Yamotoma, California

Yamotoma is a community in Alpine County, California. It is approximately seventeen miles southwest of Markleeville. Yamotoma is situated in a little valley surrounded by forests with hidden ponds and small mountains.
==History==
===Founding===
Yamotoma was founded by Matashi Sensomura in 1938. Only 36 at the time, he moved from Kyoto, Japan in 1934. Under fears of discrimination against the Japanese, he decided to run away in his home state of California and establish a free community. He named it "Yamotoma," after his deceased wife, Yamotoma Senhei, who was murdered while walking the streets of Los Angeles in 1937. Matashi stole a car in fear and drove as far as he could away. It took him a few days, but he then crashed off the main road into a valley, surrounded by forests and mountains. Matashi decided this was the perfect spot to build a hidden community and call it his own, away from the horrors of the rest of California. He started documenting his journey in Yamotoma very frequently.
"I finally feel safe here. Finally. The United States is under horrible times, so is the rest of the world. I've heard everything in Germany and what was going on. We are all in danger. Except me. I am finally free. I wish my wife would have experienced the safety of this place. Naming this town after her is the best that I can do. I wish I could advise anyone else from Japan to hide. Japan itself doesn't offer enough places to hide in. Something bad will happen, I just know it. Hopefully I can escape. If not, I'll have to end it all. (September 8th, 1938)"
Matashi often ran into the city to get supplies, whitening his skin to avoid color-based discrimination and putting sunglasses over his eyes to avoid things happening to him over them. He started to get more nervous when he heard gunshots in the area. He resorted to stealing. He hoarded supplies into the forest to survive because he couldn't take the fear anymore. He was worried. Matashi often wrote about his insecurities and how he felt like he was becoming a bad person.
"The world is collapsing underneath my feet. Perhaps it is the end of everything. I had to steal so much to survive on my own gain, all because of fear. I might be transforming into a bad person. A terrible, horrific person. All for what? I can not redeem myself other then writing in a book full of secrets, or leaving some for my dead wife somewhere in the forest. Of course, if I start suffering soon, I deserve it.
My life cut through me like a sword. (May 12th, 1939)"
Eventually, the summer was rude to Matashi. He found days where he felt weak and helpless, but when he cried, his tears became dark. Confused as he found himself crying black tears, he thought of how unlucky he was. He wanted to leave the world, but start building up the community first. He built a log cabin by a large pond to fish by, a few house dwellings to live in, even attempted to make little fields to play sports in. Matashi was satisfied with his entire town, and thought it was about time to go. He was still very saddened by the events of the World War and feared bad things would happen to him, but pushed through. By August 10th, 1945, he pointed a rifle at himself, but wasn't sure whether to pull the trigger. He sat down for a long time, eventually deciding to just go for it, but after doing such, he heard a mysterious voice calling to him. Suddenly, his eyes turned black and he dropped to the floor. Yamotoma sat there in abandon. The town that could have been, and Matashi's depressing story did too, for what seemed like forever.
=== A Surprising Drive ===
A group of teenagers from Fresno, California were going back from skiing at their vacation home in Lake Tahoe on November 5th, 1992. It was 10:00 PM at night. Inside the car was Marcus Breely (17) driving, Jacob Goldman (16), and Brandon Troy (16) with his date, Amanda Lyre (16). They ate at a pizzeria in Markleeville before planning to go somewhere private for a while. They drove down a mysterious gravel road that lead them to a steep hill. Below, there was a small valley with a few ponds in the forest, but the teens were particularly interested in the log cabins at the bottom. They brought their flashlights and leftover food to see if there was a good place to hang out. Brandon noticed something dark rising from the fishing lake, but the rest of him called him crazy. They searched two cabins, then entered another. The floor was far creakier than the other ones, and the ceiling was dripping with water and covered in mold. They saw a crack in the floor. Jacob reached over and quickly, a man with black tear-shaped stains under his eyes rose out and tried to grab him. Crying for help, Amanda quickly took him, similarly frightened for her life as everyone was. They ran through the valley as Marcus was suddenly met with darkness. Black filled his eyes and he was coughing up dark substances. The teens, now crying and screaming, dragged him to the car, where Brandon decided to drive, even though he didn't have a license. Speeding through the forest, Marcus got up and pushed Amanda through the car window, breaking it and cutting her face and body. Brandon stopped the car for her and picked her up, only to be met by Matashi again, who was breaking their windshield. Jacob got up and threw a knife, which he was given for the trip at Tahoe, straight into Matashi. He fell over, limp, and Brandon kept driving, avoiding a few trees and cars as well as police. Halfway on the drive, the teens crashed into another forest, where they noticed Marcus was dead from the impact of these events. They drove back with his body to their home in Fresno and opened up about their experiences. Not much believed them, but some tried seeking the town themselves. 
