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11 True Stories from the Shadows · True Horror Stories

• 0:23
  Speaker 1: This happened about six years ago, in the early hours
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: of my twentieth birthday. At the time, I had been
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: working as a carpet cleaner. It's also important to know
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: that I am a six foot mail and at the
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: time I weighed about two hundred and ten pounds. By nature,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: I'm an extremely cautious individual. Also, in the particular area
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: I worked in, there was a lot of gang activity.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: It was about six PM when I got a call
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: from one of the head carpet cleaning texts. He explained
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: that he couldn't do the late job that he was
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: scheduled for, which was at eleven PM, because his pregnant
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: wife might have been going into labor and he had
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: to go to the hospital. Seeing as I was broke,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I told him that I would cover for him. They
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: made it back to our shop at around two fifteen am.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: I got the truck ready for the other guys who
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: would be taking it out in a few hours, and
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: I headed home around two forty five am. I had
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: worked nearly twenty hours straight at this point, and I
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: had a forty five minute drive home. I lived out
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: in the middle of nowhere, being exhausted and barely able
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: to keep my eyes open. I decided to stop at
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: a gas station and grab an energy drink. When I
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: pulled in, I noticed a black Buick sitting in the
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: far corner of the gas station parking lot. I didn't
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: think much of it, perhaps it was just the attendant's car.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: I went in, got my drink and left. I had
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: a gut feeling that something was wrong, and I began
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: to check behind me to see if anyone was tailing me.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: I saw a pair of headlights in the distance and
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: gaining on me fast. Deciding that I need to confirm
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: my suspicion before taking any drastic measures, I continued to
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: drive while keeping my eye on the headlights in my
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: rear view mirror. I was about two miles from home
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: and still being tailed by the headlights. That's when I
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: decided to take a detour. After about ten minutes of
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: maneuvering on back roads, I knew that things were getting serious.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: As the headlights followed me every which way, my little
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: four cylinder Saturn was too slow to get away. Now,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: fearing for my life, I knew I had to try
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: and take control of the situation, as well as not
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: leading my pursuers to my home, where my sister and
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: her two month old son were staying at the time.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: At the next stop sign, I put my car in park,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: placed my twelve inch military gray knife up my left
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: jacket's sleeve, and grabbed the pistol I keep in my
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: car for protection. I prayed that I would not have
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: to use them. I then stepped out of my car.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: As I did, the car that had been following me
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: came to a screeching halt, and four men exited the vehicle.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: It was then that I recognized that it was the
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: same black Buick from the gas station. As the men
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: climbed out, the moonlight revealed that one of them had
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: been carrying a large chain, and the others were armed
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: with a baseball bat, a tire iron, and the one
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: who I assumed was their leader had an axe. Seeing this,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: and making sure to keep my pistol out of any
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: light that might have glinted off the side, I asked,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: is there a problem? One of the men responded, You're
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: about to die, boy. It was at that moment that
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: I realized this was some kind of gang initiation. I
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: dropped the knife from my sleeve, gripping it in my
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: left hand while backing behind my open car door, trying
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: to at least limit the directions they could attack me.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: From seeing the knife and my attempt to put something
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: between me and them, they laughed and one of them
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: said to another, this motherfucker thinks he can beat us
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: with a little knife. As they approached my car, I
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: pulled the gun out and fired a warning shot at
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: the leader's feet. The hardcore badasses quickly turned into scared
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: little rabbits and were now high tailing it back to
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: their car. I yelled after them, you idiots picked the
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: wrong guy to mess with. Now get the hell out
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: of here before I put a bullet in your ass.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: They all fumbled back into the car and a hold
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: ass as they sped away. I was able to get
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: a plate number and called the police. After getting off
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: the phone with the operator, I got back into my car.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: I made it home at around four am and passed out.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: When I woke up a few hours later, I called
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: the police station to see if they had any leads.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: It turns out that the car was stolen and they
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: were unable to locate it. As far as I know,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: the car has never been found and the four hoodlums
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: were never caught. I'm telling this story on behalf of
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: my departed grandmother. Truth oftentimes is stranger than fiction, and
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: this story has been passed down through our family for years.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: It served as a reminder that you can never be
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: too careful. I don't know the exact year, but this
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: took place during the nineteen fifties, when my grandmother was
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: in her twenties and living in a very rule area
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: of Kansas. At the time, she had already given birth
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: to my mother. However, she claimed to be stepping out
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: my grandfather with another woman. I've no idea if that's
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: actually true, but I don't see why she will lie.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: On one stormy night, my grandmother left her daughter with
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: her mother and drove out to her girlfriend's house. According
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: to her, the two of them had planned to get
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: drunk and listened to some records. She arrived at the
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: dark farmhouse in the pouring rain and knocked on the
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: front door, but did not get a response. Back then,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: when plans changed, you mostly didn't find out until it
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: was too late. You couldn't send a text message or
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: even call whenever you wanted. Figuring that something had happened,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: my grandmother decided to spend the night in the empty
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: house anyways, so she didn't have to drive back in
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: the pouring rain. She began to search for a spare key.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: She went around to the back of the house, the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: wind tearing at her coat and nearly knocking her over.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: She reached the back porch and continued to search for
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: the spare key. Apparently it wasn't in its normal spot,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: so she sat on the somewhat sheltered back porch behind
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: a pile of firewood. She said that her being too
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: stubborn to go back home was will likely saved her
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: life that night. She lit up a cigarette and sat
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: smoking for an uncertain amount of time. She didn't want
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: to break into her girlfriend's house, but she also didn't
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: want to go back out in the rain and return
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: to her car and drive back in these conditions, which
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: had only gotten worse. She stated that lightning was crisscrossing
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: all around the sky and the wind was making the
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: wooden fence lean at a sharp angle. She then saw
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: a light coming from inside the house. It wasn't the
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: light of a lamp or anything. It was a beam
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: of light that flashed quickly. Figuring that her friend had
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: returned home, she stood and pressed her face to the window.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: She didn't knock or call out because she figured that
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: the noise from the storm would just drown her out,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: so she just waited to be spotted by the window.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: The flashlight disappeared into the other room, and after another moment,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: she caught the sight of a man she didn't know,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: moving around way too slowly to be someone who knew
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: the layout of the house. She caught a quick glimpse
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: of him in the darkness, but she saw enough to
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: know that it wasn't a member of her girlfriend's family.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: She thought it could have been a neighbor that she
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: didn't know, but his suspicious behavior was making her uneasy,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: so she ducked down and decided to wait for a
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: while despite the raging storm. After a while of hiding
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: crouched beneath the window, she would occasionally see the flashlight
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: being dance across the back porch from one of the
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: inside windows. She figured if it was someone who was
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: supposed to be there, they would have either turned on
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: a light, or at the very least would have stopped
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: wandering around so slowly, as if they were looking for something.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: After what she suspects was a few minutes, the door
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: to the back porch opened, and the stranger stepped outside
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: and shine the light across the length of the porch,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: including the woodpile, which fortunately prevented her from being seen.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: She stayed hidden, and after another reef sweep with a flashlight,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the person went back inside. The stranger could have easily
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: found her had he decided to be more thorough, but
