Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Along came Halloween by Sunfred the Horrible. As far as
I know, most people in Africa are not familiar with Halloween.
I once explained to an ex girlfriend of mine that
it's a time of year when people celebrate ghosts, and
she almost slapped the black off my skin because she
thought I was screwing with her. In retrospect, I didn't
(00:23):
properly explain the creepy holiday anyway. The point is most
of my friends, family, relatives, and associates don't know about Halloween.
I am from a country in southern Africa, and I
have to be honest. Halloween is not a big deal here.
I am not going to disclose my name or that
(00:45):
of my country because some of the stuff in this
story is illegal and I don't fancy spending time in
the big house again. I only know of Halloween because
of the many European and American horror movies I watch.
Not to me, I am a devoted patron of Internet
sites like Reddit and Creepy Pasta. Even with my knowledge
(01:06):
of it, I was never big on Halloween. That all
changed last year, when certain circumstances led me to move
back in with my parents. Let me first explain how
this thirty five year old man ended up staying with
his parents again. I was never formally employed. I did
(01:26):
several shady deals around town which provided for my bread
and butter. I was what most people would refer to
as a scammer, or con man or con artist. Before
you judge me, you should know that this wasn't my
dream profession when I was a kid. My country's economy
is not that good, and decent jobs are hard to
(01:48):
come by. Anyway, one day a deal went bad and
it cost me my house, furniture, and cars. This forced
me back to my parents home. I am not married
and don't have any kids that I know of, so
my parents didn't complain too much because I wasn't bringing
extra mouths to feed. One night in early October of
(02:10):
last year, I was binge reading stories on the internet
when I realized most of them were centered on Halloween.
That's when it dawned on me. We were close to
the spooky holiday. A light bulb turned on in my
head and dollar signs rolled up in front of my eyes.
I had an idea. This idea was going to get
me paid big time. I could feel it. I had
(02:33):
to create a haunted house. I had the perfect house
in mind. The house next door had been vacant for
years when I was growing up. Different families moved into
the house, but never stayed for longer than a year.
I never thought much about it, and I figured it
was because of the rent or the bills. My parents
(02:57):
live in an opulent suburban neighborhood, and most people can't
handle the costs of staying in that area. I knew
the real estate agency which owns the house had security
guards that watched over the place. I knew one of
the guards. His name was George. He had dark skin,
he was thin as a rack, bald as a coot,
and he had a thick mustache. Whenever I got the chance,
(03:21):
I always chatted with him for a few hours. He
would pour his heart out to me. He would talk
about his wife, his family, his job, his boss, and
a bunch of other things I never cared to know about.
I wasn't sure if he considered me a friend, and
I wanted to use this situation to gauge the nature
of our relationship. I approached George with the proposal of
(03:42):
using the house as a haunted attraction for a few
hours during his shift, and He was hesitant at first, however,
as someone who had whined to me about his measly salary,
he agreed after I convinced him that this could be
an opportunity for him to make some money on the
st He vehemently warned me that if he lost his
(04:03):
job because of this, he would have my head, since
his job was usually as boring as watching paint dry.
He also offered to help me with running the Haunted House,
and this was music to my ears. I just needed
one more person for assistance, and John happened to be
that guy. John is a thick set man who has
(04:24):
always had the same crew cut hair style ever since
I met him back in high school. I know I
said he is thick set, but if you say that
to his face, he may drop you with a punch.
He prefers to be called big boned. John is a
huge baby. He also lived with his parents, but he
had a well paying job as a baker at a
(04:46):
local supermarket. He earned enough money to fend for himself,
but I guess he still wanted his mother to do
his laundry and his dad to check for monsters under
his bed, which is why he was still residing at
his childhood home. Anyway, John was also on board with
helping out with the Haunted House, and he even made
posters to advertise the place. He put them up all
(05:10):
over the neighborhood. He also brought discarded cookies and muffins
from the bakery, which he suggested we should give to
our customers after they have gone through the Haunted House.
