September 24, 2025 • 50 mins
Looking for a slasher story that cuts deep? This Weekly Spooky episode drags you straight into the woods, where an innocent boys’ camping trip becomes a fight for survival. At the abandoned North Fork campground, an old drifter on a battered red bicycle stalks the trails with booby traps, bear snares, and a machete sharp enough to end the night.
Bottle rockets and s’mores quickly give way to razor-wire, pitfall spikes, and the kind of forest terror that feels all too real. If you love slasher horror, survival stories, and campfire nightmares, this tale will have you checking every shadow. Perfect for fans of Friday the 13th, The Hills Have Eyes, and classic creepypasta.
Turn off the lights, put on your headphones, and remember: sometimes the most dangerous monster in the woods is just a man… with a red bicycle.
The Old Man with the Red Bicycle — by Bruce Haney.
🎧 LISTEN NOW and subscribe for spine-tingling horror stories every week!
🎉 Unlock exclusive bonus episodes and support the show on Patreon!
👉 WeeklySpooky.com/Join
📬 Contact Us / Submit Your Horror Story!
🎵 Music by Ray Mattis 👉 Check out Ray’s incredible work here !
👨💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
🌐 Explore more terrifying tales at: WeeklySpooky.com
Bottle rockets and s’mores quickly give way to razor-wire, pitfall spikes, and the kind of forest terror that feels all too real. If you love slasher horror, survival stories, and campfire nightmares, this tale will have you checking every shadow. Perfect for fans of Friday the 13th, The Hills Have Eyes, and classic creepypasta.
Turn off the lights, put on your headphones, and remember: sometimes the most dangerous monster in the woods is just a man… with a red bicycle.
The Old Man with the Red Bicycle — by Bruce Haney.
🎧 LISTEN NOW and subscribe for spine-tingling horror stories every week!
🎉 Unlock exclusive bonus episodes and support the show on Patreon!
👉 WeeklySpooky.com/Join
📬 Contact Us / Submit Your Horror Story!
- Twitter: @WeeklySpooky
- Facebook: facebook.com/WeeklySpooky
- Email: WeeklySpooky@gmail.com
🎵 Music by Ray Mattis 👉 Check out Ray’s incredible work here !
👨💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
🌐 Explore more terrifying tales at: WeeklySpooky.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Four boys hike into an abandoned campground for a night
of jokes and fireworks. But in the dark, the trails
are wired, the pits are waiting, and an old man
pushes a red bicycle between the trees. And if you
hear him laugh, it's already too late.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
What's that you want to be scared? Come with me?
He will experience tales over opera, Who, Ghosts and Death.
It is not recommended for the week at Heart Heart listen,
(00:48):
as in the dark it's more fun at that way way.
This is Weekly.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Speaking Hello my spookies. It's the last Wednesday before spooky
season and you know what that means. It's time for
a little spooky in your weekly. But remember next week,
(01:19):
as we begin October, there'll be something spooky right here
for you to listen to every single day, so make
sure you're subscribed. You won't want to miss what we
have in store. And speaking of this Friday, we have
a brand new episode of Cutting Deep into Horror, where
(01:41):
myself and Rachel Rodolfi talk about the ultimate experience in
grueling terror, evil Dead, So make sure to check that
out this Friday. And if you love what we're doing
here at Weekly, spooky and want to support us. There
are two ways. The first is head toweeklyspooky dot com
slash join, and for as little as one dollar a month,
(02:04):
you get two bonus episodes every month, as well as
over five years of creepy pasta readings and exclusive audiobooks.
That's Weeklyspooky dot Com slash Join. Another way to make
a big difference that doesn't cost a penny is go
to your favorite podcasting app like Apple Podcasts or Spotify
(02:24):
and leave us a five star rating. It helps other
spookies like you find out about the shell. But now,
as for tonight, imagine a campground closed for the season,
no ranger, no rules, just the whisper of tires over
pine needles and a smile full of summer teeth. One
(02:48):
wrong step off the trail and the forest bites back. Tonight,
my spookies will follow flickers of firelight to a shack
of plastic and tarps, where the screams are real, the
wire is sharp, and the only safe place might be
the one you never leave your tent. We're heading into
(03:10):
the woods to go camping right after this. The Old
Man with the Red Bicycle by Bruce Haney come on mom,
Kyle argued to his mother while she was in the
(03:32):
kitchen trying to make dinner. Jeff and Tanner's parents are
letting them go. Yeah, well, their parents are from the
hands off school of parenting. Didn't Jeff recently get suspended
for mooning his teacher. Kyle tried not to laugh, but
(03:53):
his brother, who was listening in the other room, couldn't
help but chuckle. Matthew felt their eyes on him, and
he tried to pretend like it was something on TV
that had made him laugh. He had been listening to
their conversation intently, worried because the plan was for Kyle
(04:14):
to get permission to go and then ask for permission
to bring Matthew with him to camp at the old
North Fork campground. The Parks Department built a nicer campground
up the road with a boat ramp and a general store. Technically,
the old site was no longer open for camping, but
(04:35):
there was no ranger there to enforce it, therefore no fees,
so it became the go to spot to camp for
the thrifty. He was excited by the idea of camping
with the big kids. He always looked up to his
brother and always tried to impress the older kids with
(04:57):
his knowledge of pop culture. While kids his age were
still listening to Crisscross and watching Power Rangers, he was
listening to Nirvana and watching Beavis and butt Head. The
answer is no, their mother said, but dad said it
was okay if you said it was okay, Kyle pleaded.
(05:21):
She sighed, letting her frustration be known, but said nothing else,
and neither did Kyle. He was the king of parental manipulation,
and he knew when it was time to shut his mouth.
Matthew didn't understand the subtleties of getting your way with parents,
(05:44):
so he thought it was all over. I'll set the table,
Kyle said, softly, being careful to show a bit of
disappointment in his voice without revealing any anger. Matthew looked
bummed when he entered the room, but Kyle gave him
(06:04):
a sly smile, then spoke to their mother again. Hey Mom.
She didn't sigh this time, but her tone let him
know she was still ready to fight, Yes, Kyle. Kyle
pretended not to notice her tone and responded in an
(06:25):
upbeat way. I just remembered I never got around to
showing you my report card. Matthew watched in wonder as
his brother manipulated their mother, and by the time dinner
was set, he had received permission to go camping, and
before they were done with the meal, he had approval
(06:48):
to bring Matthew. He sold them on the fact that
watching his brother would help keep him out of trouble.
Matthew was ecstatic. Kyle, Matthew, Jeff, and Tanner all piled
into Jeff's dad's old Buick wagon for the drive out
(07:10):
to the woods. The three fifteen year old sat in
the back of the giant wagon. They made Matthew sit
in front with Jeff's dad, Jerry, who told him story
after story about all the big fish he caught out
of the lake they were heading to. Matthew just listened,
(07:31):
as he had no fishing stories to tell of his
own and was still a bit nervous around adults. Plus
Jerry wasn't leaving much room for him to be involved
in the conversation. As the boys set up their tents,
they showed each other all the neat stuff they brought along.
(07:53):
Matthew had books, and Kyle had a semi crushed pack
of cigarettes that had three left. Stole them from my father.
There's one for each of us. He said, there are
four of us. Matthew argued, like, I'm going to let
my baby brother smoke. I'm only three years younger than you.
(08:17):
It's not like I'm a toddler. I'll let you take
a drag. Jeff said, no, you won't. Kyle replied, let
the kid smoke. Tanner added, drop it. Tanner looked to Jeff,
who shrugged his shoulders and changed the subject. Wait until
(08:38):
you see what I brought, Jeff said. They all looked
at his bag as he pulled out a thick handful
of fireworks. Matthew noticed the dirty magazine that was underneath it.
