I am having a hard time remembering the stories told to me by my Navajo family, but when I Skype with them again I will ask, for me. This creepy set of events happened directly to me though, so here goes- my first personal encounter(s). I know, it's lengthy. But hey, skinwalkers. They require backstory.
It started when my two brothers, "David" and "Luke", and Luke's girlfriend, "Sarah", all drove down to the desert to spend some time in the country. This is res land as it were, so red dirt was everywhere (Southern Utah, a majestically beautiful place, if you ever get a chance.) We had some pistols and decided to go out and target practice. We took our gear and some old targets to a place called "Devil's Heartbeat." I had never been, but all three of them were familiar with the area. It was a canyon about 200 feet deep. We stayed on one end of the canyon, by the dropoffs, and to our left was the ravine. About fifty feet over, the opposite side of the canyon rose up above us, where some Anasazi ruins were.
The Navajo may disagree with historians on the Anasazi's origins and departure (according to Navajo legend, they simply 'disappeared' from existence, leaving behind plates, dishes, and food, and went into another dimension or some equivalent) but, whatever the history, the Navajo do NOT like to wander in Anasazi ruins. I never asked why, but figured it had something to do with disrespect, preserving history, etc. As such, none of the others cared a bit about these canyon ruins. They were more interested in shooting pistols.
I could see old beds, ladders, and even cave drawings on the cliffs with my naked eye. And I got this strange fixation on going over there. I am not Navajo, and felt that their rules didn't apply to me. I set off down the cliffs without rope and decided I would climb down, cross the canyon floor, and then climb back up. This was a bad idea for a million reasons, but it was like some obsession. I can't explain the feeling. It was like magnetism. I wanted to be in those ruins and it wasn't just some tourist-like curiosity. It felt like I was meant to go there. I kept slipping and getting stuck on the rocks, and I was so frustrated I almost started crying. Finally, I was deterred by the unmistakable sound of a growl coming from the canyon floor below me. There were trees down there so I couldn't see what was making the growl, but "mountain lion" immediately rose to mind and I got my ass back up the cliffside.
I said nothing to the others, and we shot the guns for awhile. The only other strange occurrence was while Sarah was aiming; things got eerily quiet. We all heard a sound from behind us, maybe twenty feet away. It was almost a growl, then a hoarse laugh. Almost like a lion, and then a hyena. We had a clear view of the entire area and there was nothing there, certainly not on the clifftops where we heard it anyway. The creepy part was that while David, Sarah and I all heard it from a close distance, Luke heard the exact same noise right by his ear.
We ended up camping out there to see if anything would happen, and this is when I got completely terrified. Before, I was only scared of wild animals. We had guns though, and were sleeping with no bags or tents, just some blankets under the stars and a little fire, so I felt safe when we all laid down. I fell asleep pretty quickly, but woke up a few hours later to see everyone else laying with their eyes open wide, listening. The canyon was completely full of noises. The only way to describe it is people banging rocks together. There would be one "set" maybe 300 yards away, then another clacking 200 yards away, and then 50 yards away. The canyon echos, so it was hard to tell exactly how many "rock smacking rock" noises there were, but they sounded like morse code. We listened to this for maybe ten minutes. No other animal noises, no nothing. Finally David (who is kind of a hardass and the least superstitious of his family) shouted, "SHUT UUUUUUUUP!"
And everything immediately stopped. My heart was in my throat. We just sat there and stared at each other, wide eyed. It was dead quiet, and then we heard another super weird noise from the Anasazi ruins. I don't know how to explain this one either, but it sounded kind of like a zebra noise. Like these squeaky trills. It got louder, and then the rocks/sticks/whatever started up again. But this was worse, because now OTHER animal noises came. We heard what sounded like wolves or coyotes barking, monkeys screeching (in my opinion, those were the most terrifying), owls hooting, and through it all that terrible zebra noises. We said nope, and got our happy little asses out of there immediately. It took us maybe ten minutes to douse the fire, pack our blankets, and speed away, and the noises were continuing that entire time.
That night I was obviously pretty shaken up. Before I could fall asleep again, my Navajo mother came and sat by me, and said that she could tell I had a rough day (we hadn't mentioned the creepy shit, to avoid a lecture about fucking with the spirits). She asked me about it, and I ended up spilling my guts about not seeing the canyon ruins. It was something personal, it felt like. I wanted to go there, why couldn't I go there? It would have been beautiful. After I told her all about it, I could see that she had a really concerned look on her face. "What is it?" I asked, totally confused, and she explained something I had no idea about.
"The spirits in the ruins like to lure people up. When they get up on the ground, the spirits push them off. That's why we don't go there."
I remained creeped out for the remainder of the visit. The town has a public-accessible kiva, kind of a tourist trap for a little podunk place, but since I didn't see the ruins up close I went down into the kiva. And I went alone, as of course my superstitious family refused to "enter other natives' dwellings. I figured that nothing could push me off a cliff if I was in a kiva.
I was right, but something even worse happened. Fast forward to a few weeks later. I worked at a shitty call center in Salt Lake City, third shift. It was my first night alone and I was feeling jumpy ever since the kiva. My brothers already warned me that I had a skinwalker following me, but I, of course, didn't believe it.
I don't smoke, but I followed my coworkers out for smoke breaks because I like to chat. Tonight, I lurked in the doorway because I had this horrible cloud of dread hanging over me. I was peeping out the glass door and being a total weirdo. It hit me then how paranoid I had been. That's what skin walkers do, they mess with your mind. While I was pacing in front of the glass doors I decided that this whole thing was fucking stupid and I was going to go outside, and stand there, for the rest of my ten minute break.
Most of the smokers were already filing back in, but I walked out and put my hands in my pockets. Looked at the sky, looked in the building, mentally patting myself on the back for not being a pussy. Then I saw something that I will never ever be able to give a rational or even halfway accountable explanation for. We have like, six parking lots. In one of the lots far away from me, maybe 100 feet, I could see something walking. It was a dog, obviously, but it was almost limping and walked like it was tired or hurt. Animal lover me forgot all about skinwalkers and I started walking toward it, making the "tch tch tch cmmeere doggy!" noises. And then I stopped abruptly.
