(Editor's Note:The following article is graphic in nature and may not be suitable for all readers. However, to those readers who are brave enough to delve into a darker world, to truly feel the despair of these two creatures, we recommend you follow the links provided.)

One rather unique aspect of geocaching is the ability to create an alter ego, to be someone you are not. There are two such personalities here in Washington, one is The Fen Dweller who resides in the north, and Ellylidan in the south. Fen Dweller was the first to hide a very difficult swamp cache, "The Belt of My First Victim". I know it's difficult because I found his cache in February of this year and it is still on my short list of favorite caches. I have yet to venture into the swamp and log a find on Ellylidan's "The Bloated Festering Head of My First Victim" and I likely won't go after it until the cold weather returns.

I submitted a list of questions to both parties and both responded with their answers. Neither gave any indication of who they might really be, if indeed they are geocachers.

This is the interview with Fen Dweller:

TC: Tell me about your name, Fen Dweller, what does it mean and where did it come from?
FD: "I prefer fog and swamps, the solitary life, away from the fog of man's lies and the swamp of his morals. I dwell in the fens. He dwells but as a legend in his own mind."

TC: Tell me how you came to reside in the North Seattle area and from where did you come?
FD: "I come from your own past and you from mine. We were brothers, and like it or not, brothers we remain. A slight sibling rivalry, you might say. We "dance the dance of life, which hovers close to death". You try and forget about me, the black sheep, but I am here to remind you in your black moments. We are the twins, Gilgamesh and Enkidu, Cain and Able, Grendel and Beowulf. We are locked in a struggle from which we can not or will not break free. You are the shell, and I am the yoke, your dark unborn secret."

TC: How many geocachers have attempted to find your Belt cache only to meet their untimely demise?
FD: "Who counts?"

TC: Several geocachers have found the Belt of My Last Victim cache and lived to tell the tale, were they careful or were you careless?
FD: "Who cares?"

TC: You claim four geocache finds, are you active in the search for them, or is it something else?
FD: "I was in a playful mood. I wished to taunt."

TC: What is your relationship with Miss Goody Two Shoes?
FD: "The sight of her had a strange effect on me. She made me think there was hope...that I could be saved. Bahh! I suffer from the illusions of common men when she is about! Queen Wealhtheow, the fairest of all man's daughters spoke the truth of it:
When I was a child I truly loved:
Unthinking love as calm and deep
As the North Sea. But I have lived,
And now I do not sleep."

TC: Your cache, The Belt of My Last Victim, has been archived, what happened?
FD: "A greater monster came calling, with all his destructive powers. Man and his high ideals! He was destroying the last honest place and threatened the poor kingfisher."

TC: What do you make of the similar cache, The Bloated Festering Head of my First Victim?
FD: "I make nothing of it."

TC: The owner of that cache has some dislike for you; do you know why that might be?
FD: "I could care less. Perhaps I called him "Sweetie."

TC: Will you be reactivating your Belt cache or creating another 5 star rated hide in the future?
FD: "Perhaps. If the mood strikes my fancy, but never in the same place or quite the same way."

TC: What has become of the belt used in that cache, do you still have it?
FD: "It is hanging in my cave. A bit of a trophy for now. Perhaps you would care to come for a visit and see."

This is the interview with Ellylidan:

TC: Tell me about who you really are, the person you are or were prior to becoming Ellylidan.
E: Who I was previous is none of your concern, so even if I had a firm recollection of that life, I would not share it. But the truth is that I have little memory of the other time.

TC: You were once a geocacher, right? What was your user name in the geocaching community?
E: Yes, I believe that is how I came to be prey of the Fen Dweller. I searched for his cache and was assaulted by him. As for my name, real or otherwise, please see my response to the above.

