Creepy - Creepaway Camp 2022 - Day 5: Dog Slaughter Falls & The Nightcrawler

Episode Date: July 18, 2022

Dog Slaughter Falls***written by: unknown***The Nightcrawler***Written by: unknown and narrated by Megan McDuffee***Find our reward tiers and how to get your bonus magnet at patreon.com/creepypod***You can also subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/creepypod***Sound Design by Pacific Obadiah***Title music by Megan McDuffee***9wcLzjeg0PYHZqhLwpgY Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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that the National Suicide Prevention Hotline can now be reached by dialing 988 in the United States. Well, you can still reach them at 1-800-273-8255 or by texting Go, that's G-O, to 741-741. It's now that much more accessible to reach out for help. Just dial 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. Now... It's creepy.

A podcast dedicated to you. sharing the most famous chilling and disturbing creepy fosters and urban legends in the world. Whether these stories truly happened or are simply fabrications is for you to decide. These stories may contain graphic depictions of violence and explicit language. Listener discretion is advised. We've been out here for hours, John. gonna tell any stories? What's that now?

You've been scribbling in that book all night. What is it? Oh, it's nothing. It's just this journal I found. You're writing in someone else's journal? No, I mean, I found... Never mind. Okay.

How about you read something to us, or you tell us what happened to Rissa and Alicia? I guess we need a story to kick things off tonight. This story happens at a place called Dog Slaughter Falls. June 2nd, 2012. Yep, it's that time of year again. Time for me to whip out the old adventure journal. This time I finally convinced Brittany to come along.

I know, can you believe it? Her on a hike. It took a lot of convincing and a dozen roses to get her to say yes. But I finally did it. I wanted to traverse the entirety of the chel towey trace. But I know she couldn't handle the full 260 miles of rough backwoods terrain. So I decided to just take a little piece of it that wasn't too awfully mountainous. It's really funny what Brittany reacted to the name of the trail, but I'm not entirely surprised.

Dog Slaughter Falls doesn't have a very nice ring to it, does it? But I promised her the view would make up for the name. Poor thing really does need to get out of the city more. often. As we were driving down the old gravel forest road, she gripped a passenger see the Jeep tighter and tighter, as if the lack of shopping malls and paved road will kill her. Whitley County, Kentucky isn't known for its hot couture and fine dining. She just have to learn to adjust. When we got to the trailhead, Brittany could hardly believe she was at the final destination. I can't remember her exact complaint, but I know it had something

to do with the lack of parking lot. Like that would have made a lot of difference once we were away from the jeep and on our way. I just pulled off into the uneven grass shoulder and put the vehicle in park. Sheltoy Trace was called that because Sheltoy was the name of the Shawnee Indians gave Daniel Boone when he walked in the area. It means big turtle because apparently that's what he looked like to them with his big backpack on. I could see why the Native Americans would think that, though I think Brittany looked more like a pink malnourish dough with a boulder strapped to her back. Of course, she complained about the weight and size of her backpack, but all she was carrying was her sleeping bag, food, clothes, and other necessities.

I'm the one carrying the tent, plus all the things we'd need. Eventually, she seemed to get used to the extra weight, though, much to my relief. I love her so much, and couldn't imagine her not being my girlfriend, but sometimes she really does have a sour attitude. I just know that there's more tour than the shallow, superficial facade she keeps up. Like how she complained that her hiking boots were ugly. I told her they'd be a lot prettier to her than her designer sandals if she stepped on a rattlesnake. That made her be quiet about it.

We didn't make it all the way to the falls, but that wasn't Britney's fault. It was mine. I can't believe I never noticed it before, but this time I found a tiny little unmarked trail shooting off to the left of the main path. It was so rarely used it was almost invisible among the weeds and ferns of the forest floor. The green had almost completely swallowed it up. Not sure if I'll ever be able to find it again by just sight alone. So I'm writing down that it was around the 3.4 mile mark on the trail. Curiosity got the better in me, and I convinced Britt that we should explode the little path.

I didn't really expect it to lead anywhere except maybe some cool Indian rock host not seen from the main trail. But the trail turned out to be long and one of the best hikes I've ever experienced. That's seeing a lot. The most surprising part of all was that the trail ended at a backcountry campground I'd never seen on any of my maps. But it wasn't abandoned. There were a handful of tents sprawled out in a little clearing, with backpacks hung from several of the trees to keep bears out of their food. It didn't take much convincing to get Brittany to set up camp here instead of going back to the trail we started on and finishing it. I had to give it to her.

She did okay for her first hike, and it was pushing 90 degrees the majority of the time. I set up the camping area while Brittany stared in shock at her very first blister that had formed on her left foot. She'd just have to get used to those. As even closed in, the other members of the campground began to slowly make their way back to camp. There was an elderly man with long gray hair and a matching beard and 60-style clothes. Obviously, an old hippie with a deep love of nature. His name was Warren, and he looked like a really cool guy. I'm going to have to talk to him soon.

