Latest / Ghost stories and the Unusual Paranormal podcast / The Night Halloween Came Alive: The Curse of Hollow Creek

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The Night Halloween Came Alive: The Curse of Hollow Creek · Ghost stories and the Unusual Paranormal podcast

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Stay spooky.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: The candles burn low on a hallowed eve.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: The fog rolls in off the grave.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Every town has a door that you shouldn't believe And
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: a name that.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: The darkness saves These are the ghost.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Stories The.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Unusual and the unknown Where.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: The dead still whisper Come sit by the fire Let the.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Shadows remember you Joe the Ghost Guy is waiting hangman's
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: coach to the haunted hall from the castle to the
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: empty mine there's a story waiting behind and the unknown
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: where the dead still whisper and they never walk.
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: Alone Previously on Ghost Stories and the Unusual Paranormal Podcast.
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: Joe the Ghost Guy told us about the darkest poem
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: written by Edgar Allan Poe. He talked about the raven,
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: how it tormented the man who lost the love of
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: his life, and more. And one single raven caused so
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: much psychological damage to him and the everlasting words that
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: never leave.
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: Quoth the raven, nevermore. Where is he going to go next?
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: Let's tune into this episode and see, shall we? On
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: Ghost Stories and the Unusual Paranormal Podcast, with your spooky
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: ghost investigator, Joe the Ghost Guy.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Good evening, and welcome to a night unlike any other.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Tonight is Halloween. on one night of one year when
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: children dressed as monsters, when jack-o'-lanterns glow in darkened porches,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: and when the living pretend that death is something to
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: laugh about. But what if I tell you that there
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: is somewhere In this world, there is a town where
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Halloween is not celebrated. A town where no child is
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: allowed outside after sunset. Where every window is covered. Every
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: door is locked. And every family knows one terrible rule.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: never answer the door after midnight. Because the things that knock,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: they are not children. They are not wearing costumes. And
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: they're not asking for candy. They are asking to be
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: let inside. Tonight, I'm going to tell you about one
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: little town called Hollow Creek, a place that totally disappeared
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: from every map in 1978, a place where the entire
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: neighborhood was found empty on the morning of November 1st.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Dinner tables were all set. Televisions were still on. Coffee
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: was still warm. And every front door was standing wide open.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: There were no bodies to be found. There was no blood.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: No signs of a struggle happening. Only one message scratched
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: inside every door. We let them in, it read. This
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: is what happened. On October 31, 1978, Hollow Creek was
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: a small, isolated town surrounded miles of black forest. Its
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: population was just over 800. There is only one church,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: one schoolhouse, one cemetery, and an old abandoned Victorian mansion
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: just on the end of Willow Lane. A mansion that
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: stood empty for nearly a century. It's Windows were broken.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Its walls were covered with dead vines. And its enormous
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: front door was painted a deep, unnatural red. The townspeople
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: called it the House of the Hollow Children. No one
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: remembered who had given The house that name. But everyone knew.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: The story. Back in 1888. On Halloween night. Seven children.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Had supposedly. Vanished. During a celebration. At the mansion. Their parents.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Searched the surrounding woods.
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: For weeks.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: The sheriff. organized search parties. Every cellar, every well, and
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: every banding building was examined and searched, but the children
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: were never found. According to legend, exactly one year the
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: missing children returned at midnight to walk through the town
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Wearing the same. Hollowing costumes. That they had worn. When
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: they disappear. Their faces were pale. Their eyes are dark.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: And their little hands. Carried empty candy buckets. They knocked.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: On every door. The families who refused to answer. They survived.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: The family. who opened their doors, well, they were never
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: seen again. And for 90 years, the people of Hollow
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Creek followed the same tradition. No Halloween decorations, no costumes,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: no trick-or-treating, and absolutely no one is to answer the
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: door After midnight. That's until. the Halloween of 1978 when
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: a young family moved into town and broke every rule imaginable.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Thomas and Evelyn Carter arrived in Hollow Creek with their
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: two children, 12-year-old Daniel and 7-year-old Sophie. They had purchased
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: an old farmhouse just beyond the town square. It was beautiful,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: a white two-story home with a large porch and an
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: apple orchard and a winding driveway. But there was something
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: particular about it, though. Every room had a lock on
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: the inside. Even the closets. Even the bathrooms. And the
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: basement door had seemed to be shut. Thomas Lamb, many discovered,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: who lived here before us, must have been afraid of something.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: But Evelyn wasn't laughing. because inside the kitchen cupboard, she
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: found an old photograph. It showed a family standing on
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: that exact same porch. A father, a mother, and two children,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: all dressed in Halloween costumes. On the back, someone had written,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: October 31st, 1949. Underneath it said, our last Halloween together.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Beneath those words was another sentence. Written and somewhat looked
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: like a child's handwriting. Don't let the little girl in.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Evelyn showed the photograph to Thomas. He shrugged. Probably some
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: old Halloween prank someone pulled. Nine. While unpacking Sophie's bedroom,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Evelyn heard something beneath the floorboards. She had stopped moving.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: The scratching stopped. Then came a tiny voice. Then froze.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: It sounded exactly like Sophie.
