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7 MIDDLE OF NOWHERE HORROR STORIES ANIMATED · Martin Animations

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: So the events of the story still make me think
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: back to that night, and I'm still trying to process
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: what exactly happened. The events that took place on this
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: strange night were about ten years ago from the moment
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I'm writing the story. My friends and I were 17
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: years old and spent most of our weekends with each other,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: a habit that started back in elementary school, playing video
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: games and sleeping in each other's houses. All through middle
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: school and high school, this was our weekend routine. At
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: one point during senior year, We decided that we wanted
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: to mix things up a little bit by taking a
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: little night drive. It was myself, who had a license
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: and a car at this point, and my two friends,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Robbie and Scott. My parents trusted us because all things considered,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: we were good kids. The night started out like most nights.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Scott and Robbie showed up at the house to sleep
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: over for the night. We ordered some pizza, played some games,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: and just talked about school for a little bit. Shortly
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: after 11 p.m., we decided to go for a ride.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: for no other reason than to listen to some music
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: and just exchange some good old-fashioned conversation. We just drove
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: for a while, turning down roads that we didn't even
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: know existed, and before we knew it, we'd been driving
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: for several hours, and I couldn't remember the last time
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: we saw streetlights. It was extremely dark and desolate wherever
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: we ended up driving. Around one, maybe a little bit later,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: we were driving down this really eerie and very poorly
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: lit road, when we approached a car that was on
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: the side of the road, but it was not just
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: parked on the side of the road.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: It was kind of.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Somewhat crooked, and the hood was tucked into the shrubs,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: almost as if though the car had lost control and
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: got into an accident. The red taillights were still giving
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: off a soft glow on the road, and Robbie suggested
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: that we look in case someone fell asleep at the
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: wheel or something bad really happened. If someone had got
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: into an accident, it would have taken hours for paramedics
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: to find them if we didn't do something right now.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: We slowly and cautiously approached the vehicle. It was an
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: older red Honda Civic. We got out of our car
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: slowly and began approaching this red car. Robbie said in
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: this really brave voice, Hey, anybody there?
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: You hurt?
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: And there was no response. And as we got closer,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: I shouted, Wait. While we were walking over, I started
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: to make out some type of figures. in the back seat,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: just sitting up. And Robbie shouted again, and this time
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: with a bit of urgency in his voice. Hey, are
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: you okay? Again, there was no response. No noise at
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: all except for the motor of my car running several
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: feet behind us. After a moment, Robbie finally said whatever
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: and approached the red car, and we followed closely behind him,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: even though I felt something was wrong in my gut.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: We all were shaken with immediate fear as we went
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: up to the window. There was, in fact, a person
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: in the back seat. But almost more hauntingly, it was
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: a mannequin, not a real person. And my first thought was,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: who in God's name would drive around with essentially a
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: lifelike doll in the back seat? Admittedly, we got a
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: good laugh out of this for a moment. But then
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: the paranoia of this situation came back. Robbie continued to
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: scream if anybody needed help or assistance, but there was
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: still no response. And this is when I noticed that
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: this mannequin had something in its plastic hands. It looked
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: like some sort of tape. A VHS tape. Without thinking,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: I took the tape, and I didn't even tell my
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: friends until later that night. We decided to just call
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: the police, which we should have done in the first place,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: and we reported this abandoned car. The police asked for
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: the license plate number, and that's when we noticed that
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: there was no license plate on the car. Whoever ditched
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: this car either didn't have plates or took those plates
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: with them, and all they left behind was that creepy
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: mannequin with that old VHS tape. So we made our
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: statement and told the cops the location of the car
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: and left. Later that night, while we were talking about
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: this incident and just how crazy it was and That's
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: when I told my friends about that tape that I
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: took from the car. In a sort of shock, and
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: perhaps a bit upset that I didn't mention it before,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: they of course wanted to watch it right away. On
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: the sticker in front of the tape was this plain
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: white sticker that only just said, Watch Me, written in
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: black marker with very crudely drawn skull and bones. I
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: had some pause, but decided that we had to watch it.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Curiosity was getting the best out of all of us
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: at this point. and I found my parents' old VHR
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: in the crawlspace and hooked it up to the TV.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: The tape began with about five seconds of a black
