Lighthouse Horror Podcast - I'm a SMALL TOWN COP in the Appalachian Backroads. I Have Some Stories to Tell | Scary Stories

Episode Date: October 25, 2023

These are my stories.     Story from NormalAlfalfa8523 Make sure to check out more of their work at u/NormalAlfalfa8523                             Original Post: I Drove Home In The Fog One Night. I'll Regret It For The Rest of My Life : r/nosleep  Original YouTube link: I'm a SMALL TOWN COP in the Appalachian Backroads. I Have Some Stories to Tell      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!

I grew up in a very poor area in rural Tennessee. And to say my family had a negative history with the police, that's an understatement. My father spent most of his adult life behind bars, and my cousin was raided twice. When I was a teen, my friends and I made a game of running from the police. We spent most of our time drinking or exploring abandoned buildings, so we had a lot of these run-ins. The bacon and donut jokes were frequent. So one Saturday night when I was 16, my friends and I were on our way home from a party. I was kind of drunk at this point, as was everyone else in my car, including the driver, my best friend Kate.

I remember fighting back sleep while glancing out the window. And then suddenly, on nowhere, there's this huge bang before I even knew what was happening. The car flipped. And to this day, I still couldn't tell you how it happened. Cade wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle. I had glass in my face and was bruised up, but I was overall okay. I'm not sure if it was the adrenaline or the alcohol, but I didn't feel any pain. I quickly kicked my door open and I got out of the car.

Cade was on the ground, bleeding terribly. I tore off my shirt to use it to try to stop the bleeding, but Cade was unconscious. I tried to get him up and wake him up, but he was unresponsive. My other friend who was sitting in the back seat was able to get out of the car. His leg was badly injured so he couldn't walk, but he was able to hand me his phone and I dialed 911. The police arrived at the scene before paramedics did. Up to this point in my life, I'd never witnessed an officer helping anyone,

only, you know, arresting people and putting them in jail. I expected nothing good. I figured we'd be in handcuffs before he even tried to help. But I was wrong. The officer wasn't someone I recognized, but he quickly jumped in to resuscitate Kate. Luckily, he was able to get him responsive before the paramedics arrived. The officer made sure my friends and I got home safely. I was the last to be taken home, and we actually had a good conversation.

He had a lot of really good stories from his job. and he even offered to let me do some ride-alongs. So, you can imagine. Everyone I knew was very shocked when I decided to attend the Police Academy a few years later. A few of my friends and family distanced themselves, and I understood. I jumped into my new career headfirst,

and I never looked back. I took a job in a small town in the Tennessee Appalachians. At first, I was a little bummed out about not being in a bigger city with more excitement. But I quickly realized that protecting the safety of the people in this small town, it was a lot trickier than I first thought. Sure, maybe there aren't gangs, cartels, and murder cases very often. But there were a lot of strangely interesting calls over the years. One that really sticks out to me is the night I was dispatched to a back road where a woman,

Michelle reported she hit someone with her car. Luckily it was a slow night, so I headed right out. This place was so deep in the woods that it took me a good 20 minutes to get there. When I arrived, her car, a small Honda Civic, was parked off to the side of the road. I parked behind her and proceeded to tap on the car window. And she quite literally almost jumped out of her skin when she heard the tap. Clasping her chest, Michelle rolled down her window. I could see her dark eye makeup running down her cheeks. Clearly she'd been crying. What happened tonight, ma'am?

I asked. I was just driving home from a friend's house, and all of a sudden this kid ran out in front of me. I swerved, but I hit him. She began to cry then. I could tell she wasn't drunk and clearly felt terrible about what happened. Michelle went on to tell me that the boy she hit looked to be about nine or ten.

There weren't any houses nearby, so she didn't know where he came from. She reported that the boy was injured, one of his legs was bent at a strange angle. So she ran out of the car to help him. His demeanor, though, it wasn't what you'd expect from a child who was very injured. While he appeared to be in pain, he didn't cry, scream, or seem scared at all. He appeared to be very calm, but he wasn't able to stand up. Panicked, Michelle got back into her car to grab her phone and dial 911. While she was on the phone with dispatch, she noticed the boy was standing at her window,

asking to be led into her car. Her phone died exactly at the moment she saw him standing there. Luckily, she'd already given her location. She began to open the car door, but stopped. She explained to me that suddenly something just didn't feel right. The rational part of her brain kicked in, and she wondered why a child would be running through the woods by himself at 11 at night. Where were his parents?

