Latest / True Horror Stories / Snowstorm Terror Stories for a Cold Night

Transcript

Snowstorm Terror Stories for a Cold Night · True Horror Stories

0:17
Speaker 1: A few years ago, I had just moved into the
0:19
Speaker 1: house I live in now. I moved in around September,
0:22
Speaker 1: and this happened in December. We had just had a
0:24
Speaker 1: large amount of snows, so much so that my work
0:27
Speaker 1: had been closed for the day. I spent the day
0:29
Speaker 1: being lazy around the house and generally not doing anything
0:32
Speaker 1: unless I had to. My basement is set up as
0:35
Speaker 1: a game and TV room, and it's where I was
0:37
Speaker 1: spending most of my day off. I had the TV
0:40
Speaker 1: on while watching something. I was kind of just laying
0:42
Speaker 1: on the couch when suddenly I heard someone banging at
0:45
Speaker 1: the door loud. I could hear all the way in
0:48
Speaker 1: the basement and above the sound of my surrounding system.
0:52
Speaker 1: They probably hit the door a good five or six times.
0:56
Speaker 1: I live in a pretty relaxed neighborhood super suburban area,
0:59
Speaker 1: and it's quiet as a mouse at night. I had
1:02
Speaker 1: friends dropping by occasionally to see my new house, so
1:05
Speaker 1: I kind of assumed that it was one of them
1:06
Speaker 1: at first, just being an asshole and hitting the door
1:09
Speaker 1: as hard as they could to mess with me. Since
1:12
Speaker 1: it kind of annoyed me that they had been so
1:13
Speaker 1: obnoxious about it, I just sat and watched some more
1:16
Speaker 1: TV just to let whoever it was sit out there,
1:19
Speaker 1: and if it was a friend, they would call her text,
1:22
Speaker 1: and if it was someone selling cookies or something, then
1:24
Speaker 1: they could piss off. Why someone would be out selling
1:27
Speaker 1: cookies after a snowstorm when the roads were coated in ice.
1:30
Speaker 1: I didn't really think about that, but anyhow, I eventually
1:34
Speaker 1: decided to go up and see if maybe there was
1:35
Speaker 1: something left on the porch, or if it was a
1:38
Speaker 1: friend and they were waiting for me to open the door.
1:41
Speaker 1: I glanced out the curtain, but I didn't see anyone,
1:44
Speaker 1: and so I opened up the door. No one was
1:47
Speaker 1: there and nothing was on the porch. In the street
1:50
Speaker 1: covered in snow and ice, mind you, was a black
1:52
Speaker 1: Cadillac with about four people inside slowly creeping up the street.
1:57
Speaker 1: One of them was just at the exact moment of
1:59
Speaker 1: climbing in the back of the car as it creeped along.
2:02
Speaker 1: He heard my front door open and looked back at me.
2:05
Speaker 1: He just stared at me until they had moved too
2:07
Speaker 1: far up the street.
2:08
Speaker 2: For me to see.
2:10
Speaker 1: I thought it was weird, but I just locked the
2:11
Speaker 1: door and went back to my day off. Later that day,
2:15
Speaker 1: it hit the news that further up my street, about
2:17
Speaker 1: a quarter mile or so, there had been a home invasion.
2:20
Speaker 1: A woman had been asleep upstairs in her house, and
2:23
Speaker 1: the four people had thought the house was empty when
2:25
Speaker 1: they broke in. They eventually tied her up and robbed
2:28
Speaker 1: her house at gunpoint. She finally untied herself and went
2:32
Speaker 1: to a neighbor, who then called the police and went
2:34
Speaker 1: back over with another gun to check.
2:36
Speaker 2: The place out, but they were already gone.
2:39
Speaker 1: I'm fairly certain that these same four people were the
2:41
Speaker 1: ones I saw outside of my house, and if I
2:43
Speaker 1: hadn't decided to go upstairs and open the door when
2:46
Speaker 1: I did, they might have thought my house was empty
2:48
Speaker 1: and kicked my door and instead. I can still see
2:51
Speaker 1: the guy staring at me in the eyes, as if
2:53
Speaker 1: he was weighing the cost of robbing my house with
2:55
Speaker 1: me in it against looking for an easier target. But
2:59
Speaker 1: I guess they found one. I've been working at a
3:07
Speaker 1: department store for the past two years. Although retail wasn't
3:11
Speaker 1: something I necessarily wanted to do, it was much better
3:14
Speaker 1: than my previous job in the food business, so I
3:16
Speaker 1: was grateful to not have to touch food all day,
3:18
Speaker 1: and I would take the world of customer service much
3:21
Speaker 1: more gracefully than the food industry. It was the middle
3:24
Speaker 1: of January and the store is usually quite dead towards
3:27
Speaker 1: the end of the day. Usually the following month after
3:30
Speaker 1: Christmas is never really busy due to people probably not
3:33
Speaker 1: trying to spend money after the gift giving season and
3:35
Speaker 1: the cold weather of the winter season in Canada. It
3:38
Speaker 1: never really helped the situation much. Also, people not in
3:42
Speaker 1: the mood to leave the comfort of their own houses
3:44
Speaker 1: in the middle of a snowstorm. That meant that they
3:46
Speaker 1: put less people on shift, and I was alone in
3:48
Speaker 1: the fitting room. I work at a pretty big store,
3:51
Speaker 1: and alongside the weather conditions that meant that employees were
3:55
Speaker 1: usually spread out on the floor, not within close proximity
3:58
Speaker 1: in comparison to what they put during the busy season.
