Latest / Niebla en el bosque con Evelith von / PESADILLAS Que No DESAPARECEN - 4 ATERRADORAS Historias De VELADORES - Voces De La Noche
Transcript
- 0:02My name is Daniel and for many years I have been the night watchman in
- 0:06a small antique shop in the center of the city. The store called Rare
- 0:12Memories, is known for its unique collection of ancient objects, including a lot
- 0:18of mannequins paint I had never been frightened by mannequins. I felt they were
- 0:23just simple plastic figures. However, one good day this changed. My night
- 0:30shifts were pretty quiet. At first, the store was closed and dark and
- 0:35my only company were antique objects, such as clothes, vases, pictures and
- 0:41silent light mannequins that lined up on the shelves and in the center of the
- 0:45premises modeling clothes or simply exposed at first enjoyed the solitude and tranquility offered by
- 0:53the nights. My nights at work became even more disturbing after the arrival of
- 0:59the new merchandise. When I entered to start my shift one night, the
- 1:04owner of the store, whose name was Andrew, greeted me with his usual
- 1:08smile, which he always had when he had something new to show me.
- 1:15He told me, as he pointed toward a large box in the middle of
- 1:18the store, that he was excited about the new mannequins that had arrived.
- 1:23He told me that they were very old and that surely the customers would be
- 1:30delighted with them. I could not help but feel a chill running around my
- 1:34back looking at the box, the mannequins were wrapped in transparent plastic, but
- 1:38I could see their disturbing silhouettes had no faces, only heads, smooth and
- 1:44without features. They seemed even more disturbing than the old mannequins in the store.
- 1:51As we pulled them out of the box and placed them on their pedestals,
- 1:55I felt a cold, penetrating look that seemed to follow me through the
- 1:59tent. Although these mannequins lacked facial features, I could not help but feel
- 2:06watched by them at all times. I felt uncomfortable, but I tried to
- 2:10ignore it and continued my duties as a watchman. The first hours of the
- 2:15night passed relatively normal. I made sure all the doors were locked and the
- 2:23security cameras were working. Correctly. Factionless mannequins remained motionless in their designated places,
- 2:31but their silhouettes without features reminded me constantly in their presence. However,
- 2:38when the clock set at 4: 30 a m, things took a terrifying
- 2:44turn. I began to hear strange noises resounding in the store. At first
- 2:52they were simple whispers as if someone were speaking quietly, but as the minutes
- 2:57passed, the bons whispers became more audible and disturbing. I decided to investigate
- 3:05the noises, although my instinct told me that I should run out carefully.
- 3:08I approached the mannequins without factions, trying to discern where the sounds came from.
- 3:15My hands were shaking as I passed by them. That' s when
- 3:20I noticed that some of the mannequins had changed position, not much, just
- 3:25enough to make me realize it. One of them, who was standing before,
- 3:30was now leaning forward, as if trying to reach something else seemed to
- 3:36have turned his head to a slightly different angle. The whispers continued to fill
- 3:44the air and seemed to come from the mannequins. They were incomprehensible words,
- 3:50as if they were speaking in an unknown language. I felt trapped in the
- 3:54middle of a nightmare and didn' t know what to do. My heart
- 3:59was beating with ffur while I was still investigating. The whispers seemed to emanate
- 4:03from mannequins without factions, but I did not understand how it was possible.
- 4:09After all, I was sure that these objects could not speak or move.
- 4:14Suddenly, one of the mannequins issued a disturbing sigh, as if he were
- 4:18breathing. I was paralyzed with fear as I watched his shoulders rise and descend
- 4:26with a creepy rhythm. It was impossible for a mannequin to do anything like
- 4:30that. Then one of the faceless figures took a step towards me. It
- 4:36was just a little movement, but it was enough to make my heart speed
- 4:42up. I stepped back a few steps, but I couldn' t turn
- 4:47my gaze away from that face without factions, which seemed to be staring at
- 4:50me. The fear caused me by the mannequins made me run back to my
- 4:56watch place, where I could feel safer at least that' s what I
- 5:00thought. I sat in front of the screens of the security cameras trying to
- 5:05regain composure. My hands were still shaking and my breathing was irregular. I
- 5:13looked at the screens hoping to see some sign that what had happened in the
- 5:16store had been real, but in the images the mannequins were in the same
- 5:23position in which I had left them along with andres. They were just motionless,
- 5:28faceless figures in the dark. The suspense in the store was overwhelming and
- 5:33my eyes were still fixed on the security cameras waiting for any sign of movement
- 5:39of the mannequins, but everything was quiet on the screen, as if nothing
- 5:45had happened. I decided to take a breather and get out of my chair,
- 5:49feeling my legs numb with fear. I went to the door of the
- 5:55store still looking with caution at the mannequins without factions that occupied luxury. I
- 6:00kept repeating to myself that everything had to be the product of my imagination.
- 6:05Just as my hand was about to touch the door handle, a loud creak
- 6:10rang in the tent. I quickly turned my head toward the direction of the
- 6:16sound and saw as one of the faceless mannequins fell to the ground with a
- 6:21rumbling my heart turned and I was paralyzed. It was impossible for a mannequin
- 6:28to fall alone. No one else was in the store apart from me.
- 6:31I decided it was time to confront the situation. I slowly approached the fallen
- 6:36mannequin and lifted it up, noting that it was strangely cold to the touch.
- 6:42Placing him back on his pedestal, I faced the no- faction figures
- 6:46that remained in their original places. That' s when I noticed something even
- 6:53more disturbing. The mannequins without factions had not only changed position, but also
- 6:58acquired a more detailed appearance. Although they lacked facial features, their bodies seemed
- 7:05more realistic, with veins and muscles barely perceptible under the surface of pale skin
- 7:11and Lisa tried to calm me down, trying to find a logical explanation for
- 7:17what she had experienced. Maybe I had been working too hard and my mind
- 7:23was playing me a bad game. Or maybe the mannequins had been moved by
- 7:28Andrew before he left and I hadn' t noticed. After all, I
- 7:32had been with them the whole time I was here, so, thinking about
- 7:38it, I went back to my surveillance center. I watched the cameras carefully,
- 7:44hoping to see any sign of movement between the mannequins, but minutes passed
- 7:49and then hours and nothing changed in the images. The mannequins remained motionless.
- 7:57The clock was slowly advancing to l o s r r U. N-
- 8:00n- n- n- n- n- n- n- n
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- 8:00n- n- n- n- n- n- n- n
- 8:00- n- n- n- n- n- n- n-
- 8:00n- n- n- n- n- n- n- n
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- 8:00n- n- n- n- n- n- n- n
- 8:00- n- n- n. Every second I spent I felt trapped in
- 8:03a limbo of doubt and fear. I could not help wondering if what I
- 8:07had lived had been real or the product of my own troubled imagination. Finally,
- 8:13after what seemed like an eternity, I decided that I had to face
- 8:18reality. Perhaps the mannequins had never really moved and everything had been an illusion
- 8:24created by my tired mind. I couldn' t tell anyone what I'
- 8:31d experienced. I didn' t want them to think the job was too
- 8:33much for me. The next night I was back at my watch station trying
- 8:37to convince myself that what had happened the night before had simply been a hallucination
- 8:45caused by exhaustion and fear. Despite my efforts to deny it, I continued
- 8:52to feel deep concern. At the bottom of my mind. I looked at
- 8:56the security cameras of the bez mannequins in time when waiting in vain to see
- 9:01some sign of movement, even an inch from where they were. Every time
- 9:07I lay my eyes on the pictures of the mannequins without factions. I felt
- 9:11that at one point this would turn to the screen and my mind was in
- 9:16a struggle against the rational and irrational for what I had lived. As the
- 9:22hours progressed, tiredness began to pass the bill. I had not been able
- 9:28to fall asleep during the day because of the experience of the night before and
- 9:33my exhaustion became evident. I was struggling to keep my eyes open and focused
- 9:37on camera screens. Then, as if it were a cruel joke of fate,
- 9:43the clock marked four thirty- one in the morning. Again, that
- 9:48cursed hour, which had witnessed the most disturbing events of my life. A
- 9:54chill ran through my back as I watched the Mannequins' Chamber is waiting when.
