Listener Tales 99: Campfire Tale Edition! | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

Hey weirdos. I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is Morbid. And we're dead camp counselors.
[Music] I have a lot of blush on today, so I feel like I look a little more alive. So
maybe I'm the ultimate final girl. Yeah, you're you're like right before death, I
would say. Yeah, I'm Cuz you're not surviving that. Super duper blood. Okay. You're not surviving. I am not wearing
blush. So, I am dead. She's dead. She already died currently. My legs look like they're definitely dead. I have the
palest legs known to man. I mean, same. That's why I'm wearing the tube socks. Yeah. Um, so we got to we we're excited
about this. This is fun. And uh we wanted to hit on a couple of things first. So, Nicholas is going to be in
the episode that's on YouTube. Yeah. because we find he's a hot topic. Polarizing if you're very polarizing,
but we understand in the audio version, we're not going to use Nicholas because I can understand that if you don't see
our reactions to Nicholas that it's not as fun and could be a little jarring and
like a little like screechy and not fun. One thing that we don't want to happen is we don't want you to veer off the
road cuz you got scared. Yeah. We don't want that. So now you have two ways of watching. One will have Nicholas or or
listening, I should say. One will have Nicholas where you can see us right here. Yeah. And then the audio version
will be Sans Nicholas. Sans. So you can choose your own adventure now because we
heard you. It's like goosebumps. Yeah. You know, then those are the best goosebumps to be honest. So yeah. Um and
the second thing is a really weird thing, but we Never did I ever think that we would have to address this.
Yeah. So this is just something that's kind of funny, but we just wanted to hit on it so nobody gets too up in arms. Uh,
so Gypsy Rose Blanchard apparently did made a video where she was talking about a few like content creators on Tik Tok.
One of them being someone who's apparently called Sir Morbid. Not morbid, but she missed the sir when she
said it and she said morbid. She's not talking about us. We've never covered her case and we've never any Gypsy Rose
Blanchard content and we don't plan to ever do it. So she wasn't talking about us. She was talking about Sir Mor. did
not come for Gypsy Rose. Yeah, we did not come for Gypsy Rose. Uh, but a lot of you were like there to back us up and
be like, "What the fuck?" So, we appreciate that. We love you. We love that you'll ride at dawn. Like, couldn't
tell you how much I appreciate that, but I promise that wasn't about us. Uh, she
just missed saying the sir. Yeah. You know, so it was sir morbid, not morbid. Sir Morbid is different from morbid.
Yeah. We're not going to cover her case. We never have. No. We've never done any
Gypsy Rose Blanchard content. None. Yeah. And we don't plan it. Nope. So, uh, with that out of the way, it's
listener tale. It's Listener Tale. It's brought to you by you, for you, from you, and all about you.
[Music] There's nothing in this cup, don't worry. There's something in this cup.
It's coffee. Don't worry. So, we're going to be doing like camp summer tales kind of, camp Appalachia,
like foresty foresty things, you know? Yeah. That kind of thing. Yeah. Uh, this is my favorite
outfit. This anytime we can get even though I'm sticky as [ __ ] anytime we can get super bloody, it's so fun. I've
ruined the couch. That's unfortunate. I've ruined the couch. I'm sitting on a sweatshirt because underneath I put my
legs down and it was just like it looks like somebody got killed on this couch. Yeah, it truly does. But you know what?
We suffer for our art, you know. Yeah, it's art. It's just the way it is. That's pretty. Honestly, the coach
should be bloody in the pod labs though. Facts. You know, it's just that the blood is sticky. Yeah. You know, I never
realized how much arm hair I had until I put blood on it and it start when I dragged down, you know, when I got
attacked and the blood dripped down. Yeah. It really hurt my arm hairs. It really hurt my arm hairs. It did. I can
understand that. I heard them screaming. Yeah. Yeah. Every one of them attacked.
All right. Are you starting or am I? I'll start. Oh, facts. So, my first listener tale is listener tales lake
shaunie. We covered that once. We did cover that. It's somewhere I really want to see. Actually, this person saw it.
This says, "Good morning. Please see my attached listener tale about an overnight camping trip at Lake Shauny
abandoned amusement park." Did he say warts? Did he say warts? What did he say? We're
not skipping over it. If he said warts, he said large. And he know he said large. Let me show you. That was runchy
as [ __ ] Nicholas, he's yours. Nicholas, I am not straight, baby. I don't want to see anything large.
Okay. Don't be homophobic. It's pride month. It's literally pride month. He said I He said I remember your gay
ass. He's like, "Bitch, I remember." It's literally Pride Month, Nicholas. Nicholas, I'm crying. Oh. Oh [ __ ] He's
like, "Yeah, I remember." He's like, "I know. I know your gay ass." Oh, damn. All right. Wow. Okay. Wait. So, this
person went to Lake Shaunie overnight, which do you know what that means? That means that we, you and I, can go to Lake
Shan overnight. Camped at the amusement park. Yeah. I'm not trying to camp, but I think that's the only way you can.
Yeah, you can go. Yeah. Yeah. And then we'll stay at a hotel after. We'll stay somewhere. Not there. Yeah. See, it
didn't work out. I I was going to say clearly. All right. So, dear Ash and Elena, my name is April, and you can use
my day name and my dogs names freely. I love how you spell your name. And my husband, too. I know you spell your name
really cool. It's a P R Y L. I'm not sure how I stumbled across your podcast, but I do know that the very first
episode I randomly picked was Frank and Rose West girl. And you said it correctly. Holy canoli. Uh, that was a
doozy. That was intense. It may or may not have traumatized me. Us, too. Us, too. Yeah. Yeah. Me, too. For life. But
whatever. It hooked me and now I'm like a walking commercial for Morbid. Thanks so much. Love you. In fact, it was you
girlies that prompted my husband Wesley and I I love that name. Great name. Along with our two roadie dogs, Aussie
and what is this? Takcoa goose. Takcoa goose. I hope I said that right. Yeah. Aussie and Takcoa goose. to make a
7-hour road trip from Atlanta to the one and only Lake Shaunie abandoned amusement park in lie of spending
Thanksgiving with our family. [ __ ] Thanksgiving. Go to Lake Shaunie. [ __ ] Thanksgiving. Go to Lake Shaunie. I love
that we inspired that too with that episode because honestly, I get it. I want to go. I want to go so bad. Let me
set the scene. It's late November. It's West Virginia. It's cold as [ __ ] And we're the fools that decided it would be
a good idea to sleep in a tent in a haunted amusement park. That's the part I can't get behind. And there was a
massive rainstorm set to blow in that night. But hey, at least we had firewood. But rain. Yeah, you know that
that fire rain. Bad. Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning. This road trip was for real.
Destination scary stuff. We went to the abandoned mining town of Thurman. Oh my god, you really you did it right. You
guys rule. Uh, we hit up uh, Point Pleasant for all things Moth Man. That place was creepy pants. Like to the
point it gave Wesley a panic attack because something was off. Way off with the energy. But that heavy energy story
is best saved for another time in another place. Let's get back to Lake Shaunie. We arrived about 3 p.m. and met
Chris, who is the self-proclaimed caretaker. As you know, the park has been in his family since the 60s or
something like that. Chris is pretty awesome and he gave us a tour of the property that included a detailed
history of everything Lake Shaunie. From the natives who first inhabited the land
to the white settlers who stole the land to the beginning development of the park
during the Great Depression. Stolen land. Topical stolen land, you say? That's crazy. Uh after about an hour,
Chris made a sweeping gesture and said, "Well, I'm out. The park is yours." The fact that he was just like G2G. Like
damn. He climbed in his truck and before speeding off said, "Oh, and by the way,
because this place has lots of children who live here, I've heard that people who camp with their dogs are
particularly magnetic." He slammed his door and drove away, honey. He said, "You got a big storm coming." He said,
"Have so much fun with the ghost children." So scary. And then [ __ ] got real. I bet. Remember, it's November.
Not a lot of daylight. We quickly had to decide what to do first. Set up camp or
do our first round of exploration. Duh. It was time to take a walk. So, it's dusk. I'm taking pictures like I was
hired by National Geographic. Speaking of pictures, feel free to share mine and the video. We'll get to the video a
little later. So far so good. Nothing creepy creepy yet. After a quick dinner of gas station baloney and cheese
sandwiches. I'm sorry, that's [ __ ] reckless. Good for you. Do you like baloney? I love bologna. I grew up on
baloney. Same. I don't like bologna. I haven't eaten baloney in like a billion years, you know. So, I don't
know if I would still I have fond memories of baloney. I don't. You know who still buys baloney? Oh, from the
deli? My husband, honestly, this I love Drew. Like, this is why Drew [ __ ] heavy
with baloney. I get him. It disgusts me. Me and Drew can eat a bologoney sandwich
at your house. Bologna and cheese and the yellow mustard. I like yellow mustard. Yes, I have iconic, but it's
turkey. It's turkey and um havari dill cheese. Oh, she's fancy. She's fancy. Yeah, she doesn't know about this cheese
and baloney sandwich from the gas station. Listen, April, I love you and I respect so much about you. Just not
this. Just not this. I respect it, though. I'll tell you, I respect it. I respect everything you do, April.
