Horror in the High Desert 2: Minerva (2023)

[bunniefuu]

The disappearance

of outdoorsman Gary

Hinge stunned the nation

when we shared his story.

It captured the hearts

and fears of millions

and we've had everyone from park rangers

to paratroopers offer to

help find his remains.

And yes, you can trust

that we are still following that story.

Thanks to tips from viewers

who also live in the area,

we've made another stunning discovery.

Just over a year after Gary went missing,

in the late night hours

of September 28th, 2018

the young woman was found dead

in her locked home off of Highway 50.

Hours later, another woman would vanish

along the same stretch

of remote desert highway.

Once I started looking

into this I realized

all of this is part of a bigger mystery

than I could have ever imagined

and it was unfolding right in front of us.

I first heard about

this when I was working

in Northern Nevada on a different

story at the Hotel Nevada.

And I was waiting for the elevator

in the lobby and it's an old hotel

so, you know, the elevator takes a while.

And I noticed this woman is staring at me

and right when the doors

open she rushes over to me

and she tells me, I know who you are

and you have to do a story

on what happened to that girl Minerva.

So we stepped aside

and I let the elevator doors close

and I listened to what she had to say.

Turns out she was a

former 9-1-1 dispatcher

from the neighboring

town of Cypress, Nevada,

where this event had taken place.

She rambled on for quite a bit

but what really caught my attention,

was when she said,

"When her friend came to

collect her belongings,

they accidentally gave her

all the paintings and tapes."

The night this all happened

it was only my second

week living in Cypress.

I had moved there just for

this open E-M-T position.

My old job, it was working

for a private company

and it just didn't have the excitement

that you think you're

gonna get when you go

to school to become an E-M-and work on an ambulance.

On paper, Cypress is the

perfect place for a guy like me.

I love mountain biking, I love climbing,

I love camping, I love hiking.

But,

by the time the sun came up the next day,

I was looking for another

job in a new town.

After what happened

to that missing hiker,

we were watching it on TV

and, you know, he had the video.

As soon as my husband saw it

he said to me, "Oh my god, they're back."

In the ambulance

on the way out there.

We were talking about

how weird it would be

to live out there.

So creepy and unsettling.

As we pulled up,

the scene was bizarre.

The thing I remember the most,

is the position her body was in.

So my buddy is working on the patient

and I go into the trailer to try

to see what medication I can find,

see if we can get a

medical history on her,

see how we can treat her better.

And, um

yeah, only way I can

describe the feeling is that,

it felt like when I was still in training

and we went to a call

and it was at a warehouse

and it was a stabbing victim and the cops

they told us, "Alright, stay

back a little, treat them,

but the suspect is still at large.

We're searching the warehouse currently."

And I was just nonstop

on edge watching my back.

That's the only way I could

really describe that feeling.

So I go in and I'm searching and,

it was weird, it was like empty.

I mean I found some medication

but I was just thinking

like, who is this woman?

Everybody keeps talking

about this one woman that was a student.

And you know, I was assuming that,

you know, she was a high

school student, you know,

but it turns out

that she was in her thirties

and she was taking a college course.

I had to track down this friend

that the police just gave evidence to.

And as I was doing that,

I found out that Minerva goes by Minnie.

This all started when we were

on a camping trip in upstate New York.

The woman who ran the campgrounds,

she ended up being a geologist

and the more she would

talk about her work,

you could just see Minnie's eyes light up.

She became enthralled

with everything that

this woman was saying.

You know, this woman saw this

and said this is great,

you know, you should take a class.

After the camping trip

and meeting this woman

that really inspired her,

she started to take

class at Brooklyn College

and she met a former student who told her

about this semester in Cypress, Nevada.

The semester in Nevada

was basically a program

uh

That worked with various

colleges and universities

and would bring students out

to a town called Cypress,

Nevada where there was

an actual working mine

and the students would work

in the field with actual geologists.

At the time, Cathy

was working as a nurse

at the Beth Israel

Hospital in New York City.

