0:00

Kent State's reputation in the fashion industry

0:02

is something you would hear from everyone

0:04

when you're in New York City. I

0:06

will say we're quite well known for

0:09

being hard workers. Kent is really known

0:11

for delivering well-rounded students. Kent has one

0:13

of the most prestigious fashion programs in

0:15

the U.S. and also internationally

0:18

ranked. Our alumni are in every corner

0:20

of the industry, every job position that

0:22

you can imagine. They all are ready.

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They have all the courses. They have

0:26

everything under, you know, under their belt.

0:31

Mom, can you tell me a story? Once

0:33

upon a time, there was born a real

0:36

estate brokerage that was also a magical app.

0:38

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0:40

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them all. With listing fees as low as

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started. Fee subject to terms and minimums. Equal housing

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opportunity. CA DRE number 01521930. Welcome

1:28

to another edition of Nightmare Fuel Creeps and

1:30

Papers. I'm Dan Cummins, and I'll

1:33

be sharing another original short story of the

1:35

fictional horror variety. My

1:37

twist on the traditional haunted house tale

1:39

this time. I highly

1:41

recommend noise cancellation headphones for the

1:43

best experience. Hope you

1:46

enjoy this new nightmare. Time

1:48

now for the tale of

1:50

the children of midnight. Daddy,

1:54

no! Little Polly screamed.

1:56

Her face was puffy from crying. Snot ran

1:58

from both her knobs. The hospitals that she

2:00

sobbed, her right hand was covered in her

2:02

mother's blood, and splotches of more blood could

2:04

be found on the same side of a

2:06

romper. Meg's, her mother, was

2:09

begging for her life. She'd

2:11

already been stabbed three times, once

2:13

in the shoulder, a blow she'd partially blocked that

2:15

was meant for her heart, and twice

2:17

more in the back after she'd fallen and tried to

2:19

crawl away. The second and third strikes

2:21

at his bone, and not a lung or some

2:24

other organ, or she'd been in even worse shape

2:26

than she already was. She'd

2:28

barely managed to fight off her attacker and run

2:30

to her daughter, grabbing her by the hand and

2:32

then running with her towards the stairs that led

2:34

to the main landing, and to escape outside of

2:37

the house. But she

2:39

hadn't made it. He'd grabbed Polly.

2:42

Meg's had turned and screamed, Dominic stop!

2:44

This isn't you! Stop! Please

2:47

don't do this! But he didn't stop.

2:49

He pulled his six year old daughter back

2:52

and callously tossed her aside, and

2:54

he swung the knife again. Dominic

2:56

threw out her arms to try and block a

2:58

deadly blow once more. The heavy blade sunk into

3:00

her forearm, and then glanced off bone. Again

3:03

she delayed what was seeming more and more inevitable

3:05

by the second. Polly screamed,

3:08

even more desperately than the time before. Dominic

3:11

was now looking down at his daughter, their

3:13

daughter, and holding the bloody knife in his

3:16

hand tighter than ever, his knuckles white, and

3:18

the veins in his forearm bulging. He

3:20

didn't want to, but he had to. It was

3:22

the only way it would all stop. It would

3:24

never ever stop if he didn't finish this. He

3:27

was raising the blade to plunge it down into

3:29

her heart. No! Dominic!

3:32

Meg's now lunged at her attacker, at her husband, but

3:34

her scream was interrupted by the knife being buried up

3:37

to the hilt in the top of her stomach. When

3:40

she jumped towards him, Dominic turned his attention away

3:42

from the daughter who was still screaming, flailing her

3:44

arms up and down and almost hyperventilating, wanting so

3:46

badly to run to her dying mother, to save

3:48

her from the monster that was her father, but

3:51

also so afraid of what that monster would do

3:53

to her, and he had

3:55

delivered his death blow. Please,

3:58

Dominic. Megs now pleaded.

4:01

Now Polly, this isn't you. It

4:04

has to end! Dominic roared as

4:07

he straddled his wife, sitting on her hips

4:09

and plunging the knife down again and

4:11

again and again. He

4:13

kept stabbing her long after she was clearly

4:16

dead. And now, wild-eyed and snarling and

4:18

covered in her blood, he turned to face his

4:20

daughter. Daddy, why? Because

4:24

he had to. But then he

4:27

hesitated for just a moment. Could

4:29

he really kill his daughter as well? Did

4:31

she also have to die? Hadn't

4:34

he done enough to appease him? Hadn't

4:36

enough of a sacrifice been made? A

4:39

large, formidable-looking dark entity, a human

4:41

body with angel wings and the

4:43

head of an owl, stood behind

4:45

Polly, staring at her father. It

4:48

nodded. Yes. Yes,

4:51

you do have to. As it

4:53

pulled back on the chain that kept the dangerous and

4:55

massive black demon wolf directly in front of it at

4:57

bay, the entity reminded

4:59

him that more must still be

5:01

done, more blood, more sacrifice. Dominic

5:05

reminded himself that if he just did as it

5:07

asked, his wife and daughter's souls

5:09

would not be damned. In death,

5:11

they would still yet live forever and

5:14

in peace. That was the deal. And

5:16

then he could just sacrifice himself as well. It

5:18

promised him this, that he could join them. Dominic

5:22

smiled, a mad smile. The

5:25

smile of a broken man whose mind

5:27

has been hopelessly, irrevocably twisted. They'd

5:29

all be together again, soon. They'd

5:32

all be safe and happy forever.

5:36

Dominic grabbed the messy bond that sweet,

5:38

innocent little Polly always wore atop her

5:40

head, his fingers plunging into her thick,

5:42

long sun-bleached hair, and she

5:45

grabbed his wrist with her little girl hands that

5:47

weren't able to stop him. She

5:49

frantically shook her body and cried and screamed as

5:51

her father, with a dark angel and

5:53

his black wolf watching, pulled her

5:55

head towards his body as he pushed the knife forward,

5:58

thrusting hard and burying it. it in

6:00

her chest. He would only have

6:02

to stab her small body once. He

6:05

was thankful. It was quick. She

6:07

barely made a sound, and after

6:09

a few moments he let go of

6:11

her hair, and her limp body tumbled

6:13

down, sprawling out onto the floor, blood

6:15

pooling from beneath it. He

6:18

met his dark angel's steady gaze, and

6:20

it nodded with approval. He

6:22

had done as it had commanded,

6:25

and now he raised a knife to finish

6:27

it, to cut his own throat. But

6:29

the entity moved its head from side to side.

6:31

No, not like that. The

6:34

knife fell from Dominik's hand immediately. He wasn't

6:36

sure if he had unthinkingly obeyed

6:39

its command and dropped it on its own,

6:41

or if the angel had used its magic to take

6:43

it from him. But now,

6:46

what more? He silently wondered.

6:49

Before the thought was even finished, Dominik was given his

6:51

answer. The devil's angel

6:53

let go of the chain, and the

6:56

demon wolf snarling, leapt forward through the

6:58

air, jaws snapping open to reveal rows

7:00

of long, thick, razor-sharp fangs. It

7:03

was going to tear him to pieces. It

7:06

was going to devour him. After

7:08

all he'd been through, after all he'd done, Dominik

7:10

no longer believed. He was even capable of feeling

7:12

fear, and yet he was

7:15

petrified, and he screamed. He

7:18

was still spinning, and

7:20

he awoke, and shot bolt upright

7:22

in bed. And he was

7:25

crying when his wife Meg sat up next to him,

7:27

his wife who was not covered in blood and very

7:29

much alive, his wife who

7:31

was not scared of him, but instead worried

7:33

about him. And she threw her

7:35

arms around him and reassured him that everything was okay,

7:38

that it was all just a dream. And

7:41

she was mostly right. It

7:43

was a dream, but

7:45

not just a dream. Everything

7:48

was not okay. Something

7:50

was wrong, so very, very

7:53

wrong with their new home. It

7:56

was evil, and his dream was

7:58

either a warning or a warning. or

8:01

a premonition. That

8:05

was just one of the nightmares I had in

8:08

the house. One of many. Fun

8:10

huh? Like everyone else who was

8:12

a kid back in the early 2000s, or really

8:15

anyone who was a kid going all the way back

8:17

to the 70s, when the original

8:19

Exorcist movie came out, I've

8:21

long been familiar with the concept of

8:23

some person becoming demonically

8:25

possessed. I could

8:27

never make up my mind on whether or not

8:30

I believed that demonic possessions were real, but

8:32

at the very least, I was quite

8:34

familiar with what it supposedly looked like, and

8:37

I knew that a lot of other people

8:39

very much believed in the absolute reality of

8:41

this phenomenon. I'm sure you

8:44

either believe in demonic possession yourself, or

8:46

are very familiar with others believing in

8:49

it. I mean, who hasn't heard of

8:51

it? But did

8:53

you know that a house can also

8:55

become demonically possessed? As

8:59

in, just like how that little girl in the

9:01

Exorcist was possessed by the spirit of the devil

9:03

and the devil took control of her body and

9:05

mind and used her like a puppet to make

9:07

her say and do horrible things, the

9:10

devil, or some other demon or demons,

9:13

can do the same thing to an inanimate

9:15

object, even a really big

9:17

object, like an entire house. I

9:20

didn't know that. I certainly do now.

