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1:29

Creatures on the Plains by

1:31

Cagney I

1:34

grew up in rural Texas, but

1:37

not so isolated that our neighbors were miles

1:39

away or anything. We

1:42

were 15 minutes away from a small

1:44

town with a local grocery store. When

1:47

I was in high school though, we did get

1:49

a Dollar General, which you see

1:51

in so many small towns. This

1:55

happened when I was in college. I

1:58

was commuting 45 minutes to... to a

2:00

nearby university while living with my

2:02

parents. They had

2:05

gone with my younger brother on a trip somewhere.

2:08

For the life of me, I can't remember

2:10

where. The important

2:12

part is that I was home alone for a

2:14

few nights. I

2:16

had cooked dinner and was just sitting

2:18

outside on our back porch browsing the

2:20

internet. We had a

2:23

dog kennel about 100 feet from the

2:25

back porch that used to house

2:27

our two lapidors who were

2:29

prone to attacking the neighbor's chickens. They

2:33

had passed away years before this happened,

2:36

but we never took down the kennel. It

2:39

was in view of our neighbors, about

2:42

twice the distance from their house as

2:44

ours. The neighbors

2:46

had two boys who I

2:48

believe were around nine and 14 at

2:50

this time. I

2:52

was sitting there and heard what

2:54

sounded like the mischievous giggling of

2:57

a couple of young boys in the trees just

3:00

past the dog kennel. I

3:03

know I just said there were two young

3:05

boys living nearby, but

3:07

this was very strange, seeing

3:10

as that they had never come onto

3:12

our property uninvited and mostly

3:14

kept to themselves. I

3:17

walked a bit toward the kennel and yelled

3:20

out, Brian, Tommy,

3:23

what are y'all doing out there? I

3:27

heard what sounded like some hushed

3:29

whispers and then

3:31

something moving through the trees towards

3:34

the pasture a little farther back. I

3:38

was a bit angry with them at this point

3:40

for trying to run away. So

3:42

I grabbed a flashlight and went after them.

3:46

I could hear them moving in front of me. In

3:50

my area of Texas, we

3:52

have these tall bushes called

3:54

Yaupon Holly that grow

3:56

thick through a lot of the forests, trying

3:59

to move. through them is a slow

4:01

process and I thought

4:03

I heard the boys moving farther away. Thinking

4:07

it was probably easier for two small boys

4:10

to move through them than me, I called

4:13

out to them again. This

4:16

was met with another round of giggling,

4:19

followed by what sounded like them trying

4:21

to move faster to get away. For

4:26

about ten minutes I made

4:28

it to the edge of the pasture, assuming

4:30

they would be far ahead of me. Honestly,

4:34

if they had just laid down in the

4:36

grass I wouldn't have been able to see

4:38

them. I

4:40

shined my flashlight around a bit wildly,

4:43

trying to find them, but

4:46

quickly stopped when it passed

4:48

over two large grey masses.

4:52

I moved the light back and

4:54

my hair stood on end. About

4:58

twenty feet away were two

5:01

very large creatures. They

5:04

were about the size of a big

5:06

cow, but their hind

5:08

legs were short. Their

5:11

back was straight and angled

5:13

up to wide shoulders and forelends

5:16

that were longer than I was tall.

5:19

I'm about six foot three. They

5:23

stood something like a gorilla, but

5:26

their backs had a sharper angle. They

5:30

turned their heads towards me and

5:33

I saw flat grey faces

5:36

without anything resembling a nose. Their

5:40

mouths were small in the frame. I

5:45

was shocked and stood there completely paralyzed. I

5:52

could hear my heart beating in the air. my

6:00

ears. I

6:02

was ready to be attacked or

6:04

abducted or God knows what else.

6:08

I was even more shocked when I

6:10

heard the giggling sound come from them

6:14

as they turned and slowly wandered

6:16

off away from me. I

6:19

stood stuck there for probably five

6:22

minutes before bolting

6:24

back through the woods, through

6:26

those damn bushes and

6:29

locking myself in the house. I

6:32

don't think I slept at all during the

6:34

next three nights waiting for my parents to

6:37

come home. Thinking

6:40

back on it now, I

6:42

don't believe I actually felt any ill intent

6:44

from them. They

6:47

didn't seem aggressive in any way. It

6:50

was almost like they were just passing

6:53

through. I

6:55

will always wonder why they called out to

6:57

me and why they wanted me

6:59

to follow. Since

7:02

then, I've done a lot

7:04

of research trying to find out what they might

7:07

be, but

7:09

it always comes back to

7:11

aggressive and dangerous entities like

7:13

crawlers. None

7:15

of the other encounters I read about are

7:17

quite correct. I

7:20

guess I will never know what the creatures on

7:22

the plains were, but being so far removed from

7:24

it now, I'm glad they asked me to follow

7:26

them. I think I would like to meet them again.

