Latest / Martin Animations / 6 CHRISTMAS Horror Stories Animated

Transcript

6 CHRISTMAS Horror Stories Animated · Martin Animations

0:01
Speaker 1: I'd like to start off by saying that Christmas is
0:03
Speaker 1: my all-time favorite holiday. However, every year, I remember what
0:08
Speaker 1: happened to my family on Christmas of 2019. I was
0:11
Speaker 1: 12 years old at the time. That year we went
0:14
Speaker 1: to my cousin's house to celebrate Christmas. It was a
0:18
Speaker 1: very fun night and we enjoyed each other's company. We
0:21
Speaker 1: decided to stay at my cousin's house for the night
0:24
Speaker 1: and leave early the next day. We settled down in
0:27
Speaker 1: the guest bedroom and soon fell asleep. Suddenly, I woke
0:32
Speaker 1: up at 4 a.m., hearing noises coming from downstairs. Against
0:36
Speaker 1: my better judgment, I decided to go check it out.
0:39
Speaker 1: As quietly as I could, I crept down the stairs
0:42
Speaker 1: and looked through the wooden railings into the living room.
0:46
Speaker 1: I saw a figure that appeared to be dressed as Santa,
0:48
Speaker 1: looking under the Christmas tree. I went back upstairs and
0:52
Speaker 1: woke up my dad. Hey, Dad, Santa came back. He's downstairs.
0:59
Speaker 1: After my dad became fully awake, He seemed alarmed by
1:02
Speaker 1: what I said. We went downstairs to find no one
1:06
Speaker 1: inside the house. My dad told me that I might
1:09
Speaker 1: have just had a bad dream, and we went back
1:11
Speaker 1: to bed. The next morning when everyone woke up and
1:17
Speaker 1: was getting ready to eat breakfast, my uncle went down
1:19
Speaker 1: to the basement to grab some drinks, when he noticed
1:23
Speaker 1: that one of the basement windows was completely shattered. After
1:28
Speaker 1: the initial shock, My dad and uncle checked the whole
1:31
Speaker 1: house to see if anything was missing or damaged. After
1:35
Speaker 1: they were done searching, they rejoined us in the kitchen.
1:39
Speaker 1: But before they could say anything, a loud crash came
1:43
Speaker 1: from the one place that wasn't checked. The attic. My
1:47
Speaker 1: dad and uncle immediately ran upstairs to check it out.
1:51
Speaker 1: A shouting match followed. We all ran outside and the
1:55
Speaker 1: police were called. When the cops arrived... The officers quickly
2:00
Speaker 1: ran inside the house. A short time later, they brought
2:04
Speaker 1: a man dressed as Santa outside. We later found out
2:07
Speaker 1: that the man had a large knife on him. The
2:11
Speaker 1: officer stated that it wasn't just my cousin's house that
2:13
Speaker 1: was broken into. There were multiple reports of break-ins up
2:17
Speaker 1: and down the block. Before I end this story, there
2:21
Speaker 1: is something that I overheard the cops saying that might
2:24
Speaker 1: be entirely unrelated to this break-in. Apparently they have been
2:27
Speaker 1: dealing with attempted kidnappings of young children at the local
2:30
Speaker 1: mall with perpetrators dressed as Santa This story happened in
2:38
Speaker 1: 2016 at the time I was living on my own
2:41
Speaker 1: in an apartment with my dog finishing up college That
2:45
Speaker 1: Christmas my dad was only 350 miles or so away
2:48
Speaker 1: from me two states away as opposed to being over 2,000
2:51
Speaker 1: miles away in my home state So my mom flew in,
2:55
Speaker 1: and I drove in with my dog, so we could
2:57
Speaker 1: spend Christmas together. The trip there in the first week
3:01
Speaker 1: was great. It was my first time living away from home,
3:04
Speaker 1: so it was nice to be with my parents again. However,
3:07
Speaker 1: the day before Christmas Eve, my mom found out that
3:10
Speaker 1: my dad was having an affair. And that kind of
3:14
Speaker 1: threw a wrench into things, needless to say. They fought
3:19
Speaker 1: all day into Christmas Eve. I got fed up quick.
3:23
Speaker 1: but I had driven there, so all I had to
3:25
Speaker 1: do was go in my car and drive back home.
3:28
Speaker 1: My parents were upset when they saw me repacking my car.
3:32
Speaker 1: It was now 7am on Christmas Eve, but I didn't
3:35
Speaker 1: really care. I'd rather spend my Christmas on the road
3:39
Speaker 1: than be in the middle of this drama. There was
3:43
Speaker 1: a lot of snow, but the weather had slowed down
3:45
Speaker 1: for the past few days, so I knew that the
3:47
Speaker 1: roads would be clear and my car had four-wheel drive,
3:51
Speaker 1: so I set off. and spent the first hour of
3:53
Speaker 1: my road trip just angrily venting everything to my dog.
