"I'm excited, but nervous! Dave, I think helicopters crash frequently, especially the ones that take peeps on tours," said Maureen. Dave shook his head. "No honey, they actually don't. This company has a great safety record. Come here." Dave held his arms open and embraced his new bride. "C'mon Maureen. We planned this for a long time. It'll be awesome!"
"Okay. You're right. It will be awesome! Besides, taking the helicopter tour over the Hasegawa Islands is a sight not seen by many. We'll have a beautiful view of the remote islands, as well as a chance to skim over the South Pacific. It'll be fun!" Maureen kissed her husband, grinned, and picked up the tour brochure off the table in their rental condo. She nodded. "This will be a fantastic trip!"
Newlyweds Dave and Maureen were excited as their helicopter trip was coming in just two days, leaving from their current location in Oahu, Hawaii.
The two are on their honeymoon, having been married just a short three days prior. They made breakfast in the condo prior to starting day four of their ten day trip. As they sat at the dining room table enjoying pancakes and fruit, an excited Maureen smiled while nodding. "Yep, I can't wait for Friday, honey!" Dave looked at Maureen with a big smile. "It's gonna be a spectacular view!"
Time does fly when you're having fun, as the next two days passed quickly. Dave and Maureen drove their rental car to the Oahu Airport in plenty of time for their nine in the morning, six hour tour. As they waited in the lobby of the helicopter tour office, Dave and Maureen looked at framed photos hanging on the wall of what was in store for them. Maureen's eyes widened. "Wow! This is amazing!" They looked at photos of waterfalls, beautiful volcanic mountains, and a canopy of the greenest trees found anywhere on the planet.
While in the lobby, they saw a woman in her early seventies as she sat on a bench. Maureen approached. "Are you going on the nine o'clock tour as well?"
The woman brushed her silver hair from her eyes and grinned. "Why, yes I am." She added as she put her hand out to shake, "I'm Carolyn. I'm from Fremont, Ohio." "I'm Maureen, and this is my husband Dave." The three shook hands and Carolyn asked, "So where is home for you kids?" Dave replied, "Goleta, California, in Santa Barbara County." Carolyn nodded. "Sounds nice!" She paused then added, "I wish my husband were here, he passed away eleven months ago. He would have loved this." Maureen reached out and touched Carolyn's shoulder. "Oh, I'm sorry. I will tell you, he would want you to live the best life you can, and it looks like this flight is part of it." Carolyn smiled wide as she looked at Maureen. "Yes! And I'm doing just that, living! This will be a memorable trip!" Dave said, "Well, it's an honor to share this experience with you."
As part of the tour, the helicopter will land so the travelers can have a nice lunch on the beach as well as enjoying snorkeling before the beautiful flight back. The three passengers met the pilot, Scott, in the lobby. Scott introduced himself and escorted the three to the helicopter that was waiting outside. As they walked, Scott gave a little background about himself which included being a certified flight instructor, and flying in
the military. Scott advised they would all be wearing headsets to communicate with each other better. The helicopter took off and immediately they were over water. Scott announced, "The island we are landing on folks has not had native inhabitants on it for about seven hundred years, but it's beautiful!"
As they continued over the Pacific towards the islands, they saw a large pod of dolphins, a whale spouting, and several sea turtles as the water was very clear. There was a shadow in the water and Dave asked, "Scott, is that shadow on the water from a plane above us?" Scott laughed for a quick moment. "No, that's either a large Tiger Shark or a medium Great White." Carolyn looked out of the window and said, "Remarkable!" Maureen leaned over and told Dave, "I'm not snorkeling with any shark, i'll tell you that." "Relax honey, he is way away from where we will be." Maureen raised her eyebrows and half way joked, "What about other sharks?...Ya big dummy!" The two smiled at each other and held hands.
They flew low over the first Island, getting a great view of a large waterfall. Maureen brushed her long blonde hair from her eyes as she looked out of the window. "Wow! How amazingly beautiful!" The helicopter approached the larger, second island which they would land on. As the helicopter was over the waves approaching the beach, "Scott had a pale look of sudden fear on his face as he tried to obtain a bit more lift to clear the approaching palm trees. There was apparently a mechanical issue causing Scott not to gain altitude, despite his quick efforts. The landing skids clipped the first set of trees which caused the helicopter's tail to violently rotate up and over towards the front, causing the aircraft to now be upside down.
The two newlyweds squeezed each others hand so hard their hands turned white, and Carolyn placed her head between her knees yelling, "Oh God, Oh God!" The heavy jungle of Palm, Giant Red Cedar, and Banana trees, cradled the helicopter on its way to the ground. The helicopter's fall while upside down was slowed by branches. The helicopter became stuck on branches about twenty feet above the ground, and then it happened. The weight of the helicopter snapped the remaining supporting branches, and the helicopter fell to the ground, hitting hard on its roof.
