WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.639 --> 00:00:06.759 A group of four gets together for a night of movies and snacks, but 2 00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:13.599 things take a turn when they begin sharing scary stories. As requested. My 3 00:00:13.720 --> 00:00:27.399 name is Edwin, and here it's a scary story. In twenty thirteen, 4 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:31.839 I was traveling by myself for a small work assignment for an internet publication. 5 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:38.240 The fi charge covered a round trip flight one thousand dollars and a bus ride 6 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:43.079 to the downtown area of a city called gold Stand. However, a friend 7 00:00:43.119 --> 00:00:46.640 of mine happened to live there, so when we met up, she offered 8 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:49.640 me a place to stay, and I was able to save money to work 9 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:54.000 on a little side project that had in mind for years. But what I 10 00:00:54.119 --> 00:00:59.920 experienced while I was there proved to me something that I wasn't prepared for. 11 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:08.439 Face my friend's younger cousin demanded a scary story. Tell me one, he 12 00:01:08.519 --> 00:01:12.719 said, but he didn't sound too excited to hear one. He was known 13 00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:18.200 for fast forwarding movies to the scary parts, usually when the witch came along 14 00:01:18.359 --> 00:01:22.319 or when the monster decided to come out from under the bed. It was 15 00:01:22.359 --> 00:01:25.599 just the way he used to watch them. And when he found out that 16 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:30.799 I'm a bit of a scary storyteller myself. He looked at me challenged me 17 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:34.200 to scare him. I was able to make an excuse not to make him 18 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:38.120 pause the movie. Everyone was watching that one night, if it can even 19 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:42.640 be called watching, because two of them were asleep and his older sister was 20 00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:48.519 on her phone. But that excuse and the relief that came from that night 21 00:01:48.599 --> 00:01:53.159 had worn out. That had taken about three weeks until we were all at 22 00:01:53.159 --> 00:01:57.280 the place where I was going to be staying during my trip at my friend's 23 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:00.640 house. You know, I thought of all the things I had worked together 24 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:05.560 for me to end up right there at that moment. I still think about 25 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:10.360 them today, and it's been years, and yet I still can't quite understand 26 00:02:10.360 --> 00:02:16.560 it. His cousin, Elsie was my friend. She's the one that had 27 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:22.319 told me to stay at her house. Her family had become friends of mine 28 00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:24.639 too, and it was actually because of that that they let me stay at 29 00:02:24.680 --> 00:02:29.520 their home up in the valley. It was away from the downtown area of 30 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:34.560 gold Stand. I was supposed to be there for only a month, but 31 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:37.800 it didn't take long for me to decide to spend a little more time around 32 00:02:37.800 --> 00:02:40.960 there. I was a writer, after all, and I submitted my work 33 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:47.520 online with just an Internet connection. Plus I didn't know it yet, but 34 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:53.719 I was about to have one of the most haunting stories of my life. 35 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:57.400 I'm not sure I would ought for finding out about it beforehand if I had 36 00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:01.639 been given the chance. Her younger cousin, the one that wanted the story. 37 00:03:02.199 --> 00:03:06.520 His name was Alex, and he was going to be spending the night 38 00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:10.159 and had used up most of our afternoon by going around the grocery store and 39 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:15.120 finding ingredients. We're gonna make brownies and cookies, but from the same mix. 40 00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:21.360 We're gonna bake them that night. The recipe was still on my phone 41 00:03:21.400 --> 00:03:24.439 when I pulled it up, and I was grateful because I had screenshot at 42 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:30.599 it from earlier, since just for that night would be stuck without internet and 43 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:35.080 with brownies in the center of the table waiting for them to cool down. 44 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:39.599 All four of us simply sat there, two twenty somethings and two siblings in 45 00:03:39.639 --> 00:03:45.080 their pre and mid teenage years. We were making fun of the world without 46 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:50.400 internet and how we wouldn't survive, and all of that was leading up to 47 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:57.879 that question, well more of a strong request, a demand for a scary 48 00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:02.560 story. Alex's older sister, Jenna, looked up at me at that exact 49 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:08.560 moment, hopeful for a story as well. Elsie, my friend was the 50 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:14.039 one that was against it. Not here, how about tomorrow in the morning, 51 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:18.040 she suggested. I mean she had told me that she loved scary stories 52 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:21.560 when I told her about my project, but I wasn't going to push it. 53 00:04:23.720 --> 00:04:28.480 I could tell she was very nervous. Still, with a smile on 54 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:31.000 