The Legend of Pigman
This story starts in the summer of 2006 but the beginnings of the Pigman can trace its roots back much further than this time. It was August, an average one by the standards of the region. The weather wasn’t far outside of the historical averages, nothing of remarkable note happened in that month in terms of the weather. It seemed for the small Northern village that everything was business as usual. Tourists came and went, travelling up from the big city to enjoy a slice of wilderness, a reprieve from their everyday grind, a mental break from their busy lives. The city has a lot going on but sometimes people just need there to be not a lot going on. They seek a place to unplug and get away from it all, to disengage from the details of the next big thing at work, to calm the tirade of after school activities for the kids. At least on the surface that is what they are looking for, what they get is usually a fairly calm weekend but their lifestyle and personalities can never fully gear down, not in the span of a single short weekend. They end up trying to experience more things than would be considered comfortable in the wilderness over such a short period. After all, they won’t wait for nature to come to them, they are going to nature.
It was no different for a particular group of young men. They all wanted to meet up, old friends looking to reunite for a weekend, to have a relaxing weekend in the woods. They planned to sit around a fire, drink some beers and reminisce about the good old days. It was not unusual for this kind of party to occur in the large park located on the outskirts of the village. It usually ended in frustration and fines for being too loud, but these men had planned for that. They secured an island campsite that was well away from all the other main areas of the park. Even if the rangers wanted to give them a fine they couldn’t. They’d have to canoe over to the island to issue a warning before any fine could be given, and they’d have to do it at night. The young men would see them coming and could make any kind of evasive maneuver to avoid a financial sanction. They assumed that anyone traveling at night would be using a light of some sort to find their way which would make spotting intruders that much more visible. Needless to say, excitement on the drive up from the South was pretty high.
The plant was the biggest employer in the village and it was always hot in August. The steam from the water bath, the heat coming off the blast furnaces, and the many exhaust fans blowing were enough to keep the place warm in the middle of winter, now with the heat of the day factoring into the equation, the place was hot, a sweltering enclosure. The man loved working there in the winter; it was a balmy, humid paradise. But in summer it was unbearable. The personal protective equipment alone was enough to make things uncomfortable. Usually they had air conditioning that fruitlessly battled the heat in the building but it seemed to be less and less effective, especially this August. It was almost as if the coolant needed to be recharged by the company, but they were too cheap or ignorant to concern themselves with it. The workers grew fatigued early and often during their shift. Safety was a concern in this industry at the best of times but when you are expected to work around dangerous chemicals and have the burden of uncomfortable conditions it becomes more dangerous.
Not the entire vacationing group of young men was coming excitedly from the south. Half the group was descending from the North for this wilderness adventure. They had a slightly shorter drive but that lessened temporal period of anticipation didn’t do anything to quell their excitement. Both vehicles of carpooling young men met in the parking lot around the same time. After the customary welcomes, razzing and hugs the young men paused a moment to take stock of their pending adventure. Due to the secluded nature of their campsite, they would have to ferry their supplies and equipment across some open water in a borrowed canoe, their only source of ingress or egress to their hideaway. With careful planning they were able to move all the people, beer, tents, etc across to the island in only a handful of precarious trips. The first few to be left on the island hurriedly claimed spots for tents and scurried to set them up before the light of the day faded from dusk to the dark of a Friday night.
The heat was not comfortable but it could be tolerated. This was not the worst chapter of the man’s life. In fact, only having heat and sweat to deal with was a nice change. It meant the man had a job, a steady well paying job at that. He had kept his head down and avoided notice since he got hired on. It was the easiest way to forget his life before. He needed to put it behind him and move on. The job at the plant was a second chance, maybe a third or fourth chance in reality but he was taking it as new opportunity to repair a broken life. He still twinges with pain when he thinks about all that he’s lost over the years. The wives, the daughters, his house, even his dog. That dog had been with him through the marriages and was really the last vestige of the man he started out as. In those moments when he could drift away he would think about that dog, wonder if it was still alive, and admire its carefree existence. Then, invariably, something would require his attention and snap him back to reality. It seemed like more and more in this heat he would drift away from the task at hand into the comfortable embrace of his fondest memories.
The young men started a fire when the tents were up, ready for the night ahead they wanted to start the relaxing they came all this way for. After a short meal they started opening beers and catching up on their lives. As more empty beer bottles collected in the pile the conversation shifted from current events to past glories. The shared experience in this group was extensive and was able to carry the conversation all the way around the campfire and back again. The light grew low and the bottles piled high as time marched on. Smiles and laughs emanated from the ring of chairs for most of the evening. A lull in the reminiscent conversation offered an opportunity for one of the men from the North to share something more current, a story that was unfolding over the last few days in that part of the world, one of tragedy born from a mishap. As soon as the details were shared another young man turned the conversation back to the shenanigan at the kegger and the laughs rebooted, ringing off the water and across the swamp.