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: she figured he doubted that anyone would be hiding there
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: given how rough the weather was. She heard the door
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: slam again and the stranger disappeared back inside the house.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: She peeked in through the window and watched as the
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: man went upstairs. She waited in apprehension until he came
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: back down to the ground floor, still carefully shining the
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: flashlight around, He eventually wandered over to the front of
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: the house. She then heard the front door slam shut.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: Afraid that he may walk around the perimeter of the
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: house and find her, she emerged from her hiding place
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: and opened the back door, which was now unlocked. She
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: carefully made her way inside and locked the door behind
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: her without turning on any lights. She ran to the
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: front door and locked did as well, before looking out
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: to the front yard. She didn't spot the intruder anywhere. Shivering,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: she locked herself in the downstairs bathroom and covered herself
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: up with towels. She was very aware that the man
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: could potentially still be in the house or even have
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: his own key. After she dried herself off, she risked
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: a quick run up the stairs and locked herself in
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: her friend's bedroom. She tried to light in the bedroom
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: for a split second, just to see if the power
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: was out. It wasn't. She then laid down on the bed, exhausted.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: She nearly drifted off when a blinding flash came from outside,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: followed by a thunderous crackling. It jolted her for a moment,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: but rational thought prevailed one of the old trees out
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: front must have been struck by lightning. She then fell asleep.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: The following day, she got up and searched the house
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: in the daylight. There were still no signs of her
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: girlfriend or her family anywhere. She called her mother and
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: then the police. An officer arrived a short while later,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: and she explained everything that happened the night before. She
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: was still unable to get a hold of her friend.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: The officer acknowledged that it may have been someone with
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: permission to be in the house, but decided to take
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: a look around anyway. After a while, he called to
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: my grandmother. He asked my grandmother to describe what the
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: stranger from the night before had been wearing, but she
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: couldn't recall with any real certainty as it had been
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: pretty dark. Apparently, a body was discovered in the tall
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: grass of the front yard. My grandmother's girlfriend returned home
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: after the body had been removed from the property. She
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: had been strainded several towns over the night before because
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: of the road being washed out by the storm. The
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: corpse was a man who had been an older friend
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: of the family, but someone who most definitely did not
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: have permission to be in their house alone. As predicted,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: what had killed them was a bolt of lightning that
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: struck him down in the front yard. The man was
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: carrying a six inch hunting knife in his hand, which
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: had likely been what attracted this strike. It was suspected
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: that the man came looking for my grandmother's friend, as
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: she had rejected his advances in the past, but when
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: he spotted the strange car in the driveway, he decided
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: to enter the house. Cautiously to find out who was visiting.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: This is all just a theory, but the family stressed
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: this man would have never been allowed to access the
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: house by himself, and they had nothing of his that
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: he might have been looking for. My grandmother thinks that
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: the timing of him leaving the house and the lightning
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: strike was off. She said it was roughly a half
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: hour window between her entering the house, locking up and
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: off before hearing the lightning strike. She doesn't think he
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: was still in the process of leaving. She suspects he
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: was on his way back. This happened in nineteen eighty seven,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: when I was about fifteen years old. I used to
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: live in this small town in northern Ohio. Back in
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: those days, I was the neighborhood paperboy for a while,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: and I would deliver the newspapers almost every morning before school.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: During the summer, I would often ride my bike around
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: into the park or go hang out with my friends
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: down by the lake. The point is I was often
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: seen on my bike a lot, so it was unfortunate
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: that during one of my paper routes, a reckless driver
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: blindsided me, which resulted in my left thigh being fractured
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: and my bicycle being completely destroyed. It took me about
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: three months to recover, and by the time I did,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: the had already hired a new delivery boy and I
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: was left without a bike. And on top of all that,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: they never caught the guy who ran into me. There's
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: no real nice way to say this, but my parents
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: are neglective assholes, and I stopped talking to them years ago.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: At the time, my injury was viewed more as an
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: inconvenience in their eyes. The local police department wasn't really
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: much better either. It was pretty much run by a
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: family who had zero interest in enforcing the law and
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: seemed to be more concerned with blackmailing prostitutes in exchange
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: for sexual favors. Nobody really gave a rat's ass that
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: some drunk asshole nearly ended my life, But what could
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: I really do about it. I was only fifteen, and
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: I just had to make the best of things and
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: carry on. Shortly after I was released from the hospital,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: my friend Kyle invited me over to his house, claiming
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: that his parents were out of town on business and
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: he had discovered a bottle of Jack Daniels that his
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: father had forgotten. A law away in his liquor cabinet,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: I of course obliged. Without a bike, I unfortunately had
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: to walk everywhere, and I knew better than the hitchhike
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: in this backward ass town. By the time I got
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: to Kyle's it was around seven p m. And Kyle
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: was already piss drunk, with about ninety percent of the
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: bottle already gone. After about twenty minutes of sitting on
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: his couch and listening to him drivel on about how
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: he wanted to smash the math teacher, Kyle vomited on
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: the living room floor and promptly passed out. So, being
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: sober and frustrated, I decided to make the long track
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: home of the dark. Getting out of Kyle's neighborhood was
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: simple enough, but there was a long, dark stretch of
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: highway that I had to traverse to get back to
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: my place. Making this trip during the day it was
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: no big deal, but it could be quite daunting at night.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: There are no street lights on this road, so unless
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: the moon was out, it would be nearly pitch black.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: It was a half moon out that night, so things
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: were a bit obscured, but you could still see enough
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: of your surroundings to make your way. My house was
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: off of the first intersection you came upon. The rest
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: of the way was well lit from there, but it
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: was still a good three mile height to get to
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: the intersection. I was about a quarterway down this road
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: when I got this inexplicable sensation that I was being followed.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: I turned around to see what appeared to be a
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: dark figure standing in the middle of the road, barely
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: visible in the moonlight. It appeared to be just standing there,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: so I figured it was probably one of the many
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: drug addicts that lurked around these parts. I quickened my
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: pace and scolded myself for forgetting my pocket knife, which
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: I usually carried on me for protection. But I didn't
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: want to show that I was afraid, so I didn't
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: walk too fast, but I also didn't take my time.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: About another five minutes pass and I looked behind me again.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: The dark figure was now on the sidewalk and was
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: now noticed closer. Again. I want to point out that
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: it was just standing there. It was not apparent to
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: me that the figure was running or walking towards me.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: It was almost as if every time I would turn around,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: it would just stop and stare at me. Obviously, this
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: is not the type of experience you want to have
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: when you're walking home alone in the dark, so I
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: wasted no time in making my way towards the intersection.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: It wasn't until the lights of the intersection came into
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: view that I heard a pounding behind me. Something inside
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: me told me not to turn around, but I couldn't resist.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: My worst nightmare was confirmed when I saw the dark
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: figure barreling towards me. The distance between us was closing fast,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: and from where I was, I could tell that there
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: was something in its hands. The way it was holding
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: this object made me conclude that it was a knife.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: I ran as fast as I could, tearing past the
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: intersection and across the road to the end terance of