• 12:52
  Speaker 6: Mommy, it's dark down here.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Evelyn hurried into the hallway. Sophie was standing outside her bedroom.
• 13:05
  Speaker 6: Mommy, why are you calling me?
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Evelyn felt her stomach tighten.
• 13:15
  Speaker 6: I wasn't calling you, sweetheart.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Sophie frowned.
• 13:21
  Speaker 6: And who's the little girl underneath my bed?
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Evelyn turned towards the bedroom and slowly, very slowly, she
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: looked inside. Nothing. The bed was empty. The curtains moved
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: gently in the breeze. But beneath the bed Small white
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: hands were gripping their wooden frame, and something in the
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: darkness whispered. A green night arrived beneath a blood-red sunset.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: The streets of Hollow Creek were deserted. Every town soared.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: closed early. Every porch light went dark and the church
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: bell began ringing at six o'clock. Thomas thought the entire
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: town was ridiculous. He had bought pumpkins, hung paper skeletons
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: from the front porch and placed a bowl of candy
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: beside the front door And those people need to learn.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: And he told, these people need to learn how to
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: enjoy Halloween, he said. At 8.30, someone knocked. Thomas opened
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: the door. An elderly woman standing on the porch. Her
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: face was pale. her hands trembling.
• 15:21
  Speaker 6: Please, take those decorations down.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Thomas smiled. It's Halloween. Have fun. The woman looked past him.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: At the pumpkins, at the skeletons, at the bowl of candy.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: Then her expression changed. Oh my God.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: What?
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: It's just candy and decorations. What could go wrong? Have
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: invited them. Thomas shook his head. Invited who? It's Halloween.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: The woman grabbed his arm. Her fingernails felt painful. into
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: a skin. Listen carefully.
• 16:24
  Speaker 6: When midnight comes, you will hear children outside your door.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: They will cry. They will beg. They will sound like
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: someone you love. Eyes filled with tears. But no matter
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: what they say, she leaned close. Do not open the
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: door for no reason at all. Before Thomas could answer,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: the woman let go of his arm and hurried away.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: At 8.15, the telephone rang. Thomas answered, Hello? Then, the
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: sound of children laughing, dozens of them. Their laughter grew
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: louder and louder until Thomas pulled the receiver away from
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: his ear. The little girl's voice whispered, Take a.
• 17:38
  Speaker 6: Treat, Mr. Carter.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Thomas went cold. Who is this? The girl giggled.
• 17:50
  Speaker 6: We like your pumpkins.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: How do you know my name? Laughter stopped, and a
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: different voice answered. A deep, dry voice. A voice that
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: sounded like someone speaking through a mouthful of dirt.
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: We have been waiting for your family.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: And the phone went dead. And then the doorbell rang.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Ding dong, ding dong. Thomas looked at the clock. 11.59 p.m.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Then it turned midnight. Bells of the church began to ring.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Outside is a thick roll through the orchard. The porch
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: light flickers. And from somewhere beyond the trees came the
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: sounds children singing.
• 19:23
  Speaker 7: Trick or treat, smell my feet, give us something good
• 19:27
  Speaker 7: to eat.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: In a pause. Then the song changed.
