Horror in the High Desert 2021

The film reconstructs the events surrounding the disappearance of Gary Hinge in July 2017, set against the vast, arid Great Basin Desert of Nevada. Gary, who planned a route from Ruth to a cabin he had visited on a previous expedition, failed to return within the expected window. When days turned into a week with no word, his housemate, Simon Rodgers, alerted his sister, Beverly Hinge, who promptly contacted local authorities. As the search extended into a second week, the case faced the daunting realities of the desert and the practical limits of rescue work.

Initial search efforts centered on the last GPS location from Gary’s cell phone, with local and state police, park rangers, and volunteers combing the rugged terrain. A turning point came when Gary’s truck was found 55 miles from Ruth, at the end of a dirt road at the base of a small hill. This discovery redirected the operation toward a broader sweep, employing on-foot teams, helicopters, and drones, yet the landscape yielded no concrete signs of Gary. The combination of extreme heat, challenging terrain, and dangerous features like abandoned mining pits tempered expectations, and officials gradually framed the chances of a live rescue as increasingly slim. As the official search waned and media attention faded, Beverly Hinge chose to take matters into her own hands by hiring a private investigator, William “Bill” Salerno. At the same time, a local television reporter, Gal Roberts, pressed to keep the story alive, wary that the case might otherwise slip into a forgotten cold file.

The investigation then shifted focus to Gary’s abandoned truck, treated as a crime scene. Forensic analysis revealed a troubling mix of clues: unidentified fingerprints—especially on the steering wheel—and a trail of barefoot footprints that did not match Gary’s own prints. With this mismatch and lack of a clear suspect, investigators faced a stagnation that slowed progress and narrowed the field of viable leads.

Salerno’s inquiry broadened the scope beyond physical evidence to Gary’s digital footprint. He uncovered that Gary had cultivated a substantial online following under the moniker “Scorpion Sam,” running a video blog about hiking and survival that attracted roughly 50,000 followers. One of his later uploads, posted just before his disappearance, described a three-day hike in unfamiliar terrain where he noticed the smell of smoke and spotted what seemed to be an abandoned cabin with an active chimney. Disturbingly, he spoke of camping at a safe distance and later recounted that someone might be following him—a claim that drew skepticism, debate, and spirited challenges from his online audience.

Weeks after the truck’s discovery, hikers in White Pine County found a backpack at their campsite, which investigators later identified as Gary’s. Inside, they recovered his severed hand gripping his video camera. Forensic analysis suggested the hand had been severed while Gary was still alive, within an estimated window of five weeks. The memory card from the camera contained footage of Gary’s final night at the mysterious cabin, a recording that has since sparked a surge of theories and speculation. Discussions have linked the disappearance to a wide range of possibilities—from secret government projects and atomic testing to Indigenous rituals, satanic cults, and even encounters with extraterrestrial phenomena.

The case remains a focal point for those who seek answers beyond conventional explanations, inviting viewers to weigh the delicate balance between imagination and evidence as they follow Beverly Hinge’s determination, Salerno’s dogged scrutiny, and Roberts’s journalistic resolve to keep the story alive. The film presents a carefully constructed narrative that honors the complexity of Gary Hinge’s disappearance while avoiding simple conclusions, inviting audiences to reflect on the fragility of outdoor safety, the bite of isolation, and the enduring pull of unanswered questions in a remote landscape.