4th, 2023

Personnel: Officer Marcus Leavitt, Search Team Bravo

[REDACTED FILE – Recovered from body cam before battery failure]

*“Alright, I’m on the ridge now. Light’s starting to fade.…Okay that’s weird. There's—what is that? There’s a path here that wasn’t here before. It’s like the trees moved.”*

(heavy breathing)

“Wait, I hear something. Hello? Is that—"Ringing"? Who the hell has a landline out here?”

(sound of leaves crunching, rapid movement)

“Dispatch I think I see—wait, that’s not possible. That’s… oh God. That’s Daniel Keyes. He’s not—"

Transmission ends. Marcus Leavitt has not been recovered.

🧾 ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE – POSTCARD FOUND AT TRAILHEAD

An unmailed postcard was found wedged between two rotted planks of the old Pinehurst observation deck, bearing no stamp. It reads:

“The Gap doesn’t take you. It lets you forget what’s real long enough to take yourself.” — D.K.

👁️ THEORIES UNDER REVIEW

Localized time-slip phenomenon - supported by altered perceptions in recovered witnesses:

Auditory lure mechanism - all witnesses report hearing something familiar calling them

Hidden installation or visual hallucination field - possibly related to military tech decommissioned in the 60s

Memetic hazard - reading about the Pinehurst Gap correlates with vivid dreams and sleep disturbances in 37% of researchers

Current recommendation - Area should be sealed off. Not for public safety... but because it doesn’t want to be remembered. Next update pending if we get another survivor. Or if one of us makes it out.

CASE ADDENDUM:

📓 RECOVERED JOURNAL PAGE – TROOP LEADER LOUIS MELLER (1953)

*“Camped by the pine bluff tonight. Scouts are asleep. Strange to hear birds this late... no moon out, but it sounds like whistling. I walked twenty yards to check the edge of camp. Everything looked the same. But when I turned back, it wasn’t there. The firelight was gone. I stood still and listened. One of the boys Timothy, I think, was behind me. He said: "Mr. Meller, we’re still here. We’re just not all the way here yet." He didn’t blink when I looked at him. He smiled and said it again. Then he walked backward into the trees. I still haven’t found the camp. But I can hear the fire now… under my feet.”*

👤 WITNESS ACCOUNT – LENA GRAY, SISTER OF MISSING PERSON (1982)

“My brother Jack disappeared out there in ’82. He was 17. We searched for days. Nothing... Then a month later, he came home. No shoes. No coat. Looked like he hadn’t eaten. But he was clean. Too clean. He smiled at me and said: "You didn’t leave a light on. That’s why it took longer." His eyes were wrong. Not empty… just old. Like something had watched too much. He never slept. He stared at the walls like he was waiting for them to answer. Jack hung himself the following spring. He wrote one line in the note:

"It’s still trying to fit inside me.’”

🔍 FIELD AGENT LOG – ABORTED MISSION (1998)

“I turned back. I admit it. The GPS froze. I kept walking forward and saw the back of my own head pass through a clearing. I called out to myself. It didn’t answer. I heard my own voice reply from the trees behind me, saying something I never said. I dropped the mission. I dropped the gear. I still hear my own voice whispering things at night. I haven’t listened to it fully yet. I’m afraid it’ll sound like me.”

🖼️ REDACTED IMAGE FOOTNOTE (THERMAL SATELLITE DATA)

Note: Image 44-B classified due to anomaly.

Caption: “Unidentified heat signature... stationary, humanoid shape, observed standing 15 feet above tree canopy. Remained visible for 6 minutes, without movement. Observer noted: "It wasn’t glowing… it was absorbing the cold around it."

🎙️ FINAL TRANSMISSION — PARTIAL

*“…You think it’s the woods, but it’s not. It’s the space between things. The un-walked gap. It waits in angles. In pauses. And when you finally stop and listen... when you actually stop, it asks:

‘How long have you been missing?’”

END OF TRANSMISSION