She was working the night shift

in the E-R and these are 12 hour shifts.

So during the day she was sleeping

but she wanted to let Minerva know

that she was there for her

that she supported her in this

decision to go to Cypress.

So they would send video messages back

and forth to each other.

Anyway, New York misses you.

Here, I'll show you where I am.

And it's through these videos

that we are able to get a glimpse

of Minnie in the last days of her life.

She gets to Cypress

and there's not a space for her there.

Somewhere along the line,

someone dropped the ball

and they did not account for her.

So there's literally not a space

for her in the dorms,

it's packed as it is.

So their solution was to put her

in this single wide trailer

that the school were

planning to convert it

into offices at some point,

but for the time being they

gave it to her as housing.

When she lived

here in this trailer,

that trailer was sitting

on this cement slab.

Not to my knowledge.

So shortly after, you know,

my husband and I took over the ranch.

My father used to allow

these hunters to come hunt

on our land.

For years, they were hunting on our land

and what happened was

apparently there was a hunter

that really didn't know what

he was doing when it came

to hunting and sh**ting g*ns

and my husband was sh*t.

Fortunately he didn't k*ll him,

so it was no longer okay with us.

So I had to go to the hunters, you know,

to let them know that

they can no longer hunt

on our land anymore.

And they were really,

really pissed about it.

They went and cut like one of my fences

and then there uh was a

sheep pen where, you know,

the little gate that kept it

closed was destroyed, you know?

So I called the police

and um they told me though

that they couldn't do anything

until I get actual proof.

There was this one night my husband and I,

you know, went to bed early,

we heard noises coming

from down in the barn.

So my husband, you know, got the camera

and said, "Okay I'm gonna

get, you know, the proof now."

And he went out there

but they weren't there.

And then all of a sudden

he looked further up

and he saw them running.

No, it's sitting off to the side

because it's getting ready for demolition

and the company doesn't

want anybody near it.

When I first

moved into this area,

there was a a housing shortage

and I stayed in my car for a while

and one afternoon as I was

on my way home from work.

I happened to find this house.

It's a little yellow house

about five miles out of town.

I found that it was

empty, that it was livable

and I was able to uh find the owners

and I was able to rent

the house from them.

They helped me unload all

my stuff I had in a trailer

and we spent most of the day

getting that stuff moved in

and get settled in and by

the time I got all done

and everything it was dark when they left.

And as I had started

settling into the house

and sitting back and

relaxing a little bit,

I started getting a really funny feeling

like there something was just outta place

and I couldn't quite

figure out what it was.

One night, I was uh, I went to bed

and I had fallen asleep

and all of a sudden my dog woke me up.

He was just growling and snarling

and at over at the front door.

I got up and went over to the door

thought maybe somebody had

broke down on the highway.

I opened up the door

and the dog was just sitting there barking

and growling and really

snarling and looking up,

like he was standing

there looking at somebody.

There was nobody there.

Slowly worked his way out

on the porch and out into the yard.

He is just like he was chasing them off

and he's looking up and

there was nobody there.

Hey girl!

Welcome to Nevada

and my semi furnished single unit,

slash trailer.

Um

Yeah, so,

I was definitely excited

not to have a roommate

Watching the first video

that she sends Kathy.

I have to stop and think,

why she even was living in that trailer?

It wasn't ready for

anyone to be living in.

I mean, construction was still happening.

There's sheet plastic in the living room.

All right girl,

let me know what you think.

Miss you, love you.

You're gonna have to visit soon.

Talk to you soon.

All righty, bye.

When she turns the camera to herself,

you could just see she was beaming.

I was able to relax.

You know she's, she's fine,

she's gonna be fine there.

What he told us

that his reason why Minnie

thought he was so weird-

Was... pretty chilling.

And I just got into bed

and I can start hearing

this uh noise outside

and I sat up, listened for moment,

and realized it was a, it was an owl

and I was out in the tree.

