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6 TRUE FALL HORROR STORIES ANIMATED · Martin Animations

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Speaker 1: Over the first couple of years of my life after
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Speaker 1: high school, I made most of my money working on
0:06
Speaker 1: one of the farms just outside of my town in Tennessee.
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Speaker 1: Unlike a lot of the farms in the area around
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Speaker 1: me that were typically horse and cattle ranches, the one
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Speaker 1: that I worked at grew a lot of the fruits
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Speaker 1: and vegetables that got shipped to the local grocery stores.
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Speaker 1: At first, when I worked there, I mainly did manual
0:24
Speaker 1: grunt work. But after my second year, I got certified
0:28
Speaker 1: to drive some of the machinery around. And then finally,
0:32
Speaker 1: in my last year working on the farm, I was
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Speaker 1: given the task that I always envied. I got to
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Speaker 1: drive the combine harvester and begin bulk harvesting the crops.
0:42
Speaker 1: I'm not sure why, but this was always something I
0:45
Speaker 1: wanted to do. And the only time we ever got
0:48
Speaker 1: to use it was toward the beginning and middle of
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Speaker 1: the fall. That year, it was finally my turn. and
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Speaker 1: I couldn't have been more excited. I didn't even mind
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Speaker 1: the cleaning that I had to do beforehand. You see,
1:00
Speaker 1: we had a major bird problem at the farm, so
1:03
Speaker 1: one of the many tactics we used to deter them
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Speaker 1: was by placing scarecrows around the fields. And when we
1:10
Speaker 1: did that, we set them up so that we could
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Speaker 1: break them down and move them when it came time
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Speaker 1: to harvest, so that we didn't have to maneuver them around.
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Speaker 1: This meant that before driving the combine harvester around, I
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Speaker 1: had to go to each of the fields and remove
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Speaker 1: the scarecrows and anything that we didn't want to get
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Speaker 1: destroyed in the process. So the day before getting to
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Speaker 1: the harvest, I spent most of my time breaking down
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Speaker 1: the scarecrows. At first, everything was going well. The first
1:36
Speaker 1: couple of scarecrows broke down as easy as we had
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Speaker 1: intended them to. But once I was more toward the
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Speaker 1: middle of the field, I reached one that wouldn't budge.
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Speaker 1: You see, we had designed it so that you could
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Speaker 1: pull the post apart, And in the process, the haystuffing
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Speaker 1: scarecrow would fall down, and then we could untie them
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Speaker 1: and drive them into the storage area. But for some reason,
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Speaker 1: this one post wouldn't come apart. I took a closer
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Speaker 1: look at the section of the post that we were
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Speaker 1: supposed to pull apart, and to my surprise, it looked
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Speaker 1: like this one had been superglued together. This was odd,
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Speaker 1: but I ended up assuming that it kept falling apart,
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Speaker 1: so the other workers secured it with superglue for the season. Boy,
2:20
Speaker 1: was I wrong. After a couple of frustrating moments of
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Speaker 1: me trying to pull the post apart, I decided to
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Speaker 1: just dig the center post out of the ground and
2:29
Speaker 1: then knock it over. As I began digging, I noticed
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Speaker 1: that some of the ground around the post appeared to
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Speaker 1: be a bit darker than the rest, almost like the
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Speaker 1: dirt had been stained by something. I just wasn't sure
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Speaker 1: what it was at the time. It wasn't until I
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Speaker 1: got the scarecrow down that I figured it out. After digging...
2:48
Speaker 1: I pushed the post over, and the scarecrow came toppling down.
2:53
Speaker 1: I was surprised by the amount of force it sounded
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Speaker 1: like when the scarecrow's body hit the ground. When we
3:00
Speaker 1: made them, I remember thinking that they were usually light,
3:04
Speaker 1: so I was curious as to why this one seemed
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Speaker 1: so heavy. After further inspection, I quickly knew that I
3:11
Speaker 1: needed to notify the police. After walking over to the
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Speaker 1: limp scarecrow, I could tell that something looked different about it.