He might know about some awesome trails and places I've never heard of. I mean, he did know about this campground, right? It's not like everyone here just happened upon this mysterious little path by accident like we did. There was a teenage girl in dark clothes and hair over her eyes, camping with her parents, who wore glasses and seemed to be interested in every bug, every leaf, every tree around them. But not in an admiring way, but in a studious way. obviously scientists the girl seemed both happy and nonchalant about everything i can tell she likes the woods in nature but you know how we all were as teens she's just trying to act like she doesn't care

i also caught her rolling her eyes up at brittany tonight after the fuss she made when i told her where she needed to go do her business after our dinner i understand why people get annoyed at her honestly i do sometimes too so i won't hold it against the girl she's She seems like she's nice. There was a younger boy, probably in his tweens camping with his dad. They seemed kind of cold and distant with each other. I wonder what's going on with them. I noticed sometimes a dad would make an awkward attempt to joke with the boy, and the boy seemed

to have none of it. Maybe since there's no mom they're trying to get over a bad divorce. I know that can be tough on kids. Poor thing. Lastly, there was a tent on the far side of the campground that was ripped in a house. dirty. It still had an old backpack hung in the trees with vines growing over it. Looked like whoever set up camp there never came back for their things. I think that's so strange. I took a look at this stuff. It's quality equipment.

Kelty, Eddie Bauer, brands like that. Who would just leave that stuff behind? But hey, that's not the weirdest thing to happen today. I told you about Britt freaking out, about going into the woods and digging a hole in order to do her business. Well, when she came back, all of her angst and complaints were gone. I was starting to think she, you know, pooped them out of her. Her eyes were aglow with excitement. I've only seen her like that when there was a big sale at her favorite boutique. I'm glad she found something to give her some joy about being out here.

But the source of her happiness is worrying me a little. She sat back down on the log next to me in the fire and giddily exclaimed, Guess what I saw, Scott? I smiled thinking she must have spotted a deer or something. But she replied when I guessed that. No, a big dog with antlers. At first I was scared because it was really big, but then I just kept staring and realized it was so cute.

I wonder if she had heat stroke. She's still out by the fire while I'm writing this. She knows I like my privacy while I'm writing this. I write in my journal. I better go out and check on her and bring her some more water. I hope I haven't pushed her too far. June 3rd, 2012.

Today was our first full day at the backcountry campground and Brittany and I spent it exploring the surrounding area and getting to know the other people here. Remember yesterday when I said I was going to ask Warren if he knew any more good hiking spots since he knew about the hidden campground? Well, it turns out that he had never seen the trail that led to here before either

and decided to take it out of curiosity just like me. And as I went around to talk to the rest of the campers, they said the same thing. But I was right about him knowing some other great spots and he clued me into some great ones. I can't wait to check him out. Turns out I was sort of right about the little boy and his dad. The father approached me later this afternoon and asked if I knew some good ideas on how to bond while camping. He said his wife and he had gotten divorced when she was pregnant with their son, whose name is Matt. He'd been out of Matt's life up into the last few months when he turned his life around and decided to try and have a relationship with his boy.

I feel even more sorry for Matt now. It must be strange to have your dad just show up out of the blue after years and not knowing him. Then have said dad drag you out into the middle and nowhere to bond. The dad's name is James, by the way. I felt a little judgmental about him when he first told his story to me. But after seeing the way he really wants to bond with his son, maybe it really has made a turnaround. I guess I'll just pray for the best between those two.

The teenage girl is named Sammy, and she came over to our tent out of boredom tonight after watching her parents identify insects for the last four hours. She says she loves the woods, but not for the same reason as her parents. She wishes she could just explore and enjoy the beauty and freedom the forest gives, instead of hearing a long list of scientific names spewing out of her parents' mouths day in and day out.

She seems like she get along well with me as well as Warren. I love something she said to me. Nature is so much more than a science experiment. I think this girl has her head in the right place. I never really got to talk with her parents, but she said their names are Robert and Cindy. I can tell they're very submerged in their work at the moment, so I decided to leave them be.

It seemed like the types of his conversation could go over my head in about five seconds anyway. I found something really cool when exploring the area today. Brittany tagged along hoping to see her elk dog again, and Warren decided to join us as well. There are no trails other than the one heading out of the campground, so I just used my GPS and we trail blazed a little. Brittany did it pretty well for her first time walking in the woods without a trail.

She only fell on a leaf-covered hole three times, and only cried when she did it twice. The last time she just laughed. I really think she's starting to see the fun in this. I'm so glad. Oh, but I'm getting off topic here. We found an old house. It's clearly been abandoned for a long, long time.

It's like a little Victorian-era cottage. White wooden siding with intricate details around the roof. It's halfway falling down now and is covered in vines and bushes. The paint was peeling off the siding and porch. It was beautiful and intriguing. despite the disarray it was in. Or perhaps that just added to the charm. I'm not sure.

But by the time we found it, we were afraid we wouldn't make it back to camp until dark, so we were going to go back and explore tomorrow. I may ask Sammy if she wants to come too. This sounds like something she may like. It's better than Latin bug names at least. June 4th, 2012. I explored the house today,

and it lived up to my expectation. It took a long, long time for the four of us to find it again. Yes, four. I was right. Sammy wanted to come with us. When we finally ran up to the decrepit house again, it was already pushing into late afternoon or early evening. The sunset filtered through the trees,

shining on the old house and painting it in a light orange hue. The four of us just stood there and stared at it for a few minutes. At first in awe of it, but then in curiosity for myself. I was planning on how to approach entering the rod at home. Finally, I sided just to jump over the decayed hole in the middle of the front porch. Warren and I told the ladies we test out the floor first just in case it wasn't stable. Britt seemed relieved and Sammy seemed annoyed and disappointed.