Since this drive, Amanda went insane. Brandon described her as "what was once a person transforming into a chaotic mess". In the summer of 1993, she went on a stabbing spree in a residential neighborhood in Fresno, killing five, before she mysteriously collapsed in front of police. After it was found Amanda was still alive, she received extensive medical treatment before eventually getting transferred to imprisonment. Jacob started saving money to buy a house in Central California miles away from any signs of civilization. He ran away by 19 and lived there, never seen much since. Brandon was much more lucky. He started to live mostly a normal life, but still surrounded with fear. He got married in 2004 and had two children. When asked about this experience, he often denies sharing further information to anyone but his wife and kids, considering the amount of people that turned on him as a teenager for it.
=== Modern Search Efforts ===
On October 7th, 1996, a modern search party found Yamotoma, the first discovery since the four teens. Five men from Carson City, Nevada and South Lake Tahoe, California were sent to search for Yamotoma. They found a gravel road which they believed was close to the location, but didn't end up on a cliff dropoff like the teens, just in a small meadow. The men lost hope until one of them spotted buildings in the forest. They realized it could have been the right location. Just like the teens, they also spotted the fishing lake, but nothing was rising out of it. They stayed on the ground, covered in fall leaves and pine needles, when a hand rose up and grabbed one of the workers inside. So did a head which they thought was Matashi Sensomura. He was screaming and had black tear marks under his eyes. There were only four workers left now and they decided to run. Three ran towards the meadow, while the fourth tried to hide inside an old car. They looked back and the car was crushed inside the branches of a pine tree. One of the workers stopped after getting distracted by an old and wet pizza box, only for his eyes to turn black and have him collapse to the ground. The two remaining men stared as he suddenly rose up and tried attacking them. They ran away from their cursed worker, named Jonathan Bingham, who was chasing after them. One of the running men tripped and fell. He tried to get up but couldn't, and he was taken away by the one who was cursed, never to be seen again. The one worker, Benjamin Reading, escaped this horrific scene. He said that after one week, Jonathan turned up alive and well again, but Benjamin, in a panic, took him to the ground out of fear. Their relationship was broken after this incident, and they barely talked to each other again.
On April 18th, 2003, a man named Liam Marliene reported visiting the community. He wasn't attacked like the others, but a mysterious disease started to spread in Markleeville, Carson City, and Reno after visiting those places to go back to his home in Sparks, Nevada. The city of Susanville, California banned him from visiting the town for a year. He recovered from this unknown disease after two months. His face was reported darkened, with veins clearly showing through suddenly wrinkled skin, though after this, he lived mostly a normal life until he was shot and killed in his new home of Pasadena, California in August 2015.Hiuyju suggested this event
On July 23rd, 2006, a man by the name of Jean Baptiste de Paris, who came to the United States from Angers, France in 1998, went to Yamotoma out of curiosity, finding its location through an unknown method. Miraculously, he didn't come back with the mysterious disease and he wasn't attacked by Matashi Sensomura. Because of this, he believed God protected him, and that others could also be saved if they had followed in his path. He went on a long journey known by him as the "Path of Pilgrimage", driving a car he called the "Message of Peace" across the states of California and Oregon to preach the "coming of the lord" to others, stopping in Reno, Susanville, Chico, Sacramento, Redding, Eureka, Grants Pass, Medford, Wallenby, Bend, Eugene, Albany, and finally ending in Salem. He reported that residents of Wallenby were particularly aggressive when he introduced these ideals, stating "they're violently happy in their own beliefs". He also stated they threatened to spear him to death. Because the name Salem is derived from the word "shalom" (peace in Biblical Hebrew), and from the last five letters of Jerusalem, he believed this was the perfect place to preach the coming of the lord to local residents. For an entire month, Jean spread his message in Downtown Salem, at local shopping centers, and even in front of the Oregon State Capitol, before announcing on September 14th that he would run off into the forest to meet God and confirm his divinity. That same day, he did just that and went mostly missing. Several sightings of him were reported in 2006-2010, mostly in the Eastern Portland area. The most common place he was sighted was in Oregon City. His presence was also reported across the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington.
