CreepsMcPasta Creepypasta Radio - " Would Like to Tell You About the Tree in my Hometown" Creepypasta

Starting point is 00:00:01 I grew up in a quiet country town in New Jersey during the 70s. We're going back a bit here, I know. The main street was a dusty asphalt strip, lined on either side by squared stone buildings that ended where concrete gave way to the maintained gardens of the Central Park. At the center of the park stood a large tree with thick, twisted branches, reaching high and wide into the sky. As far back as I can remember, this tree never had any leaves, no matter the season, so I'd always thought it was dead.

Starting point is 00:00:36 Surrounding the base of the tree was a short stone and wire barrier. It was put in place years beforehand to deter children from climbing the tree. I had my doubts as to how well it worked, especially since it was beginning to decay and bulge into cracks as the tree's roots expanded below it. However, I personally never at the urge to climb the tree at all. In fact, the tree was more of a natural rink. repellent for me. Something about it deeply unsettled me, even just peddling by it on my way to the store raised the hair in the back of my neck. I found out later that my irrational dislike for the tree

Starting point is 00:01:15 was justified. After all, it had a significant body count for a plant. The first death was a young boy before my time, who was said to have challenged his sister to climb to the top of the tree as fast as possible. Although the girl had refused to move, past the first branch, her brother made it much further up the tree before he apparently misstepped and fell to the ground. His neck broke an impact. Later, a group of children had been playing around the tree when one of them tripped on the ground and was impaled as he fell face first into the broken end of a fell branch. I believe the barrier was placed after that one, but it didn't stop the deaths. A teenage girl on a family picnic outside of the barrier,

Starting point is 00:02:03 was spontaneously crushed by a second falling branch. I remember that one the most, as it was in the papers for weeks, and none of these people... And none of these include the people who hang themselves from the tree's branches through the years. Suffice to say, the tree had a reputation around town, and it was precisely this reputation that caused dumb kids, namely my friends, to constantly dare each other to go near the tree. I dare you to touch it, I dare you to break a twig off it, I dare you to climb it, and so on, every single day after school.

Starting point is 00:02:41 No one ever actually fulfilled these requests, but the insistence was coming to be annoying to anyone who already disliked that mangled looking overgrowth. As we grew older to become teenagers, the jokes gradually subsided, and honestly, none of us thought that much about the tree anymore. Once we weren't kids, it didn't seem to hold as much power over us, and it definitely went from creepy evil tree to neglected centre of the town tree in a hurry. That was, until one night, while sitting drunk and high around a small fire at Mr. Peters Cornfield, that Mark said, Hey, you remember that creepy tree? Oh yeah, dead baby tree, right? Thomas answered him. The one with no leaves. I was inquired as I took another hit from the bong.

Starting point is 00:03:31 Mark beamed. That's the one. We should go burn it down. That thing's creepy as hell. And just like that, there we were. Three teenage boys, high as kites, creeping less and subtly across town, and into the park with two cans of gasoline and a lighter. Mark could hardly contain his excitement.

Starting point is 00:03:52 We kept having to shush him as he giggled manically when high. I bobbed along behind the other two, thinking my extended length bowl cut looked cool, and Thomas flickered a lighter like a kleptomaniac every so often. We stumbled over the short edge and tiptoed across the grass until we reached the tree. However, once we were standing in front of it, I felt instantly sober. The same feeling of dread I always had about this tree took a hold as I stared up at it. Dark branches twisting into the sky, motionless, silent and menacing. It was as if it was challenging us in some prime way.

Starting point is 00:04:32 Looking around, I could tell that I wasn't the only one who felt it. Mark had stopped giggling, and Thomas looked profoundly uncomfortable. Right, well, let's just get this done, I said meekly, gesturing vaguely for them to start pouring the gasoline or something. Are you sure we should do this? Thomas asked. We could get in trouble or something. He trailed off as Mark interrupted. God, it's a tree. Just a damn tree. It doesn't have any power of us,

Starting point is 00:05:02 he said, annoyed with bravado. Yeah, but, like, isn't it city property or something? Thomas asked. Who cares? Let's just do this. We said we would, and we're probably doing them a favour,

Starting point is 00:05:14 so... Mark muttered gruffly, then hop the barrier, and began to aggressively throw gasoline around the base of the tree. For a moment, Thomas and I watched. For me, it felt like there was no air left.

Starting point is 00:05:26 Gravity was crushing down in me with so much intensity that I couldn't move an inch. I felt sweat slowly trickled down my forehead as I struggled to snap out of it. It was just a tree, and we were the ones with the fire, not it. So, why was I so cripplingly scared? Yeah, damn it, no one will even know it's us, I said, finally, surprising myself with a conviction in my voice, as I stepped up to grab the other can of gasoline to help Mark. Good, get the other side real good. I want to make this bonfire burn, baby.

Starting point is 00:05:59 Mark shouted like a lunatic. You got it, I answered, then took a step to the left. By pure chance alone, as I took that step, a massive crash erupted beside me. A large branch had come crashing down from goodness no swear above and demolished the spot I'd been standing on not seconds ago. Splinters of broken bark sprayed in the air from the impact as I stared, dumbfounded.

Starting point is 00:06:27 Nice try, I yelled through dry lips. I was trembling like a leaf, of course, but I wasn't going to let the tree know that. As I took a moment to regain myself, I thought I heard the tree growl in response to my yelling. It was an unmistakable warning. The sound was similar to something you might expect to hear in an old forest where trees creak and groan with age,

Starting point is 00:06:50 but very subtle. At this point, Mark and Thomas came running back, around the tree to see what had happened. Christ, that tree is trying to kill us, Mark muttered, and I noticed he was being supported by Thomas. He had one hand to his forehead, and blood was freely flowing down it. I was around the other side. I tripped on a tree route, hit my head. He informed to my look of horror.

