Escaping the Haunted Shelter

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Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state, coverage options are selected by the customer, availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state Hi, it's Siarah Miller. I can't wait for you to check out my new collection of shoes and accessories at Designer Shoe Warehouse If you love shoes as much as I do, then trust me, I got you From cute sneak areinas to the perfect flip flops to stunning heels, theseese shoes are all style, no drama It's a girls Girl summer and DSW has just the shoes. Shop to the CierMilla collection right now at your GSW store or dsW. com Hey, weirdos. I'm Bigfoot And I'm Mossman Dh. I actually can't believe you like macked on my man Yeah Crazy. And he belongs to everybody, I feel News to me News to me, Mothman. My costume didn't come in time, so So pretretend I'm bigig fooot. Yeah. I should get ad that. She made this for me. Moth man woman. Moth man. M Moth mama. Moth mama. I love it. I also just like that you're wearing like Nancy from the croft sunglasses.. I respect it. That's actually I'm excited for these. I was gonna to say, would you just wear those anyway? Yeah Oh, and this is morbid Yep, and it's also in our tails in case you didn't know why you were here. It is brought to you by you, for you, from you And all about you. all about you. And this listener tale is camping themed, which is why we are creatures of the forest. Camping is something I am unfamiliar with. and something I would never like to be familiar with again You've camped before, like I was younger in a tent. Yeah. No. Yeah. I learned new things about her every day. with one of my friends. I went with their family Why? Beuse I thought it was gonna be fun. I went camping one Donna, Wha, That's my mother in law's name Dononna are you watching Wait doesn't Dononna like camping? Oh my go God, Donna loves camping. Dononna loves camping. She's reminding me. Yeah. I went glamping. Y. That's liter. He's like, you camped with Donna. And I did. And I've told you about this, but when Drew's family doesnt they used to camp, like when they were younger, but they glamp or not even really anymore, but they used to glamp. I love them. They had like a really nice U You can't stay. Nicholas We only ask like an hour of your time if that's okay. Is it my story? Is it just that you don't care? Can you stay for like an hour? It's a lot of questions,orry. If you could stay for like an hour, that would be sick. but if you can, I understand. You have to do. That's one of the only times that I ever got sleep paralysis is when I stayed in there. That makes sense. I don't know if it's I don't know if I'm not sure what the difference between a camper and an RV is Is there one? Beats me. They had a nice thing that we Go backack back go back' not going to. He said it seems like it was nice. No, here iss why I'm not going to. Okay. It was like, you know, a vehicle that you park in the woods and you sleep in L a nice one. and I got sleep paralysis there and I thought of the Blur Witch a lot valid. I was here. I think that's so fair. Thank you. And if you're going to get sleep paralysis anywhere, it's going to be camping. Yeah, or camping. I don't want to do it again I won't be doing it again. No I don't like it. I will not be doing it again. I don't belong sleeping outside. I don't like the woods. We just went into the woods and stepped poison Ivy and now I'm really paranoid about. I mean, I love the woods I like looking at the woods. And I like like a nice walk through the woods Yeah. And I loved, you know, I like hanging in the woods sometimes. I don't. But I mean? But I feel like it's a whimsical, it's vibey. I haven't hung out in the woods since I was like a drunk teenager. And like you remember Wood's parties? And Yeahah, so that was the thing. I actually reference Wood's parties during one of my live show segments. Oh, there you go. Yeah that's funny. Woods parties They were fun. What I would give the woods That's fair. That's a good thing the w. But I'm notleeping out. Somebody would inevitably always say the cops are coming and everyone would run into the like into the actual woods out of the clearing time. someone would yell cops and the cops were never coming. never coming. Ecept if the cops did come one time So they did come at one time, they did come, but that wasn't my business Well Now that's the woods. So and this is the that's our woods. This is brought to you by you for you from you and all about you. So we need to move on from us. This is your woods. Tell us it's not our woods. Tell us the tale of the camping woods. So the first woods that are your woods Your woods. Ys This is gonna the first one is don't drink those fucking murder beers and how my dog vomited to save our lives What do you do? Sorry, it's been a little while You can just hang out And if you have anything to say, go right ahead and say it because you're spooky and everyone loves you, Nicholas. Period. Okay. So whatever you feel, If you have something you want to yell out, yell it up, babe. In fact, more people are into your vibes, Nicholas lately. They are. We had a few haters do But. But you're always gonna to have haters, Nicholas. That's how you that you're doing something right. Yeah. You probably have a page on Reddit. You absolutely have a page on Reddit. That's where you made it. Yeah It all comes around and eventually people love you. Exactly. And I feel they're loving you. And Nicholas, I don't know, Maybe you should come to the live show with us for a little while. Yeah, he's gonna, I don't know. pereriod. So let's start here. So the murder beer guy and why you should never camp in bend Oregon I said Oregon I said it right, good for for you. But in my heart, It's it's org Also, I'm never gonna to camp in Bend Oregon. now, and I'm never going camp anywhere. No, especially not Oregon of the Oregon trarail I'm not going to count get the dysentery This is a doozy and maybe too long. I'm not sure. I like that. I like that you're not sure right when we start. You're like, I don't really know. I want to start out in a good old fashioned listener taes tradition and say how st I almost instinct because I'm wearing sunglass. Oh my gosh. How stoked I am to have found your podcast My name is Sarah and yes, you can use it. Hi Sara. My therapist says that listening to your podcast is almost like a meditation I love that That was before I mentioned it was a murder puff. I was wondering if your therapist had all the information. I said, wow, me and my partner are tattoo artists and we spend a good amount of time traveling. This wasn't the first time we had camped near Bend. I like this I like this. I like this. like head. I like you, I like this. like the back I like this, Sarah. The best description I can make of the humans that inhabit this dusty forsaken land is as follows. Everyone is either a hipster, a hippie or straight up good old boy backwardoods reedneck. Whoa. I like three distinct things a short moment Yeah. And then you said good old boy and I said, hate that, hate that. So I'm gonna take these off while I read because my eyes are not good enough. and then while you read, I will put them back on. perfect Three don't get along, but everyone can agree on one thing. The woods a place are the place to be, and there are a lot of woods in this area. I mean hundreds of square miles of dense, uninhabited woodlands. from mountain biking, camping, river rafting, hiking, off roading, shooting guns. There's a lot outdoorsy stuff to do in the area. And that brings us to our story. I don't know why I felt the need to do that. I really liked that you did that. h Like am I allowed to YouTube do that? Can you boo? On YouTube, you can do fun You. I don't know A' we still it If you boof on not no, not boof. That means poop. It doesn't even Boof means poop to me. Like I'm always like, oh, gottaoof. with other people. I think that means shove a tamp on soaked and alcohol up your butt to get drunk Oh It's cool to be on the internet. We have a genen Z b behind the camera. That's what Boofing is, isn't it Like I'm always just, well, not always one day, I just started calling pooping boofing and farting for that matter too. This is a little about me. Honestly, I like that. Like that makes sense. Like I feel like that that's right. Yeah. But I shouldn't say it too much in front of people that don't know apparely not They're like, Ohh, you're just announcing what you're a so good tamp on and alcohol Put it in your bot W What a bottle in your butt Wh?? My my Godsh W How does that work? I feel like you'd have to do a handstand for that to work He said Yp, Yp. I don't know how we got here. I'm from another time. so I don't know I've landed hereidentntil my people just drink my people just go v via the mth. I don't know about this. So my partner Chago is really into mountain biking and there are some really popular trails in the area. A first I just read that as is really into mountain J'must really into the mountain. My partner, Chago loves mountain. One thing about me, love mountain. Chago mountain equal love. And by the head of one of the main trails is BLM Land disispersse campsites. If you don't know what that means, it's basically free campsites with zero camp amenities like toilets, benches, tables, designated campsites, or a camp host And it says, yay, shitting in a hole Or boothin or Primitive camping in the creepy woods. We love that kind of thing, especially since it's free That sounds horrifying to me. I'm not gonna lie. Shitting in a hole. All of that. Yeah. Like that there's nothing. There's no amenities. There's no toilets, benches, tables, designated campsites, a camp host, nothing. Yeah, I don't like it. Yeah So it was Chago and I with our pup camping out here down a long dirt road off the side of a main highway. We were maybe half a mile down this dirt road at a campsite that was pretty far away from any other people camping out there. We hate people. So do we? same. Down the road a bit deeper is there were bigger campsites with a ton of people in their RV's and trailers and some tent camps and a bit further down, they had some logging activity happening, so big logging trucks were occasionally seen barreling down the dusty road The first night when swimmingly, our pup's first camping trip had her rolling in the dirt like the little piggy she was. and I had my hammock up and a nice book relaxing Chago rode his mountain bike to the local trails and was gone for a couple hours while I just hung out at the site Then we drove into town to see my nephews, and afterwards we met up with some friends and had some drinks back to the camp kind of late that night and Chago was pretty buzzed. This night was not so relaxing, withith him being in a booze induced bear like hibernation, I felt alone and kind of scared. Oh I don't blame you.. The forest was too quiet. Every little snap of a twig had my heart jumping My dog either picked up on my anxiety or just felt the