Lighthouse Horror Podcast - I Work At A FIRE TOWER. If You Hear Sirens, RUN | Scary Stories

Episode Date: November 18, 2023

It's coming.     Story from C.J. Darcy                         Original YouTube link: I Work At A FIRE TOWER. If You Hear Sirens, RUN       For more stories like this one, check out my YouTube channel: Lighthouse Horror | YouTube  Patreon: Lighthouse Horror | Patreon Merch: lighthousehorror.com  Music: Lucas King - YouTube Myuu - YouTube  Incompetech Darren Curtis Music - YouTube  Thank you for listening to this scary story! If you enjoyed this new creepypasta story, please check out some of my other horror stories. We'll be uploading new episodes every week, featuring ghost stories, haunted encounters, mysteries, true stories, creepypasta, and anything supernatural and paranormal. Don't miss out on the thrill and suspense that await you in each episode!

Everybody thinks, wouldn't it be great to come out to the forest, live in a fire tower? But imagine being out here alone for weeks at a time. There is some weird, creepy shit out in these woods. I know, because I've seen it myself. A lot of hikers and campers go missing around here. Some of them come back with stories. You would not believe. some of them never come back.

I'm one of those people. I went missing for four days, and I'm lucky to even still be alive. And if you're ever out in the woods and you hear sirens, run. So if you've ever thought about living in a fire tower, it's not like a long vacation in the national parks. In reality, you end up carrying water, food, books, and other supplies, up 11 flights of stairs all to live in a 10 by 10 room and sleep on a bunk bed that's been

used by like 100 other people. Yes, the view from the walk around deck. It is spectacular. And if you're good with being on your own, it might be a good fit for you. But today was a very bad day. So I'm standing here in a tiny room, 120 feet up in the air, watching rain come down in buckets. Thunder is booming, and the wind must be upwards of 60 miles per hour. So the whole tower is swaying back and forth. And my dog, who's terrified of loud noises, is hiding under the bed. To top it all off, I left my boots on the porch, and they're now filled with at least six inches of water. On the positive side, after a heavy rain like this, I won't have to worry about fires. On the other hand, there's going to be a lot of debris to clean up.

The rain continued for the rest of the day, and on through the night. And when I woke up the next morning, sunlight was peeking through the clouds. I had to coax my dog Molly out from under the bed with scrambled eggs and bacon bits mixed in with her dog food. Molly, she's a three-year-old border collie I got from a dog shelter. when she was just six months old. Border collies are working dogs, so they don't like being left alone for long periods of time. They like to be close to their person. And she's an escape artist. She can open a closed door and climb over a six-foot fence. Luckily, I work for the Forest Service. It's a take your dog to work kind of job. And she has proven herself

to be a very valuable part of the team. Once, when I was clearing a trail, two panicked parents came up to me. They said they were hiking with their nine-year-old son, Daniel. But when they turned around, he was gone. They called and searched for over an hour before looking for help. I had them take me back to where they'd last seen him.

And Molly saved the day. Dogs can hear much better than we can. So I blew the emergency whistle I had in my gear, and I had us all stay completely silent. Moline must have heard him calling for help, because she just took off into the woods. After a 40-minute trek through the undergrowth, we found him, exhausted and pretty scratched up. But okay. I walked with the family back to their car, and while we were walking, I asked Daniel what happened. He said he was following his parents on the trail in looking for some cool rocks for his collection. Suddenly, he saw something move beyond the trees, so he stopped

to get a better look. About 10 feet off the trail, he saw a giant white owl. Just sitting there, staring right at him. Daniel took a few steps off the trail. to get closer. The huge bird fluttered its wings and hopped a little farther into the woods. Daniel had almost caught up to it when it just disappeared. And in the owl's place was a small black stone. Daniel said that the stone, it had very strange markings on it. He picked it up, put it in his pocket and turned around to head back towards his parents. But But instead of seeing the trail, he saw a high rock wall going at least 50 feet straight up. He said, no matter which way he went, he couldn't find his way back to the trail.