- 10:00The worst was at that time, when the whispers returned they were as
- 10:05soft and sinister as the night before, filling the air of the store with
- 10:09a disturbing echo. I shuddered to hear those incomprehensible words, as if the
- 10:16factionsless mannequins were whispering dark secrets among themselves. My heart was pounding as I
- 10:24looked at the House of Mannequins and a cold ran through my being when I
- 10:28realized that one of them was nowhere to be found. My mind panicked and
- 10:33I was having trouble breathing while I watched the images on the screen. There
- 10:39was something deeply disturbing about seeing a mannequin missing from his place. What was
- 10:45even more disturbing was that the rest of the mannequins seemed to have turned their
- 10:50heads towards the Chamber, as if they were looking directly at me through the
- 10:54lens. It was a surreal and terrifying view, considering that they had no
- 11:01facial features. My survival instinct was activated immediately and I quickly searched the other
- 11:07cameras in a desperate attempt to find the missing mannequin. I checked the camera
- 11:13footage over and over again, but I didn' t succeed. The mannequin
- 11:18had disappeared without a trace. It was then, as I watched the cameras
- 11:24for the fourth time that something caught my attention in one of the corners of
- 11:28the screen. I came to see a humanoid shadow that seemed to quickly hide
- 11:35behind some old dresses in the corner of the tent, my heart turned and
- 11:39the fear intensified. The shadow was barely perceptible, but it was defined enough
- 11:46to make me think I was not alone in the store. My mind ran
- 11:52at full speed. Considering all the possibilities, he could be a thief who
- 11:58had infiltrated the earth and could be responsible for the disappearance of the Mannequin.
- 12:05I decided I had to investigate. Even though fear invaded me. The idea
- 12:09of someone else being in the store without authorization prompted me to take action.
- 12:15I took a flashlight from the table and cautiously advanced to the corner where I
- 12:18had seen the shadow. The silence in the tent was oppressive, only interrupted
- 12:24by the sound of my agitated breathing. Every step I took resounded on the
- 12:28wood floor and my eyes searched for the shadow in search of any sign of
- 12:33movement. I reached the corner where I had seen the shadow and lit the
- 12:39flashlight. The light cut the darkness, revealing piles of old dresses and mannequin
- 12:43clothes, but there was no trace of the intruder or missing mannequin. My
- 12:50mind was full of confusion and fear. It had been my imagination. I
- 12:56had actually seen someone or it was just an illusion created by exhaustion and fear.
- 13:01I couldn' t be sure. I decided to go around the store
- 13:05looking for clues. I checked every corner, every shelf, but I found
- 13:11nothing out of the ordinary. Everything seemed to be in place, except for
- 13:15the missing mannequin. The fear I felt prevented me from moving towards the area
- 13:20of the mannequins, despite the urgency of knowing what had happened to the missing
- 13:24mannequin. My mind was full of doubts and fears and terror kept me immobilized
- 13:31in its cold embrace. I knew I had to face my fear, but
- 13:37it seemed like an impossible task. At that moment. I decided to explore
- 13:41other places in the store in search of clues. I ran through every hallway
- 13:46and shelf, but I found nothing out of the ordinary. The store was
- 13:52silent and there was no trace of an intruder. I didn' t know
- 13:56whether to feel relief from the absence of a stranger or whether I should feel
- 14:01even more restless about the disappearance of the mannequin. Finally, I headed back
- 14:05to my surveillance post trying to put an end to the nightmare I had experienced
- 14:09that night. As I passed through the place where I had seen the humanoid
- 14:15silhouette I heard a soft whisper that iced me. The blood was like someone
- 14:18was trying to get my attention. My heart was pounding as I turned my
- 14:26head and directed the light from my flashlight towards the mannequin there. In a
- 14:31common mannequin pose he seemed rigid and lifeless, just as he should be.
- 14:35The relief flooded me for a moment. Perhaps I had only been imagining things,
- 14:41although I wished with all my might that everything was a product of my
- 14:46mind, Reality was implacable. The darkness of the night seemed to wrap the
- 14:52tent with a blanket of mystery and silence was only occasionally broken by the soft
- 14:56tinting of an ancient clock. My mind was on the verge of paranoia and
- 15:01the incomprehensible whispers of the mannequins kept ringing in my head. I still don
- 15:07' t know why I decided to approach that mannequin. In doing so,
- 15:13I realized that I had changed more drastically. His veins and muscles barely visible
- 15:18under the skin without features, made him look strangely human. As I approached,
- 15:24I could see her chest rising and descending in a sinister imitation of her
- 15:28breathing. I stretched out my trembling hand to his shoulder looking for some rational
- 15:37explanation, but when I touched him, an icy chill swept through my body.
- 15:41The skin under my finger felt cold and damp, as if touching the
- 15:45flesh of a corpse. That' s when the unimaginable happened. The head
- 15:52of the mannequin moved slowly to look directly in my direction. My mind was
- 15:56filled with horror as I watched the lesser mannequin move his arms, first one
- 16:00after the other. His movements were rigid and mechanical, as if he were
- 16:07struggling to free himself from an invisible prison. I retreated with horror stumbling as
- 16:15I walked away from the mannequin. My mind struggled to understand what was happening
- 16:18and fear clouded my rational thoughts. Every step backwards, the mannequin moved towards
- 16:25me, moving in a way that challenged all logic. Finally, my feet
- 16:33took me running to my guard post. I locked the door behind me and
- 16:38my camera looking for answers, but the images in the cameras were full of
- 16:45interference, as if something was blocking the signal and I couldn' t see
- 16:49anything beyond static and flashes of light. As I tried to catch my breath
- 16:56and understand what I had just witnessed, I heard ur coup at the door
- 17:00of my guard post. Someone or something was trying to open the door in
- 17:04desperation. Panic gripped me as I watched impotently as the door trembled under the
- 17:11assault. Attempts to open the door became more frantic and desperate, as if
- 17:17what was in place was possessed by an uncontrollable fury. My mind was full
- 17:23of terror and confusion and I didn' t know if I would survive the
- 17:26night. The sound of the knocks on the door of my watch stand seemed
- 17:32to resonate in my ears like a deafening drum. My hands were shaking as
- 17:37I frantically sought something to defend myself. A flashlight and a metal object I
- 17:41found on my desk became my improvised weapons. With my heart pounding, I
- 17:49slowly approached the door and heard the incessant whispers coming from the other side.
- 17:56They were the same incomprehensible words I had heard before, like a chorus of
- 18:02terrifying voices harassing me. I looked at the cameras one more time but the
- 18:07interference continued, preventing me from seeing what was happening outside the surveillance post.
- 18:12I was trapped in a world of darkness and bewilderment and didn' t know
- 18:17if I would ever find a way out of this endless nightmare. The hours
- 18:22passed slowly, as the siege of the door continued, the clock was advancing
- 18:26slowly, marking every second that I approached an uncertain destination. And in the
- 18:33meantime, darkness and fear kept stalking me like disquieting shadows in the endless night.
- 18:41The noises and attempts to open the door finally stopped, but I didn
- 18:45' t dare move or make any noise. For the rest of the night
- 18:52I was trapped in my surveillance post without being able to see what was happening
- 18:56outside because of the interference in the cameras, I felt it completely blind and
- 19:00at the mercy of the unknown lurking in the shadows. The hours passed with
- 19:06agonizing slowness, while I remained motionless and silent, fearing the worst, for
- 19:11I did not know if the intruder or whatever was outside was still stalking or
- 19:15if the fear was gone. He kept me prisoner in my own shelter.
- 19:22It was then that the clock marked the beginning of a new morning that I
- 19:26finally heard the voice of my boss, Andrew, knocking on me from outside
- 19:30the guard post door. Finally, Andrés decided to hire a locksmith to open
- 19:37the door, as I did not want to leave my guard post because of
- 19:41the fear that kept tormenting me. When they finally opened the door and checked
- 19:45the store, they found nothing abnormal. The mannequins were perfectly fit in place
- 19:52and it was almost as if he made fun of me. After that terrifying
- 19:56incident, I gave up on my way down. I couldn' t stand
- 20:02the idea of going back to that place. The fear I experienced that night
- 20:06left an indelible mark on my mind and I could never forget the shadows,
- 20:10whispers, and mannequins without factions that had invaded my world. Since then I
- 20:17have tried to leave that experience behind, but it always haunts me in my
- 20:22nightmares and in the dark corners of my mind. I know what I lived
- 20:25was real, but I' m also sure that not many people believe me
- 20:29when I tell this story yet, that store will remain a place of mystery
- 20:33and horror in my memory, a place I will never return to. The
- 20:45story I will tell you happened a few years ago, when I was just
- 20:49a teenager, living in a small village surrounded by paranormal stories. The focus
- 20:53of all these stories was a mysterious ranch that stood on the outskirts of the
- 20:59village. This ranch is the largest property in the area. The most popular
- 21:04and chilling stories referred to three women who, they said, had been the
- 21:11last inhabitants of the ranch for many years now. These women were considered evil
- 21:17and were charged with indescribable crimes against youths of the people, as well as
- 21:22other unconfessable crimes. Some even claimed that they were witches and that if you
- 21:27ventured into the ranch overnight, you would never go out again. The legend
- 21:33was perpetuated even more because of three cases that had occurred over the years.