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: my neighborhood. From the entrance, you could see the intersection clearly.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: When I turned back for the last time, I could
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: see a deranged looking man standing under one of the
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: street lights with a massive butcher knife in his right hand.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: He appeared to be about six feet tall, with a
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: balding head and a beard that went down to his stomach.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: He was severely out of shape, but someone who could
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: easily overpower a fifteen year old as I darted down
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: the neighborhood street, I could hear a crazed voice shouting
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: from behind me. If I ever see you again, I'm
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: going to cut your head off. As soon as I
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: got to my house and slammed the door shut behind me,
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: I nearly passed out from exhaustion and panic. My parents
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: were not home at the time, so I ended up
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: blocking myself in my bedroom and eventually passed out after
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: hours of just staring out my bedroom window. I didn't
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: call the cop simply because it did not occur to
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: me and my panicked state of mind, and by the
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: time I could think straight again, I came to the
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: conclusion that the corrupted police force would not take my
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: claim seriously. And you can pretty much apply that same
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: reasoning as to why I did not tell my parents.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: As soon as I turned eighteen, I left that shithole
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: behind and have never looked back. In some bizarre way,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: I now view that deranged man in the darkness as
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: a manifestation of everything wrong with that town. I grew
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: up in the village of Dunning, Nebraska, and I have
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: very fond memories of that place. But simply put, as
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: I started getting older, I soon realized that there was
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: absolutely no future for me in Dounning, and I enlisted
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: in the military when I was nineteen. Growing up and
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Donning during the nineteen eighties is something that I would
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: akin to a setting in a Stephen King novel. You
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: had your religious nutjobs wise took in an atmosphere of isolation.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: That's not to say that the town was inherently creepy
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: or anything. It just seemed cut off from the rest
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: of the world. It's definitely not a place for social
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: media influencers to visit, because if you're not into outdoor activities,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: you're going to be bored as shit there. To the
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: east of the town is the Nebraska National Forest, which
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: our family would often visit when I was a kid.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Being such a close knit community, I was pretty much
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: friends with all the other kids my age. Something that
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: we often enjoyed doing was going fishing in the nearby rivers.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: I recalled that my school was taking a field trip
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: to the National Forest and I couldn't attend for some reason.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: I can't seem to remember if it was because of
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: poor grades or bad behavior, probably a mixture of the two,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: to be honest. When I got out of school that day,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: I was pretty much the only kid left in town,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: so this was one of those rare times where I
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: would go fishing by myself. As soon as I got
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: home that day, I spent about twenty minutes doing my
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: household chores before packing up my fishing gear and setting
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: off on my bike. My friends and I would usually
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: fish in the middle Loo River because it was very
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: close to the town. However, since they weren't with me
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: on that day, I decided to head down to the
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Dismal River, which ran along the west side of the
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: town before merging into middle Loo. Unlike middle Loo, the
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: Dismal River was sort of on the outskirts of Dunning.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: To give you a lay of the land. Beyond the
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Dismal River is no man's land and every sense of
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: the word. Aside from some few residential properties, there is
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: absolutely nothing for miles but hills and trees. I spent
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: about thirty minutes casting my line, but I wasn't catching anything,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: much to my dismay, so I relocated my operation upstream
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: towards where the two rivers intersected. Suddenly, I could feel
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: a dense pressure in the atmosphe. I'm sure most of
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: you can relate to that creepy, unnerving feeling you get
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: when someone is watching you. I did my best to
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: ignore this feeling and continue fishing, but there was something
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: that kept drawing my attention towards one of the dead
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: trees that was situated about thirty feet from the river bank.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: The exact year was nineteen eighty eight, when the entire
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: country was experiencing droughts that caused many trees to die off.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: It wasn't long before I could smell something foul in
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: the air. It was a thick, putrid stench, like something
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: dyed and had been decomposing in the sun all day.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: But strangely, I did not see a single vulture in
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: the sky. They would usually be swarming any animal carcasses
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: shortly after they died. Curiosity finally got the best of me,
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: and I set my fishing rod down and went to
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: investigate the dead tree. As I approached, I know not
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: that there was a hole in the ground, like someone
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: had dug a grave and forgot to throw the dirt
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: back over the hole. As I got closer, I could
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: feel goosebumps up and down my arms. Once I got
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: close enough, I peered down into the hole, and I
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: was swear until my dying day that this is what
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: I saw. There was a body of a young girl
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: lying at the bottom of the hole. I vaguely remember
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: seeing a mangled nightgown that was wrapped around the body.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: As a twelve year old, I didn't scare easy, but
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: this sent me fleeing back into town, bawling my eyes out.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: By the time I got back home, my dad was
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: home from work. I told him between sobs what I
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: had seen. My dad was very good friends with one
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: of the deputies at the Blaine County Sheriff's office, and
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: he immediately called him and relayed to him what I
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: had seen by the river. Me and my dad met
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: three Blaine County deputies near the spot where I had
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: seen the corpse. They even brought a trained canine along
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: with them, but after hours of combing through the river banks,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: they could not find a single thing. I was later
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: scolded by my father for making up stories and that
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: I should never waste the police's time. As punishment, I
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: wasn't allowed to go fishing for months after this incident,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: which really sucked because there wasn't much else to do
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: in Dunning. Even after all these years, I still stand
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: by my story. It may have been something of a
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: supernatural nature, but I did see the body of a
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: young girl lying at the bottom of that hole. I
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: didn't have a wild imagination as a kid, and I
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: may have misbehaved every once in a while, but I
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: would never make up a story about seeing something that awful.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: The smell, the position of the body, the dirty night gown.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: I remember too many details for this be some kind
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: of delusion. There is another possibility that only occurred to
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: me as an adult. If what I experienced wasn't a
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: supernatural phenomenon, could the Sheriff's office have covered up something.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: The Hills of Nebraska have their secrets. This happened a
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: few months ago. I'm a twenty three year old female
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: and I had finally bought a car for myself. I
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: loved driving around and listening to music. I usually liked
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: doing this by myself. On this night, it was around
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: seven pm and it was wintertime. On this particular drive,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: I took two of my siblings. My sister was eighteen
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: and my brother was thirteen. I took them along with
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: me after their constant pleading because they were bored. Now
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: I'm a smoker, and coming from a South Asian household,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: women are not supposed to smoke, so I took these
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: opportunit and re used to smoke without worrying that my
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: parents would catch me. The city that I live and
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: has some bad areas. However, we lived in a quiet
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: suburban area, so I didn't give a second thought about
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: parking somewhere, getting out of my car and lighting up
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: a cigarette. I don't like smoking in my car, so
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: there I was parked beneath a street light, scrolling away
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: on my phone. It was getting pretty dark, but I
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: wasn't too worried about it, as I would visit this
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: road frequently and it wasn't too far from my aunt's house.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: As I was smoking my cigarette, I look up from
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: my phone and I see him in emerging from some
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: bushes nearby. I didn't think much of it. I see
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: people walking around here all the time. This man was
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: very tall, standing at at least six foot four. He
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: was on the opposite sidewalk. I assumed that he was
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: just going to carry on walking, so I looked back
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: to my phone until I looked up again and saw
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: him standing in front of my car, staring at me.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: My sister, who was still in the car, must have