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: screen and just the sound of a static tone. Then
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: a man came on the screen with a beard and
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: long hair. The quality of the tape was horrible. He
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: stared into the camera, almost as if though he were
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: staring right at us, and he wore a red flannel
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: and sat at a table next to what appeared to
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: be a workbench of some kind. he stared into the
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: lens for two minutes straight without saying a single word.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: We watched the time, and it was the most unsettling
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: two minutes of my entire life. And after those two minutes,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: he laughed, and then sort of morphed that laugh into
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: a cry, all while staring directly into the lens, and
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: finally said in this sort of low, monotone voice, This
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: tape belongs to me, and I know you have it.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: I'll find it again, and you'll be sorry. He then
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: followed this with another horrible laugh and cry combo. We
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: then fast forwarded the tape for several minutes and nothing
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: else was said other than a few laughs and just
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: this strange man staring at the camera. And finally it
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: just cut to black and it ended. Now after a
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: bit of conversation about this situation, being stupid kids we
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: decided not to give the tape to the police. I
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: just kept it. And after all these years the tape
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: still sits in my bookcase. I'll never watch it again,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: and I've never even really spoke about this event until
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: now writing it down. And I'm sure this is just
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: some kind of stupid joke, but to us kids, this
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: was burned into our brains for years, and I'm still
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: kind of scarred by the mental images that I witnessed
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: that night. Every time I see a man that resembles
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: that man from the tape, even after all these years,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: I still get that pit-of-the-stomach type feeling, and I'm reminded
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: of that fear and paranoia that I felt in that evening.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Why did he have a mannequin in his backseat? Why
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: did he crash his car? And why did he have
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: a tape there? I always had a really hard time
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: focusing when it came to schoolwork. I've had some traumatic
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: experiences in my life and as a result, it just
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: makes me feel off. I can't focus at all when
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: I'm home. Even when it's quiet, every little thing bothers
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: me and I feel like I just read the same
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: line a million times. In my sophomore year of college
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: I started driving to a secluded location and doing all
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: my readings for school. I didn't live far from the
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: country so it would only take me about 20 minutes
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: to drive to a peaceful location. I found the peace
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: and tranquility of nature to be soothing. I know it
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: may sound crazy to some people that I would drive
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: that far just to do homework but I really had
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: no choice. It ended up being the only way that
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: I could concentrate on my work. When the end of
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: my senior year was approaching I I started to freak
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: out about one of my big exams. The exam was
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: 40% of my final grade and I needed at least
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: a 75 on the exam to pass the course. I
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: decided that I was going to spend the weekend before
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: the exam studying and that I was going to make
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: my own little adventure out of the experience. Instead of
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: going to my usual spot, I was going to travel
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: to an area a few hours away, hike the beautiful
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: trails and find a nice quiet spot to study. I
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: left first thing Saturday morning and arrived at my destination
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: around 10 in the morning. I spent the early part
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: of the day hiking until roughly 2 in the afternoon.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: I found this amazing spot near the top of a
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: steep hill. It was a clearing that overlooked a bunch
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: of trees. There were some rocks on top of the
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: hill and I was able to get comfortable with my
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: books and computer. I started reading my textbook and I
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: thought that I could hear the sound of twigs snapping.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Now in my distracted brain, all I could concentrate on
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: was the sound of the twigs. It was driving me crazy.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: I first thought that there was some sort of deer
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: or chipmunk or something that was prancing around in the woods.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: I thought that I could go over and maybe scare
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: the animal and whatever it was would just flee further
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: into the woods and away from me so I could focus.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: I made my way over to the edge of the
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: tree line and shouted some nonsense noises to try to
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: scare whatever it was. But I heard nothing. I made
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: a sound again, clapped my hands together, and again I
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: heard nothing. I stared intently through the thick trees, and
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: I swear that I saw a silhouette of a person move,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: but I figured that my mind was playing tricks on me.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: I kept looking for a little while longer, and I
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: realized that the noise had stopped. I thought to myself
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: that whatever I did must have worked. I sat back
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: down and started to read my textbook again. but now
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: I couldn't concentrate because I couldn't help the feeling that
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: something wasn't right. I flipped through the pages several times,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: and once I realized that I wasn't retaining anything, I
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: decided to pack my things up and head back. I
