Lighthouse Horror Podcast - I Work The Night Shift. People You Work With Are Different Here | Scary Stories

Episode Date: August 15, 2023

Never open the door after dark...  Merch is now live at ⁠⁠lighthousehorror.com⁠⁠ Story from Head of Spectre Make sure to check out more of their work at u/HeadOfSpectre            Original Post: The Last Time I Ever Worked A Midnight Shift : r/nosleep                 Original YouTube link: I Work The Night Shift. People You Work With Are Different Here.  For more stories like this one, check out my YouTube channel: Lighthouse Horror | YouTube  Patreon: Lighthouse Horror | Patreon Sound Effects: Freesound Zapsplat  Music: Lucas King - YouTube Myuu - YouTube  Incompetech 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 scary stories, new true stories, and new creepypasta stories twice a week!

Someone once told me that shift work will take years off your life. I don't know if that's true or if there's any science behind it, but I still believe it. If you've never worked night shifts, it's hell. The schedule changes every week. You're in when you're in, and you adjust your life around that. Maybe it might be more manageable at a job with reasonable hours, something at a restaurant or in retail. Sure, it's still a shit deal, but it's a functional shit deal.

houses and factories, though. Well, that's another damn story altogether. Now I've worked plenty of late shifts before. They're not fun. When you spend your time sleeping during the day and working at night, it doesn't leave a whole lot of room for much else. It screws up your circadian rhythm, and of course, you're just going to switch things up again in a week anyway when they put you on days.

I don't know how anyone is expected to deal with it, but I guess the guys handing out the shifts don't really see it as there. problem. I figure they always just assumed we'd figure it out and put as little thought into it all as possible. Anyways, my point is, shift work sucks, and that's one of the reasons I refuse to do it these days. When I was a little bit younger, sure, what the hell? I needed the money, and I couldn't afford to be picky. All the warehouses and factories in my area hire through temp agencies. Any job you got wasn't guaranteed to be yours tomorrow. They only brought you in when they needed you, which meant that they'd have a steady gig right up until

the three-month hiring deadline was coming up. Then you'd have a week or two where they didn't need you. Then back to it again. Rinse and repeat, assuming you didn't get an early start on repeating the cycle with somebody else. But there was always that hope of getting hired on. Maybe if you worked hard enough, maybe if you showed you were committed and willing to take the shit gigs nobody else wanted, they'd see you as worth their time. Nowadays I know better. Temp agencies, factories and warehouses are all full of shit. Sure, maybe there's some legitimately good ones out there, but I'm willing to bet that those

are rare. Most of them in my town are happy to keep as many people on the temp worker treadmill as possible, but now I'm starting to ramble. My original point was I don't care about impressing these jackasses any more. more. I just care about my paycheck. It's why I only ever work days now. When I get a call from my temp agency about a night shift, or my current placement tries to put me on one, my answer is always no. If they ask me why, I'll always lie about it, saying I've got to watch my kids usually is a good enough answer. I don't have any kids, but they don't know that. The way I see it,

Little white lies like that are a hell of a lot better than explaining to them the main reason while I'll never work another night shift in my life. See, it's more than just the fact that the hours are shit and that it'll slowly kill you. It's a lot more than that. I don't go out at night, period. I haven't done so in about five or six years, ever since that night at Jefferson's. That was the last night shift I ever worked. It was February, which in my part of the world is usually a shit show. From November to around mid-January, winter is fairly mild where I live. But come February, all bets are off. That's when the blizzards hit, and they always hit hard. I've had to physically dig my car out of the

damn snow to get to work before, and trudged through snowdrifts almost knee-deep, just to walk through the parking lot of whatever warehouse I was stuck at for the day. It's not fun. Anyways, it was February and the news was calling for a bitch of a snowstorm that night. Freezing rain, sleet, the whole nine miserable yards. It sounded bad, and when I got the call about a late-night shift available at Jefferson's, I was understandably not too thrilled by the idea of going out in what was shaping up to be the worst storm of the year.

That said, I still had bills to pay. I needed to work. So, like it or not, I said I'd be happy to take the midnight shift at Jeffersons. To be fair to the place, Jefferson's really wasn't all that bad. It was a little more laid back than some of the warehouses I'd worked in before, and I had some friends there. My buddy Ace was working there at the time. Ace was a good guy.

