send your scariest workplace stories to us at Eerie cast.com submit and rate and review Tales from the breakroom on Spotify and apple podcasts thanks hi welcome to dead and roasted what can I get you man smiling is such a weird thing humans do everywhere else in the animal kingdom it's seen as a threat basically begging to have your throat torn out reminds me of a story I heard recently dude I'm just here for my latte whatever oh hey it's you welcome back I've got some new and very creepy scary work stories to tell you let's
go chill in the back where we can discuss smiling strangers secrets in the sewers and babysitter nightmares these are Tales from the break room my city holds secret grits from Willow cities where people are bustling life is busy and there are always things to do I live in a major city on the Eastern Seaboard for my privacy I'll keep the name secret you can call me Willow I work a rather odd job most people would be disgusted by I work in City Sanitation we clean the streets help replace pipes and sub for the garbage guys
when they're off for the day and no one else will fill in for them it's a dirty job sometimes downright awful but it helps the city keep clean and not be overrun by filth I have many bizarre stories from that job body parts from a local hospital after surgeries dead animals mysterious goo the stories never seem to end with what people want to get rid of with this particular day I was working closely with sewage maintenance Crews there had been a blockage deep under the main street through the city and we couldn't tell what the
issue was it was far too deep for our devices to reach so here I was dressed head to toe in protective gear I was used to this my thin frame tended to let me maneuver through the pipes without much of a problem a few years back I was absolutely disgusted by this but nowadays it's just another day I checked all my gear before descending down a manhole a/4 mile from where the blockage was estimated to be it was an old passage mostly brick and cement nothing like the pipes I was so used to a carving
in a brick told me that the tunnel was built in 1965 it was well worn and I was rather tender-footed wandering through the sewage if it wasn't for the peppermint oil that I rubbed into the suit it would have been much more foul enough to make the eyes water and even the most seasoned person gag I made my way to the blockage staring carefully ahead making sure to duck under utility pipes and the occasional landmine of human waste it was constantly flowing but sometimes they would get stuck between the bricks that were guiding my way
I'd finally seen what exactly had been blocking the passage after a few twists and turns down the never ending tunnels it was a rather large mass piled up halfway up the passage it rre even through my peppermint I forced down the instinctive urge to gag and went to work with my tools trying to pull cut and rip the blockage down I saw things like Twigs from the surface that people probably stuffed down storm drains I saw a few bugs scattering about and that was enough to send chills along my skin I kept at it eventually
getting it down to a fourth of the way when I paused horrifying at seeing something move I backed away slowly absolutely terrified of what it could be there were noises from the pile that sounded human but deeper I don't know if it was something feral in my mind but I fought the urge to run thinking that somehow it was an animal that managed to get itself tossed down a manhole cover or something else that needed help I poked the pile with the end of a wrench and then it shifted revealing a creature coated in trash
waste and something old and red I couldn't make any sense of what I was seeing but the smell was horrible it only grew worse as the creature stood and stared at me with deep silvery eyes they reflected greenish yellow in the light from my head torch I did not know how to react so for a while I was just stunned in that spot the creature shook itself staring me down before seeming to grin and it took a step towards me that got my body to move I began to bolt down the passage praying that I
was taking the right turns I'd left most of my gear behind and I was running faster than I should have been slipping and sliding in the disgusting sludge as that creature pounded behind me I was screaming by then horrific noises came from the Beast as it began to catch up with me I was racing through the endless twists and turns before realizing nothing looked familiar there was no graffiti no etchings from the fellow workers the brick walls seemed to enclose around me then as I panicked more and more I hooked a right hoping there would
be another turn to send me back down the right path that thing was right right behind me then taking swipes at my suit I could feel it I couldn't understand how or why it was like this but I was scared my legs burned and my eyes clouded with tears my breath came in short gasping sounds as I ran trying not to break down sobbing and Terror I was dashing down the corridor no turns visible to my dismay but I kept going the burning in my legs starting to actually hurt my muscles were cramping up most
of them even shaking but I kept going until I felt searing pain on my shoulder that thing had taken a swipe at me leaving gashes I howled in pain and scrambled trying my hardest to maintain the speed I'd been going thank God I found my way to the ladder the one I'd been searching for and I screamed as I practically ran up the thing to the m Hall leaving the creature behind in that sewer but at some point based off the noise it seemed to have stopped following me but why and when I desperately relayed
what had happened to my team and even showed them the gash that extended from my shoulder halfway down my back my team was skeptical saying it was a hallucination from the fumes and that I could have gotten the suit torn from brushing against the brick maybe there was old rebar down there that had caught on to me and got me I was quickly sent to the hospital for treatment I got a whole bunch of Staples and my statement was taken by my supervisor he didn't believe me either but he gave me a small deceitful smile
