Wednesday, October 12th, 2016

Sid was glad to have people like Amber, Annika and Cory on his side. Though Davy and he weren't stupid, they weren't as smart as them either. Especially Annika and Amber were great at research and keeping track of important things. Amber seemed to have a note on every word or name they had ever mentioned before, or any word or name related to those words or names.

It was kind of scary, honestly.

But when they told her they needed to research Baywick, founder of the woods, it did come in handy. She dragged them to the library, grabbed a notebook she dedicated to their search on the haunted woods, and read out loud:

"Thomason Baywick, born in Scotland, was left homeless after his parents died. Without siblings or relatives to turn to, Baywick started to travel, looking for a place to settle with his wife, Lucia Baywick-Devlin.

Baywick wasn't known to be socially outgoing and spent most of his times indoors, or hiking through woods. Baywick's main hobby was hunting and he was known for being a good hunter in his home town.

He settled in the area, now known as Ridge County, in 1624, after several visits in the years prior. He built a cabin in the midst of the woods that he had bought for no more than five guilders, naming it Baywick's forest.

Declaring parts of the woods as official haunting grounds, Baywick provided locals with a place to haunt for food. He remodelled parts of the woods to build small cabins for hunters to stay in during their hunts and named them The Devlin Cabins, after his wife.

Baywick's forest was later renamed to Baywick woods, and proved to be ideal for hunting. More and more hunters came to provide food for their families and some decided to stay.

It was Baywick's daughter Elizabeth Miller-Baywick who later officially founded Miller town, while her husband, Antony Miller, founded the mills, using resources from the woods to provide the local town in woods to build houses and furniture..."

"And how is this helpful?" Davy asked annoyed, looking over Amber's shoulder to see that she had written plenty more about Baywick and his arrival in the area.

Annika elbowed him, gesturing towards Amber's notebook. "It's really helpful. We have four important names, Thomason Baywick, Lucia Baywick, Elizabeth Baywick and Antony Miller. We know when Baywick moved here, and seriously, look," Annika flipped a few pages in her own notebook, gesturing at the dates of the cycles. "It's 26 years before the first cycle. We need to look at 1637—"

"Baywick died in 1637," Amber cut her short, flipping to the end of her notes on Baywick. "He was killed in a fire. Some people set his cabin ablaze and he died."

Sid patiently waited while she scanned her notes to give them more information on what happened to Baywick in 1637. No matter what, if he was killed in a fire, Sid could imagine he really was the dark shadow haunting him. What they learned from the first part of Amber's notes, was that Baywick provided people in places to stay, and to hunt for food. That didn't sound like a malicious person—

"In 1637, Baywick supposedly lost his mind over the many hunters in his forest, lashing out quite a few times on residents of the nearby village. He apparently threatened them with death if they would enter the woods again," Amber said out loud, holding up her finger to tell them she wasn't done yet, when Davy opened his mouth to reply. "After, and this is probably interesting to look into further, several accidents with hunters dying in the woods, locals set ablaze his cabin because they claimed Baywick was responsible for their deaths. The group of people who set fire to his cabin were never punished. Local sheriffs claimed there wasn't enough evidence."

"So, Baywick was a killer, then was killed as a punishment, and those who killed him were never punished?" Davy summed up, visibly trying to make sure he was understanding Amber correctly.

"Can we look into the first six victims in 1650?" Annika asked, tapping the names of the Miller Six in her notebook, "see if they're somehow connected to either these hunters who died, or the people who are responsible for Baywick's death?"

"We should, yes." Cory nodded his head, gesturing at the list of names they had uncovered so far, as kids who fell victim. "A lot of surnames are on the list more than once. If those first few victims are connected to the hunters, or Baywick's killers, it could help prove that Baywick is the evil entity who is haunting Sid."

"While we're at this, we should also see if we can find out where he lived," Annika added, "because we found those pictures with those marks and we read about rituals and they're almost always in the same locations. Maybe these witches tried to cleanse the woods, while devil's worshippers tried to empower Baywick's entity."

"Does it matter?" Davy asked, already searching for more information about Baywick on his laptop.

"Maybe not. But right now, every little piece of information can be useful," Sid told him, turning to face Angie, who had silently been listening along. "Anything to add, Angie?"

She shook her head, and when Amber and Annika sent him a questioning look when it remained silent, Davy, Cory and he himself all shook their heads in the same time.

"Can we also look for a way for Angie to connect with us?" Amber asked, leaning towards Annika, "I think it would be cool to have a ghost friend."

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