• 19:35
  Speaker 6: Trick or treat, smell my feet. Thomas stepped forward in
• 19:40
  Speaker 6: the window.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: Evelyn grabbed his arm. He pulled back the curtain and
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: suddenly staring at the end of the driveway, there were
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: six children. One was dressed as a clown. One was
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: a witch. The other a pirate. The other a princess.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: The final one was a skeleton. And the little girl
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: wearing a white rabbit costume. They stood perfectly still. Their
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: canny buckets hung from their hands. Their heads were tilted downwards.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Thomas squinted, but he figured that something was wrong. The
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: clown's shoes were covered in mud. The pirate's costume was
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: dripping in water. The prince's dress was stained with something dark.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: And the rabbit? Well, the rabbit was holding a small
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Dirty shovel. Then all six children raised their heads. Thomas
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: stumbled backward. He had no faces. No eyes. No noses.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Not even a mouth. Just a smooth, pale skin stretched
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: across their skulls. Except for the rabbit. The little girl
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: in the rabbit costume had a mouth, an enormous wide mouth.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: It had stretched from one ear to the other and
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: with rows of tiny needle-like teeth. And she was smiling.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: The girl raised one hand and waved. And then she
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: whispered something. Thomas couldn't hear it through the glass. But Sophie,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: standing behind him, began to cry. Because she heard every word.
• 22:25
  Speaker 7: That's the girl from underneath my bed.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: The little rabbit tilted her head. then opened her mouth
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: wider and spoke in Sophie's voice.
• 22:43
  Speaker 6: Daddy, why don't you let me in?
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Thomas pulled the curtain shut. Everybody, upstairs, now! The family
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: rushed up towards the staircase, but as Evelyn Reached the
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: first step. The house made a strange noise. A long, wet,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: gargling sound. Like an enormous animal taking its first breath.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: The wallpaper began to ripple. The wooden floorboards rose and fell.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: And the walls started moving. Daniel screamed, the house is breathing.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Thomas gathered the children, but up the hallway stretched. The
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: staircase seemed to move further and further away. The family
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: ran towards it. 10 feet, 20 feet, 30 feet, yet
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: it never got closer. Behind them, the front door rattled.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Then came the voices. Let us in, please.
• 24:17
  Speaker 6: We're cold. We're hungry.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: And then a voice of Evelyn, a voice that Evelyn recognized.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: It was her mother's voice. Mother said, had died six
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: years earlier. Evelyn, sweetheart. Stopped.
• 24:46
  Speaker 6: Mom, please open the door, darling. It's so cold outside.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Peers filled Evelyn's eyes. Thomas grabbed her shoulders. That's not
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: your mother. But the voice continued. Remember when you were little?
• 25:08
  Speaker 7: Remember how I sang to you when you were a
• 25:12
  Speaker 7: bright man?
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: And then the singing began. An exact lullaby. Evelyn's mother
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: used to sing. Every note, every word, perfect. Evelyn sobbed. Mommy.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: My voice suddenly changed. It became harsh. Angry. Ancient. End
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: the door, Evelyn. I can't.
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: Right? I don't raise you to be disobedient.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: The entire house shook. and from the entire hallway, a
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: little girl began laughing. Sophie was the first to see her,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: standing on the top of the staircase, a small figure
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: in a dirty white rabbit costume, her long ears hung
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: down beside her head, her feet were black with soil,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: and her numerous smiles stretched impossibly wide. Thomas stared at her.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: How did you get inside? The girl giggled.
• 26:45
  Speaker 6: You invited us in.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: No, I didn't. She pointed towards the window.
• 26:55
  Speaker 6: Your pumpkins.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: It's the candy bowl.
• 27:01
  Speaker 6: Your treats.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Towards Sophie.
• 27:05
  Speaker 6: Your little girl.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: Sophie began screaming. The little girl took one step down,
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: then another. Her movements were wrong. Her knees bent backwards.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: Her head twisted too far to one side. And with
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: every step, her bones made a sharp, crackling sound. Thomas
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: backed away. What do you want? The little girl stopped smiling.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: For the first time, her voice looked almost human, almost sad.
