The Lets Read Podcast - 5: Episode 005 | School Cult & Deep Woods Stories | 25 True Scary Horror Stories

Episode Date: September 24, 2018

Welcome to the fifth episode of The Lets Read Podcast! This podcast includes narrations of true creepy encounters submitted by normal folks just like yourself. Today you'll experience horrifying stories about School Cults, Celebrity Stalkers, & Deep Woodland Encounters! SPECIAL THANKS TO Audible for their support of today's podcast! Get your first audiobook free and choose two titles from a curated list of Audible Originals when you try Audible for 30 days. Visit Audible.com/READ or text READ to 500500 to get started. SPECIAL THANKS TO Hello Fresh for their support of today's podcast! For a total of $60 off, that’s $20 off your first 3 boxes, visit HelloFresh.com/READ60 and enter . It’s like receiving 6 meals free! HAVE A STORY TO SUBMIT?► www.Reddit.com/r/LetsReadOfficial FOLLOW ME ON- ► Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/letsread.official/ ► Twitter - https://twitter.com/LetsReadCreepy ►YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/letsreadofficial ♫ Background Music: Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFvrqVSJE8E PATREON for EARLY ACCESS!►http://patreon.com/LetsRead

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If you have questions or concerns about gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Every week, with the help of Audioboom, I am able to broadcast my stories from previous weeks in a two to three hour compilation available on iTunes and Spotify. Enjoy today's taste of spooky tales and download this and all previous podcasts via the links below. Your data plan will thank you. Now enjoy the show. So funny enough, I was reminded of this event after discussing an older Let's Read video about cults.

My friend and I were on our way to grab some food from McDonald's. After I had recounted one of the stories, there was a brief lull in the conversation. That's when my friend Steph casually said, Do you remember the time that cult came to our high school? I was a bit taken aback by that. I had no idea what she was talking about. She began to recount the details of that day and as I listened to her, it all came rushing back. It was like a truck had hit me.

It's a bit of a crazy story so I thought I would share it here. So to start off, I have the same group of friends now as I did in high school. And this story happened about 8 years or so ago. During the morning announcements that day the principal informed us that after school there was going to be a seminar. He said that an author had written an educational book aimed at teens and that he would like some feedback on it and that if you attended there would be food and you'd be given extra credit. I remember after my second period class that day, someone had hung flyers for the seminar all over the school where there had been

none up that morning. During lunch that day, after talking about it, me and my friends decided that we would go to the seminar. We were already planning on hanging out after school that day, so we thought we would go, get some food and extra credit extra credit seemed like a good idea at the time after school we met up at our usual spot and walked to the classroom that the seminar was being held in I remember I was surprised to see how many kids actually turned up there were about 30 kids and some teachers and even the Dean was there as well everything started off normal me and my friends were chatting amongst ourselves, eventually we started talking to the teachers that were there too.

Things got weird about 5 minutes before the seminar was supposed to start. A bunch of adults walked in and they dispersed through the room. None of them sat down, they all stood around the room and one even stood in front of the door. I remember not being so weirded out by what was happening until one of the adults came and stood right next to my group of friends. She was a short Asian woman. She had this weird smile on her face. I looked around and realized all the adults were smiling. The smiles looked forced. They weren't big toothy cartoonish smiles. They were closed

mouth tight lip smiles, kind of like they were in pain but were forcing themselves to smile through the pain. Then the seminar started. The author came out and all the smiling adults started clapping so everyone else did too. The author went up to the podium and introduced himself. He was an average looking middle-aged Asian man. He said he was a doctor and that he had been a devout Catholic all of his life and that he had two teenage kids. He said that he decided to write his book after witnessing the evils and the lies that schools were teaching teenagers and that the smiling adults were a part of his congregation and that they were his assistants. He began to talk about passages from his book. It was all weird crazy stuff like how to protect against the lie of evolution,

and how to guard yourself against demons, and how most teachers are possessed by evil spirits so not to trust them. Throughout all of this the author was so calm and casual like he wasn't spouting crazy nonsense. He said the only way to save yourself from evil was to join his church. He never once mentioned the church name by the way. And that he and other leaders in the church had wanted to start a youth group. He then offered that if any of us wanted to go to a service at his church after the seminar, he would drive us there. Or any of his assistants would give anyone who asked their cell phone number.

And that the assistant would come and pick them up if they wanted to go to a service in the future and needed a ride. Throughout all of this me and my friends kept sending weird and confused glances at each other and the teachers. The teachers who I might add all looked terrified and the dean who was so mad he was bright red. The seminar ended with the author telling his assistants to bring out the food and hand out each of us a copy of his book and then he started praying. A few of the assistants brought out some trays of cookies while others handed out his book. Me and my friends each got handed a book and we stood to leave. The dean made a beeline toward the author and pulled him aside. As we were leaving one of the assistants stopped us and directed us towards the food.

Despite being uncomfortable we went to get food and when I got to the table with the food I remember thinking that the combination of the food was gross. What I mean by this was that they were handing out grape juice and some weird large white sugar cookie. I just grabbed a cup of juice and a cookie and walked out of the room. My friends copied me and followed out. We stood in front of the classroom and started talking about how weird everything that happened was. We noticed quickly that Steph was missing. My friend Christine looked into the room and saw her still near the food table. Christine told us as much and we waited for her. I hate sugar cookies so I gave mine away to my friend Alicia who had already ate her cookie and drank her juice.

I was thirsty so I drank mine. Looking back on it now, it was really stupid to consume the food they gave us after how weirded out we were by the whole situation. Finally, Steph walked out of the classroom. She made a beeline to the trash can and threw her juice and cookie away. She ran up to us and asked if we had eaten or drank anything they gave us. Some of us had. Steph hurried us away from the classroom and explained what they were doing. None of us grew up in a religious household except Steph. Her family was very strict and religious and she explained to us that basically those people were

tricking everyone into taking some sort of mock communion. That the grape juice is normally supposed to be wine and is meant to signify the blood of Jesus, while the sugar cookie, though normally smaller, was supposed to signify his flesh. That really freaked me out because while we were waiting for Steph, I had seen a bunch of other kids eating the cookies and drinking the juice. Steph also explained that the reason she was still in the classroom while we had all walked out, Steph was the last of us to walk up to the food table. When she saw the food they were serving, she realized what they were doing and decided to leave without grabbing anything off the table. Before she could get out of the door, one of the creepy smiling assistants stopped her

and grabbed some juice and cookies off the table and held them out to her. She politely declined but the assistant didn't move. He just told her to take them. She tried to get around him but he kept blocking her way and kept telling her to take the food. Finally she did just so she could leave and cue to us seeing her walking straight to the trash can and throwing the food away. We all threw the books away and went home. Later that week we noticed a few kids from that meeting were missing. I asked the dean about what had happened and this is when my stomach dropped. Apparently about five kids who attended that meeting and ate the cookies and drank the juice were admitted to the ER at our local medical center related to a foodborne illness. We attempted to probe more but he became incredibly defensive and just said it was taken

care of. We also asked one of the teachers that was there and she just kept apologizing and saying how sorry she was for allowing any of that to happen but wouldn't go into further detail. I'm a 5'3 female living in the North Island of New Zealand. This happened during the summer, when a few friends and I were taking photos and cosplay. Cosplay is where you dress as your favorite characters from your favorite shows and my partner and I absolutely love it. Anyway, a few of us traveled over the next town over to take advantage of the beautiful huge set of gardens, all created with different themes in mind like Italian Renaissance and Surrealism. Although the gardens are beautiful, there can be so many that it can be quite a bit of walking, especially in the hot sun, with a wig on.

This is important to the actual creepy part of the story. There was a little food festival happening in one of the garden's open fields, so my friends and I stripped off of our wigs and went over to have a much-needed rest and a bite to eat. As we sat down, I suddenly needed to go to the bathroom. I pull out my phone to check the time and my phone is dead. Of course. I groan to my partner about how I have to go relieve myself but my phone was dead. I have a fear of crowds and didn't want to lose them if I decided to move.

He gave me his phone and that put me at ease. I head towards the bathroom quickly, feeling sick and almost lightheaded from the sun. As I'm walking to the bathroom I pass an old man in a mobility scooter. He locks eyes with me and I smile. I have a sunny disposition so this is something I do with everyone. I keep walking and make my way into the bathroom and do my business. As I'm getting up from the toilet I start to feel even more dizzy from the heat. So as I'm washing my hands I text my friends on my partner's phone to let them know that I don't feel so good. I carry on and walk outside again. Before long I

feel my legs give out and I'm forced to collapse onto a bench down the path a bit from the bathroom. I text my friends again but they haven't seen the messages yet. Everyone is walking by oblivious and fair enough, so would I. I look to my right and there is the man in the scooter coming back the way he was going. I couldn't have been in the toilets longer than five minutes and there he was again. I didn't think anything of it. I mean, it's a public gardens and this is a completely common occurrence. Until we slowed to a stop about 7 odd feet away. He made a hand gesture as if asking where to get some water. I slapped a smile on my face and told him that there was a food festival just ahead.

I mean, surely he had seen it. He had come from the same direction as me the first time. He slowly started to speak, in Spanish in fact, and although I love the language, I know jack all about how to speak it. I shook my head in confusion as he carried on, speaking in broken English and Spanish. He said that his name was Robert and that he was from Argentina. I could just make out what he was saying, so no, I can't remember his real name, though I'm glad I can't. His voice was rough and husky, from what I assumed to be some sort of smoking habit, judging by the yellowing of his teeth and the staining on his nails. But what really stood out to me was the way he was smiling and staring at me, not like he wanted help or directions, but like he was sizing me up or something.

I told him, I'm sorry I don't speak Spanish, but you can find food and drink over there. I pointed away from me in hopes that this would send the message that I didn't want to talk anymore, but he just started getting out of his scooter and limping over to me. Now at this point, I would usually have gotten up and walked away, because even though I'm nice, I'm not afraid to be rude and this guy was freaking me out. But because of my aforementioned lightheadedness and inability to get up without feigning, lord knows what would have happened had I fainted. I looked down at the phone and frantically messaged my friends to help as he got closer, still rambling in now only Spanish.

The only thing I could make out was him repeating, gusta in almost every breath. Again, I only know very rudimentary Spanish so forgive me. I threw pleading looks at passersby but I was ignored. This man was creeping on me in broad daylight. I didn't know what to do in that moment. They say there is either a fight or flight mode but I froze. Now I was starting to get scared. He kept getting closer and closer to me as I felt my blood freeze up. His eyes were almost predatory as he approached me. Bear in mind I had just turned 21 at the time and this man looked to be in his late 50s and early 60s. The way he lent his hand on the arm of the bench as he pressed further into my personal space made my stomach coil in disgust. He was leaning his face down and towards

my head, as if he was going to kiss me or something. It was then that I heard my husband's voice call out my name. Jasmine. I turned my head around to see my husband staring the man down as he approached, a hint of worry in his voice but also the scarier tone of anger as he spoke again. What's going on? Relief washed over my frozen form as he slipped in next to me, wrapping a secure arm around my waist as he stared back at the man. The old man now leans away slightly but doesn't actually leave my personal space. He is now trying to speak to my husband in Spanish, his tone almost aggressive. I cling to my partner like a lifeline, the sunstroke and my anxiety causing my heart to race a million miles an hour. After the man takes another limping step towards us as if to try and grab me,

my husband scoops his arm around me and all but carries me as far away from this man as he can get. I almost break down in tears as we reach my friends and they all hug me and tell me how worried they were about my messages. My husband recounts what he saw as I hug him silently. I'm glad this is where the story ends. We waited around for a while and decided to walk all the way around the gardens again just to avoid where I had seen that man. And thank God, I hadn't seen him since. When I was just about to start 7th grade, my mom and I had moved into a new house that we were going to rent for a short time.