I loved the idea because it really captured the Halloween
concept of trick or treat. Even though we were actually
giving both a trick and a treat to our customers,
(05:33):
it also meant we will be charging the customers more
so I gave a double thumbs up to the idea. Next,
I needed props to decorate the house. Since I was
dead broke, I had to work with what was at
my disposal. My mother has a lot of bed sheets,
which I borrowed without her knowledge. My younger sister, Ruth,
(05:55):
was a hoarder of dolls when she was a child,
but she neglected all her toy when she reached puberty.
My dad kept all of Ruth's dolls in the garage.
I also borrowed several of these dolls without telling any
one about it. So when I finally had my props
and team. I felt confident this haunted house scheme would
(06:16):
be a success. When we went to the house to
set up for the first time, I was shocked with
the deplorable state of the place. I had never gone
inside our neighboring house before. Every time I spoke with George,
it was always outside the gate. The yard was choked
up with waist high brown grass, The windows were caked
(06:37):
with dust, The seven foot tall dura wall was mantled
with green vines, and the wrought iron front gate had
enough rust to give you tetanus by just looking at it.
The house was a typical suburban home, painted white with
a sloping blue roof. It had three bedrooms, a toilet,
a kitchen, a lounge, and a dining room. The little
(07:00):
bit of furniture it had was decrepit and filled with
either dust or cobwebs. The place was already creepy and
required minimal effort on our behalf. George told us the
house has an electrical problem, so it didn't have power.
His bosses had sworn to get the problem fixed, but
(07:20):
they hadn't done anything about it yet. We didn't mind,
because the lack of power served our purpose well. It
took us half a day to set up everything we needed.
Our target audience was kids, preferably below thirteen, and since
they weren't that hard to scare, we didn't go full
psycho on the decorations. So the run down of the
(07:44):
haunted house was simple. As soon as our customers arrive,
the front gate will appear to have swung open by itself,
but in reality it was being pulled open by George
using a wire. He would be hiding deep in the
thick of brown grass in the yard. The customers would
be met by a small wooden table with a glass
(08:06):
jar on top, labeled feed me, where they will pay
their admission fee. If they pay, George was supposed to
play a recording of witches laughing from his phone. If
they didn't pay, George was supposed to play a recording
of barking dogs. John and I would be inside the house.
(08:27):
If we heard the sound of laughing witches from George's phone,
we would get into our positions. If we heard the
sound of barking dogs, it meant the approaching customers hadn't paid,
so we would lock the front door. We were not
going to entertain broke kids. This was a business, an
illegal one, sure, but a business none the less. Anyway,
(08:51):
after payment, the customers would follow the concrete pavement leading
up to the front door. The pavement was smeared with ketchup,
which I also borrowed from home without telling any one.
My mother became suspicious of how the catch up was
finishing up so quickly, and since my father really loved
the stuff, she considered him the biggest culprit. I kept
(09:14):
my mouth sipped. The walkway was flanked with tall brown
grass where we planted doll heads on sticks. The customers
would walk down the pavement and enter through the front door,
which led to a spacious lounge where dead lizards hanging
on strings will dangle down from the ceiling. George provided
(09:34):
us with the dead lizards. I have no idea why
he had them or where he got them, and frankly,
I didn't want to know. The loud wailing of a
baby will then arrest the attention of the customers and
they would follow the crying to a closet in one
of the rooms. Before they reached the closet, a doll
(09:54):
would pop out holding a butcher knife, and it's meant
to chase the customers out of the room. John would
be in the closet playing a recording of a crying
baby on his phone. He would also be the one
pulling strings for the doll to walk and make threatening
gestures with its arms. This particular doll was spine tingling
(10:15):
to look at, even for me. I have no idea
why my sister kept this thing as a child. It
looked like a chucky under study because of its shiny
porcelain skin, the nefarious smile on its scarred face, and
its long, bedraggled orange hair. The customers will then proceed
to the main bedroom where I will be. We called
(10:38):
this room the White Room. The room's furniture only comprised
a small rickety table, a wooden rocking chair, and a
large fitted in book shelf. All of this furniture would
be shrouded with white bed sheets. I would also be
cloaked by a white bed sheet and standing next to
the book shelf waiting for the customer to enter. The
(11:01):
bedsheet I often used was long enough to cover my
whole body, including my feet. I was always concerned that
one day I would trip over myself and not only fall,
but shamefully reveal myself to the customers. Thankfully, it never happened.