of understanding I had the next week off to recover and gather myself I'll leave you with this I know what I saw stay out of the sewers creature in the shelter from healthy man I've always loved dogs as a kid I grew up surrounded by them because my parents just adored them that's probably the reason why I never had any siblings with me and at least three dogs around there just wasn't a place for anyone else but I didn't mind having three dogs usually means there's not much time for boredom also their unconditional love and
Boundless Energy never failed to brighten my day that Joy never left me which is why After High School I enrolled in college and studied veterinary medicine even more every summer during my college break I was working in a local dog shelter the shelter wasn't a glamorous place but it was where my heart felt at home to make things even better there was one experienced vet called Misha so when I wasn't working with dogs or people who were coming to see them I was talking and watching Misha work the number of things I learned from him
was just precious the Asylum was located on the edge of the country near our local Forest it was a modest sturdy building with a long stretch of outdoor kennels and a large finston play area the dogs we took care of were mostly stray rescue or surrendered pets each had its own story one story sadder than the other I just don't understand people who throw out their dogs in the street at a whim they're such special creatures there's something special about the way a dog's eyes light up when they see their owner coming home after a
long day at work it's a bond that stands for a whole lifetime and yet some people treat dogs like garbage one of the dogs I became particularly attached to was a dog named pepperoni we named him pepperoni because we found him eating leftovers of pepperoni pizza in the trash can near the shelter pepperoni was the kind of dog that got along with not just humans but dogs as well that was a pretty rare thing here at our shelter because most of the dogs we take in have had a lot of traumatic experiences and because of
that they're not so friendly they're either afraid of humans or other dogs some of them are even aggressive when in contact with other dogs and we have to keep them separated from each other but pepperoni was different he was a creature of Joy always ready to play fetch or just snuggle up next to you I remember the first time I saw him near that trash can he ran right over to me with such enthusiasm that he almost knocked me over it didn't take long for him to win my heart completely because of that I would
often stay after work hours just playing with him teaching him cool new tricks or simply sitting next to him and petting him honestly I would take him with me the moment I first saw him but at that moment I just couldn't after the summer would end I would have to return to college which is located four towns away and I couldn't take care of him also the landlord of the apartment I was in did not allow do dos in our building so I couldn't take him with me even if I could but my plan was
to take him in as soon as I finished college and got my own place to my disappointment that plan would never become my reality one evening I made plans with my girlfriend Samantha she lived two streets away from me and I would often visit her the two of us went out for a short walk then we decided we would return to my place and watch some TV that night night Lord of the Rings was playing on TV so we decided to watch it was the third part Return of the King to be honest I'm not
a big fan of Lord of the Rings but my girlfriend Samantha was crazy about it so like any good man would do I agreed to watch it with her we had cuddled up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn when commercial started Samantha quickly went to the toilet and I stayed on the couch at that moment the local news came on a reporter was discussing about a series of gruesome attacks on Livestock in the area chickens pigs cows even sheep had been found mutilated people were confused by the events that were happening nobody could
explain it by then Samantha got back from the toilet and started to listen to the report too the authorities suspected a pack of wolves might be responsible as the surrounding region was for for it do you really think it could be wolves Samantha asked there was some concern in her voice maybe I replied though I couldn't help but feel a shiver run down my spine but this is kind of weird wolves usually avoid humans and anywhere humans frequent so they don't normally attack livestock so close to town well whatever it is I hope they find
it and deal with it soon she said it's creepy knowing something like that is out there and not too far away to be honest I didn't really think about it much after I heard it in the news I remember back in the day when I was just a little kid my parents would talk about similar things happening in the country I think back to when foxes would kill chickens and really took off the local people a week after that I was working late at the asylum it was a quiet night just like most of them
usually are I was finishing cleaning the inside rooms of the shelter with one of my co-workers Misha suddenly showed up asking us if we could clean up the floor in the treatment room my coworker wasn't really into that idea but I agreed to help Misha had really taught me a lot so I didn't mind repaying him here and there Misha went on his way and my coworker refused to clean the treatment room with me so I was eventually left alone in the shelter Misha had left the keys for me to lock up the place when
