Revenge of The Ghost River Howler Traditional Cache
bitbrain: The Ghost River Howler has had his revenge once again.
Revenge of The Ghost River Howler
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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A small note of caution:
If you happen to fall over at the cache site, it is quite possible
that you will drown before you can extract yourself from the deep,
sucking mud of the swamp. Please don't go in there alone.
Revenge of the Ghost River Howler
Many strange events have occurred in this cypress and tupelo swamp.
These events have been passed down through the oral histories of
the region’s inhabitants. The most frightening of these
stories, perhaps, are those centered on a hairy, bipedal creature
whose name translates roughly to The Howler in English.
Recent theories and research suggest that the Ghost River Howler
may be related to the Fouke Monster, Swamp Ape, Sasquatch and
Bigfoot. Unlike these creatures, though, the Howler is described as
being only about five feet in height. Witnesses do say that its
feet are large in proportion to its body, but no plaster casts have
been made since the Howler has never been spotted outside the Ghost
River area.
The most distinctive characteristics that Howler witnesses have
reported are a haunting, plaintive howl or wail like a coyote
trying to sing La Traviata and a stench reminiscent of the
port-a-lets at the Beale Street MusicFest. The vocalizations are
sometimes described as almost human while the aroma is nearly
always described as inhuman.
In 1986, three college students left LaGrange on a Saturday float
trip through the Ghost River. They expected to be at Bateman Bridge
by mid-afternoon and back to Memphis for the Saturday night
parties. Four hours into the trip, the guys all caught the scent of
something awful. Accusations flew regarding the source of the odor,
but it became obvious that this was not anyone’s
flatulence.
They saw what they took to be a person wading through the swamp
ahead and called out to him. The fellow made a guttural sound and
appeared to motion for them to follow. This was their mistake. They
deviated from their planned course and followed this guy into the
swamp. After only a few minutes, the guys had lost sight of the
mysterious swamp man and decided to head back to the channel. A
cold rain began to fall and a heavy mist settled across the Ghost
River.
The three students back-tracked and searched for the river channel.
It was nowhere to be found. As darkness began to close in, the guys
were wet, cold and despondent. They wondered why they had even
followed the swamp wader. Their food was long gone, as was their
fresh water. Dressed in shorts and t-shirts for an easy day-trip,
they were not prepared for what they knew they were about to endure
– spending a night in their canoe, in the swamp.
There were many times during the night when the students could
smell the swamp man nearby and hear his howls through the trees.
Sometimes it sounded like he was right beside them. Sometimes it
sounded like he was at water level. Sometimes the sounds seemed to
come from high in the cypress. The students were terrified,
paralyzed with fear and hypothermic. Not one of them slept a minute
through that night.
As the sun rose, they heard a car go by not too far away. Looking
up, they saw power lines overhead. These signs of hope lifted their
spirits because they knew the power lines were only a couple of
hundred meters upstream from Bateman Road. With renewed vigor, they
paddled toward the west and soon found themselves in the river
channel and in sight of the bridge.
After twenty-two years, I was finally ready to face my fears and
revisit the Ghost River. I hid a cache (GC1BVNR) in honor of my two
friends, neither of whom wishes to be identified. That cache,
though hidden deep in the swamp, went missing three times. I
believe it was the the Howler that was taking my caches. This new
cache is, therefore, named The Revenge of The Ghost River
Howler.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
nzzb pna gvrq gb n gerr fb vg fubhyq or rnfl gb svaq, evtug?
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