3:58
Speaker 1: I filled up my car before I left, because I
4:00
Speaker 1: knew that the drive from my dad's apartment to my
4:02
Speaker 1: college town would be exactly one tank of gas. So
4:06
Speaker 1: whenever I needed to refill again, it would be in
4:09
Speaker 1: a familiar area. About two hours in, I wanted to
4:13
Speaker 1: give my dog a bathroom break to avoid any accidents
4:16
Speaker 1: in my car. That's when I pulled into a deserted
4:19
Speaker 1: rest stop. To do just that, I hooked him up
4:23
Speaker 1: to his harness and made sure that I had my keys, phone,
4:26
Speaker 1: and my flashlight. I was cleaning up after him when
4:31
Speaker 1: I realized that he was doing these low rumbling noises,
4:35
Speaker 1: the sound that dogs make when they see something. And
4:38
Speaker 1: he began kicking up snow with his hind legs. Now
4:42
Speaker 1: is probably a good time to inform you that I
4:44
Speaker 1: don't have a big scary dog. He's a barely 10
4:47
Speaker 1: pound Yorkie. The Christmas sweater that my mom made for
4:51
Speaker 1: him didn't exactly help him look more intimidating. He may
4:56
Speaker 1: not be a guard dog, but he is a good
4:58
Speaker 1: motion sensor alarm. I looked up to see what he
5:01
Speaker 1: had been barking at, expecting it to be an animal,
5:05
Speaker 1: but it wasn't. There was a distinctly human figure in
5:10
Speaker 1: the distance. Had my dog not alerted me, I would
5:14
Speaker 1: have never noticed. There were not any other cars in
5:18
Speaker 1: this parking lot, and this place was fairly isolated. It
5:22
Speaker 1: was unnerving. I scooped up my dog and went back
5:26
Speaker 1: to my car. Normally when I picked him up, my
5:29
Speaker 1: dog would stop barking at whatever he sees, but that
5:33
Speaker 1: was not the case this time around. He kept squirming
5:36
Speaker 1: in my arms so he could look behind me, and
5:39
Speaker 1: was getting more and more worked up until he was
5:42
Speaker 1: almost clawing at me. When we got to my car,
5:46
Speaker 1: I finally looked back again, and this time, the figure
5:50
Speaker 1: was much closer. because he was full-on sprinting right at
5:55
Speaker 1: my car. I panicked and threw my dog into the
5:59
Speaker 1: passenger seat. I quickly got in and locked my doors.
6:03
Speaker 1: But of course, my car would not start. I had
6:08
Speaker 1: never had this problem before, but the engine was not
6:12
Speaker 1: wanting to turn over. My dog was now in the
6:14
Speaker 1: back seat scratching at the windows and was going insane
6:18
Speaker 1: barking and growling. The man reached my car. He resembled
6:23
Speaker 1: any other homeless man I had ever seen, with layers
6:27
Speaker 1: of slightly torn jackets, some dirty jeans, with shaggy hair
6:31
Speaker 1: and a beard. He went from his sprint to a
6:34
Speaker 1: slow jog once he got into the parking lot. When
6:37
Speaker 1: he approached my car, he slammed his hands against the
6:40
Speaker 1: driver window. I need a ride. He sounded out of breath,
6:45
Speaker 1: but very monotone.
6:47
Speaker 2: Sorry, no.
6:49
Speaker 1: I'm about to call a tow truck, though. If you
6:51
Speaker 1: need a ride, you can get one from him. I
6:54
Speaker 1: knew that I looked and sounded scared, and the man
6:57
Speaker 1: started pounding on my window again with both fists. He
7:01
Speaker 1: said something about being cold and needing a ride into
7:04
Speaker 1: the city, and that it was Christmas Eve. But at
7:07
Speaker 1: this point, I had stopped paying attention to him and
7:10
Speaker 1: was just focusing on trying to get my dog to
7:12
Speaker 1: calm down. He was still losing his mind in the
7:15
Speaker 1: back seat, still barking, growling, and scratching at the window.
7:19
Speaker 1: My dog has never before or since acted this way
7:22
Speaker 1: towards anybody. While he's not very fond of strangers or
7:26
Speaker 1: new people, he's always been the type to basically ignore
7:29
Speaker 1: strangers or any of their attempts to get his attention.
