The Unforgiving Highway(Rhonda Wallace) As a child, my family and I would often cruise the Kancamagus highway on our way up north. We admired the beauty and serenity of this un-inhabited highway. It amazed me that there were no homes, stores, or even telephone poles along it. It seemed sort of mysterious, and even a little eerie to me. Not aware of its preserve as a child i would wonder "Why wouldn't anyone want to live along this beautiful river and vast woodsy land?"

During my teen years, I would travel up to the Kanc in the summer with my friends. We loved to take a dip in the refreshingly cool Swift River that runs alongside the highway. It was a great place to lounge out on the enormous flat rocks, to work on our tans, to hang out, and/or make out, or to just sit and complain amongst each other about parents, school, etc. Back then, we never wondered, or even cared to know the story behind the Kancamagus highway, as i believe many still don't...and that cavalier attitude, just may be the reason why the following horrific stir of events took place within those misunderstood woods last summer!

It is now present day, February of 2010. Last year, i was a free-spirited, healthy and extremely happy newly wed, today however, i am on a daily dose of anti-depressants, i rarely leave my home, and as hard as it is to say, i am a widow.

We had a beautiful May wedding. Nate and I love the beach but also love the mountains. So, we married on the sands of Rye beach, and had planned a camping adventure along the Kancamagus highway in the White Mountains for our honeymoon. I was a little wary spending five days in the woods of the Kanc, because as i said, it had always mystified me, but i was reassured, knowing that Nate was an avid outdoorsman, so i was excited to start our adventure!

As our Jeep was loaded to the rim with any and all camping supplies we'd ever need, and probably never need, we headed north. It was a beautiful, sunny Thursday in May. Along the way, we stopped and took a few scenic pictures, for what was sure to be a photo album of wonderful honeymoon memories.

In the distance we saw a sign that read, 'KANCAMAGUS HIGHWAY NEXT LEFT'. Nate and I looked at each other and smiled. We turned on to the Kanc, and at the beginning of the highway, there was an information building. I asked him to stop, so we could learn a little about the woods in which we were going to be living for the next five days. Inside, were displayed many old pictures of Indians and mountains. Above these photos was a sign that read: "This two-lane highway was named for a peace-loving Indian ruler, the third last Sagamor of the Penacook Confederacy. After becoming Sagamore, in about 1684, Kancamagus (the fearless one) tried to foster peace with the English settlers, but the pioneers brought war and bloodshed and so he led his people north toward Canada." As I was reading this, I felt an over whelming feeling of sadness for Kancamagus. How awful that must have been, to be pulled out of your own homes and land. After learning a little history of the highway, we both felt a new appreciation and respect for it.

Nate and I ventured back down the highway to search for the perfect campground for our honeymoon. We finally decided on the Jigga Johnson Campground. It had a cozy site right next to the river, deep in the woods, just what we wanted. So, after throwing our money in the honor system payment box, we began to unload our vehicle and set up camp.

After organizing our site, we decided to take a walk around to find the outhouses and showers. We passed many sites with dogs barking, children playing and friendly, relaxed people waving "hello". We looked at each other and smiled again, knowing we'd picked the perfect place.

Nate returned to the campsite, while i inspected the facilities. While still inside the shower building, i overheard one of the park rangers talking on her cb radio, "Yeah, rumor has it, a huge motorcycle gang out of NY called THE FELONZ are supposed to be camping somewhere in the area this weekend. I hope they don't end up here, we don't need any trouble!" Hearing this disturbing news, i gulped in minor panic. 'Geesh' I thought to myself, 'I hope they don't end up here either!'

The first couple of days and nights were wonderful. We would hike and fish during the day, cook our meals on the fire at our site, and sit by the camp fire at night with a few beers and just laugh, reminisce and fall in love with each other all over again.

My husband was a bit of a bad boy when i first met him. I believe that was what attracted me to him from the start. He has calmed down quite a bit, but one thing that hasn't changed, is his over protectiveness of me.
On the fourth afternoon, we were sitting at the picnic table playing a game of Rummy, when all of a sudden we heard this tremendous roar, followed by loud hooting and hollering. Nate looked up. "What in the hell was that?" he asked. The next thing we saw was about fifteen bikers riding past our site, throwing beer cans on the ground and yelling, "wake up all you sleepy rednecks! The Felonz are here bitches!" I thought to myself, 'Oh great.' I must've said it out load as well because Nate asked, "Oh great what?". I told him what i had overheard the park ranger saying the other day. "Well", he said "they don't want to start any trouble near us, if they know what's good for them!" I smiled and said, "Calm down there Rambo, everything will be fine!" But, I was wrong....

