I’m a cop in a small town in rural New Mexico. A lot of work does end up taking me driving through the barren expanses of desert that make up this part of the country, and I do have plenty of odd tales. I’d just been telling them to my family, and when I went up to visit them last week my brother told me about this subreddit. So, here I am.

The thing about the desert, is unlike a forest or the ocean, there’s not many unexplained disappearances. If someone does run off you can usually spot them well enough on the horizon with a pair of binoculars and retrieve them - and if you can’t, then they’ll usually be found in a ditch, dead of starvation or thirst. That being said, there are disappearances that do not make any form of sense.

The one that comes to mind immediately took place around 3 years ago. A young man was part of an illegal rave in the town. At some point, the drugs had gone too far and he had run off into the desert, clearly hallucinating on something. A few cars sent out that night couldn’t find anything, but it was dark and we didn’t really expect to.

The next day someone radioed in and told us to come over. They had found his clothes in a pile on the ground. The obvious thought was that, while still high, he had taken them off in some fit and continued on. But as we investigated, it became strange. His shirt and shorts had massive rips in them. His clothes had been physically ripped off his body, not just taken off.

So we up the search, now much more spurred on. However, we don't find anything at all for the next few days. It was dusk on day three of the search when I spotted something in the road. You could see what it was as soon as you got closer - a disembodied head. Closer inspection revealed it to be the head of the missing man. The cut was extremely clean, and the medical team even said it looked like the wound had been cauterized. There's no reported cartel activity in my area, and even if it was a cartel, why would they target a random drugged out man?

The task fell on me to notify the family - I'm considered generally good with delivering bad news - and continue straight on the road that leads to the town the man's parents live. Exactly a mile from where I found the head, I spotted something in the road again. I could tell from further away this time - a torso, attatched to a pair of arms which were neatly folded over the chest. Like the head, all wounds were cauterized. I radio it in, and after others arrive I keep driving. I knew what I was going to find.

Sure enough, exactly a mile along I found a pair of legs. Nobody could come up with an adequate explanation, and I think it was officially explained away as coyotes scavenging his corpse. If the family could have seen what we saw, they would have undoubtedly sued us.

The thing I get asked about the most from my family is monsters. I always tell them that if you spent a whole year exhaustively searching every nook and cranny of this part of the country you'd find untold new creatures and beasts. That usually quiets the kids, but if the adults press me I tell them about the Wailer.

When I was about to go on my first night desert drive, the deputy sheriff pulled me aside and told me that it was highly likely that I would hear wailing or screaming while I was out there. I questioned him further, asking what it was. He said it wasn't a fox, or coyote, or deer. Then he told me with great emphasis - it certainly wasn't a man, and it may sound like a man, but once I heard it, I'd know that it wasn't. If I heard it, just ignore it, don't go towards it, and if you see what the wailer was, drive as fast as you can.

I heard it on my second trip. Immediately I knew what he was talking about. It was the screaming of a man, but I could tell deep down in my gut that it wasn't human. I got the hell out of there as soon as I could. I would hear it on subsequent night patrols, but I just got used to it. It was just a feature of the landscape out here, like cacti or rocks.

Virtually everyone in the squad has heard it, that's why it has a name. However, I'm one of the few people that's actually laid my eyes on the Wailer. It was a night drive, about a year ago, just like any other, and just like any other night drive, up comes the screaming, booming over the barren landscape. There's an officer who's never heard it, and some of us promised him we'd record it so he could. I pulled the car over, took out my phone and started recording the sounds. It didn’t take long before I realized that the wails were steadily getting louder - they were getting closer. I should have left at that point, but part of me was too curious - I wanted to see what this thing was. So I waited.

The screams got louder and louder, and then they just stopped. I remember looking around frantically, and then I looked to my left and saw it. The moon was just bright enough to illuminate something standing by the side of the road. It was human shaped, but grey or white - the same colour as the moonlight. It stood on all fours and almost seemed to be panting, like a tired animal. I stared at it for a while - I couldn’t tell if it was staring back at me. I snapped a couple of photos of the thing.

Suddenly, it wailed and jolted towards my car. Its movements were jagged and erratic, and I sped off as fast as I could. Of course, when I got back to the station I blabbed to everyone about it. After I said I had a photo, the sheriff pulled me into his office and asked to see. I handed him my phone, and before I could say he had deleted the photos. He leaned in real close, and I remember his exact words - “Look. You didn’t see anything out there tonight. We can’t have anyone going out there looking for it. As long as it doesn’t know what we are, it will stay out there in the desert.” I was left just as confused as before. I knew not to press it, though. I still hear the Wailer, as does everyone. But I sure as hell don’t wait for it anymore.

The desert is a strange place, certainly the strangest place I’ve ever found myself in. These are just two stories. I’ll be glad to share more if this thing picks up. I could have made this post 100 pages long if I wanted to.