vibe It was whisper whisper borking at every noise. I got I love when they I know exactly the whisper that like Sometimes Dolo does it in her sleep. Y. Something wasn't right. Not even the crickets were chirping, like they were the night before, dead, silent Now, I have a completely irrational fear of Bigfoot murdering me in my sleep. Scream Yeah You should scream. yell, Sarah. That will make Big Fot go away Listen, we're misunderstood. But I feel like a scream would make you be like, oh, yeah, I' go away. I don't want to hear it. But like, I'm gonna murder you. Well, that's the thing you hear a scream, you're like, oh, that was not my intention.orry. actually meaned upsite. K kind of bums me out. Yeah. Of course. I've always felt that way. We're not trying to bother anyone. Yeah. Big feet They just want to buy Bigfoot feet. Yeah, Bigfoot feet. I have a completely irrational fear of Bigfoot murdering me in my sleep while camping. and this forest was very squatchy. as the guys on the show Bigfoot hunters like to say, I actually love that. How dare they hunt me? So How dare they? So I just chalk the bad feeling up to these squatchy woods in my irrational fear and finally drifted off to an unsettled sleep Squatch shey is a grocerd. It's kind of hilarious. aom ofia. The next day, Chago and I had a bit of a tiff, and him having a brutal hangover was surely to blame. I decided to take a walk for some air and took my dog with me. She is a friendrenchy and quite buff, so she looks kind of tough That being said, she's scared of literally anything including piles of towels that weren't there earlier, or statues or reflections in the mirror. I'm obsessed with that. Anyways, we walked up the road deeper into the woods and turned off to the right hand side after I spotted a pile of rocks that seemed like a good lookout spot to contemplate my whole existence and try to distract myself. Were you pretending that you were in a music video? Oh, absolutely. I hope so. Yeah You have to Yfect v. to do when you're walking or when you're alone in my car. Yeah, driving in the rain. Yes. L out the window. You are The main character in your mom's Ford Taurus in the backseat. And here's the thing, always do that forever. It's called whimsical Be the main character of your own life. Okaykay. up Don't out about it. Romanticize that W. Yeah, romanticize Well happppy he's happy fantizing his life. Hees, he's like, I love that. That makes me happy. because Nicholas, you're the main character in story as well. Yeah So we were a few hundred feet from the dirt road down a slight hill That's where I heard a noise coming from behind me and deeper into the woods. A kind of specific rumbling of an engine and a blasting of ACDC through some shitty speakers. What sound? Very specific sounding. True, true. I turned around to see where the noise was coming from and spotted a white Ford cargo van coming down the road. That's never good. I'm gonna get out of there. Run. The front windows were down and I could see a man with a scraggly beard and a weird sun hat singing loudly and moving erratically I don't hate it quite. That's I'm not like totally put off by this yet. He's just singing slightly. Moving erratically Yeah. mayaybe he's just a white person dancing. I to move erratically true. We're also known to do that. Yeah My dog's hair stood on end all down her body and I got a creeping anxious feeling as he passed out of sight heading towards our camp in the main road. Okay I specifically remember thinking as he passed, thank fuck he didn't see us down here alone in the woods. Well trust your gut. That's a gut feeling, babe. We We weren and we're in our house. No, so ye what do we know? You tell me that you suddenly felt Bank fuck that he didn't see us alone in the woods. That tells me something. Shortly after, I saw Chago emerge from the trees riding up the road on his mountain bike. He spotted us and came down to where we were. He mentioned that he saw a white van pass our camp. He said the van slowed down and the man driving made eye contact with my partner as he crept past our camp. s like he was scoping out our campsite, Chago said. So I knew I had to come find you and make sure you weren't in the back of that van. That's nice. Yeah, that was very nice, especially after a fight. I know. I you. The thought made me shiver. We hung out for a bit. and made up tried to teach our dog how to ride alongside the bike The little dumb baby did great until she bolted in front of the bike's path, almost causing Chago to yeat himself off the bike. That's tough. We then walked back to that stuff. We then walked back to camp forgetting the weird band guy and getting ready to head to town. As we were packing up, I heard a noise coming from the direction of where the dirt road starts Through the densely packed barren tr trunks of dusty trees, I saw the first glimpses of white It was the van. The roar of the engines and blasting Tiny music was very specific. I said, fuck, it's that van again. The anxiety started again. We sat and watched it rumble up the road through the trees. As it came closer, we just knew some shit was gonna happen. But it's like we were frozen. It got closer to our isolated single campsite. and then fucking rolled to a stop. Before we knew it was happening, my dog flipped her shit and started barking like I've never heard and ran at the van. Get her, I shouted to Chago as he tried to chase after her The man leaned out his window and I could see his greasy long black beard and long hair. Wash your hair. His weird straw sun hat and truck stop sunglasses kind of obscured his face. There's nothing wrong with gas station sunglasses. like put together with all this. Yeah, that's true. He was trying to say something to us through the nasty tobacco stained face hole that was I missing some front Oh no. Our dog was still going cuckoo nuts and though the barking through the barking, the guy asked, do you guys drink? Not with you, babe. Huh At this moment, Chago reached the van and my dog and was trying to wrangle her in while trying to look as tough as possible. He said I'm getting myunch Brenchy. We were both almost fully covered in tattoos and he is as an intimidating looking guy This did nothing for us in this case. It was chaos. He tried to calm our dog down, and as he was trying, the man turned around and reached for something in the back of his windowless white van. So cliche. No. At the exact same time as this man reached behind him, my dog stopped barking and turned to look back at me I saw why she stopped barking. She was basically projectile vomiting at that moment. What a superpower. She She can I'll save you. She was looking back at me with panic in her eyes. She was so worked up over this greasy human that she puked. I get it. Same girl, same. She said, stay away from my pas Inert vomit noises at the end of Pawin. There you go. Anyways the man turned back around and had something in his hands. It was two beers. Chago was so caught off guard from the projectile vomiting LDB, little dumb baby, he just instinctively took them out of the man's greasy dirty hands Rapture. Not the rapture, honey, Nicholas. Right now? I think we just got past a rature. It sure I'm sure another one's scheduled. What would you do if I just went floating up into the f? just went I was just like, o going befonated are just like You both go She wasn't even baptized. I Goddam. You guys were both baptized, weren't you? Yeah. Yeah, you'd be so pissed. Yeah. I''t even go here. I'm this godmother. Oh my god I think like technically your mind too, even though I didn't get baptized, my mom was like, yeah. That's how that works. That's me. My mom claimed she baptized me herself at the hospital, but I don't think that works that way. That's how that works. She said she found some boly water She probably just like found this man with the beers and poured one on my head Sometes that'll work Oh do. She found the little basin somewhere and she was like a liquid. Well it was probably like somebody's bedpads, somebody's ps that she just found That explained a lot about me Thanks, Dars. Bave it in. Anyway. We'll see what happens in next wrap here Nicholas, but that's evidently why I won't be getting picked I was baptized in a bedpan Con Canon event. Oh God, now people are gonna message me and be like, I'll baptize you. Yeah, it's gonna get weird. justust get ready. Thanks, man. Have a nice day. Chago said in a way that invited no further dialogue and was very direct in the deepest man voice. said Get out. The guy smiled a gross, crazy looking smile and slowly rolled off That's when he turned his attention to me, still sitting far back away from the road, trying to position myself behind my parked car. He made eye contact and as he rolled by, he shouted to me, I likeack your hair. You look like my sister. Your sister You look like my sister. That's mine. Is that your sister Nicas? That'sine. He's like, that's my life Using my best unfuck withithable, tough bitch face, I just politely but sternly replied, Thanks and stared him down as his van crawled away.. Chago dragged our girl back to camp and we tried to clean her up. After that was done, we looked at the beers the man had handed him. They were called boneyard something. Don't drink those fucking beers, I told Chago, as he put them in the fucking cooler like a dinghus Maximaago We packed up extra light extra tight, look all took all our valuables with us and headed to town to take my nephews on a bike ride to a more kid friendly park This park, we went also had some more advanced trails. So while I sat and hung out with the children, Chago took a couple laps on his bike generally enjoying the day and forgetting about the weirdness from earlier. Me and the boys played in the sunshine and chased butterflies. That's adorable. I love that. I heard the familiar whirring of Chago's bike and looked up Surprised by the look of alarm on his face, I stood up and asked, what's wrong as he finally reached us He told me about how during his ride, he ran into an older guy at the top of the trail and had a very interesting and alarming conversation. Oh The old guy told Chago that he wouldn't have been on this particular trail if it wasn't for a closure of Phil's trarailhead where we were camping. Oh god damnit. Chago thought he was just talking about how because of the logging in the area, some of the trails over there were closed. No, not that, the guy continued The police barricade of the road, the canine units, helicopters, drones, and complete energy emergency evacuation of the area, due to a criminal on the loose. look? You guys missed that? Oh shit, we're camping over there, Chago responded That that was happening while they were in the other part Oh Is it you they're looking for them The guy coayly asked as he laughed and rode away. He said not a fuck I love He said, Fuck that Immediately, I got on my phone and started searching the news for any information. The closure and emergency evacuations were confirmed. The cause was someone