7:33
Speaker 1: So for him to be going crazy like this was
7:36
Speaker 1: a massive red flag for me. I held onto his
7:39
Speaker 1: harness to get him to relax, and I told the
7:42
Speaker 1: man that if he was cold, he could wait in
7:44
Speaker 1: the restroom for the tow truck to arrive. He motioned
7:47
Speaker 1: for me to roll down my window. and I shook
7:49
Speaker 1: my head no. I finally just put my hands over
7:53
Speaker 1: my dog's mouth, shushing him, and told the man that
7:56
Speaker 1: I couldn't help him. He looked angry, and then tried
8:00
Speaker 1: to open my door. Thankfully, it wouldn't budge, but it
8:04
Speaker 1: made my dog squirm out of my hands and went
8:06
Speaker 1: full-on ballistic again. I pulled out my phone to dial 911,
8:11
Speaker 1: and the second he realized what I was doing, he
8:14
Speaker 1: stepped back from my car and rushed into the bathrooms.
8:18
Speaker 1: Him leaving made my dog instantly lay down and relax.
8:22
Speaker 1: I explained to the dispatch what was going on. The
8:25
Speaker 1: lady was very nice, and she sent a police officer
8:28
Speaker 1: to the rest stop and agreed to stay on the
8:30
Speaker 1: phone with me until he arrived. The man came out
8:33
Speaker 1: of the restrooms and back towards my car. I began
8:36
Speaker 1: to panic again, but when he came close enough, I
8:40
Speaker 1: assumed that he could still hear me on the phone
8:42
Speaker 1: with the dispatch, and that made him run off in
8:44
Speaker 1: the direction he had originally come from. It took 15
8:48
Speaker 1: minutes for the officer to find me. When we talked,
8:52
Speaker 1: we agreed that it was super expensive to get a
8:54
Speaker 1: tow truck out here on Christmas Eve, so I ended
8:57
Speaker 1: up deciding to call my parents to tell them that
8:59
Speaker 1: my car had broken down. My dad had a big
9:03
Speaker 1: pickup truck and was able to borrow a trailer from
9:05
Speaker 1: his co-worker. The officer allowed my dog to sit in
9:09
Speaker 1: his cruiser to warm up while he looked around and
9:12
Speaker 1: followed the man's footprints for a while, but ultimately the
9:15
Speaker 1: man had vanished. My parents arrived around two hours later,
9:20
Speaker 1: and the officer helped my dad load the car up
9:23
Speaker 1: onto the trailer. I didn't plan on telling my parents
9:26
Speaker 1: anything more than my car had just broken down, but
9:30
Speaker 1: the officer filled them in about what happened anyway. Both
9:33
Speaker 1: of my parents then felt awful about everything, and they
9:36
Speaker 1: decided not to fight anymore, or at least in front
9:39
Speaker 1: of me. My dad was able to fix my car,
9:43
Speaker 1: but I think the entire situation really scared both him
9:46
Speaker 1: and my mom. because they ended up trading my car
9:49
Speaker 1: in for a new one the day after Christmas. They
9:52
Speaker 1: told me to consider it a late Christmas gift and
9:55
Speaker 1: an early graduation present. And my mom insisted on driving
9:58
Speaker 1: home with me when the holidays were over and flying
10:01
Speaker 1: out of my city instead. I never received any updates
10:05
Speaker 1: from the police that they ever saw or heard from
10:08
Speaker 1: that man again. Hopefully he's learned his lesson about harassing
10:11
Speaker 1: people at rest stops.
10:16
Speaker 2: On Christmas Eve in 1989, I was traveling through Mexico
10:20
Speaker 2: City in my boyfriend's car. He was driving and I
10:23
Speaker 2: was navigating. There were Christmas decorations up along the street
10:28
Speaker 2: and most of the traffic was moving at a snail's pace,
10:31
Speaker 2: taking care not to hit the dense pockets of people
10:34
Speaker 2: walking up and down the street. We were in a
10:37
Speaker 2: hurry though so my boyfriend turned off one of the
10:39
Speaker 2: main roads and we cut down a side street to
10:42
Speaker 2: avoid the congestion. We made a few more turns and
10:45
Speaker 2: suddenly stopped when we realized we didn't have a clue
10:48
Speaker 2: where we were. I opened the map while my boyfriend
10:51
Speaker 2: put the car in park and lit up a cigarette.