The dog had the body form of a greyhound, and it was grey, but there was something very wrong with it. It had bloody legs and limped, but it walked more like a person would on feet and hands, its butt was moving to and fro if that makes any sense. When it heard me, it just stopped without turning (something I've never known any dog to do.) And finally, it looked over its shoulder at me and this is the freaky part. This dog was looking at me the way a person does. It had HUGE eyes, way too big for a greyhound, and its teeth were bared like it was considering biting me. Then it growled, but it was like a whistle/growl. Noises no regular animal makes. It almost sounded like it wanted to talk to me or was taunting me.
Somehow in the middle of all this I realized it didn't have a tail, and I'd heard from all the Navajo stories that skinwalkers, when they appear as animals, don't have tails. Forgetting all logic and rationality, I turned and jetted. I didn't look back until I was back inside the building and had pulled the doors shut behind me, and by then when I looked of COURSE the fucking thing was gone.
When I described this to my brothers they were absolutely sure it was a skinwalker, and they went through the trouble of blessing me, my apartment, them, and their apartments. I never saw the creepy bloody dog again, and I have never since even slightly wanted to visit cliff ruins.
Okay, /x/, I need your help with this. This is not copypasta, this is
a long read, but I feel like my safety or well-being could very well
depend on this. This is videogame related, specifically Majora’s Mask,
and this is the creepiest shit that has ever happened to me in my entire
life.
Having said that, I recently moved into my dorm room
starting as a Sophomore in college and a friend of mine gave me his old
Nintendo 64 to play. I was stoked, to say the least, I could finally
play all of those old games of my youth that I hadn’t touched in at
least a decade. His Nintendo 64 came with one yellow controller and a
rather shoddy copy of Super Smash Brothers, and while beggers can’t be
choosers, needless to say it didn’t take long until I became bored of
beating up LVL 9 CPUs.
That weekend I decided to drive around a
few neighborhoods about twenty minutes or so off campus, hitting up the
local garage sales, hoping to score on some good deals from ignorant
parents). I ended up picking up a copy of Pokemon Stadium, Goldeneye
(fuck yeah), F-Zero, and two other controllers for two dollars.
Satisfied, I began to drive out of the neighborhood when one last house
caught my attention. I still have no idea why it did, there were no cars
there and only one table was set up with random junk on it, but
something sort of drew me there. I usually trust my gut on these things
so I got out of the car and I was greeted by an old man. His outward
appearance was, for lack of a better word, displeasing. It was odd, if
you asked me to tell you why I thought he was displeasing, I couldn’t
really pinpoint anything - there was just something about him that put
me on edge, I can’t explain it. All I can tell you is that if it wasn’t
in the middle of the afternoon and there were other people within
shouting distance, I would not have even thought of approaching this
man.
He flashed a crooked smiled at me and asked what I was
looking for, and immediately I noticed that he must be blind in one of
his eyes; his right eye had that “glazed over” look about it. I forced
myself to look to his left eye instead, trying not to offend, and asked
him if he had any old videogames.
I was already wondering how I
could politely excuse myself from the situation when he would tell me he
had no idea what a videogame was, but to my surprise he said he had a
few ones in an old box. He assured me he’d be back in a “jiffy” and
turned to head back into the garage. As I watched him hobble away, I
couldn’t help but notice what he was selling on his table. Littered
across his table were rather… peculiar paintings; various artworks that
looked like ink blots that a psychiatrist might show you. Curious, I
looked through them - it was obvious why no one was visiting this guy’s
garage sale, these weren’t exactly aesthetically pleasing. As I came to
the last one, for some reason it looked almost like Majora’s Mask - the
same heart-shaped body with little spikes protruding outward. Initially I
just thought that since I was secretly hoping to find that game at
these garage sales, some Freudian bullshit was projecting itself into
the ink blots, but given the events that happened afterward I’m not so
sure now. I should have asked the man about it. I wish I would have
asked the man about it.
After staring at the Majora-shaped blot, I
looked up and the old man was suddenly there again, arms-length in
front of me, smiling at me. I’ll admit I jumped out of reflex and I
laughed nervously as he handed me a Nintendo 64 cartridge. It was the
standard grey color, except that someone had written Majora on it in
black permanent marker. I got butterflies in my stomach as I realized
what a coincidence this was and asked him how much he wanted for it.
The
old man smiled at me and told me that I could have it for free, that it
used to belong to a kid who was about my age that didn’t live here
anymore. There was something weird about how the man phrased that, but I
didn’t really pay any attention to then, I was too caught up in not
only finding this game but getting it for free.
I reminded myself
to be a bit skeptical since this looked like a pretty shady cartridge
and there’s no guarantee it would work, but then the optimist inside me
interjected that maybe it was some kind of beta version or pirated
version of the game and that was all I needed to be back on cloud nine. I
thanked the man and the man smiled at me and wished me well, saying
“Goodbye then!” - at least that’s what it sounded like to me. All the
way in the car-ride home, I had a nagging doubt that the man had said
something else. My fears were confirmed when I booted up the game (to my
surprise it worked just fine) and there was one save file named simply
“BEN”. “Goodbye Ben”, he was saying “Goodbye Ben”. I felt bad for the
man, obviously a grandparent and obviously going senile, and I - for
some reason or another - reminded him of his grandson “Ben”. Out of
curiosity I looked at the save file. Eyeballing it, I could tell that he
was pretty far in the game - he had almost all of the masks and 3/4
remains of the bosses. I noticed that he had used an owl statue to save
his game, he was on Day 3 and by the Stone Tower Temple with hardly an
hour left before the moon would crash. I remember thinking that it was a
shame that he had come so close to beating the game but he never
finished it. I made a new file named “Link” out of tradition and started
the game, ready to relive my childhood.
For such a shady looking
game cartridge, I was impressed at how smoothly it ran - literally just
like a retail copy of the game save for a few minor hiccups here and
there (like textures being where they shouldn’t be, random flashes of
cutscenes at odd intervals, but nothing too bad). However the only thing
that was a little unnerving was that at times the NPCs would call me
“Link” and at other times they would call me “BEN”. I figured it was
just a bug - a fluke in the programming causing our files to get mixed
up or something. It did kind of creep me out though after a while, and
it was around after I had beaten the Woodfall Temple that I regrettably
went into the save files and deleted “BEN” (I had intended to preserve
the file just out of respect of the game’s original owner, it’s not like
I needed two files anyway), hoping that that would solve the problem.
