Lighthouse Horror Podcast - I'm With the US Forest Service. There's a Skinwalker Nest in the Appalachias | Scary Stories

Episode Date: November 20, 2023

There's more of them     Story from J Campbell   Make sure to check out more of their work at u/Erutious                      Original Post: I was a captive god for almost a decade : r/nosleep  Original YouTube link: I'm With the US Forest Service. There's a Skinwalker Nest in the Appalachias       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've been a park ranger for six years now, and I'll never forget the time we found that Skinwalker nest. After all this time, I just hope that they haven't made another one. I've hunted for kids in the deep woods of Appalachia National Park. I've blown up beaver dams and watched the residents scatter and panic. I've seen hikers trap on mountainsides. kids go missing inside of campgrounds with cameras everywhere and I've heard lots of strange sounds while out in the woods I've killed rabbit bears

I've seen deer with strange tumors that are little more than zombies I've even encountered those disembodied stairs that people keep talking about on the internet none of that prepared me for what was to come So I started with the forestry service right out of high school, and I was with the scouts my whole life. I'd learned a lot of skills over the years that would serve me well in the woods. I could identify local animals and a variety of edible plants, pretty good at finding trails and keeping my bearings in the woods. I was also on the shotgun team, even without experience.

The forestry service was glad to give me a shot after a lengthy. hiring process. They hired me as a junior ranger. Play your cards right kid and you can easily become a full-fledged ranger at the end of the year, the recruiter had told me. I was excited by the prospect and the next six months just flew by. I was mostly responsible for traveling the park with Ranger Wade. Now Ranger Wade is an interesting guy. He's a 15-year vet who'd seen damn near everything. He was one of those guys who could be 30 or 50, depending on what time a day he saw him. And he was quick with the, that ain't nothing, kid. Let me tell you about this one, kind of talk stories, you know. I worked in a group with him, Ranger Herb, Junior Ranger Gage, and Junior Ranger Frank. The five of us

cleared trails, gave out directions, and looked for people who got lost in the woods. I hadn't lost anyone yet. And Ranger Wade often said that I was their lucky charm. Our group found more kids, more lost hikers, and more dangerous animals than any of the other ranger circles. We became the go-to circle for hard assignments. That's how we got mixed up with the disappearances that spring. My first winter with a park, it was a hard one, but as spring came, we got really, we got ready for everything that broad. The bears would be waking up, and the plants would be coming to life. The ice would be breaking on the streams, and the campers and hikers would be back in force.

I was glad for the warmth. I still wasn't quite sure that two of my left-hand fingers would ever work the same again, you know, but most of our work had been keeping paths clear and keeping the few guests we had from sliding off the side of the trail. The first month, however, it was when I lost my first lost hiker. Poor guy got caught in a freak blizzard. We didn't get to him in time. We searched out in the snow for hours, but when we came across him, I kind of wish we hadn't.

His campsite wasn't set for the extreme cold, and as it got there, we already guessed what we would find. Too bad. Ranger Wade breathed, his breath steaming from his muffler. They never check the weather report, and then they pay the prize. Wade, Herb said, pointing to the snow. I'm not sure the cold is our biggest concern right now. There was something bright in the fresh powder.

The closer to the campside we got. The easier it was to see the blood trail. Something had left long scratches of gore across the snow, as if something didn't like the way the gore clung to its claws and washed them off in the snow. Wade sucked in a breath. Coughing is the cold air filled his lungs. He then told Herb to take Gage and Frank and follow the blood trail. Now don't get too close, Wade told the guys.

If it's a pissed-off bear, then we'll get someone out here to take care of it. Me and Tonto here will check the campsite to see if the poor guy is still alive. You sure? Herb asked dubiously. If it's not a bear. Wade cut him off. If it ain't a bear, then we'll burn that bridge when we get to it. Now go scout, while the kid and I here get to work.