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491 by One Planche Man I

10:07

was on an assignment for the Army,

10:10

making my way up from San Antonio,

10:12

Texas to Tacoma, Washington. It

10:14

was a long drive, so I was given

10:16

six days to report to my new unit.

10:19

I don't mind the long trek. I love

10:22

road trips. There is nothing like the

10:24

freedom of exploring the world by yourself. From

10:27

the first day of my journey, I planned to

10:29

get as much driving in as possible so that

10:32

I could spend a few days in Utah. That's

10:34

sort of a mini-vacation, you could say. It

10:37

was January, meaning that the days

10:39

were short, so maximizing the amount

10:41

of daylight was crucial. I

10:45

got up extra early that morning, carried

10:47

the last of my bags out to my Corolla, signed

10:50

out of my old unit, and hit the road at

10:52

roughly 5 AM. It

10:55

was an amazing day. I saw the

10:57

landscape transform around me as I headed farther

10:59

west than I ever had in my life.

11:03

From the San Antonio metropolitan

11:05

area, to the savannas of

11:07

the Edwards Plateau, to the

11:09

pancake flat farmlands of the

11:11

Great Plains region, America's breadbasket.

11:15

Finally, the farms opened up into

11:17

Prairie, and I saw the Welcome

11:19

to New Mexico, the land of

11:21

enchantment sign. I

11:23

was really in the middle of nowhere. Continuing

11:26

on US Route 380, I eventually

11:29

found myself in Roswell. I

11:31

could have gotten a few more hours of

11:33

driving in and made it to Albuquerque, but

11:36

I figured, since I was in no rush, I

11:39

might as well see all of what Roswell

11:41

has to offer. Besides, who

11:43

knows if I would get a chance to

11:45

visit again? As

11:47

a fan of the strange, dark, and mysterious,

11:49

as Mr. Ballin would say, I took

11:52

a self-guided tour of the shops and attractions

11:54

while I was there. The

11:57

next day, I continued to Albuquerque.

12:00

Then, went westward on Interstate 40. By

12:04

the time I started northbound on

12:06

US Route 491, I

12:08

still had two hours of driving left

12:10

before crossing the border into Colorado, and

12:13

another 45 minutes on top of that

12:15

before I would get to Cortez, my plan

12:17

to stop for the night. However,

12:19

my daylight was already running out as

12:22

sunset was at 6pm. The

12:25

last stretch of my journey for the day

12:27

was supposed to be easy, just a street

12:29

shit. So, I got

12:32

Starbucks and refreshed myself. But

12:34

looking back on it now, I figured that

12:36

had I decided to stop in Albuquerque

12:38

instead of Roswell the night before, I

12:41

would have been in Colorado by now, and

12:44

possibly be making my way into

12:46

Utah. Not to mention, I

12:48

would have saved myself from what was waiting

12:50

for me on that desolate highway. Route

12:54

491 stretched far into

12:56

the Navajo Nation, on

12:58

either side of me were

13:00

endless expanses of prairie bookended

13:02

by dark indigo mountains on

13:04

the horizon. To my

13:06

left, the sky glowed a

13:09

faint orange-purple, and the light

13:11

slowly dying down like smoldering

13:13

embers in a fire, until

13:15

finally plunging the land into

13:18

darkness. Now

13:20

and then I would see the headlights of another

13:22

car passing by, which gave me a bit of

13:24

relief that I wasn't alone. I

13:27

also had my road trip playlist on

13:29

to keep me company, and call me

13:31

ironic but Hotel California was playing. After

13:34

passing the small lonely town of Newcomb, the

13:37

next piece of civilization would be known

13:39

as Shiprock. However, between

13:42

the two towns, there was a 36 mile

13:44

stretch of absolute nothingness, an

13:47

abyss that I had to cross, and

13:50

I was not ready for what I was about to witness. After

13:53

several miles, having not seen

13:56

another car on the road, I

13:58

saw something strange emerge the horizon.

14:01

Barely lit by the moonlight, I thought

14:04

it was a road sign at first. Then

14:06

as it came closer, I realized

14:08

it was a person walking on the

14:10

shoulder of the road headed in my

14:13

direction. I squinted,

14:15

trying my hardest to focus on the figure.

14:19

In the darkness I could tell that

14:21

they were wearing a poncho of some

14:23

sort with long, black hair flowing down

14:25

past their chest. Who

14:27

could be walking out here all alone at

14:29

night, I thought. Whoever

14:32

it was had no lights, no reflectors,

14:34

and no strobes of any kind to

14:37

signal passing cars that they were there,

14:40

and they were walking on the

14:42

pavement dangerously close to oncoming traffic.

14:45

I pulled to the left a bit, giving them some

14:47

room. Then suddenly my stereo

14:49

cut out, as if I

14:52

had turned it off. The

14:54

screen went completely dark and my phone

14:56

disconnected from Bluetooth. While

14:58

this was unusual, it certainly did happen from

15:01

time to time so I thought nothing of

15:03

it. As I approached,

15:05

I saw the person raise their right arm, as

15:08

if to flag me down and hitch a ride.

