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Enter the world of terror with “7 Scariest TRUE American Horror Story 2025”, a chilling compilation from the Dark Files: Midnight Tales series. These stories are not fiction — they’re based on real American legends, mysterious disappearances, haunted places, and terrifying true encounters that will leave you sleepless.
From abandoned ghost towns to creepy midnight incidents, each tale unfolds the darkest side of reality. Watch till the end… if you dare.
🕛 Midnight is calling.
💀 Real Stories. Real Fear.
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👉 Dark Files - True Horror, Mysteries & Real Stories
From abandoned ghost towns to creepy midnight incidents, each tale unfolds the darkest side of reality. Watch till the end… if you dare.
🕛 Midnight is calling.
💀 Real Stories. Real Fear.
Subscribe for more:
👉 Dark Files - True Horror, Mysteries & Real Stories
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TVTranscript
00:00This happened when I was 12 years old, and it was not long ago at all.
00:13My name is Alex.
00:14The story took place in Connecticut when I went to visit my aunt, my uncle, and my two cousins.
00:20Their names were Ryan, who was 18, and Brandon, who was 16.
00:25I do not want to waste any more time, so I will get straight into the experience.
00:30I arrived on a Friday afternoon.
00:32Snow was falling hard, the kind that sticks to every branch and makes the sky look white.
00:37My aunt's house sat at the edge of a huge forest.
00:40The trees were tall, and even in daylight, the woods looked dark.
00:43My mom and my aunt had already warned me,
00:46Do not go into that forest.
00:47It is massive, and you will get lost.
00:50I nodded, but I was a cheeky kid and did not always listen.
00:54The first day, I just chilled.
00:55I unpacked, played video games with Ryan and Brandon, and watched the snow pile up outside.
01:01By the next morning, the yard was covered in deep powder.
01:04Around noon, I went outside to throw snowballs at a fence post.
01:09Ryan and Brandon joined me, and after a few minutes, they said,
01:13Yo, Alex, do you want to go in the forest with us?
01:16I hesitated.
01:17I heard my mom's voice in my head.
01:19Still, I felt the pull of adventure.
01:21The forest looked like a giant mystery covered in white.
01:25So I said yes.
01:27We put on our thick coats and boots and pushed through the snow.
01:30The woods were quiet except for the crunch under our feet.
01:33Some places were knee-deep.
01:35Other spots were more like waist-deep.
01:37We walked for maybe ten minutes, laughing and talking, pretending we were on some quest.
01:41Then we heard it, a scream.
01:43It sounded like a young girl, sharp and high.
01:46We stopped.
01:47The air seemed to freeze around us.
01:48I looked at Ryan, then Brandon.
01:51Neither cousin spoke.
01:53They just frowned.
01:54After a few seconds, Ryan shrugged and said,
01:56Probably nothing.
01:57So we kept moving.
01:59Not long after, the exact same scream ripped through the trees again.
02:02Same pitch, same length, like someone pressed replay.
02:06Now even Brandon looked nervous.
02:08He tried to act calm and said,
02:10There's nothing to worry about.
02:12But he had not finished the sentence when the scream came a third time.
02:16Fear hit me hard.
02:17My heart banged in my chest.
02:19Even though our legs were buried in snow, we turned and ran.
02:23Branches whipped our jackets.
02:25Cold air burned my throat, but I did not stop.
02:28At last, we burst out of the tree line and reached the yard behind my aunt's house.
02:33We were breathing so loudly we almost missed another sound.
02:36Banging.
02:37It came from the old wooden shed near the back fence.
02:40Ryan, the oldest, moved closer and peeked inside.
02:43Nobody was there, but the latch was broken and the door hung open.
02:47Inside, several tools were missing.
02:50Ryan closed the door quickly.
02:52None of us said what we were thinking, but we all felt it.
02:56We should have told our parents right away, but we were scared of getting grounded for entering the forest.
03:01So we stayed quiet.
03:03That night, I lay in the guest room, staring at the ceiling.
03:06Around midnight, I heard a light tapping on the window.
03:09My room was on the second floor, and the only thing outside was a slanted rooftop covered in snow.
03:16I did not move.
03:17I barely breathed.
03:19The tapping went on and on, like someone trying to get my attention without waking anyone else.
03:24It stopped only when the sun came up, and by then I had gotten zero sleep.
03:29Later that morning, the three of us shoveled the driveway, then grabbed a football and kicked it around the yard.
03:34A cold wind blew hard, and the sky stayed gray.
03:39While we were running routes, the scream came again.
03:41It sounded closer than ever.
03:43Brandon dashed into the garage and came back with a metal baseball bat.
03:47Ryan grabbed a flashlight, even though it was daytime.
03:50I picked up a thick stick.
03:52We followed the sound across the side yard to a clump of bushes.
03:56There, half buried in snow, we found a small battery radio.
04:00The volume was turned all the way up, and it was playing a loop of the same girl's scream we had heard in the forest.
04:07My first reaction was relief.
04:10It was only a prank, I thought.
04:12Somebody had left the radio on to scare kids.
04:15Then I noticed footprints, large ones, leading from the bushes toward the back of the property.
04:20Before we could talk, a man stepped out from behind a pine tree.
04:24He wore a dark winter coat and a knitted cap pulled low.
04:27His face was pale, and his cheeks were red from the cold.
04:30He called out, almost friendly,
04:32Guys, come with me.
04:34I have something to show you.
04:35Ryan shouted,
04:36No!
04:37The man's smile stretched wide and unnatural, showing too many teeth.
04:41For several long seconds, he just stood there, smiling.
04:44Then he rushed forward through the snow.
04:47We turned and sprinted.
04:48The man slipped on an icy patch and fell.
04:51That gave us a few precious seconds.
04:54We reached the back door, yanked it open, and slammed it shut behind us.
04:59My aunt and uncle heard the noise and rushed in.
05:01We were shaking so hard we could barely speak.
05:04Finally, we poured out everything.
05:06The forest, the scream, the shed, the missing tools, the tapping, the radio, the man.
05:12My aunt's face went white.
05:14She picked up the phone and called the police.
05:17Officers arrived within minutes.
05:19They searched the yard, the woods near the house, and the shed.
05:23About an hour later, they caught the man walking along a side road.
05:26He still had a hammer and a cordless drill tucked inside his coat.
05:29The police talked to my aunt and uncle for a long time.
05:33That was when I learned the stranger's name.
05:35He was Carl, my aunt's ex-boyfriend, from years earlier.
05:39He had moved out of state after she married my uncle, but now he had come back.
05:44The officers believed he broke into the shed to grab tools.