Bologna and cheese sandwiches and bad beer. We knew it was time to set up camp. Why didn't we just rent a little
RV? I know that would have been a good idea. These are questions. Oh, I would go in an RV. Yeah, I would go in an RV.
I think we can glamp at Lake Shiny. That would kind of be fun, actually. Let's talk to people about that. Karin and
Sabrina, you guys doing anything? What you up to? Wait, that's actually a really good
idea. It is a good idea. We're going to text them later. Yeah, we are. Before getting too far into the tent popping
process, I decided to check out this little shed over by the cornfields. Yep, the corn fields. No. I open the creaky
door and it's just an empty little building. Let's call it a tiny house. With the impending storms, we decided to
toss our sleeping bags in the shed and call it home for the night. Crawl. No. Crawl. Why you staying in a
shed? What are you doing? Why you staying in a shed, babe? In hindsight, this might not have been one of my
better decisions. We've all made bad decisions, but honestly, I was beginning to wonder if this entire trip was a good
idea. Valid. Um, it's it's zero dark 30 in time for the night walks. Wesley suddenly had knee problems or more
likely scared of the dark problems. He volunteered to stay with the dogs by the campfire. So you can have both hands for
taking photos. Wow, Leslie. That's make us fall. Wesley, wild reason. Um, thank you. I
I'll continue. Nicholas, thank you. Really? I think we don't see you. Are you in here,
Nicholas? Show yourself. Should I see you, Nicholas? And if I should say he was large
earlier. Where are you? Just give us a general idea. Earlier he said to your left of where you are.
That's a small space. He's probably helicoptering in your face. I hope he's not Mikey. I hope that's not Can we even
What did he say? Susan. What if he called you Susan? Susan? He said, "That's such a Susan thing to
say. Nicholas, his version of Karen is not interested in in your runchiness." He's
like, "Excuse me." He's like, "That's not even what I was talking about. What I'm Susan. Susan." I'm going to start
calling you Susan. That's homophobic. On this Pride Month, I keep doing this and then I'm just like, "Whoops." I
know. My shirt is like stuck to me. Whoops. Guide. There's a guide in this story.
There is. Yeah, he left. He didn't of a guide anymore. [ __ ] that. Uh, really? I
think he was a scaredy pants and wanted Aussie and to uh Takcoa for extra protection. Off. I went into the dark,
dark night by myself. You're a [ __ ] badass, April. Great. A badass [ __ ] Uh, cuz I can't say I would do that. I
can say fullheartedly I would not do that. Can't do that. My first stop was the old ticket booth. There was a small
pin wheel on the ground. Hm. This seemed like a good place to start. My unexperienced booty started to ask it
questions and when it answered, I almost pooped. Undoubtedly, he loves that word.
He does. Uh, and when it answered, listen. Who are you talking to, Nicholas? Don't
start with me. It's like when you were like, "Forget that one." He was like, "Please leave."
I know. Cuz I was like, you were like, "Forget it." He's like, "Pay attention." You know what? Get the [ __ ] out of here.
You want to hear me? Get off. To be fair, there was a slight breeze that I don't want to discount as an as
evident in the video, but I don't think that this was just the wind. Anywh who, when I asked the pinwheel if someone was
there, it began to slowly spin. I asked it to change the direction. It did. The wind doesn't just change direction like
that. I asked it to stop spinning and it also did that. Yeah, you were communicating with something. Next stop
was the creepy trail. I like that. I like that, too. I like that a lot. I want to name my house that. Uh yeah,
just the my driveway is just the creepy trail. Uh it runs along the back of the property line. Chris says that it's the
only place on the property where he refuses to go. That's how you know it's Oh, I slow I began a slow walk partly
because I was as scared as Drew Barrymore talking to Ghost Face and also because I didn't want to roll my old ass
ankles on an uneven path. Both valid reasons. Smart. I make my way around the bend and begin to approach the
gravestone of the Mitchell Clay children. As you may recall, two of them were murdered by the Shaune while doing
chores on the property. The third was kidnapped and later burned at the stake. Anyhow, this part of the trail has a
couple of security lights. I was feeling a bit braver with the light and began to
walk with a little more pep in my step until I realized that I saw my shadow and another smaller shadow walking next
to me. No, that's a baby. That's a little kid. I don't like it. That's a little kid. When
I say the hairs on the back of my neck went up and a cold cold chill ran down my body, I am not exaggerating.
What does one do when walking towards the graves of three murdered children in an abandoned music amusement park with a
ghost child companion in the middle of the night? That's a good question. One gets the [ __ ] up out of there. I ran I
ran like the wind. Okay, I'm old and chunky. I ran like that. Back at camp after I caught my out of shape breath, I
drank a bad gas station beer and started to share my tail. However, mother nature
had his own her own agenda. With a crack of thunder and flash of lightning, the sky angrily broke wide open and we made
a mad dash for our tiny house/shed next to the cornfield. Once inside the safety
of the plywood walls, we realized the only way to latch the door was from the outside. Why? Yeah, that's not good.
Well, it's a shed. But it's a shed. You're like, I was like, that's [ __ ] up. Nefarious. It's [ __ ] The door
seemed only to stay closed fairly well on its own. So, at the time, it didn't. He's in the afterlife.
Okay. Which is close cuz the veil is like pretty thin right there. I don't know how thin it is right now. It's
Friday the 13th soon. Facts. I don't know what that means, but let's go with it. Bet. Uh, if you could
give me a little more specificity of where you are in this room, perhaps Nicholas.
The second I said something. The second I said something. Listen, I advocated for you. I advocated for you to stay on
the YouTube episodes, Nicholas. So, sorry, Nicholas. Uh, so, um, sorry, Nicholas. I'm I'm just saying sorry.
Sorry, Nicholas. I don't know. We're family. I'm stressed out right now. family. Sorry, Nicholas. I see her. I
see her. Sorry, Nicholas. What about Sorry, Ash. You're being bullied on your I don't want to piss Nicholas off. I'm
not trying to piss him off. I'm just trying to tell him that I advocated for him. Keep the He keeps telling me he
dislikes me. We're family. Not that he dislikes you. Just what you said. Oh, okay. It's cuz you said ignore what he
said. Okay, that's fine. All right. So, I have to say if you're only listening on audio, you're missing out. Nicholas
is great. Cool watch on YouTube. So, the door seemed to stay closed fairly well on its own. So, at the time,
it didn't present as a huge problem. We settled in for bed. Before turning off our headlamps, I reminded the dogs that
if a small ghost child opened the door during the night and asked them to come out and play, they were to respond with
a firm no. Before my eyes were even closed, Wesley had already begun to snore. I tossed and turned and
eventually drifted off to sleep. Reality fell away to the dream world and all was
well in our tiny house saw a shed next to the cornfield until it wasn't. Suddenly the door flew open and my dumb
ass was the one sleeping next to the door. I screamed. The dog started to bark and snoring beauty awoke with a
start. We quickly determined that the wind blew open the door, not a ghost child trying to steal our dogs. With
some rocks and a rope, we maggyvered that door closed. At this point, I was awake and there was no hope of not being
wide ass awake, which turned out to be a good thing because all night long there
was a wrapping at the door and it would slowly be pulled open and then closed again, which the wind doesn't do. This
continued long after the wind and rain died down. Like, imagine the door slowly opening and then slowly closing and like
a wrapping at the door. No, I just like it so much. But we should totally go. Nonetheless, dawn broke to a beautiful
blue sky. We survived the night, packed up the car, and drove off into the West Virginia mountains. That's even scarier,
to be honest. Uh, that's it. That's my story. Thank you for planting the seed. If it weren't for y'all, this trip would
not have happened. Keep it weird, but not so weird. You spend the night in a tiny house shed next to a cornfield in a
haunted abandoned amusement park in the middle of nowhere, West Virginia. Damn. April. April. And the pictures are
next to me. Next to me. Who's next to you? Um, he you asked him where he was and he said you were next to him. Am I
next to you, Nicholas? Are you to my left? Cuz you don't have a lot of space over there. What if I'm Nicholas? What
if you are? I mean, somebody did think I was Nicholas, which I am not. That's true. That was a weird That was a weird
hypothesis. Someone was like, "It's Ash. They pre-recorded them and that's why Ash always knows what Nicholas is
saying. Don't drop the fire." Okay, I fixed it. Uh, but yeah, there's some really good photos with this one that
are awesome. Really spooky. April, you did a really good job without the photographs. It was really good. Um, and
you made us want to go to that. I want to go to so many abandoned abandoned abandon. I want to go to so many
abandoned places. Especially amusement parks. They give me like the I know. So, thank you, April. All right.