15:11

Oh, no, no, no, I thought. There

15:13

is no way that's happening, buddy. As

15:17

my headlights swept past the figure, I

15:19

realized it was a man, dressed in

15:21

a button-up shirt with a

15:23

wool poncho, jeans, and cowboy boots.

15:27

His large belt buckle glinted as my

15:30

lights passed him. But

15:32

in that split second, I

15:34

realized with abject shock that not

15:37

only were his eyes painfully wide

15:39

open, but they seemed to be

15:41

fixated on me. Somehow

15:43

it seemed as though he were able to

15:46

see me through the glare

15:48

of my headlights and look me

15:50

dead in the eyes, not breaking eye

15:52

contact until I passed. I

15:55

was a bit shaken, but my nerves

15:57

gradually subsided. Mario

16:00

abruptly turned back on and

16:02

my music continued playing. I

16:05

looked in my rearview mirror and he was gone.

16:08

I couldn't see him so I drove on, trying

16:10

to figure out what he was doing here, but

16:13

at the same time forcing myself not to

16:15

think about it. Just when

16:17

I thought I had moved on, I

16:19

saw another shape in the distance. Getting

16:22

closer, I realized it was another figure,

16:24

another person walking alone at night. There's

16:27

no way, right? They

16:29

walked along the shoulder of the road, swaying

16:32

back and forth. Slowly

16:34

I could make out that this person was

16:36

wearing a poncho as well. Then

16:40

I saw what looked like long black

16:42

hair, reaching down past the chest. No,

16:46

there's no way. Was

16:48

this the same man? But

16:50

how? The man raised his

16:52

arm again, trying to flag me down. What

16:56

did this guy want? I

16:58

kept up my pace to indicate that I had

17:00

no intention of stopping for any reason and

17:03

just like the last time, my

17:05

stereo turned off again. Suddenly

17:09

the man leaped out into the road, arms

17:13

waving frantically. I

17:15

swerved into the left lane, narrowly avoiding

17:17

him. In my headlights

17:19

I noticed he had the same wide-eyed

17:21

look as his gaze locked onto mine.

17:25

I also saw that his clothes didn't look

17:27

as they did in the first encounter. His

17:30

attire was once clean, if not well

17:32

worn, but now it was soiled and

17:34

tattered. His hair was wild

17:36

and untemped, with clods of dried dirt

17:38

stuck in the locks. But

17:41

his eyes remained the same. My

17:44

heart nearly burst through my chest at

17:46

the sudden shift. Hyperventilating,

17:48

I slowed down and glanced into my

17:50

rearview mirror to make sure that he

17:52

was all right, but nothing

17:54

could have prepared me for what I was about to

17:57

see. The

17:59

man was running. running, he was full-on sprinting towards

18:01

me. I quickly centered

18:04

the wheel and accelerated, hoping to get

18:06

some distance from him. But

18:08

as I sped up, so did he. And

18:11

every time I looked in the mirror to check on

18:13

him, I would still see him

18:15

right behind me, perfectly keeping his pace,

18:18

his body tinted red by my taillights. I

18:21

could feel my temples throbbing, my hands

18:23

getting slick with sweat on the steering

18:25

wheel. I was sick to my

18:28

stomach. I looked forward, hoping

18:31

to see a faint glimmer of light from the

18:33

town ahead. But I was

18:35

still too far away. I looked back

18:37

at the rearview mirror. The man was gone.

18:40

I should have been relieved, but I knew better.

18:43

Where did he go? I looked

18:45

around, hoping to regain a visual of him, but I

18:47

couldn't see anything. I took a deep

18:50

breath, and I refocused on the road and kept my

18:52

guard up. Just

18:54

keep driving, I told myself, only a few

18:56

more miles to go. Then

18:59

out of the corner of my eye, I

19:01

saw something. Another shape.

19:05

I could tell that it wasn't the man again. At

19:07

least, I didn't think so. I

19:10

glanced over, bracing myself for whatever I was

19:12

going to meet in my sight. It

19:16

looked like an animal, though I

19:18

couldn't make out exactly what it was.

19:21

After the moonlight, I could see it running

19:23

alongside my car. Its

19:25

forelimbs reaching out in long

19:27

strides, its back undulating

19:29

like a dog. Closer

19:32

and closer it came. The

19:34

closer it was, the more of it I could

19:36

see, little by little. Then

19:39

I noticed its limbs were far too

19:41

long for its body. Its

19:43

body was too short, and

19:45

it had no tail. The

19:48

head was only round, and from

19:50

that head came a long trail

19:52

of black hair. I

19:55

slammed my foot on the gas, pushing the

19:58

car's engine harder than it had ever been

20:00

pushed before. I was clocking

20:02

well over 110 miles per hour,

20:05

but this creature just kept up. It

20:07

wasn't phased. It simply

20:09

ran faster to match my speed. What

20:12

was this thing? How could anyone

20:14

or anything keep up this fast? Whatever

20:17

it was seemed to have endless

20:19

stamina. How long

20:21

could it keep this up? How much faster

20:24

could it go? Soon my car

20:26

would hit its top speed. And

20:28

then what? How long could I maintain

20:30

that before breaking down? It

20:32

wouldn't be long before my engine overheated. But

20:36

regardless, I would eventually run out of gas.