The motorcycle gang was loud and obnoxious. They had their heavy metal music blaring, they were yelling and swearing like they owned the place. They were obviously smoking marijuana, because the odor was lingering around the entire campground! A few of the families with small children, actually packed up and left! There must have been a lot of complaints made to warrant the park ranger going over to have a 'talk' with the Felonz. Curiosity got the best of us after we saw the rangers vehicle heading down to the bikers site, so we cautiously set out in that direction as well. When we neared the site, we overheard her saying, "This highway is named after a peace-seeking Indian, and that is exactly how we like to keep our campgrounds along it. Peaceful!" A couple of the men were giving her a hard time, telling her to go spit her chewing tobacco somewhere else. They were being down right rude to her, and we feared for her safety. Next, to my surprise, Nate yelled out, "Hey! do what she tells you to do, so we can all enjoy our camping trip, will ya!" I whispered over to his ear, "That probably wasn't a good idea". So after getting evil death looks from the bikers, and a quick 'thank you' from the ranger, we figured we had worn out our welcome, so we quickly walked back to our site. On our walk back, i was thinking about Kancamagus and his people being bullied off their land, and ironically, this is exactly what is taking place here tonight. But, we were determined not to let a bunch of trouble makers ruin our honeymoon.

We were almost out of fire wood, so we decided to drive down to the resident campsite to buy more. As Nate was loading up the back of the Jeep with wood, something caught my eye out behind the mens outhouse. I squinted, as i struggled to see in the dark. It looked like a woman being dragged by the arm into the woods. She looked to me as if she was being forced to go against her will! I yelled to my husband, "Come here quick!" He rushed over to my door and asked what was wrong. I pointed in the direction of the outhouse, and explained what i had seen. He told me to stay put, as he bravely ventured out in to the woods to possibly rescue a woman in despair. He was gone about fifteen minutes, but it felt like an hour! I was sweating and very nervous, thinking the worst, when finally out of the woods he came. "I didn't see anybody, hon. I don't know where they went." Fortunately, we were planning on going home the next day, because at this point, I was starting to get a very un-easy feeling about this place! I convinced myself it was just an argument between husband and wife. I put it out of my mind, and tried to not think about it anymore.

We returned to our cozy campsite and decided not to worry about those damn hoodlums any longer. We were going to have fun and enjoy the last night of our honeymoon, in spite of them! We started another fire and toasted some marshmallows. It was a beautiful, starry evening. We had the radio quietly playing, and I was sitting in my husbands lap with his arms around me, as we were feeding each other marshmallows. It was one of those romantic moments that you wish would never end. I was staring into the flames, mesmerized by its dancing, and my husband began kissing my neck. It was when i leaned toward him, to return his kiss, that we heard it....screams of absolute horror!

It seemed like the screams were coming from all around the campground! We jumped into our vehicle and sped off to see what was wrong. What we found, was ghoulish. There were dead bikers everywhere! There was one in front of the outhouse, there were two of them slumped over the fire at their site, with their flesh boiling and bubbling off, and another was lying in the middle of the road! Reluctant to get closer than we had to, we checked the bodies for signs of life. Nothing. As we got an even closer look, we saw that they all had been struck by razor sharp arrows. No more did we realize this, when the arrows were suddenly whizzing by us everywhere. But we couldn't see where, or who they were coming from. We were absolutely horrified! "Where are those arrows coming from?!" Nate questioned, as we dove to the ground to take cover from our vehicle. I tried calling 911 from my cell phone, but had no service at all. "We need to go get help!" I screamed. We jumped in, and drove toward the exit of the campground. Nearing the exit, we came upon a little girl walking her dog, heading in the direction of all the death and chaos! My husband slammed the car in park, and jumped out. He told the girl to get in, that it wasn't safe down there. As he was opening the back door to get the girl and the dog in, he noticed that one of the bikers, the same one who gave us the evil looks when Nate stuck up for the park ranger, was coming toward him waving a gun! "It's you!" It's you and your redneck friends killing us! They're all dead you asshole!" screamed the maniac biker. My husband yelled back at him "No, you have it all wrong, we are NOT the ones doing this!" BANG! i heard the shot. "Now, you can meet my dead friends and ask them who killed 'em!" the biker sadistically mumbled. I looked over, and lying on the ground in a puddle of blood was my new husband! The man i have loved with all of my heart for the past eight years. I was numb. Time had stopped and so had my memory. The last thing i remember was hearing police and ambulance sirens. The noise must have unconsciously made me raise my head, because just then, as clearly as day, the face of an indian was staring me square in the eyes. Then, the face spoke! "Your brave husband is with our people now. He will forever be in safe hands. He will be with you again when you are called by the Great Spirit. Our people were murdered and forced from this great land, only for the new people to dishonor it. Our spirits are angry by this treatment. We will tolerate no more. Your husband has died a warrior, protecting others from the disease of this land. We will forever protect it, and all others who fight for it."

I have never been back to the Kancamagus highway. I do suggest however, to all who plan to visit....Tread lightly and peacefully, because the natives are always watching and they are.....UNFORGIVING!

---