August 20, 2025 • 46 mins
#horrorstories #reddithorrorstories #ScaryStories #creepypasta #horrortales #wwiihorror #occultsecrets #blackforesthorror #nazioccult #supernaturalwar In this gripping historical horror tale, a WWII Allied squad ventures deep into Germany’s Black Forest only to discover a hidden SS facility shrouded in secrecy. But what lies beneath isn’t just war crimes—it’s something far darker. The squad uncovers occult experiments, forbidden rituals, and ancient horrors resurrected by the Nazis. As reality unravels, they must fight not only for survival but for their sanity. A terrifying mix of war, supernatural evil, and buried nightmares. horrorstories, reddithorrorstories, scarystories, horrorstory, creepypasta, horrortales, wwiihorror, blackforest, occult, naziexperiments, supernatural, darkrituals, secretfacility, ancientevil, militaryhorror, hauntedbunker, forbiddenknowledge, eldritchhorror, hiddenhistory, psychologicalterror
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am Liam Smith. I'm a twenty seven year old
American from Miami, Florida, who enlisted in the U. S.
Army in nineteen forty two. During the time I was
a soldier, I had witnessed how the Allies had landed
on the beaches of Normandy during D Day, how we
had pushed the Germans out of France, and even the
Battle of the Bulge. Now we were pushing deeper into
(00:20):
the heart of Germany itself. In the northern parts of
the Western Front. The Allies had broken through the Rhine defenses,
and since the Germans defenses in the southern parts near
the Rhine seemed scarce, it would only be a matter
of time before we would march further. Through everything I endured,
I always found comfort with my four closest comrades, Jacob Steinberg,
(00:41):
a Jewish American from Indianapolis, the macho figure Henry Robinson
from Detroit, the shy photographer Drew Scott from New York,
and the Afro American military engineer Todd Jackson from New Orleans.
From those four, I was closest with Jacob, who is
ready to take on anything due to the fact that
he understands German. He's useful when translating captured German documents
(01:03):
for US. Tod was the most recent in our squad,
since he transferred from another regiment due to the sheer
harassment he got for being Afro American. Although in our
regiment some whites do whisper things about him, it is
in Tod's eyes, nothing compared to what he underwent in
his previous regiment. Then there are my superiors. First there's
(01:23):
Commander Miller, a veteran from World War One. He's known
for his brilliant tactics against the enemy, but he never
takes up a gun and fight side by side with
his soldiers. No one blames him though, I mean he's
too valuable to lose, and also because he was already
sixty years old. Then there's Lieutenant Joseph Wilson, a father
(01:44):
figure to the squad, willing to risk his own life
for the sake of his men. We are all very
loyal to him. And then there's Sergeant Ben Allen, a
cold figure who would scowl his men for the slightest mistakes.
Sergeant Allen is disliked by every soldier of the squad,
and even Commander Miller ordered Wilson to watch allens, every
move or actions. It was April twenty first, nineteen forty five.
(02:10):
It had been raining for days, turning the dirt roads
of the German countryside into endless trails of mud. Trees
stood like ancient sentinels along our route, their branches reaching
over us like skeletal arms. We had pushed through village
after village, some abandoned, others holding pockets of resistance, Too
weak to stand for long. It was clear to all
(02:31):
of us the war was drawing to a close. Hitler
was cornered in Berlin, and the Wehrmacht and s S
have lost their bite. But even a dying beast can
lash out one last time. We were sheltering in a
German farmhouse just outside the Black Forest. Night was falling
and a low mist curled around the tree tops in
the distance. Our squad had taken some much needed rest,
(02:55):
sprawled out on makeshift cots or writing letters home by
the flickering lanterns. I sat by a cracked window with Jacob,
listening to the distant thunder. The air smelled like wet
leaves and burnt oil. You think they'll surrender soon, I asked,
shifting my rifle off my shoulder and resting it against
the wall. Jacob shrugged. They have to They got nothing
(03:20):
left but scraps and fanatics. He ran a hand through
his brown hair and took out his cigarette lighter. He
didn't light anything, just flicked it open and closed in
a steady rhythm. Then what the hell are they still
doing in the black forest, Henry grunted from behind. He
had been polishing his gun. Damn, Krouch should know it's over.
(03:43):
Maybe they're hiding something. Drew piped in from his corner,
adjusting the lens on his camera. He was the quietest
of us, always watching, always recording. The s s never
really played by the rules, did they, Tod snorted, softly,
fiddling with a busted field radio. If they are, they're
doing a hell of a job keeping it to themselves. Jackson,
(04:05):
came a sharp bark of Sergeant Allan. Tod stood at attention,
snapping a salute. Yes, sir, I want that radio working
before we head out tomorrow. If you screw up like
last time, I'll have you running laps through the mud
until your boots melt. Understood, Sir Tod replied in a
serious tone, Alan's eyes narrowed, then stomped off to the
(04:28):
adjoining room. His bootsteps echoed like gunshots. The man had
a face like cracked concrete and a personality to match Guy's,
a walking ulcer. Henry muttered under his breath. Yeah, well,
he's not wrong about the radio. I said. We might
need that if anything goes wrong in those woods. Lieutenant
(04:49):
Wilson entered not long after, his uniform somehow still crisp
despite the weather. His presence changed the air in the
room much softer and warmer. Evening men. He greeted us
with a nod. Commander Miller has briefed me on a
possible objective in the black forest. You all are going
(05:09):
in tomorrow morning. We'll advance quietly, no fireworks unless necessary.
Jacob looked up any intel on what we might find,
Sir Wilson shook his head slowly. Only rumors. High Command
thinks it might be a last ditch weapons depot or
s S communications hub. Whatever it is, it's hidden hidden.
(05:33):
Henry repeated, that never means anything good. Wilson offered a
rare smile. That's why I'm sending the best man I've got.
Don't make me regret it, Robinson. Henry grinned, wouldn't dream
of it. Sir Wilson turned to me, Smith, you'll take point.
You've got the best sense of direction in this squad.
(05:55):
Keep them steady, yes, sir, I said. That night none
of us slept very well. The rain drummed against the roof,
and the forest loomed outside like a dark wound in
the earth. Something about it made my stomach twist, but
I kept that to myself. We were soldiers, We had
seen worse, or that's what we believed. April twenty second,
(06:20):
nineteen forty five, three fifteen a m. We began our
march on three fifteen a m. The mist clung to
the ground like a shroud, and the forest seemed to
swallow all sound. We moved in tight formation, twenty five
men in total. I led with Jacob, Henry Drew and
Tod at my side. Our boots squelched through the wet earth.
(06:43):
It's too damn quiet, Drew whispered, no kidding. Tod replied,
where the hell are the patrols gone? Jacob murmured or
hiding or dead? Henry added grimly. By five thirty a m.
We reached the base of a hill that rose like
a tumor from the earth, covered in thick pines and
(07:04):
jagged rock. As we rounded the slope, I caught a
glimpse of something metallic. Hold up, I whispered. We crept forward,
rifles raised. There. Embedded in the hillside was a massive
steel door. It looked only a few years old and
was pretty much intact. Painted on it. In the middle
(07:25):
was a large black swastika. Sweet Jesus, Drew breathed. Wilson
stepped forward, radio crackling, Commander Miller, this is Lieutenant Wilson.
We found a steel door embedded in the western ridge.
It's marked with a swastika requesting permission to enter. There
(07:45):
was a pause, and then the man's voice came through
rough as gravel. Proceed, Wilson, but be careful. God only
knows what those bastards built in there. We opened the
door with crowbars and raw muscle. It slid with a
moan that echoed into the void. Beyond a pitch black
(08:05):
hallway stretched inward. Our flashlights pierced the dark, revealing smooth
steel industrial walls. Everyone stay alert, Wilson ordered, his voice,
barely more than a whisper. We filed inside slowly, our
boots clinking on the concrete as we swept our flashlights
across the dark corridor ahead. I feel like we're walking
(08:27):
into a goddamn grave, Henry muttered, holding his gun up,
his finger closed to the trigger. You got that right,
I said, in a low voice. Why would they hide
something this far in? Drew chimed in from behind. Feels
like we're going into a tomb. It is a tomb,
Jacob added, solemnly, pointing to the warning sign painted in
(08:48):
German just above the entry point. Zutrit foreboden I gentemed
r Asessokultobtayland. What the hell does that mean? Todd asked.
It means no entry property of the s s Occult Division.
Jacob replied, We stopped. Wilson turned to Jacob, raising an eyebrow.
(09:11):
Are you serious, Steinberg? Jacob nodded, grimly, dead serious, sir.
We continued deeper. Soon we found a generator room, a
small concrete cubicle with a rusting, old diesel generator. Jacob
Todd look. I pointed to the generator. Jacob and Todd
managed to kick it on after some fumbling, flooding the
(09:33):
hallway with dim yellow bulbs. They flickered like candle light
in a crypt. But at least we didn't have to
use our flashlights anymore. Well, that helps, Henry muttered, that
saves us batteries of our flashlights. That's when we saw
how empty the place was. Too empty. There were no bodies,
no signs of a struggle. But the lab equipment, rows
(09:57):
of steel tables, racks of vials, chemical burners, German typewriters,
even open briefcases full of documents was still there. It
was like every German in the facility, scientists or guard
had vanished in the middle of the work day, like
they had run. Henry tapped on one of the cabinets,
glancing inside. Why would they leave everything behind like this?