I was done a little while later as I was cleaning I heard the most bone chilling loud and painful screams coming from the dog cages where we kept them overnight there was a lot of barking too it sounded like something or someone was attacking the dogs I thought that was impossible they were locked up safe right my heart leapt in my throat and I rushed out to see what was going on when I arrived at the cages everything seemed normal at first all the dogs I saw were in their cages though they were very clearly
agitated I was confused sure I was pretty tired by then but I know I wasn't just hallucinating and hearing things naturally I walked over to Pepperoni's cage to check on him pepperoni was standing at the front of his cage staring at me with an intensity that made me very worried there was something different about his eyes something that felt predatory probably some kind of wild animal I thought something got in spooked the dogs and left I Shrugged off all the screaming I'd heard taking a quick look around the cages and not finding anything I locked
up the shelter and went home thinking only about getting some sleep I took a shower lay in bed and I fell asleep but before I did I couldn't stop thinking about how there was no way a wild animal could have gotten in that shelter not through the fence we had the following day I came in early to report to Misha and the others the events of the other night they dismissed my claims thinking with the same logic I was the night before nothing should be able to get through that fence I tried not to think
about it so I started on my regular jobs eventually I decided to check up on pepperoni when I did he seemed okay but I was still getting these bad vibes from him I wasn't sure why something about him seemed different later on in the day I noticed more strange things about pepperoni his behavior changed drastically he was aggressive now when he never was before often picking fights with the other dogs the other dogs in turn would begin to fear Him running away from pepperoni whenever he walked by it was like they knew something I tried
to convince myself that pepperoni was just having a bad day maybe he was sick I decided to ask Misha to examine him just in case unfortunately for me at the moment Misha was out for lunch so I would have to wait still while looking at pepperoni I had a growing sense of unease pepperoni wasn't the same dog I knew he wasn't himself anymore suddenly my coworker came in with some people telling me that they were looking for a Golden Retriever to adopt it was a local family that I knew immediately a man and woman with
two younger children they were looking for a friendly playful companion for the family naturally they were drawn to pepperoni as he was a golden retriever I wasn't really happy about that firstly I had hoped pepperoni would be my dog and secondly I was very concerned about Pepperoni's weird Behavior I tried stalling them until Misha came and examined pepperoni even suggesting other breeds to them but they were determined to take pepperoni despite my protests they accepted and adopted him I even warned them of his recent change in Behavior suggesting he might be sick but they said
they would take him to the vet one that they knew in a nearby town as they lived closer to that one in the end I let them go hoping that maybe a loving home would bring back the old pepperoni I knew that evening as I was carrying out the trash to the dumpster behind the shelter I sensed an awful smell when I reached the dumpster amongst the rubbish I found a dead dog but it wasn't just any dog it was a golden retriever his body had been torn to shreds as if some wild deranged animal
had gotten a hold of him his fur was painted with blood there were deep scratches along his sides when I looked closer I couldn't breathe it was pepperoni those blue eyes the occasional dark spots in his fur It could only be pepperoni this is impossible no it's just a similar dog I said to myself during my trip back home I began to think what if that dog really was pepperoni what if the creature I gave to that family was something else entirely at that moment it seemed really insane to me because I didn't really believe
in the Supernatural what kind of animal can come in Kill and replace a dog that night as I was sleeping I was awakened by the distant sound of sirens of ambulances and police it's not a very very common sound around here and I'm a light sleeper I assumed some kind of fire had broken out in someone's home and quickly went back to sleep come morning I learned the horrifying news the family who had adopted pepperoni had been killed their bodies were mutilated apparently in some sort of wild animal attack to make things worse police found
a lot of scratches in their house I froze in fear and shock realizing that my intuition may have been right the thing I'd given to that family that thing that looked like pepperoni it wasn't pepperoni at all it was something that had come in killed him and took his place even mimicking his very appearance I tried to ask the police if they'd found a golden retreat at the deceased family's home but they said they did not assuming that he had escaped during the chaotic and tragic events for a long while after that there were no
further reports of dead animals or people working in that shelter never felt the same after that I was constantly on the edge of my seat to this day I cannot explain what that creature was or how it looked like pepperoni but I am certain of two things it was evil and it wanted human blood The Haunting of the brewery from Uncle Vick s or so years ago I used to work at a brewery slpb it was this big old Warehouse from the early 1900s red brick steel and wood a Charming place I worked there for
a couple of years and most of the time it was pretty tame despite the occasional backbreaking labor some good co-workers in the Lively atmosphere made it all worthwhile but there were some moments which defied rational explanation moments I can only describe as paranormal in nature one such event happened during a particularly late night shift I was tasked with closing up the warehouse and loading docks the chores involved making sure there wasn't anything obstructing the trucks parking spots stacking up any loose crates turning the lights off and locking everything down basically ensuring the smooth flow of