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: been watching him as well, because she knocked on the
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: window telling me to come in. I had already put
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: out my cigarette and was making my way to the
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: driver's side door, keys in hand. The man was still
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: standing there, not moving a muscle. I got in and
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: locked my door and breathed a sigh of relief, thinking
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: that maybe I was just overreacting. As I put my
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: keys in the ignition, I looked up to see where
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: the guy was, but he was no longer standing in
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: front of my car. I looked in my rear view
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: mirror and saw that he was now standing behind us.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: He was taking pictures of my license plate. I slightly
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: rolled down my window and I could see his face
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: a bit clearer now. He appeared to be an Indian
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: man with a beard and a hoodie over his head,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: obscuring some of the features on his face. I asked
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: him as politely as I could, excuse me, Eh, what
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: are you doing? The man comes towards my window, but
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: still kept his distance. He then said, in a very
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: aggressive tone, do you know who I am? I didn't
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: know if he was asking a rhetorical question or not.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: I have a lot of shit going on in my house.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: I don't need you parking here and watching me. You
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: look real suspicious, just randomly parking here with your two friends.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: What do you think you're doing. Get the fuck out
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: of here, I chuckled nervously. I was trying to keep calm,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: but my anxiety was already halfway through the roof. At
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: this point. I didn't understand how I looked threatening in
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: any way, as I'm a small girl who's been told
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: that she looks like a kid. I was in my
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: pajamas and I was clearly minding my own business. Look,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: I just parked here to smoke. I've come here all
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: the time since I lived close by. That's when the
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: man got right up to my window. He slid his
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: fingers through the gap and forced my window all the
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: way down, screaming at the top of his lungs. Get
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: the hell out of here. I screamed in terror and
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: told him to stop swearing, as I had a miner
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: in the back seat and he was scaring him. He
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: then screamed, if you don't get out of here right now,
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: I'll damage your fucking car. My ajournaline was running at
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: full speed and I was terrified. I didn't even bother
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: putting my seatbelt on. I bolted out of there, and
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: in my panic, I went straight ahead at a junction.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: It led me to a dead end. As soon as
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: I stopped in my car, I took the opportunity to
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: try and calm down. My whole body was shaking. I
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: couldn't even keep my foot on the clutch. My sister
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: was quick to ask me if I was okay, but
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: before I could even answer, I saw a pair of
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: headlights coming right for us. It was the man. He
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: was going at least fifty on a twenty, and he
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: almost crashed right into my car, but by some miracle,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: he just missed us. After his car screeched to a stop,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: he jumped out, and that's when I realized that my
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: window was still all the way down. I quickly tried
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: to roll my window back up, but the man was
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: too quick. He then dove into my car. Half of
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: his body was through my window. I screamed so loudly
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: with his ear right next to my face that I'm
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: sure I deafened him. He was trying to force my
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: car keys from the ignition, but I thanked my lucky
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: stars that with my car. To release the key, you
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: had to have your foot on the clutch, which I didn't.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: With one hand, I was pressing down on the horn
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: of my car to make as much noise as possible
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: so I could alert anyone who was near by. I
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: scratched his hands away from my car keys, and I
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: heard my poor siblings crying their eyes out. My little
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: brother had no idea what he could do to protect me,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: and my sister was in the passenger seat experiencing all
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: of this firsthand. I finally managed to force the man
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: out of my car, and that's when he started screaming again.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: I thought, I told you to get out of here.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Now I'm going to fucking kill you, bitch. The deranged
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: man then attempted to pull my door handle, trying to
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: get inside, and that's when I floored the fuck out
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: of there. I didn't care that my body was shaking
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: like a fish out of water. My main priority was
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: the safety of my siblings. I knew that we were
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: making a loud commotion. I laid down on my horn,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: trying to get the attention of anyone nearby, but nobody
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: came to help us. I managed to maneuver my way
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: out of the dead end and then went down a
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: new street into a totally different area, and I then parked.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: I knew that this was probably not a good idea,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: but I didn't see the guy following us. The three
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: of us just sat in my car sobbing away. This
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: was the first time that anything like this has ever
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: happened to us. I called the police, and I immediately
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: wanted to punch myself in the face when the dispatcher
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: asked if I had gotten the man's registration number. Of course,
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: in my panic, I didn't. I wanted to slap myself
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: in the face because I listened to a lot of
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: horror stories on YouTube, and I always felt that they
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: taught me how to handle certain situations. The dispatcher was
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: very understanding, as was the female officer who called me
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: the next day. As a woman, she understood how scary
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: it must have been for me, and I cried to
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: her as I recounted the incident. Unfortunately, the cops informed
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: me that there was no CCTV cameras in that area,
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: so there wasn't really much that they could do, especially
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: with me not knowing where he came from. If he did,
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: in fact, come from one of the nearby houses. I
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: didn't know which one. The officer apologized to me, but
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: it was really my fault for not mentally noting important information.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: They made a report of my attack, so if a
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: similar incident happens in that area, they can make the connection.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: The officer said that when I parked my car, the
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: man was likely doing something illegal nearby and that's why
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: he freaked out on me. I personally think it was
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: just some deranged individual who enjoyed scaring people who looked
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: like easy prey. Growing up in a working class Latino family,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: we didn't have the luxury of taking lavish vacations throughout
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: the year. However, they didn't stop us from exploring the
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: natural wonders of southern California through camping. At a young age,
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: my sister and I understood the value of camping through
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: our shared respect for mother Nature. Over time, we mastered
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: surviving in the outdoors, so much so that we desired
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: to explore new campgrounds throughout the state. On one such occasion,
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: a coworker of my father overheard him talking about his
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: summer vacation plans and suggested to him a new campground
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: to check out. To this day, my parents nor I
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: are unable to remember the name of the camp site,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: yet we all agreed that it was somewhere in the
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: hills of San Diego County. My father was excited for
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: the prospect of visiting a new national park and packed
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: up the car for the customary family summer retreat. The
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: drive up to the camp site was long and dangerous,
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: even though we were driving during the day. The steepness
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: of the mountain, coupled with a numerous blind turns, had
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: everyone sitting on the edge of their seats. Arguments soon
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: erupted amongst us as who didn't find any signs indicating
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: where to go. This was in the age before smartphones
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: and GPS. Eventually we convinced our father to stop and
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: ask for directions. As the campground came into view, we
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: all led a collective sigh of relief. We made it,
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: and yet the place did not look like it was
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: a National p at all. There wasn't a ranger station
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: or a welcome center anywhere in sight. The lake appeared murky,
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: like a bog whereas the campground itself was devoid of life,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: a proverbial ghost town with the only inhabitants. Being us
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: with our bewilderment aside, we cautiously surveyed the area, finding
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: any clues that will guide us to the keeper of
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: this place. Out in the distance, we saw a crumbling
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: open sign dangling in the window of a dilapidated diner.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: Just as the sign implied, we entered the establishment to
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: inquire about the place. Pushing the creaking door open, We
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: were greeted by the owner of the diner, a gaunt
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: looking man who I would now say was plucked straight
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: out of the movie The Hills Have Eyes. Well, how
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: can I help you all folks on this farm day?
