CreepsMcPasta Creepypasta Radio - "The truth about why no one swims in the lake near my town anymore" Creepypasta

Episode Date: July 14, 2021

AUTHOR'S BLOG► https://organic-prozac.blog/CREEPYPASTA STORY►by OrganicProzac: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comm...Creepypastas are the campfire tales of the internet. Horror stories spread th...rough Reddit r/nosleep, forums and blogs, rather than word of mouth. Whether you believe these scary stories to be true or not is left to your own discretion and imagination. LISTEN TO CREEPYPASTAS ON THE GO-SPOTIFY► https://open.spotify.com/show/7l0iRPd...iTUNES► https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast...CREEPY THUMBNAIL ART BY►by YOUNG IL CHOI: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/D4xmGSUGGESTED CREEPYPASTA PLAYLISTS-►"Good Places to Start"- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7YCb...►"Personal Favourites"- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEa2R...►"Written by me"- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX6RA...►"Long Stories"- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...FOLLOW ME ON-►Twitter: https://twitter.com/Creeps_McPasta►Instagram: https://instagram.com/creepsmcpasta/►Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/creepsmcpasta►Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CreepsMcPastaCREEPYPASTA MUSIC/ SFX- ►http://bit.ly/Audionic ♪►http://bit.ly/Myuusic ♪►http://bit.ly/incompt ♪►http://bit.ly/EpidemicM ♪-This creepypasta is for entertainment purposes only-

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Starting point is 00:00:01 Every town has its legends and superstitions. The further routes into the countryside you go, the deeper those myths seem to be embedded in the minds of the people who live there. Old-timers, who tell stories with a wistful look in their eye, trying to convince you that what they're recounting is gods on his truth, as they tell you about the friend of a friend's second cousin twice removed who actually saw the beast or spectre or being. Dang near took him off this earth if he hadn't winged it in the Winchester.
Starting point is 00:00:29 Well, I ain't no old-timer, and I ain't nobody's second cousin twice removed. I know for a fact the thing that the kids in my town tell campfire stories about is real. I'm not going to tell you it's flesh and blood. To tell you the truth, I don't know what it really is. All they know is that my brother's gone and he isn't coming back. I grew up in this town. It's not bad so I decided why leave.
Starting point is 00:00:58 City life doesn't appeal to me. Too much concrete, too few trees. Even the trees they do have out in the city don't feel real. They feel like they were placed there to look real, give people the feeling of real, but they ain't. The only way you can see real trees is going out to the forest. Old growth. Those trees give you a sense of magic as you walk amongst them,
Starting point is 00:01:23 like they know the secrets of our world, the kinds of secrets you can't tell, the kind you just have to feel. walking through the trees around my house fills me with the same sense of wonder now as when I was a kid in the forest here you can walk the same path for 30 years
Starting point is 00:01:41 and still feel like you're stepping out into a new glen with each hike I'm never scared out there amongst the trees it feels like home then there's the lake the lake has always reminded me of the city trees it looks real idyllic even as the forest gives way to the emerald green water at the shore which deepens the dark blue almost black at the centre
Starting point is 00:02:06 when you step in the water feels real summers here can get pretty steamy but the lake is always cool beckoning sweaty hikers to take a dip why not swim out see how far you can go there's a reason townsfolk don't go out into the lake the place isn't off limits or anything people still go there, especially during the summer, to paddle or fish or barbecue by the shore. But everyone knows not to go out past the green.
Starting point is 00:02:38 Never swim out to where you can't stand. The kids dare each other to see how far they can make it before they get scared and swim back to shore. The tourists call it superstitious mumbo-jumbo as they splash about in the safety of the shallows. You don't need to read the signs posted around the edge of the lake to know the danger. The place exudes it How often do you find a lake that animals refuse to go near? It's almost like the trees themselves send out their own kind of unspoken warning about the place
Starting point is 00:03:09 besieging other creatures to stay away from the water Animals pick up this kind of language far better than us But we can still feel it That uneasiness you can't quite put your finger on Like you can feel eyes watching you You're right in the edge of panic But you can't imagine why The trees now
Starting point is 00:03:29 Pretty much once a year Someone disappears around here Usually a tourist But every so often It's one of the younger townsfolk There's a search party And an inquiry But we all know they're gone
Starting point is 00:03:45 It's chalked up to them Not knowing the terrain and getting lost Falling down some hole Maybe even getting carried off by a wild animal Happens everywhere, right? People go missing all the time. The one everyone around in knows about is little Danny Becker. His story is the one the mothers remind their children of every time summer rolls around. The one the gruff old time is
Starting point is 00:04:10 tell to all the hikers and campers who come to traverse the hills. The kids giggle about it in their close circles and the tourists to roll their eyes at the earnestness of the craggy storyteller. But when they get to that lake and knock over the water, feel the ambience. That story is comes back. Then, it doesn't feel so ridiculous. Little Danny Becker was 12 years old when he disappeared. I was a kid when I first heard the story, but my dad said he just graduated high school when it happened.