in the exact campground area we had at our camp at, had called in and threatened to kill everyone in the area and then kill themselves. They said that they had a fully loaded rifle and handgun with them. Oh my go. Panicking, we packed up and headed to town But the closure was still active. so we dared not try to return to camp. We sat at a restaurant called Dump City Why the fuck would you ever name your restaurant Dump City Cuts. crazy marketing. That's reckless as fun. I'm obsessed with it kind of. that they were just like, it doesn't matter if we call city.. We had a couple of drinks and o dumplings Dump City come for the Dumpling genernal. I don't know Wow, you should call them G give them your idea I I do love dumpling. I do too. but I don't know if I'd get them for dump city. Well, they also kept an eye on the press releases and waited for an update That date finally came, police apprehended a man who was intoxicated and had made the call from his white Ford cargo van camped out in the BLM forest by Phil's trailhead. Or no. It was him, the beer guy. M That was a good thing that you looked like his sister. Yeah, mayaybe that's what spared you. It all worked. It was him, the beer guy, now the murder beer guy. Really sunk in. He had reached behind him and had in his possession two guns which he planned to use on people in the area, but instead pulled out some beers to ever so kindly hand to us and send my dog into a vomit attack of panic This crazy guy had probably reached around his firearms to hand us those beers. I feel like I would spend the rest of my life being like, why didn't heal us? Yeah. That's stressful as fuck. Yeah. Thoughts started racing. What if we had been mean to him? Yeah. What if I didn't remind him of his sister? I'm telling you. What if the dog hadn't vomited and distracted Chago and he said something rude or told him to fuck off like we would have done in any other circumstance you would have been fully within bounds to do that. What if he had seen me alone the woods Was that the bad feeling I got the night before because a man had been camped in those same woods? What if What if What if? Oh I like how you ended that. I told Chago again, donon't drink those fucking murder beers. We rac back to our campsite after the all clear and packed up ha haazardly at record speed and got the fuck out of those woods. We camped in my sister another sister in my sister's driveway the next night and enjoyed a non squatchy non murdery evening. That's a nice evening. except Chago drank the goddamn murder beers Here's the thing. I like had a feeling Chago was going beers. Yeah. Chago lives life on the edge. He does live I re that about Ch for Chago. Yeah. Then in the theme of the day proceeded to projectile vomit the bad Juju that was for sure encapsulated in those ominous boneyard beers. Oh no. And there it is. I hope this was entertaining because it's definitely a staple story for the rest of our lives. Chago quit drinking shortly after this experience and is now enjoying the amazing an amazing sobriety. Oh yeah, Chago. And she said so proud of him and I say proud of you, Chago.uck yeah.uck yeah I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you keep it weir, but not so weird that you narrowly avoid possibly getting yonked out of existence by a greasy crazy van guy, but get saved by a distracting projectile vomiting puppy and possibly looking like said Man's sister, but then drink murder beers and gets so sick that you give up drinking forever, or do. whatever floats your boat. Hey, whatever works, right? Oh my God, I love your dog. puppy. Oh my God, I hope you have a tattoo of that dog because that's the most tattooable dog I've ever seen. A beute A beay A true bea. I feel like u What's that style? Uh, I don't know period That's it. Yeah. No. like like I don't know. when that dog just looks like a tattoo. He does look like a tatoo. I'm saying. It's beautiful do.ook at you with your cool sunglasses on. Yeah, I gotta put him on. I just want to stare at your dog. it's time to vibe Sarah, that was an amazing story and it was really scary and I was on the edge of my seat literally. That man would have killed you Yeah, if you didn't look like a sister. So I'm really glad that you guys good for Chago. I think Chago read the room too. I think he was just like, thanks man. Yeah like he got the vibe. Yeah. was sm. you guys were smart Good job Sarah, I kind of just burped that at you, sorry. Good job. All right Tale two. My real life, manan or the bear? Oh no the bear, the bear, of the bear. That scares me a lot. This listener would like to remain anonymous and we'll allow that. We will allow you to remain anon the sign. Hey, Morbid famam, you know that question that has been popular recently on the tiki T talky? Oh yeah. The one asked of women, you're alone in the woods. Wh would you rather encounter? a man or a bear? Here's my real life answer In August of twenty twenty four I was I almost just read I was blow jobs I was. I was blached. I just became It says I was between jobs. Like not even slightly that word. That's justone beces I don't know what that means about me. kind of not gonna to explore ituck. Sorry, sorry anonymous. I was between jobs. and I decided to visit my happy place, McClouod Falls in California. is out near Shasta. And there's a campground that runs along three gorgeous waterfalls.. That could call to me. Yeah. I wouldn't camp there, but I'd go I'd go there. I'd look at it. Yeah. I'd look at it, and then I'd go home I had been there at least five times already, but I just loved it so much out there that I had to go again. I stayed about a week and although I went alone, the campsites around me were all occupied with happy campers The first night I slept in my tent but didn't sleep well So I left my tent up as a placeholder and slept in my car instead. I've been on the road a lot and I prefer my car because it has a hard shell. I can get more comfortable and I can leave quickly if I need to Yeah, that's fair. smart. Yeah. I also didn't have campfires because I go to bed early so I can wake up early So the days go by of exploring and swimming. I saw tons of deer and one morning I even saw a baby black bear. They're so cute. so cute, Lave them alone. don't go near them. Don't feel like John and get out of the car and try to follow them. Yep, John tried to look at one very closely. And even his ten year old children said maybe you shouldn't do that. I was dumbad. On my last day, I decided to pop a cap And some of us Oh What What does that say about us Because I think you mean open a beer. But I've never heard that. The only papa cat I've ever heard is Inone'ss And that means shoot them I' immediately fad of that. I've never heard that for like on a Sdi. L a sodi I just I thought it was like I've heard like crack one open, you know? My last day I decided to shoot someone. And that's it, pereriod. ' that's littleer. That's is this one? I see why you wanted to remain anonymous. All right, so I decided to pop a cap Yeah and this person, whoever it is, is like, arere you guys for real What is it No way you that dontay. That's crazy In the US, there's a break in every twenty six seconds. That means somewhere, right now, an intruder is getting closer. horrifying The problem is that most security systems only alert you after a break in has already started and that is simply too late. 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That's half off at simpllyafe dot com slash morbid. There's no safe, like simimplyafe. Chilling crime cases are mysterious, but finding coverage shouldn't be With a state Fm personal price plan, you have options and can personalize your plan to help create an affordable price. So you can get back to cracking all of life's bigger cases Talk to a state Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, state Farm is there. Head to statefarm dot com to get a quote. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state, coverage options are selected by the customer, availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co founder of Angie. When you use Angie for your home projects, you know all your jobs will be done well. Rof repair? Done well. Kitchen sink install? done well. Deck upgrades, done well. Electrical upgrade, done well. Angie's been connecting homeowners with skilled pros for nearly thirty years, so we know the difference between done and done well. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find a pro for your project at anngie dot. com So you popped a c and you liiked the length of the water waterfall. waterfall. S tjection waterfalls U and conclude the day by swimming at the Middle Falls. The water is very cold, but once you get used to it, you can stay in all day. I was like a chubby mermaid out there. I swam under the fall. Hell yeah. I'm just picturing a choppy mermaid shoot ex Just a chumpy mermaid with like a glact. What's happening? I don't know What has happening? It's the pop of the cap. It is. So I swam under the falls and I floated with only the sounds of constantly crashing water. It was gettingward on towards evening and I realized a lot of people had left and there was only two men standing on the bank. Oh heate that get out of there. I continued to luxuriate in the falls for as long as I could, and when I got back to the bank, there was only one man left. somehow that's worse than two mth. yeah, you know what I mean? I don't know why. As I was drying off and getting ready to walk back to camp This tall overweight Fedora, my lady looking mother? Oh no Oh no, like M lady M lady. Oh no. lady looking motherfucker approached me. He said Could you take a picture of me? He was holding his phone and this seemed like a normal request, I said sure. and started to climb down the rocks to take his phone. That's when he said, I wantan to send my girlfriends in the Philippines a nude photo of me. Oh go fuck yourself, dude. You're so nasty. fuck yourself your junkle. I literally be like, fuck off and die She was. Fuck off and dad. I just screamed. You nasty bitch. I got You even jump back into the water. Iuck off I just grabbed his phone and I immediately said, Sorry, I can't do that. and I handed his phone answer. I grabbed my stuff and I walked slash jogged as fast as I could back to camp. I was pissed. This was the last night of my magical camping trip. and now I have to look over my shoulder. I wished I had thrown his phone. I don't blame you. You should have. You just stomped on it. But you know what, you were being smart. You were And that very same thought triggered my first memory of coming to these falls a few years before. This same motherfucker asked me that same question at the same fall years before. What? I'd forgotten because I had so many adventures around that time and so the memory kind of just faded. Good for you. Then I thought she was like, life is so great that I just forgot about that shitty thing. Yeah. goodood for you. Yeah Absolutely. That's awesome. So I had so many great adventures around