The girl has a real love of adventure. Warren and I pushed open the aged front door. It was hanging half off its hinges and splattered with green moss and gray patches where the white paint had shipped off. entering it we found a whole different world. It was almost as if we'd step back in time. Antique furniture was placed in the house just as it would have been back when it was in its heyday, apart from the magnificent amounts of dust, moss, mold, and grime. And the occasional bird's nest and other trace of animal life.

Every step we took made the weary boards under our feet quiver and whine. The first room we entered was the living room. The orange sun cast its light on a night. an old burgundy velvet couch with sumptuous curves and a detailed sherrywood frame. Along it were a green velvet wing back chair, an old wooden rocker to keep a company. Two bulbous kerosene lamps adorned two tables on either side of the couch, and one lamp that had been sitting on the writing desk near the window had been knocked over with its glass shards scattered around the room.

Yellowed floral wallpaper hung in strips from the wall. The fireplace in the center of the room had black, ashen, raccoon paw prints. scrambling from its mouth in all directions, and on top were something Warren and I both found unnerving, nearly a dozen taxidermied animal heads. There were several large bucks with spiders living in webs strewn across their mighty antlers. A couple of wolves and three foxes, two red and one gray, all staring at us with ancient, foggy, blink glass eyes.

Some had hair loss and other damage. Others look like they've been nibbled on by some sort of. sort of animal. Then I noticed on the very far right there was an empty head mount with a note hung on it. I read the beautiful script on the paper. It was hard to make out after so many years aware. But I believe it said, for the waltage? What on earth is a voltage? Looks like I'll never know since it seemed the old hunter never found one. After exploring the living room, Warren went back to give the ladies a tour while I split off from him. Too curious to see the rest of the house to wait and witness their reactions to the old place. I wandered into the kitchen. There's an old black,

wood-burning stove in the left corner with a metal pot still resting on top of it as if the owner had been in the middle of cooking something when the place was abandoned. In fact, upon closer inspection, it seemed that was the case. A pile of fungus in the cookware showed there used to be food in it. That unnerves me sitting here in the tent thinking about it just as much as when I realized it in the old kitchen. The kitchen table was scratched and the legs looked like they've been gnawed on by an animal. China dishes were broken all over the floor and long wilted sticks which I believe used to be flowers sat in a milk glass vase in the center of the table. Why would someone just leave everything like this? Just abandon it.

It makes me think now the abandoned tent and equipment that sitting at that tent, 10 feet away from where I am right now. It's really starting to bug me, but I can't let my mind get too carried away. There has to be a sane explanation. Well, back to exploring the old house. I walked back into the dusty hallway that connected the lower floor rooms and went to the right down the dark corridor to the next closed, chipped door. I wiggled the knob and found it was unlocked.

This must have been the master bedroom. A large cherrywood bed with large posts was the focal point in a room, with two nightstands equipped with bronze metal kerosene lamps with blue globes. There was an old piano with reggae yellow keys sitting in the corner of the room. I walked over to it to see if it could still make a sound and step down something. I looked down and saw fur and cold dead eyes. I'm ashamed to say I probably jumped three feet in the air and made a less than manly sound. It turns out it was just a taxidermy fox that something had knocked off the nearby table.

Beginning my composure, and patching up my pride with the fact that no one had seen me do that, I stepped over the poor animal and made my way over to the piano by the window. I picked out a key that looked the most attached to the piano and gingerly tapped it. Hearing it make a faint sound, I tapped it harder, and an out-at-tune gong resonated through the rest of the house. It was much louder than I'd meant it to be. Turns out I'd scared the rest of the group who'd made it to the kitchen by then. Oops.

I turned around and walked back across the room. Noticing a beautiful old dresser with a cracked mirror and glass perfume bottles with gold metal wound intricately around them, still sitting on it and stepped back out into the dark windowless hallway. Squinting to the right at the end of the hallway I noticed the silhouette of a stairway.

I decided to check out the upstairs. Checking every creaky step, I finally climbed the small staircase. At the top was a doorway with the door smashed on the ground as if someone had broken into the room. Maybe we weren't the first ones to find this whole place? Peering in, I noticed this looked like a child's bedroom, going by the color of the objects in the room, and a few gender stereotypes. I decided this was a little girl's room. There was dusty wallpaper with pink roses barely still stuck.

on the wall. A little white canopy bed sat in the corner of the room with ripped pink lace hanging from the posts. The quilt was pulled off to bed and ripped in several places, with what looked to be large claws. I thought it may be a bear at first until I noticed some brown fur stuck to the quilt. We don't have brown bears here in Kentucky, so it couldn't be. I moved the ripped quilt and found something very interesting, an old book. Turns out it's a girl's diary. I can't wait to read it and learn more about the family. I stooped down to pick it up and saw something move out of the corner of my eye, like a shadow moving across the room. I looked over at the dim window. The sun was almost down by then and I realized I better get everyone

home. The shadow was probably a bird flying past the window. I walked down the creaky stairs and Mel Warren and the others back in the living room. Everyone seemed extremely happy with what they'd found in the house. It satisfied everyone's curiosity, so we decided to head back to camp before it became too dark to see. I didn't expect us to take that long to find the old house again, so I hadn't brought a flashlight. I should have known better. It's always good to be prepared for anything that might happen in the forest. Oh well, at least I'll know better next time. By the time we all made it back to camp, we were exhausted. Sammy walked over to her parents to tell them about her day, and Brittany plopped down on a log and massage-dracking feet.