Starting point is 00:04:46 He was part of the search party that went looking for Danny. For eight hours, they combed the forest of that little boy, calling out his name into the trees, searching every crevice, under roots and in the ferns. They brought in search dogs to try and catch down his scent. One of the dogs tracked the boy through the forest, all the way to the lake. There, at the water's edge, pointing out towards the center, a pair of sneakers, heel to heel, white socks neatly rolled up and stuffed inside.
Starting point is 00:05:19 The police dredged the lake, expecting to blow up the drowned corpse of that little boy. All they found were his t-shirt and shorts, both torn straight down the middle. It wasn't until a week after the search had been called off that the other boys came forward to piece the story together. Danny was a quiet boy, a good student, well-behaved and polite, but he didn't have many friends. In a tearful interview with the local newspaper, his mother lamented that must have been why he had been so keen to impress the other boys at fateful evening at the lake. The three boys who came forward told the police They've been playing soldiers around the lake When they happen upon Danny sitting by the shore
Starting point is 00:06:05 Apparently lost in some kind of daydream Humming to himself They were a year older than Danny And said he had been shy when they approached Nervous even The boys asked Danny if you wanted to play with him And he said yes They told Danny that if he was going to be a real Marine
Starting point is 00:06:23 He needed to pass the training first Danny said he could do it He was brave enough to be a marine Out of the three boys None could remember whose idea it had been To send Danny out into the lake It would be easy to blame them But you have to remember
Starting point is 00:06:41 They were only children themselves They told Danny that a true marine Must be able to swim across the whole lake No stopping That generation had their own stories about the lake So they knew the danger but that kind of thing is always somewhat lost than boys, especially when they're in groups.
Starting point is 00:07:01 Danny said he could do it. He took over shoes and socks and waded into the water. The boy said they wouldn't meet him on the other side and watched as he went out past his depth and began to swim. Danny was making good progress at first. The other boys were genuinely impressed by the kid's guts. He was clearly determined to join him with their game. As Danny got out near the center of the lake, he stopped.
Starting point is 00:07:29 He traded water there for a while, looking around himself. The boy said he seemed to grow frantic, started swimming again back to shore, back the way he'd come, much faster now. All of a sudden, he stopped again, though his arms and legs kept thrashing, spewing up water around him, miraculously swimming in place. The boys watched in horror as Danny was wrenched back towards the center of the lake, whirled around like a leaf in a storm drain, all while howling, screeching and gurgling, as the water went over his face.
Starting point is 00:08:02 The black water of the lake churned white, and Danny was finally whipped beneath the surface, and all was silent, blackness settling over the lake again. The boys told the police they stood there for a while, unsure about what they had witnessed. They made feeble attempts to call out Danny's name, half-heartedly discussing going in after him. In the end, they decided to go home and never to tell anyone. They felt like it was their fault Danny had died, that no one would believe their story, and they would ultimately be blamed.
Starting point is 00:08:39 People theorised about what could have caused Danny to be pulled into the lake like that. Some of the more rationally minded people said a giant alligator was the blame. Could have been someone's pet that got too big and was discarded into the lake. Some said a kind of rare snake, or maybe an overgrown pike. could have dragged poor Danny to his death. If those were the case, why had this creature never been seen before? You know all the time since, someone would surely have seen something. Some of the more superstitious said it was a monster,
Starting point is 00:09:11 a creature of legend sent straight from hell, which called this lake its home, its hunting ground. A scientist was called in to try and find a cause with the sonar. He came up with his own conclusion, though he discovered no monster or giant alligator beneath the surface of the lake what he did find when mapping on the bottom was an opening about four feet in diameter right at the deepest part of the lake
Starting point is 00:09:38 the scientist said he'd used the sonar to detect that the opening was the start of an underwater cave system which stretched out beneath the lake said there was no way of telling how vast it was his hypothesis was that unpredictable variance in unobstable variance in underwater currents caused by this cave system had caught Danny and sucked him into the hole, into a labyrinth of network tunnels. The force had been so great that he had ripped the boy's clothes clean off his body. Accidental drowning was the cause of death officially logged on little Danny Becker's file.