The house itself was a bit chilling, both literally and metaphorically. There weren't many windows on the main level, so it was naturally very dark. The main level included a living room, the front door, and the door to the garage. There was a basement, but it didn't go that far into the ground. In fact, there wasn't a wall to separate the living room and the basement. There was only a railing so that if by chance you feel, you wouldn't plummet four feet. In the basement, there was a large empty space as soon as you walked down, a cupboard in the stairs, which will be pivotal later, a hallway that leads to my bathroom and my room on

the left hand side, and then straight in front was the guest room. There was an upstairs level that included a kitchen, my mom's bedroom, and a computer room. The kitchen had a sliding glass door that led to a patio in the backyard where there was a small garden, a crab apple tree in the center, and a hedge that separated us from the neighbors and golf course. The realtor had informed us that the only thing we had to worry about was that because we lived on a golf course we should watch out for flying golf balls, and that the occasional golfer would walk into our backyard and collect their balls. However, we discovered much greater things to be concerned about as we continued to live in that house.

During the first few months everything was fine except the dishwasher had broke, so we would have to hand wash everything. What was awful about that was sometimes if we stood at the sink to start washing dishes at night we had the feeling something was running up behind us to attack. Other times you could feel someone watching you through the window above the sink. That was the only freaky thing that had happened, but then I finished up 7th grade. That's when the house began to wake up. During the summer, we all began noticing the feeling of always being watched, and occasionally sometimes I swore I saw someone peeking just

over the railing of the basement, staring at me whenever I watched TV in the living room. Halfway through the school year I was told we were going to move out as soon as I was done with school and I was so happy. I hated the constant creeping vibe of the place. The day after a crow had flown into the side of the house and died on impact. A week later my mother had to sit down and tell me she was diagnosed with breast cancer. A month later another crow killed itself

after slamming into our house. A week later my mother was t-boned which ended up totaling her car. The final month of living in that house I began having dreams of a woman. She was dressed in regular sleepwear just staring at me. Her face was shadowed out, but her vibrant blue eyes weren't. After a bit her shirt began to slowly form spots of blood. I always woke up from these dreams drenched in sweat and with a headache. I never told anyone though at the time, I just thought I was paranoid from all the scary movies I watched. The dreams continued to haunt me every other night. However, the greatest day came. It was the day before we moved out of that house. I went to bed smiling but I saw her again in my dreams. This time she finally moved, stretching out a long decaying and in a wispy voice she told me to come to her.

I woke up immediately, but I was no longer in my bed. When I woke up, I was surrounded by pitch black, the floor was hard and cold, and when I went to stand up I hit my head because the ceiling was so low. I crawled around this space, waving my hands in front of me to find something and soon I did. It was a string to a light that dimly lit the room that I was in. It was a completely concrete room with various stains along the floors and walls. I whipped my head around and saw a wooden panel on the wall that I practically charged into. When I pushed it out of the way, I realized it led to the cupboard underneath the stairs.

I had no idea this door, or more importantly, this room, even existed. That room was directly underneath our living room, and no one knew about it. I bolted up to my mom's room crying and hyperventilating, telling her everything that happened, how I had no idea how I got in that room. She didn't hesitate on grabbing me and driving me straight to the new house. After a few years of trying to forget that house I had the urge to look up the history of it. What the realtor had forgotten to mention was that there was a murder there. A previous owner was brutally murdered and stabbed a countless amount of times and her body was discovered in the same room that I had woken up in.

In Bangor, California, growing up, I always heard the same ghost story. It became a sort of urban legend for our town of 665 people. From 2006 to 2009 our fire station was haunted. The firefighters all insisted on the presence of a wailing spirit. It would lock the firefighters in rooms alone and screech a deafening sound at the helpless workers. This lasted for years until the station workers refused to ever enter a room alone as that is when it usually struck. In 2009 the station was torn down and ever since the Bangor Banshee had been heard in the hills at night. Now being a local having lived in Bangor my whole life I had long

since ignored this spirit as a telltale, that is until a couple of months ago. I was at a friend's house a town over and found myself driving home at 2am, alone down her unlit highway. It being the start of summer, and my old Honda lacking air conditioning, I left my windows open for the drive. That's when I heard it. A scream. Doesn't quite sum up my feeling. It sounded so loud and inconsistent, like a hundred simultaneous blood-curdling screams. Behind and front, all around me. I believe I saw a dark figure on the road in the corner of my eye, but I was so disoriented by the noise my mind may have tricked me. In a moment of panic, I slammed the gas and the sound dissipated after a few seconds. I haven't driven on that road at night since,

and I still get an eerie feeling on my commute to work each morning. This happened to me a year ago. I am currently a 14 year old male living in Toronto and I've kept this story to myself. It was September and school had just started. It's the end of the first week and I already felt like I wanted this year to be over because many people were acting like they owned the school and others had gotten into drama that usually occurs with early teens. So because the first week ended, my family decided to have a little barbecue outside of my house at night. I didn't eat much, so I went back inside after finishing my food.

I left the back and front door open in case my family needed something from inside the house and wouldn't have to bother me while I slept. To give you more insight, I was the only person that had a room on the first floor, while my sister and parents both had rooms on the third floor. On the second floor was the second kitchen, the living room, and the front door. Besides my room was another room that no one ever used, and next to that was the back door. If you were to exit my bedroom, in front of it was another door that led to the basement, so I was in my room with the door locked and my eyes closed until I heard the back door gently open and close. I found this weird because no one in my

family ever opens or closes the door like that, even if there was someone asleep. I thought nothing of it until footsteps moved in front of the door and started gently turning the knob. I gasped and held my breath. After the person on the other end realized it was locked, they started to violently turn the knob back and forth while slamming themselves into the door. I started to praying to God that they wouldn't break the door down and thankfully after three attempts, whoever was on the other side gave up and opened the door to the basement and walked down there, then closed the door behind them. I waited for ten minutes and heard nothing, so I decided to check to see if it was safe for me to run outside to my family.

I silently unlocked the door and opened it. The basement door was unlocked so I carefully opened it to see if the person was still there. I froze in fear as I saw a huge 6 foot tall man, probably in his 60s, staring directly at me. I knew I wouldn't be able to get the back door in time because of how long it takes to open it. I ran to my room and as soon as I closed the door the man started to push against the door. Thank god he didn't try the knob first cause I was able to lock it in time. I grabbed the phone and called my mom with my house phone and told her what was happening. She stayed on the phone with me. The man was banging my door and I thought I was going to die. Then I suddenly heard something chilling on the phone. My mom

told me that both the front and back door were locked. My heart dropped as I realized what kind of person this man was. I was scared for a minute and then I got an idea. I told the man that the neighborhood cops are on their way and the bluff seemed to work. He ran out the front door and I got out of my room to open the back door for my mom. She thought I made the whole thing up as a prank because nothing was stolen. I had no proof of what had happened so I had no idea how to react except cry. Unfortunately my story didn't end there. A few weeks later I moved on from what had happened and decided to continue regular life. I was having an average

day at school and was getting pretty tired about everyone talking about their drama. At lunch, I always go to a park to eat because I didn't want to be a part of the fights that occur at the cafeteria. It was beautiful weather in October so I took my time walking to the park. I sat down on the bench on the playground and as I did, I saw a man leaving. After finishing my lunch, I checked my watch to see the time. It was still 30 minutes till lunch period ended, so I decided to finish the remaining homework I brought with me so I would have free time on my hands as soon as I got home. While headed to the can to throw out some garbage, I found a wallet. I opened it and found the ID of the man who left the park a few minutes ago. I decided to leave it there just in case he came back for it, and if he didn't,

by the time I would have to leave, I would bring it with me home to call the number because I didn't have a phone on me. When I finished my homework, there was only about 10 minutes left, so I got up to pack up my stuff. When I looked to the other end of the park where the wallet was, I saw a man dressed in black pick up the wallet. He wasn't able to see me because I was on the other side of the park still sitting down. When he got back up, I almost threw up, seeing that it was the same man who broke into my house a month ago. As soon as he left the park, I ran the opposite direction to my school. I told no one at my school and just continued the day as if though it was normal. That night I was taking a walk in my neighborhood to get some fresh air. When I reached near my school I saw the man again wearing

the same clothes. He noticed me and started running towards me. I ran as fast as I could back to my house and as I let myself in, I began to have a panic attack. I had no idea how to react. I didn't even know whether I should call the cops because I was just so uncertain of how to explain the situation because my parents didn't even believe me. Thankfully, that was the last time I ever saw him, but I still don't feel comfortable in my own hometown. If I'm honest, my pain started 10 years ago. To me that's mind-blowing. I've only just developed difficulty sleeping.

In the beginning, it was believed to be a thyroid issue. Not the case. New meds, new doctor. You can't keep a good dog down. My first doctor actually ended his own life. He battled an aggressive cancer and I don't have ill will toward him, but I wish I could find someone just as good as he was. With these difficulties, horrible nightmares, sweating, vomiting, vertigo and extreme bouts of pain along my neck and back, I'm scared.

Okay, I said it. I'm scared out of my mind. My new doctor received lab results and I'm having a flare up of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and I'm sick, extremely. The bad day all started when I called my mom who used to be an RN. I explained my symptoms to her and she freaked out. I've never heard fear in her voice like that before and we have been through a lot. We share our unluckiness. Maybe someday my mom and I can be friends again. Sorry, unrelated. I go to the Walmart pharmacy because my mom demanded that my husband and I go to the closest pharmacy to pick up doxycycline. This is where my day went from bad to worse. I took it immediately just like my mother said. I knew it was going to make me vomit and I could feel the lump in my stomach threatening before the pill lump in my stomach threatening

before the pill could touch my stomach acid. Just like now actually. I took the blue capsule and a little less than an hour later I was puking out my car door. We're real explorers but have a very terrible car. It feels a lot like a terrible wooden roller coaster on certain roads especially an hour from home. My husband got upset at me, which is what he usually does. He means well, he's just emotionally constipated. Why did you do that? Why didn't you eat before? Worried filled his voice. I just put an arm over my eyes and swallowed the lump over and over until it passed, then explained that it was coming up anyway, food or no food.

Figure out what's going on. I called my mom and after she rolled the words around in her head for five minutes or was tired of me begging. You may have bacterial meningitis, my mom finally told me. You can use stomach numbing meds for a while but it's looking more and more like IV antibiotics are going to be your only hope. I can tell my husband is scared now. I asked him to look it up and get the full article about it. It made my stomach fly out of my butt the instant my mom said it.

