The Town that Disappeared
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OFFICER JAMES:
Ma’am, where are you? Are you safe?
FEMALE CALLER:
(sobbing) When are you sending help? We’re dying.
OFFICER JAMES:
We’re doing our best to get to you. I need you to stay on the line with me.
Are you in a safe place?
FEMALE CALLER:
I’m hiding. Like the others that were left. We saw them coming from the cornfields.
They were on fire, but the corn weren’t burning. Some people opened their doors for the
dead… oh God. The screaming. I can still hear it (Inaudible due to sobbing).
I don’t know what happened to the others (inaudible), but think I’m the last one.
I’m hiding in the closet now and— (abrupt silence)
OFFICER JAMES:
Ma’am? Is everything alright? Talk to me.
(static silence)
OFFICER JAMES:
Ma’am?
(sound of glass breaking)
FEMALE CALLER:
(whispering) Oh God…
OFFICER JAMES:
Ma’am? What’s happening?
FEMALE CALLER:
Something just came in… (muffled cries)
OFFICER JAMES:
Ma’am, stay as quiet as you can. Try not to make a sound.
(muffled sounds on the side of the caller: “Mommy… Mommy?”)
FEMALE CALLER:
(sobbing) It came inside the room.
OFFICER JAMES:
Stay absolutely still, ma’am. Don’t try to leave. Stay on the line with me.
(Sounds of muffled footsteps on the side of the caller)
(Muffled on the side of the caller: “Mommy? Where are you hiding?”)
OFFICER JAMES:
Stay quiet.
(Heavy footsteps on the side of the caller. Laughter of a child.)
(Muffled on the side of the caller: “Mommy… I found you.”)
(Indiscernible screaming, crying and noises)
OFFICER JAMES:
Ma’am? Ma’am? Are you alright?
[Call ended at 21h43]
That was it. There was nothing more amongst the documentation I found on the internet. These documents seemed to be the last surviving proof that the town of Ashley ever existed.
The last police report was dated August 15th, 1952 and indicated that police officials were finally able to reach the town of Ashley, but the town was gone. The road that led to Ashley stopped abruptly at the edge of an immense fissure in the ground which gave off intense heat.
I had nothing more to go on, except that I now knew that the town my house was situated in was a few miles from Haysville somewhere along route 214. So, equipped with my GPS and a friend, we set out to find the town which apparently disappeared into thin air just like all records that the town and their people ever existed.
We were unable to locate the town or the massive fissure as described in the police report. Route 214 simply ends abruptly and gives way to a massive pan of dirt which stretched on for miles.
Enquiries to the Haysville Police Station hit a brick wall as the officers were either reluctant to assist or didn’t know anything. One of the police officer’s demeanour suggested that he might know something and when I approached him all he said was; ‘What I knew I set loose on the internet.’
He got in his car and drove off without saying another word.
I was a bit bummed out that I inherited a house which no longer seemed to exist, but I was bummed out even more due to the fact that the documents I found on Ashley created more questions than it answered.
Throughout the centuries hundreds of people have disappeared never to be heard from again, but this was the first I ever heard of an entire town disappearing; people, buildings and all.
What happened to the town folk of Ashley? What happened to the buildings, cars and animals? What did the residents see in the sky? Was it a gateway to another dimension or was it simply mass hysteria? If it were the latter, there wouldn’t be a plausible explanation as to what happened to everyone. One thing was for sure; whatever happened to the people of Ashley was real and only happened to their town.
Was it a government experiment gone wrong? We all know about the race to put a man on the moon, but was it possible that this was an experiment gone wrong – an experiment by our government to find a gateway to another dimension before its rivals did?
So many questions and no answers in sight. The only thing I can say with certainly is that on August 14th, 1952 the town of Ashley and all its 700 residents simply ceased to exist.
ABOUT THIS SHORT STORY
I was busy doing some research for a novel I’ve been working on and stumbled upon an article about an entire town that seemed to have disappeared into thin air. I thought it would make for a great short story, so I sat down and started writing.
I kept the events depicted in the article in the same chronological order, but changed the names of the callers and officers to protect their identity.
Though inspired by real-life disappearances, some of the incidents depicted have been fictionalized.