On September 12, 2015, 26-year-old Alice Carter disappeared without a trace in the dense forests near Mount Shasta, California. What began as a peaceful solo retreat to escape the noise of daily life turned into a nightmare. For four weeks, search teams scoured the wilderness, but no trace of Alice was found. It was as if she had vanished into thin air.
Then, on October 10, 2015, deep in an isolated sector of the forest, a group of loggers stumbled upon a horrifying sight: a massive wooden cage suspended 12 meters above the ground in the branches of a giant Douglas fir. Inside, they found Alice Carter—alive, but barely. Emaciated, covered in filth, and eerily singing a monotone melody, Alice’s condition and the circumstances of her captivity left investigators with more questions than answers. What happened to Alice Carter, and who could have done this to her?
The Day Alice Disappeared
September 12 started as a crisp, clear morning at the base of Mount Shasta. The air was cool, with a temperature of just 9°C, and visibility stretched for miles. For Alice Carter, it was the perfect day to escape into nature. After a grueling summer as the head administrator of a busy water park in Redding, California, Alice was desperate for peace and quiet.
She left her home early that morning, driving her silver Subaru Forester up the winding Everitt Memorial Highway. Surveillance footage captured her arrival at Bunny Flat Trailhead around 8:15 a.m. Dressed in a light olive fleece jacket and dark hiking pants, Alice parked in a secluded corner of the lot, away from the other hikers and tourists. Witnesses described her as focused and calm, carefully checking her backpack and adjusting her hiking boots before heading off alone with only a camera, water, and her car keys.
Around 11:00 a.m., a group of Oregon college students descending from a higher camp spotted Alice near a fork in the trail. She had veered off the main path and was standing among a cluster of tall fir trees, adjusting her camera to capture the sunlight filtering through the branches. She appeared to be searching for the perfect shot, her expression calm and intent. Not wanting to disturb her solitude, the students passed by without speaking to her.
It was the last confirmed sighting of Alice Carter.
A Search That Led Nowhere
As the sun dipped behind the mountain and temperatures plummeted, the Bunny Flat parking lot emptied. By nightfall, Alice’s car was the only vehicle left, its windshield frosted over in the cold evening air. When Alice failed to return home or answer her phone, her worried mother called the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office to report her missing.
The search began at dawn on September 13. Dozens of volunteers, U.S. Forest Service rangers, and professional search-and-rescue teams combed the area. Search dogs picked up Alice’s scent near her car and followed it away from the trail, through dense thickets of manzanita, a tough shrub with tangled branches that make passage nearly impossible. The trail led into a remote, overgrown section of the forest that hadn’t been used by hikers in decades.
After three kilometers of grueling progress, the search team found a single clue: the lens cap from Alice’s Canon camera, lying clean and untouched on a bed of moss. It looked as though it had only recently fallen there, despite 24 hours having passed since her disappearance. The search dogs, however, refused to go any further. They circled the area, sniffing the ground and the air, but seemed confused and hesitant. The trail ended abruptly, as if Alice had been plucked out of thin air.
The Discovery
Four weeks later, on October 10, 2015, a logging crew working 60 kilometers north of Bunny Flat made a chilling discovery. While clearing dead trees in an isolated section of forest known as Sector E4, they heard an eerie sound—a faint, mechanical singing.
The crew followed the sound to a cluster of ancient Douglas firs. Looking up, they saw a massive wooden cage, camouflaged with pine branches, suspended 12 meters above the ground. Through the gaps in the wooden slats, they could see a woman inside. She was emaciated, her face covered in sores and dirt. Her clothes were in tatters, and her eyes were hollow and vacant. Despite her condition, she wasn’t crying for help. Instead, she was singing—a haunting, repetitive melody, her voice hoarse and mechanical, like a broken music box.
The loggers immediately called for help. When law enforcement and rescue teams arrived, they were faced with a baffling and dangerous situation. The cage was precariously suspended by steel cables, and any sudden movement could cause it to fall. Sergeant James Potts, a veteran rescuer with 15 years of experience, led the operation to free Alice.
Using climbing spikes and a harness, Potts scaled the tree while his team watched anxiously from below. As he reached the cage, he activated a body camera to document what he saw. Inside, Alice was curled up on a filthy, damp blanket, her body skeletal and her skin a sickly gray. She stared blankly at Potts, her lips moving as she continued to sing the same haunting tune.
Potts spoke to her gently, trying to reassure her. “Alice, I’m Sergeant Potts. I’m here to help you. We’re going to get you out of here.” But Alice didn’t respond. She didn’t even blink. She simply stared through him and kept singing.
A Cage of Horror
As Potts examined the cage, he made a horrifying realization: the door was nailed shut from the outside with thick, rusted spikes. Whoever had put Alice in the cage had no intention of letting her out. A thin synthetic rope hung from the bottom of the cage, attached to a makeshift pulley system with a cut milk jug at the end. It appeared to be a rudimentary method for delivering food and water to Alice.
It took Potts 20 painstaking minutes to remove the nails, being careful not to destabilize the cage. The entire time, Alice continued to sing, her voice growing fainter and more strained. When Potts finally opened the cage and reached for her, she didn’t resist. She allowed herself to be strapped into a harness and lowered to the ground without a word.
The Aftermath
Alice was rushed to a hospital in Redding, where doctors were shocked by her condition. She was severely malnourished, dehydrated, and suffering from multiple infections. Her body was covered in cuts and bruises, and her hands were calloused and scarred, likely from climbing the cage’s interior. Despite her physical recovery, Alice’s mental state remained fragile. She refused to speak or acknowledge her surroundings, often retreating into a trance-like state and humming the same haunting melody.
The cage itself became the centerpiece of a federal investigation. Forensic teams determined it had been constructed months earlier using local materials, including pine logs and steel cables. The pulley system indicated that someone had been delivering food and water to Alice, but no traces of this person were ever found. The case remains unsolved, leaving behind a trail of unanswered questions: Who built the cage? Why was Alice targeted? And why did she continue to sing instead of asking for help?
Unanswered Questions
Alice’s story remains one of the most baffling mysteries in recent history. While she has physically recovered, her mental scars run deep. She has been unable—or unwilling—to provide clear answers about her disappearance or captivity. Investigators suspect she may have been drugged or psychologically manipulated, but without her testimony, the truth remains elusive.
For her family, Alice’s return is both a miracle and a tragedy. They have their daughter back, but the woman who came home is not the same person who left that September morning. Alice’s haunting melody still echoes in their minds, a reminder of the horrors she endured in the depths of the forest.