It all fit. My sickness had gotten me down again and my guts are rolling like thunder in Kansas. Forgive my humor. I have to laugh at it or I will be in a wallowing pit of self-despair. I will find out if I have to spend time in the hospital when the doctor calls today. I hope she tells me that everything will be okay and I don't have to face my biggest fear, being in the hospital for multiple days, maybe even being alone. My fears go one, hospitals, two, the dentist. I conquered the dentist when I had a bad experience with a wisdom tooth.

Wish me luck. I'm a 45 year old male who lives in a small rural community in Wyoming. I believe there are only about 6,000 people that live in my community. You would never imagine in a town as small as this one that anybody would have to worry about having a stalker, or at least I didn't think so. That was until much to my horror I discovered I actually had one. Let me preface this by saying that until I became a published author back in 2013, I was just another friendly face in the crowd, so to speak. Granted, I am well known in my

community because I work at the local hospital and have for many years. At the time I was working as the training coordinator for the front office staff for a medical clinic as well as the hospital. Getting my first book published generated a great deal of press in my hometown and statewide. The fact that I quickly rose to a 5 star rating on Amazon only generated more press and interviews, therefore more attention.

Then when my second book came out in 2015, all of a sudden I was like the local celebrity. Being somewhat humble I was appreciative that the publicity helped me sell a lot of books, but I was uncomfortable with all the attention. Local folks would come to the hospital just to have me sign their books and this is where my stalker story began. On this particular day I am up in our medical office building where I was training a new hire when a rather large biker dude with long stringy blonde hair and covered in tattoos approached the front counter where I was standing. I smiled and greeted him with a warm hello and how can I help you? I was under the

impression he was there to check in for an appointment. He smiled and admitted he did not have an appointment that day but was wondering if I would autograph the copies of my books that he had had with him. Not wanting to be rude I said that I would be more than happy to and had him follow me down to the end of the counter so that we would not be in anybody's way. To be honest, I was a bit surprised he bought them, considering that they were gay-themed supernatural thrillers. I guess he just did not strike me as the type of guy that would read anything that was gay-themed. Regardless, I thanked him for purchasing the books and signed them for him. He thanked me and left and I didn't give it any more thought until a few weeks later he showed up at the hospital where I was again at the front desk doing some training and asked me to

sign two more books that he had said he had purchased for a friend. I again thanked him and signed the books. Fast forward a few months and I'm filling in as the receptionist for one of our other clinics in a small town about 30 miles away from my hometown. The receptionist scheduled to work had called in sick that day and so I agreed to fill in for her. It was shortly after lunch when guess who walks in with both my books in hand, none other than Mr. Biker. Being at work I remained polite and again signed his book and he was on his way. Feeling truly creeped out and concerned I spoke with the nurse on duty as well as the provider and expressed my concerns. They dismissed it as nothing other than an obvious fan who must have a little crush and nothing more.

I figured they were probably right and went about my day. The weeks went by and I began to notice this larger guy hanging out in front of the house and in the back alley behind it. He always wore a hoodie and so I could not see who it was. I pointed this out to my husband who reminded me that with the house called me while I was out of town on our book tour To tell me some strange guy in a hoodie was casing my house and peering in the windows. I told her it was probably a potential buyer and did not worry about it. Fast forward a few months I am back at the medical office building in our urgent care Training another new hire when I get a call from one of the girls in central scheduling

She tells me that she has a guy on the line who keeps calling asking for me but refusing to identify himself for why he needs to speak to me. Thinking that it was a patient that had an issue of a more sensitive nature I told her to go ahead and patch him through. Introducing myself I asked how I could help him. I quickly discovered he was not needing an appointment nor did he have any medical concerns. He began telling me he was naked and touching himself. He wanted me to know that he was thinking of me and he began to tell me all the sick and twisted things he was going to do if he ever got me alone. I was thinking what is wrong with this guy? I was flipping out at this point but somehow still managed to keep my voice calm and inform this idiot to never call me again otherwise I would notify the police.

Unbeknownst to me, the clinic manager was standing behind me and asked me what was going on. I explained the phone call and what the creep said. The manager was concerned and felt we needed to notify the police immediately. I met with a few police officers and explained what had happened. They asked me if I might know this person and at the time I had no clue who it was. The next morning I received a call from a local detective who asked me if I would stop by his office before I went to work. He said he had more information on the guy who called me the day before. I agreed to meet him and called the clinic to let him know what was going on and that I would be in as soon as I was done talking with the detective. Upon reaching his office I

was invited in and the detective got up from his desk and shut the door. He informed me they did a search of the number the guy called in from and came up with some rather disturbing information. He went on to explain that after learning who the guy was, the detective had done some digging, including interviewing some folks this guy associates with. What the detective told me next made all the hair on my body stand on end and sent my heart crashing to the floor. I was informed this guy had been watching or stalking me rather for over six months. Not only that but he believes the guy had been in my house. I was shaking with fear and was finding it hard to breathe. I began to pace the floor of his rather small office.

I explained I don't even have a clue who this guy is or what he looks like. This is when the detective turned his computer monitor around and showed who it was. It was biker dude. My blood ran cold and I felt that I was going to pass out. When I could collect myself, I began to explain how he had been in my yard, the front and the back. He had been sitting in front of my house on the street. I also told him I have seen him walking up and down the alley between my mother's house and mine. The detective informed me that this guy was a well-known gang and drug dealer from California and has been living in my

hometown dealing here for years now. He told me I needed to make sure all my doors and windows are locked at all times and always have somebody walk me to my vehicle and never go anywhere alone. He said this guy had been accused of threatening to kill a witness in previous drug offenses and that is why he is still in the streets so to speak. Then much to my surprise and horror the detective asked if I would be willing to befriend this guy and help the cops set up a drug sting operation. I was mortified and angry to say the least. I told him I needed time to absorb all of this and to get back to him. My manager and the CEO of the hospital met with me when I got to work that day and I told him

everything. An organization-wide email went out with this guy's picture along with an alert asking that the COE clinic manager and I be notified if the creep was spotted in any of the facilities. We are a small hospital so to speak so we have no security. Two weeks went by and things seemed to calm down. My husband and I had gone out for the evening and reminded our roommate that if he left the house to be sure to lock all the doors. We had already made him aware of the situation. He had seen the guy sitting in front of the house on several occasions but just shrugged it off. I needed to get out for a bit because I felt like a trapped rat. It was a great night and for a while I was able to forget about it all. Upon returning to the house, much to my relief, the front door was still locked. I walked through the house to the back door and it too was locked. Our roommate was sound asleep

in his room. I breathed a sigh of relief and made my way to the bedroom. As I walked into the room, I noticed my husband was reading something and he was white as a sheet. I asked him what was wrong and he handed me the sheet of paper saying that it was under your pillow. Then I got up, and then began looking in the closet and under the bed. He then went through the entire house while I read on in horror. The letter said, Hello sexy, nice house. I love the smell of your pillow. I hope you don't mind but I borrowed a few of your sexy things. I will return them when I have added my own scent to them. Don't bother contacting the police. I know when your mother is home alone. I know your mother's schedule as well as your husband's.

By the way your roommate is a very sound sleeper. I will be seeing you soon. I called the police but they said there was nothing that he could do since he was no longer in the house and I could not prove it was him because he never signed the note. I was crapping bricks because I still could not figure out how he could have gotten in. Another few weeks go by and I begin to realize I am seeing him everywhere. At the grocery store, the pharmacy, I mean everywhere I went he was always there lurking in the distance. It had gotten to the point I was now on medications to help me sleep and antidepressants because I felt like I was losing my mind. I couldn't function

because the cops kept saying they could do nothing about it unless he harmed me or was caught in my home. Sitting in front of it for a few hours on end in the alleyways is not illegal, apparently, and this went on for over a year. Where I work a professional job, I maintain my bubbly outward appearance in public, but hid like a timid little mouse behind locked doors at night, too afraid to leave my house. One night, about six months ago, my husband and I awoke to lights flashing and people hollering outside. It sounded like they were right outside on the front lawn. Peeking through the drapes I discovered they were right outside. They had some guy on the ground

ordering him not to move. The fire department was there putting out a large 15 gallon gas can that had been lit on fire and placed on my front doorstep. We threw on our robes and rushed outside when we were met by several police officers. They had the biker guy on the ground in cuffs. One of the officers informed me the neighbors across the street called reporting a suspicious character lurking in my front yard and that they were carrying what appeared to be a rather large gas can. The officer also pointed out that all the tires on my car had been slashed. He went on to explain that bike dude had placed the gas can on the front step and lit it on fire. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest, I thought I was going to die of a massive coronary right there.

I lost it and broke down sobbing. My husband, on the other hand hand blew up. He was beyond angry. I was too but I was too overwhelmed with the fact that had our neighbors not been up and called the police we could have been killed. Biker dude is now behind bars but was only sentenced to two years on a plea deal. The scariest thing about that is the police nor the state is required to notify me in the event this creep is released. So this account is that of my partners. We've been together for 7 years and this story specifically struck a chord with me. I personally believe in the paranormal, while he's incredibly skeptical.

He was in 5th grade at the time and his father had just moved the family in with his new girlfriend. He'd woken up early on a Saturday morning because he couldn't sleep. Just moving into a new home gave him a weird feeling which is normal and he didn't want to get his day going yet so he just chilled on the couch with his dog at the time, Blue, laying next to him on the floor. The living room was littered with piles of packed boxes. He suddenly got hit with the scent of tobacco like the loose kind you put in a pipe and he happened to look down to Blue who a minute ago had been sleeping, was now awake, alert and silently lifting his lips to a figure standing a good feet away with a pipe in its hands.

He froze upon seeing it as it gently tapped the pipe in his hand. He hightailed it out of the living room with Blue tailing behind him and hid it under his blankets until the rest of the house was up. Later that day he mentioned to his dad who and hid it under his blankets until the rest of the house was up. Later that day he mentioned to his dad who then mentioned it to his girlfriend to which she quickly responded, oh that's just my uncle, it's fine. Excuse me? From then on he went to feel different sensations like a ghost cat rub against his legs, impressions on the bed, a lot of wisps of black and white masses, lights turning on and off by themselves, and little girl at the top of the stairs who dropped a ball down to the bottom and it disappeared upon reaching the floor. Once his dad had broken up with her and they'd moved out, every single bit of activity ended.