• 27:53
  Speaker 6: Want to go home.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Then go. Get out of here. Wasted. She shook her head.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: Why not? The girl raised her hands. Her fingernails were
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: packed with black earth.
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: Because.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: She leaned forward and whispered.
• 28:26
  Speaker 7: Somebody buried us while we were still alive.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: The lights went out, and something grabbed Daniel's ankle. He screamed.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Thomas struck a match. In that tiny, flickering light, he
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: saw dozens of hands reaching through the floorboards. Small hands.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: Children's hands. Some were pale. Some were gray. Some were
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: nothing but bone. All of them reaching, grabbing, pulling, and
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: from beneath the house came a chorus of tiny voices.
• 29:19
  Speaker 6: Come play with us. Come down here. We save you
• 29:24
  Speaker 6: a place.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Daniel was dragged across the floor. His fingernails scraped against
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: the wood. Thomas lunged forward and cut his wrist.
• 29:39
  Speaker 6: What?
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: One terrible moment, father and son stared into each other's eyes.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: Daniel whispered, His voice trembled. There's something holding me. Thomas
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: pulled harder. Daniel began sobbing. He's underneath the floor. Daniel's
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: eyes white. Thomas froze. What?
• 30:19
  Speaker 7: Dad, there's other me down on the floor.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: And then the boards split open or catapulted beneath Thomas
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: and Daniel. It fell into darkness. Thomas struck the ground
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: hard for several seconds. He could barely breathe. Then he
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: heard Daniel crying. I'm here, son. Thomas reached into his pocket,
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: found his lighter, deflected. A small flame appeared and revealed
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: something impossible. There were standing in the basement, far larger
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: than any house itself, stone corridors stretching in every direction.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: Walls were covered in children's drawings. pictures of houses, pictures
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: of families, pictures of smiling pumpkins, and pictures of a
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: tall black figure standing behind the little children. The figure
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: had no face, only a long, crooked grin. Thomas moved
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: closer to one drawing. Underneath it, written in children's letters
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: were the words, Mr. Halloween takes the bad children. Daniel
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: pointed towards the far wall. There were 17 small wooden doors,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: painted red, each with a child's name carved into it.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: Thomas approached the first, Emily, age 5, the second, Jacob,
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: age 9, the third, Margaret, age 7, and on the
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: seventh door, a name had been scratched out, underneath it,
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: a new fresh carved, Sophie Carter, age 7, Thomas, Staggered backwards.
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: No.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: Behind him someone whispered.
• 33:09
  Speaker 6: She is always supposed.
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: To be ours.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Thomas turned. Standing in the darkness. Was an enormous man.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: At least eight feet tall. He wore a black funeral suit.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: His arms hung almost into his knees and his head
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: was covered by a rotting jack-o-lantern. Inside the pumpkin, two
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: burdened eyes stared out. The creature slowly raised one hand
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: and pointed towards Daniel. One child to replace another. Donald
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: began to scream. Pumpkin-headed figure stepped forward. The harvest must continue.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: Thomas grabbed Daniel and ran. Behind them, a creature began walking, slowly, deliberately,
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: its heavy footsteps. and echoed through the underground corridors. Thud. Thud. Thud.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: Thomas looked over his shoulder. The creature was still far behind.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: But when he looked again, it was closer. Much closer.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: And then he heard a voice echo through the basement.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: A voice made from hundreds of whispering children.
• 35:02
  Speaker 6: You cannot run from Halloween.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: Thomas found a staircase. He pushed Daniel forward. Go find
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: your mother. Daniel climbed. Thomas followed. Just before he reached
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: the top, something caught his hope. He looked down. A long,
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: black hand emerged from the darkness, its fingers wrapped around
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: his ankle. The harvester stood beneath him. The jack ran
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: on his face, and inside the hollowed mouth, Thomas saw
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: something moving. Faces, dozens of faces, children pressing against the
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: inside of the pumpkin. screaming silently, their hands pushing outward
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: as though the pumpkin was made out thin, stretched skin,
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: and one face pushed further than the others. A little girl,
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: she looked directly at Thomas and whispered, Harvester, tighten his grip.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: Thomas screamed. Then The creature opened its mouth, and the
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: voices of seven children spoke together. Thomas kicked free. He
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: scrambled up the stairs and slammed the door. For one moment,
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: everything was quiet, and then a voice whispered from the
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: other side.