4:01
Speaker 1: None of us wore earpieces, as we did most of
4:04
Speaker 1: our paging through the speaker's system. It was a Wednesday
4:07
Speaker 1: night around eight and the store closed at nine. I
4:10
Speaker 1: was usually put on the cash register, but often frequented
4:13
Speaker 1: the fitting room when they needed help. It was a
4:15
Speaker 1: very quiet night and I spent the first couple hours
4:18
Speaker 1: of my shift helping organize the beauty section that is
4:20
Speaker 1: right next to the fitting room, or speaking to my
4:23
Speaker 1: lovely coworker who worked in the jewelry section helping a
4:26
Speaker 1: few customers that actually wanted to try clothes on when
4:28
Speaker 1: they came by. There was a man who came to
4:30
Speaker 1: the fitting room with two dress shirts, and I didn't
4:33
Speaker 1: think anything of it. After all, he was nothing I've
4:35
Speaker 1: never seen before, older, tall, kind of stocky, and muscular,
4:40
Speaker 1: just plain. I did notice that he seemed dressed rather nicely,
4:44
Speaker 1: though clearly expensive suit and a nice shoulder bag. I
4:48
Speaker 1: assumed he must have come to the store after his
4:50
Speaker 1: day at work. I counted the number of articles of
4:53
Speaker 1: clothing that he was bringing in, as that was mandatory
4:55
Speaker 1: in order for me to monitor the flow of clothes
4:57
Speaker 1: and try to stop theft. I handed him a number
5:00
Speaker 1: corresponding to the number of articles he was taking in,
5:03
Speaker 1: and I asked him politely to put the clothes back
5:05
Speaker 1: on the hangar in French rather than English, because Quebec
5:09
Speaker 1: requires us to speak French first to customers, to which
5:12
Speaker 1: he replied with a simple no problem. I noticed he
5:16
Speaker 1: had a thick accent, although I wasn't and still not
5:18
Speaker 1: able to place my finger on it. I think it
5:20
Speaker 1: might have been Russian, but I can't say for sure.
5:23
Speaker 1: The man walked into the fitting room and I didn't
5:25
Speaker 1: really think much of it. I also helped other customers
5:28
Speaker 1: who came out of their rooms, counting the articles they
5:30
Speaker 1: came out with and mashed it with their numbers, and
5:32
Speaker 1: I hung them back up on their place in the rack.
5:35
Speaker 1: A few moments passed by, and the man finally came out.
5:39
Speaker 1: Not really putting much thought into it, I took the
5:41
Speaker 1: clothes back from him.
5:42
Speaker 2: As he didn't want any of them, and.
5:44
Speaker 1: I took back his number and said thank you, and
5:46
Speaker 1: then I turned to place to close on their rack.
5:49
Speaker 1: Usually this was the point where the customer would just
5:51
Speaker 1: leave the fitting room in general, but when I turned
5:54
Speaker 1: around to go back to the front, he was still there.
5:57
Speaker 1: I asked him if there was anything I could do
5:58
Speaker 1: for him, or if he still wanted the shirt that
6:00
Speaker 1: I had just put away. The man just smiled and
6:03
Speaker 1: looked at me, not answering, and I felt a very
6:05
Speaker 1: weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. He was
6:08
Speaker 1: looking at me as if he wanted to say something,
6:11
Speaker 1: and me, being the five foot four girl who hates confrontation,
6:13
Speaker 1: of any kind. I just nervously laughed and started to
6:16
Speaker 1: organize the desk at the front of the fitting room entrance,
6:19
Speaker 1: awkwardly arranging all the numbers although they were already in order.
6:23
Speaker 1: He asked me for my name, to which I just
6:25
Speaker 1: looked down at the name tag I was wearing and
6:27
Speaker 1: repeated it. He told me it was a beautiful name.
6:31
Speaker 1: I laughed nervously, never knowing what to do in these
6:33
Speaker 1: sort of situations, and I just wanted to be nice
6:36
Speaker 1: to him, as it was a part of my job
6:38
Speaker 1: in customer service. Besides, he didn't technically do anything wrong.
6:41
Speaker 1: He just complimented me. I said thank you, and I
6:44
Speaker 1: looked away, avoiding eye contact. He then just stood there
6:48
Speaker 1: for what felt like twenty minutes, but in reality he
6:51
Speaker 1: was probably only three. He stood there as I helped
6:54
Speaker 1: other customers, and it was beginning to make me very uncomfortable,
6:58
Speaker 1: not wanting to be rude, but also not wanting to
7:00
Speaker 1: subject myself to being uncomfortable for the rest of my
7:02
Speaker 1: shift or however long he was planning to be there.
7:06
Speaker 1: I asked if there was anything else he needed help with.
7:09
Speaker 1: Here's when I began to get really scared. He proceeded
7:12
Speaker 1: to tell me that he will be waiting for me
7:13
Speaker 1: at nine point thirty outside the doors of our store,
7:16
Speaker 1: and he wanted to take me out. Confused, I looked
7:20
Speaker 1: at him oddly. How did he know that we finish
7:22
Speaker 1: at that time? The store closed at nine and we
7:25
Speaker 1: usually spent thirty minutes cleaning up the store. I suppose
7:29
Speaker 1: that information isn't super hard to guess, but it still
7:31
Speaker 1: felt weird. Why did he want to take me out?
7:35
Speaker 1: And once again laughed nervously because that seemed to be
7:38
Speaker 1: the only thing I was able to do when uncomfortable,
7:40
Speaker 1: and I politely declined, saying I had to get home
7:43
Speaker 1: and study. He then laughed, taking me a step closer
7:46
Speaker 1: to me, and I instinctively took a step back. He
7:49
Speaker 1: didn't accept my answer, because he just smiled once more.
7:52
Speaker 1: I'll be waiting for you outside the door where all
7:54
Speaker 1: the employees leave from in the truck alley. I'll be
7:56
Speaker 1: right there. There was a door that employees exited them
7:59
Speaker 1: all from because the normal doors were usually locked around
8:02
Speaker 1: nine point fifteen and we always finished later than that.