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: was fairly far away from where I parked anyway, so
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: I figured it was time to walk back, and I
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: would just find a spot to study that was closer
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: to where I parked. When I walked over to the
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: tree line, I paused instantly. Standing about 30 feet away
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: shrouded in the trees was the backside of somebody it
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: appeared to be a man since the shoulders were so
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: broad but because the back was facing me I couldn't
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: be sure they were dressed in all black and it
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: looked like they were wearing something on their face I
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: didn't move or say anything I just stood there frozen
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: and tried to calm down since I had a million
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: thoughts flying through my head. It felt like an eternity
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: but in reality it was probably only seconds later and
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: the person turned abruptly, facing me. And I can't accurately
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: express how much fear I felt in this moment. The
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: mask was horrifying. I would guess that it was homemade
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: since I had never seen a mask like this in
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: my life. It appeared to be white but also appeared
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: to have a long snout hanging from the mask. It
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: almost looked like a mask from one of those scenes
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: in Beetlejuice, if anyone knows what I'm talking about, except
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: somehow this was creepier in the moment. As I said,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: the mask was white and not skin-colored like in the movie.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: The eyes on the mask were jet black, and wild
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: hair protruded from the mask. I think the hair was
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: attached to the mask and not the person because it
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: was sort of a mustard-yellow color. The person started to hum,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: and I didn't notice it at first. and I didn't
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: realize that it wasn't some melody. It was a really
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: drawn-out hum, like a sort of groan coming from this person,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: and they started to step closer to me. I freak out.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: The clearing that I was on was not big, so
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: in order to walk back to the trail, I would
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: have to walk by this person. I could have slid
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: down the hill, but I probably would have broken my
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: computer and most likely broken my legs since it was
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: extremely steep and very high up. This person started to
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: run full speed at me, still making that horrible groaning noise.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: I still can't even believe what happened next. The person
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: ran at me, stops, right in front of me. I'm
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: frozen there. And they laugh. And then they just start
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: humming again, but didn't actually lay a single finger on me.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Not wanting to know what was happening or taking any chances,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: I just ran as fast as I could around them.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: The entire time that I was running, I could hear
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: this person seemingly trying to follow close behind me, still humming,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: but I didn't bother turning around. I finally made it
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: to my car, and that person was no longer following me.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: I tried calling the police, but of course, my phone
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: service was pretty shoddy out there, and I drove several
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: miles to the closest town. I called the police once
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: I got there and reported what had happened, and I
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: don't think they did anything since technically the person didn't
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: do anything other than just disturbed me and there were
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: no other complaints. I have no idea what that freak
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: was doing in the woods. I don't know if they
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: were on something, playing some type of prank, or truly
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: messed up enough to actually hurt someone. It seems unlikely
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: that it was a prank since I didn't see anybody
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: else in the woods and it seemed like we were
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: the only two humans in the area. I realize I
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: shouldn't complain since I was unharmed in the incident but
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: the psychological trauma that I felt, it still sticks with
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: me to this day. I'll never forget that terrible afternoon
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: and the memory of that horrible mask.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: When I was in my early 20s, I had a
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: friend with a psychotic alcoholic father. She didn't live with him.
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: She lived in a remote little coastal town. Now and again,
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: we would go together to visit him and stay the night.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: My relationship with him was creepy in itself, but that
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: isn't the subject now. One night when we were visiting,
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: my friend and her dad had gotten into a drunken blow-up.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: He kicked us out of the house. This was around midnight.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: We'd gotten a lift down and I hadn't had a car.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: My friend's dad lived about four kilometers out of town
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: by the way of a dirt road. So we start
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: walking down that dirt road back to town where there
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: was a telephone booth. This was in the days before
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: it was commonplace.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: To have a mobile phone.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: I was going to call my folks who lived about
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: an hour and a half away and see if they
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: would come get us. The whole way to town My
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: friend was drunkenly moaning and crying about her broken relationship
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: with her father and she hadn't let up by the
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: time we finally reached the phone booth. She sat on
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: the bench next to the phone while I woke my
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: parents up. They agreed to come and get us and
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: I sat down on the bench for a long wait.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Shortly after this, a van appeared up and parked just
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: behind the bench we were sitting on, maybe five meters away.
