November 29, 2022 • 59 mins
Flora is back with spooky stories in Ghost Stories 11! Featuring some meaty original tales, Ghost Stories 11 brings tense and terrifying storytelling. An annual tradition on Blurry Photos, these narrative episodes mark the end of Blurry Photober. A story about a the odd disappearance of personal belongings. A story about a ghost train. A poem by none other than Keats. These tales will keep you on the edge of your seat! Don't forget to watch me stream games on Twitch! Sources Valentine Brkch website: find more stories by Val HERE Keats, John. La Belle Dame sans Merci. 1819. Web. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44475/la-belle-dame-sans-merci-a-ballad Music Right Behind You, Danse Macabre, Long Note Two, Phantasm, Quinn's Song - A New Man, Quinn's Song - The Dance Begins - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 She is in the Woods - Co.Ag Music (YouTube)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 She is in the Woods - Co.Ag Music (YouTube)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:20):
Hey, y'all, welcome to GloryPhotos. I'm your host, David Flora.
I have the eleventh edition of GhostStories here for you for this year's
more. It's an exciting addition becauseI have a couple of original tales,
(00:40):
including one from author and fan ofthe show, Val Burkis. So there's
only a couple of let's go around, but they're meaty and they're a good
time. Before I jump into thestories, I'll update you with a little
news and I have a couple ofshout outs. Firstly, I wanted to
get a Deep Dive episode out thismonth for Photober, but I have been
slammed and have only just finished theresearch for it. I read two books
(01:04):
for it. There's lots of notetaking, and I just want to make
sure I get stuff right. That'swhy it's taken a long time to bake.
I also think one to two weeksin November never actually happened, so
it's like we skipped from November firstto November fifteenth or something. There hasn't
been a November. But anyway,I'm writing that episode now and I feel
(01:26):
confident I can get something together forDecember. Although part of the reason I've
been busy is that I'm preparing fora trip across the Pond. I'm hoping
to do a little work while overseas, but Anna and I will be taking
a vacation for a while, soI'll see what I can do. Part
of the trip, though, isgoing to be for researching a book I'd
like to put together, so I'moptimistic I can get an episode together at
(01:49):
some point anyway. That one's stillbeing worked on, but good news on
the film front. We have afinal cut done and post production is wrapped.
I think Derek and I are happywith what we were able to put
together and we're excited to show youguys. So now we just have to
wait just a little bit longer untilit's sold for distribution, and neither of
(02:12):
us have any idea how long thatwill be, unfortunately, but there is
a light at the end of thistunnel, and this project is tantalizingly close
to being fully realized. Trust me, I am just as annoyed at how
long it's taken as you guys are, but we will all get to see
it a very soon. I havea couple shout outs for folks who have
(02:35):
written in lately, and I appreciatehearing from sergeants Squatch, Andy and William
and Dustin, and to Adam,I believe you were looking for an episode
about chronology theory, and if it'sthe one you're thinking of, try episode
two thirteen Phantom Time. If that'snot the correct one, I'm not sure
(02:55):
which one you might be thinking of. To Jason, you were one during
How I organize future episodes, Itry to come up with a list of
topics I want to cover and thentackle them one at a time, but
sometimes I have to call an audibleand switch up topics or release schedule,
as exemplified by this episode coming outa month late and before the Deep Dive
(03:17):
episode, I was hoping I couldget that out before this one and have
not been able to. So I'dsay have a plan, but be ready
to roll with the punches. Onemore quick thing. I have a new
audiobook out, It Stalked Me,Volume one by Tom Lyons is now available,
and I'm also working on volumes twoand three currently, and Tom and
(03:40):
I are in talks to produce aseries of short stories together as well,
so I might have a short volumeof short stories published in the near future,
which you know that's pretty exciting anyway. That's what's going on lately.
With the business concluded, let usget to the eleventh edition of ghost Stories
(04:03):
Enjoy the Scrounger. Jess awoke witha smile on her face. She felt
Paul's arm around her, holding hersnugly while they both lay in bed,
sunlight rolling in through the window andover the mess of blankets and intertwined limbs.
(04:28):
It was the aftermath of weeks ofgraceless flirting, cautious dating, and
undeniable tension, and it was glorious. She slid out from under his arm
and dreamily made her way to thebathroom. Although she'd been to Paul's house
several times, this was the firsttime spending the night, and she couldn't
help but smile wider as she traverseda new path from bedroom to bathroom.
(04:54):
After taking care of necessities, shedecided to brush her teeth, with no
small part of her hoping the funof the night before might spill into the
morning as well. Forethought had beenon her side the day before when she
had brought an overnight bag just incase, and she reached for the toothbrush
she had carefully placed on the sinknot eight hours ago. Her smile was
(05:15):
joined by a frown. However,as the toothbrush wasn't there, one of
them must have accidentally knocked it offthe sink, she thought, and she
bent down, looking beside the sink, cabinet, and all around the floor.
Coming up empty, she opened herovernight bag and sifted through the contents,
but again had no luck. DidI forget it, she asked herself,
(05:36):
thoroughly confused. Now, no,she definitely used it last night when
they got home. Sure some alcoholwas involved, but she absolutely remembered brushing
her teeth before joining Paul in thebedroom, and she had a memory of
laying the brush beside her bag whenfinished. A sudden sound snapped her back
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to the present moment. Sharply spunaround to face the door. Heart thumping
at the break and concentration, sheopened it to see Paul leaning against the
door jam, smiling coyly at her. Good morning, he said, sleepily,
morning, she said, the smilereturning to her face as her heart
relaxed a bit. Paul took herchin in his fingertips and gently moved her
(06:20):
close to kiss her. Toothbrush.Be damned, she thought, and gave
in to the moment. Later thatmorning, she was eating cereal at the
kitchen table while Paul was working onmaking a cup of coffee at the counter,
when the brush popped back into herthoughts. Hey, did you move
my toothbrush last night? She asked, No, I didn't even realize you
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brought one. He responded, Yeah, it's so weird. I'm sure i'd
brush my teeth last night, butnow I can't find my brush anywhere.
Huh, Paul replied with what seemedto be a mixture of disinterest and unconcern.
I'll just I'll look for when Iget home, she said, again,
losing herself to memory and thought.Jess left in high spirits, going
(07:08):
about her day amidst the glow ofa blooming relationship. Paul called her that
afternoon and the two had no trouble, making plans for another night together.
As she was leaving, she rememberedher toothbrush and stepped into her bathroom to
grab it. However, she wasmet with an empty toothbrush holder. Okay,
she said out loud, her mindturning as to where the elusive brush
(07:30):
might have gone. She spent asolid five minutes looking everywhere in her bathroom,
her overnight bag, her cabinets.She even rifled through her coat pockets
just in case nothing. Guess it'stime for a new brush, she said,
as she slipped her coat on,donned a pair of sunglasses, and
headed towards her car. Jess wasable to grab a brush on her way
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to Paul's, and the two spentanother amazing night together. The next morning
played out similarly, except this timeher brush was right where she left did
on the sink. At breakfast,Paul asked if she wanted to go for
a walk in the park. Withan enthusiastic yes, she ran to the
table where her purse sat. AsPaul began getting his shoes on, Jess
(08:13):
reached into her purse to find hersunglasses, but couldn't feel the hard shell
case that should have been on top. She opened the purse wide, sorted
through the contents, but could notfind the glasses at all. Frowning,
she paused as Paul walked up ready, he asked, Paul, did you
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have you seen my sunglasses? Shehesitantly asked sunglasses? No, I don't
think so, he answered. Jessstarted feeling a little frustrated. Are you
sure you didn't move them or takethem out of my purse, she asked,
edging on an accusatory tone. Whywould I do that, he responded,
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seeming genuinely confused. No, it'sI mean. I'm not saying it's
just my toothbrush disappeared last night,and now my glasses, she said,
now more puzzled than upset. Hey, it happens to the best of us,
Paul said, putting an arm aroundher shoulders. I always track of
(09:15):
stuff all the time. I'm constantlybuying little things like that. I'm so
scatterbrained. I misplaced things, forgetwhere I put stuff, lose whole items,
blankets, vases, contact solution.I'm so forgetful, he chuckled.
Right, she replied, somewhat skeptically. Look, it's no big deal,
(09:37):
he said. Take this box ofcrackers. Paul grabbed a box from the
counter. I made a bowl ofleft over chili for lunch, and I
was a little embarrassingly excited to eatit with these. But when I opened
up the box, I had forgotten. I must have eaten them already.
Talk about disappointing. Thanks a lotme from the past. You could have
at least thrown the box away.She half smiled his self deprecating humor,
(10:01):
but still couldn't take her mind offthe sunglasses. She distinctly remembered wearing them
in the night before and sticking thecase in her purse before settling in for
a fun evening of movies and makeouts. Maybe they're in your car, Paul
offered. I doubt it, shesaid, disappointedly, but she left it
at that, and after checking hercar thoroughly, the two went to the
(10:22):
park and she was able to takeher mind off things and enjoy the moment.
After another lovely day, the twowent to bed, and sunglasses and
toothbrushes were the last things on hermind. Jess awoke in a bit of
a haze. It was still darkout, and she fumbled on the bedside
table for her phone. The screenlit up harshly, showing the time as
(10:43):
three thirty two am. Why wasshe awake, she thought, grimacing from
the assault of light in her eyes. Her eyes popped open. That was
what had awakened her, with somekind of scratching sound. She laid there,
eyes wide as the phone screen shutoff. In the bedroom was once
(11:05):
again dark. It had been ascratching sound. Yes, something unnatural.
No house settling, no movement fromPaul. Everything was still, and she
started to relax once more, hopingshe had just imagined the sound. Her
eyes popped open again. Nope,no imagining. Something made a scratching sound.
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It was like metal on wood,or maybe like a drawer that sticks
when trying to open it. Shenudged Paul. Paul, Paul, She
hissed, hm. He grunted.Something's going on. I hear a scratching
sound, she whispered. He gruntedagain, probably tree scratch the house.
(11:58):
Hear it happened sometimes, He groggilymumbled, there it is. She whispered
through clenched teeth. It sounded likeit was everywhere, and she was wide
awake and terrified. Paul grunted.He was absolutely no use. This one
(12:22):
was definitely not wood scratching sound,more like a blanket being pulled through an
almost closed window. Jess sat up, staring at the bedroom door. Her
mind raced, but as terrified asshe was, she also knew it would
nod or if she didn't figure outwhat was causing these sounds. And she
was no shrinking violet. She slowlygot out of bed, picked up her
(12:43):
phone and turned the flashlight on,and made her way silently to the door.
She twisted the doorknob and cracked thedoor open as quietly as she could.
(13:05):
She was sure now it was comingfrom the kitchen. Covering the light
on the phone to maximize her stealth, she crept along the hallway slowly,
deliberately. The sound had turned oddlysquishy, but suddenly stopped, as did
Jess silence, as if the wholeworld had frozen in time. What felt
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like the age of the world doubling. Jess stood in the dark hallway,
her heart almost betraying the noiseless momentfrom beating so hard. Then suddenly,
Jess sprinted the final few steps downthe hall and turning the corner, she
let loose the light from the phone, dazzling the kitchen, as if casting
a spell to repulse the darkness andthe mystery at hand. Movement caught her
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eye, a shadow slinking beside thecounter and around the corner of the little
kitchen island in the middle of theroom. Eyes wide, heart pumping,
just stepped farther into the kitchen andshone the light on the other side of
the island, nothing was there.After a beat of realization, she stepped
back to her previous spot and shonethe light where she had seen the sizeable
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shadow slipping around the corner. Nothing, Paul, she called out loudly.