- 21:40Three young men of dubious reputation had ventured into the ranch in search of valuables.
- 21:45However, after their incursions, they were never heard from again. Some
- 21:52said they were simple coincidences and that they had decided to leave town after finding
- 21:56some treasure at the ranch. However, no matter how many logical explanations appeared,
- 22:03fear persisted. I, for one, was a pretty septic teenager.
- 22:08I didn' t believe in those paranormal stories, and I thought it was
- 22:15all superstitions of a small, boring town. In addition, he had a
- 22:18solid reason not to believe in those legends a candlelight There was a man named
- 22:23Benja, who from time to time visited the ranch to make sure everything was
- 22:29in order. If the place was really haunted, why would a candlelight keep
- 22:33working there? One day, when I got back from school, I noticed
- 22:37something unusual. There was an unknown man standing next to the ranch doors,
- 22:42in such a small town where we all knew each other. Seeing a stranger
- 22:45was weird. That aroused my curiosity. The ranch doors were open and the
- 22:52man stared inwards. I decided to approach more slowly, trying to understand what
- 23:03was happening the man realized of my presence and looked at me curiously. He
- 23:06asked me if I knew a wake- up bengel. I said yes,
- 23:10but I haven' t seen him in a few days. The stranger felt
- 23:14as if that were normal and told me that he was the owner of the
- 23:18ranch and that he had been trying to communicate with benjas unsuccessfully for several days.
- 23:23That puzzled me, because I didn' t know anyone owned that place.
- 23:30I remember talking a little bit to that stranger and before I could say
- 23:33goodbye, he offered me something I would never have expected. The night watch
- 23:37job at the ranch offered me a more than generous salary. I' ve
- 23:42never imagined having so much money at my disposal. Best of all, I
- 23:48just had to go to the ranch once in a while to check that everything
- 23:52was in order. I found that offer irresistible and without thinking too much I
- 23:56accepted. The first night I went to the ranch as a wakeman, I
- 24:03felt a strange feeling of restlessness as I entered the doors. The place was
- 24:06in complete silence and the darkness enveloped everything. The stories and legends about the
- 24:11ranch passed through my mind, but I dismissed them as nonsense, because I
- 24:15could not allow fear to dominate me. I scoured the ground with a flashlight
- 24:22in hand, checking every corner. Everything seemed to be in order and I
- 24:26found nothing out of the ordinary. As the hours passed, my confidence increased
- 24:32and I became convinced that the stories about the ranch were just stories. However,
- 24:38when midnight came, something changed I began to hear whispers, which seemed
- 24:44to come from everywhere. At the same time. The voices whispered incomprehensible words
- 24:49and a chill ran through my back. My heart was pounding and my flashlight
- 24:55was shaking in my hands. I decided it was time to stop, watch
- 25:00you be brave and go back to the safety of my house. But when
- 25:03I tried to get off the ranch, I realized something wasn' t right.
- 25:07The doors that had been open when I arrived were now tightly closed as
- 25:12if someone had sealed them. I tried to open them, but they didn
- 25:17' t move an inch. The panic began to grip me as I kept
- 25:22listening to the whispers around me. The shadows inside the ranch seemed to come
- 25:27to life by moving and twisting like living beings, I was trapped in a
- 25:34place I didn' t understand. Surrounded by the darkness and mysteries of the
- 25:38ranch, my heart was pounding wildly as I desperately sought a way out.
- 25:45The whispers intensified and now they seemed to form words that stuck in me.
- 25:49Mind, in the middle of the darkness, I glimpsed a vague figure in
- 25:55the distance, it was like a shadow, but it moved in an unsettling
- 25:59way to r r a r r. Out of nowhere, slowly turning towards
- 26:00me. I continued to look for an exit even more desperately, but every
- 26:07door and window I tried to open was unexplainably sealed. The whispers became more
- 26:11intense and seemed to form words he did not want to understand. Time became
- 26:17a confusing and blurry concept as I struggled to maintain sanity. Finally, my
- 26:23curiosity could have been more than my fear and then I turned my head to
- 26:27see what it was like behind me. That' s when I saw them
- 26:33three ethereal figures in long, rosy dresses materialized in front of me. No
- 26:38doubt they were the same women I had heard of in the legends. Their
- 26:44faces were twisted by evil and their eyes shone with indescribable malevolence. I was
- 26:51paralyzed as they looked at me with a mixture of mockery and hatred. After
- 26:56the figures looked at me, fear overshadowed me completely. My mind clouded and
- 27:00I lost consciousness. I didn' t know how long I was unconscious,
- 27:07but when I finally came back to me, the first rays of the sun
- 27:10hit my face. I got up with difficulty and realized that it was covered
- 27:14with earth and leaves. My clothes were torn and torn. I remembered what
- 27:19had happened the night before and a chill ran through my back. The images
- 27:25of the three women and the evil whispers were still fresh in my mind,
- 27:30without wasting time, I abandoned the place as quickly as I could. Every
- 27:34step I took, which kept me away from that cursed place, made me
- 27:38feel more relieved. When I got home, I was lucky my parents didn
- 27:42' t seem to realize that I hadn' t spent the night there.
- 27:47That reassured me, since I didn' t want to tell you what had
- 27:51happened. I took a long shower to remove the dirt and fear that had
- 27:56invaded me. Although I tried to forget that I had lived on the cursed
- 28:02ranch, the images of the three women and evil whispers persisted in my mind.
- 28:07However, all day long I felt tense and paranoid. My friend Joaquin,
- 28:12he noticed my mood and asked me what was going on. I knew
- 28:17I couldn' t hide anything from her, so I told her the story
- 28:21with all the details. Joaquin listened attentively and eventually laughed. Normally I would
- 28:27have laughed at him. However, the fear of a fresco in me did
- 28:32not allow me to do so. It was when Joaquin, seeing my seriousness,
- 28:36assured me that most likely I had been suggested because of all the people
- 28:40' s stories and that most likely I had seen some animal and the fear
- 28:44made me faint the rest. It was nothing but a dream. His words
- 28:51made sense and his arguments were solid. He argued that if there really was
- 28:56something sinister on the ranch, it would make no sense that the spirits wanted
- 29:02to stay in a village that everyone wanted to leave. In addition, he
- 29:04pointed out that if all three women had been so dangerous, they could have
- 29:10done much more than scare me. Although Joaquín had managed to calm my fears
- 29:14a little, I still did not feel fully convinced. I thought it'
- 29:18d be best if I quit the night watch job. But before I could
- 29:22decide, Joaquin stopped me. He told me not to be silly that the
- 29:27opportunity to earn that amount of money wasn' t presented to anyone and that
- 29:33it did make me feel safer. He' d make the next guard with
- 29:36me. I knew the real reason he did it was because he had always
- 29:40wanted to see that ranch inside. But all I cared about was that I
- 29:45would have company to face that fear reluctantly. I accepted Joaquín' s proposal.
- 29:52Despite his courage, I could not help but feel a sense of restlessness.
- 29:56As he approached the night. I knew facing the ranch again would be
- 30:03a challenge, but at least I wouldn' t be alone that night,
- 30:07Joaquin and I headed to the place. The moon was shining in the sky
- 30:11and the wind was blowing softly among the trees. Everything seemed even more sinister.
- 30:15Under the moonlight, the shadows twisted and moved as if they had their
- 30:19own life. We entered the ranch with caution our flashlights lighting the way.