(10:22):
The crowds are usually meticulous. Jacob leafed through one of
the folders, squinting at the gothic script they were making
nerve agents. Some of this this isn't conventional stuff. Looks
like psychological weapons too, hallucinogens. Shit that targets the mind,
(10:43):
it says Project Chattenhare's schatten Heart. Drew asked, peering over
no shadow heart. That's a loose translation, could mean black
core or core of darkness depending on content. There's something
about merging ancient rituals with modern science, Jacob replied, don't
(11:07):
like the sound of that, Todd muttered. Then we reached it,
a big room with the Nazi banner hanging on a wall, red, massive,
with the black swastika stitched into its center like the
eye of some unblinking god. Jacob stepped forward, his jaw tight.
He reached into his pocket, pulling out the lighter he
always used for his cigarettes. He lit it and held
(11:30):
the flame to the bottom corner of the banner. It
caught quickly, curling and blackening like dried skin. Ash fell
to the floor, and the swastika crumpled in on itself.
That's when we saw it. The banner had been hiding
another steel door. This one was thicker, older, no hinges,
no handle, just a big circular seal burned into the
(11:53):
center like some ancient gliff. I'll never forget the symbol god,
Jacob muttered to himself. There was a large black circle
in the center, ringed with three concentric circles and twelve
angular lines forming a radiant wheel. S S runes flanked
each side, and above it sat the Death's head insignia
(12:13):
black sun, Jacob said, almost in a whisper. I heard
about it of a dossier from the captured castle of Weilsburg,
Heinrich Himler's castle, where the same black symbol is inlaid
on one of its floors. This this is bad, Henry scoffed.
So it's just another Nazi symbol. No, Jacob said, Firmer.
(12:35):
Now this isn't just a symbol. It's a seal. A
seal for what I asked. Jacob didn't answer. He didn't
have to. We called Wilson and Allan. They came quickly,
their boots slamming against the floor. Alan Wilson said, secure
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the perimeter, Steinberg, What is this? It seems like a
secret door, Sir. We saw it after I had burned
the Nazi banner that was covering it. How do we
open it, Wilson asked. Jacob shrugged his shoulders. The door
had no visible locks, no keyhole, just the symbol. But
(13:17):
Todd studied the seam along the wall, tapping the metal
with a small tool, ears listening carefully. There's a mechanical
relay here. If I can hot wire the circuit, I
might be able to force it. Are you sure that's wise, Jackson,
Wilson asked, Todd stared at him, sir, nothing about this
(13:37):
place is wise. He got to work. Sparks flew from
Tod's toolkit as he connected wires, shorted contacts, and twisted nodes.
The door let out a horrible clunk, like a tomb
being unsealed, and slowly it began to slide open. Behind it,
nothing but darkness. A long staircase descended into a dark void.
(14:01):
The concrete steps slick with condensation or maybe something else.
Eventually we reached the end of the staircase and saw
that there was a long, dark hallway in front of us. Jesus,
Drew whispered. Lifting his camera, he snapped a photo. The
flash briefly illuminated a sign painted on the inner wall
(14:21):
Labbo SNR fir ottoizer s s wistenschaffler ner das blud
can un s red ten. What does it say, Jacob,
Drew asked, It says labbo S for authorized s s scientists,
only n only blood can save us. Jacob replied. An
(14:41):
uneasy feeling crept across my spine when Jacob said those words. Eventually,
Wilson gave the order, everyone, we proceed carefully, Steinberg, Scott, Smith, Robinson, Jackson, Allan,
you're with me. The rest of the squad will follow,
split down the branching corridors. As we stepped into that
(15:03):
hellish descent, I felt the darkness close in around us
like a coffin. The air grew thick and humid, smelled
of rust, wrought, and something far fouler. Even Alan, ever,
the unflinching bastard, hesitated, you guys feel that, Todd whispered, yea,
I answered, Sweat starting to beat on my neck. Its
(15:25):
like were not alone. We reached the base after five minutes.
A large, open antechamber greeted us. Walls lined with crude
oil paintings of ruins, blood, red streaks, and statues, some
human shaped, others less. So we flashed our lights on
the map fixed to the wall. It was a diagram
of the facility. Jacob ex hailed sharply, God spit it out, Steinberg,
(15:52):
Alan barked quietly, it's a maze. It stretches my god
miles underground. Why the hell would they built something so big,
Henry asked, voice low. They weren't just hiding from bombs.
I muttered they were hiding something else in here. Eventually,
Wilson ordered the squad to split up and navigate through
(16:14):
the facility, but they must always keep their guard up.
Sergeant Allen and thus five I, Jacob, Drew, Henry, and
Tod took the right corridor. The beam of my flashlight
cut through the heavy gloom in thin slices, revealing cold
concrete walls covered in condensation. The place stank of mildew,
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rust and something beneath it, a coppery organic undertone that
sat heavy in the back of my throat. The air
was thick and unmoving. It didn't just smell stale, it
felt dead. Tod walked ahead of me, his flashlight held low,
illuminating the ground. Henry was to my left, always a
few paces ahead, rifle raised and ready, his usual cocky
(16:58):
strut subdued. Drew lingered behind us, nervously glancing at every
shadow that flickered along the walls. Jacob, quiet as ever,
held his flashlight close to his chest, the trembling light
betraying the tension in his fingers. Sergeant Allan brought up
the rear. He said nothing, his face a cold mask,
(17:19):
but even he was alert. In a way that told
me this place had unsettled him too. The hallway was narrow,
the concrete walls etched with the signs of rushed construction,
scratch marks, tul gouges, even finger nail scrapes in places,
like some one had once been dragged. Our boots echoed
faintly on the floor, yet somehow it felt like the
sounds were swallowed up, almost immediately devoured by the silence.
(17:43):
We passed storage rooms and side chambers, each one empty, abandoned,
filled with cobwebs and dust covered crates. Some crates had
been smashed open, their contents, glass vials, syringes, rusted surgical
tools scattered across the floors, like the remnants of a
hurried escape or something more violent. There was a red
(18:04):
smear on one of the walls at shoulder height. It
wasn't paint. We didn't say anything about it. We just
kept moving, each man knowing better than to speculate aloud
what the hell might have caused it. After about fifteen
minutes of silent advance, we came upon the first sign
of death. Tod froze midstep and raised his hand. We
(18:26):
stopped instantly. His flashlight beam held steady on A shape
sprawled across the corridor just ahead, at first, a mess
of black fabric and gray flesh. We approached slowly, weapons raised.
I reached it first and crouched. What remained on the
ground had once been a man, an s S Guard.
(18:47):
But whatever had killed him hadn't just killed him. It
had torn through him like a wild animal. His chest
cavity was open, ribs snapped and jutting outward like broken branches.
His face was froz in a scream, jaw torn at
an unnatural angle. One of his eyes was missing, the
other stared directly at me. Jesus, Henry muttered, covering his mouth.
(19:12):
What the hell did that? No bond did this, Tod said, quietly,
crouching beside me. This ain't shrapnel or bullets. Animals drew, asked,
voice barely above a whisper underground. I replied, No, this
is something else. But as we stepped further more bodies
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followed down the corridor, the walls became darker, Streaks of
dried blood painted long vertical lines. We found three more
SS guards, each one worse than the last. One had
his arms pulled clean off the tendons still hanging. Another
had his throat ripped so deeply that his head was
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barely hanging on. The last was just a torso severed midsection,
with his spine torn clean out and trailing behind like
a grotesque tail. Sergeant Allan broke the silence. Keep moving,
eyes up. We obeyed. Nobody argued, not even Henry. There
was no room for ego here, not any more. Whatever
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did this, it didn't kill out of necessity. It killed
with purpose. The deeper we went, the more it felt
like the very walls were watching us. I started to
hear things, soft taps, like nails on steel. Once or
twice I thought I saw movement in the distance, flickers
of something just out of the range of my flashlight.
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My breath came out in puffs, even though the air
was damp and warm, I was sweating, but my body
felt cold. It was Jacob who voiced what we all thought.
This isn't war, He said, this is something else. He
was right. We hadn't stumbled into an abandoned lab or
some last ditch Nazi bunker. No, we had walked straight
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into something buried for a reason, hidden not just from
the Allies, but maybe even from the Nazis themselves. Whatever
had happened here, it had gone fatally wrong, and something
told me we hadn't seen the worst of it yet.
The corridor split ahead, branching off into a wide section
where doors lined both sides like sealed tombs. They were thick,
(21:25):
metal plated things, most of them shut tight. Each bore
a stenciled number and the same insignia, a black sun
overlaid with an angular rouine. I didn't recognize a crude
marriage of science and mysticism. It made my skin crawl.
The first door we came to was marked LAbau E.
For Henry tried the handle. It gave after a few tugs,
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opening inward with a soft hiss as the seal broke.
What we found inside stopped us cold. The room was
a sterile white that had yellowed with time and decay.
Rust spread across the corners of the walls like creeping mold.
