You’ve probably never heard of Desmond Cove, Newfoundland before and to be fair, I’m not rightly sure that it’s really even considered a town anymore.

​

Last I read, the current population numbers somewhere around 6 or 7, although that number could have dropped since last they bothered to take a census. The town wasn’t always so small although word is, it was never exactly big either. From what I’ve heard, at its maximum, only 500 people ever lived in Desmond. Enough to run the mine, and a few local shops.

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The Haul Away Joe mine was originally the main thing that kept Desmond alive, which I suppose was ironic, because the mine was also the thing that eventually killed it.

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Now, nobody seems to know exactly what happened. The common belief is that some sort of fire got started inside the deepest part of the mine, similar to what happened in Centralia, Pennsylvania. I don’t think that argument is entirely without its merit. The effects are certainly similar. But some of the old miners swore up and down that there was no fire, or if indeed there was, it was only set after the town was evacuated in 1985. As for why they’d set the fire afterward? God only knows. I’ve read a few different accounts. Some claim that it was vandals, or disgruntled former miners looking to get some ill conceived form of revenge. Others are adamant that it was a cover up for something else. Who can really say?

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Me? I’m not entirely sure as to what I believe. I only know what I know, and what I know is that Desmonds Cove is abandoned and that there probably really is a fire burning in the mines underneath the town. Who started it? Now that I don’t know! But I do know that it’s not the only reason why you ought to stay the hell out of Desmond…

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Now, let me quickly take things back a spell… My name is Maxine, and I’m a girl with what you might call a certain interest in Desmond Cove and the Haul Away Joe mine. I’ve had a fascination with the place ever since I first stepped foot inside a couple of years ago (I’ll get to that shortly) and what I’d like more than anything, is to figure out just what the hell actually happened there. Most folks generally don’t seem to care. But they haven’t seen what I’ve seen.

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I’m not that old so it feels a little strange to be saying: ‘Back when I was in high school’ because high school was only about two years ago for me, but this is the truth. Back when I was in high school, some of the other students liked to play a little game.

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See, the town I live in is only about a twenty minute drive from Desmond Cove. When the town got evacuated, most of its former residents relocated there. I suppose it’s on account of them that my town even knows or cares about Desmond, but I digress. The students at my school liked to play a little game, as teenagers often do. Every now and then a bunch of them got it into their head that they could go and explore the ruins of Desmond. Of course, they never got very far, and it usually turned into something of a game, where they’d dare each other to go a little further into the creepy abandoned town, although to my knowledge, none of them ever actually got very far.

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My friends and I would hear rumors of this sort of thing all the time back when I was in high school, and I suppose it was inevitable that we’d end up talking about trying to do it ourselves. Personally I never thought anyone would have the guts for it, but I guess I was wrong.,

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My friend Julia and her boyfriend Ronnie were the ones who really wanted to go. They’d been talking about it for a few months up until that point and I’d thought they were really just all talk. But no. Come one Friday evening in late October, I’d gotten together with them and some other friends after school, and Desmond Cove was just about all they could talk about.

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Julia had said something to the effect of:

“What could be a more authentic halloween experience than exploring an abandoned town?” And Ronnie had just nodded along with her.

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One of our mutual friends, Susie was immediately out. But Susie was sort of a good girl who never did anything remotely out of sorts, so that didn’t surprise me. A couple of our other friends, Earl and Teddy were all for it though. Me? I figured it might be neat to actually see the town with my own eyes. You could admittedly see the steeple of the church in the center of town from some of the taller hills nearby. But I’d always kinda wanted to see the town proper, if for no other reason than to sate my own curiosity.

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There was only one road into or out of Desmond Cove, and nobody had much of a reason to drive down it. It’d barely even been maintained and had become overgrown with weeds. The only people who ever went towards Desmond were teenage sightseers and the odd person checking up on the residents or dropping something off to them. Even then, you saw less and less of the latter every year.

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So yeah, when Julia and Ronnie wanted to visit Desmond Cove, I was all for it. I didn’t expect much to come of the trip. I figured we might inch a little ways into the town, take some pictures and come back with a fun little story to share with our classmates. I suppose in the end, I wasn’t wrong… I just didn’t realize how much of a story I’d had to tell.

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We set out for Desmond Cove on a Saturday afternoon. Teddy and Earl had tagged along with the three of us and loudly debated what music to play with Ronnie while I just sat and watched the ocean pass us by while we drove.