9:23

Now I believe in this possibility, this certainty

9:26

with every fiber of my being. I

9:29

became a believer in the worst kind of way. I

9:32

lived in one of those houses. Let

9:34

me tell you how I ended up there. It

9:37

all started early last fall when Megs and I

9:39

decided to shake up our lives and open a

9:41

bed and breakfast. But let me

9:43

back up a bit more actually to how Megs

9:45

and I met. I'd moved from

9:47

Portland to Astoria almost

9:49

15 years ago. And

9:51

I got my first teaching job at Astoria High School, English,

9:55

and world history. A few

9:57

years after that, I met my wife Megs on

9:59

Tinder actually. She was working

10:01

for a Portland production company called Visceral

10:03

Productions. I was still visiting

10:06

Portland often to hang with my college friends

10:08

and not worry about any students or students'

10:10

parents, seeing me out on a date or

10:13

getting a bit sloppy at a bar and hoping to hook

10:15

up. And I really didn't want

10:17

to risk accidentally dating a student's older sister or

10:20

mom. After Megs and I dated for

10:22

a few years, both of us grew

10:24

tired of traveling back and forth between Portland and

10:26

Asoria. And Megs decided she'd built

10:28

up enough production contacts and had made enough of

10:30

a name for herself and the industry to

10:33

start freelancing. So she moved

10:35

in with me in Asoria, and a

10:37

year later we were married. Then

10:40

with her able to edit at home for the

10:42

most part, only taking trips here and there to

10:44

Portland and LA for occasional better paying jobs, and

10:47

with me having my summers and weekends off, we

10:49

decided to try for a kid. And

10:51

in the summer of 2017, on June 12th at 4.07pm, she

10:53

gave birth to our third musketeer, beautiful

11:00

little Polly Grace. I

11:02

now found myself madly in love with two girls, and

11:04

I desperately wanted to spend as much time as I

11:06

could with both of them. Summers

11:09

have long been my favorite time of year. I

11:11

used to really, truly love teaching,

11:14

before shitty students, raised by

11:16

even shittier parents, who were of course the

11:18

first to chew your ass for not teaching

11:21

their kid correctly, really killed

11:23

that for me. But even before that,

11:25

I still loved being off for the summer more than I

11:27

ever loved being in the classroom. And

11:30

now with Polly, it was getting harder and harder to

11:32

want to go back to school in the fall. I

11:34

wanted to stay home with my girls. I wanted

11:37

to find a new career where maybe I could also

11:39

work from home with men. Megs

11:41

and I have both always been good when it comes to

11:43

saving money, and now we started saving

11:45

more aggressively. And the more we

11:47

saved, the more possible it felt to reimagine

11:49

our lives and make a big change for

11:52

me, for our family, possible. And

11:55

Megs had also been looking for a change ever since Polly

11:57

arrived. She still loved editing, but

11:59

she was getting getting tired of bouncing down to

12:01

LA and over to Portland, which was becoming

12:03

more and more of the norm, if

12:05

she wanted to keep getting good work. And she

12:07

was getting frustrated by seeing less

12:09

talented peers leapfrog her because

12:12

they were willing to work in an office or

12:14

on location whenever and wherever to

12:17

be around a network and schmooze. She

12:19

kept talking and talking and

12:21

talking. What if we could really

12:23

both find some way to work from home all the

12:25

time, both be able to spend

12:27

so much more time with little Polly before she'd

12:29

grow up and leave the house. And

12:32

then it felt like we received a

12:34

miracle. Two years ago,

12:36

Meg's favorite aunt, Joy, her great

12:38

aunt actually passed away. Even

12:41

though she was 91, it still messed Meg's

12:43

up pretty bad. Joy was

12:46

like another grandmother to her. Another grandmother

12:48

she found out she didn't know as well as

12:50

she thought she did. Joy was

12:53

rich. We had no idea. She'd

12:56

married this really nice but quiet guy Gregory

12:58

about a decade ago. And

13:00

when he died before she did, he'd left

13:02

her everything. And his everything was

13:05

a lot because they'd lived so

13:07

modestly and thanks to neither of them ever having

13:09

kids. No one had any idea.

13:12

But now Meg's got a substantial

13:14

inheritance. We got it. A

13:17

really, really big inheritance. The

13:20

kind I'd never actually known anyone to get. Two

13:24

point six million dollars

13:26

after taxes. We

13:29

were beyond shocked. I don't even have the words

13:31

to describe how completely blown away we were. Even

13:34

after the money was in our bank account, we were

13:36

still afraid to touch it for several weeks.

13:39

No matter how many times we opened our banking

13:41

apps and looked at the numbers, they didn't feel

13:43

real. We kept waiting for her estate attorney

13:45

to call and let us know there had been an

13:47

error. Someone had clearly made

13:49

a mistake, a big mistake. It couldn't

13:52

actually be happening, could it? It

13:54

could. And it did. There

13:56

was no mistake. Now we

13:59

could really drive. dream. No plan about

14:01

how we were going to reimagine our lives. Soon

14:04

after this life-changing moment, we were spending the

14:06

day down in Seaside, just 30 minutes from

14:08

our house, and the three of us

14:10

were walking past all these big beautiful bed and breakfast. The

14:13

owner of one was out working in her front

14:15

garden by the sidewalk, trimming back some rose bushes,

14:18

and we said hello, asked if she knew who the

14:20

owner was, found out it was her, and

14:22

got to talking. By the end

14:24

of our conversation, we knew exactly what we

14:26

wanted to do. We wanted to stay on

14:29

the Oregon coast. It really is so beautiful, and

14:31

just feels like where we're supposed to be, and

14:33

we wanted to buy and run our own bed and

14:35

breakfast. Once this idea hit

14:37

us, we realized it wasn't nearly as random

14:40

as it might first appear to our friends and family. It

14:42

truly suited our skill sets. I'm

14:44

pretty handy with repairs, and I've always loved to

14:47

cook. Pretty damn good at it, if I do

14:49

say so myself, especially breakfast, and

14:51

Megs is a natural hostess with an incredible

14:53

eye for interior decorating, and she makes the

14:55

best chocolate chip cookies you've ever had, and

14:58

a bunch of other delicious baked goodies, and

15:01

we both love meeting new people and entertaining. It felt

15:03

like our destiny, like we've been actively

15:05

preparing for this new adventure for years, and

15:08

just hadn't realized it. Within an

15:10

hour of talking without bed and breakfast owner, I

15:12

wish I could remember her name, we were

15:14

meeting with Amira Walton, our new realtor. I'll

15:17

never forget her name, and

15:19

Amira had the perfect place for us. Actually,

15:22

she was about to send us into hell, but

15:25

at the time, it sure felt like

15:27

the perfect place. She

15:29

told us that a massive eight bedroom, eight

15:32

different suites, each with their own bathroom, Queen

15:34

and Victorian mansion, about five miles

15:36

southeast of Seaside, along Beerman

15:38

Creek, in this big beautiful valley on the edge

15:41

of a massive 350

15:43

acre land conservancy, had just come up

15:45

on the market. It wasn't in town or near

15:47

the beach, like the kind of place

15:49

we thought we wanted when we first walked into

15:51

Amira's Realty building, but it was gorgeous.

15:54

A beautiful getaway that felt like you were all

15:56

alone, miles and miles away from the

15:58

rest of the world, but really, You were less

16:00

than a 10-minute drive from any little shop, cafe,

16:03

or restaurant seaside. You had the best of

16:05

both worlds. Quiet, natural beauty,

16:07

and lightning-fast Wi-Fi and 5G

16:09

cell service. Built in

16:11

1903, the property needed some fixing up, but

16:14

was only priced at just over a million dollars. We

16:17

were astonished. We had the money to both buy it

16:19

and shine it up and make it sing, as

16:21

Meg said. We slept on the decision

16:24

for a few nights. Or maybe it was

16:26

only one night. We were so damn excited. And

16:28

then we made our offer, and it was promptly

16:30

accepted. Of course it was. The

16:33

previous owners could not wait to get rid

16:35

of it. Amira did tell

16:37

us that the home had run through its fair

16:39

share of owners, but she downplayed why. No,

16:42

she straight up lied as to why. She

16:44

said that none of them were, in her opinion,

16:47

willing to put in the work it needed to

16:49

be properly restored. Bullshit.