Fumbling for the wall light switch.She managed to find it and flip it
as Paul stumbled out of the bedroomin a daze. What's going on,
he asked, eyes fixed and burningwith readiness. She said, something's in
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the kitchen. Wake up and getin here. Paul walked with a bit
more wakefulness to stand beside her andsurveyed the room. He saw everything looking
normal save one jar of peanut butterwith the lid off and lying next to
it. Wanted a midnight snack,he asked, confusedly, Paul. Something
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was in here and went around theisland. There, Jess said, pointing
at the spot she had last seenit. Paul began to walk toward the
spot when she grabbed his arm,stopping him. He looked at her as
she pointed at the knives in asmall butcher block. He nodded, sliding
one out and resumed his walk towardsthe end of the island. She could
see his hand with the knife quiveringever so slightly, but appreciated his willingness
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to investigate. He paused at thecorner of the island, then stepped around,
holding the knife out before him.Jess watched as his body, stiff
with anticipation, relaxed a bit.He walked around the end of the island,
circling it before joining her again.There's nothing there, he said.
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Jess grabbed a knife of her ownand retraced his path. Indeed, there
was nothing at the end of thecounter, nothing under the table, nothing
in the kitchen. But then maybea bad dream, Paul asked, returning
the knife to the block. Yousleepwalk, no, Jess said firmly.
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I don't mind you sneaking some peanutbutter, but maybe next time use a
spoon, he said, showing herobvious finger marks in the peanut butter itself
before screwing the lead back on.I didn't do that, she said,
fear once again tinging her voice.Well this is weird and all, but
how about we just go back tobed, Paul said, as he made
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his way back to the bedroom.Jess returned her knife, gave one last
look to the island, and turnedthe light off before joining Paul in the
bedroom. Paul settled in and almostimmediately passed out, but Jess could not
relax. Her body was filled withadrenaline and fear, and she sat in
the dark, her mind smoldering withwhat she had just experienced. Soon it
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was light out and Paul awoke tofind her still sitting upright, chewing her
fingernails. Hey, he said,gently, it's all right. We checked
it out. It was nothing.Don't worry about it. He hugged her
and kissed her forehead. I'm gonnatake a shower are Jess's head barely nodded
as he got up and made hisway to the bathroom. When the bedroom
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door closed, her eyes snapped toit, a new thought suddenly forming in
her mind. She got out ofbed and went to the kitchen, Eyeing
the end of the island with alook of curiosity and determination, she nudged
the wood at the end of theisland. The wood was loose, like
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a panel that didn't fit bright.She knelt down and took the sides of
the end panel in her hands andslid the wood to the side almost too
easily. Heart thumping and mind burning, Jess took her phone flashlight and shined
it at what lay behind the panel. Half the space was taken up with
pots and pans, beside a backwall of cabinet space, but on the
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other side, maybe a foot wideas a cavity, empty cabinet space with
no floor. Instead, an earthyhole dropped about three feet down, leading
to a small tunnel dug beneath thefloorboards. From the angle she could shine
the light on, Jess saw thatthe tunnel ran farther under the house.
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She followed the direction it went withher eyes, tracing a path up to
a coat closet in the hall.Scared but kneading answers, Jess opened the
closet and turned the light on.Haul's coats cluttered the space, as did
numerous shoes and boots on the floor. Tearing the coats and shoes out.
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In a frenzy, she stared atthe back wall of the closet for a
second until her eyes came to reston an outline in the wood. She
nudged it with her foot and gaspedas it gave and moved with each poke.
Almost angry now, she nudged ithard and the panel rebounded with the
force, falling open in front ofher. A stench billowed out from the
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small opening in the closet, causingJess to gag and put her shirt over
her nose. A smell of rancidmeat, decay, ammonia, and a
host of other foul scents assaulted hersenses. As she held her phone light
up to the hole, A smalltunnel of insulation extended a couple feet before
opening up into a bigger cavity.A dead space between walls and rooms was
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illuminated by the small light, witha few other tunnels leading off, and
Jess could see several things inside.Some shredded blankets and newspapers were coiled in
a corner, looking like a dirty, worn nest. Objects were strewn around
carelessly, a broken light bulb,crumbs, small bones, a cracked vase,
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and then the light fell on twothings that made her heart leap into
her throat, a toothbrush and aglass's case. Her toothbrush and glass's case,
she staggered back in shock and horror, dropping her phone in the process
and leaning against the corner of thehall and kitchen. Suddenly she felt the
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strangest sensation, an unmistakable feeling ofbeing watched. She slowly turned toward the
end of the kitchen island. There, leaning out from the corner of the
island, stood something staring back ather. She looked directly into its milky
white eyes and got a sense ofthe thing in her peripheral It was about
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four feet tall, all dark fromdirt or maybe blackened skin. It had
fur or maybe extremely tattered and filthyclothing. Its fingers were gnarled and ended
in sharp nails, though she couldn'ttell if it had five or four fingers.
The eyes were slightly bigger than normaleyes, but not cartoonish, and
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the face was almost too dirty andmaybe hairy to tell many features. It
looked simultaneously like a knotted, distortedold man and a wrinkled, deformed beast.
Jess inhaled and let out a bloodcurdling scream. The thing flinched and
shrunk a bit behind the end ofthe island. Jess picked up the closest
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thing she could, a winter boot, and hurled it at the thing with
force. It barely dodged the bootand scrambled through the kitchen. As Jess
picked up more shoes and hurled them, the thing moved oddly fast and made
it to the back door, flingingit open awkwardly as shoes ricocheted off the
wall around it. It shot outthe door and bounded down the steps.
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As Jess ran to the door andmorbid curiosity, she watched it move swiftly
and disappear into the woodline at theedge of the backyard. Jess woke up
with Paul soon after, and neverslept quite so well from then on.
Paul sold the house and moved toanother town. Neither had anything go missing
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from their homes again. Ghost Trainby Valentine Jay Burkice. I don't like
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to talk about it much. Ittook me years before I could even sleep
the whole night through. Heck,even now sometimes I wake up from some
god awful nightmare in a cold sweat, not sure where I'm at. But
I guess I'll never really forget itcompletely. I mean, who could ever
forget something like that. We setout early that morning because we knew we
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had ways to go. We wantedto get on the trail as soon as
possible before it got too hot.Of Course, when you're trying to move
a group of people like that,and it's never easy. We had to
stop so many times for shit weforgot. Heck, it was mid afternoon
before we actually got going. Thedrail head sat right smack in the middle
of Hoopieville, USA. I neverseen such a rundown shanty town in all
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my life. I didn't think peoplestill lived like that. The road leading
down to the trail was so dryand dusty, and it was hard to
see where you were going. Andthe smell, God, the smell was
so bad your eyes watered. Smelledlike a deer that's been rotting along the
side of the road for days inthe hot summer sun. The bugs shirt
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isn't mind, though, They weremore than happy to greet us at the
trail. I remember I was gettingmy bike ready, you know, checking
the tires, the brakes, whatnot, when I noticed this ragged old man
sitting on his front porch watching us. For some reason, he was waving
his hand at us. At first, I thought he was just being friendly,
so I waved back, But thenI realized he was trying to get
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us to come over. Hey,Joe, I said, pointing to the
old man. Let's go see whatthis guy wants. Joe frowned. Eh,
probably just wants some money or something. Look at his house, a
piece of shit. Doesn't even haveany windows or anything. I could see
what Joe was talking about. Therundown old shack looked like it could collapse
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at any minute. Windows were missing, shingles were falling off the roof,
and the gutters had grass and weedsgrowing from him. It was hard to
imagine anyone actually living in such aplace, but the old man didn't seem
to mind. Either that or hedidn't care. So against our better judgment,
we left our bikes with the othersand made our way over to the
old man. I didn't realize justhow decrepit he was until we got up
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to the porch. This guy wasn'told, he was ancient. His entire
face was one big wrinkle, shadedbeneath the brim of his dusty old ball
cap. I could barely read it, it was so filthy, but I
was able to make out the wordsChesapeake and Ohio Railroad. The trail we
were about to ride was a partof this old rail line that had last
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been used in the nineteen thirties.After years of lying idol, the tracks
were finally torn out in the earlynineteen eighties. After that, it was
converted to a bike trail as partof the States Rails to Trails program.
The old man didn't say anything atfirst. He just stared at Joe and
me, a broad smile on hiswrinkled face, as if he was reading
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our minds. After an uncomfortable moment, I decided to ask him what he
wanted. Did we help you withsomething? We were just about to head
out on the trail. We're nottrespassing, are we. We were told
this was a trailhead. There's atrailhead, all right, he said,
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has an eerie smile grew on hisface. Fire you and just pack up
and head back where you could from. Joe looked over at me, confused.
Who the hell was this guy totell us to pack up and leave?
This was state property? Excuse me, I asked. Before Joe could
say anything, You heard me,I said, fire you. I just
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turned around your home. You're nowwanted here. This time, Joe jumped
in before I could respond, We'renot wanted here. He said, well,
who the hell asked you? Yes, me, it's now your goddamn
business. The old man wasn't moved. He just continued to grin and stare
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back at us from his rickety oldchair. Well, Mike said, Joe,
let's get going. We're burning daylighttalking to this old fart. I
didn't know what to say. Bothconfused and annoyed by the old man's words,
I just figured he was old andbitter. Joe and I just decided
to let him be. As weturned back toward the trail, Lance was
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waiting for us back with the others. Hey, he said, what that
guy won? Oh? Nothing,I replied, he's just crazy or something.
He's just pissed because he lives ina piece of shit excuse for a
house. Joe yelled out, butthe old man didn't seem to hear or
care. Leave him alone. Joe, Joe's wife Natalie didn't care for his
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comments. You wait till year old, you'll be just as mean non ray
as him. There were nine ofus all together, being my wife Marie,
Joe and Natalie, my friends Lanceand Nate, Joe's friends Amy and
Nancy, and last, but certainlynot least, Joe's little brother John.
There was nothing little about John,however. He may have been the youngest
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one in our group, but hewas also the biggest, still just a
teenager, John was already well oversix foot and towered above his older brother.
Joe was no slouch himself at sixfoot even, but he even looked
miniature in John's shadow. After wepissed around for a while, checking our
bikes and basically just wasting time,we finally started down the trail around mid
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afternoon. That's when we heard thefirst whistle, somewhere far off from the
distance behind us. The distinctive soundof a train whistle broke the calm of
the summer afternoon. Lance was thefirst to say something, What the hell
was that sounded like a train whistle? Said Marie. Yeah, but that's
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impossible. This line went out ofcommission almost fifty years ago. Hecked the
rails in right back there in thosejackers. Nate jumped in, Maybe there's
another rail line across the river.Nah, said Joe. You know what
it was. There's probably just anold steam whistle from a factory or something.