- 30:27Joaquín was brave and relaxed, while I continued to feel a tight chest as
- 30:33we explored the inside of the ranch. I tried to ignore the memories of
- 30:38the night before, despite the disturbing feeling that had invaded me when I entered
- 30:45again. Joaquin' s presence really helped me to calm down. I didn
- 30:49' t want him to think he was a scary guy, so I was
- 30:55trying to keep my composure. For most of the night, Joaquin and I
- 30:59spoke laughing and even shared some pulque that he had stolen from his father'
- 31:03s pantry. Although I only had a couple of sips, as the taste
- 31:08seemed disgusting to me, Joaquin kept praising his delicious taste. The moon shone
- 31:15in the sky, dimly illuminating the dark terrain of the ranch. The night
- 31:19was advancing and time seemed to stop. While we shared stories and laughter,
- 31:26it was easy to forget the terror I had faced. When we were together
- 31:30as the night progressed, Joaquin and I ventured even further inside the Cursed Ranch.
- 31:37Despite our laughter and jokes, we could not help but feel the ominous
- 31:41presence that hung in the air. The shadows were closing around us and the
- 31:47gnashing of the boards under our feet seemed to resound like disturbing whispers. We
- 31:55finally got to a room at the back of the ranch. The door was
- 31:59open and an unexplained cold emanated from within. Joaquin and I exchanged nervous glances,
- 32:07but we found ourselves somewhat emboldened because of the pulque, not to mention
- 32:12that none wanted to look like a coward in front of each other, despite
- 32:19being clearly frightened to be frank with them. There was nothing interesting in the
- 32:21room, just some old furniture, full of dust and moldy books. However,
- 32:25Joaquín found something that caught our attention, and this was a very old
- 32:30newspaper, which had as its main note the news that the sisters of evil,
- 32:35as they called them in the newspaper, had been captured both of us
- 32:40read a little more to be disgusted by the crimes that were narrated there in
- 32:45great detail. Although we both knew that those women had committed horrific crimes,
- 32:51we had never really gone into them in detail, so we both decided to
- 32:55go out. From there. There came a time when both of us were
- 33:00about to say goodbye and return to our homes. But before he left,
- 33:04Joaquin said he had to go pee and walked away a little in search of
- 33:07a suitable place. I was alone watching the silence of the night. The
- 33:14shadows were elongated and the trees seemed to take on grotesque forms under the moonlight.
- 33:20It was then, as I waited for Joachim that the indecipherable murmurs returned
- 33:27the sinister sounds crawling to me from the darkness like whispering voices of ultra-
- 33:32tumba. I felt a chill running around my back as I tried to discern
- 33:37the words, but they were incomprehensible and disturbing. I looked at a corner
- 33:43of the ground illuminated only by the moon, and that' s when I
- 33:47saw a disfigured face peeking out of the dark with a crooked smile and empty
- 33:53eyes that seemed to look for something deep in my soul. I screamed involuntarily
- 33:58calling Joaquin in my defilement. The scream made Joaquin run back to me with
- 34:05an expression of concern on his face. I pointed to the corner where I
- 34:08had seen the disfigured face. But when Joaquin looked there was nothing there.
- 34:14The murmurs that had filled the air with their disturbing presence had vanished into nothingness.
- 34:21Joaquín tried to calm me down, claiming that everything had been the product
- 34:25of my suggestion. Mind, he argued that the pulque and the stories we
- 34:30shared could have created illusions in my head. Although his words made sense,
- 34:36I knew that what I had seen and heard was not a simple hallucination.
- 34:40My heart kept beating hard. While Joaquin was trying to get me back into
- 34:46composure. Even though I was the calmest of the two, I began to
- 34:50pass on my fears. We both knew that something strange was happening at the
- 34:55cursed ranch, something that went beyond mere illusions we decided it was time to
- 35:01leave and leave that sinister place behind. We headed towards the exit of the
- 35:07ranch, hoping that as we got out of there the irrational fears would go
- 35:12too. However, when we get to the ranch gates we find a terrifying
- 35:17view. The doors we had left open when entering were now closed and sealed
- 35:23with rusty chains. There were no locks or locks, but it was as
- 35:29if the ranch itself had closed behind us trapping us inside. With fear,
- 35:36we tried to force the doors, but they didn' t move an inch.
- 35:39We were trapped, surrounded by twisted shadows and disturbing whispers that seemed to
- 35:45fill the air again. The sense of despair invaded us and we frantically sought
- 35:52any other way out. We explored every corner of the ranch, but every
- 35:58door and window we found was in two explainedly sealed or blocked. The tightness
- 36:02in my chest intensified and the evil murmurs seemed to form words that stuck into
- 36:07our minds. Time became a blurry concept. As we struggled to find a
- 36:15way out, the night was advancing relentlessly and the moon above the sky was
- 36:21silent witness to our despair. The objects seemed to gain their own life by
- 36:28moving and twisting as if they were possessed by an evil force. Joachim and
- 36:31I looked at each other with anguish, knowing that we faced something far beyond
- 36:37our comprehension. Our fight to escape the cursed ranch lasted for what seemed like
- 36:44endless hours. The shadows were closing more and more around us and the evil
- 36:50whispers became deafening like a chorus of ghostly voices mocking our despair. In a
- 36:58moment, ha joa qu found her a hammer, which made us smile from
- 37:01Ear to Ear. That could be our ticket out. Joaquin came up and
- 37:07pushed the door to the exit. However, what we saw next left us
- 37:13breathless. The three women, the same women who had appeared before me the
- 37:17night before, were standing in the center of the room. His looks were
- 37:23cold and his smiles twisted. We knew they were not mere figures of a
- 37:30dream, they were real and dangerous. Fear invaded us once again, but
- 37:35this time I did not lose consciousness. Joaquin and I slowly retreated, aware
- 37:40that we were in grave danger. The three women began to move towards us
- 37:45with a frightening slowness as if they enjoyed our anguish. We felt as if
- 37:52time had stopped. As we slowly retreated trying to keep calm, the three
- 37:59women were advancing towards us. His rosy dresses rubbed the floor with a sinister
- 38:05whisper, his penetrating looks and twisted smiles filled us with terror. There was
- 38:10no place to escape. We were stuck in the darkest corner of the cursed
- 38:16ranch. Joaquin and I exchanged panic eyes. We knew we had to do
- 38:22something to defend ourselves, but our hands were shaking too much to use the
- 38:29hammer that Joaquín had found. Without saying a word, Joaquin and I ran
- 38:32to the exit. Joaquin hit those rusty chains with despair. He felt that
- 38:39even this one was hurting himself. However, that seemed not to matter at
- 38:45that time for our good luck. The chains finally gave way by opening the
- 38:50doors. We finally got off the ranch and ran all the way back to
- 38:55town without looking back. Fear followed the breath of prayer in our hearts and
- 39:00we knew that we had escaped from something unimaginable. The next day we swore
- 39:07never to go back to the ranch again. The stories and legends were real
- 39:09and we had experienced horror in our own flesh, although we did not know
- 39:15why the three women wanted to keep us. We were sure we didn'
- 39:20t want to find out in time. The experiences we lived in that place
- 39:24were in the past, but we could never completely forget them. Although some
- 39:30people still believed they were just legends, Joaquin and I knew the truth and
- 39:36although money was needed, I understood that there were more important things to keep
- 39:40my sanity and life safe. I would never venture into the dark heart of
- 39:45the ranch again. My name is Mario and what I' m about to
- 39:54tell is a part of my life that I wanted to forget. However,
- 40:00no matter how hard I tried, I will never abandon my memories. Back
- 40:04then, I was only twenty- two. My parents had expelled me from
- 40:09home because they had discovered my relationship with my partner. I was in a
- 40:15desperate search for a full- time job to stay afloat, but as if
- 40:21fate wanted to make fun of me, I had no luck finding a job.
