Something I Should Have Never Seen

Cleaning out my grandfather's office after his passing I found a very old sealed manila envelope. In it was a small 8mm real and film. No label, no comments. My grandfather was a prolific defense attorney and finding this film real without any reference was very out of character. I decided to take the real with me as opposed to putting it in the trash.

Several months later I mentioned the find to a friend and mentioned that I kept it, but had no idea what the film was and had no way of finding out. A day later my friend said he had located an 8mm projector. We decided to intrude and watch the film. We set up the projector, used a wall as a screen, turned the lights off and watched.

A young woman or girl was nude, black and white grainy film, she was grabbed by the wrist and tied to a bed. One man after another got on her over several minutes, ending with a penciled note in Spanish on a sheet of paper from what appeared to be a ransom note in pesos, we have no idea from what country. We burned the film, what evidence this was, why my grandfather saved it, we will never know. A reminder that all is not well in the world, not now, not then.