The industry around here hadn't changed sincethe depression. You know, yeah,
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replied Lance, and neither had thehouses. We all laughed. All
right, Joe said, let's hitthe trail. We're burning daylight, and
with that we were off. Ijust wish we had listened to that old
man and then none of this wouldhave happened. It was pretty humid that
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day, just like most days inlate August. I guess the heat was
rising off the trail and waves,and it drew the bugs out and droves.
You had to be careful to keepyour mouth shut riding or you'd get
a mouthful of mosquitoes. But otherthan the bugs, for the most part,
it was a pretty great day fora ride. The sky was cloudless
and blue, and as long asyou kept moving, a friendly breeze made
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you forget all about the late summerheat. We started out the ride as
a group, with all nine ofus riding in formation along the old rail
line, but about an hour intoour ride we had spread apart a good
bit. Lance, Joe, andNad were way ahead of the group a
couple of miles at least. Lancenever rode slowly no matter where we were.
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Every time we went on a ride, Lance would be way ahead of
the pack. A veteran long distancerider, he was always in training for
his next race. We tried totell him to take it easy on this
trip, since it was just arecreational ride, but he couldn't be reasoned
with. Lance only knew one wayto ride fast and hard. Joe and
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Nat on their custom tandem bike werethe only ones to keep up with him,
so before long the three of themwere nothing more but a speck in
the distance. I, on theother hand, was in no hurry to
kill myself so early in the ride. We had a long trip ahead of
us, round one hundred miles orso, and I wasn't about to use
up all my energy at the start. Marie felt just the same, and
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so we enjoyed ourselves as we steadilypeddled down the old trail. Not far
behind, Nate and Little John weretaking their time as well. This being
John's first official ride with the group, Nate wanted to make sure he felt
welcome and decided to ride with themfor the first few hours. About a
mile or so behind him, Nancyand Amy were struggling to keep up,
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neither of them being experienced riders.This was their very first long distance ride,
and you could tell right away itwasn't going to be easy for them.
They had dropped off from the packalmost immediately and made no attempt to
catch up to the rest of us. I wasn't worried, however, the
trail only went one way. Iwasn't worried about him getting lost. I
just figured they'd catch up with usat the first stop. A couple hours
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in. We had traveled around twentymiles or so. Because there's some plans
we'd made before we set off,I knew our first scheduled break was coming
up. It was an old trainstation, the oldest one on the line
actually, and we figured it wasa good place to stop and rest a
bit. As Marie and I roundeda bend on the trail, we could
see the old wooden station about ahundred yards ahead. Joe, Nat and
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Lance were already there waiting for us. The hell took you so long?
Lance yelled down the trail, pokingfun at us, as was his way.
Whoever said this was a race?Lance, I yelled back. As
Marie and I slowed to a stop. Lance slapped me on the back.
As I got off the bike andreached from my water bottle. Ah,
he said, I'm just messing withyou. Hey, said Joe. There's
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everybody else. Nat and John aren'ttoo far behind us, said Marie.
I don't know about the girls,though, they were pretty far back.
Stupid chicks, Lance added he neverwas one for pleasure riding. A couple
of minutes later, Nate and Johncould be seen emerging from a bend in
the trail. I couldn't help butchuckle to myself. Nate looked so much
(33:15):
smaller than his younger counterpart. Johnlooked a bit silly himself, his enormous
frame just one minute for bike riding. I guess about time you guys catch
up, Lance said. Nate weavedhim off. We got a long ways
to go now. I'm not goingto get all tired right at the start.
Besides, he said, I hadto wait for the little guy.
(33:37):
Everyone laughed as John turned red withembarrassment. How about the girls, Joe
asked, you've seen him at all? Nah, said Nate. They're way
back. We lost them just acouple of miles after we started off.
Suddenly, the sound of a distanttrain whistle echoed down the valley and reached
our ears. What the hell wasthat, I asked. Sounds like that
(34:05):
same old train whistle we heard whenwe first started off, said Lance.
I don't care what you say,Joe, that wasn't no damn factory whistle.
That was a train. Yeah.Joe joined in that sure did sound
like an old steam engine. Maybeit's one of those excursion trains or something.
I heard there was one near here. We all just stood there by
our bikes and listened quietly, butthe whistle didn't blow again. About a
(34:30):
half hour passed with no sign ofthe girls, and we started to get
nervous that something might have happened,like maybe a flat tire or something.
I'll go back and check on him, I said, No, that's all
right, Nate jumped in me andJohn will go. I'm sure it's nothing.
They probably just stopped to take abreak or something. We all nodded
(34:52):
in agreement. You guys just goahead. We'll catch up to you later.
It sounded like a good idea,so we all agreed. Nate and
John took off back down the trailas the rest of us continued on.
We figured we just wait for himat the next resting point. By five
thirty or so, we had reachedour second plan stop, the old Greenbrier
(35:13):
Tunnel, nearly six hundred feet long. It was an awesome sight. The
tunnel had been built at the turnof the century, carved out of the
mountain through sheer muscle. I can'timagine how it must have been excavating all
that rock, mostly by hand.Legend had it that five miners actually died
during the construction, buried alive whenpart of the tunnel collapsed without warning.
(35:37):
Man said, Lance, that isso freaking awesome. I laid my bike
down and took off my helmet.Yeah, I said, that is pretty
sweet. How the hell did theybuild that with nothing but their bare hands?
It's amazing. Well, what arewe going to do? Joe asked?
Should we wait here for Nate,John and the girls? Or should
we just press on? After all, we're burning daylight? It was his
(36:00):
favorite saying. I say we justgo, replied Natalie. They said they'll
catch up with us. Lance agreed, we gotta get camp set up before
it gets too dark. They'll beall right, So we decided to keep
riding and get to camp before dusk. One by one we mounted our bikes
and headed into the tunnel. Ibuckled up in my helmet and was the
(36:22):
last one to go through. Butright as I started in, I slammed
on the brakes and listened way offin the distance, I thought I heard
someone screaming, and that's when Iheard it again, the train whistle.
It seemed much farther off this time. Would make no mistake about it.
(36:45):
I heard it for a moment.I just sat there and listened, but
there was nothing, only the soundof the water rushing by in the river
below the trail. Hey, Mike, yelled back through the tunnel, you
come in or what? Yeah,I said, I'll be right there.
(37:07):
I only waited another second or sobefore heading into the tunnel. By then,
a cold, eerie feeling had comeover me, and I began to
wonder if our friends were all right. Finally, around eight o'clock or so,
we decided to stop. We'd gonealmost fifty miles in one day,
and as you can imagine, wewere all pretty tuckered out. We set
(37:30):
up camp just off the trail,in a bear spot underneath a canopy of
towering trees. Right away, Joeand Lance began to build a fire,
mainly for protection, in order toconserve space and keep our packs light.
All we had brought to eat wasinstant oatmeal and granilla bars. Honestly,
after fifty miles of riding, Iwould have rather had a nice chicken dinner,
(37:52):
but that just wasn't possible. Besides, we were in an area thick
with black bear wouldn't be too smartto have any real food around them,
might draw them in. Camp wasset up in no time at all,
and we turned our attention to ourmissing friends. It was now pitch dark
out and they were nowhere to befound. Joe was really worried, where
(38:15):
the hell are those guys. Theyshould have been here by now. Maybe
it got too dark for him andthey set up camp on their own.
Lance said. Natalie was far lessoptimistic. I'm worried someone got hurt.
I don't think they would have stoppeduntil they caught up with us. Yeah,
said Marie. Maybe they had togo back for help. Joe looked
(38:36):
deep in thought, probably thinking abouthis younger brother. I think we should
go looking for him, I said, Are you crazy? Said Lance.
It's way too dangerous go riding downthe trail at night. You never know
what you could run into. Thesehills are full of bear mountain lion too.
Yeah, said Joe. You're probablyright. I just hate not knowing
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they'll be all right, I said, trying to sound positive. Nate's an
old woodsman. He'll take care ofthe rest of them. Hacked up,
probably all sitting around a fire rightnow talking about us. Joe looked up
at me and smiled, I hopeyou're right. A full moon lit up
the night sky as we called ita day and climbed into our tents.
All we could do was hope thatNate, John and the girls were somewhere
(39:22):
safe. The next morning, wewoke to find our camp and shambles.
Our bikes hadn't been touched, butall of our gear lay strewn across the
dirty ground, like someone had beenlooking for something. What a mess.
All of our stuff was ripped apartand covered with dirt. The only bit
(39:43):
of food we could salvage were acouple of lousy granula bars. The rest
of the bars in the oatmeal werenowhere to be found. I was stunned.
What the hell happened here last night, mare, said Joe. Matter
of factly, black bear must havecome out of the hills in search of
food. Marie grabbed my arm andlooked around as if she expected a bear
(40:06):
to be right behind her. Idon't worry, hon, I said,
They're long gone now. At leastthat's what I hoped. They're more afraid
of us than we are them.She nodded her head, but wouldn't let
go of my arm. This sucks, said Lance. How the hell are
we going to ride another fifty mileson an empty stomach? Well, said
(40:27):
Natalie, we still have a coupleof granola bars left. Maybe there'll be
some berries or something on the trail. Lance wasn't satisfied. Eh, a
lot of good a couple of shittygranola bars are going to do for us.
I hate to admit it, butI agreed with him. My stomach
was already growling and we hadn't evenstarted to ride yet. Suddenly it hit
(40:47):
me, Hey, I said,what about Nate John and the girls?
I bet you they still have somefood. Once they catch up with us,
we'll just rashing out what we gotleft. Everyone seemed in are,
so we decided to just sit andwait awhile to see if the others showed
up. As the sun slowly creptover the horizon, we got a fire
(41:07):
going and started to clean up.At nine o'clock, there was still no
sign of him, and Lance wassick of waiting. This is stupid,
he said, I'm going back tolook for him. Joe didn't seem to
think it was the best idea.I don't know, man, we've already
got separated from those guys. Idon't want to lose you too. You
cann't, said Lance. I'm notgonna get lost. It's a freaking railroad
(41:30):
bed, for God's sake. Howthe hell can you get lost. I'm
just gonna ride back and see what'skeeping them. We can't wait here all
day, you know, yeah,Joe replied, You're probably right. The
rest of us will pack up andget going. We'll just take it easy
and then you can catch up tous after you meet with the others.
Sound good, And with that Lancewas off. He was our best and
(41:52):
fastest rider by far. Surely hewould find the others and in no time
they'd catch up with the rest ofus. Heck, they were probably just
down the trail a bit. We'dbe all together again by the afternoon.
At least that's what we thought.Just before noon, Joe, Natalie,
Marie and I had reached the OldSkeezer Tunnel, about twenty miles farther down
(42:14):
the trail, just like the oldGreenbrier Tunnel, the Skeezer had been carved
over one hundred years before, butit was much bigger and much more ominous.
It was massive, large enough todrive two trains through side by side.