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Speaker 1: And as I began to move it around, I knew
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Speaker 1: right away that this wasn't stuffed with hay. Underneath the
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Speaker 1: sack that we used to make the head was an
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Speaker 1: actual body. I called the police and notified my boss
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Speaker 1: about what I had found. And oddly enough, my boss
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Speaker 1: didn't respond. It wasn't long before the police arrived, and
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Speaker 1: I escorted them to the scarecrow that I had suspected
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Speaker 1: was a body. And after they checked it out, they
3:47
Speaker 1: confirmed that what I found was actually one of my
3:51
Speaker 1: old co-workers. There was one of our farmhands that got
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Speaker 1: up and quit one day, or at least that was
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Speaker 1: what we thought when he stopped showing up. But it
4:01
Speaker 1: turned out that he was murdered, and somebody had stashed
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Speaker 1: his body among the scarecrows, hoping that he wouldn't have
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Speaker 1: been found. The investigators said that they found multiple stab
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Speaker 1: wounds in his back and torso and they likely linked
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Speaker 1: those to the cause of his death. What made things
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Speaker 1: even crazier was that the investigators and the police weren't
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Speaker 1: able to get in contact with my boss and hasn't
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Speaker 1: been seen since I texted him about the body. We
4:30
Speaker 1: found out later that the worker that was murdered was
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Speaker 1: actually having an affair with our boss's daughter and because
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Speaker 1: my old boss couldn't be found He is presumed to
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Speaker 1: be the number one suspect in the murder, and they
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Speaker 1: believe he is in hiding. If there is one thing
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Speaker 1: that I took away from that job, is that a
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Speaker 1: body is a lot heavier than it seems. I'll never
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Speaker 1: forget the feeling of it in my hand as I
4:58
Speaker 1: went to check what it really was. In the tree
5:04
Speaker 1: trimming business, fall is probably our busiest season. whether it's
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Speaker 1: people who are afraid of dead tree limbs falling onto
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Speaker 1: their homes, or those who just don't like the sight
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Speaker 1: of them in their yard. The fall season is when
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Speaker 1: all the calls come in, and we are usually spread
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Speaker 1: the thinnest. This meant that, while I was working as
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Speaker 1: a trimmer, in the fall, I was almost always on
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Speaker 1: jobs by myself. And that was fine, but you can
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Speaker 1: only take so many precautions and still get the job
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Speaker 1: done when you are solo, which is why I'll never
5:37
Speaker 1: be able to work as a trimmer again. What happened was,
5:42
Speaker 1: I got sent out on a typical job that saw
5:45
Speaker 1: me removing some branches from a tree that were getting
5:48
Speaker 1: too close to one of the telephone poles in front
5:50
Speaker 1: of a homeowner's lawn. This typically wasn't a big deal.
5:53
Speaker 1: I would just harness myself up in the tree and
5:56
Speaker 1: then take my small chainsaw and start cutting away. So
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Speaker 1: when I got to the job, I got all my
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Speaker 1: equipment out, made sure that I was secured into my harness,
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Speaker 1: and there was nothing directly below the tree that could
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Speaker 1: damage my falling branches, and then I began making my
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Speaker 1: way up the tree. I secured myself in the proper height,
6:14
Speaker 1: about 17 feet off the ground, and began figuring out
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Speaker 1: which order I should cut the branches in. And once
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Speaker 1: I got it down, I started up my chainsaw and
6:24
Speaker 1: began cutting away. I got through about four branches before
6:28
Speaker 1: I knew there was a problem. After the fourth branch fell,
6:32
Speaker 1: I felt a tug on my harness, and I figured
6:35
Speaker 1: it was loose, so I went to power down the
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Speaker 1: chainsaw so that I could re-secure myself, and just at
6:41
Speaker 1: that moment, the harness didn't slip, but it snapped. I
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Speaker 1: was thrown backward and down from the tree, and on
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Speaker 1: the way down, all I could think of was to
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Speaker 1: throw the saw away from me because it was still running,
6:57
Speaker 1: Before I could do that though, my back slammed into
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Speaker 1: one of the lower branches in the tree and the
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Speaker 1: saw fell right out of my hand. I continued to fall,
7:07
Speaker 1: and as soon as I hit the ground, I knew
7:10
Speaker 1: that I was in trouble. I could feel the saw
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Speaker 1: digging into my leg and tearing through my flesh as
7:18
Speaker 1: I literally laid on top of it. I tried my
7:22
Speaker 1: best to push myself up and roll over off the saw,
7:25
Speaker 1: but by that point, The damage was already done. I
7:30
Speaker 1: had never seen that much blood in my entire life.