When Daniel started getting tired, he remembered to stay in one place to make it easier for people to find him. So he sat down under a large tree and called for help. But no one came. And here's the really strange part. The boy had been lost for maybe two and a half hours at the most. But Daniel said he was gone for three days. He said he saw the sun go down three times and he never heard anyone calling for him. But every few hours, he would hear something big walking through the woods.

Daniel couldn't see what it was, said he was too scared to look. He just hid behind the tree and tried to stay quiet. The only thing he saw was Molly running towards him right before he got rescued. I asked Daniel if I could see the stone he found. But after searching through his pockets, he couldn't find it. He said he must have lost it over there. The way Daniel said over there made it sound like it was another planet. Well, we got back to the car. They thanked Molly and me again and headed home.

But the parents must have called the local newspaper because the following week, a reporter came out to take some photos of Molly. They put her picture under the headline, Hero dog finds missing boy. And she's been a bit of a local celebrity. after that. Sometimes a hiker will even recognize her. And whenever we're in town, she always gets a free scoop of ice cream. Molly seems to love the Forest Ranger lifestyle, but she's afraid of loud noises like thunder. So, couldn't really blame her for hiding under the bed during last night's storm. I spent the morning after the storm picking up branches from around the base of the tower. Once that was clear, Molly and I checked the trails.

There's really only one main trail this far out into the forest. It enters the clearing by the fire tower from the south, then keeps going farther north. There's a few small offshoots and overlooks into the valley, but they're all dead ends. I found a few small trees blocking the path, and those were easy enough to clear by hand. As I tossed those into the woods, Molly helped. by dragging away some of the smaller branches. A few miles from the fire tower, a huge pine tree had come down right across the trail.

That was a bigger job involving a chainsaw. So, Molly and I took a break for early lunch. I was sitting on a log, finishing up a bag of chips. When I noticed that Molly was acting strange, ordinarily when I'm eating something shareable, Molly will stare at me with the intensity of a thousand white-hot suns. But she was looking off trail towards the valley.

Her head was tilted to the side, and she was whining softly. What is it, girl? I stopped chewing to listen. But I didn't hear anything. Molly and I are always out in the woods. She completely ignores rabbits and squirrels, and she barely gives deer a second look. So I thought, maybe it was a mountain lion passing by.

Molly took a few more steps into the woods, and when I walked up next to her, I could see that she was trembling. Following her gaze, I noticed an overgrown path, an offshoot from the main trail. I'd never seen before. Maybe that fallen pine had blocked it from view.

Curious now, I carefully headed down what remained of the old trail. I knew it couldn't go very far, because unless I'd gotten completely turned around, the path should end at a steep cliff overlooking the valley. Ten minutes later, I came to the end of the trail, and blocking the way were two huge boulders with a ten-foot opening between them. The opening was blocked by a massive deadfall of tangled branches and small trees. There was no way around. On the other side of the boulders, there was a steep drop off into the valley.

What the hell is this? I mumbled. The whole thing looked strange. It looked old, steep, and dangerous. For some reason, it reminded me of a little. Stephen Kingbook Pet Cemetery when the old guy and the new neighbor climb over a huge deadfall at night to bury a dead cat. After standing there for a few minutes, I decided to head back to the main trail to get back to work and start cutting up that fallen pine tree. I'd made up my mind to ask

Chester if he knew anything about the old hidden path and the massive blockade of piled-up branches. Chester had been a park ranger in this area for at least 25 years. He knew this park, inside and out. If anyone would know about it, he would. I started walking back when I realized Molly wasn't with me, and I turned to see her about 80 feet back, standing perfectly still, staring at the deadfall. Her head was tilted like she was listening to something in the middle. the distance. And then all of a sudden she took a running leap up onto the dead fall and just started

climbing. No, they'll Molly come, I said, running towards her. But she didn't stop. By the time I got back to the dead fall, her tail was just disappearing over the top. I ran around the side of one of the boulders, still calling for her. But I couldn't see anything. only a sheer drop. And I heard Molly bark from the other side. But when she barked again a few minutes later, she sounded much farther away. I ran back to the main trail to grab my supplies. I quickly hid the chainsaw and tools off trail in case any hikers with children came through.

