Cozy 13 Day Halloween Countdown | Creepypasta Compilation

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow between the crosses row on row and Mark our place and in the sky the Larks so bravely singing fly scarce heard admidst the guns below John mcra when the gun stopped the cannon ceases and the fighting ends stories will appear most tell the tale of Bravery some of cowardice some of laughter found In the moment of fear and pain others though well those stories tell of things that simply cannot be explained whether it's the tale of soldiers creating a moment of peace and sharing a meal over Christmas who the

soldier who predicted not only his death but the manner in which it takes place those stories do rise to the front others however whether due to their own Mystery or the questions that yet rise fall Away this is the tale of one such Story one that to this day has no good explanation told Through The Eyes of one witness to those events in his own fearful and confused words the incident has long been the stuff of Legends the story seemed better fit to a short horror story than a real experience yet it did happen that

much is certain what exactly happened though Remains a mystery to this day one thing is quite certain though on the 21st day of August 1915 while waging the bloody Battle of the Dells the fourth Royal Northfolk Battalion simply vanished from the face of the Earth these men were not cut down by the staccato of the machine gun nor the drum bass sound of the bombardment rather they were there one moment and gone the Next Robert William Cunningham a private in the New Zealand regimen supporting them and two others were witness to the events of that

day and the following is his recount of that Tale the day started much like any other which is to say we were awakened by the sound of our elephant blowing his whistle and screaming gas my mask was presently at hand as I kept it yet it felt like ages before I could get the thing in place gas attacks Were common then with evil green and yellow clouds wafting down from the enemy positions above it was a scramble to put one's mask in place a fight made more difficult Difficult by the gagging Burning Sensations when the

cloud touched flesh with the mask in place the world became a hollow shell of itself the eyeglasses beaded fogging from your breath and the burning still felt in the lungs we lost 16 men in that Attack I remember one in particular he was a young chap no older than my little brother 16 if he was a day I still see his face how he lay in the trench looking up with the most peaceful look upon his features he tried to cultivate a mustache and failed badly looking more like a child playing dress up in his

father's things than a true Soldier it would have been easy to Assume he was simply asleep dozing there in the dirt and mud but no he was dead quite dead before having ever fired a single shot in anger I envied him for bad as his death was it meant the war was once and truly over for him the Dead they were the lucky ones the warning for gas came and went with us huddled in our trenches and dugouts guns aimed at the enemy it was their custom and ours to some measure to proceed an assault

with gas and then to attack and mass today would be no different leveling my rifle over the side I watched and waited through the haze and Cloud the pock marked and alien landscaped I saw Shapes they could be men they could just have easily have been specters ghost of those who had gone before now rising up to haunt the no man land between our lines in an instant the fog seemed to lift and they were upon us I fired and was rewarded with seeing the target before me fall he had ceased to be a man

in my eyes it was simply a sack a sack of meat Wrapped in an enemy costume quickly as he fell another a place him stepping over on his body to my left the devil's paintbrush as we called the machine gun of the day opened up men fell before it as though God had reached down and simply blotted them from existence yet they still came pressing forward while we held the line I do not recall how many times I fired and how many of those men fell before Me the battle could have lasted a day or

it could have easily have lasted only a minute for quickly as it started it ended the men stopped coming and the guns fell silent around me men lay screaming in pain others begging for their mothers most however simply lay where they fell struck down like so many others it was not a victory not in the purest sense of the Word but it was a a success though beset by the enemy we had held it may have cost us a h hundred men and more but it had cost the enemy more that was all which really

mattered to us I suppose in a way that was all which mattered to the enemy as well for not unlike them when we attacked if one fell another always took his place such as the way of War after the attack an uneasy silence fell Over the battlefield the gas had long since passed though many men yet wore their masks the younger Greener recruits those still afraid those still alive in time though they too returned to the regularity of trench life an odd normal if there ever was one by midday we had repulsed two more attacks

and suffered great losses in particular the fire coming from a small hill known only on the maps as position 60 it was proving to be most damaging this hill was well protected on two sides though a [ __ ] lay in its armor a weakness of sorts along one of its sides a low Riverbend ran dry In the Heat of the desert though still littered with puddles from the recent rain this Riverbend neared the position well enough that it was figured that should have force of men use it for cover then they could possibly reach

Within the range of the Hill undetected they would still need to make the final push to the position itself but with proper supporting fire they would probably survive to take the position around 1 after a hasty meal of moldy bread half rotten horse meat and stale tea the leftenant approached us it had been decided by the captain that today we would make a push on position 60 with the intent of dealing The damnable Turks a stellar blow two companies would take part in this attack the first being the fourth Royal and the company I was

a part of we were to make the best use of the Riverbend and under the cover from our own guns an attack as the men went over the top we would sweep around and catch the position unawares making our packs as quiet as possible for fear of any sound giving away our position well before the attack Was to commence he waited nervously at the shore of that low waft of dirt that hung through the ground in wetter days it might have been a river but now all we saw was a road a road that led

right to the enemy's doorstep the fourth took the front of the movement easing forward in a loose mass of men followed in turn by the left tenant in our company we moved carefully Hunched over as best we could hoping that no Sharpshooter would see us that no shot would come we were lucky in that aspect I suppose as our path moved unhampered forward ever nearer to the enemy and yet oh so far we had moved some distance when a shot rang out we had been spotted the man wanted to hide to seek cover but our

officers urged us forward kicking striking threatening us with all manner Of pain if we did not continue the attack so Under Fire from the enemy we pressed on we had not gone five steps when it happened a cloud the oddest gray started to roll over the battlefield it moved like the gas we were so accustomed to and yet not like the gas it held low to the ground enveloping every everything as it passed and yet it seemed to move against the Wind such is not possible for a cloud with no substance to move in a

direction not directed by the winds which blew over the field yet move it did slowly inexorably creeping our Direction our Lieutenant screamed the warning of gas and as so many times before we dawned our masks we expected the to push over us to envelop Us in its Darkness yet at the last moment the cloud seemed to turn to move away from where we Huddled and instead settled down over the fourth through the den of the battle around us we could not be certain what was going on and yet I'm certain that I heard shouts of

alarm from the men before us shouts which strangely were cut off mids sentence as though a record were playing only to have the needle lifted from it before the song could end the cloud only lingered there a moment before Rising into the sky And disappearing what remained well it's a picture that haunts my memory haunts my nightmares to this day where the cloud had lay did not rest the men of the fourth cut down by gas scattered bodies torn by bullets instead where the men once stood was nothing it was as though 267 Men had

simply vanished Into Thin Air the attack dissolved at that point with us returning to our trenches of those who took part the attack only myself and two others seemed to recall the events the rest would look on blankly when asked for it as though in their minds it never happened asking if they remembered men who they had served by would return the same blank stairs and a statement that they could Not recall having ever seen the man even when a few photographs were produced photos with those now missing men those in the photos who yet

remained could not ever remember having taken the photo photo or if not that would remember taking it with others in the photo just none who had been part of the fourth in some weird way it was as though those men had simply never existed yet they did they had to one man Going missing was not unheard of in that day even whole platoon would go on a patrol never to be heard from again however that so many men could simply up and vanish I can't explain it I don't think anyone can in time of War

when truth is so precious is it must be attended by a bodyguard of Lies Winston Churchill War often brings Mysteries at Its conclusion most of these being attributed to the so-called fog of War when propaganda and Truth Clash over what happened what might have happened and what never did confusion Reigns Supreme on the battlefield and once the last bullet fired the last bomb dropped there're always questions questions which very often have no Answers this is a story of one such question and while it may have an answer it's not the answer that anyone would like

to admit for doing so would point to something more something greater something darker out there something that if possible was worse than anything the Nazis could have done to mankind World War II was no stranger to mystery with much left unknown at the End much of the questions being simply why only to be answered with the hollow I was only following orders however Beyond those criminals those men who face The Gallows for their crimes they were other Mysteries this is the tale of one of those written first by erir Gunther Voss a Voss was by

all accounts a well-published author on the subject of the war in particular the secret weapon of the Nazis boss's novels of which he Produced no less than six covered every aspect of the war from the rocket testing at PanAm write down to the strange occult practices of himler there wasn't a single subject that Voss avoided not a single subject that he didn't chime in on how Voss came to know what he did caused many to question his validity yet time and time again with each novel that was produced he provided information that though it was

Far-fetched would prove true Voss refused to his dying day to give give up his sources citing that if he told where he had obtained the information people would be hurt his sources trusted him and feared prosecution for what they were revealing if not for the information itself for Escaping The Hangman's news that was due to them in the early 1990s Voss informed His publisher that he was intending on tackling another subject this one unlike his previous texts would deal with a legend a legend that dated back the days of the war a legend that if

all held true pointed to something dark for booding an evil that yet lurked a vast Bastion of the Nazis that some 40 years plus after the war still waited still lurked the legend was a valkyrie a supposed Phantom Train the valkyrie Legend was at best a dodgy Legend to begin with there really was no hard evidence that the train existed with all information being random sightings and blurry photographs most of these sightings were easily dismissed as people mistaking a passing freight train or an old battered steam locomotive for the train yet as with all such

Legends there was some grain of Truth some small hint of reality that reality came in 1962 with a mass siding of the train as it traveled through Berlin that over 100 people witnessed the train at exactly the same time with each one recounting the same thing well it was too much to argue simple coincidence based on this and a few other similar sightings Voss began his search his diary released to the public in 1993 after his suicide lends some light on the search Though in totality it makes the story even more obscure more mysterious when

his diary was published more reviewers chocked it up to the ravings of a Madman others however believed that while Voss may have gone insane it was not because of some medical condition but rather something he had witnessed some truth some Forbidden Knowledge he' come in contact with for your consideration excerpts from voss's diary leading up to the Final entry written hours before his suicide in 1992 diary Vos Gunther translated from German 12 of October 1992 I do believe the legend of the valkyrie is true looking back through the accounts as well as the few photographs

taken on that fateful day in 1962 I've come to the conclusion that those ritual ual undertaken in the castle in the final days may have Succeeded if such is the case and I am proven right then my future will be laid out for me to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was done there worked well it will change the way that people think about the occult it'll make me a wealthy man no doubt though if it is true then I fear what may have been Unleashed the dead cannot hurt the living though

that much I sure Of 13th of October 1992 travel is easier now that East and West are joined and with a map in hand I was able to find some of the old Places I Remember during the war coming here and seeing the city and then how it looked after the Soviets had destroyed it as he go ghosts not in the real sense but in my memories of people I knew soldiers I pass daily places I frequented How Could my city my glorious Fatherland have come to This and they are but ghosts of the past

and hold no bearing on me I'm not certain but I believe that the old stations underground platforms survived if that is the case then it stands to reason that the fur is old platform yet stands I do not expect to find Valkyrie there for to do so would be unimaginable but I feel that perhaps a clue lies there my source tells me that in the final days of The Siege himler Disappeared from the bunker for a time before returning shortly before Hitler's suicide given his tie to the train I could only surmised that he was

making sure it had left or if not left was ready for his own departure I'll be speaking with a group of urban explorers such that they call themselves later today to see what they know 15th of October 1992 unbelievable I spoke with the teens Yesterday and found that not only do the platform still stand but that access should be relatively easy long as we're not caught by the police getting into the old platform is possible one of the teens has agreed to be my guide for a small sum and we will leave one week from

today we would go sooner but my guide claims that there's work planned on the Underground then so slipping in will be easier I do don't know who I can trust And the old fears Rise Again is he one who would seek to steal from me my prize no no he does not know why why I wish to go there he could not know 18th of October 1992 I decided to head out and do some more research on the train itself I wanted to know whether the valkyrie was cited by any of the soldiers around Berlin

at the end of the War this should give me details when it left and if I'm lucky the general direction speaking with one of the guides at the Museum I was pointed to a gentleman who was a commissar of the Soviets during that era he now serves as a political officer of sorts though no doubt with the end of the wall his job is in less demand than he might admit I'll will speak to him at dinner Then write my findings 18th of October 1992 transcript of recorded conversation you not mind if I record this

for my notes I'm forgetful and well not in the least no why are you interested in fairy tales Beyond me something to scare the children with something like that I believe there's some truth to the tale though oh yes in any case Shall We Begin in 1944 you were a commissar for the Soviet Red Army correct yes I wasn't KGB in case you were curious I was but tell me more how did you come to that position the usual way I had been a political officer in my hometown and when the war started I joined

because of my loyalty I was selected and trained to be the political officer for the troops so you are a man of power in a manner of speaking yes Less than others but more than most about a week before the final push into Berlin to take the Reich where were you stationed I'm not sure of the exact location but I was working with a penal detail to clear some railroad tracks I command wish to use this to bring more men into the city as well as tanks however the booming and fighting had damaged much of

the track so the prisoners are being tasked with cleaning The rubble and rebuilding the station and during the cleanup did you see anything uh well strange yes and what was it that you saw I I well I can't really explain can you try why it was late in the Evening just after the sun had set the prisoners were being lined up to be sent back to their cells not cell it was an old box car we were using in any case as they were being counted I heard something a whistle yes and no it was

a train whistle but unlike any I had heard before sounded uh well it sounded like a scream and what happened Next I thought one of the cars was coming early so I ordered the prisoners to line up there we saw this reddish light in the distance and do you really want to hear this story yes I wouldn't have asked in no time the train was passing us it was black and angular it looked like one of those armored trains the Germans had not quite it wasn't long maybe five cars if that but there was something

Wrong about it very wrong was it just that the train was there but what made it wrong I only saw it for an instant so I can't be certain but it seemed to me that every last man on on the train was a corpse rotted skeletal H the train itself looked like it had been to Hell in back I only saw it for an instant mind You but as it passed I could have sworn that it shouldn't be moving there was rust hanging from it what looked like it sounds so stupid now but what looked

like bullet holes down its length did you report what you saw I didn't have to my commanding officer was there with me when it passed he he was white as a sheet he turned to me and said that didn't Happen and you didn't see anything right I never argued 19th of October 1992 I spoke with a man at length and I've included a transcript of our conversation in this diary though his story is fanciful I have to believe that he did site the valkyrie he didn't recall seeing it leave the city though given the nature

of the war that is entirely possible the side of the the Dead crew it worries me also makes me wonder if what I have always believed is true is it possible that in his dealings hler finally touched something that he managed to find a Train crewed by the dead to do his bidding I shuted to think about it and yet so much seems to say it's true the state of the train itself begs another question was it attacked on Route it's a Strong possibility though it doesn't explain the rust perhaps he's mistaken in that I've

checked military records from the period And while there there is mention of a similar train being destroyed the story does not match up with this likely one of the other trains that the SS had transporting Munitions to the front 26th of October 1992 I cannot write yet I feel that I must to put to paper what I saw what I found I've hesitated to do so and find it hard to believe days have passed since the Expedition I cannot sleep I'm afraid that if I close my eyes eyes I'll see it again I I feel

this odd draw this animalistic Fear it's out there waiting for me hungering for me entering the underground was easy as my guide had suggested and little walk through the deserted old tunnels was difficult it was not a great hardship our worst fear then was simply the great rats that infested the lower reaches oh but that were the only thing we would have to fear as suggested by my guide I brought several chemical lights a torch and some Tools to deal with any rusted doors we expected to find we walked through the old tunnel for what

seemed like ages though it may have only been an hour or so coming around to band in the area before US Open up to reveal the old platforms graffiti on the walls suggested that we were not the first to get here and no doubt the last this worried me as I feared that any artifacts in the fur section of the Tunnel would have been taken by my guess there were eight tracks in the platform area with great rot iron stairs that led to street level well that is to say they would have led to street

level had the station above not long since been demolished in favor of a new car park at Flats walking across the old tracks we had to be careful of our step there was a great deal of standing water likely from a burst pipe or simple seepage over The years just for a moment I thought I heard a station announcement though as before that likely was nothing more than a memory one of my own personal ghosts wearing a ugly head once more moving around the back of the station we found evidence that the homeless population of

Berlin had taken up residence here at some point though it seemed they were long since gone Where they might have gone was not a concern of mine though it did seem to interest my guide perhaps he knew of them but if the case I suggested we press on the fur station would have been located someplace off of this with track to loop back around so the train need not turn my guide suggested that we head further into the tunnels themselves as The Junction to that tunnel would not likely be in the station itself the tracks

at this point were Well rusted over littered to some degree with the detrius of human Decay bottle here can there the corpse of something I suspect was a dog or a very large rat Bits of Paper and masonry all evidence of age and Decay the first tunnel we tried ended in rubble where the tunnel itself had long since caved in I suspect that this was due to bomb damage but my guide noted that we were too far Underground to him it looked like something had been blown up in the tunnel itself blocking any further passage

the second tunnel was blocked like the first but I noticed that the rubble had given way some at the top and wagered that it would be possible for a man to squeeze through the Gap at this point my guide refused to go further and upon pressing him on the issue he stated that he felt as though he were being watched I blew this off as simple Cowardice or wanting more money so I offered to double his pay he refused I would have to go further on my own I wish oh God how I wish I

hadn't done so my assessment was correct and with a touch of wiggling and some pressure I was able to push my body through the small hole tumbling down to the other side I found myself in a side tunnel and from the looks of it one that was Far Older than the typical construction shining my torch into the darkness I found that not far from where I stood another spill arched into view blocking that end of the tunnel as well curiously my flashlight glinted on something metallic at first I thought this was just part of the

tunnel itself though as I leaned down I realized that it was a a braided wire the shiny part being where the outer covering had rotted away long Ago this wire traced back up into the tunnel cross over from Where I Stood past the previous cave-in and into a side tunnel that I had PR iously not noticed following the wire I came to one of those old style detonation blocks this pulled me up short whatever had blown the tunnel had not done so from the outside not to keep people out as I figured but rather had

done so from the inside almost as though to keep Something in this is a fanciful thought I told myself for in all their fanaticism the SS were never known to go this far yet something still bothered me about this the hairs on my neck stood on end I felt a chill run up my spine at what I saw next there before me lay the remains of a soldier still dressed in the uniform of Hitler's personal guards I couldn't see how he died though I suspected he had been too close to the blast the soldiers didn't

here no doubt had done this to themselves though the question remained why I nervously moved forward gingerly placing each foot before the other I had not gone five steps but my foot brushed something and I stumbled feeling around for the torch I I laid my hand on a skull this gave me a serious fright and I recoiled in the darkness stumbling Over another maob pile as my eyes adjust usted to the darkness I realized that my previous assumption had proven true there before me lay the rest of the demolition team no less than six corpses

all in a near perfect skeletal State they were arranged in the tunnel the men seemed to each have died running away from something as if in their final moments they were desperately trying to escape Only to find that the way was blocked some unforeseen Force had cut the men down where they stood my previous assumption about the blast was torn aunder when I laid eyes on this while the one man might have died in his own blast these men were huddled together clutching each other in what could only be called fear I've heard stories of

the Dead being found Such from the ruins of Pompei to those poor souls in Hiroshima these men had died in sheer Terror killed by something I had yet to lay eyes on my mind turned in circles trying to guess the answer gas perhaps that was the only thing that made sense the bombs above had broken a stored chemical bomb and rather than it escaping the men had detonated the entrance to the Tunnel last Noble land which had cost them their lives that had to be the answer yet if it was gas could it still harm

me no my mind told me it had been over 40 years since then no gas would last that long would it my heart was a lump in my throat and though it told me to leave this place my mind told me move Further they were but Corpses it could not hurt me they were dead and I was alive I came to the platform in a few more minutes of walking during which I found three more corpses all of them in the similar State they each looked as though they were trying to escape something on the

platform leading me to believe that the gas had cut them down as they ran perhaps hler himself in a Last Act of Destruction had slain those those who were evidence of his crimes gone was the idea of a bomb strike causing the damage replaced with a dark picture of that Spectre of death himself Sweeping in and killing those who trusted him those who knew the secret he had been hiding for so long I believe that Americans call it no Loose Ends chuckling Darkly to myself I even forced a Smile or perhaps the valkyrie itself ate

their souls I don't know where I came up with that idea and even now as I ride it fear grips me how right I was and yet how wrong how very wrong as I stepped up onto the platform my eyes took in a sight to behold there waiting in the pitch Gloom at the station was the Train my torch barely illuminated the angular form and though no light Shone down from above it seemed the platform itself was still lit from some unknown source I approached carefully reaching out to touch the cold metal for a moment

just just a moment I thought I felt a heartbeat there if I couldn't be his trains are not alive there my mind playing tricks on me the platform itself was as if I had Stepped back in time posters about the fer and War dotted the walls and the paint though faded still Shone through tucked into one far wall a small Al Cove rested and beyond that series of stairs they did not go far before being blocked leading me to believe that these led straight to the fur's bunker as the Soviet Soldier had said The train

itself was not overly long being only about five or six cars and true to his word painted black as night I nervously peered into the cab not knowing what I expected to find and was rewarded with a mummified man sitting ramrod straight the controls I fell from the cab then my feet barely touching the ground before I found myself standing next to a battered old box Car I did not recall moving there nor did I recall opening the door though my memory now is yet foggy on the subject I must have opened the door at

some point for it was not open when I first sighted the Beast waiting in the platform shining my torch inside I found more corpses mummified like the man in the cab and stacked against where the door now lay open corpses unlike any I have witnessed Before these were pitiful Souls dressed in the Striped uniforms of prisoners the Star of David on each told the tale and reminded me once more of the crimes we committed in those days Jews every last one of them herded into this car for some reason only to be forgotten and left

to starve when the war ended they each had names and families and now in Tomb down here none would know of Them they were three such cars in the train and I need not open each to know that their cargo were all the same human cargo civilians people who had done nothing wrong people that the Reich had deemed Expendable that each of these cars carried the prisoners was a mystery for me when I suspected the answer to lay in the passenger car itself at the time I recalled thinking that these prisoners must have been of

Some importance perhaps hostages who when the Soviet Army closed in on Berlin were deemed obs sete tossed away like so much trash it was found that they would no longer be needed when they would provide nothing for hler to barter with for all I knew they had died in that isolation long before the train arrived it was their discovery that prompted him to kill the crew with gas the last car was a long passenger Car and though I knew I had completed my task and found the train it was still the mystery of why the

Phantom had been cited I don't know why I expected to find an answer there but some part of me said that the madness that had created this the madness that would explain how even after the tunnels were destroyed this train would be seen again the madness that gave this thing some form of Supernatural life like the station itself the car was Well preserved and like the station it too held bodies a young woman and daughter as best I could tell lay in one of the state rooms from the looks they had died in Terror though

they couldn't say at the time such was for certain the rear of the car was a large spacious office with a desk facing the rear sitting in the chair was an officer of some sort a pistol gripped in one hand and the dark stain of his Brain plastered on one wall he had taken his own life but that still did not answer my question there were a number of papers spread out before him and I quickly placed these in my pack as I rummaged through the car seeking the answer I needed I heard the soft

sounds of footsteps my guide had finally come to investigate no doubt turning quickly I recoiled in horror when my light Shone not on my young guide but on one of the Corpses for the car I previously opened lifeless eyes stared out at me hands reaching for me I stumbled back only to find my way blocked by another I felt their hands upon me the cold breath from their cracked lips turning around in circles I realized that these dead had surrounded me there was no way out I finally knew the Dark Truth of what those men

had died fleeing they died fleeing their crimes our crimes it was no gas that had killed Those men nor the the whims of heimler himself no it was those dead reaching for beyond the grave those men and women killed for some personal gain or for no reason whatsoever I understood it now why the train had been seen in 1962 why it been witnessed so many times before and why on the day Adolf Hitler killed himself it had found its way to Berlin the dead sought Vengeance and they would have It I don't recall how I

managed to get out of the old station all my flight from that place I even don't know how I managed to get back to my flat in One Piece By The Clock only an hour had passed since I left yet I know for certain we were down there all night it was and this sounds crazy as though time Stood Still as though I existed outside of time I can't bring myself to Sleep I see the dead looking back at me they know the truth they know what I did and they'll have their Justice for it

the train is no train I know that now it's Vengeance on Wheels seeking out those of us that Escape The Hangman's news dragging us down to pay a fee it's finally come due it's only a matter of time that the train comes for me I Suspect I best go out and meet it end of diary after the final entry of October 1992 Gunther Vos packed his bags and told his wife he was going on a trip he kissed her on the cheek and left 1 hour later the police arrived at her home to inform her

that Gunther had apparently purchased a ticket and then while waiting for the train to Arrive had thrown himself in front of it as it pulled into the platform Witnesses would later claim though none would believe them that shortly after he did this a strange black steam train with five cars was seen barreling through the station with the now deceased Voss sitting in the last Carriage after his death his diary found its way through the post to a local reporter who after reading it and Looking over the papers sent with it saw fit to publish what

he had most of the papers were illegible though one does stick out as being unique the paper apparently written by himler himself laid out plans to use a number of innocent Souls as the Catalyst for a great magical spell which by his wagering would help Germany win the war the spell apparently backfired as those innocent Souls did not help Germany win the war but instead sought Vengeance for The crimes done against them the mystery was further deepened in 1995 when the last known Nazi who escaped prosecution passed away within a week of the man's passing

while exploring the German Wilderness a young teen came across a long forgotten train tunnel inside of it he discovered the badly burned and destroyed remains of a Train researchers and historians who have descended into the location identified it as the Lost train Valkyrie from the damage done to it they surmised that before the end of the war the train had been damaged in an air raid and sought shelter in the tunnel the fire had broken out likely from the damage of the raid had destroyed the train US military reports from the area placed the final

nail in the coffin of the legend of the Valkyrie a minor report by a pilot recorded that on the 6th of June 1943 after having escorted bombers to their raid while returning he had happened upon a target of opportunity in the form of the train he remembered strafing the train and seeing a gout of steam coming from the engine before it ran into a tunnel but did not exit he lingered in the area for a few Minutes and reported seeing smoke and Fire coming from the tunnel recording the train as having been destroyed it was

revealed shortly after the diary was published that Gunther Voss had served as a clerk for the death's head ESS during World War II he had been stationed primarily at Al schwitz where it was his task to record the seized personal belongings from the executed Prisoners from there he was sent to pumi and Dasha explaining to some degree his personal knowledge of the secret weapons of World War II he was also one of the name defendants in one of the war crime trials though he was never captured or was [Music] he howdy you can call me

Jack it's not My real name that's what I'll go by for now I reckon the time to tell my stories come Believe it or or don't I suggest you take away the lesson it teaches even if you dismiss it all is load a bull like 98% of other stories on the internet but there's more truth in this story than anyone that you could know now I've been out of high school for 3 years but that's when this particular event takes place so I'm Going to have to wind my clock back a little here and tell

the story originally for my first 2 and 1/2 years of high school I attended a place in the deep southern part of America close to the gulf we had all kinds of ghost stories growing up and there was one lesson our super conservative parents taught us it was this don't go fooling around with things you don't understand Now I was really unpopular at my high school in the South my first two years were real pain because I was a big dork and everyone made fun of me I was a loner and all I really did

in class was play my game boy all day before rushing home to play an MMO I was addicted to all that changed during my junior year when my mother's job moved to outwest I started to attend a little Catholic High School with no more than around 250 students It was at this time that I finally started to fit in and make friends no one out here knew how much of a dork I was so I opted to hide my power level as they tend to say and try to make friends for once in my life

who knows maybe I can even get a cute girlfriend if I was careful I started to meet people at the school at a school that small you ended Up knowing everyone in your class my first day I made a new friend named Sam and at lunch I opted to sit with him and his friends he told me all about the other kids at the school who was most popular who the jocks were so on so forth he introduced me to his friends too Jim big jovial fellow who tipped the scales at 300 lb vogan our

table's resident computer nerd and hacker and Thomas a musician who played electric guitar I also met Stephanie The school's resident spunky Asian girl some of the guys said that she could be a [ __ ] but she seemed cool enough she was into gaming and never messed with any of us she even seemed to think I was funny so so maybe maybe that was why she started to call me in home after school on some days Sam told me all kinds of stories about her like how she used to make snacks for guys at school

but then sprinkle viagara all over them or pour Laxatives into them so that that anyone who ate it would suffer the brunt of her painful and arguably cruel joke I just chuckled to myself and politely refused whenever she offered me anything then then there was rotten bercker his real name was Jason but everyone called him rotten Bacher or the Crut cuz he was a hardcore Nazi he was an outcast and a loner no one wanted to be associated with him every day he'd Wear this red swastika armband to school just beneath his jacket where the

teachers couldn't see but whenever he'd get hot and slip it off or whenever he was changing in the locker room he'd be wearing that Nazi armband furthermore on Halloween and school Costume event days when he knew that he could get away with it rotten Bacher always wore an entire replica of This Ss uniform like the gapo with a black hat and long boots and everything He was a mean and angsty son of a [ __ ] whenever anyone told the teacher about him or asked him about the Nazi stuff he'd shout racial or ethnic slurs

at them cuss him out and yell H Hitler furthermore one peculiar thing that caught my eye was that I couldn't help but notice rotten Bacher always walked with a slight limp like he was in pain Sam told me somebody once saw him tightening a barbed silus in the locker Room like ones the Catholic priests wear to punish themselves for their sins it was a Catholic school so I like most people just assumed at the time that maybe he just wore the sils because he was a devout Christian it was kind of strange for a hardcore

Hitler lover like rotten Bacher but it was high school none of us preferred to think too much about stuff like That after he got done introducing me to everyone Sam told me some of the school's old stories and including an urban legend that circulated about Kaylee a girl that died mysteriously after playing some sort of cell phone game sure enough he could point out the girl in the yearbook to me everyone recalled that the police had declared her missing under mysterious circumstances she was presumed dead almost like immediately thereafter if You asked anyone exactly what

happened no one could tell you damn thing they always just said it was because she played the cell phone game Sam Stephanie the cute mischievous Asian rotten Bacher the self-torturing Nazi the cell phone game the police's investigation of a teen's disappearance all of these people and events were about to come together to drag me into something in which I wanted No part it wouldn't even be until over 2 years later that I finally understood how and why everything went down the way it did anyway the last half of junior year came and went and the

long summer passed us all by and what seemed like a heartbeat it was finally time to begin our last year of high school everyone is back for the new school year pumped to start the laziest and most fun year of Our high school lives even rotten Boer still limping around the school with that barb Still Still spouting his Nazi garbage every time someone decided to mess with him the year started out eerily quiet word was that two more cell phone game related disappearances had happened over the summer the one boy and one girl from another

high school and the police were investigating a possible serial killer according to the paper the only common Link the police had found was that every person who disappeared had received a text message that read welcome to the game none of the text messages had been sent from the same cell phone so the evidence had been dismissed as circumstantial for me things weren't half bad it was this year that I finally started to open up as a person I made a good circle of friends who I trusted and I felt more calm about being myself at

this point gradually I started to fit in More and more and pretty soon I was fairly popular in certain circles Stephanie liked to hang around with me more and more because of how funny she thought my jokes were before long one day which I still remember as one of the happiest of my life she came to me in the middle of the campus after school she looked up at me with those beautiful asan eyes and long black hair and a smile to die For she asked me right then Jack will you go out with me