7:34
Speaker 1: And it wasn't long after I separated myself from the
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Speaker 1: saw that everything went dark and I passed out. Luckily
7:42
Speaker 1: for me, the homeowner was home and they actually rushed
7:45
Speaker 1: me to the hospital themselves. I woke up in the
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Speaker 1: hospital bed with only one and a half legs left.
7:52
Speaker 1: I had to get my right leg amputated from the
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Speaker 1: knee down. The saw managed to cut through the bone
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Speaker 1: and most of the flesh, but in a very choppy
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Speaker 1: way that they couldn't reattach it. There was too much
8:04
Speaker 1: damage done. Surprisingly enough, I still work for the same company.
8:10
Speaker 1: Only now I'm in the deployment department, and I make
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Speaker 1: sure that everyone is fully equipped with good gear and
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Speaker 1: multiple employees per job. Growing up in Chicago, you always
8:27
Speaker 1: hear about shootings, but you never expect to become the
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Speaker 1: victim of one, especially not on your favorite holiday. But
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Speaker 1: if there is something to learn from this, I hope
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Speaker 1: it's that you always keep aware of your surroundings. You see,
8:41
Speaker 1: it was Halloween of 2013, and I was invited by
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Speaker 1: my friend Peter to a party that they were having
8:48
Speaker 1: at one of the bars that we like to go
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Speaker 1: to on our days off. It usually wasn't too packed
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Speaker 1: with people, But on this occasion, it was the total opposite.
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Speaker 1: As soon as we showed up, I wondered if we'd
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Speaker 1: bitten off more than we could chew. Lucky for us,
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Speaker 1: we got inside and the party ended up being a
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Speaker 1: ton of fun at first. We both grabbed a couple
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Speaker 1: of drinks and began socializing with people that we knew.
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Speaker 1: The lights were awesome and the Halloween decorations were really
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Speaker 1: well done. All in all, I started off having a
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Speaker 1: really good time. That is until all of our attention
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Speaker 1: was taken away from one another and turned toward the
9:25
Speaker 1: middle of what was supposed to be the dance floor.
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Speaker 1: It wasn't clear exactly what was going on, but something
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Speaker 1: had caused the band to stop playing music and the
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Speaker 1: owner to turn the lights of the bar on. Sure enough,
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Speaker 1: we both saw a couple of security guards making their
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Speaker 1: way through the sea of people toward the center of
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Speaker 1: the crowd, where it was now clear that a fight
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Speaker 1: had broken out. He was kicking and fighting, trying to
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Speaker 1: break free. He was also yelling some He was kicking
9:56
Speaker 1: and fighting, trying to break free. He was also yelling
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Speaker 1: some things that I couldn't quite understand over the music
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Speaker 1: that had once again started up. I'll admit, after that incident,
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Speaker 1: I felt a bit uneasy about staying at the bar.
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Speaker 1: So after a moment, I began walking around looking for Peter.
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Speaker 1: And when I found him, I let him know that
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Speaker 1: I was going to catch a taxi home. He didn't
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Speaker 1: like that I was leaving early. but he ultimately was
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Speaker 1: cool with it. So I said my goodbyes to everyone
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Speaker 1: and began making my way outside. The air was cold
10:25
Speaker 1: when I stepped from the inside of the club out
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Speaker 1: onto the sidewalk, and I immediately began looking for any
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Speaker 1: sign of a cab to take me to my apartment.
10:34
Speaker 1: That was when I noticed there had been one right
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Speaker 1: down the road, so I figured I would see if
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Speaker 1: they were available. I began walking down the sidewalk, and
10:42
Speaker 1: as I got away from the door, I noticed that
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Speaker 1: there was a man smoking a cigarette against the side
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Speaker 1: of the building. I couldn't be sure, but judging by
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Speaker 1: the blood running down his face, I would say that
10:53
Speaker 1: he was one of the guys who had gotten into
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Speaker 1: the fight. I made sure to keep to myself, in
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Speaker 1: hopes to not starting any conflict, or bothering an already
11:01
Speaker 1: upset and inebriated person. But sadly, that wasn't enough. It
11:06
Speaker 1: wasn't the man who was smoking's fault, but as I
11:10
Speaker 1: passed by him on the sidewalk, all that could be
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Speaker 1: heard were the sounds of tires screeching, followed by four gunshots.
