Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: Good evening. I'm Ben, and welcome to the show where you and I gather around this campfire to hear some of our fellow campers scariest experiences. So whether you're new or returning, I'm.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Happy to have you. Tonight, we're headed to my hometown to.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Hear a more fictionalized version about the time my friends and I broke into.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: A reportedly haunted building.
[00:00:28] Speaker A: And before I get into the show, I want to just say, please stick around. After this week's story, I have some camp announcements. Now, without further ado, do you want to hear a ghost story?
[00:00:42] Speaker B: There were five of us. Me, Tyler, Josh, Lexi, and Natalie. We weren't bad kids, just bored ones. The kind that walked too slow past cemeteries, that dared each other to knock on the town's most cursed doors.
And then there was these soldiers and sailors Home. It really was the pinnacle of our local ghost lore. Once a home for Civil War orphans, later a facility for troubled boys. Then who knows what else. But eventually it was shut down. No one really knows why.
Some kids swore that they had seen faces in the window. Some said you could hear footsteps on the third floor when no one was up there. Others said that if you went in, you would never come back out. I always told myself it was bullshit. And that's precisely what I told myself as we walked in and the door slammed shut behind us.
Ooh, spooky. Guess that means we gotta stay, Tyler said.
It wasn't just a slam, though. It was how dead silent the place became afterwards.
Outside, we had heard Halloween distant cheers, laughter, kids running from house to house. But now, nothing. Even the sound of the wind through the broken windows seemed dulled now, Lexi clutching all of our arms. This place gives me the creeps. Isn't that the point? Josh smirked.
He and Tyler moved ahead, their flashlights cutting through the appealing wallpaper, revealing old chairs stacked against the walls, an overturned metal bed frame covered in dust.
Geez, this place is really falling apart. I wonder if it's even safe, I muttered to myself. I muttered to Lexi, it's haunted, Natalie corrected me. And we have to get to the third floor, guys. That's the dare.
We crept up the stairs, our footsteps muffled by years of dirt and decay. Every breath we took felt heavier, like the air itself had weight as we moved up.
When we reached the second floor, something groaned deep in the building, as if the bones of the place were settling around us. Let's just keep moving, Tyler said. We did. By the time we reached the third floor, I felt like my lungs weren't working right anymore. The Air was thick, stagnant. Like it had been put up there just for us 25 years ago.
Alright, cool. Look, we made it. Let's go. Lexi said to the group. Everyone ignored her. We walked down the center of the hallway, turned off our flashlights and stood there waiting.
I don't know how long. We stood there in the dark. Maybe a minute, maybe five, maybe 10.
And then at the far end of the hallway, it was slow, deliberate. Like someone walking towards us.
Guys, please. We gotta go. Lexi said.
Tyler hissed at her, but I felt the same way.
The pressure of the air shifting with every tap, tap, tap. The overwhelming uncertainty that we were no longer alone. With every tap, tap, tap, getting closer and closer. My stomach turned to ice. Was this a prank? Was there an animal up here? No, these were footsteps. And they weren't footsteps of anyone. We came here with tap, tap, tap. Josh turned his flashlight back on and shone it down the corridor. No one. Nothing. A long empty hallway with rotting doors on either side.
But I could just tell that there was something there staring at us. Someone's got to be messing with us, right? Tyler said.
One of the doors at the end of the hallway creaked open. Not all the way. Just enough for us to see thee. Emptiness inside.
A whisper, a groan. No words. Just that sound. Low, raspy. I turned around and ran. The others followed.
We flew down the hallway, but it felt like we were running through water.
We reached the stairwell and stopped. We had more light now. Looking down the stairs, we could see that they were well on the verge of collapse. I'm quite glad I did not notice that on the way up.
But I had to get back down them now.
The door at the end of the hallway now slammed shut. What the hell is happening? I said to everybody. But no one had an answer. We ran down the stairs to the second floor, to the first floor. But I noticed that the silence was deafening in the building now. I didn't even hear our feet as we hit every step on the way down.
We got to the front door of the door. Weed came in again, but it didn't budge. Panicking, I looked to the side of the door and saw a window. The glass was broken. Stepping up through the window, I jumped out about a four foot drop to the ground. I hit the ground hard and then one after another. So did all my friends.
We laid there in the dirt and the grass. The night air rushing into our lungs as if we were drowning inside.
We looked around, but there was now no sign of trick or treaters. No sign of Halloween decorations going off. The world was dark, empty and silent around us. I checked my phone. It was 3:14 in the morning.
We were only in there maybe 10 minutes. How had we been in there for six hours? That's when we knew all the stories were true. We knew we were never meant to leave.
As we left, I looked back at the building. I didn't tell my friends, but I saw someone or something standing on the third floor window watching us leave.
[00:06:53] Speaker A: Thank you for allowing me to share my story. This is one that sits close to me because the Soldiers and sailors building no longer exists. This part of my town's folklore was taken from us in the younger generations.
But I promised show announcements in the introduction, so here it goes. I'm sure you've noticed the lack of sound design in some of my newer episodes and well, that's because for the longest time this has been a one man show and I just wasn't able to keep up. But thanks to our show's campers, counselors and founders, I've been able to get.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: Some help, allowing me to focus more.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: On the stories while also ensuring that each episode moving forward will be fully sound designed. So I want to give a extra shout out to campers Ricky and Rowan, to our camp counselor Mayor and to the camp founders Karen and Danny. Thank you for supporting the show.
[00:07:53] Speaker B: If you'd like your own shout out.
[00:07:54] Speaker A: At the end of an episode or just access to our camp's monthly bonus episodes, head over to patreon.com do you want to hear a ghost story? But as always, I am just glad to have you all as campers on this journey. So please keep sharing the show with anyone you think might like these stories. And please, if you're enjoying it, go ahead and leave a review. I would love to hear from you. Until next time.
