River Devil II: The Return - Carmen Maria Machado - Schuylkill River Trail

All Mercedes wants is to do her job: capturing behind-the-scenes shots for a cheesy horror movie sequel shot in Manayunk with her conspiracy-theorist camerawoman, Bernice. But travelers beware; the deceptively beautiful Manayunk Canal may have other ideas… Nature fights back in this cryptozoology-meets-The-Blair-Witch-Project horror story — River Devil II: The Return.

This story was written by Carmen Maria Machado for the Schuylkill River Trail in Manayunk. Machado is the author of the memoir In the Dream House, the graphic series The Low, Low Woods, and the short story collection Her Body and Other Parties. She has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the winner of the Bard Fiction Prize, the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction, the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction, the Brooklyn Public Library Literature Prize, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Prize. In 2018, the New York Times listed Her Body and Other Parties as a member of "The New Vanguard," one of "15 remarkable books by women that are shaping the way we read and write fiction in the 21st century." Her essays, fiction, and criticism have appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Granta, Vogue, This American Life, Harper’s Bazaar, Tin House, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, The Believer, Guernica, Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy, Best American Nonrequired Reading, and elsewhere. She lives in Philadelphia and is the Abrams Artist-in-Residence at the University of Pennsylvania.

TRAIL NOTES: Low to medium difficulty, point to point, pavement and gravel, no inclines, heavy foot traffic, watch out for bikes

TRAIL LENGTH: 1.9 miles

GPS: 40.024125, -75.222195