8:05
Speaker 1: So we take the door that takes us in a
8:07
Speaker 1: slight alley where all the trucks go to drop off
8:09
Speaker 1: shipments for our store. Being someone who hates confrontation and
8:13
Speaker 1: who doesn't do well with controlling my emotions, I felt
8:16
Speaker 1: myself start to tear up at this exact comment. No
8:19
Speaker 1: employee is allowed to mention the door we leave from.
8:22
Speaker 1: It's a company rule. Since we usually finish late and
8:25
Speaker 1: the parking lot is dark, they don't want anyone to
8:27
Speaker 1: know where we exit.
8:28
Speaker 2: It from as a precaution.
8:30
Speaker 1: I told him once more that I appreciated his offer,
8:32
Speaker 1: but I wasn't interested and I had to continue my work.
8:36
Speaker 1: I politely told him to leave when he put a
8:38
Speaker 1: hand on my shoulder and I felt myself freeze up.
8:41
Speaker 1: I remember thinking and just praying that one of my
8:43
Speaker 1: co workers would show up or the jewelry employee would
8:46
Speaker 1: stop filling the cases and turn around with my luck,
8:49
Speaker 1: though nobody did. He told me I was a beautiful
8:53
Speaker 1: girl and that he couldn't wait to meet me in
8:54
Speaker 1: the alley at the end of my shift. He also
8:57
Speaker 1: said that he has a nice apartment and had a
8:59
Speaker 1: cute dog, as if the dog was going to make
9:01
Speaker 1: me change my mind and we could have a fun time.
9:05
Speaker 1: At this point, being absolutely desperate, I said I have
9:08
Speaker 1: a boyfriend and he was going to be picking me up,
9:10
Speaker 1: hoping that would deter him, but he just laughed. He
9:14
Speaker 1: said my name and then told me that wasn't something
9:16
Speaker 1: that usually stopped him. I honestly really began to feel scared,
9:20
Speaker 1: and I excused myself to use the phone on my desk,
9:23
Speaker 1: shaking his hand off of me that I hadn't realized
9:26
Speaker 1: was gripping on me so tightly. I paged the number
9:29
Speaker 1: for my coordinator, who curtly replied before I was even
9:32
Speaker 1: able to get a word in that she was busy
9:34
Speaker 1: with a customer and hung up. Unsure of what to do,
9:38
Speaker 1: as the man was still next to me as he
9:40
Speaker 1: followed me to my desk, I called my manager, who
9:43
Speaker 1: thankfully replied. When he saw that I was speaking with
9:46
Speaker 1: someone on the phone, he left the fitting room. But
9:48
Speaker 1: that didn't make me feel any better. I told my
9:51
Speaker 1: manager what happened, and with good reason, she freaked out,
9:54
Speaker 1: telling me I need to report him immediately, reminding me
9:57
Speaker 1: with people like that, I have to be really careful.
10:00
Speaker 1: She told me to call security, and I did. Security
10:04
Speaker 1: guard told me he had an eye on him through
10:05
Speaker 1: the camera. It was around eight thirty at this point,
10:09
Speaker 1: and I was getting ready to start my closing tasks,
10:11
Speaker 1: still paranoid about what the man had said. This sounded
10:15
Speaker 1: like the beginning of an abduction movie to me, honestly,
10:18
Speaker 1: I eventually calmed down a little bit, not seeing the
10:20
Speaker 1: man anymore.
10:21
Speaker 2: When the security guard called me back, he wanted.
10:24
Speaker 1: To let me know that the man had never left
10:26
Speaker 1: and was circling the store. I felt more dread than before,
10:30
Speaker 1: pop up at my stomach. He didn't leave, Thankfully, he
10:35
Speaker 1: hadn't come back to see me, though it felt kind
10:38
Speaker 1: of better for the fact that the security guard had
10:40
Speaker 1: seen him, so if anything did happen, there was at
10:42
Speaker 1: least someone who was able to identify him. By the
10:46
Speaker 1: time the store closed and it was time to leave,
10:48
Speaker 1: two of my coworkers, Evan and Ethan, two boys who
10:51
Speaker 1: worked in the warehouse, made sure to walk with me
10:53
Speaker 1: all the way to my car, not letting me be alone.
10:57
Speaker 1: I appreciated that a lot, although I didn't want to
11:00
Speaker 1: admit it. I was scared walking through the alley, and
11:03
Speaker 1: I was even paranoid he was going to follow me home.
11:06
Speaker 1: I took the extra long route to see if anyone
11:08
Speaker 1: was trailing me.
11:09
Speaker 2: Which he wasn't.
11:10
Speaker 1: When I walked through the safety of my door of
11:12
Speaker 1: my house and locked it behind me, I let go
11:14
Speaker 1: of a breath. I wasn't even aware I was holding in.
11:18
Speaker 1: I make sure nowadays to leave the store using the
11:20
Speaker 1: Buddy system. I never walk alone, and I always make
11:23
Speaker 1: sure I'm hyper aware of my surroundings. I never wear
11:26
Speaker 1: my name tag anymore. Luckily, nothing happened to me, and
11:30
Speaker 1: maybe I was overthinking the entire experience, but I wanted
11:33
Speaker 1: to stress that even if your job is in customer service,
11:37
Speaker 1: if someone makes you feel uncomfortable, speak up. You should
11:40
Speaker 1: not have to be subjected to this kind of behavior
11:42
Speaker 1: at your work or anywhere for that matter. I'm a
11:51
Speaker 1: woman and I was fifty two at the time of this.
