Latest / True Horror Stories / Drowned in Fear: 3 Terrifying True Scuba Diving Horror Stories

Transcript

Drowned in Fear: 3 Terrifying True Scuba Diving Horror Stories · True Horror Stories

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Last month, I took a long break and went on vacation.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I'm a sporny guy who loves adventure, especially scuba diving.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I booked a trip to a quiet island that seemed
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: like the perfect way to start over. I hadn't had
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: a real vacation in years. There was only me, the waves,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: and silence. The clouds were low and heavy on the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: morning of the dive, but the weather report said they
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: would clear up by noon. I wasn't too worried, as
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: it wasn't my first time. When I told the man
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: at the dive shop I was going alone, he raised
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: an eyebrow, but I didn't care. I thought I knew
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: what I was up to. The currents had gotten stronger.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: By the time I got fifteen meters down. The water,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: which had been clear blue, was now cloudy. I hovered
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: for a moment, trying to figure out where I was,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: but the pressure changed and the waves above pulled harder
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: than usual. My stomach turned and I realized I needed
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: to get out of the wall. The world underwent a
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: transformation as I broke through the ocean's surface. The sky
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: above me was covered in thick, boiling clouds, and the
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: wind was howling already. The rain drops hit my face
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: like needles. I had no idea that the storm would
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: come so quickly. I was experienced enough to know that
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: the boat was supposed to pick me up that already
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: left had gone back to the marina. Taking a quick
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: look around, I figured out I wasn't far from shore,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: but the beach I had come up on was a
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: quiet stretch I didn't know. As I swam to shore,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: the waves hit me. I crawled up onto the wet beach,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: sand grinding between my teeth. I was standing in a circle,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: soaking wet. There were no humans in that area, just
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the jungles and jagged cliffs, and at some distance a cave.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: The palm trees and windblown shadows half covered the cave,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: hidden behind a bend in the cliffs. A lightning crack
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: cracked behind me, numbing my ears, and I ran to
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: the cave. It was cool and dry inside. The storm's
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: noise faded into a low ground. As I ran my
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: hand through my wet hair, I just stood at the
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: entry point, catching my breath and thanking God for this
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: unexpected shelter. The storm grew louder, and I probably spent
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: half an hour just watching the high tides. The water
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: in my dive suit was cold and stuck to my skin.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: It was getting very boring to wait like that. Hence
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: I got curious. I turned on the light on my
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: helmet and set out to explore the cave. The cave
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: extended further than I had anticipated, and the walls were
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: covered in moss and weeds. There were strange patterns on
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: the stone. I couldn't tell if they were carvings or
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: just natural phenomena. As I went deeper, the silence became strange.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: There weren't even sounds of water dripping or birds chirping.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: The only sound I could hear was my breathing. It
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: seemed like no one had been here in a long time.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I was casually looking around when I saw a man
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: sitting on a large rock. My flashlight illuminated him well
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: enough to get a good look from the distance. There
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: was a slight tilt to his head, suggesting that he
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: was either sleeping or meditating. Thinking I found some company,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: I yelled, hey, no answer. I got closer, Are you okay?