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On March 1st, 2021, due to the events at Yamotoma, the city of Susanville sent investigators to try and "purge" the communities of the dangers and events. After candidates were found in Susanville, neighboring Carson City, Reno, and Sparks in Nevada donated candidates as well. Eventually, locals closer to the communities were chosen as well. These cities included Medford and Portland in Oregon, Yakima, Wenatchee, and Spokane in Washington, Moscow and Lewiston in Idaho, Bozeman in Montana, Springfield and Rolla in Missouri, and Marquette and Lansing in Michigan. By then, the team grew and people all around the country of mysterious backgrounds were sworn into the team, with scrutiny from some who experienced the communities. In response, Ronald Marquine of Sacramento, California heard of these events and started his own private investigations of the communities, starting with Wallenby, Oregon. After being found dead in Wakusa, Michigan, and the following meeting on April 15th called by Emma Riler because of it, more of these investigative crews were reported in the communities. It was reported that on April 27th, the crews attempted to contact Elena Borchevsky by email, who was then 65, due to her visits to these places in the 1970s and 1980s where she remarkably made it out alive. Elena respectfully declined, stating she was getting weaker and wasn't ready to explore these areas anymore. They contacted again, stating they needed her help yet again, including some lines from the same letter. Elena again declined, but stated sternly that she already said "no" and had a good reason why. They again contacted Elena, and she said the words "I won't respond to any of your later following messages. Accept my answer and leave it be. This is my final word." After this, Elena reported she was spammed with at least 35 emails on the morning of April 28th, despite her blocking them. 
On that same day, an unaffiliated investigator from Redding, California by the name of Pam Sherlyne investigated the remains of Wallenby, Oregon, which burnt on the 23rd. He took pictures of the remains and the blackened and paled bodies of the residents. Though in the forest, he found the body of someone with a more formal outfit, the typical outfit worn by the investigators from Susanville, his body not affected by any darkness like the Wallenby residents but covered in a bit of his own blood. Immediately suspicious, Pam emptied the body's pockets and found mysterious objects. She found a glowing golden ring, a pocket notebook, and an empty plastic vial labeled "dark spores". She reported these findings to local police departments in Southern Oregon and the body was found to be Hal Blemens of Susanville. City departments in Susanville questioned the motives of Pam Sherlyne and demanded that investigators in the states of Oregon and California should investigate if she murdered Blemens. Investigators from both states were sent and found Pam had not murdered the investigator from Susanville. A deer's darkened body was found later in the same forest and theories believe that the deer murdered the investigator.
More private, unaffiliated investigators started to follow suit in both Wallenby and several other communities by May. Because of the plastic vial labeled "dark spores" found in Wallenby's burnt remains, they found that the investigators in Susanville were part of the problem and started to scrutinize them. Most of them were similarly criticized, and some even disappeared completely. Ruth Knowles of Tamowitch and Leopold Cardiff of Carter Ridge reported Pasha Morrisette was no longer around in Carter Ridge. She was removed by people wearing the same outfit as the one found on Hal Blemens in Wallenby. The concept of Pasha Morrisette "dying while dead" was a controversial one also met with scrutiny and criticism. Immediately after Pasha's eternal death, Ruth Knowles asked for the mysterious white box Leopold held in his hands more aggressively. "If I didn't yell my way into it, everything would have changed," she commented. After that fateful night, Ruth drove with the box back to Tamowitch, and approached a stone plaque blended into the ground with a cube missing from it. Surely enough, when she placed the box inside of it, she reported blue light came from the plaque and she heard several voices all at once. From the ground, bodies of old residents started to form and recompose, Gary Aulich and Audie Winters being some of them. Ruth Knowles, not expecting the result, explained the danger the communities were under to their alive, but still very lifeless bodies.
