Moonlight Shade: Witness Statements from the Canyon County Arcanum: Paranormal Encounters In Rural Oregon

by Erick Mertz

Perfect for Fans of The X-Files, Creepshow, and True Paranormal Case Files

Out on the high desert of Canyon County, Oregon, the wind carries stories of strange encounters, impossible events, and the thin places where our world brushes up against something far older… and far darker.

Across more than a century of hidden history, ordinary men and women have stumbled into the inexplicable. Their voices were collected, archived, and buried. Until now.

Moonlight Files From the Canyon County Arcanum opens the casebooks on thirty paranormal accounts—each a disturbing, atmospheric tale told by the people who lived through them.

From phantom figures and haunted forests to mimicry beings, cursed objects, and vanishing townsfolk, these are the stories Canyon County tried to forget.

Inside these pages, you’ll

The Case FilesThe Phantom Hand — The Statement of Brady Drift

A Devil Wind — The Statement of Rebecca Cotton

The Flipbook

Bell the Cat — The Statement of Sia Temple

The Moonshiner’s Mistress — The Statement of Dominic Twitchell

The Black Horse Carousel — The Statement of Mindy Smith-Greene

The Three Statements of Orvall Todd

When the Creek Runs White — The Statement of Park Kyung-Hee

Rural Route #442 — The Statement of Fannie Blair

The Hall of Lost Causes — The Statement of Kendall Witt

The Ballad of the Black Bronco — The Statement of Bryce Randall

The One About the Radio — The Statement of Val Pilgrim

The Dark Jar — The Statement of Peter “Sayles” Jordan

Angus McGreggor, Seeker — The Statement of Angus McGreggor

The Haunting Hour — The Statement of Morton Bloom

The Home Goods Grimoire — The Statement of Harlan Gower

A Man, I Swear — The Statement of Richard Shiner

Longtime Listener — The Statement of Mike Chitty

Hansel — The Statement of John Frederick Weiland

Flat Notes — The Statement of Sarah Kaiser

Old Bones (Return to the River What It Is Owed) — The Statement of Nicholette “Nikki” Driscoll

The Widow of Eastgate — The Statement of William Ambrose

The Exploding Camera — The Account of Seymour Brogdon

Where’s Malcolm? — The Statement of Mary Colleen Silseth

Dead Standing — The Statement of Tim

137 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication February 19, 2026

About the author

Erick Mertz is an author, born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, a place he is still lucky enough to call his home. He writes a paranormal mystery series, “The Strange Air” , described as “Longmire” meets “The X-Files”, set in the fictional central Oregon town of Whistler’s Grove.
In a previous lifetime, while a student at the University of Oregon, he studied English literature and played records late at night on campus radio 88.1 KWVA. After school was finished, he worked in group homes and as a case manager for community based adults with developmental disabilities. This is an area where he continues to work.
If he’s not writing, you can probably find him worrying about the Portland Trailblazers, drinking a local beer, or exploring that glorious Pacific Northwest landscape with his wife, Lisa, and son, Elijah.