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: I could see his body move. He lifted his head,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: and in that moment I felt weird. His face was
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: not right. His lips were cracked and blackened, and his
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: skin was pale. His wide eyes were tired and sunken.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Yet he smiled at me. He raised his arm and
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: gave a lazy, casual wave before collapsing onto the stone floor.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: I stopped. There was something very, very wrong. What if
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: he's sick? What if he needs help? I took a
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: few steps forward, Dude, are you hurt? When I got
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: close enough to touch him, his body jerked up like
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: a puppet. He looked at me and started coughing. I
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: can't even explain how horrific it was to watch him
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: like that. He wasn't just coughing air. He was coughing blood.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: His chest heaved with wheezing coughs, sending more blood flying
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: across the stone floor. This continued for five to ten seconds.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Then he stopped and began laughing like a maniac. I
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: stumbled back in fear. There was blood all over his face,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: his teeth were red. He kept laughing, as if something
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: inside him had broken and made him happy at the
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: same time. That was the last straw for me. I
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: sprinted at full speed, leaving the guy behind me. I
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: turned around one last time, and he was waving at me,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: sitting on the ground like nothing happened. As I emerged
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: from the cave, the storm struck me with the force
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: of a wall. The rain was pouring down and the
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: lightning was crashing, but I didn't care. The outside felt
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: safer than the cave. In that moment, I ran all
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: the way to the resort, shaking and wet. Since then,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: I haven't gone scuba diving alone. People say that diving
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: is like flying underwater. The calm, weightlessness feeling is like magic,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: but no one mentions how quickly peace can turn to fear,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: or how the ocean can decide you're not coming back.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: We dropped anchor just off the reef, and the morning
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: sun made the water look like glass. I got off
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: the boat last, following the group. I preferred being alone,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: even under water. The reef and the slow poll of
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: the sea were all I could see. I leveled off
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: at eighteen meters down. The gauge was fine, the air
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: pressure was good, and my breathing was steady. I floated
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: near a jagged coral reef and watched a lionfish move
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: through the water like a ghost. But suddenly things changed.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: The change occurred not around me, but within me. The
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: next breath I took tasted wrong. It was more like
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: sucking on a penny wrapped in cotton candy. The taste
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: is akin to that of metal, with a sickening sweetness.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: I blinked, confused and looked at my gauge again. I
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: couldn't tell any difference. I tapped the valve on the
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: tank and it was still safe. Suddenly I experienced nausea.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: My chest got tight and it was difficult to take
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: a full breath. I looked around, but I couldn't find
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: my die Boddy anywhere. My vision began to blur, with
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: the edges getting darker. There was something awfully wrong. I
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: tried to stay calm as I reached for my BCD inflator.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: I remembered the training lesson about how panicking only uses
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: up oxygen, but it felt like my hands were not mine.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: They felt heavy and numb. My thoughts were all mixed up,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: slow and sticky. The sea around me warped with colors
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: that were too bright and edges that were too sharp.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Then I realized I was passing out. I kicked upward
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: and pulled on my buoyancy control device. My ears screamed
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: in protest as I went up too quickly, but I
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: didn't care. I needed to breathe. I had to get out.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: The world turned black about six meters below the surface.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: The next thing I knew, someone was yelling my name.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: The dive boat pulled me over its side while I
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: coughed and threw up sea water. I felt like someone
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: inserted razor blades inside my ears. I couldn't hear anything
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: apart from a low, steady ringing. Later, the divemaster told
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: me that I must have passed out and floated the
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: rest of the way up. The crew didn't understand how
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: I managed to avoid drowning. They told me I was lucky,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: but I didn't feel lucky. I felt like I was
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: being haunted. The doctors said that both ear drums had burst.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: I would never be able to dive again. It hurt,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: but not as much as not knowing. There was no
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: unpleasant air for anyone else. There's no problem with the equipment.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: My tank only has a clean mix of oxygen. Then
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: what went wrong? I couldn't sleep that night. I kept
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: seeing the lionfish, which looked like it was waiting for something.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: I kept tasting that metallic sugar, and hearing the ocean
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: whisper things I couldn't quite make out. That night, I
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: had the most horrible dream ever. In the dreams, I
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: found myself back at a depth of eighteen meters. The
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: wreath was dead and had glossed all of its color.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Fishes were hanging still, looking at me with bulging eyes.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Something was moving in the dark, but it was not
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: a shark. It was worse than that, something with too
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: many arms and mouths. I could feel it watching me,
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: waiting for me. I turned around to swim away, but
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: met my face staring back at me, floating at a distance.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: The mouth was open and screaming, but no bubbles came up.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Gasping for air. I woke up, my lungs burning and
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: my sweats soaking the sheets. My night terrors got worse,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: and I was sure something came up from down with me.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Even in the daytime, when the taps were off, I
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: could hear water dripping in my apartment. Weeks later, when
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: I finally learned to cope with the trauma, I went
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: back to the boat for one last look. The captain
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: knew who I was, so he recognized me immediately. He
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: gave me a tight smile that offered some comfort. You
