Episode Transcript
[00:00:07] Speaker A: Good evening. Welcome campers, counselors and founders to our camp's very first Halloween special. You already know, but this is the show where we gather around the campfire to hear our fellow campers scariest experiences. So whether you're a new or returning camper, I am happy to have you. Tonight we'll hear two stories.
The first was submitted to me by Megan K. And in her words, this story is more of a repackaged urban legend from my town. While it does include some of my personal experiences, I'm not sure if you'd want to tell it on your show.
Megan, your story is amazing. And you know what? I think it's perfect for the Halloween special. I will introduce the second story after we hear Megan's Happy Halloween everybody. Do you want to hear a ghost story?
I remember that Halloween night like it was yesterday. It was the year the old Miller farm got taken over by a new family, the Harrows. People in town were curious about them, but nobody knew much they kept themselves except for one thing. They threw a big harvest festival. And every October, flyers went up around town, bright orange and black, really spooky, inviting everyone to come. They promised games, candy and bonfire that would light up the harvest night. We didn't know any better back then. It was free, it was new, and hell, it was something to do. So we all went. My friends and I, Tommy, Bree and Jake were all excited.
We figured it would be like one of those haunted attractions. You know, the kind where people dress up and jump out at you. We were ready for those cheap thrills and a sugar high, but nothing else, really. The night of the festival, the air was crisp. The kind of autumn chill that bites through your jacket and makes your breath all foggy. Like the farm looked like something out of a postcard. So much different from when the Millers lived here. The fields golden under the full moon, pumpkins dotting the landscape like orange jewels. The Harrows had gone all out, it seemed. Strings of light, scarecrows dressed in old clothes, and a giant corn maze that stretched far into their back field.
There was something about the place though, a feeling I couldn't shake. Like the shadows were just a bit too dark and the scarecrow seemed a bit too. Too lifelike. But I pushed it aside. At the entry. We were asked if we would like to donate a few bucks, to which we did, and we got our free wristbands. Ready to explore the farm? The bonfire was already blazing when we got there. Flames licking at the sky, sparks flying up and disappearing into the night. People were Milling around, laughing, drinking hot cider and eating caramel apples. It all seemed perfectly normal, perfectly fun. But as the night wore on I started to notice things. Small things really, but things that didn't quite add up. The Harrows were everywhere. Always smiling, always watching. They wore old fashioned clothes, the kind you'd see in a history book, not the kind you'd see people wearing around. But the thing that stuck out to me the most was that their eyes just seemed a little too bright and their teeth a little too white. They moved through the crowd handing out candy to the kids, and their hands were always lingering just a second too long on top of the kids heads. Tommy and Jake went off to try the maze, leaving Bree and me by the fire. I remember glancing at the scarecrow closest to us, just outside the ring of light from the flames. Its head was a burlap sack tied off with twine. It had buttons for eyes, crooked stitches for a mouth. But then it moved, just a twitch, like a shiver running down its straw stuffed spine. I grabbed Bree's arm. Did you see that? See what? She said. I looked back. What? The scarecrow was still. I shook my head, laughing it off, trying to ignore the creeping unease settling into my chest. Never mind. Just my imagination.
Too many ciders I suppose. But I knew it wasn't. A few minutes later I saw another one, a scarecrow by the edge of the field turn its head just slightly, as if watching the crowd. I could have sworn its button eyes were following Tommy and Jake as they entered the maze. I tried to convince Bree to leave, but she wouldn't hear me. She thought I was just being paranoid or was a little intoxicated, letting the spooky atmosphere get to me. But then the bonfire flickered, the flames shrinking down to embers for just a moment when I heard a low droning chant coming from somewhere deep in the corn. And Bree heard that too. She grabbed my hand. Do you hear that? She said, but I didn't have an answer, even though I knew I heard it too. The chanting grew louder, a rhythmic hum that seemed to vibrate through the ground.
