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Haunted Souls and the Night Shift - Scary Paranormal Story · Shallow Nights: Scary Bedtime Stories

• 0:17
  I work at my grandpa's bar in Detroit, MI.
• 0:20
  Not going to give any names or streets since you're not
• 0:22
  supposed to tell strangers where you live and work, but honestly
• 0:26
  if you saw the place you wouldn't want to come in.
• 0:30
  The neighborhood we work in isn't exactly the greatest.
• 0:34
  Not a lot of money and a lot of bad attitude to live here.
• 0:38
  After living here for a while you start to learn which streets
• 0:40
  to avoid walking down at night. That's whatever though.
• 0:45
  The point is I'm a bartender for this bar.
• 0:48
  Well, I'm the bartender for this bar.
• 0:52
  I run the bar for my grandpa and I get to sleep in the
• 0:55
  two-bedroom apartment right above it.
• 0:58
  Being a broke college dropout, I really couldn't argue with that
• 1:01
  career path. Besides, most of the locals that
• 1:05
  drag themselves in are all right people, their patrons as well as
• 1:09
  bouncers. For me, whenever someone gets
• 1:12
  rowdy they throw that guy out then go back to their drinks and
• 1:15
  whatever sports game the crappy TV we have is playing.
• 1:20
  It's a small bar built in the 1960's.
• 1:23
  The scent of decades old cigarette tar on the damp yellow
• 1:26
  wallpaper definitely suggests that much.
• 1:30
  There was a film of filth over the place that sticks even after
• 1:34
  I scrub the dive bar top to bottom when we closed up.
• 1:38
  Despite that, I keep the pool tables in tip top shape, the bar
• 1:42
  top and glasses clean and shining, the cheap bar stools
• 1:46
  clean, and the TV mostly in working order.
• 1:48
  Sometimes you have to hit the old thing to make the picture
• 1:51
  less static filled, but it works decent enough to show the Lions
• 1:55
  game whenever they play. I tried changing the light bulbs
• 1:59
  with the energy saver ones, but they're brighter than the ugly
• 2:02
  bulbs the older guys are used to.
• 2:04
  They aren't very good for half hungover drunks.
• 2:07
  So a dull yellow light mixed with neon liquor signs
• 2:11
  eliminates my establishment. Yeah, the bar is mine.
• 2:17
  Regardless of whose name is on the deed and who pays the taxes
• 2:20
  and expenses for it, I keep that thing running.
• 2:23
  The old drunks that drag themselves in call it my place.
• 2:26
  Anyway, so sorry grandpa, your cruddy dumpster fire of a bar
• 2:30
  has been usurped. Anyway, I'm sure you guys don't
• 2:35
  want to hear about my woes with the ownership of this bar.
• 2:39
  You want to hear about the creepy stuff that happens there.
• 2:42
  Well, let's get to that. About once a month when I'm
• 2:47
  clearing up after a long night, I'll get a visitor well past
• 2:51
  operating hours. Usually it's just one person
• 2:54
  that shows up at the bar and ice fixed on the bar top as if
• 2:57
  they'd been sitting there waiting for a drink for hours.
• 3:01
  They won't say anything until I speak to them first, so I
• 3:04
  usually have some time to finish whatever I was doing, usually
• 3:08
  mopping the floor vomit or sweeping up broken glass.
• 3:13
  When I go back behind the bar, I always ask the same thing.
• 3:17
  It's the only thing that I'll get these people to talk.
• 3:20
  Can I get you anything? After that, they'll usually give
• 3:24
  me an order for the poison of their choice.
• 3:27
  If I have it. More often than not, it's
• 3:30
  whatsoever's on tap. I'll pour them their drinks.
• 3:33
  And thus, we'll begin a long night of speaking with the
• 3:36
  damned. My cruddy dive bar, dear
• 3:39
  readers, is the last stop before the gates of hell.
• 3:42
  Well, it's one of them. There's a few last stops a
• 3:47
  person can go to when they kick the bucket.
• 3:49
  I've heard tales from these souls that there's bowling
• 3:52
  alleys, restaurants, bus stops, train stations, hell, even
• 3:57
  airports. It's one last kindness given to
• 4:00
  the souls of truly evil people before they go to, well,
• 4:04
  wherever bad people go and they die, they all know it too.