Also after Pasha's removal from Carter Ridge, there were reported sightings of Koosah Cuttham, who hadn't been reported ever since she attacked her former husband in 1923. Instead of arguing with investigators like her sister, she tried to hurt them to discourage them from entering Carter Ridge. One incident in particular occurred on May 6th. Two investigators from the organization based in Susanville attempted to negotiate with the community's residents and threaten them. Koosah reportedly responded by possessing them, dragging them across the ground and the air and batting them into trees and other objects until they lost consciousness temporarily and later left the area. The Susanville organization claims she tried to kill these investigators.
On May 9th, in Yamotoma, five private investigators approached the community only to find a trail of blood leading to a crashed car. When they searched the area, they found no one inside the car, and no one around it either. Reportedly around that moment, one of them was attacked by Matashi and fatally collapsed as his skin turned pale and his veins turned dark. Another one also fell and woke up on a disconnected shoreline of Lake Tahoe. Once he found his way back by the 11th, he reported seeing an "important vision" as he was out. He reported seeing Earth consumed by darkness, visions of Matashi crying dark tears, a trail of blood cutting through a downtown street in Susanville, the burnt remains of Wallenby, Pasha Morrisette's ghost, and the corpse of Emma Riler who was still alive at the time. When Emma Riler was found dead in Wakusa at midnight on the 13th, his vision was taken more seriously. 
Around 4:30 AM on the 13th, residents of Gold Hill, Oregon reported hearing a mysterious, loud groaning noise. Resident Thomas Adel, who moved there in 2012 from Susanville, decided to question if the noise was coming from Wallenby. Once he approached Wallenby, he noticed a mysterious blue light appeared from the ground. Adel looked through the town in person and found the bodies of the dead residents were becoming less and less dark. This event is not believed to be connected to Tamowitch's former residents being brought back to life not long before. At 7:20 AM, at the Mooser Fortress in Mooser, Idaho, the few people living inside the fortress reported seeing a bright, blinding light. After this light, a hole of darkness opened on a wall path of the castle, described as a "deep dark void". Fifteen people in the fortress were sucked into the void as it grew, and only six survived. This was the first of many following incidents regarding a large void. Mooser is not far from Carter Ridge, so many people theorized Carter Ridge was somehow connected. This theory died down after several far-away places also experienced similar incidents.The void was suggested by Hiuyju. This event specifically is original, though he suggested some specific ones.
Around 8:50 PM in Tamowitch, the night skies turned unusually blue, coloring the lands this vibrant shade of blue as well. By 9:45, four investigators from Susanville arrived. Before this, Ruth Knowles and other Tamowitch residents had been training the dead to fight off organizations members who were endangering the communities. They negotiated with Ruth Knowles and other residents for a long while, asking them to give up their lives and homes. They threatened to murder Ruth Knowles for bringing back the dead of Tamowitch. By then, the reanimated bodies jumped out at the investigators and attacked them. Zarchus Fenchley and Tabitha Ward were murdered by Gary Aulich, and Rory Norwich was murdered by Audie Winters. The fourth investigator was not yet identified and she escaped, though she, along with Zarchus Fenchley, were the same people who purged Pasha Morrisette, according to Ruth Knowles.
On the morning of the 14th, after the void opened up in Mooser Fortress, a group of people from the Susanville organization came to investigate it. People interacting with the hole plunged into pure darkness never to be seen again. The organization claimed the people in Carter Ridge conjured "dark spirits" to try and kill innocent people. An anonymous man walked to Yamotoma just before sunset that same day. He released a document detailing aspects of his journey including photos, although he never revealed his identity. The document details him stumbling upon a circle of six pillar stones with a seventh in the middle, all overrun with black plants. He decided to approach the rocks, collecting the plants for research and examining them. While doing so, symbols appeared on the pillars, all of which were symbols seen in every other connected community. In order, the symbols for Wallenby, Carter Ridge, Tamowitch, Hatfield, Shankton, and Wakusa all formed a circle, with Yamotoma's appearing on the middle pillar. The stones emitted a blue light and all the the plants turned from black to gold, apart from the ones he collected prior. A series of five pictures were taken of this circle of towering stones and were attached to the document. Not long after, the Susanville organization demanded the identity of the man, which was unlikely to ever be revealed. They also decided to finally form an official name, the Susanville Community Investigators for Morality (SCIM).