The people around the fire didn't seem to notice, their laughter and chatter continuing as if nothing was happening. I looked around and noticed that the Harrows, all of them, were gone. Every single one of them, had vanished, I guess at some point, slipping away into the night without anyone noticing.
And then the scarecrows started moving, slow, jerky steps, their straw stuffed limbs creaking as they moved closer to the fire. I grabbed Bree and pulled her away, my Eyes scanning the field for Tommy and Jake. The chanting was louder now, echoing from the maze. And I could see figures moving through the corn. Dark figures shifting and swaying as if dancing to that awful chanting. We ran and we didn't look back. We didn't stop until we were out of the field. The festival lights faded behind us. We found Tommy and Jake by the entrance. Their faces were pale. Their eyes were wide with fear. They had heard the chanting, too. They had seen the scarecrows moving in the maze, their burlap faces twisting into something human.
We didn't stick around to see what happened after we piled into Jake's car and drove home, the wheels kicking up dust as we sped away from the farm. None of us spoke. The only sound was the roar of the engine and the beating of my heart in my ear.
The next day, we heard the news. The festival ended abruptly, the Harrows nowhere to be found. And no one seemed to remember much.
Just that the fire had gone out and the scarecrows had been found scattered across the fields, their button eyes missing, their straw guts spilled across the ground. We never talked about it again. But every year when Halloween rolls around, I think about that night. I think about the Harrows, about the scarecrows, about the chanting that seemed to call to something deep within the earth within the cornfield. And I wonder if they're still out there, waiting for the next harvest.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: Thank you, Megan, for allowing me to share your story. I love this one. I don't care that this was a repackage, that this was repackaged folklore from your hometown. This is an awesome story.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: I love it.
[00:07:48] Speaker B: And you know what?
[00:07:49] Speaker A: For everybody else listening, I accept all.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: These stories on face value. If you want to give me the caveat that, hey, I kind of made this one up, I don't care.
I'll let the listeners know so they know which stories are supposedly real encounters and which stories are more.
[00:08:06] Speaker A: Hey, I think this is a good.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: Creepy story that kind of tells my town's folklore. I think that's really cool, Megan.
[00:08:13] Speaker A: Also check your email. I would love to know what town.
[00:08:17] Speaker B: This is and share this to everybody. So please get back to me. And everybody keep on a lookout on Instagram for a follow up post to this so I can give you guys more details about this story because I.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: Think this is a really interesting folk legend.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: I can just see this being passed around at a high school table, you know, at lunch talking about this field where this happened.
[00:08:35] Speaker A: Right?
[00:08:36] Speaker B: And I'm sure that your experience is probably like, someone has to Be throwing a harvest festival in the field that's supposedly haunted by the Harrows. Right? That's what I'm presuming is going on.
But yeah, I would love to learn more about this. Megan, please, please check your email.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: Our next story was sent in by Jasmine from California. And this story takes us to the Black Star Canyon, which, as I know it, is supposedly one of the most haunted locations in the entire state of California. So, do you want to hear another ghost story?
California has no shortage of ghost stories. But there's a place that's always gave me the creeps. It's hidden in a stretch of the Santa Ana mountains, out past the city lights where the night feels darker. The air carries a strange stillness out there. People around here know the stories, old legends of massacres, gold miners, and strange lights that wander through the hills after dark. It's the kind of place that calls thrill seekers. People like me and my friends, who thought that we were invincible, who thought it was all just a bunch of scary stories. We decided to head out there one Halloween night. I'll be honest, it was supposed to be a joke. We were looking for a good scare, maybe something to laugh about later over a cheap beer. My friends Eli, Jordan and Cassie were all on board. Even though we'd heard the warnings, people said the place was cursed, that bad things happened there. But we didn't take it seriously. I mean, it was just a canyon. We got there around midnight, parking the car on the edge of the dusty, narrow trail. The moon was high, but the light barely made it through the thick canopy of oaks and sycamores. The air was cold, the kind that settles deep into your bones. Eli, thankfully, had brought a flashlight, and we took turns making ghost noises, trying to freak each other out as we made our way deeper into the canyon. It wasn't long before our laughter faded. The deeper we went, the quieter it got. No rustling, no leaves, no animals. Not even the sound of the wind.