So I went out there and grabbed some rocks

as I went around there

to the side of the house

where the tree was at

and started throwing rocks up there

and started yelling a little

bit and cussing at it and

I started hearing this noise coming down

from up on the mountain.

In a way I sounded like a woman singing

but it wasn't quite a singing voice

it was just a,

a real odd sound.

It was sort of like be

a high pitch then low

and then just different

sounds coming down and

and it would just fade

in and out and echoing.

And I couldn't quite really tell

where it was coming out

'cause it just sounded

like it was coming from different places.

I get a phone call from my landlord

and he tells me that

there's gonna be a lady

that's gonna move into the

trailer next door to me

and then the next day this

lady moves in, this geologist,

and I go over there and

welcomed her to the area and

and while we were sitting there talking,

I started telling her

about this weird sound

I heard coming down from

the top of the hill there.

And she was just sitting

there looking at me like,

I was just, like, I flipped my lid,

you know, she just thought I was,

looked like, looking at me

like I was totally crazy.

Whenever I started getting this feeling

that I was being watched,

I would just start

getting physically sick.

I would get really nauseous

and it would just get worse

and worse and worse as time went on.

Almost immediately she starts

to have these really

odd physical symptoms.

Look no hands!

I got a tripod at the dollar store

and it's holding my fancy phone so

that I can do fun stuff,

like open this wine and talk to you.

My eyes are starting to bug me.

I can't breathe at night.

I keep waking up and

I'm just kind of foggy.

I like, I can't fall asleep,

I can't wake up.

When I lay down and go to sleep

I can hear my heart b*ating.

And then when I was home earlier,

there were some things that

were not where I left them

and a couple of things

that I just couldn't find.

Whatever was going on,

her physical state started to deteriorate.

So I'm going to see a doctor

in the next town tomorrow.

He recommended she go back

to where she was staying

in this trailer and possibly

look for black mold.

It didn't even occur to me

but it's the perfect explanation

for all of her symptoms and everything.

And I said, "You really need

to go look for this right now,

like inspect your trailer right now."

She goes back to her trailer

and while she's looking

for this black mold, um

she finds this canvas bag.

At the time it wasn't really a big deal

because we were way more focused

on her health at that point.

So I said, "Okay fine, send

me some pictures of it later

but let's keep inspecting your place"

and uh tore the place apart

and there is no mold.

This is the bag

that police would end up giving Kathy,

thinking it was part

of Minnie's belongings

and the contents in this bag-

Cathy is devastated

over the loss of her best friend

which is actually more of a sister to her.

She knew something had to be done.

That's when she decided to

grab Minnie's belongings.

I went through it just

to see if there was

anything that could help us.

And she found the canvas bag

and inside she finds a really old tape

and some really bizarre paintings.

And she also found her phone.

Cathy and Minnie are both

avid podcast listeners

and they especially love this one,

where the host always

tells their listeners

to make an if I go missing folder.

And basically what's in

this folder is, you know,

your passcodes, your

social security number,

anything that someone would need

to basically cr*ck open your life

and you entrust it to one person.

And because of this,

Cathy has Minnie's cell phone passcode.

So she's able to open her phone

Safety checklist,

verification process.

There are three levels of control

and each requires a verification process

to be performed by either an instructor,

a supervisor or manager.

Areas of safety for ongoing improvements.

There are specific tools for the-

And then you slowly start

to hear Minnie breathing.

She's she's not snoring yet

but it's like this deep sleep breathing.

You could hear something else going

on in the background.

I thought maybe is she sleepwalking?

Is that what's happening here?

There's someone talking,

it's a man's voice.

I can't really make out what he's saying

but it's definitely a man talking

and she's asleep through all of it.

You know, after listening

to all of these recordings,

they really got under my

skin and into my head.

You know, I couldn't sleep that night

'cause they were playing

over and over in my head.

I didn't go to work the next day.

And then Robbie came home

with the tape transfer.

Right from the start.

You could tell that this thing was dark.

This person's voice is... unhinged.

And the minute I realized

that it was filmed

inside of the trailer itself,

my stomach just dropped.