Hell, Ace was probably one of the nicest guys I knew. I'd known him ever since I was a kid, and though he wasn't that much older than me, I guess I still kind of looked up to him a bit. Like an older brother or something. Back after my dad passed, he'd been the one who was there for me. He was the kind of guy who couldn't stand to see a person hurting, and when he saw someone having a rough time, he'd do everything in his power to make it better. I always admired that about him.

He'd encouraged me to hang out with him and his brothers. He'd think of shit we could do together on the weekends. He'd even invited me out on fishing trips with him and his brothers, along with a couple of other kids who he thought just needed a fishing trip. Ace was of the mind that a fishing trip solves most problems. Just you, the water, at a cold beer. I really couldn't argue with his logic. I didn't know if he'd be on the midnight shift too, but I'll be honest, I was kind of hoping

he would be. I would have liked to see a friendly face. I managed to get about five or six hours of sleep before getting up to drive myself over to Jefferson's. I left the house around ten to get a friend. there for 11. The drive shouldn't have taken an hour normally, but the snow was already getting bad. Despite the shit weather, I really didn't want to be late. I recall the drive as not being as rough as I'd expected it to be. I still took my time and got there early enough

to stop at McDonald's drive-thru for a quick bite. I clocked in about 10 minutes before my shift was set to start. There were a few other guys there already, around 10-ish, give or take, hanging out by the lockers and putting on their yellow vests. Some of them were familiar faces. I'd worked with them before, although we weren't exactly friends. I traded a nod with Matt, a guy I'd worked with a few times before. He was a little older and scrawny, but he was a good worker. Despite the gray hairs, he had more stamina than you'd expect from a guy his age. He was talking to a guy around his age named Nathan, who I didn't really know. And I watched as the two left the locker area together. Around the same time they did, I spotted another familiar face coming in through

the door. The one man I'd been hoping to see. Ace's eyes just lit right up when he saw me. He broke into a massive grin as he came over to clap me on the shoulder. He hit me hard enough to make my bones rattle, although I knew he didn't mean anything by it. The one bad thing I could say about Ace is that sometimes he didn't even know his own strength. Mitch, long time no see. Man, how you been?" Can't complain, man. They roped you into this too, huh? A shrugged.

Gotta pay the bill somehow, you know. He headed off to one of the lockers and left his phone and wallet inside. Then he grabbed his safety vest and headed out onto the floor. I followed behind him, shooting the shit as we walked. Most of the other guys were already assembled, waiting for the supervisor to give us our marching orders. I recognized the supervisor on duty that. night, a guy by the name of Rob Alden. Maybe it's just me, but it feels like every supervisor

at every warehouse is named Rob, and they're almost all the exact same scrawny little bastards with a pocket protector on a power trip. The kind of guy who makes craft beer in his basement, and will bring it to every social event almost as if he knows it tastes like carbonated piss and takes a sadistic delight in watching you drink it just to be nice. Anyway, Rob Alden was that kind of Rob. The only thing that set him apart was the fact that he always seemed to have a cough. The guy couldn't get through a damn sentence without coughing or clearing his throat in the most annoying way possible.

It actually sounded like a fake cough. It's probably a shallow reason not to like a guy, but it got on my damn nerves. He was shooting the shit with some of the guys when Ace and I joined the group, and once he noticed everyone was accounted for. he started assigning everyone off. All righty, we've got ourselves a busy night here, guys, so let's get to it, you guys. He gestured to a small group of about four guys clustered together. I'll get you on packing and wrapping the skids.

And you guys. He gestured to myself, Ace, Nathan, and Matt, along with one other guy. We've got some trucks we need unloaded. Alan, you've got the forklift." The leftover guy, whose name was apparently Alan, just nodded and went to get started. Rob went with a packing team to micromanage them, while me, Ace, and the rest of the offloading team headed down to the loading bay to do our thing. Warehouse work is boring as shit, and once we'd gotten to work, I can't say it was very interesting.

I suppose unloading a truck makes the day go fast at least. I imagine we worked about three or so hours, getting through the first truck. Most of what was inside looked like soap or mouthwash or something. I didn't take too close to look at it. We were near the end of the truck when Ace sat down on a pile of skids for a moment to rest. I remember what Ace said. Shit, man, you hear that wind? I heard it.