I made her some dinner from our MREs, then started writing in here. It's starting to get late. I guess I'll have to read the little girl's diary tomorrow. June 5th, 2012. I usually save writing in here until night, so I'll be able to talk about my day. But I figured I'd make an early entry. I'm up at 6 o'clock today because I was just too curious about the little girl's diary. I don't know why I'm so drunk.

on to it. I thought I'd write down anything interesting I found in here. I really want to know why they just left everything like this. So it turns out the girl's name was Annie McKay. She was the only child and her parents were immigrants from Scotland. Her father was a successful hunter, taxidermist, and fur trapper. She got her diary for Christmas at the age of seven along with a fox fur coat her father had made fur.

That's so sweet, even though I hate fur. but I have to remember that was a common thing back then since there were no alternatives to fur. Annie was an only child and her mother taught her school at home since her mother was a school teacher back in Scotland. She seemed to have a wonderful personality. A lot like me, actually, now that I think about it. She's shown her disdain for school already and I've only read a few entries. She'd much rather be out playing in the forest. She seemed to love flowers since she'd press.

several into the pages of this diary. That must have been what she went out to find in the forest. She also really seemed to like to sketch things. For a seven-year-old, she was very talented. There are several pages of animal drawings as well as flowers and trees. I think I like Annie. She seemed to be very sweet. In other news, I think Brittany and I are just going to hang out around camp for a while.

She's still very tired from her adventure yesterday. That's fine. I'll just read more of the diary and maybe look at the abandoned camping stuff again. Maybe there'll be something salvageable I can use. I'll write more later. I just want to read more for now. Turns out Brittany wasn't crazy. James and Matt were out in the forest trailblazing and trying to bond.

And they saw that animal that she said she saw. The wolf with elk antlers. Matt said he saw hooves on the back legs. This is insane. How on earth could something like this exist and no one find it before now? I thought before Brittany was just tired and either hallucinated it or just seen a coyote and some branches sticking up behind it and thought it was a strange creature. James and Matt both came back to the camp running and laughing with a spark in their eyes.

It seemed whoever they saw helped him do what they'd set out to do on the trip in the first place. Good for them. Robert and Cindy, of course, are both scorn. skeptical, amazed, and terribly curious. James says they were walking around enjoying the scenery when they noticed something out of the corner of their eyes. They looked to the left and it was standing about seven feet away from them. It was solid brown with deep blue eyes and had small antlers on its head.

James said it looked at them with the strangest expression on its face. It just stood there for a long time, so they got a good look at it. Then it looked startled and turned its head as if it heard something. thing, gave them one last look, then turned and darted back into the forest with a gate that was both trotting like a canine and gracefully bounding like a deer. Matt says the thing that really stood out for him were the eyes. Not necessarily the odd color, but their essence in general. He said they were very intelligent looking. I just can't get over the fact that it may actually exist. How is it possible? I've been hiking in these woods since I was a tiny little boy with my dad.

We've seen just about every animal there is in this forest, or so we thought. Even if it is real, what the heck is it? Is it some weird product of a wolf- elk love affair? Is that possible? Robert thinks it could be some evolutionary link between deer and canines. I don't believe in evolution, so I can't say I support his belief. But it's something to think about. We've all been talking to Brittany about what she'd seen in her community.

comparing the differences and similarities. And of course, Robert and Cindy have been writing notes like there's no tomorrow. Apparently, Brittany saw another creature of the same species. She said hers was black with yellow eyes and very large antlers. Orrn't theorized that maybe that was a male, Brittany saw, and a female that James and Matt saw, considering the difference in antler size. Cindy seems to agree with them, but also thinks if it's not a gender difference, that it could have just been that Brittany had seen an adult and James and Matt had seen an adolescent.

Either way, this is terribly fascinating. I'll have to finish reading Annie's diary later. This is too exciting to miss. We're thinking about all going into the forest tomorrow to look for more of the creatures. I can't help think about what I saw in the old house. The mount reserved for the waltage. The brown fur on the ripped quilt and the busted down door. Could all that be pointing toward this creature really existing?

I'm not sure if I can even sleep tonight. Everything's so exhilarating. June 6th, 2012. I finally got to sleep around 4 o'clock this morning and slept until 8. So I got four hours of sleep at least. I spent most of my night deep and thought about the new creature and looking out my tent's door every time I heard a rustling in the leaves or crunch of a stick under someone or some thing's feet.