Reluctantly, the three moved off to follow the trail. That left the two of us to check the campsite. And it was a bloodbath, and the cold had nothing to do with this guy's death. He was spayed out by his campfire. His frozen stew spread across the ground as he just stared blankly at the frozen sky. His legs were still sitting on the log. They were frozen in place as the rest of him lay on the ground. Something had cut him in half, and his innards were hard and dark as they spilled out

of him. He'd been dressed for the weather. Clearly he had checked the weather reports after all. But his thick coat, it hadn't saved him in the least. The coat had been torn. easily, and the feathers within had either been blown away or gotten frozen in the gore, wade sighed deeply. Ah, damn it.

I started looking around. I was taking it all in and forming conclusions based on what I saw. The conclusions, however, were a little strange. If this was a bear attack, then the bear was clearly rabid. He passed up the stew, the food in the nearby cooler, and the hanging garbage shack that the hiker had hung up. Rabid or not, why split the man in half and leave all the meat to rot? The body didn't look like it had been chewed. No bear would have left all that meat behind. It would have likely carried him back to its den, and the blood trail would have been a hell

of a lot bigger. What do you see, Tonto? Ranger Wade asked. His sharp eyes taking in everything I had and more. Well, if it's a bear, it's got to be out of its friggin mind. Looks like it just came in. killed a guy and left, but why would it do that? I ventured.

Why indeed, Wade said, looking back the way we'd come. All right, let's go. I want to make sure the others haven't found anything they can't handle. As we left the camp, I noted its location so we could send emergency services up here. We found our guy's tracks easily. You know much about this park, kid? Wade asked, pulling down his muffler so he could shoot a stream of tobacco juice into the snow. Uh, yeah, yeah.

It was probably native land before the government set it aside for conservation, I guessed. Correct, he said. But the natives weren't the only things here. The ones in the area still talk about weird, creatures that wander the woods sometimes. They take the forms of animals, and sometimes people, and they hate the living. I don't know why, but when they encounter a human being in their territory, it almost always ends in tragedy. We get killings like this every now and again, but they are rare, thankfully.

Trying to see if he was trying to haze me or something. They had got me good at the beginning of October. They told me that a dog man lived in the woods, and if I didn't leave him treats when I went out, he would get me. I am ashamed to say I left dog biscuits by the station every day for a week. When one of them pretended to be a big dog barking one evening, they scared the hell out me. They all had a good laugh as I ran back to the station.

So you can imagine, I was pretty hesitant to believe them without proof now. When I looked at Ranger Wade, however, I could tell he was dead serious about this. So what are these things called? I asked. Our feet crunching through the snowy ground as we tracked our comrades. Wade kept moving forward as he talked. The natives in the area have a big, hard-to-pronounce name for them, but they ask that you not use it, because they say it draws them to you.

We call them skin-walkers, and they are scary enough all on their own without an impressive name. You ever seen one? I asked. Still not entirely convinced they weren't messing with me. Couple times, he confessed. But the only time I could confirm it was a skinwalker was one night when we were looking for a lost kid in November. As we crunched along, Wade told me how he'd been searching with his circle for a kid

who had gotten lost on a hike. It was cold. The flurries were falling but not sticking. And Wade had gotten separated from his group. They were there one minute and gone the next, he said. And as he searched for them, he began to call their names as he called out. He was surprised to hear a kid calling back to him. And he hoped it was the missing kid.

He kept calling the kid yelling back the same seven words again and again. Help me. Help me. Someone help me. Wade said with a shudder. that had nothing to do with the cold. But it wasn't normal. It had the same words spoken again and again, always in the same way and at the same volume.

He said. Wade hadn't noticed at the time, however. He wanted to find the kid. He wanted to be a hero. And as he moved deeper into the woods, The cries started getting closer and closer. Wade was calling back, telling him to stay put, not having a clue that the kid was staying very still.