20:38

And when I do, what would happen if that thing

20:40

got to me? At

20:43

120 miles per hour, my

20:45

car reached its limit. This

20:48

was the fastest I could go, but

20:51

the creature continued to pursue me. My

20:53

temperature gauge was reaching the red. I

20:57

couldn't keep this up much longer. Suddenly,

20:59

like the beacon of a lighthouse in the

21:01

sea, the first light of ship

21:03

rock came into view. It

21:06

was so close. If

21:08

I could just go a little longer, I could make it

21:10

into town. To safety. So

21:12

I pressed on. I fixed my eyes

21:14

on the lights, growing brighter on the horizon.

21:17

They bloomed outwards, glimmering in the night

21:19

air. Though it was

21:21

a small town, it was a sight for sore

21:24

eyes in my situation. Looking

21:26

in my periphery, I saw the undulation

21:28

of the creature's spine as

21:30

it kept pace with my car. But

21:33

now, it was slipping away,

21:35

staring farther and farther from the road.

21:38

It suddenly hit me just how hard my

21:40

heart was pounding. Beads of sweat

21:42

dripped down my face. I looked

21:44

over and the creature was gone. But

21:47

this time, the feeling of dread had also

21:49

gone with it. My

21:52

stereo once again turned back on, and

21:55

as my music resumed, I breathed

21:57

a sigh of relief. off

22:00

the accelerator. The man, or

22:02

creature, whatever it was, it was

22:04

finally gone for good. Having

22:07

white-knuckled my steering wheel the whole

22:10

time without realizing it, my

22:12

hands were extremely sore. But

22:14

I was glad to have made it through. A

22:17

week later, I told another soldier

22:19

at my unit about what I had

22:22

experienced. Being originally from

22:24

Albuquerque, she was familiar with the Native

22:26

American legends of the Southwest. The

22:29

conversation steered toward a

22:31

certain creature that she would dare not

22:33

speak the name of. She

22:35

told me that the highway I took was

22:37

well-known for all sorts of paranormal phenomena. Just

22:40

google what Route 491 used

22:43

to be called, and everything will make

22:45

sense. Be careful

22:47

out there. Did

23:14

my bad relationship feed a negative

23:17

entity? By Marilyn. To

23:21

start off, I'm more of a believer

23:23

in the paranormal than a skeptic. But

23:26

I like to try and debunk things

23:29

before I assume what I am experiencing

23:31

is paranormal. I

23:33

don't have many experiences that I believe

23:35

to be paranormal. But

23:38

what I'm sharing with you here are a few

23:40

that rocked me to my core. In

23:44

my early twenties, I was in a relationship

23:46

with a man a few years older than

23:48

me. I

23:50

met him through my serving job at a

23:52

chain restaurant that was in the same strip

23:54

mall as his job. It's

23:57

probably the most New Jersey thing you've

23:59

ever heard. That

24:02

said, our relationship was

24:04

something that could probably be featured

24:06

on Let's Not Me. It

24:09

went from passionate, to problematic,

24:12

to tumultuous, to

24:14

downright horrible and terrifying. Our

24:18

fights were intense, but

24:20

were usually about things that didn't happen

24:23

or were hypothetical

24:25

scenarios. One

24:28

night, after a long argument about something

24:30

that I didn't do, we were

24:32

both sobbing on the couch in his living room.

24:36

The couch faced the doorway and wall

24:38

that divided the kitchen and living room.

24:42

He had his head in my lap

24:44

and he was hysterically sobbing. Suddenly

24:48

he stopped and stared

24:50

wide-eyed into the kitchen. He

24:54

shot up and asked if I saw

24:56

him too. I

24:59

had no clue what he was talking about. I

25:02

was so distraught I couldn't see right

25:05

from left, but I

25:07

knew there wasn't anything to see. He

25:10

insisted, though, that there was

25:13

a man in there staring at

25:15

us. That

25:17

the man was angry and was going

25:19

to kill us. I

25:22

calmed him down and we eventually went to bed.

25:26

I woke up in the middle of the night

25:28

while my ex was still sound asleep. I

25:32

walked into the kitchen where I found

25:34

glass shattered on the floor, but

25:37

nothing was on the counter when we had

25:39

gone to bed just a few hours prior.

25:43

A few days later, after

25:46

a particularly brutal fight, I

25:48

went to the bathroom and shut the door.