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Newfoundland has a certain beauty to it. There’s this tranquility to the landscape here. Sparse buildings, separated by lush greenery against the slate blue of the ocean. And that ocean, is dominated by rocky bits of coastline. Sure, it’s not always beautifully scenic, but it’s home and I’ve come to love it. The desolated road curved against the ocean, and I could see the spire of Desmond Coves church above the treetops. There was a faint mist in the air… Or perhaps it was smoke. Hard to say with much certainty.

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As we got closer to the town, you could see the trees withering with each passing kilometer, as if the smoke in the air was slowly strangling them to death. Some of them even seemed to be little more than just lifeless corpses, only still standing out of obligation, as opposed to anything else. Looking over at Earl and Teddy, I could see them eying the trees with a mixture of awe and concern. In fact, just looking at Earl, I already knew he regretted coming. We hadn’t even made it to Desmond Cove yet and here he was already chickening out.

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After a while, Ronnie finally slowed the car to a stop. We were close to the town now. I could literally just see it up ahead. Not just the church, other buildings. A few empty houses that looked run down, some partially collapsed telephone poles, and what looked to have once been a general store. A few large signs sat along the side of the road. The first read:

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Welcome to Desmond Cove

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The others were less inviting.

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In front of the Desmond Cove sign, was a big white sign that read:

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DANGER!

Underground Mine Fire

Walking or driving in this area could lead to DEATH or serious injury.

Dangerous gasses are present. Fires can appear at ANY TIME.

Ground is prone to collapse.

Don’t take your life in your hands.

Turn back.

​

Just seeing that sign made Julia let out an actual squeal of excitement.

“C’mon Ronnie! Let’s go!” She’d said. But Ronnie didn’t budge. He just killed the engine of the car as he stared at those warning signs.

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“Road’s already pretty rough.” He said, “It’ll be worse in town.”

“So? Come on, you big baby! You can handle it!” Julia said. Ronnie still didn’t budge. He just opened his car door to step out.

“It’s safer if we walk.” He said, “I ain’t damaging this car. Especially if we need it.”

Julia put on a big childish pout but didn’t argue. Ronnie made a conscious choice not to be a complete dumbass that day, and I still respect him for it.

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I got out of the back seat along with Teddy and Earl. Earl took a little longer to get out than the rest of us, and started coughing just about immediately.

“Smokes really bad out here.” He said.

He wasn’t wrong. There was a thick, rotten egg smell in the air and the smoke was worse than I’d thought it would be. Julia hadn’t lost her bravado though, and was practically shaking, wanting us to go.

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“It’s fine.” Julia insisted, “Come on. Mines on the west side of town. Think we can make it?”

“You’re going into the mine?” Earl asked, “That sounds awful dangerous.”

“Not into the mine, numbnuts. Just to it.” Julia said, “Or at least to the Church!”

“The church sounds safer.” Ronnie said, “No offense, hun. But that mine’s probably gonna stink the worst. Plus all the smoke, and the fact that there wouldn’t be much to see… Now the church…” He looked at it again, “That’d be something to brag about. Nobody’s ever actually gone that far in, in years.”

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“I mean, except for the guys who still live here, right?” Teddy asked, “Or the guys who drop stuff off?”

“Nah. The last residents live outside of the town.” Ronnie said, “We would’ve passed them by now, or they’d live on the other side. There’s a side road you can take that goes around. My Uncle used to drop stuff off for a friend who lived out here. I rode along with him a couple of times.”

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“You’ve been here before?” I asked.

“Not into the town proper. Just outside of it.” Ronnie clarified.

“Hey, are we going or what?” Julia asked, folding her arms, “Come on… It’s right there, let’s goooooo.”

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She was already inching closer to the town, and Ronnie just cracked a small smile before indulging her.

“Yeah, we’re going right now!” He said, “Earl, you coming?”

Earl stared into Desmond, before putting up his hands.

“I’m good just looking.” He said.

“Chickenshit!” Julia called. She was promptly ignored.

“Suit yourself.” Ronnie said, “Guess you’re guarding the car.”

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He offered him the car keys, and with that we were off, with Julia in the front leading the pack. Together, we entered Desmond Cove.

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Passing by the signs welcoming us to the town, I could see another one in front of a faded blue shed with a white trim.

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WARNING

Deadly gasses may be present. Ground may be unstable.

Death may be IMMEDIATE.

TURN BACK.

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That sign was promptly ignored.