I laughed ran jumped for Joy of course I will I said and danced around with her there in front of everyone I finally had a girlfriend I still remember that as one of the happiest days of my entire life if not the happiest we went on dates we hung out after school and she even started to eat lunch with Sam Jim vulgan and I every Day maybe I wouldn't have been so happy if I had known what was going to happen next it was one day at lunch as she was sitting with us when she

mentioned that while sleeping over with her friends one night they had stayed up late with some girls from another High School talking about the cell phone game she said that these girls knew all the rules of the game and if they had explained it all to her in great Detail supposedly you could join the game at any time by sending a text message at midnight to the right phone number the message was supposed to say I wish for the power to curse if you did it right had a message in return that said welcome to

the game apparently this was the reason that they had given for why the police found that message on the phone of everyone that had disappeared Stephanie went on to talk About the game we all listened attentively to what she was saying she told us that once someone was in the game they were in danger within 2 weeks weeks they had to complete one of a number of different tasks or or else they'd be dragged away in the night I stopped her right there dragged away like by what to where she got silent for a moment

I don't know she whispered before Continuing her story she said that in order to protect oneself from being dragged away you could do one of two things the first was to find a special protective item could be anything he never knew what it was going to be but it seemed that whatever the item was it would make the bearer suffer in some way this was considered a small price to pay in return for protection for as long as you wore the item the second way was to bring someone Else into the game this could be

done by sending the text message to someone else's phone if someone received the text message from someone else who was in the game then that meant this person was now in the game too too and subject to all the same rules and consequences of it if the person didn't find a protective item themselves or bring another person into the game then they too would be dragged away the catch about the second way was This while the protective item if found could protect you indefinitely so long as you kept it with you bringing someone else into

the game could only buy you a temporary grace period the first time you did it you get two weeks then only one week the grace period would get shorter and shorter until you barely bought yourself any time at all by bringing someone else into the game by that time you needed to find your protective Item even though I've always been something of an xfile I didn't like hearing her talk about this stuff so I told her it was just a bunch of nonsense you really think so she asked if it's true it would explain what

the police found and imagine how cool that would be to be able to curse anyone who messed with you by bringing them into the game you could get rid of anyone and no one would ever know there was an edge in her voice one That I had never heard before from Stephanie she almost sounded intoxicated at the thought of it truth be told it scared me a little don't go talk fing like that I told her that stuff's Beyond people like you and me we shouldn't go messing with it what if you get involved then

it all turn out to be true what would I do if something happened to you promise me promise me you won't go messing around With that stuff she gave me a funny look I never thought you'd be the kind of person to be scared of silly things like this Jack well I don't think it's right to mess around with stuff that you don't understand you know I gave her very concerned look now promise me Steph promise me you won't go try it she sighed in annoyance fine fine I won't play the scary cell phone game

you Happy now I told her I was the truth be told I I was scared I didn't believe her and all the time I'd known her I'd never seen her betray anyone or sleep around or anything but she had always been a trickster and a liar and would lie to anyone about anything if it got her ahead without hurting anyone else to be honest I always thought that It was kind of cute just accepted it as one of her quirks but this time it was serious so a few days later when she came back and

told us she had joined the cell phone game I was pissed what are you thinking Stephanie you promised me you wouldn't do that yeah yeah I know but it's not any big deal I've already got it all planned out besides if it's true and it works it's Too good of an opportunity to pass up she held up her cell phone look she said giddy a text message was open on the screen which read welcome to the game kind of freaky huh I got it just after I sent that text at midnight just like the girl

said my jaw dropped I was speechless and scared stiff this game couldn't be for real could it Stephanie if this is real that you're in danger now you've only got 2 Weeks to find a protective item I know that's why I sent the text to Rebecca I'm going to find out if it's true or not I hit the roof you did what but Stephanie if this is real then that makes you as good as a murderer you cursed Rebecca and now she could die because of you relax Jack I don't actually believe in any of

this stuff but even if I did Rebecca's always been a big time [ __ ] not like she doesn't have it coming anyway she giggled that Same mischievous giggle of hers that I'd always loved but this time I wasn't loving any part of it a couple of weeks passed and nothing happened but then one day Rebecca didn't show up at school at lunchtime Stephanie was sitting around with us as usual when the assistant principal came to talk to us all with a megaphone may I have your attention Please everyone went silent the police have reported

that one of your fellow students Rebecca's gone missing Stephanie's golden skin turned white she froze her parents are very worried about her if any of you know anything about this please come and talk to me after school that's all Stephanie I whispered I was very afraid for her I was very afraid for what she might do she looked At me and said don't say anything just don't she got up and bolted from the lunchroom I chased after her Stephanie Stephanie what are you doing she kept jogging away from me her cell phone out don't try

and stop me Jack if I'm going to survive I'm going to need more time I can get another week if I curse someone else and that'll give me 3 weeks to find it Stephanie listen to yourself who are you going to curse you'd kill someone else for a little extra time look what's Happened to you she started to cry I know damn it but I know who I'm going to curse no one's going to miss him I promise Stephanie that's not right you can't do it no one deserves this let me help you we can

find a protective object for you together she turned and showed me her cell phone her text outbox had a message which read welcome to the game she had sent it to rottenbach Her I started to weep and grabbed on to her as tightly as I could Stephanie Stephanie I love you I'm so sorry this isn't right none of this is right she held on to me and began to cry deeply as well we held each other there for nearly an hour like that I still remember it like it was yesterday and then that Night before

we went home we both resolved that we would start looking for a protective item the next day the next day I was walking with Stephanie along the track after school when rotten Bacher approached us with his cell phone he held it up to her face Furious is this your idea of a joke you stupid [ __ ] truth be told I felt rotten Bacher had the right to be a little angry sure I mean he was a Nazi pervert freak with all of the Whispers of murder Going around I could imagine anyone being angry about

getting a text like that but even so I wasn't about to let anyone talk to my girlfriend that way hey man watch your mouth that's nobody to talk to a lady lady Roden Bacher shouted it's [ __ ] [ __ ] not a lady she's just a [ __ ] she tried to get me killed I bet you killed the other girl too didn't you Rebecca she's missing cuz of you isn't she Stephanie began to cry again I Pulled my arm back and punched as hard as I could at Rotten bacher's face he stumbled backward

a few steps and grabbed at his lip from which trickled a small stream of blood but he kept his composure I half I expected him to swing back at me but he just stood there after a moment he spoke you don't get it do you Stephanie I'm already in the game always have been I know the [ __ ] score but unlike you I never cursed anyone else [ __ ] I said If all that's true then how are you still suddenly I remember the sil rottenbach wore around his leg that caused him to limp

in agony in what Stephanie had told me in lunch whenever a new protective item was discovered whatever it was it would cause its wear to to suffer your protective item you have one Stephanie's eyes lit up it was clear that she had realized the same thing I had Roden Bacher Smirked that's right so I just figured your girlfriend better know that she didn't get any additional time for trying to curse me I've already been there and done that Stephanie looked up at him with fear in her eyes days passed and tri we might Stephanie and

I couldn't find anything that could qualify as a protective item we were approaching the two-e deadline and she was looking more and More scared by the day her hair was a mess and her usually bubbly personality was glum distraught she stared off into space during classes and prayed constantly after the twoe deadline passed we were both terrified she came to me at school and said Jack I want you to sleep with me tonight stay with me all night don't let it get me I couldn't Refuse I showed up at her house late that night and

came in through her window we slept together it was bittersweet she fell asleep holding me but I lay awake most of the night watching and waiting till I finally passed out around 4:30 in the morning from sheer exhaustion the next day when I woke up all I could think was Stephanie I looked around frantically she wasn't in the bed With me Stephanie I said louder as I climbed out of the bed and began searching for her I walked into her kitchen be so loud a voice said it was Stephanie's I turned around to see her

sitting at a round table in the kitchen she was smiling and seemed as giddy as ever it breathe a sigh of relief my parents have already gone to work but I don't want the neighbors to get suspicious and say something I oh I wept with relief it was over she was safe nothing had come for I ran across the kitchen floor hugged her kissed her all over everything was perfect for 2 weeks then I came to school one day and nine of our classmates had disappeared including Sam everyone was in an uproar no one Knew

what had happened to them or where they had gone no one except for me and the person who had done it Stephanie if the amount of time extended was haved each time you brought someone into the game then nine people would have brought her just over 2 weeks which meant that her time would be running out again tonight I confronted her about it after school Stephanie the police are getting suspicious you can't do this Anymore and I can't watch you do this anymore it's wrong it it's evil she looked at me silently I still remember

the look in her eyes that day at this point it had become clear to me that the girl I had known and loved was long gone and all that remained was a soulless Wicked shell which clung to life and feared death more than anything but even so I still loved her More than anything she was my first and only girlfriend I I couldn't let her go I couldn't let anything happen to her it's okay she said I won't do it anymore anymore I've accepted what I need to do and I'm going to do it no

one else is going to die because of me Stephanie are you sure maybe we can find a protective item For you if we look now she looked down sadly there's no use in running from it now I just want to spend the night with you tonight okay one more night to that's all I want that was heartbroken everything was too melancholic melodramatic I was so sad at hearing her words at the thought of her being taken away threw up I vomited and wretched Over and over again to a nearby garbage can trying to fight back

and endless stream of Tears that night she slept with me again sick weak and tired I passed out from Pure exhaustion at 3:00 a.m. less than an hour later though I woke up with a start Stephanie was gone I sat up and looked around in Terror then found the note I read It Jack I'm sorry for lying to you again but I'm not ready to die yet a chill went down my spine I continued to read I figured out what I need to do don't worry as I promised no one else is going to die

because of me what could she be thinking I looked around my room suddenly I noticed that the 45 caliber pistol my father had bought me from my 18 th birthday was missing from my room And suddenly everything made perfect sense that's why she wanted to spend the night with me tonight she wanted my gun she was planning to go after rotten Boer and take his protective item as fast as I could I threw on some clothes and bolted for my truck I sped off towards rotten bacher's apartment when I got there the lock had already

been shot off and there were more voices inside I pushed the door open what's going on I Demanded I looked around Stephanie was holding rottenbach at gunpoint the apartment walls were covered in pictures of Hitler and swastika banners there were whips and chains scattered around the bedroom floor rotten Bacher was stomping around in long sleeve pajamas and cursing at her in his typical Neo-Nazi form screaming at her about home invasion and calling the police and this and that and what have you he was even wearing that Stupid Nazi armband it was obvious this guy was

some kind of lunatic fanatic Stephanie screamed at him shut the [ __ ] up she fired around at the wall behind him and winced I remember my head ringing from the loudness of The Gunshot in a sharp pain in my inner ear but I was too tense to worry about it at that moment Now give me the Barb torture thing that you always wear or I'll kill you right Now her voice was all maless Roden Bacher stood in place for a moment and slowly began to remove his pajama leggings you're making a big mistake he

said you just accept the way things are and die with dignity you're not going to get away with this he removed the Sills from his leg in which trickled a small amount of blood and handed it to her immediately she slipped it onto her own leg with one hand fumbling with my Pistol as she tightened it until it hurt her own leg began to bleed a little let's go Jack she whispered and turned to Le I started to walk out with her from the apartment I heard rotten Bacher shouting you won't get away with this

he's going to come for you and he's going to drag you off to hell for what you done you're going to pay for all those kids I can see that she was sobbing a little as we walked Away that was sick and disgusted with everything I was disgusted with Stephanie for being so cruel Cru and selfish I was disgusted for myself for seeing all this seeing the signs and not doing anything to stop it but at least now it would be over as we walk back to my truck I set a small prayer for rotten

Boer on the hopes that he could find a new Protective item within 2 weeks he may have been a racist bastard but in a way he was still better than Stephanie if what he said about never cursing anyone else was true and he didn't deserve to die just for that I drove Stephanie home she was exhausted I would have given her a kiss on the cheek but I was too sick and just wanted the whole ordeal to be over good night I whispered to her good Night Jack I love you she whispered back and climbed

out of my truck and went back to her house I started to drive home exhausted from the day's events suddenly my cell phone began to vibrate I picked it up there was a call from Stephanie hello the first thing I heard was a shriek followed by what sounded like the noise of pounding at her door Jack help he's here he's here here's coming for me What hold on Steph I pulled a U-turn in my truck and sped off back towards her home she was becoming more frantic suddenly on the other end of the line I

heard the sound of her door being bashed in followed by another shriek I could hear her screaming at the top of her lungs a hideous blood curdling scream I still remember every moment of it perfectly and I remember her screams word for word no I don't want to die Adrenaline surged through my heart and I floored the accelerator no no no stop she screamed again I heard what sounded like the phone hitting the floor and Stephanie's screams getting further and further away then dead air Stephany Stephanie answer me damn it getting no response I hung

up and called the Police when I arrived at Stephanie's house the front door had been smashed in I parked my car on her lawn and jumped out carrying my 45 caliber pistol with me I ran inside searching the Halls everything was in slow motion then I came to Stephanie's bedroom turned on the light checked all the corners with my pistol leading away at arms length I lowered the gun as something caught my eye in the center of the Room Stephanie's cell phone lay on the floor next to her bed in the middle of the room

on the carpet was a very small patch of blood it wasn't more than a few drops but the most chilling side of all was that from the edge of her bed to the door of her room which led out into the Hall was a trail of claw marks that she had left as if something or someone had dragged her to her Doom I couldn't take it anymore I turned and I left her room on the way out I couldn't help but notice that she had torn out most of her fingernails clawing at the carpet and

they lay scattered near the trails her fingers had left I went out into the street and threw up again I could hear the sirens coming in the distance days passed then weeks then Months the police did investigations they questioned me time and time again and every time my stories were the same I told them the truth as I knew it as unbelievable as it was I don't think they believed me but all the evidence supported my story and there was nothing to implicate me in any of the crimes so at length they finally let me

go things gradually went back to normal our class eventually recovered From the losses of so many of our classmates and over time over time my mind kind of accepted what happened until I it seemed like a distant dream I graduated and I moved on to college there was one thing that bothered me through all of it and that was rotten Bacher and he hadd been exactly right even though Stephanie had taken that Sils he never vanished in the way the others did but there's one thing I do know and that is to this very day

if you ever see rotten Boer he's still always wearing the red swastika armband if power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely then wouldn't you agree that any existing God would be the most corrupt Being imagineable the man stood up in the middle of our local pastor's sermon and spoke these words in a voice so loud I'm sure you could hear them outside he framed the idea as a question but his tone implied it was a matter of fact no one had ever seen him in town before for he was a small town and he was

not exactly the kind of man you would forget he was dressed in a black suit and tie a long coat and a wide Brimmed hat which he wore even in church something I'd always been told was very disrespectful though it was quickly clear this man had little to no respect for God or religion a crop of blonde hair hung down over the back of his neck and even from my seat four rows away I could see the brilliant of his blue eyes when he turned to look at those behind him son may I please finish

my sermon the pastor stepped down off the pulpit his Bible Still clutched in his liver spotted fist no you may not I've asked a question an important question to a man of God and I expect an answer his voice was soft as silk with a distinct draw that I couldn't quite place all I could tell was that he wasn't local he walked from his place along the crowd and over to where the pastor was standing his smooth features a ju opposition to the Aging man of God you're applying a human flaw to the Lord corruption

is a trait of mankind not of God the pastor seemed satisfied with his answer and crossed his arms he could hear the congregation whisper as The Stranger In Black Thought of a reply indeed corruption does appear to be distinctly human does it not he turned and gestured over us as if we were the Humans of which he spoke yet aren't we made in His image Pastor yes we're also given free will we make our own decisions about how we free will The Stranger interrupted and began to walk down the aisle towards the pulpit yes we

do have free will free will to act as Saint and sinner alike though I'd be reluctant to say there are more of the latter than the former that's what we do with free will head on meager Power he stepped onto the pulpit and looked over the crowd of confused churchgoers son I'm going to have to ask you to step down from there Pastor looked like he'd aged another 5 years since the stranger began his diet tribe his face was flushed red and he was beginning to lose patience with the interloper in his church oh I

will just as soon as you prove to me that you have more right to be up here than me the stranger flashed a toothy grin And tipped his hat to Mrs Margo in the first row he blew her a quick kiss before returning his attention to the crowd her husband gripped her arm and stood to leave clearly made uncomfortable by the gesture I'm sorry I can't sit here and listen to this anymore Mr Margo said to the pastor as he drugg his wife along Mr Margo Mrs Margo I'm going to have to ask you to

return to your seats till we finished Here the stranger lowered his head and pointed one long finger in their Direction his frame seemed to extend just slightly as he did making his arm look stretched body look more lanky Mr Margot Tim to his friends who I never really got to count myself suddenly stopped in place and turned to face the stranger everyone sat in silence as the two simply looked at each other for what felt like forever The Stranger Sly smile Still curled on his thin lips Mr Margo began to sweat and his body stiffened

and convulsed his eyes bugged out of his head and Mrs Margo Janet to her friends whom I also couldn't count myself myself started asking if he was okay in worried tones people started to rise from their seats to help him as it had become clear something was seriously wrong Tim the first voice came having some kind of episode Another rised from their seat and tried to push past others to get him A heart attack somebody help him sit the [ __ ] down the last voice cut through the others like a freshly sharpened knife through

the morning bread it was the voice of the stranger he jumped down from the pulpit and was walking towards the margos slowly he walked by the pastor he snatched the Bible from his hand and kissed it before tossing it over his shoulder like Trash this is you isn't it what are you doing to him Mrs Margo screamed as the stranger got closer to them Mr Margo continued to convulse but remained on his feet the veins were popping from his neck and forehead and his hands were clenched so tightly his knuckles had turned to ghostly white

those who had previously gotten to their feet to help all seemed to shrink as The Stranger Passed Them he gave off an air of Menace that worsened with each passing step God's infallible and omnipotent my dear Janet The Stranger reached his hand out towards Mrs Margo and she recoiled in disgust I could do nothing he doesn't LA with one motion The Stranger swung his arm around Mr Margo and placed a hand over his face don't you touch him someone screamed I turned to look but no one had taken to their feet to support Their voice

we all just watched even the past her The Stranger looked up towards the ceiling and closed his eyes he did a quick little two-step with his feet and raised the hand that wasn't covering Mr Margo's face towards the sky he imitated the overe exaggerations of a faith healer in a revival tent the scene of slack jawed onlookers making it seem even more accurate in the name of Jesus Christ the Savior and the God Almighty you are healed nobody knew what to expect we most certainly didn't expect what happened the back of Mr Margo's head exploded

outward as if someone had shot him between the eyes with a hunting rifle the pews behind him were covered in blood brains and bits of skull it took everyone a moment to realize what had happened before the screams again I can remember being caught in a Sudden melstrom of panic as the churchgoers began screaming and scrambling for the door The Stranger let go of Mr Margo's face and his body crumpled to the ground his people raced past the scene to get away praise the Lord for he is just and fair The Stranger shouted with a

laugh as people piled against the heavy wooden doors of the church they want to open someone screamed his sentiment was echoed by Others and the Panic got worse he could hear people crying and smashing their fists against the door I was stuck in the back near Mr Margo's body I saw his wife kneel next to him crying her eyes out spattered with his blood she held him his neck hanging limply over her arm his eyes still bugged out of his skull and face still frozen in tension suddenly a high-pitched whistle filled the church and even

in the Madness everyone turned to look The Stranger had taken his place on the pulpit the pastor was standing just below him looking where his Bible had fallen I ask you all take your seats till we finish the debate he paused and looked down at the the pastor who in a feeble confusion was still hunting for his Bible he jumped off the pulpit and snatched the book up off the floor where it landed after he threw it you're going to need this I saw Him whisper to the pastor as he handed it over with a

patronizing pat on the head he returned to the pulpit to finish his address to the crowd take a breath my lovely sheep a new Shepherd has arrived he removed his hat and hung it from the cross that was sat up behind him his slick back blonde hair looked as plastic as his smile everything about him was starting to look off even the Sound of his voice was becoming less than human you may as well take your seats children seem like you're on going anywhere anyway he straightened his tie and dust off the sleeves of his

jacket now where was I before I was so rudely interrupted humanity is corrupt wouldn't you agree lying cheating stealing murdering I'd call the human race a bunch of Apes but That would be an insult to the Apes The Stranger picked his point back up from the last place he left off he acted as if he were addressing the preacher who currently looked confused and terrified but he was actually addressing the whole room so I postulate that if man is made in the image of his God and man is a corrupt entity wouldn't it stand to

reason that God is a corrupt Entity the pastor who had suddenly been called to be the defender of both humanity and the God he professed his love to and understand for so many years of his life stood dumbfounded the room was quiet except for the occasional SOB for Mrs Margo everyone had retaken their seats as if falling directly into their role as the Sheep The Stranger claimed them to be I was equally guilty sitting quietly in the Middle of the pack watching the whole thing play out the stranger was hypnotizing in a way that made

you feel uncomfortable his presence made the whole thing feel like a dream pastor Jerry this stranger took a few steps across the pulpit and smacked the pastor in the back of the head the pastor suddenly woke from the shock that he'd been in and looked fearfully into the eyes of the man who had just Murdered one of his congregation and was holding the rest of us hostage somehow care for rebuttal your your argument the pastor's voice Shook and he looked like he was going to cry put some [ __ ] feeling into it man bring

the Old Testament down on my head for [ __ ] sake fire brimstone All That Jazz The Stranger picked up a Candlestick and tossed it between his Hands as he paced the front of the room the pastor pressed his Bible to his chest and turned to the stranger with a bit more conviction your argument places the sins of man in the hands of God but I say again we have free will we choose to love we choose to hate and choose to accept the Lord even if you could apply the faults of man to God

I'd argue that more men are just than not you would the stranger threw his Head back and laughed yes I would look at my flock the members of this community all righteous folk all good folk kind folk oh Jerry Jerry Jerry you little man if only you knew the truth the stranger was smiling and looked out over the crowd shall we drop some knowledge on the benevolent Pastor here there was a spell over us all the only sounds that came from the crowd were uncomfortable shifts in Seats the occasional SOB from Mrs Margo I felt

Frozen transfixed on what was happening before my eyes I just like everyone else in that room knew what the stranger was going to do next we knew he was capable even though we didn't know how why we don't even have to go back that far to find little sin do we The Stranger once again hopped down off the stage and walked the rose his jacket was Now flung over his shoulder in a casual Manner and he moved with a Swagger of confidence he stopped directly in front of Tim Dandridge the man who ran the pharmacy

his bald head was sweating as He adjusted his glasses and wrapped his arms around his wife The Stranger leaned in close to look him in the eyes in fact just this morning there was some sin right out in Mr dandridge's truck I have no idea what you're talking About his voice was shaky oh give me a break Dandridge half the town already knows about this one might as well just come clean the stranger stood and looked over at Annie the senior in high school who was working at Mr D's Pharmacy The Stranger was right half

the town did already know about what was happening but small towns keep secrets in Circles Mrs Dandridge started sobbing and pulling away from her husband she'd already known too but it was easy to ignore when you don't bring it up you could see the smile spread back across the stranger's face and move like a spreading sickness over his cheeks his porcelain white teeth making it even more plastic looking he reached down and grabbed Mr Dandridge by the collar lifting him to his feet and holding an up facing Palm Toward him as if he were showing

him off to the crowd exhibit a adultery The Stranger let go of his collar and Mr Dandridge dropped back to his seat next to his still sobbing wife and with a girl just barely turned 18 Tim me you nasty son of a biscuit you could hear talk rise amongst the crowd the talk of who knew already and those who just learned even in the midst of this Surreal nightmare everyone seemed to still love a good gossip it's fine Tim The Stranger snagged a Bible out of the cubby on the side of the pews and held

it up in the air as far as I know no punishment too bad for you wandering dick in these Pages his eyes dropped to Annie and arms slowly followed till he pointed the holy book right at her terrified face not too sure we're allowed to suffer the [ __ ] though the words had just barely left The stranger's mouth when Annie suddenly collapsed you could hear the Flack sound as her head struck the Pew in front of her when she was tumbling to the ground everyone was suddenly on their feet Mr Dandridge attempted to rush

to Annie but the stranger grabbed his collar and pulled him in close as if he were trying to hug him drag her out to the center aisle if you could The Stranger addressed those around her and while they seemed Uncomfortable doing so they still followed his commands I understood the pull that came from his voice was strong like nothing I'd ever heard the men who were at first attempting to help her now drug Annie's convulsing body into everyone's view which was exactly what the stranger wanted she was lying nearly feet defeat with Mr Margo's corpse

when the men let go of her and I heard the stranger command them back to their seats an Order They carried out with equally morose Expressions please let me go let me help her Tim was struggling against the stranger's grip flailing his arms and legs and trying his best to wiggle free behind him his wife was crying into her hands we all stared down at Annie as her tiny frame banged against the floor in seizures no one came to her Aid we all just watched sometimes I wonder how much of That was the influence of

the stranger and how much was just our own disturbing curiosity and what was happening next it burns Annie screamed out white froth coming from the corners of her mouth you could see her skin had gone flush red and she clawed at her Sunday dress with both hands help me please the words came between shouts of pure Agony The Stranger tossed Mr Dandridge back in his seat behind the cries for help I could hear him order Tim to stay put like he was a dog but I didn't dare take my eyes off Annie I wanted to

help her but even if I'd gotten up there was nothing I could do the stranger got next to her and set his jacket on the floor next to him he placed one hand on her forehead and rested the other on top of the Bible what she placed on her chest oh my oh my dear Deary Lord The Stranger suddenly shouted out in his best Southern Revival preacher voice this girl is possessed she's possessed by the forces of the Devil Himself we're going to need to drive these serpents out good people can I get an N

men the crowd stayed quiet watching his blood started to pour from the corners of Annie's mouth she chewed through her own tongue I said can I get a [ __ ] am men the stranger's voice grew so loud it Nearly shook the walls half the crowd spoke a half-hearted a man in response The Stranger cocked his head and raised an eyebrow as if to say really and he Shrugged and continued his act be gone demons be gone foul corruption from the pits of Hades as he pressed his hands to her she convulsed more and more

wildly one of her dress shoes flew off and her stocking foot banged wildly against the Pew next to her be gone spawn of Satan serpent tongue creatures most cruel she sprayed blood between her lips like a person trying to hold back vomit those sat closest to her recoiled as the Mist sprayed them but none Rose to help I cast thee out in the name of Jesus Christ a stranger made a forceful press down in the Bible and even from where I was sitting a few Rose away I could hear her ribs break Tim was still

just behind them I Saw him place his hands over his ears and lower his head not wanting to see what happened next she continued to shake her hands and feet slapping wildly against the floor as her mouth opened and something something began to wriggle its way out snakes one after the other they were drenched in blood and you could see her throat rise and fall as they conjured Themselves from God knows where and slithered up her esophagus they were six total and people shrieked and raised their feet up to the bench as they crawled around

below us Fork tongues lapping in the air and his body stopped shaking in the stranger his pale complexion now dotted with blood Rose to his feet he slid his jacket back on as everyone either watched for snakes their feet or stared down at the now lifeless Body of the Young pharmacy clerk lay dead in the aisle I guess that one is nothing but sin not left to stand when it was exercised stranger said with a Sly look creeping over his face our pastor fainted and the stranger retook his place in the pulpit that's just one

small example of the sin that rests among you stranger had returned to a sermon Now uncontested by Anyone the sickness in mankind is not your fault though it's passed down inherited from a vain obsessive disgusting God who seeks your admiration but gives you so little in return I noticed the snakes had all set themselves below the stage they reached upwards towards the stranger's voice all around me people were crying some had vomited some grumbled under their breath none stood to challenge him though none Stood to leave in fact none stood at all it was the

feeling of being pinned to your seat by restraints you couldn't see are you the devil I heard one small voice say from the row in front of me his parents quickly grabbed him and shushed him I hope the stranger hadn't heard and not just for the boy's sake but because because I don't think I wanted to know the answer the stranger turned his Crimson Stained face though and smiled that plastic Smile as he jumped down off the stage once more there was a new Jump in his step who said that he scanned the room stopping

his eyes on all the children anyone anyone at all I'll tell you the answer just as soon as you tell me who you are he stopped in the row in front of me the boy now had his face buried in his father's sleeve his mother's hand rested Upon his back please sir we we don't need an answer the father pleaded was it you son stranger reached out and the father went to smack his hand away but thought better The Stranger stained fingertips slid to the boy's hair and pulled his head out of the crook of

the father's arm gently can you repeat the question I don't think everyone heard are you the devil the little boy asked again this time with new tears Streaming from his eyes did you learn about the devil in Sunday school little one The Stranger let go of the boy and returned to walking up and down the aisle the boy went back to crying into his stunned father's sleeve without offering an answer are you I heard someone else yell broken free of the spell just long enough to act of their own will another shout followed with the

same question on its lips then another And another I suddenly felt the question rising up from me not in my mind but seemingly bubbling up from my stomach with each time the question was barked out I felt more of an urge to ask it myself you the devil the lying one you're the Morning Star are these questions weren't being asked by choice somehow he was making us ask them over and over like a chorus I showed my own version of the question over and over again everyone yelled and shouted Suddenly looking for answers the stranger

raised his hands high over his head as if this was an old western stickup then he slowly lowered them with flat Palms facing down a low and intense shush came from between his lips the sound that nobody would have been able to hear over the yelling but everyone could the room slowly tapered off in noise as his hands Dropped till all the questions were silenced when the stranger spoke next his voice was less human than it had been previously as if some sort of Dark Mask was starting to slip away Lucifer pony little [ __