He said we likely wouldn't be having this conversation if he hadn't tripped over something in the dark. And when he looked back, Wade felt his blood run cold. It was the kid. His shirt covered in blood. and his face pale. He'd cut his arm. The wound was long and ragged, and he was lying on the ground as he shook in terror. When he looked at me, I could see another cut on his chin. I knew then that whatever this was

had been playing with him. I pulled him in close, whispering for him to be quiet and stay still. And all the while, this thing was yelling back in his voice, trying to lure me closer. They had hidden in the bow of a tree. The roots protected them as the voice got closer, trying to coax them out. It had likely figured out that the game was up. It was now trying to strain as much fear from the situation as it could. As the sunset and the shadows gathered, Wade said it had come up on the tree they were hiding beneath, and he saw it clearly for the first time.

It looked like a kid, but its skin was gray, and its arms and legs were too long. It was like an adult pretending to be a child, but it was much worse than that. It was like something that isn't human pretending to be one, and I was terrified that it would turn around and see us. Wade said, his voice shaking. The other three came into sight, Ben, and as we approached, I asked what had happened. The two of us spent the night there, and when the flashlights came, calling our names, I called out, and we were ready. rescued just as dawn broke. I told Ranger Jasper about it, and he suggested that I not tell anyone. There's lots of strange things in the woods, he said. No sense scaring the tourist.

I never saw it so close again, but I was always on the lookout after that. Herb came up then, and he told me not to speak of it anymore. Herb pointed to the cliff face, and he said that was where the tracks ended. It was as if whatever it had been had jumped into the ravine. But there was nothing at the bottom. It was like it had sprouted wings and flown away, but that was even less likely. He nodded when he heard the hiker was dead, but he bit his lip when he heard how he'd died.

Okay, all right, we gotta call this in. Let's get back to the station and see what H.Q. has to say." Herb said. Wade nodded. And the five of us set off. The snow melted two days later, but it was far from the last killing in the park. Some of them just went missing, but others were found torn apart within their campsites. A month later, we were up to ten disappearances and twelve right-out slangs.

The public was told that it was a rabid bear or bears with cubs that people had gotten too close to, but I don't think anyone believed it. The way the bodies were mangled. It was beyond anything an animal could manage. The arms were pulled out of their sockets. The faces were skinned back. The eyes were removed, and they were found elsewhere in the body. And parts of the victim's anatomy, they were simply missing, just to name a few.

All the killings were horrific. And the longer it went on, the more the upper brass began to lean on Wade to do something. as I came in one morning. Wade told me to go pack a lunch and get ready for a long day. He was cleaning shotguns at the break room table, and I could see something else leaning against the wall, something that made me nervous. It wasn't really a flamethrower, even though that's what we called it. We used it to clear stubborn brush tangles or start controlled fires. I'd only seen Wade used it a handful of times. The fuel for it was very expensive, and as such he was the only one permitted to use it for work-related matters. Whatever we were doing today was clearly

something that constituted a work matter. Big plans today, boss? I asked, seeing Gage and Herb already making sandwiches in the break room. Frank's likely driving in since it was his day off. The biggest, he said, looking through the barrel before sliding the action forward, we are going to get to the thing that is terrorizing the park. I was speechless. You know where it is? All in due time, Tonto. Now go get your sandwiches made and get ready for a long day in the field.

Half an hour later, when Franks came in the field. in looking half asleep. Wade decided to begin. Wade had likely not slept the night before. So when he wheeled in a whiteboard with a map take to it, Fern looked at him sourly. He'd clearly been obsessing over this for days. Okay. Well, as you all know, there have been 13 slayings inside the camp and 10 disappearances that I'm 90% sure we can trunk up to, They all center around Slither Ridge, more specifically, around sulfur crater. I believe that this is where they're hiding, and this is where we're going to find them. Um, yeah, excuse me, um, you mean the missing people?