Hanging upside down from their seat belts, Dave, Maureen, Carolyn and Scott were in rough shape. Carolyn, who was seated up front next to Scott, suffered a big gash to her forehead above her right eye. Maureen suffered a cut to the right side of her head along with cuts to her arms. Dave was basically okay, except for the big bump on top of his head and a few minor cuts to his neck and arms. Carolyn called out excitedly, "Scott, what do we do now?" Scott would not answer. Dave yelled, "Scott!" No answer. Carolyn placed her hand on Scott's shoulder and shook him. No response.
Dave unbuckled his and Maureen's seat belt and they fell to the ceiling of the helicopter. Maureen unbuckled Carolyn and instead of falling, Dave supported her weight and gently guided her down. He helped her out of the broken side window of the helicopter. Dave grabbed Scott by the shoulder and shook him. "Scott! Scott!" he shouted, trying to wake the veteran aviator. Maureen reached to Scott's neck and did not feel a pulse.
Dave unbuckled Scott and freed him from the helicopter, laying him on the white sand. Dave began CPR but was unable to revive Scott. The large cut and blood in his hair indicated he hit his head, probably breaking his neck.
"What do we do? What do we do?" asked a panicked Carolyn. Dave reached in and grabbed the radio, but the radio unit was too smashed to deliver a distress call, or any call for that matter. The three survivors walked to the beach, hoping a boat would pass by or the air traffic controller would know their last location and send help. The three sat on the beach and waited...and waited...and waited.
Dave and Maureen walked back into the jungle, leaving Carolyn on the beach. They looked for firewood to keep warm, keep animals away, and to signal a passing boat or aircraft. As the newlyweds walked side by side, Maureen felt something strike her in the upper back, as if someone suddenly shoved her or threw something at her.
She looked on the ground behind her and saw no thrown object. Dave looked at Maureen, his eyebrows scrunched close, puzzled. "What's wrong babe?" Maureen said, "I felt an impact to my back...that was weird."
Dave asked, "Are you sure it's not just pain from the crash?"
"No! It's not!" Maureen shouted. She continued, "Something hit me, or shoved me, Dave."
The scared couple continued as it was now pretty dark. They only found wet wood so they kept walking, searching for dry timber. They stopped and took a short break and after one minute, they heard something approaching from the rear. The fallen leaves on the ground crackled with each step.
It sounded like a person's footsteps, and not a four legged animal. The sound of approaching footsteps got louder as they got closer. Right when the footsteps sounded like they were within twenty feet, Dave and Maureen turned sharply to see what or who it was. In the darkness Dave called out, "Carolyn?" There was no answer. The only thing the two heard was the footsteps approaching again, slowly, step by step. Fear rapidly set in with the newlyweds. Maureen started to shake. With only the last glimpse of sunlight remaining, although they could see the trees around them, they could not see a thing. No person, no animal.
The two kept going and again heard the footsteps following. They stopped in their tracks and before they could turn around to see what was behind them, Maureen felt a breath on her neck, then another, as if someone was right behind her breathing on her. She turned quickly but did not see anyone. With a frightened, pale look on her face, she shouted to Dave, "Run!" Dave and Maureen ran, circling back to the trail they created, hoping to soon find the beach, Carolyn, and safety. As they ran they heard the footsteps behind them. Dave quickly glanced back and saw nothing.
The non visible footsteps caught and passed them. The only evidence of their existence was the sound of leaves crunching underfoot, as well as the sand being kicked up. The newlyweds kept going as they knew it was safer on the open beach than in the jungle. Although the trail was clear, they surprisingly both tripped as if something was across
the trail, or as if someone stuck their leg out to trip them. Again, they saw nothing. The two laid on the ground, cold, frightened, and curious. Dave scratched the top of his head and thought to himself, "How could this be? There is no one else here!"
They got up and kept running and eventually found the beach. Carolyn was nowhere to be found.
They called her name out loud with no response. "Carolyn! Carolyn!" They found tracks in the sand indicating Carolyn walked along the shoreline to the east. The two went looking for her in the darkness. After fifteen minutes of fast walking they caught Carolyn as she was heading back to the crash location, with the bottom of her shirt wrapped around her right forearm. Maureen ran up to her. "Carolyn, there you are! What happened to your arm?" Carolyn looked like she was in shock, shaking and pale. She stuttered a bit then answered, "I-I-I don't know! I was walking then got shoved from behind to the sand. I got up to my knees and turned around and nothing or no one was there. As I looked to see what it was, I felt air on my arm, like someone was breathing hard on me, then I felt a bite to my arm. I couldn't see what or who it was and it was still pretty light out at that point. It was very strange! My arm was bleeding so I cleaned it in the ocean, and I've been holding my arm in my shirt to stop the bleeding."