her face, she looked at me and suggested that if I wanted to tell 55 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:36.439 one that I could, that it was all right. But there was something 56 00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:41.199 in the way she said it, though, that made me change my mind 57 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:45.839 about actually telling one. Plus, being put on the spot to tell a 58 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:49.040 story was not as fun as I thought it would be. I knew dozens 59 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:53.360 of them. Hundreds were the ones that I had written up until then, 60 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:58.920 some that I could barely remember, but no one would know. I could 61 00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:02.759 make things up. The stories I would publish would end up on a tiny 62 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:08.879 blog that a handful of people would read and comment on. Plus they were 63 00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:14.879 not appropriate for young teenagers. Some involved heavy topics like drugs and alcohol. 64 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:24.120 Others had relationship problems and murder. She brought up something about how the cookies 65 00:05:24.120 --> 00:05:27.160 looked better than the brownies, and she stood up to grab the jug of 66 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:30.680 milk from the refrigerator. It was half full, with the label that had 67 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:34.720 the image of a bird in the front. It was just something odd that 68 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:40.480 I noticed and made a mental note of, not sure for what. It 69 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:45.079 was, a habit of mine, suddenly noticing something and then making a note 70 00:05:45.079 --> 00:05:50.800 of it while I smiled. For example, like strange formations of the shadows 71 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:55.959 of the trees on the grass, maybe a new way to sign my signature. 72 00:05:57.079 --> 00:06:00.639 And even a sudden strange formation of birds up in the sky would make 73 00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:06.399 me think of things like death, art and travel. And my notebook was 74 00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:13.079 full of little quotes like that, possible titles or blog posts ideas, if 75 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:18.560 you will. We joked around the table about how Alex's mom slept snoring five 76 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:23.959 minutes into the movie, and about the hot chocolate that had come out too 77 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:28.839 strong that night, But there was only a two second period of silence that 78 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:34.680 Alex took advantage of to ask once again for his scary story. Now I 79 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:40.160 was a nervous one, and I shot a look immediately to Elsie, who 80 00:06:40.199 --> 00:06:44.360 also caught on. I don't know what to do when I'm put on the 81 00:06:44.360 --> 00:06:48.480 spot. And that's when, while looking down at her plate with half a 82 00:06:48.519 --> 00:06:55.360 cookie and brown crumbs that had dropped outside of it, she said well whispered 83 00:06:56.279 --> 00:07:01.160 that she had a story. Jenna looked at her as her own expression left 84 00:07:01.160 --> 00:07:06.240 her face. They just looked at each other as if they were acknowledging what 85 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:13.519 was about to be said, something that they both knew, something that Alex 86 00:07:13.560 --> 00:07:18.519 and I were both missing. Alex was the one that spoke up first and 87 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:26.800 whispered back, asking what it was about. I was nervous watching Elsie being 88 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:30.480 so serious. It was a funny story about how we met, and most 89 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:35.240 of our stories together have been funny. I didn't think anyone had ever seen 90 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:41.279 her without a smile or without being happy about something for once, And it 91 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:45.439 wasn't about the missing smile, but it was about the way that her smile 92 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:49.360 dropped that made me feel uneasy. But when I looked over at Jenna, 93 00:07:50.519 --> 00:07:57.000 I knew that I was not the only one. I just blurted out if 94 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:00.519 the story didn't have to be real, that I could tell one, and 95 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:05.920 Alex kept pressing though that it needed to be real, but there would be 96 00:08:05.959 --> 00:08:09.199 no way that he would know after all, so in my innocent mind back 97 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:16.160 then, knowing full well that ghosts didn't exist, and that scary movies were 98 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:22.600 just movies played by actors and written by talented people, that stories from the 99 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:26.759 minds of famous authors were all made up, made to scare you by any 100 00:08:26.839 --> 00:08:33.559 means necessary, even if that meant lying to you assuring you that their story 101 00:08:33.639 --> 00:08:39.240 was real. In a split second, I asked myself, why not, 102 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:43.240 What would be so bad about lying to this twelve year old kid about a 103 00:08:43.320 --> 00:08:48.519 story I had written and tell him, convince him that it was real. 104 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:54.759 I saw Elsie's shoulders drop as she relaxed from what was going on through her 105 00:08:54.799 --> 00:09:01.600 mind. Jenna seemed a little relief too, but my face had given it 106 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:05.440 away or something, because just when I was about to explain to him the 107 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:09.759 story of the haunted car that I had when I first started driving, he 108 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:18.039 smiled and then said that the story was fake. Come on, just a 109 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:24.480 true story. Let Elsie tell it. And it was Jenna's turn to be 110 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:31.039 nervous now, because curiosity had taken over my mind too of seeing them both 111 00:09:31.080 --> 00:09:37.200 acting so strangely. Jenna stood up, asking Elsie if it would be okay 112 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:43.159 if she turned on all of the lights in the house. Elsie just nodded. 