Bottle Rockets. Kyle said, rematch. Tanner asked, rematch. Matthew asked,
(09:02):
but with concern. Bottle rocket War, Kyle said to Matthew,
as if that explained everything. Their camping spot wasn't that
far from the parking lot, so they saw people throughout
the day walking past on the trail behind them. Every
(09:23):
time they heard someone either stepping on a branch or talking,
they would look to see who it was. If it
happened to be a girl, the older boys would gawk
at her. They might be skilled at understanding their parents
enough to manipulate them, but with strangers, they never seemed
(09:45):
to notice if the attention they were giving was wanted
or not, so they stared blatantly. Matthew hoped that they
weren't building up material for the old spank bank. He
knew they all did what Beavis and butt Head called
choking the chicken because he once overheard two older girls
(10:10):
talking with disgust about how all guys jerk off. When
he heard that, Matthew swore to himself that he would
be the one guy who didn't pull his pud. He
would wait until he found a girl who was nice
enough to pull it for him. The older boys were
(10:32):
only interested in the girls who walked by, so they
only gave a slight glance to the old man with
the beat up red bicycle, But Matthew was interested and
found himself gawking. The man must have been in his
late sixties. His clothes looked old and worn, and his
(10:57):
gray hair was unkempt, as was his beard, which looked
like it needed to be washed. There were bits of
what Matthew imagined was dried food in it. The bicycle
appeared to be old to Matthew as well, and it
looked like it had been painted over many times. Whoever
(11:19):
painted at last took no care as the frame wasn't
the only thing read so was the crank, and even
the wheels had spots of overspray. He wondered if it
had been stolen. When the old man spotted Matthew looking
(11:40):
at him, he gave a slight smile and squinted his
eyes to get a better look. Matthew made an audible yelp,
which made the old man laugh, revealing what he heard
his dad call summer teeth. Summer there summer. His laughter
(12:02):
attracted the attention of the other boys, but the old
man sensed this and turned his head away from Matthew
before their eyes fell on him, and continued walking his
beat up old bicycle as he chuckled to himself.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Don't go away, weekly, Spooky will be right back.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
After everything was set up, they went for a walk.
Where they started on. The path was well beaten down
with bark dust over it, and wide enough for three
of the boys to walk next to each other, leaving
Matthew to take up the rear, which was okay. Right now.
They were talking about girls, a topic Matthew wasn't too
(12:54):
knowledgeable about. Yeah, well, I think Beth has the largest
fun bags in school. Jeff said that might be true,
but she's still a goody two shoes. Tanner joked, she's nice.
I sit next to her in science class. Kyle said, yeah,
(13:14):
how nice? She lets you touch them sweater puppies. Jeff asked,
only when mister Hall is looking the other way. Kyle joked, yeah.
Tanner asked, of course, not you idiot. Kyle said, she's
just nice to me and is wicked smart. Maybe you
(13:36):
need to see if she could tutor you at home,
Tanner said, while mock kissing the air and holding his
hands out like he was kneading dough. They all laughed.
Matthew gave a nervous chuckle. She doesn't stack up to
that girl in the bikini who walked past our tent earlier, though,
(13:57):
Tanner said, which girl girl? Jeff asked, you know which girl?
The one who looked like she was smuggling oversized watermelons
under her bikini top. Jeff asked, geez. Kyle said, h
guys exaggerate. Don't get me wrong. They were big, but
(14:20):
they were more like cantalopes. Which is a totally respectable
fruit size wise to be compared to even Matthew laughed
at that one. If we weren't busy setting up the tent,
I would have made a move. No, you wouldn't have,
Kyle replied, sure, I would have. That chick was like
(14:44):
thirty years old. She doesn't want anything to do with
your fifteen year old jailbait batman Undie's covered ass. They
all laughed, but Matthew laughed the loudest. He loved his
brother getting in a good one. She was the hottest
girl to walk past. Jeff said, I keep thinking about
(15:06):
that old man with the red bike that passed by.
Matthew added, more your type, Jeff teased. The older boys
all laughed, Sorry, bro, Kyle said that was a good one.
It took Matthew a second for his confidence to recover
to follow up. Do you think he lives out here?
(15:30):
He could, Kyle said, Do you think he traps animals
to eat like an old mountain man? Matthew asked, I
think he traps little boys, Tanner said, for food and
other purposes. As they continued down the trail, it became
(15:52):
so thin and overgrown that they had to walk in
a line. Kyle was in the lead. We might be
heading to his place. Look at the ground. They all
looked down at the path they were walking on. It
could hardly be called a walking trail at this point.
It was so thin and there were no footprints, just
(16:16):
an indented bicycle trail that led through a clearing, which
the boys decided was perfect for what they had planned.
When they arrived at the clearing, Jeff pulled off his
(16:36):
backpack and started handing out bottle rockets to everybody. You
ready to get your butt whooped? Kyle asked, yeah, right,
Remember whose butt got kicked last time? Jeff replied, what's
with all the butt talk my guys? Tanner inquired. They
(16:57):
all laughed. Jeff pulled out a hand and gave them
to Matthew. He's not playing, Kyle said, fine, more for me,
Jeff said, and snatched them back and took off to
get into position. That's not fair, Kyle yelled after him
(17:17):
as Jeff found the biggest tree to hide behind. Matthew
was glad that his brother did what he did. He
had no interest in getting hit with a bottle rocket
or hitting anyone else for that matter. Instead, he found
a large tree outside the field to sit behind. He
pulled out the newest Goosebumps book, Welcome to Camp Nightmare.
(17:42):
His mother had gotten him a subscription since he was
her little reader. He tried to ignore the sound of
bottle rockets whizzing around, the laughs, and the occasional yelp
followed by laughter as one of them was hit. He
was pretty good at ignoring them, but he couldn't disregard
(18:05):
the sound he heard further up the trail. He looked
behind to see that the fifteen year olds were still busy,
then headed forward a bit to see if he could
figure out what the noise was. When he got to
the top of the hill, he looked back one last
(18:25):
time at the older kids, who didn't notice that he
had left. Down the hill, he could see by the
red bicycle leaning against a structure that it looked like
it was made from garbage bags and part of a
frayed tarp. That is when he saw the old man again.
(18:47):
The old man took a break from slaughtering the raccoon
that was on the felled tree that he was using
as a makeshift table. He waved at Matthew and smiled,
showing off his summer teeth again. It made him think
of his dad's other phrase, summer green, summer yellow. The
(19:12):
pain he suddenly felt in his leg was tremendous. It
felt like the whole thing was vibrating. I got him,
Jeff yelled, you asshole, Kyle said as he ran to
his brother, furious that Jeff shot his brother in the
leg with a bottle rocket. As Matthew began to cry,
(19:36):
he looked back down and watched as the old man
grabbed the raccoon carcass and headed in to his tent.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
You're not safe yet, Weekly, Spooky will be right back.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
It wasn't until they were back at camp making dinner
that they finally got Matthew to agree not to tell
any of their parents. It did take a bit of
convincing that included a candy bar and his choice of
any image to rip out and take from the Hustler
(20:16):
magazine that Jeff had brought. He didn't pick the most lurid,
He just picked the one with the girl who had
punk rock hair. After that, the night was filled with
roasting hot dogs, s'mores, and telling jokes that none of
their parents would have been okay with them hearing let alone,
(20:39):
telling all was good until they went to sleep that night,
The tent was barely illuminated by a cheap, battery operated lantern.
Before Matthew put his head down, he looked at the
magazine page one last time before folding it and putting
(21:01):
it between the pages of the World's Record book he
had brought along. Kyle, Yeah, I really wasn't going to
tell mom and dad about the bottle rocket, Kyle smiled.
I know. Are you sure you're all right? Kyle asked,
(21:23):
It doesn't hurt anymore. Matthew said, Jeff's a prick, I know.
Kyle responded. Listen to that language. Only hanging out with
us for a day, and look how far you've fallen.