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: There were two young men in the front seats and
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: they were looking directly at us If that didn't make
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: me nervous enough, the van door slid open. Then I
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: saw there were a number of young guys in the back.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: I don't remember how many exactly, but definitely more than two.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: The place that we were sitting at was completely deserted.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: There were no houses nearby, just more road. No people,
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: nowhere to run, no one driving by. It was a
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: shitty little nowhere town. I stood up so I could
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: see them better. I kept my eyes fixed on the
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: van full of men Acutely aware of our vulnerability. What
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: I saw was that they were looking back at us.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: They were talking amongst themselves quietly at first. Then they
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: started talking more and more loudly. And it had now
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: become evident. They were deliberately talking loudly enough for us
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: to hear. Talking about pulling us into the van. Taking
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: us somewhere to fuck us and kill us. I can't
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: remember the exact words, but that was the gist of
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: the situation. My whole body was not shaking, but quaking
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: with terror. I couldn't take my eyes off the men.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: I remember the face of one of them so clearly
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: that I could draw it now. He was just sitting
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: in the door of the van, looking at me with
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: no expression, looking at me with dead eyes, looking at
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: me like I was a thing. All this time my
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: drunk friend hadn't stopped sobbing to herself. Whether she knew
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: the van was there or not, I couldn't say. I
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: knew I had to tell her about that danger, but
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: I was actually so full of terror myself.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: I couldn't move.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: I couldn't speak. That was when the most incredible thing happened.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: My friend's father, who has never apologized to anyone in
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: his life, and who was the most awkward prick alive,
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: appeared out of nowhere, drunk, in his car. It's hard
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: to describe how unlikely it was for him to do this.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: He could hold a grudge like no one you've ever met.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: He was such a stubborn, stubborn man. And he and
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: my friend I had an emotional reunion. The whole time
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: my eyes were fixed on that van still. The men
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: had now stopped talking and were just watching us.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: Let's go, I said.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: We got back into the car and started heading back
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: for my friend's dad's house. Then the van started up
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: and they began to follow. I tried to explain to
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: my friend's dad about the men, but he said, Slow
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: down and they can pass. They slowed down to a
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: crawl behind us. Then they began to shout out the windows,
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: screaming more threats. They followed us all the way down
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: that dirt road, and then all the way down the
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: driveway of my friend's father. They just sat in the
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: van behind us, and we sat in the car, waiting
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: to see what would happen. All of my friend's dad's
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: neighbors were holiday homes. Nobody was in that night. We
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: all knew that if the men decided to get out
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: of that van, and carry out any of those threats,
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: we would receive no help. Thankfully, after a very long time,
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: the van backed out of the driveway and left. My
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: parents came in a panic to the house when they
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: couldn't find us at the shops. My friend's dad hid
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: in shame, and I went back to my family's house.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: I've been asked if I went to the police, but
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: I don't remember. I don't think I did. It was
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: just a really messed up time in my life. But
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: that incident changed me forever. I'm a very fearful person now.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: I'm very overprotective of my kids. And I don't want
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: to change. Because I'd rather be like this than accidentally
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: trust one of the millions and millions of psychos out there.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: I was a live-in caretaker for a 94-year-old woman with
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: Alzheimer's for about a year and a half. She had
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: moved into her daughter's home deep in the woods in
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: the middle of nowhere, Washington. Marie was prone to say
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: weird things, like that her sister, who was deceased, mother,
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: who was deceased, and husband, who was also deceased, were
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: in the house or outside regularly. I myself had been
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: working with dementia patients for years, so it never really
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: got to me or bothered me. But Marie was terrified
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: of those woods. She would always tell me how there's
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: dangerous animals out there, and how I could get lost easily,
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: so I must always stay inside. She was also worried
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: about her mother and husband having to travel through them. Again,
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: this really wasn't worrisome behavior given her health condition. I'd
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: been working with her for about six or seven months
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: when I would start waking up to her walking down
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: the halls in the middle of the night. Sundowning is
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: fairly normal for people with Alzheimer's, so again, I wasn't
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: troubled by any of this. She started going to a
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: specific window and giggling like she was interacting with someone
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: outside the window. When I asked what she was doing,
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: she'd say my mother is out there. Kind of weird,
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: but there's a different perception in her world now. One night,
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: in the dead of winter. her daughter and I are
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: awoken to the blaring sound of the house alarm. The
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: daughter and I, like the doors and windows, none of
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: which seem to be disturbed or unlocked. The only thing
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: missing is Marie. She's nowhere in the house. Panicked, I
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: rush outside to find her, while her daughter, continues to
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: search the house. No tracks anywhere. No disturbed snow.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: Nothing.
