I first wrote about this story in one of my books several years ago.

It's simply the craziest story, the cast of characters in it, and the baffling circumstances

that just seemed to twist into evermore incomprehension, and it has become a bit of an obsession.

What actually happened on a very innocent, seeming road trip back in 1994.

It was late in the night when David Smith became separated from his friend, Heath Bullard.

They'd been running frantically in blind panic in the dark, and when they reached a creek,

Heath couldn't go any further.

He couldn't swim, and maybe David didn't notice.

But David plunged headlong into

the water, and their separation for a descent into surreal horror began. It was August 9th, 1994,

be some days before Heath and David would be reunited, but the space in between would see them

changed beyond all recognition from their

former selves.

It had all begun when David Smith, aged 25, and Heath Bullard 23, had set out on August

8, 1994, in a loaded pickup truck from their homes in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, on

a road trip.

They were bound for a Native American

reservation in Arizona. David was a painter and Heath was a trainee teacher enrolled at Cutterown

University and he was heading for Kayenta Indian Reservation in Monument Valley to take up a student

teaching role. David was along for the ride and would fly back on the coming Friday to

return to his job. What began as an innocent drive on the highway soon turned into something so

surreal and inexplicable. It's hard to fathom to this day. The morning call of Pennsylvania

...