Fuck you, Matthew said and laughed. Good night, Kyle said,
(21:46):
and turned off their lantern. Matthew woke hours later to
the sound of their tent being zipped closed. He rolled
over to check if his brother was still there. He was.
He then reached over for the lamp, but it was gone.
(22:12):
He shook his brother awake. What what's happening, Kyle said,
I just heard somebody messing with the zipper of the tent,
and now I can't find the lamp. I'm sure it's
right here. Kyle felt around. The fuck my bag is gone.
(22:34):
It had my flashlight. Matthew felt around in the darkness,
including the side pocket on the tent wall and the floor,
discovering his light was missing, as well as all his
other belongings. All my stuff is gone, my bag, my book,
Matthew said. Kyle began to laugh. What those assholes, Kyle said,
(23:03):
What are you talking about. Jeff must be mad that
you got one over on him. Getting that magazine page.
Must have really pissed him off. You think what else
could it be? Come on, let's go fuck with him back,
Kyle said, while grabbing Matthew's hand to get him up.
(23:25):
When they left the tent, they realized just how incredibly
dark it was. I can't see anything, Matthew said, no
light pollution out this far. Matthew accepted and understood this
new concept. Kyle held Matthew's hand to where the other
(23:48):
tent should have been. Where are they, Matthew asked, man,
they are cleverer than I thought. What, Kyle asked? They
took all our stuff, including our lights, and then moved
their tent, knowing we would have to stumble around in
(24:10):
the dark to find them. What do we do now
they want us to look for them. Let's not give
them the satisfaction. Let's go back to bed like it
doesn't even bother us. They got back in the tent
and tried to sleep, But that's when they heard a
(24:32):
loud noise in the distance outside. The old man stood
on a large rock impatiently. He expected the other two
to come and look for their friends. He had been
looking forward to this game of hide and seek that
(24:55):
he had orchestrated. Of course, they wouldn't be happy when
they found their friends. He wondered which one they would
find first. He expected it would be the one that
was still alive, since he would be the one making
(25:15):
the most noise. They were supposed to both be sliced
up but alive and tied to trees. But when the
one woke up prematurely to the dose of heroine he
had given them, well, he had to stop the screaming. Somehow.
(25:36):
The goal was to cut the windpipe, but instead he
hit the jugular vein. But what did he know about biology? Anyhow?
His knowledge of human anatomy didn't come from any book learning.
He was surprised that the other one hadn't woken up yet.
(25:58):
He had his fun with the other boys as well,
using the Swiss army knife that he found in the
kid's back pocket. The blade was dull as hell, but
with enough pressure he was able to cut him up
pretty good. He gave him a face only a mother
could love. As the saying goes, of course, his mother
(26:24):
had never loved the man or his face, but she
had been dead for decades at this point, so who cared.
The boy was tied up far from the campsite, but
when he woke up, he screamed loud enough that the
old man could hear it, which meant the boys could
(26:47):
hear it as well. He had been up for hours
and had been living in the woods for years, so
his eyes were well adapted to the dark. Watched their
tent because years ago he had made a rule that
once the night's events started, if the second group stayed
(27:09):
in the tent they would survive the night, he would
let them be. But throughout his travels he had set
this scenario up a half a dozen times, and nobody
had stayed in the tent, and nobody had survived the night.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
A sh it was only the wind, your safe weekly
Spooky will be right back.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
So when the boys left the tent to investigate the shrieks,
there was just one question, how will they die from
one of the booby traps or by his own hands.
Before walking back to his shack, he watched to see
(28:03):
if they were going to take the main path. If
they did, they would be in for a lot of trouble.
He smiled when they did. Now he thought he must
get back to the shack and keep his living noise
(28:24):
maker sounding off to make sure they came in a hurry.
If there's one thing he learned, it's that people are
less cautious when they're in a hurry. What's happening, Matthew asked,
I don't know. They heard jeff yell again, so they
(28:49):
sped up. Thankfully. Matthew was on the husky side, which
made him a little slower, so it was only Kyle
who ran ankle first into the razor wire, causing him
to fall forward to the ground. His head just barely
(29:09):
missed the sharp rocks that had been placed there. If
he were a couple inches taller, his head would have
some new holes in it. Matthew moved towards his brother. Stop,
Kyle yelled as he got up. There's a trap. Kyle
(29:29):
checked his legs. They were bleeding, but his sleep pants
were absorbing most of the blood. Matthew squinted as he
approached and inspected the razor wire, which appeared to be
homemade using cut up soda cans. Kyle, what do we do,
(29:51):
Matthew asked his big brother. Kyle thought about going back
and getting out of there. He had the life of
his brother to think about, after all. Back at the shack,
the old man used thick gloves and a large pair
of pliers to hold some old, rusty logging cable he
(30:13):
had found into the fire. Once it was glowing red hot,
he touched it to Jeff's exposed torso. The sound they
heard coming from their friend was enough to quell all
of Kyle's thoughts about turning around. Matthew, go back to
(30:35):
the main road and try to get a ride. I
can't leave you two behind, even if he shot me
with a bottle rocket. It is Jeff's screaming, isn't it,
Kyle said rhetorically, while wondering what happened to Tanner. When
they came to another line, of soda can razor wire.
(30:56):
They decided to walk through the woods along the main
path in hopes of avoiding any further booby traps. Doing
so saved them from a few well placed bear traps
as well. What it didn't save them from was the
sight of Tanner's mutilated body tied to a tree just
(31:21):
off the main path. Back at the shack, the old
man smiled as he heard their screams of shock. They
must have found your other friend's dead body, you asshole,
Jeff yelled, Oh, did I neglect to tell you that? Yep,
(31:46):
i'd done killed your buddy. Jeff slumped his head down.
Should I heat the wire again? Jeff shook his head no,
or should I just the old man began to say
as he stuck his finger through one of the holes
he cut in Tanner's face. The pain was intense and
(32:12):
every nerve in his body was yelling for him to
cry out, but instead he used that energy to bite
down on his finger. A few punches to the skull
from the old man's other bony hand were enough to
stop that behavior. The old man then looked at his finger,
(32:35):
moved it around, and watched as blood dripped heavily from it.
You're lucky it ain't broke. Then he kicked the kid
in the leg before heading to his garbage bag shack, mumbling,
son of a bitch. Inside, he poured the kid's backpacks
(32:56):
out and dug through the contents until he found a
nice little first aid kit. Must be boy Scouts, he
mumbled to himself as he used the kit to fix
up his wound. The sight of Tanner's mutilated body was
(33:17):
not enough to stop Kyle and Matthew as they continued
towards where the screaming had come from. I can smell
a fire, Kyle said, We're getting close. What's the plan
when we get there? We have no weapons. Kyle looked around.
(33:39):
I guess we both need to find a big stick.
I wish you would go back to the main road.
You saw what he did to Tanner. Kyle looked around
until he found said big stick, then handed it to Matthew.
He brandished it to show his brother he was ready
for battle. A few yards later, Kyle found a stick
(34:05):
for himself. I wish we had grabbed some of that
razor wire to wrap around these. As they made their way,
they began to feel comfortable walking in the woods. It
wasn't like he could booby trap the whole forest. It
made sense that it would just be on the main trail. Wait,
(34:26):
Kyle yelled as Matthew stepped onto a spot that looked
off to him. While much of the ground had a
stray leaf here or there, or some moss, this spot
was thick with both. But it was too late. Matthew's
foot had made contact and the ground gave.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Way more scarce to come weekly. Spooky will be right back.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
His body fell through. The cries his brother made brought
him back to when they were younger. Matthew had only
been four at the time, but already looked up to
his older brother, so when he saw Kyle slide down
the stairwell railing, he just had to do it too.