Gage asked skeptically, not understanding any more than the rest of us. Yes, but also what's been disappearing them. I believe that sulfur crater is a Skinwalker nest, and I intend to collapse it. Herb's eyes got all big. Are you serious? Gage looked at the pair of them, clearly still lost. Uh, uh, a what? Skinwalker's gauge, try to keep up, wait said.

Okay. There hasn't been a confirmed sighting in ten years, Herb said. Sure, we've had the odd disappearance, but no one has been mutilated like this since. The Kretschner reunion of 2004, Wade interrupted. That was the last major activity from the crater. And I believe it lined up, with what may count as their breeding cycle. Herb shuddered, clearly not enjoying the mental image of these things breeding.

They likely enjoy the environment in the crater, and if we were fool enough to explore it, we'd find a nest down there with young ones. That's why they've been so aggressive lately. They have little ones to feed and to teach. I assume they are the ones killing. at random. They're honing their skills for when they get larger and more formidable. We want to be done with them before that happens. So, the five of us are heading there now to collapse the hole.

He lifted a shotgun, a bag that rattled with ammo, and a radio he strapped to the cloth bag in turn. Everyone take one of these, one of these, and one of these. Well, that's out out. We took ATVs to the side. It was still afternoon before we arrived. Slither Ridge was some of the toughest hiking the park had to offer. Sulfur Crater was near the center of the trail. It would be two hours of hiking.

The trails were too treacherous to take the ATVs. The trailhead had a closed sign on it, but that didn't mean we were unlikely to meet people. A closed trail, it was more of a suggestion in a park this size. If anyone saw five rangers blundering around with shotguns and a flamethrower, even the most adventurous hiker might have some questions. And we didn't really want to answer questions today. So we set off down the trail at a quick and and careful pace. At our current rate, we would reach the crater by three and be back at the ATVs

before dark. If we made it back, that was. As we bumped along, it was hard not to glance back at Herb with anxiety. Herb had an extra bag, a very important one. While the ammo bags flopped around against our backs, that one secret bag had been securely strapped to his side. Too much bumping could be very bad for whatever was inside that bag. If it went off early, it could spell Herb's death and our mission's failure. Herb was carrying about ten points of dynamite in that bag, and he looked none too happy about it. He'd initially refused when Wade had handed the bag to him, but when Wade pointed out that he couldn't carry the flamethrower and the dynamite at the same time, Herb relented.

They were the only two allowed to use either. He would do it because he understood its importance, but he didn't like it. None of us did. Now the whole trail, I felt the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. It was as if something was watching us, maybe even several somethings. I wasn't the only one who tucked my gun into something of a ready position. Herb migrated to the center where we wouldn't accidentally hit him. The five of us stayed close, as we waited for all hell to break loose.

We'd seen the bodies of their victims, and none of us were in a big hurry to have that done to us. I wasn't certain, but I didn't feel like the shotguns were going to do. much against skin walkers if they came for us. We made it to the narrow trail before something tried to attack us. We were sliding along in a slow line, creeping along like ants, when something snarling came lunging from the trail ahead. In the daylight, it looked like a dog with extended limbs. It would have been funny if it didn't have the mouth full of snarling teeth and eyes full of crazy hate. It looked like a spider with two few legs. When I shot at it, it opened its mouth to let loose a weird, echoing howl.

It fell sideways into the ravine, the rocks falling down behind it as it tumbled over the edge. and then another came crawling down the rock face. And this one, it was an enormous lizard. The green skin looking like rough armor. When Gage shot it, it fell into him and threatened to take him with it. Franks and I grabbed desperately for him. We were pulling him back from the edge as the creature tried to avoid falling into the ravine. It gripped at Gage with his.

its toes. They were lengthening as it tried to find purchase, but I slammed the butt of my gun against it before the two of us heaved it over. Gage was panning, looking after it, as though realizing that could have just as easily been him going over the edge. And we quickened our pace on whatever intelligence they had must have realized it was useless to ambush us on that narrow trail and we weren't attacked again until we got to the hole. But we were on edge, the whole trip. They hounded us. They stalked us from a distance.