] a whining who couldn't handle that Daddy loved a bunch of Apes more than him he laughed and stepped back towards the Pulpit he stepped over the pastor who was still passed out on the floor with the snakes circling around him and up onto the stage never throughout the whole time of God and man has there been a creature more worthless Petty than Angels never has there been an angel more worthless and Petty than Lucifer The Stranger spit on the stage and there was an animosity in his formerly plastic eyes his Blood Stained hands griped

the Pulpit so tight I thought he was going to snap the wood from its frame Lucifer is the ultimate expression of my point he is just another failure of a corrupt God who cares only about taking from those who worship him like disgusting fallacy of a Creator who sits back and watches his people damned to hell for their mistakes for the sin he heaps upon them at Birth The Stranger lowered his head for a moment as if he was deep in Thought after a few seconds his arms raised and he pointed a finger at the

father to the boy who originally asked the question to quote the great Johnny Cash John said to Abraham kill me a son he raised his head the Fake Plastic smile returned to his lips another gasp Rose from the crowd as the father wrapped his hands around his son's throat and began to squeeze he could see the father's eyes were filled with protest but his hands Moved independently of his mind his wife next to him started screaming and trying to push him off but the man's grip was so tight I could hear him pleading with his

wife to stop him she was suddenly raised out of her seat and thrown across the church by some unseen Force you heard the sound of snapping bones as she struck the back wall hard enough to leave a crack in the plaster God says Abraham's [ __ ] should stay the [ __ ] out of it the father kept Going even when his son's face had turned nearly blue even his tears poured from both their eyes even when the boy's body went limp in his hands right there in front of the whole town he killed his

son and we all did nothing but sit and watch all of us except a stranger who stood at the pulpit and Laughed well I think I'm done here a stranger took his coat from the cross and slipped it back on he twirled his wide brimmed hat in his blood palms for a second before placing it back on his head and jumping from the stage he landed right in front of the pastor who was finally waking from his time on the floor as the stranger once again stepped over him the snakes began to strike at the

pastor's flesh over and over they struck the pastor screams of pain mixing With the Wailing of those who'd suffer loss on that Sunday morning the woman who lost her husband the man who lost his mistress and worst of all the Wailing horrible cries of the father who killed his own son if the stranger's aim was to test the group's faith in God or break it he had likely succeeded with most you've all been great fun to debate with he paused and looked down as he Reached the door no actually not really he looked up towards

the crowd again and smiled none of you made a single good point I could feel the weight that had been placed on the room starting to lift it was as if the stranger was releasing his hold on the room he no longer needed a captive audience he'd made his Point or that is fun in my head questions swirled and as the heavy wooden door creaked open and the light of Sunday morning crept into the darken atmosphere of the church I found myself unable to hold back from saying something what are you I shouted towards the

stranger as before he stepped through the door and out into the steps what are you and why did you do This The Stranger stopped and looked over his shoulder in my direction his eyes looked like voids when he was was backlit by the sun there was a genuine Madness on his face I huffed out of breath as of standing and shouting was the greatest workout I'd ever been through the feeling of the oppressive weight still lingering on my body meeting his gaze made me feel cold down through my Bones I did this because I could

he turned turned halfway towards me and I felt as if the whole world vanished and the two of us were left standing in a void as dark and empty as what was set in his eye sockets he straightened his jacket again and spun on his heel at first it seemed as if he would ignore the other part of my question the meat of the knowledge that I wanted so badly feared so terribly before the doors closed on him though and he vanished to leave the stench of death and weight of guilt over our heads for

the rest of our lives he gave me an answer so so unsatisfying it made me wish he'd killed me along with the others as for your other question his voice started to fade as he walked down the steps I'm whatever whatever you think I am as a kid I was raised in a small fishing community in the eastern part of Canada surrounded by the Gulf of St Lawrence and the Boreal forest the entirety of the land was close to a 4,000 ft square with an even smaller number of residents swalled out over Main Street the

main road running through our little town and farming houses spread widely between areas of trees that would changed to domestic Residential homes when agriculture sto being profitable in total our community is surrounded by a vast expans of ocean and a seemingly endless barrage of trees that spread over 55% of Canada's entire country I spent most of my life hunting in those woods so you can imagine my joy when my parents got me a hunting dog Sandy was a Shetland Sheep dog and while they were more fit to be hurting and tracking sheep over grassy Plains

rather than rabbits and deer through dense Forest it didn't stop me from taking him with me on every Excursion I possibly could Sandy had been by my side for enough hunting trips that he'd grown accustomed to waking up just before breaking daylight and on a few occasions helped track down small game like squirrels and rabbits through considerably large areas of forest Sandy wasn't my property it wasn't treated like he belonged to me Sandy was a member of the Family my best companion and my truest friend I think fondly back on all the times he'd sit

in the front seat of my truck without being told ready to go for a walk in whatever part of the forest I told him to I can honestly say that there'll never be a dog that will fill the void say left in my life I find that dog lovers relate to that sentiment more than others it was October 30th the first day of deer hunting season I've been talking With my family about taking Sandy my hunting gear and some Essentials to one of the cabins my grandfather owned in his Heyday off an unmarked Road a

few hundred miles into the Wilderness for a few days this was met with a lot of protesting but nothing could stop me from getting in some time looking for Wild game in an area that wasn't already pick clean by illegal Hunters earlier in the month everything was packed into the Old blue Ford Sandy included in a few hours of driving later we were setting up camp in one of my grandfather's secluded old cabins here's where things get [ __ ] up Sandy I'm so so sorry I had spent most of the time of my life

being in the wilderness there there were only a handful of times that things had gotten weird for me but usually everything could be explained with Scientific reason that's why I brushed off s's weirdness on the first few nights chalking it up to the nervousness of a dog that's capable of hearing the far off noises of various coyotes wolves bears and moose this was untouched territory of course there had been plenty of time for wildlife to set up camp here too the first night was fairly normal I'd set up sy's bed in the corner of the

Living room next to the TV that looked like it came out of the early '90s I figured I'd give Sandy the option to have some place to lay down for a while despite the fact that he slept curled up with me nine times out of 10 but close to 10: at night Sandy looked straight at the wooden door and wine I figured he needed to piss and open the door to let him out not worried About having my best friend stray too far from me instead he just sat inside the door looking out at the

forest edge beyond the path I too stood and looked for a few minutes before deciding just heard an errant Critter close to the cabin the rest of the night was fairly normal and Sandy slept with me fine second night I chalked the weirdness up to s's stress earlier in the day we' been walking a few miles Through the woods beyond the house and I thought I heard the sound of Twigs cracking under something heavy I hoped it wasn't a moose because my shotgun wouldn't have stood a chance against something like that but something changed in

Sandy that I didn't pay close attention to at the time he he hunched himself on his hind legs his front pressed close to the ground his mouth pulled up over his teeth and he growled towards Nothingness I figured we'd try hunting again later if whatever it was had left and should be feeling up to it I figured we'd try hunting again later if whatever it was had left and should he be feeling up to it but once we were inside he didn't want to move even when I tried to get him to go outside and

do his business he sat at the door and cried wailing at me to let him know he didn't want to go out there I I didn't pressure him if he pissed on The floor so be it Sandy never acted up before I could excuse an accident or two if he really didn't want to go out there must have been a bear I thought before locking the door calling in a night the third night is where things went to hell and and I still don't fully understand what happened Sandy didn't eat all day they managed to

shoot a rabbit in the early Morning when Sandy decided that that he didn't want to be outside any longer than he had to and retired inside for the day so I cooked it up threw a little gravy on it gave it to my dog I didn't do this all the time you but I figured now was a special occasion maybe maybe a treat would put him in a better mood for another walk the next day sany didn't touch it didn't so much as sniff it instead he just sat at my side on the couch Watching

the doorway intently I tucked him under one of my arms he laid his head on my lap eyes still locked on that door close to 3 hours of watching grainy VHS tapes on an outdated television sence Sandy started crying hugging himself close to my body this is where my judgment took me down the wrong path for the first time many that must sound silly being my dog's protector rather than my dog being Mine but this was my family you know I figured if there was something out there that was scaring Sandy so bad that it

was my job to do something about it so I loaded my 410 open the door stood in the doorway and I waited must have waited at least a half hour staring into nothing there was barely any sound save for the faint Buzz of insects and leaves rustling in the cold Autumn Wind moose aren't elegant creatures and if it Were a moose I would have heard it coming you know around the 40-minute Mark sand he took off like a shot into the darkness of the trees beyond the path barking wildly I started to get worried despite

my knowledge that my dog isn't entirely helpless in the while there was still bigger animals that could have liked to take a bite out of him if there wasn't a lot of food for the Winter the s's barks faded away in the distance and then they and they stopped all together I waited hours standing in the doorway with my shotgun cocked ready to put down whatever it was that was waiting in the woods I waited hours for Sandy to come back to the house I waited until the sun was cracking through the trees and then

I waited until the night sitting on my porch step fainting off sleep Deprivation to see my dog come back Sandy Sandy did come back but not for another 3 days fog had rolled in at that point and it was getting darker the Night painting the sky and navy blue tracking over the last few days proved feudal started to get worried that I need to leave find more provisions to last me the next few nights I couldn't leave Sandy up there lost in the woods cold probably Hungry the thought that he might be waiting out there

for me to find him and bring him back home was distressing enough I was packing the bag that hung on the coat rack next to the door with what I need for the next day's trip I figured tomorrow would be the last day before I go into town to see if my father would help me find Sandy he was a retired graying man but I was sure if I brought up s's name he'd be more than willing to help me search for him Thankfully Sandy came back before I'd even finished that train of thought I

saw him from the window on the path that led down the main road few dozen feet away from the house normally I'd hear him Scamper to the door and paw at the door a few times eager to come in but but this was different I could see the reflection of his eyes green pearls and the murky fog that had swamped the house for a moment I thought it might be An animal but the outline into the body and the Wisps of thick low-lying clouds was unmistakable still despite myself I hesitated there was something different about

his body language I stared out the window for a few more moments before reason overcame my gut instinct I mean Sandy could be hurt I thought or worse I flung the door open but he didn't come right away instead he Stood there watching me intently and when he didn't move I whistled to him here Sandy I coaxed him towards the house here boy the way he moved was it was different it was as though his hips had been dislocated and the the angle of his paws changed Direction with every step as though as though he'

forgotten how to walk properly his head was bowed to the ground but his teeth weren't bared he he Didn't seem aggressive the only way I could describe the look he gave me was sheepish like he just gotten into something he wasn't supposed to and I yelled at him for it I thought he might hurt himself hopping up onto the elevated step if he dislocated his hip but he did just fine his back half swung a little oddly enough and his paws almost folded Underneath him but he didn't go sprawling he sat on the step and

didn't take his look off of me it wasn't until I had moved from the doorway completely opened the door wide and waited for him to walk in that he moved straight to his bed he didn't stop in my hand sniff at me he didn't wait for pets or jump up on me like he used to it was straight to his bed where he sat and he he watched me for quite some time Afterward I returned to the movie at hand I called to him a few times times but he didn't respond his ears didn't so

much as raised to the sound of his voice with a pat of my hand on the worn out couch beside me I had missed my buddy but I wasn't about to move him physically toward me there was something about him that said I shouldn't have let him in ched it up to silliness a few hours later I went to Bed the more I think back on it I don't recall him blinking once he sat there like a statue when I turned off the light I could see the reflection of jade green following me as I

went into my room and shut the door I could have sworn I heard him walk in the night the sound on nails clicking against the wooden floor coming up to the door of my room but they were slow Deliberate they they weren't like the quickness of Sandy realizing I'd gone to bed and coming to curl up I heard the noises stop outside my bedroom but I I didn't hear his whne I thought I thought nothing of it I just I just fell into a deep sleep when I woke up in the morning I figured it

must have been a dream Sandy was still sitting in the upright position I left him in when I went to bed it was though he didn't move a Muscle the entire night and when I said good morning he didn't so much as wag his tail he did follow me into the kitchen but he paused at the doorway when I put his bowl down on the floor and filled it up with Supermarket dog food once again his back half moved weirdly as he slowly made his way towards me it's a nagging feeling that something was off-putting

about the way that he looked that day was like like he got a little Longer overnight Sandy hunched down again like when he was walking to the door the night before he didn't come into the kitchen figured he must have been hungry being out in the wild for so long but he eyed me like he was waiting for me to come a little closer rather than to touch the food it goes without saying but after a few moments of staring contest between me and my unblinking dog I called off That foolishness and called his name

out loudly not even a Flinch I didn't want to move closer to my dog to leave the kitchen door but this was my Sandy the most damage he'd ever done was to eat flies sure enough as I passed him he turned and his body swayed unnaturally but he didn't move toward me when I left that day I couldn't find anything the deer tracks and the mud were made a few days prior and went cold Off naturally made Trails through the woods I couldn't hear bugs or birds or even the howl of the coyote nearby the

only sounds from miles away from the campsite were my own breathing and the sound of crunching leaves underneath my feet when the sun started to set I started making my way back but I should have just packed my [ __ ] and left just behind a cluster of trees with the house just visible Beyond The Rise I Figured I'd found out the reason why the animals had abandoned this place generally when there were mass animal deaths that usually means that something is wrong in the area of the slaughter and Wildlife are us smart enough to

get the hell out of Dodge even cats are bred instinctively not to like drinking from water that's close to where their food is because if they saw a dead animal close to a stream you'd figure the stream was tainted and find Another source of water well hundreds of squirrels were disemboweled and stwn across the grass in an almost perfect circle most of them were skinned alive but when I I turned to heave up all the contents of my stomach there were a few that were inside out I couldn't help but vomit repeatedly as I tried

my best to walk around the circle of tiny organs and mashed up Bodies not just over the sight but because the smell was ungodly I don't know how long they'd been there but if I stumbled across this sooner I'd have left with Sandy and toe immediately after gradually the body stopped and delved off into a random dead squirrel here and there the biggest thing I managed to find just a few feet off the Unholy feeding ground was the deer looked as though someone had Decided to skin it alive from Hind to neck and drape some

of the skin over a branch like someone was tanning the hide I don't know how long it had been there but it smelled like it had been dead for quite some time despite the fact that there wasn't a single [ __ ] fly the head had been cut clean off just above the shoulders when I realized the organs had been removed moved from a walking pace through the forest to a Jog thankfully the cabin wasn't too far off I heaved one final time wiping my mouth off on the back of my sleeve and looked up

to the house to see Sandy watching me from the window I tried to reason with myself and tell myself s's odd behavior could have been trauma I know it's stupid to think of it now but I at the time it was the only reasonable explanation I had to keep myself from going insane the elongating body could have been the Loneliness getting to me Sandy had realized there was something up with this place and the second he noticed it I should have taken this warning and taken off into town once the door was shut behind me

I started packing the food and Essentials back into the boxes moving quickly to try and get my things into the truck before night came it'd be dangerous to try and maneuver my way through the trails at night as the hills of Kelly Mountain were Steep and in Pitch Darkness with my only companion being my headlights it would have been easy to slide off a ravine never be heard from again I didn't want to stay one more night but I had no choice I had gotten back to the house just moments before the Sun finally receded

past the Horizon and we were bathed in a navy blue sky once again I didn't pay attention to Sandy he just sat at his bed and watched me pack I figured no harm no foul that there was Stuff in the truck in the morning and we'd be back in town before night the next day glancing at him for just a moment it was a passing thought that he was looking a little longer today and when I went to bed it was a hard time getting to sleep for the next few hours must have been close

to 4: or 5 in the morning when I heard it the sound of Whistling the same whistle I used to call my dog I broke out into a cold sweat when I realized that whoever slaughtered those squirrels hung the skin up left what he didn't need could have very well broken into my house the door to my room didn't make a sound as I opened it slowly thankfully I I waited a moment listening to someone call my dog for a few more seconds before I dared poke my head out from the door frame to get

a good look at whoever It was that could have hurt Sandy the outside door was open all I saw was the back half of Sandy too long and lanky almost coiled around the back of the door his front half was outside whatever it was that had impersonated my dog it was whistling slowly calling for Sandy I could have sworn that it had hunched down to the ground again and said Sandy in the most ungodly voice I'd ever [ __ ] heard I closed the door just as Softly As I'd opened it I don't know how

long I waited with my back pressed against the door I knew I left my gun in the bag on the coat rack I know I didn't sleep I waited until I saw the sun break over the horizon and I waited for some more till it must have been midday and I finally got the balls to open the door again and make a break for the truck I Wouldn't Die In This Place Sandy was gone and the door was open his food was untouched but the fridge was open and all the meat was gone I didn't

bother packing his stuff just threw my bag over my shoulder made my way to the Fort as fast as I could and turned on the ignition I couldn't describe the feeling that overcame me as I realized I'd have to leave Sandy in this place I thought that he could be dead was Never a thought in my mind I don't think I could cope with the knowledge that whatever I allowed in my house whatever dismal those animals what I could have done with him I made my way down the winding paths and Roads as fast as

I possibly could without veering off the cliffs felt like I was turning in circles down this Labyrinth that would take me back to that house but when I reached the pavement on the stretch of road back to Town I felt relieved watch over me thinking I was safe just as I was pulling off on the cement I felt something hard hit the back windshield sending broken glass into the passenger seat I only got a glimpse of the deer's decapitated head catching an unbroken glass and tumbling into the back seat I cried for most of the

way home hands clenching the steering wheel so hard my knuckles were white I wish I could leave this off at a Positive note I wish I could tell you that I found Sandy at home waiting for me I wish I could tell you that this was the end of it traumatizing experience in the woods that I'll get over with time last night last night I found it hard to sleep I kept playing the entirety of my trip to Kelly's mountain in my head I figured I wouldn't be sleeping for a while and I just laid

there Listening to the the wind through my open window I could have sworn I I heard the whistle I used to call my dog with coming from the forest's edge if you go on trips with your dog I advise you don't let him out of your sight for too long because because what comes back might not be your dog during the summer of 2003 events in the northeastern United States involving a strange humanlike creature sparked brief local media interest before an apparent blackout was enacted little to no information was left intact as most online and

written accounts of the creature were mysteriously destroyed primarily focused on Rural New York State and once found in Idaho self-proclaimed Witnesses told stories of their encounters with a creature of Unknown Origin emotions ranged from extremely traumatic levels of fright and discomfort to an almost childlike sense of playfulness and curiosity while their published version are no longer on record the memories remain powerful several of the involved parties began looking for answers that year in early 2006 the collaboration had accumulated Nearly two dozen documents dating between the 12th century and present day spanning four continents in almost

all cases the stories were identical I've been in contact with a member of this group I was able to get some excerpts from her upcoming book a suicide note 1964 as I prepare to take my life I feel it necessary to assuage my guilt or pain I feel it necessary to assuage my Guilt or pain I have introduced through this act it is not the fault of anyone other than him for once I awoke and F his presence and once I awoke and saw his form once again I awoke and heard his voice and looked

into his eyes I cannot sleep without fear of what I might next awake to experience I cannot ever wake goodbye found in the same wooden box Were two empty envelopes addressed to William and Rose in one loose personal letter with no envelope dearest Lan I've prayed for you he spoke your name a journal entry translated from Spanish 1880 I've experienced the greatest Terror I've experienced the greatest Terror I've experience the greatest Terror I see his eyes when I close mine They're Hollow black they saw me and pierced me his wet hand I'll not sleep his

voice the Mariner's log 1691 he came to me in my sleep from the foot of my bed I felt a sensation he took everything we must return to England we shall not come here again at the request of the race Phone witness in 2006 3 years ago I had just returned from a trip to Niagara Falls with my family for the 4th of July we were all very exhausted after a long day of driving so my husband and I put the kids straight to bed and called in a night at about 4:00 a.m. I woke

up thinking my husband had gotten up to use the restroom I used the moment to steal back the Sheets only to wake him in the process I apologized and told him I thought that he was out of bed when he turned to face me he gasped pulled his feet up from the end of the bed so quickly his knee almost knocked me out of the bed he then grabbed me and said nothing after adjusting to the dark for a half second I was able to see what caused the strange reaction at the foot of the

bed sitting and Facing away from us was what appeared to be a naked man or a large hairless dog of some sort its body position was disturbing and unnatural as if it had been hit by a car or something for some reason I was not instantly frightened by it but more concerned as to its condition at this point I was somewhat under the assumption that we were supposed to help him my husband was Peering over his arm and knee tucked into the fetal position occasionally glancing at me before returning to the creature in a flurry

of motion it scrambled around the side of the bed and then crawled quickly in a flailing sort of way right along the covers until it was less than a foot from my husband's face it was completely Sil silent for about 30 seconds probably closer to five but it seemed like a while and just looked at my husband it then placed its Hand on his knee and ran into the hallway leading to the kids's room I I screamed I ran for the light switch planning to stop this thing before I hurt my children when I got

to the hallway the light from the bedroom was enough to see it crouched and hunched over about 20 ft away turned around and looked directly at me covered in blood I flipped the switch on the wall and saw my daughter claraa the creature ran down the stairs As my husband and I rushed to help our daughter she was badly injured spoke only once more in her short life she said he is the rake my husband drove his car into a lake that night while rushing our daughter to the hospital they didn't survive being small town

news got around pretty quick the police were helpful at first and the local newspaper took a lot Of interest as well however the story was never published and the local television news never followed up either for several months my son Justin and I stayed in a hotel near my parents house after we decided to return home I began looking for answers myself I eventually located a man in the next town over who had a similar story we got in contact talked about our experiences he knew of two other people In New York who had seen

the creature that we now refer to as the rake it took the four of us to solid years of hunting on the internet and writing letters to come up with a small collection of what we believe to be accounts of the rake none of them gave any details history or followup one Journal held an entry involving the creature in its first three pages then never mention it again the ship's log explained nothing of the Encounter saying only that they were told to leave leave by The Rake that was the last entry on the log there

were however many instances where the creatur's visits was one of a series of visits with the same person multiple people also mentioned being spoken to my daughter included this led to wonder if the rake had visited any of us before our last encounter I set up a digital recorder next to my bed Left it running all night every night for two weeks I would tediously scan through the sounds of me rolling around in my bed each day when I woke up at the end of the second week I was quite used to the occasional sound

of sleep while blurring through the recordings eight times the normal speed still took almost an hour on the first day of the third week I thought I heard something different what I found was a shrill Voice it was the rake you can't listen to it long enough to even begin to transcribe it I haven't let anyone listen to it yet all I know is that I've heard it before and I don't believe that it spoke when it was sitting in front of my husband I don't remember hearing anything at the time but for some reason

the voice on the recorder immediately brings me back to that Moment thoughts that might have gone through my daughter's head made me very upset I haven't seen the rake since you ruined my life but I know that he's been in my room while I slept I know and I fear that one night I'll wake up to see him staring at [Music] me I'm not a Paranormal Investigator I'm an author we're looking for inspiration for A book I came across a series of stories surrounding a home in the American Pacific Northwest it's an extremely ordinary looking

house in an extremely ordinary looking residential neighborhood but the stories that have emanated from its former residents and the people who live in the town that it's located in are quite extraordinary through my research of the house on wend Lane I've come across Accounts that range from the supernatural to just plain bizarre in order to protect the privacy of the people in the town and the current inhabitants of the house on W Lane I have not only changed the name of everyone in these stories but the name of the street as well Wendel Lane is

just an alias for the true location of these accounts Daniel Huff is a Drifter who's been described as dangerous and Unbalanced he is currently wanted for the murder of his wife Margaret 7 years ago she was allegedly thrown from the top of their apartment complex Daniel who was the only witness claimed that she jumped but disappeared shortly after investigation was launched he's been sad to turn up at the funerals of suicide victims making strange claims and asking family members about the circumstances surrounding Their loved ones deaths in March of this year an anonymous tip LED

police to a hotel room he had rented in Portsmith Rhode Island he was not present but many of his belongings were recovered the following is an excerpt from his audio Journal it involves a former resident of the house on W Lane the case he references is very public so the important names have been edited out in Order to prevent people from digging into the house in learning its true location Margaret it's been 7 years and every morning when I wake up I still roll over expecting to see you there lying next to me this is

where he used to Glow in the morning it isn't fair what happened it isn't right with it that thing did to you I'm going to make it pay though Promise you I'm going to make it pay things have been quiet for about 6 months thought the trail had run cold but 5 weeks ago a story started getting picked up by media circles and I thought it sounded like our friend was back a woman in recently headlines for the murder of her 8-year-old daughter her defense attorney was lobbying hard for an insanity police and she claims

to be suffering from a total Loss of memory in the hours surrounding her daughter's death this situation specific Amnesia might sound all too convenient but her story did share some common elements with the other cases I've looked into so I've decided to dig a Little Deeper I was glad I did because what I found was exactly the kind of break I've been waiting for a clinical psychologist was assigned to the case in order to assess her mental faculties he performed many tests During his examination and did eventually concluded that her Insanity plea did carry Merit

during his testimony he cited the hypnotherapy sessions he performed on her as one of the things that swayed his decision I was able to obtain a copy of one of these sessions after breaking into his office and after listening to it my suspicions were confirmed damn things reared its ugly Head again and ruined yet another person's life still it's It's Curious this happened on the other side of the country it's been my thinking that it it only seemed to look around the Northeast since every single incident that's ever been reported has come out of New

England here it is turning up in Strange it could be another Factor at play here I've looked into the place and though this is the only incident regarding the creature I've been hunting the house itself I don't know it seems I have a history of Paranormal Activity maybe some places are just magnets for these types of things I don't know I don't really care all that matters is that I find this thing and I put it Down by the recording I've obtained Margaret Margaret if if you can hear it I I know you'd be pleased

it's bad back and I feel like I'm closer to it than ever so you hadn't heard the stories no i' hadn't heard any of the stories about the house until after Lily and I moved in I actually first heard about it through her she came crying Home from school one day because the kids found out where she lived and we're teasing her about it what do they say they kid say it was haunted do you believe that is that why you're here no I I don't think it's haunted I mean I don't know but I

think it's I think it's something else you said you heard other stories yeah a guy I work with lived in The town his whole life he had at least a dozen and different stories he's heard over the years my neighbor's teenage daughter wouldn't babysit Lily unless she came over to her house so are you ready to begin the hypnotherapy session yeah I'm ready doctor I'm going to fast forward the audio here the doctor spend about like 20 minutes getting her in the right state of mind it isn't important the audio will pick back up at

the good stuff I always thought hypnosis was [ __ ] but whatever he did seemed to work cuz doesn't really sound like herself anymore it's like she's been sedated like she's I don't know takeing a bunch of morphine or something please tell me your name my name is Jean very good I want you to listen to me pay attention to my Questions answer them the best of your ability you're back in the house now right before Lily died tell me what you see it's it's late I'm looking at the digital clock on the DVD player

it's 2:22 a.m. can't sleep no I tried earlier but something Didn't feel right I've never felt so uncomfortable in my own bed before so what do you do you watch TV yes but nothing is on still it feels better than lying in bed where is Lily I put her to bed hours ago she cried when I tucked her in and why was she crying she said that she saw a monster in her room last night night she was Scared I told her that if she gets scared she can hide under her blanket and that no

monster can get her there so you're watching TV you look at the clock it says 222 then what I hear a noise coming from Lily's room a noise what kind of noise like a thud no like an animal or the Man I don't know it sounds like a person growling like if a person was doing an impression of what an angry dog might sound like could it be Lily I don't think Lily can make this noise she's only eight and this voice has too much base in it for a little girl I'm scared what happens

next as I approach the door the noise Gets louder I opened the door and what do you see it's Lily she's standing in the middle of her room with her lavender floral print blanket draped over her head it's oversized and she's just a little girl so it covers her whole body and drapes across the floor I think she's facing the closet the noise is coming from Her has Lily ever done anything like this before no what happens next I call her name I'm so nervous that my voice barely escapes as a whisper she stops making

that snarling noise and turns in my direction Lily I say a little louder what are you Doing then I hear Lily's voice it's barely audible mommy it send shivers down my spine because it's not coming from the blanket Lily's voice isn't coming from the blanket where's it coming from then from her closet I tiptoe around the mound in the middle of the room I keep my eyes on it the whole time it doesn't move but it begins growling again it's louder this Time my heart is racing a million miles an hour I feel like it's

going to jump out of my chest I get to the closet and open the door Lily sitting behind it she's been crying I pick her up in my arms she buries her head in my shoulder something else is in the room with you and Lily and it's it's under the blanket yes I'm not fully grasping it until just now I'm praying in my head that whatever Is under Lily's blanket doesn't come out it's still growling the noise is getting louder and now I know I have to go back around it to get to the door

what is Lily doing she is crying holding me tight and what happens next I start to move slowly for the door but but it begins to shift under the blanket I feel like my legs are frozen Frozen half too scared to move I'm scared but I don't know I I just can't move then it shows itself to me it comes out from under the blanket and it it's it's terrible it it's a monster there's no other way to describe it it has big black eyes and long sharp fingers it skin is yellow it's mouth it's

just it's it's it's awful it's the Most awful thing I've ever seen you still can't move my whole body feels like a statue he begging me to run but I can't it it moves like an animal stalking us on all fours but in my heart I know it's it's not me that it wants it's her it wants Lily yes yes it sneaks its way right up to us but it's completely ignoring me now and I'm not sure if it ever really cared I was there I realize now I can't Talk god why can't I talk

I'm I'm paralyzed Lily scared it's staring right into her eyes extends a finger and scratches her on the cheek I I want to scream but I can't I'm helpless this thing just made my baby bleed I think I want to watch as it tortures her but after that it it just it it leaves it it leaves where does it go out the Window I can move again after that I I carry Lily into the kitchen I put her on the counter so I can di the police is she still crying no no she's she's catatonic

I'm terrified so I can can't imagine how she must be feeling when I finally get the operator I tell her what happened but she doesn't believe me she asks if I'm on any medication and what happens next I remember the windows unlocked in Lily's bedroom so I head back in there to make sure the thing hasn't returned and it it isn't back I lock the window and as I'm doing this I'm trying to convince the damn dispatcher to send the police over to my house and then I go back into the kitchen Lily is standing

there with a with a carving knife she has it pointed towards her stomach she's she looks at me except she's not looking at me she's she she's Looking through me and her eyes are glassy and glazed over and again I'm frozen even though I lock the window I can I can feel that thing's presence in the room I can't move I want to go to her but I can't something's not letting me she she she drives the knife into her stomach she does can and again and again and it's it's terrible and when she's Done

she falls to the floor her face is white so much blood so much blood all over the floor I'm in shock all I could do is stare at her right before she shuts her eyes and she Whispers something to me that it's barely audible but I'm able to hear it what is she saying she says he is The Rake go to bed and wait for the Sandman even as it came out of James's mouth it seemed to him a strange thing to say and he wasn't sure why he had but for some reason it worked

