2 Hours Of TRUE Creepy Airbnb Horror Stories (Compilation)

hello dear listeners Welcome To Dark horror Diaries podcast something was left behind in the Airbnb so I love traveling and exploring new cities I'm also a teacher at a public high school which means I'm on a budget and the most convenient time for me to travel is during the summer when school's out unfortunately traveling during the summer is expensive so I try to make things work by using Airbnb to find affordable places to stay in I also try to make some money by offering up the the lower level of my house for people to book

most of the time if I'm out of town I'll mark my space as available on Airbnb hosting is a lot of fun and it's a great way to make money and keep me busy but now I'm realizing that hosting is a lot harder than it looks I'm starting to think I should have just taught summer school like the rest of my co-workers the last time I rented about my Airbnb I was at a family reunion in a city about 3 hours away my guests seemed normal they were a group of six young women who had

recently graduated from college as a host I rarely drop in on my guests unless they are staying for one week or more I'm pretty relaxed I try not to be too invasive and controlling of my guest's experience unless they reach out directly to me with questions or demands these young women were only staying staying for 4 days and 3 nights and I didn't receive any alarming texts or phone calls from them so I didn't get the chance to meet them in person on the last day of their stay I received a text from one member

of the group Grace she was the woman who booked the Airbnb she thanked me for being a great host and wrote my only regret is not leaving behind a thank you card after the guests left the hired cleaning service moved in to tidy the place up but as soon as they arrived they called me to say there was nothing to clean and I could keep the cleaning fee that same day after I returned from the family reunion in the evening I decided to check out the lower unit myself I made my way downstairs and unlocked

the door connecting my personal unit and the Airbnb unit I was shocked there was a dish in the sink but other than that there were no signs that people had been here it didn't make any sense how could six people leave nothing behind not even a sock not even a wrinkle on the bed after rinsing the dish and putting it on the drying rack I wandered from room to room obsessively inspecting and reinspect every single nook and cranny I constantly returned to the living room because it looked a little off to me I wondered if

Furniture had been moved or if there was a lampshade esue but then I saw it I love board games and card games I like to think that most people do too which is why my Airbnb includes a supply of all the classics like Monopoly Uno and clue as well as Love Letter Katen and Ticket to Ride most of these games were bought by me but I've had guests purposely leave a cool card game or two behind for the next guests and it's been a tradition ever since all the games sit on the Shelf in the

living room I slowly walked towards the shelf there was a new addition to the stack of games it was large black box with beaten up fraying white edges I assumed it was a giant version of Cards Against Humanity but when I finally saw the cover a wave of confusion and panic washed over me underneath the Ouija printed on the box a hastily written note was slapped on with tape it said thank you for hosting game instructions put a plate in the sink then turn off all your lights suddenly a soft tapping noise in from the

window beside me from the corner of my eye I saw a figure standing outside the window with their hand to the glass the tapping continued but I refused to turn to look at them without touching the box or sparing at a Second Glance I made my way back up to my unit as I passed through the kitchen I saw the plate sitting in the sink again that was it I bolted up the stairs and into my bedroom I wanted to Burrow under my blankets like a child child but then I realized that I had left

the door separating the units completely open and unlocked maybe the plate was a weird glitch in my memory maybe I didn't actually wash it and put it away maybe it had been sitting in the sink this entire time as for the person outside the window I closed my bedroom door and almost immediately someone began knocking on it it was a very light knock almost like a finger tap my other problem is this there's a family of four who booked my Airbnb for the duration I'm in California and Washington next week I feel like it's rude

to cancel on them now I also want to avoid airbnb's cancellation fee I'm not sure what to do about the family about the tapping about everything does anyone have any advice are there any experienced Airbnb hosts who can shed some light on this I stayed in a cabin in yusi with my family and this woman clearly wanted something from us everyone loves a ghost story but living through one is a lot spookier than hearing one I say ghost because I don't know what it could have really been I can tell you it was some kind

of woman but that is about it it was the summer of 2020 I can't remember if it was June or July but Co shut the world down and traveling wasn't an option unless you had a car and your destination was outside somewhere my family loves the outdoors so we wanted to go to a place we haven't been before that gave us the option for outdoor activites my mom suggested we go to Yosi and take the hetchy trail so we could see where our water was coming from we live in the San Francisco Bay area near

the Crystal Springs Reservoir which gets its water from this part of Yosi and thought it would be fun to see the source she found a cabin located in a nearby Forest on Airbnb so we could be close to the national park and it was very cute in the pictures so we booked it and left a few days later the cabin was even cuter in person my brother and I went upstairs and looked at the two bedrooms one had two twin beds and the other had a queen we figured we would be sharing the room with

the two beds so we entered it and picked which bed we wanted the room was rectangular and had a tall slanted ceiling with a section cut out for a vertical window to the left on the wall opposite from the door in the cutout section in front of the window was a tall lamp standing at about 5' 7 I picked the bed to the left of the door that was facing the lamp and window and my brother picked the bed on the opposite side of the room that was facing my bed that night we didn't do

very much I played Animal Crossing for hours while my brother scrolled through his phone until it was time to go to bed before Summer started my brother and and I got prescribed sleep medication ambient to be exact since Co made life boring this was also the summer that my brother and I were using our dab pens weed if you don't know every night once it hit 10:30 p.m. and the combination of the two made the night very fun for us before we passed out if you don't know what ambient is it is a hypnotic sleep

drug that warps your perception of reality and memories of that night some people eat out of the trash can others cover the countertops in peanut butter the following day we went on the trail and it was amazing but also very hot so we were exhausted by the time we got home we had dinner everything was going according to our schedule and at the end of that night at 10:30 p.m. my brother and I followed our nighttime drug routine and eventually laid down to fall asleep this is where it got weird I turned to my left

so I was facing the wall and away from my brother my eyes were heavy and I was blinking myself to sleep but right before I closed my eyes to fully fall asleep I noticed something dark at the foot of my bed the room was dark but the window had no curtain so there was a bit of light shining into the room from the Moon I opened my eyes a little wider to focus on the shape and saw that it was a tall silhouette of something that had what looked like a head it slowly glided to

the right of the bed and out of my line of sight and I was very curious as to what it was doing I didn't take any of this seriously because I had convinced myself I was imagining things due to the drugs I was using even though neither had ever made me hallucinate before but I still turned my body to lie on my back I didn't open my eyes fully because I was a little bit spooked since drugs are not dark figures in your room are things you see in horror movies my eyes were lightly cracked

open so I could see but closed enough to look like I was still sleeping that's when I looked Direct ly at a black opaque and Faded around the edges thing almost like a shadow you can't see through it was bent over my bed at a 90° angle directly over my face I would say I was making eye contact with it but it had no eyes my eyes opened a little wider and I think it noticed me noticing it because it stood up straight and moved away quickly behind the lamp it did not walk it glided

and as it glided towards the lamp its height shrunk about half a foot and it crouched behind the lamp as if it was trying to hide I stared at it immobilized by fear it was crouching behind the lamp while it grasped the pole and finally I was able to move and decided that was enough for the night and that I just needed to go to sleep so I turned back to my side facing the wall and fell asleep I woke up the next morning and asked my brother if he had seen anything weird that night

I told him about the black figure and his eyes open wide and he said he saw her too now before talking to him I didn't know it was a woman I had just seen the figure of a person like thing I told him everything I had seen before I went to bed and then he told me his point of view he was laying there on his bed that faced my bed and he had opened his eyes to see a dark figure bent at a 90° angle over me next to the side of my bed then

he saw it straighten up and Shrink Glide and Crouch behind the lamp he noticed I hadn't reacted thinking I had still been asleep so he closed his eyes and turned his body away from the lamp trying to go to sleep because it couldn't have been real that's when the floorboard started to Creak keep in mind at this point I was asleep so I didn't hear or see any of this he said it sounded like the floor was creaking closer and closer to him not like footsteps but if there was even pressure making its way towards

his bed he kept his eyes closed and his back facing ing the sounds when all of a sudden he heard a quiet hay coming from behind him he froze and tried to ignore it another yet slightly louder hey was said that's when he could tell it was a woman's voice he was still frozen in fear and didn't move a muscle he waited a few seconds before he heard the drawer of the nightst being played with so he mentally counted down from 10 before opening his eyes and turning to look in the direction of the noise

nothing was there after we had told each other our points of view from that night we rushed downstairs to the kitchen where our parents were making breakfast my brother and I love haunted scary and horror related things so with a hint of excitement along side the fear we told them the cabin was haunted stop saying things like that this place is not haunted and you're not scaring anyone was our dad's response he doesn't believe in anything that is Mystic and Supernatural and definitely doesn't believe in ghosts he is always the first to dismiss these things

and thinks there is always an explanation our mom dismissed our haunted accusation as well with a simple no it's not my brother and I tried to explain more and they weren't listening until my brother said the word woman the second that word left his mouth my mom dropped the spatula she was using for the eggs on the stove and looked directly at us and the color drained from her face this was followed by her saying a woman tried to wake me up last night while I was sleeping my brother and I turned to each other

and just looked at each other in hcock now that our experiences were being confirmed by someone who had not taken any drugs we left the cabin later that day to return home and it was never spoken of again until later in the year when my brother and I tried to talk to our mom about it wanting to talk about ghost experiences she acted like it never happened she chose to repress that memory but my brother and I choose to relive it every now and then by telling people who haven't heard the story before it sounds

much better when we tell it together because our points of view paint the whole picture but to this day it still gives me chills thinking about its eyeless dark face right in front of mine I've had a few other strange experiences but this one was the weirdest since it was originally confirmed by three people including myself I intend to go back to Yosi again but I'm sure as hell staying away from that cabin and anyone near it I'm not supposed to tell anyone this it all started this past November I had a major job interview

in Toronto at a graphic design firm they needed me in the city for a few days as there were two training sessions I had to attend along with this interview because I live in Niagara about a 2-hour driveway I decided that it would be wise just to stay at a hotel so I wouldn't have to drive back and forth every day about a week before the interview I was at my boyfriend's house looking online for relatively cheap hotels that were close to the graphic design firm he brought up that I should go on a website

called Airbnb which is an online trusted marketplace where guests can book spaces from hosts like apartments or houses I ended up end up finding a woman who was going on vacation for about a week during the exact time I was supposed to be in Toronto she was renting out her apartment for $50 a night which I thought was very generous I ended up giving her a call and we arranged the time I would be coming over the apartment building was very rundown the windows looked like they hadn't been cleaned in years and the brick walls

were crumbling and discolored I took a deep breath and considered telling the woman that my interview was cancelled so that I could find somewhere else to stay but $50 a night seemed so perfect compared to hundreds of dollars a night at a hotel I decided that I would at least check out the room before making the Judgment I knocked on the old wooden door with a number 14 painted in gold and waited a few moments before the woman swung it open and greeted me with a smile she was a lot younger than I expected maybe

in her late 20s her voice sounded so tired and raged on the phone I had thought she was at least 50 her blonde hair was tied up into a messy bun that paired quite perfectly with her blue tracksuit with a small hole in the shoulder you made it she exclaimed come in come in she gestured into the room which I am relieved to say was very clean and welcoming it was definitely one of those don't judge a book by its cover moments I've always hated that saying by the way heard it too often as a

kid she gave me the quickest tour of an apartment that I have ever received briefly pointing to the kitchen bedroom bathroom and hallway closet it was a small space but perfect for me her place was filled with vintage collectibles lace elaborate curtains old candle holders I was still examining my surrounding when she interrupted with so you're all set then I'm going to go I barely had any time to speak with her she seemed to be in a huge rush wait I said trying to catch up to her as she made her way out the door

carrying a large backpack is there anything I should know she shook her head slowly locking eyes with me for a few moments too long without speaking she left I made myself comfortable for a little while unpacking and fixing myself a quick snack in the kitchen I had about 45 minutes before I had to leave for my interview I'll skip past the details of the interview because they are aren't even nearly as important as the occurrences that happened afterward it was very late when I got back the apartment building was Pitch Black except for a small

light at the top of the staircase that flickered every few seconds I used the light from my phone to make my way up the stairs to apartment 14 I wondered who else was living in the building I hadn't seen anyone since I arrived it was too quiet it took me a few moments to find the light switch on the wall when I entered the room from the doorway I was able to see into the bedroom the first thing I noticed was that a few of my clothes were sprawled over the floor I quickly kicked off

my shoes and approached the mess I came to the conclusion that I must have been in a rush when I was getting ready for the interview and forgot to clean up I was tired so I had a quick shower and jumped into bed the mattress wasn't very comfortable but I was so exhausted that I drifted right into sleep a loud shuffling somewhere in the apartment woke me up with a startle I sat up and squinted to try and see through the darkness just before I was about to lay back down to sleep thinking it was

just one of my neighbors in their apartment I saw a shape at first I thought it was one of the women's elaborate curtains playing tricks with my eyes in the dark but then it moved just ever so slightly the black shape was tall and lanky it almost resembled a man but it was just too hard to see I inched my arm for the light switch my heart pounding out of my chest just before the light flickered on the figure fell on all fours and crawled inh humanly out of sight what the f I couldn't help

but whisper with the light now on I got up and slowly made my way around the apartment trying to find what I just saw but there was nothing absolutely nothing without anything else I could do I went back to bed there must have been a logical explanation for what happened it was all in my head in the morning I called the woman I must have sounded so strange when I asked her if she had anyone else that lived with her that maybe came into the room last night not expecting me to be there she paused

for a while and then answered with no and insisted she was busy and had to go I proceeded with my day going to my first training session when I came back that night I felt extra cautious I brought a knife with me to bed placing it under my pillow I was woken up once again at about 2:00 a.m. this time the figure was much closer than it was the previous night I gasped so filled with fright that I couldn't move or scream the figure was so skinny through the Shadows I could almost make out the

rib cage underneath the skin it was naked its face lingered in the dark except for two dark circles where his eyes must have been I tried to scream once again but it came out like a loud choke whatever this was it reached its finger up to its mouth with a soft shh the sound was so haunting it sent a shiver down my neck shh don't tell I must have been in such a shock that I passed out because when I woke up it was morning all I could do was cry so confused I had ever

been so scared in my life it couldn't be real I was brought up my whole life not to believe in these things but what if it was actually a disfigured man or what if it was something I only heard of in nightmares I shook my head to rid the craziness I was probably having nightmares because of all the stress I left for my second training session the very last day I had to be here when I came back to the apartment around 10 p.m. I couldn't help but linger outside of the door I stared at

the large 14 painted on the door trying to find the courage to lift my key out of my pocket to open it I told myself that all I had to do was last one more night and I'd be gone in the morning I decided to sleep on the couch in the front room this time this way I was even closer to the front door so I could hear it opening if this thing decided to greet me again it took me a long time to fall asleep I watched 12:00 a.m. 1:00 a.m. 2: a.m. and 3:00

a.m. go by on the clock I must have dozed off because I woke up from a cold breeze it was 3:47 a.m. I sat up on the couch to see that the window was open making the curtains Sway in the wind as I got up to go close it ready to call the police I heard the soft shh behind me I closed my eyes and started to cry shh it got louder and louder I slowly turned around to face this creature it was crouched by the TV just a few feet away from me it didn't

move it just kept its finger up to its lips I feared that if if I reached for my phone to call the cops it would come straight for me please I whispered it was all I could manage to get out and say h don't tell it said and the scariest thing since the first time I had seen this thing was that it started to smile it was smiling although it was dark I could see the shadowed smile that hasn't left my mind in all the months that have passed I remained completely still and it stayed

there for a few more minutes before it crawled past the couch and onto the window sill looking at me one more time before jumping out I jolted for my phone and called my boyfriend I told him everything I was surprised he even understood me because I was such a mess should I call the police I asked frantically the police won't believe what you are saying it's hard for me to even comprehend I think you need to come home you sound sleep deprived and I think it's making you see things my heart sunk even my own

boyfriend didn't believe me it smiled at me I whispered I heard him sigh before saying good night and hanging up the phone I curled myself into a ball on the couch and attempted to sleep but I didn't how could I after that as soon as the sun came up I packed my things and bolted for the door I had tried calling by boyfriend six times to tell him I was on my way home no answer as I opened the door I bumped right into the woman she was was back early I didn't even know what

to tell her when she asked how my stay was look I have to go my boyfriend isn't answering his phone and I need to get home I pushed her aside without thinking just wanting to get to my car why isn't he answering she asked with concern in her voice I wasn't sure why she cared I Shrugged and continued down the stairs I could see my car through the window on the bottom floor I was so close to escaping did did you tell I heard her say softly from her room you told didn't you I got

this handwritten letter with no return address in the mail the other day I Know Dan pretty well but I haven't seen or heard from him in a while his phone is off and no one else who is friends with him has any clue to his whereabouts I contacted the authorities but more time needs to pass before a search can start they told me this is probably a prank but I'm not so sure I haven't actually seen Dan in a couple of months I will invite him to things and he'll accept at the last minute he

usually cancels due to some excuse it gets a little tiresome but I understand he's been having a tough time I'm posting this letter here to see if anyone has seen a listing on Airbnb or any of the other big sites that is similar to the one described here Tia everyone who might have some helpful info I needed to get out life was kind of dragging along its own routine with me as a passenger staring distantly out the window declining a brunch invitation to the most instagrammable Cafe in my city I decided instead to get out