• 4:09
  Every single person that shows up at my bar without actually
• 4:12
  walking through the door is a damned soul cursed to go to some
• 4:15
  truly awful place forever and ever.
• 4:19
  When this first happened to me, I had nightmares for two weeks.
• 4:24
  So how about I tell you about it?
• 4:26
  If you guys like it, I'll tell you all about some of the other
• 4:30
  people I've met. It was the second month since I
• 4:34
  moved into my bar as well as my home.
• 4:37
  It was a pretty dead night since it was a Tuesday and everyone
• 4:40
  had work the next day. I think for the last two hours
• 4:43
  of operation on a single person walked into my bar.
• 4:47
  So when I flipped that black and orange open sign to closed, I
• 4:51
  don't think I heard any alcoholic feelings due to how
• 4:54
  dead the end of my shift was. It made closing up shop for the
• 4:58
  night literally just flipping that sign.
• 5:02
  I don't think I ever smiled so wide as an adult.
• 5:04
  Then that night I could close the bar, run up to my apartment,
• 5:08
  and relax until the next day I could actually play a video game
• 5:12
  to wind down. I thought that until I turned
• 5:16
  around to see the first of several lost damned souls that
• 5:19
  would sit at my bar in the dead of night.
• 5:22
  I don't remember many of them, but I remember him.
• 5:26
  His white hair, the Ebony black skin, the yellowed eyes and
• 5:30
  fingernails telling of many long and hard years of drinking.
• 5:36
  I remember how the large bald spot at the top of his head
• 5:39
  shined in the pus yellow light of the bar.
• 5:43
  I remember the scowl on his face, the knowing anger of
• 5:46
  someone who had done something terribly wrong and felt no guilt
• 5:50
  over it. I remember his clothes, dirty
• 5:55
  overalls with a Plaid shirt. He wore muddy steel toed boots
• 5:59
  on his right forearm. I saw a union local number.
• 6:03
  This man was a rod Buster, an ironworker.
• 6:07
  They put up the steel of all the skyscrapers of the city.
• 6:10
  Judging by how wrinkled his face was, this man was old, pushing,
• 6:14
  ancient. Even still, that scowl was what
• 6:18
  made me scream. On first glance, I thought he
• 6:21
  was there to kill me, rob me, or you know, or do what they warned
• 6:26
  me about when I was a little girl.
• 6:29
  I wasn't small, but this man wasn't strong as the steel he
• 6:32
  carried, his veins were still visible on his arms.
• 6:35
  It was strength only old men like him could know.
• 6:40
  I was frozen in terror, unable to move or even breathe as I
• 6:44
  stared at him. He too seemed frozen in place,
• 6:48
  his yellowed eyes fixated on the bar.
• 6:53
  I swallowed down my stomach as I stood there for what seemed like
• 6:56
  hours. He just wouldn't move.
• 6:59
  Was he waiting for me to do something stupid?
• 7:02
  Was he waiting for me to call the cops or trying to run?
• 7:05
  What was he doing just sitting there?
• 7:07
  Hello. I asked in a quivering voice.
• 7:11
  Sorry, bars closed. I rambled on, hoping to elicit
• 7:17
  some kind of response. My voice would fall on deaf
• 7:20
  ears. He didn't budget swallowing my
• 7:24
  stomach once again. Curling my hands into tight
• 7:27
  fists, I mustered the rest of my courage to finally bark some
• 7:31
  sort of thread at the man. If you don't get the hell out of
• 7:34
  here, I'll call the cops. I screamed.
• 7:38
  Nothing happened again. He just sat there, scowling at
• 7:42
  my bar counter. It was like a statue made of
• 7:46
  flesh. I grit my teeth, tired of this
• 7:49
  silent treatment already. Look, if you aren't here to kill
• 7:53
  me, just tell me what the hell you want.
• 7:56
  Can I get you anything? Money, booze, Jack.
• 8:00
  He replied, making me jump nearly 5 feet in the air.
• 8:04
  At his sudden words, his gaze didn't move from that bar top,
• 8:09
  he simply stared, his face still that of his scowl.
• 8:14
  If you got any coke, mix it in, make it quick.