(35:23):
But while Kyle made it down without a scratch, Matthew
fell off half way down. His crying sounds were beyond
anything he had ever heard. A broken arm and a
cracked skull will do that. It was so loud that
he ran out of the room, then out of the house. Thankfully,
(35:46):
his mother was home and she called the ambulance. While
Kyle hid, embarrassed and scared that his brother might die,
but he did not run this time. Matthew Kyle yelled
as he got on his belly to reach down to
(36:08):
pull his brother out of the hole, wishing again that
he had a flashlight. The trap was about five feet
deep and was full of various bits of sharp materials
that the old man pilfered from an old garbage dump.
There were old, rusty cans, broken bottles, and a pitchfork
(36:30):
without a handle. If it had been a few more
feet deep, or the items a bit more well placed,
he very easily could have been killed. Kyle desperately tried
to pull him out. Matthew's state of panic made it
much harder of a task, but he finally got him out.
(36:54):
Are you okay, Kyle asked, but his brother was still
crying out, so he used his hand to search for damage.
He found places that were bleeding, but nothing serious. My foot,
Matthew yelled. Kyle's hands darted to the appendage to find
(37:17):
that something sharp was sticking out of the top of it,
so he felt the other side. It was a nail
through a piece of wood. Okay, okay, okay, Kyle said,
freaking out. This is going to hurt. It will but
I am going to pull the board and nail out, don't,
(37:42):
Matthew pleaded. I have to. Why did I have to
go camping? Matthew yelled. Kyle didn't wait for another response.
He grabbed hold of the board and yanked in one
swift motion, but the rock, a piece of old wood,
(38:02):
broke into pieces, leaving the nail still firmly secured in
his foot. Matthew writhed on the ground as Kyle tried
to get hold of his foot. After fighting it for
what felt like forever, he was able to grab his
leg and shove it between his arm and his body.
(38:25):
He held it tight against himself while he worked to
pull the nail out. He never thought of blood as
a lubricant, but because of all of it on his
hands and the nail, he couldn't get a grip and
kept slipping. But each time he pulled, he was able
to get it a little further out. It was on
(38:48):
the second pull that the sharp point protruding from the
top slid back into the foot, Then on the fourth
yank it came back out of the bottom. The old
man never expected anybody to make it this far, so
there was only one trap left. As they crept forward
(39:13):
at a snail's pace in fear of setting off another
life threatening trick. Matthew's outstretched hand made contact with a
braided wire stop. Matthew said, as he slowly pulled his
hand back. What Kyle asked, trip wire, Matthew said. Kyle
(39:39):
took his stick and hit the ground underneath it. It
felt solid, so they got on their bellies and climbed
underneath the wire. It should have taken only a minute
more to get to the shack, but with their cautious pace,
it took another four before they were at the top
(40:02):
of the hill, looking down on the old man's shack,
where they could see the old man holding something in
the fire, then pulling it out and pressing it to
Jeff's chest. Motherfucker, Matthew yelled, loud enough to be heard
(40:25):
over all the noise Jeff was making as the hot
metal burned his skin. The old man was shocked to
see that they made it as far as they did,
so much that he dropped the pliers and hot steel
on Jeff's foot. His screams were ignored as the old
(40:47):
man watched as Kyle and Matthew held their clubs up
and ran downhill towards him. His self preservation outweighed his shock.
He grabbed the machete he had tucked away. They saw it,
but it didn't matter. What he had done to Tanner
(41:10):
was fresh in their minds, and now Jeff, and after
what they had gone through, all they thought about was revenge.
Matthew was the first to attack when he swung his
wooden club at the old man, hitting him in the stomach.
He responded by aiming his blade at Matthew's head. Before
(41:35):
it could make contact, Kyle slammed his club against the
hand that held the blade with enough force that they
all heard the crunching sound of multiple bones breaking in
his aged hand. The blade dropped as his hand no
longer had the structure left to hold it. Matthew followed
(42:00):
this up with a hard swing into the ribs. The
old man heaved as he tried to take a breath,
but couldn't. Kyle hit him again, this time in the
right arm. The old man thought about his situation and
decided to run, despite the lack of air in his lungs.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
If you thought that was scary, just you wait, weekly spooky,
We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Kyle grabbed Matthew and whispered a plan of action in
his ear, and then they took off. Matthew was on
his left side and Kyle took the right. The old
man had been easy to keep up with, but neither
attempted to overtake him. Aren't you too gonna untime me?
(42:58):
Jeff yelled after them. Kyle began to approach the old
man and pushed him towards the woods. Matthew moved in
further to accommodate, leading the old man right where they
wanted him to the booby trap. They were able to
pass without setting off. The old man realized this and
(43:21):
stopped just short of the trip wire, so Matthew pushed
him forward and watched as a wooden block with nails
fell down from the trees, heading right for the old man,
who ducked, you can't get me with my own trick.
You can't. The old man's speech was cut short when
(43:44):
the block hit him as it swung back. The momentum
wasn't quite as much as the first swing, but at
least three nails punctured through his skin, two of which
stopped at the skull, but one punk through. This didn't
stop him. No, the old man found a second wind
(44:08):
from panic and self preservation. He ran, but the block
stuck to his head, and for one moment he was
like a dog on a leash, thrashing about until finally
it popped out of his skull and he took off.
(44:29):
Kyle and Matthew followed and continued to push him toward
the next trap. The pit not the most lethal, but
it was worth a shot. Unfortunately, the old man was
hipped to it and leaped over. That's when Matthew decided
to push him into the unknown, back on the unexplored
(44:53):
part of the main trail, the part they went around
for a few hundred yards they ran without coming across anything.
At first, they had just been keeping pace, but the
old man was picking up speed and they had to
increase theirs to catch up with him. Because of that,
(45:15):
they were less cautious, and Kyle tripped over a few
of the ill placed big rocks the old man had
set earlier. Kyle tumbled head over feet, smacking his skull
several times on the ground. The old man turned around
while keeping his pace, to look and laugh, which was
(45:41):
to be his downfall because his laughter was the last
thing they heard before a large snapping sound, followed by
the old man screaming he had stepped in his own
bear trap. Matthew smiled at this, and without even taking
(46:02):
a moment to help his brother up, he walked to
the old man and beat him within an inch of
his life by smashing the wooden stick across his skull repeatedly.
Then he thought about all the torture they went through,
and beat him an inch more. After killing the old man,
(46:27):
Matthew tried to help his brother up, but he couldn't walk.
His leg was broken, so he went and untied Jeff.
He was worse for wear, but among the two of
them they were able to drag Matthew back to the campsites.
The first sight they came to happened to be one
(46:49):
of the young ladies whom the other boys had been oggling.
After being told what happened and seeing what condition the
boys were in, she and her friends helped them get
to her little red ninety one Honda Civic hatchback and
raced them to town. The boys were young, and because
(47:13):
of that, their bodies healed to nearly one hundred percent,
except for the scars, which Jeff had the worst of
all three of the survivors attended the funeral for their
fallen friend Tanner. There they vowed to each other that
(47:34):
they would never go camping again, and that, my Spookies,
is why you should always stay on the main trail
and maybe think twice before trusting an old man on
a red bicycle. So sleep tight, don't trip any snares,
(47:57):
and remember sometimes the scariest monsters don't need fangs or claws,
just a set of summer teeth and a laugh that
follows you in the dark. I hope you enjoyed that
story as much as I did, and I do want
to remind you mister Bruce Haney himself, the author of
Tonight's story, has a novella that will be premiering in
(48:19):
October for your listening pleasure, completely free to the Weekly
Spooky listeners, So make sure you're subscribed on your favorite
podcasting app and while you're at it, if you haven't already,
leave us a five star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
It really does make a difference in bringing new listeners
to enjoy the Spooky. And if you want to support
(48:41):
the Spooky in a very direct way and get bonus episodes,
exclusive audiobooks and so much more. Head Toweeklyspooky dot com
slash join for as little as one dollar a month.