It had been carved out of solidrock way before. The track had
actually been laid back when the railroadwas supposed to be a double track,
(42:35):
but the workers soon found out thelandscape was just too treacherous and could only
support a single line. Apparently thishad angered some of the tunnel workers who
had worked their asses off in theexcavation. Some of them actually were killed
during the construction. Well, someof the workers staged a strike and things
got real ugly. When the railroadtried to break up the strike, a
(42:58):
riot broke out and eighteen men gotkilled. Legend had it that those men
still haunted the tunnel, swearing vengeanceupon anyone who dared enter it. I
knew it was just a silly ghoststory, but it still made me feel
a little uneasy. There'd been acouple of mysterious train wrecks right around and
inside the tunnel over the years.The investigators determined them all to be just
(43:22):
run of the mill derailments, butit was agreed upon by some that the
ghosts of the tunnel workers had causedthem. I don't know if this was
true or not, but as wesat at the entrance of the long dark
passageway, I couldn't help but feela little uneasy. Marie could tell I
was worried. What's wrong, Mike? You okay? Oh? I'm okay,
(43:45):
I laughed, just daydreaming, Iguess. I took a deep breath
and turned to Joe, who wastaking a drink of water. Joe,
when do you think happened to Lance? You should have found them and caught
up to us by now, don'tyou think. Joe took another swallow from
his canteen and wiped his mouth.Yeah, I'd have thought they'd have been
here by now. Maybe they gotAnd there it was again, way off
(44:12):
in the distance, that eerie trainwhistle blew again and echoed down the valley,
Only this time it was followed bya blood curdling scream. Oh my
god, Natalie gasped, what wasthat? But no one answered her.
Were all sat frozen like statues,trying to make sense of what we had
(44:32):
just heard. Marie stood beside me, her hand clamped over her mouth in
fear. A cold chill ran upmy spine. There was no mistaking it.
We had all heard the whistle andthe terrible scream. That scream,
I paused. It sounded like likesomeone being killed, said Joe. For
(44:55):
the first time ever, I sawfear in his eyes. I've never heard
anything like that in my life.I gotta go see who it was,
No, said Natalie. You're notleaving me. I have to. Nat.
I hate to say it, butI think that sounded like like Lance.
You're right, I said, Andif that really was him, he's
(45:17):
definitely in trouble. We gotta gocheck it out. Natalie and Marie grabbed
us and begged us not to go, but we had to. We had
to go help our friends. Ohgod, Natalie screamed as she pointed down
the trail. I turned to look, and there he was Lance. He
(45:37):
was crawling down the trail on hishands and knees. It was a side
I'll never forget. He was bloodyfrom head to toe. His clothes were
all torn, like had been attackedby some wild animal. As Joe and
I ran towards him, Lance collapsedon the trail and lay motionless. I
reached him and I couldn't believe whatI was seeing. Must have been a
(46:00):
bare or mountain lion. I said, what else could do something like this
to a man? He was alltorn up and blood was everywhere. It
was clear his left leg was broken. The jagged bone had punched through the
skin. I turned my head andpuked all over the trail. It was
just too much to take, Lancesaid, Joe, Lance, talk to
(46:22):
me. What happened to you?Where are the others? Lance strained to
raise his head. His face wasall cut up and bleeding, struggling to
breathe, He could barely speak.Joe, the train I couldn't I couldn't
move it, train, I said, turning to Joe. The el's he
(46:43):
talking about? Joe didn't answer me, Lance, what train? What are
you talking about? They're dead?He said, they're all dead. The
train, Joe, the trains coming, And with that he went unconscious.
(47:04):
He didn't say another word. Whatthe hell is he talking about? Joe?
What train? Who's dead? Naden, John, It can't be.
Joe stared down the trail. Idon't know, he said, I just
don't know. It can't be.They can't be. He just kept staring
down the trail. As he heldLance's bloody head in his arms. Marie
(47:28):
and Natalie ran up to us.We got to get him to help,
said Marie. Natalie winced when shelooked down at Lance. Oh my god,
what happened to him? I don'tknow, I said. He was
mumbling about a train or something.That's when we heard it, that horrible
(47:50):
sound. He was like a nightmare, something out of a dream. The
train whistle, the same one we'vebeen hearing all along. This time it
was much much closer. It wasright on us. He came out of
nowhere and was louder than anything I'dever heard. I covered my ears and
(48:10):
fell to my knees. Marie andNatalie did the same. Go let go
of the lands and tried to getback up, but the sound was so
loud and powerful it just seemed toknock him right back down. And we
saw it. I never would havebelieved if I hadn't seen it with my
own eyes. Just down the trailwhere it bent around a towering cliff,
(48:35):
a giant black shape came blasting aroundthe bend. At first I didn't know
what it was. The whistle wasstill blaring and I could hardly open my
eyes and I saw it. Isaw it clear as day. It was
a locomotive, one of those oldsteam engines, like the ones you see
in books or westerns. The ironmonster belched a cloud of black from its
(49:00):
towering stack as it barreled around thebend and charged down the trail right at
US three, screamed. Natalie wasstill laying on the ground, driving around
in pain from the intensity of thewhistle. Get up, I yelled to
him. Get up, Joe,come on, get up, We gotta
move. Joe's gaze was frozen onthe train. You can't be, he
(49:24):
said, It's impossible. He wins. Does The train's whistle blasted out again
through the air. Marie grabbed ontome and pulled herself up. The train
was coming on fast, Mike,she cried, I can't move the whistle.
It's we gotta move. I said, it's coming right for us.
(49:46):
Let's go. A raging river wasto our right at the bottom of the
jagged slope. To our left,the mountain was a sheer wall of rock.
Our only hope was to get throughthe tunnel to the other side.
Joe ma managed to get up andthrew Lance over his shoulder. Natalie followed
right behind him. You gotta getthrough the tunnel, Joe said. Leaving
(50:07):
our bikes, we darted into thetunnel. Natalie went in first, followed
by Joe with Lance over his shoulder. I went next, dragging Marie behind
me. I looked back and sawthat the train was only a hundred yards
away or so, and it wasgaining fast. I can't see anything,
Joe yelled, over the sound ofthe steam engines roar. It's pitch dark
(50:27):
in here. Just head for thatlight, I said, referring to the
opening on the far end of thetunnel. It seemed miles away. As
we struggled to make our way throughthe darkness, the sound of the train
grew louder with each step. It'sno use, Joe said. Just then
he and Lance fell to the groundlike they were tripped by something. Get
up, yelled Natalie. Joe.Get off the train. It's coming.
(50:50):
I didn't need to turn around.The light from the locomotive entered the tunnel
and once let out a terrible blastof its whistle. Pain was almost arible,
but I knew we had to keepgoing. Get up, I said,
We've got to keep going. We'realmost there. Joe jumped up and
once again through Lance over his shoulder. With every ounce of strength we had,
we took off towards the other opening. The train was almost honest now,
(51:15):
and the sound was unbearable. Itpierced my ears like a knife.
I just kept running. Finally wereached the other side, burst into the
sunlight. The train was right behindus, so close you could feel the
heat from its engine. It followedus out of the tunnel like the fiery
breath of some dragon. To ourright, of sheer rock. To our
(51:37):
left, nothing but a slope ofjagged rocks leading to the river below.
Now what Joe said as he guessedfor air, still holding Lance over his
shoulder. Right then I saw anold rope swing off to the left.
It was our only chance there.I yelled the rope. Go from the
rope. The two girls grabbed ontothe rope, took a few steps back,
(52:00):
and then swung themselves out over therocks before dropping into the water.
I looked at Joe and he motionedme to go ahead. So I leapt
for the rope, swung out toclear the rocks, and then dropped into
the river. Joe struggled to geta grip on the rope of Lance over
his shoulders still, just then thetrain burst out of the tunnel with a
(52:22):
terrible roar. Joe leaned back,jumped up, and flew through the air
towards the river, right as theblack locomotive Harold passed, and it missed
him and lanced by inches as theyswung out past the rocks and dropped into
the water. The ghostly train thenroared down the trail and just disappeared,
(52:46):
its black smoke still hanging in theair. We floated down the river a
mile or two to the nearest town. No one said a word as we
drifted downstream. When we hit thetown, we immediately went to look for
help, but it was too late. Lance was gone. He never regained
(53:07):
consciousness. I can't explain what happenedon that hot summer day all those years
ago. All I know is itwas real. No one believes me,
of course, that's why they've gotme locked up in this nuthouse to ride
away. If my wife was here, she'd tell you too, but she's
(53:30):
gone. She lost it not longafterwards, haunted by that godforsaken whistle.
He kept her up nights. Theysaid it was dementia, but in the
end I know that's what really killedher. They never found John Nate and
the girls. Their bikes were foundall smashed on the side of the trail,
(53:54):
but no trace of them was everfound. The state just wrote him
off as victims of a bear attack. I don't care what anyone says.
I know what really happened. AllI keep seeing is that old man laughing
up there on his porch, tellingus to go home. If only we'd
(54:16):
listened to him, if only LaBelledom san Marci, A beautiful lady without
mercy by John Keats, Oh whatcan ail? Thee knighted arms alone and
(54:43):
palely loitering. The sedge has witheredfrom the lake, and no birds sing,
Oh what can ail? Thee knightedarms so haggard, and so woe
begone the squirrels. Grainery is full, and the harvest's done. I see
a lily on thy brow with anguishmoist and fever dew, and on thy
(55:08):
cheeks a fading rose fast withereth too, I met a lady in the meads,
full, beautiful, a Fairi's child. Her hair was long, her
foot was light, and her eyeswere wild. I made a garland for
her head, and bracelets too,and fragrant zone. She looked at me
(55:30):
as she did love and made sweetmoan. I set her on my pacing
steed, and nothing else saw allday long, for side long would she
bend and sing a fairie's song.She found me roots of relish, sweet
and honey, wild and manado andsure in languid strange, she said,
(55:54):
I love thee true. She tookme to our elfin grot, and there
she wept and sighed full sore,And there I shut her wild wild eyes
with kisses for and there she lulledme to sleep. And there I dreamed,
(56:15):
Ah, woe betide the latest dreamI ever dreamt. On the cold
hill side. I saw pale kingsand princes too, pale warriors, death,
pell were they all? They criedLaBelle dom sin, mercy, the
half in thrall. I saw theirstarved lips in the gloam with horrid warning
(56:40):
gaped wide. And I awoke andfound me here on the cold hill's side.
And this is why I sojourn herealone and palely, loitering, though
the sedge is withered from the lake, and no birds sing. There you
(57:10):
go, the eleventh edition of ghostStories and a songless steam powered stolen nutshell.
Thanks to val Burkitch for letting meread his ghost Trained story. You
can find more of his writing atValentine Birkitch dot com. That's b rkic
dot com and I'll also link tohis site in the show notes. And
(57:32):
now the spookiest part of any setof stories huns. A group of nine
kayakers set up from the beach oneday, hoping to paddle along the shore
where there used to be old WorldWar two ship blockades. One by one
(57:52):
they disappeared as the sound of metalsliding against metal in the water was heard.
Eventually they saw all the cause,a long set of iron links sliding
quickly through the water, a trapfor ships to get snagged on, deadly
for small watercraft. Only four ofthem ended up surviving the coast chain.
(58:16):
Sometimes you need to look good andfeel comfortable when your stuff is getting stolen
and you have to search for thingsin the walls. That's why you should
check out Jess's scroungeware cheek Sleepers forfinding wall creepers. Ms ponnds. Hey,
thanks for listening to another Ghost Storiesepisode Prapas Knocked is coming up.