that time, that memory had faded. Then I thought how gross andpathetic that this guy is still out here trying to get women to take pictures of his teeny weenie. Like dude, don't you have a life? No If this was Dante's inferno, I imagine he would be in the second level where lusty fucks are quote blown into a violent storm without hope of rest. yeah. And he would just be walking around for all of eternity with a broken camera asking for people to let him pose nude. Y So I got back to camp still pissed and upset and climbed into my car and watched the trailhead to make sure he hadn't followed me. I was in the clear now and I decided to totally pack up that so that So that that, sow that that so that in the morning, I could GTFO. Once I was packed up, I noticed that a lot of the campers around me had left The camp Docent was only a couple spots away in a cabin, so I felt okay. I got ready for bed and curled up in my car. What's a docent You know like I know like there's like a museum doent Well what's a dosent? I think I would be can' for I'm trying to think for like a campground what it would do What does a museum dot do? I think they're like they like oversee everything Is it like a keeper of the grounds kind of? I would think so. I'm not sure so don't hold me to that. Well, that's what we think. The night didn't end there after I curled up in my car. Some young men pulled up at the campsite diagonal of me. I hate that, yeah. And they left their car lights on as they looked around and set up I realized I wasn't going to get any sleep right away. So I grabbed a little bottle of tequila and my green and I sat on the picnic table in the dark looking up at the stars. It was dark and I was quiet. I looked at the stars and I savored my final night in one of my favorite places I do respect that you're like trying to like not get them to ruin it for you. Yeah like still having a whimsical moment. Yeah for yourself because you deserve it. You do deserve it. And like you should be able to do that. Yeah. I'd been out there twenty minutes and I noticed something walking about twenty feet from me. I couldn't see well and it took me a moment, but I realized that it couldn't be a deer because of the size and the way it moved. It was a big black bear Oh, It was scouting for food left behind by other campers. I sat still so as not to startle it I saw it recoil for a moment, like it smelled me in my booze. I think it sense that I wasn't a threat, so it walked past me, not wanting any trouble As soon as it passed, I I climbed into my car just in case. Yeah, Black bears are like pretty They're chiller, yeah. As long as you don't like fuck with them, they won't fuck with you usually. Isn't it like they're more scared of you, really? Yeah, Black bears get like freaked out like skittish. Yeah. unless they'reotecting babies. Obviously you don't wan to fuck with the black bear No, I mean, no fuck about. We have a ton of those around the house. Yeah The bear didn't bother me, it silently shared space with me. The bear didn't try to manipulate me. The bear wasn't pervy. The bear didn't ask me to take a p the bear didn't ask me to take pics of it naked. whichich kind of would have been adorable if it did. I love this next sline. In fact, the bear was naked and it still wasn't creepy about it. The man made me feel uncomfortable, and I sense he would have tried to lure me in and escalate. so yeah Tam bear one hundred percent. Hell yeah. I love that. I had the man and the bear at the in the same night. Yeah. you had an experience with both of them And it was crystal clear. Yeah who you would pick. Like she didn't even talk about like feeling scared of this bear. No. She just was like, oh shit, that's a black bear. Yeah. And she was like, I'm just gonna sit here for a minute and it looked at her, just kind of smelled and was like I'm gonna walk away now. Isn't that just like really sad that a woman will be like, o, wow, a black bear and then oh fuck a man. Like then see ye, like That is real. That man walked up to her and asked her to take a naked picture of him. to send to his girlfriend in the Philippines. Hey do you mind if I whip my dick out? Yeah. I do. You wouldn't know if she doesn't go to school here. Yeah. Yeah. Like that's that vibe and this bear just Chugged on through. ye. But yeah Anonymous, that was a good too. And I'm sorry you experienced that. Like I'm still glad that you had a good time, but I hate that you've even tainted your trip twice because that's gross. It a beautiful place. Yeah Tail number three. I literally got lost in a horror movie esque Forest survivor. like the TV show style, featuring a rift in the fabric of space timee I that again, he's not here. Yeah. Are you talking about Mikey He's usually here Sometimes he silences you Maybe that's why he's talking so much. He's like, he's not here so I'm out. Also, he said lou. He said, listen to me. Yeah. You see what you did, Mikey? seeee that, Mikey? Like he's like godd damn it was godamn it. He was like it was an intense story, okay? No. I have to start off with a bit of backstory, so you better understand why I did what I did and how on earth I ended up in this situation I grew up in a smallest town in Manitoba, Canada. Speaking of Canada,s Mikey is. My parents are ultra hippies in a sense, and wanted their children to go up near nature. So they bought a house off grid on the edge of a forest where I was born. My parents had me in their early twenties and after deciding they wanted more children, after many years, they had my brothers in quick succession. That means that I technically grew up in only child because my brothers twins were born when I was fourteen and my baby brother when I was sixteen. Oh wow. So I had to find ways to entertain myself You may say that my parents were She No preservatives, food dies, having their own chickens and sheep for eggs, wool and meat, walking barefoot and so on. I'm obsessed with this. They became less and less strict in this regard as I grew older and especially after they had more children, but it's still in there somewhere as my brothers are also quote unquote, forced to play outside We had a rule when I was a kid that you had to be outside for at least four hours a day. schoolchool and other activities didn't count. And you got a ground. That meant that I played mostly alone in the forest near our home every day until I was about twelve. Since my friends usually had other things to do after school, I suspect their parents didn't enjoy the idea of their children running around in the literal swampy forest. dark I used to go into the forest around our home and do whver six year old children with sticks and rocks did From then, school ended until it became dark. I was out playing hide and seek with my imaginary friends, climbing trees and eating dirt. My parents used to call that me gaining an immune system. All right. I tell you this because I've always felt a very strong connection with nature in the forest. And even now I live basically in the forest with my girlfriend Like the cottage core Gremlins, we are. I love that. I love that. I'm obsessed. It never felt scary or alien to me, which I believe clouded my judgment and caused me to have a huge case of hubris that put me in a dangerous situation that easily could have been avoided. That's. They're like, yeah, it's beautiful But it also made me do this. It's true. I love the word Hubers. I do too. Now, my first year at Uni, I made some wonderful friends, Allie and Isaac, that love all things outdoor as much as I do We made it a recurring tradition to every year go out bare bones camping in the early fall. I call it bare bones camping, since we usually only packed one tent that had been in someone's garage for God knows how long F too little food, far too much alcohol, and that's about it. See, I think that's why people enjoy camping because I think they bring a lot of alcohol. Yeah. exactly. So like you can enjoy anything with a phase of inebreation, you know We took a weeka off and made it a sort of challenge how long we could survive with the things we brought with us, along with whatever we foraged and made Now that may be many people's worst nightmare, but I enjoy it a lot and consider myself quite apt at surviving in the woods. And I respect that. If there ever is a zombie virus outbreak, hit me up. and I'm sure we'll survive. Thank you. It sounds worse. It sounds worse than it was, but now when we go, we do prepare better For example, we bring a lot more food in those foldable polaran polar we bring foldable polar bears. Have you heard of her Holdable solar panels that can charge your electronics and two tenth since Alli and Isaac decided to make me the third wheel and get together. Oh my goodness, Allie and Isaac. Oh my Godd, Allie and Isaac. Come on, you're fucking the camping trip. I've been somewhat older and a little smarter because it was honestly a miracle that nothing really bad happened to us the last five years. No So last year, twenty twenty two When it was time to go on our annual survivor knockoffamp camp trip, it was our five year anniversary. So we decided to go all out and go to a national park a few hours away from where we lived. The park had many campgrounds and different overnight accommodations, but in true us fashion, we didn't want to be around other people. So we decided to hike right into the woods in a random direction and see where we ended up I like that that's a theme here that everybody likeike I didn't wantna be near other. I just I really hate people, so I decided to be away. That's how you know that there are people. Yeah. Now before it gets spooky, I have some warnings. O. Don't do this. It's super dumb. We're dumb people with no regard for our own help. All right, two, never go hiking right into an enormous forest if you aren't on a hiking trail and aren't familiar with the location. Don't gotta tell me twice. Three, if you do bring water and food and a compass or a map, donon't be dumb like us and never go alone. four first aid kid. You know it, you love it, bring it with you. I appreciate those warnings. Those are really good. Now that I've provided the mases with an adequate warning, let's get into the meat of this story We went into the forest on a Thursday and in high spirits and with lots of spirits in my backpack. In the afternoon, we found a little clearing and set up camp there The forest wasn't really that dense or dark, but it was very symmetrical, if that's the right word for it Every square meter looked the same. So when you didn't see any landmarks, you could walk a hundred meters and it didn't look like you had moved. Oh that's good. The first night was totally normal. We ate freeze dried spaghetti and got a bit tipsy, catching up and having a great time. You can't freeze past that. You can't freeze past. Freeze dried spaghetti rig Fog I'm intrigued. I said, I'm not like excited. I'm not excited. I want to see it I don't even know. Like show me what freeze dried spaghetti looks like. No, I wanna see