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Julia and Ronnie walked hand in hand ahead of us, while Teddy drifted a bit behind. I took in the sights independent of them, passing by the old general store to look in the cracked and dusty windows at the abandoned building. The shelves were empty and coated in a thick layer of dust. I almost wanted to go inside and take some pictures but thought better of it.

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The road turned slightly, curving towards the ocean and granting us a surprisingly lovely view. Looking out over the ocean, I could see a lone ship in the distance and paused to admire it for a bit, before letting my attention drift to what had once been a local restaurant of some sort. A bakery perhaps? The sign was taken down so it was hard to be sure. A number of seagulls perched atop some of the empty buildings, watching and wailing at us, as we passed. I thought I might have even seen a puffin or two among them, but couldn’t be sure.

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“Christ, why the hell would anyone stay here?” Teddy asked, looking ahead of us towards a massive crack in the asphalt. Julia trotted up to it to get a closer look, while Ronnie made sure she didn’t get too close.

“Home is home, I guess.” I said, “Besides, Ronnie said they were outside the town, right?”

“I don’t know about you, but home ain’t worth this.” Teddy said.

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Down a short hill I could see a marina with a couple of rusted old boats that didn’t look seaworthy moored within.

“This place is a shithole…”

“Well it’s been abandoned for over thirty years. That’s to be expected.” I said.

“Guys, c’mon!” Julia called to us. She’d moved ahead with Ronnie while Teddy and I had been talking.

“How far to the Haul Away Joe mine anyways?” She’d asked Ronnie.

“That’s on the other side of town. Not sure how long a walk that’ll be.” He’d replied.

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We’d veered to the other side of the road as we noticed another crack in the pavement, this one with smoke rising from it. The stink of it made me cover my mouth and nose. Everyone else had the good sense to do the same, although just like the last crack she saw Julia tried to get close to it.

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“Hun, that’s toxic.” Ronnie had to explain to her, for what I suspect was the second or third time. Looking past the crack, I could see what used to be a tree nearby it, although I got the feeling that the tree was long dead and whatever left was just hollowed out charcoal. Through some holes in the bark, I could see the orange glow of fire flickering inside.

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There was what used to be a house on our side of the street, now covered in some sparse graffiti, as a memento from those who’d been either brave or stupid enough to make it this far. I stopped to look for a few moments but didn’t dwell for long. Glancing over at Teddy, I saw that he didn’t look too impressed by any of this. He might as well have been looking at his watch, waiting for an excuse to go.

“And people are scared of this place?” He asked, “It’s just smoke and empty buildings. Nothing interesting.”

“You’re not enjoying the ominous atmosphere?” I teased.

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“Ominous my arse. This is just empty and boring.” He said, “How far to the church?”

“Not far.” I assured him, pointing to the chapel that towered over everything, “Seems like this road eventually turns towards it.”

“Good… Could be doing something more productive with my after-”

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Before he could finish, he was cut off by the sound of Julia screaming. We both looked up, and I broke into a sprint, racing towards her and Ronnie. My first thought was that Julia’s dumb curiosity had gotten her hurt… But what I saw was something else entirely.

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Julia and Ronnie were looking at something on the side of the road, and at a glance, I didn’t have any idea what it was. Only that it was alive.

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It walked on all fours, with a drunken gait that swayed back and forth. Its body seemed lumpy and misshapen, like a sack full of potatoes, although the head looked jagged and sharp like a cactus. It took me a few moments to realize that what I was looking at was supposed to be a deer… Although it didn’t look like any deer I’d ever seen before. It looked sick.

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It stumbled out from the smoke, limping as it dragged its bloated body along. It barely even seemed to be able to see past the twisted, jagged antlers on its head, and it kept jerking its neck back and forth as if it was trying to shake those antlers off.

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“What the hell is that thing?” Julia asked, her hands pressed against her mouth.

“Just a deer…” I assured her, although she did not look assured.

“That’s a deer?” She asked.

“It’s sick…” Ronnie said, “Too much exposure to the smoke, maybe?”

“The smoke can do that to a deer?” Teddy asked.

Ronnie didn’t have an answer to that.

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Looking at the deer a little closer, I could see growths like tumors along its skin. It wobbled a little and paused before bending down and starting to retch.

“Oh God…” I heard Julia say.