16:52

She knew. I don't believe for

16:54

a second now that she didn't know exactly what was

16:57

really going on. She'd lived in

16:59

Seaside for years, and she was the listing agent

17:01

for several of those sales. That

17:03

possessed house has made her a lot of money. Maybe

17:06

she made a deal with it. From

17:08

what I've figured out since we left, the house has

17:10

had no less than 21 different owners

17:15

over the last 56 years. The

17:18

owners before all that, the ones that left in 1968,

17:21

they'd lived there for over 10 years. And

17:23

before them, there was just one family.

17:26

So where did it all go wrong? I

17:30

now know that it all started with the second

17:32

owners. That's where things went

17:34

wrong. Everyone else who

17:36

left afterwards, the alarming amount of

17:38

people who died there, that was all due

17:40

to the house being possessed by

17:42

Andras. And God knows

17:44

how many other demons he employed to torment anyone

17:47

who has dared to enter that house in over

17:49

50 years now. I sound

17:51

insane, right? Some madman rambling about

17:53

a big demon and his minions? Let

17:56

me tell you the whole story. Starting

17:58

with the day we took Polly to see the house. for the

18:00

first time. Maybe. Maybe

18:02

by the end, you'll believe me. Daddy,

18:08

Daddy! Who's that man in the window? What's

18:10

wrong with his head? Our

18:12

daughter saw him. Andras, when

18:14

she first walked up to the house before we ever moved in,

18:17

before we even started renovations, how

18:19

excited he must have been to spot another

18:21

young soul. So young and

18:24

innocent. It took Megs and

18:26

I so much longer than that. I'm

18:28

sure that was by design. Andras doesn't

18:30

seem to prefer to want to scare anyone away too

18:32

quickly. Why would he? He thrives

18:35

on conflict, on division and

18:37

discord. He's the destroyer of harmony.

18:40

They say he's one of the most powerful of all the

18:42

known demons, and that he prefers

18:44

sowing discord to dealing death. He

18:47

can and will, of course, take your life as well,

18:49

but first, he wants you to suffer. And

18:52

for some of his victims, he would rather let

18:54

you live and carry the burden of what terrible

18:56

things you did under his hideous influence than

18:59

to just destroy you completely. Over

19:01

the course of the winter and spring, we

19:04

sunk just under another million dollars into

19:07

the house to get ready for guests for the summer. We

19:09

spent pretty much every weekend working there as well.

19:12

And come June, that place

19:15

did shine and sing. We

19:17

also ignored all the warning signs

19:20

that something was wrong with it. Two

19:22

of the workers died in two separate

19:24

incidents, strange incidents. And

19:27

the first a young man named Mark something or

19:29

other from Cannon Beach, a real funny quick to

19:31

laugh guy who always seemed to have a smile

19:33

on his face. He fell from the roof

19:36

and impaled his head on one of the spikes on

19:38

the decorative wrought iron fence that surrounds the house. Well,

19:42

I say fell, but that's not true. He

19:44

was thrown the house through

19:46

him. No one else was on

19:48

the roof with him when he died. So some

19:51

person didn't push or throw him and he didn't

19:53

just slip. No one saw him

19:55

die but the fence where he fell. It's a

19:57

good 20 feet past the edge of the roof.

19:59

You can't. fall and still hit that.

20:01

It's literally impossible. I don't even

20:03

think most people could jump that far, even if they

20:05

gave themselves a little running head start. The

20:08

other guy I feel terrible that I don't remember his name

20:10

at all. We never spoke. He died on

20:12

the stairs. He was carrying out

20:15

some plumbing supplies, slipped, fell back and

20:17

broke his neck. A few

20:19

guys were nearby and did see him fall or

20:21

be pushed. I'm guessing I never

20:24

could track them down to ask what happened. They

20:26

quit that same day. I

20:28

heard that how it happened was very

20:30

unnatural. If it

20:33

wasn't for the insurance, our general contract recovered. I

20:35

think the rest of the restoration might have died when he

20:38

did. It should have died.

20:40

It should have died before the

20:42

house killed him. Another guy,

20:45

Ben, quiet guy around 50, I guess, who

20:48

sure didn't seem like the suspicious type. He

20:51

took me aside not long after that second death and

20:53

I'll never forget what he said. It's

20:56

not too late to cancel your plans, Dom. I

20:58

know you and your wife have sunk a lot of money to this place,

21:00

but you can still cut your losses. She's

21:02

a beauty, but she's rotten. I've

21:05

never seen more men leave a job because they were scared of

21:07

the building that they were working on in my life. I've

21:09

never seen so much fighting on one job. Everyone's

21:12

always at each other's throats. Something's very wrong

21:14

with this house. I

21:16

think he wanted to say more. Something

21:18

like the devil is

21:20

in this house. He nervously rubbed

21:23

this crossed necklace he always wore the entire time

21:25

he spoke, but I think he stopped because

21:27

he gets those words would have fallen

21:29

on deaf ears and maybe they would have. I'm

21:32

sure he'd already seen some of the bumper

21:34

stickers on my Subaru, ones that say stuff

21:36

like coexist and equal rights

21:38

for others does not mean fewer rights for

21:40

you. He probably thought I would

21:42

have laughed in his face or otherwise if he

21:45

would have brought out the devil to me, but

21:48

now I would have listened to him, but

21:50

now it's too late. What's been done

21:52

is done. A little

21:54

over eight months after Polly saw someone in the window

21:57

and less than two months after that second worker died,

21:59

the house was closed. house was ready for us. Boy,

22:02

was it ever. And we moved in. That

22:05

first night, I had a dream, not the dream

22:07

I shared with you earlier, just

22:09

a dream where Meg's Polly and I, we

22:11

weren't alone in our new house. Even if

22:13

we had no guests, we weren't alone. We were

22:16

all being watched by something by

22:18

some dark entity, one that maybe

22:20

had wings, one with a

22:23

head that wasn't human, big round

22:25

eyes, and it wasn't alone. Another

22:28

creature was with it. It was all

22:30

a little blurry and hard to remember when I woke

22:32

up. Meg's and Polly started to

22:34

have bad dreams too. They could never

22:36

seem to remember what they were when they woke up though.

22:39

Soon we would all see and hear things while

22:41

we were awake. Things, at

22:44

least I, would never forget. But

22:47

during the day, those first few weeks, our

22:49

life was magical. It was

22:51

everything. Meg's and I had hoped it

22:53

would be. So much laughter, so many smiles, so

22:55

much love, so many sweet and

22:58

grateful. We are living the dream. Glances exchanged

23:00

between Meg's and I. As we played with

23:02

our daughter out in the yard, or we

23:04

did the vegetable garden in the sun, splashed

23:07

in the swimming pool out back, or made

23:09

big breakfast for guests in the kitchen. No

23:11

matter what we were doing, it was just

23:14

so nice to always be together. And

23:16

we felt so much pride as guest after

23:18

guest told us how beautiful our new home

23:20

was, how lucky we were to be able

23:22

to live there, how beautiful of a family

23:24

we were. Before it

23:27

was hell. It

23:29

was heaven. Before

23:31

we get into our next sequence of scares,

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you for not leaving. Now back to

25:21

Dom and Meg's. Learning a little

25:23

bit more about their new dream home. Dom,

25:28

be really quiet and listen. Do you

25:31

hear that? It was ten or

25:33

so in the evening, about a month after we'd moved in.

25:35

It was a Monday night and the last of our weekend guests

25:38

had left that morning. Polly was

25:40

already asleep when Meg's heard it. And

25:42

we were having a drink on the first floor, sitting in

25:44

what used to be the parlor. When

25:46

the house was first built, a big open

25:48

room at the bottom of the stairs, just inside

25:50

the front door. That was now our

25:52

lobby. You really don't

25:54

hear that scratching sound? She'd

25:57

been hearing this sound here and there for about a week.

26:00

and a few of our guests had heard it the previous weekend. One

26:02

even told me, matter of fact, that

26:05

we had mice in the walls. Since

26:07

I hadn't heard anything yet, and Megs wasn't sure

26:09

what she had heard, we hadn't called

26:11

an exterminator. But now, now

26:14

I finally understood what she was talking about.