In the center of the room stood an operating table
under a rusted surgical light. Chains hung from the ceiling,
(22:11):
ending in thick manacles crusted in dried blood. The table
wasn't empty. Something skeletal and vaguely human still lay strapped there.
It had no eyes, no skin. Most of its lower
body was missing, Yet the rib cage was unnaturally wide,
as if something had tried to grow outward from inside.
(22:32):
Tubes had been inserted into the remains. I could almost
swear it was moving, but when I blinked, it was still.
Jacob spoke, that's not anatomy, he murmured. Human anatomy doesn't
look like that. We didn't linger. One room was horror enough,
but there were more. In labou E five we found
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a wall covered with photos pinned in neat rows, each
photo depicting a difference stage of what could only be
described as ritual surgery. Men, women, even children lay on
gurneys with symbols carved into their flesh. Some had their
skulls partially removed, exposing their brains while they were still alive.
Based on the annotations written in German across the photos,
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Drew turned away and vomited heavily. I couldn't blame him.
Even Sergeant Allen looked paler than usual. The shells in
that room were stocked with glass jars. Inside floated twisted,
malformed specimens, organs with too many chambers, a three eyed fetus,
a shriveled head with no mouth but two twitching gray eyelids.
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On the far wall, diagrams were drawn on a blackboard
in chalk. Not anatomical diagrams, but arcane ones, circles, lines
intersected with rooms and numbers, pentagrams overlaid with mathematical equations,
something bridging the gap between rituals and science. This, this
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is theology and thermodynamics smashed together, Jacob muttered as he
examined them. This isn't just Nazi science, this is a
cult engineering. In labbo Eat seven, we found a pit.
The room was larger than the others, dimly lit by
the flicker of half functioning emergency lights. In the center,
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a square hatch had been left open, leading into a
deep concrete shaft. Around it were strange restraints built into
the floor, which were meant to hold something large. On
the walls were markings burned into the concrete itself, charred
in black cymbals, words in Latin ruins, and what looked
like Inochian script. Henry leaned over the pit, shining his
(24:45):
flashlight down. God, he whispered, there are scratches on the inside,
like something tried to climb out I didn't want to look,
but I did anyway. He was right. Claw marks, dozens
of them, some deep enough to crack stone. I didn't
see the bottom. It felt more like a throat than
(25:07):
a shaft, like the bunker itself had swallowed something whole.
We moved on. Chamber after chamber, labbo E nine had
book shelves, rows of them, filled with hand bound volumes
in leather covers that looked suspiciously like skin. Most were
written in Latin, but a few were unrecognizable symbols that
shimmered faintly when the flashlight passed over them. On one
(25:31):
table lay a dissected corpse, mid autopsy, with detailed notes
on the table beside it. I picked them up. The
handwriting was clean. The words described something born without a soul,
engineered to host something else. D I en gafass. What
does e I en gafass mean, Jacob, I asked a vessel.
(25:53):
Jacob replied, and I believe the human vessel. It doesn't
make any sense, Drew whispered behind me. How the hell
did they get this far underground? This is more than
just war, This is a whole belief system. Jacob didn't
respond to Drew he was scanning the cymbals on the
walls with an intensity one didn't like. We kept going.
(26:17):
Labbo Eat eleven, labbo Eat thirteen, each more grotesque than
the last. One was filled with audio reels and tape machines.
Jacob played one briefly, a woman screaming over and over
in perfect rhythm, then silence, then chanting, deep, guttural and inhuman.
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In another we found cots and beds for the scientists
who worked here. Some had been torn apart from the inside.
Blood on the walls spelled something in jagged German. It
still lives. No one said a word after that. We
just moved quieter, slower. By the time we reached the
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far end of the corridor, the rooms had stopped being
labeled with numbers, just cymbals, now scrawled in charcoal burned
into the metal. There was one final door, larger than
the rest, reinforced, the kind of door used to seal
something in or out. Jacob stepped forward. This is where
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the experiments ended, he said, or began. Todd looked at
him sharply, what do you mean? He didn't answer. Instead,
he pressed a hand against the door, as if feeling
for something. Beyond, Alan checked his weapon. We're going in.
None of us were ready for what waited beyond, but
(27:43):
we opened it anyway. The final door groaned as it opened.
Beyond It was not just another room. It was a hall.
The ceiling vaulted high overhead, lost in darkness. Metal catwalk
zigzagged above, and the air was thick with a smell
like rotting copper and wet iron. The walls pulsed with
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a heat that didn't come from machinery or light. It
felt alive. We entered cautiously, our weapons raised. The lights
here flickered more steadily than elsewhere. Somehow, this part of
Labos had retained power. Spotlights embedded in the ceiling illuminated
specific stations, work benches, ritual circles, medical operating areas, and
(28:28):
glass tanks along the far wall filled with murky fluid.
In the center stood a massive stone slab surrounded by
concentric circles carved into the floor, overlapping geometric designs, half
a cult, half mechanical runes wove through with strange technical
annotations symbols next to voltage values, sigils mapped to wave frequencies.
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Runes paired with what looked like radioschematics, and that the
heart of it all on a pedestal of bone, white
marble lay a black leather notebook. Jacob was drawn to
it immediately. He didn't hesitate, picked it up, slowly, peeled
back the front cover, and began to read aloud. His
voice was low, his brow furrowed, and his eyes darting
(29:11):
across the pages. It's written by some one named doctor
Magnus or Hartweiss as sessober Sternforer had a cult scientist
of division annonrb Einheit Schwartz crone unit black crown. He
swallowed its half diary, half formula compendium. We gathered around
as he read the following out loud to us, our
(29:33):
experiments in vibrational transfusion have surpassed the limitations of human biology.
The host bodies respond best when laced with bronze and
quartz matrices, with the runes etched directly into the nervous
system allow for increased resonance with the lower frequencies. This
is the key. The human soul must be severed and
replaced with directional energy, artificial consciousness, guided by ritual. Jacob's
(29:57):
voice shook slightly and turned the page. Subject twenty three
achieved partial synchronization. It remained alive after removal of all
vital organs save the brain and spinal stem. When placed
inside the third seal, it spoke a word in a
language none of us knew, and every light in the
chamber died at once. That was the first time we
(30:19):
realized we were dealing not with madness, but with contact.
I stared at Jacob and asked, scared contact with what
Jacob looked up. His face was pale. It doesn't name itself.
It came when the veil was torn through magneto spiritual induction,
using blood as conductive medium and sound as direction. It
(30:41):
calls from beneath the skin of the world. It needs vessels.
Blood amplifies the resonance. He paused again, then more pages.
The final subject Gotta Trajerines God Carrier one was prepared
from conception, born in darkness, fed on ash and marrow,
(31:02):
carved with eighty eight rounds. Before its first breath, we
bounded in the ninth chamber. It opened its eyes, and
we heard the choir through steel, not voices, screams in reverse.
No one spoke. Jacob turned to the last few entries,
his hands shaking. The beast grows restless. No containment is holding.
(31:26):
It speaks now in our dreams, infecting the scientists. One
tried to open the door for it. We shot him.
It laughed in our heads. It has no hunger for food,
only blood, endless, violent blood. The more it drinks, the
more it remembers. Its name is not meant for mouths,
(31:50):
but it remembers now. Jacob hesitated and turned to the
last page. His eyes widened. It's written in a different hand,
he murmured. The script is erratic, like it was scrawled
in panic. He read it slowly. It's out. We failed.
The black crown is shattered. The blood calls to it,
(32:14):
the beast. It can't be killed. It feeds, It feeds endlessly.
Please if you find this, for the love of God,
Jacob stopped. He looked down at the very bottom of
the page. His voice dropped to a whisper as he
translated the final line, written in smeared German, still wet
(32:35):
with flakes of dried blood. Louf esist, knock here, run,
it is still here, Jacob muttered softly. No one breathed
somewhere deep in the corridor behind us. We heard some
metallic shift, then the faint, unmistakable sound of wet footsteps,
(32:56):
not shoes, not boots, bear heavy, as if whatever made
them had more than two legs. Lights out, weapons ready,
no sound, Alan said, in a hoarse whisper. We turned
off our flashlights. The notebook stayed in Jacob's hand. In
(33:19):
that moment, all we heard was breathing, not human, not animal.
It was deep, thick with phlegm and fluid, gurgling faintly,
like air rising through blood. It echoed through the darkened
corridor behind us. Alan held up a fist, signaling silence.
We crouched low, flashlights off, weapons aimed toward the doorway.
(33:43):
The distant red emergency light above us blinked every few seconds,
bathing the room in a hellish pulse. In each flash,
shadows twisted. Thermo whispered, Henry, sliding his scope over one eye.
He stopped. Then he said, quietly, nothing, it's just cold.
Jacob looked at him. How can it be cold and breathing.
(34:06):
That's when the sound of breathing changed. It deepened, grew slower,
not a pattern of respiration, but mimicry. It had hurt
us breathing. It was trying to copy it. A scraping
sound echoed through the hall, like claws raking concrete. Then silence.
We waited one minute, two, then boom, the entire laboratory shook.
(34:34):
The door we had come through, slam shut by itself.
Alan spoke low and fast at the same time. We're
not waiting to be picked off. We clear this lab
and find another exit. Anything moves that's not one of us. Shoot.