My next one is called Lake Desolation Serial Killer and Abandoned Asylum. That one has to be great. I think I
would think it'll work. He said next saying it. What is Nicholas getting at? I can't
figure this out. Nicholas, is Elena next to you? More on this later. Yeah. Am I next to
you, Nicholas? I don't know. We'll see. All right. So, it says, "Dear Asholina, I submitted
this story last summer, but since you have re-released the Spooky Lakes TM episodes, I think I thought I would give
this one another go. It's on a listener tales. I also have another tale of a haunted driveway to type up and send
soon." That's funny that you were just talking about driveway. Yeah. I'm a huge fan, also a fellow spoopy New Englander
who grew up in southern New Hampshire. Hell yeah. Thank you. And come back every fall to enjoy the haunts of of
nature. I've attached my listener tale on a spooky lake asylum and potential serial killer for you, but in a friendly
double spaced poda. You're beautiful. I hope you enjoy. And my soul would leave my body if you read this. Well, soul,
prepare for departure. Congratulations on being soulless. You are in jealous now. Oh god, you
ejaculated your soul. You have to listen to the rewatch. Gross. Yeah. Okay. My name is Megan. You
can use my name. Also, shout out to Rachel, Erin, and Lyanna, who will appreciate this tale. I'm a 30-year-old
lady who resides in good old cheesy Wisconsin. Cheesy. I would love it there. I love cheese. We had cheese for
breakfast this morning, but who grew up in New Hampshire in a house built in 1780. Oh, hell yeah. And that isn't even
the most haunted thing in my life. Oh, [ __ ] This tale is dedicated to the creepiest yet most enchanting body of
water I have ever witnessed in upstate New York. We could go there. We could. For the past 28 or so summers of my
life, I've been visiting an eerie, cold, quiet lake on top of a mountain in the foothills of the Aderondax. Lake
Desolation. That is the most metal name. Yeah, Lake Desolation. All I can think of is Sparky
from um I know it's domination, but all I can think is desolation. Domination. Desolation. Damn. It's
losing all meaning, though. Desolation. Desolation. Desolation. All right, we're
done. Lake desolation is the way that Why did that bring instant tears to my eyes? Because it scared me a
lot. I think your dirty minds are thinking something else, but that actually genuinely scared me. I'm
scared. He just screamed, "Why can't I come?" And I realize what that sounds like, but he said it so angry that I
don't feel I I don't feel safe after the pointing at each other and saying yucky
things. Personally, I'm scared shitless right now. No, the way he said that so angry. He
doesn't usually say it like that. He doesn't. You're gross. We're going to go back to
the story. Nicholas, please don't be angry. Please don't be angry like that cuz it genuinely scared me. Thank you.
[ __ ] I love that you guys laugh. That was [ __ ] scary. Lake Desolation is a pitch black,
freezing cold lake at 30 to 45 deep fed by cold springs. The lake is literally 68 acres of blackness. No. Yes. Nope. It
is. I don't want that. I kind of do. Oh. Surrounding the lake today are old shanty but sturdy shacks that were built
by the Irish in the 1920s as camps and have mostly stayed as such with very few people residing on the lake year round.
The scene is as picturesque as an old A-frame one and twotory camps painted bright blues, reds, and a white clash
with the dark abysmal shade of the lake that absorbs all the sun and reflects nature in the camps like a mirror. Wow,
that was [ __ ] poetic. That is also there's an attached image. Milton, New York is a quiet town. Maybe one or two
stop lightss, a general store, and a few roads headed up to factories, camps, and
scenic homes. And apparently a ton of horror. Horror. Horror. Every summer, my family is headed up the w the winding
mountain road and felt an eerie feeling of how desolate. Yes, in the name. It re
it truly was up there. Jumping in the water was ice cold and so dark. The depth of the water always made me feel a
little bit afraid of it. Was there anything down there? It always ran through my head. There is. A couple
summers ago, as an adult, I was up at the lake after moving to the Midwest and not being able to go to upstate New York
every summer like I did when I lived in New Hampshire. My mom and I were visiting my grandma and decided to drive
up from her house uh from her hometown to the lake to stay a few days to keep cool. My mom and I stood on the dock and
I ran and jumped in the dark water. I came up from underneath and treaded water as I shouted to my mom, "I hate
being in the lake alone. I always feel like some dead body is going to come up and grab me." Oh no. a trauma that I
have faced since that Are You Afraid of the Dark episode. Hell yeah, I know exactly which one you're talking about.
She seriously replies with they pull dead bodies out of that lake all the time. Wow, mom. I go, what? Naturally,
thinking she's messing with me. But she continues to tell me that a couple times
they have pulled a dead person out of the lake after a heart attack while swimming or drowning. Okay, normal, I
guess. Then, without missing a beat, she also proceeds to tell me of the lake desolation serial killer. The [ __ ]
what? I'm sorry. Who? That they have never caught. What the hell? What the hell Barry? What the hell? What the hell
Burton? The serial killings happened in 2003 and 2009. Both were young girls with red
hair. One was found. I don't want to go anymore. Well, we have to. It was 2003 and 2009, you know, they never caught
him. I'll go with you. What? I don't I don't want to do it. We're going. No. Yeah. No.
No. Then again, I'm not young. So that that might help the self-realization. I mean, just go I'm not young. I'm not
young. Watching you. Maybe cuz you're not young and he's in the afterlife. So he's like,
"Hey, he just confirmed that." He said, "Definitely watching you from up here in
the afterlife since you're so not young." Okay. He said, "You're coming. You're coming up here sometime soon.
Coming around the bend. Anyway, the serial killings happened in 2003 and 2009. Both, like I just said, were young
girls with red hair. One was found in an old logging site and the other found in
the woods. One girl was missing for years before they found her skull and bone fragments. Oh. Uh, okay. Why was
this not on the news? That's not the only creepy thing about the lake, by the way. Do you guys remember the app uh
Randonaut? Oh my god. Yeah, like random randon nautica or something like that. I
don't know. I don't remember it. Yeah, I think it was like you could go it would
send you to a place. I think I do remember this. The app supposedly manifests something you'd like to see
and then chooses a random point of longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates. Yeah, I remember that. That
was like a big thing. Yeah, that does sound familiar. Now, the app actually led a group of teens to discover a dead
body if that refreshes your memory. Absolutely. And that was like huge right when Tik Tok came out or like when we
discovered it at least. I don't know when it came out. Well, last summer, my 17-year-old sister and I decided to try
it. The coordinates it had chosen for us were 13 minutes driving distance away from our camp at the lake. We drove
through the pouring rain. The location, oh, just the Saratoga County Homestead. What is that? A literal abandoned and
decaying insane asylum that has been closed and falling down since 1973. Damn, it manifested what you wanted to
see. You know that's what you wanted to see. I suddenly lost my feeling of adventure and we noped it back home
without exiting the car. We literally had no idea that that place even existed. Later that summer, I did see a
Travel Channel show about it though and had to immediately call my sister. Also,
in the Lake Laneir episode, I remember you talking about the fear of submerged man-made objects, aka some
mechanophobia. Rotate. Did he say rotate for me or lucky for me? It was kind of like
slow motion film. Slow motion. I thought he said lucky for me something you didn't you can't understand.
Looking for me actor you can't understand. Are you an actor, Nicholas? Is your real name even Nicholas?
Are you Are you a a famous actor, Nicholas? Oh, or are you like a bad spirit? I'm going with famous actor.
Are you a famous actor from days of your Nicholas? Let us know. Let us know. Okay. Well, in
the 1920s, there was a hotel on what is now the pitily Little Lake Beach, and parts of the hotel structural docks are
still submerged. Nope. I don't like that at all. Yeah. Just to spice up the lakes's creepiness,
in the woods surrounding it is an abandoned village. I need to see that. Yeah, I need to see that. I don't want
to see the submerge thing because it'll give me an existential crisis of some sort. I want to see it, but I don't want
to see it all at the same time. It's one of those things. But I want to see the abandoned village. Well, in 1842, a Glad
factory was erected to bottle Saratoga mineral water, and a thriving village built up around the factory of workers,
but the factory closed in 1866 and was relocated closer to a rail track for logistical purposes. I don't even have
to write the creepy little tidbit that happened next because the article below described it horrifyingly. Quote, "With
its only industry gone, the community had no purpose and the people moved away. Some farming activity continued
until the early 1900s, but one by one, the residents moved and nature took over. Had this been in the arid out
west, you would be standing in the middle of a ghost town. But in our climate, the woodframe buildings quickly
rotted and trees began to grow in the pastures and open land until a mature forest now occupies the site.