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: My dad replied, we made reservations to camp here, but
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure if this is the right place. Yes.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: We then handed the man our booking papers for him
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: to inspect. With his bony fingers grasping the pages, he replied, yeah, yeah,
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: you have the roight place. I'm the grounds keeper of
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: this here National Park. Let me finish some paperwork on
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: my hand, and I'll get things ready for you and
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: your family to stay here with us. As he wobbled
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: off to the back of the diner, my sister and
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: I retreated to the safety of our car. Although we
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: were children at the time, we both felt a sense
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: of unease even dread at the thought of spending the
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: night here. Despite our worries, our parents reassured us that
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: the vacation had only just begun, albeit with a few
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: bumps along the way. As we neared the site, all
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: of our concerns were tossed out the window as it
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: was time to transform this empty lot into our secure encampment.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: The rest of the day came and went. As our
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: campsite was beginning to take shape, The sounds of our radio,
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: along with the rhythmic banging of the hammer, were the
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: only echoes greeting us as the sun began to set.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: This detail stood out to me, and due to the
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: fact it was early July here in southern California and
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: there are always people camping around this time. In either case,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: we all just brushed it aside and thought that more
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: people would arrive by tomorrow, and they did. On the
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: following day of the trip, my father went fishing at
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: the lake. While he was off on his own adventure,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: my sister and I decided that it was time to
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: have one of our own. Recruiting the aid of our mother,
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: we set out to explore the campgrounds. To our surprise
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: and elation, we discovered that this campground had its own
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: public swimming pool. With our minds made up, the three
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: of us got into our bathing suits, slathered on the
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: sun's screen, and made our way to the pool. Soon,
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: my sister and I were splashing around in the water
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: without a care in the world until I noticed three
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: suspicious men dressed entirely in black. They came and sat
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: at one of the chairs at the opposite end of
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: the pool from where our mother was watching us. At first,
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: I thought the men were new campers that had recently
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: arrived at the grounds to examine the swimming pool, But
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: to my dismay, the men just huddled around each other
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: and whispered incomprehensible things while staring intently at the two
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: of us. My mother's instincts caught onto the predatory behavior,
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: and she decided to cut our excursion to the swimming
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: pool short. When my father arrived from the lake, he
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: said he was unable to catch any fish and that
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: the fish she did find were all belly up dead
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: in the water. My mother then informed my father of
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: the three suspicious looking men eyeing my sister and I
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: at the pool. This infuriated him. My father, brandishing his machete,
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: stormed out in search to the group of men, ostensibly
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: to talk some sense into them. Some time passed and
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: my father arrived back at the campsite, dismayed that he
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: did not find the men, only a mother and her
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: two little boys. This point may sound insignificant at first,
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: but it will become important later in the story. As
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: night fell, my sister and I were preparing to go
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: to sleep when we were suddenly jolted awake by the
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: pleading screams of a woman. Her pleas were joined by
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: the cries of two young children and various male voices
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: demanding their silence. My father recognized the woman's voice as
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: the mother he saw earlier in the day camping alone
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: with her two kids. My father, who was a former marine,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: loaded his rifle and concealed his hunting knife. He then
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: proceeded to tell my mother to take care of us,
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: while handing her loaded gun. I then saw my father
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: head out towards the camp site where the single mother
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: and her children were staying. My sister and I were
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: petrified when we noticed the terror stricken look on our
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: mother's face. As the yelling escalated, two thunderous bangs from
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: the rifle rang out, which put an end to the chaos.
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: Seconds later, we heard the crackling branches closing in as
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: soone moved quickly towards us. My mother, with eyes wide
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: and knuckles clenched, aimed into the darkness, ready to protect
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: us at all costs. To our relief, my father emerged
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: from the shadows with a fearful mother and her two
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: sobbing children. My father then claimed that he scared off
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: the men who were harassing us at the pool and
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: will be helping the mother pack her things to leave
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: to ensure that they made their way down the mountain safely.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: My father offered to follow her in our car until
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: she got to the main highway. In a moment of reprieve,
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: the woman held her children tight. We all assured her
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: that their safety was of the utmost importance, and, knowing
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: my father in a form of aggression needs to be
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: handled quickly with pleasant trees aside, my father departed yet
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: again to help the mother pack up her camp site
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: and leave this back water excuse for a national park.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: The few rays of sunlight that streamed into our tent,
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: signaled the start of a new day, since our father
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: had left to escort the small family from the imminent danger.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: With a look of apprehension on my mother's face, my
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: sister and I started to pack up camp, knowing all
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: too well that we did not want to risk our
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: lives spending another night at this place. I was making
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: my way to the bathrooms when my eye caught the
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: glimpse of our cars slowly making its way back to camp.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: I ran back to tell my mother and sister, who
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: noticed the car as well, and soon the bloodshot eyes
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: of my father behind the wheel came into view. As
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: he exited the car, he informed us that the mother
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: and her children made it safely to the highway. This
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: was then followed by a long pause, with my father
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: saying now let's get the hell out of here ourselves.
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: With that, we all took our positions and packed up
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: the rest of our camping gear. Before leading this godfirs
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: Sekend place, my father informed the owner of the diner
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: about what happened last night and about the three suspicious
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: looking men. The only thing that the emaciated looking man
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: said was, well, it's a damn shame that you and
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: your family can't stay here a little longer. We then
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: hide tailed added there like bats out of hell, vowing
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: never to return. Ever since this harrowing experience, my family
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: and I have been unable to get my sister to
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: go camping again. As time went on, I decided to
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: ask my father where he had heard about that awful place,
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: to which he added a new detail not previously disclosed.
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: He mentioned that upon returning to work, he wanted to
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: confront his co worker about the horrible camping recommendation he
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: gave when he tried to locate him. Another co worker
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: stated that the same man quit a couple of days
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: before my father was going to return from vacation. My
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: father was left speechless and confused upon hearing this was
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: the man somehow connected to those three men. If so,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: what were their motives for harassing a family out in
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: the middle of nowhere. The answers to these questions we
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: will never know. But what I do know is this,
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: if my father did not intervene on that fateful night,
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: that single mother and her kids would have met a
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: fate far worse than a failed camping trip. I am
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: an emigrant from Belarus, English is not my first language,
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: so I apologize if I phrase things differently. Here's some backstory.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: I was only eleven when my family left the country
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: after the collapse of the Soviet Union. My father was
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: involved with the Communist Party and would frequently visit Moscow
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: when I was a boy. I don't know all the details.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: I don't even know what exactly my father's role was
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: in the USSR, but from what I understand, we were
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: granted asylum in the United States and had to flee
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: Belarus in nineteen ninety one. But that's not really why
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: I'm writing the story. This is about something I saw
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: in my childhood that has scarred me for life. This
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: took place roughly a year before we left, so I'm
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: guessing the year was nineteen ninety. My family, like many others,
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: lived in a massive apartment building in Minsk. There were
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: two other identical apartment buildings adjacent to ours, and directly
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: behind the buildings was a playground area where I would
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: play with my friends Sasha and Victor. Beyond the playground
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: was a section of trees that separated a shopping plaza
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: from the apartment grounds. I remember that my mother was
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: feeling ill and was bedridden, and my father was away
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: on business in Moscow, so I was pretty much on
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: my own that night. I remember that I had gotten
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: board watching TV in the living room and decided to
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: go outside and see if any of my friends were
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: at the playground. I would say this was around eight PM,
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: and it was dark out by then. Most of the
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: children were inside, and I don't even think anyone was
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: allowed on the playground at that time, but I didn't care.
