Living in the midst of the Eric Frein manhunt can make you feel like you’re going insane. I’ve seen a lot of things, as many residents have, that we just choose not to speak of. Mainly for the safety/security of LEOs no one wants to give away too many details and compromise their efforts. I think also many people don’t speak up for fear of having their words twisted or portrayed by media in a way that they don’t want – aka spinning the story to make a “newsworthy story”. National media has had glaringly inaccurate information and local news have done a much better job many, but even a few have fallen victim to taking a rumor and helping it to spread.
What leaves me feeling like a mental patient, is that since so many of the details and events are left out, and not talked about, so you almost question what you did or didn’t see. That probably sounds pretty confusing so let me explain.
Tuesday we were on our way home coming down route 191 and shortly after the fish hatchery we saw a few PSP headed into the woods with guns pointed, 2 weeks ago this wouldn’t have really raised much of an eyebrow, but this week the search was concentrated on the Swiftwater area, and although it’s semi-close, in search terms it’s nowhere near they had been. PSP alone also wouldn’t raise an eyebrow but a few yards after then there were multiple unmarked cars half-hazardly pulled off the road. They were actually blocking the lane of oncoming traffic and had moved cones into the road. There was a woman talking to a group of some law enforcement agency as she pointed into the woods.
Yet I heard nothing of this in media…but what we saw was also seen by other residents who saw the same exact thing.
About 50 minutes later, we’re at home and I peeked my head out the front door as we were expecting someone to come over (this was around 7pm), and what I saw scared the heck out of me. Walking through my driveway just a few feet away was a fully geared ‘ready to go’ ATF gentleman. As a reflex I shut the door, then immediately reopened it and shouted to him “uhh is everything ok?”. He gave a response along the lines of “yeah, for now”. I didn’t know what to think. We live up on Alpine Mountain so keep in mind we have not seen much of a police presence since the area seemed to have move. Throughout the search we had never seen ATF in our neighborhood. You see the photos of guys in gear, maybe even in passing, but seeing it close up, at night, in the dark, when you’re not expecting it is a surreal experience. There was no warning, no prior loud helicopters, police presence recently or anything that would prepare me to pose the question “oh heck, is Eric Frein here somewhere”. Keep in mind I’m not 100% sure which agency is which so my apologies if I label them incorrectly.
My husband then stuck his head out to see another 6+ ATF walking through the the yard and the gentleman I spoke with was walking briskly to catch up with the ATF vehicles (the big black vehicles, again my apologies on the lack of technical names). We could then hear helicopters and you could see 2 of them circling above, nearby the ATF surrounded a home yelling something into a megaphone. If you didn’t know better you’d think Eric Frein was nearby, but if that was the case there would be hundreds of LEOs. What happened next I have to leave out, but let’s just say it got really intense. I know…that leaves a lot to wonder and speculation but unless you’ve been in that situation you’ll never understand why I don’t care to elaborate.
It was obviously dark, if not I’d have some stellar photos to share. In addition to people on the ground the helicopters above hovered as if they were going to land on our roof. This went on for about 20 minutes, then intensity level slowly decreased, then as quickly as they came. They left.
And that was the last I heard of it. Nothing in the news. No real mention of it. If I didn’t live it, I wouldn’t have believed it. Yes, having the search literally in my backyard intensified it for me personally, but it was the first intense action I had seen in the original 5 mile search area in a bit.
I titled this with the “…or not” being that it almost appeared not to even happen. Here’s some tweets from that night:
@iammattallen:@PoconoRecord @poconotalk 3 police helicopters flying back and forth for the last 20min above my house #paradisepointe #alpinemtn
@HomeBoyzNetwork: Wow that was straight out of a movie what I witnessed tonight. I need to go try to get some things done. You all stay safe tonight
@labelREDdesigns: @lmonteforte…a lot of activity over alpine mtn. area right now…
@labelREDdesigns: @lmonteforte was there another sighting by alpine mountain area tonight?
@lmonteforte: @labelREDdesigns I don’t know if there was a sighting but there was a lot of activity.
All news has been about Swiftwater area, Pocono Mountain a East and beyond this week. Why no mention of what happened within the original 5 mile search area? Speculating here?..there was activity on 191…shortly up the road, a little less then an hour later a concentrated search, they were not quiet or stealth. Did someone “think” they saw Frein and they went on a wild goose chase trying to find him? Or could it have possibly been him?
You can see how I feel insane at moments. Just when you think the search has moved away, there is it again in your backyard. But yet there’s nothing on the news…and no one talking about it except in passing neighborhood gossip. I know what I saw and what I experienced, and I’m sure those same thoughts and feelings have resonated with many other people in the Poconos. Through this we’ve found ways to support each other, the PSP, the LEOs and our community and will continue to until the job is done.
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