Sure, irresponsible parents exist, but there weren't even any houses out here. So why was he out alone? He was also standing up straight and appeared to be in no pain after just being hit by a car. Despite her uneasiness, Michelle decided she had no choice but to let him in... After all, she hit the poor kid. But then she noticed his eyes... They were pitch black, no visible white, no iris. Although the door was partially opened, she attempted to pull it shut,

but the child pulled it back open, stronger than she was. Thanks for letting me in, he whispered. By this point, he was smiling and appeared to be in no pain. The boy began laughing then, but not a light-hearted, child. childish laugh, a maniacal, creepy laugh. Michelle pushed him away, slammed the door and drove off. And a few miles down the road, her engine began to overheat, and she had to stop. When she looked out her window, the boy was back. He tapped on her car window over and over again, alternating between begging to be let in and threatening her if she did.

didn't open the door. Michelle continued to keep her car locked and avoided eye contact. She waited till several minutes of silence had passed before looking around, and the boy was gone. She breathed a sigh of her lathe and began searching in the console for her car charger. Distracted, she heard another tap on the window. And she looked up to see the boy pressed up against her windshield. She said his face and body were bloody and disfigured. Help me, he said, although it was muffled by the glass. Michelle screamed, and she tried to start her car several times with no luck. When she looked back up, he was gone again.

She sat there crying and frozen with fear until I arrived. So, I looked around and I couldn't find the boy. Although, I have to say, I didn't try that hard. This wasn't my first run-in with black-eyed children. So I know many are familiar with the urban legend. I'm not sure if Michelle was or wasn't. She was already pretty shook up, and I didn't want to make it any worse, so I just focused on making sure she got home okay.

The stories about black-eyed children, they usually go something like this. show up and ask to come inside your house or car, usually saying they are lost and need to call their parents. They look pretty normal, except they're usually wearing vintage clothing. And then you notice their eyes, which are all black. Their demeanor may seem strange as well. Most people who encounter black-eyed children report them as being overly calm with emotionless voices. So anyway, Michelle's car starts again, and I followed her home. I took her contact information, and I let her know I'd be in touch if we needed more information about the accident. But I knew we wouldn't.

And then sadly, Michelle passed away two months later. While in another state visiting family, she drove over a bridge that collapsed. It was a small bridge that was overdue for repairs, and her car was the only one on it. Now, some people say, this is just a coincidence. But I don't think so. Sometimes run-ins with the supernatural, they have lingering effects. I wondered if maybe Michelle saw something on that bridge before she died.

Maybe she saw a little boy with a broken leg. So another call I'll never forget. It started off a lot weirder. We got this call from a man in his 60s named Casey, who had a pretty strong history of paranoia and drug use. Usually he wasn't the one calling for himself. In the past, it was neighbors or family calling, either angry or concerned about his behavior, depending on the situation. Casey told the dispatcher that he heard some commotion outside and opened his door to see a pizza delivery driver, setting a pizza down on the ground, right in front of his porch. Casey hadn't ordered pizza that night,

but the driver insisted someone placed an order to this address. The caller's phone number even matched Casey's landline number. The order instructed the driver to set the pizza in front of the porch. There was even a $20 bill sitting at the foot of the porch steps for the pizza. Casey and the driver had an argument, and Casey sent him away, then picked up the 20. Casey called in to report this as a prank, since neighborhood kids had messed with them in the past. So, because there was no immediate safety concern, I took my time getting there. Casey usually wasn't the friendliest to law enforcement, but I'd never had a problem dealing with him. He explained the situation, and I figured it was either a prank or something he just,

made up. That said, I decided to check under the porch for good measure. Casey's house was old and not in the best shape. There was a gap under his porch that used to be covered by wood fencing, but the wood had rotted over time leaving a hole. So I turned on my flashlight, and I looked through it. I noticed a few empty beer cans and some scraps of what looked like raw meat. So, I asked Casey if he ever hung out under the porch, and he looked at me like I was crazy and said no. I didn't think so, but he was a pretty eccentric guy, so I figured I'd better ask. I decided to search the area under the porch and take a closer look.

And as I crawled around, I almost fell into this huge hole in the ground. I shined my flashlight down to show him that it looked like someone had been living there. And then Casey began cussing up a storm. That's my beer and I bet that my $20 bill too. I'll be damned as some idiot thinks they can stay on my property. I'm going down there. And then with an agility, I didn't know he had. Casey ducked under the porch and he went through the whole.

Oh, damn it, I exclaimed. I had to follow him to make sure he didn't get hurt. I yelled down to let him know that if he didn't stop, I'd have to call for backup. I really wanted to avoid this, since a lot of times this led to a pink slip, which had never seemed to help Casey in the past. I think I tended to be more patient and sympathetic with him, given some of my family history. So I carefully climbed down the cave entrance, and it led to a large area with one other opening. I called after Casey, but he didn't respond.

