Solved Murders - True Crime Stories - Terrifying Real Encounters at Parks, Playlands, and Theme Parks That Still Haunt PART1 #20

Episode Date: October 20, 2025

#horrorstories #reddithorrorstories #ScaryStories #creepypasta #horrortales #parkhorrorstories #creepyencounters #themeparkfear #playlandterror #truefear  Part 1 of Terrifying Real Encounters at Parks, Playlands, and Theme Parks That Still Haunt shares true-life chilling stories that occur in places usually associated with fun and joy. From unsettling strangers to frightening incidents in playgrounds and amusement parks, these accounts reveal how quickly leisure spaces can become scenes of fear and unease.  horrorstories, reddithorrorstories, scarystories, horrorstory, creepypasta, horrortales, parkhorrorstories, creepyencounters, themeparkfear, playlandterror, truefear, chillingencounters, unsettlingmoments, nightmarefuel, darkencounters, publicplacehorror, unsettlingexperiences, urbanhorror, fearintheparks, terrifyingtrueevents

There's so much rugby on Sports Extra from Sky. They've asked me to read the whole lad at the same speed I usually use for the legal bit at the end. Here goes. This winter sports extra is jam-packed with rugby. For the first time we've been every Champions Cup match exclusively live, plus action from the URC, the Challenge Cup, and much more. Thus the URC and all the best European rugby all in the same place.

Get more exclusively live tournaments than ever before on Sports Extra. Jampack with rugby. Phew, that is a lot of rugby. Get Sports Extra on Sky for 15 euro a month for 12 months. Search Sports Extra. New Sports Extra customers only. Standard Pressing applies after 12 months for the terms apply. I've been thinking we need to talk to him about it.

He might not listen to me. But yeah, as good a time as any. Okay, I'll give it a go. If he ever takes those earphones out. Vaping is harmful to your child's health. Nicotine addiction can affect their concentration, sleep and moods. They're much more likely to smoke when they're older too. So take a deep breath and talk to them today.

Get the facts about vaping and nicotine. Visit hse.e. forward slash vaping from the HSE. Horror, a holiday gone weird, and a nighttime adventure. I was just a little kid, seven years old, when my family decided to take a holiday to Grand Canaria. At that age, everything about going on a trip felt massive, almost like it was some kind of world-changing event. Packing my small suitcase, choosing which toys to bring, my mom constantly reminding me not to forget my hat or sandals, it all felt like a huge deal. Grand Canaria, for anyone who hasn't been, is this island off the coast of Africa, but technically

part of Spain. Warm weather, beaches that look straight out of postcards, and enough tourist spots to keep families busy for weeks. My parents had chosen a resort in a place called Puerto Rico, no, not the Caribbean one, but this holiday resort on the southwest coast of the island. Even saying the name Puerto Rico made me feel like I was going somewhere exotic, even though I had no clue what exotic really meant back then. Now, the highlight of that trip, at least for me, was the gigantic water park just outside of Puerto Rico. You have to imagine this through the eyes of a seven-year-old. It was basically heaven. This place wasn't just a pool with a couple of slides. It was huge, divided into different sections, each with around four or five slides. Some slides twisted

like snakes, others shot straight down like rockets, and then there were lazy rivers and wave pools that made you feel like you were bobbing around in the actual ocean. Everyone seemed to be having fun, but me, being so young, mostly stuck to the smaller areas. The kitty slides, the shallow pools where I could touch the bottom without worrying, the wave pools that looked intense but were actually pretty tame if you stayed on the edge. Sometimes, when I felt brave, I'd go on a medium-sized slide with my dad. That was exciting enough for me, fast enough to get my heart pumping, but not so scary that I thought I might fly out of the slide and land on the pavement.

But after a while, my parents wanted to test their courage on the massive slides, the ones that looked like they were built for superheroes, or at least teenagers. So they told me and my little brother that we'd stay behind with my uncle, who was hanging out near the kiddie pool with my cousin. My uncle wasn't exactly the babysitting type. He was more like the sit in a lounge chair with sunglasses and a drink kind of guy. But still, my parents trusted him enough to leave us there while they chase their adrenaline rush. I told my uncle I wanted to go back to the medium slides.