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: We'll come upstairs when you're sleeping.
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: Upstairs, Evelyn had held Sophie tightly. Her little girl was shaking.
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: Her face was pale. Her eyes were wet with tears.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Thomas rushed into the room. We have to get out
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: of here now. He grabbed the children, but Evelyn didn't move.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: She was staring at Sophie. Thomas?
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: What?
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: There's something wrong. Sophie slowly turned towards her mother.
• 37:45
  Speaker 6: What's wrong, Mommy?
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: Liz swallowed. Sophie has a birthmark. Thomas stared. What are
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: you talking about? Behind her left ear. There's a little
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: red birthmark. She's had it ever since she was born.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: Lynn gently brushed the child's hair aside. There was nothing there.
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: No birthmark. No scar. Nothing. The little girl smiled.
• 38:23
  Speaker 6: Mommy, you're being silly.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: Lynn backed away. Where's my daughter? Child tilted her head.
• 38:38
  Speaker 6: Right here.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: No. Evelyn began screaming.
• 38:50
  Speaker 6: Where is she?
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: The little girl smiled white and it white until the
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: corners of the mouth reached her ears. Then she spoke,
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: not in Sophie's voice, but in the voice of the
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: little rabbit girl.
• 39:10
  Speaker 7: She's downstairs with the other children.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: The children's body began to twist, her arms bent backwards,
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: her neck stretched, her skin darkened. Her eyes became two
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: enormous black holes. She crawled up the wall, onto the ceiling,
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: and stared down at the family. Then she whispered, ceiling cracked,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: and hundreds of tiny hands pushed through the plaster. The
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: house filled with laughter, children laughing, crying, screaming, and singing.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: The voices grew louder until the walls themselves screamed seemed
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: to scream. Thomas remembered the 17 red doors in the
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: basement and he understood now the missing children were trapped
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: there and the harvester needed a new child to keep
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: them in prison. He grabbed the iron fireplace poker and
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: turned to Evelyn. Take Daniel. Go outside. Sophie. Thomas looked
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: towards the basement. I'll bring her home. He descended the staircase.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: The basement was silent. The 17 red doors stood open
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: and beyond them he could hear little girl crying. Thomas
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: ran Towards the voice. Fee.
• 41:28
  Speaker 5: Daddy please.
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: He entered a small room. There was a wooden door.
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: Or there was a wooden chair. A candle. And a
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: little girl sitting. With her back towards him. She wore.
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: Sophie's yellow nightgown. Her hair was tied. the same blue
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: ribbon Evelyn had put in that morning Thomas dropped to
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: her knees oh sweetheart he reached for her shoulder but
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: before he touched her the girl whispered yes.
• 42:16
  Speaker 7: Baby Why did you leave me here?
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: Thomas' eyes filled with tears. I'm so sorry, honey. I'm
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: so sorry.
• 42:33
  Speaker 6: Did you love me?
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: More than anything in the whole wide world. The little
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: girl began laughing. Slow, dry. Horrible laugh. Thomas froze. The
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: chair turned. And the thing sitting on the chair was
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: not Sophie. It had Sophie's hair. It had Sophie's nightgown.
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: It had Sophie's hands. But the face was an ancient
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: shriveled mask of skin. stretched across the skull. Its eyes
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: were stitched shut. The lips had been sewn together with
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: black thread, and yet it spoke.
• 43:40
  Speaker 6: Stay with me forever.
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: The candle went out. Then the candle relit Thomas was
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: no longer in the basement. He stood in the hallway,
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: the endless hallway. Thousands of doors stretched into the darkness.
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: Behind each door, someone was crying. Behind another, someone was laughing.
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: Behind another, someone was pondering. desperately against the wood. Thomas
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: heard his daughter.
• 44:25
  Speaker 7: Daddy, I'm here.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: He ran towards the voice, but another door called out.
• 44:37
  Speaker 6: Daddy, no, over here.
• 44:44
  Speaker 3: Then another.