05:48Then, he set up the radio in the bushes and used a recording of a child's scream to lure
05:53us toward him.
05:54He planned to grab us, threaten us, and force my aunt to meet him.
05:58He thought she would leave my uncle, if it meant saving us.
06:02If she refused, he would hurt us.
06:04That was his sick plan.
06:06Carl went to jail that day.
06:07The police said the deep snow had helped slow him down.
06:11If the ground had been clear, he might have caught one of us before we reached the house.
06:14The slipping accident probably saved us, too.
06:18I still picture his face when he slid, eyes wide, arms flailing, that awful grin gone in
06:24a blink.
06:25That night, my cousins and I slept in the living room with the TV on.
06:29Nobody wanted to be alone.
06:30I felt safer, but still kept checking the windows.
06:33Snow kept falling, burying Carl's footprints in the radio tracks.
06:38The next morning, the cops returned to pick up the broken radio and take more photos of
06:42the shed.
06:42They told us we were lucky kids.
06:45I thought about what my mom and my aunt had said.
06:49Do not go into that forest.
06:50They were right.
06:52We could have been lost or worse.
06:54I felt guilty for disobeying, but also thankful that the story ended the way it did.
07:00Whenever snow starts falling heavily, I remember that week in Connecticut.
07:04The scream in the woods, the tapping on the glass, and the man who thought he could scare
07:08children into breaking a family apart.
07:10He failed, and I'm glad he did.
07:19It was a little after one in the morning, though it felt much later.
07:23The house was dark and quiet, and each of us was in our own room.
07:27I was only eight then, but my sisters trusted me because I was the one who knew the alarm
07:33code.
07:34Our neighborhood had heard gunshots a few nights before, so Mom had left the security
07:39system on the strongest setting when she went out to work her night shift at the hospital.
07:43I lay in bed with my flashlight, reading the same comic page for the third time, when the sudden
07:49scream of the alarm split the silence.
07:51The sound was so loud it shook the window glass and rattled in my chest.
07:56I tossed the blanket aside and ran into the hall, meeting my sisters at the same moment.
08:01Their eyes were huge and shiny in the weak nightlight.
08:04Code, Lena shouted, but the noise swallowed her voice.
08:08I didn't need the reminder.
08:10My hands were trembling, but they moved on their own, guiding me down the hallway to the
08:15keypad beside the front door.
08:17I typed Mom's four numbers.
08:20The siren cut off mid-wail, and the house fell into a stillness that felt even louder.
08:25For five long seconds, none of us spoke.
08:27My heart thumped so hard it almost hurt.
08:31Kayla finally said,
08:32Did you open anything?
08:34I shook my head.
08:35I was in my room the whole time.
08:37We checked every door we could see from the hallway.
08:40The locks were still in place, and the windows were closed.
08:43The only entrance we did not dare look at was the door inside the garage that led straight
08:48to the backyard.
08:49Mom called it the weak spot because it faced the alley.
08:52We tried to laugh it off.
08:54Maybe a loose wire, I told myself.
08:56Maybe a cat brushed a sensor.
08:59But while we stood there, we heard a single crack outside, sharp and quick, like either
09:03a distant gunshot or a leftover firework from July 4th.
09:07We all froze again.
09:08The silence returned, and for a minute, nothing else happened.
09:12Then, without warning, the alarm blared a second time.
09:15I had never felt fear hit me so hard.
09:18My legs would not move.
09:20Lena grabbed my arm, but this time I could not make myself run back to the keypad.
09:24The siren kept screaming.
09:27Lena and Kayla half-pushed, half-carried me down the hall until the numbers were in reach.
09:32I forced my shaking fingers to hit the right sequence, and the noise stopped.
09:37All the doors still looked shut.
09:39Again, we stared at each other, trying to breathe.
09:42None of us wanted to face the garage door.
09:44We stood there in a tight circle for almost a minute, listening.
09:48The house settled with small creaks, but the air felt different now, as if someone else
09:53might be standing just out of sight.
09:55Lena made the next move.
09:57Master bedroom, she said.
09:59Lock it.
10:00We hurried across the hall and slipped into Mom's room.
10:04The bedroom door had a stronger lock than the others, and the bathroom inside had a second
10:07door if we needed to retreat again.
10:10Kayla kicked the door shut, turned the bolt, and drew the curtains tight.
10:14Mom's room felt larger than I remembered, but the shadows in the corners felt alive.
10:21We armed ourselves with whatever we could grab.
10:24Kayla held a heavy table lamp by the base.
10:27Lena chose Mom's old softball bat.
10:29I picked up a thick perfume bottle made of metal that felt cold and solid in my hand.
10:35We sat on the carpet beside the bed, backs to the wall, listening to every sound outside
10:39the door.
10:40The alarm stayed silent, but each time the wind shook a branch against the siding, we
10:45flinched.
10:46Minutes stretched into an hour, and then another.
10:49My eyelids drooped, but each time my head slipped forward a noise jolted me awake.
10:54I kept staring at the gap under the door, half expecting to see a shadow slide across the
10:59light from the hallway nightlight.
11:02Around four in the morning, the sky began to gray.
11:04Birds started chirping outside, and the normal sounds of early morning made the house feel
11:09almost safe again.
11:11We still waited another half hour before Lena slowly unlocked the door.
11:16The hallway light flickered, but nothing moved.
11:19We walked together through each room.
11:21Every window latch sat in place.
11:24The front, side, and back doors were locked.
11:27Finally, we reached the garage entry.
11:29My stomach turned as I twisted the doorknob and eased it open.
11:32The garage was dim, the single bulb overhead casting long shapes over boxes and tools.
11:38The big lift-up door was shut, its hinge bar still in place.
11:42Yet something felt off.
11:44The smell in the garage was faintly different, like cold night air clinging to the walls.
11:49We did not step outside.
11:50None of us wanted to know if footprints marked the dirt behind the house.
11:54We closed the garage door again and decided that was enough proof we needed.
11:58Soon after, Lena called our older brother, who lived across town.
12:04I called Mom at the hospital.
12:06She sounded calm on the phone, but promised to check the security camera recordings when
12:10she got home in the morning.
12:12She also reminded us that only she kept a key to the backyard gate.
12:16Nobody else should have been able to stand outside that garage door without climbing a
12:20fence.
12:20Mom arrived a little after sunrise.
12:24She walked the yard and found no broken boards, no signs that the gate latch was forced.
12:29The camera above the front porch had not caught anything, but the sensor log on the alarm control
12:34panel showed two trips within three minutes, both labeled garage side door.