26:17

Oh, oh yeah, is

26:20

that what you've been hearing lately? Yes. Does

26:22

it sound like mice to you? It

26:25

was coming from the ceiling directly above us. It

26:28

did sound like scratching, but not like mice.

26:30

We had mice in the walls in this one old house I'd lived

26:32

in for a few years when I was a kid in Eugene. It's

26:35

a very distinct sound. Soft. Like

26:38

if you took your hand, put it against the

26:40

wall, and moved your fingers to scratch the wall,

26:42

as if you were tickling someone. The

26:44

sound your fingernails make when you move your hand

26:46

like that, that's the sound that mice

26:49

make. A squirrel makes even

26:51

less sound. I looked it up on

26:53

YouTube to be sure. But this, this

26:56

was deeper and heavier.

26:59

Instead of a mouse, it made me think of the sound

27:01

that something as big as a mountain lion would make if

27:04

it started trying to slowly dig into the floor

27:06

with its claws. No,

27:08

no, that sounds like something a lot

27:10

bigger than a mouse. We

27:13

both sat in silence, staring up at the ceiling, as

27:15

the sound continued. After

27:18

exchanging a bit of a, what the

27:20

hell is that, glance, I

27:22

got up, and both of

27:24

us making as little noise as possible, we

27:26

headed towards the stairs. As quiet

27:28

as we could be, as if we were

27:30

the mice hiding in the house now. Which

27:32

I guess we were in a way. We just didn't know

27:34

what we were hiding from yet. We

27:37

walked up the stairs, and then down the hall,

27:39

towards the source of the sound, the flavel suite.

27:42

Named for this old prominent ship captain in the area when

27:44

the town was founded. Both

27:46

of us stood just outside the door, still listening

27:48

as the sound continued. And it

27:50

didn't sound like the clawing or scratching was coming from

27:52

inside the floor. It sounded like it

27:54

was coming from something on top of the floor. Something

27:57

in the bedroom. her

28:00

to stay where she was, I grabbed

28:02

the doorknob and slowly turned it.

28:05

Then trying to catch whatever it was in the act, I swung

28:07

the door open as fast as I could while quickly stepping inside

28:09

the room and turning on the overhead light. Nothing.

28:13

I looked all around, standing fully inside the room

28:15

now, as Meg stepped into the doorway. See

28:18

anything? I didn't. No,

28:21

you? Before she could

28:23

speak, we both heard it. The

28:25

same deep scratching sound, or clawing

28:28

rather, from before. It

28:30

started underneath the floor, near where we stood,

28:33

then slowly moved along the floor,

28:35

away from us. We couldn't

28:37

see anything. We heard it, moving

28:40

up the wall opposite us, gaining

28:42

speed before finally exploding out across

28:44

the ceiling. I just one

28:47

teacher had been making noise originally, but now there

28:49

were a hundred, all of them racing across the

28:51

ceiling in various directions at the same time.

28:53

It was intense. Meg's

28:56

screamed, and so did I. Only

28:59

a second or two after the explosive scratching

29:01

began, the noise stopped entirely, cutting off abruptly,

29:04

and the house was now completely and eerily silent.

29:08

Our screaming had woken up Polly, who

29:10

now started crying out for us, and right after

29:13

Meg's turned and asked, what the fuck was that?

29:16

And I told her I had no idea. We

29:18

headed towards Polly's room, and as

29:20

we passed the staircase, just for a moment, although

29:23

I didn't say anything to Meg's who, like me,

29:25

was already spooked, I thought

29:27

I saw a dark figure with

29:29

large round eyes, wings,

29:32

hovering outside a second floor window.

29:36

But it disappeared so quickly, I figured it was just

29:38

my mind playing tricks on me, since we'd both just

29:40

gotten so worked up. I convinced

29:42

myself by the next day that I hadn't

29:44

seen anything, really. But I

29:46

had. I'd seen Andras.

29:50

And Andras had seen me. Well,

29:52

I now saw him see

29:54

me. I'm sure he'd been watching

29:56

me, all of us, for a while now.

30:01

Megs and I, after getting Polly back to sleep

30:03

that night, definitely talked about what happened when we

30:05

returned down to the lobby and refreshed our drinks.

30:08

And we talked about it the next day, and the day

30:10

after that, and so forth, for a week

30:12

or so, I'm sure. But

30:15

when the next wave of guests started showing up

30:17

on Wednesday, we got busy, and the intensity of

30:19

what had happened faded. Megs

30:21

called an electrician at some point, thinking it might

30:23

have been some strange electrical anomaly, and

30:26

he said something that made sense to her, and that

30:28

was pretty much where the incident ended for a while. For

30:31

the next few weeks, Megs and I would never see

30:33

or hear anything, at least not

30:35

together. That was his new game. Megs

30:38

would hear and see things alone. I still don't

30:40

know exactly what she saw or heard, and

30:42

so did I, and so did Polly. And

30:45

our harmonious, peaceful new life, our dream,

30:48

it began to sour. It started

30:50

to rot. Please, just

30:53

tell me what you did with her. Polly,

30:56

your mother and I have told you several times now that

30:58

we didn't do anything with your doll. We

31:00

have no idea where you left her. You're

31:02

lying! He told me you would do this! You

31:05

don't want me to have any fun! Polly

31:08

after accusing us of hiding her doll, some

31:10

monster pie doll named Spectra or something, she

31:12

slammed her bedroom door. Who

31:14

is he? I asked Megs. And

31:18

she acted like Polly hadn't just said that. What

31:20

are you talking about? She

31:22

just said that he told me you

31:24

would do this. So who's he? She

31:27

didn't say that. Meg's

31:29

tone was accusatory, like I just decided to randomly

31:31

make that up. Why would I do that? For

31:34

what reason? Yes. Yes,

31:37

she definitely did, Megs. She

31:39

clearly said... Meg snapped

31:41

before storming off. I don't have time for

31:43

this right now. I stood

31:46

there so confused and pissed off

31:49

at both my wife and my daughter. I

31:51

think in my mind I actually thought something along the

31:53

lines of, of course Polly's being a

31:55

little bitch. She gets it from her mom. I'd

31:58

never thought anything like that before we... moved into that house.

32:01

Then I heard Polly talking to someone through her door.

32:04

You were right. They're liars. They

32:07

just don't want me to be happy. Yes?

32:10

Uh-huh. I think

32:13

they should get in trouble. Kids

32:15

can get in trouble. Why can't moms and dads? I

32:17

quickly opened her door. Polly, who are you? Get out!

32:19

Get out of my room! Just leave me alone! I

32:23

about snapped back there with something like, you don't talk to

32:25

your father like that. And I think I actually thought about

32:27

hitting her as well for a split second. But

32:30

then, glancing around the room and recognizing that she

32:32

was clearly alone, I just shut the door

32:34

and walked out. I actually walked all the way

32:36

out of the house to calm down, out to the edge

32:38

of the fence near our neighbor's property, and stood by this

32:40

little peach tree. I'd come to love

32:42

that little spot. It always just felt nice

32:45

there. Light. Even

32:47

when things started to get bad in the house. Quickly

32:50

I began to feel a lot better. Like a fog

32:52

I didn't even know had been in my head, had been lifted.

32:55

And I texted Megs, asked if she could come

32:57

out to where I was and talk. And she

33:00

did. Hey, sorry

33:02

if I seem snappy in there. I was just so

33:04

caught off guard by how Polly was acting. No,

33:07

I'm sorry. I

33:09

just wasn't feeling like myself. Have

33:11

you felt moody lately? I've been all over the place. Yes,

33:14

I said me too. I

33:16

felt really angry and accusatory lately in

33:19

moments, and paranoid. And I don't

33:21

know why. Right now I feel fine, like

33:23

myself. Megs gave

33:25

me a great big hug. It's probably

33:27

just been the stress of adjusting to our new life. Learning

33:30

how to do this bed and breakfast thing, it's fun.