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: After 10 to 15 minutes of yelling and searching the woods,
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: I start making my way back to the house where
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: her daughter already was in the process of calling 911.
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: As I approach the house, I see Marie, standing outside
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: the window she normally stood at giggling. There's not a
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: single footstep in the snow around her, nor is she
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: cold to the touch. She's just standing there, laughing at nothing.
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: Didn't even know she was outside. Her late night window
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: visits became more and more frequent after this, but less happy.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: She'd get combative with the window and scream at whoever
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: she believed to be there. Then it just stopped one day.
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: One of the last conversations I had with Marie before
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: she passed. She told me not to let them take
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: me into those woods. And I hope they didn't. When
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: I was seven years old, my father took my older
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: brother and I to a cabin in the middle of
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: literally nowhere for a week as a vacation. We also
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: took our cat with us. Everybody had their own room,
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: and I had the room furthest from the other two,
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: positioned right where the woods started. There was a window
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: right next to my bed, and on the right side,
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: there was a tree right next to it, and I
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: remember getting to climb the previous day without success. The
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: bedrooms were on the second floor. By the way, and
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: the window didn't have any curtains or blinds to cover it.
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: One night, I remember feeling really homesick and unable to sleep.
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: The cat was lying on the bed with me. I
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: was reading a comic book with a flashlight, when around
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: 2 a.m., I began hearing a tapping on my window.
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: At first, I just assumed it was a tree branch
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: tapping on the window, because it was a windy night
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: after all. That was until I began to hear whispers.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: Whispers.
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: I just remember freezing in fear, feeling like a bunch
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: of ice water had just been poured on top of me.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: I could hear whoever it was tapping and then saying
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: things like, Open up, son. It's daddy.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: Let me in, Luke. It's cold out here.
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: And the worst one I heard was, Come on, it's daddy.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: I just want to cuddle.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: I was paralyzed by fear. I just lay on my side,
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: facing away from the window. terrified, close to tears. I
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: knew it wasn't my father, and in my imagination, I
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: thought it was the boogeyman or some kind of other creature.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: It would kill me. All the while, my cat was
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: hissing and clawing at this guy. I just remember holding him,
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: burying my face into his fur because he felt like
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: a safety net. My one defense against this guy is
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: I couldn't work up the nerve to call for my father.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: Then I remember hearing this horrible screeching noise. I looked
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: around to see what it was. I could see this
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: guy with the most maniacal grin that I've ever seen.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: Like something out of a horror movie. Dragging a pocket
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: knife against the glass. Making that horrendous noise. I found
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: my voice and screamed bloody murder. The grin disappeared. He
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: looked like a combination of horrified and absolute full of rage.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: but then my father came barreling into the room with
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: his hunting rifle. And as you can imagine, seeing that
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: made this guy panic and sort of drop backwards. My
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: father looked at me and made sure I was okay.