of town for a while I wasn't feeling it lately but thankfully I had a reasonable cure with a long weekend ahead of me I thought that booking a cabin in the woods might be just what I needed I wanted to get into nature before it was too cold and maybe even get in some hiking at the very least I wanted to be able to get away from the internet sit by a big fire and listen to some music or read a book I figured that might make me feel like a person again I was doing

some searches here and there and eventually found the perfect place it was just a few hours north of the Twin Cities I live around Minneapolis and the cabin looked amazing well I shouldn't even even call it a cabin it looked more like an upscale house it was designed in a modern fashion but with a rustic and Spartan feel I felt like I had struck gold since it wasn't really the high season anymore it gets cold pretty early in northern Minnesota it was actually available for an attractive price it wasn't all luck that had inspired my

research though I had actually visited the area as a kid with my family I had fond memories of the town too it was a Lively yet still very local place a good ratio of strong homegrown community that welcomed the Fairweather Lake cabin owners at least that was my memory of it hell for the quality of this house and its price I would have considered half a dozen other towns that are truly God awful dried up places this would definitely do I looked over the listing for about 10 minutes before I confirmed the reservation and ponied

up my credit card number I received a confirmation almost immediately as well as a nice little automated note from the listing owner from the sparse belongings shown in the interior pictures of the house I could tell this was a professional vacation rental it was one of those the keys to the place are in this hidden spot please put them back there and tidy up before you leave kind of deals my reservation was for that Friday so I figured I'd be all ready to go and could take the afternoon off of work that day to head

straight there from the office office I packed the usual weekend Stuff Plus some hiking gear and some miscellaneous camping stuff into my trusty sedan before I finished up on Thursday night I made sure I had all my emergency roadside supplies I'm not exactly a doomsday prepper but I do understand that the woods are nature and nature is unpredictable the answer be prepared the drive up was weird I was glad to skip the usual Friday rush hour traffic but zooming out of the Cities so easily brought me into this odd half Suburban half Countryside environment within

just an hour or so of departure there's this kind of bland acceptance of modernity that seems to be pervasive I felt an unease throughout this portion of the drive the feeling reached its apex when I passed an anti-abortion billboard coming out from a Treeline Forest on either side a strong message to no one in a place where the message and the structure bearing that message don't belong it was kind of a port of all of these bad towns I passed by many of them seeming to only subsist by virtue of proximity to a major highway

places alive on the outside but Hollow at their core a pit stop for gas and some groceries on a deserted Main Street all but confirmed this feeling a liquor store was open though so I grabbed a bottle of whiskey to then it was back to the road once my traveling had taken me off the highway and onto a somewhat twisty County Road leading me to another even twistier County Road closer to my destination things picked up with way less people around I felt like it was no longer obnoxious to turn my music way up it

was easy to pass the time on a single lane road with no one else going in either direction even on a Friday refreshing too a few hours driving really melted into a few moments once I was on this route and it was only early evening before I arrived in into town it did take a little longer than I thought to get out there but I didn't mind from every indication that I could glean as I arrived the town of dampo was doing well there were cheery people walking about the Main Street stopping and chatting with

each other no one looked as if they were in an opioid trance and the buildings were wellmaintained that unsettling decrepit feeling I got from my pit stop and that billboard was vanished replaced with an infectious cheerful optimism people were getting back from fishing at the nearby lake boats towed behind them or their nicer newish looking cars were parked outside the few watering holes scattered throughout the Small Town Center my destination was on the other side of town so I had to drive right through the main drag to get to the tiny road that would take

me to my cabin the map I was sent after I had confirmed my booking showed that the property was actually adjacent to a state Nature Preserve which was great news to me it was remote but I could probably ride a bicycle into town if I had brought one I drove slowly taking in the sights I had a big dumb grin on my face until my eyebrows folded themselves into a hard Furrow right as I turned off the main street I passed by an old shop that looked more like it belonged in a haunted version of

the Shire from Middle Earth than it did in a thriving little town like this it was a one-story Rambler painted two colors with a gray sunken porch and in the front and ratty Confederate flags stuck in at uneven intervals the flags on their own were alarming to see but this was just icing on a turd of a home the porch framed an open doorway leading into a darkened hallway that had an unearthly glow to it it was broad daylight and comfortably warm outside yet from the black smoke oozing out of a crusty pipe chimney on

the roof I could tell a fire was going the sign above the door read Cassie's General Store but a sign on the door opened completely said keep out not the most welcoming both grossed and weirded out by the rare sight of hilb trash in a blue State I moved along quickly the cabin was not hard to find based on the directions I had received I arrived at the house and retrieved the keys from the most obvious fake rock I'd ever seen the sincere unconcern for security here gave me a sense of relief if this very

nice house could sit on this very very nice Hill while being very vulnerable to any Prowler and still remain untouched I'd probably be okay for the weekend I entered through the front door and was instantly taken aback by the sheer beauty of the place the light perfectly cast a mix of homy orange glow over the predominantly wooden finishes with the contrasting Shadows crafting playful patterns on the floor and wall I grinned to myself and set my things down to explore the main entrance opened up into a a kind of foyer which led to a very

open kitchen and dining room on the right on the left was a comfortable living room and by the left wall there were stairs leading up to a couple of bedrooms and an office this place could easily house 5 10 people but it was all mine this time as I toured the property I started noticing small details that displayed an unexpectedly high level of craftsmanship there were handcarved moldings and custom woodwork everywhere nothing appeared appeared to be prefabricated in my adulthood I had only rented Apartments cheap ones from jerk landlords usually and only ever possessed Ikea

furniture experiencing this cabin was like being in an alien land I sat in one of the chairs and my body simply melted into it the comfort of this chair was astounding a perfect fit whoever put this house together had paid the utmost attention to every detail I was grateful for it kicking my legs up on the auto and soaking it in it was so comfortable in fact that I became concerned about falling asleep I figured I would have plenty of time to check out the rest of the cabin later that night for now I really

wanted to get a sense of the surrounding land and the state Nature Preserve just visible in the backyard according to a laminated map of the property that was neatly placed on the kitchen counter if I walked straight for the tree line from the back porch I would find myself in the state Preserve the door to that porch was directly behind the dining room so from where I was standing in the kitchen I only had to look to my right to see this path through the beautifully framed glass wall that the dining room was nestled into

I could see both the porch the tree line and a light path in the grass leading to it I threw on my hiking shoes grabbed the keys my bottle of water and a compass and headed out the back door as I trotted over through the soft grass I took in the air it felt great the Sun was shining warmth on an otherwise cool and brisk day a boatload of tension melted off my shoulders after even just a few steps realizing this I reflected on why being in a place like this provided me with such a

significant amount of relief ironically now that I had spent so much effort getting out here alone I kind of wished I had someone to keep me company I definitely valued the solitude but it struck me when I realized that for the first time in a while I wanted someone else to be around it was kind of a nice change of pace mentality wise I thought of a few people I might have brought up here but I doubt they could replicate the same mindset I was in maybe it was the way the people on the Main

Street I had passed through were interacting with each other people from all different stages of life and actually kind of diverse for northern Minnesota were getting along with each other this was a community and people cared about each other other out here you could see it in the way old buildings were maintained just like you could see it in how the younger residents treated the oldtimers I was thinking about this pretty intently when I realized that I was completely surrounded by trees I kicked myself slightly and noted to myself that no one knows that I'm

out here and that getting lost in the woods within a 100 minutes of dusk is a bad idea I looked behind me and could see the opening where I entered it was only about 50 ft away I checked my compass to see that the opening was right in the middle of the South and Southeast indicators now if I got a little turned around I at least knew if I basically headed south I would be okay I looked around the woods as well it was an older forest with lots of conifers and a sparse shrub layer

this made for easy walking in the daytime it was surprising to me however how dark it was here from the canopy all of the zoning out I had just done helped my eye eyes adjust though I was taking it all in seeing if there were any good clearings or just cool trees to look at when I heard it snap I turned my head in the direction of the sound and saw a dark shadow Dart amongst the trees I tensed up a little as the feeling of being watched slowly crept over me this kind of situation

always presents an odd choice for the most part this kind of event is meaningless living animals tend to dwell in a state nature preserved however being alone in the woods means there is always a chance of being torn apart by an insane murderer with no one ever knowing I have found that the best course of action is to try to confirm the meaninglessness of the forest sound without increasing vulnerability to insane murderers besides the sound and the shadow seemed to be at least 100 yard out it was too far to see and the only reason

I heard it was because the woods are generally very quiet I walked a little further along angling my head to get a better view while keeping my ears open even though I kept telling myself it was nothing I could slowly feel my heartbeat increasing as the blood pumped harder in my ears I looked back south towards more immediate safety but kept moving forward slowly and with each footstep my unease and feelings of being watched increased snap I heard another sound followed by some rustling this time much much closer than 100 yards way a black shadow

raced through some shrubs in front of me my heart started racing and my hips were already turning to run when the shadow leapt out in front of me and landed its four Dirty Paws on a broken log just 5 ft from where I was standing it was a dog a medium-sized black Shaggy Dog I guessed it as a lab Chow mix at the time and I don't think the guess was far off I sighed relief and laughed to myself the dog panting and smiling with its tongue out cocked its head at an angle wondering what

I was giggling to myself about hey buddy I said bending over where' you come from I reached out my hands and in response it snorted to itself and reared up a little it kind of pounded its little paws in the dirt and stared up it barked once at me then turned and started to walk away it took a few strides before sitting on its hunches looking back at me you want me to follow you huh I said as I took a few steps forward the Shaggy mud again barked just once almost in approval and continued

along I could tell this little guy was excited and I figured it was okay to follow for a while whoever's dog this was probably knows the woods well at least I hoped I didn't see a collar but the likelihood of an actual stray being able to survive here and be happy was pretty low besides this dog did not seem lost in the slightest as we stroll along the pooch really started to pick up the pace he wasn't going in a straight line either turning one way at a certain tree and another at a moss covered

rock it seemed to be following its own path from memory I was walking quickly to keep up at first but soon I was at a light jog just to keep him within eyesight it didn't help that it was getting darker by the minute and the thing I was following was a jet black furball hey doggy I called out but it was now running I was near a full-on Sprint before I realized I was running through the woods chasing what could be a wild animal like a madman what the hell am I doing I thought to

myself as I slowed down to stop I bent over with my hands on my knees to catch my breath and all I could hear was my own heartbeat and a faint rustling in the distance as the dog completely escaped me feeling like a crazy person after 15 minutes in the woods was not the ideal way I wanted to start my trip still out of breath I looked around and noticed that I was in a slight clearing the sun streamed through the canopy here casting a hazy Amber Hue on something I wasn't expecting it looked like

I was at the end of a path this was weird usually paths in these State preserves either made a loop or ended at some Landmark paths usually didn't just end in nothing like it did here at least to my knowledge they didn't a small part of me wanted to see where it led but I knew that was a bad idea I had already kind of screwed up by following that Pooch out here if I hadn't gotten my bearings beforehand I might have actually been in some trouble looking ahead the path didn't appear to really lead

anywhere except to more Forest I decided it might be a cool thing to explore later but for the moment I thought it best to try to head back I checked my compass from the combination of my own internal sense of direction and its reading I I could tell that I had taken a lot of twists and turns through this Forest what I thought would be South back the way I came was actually West the path was headed in a Northerly Direction and to my East was the direction the dog had been running I decided to

head directly south to try to get out of the woods as quickly as possible while I was checking my compass and getting myself sorted I thought I heard the dog again this time to my Northeast I ignored the rustling not wanting to get caught in another wild dog chase I walked at a Brisk Pace with a compass in hand at all times not wanting to waste any time I figured I might end up not exactly on the same property as my cabin although the town seemed friendly no one really enjoy strangers trespassing the situation would

be easy to explain but such a scenario ought to be avoided I wasn't stressed out as I hadn't actually wandered very far I was walking to avoid having to go through big clumps of trees constantly checking my orientation to make sure I was going the right way I had circumvented an outcrop of birch when I realized I was going a little bit too far in a Southeast direction as I walked and studied the compass I failed to notice a thick root on the ground and tripped a little falling down on my hands crap I half

muttered half shouted as I picked myself and the compass up better watch out a voice called out from behind me Jesus I Whirled around to see an elderly man with a cane wearing a golfer's cap and dressed in a flannel and sweater vest with cargo khakis and rubber mutter boots standing just a few feet away not quite he said as he smirked to himself amused at my alarm it must have occurred to him that sneaking up on a stranger in the middle of the woods is not a very nice thing to do but he also

must have known that he appeared completely harmless oh sorry I said recover ing from my bewilderment I got a little turned around out here I'm just heading back to my cabin I put the sentence out there and it seemed to be caught by another rustle a few feet away I turned my head to look past the old man but he kept his eyes fixed on me for a few seconds an odd moment passed between us as the rustling got closer and the black dog emerged from behind some ferns the little rascal had the same silly

grin on its face as it circled around the man stretched out and then sat on his hunches beside his owner the old man could see the recognition in my eyes and reached down to scratch the dog behind his ear looks like you met Donnie he said to me he didn't make you chase him did he I wouldn't say he made me I said with a small chuckle but I suppose you could call it that oh well that's hiso all right we don't get too many folks out here and this guy loves people he said grinning

at the dog you don't get a lot of people out here I said puzzled this was beautiful country and I couldn't imagine the cabin I was staying at would suffer from a lack of renters especially with the bustle I had just seen in town well we get plenty of people visiting town and plenty of the cabin people have their friends out all the time on the lake but hardly anyone comes to these Woods most people are warned off by the time they get familiar enough with the town to want to explore it he put this

very plainly well they're definitely missing out even the little running I had with Donnie here was a sight to behold sure don't like getting turned around by myself but I guess I don't mind taking the scenic route home well you know how people are sometimes superstitions and whatnot his plain manner of speaking piqued my interest here in a way I didn't altogether appreciate what do you mean superstitions oh you know native stuff Indian burial ground and what have you we're not too far away from a reservation a few folks from the tribe live here in

town but it's all talk mostly people saying this or that happened and they saw a spirit or whatnot I've lived right next to these Woods for decades it's all a big load of nonsense I don't discourage it though more forest for me he winked at me and gave a smile oh the cabin I'm staying at is right near here here too I checked my compass right over in ooh that direction I motioned to the Southwest oh you must be staying at Jerry's house you're a lucky guy we're next door neighbors if you count a few

hundred yards as next door he extended his hand i'm Al this here's Donnie I shook his hand relieved to discover a simple reason for this weird talking Oldtimer to be out here nice to meet you Al I'm Dan and and nice to meet you Donnie last time I let you get the best of me the dog snorted as I spoke spun in a circle and sat down again well that was why I was out here even though it's a bit late for the bush this preserve was so close I Fain some neighborly enthusiasm well you

had a decent idea but you're wrong about one thing I looked at him surprised Again by how direct a northern Midwestern could be must come with age you're not quite in that direction and he stepped a little closer to me you're more in that direction he motioned a few degrees difference from where I had previously indicated you see that big tree just ahead of us I nodded yes it was pretty distinct you walk to that tree and head directly Southwest from there you'll be back at that house in no time I nodded in approval hey

thanks so much Al as much of a sight as it is now I really don't want to be out here without a light for too much longer no problem and it was nice to meet you if I don't see you again I hope you have a nice time here in dampa Jerry's house is just a work of art too isn't it he said knowingly I nodded an emphatic yes thanks again keep that little guy out of trouble now I gave a wink to the dog who let out a half bark of farewell as I started

heading for the tree I had taken a few steps when a question occurred to me hey Al I turned around to my surprise he was still standing there completely motionless staring at what once was my back I paused for a few seconds with a look of surprise on my face before realizing I was now rudely staring at him I saw a path just about 10 minutes north of here any idea where it goes or where it starts I asked hoping to glean a fragment of last minute local knowledge he regarded me for a moment with

a faint expression of doubt this here is mostly State preserve there aren't any paths that end within even a few miles of my property line and those are all clearly marked if you saw a path out there it must have been made by the rain or something else if you see it again I wouldn't go planning a day around it or nothing he left it at that I kind of just blinked at him for a few seconds trying to process two in congruous ideas in my head okay well thanks again for the directions have a

nice night I turned quickly and walked away trying to ignore the needles in my back that I could feel his eyes shooting something else he had said that and the superstitions he had mentioned gave me a queasy feeling that I didn't really feel like addressing at the moment by the time I made it to the big tree I had made up my mind to forget the strange interaction and just enjoy my weekend I checked my compass again and it was easy walking to the Southwest it only took me about 15 minutes to see the opening

in the trees again when I emerged from the woods I was only a few yards from where I had entered though it was only a short Excursion into the forest I felt like a lot had transpired I was ready and eager to kick back and relax in these sweet digs I had for the weekend I got into the house took off my hiking boots and sat back again in the leather chair I let out a deep sigh and closed my eyes for a moment the leather of the chair gave way to an almost floating feeling