And speaking of I want to say an extra special
thank you to our Patreon podcast boosters, folks who pay
just a little bit more to hear their names at
the end of the show, and they are Johnny Nix,
(49:03):
Kate and Lulu, Jessica Fuller, Mike Shuey, Jenny Green, Amber Hansford,
Karen we Met, Jack Kerr, and Craig Cohen. Thank you
guys so much, and if you want to hear your
name at the end of the show as well, just
head to Weeklyspooky dot Com slash join and select a
tier at the fifteen dollars a month or higher. It
really helps the show a lot and now is the
(49:24):
best time ever to sign up and join over ninety
other spookies in getting those bonus shows and a whole
lot more. But now it's time for me to get
back to work. There is so much to do to
get ready for October. I'll see you guys Friday on
Cutting Deep for myself, for my executive producers Rob Fields
and Babbletopia dot Com, my producer Dan Wilder, and my
(49:45):
composer Ray Mattis. I'll see you out camping later.
Speaker 2 (49:49):
Thank you for listenings. Make sure to find your way
back next week week, but for now you are safe.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Rest me mm hmm
Four boys hike into an abandoned campground for a night
of jokes and fireworks. But in the dark, the trails
are wired, the pits are waiting, and an old man
pushes a red bicycle between the trees. And if you
hear him laugh, it's already too late.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
What's that you want to be scared? Come with me?
He will experience tales over opera, Who, Ghosts and Death.
It is not recommended for the week at Heart Heart listen,
(00:48):
as in the dark it's more fun at that way way.
This is Weekly.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Speaking Hello my spookies. It's the last Wednesday before spooky
season and you know what that means. It's time for
a little spooky in your weekly. But remember next week,
(01:19):
as we begin October, there'll be something spooky right here
for you to listen to every single day, so make
sure you're subscribed. You won't want to miss what we
have in store. And speaking of this Friday, we have
a brand new episode of Cutting Deep into Horror, where
(01:41):
myself and Rachel Rodolfi talk about the ultimate experience in
grueling terror, evil Dead, So make sure to check that
out this Friday. And if you love what we're doing
here at Weekly, spooky and want to support us. There
are two ways. The first is head toweeklyspooky dot com
slash join, and for as little as one dollar a month,
(02:04):
you get two bonus episodes every month, as well as
over five years of creepy pasta readings and exclusive audiobooks.
That's Weeklyspooky dot Com slash Join. Another way to make
a big difference that doesn't cost a penny is go
to your favorite podcasting app like Apple Podcasts or Spotify
(02:24):
and leave us a five star rating. It helps other
spookies like you find out about the shell. But now,
as for tonight, imagine a campground closed for the season,
no ranger, no rules, just the whisper of tires over
pine needles and a smile full of summer teeth. One
(02:48):
wrong step off the trail and the forest bites back. Tonight,
my spookies will follow flickers of firelight to a shack
of plastic and tarps, where the screams are real, the
wire is sharp, and the only safe place might be
the one you never leave your tent. We're heading into
(03:10):
the woods to go camping right after this. The Old
Man with the Red Bicycle by Bruce Haney come on mom,
Kyle argued to his mother while she was in the
(03:32):
kitchen trying to make dinner. Jeff and Tanner's parents are
letting them go. Yeah, well, their parents are from the
hands off school of parenting. Didn't Jeff recently get suspended
for mooning his teacher. Kyle tried not to laugh, but
(03:53):
his brother, who was listening in the other room, couldn't
help but chuckle. Matthew felt their eyes on him, and
he tried to pretend like it was something on TV
that had made him laugh. He had been listening to
their conversation intently, worried because the plan was for Kyle
(04:14):
to get permission to go and then ask for permission
to bring Matthew with him to camp at the old
North Fork campground. The Parks Department built a nicer campground
up the road with a boat ramp and a general store. Technically,
the old site was no longer open for camping, but
(04:35):
there was no ranger there to enforce it, therefore no fees,
so it became the go to spot to camp for
the thrifty. He was excited by the idea of camping
with the big kids. He always looked up to his
brother and always tried to impress the older kids with
(04:57):
his knowledge of pop culture. While kids his age were
still listening to Crisscross and watching Power Rangers, he was
listening to Nirvana and watching Beavis and butt Head. The
answer is no, their mother said, but dad said it
was okay if you said it was okay, Kyle pleaded.
(05:21):
She sighed, letting her frustration be known, but said nothing else,
and neither did Kyle. He was the king of parental manipulation,
and he knew when it was time to shut his mouth.
Matthew didn't understand the subtleties of getting your way with parents,
(05:44):
so he thought it was all over. I'll set the table,
Kyle said, softly, being careful to show a bit of
disappointment in his voice without revealing any anger. Matthew looked
bummed when he entered the room, but Kyle gave him
(06:04):
a sly smile, then spoke to their mother again. Hey Mom.
She didn't sigh this time, but her tone let him
know she was still ready to fight, Yes, Kyle. Kyle
pretended not to notice her tone and responded in an
(06:25):
upbeat way. I just remembered I never got around to
showing you my report card. Matthew watched in wonder as
his brother manipulated their mother, and by the time dinner
was set, he had received permission to go camping, and
before they were done with the meal, he had approval
(06:48):
to bring Matthew. He sold them on the fact that
watching his brother would help keep him out of trouble.
Matthew was ecstatic. Kyle, Matthew, Jeff, and Tanner all piled
into Jeff's dad's old Buick wagon for the drive out
(07:10):
to the woods. The three fifteen year old sat in
the back of the giant wagon. They made Matthew sit
in front with Jeff's dad, Jerry, who told him story
after story about all the big fish he caught out
of the lake they were heading to. Matthew just listened,
(07:31):
as he had no fishing stories to tell of his
own and was still a bit nervous around adults. Plus
Jerry wasn't leaving much room for him to be involved
in the conversation. As the boys set up their tents,
they showed each other all the neat stuff they brought along.
(07:53):
Matthew had books, and Kyle had a semi crushed pack
of cigarettes that had three left. Stole them from my father.
There's one for each of us. He said, there are
four of us. Matthew argued, like, I'm going to let
my baby brother smoke. I'm only three years younger than you.
(08:17):
It's not like I'm a toddler. I'll let you take
a drag. Jeff said, no, you won't. Kyle replied, let
the kid smoke. Tanner added, drop it. Tanner looked to Jeff,
who shrugged his shoulders and changed the subject. Wait until
(08:38):
you see what I brought, Jeff said. They all looked
at his bag as he pulled out a thick handful
of fireworks. Matthew noticed the dirty magazine that was underneath it.
Bottle Rockets. Kyle said, rematch. Tanner asked, rematch. Matthew asked,
(09:02):
but with concern. Bottle rocket War, Kyle said to Matthew,
as if that explained everything. Their camping spot wasn't that
far from the parking lot, so they saw people throughout
the day walking past on the trail behind them. Every
(09:23):
time they heard someone either stepping on a branch or talking,
they would look to see who it was. If it
happened to be a girl, the older boys would gawk
at her. They might be skilled at understanding their parents
enough to manipulate them, but with strangers, they never seemed
(09:45):
to notice if the attention they were giving was wanted
or not, so they stared blatantly. Matthew hoped that they
weren't building up material for the old spank bank. He
knew they all did what Beavis and butt Head called
choking the chicken because he once overheard two older girls
(10:10):
talking with disgust about how all guys jerk off. When
he heard that, Matthew swore to himself that he would
be the one guy who didn't pull his pud. He
would wait until he found a girl who was nice
enough to pull it for him. The older boys were
(10:32):
only interested in the girls who walked by, so they
only gave a slight glance to the old man with
the beat up red bicycle, But Matthew was interested and
found himself gawking. The man must have been in his
late sixties. His clothes looked old and worn, and his
(10:57):
gray hair was unkempt, as was his beard, which looked
like it needed to be washed. There were bits of
what Matthew imagined was dried food in it. The bicycle
appeared to be old to Matthew as well, and it
looked like it had been painted over many times. Whoever
(11:19):
painted at last took no care as the frame wasn't
the only thing read so was the crank, and even
the wheels had spots of overspray. He wondered if it
had been stolen. When the old man spotted Matthew looking
(11:40):
at him, he gave a slight smile and squinted his
eyes to get a better look. Matthew made an audible yelp,
which made the old man laugh, revealing what he heard
his dad call summer teeth. Summer there summer. His laughter
(12:02):
attracted the attention of the other boys, but the old
man sensed this and turned his head away from Matthew
before their eyes fell on him, and continued walking his
beat up old bicycle as he chuckled to himself.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Don't go away, weekly, Spooky will be right back.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
After everything was set up, they went for a walk.