TC: You claim, in your profile, that you are "wraith" and "legion." Please elaborate.
E: Many have been attacked by the Fen Dweller and all were killed. Many of those spirits lingered and many others were attracted to him by them. They gather around him like a cloud for they have nowhere else to go. Some enjoy his killing, some are horrified by it. As flies gather to excrement, so do these spirits and specters gather where they may. I am wraith because I did not die and yet I am not completely human either. I have one foot on each plane now, and the horrors that can befall a man are many. (These I have perceived closely.) I am legion because many of the spirits that had taken residence around Fen partook the opportunity to inhabit me as I lay near death in the murky water. They drove off the scavengers who were devouring my body, so they did in effect save my life. They also gave me the strength to escape the bog and Fen Dweller. They hid me amongst the reeds as I regained physical strength and transformed into the abomination I am now.

TC: I am confused by your profile and other writings; are you alive or dead?
E: [Unintelligible] You are an ignorant fool. I will suffer you for not much longer. Humans have closed their minds and are one-dimensional. You will not see that which you have chosen not to believe in.

TC: In a letter to Fen Dweller, you appear to share some camaraderie with him, and yet you also seem to wish him a slow and painful death. What are your feelings towards the Fen Dweller?
E: You speak of feelings as though it were a material possession. Insofar as I have feelings, I feel that he should die a slow and pain filled death. He is, after all, the reason that I am as I am. This camaraderie you speak of is better referred to as pity. He is not human and has the intellect proper to his species. He runs blindly, attacks without thought, and foolishly kills even when killing is not desirable. He operates on instinct only. This is my message to him, that he lives in fear and loathing, that he meets an excruciating and slow death but not at the hands of men.

TC: Why did you hide a geocache and continue your relationship with the geocaching community?
E: Despite his inferior intellect, Fen Dweller had a truly magnificent idea in hiding a cache. It brings humans to a place where I possess a considerable advantage, a place they would not otherwise come. It supplies me with my cuisine of choice, live humans. My relationship is one of supply and demand, geocaching supplies what I demand.

TC: You claim in your profile page to have killed and eaten humans, this isn't really accurate is it?
E: I do not "kill and eat"! I never dine on anything that cannot shriek, cry, wail, and struggle. What shall I say to this? Would you rally the villagers to come for me with torches if I claim to do what I have done? There is wisdom behind this. You are far too much an idiot to understand. You were told the truth and yet you still felt obligated to ask. This means the answer which you were given upsets your sensibilities enough that you pretended not to have understood.

TC: You created quite a stir in the Northwest Forums when you announced your intention to violate any female geocachers who would attempt your cache. I speculate that you simply hoped to frighten away female geocachers due to some dislike of them, and in doing so prevent any lingering softness in yourself. Would you say that is an accurate representation?
E: You are human and thus you believe what experience has driven you to believe. I wrote truthfully what I could do. Several have indeed found the festering head of Mr. Thomas and escaped without harm. One in particular should not come back; she will be eaten next time. Nothing brightens my day more than eating a shrieking woman and a little death. If you saw this with your own eyes, would you then believe? I think it unlikely.

TC: Several geocachers have found the bloated festering head of Mr. Thomas and lived to tell the tale, were they careful or were you careless?
E: Your questions are asinine. I have addressed this many times, all one must do is read and comprehend. I will spell it out for all you of slight intellect. If I were to kill all who ventured into my swamp, none would ever come. [Unintelligible] You are all stupid sacks of fat. Believe or disbelieve, it matters little to me either way. There have been many failures, ask them what frightened them away. The ones who did not live are silent, how could they tell anything to anyone in the regions? The manner of the game is such that it shows reports only from those who go in and come out.

TC: How many have gone into your swamp and not returned?
E: [No response]

TC: Tell me about Mr. Thomas, is that his real name?
E: I neither know nor care what his real name is or was. [Unintelligible]

TC: Tell me about Peg Powler and your relationship with her.
E: Peg was here long before I arrived. She lies in the black water waiting for the feet of children to pass close so that she can pull them under. Her interest in killing is purely entertainment; she does not consume her dead. She has not shown herself to be territorial so we coexist without impediment. We occasionally sit and chat while I eat; an example of this is on my cache page. We do not have a physical relationship in the carnal sense; such would prove quite difficult to say the least. Perhaps if she becomes too much trouble I will eat her.

TC: What do you have planned for the future?
E: [No response]