(58:39):
Hope you guys have a real terribleone. Saturnalia is also on the horizon,
so start making your plans for thelongest night of the year, and
don't forget to check out Quiz QuizBang Bang for some fun trivia and Hysteria
fifty one for some more paranormal topicswith me and Brent Hand For this episode
of Blurry Photos, I have beenDavid. This scrounger Flora. Don't stopple her even
Hey, y'all, welcome to GloryPhotos. I'm your host, David Flora.
I have the eleventh edition of GhostStories here for you for this year's
more. It's an exciting addition becauseI have a couple of original tales,
(00:40):
including one from author and fan ofthe show, Val Burkis. So there's
only a couple of let's go around, but they're meaty and they're a good
time. Before I jump into thestories, I'll update you with a little
news and I have a couple ofshout outs. Firstly, I wanted to
get a Deep Dive episode out thismonth for Photober, but I have been
slammed and have only just finished theresearch for it. I read two books
(01:04):
for it. There's lots of notetaking, and I just want to make
sure I get stuff right. That'swhy it's taken a long time to bake.
I also think one to two weeksin November never actually happened, so
it's like we skipped from November firstto November fifteenth or something. There hasn't
been a November. But anyway,I'm writing that episode now and I feel
(01:26):
confident I can get something together forDecember. Although part of the reason I've
been busy is that I'm preparing fora trip across the Pond. I'm hoping
to do a little work while overseas, but Anna and I will be taking
a vacation for a while, soI'll see what I can do. Part
of the trip, though, isgoing to be for researching a book I'd
like to put together, so I'moptimistic I can get an episode together at
(01:49):
some point anyway. That one's stillbeing worked on, but good news on
the film front. We have afinal cut done and post production is wrapped.
I think Derek and I are happywith what we were able to put
together and we're excited to show youguys. So now we just have to
wait just a little bit longer untilit's sold for distribution, and neither of
(02:12):
us have any idea how long thatwill be, unfortunately, but there is
a light at the end of thistunnel, and this project is tantalizingly close
to being fully realized. Trust me, I am just as annoyed at how
long it's taken as you guys are, but we will all get to see
it a very soon. I havea couple shout outs for folks who have
(02:35):
written in lately, and I appreciatehearing from sergeants Squatch, Andy and William
and Dustin, and to Adam,I believe you were looking for an episode
about chronology theory, and if it'sthe one you're thinking of, try episode
two thirteen Phantom Time. If that'snot the correct one, I'm not sure
(02:55):
which one you might be thinking of. To Jason, you were one during
How I organize future episodes, Itry to come up with a list of
topics I want to cover and thentackle them one at a time, but
sometimes I have to call an audibleand switch up topics or release schedule,
as exemplified by this episode coming outa month late and before the Deep Dive
(03:17):
episode, I was hoping I couldget that out before this one and have
not been able to. So I'dsay have a plan, but be ready
to roll with the punches. Onemore quick thing. I have a new
audiobook out, It Stalked Me,Volume one by Tom Lyons is now available,
and I'm also working on volumes twoand three currently, and Tom and
(03:40):
I are in talks to produce aseries of short stories together as well,
so I might have a short volumeof short stories published in the near future,
which you know that's pretty exciting anyway. That's what's going on lately.
With the business concluded, let usget to the eleventh edition of ghost Stories
(04:03):
Enjoy the Scrounger. Jess awoke witha smile on her face. She felt
Paul's arm around her, holding hersnugly while they both lay in bed,
sunlight rolling in through the window andover the mess of blankets and intertwined limbs.
(04:28):
It was the aftermath of weeks ofgraceless flirting, cautious dating, and
undeniable tension, and it was glorious. She slid out from under his arm
and dreamily made her way to thebathroom. Although she'd been to Paul's house
several times, this was the firsttime spending the night, and she couldn't
help but smile wider as she traverseda new path from bedroom to bathroom.
(04:54):
After taking care of necessities, shedecided to brush her teeth, with no
small part of her hoping the funof the night before might spill into the
morning as well. Forethought had beenon her side the day before when she
had brought an overnight bag just incase, and she reached for the toothbrush
she had carefully placed on the sinknot eight hours ago. Her smile was
(05:15):
joined by a frown. However,as the toothbrush wasn't there, one of
them must have accidentally knocked it offthe sink, she thought, and she
bent down, looking beside the sink, cabinet, and all around the floor.
Coming up empty, she opened herovernight bag and sifted through the contents,
but again had no luck. DidI forget it, she asked herself,
(05:36):
thoroughly confused. Now, no,she definitely used it last night when
they got home. Sure some alcoholwas involved, but she absolutely remembered brushing
her teeth before joining Paul in thebedroom, and she had a memory of
laying the brush beside her bag whenfinished. A sudden sound snapped her back
(05:57):
to the present moment. Sharply spunaround to face the door. Heart thumping
at the break and concentration, sheopened it to see Paul leaning against the
door jam, smiling coyly at her. Good morning, he said, sleepily,
morning, she said, the smilereturning to her face as her heart
relaxed a bit. Paul took herchin in his fingertips and gently moved her
(06:20):
close to kiss her. Toothbrush.Be damned, she thought, and gave
in to the moment. Later thatmorning, she was eating cereal at the
kitchen table while Paul was working onmaking a cup of coffee at the counter,
when the brush popped back into herthoughts. Hey, did you move
my toothbrush last night? She asked, No, I didn't even realize you
(06:44):
brought one. He responded, Yeah, it's so weird. I'm sure i'd
brush my teeth last night, butnow I can't find my brush anywhere.
Huh, Paul replied with what seemedto be a mixture of disinterest and unconcern.
I'll just I'll look for when Iget home, she said, again,
losing herself to memory and thought.Jess left in high spirits, going
(07:08):
about her day amidst the glow ofa blooming relationship. Paul called her that
afternoon and the two had no trouble, making plans for another night together.
As she was leaving, she rememberedher toothbrush and stepped into her bathroom to
grab it. However, she wasmet with an empty toothbrush holder. Okay,
she said out loud, her mindturning as to where the elusive brush
(07:30):
might have gone. She spent asolid five minutes looking everywhere in her bathroom,
her overnight bag, her cabinets.She even rifled through her coat pockets
just in case nothing. Guess it'stime for a new brush, she said,
as she slipped her coat on,donned a pair of sunglasses, and
headed towards her car. Jess wasable to grab a brush on her way
(07:51):
to Paul's, and the two spentanother amazing night together. The next morning
played out similarly, except this timeher brush was right where she left did
on the sink. At breakfast,Paul asked if she wanted to go for
a walk in the park. Withan enthusiastic yes, she ran to the
table where her purse sat. AsPaul began getting his shoes on, Jess
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reached into her purse to find hersunglasses, but couldn't feel the hard shell
case that should have been on top. She opened the purse wide, sorted
through the contents, but could notfind the glasses at all. Frowning,
she paused as Paul walked up ready, he asked, Paul, did you
(08:33):
have you seen my sunglasses? Shehesitantly asked sunglasses? No, I don't
think so, he answered. Jessstarted feeling a little frustrated. Are you
sure you didn't move them or takethem out of my purse, she asked,
edging on an accusatory tone. Whywould I do that, he responded,
(08:54):
seeming genuinely confused. No, it'sI mean. I'm not saying it's
just my toothbrush disappeared last night,and now my glasses, she said,
now more puzzled than upset. Hey, it happens to the best of us,
Paul said, putting an arm aroundher shoulders. I always track of
(09:15):
stuff all the time. I'm constantlybuying little things like that. I'm so
scatterbrained. I misplaced things, forgetwhere I put stuff, lose whole items,
blankets, vases, contact solution.I'm so forgetful, he chuckled.
Right, she replied, somewhat skeptically. Look, it's no big deal,
(09:37):
he said. Take this box ofcrackers. Paul grabbed a box from the
counter. I made a bowl ofleft over chili for lunch, and I
was a little embarrassingly excited to eatit with these. But when I opened
up the box, I had forgotten. I must have eaten them already.
Talk about disappointing. Thanks a lotme from the past. You could have
at least thrown the box away.She half smiled his self deprecating humor,
(10:01):
but still couldn't take her mind offthe sunglasses. She distinctly remembered wearing them
in the night before and sticking thecase in her purse before settling in for
a fun evening of movies and makeouts. Maybe they're in your car, Paul
offered. I doubt it, shesaid, disappointedly, but she left it
at that, and after checking hercar thoroughly, the two went to the
(10:22):
park and she was able to takeher mind off things and enjoy the moment.
After another lovely day, the twowent to bed, and sunglasses and
toothbrushes were the last things on hermind. Jess awoke in a bit of
a haze. It was still darkout, and she fumbled on the bedside
table for her phone. The screenlit up harshly, showing the time as
(10:43):
three thirty two am. Why wasshe awake, she thought, grimacing from
the assault of light in her eyes. Her eyes popped open. That was
what had awakened her, with somekind of scratching sound. She laid there,
eyes wide as the phone screen shutoff. In the bedroom was once
(11:05):
again dark. It had been ascratching sound. Yes, something unnatural.
No house settling, no movement fromPaul. Everything was still, and she
started to relax once more, hopingshe had just imagined the sound. Her
eyes popped open again. Nope,no imagining. Something made a scratching sound.
(11:31):
It was like metal on wood,or maybe like a drawer that sticks
when trying to open it. Shenudged Paul. Paul, Paul, She
hissed, hm. He grunted.Something's going on. I hear a scratching
sound, she whispered. He gruntedagain, probably tree scratch the house.
(11:58):
Hear it happened sometimes, He groggilymumbled, there it is. She whispered
through clenched teeth. It sounded likeit was everywhere, and she was wide
awake and terrified. Paul grunted.He was absolutely no use. This one
(12:22):
was definitely not wood scratching sound,more like a blanket being pulled through an
almost closed window. Jess sat up, staring at the bedroom door. Her
mind raced, but as terrified asshe was, she also knew it would
nod or if she didn't figure outwhat was causing these sounds. And she
was no shrinking violet. She slowlygot out of bed, picked up her
(12:43):
phone and turned the flashlight on,and made her way silently to the door.
She twisted the doorknob and cracked thedoor open as quietly as she could.
(13:05):
She was sure now it was comingfrom the kitchen. Covering the light
on the phone to maximize her stealth, she crept along the hallway slowly,
deliberately. The sound had turned oddlysquishy, but suddenly stopped, as did
Jess silence, as if the wholeworld had frozen in time. What felt
(13:28):
like the age of the world doubling. Jess stood in the dark hallway,
her heart almost betraying the noiseless momentfrom beating so hard. Then suddenly,
Jess sprinted the final few steps downthe hall and turning the corner, she
let loose the light from the phone, dazzling the kitchen, as if casting
a spell to repulse the darkness andthe mystery at hand. Movement caught her
(13:54):
eye, a shadow slinking beside thecounter and around the corner of the little
kitchen island in the middle of theroom. Eyes wide, heart pumping,
just stepped farther into the kitchen andshone the light on the other side of
the island, nothing was there.After a beat of realization, she stepped
back to her previous spot and shonethe light where she had seen the sizeable
(14:16):
shadow slipping around the corner. Nothing, Paul, she called out loudly.