• 44:45
  Speaker 6: Daddy.
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: And another. As soon every door was screaming in Sophie's voice.
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: Hundreds of little girls, all begging, all crying, all pleading
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: with him to open their doors. Thomas covered his eyes. Stop.
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: His single voice spoke behind him. Thomas? He turned something
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: at the end of the hallway. It was the harvester.
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: The pumpkin on his shoulders burned like a furnace. Lose
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: a door. Thomas shook his head. No. Lose. Where is
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: my daughter? The creature raised one long finger and pointed
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: towards the door behind Thomas. It was smaller than any others,
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: painted white. On the front of the handwritten message, one
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: who loves you will never ask you to open the door.
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: Thomas stared. Then he understood the voices behind the doors
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: weren't Sophie. They were tracks. Every voice begged him to enter.
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: Every voice tried to make him choose except one. He
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: turned towards this narrow door at the far end of
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: the hallway. No sound came from behind it. No crying.
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: No pleading. Only silence. Thomas approached. He placed his hand
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: on the knob and opened it. Inside, Sophie sat on
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: the floor, alive, terrified, holding her little stuffed rabbit. And
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: when she saw her father, she did not speak. She
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: simply ran into his arms. Thomas held her tightly. And
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: behind them, the harvester began to scream. He screamed so
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: loud that every door in the hallway began to bust open.
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: And the dead came out pouring out. The hallway filled
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: with figures, children in rotting Halloween costumes, parents of old-fashioned clothing,
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: men and women with empty ice sockets, their mouths hung open,
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: their skin was gray, their bodies moved stiff, unnatural jerks.
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: They crowded the hallway, reaching, whispering, begging, take us with you.
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: Don't leave Thomas carried Sophie towards the staircase but the
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: dead followed. Some crawled across the ceiling. Others dragged themselves
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: along the floor and behind them all the harvester came
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: its pumpkin head split open. The long black shape unfolded
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: from inside. Something like a spider. Something like a man.
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: Something I could never belong to in the whole world
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: of living. It rose above the dead. Its limbs scraping
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: against the walls. And from its enormous mouth came one
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: final command.
• 49:18
  Speaker 3: No one leaves Halloween.
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: Thomas reached the front door. Evelyn and Daniel were waiting.
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: He pushed them in outside. The fog was thick. Trees
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: bend towards the house. Every pumpkin along the driveway had
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: turned its face to them. Their car amounts move. Their
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: candles flicker. And together they whisper, Stay! Thomas ran.
• 50:03
  Speaker 3: Evelyn ran. Daniel ran.
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: And Sophie during her clanging to her father's neck. Behind them,
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: the house began to collapse. The windows exploded. The walls twisted.
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: And from every opening came the screaming faces of the dead.
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: And then, at exactly 12.59 a.m., the church bells rang once.
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: And everything stopped. The house vanished. The fog lifted. The
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: pumpkins went dark. And the road was empty. November 1st, 1978.
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: At sunrise, the Carter family was found wandering along the
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: highway outside Willow Creek, Hollow Creek. Thomas was barefooted, but
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: her hair had turned almost completely white. Daniel refused to speak,
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: and Sophie wouldn't let go of her stuffed rabbit. Police
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: returned to Hollow Creek that morning, but the town was empty.
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: Every house stood abandoned. Every door was open. There was
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: no people. No animals, no birds, not even insects. The
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: town's clock had stopped at midnight, and in the center
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: of the square, 17 jack-o'-lanterns had been arranged in perfect circle,
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: with each pumpkin contained a single candle. Each candle was
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: still burning inside the circle, was a wooden sign. It read,
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: Thank you for your children. Authorities never explained what happened.
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: The Carter family moved away. Thomas never spoke about Hollow
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: Creek again. Evelyn developed a terrible fear of doorbells. Daniel
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: slept with every light on. Sophie seemed to recover. for
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: a while until Halloween returned. October 31, 1979, 11.58 p.m.
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: The Carter family lived in a small home hundreds of
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: miles away from Hollow Creek. There were no pumpkins, no decorations,
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: no candy. Every curtain was closed. Every door was locked.