I rushed back to the deadfall and I started climbing. It was only about 15 feet high, but it was dangerous. A couple of times, branches broke under my way, and I almost fell through. This is a great way to break a leg, I thought to myself. Reaching the top, I looked down to find a small path at the bottom of the deadfall. It looked like it was carved right out of the side of the mountain. On the left side of the little two-foot path was the rocky face of the mountain. the right side was this huge drop off.

I swung my leg over and I started climbing down the other side of the deadfall. If I fell now and I missed the path, I'd enjoy a 200-foot drop straight down to the valley floor. No wonder they blocked this trail, I thought. Breathing a sigh of relief. My boots finally hit solid ground. I used the high vantage point to check for any signs of Molly, but all I could see was the steep trail I was standing on, slowly descending down the mountain and into the tree line.

There were no clearings that I could see in the valley, just dense forest. So I started down. I had to watch my step, because every once in a while, a chunk of the trail had fallen away, there would be a two-foot section of open air. But about halfway down, I began to notice a slight haze along the base of the trees, and the closer I got to the valley floor, the more the light mist turned into a heavy fog. It was cool and damp at the bottom of the trail. The temperature must have dropped 10 or 15 degrees. I called out for Molly, but the sound of my voice seemed to fade into the missed. So I blew my emergency whistle. Molly would hear that from a long way off. I listened for any

sign of her, but nothing. Looking down, I noticed paw prints in the damp ground heading into the forest, and I followed. 30 minutes later, I lost Molly's trail. I decided to walk in a large circle and try to look for more paw prints. I marked. my starting point with a piece of rope tied to a massive oak tree. After 45 minutes of walking through dense forest, I realized I was lost. It was hard to see ten feet in front of me through the heavy fog, and I started to get the feeling that something was watching me. Shaking off the paranoia, I blew my whistle again to see if Molly could find me. The sound might also scare off mountain lions. And then I sat down on a log for a drink.

I was putting the canteen away when a man stepped out from the trees. He was young, maybe in his 20s, thin, in tattered clothes with an old backpack slung over his shoulders. Stardled, I said, hey, looking for my dog. You okay? And without saying a word, he put his hand up to cover his mouth, signaling for me to to keep quiet. He pointed into the trees. And I felt the vibration through the soles of my boots. It was a ways off, but every four or five seconds, I could feel the ground shake slightly. And then I heard it. A soft boom, the sound would repeat. And it was like something huge was walking

through the valley, and it was getting closer. I look over to the guy, and I see that he's plastered himself behind a large tree. And that's when I hear the siren. It was so loud I actually fell to the ground. And the sound was coming from above the tree line. This thing, whatever it was, it was close now. And I stayed low. The ground shook with each step.

There was a fallen log on the ground next to me, and I saw it roll away to the left. It was the next blast of the siren that got me moving. It was so loud that I could feel my eardrums ringing. It sounded like it was almost on top of me. I scrambled toward the nearest tree, and I held onto it. My face pressed into the bark. and then there was silence everything went completely still

I didn't move I didn't even breathe and then it was moving again moving away from us and I thought about Molly how she was so afraid of loud noises I hope she was as far away as possible and I hope she was okay.

I looked over to where the guy had been hiding. But he was gone. Legs shaking now. I slid down to the ground and I tried to catch my breath. And it was then that Molly's head poked through the underbrush. Molly? And am I glad to see you? I said.

Padding my leg for her to come. But she didn't move. It's okay, girl. Come on, let's get out of here, I said. But Molly stayed where she was, just whining softly. She looked back into the brush, and then she took a small step towards me. And something came with her out of the bushes. It was a little girl, with long dark hair, maybe eight or nine years old.