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: There was no one around to tell me to go
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: back inside, and I was pretty excited to have the
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: playground all of myself. It was chilly out that night,
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: but it was not snowing, so I figured that I
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: would play on the slides and swing set until I
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: either got bored or if security came along and told
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: me to go back inside. So there I was just
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: swinging in the dark when I heard something near the
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: fence that separated the trees from the playground. There was
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: a strange noise, like someone was sawing wood, but there
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: was something just off about it. I ignored the sound,
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: but it became louder as time passed, to the point
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: where I became curious as to what was causing this
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: strange noise. There were no lights at the playground itself,
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: but there were lights mounted to the back of the
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: apartment buildings that illuminated things just enough to where you
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: could see your surroundings. But the trees beyond the fence
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: were pitch black. I got off the swing set and
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: approach to the edge of the playground. The sound continued
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: getting louder even as I got up right to the fence.
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: It wasn't until I let out a curious hullo that
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: the noise ceased. I stood there, staring into the dark trees,
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: waiting for a response, but all remained silent. After about
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: another minute passed, I innocently asked, why are you chopping
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: down trees in the dark. I then heard a shuffling
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: from within the trees, and soon I saw a dark
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: figure come into view, but did not step out from
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: the tree line. What happened next is something that still
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: makes me want to vomit out my insides. The dark
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: figure then threw something. The object flew over the fence
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: and hit me directly in the chest. I was knocked backwards,
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: more out of surprise than the actual force of the impact. Hey,
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: why'd you do that? I shouted, but before I could
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: get another word out, I caught a glimpse of what
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: had been thrown at me. A severed human arm is
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: lying on the ground in front of me. I screamed
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: at the top of my lungs and ran back towards
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: the apartments, bawling my eyes out. I stormed into our
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: apartment and sat on the living room couch to collect myself.
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: I did think about waking my sick mother and telling
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: her about what happened, but decided against it. To give
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: you some perspective, my mother grew up in Siberia and
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: she could be quite ruthless at times. Not only would
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: she not be too happy about being woken up, but
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: she most likely wouldn't believe my story, and I probably
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to sit down for a week if
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: she found out. I left the apartment alone after dark,
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: so I kept this incident to myself. As a child,
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: I understood that what happened was scary, but I had
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: no grasp of the implications. I thought there was a
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: monster in the woods who ate people who came out
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: after dark. Now that I'm an adult, there are some
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: things that I've come to realize. For our remaining time
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: in Belarus, I never saw or heard any kind of
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: revestigation regarding a missing person or a mutilated body being discovered,
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: which is nothing out of the ordinary living in Soviet society.
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: The monster in the woods hiding in the trees that
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: night was most likely a sadistic madman dismembering a human
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: body with a hack saw. There is one more thing
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: that I should mention. For the rest of the time
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: that we lived there, I cannot, for the life of me,
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: recall ever seeing my friend Sasha again after that night.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: My name is Brie. This happened in twenty sixteen. I
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: was nineteen years old at the time. I was up
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: late the night before into the early morning studying, and
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: I hadn't had much sleep, so I had just woken
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: up from a nap. I descended to hop in the
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: shower to waken myself. That's when I heard this weird
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: scraping sound coming from somewhere outside. I stopped the shower
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: and peered out from behind the curtain and then made
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: my way over to the window. I saw nothing, but
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: I could still hear the noise. I thought it may
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: have been my neighbor working in a shed, so I
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: ignored the disturbance and finished up in the shower. Before
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: I continue, I should inform you that I have severe
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: anxiety problems and I often get a little paranoid sometimes.
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: It also doesn't help that I have PTSD as well. Anyways,
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: I was now back in my room and I took
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: a seat on my bed. I texted my then boyfriend
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: and asked him what he wanted for dinner. Well, I
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: was waiting for him to respond. I just relaxed and
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: scrolled through my Facebook. I was reading an article about
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: the recent clown sightings that were happening at the time
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: when I was interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: from outside. I stopped and listened carefully. I heard a
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: few more steps, followed by a tapping noise. I was
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: a bit confused by this, and it hadn't yet occurred
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: to me that I had an unwelcomed guest outside. I
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: was thinking why my boyfriend hadn't knocked on the door
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: or called before he showed up. We usually had a
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: routine with things like this, especially if I was home alone.
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: He would either text, call, or face time me to
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: let me know when he was on his way home
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: or if he was at the door because there had
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: been a lot of shady activity around our neighborhood at
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: the time. I then called out to him and suddenly
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: all fell silent. I texted him and asked if he
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: was at the door. There was no reply, so I
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: decided to peek through the bedroom window. While I was
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: making my way to the other side of the room,
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: my phone started ringing. It was my boyfriend wanting to FaceTime.
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: When I answered, he said he was about fifteen minutes away.
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: As I was talking to him, I pulled back the
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: curtains of my bedroom window and that's when all the
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: blood in my veins turned to ice as I came
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: face to face with a fucking clown. I know I
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: wasn't hallucinating, an actual clown was looking at me through
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: the window smiling. After my initial shock, I actually started
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: to laugh, thinking that this had to be some kind
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: of prank my boyfriend was pulling on me. So I
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: played along, pretending to be terrified, and whispered into the phone,
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: very funny, asshole, love the whole scary clown thing. I
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: chuckled and rolled my eyes. My boyfriend was confused, and
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: I explained to him about the clown at the window
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: and said that he and his friend did a good
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: job scaring the piss out of me. He seemed confused,
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: saying that all of his friends were hanging out at
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: the pub and that he was not a part of
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: any plan to prank me. Upon hearing this, I felt
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: my stomach in my throat as I looked back at
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: the clown, who was still just outside my window. He
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: reached into his costume and pulled out a very real
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: looking butcher's knife. By this point, I wasn't sure what
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: was going on, so I grabbed my baseball bat. My
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: boyfriend told me that he was now only a few
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: minutes away. He shouted at me to stay inside and
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: to lock all the doors and windows. I quickly closed
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: the curtains and went into the lounge, and it was
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: along before I heard a loud pounding on the front door. Suddenly,
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: I heard a creepy voice coming from the other side.
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: Let me in, child. I didn't respond to the voice.
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: I just stood perfectly still, waiting for the next to move.
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: Loud pounding rang out again, causing the door to rattle
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: on its hinges, but I kept quiet even when I
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: heard the door knob rattling. Although I was pretty scared
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: at this point, I was also getting a tad irritated
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: and yelled out to the clown, fuck off, go annoy
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: someone else. I then heard muffled laughter, followed by the
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: creepy voice, Please let me end all. I just want
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: to play Oh, I want to play worth you're inside.
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: I had enough of this. I was about to go
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: out and confront this creepy asshole myself when I heard
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: my boyfriend's voice, who was still on the phone, say
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: hang up and call the cops. After some consideration, I
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: thought that maybe confronting the creepy clown outside with a
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: butcher's knife was not the correct course of action, so
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: I did as my boyfriend said. I left the lounge.
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: It was soon explaining to the police dispatcher the situation.
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: I was on my way back to my room when
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: I heard the sound of glass breaking. I stopped in
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: my tracks and told him that I think the clown
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: just broke into the house. They immediately told me to
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: get somewhere safe, and that's when I heard my ex
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: yelling out, Hey, what the fuck are you doing? Get
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: the hell out of here. The police are on the way.