33:33

So much fun. But change, any

33:35

change, is still stressful. Yeah,

33:38

yeah, you're right. It is. I'll

33:41

work on being a lot more patient. Me

33:43

too. We have to remember that we're living

33:45

the dream. What's the point if

33:48

we don't enjoy it? While still hugging

33:50

each other, I looked up at the third

33:52

floor attic window over Meg's shoulder and

33:55

saw that face I'd seen before outside the

33:57

window by the stairs. On the night

33:59

we heard the scratchy... The face

34:01

of Andross. Just a

34:03

flash for a second or two tops. He

34:05

seemed to float up to the window, pause, look

34:08

at me, then float back away from

34:10

the window, retreating back into the

34:12

dark room. Again I

34:14

said nothing to Megs. I tried to force myself to think

34:16

I was imagining it. I didn't

34:18

want to ruin the sweet moment we were having. Megs

34:24

and I were not able to maintain

34:26

the patience with each other we just talked about. Not

34:28

for long at all. Within a day

34:31

or two we were back to snapping at one another. But

34:33

not consistently. We get into a fight

34:35

over nothing one minute and then be apologizing

34:37

the next. Same with Polly. She'd

34:40

be really mad at one of us, or both of us, out of

34:42

nowhere. And then just a few minutes later it was

34:44

like it never happened and she was fine. We

34:47

also started to hear that scratching noise here and

34:49

there, but never as intense as that

34:51

one night. And we had

34:53

a few guests who complained about hearing it. We

34:56

also had some night tears, but that was

34:58

it as far as I know when it came to

35:00

anything that could be considered paranormal. Things

35:03

weren't great, but they weren't terrible

35:05

either. But then, I

35:07

don't know, halfway through the summer it

35:09

started to get really bad. I

35:11

woke up in the middle of the night to use the

35:14

bathroom attached to our bedroom. Megs

35:16

and I had been getting along great when we'd fallen

35:18

asleep. Then half

35:20

awake, in the bathroom with the lights on, in

35:22

the middle of taking a piss, I thought

35:24

I saw movement. From the damask wallpaper

35:26

pattern on the wall to my left. Suddenly

35:29

one grouping of leaves and flowers seemed to

35:31

resemble the face I'd seen twice before now,

35:34

the owl man, as I thought of him

35:36

at that time. But then a moment

35:38

later, it became the pattern it was supposed to be again.

35:41

A second or two after that, out of the corner of my eye,

35:43

to the right now, I saw the

35:45

pattern move once more. And again, it

35:48

transformed into that same face. But

35:51

this time, as I finished using

35:53

the toilet and pulled up the front of my

35:55

boxers, instead of morphing back into the floral pattern

35:57

it was supposed to be, it changed further. A

36:00

black humanoid body replaced a floral and

36:03

leafy arrangement beneath its head. Dark

36:05

wings sprouted from its back. I

36:08

was horrified. I also couldn't

36:10

look away. I remained transfixed

36:12

as this creature began to move across

36:14

the wall like the wallpaper had suddenly

36:16

turned into one giant animated screen and

36:18

it was moving towards me. It

36:21

kept moving through the wallpaper pattern until it

36:23

was directly in front of me at eye

36:26

level above the back of the toilet. But

36:29

then it transformed further. A black

36:31

wolf appeared. A wolf nearly as big as

36:33

a strange dark angel with the head of

36:35

an owl. And then that

36:37

wolf bared its fangs and roared. And

36:41

as it roared it grew larger, as

36:43

did Andras. Finally they were

36:45

just as big as I was. Still I

36:47

stood frozen and I remained silent.

36:50

My mind couldn't process what I was seeing. And

36:53

now the dark angel opened its owl's

36:55

beak and a black mist

36:57

flowed out from its mouth. I

36:59

headed towards mine. That

37:01

snapped me out of my trance. I

37:03

fell back and screamed. I stumbled out the door and

37:05

back into my bedroom, headed to wake up Megs, who

37:08

was already up and walking towards me. But

37:10

strangely she didn't seem alarmed. She

37:13

was smiling in

37:15

a way that scared the hell out of me. I

37:17

turned back around to see if that thing was right behind me, but

37:19

it had vanished. When I turned again

37:22

to face Megs, now she looked concerned

37:24

like I would have expected her to look.

37:27

Dump, are you alright? What happened? I

37:30

tried to shake off how she had appeared before and managed

37:32

to stammer. I saw

37:34

something in the bathroom. She

37:37

moved past me to look and I followed. Of

37:39

course he was gone. As

37:42

I scanned the bathroom looking in the wallpaper pattern to

37:44

find him, my eyes moved across the mirror and

37:46

caught Megs reflection. Her face

37:49

was missing its skin. All

37:52

of its skin. I

37:54

screamed out and stumbled backwards, falling onto the floor.

37:57

Megs spun around again. She looked like she

37:59

was supposed to. It was panicking. I'd

38:02

taken too much acid once back in college, and it

38:04

felt like that. Like I was suddenly in the

38:06

middle of a bad trip. Like I couldn't get

38:08

my mind to pick what reality was supposed to

38:10

look like, and the world around me kept shifting

38:13

in scary and unpredictable ways. Then

38:15

right as Meg started to ask me something,

38:17

Polly started screaming. Like she'd just woken up

38:19

from a nightmare, and Meg took off towards

38:21

a room. I popped up and followed.

38:24

By the time I made it, the light was on, and Meg's was

38:26

sitting in a rocking chair with Polly on her lap. And

38:29

Andross stood next to them both. What

38:32

are you? Get away from them! Don't stop! You're

38:35

scaring us! Meg smiled that creepy

38:37

smile from before as she yelled at me. And

38:39

Andross put a hand on her shoulder, and

38:42

she leaned towards him. Then I

38:44

heard his wolf. It was sitting

38:46

on my daughter's bed to my left, looking at

38:48

me with his intense, soulless eyes and snarling. I

38:51

freaked out. I ran down the

38:53

hall, and then down the stairs, I unlocked the

38:55

front door and ran outside over to the peach

38:57

tree. The only place I felt safe. I

39:00

was so scared I was crying like a child, not

39:02

knowing what else to do. I just sat down on

39:04

the ground. I buried my head in my hands and

39:06

just sobbed. Fifteen or

39:08

so minutes later, Meg's came out. At

39:12

first I was afraid of how she'd look, how she'd act.

39:15

But she was herself again. She

39:17

looked concerned. She

39:20

brought a blanket, asked me what was going on, and

39:22

said that I needed to see a doctor. I'd

39:25

woken up some guests, and one of them

39:27

had seen me run out of the building, only wearing

39:30

my underwear. I was still,

39:32

in just my underwear, crying out under a tree

39:34

in the yard in the middle of the night.

39:38

Not a good look. The next day, all

39:40

but one couple would check out early. I

39:43

tried to explain everything that I saw to Meg's, and she looked

39:45

more concerned than ever. She swore

39:47

that what she had seen, in that same sequence

39:49

of events, was very different. She

39:52

was worried about me. Very worried. Meg

39:54

was worried about me. I agreed to call

39:57

a doctor in the morning. But in my gut.

40:00

I didn't think it would help and

40:02

I'd be right. The

40:07

doctor was able to get me in just three days later. She

40:10

guessed that I probably had some kind of night

40:12

terror, something akin to sleepwalking, but

40:14

while having a nightmare. She thought it

40:16

would most likely be an anomaly, a one-time thing, but

40:19

did agree to schedule an MRI to have my

40:21

brain scanned just to rule out the remote possibility

40:23

of a tumor, but I wouldn't

40:25

be able to get in for another three weeks. In

40:28

the meantime, I just have to hope it didn't happen again.

40:31

Fortunately, Andross had decided

40:33

to leave me alone for a little while. Maybe

40:36

he knew if he pushed me too much harder at that point,

40:38

I would have just been committed, and then

40:41

I wouldn't be around for him to toy with. I

40:43

don't know. I could tell Megs

40:45

was still worried about me and Polly too. Megs

40:47

tried to be comforting and warm, but I saw that she

40:49

had to work at it. Underneath

40:52

her attempts, I felt like she was both

40:54

very frustrated and angry with me. I

40:56

was letting her down. It was mostly

40:58

my dream that she had used her

41:00

inheritance for, and now I was

41:03

starting to hurt our business, our very expensive business.