25:52

My ex had a thing about me going to

25:54

the bathroom. He hated it

25:56

when I shut the door, so

25:58

to appease him I'd sometimes. leave

26:00

it open, but not this

26:02

time. I did

26:04

my business and when I stood up to

26:06

wash my hands, I looked in the

26:09

mirror. I had

26:11

been crying and looked awful, but

26:14

just behind me, I saw

26:16

a face, a face

26:19

that looked as if it had been

26:21

burnt and wanted to hurt

26:23

me. It

26:26

looked as if it hated me. Then,

26:29

it lunged at me.

26:33

I ran out of the bathroom. My

26:35

ex took me in his arms. He

26:38

had never seen me so scared before. I

26:42

didn't tell him what I saw. I

26:46

sometimes worked late hours at the restaurant.

26:49

After I got done, I'd go to his place.

26:53

One night, I got to his apartment and

26:56

he was already asleep. All

26:59

the lights were off and I wouldn't dare

27:01

turn them on. When

27:04

I got in bed, he rolled

27:06

over and said hello and kissed me,

27:09

but something didn't feel right. Despite

27:13

this, I somehow got myself to

27:15

sleep. I

27:18

woke up a few hours later. My

27:21

eyes shot open as if

27:23

I had had a nightmare. There

27:26

was light creeping under the bedroom

27:29

door. I

27:31

turned and my ex was still behind me,

27:34

sleeping peacefully. Maybe

27:37

he just forgot to turn the bathroom light

27:39

off. I

27:41

saw shadows passing by the foot of the

27:43

door, pacing back

27:46

and forth, back

27:48

and forth. I

27:51

kept looking behind me to make sure my

27:53

ex is actually in bed with me. And

27:56

he is. What

27:58

the hell was happening? This isn't real,"

28:01

I said to myself. I

28:05

continued to watch as the shadows paced

28:07

behind the door. Then

28:10

the bedroom door handle started to

28:13

jiggle. I

28:16

woke my ex up because I

28:18

was hysterical. I

28:20

was sobbing and asked him to look. There

28:24

was nobody there. Not

28:28

long after these experiences, we broke up.

28:32

I couldn't do it anymore. His

28:35

personal issues aside, we just weren't good

28:37

for each other. After

28:40

we broke up, I went to pick

28:42

up my things from his apartment. When

28:45

I was there, I had never felt

28:48

an energy so charged in my

28:50

life. It

28:52

was like this electricity was screaming

28:54

at me to get out. I

28:58

think the negative energy of our

29:00

relationship charged whatever was happening there.

29:04

I feel as though it was feeding

29:06

a negative entity that was there before

29:08

we were. It

29:10

was tangible and absolutely

29:13

terrible. When

29:15

he walked into that apartment, you could

29:17

feel it. All

29:20

that said, I hope he's okay, and

29:23

I'm sure he's out of that apartment by now.

29:42

I still don't know what happened on

29:45

our annual family trip by Slusher.

29:49

Share warning this story does contain

29:51

descriptions of dead wild animals. This

29:55

was maybe six or seven years ago. My

29:58

family and I have been going on trips to Slusher. together

30:00

for a really long time now, probably about

30:02

17 years if I had to guess. I

30:05

won't say exactly where we go, but

30:08

it's in the Australian bush just to give

30:10

y'all an idea of the setting. On

30:13

this particular trip, my sister, my cousin, my

30:16

dad, and I all drove up together. We

30:19

were the first to arrive at the vacation house. When

30:22

we got there, we waited outside since we had

30:24

to wait for my grandma to arrive with the

30:26

key. My dad took a

30:28

seat on the deck with a beer while my

30:31

sister, my cousin, and I went on a little

30:33

journey. The three of us

30:35

made our way to a little creek not

30:37

far from the house that we nicknamed Bridge

30:39

of Terribysia. We call it

30:42

this since a tree had fallen across the

30:44

creek acting like a bridge for us to

30:46

get across. The

30:48

creek never had water in it and it

30:51

wasn't wide or deep so we could easily

30:53

walk across it without the tree but the

30:55

tree was fun. My cousin

30:57

made a comment as we walked across the tree. He

31:00

asked, sort of sarcastically, is

31:03

there something dead around here? This

31:06

was a fair question since there were so many

31:08

flies around. Lo and behold,

31:10

when we got to the other side, there

31:13

was something dead. It wasn't

31:15

a human but it was a larger animal of

31:17

some sort. As we drew

31:19

closer, we were met with

31:21

a dead kangaroo. It

31:24

wasn't too jarring since I had seen plenty on

31:26

the side of the road but this

31:28

one was clean cut in

31:30

half. And when I

31:32

say clean cut, I mean like clean, it

31:36

was perfectly halved. There

31:38

wasn't an ounce of blood on the fur, no

31:41

blood on the ground, and the top half

31:43

was nowhere to be found. I

31:46

happened to have my camera on me so I

31:48

took some photos of it, then

31:50

my cousin poked it with a stick and

31:53

literally hundreds of flies came out. My

31:57

cousin and sister kept poking at it, trying

31:59

to move it. move it into the creek, but

32:02

a full-grown kangaroo, even

32:04

half of one, isn't exactly

32:06

light. Their

32:08

sticks broke, so I just grabbed it by

32:10

the tail and pulled it into the creek

32:12

so that we could quote-unquote bury it. After

32:15

I moved it, we covered it with

32:18

sticks and flowers. We

32:20

looked around up top everywhere for the second

32:22

half or a trace of what might have

32:25

happened to it, but we couldn't find anything.