I woke to complete darkness with that awful feeling of having no idea where I was it took me a second to gather myself my first instinct was to grip the arms of the chair as I gasped in surprise at my lack of surroundings with no light pollution in the surrounding area waking up with no lights on means waking up to complete blackness once I felt the incredible softness of the chair's arms memory returned to me another sigh of relief I sat there for a moment now feeling rested I felt silly and overly skittish I talked

with my neighbor who was a nice old guy in the woods that was literally all that happened to me since I had arrived I got up carefully and extended my arms until I found a wall grasping in the darkness it didn't take long to find a light switch which I flicked on the living room lit up and was as lovely and comforting as it was in the daytime I finally noticed the simple stone fireplace on the opposite side of the wall and made a mental note to try it out later I checked the time and

to my surprise it was after midnight damn I said aloud the travel must have really taken it out of me I returned from my stroll in the woods around 6 it was surprising that I slept so long but it must have been due to the quiet of the environment as I paced around my stomach growled I was hungry having only eaten lunch that day I was overdue for a nice meal luckily I had some basic groceries in a cooler bag with me I went around the house and figured out which lights corresponded to the switches

on the wall when I had set the right late night cooking mood in the kitchen I fired up the oven I found a nicely seasoned cast iron skillet in a Cupboard and took out a pair of steaks and a a russet potato from my cooler bag the cuts of meat were still pretty cool so I opened the packaging and set it out on a cutting board seasoning the pieces of beef and letting them warm up while I got the potatoes ready as I was cutting the tubers up to boil I like them mashed I thought

I heard something outside like the pat pat of hooves or something must be a deer I thought to myself and kept cutting I had put a pot of water on the stove to keep the diced potatoes was in when I heard it again it had a definite loping pattern to it and sounded like an animal it was pretty loud though it must be a deer I thought to myself I put the cast iron on the stove and cranked it high pouring a little oil into sear the stakes I was too hungry to care until I

heard the click clack of hooves on the back deck I turned my head to the right and saw what looked like the legs of a deer disappear to the left side of the glass wall accompanied by the same Hooves on wood sound I stood there for a second listening I couldn't hear anything else doubt crept into my head slithering along like a slug I wasn't entirely sure that what I had just seen were deer legs I thought I had seen Hooves and I thought I saw a leg the leg however looked white the queasy feeling

crept back into my stomach the nervous butterflies were flipping around as I walked toward the dining room to put lights onto the back deck I turned on the lights and the whole porch was illuminated there was nothing there I walked over to the door and slid it open peeking my head outside I looked left and right it was an overcast night with no moon or Stars the feeling of being watched came back there was nothing but cool air and darkness it's probably a deer I said aloud sometimes just making a statement out loud can help

if you're feeling delusional I closed and locked the the door to the deck but left the light on this day had been weird enough and the only thing that was keeping me from being tired again was how hungry I was I decided to make sure the front door was still locked the keys were safely in my pocket I approached the door but thankfully I could already see the dead bolt was secured I wanted to make sure the door knob was locked in place just for peace of mind I reached for the switch on the handle

when I heard three loud Knocks buckets of ice replaced my blood as a cold wave washed over me from my ears to the pit of my stomach and down to my toes I was locked in place staring at the doorknob a few seconds passed in sheer Terror as I thought of the nearest thing I could use to defend myself no one should be knocking on anyone's door in this kind of a place at this time of night without a severely good reason the knife was on The Cutting Board and my bag was right next to

the door my hand was still a few inches away from the doorknob I considered reaching out further to fully lock it when I heard the voice I'm helped can you please lost it sounded like a female voice but the words made no sense I have played this Frozen memory over in my head dozens of times and I'm sure this is what I heard I didn't move and I didn't respond a few hours went by but it couldn't have been longer than a 15-second pause I heard two Click Clacks on the stone outside the door and

then another three knocks softer this time please scared I'm so need lost I'm help it was a little more desperate this time and even more nonsensical as soon as this event repeated itself a little bit of clarity came to me hearing it the first time I thought I was losing it now I knew two things whatever was on the other side of the door wasn't my friend and I wasn't moving except to get a weapon I didn't want give any sign that I could hear them but somehow I knew it could sense my presence so

I stood as still as possible feeling my heart pound in my chest while trying not to hyperventilate my eyes widened as I heard more clacking of hooves on Stone it sounded like it had circled around itself taking five or six steps the dog next to its owner from earlier in the day flashed in my head for a second three more knocks urgent harder than the first time don't door you can worry the open now I started shivering a little as I heard this it was in a different voice a middle-aged man's voice if I had

to pee I might have my throat was bone dry and I was heavily considering going for the knife on the one hand this confirmed my suspicion that what I was dealing might not be human on the other hand it made me wonder if there was more than one of them I didn't have much time to ponder the door frame shook as the Intruder pounded on the door six times I kept still feeling like I was free falling into the bottomless pit ofo my gut only I can cut through the woods you can't as these sounds

entered my ears I let out an audible gasp then choked on my own throat it was a child's voice a little boy as I tried to recover it responded to my tell by pounding and scraping on the door seemingly trying to get in any way it could now that it knew I was there I fell to my knees in shock just staring at the door with tears in my eyes like a dazed idiot the whole house seemed to shake as the door was nearly beaten down out of nowhere it all came to a halt all

I could hear was an unending string of intermittent screeches as it clattered away from the house I caught a glimpse of it through a side window as it sprinted away the screeching pounding in my ears whatever it was it was very large I was doubtful a knife would have helped me much if it had gotten through the door and still the screeching continued I was certain it must have been some otherworldly entity to be able to project sound at such a distance until I looked over at the kitchen and saw smoke billowing out of the

pan on the stove the smoke alarm was going off I sighed relief and almost smiled to myself I never expected one to save me like that I had been visualizing the exact position of the knife while standing there and tear but my eyes had been locked on the door the entire time I let the alarm go on for some time hoping it would keep that thing at Bay I removed the pan from the heat with a PO holder of course and carefully poured more oil in the pan to cool it all down eventually I turned

off the oven and the alarm I wasn't hungry anymore I switched on a ceiling fan and every light in the house I then went back and locked the doorknob switch and proceeded to lock every window I could find I found the only bedroom with an inward swinging door and placed a chair from the dining room in it I thought about calling the cops but I didn't have service and there was no landline or internet in the house what would I even tell them I was thoroughly freaked out but I knew I could only do so

much I resolved to leave at first light even if it was just for some Motel where there was less chance of being torn to shreds by some unknown voice changing behooved creature of the night I kept the knife beside me and stayed in the bedroom with the door secured by the chair I didn't feel safe but I did feel like I had exhausted my options for maintaining safety if it could get through all this I probably was never meant to make it anyways I brought a journal up here too to write down everything that happened

as it's fresh in my head and to give me something to do instead of sleeping I can't sleep here knowing that thing is out there as I said I've replayed what happened at that door at least a 100 times in my head I was close to drifting off around 3:00 a.m. when I finally realized what got me so twisted up the last time I heard it speak or whatever it was doing that sounded like human voices only I can cut through the woods you can't it was in a child's voice it sounded at first like

it was a warning and I thought I was hearing it because it had seen me earlier trespassing in its territory but as I heard it for the hundredth time in my head I realized I had familiarity with both the words and the voice someone had said that to me before when my friends and I went on a road trip down to the Winchester House our first stop was an Airbnb in Crescent City so we could stay by the beach for a few days I wish we hadn't gone there we were having fun but our first

mistake was when my friend dared me to kiss the the creepy looking bird painting I think that's why he became so attached to me the next day we noticed strange scratches and bruises with no explanation my friend and I kept feeling sick but only when we were in that room especially when we sat underneath the two unnerving Bird Paintings I'm feeling a little sick while writing this and I are natural born semi Clairvoyance we don't have much experience but we can feel presences and have a unique connection to this world and the next our friend

be believes in ghosts but has no level of spiritual ascendancy while our friend Kay doesn't deny that ghosts are real but has no strong belief in them and isn't afraid of them whatsoever Kay was more of a witness to all of this we kept getting random urges to write things I kept a pan and notebook with her at all times but sometimes we ditched the notebook and just wrote on our arms we'd scribble random things while staring ahead blankly writing letters words and symbols we piece together some details about what happened to the ghosts the

spirits in that house included Penny an ex-lover of Greg age unknown Greg who was 18 and the older brother to Eliza and Jennifer Elizabeth who was eight and Jennifer who was 14 and the adopted sister of Greg the painting I kissed how Greg that was mistake number one mistake number two elct that painting mistake number three talking to them that night we held a seance after drawing random symbols became too difficult to decipher we decided to try another way of communication that is suggested you blindfold someone and play Loud static in their ears loud enough

that they can't hear what you're saying or even that you're talking allowing spirits to use them as a vessel and Puppeteer answers and words I won't elaborate on the entire Seance but Eliza communicated mostly through a Greg communicated mostly through me and Penny communicated mostly through b we later figured out that towards the end of the Seance Jennifer lied to us and communicated with us under the name of another spirits in the Airbnb conditions and rules they said to take off the sheets and pillowcases and leave them in the laundry room mistake number four when

we left the house we for got to take off the sheets when we stayed in the house we made it very clear that the spirits were not allowed to follow any of us home if you are unaware in certain banishment rituals you leave a place and don't look back if you look back it tells the spirit that you still wanted in your life when we got in the car we realized we forgot to take off the sheets so we had to go back into the house Greg Eliza Penny and Jennifer followed us home at first

they seemed nice and didn't seem to be doing any harm but we never trusted Penny Penny seems to be stronger than the other spirits and isn't fully human anymore edging closer to something else we held a seance in my house and got more information about the spirit's relationships and filled in some of the blanks on the previous events later that night a different Spirit approached me and told me not to trust Greg Eliza or Penny I told the three of them that they weren't allowed in my house I haven't felt alone in my room since

then nothing extraordinary or special but I stayed in this Airbnb once that just had a really bad Vibe it didn't start off that way and nothing of note really happened but I still felt uncomfortable while I was there after the first night especially if I was alone we accidentally took the keys with us after leaving and I had to be the one to drop them back off at the building they specifically requested I leave them up on the third floor kitchen table I remember walking through the threshold and feeling like I had walked into a

room where everyone was staring at me it was thick and awkward and uncomfortable I wanted so badly to leave them somewhere on the entry level floor but the Airbnb was expensive and not booked in my name and I felt like I had to do exactly what the building owner asked I ran up the sets of stairs and backed down and literally the entire time I felt as though there was someone close behind me knowing their presence made me uncomfortable but followed anyway in the 4 days I was there this 5minute period was the worst I

stared at nothing but my feet the whole time I genuinely feel like if I reached out that something would have responded the energy was so obvious and present I swear it was in the air almost like an electric charge I couldn't sleep through the night's most nights on the first night I woke up and felt like something was standing in the room it sounds like nothing but I know I was being watched I could feel it even though I couldn't see it and strangely I could point out what area of the room I felt like

it was in despite not seeing it I didn't feel threatened but I did feel uncomfortable and then eventually the feeling passed I still didn't sleep but I did feel feel like if I wanted to I could bushw walking alone was always one of my favorite things to do I found it almost meditative the headyy scent of eucalyptus warbling Birds darting through the scrub and watchful Wallabees peering out from between bankas I loved the grally crunch of the path underfoot and the feeling of my limbs stretching and strengthening with each step and craved the guaranteed Solitude

that came with a solo bushwalk barring the occasional closed mouth smile nod and cheery afternoon mate to fellow Walkers a lot of people prefer to bushw walk with friends or Partners but I have four housemates a m who calls me several times a day to check in and a stressful job as an introvert heading out bush with my backpack chalk full of snacks and a good book to read was my idea of perfection rain or shine the goblin Lake Track was a chance discovery on the way to the grampians for my birthday weekend last summer

I had booked a bowy Airbnb and planned to spend the days walking blissfully and the evenings enjoying a pub dinner and a well-deserved pint pulling a siki I drove up on Friday and about halfway there I turned onto a Scenic Winding Road and stopped to stretch my legs it was unusually overcast and humid that day the heavy clouds promising rain and a cooler evening I leaned against my car smiling at cows grazing lazily in the fields on the right side of the road and then turned and faced the dense wall of bush to the left

side of my car a sign almost buried by tea trees and gums caught my eye it was slanted and clearly very old Goblin Lake circuit walk 62 km was etched into the wood in ancient flaking white paint instantly I was excited Hidden Gem walks are often the most beautiful I had half a Servo sandwich and a water bottle with me and I decided that I'd give it a go a quick Google search of goblin leg came up with nothing and it didn't come up on maps either at the time my excitement grew I wondered if

the walk would lead to a lake or merely a dried up Dam I didn't mind either way Keen to see something new I pushed through the scratchy branches behind the sign and was relieved to see an overgrown p as I set off I turned back to see the thick wall of trees had swiftly enveloped the clumsy Gap i' made as I pushed through them obscuring my view of the road and my car I had been walking for only 15 minutes or so when a weird kind of ominous feeling came over me I realized I felt

unsettled and on edge which I'd never felt on bushw walks before the path was clearly disused and I was used to the trees being more varied in their density instead the tea trees and gums seemed to become denser as I walked like two dark and unmovable walls on either side of me in spite of the warmth and humidity of the day I felt a little cold in the quiet shade and wished I'd worn long sleeves normally walking relieved my anxiety but as I continued to navigate the narrow unkempt path I felt my anxiety grow taking

up residence in my chest cavity I couldn't pinpoint why walking on overcast days promising rain was not unfamiliar to me I had done it before often much closer to evening and on paths equally desolate perhaps it was the silence that was wigging me out I thought as I noted the total absence of the usual rustling and chirping sounds of birds and insects it was odd my footsteps seemed to Echo and I was hyper aware of every sound I was making my shoelace brushed my ankle and I jumped at the touch clearing my throat and laughing

out loud to reassure myself I felt a drop of rain glance at my cheek and looked up the sky was darker than it had been before and I checked my phone it was just after 2: p.m. but it felt later I resisted the urge to look over my shoulder even though something about the density of the Bush I was pushing through made me feel vulnerable watched and claustrophobic I quickened my pace and laughed again the sound ringing bright and false the rain falling heavier now blurred my vision and I stumbled landing on my hands and

knees my phone flying out of my pocket and hitting the path with a worrying smack I sat down wincing as I brushed loose bits of rock and bark from my gray knees and looked around trees seemed to Circle me entirely and with a sinking feeling I realized that I wasn't on the path anymore I'd been walking so quickly and so caught up in my own head that I must must had veered off as I reached for my phone I tried to steady my breathing this had happened before and was inevitable with narrow tracks that were

almost desire paths barely distinguishable from the surrounding Bush I was sure I hadn't been walking for that long so I couldn't be too far from where I'd started and I decided I'd use maps to head back to the car but my phone screen had cracked badly when fell greeting me with wavy green and purple lines like TV static as I went to unlock it I stood disorientated pocketed My Broken Phone pushed back through where I assumed I had come from and scanned my surroundings desperately for the ochre tinged gravel of the path that's when I

heard what sounded like the snap of Twigs underfoot hello I said trying to keep the Panic out of my voice hoping a kind stranger with a working phone and Band-Aids was close by I waited but heard nothing else I continued To Tread carefully in the direction I thought had come from with an overwhelming sense of relief I found the path after about 5 minutes of navigating Fallen branches and large rocks I hesitated as I saw that the path looked different wider and straighter than before my uneasiness grew it was definitely a different path so where

the F was I I wished I knew how long I'd been walking for I had expected the walk take me an hour and a half at most including break still I reasoned the path was better than aimlessly trekking through the bush it would lead somewhere and the walk was a circuit so even if this was the wrong way it should loop back around to where IID started the rain had stopped but the sky had darkened considerably and as I walked I went to check the time before remembering my phone was broken Jesus I said to

myself I forced a smile and thought about how I'd laugh about this with my co-workers at Thursday night drinks for the first time ever on one of these walks I wished I'd brought a friend I walked for a long time feeling fatigue blossom in my calves and a headache set in at my temples I paused to pull out my water bottle leaning against the cool solid trunk of a gum as I swigged I heard someone laugh from the bush behind me a soft lilting laugh I froze for a moment and then spun around but no

one was behind me could it have been a bird call I felt unable to respond or shout hello I'm lost the laughter tinkled through the trees again and I felt my stomach liquefy I breathed in and out telling myself it was a bird you're okay and then I saw movement in the trees and stumbled back it was a man and he stepped gracefully and silently onto the path I noticed that he was tall and thin dressed in a bright red wool jumper oh thank thank God I exclaimed laughing too loudly hi sorry I'm lost and

I've stuffed my phone I fell do you know how to get back to the road like the main road from where this walk starts I said he stood still and didn't respond and I took him in he was smiling at me very wide his lips stretched back over his teeth he wore short pants that were red too a darker shade than his jumper and clownish Red Sneakers his long long graying hair was pulled back in a ponytail and he had nothing with him no bag or water bottle he laughed softly and I was sure it

had been him I'd heard laughing before he stood motionless for perhaps a full minute I want to help you he said slowly and his voice sounded wrong almost childlike I swallowed as he slowly raised his arm to point in the direction that i' been walking in I cleared my throat aware there was something very wrong with this man do you have the time are you heading that way too he laughed again and I wondered if he'd blinked since we'd met on the path his eyes were off very dark and large he nodded and remained standing

smiling at me with what seemed like too many narrow teeth I swallowed again my heartbeat in my throat ears throbbing with each thump I need to get home so I'm going to keep walking I said shakily I walked backwards a few steps and he remained completely I fought the instinct to run after a beat I turned and continued quickly along the path my body was sounding every alarm I needed a bathroom and I needed to scream I was sure when I looked back he'd be behind me silently approaching and so I resisted the urge to

turn my head I walked and walked the sky seeming to darken with each painful stride after what felt like an eternity the flat path dipped down and I saw a clearing up ahead I pounded towards it and as I reached it I spun around bracing myself to see the red man but he wasn't there I turned back to the clearing and with a jolt realized I was standing in front of goblin Lake it was a slate gray expanse of stagnant water jarringly pale against the dark Bush that surrounded it a shape I couldn't make out

bobbed in the water near the bank on the other side of the lake and I swallowed hard spinning around scanning for the Red Man dusk had set in and I squinted to see that on the other side of the large lake there was a sign I numbly began to walk around the lake towards the sign my head pounding I felt sick and laded the lake emanated a strong Briny and familiar scent that I couldn't put my finger on as I got closer I realized the dark shape was a gray kangaroo dead it must have drowned