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The deer seemed to cough. Its entire body heaved and its knees seemed to buckle as it spit up more blood than any animal should ever be spitting up. The deer wobbled unsteadily on its feet, before looking up again. Its body heaved once more, and I could hear the sound of its skin splitting… It seemed to shake… And then I realized just what was happening to it. The deer's belly seemed to rip open from the strain that just existing had placed on its body. I watched as its entrails spilled out, and as they did, the deer remained standing as if it wasn’t even aware of what was happening. I just saw it dumbly raise its head toward us, as if it suddenly realized that we were there for the first time. It stared in our direction, before collapsing on its side.

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Julia screamed and Ronnie pulled her into a tight grasp.

“Oh God… Is it… Oh God…!”

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Neither Ronnie nor Teddy spoke. We all just looked at the dead deer in awe. I watched as Teddy took a step back, shaking his head.

“I’m out…” He said, “I’m going back to the fucking car…”

Julia didn’t try and stop him. Ronnie and I just watched him turn and jog back the way we came.

“Do you want to go too?” Ronnie asked Julia. She was still silent.

“Come on…” He said softly, “Let’s go…”

“N-no…” She stammered, “It’s alright… I… I’m alright…”

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She tried to force a smile but I could see in her eyes that she was clearly shaken.

“Hun, you don’t have to,” Ronnie said.

“I want to!” Julia insisted, “Come on… It’s just a sick deer… It’s fucked up but… It’s just a sick deer.”

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Somehow that felt like an understatement. Ronnie looked at me as if silently begging me to turn back with him, and I seriously considered it. But we’d come this far… And as disturbing as the dead deer had been, it was just that, a dead deer.

“The church is just up ahead.” I said, “We’ll go there and then we’ll turn back.”

“Yeah!” Julia said, looking at Ronnie, “Just to the church and back!”

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That seemed to satisfy her for the time being.

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We gave the dead deer a wide berth and slowly made our way towards the church again, all three of us listening closely for anything that sounded like another sick deer. The road made its way up a slight hill, towards the church which loomed over us. I looked in through some of the windows of the shops we passed, trying to calm myself down by imagining what they’d used to be.

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Can’t say it did me many favors. As we passed by what looked as if had once been an old bar, I swear I saw the antlers of another dead deer inside… Although I kept it to myself. No need to spook Julia and Ronnie even further.

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We trudged uphill toward the church, and as we reached it, I saw Julia reach out a hand to place it on the rotted wooden exterior. Her smile returned, a little fainter than before.

“See? Made it.” She said. Ronnie planted a kiss on her forehead.

“Made it.” He said, “Wanna get some pictures?”

“You know it!”

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I let them have their cute little couples moment and take some selfies, while I took pictures of my own. I walked past Julia and Ronnie towards the door of the church, which looked to have been knocked down ages ago.

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Standing in the threshold, I looked in to see the empty pews, with dead leaves and debris settling on them. The altar looked to have partially collapsed and the stained glass above it was shattered. I took a few tentative steps inside the church, hearing the floorboards creak beneath me as I did and that was when I noticed it. It was hard to see from the door, at a glance, it just looked like some broken wood near the front of the church but the closer I got to the altar, the more I realized that someone seemed to have dug through it…

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Someone had dug a goddamn tunnel through the floor of the altar and into the ground.

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I paused, before inching closer to it and looking inside. I was greeted by darkness and a faint outline of some makeshift support beams.

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What the hell was this?

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“Julia, Ronnie, come take a look!” I called, and saw them appear in the doorway.

“What is it?” Julia asked cautiously.

“Some sort of tunnel.” I said, “C’mon… It’s weird.”

“A tunnel?” Ronnie asked, “Into the mine?”

“Maybe?” I said as he drew closer. He stared into the darkness along with me, eyes narrowing as he tried to make sense of what he saw.

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“Why would someone dig this?” I asked, “Thought this place was abandoned.”

“It is.” He said, “Doesn’t make sense… I didn’t think the mine ran under the church… Natural caves, maybe? But who the hell dug this?”

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He took out his phone and turned on his flashlight, stepping up to the edge of the tunnel. Julia crept up behind him, peering over his shoulder, and I wasn’t far behind.

“Think someones down there?” Julia asked.

“No way.” He said, “Not with the town in this state.”

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He reached down and picked up a piece of debris, before tossing it into the hole. It thudded against the ground… And as it did, we heard movement from inside. Julia shrank back a step, eyes wide with terror, and I have to admit I was feeling a little spooked too.

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“Something’s down there!” Julia whimpered. Ronnie just squinted into the darkness.

“Should we be calling the police?” I asked.

“Dunno…” He replied.