Starting point is 00:10:13 Case closed. But not for the townsfolk. No one really believed underwater currents were at play in the lake. The surface was always so calm The level never changed Stories circulated that the cave system Was where the monster lurked Its nest
Starting point is 00:10:31 Whatever the creature was It lay there in its cave Waiting for little girls and boys to swim over it Then when its unsuspecting prey Had ventured too far from the shore To possibly get back He would strike and pull them down Down into its lair
Starting point is 00:10:48 Where we would feast on them And wait for another foolish child to brave its depth Sounds crazy, right? Another overcooked campfire story drifted so far from the reality of the situation that it had become more fiction than fact just a way to stop kids from swimming out past the depths and drowning. I guess a part of me used to think that,
Starting point is 00:11:09 my brother, too. The part of the Danny Becker story that always stuck with me was the cave. It was intriguing to think that there was an undiscovered part of the place I called home down to. there, a mysterious maze never seen by any human. Where I was interested, my older brother, Mike, was completely obsessed. His fascination must have robed off for me when we were kids.
Starting point is 00:11:36 Growing up, Mike and I spent a lot of time in the forest around the lake. We would walk around there together, look out over the lake and come up with goofy ideas about what was really down there. Mike was convinced that there was some kind of treasure down there. Blackbears booty, Inca gold, the Ark of the Covenant. The two of us would draw up plans in sketchbooks. How were we were going to find out what was down there? All the equipment we would require for our mission,
Starting point is 00:12:02 the training we would need to go through first. We drew pictures of ourselves descending into the cave, finding grand atriums filled with lost cities, treasure beyond our wildest dreams, bizarre, deep-sea creatures and mermaids. That obsession was undoubtedly the reason Mike left for the coast as soon as he was old enough. He was always so driven.
Starting point is 00:12:25 He had this way of setting his mind to something, then just doing it. I always envied that in him. I'm more of a dreamer, but Mike was a doer. By the time I had finished high school, Mike was already living out his dream of being a fully trained professional scuba diver.
Starting point is 00:12:43 Our dream, I guess. He sent me postcards from all around the world for the years that followed. Mexico, Brazil, Australia. A few times a year he came back home. He'd regale me and my parents with tales of his adventures, the places he'd been, incredible things he'd seen. It turned out he'd been come to be known as quite the specialist amongst the diving community.
Starting point is 00:13:07 But you can guess in which kind of diving he specialised. Cave diving is one of the most challenging and difficult extreme sports out there. You want to navigate in pitch-black tunnels, sometimes hundreds of meters been in the the surface, squeezing through tunnels so narrow that you might even have to take your gear off and slide it through first before you try to wedge yourself into the opening and out the other side. All the while, you're aware that one wrong turn, one mistake, and you might run out of oxygen and never reach the service again. My parents hated that Mike was into cave diving, but Mike being Mike, he did it anyway and excelled. I'm not going to go into all the advanced dives
Starting point is 00:13:49 Mike had under his belt. If he was still here, he can tell you about them. I couldn't do it justice. Needless to say, if you hear of a dangerous cave dive this side of the equator, Mike has probably done it. I guess I always knew what he was leading to. His quest to become the ultimate cave diver. Sure enough, that summer, when he showed up with all that equipment in the back of his truck,
Starting point is 00:14:16 white grinned spread across his face. I knew it was time for us to live our child a dream. Mike wanted us to become the first people to ever explore the caves under the lake. He wanted us to spend that summer mapping out the tunnels as far as we could. Said, if that scientist was to be believed, it could be one of the most incredible freshwater dive sites in the world. And we would have full naming rights to it. Could even start a business taking others down there.
Starting point is 00:14:45 Like I said, Mike was driven. Enough time had passed since moving away from Mike that he'd all but forgotten the stories about the lake. The dread we felt as kids as we looked out over the black water. The dread we felt as kids as we looked out over the black water had faded for him, to the point where all it felt like was unfounded childish fear. I was far more nervous about the whole idea, but Mike had just had this way about him. He was my big brother, I trusted his judge.
Starting point is 00:15:17 His confidence, his certainty in himself and his own ability. It made me believe too. Besides, he wanted me to be a part of his adventure with him, and I didn't want to let my brother down. It was around noon, midweek in June, so there wouldn't be anyone else around, when we drove the ATV, pulling the little wagon loaded up with all our equipment to the edge of the lake. Whilst Mike was busy himself, unpacking him preparing the equipment, I just kind of stood there, looking out over the water.
Starting point is 00:15:52 It was so still, not a ripple breaking the surface, like a giant mirror reflecting the dark doppelganger of the forest and blue sky above it. I felt that childish fear creep up my spine, noticed there wasn't so much as a bird tweeting in the trees. Silence. Mike mocked me for being lazy. No time for daydreaming kid. Threw me my dry suit and told me to gear up.