11:18
Speaker 1: As soon as the event was over, I knew that
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Speaker 1: a drive-by shooting just occurred, and I began looking around
11:24
Speaker 1: to see where it took place. To my surprise, the
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Speaker 1: man who had been smoking a cigarette was now keeled
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Speaker 1: over clutching at the side of his leg, and that
11:33
Speaker 1: was when I realized that the shooting happened right where
11:35
Speaker 1: I was standing. I looked down, and noticed blood was
11:39
Speaker 1: starting to come from the shirt I was wearing. and
11:42
Speaker 1: I began feeling a burning sensation right below the left
11:46
Speaker 1: of my ribcage. I dropped to the floor thinking that
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Speaker 1: my life was ending. But lucky for me and the
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Speaker 1: other man, the bouncers right inside the door of the
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Speaker 1: bar had heard the shots. They called 911 and they
11:59
Speaker 1: came outside and helped keep pressure on our wounds as
12:02
Speaker 1: we both lay there helplessly. At the end of the day,
12:06
Speaker 1: the police never found the shooter, but they were certain
12:09
Speaker 1: that it had to do with the fight that had
12:11
Speaker 1: broken out in the bar moments beforehand. It turned out
12:15
Speaker 1: that the other man who had gotten shot was involved
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Speaker 1: in a gang and because he wouldn't say who he
12:20
Speaker 1: was fighting with and I didn't see anything, whoever shot
12:24
Speaker 1: us just got away with it. Our first Halloween in
12:32
Speaker 1: our new home was something that my girlfriend and I
12:35
Speaker 1: had been looking forward to. We had never lived in
12:38
Speaker 1: a suburb before and therefore didn't usually get many trick-or-treaters.
12:43
Speaker 1: So we were excited to give out candy and see
12:45
Speaker 1: all of the costumes while we sat at home eating
12:48
Speaker 1: some candy ourselves and watching classic horror films. The night
12:53
Speaker 1: went great, and we honestly had more visitors to our
12:55
Speaker 1: door than we had initially expected. And by around 8 o'clock,
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Speaker 1: we were out of candy. So we did what we
13:01
Speaker 1: were always taught growing up, and we turned out the
13:04
Speaker 1: porch light. This seemed to get the message across that
13:07
Speaker 1: we were out of candy. because for a few hours
13:10
Speaker 1: after that, we hadn't received any visitors. That is, not
13:14
Speaker 1: until we were getting ready for bed. It was around 11.30,
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Speaker 1: and we had just finished watching Jeepers Creepers. And by
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Speaker 1: that point, we were pretty tired, so we had decided
13:25
Speaker 1: to turn in. The two of us made our way
13:27
Speaker 1: down the hallway and toward our bedroom, and just as
13:30
Speaker 1: I was about to lay down, I heard a knock
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Speaker 1: at the door. My girlfriend looked at me, and I
13:35
Speaker 1: just told her that they would probably go away if
13:37
Speaker 1: we didn't answer. That was when we heard the sound
13:40
Speaker 1: of knocking again, only this time, it seemed a bit louder.
13:44
Speaker 1: I decided that I should check it out, and I
13:47
Speaker 1: began making my way down the hall when I heard
13:49
Speaker 1: whoever was at the door the third time, and this
13:52
Speaker 1: time I could hear them yell out, trick-or-treat, afterward. The
13:56
Speaker 1: strange thing was their voice didn't sound like children. It
14:00
Speaker 1: almost sounded like young adults at the door, so to
14:03
Speaker 1: be safe, instead of opening it, as I approached the door,
14:07
Speaker 1: I simply yelled out, I'm sorry. We're all out of candy.