I recoiled shuddering I was overcome with the horrible thought that I would never make it home and trudge aimlessly through these trees forever the comfort of a warm bed hot chips and television I craved with every ounce of my being felt so far away when I reached the wooden sign I was met with crude slashes of black paint that spelled Goblin Lake was dug by hand a new wave of sick heat washed over me this place was so weird I wanted to go home I turned wearily back to retrace my steps around the lake to

the path and froze the Red Man was standing just in front of the path I'd come from he waved almost in slow motion and his arms seemed to be longer than before he laughed softly but loud enough for me to hear and then started walking down the bank of the lake and waiting into the water I felt Frozen to the spot as he waited deeper and then started to swim across towards me with powerful strides of his two long arms adrenaline coursed through me and I ran back around the lake repeating don't look back as

a mantro with each ragged breath I didn't hear him running after me but the blood rushing to my head roared so loudly that I couldn't hear anything at all with every step I seemed to stumble scraping my arms and legs as I bashed against the trees on either side of me it was getting too dark to see clearly but I kept going occasionally glancing down and around to see that I was still still on the path my lungs burned and I stopped for a moment to try and catch my breath I realized with a shaky

SOB that the path seemed to disappear into the scrub a few Paces ahead of me I looked around wildly tears stinging my eyes I slowed to a power walk my entire body vibrating with anxiety and pushed through the trees falling forward into another clearing I blinked and saw a large tent in front of me it was oldfashioned ornate and very red there was something odd about the clearing it was a perfect circle that gave me an uncanny feeling as I stood I took in with mounting dread that carefully arranged in circles around the tent were

shoes pair after pair of different shoes in many different sizes women's men's and even children's all the pairs were walking and hiking shoes much like the ones I was wearing I felt like I was floating above my body as I skirted the edge of the clearing not taking my eyes off the tent and too scared to look behind me I pushed through the scrub and started running when I reached the other side I was again sure I'd be running through these trees forever when somehow finally I reached the road and began to cry like a

baby my car was nowhere to be seen and I was sure I had emerged from the bush onto a different road than before but in spite of this I had never felt such intense relief in my life I looked looked back at the wall of trees and collapsed I lay on the road for a few breaths my body totally spent but aware I needed to get as far away from here as possible I managed to heave myself up and began to limp down the road in the direction of a couple of old farmhouses I could

just make out in the distance as I got closer I could see that one had lights on in a window and I approached terrified of who would be inside but aware I needed to get help immediately I braced myself as I shakily knocked at the door and an irrational part of me was afraid that somehow it would be the Red Man Would greet me with his awful smile to my relief a confused older couple opened it alarmed by my presence I explained to them somewhat incoherently that I was lost and needed help eventually they passed

me a mobile phone before locking their screen door and looking at me with concern I rang my mom because hers was the only number I had met memorized my only other option was to call the police and try to get them to help me even though they'd probably think I was nuts I gave my worried mom the address of the couple's Farmhouse to pick me up and take me home it was nearly 900 p.m. the couple Dave and Cynthia were kind enough to let me wait on their Veranda as my mom was about an hour

and a half drive away while I waited for her I sipped a cup of tea and nibbled a biscuit as I calmed down a little bit I told Dave and Cynthia in more detail about Goblin Lake and the red man that's bloody weird Dave said and I nodded distracted by how much I desperately needed to use the bathroom but aware they probably didn't want the Panic Stranger On The Veranda with bloody knees and scratched up arms to come inside Cynthia had been very quiet as I told my story but when my mom finally arrived she

came outside and walked me to her car we've got a daughter not much older than you we used to Camp around these parts with her all the time during school holidays Dave won't remember this but one morning we woke up and all our things had been moved around in the night nothing was stolen but it was all definitely rifled through I thought it was ratbag kids or possums but our daughter had said she had seen a clown man dancing around our campsite at night laughing we thought she was just dreaming or making it up but

it made me uncomfortable and I always made sure we booked proper campsites after that I wonder if you met the same man today my mom peppered me with questions the entire journey home but I barely had the energy to respond dread had made a home in my chest and I had nightmares for weeks where I was back on the banks of goblin Lake the red man swimming towards me I'll never bushw walk again I've been doing some thinking after reading some of these stories and wanted to share one of my own experiences that I'm unsure

about when I was younger I lived in a cottage in an extremely rural part of Cornwall in the UK until I was 10 I am 22 now and had a horrifying encounter to this day I am puzzled as to whether it was a dream or not basically I was sleeping in the bottom bunk of a bunk bed I'm an only child but I like to change from time to time and I was trying to get to sleep but couldn't suddenly I saw a dark figure poke its head over the top bunk and start staring at

me intensely I froze and my heart began to race seconds later it threw what looked like a barrel at me I felt it hit my head thrashed in my bed and hit the wall at the end this is probably the most scared I have been in my life I then jumped out of bed and ran to my parents room down the corridor I could hear footsteps on the floorboards behind me chasing me I could see stars from how hard I had been hit similar to when you are about to pass out and your vision goes

all blurry and fuzzy for years I have put this down as sleep paralysis or something along those lines but recently I have been having doubts I had so many other less intense experiences in that house that I have been wondering whether it was haunted for example I remember once my dog being a extremely afraid to enter the living room of the house my mom being very spiritual asked a witch to cleanse the house she told the witch no information just that she wished for it to be cleansed the lady stared at my mom and said

your dog is afraid I can sense it he is not going into that room right we were shocked how did she know this she then explained after doing some investigating that there was a ghost of a large black cat who used to reside there and that my dog was quite afraid of it and so it made sense suffice it to say after her work was complete my dog entered the room straight away and was content being there for the rest of his days there were many more weird occurrences but my hands are tired ask me

anything my wife and I own a coffee shop in a building we bought that is on the National Historic register it's a building from the mid 18 800s and it has a basement and an Airbnb above we have heard Footsteps in the past and my wife has had some freaky things happen while they're alone we even had the local Ghost Hunter group take readings but they had no clue of what they were doing I am the last to believe in this stuff I always laugh at Ghost Hunter shows on TV because of how much fabrication

is used us but this has me baffled and my wife a bit scared the following video occurred at around 5:50 a.m. 10 minutes before my wife gets there we have three security cameras there with two of them pointing right at the register and four computer screen only one of the cameras caught this we also have a camera at each entrance two of them and none of those registered an entry at that time I thought this would be the best place to show this and get some ideas I moved to Scotland when I was 18 after

being kicked out of my parents' home for personal reasons I had family all over the US and due to the situation I decided it was better to leave the country and just have a fresh start in a new country I was going between Canada and Scotland initially but I eventually settled on Scotland as I had much heritage there among other reasons I got a home to rent in Glasgow off of Airbnb for an oddly cheap price but I figured why not now I'm not a very superstitious person hell I'm not even religious but the strange

events that occurred while I stayed in that house still haunt and baffle me to this day despite occurring a little over 3 years ago it was a two-story house in the outskirts of Glasgow very old as well likely built late 1700s early 1 800s somewhere around that time immediately after arriving I noticed something a bit off there was a doggy door to the basement but no to other door in the house no exterior doors nothing only the basement at first I didn't think much of it another thing to note when I rented the house I

was told I was not allowed in the basement or in the attic I figured they had their personal belongings there so once again did not think much of it the first two nights there were as normal as they could be obviously with a house so old there were the creeks and moans of its settling into the foundation however something else to note the interior doors of this house did not have locks on the door knobs themselves rather they had dead bolts that you could use initially I felt no reason to use the dead bolts however

I considered it due to another odd Quirk about the house I suppose because the door kn were so old perhaps rusted or something they did not close properly so when the AC turned on the difference in air pressure would cause the doors to Creak open on their own even while shut I heard the Creeks the third night they began at the base of the stairway making their way up it sounded animal likee more specifically like a dog you see I had a dog in my childhood and I knew what they sounded like the padding of

their feet followed shortly by their nails scraping or tapping on the floor the footsteps came right up to my door before turning around and going back down something to mention real quick I do freelance work so because of that I am very nocturnal I tend to wake up at around 7 or 8:00 p.m. except on rare occasions I usually go to sleep at anywhere from 6:00 to 9: in the morning but 3 years ago my sleep schedule was not as off with me waking up at around 2 or 3 in the evening and going to

bed at around 1: or 2 in the morning I woke up on the fourth day and did a bit of freelance work played some video games watched some YouTube but at the end of the day I was still a bit unnerved from the previous night so I went to the pub and got a drink well several drinks I came back after the sun had set at around 1: in the morning I opened the front door and saw the doggy door to the basement moving back and forth as though something had just gone through it I

immediately slammed the door shut so hard in fact that I later had to pay for damages where the glass in the door had cracked I called the people who had rented me the house and questioned them hey so I've just gotten home and I think there might be something living in the basement did you by any chance leave a dog here is there a stray that lives here is there another doggy door that leads into the house that another animal could have possibly used to get get into the basement no but if you think there

is something in the basement we could send someone over tomorrow to check it out in retrospect it probably wasn't the best thing to call them at 1: in the morning but there is nothing I can do to change it now anyways I opened the door again rushed over to the fridge got a drink and some chips from the pantry and went back out to the porch sitting out there until the sun came up the whole time I was out there all the way until the sun rose it felt as though something were watching me through

the window as soon as the sun rose I went upstairs and off to bed waking up at around 6:00 at night since I had gone to sleep so late I started doing freelance work on my laptop and around 8 just as I was about to go make something to eat I heard movement downstairs and assumed it was the people they had sent over to check out the basement although it was quite odd that they would have been there so late as someone who was antisocial I did not feel like talking to anyone so I waited

for the noises to go away playing some video games until then after the noises went away I opened my door to go downstairs and cook something to eat by this time it was about 11: to be honest the noise probably stopped a bit sooner than that but I was very immersed in the game I was playing anyways as soon as I opened the door I had the feeling that I was being watched I had the feeling that I was in danger I made my way downstairs and the closer I got to the door from the

basement the more intense the feeling got this time however the doggy door was not moving I quickly made something to eat burning it a bit and made my way back upstairs as soon as I turned the light off the feeling got about three times as intense then I heard Creeks on the stairs behind me I ran into my room and slammed the door shut for the next few hours I did some work for my freelance customers and then played some video games and watched some YouTube then around 2:00 in the morning I got in bed

I was quite exhausted from previous events that night I heard the Creeks again again they came up the stairs down the hall and right up to my door then the AC turned on I froze hardly breathing the door as expected creeped open the room room got a lot colder and I felt once again as though I was in danger The Creeks came into the room and I could hear the nails tapping on the wooden floor with every step it went on like that for what felt like hours eventually I fell asleep waking up just as

the sun was setting this is where a routine that I have even to this day began before the sun set fully I gathered food water snacks everything I'd need and went back up to my room bolting the door door shut as I had woken up later than usual I stayed up until about 3: doing freelance work and playing video games then I went to bed once again the footsteps made their way up the stairs and down the hallway towards my door then the door creaked open the AC had not turned on this time I had

also bolted the door shut I did not understand I sat there Frozen in place once again until the sun rose I woke up the next day at 9:00 immediately I went over to the door to see what had happened apparently the bit that screwed into the wall and held the bolt in place had come out of the wall with the bolt it appeared as though the screws were stripped I called the people I'd rented the house from and they said that while they didn't see why it was that important they would send someone over to

fix it I think they sensed the urgency in my voice because that night at around 10: someone arrived at the house to fix the bolt the one they replaced it with was quite heavy duty which I appreciated that night I once again collected all of the food and water that I would need to make it through the night and bolted the door shut this is where I began to stay up throughout the entire night as I could hardly sleep with the noises and terrifying tension in the air that came with the darkness of night I'm

not afraid to admit that I did and still do have a drinking problem and this is all also where I decided to stop drinking for a week to see if it would help calm my nerves somehow even with my headset on listening to music playing video games in general just distracting myself from the night I was still always able to hear the Creeks the tapping of the nails on the wooden floor throughout the week I began to hear new things as well on the third day I heard panting outside my door I'd already felt as

though I were going mad but I feel as though the fourth night might have been the breaking point that night it stormed hard the wind howled outside the whole house almost seemed to shake there was lightning and thunder and the rain was pouring down but none of those things scared me more that what I heard over the storm that night barking howling a dog that sounded like it was in an immense amount of Anguish I didn't dare open my door that night for hours the howling of a dog is all I could hear over the

wind and the rain and the Thunder no matter how loud I turned my music up I could still hear it at one point I took my headphones off that was a mistake the second I took my headphones off the power went out the only thing emitting light was my laptop screen and the lightning that occasionally lit up my room I pulled the covers up and sat there dreading when my laptop battery would die I turned off the music and sat there listening to the sounds of the storm all throughout the night it continued my battery

reached 1% at about 3: in the morning and then the power came back on I fell asleep just as the sun was Rising the next day the wind and the rain remained although the Thunder had subsided when I went downstairs in the morning I found the source of the howling one of the windows in the kitchen had been left slightly open but I knew even though I tried to convince myself otherwise eyes there was no way the noise I was hearing now could could have been mistaken for the other howling the howling of the dog

that night just the wind remained and I still heard the howling I made a very stupid decision that night I went outside of my room to find the source of the howling as I made my way down the hall all the hair on my body stood up on end I moved down the stairs but I already knew where the noise was coming from the doggy door was flapping in the wind madly and the howling was coming from the basement I stood there staring half expecting the noise to suddenly stop but it just went on and

on have you ever heard a dog die the noise they make that howl of pain and Desperation I have my neighbor had a dog that got hit by a speeding car the noise I heard from the basement and the noise I heard from that dog were one and the same I ended up sitting on the couch that night you see I didn't feel in danger anymore the air was filled with this sense of pain not anger and something was keeping me from leaving once the sun came up I called the owners of the house giving

in to my Superstition I asked them if their dog had died in the house they said yes but it had died peacefully of old age in the backyard they asked me if I'd been hearing noises around the house and when I confirmed it they told me that other people had also heard those noises but not everyone only certain people then they told me about the dog that died in the basement part two apparently their grandparents had a dog that had gotten its head stuck in some ropes in the basement and having been unable to escape

it ended up suffocating to death as soon as I learned this the tension in the air grew intensely it was as though this thing that had been tormenting me somehow knew that I now knew how it had died when I got off the call I sat there for a moment contemplating everything that had happened it didn't make any sense why was this dog after me what was so different about me in particular that I was deserving of this torment had I done something wrong then I remembered the first day I had gotten there nosy me