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: My brother ran in the room, and then my father
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: went off to go catch this guy, hopefully before he
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: got away. But, unfortunately, it wasn't a long drop, and
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: the man probably only got a few bruises from it.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: He was definitely gone by the time my father got
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: out there, We waited the night. Nobody slept. Before we
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: packed up and went home the following day. I have
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: no clue if they ever caught that guy. Though I
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: remember my father following a police report and having me
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: talk to the police to give them a description. I'm
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: still grateful for my cat. He turns 14 this week
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: and is still as feisty as ever. For providing me
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: comfort during that awful, terrifying night.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: I was only 10. The last time that my family
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: had gone to our cabin for a vacation, we used
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: to go every year, but after that time, we stopped,
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: which I was glad about because something really strange happened
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: the last time I was there. It was me, my
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: older sister, my mother, and my father. They had all
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: gone to sleep and I was restless. I mean, it
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: was early and I was 10, so I didn't know
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: what to do with myself. I end up making the
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: foolish decision to sneak out and stare at the stars.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: We didn't get those kinds of sights in the city,
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: so I snuck out of the cabin as quietly as
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: I could and made my way to the fire pit.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: The fire had long been put out, but it was
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: a good place to sit and overlook the field near
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: the cabin and see the stars. As I sat there,
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: I looked out into the field, and at first, I
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: couldn't tell what I was seeing. It looked like something
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: was moving in the tree line just beyond the field.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: It wasn't until it stepped out into the light that
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: I realized it was a man, and he appeared to
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: be heading towards the woods on the other side of
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: the field. As he made his way through the field,
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: I could see more and more of what he was
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: doing because of the moonlight. I noticed he was dragging
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: something that looked heavy. My heart just about to stop,
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: though when I noticed he stopped moving and turned in
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: my direction, I wasn't sure that he saw me until
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: I noticed he lifted his hand and I swear he waved.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: I was so scared, however, to my relief, he just
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: kept on moving. I immediately went inside and didn't say
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: anything about it to my parents. I didn't want to
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: get in trouble for sneaking out. It wasn't until five
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: years later when we were all sitting outside of our home,
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: enjoying some takeout by the pool, that I ended up
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: bringing it up. I didn't think anything of it. We
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: had just been talking about some scary things that happened
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: to us, so I thought it would be a good
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: one to share. But the look on my dad's face
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: told me that I had said something that really freaked
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: him out. That was when he explained to me why
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: we have never gone back to that cabin. Apparently, two
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: weeks after we had left and gone home, my parents
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: were questioned by the police considering a body that they
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: found near our cabin just a few days after we
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: had left. Apparently, upon searching the area, police found nine
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: different bodies buried in the property. I will absolutely never
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: forget what I saw that night, or how lucky I
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: am still to be here. I was so excited to
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: be getting back to the cabin with my cousins. It
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: had been a few years since I had been able
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: to join them on their weekend hunting trips. But finally,
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: our schedules lined up and my parents let me go
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: with them. It was just me, my two cousins, and
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: their dad, my uncle. We made it to the cabin
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: and began to unpack. The boys and I couldn't wait
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: to get outside and run around the woods for a
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: little while before it got dark. So, that's exactly what
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: we did. We dropped our stuff off and immediately ran outside.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: We were out there for about two hours before my
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: uncle called us in for dinner. When we got inside,
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: he seemed a bit weird, but I didn't think anything
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: of it. I just sat down and got ready for
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: some dinner. That was when my uncle asked my older
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: cousin if he remembered leaving the door open or anything
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: like that. He seemed to think that a squirrel or
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: some sort of animal had gotten in and had been
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: rummaging through whatever they had left there. My cousin said no,
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: and that was the end of that conversation. We didn't
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: speak another word about it. We just enjoyed our pasta
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: and talked about our plans for the next day. All
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: through the meal, though, I couldn't help but shake the
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: feeling like something was looking at us. Again, I just
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: brushed it off like it was nothing and finished eating.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: After a few hours, it was time for bed. My
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: cousins and I got to stay in the living room
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: of the cabin, on the pull-out couch and the reclining chair,
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: while my uncle slept in the room that was in
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: the back of the cabin. It took a while because
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: we didn't have a TV, but we eventually fell asleep. However,
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: about an hour after finally passing out, I woke up
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: to my younger cousin shaking me. When I asked him
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: what he needed, he didn't move, but I noticed his
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: eyes were locked onto the window. When I looked, I
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: couldn't help but scream. On the other side of the window,
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: I could see a full-grown man looking in at us.
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: I yelled so loud that I startled everyone in the
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: cabin awake. My older cousin and my uncle. It was
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: so loud that even the man outside the window seemed shocked.
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: My uncle came running out to ask me what happened.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: We explained everything and without a second question, my uncle
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: grabbed his cell phone and called the local police. They
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: said they would be at the cabin in about 10 minutes.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: So until then, we all went into my uncle's room
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: where he had his hunting rifle. And that was where
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: we waited until the police arrived. After about 20 minutes
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: of searching the woods, they found a man who had
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: been hiding out in the bushes about a mile away.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: When they found him, the police said that he had
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: a knife on him that looked like a kitchen knife.
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: It was one of the ones from the cabin. To
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: this day, the only conclusion that we could come up
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: with is that the man had been staying in the
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: cabin without my uncle knowing. And when we showed up,
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: he had to leave. But he left prepared to come
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: back and take the cabin by force. I'm thankful every
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: day that my little cousin managed to see the man
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: before anything bad could have happened.