Fumbling for the wall light switch.She managed to find it and flip it
as Paul stumbled out of the bedroomin a daze. What's going on,
he asked, eyes fixed and burningwith readiness. She said, something's in
(14:37):
the kitchen. Wake up and getin here. Paul walked with a bit
more wakefulness to stand beside her andsurveyed the room. He saw everything looking
normal save one jar of peanut butterwith the lid off and lying next to
it. Wanted a midnight snack,he asked, confusedly, Paul. Something
(14:58):
was in here and went around theisland. There, Jess said, pointing
at the spot she had last seenit. Paul began to walk toward the
spot when she grabbed his arm,stopping him. He looked at her as
she pointed at the knives in asmall butcher block. He nodded, sliding
one out and resumed his walk towardsthe end of the island. She could
see his hand with the knife quiveringever so slightly, but appreciated his willingness
(15:22):
to investigate. He paused at thecorner of the island, then stepped around,
holding the knife out before him.Jess watched as his body, stiff
with anticipation, relaxed a bit.He walked around the end of the island,
circling it before joining her again.There's nothing there, he said.
(15:43):
Jess grabbed a knife of her ownand retraced his path. Indeed, there
was nothing at the end of thecounter, nothing under the table, nothing
in the kitchen. But then maybea bad dream, Paul asked, returning
the knife to the block. Yousleepwalk, no, Jess said firmly.
(16:03):
I don't mind you sneaking some peanutbutter, but maybe next time use a
spoon, he said, showing herobvious finger marks in the peanut butter itself
before screwing the lead back on.I didn't do that, she said,
fear once again tinging her voice.Well this is weird and all, but
how about we just go back tobed, Paul said, as he made
(16:26):
his way back to the bedroom.Jess returned her knife, gave one last
look to the island, and turnedthe light off before joining Paul in the
bedroom. Paul settled in and almostimmediately passed out, but Jess could not
relax. Her body was filled withadrenaline and fear, and she sat in
the dark, her mind smoldering withwhat she had just experienced. Soon it
(16:48):
was light out and Paul awoke tofind her still sitting upright, chewing her
fingernails. Hey, he said,gently, it's all right. We checked
it out. It was nothing.Don't worry about it. He hugged her
and kissed her forehead. I'm gonnatake a shower are Jess's head barely nodded
as he got up and made hisway to the bathroom. When the bedroom
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door closed, her eyes snapped toit, a new thought suddenly forming in
her mind. She got out ofbed and went to the kitchen, Eyeing
the end of the island with alook of curiosity and determination, she nudged
the wood at the end of theisland. The wood was loose, like
(17:32):
a panel that didn't fit bright.She knelt down and took the sides of
the end panel in her hands andslid the wood to the side almost too
easily. Heart thumping and mind burning, Jess took her phone flashlight and shined
it at what lay behind the panel. Half the space was taken up with
pots and pans, beside a backwall of cabinet space, but on the
(17:56):
other side, maybe a foot wideas a cavity, empty cabinet space with
no floor. Instead, an earthyhole dropped about three feet down, leading
to a small tunnel dug beneath thefloorboards. From the angle she could shine
the light on, Jess saw thatthe tunnel ran farther under the house.
(18:18):
She followed the direction it went withher eyes, tracing a path up to
a coat closet in the hall.Scared but kneading answers, Jess opened the
closet and turned the light on.Haul's coats cluttered the space, as did
numerous shoes and boots on the floor. Tearing the coats and shoes out.
(18:38):
In a frenzy, she stared atthe back wall of the closet for a
second until her eyes came to reston an outline in the wood. She
nudged it with her foot and gaspedas it gave and moved with each poke.
Almost angry now, she nudged ithard and the panel rebounded with the
force, falling open in front ofher. A stench billowed out from the
(19:02):
small opening in the closet, causingJess to gag and put her shirt over
her nose. A smell of rancidmeat, decay, ammonia, and a
host of other foul scents assaulted hersenses. As she held her phone light
up to the hole, A smalltunnel of insulation extended a couple feet before
opening up into a bigger cavity.A dead space between walls and rooms was
(19:27):
illuminated by the small light, witha few other tunnels leading off, and
Jess could see several things inside.Some shredded blankets and newspapers were coiled in
a corner, looking like a dirty, worn nest. Objects were strewn around
carelessly, a broken light bulb,crumbs, small bones, a cracked vase,
(19:52):
and then the light fell on twothings that made her heart leap into
her throat, a toothbrush and aglass's case. Her toothbrush and glass's case,
she staggered back in shock and horror, dropping her phone in the process
and leaning against the corner of thehall and kitchen. Suddenly she felt the
(20:15):
strangest sensation, an unmistakable feeling ofbeing watched. She slowly turned toward the
end of the kitchen island. There, leaning out from the corner of the
island, stood something staring back ather. She looked directly into its milky
white eyes and got a sense ofthe thing in her peripheral It was about
(20:40):
four feet tall, all dark fromdirt or maybe blackened skin. It had
fur or maybe extremely tattered and filthyclothing. Its fingers were gnarled and ended
in sharp nails, though she couldn'ttell if it had five or four fingers.
The eyes were slightly bigger than normaleyes, but not cartoonish, and
(21:03):
the face was almost too dirty andmaybe hairy to tell many features. It
looked simultaneously like a knotted, distortedold man and a wrinkled, deformed beast.
Jess inhaled and let out a bloodcurdling scream. The thing flinched and
shrunk a bit behind the end ofthe island. Jess picked up the closest
(21:26):
thing she could, a winter boot, and hurled it at the thing with
force. It barely dodged the bootand scrambled through the kitchen. As Jess
picked up more shoes and hurled them, the thing moved oddly fast and made
it to the back door, flingingit open awkwardly as shoes ricocheted off the
wall around it. It shot outthe door and bounded down the steps.
(21:48):
As Jess ran to the door andmorbid curiosity, she watched it move swiftly
and disappear into the woodline at theedge of the backyard. Jess woke up
with Paul soon after, and neverslept quite so well from then on.
Paul sold the house and moved toanother town. Neither had anything go missing
(22:11):
from their homes again. Ghost Trainby Valentine Jay Burkice. I don't like
(22:55):
to talk about it much. Ittook me years before I could even sleep
the whole night through. Heck,even now sometimes I wake up from some
god awful nightmare in a cold sweat, not sure where I'm at. But
I guess I'll never really forget itcompletely. I mean, who could ever
forget something like that. We setout early that morning because we knew we
(23:22):
had ways to go. We wantedto get on the trail as soon as
possible before it got too hot.Of Course, when you're trying to move
a group of people like that,and it's never easy. We had to
stop so many times for shit weforgot. Heck, it was mid afternoon
before we actually got going. Thedrail head sat right smack in the middle
of Hoopieville, USA. I neverseen such a rundown shanty town in all
(23:45):
my life. I didn't think peoplestill lived like that. The road leading
down to the trail was so dryand dusty, and it was hard to
see where you were going. Andthe smell, God, the smell was
so bad your eyes watered. Smelledlike a deer that's been rotting along the
side of the road for days inthe hot summer sun. The bugs shirt
(24:06):
isn't mind, though, They weremore than happy to greet us at the
trail. I remember I was gettingmy bike ready, you know, checking
the tires, the brakes, whatnot, when I noticed this ragged old man
sitting on his front porch watching us. For some reason, he was waving
his hand at us. At first, I thought he was just being friendly,
so I waved back, But thenI realized he was trying to get
(24:29):
us to come over. Hey,Joe, I said, pointing to the
old man. Let's go see whatthis guy wants. Joe frowned. Eh,
probably just wants some money or something. Look at his house, a
piece of shit. Doesn't even haveany windows or anything. I could see
what Joe was talking about. Therundown old shack looked like it could collapse
(24:51):
at any minute. Windows were missing, shingles were falling off the roof,
and the gutters had grass and weedsgrowing from him. It was hard to
imagine anyone actually living in such aplace, but the old man didn't seem
to mind. Either that or hedidn't care. So against our better judgment,
we left our bikes with the othersand made our way over to the
old man. I didn't realize justhow decrepit he was until we got up
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to the porch. This guy wasn'told, he was ancient. His entire
face was one big wrinkle, shadedbeneath the brim of his dusty old ball
cap. I could barely read it, it was so filthy, but I
was able to make out the wordsChesapeake and Ohio Railroad. The trail we
were about to ride was a partof this old rail line that had last
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been used in the nineteen thirties.After years of lying idol, the tracks
were finally torn out in the earlynineteen eighties. After that, it was
converted to a bike trail as partof the States Rails to Trails program.
The old man didn't say anything atfirst. He just stared at Joe and
me, a broad smile on hiswrinkled face, as if he was reading
(26:00):
our minds. After an uncomfortable moment, I decided to ask him what he
wanted. Did we help you withsomething? We were just about to head
out on the trail. We're nottrespassing, are we. We were told
this was a trailhead. There's atrailhead, all right, he said,
(26:21):
has an eerie smile grew on hisface. Fire you and just pack up
and head back where you could from. Joe looked over at me, confused.
Who the hell was this guy totell us to pack up and leave?
This was state property? Excuse me, I asked. Before Joe could
say anything, You heard me,I said, fire you. I just
(26:45):
turned around your home. You're nowwanted here. This time, Joe jumped
in before I could respond, We'renot wanted here. He said, well,
who the hell asked you? Yes, me, it's now your goddamn
business. The old man wasn't moved. He just continued to grin and stare
(27:07):
back at us from his rickety oldchair. Well, Mike said, Joe,
let's get going. We're burning daylighttalking to this old fart. I
didn't know what to say. Bothconfused and annoyed by the old man's words,
I just figured he was old andbitter. Joe and I just decided
to let him be. As weturned back toward the trail, Lance was
(27:30):
waiting for us back with the others. Hey, he said, what that
guy won? Oh? Nothing,I replied, he's just crazy or something.
He's just pissed because he lives ina piece of shit excuse for a
house. Joe yelled out, butthe old man didn't seem to hear or
care. Leave him alone. Joe, Joe's wife Natalie didn't care for his
(27:52):
comments. You wait till year old, you'll be just as mean non ray
as him. There were nine ofus all together, being my wife Marie,
Joe and Natalie, my friends Lanceand Nate, Joe's friends Amy and
Nancy, and last, but certainlynot least, Joe's little brother John.
There was nothing little about John,however. He may have been the youngest
(28:15):
one in our group, but hewas also the biggest, still just a
teenager, John was already well oversix foot and towered above his older brother.
Joe was no slouch himself at sixfoot even, but he even looked
miniature in John's shadow. After wepissed around for a while, checking our
bikes and basically just wasting time,we finally started down the trail around mid
(28:37):
afternoon. That's when we heard thefirst whistle, somewhere far off from the
distance behind us. The distinctive soundof a train whistle broke the calm of
the summer afternoon. Lance was thefirst to say something, What the hell
was that sounded like a train whistle? Said Marie. Yeah, but that's
(29:02):
impossible. This line went out ofcommission almost fifty years ago. Hecked the
rails in right back there in thosejackers. Nate jumped in, Maybe there's
another rail line across the river.Nah, said Joe. You know what
it was. There's probably just anold steam whistle from a factory or something.
The industry around here hadn't changed sincethe depression. You know, yeah,
(29:25):
replied Lance, and neither had thehouses. We all laughed. All
right, Joe said, let's hitthe trail. We're burning daylight, and
with that we were off. Ijust wish we had listened to that old
man and then none of this wouldhave happened. It was pretty humid that
(29:48):
day, just like most days inlate August. I guess the heat was
rising off the trail and waves,and it drew the bugs out and droves.