32:28

We ended up going back down into the creek.

32:31

As we were walking through it, we

32:33

found some more stuff that made

32:35

this even more confusing. We

32:38

found four dead rabbits, but only

32:40

their bottom halves. They

32:43

were all lined up neatly along the

32:45

floor of the creek, leading up to

32:47

the thick brush that we couldn't walk

32:49

through. It

32:51

was the same story with these rabbits.

32:54

No top halves were found. They

32:57

were cut clean in half with no traces of

32:59

blood anywhere. My family

33:01

and I still return to this spot every

33:03

year, and we haven't seen

33:06

anything like this since. Baby

33:27

in the Woods by Kristin

33:32

My best friend Meg and I were

33:34

about thirteen years old in the late

33:36

nineties. Meg

33:39

lived on a lake, which separated

33:41

two large subdivisions. We

33:44

were friends with two boys around our

33:46

age who lived on the opposite

33:48

side. Car

33:50

or boat was the quickest way to get from

33:52

one side to the other, since

33:55

we had neither and couldn't drive them

33:57

even if we did. to

34:00

walk through the woods that bordered the lake.

34:04

We walked about a mile through the woods

34:07

and were still about five hundred yards

34:09

away from the trail exit that meets

34:11

the road. As

34:14

we walked and talked, every so

34:16

often I heard something

34:18

foraging in the fallen leaves. It

34:22

was mid-fall, so leaves were

34:24

abundant in our southern town. Mike

34:28

was walking in front of me at this point. I

34:31

thought it was odd that I was still

34:34

getting hit by spiderwebs but didn't say much

34:36

about it. Finally,

34:39

I complained about something else. Probably

34:42

how slow she was walking. I

34:45

mean, the boys were waiting, right? So

34:49

we switched places, me

34:51

in front and her behind. We

34:55

began walking again and

34:57

that's when she noticed the rustling

34:59

leaves. We

35:02

talked about it and decided it wasn't

35:04

us making the noise. Because

35:07

we were on such a well-worn trail, the

35:10

leaves were all beaten down or cleared

35:12

off. There

35:14

was also no one else in the woods that

35:17

we had seen. As

35:20

the rustling got closer, I stopped

35:22

talking and quickly started looking

35:25

around. Meg

35:27

wasn't paying attention, so she

35:29

ran right into me. As

35:32

I turned to say something, I

35:35

noticed something behind her on the ground.

35:38

This thing was the size and shape

35:41

of a crawling baby and

35:45

had its hand outstretched reaching

35:47

for Meg's foot. As

35:51

I looked down, the baby looked

35:53

up at me. The

35:55

face on this creature was not a

35:57

face at all. Imagine

36:00

Jack Skellington, but

36:02

with flesh stretched on all of

36:04

the facial orthuses. No

36:08

actual eyeballs or a nose, no

36:11

mouth or hair, just

36:13

flesh. Then,

36:17

as if the bones in the face were made

36:19

of muscle, the eyebrow

36:21

area furrowed into an angry

36:24

expression. Its

36:27

face changed so quickly, then

36:29

it turned up and ran up

36:32

the hill on all fours. As

36:36

it fled up the hill, it

36:38

turned black and disappeared

36:40

from view. We

36:43

screamed and ran the rest of the way

36:46

out of the woods, and

36:48

at least halfway to the boy's house. That

36:52

night, we decided to forego the

36:54

woods and walk the road

36:56

back to her house. Something

36:59

like two and a half miles, most

37:02

of which is uphill. It's

37:05

been 25 years and I still

37:08

have no answers, but

37:10

I know in my heart, if that

37:12

demon baby had touched Meg, something

37:15

bad would have happened. If

37:18

I were to call her today and ask, do

37:21

you remember the woods? She

37:24

would know exactly what I mean. She

37:27

refuses to talk about it. I

37:31

frequent that same lake several times a

37:33

year with my children, but

37:36

I still won't go into those woods. If

37:39

anyone has any thoughts on what that

37:41

demonic baby could have been, I'd love

37:45

to know. Thanks

37:56

for watching! Marilyn's

38:06

personal analysis of her story was pretty

38:09

spot on. I definitely

38:11

think that her relationship fueled whatever

38:13

was in that apartment. Yeah,

38:15

as I was reading through it, that's

38:18

exactly what I was thinking. I took

38:20

note of the exact wording here because

38:22

when she says, I think the negative

38:24

energy of our relationship charged whatever

38:27

was happening here, I

38:29

was like, okay, cool, we're on the same page.

