Camp Monsters - Boo

Episode Date: October 28, 2020

Down along the coast of South Carolina, the people of the Sea Islands have a name for that dream that some of them have.  They call it the “Boo,” and it’s been around for a very long time.  As long as anyone can remember.  And the strange thing is that, just in this area, in the Sea Islands, the descriptions of the Boo are so consistent, even from people who have never heard of this dream-creature before.  If it is a dream.  But if it is a dream, no one has it for very long.  They get rid of it, or… or the other way around.  Season sponsor:YETI

The sponsor for this podcast is Yeti. And while our sponsors typically send us a 60-second ad script via email, Yeti had a different plan in mind. They decided to send us a five-foot-long tundra cooler with the script printed out and frozen in a block of ice inside. It came with the following instructions. Inside this cooler is our ad for the Camp Monsters podcast. Please let the ice thaw on its own to gain access to the script. Under no circumstances

are you allowed to blast the ice with a blow dryer to speed up the melting process. Well, we figured it wouldn't hurt to humor Yeti and abide by their request. So we waited, and abide by their request. So we waited. And waited. And waited. And then we ran out of time and I had to record this week's episode of the podcast. So Yeti, we apologize for not reading your ad. But it's still frozen and we couldn't wait any longer.

Maybe next time try email. Oh, and we're totally keeping this cooler. Thanks. This is an REI Co-op Studios production. There's a place where impossible creatures exist. You've been there. Everyone has, but you might never have seen these creatures. Not because they weren't there, but because your eyes were closed.

You know. That place between waking and sleeping, when you sense rather than see that dark, thin figure that's leaning over you. Or just as you're drifting off, you feel like you're starting to fall and startle yourself awake, knowing that in the next instant long bony fingers were going to catch you. Well, they're just dreams, right?

Just nightmares come momentarily to life before being banished by wakefulness and reality. Let's hope so. But that doesn't explain why there are such specific regional variations to these legends. And it certainly doesn't explain this week's story. If these creatures are just dreams, why would so many people in one area report such similar experiences, such a similar presence? Shouldn't everyone's dreams be different? Shouldn't everyone's nightmares? Down along the coast of South Carolina, the people of the Sea Islands have a name for,

well, for that dream that some of them have. They call it the Boo. And it's been around for a very long time. As long as anyone can remember. And the strange thing is that, just in this area In the sea islands The descriptions of the boo are so consistent Even from people who've never heard of this dream creature before

If it is a dream But if it is a dream No one has it for very long They get rid of it, or the other way around. This is the Camp Monsters Podcast. The wild places of this country are haunted by mysterious creatures. Creatures you might only have heard whispers of. Every week we amplify those whispers, tell the old tales, relate the recent encounters, and share all the strange stories that you ought to know about the wilderness you love to visit.

These are just stories, of course. They're based on things people claim to have seen and heard and felt, but witnesses can't be mistaken. Listen to these stories and decide for yourself. They couldn't possibly be true, could they? We started this season with a beach fire, didn't we? Seems right we wrap it up with another one. Different ocean this time, though.

We started on the Pacific, and we're finishing on this sleepy little beach off the Atlantic. Right here in South Carolina, where the weather's still nice enough for a night by the fire. I've enjoyed all of our little campfires this season. I hope you have, too. They call this area the Sea Islands. Pretty name, isn't it? Pretty place, too, nowadays. Now it's all parks and camps and million-dollar houses on the beach. A vacation spot, an idyllic getaway. But it wasn't always like this. Time was, this was one of the most remote areas of the country, and one of the most notorious.

Notorious for the heat and the humidity. Notorious for the kind of work that would grind a body down, day after day under a relentless sun in the vast fields of rice and indigo that once covered these islands, notorious for the diseases that haunted the fields and the swamps, malaria, yellow fever, dengue, and something else. A kind of sleeping sickness. That's the best the doctors could come up with to describe it. No fever, but persistent fatigue, listlessness, a general decline, and dreams, very particular dreams. But we'll get to those.

The doctors never decided on a name for this strange sleeping sickness, because before long, everyone who could afford a doctor had fled, and the doctors along with them. The area became so isolated that it developed its own language, Gullah, or Gichi as some people call it, a mix of English and several different African languages originally spoken by the enslaved people who were forced to stay and work here. So it was left to the Gullah to give a name to this sleeping affliction.