- 40:27After weeks of sending resumes and attending interviews. I finally got a call
- 40:32that would change my life forever. It was a job offer as a wakeer
- 40:37in a store located in a remote place, although he was not very excited
- 40:40about the location. I immediately accepted the offer, as that job offered a
- 40:46very good salary and because it was nocturnal, it would allow me to stay
- 40:52and, at the same time, study during the night, as the duties
- 40:57of the night watchman were in line with my schedule. My first day at
- 41:00work was a set of nervousness and anticipation. While explaining my responsibilities to me,
- 41:07I noticed that the manager seemed uncomfortable. He revealed to me that the
- 41:10previous candlelight had disappeared without leaving any trace. The strangest thing was that the
- 41:16security cameras that night had lost all their records. However, as nothing of
- 41:22value was lacking in the store, management had not deepened the research. Finally
- 41:30I was left alone in the tent, surrounded by the shadows that were elongating
- 41:34in the dark. My main task was to keep an eye on the security
- 41:38cameras and make an occasional tour around the place. The first few hours passed
- 41:43normally and I devoted myself to alternating between my duties and my studies. However,
- 41:47the feeling that something was not right began to haunt my mind. When
- 41:52I thought I saw a corpulent figure in one of the cameras, I turned
- 41:59quickly, but there was no one in the store. My heart was beating
- 42:04uncontrollably and a cold sweat ran through my back, as, despite not seeing
- 42:07anyone, the curtain leading to the cellar slowly rocked as if someone had moved
- 42:13it. My thoughts oscillated between the idea of a simple stream of air and
- 42:20the growing fear that gripped me by the thought of some intruder, so emboldened,
- 42:24I decided to investigate cautiously, I approached the hold and lit the light.
- 42:31The interior was a dark and messy space, full of dusty shelves and
- 42:37forgotten objects. The feeling that something was wrong intensified with every step he took.
- 42:43My eyes sat in a big closet at the bottom of the cellar.
- 42:47The palms of my hands were sweating as I slowly moved forward and opened the
- 42:53closet door inside the closet. I found something that made me scream out of
- 42:57terror. It was an old bootleg, but not an ordinary one. She
- 43:01seemed to be the mascot of the shop, a creepy creature that resembled a
- 43:07strange mixture of hyena and lion, but malnourished and macabre her lifeless eyes and
- 43:12her grotesque smile looked at me from the darkness of the closet, although it
- 43:16was just an abandoned dump. He filled me with an indescribable fear. I
- 43:22locked the closet door in one blow and came out of the cellar shaking from
- 43:27head to toe. The store had acquired an even darker aura than before.
- 43:31I returned to my guard post, but the experience in the cellar kept tormenting
- 43:36me. Every shadow became threatening, every sound made me jump out of my
- 43:43chair. When dawn finally came and my shift ended. I left the store
- 43:47with overwhelming relief. On that day, while trying to get some rest,
- 43:54my dreams were invaded by the image of that boungar. I remember dreaming of
- 43:59a dark and endless corridor I was running through in despair. As that dump
- 44:05chased me emitting grunts and I was sure he wanted to devour me. I
- 44:09remember waking up soaked in sweat and with the fresh image of the throw in
- 44:15my mind still. That night I went back to my job. Time seemed
- 44:19to crawl forever. While I was locked in the camera room. Every sound,
- 44:24every shadow on the screens made me tremble with terror. But the worst
- 44:30was yet to come. When the clock marked four and forty- four in
- 44:34the morning, a chilling whisper filled the room. It was a terrifying,
- 44:39distorted voice whispering to me. My name over and over again could not determine
- 44:45where it came from and the voice source was not visible on the security screens.
- 44:52My hands were sweaty and my heart was out of the question. I
- 44:54felt the room suddenly cool down as if the presence of something evil took hold
- 45:00of it. I decided to go give my usual round to clear me up
- 45:04a little bit. However, this did not seem to work, as I
- 45:07felt watched, so I decided to come back. That feeling didn' t
- 45:15disappear no matter what. As long as I tried to ignore her out of
- 45:19nowhere, the monitors began to show interference. That increased my fear, but
- 45:22that was not compared. When I looked up and a few meters away in
- 45:27the dark, I looked at the pitcharga, that grotesque creature standing in the
- 45:34dark hallway with his macabre smile and his lifeless eyes. In me, that
- 45:38was impossible, but there it was and its presence was terrifying without thinking about
- 45:43it. Twice I ran to the door to lock it, as I watched
- 45:49that dreadful loot slowly approach that dark corridor. His movements were slow and spasmodic,
- 45:55but his determination was evident. The pitchargas was ursa approaching my step by
- 46:00step, as I kept whispering my name sinisterly. Finally, when the boot
- 46:07was inches from me, the clock marked five o' clock in the morning
- 46:12and, as if it were an illusion, the creature faded into the air,
- 46:15the pressure in the room faded away the whispering death and the monitors returned
- 46:21to normal. It was like nothing happened. I was alone and safe,
- 46:27but my mind was full of terror and confusion. After that overwhelming event,
- 46:32I seriously considered not going back to the store. The terrors of the night
- 46:37before were still chasing me and every shadow, every sound put me on alert.
- 46:44However, after talking to my partner, we came to the conclusion that
- 46:47everything had been the result of my suggestion and tiredness. He reminded me how
- 46:52difficult it had been to find a job that would fit my schedule and that
- 46:57I could not afford to miss this opportunity. With some resistance, I decided
- 47:01I' d come back the next day. The night passed with apparent normality,
- 47:07but when the clock marked three and thirty- three in the morning,
- 47:10that same heavy vibration began to infiltrate the air. I wanted to believe that
- 47:16everything was in my mind, so I went on with my homework trying to
- 47:22ignore the growing anxiety. I knew it was time to make my ronda over
- 47:25the shop, a part of the work that I deeply hated, but that
- 47:30was necessary. I got up, took my flashlight and started walking through the
- 47:36dark hallways of the store. I tried to distract myself by humming one of
- 47:42my favorite songs as a desperate attempt to appease the fear that invaded me.
- 47:45The only sound that filled the store was the echo of my own steps.
- 47:50But something told me that there was not only the critical moment. He was
- 47:54coming. I had to go through the cellar. I felt a knot in
- 47:59my stomach, but I knew I couldn' t avoid it. As I
- 48:01approached, the tension in the air became more oppressive. I didn' t
- 48:07have the courage to go into the cellar. I just passed by. However,
- 48:12when I was about to leave her behind, I felt as if someone
- 48:15looked at me from behind I wanted to turn around, but something inside of
- 48:22me warned me not to. I hastened to get to the camera room,
- 48:24but before arriving I passed through a corridor full of mirrors, which were offered
- 48:30for sale. As I passed through one of them, I noticed a leg
- 48:35of muddy cloth, the same one that could only belong to the horrible boot
- 48:40that I had seen in the cellar. I was about to touch my shoulder,
- 48:45panic, invaded and ran with all my might into the camera room.
- 48:50I locked myself in there and watched the security screens, but again, the
- 48:54only thing I could see was the curtain of the cellar rocking slowly like a
- 48:59rl The n dance, despite the tiredness and fear I did not leave the
- 49:04room. For the rest of the night. Time slid slowly as it remained
- 49:08entrenched in the camera room. Every minute felt like an eternity and the feeling
- 49:15that something dark was lurking outside the room gnawed at me. When the dawn
- 49:21finally came I left the room with caution, fearing what I might find I
- 49:28decided to tell my partner what had happened the night before. He insisted on
- 49:31not being so gullible. He suggested that maybe I was overreacting that stress and
- 49:37tiredness could have played me a bad time. He even raised the possibility that
- 49:44everything was just a nightmare. I wanted to believe in her words, as
- 49:49the idea that an old shop boot would come to life and roam on its
- 49:52own was absurd and unlikely for someone as skeptical as me. In the following
- 49:59days, I decided to take steps to calm myself down. I put a
- 50:04lock on the old Llocker in the cellar. Despite my attempts to stay calm,
- 50:07I wanted to make sure that nothing else could get out of there.
- 50:12Surprisingly, no one seemed to notice the presence of the lock and for almost
- 50:17a month I had no notable incident. I began to believe that I had
- 50:22found the solution to my problems. One night, however, when I arrived
- 50:28at my usual shift, I came across an unexpected surprise. They had hired
- 50:32a second watchman, a man about forty years old named Rogelio The manager,
- 50:37asked me to explain his responsibilities on the night shift. Rogelio seemed to understand
- 50:44everything very quickly, so I only had to show the tour of the store
- 50:49once and the rest of the night I could concentrate on my homework. In
- 50:54the midst of relative tranquility, Rogelio pointed something out to me near the winery.