14:10
Speaker 1: I hope you have a good night. And thought they
14:12
Speaker 1: would just leave it. Boy, was I wrong. Out of nowhere,
14:17
Speaker 1: the knocking on the door turned into banging. And before
14:21
Speaker 1: I could even react, my girlfriend came running down the
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Speaker 1: hallway yelling at me that she had seen someone trying
14:26
Speaker 1: to look into our bedroom window. I told her right
14:29
Speaker 1: away to call the police. As the loud banging on
14:32
Speaker 1: the door continued, I looked down at the lock to
14:36
Speaker 1: make sure it was secure. And then I began running
14:39
Speaker 1: toward the other door toward the back of the house
14:41
Speaker 1: to make sure that it was locked as well. I'm
14:44
Speaker 1: glad I did because as I got to the door,
14:46
Speaker 1: I could see the doorknob moving as if someone were
14:49
Speaker 1: trying to open it. I yelled to whoever it was
14:52
Speaker 1: outside my house that the police were on their way
14:56
Speaker 1: in hopes that my girlfriend had gotten a hold of them. Suddenly,
15:00
Speaker 1: all of the banging and slamming stopped and there was
15:04
Speaker 1: silence outside of the house. I could hear the phone
15:08
Speaker 1: call from the other room and was reassured that police
15:11
Speaker 1: were in fact on their way. I walked toward the
15:14
Speaker 1: front of the door and began listening for anything that
15:17
Speaker 1: I could hear outside. When out of nowhere, I heard
15:20
Speaker 1: the sound of glass shattering as a large stone was
15:24
Speaker 1: thrown through our living room window. I ran right over
15:27
Speaker 1: to the window and looked outside, and I was able
15:30
Speaker 1: to see what looked like three grown men in various
15:33
Speaker 1: masks running toward the end of my driveway. I yelled
15:36
Speaker 1: out that the police are on their way, to which
15:39
Speaker 1: I was surprised that one of the men replied, Don't worry,
15:43
Speaker 1: we'll see you soon. By the time the police arrived,
15:47
Speaker 1: all three of the men were gone, and they weren't
15:49
Speaker 1: anywhere to be found around the neighborhood. Thankfully, they never
15:53
Speaker 1: came through on their threat, and we never saw those
15:57
Speaker 1: three people again. As a child, like many of my friends,
16:05
Speaker 1: Halloween was my favorite holiday. Not only do you get
16:09
Speaker 1: to dress up as your favorite character, but you also
16:12
Speaker 1: get to walk around and get free candy. Things changed, though,
16:15
Speaker 1: on the Halloween that came when I was only 11
16:18
Speaker 1: years old. After that, I loved the holiday for the
16:21
Speaker 1: movies rather than the social aspect of it. You see,
16:24
Speaker 1: when I was growing up, The town that I lived
16:27
Speaker 1: in had a local orchard and pumpkin patch that would
16:30
Speaker 1: host a festival that would last the back half of October.
16:33
Speaker 1: For the most part, it was always a fun time.
16:37
Speaker 1: They had hay rides, games, pumpkin picking, and even a
16:40
Speaker 1: haunted corn maze. It was honestly one of the only
16:43
Speaker 1: cool things that my town did on a yearly basis.
16:47
Speaker 1: The best part of the festival was, of course, the
16:49
Speaker 1: last day of October, Halloween. That night, everyone wore costumes.
16:55
Speaker 1: and the orchard would run special sales and give out
16:58
Speaker 1: some free hot cider. It was hands down the most
17:01
Speaker 1: festive part of the season. That year I was dressed
17:04
Speaker 1: up as Leon from Resident Evil 4, and I couldn't
17:08
Speaker 1: have been happier with my costume. My family and I
17:11
Speaker 1: arrived at the orchard, and we all immediately split up.
17:15
Speaker 1: My dad went with my little sister to check out
17:17
Speaker 1: the petting zoo that they had, and my mom took
17:19
Speaker 1: my older two brothers and me over to the games
17:22
Speaker 1: to play around for a bit. The plan was for
17:25
Speaker 1: all of us to meet back up in time for
17:26
Speaker 1: the hayride, but before then, it was essentially a free-for-all.
17:31
Speaker 1: I was in awe as I walked around looking at
17:34
Speaker 1: all the costumes that people were wearing. There were some
17:37
Speaker 1: really cool ones, like the Flash and the other superheroes.
