The Martin family was downsizing after a workplace injury disabled Eric. Shelley found a wonderful farm in Palmyra, Maine. They moved up with their daughter, Chelsea. The property was surrounded by dense forest.
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Eric was a lifelong hunter, and had a fairly extensive gun collection. Shelley worried about guns with kids in the house, and made Eric keep them in the barn. With his son Sean's help, Eric made a strongbox to secure the weapons, and added padlocks to the barn.
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Eric and Shelley had coffee on the sheltered porch each night, weather permitting. One night, they saw some strange lights out in the trees. Suspecting a poacher, Eric and Sean investigated, but found no sign of anything, or anyone.
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Chelsea's boyfriend Nathan took the hunting dogs out for a walk in the woods. When they let them off the leashes, the dogs ran off as though they had a scent. They found the dogs nosing around a hole in the ground, one that gave Chelsea a very bad feeling. What had the dogs found?
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On Memorial Day Weekend, Shelley was trying to put the dogs into their outside pen for the evening, but they wouldn’t go. Chelsea was upstairs, having turned in early. When she took the coffee out to Eric on the porch, he commented on how quiet it was. Shelley took her flashlight, pointing it out on the field to see if she could see anything.
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Eric began to sense that there was real danger out there, one that Shelley's flashlight couldn’t find. Frightened, he began to almost drag his wife into the house.
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When they heard a rustle in the distance, they looked out and saw three sets of fluorescent eyes staring back at them. Three became four. Four became five. And neither of them knew precisely what they were looking at, but they knew to get in the house.
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Unable to get his guns, Eric wasn't sure they were safe in the house. He wanted to go out to get the guns, but Shelley put her foot down. She went to check on Chelsea, and see what they could see from Chelsea's bedroom window. Her half-asleep daughter didn't make too much of it.
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Shelley watched from the upstairs window, still trying to figure out what those creatures were. When one stood right up on its hind legs, she was shocked. It was almost more than she could handle. Downstairs, Eric was trying to figure out how to protect his family. Could he get to the car before the creatures got to him?
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Shelley searched the house for the frightened dogs, finding them in a dark cubbyhole in the house. Meanwhile, Eric made a foolish attempt to get to the car. When he finally reached the car, the motion sensor light scared him half to death. Unfortunately, it also gave away his position. The creatures quickly had him surrounded. The creature bolted at the light, giving Eric a chance to get back inside.
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Shelley called 911, but the police didn't believe them. They were on their own. Shelley set up camp in Chelseas bedroom, because she could keep an easy eye on the creatures. Eric remained upset at being unable to do anything to protect his family. Then it occurred to him. The creatures had seemed unable to go into the light. Whether it hurt their eyes or they were hurt in other ways by it, the Martin family now had something they could use as a weapon. Eric decided to attempt to go to the barn.
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Eric tried to go outside, waving for the motion sensor to trigger the lights. No sooner did the light come on than he was surrounded. That was when he realized he was being hunted like an animal. He had to get to the porch before the motion sensor light went out. Somehow, he made it.
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The Martins were out of options. They had to shelter in place, and their only option was to live until sunrise. Arming the entire family with knives, they hunkered down in the bedroom and waited. The quiet was disturbing, until something began growling outside. They were just outside of the wall.
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Somehow, the creatures didn't attack. Somehow, the Martins survived to daybreak. Eric called Sean, who came over to help investigate. They found huge, bipedal-looking tracks in the fields and some strands of fur near the house. What on earth had held the Martin family hostage in their own house all night?