12:40Someone or something had tried to open that one door twice.
12:43We never got an answer.
12:45No neighbors reported a prowler or heard a break-in.
12:49Maybe the system glitched, the company said, but they could not explain the faint marks on
12:53the outer garage knob, like scratches from a tool.
12:57Mom had them replace the entire lock the same afternoon.
13:01Still, the damage inside us was already done.
13:05Lena started keeping a pocket knife under her pillow.
13:08Kayla slept most nights with headphones so she would not jump at every creak.
13:12I would wake up sweating whenever the wind made the gutters rattle.
13:16Even Mom admitted later that she never felt the house was truly safe again.
13:20A few years passed, and the landlord told us the roof needed serious work.
13:26We packed our things and moved across town.
13:29None of us complained.
13:30After we settled into the new place, Mom said she was relieved to leave our old night behind.
13:36Sometimes on weekends, we drive past the old house out of curiosity.
13:40The front lawn looks smaller than I remember, and someone new has painted the siding a lighter color.
13:46The garage door is still the same.
13:48I wonder if the lock I tightened that night is still on the handle, hiding its scars under fresh paint.
13:54I turned 13 this year.
13:57People think kids forget scary moments as they grow, but that night stays clear in my head.
14:01The two sharp screams of the alarm, the single crack in the distance, the shiver of the doorknob when I finally opened the garage.
14:10We never learned who, or what, tried to come inside, and maybe that is the worst part.
14:15The unknown can follow you longer than any face you can name.
14:18Before we dive into the next story, if you're visiting our channel for the first time, don't forget to hit the subscribe button and turn on the bell icon to stay updated with our upcoming scary stories.
14:29I was a new student at a small school in November of 2017.
14:38The size was around 50 kids in total.
14:42Yeah, I know, small, right?
14:44The reason I went there was that the things I was learning in that old school were way too advanced for me.
14:50I had to transition into a school where the work was way easier and where I could focus better.
14:55It's called the Smith School, and it is based in New York City.
14:59It used to be a school for kids who had a criminal history.
15:03Now it has changed into a school with kids who have special needs.
15:07I was only there for almost a full year, and then I transferred to a bigger school.
15:12I was pretty much friends with everyone at that school because the school was so small.
15:17I even ended up dating a guy.
15:19His name was Kyle Fernandez.
15:21I believe that I started dating him in February or March of 2018.
15:25The reason why he went to the Smith School is that he got kicked out of his previous school
15:31due to selling weed to other students at that school, and one person ended up telling on him.
15:37The first two to three months of dating him, he was nice to me and to the people who went to our school,
15:42but at the same time, he was also high on drugs for most of the time.
15:46I never smoked weed, and I never will.
15:51Kyle would also sometimes take me to hang out with his outside school friends.
15:55They were also a lot like him, smoking and selling weed, and having their pants sag, which would reveal their underwear.
16:01It was so eye-burning to see that crap, but Kyle loved me, and I loved him.
16:08While Kyle and his friends would do stuff that would get them in trouble, I would stay out of it,
16:13and to my miracle, Kyle never pressured me to join along with them.
16:17A few more months went on, and our relationship would stay the same until one day in July, when everything changed.
16:24On that day, Kyle came over to my place at night.
16:27For an hour, we were just chatting in my bedroom until my phone kept going off.
16:33It was a bunch of text messages from my friend Liam.
16:37I opened iMessage, and I saw that he sent me a bunch of edgy but funny memes.
16:41I started laughing hard, and Kyle then asked me,
16:44Who's texting you?
16:46I told him that it was my friend Liam.
16:48He then asked me if he could see the texts.
16:51I then responded saying,
16:52Please, it's really nothing.
16:54He's a long-time friend who makes me laugh all the time.
16:56Kyle then got really upset with me and demanded to look at my phone.
17:00My smile faded away.
17:02I now felt a little skittish.
17:04I then muttered the word,
17:06No.
17:06Guess what happens next?
17:07I think you know.
17:09What Kyle did after I told him no was that he grabbed my phone and threw it to the wall.
17:14Glass went everywhere.
17:15To the floor, the lamp, the top of my drawer, and on my bed.
17:19I was in disbelief at what just happened.
17:21As a reaction to what Kyle just did, I put my arms up to my face because I didn't know what he would do next.
17:28I then felt his hand grab my left arm, and then he did something that made me change how I saw him as a person.
17:34I saw glass from my phone in his hand, and before I could even say anything or move,
17:40Kyle plunged the glass into my arms so fast and then took it out two seconds later.
17:44I then screamed.
17:46I screamed so loud that probably Africa could even hear me.
17:49As I was still screaming, Kyle then screamed at me,
17:52Are you happy now?
17:54And then he ran out of my room and out of my apartment.
17:57I really wish my mother was home, but of course she wasn't.
18:01I then ran right to my bathroom and washed the stab wound with soap and water.
18:05It was hurting like hell when I did that.
18:08I then got a humongous bandage and put it on my left arm.
18:12After doing that, I went back to my phone, took the shattered screen protector off,
18:17and then proceeded to block Kyle on everything.
18:20If he tries to come and see me again, I will make it clear that I never want to see him again.
18:27To my shock, he never came to my house again, and I never saw him on the streets again,
18:32but I did look around my surroundings to be safe, and I indeed was.
18:36I kept what Kyle did to me a secret,
18:38and when everyone asked me what happened between me and Kyle,
18:42I just said,
18:43Our relationship was just not going in the right direction.
18:46Everyone actually seemed to believe me.
18:49I didn't let anybody know what the real reason was because I was just too scared.
18:54But my being scared all changed because of something that happened in the summer of 2023.
19:00It was early August of 2023.
19:02I was at work that day, and while working, I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket.
19:08I took my phone out of my pocket to see who was calling me, and it was a 2-1-12 number.
19:14For the people who don't know, 2-1-12 is an area code that is a home code in New York City.
19:20It wasn't my home phone because I knew my home phone number.
19:23I was curious to see what company was calling me, so I picked up the phone and said hello.
19:27I heard a woman on the line asking if this was me.
19:31I replied back saying,
19:32Yeah, that's me.
19:34Who's this?
19:35I then heard the woman say,
19:37This is the 42nd Street New York Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, calling,
19:43and I'm here to inform you that your mother, along with 10 people,
19:47have been hit by a car, and she is in critical condition.
19:50As I heard this, I felt my hand shaking while holding the phone.
19:57I tried staying in composure, and I said,
20:00I'll be there right away.
20:01I ran out of my workplace so fast without telling anyone where I was going or what happened.