- 51:00I looked in the direction of the rocking curtain and felt the blood freezing
- 51:04in my veins. I tried to disguise my fear and told Rogelio that I
- 51:08had seen nothing, that we should ignore it. However, Rogelio was not
- 51:14satisfied with my response and decided to investigate on his own. Despite my pleas
- 51:19to keep him safe. I looked closely at the security cameras as Rogelio entered
- 51:25the cellar and shouted something, although I could not hear it, as the
- 51:30cameras lacked sound. I saw him walk straight into the old locker that he
- 51:36had secured with the lock. My eyes opened with horror when I saw that
- 51:39Rogelio opened the locker with a simple pull from the door and I let go
- 51:44of a choked scream when I discovered that the ocker was completely empty my mind
- 51:51was in a whirlwind. As he watched the scene from the security cameras,
- 51:54how it was possible that the broker was open where he had gone to stop
- 52:00the pitch he had seen before. The unanswered questions filled me with overwhelming panic
- 52:04and the feeling that something dark and sinister was lurking in the tent became stronger
- 52:08than ever before. Rogelio went back to the camera room. However, after
- 52:15a while, he began to feel bad, reaching the point that he had
- 52:19to go home. The next night, Rogelio didn' t show up for
- 52:24work. At first I thought he just didn' t like the job.
- 52:30After his wife informed us that he did not return home and no one knew
- 52:34of his whereabouts, she added a new level of horror to a mile in
- 52:37itself Inestibly, days, weeks and finally months passed since Rogelio' s mysterious
- 52:45disappearance. The store had earned a grim reputation after it became known that the
- 52:49last place it had been seen was in the parking lot of the store.
- 52:54The security cameras had captured a man in the shadows before they began to fail
- 53:00and then nothing else was known about him. Despite my fear and curiosity,
- 53:07I couldn' t help but go back to the store. Economic necessity pushed
- 53:10me back to that sinister place, where every corner seemed to harbor dark secrets.
- 53:17My partner encouraged me to reconsider my decision, because after what happened,
- 53:22he was really worried about my safety, but I, with a mixture of
- 53:28obstinacy and necessity, kept going. One day. While I was checking the
- 53:34security footage, I noticed something unusual. In one of the cameras. There
- 53:37seemed to be a blurry figure moving erratically down the halls I couldn' t
- 53:44believe what I was seeing. The figure was hardly recognizable, but it had
- 53:49a strange similarity to the boar that I had seen in the cellar closet.
- 53:54My heart was pounding as I watched the figure approach the wedding curtain. The
- 54:00panic took over me. As I watched the curtain shake more intensely than ever
- 54:06before, my mind was filled with frightening thoughts. I still don' t
- 54:09know what went through my mind at the time, but I decided that the
- 54:15time had come to face the unknown. I took a flashlight and headed towards
- 54:19the cellar, feeling the air getting thicker and thicker. As I approached the
- 54:23curtain and with trembling hands, I opened it suddenly what I saw at that
- 54:30moment left me breathless. The cellar was empty as it had always been.
- 54:36There was no trace of the boar or any other presence. The curtain returned
- 54:42to its inert state. I felt like a fool as if the shop itself
- 54:45mocked me. The mockery of the tent and its mystery began to tear my
- 54:51sanity apart. Every night it became more disturbing and the fear seemed palpable in
- 54:55the air around me. My nerves were at their breaking point and my thoughts
- 55:00oscillated between obsession and terror. I often found myself staring at the security cameras,
- 55:07hoping in vain to see any sign of the unknown. Then, one
- 55:14night, when I was in the middle of my usual routine, an unexpected
- 55:19sound made me jump in terror. The noise came from a pile of boxes
- 55:22in a dark corner of the store. My eyes were wide open and my
- 55:25breathing became agitated. As I watched the boxes with fear, the darkness seemed
- 55:34to wrap them and the sound repeated as if something or someone was moving them.
- 55:39I couldn' t hold back a scream when I instinctively receded, but
- 55:44in doing so, my back hit something soft, but creepy. My eyes
- 55:47were filled with horror. When I realized what was behind me, the bootleg
- 55:51was standing right behind me with its grotesque smile and those inexpressive plastic eyes that
- 55:55seemed to penetrate my soul, I could not move or scream a sense of
- 56:01paralyzing panic. He wrapped me as he threw it closer. Then I noticed
- 56:09something even more disturbing. The putrid smell emanated from the creature, an odor
- 56:15of decaying raw flesh that filled the air and clung to my skin. It
- 56:20was disgusting and my mind was filled with horrible images of what might be hidden
- 56:24under that worn teddy skin. What happened next was an indescribable horror. I
- 56:31heard the heartbreaking screams of other people as if they were trapped inside the boot,
- 56:37but one of those screams caught my attention especially, that of Rogelio.
- 56:43It was unmistakable and I felt a chill running around my back as I listened
- 56:49to his desperate voice. The thrower grabbed me with an inhuman force as if
- 56:52I wanted to crush myself and his macabre laughter resonated in my ears. I
- 56:58tried to separate myself by fighting with all my might, but my movements were
- 57:04useless against his unrelenting grip. The cry that was trying to escape my throat
- 57:07was trapped in my chest, suffocated by terror. However, in an act
- 57:13of despair and force driven by fear, I managed to free myself from his
- 57:17embrace. I ran with all my might without looking back, no matter what
- 57:22was behind me. The store looked like a living nightmare, a nightmare I
- 57:28was determined to escape from. When I finally left the store, relief flooded
- 57:34me. I swore I would never set foot in that cursed place again,
- 57:38that I would never face the horrors I had witnessed. The store became a
- 57:44black legend. In my life, a place I' d rather forget.
- 57:47Although the scars on my mind and soul would never heal completely, I never
- 57:52knew the truth. Behind the boot, the terrors lurking in the darkness and
- 57:58the disappearance of Rock Rogelio, the store closed its doors forever a few years
- 58:01later, but the curse that had consumed it left an indelible mark in my
- 58:07life. And while I swore not to return the story of my days as
- 58:14a watchman in that place, sinister will pursue me until the end of my
- 58:19days a constant reminder that there are dark and terrifying secrets that must remain hidden
- 58:23in the shadows. Talking about my past has never been a simple task.
- 58:35If I had to sum up my childhood in one word, I would be
- 58:38a nomad I' ve never lived in one place more than a year since
- 58:43I was right. I never met my parents, so my relatives passed me
- 58:45on to each other depending on their conditions. At sixteen, one of my
- 58:52uncles, who lived in the city and with whom I had lived for a
- 58:55few months, told me that I should pack my things and leave, because
- 59:00I could no longer be held responsible for myself. That was already so normal
- 59:04for me and the only question I asked was who I would live with now.
- 59:07This one mentioned to me the name of my Aunt Marta, who lived
- 59:13in my hometown. I fell like a heavy bag of bricks. By that
- 59:19time I had not interacted much with that aunt, but the few times I
- 59:22had always ended up making an aggressive passive comment about me and if I dared
- 59:29to respond, which was always I ended up pulling my ear until I almost
- 59:34ripped it out. However, I had no choice. I never liked working
- 59:38in agriculture. In my hometown, most people made a living as farmers in
- 59:44vegetable fields or caring for farm animals. I had tried both jobs and none
- 59:51seemed satisfactory to me. He considered them too exhausting and did not feel that
- 59:57the payment was worth it. However, before I could even settle in,
- 1:00:01my aunt made it very clear to me that I should collaborate by taking the
- 1:00:06bread to the table and every day I could not find work was another day
- 1:00:09when the portion on my plate decreased. One day while I was returning to
- 1:00:14my aunt' s house, I spent the night near a cemetery where there
- 1:00:19was a sign, which I asked for a wakeman. The Santo camp was
- 1:00:23located on a street from my aunt' s house. It was divided into
- 1:00:29three sections. One was open to the general public, another was private and
- 1:00:32exclusive. Only the most wealthy family in the village were buried there and the
- 1:00:38third least known was destined for people who belonged to the Jewish community. I
- 1:00:45remember going in and asking about the job. I had to lie about my
- 1:00:50age, but it worked, since I was hired and they assigned the surveillance
- 1:00:54of the last two areas, so, without saying, I started the next
- 1:00:58night. The entrance to the cemetery was quite austere, with a long adobe
- 1:01:04wall and a single double entrance gate. The road to the interior was covered
- 1:01:09with soil and the humidity of the ground had taken over the wall causing plants
- 1:01:15and flowers to grow between the clefts of the adobes. They explained to me
- 1:01:20that there was no need to patrol the cemetery all night. It was enough
- 1:01:24to make three rounds at different hours. In addition, I was assigned a
- 1:01:30room in the administrative offices, right in front of a wake- up room
- 1:01:35that had been little used. They explained to me that some days I would
- 1:01:39be accompanied by a man named Fausto. This was a man known in the
- 1:01:44village for his fondness for alcohol. I clearly remember how surprised I was to
- 1:01:49hear his name, as it was hard for me to believe that he was
- 1:01:52still alive. They also warned me that if I ever saw anything strange,
- 1:01:57something that wasn' t teenagers, making the lilies, drunk men or simple
- 1:02:01people late in the cemetery. Then, call the authorities immediately. With that
- 1:02:08warning, it came to my mind the stories that were told in the village
- 1:02:13when I was a child, things about witches and demons, which made sacrifices
- 1:02:17in the cemetery or so. I had not considered those stories until that time
- 1:02:24and wondered if that warning had anything to do with them. Even so,
- 1:02:29I decided not to take too much importance and just say that I understood giving
- 1:02:34it a start, on my first night I remember being so calm that I
- 1:02:39was nothing to succumb to the dream. However, something made me wake up
- 1:02:42suddenly were the unmistakable cries of a baby, which made me leave immediately.