Whenever just like nature just like takes something back. Yeah. You know, like takes over, it freaks me the [ __ ]
out. Like I'm I'm for it. I support it. Nature, take what you got to take back. Take everything if you want to. It's a
It's a spooky situation. It is creepy. That's spooky. So anyway, I'll be super happy to hear you read about my spooky
body of water. It's no like Lenir or witch who wants to take a town with her to her grave. But would you dive in feet
first? Hannah. No. Hannah. Hannah Crana is my favorite morbid episode. Hannah Crana is a great one. It was so fun.
Yeah. Anyway, keep it weird, but not so weird that you've been swimming for 28 summers in a lake that may have bodies
in it. Been driving past a serial killer dumping ground. Touched a freaking hotel
dock post with your feet and it was all covered in seaweed and it traumatized you. And an app takes you to an
abandoned insane asylum 13 minutes away from you that you didn't know existed. Damn. Yeah, that's a lot. That's a lot
in one summer menu. That's a good one, though. Now I want to look up Lake Desolation and I want to like learn more
about it. Maybe next Spooky Lakes we'll cover it. Yeah, maybe we can. Brought to
you by Megan. Brought to you by Megan. I also want to try I always wanted to try
that like random or whatever it is. I wonder is it still a thing? I think it is. Let's try it. I
mean, I imagine it is. So, I'm going to read Listener Tales, Shadow People, Spooky Headlights, and Mystery. Oh my.
Oh my. Hi, Ash and Elena. Please see the attached pod and photos. One attachment
is my rendering of the ghost. We say one is us on the ferry, me on the ferry, the
c the cabin in question, and the fire pit. Wish I took more. Who' have thunk I'd need them? smiley face. I hope you
love this story, and I'd cry the happiest of tears if you ever read it. Much love from Washington State. Katie
and Cody and Maddie. Yeah. Yay. E. I like it. Hello, you wonderful land mermaids of morbidness. Thank you.
You're like Leslie. No, that was amazing. That was really good. longtime listener like I found your podcast back
in the underwater days and still relisten to those episodes when I run out of new ones. You two honestly bring
comfort to the creepy and I know I'm not alone in that giant thank you that you both deserve. Thank you. Thanks. My name
is Katie, pronounced Katie. Feel free to use my name because how [ __ ] cool would that be? Pretty [ __ ] cool. It's
like Catty Heron. That's what I thought of. This story involves myself and my boyfriend at the time, now fiance.
Hopefully never ex-husband Cody. Never ever. This listener tale happened a couple of years ago and somehow after
saying, "Wow, I should send my story in a trillion times, I finally am. Yay." I'm not a writer or a great editor for
the fact for that fact. So feel free to slim this story as you see fit. And you know your girl has attached a double
space pod queen. This is the tale of creepy headlights, a shadow figure, and a whole campsite disappearing right
before our eyes. It's a doozy. My boyfriend Cody and I were heading a couple of hours away into the woods. a
recipe for pure fun, clean fun to celebrate my 32nd birthday at a cute little cabin. This was the first full
year of COVID. And what better way to celebrate than puzzles and smooching in the mountain air. We left our home in
Eastern Washington with our geriatric dog child, Maddie, who just left us in January after 16 wonderful years
together. I'm so sorry. And headed a couple hours north to stay the night with my mom before heading to the cabin
the next morning. The drive was going perfect. I was being the ultimate passenger princess and bought us iced
coffee and the playlist was giving, as the youth say. About halfway through the drive, we had to take a ferry across a
large river, which is always my favorite part. No one else was on the ferry, which takes about 15 minutes to get over
the river and another 15 at best to get back to pick up more cars. Important details there. This ferry is tiny. Damn
tiny. Holds three cars at best tiny. We were the only car on at the time and no cars were waiting on the other side,
which again would be at least 30 minutes for the ferry to pick them up and get them across. Remember that. Remember? We
finally reach on the other side and the ferry guy lets us off. We depart the ferry and our cell signal was instantly
lost. Just for context, the nearest town is about 45 minutes from the ferry crossing and pure no single signal
mountain driving. I have my downloaded Spotify playlist ready. After about 15 minutes of driving, it was dark as could
be and I was rocking out to some 90s tunes. As you should be. Brilliant. Cody is being a safe, diligent driver and not
boopping along with me. That's fine. We can't all be fun all the time. The moon is covered by clouds and there are no
street lamps, just pure dark sky ahead of us. I peep the rearview mirror and see headlights far behind us. No cars
could be there, I thought. Not unless they drove a zillion miles an hour after entering the ferry. Like I said, it was
at least 30 minutes for more cars to be picked up and brought to our side. So, what the [ __ ] I comment to Cody that
it's strange to have a car behind us, and he agrees. I feel slight unease because I am overthink I'm an
overthinking [ __ ] who assumes the worst. You got to be. You really have to be in this day and age. You have to be
an overthinking bishom. Yeah, just assume the worst and be really happy if that doesn't happen. I try to shrug the
feeling off, but my tummy has been activated with anxiety. The car stays far behind us for a while, then starts
to get closer. Finally, it's right behind us. Now, my family had a run-in when I was a kid where my parents and I
were driving over a mountain, and a car tried to shove us off the road three times before they themselves crashed.
Damn. [ __ ] I have deep anxiety with mystery cars and mountains. I don't [ __ ] blame you. I do too. Now, I keep
my eyes on the road and my elderly dog child in my arms. Suddenly, I see something dark in front of us. This took
all of one split second, but I will never forget it and hope I can even explain it. A large round object, now
lovingly called the ghost. It was in front of us. I truly thought it was a bear, but it looked like a void of some
sort. Round yet jagged, hallow yet so deep. I slam my imaginary passenger side brake. And I'm always doing that. I did
that to you yesterday. Uh, and gently say to Cody, "Bear, bear, bear." But as I say it, I real I realize nothing is
there. Nothing was there. Did I just make up a whole event in my head? Feeling silly for yelling out bear. I I
look over at Cody and see his eyes are damn wet. Like about to cry wet. The rapture.
We'll come back to that. Nicholas, not sure how to explain that one. Maybe he's a ghost fan. Yeah, there you go.
There you go. I like that. Um glossy little eyeballs. This only happens when he is very scared, like watching Nuke's
top five alone at 2 a.m. scared. He says nothing. I look behind me and the headlights and car are gone.
No, no, no, no, no. The goosebumps have goosebumps. Nicholas just said keep recording, but he said it angry.
That camera died. That camera died like a minute ago. He said, "Turn it back on." We're going
to keep recording right now cuz we're not done. I feel unsafe. So, yes, we will keep recording. Thank you,
Nicholas. Let's uh let's keep it chill. Nicholas, you're scaring Ash. You're scaring Ash. Scaring me. I look to my
left at a at my weteyed man friend, and he says, eyes not moving off the road and knuckles white. Did you see it, too?
Oh. I gently reply, "The bear. Even though I knew in that moment it was not a bear. "No," he replies, still
being a little too quiet for my anxious brain. The dark thing, the black deep hole. I will attach my rendering drawn
moments after the event, just titled in my iPhone notes app. Ghost, and it's like exclamation, ghost.
What? We slow down a bit, realizing there has been no turnoff for miles. And where the [ __ ] did the car go behind us?
If it was a bear, did they end up hitting it or worse? I never saw a crash. No headlights on the side of the
road. We continue the slow drive. No music, no giggles, and no chatting. I was thankful in that moment that Maddie
was mostly deaf by this 14 year of year of her life and was blissfully unaware of the stress we were feeling. Matt was
just straight vibing. Yeah. Maddie said, "I don't care. This is fun." She said, "I'm almost on my way out." It was
another few hours to get to my mom's house. We tell her everything. She isn't big into spooky stuff and says it was
just our sleepy eyes. Mother, I am 32, not 92. My eyes are not yet that sleepy at 700 p.m. I mean, I'm 35 now, so they
definitely are. I was going to say mine are quick. We kind of forget the ordeal.
Brush it off as a weird night of events and all. And the next day, we leave Maddie with my mom and drive up to the
cabin. To paint this picture, as it will come in super big in a couple moments, the cabin is in a very old, very
run-down yet ever so perfect camping resort. A couple cabins, a tiny little restaurant that doubles as the check-in
desk, store, coffee station, thrift bookshop, some boat boats for rent, and so on. I love the sounds of this. I want
to go to there. It is old and it is perfect. We rented the cabin at the very end of the resort loop overlooking the
other other cabins, all like eight of them and restaurant. From our campsite, we see families making s'mores over
their fire pits. We have an RV somewhat close behind us with people laughing and
talking and playing games. Their low laughter and talking feel comforting to me. We hear music playing and kids
laughing and dads cursing at fish they cannot catch. I am deep in my happy place. Great. It really does. Like this
makes me be like, "Okay, I could do this." That's great. Summer vibes. We set up a our fire pit, pull out the
pre-downloaded pu uh music and scary stories from Reddit to tell after dark and prepare for a fun night. We do
puzzles, make coffee, get cozy, and sleep. The first night was indeed bliss. Yay. And it sounds like [ __ ] bliss.