20:07I got to the hospital in about 10-15 minutes.
20:11I asked where my mom was, and a woman at the front desk said that she was in a room right down the hall.
20:16I ran over to that room, and when I got to that room, I saw that she was in a coma.
20:22I sat down next to her, crying like I've never cried before in my life.
20:26A nurse came in, and I asked her for the details of that incident.
20:31The nurse said that a man stole a car while intoxicated,
20:35and he drove on to a wrong-way street and then on to a sidewalk, striking a cyclist at first,
20:40then hit a woman who is your mom and about five others, and they all flew into each other.
20:46I was so taken aback hearing this that I asked if they had found out the guy's name yet.
20:51The nurse said,
20:52We don't know yet, but we'll probably get an answer tomorrow.
20:56The next day came, and there was amazing news and life-shattering news.
21:00I'll start off with the good news.
21:02The good news was that my mom woke up.
21:05The bad news is that the person who drove the vehicle that hit my mother and six other people
21:10was someone I knew very well.
21:13It was Kyle.
21:13I was in such incredulity.
21:17I was going to make sure that he was not going to get away with this.
21:20Thank God he got tackled by good Samaritans on the street and that the police have him in custody.
21:25I wanted to scream so badly, but I would just be humiliating myself by doing that.
21:31Another part of the bad news is that a couple of days later,
21:34I would find out that my mother would never be able to walk again.
21:37I felt as if my life was over.
21:40When this news story broke out all around the country, everyone thought this was a terrorist attack.
21:47They thought that because of the seven bodies all flying into each other.
21:50I also felt very self-assured that I would tell my experiences of dating Kyle to the court and to the public,
21:59but keeping who I am private.
22:01I wrote a letter to the court where Kyle was at,
22:04and I wrote about the time he assaulted me with the shattered glass of my phone that he threw.
22:08After this was read out in court, another woman who Kyle dated in 2022 came forward about how she was a victim of domestic violence by Kyle.
22:18This warmed my heart because she felt inspired to tell her story as well, and that we will stick together.
22:24In the end, Kyle was found guilty of his domestic violence against me and the other woman he dated,
22:30and for his drunk driving case.
22:33After he was found guilty, he was sentenced to two and a half years behind bars.
22:37That sentence is way too short.
22:39It should be 20 years because of the seven victims he unintentionally hit with a car
22:44and leaving most of them with lifetime injuries.
22:47He must have hired an amazing lawyer because of such a short sentencing.
22:51I have nothing but hatred for Kyle now, after he changed my mother's life for the worse.
22:57People like him never change.
23:00I know I might be taking things out of proportion, but I am never going to get over this,
23:05and this is how I really feel.
23:07While Kyle is serving his time in prison, I hope that he reflects on the actions he took to hurt people
23:12and goes to rehab, where he changes as a person.
23:16My advice to him is that he needs to move out of New York City, which is a very toxic environment,
23:21and start a new life where he helps people instead of hurting people.
23:25This happened a couple of days ago on a warm June evening.
23:35I live in a small town, the kind of place where most streets go quiet after sunset.
23:40There is a 24-hour self-service car wash on the edge of town.
23:44Four concrete bays, old soap machines, and a single rusty coke machine that never has any drinks inside.
23:50Dim yellow bulbs hang over each bay, and they buzz so softly you can hear them even before you turn off your engine.
23:58I usually wash my truck during daylight, because the place feels safer,
24:01but that afternoon, every bay was taken.
24:04I decided to wait until the evening rush had passed.
24:07Around 9.30, I pulled in.
24:09The asphalt was still warm from the day, and a few bugs circled the lights.
24:13Only one other car sat in the lot, a dusty sedan parked at the far edge near the vacuums.
24:20When I stepped out, I noticed a man standing about 20 yards away beside one of the vacuum posts.
24:26He wore baggy jeans and a stained t-shirt.
24:29At first, I figured he was on his way to the all-night gas station across the street.
24:34People cut through the car wash lot all the time, so I paid him no mind.
24:37I dug a handful of quarters from my pocket, slid them into the slot, and squeezed the trigger on the pressure wand.
24:44Water blasted out, hissing so loud it drowned every other sound.
24:49As I moved around the truck, I heard a strange metallic thump.
24:53I let off the trigger for a second and saw the same man smashing his forehead against the metal housing of the vacuum,
24:59again and again, like he felt nothing at all.
25:02A tiny dark patch was forming on the machine where his skin met steel.
25:06I thought, great, another guy spaced out on something.
25:10I kept my guard up but kept washing.
25:12My town has its share of attics.
25:14If you leave them alone, they usually wander off.
25:17A few minutes later, a faded red Chevy pickup from the 90s rattled into the lot.
25:23The body was dented, and the muffler hung low.
25:27The truck rolled right up to the man, and he climbed into the passenger side without a word.
25:31The driver, a shape I could barely see through the dirty windshield, spun the wheels and headed back out to the road.
25:39I felt a wave of relief.
25:41Problem gone, I thought.
25:43I finished rinsing the soap, tossed the nozzle back, and climbed into my truck.
25:48I pulled out of the car wash, turned left toward home, and saw the red Chevy at the pumps of the 24-hour station.
25:54It was hard to miss, with its mismatched door and crooked tailgate.
25:59I passed by and forgot about it.
26:01Three blocks later, I checked my mirror.
26:03Headlights.
26:04Nothing odd about headlights at night.
26:06But when I made a right turn onto Willow Street, the lights turned on.
26:11My pulse kicked up a notch.
26:13At the next corner, I turned left without signaling.
26:16The headlights stuck to me like glue.
26:18That was enough.
26:18I pressed the gas and started weaving through the grid of neighborhood streets, taking random turns, rolling through a stop sign, anything, to shake the truck.
26:28My tires squealed once, and I told myself to calm down before I wrecked.
26:33After three quick turns, I darted up a long gravel driveway that led to an empty barn for sale.
26:39I killed my lights and waited.
26:41Seconds crawled by.
26:42The red Chevy roared past the driveway without slowing.
26:45Only when its taillights were tiny embers did I back out and ease the opposite way toward my house.
26:51My heart thudded so hard I could feel it in my temples.
26:54But I told myself the night was over.
26:56I was safe.
26:57At home, the porch light greeted me.
27:00I parked, locked the truck, and walked toward the front door.
27:04Out of habit, I glanced toward our small backyard and saw the shed light glowing.
27:09The wooden door stood wide open.
27:11My first thought was that my little brother had borrowed tools to work on his truck.
27:16He forgets to switch the light off all the time.
27:19I walked over to close it.
