Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hey, welcome to Scary Stories and Rain.
I really hope you enjoyed this episode.
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(00:21):
the description to this episode.And one last thing, thank you so
much for being here. I really hope you enjoy.
I work at a gas station in the Deep South, a part of Louisiana
that most people have never evenheard of.
I'm talking about dirt roads with no name, thick trees that
(00:44):
seem to swallow darkness, and you might be lucky enough to see
a streetlight every other mile. The little gas station that I
work at is located in the trifecta of all these elements.
I of course work the overnight shifts.
The gas station doesn't see muchexcitement.
There are either the 10 customers that come in between
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the hours of 10:00 PM to 6:00 AMor the random opossums that
decide to make the trash cans outside their personal drum set,
but I digress. The night started as any other
night. Make sure all of the snacks,
cold drinks, and beer were all properly stocked.
Check. Now all that is left for me to
(01:26):
do is, well, wait. I stood behind the counter
looking at inventory, listening to music and just pacing around
for the first couple of hours. You know the thing that people
say, time flies. Yeah, that did not apply to that
shift. As I got bored I decided to
(01:47):
leave the register and check outthe items on the shelf to, you
know, make sure nothing majestically sold itself.
As I was on one of the aisles I heard a man call out.
Hey, y'all open? I turned around to see that I
had two customers standing at the checkout.
Now I should mention this gas station does not have that fancy
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system that makes the door go Ding when somebody comes in.
Top line security am I right? So I was caught off guard that 2
customers had come in without myknowledge.
I quickly walked up to the register and apologized for the
wait. As we were making the usual
conversation of hey how are you doing and man it's dark out here
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in this area. The customer asked another
question that is usually always asked.
How long is it until I get to the city from here?
I answer with the same answer that seems to automatically live
in my mind rent free. It's a good couple of hours from
here, just go towards the lights.
Corny I know, but that's my thing.
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Anyway, after scanning the customers items, which literally
were a candy bar and a bottle ofwater, I told them be careful
out there y'all. There's a tornado warning in
this area until 7:00 AM and the rain's starting to pick up.
I think in this area, even on a clear night, it is hard to see
what is ahead of you on these dark desolate roads.
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As I went to look at the second customer, I realized there was
no second customer anymore. I chalked it up to the guy not
wanting to wait any longer and just deciding to leave.
I mean, from what I saw, he didn't have any items with him
and probably only needed some cigarettes or something that was
behind the counter. I told the customer farewell and
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was ready to grind out the rest of these hours.
But just like a psychic, my own words had foreshadowed my fate
for the night. Not long after the customer
left, might have been an hour orso, the sky could no longer hold
its sorrow and weep gallons of tears from above.
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Now, to me, this is not a big deal.
Bad weather, rain, opossums. Yeah, I still have it out for
those little buggers. All of these things happen a lot
in my area, so much so that I call the experience HWA, which
stands for Humid, Wet and Annoying.
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As the rain and wind picked up, I was starting to feel a little
uneasy, mostly because honestly,I would rather be at my house
when the rain and wind decide tobattle for dominance.
With that being said, the inevitable happened.
The power lines were no match for the relentless punishment
from the elements. And then darkness, silence,
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aggravation. The power had gone and there was
no backup generator for me. I was just there, standing in a
blanket of darkness so thick that it seems to cover everyone
in its embrace. I called my manager to let him
know that the power had gone outand also asked him what I should
do now. Of course, with it being so late
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or early, I guess whatever, 4:00AM, whatever it means to you.
There was no response from him. I thought about locking up and
just buckling down at the gas station until the storm passed.
I was getting paid after all. But that's when I heard it.
Between the Thunder, between therain, between the wind.
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I heard a slight crunch coming from one of the aisles that was
further away from the entrance of the station.
At first I paid no mind, I believed it to just be the store
items shifting with all of this sorrowful weather.
Darkness has a way of bending your mind into seeing and
hearing things that your mind usually tells you.
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Oh, that's just the wind. But after sitting there for a
while, upset of course, but getting paid, I called my
manager again to no avail. Then right after the light of my
phone faded and my eyes were trying to accommodate the
darkness, I heard it again, Movement, but this time closer
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and right in between my phone call and a Thunder strike.
So now I'm on high alert. Someone is in here with me.
I'm not alone, I just knew it. I tried to calm my nerves, not
wanting to. Be that guy that overreacts.
But I asked myself. Can you ever really be too safe?
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I made a potentially dangerous and thoughtless move.
I stood up and yelled. Is anybody still in here?
I got no response, but that didn't mean that there was no
one there. The air felt thick from the
humidity. Not just that, though, the
feeling you get when you are notalone.
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The feeling of being you guessed.
It watched. As cliche as it sounds.
Then I remembered something thatI knew all along.
There is no Ding on the door to let me know when customers enter
nor exit. That and the thought of the
second customer came to mind. I never saw him leave, I just
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knew that he was there and then gone.
I automatically, without a doubt, felt that something was
strange, something was not right.
So I did what any gas station worker would do in the pitch
black, pretended to be a ninja so that I could slowly make my
way to the source of the noise without being caught.
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As it turns out, I'm not a ninja.
The moment I stepped out from behind the counter that I had
been sitting behind, a voice stopped me in my tracks.