41:06

Something like that is what I suspected

41:08

she was feeling, but who knows if

41:10

that was true. I'll never know what

41:12

was really happening, how people were really acting,

41:14

because what I was seeing wasn't ever necessarily

41:17

there, or at least it wasn't what everyone

41:19

around me was also seeing. Such

41:21

a confusing mental space to live in. But

41:24

then just the day after I saw the doctor, I

41:27

got some clarification. From the

41:29

most unlikely place, I began to

41:31

understand what was really going on. I

41:34

ran into one of our neighbors for just the second time

41:36

since we'd moved in. Sam Marsh. He'd

41:39

first introduced himself when we were fixing up the place,

41:42

and now I remembered how he'd said something strange

41:44

that day. He looked at Polly, seemed

41:46

concerned when I told him we'd all be moving in

41:49

soon, and he said, giving

41:51

it a go, huh? I hope it's

41:53

better now. I'd be mighty

41:55

surprised, but I hope so. I

41:58

suppose even the sickest houses can still be there. I

42:01

thought maybe he meant it hadn't been a good business opportunity

42:03

for any of the previous owners. Now

42:06

I understand what he was really saying. Sam

42:08

was an old guy, 88, but

42:11

real with it. He was still pruning

42:13

his own fruit trees, mowing his lawn, and he told

42:15

me he'd replaced some shingles on his roof the previous

42:17

summer. He told me he'd lived on

42:19

the property next door since he was 30. That's

42:21

when he bought it, back in 1967. He'd

42:25

been in the same place, has been in the same place

42:27

for coming up on 60 years. When

42:30

I asked him if he knew much about the history of my property,

42:32

he knew a lot. I learned how many

42:35

people had lived in the place, and he told

42:37

me about that second group of owners, where

42:39

it all went wrong. Satanists,

42:42

he said plainly. Not

42:44

everyone called him a cult, but that's what they were.

42:47

Called themselves the Children of Midnight.

42:51

I got the chills when he said that. They

42:53

were always up late. Sometimes if you walked

42:55

over to the fence here, which I did, because I ain't

42:57

ashamed to say I can be as nosy as the next

42:59

fella, I don't like to wonder who my

43:01

neighbors are. I like to know if you understand me. And

43:04

I could hear them, chanting, speaking

43:07

other languages, dressed up in

43:09

robes and masks, too. I saw it all

43:11

through the windows. And just before they

43:13

left, they did something in that house, something real bad. A

43:16

couple of days before they disappeared, one of their lots

43:18

showed up on my porch the middle of the night,

43:21

a young fella, completely naked and shaking and making a

43:23

big fuss. I came out

43:25

on my porch with my Winchester and damn near shot him. I

43:28

was married with two small children. Some

43:30

other cult folk soon came and got him a few

43:32

months later, and apologizing, saying he'd

43:34

taken too much of this or that. He'd

43:36

gotten too high, but they'd take care of

43:38

him. I don't think that's what

43:40

it was at all. Right before

43:42

the rest showed up, he looked at me. And half

43:45

proud and half terrified, he said.

43:47

And I've never forgot it. We

43:50

did it. We goddamn did it. He's awake. He's

43:54

here and he's real. He's with us. They

43:57

Said he's going to make us the most powerful men in

43:59

the world. And they

44:01

looked most scared of ever seen anyone looks. And

44:04

he added. The wrong.

44:07

He's gonna take us to Hell. She's.

44:09

Going to eat our souls. Most.

44:12

Folks I measure will call the police that

44:14

point reporter the rifle adamant ran his shoe

44:16

to be did start running right away. Or

44:19

spoke with assume he just on drugs. Of

44:22

whatever reason is, his words killed me to the

44:24

bone and I believed him. Ability

44:26

really had done something. Still, Do.

44:29

and asked him just as as friends approached. Who's

44:32

he? A. Saved

44:34

his eyes as wide as eyes be. Andras.

44:39

The. Mightiest Marty of Hill. Only.

44:41

Satan himself, his masters more powerful.

44:44

That's what he said. They started

44:46

laugh with is mad last. By.

44:49

That point his friends or grabbed him to take him

44:51

out. After. All

44:53

I've been through. Added.word.

44:55

A What Mr. Marsh was saying. He

44:58

continued. Two. Days later

45:00

the whole lots of their head honcho was gone.

45:03

And only stayed around a week or so to help sell

45:06

the place. whenever. Some never saw any

45:08

them ever again after that night. Or

45:11

they all had a down to San Francisco. But

45:13

I don't believe. I'll save most

45:15

of all Married. None of them ever left the property.

45:18

Boasts. Mundine gone mad there ever since.

45:22

Mister. Hatch now proceeded to share some details

45:24

but a few the owners over the years

45:26

he mentioned suicides and least two murders. Dispose

45:29

of a bunch disappearances. Some disturbing encounters

45:31

with a few owners shortly before the

45:33

to disappear to were taken away. People

45:35

who lost their minds talk about seeing

45:37

or hearing all sorts of strange stuff.

45:41

Finally, before he headed back over to his house, he

45:43

warned me. Leaving. Dollars

45:45

back Mr. Gordon. You. Have haunted.

45:48

Have seen that look before. Too. Many times

45:50

now. Maybe I'm wrong about

45:52

what I said earlier. Maybe. Some

45:55

places are so sick. They.

45:57

Can never be healed. Some. Places

45:59

just needed. Die. Better.

46:02

Off to Burnham down. To. Keep their

46:04

sickness from spreading. They.

46:06

Look past me of towards the addicts in some

46:08

of the color seemed leave his face. He.

46:11

Turned around, Shuffle back towards his house never

46:13

said another word move, a little faster than

46:15

he moves, we walked over to greet. I

46:19

turned looked up towards the windows. well. There.

46:21

He was. Just. Too I

46:23

expected. Andras. This

46:26

time, he didn't bother to pretty slow back into

46:28

the darkness. He lingered. he stayed and stare down

46:31

upon me for that five or six seconds. A

46:34

blood run cold. And then

46:36

he stayed back into the house. And. I

46:38

steeled myself for had inside join him.

46:40

I. Had to. My. Family

46:42

was still inside. When

46:47

I headed back into told mags about

46:49

conversation I just held Mr. Hatch and

46:51

she's slowly nodded, clearly concerned that I

46:53

thought any of what he said might

46:55

have some merit. And. She mentioned

46:58

that she was glad I had my M R I

47:00

on the books. She. Also told me

47:02

to come with her to check out the attic

47:04

so she wanted me to see that was empty.

47:06

That know entity called on. Ross was up there.

47:09

Was all of my head? I

47:11

brought up at night. we both heard a terrible

47:13

scratching. How she'd been hearing it before me. Was

47:15

that just in my head? With. A nightmares

47:17

she'd also been having some nights the Niners

47:19

Paulie to and also been having with those

47:21

is all of my head to. She.

47:24

Asks like none of that. Had ever

47:26

happened. And she was so convincing

47:28

the promo. But I did wonder. If it

47:30

was all of my head, maybe I did have a brain

47:32

tumor. Would. Never said the I

47:34

get just a taste of my dream. Nice.

47:37

The. Tumor takes it all way to me.

47:40

There. Was nothing in the attic. Nothing I

47:43

could see any way. I. Doubted

47:45

myself further. Wasn't really

47:47

truly. All my head. Sport.

47:49

About Mr. Marsh, why would you say

47:51

what he said that? I imagine my

47:54

entire conversation. With him. Without. Having that

47:56

much trouble processing reality? a

47:59

quick internet search would prove to

48:01

me that this was not all in

48:03

my mind. I got up my laptop

48:06

and searched for Andras, and

48:08

when I saw what images came up, I

48:10

literally jumped out of my seat. It was him!

48:13

It was exactly who I had seen in the

48:15

window, outside of the window, in the wallpaper, in

48:17

my daughter's room. The 63rd

48:19

infernal entity said to have been

48:21

named when conjured by King Solomon

48:23

in the 10th century BCE, an

48:26

exceptionally dangerous demon lord,

48:29

a humanoid figure donning the wings of an angel

48:31

and sporting the head of an owl, often

48:34

depicted riding or walking with a

48:36

robust black wolf that some believed

48:38

to be Markosius, another

48:40

powerful demon lord. He

48:42

said to be one of the most violent and perilous

48:44

demons to summon, known first for

48:47

sowing discord, and second for dealing death,

48:49

able to turn people against each other, fueling

48:52

their anger, letting their anger turn into a

48:54

murderous rage. He said to

48:56

be able to give the conjurer the answers to

48:58

all the secrets on earth, secrets

49:00

that come with immense power and wealth,

49:03

but also come at a terrible price, a

49:06

price that wasn't named when I found. Had

49:08

I read all that three months earlier, I would have literally

49:10

rolled my eyes, laughed out loud. Actually,

49:13

I wouldn't have read it all, because

49:15

I would have firmly believed it was just a bunch

49:17

of made-up fairy tale bullshit, that Andras was

49:19

no more real than the Tooth Fairy

49:21

or the Easter Bunny. But

49:24

I saw him. I printed out some

49:26

pages of what I found describing him along with some images, and

49:28

I ran to go back and talk to Megs. The

49:30

second I started to show them to her, she

49:32

freaked out. She started screaming at me,

49:35

saying that she'd had enough, that she was sick of watching

49:37

me try to destroy what was supposed to be our dream

49:39

house with all my nonsense. And then little

49:41

Polly wandered over and glared at me as well, told

49:43

me to leave mommy alone. What was

49:46

happening? I started to ask Polly if

49:48

she'd ever seen the man in the pictures on the

49:50

paper I was holding, if that's who she had spoken

49:52

to in her room. And Megs ripped them out of

49:54

my hand. She screamed at me to stop scaring our

49:56

daughter. What is wrong with you? Polly

49:59

then started to cry and asked, why is

50:01

daddy doing this? As she

50:04

continued to berate me, I saw

50:06

him again. I saw them standing behind

50:08

my wife and daughter, András and Marcosius,

50:10

the dark angel and the demon wolf.