10:54
Speaker 2: I was tracing our route on the map to backtrack
10:57
Speaker 2: us when something struck our car hard on the front
10:59
Speaker 2: side right next to me. I caught a glimpse of
11:03
Speaker 2: a figure slam into our windshield and bounce forward off
11:05
Speaker 2: the car. I cried out in shock while my boyfriend
11:09
Speaker 2: stuffed a cigarette in the ashtray and stepped out of
11:11
Speaker 2: the car. This is where the experience became strange. I've
11:16
Speaker 2: never shared this before with anyone other than my closest
11:19
Speaker 2: friends and family who I trust. While my boyfriend was
11:23
Speaker 2: climbing out of the car, I saw the figure who
11:25
Speaker 2: struck us stand up awkwardly, holding his head and limp
11:28
Speaker 2: across the street. My boyfriend completely ignored him and bent
11:32
Speaker 2: down to look at the front of the car. I
11:35
Speaker 2: rolled down my window and called out, Hey! to the
11:37
Speaker 2: man as he limped away. My boyfriend, thinking I was
11:41
Speaker 2: yelling at him, called back to me. Don't get out.
11:45
Speaker 2: I called back.
11:46
Speaker 1: What? Why?
11:47
Speaker 2: And my boyfriend stood back up and I noticed blood
11:50
Speaker 2: on his pants from where he had knelt down. He's dead,
11:54
Speaker 2: my boyfriend said and he rubbed his face.
11:57
Speaker 1: What?
11:58
Speaker 2: No, no he's not, he's... I turned and started to
12:01
Speaker 2: point in the direction the man had leapt away in,
12:03
Speaker 2: but he was gone. I got out of the car
12:07
Speaker 2: and stood up. I saw enough to understand what my
12:10
Speaker 2: boyfriend meant. The man we had struck had flipped off
12:13
Speaker 2: the windshield and caught his head in a storm drain.
12:16
Speaker 2: His neck was very clearly broken and he was bleeding
12:19
Speaker 2: heavily from two different compound fractures in his legs where
12:22
Speaker 2: he had struck our car with his bike. The bike
12:25
Speaker 2: itself was lying on its side by my feet, the
12:28
Speaker 2: front wheel bent sideways and the back wheel still spinning.
12:33
Speaker 2: I was in shock and kept jerking my head back
12:35
Speaker 2: and forth down the street the man had lived down
12:37
Speaker 2: on and the figure at my feet. It didn't make sense.
12:40
Speaker 2: They were wearing the exact same clothes. How many people
12:44
Speaker 2: did we hit? I asked my boyfriend. He looked at
12:48
Speaker 2: me like I had hit my head. Only one, he replied.
12:52
Speaker 2: Then he started waving his arms to flag down a
12:54
Speaker 2: police car. I sat down on the sidewalk and stared
12:58
Speaker 2: at the ground feeling like I was going to be sick.
13:01
Speaker 2: I wasn't crazy. I hadn't seen a ghost because I
13:03
Speaker 2: had seen the shadow of the man cast on the
13:05
Speaker 2: stone wall behind him as he stood up and limped away.
13:09
Speaker 2: But there he was. The exact same man who had
13:12
Speaker 2: stood up right there on the ground in front of
13:14
Speaker 2: our car. The police blocked off the area, examined the
13:18
Speaker 2: bike and our cracked windshield and determined the guy had
13:20
Speaker 2: been speeding down the hill on his bike and struck
13:23
Speaker 2: us without applying the brakes. They asked me what I
13:26
Speaker 2: saw and the best that I could do was stammer
13:28
Speaker 2: that it happened so fast. I thought we had hit
13:31
Speaker 2: two people. We got a ride from a family member
13:34
Speaker 2: to my boyfriend's house but I was still in such
13:36
Speaker 2: a state of shock that I couldn't even touch the
13:38
Speaker 2: dinner that had been prepared for us. People have since
13:42
Speaker 2: asked if the man who stood up was bloody or
13:44
Speaker 2: if I could see the whites of his eyes. Honestly,
13:47
Speaker 2: I don't recall seeing either. All I could say with
13:51
Speaker 2: certainty is that he stood up, held his right hand
13:53
Speaker 2: to his head and limped away. He didn't react to
13:56
Speaker 2: my boyfriend stepping out of the car. I don't know
14:00
Speaker 2: if I believe in ghosts or life after death But
14:03
Speaker 2: if that's the case, this man was physically reacting to
14:05
Speaker 2: the impact that had killed him, seeming not to have
14:08
Speaker 2: noticed that he was dead. Occasionally I dream about that
14:12
Speaker 2: night and that impact, but in the dream I never
14:14
Speaker 2: see the man stand back up. I see a bright
14:17
Speaker 2: flash of light and then nothing. No details of the
14:21
Speaker 2: man himself after the hit. I never even found out
14:24
Speaker 2: the man's name. It was the worst Christmas of my life.