operations for the next day I was making my rounds checking off each item on my mental checklist suddenly I felt this Eerie situation the kind of feeling you might get when there's some one looking right over your shoulder then A peculiar noise caught my attention I turned right around finding a lone beer bottle rolling towards me from the Shadows between the tall stacks of crates it wasn't forceful it looked as if someone gently placed it on the floor then pushed it in my direction it was a curious sight though at first I wondered who could
have done it then quickly assumed it must have fallen and I didn't hear it so I picked up the bottle placed it inside a half empty crate brushed off the incident and continued on eventually I was making my way to the exit when seemingly out of nowhere a myriad of beer bottles began to roll towards me each one looked as if it had been slightly nudged from the spaces in between the crates what in the world I thought I was tired and the guys around here do like to prank on occasion so I shouted into
the dark all right you got me come on I got to close up I expected a response of laughter or hushed Whispers but instead it remained dead silent I waited for a couple of minutes then turned on the flashlight on my phone despite the creepy feeling building up in that poorly lit Warehouse I began looking around the stacks of crates as soon assuming I would find some giggling coworker trying to hide after searching every corner in turn I gave up I was pretty freaked out by then I was left with more questions than answers and
I would have to pick up the bottles before I could leave I was feeling frustrated and uneasy so I called out into the dark again just in case all right guys I'm locking you in here see you tomorrow just as I finished saying that a crate full of bottles fell from one of the stacks Landing a mere two ft in front of me glass shards and beer exploding all over the next day I told my boss about it only to be met with a dismissive shrug and a half-hearted explanation that a rat had brushed against
the crate causing it to fall I don't think it was a rat I felt more like the there was something weird going on in that old Brewery thing is those crates when fully stacked weighed around 20 lbs if not more how would a single rat push it I talked to my co-workers about it I was told a number of different stories stories about ghostly encounters and apparitions noises and voices echoing through the empty Halls objects mysteriously moving on their own a lot of tals and Legends circulating among the staff a lot of folks thought the
place was haunted another experience happened during a closing shift in the pub section of the brewery when closing the pub the last thing you're supposed to do is restock the walk-in freezer as I descended into the underground Cellar to restock the walk-in I couldn't stop thinking about what happened in the warehouse after that night every time I found myself alone at work I felt a little scared to be honest down in that Cellar the air felt real thick and heavy all I could hear was my footsteps and the Machinery below the freezer was probably just
as old as the building itself and it sat underground right underneath the bar I was down there filling that enormous thing with kegs and boxes it was a very old freezer from a time when safety standards and regulations weren't a big concern the freezer doesn't open from the inside no handle nothing just a flat plain steel door I did what was common practice among the staff when you had to go inside that death trap I placed a keg securing the door open I was halfway through the task when I heard the door slam shut I
panicked rushing towards it but by then it was already locked I frantically pounded on the door hoping someone would hear me I screamed and yelled too my Panic grew realizing the last person there with me was my boss and he would be in his office two floors above me probably with his door closed I tried my phone but I had no service probably because I was locked underground inside the steel trap I was wearing only jeans and a t-shirt every passing second that cold gwed at my bones before long my face went numb and my
hands felt stiff I tried to make a blanket out of scrap cardboard but it was doing a very poor job of keeping the cold at B time seemed to move at a snails pace in there for a while I just started to watch my breath now I had a date with a customer of ours and when she didn't find me upstairs she went looking for me and and soon located my boss to ask where I was when he couldn't find me anywhere else he went to The Cellar only to find me inside the freezer I'd
been in there for about 45 minutes I remember the Glorious sound of the door clicking open seeing the surprised faces of my boss and my date at the time I was sitting in a corner cardboard stuffed in my shirt and pants phone in hand I was in the middle of writing a letter to my parents and considering drinking myself to sleep after the incident my boss installed a chain and hook to keep the door open then he held a staff meeting urging us to take precautions like informing others before heading downstairs despite the efforts to
reassure us I refused to ever step foot in that icy tomb again the thing that stuck out after I gathered my thoughts regarding the whole ordeal was the fact the cake i' had placed to hold the door open was was at the other side of the room after I got out it was a full steel keg not something that just slides Away by accident let alone quietly as time went on working there I began to get curious about the place I had heard the Legends and rumors among employees but I decided to dig into the