50:12

And this time, there was

50:14

a bunch of swirling shadowy faces floating

50:16

behind them. I now screamed

50:18

as I pointed behind them, right there! Don't you see

50:20

them? We have to get out of this house! Meg

50:24

screamed back before storming off with Polly. I

50:26

swear to God, if you don't stop, I'll

50:28

have you committed. They walked right through András and

50:30

the rest, who lingered a moment longer, and

50:32

then vaporized into nothing. I

50:35

didn't know what to do. I couldn't

50:37

bear the thought of staying in that house any

50:39

longer. But I also couldn't leave

50:41

my wife and child in that house. That

50:46

night, I slept by myself in one of the unused rooms,

50:49

the klats up suite. And

50:51

it was in that room where I began to have the full dream

50:54

I started this story with. At

50:56

first, it was a terrifying nightmare. But

50:59

soon it started to feel more like a

51:01

call to action, some type

51:03

of prophecy I'd been asked to fulfill.

51:06

I was losing my mind. In

51:09

the house, I was starting to see András on a

51:11

daily basis, always watching me, always

51:13

around. But I stopped fearing him the

51:15

same way. Instead, I began

51:17

getting angry. I was only

51:19

living with his torment because of Meg's, because

51:22

of Polly, because they wouldn't believe me

51:24

and wouldn't let me leave. They had trapped me

51:27

in this hell with him. And

51:29

then as time went on, I started to

51:31

think that they were the reason he was

51:33

always around, that they had somehow invited him

51:35

into our family's lives, that if they were

51:37

stronger, we could have kept living our dream

51:39

life. But they had ruined that. I know

51:42

none of this is rational. But it's what

51:44

I believed. Night after night, I continued

51:46

to sleep alone in the klats up suite.

51:49

Meg's and Polly were sleeping together in my bed. We

51:52

were alone almost every night, the only people

51:54

in the house because business had dried up.

51:57

Our Reviews on Google Yelp and TripAdvisor

51:59

they were abysmal. Guess reported a filthy

52:02

house food a look spoiled strange creepy

52:04

host the didn't seem to care if

52:06

they had guess or not. And

52:09

that the play seemed. Haunted. Strange.

52:12

Noises night a constant feeling in the

52:14

house are being watched. The sensation of

52:16

something crawling into bed with you. On

52:19

Dross was growing stronger and stronger as

52:22

he sowed more and more discord. And

52:25

then late one night towards the end of our only

52:27

summer there. I. Suddenly felt compelled to

52:29

enter the basement. We

52:31

only used for storage and I hadn't been

52:33

down much since we moved in. I'd.

52:35

Almost forgotten about it. honestly. But.

52:38

This night I woke up with a

52:40

powerful urge a need. To go

52:42

down there. There. Was something I needed

52:44

to see. To. Be shown. The

52:47

door which will typically lox. Cracked

52:49

open. When I approached on

52:52

a cell. In open

52:54

wide I was so far gone

52:56

this didn't even feel scary. It

52:59

felt. Inviting. I

53:01

descended down the stairs, walked across the concrete

53:04

floor, pass the boxes to the end of

53:06

the basement or what I thought was the

53:08

and. In the corner are now

53:10

notice a small door with the only four feet

53:12

high. I'd. Never seen it before. It

53:15

also opens his self. Letting

53:17

me know I was headed in the right direction. I

53:20

gone down without a lights and bother to

53:22

turn the lights on, only lights from some

53:24

lamps out in the yard. The moon trickled

53:26

to a few egress windows just enough to

53:28

show me the way. But.

53:30

Now additional liked poured out from

53:32

is hidden room. Undulating

53:35

flickering light. As. If

53:37

from candles. As I entered,

53:39

I realized that's exactly what was. Candles.

53:43

So many candles. All

53:45

lined along the dirt floor of a

53:47

massive hidden seller probably thirty feet from

53:50

front to back and twenty or so

53:52

feet wide. And the

53:54

space was filled. With. People

53:56

in robes, The Children

53:58

Of Midnight. to be. I

54:01

couldn't tell if they were real living people

54:03

or ghosts. They stood

54:05

near the center of a massive pentagram, chanting

54:07

and moving in very specific, synchronized ways, clearly

54:10

in the midst of some ritual. And

54:12

in the very center of the pentagram

54:14

stood Andras, along with his

54:16

black wolf, Markosius. And

54:19

now I was afraid. I

54:22

was terrified. But still, in trance

54:24

as I was, under the same spell that led

54:26

me to the basement, I walked steadily towards the

54:28

two demons. And as I

54:30

did, I now noticed more lesser demons,

54:33

black masses floating and swirling the periphery.

54:36

The chanting of the cult grew louder, the

54:38

closer I got to the center, their synchronized

54:40

movements quickened, the volume of

54:42

their collective voices continued to rise,

54:44

their movements continued to hasten the

54:46

whole ceremony, rising and building towards

54:48

this massive crescendo. And then when

54:51

I was close enough to be able to reach out and touch

54:53

Andras, everything's finished. Every

54:56

movement, every sound, all

54:58

was still and silent, as

55:01

was I. After a moment, Andras

55:04

moved his avian head close to mine,

55:07

opened his strange beak, and

55:09

released a powerful and possibly loud and

55:11

horrific roar. And with it came

55:14

a plume of black mist that turned

55:16

into a billowing serpent, one

55:18

that coiled in front of me before striking

55:20

out and projecting itself into my open mouth

55:23

and down into my throat. Once

55:25

it was done, I knew what I must do to

55:28

end my family's torment. What

55:30

had to be done, Megs,

55:33

Polly, and then myself, we

55:35

all had to die. It

55:38

was the only way we could ever leave and

55:40

be free and be happy again. The only way

55:42

our souls would ever be free. Andras

55:45

assured me without ever speaking an actual word,

55:48

that all the homes many years of

55:50

hurt and pain would finally be over.

55:53

Enough blood would have been shed to pay

55:55

the original price of his conjuring. And

55:57

no one would ever have to suffer in the home again. All

56:00

the souls that had died in the home before would

56:02

be saved. They'd be free. If

56:05

I committed this terrible deed, a deed no one in

56:07

this world would ever understand, I would

56:09

be a hero. I would have made

56:11

a brave and noble sacrifice. I

56:14

don't even remember leaving the basement. One

56:17

moment I was coming to an understanding of

56:19

what I must do and the next I was in

56:21

the kitchen holding our largest carving knife

56:23

in my right hand and walking

56:26

towards my bedroom, towards Meg's

56:29

and Polly. To end it all.

56:34

I believe you have an idea of what happens

56:36

next. I wrote all

56:38

this down at the Cedar Hills inpatient psychiatric

56:40

facility in Portland, where I'm currently still

56:43

a patient. Remember my

56:45

dream from the beginning? The prophecy? The

56:47

one where I stabbed my wife and daughter to death?

56:51

I marched up the stairs that night, after

56:53

the ritual in the basement. I

56:55

walked into my room, where they were sleeping. I

56:58

quietly opened the door, stepped inside and

57:00

gently closed it behind me. The

57:03

room was too dark. I needed to really

57:05

see what I was doing, what must be

57:07

done. So I turned on the

57:09

light. It woke Polly

57:11

first. Rubbing her

57:13

eyes, she asked, Daddy, what

57:16

are you doing with that knife? That

57:19

got Meg's attention as you'd expect. My

57:21

god, Dominic, what are you doing? I

57:24

didn't address either of them. I wasn't

57:26

even looking at them when they spoke to me. I

57:29

was looking past them at the

57:31

Black Angel, Andras, at

57:33

the demon wolf, Markosius. Both

57:36

standing on the far side of the

57:38

room past the bed, Andras holding his

57:40

chain and keeping the snarling Markosius at

57:43

bay. Andras nodding and

57:45

pointing, motioning for me to

57:47

end them. I moved

57:49

towards the bed as my girls screamed in

57:52

terror. And now

57:54

we're at the point in time just before

57:56

the vision that I shared earlier. When

57:59

I ended the day, them both. When

58:01

the demon wolf then ended me, I

58:04

raised the knife to plunge it down into

58:06

Meg's as she raised her arms to try

58:08

and stop me and I... Dominic no! I

58:12

turned to the sound of my neighbor, Mr. Marsh's voice,

58:14

who was outside down in the yard below looking up

58:16

at me through the bedroom window. After

58:18

getting my attention he hurled a rock about the size

58:20

of a small apple. He threw a perfect strike, shattering

58:23

the window, quite the arm for

58:25

a man of nearly ninety. He

58:27

yelled again, Meg's Polly run!