17:42
Speaker 1: And then there were some really creepy costumes that I
17:45
Speaker 1: tried to stay away from, like the clowns, or the
17:48
Speaker 1: giant spider costumes that someone was wearing. Surprisingly enough though,
17:53
Speaker 1: those weren't the scariest parts of that night for me.
17:56
Speaker 1: You see, it started when we were playing the festival games.
17:59
Speaker 1: We were at the booth where you need to throw
18:01
Speaker 1: the ball and knock down the stack of plastic pins,
18:04
Speaker 1: and it was my brother's turn to go, so I
18:06
Speaker 1: was basically just spending my time looking around at the
18:09
Speaker 1: different people and seeing if I could recognize anyone. That
18:13
Speaker 1: was when I first noticed him. There was an adult
18:17
Speaker 1: who was standing on the other side of the pathway
18:19
Speaker 1: near the restrooms. He was wearing a Michael Myers mask,
18:24
Speaker 1: and for some reason, it felt like he was staring
18:27
Speaker 1: right at me. I tried to point him out to
18:30
Speaker 1: my mother, but when she looked over, she told me
18:32
Speaker 1: that he was probably just waiting for his kids to
18:34
Speaker 1: come out of the bathroom. That sounded logical to me,
18:38
Speaker 1: so I stopped focusing on him and continued enjoying the festival.
18:42
Speaker 1: And after about 20 minutes of playing some games, we
18:45
Speaker 1: finally met up with my dad and little sister so
18:47
Speaker 1: that we could make it onto the hayride before things
18:50
Speaker 1: got too busy. We still ended up waiting in line,
18:53
Speaker 1: but it was only about a five minute wait. Sure enough,
18:57
Speaker 1: we all loaded onto a large carriage that was filled
18:59
Speaker 1: with hay bales to sit on and be pulled around
19:02
Speaker 1: by a large tractor. The hayride was typically a ton
19:06
Speaker 1: of fun because they wouldn't have workers in costumes scattered
19:09
Speaker 1: along the path that it would take. and their jobs
19:11
Speaker 1: were to scare us. That year didn't disappoint me. At
19:16
Speaker 1: least three times throughout the ride, I genuinely got scared,
19:20
Speaker 1: and by the time we had finished, my blood was
19:23
Speaker 1: surely pumping, and after that, there was only one thing
19:26
Speaker 1: left for me and my brothers to do, the haunted
19:29
Speaker 1: corn maze. We told our parents that we wanted to
19:32
Speaker 1: do it before leaving, and they reluctantly agreed since my
19:36
Speaker 1: sister was getting tired, and they wanted to go home.
19:40
Speaker 1: But eventually, We were able to convince them. My dad
19:43
Speaker 1: told us as soon as we finished we were to
19:45
Speaker 1: go straight to the car and where they would be
19:47
Speaker 1: waiting for us. And as soon as we got the okay,
19:50
Speaker 1: we all made a sprint for the corn maze. By
19:53
Speaker 1: this point though, the maze was packed and it was
19:56
Speaker 1: hard to keep track of where we were and who
19:59
Speaker 1: was who as we tried to make our way through it.
20:02
Speaker 1: I figured everything would be alright though. Little did I know,
20:05
Speaker 1: I was putting myself in a very bad situation. As
20:11
Speaker 1: I navigated my way through the maze, I eventually hit
20:15
Speaker 1: a dead end, and when I turned around, I realized
20:19
Speaker 1: that I had lost track of my siblings. And if
20:21
Speaker 1: that wasn't bad enough, as I looked around the crowded
20:25
Speaker 1: maze for my two brothers, I noticed that I was
20:28
Speaker 1: being watched again. I was stopped dead in my tracks.
20:33
Speaker 1: As I looked back through the maze and noticed that
20:36
Speaker 1: same adult in the Michael Myers costume, looking directly at me.