113 00:09:43.720 --> 00:09:46.360 She took out her phone right away to check the time, and I 114 00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:50.600 took mine out too. She had asked out loud how long it would take 115 00:09:50.679 --> 00:09:56.240 us to finish all the cookies and brownies because of the strange thing with the 116 00:09:56.279 --> 00:10:01.000 internet company. This was new to me, but it somehow tied up with 117 00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:05.440 the other services in the house. I had learned earlier that if the bill 118 00:10:05.559 --> 00:10:09.200 was behind on the internet like theirs was. The guy at the supermarket counter, 119 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:13.279 the one where you pay your bills at and everything, had said that 120 00:10:13.320 --> 00:10:16.759 the electric power would be cut right at midnight and then be put back around 121 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:22.600 two or three in the morning automatically, that the payment was all he needed, 122 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:28.080 and that's what he got, without understanding why, And again purely out 123 00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:31.440 of curiosity, I asked why they had to do that, Why could out 124 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:37.279 the power and he said that it had already been programmed that way, but 125 00:10:37.320 --> 00:10:41.000 that it wouldn't be a problem to just pay our bill on time next time. 126 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:46.200 He made a few jokes about it, saying to be sure that we 127 00:10:46.279 --> 00:10:50.039 had backup alarm clocks and that milk wouldn't go bad in the refrigerator for being 128 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:56.639 without power for only three hours. He made a point to look at me 129 00:10:56.679 --> 00:11:01.679 as if I was the one with the money, the husband that couldn't take 130 00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:05.279 care of his household. Then he shook his head in disappointment and in his 131 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:13.559 own joking but kind of judgmental manner that I'm not used to. Elsie laughed 132 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:16.960 and said that it would be fine, that we'd likely all be asleep by 133 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:24.039 then, But then again, there we were at eleven forty nine at night, 134 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:28.679 still wide awake. All this time, Jenna had been running around the 135 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:35.200 house taking her job really seriously, flicking the lights on from the staircase, 136 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:39.759 the living room, and even the bathroom. We could hear her walking back. 137 00:11:39.799 --> 00:11:43.799 When Elsie looked directly at Alex across the table and asked him if he 138 00:11:43.879 --> 00:11:52.159 knew that this house was haunted, Jenna had her hands over her mouth, 139 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:58.200 letting out a gentle oh my god, as she sat down, pulling her 140 00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:03.720 chair closer to Elsie's. The whole time, I had no idea what was 141 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:07.799 going on, And I mean I like a good scary story, just like 142 00:12:07.879 --> 00:12:13.600 anyone else. There was something about them, too, maybe the fact that 143 00:12:13.639 --> 00:12:16.639 they both knew something that I didn't. That made me feel that a rational 144 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:22.039 sensation to speed up time and be over it, kind of like when you're 145 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:26.039 on the top of a roller coaster right before that first drop, when you're 146 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:31.200 first learning to drive and the gas pedal hasn't responded yet, when you're slowly 147 00:12:31.240 --> 00:12:37.720 stepping on it. When they were building this house, she explained, dad 148 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:41.000 found some strange markings on the bricks they used to build the front of the 149 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:48.159 house. She was getting started. It was nineteen ninety five and in a 150 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:52.080 strike of luck, her dad had gotten an offer for a business that he 151 00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:56.080 had started and sold it for a good sum of money, and he used 152 00:12:56.120 --> 00:13:01.759 part of it to build a house for Elsie's family. The first part of 153 00:13:01.799 --> 00:13:05.679 it was finding a plot of land for it, and once they found one, 154 00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:07.960 they had to find a group of builders to come and put the place 155 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:15.879 together. But it was one evening when they were going home the workers when 156 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:20.000 one of them came running up to her dad to ask about a dark patch, 157 00:13:20.759 --> 00:13:24.399 the one that was on the ground and what they should do with it 158 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:31.240 burnt two of them confirmed that area maybe a two by eight foot patch. 