In Gullah they call it the Boo. And even as the fields of indigo gave way to beach houses and summer camps, even as modern medicine defeated yellowigo gave way to beach houses and summer camps, even as modern medicine defeated yellow fever and drove malaria out, local people tell you that the boo is still here. But not many people outside of the sea islands have heard about it. Tania certainly hadn't. She came from Charlotte, 200 miles and a world away from the beaches and ocean breezes and all the beauty that the sea islands have to offer. She came here for summer camp,

her very first summer camp. First time away from family, first trip outside of Charlotte, really. And she came here nervous. Who isn't nervous on the first day of camp? But then she surprised herself. Everything here was so open and bright. The morning air like diamonds and the days full of fun and new friends. And then the sun going down with a smile and a wink while they all laughed and goofed around outside their cabins. And the nights, those might have been the best part. Tenaya was an only child, used to long, silent hours alone in the dark while her imagination inched the closet door slowly open or crept out from under her bed. So she loved everything about sleeping on a bunk in a cabin with twelve other people.

She loved the chatter and the jokes and horsing around after lights out. And she loved the slow breathing and the light snores that came later, and the creak of an old mattress when someone rolled over. She loved feeling surrounded by people, people she knew and was part of. There was one thing

she could have done without, though. The counselors took turns walking rounds throughout the night, and checking in on every cabin was part of it. That was fine. Kind of comforting, actually. But at least once every night,

in fact, exactly once every night, Tanaya would be partially woken by one of these visits, driven half-awake by the presence of someone in the cabin. Someone moving quietly around. She wouldn't wake up all the way. Not even enough to open her eyes but in the morning

she'd have these vague memories of being awoken from a horrible dream by the sound or just the feeling, if a feeling can wake you. The feeling of someone creeping quietly, silently across the room. And it seemed to Tania that she would lie there in half-woken fear for what seemed like hours before sleep stole her back for a while before sunrise. in half-woken fear for what seemed like hours,

before sleep stole her back for a while before sunrise. In the morning she knew it must just have been a counselor coming quietly through on their midnight or 2 a.m. round. Of course it was. It had to be. It was silly. Taniya figured that under all the fun she was having, she must still be a little homesick. That must be where these half-sleeping terrors were coming from. Every day she brushed them off, and every evening she resolved to remember that if she woke up, it was only a counselor making her round. But then the middle of every night found her,

just like the last, half awake and frozen with the same irrational dread. In roundabout ways, Tania asked her friends if they were ever bothered by the counselors making their rounds at night. Some of them turned the question around on her and teased her lightly for being scared. Others, the nice ones, empathized and told her unrelated stories about some terrible nightmare they'd had one time. Nobody else seemed to be bothered by these midnight visits.

Nobody except Nora, maybe. When Taniya asked Nora, a small, quiet girl who slept in the next bunk, she looked at Tania with something like surprise. But just for a moment, before shaking her head and turning away. Turning away with tears in her eyes, it seemed to Tania. But then, poor Nora was the homesick one in the cabin. So quiet, always quick to cry. A regular visitor to the camp nurse. The nice girls tried everything they could to draw Nora into the life and the fun of the camp, but to no avail. And

the mean ones were taking bets on how long Nora would last before her parents had to come and take her home. Another strange thing, at first, Taniya could never remember the dream she had just before she woke up every night, only that it was always the same and always terrible. Taniya could never remember the specifics until that night. That night was a sunny day in Tenaya's dreams, with all the usual strange, happy dream adventures. In the middle of the dream, Tenaya dashed back into the cabin to retrieve something that she needed. She ran through the door and as soon as she entered, it became night outside.

The lights in the cabin were on full, but it was empty. She was aware of the sudden night outside, but not bothered by it. In dreams, it's easy to accept sudden changes like that. They happen all the time. Tania walked over to her bunk, and she was about to crouch down to look into it when suddenly, fear hit her.

The whole feeling of the dream changed completely. Terror filled it, and all at once she became aware that there was something awful in there. Something in the bunk that she was about to peer into. Something that was going to get her. Something that she had to get away from. Taniya backed down to the foot of the bunk. The bright, fluorescent light that filled the cabin seemed to shine with a sickly, yellow cast. The hum of the tubes was all she could hear.