We moved swift and quiet through the vast chamber, stepping
around shattered tanks, overturned ritual equipment, crushed steel scaffolding. We
(34:59):
passed a room with observation glass. It had been smashed
from the inside. Inside it, a single operating chair stood
bolted to the ground, torn restraints dangling from the armrests.
Blood painted the walls, and clawed swipes. Cymbals carved into
the floor glowed faintly, reacting to our presence, just barely,
(35:20):
as if still alive or remembering what had been done here.
Smells like burnt teeth, muttered Todd, covering his nose. Jacob
turned to him. That's ozone and calcium when they fused
the bone. It's what they used to anchor the soul
to the host. Henry gave him a look, you sound
(35:41):
like you're starting to believe this shit. Jacob didn't respond.
We moved further down one hallway. We saw signs in
stencil Gothic versix, subject one to twelve, test subjects one
to twelve, Schlap round Er, Wertrager, dormitories of the host carriers,
camer nine, Gottletcher Einschless chain Mber nine, divine containment. We stopped.
(36:03):
That last sign was torn, warped. The paint looked like
it had been smeared by a hand soaked in viscera. Underneath,
someone had carved in German. It is not divine, it
is hunger. This place looks like it has been shut
down for years now. Sergeant Allan whispered to himself, how
is there fresh blood on the walls. Then the lights
(36:24):
went out completely. Total darkness swallowed us. Drew clicked on
his flashlight. The beam landed on a wall, then swept
across a stretch of corridor and froze. Something had moved.
We saw a limb, no a shape disappear around a
corner tall wrong. It had bent to fit the hallway
(36:47):
ceiling Its skin had looked wet, pale, and scarred, with
blackened sigils, no eyes, but a face, a long, lipless jaw,
and something like horns or perhaps branches fused to its skull.
Did it have ribs on the outside, Henry muttered, but
(37:08):
we didn't answer. We ran. It followed, not with the
chaos of an animal. This thing stalked. It wanted us
to move and split up. Jacob's notebook pages fluttered as
we fled through dark corridors. Behind us, we heard metal twist, doors, groan,
(37:28):
and then screams. Faint far away. We turned into a
narrower hallway, marked only by a number burned into the wall. Nine,
the divine containment Chamber. It stood ahead, a vault like
circular door three inches thick, torn open from within. The
walls bore claw marks but not scratched, carved with purpose
(37:51):
words sentences, all in Latin German, even in symbols we
couldn't place. At the center of the chain was a
black circle, stained with a thick crust of dried blood.
Chains hung from the ceiling. Broken runes beneath them had
been cracked, scratched out by something trapped inside. We were
(38:12):
standing in a cage. Jacob raised the notebook again. This
is where it was born, This is where they fed it.
Rituals involving the blood of political prisoners forced trauma, resonance,
repetition of murder to increase the vessel's saturation. Each death
made it stronger. They wanted to create a living arc
(38:35):
for something beyond understanding, a container for something older than myth.
Tod's voice was hoarse. Is it still in here? Jacob
turned a page. No, he said, It doesn't stay in
any one place. It moves through the lab, through the
runs and blood. Something whispered, not aloud inside us. Drew
(39:01):
dropped to his knees, screaming and clutching his head. His
eyes rolled back, and in the air we smelled rot,
flesh that had never known burial. We aimed our weapons.
A shape loomed in the dark, tall, silent, watching. Then
(39:21):
it moved. The moment the shape moved was like the
world itself shuddered. It was impossibly tall, nearly touching the ceiling.
But it didn't walk. It glided, sliding over the cold
concrete floor with a silence that gave a chill across
my spine. Its skin looked stretched tight over bones that
twisted in unnatural angles, pale like dead wax, marked with
(39:44):
dark sigils that pulsed faintly in the dim light. What
I first thought were horns were more like branches, crooked
and sharp, weaving out from its skull, like a twisted crown.
Its face, if you can call it. That was a
nightmarish void, a hollow with empty sockets. But somehow I
could feel it watching me. I swallowed hard and steadied
(40:04):
my gun. Hold your fire until it moves closer. But
Henry didn't wait. He fired a burst from his Thompson.
The bullets tore through the creature's side with a sickening,
wet crack, but it barely flinched. Instead, it turned toward him,
and I swear I saw a grin crack open a
void where its mouth should have been, a sound like
(40:27):
tearing cloth, and something wet and alive came from it.
Drew screamed again, clutching his head as if the creature's
presence was invading his mind. Get it off me, Get
it off me, he cried, staggering back into the wall.
I grabbed him before he fell. Drew snap out of it.
(40:48):
Tod's voice rang out, It's not just physical, this thing's
inside our heads. Alan barked orders, trying to keep us together,
but the creature was relentless. It lunged at Allan, who
barely dodged. The air smelled of sulfur and decay. Jacob shaking,
but focussed, whispered its feeding off our fear. The rituals,
(41:12):
the blood sacrifices were meant to awaken it, but they
never controlled it. Now it hunts. Suddenly, the creature's shadow
stretched across the room, swallowing the flickering lights. In that darkness,
I heard it speak, not with words, but a voice
echoing in my mind. You will become the sacrifice. We
opened fire together. Bullets tore through the air, but it
(41:36):
was like trying to stop a storm with stones. The
creature's limbs twisted and bent as it dodged, closing in
on Henry. Before we could even react, the beast snapped
Henry into its maw or whatever it was. In a
flash of time, we all saw Henry's body being snapped
in two, with his body parts falling on the concrete
(41:56):
floor and blood spewing out of it. Then it charged
at full speed at Todd just as it reached out. However,
Todd shoved a makeshift charge from his pack into the
creature's side and triggered it. The explosion shattered the chamber,
Flames licked the walls, smoke thick and acrid filling the air.
(42:16):
The creature screamed a horrific guttural sound like nails on
a chalkboard, mixed with the roar of a dying beast.
It staggered, wound, smoking and seeping dark eye coore, but
it was far from dead. Just then we heard more
gunshots from a left hall. It was Wilson, firing at
the creature's empty ice sockets. Wilson yelled, Sergeant Allan, where's
(42:41):
the rest of the squad dead? Wilson replied, this creature
took them all. Even my group got mauled by it.
After I investigated a chamber alone. The creature, however, was
beginning to regain its composure and locked its gaze onto Wilson.
Wilson loaded another magazine in fire, fired directly into the
creature's face, into the void where eyes should have been.
(43:04):
Go now, he ordered. We all did as he ordered
us to me and Jacob dragged Drew, who was still
screaming whilst todd led the way forward. Sergeant Allen looked
behind towards his superior colleague as the creature closed in
on Wilson. Then we heard a loud scream. The creature
(43:25):
had Wilson into its maw void whatever it was, go.
Wilson screamed one last time as he pulled out his
dagger and stabbed the creature's right eyes sack with all
his might. We ran, and we heard the screaming of
both Wilson and the beast echoing through the hallways of
the Maize. I don't know how long we ran through
those hallways with the walls edged in messages, but we
(43:48):
eventually made it back to the staircase we had descended earlier.
The creature hadn't followed us, and we eventually made it
back to the steel door with the black sun on it.
Wilson's sacrifice had saved us us well, only five of
the entire squad. When we got out of the facility
as a whole, we entered the broad daylight. The sun
(44:09):
was shining through the forest, and we could even hear
birds sing happily, but that could not cheer us up
from what we had just witnessed in that underground maze.
Later we reported to Commander Miller of what we had
seen the upper facility, the staircase that led to a
more secret of one below the rooms we had seen
in most of all the creature. Miller had a look
(44:31):
of concern on his face when we told him, but
due to the fact that five of us told the
same thing, he believed us. Jacob even handed over the
diary he had taken from the largest room and translated
everything to Miller. Miller asked if Drew had somehow taken
photos of the beast, but Drew was destruck by fear
and shock since he couldn't get the voices out of
(44:51):
his head from what the beast said earlier. Drew even
had to be transferred to a field hospital to recover mentally.
It wasn't long before for the entire regiment heard about
what had happened. They laughed at it and even said
that we had gone mad in the first place, especially Drew,
who was screaming in his sleep, to the annoyance of
other injured soldiers. Commander Miller did order that the inside
(45:15):
of the facility had to be destroyed It was only
the first hallway that they had blown up, but that
was enough to make parts of the hill crumble and
the stone rubble, covering anything that was once an entrance.
When the war in Europe had ended, we were all
given a medal for our heroic military actions. On September seventh,
nineteen forty five, five days after the Japanese had capitulated,
(45:38):
we were transferred from Europe back to the US via ship.
Although all the men on board celebrated their victory, we
kept ourselves confined in our cabin that we shared on
the ship. After I came back to the US, I
returned to my home in Miami. I eventually moved to
the state of South Dakota because of the new job
I gained as a business man. On my work, I
(46:00):
met a woman named Lisa, and before we knew it,
we fell in love, got married, and had two children,
named Elias in nineteen forty nine and Alice in nineteen
fifty one. Still I sometimes had nightmares about what had
happened back on April twenty second, nineteen forty five, in
that cursed facility, but even that faded over the course
of time. It is April twenty second nineteen seventy five,
(46:24):
and I was sipping my coffee as I read the newspaper.