She was wearing a Rugrats t-shirt, and she was clutching Molly's fur like it was a lifeline in the ocean. Now I could see that the girl was scared, so I spoke as quietly as I could. Hey there. See, you met Molly, huh? She's a good dog. The girl looked down at Molly, and then back up at me. Um, what do you say? the three of us find our way out of here, huh? She stood there motionless for a full minute,

and then she gave a slight nod. Okay? Good. All right, well, you hold on to Molly so she doesn't get lost, okay? Can you take my hand? I stood where I was, and I held my hand out towards her. After a moment, she slowly came forward and took it. Grabbing my backpack. I pulled out a fresh water bottle and I offered it to the girl. Here, I bet you're thirsty. Want some water? But she just stood there staring at me. Okay, not right now. All right, uh, we'll try again later. And then I looked down at Molly and said, let's go home, girl. She sniffed at the air and then headed into the forest and we followed close behind. Twice more, we heard something huge walking through the trees, once from a distance, and once much too close for comfort. We stayed silent and unmoving until the danger

passed. We walked for hours. And I didn't tell them this, but I was sure that we would never find our way out. We eventually decided to sit down to rest, and I was once again trying to get the girl to take some water. Suddenly, Molly jumped to her feet. Her head tilted to the side, like she was listening to something in the distance, and then she took off straight into the woods. I grabbed the girl's hand, and we ran after her. Whenever Molly got too far ahead, she would stop and wait for us. She'd keep barking till we caught up. And then she'd take off running again. When I saw the rope tied around the tree I'd used for a marker, I breathed a huge side relief.

It was only a little farther till we reached the trail that led up and out of the valley. As we came out of the mist, I couldn't believe my eyes. Chester? I mumbled. There was park ranger Chester Miles, with a very relieved look on his face. He had a length of rope tied around his waist. Jim, thank God. Come on, he said.

Hurry! I picked up the girl, and we made our way back up the path, carved out of the cliff face. As we climbed, I told Chester about the hiker I saw in the valley. He said, Well, he'll have to find his own way out. We're not going back there. The only reason you three got out is because Molly heard my emergency whistle. When we got to the top, Chester took off the rope and he tied it around the girl's waist.

And then he told her to climb over the deadfall slowly and carefully. And we climbed up right behind her. I carried Molly under one arm. And when we made it to solid ground on the other side, we stopped to catch our breath. All of a sudden, I was incredibly thirsty. I pulled out one of the water bottles, gave one to the girl, and we both drank until the bottles were empty. Whoa, easy there. Don't want to make yourself sick now. A little at a time. Chester said, taking a sip from his canteen.

Jim? I see you and Molly have a new traveling companion. Now who have we here? Chester asked. I just shook my head. She hasn't said a word, I replied. Oh, that's okay. Let's all get back to the fire tower and we'll figure things out from there.

Chester replied with a smile. And Molly took the lead with the girl following closely behind. I said, Chester, I said quietly. If you've got your phone with you, call for an ambulance now, because it'll take him an hour to reach us. Chester shook his head. No calls. He pointed toward the girl. Oh, explain later.

I looked over at him, wondering what was going on. But I trusted Chester. He's a good guy. So I just nodded and kept walking. By the time we got back to the fire tower, the sun was setting. We were all exhausted. The girl refused to go more than three feet away from Molly. So we made a campfire in the clearing below the tower.

We cooked up some food and we set up a small tent for her and Molly to sleep in. Chester and I sat by the campfire. And we had a couple beers. And when we were sure the girl was sound asleep, I turned to him and asked, So, what the hell's going on? She needs to get checked by a doctor. And her family needs to be informed now.

How long do you think you've been grown? Chester asked. What does that have to do with anything? I replied. Just answer? answer the question, he said. I sighed. Okay.

I don't know. I guess I was gone, eight or nine hours. And Chester shook his head. You were gone? For four days. Okay. It's not funny, Chester. I'm not laughing.

He said. When you didn't report in for three days after the storm, Kenny assumed that the storm not out the equipment again, you know, like it did last April. And with all the power outages and flooding, we had our hands full for the last few days. But when I heard Kenny mention that you hadn't called in, I dropped everything, and I came right over. Because I knew exactly where you were. How? I started. But Chester cut me off again. No, no, let me finish, he said. There's something wrong with that valley.