It did and it didn’t, now NPCs wouldn’t call me anything, where my name
should be in the dialogue there was just a blank space (my save file
name was still called “Link”, though). Frustrated, and with homework to
do, I put the game down for a day.
I started playing the game
again last night, getting the Lens of Truth and working my way towards
completing the Snowhead Temple. Now, some of you more hardcore Majora’s
Mask players know about the “4th Day” glitch - for those who don’t you
can google it but the jist of it is that right as the clock is about to
hit 00:00:00 on the final day, you talk to the astronomer and look
through the telescope. If you time it right the countdown disappears and
you essentially have another day to finish whatever you were doing.
Deciding to do the glitch to try and finish the Snowhead Temple, I
happened to get it right on the first try and the time counter at the
bottom disappeared.
However, when I pressed B to exit the
telescope, instead of being greeted by the astronomer I found myself in
the Majora boss fight room at the end of the game (the trippy boxed in
arena) staring at Skull Kid hovering above me. There was no sound, just
him floating in the air above me, and the background music which was
regular for the area (but still creepy). Immediately my palms began to
sweat - this was definitely not normal. Skull Kid NEVER appeared here. I
tried moving around the area, and no matter where I went, Skull Kid
would always be facing me, looking at me, not saying anything. Nothing
would happen though, and this kept up for around sixty seconds. I
thought the game had bugged or something - but I was beginning to doubt
that very much.
I was about to reach for the reset button when
text appeared on my screen: “You’re not sure why, but you apparently had
a reservation…” I instantly recognized that text - you get that message
when you get the Room Key from Anju at the Stock Pot Inn, but why was
it playing here? I refused to entertain the notion that it was almost as
if the game was trying to communicate with me. I started navigate the
room again, testing to see if that was some sort of trigger that enabled
me to interact with something here, then I realized how stupid I was -
to even think that someone could reprogram the game like this was
absurd. Sure enough, fifteen seconds later another message appeared on
the screen, and again like the first one it was already a pre-existing
phrase “Go to the lair of the temple’s boss? Yes/No”. I paused for a
second, contemplating what I should press and how the game would react,
when I realized that I couldn’t select no. Taking a deep breath, I
pressed Yes and the screen faded to white, with the words “Dawn of a New
Day” with the subtext “||||||||” beneath it. Where I was ported to
filled me with the most intense sense of dread and impending fear I had
ever experienced
The only way I can describe the way I felt here
is having this feeling of inexplicable depression on a profound scale. I
am normally not a depressed person, but the way I felt here was a
feeling that I didn’t even knew existed - it was such a twisted,
powerful presence that seemed to wash over me.
I appeared in some
kind of weird twilight-zone version of Clock Town. I walked out of the
Clock Tower (as you normally do when you start from Day 1) only to find
that all of the inhabitants were gone. Usually with the 4th Day glitch
you can still find the guards and the dog that runs around outside the
tower - this time they were all gone. What replaced them was the ominous
feeling that there was something out there, in the same area as me and
that it was watching me. I had four hearts to my name and the Hero’s
Bow, but at this point I wasn’t even considered for my avatar, I felt
that I personally was in some kind of danger. Perhaps the most chilling
thing was the music - it was the Song of Healing, ripped straight from
the game itself, but played in reverse. The music would get louder,
building up so as if you should expect something to pop out at you, but
nothing ever did, and the constant loop began to wear on my mental
state.
Every now and then I would hear the faint laugh of the
Happy Mask Salesman in the background, just quiet enough so that I
wasn’t sure if I just hearing things but just loud enough to keep me
determined to find him. I looked in all four zones of Clock Town, only
to find nothing…. No one. Textures were missing, West Clock Town had me
walking on air, the entire area felt… broken. Hopelessly broken. As the
reverse Song of Healing repeated for what must have been the 50th time, I
just remember standing in the middle of South Clock Town realizing that
I had never felt so alone in a videogame before.
As I walked
through the ghost town, I don’t know whether it was the combination of
the out of place textures and the atmosphere and the haunting melody of
the once peaceful and soothing song being butchered and distorted, but I
was literally on the verge of tears and I had no idea why. I hardly
ever cry, something had gripped me here and this powerful sense of
depression that was both foreign and crippling.
I tried leaving
Clock Town, but every time I attempted to zone out, the screen would
fade to black and I would just zone in to another part of Clock Town. I
tried playing my Ocarina, I wanted to escape, and I did NOT want to be
here, but every time I played the Song of Time or Song of Soaring it
would only say “Your notes echo far, but nothing happens”. By this
point, it was obvious the game didn’t want me to leave, but I had no
idea why it was keeping me here. I didn’t want to go inside the
buildings, I felt that I would be too vulnerable there to whatever I was
terrified of. I don’t know why, but I came up with the idea that maybe
if I drowned myself at the Laundry Pool I could spawn somewhere else and
leave this place.
As I zoned in and ran towards the pool, that’s
when it happened. Link grabbed his head, and the screen flashed for a
brief moment of the Happy Mask Salesman smiling at me - not Link - me
with Skull Kid’s scream playing in the background and when the screen
returned I was staring at the Link Statue from playing the song Elegy of
Emptiness. I screamed as the thing just stared back at me with that
haunting facial expression. I turned around and ran out and back into
South Clock Town, and to my horror the fucking statue followed me in the
only way I can compare this is like the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who.
Every so often, at random intervals, the animation would play of the
statue appearing behind me. It was like the thing was chasing me, or - I
don’t even want to fucking say it - haunting me.