Most of the time it turned out to be a squirrel or someone from our camp. But other times I looked out and saw nothing. Once when I looked out, I swear I saw yellow eyes staring at me from the shadows of the forest, but it disappeared too quickly to tell for sure. Maybe I was just too excited about what I'd heard last night. After making another dried, ready-to-eat meal for breakfast, everyone strapped on their day packs

and prepared to go all looking for more strange creatures. This is becoming less of all. hiking trip and more of a mystery every day, it seems. Sadly, after looking for eight hours straight, our little group didn't find anything. So we returned to camp, and disappointingly sulked a wrong camp doing what needed to be done, like bathing and preparing food. Robert tried to cheer everyone up by saying that sometimes naturalists only glimpse well-known animals are studying weeks at a time.

That's true, I guess. But I just really wanted to see it from my sense. self. I decided to check out the abandoned tent today. I really wish I hadn't. Remember how I said it was ripped up? Well, I hadn't looked inside it yet. There was blood and black fur everywhere. I wonder if the hiker had been attacked by a bear. There's no sign of a body anywhere. I'll have to report this to a park ranger when we hike back out of here next week. Brittany cried when I told her what I'd found in the tent and seemed scared the rest of the night. I didn't mean to freak her out. I just figured she needed to know.

Robert and Cindy are going back out to look for the creature tomorrow. I think I'll stay behind tomorrow. I don't need any more disappointment right now. No matter how curious I am. June 7, 2012. Oh my gosh. Early this morning, Brittany and I woke up to the strangest noise. It was a screech that almost sounded like two cars scraping together. I would have sworn it was something mechanical if it weren't for the low, growling undertone it had. I've never heard anything like that in my life. Brittany was still really scared after I told her about finding blood in the abandoned tent and started

to cry. I held her the rest of the night and tried to calm her down. She kept saying she wanted to go home now. But I reminded her about the new animal and asked her. if she wanted to find it again. She said yes, and I told her then she had to keep calm and stay for a little while longer. That bear attacks happen, and that we were safer than the hiker who had that tent. That I knew all the proper techniques to prevent a bear attack.

Finally, she calmed down enough to fall back to sleep for an hour. I stayed up and held her. I really didn't mean to scare her like I did. Maybe I should have kept my findings from her. I sat there wondering what made that sound. I wonder if it was the creature. Sammy's going to be staying in our tent tonight. Robert and Cindy went out to look for the creature this morning and Evan returned to camp yet.

It's already almost 11 o'clock. Poor Sammy's getting worried. I don't blame her. If they don't return by morning, we'll need to send someone to look for them and have someone hike out to report the incident to the park rangers. Right now, we're just trying to comfort Sammy as much as we can. Maybe they just got lost? I mean, they are trailblazing.

I think I'll try to keep her entertained by letting her read Annie's diary with me. June 8, 2012. I knew it. I just knew it. Annie's diary mentioned the creature. She said she saw one when looking for wildflowers in her entry on April 28, 1892. She said she told her dad about it, and he wants to try to hunt it. She didn't want him to, saying it was too pretty to be killed,

he wouldn't listen. Then on her April 29th entry, she drew a sketch of it. It looks just as Brittany, James, and Matt said. Then on the second of May, her father spotted the creature, but was unable to get a clear shot so it escaped. After that, she says her father became more and more obsessed with finding the creature. He named it the waltage and made a mount for its head for when he could bring one down. She mentions being very worried about him. He would leave on hunting trips more and more frequently and stay out longer and longer. It's starting to be a light now. We need to all meet outside to organize the search party for Robert and Cindy.

I'll let you know how that goes. Still no sign of them. I was chosen among the group to go out and tell the park rangers about the disappearances. Warren took the others out to search for Robert and Cindy. Both of us were unsuccessful in our missions. I don't know how we're going to get out of here. I couldn't find my way back out to the dog Slaughter Falls Trail. It's like the brush has grown up around the trail already.

And when I walked in the direction the trail was at, there were several tiny offshoots of trails I hadn't seen before. I didn't know which one was a real trail, so I just picked one. I walked and walked for about five miles, then ended up back on the other side of our campground. It had taken me in a circle. So I started back down the trail, again and chose another offshoot and after walking for two miles I saw it.

It just jumped right out in front of me onto the trail. The brown voltage with the blue eyes. It looked distressed, but it didn't run away. It stood there staring at me and it wouldn't move. What do you want? I eventually asked it. And it almost seemed to answer me. It gave a screeching whimper over and over again.

turning in circles as if we're a house dog trying to tell me it needed outside to do its business. I continued to watch the creature for several more minutes in of what I was seeing. But then I stopped circling and whimpering and stood motionless in front of me. But then it stopped circling and whimpering and stood motionless in front of me, staring into my eyes. And then it changed. It bared its teeth and they became longer than what was biologically possible. Its eyes turned red and grew in size. Blood spurred from its neck as an appendage that looked like ripped flesh shot out of the bleeding hole towards me.

I jumped back and started back away from the now menacing animal. It let out a familiar sound. The screech I'd heard last night. I tripped over her foot and fell on my back and let out a scream. And it changed again. Its eyes softened and became blue once more. Its teeth shrunk to a normal size and the tendril retreated back into its furry neck. When it returned to its normal appearance, I saw that its eyes looked frightened and confused.