history of the building see what I could find I found some old newspaper articles Tales From locals some anecdotes from regular customers apparently the brewery during the prohibition era was actually a slaughterhouse serving as a Speak Easy and a hot spot for criminal activity allegedly some folks had met their ends here with this new info I tried my best to respect what Spirits might be here and to keep my eyes and ears open at all times one particularly memorable encounter occurred during a patrol of the loading docks as I made my rounds one night a
chill crept up my spine it was like someone was watching my every move and when I got close to the source it laid an invisible icy hand on my back the moment I felt that after all I'd been through so far I walked right away and stayed away from that area I'd learned my lesson not long after I quit working there it just wasn't worth it anymore more The Smiling man of Chipawa from Moke 92 for a stin of time I worked as a park ranger at Chipawa National Forest in northern Minnesota I won't give
my real name and I won't tell you when exactly but I will say I've seen some crap that still gives me the creeps there's one incident that stands out above all the rest the kind of thing that makes you question everything you thought you knew about human nature and the crazy things going on in certain people's minds It Happened One October we had an unusually warm fall that year and the autumn colors were absolutely stunning tourists were flocking to the forest and droves to see the foliage as much as I loved the beauty of the
place it definitely meant more work for us Rangers more trash more more lost hikers more disrespectful drunk folks I was working late into the night doing my usual rounds in my truck to make sure all the campsites were quiet and no one was causing trouble I think it was around 2: a.m. I was at a pretty remote access road which winds through one of the densest parts of the forest there's no cell service out there and you're a good 30-minute drive from any kind of civilization I rounded a bend and that's when my headlights caught
something in the road maybe 100 yd ahead my mind immediately jumped to Deer obviously we get a ton of them they're always darting out in front of vehicles too can get pretty Messy as I drew closer though I realized it was a person standing stock still in the middle of the road very weird don't get me wrong coming across hikers at night9 is not unheard of we get the occasional group that underestimates a trail and ends up stumbling back much after dark but this far out at 2: a.m. no gear no flashlight it was extremely
weird I slowed to a stop about 20 ft away then I turned on my Spotlight the figure didn't move or react at all I was certain it was a man probably in his 50s or 60s with long graying hair and a scruffy beard he was wearing dirty tattered clothes that looked like they hadn't been washed in months and he was just standing there staring straight ahead with this vacant expression I rolled down my window and poked my head out I called to him introducing myself first then said are you okay do you need assistance no
response not even a blink alarm Bells were going off in my head but I knew I had to check on them I got out of my vehicle one hand on my bear spray the best non-lethal defense we were allowed to carry sir can you hear me are you hurt as I got closer the hairs on the back of my neck stood up something was very very off about this guy his skin had a grayish palor and his eyes looked very wrong they were too intense too focused and he was completely motionless I couldn't even see
his chest moving with breath I was about 5 ft away when he finally moved his head snapped right towards me so fast I swear I heard his neck crack then he smiled I have never seen a smile like that before or since it wasn't wide or manic like you'd hear in other stories instead it was small and knowing and absolutely terrifying it was like the look of some sort of carnivore who knows it has cornered its prey his voice when he spoke was soft and raspy like sandpaper on Stone I've been waiting I stumbled backward
fumbling for my bear spray sir I'm going to need you to stay where you are but he stepped forward anyway still smiling that awful smile I've been waiting for you he started to sing I was beginning to think this was either a very horrible prank or this man was beyond insane I managed to grab my bear spray and I aimed it at him stay back I I will use [Laughter] this he laughed a vile and dry laugh at me that echoed through the surrounding Forest I've been waiting always will terrified I sprayed him full force
in the face and I kid you not no exaggeration the man didn't even Flinch there was no change in his face face or expression or movement before or after he kept on smiling and walking towards me I ran then training be darned I ran like heck back to my truck and I could hear him behind me his footsteps unnaturally quiet I dove into the driver's seat and slammed the door behind me I searched for then grabbed my keys as I looked up to put them in the ignition I glanced to my left the man's face
was pressed right up against the glass on the driver's side window that freaking smile somehow more terrifying up close I finally got the key in the ignition and floored the tire squealed as I took off down the road in the rear view mirror I could see him standing in the middle of the road gleefully watching me drive away he raised one hand in a mocking wave I white knuckled the steering spring wheel driving far too fast down the twisting Forest Road I didn't slow down until I made it back to the main ranger station I
screeched into the parking lot and ran inside shouting for anyone they found me nearly hysterical when I finally caught my breath and calmed down enough I told them what happened they thought I was nuts a couple of the guys went out to check my truck and that shut them up real quick on the window was a perfect hand print and face print and the weird thing about the handprints was the shape the fingers were abnormally long and thin the Palm too narrow this convinced them to go look for the man where I claimed to have