I walked over to the opening, hunched down, and I shined my flashlight through. I moved inside, having to bend down to fit, and the cave broke off into two paths on either side. I was looking down the left side when I heard movement from my right, and I turned around to see what looked like an older man, and when I say older, I mean like 90. He was deafly pale, almost transparent, aside from his many visible veins in his eyes that were this cloudy white. When he saw the light, he hissed at me. And it was chilling.

And he ran back into the tunnel. So at this point, I was barely able to keep the flashlight stable. I knew I'd messed up. Going deep into an uncharted underground cave system, with no backup, certainly wasn't following protocol. I was getting ready to retrace my steps. When I heard a man scream, it sounded just like Casey. So, I went towards the sound. I reached a large circular section of the cave,

and I saw several more of the pale people with white eyes. I turned my flashlight power down, and it pointed to the ground. They appeared to be a family of different ages and gender. The youngest looked around 12, but they all had white hair. They made these strange, clicking noises and periodically tap the signs of the caves. And then I saw Casey tied up in the corner with the strange family surrounding him. He was doing his best to fight them off, screaming and crying as they crept closer to him.

Luckily, they hadn't noticed me come in. I fired a warning shot into the ground, but it must have hit a rock and ricocheted, and it hit the adult male of the family. They all started wailing and they ran to his aid. And while they were distracted, I cut Casey's ropes and I told him to follow me and let's get the hell out of here. And these pale humanoids ran after us. Luckily, shining my flashlight at them on a high setting seemed to really slow him down. And then I heard Casey yell from behind me. He'd fallen into a deep hole and he couldn't climb back out. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get him back up either if I climbed down to help him. Abandoning my better judgment, I climbed down to help

Casey anyway, and we began looking for another way out. I found this opening that led to another section of caves. The ground was rough and crackled with each step, and I looked down to see that we were walking on bones. Some clearly looked like animal bones, but others clearly weren't. And then it was pitch black. My flashlight stopped working. Casey started to scream, but I placed my hand over his mouth. I grabbed a matchbook from my pocket, and we continued to go through the cave system, and I worried we were going further down instead of back up. The tunnels were becoming coming more and more narrow. But when we found another entryway, it opened up to a large cave.

As I stepped forward, my foot sank into a few inches of water. Casey began digging in his pockets and retrieved a small keychain flashlight. Apparently, he forgot he had it on him. It didn't produce much light, but it was way better than the matches. We saw that we were at the edge of an undergrine. pond. And I noticed that on the other side, there was a path that appeared to ascend upward. I almost thought I could see moonlight shining through. But maybe I was just being optimistic. Can you swim? I asked Casey. And he nodded. So we took off our shoes and excess clothing,

and we waded into the water. When Casey shined his light into it, I noticed fish. They too were transparent, and they had no eyes. We were about halfway across the pond when I heard a splash behind us. The old man had jumped in and was quickly swimming towards us. Casey and I frantically swam to the other side. I got out and Casey started yelling. The man had him by the legs and was pulling him back into the water. I grabbed onto Casey and I punched a man.

Despite his appearance, the old man put up a hell of a fight. But he finally let go. Casey hurried out of the water. All right, let's go. I said, and we hurried up the tunnel. Luckily for us, we finally reached an opening. It was in a wooded area, a few miles from Casey's home. So, we booked it back to my car.

I paid for a hotel for Casey that night on my own dime. He said something about talking to his case manager, about moving to an apartment. There was this one time. I responded to a call from a farmer who would put up a trail cam in an effort to see what was killing his chickens, yet dodging the live traps. He only had it up a few days before it picked up something strange, while the footage was grainy. I could see an unnaturally tall, maybe seven-foot creature walking on two legs. It had antlers, but it definitely was not a deer. It was thin, and its fur appeared matted and mangled.

It had some visible open wounds on its body, even with a low-quality video. I could tell this wasn't an animal I'd ever seen before. I searched the surrounding area, but I couldn't find anything. I had to just tell the farmer to give me a call if he spotted anything strange. Now, I wish this story had a happier ending, but a few weeks later, I was called to a crime scene. Several cattle on the same farm were violently slaughtered, pretty much ripped to shreds. The farm, the farm, armor must have come out to check on them, and, unfortunately, he suffered the same fate. The trail cams were still up, so we checked the footage. And the recording stopped at midnight, then randomly started again at 4 a.m.