The story still makes my hair stand up, and I don't get how he's still on the fence about believing, but I do agree, that house wasn't haunted, it was her. I am a 17 year old male currently living in Hawaii. Lucky me. But as a child I was raised in a Christian home in a rural part of Nevada. For as long as I can remember, I have had a fascination for the unexplained and paranormal. Unlike my Christian family, I do not believe in anything that I cannot see for myself. Thus, up until recently I only thought

of the supernatural as a very ancient superstition, nothing to be afraid of or be concerned about. But like anyone else I like a good ghost story. Some of the horrific stories that my friends would tell me would keep me up at night, not in fear but in curiosity. I would always wonder what the meaning behind the phantom's actions would be or even if there would be any reason behind it at all. If a shadowy figure stood across from you down the hall what would he be trying to accomplish? Scare you or feed off your fear? Call out to you or help it pass over? Or is it doing that for no reason at all? This is what I was interested in, not so much the terror aspect of it. On my free time, I would usually and still do watch YouTube

videos about the paranormal, namely by Darkness Prevails and Let's Read. My parents, being Christian, were greatly concerned about this interest and afraid that I would invite something into our house or our lives. I didn't believe that, thus I continued my routine. About four years ago when I still lived in my Nevada home, my 10 year old sister, who we'll call Sarah for the sake of the story, was scared and asked if she could sleep in my bed with me. This was nothing out of the usual. Sarah was still afraid of the dark and she believed that if she slept with me, nothing would happen or if something did happen, she'd feel less crazy because I'd be there to witness it. Like the older brother I am, I allowed her to sleep with me in my bed.

Sometime later, we got into an argument about something I don't remember. I ended up feeling guilty and apologizing about the fight, but Sarah decided to sleep in her room despite me. about something I don't remember. I ended up feeling guilty and apologizing about the fight but Sarah decided to sleep in her room despite me. I saw her leave and the way my bed was positioned couldn't see her after she had stepped out of the room. Ten seconds after Sarah had left she sprinted back into my room looking as pale as a ghost, leaped onto my bed, hid herself under my sheets and latched onto me with a grip I had never felt before. She began crying and it wasn't her normal cry. It sounded like there was a force

behind her cry, as if though she wanted to cry as loud and as long as she could but couldn't out of fear of being heard by someone or something and her breathing was rapid, irregular and shallow as if though she was suffocating or drowning and reaching for air. I asked her what was wrong but she never answered. I thought someone was in the house so I wanted to get up and check. I moved only an inch before Sarah held me even tighter and cried, don't go, please don't go. I laid back down and tried to explain but she talked over me and repeated this about 10 more times before I assured her that I'll stay here until she calms down. After about 15 minutes Sarah was calm enough to talk but now she was shaking. I asked if she felt all right to explain what had happened and through tears she explained the horror.

When she stepped out of my room she saw someone standing in the room directly in front of her. The room was my older brother who had moved out about seven years prior. Sarah and I had always seen things inside that room through the corner of our eyes whether it be day or night but when we looked nothing would be there. The figure looked like my father and it stood just enough inside the doorway for her to see its figure. It even appeared to have his exact clothes on. Its body was facing her, its head was facing 90 degrees to her left away from her. Once she had seen it she realized that my father was at work, driving a semi-truck to Boise, Idaho for one of his regular runs. No other males besides me lived there.

When she had realized these things, the figure slowly turned its head towards my sister and while doing so, changed from my father's appearance into what she thinks was its own appearance. In Sarah's words, Its hair was frizzy and black and red streaks. Its eyes were glowing red. It had no nose. Its skin palish blue. You could see the veins, which were tar black. He was extremely tall and slender with long bony arms reaching past his knees. His fingers had thick, long, and sharp nails that were stained with black substances. It wasn't dripping off of its nails, it was like crusted on. It stood there extremely straight and

stiff and just stared at me. It didn't say anything or make a sound and filled me with this almost paralyzing fear. Seeing this, she wanted to run to my parents room down the hall but she feared that she might not make it before this thing caught her. So she looked quickly behind her to see if my door was still open so she could dash into my room. When she looked back the figure was two feet close to her still retaining the same posture and unwavering stare. As soon as she saw this she turned and bolted into my room. To her, these few steps

into my room seemed and felt like a mile. She felt it get closer and closer each step she took, but right as she set foot in my room she felt it stop and or leave, but she never looked back to check. Then she launched herself onto my bed and hid herself, latching onto me. Once she had finished, I wanted to believe that this was true and see it for myself, but somehow I knew that it wouldn't be there now. I thought about telling her parents about this, but who would believe it? I knew they wouldn't believe. No parent ever does or wants to when this sort of thing happens.

You just had a nightmare, they'd'd say or it was just your imagination. Thinking about their response got me doubting in Sarah's story but the utter terror and exhausted look that my sister had made me dismiss my doubts. Eventually we decided to tell our parents. I went first of course with her tightly hanging on behind me. When I left my room I didn't see the figure which I knew was going to happen and made me feel relieved and bummed at the same time. Upon reaching my parents bedroom and telling them about it they said the exact things that I predicted. My sister once hearing the response snapped and began yelling through sobs to them. What was I thinking? I should have never told you. You never

would have believed me unless you saw what I saw. I thought by telling you you'd comfort me but instead you're sweeping it under the rug and telling me that I'm crazy. Sarah is a sweet and respectful girl. She never raised her voice at her parents even if she wanted to so this caught her parents attention and fully woke them up. They realized through this outburst and my account of the event that this was indeed true. My mom called a pastor, it was about 12.51am to come bless the house. The pastor came, prayed, burned incense and other rituals to cleanse our house. I didn't believe any of this work but it made my sister feel a little more at ease so that made me feel better. My parents and Sarah never told anyone of this, still believing it could be

some imagination and I only told a few close friends when they would sleep over. Fortunately we moved two years later to Hawaii leaving that thing behind. Although other things such as bowls falling out of the cabinets by themselves or random but ghastly screams have happened, nothing ever occurred before or after that was as serious as this. After this event I wanted to know what my sister saw so I searched online for what it could be. I thought that it could be a wendigo or skinwalker, but all of those things would have hurt my sister and probably all of us if it was any of those. If you think you know what this could be, please write it in the comments, and to be exact, a girl, Beatrice, went to school with me, who was in grade 4, who was notorious for doing rituals or curses.

She pulled me aside during recess and told me they needed one more person to do a Bloody Mary ritual. She brought me into the school, to the bathroom closest to the gymnasium where four of her friends were waiting. I was too scared to say no to Beatrice because of the gossip about her so we went into the bathroom. We all stood in a circle and held hands and began chanting Bloody Mary for some time. It felt like forever but about 15 minutes after beginning, the lights in the bathroom went out. The lights in the bathroom were controlled by a key only the caretakers carried at the time, they were not automatic. When the lights went out, all of us

screamed, let go of each other and ran out of the bathroom. Three of the girls, including Beatrice, were covered in bruises and scratches. We all stopped running as soon as we got outside of the bathroom to do a roll call. We were missing one of the girls, specifically the one who was holding my left hand during the game. As soon as the lights returned in the bathroom, we went inside to see if she got hurt or hid somewhere until the lights came back on. We searched the bathroom high and low but she was nowhere to be found. We all freaked out for a while and tried to rationalize. There must be another door, like a hidden door in there or she could have ran right past us.

We all knew she didn't come out with us and didn't see her run past. Nor was there any other exit that one could run out of. We all parted ways and none of us ever saw that girl again, not even Beatrice. I didn't even get a glimpse of her anywhere at school. Who knows what happened? All I know is I hope she made it out. So this happened at the beginning of freshman year. Open lunch was a rather new concept to us because we had freedom to go where we pleased to stuff our faces. My friend and I decided to go to Burger King to think of some comic ideas where we saw two of our friends with a face of pure disgust on their faces.

I asked what was going on and they said, yeah there's some creep in a booth over there beating his meat with one hand and eating with the other, all the while staring at us so we thought we should probably leave. I asked if they did anything about it and they responded with, I mean we called the cops to see if they can get him to leave but no not really. I thought it was bullcrap so I went in anyways and sure enough there was an old man beating his chicken tenders while eating a burger breathing heavily. I looked at him like, were you out of your mind, and said, excuse me sir, you gotta leave. This is a public area. Get out of here, you freaking weirdo. He stopped abusing himself for a moment and looks up at me and says,

just let me finish or, I don't know, bring those girls back inside for a couple of minutes. My obvious response was nah you can't be beating yourself to 15 year old girls. Gotta get out of here man we called the cops. There's not much I could do so I grabbed his burger and threw it in the trash. He got up and zipped his pants and tried leaving. Thankfully an officer had arrived and started talking to this gentleman. He asked us if my friend and I could leave arrived and started talking to this gentleman. He asked us if my friend and I could leave so they can talk to the girls. Sadly I don't know what happened to this pervert but I do know that I hadn't seen him in quite some Growing up, my dad had a very, very bad temper. He would hit anyone, throw things, scream, all the scary things.

From around ages 5 to 14, I saw him every weekend, and because of change in pay, he often switched between houses and had different roommates. The house we were living in was rented out to us. The owner only rented the upstairs while they lived downstairs but we were welcome to the kitchen, bathroom, living room, etc. I remember one roommate I got along with very well. We'll call them Tina. My dad and Tina dated before but had broken up at this time and my dad used the space to see other women. He once had one over. It was the first time they met and the first sleepover.

Tina and I went upstairs. I was playing with a snake our housemates had. She was a python named Medusa while Tina did her own thing. When my dad came downstairs to greet his guests, he told us he wanted us upstairs in our section of the house. We listened and as they were sitting on the couch Tina and I were in the room knitting or doing our nails or something. Tina told my dad he would give them alone time and go downstairs. This resulted in him getting angry as he already told us he wanted us up there. They had a verbal altercation and this led to my dad's guest running out of the house reasonably scared. My dad hated this and he chased after her and when she drove away you could hear him wailing downstairs for her to come back uncontrollably

sobbing. This went on for hours then. The house was silent. My dad slowly crept back upstairs to our section and into Tina's room. I laid in my bed crying and sobbing and shaking because I knew what was going to happen. I knew my dad was going to punish her. For an hour you could hear her hitting, yelling, screaming, things being thrown, threats, and all I could do was sit in my bed. I was a young girl and there was no way I could overpower my dad. After he calmed down he came and checked on me and asked me why I was crying. I just told him I had a nightmare and went to bed. The next morning everything was fine and dandy and I left back to my mom's. I don't know how she can just forgive him like that. Why Tina? Didn't. You just leave? from worlds as diverse as theater, journalism, literature, and more. Every month, Audible members get one credit good for any audiobook they choose,

plus two Audible Originals from a changing selection that they can't get anywhere else. They also get access to audio fitness and health workouts created exclusively for Audible. Audible has the largest selection of audiobooks on the planet, which lets you fill your fall with more stories like Stephen King's It and my personal new favorite, Sleeping Beauties. Audible offers 30 days to try Audible for free, which includes your choice of any audiobook plus two Audible originals on them. It's the perfect way to discover what millions already have.

Listening lets you get more books in your life because with the free Audible app, you can enjoy them anytime, anywhere, at home, at the gym, while commuting or doing chores. Plus, your books are yours to keep. With Audible, you can go back and re-listen anytime, even if you cancel your membership. Get your first audiobook free and choose two titles from a curated list of Audible originals when you try Audible for 30 days. Visit audible.com slash read or text read to 500 500 to get started. Once again, head over to audible.com slash read or text read to 500 500. That's audible.com slash R-E-A-D or text R-E-A-D to 500-500 to get started today. Thanks to Audible as a sponsor of this show, I was able to read Sleeping Beauties,

which in this spectacular father-son collaboration, Stephen King and Owen King tell the highest of high-stakes stories. What might happen if women disappeared from the world of men? In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep. They become shrouded in a cocoon like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent, and while they sleep, they go to another place. Be sure to check it out with Audible. I've been a forest ranger for going on five years now.