Where they started on. The path was well beaten down
with bark dust over it, and wide enough for three
of the boys to walk next to each other, leaving
Matthew to take up the rear, which was okay. Right now.
They were talking about girls, a topic Matthew wasn't too
(12:54):
knowledgeable about. Yeah, well, I think Beth has the largest
fun bags in school. Jeff said that might be true,
but she's still a goody two shoes. Tanner joked, she's nice.
I sit next to her in science class. Kyle said, yeah,
(13:14):
how nice? She lets you touch them sweater puppies. Jeff asked,
only when mister Hall is looking the other way. Kyle joked, yeah.
Tanner asked, of course, not you idiot. Kyle said, she's
just nice to me and is wicked smart. Maybe you
(13:36):
need to see if she could tutor you at home,
Tanner said, while mock kissing the air and holding his
hands out like he was kneading dough. They all laughed.
Matthew gave a nervous chuckle. She doesn't stack up to
that girl in the bikini who walked past our tent earlier, though,
(13:57):
Tanner said, which girl girl? Jeff asked, you know which girl?
The one who looked like she was smuggling oversized watermelons
under her bikini top. Jeff asked, geez. Kyle said, h
guys exaggerate. Don't get me wrong. They were big, but
(14:20):
they were more like cantalopes. Which is a totally respectable
fruit size wise to be compared to even Matthew laughed
at that one. If we weren't busy setting up the tent,
I would have made a move. No, you wouldn't have,
Kyle replied, sure, I would have. That chick was like
(14:44):
thirty years old. She doesn't want anything to do with
your fifteen year old jailbait batman Undie's covered ass. They
all laughed, but Matthew laughed the loudest. He loved his
brother getting in a good one. She was the hottest
girl to walk past. Jeff said, I keep thinking about
(15:06):
that old man with the red bike that passed by.
Matthew added, more your type, Jeff teased. The older boys
all laughed, Sorry, bro, Kyle said that was a good one.
It took Matthew a second for his confidence to recover
to follow up. Do you think he lives out here?
(15:30):
He could, Kyle said, Do you think he traps animals
to eat like an old mountain man? Matthew asked, I
think he traps little boys, Tanner said, for food and
other purposes. As they continued down the trail, it became
(15:52):
so thin and overgrown that they had to walk in
a line. Kyle was in the lead. We might be
heading to his place. Look at the ground. They all
looked down at the path they were walking on. It
could hardly be called a walking trail at this point.
It was so thin and there were no footprints, just
(16:16):
an indented bicycle trail that led through a clearing, which
the boys decided was perfect for what they had planned.
When they arrived at the clearing, Jeff pulled off his
(16:36):
backpack and started handing out bottle rockets to everybody. You
ready to get your butt whooped? Kyle asked, yeah, right,
Remember whose butt got kicked last time? Jeff replied, what's
with all the butt talk my guys? Tanner inquired. They
(16:57):
all laughed. Jeff pulled out a hand and gave them
to Matthew. He's not playing, Kyle said, fine, more for me,
Jeff said, and snatched them back and took off to
get into position. That's not fair, Kyle yelled after him
(17:17):
as Jeff found the biggest tree to hide behind. Matthew
was glad that his brother did what he did. He
had no interest in getting hit with a bottle rocket
or hitting anyone else for that matter. Instead, he found
a large tree outside the field to sit behind. He
pulled out the newest Goosebumps book, Welcome to Camp Nightmare.
(17:42):
His mother had gotten him a subscription since he was
her little reader. He tried to ignore the sound of
bottle rockets whizzing around, the laughs, and the occasional yelp
followed by laughter as one of them was hit. He
was pretty good at ignoring them, but he couldn't disregard
(18:05):
the sound he heard further up the trail. He looked
behind to see that the fifteen year olds were still busy,
then headed forward a bit to see if he could
figure out what the noise was. When he got to
the top of the hill, he looked back one last
(18:25):
time at the older kids, who didn't notice that he
had left. Down the hill, he could see by the
red bicycle leaning against a structure that it looked like
it was made from garbage bags and part of a
frayed tarp. That is when he saw the old man again.
(18:47):
The old man took a break from slaughtering the raccoon
that was on the felled tree that he was using
as a makeshift table. He waved at Matthew and smiled,
showing off his summer teeth again. It made him think
of his dad's other phrase, summer green, summer yellow. The
(19:12):
pain he suddenly felt in his leg was tremendous. It
felt like the whole thing was vibrating. I got him,
Jeff yelled, you asshole, Kyle said as he ran to
his brother, furious that Jeff shot his brother in the
leg with a bottle rocket. As Matthew began to cry,
(19:36):
he looked back down and watched as the old man
grabbed the raccoon carcass and headed in to his tent.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
You're not safe yet, Weekly, Spooky will be right back.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
It wasn't until they were back at camp making dinner
that they finally got Matthew to agree not to tell
any of their parents. It did take a bit of
convincing that included a candy bar and his choice of
any image to rip out and take from the Hustler
(20:16):
magazine that Jeff had brought. He didn't pick the most lurid,
He just picked the one with the girl who had
punk rock hair. After that, the night was filled with
roasting hot dogs, s'mores, and telling jokes that none of
their parents would have been okay with them hearing let alone,
(20:39):
telling all was good until they went to sleep that night,
The tent was barely illuminated by a cheap, battery operated lantern.
Before Matthew put his head down, he looked at the
magazine page one last time before folding it and putting
(21:01):
it between the pages of the World's Record book he
had brought along. Kyle, Yeah, I really wasn't going to
tell mom and dad about the bottle rocket, Kyle smiled.
I know. Are you sure you're all right? Kyle asked,
(21:23):
It doesn't hurt anymore. Matthew said, Jeff's a prick, I know.
Kyle responded. Listen to that language. Only hanging out with
us for a day, and look how far you've fallen.
Fuck you, Matthew said and laughed. Good night, Kyle said,
(21:46):
and turned off their lantern. Matthew woke hours later to
the sound of their tent being zipped closed. He rolled
over to check if his brother was still there. He was.
He then reached over for the lamp, but it was gone.
(22:12):
He shook his brother awake. What what's happening, Kyle said,
I just heard somebody messing with the zipper of the tent,
and now I can't find the lamp. I'm sure it's
right here. Kyle felt around. The fuck my bag is gone.
(22:34):
It had my flashlight. Matthew felt around in the darkness,
including the side pocket on the tent wall and the floor,
discovering his light was missing, as well as all his
other belongings. All my stuff is gone, my bag, my book,
Matthew said. Kyle began to laugh. What those assholes, Kyle said,
(23:03):
What are you talking about. Jeff must be mad that
you got one over on him. Getting that magazine page.
Must have really pissed him off. You think what else
could it be? Come on, let's go fuck with him back,
Kyle said, while grabbing Matthew's hand to get him up.
