The mother threw her babies in a grave. Ten years later, she regretted it. Miriam Baxter had a difficult childhood. Her father, Igor, loved her dearly, but her mother, Bonnie, seemed to have no time for her only daughter. It was only many years later that we saw the lasting effects that Bonnie had on Miriam well into her adult years.
Miriam loved dogs and cats and would often bring home strange. Igor loved that his daughter was so caring, but Bonnie said the animals made a mess, so would always make Miriam turn them back onto the street. She was a good student who had many friends, though some of her friends would later say that Miriam seemed to be off in her own world sometimes.
The family lived in a small town outside of Denver, and it was in this town that Miriam met Dimitri when she was 16 years old. Dimitri was two years older than Miriam, but the two became friends quickly and then began dating after Miriam turned 17.
Igor recalled that Miriam seemed to glow after she spent time with Dimitri Unsurprisingly. Her mother didn’t approve, but Miriam was at that age that she didn’t need her mother’s approval. She loved Dimitri, and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. Her plan was on track. After Dmitry proposed Miriam about three years after they first started dating.
Yeah, they were young, but both of them believe they were soulmates. So when Miriam was 20 years old and Demetri was 22, the couple got married. Igor attended the small, intimate ceremony Bonnie did not. The first few years of Demetri and Miriam’s marriage was pleasant. The newlywed seldom argued, and they enjoyed the modest lifestyle that their jobs afforded them.
Dimitri worked as a Carpenter and Miriam at a local grocery store, but there was something that wasn’t going their way. Starting a Family Miriam knew she wanted children and wanted to prove to herself that she could be a better mother than Bonnie had been to her. That being said, there was always a little voice in the back of her head that whispered to her that she wasn’t supposed to be a mother. Miriam did her best to ignore this voice and brushed it off his nerves. Over the years, the stresses of not being able to start a family wait on Demetri and Miriam.
The two bickered often, and Miriam’s life wasn’t turning out to be the fairy tale she had expected until a miracle happened. Miriam fell pregnant. The couple was ecstatic. They couldn’t believe after all these years, that they’d finally be able to have the family they dreamed of starting. Unfortunately, Miriam got incredibly sick during her pregnancy.
Her morning sickness was awful, and she battled to keep anything down. In fact, she was diagnosed with something that makes women get sick in pregnancy. This is when the doubts started to creep in Miriam’s mind. Was she meant to be a mother? Was this a sign that bad things were to come again.
She tried to push these thoughts away and then a bombshell was dropped. A scan revealed that not only was Miriam pregnant, she was pregnant with triplets. Demetri was so happy with this news. He felt that having three joys brought into their life would make up for lost time. Miriam, on the other hand, felt very overwhelmed.
The thought of having three children to care for worried her and the worry didn’t ease as she progressed in her pregnancy. Miriam tried her best to keep this from Demetri, but secretly she was spiraling. She began having doubts in her ability as a mother, having had such a poor example herself. And the day arrived. Miriam gave birth to three beautiful children, two boys and a little girl.
Dimitri recalled that the boys had his features, while the little girl was the spinning image of her mother. Their names were Edgar, Jensen and Penelope. Caring for the triplets was as much work as Miriam thought it was going to be. She was also struggling with intense feelings of sadness after she had given birth and she battled to connect with any of her children. She kept this a secret though, as she was too ashamed to let anyone else know.
Dimitri could see that his wife was having a hard time, but he thought she was just tired like he was. Little did he know. As the days went on, Miriam fell deeper and deeper into a depressed state. Looking at her story, we now can see that Miriam likely had postpartum depression at the time though, and where she lived. This was a foreign concept to any doctors.
It also didn’t help that Miriam was so quiet about her feelings. Three months went by and things were fine on the outside, that is, Demetri still didn’t see how sad Miriam was becoming and Miriam still kept her lack of connection quiet. Then the perfect storm hit. Demetri needed to leave the home for four days as he had to attend a carpentry workshop. He asked Miriam if he needed to hire a nanny for her to help care for the children, but Miriam insisted that she would be fine internally.
She was hoping that this time alone with her children would help her bond with them. Miriam was so very wrong and on that early Saturday morning, little did Dimitri know that he wouldn’t see his children again for ten years. That is, Miriam’s first day with the children was fine. They didn’t fuss too much and she fell under control with everything. Day two, however, didn’t go as smoothly.