I don't feel it's necessary to disclose my location, so please don't ask me where these take place. With that out of the way, I also want to say that I'm no professional when it comes to the paranormal or creatures. I don't have an explanation for most of the things I went through and experienced. Maybe you all can help me with that. With that said, I'll start with the first encounter I had while patrolling the forest where I work. We had gotten a call about a possible wanderer. A wanderer is someone who walks off the path and is either lost or up to no good.

I can't tell you how many teens thinks it's cool to go smoke in the woods out here. Anyway, I took the call and started taking the ranger trail so I could find whoever it was. The description they'd given me was tall and slender. Not much to go off of but I figured it was better than nothing. I was nearing the end of a specific trail when I heard something off to the east of me. I'd look over in that direction and saw a quick flash of color duck behind a tree. I call out, hey you can't be out here it's for the forest personnel only.

They didn't respond and didn't come out so I started walking over. I was left speechless when I came up beside the tree I'd seen this figure go behind and there was nothing there. When you're in the woods it's not really easy to make it out without being heard. I looked all around but there wasn't a sign of anyone. I walkied my superior and let him know. He said to do one more run through of the area and if I don't find anything to report back to him. After my second patrol I still found nothing so I did what he asked and reported to him after. He asked what color I saw duck behind the tree and I explained that it looked like someone with a red flannel shirt with blue jeans. He just laughed and said that was probably Sebastian. I was lost. What do you mean? Is he just void of punishment?

Kind of hard to punish a ghost. I shot him a skeptical look. Sebastian was a young kid who was attacked by a bear out here nearly 15 years ago when I first started. He's never really left. From that day forward, I saw Sebastian a handful of times. I've also seen a few apparitions here and there. The most notable being I was giving a tour of the campgrounds we have out here. There was a small group of people with me when a woman raised her hand and asked, Are we allowed over by the river? She then pointed over to the bank where I saw a woman in a white nightgown. Uh, yes,

however, we require that everyone who can't swim or is not an illegal adult to wear a life jacket. You can't swim in it either as the current is very strong however the life jackets are a safety precaution. I called out to the woman near the bank. Ma'am do you mind joining my group up here you really shouldn't be down there. Her head turned to face me slowly and when it did I felt all the color drain from my face. She didn't have any eyes they were just black pits. A few of the people in the crowd gasped and a few kids hugged their parents in fear. I looked back at the group and they looked at me for an answer but I didn't have one. When I looked back the woman was gone. We just continued on with the tour after that with a palpable awkwardness and uneasiness. When people find out I work where I do, I'm often asked

if I believe in Bigfoot. The short answer is no I don't. My longer answer would be that there are much more things out there, things that are scarier than Bigfoot. Here's my story of one of them. This will also be my last story as it may give an idea to the location of my workplace and I don't want people visiting just because of these stories. That's not a good reason to come out here. The real reason would be to enjoy nature and all it has to offer. And with that said, I'll stop beating around the bush. I was doing another patrol when I saw something run out in front of the patrol vehicle. It's really a golf cart.

Thinking I'd hit a fawn or something similar, I hopped out radioing the lead ranger. When he asked for a description, I didn't really know what to say. This thing was about the size of a full-sized German shepherd, but was all black and had a shiny coat. The body type was also similar, but there were no ears and no sign of there even being any. There also wasn't a snout. I don't mean that it was squashed in like an English Bulldog but there wasn't one. The face was flat and pointed with two small slits at the front. The lead ranger showed up soon after we spoke over the walkies.

He was just as confused as I was. The wildlife preserve was called and they took it with them to get a better idea of what it could be. While they were transporting it however some campers got a few pictures of it. These were turned into local news stations and they ran a piece on it in the newspaper. I never made it to television thankfully. The last I heard there have been no new updates about what it could be. I hope you all get a little bit of enjoyment out of my stories and maybe even feel like you can share some of your own. Depends on the response to this I may share a few more but as of now

I think I'll keep it under wraps. When I was 8 my parents put me in the Boy Scouts. Now, despite what you're about to listen to, I still believe it was one of the greatest things I'd ever did. I loved hanging out in the woods, learning about survival, all that good stuff. Being that a large part of the courses we took were in the woods and dealt with wildlife, you'd expect me to have at least one spooky story. Well, I can assure you that any Boy Scout has at least one, and this is mine. I've been in the Boy Scouts for about a year at this point. We were covering something to do with leaves in the woods. I'm not sure what it was. That's besides the point though. Once the

lesson was over we were paired up and told to go out and find the biggest leaf that we could. It sounds silly but it was a ton of fun. We were instructed not to go out of eyesight of the scout leader but the kid I was with didn't listen. He kept looking back at the scout leader to see if they were looking away and as soon as they looked away he booked it into the forest. Now we were taught that if you were ever separated from your partner to blow the whistle they'd given us. That wasn't really going through my head though. I stupidly gave chase calling out we're not allowed to go out there. He just kept running through. Eventually he stopped and turned to look at me. He had been a few years older than me, maybe ten, so when I saw that he had a cigarette in his mouth I wasn't surprised.

My parents did it at the time too so I figured it was something adults and older kids do. We need to go back, I said. I can't see the scout leader. He just laughed and took a drag from the cigarette. Fine, I said. I'll just get their attention. I reached for my whistle, but when I pulled it out, he knocked it out of my hand. You better not get me in trouble or I'll beat you up.

I took this seriously. I wasn't the biggest kid, and being that he was older than me I assumed he was stronger. He was laughing for a little before he looked behind me and that's when his face went white. I figured the scout leader had found us but it was so much worse. He dropped the cigarette butt and booked it back towards the scout leaders. I ran over and stomped it out. When I turned around to leave though I saw what it was that scared him so badly. For lack of a better word, it was Bigfoot. It was tall, hairy, and smelled like absolute death. The fur on its face and around its hands were matted with what I assumed was animal blood.

I legitimately peed myself then and there. It wasn't moving so I tried to fight all my logical thinking and ran over to the whistle that was on the ground. I made it to it and blew in it as hard as I could. I'm lucky this thing was slow because it could have taken my head off. The whistle sounded and the creature cried out before running off into the woods. Soon after I was scooped up by a scout leader and we were all back at the boy scout camp. The leaders gave us a long and stern talking to about forest safety. One thing I remember vividly is when he said,

there are some things out there that will hurt you. It seemed like such a terrible thing to say to a child, but I knew he was right. We still went out to those woods after that, but I never saw anything like it again. I'd been staying in Japan for about 10 years when this took place. My reason for staying there in the first place was studying abroad. Once my studies were over however I ended up going back. I loved the culture and enjoyed just being there.

I've met someone now and we're getting married in the fall. Life had seemed pretty figured out. Just the last week though something happened that caused a lot of turmoil and strain on my relationship. It started when a buddy of mine hit me up on Skype. He, like me, was American but had come to build a new life in Japan. Being five years older than I was he had been just about to every notable site in Japan and had two kids. We were shooting the breeze for a little while while kind of out of nowhere he brought up a Kigahara. Now I'm fairly certain that most everyone knows what that is. If you don't then look it up real quick because I'm not going to explain.

Basically he told me that he would pay me 500 bucks if I would go camp out there alone for two nights. My wife who is native native to Japan, could not protest enough. She told me all the horror stories of people going in and never coming out, people being followed home by spirits, all kinds of crazy stuff. I told her I wasn't scared of some silly forest and agreed to the bet. The day I left she begged me not to go but I did anyways. I wanted to prove to her that there was nothing to be worried about well that and I really wanted the 500 bucks and maybe a little adventure I kissed her goodbye and headed out walking up to the forest is something sinister while it is beautiful it's also extremely foreboding the density of the trees is beyond reason. I'd never seen anything

like it. As soon as I stepped in I was taken aback by it all. It was like another planet. I heard all the wildlife whether it be bugs or animals. I heard a handful of other people walking around as well. The temperature had dropped significantly. I wouldn't admit to anyone who asked but I was scared. I told myself it was nothing more than a forest and continued on. My trek through the various trails did eventually lead me to a spot flat enough and secluded enough to camp. It was around 7pm at this point. Night one was a go.

Sleep came but only after a long fight. Everything I heard around me made me jump. I didn't know what kind of animals lived out here and also given the reputation this forest had I was beginning to get a little worried about those who were in here with me. I woke up on that morning feeling groggy. I didn't want to leave my tent honestly. I wanted to leave the forest. I decided that I would hike down to the base of Mount Fuji and give that a look. All through the forest I was taking photos. I needed something to prove to my friend that I'd actually done it. I got some great photos of wildlife, some trees, all that good stuff. Halfway through my hike, however, I decided on putting my camera

away for the rest of the trip. I heard a woman weeping off to the east of me. I decided to walk over and see if I could help her at all. When she was finally in sight, I saw that she was a young woman, maybe in her twenties. There was another woman, much older, possibly her mother who was holding her to her chest. They were both kneeled on the ground in front of a body. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see. The older woman made eye contact with me and we shared a small moment. I could tell she was holding back the tears. I nodded to her as a way to say, I understand, it will be okay, and I went about my way. I'm assuming the body they were

kneeling in front of was a relative, possibly brother or maybe father. I didn't get a good look and had no plan to. I continued walking, trying to get that out of my head. It was so hard to shake that image though. I took a rest at the base of a tree and just thought about everything. Myself, my fiance, my friend and mostly this stupid challenge. I left the forest and went home after 20 minutes of deliberation. Let me explain my decision. When I went there I knew what I was doing. I was going to visit a place people regarded as spooky or scary and while it was both of those things I feel like I lost light of what else it was.

It's a place where those who have lost all hope, all will to move forward, go to end the most precious gift given to us. Life. I wasn't looking at it through the eyes of someone like the woman who'd found someone they'd loved. I was looking at it as some sort of attraction you'd visit for Halloween. It was disrespectful disrespectful I felt. Over the course of the next few months I fell into some pretty serious depression. Seeing how quickly life can be taken away from you, voluntarily or not, is a sobering thing. It put me in a state of mind where I believe nothing really mattered. No matter what we do in this life, have kids, get married, whatever, it didn't

matter because we lose all of it in the end. This is where the strain on my relationship came from. I wasn't as lovey-dovey as I'd once been. My fiancé and I were fighting all the time. We weren't making love. We even got into a small physical altercation at one point causing me to storm out of the house. Guess where I went? That forest. I went all the way there and just stared into it, thinking about all I'd seen and all that had been going on. I contemplated going inside, but I knew that if I did, I wouldn't come out. The thoughts I were having weren't good ones.

They came and went in waves as I was standing there but then one specific thought entered my mind. The thought of that woman I had made eye contact with. I remember that, while she struggled to do so she wasn't crying. She held it in. She was strong. That's what I needed to be. I made it back home to my fiance and broke down telling her everything. I was eventually put on antidepressants and luckily for me, they've worked wonders.