it. Can't you just bring a thermos with real spaghetti Freeze dried spaghetti. It's like astronaut food But? I know we had to try that when we went to an astronaut museum at school th You know, the astronaut museum that we have around here. I think there was one. I don' I don't know. We went there. I tried freeze dried food and it was gross. But they didn't have spaghetti. I remember trying freezestried like ice cream and stuff. Yeah, the ice cream was good, but we tried other stuff and it wasn't good. No. No. I don't remember it. But that's spaghetti shouldn't be freeze driried. We shouldn't do that I'd like to see it And that's where we stand. That's where we stand on that issue. So on Friday, we went deeper into the forest. I wouldn't do that. No That's where I stand on that issue. No After a while, we found a spring and decided to sit there for a bit It was literally the most boring normal camping trip ever. Until it wasn't That was until our phones died. S, I told you. So for context, we didn't bring any charging equipment with us. But we also didn't use our phones for anything as that was part of our challenge. But We had them turned off somewhere in our bags. and when Alie went to take a picture of the spring, her phone wasn't turning on. So naturally, Isaac and I also tried to turn on our phones, but none of them would turn on. I hate that. A little bit creepy, but maybe we could have the cold drained the battery or something. I don't think that happens That evening, we tried to find a place to set up a tent But the trees grew so close to each other that it was impossible to find a large enough area to pitch a tent. We hadn't walked that far from the spring, so we figured turning one hundred and eighty degrees and walking back would be easy After two hours when we still hadn't found our way back, I started to get freaked out Isaac and Ally started building a semiunctional shelter from the wind, and I went to try to figure out which way was the way back to the parking lot I had to figure out which way was east. Oh fuck that. How I would do that? I had no idea, since the sun had just set and you couldn't really see any stars or anything because the trees were in the way That's when I heard something that sounded like a grown ass man screaming. The way that you just dropped that He was like, yeah, it was so weird. It was crazy. It wass starting to get a little. And that's when I heard the man screaming That's how I know you're a man because if I heard that, I'd just sink into the earth I'd sink into the earth like top of his lungs falling off a cliff without any safety equipment screaming. You know what happened? He found your freeze try getting S human tell you. It did sound far off, but it still gave me goosebumps I could still see Isaac and Ally, so I shouted to ask them if they had heard anything and they hadn't, which was super weird. What Be I only stood like fifty meters, like one hundred sixty feet from them And it was really loud. This is giving Blair Witch. Later That's all I keep th Wh find Which one of you is going to throw the fucking map in the stream? Which one I don't have a map. Who is it? They already did that, God to him Oh later on we laid down to try to sleep. Isaac said he heard something walking in the forest, like twigs snapping and footsteps. Pretty soon you're gonna have little handprints on your tent. That part fucks me up. That part even just thinking about that, I was like becausecause the kids make some noise like they're lifting some Oh stop No, no, no, I don't like to about it. That noise sends me. That movie is a masterpiece and they're not going to do a good job remaking it. You can't remake it because you can't remake that marketing. Also the amount, you can't do it. I wasn't even there and I know you can't amount of like do we get to see the witch this time? No that scary part. No, you don't. It's like why the strangers doesn't work in sequel form because you showed me the strangers. I don't the strangers. No Your brain is scarier when it conjures up And that's how we feel about Thank you. Sorry Thank you for coming. Weirdly, Alie and I didn't hear those footsteps The, I don't like that. it's like traveling through the group. like one person hears something. the other two don't. I don't like the next person hears something different. These two don't because it's isolating everybody in that moment of fear And I don't like That's weird. I don't like that. I do love that for like a story though great story. So the forest was dead quiet, like unnaturally so We couldn't even hear the wind or any animal noises, but Isaac insisted that he had heard something The next morning, after miserably failing to sleep, we again tried to make our way back from where we came. We still had some food left and water purifiers in case of emergency, so we weren't going starve, and with the daylight, I was a little less scared, but the night's always coming. We spent the day just fooling around and still trying to walk back, which was a bit easier since the sun had come up and we could figure out which way was easast Around midday we could hear running water, and finally we had made it back to the spring or so we had thought. Allie went and picked some berries so we could snack on them while Isaac and I sat around and tried to make a game plan of sorts. Are you guys gonna to start tripping now? Probably a little while later, I could see Allie running towards us, zig zagging through the trees, yelling something When she stopped, I could hear her say she saw the parking lot from where we came from, but that was impossible if this was the same spring clearing area. She swore up and down that she had seen headlights in the distance and heard a car engine stop So we packed up our stuff and followed her. There was nothing there. No sound to playerway. No roads that a car or four wheel wheeler could have driven down nothing. At this point, I still wasn't as freaked out as I probably should have been. but we continued walking in a straight line to the best of our abilities, thinking we would hit the edge of the forest somewhere We set up camp for the third time, and almost as soon as the sun went down, shick a wild. I told you it would. As I said earlier, in this forest, every tree looked the same. There was almost no natural landmarks and you easily got turned around. So when I went to pee a little bit away from my friends, we're close, but not that close. sorry. That's respectable. And I saw an oak tree, I was thoroughly flabbergasted. This whole forest was like pine trees and other tall skinny trees So why the fuck was there a large, probably at least seventy year old oak tree in the middle of the forest then I started hearing things like small animals running up and down the tree trunks and skittering all over the place, almost like they were running from something. A blair witch. I shed my flashlight in the direction of the sound and what do I see Two reflective big eyes staring at me Now I'm tall one hundred and eighty three centimeters or six feet When you look at something far away It looks smaller, right? So tell me why this thing was maybe seventy meters away from me But the eyes were at eye level with me, meananing it was Big, big. Was it a bail? It moved towards me And this was not an animal I knew about. At first, I thought it was a moose because I saw something that looked like antlers But they were super skinny, and the sound it made did not sound like a moose. It was very high pitched, like a fork scraping on a plate but coming from a throat of someone with tuberculosis who smokes three packs a day. Descriptive. It's like, um, whereere's that monster Oh, he's over there now Yes, what from the ritual? The from the ritualual But I thought too, right? Immediately. I thought about that is it wind based on a window It probably is. P. That it does, it makes me think of a wind to go That's not good. It's really bad in fact. I did what any sane person would do, pulled up my pants and ran screaming in the other direction. Yeah smart I yelled at the top of my lungs in hopes Alli and Isaac would understand that they also had to run at this point because it was every man for themselves. Only like a minute later I stopped to look back and saw nothing The adrenaline in me at the time was through the roof. I could literally hear my blood traveling through my body And it felt like an out of body experience in a really uncomfortable way.. I waited a bit and when I was sure nothing moved or made a sound, I quickly tried to sneak back to where we had camped I could still see the light from where he had put up the tent. so I slowly walked towards it There, eating berries and other plants we had forged set Isaac and Allie totally chill, but a bit puzzled why I hadd been gone so long. I was still worked up that I was in a totally not chill way shouted at them because they hadn't run when I told them to. We didn't hear anything was the answer to that What do you mean you didn't hear me screaming at the top of my lungs Apparently the only thing they noticed was me going to relieve myself out of eyesight And after fifteen minutes, me coming back from them from a totally different direction. I still don't understand how the fuck this was possible 'safe to say, I did not sleep well that night We were a bit worried the batteries in our flashlight would run out since we hadn't charged them before this So we had to lay there in the pitch black forest just staring up at the orange roof of that tent Somehow I managed to fall asleep and get a solid four hours of sleep before Allie woke me to tell me that Isaac had for real this time found a road We got going in the direction Isaac pointed us to, and there was a well traveveled trail I was elated. Normally we camp for about five days, but we decided to cut this trip short because the vibes weren't there. They were not immaculate. Also because I was scared shitless. We followed the trail for only about forty minutes until we got to a parking lot Now here's something super weird. We went into the forest on a Thursday and we came out on a Saturday But we had spent three nights in there, so it should have been Sunday How did we experience three nights But it had only been two days The sun came up and down Three times in the span of two days. Two days Super weirded out, we called tober to get us out of there, ate some wendy's for dinner. The appropriate decision? We tried to come up with a normal explanation for all the things we heard, saw, and experience, but ultimately we decided it was better if we didn't know. Life is fucking weird, ma'am. Side note, I tried turning on my phone back home and it turned on with sixty percent battery left. so I don't know what the fuck that was about either We're not me Now go into the woods for certain periods of time to go into the ocean. No. did go camping the next year again. You guys are absolutely fucked. You're fucked in the head for that. That's wrong. How dare you? You're wrong for that. Did you bring freeze dried spaghetti