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: were very close to the edge, he said, What do
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: you mean? He paused for a second. There are many
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: stories about the coral reef. Many divers reported seeing things
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: and hearing unusual sounds. People say it's the stress, perhaps
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: it's the nitrogen narcosis, but some others He stopped talking,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: others what he finally met my gaze. They say that
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: when you go too deep into the sea, it takes
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: something from you, and occasionally it gives you something back.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: His words sent a chill down my back. I left
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: without saying goodbye. I don't get close to the water anymore,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: but there are times when I close my eyes and
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: eighteen meters down again. I'm tired of reliving that memory deliberately.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: I really hope that sharing my story will ease my
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: burden and allow me to resume my normal life. Until then,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: I'm not going close to the ocean ever again. Hi.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: I'm Thomas, recently turned fifteen. I just got back from
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: a family trip to Hawaii. Sounds wonderful, right, but most
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: of it was just my parents relaxing at the resort
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: and drinking wine. Like their lives depended on it. We
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: had been there for three nights and I was so bored.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: While Mom and Dad worked on their second or third bottle,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: I sat on a lounge chair and poked at a
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: plate of pineapple slices. The sky was changing colors with
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: the dying sun, and the private beach below looked like
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: a picture. The calm waves in the afternoon light made
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: me to explore for a little while. I told my
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: parents that I was going to go scuba diving, which
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: was the main reason I agreed to come on this trip.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: They nodded without thinking, raising their glasses as if that
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: was a sign of good luck. I picked up my
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: stuff and jogged down the path to the beach. The
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: sunlight made the waves look golden. The beach was completely empty.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: I put on my mask, flippers, and oxygen tank and
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: waded into the warm water. The world changed below. It
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: was quiet and still. Scolls of tiny fish moved past
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: me like dancers, and sink and coral reefs reached up
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: to the surface like castles in the water. It was
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: the first time since I got there that I felt calm,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: like I wasn't just the extra kid on my parents's
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: wine tasting trip. After a while, I floated back to
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: the top and took off my gear. I wanted to
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: relax on the warm sand for a few minutes before
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: going back. I lay down on the sand and took
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: a deep breath. Just when I had started thinking life
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: can be beautiful, I saw someone on the beach. A
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: man was walking towards me. He was fat, bald in
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: the middle, with stringy gray hairs hanging onto the scalop.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: He wore a bright red Hawaiian shirt unbuttoned at the top,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: revealing his hairy chest. His flip flops gave him a
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: little difficulty walking on the sand, but he managed somehow.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: He looked at me and waved, not in the hey
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: another beach goer way, more like I see you way.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: I ignored him, but he sat down right next to me,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: giving me a smile, like we were old buddies. You
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: enjoy water sports, Huh yeah, I said, quietly, turning a
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: little away. I used to swim like that when I
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: was your age. His voice was rough and wet, like
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: something bubbling up from deep inside his throat. I nodded
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: in a polite way. He might leave if I didn't
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: say much. I thought he didn't are you here with
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: your family? This big hotel must cost a lot of money.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: You're lucky. His smile never reached his eyes. They kept
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: looking at me with hidden intentions. Listening to him, I
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: realized he isn't staying at the resort, and that beach
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: is private as far as I knew. But still I
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: would rather not be rude, so I decided to leave.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: I should probably go back. He suddenly took hold of
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: my wrist. His sweaty palm made my skin crawl. Oh,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: leave it already. I was just getting to know you. Yeah, well,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: I'm not interested in knowing you, so leave my hand.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: That's when his grip got tighter. Why are you being rude,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: I'm just trying to be your friend. Let go of me,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: I yelled and started pulling my arm. His fingers dug
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: in deeper, squeezing like a vice. You kids these days,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: no manners, not respect. He leaned in closer, still smiling,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: and his breath was warm and sour on my cheek.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: Come on, sit with me for a while. I finally
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: freaked out. My heart raised. There was no one around.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: The building of the resort seemed far away, and he
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: was over powered me in strength, so I did the
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: only thing I could think of. I bent down, grabbed
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: a handful of sand, and threw it into his face.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: He screamed while rubbing his eyes desperately. His grip loosened
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: up just enough for me to get away. I sprinted
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: without wasting a single second more. I ran up the stairs,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: through the palm trees, passed the pool, and into the
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: resort lobby. When I saw my parents at the bar,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: I broke down crying. I was traumatized. My parents immediately
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: called the manager and reported this person. The resort security
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: conducted a thorough search on the beach, but the man
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: had vanished. Then they checked the guest list, the security cameras,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: and even the public areas nearby, but no sign of
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: that creep. No one who fits that description has stayed
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: at the resorts or even gone through the gates. No
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: one knows how he got in. That night, I didn't
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: sleep very well. I saw his smile every time I
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: shut my eyes. My parents booked an early flight home
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: the next day. I'm just glad I relied on my
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: instincts before it was too late. So to the creepy
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: over friendly guy, I hope you burn in hell,