Daniel went to bed the next morning though he asked what does the Sandman look like James was making breakfast Daniel sat at the table short legs swinging under his chair uh nothing really James said it's just an expression what does that Mean just something people say he put a plate of eggs in front of Daniel and kissed him on the top of his head he thought that that would be the the end of it until he saw the Sandman for himself he was getting ready for bed and stopped by Daniel's room to check on him

while he slept as he often did it was such a routine precaution that when he saw a pale naked man sitting on the edge Of Daniel's bed rocking back and forth it took a moment for him to process what he was seeing he reacted the way any father would of course he ran into the room screaming and for a moment he thought about attacking the Intruder but then the man on the bed turned and that's when James saw that it wasn't really a man it was a pale slithery thing Hairless warped its joints turned the

wrong way its body out of shape with itself when it moved it was like insane marionette dancing on a stage James froze the skittering thing watched him he felt spreading warmth he realized he pissed his pants only what he remembered that Daniel was still on the bed staring at the broken shaped thing sitting a foot away did he regain the courage to move He grabbed Daniel and ran in the hall he turned to see if the thing would follow him but it didn't for a moment it watched and then moving like a stop motion nightmare

it crawled to the window and jumped out leaving only the billowing curtains to Mark its passing James had trouble talking to the police he reported a break-in but when Asked to describe the Intruder he didn't know what to say how could he make the ordinary man in the blue uniform sitting at his kitchen table while two of his colleagues searched the house understand a thing like he' seen he couldn't even understand it himself to make it worse Daniel's memory did not correspond to James's he described an ordinary looking burglar a man in a mask he

Said James thought about it had it been a m no it would had to have been a full costume an elaborate one something like they would use for a moving and that wouldn't explain the way it moved but in the end he simply echoed his son's testimony a man in a mask he said a burglar the LIE unsettled him almost as much as what had happened the doctor said Daniel wasn't hurt and Showed no signs of molestation James was relieved they stayed at a motel for a couple of nights until they felt ready to come

home and then James had a new security system installed along with bars on the Windows he didn't like the sight of them in Daniel's room but it seemed like the only thing to do James was frightened that first night back in the house but Daniel strangely was Not one asked if he felt okay sleeping alone he just said yes in the end it was James who found himself wishing that he were not sleeping alone he was up all night listening for the sound of anything moving in the house although he had convinced himself that his

memory was faulty and that it had been a normal albe it probably deeply Disturbed man in his son's room when he closed his eyes even for a Moment he pictured bloodless skin Twisted inhuman face he found himself wondering why my house why my family he knew of course that there didn't have to be a reason but still he wondered two weeks later Daniel stopped talking James didn't notice at first kids went through quiet phases sometimes but Eventually he tried to get Daniel to talk and he wouldn't eventually it became clear that he couldn't back to

the doctor they went nothing wrong with him that we can see was the diagnosis was it the trauma James asked could be they said sometimes times these things come on late children can be a mystery even to those who know them best they recommended a child psychiatrist Whom James couldn't afford he could not for that matter even afford the bill they were giving him now nothing seemed to help Daniel would write out answers to questions sometimes but never more than a yes or no when James would ask him what was wrong or if he'd seen

or heard anything that frightened him Daniel would only stare he seemed furtive and be mused James found himself missing the sound of His son's voice sometimes he wanted to hear it so bad that he achd but it seemed that Daniel would not talk again until he was ready James had other things to worry about too he was convinced Beyond reason that the Intruder was not really gone though the alarm never went off and the locks and bars remained undisturbed he was sure that he heard movement in the Night not normal movement it was a sound

like a huge snake slithering through the house when he heard it he imagined horrible things nothing was ever there when he went to investigate though he often thought he glimpsed something just out the corner of his eye pale foot or M shape and Shadow that would slink away as soon as he turned he rarely slept and when he did he had haunted dreams soon he realized he had not left The house in weeks except to go to the bank and to buy groceries he felt hemmed in with Daniel acting mute he hadn't had an actual

conversation with anyone in weeks so he called his mother the connection was bad and her voice sounded faint on the verge of being not there at all I guess I'm okay Ma he said pausing to wipe the sweat from his palms and then make sure that he could hear Daniel Playing in the next room but things have been a little rough we had a break in oh how awful mom said did they take anything no just ran off it was weird though I haven't really felt comfortable since then are you still working at the hospital

no ma I I left last year you know that well have you been getting out about that nice woman you were seeing last year the one who played the Piano James scalled she was always asking that kind of thing didn't she know how hard it was being a single father he didn't have the time he was about to say so and something made him pause m is anyone else on the line I don't think so James was sure he heard it though the short gasping sound of someone trying to hold their breath and failing a

cold feeling crept across the Back of his neck you assured nobody's listening on your other phone dear there is no other phone I'm on the cell that's why the service is so bad then what is James stopped if the sound wasn't coming from her end then he dropped the phone and raced to the hall the extension hung on his hook undisturbed heart pounding he hurdled Into the garage the spare phone sat on the workbench no one was in sight could someone have been here all along listening to his phone call and then slithered away might

they be here even now the next day he took out the extra phone extensions he even filled in the Jacks with rubber cement Daniel watched him work eyes curious but James offered no Explanation he began giving Daniel a light physical exam every week his CNA training was a little rusty after a year in disability but you never really forget it was an absurd thing to do of course even if there was a physical cause for Daniel's Behavior he'd be nothing he could discover this way he was aware on some level that it was compulsive Behavior

nevertheless it made him feel better One morning James set the diaphragm of the stethoscope against Daniel's chest but he could not locate a heartbeat he moved his hand in search of the right spot to no avail then DET tested he listened to his own heartbeat came through steady and clear but when he checked Daniel again he didn't hear anything a thought came unbidden to him of the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz whose Chest was empty as a kettle the sick feeling roiled in his stomach he threw the stethoscope down and grabbed Daniel by

the shoulders looking into his face Daniel stared back with bright eyes he even smiled a little with the corners of his mouth James felt the tingle of Tears he swept his son up in his arms and hugged him and Daniel hugged back then James put his shirt back on him and sent him to Play the stethoscope he decided was broken he threw it in the trash things got worse James's Terrors were no longer relegated to the long hours of the night now seemed that some creeping some skittering and scuttling some unknowable noise in some dark

corner or another filled every second of his day the thought of how big the house really was started to weigh on him there were so many rooms he wasn't in at any given Time so many places someone or something else could be he imagined strange figures occupying the rest of his home when he wasn't around melting into the walls or merging with the Shadows whenever he turned turned on a light or opened a door how would he know if they were there how would he ever know soon he didn't even have to be outside of

a room to imagine it when he walked up the stairs he pictured pale Figures lurking beneath them when he went down the hall he pictured a crawling thing slithering Behind the Walls shadowing his every step if he sat too long on the same chair he imagined that it was right behind him and he was never comfortable when he turned around and found nothing there as he could only guess that meant that it had moved swiftly and silently behind him once Again wherever he was not looking right now that was where he imagined it to be

he was losing his mind he knew the only thing that helped him cling to sanity was that Daniel seemed undisturbed other than his mess his behavior was perfectly normal and whenever he seemed to sense that his father was troubled he would hug him or squeeze his hand or even smile sometimes when he left the room James Cried one night he found himself creeping around the house with no lights on at 2:00 in the morning if the intruding thing had taken to violating his daytime activities and he would get revenge by confronting it on its own

terms the night and really Knight was no more frighten to him now than day they were almost interchangeable he padded Barefoot down the Halls up the stairs in and out of disused rooms sometimes he stopped to Listen hoping to locate it by sound it was a stealthy creeping thing he knew but it was awkward at times and it couldn't always keep its strangely shaped limbs from making their distinct irregular footsteps the smallest noise would give it away there was one room he suspected it spent most of its time in the spare room not a bedroom

at all really more like a closet just large enough to accommodate a bed if one was so inclined it was Unpainted and uncarpeted drafty he'd always meant to fix it up he didn't come in here very often because he disliked the bare unused look of it it made him think of a partially dissected corpse he came in now though if the thing made its nest any one place in the house this would be it of course there was nothing there now but that didn't mean there was nothing There he cursed running a hand through his

sweat damp hair what was he missing how did it hide from him what was its secret he peered into the room's empty Corners one by one getting his face a few inches from the plaster and floorboards so that he could be certain certain that there was no space for it to conceal itself the light bulb flickered he froze my God he thought it's on the Ceiling he pictured it crawling above him like a huge p pale lizard that's how it gets around he thought that's how it escapes anytime I should have cornered it just scuttles

up the wall and hides right over my head he imagined it dangling down behind him like a spider if I turn around he thought it'll be there hanging with its face right next to mine he held his breath he did not want to turn around but he had no Choice it was between him and the door with a quiet SOB he rounded on his heels of course he was alone there was no man on the ceiling he checked twice maybe it crawled out was waiting for him in the hall when he checked there the coast

was once again clear it should have been a relief but it was not not after all it had to be in here somewhere if the ceiling wasn't its trick that that just Meant it was something else something even more strange even more clever he went to Daniel's room he hadn't stopped checking on him at night like he always had this time though rather than open the door he listened at first pressing his ear against the grain of the cheap wood and holding his breath terrified that he would hear a skittering sound on the other side

of the barrier what he heard Instead shocked him more Daniel was talking to someone James recoiled for a second and then when he caught his breath he all but kicked the door in Daniel was already awake indeed sitting up in bed but he wasn't saying anything now the light flashed on and James stalked halfway into the room before stopping suddenly torn what did he want more to confirm That his son could speak again or to find whomever he was speaking to the creek of a door hinge settled the matter for him he ran to the

closet and threw it open there was nothing inside or at least nothing that shouldn't be there he swept aside clothes on their hangers but nothing was hiding behind them then he dragged the toy box out and emptied it under the floor nothing he combed Along the bare walls and floor and yes the ceiling ping aside every last bit of rubbish and stray knickknack so that he could be sure absolutely sure that nothing was hiding all the while Daniel watched him after a few minutes James was was panting and covered in sweat and the closet was

Bare and there was neither Intruder nor answer inside it struck him as funny somehow and he started to laugh very Quietly he kicked his son's toys out of the way as he went to sit down on the bed dazed he became aware all at once of several things first being that he had not slept in days it was nowhere near his right mind the second was how close he'd come to really l using it for good tomorrow he decided they would both sleep until the afternoon and when they did wake up he And Daniel would

get out of this creaky old house no more staying cooped up like prisoners no more checkups and no more dreams about monsters he'd even take the bars off the windows it was time to get back to living like real people again James saw it when he he brushed a hand through Daniel's hair he pulled Daniel a little too roughly closer his son acas to the examination Without fidgeting or complaint as James pawed the side of his head hoping that what he was seeing would somehow stop being a parent he stared and stared until he achd

from not blinking but there was no denying what was right in front of his eyes Daniel was missing an ear no he realized with mounting Nausea both ears it was no injury no incision no Mark where they should have been simply smooth blank flesh as blank as Daniel's quiet unperturbed demeanor James swept him up at his arms and ran into the Hall he wasn't sure where he was going or what he meant to do when he got there he just knew that there was now nothing more important than getting his son out of that house

but their path Was cut off a naked man sat in the hallway with his back to him no not a man James recognized its stretched Limbs and stooped shoulders the pale thing squatted on top conscious rocking back and forth like it was paused they almost seemed to be in pain James hugged his son closer and backed away then then he heard Daniel's voice dad He James turned to Daniel and he heard the voice again [Music] Dad but Daniel's lips hadn't moved James looked back at the hunch figure its head jerked when it talked like a

tick hello Dad e James's mouth went dry it took several tries before he Could speak don't call me that it is this Voice's name for you go away leave my family alone but I am your family the longer it talked the more the voice became distorted and blurred an icy feeling nestled in James's stomach who are you Someone who came to visit why here you invited me James's heart thed against the inside of his chest why I had something you wanted James licked his dry lips you're lying you don't have anything I want I want

you to leave leave and never come back who is Daniel's mother James blinked what who is Daniel's mother the hell kind of Question is that how old is Daniel James blinked again a thing's voice causing a pinching pain in the center of his forehead stop stop asking me these things when is Daniel's birthday I don't I don't know what what is his middle name shut up what was his first word I said shut up James wanted to tear this thing apart with his bare hands only the heaviness of Daniel in his arms kept him where

he was you were Alone you wanted a son so I made one for you James's hands began to shake that doesn't make sense made out of what out of myself James's stomach turned over but now I need those parts back Daniel picked at James's shoulder to get his attention something was strange about Daniel's face Danny Danny open your eyes Daniel scrunched his eyes shut tighter open your eyes Danny then he Open your eyes Daniel shook his head trying to refuse but he couldn't hold it forever eventually his eyelids flicked up and James saw the truth

Daniel's eyes were gone James almost dropped him for a second he wanted to throw his son down so that he could stop looking into those empty holes in his face Daniel opened his mouth as if to speak but of course he had no voice He's coming back to be a part of me again no no no no give him back give him back I cannot it's been too long I warned you this would happen you're lying you're lie you're [ __ ] liar give my son back give him back I do not lie I warned

you he could not exist forever but you do not remember you can only remember what I want you to you forget all the times we've Talked Daniel felt like a doll or an empty bag his hair was falling out disappearing before it touched the ground his hands vanished into his sleeves his feet rolled up inside of his pant cuffs James cradled the tiny shapeless thing tears streamed down his face soon he soon he held a pile of empty clothes and then and then those two were gone he looked around the house toys Disappeared photos vanished

from their frames Daniel's little shoes were no longer by the door James turned towards Daniel's room and confront of a wall where the door should have been he groped the blank surface fingertips scrambling he hit his head against the wall the pain didn't feel real why did you do this it was what you wanted and I learned so Much this is impossible people will ask people to wonder the police the hospitals the people in neighborhoods they have have already forgotten him they only remembered what I wanted them to like you James pressed his hands to

his aching skull well I at least remember him after this you can try but your mind will fail you now that everything he was is part of me Again James S on the floor looking at the blank wall out of the corner of his eye he saw the thing creep towards him and even felt its wet hand on his shoulder but he didn't look at it if I remember any of this he said then why tell me because a father should know and Then James was alone Abigail worried about James Sometimes when they met a

year ago he said that he'd never married he'd never had kids but there was a certain pained expression he assumed when he said that last part Abigail knew that look she had met parents who' lost children before he learned to recognize it and there were other things about him that worried her too sometimes she would find him staring At a particular spot on the wall brow furrowed in concentration he didn't seem to realize he was doing it and of course there was the insomnia and the sleepwalking to consider yes there was lots to worry about

but she loved him all the same James still said he'd never had kids and neither had she she long wanted one but it was impossible she worried that James wouldn't stay with a woman who couldn't Be a mother though he constantly assured her that was not so there were times and more and more often of late they were the nights when James took to sleep walking and even Abigail imagined that she heard strange scuttling sounds in the house and saw impossible shapes in dark Corners when she thought she would do anything absolutely anything if it

meant having a little Daughter for she and James to raise and at those moments she became truly afraid but she never knew why it is said that Time and Tide wait for no man but the painter well the painter waits for both Mikey Doyle steered a boat into the swell of a brooding ocean leaving the safety of Harbor Walls this is too early he thought with a yawn perhaps he was right even for commercial fishermen this was early but despite the storm warnings Mikey had a hall to secure it was not fishing though nor crab

or Lobster but a hall nevertheless 3 miles down the coast from the tourist Rich Sea Harbor of Port maven would be a lonely marker buoy that while only being a yellow ball of beaten plastic held the answer to Mikey's hopes And dreams because attached to that buoy was aligned to a waterproof parcel the size of a beer crate the contents of which would have a street value of 1.5 million once it was cut divided and subdivided again Mikey of course wouldn't be getting all that but he was still getting a good Payday for his part

enough to clear his debts and then some his car payments had slipped and he had been ducking his Landlord for the last 2 months then there was the new one child support he knew he had a daughter called Rose he'd only seen her once and that had been by accident at a country Pub 6 years ago she had just turned three he had ghost to the mother from the start choosing not to get involved Mikey had never worked a day in his life not that the taxman knew of not until getting a job doing event

security last Summer then with his second paycheck he got a weighty demand from the government welfare he claimed the kid wasn't his right up until the DNA test results came back she was now he stared absently at the sea where miniature white horses broke on rolling wav Toops barely illuminated in the darkness the stars were nowhere to be seen tonight hidden behind a veil of Cloud that only allowed for glimpses of moonlight seaspray would occasionally burst from the prow soaking his face and stinging his eyes if he dared step out of the cabin was only

one debt he couldn't pay and that was to do with the boat he stood on the boat wasn't actually his it belonged to Jim lcan Mikey's best friend or rather he had been no matter how much You want to make things right it's so much harder when that person is dead the locals had noticed Jim's sudden absence guessing he'd gone visiting family in the north and that they'd see him again in a few weeks Mikey knew that wasn't the case he knew that Jim wouldn't be showing up with a smile and a six-pack he knew

Jim wouldn't be making a surprise appearance on caraoke down at the Lighthouse Inn Mikey knew the list of things Jim wouldn't be doing was endless because Jim had been hacked into several pieces and dumped in the ocean 5 miles offshore Mikey wished he'd never brought Jim into his dealings but he needed a boat quickly and Drug Runners were not known for patients Mikey had been out of time but on that fatal night Mikey had been accompanied by men higher up the food chain and the delivery had been more than a well- Wrapped parcel clinging to

the buoy were two Vietnamese girls he guessed they were Vietnamese when did he know they were wearing life jackets which barely held their heads out of the water they couldn't have been any older than 18 but Mikey got back to the harbor Jim had been there Jim was already getting cold feet about the parcel so when he saw two girls being pulled from his boat and Manhandled into the back of a van he was he pretty much lost his [ __ ] it was morally the correct reason Mikey thought but didn't make it a clever

one Mikey had said nothing he kept his mouth shut when the girls went in the van he kept his mouth shut when Jim spoke out on the Harbor he kept his mouth shut when they shot Jim in the head he even kept his mouth shut when they dragged Jim his best friend of 9 Years back on the boat and began cutting him up Mikey always looked out for number one before anything else the world just made more sense to him that way what really pissed Mikey off was that the thing with Jim had gotten the

dealer so riled up they didn't pay him they told him he was lucky he hadn't been shot in the head himself for bringing in a [ __ ] up Like Jim who could have ruined the whole setup Mikey said nothing he throttled down as he approached the marker leaving the engine to idle grabbing a boat hook he began dragging the buoy to him easy money he thought it took another 10 minutes to secure the package hosting it up from the seabed using the winch mounted at the rear of the boat he scanned around frequently looking

for The Telltale Lights piercing the darkness meanwhile the wind had continued to pick up starting to howl as the swell of the Waves grew he was now struggling to stand but the pickup was done nothing to do but head home get paid the first mile back was rough riding a growing swell feeling the prow rise and fall but the next mile was about to get much worse the hall almost left the water at Times slamming down again and again after each wave it wasn't Lash down got tossed about like dice in a gambler's cup Mikey

braced himself in the small cabin both hands gripping at the wheel he was sure he'd encountered worse conditions but nothing sprang to mind he glanced over his shoulder to check the parcel lashed down at the stern that at least wasn't going anywhere he was only a mile out from the harbor that had happened Mikey was out of breath not Being an experienced or qualified Seaman as the condition worsened he remembered something about letting your boat lie a hull which is to let it take its own position in the sea whilst trying to keep the bow

in the wind he had remembered that because it reminded him of his own life just keep going with a flow what Mikey didn't know was that while it's an okay tactic and moderate to sfir gails there became a point when it wasn't and if you stick With it you risk getting capsized the boat Twisted a top of what was surely the largest wave yet Mikey could see the flash of the lighthouse but that wasn't going to help him any as he landed broadside into the next Tower of water the whole boat tilted Beyond 90° throwing

him off the wheel and against the wall bouncing his skull on the metal doorway suddenly everything snapped to Black He awoke in a confused Haze the light of day was now filtered through a gray miserable fog the only sound from the chugging of the inboard engine barely ticking over he lay on the deck his face resting in The Damp tasting blood in his mouth and salt on his lips reveled at no longer being battered by the ocean they was still Calm quiet getting to his feet the first thing he did was check the parcel he

was still there the sealed plastic block secure in its place he breathed a sigh of relief before looking around to get his bearings Mikey couldn't believe his luck only yards ahead of him made out of the harbor wall in the lighthouse together they stood out in the midst two distinct and familiar Silhouettes silent Guardians thrust into a grain Sky he didn't know how long he'd been out for figured he must have gotten all turned around but letting the boat do its own thing had worked out for him in the long run it almost seemed as

if someone up there had been watching out for him he banged his fist on the rail with excitement [ __ ] yes Mikey he shouted man he was happy to be alive [ __ ] yes swinging the wheel he headed into The harbor with a grinning face that was when he noticed it the paint for hundreds of feet the Harbor's stone walls had been covered in it so had the lighthouse even the glass where the light Shone it was thick and crudely applied a million drips ran through it making it seem alive and breathing black

paint not a black you would choose from A color chart or paint a chalkboard with but black stolen from the primordial void black imbued with dark patience that promis to outweight the light he looked around thinking to himself how pissed the Harbor Master was going to be as he stared through the fog at the other boats moed up everyone it seemed had been painted every single one from the Skiffs to the giant trollers even the glass bottom boats for tourists every inch was Covered but it didn't stop there the moing ropes too they glistened in

the black ooze as did the anchor chains running down into the river the marker buoys and the flag poles including the flag itself was painted beyond recognition and they all dripped with the same heavy black as he drifted slowly through the outer harbor the fog cleared away he expected to see a lot of seriously pissed off people especially the harbor Master's name was eluded him for the moment he was a stickler for the rules or a real prick as Mikey often liked to say he expected to see a hive of outrage and indignation any moment

now any moment nobody no one he should have been seeing Vans coming and going forklifts hoisting crates tourists drinking coffee and fishermen exchanging Banter that's when the silence hit him other than the soft lapping of the ocean there was nothing else where are the damn gulls he thought there were always gulls crying at the harbor their persistence screeching was almost part of the landscape where are the gulls the Inner Harbor didn't hold any answers though only more questions as every building on the Harbor front was coed in darkness he stared in disbelief at the Ice

cream shop the visitors Museum his favorite restaurant not an inch had been spared the windows and doors the gutters and lights all he could make out was Little More Than A Memory of form and thick black paint and every every direction he looked the paint had spread out a dark cancer growing in the heart of the village his first thought was that he was the victim of some practical joke But he discounted the idea almost immediately this was too much work too much trouble maybe then it was a set for a movie or TV crew

sometimes the harbor was used as a filming location but the more he thought about it the less likely seemed where were the film crew the catering security why hadn't he heard about it everything had looked Picture Perfect when he had set aboard earlier he shook his head and moed up tying off An anchor Point covered in the same black paint it didn't smell like paint didn't really smell of anything perhaps a little musty it made him think of Decay he made a point of not touching it and headed into the back streets that's when he

first heard it laughter an innocent Ripple of a child's Joy just for a Second he looked for the source of the laughter but couldn't figure a direction increasingly concerned he turned up a narrow Street where even the cobblestones under his feet were painted black it he didn't like the way it felt when he walked on them instantly regretting taking the shortcut towards the lighthouse in but someone would be there for sure he thought there's always someone there then he saw two things that Stopped him dead in his tracks two things he knew instantly were connected

two things that couldn't be the first was a figure tall and hooded covered in folds of black cloth soaking wet with dripping black paint it carried an ancient looking bucket being a long fingered translucent hand wide oversized brush in its other it was silently painting a Building in single Strokes its arm extended impossibly ever longer to reach the rooftop as it did where its face should have been there was nothing the second thing Mikey saw was a man just a normal man cowering in the shadow of a doorway behind the dark painter the painter hadn't

appeared to notice him Yet it was this normal man who terrified Mikey more than the supernatural painter it was his best friend Jim Jim lcan Jim who was chopped into several different pieces on the ocean floor I'm sorry Mikey said softly hardly aware he'd spoken Jim cringed his body hunkering down as he put a finger to his lips begging for silence But the words have been spoken slowly as if in a rotating pedestal the painter turned to face Jim who now abandoned his hiding place with a shout of run he sprinted towards Mikey Jim was

always fast he was almost beside him before Mikey knew it Mikey was beginning to turn when the painter's arms extended impossibly fast the painter hadn't moved only its arms had impossibly lengthened the entire the gym had covered the painter's long fingers Grasp Jim's entire head gripping it like a spider seizing its prey as the painter glided closer with a dripping brush Mikey staggered in shock he tried to yell but his voice choked on the fear that was stuck in his throat the painter held Jim in place despite his Kicking and Screaming Jim grabbed the long

bony finger twisting in their grip but to no avail the painter began to paint a long stroke up Jim's right leg and torso more Screaming as Jim struggled his eyes bald straining wide with exertion each brush stroke began turning Jim Lin's flesh into paint itself he dripped down to the floor as drop by drop Jim was painted out of existence it saved his head for last and when that was all that was left of him when there were no lungs to scream from the painter held it up and slowly painted out Jim's Face pressing the

brush deep into eye sockets and working the brush into Jim's still chomping mouth with a cold indifference when there was nothing but the tattered Rags of Jim's clothes it worked on them too ringing them out until they turned to wet Globs of paint slipping through the inhuman hands dripping to the ground Mikey was frozen condemned to watch the horror of Jim's death for a second time his Paralysis only ended when the painter turned his attention towards him he fled praying the long arm wouldn't reach him next Mikey ran faster than he thought possible his heart

pounded furiously ly fueled by the adrenaline of fear his muscles screamed as he raced up the hill on Main Street passing the black shops and houses to arrive at the lighthouse in this was the only building yet to retain some of its original character the paint having stopped mid stroke Before the yawning entrance the colors were a welcome relief as he stepped inside Mikey found himself appreciating the well-worn Crimson Upholstery and the shabby red beer stained carpet in the way he wouldn't have believed possible until now it stood out in Stark relief to the world

outside the place was always well attended though and he felt he'd be sure to find someone here to explain what the hell was Happening inside though it seemed abandoned he tried to recall who he should be seeing but sweating and panting still from his exertions he couldn't bring any names to mind only the old old bill it could always be found Seated on the table stool around the corner of the bar by the pool table he was there so often he was almost part of the furniture sure enough bill was sat in his usual spot

back to the wall But no one else Bill Mikey shouted Bill didn't seem at all concerned but then Mikey remembered Bill never did Bill had taught at some fancy University for years Mikey reasoned such people developed a certain approach to life Jesus Bill what the hell's going on nothing anymore Bill replied lifting a pint in acknowledgement nothing since the painters what do you mean Mikey said looking around the empty bar what's Happened I don't understand don't you Bill replied no I I [ __ ] well don't you want answers Bill dangled the question out infuriatingly

Mike had talked to Bill more than a few times normally towards the end of the night though we'd never said it out loud bill was the smartest person Mikey had ever talked to he seemed to know a little about everything and a lot about the stuff of which most people knew Nothing painters are you telling me there's more of them Mikey asked fighting his breath had returned I just escaped from one of those things near the harbor it was so black and it's arm Mikey choked trying not to recall the encounter what the hell are

they he asked desperate for some kind of answer that would explain the madness away i't can to spare you a couple minutes I suppose Bill continued I don't know About anything with certainty but I can talk about the possibilities of what they could be first thing you might want to consider is are we awake is this real perhaps this is just a terrible nightmare you're just about to wake up from look I'm not dreaming any of this [ __ ] Mikey answered all right so we can discount that if you're sure Bill replied secondly perhaps

when you banged your head you've been injured all this is your dying brain running out of Oxygen painters are some manifestation and guilt you were feeling conjured up by your cerebral cortex me not quite a dream Mike put his hand up to the lump on his head from where he had hid it in the doorway stung he you'd feel the swelling dried blood no that's not it Bill I'm here this is real please not another one of your how do you know what's real Lectures I'm far too [ __ ] sober for that [ __