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: The clown just bellowed out a psychotical laugh and took off.
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: As I made my way back into the bedroom, something
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: caught my eye. I peered out the window through a
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: gap in the curtains, I saw another clown. He appeared
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: to be holding some kind of saw blade in his hand.
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: I went to move, but I was like a deer
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: caught in the headlights. I couldn't move or scream. Fear
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: then overcame me as I realized my boyfriend was now
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: out there with two creepy clowns. I screamed into the phone,
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: there's another clown outside my bedroom, Please hurry. After a
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: few moments, I was relieved when I heard my boyfriend
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: at the back door. I quickly let him inside and
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: held each other tightly until the police arrived. After taking
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: our statements, the police discovered a rusted hack saw and
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: an axe lying on the ground outside of my bedroom window.
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: There were red marks all over them. Of course, the
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: creepy clowns that had turned my night into a freak
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: show where nowhere to be found. After that night, I
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: struggled to fall asleep. I often think to myself, what
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: would have happened to me if I had been stupid
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: enough to open that door. Were they just a couple
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: of thrill seekers looking to frighten a girl who was
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: all alone, or were they in fact out for blood.
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: I was born, raised, and still live in Texas. I
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: come from a family of hunters. It's pretty much a
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: family tradition. I'm going to tell you about something that
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: I experienced when I was twenty years old back in
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: two thousand and five. My father had just been diagnosed
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: with lung cancer, and every one in my family was
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: naturally devastated by this, especially me, since my dad and
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: I were very close. I had a lot of other
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: personal stuff going on in my life at the time,
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: and I felt that I needed to go out for
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: a few days just to clear my head. I decided
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: to make it a solo hunting trip and packed up
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: some camping gear along with my Marlin three three six
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: set my dad gifted to me when I was eighteen,
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: if I could get sentimental for a moment. My father
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: ended up passing away three years after his diagnosis, and
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: to this day, I still use that rifle for hunting. Anyways,
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: i'd say this happened around late October early November. I
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: don't want to be too specific with a location, because
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: technically I wasn't supposed to be hunting in this specific area. However,
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: I will disclose that it was near the Mexican border.
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: This will be important later. I decided to set up
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: camp for three days before heading back. I had been
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: hunting on this land before with some friends of mine,
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: and I knew the precautions to take not to be
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: spotted by the game warden. I'm sure if there's any
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: other hunters listening to this broadcast, they'll be more than
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: happy to tell you that we often wipe our asses
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: with the rule book. Before anyone judges me too harshly
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: or the practice of hunting in general, I will say
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: that I'm a very spiritual person and I have a
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: profound respect for mother Nature. I don't leave trash everywhere,
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: and every animal that I put down I never let
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: go to waste. I'll be the first to admit there
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: are hunters that give us a bad name, and me
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: not following the rules is more of a middle finger
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: to the government than it is to the sport of hunting.
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: I once shot up beat the shit out of someone
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: who was a friend of a friend for shooting a
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: stray dog for absolutely no reason. If it's consolation to anyone,
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: I handed him a horrible ass whooping for that, But
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: I digress. The first day went off without a hitch,
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: no problems what aside from the fact that there was
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: no game to be found anywhere, So I figured that
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: I would head further south the next day to see
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: if my luck would improve. Other hunters knew about this
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: restricted location and may have already cleaned out this area.
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: As night fell, I found myself sprawled out next to
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: my truck, just staring up at the night sky, wondering
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: if me and my dad would ever take another hunting
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: trip together. That's when I heard the sound of footsteps
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: slowly making their way through a nearby brush. This was
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: alarming for obvious reasons. Whoever they were, they had the
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: drop on me. I knew better than to light up
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: a campfire under these circumstances, but if this person was
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: roaming around in the dark without a flashlight, they may
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: have had some kind of night vision apparatus giving them
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: the advantage. I was concerned because if you were looking
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: at me through the trees at that particular moment, it
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: would have appeared that I was sleeping. I was in
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: this odd position where I was resting on top of
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: my sleeping bag with a blanket because I felt claustrophobic
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: being fully immersed in a sleeping bag. It was a
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: good thing too, because this meant I was able to
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: mobilize quickly, and something told me that I only had
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: seconds to make a decision. I rolled sideways, and as
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: soon as I did, I caught a quick glimpse of
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: a muzzle flash coming from the tree line directly in
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: front of me. I felt dirt fly up and hit
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: my back from the bullet striking the ground next to me.
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: I scrambled to my feet as more shots rang out
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: from the trees, one of them shattering the passenger side
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: window of my truck. I took cover behind the bed
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: of my pickup and quickly drew the thirty eight snub
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: nose that I had strapped to my ankle. After the
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: gunfire died down, I laid flat on the ground and
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: returned to fire in the direction of the tree from
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: under the truck. I heard several sets of footsteps fleeing
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: from the area, but I held my position in case
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: my theory, but the night vision was correct, with only
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: two rounds of left in my thirty eight. I pretty
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: much spent the rest of that night underneath my truck
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: with my pistol aimed at the darkness until the sun
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: came out and illuminated my surroundings. I very cautiously got
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: out from beneath my vehicle and packed up my gear
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: as quickly as I could, and high tailed add of there.
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: Later on, when I told a friend of mine about
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: the incident, he said he wished I would have told
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: him that I was heading that way. He would have
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: warned me that the Mexican cartel started using that area
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: to smuggle contraband in people across the nearby border. This
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: friend of mine was a Mexican immigrant himself and had
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: several family members mixed up in the cartel and coyote groups,
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: so needless to say, I trusted his word. All things considered,
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: I think I got off pretty easy. Had I been
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: in my sleeping bag that night, I have no doubt
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: that bullet would have nailed me. These days, I stick
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: to the designated hunting grounds. Some things are just not
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: worth the risk. I am from Afghanistan. My family relocated
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: to France in two thousand three, shortly after the American invasion.
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: I was only twelve years old when it all started.
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: Between two thousand one and two thousand three, armed terrorists
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: would intrude into our home and use it as a
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: headquarters to plot attacks against the invading army. My father
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: suffered from a genetic disease that would eventually take the
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: use of his arms and legs. This is why I
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: think that Taliban chose to hold up in our home.
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: There would be no resistance. The first time they burst
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: through our doors, it was horrifying for me and my
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: two younger sisters, but eventually we got used to waking
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: up and seeing armed men in our life living room.
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: About a year after the war broke out, following the
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: Taliban would begin to raid small villages like mine, looking
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: for recruits to replace the fighters that were killed in combat.
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: Of course, since they knew where I lived and that
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: my father was in no position to do anything about it,
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: I was one of the first to be taken from
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: my village. Myself and several other boys were blindfolded and
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: loaded onto a truck, then driven to a remote location
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: outside of town. My village was located west of the
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: Hindu Kush Mountains. That's about the only location that I
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: could give for this place. After about an hour of
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: just sitting in the truck, they were finally ordered out
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: and the blindfolds were removed. By this time, it was
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: dark out. The armed men made us line up single
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: file in front of this enormous cave entrends. I remember
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: seeing creates of weapons and ammo at the mouth of
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: this cave, but beyond that there was nothing but darkness.