Aah!

Slog slog slogging over Africa

foot foot foot foot

slogging over Africa.

Boots boots boots boots

Moving up and down again

There's no discharge in the w*r.

Seven six eleven five

nine and twenty mile today

four eleven seventeen

thirty two the day before.

Boots boots boots boots

moving up and down again

there's no discharge in the w*r.

Don't don't don't don't

Look at what's in front of you.

Boots boots boots boots

Moving up and down again

Men men men men

Men go mad with watching them.

There is no discharge in the w*r.

Count, count, count, count-

The b*ll*ts and the bandoliers

If your eyes drop they

will get atop of you.

Boots boots boots boots

moving up and down again-

There is no discharge in the w*r -

We can stick out

hunger thirst and weariness

but not not not

not the chronic sight of them

boots boots boots boots

moving up and down again-

there is no discharge in the w*r

'Taint so bad by day because of company

But night brings long strings

of forty thousand million

Boots boots boots boots

Moving up and down again

There is no discharge in the w*r

I have marched six weeks

in hell an certify

it is not fire devils dark or anything but

Boots boots boots boots

moving up and down again

there's no discharg in the w*r

try try try try

to think of something different

oh my God

Keep me from going lunatic

Boots boots boots boots

Moving up and down again-

there's no discharge in the w*r.

They tore the porch down

and removed the trailer

from its foundation

and where the basement was located,

right after Minnie d*ed,

and right before Kathy

realized what was on this tape.

I'm just getting back.

But I am pretty sure

that I might be the first

Korean to ever move to

or live in or visit Cypress, Nevada.

Um the guy at the gas station,

asked me if I was Oriental,

um then one of those guys in my class,

um I mean he was sweet,

he was trying to be sweet.

He said that I look like a China doll.

And so, right, well

everyone's really sweet.

It's not like r*cist or anything

um it's just kind of like,

I don't know, long stares.

Um alright, talk to you later.

Love you.

Bye.

From 1993 until it was

acquired by the mine,

it was rented out to so

many different people

and those records are

pretty much not existent

because everything was kind

of done under the table.

Basically, this trailer

was just a revolving door.

Most of what we see on

this video has no context

because the tape itself is

actually so badly damaged

and warped that even

though we can hear the

person that made the video,

we can't actually hear like the cadence

of their voice and what

they really sound like.

The woman in the pink

sweatshirt has been identified

as Charity Henderson.

She went missing in the late nineties.

Okay, stop with that thing.

So weird.

Hello?

You're acting funny, you're not talking.

Hello?

There are other victims on this tape

but we never get a clear

look at their faces.

You know, back

when I was a little girl,

you know, I was sleeping in my bed

and it was late at night

and I heard my parents like, you know,

shouting and I cracked open the door

and I looked, you know,

and there was my dad

with a shotgun and my mom

and they were staring out the window

and they were yelling and I overheard,

you know, my mom say, you know "What kind

of people would be like

walking out this far?"

And my dad said,

"I don't think those are people."

I was checking out my security footage

from my security system

and I had seen this guy come walking down

from up behind my house,

down toward this lady's house.

This is right about the time that

before she had passed away

and I figured that maybe had something

to do with her passing away.

So on top of everything else,

there's a critter,

some kind of animal in my walls

that I can hear crackling

when I'm laying down.

For months trying to fall asleep.

There's now this animal.

I did.

I called 'em right away

and I came up and they looked

at it and I showed them.

The only cause of

death they could come up

with was hyperthermia.

The officer that arrived

at her trailer said

that it was so hot in there

that it was like the furnace

was just out of control.

And so he had to take her outside

and wait for the medical responders

to arrive because he couldn't

even stand to wait inside.

It was just unbearable.

It's a shame this didn't

happen in the next county over

because the White Pine

County Sheriff's Department

they would've handled it properly.

This highway here is, you've heard

of the Loneliest Road in America.

You could literally see

no car for 200 miles.

Five miles up this canyon is the entrance

to Cypress, the town,

right below the mine.