20:42
Speaker 1: I began panicking as the man appeared to start walking
20:46
Speaker 1: toward me. I ended up turning around and running in
20:49
Speaker 1: the opposite direction. I continued to look over my shoulder
20:52
Speaker 1: as I tried to make my way through the maze,
20:54
Speaker 1: and I could tell that the man had begun moving
20:57
Speaker 1: faster and faster. And right as I was really about
21:01
Speaker 1: to start freaking out, I accidentally ran into someone. After
21:05
Speaker 1: bumping into this older woman She turned to ask me
21:08
Speaker 1: if I was okay, and at that point, I was
21:11
Speaker 1: too afraid to get the words out, and I'm pretty
21:14
Speaker 1: sure she knew it. She told me that she was
21:16
Speaker 1: going to help me find my family, and for some reason,
21:19
Speaker 1: I trusted her. The woman helped me get out of
21:22
Speaker 1: the maze where I saw my brothers waiting for me.
21:25
Speaker 1: I explained what happened, and they thought I had just
21:28
Speaker 1: freaked myself out. The three of us made our way
21:31
Speaker 1: to our dad's car and got ready to head home.
21:33
Speaker 1: But as we were pulling out of the parking lot,
21:36
Speaker 1: I couldn't help but look back. To my horror, the
21:40
Speaker 1: man in the Michael Myers mask was actually standing in
21:43
Speaker 1: the entranceway, looking around the parking lot as if he
21:48
Speaker 1: was looking for me. I realized how close I was
21:52
Speaker 1: to being kidnapped the next day when the big news
21:55
Speaker 1: all over town was that a kid had gone missing
21:58
Speaker 1: from the Halloween festival. I told my parents what happened
22:01
Speaker 1: to me. and we made a statement to the police.
22:04
Speaker 1: But as far as I'm aware, they never found the
22:07
Speaker 1: child or his kidnapper. The last camping trip of the
22:13
Speaker 1: year is always a bittersweet feeling. It's sad because as
22:17
Speaker 1: an avid camper, it's the last time I get to
22:20
Speaker 1: go camping for the next couple of months. But at
22:23
Speaker 1: the same time, it's a beautiful experience because by that time,
22:27
Speaker 1: the leaves have all fallen from the trees and and
22:30
Speaker 1: the air is nice and cool. Honestly, the middle of
22:34
Speaker 1: autumn is my favorite time to be out in the woods.
22:37
Speaker 1: It's just beautiful. That is, until all the noises come
22:41
Speaker 1: out at night. I'll never forget that last camping trip
22:46
Speaker 1: that I went on in 07. It was terrifying. For
22:50
Speaker 1: the most part, when I go camping, I tend to
22:53
Speaker 1: go with my younger brother, and sometimes our uncle would
22:56
Speaker 1: tag along. In 2007, The three of us decided to
23:00
Speaker 1: make our way from South Jersey up to the Schwangunk
23:03
Speaker 1: area of New York and went to one of the
23:06
Speaker 1: campgrounds that happened to be owned by a family friend.
23:09
Speaker 1: There were no cabins or anything on the campgrounds. It
23:12
Speaker 1: was simply a plot of land with a lot of
23:14
Speaker 1: forest on it that they would allow people to camp
23:17
Speaker 1: in as long as you paid for parking. We had
23:20
Speaker 1: only been to that area twice before, but this time
23:23
Speaker 1: was particularly awesome because, from the looks of the parking lot,
23:27
Speaker 1: We were the only ones camping that weekend. We unloaded
23:31
Speaker 1: our gear from the car and began what turned out
23:33
Speaker 1: to be about a four mile hike into the woods.
23:37
Speaker 1: After walking for about two hours, we found a little
23:40
Speaker 1: spot that we thought looked perfect for our campsite and
23:43
Speaker 1: we began setting up. Now typically, one of the best
23:47
Speaker 1: parts about camping is the peace and silence that you
23:50
Speaker 1: can find in nature. But during that time of year,
23:54
Speaker 1: You can't help but enjoy the sound of all the
23:56
Speaker 1: crunchy leaves around you. But what makes the leaves really
24:00
Speaker 1: helpful is something that we learned that evening. The sounds
24:05
Speaker 1: can alert you when something is walking around near you.