Starting point is 00:16:17 We put on our suits and equipment without saying a word to one another, like we were getting dressed for a funeral. Mike had this grave look across his face. At the time, I wrote it off as a deep concentration, but looking back, I think he was second-guessing himself. First time for everything. We went over the plan again. Mike would send the line down, and we were never to let go of it no matter what. At the first sound of trouble, however small, I was to signal him with my flashlight and we would abandon the exploration for the day and resurface. This was the first of days of what could be months of exploring the tunnels, no point taking unnecessary risks.
Starting point is 00:17:02 I had scuba dived with Mike a few times before, so I already knew the basics. Even so, he took me through everything again. He had me ream off the checks I needed to do, what to do in an environment. emergency, decompression stops when resurfacing. He gave me one final piece of advice. If something happens to me down there, don't be a hero. The words rang in my ears as we did our final checks on each other's gear. Then we just stood there for a while, staring out over the lake together.
Starting point is 00:17:35 I'm not even sure how much time passed as we waited there. Not sure if we were waiting at all. Maybe just delaying the inevitable. All of a sudden, and without warning, Mike snapped out of it, lowered his mask and set his respirator in his mouth and waded out into the lake. I followed. Being under the surface of the lake, approaching the actual bottom of it, filled me with a sense of wonder I didn't think I'd felt since I was a kid. It was so serene, peaceful. The underwater landscape was utterly still, as if petrified in time.
Starting point is 00:18:12 There wasn't so much as a weed in the place, a lone fish, no life whatsoever. It felt as though there were two astronauts floating above the surface of the moon. Then we saw it, the mouth yawning open beneath us. The feeling of serenity was obliterated when I saw that black pit that was the entrance to the tunnels. A powerful urge overtook me, my body trying with all its might to turn from that hole
Starting point is 00:18:42 and forced me back to the surface. The only thing that kept me down there was Mike, forging his way ahead, straight for the opening. As we pulled up to the side, I was on the verge of a full-blown panic attack. I could feel it coming on strong. I knew if I lost it at this depth, I would drown. I had to keep my composure.
Starting point is 00:19:06 Follow the plan. Just breathe, breathe. Mike removed the weighted line from his bag. wedge the anchor into place, sent it sinking down into the abyss. Instantly lost in the total blackness. Mike looked at me, gave me the okay symbol with his fingers. I hesitated. He gestured towards me, questioning with a circle of his forefinger and thumb. I returned the symbol. Satisfied, he gave the thumbs down. I took hold of the line and
Starting point is 00:19:38 vanished into the cave. I felt utterly hopeless, watching my brother disappear into the blackness. All I wanted at that point was to somehow call out to him, tell him I'd change my mind, ask him to take me home. But, he was already gone. It was too late.
Starting point is 00:19:59 Just breathe. I gripped the line as tight as I could, swam down into the pitch black. The tunnel maintained the same diameter all the way down, it seemed. I show my flashlight around myself to get a good look. The walls were strangely smooth, little ripples in the surface blighted what could have been processed granite.
Starting point is 00:20:20 It should have been beautiful, but for some reason it just made me feel nauseous. I could see Mike's flashlight ahead of me, reflecting off the walls. It dipped out of sight as he followed the bend, came to view again, curved away. Each time I lost sight of him, I went through an internal battle, trying to convince myself his flashlight would disappear again. I rounded another corner and up ahead the dim green circle appeared surrounded by black
Starting point is 00:20:48 the line went straight into it I swam for it the end of the tunnel the tunnel opened out into a grand chasm it was just as Mike and I had imagined his children an atrium so fast
Starting point is 00:21:04 my flashlight fell to find a wall in any direction the water there felt different to the lake where the lake felt devoid of life this place had an injury about it a terrible kind of power I caught myself allowing Mike to get away from me though I could still see his light
Starting point is 00:21:23 way off down the line I hurried after him unthinking down into the belly of the hall what happened next almost felt inevitable it was over so fast but I still remember each moment
Starting point is 00:21:40 with crystal clarity The line jerked, firstly soft, then so hard it ran like a sore blade through my glove, into my palm as it rushed past me into the chasm beneath. Before I could register what was happening, the line was gone, leaving me floating in a growing cloud of blood from my hand. Panic consumed me. How did we find our way out? The roof was huge, there was no way. I was halfway through swimming back up when it hit me. Mike, where was my brother?