It's been nearly a year on them and I'm thinking of trying to lower the dosage. I've not had an episode of depression in quite a while so I think I'll be alright. So yes, I went back but before you bother asking, no I didn't see any ghost or hear any phantom voices maybe it's because I wasn't looking for them maybe it's because they weren't there I don't really know or care the point I want to get across here is that if you're going to visit this forest please know the real reason you're doing it if If you want to get a cheap thrill, it's better to just stay home. Calling it one of the scariest places to visit is like advertising a graveyard as a ride at a state fair. I apologize if this post doesn't fit the horror shtick that is usually on here, but I really just wanted to share this.

What I did see in there was something much scarier than ghosts or spirits. It was morality. I saw what people have to deal with when a loved one dies. Something I haven't had to deal with much in my life. Feel free to grill me on the comments for not posting something scary but I really just had to get this out. Be aware and honest with your reasons for visiting Akihara and re-evaluate your decision. So I'm not really sure how to start this. I suppose I'll just say it. I saw something in the woods. It wasn't a bear or Bigfoot. Everyone knows that's nonsense.

On top of that, there will be things I mention later that will disprove that theory, so people, listen all the way through. I was backpacking through an old hiking trail here in town when I came across an abandoned campsite off one of the trails. Now, normally I would leave that kind of thing alone and let those who clean up the trail deal with it. I don't want to be accused of meddling with someone else's things. This was different however. It wasn't just abandoned, it was trashed. It didn't look like someone simply left it there,

it was like someone was attacked. The tent had been pulled off from the ground and flipped completely over. The food was strewn about and there were embers of the fire all around the site still burning. That's what caused me to walk over there. I didn't want one of them to catch a strong wind and send the whole forest into flames. I made my way over and took my time to stomp out all of the embers. I then checked the vicinity around the campsite to see if there was anyone near who may have been staying out here. I went off into the woods calling out for anyone. That was my mistake. I was maybe 20 feet in when I heard it.

There was a low guttural kind of growl coming from deep within the woods. It was like something I'd never heard. It wasn't like a large dog but at the same time it wasn't like a bear's roar. I wasn't sure what I was getting into. I thought about heading back but at the same time I wanted to find out if there was someone out there who had to go through that. I would have tried to help them out. As I kept walking the growl began to grow closer. I kept an eye and an ear out for it but it was nearly impossible to pinpoint. Eventually I decided that the person must have left their things there and something came by and tried

to snatch it all up and search for food. That didn't answer all of my questions though. Most all wild animals were afraid of fire. How then was it scattered about like someone had kicked it? I decided this was getting a little too spooky for me so I started back to the campsite. I didn't pick up on it at the time but when I was heading back the growling had subsided. It wasn't until I made it back that I heard it again and what was causing it. I stayed at the tree line hoping this thing wouldn't see me. It was massive. Imagine a bear standing on its hind legs only, totally hairless. This is why it couldn't have been a bear. I'm fairly certain that they don't shed all their

fur. Also, this thing was walking, albeit awkwardly. It lumbered around the campsite for a while, searching for more food I suppose. When it didn't find anything, it lumbered slowly back into the forest. I left and went back home soon after that. I did some research and I can't seem to find anything that matched this thing's description. I'm not sure if anyone knows what it was. I'll try to give a more detailed description but I'm pulling from memory here. It was definitely the size of a bear. Also, it had to be an animal and in no way was it human. It wasn't clothed and I didn't see any human genitalia or any at all for that matter. There were small round ears fixed atop its head and a large long snout on its face. If anyone can help me identify this thing I'd greatly appreciate it.

It's been stuck in my mind for a while and I've just never looked for answers this way through fear of ridicule. Please guys, what was that thing? When I was a kid I spent a lot of time over at my grandparents house. Both my parents were forced to travel often for their jobs so I was dropped off at the grandparents house pretty often. It wasn't as bad as some kids would expect. These were the days of dial-up internet so being upset about not having wifi was non-existent. Kids like myself played outside during those times. Shocking, I know. This particular story takes place when I was about 9 years old. It was right around Christmas time and they had allowed me to open one present early,

without my parents knowing of course. I remember what it was and how I felt as well. It was a brand new pair of binoculars. I was a big fan of bird watching as a kid and still am today but of course I had more time back then. My granddad looked at me and said, I'm going to let you go out into the woods to look for all the critters but be sure not to go past the creek. Being nine, this kind of went in one ear and out the other. I agreed and headed out. The forest behind my granddad's house was massive and he owned it all. I think my dad told me at one point that it was nine or so acres. I as a kid told myself that I had explored it all. Funny how your imagination can run wild like that. Well this day in particular my mind wasn't

running rampant. What I saw was real and I knew it judging by my grandparents reaction. I'd been in the forest for a good 10 minutes at this point just walking as straight as I could looking for any of the critters that ran around out there. I saw a handful of cardinals and chickadees but nothing super spectacular. Then I ran across the creek. It was completely frozen over of course but my mind still wondered about trying to think of what could be on the other side. Why wasn't I allowed over there? Of course it was for safety reasons. Once you're past the creek a little ways the house is no longer within seeing or shouting distance. In my mind however it was the only place I'd see what I wanted to.

I wanted to see a bird I hadn't seen, the less common ones. I looked back at the house a few times contemplating my decision and had decided not to go over the threshold and disobey my granddad but then I heard something on the other side. It was a man's voice. It wasn't scary I remember. It was warm and inviting. Kind of like a good audio book. I grabbed my attention and before I knew it jumped the creek and headed deeper into the woods. I didn't hear that voice again for quite some time and I wasn't seeing any new birds, so I was beginning to think this was a waste of time.

I decided to take one more look into the binoculars, do a quick 360 and then head back. The sun was starting to go down and I knew if I was out here much longer I'd get into trouble. I pulled the binoculars to my eyes and took one last look. And I saw it. It wasn't what I was looking for. It was a man. He was tall and wore a fine black suit. He even had a briefcase with him.

Judging by how strong the binoculars were, he could have been a little less than half a mile away. He wasn't doing anything, he was just standing there. The longer I looked, the more apparent of how wrong this was came over me. Why would someone in a suit carrying a briefcase be hanging out in the woods in the middle of December? I was so focused I didn't hear my granddad approaching. Soon he snatched me up and carried me all the way back to his house scolding me the entire way. Back home I sat on the couch and he questioned about what I could have seen that made me disobey him. Through my sniffling and eye rubbing I could only say I heard a man out there. His demeanor changed completely and I remember hearing my grandpa gasp

a little bit. He crouched down beside me and said, what did he say? He just said, hey, and then he was gone. I didn't see him until I crossed the creek. Nearly whispering, he responded, what did he look like? He had a suit and a briefcase. Are you gonna tell my mom? He looked up at my grandmother and then back at me. No, no, we're not kiddo. Don't worry, we're not mad. We were just worried about you. It wasn't until I was much older that I figured out what I saw in those woods. I was 18 and my granddad was in bad health. He wasn't set to pass anytime soon mind you but he was just very sick. We were visiting in the hospital and when my parents left to get some food he told me all about what that man was. Apparently there used to be a cemetery on that land before it became overgrown with trees

and vines. That man was a spirit everyone referred to as the Undertaker. According to my granddad, he was a businessman, hence the briefcase, but suffered a heart attack during his wife's funeral. Nowadays he roams the woods, looking for the grave of his wife. It was a heartbreaking tale. The reason he was so worried about me at the time is because it's said that if you're caught by the undertaker, he'll curse you. You'll fall gravely ill and eventually pass away from cardiac arrest like him. I'm not sure how much I believe that story but I will say that I'm glad he never looked at me.

His back was facing me the entire time. My grandma did eventually pass away, not cardiac arrest if you're curious but I've kept the legend strong. I tell everyone I know about it and if I ever run across kids in that area while visiting the old house, I make sure to tell them, never go past the creek. Every town has its urban legends and mine was no exception. Ours was about the child snatcher. It's not totally original I know, but what are you going to do? Nearly everything is a remix at this point.

Anyway the cool thing about this legend is that there was a location behind it as well. The story goes like this. There was a man who lived in my town in the 20's. He was found guilty of 6 counts of child abduction, child endangerment, and worse. Before he was hung, he swore that he would always be here, stalking the woods for any children that strayed out of the boundaries their parents set. Now, parents tell their little boys and girls not to play in the woods because the child snatcher will get them. I believed it when I was a kid. A lot of us did.

However, as I grew older, I knew it was total hoopla. There was no way someone from the 20s was hanging out in the woods. The legend lived on though. One of the kids in our town went missing a few years back. He's still not been found, however, his shoe was found in an abandoned sewer tunnel in the woods. That sewer tunnel was only about a mile from my house. I had ventured out there multiple times using it as a checkpoint and meeting place with my friends. We talked about venturing down there multiple times but never did. We'd open it up, get one good look from the top and close it back up. A few weeks back I decided to quit beating

around the bush and just go down there. Obviously no one was living down there, it would be nearly impossible. All of my friends were busy doing something much more important so I set out on this quest alone. It was maybe 6pm when I arrived at the sewer tunnel. A little elbow grease and the cover was off. I slowly made my way down the ladder and was soon in the tunnel. It didn't smell as bad as I remembered but it was spooky. I turned on my flashlight and headed down looking for any sign that someone was living down there. I'd been walking for about 10 minutes and had only seen a few rats. Nothing paranormal or monstrous.

I was ready to turn back and go home when I heard it. There was definitely something else in there with me. I could hear someone walking around and even saw another light source approaching from the opposite of the tunnel. I shined my light down there calling out, hey there, is anyone there? At first I didn't see anything. The flashlight I had wasn't the most powerful. The footsteps got closer and the light grew brighter. I called out again. Hey, who's there? The footsteps stopped. I shined my light toward them and finally I was able to make it out. There was a man standing in the tunnel with a broken neck. The light he had was that of an old lantern. I nearly fell down trying to get out of there. I made it to the ladder and climbed up, quickly

putting the manhole over as fast as I could. I fell over backwards and just looked at the entrance for a while. I ran through every scenario in my head. Maybe someone was just playing a prank. My friends knew I was going to be down there. But how long would they have stayed down there? That could have taken a ton of time to plan as well. It was also the thought that it could have just been a ghost. I didn't want to believe it, but it all added up.

The broken neck, the location, the lamp. It all added up. The broken neck. The location. The lamp. It all made sense. Like I said at the beginning, every town has an urban legend. I just didn't expect to find out. Mine was real. What is HelloFresh? HelloFresh is a meal kit delivery service that shops, plans, and delivers step-by-step recipes and pre-measured ingredients so you can just cook, eat, and enjoy. There's something for everyone with HelloFresh's selection. Three plans to choose from, classic, veggie, and family. Each box is made up of fresh,

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visit HelloFresh.com slash read60. That's HelloFresh.com slash R-E-A-D 60. It's basically like receiving six meals for free or up to 50% off your first three boxes. Now that I had my chance to try HelloFresh, it's hands down my favorite meal kit delivery service out there. This story takes place about a month ago. I was working in the forest with a company on getting some of the trees taken down for a housing development to be built. I wasn't happy about it, mind you. It paid the bills, though. Nowadays, I'm working with someone in my town. That's completely besides the point, though.