again? But this time we were better prepared. I camped in my part of the woods, near my childhood home in order to avoid any horned monsters lurking about. Yeah, but what if they know you now Truly. What if they have your scent They do What if if what if they do? Yeah, they do have your sons, you know. That was that I have some true crime stories I might send in when I get to writing that. Please do. As I said, I don't particularly enjoy writing, so I might take a while. You did a great job at it. Once again, thank you for existing and reading this story. I love you so much. We keep it weird, but not so weird that you go camping survival mode and start hearing things and get caught midpiss by a demon. so scary it makes you experience an extra day Don't do that. Like actually don't. I'm not gonna. I won't. I'm not gonna That is Horrifying story. God. The way that you experienced an extra day Wow a, that stressed me out W you saw the monster from the ritual. I gotta tell you, I think that's one of the best Lzener tails we've ever had. That was crazy. I was like really fed out by that I would love to hear Isaac and Allie who I love that they're in love now. I mean, they bonded. They did because a lot of times they were just left alone while you were screaming pissing. I'monestly surprised you guys are' in a frupple after that. That's crazy. It cy. Yeah. Wow Wow, fuck. All right. till number four The tale of the camping murders. Yes, murders. Oh As in more than one for multiple camping trips. Oh, and you kept camping? And this listener tale. Prologue. Oh, it's a sublab Stle in for this one. This is gonna be the culmination. All right. My husband, Josh is a Josh. I don't know why. I just like to say Josh Josh is a few years older than me, Eight years to be exact. Get it, boy. And just for use of that o. I love that. but honestly, get it boy Despite our age difference, our fun levels have always been on the same page, and he's always been great with getting along with my friends Part part of the reason I love him so much.. So one summer, I told him my BFF since middle school, twenty five years of friendship and still going strong. Oh yeah. We're going camping for a weekend and I wanted us to go too Now, I had never really been camping. I'm what you would consider an indoor cat Me too. I do enjoy going out. I play sports. I would go ghost hunting with these BFFs back in the day. But when it comes to going away for a long weekend, I do enjoy the finer things and like to stay at hotels or nice Airbnbs and go to nice restaurants and feel fancy.. I feel like I'm like talking to myself right now. Yeah. Yolo, am I right? You are right. Remember when Janelle Evans got that tattooed on her body? I'm just thinking about that Oh my God, I forgot that. Yeah I'm re watchatching Teeen Mom I did go camping once in high school after senior Ball, but I got very high. A cicada flew up my shorts and I freaked out. and then I passed out in a tent only to awake the next day as if the night was a blip on my radar. Honestly, a cicada flying up your shorts is a fucking nightmare. Yeah really These are scary. Honestly, a cicada existing within a ten foot radius of you literally Anyway, I was excited to go spend a weekend in the wilderness for real with my friends and my husband. But when I told him about the plans, he paused, looked away briefly, then back at me with a bit of fear in his eyes. Oh wait, hold on, can I show you that So he paused. Okay, he looked away Wow, that was what happened. Academy Award winner Elena Erkar Wh. Thank you, crazy. like that you said That was just so you said And you so cinematic. You asked permission. You said, Can I show you that? Can I? I said, yes, of course. Can I wow you with my with my acting ability? And you did. Thank you. And you did. It was cinematic. It it had to happen Okay. he told me he didn't know if it was a good idea for him to go camping because the last times two times he had done so. There was a murder. A murder too Let me just quickly go on a tangent because I feel like right now I should say submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society. I call this story We we were in sight there. the tale of the camping room Oh hell yeah, you've just set the vibe that I look then said pour midnight dust on the fire. Yes. So love it All right, so chapter one. U, I love it. You're killing it. Josh grew up camping a lot. He used to go all the time with his dad and it was a really fun thing he used to do When he got a little bit older, he wanted to relive some of those childhood memories and experiences. But you know, he was a college kid with no money and he didn't have any of his own camping equipment. It happenens. So the first time he went camping, when murder number one happened He needed toorrow his dad's tent. I'm sorry, is he going camping alone? I just want to know. Probably. His dad is a good dude, but very particular about people borrowing his stuff, especially his camping equipment. So it was important not to lose the tent I mean, that's important on any camping trip, I feel I feel like also it's like the most vital thing when camping, so like you're not bound to lose it But I never lose ten Maybe they can't. Maybe if they like blow away, I guess. That's your shelter. Don't lose it See I shouldn't camp. Yeah. ye. Yeah. So long story short He lost the tent. I guess it happened. He lost the tent. I suppose that happened. Because it was states evidence in a murder. So it doesn't usually happen. So he didn't was taken. Usually happened. What the fuck is happening right? Hello Okay, I have some silly subscriptions. I'm not gonna lie to you. 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From roof repair to emergency plumbing and more, when you use Angie for your home projects, you know all your jobs will be done well. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find a pro for your project at Angie. com Okay, so this story takes place in nineteen ninety eight. you were It was spring break of Josh's junior year of college. A couple of his college buddies and him went camping down near Maryland somewhere, where, not sure, but it was cold It was April and it was North enough that was cold out, but not like upstate New York in April Anwhere anyway. They anywhere anywhere anyywhere anyway. There were four of them and they were well, idiots. They brought nothing but beer, weed and snacks. That's a theme. Yeah sururvival camping. And they were the only ones in this campground because it was so early in the season Remember, early April, kind of northeast, probably about forty degrees. So the first day they set up their campsite, they were like, this is way too cold Fortunately, there was a log cabin nearby that they could rent. So they moved all their shit to the log cabin and proceeded to basically get fucked up for three days. W, they're in college On the third night, the guys decided to build this super big campfire outside. A side note, don't do that when you're like super duper fucked up. Yeah Okay back to the story. They got logs from the trees and they built this stupidly massive raging campfire and were being stupid college aged boys yelling things like We are the kings of the forest. We are alone here Oh my go. Men When off in the distance they see this other normal sized campfire. Now when I say distance, I don't mean like forty yards, I have no capacity of what that is I mean like out in the distance, a pretty decent way. Okay Maybe a quarter a mile or so. It's like almost ty yards I think a football field is one hundred yards. I think you're right. So it's like alm half a football field. All I remember from cheerleading is first and ten, do it again get again. comeome on, defense, work, work So I know the ten Wow, you're that's you're really rude for that. I just put myself out there I just put myself out there and you were a mean theater kid And that's why And that's why.actly. That's why we're doing. That' exactly what happened. You were a mean. I was just spreading cheer and you were a mean theater kid Judging me Wow, you're right. And that was my high school experience, kid. That's actually why I quit cheer because people were not nice to us. It was like the complete opposite of every high school movie. I was like, oh my God, I'll do cheer and I'll get really popular. Yay, and everyone was like, loser. So I was like, okay, I quit, I'll do softball. and then they were like, lesbian. And I was like, you're not wrong You're halfway there, I'm by. And that's a little about me. All right, so how me get here again? Fom Bfen to high school to sexuality. real unhinged back to camping I The fire was noticeable, but it was a little far away. But it was the only other person in the general vicinity of where they were. So these guys, the drunk high fucked up idiots that they were, started screaming and chanting at the dude. Our fire is bigger. You can't beat us! Fuck you dumb other person. This is our forest It sounded just like that. Fuck you, dumb other person. This is our for us That's like the voice that I do for Drew when he says something I think is dumb. And he's like, I don't sound like that. I Is the girl's doing too Yeah. Like in that it was like,. That's just this woman fun. She's like, I've never started a sentence with. And I'm like, but in my head yeah. In my you always do. When you say a dumb thing, it always starts with st U you know, things that stupid dumb fuckgged up college kids would say. Yeah And that was it. The fire went out, they cleaned up and they went home, except because they switched to the log cabin, Josh forgot all about the other campground that they had set up, which included, yeah, his dad's fucking tent. That was dumb. So he left his dad's tent in the state park He remembers the sinking pit in his stomach when he got home and thought, o my god, the only thing I couldn't do was lose this fucking tent, which seems like it would be hard to do. Yeah, but apparently not. But of course, he lost it. So he called up his roommate who was one of the four idiots on the trip It was still spring break, and his buddy lookved closer to where they went camping, so he asked Heyman, Can you swing back over there and pick up my tent He was about an hour away from it. A friend said, sureure, no problem. That's a good friend. That is a good friend So a day goes by. this was pretexting. Hello nineteen ninety eight. and his buddy calls Josh. And the combo went like this, friend Hey, so I went to the campground and there's a problem. Josh, what friend Well, you did leave your tent there and they did find it, but they don't have it anymore Josh, what do you mean? friend It's a state evidence now Josh, what are you talking about? States evidence friend Well, remember the person we were screaming at and taunting, the only other person out there There was a reason why he was in his private secluded area in the woods. He was on the run from the fucking police because he just chopped some people up with an axe What the fuck The guy that they were taunting