ANONYMOUS: Are you recording, now?
SAMSON ERWIN: Yes, [REDACTED.], I've turned the tape recorder on just now. Anything you say will be on record. Do you consent to this?
ANONYMOUS: Yes, Sir.
SAMSON ERWIN: Good. Let's begin. Why don't we start while it's fresh in your mind. Can you tell us what you were doing on that day, [REDACTED.]?
ANONYMOUS: (a shaky breath.) I'd just pulled over for the night. I do these deliveries often, you hear? Often in the middle of nowhere, so when I had to be all by myself in the middle of those fuckin' woodlands I didn't quite mind. (a laugh) I just wasn't expecting company.
SAMSON ERWIN: What'd you see first?
ANONYMOUS: The fire. My God, the fire was huge. It started off as just this little blinking light between the trees, and I wanted to mind my business in my truck eating my damn sandwich. Then that light got brighter.. and brighter.. until I swore it was gonna burn the forest down. But it ain't even touch the wood, just sat there while I saw figures movin' around it.
SAMSON ERWIN: What made you step outside to investigate?
ANONYMOUS: Normally I'd just mind my fuckin' business, but my daughter had just had a project on fire safety the day prior. (a laugh) Made me think back to it, so I decided 'why don't I do something good for the day?' never fuckin' realized it'd make me end up here. I would've driven a million miles away if it meant I didn't go through what I did.
SAMSON ERWIN: Go on.
ANONYMOUS: I took my gun with me. I got a license, now, don't you worry, so it was perfectly within my right. I shoved my way through the trees and all the fucked up little branches to make my way towards this fire that just.. felt like it kept getting brighter. I was starting to sweat from the heat but I was so far away at that point, still.
SAMSON ERWIN: Do you think it could've just been your nerves making you sweat?
ANONYMOUS: Maybe that was part of it, but I swore it was that damn heat. Out in these parts in this season with these sort of cold nights? I know it was that damn fire.
SAMSON ERWIN: I see. Please, continue.
ANONYMOUS: That's when I started.. (throat clear) That's when I started to see those people. Dancing.. no, just.. walking around that fucking fire. It was huge and they were so close, but they took it like fuckin' champs. Saying some words in a language I couldn't recognize, a language I'd never heard before. I was so mesmerized.. maybe even a little scared, so I just stayed and watch.
SAMSON ERWIN: You mentioned in a previous retelling that these individuals did not look ordinary?
ANONYMOUS: Yes, sir. These.. these things, they looked human from far away. But when I got closer, they were anything but. They were completely black, dark as night, with.. with glowing white eyes, and these awful, crooked grins. (a few heavy breaths, sounds of gulping water.) They were like walking shadows, almost, moving in time with the crackles of the fire. Their voices sounded warped, almost, and the closer I had gotten the more I felt it got into my head.
SAMSON ERWIN: And you're sure that's what you saw?
ANONYMOUS: I'm fuckin' positive, dude!- Sir, sorry-.. I.. I'm done with not being believed. I know what I saw. I couldn't move, and I thank God none of them did anything to me. I just had shakes for days. I stood there for what felt like hours until I finally go the courage to go to my truck. As I was driving away, I could still see that stupid fuckin' fire out of the corner of my rearview mirror.
SAMSON ERWIN: And what they were saying, was it like a chant?
ANONYMOUS: I really couldn't tell anything they were saying, but, I guess so, yeah. It was the same couple of phrases and sounds over and over again. I remember a few of them. 'Ehkuh see ahhs.' That's what one of them sounded like.
SAMSON ERWIN: Ekawa Si Ehs?
ANONYMOUS: Exactly like that, yeah. Just.. more from the throat. They spoke with such fuckin' passion (nervous laugh)
SAMSON ERWIN: Anything else you'd like to report on?
ANONYMOUS: No, Sir. Just.. please, send some people out there to look it over. I'd go back myself, but..
SAMSON ERWIN: I will, [REDACTED.], don't you worry.
ANONYMOUS: Thank you, are we done here?
SAMSON ERWIN: Yes. I appreciate your time.