Let me get back on track. Now being a logger is a lot of hard work and being that you're in the woods 90% of the time you can come across some weird stuff. We've found old tents, tons of trash, jackets, shoes. Hey a few years back someone even found some remains. No joke. They still haven't been identified though. Pretty spooky stuff. Now I have been in the logging business for a few years and never came across anything of note. A few tents and such but nothing like everyone was talking about. I was ready to see something. I did eventually get that wish. It was about 6pm and we were getting ready to call it a day. It's too dangerous to work at night so we got off a little bit early in the winter months. The guys who were there, which was only two, hung out at the truck and I went off into the woods to have a pee.

Sorry, but when you're out there, nature is your toilet. We did have a porter potty, but who really wants to go in one of those? I was working on getting the flow going. I've been having some issues with that lately when I heard a branch snap behind me. It was getting dark and I was pretty much alone. I'd walked out a little further than I should have so I was getting a little uneasy. I tried to look behind me while still focusing on peeing which had finally begun. I heard a second crack and then a chuckle. I knew then that it was my co-workers. If you wanted to be embarrassed you should have just

asked. I then made a gesture of turning around and heard one of them call out. Ah never mind, just hurry up it's freezing out here. I heard them walking back to the truck and soon they were out of earshot. I zipped up and started heading back but then... Snap. It was much farther away this time and behind me again. It was coming from the direction I was facing when I was taking a pee. Ha, very funny guys, come on, let's get out of here.

Nothing. No one laughed and nothing moved. Guys, seriously, I'll leave you here. Again, I didn't hear anything. I scoffed and turned around to leave. All right then. I don't want to keep your mama waiting anyway. As soon as I turned, I heard it again. Snap. I knew that would get his attention, I thought. Turning around, I said, So are you ret- I couldn't finish my sentence.

Far off in the untouched forest was some kind of figure. It looked to be about my height, six feet, but its head was strangely bulbous. There seemed to be steam rolling off its body. Given it was about 25 degrees out, this thing's body heat had to be off the charts. It was only covered in skin, no hair like I would be expecting, especially in this weather. What stopped me though, what made me quite literally stop in my track, were its eyes. They were a deep red and had a glow to them. They weren't unlike when a dog's eyes catches the light, but I'd never seen something like this. I could even hear it breathing. I'd say it was about 50 yards away, but the breaths were so

labored and raspy they were easily audible. It was almost like a growl. I finally regained my bearings and started to back up towards the truck. I wasn't sure how far I'd come but it couldn't have been too far, at least that's what I hoped. Soon I was running and to my absolute dismay I could hear this thing pounding through the forest mere yards behind me the whole time. I looked back and it was running on all fours despite it looking bipedal the first time I saw it. I began calling out to my friends saying, there's something out here, start the

truck. Soon I could see them in the distance. They either hadn't heard me or didn't believe me. It was the latter I soon found out. I hopped in the truck and urged them to hurry as there was something out there. They both just laughed and leisurely walkedped in the truck and urged them to hurry as there was something out there. They both just laughed and leisurely walked over to the truck. That was until my eyes grew wide and the thing that had been chasing me appeared over the hill. It was now nearly wheezing and growling at the same time. Seeing that I wasn't messing with them, they ran to get in the truck and shut the doors just in time. The thing slammed against the side of the truck and fell back on the ground before screaming at us and running off. I wasted no time and floored it to get out of there. We were on the road soon after and were all freaking out. They apologized for not believing me

but I wasn't worried about that. I was more worried about going back out there the next day. We told our boss about what happened and while he didn't believe us at first, he couldn't deny the large dent in the door of the truck. Either way, whether he believed us or not, we still had to go back the next day. I didn't want to, none of us who'd seen it wanted to, but we didn't have a choice. It was either that or get fired for not showing up. The day that followed was pretty quiet. Everyone kind of kept to themselves. It was pretty easy to do so.

Most of the team was gone. We were just told to clean up a bit around the area. The day was uneventful until we started packing up the equipment in the truck. The growling came again from the south of us. We all perked up and looked over in that direction. We couldn't see it at first, which is way scarier, but soon the growling got louder. We all looked around until finally one of the co-workers spotted it. He pointed it out and the other coworker and myself jumped in the car. We urged him to get in as well but instead he pulled a pistol from the glove box and fired four shots at the thing before getting into the truck with us.

From what we could tell he hit it twice, once in the leg and once in the chest. That's when we got in and left. The following morning since I was off I called the wildlife preserve and let them we got in and left. The following morning, since I was off, I called the wildlife preserve and let them know what we'd seen. I'm not sure how serious they took my claims. Even when I told them about my friend shooting at it, I really hoped they'd at least investigate. The following weeks were uneventful, and we never saw it again. It either ran off to another part of the forest, or my friend actually killed it. Either way, I'm glad I've never had to deal with it again.

I'm still not even sure what it was. This takes place about a week ago. For some context, I was totally alone and this takes place in Tennessee. A buddy of mine told me about a fishing hole he came across a few days before and I had decided to go check it out. It apparently had a good turnout so I figured I'd try my luck. I asked him to come with me but his daughter was sick so he was staying at home with her. I told him I understood and headed off by myself. Following the mental directions I'd taken when he told me where to go, I eventually made it.

Even though it was pretty deep in the woods, I had a good mental compass. I wasn't worried about getting lost. I don't know what made him think this was just some other fishing hole. It was easily the size of a small lake. I rolled a log over to sit on it and set up a new pole before getting started. It was a nice day out. That's not really relevant to the story, I just remember it so well. Soon after sitting down I was casting out and lighting up a cowboy killer.

I was halfway hoping to catch something and another half of me was just looking to get away for a little while. I was beginning to enjoy the time alone. I'd say it'd been about 20 minutes past and I'd caught about three fish, one that managed to jump out of the bucket because I'd forgotten to put the top back on. Not a spectacular day to say the least. I cast it out with my last piece of bait and decided if I didn't catch anything else, I'd throw the other two back. They weren't that big anyway. While I was on my last cast, I heard something on the other side of the lake. It was similar to the sound a dog makes when it was drinking water after being in the heat.

A really loud lapping sound. I focused on the other bank and sure enough, there was something drinking from the water on the other side. My eyesight isn't what it used to be, but I was fairly certain on what I was seeing, and I didn't like it. It was like nothing I'd ever seen. I'd say it was the size of a deer and stood like one as well with its head being held low to reach the water. But then, it did something I'd never seen a deer do. It dove into the water. Now, not super well versed in wildlife so I thought nothing of it at first. It was a little weird, sure, but I thought it was just something I wasn't familiar with. Soon after it had disappeared under the water, I saw my cork go under.

I went to grab the pole that I had wedged in an opening of the log I was sitting on, but about that time I did, my entire pole went into the lake. It happened so fast, there was no way I could have grabbed it. Totally dumbfounded, I looked out to the lake. I didn't think there was anything in there that could pull down my pole, but I started thinking about what I had just seen on the other bank. That's when I grabbed my pocket knife. It wasn't a huge one, but it could cause some damage.

I started packing up, staying on my guard just in case. Then I heard it. There was a wet sloshing sound from behind me. When I built up the guts to turn around, I nearly fell over. The thing I'd seen on the other side had come out of the lake and was now right in front of me. I could barely process what I was seeing. It was covered in scales and had large webbed feet, but it was standing on all fours. Its face looked similar to that of a duck, and its eyes were small, black, and beady.

Large gills covered its neck, and from what I could see, it had small, sharp teeth all over the inside of its mouth. The way it breathed in and out, and yes it did, was disgusting. The gills would open up and close as it inhaled and exhaled. It started coming over to me and hissed as it walked. I held the knife up as a way to keep distance between us but soon it was charging. I had no choice but to swing my knife and by some miracle I connected with it. I hit it somewhere near the gills and it cried out in pain before running off back into the lake. I left all my things there and decided to run back to my house. I wasn't sure if that thing was coming back or not and I didn't want to take the chance.

Once I got back home I called my buddy and told him about what I'd seen. He told me that he's never seen anything like it and didn't believe me at first. I expected that, I didn't want to believe it myself. The following day though, we went back to that spot and the footprints that that thing left were still there. Since then, we haven't went back. I don't know what that thing is lurking in the lakes of Tennessee, but I feel like I was never meant to see it. I'm not sure when this story takes place. It was a good while ago, maybe five years ago. Either way, all you need to know is that my friend and I were taking a walk through the woods near his house. We'd been out there for around 20 minutes when we came across two other

guys. They seemed to be around our age and we assumed they were doing about as much as what we were doing. Being the social butterflies we were, we stopped for a little small talk. The kids seemed a little nervous at first but eventually opened up and told us about the hangout spot. It was a little vague but we were bored and saw no harm in it. Soon we were following them deeper into the woods. We kept the conversation going the whole way. They asked if we smoked, which we did, and they claimed to have a plan out in the forest near the shack. I was really feeling good about this. I thought that we'd find a new place to hang out and some new buddies to smoke with. I was so wrong. A handful of minutes passed and as we were coming up on a dilapidated shack, it's not the prettiest

thing one of the kids said. He was right too. It looked like if you farted on it, it would fall over. Just follow us inside. We've got some cool stuff in there. I was just about to walk right behind them when my friend grabbed my arm. When I turned around, he pointed over to a large rock on the other side of the shack. When I looked over, I saw a foot slide behind. Something was fishy about this. Ah, we gotta go. I didn't realize what time it was. Just as we started backing away, an older man came out from behind the rock screaming at us. We turned and booked it the way we came. I don't think he ever gave chase but we didn't stop to find out. We made it back to my friend's house and told his parents

about what happened which prompted them to call the police. They came out soon after and they walked with us back to the spot where we'd seen the group. Once we showed up, there wasn't anyone there. The police searched the inside of the building and around it. They didn't find much, but what they did was a bit disconcerting. A hammer, a little baggie of pills, and a ton of used syringes. I don't know what kind of messed up things that group had planned on doing out there, but I'm glad we didn't get the chance to find out.

So, I'm sure everyone has heard about these staircases in the woods, right? If you haven't, then go read that long post by the search and rescue officer. Well, I thought the whole phenomenon was bullcrap, and if I remember correctly, we were never given an explanation as to why you shouldn't walk up them. Now, I don't know if that story was all fiction with a little bit of truth thrown in but I can assure you that this one is not. This all happened nearly five years ago but it was so strange it stuck with me. I have some pretty thick woods behind my house. I've been back there before just checking them out but never really went deep enough to find anything interesting like streams or ponds. I decided one day in early summer that I would.