I'd stuck my head through the doggy door to try and see what was in the basement at the bottom of the stairs all I could see was a bundle of rope the feeling in the air in intensified further those were the ropes the dog had died in I don't know how I knew but I did that night I had a dream in it I couldn't see much but I felt a great pressure around my throat and I heard small voices laughing no matter how much I struggled to free myself from whatever bound me there was

nothing I could do the laughs only got louder and louder then I woke up the room was pitch black dark Moonlight was the only source of Light which seemed Odd as the sun was usually still up when I awoke but I suppose as I hadn't gotten any sleep the previous night it was only reasonable that I would have had to sleep that night then I realized something my door was wide open and I didn't remember going to bed I suppose I must have gotten drunk that night and forgotten to bolt the door shut but something

told me that wasn't the case then I felt something pulling on my arm immediately I pulled my arm away from the side of the bed and looked over but there was nothing there at least that's what I originally thought then I noticed the shadow it was very transparent but it was of a dog it was so faint it was hardly there at all something told me I should be afraid but I felt no fear instead I knew the dog wanted me to follow it I got out of bed and I heard the Creeks leading over

to the doorway I followed them and kept kept following them down the hall and into the guest bedroom as soon as I entered the bedroom I froze the attic door was wide open at this point I began to feel fear but it was as though I had no control over my own body I took several steps towards the attic door and no matter how much I struggled against it I kept moving forward I put all my effort into resisting it but there was nothing I could do I gave in at first I could see nothing

in the Attic then I turned around there was a single window Shining Light onto a cardboard box with an old leather book sitting open on top of it I approached the book and opened it Jack died today but what Mom and Dad don't know as I did it Jack was always mean to me barking at me whenever I came home licking me when I didn't want to be licked he even bit my hand once a chill went down my spine I kept reading his head was already stuck in the ropes and I could have freed

him but he needed to learn a lesson he needed to learn to be nice so I tightened the ropes mom and da were crying but they should have thanked me Jack was a bad boy and needed to be learned to be a good boy mommy always said when they die here they just go to the farm in the sky where they can have fun all the time but I don't think Jack deserves the farm in the sky I won't say the actual name at the bottom but we'll just put a substitute in here because the

name is very important later let's just go with Olivia Campbell although it was a far less common name than that I then woke up in bed the sun shining it was about 3: in the afternoon it seemed odd to wake up at such a normal time for me despite all that had happened the next few days were uneventful then I invited a friend to stay over as soon as he arrived the tension in the air Rose dramatically Andrew must have sensed it as well because he seemed at least a little but uncomfortable we played some

video games for a bit went out to the pub came back at around 11:00 played some more video games and then went to bed at around 1 I didn't tell him about anything that had happened in the house obviously I didn't want to scare him and I was hoping he wouldn't notice anything and it would just show me to be paranoid however when I heard him open his bedroom door at around 2 and make his way downstairs I had a feeling something bad was about to happen sure enough I heard a clanging of what sounded

like metal on tile a gasp and then the shattering of glass I leapt out of bed and rushed downstairs to see what had happened he was standing in front of the fridge a broken bottle of Scotch at his feet staring at the basement door it was open keep in mind that previously there had been a pad lock on the basement door it was now on the ground through the basement door I saw what looked to be two pairs of eyes staring right at Andrew what the bloody f is that he whispered I don't know I

replied then I heard the growling it was a low gutteral growl like that of a wolf hunting its prey all my hair stood up on end but I knew it wasn't threatening me I'm out of here said Andrew before running for the door I followed and shut the door behind us there's a wolf in your basement and that door opened on its own what the f just happened he shouted I don't know my house has been like that lately but I've never seen anything before this just heard it I explained look we should just stay

at my house for the night cuz it's not haunted I agreed so we made our way over to his house something to mention is that Andrew lived with his parents who also lived with his grandparents at the time when we got there everyone was asleep so we went off to bed but I was awoken at about 8: in the morning by shouting Andrew didn't really get along with his family which is part of the reason he moved out only 6 months after all of this happened anyways I went downstairs to the kitchen where his mom

had cooked breakfast don't remember what it was but I do remember it was quite tasty then someone called on the house phone and asked to speak to Olivia Campbell immediately a chill went up my spine it wasn't a common name and somehow I knew it was the same one that had written that entry on that journal in the Attic who is Olivia Campbell I asked his mom motioned towards Andrew's granny I looked at her and something in her eyes told me that she knew what I knew I handed her the phone and left I forget

the excuse I made but there was no way I could stay in the same house as someone who had been a part of all these problems that had come up to me it all made sense now why the dog was so aggressive towards Andrew it probably knew that he was related to Olivia part three coming later I'm never using Airbnb again I decided to treat my wife to a vacation for her birthday we don't have kids have a moderately stable income and love to travel she told told me to surprise her she only had one

requirement hot tub well finding a place within 2 weeks on Airbnb with a hot tub seemed to prove its own challenges I checked Savannah Charleston Myrtle Beach Virginia then I thought to myself Tennessee the Great Smoky Mountains all those cabins always have a hot tub so I went ahead and did a search on Airbnb and found a place with near Perfect reviews a few four stars here or there but no complaints I booked it while at work and kept it a secret until we drove there we arrived and passed through a beautiful gate we drove

up a driveway that was 2 m long it took us roughly 15 minutes to do that because of all the blind curves when we punched in the code and walked in we fell in love the place was absolutely gorgeous I popped down on the couch and took off my shoes while she went to use the restroom before we dipped in the hot tub I reached for the TV remote and noticed a paper under it I figured it was a tub guide or something but it wasn't greetings guest we hope you enjoy your stay in this

cabin for the best possible experience please follow these rules closely we asked this to ensure your safety and survival what please step inside before midnight under no circumstance do you walk outside be sure all doors are locked if the man the hood approaches speak to him only if he speaks to you first don't leave food outside cabins normally say this because bears but you don't want to feed them before you leave in the morning please leave us a positive review doing this will give you the code to leave the gate in the morning I didn't

tell my wife because well she is a scaredy cat I didn't want to upset her and I kind of figured it was some joke housekeeping left still I'm a pretty paranoid person we hopped in the hot tub and have a couple beers and I must say it felt amazing being butt naked in warm water staring out at the moon and stars over the mountain made me feel Serenity but I noticed it was 10 till midnight not trying to scare my wife I asked her if we could go inside and make some cookies before putting on

a movie as we walked in I locked the back door and casually checked the front we baked the chocolate chip cookies and put on some kung fu movie before she fell asleep on me I was on the border of slipping into sleep when I heard knock knock knock I walked up to the door and peered out of the side window Mr boils I know you're in there please let's have a chat aren't you going to answer Mr boils I can smell you through the door and I Can See Your Shadow casting through the window I

finally made sense of what was knocking and it was a very pale man in a dark robe I couldn't see his eyes but I could see his cracked old mouth what what do you want from me a Mr boils how very smart of you to answer back I'm not really much for small talks so let me cut to the point I'm very hungry and so are my children may we come in no sir you cannot oh what a shame how about you search in the freezer and give me some of that hamburger meet the owner

left okay 1 second you'll leave me alone after this this I asked you have my word you can even Slide the tray through the mail slot I walked up to the fridge and opened the freezer door a note was in there with no meat if you want to keep your hand do not slide him any food oh no I walked back and told him I had nothing for him tisk tisk Mr boils the hooded man walked away and my wife woke up and asked why I was so pale before I could think of a lie

the chanting started I peaked out of the window and saw what seemed to be about eight smaller hooded men they were circling our cabin enchanting I couldn't make it out because I was shaking so hard Mister oils I'm back I brought company kindly open the door and this can all end all of them started pounding on Windows and Doors my wife was crying hysterically my senses overloaded I grabbed the handgun I laid on the nightstand and put it against my head I just wanted it to stop all the noise I was hypnotized right before I

pulled the trigger all the little men did a high-pitch screen I fired the round after my hand jerked and it went through the TV and was stopped by the chimney my wife had tackled me and covered my ears she knew how bad noises bothered me and wrapped a blanket around us both I don't remember falling asleep but I remember the sun being up and I saw where mud foot prints were stomped all over the car I wrote a positive review and received the code to leave so if anyone here is planning on going to the

Great Smoky Mountains be wary of the hooded man they hunted at Night My Airbnb story it happened in March 2020 when everyone was staying home I've never told anyone this story it was a chilly but not terribly cold day in insbrook Missouri I was chopping wood when I received a notification on my Airbnb app that a family of three was trying to book my cabin for the weekend all I had to do was hit accept but I was actually temporarily living at my cabin I had decided to get away from things in the city with

Henry my Great Dane since we didn't have much going on my work had shut down for 2 weeks just like the rest of the world I declined their request W and sent a note explaining the situation I felt a little bad about declining it to be honest they seemed like a pleasant Bunch with a cute profile picture of the kid and parents smiling in front of a Scenic landscape almost instantly the dad sent a follow-up message asking if they could stay in the spare bedroom I found it odd they knew I had a spare bedroom

but realized I was being paranoid the whole place was listed in great detail on the app with lots of pictures showing all of the rooms I looked at Henry who was chasing squirrels around the outdoor fire pit what the heck I thought so I hit accept little did I know my peaceful weekend was about to take an unexpected turn the family arrived Friday evening in a green pickup truck they were friendly and polite and I gave them a quick tour of the cabin pointing out the key features and amenities they seemed pleased with the place

and expressed gratitude for for the warm hospitality and flexibility of booking the room what brought you guys out here I finally asked the dad hunting suppose that's all right with you we have our license and everything he replied hunting I found it odd but I didn't want to come across rudely but the truth is I had always known inbrook to be a safe and quiet part of Missouri fishing sure but nobody hunted sure yet as long as your guys are careful I finally said to him always the dad said as the night set in I

settled down in bed with a book and Henry enjoying the peace and quiet of the woods the truth is the family was super quiet I almost couldn't remember they were in the cabin with me after an hour or so of reading I began hearing strange noises coming from outside at first I thought it was just the wind rustling the leaves but the noises grew louder and more intense it almost sounded like a howling I cautiously made my way to the window peering outside into the darkness to my shock I could see three figures running through

the woods in the far distance they were moving with Incredible speed leaping over obstacles and chasing after something maybe I'm Dreaming I thought to myself but it only took a moment before Henry was rustling awake and stretching in bed excited to see me and ready to play maybe something is going on I didn't know what to think or do I looked at Henry again who was fully awake now I was worried he may have to go pee outside I told him to stay in bed and went to make sure no one left the house with

three big animals out in the woods but when I got to the spare bedroom where the family was staying the door was a jar so I pushed the door open and peered in the family was gone a shiver went through my body one so deep signaling to me I was in trouble I quickly went back to my bedroom and locked the door I gently pet Henry and got him to fall back asleep I stayed up until morning watching outside secretly trying to confirm my suspicions and around 5:00 a.m. the three figures emerged from the woods

and came back into the cabin I could hear their voices saying to stay quiet to each other I thought about calling the police but I chose not to it's only until Sunday morning I thought the next day I kept a close eye on the family observing their behavior and movements well at least I tried to they didn't come out of their bedroom all day then Saturday night the same thing occurred the noises the howling I tried my best to sleep through the night I didn't want any trouble after all maybe I was going crazy but

around 3:00 a.m. I heard a new noise it woke me up but Henry slept through it it was some sort of singing almost a lullab in a different language with more noises and fewer words I carefully got up and looked out the window the three Figures were standing around the fire pit swaying in rhythm with each other burning something it looked like some sort of animal carcass I watched for a while as they loaded more and more of them into the fire dozens I don't remember going to bed that night but I must have the

next thing I remember is Sunday morning and how quickly it arrived and how awkward it was Henry and I went for a walk outside I couldn't help but take a detour to look at the fire pit as Henry chased a squirrel or two I investigated the remnants of the pit but it was clean completely spotless as if it had been scrubbed with cleaning chemicals I couldn't believe it the family slept in finally emerging from their room just after 2:00 p.m. fully packed we had the most amazing time and our daughter has officially become a woman

the father said to me breaking the odd day and a half of Silence between us that's great I gulped I'm glad you guys enjoyed it you have something special here in these Woods the mom chimed in I don't believe you'd believe it if we told you how special it is amazing I said you'll have to come again I was just trying to bring this odd weekend to a close but the three of them all nodded enthusiastically they thanked me again for the lovely stay and left a generous tip which I was grateful for but as

I watched their pickup truck disappear into the distance I couldn't help but wonder what Secrets they were hiding and what was so special in the woods around my cabin they just reached back out to me last night they want to rent the same bedroom over the same weekend in March it will have been 3 years since that weekend I don't know what to say should I let them come back I went into the wrong Airbnb they say the houses on the street were haunted I didn't believe it of course Halloween was around the corner and

surely Airbnb owners were just using that old Legend as a marketing ploy to get people to stay at their haunted houses regardless I just needed the cheap place for a quick stay for a few days supposedly this one was haunted by a demon who drew in victims but could only come in if invited there was a lock box in front of the address I was to stay at holding the house keys to the Airbnb inside swiping in the lock code I clicked it open to receive the keys and a note printed in bold red Stern

letters only use the property that you are assigned to failure to do so will result in injury I'm guessing injury meant Financial injury harsh but understandable the property was a duplex with a guest home in the back maybe the owner had too many residents trash up areas that they didn't pay for the Airbnb duplex that I had hastily chosen looked old the paint was dull and Faded by the sun dirty and peeling a bit underneath where paint had peeled some of the wood was cracked and slightly splintered from Decades of enduring the weather but mostly

it still looked like your average house that was about 40 to 50 years old the other duplexes and houses on the old Street looked roughly the same though some looked better than others depending on how often the homeowner gave the house a Fresh coat of paint at least this duplex looks structurally sound despite being a single building it was clear that the two different owners of each side of the duplex cared for their own half with different levels of care one side was much dirtier and worn even from a distance I could see that the

window screens behind the glass were torn and shredded probably from years of use use and never replaced the blinds on those windows were broken and missing a few panes each making that half of the duplex looked like an abandoned Den one of the windows had spiderweb pattern cracks all over it like someone had thrown a baseball at it but didn't quite throw it hard enough to straight up blow out the window it was meticulously glued back together the other side of the duplex looked normal there seemed to be a significant amount of dust on the

door and window sills outside but as far as I could tell at least on this one the Windows window screens and blinds were intact and whole basically it just looked less like a creeper house I was so glad that I was staying in this half of the duplex and not the other sketchier half it still felt a little creepy to be staying next to the more worn down duplex half but at least there's a wall between us I took out the set of keys that had been given to me by the owner with the tag

of the house number on it 1 6006 I guessed that the other Keys might lock the back door or the fence door I walked up to the door of the nicer half of the duplex and stuck the key into the door's lock but it refused to go in cleanly and jammed itself I pulled it out and tried again with a little more Gusto no good I jostled the key back and forth up and down trying to get it to click into the keyhole with still no luck I tried forcing it even harder then tried a

Gent hand maybe it was just rusted inside from lack of use I yanked the key out and examined it perhaps the key was mislabeled this is 1 6006 right I took a step back and looked again the big lettering on the side of the door proclaimed that this half of the house was 1 65 I backed up some more to the front of the whole duplex to take a look at the other half of the house sure enough it was the worn down half that was 1 66 this had to be a mistake my heart

was beating fast just to check I went to the other side and tried the labeled key in the door lock it slid in like butter I turned the key and with a clean click the bolt snapped open to unlock the door no way I cautiously cracked the door open and peered inside almost afraid that something might jump at me from inside the house at any moment or and I would appear from the dark room within the inside of the house was dark but I could see the outline of a torn up couch a living room

lamp and a dirty rug the doorway to the kitchen was Pitch Black the floor as far as I could tell looked clean like someone had swept up though I was incredibly creeped out by my impression of this half of the duplex by this point and immediately shut the door and locked it back up there had to be a mistake there was no way that 186006 was the Airbnb that I was supposed was to stay at my mind started to wander away for a second and I imagined myself staying in 1 6006 I pictured myself washing

up in the bathroom and seeing a shadowy figure in the mirror or walking around the house and suddenly the lights shutting off and doors closing behind me sure this was just paranoia planted by watching too many horror movies but staying in what was clearly the creepy half of the house is one of the foolish ways that characters in horror movies die in the first place I wasn't going to star in my own horror movie thinking quickly I hurriedly pulled the set of keys out again out to examine them they were all the same shade of

dirty Brown and different shapes and the rest of the keys were unlabeled but there was one key that looked very similar to the label key what if I ran back over to the other side of the duplex to 1 18 65 taking a deep breath I gingerly put the unlabeled key into the lock and tried turning it one click it went in without resistance success I couldn't believe it actually worked I breathed a sigh of relief it was just an oversight by the owner in hindsight it would make sense if the owner had possession of

both sides of the building he probably just forgot to take the extra key off and make sure to give me only the keys that I needed so that way I couldn't access the whole house satisfied I lifted my luggage and made my way into the house I flicked on the lights the inside of this half had intact furniture that looked Barely Used the rug was unstained but looked unused and the kitchen was Bare and hardly stocked while I was taking stock of the house I sneezed it was pretty dusty and many of the surfaces had

a thick layer of dust evenly spread across it must have been a while since the owner managed to get someone to rent his Airbnb and it was probably why he had to drop the price so cheaply the room certainly didn't look bad I sat down on the couch to test it and it was firm and springy like it had only been lightly used it felt like those firm couch cushions that you typically get at hotels as I walked around the house the Furnishing was pretty bare and neatly organized though everything was horribly Dusty as if

it hadn't been used in a very long time in different circumstances I would have sent a complaint to the owner for how dusty everything was but today I was just glad to not have to stay in the other half at w66 it's amazing what a little perspective can do for your gratitude I took a quick tour of the house ending in the foyer where I noticed a neatly placed note that I didn't see earlier in my excitement unfolding the yellowed notepad paper scratchy writing greeted me you're not supposed to be here what was this actually

addressed to me flipping the paper over it it was clear that this was all that was written on it without context it made no sense perhaps a previous visitor left this here or maybe the owner meant it as a warning to trespassers ignoring it I folded the paper away and threw it into the trash bin in the kitchen I yawned that was enough excitement for today I went to bed it was a Dusty bed as expected with a desk in the corner but no chair for the desk throwing my suitcase open I sleepily washed up

in the bathroom before taking out my clothes for the next day I dreamed that I heard footsteps near my bed walking back and forth back and forth it didn't seem to stop then I heard a thud I woke up from my deep sleep with a start blury eyed I sat up the illumination from the street lamps outside set a glow in the room even through the mental fog I didn't see anything or anyone I went back to sleep not 15 minutes later later I heard the footsteps come back again they paced then suddenly stopped at

the foot of my bed near the closet my mind snapped awake but because I wasn't sure if this was a dream or reality I kept my eyes closed and just listened carefully and strained my ears to make out any noise that I could there was a pause of Silence then the sound of the closet door sliding open slowly the hairs on my neck stood up and I feared that there might be a person or something standing at at the foot of my bed I didn't bother fully unpacking so I didn't put anything in that closet

earlier and I knew there wasn't anything in it staying as still as possible I contemplated what to do should I ignore the sound should I peep one of my eyes barely open and check I cracked my eyelids as little as I possibly could in the dim lighting I saw the blurry outlines of the room the frame of the door the short nightstand with an old style lamp sitting on it the cracked opening closet the foot of my bed frame oh [ __ ] the cracked open closet I have to go check it I must it's

not like I can sleep without double-checking it however with no weapon in hand in the event of an intruder I slowly slid my hand over to the nightstand where there was a ballpoint pen with a notepad the pen is mightier than the sword they say I sure would prefer a sword if I had one bracing myself I sprung out of bed shoving the closet door open ready to proactively stab the Intruder but I was simply greeted with nothing in the closet just empty clothes hangers gently swinging from my forceful handling of the closet actually I