14:35
Speaker 1: My goal in writing this out isn't to have it
14:37
Speaker 1: shrugged off as just another entertaining online horror story. I
14:41
Speaker 1: sincerely want to know if this experience, or anything similar,
14:44
Speaker 1: has happened to anyone else. That may help me sleep
14:47
Speaker 1: better at night. Knowing that, it's not all just in
14:50
Speaker 1: my head. I'll admit that I suffer from PTSD, but
14:53
Speaker 1: this is so much different from anything else that I've
14:55
Speaker 1: ever experienced during one of my episodes. Last Christmas, my
15:00
Speaker 1: friends and I had planned to meet at our hunting cabin.
15:02
Speaker 1: and have a rustic holiday detached from the rest of
15:04
Speaker 1: the world. We were planning on just lighting a fire,
15:08
Speaker 1: having some drinks, listening to some music, and playing some cards.
15:13
Speaker 1: I arrived at the cabin first, just as the sun
15:15
Speaker 1: was starting to set. The cabin was set alone on
15:18
Speaker 1: the top of a rocky slope overlooking the highway, so
15:22
Speaker 1: I turned on all the lights so it could be
15:23
Speaker 1: seen from the road. I got the fire going and
15:26
Speaker 1: threw the beer into the icebox to chill. It had
15:29
Speaker 1: snowed the night before, so after I warmed up the cabin,
15:32
Speaker 1: I went outside and shoveled some openings by the driveway
15:35
Speaker 1: for the cars to park in. The entire time I
15:38
Speaker 1: was outside I had that feeling that I wasn't alone.
15:42
Speaker 1: Not necessarily that I was being watched, but that someone
15:45
Speaker 1: else was on the property. I shook it off as paranoia.
15:49
Speaker 1: Unless they were here for the cabin, there was no
15:51
Speaker 1: reason to be this far up the hill. There was
15:54
Speaker 1: nothing else around except for trees and power lines. I
15:57
Speaker 1: went back inside and noticed a couple of missed calls
16:00
Speaker 1: on my cell phone. My friends had called me to
16:02
Speaker 1: tell me that they were on their way, and that
16:04
Speaker 1: they would be there within the hour. I got the
16:06
Speaker 1: food going in the oven, and brought in some more firewood.
16:10
Speaker 1: I had been sitting down for about half a minute,
16:12
Speaker 1: putting my feet up when I heard knocking at the window.
16:17
Speaker 1: It was a harsh rapping. Clearly someone that was trying
16:20
Speaker 1: to get my attention. I paused and looked up. The
16:24
Speaker 1: noise hadn't come from the window around front. It came
16:27
Speaker 1: from the back window near the kitchen sink. It was
16:29
Speaker 1: the exact opposite direction that someone should be approaching from.
16:33
Speaker 1: That side of the cabin faced the woods. I stood
16:36
Speaker 1: up slowly and walked over to the window and peered out,
16:39
Speaker 1: half expecting to see one of my friends pranking me,
16:42
Speaker 1: but there was no one at the window. I peered
16:44
Speaker 1: out across the small area behind the cabin, and I
16:47
Speaker 1: couldn't see any movement. I walked over to the back
16:50
Speaker 1: door and opened it, shining a flashlight out into the
16:54
Speaker 1: misty gloom, and by the trees, I noticed an outline
16:57
Speaker 1: of a figure. I called out, Hey, and took four
17:02
Speaker 1: steps out into the snow when I stopped. The crunching
17:05
Speaker 1: of the snow beneath my feet was as loud as fireworks,
17:09
Speaker 1: and I glanced down at the tracks I made leading
17:11
Speaker 1: away from the front door. Then I slowly turned the
17:13
Speaker 1: flashlight beam over to the spot beneath the kitchen window.
17:17
Speaker 1: There was no tracks at all. For about ten seconds
17:20
Speaker 1: I just stood there, looking back and forth between the
17:23
Speaker 1: trees and the window. I then turned around and marched
17:26
Speaker 1: back inside. slamming the door behind me. I set the
17:30
Speaker 1: flashlight down, furious with myself, convinced I was having another episode,
17:36
Speaker 1: sensing danger where there was none, being distracted by stray
17:39
Speaker 1: shadows and sounds. I sat back down in the chair
17:42
Speaker 1: by the fire as another rapping sound came from the
17:45
Speaker 1: front door. I heaved a sigh of relief, presuming that
17:49
Speaker 1: some of my friends had arrived. I stood up and
17:52
Speaker 1: opened the door. There was nothing. None of my friends
17:56
Speaker 1: were at the door, no cars parked in the yard,
18:00
Speaker 1: no footprints in the snow. I felt a cold sensation
18:03
Speaker 1: sink into the pit of my stomach that had nothing
18:06
Speaker 1: to do with the weather. Someone was out there, taunting me,
18:11
Speaker 1: distracting me maybe, keeping my attention away from the other
18:15
Speaker 1: side of the house. I was suddenly convinced that someone
18:18
Speaker 1: was trying to break in. I grabbed my sidearm from
18:21
Speaker 1: my bag and picked up the flashlight again. and I
18:24
Speaker 1: searched both bedrooms, the bathroom and the small closet where
18:28
Speaker 1: the water heater was kept, clearing any place where anyone
18:31
Speaker 1: could be hiding, making sure all the windows were locked.