What I read on the fifth page shocked me to
my corps. The West German government found a document signed
by Himmler in nineteen thirty five where he and Hitler
agreed to build a secret underground a cult research facility
in the Black Forest. They were now removing the stone rubble,
but the workers tell of how they somehow smell blood
(46:46):
and that in their sleep they hear voices
I am Liam Smith. I'm a twenty seven year old
American from Miami, Florida, who enlisted in the U. S.
Army in nineteen forty two. During the time I was
a soldier, I had witnessed how the Allies had landed
on the beaches of Normandy during D Day, how we
had pushed the Germans out of France, and even the
Battle of the Bulge. Now we were pushing deeper into
(00:20):
the heart of Germany itself. In the northern parts of
the Western Front. The Allies had broken through the Rhine defenses,
and since the Germans defenses in the southern parts near
the Rhine seemed scarce, it would only be a matter
of time before we would march further. Through everything I endured,
I always found comfort with my four closest comrades, Jacob Steinberg,
(00:41):
a Jewish American from Indianapolis, the macho figure Henry Robinson
from Detroit, the shy photographer Drew Scott from New York,
and the Afro American military engineer Todd Jackson from New Orleans.
From those four, I was closest with Jacob, who is
ready to take on anything due to the fact that
he understands German. He's useful when translating captured German documents
(01:03):
for US. Tod was the most recent in our squad,
since he transferred from another regiment due to the sheer
harassment he got for being Afro American. Although in our
regiment some whites do whisper things about him, it is
in Tod's eyes, nothing compared to what he underwent in
his previous regiment. Then there are my superiors. First there's
(01:23):
Commander Miller, a veteran from World War One. He's known
for his brilliant tactics against the enemy, but he never
takes up a gun and fight side by side with
his soldiers. No one blames him though, I mean he's
too valuable to lose, and also because he was already
sixty years old. Then there's Lieutenant Joseph Wilson, a father
(01:44):
figure to the squad, willing to risk his own life
for the sake of his men. We are all very
loyal to him. And then there's Sergeant Ben Allen, a
cold figure who would scowl his men for the slightest mistakes.
Sergeant Allen is disliked by every soldier of the squad,
and even Commander Miller ordered Wilson to watch allens, every
move or actions. It was April twenty first, nineteen forty five.
(02:10):
It had been raining for days, turning the dirt roads
of the German countryside into endless trails of mud. Trees
stood like ancient sentinels along our route, their branches reaching
over us like skeletal arms. We had pushed through village
after village, some abandoned, others holding pockets of resistance, Too
weak to stand for long. It was clear to all
(02:31):
of us the war was drawing to a close. Hitler
was cornered in Berlin, and the Wehrmacht and s S
have lost their bite. But even a dying beast can
lash out one last time. We were sheltering in a
German farmhouse just outside the Black Forest. Night was falling
and a low mist curled around the tree tops in
the distance. Our squad had taken some much needed rest,
(02:55):
sprawled out on makeshift cots or writing letters home by
the flickering lanterns. I sat by a cracked window with Jacob,
listening to the distant thunder. The air smelled like wet
leaves and burnt oil. You think they'll surrender soon, I asked,
shifting my rifle off my shoulder and resting it against
the wall. Jacob shrugged. They have to They got nothing
(03:20):
left but scraps and fanatics. He ran a hand through
his brown hair and took out his cigarette lighter. He
didn't light anything, just flicked it open and closed in
a steady rhythm. Then what the hell are they still
doing in the black forest, Henry grunted from behind. He
had been polishing his gun. Damn, Krouch should know it's over.
(03:43):
Maybe they're hiding something. Drew piped in from his corner,
adjusting the lens on his camera. He was the quietest
of us, always watching, always recording. The s s never
really played by the rules, did they, Tod snorted, softly,
fiddling with a busted field radio. If they are, they're
doing a hell of a job keeping it to themselves. Jackson,
(04:05):
came a sharp bark of Sergeant Allan. Tod stood at attention,
snapping a salute. Yes, sir, I want that radio working
before we head out tomorrow. If you screw up like
last time, I'll have you running laps through the mud
until your boots melt. Understood, Sir Tod replied in a
serious tone, Alan's eyes narrowed, then stomped off to the
(04:28):
adjoining room. His bootsteps echoed like gunshots. The man had
a face like cracked concrete and a personality to match Guy's,
a walking ulcer. Henry muttered under his breath. Yeah, well,
he's not wrong about the radio. I said. We might
need that if anything goes wrong in those woods. Lieutenant
(04:49):
Wilson entered not long after, his uniform somehow still crisp
despite the weather. His presence changed the air in the
room much softer and warmer. Evening men. He greeted us
with a nod. Commander Miller has briefed me on a
possible objective in the black forest. You all are going
(05:09):
in tomorrow morning. We'll advance quietly, no fireworks unless necessary.
Jacob looked up any intel on what we might find,
Sir Wilson shook his head slowly. Only rumors. High Command
thinks it might be a last ditch weapons depot or
s S communications hub. Whatever it is, it's hidden hidden.
(05:33):
Henry repeated, that never means anything good. Wilson offered a
rare smile. That's why I'm sending the best man I've got.
Don't make me regret it, Robinson. Henry grinned, wouldn't dream
of it. Sir Wilson turned to me, Smith, you'll take point.
You've got the best sense of direction in this squad.
(05:55):
Keep them steady, yes, sir, I said. That night none
of us slept very well. The rain drummed against the roof,
and the forest loomed outside like a dark wound in
the earth. Something about it made my stomach twist, but
I kept that to myself. We were soldiers, We had
seen worse, or that's what we believed. April twenty second,
(06:20):
nineteen forty five, three fifteen a m. We began our
march on three fifteen a m. The mist clung to
the ground like a shroud, and the forest seemed to
swallow all sound. We moved in tight formation, twenty five
men in total. I led with Jacob, Henry Drew and
Tod at my side. Our boots squelched through the wet earth.
(06:43):
It's too damn quiet, Drew whispered, no kidding. Tod replied,
where the hell are the patrols gone? Jacob murmured or
hiding or dead? Henry added grimly. By five thirty a m.
We reached the base of a hill that rose like
a tumor from the earth, covered in thick pines and
(07:04):
jagged rock. As we rounded the slope, I caught a
glimpse of something metallic. Hold up, I whispered. We crept forward,
rifles raised. There. Embedded in the hillside was a massive
steel door. It looked only a few years old and
was pretty much intact. Painted on it. In the middle
(07:25):
was a large black swastika. Sweet Jesus, Drew breathed. Wilson
stepped forward, radio crackling, Commander Miller, this is Lieutenant Wilson.
We found a steel door embedded in the western ridge.
It's marked with a swastika requesting permission to enter. There
(07:45):
was a pause, and then the man's voice came through
rough as gravel. Proceed, Wilson, but be careful. God only
knows what those bastards built in there. We opened the
door with crowbars and raw muscle. It slid with a
moan that echoed into the void. Beyond a pitch black
(08:05):
hallway stretched inward. Our flashlights pierced the dark, revealing smooth
steel industrial walls. Everyone stay alert, Wilson ordered, his voice,
barely more than a whisper. We filed inside slowly, our
boots clinking on the concrete as we swept our flashlights
across the dark corridor ahead. I feel like we're walking
(08:27):
into a goddamn grave, Henry muttered, holding his gun up,
his finger closed to the trigger. You got that right,
I said, in a low voice. Why would they hide
something this far in? Drew chimed in from behind. Feels
like we're going into a tomb. It is a tomb,
Jacob added, solemnly, pointing to the warning sign painted in
(08:48):
German just above the entry point. Zutrit foreboden I gentemed
r Asessokultobtayland. What the hell does that mean? Todd asked.
It means no entry property of the s s Occult Division.
Jacob replied, We stopped. Wilson turned to Jacob, raising an eyebrow.
(09:11):
Are you serious, Steinberg? Jacob nodded, grimly, dead serious, sir.
We continued deeper. Soon we found a generator room, a
small concrete cubicle with a rusting, old diesel generator. Jacob
Todd look. I pointed to the generator. Jacob and Todd
managed to kick it on after some fumbling, flooding the
(09:33):
hallway with dim yellow bulbs. They flickered like candle light
in a crypt. But at least we didn't have to
use our flashlights anymore. Well, that helps, Henry muttered, that
saves us batteries of our flashlights. That's when we saw
how empty the place was. Too empty. There were no bodies,
no signs of a struggle. But the lab equipment, rows
(09:57):
of steel tables, racks of vials, chemical burners, German typewriters,
even open briefcases full of documents was still there. It
was like every German in the facility, scientists or guard
had vanished in the middle of the work day, like
they had run. Henry tapped on one of the cabinets,
glancing inside. Why would they leave everything behind like this?
(10:22):
The crowds are usually meticulous. Jacob leafed through one of
the folders, squinting at the gothic script they were making
nerve agents. Some of this this isn't conventional stuff. Looks
like psychological weapons too, hallucinogens. Shit that targets the mind,
(10:43):
it says Project Chattenhare's schatten Heart. Drew asked, peering over
no shadow heart. That's a loose translation, could mean black
core or core of darkness depending on content. There's something
about merging ancient rituals with modern science, Jacob replied, don't
(11:07):
like the sound of that, Todd muttered. Then we reached it,
a big room with the Nazi banner hanging on a wall, red, massive,
with the black swastika stitched into its center like the
eye of some unblinking god. Jacob stepped forward, his jaw tight.