was wrong there wasn't a person in the closet but there was something else in deep black paint blazoned in large sweeping letters on the back wall of the closet the words I warned you my face went cold and stopped me in my feet for a few very long seconds seconds of Silence with breath abated what the f eventually my brain reminded me that I must start breathing again so I flipped on the lights immediately but ever the rational person I remembered that yes Halloween was just a week away and this must be a Halloween joke

to play on the haunted Legends of this street I sighed and thoroughly checked the rest of the room for any signs of an intruder and returned with empty hands I left for glass of water to wash away the jitters my bones and let it call me a loud thump and a crack sounded from the hallway leading up to my room what now ARG hurrying back to the bedroom I stepped on shards of glass in the darkness and realized the room's light bulb must have shattered somehow F even in the dark I could see thin dark

streaks of Blood on the bottom of my foot where I had stepped on the light bulb sad remnants but the cuts were not too deep with my other foot I realized I was standing on something soft that didn't feel like carpet my clothes squinting in the dark I realized what looked like an explosion of my clothing in the room as if my luggage decided to fling every piece of clothing all over the room there were pants and shirts on the nightstand on the lamp over every surface of the floor on the bed by now I

was understandably fully freaked out and my blood was running cold in spite of my heart rate beating like I was running a marathon above the head Board of the bed giant black painted letters were scrawled on the wall you're too late I screamed involuntarily and ran out of the room headed to the front door however as I hurriedly tried to force the door knob open with my sweaty hands it was locked it was then that I realized there was no lock from the inside as if it were meant to keep things inside a voice came

from behind the door on the outside of the house it sounded like the Airbnb owner I warned you I told you to stay only on the side of the house I rented you would you let me in how was he here and how did he know but regardless if he could just save me from this hell hole yes yes help me please I can't get out from this side open it from the front suddenly the voice of the owner changed to become garbled throaty and twisted th ank you for inviting me in a blackened clawed

hand appeared in the side window and I knew I made a terrible mistake thinking fast I saw a Dusty vase on the coffee table and grabbed it slamming it at the glass of the window if it was between being trapped in this demonic house or tussling with the demon I had a better chance outside not caring for my safety I climbed out of the broken window as the glass shards gave me bloody lacerations just as I was exiting the demon was opening the door to come inside where it stopped following me presumably because it was

now stuck inside without an invitation out adrenaline pumping and no car keys I sprinted down the street until I went around the corner to a cross street and was able to get help by pounding on doors I'm writing this to you now from a hospital bed I contacted some priests to come and check out that home since then the Airbnb listing has been taken down and in fact several other houses on that same street also got their Airbnb listings taken down I guess in the modern world demons move along with the times and Technology just

as we do I think my Airbnb guest is a mermaid I rent a two-bedroom apartment in the city and have been using the spare room to host Airbnb guests for the past 6 months or so it's technically not allowed by my body corporate but I figure what they don't know can't hurt Hur them plus it's nice to have the extra cash when you're a broke college student like me I've definitely met some weird people through Airbnb since I started doing it there was the man who insisted I clapped three times each time I entered the

apartment the woman who left all these takeaway containers of weird rotting meat when she left and the elderly lady who tried to get me to marry her grandson back in Russia but I think my current guest might be the strangest I think she might might be a mermaid before you ask I don't mean I think she's a full-time mermaid I've seen her walking I've seen her legs I'm not an idiot I just think that maybe it's something she becomes or transforms into maybe when she's in water I don't know I sound crazy even writing it

I got a message a few weeks back letting me know the room was going to be booked out for a full week I was excited as this meant less sheet washing for me to do and I could pretty much chill for that entire time I received a few questions from the girl who was booking it but they were pretty normal things how far was I from the city what was the public transport like did I have a bath she arrived yesterday morning and everything was good she was a gorgeous 30-some with this beautiful flowing hair

like too beautiful like she's in a Pantene commercial beautiful whatever hair jealousy aside she was really nice and lovely she was from Italy and didn't speak a lot of English so I felt kind of awkward trying to explain things she had a small suitcase with her and I showed her to her room before giving her a tour of the house she seemed happy with everything and said she was going to have a quick bath to wash the plane off her so I went into my room and did some studying 20 minutes later I heard her

leaving the bathroom which was a relief as I really needed to pee I went in and that's when I saw the first weird thing I was sat on the toilet when I noticed these almost see-through Leaf looking things on the floor next to the bath I picked one up and it was super lightweight kind of like an insect Wing plus it had this beautiful multicolored Shimmer to it I figured it must have been something in her clothes that had fallen out when she'd gotten undressed and scooped the remainder of them up and popped them in

the bin she spent the morning in her room I heard her pottering around in there she was probably unpacking her suitcase since she was going to be here for a week then around lunchtime I hear her go into the bathroom and turn on the bath again okay sure maybe she's just rinsing something off nope she runs the water for ages enough to fill up the tub and take another bath whatever some people just want to have a bath to relax after the one to clean I get it I headed out in the afternoon and she

was still in the bath she'd been in there for at least 2 hours but whatever I figure I'll go get dinner with a friend and then she'll be out when I get back I get back from dinner and she's in the living room eating sushi I say hi then head into my room to drop my bag off when I come out she's putting the packaging in the bin and then she heads back into the bathroom closes the door and I hear the bath running again at this point I'm just so shocked and angry because like

she's using so much water and that's just rude I wish I were one of those people who was good with confence frontation because I would tell her it's not cool but then she doesn't seem to speak much English and I don't want her to give me a bad review anyway I went to bed early because I had an exam the next morning when I woke up she'd gone out for the day there was more Sushi packaging in the bin seriously who eats sushi for breakfast and those weird scale things were in the bathroom again I

head off to my exam and then when I get home in the evening the bathroom door is closed and I can hear her splashing around in the bath well not really splashing but you know those bath water sounds that kind of echo around those and then and this is where things get kind of really bizarre she starts singing she has this heavenly kind of Soulful voice and I get up and walk over to the bathroom door to hear it better but it's weird because like it felt like I wasn't in control of my body like

I was being compelled to get closer to the sound or whatever I don't even know it was weird she stops and then I'm just sort of standing there with my ear against the door looking like an idiot so I just grab my bag and head out of the apartment and now I'm sitting in a 24-hour coffee shop writing this up and I'm not really sure what to do from here what do you guys think I should do am I just totally overthinking all of this please any suggestion would be greatly appreciated part two first off

I just want to say thank you so much for all of the respons I got on my last post I've done some reading into sirens and it seems that you guys might be on to something I've taken your advice and bought some industrial grade earplugs that I've now started wearing around the house which makes me feel a bit ridiculous but I figured if they were going to keep me from drowning then I was happy to give them a shot I know a lot of you have said I should just get away from my place while

she's here but I have exams on right now so I can't really do that I don't really feel comfortable taking a photo of her or setting up a hidden camera in my bathroom that's just a bit too creepy for some reason I can't seem to get my phone camera to work it's super weird anyway back to my mystery guest yesterday was pretty uneventful the woman's name is ARA by the way so I'm going to start referring to her by name ARA was out all day yesterday and then I went out last night so we didn't

cross paths there were more scales in the bathroom but that's about it today however was super weird I had my friend Ben over so that I could take my mind off my guest a bit and so that I could maybe stop procrastinating and study a little he's doing the same degree as me and we have an exam coming up ARA was in the lounge room so he and I sat in my room and I explained to him the situation as best I could he looked at me a little strangely when I insisted he wear the

pair of earplugs I gave him but other than that he sort of just Shrugged it off that's the good thing about Ben he's super chill he kept fiddling with the earplugs in his ears over lunch saying they were uncomfortable we'd been eating in my room and once we were done he got up to take the dirty plates out into the kitchen he'd been out there for quite a while so I called out to him to let him know he didn't need to wash them up just sit them next to the sink and I'd wash them

later I took an earplug out to hear his response and that's when I heard the water sloshing sounds coming from the bathroom and ARA's voice as she sung in that weirdly hypnotic way I cursed under my breath and ran out of my room to find Ben with his head submerged in the kitchen sink soapy bubbles skimmed his ears and bits of food were stuck to his neck his earplugs sat abandoned next to the sink I was running on shock and Instinct I pulled him out of the water and lay him down on the kitchen floor

tilting him on his side as I seen people do before in movies I was yelling his name and slapping his face as tears began to well in the corners of my eyes I had no idea what I was doing I ran back into my room to grab my phone to call an ambulance and when I got back he was coughing and spluttering I swear I've never been so happy to see someone throwing up on my kitchen floor I asked him if he was all right but he didn't seem to hear me he stood shakily to

his feet and I saw that his eyes were kind of glazed over like he was sleepwalking or something he walked back to the kitchen sink and in that moment I knew he was going to try to drown himself again I jumped on his back and scrambled to get the earplugs into his ears dropping one on the ground in my panicked State quickly I yanked the remaining plug from my ear and inserted it into his 2 seconds later as he was ducking his neck to lower it into the water he froze W his eyes were w

wied confused like he' just awoken somewhere unfamiliar then he started coughing the coughing fit lasted a good 10 minutes before he was able to speak when he did he told me he'd taken the earplugs out because they were uncomfortable he said the last thing he remembered was hearing a beautiful voice singing and then he woke up 2 in from the dishwater with my arms laced around his neck dangling like a baby monkey once he'd recovered enough he said he was going to head home to have an early night before the exam tomorrow it should be

illegal to have exams on a Saturday just saying I'll be surprised if he's able to sleep cuz I know I sure won't be sleeping tonight I guess it might be a bit easier when you're not sharing an apartment with someone who's clearly capable of having some weird kind of power over people though I've been hiding out in my room with earplugs and since Ben left but honestly I don't think area's singing has that strong an effect on me at least not comp compared to what happened to Ben some of you mentioned that Sirens are able

to hold great power over men but not so much women and maybe it could be something to do with that either way though I'm still creeped out I'm also scared because I think she knows that I know about what she is something about the looks she's given me since that first time I heard her singing just gives me the Shivers she seems too calm like she's thinking of doing something about it but then that could just me being super paranoid either way I'm not going to have any more friends over until she leaves she checks

out on Sunday morning so I'll make my final post after that if anything further happens wish me luck for my final exam and for avoiding being drowned by a sea demon part three last week I was skeptical of the whole paranormal and mythical creature thing but after what happened on Saturday I can honestly say I'm a Believer Friday I stayed out of the house most of the day studying at me I just felt more comfortable being there than being in my apartment with area around I came back in the evening and surprise surprised the bathroom

door was closed and I could hear her splashing around in the bath I kind of overslept a bit on Saturday morning and ran straight out of the house to get to my exam on time anyway that's just a bit of a rundown to catch you up to Saturday afternoon when the weirdest thing I've ever experienced happened ARA was out on the balcony lounging on a chair reading a book I'd seen her like this when I went out to get a glass of water from the kitchen before heading back into my room I was on my

laptop aimlessly scrolling through Facebook relishing in the fact that I had no more exams when I heard it it was a shrill scream that sounded kind of like the noise a cat makes when you accidentally stand on its tail except not there was an echo to it that sent chills down my spine I sat bolt upright and my laptop beside me I wasn't sure what to do should I call the police should I go out there was I going to be one of those dumb girls in the horror film who goes to check on the

noise and then gets killed then I heard another sound it was like strained breathing mixed with a high pitched shriek I succumb to the tug of compassion for a living thing in need getting up and and opening my bedroom door what I saw thrashing about on my balcony was something that will haunt me forever that image you have in your mind of mermaids being these beautiful creatures with colorful Tails smooth skin and flowing hair take that image crumple it up and throw it in the nearest bin ARA was on the ground or at least the

thing wearing ARA's dress was on the ground I approached it stopping short so that the glass door to the balcony separated us its arms were covered in shimmering silver scales that reflected the light so harshly it was difficult to look at without feeling a burn behind them my eyes at the end of the arms were webbed fingers each with a sharp Claw at the tip its tail if you could call it that began below its waist and looked like two legs crudely forged together with the heels touching it was as if the skin had been

melted and fused together to resemble a ballet turnout its face had large cracks across it which opened up further oozing small trickles of blood whenever it opened its mouth to show its fangs beneath each eye was a series of gills which were flexing and straining to breathe without success water was dripping from the plants on the upstairs neighbors balcony falling onto the creature's back comically it was wearing ARA's red dress and necklaces which was the only way I could tell it was her that and the pure human look of fear behind her eyes the shrieking

was fading and ARA was obviously dying I stood Frozen in place as I watched her struggling she never took her eyes from mine as she thrashed about her tail smacking violently against the concrete then something clicked I realized she needed help and I was going to have to be the one to get her it before I consciously could register what I was doing I was out on the balcony leaning down to pick her up her arms were covered in a light slippery slime which made her difficult to lift but I ended up managing and carried

her into the bathroom as she wheezed and spluttered I sat her in the bath and turned on the tap running her head under the water so it would pass over her gills I figured it should work like fish that hopefully she could breathe if her gills were under the water luckily my basic knowledge of Aquatic Life paid off and as the bath filled up she began breathing steadier the wheezing stopped and soon she seemed back to normal normal she was still some kind of mermaid water creature with claws but I mean at least she could

breathe after a few minutes of silence filed only by our breathing she grabbed the red stone hanging from a string around her neck stroking it delicately she muttered something under her breath and slowly I watched as her legs unfused and the scales on her arms melted into skin as the gills on her face retreated into her skin she pulled her head up from the faucet and looked at me you helped she said weakly thank you I can't this thing she gestured at the red stone hanging around her neck this can only do this in water

I just stood there staring wide-eyed at her I must have looked like an idiot but to be fair she did just change into a legendary sea creature and then back to human in front of me when water touches me it makes this she gestured to her body with her newly required Arm come out and then I need to need to be in it I managed to get a slight smile to flicker across my face it's cool I mean everyone's different right was how I respond bonded or at least something similar but equally as bizarre to

say to a mermaid chilling in your tub she looked at me puzzled well I'm going to leave you to do your thing let me know if I can help out I stepped out of the bathroom shutting the door behind me before bolting into my room and closing the door I sat on the ground with my back to the door trying to process what had just happened I crawled over to my bed and collapsed the combination of stress from my exam Plus seeing a mermaid thing in the flesh must have been a bit much as before

I realized I was falling asleep I was waking up to Bright Morning sunlight cascading into my room and a knock on my door I answered it and there stood area very much human looking with suitcase and toe I'm leaving now she said with that matter of fact Cadence that is sometimes used by people whose first language is in English I blinked at her still adjusting to the light brain quickly trying to process everything that had happened the day before thank you again for helping she smiled reaching behind her neck and pulling a necklace over her

head it had a green stone attached and she reached over my head to lower it onto my neck this will keep you safe when you she paused glancing to the ceiling as she tried to find the word this will keep you safe in the ocean I shook my head trying to give her back the gift no it's okay seriously you don't have have to no her hand rested on mine please keep it I nodded at her and mumbled out a quiet thank you she smiled at me and kissed me on the cheek and then she

was out the door and that was it that was the end of my week of living with a mermaid siren and human sea creature of some kind I don't really know what to make of it all but I'm going to try and keep this necklace on me as much as I can particularly if I'm near the sea in all honesty she was actually a pretty good Airbnb guest especially compared to some others I've had I just hope she gives me a good review after all I did kind of save her life I had kicked my

coffee habit weeks before it had been a ritual with co-workers way to socialize and an excuse to get out of the office for a few minutes the jokes about needing a fix were always met with understanding end ing laughs and it felt strangely comforting to be in a socially accepted Club of addicts at 10:00 a.m. on a Tuesday then my company was restructured and I was replaced by some 21-year-old intern a junior at the local University for a while I'd sit and nurse a coffee at my old joint while I surfed Craigslist for jobs and

wrote cover letters but every sip felt bitter and desperate you don't deserve to drink a $5 Latte when you're unemployed I had just hand delivered a resume at a local publishing company I managed to catch one of the hiring managers and what resulted was essentially a pre-interview he seemed impressed by my experience and promised to call me later that day to get a formal meeting on the books I was elated I actually fist pumped into the air as I exited the revolving door as I made my way to my bus stop I noticed my old

Coffee Joint a block up F yeah I thought it's too early for beer I'm going to celebrate with an Americano the line was about 8 people deep and I realized how long that feels when you don't have co-workers to chat with while you wait I started gazing around observing the other patrons who were mostly hunched behind laptops their charging cords snaked around the overstuffed chairs to the few Outlets available I noticed one man in particular even from a distance I could see the Frosted swollen eyes of someone who hadn't cried tears that were brimming at

the surf Sur seeing him brought down my mood I looked away and admired the Barista with a beautiful and intricate updo total overkill for a minimum wage coffee gig I figured her for an aspiring actress there were only two people left in front of me when I overheard someone say Greg I looked over to see a disheveled looking hipster addressing the forlorn fellow I had noticed earlier yeah Greg Greg Hoffman you are I'm a courier sir these are your divorce papers he was gone in an instant suddenly the line in front of me had disappeared

I shuffled in front of the bista to place my order a little distracted I must have kept glancing over at Greg because as she handed me my change she said quietly it's really sad he used to come in here with his wife nearly every day and read the paper together suddenly he started coming alone I guess now I know why she must have overheard as well it was a small coffee shop after all as I waited for my tall Americano I found I couldn't avert my gaze from Greg something about him his eyes caught mine

and instantly widened in recognition then narrowed in confusion tall Americano with room have a great day I grabbed my coffee and saw Greg cautiously waving me towards him I walked towards him with similar caution I felt every follicle on my body stand up a tur laugh of disbelief accompanied his slowly shaking head this is going to sound crazy but I had a dream about you last night do I know you from anywhere I suddenly understood the cliche of a getting a chill up your spine I could feel it travel all the way to my scalp

