Subject File 2 “The Boy in the Barrel”
Years ago, a local resident was camping in the woods. At approximately 2:30 AM, he was awoken by his own shivering, and realized that he was no longer covered by blankets. He began to search the floor, feeling around in the dark. He only stopped when his hand found the blankets, wrapped around something breathing lightly in its sleep. He quickly grabbed a flashlight and looked down. Sleeping on the floor, underneath his blankets, was a small child.
The man tried to coax the boy awake. Unable to get a response, he called local police. A couple of minutes later the man led officers to his campsite, where the child was still sleeping. The officers awoke the child with smelling salts and identified themselves. When they tried to move him though he shrieked in pain. One of the officers removed the blankets, revealing that the boy was completely naked. He was tucked tightly into a ball, with his legs bent and his arms crossed against his chest. In several places, specifically the legs and lower arms, there was pronounced swelling. This was especially true in the joints, and there was heavy, purplish bruising. Though the officers tried to get the boy to uncurl, they could not. His limbs were seized in place.
The child was profoundly emaciated, and was unable to respond coherently to the officer’s questions, leading them to believe he was severely malnourished. An ambulance was called, and it was not long before the child was brought to the hospital. Once there, it was determined that his limbs condition was primarily due to an ailment known as Post Thrombotic Syndrome. The condition is caused by blood clotting in the limbs, and is very common in people who are kept in the same position over extended periods of time. This causes the pooling of blood, which caused severe tissue damage. This, combined with the apparent damage to the joints, caused his limbs to lock completely, making him unable to move them.
Though his testimony was erratic and without focus, the officers gathered a general idea of what happened. The boy's home was nearly fifty miles from the site where he was found. He had been spending time with his family near his home, but left to go play in the woods. While he was playing, a figure appeared from over a hill. They quickly covered the distance and “stung” the boy. The boy blacked out, and woke up to find his arms and legs stuck in an awkward position.
It is unknown how long he spent like that. The boy said that it hurt for a while, then stopped hurting at all. This was likely caused by the increasing lack of feeling in his limbs. Eventually he was removed and placed on the ground. It was only after being put down that the boy saw that he had been in a barrel. The child said they heard a hose, and then after a short time he was put back inside, the inside now wet. It is assumed they had cleaned it out the refuse.
Much of the child's later recollections were more or less ramblings and fits of hysterics, making any additional information hard to gather. He claimed that he did not know how he got inside the tent, and indeed did not realize he was no longer in the barrel till the officers had spoken to him. Theories were constructed as to how the child got there with his body in the condition it was in. Strange as it may sound, it is commonly believed that the perpetrator had brought him there. This is curious considering the minimum distances involved, as well as the obvious lack of feeling they had shown towards the child. The reasons for letting him go are unknown, but it seems doubtful that someone else moved him, unless the man had an accomplice. The boy claimed he only saw one person, but the idea of multiple people has not been discounted.
The boy’s parents were contacted and managed to get to the hospital to spend time with him. However, though the doctors utilized a wide variety of methods to try and help the boy, the damage to his body was too great and he ended up dying in the hospital two days after his discovery. It was determined that a blood clot had been released when he was moved and caused an embolism. However, his death was primarily attributed to pronounced trauma as well as a severe level of neglect, as it was his condition that had caused the blood clot to form.
According to statements released by the boy’s parents, the child had gone missing several months before, making it likely that he had been kept in the barrel for a good amount of that time. It seems that in order to keep the boy alive he had been placed up to a full liquid diet, fed to him through a feeding tube. Blood work suggested that he had been given various supplements, likely to keep his body from shutting down. Great care seems to have been taken to try and keep the boy alive, though for what purpose could not be determined, as no signs of sexual abuse or additional injuries could be found.
No one was ever arrested for the death of the child. Further investigations were performed, which included a conversation with the local park ranger. He was questioned as to whether or not there were any other disappearances in the area. His answer was that he did not know. It seems that national parks and the like are not required to keep track of the number of people who go missing. This is startling, especially considering just how many people enter the woods every year, only to be never seen again.
It seems strange that out of all the facts in this case it is the lack of records that is the most disturbing. Such information would be instrumental in finding any patterns in these disappearances. But this information remains largely undocumented, outside of those willing to contribute significant time to do so. Few can, and so instead these people's disappearances remain unsolved, with only their families and the investigating officials to consider just what happened.