in the woods was a literal ae murderer. Like a literal ax murderer Fucking A. This is what you do when you're drunk high and stupid. It's the plot of every awful nineties horror movie. But after they left, the ae murderer apparently came to their cabin and looked around touching Josh's dad's tent, which then became evidence. They got lucky that he didn't come while they were still there But that was camping murder story. number one. Holy shit, they almost became murdered. Aack's murdered. They almost became murdered. Yeah. All right, chapter two. Camping murdder murder. you said chopter two. I might have like choped Yeah I didn't mean to. Yeah chapter two. Camping murder story number two was like two years later Josh had purchased his own tent at that point because his dad was so pissed at him for having his first tent become states evidence. Yeah. Now Josh was like, okay, great, I have my own tent now, I have my own equipment. It's two thousand now. Josh had just graduated college. And's the millennium? Oh look at that. Oh my god The millennium. Ttally ruthous, dude So Josha just graduated college and he remembers exactly what night this murder took place because it was the night of this big Red Sox Yankees game where Pedro Martinez pitched against Roger Clemens. Oh, fuck Roger. You know who you're talking to, baby. Fuck bad guy. It was a classic pitcher's duel Now this trip was with a different group of friends, his high school friends, but similarly to his college friends, they were drunk idiots. Yeah. So they go to this campground in upstate New York somewhere and this campground is packed the exact opposite of his first murder camping trip This campground was not remote at all. In fact, it had its own main community building, which is where Josh remembers watching the Red Sox Yankees game. That makes sense. Anyway, at this time, Josh and his buddies were twenty one. There you go. That was right. So what do you do when you're twenty one years old in camping? Same thing you do when you're nineteen in camping. You drink. Yeah, a lot Now at this campground, Josh remembers the people there were kind of weird because they were almost like a set of cliqus. Their group had about thirty people and they took up a bunch of campsites But the group next to them, he thinks, we're Eastern European He doesn't remember exactly where they were where they were from, but they clearly were speaking another language like Polish. Hey, my honey's Polish.. And then on the other side of them was this giant massive group of bikers. That would make me feel so safe. Me too. I like bikers. I do too Much like we like truckers. Yeah. He said they stood out because hopefully I don't regret saying that. I hope they're not the murderers here Wh knows Yeah. Well, he said they stood out because there were so many motorcycles everywhere. But the drunk twenty one year olds, Eastern Europeans and bikers were the three main groups and their portion of the campground. What a grouping? Truly. It was like earlier with the hippies Yeah The hipsters and good old boys. Yeah, the good old boys. Yeah, this is a bit of a better trio. So the first two nights were fun. On the third night, it's always the third night. It always is Josh remembers getting really drunk, Again, college kid, idiot But nothing really eventful happened So he went to bed and passed out like one of those drunk two AM passouts when you're like Oh, I don't want to see the world for a while. Then he felt like he was suddenly woke up looking up And when he was able to gain some semblance of consciousness from his still drunk slash early hangover state, he just heard screaming terror and screaming and someone yelling, Oh shit, I think Josh is in there whichich is like the last thing in the world you want to hear when you're in that state or you're in any state when you're conscious He fully woke up, opened his eyes, and the entire world was on fire Everything was burning, including his tent.. So he opens up his tent, and remember, when he went to bed, it was a lovely summer night. He was drunk with his friends, a true all American experience He opens up his tent to fucking hell on earth just a complete hellscape in front of him So what apparently happened was the Eastern European group and the biker group at some point, like three AM, got Always three AM got into a fucking epic brawl. Just a crazy brawl that spilled over into his friends campsites And one of the big moments of the fight involves somebody getting pushed and knocking over a grill that had a bunch of hot coals in it. Oh no. Those were hot dogs too. A, not the fucking hot dogs. How dare you waste a dog? But those hot coals landed on Josh's tent and caught it on fire. Holy sh was a brand new tent he just bought. He was really proud of it So now his tent is on fire. There are bodies from this giant massive brawl all over, including one, and he doesn't know if this person actually died or not. But in his drunk state, this dude was murdered because he had one of those cooking forks that you used to flip a stake stuck in his head. What like embedded in his head And he was bleeding from his head with his eyes closed. Did the guy survive? Josh doesn't know, but he thinks he did. Oh man And while Josh is still drunk or hungover, his tent is burning and he's like, I got toa get the fuck outt of here. Yeah, you do Then they they then just left and went home and it wasn't until a little bit later with some retrospect that he was like I'm not sure I can ever go camping again. My last two camping trips involved taunting an ae murderer and having my tent taken to state's evidence Then I got a new tent and that caught fire because two random groups got into a fight that left my tent burning and someone getting stabbed in the head with a pitchfork. Yeah, that should tell you that you're not supposed to Well, then I asked him to go camping. Yeah Chapter three So he tells me these stories and I'm like, Holy shit, are you a liability? He is. What he is. But they say third times a charm, I really wanted to go spend a long weekend with my friends experiencing the world like an outdoor cat. I love and holy shit, are you a liability just like you're the problem? Fuck, am I just learning that you're a liability? Is it me J? Is it you, J So We bought a new tent. I't no. and all new equipment because we had none The trip was four days, three nights at some state park in Pennsylvania Everything was great. I had so much fun hiking. to that third night, I know. findinding random lakes and streams to swim in or learning to play cbe whichich is Viking chess. if you haven't played, it's awesome. and I will be happy to teach you. Oh, teach. Thank you And being with my friends and their partners, I was loving it. Yeah until the third night. Yeah here we are, we're at the third night. Fucking third night coming. simimilar to Josh and his friends. We enjoyed imbibing the alcoholic beverage every now and again. However, we weren't idiots like his friends. We were very mindful of everything because we were at a very family friendly campground. Oh, that was nice of you. Yeah and technically, you're not supposed to drink in state parks in Pennsylvania So we would hide the empties either in coolers or in an opaque garbage bag. We also didn't, you know, taunt any potential axe murderers or get in any epic brawl. Good for you. So the last night we're there, we still had a lot of booze. So we decided to get after it a bit. Let's get after it. I don't smoke anymore, but some of my friends do, so they enjoyed some of that And then o We had the Vampire weeekend Pandora channel playing quietly in the background You just took me back out That' delicious. Rember Pandora. meember of Pandora channel I used to love the shins. Yes. That pandora channel Y is really a plus. Do you know that papa got me ad free pandora Wow that he's a G. He really was. Yeah U wow, Pandora. I'm gonna to listen to vampire weekend, Pandora. My art teacher used to let one person put their phone on the like, she had this like big stereo thing that you could put your phone on top of and it would like play music. and she always let me put my pandora jam on We used to use Pandora and the Morgue Yeah like aqu was fucking pandora. Yeah So it was a lovely final evening just sitting around the fire, drinking, relaxing, chatting, listening to Pandora It was after ten at this point, so that's technically quiet hours, but we were being respectful of the other people camping, not being loud When all of a sudden a flashlight shines towards us. And then another We freeze briefly and Josh whispers, It's happening again, but this time we're gonna be murdered. God damn it, Josh. I be like you should be right now. You gotta get the fuck out. Get out of the campsite, Josh. Whisper to me, it's happening again. We're gonna geturered. I'd say it's fault Then in the fires glow, two park rangers come walking up to us and they say, How are you doing? My stoned and drunk friends seemed a little nervous and replied, Good good. Then they asked if we were drinking. We lied and we said, No Then one of the rangers shined a light on a beer can at one of the tables. A beer can that I left on the table. Oh girl. I was the fucking idiot that night and left evidence on the table. Oh no. They then proceed to tell us that we're not allowed to drink and that we had to pour out all of our alcohol. Oh, they had fun doing that. like pour it out At first, we tried to reason with them, but they weren't allowing it, and they watched us as we murdered our alcohol And honestly, the forest because we had to pour it all on the ground. Yeah. One of my friends made the point that it was bad for the environment, but the rangers didn't care. That's. At one point, Josh yelled, I'm forty. How can I not have a drink He wasn't forty, but he was the oldest of all of us. He wasn't. I love in fact. It's like the narrator. in fact was not forty. But he was the oldest of all of us. I told you at the beginning, his age would come back and was trying to use his age as part of the reason the whole thing was stupid, especially because we were being quiet, not interrupting anyone else Needless to say, we poured out over a hundred ounces of alcohol that night We went to bed afterwards because the mood was killed. I'd say so. And that was because of me. I was the murderer of our fun and our alcohol Hide the tw. You would never think that you'd be the murderer. Never. Fortunately, no humans were injured this night. J our you ghosts and part of the forest ground, so I guess Their time was a charm of Josh's camping trips Thanks for reading this and I hope you keep it weird, but not so weird that you are involved in multiple murders while camping and the third murder ends up being you. I love that one. That was such a good one. I really love that. I love it a lot. That's a lot of murders on camping trips or just shenanigans. That's a I think that's just like what happens on camping trips. Yeah. and I just think like that's that Yeah. I think you did it I it