Maureen and Dave looked at each other with worry on their faces, as they also experienced a presence in the jungle. The three continued to walk east, back towards the crash location. Upon their return to the damaged helicopter, they dug around in the cab to find the box lunches and water that was onboard. While Dave leaned in the helicopter, he had a puzzled look on his face. He looked to the area on the beach where he did CPR on Scott, but did not see Scott's body. He thought perhaps a scavenger animal had taken him away. "Ladies! Scott's body is missing!" Carolyn said, "Oh, animals are very quick to get a free meal. God rest his soul."
With food and drink in hand, the three huddled up on the sand and ate their food with gusto, as they were very hungry. They drank water to rehydrate. After ten minutes, the distinct sound of breaking branches could be heard towards the top of the forest canopy. The group looked up and what they saw caused all their mouths to hang open in amazement. There, high in the trees was Scott, hanging by his ankles by vines. The three looked at each other with puzzled faces, eyes wide. They ran up the beach in total fear, cold and shaking.
After a few minutes of running, Dave went back to help Carolyn who had stopped to walk. Carolyn asked, "How in the world could Scott's two hundred pounds of literally dead weight go from being on the ground to hanging from his ankles forty feet high in the trees?" Dave shook his head. "I don't know Carolyn, I don't know." Dave and Carolyn heard a scream up the shoreline. Dave ran and Carolyn sort of jogged in that direction. What Dave saw when he got up to Maureen was not logical, not rational. He saw Maureen fighting off a man. Not just any man, but a halfway transparent, primitive island native type man, complete with loincloth and some sort of war paint on his face. As the primitive man grabbed Maureen around the waist and started leading her into the jungle, Dave charged him with hopes of tackling the man, and freeing his grip on
Maureen. Dave's efforts went right through the man, as if he was just a mist. The man put a wide eyed, crazed look on his face and laughed for a moment, highlighting the fact that Dave could not hurt him. Maureen started to get dragged into the jungle. She screamed for help and tried to kick the man, but her feet only passed through his lower legs where normally she would have landed some powerful kicks. Dave clenched both his fists. "If I can't stop this...this primitive ghost-man, I'll never see Maureen again!"
When Maureen and the man were just beyond the first set of bushes that led into the jungle, a second halfway transparent person appeared. The original primitive man got tackled by the new ghostly figure. These two apparitions wrestled and rolled around on the sand. The back of the other ghost was facing Dave, Maureen, and Carolyn, and as he held the primitive man down on his back, he turned to look at the group. Maureen yelled, "Scott!...But how?" The ghost of Scott yelled, "I don't know, but you guys better get out of here. Tell my wife I love her and where my body is to recover it. The GPS on the helicopter should direct rescue to the island, and a plan is in place for any search boats to go to the far south beach. Now go!"
The three stood there for a moment in complete shock as ghost Scott held the primitive ghost down. The group suddenly turned and ran off, thankful for the efforts of Scott's ghost allowing them a chance to flee. As they hiked through the jungle towards the south edge of the island, Carolyn felt a breath on her neck and picked up the pace as goosebumps formed on her arms. The three heard approaching footsteps and looked behind them, yet could not see anyone. The three started to run. "Ahh!" Carolyn said as she tripped on a fallen branch. The footsteps got closer and closer to her. Remembering her bite attack from earlier, she felt tremendous emotion, fear, and anger, and knew she had to get out of there. She tried to stand up but lost her footing on the wet leaves and fell back to the ground.
Maureen heard the thud of Carolyn's body, and reached back and helped Carolyn's seventy-two year old body stand up. Once up, they all ran, sprinting for the beach ahead. All three heard the beat of native drums behind them, and many voices singing out in some sort of war cry. Dave turned around but could not see anything. Without warning, they heard the cracking of wind, as multiple arrows shot past them. They jumped into the water and started to swim. Dave was struck by an arrow behind his right shoulder. His face grimaced as he removed the arrow while yelling "Ow!"
The three kept swimming away from the island, slowly, but getting farther from the haunted, yet beautiful location. Carolyn was not in the best of shape, and was much slower than Dave and Maureen. After three minutes, they saw the first shark.
