ROBERT MORRISS: CANNIBAL SLAYER

[ECS]

Staring out of her office at James River Park at the river, she was startled by three crows and a raven flying past.
Beverly had been remembering her college days and her visits to Williamsburg.
She was intrigued with the Nathanial Bacon treasure said to be buried at the Bruton Parish Episcopal Church, said to contain maps of Rosicrucian treasure vaults throughout Europe.
What if her family's treasure story was real, she wondered?
The ringing of her telephone interrupted her thoughts.

 

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[ECS]

The caller ID showed Kennerly, Mitchell, her boyfriend.
"Hello Mitch. Yes I'm looking forward to our weekend at the Peaks of Otter Lodge
Ok, meet you there".
Placing the phone back into its cradle, see noticed the raven and crows once again flying by. Strange.

 

[ECS]

Enjoying a dinner of Sauteed Abbot Lake Trout in Lake View Dinning Room of the Peaks of Otter Lodge, Beverly and Mitch discussed the treasure stories of the Blue Ridge, deciding tomorrow, just for fun, to explore for treasure caves.
Mitch told her about a website he found called Treasurenet, that had a section on legends, including Beale.
"Most of it is just speculation and unrelated events claimed as proof, and of course those who say they solved the ciphers", he laughed, " but there three posters who have really researched the story and have presented solid information, some pro, some con".
Beverly had a few locations that were passed down through her family about the Beale treasure that were serve as a starting point.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Many "POSERS" on TH, too...

 

[ECS]

Leaving Mitch's dark green Range Rover park at the Peaks of Otter Lodge, both put on their backpacks and took the shuttle to mile post 85.5 for the Sharp Top Trail.
Beverly had told Mitch that part of her family's treasure lore concerned Buzzard's Roost that either was a treasure site or the site of a large still operation, or, possibly both.
There was a side trail off of the Sharp Top, that would lead to Buzzard's Roost that they would journey.
Disembarking from the shuttle, Beverly once again noticed a raven flying by with three crows.
Strange, she thought, strange indeed.

 

[ECS]

Sections of Buzzard's Roost had the appearance of blasted scorched marks as if an explosion and then fire had consumed a targeted area.
"Over here", Mitch called.
Beverly placed the melted glass shard into her shorts cargo pocket and went to where Mitch waited.
"Looks like there was a moonshine operation up here at one time" he stated, pointing to a split copper boiler and coils of copper tubing scattered among the trees.
Beverly stared at the distilling debris that when studied , appeared to reveal a blast pattern. Something seriously had happened here at Buzzard's Roost that involved more than just the destruction of a moonshine operation. She could feel something bad happened here, felt it to her very core.
"Hey, Bev", Mitch said, breaking her thoughts, " How about we break out those packaged sandwiches and the Be Ale IPA we bought at the Northside Supply in Bedford".
Sitting on a weather smoothed boulder, they discussed their opinions on what happened while they ate.

 

[ECS]

AS they finished their improvised picnic, behind them, in the wood, they heard a rustle in the underbrush. Beverly turned as Mitch stood up to face whatever was there.
Emerging from the wood was a wild eye old silver haired man, an open satchel over his shoulder clutching a map in his hand.
"I have studied the Beale treasure story for years", announced silver hair," and I believe the treasure vault is nearby".
"So you believe the Beale Papers to be true", questioned Mitch?
"Yes, I do", he replied," In my research I have discovered stories about expedition, mines, nuggets, and Indian massacres that are like what is mentioned in the Papers".
Beverly , interested, asked," Did any of these stories mention Beale or his Party"?
"No", was all he said.

 

[ECS]

As Beverly and Mitch started back down the trail, silverhair tagged along like an uninvited guest who has overstayed his welcome talking a mile a minute, changing themes constantly.
"It could have been Beale who was selling barely used ox carts, you know name spellings change, Pursley, Cockrell, giant gold nugget found in Colorado, there was an iron mine in Texas..." silverhair rattled off until it all became a sonic blur.
Once again Beverly asked," Do any of these things have to do with Thomas J Beale"?
"No", silverhair replied," but it could mean the Beale story was possible".
Mitch muttered underneath his breath," Sure".
Beverly suppressed a chuckle.