• 8:18
  I ain't got much time. His voice cracked with that last
• 8:24
  sentence, that silent anger, that unrelenting rage.
• 8:29
  It melted into worry. Anyone could hear the pain laced
• 8:33
  on his words, that angry face, those irate creases on his
• 8:37
  forehead. It was a mask.
• 8:40
  The man sounded like he was on the verge of tears.
• 8:43
  My heart began to settle down, though I was still scared out of
• 8:46
  my mind about the man who just suddenly appeared in my bar.
• 8:50
  Who wouldn't be? I'd been alone for hours before
• 8:54
  he showed up. Hey, bars closed, you got to go,
• 8:58
  please. He interrupted, finally moving
• 9:01
  from his seat to look at me with those jaundice filled eyes.
• 9:06
  Give me this one thing before I go.
• 9:10
  Last call was a while ago. I'm sorry, but just one drink.
• 9:15
  He pleaded, his lower lip quivering, his rage creased,
• 9:19
  face drooping into one like a toddler who got into trouble.
• 9:24
  I won't bother you ever again, just give me this one last
• 9:28
  drink. I froze once again, staring at
• 9:32
  this man that had terrified me so much.
• 9:35
  Not a single thing about him was frightening anymore.
• 9:39
  He looked worn out, defeated, and most importantly, terrified.
• 9:44
  The same terror that gripped me not 2 minutes ago was painted
• 9:48
  all over his face. Fear turned to confusion as I
• 9:51
  crossed my arms, casting judgement on this mystery man
• 9:54
  that randomly appeared in my bar.
• 9:58
  Can't you just go to a gas station or something for a beer?
• 10:01
  I asked curiously. There's got to be better places
• 10:04
  than this one to get your dream fixed, old man.
• 10:07
  I gasped at the man's strong fist slamming onto the bar.
• 10:11
  He shot up to his feet, giving a clearview of how massive he was.
• 10:15
  He had to be pushing at least £300 with that beer gut of his.
• 10:19
  He was absolutely gigantic in both height and weight.
• 10:23
  He could grip my head and pop it with his bare hands if he really
• 10:26
  wanted to. Fear once again welled up inside
• 10:30
  me as I took a few steps back against the locked door of the
• 10:33
  bar. The man swallowed, looking
• 10:36
  around the bar for a moment, his movement quick, his expression
• 10:41
  still filled with concern. I can't go to a freaking gas
• 10:45
  station, woman. He barked at me, his chest
• 10:48
  heaving as he breathed heavily. There's only one other place I'm
• 10:52
  going after this one, and it ain't a damn BP.
• 10:56
  All I want is one more damn drink before they drag me away.
• 11:03
  I stood there, frozen in fear as I summoned all of my willpower
• 11:06
  not to faint. The man took one of his massive
• 11:10
  hands, running it up from his forehead to the large bald patch
• 11:13
  on top of his head. He grit his teeth, shaking his
• 11:16
  head as he squat back down on the bar stool, placing his head
• 11:20
  in both of his hands, muttering to himself.
• 11:23
  Taking in a deep shaking breath, I slowly, and by slowly I mean
• 11:28
  tiptoed my way to the bar. I didn't want to set this man
• 11:33
  off, and clearly not doing anything was already doing a
• 11:36
  terrible job at that. Besides, getting to the pistol I
• 11:41
  had stashed with the good vodka was a pretty good idea to me at
• 11:45
  the time. OK.
• 11:47
  I replied quietly, causing the man's shoulders to droop, his
• 11:51
  stance immediately growing a bit more relieved as I relented in
• 11:54
  my refusal. He turned in the bar stool as I
• 11:58
  crept behind the bar, grabbing a clean glass next to the sink.
• 12:02
  I turned to look at him again as I reached for the half empty
• 12:05
  bottle of Jack Daniels. You got warrants or something?
• 12:10
  Police after you? I asked him, beginning to pour
• 12:13
  the liquor into the glass now. He said, his voice a dry
• 12:17
  whisper. Don't have to worry about
• 12:19
  getting squared up at the law anymore.
• 12:23
  The devil's coming to take his deal.
• 12:25
  The Lord doesn't want crap to do with my sinning ass anymore, so
• 12:29
  the devil's on his way. He paused, spotting the look of
• 12:34
  confusion and concern plastered all over my face.