Starting point is 00:07:14 Tree branch fell. It missed, I explained my own situation. Let's just go. This is bad, Thomas begged. Just light her up first. That's all this left for. to do, Mark insisted, to which Thomas couldn't find an excuse to refuse. Fine, he agreed reluctantly.

Starting point is 00:07:35 We helped Mark back over the barrier and stood clear ourselves before Thomas pulled out the lighter. I couldn't help but feel particularly childish at that moment. We were about to burn down a tree that was decades older than we were, because we were high and thought freak accidents were trying to kill us as we were trying to kill it. However, the second the first spark hit the gasoline fumes and the flames burst alive all around the tree. We realised our mistake. We became instantly aware of two things. One, we had overdone it on the gasoline and it was probably going to burn down the whole park.

Starting point is 00:08:15 And two, the tree was moving. Not just moving, it was coming for us. His branches were thrashing wildly, its roots breaking through the surface of the ground. I felt a vice-like grip wrap around my ankle, and before I knew anything else, I was being ripped off the ground. I was barely able to grab a hold at the barrier wire, and found myself in a tug of war over my own limb. From the shouts beside me, I knew Mark and Thomas had also been grabbed. To my horror, I saw beside me Thomas. The root that had him was snared tightly around his leg, and he was thrashed around like a ragdoll in the air from

Starting point is 00:08:55 a moment, before the thing brought him down hard on the ground. I heard him scream and then groaned in pain. The crack that accompanied his impact made it clear that something had broken, but the tree didn't stop there. Whipping him back, it thrashed them against the ground and barrier repeatedly. Each new impact made a wet crunch and sent a splatter of blood in all directions. I saw the light of four from his hand as his body was smashed against the barrier a fourth time. I can only hope he was dead after the second hit because the tree didn't let him go at all until Thomas's body began to break apart. If you've never heard flesh and skin gradually tear apart, I pray you never have to. As I watched Thomas die, I gradually gain re-awareness for the white-hot pain at my ankle.

Starting point is 00:09:46 It seemed the bottom of my trousers had caught fire and it was melting the fibres of my pants onto my leg, which was in turn burning away my skin. I shouted in agony, and I could have sworn I heard the tree do the same, for where the fire burned me, it also burned the root that held me. I felt a vicious tug of my leg that pulled my hip from its joint. The dull pop of that is something I definitely won't ever forget, but I felt no pain. I guess by that point the adrenaline in me was blocking it all. The next thing I was aware of was falling over the barrier. I had been holding onto it so tightly that when my ankle or whatever,

Starting point is 00:10:25 finally came clean off, the force propelled me over it. It was impossibly difficult to move from there. My whole body felt like lead. I tried to stand, but that was anatomically impossible for a reason I didn't fully understand at the time, and the sound of Mark's cries called my attention towards him. Looking around in the days, I tried to locate him, and when my eyes finally found him, I wish they hadn't. The light from the fire made everything very clear to see.

Starting point is 00:10:55 Mark was easily ten feet in the air, large tree limbs wrapped around him. Some of his limbs have been stripped of flesh where the tree had tried to pull him apart, and now it was slowly crushing him to death. I could see pieces of him start to bulging naturally with a pressure, and eventually his screaming stopped as no further air could get into his lungs for him to exhale. When the middle of the tree began to split apart, opening like a giant gaping mouth as it lowered his body into the center. I turned away then. And that's when I realized I now could see red and blue lights flashing somewhere that seemed impossibly far away. Looking to this lights, I made a

Starting point is 00:11:36 conscious effort to focus. This was my new life mission, to crawl toward them. I don't know how far I got and I don't remember anything other than focusing on those lights until I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was in a white, clean hospital bed, although I only had a stump left of my leg, and a burned gauze covering a significant portion of my lower body. I was at least alive and pain-free. The strange part was that no one asked me what happened. Instead, they told me a loose electrical wire started a fire, a fire which, quote, compromised the tree's integrity and caused branches to fall, and sadly, my friends were standing too close. They didn't make it.

Starting point is 00:12:24 Anything I questioned or asked about was written off as, because I was high, I hallucinated. If you were wondering about the tree. It survived. It still stands in the centre of the park in town, though now it has charred patches and is missing a few limbs. It remains as silent and unmoving as ever. If you're curious about me,

Starting point is 00:12:50 I never left the town I wanted to keep an eye on that tree So that's exactly what I do Nowadays I'm old And being old means you look like your typical creepy Old one-legged man Who feeds the pigeons and sneers at passerbyes A new barrier was placed around the tree

Starting point is 00:13:11 And signs that now state very clearly The tree is sacred And being within 20 feet of it is frowned upon I, however, sit on the bench directly under the tree beside the barrier as always, spreading bird seed from a brown paper bag for the birds brave enough to come under the shade of the tree. My being there definitely does more to keep people away than the barrier ever will. No one wants to come near, old pigeon Richard. The tree and I have come to a kind of truce, I believe,

Starting point is 00:13:43 so I sit and prattle away to it with a lighter in my pocket, as I wait for the day, it gathers the courage to try dropping another branch on me.

CreepsMcPasta Creepypasta Radio - " Would Like to Tell You About the Tree in my Hometown" Creepypasta

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