The relentless heat didn’t abate and the flashbacks became more real every day, it had been over a week since they had started. The recurring distraction was a welcome respite from the general despair that lingered on his mind. Maybe that is why the man didn’t notice what he was doing or maybe the heat had just lulled him into a sleep like state, whatever the culprit he was in real danger. He hadn’t even noticed that he had wandered out of the worker area and into the restricted area. It was the alarm bells sounding that snapped his attention back, bringing fear and panic along with it. He was in the most dangerous spot on the floor. He could hear alarm bells ringing all around him, muffled yelling of the other workers through their safety suits. He looked around and tried to see a way to get out. He vaguely recalled what happened in this area of the plant. The safety doors had already closed while he stood indecisively. He could feel a desperation washing over him, he knew he wasn’t going to get out of this room; it was not going to be okay. His heart was roaring in his throat with panic. Darting eyes looking for a way out, vision clouded by fear and sweat. He could hear noise above him and looked up just in time to see what he feared the most.
The sun was well up into the sky by the time the boys awoke. It hung warm and inviting, greeting them as they slowly clambered out of their tents. Today was their first full day and they planned to make the most of it. Half the group wanted to go for a run, a rare chance to get some exercise close to nature doing one of their favourite things. The other half had plans to commune with nature in their own way. Mostly by exploring and gathering firewood from fallen trees scattered in the forest. Before these plans could be enacted they worked on a grand breakfast, fuel to feed the day and wash away the lingering effects of the previous night. There was the usual horseplay and good spirited ribbing. Over the course of the meal the boys recounted the events of the night and reveled in their enjoyment of the morning. A few took time to check in quickly with home and assure their partners or parents that fun was being had. There was a warning that came back from one of the parents about staying safe and remembering they were at the mercy of nature being out there like that. The boys all laughed it off as boys do. The breakfast ended and the day began.
The buzz of fluorescent lights was as deafening as it was bright. The man’s vision was blurry and everything around his head was in pain. Every pore seemed to sing out in agony. Blurry faces appeared but when they opened their mouths he only heard a different type of buzzing. It was as if they were speaking a different language. The pain was too much to allow him to focus his blurry gaze on their lips to try and discern their meaning from there. Frequently the world went dark and what seemed like moments later this grotesque play would open the curtain to the next act. This repeated several more times before the man was able to begin to make sense of what was happening. He was in a hospital and the faces were doctors and nurses. He was hooked up to several machines that he had not noticed previously. As his vision cleared he could see the expressions of the faces, some avoided looking at him, others looked sad when they saw him. He couldn’t understand why. What had happened? He tried to ask them but he couldn’t produce sound above a raspy squeak. Each attempt only deepened the emotions on the faces of his caregivers. They gave him a pad and a pen and helped him sit up. Through the disjointed conversation that followed the man learned from the medical staff that there had been an accident. The man felt like a pail of water had been dumped on him, as despair and dread washed over him. His stomach dropped when they explained the chemical wash he had wandered into had been using acid to clean recycled precision medical machine parts and was much more potent than normal. His appearance had been badly disfigured but otherwise he would recover physically. The distinct use of the term ‘recover physically’ told the man more than he needed to know about the extent of his disfiguration. The doctor continued that they had done what they could to repair his missing nose but so little was left that it was more open than normal. And that his ears were gone so they had done a procedure to create new ones but had to make them higher up on his head to avoid some damaged areas, more procedures would be required to fix them. The skin around his eyes had melted inward so bad that his vision would forever be limited, as if “you forever had blinders on.” This attempt at humour from the doctor snapped something in the man. The despair gave way to anger which swelled to blind rage. Someone was responsible for this tragedy and this man was making light of it. The man’s breathing intensified and he glared at the smile that was awkwardly present on the doctor’s lips. Then everything went black.
The morning had been a blur for the boys. The run had gone great, everyone returned ravenous. The exploring had been fun, it ended in a few minor science experiments with steam powered projectiles. The boys made a quick lunch together and decided they would paddle back to the cars to go visit a local attraction in the afternoon. The dump down the road promised to feature some giant dump bears, which are basically black bears that had grown fat off eating garbage in the dump. They are still dangerous but could be watched from a safe vantage point. The city dwellers had rare chance to see such a spectacle and excitement was high. They piled into the car and found their way to a rocky ledge high above the garbage, the perfect vantage point to see the morose show. They couldn’t drive in to the dump as it was closed so they parked on the road and climbed the fence. The bears crept out of the trees as if on cue and started rummaging around. They boys tossed down some food and trash to watch the bears clamour over to it. It was all very amusing. One of the boys noticed that several bears had emerged from the trees behind them and were walking toward the trash on a path between them and the car. Rather than being scared and trying to escape the situation the boys simply laughed in a carefree manner in a way that only youth can do. The bears continued down the path to join the others and the way was once again clear for the boys, should they need to flee. Long after the bears had departed into the trees the boys did the same, heading back for some fun in the lake and on the beach before the sun began to dip toward the horizon.