159 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:35.799 It looked like it had been filled with black ash. The area where they 160 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:41.000 found it had been under the tiny hut or cabin that they had torn down 161 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:46.120 before, and it was the only structure on that lot. His explanation was 162 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:50.000 that it had been used as a kitchen or that specific area had been a 163 00:13:50.039 --> 00:13:52.679 fire pit of some sort, and to just continue with the work the next 164 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:58.039 morning to cover it up as expected, to build the foundation of the new 165 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:05.919 house. And so they continued with the built, but all along strange things 166 00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:11.879 were being reported around the other workers. Bricks, they said, perfectly fine 167 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:18.639 bricks it had brought and picked out themselves, would have strange markings on them, 168 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:24.039 things that looked like letters in another language, they would say. Supposedly, 169 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:28.879 Elsie's dad had seen them himself, but figured they were likely bored kids 170 00:14:28.879 --> 00:14:33.600 from the neighborhood coming into play at night. Once the builders left the plot, 171 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:37.840 after all had been empty for a long time, children might have already 172 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:43.200 started using it as a place to play in. Not thrilled by these complaints, 173 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:46.480 Elsie's dad told the workers to stop with all this nonsense and to just 174 00:14:46.519 --> 00:14:50.720 continue with the job. The bricks were going to be covered up, it 175 00:14:50.759 --> 00:14:56.600 was not that big of a deal. Word around the job site was spreading 176 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:01.279 about the curse of the land they were working on. One of them believed 177 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:05.519 in it enough to quit, but the other six continued with a job until 178 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:09.960 the structure was completed. But still a lot of them would complain every once 179 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:18.399 in a while of items being moved, of strange whispers through the glassless windows 180 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:24.440 of the brick and c immense structure, and of a little boy one who 181 00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:30.759 would toss around a ball in the first floor of the structure. Elsie stopped 182 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:35.080 there for a second, looking directly at Alex, and then flipping her phone 183 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:39.639 over to look at the time. Even outside of the house, the night 184 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:46.360 was quiet. I swear I think we were all holding our breaths. It 185 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:50.679 was Alex's turn to be the nervous one now. Upon seeing the time, 186 00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:56.159 Elsie turned off the screen and put it back on her lap. I was 187 00:15:56.159 --> 00:16:00.919 about to take mine out, but Elsie quickly continued to story again, and 188 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:14.039 once again I was lost in it. Part two of Knox is coming up 189 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:29.480 right after this. Stay with me, And so the house was completed. 190 00:16:29.799 --> 00:16:33.440 Elsie continued, and all but two of the workers remained, the one that 191 00:16:33.559 --> 00:16:37.080 was gonna help with the roof and the other that knew about plumbing. And 192 00:16:37.159 --> 00:16:41.840 wiring and all that stuff. It was gonna help with that last phase of 193 00:16:41.879 --> 00:16:47.879 the house and once the house actually started looking like a house. Both of 194 00:16:47.879 --> 00:16:52.159 the workers walked up to Elsie's dad, who was eating a meatball sandwich on 195 00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:56.240 the steps of the front porch. But as he lifted up the bag with 196 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:00.440 the worker's food, something he did for them on a daily basis, they 197 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:07.599 told him that they had seen the little boy again, this time crying by 198 00:17:07.640 --> 00:17:11.759 the living room on the east end of the house. One of them, 199 00:17:11.799 --> 00:17:17.160 a guy named greg Or Gray something like that, said that he approached him 200 00:17:17.880 --> 00:17:21.000 at first, thinking that he was just a kid who had snuck into the 201 00:17:21.079 --> 00:17:26.279 house in the once vacant lot, but that when the boy turned around, 202 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:30.119 he was met with only a black patch where his face should have been. 203 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:36.519 Greg ran off towards the other guy, who was working on one of the 204 00:17:36.519 --> 00:17:41.559 bathroom areas upstairs. He then explained to him what happened. Both of them 205 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:47.400 now having enough experiences there over the span of almost a year building the place, 206 00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:52.960 they openly spoke about the ghost boy from the patch. That living room, 207 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:59.319 they said, was built right over the patch of the black ash, 208 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:02.799 and whether that was where the boy had been buried, or if that was 209 00:18:02.839 --> 00:18:07.359 where something that the ghost boy was trying to hide. They suggested that they 210 00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:11.000 have a look at it, that there was no way that all of the 211 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:17.680 workers had seen him and then have him not be real. Elsie's dad was 212 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:22.240 frustrated by the whole thing, but even if he had wanted to, there 213 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:25.359 would be no way for them to tear down part of the living room to 214 00:18:25.480 --> 00:18:30.079 explore this theory of the black patch of ash on the ground. And so 215 00:18:30.119 --> 00:18:36.920 the construction just continued. But glass had been installed, the walls had been 216 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:41.599 painted, and then on that very last day, and Elsie's dad was rolling 217 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:45.400 out the rug in the living room before bringing in the furniture. He was 218 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:52.839 lighting it up with the east wall, when suddenly he saw a pair of 219 00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:56.799 little shoes in front of him. He said, there was no way that 220 00:18:56.839 --> 00:19:02.039 it could have happened, because he had just rolled out the rug himself. 