Soul Snatcher

"Soul Snatcher"

The ancient Greeks had a phrase, "genus loci," which meant "spirit of place." They felt that places were inhabited by a spirit particular to that area and watched over it. Other ancient cultures also believed this, referring to these presences as "devas," "elementals," or nature spirits which would sometimes visibly manifest themselves in various physical forms.

Such a thing also inhabits a lonely stretch of road in a rural community upstate, and you should pray you never encounter it. A few of the older members of the last Indian tribe here remember a legend of a demon spirit called the "soul snatcher," but even they dismiss it as a superstition.

Graham Mitchell hears about it as he searches for his girlfriend here, who was last seen traveling this part of the road. During his search he crosses paths with state trooper Cree Nathez, who is investigating other recent disappearances along the same stretch of road. They discover this has happened before, fifty years ago. As they dig deeper, they realize that every fifty years people disappear from this area, going back to when the first white settlers arrived.

Through Cree, Graham meets her grandfather, the tribes' last shaman, who battled the soul snatcher when he was a much younger man, and won. Her grandfather and their own experiences convince Cree and Graham of the reality of the demon spirit, but the shaman doesn't know if his "magic" is strong enough to fight it again, given his age. But he reminds Cree that he has passed on his knowledge to her in various ways when she was younger.

But can she remember enough of it in time, and is she strong enough, to stop this evil spirit before it goes into hiding for another fifty years? As they prepare to confront it, Graham and Cree will find out what happened to the souls -and the bodies- of the victims who had the misfortune to cross paths with the "soul snatcher."