The next morning, everything is the same. It's a Saturday in midocctober. This is better for you. And it's misty
and cold and beautiful. I want fall so bad. I want that. The families are waking up and making coffee
over their fire pits. Why are you making this sound so dectable? I just need to be here. People are renting boats to go
fish. The dock is full of people. The RV of people rush to the restaurant for breakfast. As do we. I have chicken
fried steak and biscuits. Cody has a corn beef hash. Black coffee and old mugs. All the good stuff. Bustling for
co times for sure. We all stayed very far away and the restaurant was outdoor seating mostly. She's like, "Don't
come." Don't come at me. We decide to rent a boat for that afternoon, too. The woman at the front desk tells us to pick
a boat and at checkout tomorrow, bring payment for it. Sounds great. We love some small town financial trust. She
reminds us checkout is at 11:00 a.m. the next day, but she will be there from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., which is another
big detail. We make dinner reservations for around 700 p.m. for that night, the last time slot available for dinner. The
restaurant is so tiny and could only have like 15 people in the vicinity. We have some fun at our cabin, puzzles and
music and such, and go for a walk before deciding to go pick up our boat. By this
time, it's about 300 p.m. Way past checkout times for everyone leaving that day. But still, I see kids running and
fires going at cabins along the lake and people walking their dogs. They should all be staying the night, I think to
myself. I mean, someone took all those other dinner reservations, right? We get in our little rickety boat that has a
tiny lake and Cody starts to row us away. The lake is small with lots of little beaches to stop at and wildlife
to see. We row the entire lake, which took maybe 2 hours and was so wonderful. I just sat there painting in a
sketchbook and drinking somewhat warm PBR. Oh, that's great. Cody tried to catch a fish between rowing. When we had
left the with the boat, we passed by our cabin. And as we rode, we saw the RV of
people sitting by the fire drinking beer and playing a ball toss game. This would
be close to 400 p.m. After a couple hours, we're ending in the same spot and it's getting dark. I mentioned in
passing conversation to Cody that I no longer see their fire from the RV, and he comments that they were up late last
night and must have turned into bed early. It's like 700 p.m., my dude. Who are they? My mom's version of me. We get
back to land and Cody drops me off in front of our cabin while he docks the boat before dinner. I sit outside and
finish my beer on our little old little dock. He meets up with me about 10 minutes later and says dinner is
cancelled. No one was at the restaurant. This was a Saturday and they were open until 9:00 p.m. as the lady earlier that
day told us. I was bummed because fish and chips were my main focus of the trip. I researched food reviews for like
a week before we got there. We chitchated about why they would close when it was a Saturday night and busy.
He said there was no note on the front door, but everything was dark, but oh well. We made our fire and had hot dogs
and s'mores. By this time, it's dark. At least 7:00 p.m. or later. We started telling spooky stories to each other
just like the night before. And I loved watching my boyfriend get all weted and scared again. He keeps getting spooked
out by the sounds in the woods around us. But in the middle of my story about the goatman, because who doesn't love
the goat man story, Cody hushes me and I was getting all prepared to make a do not ever hush me, sir rant. But his eyes
and tone made me hold my sass back for a moment. I asked what was wrong. Was it an angry duckling or a rabid beaver we
saw while bo while boating? He says, "I haven't heard anyone since we got back tonight. Have you?" "No," I say. "But so
what? I like the piece." My positivity had zero place in this conversation, I think. Babe, when we left, there were so
many people. It was busy. The restaurant was open. Fires were going. Look around.
No one's here. No smoke from burnt out fire pits. The lights are all off. So, I do look around and I realize not one
fire is going. Not one person is talking. Not one light is on. The RV is even gone. Where did they leave? When
did they leave? They would have had to drive past our cabin on their way out. They were here when we returned from
boating. The cars are gone. Everyone's gone. But that can't be right. Check out was hours ago, and everyone was still
here way after that, I say. Now, let me preface this with my boyfriend and I love anything that gives us chills and
wet eyes. We love a good spooky. We fall asleep to scary videos. We are the weirdos, mister. Yes. But this felt bad.
He's Oh, I don't like that. I hate this. Imagine everybody just [ __ ] disappearing. Gone like like
inexplicably gone. He slowly gets up and says to me while trying to play cool, I'm cold anyway, you know? Let's put the
fire out for now and do something fun inside in the safety of the indoors. He walks 10 the 10 ft to the waterfront to
grab our giant bucket and starts to put out the fire. I decide to get the lights
on inside and fire going in the fireplace. When walking from the fire pit to the front door, I hear twigs
cracking from in ahead of me. I can't see anything. The moon is so covered and it's just darkness. So, I race back to
the fire and Cody. He's being more frantic than I'd like to putting this fire out. What started as basic speed of
walking for water has turned into him running from waterfront to fire pit in mere seconds. Oh no. I call out to him
and tell him about the twigs I heard. I know, Katie, he says. I heard it before while we were telling stories. I didn't
want to scare you. Please go inside. I love that he's like trying to go inside, too. I ran inside because you don't need
to tell me twice. I mean, he did actually, but whatever. We lock the front door, which was barely a real door
at best, and a piece of plywood at worst. Oh, God. Cody grabs knives, hammers, and other heavy items and
places them by the door in the table just in case, he says. Super comforting. My god. But lo and behold, I was
addicted to nicotine at 32. At around 9:00 p.m., my addiction tells my brain that it's totally fine to go outside.
totally safe. Oh my god. What's the worst that could happen? So much. I step out to the front porch to light a
cigarette. Cody stands in the door because he's a highly supportive man. As he told me this is not the time to crave
tobacco in a stern dad voice and watched over me with a grumpy look. I got two drags in and heard not just a crack of
twigs, but a full-on thud from about 10 ft in front of me in the darkness. That made my skin go all goosebumpy, but I
didn't move. I couldn't move. Oh my god. Then the sound of very fast. No, this is
a nightmare to me. Nightmare. Nightmare. Nightmare. Then the sound of very fast,
increasingly loud running starts towards me from where the thought I thought I had heard was. It's the running for me.
Never. Never want to hear running in the forest. Walking slowly. Not really scary. Awesome. Your full-blown running.
I'm not into it. [ __ ] I'm not into it. Cody yells at me to get inside now. I threw my cigarette into my coffee cup
because safety first. Duh. And start and darted back inside. Cody quickly locks the door and put a chain in front of it,
a chair in front of it, and said I was not to leave again. I was not about to disagree. I was pretty sure I needed to
change my underwear at that point. Yeah. One more thing about my boyfriend. He can sleep anywhere, anytime, through
anything. And he fell asleep on the tiny cabin couch minutes after this happened.
I would have I would have murdered him. somehow forgetting the events that just took place. Okay, this is fine. This is
totally fine. I don't want to call my mom and say, "Mom, pick me up. We're being haunted." Not at all. Not that I
could call without any service. Sell service. I made a fire in the wood stove and laid my painting supplies out. I
turned on my Spotify playlist for sad indie girls who cry a lot and started painting by firelight. I know the one.
Now this is my jam. I love that. You're like, "Got it." Yeah. The thoughts of what was happening outside and where the
[ __ ] did everyone go were leaving me. I happily painted trees and listen and listened to fleet foxes. Great band
until I was brought back to my current reality by a loud, insanely loud bang at the front door about 5t from me. [ __ ]
[ __ ] your pants. It shook the whole cabin. It made my paint water ripple and made my throat clench. But it did not
wake up Cody. That's such man [ __ ] I sit up off the floor, grab my knife, and lean over to him as quiet yet stern as
possible. Cody, Cody, Cody, wake up. Cody, wake the actual [ __ ] up. He finally does, and in a groggy state,
sees my eyes filled with tears. Something just banged on the door, dude. It shook the whole house, I whispered to
him. Just like the strangers, he jumps up and grabs a knife next to him. Now, we do not know how to use knives, and
I'm thousand% sure in an event where we had to, we would wait too long to use them and just be unal alived by whatever
was coming at us. I get that. But the false sense of security was much needed. The reality of our situation sets in.
We're alone. We have no cell service. We are not built for survival under anything other than comfy circumstances.