Edgar was sick and wouldn’t stop crying. His crying set Jensen off and the two boys crying made Penelope cry. Miriam tried to calm Edgar, but he couldn’t keep anything down and Jensen then began showing the same symptoms as his brother. Miriam stress levels were rising dangerously high at that point. We don’t know exactly what happened over the next two days Miriam later claimed that she didn’t remember, but we’ll never really know whether that was true or not.
What we do know is what happened on the evening of the third day. Miriam placed Edgar, Jensen, and Penelope into a large basket and set out into the woods. We do know that Miriam began digging. She dug until she had three perfectly rectangular graves. Yeah, you heard that right?
Graves. It’s hard to know what Miriam was thinking at that point, but experts later believe she was suffering from a complete break from reality. Miriam wasn’t a bad person. She did do a very bad thing, though. Miriam then placed each of her children, one by one into the graves.
Edgar was wrapped in a blue blanket, Jensen a green one, and beautiful little Penelope in a purple one. She then proceeded to cover the babies in dirt. Miriam then walked away with the sounds of crying echoing through the forest. The following night, Dimitri arrived home. He found his wife curled up in a corner, staring at the wall.
She wouldn’t speak and simply rocked back and forth. What’s wrong, my love? Where are the children? Demetri asked. Miriam said nothing.
Dimitri proceeded to race through the house, looking everywhere for his babies. They were nowhere to be found. He spent hours trying to talk to Miriam, but nothing. Her eyes were glazed over and she seemed to be off all on her own. Dimitri could tell that Miriam hadn’t showered for four days, so he placed his wife in a bath, hoping the warm water would soothe her.
At this point, he was freaking out. Dimitri then wrapped Miriam up and placed her in their bed. He then called Igor. Igor rushed over and he, too, tried to speak to Miriam. She wouldn’t speak a word to him either.
Remember, this all happened in a small town. So after two more days of this and no answers as to what on Earth was going on, Igor and Dimitri decided to make the trip to the hospital with Miriam and also report the children missing. Miriam stay in hospital didn’t help much. She still wouldn’t speak and the police were entirely unhelpful. In fact, they didn’t believe Dimitri’s story at all.
They said Miriam was crazy, and maybe he was crazy too. Dimitri was at a complete loss. He had missing children and a wife that wouldn’t speak a word to him. This went on for weeks until he couldn’t take it anymore. Miriam, he screamed, you know where my children are?
Why won’t you tell me? His wife, who is now a shell of her former self, said nothing. Still, that night, Dimitri packed his bags and left. He couldn’t do this anymore. Without saying goodbye, he disappeared into the night.
A broken man. After she was alone, Miriam decided to go and check the gravesite of her three children. She hiked up to the spot where she had laid them, which wasn’t too hard to find as she’d been replaying that walk in her head every day since she had done it. But when she arrived, the site made Miriam vomit. The children’s graves were empty.
They were gone. It didn’t look like an animal had gotten them. It looked to her like they’d crawled their way out. Miriam then turned and sprinted back home. She locked herself in her bedroom and closed the curtains and locked the door.
Why? Because Miriam now believed that her children were coming to find her. She believed that they’d crawled their way out of their early graves and were coming to seek revenge. Miriam spent the next ten years of her life as an old hermit. She hadn’t said a word since the day in the forest.
Not one single word. Miriam’s once soft features weathered and she became known as the crazy lady of the town. Young kids spread rumors about her being a witch and dared each other to run to her house and knock on the door. Miriam had answered the first few times, but she soon ignored them. The knocks happen at least twice a week as the children were coming home from school.
The knocks were always short and ended quickly. This was obviously because the boys ran away as they knocked. They weren’t about to stick around and wait for the witch to grab them. This became background music to Miriam until someone knocked once and then again. This made Miriam stop what she was doing and gazed towards the door.
Had these neighborhood boys gotten bold? Maybe. But then a third knock. Miriam knew she had to get to the door, so she reluctantly walked over and cracked it open. Standing outside were three children and a man.
Miriam slammed the door and turned her back against it. For some reason, her heart was racing. There was something familiar about these children, some sort of connection. Then came another knock. Miriam tried to compose herself as she opened the door.
I’m not sure what to say to you, said the man. Do you remember these children? He asked. This isn’t possible, Miriam croaked in a hoarse voice. She sounded very much like the witch she’d been painted out to be.