By this point, I
was on the verge of hysterics, but not even once did the thought of
turning off the console occur to me, I don’t know why, I was so wrapped
up in it - the terror felt all so real. I tried to shake the statue, but
it would literally appear right behind me every single time. Link
started to begin to make weird animations I had never even seen him do
before, he would flail his arms around or spasm randomly and the screen
would cut to the Happy Mask Salesman smiling again for a brief moment
before I was face to face with that fucking statue again. I ended up
running into the Swordmasters Dojo and ran to the back, I don’t know
why, but in my panic I just wanted some kind of assurance that I’m not
alone here. To my dismay I found no one, but as I turned to leave the
statue cornered me in the cubby in the back. I tried attacking the
statue with my sword but to no avail. Confused, and backed into a
corner, I just stared at the statue waiting for it to kill me. Suddenly,
the screen flashed again to the Happy Mask Salesman and Link turned to
face my screen, standing upright mirroring the statue, looking at me
along with his copy. Literally staring at me. Whatever was left of the
4th wall was completely shattered while I ran out of the dojo terrified.
Suddenly the game warped me to an underground tunnel and the reverse
Song of Healing queued up again as I was given a brief moment of rest
before the statue started appearing behind me again… this time
aggressively - I could only take a few steps before it would summon
behind me again. I hurrily made my way out of the tunnel and appeared in
Southern Clock Town. As I ran aimlessly - in a sheer panic - suddenly a
redead screamed and the screen faded to black as “Dawn of a New Day”
and “|||||||||” appeared again.
The screen faded in and I was
standing ontop of Clock Tower with Skull Kid hovering over me again,
silent. I looked up and the moon was back, looming just meters above my
head, but the Skull Kid just stared at me hauntingly with that fucking
mask. A new song was playing - the Stone Tower Temple theme played in
reverse. In some sort of desperate attempt, I equipped my bow and fired
off a shot at the Skull Kid - and it actually hit him and he played an
animation of him reeling back. I fired again and on the third arrow, a
text box appeared saying “That won’t do you any good. Hee, hee.” and I
was picked up off the ground, levitated upwards on my back, and then
Link screamed as he burst into flames, instantly killing him.
I
jumped when this happened - I had never seen this move used by ANYONE in
the game and Skull Kid himself didn’t HAVE any moves. As the death
screen played, my lifeless body still burning, the Skull Kid laughed and
the screen faded to black, only to have me reappear in the same place. I
decided to charge him, but the same thing happened, Link’s body was
lifted off the ground by some unknown force and he immediately burst
into flames again killing him. This time during the death screen the
faint sounds of the reverse Song of Healing could be heard. On my third
(and final try), I noticed that there was no music playing this time,
that all there was was eerie silence. I remembered that in the original
encounter with the Skull Kid you were supposed to use the Ocarina to
either travel back in time or summon the giants. I attempted to play the
Song of Time but before I could hit the last note Links body once again
horrifically exploded into flames and he died.
As the death
screen neared its end, it began to chug, as if the cartridge was trying
to process a lot of something…. when the screen came to, it was the same
scene as the first three times, except this time Link was lying on the
ground dead in a position I had never seen in the game before, his head
tilted towards the camera, with the Skull Kid floating above him. I
couldn’t move, I couldn’t press any buttons, all I could do is just
stare at Link’s dead body. After around thirty seconds of this, the game
simply fades out with the message “You’ve met with a terrible fate,
haven’t you?” before kicking you out to the title screen.
Upon
getting back to the title screen and starting again, I noticed my save
file was no longer there. Instead of “Link”, it was replaced with “YOUR
TURN”. “YOUR TURN” had 3 hearts, 0 masks, and no items. I selected “YOUR
TURN” and immediately when I did I was returned to the Clock Tower
Rooftop scene of my Link dead and the Skull Kid hovering over, with the
Skull Kid’s laughing looping again and again. I quickly hit the reset
button and when the game booted up again there was one more save file
added, below “YOUR TURN”, entitled “BEN”. “BEN“‘s save file is right
back where it was before I deleted it, at the Stone Tower Temple with
the moon almost crashing.
I turned the game off at that point,
I’m not supersticious but this is WAY too fucked up even for me. I
haven’t played it at all today, hell, I didn’t even get any sleep last
night, I kept hearing the reverse Song of Healing music in my head and
just remembering the sense of dread I felt exploring Clock Town. I drove
back to the old man’s house today to ask him some questions with a
buddy of mine (no way I was going there alone), only to find that
there’s a For Sale sign in the front yard and when I rang the door no
one was home.
So now I’m back here writing down the rest of my
thoughts and recording what happened, sorry if some of this has
grammatical errors and whatnot, I’m running on no sleep here. I’m
terrified of this game, even moreso now that I relived it a second time
writing this all down, but I feel like there’s still more to it than
meets the eye, and that there’s something calling to me to investigate
this further. I think “BEN” is something in this equation, but I don’t
know what, and if I could get ahold of the old man then I would be able
to find some answers. I need another day or so to recuperate before
tackling this game again, its already taken a toll on my sanity I feel
like, but next time I do this I’m going to be recording my footage all
the way through. The idea to record only came to me towards the end, so
you see the last few minutes of what I saw (including Skull Kid and the
Elegy statue), but it’s on youtube here.
I’m going to stay in this thread for a little while longer before I
fall asleep to answer any questions you guys might have or hopefully
listen to your ideas or theories to help me shed some light into this or
maybe things I should try to do, I think I’m going to play BEN’s file
tomorrow to see what happens, maybe I was supposed to do that all along.
I don’t believe in paranormal shit, but this is a little fucked up, but
maybe this BEN guy is just a really good hacker/programmer, I don’t
want to think about the alternatives if he isn’t.
That’s the end
of the copy/paste, I’m hoping that maybe this is some kind of running
gag the developers had and that other people have gotten “gag” or
“hacked” copies of the game like this. This just really scares me.
Please, I don't know what to do. I've tried to tell my wife about
this, but she's a science teacher and thanks to my history of practical
jokes, she thinks I'm just kidding.
There is something stalking me. I don't know what it wants, but
almost every night since I started seeing it, it has terrorized me. It
doesn't touch me, it doesn't communicate in any sort of way, it just
fills me with horror. If what I seem to ramble, please forgive me... I
haven't slept in several days.
We live in the second floor of a duplex with stairs down the back
of the house to the basement where the laundry machines are. There's a
door at the bottom of the stairs before the door to the basement that
looks out onto our back porch and into the back yard. Six days ago, I
was going down to the basement to bring up some laundry and I glanced
out the door as I passed. There was a figure standing at the far edge of
our yard. Her back was to me, and she was just standing there, looking
into the woods beyond our yard. She was dressed in nothing but a light
gown. It had lots of flowing material coming off of it that was whipping
around in the air slowly. The whole scene creeped me out instantly, but
I thought she might be a friend of our downstairs neighbor, so I
continued to the basement. When I came back up, she wasn't there.