It cowered low and whimpered, then ran away into the forest. I got up and rained down the trail back toward camp. It was nearing the end of the day and the sun was getting frighteningly close to the tree line. I didn't want to be out here in the dark with those things. I didn't want to be out in the forest at all for one. once in my life. But I couldn't help but think back to what had just happened. The voltage had looked very upset before it changed. Then it looked almost as if something had snapped in it and it realized what had done. It reverted back to its old appearance and seemed very guilty and frightened by what it just

did. It was strange, but I suddenly felt more pity than fear for the creature. It had a conscience it seemed. I slowed to a brisk walk and tried to see in the overgrowing darkness. But the trail was so small I got lost and found myself in the middle of the forest with no trail and no idea where I was or how to get back. I continued to walk, hoping that the direction I picked was back to the campsite. I hoped that the rest of the group had found Cindy and Robert. I just wanted everything to be okay. Finally I stumbled into a clearing and found myself back at camp. Thank goodness my inner compass was right. I saw the rest of the group sitting near a fire and noticed Robert and Cindy were still nowhere in sight.

Sammy sat on a log with her head and her hands and I noticed they were one short. Matt was missing as well. James was pacing back and forth near his tent, shaking his head and looking as one would expect someone to look if they just lost their sun in the forest. I ran up to Brittany who was sobbing and close to hysterics and asked her what had happened. He saw one of the creatures. She could barely make the sentence in her panic. He ran after and we heard that noise again. Then we went to get him and he disappeared.

We searched and searched. He's gone, just like the others. She tugged me tight and I rubbed her back to try and calm her down. We all moved our tents closer together tonight so that we'd be close in case someone needed help. I'm going to keep reading Annie's journal tonight. I need to know what happened to her and her family. Three people's lives may depend on it.

June 9th, 2012. I read Annie's diary all night last night, all the way up to the October 13th post. That entry looked different than the others. The script looked messy and hurried in the pages that were already stained with age, was stained with little drops. It looked like tear stains.

Here's what it's said word for word. It is already midnight, and father has not come home from his camping trip. He said he would be back by supper. I am so worried about him. I do not know what to do. I am writing in this because I have no one else to talk to about it. Mama went out to find him a few hours ago. She told me to stay here and to be a good girl and everything will be fine.

I can tell it is not, though. Something is terribly wrong. and I am afraid it has to do with the voltage. I don't know what else it would be. If they are not home by morning, I'm going to go look for them. I don't know what I will do without them. I need to hear me... I need to hear father call me his blue-eyed lass again,

and hear Mama tell me how pretty my hair is, how it is brown just like hers when she was a girl. I need them. I love them. I can't stay here any longer. I am going to go looking for them, blue eyes, brown hair. It was then it hit me. It was a crazy thought, but it was the only one that made any sense.

I jumped out of my sleeping bag and ran into the dark forest. Looking around at the night, I yelled out, Annie, Annie, I know it's you. Please answer me. Then I just stood there, listening to my cries echo into the trees until finally. I heard a wrestling. The brown bolted with the blue eyes jumped out from behind a rock outcropping. Her eyes were wide on alert. Frightened, I won't hurt you.

I know you didn't mean to attack me. I tried to calm her down. Her legs were squared as if she was ready to bound away at any moment and let out a screeching bark. Then another, then another, then another. Then she looked behind her and ran suddenly toward me. Stopping a few inches from my face, she just stared at me with glowing blue eyes and nudged me with her nose, over and over. Then looked behind her again. Another nudge, then a whimper, and she disappeared into the dark.

I stood in days for a few minutes until I heard more rustling in the bushes. Annie? I called out. A strange screech resonated from the bushes, but it didn't sound like any I'd ever heard in the past few days. It almost sounded like he was forming syllables. The syllables, help me. With a growl, a black and gray bolted with red eyes and long teeth dripping with saliva strolled out of the bushes. Its fleshy tendril was distended and stretched back behind it into the bushes. Suddenly its head snapped around to look at the bush and let out a menacing roar and pulled its tendril forward.

A new creature was jerking into the clearing. The only way to describe it was half human, half animal. A partially human face with a small half-formed snout with canine teeth, yet very human eyes, stared up at me. His clothes were hanging in patterns, and patches of fur were growing all over his body. body. His fingers and toes were fused partially together, and a bony tail protruded from his rear. Worst of all, the waltage's fleshy tendril was buried deep into a bloody wound in his neck. Help me, please! He screeched in a half-human voice, startling me with tear-filled eyes. I felt my heart began to pound so hard I could see each beat jolting in my eyes.

Every thought in my head told me to run, but I couldn't get my legs to move. Another voltage entered the forest meadow and steadied his bloody muscle on me. Then suddenly there was a brown blur, and another voltage went flying through the air. The blur ran forward, and I saw blue eyes heading my way. Annie, she scooped me up on her back and we blazed through the forest with another unattached creature in pursuit. She ducked and jumped over brush and took wind and complicated turns as I just focused on holding on and not hitting any tree branches. Annie was much smaller than the other voltage, and each bound brought him closer and closer to us. His yellow eyes pierced mine every time I dared to look back.

I knew I was done for when I saw his teeth nearing Annie's chocolate brown tail, but just as he was about to close in, Annie took a sharp right toward an Indian rock house. She squeezed through a small crevice. I look back to see the large black voltage trying to squeeze through. I know you'd eventually make it, but at least Annie bought me time. After riding for what felt like a lifetime, we arrived at my campsite. She stopped just outside the clearing and I jumped down. I looked in her eyes and rubbed her snow.

