Solved Murders - True Crime Stories - Near-Death Terror, Dark Forest Chants, and Family Secrets Haunting the Lake PART3 #25

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

#horrorstories #reddithorrorstories #ScaryStories #creepypasta #horrortales #darkforest #lakehauntings #familysecrets #neardeathexperience #supernaturalencounters  Part 3 concludes the terrifying lake series, with encounters involving dark forest chants, family secrets, and near-death experiences. The stories reach their peak suspense, combining supernatural occurrences, psychological horror, and life-threatening situations. This final installment emphasizes fear, survival instincts, and the lasting impact of confronting both human and otherworldly dangers.  horrorstories, reddithorrorstories, scarystories, horrorstory, creepypasta, horrortales, darkforest, lakehauntings, familysecrets, suspenseandterror, dangerousencounters, frighteningexperiences, realhorrorstories, nearfatalencounters, supernaturalhorror, chillingencounters, unexpecteddanger, paranormalactivity, eerieencounters, truecrimehorror

Shadows on the water, my father, the lake, and the fear that never left. I'll never forget that day. It's burned into my memory like a scar that refuses to fade, like the smell of smoke in your clothes after a fire, you wash and wash, but it lingers, faint but undeniable. There was only one person I knew who owned that type of boat. My own father. And the second my brain connected the dots,

everything went blurry. The sounds of the people around me dimmed, the world tilted sideways, and then everything just went black. When I came to, I was lying flat on my back, the hot sun pressing against my face, two people kneeling beside me asking if I was okay. You all right, man. Can you hear us? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, my voice cracked, like it wasn't really mine. I was shaking. I was shaking, I'm shaking, sweating through my shirt. I've just... I've never seen somebody's leg like that before. I, I just need to.

I trailed off, forcing myself to sit up, my head spinning. Excuse me, I muttered, I just need a drink of water. My boss showed up a short time later, his face pale and tight. He clapped his hands together and announced to everyone standing around the lake. All right, everyone, go home. We're shutting things down for the day. You've all seen enough. I didn't argue.

I grabbed my stuff, climbed into my car, and drove the five minutes back to my house. The Confrontation When I pulled into the driveway, I could see movement through the kitchen window. My dad was pacing, back and forth, his silhouette cut. cutting across the glass like some trapped animal. My heart sank, but my blood boiled at the same time. It crossed my mind to call the cops right there, to turn him in before he could weasel his way out of this.

But I wasn't thinking clearly. My head was buzzing, my heart racing. Instead of dialing 911, I stormed inside, letting the screen door slam against the frame. He spun around as I came in, his eyes. wide like he already knew what was coming. You hit that poor woman on the lake and just ran away. I screamed, my voice cracking under the weight of it. You absolute coward.

He wouldn't even look at me. His gaze stayed fixed on the floor, shoulders hunched like a guilty child. My adrenaline spiked. I couldn't contain myself. I shoved him hard in the chest. Look at me. I shouted, shoving him again. Then I swung, hitting him across the shoulder, then the chest, then again and again. I must have hit him ten times before he snapped. His face twisted, red with rage, and then. Crack.

His fist collided with the side of my face so hard I collapsed to the floor. My ears rang, my vision swam. he towered over me his breath ragged i don't care what i did you do not put your hands on me ever now stay down then he bolted running out the door and disappearing into the night i sat there on the floor bawling like a kid my cheek throbbing my chest heaving the beginning of the end Like I said before, my dad and I never had the best relationship. He was a hard man, the kind of guy who thought emotions were a weakness and anger was a solution. But this? This was a new low I never thought possible. Never in a million years did I think my father would be the kind of man to hit someone with a boat and then flee, to leave a woman broken in the water like she was nothing.

But that's exactly what he did. And here's the part that makes my blood boil to this day, no criminal charges were ever filed. Not one. I don't know how he did it, maybe he paid someone off, maybe the cops didn't care, maybe he and the woman's family reached some sort of under-the-table agreement. I'll never know for sure. But there was no arrest, no trial, no court date. Nothing. It was as if it never happened.

The only thing I do know is what my mom told me after visiting the hospital. She's alive, Mom said softly, sitting down across from me at the kitchen table. Her hands trembled as she held her coffee mug. But, they had to amputate her leg. The words hit me like a knife to the gut. I felt relief that she survived, but also devastation that my own father was responsible for something that would change her life. forever. And then, he was gone. He didn't just flee the scene of the accident. He abandoned his family too. One day we had a broken family, the next day we had no father. Just silence, shame,

and questions no one wanted to answer. The aftermath. It goes without saying that the boating accident was the straw that broke the camel's back. I quit my job as a lifeguard not long after. Every time I walked near the water, I saw flashes of that woman's leg, the panic in her eyes. I started having nightmares, waking up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat,

gasping for air, hearing phantom screams in my head. It got so bad I had to see a psychologist three times a week. Trauma doesn't heal overnight. my therapist told me. But you're here, and that's a start. Day by day, little by little, I made progress. But it was slow, agonizing progress.

I wish I could say the story ended there. That my father leaving and the accident were the only reasons I found myself in therapy. But the truth? That was only the beginning. The body in the lake. Mid-July. This year. Life was quieter.

My dad was long gone, and mom and I were just trying to patch things back together. We lived on Quenchy Lake, and for the most part, it was peaceful, at least on the surface. That evening, I needed time to myself. So I grabbed the kayak and pushed off around 7 p.m., the sun melting into the tree lean. I paddled lazily, letting the rhythm calm me. Eventually, I drifted toward a shallow area of the lake I knew well. My arms ached, so I planned to stop at the little beach ahead to rest. As I approached, something caught my eye.

The water beneath my kayak looked, off. It was darker than usual, shadows moving in ways that didn't make sense. At first, I thought maybe it was just the face. fading light playing tricks. Then, my paddle struck something. Thunk. I froze. Rocks?

No, couldn't be. I knew every inch of this area. There were no rocks here. Slowly, my hand shaking, I pulled out my flashlight, flicked it on, and leaned over the side of the kayak. that's when I saw it. I swear to God, I saw the pale, bloated body of an old woman floating beneath me, her gray hair drifting like seaweed. I let out the most blood-curdling scream of my life. My own voice startled me, echoing across the still water. I paddled like a man possessed,

my arms burning, until I reached the shore. The second my feet hit the sand, I stumbled onto the grass and threw up over and over, until my throat burned. Somehow, through the haze, I managed to pull out my phone and dial 911. Ten minutes later, the shoreline was swarmed by flashing lights. Seven cop cars, officers crowding around, radios crackling. They pulled the body out, it was a 71-year-old woman from New Lebanon. They said she'd been in the water for about four hours before I started. stumbled across her.

The next day, the local paper ran an article. Lifeguard discovers body in Quenchie Lake. They were talking about me. Only, I wasn't a lifeguard anymore. I didn't bother correcting them. What did it matter? The weight of it all. It's been a rough few years.

the pandemic, my father's cowardice, the accident, his disappearance, and now this, finding a dead woman floating in the same lake where everything had already gone wrong, I feel cursed. Like the water itself is haunting me. Mom and I still live in the same house, but every time I look out at that lake, I see ghosts. I hope someday we can leave this place behind, pack up and start over somewhere far away. but for now we're stuck here surrounded by memories that won't let us breathe because if there's one thing i've learned it's this there's always a reason to be afraid the end