58:31

My wife jumped up, throwing the comforter towards and

58:33

partially over me, grabbing Polly's. I wrestled with getting

58:35

the blanket off and she ran past me and

58:37

out the door. Sam yelled once

58:39

more, it's time to burn

58:41

it down Dominic! And he

58:43

held up a metal container full of gasoline. I

58:46

turned to face Andross, who was furious.

58:49

His large owl eyes glowed bright flames

58:51

of their own. I had

58:53

disappointed him. I had failed him. He

58:56

now held a burning sword in his hand and

58:58

he released his hell out as

59:01

I turned and ran. I sprinted

59:03

past swirling lesser demons biting and clawing at me

59:05

in the hallway and down the stairs. Hearing the

59:07

wolf behind me, I still don't know how it

59:09

didn't catch me. Soon I had made it

59:11

out into the yard. That was when I

59:13

heard them stop. I looked back

59:15

and saw the demon wolf and the dark angel

59:17

still standing in the doorway. They appeared to be

59:20

psychically confined to the inside of the house somehow,

59:22

unable to leave. I ran to Mr.

59:24

Marsh. He brought over two

59:26

containers of gasoline. He took a

59:28

book of matches out of his pocket, tossed them to

59:30

me and nodded. I knew what to do. I

59:33

picked up one container and ran to the

59:35

other side of our beautiful, expensive, freshly restored

59:37

home. And I poured gas all

59:39

along that side of the front porch. I

59:42

threw a rock through another window and poured more

59:44

inside the home, barely missing the jaws of Markosius

59:46

as I did so. And then

59:48

as I stared directly into the still fiery eyes

59:50

of Andross, I lit and threw a match.

59:54

The flames reached unnatural heights and the fire

59:56

roared mightily as I walked back towards the

59:58

front of the house. home and met Mr.

1:00:00

Marsh to watch. Megs and

1:00:03

Polly stood over by his car. They

1:00:05

were still scared of me. Can you blame them?

1:00:08

We all watched the house burn to the ground. I

1:00:11

expected to hear it scream, but the

1:00:13

demons, they left silently. Or

1:00:17

rather, they didn't leave at all.

1:00:22

That night, Mr. Marsh helped coordinate having Megs and Polly

1:00:24

get picked up by some friends of ours back in

1:00:26

Astoria. I stayed at his house. I

1:00:29

learned he came over to our bed and breakfast after

1:00:31

hearing the chanting in the basement that night. He

1:00:34

said he'd heard it a few times before over the years, and

1:00:36

something terrible always followed. The

1:00:39

next morning, I told him that I needed to call

1:00:41

my insurance company. He shot me a

1:00:43

curious glance and informed me that

1:00:45

that might not be necessary. Before

1:00:48

I called, he thought we should go check on the house.

1:00:51

I asked why. What was there to check on?

1:00:53

We'd all watched it burn. He just

1:00:55

told me to trust him. When we

1:00:57

made it to the property, I understood exactly what he meant.

1:01:00

The house was still standing.

1:01:03

Not a single board out of place. Absolutely

1:01:05

nothing had been burned, but it had. I

1:01:07

had seen it. And

1:01:09

then up in the attic window, they

1:01:11

were back, Andross with

1:01:14

Markosius by his side. And

1:01:16

now in other windows, there were other

1:01:18

beings, men and women

1:01:20

in robes, the children

1:01:22

of midnight. The

1:01:25

next and last thing I remember from that day was Mr.

1:01:27

Marsh saying, defeatedly, I figured

1:01:29

it would have been too much to tell you this before, but

1:01:32

this was the fifth time I've burned that house

1:01:34

to the ground. There has to

1:01:36

be a way to end this. I

1:01:38

just wish to hell I knew what it was. And

1:01:41

then I guess I lost my mind

1:01:43

for a while. It had all been

1:01:45

too much. That was just over

1:01:47

three weeks ago. I've been at Cedar Hills ever

1:01:49

since. They asked me

1:01:51

to write all of this out, some type of therapeutic

1:01:53

assignment. Get what I remember down

1:01:56

on paper. I don't think what

1:01:58

they're about to read is going to help me get released. Megs

1:02:01

has come to visit me a few times, but not Polly.

1:02:04

They don't remember everything quite like I do. They

1:02:06

heard scratching, had some bad dreams, but

1:02:09

Polly doesn't remember ever talking to any imaginary

1:02:11

friend. Megs doesn't remember ever hearing her

1:02:13

do that or anything else. She

1:02:15

certainly doesn't ever remember smiling when a demon

1:02:17

put its hand on her shoulder. Andras

1:02:20

truly is the master of discord. I

1:02:22

don't know if my marriage will survive this. Mr.

1:02:25

Marsh spoke with Megs, backed up what I was saying,

1:02:28

but she thinks he's just like me. Not

1:02:30

well. She doesn't remember the

1:02:33

fire that night. Neither does Polly. She's

1:02:36

put the house back up for sale. She's mad about

1:02:38

how much of her inheritance she'll likely lose on it.

1:02:41

I tried to tell her that she can't sell

1:02:43

it. She can't do that to another family. But

1:02:46

she doesn't believe it happened to our family. Why

1:02:49

would she believe it would happen to anybody else's

1:02:51

family? She sent our realtor

1:02:53

Amira Walton here to have me cosign a

1:02:55

few papers authorizing the sale. I didn't want to,

1:02:58

but I also don't want to lose my marriage. After

1:03:01

I signed, Amira put her hand on top of

1:03:03

mine, said thank you and

1:03:06

flashed a smile that made my blood run cold.

1:03:09

It was the same disturbing smile Megs had

1:03:11

flashed at me from Polly's bedroom. When

1:03:13

Andras had stood beside her. She

1:03:16

knows something. I know she does. I think

1:03:19

she gave her soul to him. She's connected to

1:03:21

the children of midnight somehow. I

1:03:24

wonder who else in this area is. Maybe

1:03:27

I'm not destined for a life

1:03:29

along the Oregon coast. After all, first,

1:03:31

I have to get out of here and

1:03:33

then I have to leave the area and have

1:03:35

Megs and Polly come with me. That's

1:03:38

all the story I have for

1:03:40

now. At least. Do you believe

1:03:43

me? Do you believe that

1:03:45

demons are real and that they

1:03:47

can possess not just a person, but

1:03:49

a whole place. And

1:03:53

that's it for this new chapter of nightmare fuel.

1:03:56

I hope you loved or were horrified by, or at

1:03:58

least entertained by the children. Children of

1:04:00

Midnight. I hope you're faring

1:04:02

better out there than Dominic Gordon. Today's

1:04:05

tale was written by me, Dan Cummins, and

1:04:07

scored by Logan Keith. If

1:04:09

you enjoyed this story, check out the rest of the Bad

1:04:11

Magic Productions catalog. Times suck every

1:04:14

Monday at noon Pacific time, with little short sucks

1:04:16

on some Fridays, and these nightmare fuel

1:04:18

episodes on some Fridays as well, and

1:04:20

new episodes of the now long-running paranormal podcast,

1:04:22

Scared to Death, every Tuesday at midnight. Please

1:04:26

go to badmagicproductions.com for all your

1:04:28

bad magic needs, including all show-related

1:04:30

merch. And stay scared. Welcome

1:04:41

back to Money Mania, where we're

1:04:43

talking tax season. And

1:04:46

what to do with that refund? If

1:04:48

you really want your tax refund to

1:04:50

have a positive impact, I'm bullish on

1:04:52

Ohio's 529 plan. I always say invest in

1:04:54

something you love. Well, there's nothing we love more than our kids. I'm

1:05:00

sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm

1:05:03

sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

1:05:06

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm

1:05:08

sorry. I'm sorry. I'm

1:05:10

sorry. I'm sorry. I'm

1:05:12

sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

1:05:15

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

1:05:18

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm

1:05:20

sorry.