On the night of the 15th, Leopold Cardiff arrived in Tamowitch driven by an energetic young man named Craig Robinson. He was only 25 years old, very tall and in great shape. He looked tough and he was, but he also had a rather bubbly personality. Leopold chose to drive all the way to Tamowitch to meet up with Ruth Knowles again. He called Ruth "remarkable" and mentioned how wrong he was about the white box that spawned the dead of Tamowitch. In doing so, he also gave other mysterious artifacts to Ruth, including some with symbols from different communities, and conversed with the undead residents. While doing so, investigators from SCIM approached them and Leopold quickly took back the artifacts and hid from the investigators with Craig. Ruth stayed in sight of the investigators and guided the undead to attack them. This time, while they did severely injure one of the investigators in the process, the attack was a failure. The dead laid in a temporary unconsciousness as Ruth stayed there, helpless. She was far too old and in poor shape to attack the investigators, ironically with far less energy than those who died much before she was born. After an hour of arguing with investigators, more of them arrived and decided to capture Ruth Knowles, stating the murder of Zarchus Fernley, Tabitha Ward, and Rory Norwich, despite this being the dead's doing and not her own. Federal and state forces heard reports of this and started to question SCIM for taking criminal capture in their own hands instead of the hands of the law. Meanwhile, Leopold and Craig escaped Tamowitch as investigators cleared the area. Just 15 minutes into the drive, a void reportedly opened up in Tamowitch and produced a loud, high-pitched, ear-piercing sound heard as far as Republic, Washington, about 76 miles (122 kilometers) away. The sound was also reported very close to the Wenatchee, Seattle, and Vancouver (BC) areas. This sound almost entirely ruined Leopold's hearing and partially damaged Craig's.
Leopold and Craig escaped to Carter Ridge after the incident with a bit of a disadvantage. Now Ruth was captured and Leopold couldn't hear. In the midst of all this, local police departments in Susanville were convinced to transfer Ruth Knowles to the California Correctional Center. In the midst of all this, investigators of SCIM were sent to the quiet community of Paunuit, British Columbia, Canada, about 55 miles (88 km) north of Tamowitch. Although Paunuit is only known for its paranormal history, nothing strange had happened in the community since 1990. Despite this, SCIM believed Paunuit was somehow connected to the events, likely due to its proximity to Tamowitch, consequentially becoming victims to the sound that was produced from the Tamowitch void. On the night of May 16th, investigators arrived at the community. They pulled into a rural gravel road outlined by five little houses. Out of one of the houses emerged a man wielding a hunting rifle. Threatened by their reputation, he told them to leave the community, and if they denied he would shoot at them. Later, he was backed by more residents wielding hunting rifles, and it became a verbally threatening standoff between both sides. It was unclear who fired the first shot, but said first shot caused the first resident that threatened SCIM to fall. As SCIM members fumbled to figure out who let out the shot, other Paunuit residents started shooting themselves, causing SCIM to flee. The man, identified as Rob Trainer, was the only fatality.
Around that same night, Leopold and Craig decided to drive back to Tamowitch to connect the artifacts they took back by themselves, spending the next week within the community. Also around that time, a private organization known as the National Investigators of Darkness (NID) started to emerge out of Boise, Idaho. It was reported they were headed to Mooser after the void opened up there a few days before. Their van was pulled over for speeding on a paved road closeby. When questioned, the NID members argued the mission was far too important and meant "the life or death of all Americans due to darkness". A large array of rifles and pistols was also found within their van. They were left off with a fine and kept driving to Mooser, where the void was still active, but less than before. The NID members attempted to shoot at the void, then the void secreted a mysterious dark sludge and covered one of the men, Chad Hollis, with it. The NID members evacuated as the man stayed in place, slowly turning into the sludge himself over the next few days.This organization and entire event was suggested by the man himself, Hiuyju. While all these events were unfolding, mysterious blue lights were reported emitting out of Hatfield, along with loud groan-like noises heard in Wakusa. 