11:55
Speaker 1: I was traveling by car to an out of town
11:56
Speaker 1: job assignment. I had stopped at a popular and busy
11:59
Speaker 1: gas station to fill up the car, stretch my legs
12:02
Speaker 1: and use the restroom, and probably grab a snack. I
12:05
Speaker 1: was approached by a developmentally disabled woman who appeared to
12:08
Speaker 1: be in her mid twenties. She was looking for a
12:11
Speaker 1: ride to a town a couple of towns over. I
12:14
Speaker 1: guess her ride had abandoned her while she was in
12:16
Speaker 1: the restroom. That was her story. At least. She was
12:20
Speaker 1: a little bit upset, and she didn't have a cell
12:22
Speaker 1: phone and didn't know any phone numbers so I could
12:24
Speaker 1: call someone to help her. I checked with the employees
12:27
Speaker 1: at the store, and they said that she had been
12:29
Speaker 1: there for over an hour looking for a ride, because
12:31
Speaker 1: she said her friends left her while she was in
12:33
Speaker 1: the restroom. I then made the decision to do something
12:37
Speaker 1: I've never done before, offer a stranger a ride. I
12:41
Speaker 1: wasn't going to the town that she wanted to go to,
12:43
Speaker 1: but I was heading in that general direction. I told
12:46
Speaker 1: her I could drop her off at the grocery store
12:48
Speaker 1: in the next town, where I would be turning off
12:50
Speaker 1: to go to my destination. The store was always busy,
12:53
Speaker 1: and it was very likely she'd have an easier time
12:56
Speaker 1: getting her ride to where she wanted to go. Also,
12:59
Speaker 1: she'd be five months away from where she wanted to
13:01
Speaker 1: go instead of the twenty five miles originally, and she
13:04
Speaker 1: would obviously have an easier time walking that distance if
13:06
Speaker 1: she had to. This was agreeable to her, and we
13:10
Speaker 1: set off right away. I noticed the van following us.
13:13
Speaker 1: I tried to lose the van, but it kept pace. Meanwhile,
13:17
Speaker 1: the woman wanted to play with my phone. I told
13:20
Speaker 1: her no, that it wasn't a toy, it was for work,
13:22
Speaker 1: and I moved out of her reach. The van speeds
13:26
Speaker 1: up and starts to get closer. The woman suddenly remembers
13:29
Speaker 1: her boyfriend's phone number and we need to call him.
13:32
Speaker 1: I can't use my phone while driving. This was pre
13:35
Speaker 1: car sync era, and I was approaching the alskirts of
13:38
Speaker 1: the business district of the next town and no cell
13:41
Speaker 1: phone use while driving. Signs were everywhere. I told her
13:44
Speaker 1: we're almost at the grocery store, so we can call
13:47
Speaker 1: him from the parking lot when we get there. She
13:49
Speaker 1: becomes agitated and yells, no, you have to take me home.
13:53
Speaker 1: I told you I can't do that, though I said,
13:55
Speaker 1: I'm not going there. It's in the opposite direction of
13:58
Speaker 1: where I need to go and I'm expected to soon.
14:01
Speaker 1: We'll call him from the parking lot, like I said.
14:04
Speaker 1: After this, she becomes more upset and frustrated, and the
14:06
Speaker 1: van is now getting closer. I pull into the grocery
14:09
Speaker 1: store parking lot and it's about four pm. The store
14:13
Speaker 1: is busy. I pull up in the front of the
14:15
Speaker 1: store and ask for her boyfriend's number. Suddenly she can't
14:19
Speaker 1: remember his number. She won't get out of my car,
14:22
Speaker 1: and now she's arguing with me, and the van is
14:24
Speaker 1: pulling into the parking lot. Out of sheer. Look, there's
14:27
Speaker 1: a sheriff's deputy parked nearby, and I rolled down my
14:29
Speaker 1: window and signal that I need to speak to him.
14:32
Speaker 1: He walks over and asks me what's going on. I
14:36
Speaker 1: tell him where I met this woman, and now she
14:37
Speaker 1: won't get out of my car, and it's under my breath.
14:40
Speaker 1: I tell him the van has been following us. The
14:43
Speaker 1: deputy tells the woman she brought you where you asked
14:45
Speaker 1: her to. Now it's time for you to leave her car.
14:48
Speaker 1: She slowly gets out of the car and I ask
14:50
Speaker 1: once more for her boyfriend's number, and she says, you're crazy.
14:53
Speaker 1: I don't have a boyfriend. Oh look, there are my
14:56
Speaker 1: friends now, and she points to the damn van. The
15:00
Speaker 1: deputy and I share a look, and he says, give
15:02
Speaker 1: me your contact info. I can delay them for about
15:05
Speaker 1: twenty minutes while I check their license and registration and
15:08
Speaker 1: lecture them about abandoning a special needs adult. You get
15:11
Speaker 1: out of here and I'll check on you before my
15:13
Speaker 1: shift is over, and don't pick up any more hitchhikers.
15:16
Speaker 1: I left him went on to my destination. He later
15:19
Speaker 1: called me to make sure I got to where I
15:21
Speaker 1: was going and told me that they were keeping an
15:22
Speaker 1: eye on the van and its owner. He told me
15:25
Speaker 1: he also contacted a colleague at the sheriff's department in
15:28
Speaker 1: the counting where I was working, and that she should
15:30
Speaker 1: contact me in a day or two. While I was
15:32
Speaker 1: on assignment there, I spoke to two deputies and a
15:35
Speaker 1: detective about the woman and the van. No one ever
15:38
Speaker 1: told me anything about them, but they were very interested
15:40
Speaker 1: in them. My nightmare is one day I'll turn on
15:43
Speaker 1: a true crime show and see a report about this
15:45
Speaker 1: woman and her gang robbing and killing people. There's an
15:53
Speaker 1: unspoken rule up in the mountains that, no matter who
15:56
Speaker 1: you are, friend, bitter, rival, stranger, anyone, if you're ever
16:02
Speaker 1: in a pinch and come across another hunter's cabin, you're
16:04
Speaker 1: welcome to seek shelter there. Maybe it's unspoken because it's
16:08
Speaker 1: common courtesy and that whole do onto others thing, Or
16:12
Speaker 1: maybe it's unspoken because there's hardly anyone to speak to
16:15
Speaker 1: in the winter months especially, you'd be hard pressed to
16:19
Speaker 1: see another soul for weeks, sometimes even months. But that's
16:22
Speaker 1: the rule. You need it, you use it, no judgment,
16:26
Speaker 1: no questions asked. Just don't steal anything. Now. I'm not
16:30
Speaker 1: a burly seasoned mountain man that flosses with tree bark
16:33
Speaker 1: and never shaves, but I do like to hunt. I
16:36
Speaker 1: often leave my small Alaskan village for weeks at a
16:38
Speaker 1: time and take to my hunting lodge.