Give me what you got, was all the voids softly spoke to me.
I froze, scared, too scared to say a word nor move an inch.
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When I called out, I wasn't truly expecting a response.
Soon I heard footsteps, slow butgetting closer.
My mind yelled do something, run, charge at the sound and
hope for the best. After all of that, I did
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nothing. Then his face appeared.
A face hard to make out in the dark, a face that I would not
have seen if my manager hadn't called me back at that moment.
That allowed my phone to light up the second customer.
It turns out he never left. I pretended not to see nor know
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that I recognized him. Again.
He repeated. Come on, give me what you got
now. Still in a calm and calculating
way, I spoke for the first time after noticing that I was
holding my breath this whole time.
All I have is $250 in the register.
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He was quiet for a while and then told me give it over.
I wish that I could say that I pulled out some special move
that brought the guy down that allowed me to hold him until the
police showed up, but this is real life.
I gave him the money and luckilyfor me he accepted it.
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He knew that police would not beout here in these parts at this
time and with this weather, evenif I called it would take them
at least 30 minutes to get there.
A local I assumed had to be to be so confident.
I talked to the manager and the police.
After all was said and done, my manager apologized that I had to
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go through that and also was sorry that he didn't answer the
phone sooner. I told him it's no worries,
everyone deserves sleep. I got to leave early and the
manager closed the store for a couple of hours until the next
employee came in. I was so lost in the trance
after the situation that I trulybelieved that it still couldn't
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be real. That couldn't have just happened
to me after the couple of years working there.
And that was that I thought. A funny plot twist. 2 weeks
later, a man was caught trying to hold up a gas station close
to where my job was located. A man that I remembered from
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that flash of light on my phone.The only difference is, he
didn't get away this time. The only thing I can really say
that I've learned from all of this.
No matter how comfortable or howmuch you think you know.
Each day will play out. Always be on your guard.
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My wife is a real estate agent and a few years back things
changed drastically for her. She landed her first client that
would have her list their house and it was also someone that we
knew. We didn't know them that well,
but we knew them through the church that we were going to at
the time. And so when it came up that my
wife was doing real estate, thisperson asked her if she could
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sell her house for her. The homeowner needed to move as
her husband had recently passed away.
It took a little bit, but my wife was at the point of hosting
the first open house on the listing.
She would have two back-to-back open houses, the first on
Saturday and the next the following day to give potential
buyers more opportunity to view the house.
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The first day went well with a good showing from prospective
shoppers. It was the second day that
things took a turn. It was nearly the end of the
scheduled period for open house visitors, and so my wife began
doing the rounds to turn off thelights and check over the house.
However, two men entered the home and my wife went to greet
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them as she heard the door. The two men said they lived on
the street and came to look at the house as they had never been
inside before. My wife was willing to let as
many potential buyers look around as it was her first
listing, and she was appropriately eager.
The men said they were friends, but only offered their first
names. One of them didn't engage much
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and quickly went into another room, while the other man got
closer to my wife, asking questions that finally started
to make her realize something was off.
She was alone in the house now with these two men, one of them
continuing to get closer and closer to.
Her. Asking her questions like, how
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long have you been doing real estate?
I never met the owners of the house.
Were they nice? Do you live?
Close to here. My wife was trying her best not
to display her nervousness and gave short answers to these
questions. She knew that these men were
obviously not here because they were interested in purchasing
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the home, so she let them know that the open house was over and
she's locking up because the owner is coming back any minute.
This was not actually true. The owner wasn't staying here
anymore, but she had to say something to get these men to
leave. At this point she was backed
into a corner of the kitchen with this 6 foot man in her way,
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deflating any hope of being ableto run out of the house.
To make things worse, she didn'teven have her phone on her, it
was on the dining room table with her bag and listing sheets,
which for all she knew was now in the possession of the other
man who had walked off. At first the man didn't seem to
care about what she said about needing to lock up and the owner
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coming home. He responded it's OK if we just
take another minute to look around, right?
But he was never looking around in the 1st place.
At this time the other man came into the kitchen and joined his
friend. My wife's anxiety is so high
she's about to start screaming and she gives one more request.
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I'm sorry but we have to leave as the owner's coming home.
The two men don't respond initially but then exchange a
look and say OK thanks for your time and leave the house.
My wife bolts to the door and locks it and then goes into the
dining room to watch them through the window.
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All of her belongings were stillthere, so when she saw that they
walked far enough away and she could run to her car, she
grabbed her things and did just that.
She even left the lights on, butshe didn't care.
In her car, she had no idea where these men went.
She couldn't see them and didn'tcare to stick around long enough
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to find them. She just drove away after
hearing about this. We always made sure there was
another person at viewings with her.
To this day I still go with her when she's meeting new clients.
Looking back, it was a reckless thing to do posting an open
house all alone in a neighborhood you are not that
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familiar with. She told the owner about the
situation and the owner, after hearing a description of these
men, stated that she had never seen them before and had no idea
who they were. Take care when you were doing
your job, whatever it may be. After that situation, I made
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sure my wife's phone was set up to do emergency alerts and she
now never leaves her phone out of reach even if she has to hold
it. If possible, have someone there
to watch your back. You never know when some creeps
are going to scare the life out of you or God forbid something
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worse. I am a 22 year old male who
happened to end up at the wrong place at the wrong time.