You had to be careful to keepyour mouth shut riding or you'd get
a mouthful of mosquitoes. But otherthan the bugs, for the most part,
it was a pretty great day fora ride. The sky was cloudless
and blue, and as long asyou kept moving, a friendly breeze made
(30:11):
you forget all about the late summerheat. We started out the ride as
a group, with all nine ofus riding in formation along the old rail
line, but about an hour intoour ride we had spread apart a good
bit. Lance, Joe, andNad were way ahead of the group a
couple of miles at least. Lancenever rode slowly no matter where we were.
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Every time we went on a ride, Lance would be way ahead of
the pack. A veteran long distancerider, he was always in training for
his next race. We tried totell him to take it easy on this
trip, since it was just arecreational ride, but he couldn't be reasoned
with. Lance only knew one wayto ride fast and hard. Joe and
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Nat on their custom tandem bike werethe only ones to keep up with him,
so before long the three of themwere nothing more but a speck in
the distance. I, on theother hand, was in no hurry to
kill myself so early in the ride. We had a long trip ahead of
us, round one hundred miles orso, and I wasn't about to use
up all my energy at the start. Marie felt just the same, and
(31:19):
so we enjoyed ourselves as we steadilypeddled down the old trail. Not far
behind, Nate and Little John weretaking their time as well. This being
John's first official ride with the group, Nate wanted to make sure he felt
welcome and decided to ride with themfor the first few hours. About a
mile or so behind him, Nancyand Amy were struggling to keep up,
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neither of them being experienced riders.This was their very first long distance ride,
and you could tell right away itwasn't going to be easy for them.
They had dropped off from the packalmost immediately and made no attempt to
catch up to the rest of us. I wasn't worried, however, the
trail only went one way. Iwasn't worried about him getting lost. I
just figured they'd catch up with usat the first stop. A couple hours
(32:06):
in. We had traveled around twentymiles or so. Because there's some plans
we'd made before we set off,I knew our first scheduled break was coming
up. It was an old trainstation, the oldest one on the line
actually, and we figured it wasa good place to stop and rest a
bit. As Marie and I roundeda bend on the trail, we could
see the old wooden station about ahundred yards ahead. Joe, Nat and
(32:30):
Lance were already there waiting for us. The hell took you so long?
Lance yelled down the trail, pokingfun at us, as was his way.
Whoever said this was a race?Lance, I yelled back. As
Marie and I slowed to a stop. Lance slapped me on the back.
As I got off the bike andreached from my water bottle. Ah,
he said, I'm just messing withyou. Hey, said Joe. There's
(32:52):
everybody else. Nat and John aren'ttoo far behind us, said Marie.
I don't know about the girls,though, they were pretty far back.
Stupid chicks, Lance added he neverwas one for pleasure riding. A couple
of minutes later, Nate and Johncould be seen emerging from a bend in
the trail. I couldn't help butchuckle to myself. Nate looked so much
(33:15):
smaller than his younger counterpart. Johnlooked a bit silly himself, his enormous
frame just one minute for bike riding. I guess about time you guys catch
up, Lance said. Nate weavedhim off. We got a long ways
to go now. I'm not goingto get all tired right at the start.
Besides, he said, I hadto wait for the little guy.
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Everyone laughed as John turned red withembarrassment. How about the girls, Joe
asked, you've seen him at all? Nah, said Nate. They're way
back. We lost them just acouple of miles after we started off.
Suddenly, the sound of a distanttrain whistle echoed down the valley and reached
our ears. What the hell wasthat, I asked. Sounds like that
(34:05):
same old train whistle we heard whenwe first started off, said Lance.
I don't care what you say,Joe, that wasn't no damn factory whistle.
That was a train. Yeah.Joe joined in that sure did sound
like an old steam engine. Maybeit's one of those excursion trains or something.
I heard there was one near here. We all just stood there by
our bikes and listened quietly, butthe whistle didn't blow again. About a
(34:30):
half hour passed with no sign ofthe girls, and we started to get
nervous that something might have happened,like maybe a flat tire or something.
I'll go back and check on him, I said, No, that's all
right, Nate jumped in me andJohn will go. I'm sure it's nothing.
They probably just stopped to take abreak or something. We all nodded
(34:52):
in agreement. You guys just goahead. We'll catch up to you later.
It sounded like a good idea,so we all agreed. Nate and
John took off back down the trailas the rest of us continued on.
We figured we just wait for himat the next resting point. By five
thirty or so, we had reachedour second plan stop, the old Greenbrier
(35:13):
Tunnel, nearly six hundred feet long. It was an awesome sight. The
tunnel had been built at the turnof the century, carved out of the
mountain through sheer muscle. I can'timagine how it must have been excavating all
that rock, mostly by hand.Legend had it that five miners actually died
during the construction, buried alive whenpart of the tunnel collapsed without warning.
(35:37):
Man said, Lance, that isso freaking awesome. I laid my bike
down and took off my helmet.Yeah, I said, that is pretty
sweet. How the hell did theybuild that with nothing but their bare hands?
It's amazing. Well, what arewe going to do? Joe asked?
Should we wait here for Nate,John and the girls? Or should
we just press on? After all, we're burning daylight? It was his
(36:00):
favorite saying. I say we justgo, replied Natalie. They said they'll
catch up with us. Lance agreed, we gotta get camp set up before
it gets too dark. They'll beall right, So we decided to keep
riding and get to camp before dusk. One by one we mounted our bikes
and headed into the tunnel. Ibuckled up in my helmet and was the
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last one to go through. Butright as I started in, I slammed
on the brakes and listened way offin the distance, I thought I heard
someone screaming, and that's when Iheard it again, the train whistle.
It seemed much farther off this time. Would make no mistake about it.
(36:45):
I heard it for a moment.I just sat there and listened, but
there was nothing, only the soundof the water rushing by in the river
below the trail. Hey, Mike, yelled back through the tunnel, you
come in or what? Yeah,I said, I'll be right there.
(37:07):
I only waited another second or sobefore heading into the tunnel. By then,
a cold, eerie feeling had comeover me, and I began to
wonder if our friends were all right. Finally, around eight o'clock or so,
we decided to stop. We'd gonealmost fifty miles in one day,
and as you can imagine, wewere all pretty tuckered out. We set
(37:30):
up camp just off the trail,in a bear spot underneath a canopy of
towering trees. Right away, Joeand Lance began to build a fire,
mainly for protection, in order toconserve space and keep our packs light.
All we had brought to eat wasinstant oatmeal and granilla bars. Honestly,
after fifty miles of riding, Iwould have rather had a nice chicken dinner,
(37:52):
but that just wasn't possible. Besides, we were in an area thick
with black bear wouldn't be too smartto have any real food around them,
might draw them in. Camp wasset up in no time at all,
and we turned our attention to ourmissing friends. It was now pitch dark
out and they were nowhere to befound. Joe was really worried, where
(38:15):
the hell are those guys. Theyshould have been here by now. Maybe
it got too dark for him andthey set up camp on their own.
Lance said. Natalie was far lessoptimistic. I'm worried someone got hurt.
I don't think they would have stoppeduntil they caught up with us. Yeah,
said Marie. Maybe they had togo back for help. Joe looked
(38:36):
deep in thought, probably thinking abouthis younger brother. I think we should
go looking for him, I said, Are you crazy? Said Lance.
It's way too dangerous go riding downthe trail at night. You never know
what you could run into. Thesehills are full of bear mountain lion too.
Yeah, said Joe. You're probablyright. I just hate not knowing
(39:00):
they'll be all right, I said, trying to sound positive. Nate's an
old woodsman. He'll take care ofthe rest of them. Hacked up,
probably all sitting around a fire rightnow talking about us. Joe looked up
at me and smiled, I hopeyou're right. A full moon lit up
the night sky as we called ita day and climbed into our tents.
All we could do was hope thatNate, John and the girls were somewhere
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safe. The next morning, wewoke to find our camp and shambles.
Our bikes hadn't been touched, butall of our gear lay strewn across the
dirty ground, like someone had beenlooking for something. What a mess.
All of our stuff was ripped apartand covered with dirt. The only bit
(39:43):
of food we could salvage were acouple of lousy granula bars. The rest
of the bars in the oatmeal werenowhere to be found. I was stunned.
What the hell happened here last night, mare, said Joe. Matter
of factly, black bear must havecome out of the hills in search of
food. Marie grabbed my arm andlooked around as if she expected a bear
(40:06):
to be right behind her. Idon't worry, hon, I said,
They're long gone now. At leastthat's what I hoped. They're more afraid
of us than we are them.She nodded her head, but wouldn't let
go of my arm. This sucks, said Lance. How the hell are
we going to ride another fifty mileson an empty stomach? Well, said
(40:27):
Natalie, we still have a coupleof granola bars left. Maybe there'll be
some berries or something on the trail. Lance wasn't satisfied. Eh, a
lot of good a couple of shittygranola bars are going to do for us.
I hate to admit it, butI agreed with him. My stomach
was already growling and we hadn't evenstarted to ride yet. Suddenly it hit
(40:47):
me, Hey, I said,what about Nate John and the girls?
I bet you they still have somefood. Once they catch up with us,
we'll just rashing out what we gotleft. Everyone seemed in are,
so we decided to just sit andwait awhile to see if the others showed
up. As the sun slowly creptover the horizon, we got a fire
(41:07):
going and started to clean up.At nine o'clock, there was still no
sign of him, and Lance wassick of waiting. This is stupid,
he said, I'm going back tolook for him. Joe didn't seem to
think it was the best idea.I don't know, man, we've already
got separated from those guys. Idon't want to lose you too. You
cann't, said Lance. I'm notgonna get lost. It's a freaking railroad
(41:30):
bed, for God's sake. Howthe hell can you get lost. I'm
just gonna ride back and see what'skeeping them. We can't wait here all
day, you know, yeah,Joe replied, You're probably right. The
rest of us will pack up andget going. We'll just take it easy
and then you can catch up tous after you meet with the others.
Sound good, And with that Lancewas off. He was our best and
(41:52):
fastest rider by far. Surely hewould find the others and in no time
they'd catch up with the rest ofus. Heck, they were probably just
down the trail a bit. We'dbe all together again by the afternoon.
At least that's what we thought.Just before noon, Joe, Natalie,
Marie and I had reached the OldSkeezer Tunnel, about twenty miles farther down
(42:14):
the trail, just like the oldGreenbrier Tunnel, the Skeezer had been carved
over one hundred years before, butit was much bigger and much more ominous.
It was massive, large enough todrive two trains through side by side.