The lights were different here. The man knew instantly that he was in a different room. His eyes were blurry but when he tried to wipe them he got a new surprise. His hands were lashed to the bed. His feet were too. Frustration bubbled up and the man tested his restraints by thrashing wildly and squealing loudly. No rational thoughts were connecting within the man’s brain. He was tied and wanted out. If he had stopped to wonder, he might have asked himself why he was restrained, what had he done to deserve this treatment? Instead he could only think of who was responsible, who was going to pay for this. A list was forming; the company was responsible for his accident. Their cost cutting measures had lead to the distracting heat. More specifically, his boss hadn’t properly explained why he should never be in that area. There was the smug doctor who kept him alive after disfiguring him so terribly. He had many more as well. All the faces of the people who had wronged him over the years were swirling by like a carousel before his eyes. He convulsed madly as they circled his vision. The orderlies got too close and he stopped long enough to grab something off the belt of the orderly. In an attempt to tighten his arm they had let it slip free. He grabbed the closest orderly and raked his eyes with the keys he had grabbed. The man collapsed grasping his face, his partner recoiled in horror. That was all the window the man needed. He freed his other arm and when a nurse ran in with a sedative he was ready for her. He turned the tables on her and then freed his feet. One orderly was crumpled on the floor, the other simply stared at the blood and a nurse was down with a needle in her neck as the man ran from the room. He knew he had to escape, to survive, to get revenge.
The boys paddled back to their campsite, happy with experiences of the day. Exercise, laughs, bears, jumping off the cliff known as King Kong. They didn’t know it then but they were laying down some special memories to last through the years to come, until the next time they gathered together. In the moment they were just having a great weekend though. The sun was low in the sky by the time they got back and settled. They started their dinner and revealed previously unmentioned aspects of their day. Tall tales of who had done what that morning started and some laughs were had about the story they heard on the car radio about danger in the area. They shared a meal and cleaned up. The next thing they knew they had started a proud fire and were sitting again in a circle sharing memories and laughs. The beer bottles piled up faster on this night. More than one of the boys could be seen surveying the group with a knowing smile. These were good times.
On any other occasion the open sky and crisp, cool air above him would have been a welcome circumstance. But this time it meant another cold night hunkered down in the damp confines of a seemingly endless swamp. It had been several days since he had escaped the hospital. It had been at least a day since he had been picked up by an unwary traveler on the secondary highway that lead out of the village. The man had been so appalled by his appearance that he had tried to drive away, the man hadn’t enjoyed dispatching him like that, leaving him on the side of the road like garbage. He probably survived the beating but he would never look the same. Things had been more difficult now that he was out in the real world. He hadn’t been able to develop a plan to gain his revenge. He wasn’t sure how to attack the company. He learned from the news station blaring the truck he stole that four people had been attacked at the hospital, so he must have gotten the doctor before he was restrained. The man on the road made five. When the truck had run out of gas, he was determined not to be near it when it was located. He traversed the bush and ended up walking through this swamp. He got tired and slept for most of the daylight hours and was hoping to get away under the cover of darkness. He was angry but also in pain. His head throbbed and he needed food. The pain was a constant distraction that impaired his thought process. He worried he was going insane. In a lucid moment he took stock of what he had done to get here and his actions felt insane, but he couldn’t worry about that, he had to keep going. He thought he heard voices a few times during the day when he stirred but knew that there was nothing in this swamp. Then as darkness fell he thought he smelled food. Just the smell alone caused his stomach to react. He realized that he was ravenous and needed to eat before he could go on. Did he actually smell cooked meat? His mind left him doubting what was real. If only he had some medicine to dull the pain, to let him think clearly. Then he could figure out what he was doing.
The bugs had quieted down for the day, the air was crisp and cool, and the sky was clear and the stars bright. The boys kept drinking but the conversation had trailed off. Only the odd joke bounced off the quiet night. It was very peaceful, the boys probably were about to go to bed when they heard it, a rustling in the trees behind the tents, some twenty yards away. One of the boys who was more knowledgeable in the affairs of nature indicated that it was probably a small animal scurrying about in its nightly ablutions. A few moments of silence calmed the initial concern and soon they were all quietly staring into the fire again. The crackling of the burning wood and the song of the insects was ample to fill the silence left by lapses in conversation. The drowsy, drunk youths were being lulled to sleep until the sound of another branch breaking got their full attention. They strained their ears but heard nothing else, a couple of them laughed it off but all the boys stayed on edge, well as much as edge as they had left after so many beers. It wasn’t long before they heard it again; it was quieter this time and seemed further away the small animal theory seemed validated. The calming crackle of the fire took over, snapping as it burned a fresh log, the insects took up their chorus and the boys started to clean up, ready for bed. Off to their left something started moving quickly through the underbrush, there was no mistaking it this time. It was moving fast and sounded bigger than a small animal. A moment later a creature exploded from the underbrush. The firelight shone off its bright pink skin. Rudimentary pointed ear flaps bounced above squinting beady eyes that sat above a truncated snout that protruded where a nose should be. The creature unleashed a shrill squeal filled with fear and anger as the boys jumped out of their chairs and tried to scramble away. Torn clothing hung from its powerful human frame and revealed a bare-chested man’s torso. The creature chased the boys around the fire, trying to get a hold of one, murderous squealing mixing with screams of terror was all that could be heard. One of the boys stood across the flames from the creature and could make out its face. The face had features like a pig and was painted with rage yet the creature had the body of a man. It was the Pigman.