16:40
Speaker 2: Up in the mountains.
16:42
Speaker 1: I'm a fairly cautious guy, and I know the mountains
16:44
Speaker 1: can be traitorous, so when I leave, I leave prepared.
16:48
Speaker 1: I check the long term forecasts and gather the necessary supplies,
16:52
Speaker 1: bring backups, and make sure I've got enough of everything
16:55
Speaker 1: that I need to survive at least a week longer
16:57
Speaker 1: than I plan on staying, just in case. I always
17:00
Speaker 1: believed that my precautions would protect me, but like a
17:03
Speaker 1: child security blanket, they were only a paper thin illusion
17:06
Speaker 1: of safety. There's really no planning when mother Nature decides
17:10
Speaker 1: she's in a mood. That's why I never expected to
17:13
Speaker 1: get caught in a blizzard this day. It had started
17:16
Speaker 1: out sunny and cold, but as the day progressed, a
17:18
Speaker 1: few clouds formed. By the time they had massed into
17:21
Speaker 1: a heavy cloud.
17:22
Speaker 2: Covering, I was already.
17:23
Speaker 1: On my way back to my cabin with a couple
17:25
Speaker 1: of hairs hanging.
17:26
Speaker 2: Over my shoulders.
17:27
Speaker 1: I'd named them dinner and breakfast. I was planning on
17:30
Speaker 1: eating breakfast for dinner and dinner for breakfast, if only
17:34
Speaker 1: to make myself laugh. It's the little things like that
17:37
Speaker 1: that keeps solitude from turning into loneliness. The snowfall seemed
17:41
Speaker 1: to come out of nowhere, like someone had knocked an
17:44
Speaker 1: awning shut and all the snow collected on top had
17:46
Speaker 1: fallen all at once. Except it wasn't a single tidal
17:50
Speaker 1: wave of snow. It was a relentless, unending assault. Last
17:54
Speaker 1: I checked, the weather reports hadn't mentioned a blizzard, and
17:57
Speaker 1: yet a blizzard was what I found myself walking through.
18:00
Speaker 1: It got very dark, very fast, and I kicked myself
18:04
Speaker 1: for leaving my flashlight back at my lodge. I'd planned
18:07
Speaker 1: on coming home long before nightfall, so I hadn't thought
18:10
Speaker 1: I needed it. I'd been sorely mistaken. Snow prickled painfully
18:15
Speaker 1: as it darted into my eyes. I had squinted almost
18:18
Speaker 1: all the way to keep those subs zero jerks from
18:20
Speaker 1: stabbing me blind. The wind howled as gales cut through
18:23
Speaker 1: my clothes and right to my bones. I could barely
18:27
Speaker 1: see two feet in front of me, and I couldn't
18:29
Speaker 1: see the two feet beneath me as they sank in
18:31
Speaker 1: an ever growing blanket of white. I'm not sure when
18:34
Speaker 1: I realized I was lost. At some point I knew
18:37
Speaker 1: I should have arrived at my cabin, but all I
18:39
Speaker 1: saw was white, with a few slivers of gray swaying
18:42
Speaker 1: in the thick breeze. The hairs at the back of
18:45
Speaker 1: my neck became stiff and battered against me with every
18:48
Speaker 1: puff of air and every awkward, crashing footfall. I was
18:52
Speaker 1: running out of energy, running out of ideas, and beginning
18:54
Speaker 1: to panic. I could have spun around in a computer
18:57
Speaker 1: chair one hundred times and felt less disormbsrientated, and I did.
19:00
Speaker 1: In that white out. Then I walked right into a cabin.
19:05
Speaker 2: Literally.
19:06
Speaker 1: It had become so dark and the snow had become
19:08
Speaker 1: so heavy that I couldn't see the structure until I
19:10
Speaker 1: stumbled face first into it. I held my hands against
19:13
Speaker 1: the wood so I wouldn't lose it in the storm,
19:16
Speaker 1: and circled around until I found a door. I wasn't
19:19
Speaker 1: just in the pinch. This was life or death, and
19:22
Speaker 1: the unlikely event someone was inside. I knocked on the
19:25
Speaker 1: door and waited for an answer through the howling wind,
19:28
Speaker 1: I could have sworn I heard come in. As I
19:31
Speaker 1: swung open the door and stepped inside, a small avalanche
19:34
Speaker 1: of snow tumbled in with me. I didn't bother trying
19:37
Speaker 1: to kick it out as I fought against the wind
19:39
Speaker 1: to close the door behind me. The relief was instantaneous,
19:43
Speaker 1: without the air whipping at me, I'd put a stop
19:45
Speaker 1: to the timer taking down to my freezing death. Thanks,
19:49
Speaker 1: I whispered. I turned towards the inside of the cabin
19:53
Speaker 1: and tried to get my bearings, but all I saw
19:55
Speaker 1: was blackness, which meant I had no real way of
19:58
Speaker 1: gaging the size of the cabin. Yeah, I'd circled around it,
20:01
Speaker 1: but I'd been stumbling around half blind, focused on trying
20:05
Speaker 1: to find a doorknob, so I had no idea what
20:07
Speaker 1: length of the cabin id covered. I could have walked
20:11
Speaker 1: half of it. I could have circled around it three
20:13
Speaker 1: times without realizing it. Through the darkness, all I could
20:17
Speaker 1: see was the vague outline of someone sitting in the corner. Hey,
20:20
Speaker 1: you're a real life saver, I said, you didn't answer.