Thank you, Annie. I'm so sorry this happened to you, I whispered. She whimpered and nuzzled me before vaulting back into the blackness. I walked back into the campground where everyone is outside calling my name. Seeing me, they were full of questions. I told them everything, and to be careful. I didn't know if the black voltage would be back for us. For me, I had this nagging feeling that I led them all here.

Who knows how many there are out there. I've been up for hours now. It's almost 4 o'clock in the morning. We're hours from the sun coming up. This is the longest night of my life. I just want everyone to be safe. Oh no. I just heard a screech outside.

I'm going to check if it's Annie. January 5th, 2013. I was out hiking with my boyfriend and we found this cool backwood campground. I can't believe I found this. I've taken the dog slaughter falls trail so many times, ever since I was a little girl. The campground is strange, though. It's full of ripped up tents. I found this journal in one of them.

I've been wanting a journal, so maybe I can use this one. I haven't read what the former owner is written yet, but it could be interesting. I wonder if he knows about the strange animal I saw today. It was a canine with deer antlers. Everyone back home will think I'm crazy, but I know what I saw. I wonder if I can get proof of its existence. I may go out hiking tomorrow and find out. What an amazing find.

Hey, John, what do you say we put the book down for a little bit, okay? Or burn it with extreme prejudice. It's fine. Like I said, I just found it. Yeah, but you started writing it. What were you writing in it? Nothing. It's fine.

Can someone please change the subject? I've got a story. Are you sure you want to do that? It's how we can go home. Are you sure? What else would be happening to everyone? How do you explain how no one has said goodbye before they left? I'm pretty sure I heard one of them refer to it as the last chopper out of Saigon.

And yes, I can hear you whispering across the campfire. All of which I'm willing to look the other way on, if Megan has a lot of you. a story for us. It's a little more urban legend. Has anyone here ever heard the story of the night crawler? There has been a lot of discussion surrounding the mysterious footage of the so-called night crawler. I grew up in the Fresno area of California and for many years had no handle on a terrifying teenage experience that haunts me to this day. It began in 1993 when three friends and I decided to spend an autumn night in the woods near Millerton Lake. It was the perfect consistent. inclusion to an amazing summer, and something we had planned for so long but always found a way to put

off. We walked aimlessly by the lake for hours, skipping stones, fishing, and enjoying the warmth of the quickly fading sunlight. The warmth soon disappeared behind the treetops, and we decided to walk a little further into the undergrowth to find a good spot to set up camp for the night. Alex and I set up the tent while Terrence began collecting wood for a campfire. We had beer, meat, and all the necessary components for a long night supply of smores. The cold autumn night air soon enveloped our campsite, and crickets began to sing as the smoky scent of the steak we were cooking drifted through the trees and up into the clear night sky.

As we finish off the last of the beer, we noticed that we had slightly underestimated the amount of wood needed to keep a fire going, and so I decided to hunt around for some dry logs and branches. I paced around the campsite but couldn't find out. find anything more substantial than a couple of twigs, so I decided to grab a flashlight and leave the safety of our enclosure out into the wall of darkness surrounding us. It became clear that this forest had experienced a run on firebuilding materials, because for the life of me, I could not find anything big enough to justify carrying it back to camp. I didn't think I had wandered far

when I heard a rush of air behind me. I turned around and saw the leaves on the forest floor twirling, in the beam of my flashlight, a small dust devil, perhaps. But as I fixed my gaze ahead of me and back toward the campsite, I'd noticed that things were not quite right. I hadn't walked more than 200 meters, and yet I couldn't see any glow of a fire whatsoever. I began to feel incredibly uneasy at the implication that I had somehow wandered further from the campsite than imagined and was now lost in these ominous woods, alone. I managed to collect. I managed to collect myself and began retracing my steps. The sameness of every direction was disconcerting. However, I could see impressions in the dirt of where I had previously walked, so I followed intently,

knowing that I would soon see the glowing orange light of the fire and the welcoming silhouettes of my friends by a tent. The more I walked, the more I began to feel that things were not right. I was still following the trail of my footsteps, and yet somehow, after five minutes of walking, I was no closer to the campsite. I knew I had not walked for this long on my way out here. I stopped, feeling the need to crouch down and consider the situation before fear began to take hold. I looked around and began to notice that the trees around me felt strangely distant and faint, almost as if they were shrouded in a dark mist.

This wasn't a physical mist, but rather something ominous that had somehow cloaked the forest in darkness. This wasn't just the darkness of night, but beyond that, you could feel it. I stood up, however, and logic prevailed as I continued along the long path of my footsteps. In the distance, I could see something familiar. I immediately picked up the pace, and as I got closer, I realized that it was the campsite, but there was no fire. The camp felt completely cold and empty. It seemed strange that the fire would have died out so quickly, but not beyond reason.