 

[ECS]

Three crows and the raven sat on a tree branch noticing that silverhair had heard Mitch's remark and staring at the grin on Beverly's face.
"Its people like you that ruin treasure legends for everyone", silverhair retorted his anger aroused as he stormed off.
"What we have here is, failure to communicate, some men you just can't reach" quoted Mitch from an old movie, complete with a thick Southern accent.
Beverly burst out with a full guffaw, while the raven and crows cackled along.

 

[ARC]

 

[ECS]

Feeling full of himself and smug for putting two Beale unbelievers in their place he was not aware that he had left the main trail and now was on a path less taken.
There was a large disturbance in the brush as he heard a strange voice.
Unlike Robert Frost, he would not be better for taking this path less taken.
"Meat, meat".

 

[Rebel - KGC]

It was the Raven & the 3 Crows; you know how birds will be...

 

[Albertaclipper]

Back at the lodge that night,Mitch swigged back the rest of his Be Ale, turned off the tv, and then remarked to himself; " Good gawd, that was one of the greatest comebacks in NFL Superbowl History! Or was it the greatest choke ever by a team with a 25 point lead?" He then turned off the lights and crawled into bed for the night. The days hike and Silverhair's company had tired his body and thoughts.

 

[ECS]

It was the Raven & the 3 Crows; you know how birds will be...

The raven and the three crows flew off to Bedford, once called Liberty, and landed on a telephone pole wire across from Beale's Brewery and BBQ that was under construction. The raven remembered another brewpub, where he feasted on spent barley grains and hops. Couldn't fly straight for a week, but what a meal.
He would return with the crows for the Grand Opening.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

"GO" in Summer of 2017. Hmmm... 1817...? Nah.

 

[ECS]

Hopefully the beer and food will not be a "perilous adventure".

 

[releventchair]

Silverhair ,minus a few patches of his namesake ; crawled back onto the main trail.
His tattered coat bore a strange resemblance to a Jackson Pollock work of art with a wealth of white blotches,courtesy of the crows and ravens who like the demonic zombies of the scrub wastes found his aura ,let alone odour off putting even to their scavenging palates.

Dumping his man purse he inventoried the broken slabs of stone and maps combining the total sum of all the countries treasures leading to each other ....
Then he buried them near the trails intersection and carved BJT on the nearest tree ,and scratched the same on several rocks nearby.
After scrawling sos ( hard to spell that backwards...)on the trails sand he passed out.

An older couple watching him from the lodges patio twenty yards away while enjoying a sundowner looked at each other and shrugged.
Raising his glass before clanking his wives the man said , " glad we didn' t buy his map this morning. Guessing his film career fame project ain' t goin too far either".

 

[ECS]

Rising up from the dirt trail, Silverhair was the worst for wear after suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune looking for the Beale fortune, or was that the outrageous pecks and claws of birds? Shaking his head attempting to clear his thoughts, he was sure he heard someone singing as they hiked the trail.
The singing grew louder and Silverhair recognized the song, "Sweet Home Alabama" by that redneck Florida band that liked to wave the Confederate flag around at their concerts.
As the singer came into view, singing "Southern man don't need him around, anyhow" Silverhair observed that he was followed by a camera crew.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Followed by critters screaming... "MEAT, MEAT!"; INTERESTING vacation, it is...

 

[ECS]

"Looks like we got here just in time", commented the Sweet Home Alabama singer, "before anything else happened to you". Gesturing to a camera crew member, " Get that thermal space blanket and drape it over this man's shoulders".
The crew member did so and began leading Silverhair back down the trail, when Silverhair , regaining his energy, stomping his feet tossing the blanket aside, turned and made it up the trail to excitedly talk to Alabama.
Once again, his burst of energy ended, and once again draping the blanket around his shoulders, the crew member led him down the trail, and again he regained his energy, repeating the same scenario several more times.
The cameraman filmed all of this, and was reminded of a routine of James Brown leaving the stage, which he later added Brown's song to the footage and made a fortune on YouTube.