27:21The yard backs up to a thin strip of woods.
27:24Oaks and pines grow so thick you can't see more than a few yards in.
27:27I pulled the string to kill the shed light and swung the door shut.
27:32Right then, something crunched in the leaves beyond the tree line.
27:35Slow, deliberate footsteps on dry ground.
27:38Every hair on my arms lifted.
27:39I backed away, locked the shed, and hurried inside, double-checking every window and door latch.
27:46I had just reached the stairs when pounding rattled the back door.
27:49Three hard slams, then silence.
27:52A thin curtain covers the door's window, and the porch bulb was burned out,
27:56so I couldn't see who or what stood there.
27:59Before I could move, the pounding started again.
28:01Harder, rattling the glass.
28:05I yelled,
28:06I'm calling the police.
28:07The pounding stopped, and through the quiet,
28:10I heard the same eerie laugh I had heard in the car wash bay hours earlier.
28:14Raspy, playful, wrong.
28:16The laugh faded, and nothing else happened.
28:18I waited five tense minutes, phone in hand, then climbed upstairs.
28:22Maybe that was it, I told myself.
28:24Maybe he finally left.
28:26Sleep did not come easily, but sometime after midnight, I drifted off.
28:29At 3 a.m., thirst dragged me awake.
28:32I tiptoed downstairs, still half asleep, and felt a cool draft.
28:36The back door hung open an inch.
28:39My stomach dropped.
28:40My first stupid impulse was to slam it shut, but then I heard a soft rustle from the living room.
28:45I peered around the doorway.
28:48In the faint glow of a street lamp through the curtains, I saw the outline of someone crouching behind the couch.
28:54Wide shoulders rising and falling with each breath.
28:57I backed away, walked as silently as I could up the stairs, and locked myself in my bedroom.
29:02Hands shaking, I dialed 911.
29:05While I whispered to the operator, a floorboard creaked on the staircase outside.
29:09The laugh came again, closer, followed by slow, uneven steps.
29:15The man reached my door and pounded with both fists, screaming slurred threats and dirty words I had never even heard before.
29:21The thin wood shook in its frame.
29:24The dispatcher stayed calm and said officers were already on my street.
29:28I told her the intruder was inside, upstairs, right outside my door.
29:32She said she would tell them to enter through the back, because the door was open.
29:36The pounding stopped, and for a second, there was silence.
29:41Then I heard heavy boots thudding down the stairs.
29:44The front door must have flashed with police lights, because everything went quiet.
29:49Officers shouted commands, and I heard a clatter of metal on tile.
29:53Something skidded across the kitchen floor.
29:56Minutes later, an officer knocked on my bedroom door and told me it was safe.
30:00I stepped out and saw two more officers cuffing the man from the car wash.
30:04A large kitchen knife lay on the linoleum near his feet.
30:08He stared at me with glassy eyes, mumbling nonsense, a trickle of dried blood still on his forehead from earlier.
30:16They charged him with breaking and entering, possession of a weapon, and several drug offenses.
30:21I keep thinking about what would have happened if I had walked into the living room instead of heading back upstairs.
30:28I replay every tiny decision.
30:30The random driveway, locking the doors, calling the police, and how each one saved me.
30:36I don't ever want to know what he planned to do.
30:39So please learn from my scare.
30:41Always look around, trust your instincts, and lock every single door before you go to sleep.
30:46My name is Damon.
30:52I should begin by giving a summary of how I came to know about the events in this story.
30:58A girlfriend of mine, whom I was dating for several years back in the early 2000s, told me about this bizarre occurrence.
31:05To better understand why I wholeheartedly believe the details of the story as she remembered it,
31:11and to emphasize that there is virtually no possibility of a logical explanation for what occurred,
31:17I need to explain a bit about my ex-girlfriend.
31:20She was 20 years old, and I was 22 at that time.
31:24My girlfriend's name was Jenna.
31:26She was extremely sweet and a little naive, endearingly so.
31:30Some facts about Jenna's character are that she has never experienced or been diagnosed with any mental illness
31:37or suffered from any hallucinations, either before or after the events of this story took place.
31:42On the rare occasions that she attempted to lie or exaggerate a story,
31:46it was always obvious, as she was a very bad liar.
31:49I knew Jenna well enough at that time that I was able to determine if she was even slightly embellishing something for dramatic effect.
31:58She really did not have a duplicitous bone in her body,
32:02as I can best recall it as it was told to me, and with a conscious effort not to exaggerate the details.
32:09On the day this took place, Jenna was driving to her aunt and cousin's apartment in town,
32:14I think to visit this cousin, who was approximately the same age as Jenna.
32:18The two were very close, having grown up together.
32:22In this apartment, her aunt and her cousin, whose name was Stacy, lived alone,
32:27as Stacy's father had been out of the picture apparently for quite a long time, a common scenario.
32:33Jenna's closeness with her family afforded her pretty much unrestricted access to all her immediate family's homes and apartments.
32:40She also had spare keys for most of them.
32:43She was welcome to come and go, for the most part, as she pleased.
32:46This included unannounced visits.
32:49I honestly cannot remember specifically if we had cell phones back then for normal use.
32:55However, Jenna going over to her aunt and cousin Stacy's apartment that day likely didn't require a phone call to them announcing her visit,
33:03so she came with no advance notice, driving up to their apartment that afternoon.
33:07The apartment complex had two floors.
33:12A dirt patch in the front, near the street, could be parked on,
33:15but the tenant's parking was in the rear of the building, with all the front doors facing the street.
33:21These apartments had one entrance and no access out the back,
33:25as I was told and knew myself from driving by the area many times in the past.
33:30There was one large window in the front of each apartment, though none in the back or on the sides of the apartment.
33:38This complex was not the best of places, but her aunt and Stacy both had at least a room of their own.
33:45Jenna had driven over and parked in front of the place, with the tenant parking in the back.
33:50She had no reason to believe that either one or both of her family members weren't at home,
33:55though she would not be able to see their vehicles from the front street side where she had parked.
34:00Jenna did as she normally did.
34:02She headed upstairs one flight, walking three apartments down the open breezeway to her aunt and cousin's door.
34:09She tried the doorknob and, finding it locked, used her key to open the door without knocking.
34:15This was not uncommon or unusual for her.
34:18Even though the apartment complex was not in the most glamorous part of town, hence the locked door,
34:24Jenna still knew she was more than welcome to enter unannounced.
34:27So after unlocking the front door, she stepped inside.
34:31Not immediately seeing either her aunt or Stacy upon entering, she walked from the front door to her left and looked inside the small kitchen.