24:10
Speaker 1: You see, after getting our tent set up, we quickly
24:13
Speaker 1: got a fire going and began making some mac and
24:16
Speaker 1: cheese and hot dogs that we had packed for our
24:18
Speaker 1: first meal of the weekend. And considering the fact that
24:22
Speaker 1: we were out there in the middle of October, The
24:24
Speaker 1: sun had already gone down by the time we had
24:27
Speaker 1: finished cooking our dinner. After eating our dinner, we all
24:30
Speaker 1: spent some time by the fire and then ended up
24:33
Speaker 1: deciding to head to bed early. Falling asleep outdoors was
24:36
Speaker 1: never an issue for me, and that night proved no different.
24:40
Speaker 1: My brother and I were in one tent and our
24:42
Speaker 1: uncle was in his own, but it wasn't long before
24:45
Speaker 1: we could all most likely be heard snoring. I'm unsure
24:49
Speaker 1: how long I was asleep. But I remember waking up
24:52
Speaker 1: from a dream to the feeling of someone shaking me.
24:55
Speaker 1: I opened my eyes to see my brother, who had
24:58
Speaker 1: been sitting up and shaking me awake. When I looked
25:01
Speaker 1: over at him, he told me that he heard something outside.
25:04
Speaker 1: At first I was confused, but that I heard the
25:07
Speaker 1: sound that he was talking about. You could clearly hear
25:10
Speaker 1: the sound of leaves crunching under the pressure of someone
25:14
Speaker 1: or something's feet. I looked at my brother who was
25:17
Speaker 1: visibly shaken from fear. And I tried to calm him
25:20
Speaker 1: down by explaining that it was most likely just our
25:23
Speaker 1: uncle using the bathroom. But he swore that he didn't
25:26
Speaker 1: hear him leave his tent. The sound of the leaves
25:29
Speaker 1: crunching began making its way around the outside of our tent.
25:34
Speaker 1: And I immediately figured that it was our uncle trying
25:37
Speaker 1: to scare us. So I called out to him. Nice try,
25:40
Speaker 1: I said. We aren't ten anymore. But to my surprise,
25:45
Speaker 1: I heard my uncle groan from inside his tent. as
25:49
Speaker 1: he was woken up by me talking. And I'm certain
25:52
Speaker 1: he must have heard the noises too, because he quickly
25:54
Speaker 1: called out asking if we were okay. Before I could
25:57
Speaker 1: respond to him though, we were both cut off by
26:00
Speaker 1: the sound of a deep growling noise. Stay in the tent,
26:05
Speaker 1: my uncle yelled out to us, which he then followed
26:08
Speaker 1: up by making a lot of loud noises and banging
26:10
Speaker 1: his belongings around his tent to make noise. We could
26:14
Speaker 1: hear whatever it was outside running away from our camp.
26:17
Speaker 1: thanks to the leaves and immediately my uncle got out
26:21
Speaker 1: of his tent and came into ours to check on
26:23
Speaker 1: us he said that he thought it might have been
26:25
Speaker 1: a bear and that it shouldn't bother us anymore and
26:28
Speaker 1: as if the bear was listening all of us froze
26:32
Speaker 1: as we heard the footsteps once again closer to our
26:35
Speaker 1: camp we all sat in silence as they began walking
26:39
Speaker 1: around our tent once again and this time The animal
26:43
Speaker 1: got close enough that my uncle and I could hear
26:46
Speaker 1: its breathing through its nose as if it were sniffing
26:49
Speaker 1: the side of our tent. Whatever it was stayed at
26:53
Speaker 1: our campsite for about an hour, circling our tent before
26:56
Speaker 1: it finally ran off. The three of us ended up
26:59
Speaker 1: waiting until sunrise and then decided that we needed to leave.
27:03
Speaker 1: We quickly packed up everything that we had and began
27:06
Speaker 1: walking back to the car. My uncle had a can
27:09
Speaker 1: of bear mace that he was carrying in his hands,
27:11
Speaker 1: but thankfully, we didn't run into anything on the way
27:14
Speaker 1: back to the car. We did, however, spot a set
27:17
Speaker 1: of massive tracks about halfway up the trail that we
27:21
Speaker 1: assumed could only have come from the bear that we
27:24
Speaker 1: encountered the previous night. They seemed fresh, too, and considering
27:28
Speaker 1: hibernation season was coming up, we are lucky that it
27:32
Speaker 1: wasn't looking for food at that particular moment.