07/03
So now we’re starting to get to the part that you probably want to hear about: some of my experiences at Fort Deitrich. Where to even start with this? At the beginning, I suppose.
My first few incursions were fairly uneventful. I usually come in through the southern end by Little Deitrich, because it’s the closest part to Burkettsville, and walking through there gives you a chance for your eyes to acclimatise to the dark before you reach anything interesting. Also, the old fence is down in several places, so you can drive right in and hide your truck in amongst the scattering of sentry buildings that surround the front gate.
After wandering the streets of Little Deitrich to familiarise myself with the layout a few times, I decided that there wasn’t really too much for me to see in a load of decaying old houses, so I planned my next move: exploring the further reaches of the base. Unsurprisingly, Google Earth doesn’t show up any results for Deitrich’s location, but if you look on the right sites (like the ones hosted by John Greenewald & co) you can get yourself some pretty detailed schematics of the place. Having ascertained that walking to the places I wanted to go was definitely not an option, I bought myself a fairly decent mountain bike and spent a couple of weeks mastering the thing (for some reason I’d never bothered to learn how to ride a bike as a kid; I guess walking the wild woods always just appealed to me more).
Thus enabled, I set off for the more exotic of Deitrich’s locations. My destination? Command and Control of course! Where better to start learning the dirty secrets of Deitrich, I thought. In retrospect, I should maybe have started off with the barracks, but then again, that’s where I now believe that some of Them live. But at least with the barracks, I might have been prepared for some of the stuff that happened later. On the other hand, maybe I wouldn’t be here to write this account. Who ever said that hindsight is 20/20?
C&C wasn’t half as interesting as I thought it would be. Lots of empty offices and meeting rooms that just kind of reminded me of closed-down school buildings. Once I thought I’d found something good when I came across a room that had obviously been forgotten in the move-out process. Filled with locked filing cabinets, I had dreams of getting into them and discovering a wealth of information that would force the generals behind Deitrich’s nefarious plots to answer to the American people for what they have done. However, when I came back the next night with a crowbar, to my disappointment I found them to be filled with nothing more than purchase logs and staff transferral requests, and so I left them where they were (don’t worry though, I’ve since come to realise that there might be documents of real value there and, despite my loathing to go that far into the base these days, I’ve transported the majority of the records back to a small lockup I hired in town for that specific purpose; I’m slowly working my way through them during the daylight hours, but it’s tough going).
Disillusioned with C&C, I looked for somewhere else to explore. As there was a storage complex relatively close to C&C, that was where I directed my attentions next.
The storage buildings are a series of large warehouses situated about five minutes ride from C&C. Based on some of the old cartons and labels I found lying around, I guess they were mostly used to keep the everyday supplies like food, replacement clothing and bathroom essentials, but there is one absolutely cavernous building which I think was maybe a hanger, judging by the dried oil on the ground and the overgrown helipad markings a couple hundred feet away.
This was where I had my first, but unfortunately not last, encounter with the realities of Fort Deitrich.
Growing tired of encountering nothing but room after room of empty racks, shelves and supply hoppers, I decided to have one last look around before choosing my next destination. After sweeping through the actual storage facilities with an speed which belied my eagerness to get somewhere good, I finally came to the hangar.
When I approached the small entrance to the left of the main cargo doors (I didn’t like to use those for some reason) I noticed a scattering of what appeared to be rose petals near the wall a few feet off. I hadn’t picked up on them on my previous visits to the storage area but, this being early spring, I wrote it off as the work of the wind despite the fact that I’d never seen any real flowers growing in Deitrich’s grounds (well, aside from the weeds, but you can tell the difference between real flower petals and those withered-looking things that pass for them in the scrubland).
When I went in this time however, there was a *definite* difference to the place. It was nothing I could quite put my finger on, just a feeling that the hangar wasn’t as dead as it made itself out to be. After assuring myself that the odd creak I heard coming from the supports was just an old building settling after the heat of the day, I made my way inside.
Now, if you’ve ever seen a movie with scenes of a working hangar in it, you’ll know what this place looked like. If you look close, you can tell where the heavy machinery has been unbolted from the floor, the tool carts had once been moved back and forth, and where the reasons for the building existing had been wheeled in and out. The ceiling was maybe sixty feet above my head, and was little more than a network of crossbeams and now-dead fluorescent strips hanging in the gloom. A slim row of grimy windows runs around the walls about forty feet up, although I don’t think they would have provided much light even in the daytime. Like I said a while back folks, always carry your flashlight.
As my beam couldn’t penetrate to the far walls, and I hadn’t really done much other than scout this place when I first came through, I decided that my best course of action would be to walk my way around the inside walls, reach the door I’d come in at, and call it a night.
So, bravely walking the walls alone (as fate would have it, Buddy had been sprayed by a skunk three days prior, and there was no way I was going to allow him to stink up my car by coming with me, regardless of how much he whined) I reached the half-way point of the second wall before realising that something wasn’t right. The creaks in the rafters had continued, albeit quietly and infrequently, and they seemed to me to have followed me as I walked. Looking up, I pointed my flashlight to the roof, but no matter how hard I looked, I just couldn’t see anything. Telling myself that it was just the creepiness of a long-abandoned building that was getting to me, I walked on a few paces, and that’s when I saw them: in the beam of my flashlight, a fluttering of petals.
Instantly pointing the light to where I thought they had come I saw a strip light swinging far more than simple structural settling could account for. A second later, I heard a growl. Not a deep growl you understand, like you’d expect from a wolf or a bear to make, but an odd, high-pitched little noise that nevertheless sent a chill down my spine.
That was enough for me. I turned and ran for the big doors, through which I could see just a little of the starry sky. Even at top speed (I’m a pretty fit guy, remember) travelling the three hundred feet back to that light seemed to take forever, and all the way I could hear little creaks and groans, accompanied by what sounded like the soft slap of small paws on metal, coming from above and behind me.
Bursting from the door like a bat out of Hell I made straight for the place I had stowed my bike. To my utter shock, standing next to the carpet of petals which now surrounded it was Buddy, and he was facing back the way I had come, teeth bared and looking like he was ready to tackle a tiger. I jumped on, and the two of us raced back to the SUV as fast as we could before driving home with an abandon which would make a stock car driver blanche.
Two days later, I had to have my car detailed. Buddy had properly stunk the thing to high heaven, but seeing that dog waiting for me was one of the greatest moments of my life. I guess he knew where I was going and, not wanting to be left out, had followed me there over the course of the evening. I don’t know how much inner strength that mutt has, but I’m glad that he does.
As for what I came across? I have no idea. I didn’t actually catch sight of them, but I’ve seen the petals a few times in my further explorations of Deitrich. When I see them, I bug out as fast as I can. One thing that bothers me about whatever those things are, is this: every time I’ve caught sight of the petals since then, I swear I can hear what sounds like the faintest music in the distance.
Well, that’s it for today. Next time I’ll tell you more about what has happened to me in Deitrich.