Cross Village, Michigan - 1967

In the summer of 1967, a group of unusual young people arrived the tiny hamlet of Cross Village, driving a battered bakery-style delivery truck, adorned with a florescent paint job of psychedelic patterns and flowers. The three men and two women said they were from a farm commune of some 100 young people located in northern Ohio. They were scouting the area around Cross Village for suitable land, possibly to expand the commune northward.

The townspeople of Cross Village were understandably suspicious of the group, being the only real “hippies” most of them had ever seen. But despite their colorful vehicle, long hair, and outlandish clothing, the young strangers were polite and well-behaved, and seemed sincere in their desire to talk business.

A scene from "The Legend" music video

It soon became known around town that the hippies were camping near the Lake Michigan shore at the end of an unnamed dirt road. About a week after they arrived, a state trooper decided to pay them a visit, and request that they move their van to a more suitable (and legal) campsite.

When the trooper arrived that morning the van was gone, but a forest ranger was on the scene collecting some litter they had left behind. He told the trooper he had arrived about an hour earlier, and found the kids hurriedly packing their belongings. When he asked them what the problem was, they pointed to what appeared to be large dog tracks in the sand, all around the van. The girls were crying so hard they could not speak. Finally one of the young men gathered himself enough to relate the story.

The group had been up late the night before, talking and partying. At about 3am, they turned off the radio in the van and got ready to bed down. With the music gone, they all heard the sound of foot steps outside, and a 'rubbing noise” on the walls of the van. Then there was a metallic scratching on the rear doors. One of the young men crawled to the back windows and pulled back the curtain.

"There was this 'thing' looking back in," said the young man, tears welling in his eyes. "It scared the crap out of us – the girls screamed. It just stared in and like...smiled. I jumped back and the curtain fell down." Shortly thereafter they heard a low guttural growl, and two bangs on the back door of the van. Then nothing. None of them slept the rest of the night.

"We're splitting...now," said the young man. They drove away, and were never heard from again.

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