The twelve foot tiger shark was attracted by Dave's blood in the water, as well as the splashing from the group swimming. The shark bit Dave's upper arm near the shoulder then released. Now even more blood was spilled in the water. Dave started getting light headed due to blood loss, and he and the others were truly in a bad place. It was night time, in the ocean, with no floatation device, bleeding and hurt...with sharks starting to swarm, and the land with angry ghosts.
Maureen felt something bump her side, and was relieved she did not get bit. She felt even more relief as she saw a small boat approach, looking towards the coast with a spotlight. She shouted, "The rescue crew!" The three waived their hands in the air, Dave only one hand due to his bite injury. The rescuers saw the three in the water and turned in their direction. As the three waited for the boat to get them out of the water, they started to laugh with joy as their ordeal was over. The three treaded water to stay afloat. Laughter turned to terror, as Maureen was hit with such force from below she was lifted up out of the water. Unfortunately, her lower right leg was in a Tiger Shark's mouth. The shark landed violently in the water, dragging Maureen below the surface. The water went suddenly still, and Dave dove down to see if he could locate his new bride. He came up for air empty handed. His heart sank as he knew she was gone.
Dave tried one last time to dive under the surface to locate Maureen, but could not find her despite waving his arms underwater frantically, which wasn't easy due to his painful injury. The rescue boat was now with the two remaining survivors.
A crying Dave helped the rescue personnel get Carolyn into the boat. Dave was entering the boat, and swung one leg into the boat. As he was pulling himself in, he was violently bumped back into the water. The big splash caused the boat to rise up and down with the now choppy water. Dave swam back to the boat and again, hooked his leg over the side to pull himself in. The shark was focused on the taste and smell of the blood and bit right at the source, Dave's bleeding shoulder. The shark was able to bite just below the shoulder, almost severing Dave's whole arm. Instead, his arm was left attached, but mangled with tendons, ligaments, and muscle dangling from his bone, looking like the peel hanging down from a banana. The two rescue men reached over the side of the boat and pulled Dave in.
The rescuers put blankets over Dave and elevated his feet to treat for shock. They also wrapped his bleeding arm with a towel. Carolyn kept Dave talking, and assured him he would be okay. Dave was not thinking of his injuries as he cried out in the darkness, "Maureen!" Tears flooded his face and Carolyn hugged him. As the boat turned to leave, the captain of the boat saw something reflect in the water. The boat turned back and approached. Dave had high hopes it was Maureen, staying afloat in the water and alive. Dave's heart raced with anticipation as the boat got closer and closer. He silently thought, "Come on, please be her!" As the boat got closer, the group saw it was only seaweed floating on the surface. The boat turned again to head out and Dave whispered softly as a tear cascaded down his face, "I love you Maureen. I always will." Dave put his head down in sadness, staring at his feet, with a continuous river of tears flowing down his face.
After two minutes, the boat's captain noticed something else in the water and headed towards it. As the boat got closer to the object, Carolyn yelled, "Maureen!" It was Maureen's blonde hair being illuminated by the boat's light. The boat approached Maureen. Dave, who was badly injured and was struggling to keep his core body temperature up, was in no mood to see his dead wife floating in the night time water.
The boat got closer, and miraculously, Maureen opened her eyes, tried to yell, but could not speak. Dave looked at the water and yelled, "Sweetie!" Maureen was able to form a little half smile. The captain and the other rescuer grabbed Maureen under her arms and pulled her into the boat. Dave hugged her like it was his last chance to ever do so. Carolyn placed her hand along Maureen's face and smiled. "Oh, deary, you made it!" Dave noticed Maureen's severe leg injury and hugged her with his one good arm.
Maureen was out of breath but was able to slowly say, "I must have been dragged down twenty feet by that shark and was basically out of oxygen. I never thought one of the happiest moments in my life would be when my leg finally was bitten all the way off, allowing me to get free and come back up to the surface." As Dave kept hugging Maureen, she noticed Dave's injury. At first she made a sad face, then she smiled at Dave, saying, "Well, at least we have stories!"
Carolyn wrapped Maureen's amputated leg in a towel, and placed a blanket around her body. "Thank you Carolyn," said a thankful Maureen. The boat took off full speed for Oahu Hospital. Knowing first aid procedures have been provided to Dave and Maureen, Carolyn wrapped a cloth rag around her own strange but truly ghost bitten arm. Paralleling the boat were a pod of dolphins which made the group feel safer, as they felt the dolphins were there to protect them. Maureen smiled, reached up, and touched the side of her new husband's face, saying, "We're alive, and we're gonna be okay. It's gonna be just fine." She turned her head to look back at the haunted island one more time, let out a big sigh, and whispered, "Thank you, Scott."