He reached into his pocket, pulling out the lighter he
always used for his cigarettes. He lit it and held
(11:30):
the flame to the bottom corner of the banner. It
caught quickly, curling and blackening like dried skin. Ash fell
to the floor, and the swastika crumpled in on itself.
That's when we saw it. The banner had been hiding
another steel door. This one was thicker, older, no hinges,
no handle, just a big circular seal burned into the
(11:53):
center like some ancient gliff. I'll never forget the symbol god,
Jacob muttered to himself. There was a large black circle
in the center, ringed with three concentric circles and twelve
angular lines forming a radiant wheel. S S runes flanked
each side, and above it sat the Death's head insignia
(12:13):
black sun, Jacob said, almost in a whisper. I heard
about it of a dossier from the captured castle of Weilsburg,
Heinrich Himler's castle, where the same black symbol is inlaid
on one of its floors. This this is bad, Henry scoffed.
So it's just another Nazi symbol. No, Jacob said, Firmer.
(12:35):
Now this isn't just a symbol. It's a seal. A
seal for what I asked. Jacob didn't answer. He didn't
have to. We called Wilson and Allan. They came quickly,
their boots slamming against the floor. Alan Wilson said, secure
(12:55):
the perimeter, Steinberg, What is this? It seems like a
secret door, Sir. We saw it after I had burned
the Nazi banner that was covering it. How do we
open it, Wilson asked. Jacob shrugged his shoulders. The door
had no visible locks, no keyhole, just the symbol. But
(13:17):
Todd studied the seam along the wall, tapping the metal
with a small tool, ears listening carefully. There's a mechanical
relay here. If I can hot wire the circuit, I
might be able to force it. Are you sure that's wise, Jackson,
Wilson asked, Todd stared at him, sir, nothing about this
(13:37):
place is wise. He got to work. Sparks flew from
Tod's toolkit as he connected wires, shorted contacts, and twisted nodes.
The door let out a horrible clunk, like a tomb
being unsealed, and slowly it began to slide open. Behind it,
nothing but darkness. A long staircase descended into a dark void.
(14:01):
The concrete steps slick with condensation or maybe something else.
Eventually we reached the end of the staircase and saw
that there was a long, dark hallway in front of us. Jesus,
Drew whispered. Lifting his camera, he snapped a photo. The
flash briefly illuminated a sign painted on the inner wall
(14:21):
Labbo SNR fir ottoizer s s wistenschaffler ner das blud
can un s red ten. What does it say, Jacob,
Drew asked, It says labbo S for authorized s s scientists,
only n only blood can save us. Jacob replied. An
(14:41):
uneasy feeling crept across my spine when Jacob said those words. Eventually,
Wilson gave the order, everyone, we proceed carefully, Steinberg, Scott, Smith, Robinson, Jackson, Allan,
you're with me. The rest of the squad will follow,
split down the branching corridors. As we stepped into that
(15:03):
hellish descent, I felt the darkness close in around us
like a coffin. The air grew thick and humid, smelled
of rust, wrought, and something far fouler. Even Alan, ever,
the unflinching bastard, hesitated, you guys feel that, Todd whispered, yea,
I answered, Sweat starting to beat on my neck. Its
(15:25):
like were not alone. We reached the base after five minutes.
A large, open antechamber greeted us. Walls lined with crude
oil paintings of ruins, blood, red streaks, and statues, some
human shaped, others less. So we flashed our lights on
the map fixed to the wall. It was a diagram
of the facility. Jacob ex hailed sharply, God spit it out, Steinberg,
(15:52):
Alan barked quietly, it's a maze. It stretches my god
miles underground. Why the hell would they built something so big,
Henry asked, voice low. They weren't just hiding from bombs.
I muttered they were hiding something else in here. Eventually,
Wilson ordered the squad to split up and navigate through
(16:14):
the facility, but they must always keep their guard up.
Sergeant Allen and thus five I, Jacob, Drew, Henry, and
Tod took the right corridor. The beam of my flashlight
cut through the heavy gloom in thin slices, revealing cold
concrete walls covered in condensation. The place stank of mildew,
(16:34):
rust and something beneath it, a coppery organic undertone that
sat heavy in the back of my throat. The air
was thick and unmoving. It didn't just smell stale, it
felt dead. Tod walked ahead of me, his flashlight held low,
illuminating the ground. Henry was to my left, always a
few paces ahead, rifle raised and ready, his usual cocky
(16:58):
strut subdued. Drew lingered behind us, nervously glancing at every
shadow that flickered along the walls. Jacob, quiet as ever,
held his flashlight close to his chest, the trembling light
betraying the tension in his fingers. Sergeant Allan brought up
the rear. He said nothing, his face a cold mask,
(17:19):
but even he was alert. In a way that told
me this place had unsettled him too. The hallway was narrow,
the concrete walls etched with the signs of rushed construction,
scratch marks, tul gouges, even finger nail scrapes in places,
like some one had once been dragged. Our boots echoed
faintly on the floor, yet somehow it felt like the
sounds were swallowed up, almost immediately devoured by the silence.
(17:43):
We passed storage rooms and side chambers, each one empty, abandoned,
filled with cobwebs and dust covered crates. Some crates had
been smashed open, their contents, glass vials, syringes, rusted surgical
tools scattered across the floors, like the remnants of a
hurried escape or something more violent. There was a red
(18:04):
smear on one of the walls at shoulder height. It
wasn't paint. We didn't say anything about it. We just
kept moving, each man knowing better than to speculate aloud
what the hell might have caused it. After about fifteen
minutes of silent advance, we came upon the first sign
of death. Tod froze midstep and raised his hand. We
(18:26):
stopped instantly. His flashlight beam held steady on A shape
sprawled across the corridor just ahead, at first, a mess
of black fabric and gray flesh. We approached slowly, weapons raised.
I reached it first and crouched. What remained on the
ground had once been a man, an s S Guard.
(18:47):
But whatever had killed him hadn't just killed him. It
had torn through him like a wild animal. His chest
cavity was open, ribs snapped and jutting outward like broken branches.
His face was froz in a scream, jaw torn at
an unnatural angle. One of his eyes was missing, the
other stared directly at me. Jesus, Henry muttered, covering his mouth.
(19:12):
What the hell did that? No bond did this, Tod said, quietly,
crouching beside me. This ain't shrapnel or bullets. Animals drew, asked,
voice barely above a whisper underground. I replied, No, this
is something else. But as we stepped further more bodies
(19:33):
followed down the corridor, the walls became darker, Streaks of
dried blood painted long vertical lines. We found three more
SS guards, each one worse than the last. One had
his arms pulled clean off the tendons still hanging. Another
had his throat ripped so deeply that his head was
(19:54):
barely hanging on. The last was just a torso severed midsection,
with his spine torn clean out and trailing behind like
a grotesque tail. Sergeant Allan broke the silence. Keep moving,
eyes up. We obeyed. Nobody argued, not even Henry. There
was no room for ego here, not any more. Whatever
(20:18):
did this, it didn't kill out of necessity. It killed
with purpose. The deeper we went, the more it felt
like the very walls were watching us. I started to
hear things, soft taps, like nails on steel. Once or
twice I thought I saw movement in the distance, flickers
of something just out of the range of my flashlight.
(20:41):
My breath came out in puffs, even though the air
was damp and warm, I was sweating, but my body
felt cold. It was Jacob who voiced what we all thought.
This isn't war, He said, this is something else. He
was right. We hadn't stumbled into an abandoned lab or
some last ditch Nazi bunker. No, we had walked straight
(21:03):
into something buried for a reason, hidden not just from
the Allies, but maybe even from the Nazis themselves. Whatever
had happened here, it had gone fatally wrong, and something
told me we hadn't seen the worst of it yet.
The corridor split ahead, branching off into a wide section
where doors lined both sides like sealed tombs. They were thick,
(21:25):
metal plated things, most of them shut tight. Each bore
a stenciled number and the same insignia, a black sun
overlaid with an angular rouine. I didn't recognize a crude
marriage of science and mysticism. It made my skin crawl.
The first door we came to was marked LAbau E.
For Henry tried the handle. It gave after a few tugs,
(21:50):
opening inward with a soft hiss as the seal broke.
What we found inside stopped us cold. The room was
a sterile white that had yellowed with time and decay.
Rust spread across the corners of the walls like creeping mold.
In the center of the room stood an operating table
under a rusted surgical light. Chains hung from the ceiling,
(22:11):
ending in thick manacles crusted in dried blood. The table
wasn't empty. Something skeletal and vaguely human still lay strapped there.
It had no eyes, no skin. Most of its lower
body was missing, Yet the rib cage was unnaturally wide,
as if something had tried to grow outward from inside.
(22:32):
Tubes had been inserted into the remains. I could almost
swear it was moving, but when I blinked, it was still.