18:35
Speaker 1: As I moved back into the living room, I glanced
18:37
Speaker 1: out the side window and saw the shadow of an
18:40
Speaker 1: adult man, maybe 5'7, cast itself across the front lawn
18:44
Speaker 1: by the glow of the porch light. I had him now.
18:48
Speaker 1: I flung open the front door and pointed my weapon,
18:51
Speaker 1: but again there was nothing. No figure, Not a whisper
18:55
Speaker 1: of movement, and no footprints in the snow. I held
18:58
Speaker 1: my ground. I wasn't crazy. That hadn't been the shadow
19:02
Speaker 1: of a tree. It had been a person. Head, neck, shoulders,
19:06
Speaker 1: and torso. I knew it had been. I scanned the
19:10
Speaker 1: yard with my flashlight, going over every inch. No footprints
19:14
Speaker 1: except for my own. The back door then slammed behind me.
19:18
Speaker 1: It didn't shudder. It didn't swing shut. It slammed. I
19:23
Speaker 1: spun around and nearly fired off a shot. I then
19:26
Speaker 1: sprinted to the back door, flung it open and aimed,
19:30
Speaker 1: only to be greeted by the single set of footprints
19:32
Speaker 1: I had made before. I shut both doors and locked them,
19:36
Speaker 1: shut off all the lights until the place was only
19:38
Speaker 1: illuminated by the fire. I put my gun in the
19:40
Speaker 1: filing cabinet, locked it, then dropped the key in a jar.
19:46
Speaker 1: I sat there by the firelight for another twenty-five minutes.
19:50
Speaker 1: to pounding noises from various windows from across the cabin,
19:54
Speaker 1: forcing myself to ignore them and remain calm. I didn't
19:57
Speaker 1: catch a glimpse of any other shadows from outside, but
20:00
Speaker 1: I wasn't really looking. I saw the headlights of my
20:03
Speaker 1: friend's car pull in. I stood up, turned all the
20:07
Speaker 1: lights back on, and greeted them at the door. as
20:10
Speaker 1: if nothing was wrong. For the rest of the night,
20:12
Speaker 1: I drank with my friends and kept a smile on
20:15
Speaker 1: my face, not giving any indication that anything was wrong.
20:20
Speaker 1: We decorated a mini tree and played cards and had fun.
20:24
Speaker 1: That night, I slept on the couch and ignored the
20:26
Speaker 1: sound of footsteps walking across the roof. Now, I would
20:30
Speaker 1: have dismissed all of this as just being in my head,
20:32
Speaker 1: and I wouldn't have taken the time to write it
20:35
Speaker 1: down and share it with you if it wasn't for
20:37
Speaker 1: what happened the next morning. I was making coffee, and
20:41
Speaker 1: my buddy came back inside after having a morning cigarette.
20:44
Speaker 1: His wife calls out to him from the bedroom and
20:47
Speaker 1: asked him if he saw anything. I asked what they
20:50
Speaker 1: were talking about, and he replied, We heard the sounds
20:53
Speaker 1: of footsteps on the roof last night, but there were
20:56
Speaker 1: no footprints up there through the snow.
21:05
Speaker 2: The best story my grandfather ever told me happened back
21:08
Speaker 2: when he was 18 years old on Christmas Eve in 1959.
21:13
Speaker 2: He was lying on his couch with a broken leg
21:15
Speaker 2: which was perched on the arm of the couch all
21:18
Speaker 2: wrapped up in a cast. He was listening to the
21:21
Speaker 2: radio and watching the snow fall outside as he used
21:24
Speaker 2: the poker to adjust the wood in the fire. It
21:27
Speaker 2: was about 8pm and he was alone in the house.
21:30
Speaker 2: His family lived on a farm in the middle of
21:32
Speaker 2: nowhere in Kansas, and his father and brothers were across
21:35
Speaker 2: the property in the barn, roughly about a mile away.