The next night, I went down again, and as I passed the back door,
I looked outside. The woman was back. She was exactly like she was the
night before, facing away, not moving. The hair on my arms and neck
stood up straight when I saw her. I was even more creeped out when I
realized she was in the same clothes as the night before. That's when I
did something I shouldn't have... I opened the back door. Leaning out, I
called to her to see if she was okay. She didn't respond. She didn't
make any sort of indcation that she'd heard me. It was freezing cold, so
I shut the door and locked it. Coming back upstairs afterward, I looked
out the window and she was gone again.
Later that same night, I was in the bedroom, getting ready to go
to sleep. Everything was dark, because my wife had gone to bed before
me. Our bedroom looks out over the backyard, and my side of the bed
faces the windows, so I have to go past them to get in. As I was doing
so, I suddenly got that same deep dread feeling in my stomach that I had
gotten the first time I saw the figure in the backyard. Something
compelled me to hesitate by the windows. My hands were shaking as I
pulled the curtain back a bit and peeked through the shades into the
backyard. It was a clear night, so the backyard wasn't shrouded in
darkness. The woman was standing in the middle of the backyard, no
longer at the edge of the woods, facing the house with her head tilted
up to look directly at the window I was peeking from. I jerked away
instantly, afraid she had seen me. Her face was covered in shadow and
hair, but I saw her chin and nose. A sharp nose and a thin chin. Gray.
Her skin looks gray, I think. Her hair is black and long. I was so
scared, I jumped into bed and covered myself with the covers.
The next day, I played outside in the snow with my four year old
daughter. She wanted me to pull her on her sled in the backyard, but
just the thought of going back there made me scared again, so I talked
her into digging holes in the snow in the front yard. That night, things
went from bad to worse. Somehow, I had managed to forget about the
woman. Then, in the middle of the night, my daughter started crying. Our
bedroom is just across the hall from hers. I thought she might need to
use the bathroom or just be having a bad dream, so I went into her room
to see if she was okay. She was uncovered, curled into a ball on her
mattress. I pulled her covers over her and that's when she whispered to
me.
"Daddy, there's someone in my closet."
Instant goosebumps. I turned my head slowly toward the closet
door at the end of her bed. Normally, the closet is shut, but now it was
open. The woman was standing in my daughter's closet. Not even when it
was clear that I saw her did she move or make a sound, just stood there
and looked at me through the cracked-open door. My blood ran cold when I
saw her.
"Get up," I told my daughter, "Get in my arms, quickly. QUICKLY."
she scrambled up and hugged me tightly and I walked backward out of the
room, watching the closet the entire time. In my mind I imagined her
throwing the closet door open and running at us, arms outstretched. I
just hugged my daughter and walked backward into my room. The woman
never appeared in the doorway. I heard no movement from my daughter's
room. I tucked her into my bed and stood there watching the doorway to
her bedroom. I did not go back in, I just stood there and watched and
listened. When I finally got the courage to climb into bed, I didn't
sleep.
Sunday, I told my wife everything. I told her about the first
time I saw this woman, I told her about calling out to her and seeing
her from the window. I told her that she had appeared in our daughter's
closet. She told me it wasn't funny, that it was my fault for our
daughter's bad dreams and that I shouldn't encourage her to be afraid of
her closet.
Sunday night, my daughter called to me from her room again. Call
me a coward, but I couldn't go back into that room. I called her quietly
to come get in our bed, but she cried and said she was scared. I wanted
to go and get her, but I was scared too. I told her to pull her
blankets up and cover herself. Just cover yourself, honey, and you'll be
okay. I prayed that it was true. I lay there, peeking over the sleeping
form of my wife and out into the hallway at the closed door of my
daughter's room and just kept praying. I heard her cry a while longer,
then she went quiet and I hoped that she was asleep.
Monday, I piled toys in front of the door to her closet. By that
time, there was no doubt in my mind that this was some sort of ghost or
apparition, but I piled things in front of the closet anyway. Like a
pile of toys could stop a ghost.
Monday night, my daughter did not cry, but I didn't sleep. I lay
there, looking at the ceiling, tense. Around 2:00, I heard her bedroom
door creak open and I knew something was wrong. She must be scared, I
thought, so I called to her like before, "Just come to me and you can
sleep in our bed, Sweety." But she didn't come. I peeked over my my
wife.
The woman was standing there in the doorway to my daughter's
room. Her arms hung at her sides, her shoulders slouched down. Her gown
was dirty, like it hadn't been washed in years, and hung off her likes
torn rags. I wasn't breathing, I wasn't blinking, I just looked at her
and she looked at me and I thought this is it, I'm going to die. She
never moved, never made a sound. I whispered, "Please, go away. Please,
leave me alone. Please, I'm sorry." I couldn't look away. If I look
away, she will get closer. I was sure of it. If I close my eyes, when I
open them, she'll be standing over me, looking at me. At some point, she
was gone. It's like I fell asleep with my eyes open. I don't remember
her disappearing, just that I was looking at the doorway, and she wasn't
there anymore.
Last night, I lay awake, waiting. I asked my wife to shut our
bedroom door because the night light in the hallway was keeping me
awake. It was stupid. I don't know what I was thinking. Like clockwork, I
heard my daughter's bedroom door creak open. I held my breath. Then I
heard the floorboards in the hallway creaking and I started shaking
uncontrollably. I heard our bedroom door open, and I knew she was
standing there, in the doorway, not moving, just looking at me. I didn't
look. I couldn't. I did what had I told my daughter to do and pulled
the covers over my head.
I am a complete mess. A zombie at work. I don't want to go home
anymore. I think I see the woman in other places. A glance while driving
and I think she's sitting in the passenger seat of the truck behind me,
or standing down the street asI drive off. Just sitting here at my
desk, someone passes by behind me and I jump. I'm afraid that if I turn
around, she'll be there, waiting for me to look at her. And what if I
saw her face? I don't want to see it. I don't want to see her anymore,
but I don't know what to do. The only hope I feel is that, for unrelated
reasons, my wife is talking about moving. But our lease isn't up until
May. I don't know if I can hold out that long.