38:32

That seems to be the most plausible explanation.

38:35

Before I read the sentence after that,

38:37

I was thinking it was probably something

38:39

already there. They basically

38:41

kicked the hornet's nest, figured it'd

38:43

be fun to explore in the outro. Yeah,

38:47

and she goes on to essentially say the same thing.

38:50

Yep, specifically she said, I

38:53

feel as though it was feeding a negative

38:55

entity that was there before we were. Yeah,

38:58

that makes things easy. Yeah,

39:00

thanks for that, Marilyn. Gave me

39:02

a story to read and took my words out of

39:05

my mouth. And to be

39:07

fair, saying they kicked the hornet's nest

39:10

packs a certain punch. Hey, thanks.

39:13

Hey, kicking and punching. We

39:15

love our puns and metaphors. Yeah, I didn't

39:18

even mean to do that. But yeah, we

39:20

do. And I guess,

39:22

do you have any original thoughts to add to

39:24

that? Let's

39:27

see, the face

39:30

in the mirror was obviously really

39:32

scary, but, and I can't

39:34

believe I'm saying this, I want to

39:36

know more about the layout of the apartment. Wait,

39:40

like, actually? Yeah, because

39:44

when she said that she walked into the apartment

39:46

late one night and all the lights were off,

39:48

but then she saw the light poking through the

39:50

door and all that pacing going on. The

39:53

first thing I thought of was like how

39:56

car lights can peek through window blinds. Oh,

39:59

yeah, yeah. I see what you're saying, like, if

40:01

they were on the first floor and their

40:03

bedroom faced the street or something like that?

40:06

Yeah, yeah, yeah, like the bedroom door or

40:08

something. I just want to rule

40:10

it out for my own little warm fuzzy. I

40:12

still don't doubt the legitimacy of the story,

40:15

especially with everything else that was going on

40:17

in there. I'm

40:19

sure that car lights would have been

40:21

noticeable before that happened. I

40:23

thought about that too. I just want to know.

40:25

I just want to know. Yeah.

40:28

Let us know, Marilyn. You also mentioned,

40:30

okay, sorry, but you

40:32

also mentioned the relationship had

40:35

some let's not meet

40:37

qualities to it. So, comfortable sharing

40:39

of all ears. Oh boy, here

40:41

we go. I had to.

40:45

Yeah, that was smooth. That was smooth. So

40:48

have you ever gone on a hike in the woods and

40:50

had a faceless baby crawl

40:53

towards you? Yeah, it happens

40:55

every now and then. Okay, so that makes

40:57

four of us good. I

40:59

don't even know how I feel about that story.

41:01

It's so out there, but I guess anything's

41:04

possible. Right. If we're

41:06

going to believe in the other paranormal

41:08

phenomena that's seemingly impossible, there's always

41:11

a chance that what Kristen saw

41:13

really was some weird faceless baby

41:15

out in the woods. Yeah.

41:18

I feel like if she were just making

41:20

the whole thing up, she would

41:22

have least mentioned hearing crying noises for

41:25

that extra spooky factor. You know what

41:27

I mean? Yeah. That's

41:29

just what I was thinking, but yeah, just the rustling

41:31

leaves. Right, right. That would make

41:33

sense to throw in some like cooing

41:36

and crying. Yeah. And

41:38

even though it wasn't described like

41:40

them, I still pictured two very

41:42

specific babies. I don't know if you

41:44

may have thought the same thing, but the

41:46

one on the ceiling. Trained spotting,

41:49

right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I

41:51

was thinking that exact same thing. And

41:54

the one from Dead Alive. Yeah,

41:58

both of those movies are really good. I

42:00

was so mind blown when I found out

42:02

Dead Alive was directed by the same Peter

42:05

Jackson who did Lord of the Rings. Me

42:07

too, me too. I still like showing people

42:09

that movie for the first time and then

42:11

at the end or just randomly

42:14

throughout the movie like when the ear falls into

42:16

the soup just going like, oh by the way,

42:18

this is the same director that made Lord of

42:20

the Rings. The reactions are

42:22

either hilariously surprised or they just

42:24

don't find it that amusing. It's

42:28

at the very least mildly

42:30

amusing. Thank you, come on now. Yeah,

42:33

I still need to watch Bad Taste. Same,

42:35

same. I always think of

42:37

Angelica's baby brother in that night night. I was like,

42:39

you know the one? All

42:41

too well. Even when I'm

42:43

by myself, I sometimes like to hold food up

42:45

to my mouth and say nom nom before

42:49

I take my first bite. It's such a core

42:51

memory. Yeah, that episode kind of made

42:53

me glad to be an only child. Very

42:56

understandable. So I guess

42:58

we can just assume that it was some sort of

43:00

baby in the woods and leave it at that. Might

43:03

as well. Yeah. So

43:07

the gray cow gorilla things in

43:09

Cagney's story, those have me

43:11

stumped. Yeah, you and me both. I'm

43:14

not trying to cop out here,

43:16

but I think they could have

43:18

just been unknown cryptids that haven't

43:20

been reported before since

43:23

the features were pretty unique.