] right now oh this is third thing said bill I promise you won't like it try me Mike replied leaning over the bar and helping himself to a bottle of whiskey swigging straight from the bottle you're out of time answered Bill what do you mean we just started talking no you're out of time time's moved on you've been left behind or pulled from it and where we are now this space left in its wake it's All the shadow of a moment past Mikey and the painters are obliterating it when their work is done here there'll

be nothing no memory of you no me no nothing [ __ ] well it's just a hypothesis Bill replied with an easy smile this is typical of you Bill every time we talk you always do this it's messing my head Mikey cried bearing his head into his hands every time we talk this is what I Do right every time man Mikey answered well that's the problem here Mikey you remember this place well you spend a lot of time here you always see me in the corner yeah so what mecky answered but a chill had began

to form down his spine is some part of him already knew what bill was going to say next and you think I'm smart smart smartest man you ever met I never said Mikey's voice began to fade if I'm so smart then why can't I Remember what I had for breakfast this morning where I live where I grew up stop it bill you already know the answer Bill replied I know I drank Craft Ale I know I'm smart I don't know any details of my life I don't know what the inside of my house look looks

like or where I got married or if I have children I have no knowledge of my life at all you know why stop it Bill Mikey whined you know Stop Bill took a long Swig of his drink before he put the glass back down I'm just a memory Mikey I'm just your memory of Bill no Mikey shouted back away and shaking his head you know it's true Bill said they're coming for you they paint everything that ever was people go fast buildings take longer the more permanent someon ha the longer it takes everything gets painted

sooner or later Mikey everything gets painted Black Mikey didn't say anything you're out of time said bill so am I he got off the stool and made towards the door as he did a monstrous black figure Rose silently from behind the bar its arm dripping with paint already extending Mikey saw the brush smear across Bill's back and again Mikey ran all he could think of was getting back to the safety of the boat running downhill was harder more than once he Almost lost his balance he could see other painters now some watched on from the

rooftops others he glimpsed through the streets gliding effortlessly they matched his frantic Pace as he made his approach to the harbor he was so close now it was only the laughter that stopped him the child's laughter a young girl ran into his path almost colliding she was Tiny no more than 3 years Old wearing a yellow hooded jacket you can't be here honey we're your folks Mikey said speaking as quickly as he could I know my dad said the girl pulling back her Hood Mikey stared straight into the face of the daughter he had only

seen once but Rose must be almost 10 by now this couldn't be her I don't know my dad she said it again The words HIIT him in the gut just as he realized the yellow coat was what she was wearing the only time he'd ever seen her 6 years ago he saw movement from the corner of his eye the painters were looming within grabbing distance several of them now converged on him and Rose their cowls dripping paint as they Advanced he grabbed the girl's hand to pull her with him but his hand just passed through

hers as if she wasn't quite there he Tried again frantically and again I don't know my dad she said she was saying it repeatedly now staring through him as Mikey's face became a mask of dread and despair the painters approached the last memory of his daughter like grotesque Shadows their brushes raised she looked so small she didn't have time to scream then there was only paint and darkness And Mikey could remember her no longer Mikey didn't remember making it back to the boat tears were falling from his eyes but he didn't know why he gunned

the engine heading for the mouth of the harbor and the promise of open sea with every yard he sailed closer to escape another dark figure appeared until hundreds of painters stood in silence lining the harbor walls Watching and waiting Mikey forced himself to look away his eyes feral his mind fought a losing battle to recollect anything anything at all other than the bile of his own fear the painter's work was almost done they never rushed they were always out of time standing shoulder Tosh shoulder they raised their buckets and with perfect synchronization Began pouring the

content into the ocean the paint spewed forth without stopping endless millions of black gallons flowed until the water changed from Hues of blue to an endless black it spread out pushing forward to make an entire sea of paint where time and memory no longer existed would had once been a man on a boat staring at the black waves he looked down to see his Translucent skeletal fingers now held dark dripping brush he would say nothing he would paint I stood on the prow of the ship pulling my long coat tight about me overhead circling seagulls

dived and swooped avoiding the steamer's large funnels blew acrid black smoke into the cloud covered sky the journey from Southampton to Cornwall been a short one only 3 days with a couple of stops along the coastline to pick up passengers and supplies we were nearing our first destination turnout Bay the very southern tip of Cornwall there I was to Rel the Old Lighthouse Keeper Pi up my new post looking across the cold dark Waters I winced shifted slightly favoring my left Leg the war left its mark on me both mentally and physically still I had

wanted to stay and fight they had medically discharged me while the rest of those poor boys stayed to be slaughtered in the trenches of friends eventually they had found a use for me i' been drafted into the Lighthouse service not as honorable as fighting for one's country of course but still an important Role especially in times of War my new home was on a small island nothing more than a rock jutting from the sea with a small grally Beach so I'd been told by the captain of the ship who didn't seem overly eager to talk

about the place or k out B at all for that matter apparently the seas around the area were treacherous mainly because of a large Jagged wreath hidden just below the surface of the dark churning Waters plus there were small isets dotted in and around the bay that made the waters even more dangerous before the king's born Island had been built in 1856 many a sailor had found their Doom the bottom of these unforgiving Waters they could see it then a blur starting to form on the horizon quickly I grabbed the nearby sailor by the arm

tell me friend I said how far away are we from Kel Bay the Sailor laughed a silver grin we've been sailing through Kel Bay all morning that he said pointing to the blur upon the Horizon is monks toown named after the fish he gave me a throaty chuckle you know the area well then I asked eagerly oh hi the shabby sailor replied been making this run with the captain for naon 6 years now amongst Town's where you'll be getting Resupplied from once you take over at the Lighthouse good place to have a few drinks WHYY

a lonely fisherman's wife he winked salaciously pretty much the opposite of insur inur the piss hole he scaled bunch of inbreds they don't like Outsiders pretty much keep to themselves it was once a prosperous little place until the big flood of 1896 after that the people became closed Off even been talk of visitors going missing around the area but stay clear of that place I nodded not really understanding anyways the Sailor brightened another hour or so we'll be at monst toown you can disembark somebody will meet you there no doubt well Captain it's arranged for

you to be rode across the island can't say I envy you it's the lon life you're choosing unless you smuggle a couple of Them Fisherman's wi across the reach with you he chuckled before stomping away sighing I went back to my captain and began to pack my trunk it didn't take long I didn't have much not now not after the war it was around midafternoon when we arrived and I disembarked into a large grally Beach a small trunk that contain all my worldly Goods behind me from what I could see of monst toown It was

a typical Cornish sea village not little on the rundown side the houses for the most part were made of good honest Stone painted white slate Roes others made it from wooden planking a thatched roof sagging along the sea front there are rows of Nets strung out to be dried and mended scattered about were barnacle and crusted crab pots some still baited with the rotten carcasses Of fish there smelled of brine Tangy smell of the ocean on the beach lay an assortment of small vessels with various equipment to harvest the Bounty of the ocean hello there

a voice called Almost carried away with the growing wind Conroy James Conroy I turned at the sound of my own name there was a man coming down the Slick Steps From the quayside that led down to the beach front it was tall and Slender a large mustache dressed head to toe in a dark blue suit with brass buttons and a small Peak cap as he drew near he reached out and I took the offered hand Jenkins you smiled at me the name's William Jenkins postmaster of this particular neck of the woods I am also head

of the parish council and in this case the Fairman for the day he chuckled nodding out to see at the looming Lighthouse pleasure to meet you I smiled retrieving My hand I was told I'd be met by a Mr Bob Curry that have been coming here to replace the postman's wide smile faltered somewhat oh I'm a afraid Mr Curry's dead few days ago myself and two other concerned members of the parish noticed the lighthouse was not illuminated in particularly foggy weather nor was the horn sounding of course this was some cause for alarm with ship

Breakers and all ship Breakers my question ah yes he Replied gazing out to seea that's what the locals call The Reef of course the denisons of inur have another name for it but we here at monk toown give little concern about those rabble sorry sorry what was I again the lighthouse I reminded him gently ah yes he continued the fog was terrible creeping across the water filling the whole Bay So I myself and a few other bravely launched a rowboat to see what Old Rum pot was up to forgive me he said For speaking ill

of the Dead Bob Curley was a a a wasr a heavy drinker to boot he never even attended Mass he whispered in conspiratory tones anyway we found the lighthouse wide open and unattended so we went to investigate the lighthous Keeper's Cottage and well that's where we found him hanging from the rafters an empty bottle of whiskey beneath his dangling Feet oh never mind he brightened the whole mess has been cleaned up nothing for you to worry about your references from the war department were impeccable I've even found you one a few medals overseas I nodded

at this but said no more how did I explain to the man that I had tossed those Metals into the ocean on my own Journey from my old life to this new one probably in some vain hope of leaving the old life behind Me still it seemed that my dreams were not quite ready to let go of me did you leave a note sorry he said seemingly confused the Lighthouse Keeper did he leave a note ah I I got your meaning he shuffled his feet it wasn't so much as a note uh just drunken mindless

scribbling barely legible I come along he took me gently by the shoulder and I let him lead me a small way down the beach to a r wooden Dock where a wooden rowo lay heavy in the water and laad in with supplies hop in he smiled it's only a small ride but the tide will be turning soon following his lead I sat down trying hard to keep my balance as he settled in and grabbed up the ores there's water in the bottom of the boat I said with raised eyebrows he laughed at that there's always

some water at the bottom of a boat Mr Conroy one only needs to worry when the water is coming Over the the top of the boat chuckling to himself he began to row and smooth practice strokes towards the waiting Lighthouse the journey took less than 10 minutes and we landed on a small shingle covered Beach the lighthouse itself stood at top a rearing Cliff that for Where I Stood looked surprisingly flat as if some dark giant had risen from the sea and lopped off the top of the jagged rock with a sharp Axe sighing knowing

this would be damn hard work we loaded ourselves with supplies and headed up the stone stairs that had been carved into the very Cliff itself blessedly there was a wooden handrail encrusted with sea salt still I hugged the cliff side not quite trusting the rotting wood to take my weight until at last my heart pounding and my legs a little shaky he finally reached the Top If the exertion bothered my companion at all he didn't show It and I had a feeling he may have made this trip many times before probably to supply the now

deceased Li housekeeper from what I'd been told of the man he didn't seem the kind that would frequent Town very often well here we are the Postmaster said dumping my supplies in the ground before retrieving a large Iron Key key from his pocket uh this is the key to the cottage inside you'll find most of the Cupboards already stock with tin Goods also uh at side of the lighthouse is the fuel shed as you probably know the lighthouse F old has recently been fitted with an oil run generator and the marvels of modern science we're

truly living in a remarkable age no doubt you have already been trained but you will find any instructions you may need to be in the desk drawer of your study along with uh the survey maps and maps of the surrounding area on both sea and land You'll be resupplied once a month all you need to do is make a list of what you may need and take it down to a Gren store he'll give the receipts to me and I'll claim back any money from the parish uh now do you have any questions I thought

for a moment before shaking my head nothing I could think of not right now gy held out his hand which I shook wasting no time he hurried away without a backwards glance as if eager to be on his Way perhaps it was the changing tide I had a feeling he didn't like this place I was came to be back in town his obligation to me fulfilled sighing I looked up at the cloud covered Sky it'd be dark soon and I was eager to be settled into my new home after I'd unpacked my few belongings and

restocked my cupboards I stood outside upon the Porch the cottage was much larger than I expected with two floors and a small back garden with soil that had obviously been transported from the mainlands a few scant vegetables grew here and there but mostly it consisted of weeds a kind of sharp looking seagrass as for the house itself it was a two-story two-bedroom Affair thankfully it had indoor plumbing and a study with a good solid desk and multiple bookcases Laden with books survey Maps they had Not yet had the time or the inclination to fully explore

the kitchen contained a large wood or coal burning stove a few cabinets and a pantry there was also a trapo in one Dusty corner of this room room with a large iron ring I pulled it it open easily enough showing wooden steps that led into darkness I'd assumed this was some kind of Cellar storage area before slamming The door back in place I was tired not in the mood for any more Adventure this day as I watched the sunset Beyond the Horizon buried in the fading shadow of the lighthouse I lit up my cob pipe

and sat on a nearby Rock enjoying the scent fragrant tobacco mixed with the salty brine of the good Sea Air could I be happy here would the war begin to fade and my dreams come my own again it was too early to say tapping my pipe clean I stood and went back inside I was bone weary after a quick meal I stripped down washed climbed into bed but sleep was a long time coming it was still dark when I suddenly shut Awake bolting upright taking in great gulps of air as a hot sweat ran down

my rigid body I've been dreaming but not about the war already it was beginning to fade something had been calling to me from the ocean Something In The Deep a malevolent Watcher I fought free of the sheets threw open the window letting in a cold wind trying desperately to remember Had I been drowning pulled into the cold black abyss it it was no good it was already gone in the way of dreams I was about to turn away when a sudden movement caught my eye something that seemed to slide over the Rocks illuminated by the

moon my first thought was a seal How could a seal have traversed the wooden steps that led up to the flattened Clifftop quickly I threw on my trousers and Boots not bothering with a shirt as I hastily ran down the wooden steps grabbed up my long coat and rifle as I bolted outside the cold hit me like a fist and the aroma I had found so pleasant in the sane light of day now smelled somehow stronger almost overpowering and I spat into the dirt to clear my parched throat before stepping off the porch My foot

came down on something wet and I cried out desperate to maintain my balance the cloud cleared the moon and I I cried out in horror as I saw the Myriad of rotting creatures scattered all about dying fish twitched and convulsed amongst the crawling seaweed where various kinds of octopi slithered heed Mother of God I whispered backing up until my knees un hinged spilled me backwards on my own porch suddenly there came a gurgling Scream that pierced the night shattering my nerves and I I Le to my feet and ran back inside before locking the door

and slamming various bolts into place I backed away rifle shaking held out before me just then there came a loud booming and the door began to shake and vibrate as brackish water poured and Spilled in from under the door with a cry of Terror I fired off a single shot missing the door completely plaster dust exploded And the rifle jammed in my hand as I took the stairs two at a time before fleeing into my room and barricading the door with a nearby Welsh dresser I hurried over to the still open window freeing the jammed

round before kneeling and taking up a sniper position my heart hammering in my chest expecting to see a legion of demons parading through the darkness there was nothing only the suen crash of the ocean Mournful as if it had been cheated of some terrible prize I don't know how long I had knelt there but at some point my overstressed mind must have sucked me under and I awoke with the bright Autumn Sunshine piercing my eyes groaning I stood just as there came a vicious knocking from downstairs and a worried voice drifted up to me Conroy

James Conroy are you up there I Recognized the voice immediately it was the voice of William Jenkins the postmaster never in my life I'd ever been so happy to hear another human being's voice quickly standing I threw my rifle onto the bed and ran down both steps and threw open the door at the side of my wide-eyed appearance Jenkins took a step back gasping I roughly pushed past him not believing what I was actually seeing the Myriad of sea creatures were Gone all of them not a single sign remained except for a few strands of

fly blown seaweed ignoring his questions I turned and inspected the wooden floor which was still very very wet and now stained with widish deposits of brackish sea salt Jenkins put a hand on my shoulder and I jumped pushing his hand free what is it James he said his face a mask of concern what happened what are you looking For taking a deep breath I got my racing emotions under control I grabbed him by the arm something happened last night I don't know what happened but something did sure Jam sure let's talk he said gently pulling

free as we stepped inside turning I locked the door and led him into the kitchen less than an hour later I felt like a bloody fool we both sat at the kitchen table the good clean light of day seeming to Wash away last night's Terror you see how it is James Williams said taking a sip of his steaming coffee he was a couple of those rogue waves as all we get them in the bay this time of year one wash those fish and crabs and other such things onto your Cliff side and another washed them

away flooded your porch but that scream I shuttered that God awful scream Bosman Shrugged seabird more likely picking over all those dead fish you mentioned the Islands out in the bay are nesting grounds safe haven for many kinds of seabirds and the thing I saw sliding over those rocks James he sighed you yourself said you had awoken from a terrible dream in what is still a strange place you hadn't been sleeping much beforehand so that's it you think it was what a attack of nerves I huffed oh you tell me what else it could be

mermaids perhaps he chuckled I can help but smile At that one perhaps he was right and it was all an attack of nerves or a kind of hallucination brought on by a lack of sleep and the last few months of strain that I had suffered abroad I felt more settled now and it it all seemed so far away in the clean light of day oh come on now then he said walking me to the steps nodding I Rose and fell in beside him as we stepped Outside he turned to me digging into his jacket pocket

mustn't forget this this is why I came to visit in the first place he said anding me a rough brown envelope I believe it's so the ministry confirming your position as the new Lighthouse Keeper of the Kings Born Lighthouse it should have come yesterday with your arrival but yeah you know how these things are and Times of war and all the young men away I nodded Solemnly that stuff the envelope in my pocket is yet unopened anyway he brightened must be off he offered his hand which I took gladly that boat of yours still leaking

I grinned at him noting the small bobbing vessel tied to the rough wooden dock he laughed then oh I'd worry about your own boat not mine I have a boat I said taken by surprise of course he chuckled how do you expect the cross the reach by swimming obviously you haven't Check the lighthouse inventory I left for you yet no I said embarrassed well you'll find it there he said pointing to the far left side of the beach there's a small cave just above the tideline believe your predecessor made the place into some kind of

Workshop not that he ever did much work couldn't say what kind of state you'll find the place in anyway I must be off still plenty to do bye James we shook hands once again and he descended the rickety stairs with the same sh footedness that I had noted before I didn't stay to watch him leave but returned to my new home and cooked myself some breakfast before checking over the lighthouse and making sure the generator was full and the lamps and windows were thoroughly cleaned all this took me to around midday I only stopped for

a brief bite to eat before descending the stairs down To the beach the day was a clear one and I could quite easily make out the roofs and spires of monks toown turning I headed down the beach my boots gritting on the rough sand the sea spray dampening my hair and rough Woolen long coat after only a couple of minutes I reached the mouth of the cave which was wide and high ceiling not very deep only going 8 or maybe 10 ft into the rock Face there I found my boat wrapped in canvas and secured

by rough hemp rope nailed to the walls with the rusting spikes were an assortment of tools as I ventured further in I found an old pitted Sea Chest with a rusting padlock I ignored this and quickly untied the boat struggling somewhat with the sailor's knot that had been tied in place at last I freed the knot and threw back the canvas the boat beneath was actually in Good condition showing signs of recent repairs two ORS inside were firm and sturdy showing no signs of wear or splintering satisfied for now I covered the whole thing back

in place tying it down with much simpler knots I had learned in the Army and back home on the farm before taking my attention Back to the Sea Chest kneeling down I gave it an experimental shove expecting it to be heavy perhaps filled with more tools Maybe some nails and strong hemp rope but it shifted easily still I heard something slide inside curious now talked on the lock but rusted as it was it stubbornly would not budge standing I grabbed an old craftsman Hammer from a Peg and gave it an experimental swing before turning it

on the lock it took three blows before the lock gave way in a shower of rust filed Sparks and I put the hammer back In place before opening the creaking lid there was a package at the bottom something wrapped in more canvas and the same hemp rope reaching down I picked it up and realized almost immediately by its weight and size it was a slender book of some kind stuffing it in my coat weary of the growing wind I double checked my boat was Secure I headed back up the steps and went back inside quickly

I took off My Soden coat boots and little large fire in the study once the fire was burning to my satisfaction I sat at my desk with a glass of sipping whiskey to help fight off the cold and begin to unwrap the book cursing I picked at the small knot until at last it popped free revealing a leatherbound book within the leather was faded and ancient looking The Binding was still en I turned the book over looking for some kind of name or title but there was nothing taking another drink I opened the book the

first page was blanked the second read The Diary of Lucas vanravan 1836 outside the wind howled and the Seas crashed like a harbinger of Doom I grew up in a small town in Massachusetts during the '90s it was a great time and place to be a kid our main street was chalk full of kid-friendly activities there was an enormous outside go-kart track with a huge arcade full of the best games from the 80s and 90s I remember spending hours playing the alligator version of wack-a-mole then just down the street it was tont Town wasn't anything

special just a typical '90s music store but they had a Cute little dog with a bandana who was in all their TV commercials though I've long forgotten the little guy's name he was really cute whenever I'd go in to buy a new cassette tape he'd be there to greet me at the door out of all the places I went to as a kid Funland was by far the greatest it had its own go-kart track a small one for little kids and a larger one for bigger kids it wasn't as big or Fancy as the one

down the street but it was still fun they were batting cages too lots of them you had a small arcade mostly filled with pinball machines Pacman and the always popular Simpsons arcade game but the best thing about Funland was was the mini golf course he was the only one in the area at the time and in the eyes of a 10-year-old kid place was huge the iconic spaceship with the Funland logo Sat in the center of the park you could see it from the street along with a giant giraffe statue which stared out into the

parking lot smiling down at you as you entered there were other memorable statues too including a pink elephant and a large dollhouse that sat in the back corner but the greatest part of the entire park was the 18th hole on the outside it just looked like an ordinary out housee if you got a hole in one not only did you get a free game But the ouse door would swing open and you'd hear the sound of a toilet flushing along with the hiss of the Hydraulics that move the animatronic inside it was a funny looking

humanoid dog wearing overalls one strap hanging down off his shoulder as if he just pulled them up his eyes would blink his jaw would move and his arm would rise as he pointed at you scolding you for disturbing him hey what do you think you're doing get out Of here he yell in a goofy attempt at a Southern accent then the door would close and you and your friends would have a good laugh before we left every time I went there I couldn't wait to see that dog like all things from childhood the fun of

Main Street slowly faded away I think the go-kart track and arcade were the first to go sitting abandoned for years before it being turned into a daycare Center they still kept the track having only gutted and rebuilt the arcade to serve their needs so we just sat there in the back with one or two remaining go-karts Frozen in time then tont Town went out of business unable to keep up with bigger music chains like Newberry com and FYE I imagine that cute little dog has to be dead by now last to go of course was

Funland it was painful to see it start To rot and Decay its last few years of life the paint on the animal statues faded the eyes of the giraffe looking sadly out into the emptying parking lot as less and less visitors came to see it in the park of officially closed I was heartbroken by that time I was in high school and it had been a long time since I visited the park I used to drive by on my way to work watching it slowly deteriorating away the elephant Eventually tipped over onto its side the

chain around its huge stump of a foot that had been keeping it latched to the ground was now visible and exposed the doors and windows of the dollhouse were broken and shattered as if they were real abandoning houses and the ouse door remained closed the wood creaking with age I only imagine what that poor animatronic dog inside looked like eventually nature reclaimed the Once thriving Park and I could no longer see into it all that remained visible was the head of the giraffe peeking over the rusted fence curiosity got the better of me so I

gathered my two friends Kevin and Zach one night and we decided to break in and check it out as we walked up to the surrounding gate I looked up with the giraffe it was the first time I noticed Just how creepy it looked it's yellow coat of paint had almost completely faded leaving only its brown spots and huge almond shaped black eyes continuing on We snuck into the back of the park near the batting cages Zack brought a pair of garden shears and cut the fence open it's just enough for us to squeeze through as

I entered the park for the first time and what must have been over a decade I looked around in complete Awe everything was just how I remembered it the go-karts were still on the tracks the batting cages still had balls in them but the arcade was all boarded up up the mini golf course was covered with trees was damp with overflow from the nearby swamp I sighed saddened by the sight of what was once a happy and magical place for my childhood the feeling the old abandoned Park gave off at night set a shiver down

My spine I never really noticed how creepy it was until then we went through the course in order starting at the first hole there's nothing special just the usual challenging mounds of fake grass now moist with rain the swamp hadn't reached that far yet as we continued we walked past the Pink Elephant now a shade of ghostly white he lay on his side eyes staring vacantly out into the Park as if he had just expired I ran my fingers over his massive head before moving on the dollhouse was the next memorable thing we came came

across it looked like a miniature haunted house I have expected the broken doors and windows to be boarded up like the arcade was but you could still see inside the little pieces of furniture were all toppled over and Spilled Out on the Ground this is the part of the park where the swamp had touched the smell wasn't as bad as I thought it would be the town was covered with swamps as it was we couldn't reach the entire back section unless we wanted to Wade through the disgusting water our only choice was to head straight

to the 18th hole finally the part of the park I wanted to see the most more than anything I wanted to see that dog again there was half Nostalgia and half An excited sort of fear of what it would look like was it even still there was it in good condition preserved by the ous or was was it like everything else in the park sad and neglected after all this time I couldn't wait to find out did you bring it I asked Kevin he nodded and handed me one of his dad's golf balls I held

it in my hand sighing Deeply as I ran my thumb over the grooves I had stepped up to the ouse and peered underneath where I knew the hole would be and there was a sudden flash of light temporarily blinding me what the [ __ ] Zach I complained blinking away the white yellow spots in my eyes I was just trying to help he replied Moody let's just hurry up and get out of here yeah added Kevin this place gives me the creeps until I see him it's not I'm sure I must have sounded crazy I

Was talking about the dog as if it were a person to me he was more than just some Sideshow attraction to be gawked at that he was a part of my childhood it was like I was about to meet an old friend I hadn't seen in ages my friends didn't reply Zach simply kept his flashlight pointed beneath the ous and Kevin sighed in annoyance tapping his foot impatiently but now we could all see It the hole the white tube in the ground that brought the golf balls back into the little Hut at the entrance that

once contained all the golf balls and clubs it was barely visible over the mound created by the fake Turf but it was still there and I had a clear shot I placed the ball on the ground and aiming carefully rolled it towards the hole we could hear the ball enter the pipe the sound of it swirling down into The ground echoing in the silent park Zach and I stepped back beside Kevin the light now shining on the house itself I clenched my fist in anticipation wishing with all of my heart that it would somehow still

work that the door would open and the dog would still be there it was a stupid wish we all jumped at the sudden sound of the once familiar flushing noise now slightly Distorted then the doors began to open and the loud hiss of the Hydraulics resonated through the night we stood there breathless and Silent it worked we actually made it work after all these years I'd finally get to see him again I was so happy that I could feel the sides of my mouth curl into a magnificent Smile as if as if I were a

child opening a present but the present wasn't what I had been expecting in All there he stood my once familiar friend my reward for getting my hole in one but I could hardly recognize him the fur that covered his metal frame was matted and wet and his overalls hung loose around him like it it would if someone had lost a great deal of weight my breath caught in my throat which was now suddenly dry I swallowed softly eyes widening as they traveled up to the dog's Face it was a horrible hideous sight the fake on

half of his head had torn away exposing the wires and Joint mechanisms in his mechanical jaw I never remembered him having teeth on the same side his plastic eye had sprung from its socket now remain dangling by his torn cheek then he blinked the mechanism on the broken eye shuddered around the exposed wire releasing small Sparks more Sparks flew as his arm shot up with a Clang and the hinge of his jaw creaked as his mouth flopped open he spoke what do you think you're doing here the funny Southern draw of his voice was completely

gone replaced by something raspy angry although I could hear the chilling Distortion in his voice box he sounded more human than I never remembered Kevin ran he didn't even look back Zack dropped his phone and suddenly Backed away screaming as he stared into the dog's one good eye which seemed to turn on him at the disturbance then somehow the dog moved forward he wasn't programmed to walk as far as I knew the Hydraulics attached to his back only sat him up he wasn't supposed to walk but by God I saw that once funny animatronic dog

from my childhood step out of that old withered Ouse towards us I stood there Frozen in fear staring at it [ __ ] [ __ ] this I heard Zach utter before he too left me and now I was alone with him I'd spent so many years thinking about this very moment I spent countless hours thinking about this dog and wanting to see him one last time but I knew then I should never have stepped foot into this old park my childhood was Dead as broken as the wires and metal rods that barely held the

dog together he seemed to watch Zach go his good eye turning with a crackling sound as he watched him disappear into the darkness and then turned on me get out he commanded his arm still pointing now in the direction of the parking lot where the headlights of Zach's car just turned on I I didn't move I could only stare was this some kind of sick Nightmare some bizarre fantasy my brain thought up to get my mind off of a time I could no longer return to the thing stepped closer its disfigured face near inches from

my own the smell of wet dogs seemed to invade my nostrils get out of here it boomed the voice box short circuiting as if it had exploded before slowly fading out it sounded like multiple voices had spoken all deep and aggressive almost demonic This time I listened and I ran as fast as I could through the park which was dimly lit by the headlights of the car my eyes darted around the once familiar area now seemed foreign and strange I couldn't tell where I was going I heard the sound of children laughing the trumpeting call

of an elephant the clanging and grinding of metal gear ear when I finally reached the fence I tried sliding through the hole we came Through but I got stuck on something I looked down to see if my jacket was caught but it wasn't and then I looked back staring right into my eyes was one plastic eyeball with a painted on black pupil my eyes widen staring back into that black spot as if it were a hole a hole ready to swallow me alive and then I discovered the reason I was stuck the hand of the

animatronic dog who gripping the back of my Shirt I know that hand was supposed to be stuck in a pointing position it didn't have any mechanical functions to actually open and close but then again the dog wasn't supposed to be walking you shouldn't have come back I heard it whisper setting a chill up my spine and then it released me with a shove I fell through the opening in the fence scrambling to my feet I ran to Zach's car not once looking back as he sped off down Main Street it's been 5 years since that

night I don't talk to Kevin and Zach Much Anymore never spoken of the incident not even on the car ride home I never drove down that strench of Main Street either until today it was late and the road I usually take had a detour which led me right to it what harm would driving by do I should have known Better I tried not to look I really did but I just couldn't help sneaking a peak I couldn't see much through all the rain but I noticed the large f leiss sign that now hung on the

fence the giraffe was gone perhaps it fallen over and was hidden under the thick brush with a sigh I continued on trying to push the memories that night out of my mind my windshield began to fog up from The indecisive New England weather so I put my defrosters on then I noticed something instead of clearing from the bottom up like it normally would my windshields began to clear in patterns it Formed words I stared at them hoping with all hope that it was just a fluke or a figment of my imagination but the the message

was clear don't Come back when the police asked what caused me to crash into the pole just outside of the abandoned Park all I could do was wrap the blanket they gave me tightly around myself as I stared back towards the bushes and trees that concealed the location of the 18th hole dog was all I could tell them it was that dog I used to live in a small town Called fenter it was a quiet place to grow up with one school a doctor a police station the cinema with films shown a month after the

national release date two restaurants and a host of local shops on the west side over on the east side of fenter was the residential area with about 40 houses the town bar and the local Woods which are about 20 square miles and across even though I grown up my whole life playing in those woods it was still Easy to get lost in them so my father used to tell me and my friends to never go past the creek that ran through about a mile in still this gave us plenty of space to play in we

spent most Summers building tree forts and playing hide-and seek amongst the tall trees one late summer evening me and my friend Jess were out near the creek seeing how close we could sneak up on the rabbits that inhabited the woods Before they'd noticed and run away i' spent about 10 minutes searching for one and in my eagerness I'd left Jess behind she'd stopped to examine some odd-shaped rocks being impatient I told her to catch up when she was finished I was just reaching a hill when the creek bent and curved round to travel off North

for another 3 miles when I spied one chewing on some leaves near an oak tree I held my breath grab my jacket to Stop it flapping in the breeze and began slowly inching towards it I was careful to avoid stepping on any Twigs if one snapped Under Foot it was a DE it game over and with the sun going down this would probably be the last chance I got to play before I had to go home for dinner the rabbit was blissfully unaware of my presence its Brown coat tinged orange by the Setting Sun ears

flopped down like a hunter's hat the irony Didn't Escape me as I crept up on it silent as the leaves floating in the breeze I smirked I was about 4 M away from it now and it still hadn't noticed me not my best but not bad I slowed my Pace even more I didn't want to make a rookie mistake in my excitement and ruin this opportunity the rabbit finished on its leaf and casually began sniffing the next one before digging in 2 m away now the closest I'd ever Gotten I felt my heart beat in

my chest and for a second I was scared the rabbit would hear it thuing against my rib cage and he would Dart off I shook my head and continued up behind it it was almost within Arm's Reach couldn't believe it I stretched out my arm fingers extended wait till just heard about this I'd be the first kid in town to have touched a forest rabbit my hand is about a foot from Brushing its soft Pelt now I could see each individual hair on its back 30 cm I done it I done it suddenly an earpiercing

scream pierced the air shaking The Silence of the woods into shock and causing the resting Birds to panic and Scatter from the trees I gasped and quick as a flash the rabbit was under the brush and gone forever I cursed aloud and spat frustration clouding my head it was a good few seconds before I Even stopped to think where the scream had come from then like a falling tree it hit me Jess I sprinted back up the creek as fast as I could she'd been about 200 yards back when I last seen her near the

old silver birch it took me about 2 minutes to reach the spot next to the weird pile of rocks my brow was covered in sweat and my hair was messed up with the wind had whipped through it but all I could think of was Finding Jess even though I knew the woods were perfectly safe I cursed myself for having left her alone I spun around in a circle scanning for any sign of her but there was none Jess I yelled out my face my voice traveling through the woods and echoing off the trees it was

getting darker the tall Shadows were being cast all around me like a net Jess where are you call out To me Jess I stood and I listened but there was no reply I was just about to run further up the creek Where the Trail began and to see if she had started to make her way home when I saw it on the other side of the creek about 50 yard away it stood tall as the lowest branches of the Sycamore next to it About 7 ft up it was covered in Black Rags ripped and torn

across its thin wiry body with a hood pulled tightly around its head obscuring its features two white pupiless eyes staring at me from shadowed recesses and I spied a flash of teeth long slender arms with hook-like fingers spaying off of stumped hands almost dragged against the floor by its sides I suddenly noticed an overpowered smell And wondered how I'd missed it I'd smelt it before on the farms when the cattle were harvesting in slaughter houses it was the smell of death thick and despairing I almost choked but my mouth wouldn't make a sound I just

kept staring at it petrified blood running cold through my veins even the Birds had stopped yelling and protest and now There was nothing but silence it an I locked in a gaze that I would remember to the day I die I don't know how long I was standing like that felt like minutes but it was probably only a few seconds suddenly it shifted its weight and hunched down for a brief second I thought it was going to start running at me and I almost threw up uncontrollable fear racking my body but then I noticed it

had stooped to collect Something from the ground I cried out silently it was Jess her limp body looking like a doll compared to its freakishly proportioned frame despite being thin and stick-like it picked her up in one bony hand with ease fingers clasped around her waist teeth bared in a crooked humorless smile it opened up part of its soul and pulled her close against its blackened torso I got glimpses of a rib cage and Rotten flesh I reached out my arm as if somehow I could I could pull her back to me but but it

was too late it had turned and started to stride off deeper into the forest even if I had known that area of the woods and had the strength to move my legs I would have never been able to catch up to it and before I even knew it it it disappeared from sight like it had never been there at All only the heavy smell of Decay was left lingering in the air the only evidence that I hadn't just imagined the whole thing I snapped my head around and began to run back towards town it was

a good mile distance and I I'd never run that far before but that day I ran and ran and didn't stop jumping over Fallen logs and ducking branches I dared not look Back the darkness was almost complete by the time I burst from the undergrowth and into the town's Edge I sprinted to the bar and threw myself in the door practically collapsing on the floor I don't really remember much after that but from what I was told later on took them about 10 minutes to stop me from screaming about a demon that I'd seen in

the woods and that we had to find Jess by the time they'd actually gotten The story out of me and organized a search Party 2 hours had passed justess as Dad shook me and shouted at me asked me what happened to his baby girl I could only stare dumbfounded and mute until my own father dragged him off and told him to get a grip the Sheriff organized the towns folk into two groups they each took a section of the woods I tried to tell them that they all needed to bring their guns that the thing

had to be Killed the thought of going up against a nightmare unarmed was too much I begged my father to stay but he told me to stay calm that I was talking nonsense I was probably just in shock my mind making up stories to deal with what happened he sent me home to rest under the watchful eye of my mother as he led one of the groups Into the Woods Woods 3 hours Passed I was laying in bed still unable to sleep huddled in my blankets paranoid of every shadow and Creek convinced that it the

nightmare was going to come back for me the only witness to its Abomination I heard the front door open and the heavy steps of men entering the living room down stairs I listened as they sat down and began to talk damnest thing I've ever seen in my Life Jerry I don't know what's out there but it sure riled up the dogs I was the sheriff speaking what was it bear do you think Sheriff I don't know the speaker but he sounded young maybe one of the farm hands maybe all I know is two of my

best tracker hounds caught a scent started going mad tore off in the woods fast I ever seen him run and then didn't come back now we're two dogs and a little girl down Jesus H then the voice of my dad I eased up a little knowing he was back in the house it made me feel safer Chris said he found the poor girl's gloves down by the creek right where my boy said they were playing the unknown voice came again obviously Chris it's true they were covered in some kind of slime or something don't know

what but it smelled God awful one of the boys almost upped his liquor all right well at least we know she's there not hoping for much but I'll pray it's one big Forest chances of finding her are Mighty slim Sheriff side suppose I better go tell the family they should be prepared for the possibility they'll never see Jess again [ __ ] no man should have to outlive his kid not knowing like this didn't Travis say he saw something big moving through the forest another unknown voice this one knew yeah he radioed in said he

saw some kind of sh I Don't know giant moving in the forest the man was half pissed it's dark as the bottom of a whale out there probably just jumping in Shadows no more likely a bear or a wolf or something jumped her from behind dragged her off Sheriff again my father spoke voice raised so everyone could hear okay let's I'll go home it's been a tough night we'll search again for her in the morning even if it's only a body we find it's better than the poor Folks not knowing what happened I want everyone

to tell their kids not to go into the forest no more till we know for certain what occurred understood there was a Mumble of agreement and then solemn goodbyes the men left and the front door locked shut behind them my father moved about downstairs stairs for a few minutes before climbing the stairs and going to bed before he turned in he poked his Head into my room to check I was okay I just pretended to be asleep I had nothing to say I didn't even know what to tell myself one thing I knew for certain