Starting point is 00:22:17 The thought sobered me. I frantically swung my flash out around into the infinite space around me. A glimmer beneath my fins, way down in the blackness, moving away. I swam down, at least the direction I thought was down. I was completely disoriented by the darkness, my feeble light only managing to illuminate about ten feet ahead. A lump had formed in my throat, my mask filling with tears.
Starting point is 00:22:44 Where was he? Something whooshed past me to the left. I stopped dead. Mike? Then it was from above me. Below. My light caught it. Something black.
Starting point is 00:22:58 Feeling out for me. From behind, an otherworldly red light. So bright, it illuminated the entire cave around me. I saw the things around me. Black tendrils, poised like snakes made of ink. I forgot my terror in the confusion, gazed around to see the countless holes which riddle the walls of the cave, turned to the source of the strange light. An eye, glowing red, the size of a ferris wheel, set straight into the wall, staring, eternal, an awful calm overcame me. Acceptance, I looked into the eye and it looked into me.
Starting point is 00:23:39 I began sinking. something open beneath me, a chasm, infinite blackness. The eye winked the cave into darkness again. Terror. Next, adrenaline. I bolted for the roof, swimming as hard as I could, like sprinting, arms thrashing. I felt the tendrils coming to life around me, whipping past me,
Starting point is 00:24:05 hitting into me, buffeting me around. One swiped the mask off my face and plunged me into blackness. I slammed the roof. My flashlight was gone. I helplessly slapped my hands into the stone, begging for an opening, totally blind, anything. One of the tendrils wrapped her in my left fin, ripped it off my foot, then the right. I swam hard into the roof again. By some kind of miracle, my head and shoulders went through a hole. My tank wouldn't fit. I took one deep breath, unclipped my tank squirmed out squeezed into the hole pull myself through the opening arms out ahead
Starting point is 00:24:43 feet scrabbling on the rock I was certain I would get stuck better than being caught by whatever was in the cave behind me I pushed pushed came out into a tunnel wide enough for me to swim I felt my breath tightening like my lungs were going to burst with everything in me I charged the tunnel swimming for my life in total blackness The tunnel was a straight shot. I'm certain if there had been a single corner I would have brained myself and drowned. But I broke the surface.
Starting point is 00:25:16 I was still in complete darkness, but there was air. I gasped in it. I felt around for the walls. Found one. Then a ledge. I heaved myself out of the water, skittered away from it as fast as I could, unsure if the tendrils were still following. Found the wall of the chamber.
Starting point is 00:25:33 I took a moment trying to gather myself. I was too devastated to even cry. I didn't know what to do. Unsure about what had just happened, without any gear, without my brother, alone in the pitch black. I think I passed out there on that ledge for some time. Guess the adrenaline wore off and left me exhausted. I have no way of knowing how long I was out for. When I woke up, I decided to save myself.
Starting point is 00:26:04 I was not going to die there. I felt around the walls of the cavern, making my careful way around, unsure if I was just moving in circles, about to fall back into the water. A breeze caressed the side of my face. I followed it, gratefully sucking down the fresh air. Soon enough there was light, dim but real.
Starting point is 00:26:28 I ran, an opening, a cave curtained by roots. I burst through, and I was back in the forest. I collapsed beneath the trees, and then did I cry. I wept hard for my brother, for myself. The weeks that followed were a blur of police reports, inquests, testimonies. I told them what I had seen down there. The police told me I had most likely experienced nitrogen narcosis,
Starting point is 00:26:59 a type of poisoning from too much nitrogen in the bloodstream. They said it had caused me to hallucinate, panic, I know what I saw. Against my protests, they sent rescue divers down into the cave to retrieve Mike's body. The rescue team never came back. Their disappearance too was written off as another accident in a notoriously dangerous activity. The decision was made to block the opening at the bottom of the lake to stop any other would-be adventurers from going down there. Whatever the thing I saw down there was, some flimsy grid.
Starting point is 00:27:35 is not going to stop it. I don't know what it was, frankly. I don't want to know. I just want to forget it, but every night that eye appears at me in my dreams, pulling me into the depths. I'm kind of a celebrity around the town now.
Starting point is 00:27:54 My story is part of the mythos. Parts of the campfire stories the kids tell each other as they dare one another to go into the lake. To most folks, I'm that probably brain damaged guy who spends his days
Starting point is 00:28:05 walking around the forest sealing up holes with explosives, probably making stories up for my reasons for that too. Sure, they all feel bad for me and my family about what happened to my brother, but they give me a wide berth, as if
Starting point is 00:28:20 nitrogen narcosis is contagious. Either way, nobody swims in the lake anymore, not even in the shallows. But it's still there, serene as ever. Most days, not so much as a ripple on the surface.

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