34:39Finding no one there, she called out to her aunt and Stacy.
34:42Hey guys, it's just me.
34:45Getting no reply, Jenna then began walking down the short hallway that led to the two bedrooms in the back of the small apartment.
34:53The first room to her right was her aunt's room, which she glanced inside, but seeing no one, she called out again,
35:00Hey Stace, it's Jen.
35:02After this, too, elicited no response.
35:06Jenna headed further down the hallway.
35:08At this time, Jenna recalled that she was fairly convinced that no one was home since it would be nearly impossible not to have heard her when she announced herself more than once inside the small space.
35:18From her vantage point in the hallway, she said,
35:21The one bathroom at the end was vacant, and the lights in the apartment were, for the most part, turned off, with the exception of her cousin's room.
35:30Its singular light faintly illuminated the short hallway.
35:35Jenna then walked a few steps to her cousin's doorway to look inside.
35:39To her left, she said, were her cousin's dresser drawers, and directly in front of her was her cousin Stacy's bed.
35:44There, Jenna saw that Stacy was sitting upright but motionless on the edge of her small mattress, facing away from Jenna and the room's doorway.
35:54Jenna was momentarily surprised.
35:57She assumed that, had nothing been wrong, her cousin would have replied to her when she first entered the apartment.
36:05Jenna asked her cousin if she was okay while still standing at the doorway,
36:08but her cousin, sitting on the mattress edge, made no movement in response that would indicate she was even aware of Jenna's presence.
36:17Now becoming increasingly concerned about her cousin, Jenna began moving further into the room toward the bed.
36:24She was confused by Stacy's strange behavior, and imagined all the worst-case scenarios spinning in her mind that could explain Stacy's rigid, unmoving posture.
36:33Just as she was nearing the end of Stacy's bed, her aunt's voice came from the living room area,
36:40as well as the familiar sounds of the front door opening,
36:43and what she said sounded like someone with arms full of grocery bags being shuffled into the kitchen area.
36:49Her aunt, she recognized, was in a casual conversation with someone else in the small kitchen.
36:55In the same kind of cheerful banter, replying to her aunt and her aunt's rambling,
37:01was the unmistakable voice of Stacy, her cousin, her aunt's only daughter and roommate,
37:06whose bed she was now facing away from.
37:09As she listened to the commotion in the kitchen, Jenna was now in a semi-state of shock and confusion.
37:16As she described it, with the labor her brain was under as it tried to rationalize and make sense of all the contradicting sensory input,
37:23all in less than a second of actual time, though she said it was like a movie scene set to slow motion.
37:30Finding her voice, she softly called down the hallway and began to tell her aunt that she'd just stopped by,
37:35but no one was home, and then paused mid-sentence.
37:39She described her heart thumping and a cold dread washing over her as she slowly turned back toward Stacy's room.
37:46To her horror, the figure on the bed had turned its head.
37:49In her words, in an unnatural way, without moving her shoulders or lower body at all,
37:55what should have been there, the familiar face of her cousin, was gone.
38:00It was replaced by a grotesque face that stared back at her.
38:04Its skin was like slate gray, sharp angles where there should have been curves,
38:08with a gaze that was completely emotionless.
38:11It had a mouth, but without any lips.
38:13Its black eyes were deep-set in dark pits and devoid of life,
38:18not angry, but slightly squinting, reflecting her image in them like some dark mirror.
38:23As she stood there in front of this thing that was defying her reality,
38:27she screamed and bolted down the hallway,
38:29bursting into the kitchen where her aunt and Stacy were unpacking groceries.
38:33In a frantic jumble of words, she tried to tell them,
38:37and finally just grabbed her cousin's arm and said,
38:39No, there's another Stacy!
38:42She's... she's not right!
38:44She's in your room!
38:45The three of them cautiously returned to Stacy's room.
38:49Jenna was shaking visibly, she said at this point,
38:51and hesitated to look inside, but the room was now empty.
38:55The demon-like entity that defied logical description,
38:59so horrifying that her mind felt unhinged as it struggled to process it,
39:02was now gone, but she knew what she had seen.
39:05It wasn't a hallucination, not a trick of the light.
39:10It was something else entirely,
39:12something evil that had worn her cousin's face like a mask.
39:16The only sign of recent occupancy was the faint indentation on the mattress where the thing had been sitting.
39:21Jenna's aunt and cousin searched the apartment in hushed silence,
39:25and with a baseball bat.
39:27But there was no trace of her cousin's doppelganger,
39:29no back windows to escape through,
39:32no hidden doors or exits,
39:34no access panels,
39:36service hatches,
39:37or attic space,
39:38and no possible explanation for its sudden disappearance.
39:42She never went to her aunt's and cousin's apartment after this,
39:45and I can't recall her telling me if they even stayed much longer there.
39:49I believe the events of that day left a scar on Jenna's soul.
39:52A terrifying reminder that the world held mysteries far darker than she had ever imagined.
39:59I work for an outdoor outfitter,
40:05so my kids and I already own good camping gear.
40:08My wife, though, had never joined us on a trip.
40:11I wanted her to feel comfortable,
40:13so I bought a huge family tent,
40:15the kind you can almost stand up in.
40:17We planned to meet several friends and their children at a lake only an hour from home.
40:22By mid-afternoon, the new tent was standing proud on a flat patch of grass.
40:26I stuffed the sleeping bags, backpacks, and cooking box inside,
40:31zipped it shut,
40:32and took my family for a slow walk around the shoreline.
40:36The sky looked calm,
40:37weather radio said nothing about storms,
40:40but that lake sat in a valley famous for sudden microblasts.
40:44Halfway around the water,
40:45the wind flipped like a switch.
40:47Trees on the ridge bent low,
40:49sand skittered off the beach,
40:51and the surface of the lake turned white with chop.
40:53I saw something tumble across the water,
40:56a bright flash of nylon,
40:57and realized it was our brand new tent,
41:00gear and all,
41:01sailing like a giant kite.
41:03I yelled,
41:04kicked off my shoes,
41:05and dove in without thinking.
41:07Cold waves slapped my face.
41:09I swam hard,
41:10grabbed a tie-down cord,
41:12and dragged the whole mess back to shore before it sank.
41:14The damage was ugly.
41:16The rainfly was shredded,
41:17two poles snapped,
41:19and everything inside was soaked.
41:20A few small items,
41:21my daughter's flashlight,
41:23a camp pillow,
41:24never showed up again.
41:25We tried not to cry over lost gear.
41:28Instead,
41:28we built two big fires to dry clothes,
41:31and planned to sleep in my wife's 35-year-old station wagon.