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My best friend lived in a city close enough to where I live so
I used to visit her a lot duringthe week when I had time off
work. This one evening I left her
house quite late so I was prettytired when I set off.
Probably shouldn't have set off driving in the 1st place with me
being so fatigued. Nonetheless, I set off home.
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Majority of the journey is on the motorway, but about 10
minutes into the journey I couldfeel my eyes rolling into the
back of my head. I needed to pull over.
I came off the road at the next exit and tried to find somewhere
to pull over to possibly have a nap or at least rest.
I eventually came across a little side Rd. along a country
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Rd. This road was plunged in
darkness with wooded areas on either side with some places on
either side of the road to pull up.
There were some other cars parked here too, so I figured
this would be a good place to stop and have a rest.
So I did exactly that. I pulled my car to the side of
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this uneven Rd. surface and cameto a stop, turning off my engine
and made sure that my doors werelocked.
Not long after pulling up and reclining my seat, there were a
few cars pulling up near me, stopping and then driving off
again only to return a few moments later.
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I am a car enthusiast so I know my cars even from just the shape
of their headlights so I could tell it was the same cars
arriving and leaving constantly.I was getting a bit on edge but
I was so tired I just tried to ignore it and closed my eyes.
After about 5 minutes of me laying there in my car, I heard
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a car door open and then close, the obvious sound of someone
getting out of their car. I opened my eyes and glanced up
out of the windshield, but because there were no St. lights
on this side Rd. all I could seewas silhouettes of the cars
parked near me. It was silent.
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The sound of the car door was instantly jarring.
However, after I heard the car door, nothing followed for a few
moments. So again, I closed my eyes and
tried to continue my nap. But then I heard the unsettling
sound of someone's footsteps on gravel.
Like I said, this road was silent so this was an undeniable
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sound. The footsteps seems to be
getting louder and closer. I once again opened my eyes to
see the horrifying silhouette ofsomeone slowly approaching my
car to the driver's side. My heart instantly began racing.
I wrapped my hand around my keys, which were still dangling
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in the ignition slot, but I was frozen.
I did not have the ability to sit up, start my engine and race
away. This person got closer and
closer to my car, so I did what I thought at the time was the
best idea. I turned my head away from the
window and pretended to be asleep.
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This person approached my car. I heard the footsteps get closer
and then stop. Then my worst fear in that
situation. I heard them try my door handle
a few times. Then they made their way slowly
around the back of my car and tried opening the trunk, to no
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avail. They then continued to the
passenger side, which was the side my head was facing.
I was certain they could not seeinside my car, but I still
opened my eyes the slightest bitto see what was going on.
All I could see was a man dressed in black with his hood
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up, one hand in his pocket, the other trying my passenger door.
I laid completely still, my eyeshalf closed, trying to fathom
what was going on. After a few more tries of my
door handle, he did another walkaround my car.
I could see him walk past, brushing himself up against my
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door as he did. He even stopped for a second.
I thought he was about to walk away when he instead began
knocking on my window. He did this three times.
My heart began racing even faster as I lay there pretending
to be asleep and not hearing it.I was certain he was going to
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try and smash my window, but to my surprise he just walked away
and got back into his car. He turned his headlights on and
I realized it was one of the cars that was driving up and
down the road earlier. He angled his headlights
directly into my car and threw my windshield, so I threw myself
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back down and pretended to be asleep.
Once again I heard his car set off and very slowly drive past
mine, almost stopping when he got right next to me.
This whole experience filled me with fear and adrenaline to the
point of being wide awake, so assoon as I saw his car disappear,
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I started my ignition and got out.
Of there I drove straight. Home and had one of the most
restless nights of sleep ever. I never drove down that road
again, even during the day. If you're tired and you need to
drive somewhere, just don't at all costs.
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Just don't. At least stop at a service
station that is well lit and please lock your car doors.
I don't even want to begin to imagine what would have happened
to me if one of my doors was unlocked that night.
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I began working weekly at my local bar about six months ago.
It's an old, cozy little pub. Think carpeted floor.
That old pub sent little Irish trinkets everywhere and a few
Guinness drinkers lining the barevery night.
There is an older clientele in the bar.
I get to control the music on myshift and there is always a
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pleasant, friendly atmosphere. It also pays very well and I
enjoy the banter with the localsand the odd tourists who might
wander in from a nearby hotel. Being such an old building, when
you are closing up on your own at the end of a shift, a deep
sense of unease tends to creep in.
What was a fun place to be with music and lively chatter swiftly
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became full of shadows and creepiness.
First the lights are switched off in the beer garden and the
customer bathrooms. No big deal.
Then the lights in the lounge behind the main bar are to be
switched off right before you leave the building.
Last night, this is the part of the closing shift where it all
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started to go downhill. I lifted the used beer mats from
the tables before wiping them down.
I had already switched the musicoff and the silence was
unnatural to my ears after 8 solid hours of 70s and 80s tunes
being played at a decent volume.Gathering the beer mats in my
cleaning supplies, I turned to head to the main bar.
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I flicked the light switch to off and on, and in the time it
took for me to walk down the twosteps, I heard someone behind
me. Someone very clearly and very
definitely cleared their throat.Immediately.