seen him but they never found any sign of the man there the hups tried to pass it off as some homeless guy or a drug addict I hoped that's all it was but the way he talked and the way he moved it was too purposeful too graceful this man at least to me was something else entirely I kept working at the park for another year but I wasn't the same after that I was jumping at everything and that was by far the scariest work encounter I've ever had babysitting encounter from Ivy this happened when I
was 12 years old we had a family that was friends with my family and all of us would hang out quite a lot my family was two parents and five kids ages 2 to 12 years old and their family will'll call them the Smiths were two parents with three boys ages 5 to 9 my parents enjoyed socializing with theirs and all of us kids would play together as a 12-year-old I was interested in a lot of things including science nature the Extraterrestrial and of course the Paranormal the oldest Smith boy was only nine but we
were the same height and I thought of him as my intellectual equal so I frequently forgot there was an age difference between us the first thing I noticed about their house was that it was soundproof as far as I know they did not do anything intentionally to soundproof it but there were multiple occasions where we'd be doing something like barbecuing in the backyard and I would go inside to use the bathroom and the house was completely silent despite the noise outdoors I couldn't even hear the loud 4th of July or Memorial Day party taking place
in the backyard I would become uneasy when I would shut the sliding glass door behind me and enter that silence because if I had to yell for help no one would be able to hear me needless to say I tried not to be alone in their house one day we were swinging on the swing set in their backyard and I was watching my shadow getting longer and shorter as I got closer or farther away from the ground except for some reason my shadow was not following the same long short long pattern it would usually follow
when I was swinging high low high like I said I was into science and knew my shadow should be longer or shorter depending on the angle of the Sun and my height off the ground I promptly ran experiments and found my shadow looked different in different parts of their backyard I pointed this out to the oldest Smith boy and to tease him I said I think your house is haunted I expected to have an interesting conversation about it but instead he went straight to his mom and told her what I said it was an odd
reaction normally we would play for hours without talking to our parents I expected his parents to just laugh off the comment but they were uncharacteristically serious and asked why would you tell him that when I remembered he was only nine I felt bad and I realized I probably shouldn't be saying things to scare him but the thing was I hadn't said it to scare him to me it was a real idea that something odd was happening here and I wanted to discuss that with someone what scared me though was seeing his parents so serious they
were usually the most unserious people I knew now as an adult looking back the only reason I can come up with to rationalize how his parents reacted is that I know how hard your life gets if your kids aren't sleeping through the night so maybe they were worried the idea would cause some sleep issues I guess you could say that's my working hypothesis eventually they forgot about my comment because they asked me not too long afterward to babysit for a couple of hours while they went off to dinner I didn't really feel old enough to
be babysitting I was only 12 I felt like I was the same age as the oldest Smith boy so telling him what to do probably wasn't going to go over well I said yes anyway and the only instructions they gave me were to tell the boys to head to bed at 9:00 p.m. I didn't have to bathe them or help them them brush their teeth but just pester them to lay down in their beds when the time came I was surprised they lay in their beds without a fight so I went downstairs to watch some
TV as I sat in the living room I began to hear kids laughing it sounded like when kids giggle from playing a fun game or being tickled naturally I thought it was the three boys so I went upstairs to tell them to cut it out but when I looked into their rooms all three boys were sleeping and not fake sleeping either I'm talking mouth open arms bent at weird angles asleep I went back downstairs confused thinking there must be kids playing kickball or something in the street in front of the house but the place was
noise prooof even so I went to check I looked out the front door and no one was out there I even walked to the perimeter of the house from the inside looking out all the windows for the children I thought I was here but I didn't see anyone at all when I stuck my head out the sliding glass door and into the backyard I heard crickets but no laughter it was quieter outside the house than it was inside I decided not to let it show that I was freaked out so I stayed calm sat on
the couch and turned up the TV until I could no longer hear the laughter eventually their parents came home and that was that they asked if the boys gave me any trouble and I said no this happened 16 years ago and nothing remotely paranormal has happened to me before or since I can't explain it but that house felt powerful not evil or dark per se but just a feeling that I could easily be overpowered I like to think whatever it was supernaturally protected those boys they're all in college now and they seem to be doing
well I'm not exactly sure what I believe about the Paranormal but I do know I experienced it there The Grieving ghost of Highway 202 and the Ghost Dog from nixel lottle I used to work as a kennel technician for animal control I would take Highway 202 to work every morning between 4:30 a.m. and 5 this road is regularly under construction with blocked lanes and I like to arrive early as my days were always packed one night had been filled with rain and the early morning had thick fog similar to what you'd see in Silent Hill