• 12:39
  For the first time since he arrived in my bar, the man
• 12:41
  smiled. It was weak, full of fear, but
• 12:45
  it definitely was a smile. You're born a drink for a dead
• 12:49
  man. Oh, you're messing with me.
• 12:52
  I yapped back. That man shook his head, lifting
• 12:55
  a hand to point out the window. Take a look girl, see for
• 12:58
  yourself. This part's really hard to write
• 13:03
  about so excuse me if there's any weird grammar issues.
• 13:06
  It was the same, but different. When I turned to look out the
• 13:09
  window, the street lights poured down a deep Crimson light.
• 13:14
  The graffiti on the brick walls and stop signs turned from your
• 13:17
  typical tagging to downright repulsive artwork.
• 13:20
  Images of half rotting bodies moved when you looked at them.
• 13:24
  Half of the buildings were destroyed, the bricks having
• 13:27
  been reduced to rubble. Naked men and women of all
• 13:31
  different sizes and colors writhed in bonfires, their skin
• 13:35
  blistering and burning off of their bodies, melding into each
• 13:39
  other so they couldn't crawl away from the flames.
• 13:43
  There wasn't a speck of light in the sky, it was all black.
• 13:46
  There was no moon, no stars, and no clouds.
• 13:50
  Parts of the street were sunken into giant potholes that seemed
• 13:53
  to go on forever. I dropped the bottle of Jack
• 13:57
  onto the freshly mopped floor as I slapped a hand over my mouth,
• 14:01
  walking back into the bar behind me, a few more bottles of liquor
• 14:05
  tipping over and falling down, thankfully remaining intact.
• 14:09
  Any Coke to go with that? The man asked, Despite how my
• 14:14
  attention seemed absolutely focused on the horrors outside.
• 14:19
  There were creatures out there, black silhouettes in the Crimson
• 14:22
  glow of the streetlights. They stared at me as I stared at
• 14:26
  them, looking like some twisted mixture of spider inhuman or
• 14:31
  limbs twisted to prop up warped bodies and bald heads with beady
• 14:35
  orange eyes. They ain't after you, they're
• 14:40
  after me. He said again, still waiting for
• 14:43
  my attention. My head slowly turned away, wide
• 14:46
  eyes staring at the man in absolute horror.
• 14:50
  He stared at me like a father would his daughter now nodding
• 14:53
  his head towards the half filled glass of whiskey, he slowly made
• 14:58
  the world outside disappear. Right, right, Jack in coke.
• 15:03
  I stammered, reaching down to open the fridge under the bar
• 15:06
  counter, pulling out a 2 liter of coke to top off his glass.
• 15:11
  All the power still worked in the bar despite the ruined hell
• 15:14
  scape outside. Tears fell from my eyes as I
• 15:17
  picked up the glass with a shaking hand, some of the booze
• 15:20
  spilling from it as I slid it over to the man who immediately
• 15:23
  took it from my hand, bringing it to his lips and sipping.
• 15:29
  Is that it's hell, baby. He said, snapping his tongue
• 15:34
  against the back of his teeth, savouring the taste of the
• 15:37
  simple drink I poured him. Or the closest thing we got to
• 15:41
  what they say it is. I couldn't stop myself from
• 15:46
  turning to look back out the window after he said that.
• 15:49
  For once I was thankful that they were so far stained.
• 15:53
  The spider creature had vanished from the glow of the street
• 15:55
  light outside. Now there was an old, rusted out
• 15:59
  cop car waiting just outside the bar.
• 16:02
  A man in a very nice, freshly pressed police uniform sat in
• 16:06
  the driver's seat. As if on cue he turned to look
• 16:09
  directly at me, a wide smile on his lips, raising a hand to wave
• 16:14
  to me. Once again my hands rushed to
• 16:17
  cover my mouth, causing the cop to visibly laugh at my reaction.
• 16:22
  The clank of empty glass onto fake wood ran out as the man
• 16:25
  finished his drink. I couldn't break eye contact
• 16:29
  with that cop, his skin seemed so plastic, it was like a life
• 16:34
  sized Ken doll. If it wasn't for that black
• 16:37
  uniform covering his elbows, I'm sure there would have been
• 16:40
  joints. But it was like looking at those
• 16:43
  prototype robots designed to look like humans.