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: Thomas sat in the living room with a shotgun across
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: his knees. Evelyn sat beside him. Daniel was upstairs, and
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: Sophie was asleep in her bedroom. At 11.59, the lights flickered.
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: Thomas stood.
• 53:30
  Speaker 3: No!
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: The telephone rang. Once, twice, three times, Thomas did not answer.
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: Then came the sound. Evelyn began to cry. From another
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: side of the front door, a little girl whispered, Trick
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: or treat. Thomas raised a shotgun Go away. The voice giggled.
• 54:11
  Speaker 6: Do you remember me, Mr. Carter?
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: Thomas backed away. The little girl continued.
• 54:22
  Speaker 6: You left us behind.
• 54:25
  Speaker 3: Pause.
• 54:27
  Speaker 6: And we don't like being left behind.
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: The door handle slowly turned. Thomas screamed, you can't come in.
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: The girl laughed.
• 54:43
  Speaker 7: Oh, Mr.
• 54:44
  Speaker 6: Carter.
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: And she whispered, we don't need to. From upstairs came
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: a scream, Daniel's scream. Thomas rushed forward towards the staircase,
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: and before he reached it, Sophie appeared at the top.
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: She stood perfectly still. Her eyes were black. Her mouth
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: stretched from an enormous smile. In her hands, she held
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: a dirty white rabbit costume. Thomas stared at her.
• 55:26
  Speaker 6: Sophie?
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: The girl tilted her head, then spoke in an and
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: a voice that did not belong to any child.
• 55:40
  Speaker 3: You brought Halloween home.
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: The Carter family disappeared that night. No one ever found them.
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: Their home was discovered empty on the morning of November 1st.
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: The front door stood open. furniture was obscured and the
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: kitchen table sat a small orange pumpkin. Carved into its
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: face was a normal smile. Inside the pumpkin was a photograph.
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: It showed Thomas, Evelyn, Daniel, and Sophie. standing on that
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: front porch of an old Victorian mansion in Hollow Creek.
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: They were dressed in Halloween costumes, smiling. Standing behind them
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: was a tall man wearing a black funeral suit with
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: rotting jack-o'-lanterns for a head. On the back was a
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: photograph For five words.
• 57:06
  Speaker 3: See you next Halloween night.
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: Now. Before I leave you tonight. I want you to
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: think about something. Every Halloween. Millions and millions of children.
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: Knock on doors. They wear masks. They hide their faces.
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: And they ask strangers to let them come closer. Most
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: of them are innocent. Most of them are simply looking
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: for candy. Some, some somewhere, on some lonely road, in
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: some quiet time, there may be a little girl wearing
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: a dirty rabbit, white rabbit costume. She may be standing
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: on your porch. She may be looking, and she might
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: be holding an empty penny bucket. But if you look carefully,
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: you might notice that her feet are bare, that her
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: costume smells of wet earth. And that beneath that rabbit mask,
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: something is smiling. Something very old. Something very hungry. So tonight,
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: when the last trick-or-treater has gone home, when the streets
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: are silent, and the clock begins creeping towards midnight, listen carefully,
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: because you may hear it. Then a little girl's voice.
• 59:07
  Speaker 6: Turn the tape. Please let us.
• 59:16
  Speaker 3: In.
• 59:17
  Speaker 7: It's cold out.
• 59:21
  Speaker 2: Here.
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: Softly. Right behind your ear. Even though as you're completely alone,
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: a voice, a whisper.
• 59:39
  Speaker 3: Why are you looking at the door? Nobody's standing behind you.
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: Remember, my dear listeners, The most terrifying thing about Halloween
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: is not the monsters hiding beneath your bed. It's not
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: the ghosts wandering through the graveyards. And it's not the
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: knocking at your door. It's quite possible that it's something
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: that's been living inside your house for years. Watching you.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: Learning your voice. Memorizing the sound of your footsteps. Waiting
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: particularly for the one night when the boundary between the
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: living and the dead becomes thin enough to reveal itself.
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: And perhaps, and just perhaps, As you sit here, listening
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: to this story. And it's listening to you.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 7: Happy Halloween.
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 6: And whatever you do, don't turn around.
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 3: Happy Halloween.
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: So whatever you do, don't turn around.