What the [ __ ] do we do? We debate if we should go outside, stay inside, or if we
just leave. Just so you all know, leaving was a thousand% always an option. Our car was right outside. Full
tank of gas, snacks in the glove compartment. Why we didn't take that is beyond me now. That's always so scary
though, like trying like it's like in the horror movie where you're like, "Get in your car. Get in your car." But
sometimes that's how the killer thinks you're thinking and they've already slashed your tires and now you're just a
sitting duck in your car and you paid for this apartment. Like I get it. You pay for a such a cabin. You're such a
Capricorn. Yeah. You pay for a cabin. They're like, "I don't I [ __ ] abandoned this right now. We paid for
this night." Like, why would At that point, I would not be thinking at all. That would be my first I'd be like, I'm
calling for a reimbursement since we were hunted down. Since we were hunted in the middle of the night, we were
hunted. Could we please get 100% of this trip money back? Well, the good news is
there was no more banging after that one. Luckily, we decided the best thing we could do is just go to bed. Remember,
Cody could sleep anywhere. Like in a haunted house where the ghosts only come out when someone falls asleep. He would
fall asleep just fine. We put the knives by our bedside tables and laid down. Bam. He was asleep. I laid awake all
night. I'm sure. I know you think this has to be the end, and I promise it almost is. But not before this last
part. The cherry on top of this [ __ ] show now lovingly known as my favorite birthday ever. We woke up super early
the next morning and packed and clean our cabins up. I didn't want to be charged a cleaning fee, even when
fearing for our life. You know, same also a same mindset. What time can we leave? Cody asked me. The woman said by
11:00, but she'd be here by 8:00 a.m., so we can leave now, honestly. We went outside and saw no one again. We walked
a 2 minutes walk to the restaurant front desk. No one was there. It was around 9:30 a.m. at this point, but no one was
there. The lady told me to come in before 11:00 a.m. Girl, here I am. We still had to pay for our boat rental. We
had the keys to return. Not one sign of life was anywhere. So [ __ ] weird. The sign on the door still did did not say
closed, but it was locked. We walk around the sights of other cabins, the ones that had happy families and giant
fires the day before, and no one was there. We decided to leave our keys in the dropbox with our phone number to
make payment for the rental and yeed out of there so fast. On our drive back to the my mom's to pick up Maddie about an
hour and a half away, we tried to make sense of the night before, but we couldn't. None of it made sense. I then
said something that I wish I hadn't out loud. Cody, did something happen to us after the ferry? Was any of this real
anymore or are we in some weird limbo? He didn't have an answer. Regardless, we get back to my mom's answer what explain
what happened and she shrugged it off as maybe being COVID related. She's like, I
don't know. It's the rona, I bet. Uh, why that's mom [ __ ] That is mom [ __ ] Why couldn't she dive into the
spookiness with us? Come on, mom. No logic right now. I don't even know if that's logical. To end this story on
another creepy note, we did start re researching what I had seen and it turns out a lot of people had seen what I had
seen. Deep, dark, empty I think it happened in 2020. Yes, thank you for asking, Nicholas. Deep, dark,
empty black masses that give you a feeling of doom and despair. Shortly after this incident, my my boyfriend had
a mental health crisis and abruptly left and lived in the woods alone for 3 months. After lots of therapy and he
healing, he came out stronger. But we came out stronger together. I'm glad to hear that. But sometimes I wonder if
this experience did something to him. His feeling of hopelessness and sadness that almost ended him were a lot of a
lot of what I read about these figures. But this ends on a happy note, y'all. Damn. And that is the end of my story.
It's been a couple of years and regardless of that event, I booked another trip to the same cabin for this
fall as well because we're getting married and wanted to be wanted to really pack a punch in the creepy
department. We've never seen another shadow figure. The banging didn't follow us home. So, I guess all is well. I did
start researching what I'd seen and it turns out a lot of other people had seen it. So, keep it weird, but not so weird
you almost crash into a shadow figure, take on its sadness, lose a [ __ ] ton of
humans from sight, and can never explain it again. You went back. You went back to the hell dimension,
Katie, what? I think something happened to you and I think you're I think it's like calling you back now. I don't think
you have free will anymore, Katie. Oh my god, you guys are adorable. Oh, I want to see. Hold on. And the ghost.
Ghost. The ghost. I love the question. Please, don't worry. That's so scary. Oh, you guys are so cute. You guys are
adorable. Oh, I love you guys. Oh my god. And your dog, Maddie. Maddie. She's so cute.
I am scared, Nicholas. I'm not okay. Weird flex, but okay. I'm not. Um, imagine that cabin h that happening. Did
you see the cabin? Yeah. [ __ ] that. That's intense. Katie, that's wild. Katie, what a good story though. That
was scary. I think we have time for one more. Thinking of like a whole resort just disappearing. Like what? All right,
this next one is just called listener tale submission. Hi, please enjoy my listener tale submission. Mystery
Mysterious. As per what seems to be your preference, I have attached a double spaced 12point peda. I think that's how
you spell it. It is well done. It is nine pages long, so it goes without saying that if you need to cut anything
out, please feel free. No, I've attached a sketch of our campsite as well as photos of all of us and the few things I
have that show what the campsite looked like. Anyway, please enjoy the one time me and a few of my friends almost died
in the middle of the night while camping. Aka the plot line to the most basic horror film ever. Ah, but some of
the best. Some of the best. All right, ready? Hi, morbid girlies. I would like to start off this listener tale as
everyone does with endless flattery cute fanirling. My name is, please say my name, Kelsey. Kelsey. Kelsey. We love
you. And I was put on to your show by my boyfriend Jake. Jake, we can say we love
you, too. We love Jake. We love Kelsey. We loved Kelsey and Jake. Yeah. Um Jake,
who probably read this story Jake? Cake. Sorry, that almost got lost on me with Chelsea. Chelsea and Cake. Chelsea. I
like it all. It's great. Well, Jake probably read this story a gajillion times before I sent it in order to make
my ADHD ramblings make sense. Also, Ash, I am an Aquarius. If that says anything
about how this listener tale is about to go, he he does. it. I'm in an uh astrology class right now, so I'll let
you know. Oh, the first time Jake and I ever listened to you guys, we were actually on a 5-hour road trip, and I
listened to four episodes back toback and just giggled along to your commentary. And yes, I have sent a photo
of the two of us for your viewing pleasure. You guys are really cute. You are. I'm pretty sure those episodes were
the leaf killer episodes, which have [ __ ] haunted me ever since. Those ones were rough. Yeah. I'm in college
and work a student job in a warehouse where I sit alone in silence for eight hour shifts. So having you guys listen
to really makes time fly and feels like I have two friends hanging out, spilling
the tea. You do. When true crime news pops up now, especially with the Idaho murders, Jake always makes it a point to
ask what my morbid girlies had to say about it. Everyone always will say that to their partners. They're like, "What
do your girls have to say? What do you girls have to say about it?" Anyway, I will get onto the story now, but please
do your thing. Keep doing your thing. Thanks. I've changed all the names in this story beside my own as well as
tweaked some details that aren't really relevant to the story in order to keep everybody out of trouble and keep this
mostly anonymous. Please buckle up because this is long and I know you never shorten a story, but please feel
free to if you need to. Okay, let me set the scene for you. It's midsummer of 2021. I'm from Iowa and I had come home
from college to work for the summer at what can be considered a summer camp of sorts that was focused on teaching kids
water sports. Hell yeah. The staff for this camp was relatively small, so we were all pretty close. Larry?
Larry? Is there a counselor named Larry? The staff for this camp was relatively small, so we were all pretty close-knit.
Most of the instructors had either grown up in the area or had grown up vacationing in the area, so we all knew
each other pretty well. Each year, the instructors hosted an instructor camp out. The term camp out can be used super
loosely here. In years past, this could mean literally anything, ranging from a mini golf tournament to partying at
somebody's cabin or even drinking out in the middle of a random cornfield. Damn.
Yeah, you read that right. I said drinking in a cornfield. Remember? It's very Freddy versus Jason. It's Freddy
versus Jason for sure. Remember how I said I was from Iowa? Yeah, I meant like a real tiny town in Iowa. Cornfields.
Cornfields and such. To give you a better idea of what I mean, the town I grew up in had a population of 2,700
people. Holy [ __ ] I graduated with a class of 100 kids. What? That's very small. I knew every single person I went
to high school. You knew everyone. And what their mother did for a living. Holy [ __ ] We're talking about drive your
tractor to school day rural. Drive your tractor to school day. That's my kind of rural. I want to go there.