They were still close enough that he could see me if he paid even a little attention. So he waved me off without much thought. Off I went, excited for another round of climbing stairs and zipping down water at what felt like super sonic speed. After a while, though, I started feeling like it was ton to check back in. I was seven, and as much as I liked pretending to be independent, I still needed that anchor of seeing familiar faces every now and then. So I wandered back to the loungers where my uncle and cousin were supposed to be. But when I got there, the loungers were empty. No uncle, no cousin, no parents, just towels, half-empty bottles of sunscreen, and chairs that looked like they'd been abandoned for

hours. Now, at seven years old, being alone in a giant water park is basically the scariest thing you can imagine. My little heart started racing and this panic began bubbling up inside me. I looked around, hoping maybe they'd just gone to grab a snack or something, but the area felt strangely deserted. So, thinking logically in the way only a kid can, I figured my parents must still be at the big slides. That's where they said they were going, so that's where I'd go too. I started walking in that direction, probably looking exactly like what I was, an upset, lost kid trying not to cry. That's when this guy came up to me. He was this chubby Englishman, probably in his 30s, though at the time I had no real concept of adult ages. I remember being able to tell straight away that he was English,

not Scottish, like me. There's this thing about accents you pick up as a kid. You just know. He asked if I was all right. At first he seemed nice, like one of those friendly adults who just wants to help. He offered to help me find my parents. Now, luckily for me, my parents had drilled stranger danger into my head like it was gospel. Don't talk to strangers, don't accept anything from strangers, don't let a stranger take you anywhere. So even though part of me wanted to grab on to this man's offer like a life raft, I shook my head and walked off, I wasn't allowed to talk to him. A few minutes later, though, I saw him again. Looking back now, I realized he must have been following me. At the time, I just thought it was a weird coincidence. He came up again,

this time trying a different tactic. He offered to get me popcorn in a drink while I waited. That's... Hi, I'm Darren Marler. Host of the Weird Darkness podcast. I want to talk about the most important tool in my podcast belt. Sfreaker is the all-in-one platform that makes it easy to record, host and distribute your show everywhere from Apple Podcasts to Spotify. But the real game changer for me was Spreeker's monetization. Spreaker offers dynamic ad insert insert ads into your episodes. No editing required. And with Spreker's programmatic ads, they'll bring the ads to you, and you get paid for every download.

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That's S-P-R-E-A-K-E-R.com. It would have sounded amazing to a seven-year-old, right? But again, I remembered my mom's voice. Never accept anything from strangers. ever. So I said no again and kept moving. By now, my panic had upgraded to full-blown terror. That's when I spotted a lifeguard in his red uniform. Relief washed over me. A lifeguard was safe. Lifeguards were there to help, not to hurt. I rushed over and told him I was lost that I couldn't find my parents. Before I could even finish explaining, the Englishman popped up again, like a bad penny

that just wouldn't go away. He started telling the lifeguard that he was a family friend, that he knew me, and that he'd take me back to my parents. The lifeguard looked at me, his face serious, and asked, do you know this man? I shook my head immediately. No. The lifeguard didn't waste time. He knew something wasn't right. He told me he'd walk me back to where I'd last seen my family, and I agreed without hesitation. At this point, I was creeped out beyond belief. Eventually, we found my parents by the sunbeds. I'll never forget the look on my mom's face when she saw me. Relief, anger, fear, it was all mixed together.

She pulled me into the tightest hug, and the lifeguard explained what had happened. He even promised to keep an eye out for the man so he wouldn't bother me again. I don't remember much of the rest of that day, but years later, when I was old enough to really understand, my mom told me why she had been so shaken. Earlier that same year, a little girl had gone missing in Portugal, and the whole UK had been rocked by it. Everyone was scared, especially parents taking their kids abroad. And my mom realized, in that moment, how easily I could have been the next missing child.