41:34It barely ran,
41:35but it had a roof.
41:37Friends rolled in just before dusk.
41:39They loaned spare blankets and squeezed our kids into their tents.
41:42Spirits lifted.
41:43We grilled hot dogs,
41:45laughed about my swim,
41:46and swore the worst was over.
41:48Around midnight,
41:50my wife and I climbed into the wagon.
41:52We flattened the back seat,
41:53slid an air mattress on top,
41:55and settled under damp quilts.
41:57Wind rattled every loose part of that old car,
42:00but we felt mostly safe,
42:02until the first heavy drops hit the roof.
42:04The sprinkle turned to a roar.
42:06Rain sheeted sideways through broken window seals,
42:09soaking our heads in pillows.
42:11Lightning flashed so close,
42:12it left bright shapes behind my eyelids.
42:14I grabbed the walkie-talkie.
42:17You kids okay?
42:18I asked.
42:18Yeah, this is awesome.
42:20My son shouted back,
42:22brave because his friends could hear him.
42:24Seconds later,
42:24a bolt cracked a pine between the tents.
42:27The trunk exploded,
42:28hurling bark like shrapnel.
42:30Ground shock made the station wagon hop.
42:32All the kids screamed at once,
42:34and the radio fizzed with panic.
42:36They bolted for the cars,
42:37slipping in mud,
42:38faces lit by lightning strobe.
42:40My wife clenched my arm.
42:42This is camping,
42:43she said through chattering teeth.
42:45Never again.
42:46We stuffed our kids inside.
42:48Eight of us now huddled in that wagon,
42:50rain pouring through window seams.
42:52Then the wind did something new.
42:54It quieted,
42:55but only for a heartbeat.
42:57In that hush,
42:57every person in the car heard it,
42:59a long, low wail drifting out of the forest
43:01across the flooded campsites.
43:03It was not the wind itself.
43:06It was a voice,
43:07or something shaped like a voice,
43:09rising and falling in a pattern
43:10that made the hairs on my neck stand up.
43:13Nobody spoke.
43:15Outside, lightning flashed,
43:17and in that blinding white light,
43:18I saw a tall, thin figure
43:20standing just inside the tree line.
43:22No coat, no hat,
43:23only a black outline,
43:25as if the storm had cut a human silhouette
43:27out of night and nailed it to the trunks.
43:29The flash ended,
43:30and the world went dark again.
43:32My youngest asked,
43:33Dad, who's out there?
43:35I don't know.
43:35I said,
43:36and wished I had lied.
43:38The rain returned harder than before.
43:40Hail ricocheted off the roof.
43:42Somewhere beyond the cars,
43:44metal clanged,
43:45maybe a loose tent pole,
43:46maybe something else.
43:47Twice more,
43:48the lightning flashed,
43:49and twice more,
43:50I saw that shape in exactly the same place,
43:52as if it never moved,
43:54but also never left.
43:55Between the flashes,
43:56the strange wail kept floating over the lake.
43:59It wasn't an animal cry I recognized,
44:01and it wasn't any language.
44:03It was like breath pressed through a broken whistle.
44:06We waited like that for 40 minutes,
44:08water dripping down our necks,
44:10breath fogging the windows.
44:11My wife held each child's hand,
44:13even though her own hands shook.
44:15Finally, the storm limped away.
44:18Thunder faded into distant hills,
44:19and the whale with it.
44:21I looked again.
44:22No shadow stood at the trees now.
44:24Only torn tents and broken branches
44:26littered the muddy ground.
44:28The station wagon refused to start,
44:30so we stayed cold until dawn.
44:31At first light,
44:33everyone crawled out.
44:34Mud coated our shoes like concrete.
44:36We found the big pine split by lightning.
44:39Jagged trunk,
44:40burned core,
44:40but no footprints,
44:42no signs of a night visitor.
44:44One friend joked it was just the storm playing tricks.
44:47Nobody laughed.
44:48We cooked oatmeal on a propane stove.
44:51Steam rose from wet clothes
44:52hung between cars like sad flags.
44:55The kids finally thawed
44:56and chattered about the tree
44:57that almost crushed them.
44:58My wife stayed quiet
44:59until we packed the last cooler.
45:01Home, she said.
45:02Now.
45:04Back in the driveway,
45:05she announced that she was finished
45:06with camping forever.
45:08Yet two months later,
45:09she agreed to try again,
45:11certain nothing could top that night.
45:13Nothing ever did.
45:15Over the next 28 years,
45:16we camped through drizzle,
45:18heat waves,
45:18even one mild hurricane fringe,
45:20but we never again heard a whale under lightning
45:23nor saw a motionless shadow
45:24watching from the trees.
45:25I patched that first tent by hand.
45:28Needle,
45:29thread,
45:29extra nylon squares,
45:31and we still own it.
45:32The lake storm left stains
45:34the color of rust along one side.
45:37Sometimes late at night,
45:38when moonlight falls just right on the fabric,
45:40those stains almost look like a tall,
45:42thin figure.
45:44My wife swears it is only dirt,
45:46but she still refuses to camp near that lake,
45:48and I will never blame her.
45:55It was a chilly night in early November,
45:58back in 2018,
45:59when I worked the overnight shift
46:01at a 24-hour convenience store
46:03just outside Asheville, North Carolina.
46:05The store sat isolated at the edge of town,
46:08the road mostly empty after midnight,
46:11except for an occasional trucker
46:12or traveler passing through.
46:14The fluorescent lights buzzed softly overhead,
46:17and the hum of the coolers
46:18was my constant companion
46:20as I stocked shelves
46:21or idly swept the floor to pass the time.
46:25The night started normally enough.
46:27Around 1 a.m.,
46:28a couple of teenagers stopped in,
46:30grabbing snacks and energy drinks,
46:32laughing and talking loudly.
46:34After they left,
46:35silence settled again.
46:37The minutes felt endless
46:38as I watched the clock,
46:39waiting for sunrise
46:40to relieve the uneasy quiet.
46:42Around 2.30 a.m.,
46:44headlights pulled into the lot.
46:46A beat-up pickup truck
46:47rusted and noisy,
46:49rolled slowly into a parking space
46:51farthest from the front doors.
46:53The driver,
46:54a man I'd never seen before,
46:56sat in the truck for several minutes,
46:58engines still rumbling,
46:59headlights piercing the darkness.
47:02Through the store window,
47:03I couldn't see clearly into the cab,
47:05just the silhouette of someone
47:06hunched forward, motionless.
47:09I continued wiping down the counter,
47:11glancing up periodically.