That is my kind of rural. Barely any light pollution at night. So things are dark at night and it is very quiet. But
the sky must be so pretty. Yeah. And the corn. And the corn. Let's just glow in the in the moonlight. That corn. Now
remember I mentioned water sports. This is because our town is located on a series of large blue water lakes which
are all fel fed by uh wetlands and smaller lakes in the region. I got through that. You did. This particular
particular year it was decided that we should actually spoke too soon. I know. This particular year it was decided that
we should actually camp out for the instructor camp out. All of us were at least moderately comfortable with the
outdoors. So, we were excited. We picked a little lake that was about 5 mi outside of town. I've attached a sketch
to the email of the general setup of the lake and the drive-in area for reference
about for what I am about to describe so you can get a general sense of what everything looked like. Basically, you
drove in on a long one lane gravel road. One lane is always not good. When it's one lane, it freaks me out. Yeah, I
don't like it. No room to turn around. I need a way in and a way out. Surrounded
by tall old growth trees that ran all the way up to the border of the lake. Then you took a 90° turn to proceed
another half mile and end in a small parking area and boat ramp. That's desolate. That is That's lake
desolation. Lake desolation. We wanted to be near the lake but have quick access to the road just in case. So, we
decided to camp in a small clearing that was just past the turn in the road. The
clearing had a bunch of tall grass and a large dead tree in between where we set
up camp and the lake. Babe, tall grass and ticks and murderers. I was just going to say and and spooky people and
ghosts. Yeah. And corn. All of that. And corn. And also corn. We got to the lake
around 6 or 7:00 just as the sun was beginning to set. We were all coming from different places, so we all came in
with separate cars and parked in the little parking lot and just walked down to the campsite. In total, there were
eight of us. Me, Maya, Ella, Chad, David, Blake, Beck, and Caleb. My friend Maya didn't actually work with us, but I
asked her to come along on the camp out because this summer I was working two jobs, meaning 13-hour work days and a
little time to see her. Everything started off totally fine. We met in the parking lot and decided we should have
one car next to the campsite to have all of our supplies in. So, we packed my Jeep full of our tents, lawn chairs,
drinks, snacks, s'mores, etc., and drove down to the campsite to set everything up. I parked my car so that the back end
was facing the campsite and the front was to the road so we could easily drive out of there if need be. smart. We
flattened out the tall grass and set up three tents, which should be enough for the six of us for sure who were going to
stay there all night. A couple didn't want to stay, and that was cool. After having That's totally cool, man. You
don't have to start. Survival instinct. I get it. The survival instinct kicking in. Yeah. After having Beck, the only
truly outdoorsy guy in our group, spend like an hour showing our dumb asses how to put up tents, we got a fire, started,
and hung out. Honestly, it was a blast. I've never lost laugh so hard, and we were all genuinely having a good time.
More than a few alcoholic beverages were consumed and even more stupid dares were
carried out. We were really just a bunch of [ __ ] idiots out in the middle of nowhere getting drunk and not causing
anybody any trouble. That sounds amazing. To be honest, I want to go to there. Maybe not to there, but I'd like
to do it. We did all the traditional camping stuff like toasting s'mores and telling spooky stories. Oh yeah,
especially about flesh pedestrians because that had recently made an appearance on all of our Tik Tok for you
pages. But looking back on this, knowing what I do know about our fleshy ped pals, this was dumb. This was dumb. This
was dumb. Our fleshy our fleshy ped pals. I like that. About the time things were winding down, Chad's girlfriend
Leah decided to join us. This was because I brought Maya along and she hadn't realized it was truly it wasn't
just truly an employees only situation. We all like her, so it was no big deal. But it definitely messed up the sleeping
situation. Of the three tents we had, Maya and I were supposed to be in one. Chad, his brother David, and Beck were
supposed to be in the middle tent, and Ella was supposed to be in the third tent furthest from the road. Well,
because Chad's girlfriend joined us, Beck decided that because he was still sober and didn't want to stay in the
tent with the couple, he was just going to drive home. Maya and I, having consumed a few too many beeros, were the
first two to hit the hay. And we crashed in our tent, which was nearest to the car and the road. The rest of us stayed
up a little while longer until David needed to go to bed. So, he took the single tent that Ella was originally
going to sleep in. It was around that time that Beck decided to leave, taking Caleb and Blake with him down to the
parking lot. They were the two that weren't originally going to stay and taking Ella to her car. She wasn't in
any condition to drive, but David was in her tent, and she didn't want to sleep in the same tent as Chad and his
girlfriend, so she decided to crash in her car. This left four of the original eight in the campsite, five uh five
total, counting Leah, David, Maya, and I all passed out in our respective tents.
And Chad and Leo were still awake sitting by the campfire. Okay. 3:00 a.m. hits and this is when [ __ ] starts to get
weird. Of course it is. 3:00 a.m. Yeah. Chad's starting to fall asleep in his chair by the fire, but Leah is still
awaken on her phone. At 3:00 a.m. on the dot, which I am now told is the witching
hour. Yo, yo. This strange noise happens. Chad said this noise was so bone chilling and raised all the
goosebumps on his body. So, he was violently sitting instantly awake and sober, looking at Leah to see if she
also heard the noise. She had and was sitting frozen, staring in the direction of the sound. Suddenly, the noise
happens again, but much closer and moving closer closer from the direction of the lake. The noise happens a third
time. This time, Chad remembers within a dozen feet or so of the camp. And they're both on their feet to get the
[ __ ] out of there. When telling the story later, they couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was that made them know
for sure the noise meant that they needed to run, but they just said it was instinctual. Oh. They put out the fire
and start screaming for the rest of us to wake up while Leah grabs her keys and they sprint to their car. I have to give
them props for the thought of trying to wake us up, but the three of us all were
sleeping like the dead. So, one or two shouts, "We're not going to do much." I love how they were just like, "Wake up.
Bye. Wake up. Bye. We're [ __ ] out of here." Drive by. I vaguely remember slightly waking up and hearing Chad say,
"Let's get the [ __ ] out of here." to Leah before he slammed her car door and they sped off the road. Wow. Now, before
you guys say, "Wow, those are some sucky friends leaving you there, defend for yourselves," like my boyfriend and every
person after said when I told them the story, just wait until the end of this story where I've provided a recording of
the sound so you can decide for yourself if you would have stuck around. Personally, I would have ran too. Wow.
That's what this person says. After that, I was kind of in a sleep haze, like halfway between sleep and awake,
where I was thinking there was no reason to really wake up because whatever was happening would definitely be told to me
at breakfast the next morning. This is fun. She's like, they'll catch me up. I then heard slow footsteps right outside
of our tent, but assumed it was probably just Beck putting out the fire. Remember, I had gone to bed before
knowing that Beck and the rest had already left. I rolled over and looked over at Maya, who was also awake and
also heard the footsteps. She got up and went for the zipper of the tent opening
to check what was going on, but I all of the sudden got a really bad feeling and
stopped her. She just looked at me. She told me later she had the same bad feeling. And we both just laid back
down, listened to the footsteps recede, and went back to sleep. How are you just
going to sleep? You guys are brave. Everybody's just going to sleep. Yeah, in I can go to sleep. Just going to sleep.
Yeah, I can barely go to sleep in my home. If something [ __ ] me up in the middle of the night, like if I even if I
have a bad dream where I like where I get startled awake and I think because you know those dreams where you wake up
and you're like was I was that in the house or was that a dream? Like did I hear that sound or was that my head?
Yep. If that happens to me, I guess we're just staying up all night like I'm awake. I'm I'm downstairs. The kids come
down in the morning and I'm like, "Hello, children. I've been awake for eight hours." Like I'm No. Yeah. So, if
this is happening to me in a tent, [ __ ] that. But what do you do? Where do you
go? [ __ ] that. I sit up. I sit up and I stare at that at that zipper. And I will
it to stay closed and I will the sun to come up. Fair. Yeah. Fair. That's what I
do. That's what I would do, too. Well, around 4:00 a.m. we woke up to our phones blowing up. It was Chad. I woke
up to 26 missed phone calls from him. Chad was really trying to warn them. He was like, "I'm really trying to get you
by." I woke up to 26 m calls from him, all with panicked voicemails telling us we needed to get the [ __ ] out of there.
So, he tried. I finally answered him and he poorly explained the situation in the
most panicked way possible, thinking it might be a friend of ours out there messing with us or maybe an axe murderer
or something. Yeah, you know, but essentially that we needed to get in my car and get out of there right now. Maya
and I took a moment to gather our strength and the only weapons we could find in our tent, which were literal
s'mores skewers. I mean, that'll do it. Yeah, depending on what kind of skewers.
Yeah, that's true. do the wooden ones. Maybe go for the eyes. I guess I was going to say and you get distance with
those. That's true. That's why like a a golf club or something is really good to
have cuz you create distance. A golf club is good because it has that like heavy end so you can swing it. But a
baseball bat I feel like isn't great cuz they can just grab it. Yeah, that's true. Same thing with a golf club, but
at least it's a little heavier. Yeah. Well, we made a mad dash to my car. Yeah, we we've actually talked about
this a lot. I've never whipped out of anywhere so fast in my entire life. Think Dukes of Hazard style yeeting down
this gravel road. The entire drive felt like a horror movie. The a ass out of her jean shorts duke in it. Out of here
as I just knew someone was gonna jump out from the dense trees by the road in the dark and kill us or something. I
don't know. I was freaked out. I think you were correct. After Maya and I calmed down a little and eventually made
it into town, we called Chad back to let him know we're okay. What was his response? Chad. Chad, we're all right.