I was frozen. My legs refused to.
Work. I knew the bar was completely
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empty and had been for the last 15 minutes or so.
I also knew that I had checked the bathrooms and it had been
raining profusely all evening, so the beer garden didn't have a
single patron all night, so there was zero chance of someone
still lurking around after hours.
I knew I had to turn to take a look, but I really, really felt
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as though my heart had fallen directly into my stomach.
My skin felt as though it was crawling with nerves, and I just
knew that whatever made that sound from behind me had bad
intentions. Still, I put down the spray
bottle of disinfectant and slowly turned to face the
lounge. There in the dark in a chair was
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a lady who absolutely had not been a customer of mine all
evening. Even in the dark and in the
shadows of the room, I could make out that she was extremely
thin and gaunt in her advancing years.
Her eyes seemed to glow at me with all I can describe as
absolute hatred. I could sense the anger
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radiating from her and it terrified me.
I began to shake with fear and the beer mats in my hand landed
on the floor. I managed to squeak out a very
shaky hello. In response, I got an irate
sounding moan and grunt. Not like the moans and groans
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from someone who had perhaps taken a little bit too much from
the top shelf and wanted to be left to sleep it off in the
corner of the bar. Rather, this was the sound of
someone who couldn't speak but wanted to convey their outrage.
Hello, I'm sorry, but it's time to go home.
Do you have a ride or I can callsomeone for you?
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This was a silly thing for me tosay, but I didn't know else what
to say. I began to doubt myself.
Did I miss this person somewhere?
Had she been passed out in the corner by chance and I never
noticed? But deep down I knew.
I knew that this was Missus Taylor.
Missus Taylor had been the pub landlady a long, long time ago,
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about 50 years ago. And she was a hard line lady by
all accounts. If she didn't like or trust you,
she didn't want you anywhere near the place.
She hated other women with a burning passion and she wouldn't
allow any females into the bar without a male chaperone.
Me, a single 20 something year old who enjoyed the odd glass of
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wine and a shot of tequila and was into Hard Rock music, most
assuredly wouldn't have been allowed to set foot into this
bar. There had been stories of the
place being haunted and previousbarmaids being scared out of
their wits by ghostly movements,but I had always shrugged it off
as nonsense. I took a step back.
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When I got no response, the person I assumed to be Missus
Taylor began to move. She placed a Bony hand on the
arm of the chair and rose up in a surprisingly speedy and
youthful way. She began towards me, letting
out the most foul, high pitched and intense scream I had ever
heard. Like the sound one would imagine
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the banshee gave out. I lost it.
I turned on my heels and ran forthe main door.
I left my bag on the counter andran for my life, completely
forgetting about anything else. The only good thing is that the
main door locks behind you so there was no need to lock it up.
I don't know why she appeared tome and I don't know how I will
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face going back there for my shift in three days time.
How do I explain all this to theboss without sounding absolutely
crazy? Wish me luck.
(29:15):
This happened like 2 1/2 years ago.
For context, I was in the military and lived in the
barracks at the time. The barracks used to be a
hospital way back when and many people have had paranormal
experiences, including my roommates and I on more than one
occasion. Ironically, all of this happened
on Friday the 13th. The whole day was wild so I'll
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just start with the first weird thing that happened.
My roommates and I had this tradition of always going out to
eat on Friday. This Friday it was pouring rain
and we went to eat downtown at aregular random restaurant.
The second we walked in we just felt so out of place.
We were sitting waiting a long time for a waiter to talk to us
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until finally he came and he wasbeyond creepy.
He seemed almost non human. He grinned very creepily the
whole time, moved around and talked like a robot.
Halfway through our meal I noticed every single person in
the restaurant was wearing the same exact shade of blue.
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All the men had a blue button upand every woman had on the same
blue dress. I pointed this out to my
roommate while she also pointed out to me that all the waiters
were standing in the corner of the restaurant staring and
smiling at us. I had tears in my eyes I was so
creeped out. We didn't finish our food and we
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paid and left. We also double checked on the
website and outside the restaurant to make sure there
wasn't some event going on or a dress code.
We got back home to the barracks.
I called my boyfriend to tell him what happened when in the
middle of my conversation, our ironing board fell off the door
from the hanger. It was hanging on in the laundry
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room. It's never done this before and
nothing had happened for it to do with this night.
The way our room was set up is when you walk through the door,
you have the living room in the middle with the laundry room on
the right, the bathroom on the left, and our two separate rooms
straight in front. Mine's on the left and hers is
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on the right. Me and my roommate were both
sitting in the chairs on the wall near the bathroom.
It startled us but we didn't think too much of it.
My roommates and I decided to head off to bed when about 30
minutes later I heard her open her door and whisper my name.
Sarah. She whispered softly.
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Sarah. She said a little louder.
I'm sitting in my room thinking why is she whispering like this?
I got out of my bed and opened my door and she screamed,
dropped to the floor and just started crying.
Hannah, Hannah, what is wrong? I yelled at her.
I saw you in the mirror of the bathroom.
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She cried. What?
I was very confused. She said it again.
I just saw you fixing your hair in the bathroom, you know how
you usually do and smiling at mein the mirror of the bathroom.