you're all. I think so too. And that's that. Yeahah, what else are you going to do? You know? what are you gonna to do All right, this will be the last one because it's Appalachian and that's where you end. You have to end on an Appalachian one. Appalachian. So this one is excuse me, let me get my eyes back. I don't know if I will excuse you. Remember when you were a theater kid that taunted me. I allowed you to act and you didn't even allow me to cheer withoutudgement without judgment. I can't help my face You really can't. I can't help my face either.. How ghosts turn my hike on the Appalachian trarail into a full on sprint Hi weirdos. My name is Katie. Hu. Ponouns she he. can use m T. I am Tut your.. Yes, you can use my name and I absolutely love your podcast. I've been waiting for something spooky to happen to me for some time now so I can finally write a listener tale. And what do you know? I was blessed with an absolutely terrifying night just for you. Huzza! I could write paragraphs about how much I appreciate you both But instead, I'll cut to the chase fine. The chase being the scariest night of my life. I'm gonna apologize in advance for the length. It's about eight to an eight minute read. All finetle in. Last year, the year of my twenty first birthday, to one It should have been the greatest year of my life. It never is. On my twenty first birthember my friend crashed her head into a wall. So we're not friends anymore. No, it never will be. No. So instead, it was easily the hardest. It seemed like every week was something new, familyamily illness, myself getting sick several times. friendriends passing away and doing my best to support my other friends while they also went through the hardest year of their lives It's safe to say when twenty twenty two came around, I was ready for a break from it all In January of this year, my dad was reading the paper when he came across an article of a girl who had hiked the entirety of the Appalachian trail. and I was immediately intrigued Anyone that knows me knows I'm a bit of a tomboy. I love the outdoors and practically grew up in the woods I decided right then and there that I would hike the trail I hoped it would be a fresh start from the craziness my life had been. You did a little more. Yeah, you did. And in September of this year, I left for a month long hike on the trail and was immediately hit with its intensity. It was easily the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. Yeah. I'm sure.. However, there was one night in particular that stood out more than any other twenty days into my hike. Oh my God. R. Jesus Christ. I just my whole body just felt A wall. I'm tired just for that. I go up the stairs. I'm like, whoo, That was crazy for me So twenty days into my hike, I had arrived at a shelter. For those of you aren't familiar with the trail, there are shelters every eight to tenish miles in case of harsh weather conditions. Shelters usually consisted of three walls and a roof. However, the shelter I had reached this particular night was one of the largest shelters on the trail This one was rectangular shaped for walls with two large door frames on either side of the walls running lengthwise on either side of the shelter were two I've attached a drawing for reference. Thank you. I arrived at the shelter late in the day. Rather than pitching my hammock at a tree like I did most nights, I decided to hang it inside of the shelter between the two bunks. My hammock came with a bug net that fully enclosed it while I slept Little did I know this would become one more obstacle in my escape later. on no. I then attached my food sack to the rope and threw it on top of the roof, securing the other end to a post down below, so I would be able to pull it down later This protected it from bears. The only predator I was supposed to expect on trail. Uh. By the time I was fully set up, it was nine PM and it was dark inside the shelter I was fully alone tonight like I was most nights. I decided to do my hike in the off season, so I rarely saw anyone Most of the days and nights were spent completely alone in the middle of the mountain. That's horrifying.' Brave extraterrestrial And I zipped myself into the bug nut and settled down for the night, texting my family and friends to let them know I had made it to the shelter for the night like I did it every night About fifteen minutes later, I hear what sounds like footsteps approaching the shelter I remember sighing in relief. Nights alone in the woods were often terrifying and it always helped having fellow hikers nearby. I waited for the footsteps to approach the shelter so I could inform my new friend that they were welcome to sleep in the shelter with me, but they never did. That's really nice that you would have just told a stranger that they could sleep in the same area. Yeah because I'd be like, donon't come the fuck in here. It's occupied occupado. Yeah. B. I wasn't worried though. Lots of hikers preferred to pitch their own tent outside the shelter for privacy I again find myself playing on my phone, talking to friends, and scrolling Instagram with what little signal I had After a while, I noticed I hadn't heard anything more from the footsteps. No shuffling to set up camp and no footsteps walking away. It seems strange. Hate From my vantage point in the hammock, I could see outside. Cnt I couldn't see outside. If I had any lights on inside of the bug net, I wouldn't have been able to see out The light from my phone reflected off the black netting and would only light up the inside of my hammock, but nothing on the outside. I settle myself deeper into my sleeping bag and try to relax No more than five minutes later, I hear heavy footsteps again approaching the shelter, this time from the back. A you surrounded? I quickly sit up and press my face against the bug net in order to see outside and wait for the owner of the feet to appear The footsteps walk right past the doorway And I see nothing I immediately feel the blood in my face drain down my spine The noise was close enough to the door that I should have been able to see whoever it was, but no one was there. My whole body hummed to life with adrenaline. That's a long baby I squeezed my eyes shut willing myself to get a grip. Maybe it was just a posa walking by and I hadn't seen it due to a short stature. I don't know. I knew deep in my heart it wasn't that. Breathe, calm down. I was silently screaming to myself, You're fine, you're just worked up I laid flat in my hammock for several minutes, listening for more while my pulse hammered away J then I felt my body begin to relax and I heard a noise that seemed to deafen everything around it. On the wall closest to my feet, I could hear the sound what sounded like a baseball bat running along the length of the wooden siding slowly like a psycho killer would do. Psycho killer Footsteps again crunching in the gravel alongside it. I don't like it. Right now it seemed like an appropriate time to run to safety, but again, I was in the middle of the forest and I had no idea who or what was out there It was then that I recalled reading a comment in one of my hiking apps that mentioned this particular shelter. The comment read, Weird guy at the tenth sites, for some odd reason, he displays a baseball bat at his site I was certain at that moment that the sound was the man from the comment and that he was going to bash my head in with that bat. Period, pereriod indeed. I quickly sent a text to my dad saying that I didn't feel safe where I was and to mark my location in case something were to happen to me Imagine getting that text from your child. No No No. That would be I would die. I'd send a helicopter to Aalach.ly. I would take flight. Yeah, pereriod. I think I would become a cryptid and I would die I would take flights. Yeah. just hitting st. That's momama shit. He replied seconds later with Get your bear spray out. This only increased my rapidly rising pulse. I had brought the bear spray for protection, but never planned on using it. timim you got a baby. As I'm sending my last text, I hear the bat sound again. This time on the stoop of the shelter. I shove my face and headlamp whichich I had just rrestled out from under my sleeping bag against the bug net again and see nothing. I feel tears rolling down my cheeks without even realizing that I had been crying. I kept the hot. I remember thinking, I'm gonna die if I don't move. I pushed aside my feelings of fear and tried to replace them with thoughts of someone braver than I am. you're hello brave. You're brave just for being there. That's what I'm saying I strapped on my headlamp, unzipped the bug net, and nearly fell to the ground. In my left hand, I had my phone open to dial nine hundred eleven, and my right was bears spray. As confidently as I could, I stepped outside of the shelter with my bear spray up and called out, Hello. No, you don't do that, you don't do that. No. That's the worst no. You know, you walk out there and you say, I have a gun. Yes That's what you said. you were Yeah. Nothing. I wasn't quite sure what my plan was, but I knew it involved spraying this asshole in the face if he came running around the corner. What if he was just like, I? H walked around to the backside of the shelter and was horrified. Nobody was there.? But I could hear the footsteps again loud and clear, walking south of the shelter I knew right then and there that what I was dealing with wasn't human. Oh, not an Aalachia by. I switched my phone from the calling app to my camera, knowing nine hundred eleven wouldn't be able to help with this one though, and started taking a video for proof Just as I had done so, the detached footsteps stopped, turned around, and started walking right up to me. In a panic, I ended the video and ran back into the shelter Once inside, I frantically punched numbers to hostels into my phone, desperately hoping one would answer and send a driver to get me. My hopes were low since it was now ten PM at night. After being sent to voicemail multiple times, one of the hostels called me back and I broke down into a full ensm. I remember the conversation going something like this Ma'am, are you okay? No Do you want me to call the police for you? No, they wouldn't be able to help Why not, honey? Nobody is here. You're alone? Yes, but that's not what I mean They were all like, What? What? If it was me, I'd be like, ghost. Yeah. Oh, you see a ghost. G'monna to send someone for you, babe. I explained my situation more in depth to the lady and she went quiet for a second before telling me she didn't have room at her hospal hospital. What a bitch. I felt like I was gonna pass out from fear at this point. Hearing the panic in my voice, she gave me the numbers of several hostels in a nearby resort. What a nice woman Seriously though, J sleep at the desk. Like make a little room. I'd be like you can sleep be here Yeah. And then once you're here, we'll get you somewhere else. Yeah. becausecause she know what's going on. It's a walker. It's a walker