Jacob spoke, that's not anatomy, he murmured. Human anatomy doesn't
look like that. We didn't linger. One room was horror enough,
but there were more. In labou E five we found
(22:54):
a wall covered with photos pinned in neat rows, each
photo depicting a difference stage of what could only be
described as ritual surgery. Men, women, even children lay on
gurneys with symbols carved into their flesh. Some had their
skulls partially removed, exposing their brains while they were still alive.
Based on the annotations written in German across the photos,
(23:18):
Drew turned away and vomited heavily. I couldn't blame him.
Even Sergeant Allen looked paler than usual. The shells in
that room were stocked with glass jars. Inside floated twisted,
malformed specimens, organs with too many chambers, a three eyed fetus,
a shriveled head with no mouth but two twitching gray eyelids.
(23:41):
On the far wall, diagrams were drawn on a blackboard
in chalk. Not anatomical diagrams, but arcane ones, circles, lines
intersected with rooms and numbers, pentagrams overlaid with mathematical equations,
something bridging the gap between rituals and science. This, this
(24:02):
is theology and thermodynamics smashed together, Jacob muttered as he
examined them. This isn't just Nazi science, this is a
cult engineering. In labbo Eat seven, we found a pit.
The room was larger than the others, dimly lit by
the flicker of half functioning emergency lights. In the center,
(24:22):
a square hatch had been left open, leading into a
deep concrete shaft. Around it were strange restraints built into
the floor, which were meant to hold something large. On
the walls were markings burned into the concrete itself, charred
in black cymbals, words in Latin ruins, and what looked
like Inochian script. Henry leaned over the pit, shining his
(24:45):
flashlight down. God, he whispered, there are scratches on the inside,
like something tried to climb out I didn't want to look,
but I did anyway. He was right. Claw marks, dozens
of them, some deep enough to crack stone. I didn't
see the bottom. It felt more like a throat than
(25:07):
a shaft, like the bunker itself had swallowed something whole.
We moved on. Chamber after chamber, labbo E nine had
book shelves, rows of them, filled with hand bound volumes
in leather covers that looked suspiciously like skin. Most were
written in Latin, but a few were unrecognizable symbols that
shimmered faintly when the flashlight passed over them. On one
(25:31):
table lay a dissected corpse, mid autopsy, with detailed notes
on the table beside it. I picked them up. The
handwriting was clean. The words described something born without a soul,
engineered to host something else. D I en gafass. What
does e I en gafass mean, Jacob, I asked a vessel.
(25:53):
Jacob replied, and I believe the human vessel. It doesn't
make any sense, Drew whispered behind me. How the hell
did they get this far underground? This is more than
just war, This is a whole belief system. Jacob didn't
respond to Drew he was scanning the cymbals on the
walls with an intensity one didn't like. We kept going.
(26:17):
Labbo Eat eleven, labbo Eat thirteen, each more grotesque than
the last. One was filled with audio reels and tape machines.
Jacob played one briefly, a woman screaming over and over
in perfect rhythm, then silence, then chanting, deep, guttural and inhuman.
(26:40):
In another we found cots and beds for the scientists
who worked here. Some had been torn apart from the inside.
Blood on the walls spelled something in jagged German. It
still lives. No one said a word after that. We
just moved quieter, slower. By the time we reached the
(27:01):
far end of the corridor, the rooms had stopped being
labeled with numbers, just cymbals, now scrawled in charcoal burned
into the metal. There was one final door, larger than
the rest, reinforced, the kind of door used to seal
something in or out. Jacob stepped forward. This is where
(27:23):
the experiments ended, he said, or began. Todd looked at
him sharply, what do you mean? He didn't answer. Instead,
he pressed a hand against the door, as if feeling
for something. Beyond, Alan checked his weapon. We're going in.
None of us were ready for what waited beyond, but
(27:43):
we opened it anyway. The final door groaned as it opened.
Beyond It was not just another room. It was a hall.
The ceiling vaulted high overhead, lost in darkness. Metal catwalk
zigzagged above, and the air was thick with a smell
like rotting copper and wet iron. The walls pulsed with
(28:04):
a heat that didn't come from machinery or light. It
felt alive. We entered cautiously, our weapons raised. The lights
here flickered more steadily than elsewhere. Somehow, this part of
Labos had retained power. Spotlights embedded in the ceiling illuminated
specific stations, work benches, ritual circles, medical operating areas, and
(28:28):
glass tanks along the far wall filled with murky fluid.
In the center stood a massive stone slab surrounded by
concentric circles carved into the floor, overlapping geometric designs, half
a cult, half mechanical runes wove through with strange technical
annotations symbols next to voltage values, sigils mapped to wave frequencies.
(28:49):
Runes paired with what looked like radioschematics, and that the
heart of it all on a pedestal of bone, white
marble lay a black leather notebook. Jacob was drawn to
it immediately. He didn't hesitate, picked it up, slowly, peeled
back the front cover, and began to read aloud. His
voice was low, his brow furrowed, and his eyes darting
(29:11):
across the pages. It's written by some one named doctor
Magnus or Hartweiss as sessober Sternforer had a cult scientist
of division annonrb Einheit Schwartz crone unit black crown. He
swallowed its half diary, half formula compendium. We gathered around
as he read the following out loud to us, our
(29:33):
experiments in vibrational transfusion have surpassed the limitations of human biology.
The host bodies respond best when laced with bronze and
quartz matrices, with the runes etched directly into the nervous
system allow for increased resonance with the lower frequencies. This
is the key. The human soul must be severed and
replaced with directional energy, artificial consciousness, guided by ritual. Jacob's
(29:57):
voice shook slightly and turned the page. Subject twenty three
achieved partial synchronization. It remained alive after removal of all
vital organs save the brain and spinal stem. When placed
inside the third seal, it spoke a word in a
language none of us knew, and every light in the
chamber died at once. That was the first time we
(30:19):
realized we were dealing not with madness, but with contact.
I stared at Jacob and asked, scared contact with what
Jacob looked up. His face was pale. It doesn't name itself.
It came when the veil was torn through magneto spiritual induction,
using blood as conductive medium and sound as direction. It
(30:41):
calls from beneath the skin of the world. It needs vessels.
Blood amplifies the resonance. He paused again, then more pages.
The final subject Gotta Trajerines God Carrier one was prepared
from conception, born in darkness, fed on ash and marrow,
(31:02):
carved with eighty eight rounds. Before its first breath, we
bounded in the ninth chamber. It opened its eyes, and
we heard the choir through steel, not voices, screams in reverse.
No one spoke. Jacob turned to the last few entries,
his hands shaking. The beast grows restless. No containment is holding.
(31:26):
It speaks now in our dreams, infecting the scientists. One
tried to open the door for it. We shot him.
It laughed in our heads. It has no hunger for food,
only blood, endless, violent blood. The more it drinks, the
more it remembers. Its name is not meant for mouths,
(31:50):
but it remembers now. Jacob hesitated and turned to the
last page. His eyes widened. It's written in a different hand,
he murmured. The script is erratic, like it was scrawled
in panic. He read it slowly. It's out. We failed.
The black crown is shattered. The blood calls to it,
(32:14):
the beast. It can't be killed. It feeds, It feeds endlessly.
Please if you find this, for the love of God,
Jacob stopped. He looked down at the very bottom of
the page. His voice dropped to a whisper as he
translated the final line, written in smeared German, still wet
(32:35):
with flakes of dried blood. Louf esist, knock here, run,
it is still here, Jacob muttered softly. No one breathed
somewhere deep in the corridor behind us. We heard some
metallic shift, then the faint, unmistakable sound of wet footsteps,
(32:56):
not shoes, not boots, bear heavy, as if whatever made
them had more than two legs. Lights out, weapons ready,
no sound, Alan said, in a hoarse whisper. We turned
off our flashlights. The notebook stayed in Jacob's hand. In
(33:19):
that moment, all we heard was breathing, not human, not animal.
It was deep, thick with phlegm and fluid, gurgling faintly,
like air rising through blood. It echoed through the darkened
corridor behind us. Alan held up a fist, signaling silence.
We crouched low, flashlights off, weapons aimed toward the doorway.
(33:43):
The distant red emergency light above us blinked every few seconds,
bathing the room in a hellish pulse. In each flash,
shadows twisted. Thermo whispered, Henry, sliding his scope over one eye.
He stopped. Then he said, quietly, nothing, it's just cold.
Jacob looked at him. How can it be cold and breathing.
(34:06):
That's when the sound of breathing changed. It deepened, grew slower,
not a pattern of respiration, but mimicry. It had hurt
us breathing. It was trying to copy it. A scraping
sound echoed through the hall, like claws raking concrete. Then silence.
We waited one minute, two, then boom, the entire laboratory shook.
(34:34):
The door we had come through, slam shut by itself.
Alan spoke low and fast at the same time. We're
not waiting to be picked off. We clear this lab
and find another exit. Anything moves that's not one of us. Shoot.
We moved swift and quiet through the vast chamber, stepping
around shattered tanks, overturned ritual equipment, crushed steel scaffolding. We
(34:59):
passed a room with observation glass. It had been smashed
from the inside. Inside it, a single operating chair stood
bolted to the ground, torn restraints dangling from the armrests.