So… it had finally happened. I finally got Super Mario Galaxy 2 for
Christmas. I was grateful for it, as, I was a hardcore Mario fan. Not
like my school agrees with me. I get picked on at school for liking
Mario. I remember the things they said to me. Like “Hey, Rob, where’s
Mario?” I hate Bullshit like that that happens at my school. I am a
social outcast, and I have no friends. Everyone at my school likes their
Call of Duty’s, and their Halo’s. If I went to school in the ‘80’s or
the ‘90’s, everyone would love Nintendo. And I would have friends.
I
looked at the box cover, I could tell it was innocent enough. Mario,
with his jolly smile, perched on Yoshi’s back. A warm smile grew on my
face. I was happy.
Shortly after, I examined everything. I
noticed that there was miniscule writing in the top left corner of the
cover. It was not visible to the naked eye. It must have been the small
print, like the code of the disc that is usually printed on. But I could
obviously tell this was hand- written. How someone could write that
small astonishes me.
Who would have wrote something on the box? I asked my mother where she had gotten it from.
“Santa got it me, to give to you.”
What a lame excuse I thought. I ignored it any way.
Later
that day, after I had my Christmas dinner, I slid the disc into my Wii.
It started loading, and then the bright logo came up on the screen.
Super Mario Galaxy 2…
I
started a new save with my Mii as the planet. I was pumped. Here we go!
It started up smoothly and I played it for a few hours. I loved it! I t
was a massive step up from the first game. The story was great. The
characters were great. The power ups were great. The music was great.
The levels were great. The game was fantastic as an overall experience!
A
few weeks later, I was up to the final boss of Bowser. I defeated him
in about 2 minutes (well, it is Mario). After I defeated him, he didn’t
seem right. Something about him was, in a word, weird. He froze in
position, not moving a muscle. He shut his eyes for a while, around ten
seconds. When he opened them again they were bloodshot, I was confused.
He whispered in a voice that was nothing like what he usually sounded:
“So you win… again. I hope you’re happy”
Then
it just carried on like nothing happened. I felt confused. Bowser would
never say anything like that. It was slightly disturbing. Maybe, it was
just a bug that the editors forgot to notice.
It was getting
late anyway, so I went to bed. I was thinking in my bed. Why did
Nintendo let that happen? I fell asleep, and thinking of the joys of
playing it tomorrow. I whole new stream of galaxy’s for me to play.
I
woke up the following morning. Somehow glad, but I don’t know why. I
got out of bed and into my dressing gown. Put on my fluffy slippers and
walked downstairs. My Wii was sitting there, in its usual spot.
I
started playing Mario galaxy. And I started “World S”. It sounds kinda
cool. As I went through the portal from World 6 to said World, I heard
Mario’s voice. It was very faint, I couldn’t really hear it. What I
never really understood is that Mario never said anything when he went
though the portal. I wasn’t really concerned anyway.
I started
playing the new levels. They were hard, but rewarding. As I got up to
the “Boss Blitz” Galaxy, the music slowed down. Not lots, but enough to
notice. I started the Galaxy. But the little jingle, which always plays
at the start of a level, didn’t play. All that played was static. It
wasn’t loud, but it put me on edge. I started the level. I was against
Dino Piranha. I knew he was really easy, since having a strong memory of
beating him first time in the first game. I started playing. I made the
silly mistake of running into him. And I died instantly.
WHAT?!
That was totally unfair. First of all, I knew I had 3 hits until I died.
Second, I was sure Dino Piranha was NOT hard. I knew, completing the
first game 5 times.
I restarted the level once more. The jingle
still did not play. It was more static. Except this time, it was louder,
about the sound frequency of a person talking normally. I went against
Dino Piranha again. But this time I saw him eating the previous Mario’s
corpse. He has blood on his mouth and flesh in his teeth. I think I
could also see an intestine dangling out his mouth.
He stood up and he said in a deep, spine- tingling voice:
“More food for mama.”
My character froze in place. Dino Piranha came and ripped Mario’s head off.
Game
over music played. But it was really static-y. I smelt a burning scent.
But I was not sure where it came from. This was terrifying. I was not
sure how to react. I remember what my mother said to me 3 weeks ago.
“Santa got it me, to give to you.” Why would Santa give me this unholy
piece of Crap…
The following morning, I was curious, so I went
back on the game. I started up my Wii and I went and got the Super Mario
Galaxy 2 box.
I noticed on the box, in bright red sharpie, A
giant “X” that covered Yoshi’s face. I asked my Mum, Dad, Brother &
Sister. But all 4 denied doing it.
I went on other levels instead
of the Boss Blitz galaxy. I decided to go on Yoshi Star Galaxy. As I
passed through each portal to get to each world, I heard Mario’s voice
every time. He was saying what he said yesterday. But this time, I could
hear him.
“Welcome new Galaxy.”
Each time was a little louder. Until, the last time, he said it so loud I thought my ear drums would break!
I
finally got to Yoshi Star. I was relieved that it started normally. I
defeated Kamek, the wizard Koopa. And I could access Yoshi. When I burst
the egg, blood went everywhere. On the enemy’s, on the floor, on Mario.
I then saw Yoshi’s tattered corpse, his eye out of his socket, limbs
missing, coughing up blood. He made a slight yelp, a painful one, and
dropped dead. Not only did I throw up in my mouth. But I started crying.
This is a true nightmare. I smelt that burning smell again. I quit the
galaxy. A textbox popped up, it said:
“Have you read the small text yet?”
I answered No, it said:
“Go on then, read it.”