I looked at the bathroom. Sure enough the light was on
with the door cracked enough so you can see the mirror inside.
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Shivers went down my spine. The room was freezing and
something felt very off. We never left the lights on or
the bathroom door opened. Neither of us had even gone into
the bathroom since coming home from dinner.
I wrapped us up in a blanket andwe just left the room and sat in
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the hallway for about 30 minutestalking about what had happened.
From Hannah's perspective, she thought I knocked on her door
and that's why she opened her door and when she didn't see me
she whispered and then she looked in the bathroom because
the light was on and saw me smiling at her through the
mirror. When I was fixing my hair, she
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said that there was something about the way I looked.
I looked off and that's why she said my name a second time and
then freaked out when I opened my bedroom door.
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I don't usually ride a lot, but there's something that has been
weighing heavily on my mind and I feel the need to share it.
It happened when I was just thirteen years old, and although
it occurred fairly recently, certain details of that incident
still remain A hazy memory. Nevertheless, I'll do my best to
(34:06):
recount the nights that forever changed my life.
The amusement park, the only renowned one in our state, had
recently opened its gates as theseasons transitioned into
summer. For privacy reasons, I won't
disclose the park's name or the ride where this unsettling event
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occurred. Typically, I visited the park
once or twice a year with my friends, my family, and
occasionally my parents. We would roam around, indulge in
tasty treats, and experience thethrill of the rise.
Just regular kids stuff. However, this particular visit
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was destined to make me swear off amusement parks for the rest
of my days. It was a chilly night, that mix
of cold and warm, however the sky remained clear.
Which was all the. Confirmation that my friends
Nick, Kaden and I needed to ask our parents if we could go.
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Miraculously, they agreed, and in no time we found ourselves
being dropped off at the parks entrance, brimming with
excitement, ready to immerse ourselves in the vibrant,
thrilling attractions. Among them, there was one ride
that stood out as my personal favorite, and I'm certain my
friends felt the same way. Housed inside a Dome shaped
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building, this exhilarating ridedazzled us with a whirlwind of
spinning lights and adrenaline pumping speeds.
It seemed like the perfect choice, except for one thing.
The dreaded line. Not only was it a claustrophobic
person's worst nightmare, but italmost always guaranteed an
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agonizing wait of at least an hour.
On that particular occasion, theline stretched so far that it
reached one of the neighboring rides about 100 yards away.
Seeing this, we all let out exasperated sighs, realizing
that we had no choice but to endure the line before we could
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move on. We figured we might as well get
it out of the way early. As the line snaked its way
forward, we noticed that on the left side, where the line
extended towards the forest, there were shrubs and bushes.
My friends and I didn't pay muchattention to them at first,
which is why we failed to noticesomething peculiar until we
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reached the large sign bearing the ride's name.
It was Kaden who first spoke up,excitement laced with a hint of
concern evident in his voice. Did you guys see that?
He exclaimed, pointing in the direction of the forest.
No, what? Nick replied, glancing over at
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the bushes. Curiosity piqued.
I looked in the same direction. There, crouched down among the
foliage, was a person wearing a Jason Voorhees mask.
Initially, we found it amusing, thinking it was a part of some
Halloween themed event or party that the amusement park
occasionally hosted in October. However, it was July, a fact
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that should have raised more suspicion.
Whether it was ignorance or justus being naive kids, we
chuckled, assuming it was some kid playing a harmless prank.
Our attention quickly returns tothe ride and we dismissed the
incident as an inconsequential oddity.
We endured the line for a grueling 2 hours, and despite
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the relatively brief 5 minute ride itself, it was undeniably
worth the wait. Afterward, we decided to grab a
bite to eat and enjoy a few moreattractions.
Time flew by and before we knew it, it was time to head back to
the parking lot where our parents would be waiting.
Unlike other kids who would typically complain, we welcomed
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the idea of leaving as exhaustion started to creep in.
Amusement parks can be quite demanding.
Navigating through the throngs of people also making their way
towards the exit, I noticed something out of the corner of
my eye. A glimpse of that very same
Jason Voorhees mask. This time I managed to catch a
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glimpse of the full figure behind it.
The person was massive, toweringat least 6 foot six, with a
build reminiscent of a freight train.
This man was a behemoth, and it became glaringly evident that it
wasn't just some kid playing a childish prank.
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Subtly urging my friends to quicken their pace, we hustled
toward the exit. As we reached the dark expanse
of the parking lot, I finally gathered the courage to share
what I had seen. I told them what I saw and how
big the guy was, my voice trembling with a mix of fear and
disbelief. Yeah, right.
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Nick responded, who was always the skeptic, especially when it
came to this sort of stuff. Kaden, however, remained silent,
his gaze fixated on the park behind us and uneasiness
apparent in his eyes. No, seriously.
I insisted, my voice growing more urgent as Nick and I
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engaged in a brief back and forth.
Kaden's next words cut through our heated exchange, causing us
to pause and snap our heads backin the direction of the park.
Little did I know that his revelation would unleash an
unprecedented terror, leaving anindelible mark on my childhood
memories. Guys, guys, look.
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Kaden screamed, his voice tingedwith terror as he began
sprinting toward the parking lot.