I don't think so he shook his head as if to Jumble something beyond recognition he paused and stuttered for a second still shaking his head maybe I'm crazy but you should avoid Crossing Everett Street at second I don't really remember walking away I'm certain I seemed quite rude as I approached Everett and third I started walking more slowly my bus stop was at Everett and second on the opposite side Superstition got the best of me and I turned around to cross at third I noticed a sharply dressed young man couldn't have been older than 21

step into the intersection at second talking on his cell phone I continued to look at him as I stepped off the curb on third much like I had been with Greg I was mesmerized by him that's when I heard the screeching tires the bus was skidding sideways through the intersection when its back tire made contact after a flash of shiny sickly beautiful scarlet ribbons splashing through the air a severed arm lay on the pavement as people began shrieking that would have been me if it weren't for Greg I spent the next two weeks having horrifically

vivid dreams about what happened that day I understood the look in Greg's eyes when he warned me of his prophetic Vision he had seen what I had that day I slept maybe 2 hours a night and only when I was exhausted to the point of delusion I couldn't bear to keep seeing the Carnage over and over knowing that if I hadn't stopped for that coffee it would be my body splattered across the intersection finally one night I drifted off and dreamed of something else I dreamed of Greg I saw him Vivid ly in a cold

white and sterile clinical setting he was in a hospital gown and had the same look of tempered anguish that Drew my eye to him that fateful day in the coffee shop there was a voice speaking to Greg but I couldn't see where it was coming from I could only see Greg stage three colon cancer terminal hopefully a couple months Greg's eyes brimmed over with tears and I awoke the next morning I knew I had to find Greg he had saved my life and clearly I now had an obligation to save his I never believed in

any Voodoo Mystic [ __ ] but something told me that Greg and I had some weird Cosmic connection I owed him my life I walked into the coffee shop where I had first encountered him and my eyes flew directly to him in the same overstuffed chair he had been sitting in the last time I had seen him he caught my gaze as I approached him and his eyes widened in recognition and shock one again his mouth gaped open as if to speak but he was silent Greg go to the doctor as soon as possible I

think you may have colon cancer I noticed a couple of other patrons turn and look in our Direction perhaps I should have been more discreet he peered at me through narrow eyes folded his newspaper without breaking my gaze and stood up to leave he walked slowly to the door with his head bowed as if walking a plank did I just save his life or deliver his death sentence I wasn't sure I'd ever see Greg again several weeks passed and the dream stopped I no longer dreamed of Greg or the sharply dressed gentleman Crossing Everett and

second my life started to get back to normal I even landed the publishing gig at a higher salary than the job I was laid off from I had plenty of productive distractions and my strange connection with Greg continued to dim one night after a prolonged Friday night happy hour with my new co-workers I had another Vivid dream this time however it wasn't Greg or the man in the intersection it was a woman perhaps in her early 50s dressed impeccably she didn't have a hair out of place and her makeup looked soft and welcoming I could

tell she had been beautiful and was aging well although I could see every fold and crease in her skin I notice a wall of white coffee mugs behind her all arranged with their handles perfectly aligned she turns to me and smiles cautiously until suddenly her eyes narrow and she shakes her head quickly in Urgent disbelief suddenly much like the sharply dressed gentleman in the intersection she is reduced to a splash of scarlet as shrieks fill the air I had this dream several times and it was cutting my sleep back to a couple hours at night

much like after witnessing the bus accident I just couldn't bear to fall asleep only to see her beautiful face reduced to a pulp over and over again I needed coffee more than ever to get through my day I should have known better by then I should have found a new coffee shop but old habits die hard and I found myself wandering into the same old shop at about 9:30 that Tuesday Morning the same cute Barista was working her hair in a perfect bun she smiled and welcomed me and I took my place in line behind

a half dozen people as they seemingly tend to do my eyes locked on Greg's gaze this time they widened with recognition and pleasant surprise I vacated my place in line as he waved me over stage one came out of surgery just fine cancer-free doc said we caught it just in time I'm sure I said something but I don't recall what all I remember is Greg's eyes widening again with recognition looking over my shoulder they narrowed never looking at me but fixated on something or someone behind me as he said you should get out of here

kid trust me I had learned to trust Greg's premonitions that same chill rushed up my spine through my scalp and all my follicles stood on end as I turned to leave that's when I saw her I caught her gaze ma'am ma'am I shouted her face opened up into what had become a familiar and welcoming smile impeccably dressed not a hair out of place my ears throbbed when the shots rang out when I looked up sickly beautiful ribbons of scarlet were slowly dripping down the perfectly arranged display of white coffee mugs as the shrieks filled the

air my head seemed to spin on its axis until I saw Greg his eyes wide with recognition and pleasant satisfaction he looked forward unblinking no I won't sign the divorce papers all right let me get straight into it I hate kids like I lo them my best friend has two kids both bright both courteous both talented bless their hearts and both of them absolutely suck I know that sounds harsh but I've only had a few hours of sleep and I'm kind of on edge for the past week I've been woken up again and again by

all manner of ridiculous [ __ ] I'm talking eggs splattering my window splitting Renditions of Lincoln Park's Hybrid Theory album that always get the lyrics to run away wrong and strobe lights beaming into my bedroom the weird part all of it's coming from the same place the treehouse in my backyard you have to understand that when I bought this house The Treehouse wasn't really a consideration it just wasn't I was looking for a cheap property with a decent layout and potential to renovate I wasn't looking for a pain in my ass and yet here I

am I've been a homeowner for a little under a week and I'm almost ready to throw in the towel initially I thought some neighborhood kid had started using my Treehouse as a home base it wasn't until I went out three nights ago while strobe lights were still firing at my window and inspected the tree fort that I realized I wasn't dealing with a neighborhood kid at all I was dealing with something far worse see after I demanded that the troublemakers show themselves a ghostly apparition appeared at first I thought it was just a short ghost

but then I noticed the backwards ball cap some 41 hoodie and the middle finger it was giving me the son of a [ __ ] was a ghost kid I stormed out of there fired up Craigslist and started looking for some assistance with my problem what I got was worse than useless it was downright shameful seriously have you ever tried putting out an ad for ghost removal let me tell you the people that respond are not society's shining stars hell I'm pretty sure at least half of them thought I was bullshitting and didn't even believe

in ghosts themselves for example one guy showed up with an open beer in his hand a Bud Light and asked me how many people the ghost had killed so far killed so far buddy if this ghost had a body count I'd be contacting the police not an alcoholic on Craigslist the people who actually believed in ghosts were even worse two came by a guy and a girl and they strolled through my house with EMP detectors humming and mumbling to themselves I kept trying to tell them the ghost was up in the treehouse but they wouldn't

listen to me I feel a soul chained to this place the guy said it has unfinished business in this house I tried asking him where the ghost was Chained and what unfinished business it had but the guy crowy pretty sure that wasn't his real name waved his hand dreamily and said the spirit had ceased contact ceased contact this is my house you don't get to just make some vague excuse about having unfinished business and then couch surf Until the End of Time the girl wasn't any better first of all she said her name was Raven

which I'm 90% certain was also a fake name but she kept going on about crap like there's a strong Aura in the bathroom and I feel a Melancholy energy in the kitchen yeah that strong Aura was the burrito I ate for supper last night and that Melancholy energy is the expired chicken I keep forgetting to take out of the fridge I was feeling pretty sour about paying these hacks 300 bucks but once they climbed up to the Treehouse I realized it had been worth every penny they started wandering around with their dousing rods and chanting

their mumbo jumbo Crawley sprinkled some salt here and there Raven said some words in Latin I scowled it took all of 3 minutes for the go ghost kid to get fed up and splat crowly Square in the face with an egg the Yoke ran down his nose and he stopped mid chant looking at me a gast as if I'd tossed it then one no two no three more all rapidly pelted him in quick succession Splat Splat Splat ah he ran around shrieking ghost eggs exploding all over his trench coat and getting in his lustrous blue

hair Raven started pleading with the ghost to spare Crowley as if the little [ __ ] could be reasoned with and then she too started getting showered in yolks the two of them ran screaming from the property faster than you could say Ghostbusters I know this for a fact because I shook my head and muttered those very words before I could finish speaking the gate to my backyard was already swinging on its hinges so in light of those two colossal failures I decided to take matters into my own hands I fired up Reddit did a

little ghost research then went out and picked up a few Choice items one being a Ouija board and the other being a prescription for sleeping meds boom that leads me to now where I've decided I'm going to kill two birds with one stone first of all I'm finally going to get some actual sleep and secondly I'm going to contact the little [ __ ] haunting my Treehouse and give him a piece of my mind I'll be updating this in real time with my experiences if something goes sideways just know that I was murdered by the

ghost kid and somebody's salt and burn that turd's bones thanks here goes I pop a sleeping pill whip out my Ouija board and make a collect call to the afterlife it only takes a minute for the kid to answer and when he does it's with the typical teenage snark what do you want he says ug I roll my eyes and roll up my sleeves time to get down to business I move the planchet across the board spelling out the words I want you out of my Treehouse you fukin [ __ ] he doesn't take kindly

to that after a bit more back and forth trash talking I tell him to Vose before I go up there with a chainsaw and tear the whole thing down that's when he tells me exactly what he's doing up there and just how messed I truly am you see this ghost and I congratulate my suspicions on being correct here actually is a 13-year-old kid the reason that he's been pelting my window with ghost eggs however has not been to drive me to an early grave via stress but rather to save my life I know weird right

let me explain turns out Crawley and Raven had actually been on to something with their whole Melancholy energy and unfinished business thing according to the ghost in the treehouse who I'll henceforth be referring to as ghost lad he once lived in my house as a joyous breathing boy until a demonic entity rolled up and devoured him in the middle of the night I tell him that's super shitty but also a pretty rad way to die plus it explains the weird stain on the bedroom wall and why it's the only room that's hardwood and not carpet

he goes on to say that his family fled for their lives but first they hired an exorcist and chained The Entity to the house nobody wants a demon moving with them right I make a point to politely apologize for their cowardice but he tells me it's cool they were just being pragmatic we talk a bit more and I learn he doesn't even really like the Treehouse but his soul can't pass onto the afterlife so he's stuck apparently when the entirey devoured him it also scarred his soul pretty bad and I guess the Gates of Heaven

told him to get lost bummer I ask why he's haunting my Treehouse though if he died inside the upstairs bedroom I always figured ghosts haunt the same place they bit the dust he then asks me with a lot of teenage sass oh I'm sorry would you like to roommate with d demonic entity that devoured her soul I tell him to chill and at this point my sleeping meds are kicking in so I let loose a big yawn ghost lad becomes mildly offended is my story bore in you he edes sorry that a demon scare in

my soul and murder in me don't excite you I explain that it isn't boring me I just haven't slept in two days thanks to his incessant interruptions ghost lad then explains that his interruptions are the only reason we're even having this discussion in the first place I tell him no [ __ ] I didn't buy a Ouija board for the fuk in fun of it he claps back no I mean if I didn't you would be dead right now I pause and stare at the Ouija board in stun silence did Ghost lad just threaten me

I stifle another yawn to avoid offending the kid grab the planet and message back what do you mean ghost lad explains that this entity whatever it is prefers to strike its victims while they sleep that's how it got him when he was just a boy one moment he was snoozing the next moment his leg was getting chewed on by a creature from the pits of hell he says the eggs he's been whipping at my window along with the shitty Lincoln Park karaoke and stupid strobe lights have all been for the sole purpose of keeping me

alive I guess the kid's been creeping on on me since I got here and every so often he'd notice the Demonic entity slink on up lick its lips and get ready to snack that's when ghost lad would spring into action a feeling of regret washes over me my eyes are beginning to feel very heavy and I'm beginning to realize I've made a fairly large blunder sorry I message GTG why I took sleep in meds feel drowsy WTF I get up from the Ouija board and figure at this point I really can't trust myself to stay

awake to be safe I should probably just leave the house entirely I can always come back tomorrow with Raven and Crowley and try and deal with this demonic entity then actually scratch that I'll call it budlike guy he clued into the body count almost immediately which as far as I'm concerned is some high tier psychic [ __ ] I crossed the living room and try to leave through the back door but the back door isn't budging I check the lock and the deadbolt but neither are engaged what the f I rub my eyes wondering if

I'm just so tired that I'm imagining things before deciding I don't have time to write this [ __ ] out any longer instead I fire up my phone speech to text app and start dictating okay I'm trying the front door now no luck thing is wedged like a boulder I'm wondering why I'm continuing to update this but I think it's because at this point it might end up being my last will and testament plus if I do get ganked by a demon then you know I'm getting my own Netflix special wait the windows I'll try

those damn those aren't budging either I'm contacting ghost lad Again by a Ouija he says run yikes not God I'm yawning every 30 seconds now and my vision is getting blurry I'm running out of time and options and as much as I hate to make a Ruckus in the neighborhood especially when I've just moved in I'm desperate enough to no longer give a crap I'm going to grab a chair from the kitchen and whip that [ __ ] through the living room window before I do though I'm going to post this it might be the

last thing I ever write and the next people who move into this house deserve to know what lives here and God willing get a better price than I did I'll give you an update if I manage to survive if I don't then uh just remember that next time something wakes you up in the middle of the night it might not be a nuisance it might actually just be a friendly neighborhood ghost trying to save your life which reminds me I need to save mine toodles my roommate and I were living on campus but decided we

would rather start looking into renting a small cheap home for us to transfer into we knew we wanted to live near campus so the commute wasn't hell living in a rural area was bad enough and our college campus had mainly forests surrounding it luckily we had cafes and stores within the campus since the school is basically situated as its own college town this town is literally made of us the college students my roommate Faith whispered to herself while skimming websites for available housing nearby there aren't many options around here if we're looking to rent a

house she continued while turning over to me I walked over and peered at her laptop I started skimming Pages as well and finally stumbled upon something available about 3 m down the road interesting I said this place has two bedrooms a bathroom and a backyard guess how much Faith mumbled sarcastically too much for us nope apparently this leasing office is offering this rental for only $500 a mon month insane is this a prank we pay double that on campus and this guy who posted the offer James claims the utilities and such are included Faith choked

on her coffee and spit half of it out are you kidding me Aaron I know we live in the middle of nowhere but $500 for a two bed and one bath house that doesn't sound right whatsoever like you said we pay $1,000 for ours on campus and it's smaller she was right something was off and this offer seemed too good to be true on top of that the offer was on Craigslist which is known to be sketchy at times even without the Craigslist element this guy's post was off as well there was only one photo

of the home and although it seemed fine and put together this photo didn't tell us much about the surroundings or the inside let's text him his number is here Faith started dialing the number on her phone the man replied relatively quick I asked him if this is a joke because it's way too good to be true haha I rolled my eyes at her and laughed but her face suddenly turned blank he doesn't seem to have a sense of humor but uh he said come by he gave the address and directions here I grabbed her phone

and saw that he replied with it's real if interested come by to view the home is at 27 7 Fort m road I wasn't at all familiar with the area as we both just started attending uni and transferred from Ohio to Utah I wasn't a [ __ ] though I'd be able to find it we hopped in my car and started Google Maps it again was very close only 3 mies south of us as we got closer we noticed the map on our phone showed mainly Shrubbery and Forest ahead we automatically knew we were heading

into a deserted area of some sort isolated towns and Villages have always spooked me but heading into one was making me extremely anxious in that moment I could tell Faith saw the emotion on my face you good I know you watch a lwd of horror movies especially lately don't worry she smirked and then told me that her map seemed to show that the only grocery store was still on campus as well as any type of shopping in general I sigh well I guess we will be doing some traveling with shopping no more rolling out of

bed and walking over to Starbucks she laughed and Shrugged her shoulders we were a few moments away from the road we started pulling up to it and noticed that the entire block was the only area nearby covered in some type of sand or dirt basically a dirt road everything surrounding the homes on this one block was covered in Greenery and trees it almost looked like these houses were planted on an abandoned baseball field we got out of the car and texted James that we arrived he told us earlier that he would meet us there but

I honestly didn't expect this this looks like an isolated mini ghost town does anyone know of this road the map is showing that we're the only ones out here our house and these three others next to it does he live in one of them I don't know faith I snapped I was getting more anxious as I waited for him to arrive so I could ask him what the hell was up with this whole area we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere just as my thoughts were spinning out of control I heard some rocks

tumble I turned around and saw a man walking toward us with rain boots as he shuffled along the path of rocks and sand may I add The Lawns on the property were non-existent the homes had more large patches of dirt and rocks in the front yard where grass should have been hello there I'm James James spoke with a low voice and looked in his mid-40s he was wearing a somewhat dirty hoodie covering most of his head and face he shook our hands as we reluctantly accepted and I immediately threw my questions at him girls I

am a busy man it's a great deal for college students in the area at a cheap price and convenient location privacy and peace is all you'll get out here nice change huh I just rented out this home and am currently offering it for $500 as listed the other three on Fort millroad are inhabited by families at the moment if one leaves I will be offering to any college students interested as well let your friends know everything he told us made sense I suppose I wanted to ask why the road was so isolated from everyone else

in town as well as why there were only four houses on the road in total I was slightly scared to ask any more questions beyond the basics of moving in and price he seemed to be rushing us but the truth is Faith and I were desperate to leave our dorm it was small stuffy and noisy at night when some students above us would throw frequent parties this seemed like the perfect solution and opportunity for us I turned to Faith who seemed speechless do you want to do this she turned to the house which was basic

cream exterior Brown Roofing small home nothing special let's see in side first Faith demanded I stared her down signal her to chill out James immediately headed toward the house that was for sale and motioned us over come on girls I need to be leaving soon as I have much work to do still it's getting late we followed the stranger toward the house as we looked at each other in confusion still we followed him as we walked inside the door everything seemed normal it was quiet and smelled like a new home though the air had a

heavy odor of sawdust and dirt it must have been from the foundation or outside of the home I wonder how old these homes even were but I wasn't about to ask more questions and ruin this opportunity James seemed like the type of guy who wasn't okay with wasting time or bullshitting here we are he waved us inside there was a kitchen attached to a small living room bathroom and our two bedrooms it was so normal it almost diminished any anxiety I had been holding inside seems good water is working electricity I asked James yep I

must tell you though that issues may arise but nothing serious if any power or water issues occur you may reach me and I will work on it as soon as possible this side of town has relatively frequent blackouts because of the storms in the summer anyway the deposit is 250 and you may submit rent to me on the last Friday of the month faith and I were getting tired and honestly wanted to just go home and sleep we agreed that we wanted to go for it okay I have cash for deposit do you Faith asked

