No one ever seem to know what or who this apparation was. That is, until in 1890, Old Jack Cole was on his death bed and had to clear his concience, before he died.
Jack Cole came to the Ridge in about 1870. He was in his fifties and he had no wife or family as far as anyone knew. He was a loner and kept to himself. He was friendly to the people on the Ridge , but never got involved with the socializing that went on among the families that lived there. No one knew much about his life before he came to the monutains.
One night in mid winter, the preacher was passing by Old Jack's place and noticed the door was standing wide open. It was bitter cold out and the preacher knew that no one would have their door standing open in this cold if things were right, so he stopped to see if Jack was alright. When he entered the house he found the old man in his bed covered completely with quilts. The old man was burning up with fever. So the preacher closed the door and stirred the fire up and started to tend to the sick old man. All through the night the fever raged and Old Jack would tumble and toss in his delirium. At times crying out and begging for forgiveness. The preacher had no idea of what sin Jack was needing forgiven for, he was out of his head with fever and didnt even know the preacher was there.
The next morning Old Jack came out of his delirium. He was weak and still a very sick man. Tears rolled down his face and he told the preacher that he wanted to confess a terrible sin that had weighed on his mind for many years. So the preacher told him to confess the sin and he would be forgiven for it . and so the confession was told.
Jack was an only child until he was about fifteen years old. It was then that his Mother gave birth a another son. When the child was born, he was terribly misformed. His body was bent and mishapen, but the worst part was his head. He did not even look human. His face was more like the face of some monster than it was a human face. Jack's Mother was heart-broken. The baby would die, the doctor told her. He couldnt live but a few weeks at the most. But the Doctor was wrong. The baby did live. They named him Samuel. As the years went by Jack and his parents tried to keep him away from the town and other people, because they were either scared of him or they made fun of him. And when Samuel was 12 years old. he was over 6 ft. tall and weighed about 200 pounds. It was at this time that Samuel became violent. It was hard to keep him under control. At times they had to chain him to his bed. They were afraid if word got out that he had became violent, the townspeople would have him put away or maybe even shoot him.
It wasnt long after this, that Jack's Father passed away. His heart just gave out, probably from the strain of trying to cope with Samuel. Then two months later, Jack's Mother died, too. Never forgiving herself for bringing the insanity that was in poor Samuel about. So this left only Jack to take care of his brother. The insanity was getting worse and Samuel's strength was way beyond a normal man's. Jack knew he had to do something, so he decided to take Samuel and move to another place where no one knew them.
Through the years Jack & Samuel moved to different places. But it was always the same. When people found out about Samuel they made life miserable for him and Jack both, so Jack would find a new place and move on.
Then in 1870 Jack found a cabin up on Cemetery Ridge. the cabin was isolated and miles from any other people. This was just the place. So Jack took Samuel to the mountains. This time Jack kept Samuel hidden. No one knew that he had a brother. No one ever saw him.
The only thing was that Samuel like to go to the old cemetery that was not far from their cabin. Sometimes if Jack was busy, Samuel would slip away and Jack would know just where to find him. There wasnt too much danger of anyone seeing Samuel because hardly anyone came to the old cemetery anymore. Sometimes Jack would have a hard time getting him back to the cabin. It was all he could do coax him back home.
Then one day Jack left Samuel sitting on the porch. Jack thought he was asleep. So went into the woods, just out of sight of the cabin. He wanted to check his rabbit traps to see if he had caught anything for dinner.
When Jack returned to the cabin, Samuel was gone. Knowing that he probably was at the cemetery Jack hurried to find him. He came upon Samuel in the Old Cemetery. What he saw was horrible. Samuel was kneeling over the body of a young man. He was strangling him. Jack screamed at Samuel and ran to try and stop him, but Samuel would not turn the man loose. Jack did the only thing he could. He grabbed a big rock and hit Samuel over the head. and he fell to the side letting the young man go. But when Jack got to the man he could see he was already too late. The man was dead. His neck was broken. He looked at Samuel, he was unconscious, but still breathing. Jack knew he had to get him away from the body before he woke up. So he dragged Samuel down the hill into the weeds. He sat down exhausted. Trying to think of what to do. Then he knew what he must do. Samuel must not ever wake up again. He was dangerous and violently insane. He had to finish the job. But he didnt think he had the nerve to do it. But as he thought of the young man lying up there in the graveyard. he knew he had to kill Samuel now. So he found another big rock and he stood over the mishapen body of his brother, he then brought the rock down on Samuel's head until he knew no life remained in his body. as he was doing this, he thought of Samuel as a rabid animal that had to be put out of its misery..
Jack buried Samuel a few days later just outside of the old cemetery and he covered the grave with leaves. He had waited till they buried the young man. So Samuel's grave would not be noticed. No one ever found his grave as far as Jack could tell. But ever so often Jack heard disturbing rumors about something dress all in black creeping through the old cemetery at night. Jack was certain that it was Samuel's spirit
roaming there and he was sure that it would never rest. And he was right.
After telling this story, Jack Cole drifted into a deep coma and died a few hours later. But at last the mystery of young Toby's death was at last known. And the identity of the "Creeping Thing" was solved.