At first, all I could see were the masses of people flooding
out of the park. I didn't understand what it
spooked him so profoundly, and Nick appeared equally confused.
Then I saw it. The Jason Voorhees mask once
again. This time, the significance of
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its presence registered in our minds, and we bolted in sheer
panic. The colossal figure adorned with
the mask was hurtling towards usat an alarming speed, clutching
something in his hand, a mysterious cloth that I never
had a chance to examine closely.We ran as if our lives depended
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on it, eventually catching up the Caden in the vast expanse of
the parking lot. Together.
We gasped for breath, scanning our surroundings in a frenzied
state until we spotted my parents car.
Without wasting a second we scrambled inside, screaming at
them to floor it. Although they wore expressions
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of bewilderment and concern, my dad pressed down on the
accelerator, propelling us away from that nightmare as swiftly
as possible. Interrogation became the theme
of our one hour ride back home, and it was Nick who mustered the
courage to offer brief, one wordanswers to our parents
relentless questions. In truth, all of us were still
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reeling from the shock, struggling to process the
enormity of what had just occurred.
To this day, I remained baffled by the man's intentions.
What was he doing? Why did he single us out?
Why did he do this with a ton ofpeople around?
And what horrors awaited us if he had managed to close the
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distance between us? I vowed never to return to that
specific amusement park, although I have visited a few
others since then. Nevertheless, you can bet your
bottom dollar that I always keepa vigilant eye, forever wary of
the lurking shadows, for you never know who might be hiding
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in the darkness waiting to pounce.
This was a handful of years ago.I was a new mother and home with
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my first born child. He was a couple of weeks old and
it came time for me to get an oil change and a tire rotation
for my car. Instead of sitting in the
dealership waiting room for an hour plus, I figured this would
be a good opportunity to walk around this Arboretum that
wasn't too far away. I have been to the Arboretum a
handful of times before, but this time I noticed a sign for
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Patriots Path. This is a paved trail that
extends 35 miles throughout the county.
The trails are broken down into segments as they are separated
by roadways or neighborhoods. I would frequent other parts of
the path and never felt uncomfortable.
In fact, it was a nice way to feel connected to nature while
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sometimes encountering other people exercising and doing the
same. Without hesitation, I decided to
walk the path to kill time. I was excited to explore this
new to me trail. First the path cut through the
tall grasses, then it curved andincreasingly became more of a
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wooded area. This wasn't concerning to me as
all the other parts of the trailthat I have walked on were
exclusively in the woods. As I was pushing my newborn in a
stroller and enjoying my time and nature, I came to a fork in
the path. The other parts of the trail I
have been on was always one path.
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No forks. The right path was on higher
ground so I headed that way. As I was going, the path was
getting increasingly difficult for the stroller.
Tree roots broke through the path and it was a rough ride for
my baby. I wasn't able to keep the pace I
was going since I was going significantly slower.
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I looked on my map to see if it included the path and where it
would bring us on the map. The left side of the fork
traveled along a waterway, so I decided to try that route.
As I was turning around, I saw aman, well dressed, slowly
strolling towards us. I got the stroller free from the
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tree roots and started towards him.
He had his phone up to his face as if he was on a phone call,
but he wasn't talking. We got closer.
I looked at him to give a friendly nod as I usually do
when passing other people. He just looked straight ahead,
expressionless. When I was processing that
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interaction, my gut told me something was wrong.
He was wearing an outfit that I could best describe as business
casual. Most people on the trails are in
exercise clothes. He wasn't talking at all on his
phone that he was holding up to his ear and the other hand.
He was concealing it. He had it in a rigid position
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behind his back, as if he was carrying something that he
didn't want me to see. I turned to walk the other path
of the fork and convinced myselfI was just imagining things.
After some more walking, I heardthe sound of babbling water.
According to my map app on my phone, I thought I should be
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able to see the waterway by now and the path should open up to a
parking lot. I felt like I should see the
parking lot by now. When I tried opening the map
again, my phone wasn't working. I was in the woods, alone with
my baby, with no phone access, and I just had a strange
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interaction. It was time to turn around and
head out of these woods. Much to my dismay, there was the
man again, his face still expressionless, his phone still
up to his ear. He was still not talking and his
other hand was still hiding behind his back.
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I felt my heart sink into my stomach and my stomach jump into
my throat. Why did he turn around on the
first part of the path? Why didn't he turn at the fork?
He was close enough to us for meto realize that he must have
turned around soon after we did.He must have seen us turn down
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the other path at the fork. All the alarms in my body were
ringing. Get out of here.
When we needed to pass them, I started to jog.
Hey, I'm wearing the appropriateoutfit for a trail that most
people used for exercise, right?Maybe my intention was to jog
this whole time. I didn't stop jogging until I
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was out of the woods and into the tall grass.
I turned to look behind me, and luckily my son and I were alone
again. I jogged some more until there
was a large distance between US and the trail.
We waited in the dealership waiting room for the rest of the
time they were working on my car.
I did go back to the Arboretum after that, but I haven't
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ventured down that section of the trail ever again.
Now maybe this was just a regular businessman, Nothing
happened between me and this man, and maybe nothing was going
to happen, but personally I would rather go for an unplanned
jog then ignore my gut instinct and find out.