When the customers entered my room, I was supposed to
(11:21):
run at them and chase them out of the house.
When they reached the gate, they would find the admission
fee jar gone, and in its place there would be
a plate with either a muffin or a cookie. Not
a bad haunted house for guys with a zero dollar budget, huh.
Business boomed in the first week. John marketed our haunted
(11:43):
house well. His posters were quite alluring. I had warned
him to only advertise in our neighborhood. We didn't want
George's bosses finding out about this and getting us arrested.
John even spread rumors that the old inhabitants of the
house were Satanists who used to sacrifice children for fortune
(12:05):
and fame. The news spread like a wildfire and brought
us a lot of customers. Since our suburban neighborhood was
extremely boring, people were always eager to jump at anything
that entertains them. At first, mostly young kids were our
biggest customers, but eventually teenagers and adults also took an
(12:26):
interest in our haunted house. George's shift usually started late
afternoon and John finished work at midday, so we would
open the Haunted House at four o'clock and close it
around seven p m. For two amazing weeks, we made
great money, which we split three ways. I was having
the time of my life, and I was thinking of
(12:48):
milking this cow until it ran dry. I wanted to
run this business until the end of the year. However,
one fateful night forced us to retire early from this
dream job we didn't know we wanted. It was two
days before Halloween and it was almost closing time. It
was already dark, and we had agreed to do one
(13:10):
more act before we called it a day. I heard
girls giggling from the hallway, and a guy's voice said,
Oh my, that is scary. The sarcasm in his deep
voice was all too evident. The group of customers continued
cackling as they made their way to my room. I
heard one of them complaining of how this was a
(13:31):
waste of money. They reached my room and stood by
the door. The bed sheet festooning me was pure silk,
so I was able to see through it. The glimmer
of the moon spilling through the barren windows was enough
for me to confirm what I already suspected. It was
a group of teenagers. Teenagers were problematic for a lot
(13:52):
of reasons. Most of the time, they didn't want to pay,
they were barely scared with our stunts, and some of
them thought it better to write on the walls, steal
or break something in the house before they left. This
group was comprised of two girls and one guy. One
of the girls had dark skin, short hair, and hazel
(14:14):
brown eyes. The other girl had long black braids tied
into a ponytail, light skin, and dark brown eyes. They
were both wearing white jean shorts and were garbed by
a pink and red tank top, respectively. The guy accompanying
them was a well built kid with thick black afro hair.
(14:34):
He wore skinny blue jeans and a gray T shirt.
What's going on in here, the guy asked. As the
trio walked into the room. The girls snickered as they
swaggered close to each other. That's really innovative, dude, we
can see you under that bed sheet, the guy said.
I sighed for being made out so easily, but I
(14:58):
then realized the teenager was an talking or looking at me.
He was looking the opposite side of where I was standing.
In fact, all three of them were looking in that direction.
I followed their gaze and my heart stopped. A few
feet to my right, there was some one seated on
the rocking chair in the room. The figure had a
(15:19):
white bed sheet blanketing its humanoid body. My mind raced
to think of who it could be. I considered the
possibility of George or John coming into my act. The
figure slowly stood up from the rocking chair, and the
sound of snapping and crackling bones resonated from underneath the
bed sheet. The humanoid figure stood at a colossal height.
(15:41):
It was about eight feet tall and slim like a willow.
Its shoes were sticking out from under the bed sheet.
Its feet were facing sideways, like how Charlie Chaplin used
to stand, and just like Charlie Chaplin, its shoe size
was ridiculously long. The shiny, black leather shoes of the
(16:02):
figure looked like the shoes of a cartoon clown. All
of a sudden, the figure began marching towards the teenagers.
With every step it took, its bugs bunny sized shoes
pounded on the hardwood floor with force. The teenage girls
wrapped their arms around each other and shuffled behind the boy.
(16:24):
Hey man, we get it. You are a ghost. You
scared the girls, but now you need to stop, said
the teenage boy, like a bouncer walking up to some
one causing problems in the club. The figures striding had
a malicious intent to it. Its giant steps were rapidly
decreasing the distance between it and the teenagers. O K,
(16:46):
that's far enough, pal, don't come any closer. I am
warning you. I have got skills of combat. The boy
yelled at the figure, but the figure was already upon them.
