On a freezing night in January 2017, 21-year-old Megan Shaffer and 24-year-old Alexander Stevens hiked deep into Savage River State Forest in Western Maryland. They carried candles, a knife, and even Alex’s pet cat—preparing for what Megan would later describe as a “cleansing ritual.” Hours later, Megan was rescued—naked, bruised, hypothermic—while Alex was found dead in a frozen creek, his throat cut and candles burned to stubs around him.

Megan gave police not one, but three conflicting stories. An accident. A suicide. A forced plunge and a ritual gone wrong. And yet the evidence pointed somewhere darker.

In this first episode, I take you into the woods, through the timeline of that night, and into Megan’s shifting accounts. By the end, when the autopsy contradicts everything she said, you’ll understand why this case still haunts Savage Mountain—and why I can’t shake the feeling that something doesn’t add up.

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