Needless to say, the incident must have happened between midnight and 4 a.m. So, we had nothing to go on. And we never did solve this case. One encounter I had while off-duty was very creepy. I just finished my shift, and I stepped into a 24-7 diner on the edge of town. It was around 5 a.m., so it was only me and the owner. He served me up my usual, coffee, eggs, and bacon, and we chatted for a few minutes before he went back to the kitchen. Before my food came up, a man walked in.

He was very tall and thin, looked like maybe he was in his thirties. His cheekbones were sunken in a way I'd never seen before, even with people with severe substance issues. And his skin had a grayish overtone. He sat down by himself in a back booth. He wore jeans in a black hoodie, keeping his hood up. The owner returned to the dining room and went over to take. take his order. The man didn't speak, only pointed to what he wanted. Despite the man's

strange appearance and behavior, I enjoyed my meal and largely ignored him. After all, it wasn't a crime to be struggling and he wasn't bothering anyone. After he finished his food, the owner brought the man's receipt over. The man waited for the owner to walk away, then calmly walked out the door. The owner yelled for him to stop, and as exhausted as I was, I told the owner I would handle it. I'd known him for a long time, after all. I chased this frail-looking man into the street, and the owner trailed behind me. I finally caught up to the thief at the edge of a tree line. I grabbed him and attempted to put him in handcuffs, but he put up quite a fight. I managed to put one of the hands in cuffs when I locked eyes with him, and his eyes were not normal.

The pupils were strange. The best way I can describe them is that they looked like minus signs, similar to a goat's eyes. He smiled, the corners of his mouth freakishly far apart, and his teeth didn't look human. They were jagged little triangles. I let go in my handcuffs, put my hand on my gun, and I pushed him into the woods. He fell over and rolled, then stood part of the way up, hunching over, his body rapidly transforming. His skin began sprouting hair, and his back bent down until he was walking on all fours. He gradually took the form of a coyote as he descended into the woods.

Needless to say, the owner never got his money for that meal. Now, the final call that is forever branded into my memory was from a mother of a young child. She called into the station one evening, frantic because her four-year-old daughter was missing. I and a few additional officers went out to their home, which was in a very rural and isolated area. We talked with a mother to get a description of her daughter Emma, and she said she had blue eyes, brown hair, and was wearing a white shirt with jeans. She'd been playing outside on the swing set. Her mom went inside to make a sandwich, and she must have wandered off. But from what her mom said, Emma was a woman.

one to run off on her own. Emma's mom spent 20 minutes checking the woods and calling out to her daughter. But she couldn't find her. And she clearly felt very guilty and repeatedly called herself irresponsible. I tried to help her and reassure. My kids had wandered off a few times when they were young and I knew how scary it could be. Hey, hey, it could have happened to anyone. I told her. We'll find her. I said, assuring her. So the other officers and I agreed to start in different directions. Despite it being barely dusk, the thick tree line made the wooded area almost dark. I walked for around half an hour before I noticed a strange structure. It was circular and made up of branches, mud, and other random

things from the forest. It almost looked like a giant birds'-ness. except it was on the ground. Now, this thing was huge, at least 15 feet side to side. So I approached it and looked inside, and I saw a small child in the middle of it, sound asleep, and I knew it was Emma right away from the pictures. Her hair was tangled, and her white shirt was covered in dirt. I tapped on Emmer,

his shoulder gently to wake her up. And she opened her eyes. She looked scared. Hey, hey, it's okay. I told her. And I said I was going to take her back to her mom. Emma looked confused. She told me her mom was already in the woods.

She said she was playing on the swing set. When she heard her mom call to her from the woods, Emma was told to follow her, as there was a surprise waiting for her. Emma followed, and then she became lost. Occasionally, she would hear her mom's voice and try to follow it. Eventually, she made it to the weird nest, became very tired, and just fell asleep. I didn't see anyone else out here.

I picked Emma up, and I began walking her back as we walked. I noticed the woods were completely quiet. No wind, birds, or animals. Look, Emma said, pointing to something. It was a doll. I sat Emma down and I picked it up. It was made mostly of sticks and leaves, except for the hair. Look like it was real hair, as creepy as that sounds.

It also had a strip of white fabric. brick as a dress. I brought the doll with me. As we continued to walk, I noticed something disturbing. Emma's hair had been cut short on one side, and a piece of her shirt was missing. I shuddered. I brought Emma back to her mom, and she was so happy to see her that she cried. I never did show her the doll. I took the doll to a sort of expert I knew. who specialized in getting rid of these types of things. Now, while some of the things I've come across have made my blood run cold, I'll never quit.

I love this town and the people in it. And if you're ever driving out this way and you see something strange, be careful on the back roads. Hey, just want to say a quick thank you to all the patrons for your support, and merch is finally out. There's a link below. Hope everybody has a good night, and thanks for listening.