• 16:47
  It was like a mannequin that could move and smile.
• 16:50
  It was clearly not human, but it wore a human like face.
• 16:57
  You could see the evil of this thing.
• 17:00
  You could see just how monstrous it was just by looking at it.
• 17:04
  You could see why the man who began to rise from the bar stool
• 17:07
  was begging for a drink. Why did you do?
• 17:11
  I asked in a whisper, turning to look at the man whose face once
• 17:15
  again was frozen in an angry expression.
• 17:18
  No longer was the desperate man present, it was that same
• 17:22
  specter that had scared the crap out of me.
• 17:25
  What did you do to deserve being here?
• 17:28
  I asked, a bit louder this time. The man began to walk towards
• 17:33
  the door outside. I reached out over the bar, not
• 17:36
  daring to move away from it, but still clawing the air for the
• 17:39
  man to return. Wait, you can't go out there,
• 17:43
  What are you doing? Stop.
• 17:45
  I called out. He didn't answer.
• 17:48
  Instead, he turned the lock on the door knob, pulling back the
• 17:52
  deadbolt, and opened the door. As he did, a flash frost covered
• 17:59
  the entire inside of the bar, covering the floor, the bar
• 18:03
  stools, and even my own skin. It hurt like nothing else I've
• 18:06
  ever felt before. Every inch of my skin felt
• 18:09
  frozen solid. My breath went shallow.
• 18:12
  I see steam rising from my lips as he walked outside, shutting
• 18:16
  the door behind him. Thankfully, this caused the
• 18:20
  infernal cold to disappear almost immediately.
• 18:23
  I collapsed onto the permanently stained floor as the ice
• 18:26
  disappeared, the sound of screeching tires and screams
• 18:30
  from the outside finally making their way in.
• 18:34
  Among the screams, I heard his voice as one of them.
• 18:39
  My eyes rolled back into my head and everything went black.
• 18:43
  I awoke at the crack of dawn the same day, rising up from the
• 18:46
  floor as the honking of cars making their way to their nine
• 18:49
  to five brought life back into the city.
• 18:53
  As my senses returned, I shot back up to my feet in an almost
• 18:57
  an instant, looking around trying to see if what I had
• 19:00
  experienced actually happened or if it was some sleep deprived
• 19:04
  nightmare. Sure as hell the broken bottle
• 19:08
  of Jack was on the floor and an empty whiskey glass rested on
• 19:11
  the bar counter, not even a drop left inside.
• 19:16
  Needless to say, I made sure the bar was closed that day.
• 19:20
  And that's been my life ever since.
• 19:23
  One day per month I get to serve drinks to the damned.
• 19:27
  I've learned a bit from some of the other souls that make their
• 19:30
  way inside my bar. You must be wondering why I keep
• 19:33
  working here when I am literally only a storefront away from the
• 19:37
  pits of hell. I guess I'll conclude this with
• 19:40
  an explanation. What do you do when you see
• 19:44
  something like that? Do you go to therapy when you're
• 19:47
  a window away from hell at any given moment, what medicine do
• 19:51
  you take? Do you go to a mental hospital
• 19:54
  to get your brain zapped to wipe away the memories?
• 19:57
  Can those memories even be washed away?
• 20:00
  Or do you suck it up and pour one last drink for the damned?
• 20:04
  Do any of you believe in karma? Have any of you ever said what
• 20:07
  would Jesus do when faced with a moral question?
• 20:11
  What would he do? I think he'd do what I do.
• 20:15
  I think he'd sleep and work in an actual portal to Hades just
• 20:19
  to give the damned one last earthly treat before an eternity
• 20:23
  of pain. It's a hard question.
• 20:26
  I think about it a lot. Anyway, I got a lady here who's
• 20:30
  probably waiting for me to get her something.
• 20:32
  I'll ship this post out before asking her the golden question.
• 20:37
  Can't wait to hear from you all. I'll keep you posted in the
• 20:39
  comments if you have any questions.
• 20:42
  Again, sorry if this isn't the best story you've ever heard.
• 20:46
  I'm by no means a writer, I'm just a bartender for dead
• 20:50
  people.