The Raven’s Report

At about 1:12 in the morning Johnathan Marcos looked out his window to see a heavy snowfall in the hot summer night. Cavalas, a small town in the process of rebuilding after many mysterious and unexplained abandonments, rarely sees any weather temperatures outside of 90 degrees Fahrenheit at this time of year.

Johnathan Marcos was not the only townsfolk to witness this event. Sarah Blackhert, Johnathan’s closest neighbor, also saw the snow out her window.

“I was adjusting my drapes when I noticed a thick snowfall. I went to the porch and put my hand out — it was snow and a whole lot of it.” Sarah Blackhert carried on, “The air was hot and cold at the same time… I really don’t know how to explain what I felt. It was nothing I have felt in snowfall before.”

Of the few people in Cavalas who claimed to have seen the snowfall, they all shared the belief that the snow was not falling for more then 12 or 13 minutes.

Forecasts did not and still do not call for any unusual weather this week in Cavalas or the surrounding areas. This morning Cavalas remains in the low 90′s as the heat continues this summer.

Two men are missing after a day of fishing and noodling on Lake Greystone, and a third is currently being investigated by the Sheriff’s Department for possibly having played a role in the disappearances.

Last Saturday, Clay Matthews and Peter Johnson, were fishing on Lake Greystone when they met Dr. Robert Newhouse, an itenerate professor from Massachusetts, and apparently took him noodling east of Dale Island.

Noodling is the practice of finding holes under the water and placing your arm into it hoping that a large catfish, usually a flatheads, will bite down on the arm, and can be fought to the surface by the fisherman.

“Noodling is a dangerous practice,” according to Golan County Gamewarden Jim Bohay.  “You could just as easily stick your arm into a nest of water mocassins, or disturb an alligator.  Some of those catfish weigh as much as seventy pounds and it is not unknown for noodlers to break their arms, or even be drowned due to this unorthodox practice.”

Local authorities are dredging the area for the bodies of Clay Matthews and Dr. Robert Newhouse, but the bodies have not yet been found.  Divers have been brought in from Houston, and it is hoped that the bodies will soon be recovered.

“The area where the accident happened is not very deep, but there is a channel that runs to a deeper part of the lake with enough flow that the bodies could have been carried further out into the lake,” Bohay explained. “We will find them.”

The Sheriff’s Department is also investigating possible foul play in the case, as “there are questions about what really happened out there that day,”  according to Sheriff Butch Anderson.  Sheriff Anderson stated that Peter Johnson is a “person of interest” in this case and “his story is being investigated.”

“First, though, it is absolutely essential that the bodies of these men be recovered for their families to have closure and to be certain as to what actually happened out there last weekend.”

This article is taken from our upcoming Anthology: Buried Tales of Pinebox and is from One That Got Away, by Preston P. DuBose – A fishing trip on Lake Greystone takes a turn for the strange when best friends Clay and Pete find a body in the water. Things get even more interesting when the body turns out to still be alive!

Preston Dubose is President of 12 to Midnight and he grew up in Pinebox, Texas…or at least someplace similar. His writing credits for the Pinebox setting include Brainwashed and Bloodlines. He is a Christian, a Freemason, a husband, and a father. His blog can be found at flametoad.com.