The ChillX Zone

The Unsolved Disappearance of Emily DeForest

PINE BARRONS, NJ — July 20, 2025

It was 33 years ago today that 19-year-old Emily DeForest was last seen stepping into the dusky trails of the Wharton State Forest. A local college student home for the summer, she told friends she was heading out to photograph deer just before twilight. She never returned.

Despite extensive searches, dozens of interviews, and years of rumors, no trace of Emily—or her camera—was ever found. What remains is a decades-old mystery steeped in unanswered questions, eerie local legends, and whispers of something not entirely natural.

A Summer Stroll Gone Silent

According to the original report filed on July 21, 1992, Emily left her family’s Medford Lakes home around 6:45 p.m. Armed with a Pentax K1000, she had planned to follow a familiar trail near Batsto Village. Friends described her as calm and reflective that afternoon—“peaceful, even,” one recalled.

Temperatures were mild that evening, and there was no indication of foul weather. By nightfall, when she had not returned, her parents contacted local authorities. What followed was one of the largest search efforts in Burlington County’s history. Helicopters, canine units, and volunteers combed more than 40 square miles over the course of ten days.

Not a single item of clothing, no footprints, no broken branches—nothing was recovered.

A Trail of Theories

Theories ranged from the plausible to the bizarre. Some suggested she may have fallen into one of the many sinkholes scattered through the pines. Others believed foul play was involved, perhaps an opportunistic abductor or someone she knew.

But certain residents, especially those whose families had lived near the forest for generations, pointed to something older and darker.

“The Pines don’t take kindly to trespassers after dark,” said one elderly resident in a 1993 interview. “Sometimes the woods decide who they’ll let back out.”

The “Whistlers” and the Leeds Legend

Local lore about the Pine Barrens is as thick as the forest itself. The area is famously home to the legend of the Jersey Devil—an alleged creature said to haunt the region since the 18th century. But some say there’s more than one thing to fear in those woods.

Multiple searchers reported hearing strange, distant whistling during the first nights of the search—low, rhythmic, and consistent, like a tune being repeated in the trees. Radios crackled with interference during those moments, and several K-9 units became visibly agitated.

Though brushed off at the time, several reports logged by forest rangers between 1987 and 1992 include references to similar sounds and “pockets of unnatural cold” encountered along trails near Batsto.

In the years following Emily’s disappearance, at least two hikers went missing in the same area, both later found disoriented but alive. Both described seeing a woman in white just before losing their way. One, in a 1999 police statement, said, “She looked like she was from another time. She said nothing. Just stared. Then she turned and walked straight into the trees.”

A Cold Case that Refuses to Fade

To this day, Emily’s case remains open. Her parents have since passed away, but her younger brother, now in his 40s, still visits the site every July 20.

“She’s still out there somewhere,” he said in a rare interview. “And I don’t think she’s alone.”

With no new leads and nothing to go on but whispers and forest echoes, investigators quietly filed the case as inactive in 2007. But among locals, the memory of Emily DeForest is far from forgotten.

Each summer, just as the cicadas rise and the trails grow dim, hikers report strange chills and fleeting shadows along the paths she once loved.

And always—some say—you can still hear faint whistling in the trees, just after sunset.