I hadn't been hallucinating I had really seen it and whatever it was it had Jess I waited for a half hour after I heard my dad climb to his bed before I sat Up switched my bedside light on I crept out of my bed and got dressed as quietly as I could then I descended the stairs my father had taught me how to shoot and maintain a gun a few years back out here in the country it was important to know hunting was a tradition amongst the men and when I was old enough my father

would take me camping in the woods for a weekend of game shooting like his father before Him I knew where my father kept his 44 magnum and rounds in the garage and after searching around for a few minutes I found the keys for the lock box I opened it loaded the pistol and grabbed the flashlight before leaving the house and locking the door behind me my breath misted in the air as the unseasonably cold chill hung around me I looked at the forest once a place of fun and laughter now dark and Sinister in the

Moonlight branches stretching and contorting towards the sky like skeletal fingers that thing had Jess and I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do a damn thing to get her back after all it was my fault for leaving her alone out there I swallowed back the lump in my throat and began tenaciously walking down the road towards the woods don't worry J I thought I'm [Music] coming as I entered the woods I immediately began to question my actions I knew that what I was doing was not smart by any stretch of the imagination that my

fool hardiness could very well get me killed the thought of bumping into the creature out here alone in the dark was more terrifying than anything I could ever imagine and knowing that Jess was in that very situation herself was the Only thing that drove me on I trudged on the familiar old trail for about 20 minutes or so until I eventually came to the creek I'd never been here before in the dark and although everything was where it should be it looked different it was as if these were my Woods to play in during the

day but now in the Dark it was an alien place this was its domain I was a stranger here unwelcome this feeling was reinforced by the fact that I had no idea what lay beyond the Creek except for what I'd seen in the immediate area from the other side carefully I crossed the creek the water soaking through my boots dampening my trouser legs as soon as I stepped out on the Other side felt like I was lost how would I find my way back which direction would I go in I ignored the first question I

had bigger things to worry about at the moment and decided to head off in the direction I'd last seen the creature going started walking vigilant for any signs of movement or noise I'd expected there to be animals out this late at night but Eily it was silent which made me feel vulnerable every footstep sounded like an alarm telling the creature where I was I stopped for a moment and looked around with my flashlight I felt like the darkness was swallowing me me that the thing sat just outside the border of light laughing in my efforts

to find it I realized that if there was anything out there the light would only serve to give away my Position effectively ending any kind of Advantage I would have over it after a pause I switched off the flashlight and waited for my eyes to adjust it was difficult at first but after a few minutes I could make out enough of the forest to start slowly making my way through it was about 10 minutes later when I heard it a short sharp Yelp to my left in the distance I paused and waited to see if

another noise was Made a moment later a snap echoed through the darkness and a dull thump I was not alone anymore swallowing fear I sunk to my hunches and slowly made my way way towards the noise I had plenty of experience at being quiet from the Rabbit game even in the dark I didn't find it too hard to distribute weight so as to move almost silently after a while I reached a clearing where the trees parted to a Grassy patch about half the size of a football field in the center of the clearing was a

rocky depression that sunk down into the Earth I was about to make my way over and investigate when I saw it it was standing near the edge of the clearing to the South and was slowly limping its way over to the depression dragging something behind it in the dark I couldn't make out what it was but it Was about the size of a child except if the child had been snapped in the middle it flapped limply with every bounce like a paper fan I swallowed a lump tears stung my eyes I wasn't sure if I

was more scared or sad I prayed to God to not let it be Jess and continue to watch it as it reached the pit and then hurled the object over the rim it hit the ground With the unmistakable sound of crunching bone the creature bent down head first as if to crawl down the rocks and then stop slowly it stood back up and sniffed I instinctively pressed my back to a tree removing myself from View and strained to listen I heard it sniff again softly and walk around what sounded like a small circle and then

nothing I Waited For What seemed like an eternity I I waited I was unbearably tense expecting to see its milky eyes slowly peer around the side of the tree followed by that big crooked smile at any second or L hooked finger to slide out of the darkness and rest itself on my shoulder nothing happened though and nothing continued to happen for the next couple of minutes Gathering my courage I hesitantly Glanced around the truck only to see the clearing was empty I double triple quadruple checked the area making deadly sure it was gone and then

I stepped out back to the clearing Edge making sure to keep low to the ground to step out into the clearing was out of the question it was suicidal what if it was only hiding at the clearing Edge itself or waiting in the Rocky fissure at the center he would defy all Logic rebel against every survival Instinct and yet I had to know I'd come here looking for Jess if I turned back now with without checking to see if it was her crumbled and contorted at the bottom of those rocks then I may never know

the sheriff was right the not knowing was the worst part before I stepped out I pulled the Magnum from out of my waistband and Cocked the hammer back being careful to mute the Click by smothering it between my legs when it was loaded and ready to fire I began to slowly inch my way out of the safety of the tree line and into the open I took a few steps and stopped waiting to see if anything came crashing towards me and when nothing did I continued my cautious Journey to the depression when I reached the

lip I aimed the gun Ahead of me and looked over it was a couple of feet deep about 10 or so and was a little larger than I had expected one side of the hole was Hollow and extended into the ground as a sort of cave large enough to drive a car through at the mouth of the cave was the body slumped over a jagged Rock I glanced around again making sure I wasn't being snuck up on and then started to lower myself down I just need A quick glance to make sure it wasn't or

or that it was Jess and then I'd leave run back to fenter I'd wake up my dad and the others and lead them here and we'd kill it in this cave that was surely its dwelling it could be in there right now watching me struggle down the smooth Rock but I reason that if it was in the cave then there was nothing I could do about it I must be crazy fear consumed my brain so completely I must not be Able to feel anything anymore I thought this was proven wrong when I slipped and fell

off the side of the rock Landing awkwardly and sending pain shooting through my ankle I almost cursed aloud but bit down on my lip and shouted silently in my head luckily it wasn't Twisted just achy and I was able to walk on it without a problem the last thing I needed now was a broken foot my thoughts were so preoccupied with a sudden pain that i' Had forgotten I was now right next to the cadaver my leg bumped against it and I spun around gun at the ready almost firing it off into the Rocks I

quickly berated myself for being so trigger itchy and then I looked down relief and repulsion flooded through me from this I could see it wasn't Jess wasn't even Human Instead I realized it was a large Dog one of the sheriff's hounds that had gone missing earlier its back was snapped in two and folded upon itself snout crumpled back into its face turning it into a flat tooth fil Gap blood fur bone and brain were spattered over it his eye positioned in such a way way that it appeared to be staring right at me I looked

away and felt bile rising in my throat the smell of death and Decay Was overpowering this close to the cave and I dreaded to think what other corpses were nestled away inside I was about to begin scrambling back up the edge of the depression when I heard a sob I spun around and stared in the darkness of the cave it sounded faint as if it had come from quite a ways away echoing through narrow Rock passages until eventually finding its way to the surface it came again this time it was Unmistakable the sound of a

child crying the first thoughts to rush through my head were of Joy she she was alive it must be Jess hidden away deep in this creature's Lair and soon as the thought had come I realized that the fear unlike any I'd ever thought possible to feel that I'd have to go into the cave and get her I didn't have a choice I just couldn't turn back now I I may as well kill Myself with the gun I held in my shaking hand and live with the guilt I pulled out the flashlight and ready the gun

switching it on the beam stung my eyes for a few seconds as they adjusted to the sudden light but I could see the cave went on for a few meters just before widening into a kind of large Rocky chamber that had passages of varying sizes detouring off further underground I entered the Mouth of the cave and Shone the beam over the walls and floor the beam danced over bones scattered across the ground it looked as if every type of animal in the forest had eventually wound up in here torn apart and then stripped of Flesh

I covered my mouth and nose with the sleeve of my gun hand and continued to walk there were four passages the sobbing appeared to be coming from the one furthest to the left Thankfully it was one of the wider ones and I found I could comfortably walk down it still have enough room to stand up straight if the creature were to come now from the mouth of the cave I'd be trapped however if it was already in the cave then I was walking straight into its spindly disproportionate arms I swallowed hard and continued to walk

after a couple of meters it turned right sharply and opened up to a small version of the chamber I had just come From I was amazed to find it was full of items watches jewelry passports letters glasses clothes books wallets it went on as if a museum to sentimentality and trinkets I picked one of the passports and opened it up Paul Ashcroft born 1972 Aon Ford Ohio another R Richard blunt born 1954 Westville California I shown the light over the letters seeing the addresses were the places all over the country then it dawned on me

I finally understood it all made sense the reason I had never seen this thing in the woods before was because it had only arrived a short time back it must have traveled from place to place from forest to National Park to Desert to Mountain picking people off Taking their effects moving on to the next town it was like like a sick scavenger hunt it was killing people and keeping their items as souvenirs another saw brought me back to reality and I dropped the passport to the ground I hurriedly walked to the back of the chamber

I now called the Museum and found another short passage to a medium-sized Cavern inside was Jess sitting on the floor crying she Looked up when my light Shone over her and covered her eyes please pleas please let me go she burst out into fresh sobs tears streaming down her pale cheeks I stood paralyzed for a second I was so intent on finding her that now that I had I didn't know quite what to do I decided I had best let her know it was me before deciding on anything I shown the light upwards Illuminating my

face Jess stopped sobbing and stared Jess I come to rescue you we don't have Much time we need to go now before the thing comes back and finds me here I whispered kneeling beside her she did nothing for a few moments then threw her arms around me her body shaking I I thought I was going to die down here I thought it was going to eat me like it did the rest I just I don't it's she trailed off unable to get her words out through the tears I squeezed her back for a moment then

went to lift her the sound of metal clanging against Rock Reverberated through the cave I Shone the light down and my heart sunk she was chained to a heavy metal ring pin that had been nailed deep into the Rocks bes SP her I couldn't escape she sniffled I tried to pull it out but it's no use I stood for a second defeat washing over me okay I I could go get help come back and no she squeaked please don't leave me here panic spread across her face and It was all I could do to promise

not to leave I thought for a few moments and then realizing my only option I took her chin and looked her in the eye okay Jess I have a gun um I'm going to have to to shoot the chain to set you free it's could be very loud the noise will probably attract the thing here she said nothing just looked at me as soon as it's broken we're going to have to run for the cave entrance and Back through the woods she looked thoughtful for a moment and then she took my chin kissed me and

nodded I blushed sitting below ground in a monster cave and I was blushing I almost laughed I I forced the emotion down just smiled before taking the gun and aiming at the chain ready to cover your ears I'll do it on three Okay one [Music] two a guttural moan sounded from the mouth of a cave and it carried its way to us I saw the color drain from Jess's face and I knew mine was doing the same it was back without thinking I pulled the trigger the gun cracked deafening in such a small space and

the chain shattered I grabbed Jess before she could react and pulled her up sprinting towards the museum as we entered into it I dive behind a table full of bricka pulling her down with me no sooner had we landed on the floor I saw the creature enter into the room and scramble over to the passage we had just exited from as soon as it was gone from sight I pulled her back up and pushed her towards the passage that led to the Cav mouth she didn't need to be told twice we ran as fast as

our legs could carry us as the cave mouth came into view a Scream full of horror and anger Rang from behind us as it discovered its meal had been stolen as we got to the Cav mouth I could hear wood splintering and the tinkle of all dozens of tiny objects hitting Stone as it tore through the museum after us I grabbed J's foot and hoisted her up till she grabbed the lip of the depression and pulled herself into the clearing I spun around and saw it exit the passage into the main chamber its Hood had

fallen down and Exposed what can only be described as a half intact half human face I fired a shot off in its direction and it screeched in agony as the 44 bullet connected with its thigh knocking it back for a second I took the distraction and spun around leaping for the edge of the depression and grabbing a hold just seized me by the collar and helped pull me up just as I felt hooked fingers brush the bottom of my shoe we started to run across the clearing the sun was Coming up now the sky was

pinky red casting a slight glow on everything we ran and we ran and we ran and the whole time I could hear it crashing through the trees after us if I hadn't have hid it in the thigh I don't think we would have stood a chance about running it but somewhere some God was watching over us it was about 45 minutes before we reached the creek and by the time we saw the edge of the woods an hour had passed I still to this day do not know How we managed to run so fast so

far without stopping but I do remember the adrenaline and coursing through me so violently that I shook for hours afterward when we reached fenter I fired the gun off into the air and within 2 minutes dumb struck towns people surrounded us some asking what had happened others grabbing and hugging Jess and and most just staring blankly when Jess's father arrived he Broke down and cried holding his girl to his chest and thanking God and me equally for his daughter's safe return then my father arrived he took the gun from me put his hand on my

shoulder and gave me a look it was a look that said he didn't care what happened then he was just glad I was safe regardless we had to explain to the sheriff what had happened and after we both explained our stories a group was Organized and armed and I was asked to lead my dad the sheriff and 20 or so other men to the cave I was tired and reluctant to go back but next to my dad I felt safe after a couple of hours we came across the clearing and found the cave system just

as we described the museum was empty the shattered chain was found at the back untouched and a brief examination of the other caves revealed Them to contain skeletons of other people later identified as other missing persons from the towns that backed off of fenter woods the medical check showed they had been dead for days the woods were searched all day but nothing was turned up that night as I looked out of my window before going to sleep they saw it again standing at the edge of the Woods it looked at me through my window for

a While and I stared back at it like when we first encountered one another and then it turned and walked back into the woods I knew this would be the last time I saw it it was moving on to another place away from fenter away from this area the woods were searched for another another week but nothing was found the official report States people had been kidnapped and killed by a Maniac who had escaped Into the Wilderness before he could be apprehended although the people of fenter never question our version of the story this is

my account this all happened 12 years ago now and it is but a distant memory just just finished University and is going on to become a lawyer for animal rights I'm working on the Family Farm after dropping out of college I tell you the Story not to entertain you but as a warning next time you decide to go hiking in the mountains camping in the woods it is still out there and next time it might be your town that it decides to visit be safe I don't sleep with my window open anymore no matter how

hot outside it gets that bastard stays closed it's been this way for long long time since I was very young it's not a Real hit with the ladies during summertime people usually recommend air conditioners and I usually go with the prospect when I have company but when it's in I don't sleep well at all because I can only imagine how easy it would be for anyone to bypass them there's a single perk to an AC though well besides the relief from the hot stickiness of The Summer's humidity and that's the steady hum which stifles The

silence I don't like the silence you see there was a time when it brought me an almost zen-like level of peace and Tranquility but now I find it invasive dangerous silence never comes alone from time to time I can still hear the chanting from my youth I can hear them all wordlessly and yet with prestigious synchronicity and harmony with one Another their conjoined voices Echo out from the woods like the gentle and yet threatening Breeze that precedes a violent hail storm rhythmic yet senseless it never went away and yet I know they've all moved on

or died I know this all very well when I was about 9 years old my dad and I lived in this old rented two family apartment house in a town called Bridgewater in the state of Massachusetts we lived on the bottom floor the second floor wasn't used it was recently vacated by its prior residence it was very quiet neighborhood very suburban and with plenty of woods behind our house there was a backyard that proceeded into a very large Forest that spanned for Miles I used to play playing there my dad and mother were recently divorced

so they were just the three of us living Here me him and the dog cash who was named after the late country singer Johnny Cash he was an old Scottish Terrier you know the type ankle biters with the real ugly bearded faces they got him as a pup when I was still in diapers he was my lifelong friend he may have been something of an idiot but at the time he was all I had I cried and cried when Mom tried to take Him in the end he was left in my father's care for my

sake cash and I would spend a lot of time playing in the woods when you're young your imagination is a very powerful thing and the woods had an almost magic quality in terms of supplementation for my imagination I'd play army build forts climb trees one time me and cash traveled in so far I actually got lost we were losing Daylight as it was October and the light was fading at a much faster rate I began to panic afraid that we'd be trapped here in the pitch black as we walked around frantic for landmarks anything familiar

that's when I saw it the clearing with a large Rock in the center it wasn't exactly uncommon to see graffiti and vandal in the woods a public Forest is known quite well for trees with messages carved into them names swastikas Brad and Jen forever a Nice cute little heart you know stuff like that not to mention the pseudo gang names sprayed across on rocks that was the impression I got of this place a hangout for older kids but something wasn't right me being only nine my mind wasn't exactly capable of comprehending the connotations of symbols

and other things and yet there was something really off about these images never seen anything like them Before surrounding trees had crudely shaped images of what appeared to be a Goatman hybrid like a stick figure with an unnecessarily detailed goat's head composed over where you'd expect to see a very basic stick figure face these images were drawn over and over and over again all over the trees that surrounded the clearing almost obsessively so and not just at the basic human height level but all up the trees as if whoever carved them had to use a

Ladder The Rock itself had a red marking all over it letters that I've never seen before and underneath though was written in black spray paint a message I actually could read it said behold the wisdom of the horn and below the that were five painted lines they were all the same height except for the two outer lines that were twice the height and spiraled outward at the Top what really scared me about this place though were the dolls they were hanging from the branches around the clearing they appeared to have been woven out of sticks

poorly so taking a closer look I realized what was so scary about them while the stick dolls were clearly constructed with a Grace of shitty arts and crafts students the heads of them were dry and clean animal skulls I didn't know what of but they Were bleached white dry and clean and they're Hollow sockets I I can't explain it effectively without sounding insane but there was something sentient about them watchful pleading I could feel their eyes on me though they had none to watch with I felt fear not my own fear mind you but something

an aura of emotion that made absolutely no sense have you ever been at an underage Drinking party that got crashed by the police it's it's that kind of fear the fear that comes synonymously with trouble I can't explain why I did it but I reached up and I touched one maybe it was a child's General inquisitive nature that compelled me maybe it was Fascination or an intense desire to quell my fear and convince myself that they were just dolls not the watchful spirits that I would eventually come to believe they Were when I touched it

the skull fell off the doll Unwound itself only a piece of it remained attached to the rawh hide rope that it was suspended from the skull cracked when I hit the ground when it happened there was a certainty that quelled inside me as naive as a 9-year-old could be there was also a certainty that remained with me to this day I don't belong Here cash immediately started barking when the doll fell and it startled me so effectively that I let out a scream I looked up the sky was glowing red with a Darkness not too

far behind the sun was going down and I had to get out of here cash was staring at me black eyes wide open and tail wagging violently he was barking at me insistently he began to growl at something maybe air maybe ghosts when I approached him he turned and ran the cash was my only companion In this unnatural place and I would have been damned if I was going to let him betray me to Solitude here so I gave Chase I ran for my life the last thing I saw before I chased cash was something

that that really messed with me all the other dolls that were hanging when I first arrived they were dangling some even spinning lazily in the breeze and yet as I ran after cash I saw every single doll on that site we're completely Stationary staring facing me directly I mean I was dismissive of the detail as I was more afraid of being alone I never let cash out of my sight he led me straight home I never loved my dog more than when I realized what he had done for me dogs are never lost they always

know the way before I went to bed I told my dad what I saw he laughed at off he told me it was Just teenagers being punks and that I should just let it go I found it comforting was almost willing to let it go I even fell asleep without any trouble that night was when I heard it for the first time the noise that haunt me to this very day I woke up and hear noise coming through my window I got up and looked out to listen closer and that's what I Realized it was

chanting voices dozens maybe they were coming from the woods I could hear them loudly and rhythmically I didn't know what they were saying but I could tell it was ceremonious like the Hem you hear people sing in churches except it felt dark violent even I immediately thought about the clearing of the rock the dolls the fear I knew in my bones that the chanting was Coming from there what scared me the most was that it it wasn't far it wasn't far at all the chanting went on for hours I just I just laid there in

bed wide-eyed with fear listening to it praying that it' stop it it wouldn't though it went on until 4 in the morning when the early birds began to wake up I stopped playing in the woods my dad noticed the behavior immediately and asked if I was all right I called him about the chanting and again he Shrugged his shoulders and and said that it was probably teenagers drinking beers having a party I asked them why they drink beer and chant the same sound for 5 hours he told me they weren't chanting that I imagined it

that should close the window from now on and I probably should have listened to him but I didn't Curiosity got the better of me the next night the chanting began again at exactly 11:00 it seemed louder than before I I couldn't sleep hearing it but I couldn't bring myself to close the window I don't know why I thought this way probably because I was just a child dimwitted thought at the time that if I closed my window I wouldn't be able to hear them coming if they decided to break into the House logic's flawed I

know they'd still be chanting as they emerged from the woods and crossed my yard and not be nice and quiet about it I mean that's how I thought back then it's why I couldn't close the window because I I had to know if they were coming now this went on for several days every night from 11: to 4:00 exactly on the DOT sometimes I could see in the woods way Way way out there a faint glow like the light of a fire but it was so faint and far in between that I didn't know whether

to acknowledge or dismiss it as a trick of my own eyes other times I'd successfully fall asleep due to exhaustion only to wake up several hours later in a panic still able to hear it I asked my dad if cash could sleep in my room on the third night and he said It'd be fine it felt better knowing I had the dog to keep me company while I would hear the noises and better yet if I could hear them coming he would too then he'd be a dog about it start barking out the window at

them I anticipated a good night's sleep and even felt silly for not thinking about this solution earlier I fell asleep at 8 with cash sleeping at The foot of my bed I woke up at A4 11 to cash barking he was on his two hind legs tail wagging spastically and he was barking out the window ears pointed up barking growling howling out the window I immediately got out of bed and looked out the window towards the woods nothing nothing at all cash was very agitated growling and looking at me then back out the windows And

barking the chanting was still going on same as the last couple of days I remember feeling uncomfortable that cash was barking at the noise if he was in danger of getting their attention I tried to calm him down that's when my dad came in he stumbled in groggy picked up the dog and turned walked out the door with him mumbling about him shutting the hell up I called his name but he was so asleep he was practically dead on his feet I screamed at him dad The woods that got his attention he turned around and

walked up to me looked out the window then back again this again he mumbled look boy it's just your imagination no listen that's what cash was going crazy about there are people singing in the woods just listen he looked carefully out the window cash was growling in his arms his Head turned to the window I I listened too but it was nothing no sound total silence couldn't believe it could this have been a a coincidence my dad told me to go to sleep and left the room mumbling insults cash the silence chilled me far more

than the chanting ever did at least when they were singing their Malicious hems there was at least a sense of distance between them and me but right now I I know they're out there but I don't know where I had no bearings whatsoever what was worse what brought unprecedented Terror upon me was that there was no nighttime ambience in those woods no crickets evenings brought them out in droves this time of year and even when they were chanting I could still hear Them but now it was quieter than bone chilling winter nights it was pure

silence how long did I stare out the window at those woods across my backyard I I have no idea when I woke up the next day I was still sitting in the chair I planted right by it that morning over breakfast I insisted that there really was chanting out there but my dad wasn't hearing any of it he put his foot down and told me that he Won't hear any more of this that I need to grow up and take responsibility and stop being so afraid all the time you know typical dad [ __ ]

didn't even bother to bring up the lack of crickets knowing full well he'd have made up an explanation for that as well so I kept quiet and I atat my breakfast later that day I was waiting for my mom to pick me up at the end of my dad's driveway to bring me to my grandmother's house where she was currently living it Was Friday and my mom had me on weekends as I was waiting a large black pickup truck was passed by the house very slowly came to a stop right in front of me there

were two men in the truck older about my dad's age at first I thought maybe they were friends of his but this thought didn't last the driver rolled down his window and looked at me he was bald and wearing abnormally slim sunglasses he was smoking a thin cigar cigarillo I remember the strong smell of It he looked at me as if he were sizing me up investigating for moment until finally he smiled at me reaching over and hitting his friend on the shoulder and pointing me out to him he too was bald and wearing the

same sunglasses they said something to each other and then the driver looked back at me with a terrible smile he drove away waving slowly at me as he did so they passed me by three more times Before my Mom finally picked me up I didn't give those two any thought just took comfort in the thought that I'd be sleeping somewhere else for the next couple of nights the weekend went by without a hitch and sleeping over at Grandma's house was such a relief when I told her and Mom about the voices in the woods they

just looked at each other and told me to tell Dad about it frustrated I argued that I did but it Was pointless she too used the it's just your imagination crap same as dad not once during the whole experience did the memory leave my mind of the two men in the truck with a distant chanting and soon enough I'd have to return Sunday night came along and I was dropped back off at my dad's house for I would spend the whole day dreading the inevitable Nightfall dreading the answer of whether or not I would hear

the Chanting in the woods hear the strange people sing their dark songs in unison I begged my dad to let me keep cash in the room with me tonight but he said no leaving me to face what happened next alone so come bedtime I was sitting on my chair by the window staring into the darkness until the hour came I stayed up to 11: expecting to hear it what I got was silence no singing no crickets either Just pure silence couldn't tell if I was relieved or terrified maybe they all moved on maybe they were

somewhere else to play their creepy Games took some self-concn knowing that I was safe reluctantly I crawled into my bed and closed my eyes I woke up to the most bone chilling [ __ ] up thing I had ever seen it was surreal [ __ ] image of it Every time I sleep my brain immediately surged itself into full function Beyond conscious and and straightened a full-fledged fight or flight as a cold hand forced its way over my mouth and shoved my face into my own mattress I felt a body much larger than mine bear

down on me I felt the jagged kneecap Ram itself directly into my stomach as I was then pulled out of my bed and wrestled into a standing position the cold hand still holding my Mouth shut another hand wedged my left hand directly behind my back and pulling upwards until the pain became so unbearable I thought my arm was going to come off sh a voice whispered into my ear his breath was ice cold yeah said another voice across the room my eyes were well adjusted to the darkness as it was and I could see through

the Moonlight shining into my now open window a man wearing a horrible horrible Mask at first I thought he had the head of a goat but I knew better the goat stared with lifeless marbles where its eyes should have been its head was a mask made out of the severed head of a goat or Ram not properly stuffed and half rotted its horns curled into spirals jutting out of its head and random patches of the fur were missing simply to show raw blistering skin I tried to scream but the hand over my mouth Tightened its

grip my arm behind my back pulled to near breaking points scream and we'll kill you the voice whispered into my ear my eyes couldn't no they wouldn't break away from the horrible person wearing the severed goat's head as a mask he was shirtless wearing a necklace of what appeared to be bones he was horribly emaciated there were markings all up and down his torso in his right hand he held a knife about the size of my Forearm its build wasn't like a knife I had ever seen it took a step closer to me and pressed

it up against my throat the steel was bitterly cold in the tip of the blade was sharper than anything I'd ever felt it would take less than 4 o of pressure to open my throat and they knew that I knew that I couldn't cry I couldn't even breathe in its other hand it held a Basic candle tomorrow the thing said his voice muffled by the lifeless dead ghost mask you'll exit your house at midnight you'll light this candle place it on the ground in the center of your yard and you will sit behind it legs

crossed right foot on top of your left knee and vice versa if you don't do this The Voice whispered in my ear the blood of your loved ones will be on your Hands the Goatman quickly retreated the blade from my neck and I don't remember what happened next I remember waking up in my bed panting and crying my dad came in to see what was wrong with me and when I told him he told me it was just a nightmare at this point he sat down at the end of my bed he looked very wary

like he didn't want to say what he was about to say he rubbed his eyes with his fists and weely explained to me that This was all just me stressing over the divorce maybe we should look into talking to a therapist about these voices and the hallucinations that I've been having I remember feeling so betrayed So Alone by the unfairness of that I argued with him that everything I was seeing and hearing was true but it was it was too late he and mom talked it out my behavior my claims I think I was losing

my [ __ ] over The divorce their minds were made up nothing I was going to say would have convinced them otherwise and of course and hindsight it only made perfect sense who believe a 9-year-old when they say that there were voices I was silent the whole day cash sat with me in my room as I wasted the daylight playing video games I didn't speak to my old man not once I could see the weary look on his face when he walked by my room but he didn't want to Press the issue he looked just

as defeated as I did his spent most of his time on the phone it wasn't until later that day I found myself recalling what the goat thing said to me before everything went dark that I had to light a candle at midnight but when I woke up that morning there was nothing in my room there there was a sudden sense of hope because when I searched around my room trying to find his candle it was nowhere to be found Never even to this day have I searched so hard for something only to be frantically pleased

by the end results it it was gone have I been alleviated from my duties imposed On Me by these strange Interlopers the relief was unbelievable like I was severed from a horrible burden even the thought of being forced to see a shrink didn't seem so harsh compared to the prospect that maybe these attackers really were just a Bad dream a severely realistic dream mind you but a dream nevertheless I maybe maybe the whole situation really was over maybe these horrible people did move on that the the goat man was simply a mental projection of my

own imaginative expectation towards whatever it was that those unnatural proceedings just beyond my sight were you know speculation Nightfall came and for the first time in a Week I felt no fear at the prospect of it it felt good like things were going back to normal but but I was wrong I was so wrong when I placed my head on the pillow eyes already closing Consciousness already drifting away I felt a lump under my pillow curiously I reached down there and I I felt something something long and smooth and I pulled out a candle a

tall thin wax candle with a nice long wig it was red just like the one that the Goatman is holding my heart sank my mouth went dry tears ran down my cheeks and in that moment I relived the entirety of last night all over again down to the the very last detail where the guy holding Me whispered in my ear how the blood of the ones I loved would be on my hands and suddenly I was back in Hell how did they get the candle under my pillow had I overlooked it this whole time I