so I drove a bit slower and I spotted this massive orange glowing sign marking the beginning of the construction but that wasn't the only thing I spotted there was a humanoid silhouette walking in front of that sign illuminated by the sign itself I slowed down more in case construction had started early as I drove closer I noticed a feminine figure with a black lacy umbrella who seemed to glide through the Mist rather than walk she was wearing a black dress and had blonde hair she was adorned with a Mourning Veil obscuring her face she didn't
have legs as far as I could see but rather she faded into the f immediately I was covered in chills and I tried to rationalize why a lady in funeral attire was walking beside the highway at 5 a.m. but I couldn't I knew this area did not have a funeral home and it didn't have a cemetery for a fair distance then as I was parallel to the sign she vanished she just walked right into the sign and disappeared my my heart sank and I even backtracked to see if I had just lost sight of her
but she was nowhere to be seen I kept driving until I turned onto the road leading to the shelter and I found myself in standstill traffic I spent an hour and a half trying to go 2/3 of a mile as the fog and the flashing emergency service lights made redirecting traffic a challenge as I reached the end of the traffic at the side of the redirection I I saw a motorcycle on the road or rather what was left of it it had been pulled aside and was directly next to the redirecting path a sheet was
draped over a gurnie that was being loaded into an ambulance and even the fog did not hide the blood soaking through the snowy fabric a large truck was pulled off to the side and multiple dark Silhouettes were crowded around the front I learned a few hours later that the truck and the Motorcycle had collided headon and the cyclist died on the scene I couldn't help but wonder that lady IID passed earlier was she mourning the dead or was she arriving to lead the soul away I'm used to seeing accidents and their aftermath and I'm accustomed
to the Paranormal but it's always saddening seeing something like this even that shelter had a fair share of ghosts or Shadows which always seemed to be watching glimpses of dogs that had recently been euthanized running between the kennels seeing a cat out of the corner of your eye that vanished when you tried to look at it directly and even the shadowy Silhouettes of people walking between kennels and crouching down where dogs were excitedly yapping at something just beyond the door still I wasn't going to shake off the events of that morning anytime soon and even
when I left the campus for my apartment back across the highway I couldn't help but glance towards the construction sign that was no longer obscured and fog I never did see her again I've since left that job I could not dedicate enough time to the work after summer ended and my college courses picked back up but I still wonder if anyone who works there sees any of the weird things I saw or if anyone has seen the woman on the highway maybe even the ghostly figure of a man in Biker's gear wandering the area one
night driving through this same area I spotted a little black dog in a red harness darting through traffic I'm not the type to leave a lost dog especially such a small one so I made a u-turn as I saw the dog Dart into the grassy middle section of the road through my rear viw mirror the dog hadn't crossed over or appeared back on the road yet which was relieving as it was incredibly dark out and chasing an animal that small while it was this dark between traffic at 50 to 65 mph was not a good
idea I pulled over but the dog in the bright red harness was gone not a trace of it there's no way I would have missed it had it darted back onto the road on either side as the harness was reflective I spent 10 minutes dodging traffic and checking the whole area even getting back in my car and driving around in circles looking for that dog I haven't seen that one since either I'm hoping by posting here maybe someone else would have seen the woman the dog or something else in the area I've got a dash
cam now though I have no idea if it will catch anything paranormal but if it does I'll be ready next time night shift at the bank from Anonymous 2024 I work as a security guard for a branch of a big name Investment Bank in Manhattan my job's pretty routine since I work the night shift when the bank is closed and I've never had to deal with burglaries or people trying to get in at night in fact I'm not entirely sure why the bank needs a security guard at night as the place is appeared so well
already I worked the day shift for about 6 months I was only recently transferred to work kns when the last guy we'll call him Mike suddenly stopped showing up for work I'm lucky to have procured the job as I have so many fewer responsibilities now and yet I get paid the same amount I work from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. and my job mainly consists of monitoring the six CCTV security monitors and occasionally walking through each floor checking to make sure all doors are locked and nothing's out of the ordinary due to the Simplicity of
my job I work alone so initially it did feel a little Eerie being in such a big building all by myself but any sense of fear or tension was quickly replaced with boredom as I soon realized I had nothing to do most of my time was spent in the security control room sitting in front of the monitors picking my feet up on the desk reading a Stephen King paperback one night while strolling through the first floor I heard a long drawn out it seemed to be coming from the floor below me I'd never heard that
