Zelda's Cave

There is a nasty little legend in the town where I live. The legend of Zelda's Cave has been around for a long time here and is a story kids tell each other to scare their girlfriends. Or is it something more? I decided to find out for myself, to search out the ghost. To find Zelda.

In the early 1900's, a young girl of fifteen named Zelda was kidnapped by a local cult and taken into an underground tunnel. After doing horrific things to her, the cult sacrificed her during the night in a ritual of blood. Rumor has it that anyone entering her cave today will be killed by Zelda before making it to the end.

So I thought I'd go. Evelyn and I drove over the the area, and while she stayed behind in the car, I grabbed my trusty camera and headed down into the creek bed toward the location most agreed was Zelda's Cave. I came upon an old drainage tunnel, with a steel grate that had been propped open.

I stopped about twenty feet from the grate and listened to the strange noises emenating from its depths. There were some freaky sounds that reminded me of all the bad horror movies I've seen in my life. I raised my camera and took a picture. There was some murky water left over from recent rains and I didn't relish the idea of sloshing through all that bacteria and so I decided that for now, twenty feet was as close as I would get.

As I turned to leave, my feet were swept out from under me, like those old cartoons of a guy slipping on a banana peel. Both feet shot straight out and for a moment I was in the air, having lost all contact with the ground, and I landed hard on my back and shoulder blades. One minute I was standing there and the next I was laying on the concrete slab, the wind knocked out of me. There is no explanation for my feet suddenly being swept out from under me. I was not standing on an incline, I was not moving. One minute standing, the next lying with a bruised spine trying to catch my breath. I suddenly realized nobody knew where I was.

When finally I could move I staggered up the side of the creek and hobbled to the car.

"What happened?" Evelyn asked eyeing my dirty clothes.

I looked at her and said, "That bitch tried to kill me!"

So for now, Zelda has won the battle, but I will visit her again soon and then we'll see if I can hold my own against her in round two.