So the highway here, heads down,

five miles down the road splits.

Left, goes town of Copper

Flat about 20 miles out

or you can go right and go down

about two hours to Caliente.

If you pass Caliente,

you're taking the scenic route to Vegas.

The Brasher girl was coming

from Vegas through Caliente to Cypress.

Our ranch

is right off the highway.

It's about 30 minutes outside of Cypress.

That night my husband and I were home

and we were waiting for our daughter

to get home from Las Vegas.

We were watching our grandson, Mason.

Yes, you-

From Las Vegas to our ranch is

about a four hour drive.

Well you've got cell

service for the first half

up to about Blacktop,

but once you pass

Blacktop there is nothing.

So we have this family policy,

you stop the car and you

call home at Blacktop.

That way we know that if you're not home

within two hours we gotta

go out and look for you.

When Ameliana's mother was younger,

she also broke down in a similar area

and when they were in the car waiting

for her grandfather to show up,

this creepy old guy came

by the car and was kind of harassing them

and didn't leave until her

grandfather actually came.

There just wasn't

something right about him.

And he just looked at us

with this kind of sh*t eaten grin

and went pow!

And so Ameliana's

mother has kind of a rule

that if you ever break down

on this part of the highway,

you are not to remain in your car.

You go off into the dark,

you hide, you watch your car

and when you see that

the person showing up

to your car is someone that you know

and is there for you then you can get out

and you can go to them,

but not until then.

So that night she reached Blacktop

and called us in, right about midnight.

A little over an hour later, she called us

and said that she'd broken down.

She'd broken down right around

the area of Lehman Summit.

She knew the area really well

'cause well it was this area

that when she was little we used

to take all the kids out there

to this mining camp was right by there.

So she knew that if she just

hiked right up the mountain,

she could get service and call us.

I told her, you'll know it's dad

because he's gonna be flashing his light

and then you can come on out of the trees.

Right after my husband left,

I called it into the police so they'd know

that she was up there

and he was looking for her.

We have a police scanner at the ranch.

So I sat right next to that thing

for the next hour at least.

Of course I was a little anxious

but I wasn't too worried

until they'd found her car but not her,

and they were starting to search for her.

Just about daybreak,

I saw the patrol car come up the dirt road

and this police officer gets out

and asks me if I knew how

to access Em's cell phone,

if I'd come down to the station.

You know eventually,

they found her dash cam

was rolling the whole time.

And that is not my dad.

This car has turned around three times

to look at my car.

Stop!

Oh!

Oh my god no no

No No

Vroom.

Where are you going?

Later that night

after my shift ended

I texted my girlfriend at the time

to see if she was available

'cause it was late.

And so we're talking and can't even talk

for more than five minutes

and my boss calls,

and he says he needs me back right away.

A car got found and the

woman who was supposed

to be driving that car was missing

and it was an all hands on deck situation.

My buddy Ron, he was just saying,

"She probably got dragged

off by a mountain lion

and we'd be just searching for a body."

There's only four of us, but

we can't wait any longer,

we have to start the search.

So we basically just start

at her car and spread out.

The police tipped us off

that her mom told them

that she might be hiding.

So I found a patch of trees

headed in that direction

'cause it looked like a

good hiding spot to me.

Hello!

Ameliana!

If you're out here,

we're looking for you,

I'm with the volunteer fire department.

Ameliana!

I'm with the volunteer fire department!

Ameliana!

Ron?

Hello?

Hey Ron.

Where are you guys at?

Aah!

By the time I made my way out of there,

feeling around in the dark,

making my way to the door,

they were starting to get there.

We searched everywhere

for that poor woman,

we didn't find her.

This is just something

that we're left with

and that we have to live

with, just questions

and I'm never gonna stop trying

to find out the truth

of what happened to her.

We're asked almost weekly

about the influencers

that have so-called discovered the cabin

that Gary disappeared at,

and that story is still developing

and we promise that we

will bring that story

to you when it is ready to be presented.