43:25

Yeah, right, right. I'm not going to pretend to

43:27

know either. Sometimes the best

43:30

I can offer is what existing

43:32

things something reminds me of like

43:34

the babies. Yeah. His

43:36

story was really good and probably my favorite

43:38

in the episode actually, but I

43:40

just got to say that for some

43:42

reason I pictured the iron golems in

43:45

Minecraft. Oh yeah, I

43:47

could see that. And they don't

43:49

attack unless you attack first, right? As

43:51

far as I remember, yeah. They're just

43:53

intimidating, gentle giants, but not

43:56

outright threatening. Yeah. Well,

43:58

it's meeting them. again is what Cagney

44:01

wants. I hope he gets his

44:03

wish and we can feature a part two.

44:06

Hey, that'd be perfect. As long as they don't

44:08

mess with Texas. Yeah, don't mess

44:10

with Texas. That

44:12

reminds me, I guess we can glean

44:16

from Route 491 that Skinwalkers

44:18

really dislike the Eagles. They

44:22

are both wildly disliked and liked,

44:24

kind of a polarizing band. Yeah,

44:27

one of my favorites, honestly.

44:29

Yeah, I don't see how the dude

44:31

Lebowski could hate them so much. I

44:34

have a soft spot for all these

44:36

yacht rock stuff. That's my summertime poolside

44:38

music. Yeah, and when I

44:40

think of the Eagles, I do think of

44:42

like the desert and tequila. Yeah. Just all

44:44

that, like, yeah, you know what I mean. The

44:48

whole vibe. But yeah, Route

44:50

491, it was originally 666. Oh,

44:54

how convenient. Yeah, and just that

44:56

was just based on its location in the format

44:58

that they numbered highways back then at the time.

45:01

Well, I'm guessing religious and

45:03

superstitious beliefs influenced the change.

45:07

Yeah, that and the fact that people

45:09

like us were constantly stealing the signs.

45:12

Well, we are thieves. Yeah, like that

45:14

a 420 mile marker sign.

45:16

They finally changed after like our 78th

45:19

time stealing it. But

45:21

yeah, 491 used to be 666, and they used

45:26

to refer to it as the Devil's Highway. There

45:29

were actually a high number of

45:31

fatalities and accidents, but also plenty

45:33

of lore about otherworldly, like hitchhikers

45:36

and skinwalkers. There's

45:38

actually a really cool legend about this car

45:41

that always seems to be referred to as

45:43

the Black sedan, and

45:45

it runs people off the highway. Black

45:48

sedans are pretty ubiquitous, but I

45:50

probably could see the devil driving

45:52

one, the devil. Yeah, totally. Then

45:55

there are the hounds

45:57

of hell, stories of time

45:59

losses. missing person. Lots of crazy stories to

46:01

dig up. Yeah, the only

46:03

thing that comes up on maps

46:06

between Newcomb and Shiprock where the

46:08

skinwalker incident occurred is a little

46:10

cemetery just along the highway called

46:12

Little Water Cemetery. Makes

46:14

sense that it's probably haunted, right? Oh yeah,

46:16

yeah. Yeah, I can imagine it's pretty desolate

46:18

and creepy. It kind of makes me want

46:20

to boot up American Trucksim and take a

46:22

trip through New Mexico. Yeah,

46:25

we can start an odd trails convoy.

46:28

Yeah, pick up a few tons of

46:30

element 115 from area 51. A

46:33

lot of numbers. My connection

46:35

already set at school. If we swing

46:37

by, let's do it. 10-4 little buddy.

46:39

All right, let's get out of here. Sounds good. Yeah,

46:41

thanks for listening everyone. Make sure you send

46:44

your stories into stories at oddtrails.com if you

46:46

want to hear them on the show. All

46:48

the stories you heard this week were narrated

46:50

and produced with the permission of their respective

46:53

authors. If you want to support

46:55

the show and get access to ad-free versions

46:57

of all of our episodes, go over to

46:59

patreon.com/ odd trails to sign up and

47:01

support the show today. And make sure you

47:03

check out the new episodes of my other

47:05

podcasts like Let's Not Meet, a true horror

47:07

podcast and the old time radio cast at

47:10

protectcountypodcast.com. Everybody stay

47:12

safe. Peace out. Don't

47:33

let the ghosts and the ghouls disturb

47:35

you darling.