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: There were five armed men total. They all had their
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: faces covered and just stood there with their weapons ready.
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: If I had to guess, they were waiting for their
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: leader to come out and give us the initiation speech.
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: Looking around, I was definitely the oldest of the seven
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: boys that were there. Because of my past experiences with
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: the Taliban, I knew that these men were not the
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: good guys. They may have prayed to the same god
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: as me, but they were ruthless and brutal to their countrymen.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: I was at the very end of the line. Directly
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: behind me was the cave entrance, so I made a
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: split second decision and made a break for it. I
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: ran full speed into the dark cave, hearing angry shouting
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: from behind me, I ran past the supply crates and
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: further into the cave. The passage narrowed. As I moved forward,
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: I heard the truck reposition. The headlights were now aimed
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: directly at the cave's entrance. I eventually entered an open
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: cavern area. I could hear the men behind me, so
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: using what little light I had, I hid behind a
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: rock formation that was beside the opening and waited for
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: my pursuers. Two of the armed men eventually entered the cavern.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: I heard one of them saying that if they found me,
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: they would just put a bullet in my head for
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: causing trouble. I peeked my head out from behind my
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: hiding spot to see an a K forty seven pointed
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: directly at my face. One of the men had found me.
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: He shouted at me to stand up, and as soon
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: as I did, we both heard a loud scream coming
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: from the other side of the cavern. I only caught
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: a quick glimpse of what was happening. The other man
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: was on the ground, thrashing violently. He was completely covered
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: head to tow by enormous spiders. Without exaggeration, These spiders
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: had to be the size of housecats, and there were
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: hundreds of them crawling all over him. The man who
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: discovered me quickly turned around and gasped at the horrifying sight.
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: I took this opportunity to flee. There was no way
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: I was going further into that cavern, so I used
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: the headlights that were still pointed at the cave's entrance
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: to make my way back out. As I ran, I
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: heard the sounds of gunfire, shortly followed by more screaming ah.
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: As I neared the caves opening, the headlights quickly vanished,
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: leaving me in complete darkness. This was the absolute worst
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: time to be in the dark. I made my frantic
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: exit from the cave just in time to see the
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: tail lights of the truck as it sped off. The
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: other boys and the remaining Taliban fighters were gone. They
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: may have thought that what was happening in the cave
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: was an attack by the Americans and decided to cut
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: and run. I was now scared out of my wits
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: and I had no idea where I was. And even worse,
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: I was now terrified that these humongous spiders would emerge
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: from the cave and devour me. There was one path
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: through a rock formation that the truck had driven through,
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: and that was the only way I could take. I
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: remember thinking that these spiders could jump on top of
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: me at any moment, so I ran as fast as
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: I could. As soon as I cleared the rocks, I
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: could see the lights of my village in the distance.
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: It took me about two hours to reach the town,
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: but I thankfully made it back in one piece. In
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: the time that I was gone, American troops had taken
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: over my village. I was stopped by soldiers and was
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: taken to an interpreter for questioning. I was more than
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: happy to tell them where the Taliban was hiding. For
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: a while, they eventually dropped me off at my house.
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: My mother was overjoyed to see that I was still alive.
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: When I think back to this experience, I can still
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: say with one hundred percent certainty, what scared me the
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: most was not the armed men who broke into my
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: home and took me from my family. It was what
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: dwelled in that cave. I grew up in the Midwestern
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: United States during the nineties. My family lived in a
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: tight knit community and we would often have get together
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: as and barbecues with our neighbors. It was truly the
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: American dream. My brothers and I were all very good
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: friends with the kids from our neighborhood, and whenever we
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: would have one of these gatherings, all the kids would
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: get together for a game of Manhunt. To avoid any
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: of the back and forth of who would be chosen
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: as the hiders and the seekers, my brothers and I
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: would usually volunteer to be the seekers. There is this
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: giant forest area outside of our neighborhood where the games
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: would take place, and since we would often go fishing
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: with my dad around this area, we knew it pretty well.
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: You could say that we were all very competitive. I
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: remember it was the fourth of July nineteen ninety six,
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: the entire community through a party at the neighborhood park.
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: This meant that we kids were going to have our
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: traditional game of Manhunt, one of the biggest we've ever had,
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: and it would take place after the fireworks show. By
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: the time the fireworks stopped, I would say it was
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: around nine thirty PM, Shortly after we gathered everyone for
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: the game and began around nine forty five. Things started
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: out like any other game. We caught most of the
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: low level hiders within the first ten minutes. However, there
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: was still some of the older kids hiding out in
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: the more obscured areas of the park. We were always
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: told never to go too deep into the woods. To
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: give you some perspective, the park we we were at
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: was at the very back of our neighborhood. Beyond that
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: was the forest that went on for about three miles
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: before you got to the highway that led into town.
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: There was no hunting allowed in this forest because of
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: its proximity to residential areas, so we would often see
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: a lot of deers and other animals roaming about. Anyways,
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: the game went on for a while longer, and despite
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: their best efforts, we apprehended most of the hiders except
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: for a girl who was about eight years old. We'll
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: call her Ashley. I found this to be very odd
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: because Ashley wasn't the best hider and was usually one
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: of the first to be caught. We made our way
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: to the small lake behind the clubhouse. This was the
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: last area we would check before letting someone know that
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: we couldn't find Ashley. It was about this time that
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: I began to feel this sinking feeling of my stomach.
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: I was only eleven years old at the time, but
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: I could tell that there was something wrong. I distinctly
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: remember seeing the moon reflecting brightly upon the surface of
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: the water as we made our way around the lake.
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: When we got to the far side of the lake,
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: we started hearing a strange noise coming from within the trees.
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: It sounded like someone was being brutally stabbed over and
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: over again, but no screams were accompanying the awful sound.
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: The three of us approached the tree line. When my
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: brother pointed his flashlight into the trees, we saw a
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: hooded figure with its back turned to us. They appeared
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: to be kneeling down and stabbing at something with a
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: large hunting knife. As soon as the beam fell upon
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: the figure, it immediately stopped what it was doing and
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: stood up. The next thing I remember is my oldest
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: brother covering my eyes with his free hand and telling
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: us to run back to the park. The three of
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: us took off and ran back towards the party. I
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: remember hearing the sounds of thudding boots tearing through the
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: brush behind us. As soon as we got back to
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: the party, my older brother told my dad about the
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: man in the woods. The rest of the night is
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: a blur to me. I only remember seeing the police
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: showing up and me falling asleep in my dad's arms.
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: The next morning, I was told that Ashley ended up
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: leaving with her parents while the game was still going on,
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: which explains why we couldn't find her. I didn't get
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: to go look at what the man was stabbing at,
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: but my brother told me it was a deer carcass.
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: I suppose we could just chalk this up to someone
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: hunting in a restricted area, but there's still something that
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: bothers me. What kind of person rapidly stabs at a
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: dead deer in the dark. And even though he was
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: nowhere to be seen by the time we got back
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: to the party, I am certain that he was chasing us,
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: at least for a short while. It makes me wonder
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: what he would have done if he caught us. That
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: was the very last game of man Hunt our neighborhood
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: ever played. There's always a reason to be afraid.