I don't know exactly how to explain it, but let's just say it goes to another place. Not always, but sometimes. When I first started here as a new park ranger, about six months in, a couple of hikers disappeared, boyfriend and girlfriend. They were heading down into the valley to camp for the weekend. and they never came back. There was a big search.

Went on for over three weeks. Never found anything. Not a tent or a backpack or a shoe. Nothing. Like they just vanished clean off the earth. About a year later, a 12-year-old girl goes missing. About 50 miles from here. Her name was Allison Beckett, if I remember correctly.

Anyways, this search party was massive. Always is when a child goes missing. Must have been 400 people out looking for her. They found nothing. Six weeks later, two women were hiking through our valley, and they found her. Poor thing huddled up against a tree. They brought her back, called her,

parents and she was okay but remember she got lost 50 miles away so how'd she end up here in the valley our mayor held a little celebration to thank the two women and present them an award alison and her family came down to attend there was food and drink everybody was happy and just for a moment i happened to catch Allison sitting by herself at a picnic table. So I sat down and I asked her what really happened. She said that her family was hiking to a waterfall and her little brothers were arguing. Her parents stopped to separate them and while they were stopped, Allison kept walking. She said she was tired of listening to her brothers argue. She went around to curve in the path. And off the side of the trail, about 50 feet into the woods, was a merry-go-round,

a full-sized merry-go-round with lights and music and everything. She said she stepped off the trail, walked over to it, and held out her hand, Allison said. She just wanted to touch it. You know, to see if it was real. And as soon as her hand touched the carousel, she was standing in a different forest, and everything was covered and missed. There were three more disappearances over the next five years.

And that's when I decided to block off the trails that led to the valley. You did that? You made the deadfall, I asked. Yes, and I don't regret it, because the disappearances fell off after that. I blocked off every entrance, and then I hid the trails leading to the valley as best I could. Things were pretty quiet here for a long time, but four years ago, a little boy went missing. His name was Jackson Perry. He was six years old at the time, and again, a massive search, locals, reporters, even some people from out of state came to help.

We looked everywhere, brought in search dogs too, and you better believe I searched those hidden trails. I even climbed up the deadfalls to look. But there was nothing there. Five days later, I found him sitting at the base of that same deadfall that we climbed over today. I'd already look there three times. So I'd check him for broken bones. He looks okay, except for some, you know, scrapes and bruises.

I pick him up and carry him back to the search party, and while it's just me and Jackson, I ask him what happened. He says he was playing hide-and-seek with his sister. And he was hiding behind a big rock. He closed his eyes. And when he opened them, his sister was gone. And he was in the woods. And he couldn't see very far because there was smoke everywhere.

Like, you know, when there's a fire. He got scared and started crying. And then he heard a big noise, kind of like a fire truck. Made his ears heard, he said. The ground started shaking. And then he says, a giant picked him up and carried him over the trees. He said it was like flying. Jackson said he could see a long way.

And then the giant just set him down on top of a big pile of sticks. And he climbed down and sat at the bottom. After a while, I came and found him. And when I brought him back to his parents, they rushed him to the hospital. The doctor said the only thing wrong with Jackson, other than some cuts and scratches, was a burst eardrum. The doctor said that could happen, from being close to a loud blast of noise. I think Chester noticed that I went pale after that last story.

He stopped to open another beer, and I asked him the only question I could think of, but why don't you want to take the girl to the hospital? We've got to find out who she is, I said. But I know who she is, Jester said quietly. Her name is Olivia Hernandez. She's eight years old, and she went missing over 20 years ago.

I started again, but Chester interrupted me. You were gone for four days. Time is different over there. But how could you possibly know it's her? I said. Because I looked for that girl for weeks. He started. I guess I never really stopped looking for her.