The metallic thudding sound of the howling winds from the snowstorm crashing against the building. It was louder inside the truck, but inside the warehouse, you could hear it echoing off the walls whenever it wasn't drowned out by the sound of Allen's forklift. Crazy man. Ace murmured. Yeah, I wonder how bad it is out there. Matt said, stepping out of the truck. Think we'd catch hell if we took a look? Ace just shrugged. What the hell they gonna do?

He got up and looked over. to make sure that Rob wasn't watching us, before heading over to one of the vacant loading doors and hitting the switch to open it. The door slowly rolled upwards, revealing a swirling mass of white outside. We should have been able to see the street lights from the road from there, or even some of the nearby factories. But through all that snow, we could barely even see the truck we were unloading. We stared into the storm, and Ace led out a whistle of awe. Damn. He said, Well, guess we're sleeping here, huh?

Anyone bring a blanket? I laughed, although part of me wondered if it would still be this bad at the end of my shift. Even if it wasn't, my car was probably going to be buried. That's insane, I heard Nathan say before he trailed off. Ace went to close the door, only to stop when Nathan spoke up again. Wait, wait, is that a person out there? Someone out there? In this, I thought.

Ace's brow furrowed. He stared out into the storm only for his eyes to widen a little bit, when he saw what Nathan saw. Holy shit, there is. It took me a moment to see it too. But once I knew where to look, it was hard to miss him. It was faint, but I could see the shape of a man walking through our parking lot. What the hell's he doing out there? Matt asked.

He's got to be freezing. He's not one of us, I don't think. I said, maybe a vagrant or something? I could see Ace grimace slightly. I figure he had to have been thinking the same thing. Who else would be wandering around a snowstorm at night in this part of town? I suppose what Ace did next was the only thing Ace possibly could have done, given his nature. Honestly, it's probably what any decent person would have done.

I don't know. I suppose on paper it might be easy to say that we should have just closed the door and left the guy in that snowstorm alone. But that wasn't in Ace's nature. He couldn't just leave well enough alone. He had to help out. Hey! He called, cupping his hands to his mouth. Hey, hey, come over here. Come on, come on, over here.

None of us questioned what he was doing, of course. I knew Ace just wanted to try and help. Maybe Matt and Nathan did too. And once Ace started calling out to the stranger in the snow, they did as well. The man in the snow stopped and looked over towards us. I doubt he could see clearly through the snow, but I know he could see clearly through the snow. But I know he heard our voices. Slowly, the figure began to approach the door, shuffling towards us at a slow pace.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed Rob coming up to investigate what was going on. There's a guy out there, I said before he could even ask. Someone's out in the storm. Rob just pushed past me to see for himself. Then he looked over at me. Can you grab some coffee from the break room? something hot. He said, that guy's got to be freezing his ass off. I really didn't need to be told twice. I took one last look at the stranger outside before turning and jogging down towards the break room. I used one of those instant coffee cups they keep in stock just to get the guy

something. As the machine was running, I stepped out and looked back towards the loading dock to check on how things were going. I'd expected to see Ace and the other guys helping a guy inside. Instead, I just saw Matt and Nathan scrambling frantically away from the door while Rob and Ace tried to close it. Jesus Christ! I heard someone yell, and it was a moment before I saw what they'd already seen. As the door started to close, something crawled under it.

I was too far away to get a good look at it. All I can say is that it was shaped like a man, but it didn't move like any man I'd ever seen. As soon as that thing got inside, I watched as it crawled along the floor like an animal, moving with almost blinding speed. I glanced over at Matt and Nathan first, before Rob threw a box at it, trying to hurt it, I guess. Ace tried to grab it from the side, although whatever that thing was. was, it shrugged him off as if he wasn't even there. One minute he was trying to restrain it. The next, he was on the ground and I could hear his screams.