It had been carved out of solidrock way before. The track had
actually been laid back when the railroadwas supposed to be a double track,
(42:35):
but the workers soon found out thelandscape was just too treacherous and could only
support a single line. Apparently thishad angered some of the tunnel workers who
had worked their asses off in theexcavation. Some of them actually were killed
during the construction. Well, someof the workers staged a strike and things
got real ugly. When the railroadtried to break up the strike, a
(42:58):
riot broke out and eighteen men gotkilled. Legend had it that those men
still haunted the tunnel, swearing vengeanceupon anyone who dared enter it. I
knew it was just a silly ghoststory, but it still made me feel
a little uneasy. There'd been acouple of mysterious train wrecks right around and
inside the tunnel over the years.The investigators determined them all to be just
(43:22):
run of the mill derailments, butit was agreed upon by some that the
ghosts of the tunnel workers had causedthem. I don't know if this was
true or not, but as wesat at the entrance of the long dark
passageway, I couldn't help but feela little uneasy. Marie could tell I
was worried. What's wrong, Mike? You okay? Oh? I'm okay,
(43:45):
I laughed, just daydreaming, Iguess. I took a deep breath
and turned to Joe, who wastaking a drink of water. Joe,
when do you think happened to Lance? You should have found them and caught
up to us by now, don'tyou think. Joe took another swallow from
his canteen and wiped his mouth.Yeah, I'd have thought they'd have been
here by now. Maybe they gotAnd there it was again, way off
(44:12):
in the distance, that eerie trainwhistle blew again and echoed down the valley,
Only this time it was followed bya blood curdling scream. Oh my
god, Natalie gasped, what wasthat? But no one answered her.
Were all sat frozen like statues,trying to make sense of what we had
(44:32):
just heard. Marie stood beside me, her hand clamped over her mouth in
fear. A cold chill ran upmy spine. There was no mistaking it.
We had all heard the whistle andthe terrible scream. That scream,
I paused. It sounded like likesomeone being killed, said Joe. For
(44:55):
the first time ever, I sawfear in his eyes. I've never heard
anything like that in my life.I gotta go see who it was,
No, said Natalie. You're notleaving me. I have to. Nat.
I hate to say it, butI think that sounded like like Lance.
You're right, I said, Andif that really was him, he's
(45:17):
definitely in trouble. We gotta gocheck it out. Natalie and Marie grabbed
us and begged us not to go, but we had to. We had
to go help our friends. Ohgod, Natalie screamed as she pointed down
the trail. I turned to look, and there he was Lance. He
(45:37):
was crawling down the trail on hishands and knees. It was a side
I'll never forget. He was bloodyfrom head to toe. His clothes were
all torn, like had been attackedby some wild animal. As Joe and
I ran towards him, Lance collapsedon the trail and lay motionless. I
reached him and I couldn't believe whatI was seeing. Must have been a
(46:00):
bare or mountain lion. I said, what else could do something like this
to a man? He was alltorn up and blood was everywhere. It
was clear his left leg was broken. The jagged bone had punched through the
skin. I turned my head andpuked all over the trail. It was
just too much to take, Lancesaid, Joe, Lance, talk to
(46:22):
me. What happened to you?Where are the others? Lance strained to
raise his head. His face wasall cut up and bleeding, struggling to
breathe, He could barely speak.Joe, the train I couldn't I couldn't
move it, train, I said, turning to Joe. The el's he
(46:43):
talking about? Joe didn't answer me, Lance, what train? What are
you talking about? They're dead?He said, they're all dead. The
train, Joe, the trains coming, And with that he went unconscious.
(47:04):
He didn't say another word. Whatthe hell is he talking about? Joe?
What train? Who's dead? Naden, John, It can't be.
Joe stared down the trail. Idon't know, he said, I just
don't know. It can't be.They can't be. He just kept staring
down the trail. As he heldLance's bloody head in his arms. Marie
(47:28):
and Natalie ran up to us.We got to get him to help,
said Marie. Natalie winced when shelooked down at Lance. Oh my god,
what happened to him? I don'tknow, I said. He was
mumbling about a train or something.That's when we heard it, that horrible
(47:50):
sound. He was like a nightmare, something out of a dream. The
train whistle, the same one we'vebeen hearing all along. This time it
was much much closer. It wasright on us. He came out of
nowhere and was louder than anything I'dever heard. I covered my ears and
(48:10):
fell to my knees. Marie andNatalie did the same. Go let go
of the lands and tried to getback up, but the sound was so
loud and powerful it just seemed toknock him right back down. And we
saw it. I never would havebelieved if I hadn't seen it with my
own eyes. Just down the trailwhere it bent around a towering cliff,
(48:35):
a giant black shape came blasting aroundthe bend. At first I didn't know
what it was. The whistle wasstill blaring and I could hardly open my
eyes and I saw it. Isaw it clear as day. It was
a locomotive, one of those oldsteam engines, like the ones you see
in books or westerns. The ironmonster belched a cloud of black from its
(49:00):
towering stack as it barreled around thebend and charged down the trail right at
US three, screamed. Natalie wasstill laying on the ground, driving around
in pain from the intensity of thewhistle. Get up, I yelled to
him. Get up, Joe,come on, get up, We gotta
move. Joe's gaze was frozen onthe train. You can't be, he
(49:24):
said, It's impossible. He wins. Does The train's whistle blasted out again
through the air. Marie grabbed ontome and pulled herself up. The train
was coming on fast, Mike,she cried, I can't move the whistle.
It's we gotta move. I said, it's coming right for us.
(49:46):
Let's go. A raging river wasto our right at the bottom of the
jagged slope. To our left,the mountain was a sheer wall of rock.
Our only hope was to get throughthe tunnel to the other side.
Joe ma managed to get up andthrew Lance over his shoulder. Natalie followed
right behind him. You gotta getthrough the tunnel, Joe said. Leaving
(50:07):
our bikes, we darted into thetunnel. Natalie went in first, followed
by Joe with Lance over his shoulder. I went next, dragging Marie behind
me. I looked back and sawthat the train was only a hundred yards
away or so, and it wasgaining fast. I can't see anything,
Joe yelled, over the sound ofthe steam engines roar. It's pitch dark
(50:27):
in here. Just head for thatlight, I said, referring to the
opening on the far end of thetunnel. It seemed miles away. As
we struggled to make our way throughthe darkness, the sound of the train
grew louder with each step. It'sno use, Joe said. Just then
he and Lance fell to the groundlike they were tripped by something. Get
up, yelled Natalie. Joe.Get off the train. It's coming.
(50:50):
I didn't need to turn around.The light from the locomotive entered the tunnel
and once let out a terrible blastof its whistle. Pain was almost arible,
but I knew we had to keepgoing. Get up, I said,
We've got to keep going. We'realmost there. Joe jumped up and
once again through Lance over his shoulder. With every ounce of strength we had,
we took off towards the other opening. The train was almost honest now,
(51:15):
and the sound was unbearable. Itpierced my ears like a knife.
I just kept running. Finally wereached the other side, burst into the
sunlight. The train was right behindus, so close you could feel the
heat from its engine. It followedus out of the tunnel like the fiery
breath of some dragon. To ourright, of sheer rock. To our
(51:37):
left, nothing but a slope ofjagged rocks leading to the river below.
Now what Joe said as he guessedfor air, still holding Lance over his
shoulder. Right then I saw anold rope swing off to the left.
It was our only chance there.I yelled the rope. Go from the
rope. The two girls grabbed ontothe rope, took a few steps back,
(52:00):
and then swung themselves out over therocks before dropping into the water.
I looked at Joe and he motionedme to go ahead. So I leapt
for the rope, swung out toclear the rocks, and then dropped into
the river. Joe struggled to geta grip on the rope of Lance over
his shoulders still, just then thetrain burst out of the tunnel with a
(52:22):
terrible roar. Joe leaned back,jumped up, and flew through the air
towards the river, right as theblack locomotive Harold passed, and it missed
him and lanced by inches as theyswung out past the rocks and dropped into
the water. The ghostly train thenroared down the trail and just disappeared,
(52:46):
its black smoke still hanging in theair. We floated down the river a
mile or two to the nearest town. No one said a word as we
drifted downstream. When we hit thetown, we immediately went to look for
help, but it was too late. Lance was gone. He never regained
(53:07):
consciousness. I can't explain what happenedon that hot summer day all those years
ago. All I know is itwas real. No one believes me,
of course, that's why they've gotme locked up in this nuthouse to ride
away. If my wife was here, she'd tell you too, but she's
(53:30):
gone. She lost it not longafterwards, haunted by that godforsaken whistle.
He kept her up nights. Theysaid it was dementia, but in the
end I know that's what really killedher. They never found John Nate and
the girls. Their bikes were foundall smashed on the side of the trail,
(53:54):
but no trace of them was everfound. The state just wrote him
off as victims of a bear attack. I don't care what anyone says.
I know what really happened. AllI keep seeing is that old man laughing
up there on his porch, tellingus to go home. If only we'd
(54:16):
listened to him, if only LaBelledom san Marci, A beautiful lady without
mercy by John Keats, Oh whatcan ail? Thee knighted arms alone and
(54:43):
palely loitering. The sedge has witheredfrom the lake, and no birds sing,
Oh what can ail? Thee knightedarms so haggard, and so woe
begone the squirrels. Grainery is full, and the harvest's done. I see
a lily on thy brow with anguishmoist and fever dew, and on thy
(55:08):
cheeks a fading rose fast withereth too, I met a lady in the meads,
full, beautiful, a Fairi's child. Her hair was long, her
foot was light, and her eyeswere wild. I made a garland for
her head, and bracelets too,and fragrant zone. She looked at me
(55:30):
as she did love and made sweetmoan. I set her on my pacing
steed, and nothing else saw allday long, for side long would she
bend and sing a fairie's song.She found me roots of relish, sweet
and honey, wild and manado andsure in languid strange, she said,
(55:54):
I love thee true. She tookme to our elfin grot, and there
she wept and sighed full sore,And there I shut her wild wild eyes
with kisses for and there she lulledme to sleep. And there I dreamed,
(56:15):
Ah, woe betide the latest dreamI ever dreamt. On the cold
hill side. I saw pale kingsand princes too, pale warriors, death,
pell were they all? They criedLaBelle dom sin, mercy, the
half in thrall. I saw theirstarved lips in the gloam with horrid warning
(56:40):
gaped wide. And I awoke andfound me here on the cold hill's side.
And this is why I sojourn herealone and palely, loitering, though
the sedge is withered from the lake, and no birds sing. There you
(57:10):
go, the eleventh edition of ghostStories and a songless steam powered stolen nutshell.
Thanks to val Burkitch for letting meread his ghost Trained story. You
can find more of his writing atValentine Birkitch dot com. That's b rkic
dot com and I'll also link tohis site in the show notes. And
(57:32):
now the spookiest part of any setof stories huns. A group of nine
kayakers set up from the beach oneday, hoping to paddle along the shore
where there used to be old WorldWar two ship blockades. One by one
(57:52):
they disappeared as the sound of metalsliding against metal in the water was heard.
Eventually they saw all the cause,a long set of iron links sliding
quickly through the water, a trapfor ships to get snagged on, deadly
for small watercraft. Only four ofthem ended up surviving the coast chain.
(58:16):
Sometimes you need to look good andfeel comfortable when your stuff is getting stolen
and you have to search for thingsin the walls. That's why you should
check out Jess's scroungeware cheek Sleepers forfinding wall creepers. Ms ponnds. Hey,
thanks for listening to another Ghost Storiesepisode Prapas Knocked is coming up.
(58:39):
Hope you guys have a real terribleone. Saturnalia is also on the horizon,
so start making your plans for thelongest night of the year, and
don't forget to check out Quiz QuizBang Bang for some fun trivia and Hysteria
fifty one for some more paranormal topicswith me and Brent Hand For this episode
of Blurry Photos, I have beenDavid. This scrounger Flora. Don't stopple her even
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