20:25
Speaker 1: I pot around for a lighter, a lantern, a match book,
20:29
Speaker 1: anything that might emit light. But all my fingertips touched
20:32
Speaker 1: were chains in the barrels of hunting rifles. I stopped
20:36
Speaker 1: poking around when I felt an open bear trap. Wouldn't
20:39
Speaker 1: want to get my arm call in.
20:40
Speaker 2: One of those.
20:41
Speaker 1: It was safer to sist still and wait for daybreak.
20:45
Speaker 1: It occurred to me that the stranger might have been
20:47
Speaker 1: seeking refuge as well, so I started keeping my tone
20:51
Speaker 1: light and innocent. You the owner of this cabin. The
20:56
Speaker 1: answer was more of a hiss than a word, But
20:58
Speaker 1: in that hiss I heard a faint yes. I sat
21:01
Speaker 1: on the floor, let my hair's down beside me, and
21:04
Speaker 1: reached into my pack. Why had taken a sleeping bag
21:07
Speaker 1: with me and not a flashlight was beyond me? I
21:10
Speaker 1: removed my wet clothes and quietly slipped into the sleeping
21:13
Speaker 1: bag to warm me up, making conversation as I did. Hey,
21:18
Speaker 1: thanks again, I said that blizzard really came out of nowhere.
21:21
Speaker 1: He replied with the slow labored, wheezy breast of an
21:24
Speaker 1: elderly man on his deathbed. Dangerous, Yeah, I chuckled, that's
21:30
Speaker 1: an understatement. Hungry, he excelled. You got a fireplace, I asked.
21:35
Speaker 1: I've got a couple of hairs. I'll cook them up.
21:37
Speaker 1: It's the least I can do. His reply was drawn
21:41
Speaker 1: out like a wolf hollowing, but without the majestic hume.
21:45
Speaker 2: No, okay, as.
21:47
Speaker 1: Soon as the blizzard dies down, I'll go gather wood
21:49
Speaker 1: and make us a fire. Can you wait until then?
21:53
Speaker 1: I saw his silhouette shift slightly. There was a rattle
21:56
Speaker 1: of chains. No again, the oh stre shout in a long,
22:00
Speaker 1: bloated groan. No, no, Yes. The final note morphed strangely
22:07
Speaker 1: into it, Yes, like someone drastically changing to a much
22:10
Speaker 1: higher note on a flute. Halfway through a breath, I
22:14
Speaker 1: craned my neck to look at the single window in
22:16
Speaker 1: the cabin. It was pitch black or pitch white. It
22:21
Speaker 1: was like an afterglow, visible against the black backdrop of
22:24
Speaker 1: the wood, yet still inherently dark. I focused on it
22:29
Speaker 1: rather than the rest of the cabin because it was
22:31
Speaker 1: the only hint of light I could see. If you
22:34
Speaker 1: don't mind, I'm going to try to catch some shut eye,
22:36
Speaker 1: I said tiredly. He didn't respond, but that didn't surprise me.
22:41
Speaker 1: Mountain folk don't talk much, even when they come down
22:44
Speaker 1: to town for what few supplies they can't make themselves.
22:48
Speaker 1: I shrugged it off and settled in for the night,
22:50
Speaker 1: but I felt something hard against my side. Sighing, I
22:54
Speaker 1: tossed my hairs back a bit farther and got comfortable.
22:57
Speaker 1: I was exhausted, so it wasn't all that hard for
22:59
Speaker 1: me to drift off, despite the wind song playing outside
23:02
Speaker 1: the walls. I hugged myself in my sleeping bag and
23:06
Speaker 1: drifted off. I was awoken by a different sound, a
23:10
Speaker 1: weird snapping crunch that made me shoot up in my bed,
23:13
Speaker 1: Believing the ceiling was about to collapse under the weight
23:16
Speaker 1: of the snow. I braced myself, but as the sound
23:18
Speaker 1: came again, I realized it wasn't above me, but rather
23:21
Speaker 1: next to me, near my belongings. The silhouette was gone
23:26
Speaker 1: from the corner, and I could hear his deep, raspy
23:28
Speaker 1: breaths accompanying the crunch. What the hell are you doing,
23:32
Speaker 1: I snapped. He retreated back to his corner with a
23:36
Speaker 1: rattling of chains. My adrenaline was pumping, and I wasn't
23:40
Speaker 1: even sure why. Something about the stranger put me in
23:43
Speaker 1: a state of near panic. My instincts were telling me
23:47
Speaker 1: to leave, but I truly couldn't afford it. Whatever this
23:50
Speaker 1: guy was up to, I was safer with him than
23:52
Speaker 1: I was out there in that blizzard. I grabbed my
23:55
Speaker 1: backpack and propped myself against the wall in a seated position,
23:59
Speaker 1: staring at the silhow expecting him to make a move.
24:02
Speaker 1: I kept myself awake and alert, never looking away, even
24:06
Speaker 1: as the howling wind slowly diminished in strength. Once or
24:10
Speaker 1: twice I felt my head begin to dip and my
24:12
Speaker 1: eyes began to shut, But every time I slipped, the
24:15
Speaker 1: faint rattle of chains snapped me back into consciousness. As
24:18
Speaker 1: the blizzard cleared and the sun slowly rose, light began
24:21
Speaker 1: to trickle into the cabin. The scene filtered through in
24:25
Speaker 1: tiny increments, with each layer uncovered by the sun like
24:28
Speaker 1: a printer slowly spitting out the full picture, one line
24:31
Speaker 1: at a time. I wasn't even in a cabin. I
24:35
Speaker 1: wasn't a large supply shed. I was maybe ten to
24:37
Speaker 1: eleven feet long and seven to eight feet wide. There
24:40
Speaker 1: was no fireplace, which makes sense for a supply shed.