I answered yes, it said:
“I know when you’re lying…”
I got out my magnifying glass. The text said:
“You are a true fool, Robert”
It
was signed my Shigeru Miyamoto, the guy who was behind Mario. I had a
shocked look on my face as I went back to the game. I answered yes this
time. I went back to the map screen. I saw fire everywhere, all galaxy’s
were destroyed, alongside Starship Mario. Lastly, the music was played
very slowly, but loudly. I quit the game instantly. I went to put in the
disc of Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Yet I got a message on my
letter box in my Wii. I read it:
“Just remember, the fiery pits of hell await you…”
“Welcome New Galaxy”
Several
seconds later, my Wii blew up into fiery mess. I had bit’s of plastic
stuck in my body, I lay there, crying. I got sent to the emergency room
instantly. I have been here all this time, telling you my horrifying
story. I hope you do believe me, as it has scarred me. No one at school
will, so I am sharing it here, on the internet, for all to see. I still
don’t think I am safe, as I got a get well soon card this morning. I
opened it and it said:
Herobrine
is a ghostly presence of a dead miner in Minecraft. He was first seen
around Alpha 1.0.1 and since then some strange sightings have been
recorded. Some even say they have found a fool proof way to summon him.
Saying a ring of gold blocks around mossy cobblestone and netherrack on
top. Just place Redstone torches next to the netherrack and set it on
fire. Often it says you have to mine iron ore or die in the flames.
He is said to have creepy white eyes and a rapists smile (my words, not others). The first apparent encounter had the following:
“I
had recently spawned a new world in single-player Minecraft. Everything
was normal as I began chopping down trees and crafting a workbench. I
noticed something move amongst the dense fog (I have a very slow
computer so I have to play with tiny render distance). I thought it was a
com, so I pursued it, hoping to grab some hides for armor.
It
wasn’t a cow though. Looking back at me was another character with the
default skin, but his eyes were empty. I saw no name pop-up, and I
double-checked to make sure I wasn’t in multiplayer mode. He didn’t stay
long. He looked at me and quickly ran into the fog. I pursued out of
curiosity, but he was gone”
A while ago there was a streamed video. This information is taken directly from the Minecraft Wiki.
“It
was only later that Herobrine grew in popularity, when the Brocast
staff staged a hoax in one of their live-streams. Herobrine was
introduced to the stream at 20:45
Later on, there was another video showing Herobrine in a user-made lava field. The livestream went down after the player ran and saved, only to resume ten minutes later, where Herobrine had disappeared.
During
this stream, the player can be heard talking to his wife, stating he
was trolling, which flooded the livestream chat with outrage. The player
then faked a game crash.
During this crash, all watchers were redirected to another page, featuring Steve's face, but with real, frantically rolling eyes in the place of his block eyes, modified to be completely black.
When
viewing the page's source, there were a jumble of characters and
letters. after removing all non-alphabet characters, the following
message was revealed.
‘It
has been reported that some victims of torture, during the act, would
retreat into a fantasy world from which they could not WAKE UP. In this
catatonic state, the victim lived in a world just like their normal one,
except they weren't being tortured. The only way that they realized
they needed to WAKE UP was a note they found in their fantasy world. It
would tell them about their condition, and tell them to WAKE UP. Even
then, it would often take months until they were ready to discard their
fantasy world and PLEASE WAKE UP.’”
For
a while after this I was paranoid that Herobrine would somehow find and
kill me. It wasn’t until 1.2.4 that I realise. Herobrine was no joke…
Notch
and a lot of the other staff at Mojang have claimed he doesn’t exist. I
believed them and went back to playing Minecraft. I had just built the
most amazing house ever. And decided to go to sleep in my nice comfy
bed.
I woke up to find my windows smashed. I
just had one word in my mind. Herobrine. I decided to investigate.
First I found a Redstone torch. And another. And another. Until finally I
found a 2 by 2 tunnel in the stone, lined in diamond ore. I walked in
to find I was surrounded by bedrock. I heard a player falling noise
behind me. And as I turned around I died and he stared into my players
eyes. Words came up on screen. “YOU ARE MINE NOW”. I could never get
back in my minecraft account again.
Dire Forest, of all the terrible places to be lost and alone, this
was surely the worst. Of course I had heard the tales, that all who had
entered had never returned, as well its infamous reputation as the place
where all evil was said to originate. Despite this, I simply has to
enter, although I am slowly forgetting why. It must be the influence of
this infernal place! Nevertheless, I will surely know what I have came
for, when my eyes glance upon it. Presently, I continue upon my nebulous
and twisting path, the blackened and seemingly lifeless trees seem to
lean ever inward, plunging the already unnerving place into eldritch
shadow.
I eventually come upon a small, gray stream. However, I know not
to drink the water in this foul place, nor to eat of any of the fruits,
no matter what beguiling aroma they give off. To do so is essentially a
death sentence, as a demonic virus will turn anyone foolhardy enough to
taste the resources of the forest, into one the living dead. The process
is both excruciatingly painful, and incurable; the only way to purge
the disease being the complete and fiery immolation of the host, or
purification through silver weaponry, both methods proving fatal, of
course. Nonetheless, I continue to forge ahead, the almost inaudible
crunching of dead leaves underfoot my only companion in the accursed
place.
A bit further on, I see another temptation set up by this place
to trick anyone brave enough to make it this far. A small, glowing,
yellow gaseous ball of light floats just off my path, to beckon me off
the path, and to my certain demise. I had heard of these tempters,
little demons called will-o-the-wisps, that attempted to lure travelers
off the beaten path, and to a bottomless bog, or inescapable quicksand.
Regardless, I knew to ignore these terrible creatures, lest their powers
of allure overwhelm me, and eventually they give up on me.
I walk for a good distance without incident, and stop in a large
clearing. Just when I was beginning to believe that the forest had no
more tricks up its sleeve; I see something that stops me dead in my
tracks. Assembled a little less than 100 meters away are approximately
10 undead abominations. Some of them were in a greater state of decay
than others, these being the ones with little more gleaming bone
remaining, the skins and muscle having atrophied long ago. Others had
more flesh and sinew intact, although all of them can be deadly to the
unprepared traveler. I realize then that I’m going to have to fight to
survive, so I draw my two pure silver short-blades out of their
sheathes. The foul creatures take notice immediately, and begin hissing
malevolently. They can sense the cleansing power of silver, and know it
can put an end to them. They too, drew weapons, but theirs are blades
soaked in blood of the slaughter of many. They also bear demonic powers,
as evidenced by the pulsing, dark red aura surrounding their rusted
blades. I knew not from whence they obtained these weapons, only that
they were supremely evil relics of a bygone era and war.
