Brave men and Knights went into the woods to find and vanquish the evil spirit. But all who went were never seen or heard from again. 

 A dark haired youth lost three of her brothers to the ruins. Only she was left to care for her poor grieving mother. On full moon nights the girl would keep vigil while her mother slept, and it was one such night, that the dark spirit appeared before her.

“All that I was, was taken from me, All that I am forgotten, And so you too shall be like the dead, Your present cold and rotten.”
The shadow then drifted away, back to the forest ruins where it lay. The girl was relieved, for it had not taken her with it.