21:39
Speaker 2: He doesn't recall where his mother was. He was reading
21:43
Speaker 2: something in the newspaper about President Eisenhower when there came
21:46
Speaker 2: a furious pounding at the door. An enraged voice screamed
21:50
Speaker 2: from the other side of the door that, Owen, my
21:53
Speaker 2: great-grandfather was going to die tonight. My grandfather didn't respond
21:57
Speaker 2: to this. Unable to move off the couch, he pulled
22:00
Speaker 2: the rug across the room until the shotgun which had
22:03
Speaker 2: been leaning against the fireplace was in reach, and he
22:05
Speaker 2: picked it up and cocked it, pointing it towards the
22:08
Speaker 2: front door. My grandfather says for the next five to
22:11
Speaker 2: ten minutes, the man continued screaming, circling the house and
22:14
Speaker 2: pounding on windows, screaming for Owen to come out. He
22:19
Speaker 2: was clearly drunk and out of his mind and wasn't
22:21
Speaker 2: leaving the house until someone opened up. My grandfather winced
22:25
Speaker 2: as the man banged on the window right above the couch,
22:28
Speaker 2: but he still didn't move or acknowledge him. Finally, the
22:32
Speaker 2: man returned to the front door and pounded on it
22:34
Speaker 2: until he kicked it in. My grandfather said that he
22:37
Speaker 2: felt the blast of cold air and the stench of
22:39
Speaker 2: tobacco and whiskey as the man stomped through the dark
22:41
Speaker 2: hallway and walked right into the living room. He was
22:44
Speaker 2: a tall, lanky guy with brown teeth and an uneven
22:47
Speaker 2: gray beard, like he had only shaved part of his face.
22:51
Speaker 2: The guy's eyes were as big as hubcaps and he
22:54
Speaker 2: was barefoot, which was crazy as it was snowing outside.
22:58
Speaker 2: For about 10 seconds, the guy didn't even notice my grandfather,
23:01
Speaker 2: but was glancing around the room quickly, his eyes darting
23:05
Speaker 2: back and forth like a rat until his eyes fell
23:08
Speaker 2: upon the couch. He saw my grandfather, he saw the shotgun,
23:12
Speaker 2: and he froze like a deer in the headlights. My
23:15
Speaker 2: grandfather cocked the hammer back on one of the barrels.
23:18
Speaker 2: He had him dead to rights and the intruder knew it.
23:22
Speaker 2: My grandfather snapped. The man took a step back, looking
23:25
Speaker 2: more enraged than afraid. Where's Owen? He hissed.
23:30
Speaker 1: Get out!
23:31
Speaker 2: My grandfather yelled. The guy turned around, walked into the kitchen,
23:35
Speaker 2: and dug through the pantry until he found a pint
23:37
Speaker 2: of whiskey. He even turned around and looked back into
23:40
Speaker 2: the living room just to make sure the shotgun was
23:42
Speaker 2: still up. He threw back the whiskey, dropped the bottle
23:45
Speaker 2: in the sink, and walked out, calling back over his shoulder.
23:49
Speaker 2: Tell Owen I said Merry Christmas. Once the guy was outside,
23:53
Speaker 2: my grandfather heard him knock over the pile of firewood
23:55
Speaker 2: by the steps. After another minute, he smelled smoke and
23:59
Speaker 2: realized the guy had set fire to the pile, likely
24:02
Speaker 2: intending to burn the house down. My grandfather hobbled over awkwardly,
24:06
Speaker 2: shotgun still up, barely able to hold it straight on
24:10
Speaker 2: his bad leg, and peered outside. The guy was gone,
24:13
Speaker 2: but there was so much snow around the fire and
24:15
Speaker 2: so much icy wind assaulting it that the fire was
24:18
Speaker 2: already nearly out. When Owen and the others got back
24:21
Speaker 2: and saw the charred marks on the front stairs, they
24:23
Speaker 2: asked what happened and my grandfather told them everything. Owen
24:27
Speaker 2: flew into a rage, took the shotgun, and followed the
24:29
Speaker 2: guy's tracks out across the fields with a lantern. He
24:32
Speaker 2: didn't come back until Christmas morning when the family was
24:35
Speaker 2: all gathered in the kitchen for breakfast. Owen tossed the
24:38
Speaker 2: gun down and hissed that the fucking thing hadn't even
24:41
Speaker 2: been loaded. When my grandfather asked if he got him,
24:44
Speaker 2: Owen nodded and responded, Oh yes. And that was it.
24:49
Speaker 2: He never got my great-grandfather Owen to report exactly what
24:52
Speaker 2: happened or even know how he knew the man. My
24:55
Speaker 2: grandfather said that he never saw the stranger ever again.
24:59
Speaker 2: I asked him if he thought Owen had killed him
25:01
Speaker 2: and he responded, I'm almost positive that he did. When
25:05
Speaker 2: I asked, but how did he do it with no
25:07
Speaker 2: ammo in the gun? My grandfather looked back at me
25:10
Speaker 2: and said, There's dozens of ways to kill a man
25:13
Speaker 2: with your hands.