I had to steady my hands to stop the shotgun from shaking. I was no soldier. I'd never been to war, but I did feel a little safer with my shotgun in my hand. After a few years on the shotgun team in high school, school, I felt a little confident at least that I could hit my target every time. But when your target is not of this world, all that confidence kind of slips away. Well, we came to the sulfur crater, just as the sun began to cast shadows over the trees.

Wade took the lead. If one of us goes down, he began, make sure that dynamite gets into that hole. There should be enough there to collapse it. But who knows? Cover us, you three. And remember, don't be afraid to shoot into us if it looks like we're going into the crater. Yeah, we'll already be dead at that point, Herb put in, seeming less than pleased. The sulfur crater had earned its name. Even from ten feet away, I could smell it. It smelled like brimstone, like the gates of hell.

They were incubating in that hole. I doubt they would have bothered with skins. I was curious to see what they really looked like, but not quite curious enough to go have a look. And besides, We had a job to do. We fanned out. We prepared to blast anything that got in range as Wade and Herb moved up to the edge.

Herb took off the dynamite. He checked the bundles before selecting one. And just as he took out his lighter, the trees began to rustle, and the skin walkers began to come out. We thought the ones we saw on the cliffside were horrific, but these were truly monstrous. Human animal hybrids messed up deer, cows, and walked on two feet, and humans with too many limbs. They all came for us as their skin wrinkled and twisted like wrapping paper. They were little more than costumes for these creatures.

As our bullets shredded them, they revealed dark holes beneath, full of something worse, jagged bones, piercing eyes, malformed teeth, oozing skin, pulsating organs. It was all beneath their forms. But the shells were not as useless as I'd feared, and most of them were pushing. pushed back a little. There were so many, though, and the guns only had five shots. Soon we were pushing them as fast as we could work the slide. The constant blast made my gun warm to the touch.

I looked over my shoulder to see Wade roasting a swarm of them as they came up from the pit. Herb was having trouble getting the fuse to light, and he finally just thrust the whole bag into the arms of a smoking skin walker and he blasted him into the pit there was a loud explosion a moment later and as the rumbling reached a fever pitch I turned to watch both of them fall into the pit I was almost out of shells by this point Gage was being savaged by one of the skin walkers and Frank was nowhere to be seen I thought I heard a shotgun fire off in the wood about 20 feet away from us. But I didn't really have time to think about it.

The hole was collapsing in on itself. The edges crumbled in to cover the opening. It seemed that it was either run or die here, and I shoved the last three shells into my gun, and I took off. I kept running until I couldn't. And when my legs gave out underneath me, I fell down and panted on the side of the trail.

I expected to die right there. I wondered if Wade and Herb had seen it coming when they'd fell in. With any luck, they died with the fall. The thought of them trapped down there with those things. It was enough to make my skin crawl off. Eventually, I got up and I made my way back. back to the trail on unsteady feet. When the ATVs came into sight, I sighed with some relief, and I wrote them home.

And that was five and a half years ago. And I still remember it like it was yesterday. I gave my report at the station, and the higher-ups told me not to worry about it. They would do what they should have done at the start. They should have known this was too big for Ranger Wade and his circle the handle. They told me to take the week off. And when I returned, I was made a ranger and given a circle of junior rangers of my own. Train them up. Keep them safe. And don't let anyone go near Slithering Ridge until further notice. Keep it and the people who use it safe.

That's what I was told. And so I have. For the last six years, I have fought the few remaining skin walkers who survived that day and the purge they came after. Whatever they did, Sulfur Crater was little more than a bombed out hill. The remains of my fellow rangers and the skinwalkers were nowhere to be found. Some still survived, however. I have trained my charges to fight them and protect the people of the Appalachia. National Park. So if you come here, be very careful and listen to the Rangers. We know what's out there, and we're here to protect you.