I lied in my bed until midnight I didn't dare close my eyes for fear of being held at knife Point again for fear of coming face to face with that horrible goat creature the night was silent no crickets no Birds nothing Dead Silence I could see that had turned 1201 the memory of the goat man in my mind uttering its instructions to me over and over again go outside like the candle sit behind it do it or the blood of my loved ones will be on my hands at the time I didn't know what it

meant to have blood on your hands the following day I would learn exactly what it meant around 10 minutes in I mustered up The courage to walk over to my window and look out it what I saw choked me on the spot side by side at the entrance of the woods I saw men shadowed by the night standing side by side there must have been 20 of them none of them saying anything they were all dead silent and I could feel their eyes on me he was just as strong as when I felt the eyes

of the dolls on me back at their sight in a way they felt like The same presence the same intelligence I can't explain and then then I saw him the goat man or rather the silhouette of him standing in the center of the figures he was still a stone but I could make out that face shape the jutting horns I I could make it all out I chickened Out I couldn't go out there I just couldn't I hid in my bed blankets over my head and I shut my eyes tight crying all night I didn't

fall asleep till I heard the early morning Birds I was awake by 11:30 shortly after breakfast I heard my dad shouting in the front yard and I I went out to check and see what was happening what had him so upset as I went out the front door I Could hear him more clearly I could hear the pain on his voice a KN formed in my throat and a hering sensation crawled across my skin I I wasn't ready need to learn about the events that transpired and not that was truly the scariest part the moment

before actualization these people mentioned blood on my hands I didn't know what it meant I had a vague idea it meant my family getting hurt I Thought I thought I thought they got my dad and when I got to him I saw he was on his knees crying cash was killed he was hit by a car there he lay goofy pointed ears his absurdly silly dog beard black eyes staring hanging tongues stationary forever son my Dad cried as he turned to hug me it's okay he quickly led me back Into the house away from Cash's

lifeless body away from my best friend dead and mutilated on the side of the road last thing I remember seeing as I was brought in the house was a large pickup truck driving by slowly I saw the same two bald men his oldest dad staring at me through oddly slim sunglasses I saw blood on their front right tire and I I saw the driver Point directly at Me Cash's death was my fault as I said it out loud my Dad held me tight and said with Stone Cold certainty that it wasn't my fault that sometimes

these things happen he told me exactly what you would expect a father to tell his kid when their pet is killed in a random and seemingly pointless accident but but I knew better the people in the woods killed cash and it was all because I didn't do What they said it was because I was a coward his blood was on my hands just as they said it would be when I went into my room to cry I I saw outside my window a man in the center of the backyard a man with no shirt on

who's wearing a mask made out of a severed goat's head hollowed out on the inside in the daylight it was far more disturbing to see because I could almost Smell the lack of Sanitation it had to have exerted I could see that it was surrounded by flies but even worse than that I saw a note he was holding up a piece of paper with a single word written across it midnight I couldn't handle it I ran outside to chase him down but when I got outside it was gone my hate and anger somehow superseded my

guilt and sadness because I ran far into the woods before realizing that this time if I got lost I wouldn't have cash to lead me back to the house I'd be alone no i' I'd have whatever was in here with me I I could feel eyes and here I could feel eyes everywhere my every move was being watched from the Autumn canopy to the bushes just yards away I knew I was surrounded in here and as my senses came more clear from the adrenaline fueled rage I was experiencing I Realized it was getting stronger by

the minute and I noticed the smell the stench at the time I thought it smelled like bad milk or baloney that was left in the refrigerator for too long it was strong it was too strong my eyes began to water and I could feel my stomach begin to turn How could a smell be so painful to endure and then it occurred to me they killed my best Friend there was only one more life they could take and that was my dad's the presence became stronger I could hear whispering in the wind the smell grew more

powerful with every breath any second I was certain I'd be overwhelmed by God knows what they realized that if I didn't do what they demanded of me I'd be taken Here and Now what could I have done I shook my head and began to Cry okay I'll do it the relief was instantaneous the woods became brighter the smell gone the feeling of being watched replaced by what I could only be described as Serene the woods went from a den of unspeakable Terror to a place of well it was just woods again Ju Just as it

always Was I came back home and helped my dad dig Cash's grave we said our goodbyes and buried him he made up a cute dog bone shaped Tombstone out of leftover wood from his old workshop and and that was that my mom came over that day and we all went out to dinner food was the best I ever had you gave cash a little toast And that was that in the back of my mind midnight Midnight midnight I spent another silent night staring at my clock watching the numbers transform into the next every 60 seconds

the weight was agonizing each passing minute was like a minute removed from my life that night I was certain that I was going to die and I was trapped it would have killed my parents if I tried anything killing cash made that entirely too clear to me 11:55 11:56 1157 1158 11:59 I looked out the window they were all there side by side Shadows of People and the Goatman in the center all their eyes were on me I looked back at the clock midnight I looked back out the window they were gone they knew they

knew I was going to come out tonight they they killed my dog and then threatened to kill me on the spot after I followed them into the woods and they knew I was broken my spirits shattered and that I was more Afraid of what would happen if I didn't come out over what happened if I did I grabbed the candle and walked into my backyard the darkness was thick thicker than usual in the smell sour milk spoiled lunch meat blood rot Decay [ __ ] puke bile death my skin began to crawl and a shiver

took over me breathing became difficult I could scarcely make out the Forest before me it wasn't just an entrance or a boundary it was a living breathing thing it was anticip a in my every move as I took a step into my yard a jolt of Terror shot through me as I passed through the motion sensors and activated the backyard light it was relief in the light safety at least for a little while anyways I used my father's lighter to spark up the candle I planted it into The cold dewy grass and sat down nice

and slowly R it across my leg legs I never sat in the full position that I was instructed to because as I was in the process of sitting down I saw it two green eyes have you ever shined your light directly on an animal's face way off in the distance lived at a night at a distance where it was too far away to make out what it looks like but not far away for its eyes to not catch and Reflect the light this was exactly what I saw except seemed to be high above the ground

higher than a coyote's head higher than than a human's height it appeared to be pacing back and forth in the woods I could hear the leaves shuffling with each step it was taking constantly coming in and out of existence due to the Unseen trees eclipsing those glowing shards of light those glaring eyes It must have been reflecting off the backyard light I I could hear it breathing it sounded painful to me the air came out in short sporadic breaths and when it did I felt the Huffs of frozen air rank with the rotten stench go

right through me I I don't remember how long it paced like this never leaving the outskirts of the woods never breaking eye contact with me every now and then it would stop and L lower closer to the ground Until its eyes were level with me it would remain in that position like a cat low to the ground preparing to pounce its prey he would only stay in this position for 10 seconds at a time before it would rise back up and Pace more after I did this several times I realized something was stopping it the

light I was dumb struck Frozen in place my throat Was so tight the air was barely getting in me barely getting out of me there was a powerful sense etched within my soul that any sudden movement would have sent this unspeakable thing into a frenzy at me light or not I didn't know if it was going to outright kill me here in the backyard or if it was going to drag me into the woods and eat me alive there I I didn't know what the relationship between this and the the Psychopaths that ordered me Out

here was what I did know was that with each moment moment it wasn't getting me it was getting matter I I couldn't let it get me I couldn't let it take me away theoretically I was safe in the light except the thing was that this motion sensor light r on a timer I knew that timer would run out soon and when it did the light would go and nothing would stop it from getting me with all my courage all my willpower I forced myself to stand up letting out a horse breath the eyes immediately stopped

moving when they saw me stand I can't tell you for certain but I was almost positive they narrowed the prospect of me escaping infuriated it in such a level that it began to stalk towards me I could tell it was moving fast threateningly showing a willingness to Brave the light I took a step back and when I did it took a Swift step Forward I could almost see its shape thin tall bony too dark to distinguish any specific features except well it had horns large curled spiral like horns or at least it looked like it

did I don't I don't remember running back into the house I don't remember making it inside I don't remember anything after the point with the light shut off it was Sudden as if death caught me the timer was up the light shut down it enveloped me in darkness and I recall hearing it scream sound like a child denied its toy or was that me because when the light died I [ __ ] ran it was hours later when I came to my senses my dad was holding me my mom was there too I was crying

later they'd tell me that I was screaming don't let it get me over and and over again don't let it Get me I don't remember myself I never saw that creature again I never saw the man with a goat mask again a two old man in the pickup truck I never saw them again either that day forward I slept with the window shut the next day my mom and dad took me outside to explain that nothing had happened we saw displaced grass mixed With mud we even saw Gore marks on the trees I thought this

would be evidence enough to plead my case but it didn't my dad immediately laughed at me telling me he figured the whole thing out I had an encounter with a deer those markings in the trees were from Antlers and it charged at me because it felt threatened this was such a convenient explanation that I [ __ ] wish to God that it was true but I knew Otherwise several weeks later I heard that there was a missing person search that took place in these woods but I myself had never seen or heard anything at the

time my dad and therapist insisted this knowledge would only enable my Tendencies as a schizophrenic said he stopped me from looking into it I me yeah I was diagnosed with a paranoid schizophrenia disorder order they said that I got it through my inability to Cope with a divorce they told me that I had retracted into a delusion because I felt responsible for the family's collapse and that my youthful underdeveloped mind couldn't process the guilt properly that these cultists and their beasts were just agents of personal symbolism something something like that for a while I believed

everything they told me lies felt safe the lies were Comfortable several years later they would tell me that I would have made a full recovery it's an easy process since I never had another encounter again and at that point in time I was so angry I just told them what they wanted to hear when I became old enough I suffered all ties with my parents and I moved out of the state once I was on my own I looked into the town's archives and researched as much Information as I could about that era when I

was nine the missing person report the man hunt in those woods they lasted several days and all they found was one man he was torn apart his limbs removed his organs missing they found that he was wearing a peculiar mask the head of a ram but its innards were carefully carved and hollowed to fit over a human head and when they removed the Helmet they saw that he died with an expression of absolute horror I took pleasure in that I'd like to believe these men were cultists that they were attempting to appease some unseen unnamed

God a God that absolutely should not have existed a God that had no right to walk among men and that during their attempts to appease it IID botched their ritual by breaking an important piece of the Process the doll and in their attempt to salvage it they forced me into offering myself up as a sacrifice but its failure to do whatever it was going to do to me that night destroyed the whole operation I prefer to believe that in the name of Vengeance this angry thing turned on its own worshippers killing them and dragging them

all back to wherever it came From it's the only thing that makes sense to me there's just there's just one thing I still can't figure out and why is it that no matter where I go when I'm all alone in quiet places in the dead of night why can I still hear them chanting that Unholy sermon that I heard so long ago in the Woods when I was nine the world we live in is full of things we don't understand being the Curious humans that we are we naturally try and seek these things out doing

so has led us to remarkable discoveries and inventions that we never could have imagined 100 years ago we've defeated disease built to the sky itself created machines that could take us beyond the clouds and the Stars if our ancestors could see us and what we've created I'm sure many of them would see us as gods our innate curiosity and lust for knowledge has not always led us to Greatness however true evil and darkness have also been uncovered in Humanity's conquest of knowledge and in the end I fear this evil will be our Doom I don't

say this from a standpoint Of a great philosopher who sat and simply pondered things either no I I say this because I've seen it I've experienced it I was a part of it the event about to relay to you is true in its entirety this I swear I I feel certain that this will fall on deaf ears and many of you will believe this to be just another spooky story meant to give you cheap thrills but I promise you that this is neither my intent nor My purpose the purpose of the story is to Simply

warn you of what lurks Beyond the Veil of what we can see and understand to show you what awaits Us in the darkness even if I myself don't understand it what I'm about to tell you has happened and I feel certain it will happen Again in 1971 a not so well-known scientist began preparations for an extremely secretive project known simply as the harbinger experiment I'd like to keep the identity of the scientist a secret for person reasons so throughout the accounting I'll refer to him as Zimmerman Zimmerman's background is unclear at best Beyond 1971 all

that's known about him before that time is that he had grown up Somewhere in Maryland with a strange fascination of the occult and Supernatural this later made him an outcast amongst his fellow scientists due to how scoffed upon the metaphysical was and still is at the time Zimmerman's opinions concerning the otherworldly were not the sole cause for him being an outcast though it was his methods that made him widely unacceptable amongst his peers Zimmerman was well known during This time for being ruthless and cold beyond measure he never cared about the means all that mattered

to him was results and if he predicted the results to be valuable enough anything would be worth obtaining them it was this insatiable and brutal lust for the truth that made him feared amongst those that knew of him and the few that knew of him and did not fear Him believed in him and followed him and His work very closely the word Harbinger itself has such a mysterious and intimidating taste to it maybe it's the way it rolls from our tongues or maybe it's simply due to its association with the project but the word always

seems to carry a certain amount of Doom with it which would make sense the word itself means to warn or forbode I can't imagine Zimmerman's reason for giving the experiment this title but in retrospect it fits Perfectly zerman came to a select few me being one of them he told us that he was working on something big and that he needed people who could keep confidentiality and not spread idle gossip of his work while he did not fully trust some of us he did know that we were professionals and that for some reason or another

we were all in dire need of employment I'd worked at the local Clinic as a doctor but I was caught Stealing medication and was promptly fired this left a very dark mark on my resume so work was hard to find I was also a native to Alaska and lived near where the experiment would take place so I guess you could say I was a convenient choice and as you can imagine I jumped at the opportunity it was hard not to when I saw the payout 15 of us were hired in total some Were colleagues of

his that he'd been working with for a while some were maintenance workers a few hired as private security I was the only Medical Professional to be hired still a Wonder to me how he even attained the funds necessary for the experiment I wouldn't be wholly surprised if his financing was not entirely legal but legal or not I needed the money and he was Paying looking back though I it's a decision I've come to regret after Zimmerman attained his money he used it to buy a relatively large of land deep in the Frozen Wilderness of Alaska

and upon that piece of land Zimmerman built a concrete structure not to similar to a bunker in fact the sole difference being that its goal was to keep any potential damage contained within the structure rather than keeping it out as he put it most of The structure dug underneath the Earth which had the effect of making the underground complex seem so much smaller than it really was from the outside as would be expected there was only one way of entering and leaving the underground structure and it was via a ladder that led from a small

unassuming concrete building on the surface which I would refer to from now on as the entrance building for convenience to the network Below after everyone had gone to bed at night the hatch that contained the ladder would be sealed off with a very large and thick metal lid Zimmerman was very strict about this located not too far away from the entrance building building was a series of wooden cabins that would serve as the sleeping quarters for the staff Zimmerman and hired compared to the entrance building standing on the surface the underground system was Massive at

the center of the complex was the control room this is where all the facilities electronics and such were linked to this included security cameras lights and door controls consoles monitors computers they all line the walls of this large Central chamber this is also where the ladder in the entrance building connected to in the underground complex connected to the control room Were three doors one that led to a smaller room that served as an infirmary another led to a break room and the last door led into the hallways the hallways where the complex began to feel

extremely Eerie they were for some reason laid out in an extremely confusing scheme that led in circles and to complete dead ends these hallways made up a vast majority of the complex and it would be Very easy to get lost in the Maze if you were unfamiliar with the complex but if you knew where you were going you'd find yourself standing before one of three 8 by 8T rooms before long each room had a camera hooked up to one of the corners of the room and all three of those cameras were connected to a corresponding

monitor in the control room cameras were also scattered throughout the hallways so that whoever was watching their corresponding monitor Could see anywhere they wanted to when they wanted to thick metal doors stood at the entrance to each of the three 8X 8T rooms and in order to open them you'd have to enter a four-digit code into a panel located near the door I remember when I first arrived to the complex how badly the hallways frighten me I've always been claustrophobic you see and those hallways were very narrow the noise or more Accurately the lack of

noise was also a tremendous source of fear for me in those Bleak narrow hallways it was always so unnaturally silent as if the entire world would stop moving really made you feel like you were trapped down there thankfully though I only rarely ventured into those hallways for I was the only Medical Professional in the facility and I had virtually no reason to go into them In the beginning I found it so peculiar that Zimmerman would ask for a medical professional like me on a project like this but by the time it was all over I

understood why the official purpose of the harbinger experiment was to test and observe the effects of extended isolation on the human mind this is what was listed on report being sent out at least but unbeknownst to all those who were not participating In the project excluding the subjects the true purpose was much darker like I said before Zimmerman had always had an obsession with the occult and Supernatural he sought to prove himself to those who did not believe in him he wanted physical proof that the supernatural was a real phenomenon he wanted to be the

first one to obtain said proof the true purpose of the harbinger Experiment was to find proof of the metaphysical a world we couldn't see the thought of doing this was naturally a tad bit daunting and even scary but it was Zimmerman's method of doing so that was truly terrifying Zimmerman believed that he'd be able to open a portal between worlds momentarily allowing three random entities to cross over to our world and each one of these beings would be trapped within one of the three Rooms Zimmerman had the theory that an entity would try and latch

onto the nearest living thing that had the capacity for it he wanted to use this technique to trap a spirit in a physical form by allowing it to enter a living being that had been injected with a compound mixture of Zimmerman's creation in theory this compound would keep the entity from Simply leaving whatever it was attached to the only way it' be able To leave a host who had been injected with a compound was through death according to Zimmerman the host would have to be something living with a will strong enough to survive the possession

there's only one known species that possesses the amount of will required for this humans had also done something to ensure the entities would only enter the three rooms and that there would only be one Entity in each room though I can't say I know exactly what he did in fact I know next to nothing when it comes to how zimman managed to do what he did he liked to keep his methodology a secret to his most trusted colleagues most likely due to his paranoia that someone would steal his ideas and take credit for the success

of said ideas if I had known that this was the true purpose before I signed up I may have Reconsidered but zerman decided not to tell us until we were all gathered at his Fortress even if any of us wanted to leave I doubt we would have been able to the security team zerman had hired was loyal to him and to the payout it wasn't likely that Zimmerman had given them the order to now allow anyone to leave there were three different subjects included in the experiment all were Native to Alaska and each one was

lured into the project under the belief that they would be participating in a harmless study in the effects of isolation on the human mind as I mentioned before which is why none of the subjects objected when they realized they'd be confined to one of the three rooms that I mentioned earlier the first subject was a young man he was apparently out of work and desperately needing the money that had been offered For participating in the study the second was a woman by looking at her I could tell she was an addict some sort the third

and final subject was an older man a Drifter if I had to guess one thing they all had in common was that none of them had any family or friends left in short no one would miss them which is why they were chosen I'm sorry I wish I could Supply more information about the subjects but all of this has been drawn from memory And I was given little information on the three to begin with the experiment did not officially began until 1987 16 years after its original announcement I was eager to begin so I began

packing up and headed to the complex as soon as I could I arrived at the complex a week before the subjects had even signed up and a whole month before the project even began I was not the first to arrive by any means when I got There Zimmerman his colleagues and the security team had already arrived suppose you could say I was among the people Zimmerman did not trust to arrive first everyone had arrived about a week before the experiment began there was a noticeable Rift between those who were simply for the money like me

and those who were followers of Zimmerman on October 15th 1987 all the preparations were in place The subjects had been sealed in their rooms the cameras lights and speakers were fully operational and all the staff members had settled in the time had come for the experiment to officially begin the zerman asked everyone to report to the control room around 900 p.m. to witness the beginnings of the experiment he wanted everyone to be present when he proved that all of his theories had been correct and that he was not just a Madman he wanted us to

see the fruits of his labor when everyone had finally gathered in the large control room Zimmerman turned to us and simply said observe he then turned his back to us leaned into the microphone that would project his voice through the three rooms and then he began chanting in a strange language that I feel certain no one but Zimmerman could understand we all observed the three Large monitors on the wall silently waiting for something to happen the subjects all stood in their room dumb struck by zeran's chanting staring at the monitors with confused Expressions on their

faces after about 5 minutes I felt something awful I can't explain what exactly it was but a horrible feeling of dread washed over me riddling me with fear it was then that the ground Actually began to shake suddenly and the lights began to flicker Zimmerman continued chanting into the microphone as if nothing was off or wrong while the subjects began dashing around in their rooms screaming for help then suddenly the ground stopped shaking and the monitor's images turned to static the air began to become very heavy as we all stared at the monitors waiting for

them to regain their image and show us What was happening or had happened in those three rooms for a while all was silent but then there was screaming the screams of a woman going through un unbearable pain and Terror began to echo through the compound the similar screams of men began to coincide with the woman's terrified screams and together they mixed into an awful Symphony of pain and fear that beat mercilessly into our ears those of us who were here for the money began to give each other scared looks while those loyal to Zimmerman seemed

completely unfazed we wanted to leave and never come back to this awful place but we all knew deep down that Zimmerman would never allow that to happen we were here for the Long Hall there was no Escape it was 10:13 p.m. when the Screaming finally stopped the monitors had yet to reveal to us what occurred in those three rooms as soon as the screaming ended Zimmerman stood and dismissed us all for the night adding that we were all forbidden to come back to the compound until 10: a.m. tomorrow morning not like any of us wanted

to we all solemnly made our way out of the compound and towards the cabins and settled in for the night I feel it's safe to say that not All of us slept well that night and I was not one of them the following morning all the staff had arrived at the entrance building we all stood inside exchanging tired or nervous looks as we waited for Zimmerman to arrive and open the hatch that concealed the ladder I could see palpable fear in the eyes of some of us while others did not seem to have been remotely

affected by what happened last Night Zimmerman showed up 5 minutes after 10 apologizing for his tardiness as he came through the door of the entrance building he opened the hatch and without any hesitation began descending the ladder downwards into the dark abyss he almost seemed enthusiastic I was the first to follow behind Zimmerman's Dark Descent into the facility it seemed that the farther I climbed down the more the darkness Closed in on me as if it was trying to swallow me whole and as I climbed deeper I couldn't help but feel that this place was

different somehow while before there was only the unsettling concrete hallways and rooms now there was something else something made the eeriness feel so real and precise ified it felt like a horrible and gruesome scene awaited us down there but I continued climbing downward despite my fear in my Hesitation this was no longer just a spooky bunker there was there was darkness and malevolence in the air a true evil now lived here and I could feel it we all could I finally felt my foot touch touch ground and let out a silent sigh of relief to

be on Solid Ground almost as if On Queue the light bulbs came alive dousing the room in their warm and Welcome light Zimmerman must have turned on the power I thought I allowed myself to take a couple of seconds to examine the control room it was exactly as we had left it last night for which I gave a silent and thankful prayer it was almost as if nothing unusual had ever happened I shook myself from my thoughts as I remembered the step I fied monitors from the night before I let my eyes slowly make their

Way towards the monitors on the wall anticipating the Grim and fearful scenes there would be on them my attention was first grabbed by monitor 1 and three which were still pure static it would have been a small relief but then the motionless image on monitor 2 caught my eye Room 2 was entirely still and everything seemed entirely untouched I couldn't help but gasp as I noticed the only thing that was Different the woman lay in the center of the small concrete room an expression of fear and Terror frozen into her gaunt face she lay silent

and lifeless on her back the Zimmerman's expression turned angry when he saw this he ordered that second monitor be turned off and it was we didn't ask why it's not like any of us wanted to see the Dreadful scene any longer he also ordered that if the images in monitor 1 and 3 did not return within the next 2 hours the security Team would be sent to investigate the rooms the security team nodded at hearing this they made it seem as if they had no fear but but I could see it in their eyes the

subtly loud tick tock of the clock was the only sound that echoed throughout the control room while I stared at the monitors an hour and 50 minutes had gone by and static was still all that occupied monitor 1 and three all the Other staff members were working except me and this was due to the fact that the project had been completely injuryf free thus far so I essentially had nothing to do but wait for someone to hurt themselves Zimmerman a couple of his colleagues and I were the only ones that occupied the room they quietly

chatted amongst each other on the other side of the room while I spent my time reading and pondering the situation I currently found myself In I clearly made a mistake coming here the corpse lying in room 2 was evident enough of this and God only knew what awaited Us in rooms 1 and three my thoughts were soon interrupted as monitor 3's image returned the clear image now displayed on the screen made everyone's eyes noticeably widen what was displayed on the monitor was horrifying a humanoid thing stood in the Center of the room staring directly at

the camera unmoving it was wearing the jumpsuit that subject 3 had been issued this clearly was not the same man that had entered the room what caught my attention first was its eyes they were solid black and twice the size of normal human eyes they seemed so so endless and cold its head had also groan with the eyes and such a symmetrical and Unsettling manner that being it also shed all of the hair it once had and even from the monitor I could see how unnaturally smooth and clear its skin was it had also seemingly

grown in height and stature which could be seen in the fact that the jumpsuit was now obviously far too small for its wearer its limbs had grown especially long its arms hung almost as low as the creature's knees what we were looking at was in no Way the same man who had sent inside fear fear was all I felt as I continue to stare into the monitor of the thing in the room and my fear seemed to be shared by those around me which made me feel kind of good it may sound awful but it

was a bit satisfying to see that Zimmerman and his colleague could feel fear too but at the same time it was worrying because this Showed this was not part of Zimmerman's plan something had gone wrong we all stared into the monitor of the thing despite our fears it was almost as if we were in a trance my already present fear began to grow and spread rapidly through my body as I became lost in the creature's eyes trapped in its horrifyingly hypnotic gaze after it felt like forever I managed to break eye contact with the creature

and divert my attention from The Monitor and when I did so I felt my fear levels drop considerably after a short while Zimmerman ordered his security team to make their way to subject one's door just as he said that he would do the security team left without question armed only with batons and pistols I focused my attention on watching the men progress through the hallways toward subject one's room via the Cameras even through the not so high quality cameras it wasn't hard to tell that these men were afraid of what awaited them their heads were

downcast as they walked they didn't possess the same confidence within them that they did when this project began they look like scared little boys being sent off to a terrible War eventually they made it to the door we had perfect vision of them and the door via the hallway Camera one of them said something through one of their walkie-talkies and made a motion towards the camera in response one of Zimmerman's colleagues buzzed the door open the men already had their pistols out by the time the button was pushed slowly the door began to open we

all watched eagerly as the men began to approach the door guns aimed inside and suddenly without warning There was a loud shriek and as something bounded out of the room at the men the monitor turned to static immediately we could hear screaming echoing down the Halls followed shortly after by the distinct sound of gunshots we could do nothing but wait after a couple of minutes the screaming and gunshot stopped we all waited and prayed hoping that whatever bounded at them from the room would not be the one to return to The control room and after

a couple more minutes three of the men came back carrying with them the corpse of the fourth he had massive Cuts covering his chest and his face was shredded you couldn't even tell who he was anymore even that he was human I was used to gore being a doctor and all so I felt somewhat unfazed by the mass of shredded flesh and bloodied meat They Carried with Them but many of the others went pale and vomited the security Team all wore motionless expressions and eyes filled with Terror one of the men finally looked up at

us he stared at us for a while with those wide eyes of his it's dead he finally managed to mutter in a shaken and scared voice a couple of hours went by the dead man's name was Frank he was buried outside in the cold Alaskan ground two of the men were unharmed physically at least the third was alive but only barely his body was covered in bloody slashes and one of his eyes had been gouged out I managed to stabilize him but only just the other two men vaguely explained what happened apparently subject one leaped

out of Frank after the door had opened only it wasn't Really subject one anymore according to them it had a hi iously contorted face and long sharp claws they claimed to have shot it over a dozen times before it fell dead and then they emptied another dozen bullets into it just to be sure it was really dead only once it was dead did they come back after tending to the wounded men I went to investigate the monitors as afraid as I was of seeing What those monitors may have held I needed to see subject 3