I finally reached the tent, and that uneasy feeling I had managed to suppress quickly reappeared as I realized that my friends were no longer there. I called out their names and shined my flashlight into the surrounding foliage, but there was no response. At this point, all semblance of composure left my body. I realized that they could have simply wandered off to try to find me, but I somehow knew that this was not the case. Call it sixth sense, if you will. I decided the only thing to do was to try to restart the fire with whatever fuel I could find,

but no matter what I did, no flame would appear from my zippo lighter, as if it too wanted to hide away from this overwhelming darkness. I sat down again with my head in my hands, racking my brain for an explanation of the events thus far. I began to feel the surrounding blackness scurried closer towards me, as if it knew that somehow the absence of fire had removed, some protective force field from around the camp. The next thing I can recall is just being confronted by the most terrifying sound. It can only be described as an eerie whirring noise, almost like a tornado siren,

but completely unnatural and unlike anything I have ever heard. Jales ran down my spine as I sat up to determine the source of this haunting sound. It seemed to reverberate throughout the tree trunks in all terms. directions, as the breeze which had been ever present throughout the evening seemed to retreat almost instantly into silence. I heard footsteps and immediately rejoice that my friends were returning to the camp and that we could discuss the night's events and at long last put myself at ease. As I listened to these footsteps drawing closer, I felt a sudden uneasiness as I realized there was something very wrong with the sound. They were far too slow. It sounded as if someone's

was walking unnaturally, leisurely, artificially, or alternatively, that they were on stilts. The more I listened to these footsteps, the more I convinced I became that this was the sound of someone walking on stilts. And this thought really scared me, because, after all, who or what would be walking on stilts in this pitch blackness in the thick of a forest? I shone my flashlight in the direction of the sound, dreading what I might see. but I had to know. The footsteps were closer than ever now. They must be right here, I thought.

Suddenly I saw an object glint in the beam of light. The footsteps stopped. At this point, I am absolutely frozen in terror as I glimpse a small, white object through the trees. It moves slightly, and I see what looks like a head and legs. The head slowly turns towards me, and what I see causes me to see. scream, but no sound comes out of my mouth. The head is completely featureless. There are no eyes, no mouth, no nose, no ears, and yet somehow I know that it is looking at me. It had no body, just a featureless head attached to long, sinewy legs, and must have been no taller than four feet.

It slowly turned its face back to the direction in which it was traveling, as far as I could tell, and began its uncanny gate back into the darkness. I sat there, shaking and mumbling as I tried to console myself. I had no explanation for what I had just seen. Just as quickly as it arrived, the ghostly darkness that had surrounded everything, vanished, and the breeze returned to the trees. There they were, my friends, between the trees.

I ran towards them, and they were shocked to see my expression. "'What the hell is wrong?' Terrence shouted as I reached them. "'It seems they had heard something moving towards the edge of the lake and had gone to investigate, "'thinking it was me. "'It seems they too couldn't find their way back to the camp, "'and had also found themselves trapped on some endless path to nowhere. "'I mentioned the sound, but they hadn't heard anything, "'and had no idea how the fire had been extinguished as it was still burning strong when they left.

"'I told them about what I had just experienced, and Alex's facial expression turned to one of terror. He told me that Native Americans in the area had described seeing such creatures for generations and that they often carried with them a sense of dread. We headed to the camp and noticed that all of our watches had stopped running and so we had no idea of the time frame in which these events occurred.

Needless to say at this point, we didn't sleep a wink that night, but the rest of it was uneventful. We hastily left at dawn. For years I had wondered what these creatures were and why this one felt the need to show up at our camp. All I had was this tale of Native American legend and the fear that stayed with me since that night.

It seems now that there is video evidence of these creatures venturing outside of the forest and into built-up areas. I can't help but wonder what it is that is drawing them closer to humankind, and just what it is that they may be planning. In the meantime, we will never know. Well, maybe that's what I heard rustling around in the garbage last night. It was probably raccoons.

Nate, stop it. There's no such thing as raccoons. That was me. What about all the splashing noises in the lake? Also me, which all of you knew and no one took me up on. Oh, well, what about the moaning we hear in the middle? Then, you know what, I'm just going to stop talking. Guys, I think we're looking past the important.

part, I'm leaving. Bye. See, there's your goodbye. Happy. How's she going to get out of here in the middle of the night? There's a path. It's washed out. I think she can swim.

Then there's just a little hill. You mean the rock quarry? It's not as steep as it looks. Then just across the field. You mean the one with the biohazard signs all around it? I'm sure she's healthy. She'll be fine. Fine. I'll help her.

It'll probably take a couple of days for me to get back. And when I do, if it looks like I've showered and slept in a hotel while watching chopped marathons on cable when I get back... Do you think he knows we figured out his laptop password and just spend the time when he's gone watching movies? Honestly, this isn't so bad. Plus, we don't have to listen to his night tears when he's gone. Okay, I know John isn't really killing anyone.

Probably. So from now on, can we make a pact that we all stay together until this is over? Deal. Sounds good. Michelle? What? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm with you. I totally won't run. This second, I have any idea how to get out of here. All right, good enough for me. Hey, give me his laptop. Who wants to search for John's private folder? I bet it's... Oh. Oh, no.

No, please. God, no! God, no! All information on this podcast, including how to submit your own story for consideration, please visit creepypod.com. You can also follow us at creepypod on social media and YouTube. All stories told on this podcast are done so through creative common share-a-like licensing, or with written consent from the author. No portion of this podcast may be rebroadcast or otherwise distributed without the express written consent of the creepy podcast production team and the stories author.