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This took place around the fall of 2020, around late October.
One night, three of my friends and I, Nate, Charlie, and
Jordan, decided to meet up at a local park around midnight, just
located within my friend Jordan's neighborhood, to have
one of our relentless hot boxingsmoke sessions.
Since this was our senior year of high school and with the
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pandemic and political animositygoing on at the time, like many
other kids, we were basically stuck at home for the most part,
attending online classes and barely getting out of our houses
since most public places were closed.
Because of this, we all ended upsmoking to kill time, so having
these hot box sessions wasn't anything new to us since we've
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been smoking since August of that same year.
I recently stopped smoking altogether due to unrelated
issues, but I digress. Back to the story.
About an hour after our smoke session, the four of us
reluctantly agreed to start driving out of the park and
around town for a while, with myfriend Jordan being the driver,
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Nate in the front passenger seatwith Charlie and I in the back.
20 minutes into our drive, beingthe intoxicated idiots that we
were, having the windows cracked, we decided to put on
Dead Space Ambience music as we were making our way out of a
residential area and onto A2 main road that led out into the
rural part of town. To give you an idea of the
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scenery, we were driving throughone of those semi rural suburban
neighborhoods you'd find in the middle of nowhere.
For those of you that live in the rural South or the Midwest,
you know what I'm talking about.Since it was completely pitch
black and we were practically inthe middle of nowhere bumping
creepy ambient music while approaching A dimly lit
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intersection, it began to give off an eerie liminal vibe that
was kind of fitting for the season.
As we approach the intersection,my mind begin to green out and
race about the unknown beyond the darkness that enshrined our
surroundings. It would be terrifying if we
found a humanoid like a Wendigo or something right now.
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At that point we had reached theintersection and since I was
looking to my left, I immediately noticed a figure
emerging out of the pitch black.As the figure got under the
streetlight, I realized that what I was looking at was a
woman in pigtails dressed in a really classy, clean outfit with
a tan blouse and high heels. I instinctively sobered up and
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took this as a bad sign from allthe stories I've heard and just
knew something was wrong becausewho would be out here at 1:00 AM
in a classy outfit in the middleof nowhere?
In a matter of seconds, my worstfear came to life as this woman
began to approach the car and I really didn't want any of us
taking any chances with this woman.
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I started to freak out and told my buddy Jordan, there's a woman
coming, turn the car now. Our friend Nate noticed this
second figure dressed in all black slowly emerged from the
rear end of the car just about 15 feet away from our right
side, slowly approaching. This only instilled more fear in
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all of us about the situation. Charlie instantly caught on and
saw what we were seeing as this woman practically began running
at us screaming please. Stop help me.
Charlie then began aggressively slapping Jordan's shoulder in a
panic, shouting Jordan, Turn thecar now.
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Jordan, still zooted off the weed, was confused for a split
second before he saw that this woman and the man in black were
mere feet from the car. In a panic, he yelled.
Oh my God. He peeled out to the right and
in the opposite direction from where this woman and the man
came running from. We all sobered up a bit, being
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so creeped out and confused as to what just happened, but we
laughed it off because of how intoxicated we all still were.
Needless to say, we still question why the woman was
running at us screaming and whatexactly the intentions were from
both of them, especially the mandressed in all black behind the
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car. My morbid curiosity gets the
better of me sometimes and I would like some theories as to
what could have happened to all four of us during that night.
Let me know in the comments below.
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I was about 8 years old when this happened, so that would
make my brother 15. He was supposed to be
babysitting me, but instead wentover to his friend's house who
lived about a mile away. I was OK with this.
About an hour after he's gone, the phone rings.
I go into the kitchen to answer it.
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On the other line, a deep and raspy voice says Nolan, this is
the devil and I'm coming to get you, and then hangs up.
I wasn't a complete idiot. My brother always tormented me
and he wasn't home. I put two and two together and I
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knew that it was him just being a jerk.
About 30 seconds pass and the phone rings again.
Nolan, this is the devil. I see you.
I said something like, yeah, Jack, I know it's you.
Looking back at it now, what transpired feels like a real
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life version of the opening of Scream.
This was 1991, so well before that movie came out.
Over the course of about 20 minutes, the same thing keeps
happening. Nolan, this is the devil.
I'm coming. For you.
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And I would reply saying that I knew that it was my brother.
The intensity picked up and a tiny sliver of doubt began to
creep over me. That maybe, just maybe, it
wasn't my brother. So I called Mike's house to yell
at my brother. I got a hold of Jack and told
him to stop it. He downplayed what I was saying
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and told me not to worry about it, just a prank.
Then he tells me to call him back if it happens again.
It felt sincere. Now I'm getting a little
worried, but was still pretty confident Jack was just being an
A hole. Sure enough, a minute or two
later. This is the devil.
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I don't know why I kept answering the phone, but my mom
was a busy realtor and I was trained to always answer and
take a message. She even had one of those mobile
phones even prior to those thickGray brick ones.
It was corded and built into hercar.
I say all this because we had two lines at home, this being a
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few years before the AOL boom, so it was pretty rare for other
households to have a second line.
I knew this because none of my other friends had a second line.
Call waiting, sure, but not a second line.
Again, the phone rings and the devil starts saying his thing
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and I just burst out. It's not even funny, Jack, just
stop. Just cut it.
