the lost diary of gil stanford

Recovered near the Sand Run caves in 2021, the ruined composition book was assumed to be nothing more than waterlogged pages and incoherent scribbles.

It was neither.

THE LOST DIARY OF GIL STANFORD is a chilling artifact from the world of THE TOWPATH, revealing the unfiltered descent of its most complex and unsettling figure. Through obsessive entries, disturbing sketches, and fragmented recollections, the diary chronicles the unraveling of Gil Stanford—formerly Vaughn Decker—a reclusive schoolteacher haunted by family secrets buried deep within Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley.

Spanning the years 1997–1999, the diary documents caves that should not exist, cryptic blueprints for an impossible device, fragments of ancient artifacts, and a growing conviction that time in the Valley does not move in one direction. As paranoia intensifies and violence edges closer, the entries build toward the events that will echo through THE TOWPATH—and beyond.

Presented as investigators found it, uncensored and unedited, this companion novella expands the mythology of THE TOWPATH and foreshadows darker truths yet to come.

A standalone read. A missing chapter. A warning.

If you thought you understood what happened in those caves, you only knew one side.

Open the diary.
But remember—some things in the Valley don’t sleep. They wait.