24:44
Speaker 1: There were tools, traps in rifles lining every wall. A
24:48
Speaker 1: silhouette in the corner slowly stopped being a silhouette and
24:51
Speaker 1: started being a distinct person. Skinny no, actually gaunt, pale, no,
24:58
Speaker 1: actually ghost white man.
25:02
Speaker 2: No, it was a corpse. I was gutted. He was dead.
25:08
Speaker 1: Not oh shoot, I died overnight.
25:10
Speaker 2: Sorry about that.
25:11
Speaker 1: Dead like long dead, long, long, long dead. His body
25:16
Speaker 1: was all shriveled and mummified, if that's even the right
25:20
Speaker 1: word for it. He wasn't wrapped up in bandages or
25:23
Speaker 1: anything like that, but his skin was completely dehydrated and stiff,
25:26
Speaker 1: like an unwrapped mummy. His hair was hanging from his
25:29
Speaker 1: head in unkempt strings. His teeth were poking out of
25:32
Speaker 1: his shrunken lips with a wide gap where the top
25:35
Speaker 1: right canine should have been. There was a stain of
25:38
Speaker 1: age old blood soaked in the wood beneath him. I
25:41
Speaker 1: followed it by gaze to its origin. His left foot
25:45
Speaker 1: and the bare trap in which had been gotten caught.
25:48
Speaker 1: There was an empty hook on the wall above him,
25:50
Speaker 1: with a chain leading to the trap. It was long
25:53
Speaker 1: enough for him to move around, but not enough for
25:54
Speaker 1: him to reach the front door or the saw hanging
25:57
Speaker 1: above it. My best guess was the trap at fallen
26:00
Speaker 1: on its own while he was out, and at some
26:02
Speaker 1: point he'd done a supply run in the dark and
26:04
Speaker 1: probably had gotten caught in his own trap. He probably
26:07
Speaker 1: died of thirst or something. Look I'm telling you, he
26:10
Speaker 1: wasn't breathing, and he wasn't moving. He was dead as
26:14
Speaker 1: a door nail and had been for quite some time.
26:17
Speaker 1: I sat there, reasoning I'd been delirious the night before,
26:21
Speaker 1: the fatigue, the dehydration, the disorientation caused by the blizzard.
26:25
Speaker 1: It made me imagine a voice. Those slow hissing sounds
26:29
Speaker 1: I thought were replies were just the wind outside. I
26:33
Speaker 1: interpreted them wrong because the loneliness had finally gotten to me,
26:37
Speaker 1: the elements that conspired against me to create a living
26:39
Speaker 1: person out of someone who definitely wasn't living. It was
26:43
Speaker 1: a good logical explanation, and I wish I could say
26:46
Speaker 1: it was true. I'm an avid hunter. I go every season,
26:56
Speaker 1: and I love it more often than not. I don't
26:59
Speaker 1: kill any game. I just loved getting out in the woods.
27:02
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're familiar with hunting seasons in Pennsylvania,
27:05
Speaker 1: but during late November, rifle season is in full swing.
27:09
Speaker 1: It was already the second week of the season and
27:11
Speaker 1: I had yet to bag any deer, so I was
27:14
Speaker 1: eager to get to it early in the morning, and
27:17
Speaker 1: I did. I normally get up around five am and
27:19
Speaker 1: drive to my hunting spot. It's private land that my
27:23
Speaker 1: grandfather owns, and him and I are the only two
27:25
Speaker 1: to hunt on it, and the rest is posted to hunters.
27:30
Speaker 1: The only others in the land are employed on my
27:31
Speaker 1: grandfather's farm. I had originally planned on calling my grandfather
27:35
Speaker 1: when I woke up and asking him if he wanted
27:37
Speaker 1: to taggle long, but the weather that morning was horrendous.
27:40
Speaker 1: The snow was pouring down and the wind was really strung.
27:44
Speaker 1: You see, I love hunting in the snow, but it
27:46
Speaker 1: almost made me decide not to go, so I knew
27:49
Speaker 1: he wouldn't want to. The roads were really bad, so
27:52
Speaker 1: it took me a bit longer to drive there. Normally
27:55
Speaker 1: the sun would be starting to rise by now, however,
27:57
Speaker 1: it was overcast and snowing. Regardless of the snow, I
28:01
Speaker 1: walked up to my spot. It was directly behind my
28:03
Speaker 1: grandfather's house, over a hill and back about one hundred
28:06
Speaker 1: to one hundred and fifty yards. Almost immediately upon sitting
28:10
Speaker 1: in my spot, I hear things moving all around me. Honestly,
28:14
Speaker 1: I didn't pay it much mind. It could be any
28:17
Speaker 1: number of things, but it was still pitch black, and
28:19
Speaker 1: the thought that it was a deer had crossed my mind.
28:22
Speaker 1: But there wasn't much I could do. It's not like
28:24
Speaker 1: I can shoot at it, so I just ignore it
28:27
Speaker 1: and continue to wait. It wasn't much longer after that
28:31
Speaker 1: that I begin hearing something walking just over the ridge
28:33
Speaker 1: to my right. At this point, there's barely enough light
28:37
Speaker 1: to see my feet, so even if it was a deer,
28:39
Speaker 1: there was still nothing I could do. However, I could
28:42
Speaker 1: tell it wasn't a deer. I just assumed it was
28:44
Speaker 1: my grandfather walking to his spot, which is just a
28:47
Speaker 1: short walk from mine. The lights in his house were off,
28:51
Speaker 1: and if he was hunting up here, I'm sure he
28:53
Speaker 1: would let me know prior. But even if it wasn't him,
28:57
Speaker 1: it was a hunter, albeit hunting illegally, I still wanted
29:01
Speaker 1: to let him know I was there, so I turned
29:03
Speaker 1: on my flashlight and pointed it in his direction, flashing
29:06
Speaker 1: it several times again. Even if it was a deer,
29:09
Speaker 1: I couldn't shoot it, so I felt it was better
29:11
Speaker 1: to be safe rather than sorry. Nothing much happened after that.