- 1:02:47In green, I took a shovel that was near a pool. I turned
- 1:02:53on my flashlight and followed the baby' s cry, because I felt so
- 1:02:59brave that I thought not that I didn' t. If I saw a
- 1:03:00witch, I' d face her and save the child. The crying came
- 1:03:04from a crypt the size of a small house I went around several times and
- 1:03:08saw nothing. Although I kept hearing the crying more, dim noticing that the
- 1:03:15sound came from the same crypt. Without getting close to my lamp, then
- 1:03:20I saw something that I had no explanation for. I wouldn' t know
- 1:03:24how to explain it. He was like a deformed puppy. When he lit
- 1:03:28it directly, his crying changed, twisted, and the light seemed to hurt
- 1:03:32him. Suddenly I heard something crawling into the bottom of the crypt. Moments
- 1:03:38later, the twisted figure had disappeared. He ran to the room in the
- 1:03:44offices. I persevered in front of the cross and prayed my heart. It
- 1:03:47felt very fast. I stayed locked up all night and didn' t want
- 1:03:52to leave the room. I was in breach of my duty as a watchman.
- 1:03:57However, no one would notice if I didn' t have a rhondino.
- 1:04:00I don' t doubt much that the administrator was watching me. I
- 1:04:05remember falling asleep at some point in the night and in my sleep I heard
- 1:04:10something hitting the window. At the same time that a childish voice was beginning
- 1:04:15to ask me to let her in. He also told me that I was
- 1:04:18cold and hungry that voice, although it sounded childish, also filled me with
- 1:04:24restlessness, so much so that the fear of it made me wake up suddenly
- 1:04:28to an altered one. I decided to smoke a cigarette. I was about
- 1:04:31to finish my second cigarette. When they knocked on the door hard, I
- 1:04:35jumped and the cigarette fell out of my mouth. It fell on my leg,
- 1:04:40causing a small burn. I heard the voice of Faust. He told
- 1:04:44me he needed to go through some things that he forgot. I opened the
- 1:04:48door to him and, indeed, he was a fausto. He was reeling
- 1:04:51from so drunk he was coming. He looked at me and put on a
- 1:04:56very big smile, as if he recognized the look of someone who had faced
- 1:05:00the unknown. He asked me if I' d seen the children from the
- 1:05:03cemetery. I said no. I didn' t want to tell you anything
- 1:05:09about what I lived a few hours earlier. He passed as far as his
- 1:05:13cot was. He drew a bell under it right away, turned to me.
- 1:05:16He told me not to be the fool I could bet I saw the
- 1:05:20kids in the cemetery. If I didn' t find each other, they
- 1:05:25' d be the ones to find me. I did not want to answer
- 1:05:29him, since he saw no sense in arguing with someone in that state of
- 1:05:33drunkenness without mentioning that, being very specific, he had not seen any child.
- 1:05:39However, no matter how hard I tried, I could not get out
- 1:05:43of my mind that strange creature that had seen some works behind me. My
- 1:05:47mind was trying to explain that it was some kind of baby of any animal,
- 1:05:53which had gone out of shape or something. Anyway, when the first
- 1:05:56rays of the sun began to see my fear being diso dissipated along with the
- 1:06:00darkness. The next day it was my turn to remove the locks from the
- 1:06:06gate and the administrator of the cemetery was already waiting for me outside. He
- 1:06:10asked me how I had gone about what I was lying about, saying that
- 1:06:14everything had gone great. The man patted me on the shoulder and told me
- 1:06:17to go and rest. That very afternoon I ran into Fausto while I was
- 1:06:25shopping for cigarettes in the village store. Upon seeing me, he congratulated me
- 1:06:30on being co- workers. He also told me that if I needed it,
- 1:06:33he could cover for me if I gave him some beers. I just
- 1:06:38felt uncomfortable and from one moment to the next, his mood changed and he
- 1:06:41warned me that if I saw any of the children in the cemetery I shouldn
- 1:06:46' t follow him no matter how much they asked for help, I had
- 1:06:53to ignore them for my own good, I decided to just give him his
- 1:06:54side so I could leave. However, in my next shift I would regret
- 1:06:57not taking the words of Fauscio seriously. The day came to return to the
- 1:07:01cemetery and as soon as I returned from putting the padlocks, I found a
- 1:07:06man sitting in front of a mausoleum. I informed him that the cemetery was
- 1:07:10already closed, but I would gladly open the door for him. The man
- 1:07:14apologized and told me that he had lost track of time. While visiting the
- 1:07:18tomb of an ancient love. I escorted him to the door, removed the
- 1:07:24lock and chain and after closing again I started my first round of the night.
- 1:07:29I needed to make sure there were no other untimely visitors, as that
- 1:07:34was my primary responsibility. Suddenly I heard the crying. At first I got
- 1:07:41scared remembering in detail the creature of the night before. But after a few
- 1:07:45minutes of listening to him, I remembered the people' s stories about witches
- 1:07:50who kidnapped young children to make sacrifices in cemeteries. I thought I' d
- 1:07:56call the authorities, but then I thought it was supposed to be first of
- 1:08:00all, that it wasn' t about teenagers. Trying to play heavy jokes.
- 1:08:04I walked through the tombs and mausoleums trying to find the origin of the
- 1:08:10sound. That' s when in one of the graves I observed a girl
- 1:08:13no more than six years old. This one cried and I approached her,
- 1:08:16as she did not answer my questions. But when I touched her shoulder,
- 1:08:21she turned her head, showing me a face that was deformed with eyes so
- 1:08:27red that they seemed to be injected with blood, I screamed, and I
- 1:08:31ran to the room listening behind me to the sinister laughter of that girl,
- 1:08:36that scene made her not leave the room until the next day, where,
- 1:08:41after saying goodbye to the owner, I thought that I did not want to
- 1:08:43go back to that place. That same night, when my aunt asked me
- 1:08:46why I was still at home and I told her that I did not want
- 1:08:50to go back to work in the cemetery without giving her many details, and
- 1:08:55she gave me a half- hour sermon and managed to make me feel guilty,
- 1:09:00which finally made me recant my decision, so I called the owner to
- 1:09:04tell him that I was a little sick to justify my absence. The next
- 1:09:09day, however, I decided to go to see the priest of the People
- 1:09:13' s Church. The father was a kind person, very dear in the
- 1:09:16village. He listened to my story without interruption and once I finished telling it,
- 1:09:24he told me that what I had seen was not the spirit of a
- 1:09:27child, but something evil and twisted that took the form of innocent beings to
- 1:09:31attract people like me. His advice was to get away from the cemetery,
- 1:09:38but I explained to him that I had no choice, as my aunt would
- 1:09:43probably throw me out of the house. If I did, I had no
- 1:09:45choice. The father gave me a blessed rosary and a medal and said yes,
- 1:09:48I saw something like that again. I' ll show you the medal
- 1:09:54I left from the temple. After receiving his blessing. That same day in
- 1:09:58the afternoon, the administrator extrar from the cemetery. He came looking for me
- 1:10:01and asked me to take an extra day off, but he needed my help
- 1:10:06for a burial. This one would pay me as if I' d watched
- 1:10:10that night. I accepted your proposal without hesitation. If he proved to be
- 1:10:15a good gravedigger, maybe he could work on it instead of being a wakeman.