sound here before so I was perplexed and a little bit creeped out I ran to the stairs and down one level to the basement I got my keys out found the right one and unlocked the green metallic door with a big white be in the middle I stepped through the door and was immediately sprayed with a thin layer of water instinctively I jumped back pulling out my x26 taser gun to point at whatever was in front of me as I sputtered water from my lips and wiped it out of my eyes just to see that
it was a burst pipe I sighed with relief moments ago I was convinced I was about to apprehend an intruder but I holstered my Taser instead the burst pipe was approximately 30 in to the left of the door while the main valve was about 60 yard to the right of the door so I jogged down the hallway in that direction to shut off the water supply in hopes of stopping the leak I'm not sure what could have caused the pipe to burst perhaps it was just old and Rusty and needed replacing which wouldn't be a
surprise considering the state of this place the basement compared to the rest of that building could be a good setting for the next Saw movie The Lights always flickered the paint on the walls was chipping and I swear I heard sounds of creatures skittering in and out of small cracks in the floor it's what drives me to do whatever I can to stay the heck out of this place whenever I can this is one of the few times I've actually had to come down here for any reason there are some custodial and Supply closets and
other maintenance rooms down here that I was briefed about but nothing that would require my presence there's even one room with a big metal door that has a large radioactive warning sign on it that I was told specifically not to go into apparently the room has high levels of rate on gas which results from the radioactive decay of uranium no one really talks about that room and unnecessary questions are discouraged by the supervisors wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible I pulled the lever of the main valve turning off the water supply
I then headed back to the basement door to go up and log what happened as I walked back I was able to take in my surroundings in better detail I walked another 3 ft and stopped dead in my tracks the door with a radioactive sign on it the one to the room I was told not to enter because it's full of radon was cracked open I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach the feeling I felt could only be compared to what people who looked into the eyes of Medusa might feel a millisecond before
turning to Stone I knew that being within feet of that room with its door cracked was a life-altering event I would have immediately rushed back to the security office calling my manager to report what I'd seen if it weren't for the sound of distant conversations emanating from Beyond the Door I was confused I strained my ears to try and make out those sounds praying I wasn't going crazy and hearing things and there it was a faint but present cacophony of voices with an occasional loud yell or bang I was baffled as it sounded like this
room was a lot bigger than I expected it to be and because the voices sounded so far off instinct told me not to get any closer but curiosity got the better of me I slowly walked over to the door to peer through the Gap inside what I saw wasn't a hollowed out dank basement room with miscellaneous objects strewn about and pipes running around the walls and ceiling no what I saw was a long steep staircase descending further past what my vision could make out it was lit up by long thin dim fluorescent lights spread out
horizontally on the ceiling the quality of the walls Beyond the Door were in stark contrast to those making up the rest of the basement they were covered in shimmering silver tiles it gave off a futuristic Aura still hearing the voices off in the distance and having seen the staircase thoughts of radon exposure evaporated from my mind as the inquiring and skeptical part of me took over I wanted to find out what was going on here I pride open the door little stepping through to the staircase the voices from down below were a little louder now
and I began to hear what sounded like machines beeping and phones ringing the confusion I felt temporarily overshadowed my fear of the situation I just walked into yet as I was about to take a step down the flight of stairs I immediately was hit with the realization of what I was about to do this room clearly was not meant to be stumbled upon by a mere security guard and the lengths the company went to to keep people out of the basement specifically this room made it clear that I should not be there I thought about
Mike who seemed to drop off the face of the earth when he stopped showing up to work and I had never heard from him again I recall him mentioning hearing strange noises from the basement during the night shift the week before I last saw him what if what he saw downstairs scared him so much he got up and left never to come back or what if he never left at all at least not of his own free will I decided then and there the best thing I could do was turn around go back up to
my security station erase any footage of me entering the room and act like nothing [Music] happened that is exactly what I did whatever was going on down there was never meant to be discovered by me and no matter what fascinating discovery I would come across by going down those stairs I valued my life more than satisfying my curiosity I quit the job a week later I told my employer I got another job closer to where my parents live since I needed to be around them due to health complications leaving was probably the best choice I
could have made I did not want any association with that bank ever again I try not to think about what I would have seen if I went down there but to this day it still gnaws at me I hope that whoever and whatever was down there never catches up with me thanks for tuning in to Tales from the breakroom the home of the scariest true work stories if you want to hear your story narrated by me send it to me at east.com sssubmit we pay 5 cents per word for accepted stories help us grow by
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