The teenage boy swung apart at the bed sheet and
it flapped to the ground, revealing no one underneath it.
The leather shoes that rivaled the size of a duck's
(17:07):
feet had also disappeared. My knees wiggled and a wave
of uneasiness jounced my scrawny body as I stared at
the bed sheet lying flat on the ground. The teenager's
faces were all blanched with fear. The vanity of the
girls had disappeared, and the bravado of the boy had evaporated.
(17:29):
They all screamed so loudly they didn't realize I was
also screaming with them. I began running towards the door,
and the teenagers noticed me. They probably thought I was
another apparition coming after them, and they bolted out of
the room. They ran down the hallway and went out
the front door with lightning speed. Before I exited the
(17:51):
white room, I was dumb enough to turn back, and
my heart jumped to my throat at what I saw.
The bony humanoid figure was erecting from below the bed sheet.
It stood once more at an abnormal height, and its
inhumanly long shoes had reappeared. I yanked my bed sheet
to the floor and ran like the wind. I sped
(18:12):
down the hallway and burst out the front door. I
screamed for help from John or George, and I think
I even yelled out for my mother in the process.
George stopped me before I ran out of the gate,
and he asked me what was wrong. I was too
petrified to reply, so I just pointed at the house.
John came wobbling out of the house and asked the
(18:33):
same question as George. After a couple of deep breaths,
I tried to explain, but I was interrupted by a
sound emanating from the house. It was the sound of
a crying baby. Did you leave your phone inside the house?
I asked John. His reply shook my body to the core. No,
(18:55):
I have it with me. He even showed it to me.
The sound of the crying baby became louder. It soon
seemed like there was a crying baby in every room
in the house. What is happening, George tremulously asked. No
one replied to him, because we had all noticed. A
cadaverous figure covered with a white bed sheet was by
(19:17):
the front door. Its protracted shoes were now hovering in
the air as the figure floated a few inches above
the ground. The sounds of crying children had reached ear
shredding volumes. Some of the crying seemed to be coming
from the doll heads on sticks in the yard. My
stomach was in knots when I noticed the gobs of
(19:38):
worms pouring out of the doll heads, mouths and ears.
The figure by the door stretched out its arms like
Jesus on the cross, and one by one, the lights
of each room in the house switched on. My mouth
was dry and a gape when I saw the dead
lizards hanging down from the ceiling of every room in
(19:59):
the house. I don't remember putting up all those lizards.
I heard George mutter. The figure eventually lowered its arms,
and all the lights simultaneously switched off. The front door
abruptly slammed shut in front of the figure, and the
crying ceased. That night, George stayed at our house. I
(20:19):
forgot the explanation I gave my parents, but I guess
it was more believable than the truth. Up until now,
I had never spoken to anyone else besides George and
John about that night. I tried convincing both of them
that it was a prank of some sort, but even
I couldn't believe that. George quit his job the very
next day. He used the money he made from the
(20:41):
haunted house to open a tuck shop, or a barber
shop or something. I told you, we made good money.
John also quit his job and became a paranormal investigator.
He goes around the country exploring and researching ghosts and
haunted places. His team once went into the house next
door with cameras and a bunch of ghost busting equipment,
(21:03):
but I never asked what they found. I had already
seen enough I soon moved out of my parents house.
I couldn't stand the sound of a crying baby I
always heard coming from next door in the middle of
the night. I now have my own apartment on the
east side of the country. I am not an expert
on Halloween, but I have a feeling it had something
(21:25):
to do with whatever spirit that came after us that night.
I once asked George if something like that had previously
happened at the house, and he said no. He had
even asked the other guards and they said they never
experienced anything of the sort during their shifts. My reasoning
is this, by celebrating Halloween, we may have invited or
(21:49):
awoken something supernatural in that house. I know that sounds crazy,
but John contacted me the other day and he said,
according to his nationwide research, more people in the country
are celebrating Halloween this year, and based on the statistics,
this year now has the most ghost sightings in the
(22:09):
country's history. Happy Halloween, everyone, I'm here all year round,
so tune in to your favorite podcast and listen to
these spooky, scary stories.