Even now, as an adult, I sometimes think about it, how easily things could have gone another way, how I might not even be here telling this story. Part 2. The College Dare. Fast forward to 2018. I was no longer than nervous seven-year-old, but a junior in college. Old enough to know better, but young enough to still think I was invincible. One night, two of my friends and I decided to sneak into a place called Playland Park in Rye, New York. If you're from that area, you've probably heard of it.

It's this old school amusement park, and during the day, it's all about family fun and overpriced food. But at night, when the lights are off and the gates are locked, it feels like something out of of a horror movie. One of my friends had grown up in Rye and had done this a bunch of times before. He made it sound like the easiest, most harmless adventure ever. Just a little trespassing for the thrill of it. I was nervous. Part of me thought we might actually get arrested, but the other part of me was curious. It was around 1 a.m. when we pulled up in the car. We parked near this massive fence that surrounded the park. Climbing it wasn't easy. We had to step on each other's hands to get over, which only made me more anxious because all I could think about

was, how are we going to get back out? My friends were fearless. They went first, scaling the fence with the confidence of people who had done this before. I, on the other hand, froze. I wanted to stay in the car. But after some peer pressure and not wanting to be the lame one, I forced myself to climb. After struggling for what felt like forever, I finally got over, scraping my hands in the process. Inside the park, it was pitch black. Almost all the lights were off, and the silence was eerie. We lit up a joint to calm our nerves and started walking. The air smelled like old rides and stale water, and the ground felt sticky under my shoes, even though the place had been closed for hours. We came across the water flume-eyed, the kind that takes you way up before dropping you

down into a splash pool. This one was massive, maybe 100 or 150, feet tall. Alongside it was a staircase meant for maintenance workers. My friends immediately decided to climb it, saying they wanted to see the view from the top. I stayed at the bottom. I've always hated heights, and just looking up at them made my stomach twist. While they climbed, I looked out across the park. That's when I noticed something. We weren't alone. Several hundred feet away was a pond. In the pond was a small boat or raft with about four people inside. They had had flashlights attached to their heads, like headlamps. And then, even stranger, I saw two dark figures swimming in the water,

searching for something beneath the surface. At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but no, the more I stared, the clearer it became. And then, after a few minutes, they noticed us. The boat began moving toward our direction. Panic shot through me. I whisper screamed up to my friends trying to get their attention. They could barely hear me being so high up, but eventually they realized something was wrong.

By then, the boat had reached the edge of the pond, and the lights on the people's helmets were moving fast toward us. My friends raced down the stairs, and we all started sprinting as fast as we... Hi, I'm Darren Marler. Host of the Weird Darkness podcast. I want to talk about the most important tool in my podcast belt. Spreaker is the all-in-one platform that makes it easy to record, host, and distribute your show everywhere. from Apple Podcasts to Spotify. But the real game changer for me was Spreeker's monetization. Spreaker offers dynamic ad insertion.

That means you can automatically insert ads into your episodes. No editing required. And with Spreker's programmatic ads, they'll bring the ads to you and you get paid for every download. This turned my podcasting hobby into a full-time career.

Sprinker also has a premium subscription model where your most dedicated listeners can pay for bonus content or early access, adding another revenue stream to what you're already doing. And the best part, Spreaker grows with you. Whether you're just starting out or running a full-blown podcast network,

Sprinker's powerful tools scale effortlessly as your show grows. So if you're ready to podcast like a pro and get paid while doing it, check out Spreaker.com. That's S-P-R-E-A-K-E-R.com. Good. The boardwalk beneath our feet creaked as we ran. It was dimly lit and every shadow looked like it was reaching for us. We ran back toward the fence and scrambled

over it, adrenaline giving us the strength we didn't know we had. We piled into the car and drove off as fast as we could, still half expecting flashing police lights to appear behind us. But nothing happened. We weren't caught, we weren't followed, we were free. Even now, I still wonder what we saw that night. Why were there people swimming in a pond at an amusement park at 1.30 in the morning? My friends said kids had drowned there before, and maybe they were...