was the only one left now and I needed to see it and make sure the creature was still in his room it seemed to be more like a jail cell than an ordinary room at this point though which was probably a good thing the cameras displaying subject one's room and the hallway outside it still depicted a static filled screen no one was sent to repair them or Investigate we just had to hope that subject one was well and truly dead monitor 3's image was exactly the same as I had left it subject 3 was still

staring directly into the camera at us he was still in the exact same position and if not for the small fan in the corner of the room I would think that I was looking at a still image in a way I felt relief at seeing this I me relief that he was still in his room hadn't escaped while no one was Looking after everything quieted down I noticed something especially unusual there was a strange sound emanating from somewhere at first it was barely noticeable the only reason I heard it was because of how extremely quiet

it was in the infirmary But as time went by it slowly began to increase in volume after about an hour it was loud enough that everyone else could hear it too and after a couple more hours its Volume had increased so much that we could determine what the noise was it was a song one of the staff members identified it as Living in the Sunlight by Tiny Tim apparently his father loved this song listened to it frequently the song seemed to be on a loop and kept replaying itself although we were able to identify the

noise we remained unable to identify it Source we knew that it wasn't coming From the speakers because we had turned them off it seemed to be emitting from the walls themselves more time tick by as we all began to become increasingly agitated by the song I spent most of my time in the infirmary attending to Frank or in the control room fear hung in the air and the presence of unmistakable darkness and evil is no doubt its source subject 3 still in moved he had kept his unblinking gaze fixed on the Camera the entire time

it always felt like he was staring directly at me no matter where I was in the room I think this effect was also felt by others due to the fact they seemed to move around the room a lot and for seemingly no reason after a few hours the song was so loud the people almost had to shout in order to communicate we've been trying to find its source so that we could turn the song off but it was to know AV Veil The Source was completely unidentifiable this added a level of extreme irritation to our

already very present fear it was around 8:30 that the ground itself began to shake once again just as it had done the previous night Panic began to spread amongst my fellow employees and me as the shaking grew in intensity during this I had the sudden instinctual feeling to look over at subject 3's Monitor and it was gone almost as if on Q the power went out and thankfully the song did as well ever since the security team came back Panic had been slowly building up amongst the staff and Zimmerman was powerless to stop it when

the lights went out the calm projections that everyone had been trying to maintain left us and the fear in all of our hearts took over the emergency backup lights kicked on shortly after The power went out which which I gave a silent thank you prayer for the lights were dim but they still allowed me to see a lot total panic seized us as many of our fellow staff members began screaming and rushing to the ladder in an attempt to escape too many were trying to use it at once and no one was able to get

very far on the ladder without someone else pulling them to the floor and taking their place Zimmerman was shouting for everyone to calm Down but his dominating and intimidating personality had no effect here and his demands fell on ears it was total chaos it wasn't long until people actually started hurting each other in a desperate attempt to get up that ladder and out of this place I could only stand against the wall and wait for my opportunity to escape up the ladder all the screams were soon silenced as the familiar hum of that unsettling song

began to rise in volume Again only much quicker this time and this time it was clear that the noise was coming directly from the mazike corridors people stopped fighting and shouting as their attention shifted to the door that led into the hallways the song quickly got louder than it had ever been before which forced many of us to cup our ears with our hands in an attempt to silence the noise and then suddenly the song just Completely stopped silence there was all that filled the room as we all stared at the thick metal door in

anticipation for what was coming it felt like ages had gone by but in reality it was probably only seconds before the silence was broken the door suddenly and violently burst open and the music started again louder than it had ever been before the suddenness in the volume of this caused Many of us to recoil by Falling to the ground and grabbing our ears in an attempt to block out the noise I glanced up for just a second and in the doorway stood a tall smooth skinned figure with long Limbs and eyes so dark and malevolent

you could clearly see them in the dim lighting after I got my bearings I looked upwards at the creature once again just in time to see the thing pick up and rip Zimmerman in half in one fluid motion dousing the room and Everyone in it in his blood intestines and organs I was no stranger to gore but the sight of that was too much for me to bear I hunched over immediately after seeing this and vomited all over the cold cement floor the latter was my only hope for survival I thought to myself as I

forced myself to a standing position and as my eyes Rose along with the rest of me I could see the thing ripping and tearing through the people as they scattered an attempt to escape they were So distracted and as awful as it sounds this was my only chance to get up that ladder I forced my legs to move towards the ladder trying to block out the terrified screams of my fellow staff members and the unbearably loud music I could hear gunshots coinciding with the screams and terrified sounds of Flesh being ripped depart somewhere in the

mess of noise I reached my hands outward and felt a wave of relief wash over me as my fingers came into contact with the Hard metal rungs of the ladder I gripped them and began to climb upwards as quickly as I could in my disoriented State all the while praying the monster would not see me and pulled me off the ladder and back into the slaughter it felt like at any moment I'd feel one of its smooth hands wrap around my ankles and pull me to my death but but I eventually made it to the

top there was no question in my mind I had to close the hatch and seal The thing down there even if it meant certain death for my colleagues I couldn't allow that thing to escape I I gripped the thick metal lid and I began to push with all of my might in an attempt to seal the underground complex off despite how dense and sturdy it was the lid was surprisingly easy to move and didn't take very much effort to push over the hatch even in my weakened State and in seconds the hatch was completely covered

by the dense metal Lid I collapsed on my side and began to vomit some more as exhaustion overtook me and as I laid there I realized something aside from my labored breaths the only thing I could hear was the faint echo of that song from down below I felt as though I'd lose more of my sanity if I continued to lay there listening to that song so I once again forced myself to my feet and began to make my way to the Wooden Lodge that I had stayed in the previous night to where I left

my baggage and also where I left the keys to my truck of the 15 staff members that took part in that forsaken experiment I'm the only one who survived never returned to the awful place where all this happened I don't I don't intend to project was very secretive and Zimmerman was the only one who knew all The details of it and as far as I know no one's aware of my involvement aside from me in fact I'm probably the only one who knows what the harp Ander experiment truly was let alone what actually happened by

now you're probably wondering why I've told all of you about something none of you should be aware of I mean maybe you're expecting me to give you a speech about not messing with things you Don't understand or something along those lines I hope not for I don't have a speech to give or or a lesson to impart I began hearing a noise earlier today almost immediately I recognized the the noise is a very haunting and familiar song I didn't even try to trace it to its source I knew it would be pointless and as the

day had progressed the song had increased in Volume loud enough now that I can very clearly make out the lyrics I'm completely unable to escape Tiny Tim's voice it's followed me everywhere I've gone subject 3 is coming from me and I know my time left in this world is extremely limited now I guess you could say that I just wanted to tell the tale of the harbinger experiment before it was lost Forever I hope that you take some lesson from what I'm recounted to you but I think we both know that you won't I mean

let's be honest you don't believe a word of what I just told you and I don't blame you I I wouldn't believe me if I were you to you this is nothing more than something you get cheap thrills from you're probably mindlessly surfing the internet while you click a link and find yourself Here whatever here may be and to be honest I don't care if you believe me or not even if you do it probably won't stop you from trying to uncover the truth of a Darkness the few of us have ever seen certainly never

stop zerman if you want a lesson look at what happened to him when he went seeking the truth I pray that none of you will ever discover this truth I pray that none of You ever have to see the evil that I've seen and I hope you all get to live in ignorance of what lies Beyond the Veil of what we can actually understand it's here now I could feel its black eyes burning into me just as I could all those years ago I'm as much to blame as Zimmerman is for the monstrosity that's now

free to roam the world even if I was not the one to create it I'm Sorry please forgive me Nostalgia net Forum television local does anyone remember this kid show it was called like Candle Cove and I must have been six or 7 I never found reference to it anywhere so I think it was on a local station around 1971 or 72 I lived in ironon at the time I don't remember which station but I do remember it was on at a weird time like 400 P.m. it seems really familiar to me I grew up

outside of Ashland and was 9 years old in 72 Candle Cove was it about Pirates I remember a pirate marionette at the mouth of a cave talking to a little girl yes okay I'm not crazy I remember pirate Percy I was always kind of scared of him he looked like he was built from parts of other dolls like real low budget his head was an old uh Porcelain baby doll looked like an antique that didn't belong on the body I don't remember what station this was I don't think it was wtsf though sorry to resurrect

this old thread but I know exactly what show you means Sky Shale I think Candle Cove ran for only a couple of months in 71 not 72 I was 12 and I watched it a few times with my brother it was channel 58 whatever station that was my mom would let me switch to it after the news let Me see what I remember it took place in Candle Cove and it was about a little girl who imagined herself to be friends with pirates the pirate ship was called the laughing stock and pirate Percy wasn't a

very good pirate because he got scared too easily and there was kopy music constantly playing don't remember the girl's name Janice or J or something I think it was Janice thank you jiren memories flooded back when you mentioned the laughing Stock in channel 58 I remember the bow of the ship was a wooden smiling face with the lower jaw submerged it looked like it was swallowing the sea and it had that awful Edwin voice and laugh I especially remember how jarring it was when they switched from the wooden like plastic model to the foam puppet

version of the head that talked I think I remember that too uh do you remember this part Sky shell you have to go Inside oh Mike I got to chill reading that yes I remember that's what the ship always told Percy when there was a spooky place he had to go in like a cave or a dark room where the treasure was and the camera would push in on laughing Stock's face with each pause you have to go inside with his two like eyes a skew and that flopping foam jaw and the fishing line that

opened and closed it oh my God it was just it just looks so cheap and Awful you guys remember the villain he had a face that was just a handlebar mustache above like a really really tall narrow teeth I honestly honestly thought the villain was pirate Percy I was about 5 when the show was on nightmare fuel that wasn't the villain the puppet with the mustache that was the villain's sidekick Horus horrible he had a monacle too but it was on top of the mustache I used to think that meant he only had one eye

but yeah the villain was another Marionette the skin taker I can't believe what they let us watch back then Jesus age Christ the skin taker what kind of a kid show were we watching I seriously couldn't not look at the screen when the skin taker showed up he just descended out of nowhere on his strings just a dirty skeleton wearing that brown top hat and Cape and his glass eyes that were too big for his skull Christ almighty wasn't his top hat and cloak All sewn up like crazily was that supposed to be children's skin

yeah I think so remember his mouth didn't open and close his jaw just kind of slid back and forth I remember the little girl said why does your mouth move like that and the skin taker didn't look at the girl but at the camera and said to grind your skin oh I'm so relieved that other people remember this terrible show I used to have this awful memory a bad Dream I had where the opening jingle ended the show faded in from black and all the characters were there but the camera was just cutting to each

of their faces and they were just like screaming and the puppets and marionet were flailing spastically and just like all screaming screaming the girl was just moaning and crying like she'd been through hours of this I woke up many times from that nightmare I used to wet the bed when I Had it I don't think that was a dream I remember that I remember that was an episode no no no no no no not not possible there there was no plot or anything I mean literally just standing in place crying and screaming for the whole

show maybe I'm manufacturing the memory because you said that but I swear to God I remember seeing what you described they just screamed oh my God yes the little girl Janice I remember seeing her shake and the skin taker screaming through his nashing teeth his jaw kening so wildly I thought it would come off its wire hinges I turned it off and that was the last time I ever watched it I ran to tell my brother and we didn't have the courage to turn it back on hey um I visited my mom today at the

nursing home I asked her about when I was a little kid and the ear '70s when I was 8 Or nine if she remembered a kid show Candle Cove she said she was surprised I could remember that and I asked why and she said because I used to think it was so strange that you said I'm going to go watch Candle Cove now Mom and then you would tune the TV to static just just watch dead air for 30 minutes you had a big imagination with your little pirate Show the following was found in an

envelope on a bus Bound for Chicago I'm writing this so that when the room is eventually opened people will perhaps understand the things they find within so that I'll no longer be thought of as the madman part of me already fears that I am it all began with the reading of the will my mother my only living parent left passed away due to a heart attack in her New England Home her body had Been found by one of the women who came to clean every few days and the News had not come as a shock

to any of the family she' had two previous heart attacks and with her smoking and drinking she wasn't exactly in the best of health been a surprise that she wanted me to have the old family home though I never exactly had much love for the place I mean I moved out in the first chance I got honestly I hadn't been expecting to get anything in the will Given how long it had been since we'd even spoken I was surprised she hadn't written me out you know the way that she tried to write me out of

the family's history by removing any picture of me from the house certainly didn't plan to keep creepy rundown old place but at the same time I knew that there was a chance I could fetch a bit of cash in the market if someone put a little work into it fix it up and as I Was currently between jobs it might be a worthwhile use of my time so you know I got my mother or cousin they all came over and they were helping fix it up you know they happily agreed to there actually wasn't as

much work to do as IID first thought as the house seemed to be in better repair than I remembered it being I guess my mother cheap as she was had still finally been forced to actually get someone to fix up some of the bigger problems to the house Was little stuff that needed repair and a new coat of paint but it only ended up taking a about a week or so in the end it was during that time that I I I first found it I don't have the best memories of the old place given

how long it had been since I'd stayed there but one of the first things I noticed while I was walking along the ground floor hallway was that there was a door That hadn't been there before stared at it for a few moments more out of confusion than anything else before trying to push it open would budge an inch ask my brother if he knew what might be down there and he shook his head saying that he'd not even noticed it before now my cousin said that she'd noticed a big old-fashioned looking key in the keyhole

of the door the last time she'd come around to visit but she had no clue Where it might be right now I Shrugged not really thinking much of it at the time just figuring I'd have to get someone to bust the door down at some point before I got the house sold now the room that none of us wanted to go in was Emerson's it was weird you know seeing all his old toys and coloring books still there as if our mother had been trying to bring her son back by Clinging On To The Past

Emerson had always been Our mother's favorite the one who she' lavished all of her attention on I saw that she stuck his drawings up all over the place drawings of pirate ships odd comical looking figures with these strange designs my brother told me that when he'd stayed for dinner our mother would still set a place for Emerson as if she expected him to just show up out of the blue I'm missing for all these years and She was still expecting him to come wandering through the door the first night I spent alone in the house

I didn't sleep very well crazy as it sounds I kept thinking that I heard noises in the house people talking to each other I must have checked each and every one of the rooms a dozen times only to find each and every one of them empty I even checked to see if I left the TV on but it was still Unplugged i' go back to bed and then after a little while the noises would start up again sometimes I was sure I could hear music as well it's around 400 in the morning a thought occurred

to me and I went to the lock door in the hallway pressing my ear against it and listening closely I was sure I I heard what sounded like a muffled tune coming from within the next day I went into town to Buy some food and after the events of last night I also bought a hammer to knock that old door down it was while chatting with the cashier that I learned something unsettling about the neighborhood that I temporarily moved into I casually brought up where I was staying after he commented on me being new around

here and I told him I was planning to try and sell up he let out a short burst of laughter before looking Embarrassed about it and when I asked him to explain he said the following no one with sense is going to buy that dump no one with half a brain would buy any house within 10 mies of that place he said not looking up from the groceries he had packed away why not seems like a nice enough neighborhood I replied oh because all them kids going missing of course you go on to explain for

the past few years there have been a sudden and Disturbing rise in the number of children Vanishing from their homes in the area there been search parties formed the police the FBI they got involved but nothing turned up the kids had vanished from their homes with no signs of forth entry or struggle and no evidence Left Behind as to who might have been responsible people were trying to move away as fast as possible but they were Few who would buy a house in the area once they heard about what was going on no one wanted

to move to a place where a child kidnapper or killer was active I have to admit the story kind of creep me out knowing that something strange was going on near where I was staying made the odd going on of the previous night seem even more unsettling to me and so as soon as I got home I decided to bust that door down my neighbor a fairly nice young woman named Charlie who I'd gotten to know was working on her home's front lawn when I got back and noticed the hammer in my hand as I

headed towards that front door of my home not really wanting to be alone when I broke the door down I gave her an a bridge version of the events leaving out the oddd noises of last night that is and asked if she'd like to join me and finding out what was in the room mysterious locked door very Scooby-Doo she said as I grinned sure I'll be Fred you be Daphne I replied happy to have someone with me her presence making the nervousness I had felt while listening to the cashier Story start to fade a little

trust me I'm More VMA than DNE once inside the house I packed away the various groceries poured drinks for myself and Charlie before we went to the white door it only took a few swings from the hammer to smash and open the lock Breaking beneath the assault and the door swinging open behind it was a staircase leading down to a darkened basement below I stared in confusion at the stairs not believing what I was seeing our house didn't have a basement I was sure of that and yet suddenly I seem to recall seeing this before

I could remember playing with Emerson one day daring each other Emerson had always been afraid of pretty much everything and I in the way of older brothers everywhere had taken far too much pleasure in tormenting him we seem to remember the two of us stood the top of the staircase me daring him to go down into the dark while calling him a chicken come on Emerson I had said to him you have to go inside Charlie and I began to descend the old creaking steps towards the Basement the hammer still clutch tight in my hands

I didn't know what we'd find but I knew that I felt better being armed with something that could do some damage as we reached the bottom of the stairs Charlie began feeling around for light switch finding one after a few moments and flicking it on the room was instantly illuminated revealing what was inside oh my God look at all this cool stuff Charlie Cried out the basement was full of Puppets who were dozens of them all lined up in various shelves all in very good repair as if they were brand new there were puppets of

all shapes and sizes some of them being very humanlike well others were Muppet like animal creatures others were more monstrous there were props from what looked like the sets of kid shows I Guess none of it had any dust on it as if someone had been down to tidy up just moments before I could guess what all this was from but what it was doing down here I had no idea what is all this Charlie asked as she picked up one of the puppets a guy with a massive mustache and a monocle over one eye

she grinned playing around with him moving his limbs up and down my Uh my brother used to work on a kid show years ago um pirate place or something I think it was called only ran for a couple of years cuz it got cancelled guess stuff's all the old puppets and sets from the show I said as we looked around the room my eyes fell on a creepy looking skelet puppet with a really weird mouth a top hat upon his head ugly looking thing I thought to myself that moment no way do you have any

idea how much some of this stuff might be worth Collectors pay a fortune for things like this on eBay Charlie said setting the puppet down gently on one of the shelves I glanced around at the rest of the contents of the room apart from the puppets and set pieces it was an old sewing machine set on a desk that was otherwise completely there there was no sign of anything that could have been the source of the tune that I had heard before deciding that I must have Imagined it probably due to lack of sleep and

being back in the old place I did my best to forget about my fears and concentrate on the opportunity before me now it was just one thing that troubled me as I looked around on the desk the sewing machine was set on there were several odd red stains spattered over it as I stared at them I was sure out of the corner of my eye that the oddl Looking skeleton puppet's head twitched in my direction the next few days went by without anything odd happening really I put the puppets Up on eBay had a few

people come to visit the house the only thing that was strange was when one couple visited the basement all the color drained out of the husband's face when his eyes fell on the skeleton puppet he just turned left the Basement in the house he went to the car started it up and sat there until his wife joined him after apologizing for his rudess and the two of them just drove away at the end of that night I was sure that I heard the old sewing machine in the basement I went down to check at the

same time looking at the darken doorway I suddenly felt very frightened and with the knock of the door the sudden noise Almost made me jump out of my skin my head jerked to the side towards the source of the noise taking a moment to study my nerves I walked to the door opening it cautiously and I saw Charlie standing there we need to talk she said she said that she mentioned to a friend of hers about the fine in the basement a few days ago when she brought up the name pirate Place he'd gone quiet

and asked her to describe the puppets he looked afraid and she said as if he'd seen a ghost he told her to move house get away from me and from those damn things as he referred to the puppets growing increasingly hysterical as the conversation had gone on he'd repeated over and over that it wasn't safe to be around them that they could see you through Them he'd rambled at length about physical avatars and the signal none of which had made any sense to her apparently he used to work in television he had known my brother

he said that he'd sat down with Emerson in what he called the script room and then started raing about knowing where the stories came from Charlie said that she'd never seen him like this before that he seemed to almost be Psychotic his eyes bugged out of his head his face glistening with sweat she' been worried that he was about to have some kind of attack was your brother involved in anything weird she asked me and I honestly didn't know how to respond to that I mean Emerson had always been an odd kid no doubt about

that but I couldn't imagine him ever provoking such a frightened reaction in anyone let alone A grown man I asked her if he'd said why the puppets were so awful and she Shrugged all the stuff he was saying wasn't making much sense he just said it's not the puppets it's what made them and then he got up and he said he couldn't be in my house anymore just ran out to his car drove off I decided that as she shared her weirdness with me maybe I could open up about some of the weirdness in my

life right Now I um I explained about the odd noises the music the sewing machine seeming to turn itself on against my better judgment we decided to descend into the pitch black basement once again I mean I I don't know what I expected to find but I was sure that something would be wrong so when we saw that nothing seemed to have changed or been moved I I don't know I I felt an odd sense of almost Disappointment kind of wanted for there to be something strange down there just to prove that I wasn't imagining

all this to prove to myself that I wasn't going crazy and that's when Charlie spotted the door was when she flicked off the light as we began to go up casting one last look back into the darkness and noticed that there was light light coming from somewhere not very bright but Nonetheless a light source moving swiftly we shoved aside one of the shelves of puppets and felt along the wall behind it to confirm what Charlie had believed to be the case there was a door behind it I told you this was all kinds of Scooby-Doo

Charlie said with a grin on her face clearly enjoying herself I smiled which was something I definitely wouldn't have been able to do if she wasn't there It was nice to have someone to share this Insanity with we went along the wall trying to find some way to open the door some handle or switch to make it open from behind it I was sure that I could hear something it sounded almost like music circus music a cheerful upbeat tune but also off somehow as if there was something not quite right about it out of the

corner of my eye I was sure that the puppet with the ridiculous Mustache and monacle had moved and I me I realized how ridiculous that sounds but I was certain of it it was just the the tiniest movement the twitch of its head towards the skeleton puppet as of waiting for orders I thought to myself then I was wondering why that thought had even popped into my head with a bit of work we managed to strip away the wallpaper that was covering most of the door revealing that It was bright red in color the paint

chipped and flaked in places with a small Keyhole no handle I assumed that it just pushed inwards once unlocked or perhaps sled to the side as there was no place for a handle to have once been either it was then that I noticed Charlie had stopped smiling in fact she was just staring at the door with what looked like a mix of confusion fear taking a few steps back from It when I asked her what was wrong she just she shook her head and made excuses to leave I asked her if she was all right

she told me she was tired promised help me try and find the key to the door in the morning I mean it was getting late so it was plausible enough enough but I knew that something was wrong here for the rest of the evening I looked through Emerson's old things in his room looking for some clue perhaps As to what it was that had inspired such fear in Charlie's friend for the most part it was old toys childhood drawings nothing much of use there were a few things that were odd though there's a picture that

I guess Emerson had done when he was little there was a crew dra drawing of a boy sat in his bed that I think was meant to be Emerson himself around him stood several figures one was just a stick figure with A hat on its head another was a portly man with a cartoonish mustache and teeth and there was a third that was very odd it was just a scribble in the outline of a person a black shadowy scribble there was a circle drawn above the three figures and the boy and lines were shown coming

down from it leading to the boy's head for some reason looking at those lines the words Tendrils came to mind there was a picture of a red door other words where they take them was scrolled in large letters beneath it the final picture was of the stickman and the man with a mustache leading several smaller figures towards a third now this one was a woman whether a rather well-drawn one in comparison to the crude basic nature of the others except for except for the Face the face was just two dots for eyes and a line

for for a mouth the words where they take them was written here as well there was a message on my answering machine from Charlie the next day she said she'd gone to stay with her girlfriend for a few days just to clear her head and apologized for leaving so suddenly the previous night her voice sounded odd Kind of shaky really and she said not to bother with the door she tried to sound calm and Casual when she said it but there was fear in her voice she said it was probably best to forget about the

whole thing and just cover up the basement not even mention it the potential buyers of the house she said it'd be a good idea to take the puppets off of eBay as Well really should have done as she asked instead I spent the rest of the day ransacking the house searching for the key to that door I looked everywhere with little success until almost on whim I decided to search Emerson's room more thoroughly and there hidden in one of his old pillowcases was a key ped myself a drink to steady my nerves sitting down to

watch the TV I remember the old thing never picked up much when we were little channels were always full of static seemed to be working better now at least and the News came on talking about another Disappearance in the area girl at 12 this time vanished from her home in the middle of the night I flipped through the channels looking for something a little less Grim while I finished my drink getting up I headed down the steps Into the basement striding towards the door ready to open it the skeleton puppet was sat at the sewing

machine now I knew I hadn't moved it and Ne Charlie and the other puppets their heads seemed to be turned towards it as if they were waiting for it to do something to I don't know to say something God it was it was a hideous thing awful misshapen mouth looking awful God Knows Why the prop designer Had made it look like that at that moment the words to grind your skin popped into my head I put the key into the door and sure enough it unlocked it the door pushing inward with ease revealing the room

that lay Beyond it it was illuminated by a single dirty bulb making the contents of the room easy to see dear Lord the smell the only thing worse Was the sight of what was littered around the room children's shoes and clothes some spattered with old dried blood were piled in a heap in one corner of the room floorboards were stained with large patches of red one of which as I stepped into it I realized was still somewhat fresh sticky like like soda spilled on a movie theater floor the room smelled of spoiled meat burnt Hair

and it took all I had not to throw up as I entered it wondering how the smell hadn't traveled from this room to the basement there was a pile of old video cassettes in one corner of the room all labeled with things like Emerson's first bike ride and Emerson's first spelling be all old home movies I guess but mixed in with some of them were tapes labeled Candle Cove episode 4 and season 3 pilot episode I picked up a few and noticed that there were bloody fingerprints on several there was a series of steps leading

down further into the Blackness at the rear of the room and I and I I felt oddly compelled to go down there far down did this go how is this even here beneath my family home without me ever knowing it and yet I felt like I did know about It looking at those steps I felt like I remembered being in this room before I was a child and it had been empty then and there I stood with Emerson at the foot of those stairs Emerson you have to go inside hide whispered to him taking Delight

in how terrified he looked he had gone down into the dark and And my head throbbed with pain it actually physically hurt to try to remember as if something was willing me not to had there been someone down there with us I was sure I remembered there being someone in the room besides the two of us the more I thought about it our mother no not our mother but another woman why couldn't I remember her Face I began to take unsteady steps down the stairs the more I walked the closer I got to another door

another red door the key fit the lock of this one as well and it opened with ease it was music coming from within now and sound of waves crashing against the shore I felt it pulling me towards it calling me in like a siren song I I had to go inside I thought to myself I had to go Inside I wasn't alone in this room I burned all the puppets later that night not that I imagined it matters they've been destroyed before and it hadn't stopped them from coming back they're just wood and paint and

cloth nothing but a conduit they allowed them to come through allowed them to walk through the door and come here oh God the door I know where they go now I know Where they go oh cry oh Jesus please I know where they go I saw it they took me there that the way they took my brother when he was a child they need us I I don't know why they need us but they need us and that's what he said through that horrible misshapen mouth those eyes rolling in his sockets waddly they needed my

brother and they needed me and my and my family isn't safe the signal needs Us the story needs us the the ship came to the cave Emerson was laugh laughing and crying at the same time as he spoke the words I knew were coming as he told me what I had to do it was waiting for me I saw the I ran you may think me a coward for not helping them not even trying to save them but I know where the ship is taking them now I know where the voyage leads I Know who

was waiting at the end I pray to God but I know that it'll do no good I know now I know things that no one should ever know I know that Emerson learned that day the signal found him I know what Emerson learned the day the signal found him I know the things he learned in that dark place where the music comes from music played on instruments crafted of bone and organs wrapped in flesh it's always there now In my head playing in an endless loop the signals found me like it found Emerson that day

I made him go down those stairs like it found our mother I I know why she did what she did I know what she knew and I know where Emerson is I saw him I I saw him on the ship my God this the ship the Laughing was the worst I I wish it would stop Laughing sealed up the basement but I know that one day someone will go down there again I I wrote this so that when they discover the things I know they'll find down there they'll know neither I nor my mother were

responsible perhaps so they'll have the courage to do what I don't and they can do destroy this terrible place they could Burn It To The Ground the only thing holding me back is The fear that perhaps this place is not merely the door to their cage but the cage itself I mean if the house were to be destroyed Perhaps Perhaps they'd be able to spread I want to apologize to my family I know I hope they'll forgive me for what I'm about to do I hope they'll be able to understand my brother if this reaches

You please don't go into that house and don't sell it board it up let it stand forgotten a creepy old building for people to stare and wonder at maybe maybe that'll hold them back at least the sewing machine is going in all hours of the day now I it's him sewing himself new additions to that terrible Cape she lets me keep the skin you see she he gets to keep the Skin I'm so sorry Emerson I don't I don't hate you for the things you did I wish I could help you or at least put

you out of your misery I know they won't let you rest I know you can't be free of them now and I see I see them out of the corner of my eyes sometimes they're they're going to take me the ship I won't let them I I'll die the way I choose seek and carry my body away wonderful Hopeful far from where they can ever find it this letter was found lying beside a VHS tape the tape proved to be nothing but static although those who watched it reportedly felt a sense of unease and nausea

when they tried to view it the Grimes home was searched and the belongings of over 23 children who had gone missing in the local area were Discovered within no trace of the children themselves were found within the house or near it however the basement and the secret room were both as the letter described them however there were no stairs leading down to a further sub basement or anywhere on the property the puppets all also appeared to be completely undamaged despite the claim that they had been burnt the tapes Mentioned in the letter were missing two

families have since lived in the Grimes home neither stayed for more than a few months reporting strange smells odd noises around the house and things going missing one reported sensing something terrible in the basement and her children spoke of horrible dreams about a ship that would be taking them away and the Bony man from the TV watching them at Night the house is now abandoned having been purchased and then left empty by one Adrien Grimes in early 2011 the puppets and set pieces of Candle Cove mistakenly named pirate place by Grimes in the letter an

early working title for the show that Emerson Grimes later abandoned supposedly vanished shortly before Adrien Grimes made the purchase the whereabouts of Jason Grimes remain Unknown hey there kids it's me Mr K pasta and I just wanted to tell you thank you so much for watching tonight's video or by listening to tonight's episode of the podcast I know I haven't had as many updates as I would like to have on the channel lately uh and things just kind of get really hard with [ __ ] that's happening to my family but hey I wanted to

say thank you so much for being around thank you so much for still supporting me and for coming back to Listen to new stories if you guys want to get updates anytime that I do upload then please go ahead and hit that subscribe button and ring the bell or if you're listening over a podcast I think it's still a subscribe button or a follow button or whatever happen those those happen to be as always I want to give a very big thank you to everybody out there on patreon.com mrcy pasta a very very big thank

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