- 1:10:19The burial took place at noon under a scorching sun. The deceased was
- 1:10:25an old man and only a few people attended and did not stay until the
- 1:10:30end. The tomb was already made of marble previously mounted by a mason.
- 1:10:34All we had to do was seal the lids. The tomb was in the
- 1:10:39Jewish area. Being a Catholic, I found it strange to see tombs without
- 1:10:44crosses. That area used to be deserted there were rarely burials there and I
- 1:10:49came to think that no one was visiting that area. I began to feel
- 1:10:55nervous again and that led me to work in a hasty manner. I tried
- 1:10:59not to look around, as I felt someone staring at me. Suddenly I
- 1:11:04heard a step behind me and without realizing it, I turned my head in
- 1:11:09that direction. To my surprise, there was a boy. This one had
- 1:11:14pale skin and completely black eyes. It looked more like a photograph that a
- 1:11:19person didn' t move or talk. He just stood still. In front
- 1:11:24of me, I left the tool and without turning my back on the strange
- 1:11:30child I slowly receded at that moment I ran into another employee of the cemetery
- 1:11:35who, when I saw him, asked me what was happening to me.
- 1:11:38Instead of explaining it, I preferred to take it to the place where I
- 1:11:42had just seen the child, but unfortunately, the apparition was gone. Although
- 1:11:46if we found anything on the floor was the head of a porcelain doll,
- 1:11:51it was broken and full of mold. I lifted my wrist head with my
- 1:11:56hand inside it came out a hundred feet. I quickly shook my hand.
- 1:12:01This caused the head to fall and break into several pieces, causing more insects
- 1:12:06to escape from the inside. The man didn' t seem to take it
- 1:12:12seriously, so he just told me to keep working. I had nightmares at
- 1:12:16night. I don' t remember what I dreamt, only when I woke
- 1:12:20up at the foot of my bed was the same boy I saw in the
- 1:12:24cemetery. His black, empty eyes looked at me in the dark. I
- 1:12:28screamed loudly when I looked at him that my aunt and a cousin came to
- 1:12:31see what was happening to me. As soon as the vision came, it
- 1:12:36disappeared, so I told them that I only had a bad dream and that
- 1:12:41everything was fine. Thinking that I had to go back and watch the cemetery
- 1:12:45would trigger an anxiety crisis for me. I really didn' t want to
- 1:12:48go back. I began to understand why Fausto drank so much maybe being drunk
- 1:12:54was the only way to tolerate apparitions. The night came to return to the
- 1:13:00cemetery. I took full courage and as soon as I could speak to the
- 1:13:03administrator, I would ask him for work as a gravedigger instead of watching what
- 1:13:11my surprise would be that Fausto was waiting for me when he arrived, who
- 1:13:15informed me that I would have to do the shift with him. One would
- 1:13:16watch on the private side, as they had stolen a couple of tombstones and
- 1:13:20bronze figures, while another would watch on another side. Despite the growing fear
- 1:13:27within me, I was reassured to know that at least I would not do
- 1:13:31that shift alone. Besides, I had no choice. I couldn' t
- 1:13:35hide in the room and let Fausto wander alone. I barely put my things
- 1:13:41together. Fausto entered the room and told me that if he wanted to,
- 1:13:45he could rest. He' d give the rounds alone. For a moment
- 1:13:48I thought I' d take it, but then I thought maybe this was
- 1:13:53some kind of test to see how he worked. We decided to split up
- 1:13:58during the first round. I' d be watching for an hour around the
- 1:14:03private cemetery while he' d go to the Jewish pantheon. I really didn
- 1:14:06' t plan on staying alone in that part of the cemetery, let alone
- 1:14:12in that area of Campo Santo. My plan was to stay there for a
- 1:14:15few minutes and then go back to the room. As a precaution, I
- 1:14:20wore the rosary and the miraculous medal given to me by the father. In
- 1:14:24case any of the children in the cemetery appeared to me, I would try
- 1:14:29to stay calm, recite a prayer and show the medal. Maybe that'
- 1:14:34s how I could face them and drive them away. I walked cautiously between
- 1:14:39the graves pending every noise heard. I thought it wouldn' t be long
- 1:14:45before I met the cemetery kids and I was right. Suddenly a supernatural air.
- 1:14:50She untied herself covering the cemetery with a strange fog and a smell reminiscent
- 1:14:56of rotten eggs. I started listening to a toy, squealing and the laughter
- 1:15:00of several children. The nerves made me call Fausto, but in response I
- 1:15:06only received more childish laughter. I began to light up in every direction with
- 1:15:14my heart, beating about to get out of my chest. I was extremely
- 1:15:18nervous and knew what was waiting for me. Suddenly I saw Fausto on his
- 1:15:23back. His presence gave me some peace of mind, so I called him
- 1:15:28as I approached him, but he did not respond to my calls. It
- 1:15:31didn' t turn even when I touched him on the back he was still
- 1:15:38with his gaze fixed towards the crypt, where I observed a strange creature.
- 1:15:42Retorting to see her better, I thought she was the strange creature I had
- 1:15:46seen on my first night. There I dared to illuminate inside the crypt and
- 1:15:50there was the white- skinned boy, who I had seen while working as
- 1:15:55an undertaker. The boy smiled in a sinister way, while in the distance
- 1:16:00a child song sung by a girl began to be heard. Fear invaded me
- 1:16:05because of what I told Fausto we had to leave. However, no matter
- 1:16:10what he said, he didn' t move, so I left him there.
- 1:16:15Today, I feel a little remorse for my cowardice, but I try
- 1:16:20to comfort myself by thinking I didn' t have much choice. Still.
- 1:16:26My mind always wondered if I could have dragged him with me or if I
- 1:16:30had the courage to draw out my blessed rosary and pray as the priest directed
- 1:16:35me. But at that point I just ran off like a coward quickly.
- 1:16:42I locked myself in the room, took my rosary between my fingers and started
- 1:16:46praying desperately, begging God to get me out of that situation. However,
- 1:16:51that night it seemed that the demon was loose and only he heard my laments
- 1:16:59the entire cemetery, but it seemed to become chaotic. I heard the laughter
- 1:17:02of the children at the window. I kept praying and crying. Suddenly they
- 1:17:06knocked on the door and I heard the voice of Fausto begging to open it.
- 1:17:11I was about to, but something in his tone of voice seemed strange
- 1:17:15to me. His words sounded too quiet and almost mocking. A chill swept
- 1:17:21through my spine, so I decided not to open it and kept praying,
- 1:17:27but my body was on the verge of nervous collapse. My hands were shaking
- 1:17:30unchecked. I felt a tremor on the back of my head and I saw
- 1:17:34flashes of light. I suddenly lost consciousness. I was woken up by heavy
- 1:17:42knocks on the door. I got up and opened without thinking about it.
- 1:17:45There was already sunlight and I was still trying to process what I had experienced
- 1:17:48that night. The administrator was accompanied by a policeman and a doctor. They
- 1:17:55asked me many questions and, although I answered as best I could, they
- 1:18:00seemed skeptical. They questioned me several times and noticed that my hands were shaking
- 1:18:05uncontrollably what the police told me. The paramedic took my vitals and mentioned that
- 1:18:12my blood pressure was too high. That is why I was taken to the
- 1:18:16hospital along with Fausto, who was found inside the crypt in a state of
- 1:18:20paralysis, without responding to any stimuli. In the hospital they managed to get
- 1:18:26Fausto to react, but his response was violent and he had gone mad.
- 1:18:30He had to be given a sedative to calm him down. He was finally
- 1:18:35admitted to a sanatorium. I decided to leave town, as people began to
- 1:18:41treat me badly and blamed me for Fausto' s misfortune. Although I tried
- 1:18:45to tell my truth, no one listened to me and only judged me.
- 1:18:48That decision was the best, because I found a good job and I was
- 1:18:54finally able to establish myself, away from my family. However, I still
- 1:18:57have nightmares, some nights, nightmares that I am sure will never disappear,
- 1:19:09stories and adapted by aurora. Escalante