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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/Steven_Danvers3328 on 2026-08-06 23:07:59+00:00.

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This all started when I got divorced. She got the house, the car, and all our assets. I got the dog. Go figure. At least we didn’t have kids. I don’t have any malicious feelings towards her, especially now, but at the time I wanted to get as far away from her as I could. What is farther from the Midwest than Appalachia? I thought it was a great idea.

After the divorce was finalized and I gave her my arm and leg, I lived with my folks for a while before being able to get a car. I was able to find a job out here pretty well due to my experience in marketing and I found an auto auction company here that was aching for someone with my expertise. My job, thank God, was really understanding and even threw me a going away party on my last day, which was a pleasant surprise from the really crappy recent events. I managed to make a lot of headway on my drive out here, mostly because I had a few boxes of clothes, important documents, and a few miscellaneous items that my ex didn’t rip from me. The only reason I kept my dog, Suzie, is because she was mine from before we were engaged.

I arrived at my new place, which was relatively cheap with my good credit, almost a week before I had to be at my new job. When I arrived in town, I picked up some essentials before meeting with the real estate agent to get the keys to my new place. We had Zoomed so I could see the place before I moved out here, so I kind of already knew what I was getting myself into. The ruralness was much more relaxing than the chaos of where I come from.

“Pleasure to finally meet you, Steven!” the agent said.

“The pleasure is mine. Thanks for holding this down for me until I got here!” I responded. I was almost drowned out by Suzie barking from my passenger seat.

“Quite the feisty pup you have, don’t ya?” he asked me with a smirk.

“Yeah, but she’s honestly a sweetheart. She likes to think she's tough, but I've seen her run from a kitten because it hissed at her,” I responded. We both laughed as he handed me the keys.

“I would urge you to caution there with your hound,” he said in a more serious tone, “We’ve been having a few incidents recently where animals go missing; dogs, cats, and livestock too. Usually they just disappear and the owners simply can’t find them. Other times they’re found in much worse shape and no longer with us if you get my meaning.”

“My goodness,” I said back. “What do they think has been doing it?”

“They don’t rightly know,” he said with a shrug. “Most consider wolves, but I haven’t known even a pack of wolves to drag off whole cows without breaking the fence. But let’s not worry too much about all that. It’s been about two weeks without any of that, so many think they wandered off since. I ain’t fixing to have you speed off before you start moving your belongings in!”

I smiled and nodded. Suzie might be old, but she is a Cane Corso and if shoved in a corner, I know she could do a bit of damage. I waved the real estate agent off as he went and started moving my few items into my new home. I managed to snag an air mattress from a local store and blew it up before taking Suzie to use the bathroom. Due to the warnings, I kept her on a leash while doing so.

The first few days and nights were pretty typical; I just did a bit of shopping for essentials and grabbed a good mattress, partly because Suzie was tired of not sleeping directly next to me and ended up popping the air mattress in an attempt to snuggle.

I went for coffee with my new boss named Riece. He and I discussed my position, how it compared to my previous position back west, and also the local area and some good spots to hit up. After coffee, I decided to take Suzie on a walk on a local trail in the woods that Riece told me was popular.

It was about 2pm in the middle of September at this point, so it was just starting to get a bit brisk outside. I have always been a bit of a baby when it comes to the cold, so even though where I come from is usually pretty cool, I needed a sweater. Suzie loved it as well as the attention she got from passers by. She has always been a friendly dog, but most people get a bit freaked out when they see a dog her size running up to them as she is a bit bigger for her breed.

I kept her on a leash the whole time which she was fine with as she has been leash trained since she was a puppy. She usually didn’t pull either, but a new environment caused her to be a bit more adventurous than usual, so at times she was the one directing us where to go rather than myself.

About a mile and a half into the path, Suzie perked her head up and her nose went to the air as she started sniffing around. She started pulling harder and harder as she started following the scent of something.

“Suzie! Suzie heel!” I started yelling. She is trained to listen, but whatever she smelled was much more compelling than my command. She eventually led us off the trail and about 50 or 60 yards into the woods. I was pulling with almost all my strength to get my dog to stop pulling, but she was choking herself in order to get to whatever it was that she wanted.

She stopped at a large tree in the woods. It was like any other, but Suzie began smelling it like crazy. She was circling the tree back and forth, getting on her hind legs to smell up the trunk, and she was just obsessed with this tree. I was exhausted at this point and had my limits with my dog's disobedience. I went to grab her by the collar when I stumbled over something. I looked down and saw a backpack that had been ripped open, torn is a better word for it, and its contents were strewn within a 6 foot radius around us. Shirts, pants, toiletries, everything one would need for a hike really. The bag also smelled awful, like it was dipped in a mixture of piss and dead animal parts. Suzie started smelling it herself, and it seemed to be scented with the same thing that was on the tree that she was obsessed with.

The bag was also covered in what could only be dried blood, which concerned me greatly. It took everything for me to try to get Suzie away from it. After fighting with her, she went back to the tree. I did kick the bag around so as to not have to touch it, looking for something to fall out like a wallet or something so I could see if I could find any identification as to whose it could be. A few items did fall from the bag such as a snapback hat, some granola bars, and a used pair of socks.

I started looking around the clothes that had been thrown around the ground, but there was nothing in them either. At least those clothes didn’t totally smell as awful as the bag and tree.

I decided to inform the authorities once I reached my car as the cell service was abysmal in the woods. I yanked hard on Suzie’s leash and told her to come, which she did after she added her own scent to the ground around the tree. As she came, I kicked the bag once again by accident. As I did, something small and somewhat shiny flew out.

I went over and picked it up. It was a silver dog whistle. I turned it around in my hand, making note of its surprising detail. It was adorned with engravings and symbols, which is very uncommon with dog whistles. It had two pentagrams on either side, a small design of a moon cycle on its top, and a wooden mouthpiece to blow from. I figured that whoever the owner is would likely not need it anymore, and I thought it would do Suzie some good if she was going to start acting like she was, so I put it in my pocket and led Suzie out of the woods and back to our vehicle.

The police took my statement and I showed them where the bag was. I provided my contact information in case they had any other questions and then headed home as they started to cordon it off as an active crime scene. I got home around 7pm after the stress of the afternoon. I made dinner and then took Suzie outside so she could use the bathroom. We didn’t have a fenced in back yard, but there was a distinction between my yard and the woods that surrounded my home. I took the safe bet and kept Suzie on a leash, but it was one of the extending ones that you could lock so it couldn’t extend past a certain point.

I decided this was as good a time as any to try the new whistle. I had cleaned it up earlier in the sink and disinfected it. I allowed Suzie to go out about 15 feet ahead of me on the leash, then I blew it. She didn’t even pick up her head. I blew harder again. Still nothing. I rolled my eyes. I put it in my pocket and called her back verbally, which she obeyed instantly.

“Now you want to be a good dog,” I laughed. We went inside and I placed the whistle on the counter top before getting changed for bed and watching some TV while Suzie laid beside me. I ended up falling asleep soon after.

I woke up a few hours later to the sound of snapping coming from my backyard. I walked over to my kitchen which exited to the backyard and turned on the light. As I did so, I heard something rush away from my backdoor. When I say rush I do not mean like a raccoon, I mean like a clydesdale with how heavy the steps were. They were much more rapid than a horse’s would be, however. I walked over to my back door and turned on the outside light. There was nothing in the yard that I could see, but it did look like someone had dug holes in the yard. I looked around and saw that my plastic trashcan had been torn apart like cardboard. Luckily there was nothing in there but a small bag of...

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