On the morning of the 17th, just as the sun was rising, a fire blew through the remaining houses of Hatfield. In private investigations lead by Thomas Hutchins of Bozeman, three lone survivors, John Tripping, Ava Tripping, and Edward Hatchet, were found alive in the town. Several dead were identified, while others were either unrecognizable or gone completely. Though one of the identified bodies was dressed in the same formal wear that was found on Hal Blemens in Wallenby. No glass vials or rings were found around the body, although one unlabeled glass vial was found in a forest one mile away much later. Instead, investigators found mostly burnt shreds of paper that were completely unrecognizable, as well as a mysterious artifact with Wallenby's town symbol etched onto it. It was an entirely undamaged metal rod with a circular stop welded onto the top. Investigators concluded that this body was most likely a member of SCIM that seized this artifact from one of the residents. The remaining survivors did report that there were lots of people dressed in the same outfit as the one found on the body, but all of them escaped the scene apart from this man. John and Ava Tripping survived almost unscathed. Edward Hatchet was found with the mysterious dark disease reported across the communities and was unable to respond. John and Ava reported that darkened spores were released onto them but neither of them were completely affected. They reported losing vision for about two minutes before getting back up somewhat weakened. Neither of them knew why they bested the disease.
Also on the morning of the 17th, a mysterious noise was reported in the California Correctional Center, mostly sounding like loud, low groaning. In security footage leaked to the public anonymously that same day, a police officer angrily approached the cell of Ruth Knowles as the noise was being produced, asking her "What the hell are you doing?" Ruth denied responsibility for the noise, calling it an "unsupported and unlogical [sic] claim". The two argued for about a minute before the officer left. The noise stopped after 23 minutes. That afternoon, in Shankton, Missouri, the partial cloud cover in the sky suddenly disappeared as the sky slowly turned into a blood red color before becoming pitch black. The void opened up in the sky and incoherent, garbled voices came out of it that reportedly said "Go and spread the holy word" and "Free the land of the scourge" repetitively. While much of the residents either stood there in fear or ran, others responded to the event in anger, asking for the town to be left alone. Almost immediately after, a fire opened up and burned down half of the town. After a few minutes, the sky returned to normal, but the town was left burning, residents merely helpless to try and stop it.Hiuyju.
On the morning of the 18th, the mysterious noise was reported yet again in the California Correctional Center, this time much louder. The same police officer from the last morning again questioned Ruth and argued until another officer intervened and lead the officer away from her. Around that same morning, the NID returned to Mooser Fortress to see that Chad Hollis was now completely dark sludge. NID members attempted to recruit the sludge to go against the void, but this failed. On the night of that day, a large house caught on fire in Wakusa. The fire killed three people and injured five others. This case was believed to be an arson attack.
On the morning of the 19th, the noise was reported for the last time in the California Correctional Center. It was much louder than the other two times, and within two minutes of the noise being produced, parts of the prison caved in and people reported seeing "slivers of darkness". Ruth, along with other inmates, took this as an opportunity to escape. Other prisoners and officers were trapped in the rubble, one officer and two prisoners even reporting serious injuries. Ruth approached a prison visitor inside a running parked car with the door open and she quickly took the car to escape. Ruth was pulled over after reports that a car was stolen, then rearrested and sent to the Shasta County Jail in Redding. That same morning, more clues were found out of the Hatfield fire. A circular black stone with Hatfield's symbol engraved was found inside of a boulder. John and Ava Tripping confirmed that the stone came mysteriously from Shankton and they had placed it there. Upon doing so, their bodies were circled by a blue light for a while before it disappeared. They believe this is what caused them to override the disease. At the same time, the metal rod found in Hatfield was reported stolen. In the evening, it was reported in Wallenby. The rod was placed inside a mysterious stone cube with a circular hole on top by Blake Robinson of Oakland, California. Upon doing so, a stone bust of an unknown man appeared from the ground, wearing a ruby heart-shaped locket around his neck, the locket being engraved with the symbol of Carter Ridge.
On the morning of the 20th, Daniel Lyman of Carter Ridge [wip]
==Credits==
Category:Series: The Unexplainable