25:22
Speaker 1: This didn't happen to me, but a close friend of mine.
25:26
Speaker 1: To avoid any confusion, I will write the story from
25:28
Speaker 1: his perspective. This happened several years ago when I was
25:33
Speaker 1: about 14. My family planned a weekend getaway to visit
25:36
Speaker 1: my uncle in Maine. We would stay in a cabin
25:39
Speaker 1: because my uncle's house was too small to accommodate everyone.
25:43
Speaker 1: We arrived at the cabin on a Thursday night and
25:46
Speaker 1: planned on staying until Sunday. It was Christmas Eve when
25:49
Speaker 1: we got there. I'll give you a brief layout of
25:52
Speaker 1: the cabin. It was a small, single-story ranch-style house, with
25:57
Speaker 1: two bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, an outdoor balcony,
26:00
Speaker 1: and one bathroom. We unpacked our belongings and settled in
26:04
Speaker 1: for the night. The next morning, we headed to my
26:07
Speaker 1: uncle's house and spent the entire day there. We helped
26:10
Speaker 1: prepare a Christmas dinner and had a small fire going outside.
26:15
Speaker 1: After a long day of celebration, we drove back to
26:18
Speaker 1: the cabin, extremely exhausted. I got washed up and ready
26:22
Speaker 1: for bed. However, once I exited the bathroom, I felt
26:27
Speaker 1: a dreadful sensation come over me, an uneasiness in the
26:32
Speaker 1: pit of my stomach. It felt as though something was
26:35
Speaker 1: in the cabin with us. As a side note, I'll
26:39
Speaker 1: mention that I'm a firm believer in the paranormal. I
26:42
Speaker 1: cautiously made my way towards the dining room. When I entered,
26:46
Speaker 1: I looked towards the back of the room where the
26:48
Speaker 1: window was. The moonlight outside had blood into the room,
26:52
Speaker 1: casting a dim glow. When my eyes adjusted, I then
26:57
Speaker 1: saw a dark figure standing in the corner. A pair
27:00
Speaker 1: of red eyes stared into my soul with malicious intent.
27:05
Speaker 1: My next actions are inexplicable. I still have trouble understanding
27:09
Speaker 1: what happened to me when I go back to that night,
27:12
Speaker 1: but I calmly walked towards the bedroom and ignored whatever
27:15
Speaker 1: was hiding in the dining room. I still can't explain it,
27:19
Speaker 1: I should have been mortified, but it was almost like
27:22
Speaker 1: my brain went into autopilot. I eventually woke up at
27:27
Speaker 1: exactly 2.17am to the sound of heavy footsteps in the hallway.
27:32
Speaker 1: I could have passed it off as one of my
27:33
Speaker 1: parents grabbing a drink, but the footsteps were slow and deliberate,
27:38
Speaker 1: getting louder and louder as they approached my bedroom. My
27:42
Speaker 1: worst fears came true when I heard my bedroom door
27:45
Speaker 1: slowly creak open. I ducked under the covers. hoping that
27:49
Speaker 1: the thing would just leave. But my prayers fell on
27:53
Speaker 1: deaf ears as I felt something sit at the end
27:56
Speaker 1: of my bed. There then came a low, menacing growl.
28:09
Speaker 1: I quickly shot up like a firecracker had just gone
28:11
Speaker 1: off inside my pants. I caught a brief glimpse of
28:15
Speaker 1: a black silhouette with piercing red eyes, sitting at the
28:18
Speaker 1: edge of my bed. I then bolted out of the door,
28:22
Speaker 1: screaming for my parents. After calming me down, they asked
28:27
Speaker 1: what the commotion was all about. I told them about
28:30
Speaker 1: the thing that I saw in my bedroom, but of course,
28:33
Speaker 1: there was nothing there now. I was baffled because I
28:37
Speaker 1: knew exactly what I saw. I'm not crazy. I know
28:41
Speaker 1: the difference between nightmares and reality. It's hard to explain
28:45
Speaker 1: the kind of fear you experience when you see something
28:48
Speaker 1: with your own two eyes that you know should not
28:51
Speaker 1: be there. My parents did the obligatory lecturing about having
28:55
Speaker 1: a nightmare and brushing off any possibility of a paranormal event.
29:00
Speaker 1: We continued our stay until Sunday and left for home.
29:05
Speaker 1: To this day, I have no idea what I saw
29:07
Speaker 1: in the cabin that night, and I will not be
29:09
Speaker 1: returning to find out.