I memorized her picture. And I recognized the Rugrats T-shirt she was, wearing when she got lost. It's faded now, but it's the same shirt. And I remember her father, Miguel, long after they called off the search. He was up here searching side by side with me. Every weekend and every day off he was out in those woods looking for Olivia. He said he knew she was still alive. He knew it. Twenty years? How could she survive? What did she do for food and water? And how did she keep away from the things that live over there? I asked. I don't know, Chester said. But at first light, I'm going back to base. I'll find contact info for her parents.

they'll have kept it current. Parents of missing children always keep it current. I'll get them out here as fast as possible. I guarantee that if they're still breathing, they'll be here by tomorrow night. In the meantime, she stays here with you. And before you even think about arguing with me, let me tell you this.

That little girl has been through more than we could ever imagine. If we take her in, there will have to be a report. The press will show up, and eventually they'll figure out her story doesn't make sense. They'll be all over her and her parents for months. It'll be a shit show. And if you need another reason, take a look at her sleeping with Molly. I think she feels safe for the first time in a long, long time. You want to take her away from Molly?

Leave her at the hospital with a bunch of strangers. Let me go ahead and answer that for you. No. No, you don't. It's not right. Let her stay with Molly until her parents get here. And then they can decide what to do. He said. I thought for a moment about what had happened to me.

And about what people would say if I told them, what happened to me they think i was crazy and then i thought about olivia chester was right to keep things quiet okay i said olivia will stay here with me and molly till you come back with her parents i fell asleep in the chair by the fire and by the time i woke up chester was already gone he'd left a note under a rock by the chair i'll be back by tonight was all it said I spent the day watching Olivia play with Molly. And true to his word, by five that evening, Chester called to say he was waiting at the airport to pick up Olivia's mother, Maria Hernandez.

I heard the truck pull up two hours later. And then they came walking up. As soon as I saw Maria, I knew it was Olivia's mother. I could see the resemblance in her face. She was very nervous, as she asked. Where is she? I pointed into the clearing. Olivia was sitting with Molly and weaving dandelions into her collar.

Maria gasped, Oh my God, can this be real? She whispered. She walked slowly towards the girl. She whispered. Olivia stood looking at the woman for what felt like in eternity, and then she ran, throwing her arms around her mother,

her little hand still clutching a flower, and then Maria was full on weeping, just holding Olivia tight. I had tears in my eyes too, and I looked over to see that Chester did too. I'll never forget that moment. After things calmed down, we all talked for a while. Maria thanked us over and over, saying she could never repay us for what we'd done.

Olivia still hadn't spoken, but she held tight to her mom. Chester drove the mother and daughter to the airport. Maria wanted to bring Olivia back home to see her father as soon as possible. And after they were gone, I sat by the fire thinking about a everything that had happened. Molly was sound asleep at my feet. Weeks went by, and things settled back down. And then I got a call from Chester, asking if I wanted to meet for dinner in town. We met at the local diner. They had good burgers, and there was a patio out back that allowed dogs. After the waitress took our order, Chester said, I got a letter to

from Maria Hernandez. She said she wished we could have seen the look on her husband's face when he saw his daughter. It was like a huge weight he'd been carrying for 20 years had finally been lifted. She also said, Olivia's coming out of her shell. She's talking again. And Maria said she took my advice about keeping things quiet. She just wanted her family back. In fact, she's homeschooling Olivia right now because she can't bear to be apart from her again.

A few weeks ago, they took Olivia to the local dog shelter and they let her pick out a puppy. And guess what she named it? Yep, Molly. And that little puppy sleeps with her every night. Maria also said that Olivia's birthdays next week, and she and her husband would be. be honored if we'd come celebrate with them because, well, they have a lot to celebrate right now. Chester looked in me and asked, well, so what do you think? You two up for a road trip? Huh, always, I replied. And Molly looked up at the words road trip and woofed her agreement. After

We walked out to the parking lot. Chester got on his truck, waved, and pulled out of the road. And I just stood there for a minute. Looking down in Molly, there was a family with a giant hole right through the heart of it. And you patched it up, Molly. You did this. She stared up at me, head tilted to the side. I gave her a scratch behind. 90 years and I said job well done girl now let's go home