I owned them after all. They came when I bought the house. I'd say I walked about a mile in before I came across something really interesting. It was a cobblestone staircase in the middle of a cobblestone rectangle, about 40 feet by 20 feet. Despite the size of the foundation, it was only a foot or so high. The stairs on the other hand went up about 6 feet. I'm not really sure how they were still standing, honestly. They didn't have any support. I decided it would be a great idea to walk up to the top of them to get a better view of the forest. I took it slow of course. Like I said, they didn't look stable. To my surprise though I made it all the way to the

top without issue. It was when I turned around to see if I could see my house that the problem arose. A loose stone slipped out from under my foot and I was sent straight to the ground. Fully expecting the hard, unforgiving ground, I set my arms out to catch myself. Imagine my surprise when my hand went deep into ice cold powdery snow. Now, if you remember this happened in the middle of summer, there should be no snow. On top of that, it wasn't snowing in the first place. I shot up, totally freezing, being dressed in canvas sneakers, cargos, and a button down. I looked all around and the entire forest was covered. The snow was at least 8 inches judging by how deep my legs went in when I stood up.

The strangest thing though was that the staircase was still there. My mind was racing. Had I knocked myself into a coma? Why did it feel so real then? Snow was still falling rapidly so I searched all around for my phone but to no avail. It was either too deep in the snow or just totally gone. I couldn't dig for more than a few seconds before my fingers started going numb. I decided instead just to run back to my house and try to find something that would help me wake up. I was obviously unconscious. I had to be. I trudged through the snow, my toes crying out in pain from the cold, but soon I was in my front yard. Immediately I was confused. My car wasn't there. Rather, there were two cars and a small pink bike out front. Still thinking this had all been a dream, I barged through the door, knocking off a Christmas wreath that had been hanging there.

I was met with a decorated foyer, my foyer. I heard a television on in the other room and someone, a man with a deep voice yell out, go upstairs. Soon I was approached by him with a bat in his hands ready to fight. I began backing away trying to explain that I have no idea what's going on or why I'm here but he yells back that I'm insane and he's about to call the cops. I try to reason with him but he takes a swing at me and hits the wall near me causing the drywall to drop to the floor. That's when I know it's time to leave. I run out of the front door and head back into the woods.

I made it back to where I was, the staircase, and took a second to catch my breath. I ran through what had happened when I came up with the insane idea to climb the staircase again. I figured if climbing it and falling from it the first time put me there, maybe doing it again would bring me back. I climbed to the top, turned toward my house, and let myself fall. Sadly this time I was met with the hard unforgiving ground. Luckily though, it wasn't covered in snow. It seemed as if though I was back where I needed to be.

The sun was out and despite a headache I was doing fine. I made my way back to the house. This time it was my car outside and when I went in, I wasn't approached by someone with a bat. Now, I know everyone here will be trying to figure out what just happened but I think I know. I believe when I fell, I fell into the past. I know how that sounds but hear me out. It took me a while after it all happened to really think about it but the guy I ran into was the one I bought the house from. He was the original owner. His daughter had just left for college and they needed to downsize.

I'd always wanted a big house so I could have a studio for my photography so it was perfect. I remember the conversation so well. He went on to explain that something scary had happened to them around 10 years back. He wouldn't elaborate, but I'm sure some dude wearing cargo shorts in the snow claiming he doesn't know what's going on is pretty scary. There is also the fact that he continually said he recognized me from somewhere, even though we eventually agreed he'd went to school with my dad, who I was the spitting image of. I know how that explanation sounds, believe me, but it's the only one I can come up with. If anyone has a better one, I'd love to hear it, and as a quick word of warning, don't walk up the steps in the woods. So this happened to me and my brother when we were pretty young. I believe he was 8 and I would have been 10.

My dad had built us a really awesome clubhouse out in the woods. It wasn't super far back, seeing as we were kids, but to us it was like a whole other world. After the events of this story, however, he took it down and we weren't allowed to go back into the woods. It had been getting late when all this went down. It wasn't quite dark but it would have been in the next hour or so. I told my brother that it was time to go back so I started packing up the snacks that we had brought while he went to go take a pee. Being 10, I was growing increasingly impatient and kept bugging him to hurry up. Of course, he was being hard-headed and wouldn't.

That was until I pointed out the thing in the treetops. At first he didn't believe me, told me to stop messing with him, but he looked up and saw it too. He quickly put everything away and started backing up to me. The thing in question was huge and perched on a branch right above my brother. It had large talons on the end of scaly yellow feet. Its red eyes stared down at him and the sharp beak it had would open and let out a horrible screech. As my brother continued to back away this thing spread its wings out and swooped down towards us. I remember feeling a gust of wind when its wings opened. I tried to get to my brother, but this thing was fast.

When it came down, it head-butted his chest and he dropped to the ground struggling to catch his breath. I snatched him up and started running back to the house, hoping that the thing wouldn't follow us. As far as I could tell, it wasn't but I didn't stop running until I was in the kitchen where my mom was. The only words I could get out were, he fell out of a tree. I guess my mind came up with a lie knowing that they wouldn't believe the truth. He was rushed to the hospital where he was treated for minor internal bleeding and his chest was bruised pretty badly but he came out of it alright. Over the next week or so my dad took down our clubhouse and told us we were no longer allowed in there. A month or so later a fence went up around the entire backyard. I could tell he really didn't want us to go back but I can assure you we didn't want to either. A few days after the initial incident we

heard that thing out there screeching like it did before it attacked my brother and that was enough to keep us out. I have a small plot of property out in the woods. I head out there every once in a while to just get away from everything. I keep my cell on and bring my laptop, of course, but they're mostly used for the internet. It's more of an escape from the real world rather than technology. I'm glad I brought them, though, because I can write this somewhere where a good amount of people will see it. The past few days, I've been hearing something crawling around under my cabin. I'm not sure

what lives out here but it moves fast. I can hear it scratching around and growling at some points. It kept me up the last few nights so I called a guy out here to see if he could figure it out. I had found out where it went but I wasn't trained in how to approach this kind of thing. I'll let you know what he says. Okay, so he just finished and I really just have more questions. The hole he had to go through wasn't much wider than a foot or so. He crawled all around snapping a few photos of the damage and thought he'd seen something at one point but told me it was probably his eyes playing tricks on him. Once he was out, we looked over the photos.

I don't really know how to approach this. There were deep claw marks all through the foundation of my cabin. They were all over the ground and even the concrete pillars that held it up. I pressed on him about what could have caused it but he continued insisting that it was a bear. Now, I've seen a bear before, there is no way one can fit underneath that house. He barely could and he looked to be about 120 pounds soaking wet. The last picture he showed me was a little divot that had been dug into the dirt. It was about 6 inches deep and a foot wide.

I tried to get him to explain what had been going on here, but he insisted it was nothing to worry about. He'd be out tomorrow to take care of it. I wanted to take his word on it. I did, but I couldn't. I was left feeling more uneasy than I had before he'd gotten there. I decided on calling the wildlife preserve instead. It was kind of late, so I was directed to their messaging service. I tried to explain everything that had happened up until this point as best I could and just hope

they would get back to me soon. It took two days. During those two days I got no more sleep than I had been getting either. The thing, whatever it was, seemed angry that someone had been down there. The growling and scratching went on for nearly two hours. It did finally die down and I was able to fall asleep at around 2am. When I woke up later that day, I saw that the wildlife preserve still hadn't called me back. I tried calling them but was put on hold for nearly 45 minutes. Eventually I gave up and went about my day. It would have been a great day for a walk through the woods but with that thing out

there I was afraid to leave. Seeing that it could claw through concrete, I didn't want to find out what it could do to me. For the record, the exterminator never came back and never returned any calls either. That night it seemed like it was going to be all my own on this. I felt like I was going to be stuck with this thing living under my house till it died off or I just left and never came back. When I lay down to bed, I didn't even try to sleep.

I just browsed reddit and as I expected the noises started up again. This time they were more tame and it didn't seem as pissed off. I suppose it sorted out everything the exterminator had messed up. I'd hear it for a few minutes, then I'd hear it leave, then it would come back moving around below the cabin. The fourth time it came through, I heard a loud thump.

It caught my attention so I listened more intently. There was no more noise. Absolutely nothing. I thought it had finally found a resting spot and plopped down for sleep. I decided I would do the same. I was given a rude awakening that morning. An absolutely vile smell filled my nostrils and rose me from bed. I stepped outside and it only got worse. I nearly puked on my steps. Luckily, I got a call from the wildlife preserve saying that they were headed out to my area. I explained the smell and they assured me that they had everything they would

need. Once they were there, they dressed themselves in coveralls, gloves, and gas masks. Trust me, it was needed. One went in and the other stayed out to help them pull out whatever was under there. It took nearly 20 minutes but they wrestled it out. I'm not sure what it was. It resembled a large dog but there was barely any hair on it. If it was a dog then it was terribly infected with something. Apparently what happened was it smashed its head on a beam while running back and forth, hard enough to break its own neck they told me. It had turned a deep blue-gray just overnight and I could hear the guys moving it, gagging in their mass.

The smell was that bad. They bagged it up and went back under only to find six small, I suppose I'll call them cubs, laid in the hole it had dug. Sadly they all passed as well. It seemed that they were all stillborn according to workers. Sometime later they explained that they had to call someone out to clean all this up and it would be better for me to just leave. I didn't want to argue so I did just that.

It's been a few days, I haven't heard anything back yet. I'm beginning to think I came across something I wasn't supposed to. I'm afraid to go back and check on it though. I was really big into exploring when I was a kid. So when we moved into a new place and I noticed that there were woods in the back, I was ecstatic. I'd say I was anywhere around 10 or 11 when this took place. We'd been living there for a few weeks and I begged my parents to let me go out into the woods but they refused. They explained that that was why the fence was built, to keep the nosy little kids out,

my dad said. Well, I wasn't going to let the fence stop me. You see, the first day there I examined the fence post and found one that was pretty loose. I knew if I pulled it enough, it would pop loose and I'd slip through. I waited until my dad was at work and my mom was busy chatting on the phone. I slipped outside and threw the fence into the woods. It was nearly magical. Seeing all the tall trees, being able to stand under them was

so awesome. I remember being in total awe. Not wanting to waste any time lollygagging, I set out to find anything interesting. I found a trail that seemed to be walked quite a bit, maybe from the kid who lived down there before me. It was pretty tame as far as big roots and thorn bushes go so I started running, sticking to it as much as I could. Soon I found myself standing on the bank of a small creek. I knew that I may have gone much too far at this point but still wanted to press on. What I saw on the other side of the creek though made me forget any ideas of exploring. What looked to be a grey wolf who was severely injured came up to the stream. I should note here that the stream was about 3 feet across so I didn't feel like I was in

any immediate danger. There was a large gash across its side and the more it drank the more it howled in pain. I wanted to help it but there was no way I could have made it across. Then something began happening that I still have nightmares about today. This wolf, and I wish I was making this up, began morphing into a man. A full grown, completely naked man. The house turned into cries of pain and fear. He looked up at me and screamed for me to get some help. I had no idea what to do and so I just ran home. I made it in the house before my mom noticed I'd been in the woods and I just told her I'd been running around the yard to explain being out of breath.

She laughed it off but on the inside I was terrified. I still haven't told my parents about what had happened. As a matter of fact, this is the first time I'm actually talking about it to anyone. Could I have seen a shapeshifter, a wendigo, a werewolf, maybe even a skinwalker? Hey friends, thanks for listening. A skinwalker. Thanks so much friends, and I'll see you again soon.