(23:25):
When they left the tent, they realized just how incredibly
dark it was. I can't see anything, Matthew said, no
light pollution out this far. Matthew accepted and understood this
new concept. Kyle held Matthew's hand to where the other
(23:48):
tent should have been. Where are they, Matthew asked, man,
they are cleverer than I thought. What, Kyle asked? They
took all our stuff, including our lights, and then moved
their tent, knowing we would have to stumble around in
(24:10):
the dark to find them. What do we do now
they want us to look for them. Let's not give
them the satisfaction. Let's go back to bed like it
doesn't even bother us. They got back in the tent
and tried to sleep, But that's when they heard a
(24:32):
loud noise in the distance outside. The old man stood
on a large rock impatiently. He expected the other two
to come and look for their friends. He had been
looking forward to this game of hide and seek that
(24:55):
he had orchestrated. Of course, they wouldn't be happy when
they found their friends. He wondered which one they would
find first. He expected it would be the one that
was still alive, since he would be the one making
(25:15):
the most noise. They were supposed to both be sliced
up but alive and tied to trees. But when the
one woke up prematurely to the dose of heroine he
had given them, well, he had to stop the screaming. Somehow.
(25:36):
The goal was to cut the windpipe, but instead he
hit the jugular vein. But what did he know about biology? Anyhow?
His knowledge of human anatomy didn't come from any book learning.
He was surprised that the other one hadn't woken up yet.
(25:58):
He had his fun with the other boys as well,
using the Swiss army knife that he found in the
kid's back pocket. The blade was dull as hell, but
with enough pressure he was able to cut him up
pretty good. He gave him a face only a mother
could love. As the saying goes, of course, his mother
(26:24):
had never loved the man or his face, but she
had been dead for decades at this point, so who cared.
The boy was tied up far from the campsite, but
when he woke up, he screamed loud enough that the
old man could hear it, which meant the boys could
(26:47):
hear it as well. He had been up for hours
and had been living in the woods for years, so
his eyes were well adapted to the dark. Watched their
tent because years ago he had made a rule that
once the night's events started, if the second group stayed
(27:09):
in the tent they would survive the night, he would
let them be. But throughout his travels he had set
this scenario up a half a dozen times, and nobody
had stayed in the tent, and nobody had survived the night.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
A sh it was only the wind, your safe weekly
Spooky will be right back.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
So when the boys left the tent to investigate the shrieks,
there was just one question, how will they die from
one of the booby traps or by his own hands.
Before walking back to his shack, he watched to see
(28:03):
if they were going to take the main path. If
they did, they would be in for a lot of trouble.
He smiled when they did. Now he thought he must
get back to the shack and keep his living noise
(28:24):
maker sounding off to make sure they came in a hurry.
If there's one thing he learned, it's that people are
less cautious when they're in a hurry. What's happening, Matthew asked,
I don't know. They heard jeff yell again, so they
(28:49):
sped up. Thankfully. Matthew was on the husky side, which
made him a little slower, so it was only Kyle
who ran ankle first into the razor wire, causing him
to fall forward to the ground. His head just barely
(29:09):
missed the sharp rocks that had been placed there. If
he were a couple inches taller, his head would have
some new holes in it. Matthew moved towards his brother. Stop,
Kyle yelled as he got up. There's a trap. Kyle
(29:29):
checked his legs. They were bleeding, but his sleep pants
were absorbing most of the blood. Matthew squinted as he
approached and inspected the razor wire, which appeared to be
homemade using cut up soda cans. Kyle, what do we do,
(29:51):
Matthew asked his big brother. Kyle thought about going back
and getting out of there. He had the life of
his brother to think about, after all. Back at the shack,
the old man used thick gloves and a large pair
of pliers to hold some old, rusty logging cable he
(30:13):
had found into the fire. Once it was glowing red hot,
he touched it to Jeff's exposed torso. The sound they
heard coming from their friend was enough to quell all
of Kyle's thoughts about turning around. Matthew, go back to
(30:35):
the main road and try to get a ride. I
can't leave you two behind, even if he shot me
with a bottle rocket. It is Jeff's screaming, isn't it,
Kyle said rhetorically, while wondering what happened to Tanner. When
they came to another line, of soda can razor wire.
(30:56):
They decided to walk through the woods along the main
path in hopes of avoiding any further booby traps. Doing
so saved them from a few well placed bear traps
as well. What it didn't save them from was the
sight of Tanner's mutilated body tied to a tree just
(31:21):
off the main path. Back at the shack, the old
man smiled as he heard their screams of shock. They
must have found your other friend's dead body, you asshole,
Jeff yelled, Oh, did I neglect to tell you that? Yep,
(31:46):
i'd done killed your buddy. Jeff slumped his head down.
Should I heat the wire again? Jeff shook his head no,
or should I just the old man began to say
as he stuck his finger through one of the holes
he cut in Tanner's face. The pain was intense and
(32:12):
every nerve in his body was yelling for him to
cry out, but instead he used that energy to bite
down on his finger. A few punches to the skull
from the old man's other bony hand were enough to
stop that behavior. The old man then looked at his finger,
(32:35):
moved it around, and watched as blood dripped heavily from it.
You're lucky it ain't broke. Then he kicked the kid
in the leg before heading to his garbage bag shack, mumbling,
son of a bitch. Inside, he poured the kid's backpacks
(32:56):
out and dug through the contents until he found a
nice little first aid kit. Must be boy Scouts, he
mumbled to himself as he used the kit to fix
up his wound. The sight of Tanner's mutilated body was
(33:17):
not enough to stop Kyle and Matthew as they continued
towards where the screaming had come from. I can smell
a fire, Kyle said, We're getting close. What's the plan
when we get there? We have no weapons. Kyle looked around.
(33:39):
I guess we both need to find a big stick.
I wish you would go back to the main road.
You saw what he did to Tanner. Kyle looked around
until he found said big stick, then handed it to Matthew.
He brandished it to show his brother he was ready
for battle. A few yards later, Kyle found a stick
(34:05):
for himself. I wish we had grabbed some of that
razor wire to wrap around these. As they made their way,
they began to feel comfortable walking in the woods. It
wasn't like he could booby trap the whole forest. It
made sense that it would just be on the main trail. Wait,
(34:26):
Kyle yelled as Matthew stepped onto a spot that looked
off to him. While much of the ground had a
stray leaf here or there, or some moss, this spot
was thick with both. But it was too late. Matthew's
foot had made contact and the ground gave.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Way more scarce to come weekly. Spooky will be right back.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
His body fell through. The cries his brother made brought
him back to when they were younger. Matthew had only
been four at the time, but already looked up to
his older brother, so when he saw Kyle slide down
the stairwell railing, he just had to do it too.
(35:23):
But while Kyle made it down without a scratch, Matthew
fell off half way down. His crying sounds were beyond
anything he had ever heard. A broken arm and a
cracked skull will do that. It was so loud that
he ran out of the room, then out of the house. Thankfully,
(35:46):
his mother was home and she called the ambulance. While
Kyle hid, embarrassed and scared that his brother might die,
but he did not run this time. Matthew Kyle yelled
as he got on his belly to reach down to
(36:08):
pull his brother out of the hole, wishing again that
he had a flashlight. The trap was about five feet
deep and was full of various bits of sharp materials
that the old man pilfered from an old garbage dump.
There were old, rusty cans, broken bottles, and a pitchfork
(36:30):
without a handle. If it had been a few more
feet deep, or the items a bit more well placed,
he very easily could have been killed. Kyle desperately tried
to pull him out. Matthew's state of panic made it
much harder of a task, but he finally got him out.
(36:54):
Are you okay, Kyle asked, but his brother was still
crying out, so he used his hand to search for damage.