As I would expect from a mindless adversary, they all begin
lumbering in my direction. Without hesitation, I plunge my right blade
into the upper torso of the first undead, this one having more skin than
most. The result is immediate, the creature begins screaming in
ever-increasing pitch, shock-waves rolling through its disgusting body,
until naught but black ashes are left. Despite my small triumph, the
other creatures remain unfazed, and continue to attack relentlessly. I
continue to fight in a flurry of limbs and blades, until only two
remain, the duo looking decidedly skeleton-like. The pair lunge upon me
at once, and I skewer the head of the first, and cleave the second in
two. I do not escape unscathed, however as I receive a large laceration
on my left forearm. Even worse, the wound burns far worse then it
should, and I know I absolutely have to find what I came her quickly,
lest I perish here, or join the legions of the undead.
Luckily, the Dire Forest seems to have exhausted its resources
against me, and I finally reach the place, where the object I am after
is enshrined. Lost memories pour into my mind, as I glance upon it, and I
remembered everything that I had forgotten since entering this accursed
place. I had come here to protect one of the last vestiges of human
civilization left in this broken and scarred world. Ever since the
undead appeared seemingly out of nowhere, the world slid steadily on the
path to destruction, with the undead greatly outnumbering the the human
population at present. I was chosen as the last hope to defend the city
known as Excelsior, even if few other bastions of human population
existed elsewhere, these were little more than ruins, and ours was
always considered the strongest and best fortified; even if they are in
great need of help now. Thus, with new-found conviction in my mind, I
looked upon the object I had come so far for, a seemingly innocent,
small, metallic bell. Of course, I knew its true nature, as a powerful
force that could condemn or save a world, depending on the wielder. The
bell was also known as “The bringer of judgment” as it could mete out
justice according to its wielder's desire. I wanted to ponder this
longer, but the searing wound was turning a ghastly green color, and I
knew that I needed to grab the bell quickly, for it had the potential to
heal most, if not all wounds.
As I carefully stretched out my hand to retrieve the Judgment
Bell, I felt an evil presence directly behind me. I immediacy jumped to
the right, and not a moment too soon, as a shaft of lightning struck the
ground where I was a second ago, leaving naught but scorched earth. I
quickly turned around to face my attacker, and was met with a sight so
horrifying, that no amount of words could begin to capture the true
terror I saw before me. The being in front of me appeared in the guise
of a man in a long, black, hooded robe. He held a sharp, bloodstained,
scythe in his right hand, or rather the bones that had once been his
hand, as they had not the slightest bit of skin, muscle, or tissue on
them. The being had his left hand held out in front him, and it was
cracking with a nexus of multicolored energy that could come from
nowhere else but the netherworld. The being then removed his hood, and I
saw that his face was nothing more than a grinning skull, complete with
a malevolent grin, and dual yellow flames where his eyes ought to have
been.
I recognized this being for what he really was immediately. Back
when the world had more hope, he used to be the leader of a deranged
cult known as the Necromancers. The Necromancers would perform satanic
rituals and numerous sacrifices, in order to bring an end to the world
quickly, as their leader thought it was beyond saving. However, all the
members of his cult were hunted down and exterminated, while he was
banished from civilization and took refuge in the Dire Forest. It had
been said that he made pacts with numerous malicious entities and
otherworldly spirits in order to gain great, and terrible powers, so
that he might end the world himself. Now a radically altered version of
that man stood before me; all things from his previous life discarded
and forgotten, including whatever name or title he may have possessed.
He was known simply as Lich, to the few who knew of him, and only then
in hushed whispers, and never alone. Lich stood in place and began to
speak, every word accompanied with the grinding of his bones.
“So, you're all that stands in my way from bringing an end to
this wretched world? How pitiful, this forest is a child's playground
compared to what I am capable of doing!” shouted Lich. “Mwahahaha, no
matter, you are nothing but a mere insect to me, unworthy of trying to
save that which is beyond aid” continued Lich. “I know of the silver
blades you carry, and they are beyond useless when facing an adversary
of my caliber!” exclaimed Lich. I knew I had little time before he would
attack, however, I had heard tales that his seeming invulnerability was
was not complete. According to legend, Lich could be killed if the
object that held his soul was rent asunder by a weapon with the power to
purify, and thus kill the undead. I subtly glance at the Judgment Bell,
and make the startling realization that that is the object that holds
Lich's soul! Yet, if I destroy it, the world will be doomed to oblivion.
I have no time to ponder this however, as Lich suddenly bellows
at me, saying “your time is at an end, now you shall know death's sweet
embrace!” He then charges at me and his scythe makes a whooshing sound
at the place where I had stood a moment earlier. I continue blocking and
parrying his attacks as I slowly make my way to the pedestal where the
Judgment Bell is. However, just as I am about to reach it, my left arm
goes numb due to the progressing infection and drops the silver blade.
Seeing his chance, Lich laughs manically and conjures up a twisting
black flame in his left hand, piercing screams emanating from the
inferno. With all the strength I could muster, I bring the remaining
silver blade down upon the Judgment Bell.
The effect is immediate, Lich starts caterwauling inhumanly and
drops his scythe and his black flame is extinguished. His screams
continue to intensify as blood I didn't know he possessed started to
pour out of every orifice in his body. An interdimensional rift began to
form under him as a giant, pitch-black 6-fingered hand reached through
it and grabbed Lich. The hand squeezed Lich and broke most of his bones,
all the while Lich was still screaming and bleeding profusely. From
where I was standing, I could see magma, fire, and distorted human
bodies through the portal, as well as smell brimstone and feel the
intense heat; it was obvious where Lich was going. The enormous sable
hand and Lich went into the rift, and the hole in space-time closed.
Yet, all was not well. The infection was quickly spreading
through my body, and my vision was already beginning to blur, and only
the Judgment Bell, which was likely destroyed, could save me, and the
world. If the bell rang, all would be well, if it remained silent, then
all would soon perish. With the last of my energy, I gingerly picked up
the bell with my right hand and shook it back and forth. Yet, my world
was eclipsed in the purest white before the bell's notes could have
reached my ear. If the world was saved, I had died a martyr. If the
world would die, then my sacrifice was worthless. I no longer belonged
in the living world, and no matter the outcome, I had passed on; the
fate of the world for others to know.