The Hermit

I came across the story when a colleague from the city administration showed me an old file: a property that is officially considered “abandoned” but was still listed as inhabited until recently. No response to official mail, no reaction to questions about ownership – but regular parcel deliveries until about a year ago. Then a note: death. Since then: radio silence. Or almost.

The man nobody knew Wyatt Lynch lived on the farm for decades. Alone. At least officially. Most people here hardly remember him. A reclusive, taciturn man who listened to no one, spoke to no one – and at some point stopped leaving the farm altogether.

Some say he heard voices. Others said he was simply broken—his wife had died in an accident many years ago, and he never got over it. The two had been a strange couple, completely devoted to each other, hardly ever in town. After that, he was just “the crazy man of Widow Creek.”

During my research, a rumor surfaced that gave me goose bumps. An elderly neighbor said, “I once saw a girl. Bright red hair and a beautiful smile. A long time ago. In the field. I waved at her—but when I got closer, there was no one there.”

Others said that old Lynch had accepted packages for a “R. Lynch”—but no one had ever seen this person. Was there really a child? A daughter? And if so, why didn't anyone know about it?

And yet it's not just the past that raises questions: in the year after Wyatt Lynch's death, several people experienced strange things on the property, but they are reluctant to talk about them. Nothing concrete – but enough to give the farm a reputation for driving people “crazy.” And enough to make me curious.