He found places that were bleeding, but nothing serious. My foot,
Matthew yelled. Kyle's hands darted to the appendage to find
(37:17):
that something sharp was sticking out of the top of it,
so he felt the other side. It was a nail
through a piece of wood. Okay, okay, okay, Kyle said,
freaking out. This is going to hurt. It will but
I am going to pull the board and nail out, don't,
(37:42):
Matthew pleaded. I have to. Why did I have to
go camping? Matthew yelled. Kyle didn't wait for another response.
He grabbed hold of the board and yanked in one
swift motion, but the rock, a piece of old wood,
(38:02):
broke into pieces, leaving the nail still firmly secured in
his foot. Matthew writhed on the ground as Kyle tried
to get hold of his foot. After fighting it for
what felt like forever, he was able to grab his
leg and shove it between his arm and his body.
(38:25):
He held it tight against himself while he worked to
pull the nail out. He never thought of blood as
a lubricant, but because of all of it on his
hands and the nail, he couldn't get a grip and
kept slipping. But each time he pulled, he was able
to get it a little further out. It was on
(38:48):
the second pull that the sharp point protruding from the
top slid back into the foot, Then on the fourth
yank it came back out of the bottom. The old
man never expected anybody to make it this far, so
there was only one trap left. As they crept forward
(39:13):
at a snail's pace in fear of setting off another
life threatening trick. Matthew's outstretched hand made contact with a
braided wire stop. Matthew said, as he slowly pulled his
hand back. What Kyle asked, trip wire, Matthew said. Kyle
(39:39):
took his stick and hit the ground underneath it. It
felt solid, so they got on their bellies and climbed
underneath the wire. It should have taken only a minute
more to get to the shack, but with their cautious pace,
it took another four before they were at the top
(40:02):
of the hill, looking down on the old man's shack,
where they could see the old man holding something in
the fire, then pulling it out and pressing it to
Jeff's chest. Motherfucker, Matthew yelled, loud enough to be heard
(40:25):
over all the noise Jeff was making as the hot
metal burned his skin. The old man was shocked to
see that they made it as far as they did,
so much that he dropped the pliers and hot steel
on Jeff's foot. His screams were ignored as the old
(40:47):
man watched as Kyle and Matthew held their clubs up
and ran downhill towards him. His self preservation outweighed his shock.
He grabbed the machete he had tucked away. They saw it,
but it didn't matter. What he had done to Tanner
(41:10):
was fresh in their minds, and now Jeff, and after
what they had gone through, all they thought about was revenge.
Matthew was the first to attack when he swung his
wooden club at the old man, hitting him in the stomach.
He responded by aiming his blade at Matthew's head. Before
(41:35):
it could make contact, Kyle slammed his club against the
hand that held the blade with enough force that they
all heard the crunching sound of multiple bones breaking in
his aged hand. The blade dropped as his hand no
longer had the structure left to hold it. Matthew followed
(42:00):
this up with a hard swing into the ribs. The
old man heaved as he tried to take a breath,
but couldn't. Kyle hit him again, this time in the
right arm. The old man thought about his situation and
decided to run, despite the lack of air in his lungs.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
If you thought that was scary, just you wait, weekly spooky,
We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Kyle grabbed Matthew and whispered a plan of action in
his ear, and then they took off. Matthew was on
his left side and Kyle took the right. The old
man had been easy to keep up with, but neither
attempted to overtake him. Aren't you too gonna untime me?
(42:58):
Jeff yelled after them. Kyle began to approach the old
man and pushed him towards the woods. Matthew moved in
further to accommodate, leading the old man right where they
wanted him to the booby trap. They were able to
pass without setting off. The old man realized this and
(43:21):
stopped just short of the trip wire, so Matthew pushed
him forward and watched as a wooden block with nails
fell down from the trees, heading right for the old man,
who ducked, you can't get me with my own trick.
You can't. The old man's speech was cut short when
(43:44):
the block hit him as it swung back. The momentum
wasn't quite as much as the first swing, but at
least three nails punctured through his skin, two of which
stopped at the skull, but one punk through. This didn't
stop him. No, the old man found a second wind
(44:08):
from panic and self preservation. He ran, but the block
stuck to his head, and for one moment he was
like a dog on a leash, thrashing about until finally
it popped out of his skull and he took off.
(44:29):
Kyle and Matthew followed and continued to push him toward
the next trap. The pit not the most lethal, but
it was worth a shot. Unfortunately, the old man was
hipped to it and leaped over. That's when Matthew decided
to push him into the unknown, back on the unexplored
(44:53):
part of the main trail, the part they went around
for a few hundred yards they ran without coming across anything.
At first, they had just been keeping pace, but the
old man was picking up speed and they had to
increase theirs to catch up with him. Because of that,
(45:15):
they were less cautious, and Kyle tripped over a few
of the ill placed big rocks the old man had
set earlier. Kyle tumbled head over feet, smacking his skull
several times on the ground. The old man turned around
while keeping his pace, to look and laugh, which was
(45:41):
to be his downfall because his laughter was the last
thing they heard before a large snapping sound, followed by
the old man screaming he had stepped in his own
bear trap. Matthew smiled at this, and without even taking
(46:02):
a moment to help his brother up, he walked to
the old man and beat him within an inch of
his life by smashing the wooden stick across his skull repeatedly.
Then he thought about all the torture they went through,
and beat him an inch more. After killing the old man,
(46:27):
Matthew tried to help his brother up, but he couldn't walk.
His leg was broken, so he went and untied Jeff.
He was worse for wear, but among the two of
them they were able to drag Matthew back to the campsites.
The first sight they came to happened to be one
(46:49):
of the young ladies whom the other boys had been oggling.
After being told what happened and seeing what condition the
boys were in, she and her friends helped them get
to her little red ninety one Honda Civic hatchback and
raced them to town. The boys were young, and because
(47:13):
of that, their bodies healed to nearly one hundred percent,
except for the scars, which Jeff had the worst of
all three of the survivors attended the funeral for their
fallen friend Tanner. There they vowed to each other that
(47:34):
they would never go camping again, and that, my Spookies,
is why you should always stay on the main trail
and maybe think twice before trusting an old man on
a red bicycle. So sleep tight, don't trip any snares,
(47:57):
and remember sometimes the scariest monsters don't need fangs or claws,
just a set of summer teeth and a laugh that
follows you in the dark. I hope you enjoyed that
story as much as I did, and I do want
to remind you mister Bruce Haney himself, the author of
Tonight's story, has a novella that will be premiering in
(48:19):
October for your listening pleasure, completely free to the Weekly
Spooky listeners, So make sure you're subscribed on your favorite
podcasting app and while you're at it, if you haven't already,
leave us a five star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
It really does make a difference in bringing new listeners
to enjoy the Spooky. And if you want to support
(48:41):
the Spooky in a very direct way and get bonus episodes,
exclusive audiobooks and so much more. Head Toweeklyspooky dot com
slash join for as little as one dollar a month.
And speaking of I want to say an extra special
thank you to our Patreon podcast boosters, folks who pay
just a little bit more to hear their names at
the end of the show, and they are Johnny Nix,
(49:03):
Kate and Lulu, Jessica Fuller, Mike Shuey, Jenny Green, Amber Hansford,
Karen we Met, Jack Kerr, and Craig Cohen. Thank you
guys so much, and if you want to hear your
name at the end of the show as well, just
head to Weeklyspooky dot Com slash join and select a
tier at the fifteen dollars a month or higher. It
really helps the show a lot and now is the
(49:24):
best time ever to sign up and join over ninety
other spookies in getting those bonus shows and a whole
lot more. But now it's time for me to get
back to work. There is so much to do to
get ready for October. I'll see you guys Friday on
Cutting Deep for myself, for my executive producers Rob Fields
and Babbletopia dot Com, my producer Dan Wilder, and my
(49:45):
composer Ray Mattis. I'll see you out camping later.
Speaker 2 (49:49):
Thank you for listenings. Make sure to find your way
back next week week, but for now you are safe.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Rest me mm hmm
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