I watched as Rob tried to pull that thing off of him. I could see some of the guys from the packing team running to help. And I'm ashamed to admit that I just stood there, watching in horror as whatever the hell that thing was ripped into Ace. And Rob tried hitting it to make him stop. It just grabbed him and smashed him against the wall so violently he left a smear of blood behind. I could, I could hear the crunch of his bones from all the way over by the break room. I watched as the packing team recoiled at the sight of whatever it was and high-tailed it in the other direction. The man who'd come in from the snow bolted after

them on all fours, letting loose an inhuman shriek that echoed off the walls of the warehouse and made my entire body shake. I just dove back into the break room, locked the door, and crouched behind it, praying to God that that damn thing wouldn't find me. No prayers I could have uttered, would have drowned out the screams, though. No, I don't think anything could have drowned those out. I could hear the sound of the forklift going somewhere in the warehouse, followed by a sudden crash. I could hear the terrified cries of men in their final moments. It felt like it lasted hours, but in all honesty, it couldn't have lasted more than a few minutes. After the crash of the forklift, I could hear distant screams. I could hear the sound of bodies being thrown around,

And then nothing. Just a pregnant silence that settled in. I stayed where I was, back pressed against the door to the break room, as if I could block whatever was out there from coming in. After seeing how easily it had picked up and killed Rob, I knew that there wasn't a chance I could have kept it out. I was just hoping that it wouldn't find me or sniff me out somehow. I could hear footsteps echoing through the warehouse. I could hear inhuman chirps and sounds, as whatever had killed everyone else patrolled the area. Eventually, the lights went out. They were activated by motion, so if a part of the warehouse was empty, there was no need to keep

them on. Once they were out, that's when I decided to steal a peek out the window, just to see if maybe that thing had left. I could see lights on at the far end of the warehouse, nowhere near the loading bay. It was still there. I saw it rifling through a skid, tearing open the boxes to investigate what was inside. Even from a distance, I could see the blood on its hands. I could see the forklift partially buried under some collapsed boxes, with what was left of Allen still in the driver's seat. I could see a trail of blood leading into a row of packed skids, and I knew I didn't want to see what was at the end of it.

Everyone was dead. Everyone but me. I ducked back down under the door, curling into the fetal position like a little kid. The lights outside came on again, and I tensed up, covering my mouth so I wouldn't scream or make a sound. I could hear the shuffling footsteps of the man. from the snowstorm nearby, although I couldn't tell exactly how close. I listened as they grew louder and louder and then fainter.

He was going away. I kept still. I kept my mouth shut. The shuffling footsteps kept getting farther away until they became a whisper, drowned out by the howling of the wind. I'd never been more scared in my life. And the lights went out again. I crawled along the floor towards the bathroom and I closed the door as quietly as I could. I locked it and left the lights off. I didn't move until morning.

The next shift found me in there and I damn near punched out the guy who tried to open the door. It took a couple of guys to keep me from thrashing and screaming before I calmed down and realized I was safe. Everything that happened next is a blur. The police interviews, the suspect lineup. It's all hazy in my memory. It all blurs together like a dream. Ace, Rob, Nathan, Matt, Allen, and the other guys.

They were all dead. Every single last one of them. Something had come in and just killed them. I saw some of the bu. bodies on the way out. Most of them had been covered up, but I'm pretty sure they hadn't gotten to Nathan yet. At least, I think it used to be Nathan. There wasn't a lot left for me to get a positive ID on the body. Whoever it was, it's been in my nightmares ever since. I spent a few months off work after the incident at Jefferson's. I talked to a therapist, spent some time

at the bottom of a bottle and eventually started to get my shit together again. I tried looking for work outside of the temp agencies, but I couldn't find anything that suited me. I don't exactly have the credentials to work most other places, and I don't have time or money to get those credentials. So, back to the temp agencies I went. It is what it is. I live with it. Ace probably would have found a silver lining to all this. That's just how he was. But, unfortunately, I'm not ace. God knows, I miss him every day, though.

Sometimes I wonder if I made the wrong call, hiding like a chicken shit when that thing turned violent. Maybe if I'd rushed in and tried to help Rob pull it off of him, someone other than me would still be alive. Or maybe it would have killed me just as easily as it killed everyone else. Maybe Ace would have preferred I survive. I don't know. I can't speak for the dead.

In the end, I don't really think it matters whether or not I survived. They never identified the man responsible for what happened that night, assuming, of course, that it even was a man. I don't know if a human could even be capable of doing that to other people. But what do I know? All the questions from the police, all the digging they did didn't turn up a damn thing. The stranger from the snowstorm vanished into the night, and as far as I can tell, he never came back. Even if I wanted revenge or closure, I wouldn't even know where to start.

I just don't take night shifts anymore, and I don't go out after dark. It's probably unlikely that I'll ever come across that man again. But if somehow I do, well, I'd rather not push my luck.