You know those 80s movies where a bunch of kids wander the neighborhood on bicycles and then stumble into a mystery?

This story starts kind of like that.

You know, growing up, there was probably, you know, a good two or three dozen kids that lived in the park,

and we just roam the place like we own the place.

That's Jesse Morgan. In the movie version of this story, he'd probably be the leader of the

group, the scrappy one, the Corey Feldman. The way the Trail of Parks work, I mean, there's a lot

of people that come in and go out. I mean, I was one of the few kids that moved in when I was two

and moved out when I was 18.

In the summer of 1985, Jesse was 11 years old.

It was the year the Nintendo came to North America.

New Coke hit the shelves, and Calvin and Hobbs started running in newspapers. That year,

Jesse and his friends came up with a game. It was basically hide and seek, except the seeker

rode around on a four-wheeler. All the kids would hide, and the last one that got found,

would be able to ride the full wheeler, just do that

over and over. And we played it all summer long. The trailer park where Jesse grew up,

it's in a town so small that half of its main street is technically in another village.

And right next to the trailer park, covering more than half of the entire town, is 15 square miles of tall red pines and swampy tangled forest.

Bear Brook State Park.

We were able to roam because we weren't in a city. You know, my parents weren't worried so much about me because they just

figured I was over there, over there. You know, there was only so many places to go when we

were kids.

And one day, in the middle of this game, something strange happened.

...