What was his response? Oh, was it? How's David? In our absolute panic to escape that axe
murderer flush pedestrian demon thing that Chad had heard, we had forgotten about his brother David, who was now the
only one left at the campsite and the in the furthest tent from the road. Maya and I looked at each other and [ __ ] a
brick. Oh no. Chad wanted us to go back there to get David. Chad, you can go back there and get David. I'm sorry,
Chad. That's your brother. Ultimately, and with an animated display of our vocabulary, we let him know that David
is his brother. And that as much as we like him, there was no way in hell we were going back there. Especially after
Chad just left us there to fend for ourselves just over an hour before. Thank you. Does Chad think he is? Also,
you left your brother. You left us and your brother. You left your friends. You left your brother. And now you're like,
"Go get my brother for me." Like back to that campsite. [ __ ] [ __ ] Go get your brother, [ __ ]
Chad did not want to go back there with just his girlfriend. You're a bad brother, Chad. So, he ended up having to
wake up his mom to help him. Chad. Chad, you're being a [ __ ] Chad. That's [ __ ]
moves right there. They both went to the campsite. What a [ __ ] Chad. [ __ ] made.
I'm not saying I would go back there, but I do love my brother. I would go back there for my sister. Thank you.
Which one? Only this one. Just kidding. We would go back for the others. At least one of them. Yeah. They both went
back to the campsite and grabbed David and also grabbed Ella who was still passed out in her car, clueless to
everything going on. Oh my gosh. The following Monday at work went as you would expect it to. We were all talking.
Talk about like team building. Yeah, that's a team building exercise. Although, did you guys do great at it?
Probably not really. It seems like you guys failed at team building. Yeah, it was actually just like a higher up at
the at the camp being like, let's see how this works. And being like, wow, so you guys are really going to you guys
are bad at emergencies. Yeah, you'll just scatter, I guess. Well, we were talking about the camp out over lunch
and doing the typical debriefed, you know, to laugh about everything that had happened when the whole Chad heard a
noise situation came back up. We all gave him a good amount of [ __ ] and we were going to write it off until I said,
"Well, it was a good thing that Beck stuck around to at least put out the fire." Every single set of eyes in the
room looked at me in confusion. Remember, I had gone to bed before Beck and the rest of the group had left. And
both Maya and I heard those footsteps. After a few minutes of going back through when everyone left and how the
sequence of events played out along that timeline, we realized that at that time
that someone or something stalking around outside of our tent, the only people in the entire campsite from our
group would have been me and Maya in our tent and David who was passed out on the
other side of the camp. Yeah, that's [ __ ] up. Safe to say this realization freaked us the [ __ ] out. Especially
because Maya was seconds away from leaving the tent and investigating until we both listened to our gut and just
went back to sleep for a while. Honestly, I am I'm not psyched that you went back to sleep, but I'm glad you did
not go out and investigate. Yeah. And I guess like you probably don't snore because whoever that was would have come
in and killed you if they heard you. In the days, weeks, and months following, all of us tried to rationalize what Chad
heard and the footsteps Maya and I heard, but none of us could come up with a solid answer. Some of the guys thought
maybe it was some of our older campers messing with us. Some of us really believed it to be a flesh pedestrian.
Some of us thought it might have been Chad tweaking out and making the whole thing up. And some even thought it might
have been some farmer on the neighboring lands that didn't appreciate us be appreciate us being so loud so they came
to mess with us. I hope that's it. This story honestly I do too. It's farmer John. It is. This became the bonfire
bonfire bonfire bonfire story of them all which brought a lot of outside input input of what might have happened. And
one particular theory is worth mentioning. The lake that we camped on is said to be haunted by the Native
Americans that once lived on the land. I don't think I have to tell you guys that
the murder of one person, let alone almost 40 people, can leave an area haunted as [ __ ] But because of this,
the inexplicable bad vibes that Chad and Chad Chad that Chad and Leah got when they heard that noise at Witching Hour,
nonetheless, at a spot once inhabited by the natives at one time, our location being less than 5 miles from a massacre
site. And given the small lake that we were next to is a wetland uh tributary to a lake named after a native spirit, I
was convinced that this was what we heard that night. There's something going on there until yesterday. Oh, well
ladies, we finally get to why I decided after almost two full years to send this
story in for a listener tale. Last night, I got an Instagram DM from Chad. Woo! Scary. Chad. Getting a a late night
DM from a man named Chad is the scariest experience. And I hope you said like, "I
hope you're taking care of things yourself now, Chad." Yeah, Chad. Did you wake up your mom before you sent this
DM? Well, Chad solved the case of what the [ __ ] was that? Okay, Chad, you took
care of it. when he came across a post that had the exact noise he and Leah heard approaching him that night. It was
a [ __ ] mountain lion. A mountain lion. Yes, we are from Iowa, but mountain lions are not a thing in
our area. In fact, the DNR has said that between 1995 and 2021, we only had 30 confirmed cases of mountain lion
sightings, as our state has no self-sustaining mountain lion population, and most times they wander
on over from the states to the west of us. Chad tells me this and I'm like, "Cool,
cool, cool." Okay, so I'm not being haunted. Turns out mountain lions are opportunistic predators and will eat
basically anything they can. You're telling me that this big ass cat came down from the literal [ __ ]
mountains and walked across a few states just to happen upon our camp and isn't going to see that as an opportunity to
be a predator. I'm thinking idiots out camping was the main entree on his menu that night. The one thing that had we
had going for us and why the cat probably didn't approach earlier was that apparently they're deterred by
fire. The fire that Chad and Leah had put out before they left. Calm down, Smokey the Bear. I know they did the
right thing, but how scary. So, when Maya and I heard those footsteps outside our tent like 10if like 15 minutes after
they decided to leave and thought that we shouldn't go out there, we made the right call because it was apparently a
[ __ ] mountain lion just strolling through. I have attached the Instagram G D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D DM that Chad sent me so you guys can play the sound and truly know
the absolute horror those two must have been in when they heard that noise, not once, not twice, but three times moving
toward them. I've also attached pictures of us, as well as a few pics or videos that I have of our campsite from the
blur of that night. Don't post those. Got it. Anyway, that's it for my listener tale. If you guys made it this
far and are reading this on the show, please know I have most likely either [ __ ] in my pants or passed out from
excitement. Probably both. Oh, damn. Wake up. Wake up. Change your pants. Change your pants. Lastly, shout out to
my girl gang for proof reading this for me and hyping me up to submit it. Ash, I
don't think I could ever hold a candle to your skills, so please take keep it please take it away. Keep it weird, but
not so weird that you think that you got haunted by flesh pedestrians, but really
it was just a mountain lion coming to eat you in the middle of the night because you put out a fire, which is
scarier. It It is scary cuz that thing can actually eat you. I want to hear what it sounds like. Yeah. Now we got to
hear the sound. [Music] That's [ __ ] terrifying. Now it's That sounds like a person screaming. Yeah,
that's unsettling. Yeah. Can you restart it? Want to hear it again. Can you restart it? No. No. No, I can't.
Cuz that sounds like a person screaming. That would that would [ __ ] my pants. And it almost kind of sounds like like
Yeah, I don't unsettling. Yeah, I would my pants too. I probably would have [ __ ]
my pants. I'm not going to lie. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. Why does it make that sound? That's
not what I expected a mountain line to sound like. I thought it was going to be like
Yeah. I thought it was going to be like deep gutal and like something like beastly coming at you, but this is just
like Frankly, I don't know what I was expecting. I was expecting guttural and like deep. Yeah. Something beastly.
Yeah. Damn, you guys have some crazy ass tails. You do. It's crazy. All right. Well, if you um want to send your
listener tales in, you can send them to um morbidpodcast@gmail.com with some listener tail, please. And let
us know if we can use your name and the pictures and post them and all that good
stuff. Know what we can use and what we can't use. Yeah. And it's time for us to
go wash this blood off of us. Yeah. Cuz I'm sticky. I'm so sticky I'm going to die. So, we hope you keep listening and
we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you don't send us in phenomenal, awesome, wonderful scary
tales. Let's do it. [Music] [Applause]

Weirdos! It's summertime, and it's time for you to pack a backpack, grab your sleeping bag, and join us for some creepy campfire tales! To make them even BETER- they're brought TO you, BY you, FOR you, FROM you, and ALLLLL about you!

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Brief Summary

Listener tales of spooky camping experiences and eerie encounters at haunted locations.

Key points

Welcome to Morbid. Ash and Elena introduce themselves as dead camp counselors for their podcast.
Listener Tale: Lake Shaunie. A listener shares a spooky camping trip at an abandoned amusement park.
Lake Desolation: A Haunting Tale. A chilling story about a lake with a dark past and a serial killer.
The Mystery of the Serial Killer. A shocking revelation about unsolved murders linked to the lake.
The Eerie Encounter. A terrifying experience on a dark road with mysterious headlights.
A Night of Spooky Stories. The couple enjoys a cozy night by the fire, sharing spooky tales.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

We suffer for our art, you know.

Discussing the bloody couch and their dedication to the podcast.

3:39WatchJun 27, 2025

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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