Just a thick, unnatural silence.
I remember the moment it hit me, this feeling that something was watching us. I turned, shining the flashlight behind me, but there was nothing there. Just the trail winding back into the darkness from which we came.
Stop being paranoid, Cassie said, But I could see in her eyes that she felt it, too. We all kept moving, the trail getting narrower and narrower, the canyon walls closing in around us. The stories talked about the ghosts of settlers, natives, and even a few cults. We joked at first, but now, in the middle of the canyon, it seemed. Well, it just didn't seem funny anymore. That's when we started seeing the lights flickering in the distance, bobbing gently like lanterns, Jordan pointed them out at first. Do you guys think anybody else would be out here? I mean, I guess it is Halloween. The lights moved closer, weaving between the trees, and I felt my stomach twist. They didn't move right. They weren't the warm yellow of lanterns or flashlights. They were pale, almost blue, and they seemed to just hover above the ground, swaying gently.
Maybe we should go back, cassie said. Eli shook his head and fixed his eyes on the lights. Let's just go see what it is. It's probably other hikers anyways, right?
I wanted to turn back. Every instinct in me screamed to turn back, but I didn't want to be the one person to chicken out with Cassie.
So I voted to keep going. And keep going we did, the lights drawing us deeper and deeper into the canyon. The closer we got, the colder it became and the further away the lights got. But then the lights stopped moving. They just hung there, still and silent. I swear I could hear something faint, like a whisper just out of earshot, like voices carried on the wind. I shined the flashlight towards the trees, and that's when I saw people standing just beyond us in the treeline. Their faces were hidden by wide brimmed hats. They didn't move, they didn't make a sound. They just stood there, watching. We need to leave, I said, but when I turned, the trail was gone. The canyon seemed to have changed. The trees shifted, the walls pressed in more.
I couldn't see the way out, just darkness stretching in every direction.
Where's the trail? Where is it? Cassie screamed. Panic set in with all of us. The lights we had chased down here were gone now, replaced by just a deep, impenetrable darkness. The figures were still there, closer now, but not moving, their outlines barely visible in the dim moonlight. Eli swung the flashlight around, the beam flickering, and I caught a glimpse of a face under the hat, pale, hollow black eyes staring at me and a mouth twisted into a grimace. Run, Jordan said, and we all did. We didn't know where we were going, but we knew we had to get out.
Time seemed to blur and I don't know how long we ran. The canyon seemed to twist and shift with every turn we took. Eventually we stumbled out onto the road, our lungs burning, our legs trembling. The car was right there, right where we had left it. We didn't waste any more time getting the hell out of there.
We tried to pretend it was just a bad dream, something our minds had made up to scare us. But I know what I saw. And sometimes late at night when I'm driving alone and the road is empty, I catch a glimpse of something in the rearview mirror, a flicker of the light, a shadow that shouldn't be there. And I remember the whispers, the cold, and the figures standing silently in Black Star Canyon.
Perhaps they're still out there, waiting for the next group of fools to wander too far in after dark.
Thank you Jasmine for allowing me to share your story.
Well folks, I hope you all have an incredibly spooky Halloween and I hope you enjoyed our first annual Halloween Special. I will leave you here for the night and let you get on with your trick or treating or whatever it is you have planned for tonight. Thank you so much for being here. I am glad to have you all as campers on this journey. Please keep sharing the show with anyone you think might like these stories or someone you are just trying to scare. And if you're enjoying the show, go ahead and leave a review. I would love to hear from you. Happy Halloween. Until next time.