47:13My chest tightened slightly with discomfort,
47:15though at first,
47:16I dismissed it as paranoia
47:17from too many quiet nights alone.
47:20Finally,
47:20the truck door creaked open,
47:22and the man stepped out.
47:23He moved with an unsettling slowness,
47:26each step deliberate and heavy.
47:29He was tall and thin,
47:30wearing a worn brown jacket,
47:31a baseball cap pulled low,
47:33casting his face into shadow.
47:35As he entered the store,
47:36I forced myself to offer
47:38a polite greeting,
47:39trying not to let my unease show.
47:41He said nothing,
47:42barely acknowledging me
47:43as he began pacing the aisles.
47:45He wasn't shopping,
47:46just walking slowly,
47:47occasionally pausing
47:48to stare at the products.
47:50Something about his manner,
47:51the quiet intensity
47:52in his slow movements,
47:54stirred a deeper worry within me.
47:57I pretended to rearrange items
47:59behind the counter,
48:00glancing periodically
48:01at the store mirrors
48:02angled to show the aisles.
48:04He finally selected
48:05a single can of soda
48:06and approached the counter.
48:08Up close,
48:09I noticed his gaunt features,
48:10pale skin,
48:11and the peculiar emptiness
48:12in his eyes.
48:14His stare met mine briefly
48:15as he handed me
48:16a crumpled dollar bill,
48:17but he quickly looked away,
48:19as if intentionally
48:20avoiding eye contact.
48:21I rang up his purchase,
48:23handed him the change,
48:24and he left without a word.
48:27Relief washed over me momentarily,
48:29yet I found myself
48:30watching him walk back
48:31to his truck.
48:32Instead of getting inside,
48:33he leaned against the vehicle,
48:35sipping slowly from the soda can
48:37and staring directly
48:38into the store.
48:40Minutes ticked by,
48:41and my nerves began to fray.
48:43Every instinct urged me
48:44to lock the doors,
48:45but store policy forbade
48:47locking up while open
48:48for business.
48:50Eventually,
48:50he climbed back
48:51into his truck,
48:52started the engine,
48:53and pulled away,
48:54slowly vanishing
48:55down the dark road.
48:57I exhaled deeply,
48:59convinced I had overreacted,
49:01perhaps spooked
49:01by nothing more
49:02than late night anxiety.
49:04The store returned to silence,
49:06and I busied myself
49:07restocking the coffee station.
49:08But barely twenty minutes later,
49:10I saw familiar headlights
49:12approach again.
49:13My stomach tightened
49:14as I recognized
49:15the same battered truck
49:16pulling into the parking lot,
49:18this time parking closer.
49:20He sat motionless again,
49:22headlights blaring
49:23into the store,
49:24engine idling loudly
49:25in the otherwise silent night.
49:27Fear began to take hold.
49:28I moved behind the counter,
49:30picking up the store phone,
49:32feeling slightly comforted
49:33by its solid weight
49:34in my hand.
49:35The man got out again,
49:37but this time
49:37he moved faster,
49:39more purposefully,
49:40heading straight
49:40toward the entrance.
49:42My pulse quickened,
49:43each heartbeat
49:43pounding heavily
49:44in my chest.
49:45He entered abruptly,
49:47eyes fixed directly on me,
49:48unblinking.
49:50I braced myself,
49:51gripping the phone tightly,
49:52ready to dial.
49:54He approached the counter,
49:55standing silently
49:56for several seconds
49:57that felt like eternity.
49:59When he finally spoke,
50:00his voice was barely
50:01above a whisper,
50:02scratchy and strained.
50:04Were you here yesterday?
50:06I hesitated,
50:07unsure how to respond.
50:08I had worked the previous night,
50:10but nothing unusual
50:11had happened.
50:12Yes,
50:12I replied cautiously.
50:14He stared at me intently,
50:16as if searching for something
50:17in my expression,
50:18his lips trembling slightly.
50:20Did someone come in here
50:21asking about me?
50:22His voice had an urgent,
50:23almost desperate edge.
50:25My mind raced,
50:26recalling nothing
50:27from the night before
50:28that matched his description.
50:30No,
50:31I said softly,
50:32shaking my head.
50:33No one asked about you.
50:35He stared silently
50:36for another moment,
50:37eyes flickering with suspicion.
50:39Then abruptly,
50:40he turned and walked
50:41quickly back to his truck
50:42without another word.
50:43The vehicle roared to life
50:45and sped off,
50:46tires screeching briefly
50:47on the pavement.
50:48I stood frozen,
50:50heart hammering wildly,
50:51unsure of what had just occurred.
50:52The rest of the night
50:54passed slowly,
50:55every noise outside
50:56making me jump,
50:57eyes continuously
50:58darting toward the road.
51:00When the morning shift arrived,
51:02I recounted the encounter,
51:04though it sounded vague
51:05and irrational in daylight.
51:07Days later,
51:08while skimming the local news online,
51:10I saw his face again.
51:12The headline sent a cold,
51:13heavy dread through me,
51:15man wanted for questioning
51:16in missing persons case.
51:18The article detailed
51:19the disappearance
51:20of a local woman
51:21two nights before my encounter,
51:23last seen at a gas station
51:24just outside town,
51:26driving alone late at night.
51:28Investigators described
51:28the man they sought
51:29as tall, thin,
51:31wearing a brown jacket
51:32and driving a battered pickup.
51:35As my eyes traced
51:36the grainy photo of his face,
51:37that vacant stare
51:38now hauntingly familiar,
51:40a chilling thought
51:41overwhelmed me.
51:43The desperation in his voice,
51:45the urgency in his question,
51:46had he thought
51:47someone here
51:48had witnessed something,
51:50had I unknowingly been inches
51:51from a suspected criminal
51:52searching desperately
51:53for anyone
51:54who could place him
51:55at the scene.
51:57I never saw him again,
51:58but I quit shortly after,
52:00unable to shake
52:01the lingering dread
52:02each night brought.
52:04Even now,
52:04years later,
52:05driving past
52:06that convenience store
52:06still makes my heart race
52:08and brings back
52:09the unsettling,
52:10unanswered questions
52:11from that cold,
52:12quiet night.
52:16and I don't know
52:20how far
52:21I can't be
52:23going on.
52:23Now he sees
52:23that he is
52:25the great
52:26of America
52:26and he's
52:27the great
52:28of America
52:28and he is
52:29for a long way
52:30to dream.
52:30And he's
52:30to be
52:31theRS
52:32and his
52:32and
52:33he is
52:34to be
52:34the
52:34and
52:35the
52:36and
52:37he is