Then a beep on the line. Someone else was calling.
I answer the other line and my blood ran cold.
It was my brother Jack checking on me.
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Mike didn't have a second line. I suddenly became a blubbering
mess. The next part is a blur.
This was in Minnesota during themiddle of a heavy Blizzard.
The next thing I know, I'm running down the street with no
jacket on and snow in my boots because I was too panicked to
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lace them up. It's not easy running in the
snow, but I didn't stop until I was about a block away from
Mike's house. There I see my brother and Mike
leaving the house, looking a little confused to see me.
Then an evil grin broke out on his face.
As it turns out, Mike's family did have a second line.
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The whole thing was so stupid, Iknew it was Jack the whole time.
It had to be, but I assumed it was Jack doing the stupid voice,
not his friend. So that second line calling in
while I was talking to the devilsuddenly threw my 8 year old
sensibilities into the blender. The whole thing went down into
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the lore of some of the top tiertorment that my brother
inflicted on me growing up. Right up there with hanging me
by my underwear from the window sill, just high enough so the
tips of my toes couldn't touch the floor or burrito.
Wrapping me in the gym mat and duct taping it so I could not
get out. Thanks Jack.
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I would like to start off by saying I don't know what I've
gone through. I still question myself what I
have been through that night. Until this day, my mind is still
hazy and has a lot of unansweredquestions.
But I guess I will never figure that out, will I?
I live in India. For more specifics, I live in
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West Bengal. I'm not going to share in which
part of West Bengal I live because I don't want people
hunting stuff down. This case was not very
newsworthy anyway. None except the neighbors of the
apartment complex know about this.
In West Bengal, the coming of autumn is marked.
By a festival called Durga Puja.There are 10 days where we
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celebrate the coming of autumn and it's the season where we
worship the mother of all the idols in the Hindu religion
Durga, more famously in India known as Ma Durga.
I Remember Me and my family being super excited and we were
to celebrate these ten days withno studying, just enjoying
ourselves thoroughly since it's the only time in a year where we
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can relax. On the 7th day of Durga Puja, my
mother wasn't really satisfied with the enjoyment we had in our
complex, so I proposed that we could go outside and watch the
other pandals, which are clothedtemples with bamboos made for
the idol to be placed there for 10 days.
We set out at 12:00 midnight. This was the time when people
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came out to see the pandals since they could get really
crowded with people in the evening.
Plus we didn't want to miss our complex functions.
We set out in our car and went to different places enjoying
stuff. It was around 2:00 in the
morning when we entered through the gate of our apartment.
I would like to avoid the confusion that's no such
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Security guard remained under every tower after midnight.
All of them are out of order except for three guards who
would be sitting out dozing off,not doing their job at the main
entrance of the gate. We did have really good
security, but after midnight everything just gets loose.
We entered the main gate to be shooed off by two guards
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sleepily. Suddenly, out of the corner of
my eye, I see a man, an elderly man who was kind of scrawny.
I had a bad hunch on seeing him because his attire was something
that would catch the eye of anybody.
He wore a golden shirwani with white pants, but he had a cotton
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gamcha or a very thin piece of bright red cloth with patterns
which would be used by a lot of people in India to dry
themselves off after a shower. He was wearing glasses and had a
long white beard which made him look even more suspicious.
He was walking by the entrance of our car and I noticed that he
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had his hands behind his back. I could also see that he was
carrying something which was shining under the lamppost that
he was walking through. This sent shivers down my spine
as I told my mom jokingly. Should I be concerned that this
man has a pumpkin knife in the dead of night since the knife I
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thought he had behind his back was a pumpkin knife used
specifically in vegetable shops.My mom paled all of a sudden at
the thought. While my dad started laughing.
My mom shushed him down and asked where I had seen the man.
My dad parked the car in our parking lot as we got out of the
car and I saw the man again walking freely inside the
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complex through the roads which connected each apartment.
Our apartment complex is huge and we had certain roads which
could lead to 1 tower or another.
My mom caught sight of the man and started walking boldly
behind him. We hid behind another car to run
back to our apartment. Once the coast was clear, my
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mother suddenly backed off trackand walked to our apartment.
She met us at the ground floor of the apartment and she
confirmed my suspicions. She didn't want to call the
police because she thought this might go two ways and that we
could be wrong. He might also just be a laborer
in the near construction site and he was just there looking at
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stuff. I had a bad feeling in my
stomach, but since there was no security, we couldn't really
convey our worries to anybody. While we were in the elevator to
reach our floor, my mom told me that the man stood in the
intersection on the road. After a few meters in the road,
you come to the intersection. If you go left, there is the
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back gate where there are no security guards and that gate is
closed after 10:00 PM. If you go right, there would be
more roads, which would lead youto more towers.
The man stood there at the intersection not knowing what to
do and my mom told us to hurry before he could look back.
The most spine chilling part waswhat we learned the next day,
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the 8th day of the festival, that one of the women in the
tower had died. She was 40 years old.
She was fine, she had no complications in her age.
But then we found out that she was murdered in her bed and the
door lock was burnt to ashes. We were told no more details
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until one of her sons confirmed our worst fears.
The weapon used to kill her was a pumpkin knife.