I grabbed cash out of my wallet and counted as Faith reached in hers and took out cash we split it and handed the money to James thanks ladies when will you be wanting to move in faith and I told him that the morning after would be fine we needed to still gather our belongings and alert Campus of our decision to transfer to a new residence the next morning we were ready to move in being college students we didn't really have much anyways so it was pretty easy when moving in I couldn't help but notice again

how odd it was that only four homes including ours resided on this block I peered into the other three homes which looked identical to ours I can't lie these homes looked super cheap not ancient not brand new but also not at all a good investment the homes all had blinds that were covering all of the windows of the house so it was impossible to see inside I was extremely curious don't you find it weird I feel like we're all alone out here our neighbors aren't even visible and where are their cars Faith contemplated I also

felt uneasy when noticing that why didn't they have cars even one car outside of each home would be normal he said there were families in them they were inhabited weird word to use in this context if you ask me let's just set everything up I said as I carried our bags inside Faith took some more and then parked our car on the side of the home we were going to have a guy come out there and set up our cable and Wi-Fi but we received a call from him out of nowhere hi Aaron this is

Doug from Spectrum you had an appointment with me tonight but I see that you live in the Fort Mill Area I paused for a moment confused yes Fort Mill Road is there an issue he paused as well h i mean issue isn't the word I guess the thing is setting up Wii and cable out there will be tricky I never have any luck lately because of how shoddy the connection and power tends to be near there the signal isn't strong at all do you want me to still try it may be useless to attempt I

didn't know what to say it was weird but we did live in a rural town I didn't expect this issue though with the home it's okay let's try it out and if it's still shoddy we can live with it some TV here and there and some signal to complete my homework will suffice for now deep inside though I was aggravated because I didn't want to run into issues now with power or doing my schoolwork I realized we may need to travel more than expected to campus now we needed to make trips for food shopping in

general and Wi-Fi connection at this point I was too tired to care the man showed up and set up everything and as I watched him leave I noticed the sun setting and the lights Illuminating the inside of the homes on the Block every home glowed with light from behind the curtains seeming to be instantaneous it was very odd and startling at best faith walked up behind me scaring me you saw that too she peered at the homes and squinted for a while I can't see [ __ ] inside it was true you couldn't see a

thing the blinds were so thick and every window of each home just sat there a glow I just don't get it I haven't seen anyone ever walk inside or outside of those homes there's still no cars outside should we asked James Faith nervously asked I kept looking up and down our road it was starting to bother me more and more it was just sketchy enough to Peak my curiosity again I'm calling James about this power issue and asking him why our neighbors are so odd Faith blurted out as she ran over to the couch we

sat in silence there as Faith texted James I'm just waiting to see what he has to say it's early still we can always back out of this Arrangement my mind was racing I wanted a cheap house I also wanted privacy and peace isn't that what we signed up for here why was I suddenly so worried about this situation a loud noise came from the other side of the room it was Faith's phone a text from James she read it aloud your neighbors signed up for some privacy as well try not to be so nosy and

let them be as far as the power and Wi-Fi I alerted you of this and you accepted I looked at Faith with confusion he was being so rude and blunt with us it's almost as if he was telling us to shut up and accept it because we were stuck with it I didn't like this I had an overwhelming feeling nausea I truly felt something wasn't right this whole situation had been so sketchy from the start and so unofficial this guy's professionalism and help was almost non-existent and he didn't seem to be who he said he

was what kind of leasing officer would act this way I think we need to Le this is a joke I don't even feel safe with this guy as our supposed landlord Faith mumbled I agreed but didn't want to make any decisions until morning I turned to Faith and sleepily said let's get some rest and figure it out tomorrow it's late she just Shrugged and rolled over I woke up early that morning to the sound of rain outside it was extremely quiet out here with the sound of rain hitting the roof being the only thing noticeable

I yawned and got up still feeling out of it as I waddled over to the kitchen to quickly make coffee I noticed my car window slightly open as I peered out the kitchen window what the hell I walked outside and looked into the back seat my backpack was gone I had my laptop and textbooks in there as well as my wallet I have no idea why I left my wallet in the car but I did I felt like an idiot at that moment I was livid and had enough of this I called the cops I

waited outside the house in the rain as Faith came outside after waking up she hugged me are you okay I turned to her no I called the cops I'm telling them what's going on someone stole my backpack from my car I left the window open I also left my wallet in there she looks stunned what did you leave in the wallet cancel your cards if you left them in there I hope you didn't leave too much cash in it I did I left 450 in change as well as all my cards I hopped on my

phone and got ready to request cancellation of all of them as soon as I signed into my app my bank alerted me of fraudulent activity that had occurred moments before I looked down at my phone feeling lightheaded this guy had been using my credit and debit cards to buy artillery and went on a Walmart spree totaling thousands of dollars in a matter of 2 hours what the hell was going on the cops showed up moments later and as a female officer stepped out I ran toward her officer thank you for coming so fast I said

as I ran out of breath I've had some valuable stolen and I'd like to talk to you about the situation here she listened as I explained our predicament and as I tried to finish she cut me off I hadn't even told her about the living Arrangement yet Aaron thank you for reporting this there has been an ongoing investigation of this area Fort millroad has been on watch for almost a year now showing frequent criminal activity within the last few months I was confused she continued there have been seven reports of burglary alone in this tight

area mostly dealing with cars being broken into down the road where the Nature Park is again faith and I hadn't known much about the area since we were transfer students I had no idea a Nature Park was nearby at all let alone anything else officer we just recently moved into this home we're renting it from a man named James who claims to be renting out these homes to college kids who need cheap housing do you know what's going on with our neighbors the officer looked at me like I had spoken gibberish you're renting this house

from who ladies these homes have been abandoned we figure whoever this James person is he's at the center of it I frantically looked toward the homes I remembered how faith and I saw lights glowing from within last night they were inhabited as James put it families were supposed to be renting them out as well I looked over at the officer but we both saw those homes lit up inside last night people had to be in them I'm not going crazy Faith turned to me that's why we didn't see any cars we didn't even see any

people leave or enter I knew something was wrong here Aaron we didn't check everything out I knew she was right I was suspicious the entire time but was afraid to speak up and bother this guy this whole scenario was set up and planned out so perfectly that you wouldn't think it was that strange we saw some weird stuff but decided it wasn't enough to scare us away I'm helping you ladies take your belongings to the car we need to get you out of this area it isn't safe and barely a suitable place for anyone to

live let alone two young college students we will document this in the report and investigate Fort Mill immediately my stomach was sick I couldn't believe that this guy fooled us how I was just thankful we ended it here on day two if we stayed any longer I'm honestly not sure what would have occurred that night we drove home and later that night we received a call from officer Doty who had helped us that morning hello Aaron are you both doing all right I told her that we were okay but asked if she had any updates

on Fort Mill she paused well we do I want to First say that I am so glad you called when you did I suddenly felt sick again what was she about to tell me she continued we have new information on the situation James Riviera was the gentleman who claimed to have rented out the house to you we caught him later this afternoon and were able to retrieve your belongings except for the wallet I'm sure you've notified your bank and credit providers I felt so down and so stupid for falling into this trap Faith looked ashamed

but relieved we have also found out what was going on with those Homes on Fort millroad I gulped ladies Mr Riviera has not only been burglarizing cars and homes but also scamming college students by luring them into the abandoned homes he has been claiming they are for rent and usable because he knew the water was running inside at the moment and has somehow connected a power source to these homes we are trying to find where he was living as we are finding power lines on the side of the home with some running under the soil

our team has managed to shut down his Craigslist account and hosts I was stunned I had no words and neither did faith we just looked at each other the officer continued you're both safe now and that's what matters I'm not sure what else Mr Riviera had planned but seemed to have just started this Craigslist scam recently possibly 2 months ago please be more cautious next time girls we're alerting the campus so officials can take any needed steps to protect the students Faith took the phone from me did you ever find out what was going on

in those homes across from us officer Do's tone changed as she spoke yes the other homes were abandoned and Mr Riviera had them hooked up somehow to a timer daily realistic huh our police have been investigating for months and we hadn't seen this Mister Riviera had the home synchronized to appear lit at dusk as soon as Sunset came around the homes were programmed to light up inside every night he fooled people having these homes look occupied Evil Genius really she sarcastically finished I felt so exhausted even from just hearing this whole psychotic situation spelled out

for us inhabited I mumbled to myself I remember him using that stupid word I should have known he was crazy who talks like that it's just how it is ladies criminals prey on unsuspec affecting people unfortunately for college kids they're well aware of your nature you kids tend to be more gullible and they know that top it off with the need for cheap housing and they found a match she was spoton the thing is we felt safe in this new rural town we called our home during college we didn't feel scared I don't know why

but sometimes we become too trusting of strangers in certain contexts I suspected people out here were the epitome of small town inviting and generous perhaps even warm and friendly by Nature we had signs but ignored them as a warning make it a priority to check everything out before determining your next move as a college student I learned the hard way and hope no one makes a mistake like this anymore when I got engaged everyone I knew began and giving me unsolicited advice about marriage the quality of the advice ranged from person to person some of

it was depressing get out while you still can some of it was practical no husband has ever been shot in the back while he was washing the dishes some topics got mixed reviews wait a while to have kids couples with kids don't waste any time having kids my mother-in-law my favorite advice however was something most of the would be counselors agreed upon it's something that has stuck with me over the years and my personal experience has confirmed its truth marriage is hard work but it's worth it if I could sum up my marriage in one

sentence it would be that one as a bright-eyed newlywed I did not yet understand the extent of either the work involved or the reward all I knew was that I was in love and I couldn't imagine a life without her I considered myself the luckiest man in the world and my friends all agreed she's way too good for you marry her before she changes her mind how did you get such an amazing young woman to love you she is I did and I don't know even after all we've been through together I am grateful every

day my wife is the most wonderful person I know she's smart creative funny and hardworking not to mention drop dead gorgeous we laugh together share dreams with each other and depend on each other we've been married for 5 years and I can honestly say I love her more now than I did on our wedding day we dated in college and got married senior year like most couples we enjoyed a Carefree honeymoon period getting to know each other in a more intimate and meaningful way through our marriage it took some time but gradually I started thinking

in terms of we and ours instead of me and mine we really became a teen everything was smooth sailing for the first 3 years I'd almost come to disregard all the advice about what hard work marriage was it was easy for us then my wife got sick at first we thought it was just a stomach bug maybe she had eaten some bad Chinese food or caught something from a coworker she spent hours draped over the toilet when she was done heaving and calling the dinosaurs I fixed her some soup one spoonful in she was running

back to the bathroom we figured the virus would run its course and clear up on its own but after 4 days she still couldn't keep down any food I got concerned and made her agree to let me take her to the hospital when we checked her in they ran all the standard tests turns out she was severely dehydrated from not being able to keep down any food or fluids and she had a fever that was frighteningly high the doctors immediately hooked her up to en Roman four to pump her full of fluid I could tell

by the looks on their faces that they'd never seen something like this before they were scared and that made me even more terrified than I was when I brought her in she was in the hospital for a few days her condition growing worse and worse any attempts to feed her even just liquid nutrition through a tube resulted in more vomiting without food she was wasting away she had lost 15 lbs since I took her to the hospital and someone my wife's Size Doesn't have that much to lose I honestly began to think she would die

all of the time we'd spent together all of the memories we shared the life we'd built together it was all going to be ripped away from me her body had grown so weak it was no longer producing healthy red blood cells so the doctors began giving her units of blood just to keep her alive it was a last ditch effort they didn't even know what was wrong so no one had much hope that she'd get better her primary physician even kicked me out of the room once to speak with my wife about whether she wanted

them to revive her if her heart stopped then a miracle happened her fever broke and the various levels the doctors were checking constantly began to stabilize she still refused food but the doctors said she would make a full recovery they let me take her home but only after she promised she'd eat something once we arrived after days of living hell we were finally Out of the Woods at least that's what I thought I brought her home set her up a comfy spot in our bed and asked what she'd like me to cook so she could

to try to eat she shook her head and looked up at me with eyes full of tears I don't think I can eat anymore just the thought of food makes me nauseous there was only one thing that helped in the hospital I think I I think I need more blood she looked so helpless there so scared she was just confused confused still recovering from the past few days of stress and weariness I went over to her and put my arm around her trying to comfort her sweetheart if you just eat something you'll feel better I

promise when I said that my wife gave me a look I'd never seen before in our years of marriage or the years of dating before that it was a look of supreme hurt but also one of indignity and anger you aren't listening sweetheart I need more blood the way she said it combined with that look she gave me made my heart speed up I noticed she was latched on to me not onto my hand but around my wrist feeling my pulse then I felt a pulling sensation like my heart was trying to speak the words

to her that my mouth couldn't manage to form I had to make it better somehow it was one of our most emotional times together I broke down when I reached up to wipe my eyes I pulled back a hand stre with blood I wasn't crying my eyes were bleeding the drops of blood began floating from my hand and from my leaky eyes toward my wife it was like she was calling my very life Essence out of me and into herself after she'd absorbed my blood she let out a contented sigh of relief and she fell

asleep I know what you're thinking and F you for thinking it my wife is not a vampire she doesn't have fangs and she doesn't bite people she doesn't burn in the sunlight light and she still has a reflection she just has a very special diet it's like being gluten-free or lactose intolerant only she eats blood exclusively after that first time it happened again and again and again she would only take a little at a time but she was growing more and more hungry I was already weak from blood loss and the hungrier she got the

more strain it put on our marriage I knew I couldn't sustain this I didn't have enough blood to keep her satisfied she needed a real meal I tried calling the hospital and the local blood bank but did you know you can't buy blood it's [ __ ] I didn't know what else to do so I got on Craigslist I went to the casual encounter section and found a lonely guy looking for a hookup his grammar was awful and what he described as his idea of a good time seemed like no woman would enjoy it the

guy disgusted me but desperate times called offered Desperate Measures he eagerly came over to the house after I sent a few piics of my wife I hated using her as bait but she was getting impatient and I didn't know what else to do he showed up with a six-pack of Kors light and a [ __ ] eating grin on his face when he saw me answer the door he was clearly freaked out I was not what he'd signed up for but when my wife called from the bedroom he heard the honey in her voice and

made his way back he started undoing his pants frantically probably not used to this caliber of woman from his adventures on Craigslist before he finished unbuckling he stopped suddenly his face went from F yeah to what the f yeah I remember feeling that drawing sensation the first time too when he saw the Blood start to seep through his pores he made a run for it I caught him with a baseball bat to The Shins on the way out he dropped to the floor but that redneck put up one hell of a fight it was a

battle sure I had a weapon and I had landed the first blow but he was a heavyweight in his adrenaline fueled response he grabbed me and easily wrestled me to the ground he was on top of me before I knew it luckily my wife stepped in she ran across the room and grabbed his sweaty face with both hands stopping him dead in his tracks she hadn't eaten for days and she wasn't concerned for this guy's life he popped like a hot dog that was left in the microwave way too long bubba juice went everywhere I

did the heavy lifting to get him here she happily cleaned up the bloody mess like I said we are a team that first time was messy but in the next two years we developed a functional routine no more hulking rednecks no more Craigslist they were too unpredictable and a grown man was a lot to handle everyone who told me marriage takes a lot of work was exactly right these days I get home from my day job and start my second job perusing various chat room apps in search of insecure teenage girls you know the type

the ones whose pushed up profile picks oo's desperation I start with compliments and jokes then move on to words of affirmation and Promises of love I tell them exactly what they want to hear before long they are calling me Daddy and doing other weird [ __ ] I guess some guys like my wife only needs to eat once every month or so which gives plenty of time for her meals to work up the confidence to visit an older guy at his house I think of it like preheating the oven honestly I get sick of talking

to these sad angsty girls every night frankly it's exhausting but they make such easy targets and there are just so many of them these days I've come to see every chat app like a virtual grocery store I'm not proud of being a child predator but the alternative is watching my wife starve to death I hated myself at first but now I've come to terms with it I promise to love her in sickness and in health and I intend to keep that promise besides a man's got to feed his family I lure innocent vulnerable teens to

my home to have their blood consumed by my wife what would you do for love thanks for listening if you like our work do sub subscribe because your support helps us keep this channel alive