Her eyes were fixed on the edge of the top bunk, the edge that hid the space where she knew the thing was. Where she knew in a moment it would emerge and she'd have to run, run as fast as she could, and she knew, as one knows things and dreams, that she couldn't run fast enough. There was a little flicker from the gloom of the lower bunk, like a dark rotten finger flashing out of the space beneath. That broke the spell, and Taniya turned to begin her doomed dash, and when she turned around, there, there, standing, right behind her, in the bright yellow light in the middle of the cabin, was... was... Tania rolled over violently in her sleep, and the old mattress creaked, and the moon's light fell on her face strongly enough to make her eyes start open. She sucked in a

quick breath and looked around. Someone was moving around the cabin. Someone was there. The feeling was so strong. Tania raised her head and looked, slowly, all around, searching hopefully for the warm beam of a counselor's flashlight, listening for the soft tread of their feet as they tiptoed between the sleeping bunks. The whole cabin was visible to her night-accustomed eyes in the reflected moonlight.

She stared around, attuned to any movement. But there was no one. No counselor on their rounds. No camper coming back from the bathroom. No one. Taniya let out her breath and lowered her head back onto her pillow. The feeling that there was someone there,

someone close and awake, remained incredibly strong, and she was puzzled by it, but relieved that it was obviously nothing. She looked up through the window above her at the big, beautiful moon and blinked as a faint cloud glided across it. Her eyes grew heavy and were on their way to closing when one corner of them glimpsed a slight movement. Tania turned her head. Oh, there had been someone up after all.

Nora. Nora. Taniya could just see her dim outline crawling back into the shadows of her bunk across the way. Sure. Sure, that explained the feeling Taniya had had of someone moving around. Nora, on her way to the bathroom, must have woken Taniya up, leaving her to stare in alarm at the apparent stillness until here was Nora coming back. Maybe that's why Tania had the same experience every night.

Being an only child at home, maybe she was such a light sleeper that every time someone came back from the bathroom, she half woke up in fright. Silly. Tania thought about this and smiled up at the moon in amusement. But the moon didn't smile back. Or maybe it was just too bright tonight.

Taniya wasn't the only one who was restless. Over in her bunk, Nora hadn't settled down either. Taniya could see her outline still, Crouched up in there like she was On her hands and knees Staring at her pillow or something What was Nora doing? Tanaya turned her head again Blinking the bright moonlight out of her eyes

And squinting into the dimness of the other bunk And there Lying fast asleep on her back with a look of worry on her face, was Nora. And there, crouching over Nora in the same bunk, was a thin, dark shape. And though Tania couldn't remember what she'd seen at the end of her dream, she knew that this was the same repulsive creature. Tania screamed, and it was a flash of bright eyes and teeth as the dark form turned its face to her. She screamed again, even louder, and there was a clamor all around as the dark form turned its face to her. She screamed again, even louder, and there was a clamor all around as the rest of the cabin came awake. Friends calling out,

jumping from their bunks, running to Taniya, switching on the lights. Everyone except little Nora. Nora slept through the whole thing, and when Taniya had stuttered out what she'd seen, when they gently shook Nora awake and she blinked around, did all the lights on and the whole cabin crowded around her, then she burst out crying, of course. That was Nora's last night at camp. Some people just aren't cut out for it, I guess. Tenaya was starting to wonder if she was cut out for it. After her outburst, her nightmare, as she convinced herself it was, she felt like people were walking on eggshells around

her. Just like they had with Nora, the counselors and the kind campers were extra nice and sunny around her, which only made it worse, in a way. And not all the other campers were kind. One local girl started calling her Boo, and telling everyone that Tania was actually that legendary local creature. A witch who left her skin sleeping in bed every night, and roamed the darkness skinless, looking to steal the breath of sleeping victims,

crouching over them till dawn and sucking the life force from them with every exhale. But it was more than just the whispers and the snickers and the teasing. Everything seemed to have lost its fun somehow. Tania dragged through the days, feeling vaguely like she was holding something fragile that she had to protect, often on the verge of tears. She felt exhausted all the time, even though her one consolation was that the dreams had stopped entirely.

