The Circular Clearing

Originally posted in early July of 2008:

This story was recorded on June 16, 2007. I was in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho for a wedding. On our way to the reception, my friend, Meghan S, shared this short, ominous, story which takes place in Pierce County, Washington:

So, one day, about ten years ago, I was exploring with my cousins and we decided that we were going to go into the forest, and as we're walking through the forest, we find a little section that's been chained off. It very clearly states "Do not enter," "Property of the government," "Loads not enter," blah blah blah, no trespassing, whatever. So, of course, inquiring minds have to find out what's behind these chains, so we start exploring; and we're walking, about twenty minutes into it, the forest, although fairly dense, you know, all of sudden we start to see... not so much. And as we get closer, it's a completely clear area with no trees, no bushes, no nothing. It's a perfect circle with trees and forests all around it; just a perfect clearing of circle, and so we freak out because we're not quite sure what this is suppose to mean. We're not suppose to be back there, so we start running, and then... that's pretty much the end of my story.

Meghan would have been about thirteen at the time (she later estimated that the year was about 1995,) the perfect age for exploring and mistrusting authority. While I find it an interesting (and worth pointing out) that this incident would have taken place at the height of "X Files" popularity, it is also important to note that Megan comes from a military family, and has heard her share of strange stories. She is also extremely down to earth, and not one to regularly jump to strange conclusions.

After I had recorded it, Megan began to feel that this story had been a bit bland, but I disagree. I think it's a perfect example how we see the world at this age.