29:16
Speaker 1: After I flashed my light, the noise stopped, which was
29:19
Speaker 1: really odd. I didn't hear them turn back, so I
29:22
Speaker 1: figured that either A sat down right there after seeing
29:25
Speaker 1: my light, which is considered extremely rude, or B I
29:29
Speaker 1: didn't hear them walk off.
29:31
Speaker 2: I just assumed it was the latter.
29:33
Speaker 1: An hour or so passes, and finally the first sights
29:36
Speaker 1: of daylight start to shine through. It's still snowing, and
29:39
Speaker 1: the snow is falling in entire snowballs rather than snowflakes,
29:43
Speaker 1: so visibility is pretty limited, but I just scrimnled. I
29:48
Speaker 1: love snow, and even if I couldn't see any deer,
29:50
Speaker 1: I still found the weather beautiful. It was around this
29:53
Speaker 1: time that I noticed an odd looking lump protruding out
29:56
Speaker 1: from a group of trees and shrubs atop the hill
29:58
Speaker 1: that separates me from my dad's house, right where I
30:01
Speaker 1: had heard movement earlier. It looked like a mound of dirt, however,
30:06
Speaker 1: it was sticking out from the side of a tree.
30:07
Speaker 1: So it obviously wasn't dirt. Naturally, I raised my rifle
30:11
Speaker 1: up to take a closer look. I could immediately tell
30:14
Speaker 1: that I was looking at the side of an older
30:16
Speaker 1: style camouflage coat. It took a minute, but it finally
30:19
Speaker 1: clicked I was a person over there. I just thought
30:23
Speaker 1: it was a hunter, so I didn't know what to
30:24
Speaker 1: do about it. I knew he was hunting on our
30:27
Speaker 1: land illegally, and from what I could see, he wasn't
30:29
Speaker 1: wearing anything orange, which is required of all hunters during
30:32
Speaker 1: the rifle season. And I could tell just from looking
30:36
Speaker 1: whoever this was wasn't my grandfather. I sat there for
30:40
Speaker 1: a minute debating my next move, but I decided to
30:42
Speaker 1: call my granddad at the risk of blowing his hunt
30:45
Speaker 1: if that was him over there. So without taking my
30:47
Speaker 1: eyes off this guy, I pulled out my phone and
30:49
Speaker 1: dialed his number, to my dismay. He picked up and
30:53
Speaker 1: I told him what was going on, so he told
30:56
Speaker 1: me he'd make his way up, but I decided to
30:58
Speaker 1: go on my own to give the guy a whistle
31:00
Speaker 1: to let him know I see him, but he didn't
31:02
Speaker 1: react at all. After a few minutes, I started to
31:05
Speaker 1: walk up.
31:05
Speaker 2: To this guy.
31:07
Speaker 1: After walking the short distance, I could clearly see him.
31:10
Speaker 1: He was sound asleep, tucked in between a shrub and
31:12
Speaker 1: a couple of trees. He obviously thought out where to
31:15
Speaker 1: lay down, as I would have never have been able
31:17
Speaker 1: to see him had his coat not stuck out, and
31:21
Speaker 1: as I thought he had no orange John, I gave
31:24
Speaker 1: him another whistle much louder, and he woke right up,
31:28
Speaker 1: almost immediately, shuffling over to hide his exposed coat. He
31:32
Speaker 1: had a nasty, scruffy beard and a gray hat. Honestly,
31:35
Speaker 1: he looked like a harmless, old homeless man, probably in
31:38
Speaker 1: his fifties. But he had a perfect view of my
31:41
Speaker 1: granddad's home from his spot, and I have a pretty
31:43
Speaker 1: good idea what he was playing to do once my
31:45
Speaker 1: granddad left the house. Once this guy realized he had
31:48
Speaker 1: been caught, though, and saw a mad six foot five
31:51
Speaker 1: guy carrying a hunting rifle less than ten yards away
31:54
Speaker 1: making his way closer, his face went pale almost instantly.
31:59
Speaker 1: He tried to feed me some bullshit that he had
32:00
Speaker 1: gotten lost during a drive with a group of other hunters.
32:04
Speaker 1: For those of you that don't know, a driver is
32:06
Speaker 1: a coordinated push through a thicket in order to drive
32:08
Speaker 1: deer to hunter, sitting at the end of the designated
32:10
Speaker 1: driving area. However, the closest public gameland is miles from
32:14
Speaker 1: his spot, so I knew this.
32:16
Speaker 2: Was a lie.
32:17
Speaker 1: He just kept on going about how he was lost
32:19
Speaker 1: and how he fell asleep, even went as far to
32:22
Speaker 1: make up a fake name on the spot. I just
32:25
Speaker 1: stood there and listened, making sure he didn't make any
32:28
Speaker 1: fishy movements. I couldn't help but think about what this
32:31
Speaker 1: guy could have done to my grandfather. God knows he
32:34
Speaker 1: had the chance, and that thought pissed me off enough
32:36
Speaker 1: to tell the guy to shut the hell up. That's
32:39
Speaker 1: about the point where I saw my granddad. My granddad
32:43
Speaker 1: is a tough old bastard, so my first thought was
32:45
Speaker 1: this idiot is going to get himself killed. Luckily, nothing
32:49
Speaker 1: happened after he got there. We practically had to drag
32:52
Speaker 1: this guy down the road, where my granddad called the
32:54
Speaker 1: cops and I called my dad. Technically, this guy hadn't
32:58
Speaker 1: done anything wrong yet, so all we could try argin
33:00
Speaker 1: with was trespassing and sulking. That was about a month ago,
33:04
Speaker 1: and since then I haven't heard anything else about him.