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A moment later, we saw movement. Something was absolutely down there…

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I heard Ronnie suck in a breath as he stared down into the darkness, and I felt my heart start to race in my ears as I saw it… Although just like the deer, what exactly it was, wasn’t immediately clear to me. It was almost like a fleshy blob, something that didn’t seem real at first. I saw no visible face, and it was hard to tell what limbs it was crawling on. It seemed to wiggle its way through the hole, wheezing gently as it did.

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Ronnie took a step back, brow furrowing in concern. I did the same. Whatever that thing was, I saw its head move slightly. It didn’t seem to have any eyes… But I got the feeling that it was looking at us and finally it opened its mouth.

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The sound it made… That’s a sound that’s going to haunt my nightmares… It was like a cross between a hiss and a roar. Raspy and ragged, but deep enough to shake my bones. It seemed to move with new intent, dragging itself towards us, and the closer it got, the more I realized exactly what it was, that I was looking at.

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It wasn’t an animal.

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It was a person.

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Just like the deer, their body was bloated and malformed. They had no eyes, but their mouth seemed impossibly big and their teeth, impossibly long.

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Ronnie and I both took a moment to process just what the hell we were seeing before it hit us. The malformed human was nearly at the end of the tunnel… And it was coming for us. We turned, and we ran.

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With Julia beside us, we sprinted for the entrance to the church, bursting out into the cloudy sunlight. I heard that raspy scream again as we bolted down the hill, running as fast as we could back the way we came. I looked back only briefly, to see the massive thing that once used to be a man stumbling through the door of the church, squeezing itself through it like some sort of blob. It stumbled out into the sunlight and the smoke, sniffing around and looking in our direction.

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I don’t know if it followed us or not. I didn’t dare look back again.

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When we finally made it back to the car at a full sprint, we didn’t waste a single second in getting back on the road. Ronnie snatched his keys away from Earl and we took off at top speed. I vaguely remember Earl trying to ask us why the hell we were taking off like that, but Ronnie didn’t even listen to a word he’d said. Not until we’d put Desmond Cove far behind us, and even then, the only thing that gave him pause was the question that Earl asked.

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“Where the hell is Teddy?!”

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We called the police once we were a few kilometers out of town. Ronnie and Julia told them just about everything. How we’d gone in, how we’d seen something in the church, and how Teddy had supposedly gone back to the car, although according to Earl he’d never actually arrived. The police took our statements, then went into Desmond Cove, looking for Teddy.

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They never found him, and they never found that thing that’d crawled out from underneath the church either. They did find the tunnel, but they described it as ‘the church floor having collapsed.’

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Bullshit.

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The next few weeks passed by in a blur… I don’t recall a lot of the details, only that we spent a lot of time with the police. There was initially some suspicion that we’d murdered Teddy, but the lack of evidence and the fact that we’d been in Desmond quickly made the police dismiss that as a possibility.

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Ronnie, Julia, and I swore up and down that we’d seen something coming out of the church, but the police never took that story seriously, and neither did the locals of our own little town. Jury’s still out on whether we made the whole thing up, or it’s some trauma induced false memory. Earl himself is in the latter camp… But I know what I saw that day. I know what I saw without question.

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Officially, the story is that the five of us went into Desmond Cove and Teddy got separated. He likely ended up stepping on some bad ground and falling into some part of the mine. He was declared dead and after they failed to find his body, the search was called off.

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What happened to us quickly turned into a cautionary tale as to why you shouldn’t go to Desmond Cove… And everywhere we went, we’d hear people whispering about us. Some called us crazy. Some called us killers. Some talked about us with pity…

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Julia and Ronnie couldn’t handle it. Soon as they were done with high school, they up and left. Last I heard, they’re living on the other side of the country now, and not doing too bad… Julia’s still a scatterbrained idiot. But I suppose Ronnie’s got enough sense for both of them.

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Earl is still in town. Folks don’t tend to associate him with what happened that much. He got off easy.

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And as for me? After I finished high school, I left town for college… But I’ll be back.

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Not a day goes by where I haven’t thought about Desmond Cove, or the thing we saw crawling out of the church. Not a day goes by where I don’t recall the sound it made. Just the memory of it makes my skin crawl…

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And yet… It fascinates me.

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Whatever we saw that day, it wasn’t something natural. Something happened to it… Something happened to Desmond Cove. The dying deer we saw is even further proof of that. I think back to the old stories, about how the fire in the mine was a cover up for something else, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s true… But if so, what were they trying to hide?

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One of these days, I’m going to go back to Desmond Cove and I’m going to find out.