Now she slept straight through every night, silently, dreamlessly, what her grandmother used to call sleeping the sleep of the dead. And even though Tania slept through it now, the counselors still made their rounds. They still walked the quiet line of dark cabins throughout the night, still peeked in to check on the sleeping campers. And sometimes, if it seemed like there might be something wrong, stepping into a cabin. A counselor stepped into Tania's cabin, one night in the next-to-last week of camp, while out on the 2 a.m. round. some sound, some movement, or some feeling that someone was up and moving around in there brought the counselors through the door.

She stood in the doorway and kept her flashlight on dim, shining it down the middle of the row of bunks so it didn't fall on anyone's sleeping face and disturb them. The room was quiet, filled with soft breathing, but something drew the counselor further in. She walked quietly down the aisle. The shadows jumped crazily amongst the bunk beds as she walked. Bed frames and dangling blankets spread darkness behind them like the limbs and leaves of a forest at night. She reached the far wall and looked out the window there as if that had been her destination all along, as if she could see anything in the blackness outside. Then she turned around and started quietly back along the aisle toward the door.

Something, some movement, some shadow, something not as it should be, drew her light over to the bunk on the right she looked looked again squinted for a moment bent down to get a more certain view Taniya meanwhile

had not been dreaming she'd been deep asleep down in the darkness beyond vision, beyond thought. So she didn't know what to make, at first, of the sound that reached her down there. Like a distant train whistle, sort of, but higher pitched and insistent. Annoying. Made her want to turn her head away. But then the sound gained force and urgency, rapidly,

like the last few yards before a train blows past you, close. And as the train of consciousness rushed back to Taniya, that high whistle congealed into a long scream, and she felt light on her eyelids. She woke up and opened her eyes. Opened her eyes and stared. Stared into another set of eyes. The eyes from her dream, the eyes that she'd seen hovering over Nora that other night.

The sort of eyes you only see in nightmares and anatomy textbooks. Wide, lidless, soulless, staring eyes set in a lean, bloody face, stringy with muscle, blotched, yellow and white with the tendons attached to raw bone. No hair on the bare skull, no cheeks to hide the incomplete set of almost human teeth gaping from a too wide open mouth, hovering an inch or less from her own. Tania did not scream She didn't have time or thought or Or the breath left to scream And anyway, someone else was already screaming

That was what had awoken her She was left with one last horrible glimpse Of every naked muscle in the thing Quivering and straining as it whirled to face the light that was shining on it. And even as the flashlight tumbled from the counselor's hand, the thing, the boo, was gone. Vanished at once, as if it had never been there. Of course, it couldn't have been there. Such things aren't real. There's no such thing as the boo. That's what everyone told the counselor that had seen it, and what Taniya's

parents told her when they had to drive down a week early to pick her up. It was just bad dreams. Her parents were a little embarrassed for Taniya a little concerned they were understanding people and after all it had been her very first time at camp she was still so young they were relieved the next summer when taniya eagerly asked to go away to camp again far far away from the sea islands deep in the hills of North Carolina this time. Beautiful country to have up there. And a beautiful night we have out here. A night like this makes you want to sit around the fire forever,

telling and hearing stories, or just listening to the flames. But winter's coming on, and everything has to end eventually. This is our last campfire of the season. Stay warm until next year. Stay safe. And we'll come together again around a good, bright fire when the time is right. Thank you, very sincerely, for stopping by. Camp Monsters is part of the RAI Podcast Network.

If you've been warmed by any of this season's campfires, please subscribe, if you haven't already, and take a moment to rate, review, and share. This is the last episode of this season, but we're already working hard to make the next one happen. You can help by spreading the word, and by going back to listen again to your favorite episodes or even the episodes you didn't like as much. Every little

bit helps. Camp Monsters is recorded around a cozy digital campfire in the overcast room of Cloud Studios in Seattle, Washington. The campfire was lit and is guarded by our very own legendary creature, our producer, Chelsea Davis. The sparks of audio magic are stirred up by our engineer, Nick Patry. Any growls you hear out beyond the firelight probably come from our executive producers,

Paolo Motilla and Joe Crosby. These stories are written and told by yours truly, Thank you for listening. This season of Camp Monsters is brought to you by Yeti. Yeti's stainless steel bottles, mugs, and tumblers are constructed with double wall vacuum insulation, which keeps your cold drinks cold and your hot drinks, well, hot. If only they made a mug big enough for you to sleep in, you'd be protected from the boo. I'm sure the good folks at Yeti are working on it.