Blood painted the walls, and clawed swipes. Cymbals carved into
the floor glowed faintly, reacting to our presence, just barely,
(35:20):
as if still alive or remembering what had been done here.
Smells like burnt teeth, muttered Todd, covering his nose. Jacob
turned to him. That's ozone and calcium when they fused
the bone. It's what they used to anchor the soul
to the host. Henry gave him a look, you sound
(35:41):
like you're starting to believe this shit. Jacob didn't respond.
We moved further down one hallway. We saw signs in
stencil Gothic versix, subject one to twelve, test subjects one
to twelve, Schlap round Er, Wertrager, dormitories of the host carriers,
camer nine, Gottletcher Einschless chain Mber nine, divine containment. We stopped.
(36:03):
That last sign was torn, warped. The paint looked like
it had been smeared by a hand soaked in viscera. Underneath,
someone had carved in German. It is not divine, it
is hunger. This place looks like it has been shut
down for years now. Sergeant Allan whispered to himself, how
is there fresh blood on the walls. Then the lights
(36:24):
went out completely. Total darkness swallowed us. Drew clicked on
his flashlight. The beam landed on a wall, then swept
across a stretch of corridor and froze. Something had moved.
We saw a limb, no a shape disappear around a
corner tall wrong. It had bent to fit the hallway
(36:47):
ceiling Its skin had looked wet, pale, and scarred, with
blackened sigils, no eyes, but a face, a long, lipless jaw,
and something like horns or perhaps branches fused to its skull.
Did it have ribs on the outside, Henry muttered, but
(37:08):
we didn't answer. We ran. It followed, not with the
chaos of an animal. This thing stalked. It wanted us
to move and split up. Jacob's notebook pages fluttered as
we fled through dark corridors. Behind us, we heard metal twist, doors, groan,
(37:28):
and then screams. Faint far away. We turned into a
narrower hallway, marked only by a number burned into the wall. Nine,
the divine containment Chamber. It stood ahead, a vault like
circular door three inches thick, torn open from within. The
walls bore claw marks but not scratched, carved with purpose
(37:51):
words sentences, all in Latin German, even in symbols we
couldn't place. At the center of the chain was a
black circle, stained with a thick crust of dried blood.
Chains hung from the ceiling. Broken runes beneath them had
been cracked, scratched out by something trapped inside. We were
(38:12):
standing in a cage. Jacob raised the notebook again. This
is where it was born, This is where they fed it.
Rituals involving the blood of political prisoners forced trauma, resonance,
repetition of murder to increase the vessel's saturation. Each death
made it stronger. They wanted to create a living arc
(38:35):
for something beyond understanding, a container for something older than myth.
Tod's voice was hoarse. Is it still in here? Jacob
turned a page. No, he said, It doesn't stay in
any one place. It moves through the lab, through the
runs and blood. Something whispered, not aloud inside us. Drew
(39:01):
dropped to his knees, screaming and clutching his head. His
eyes rolled back, and in the air we smelled rot,
flesh that had never known burial. We aimed our weapons.
A shape loomed in the dark, tall, silent, watching. Then
(39:21):
it moved. The moment the shape moved was like the
world itself shuddered. It was impossibly tall, nearly touching the ceiling.
But it didn't walk. It glided, sliding over the cold
concrete floor with a silence that gave a chill across
my spine. Its skin looked stretched tight over bones that
twisted in unnatural angles, pale like dead wax, marked with
(39:44):
dark sigils that pulsed faintly in the dim light. What
I first thought were horns were more like branches, crooked
and sharp, weaving out from its skull, like a twisted crown.
Its face, if you can call it. That was a
nightmarish void, a hollow with empty sockets. But somehow I
could feel it watching me. I swallowed hard and steadied
(40:04):
my gun. Hold your fire until it moves closer. But
Henry didn't wait. He fired a burst from his Thompson.
The bullets tore through the creature's side with a sickening,
wet crack, but it barely flinched. Instead, it turned toward him,
and I swear I saw a grin crack open a
void where its mouth should have been, a sound like
(40:27):
tearing cloth, and something wet and alive came from it.
Drew screamed again, clutching his head as if the creature's
presence was invading his mind. Get it off me, Get
it off me, he cried, staggering back into the wall.
I grabbed him before he fell. Drew snap out of it.
(40:48):
Tod's voice rang out, It's not just physical, this thing's
inside our heads. Alan barked orders, trying to keep us together,
but the creature was relentless. It lunged at Allan, who
barely dodged. The air smelled of sulfur and decay. Jacob shaking,
but focussed, whispered its feeding off our fear. The rituals,
(41:12):
the blood sacrifices were meant to awaken it, but they
never controlled it. Now it hunts. Suddenly, the creature's shadow
stretched across the room, swallowing the flickering lights. In that darkness,
I heard it speak, not with words, but a voice
echoing in my mind. You will become the sacrifice. We
opened fire together. Bullets tore through the air, but it
(41:36):
was like trying to stop a storm with stones. The
creature's limbs twisted and bent as it dodged, closing in
on Henry. Before we could even react, the beast snapped
Henry into its maw or whatever it was. In a
flash of time, we all saw Henry's body being snapped
in two, with his body parts falling on the concrete
(41:56):
floor and blood spewing out of it. Then it charged
at full speed at Todd just as it reached out. However,
Todd shoved a makeshift charge from his pack into the
creature's side and triggered it. The explosion shattered the chamber,
Flames licked the walls, smoke thick and acrid filling the air.
(42:16):
The creature screamed a horrific guttural sound like nails on
a chalkboard, mixed with the roar of a dying beast.
It staggered, wound, smoking and seeping dark eye coore, but
it was far from dead. Just then we heard more
gunshots from a left hall. It was Wilson, firing at
the creature's empty ice sockets. Wilson yelled, Sergeant Allan, where's
(42:41):
the rest of the squad dead? Wilson replied, this creature
took them all. Even my group got mauled by it.
After I investigated a chamber alone. The creature, however, was
beginning to regain its composure and locked its gaze onto Wilson.
Wilson loaded another magazine in fire, fired directly into the
creature's face, into the void where eyes should have been.
(43:04):
Go now, he ordered. We all did as he ordered
us to me and Jacob dragged Drew, who was still
screaming whilst todd led the way forward. Sergeant Allen looked
behind towards his superior colleague as the creature closed in
on Wilson. Then we heard a loud scream. The creature
(43:25):
had Wilson into its maw void whatever it was, go.
Wilson screamed one last time as he pulled out his
dagger and stabbed the creature's right eyes sack with all
his might. We ran, and we heard the screaming of
both Wilson and the beast echoing through the hallways of
the Maize. I don't know how long we ran through
those hallways with the walls edged in messages, but we
(43:48):
eventually made it back to the staircase we had descended earlier.
The creature hadn't followed us, and we eventually made it
back to the steel door with the black sun on it.
Wilson's sacrifice had saved us us well, only five of
the entire squad. When we got out of the facility
as a whole, we entered the broad daylight. The sun
(44:09):
was shining through the forest, and we could even hear
birds sing happily, but that could not cheer us up
from what we had just witnessed in that underground maze.
Later we reported to Commander Miller of what we had
seen the upper facility, the staircase that led to a
more secret of one below the rooms we had seen
in most of all the creature. Miller had a look
(44:31):
of concern on his face when we told him, but
due to the fact that five of us told the
same thing, he believed us. Jacob even handed over the
diary he had taken from the largest room and translated
everything to Miller. Miller asked if Drew had somehow taken
photos of the beast, but Drew was destruck by fear
and shock since he couldn't get the voices out of
(44:51):
his head from what the beast said earlier. Drew even
had to be transferred to a field hospital to recover mentally.
It wasn't long before for the entire regiment heard about
what had happened. They laughed at it and even said
that we had gone mad in the first place, especially Drew,
who was screaming in his sleep, to the annoyance of
other injured soldiers. Commander Miller did order that the inside
(45:15):
of the facility had to be destroyed It was only
the first hallway that they had blown up, but that
was enough to make parts of the hill crumble and
the stone rubble, covering anything that was once an entrance.
When the war in Europe had ended, we were all
given a medal for our heroic military actions. On September seventh,
nineteen forty five, five days after the Japanese had capitulated,
(45:38):
we were transferred from Europe back to the US via ship.
Although all the men on board celebrated their victory, we
kept ourselves confined in our cabin that we shared on
the ship. After I came back to the US, I
returned to my home in Miami. I eventually moved to
the state of South Dakota because of the new job
I gained as a business man. On my work, I
(46:00):
met a woman named Lisa, and before we knew it,
we fell in love, got married, and had two children,
named Elias in nineteen forty nine and Alice in nineteen
fifty one. Still I sometimes had nightmares about what had
happened back on April twenty second, nineteen forty five, in
that cursed facility, but even that faded over the course
of time. It is April twenty second nineteen seventy five,
(46:24):
and I was sipping my coffee as I read the newspaper.
What I read on the fifth page shocked me to
my corps. The West German government found a document signed
by Himmler in nineteen thirty five where he and Hitler
agreed to build a secret underground a cult research facility
in the Black Forest. They were now removing the stone rubble,
but the workers tell of how they somehow smell blood
(46:46):
and that in their sleep they hear voices
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