221 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:11.279 When the two shoes appeared dirty, worn, black leather shoes like the kind 222 00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:17.079 you'd see on a little boys school uniform, he took them out to the 223 00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:19.880 dumpster and made himself believe that the whole thing had only been a prank. 224 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:26.240 Elsie once again pulled out her phone and looked at the time, and without 225 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:30.799 giving us a chance to ask questions, she picked up the pace of the 226 00:19:30.839 --> 00:19:36.440 story. Her her mom, and brother had experienced things in the house almost 227 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:41.079 as quickly as they had moved in. At night, they would hear soft 228 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:45.279 cries coming from outside of their windows. They would be alone in one of 229 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:52.240 the rooms and suddenly hear whispers in their ears of words they could not understand. 230 00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:57.119 But what bothered them the most and the reason why they strongly considered actually 231 00:19:57.160 --> 00:20:04.240 remodeling the entire living room area, was because of the Knox. They would 232 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:11.319 come at night. Mostly everyone would be asleep when Elsie remembers waking up in 233 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:15.359 the middle of the night to the sound of her dad opening the front door 234 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:22.599 and yelling hello into the dark field right in front of her house. When 235 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:26.799 he would get back to his parents room, Elsie would overhear their conversation about 236 00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:33.880 who it had been and what they should do about it. Sometimes they would 237 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:37.960 argue about it. One of them believed that something else was going on, 238 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:44.440 a real ghost perhaps, and it was haunting their house, and the other 239 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:49.599 Elsie's dad kept brushing it off, but that exact same way that he did 240 00:20:49.599 --> 00:20:55.720 with the workers. At one point, they called the priest to come bless 241 00:20:55.759 --> 00:21:00.359 the house, hoping that it would help with the problem. Elsie was about 242 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:04.240 eight or nine years old when that happened, and she remembers that it only 243 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:11.240 made things worse. Elsie then told us about an experience that she had in 244 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:15.319 the house when Jenna was about the age that Alex was at the time. 245 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:21.200 When she told this story to me, around twelve years old. Jenna was 246 00:21:21.240 --> 00:21:26.440 a lot like Alex. Like siblings, are sometimes curious and fascinated by stories, 247 00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:32.200 And this had happened maybe four or five years before that specific night i'm 248 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:37.759 telling you about. They had agreed to have a sleepover, and Jenna had 249 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:41.039 brought over her bag of toys and a change of clothes. They were going 250 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:45.880 to be watching movies, making popcorn, and playing games all night, you 251 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:51.200 know, standard sleepover things. They had set up a blanket and pillows in 252 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:53.799 the living room that night, set up right in front of the television. 253 00:21:56.680 --> 00:22:00.559 I watched Jenna nod in agreements and get closer to Elsie. At this point, 254 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:06.359 she was leaning her head against Elsie's shoulder and looking out toward the plate 255 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:11.039 of uneaten brownies in the center of the table. She was not saying a 256 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:15.799 single word. Alex had been leaning closer to me the whole time, unaware 257 00:22:15.799 --> 00:22:21.039 of it to even himself. I think he just didn't want his own back 258 00:22:21.079 --> 00:22:26.880 to be the one that faced the living room. Now with an odd seriousness, 259 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:32.480 Elsie continued, and with every word she seemed to be letting out something 260 00:22:32.599 --> 00:22:37.119 that she had been holding on to for years. She looked at her phone 261 00:22:37.160 --> 00:22:44.160 once again and kept telling us the episode of the show they were watching, 262 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:48.119 Hey Arnold, the one where there's a boy who sits at the footsteps of 263 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:52.920 a building, now fitting it to the one where they keep seeing a mysterious 264 00:22:52.920 --> 00:22:56.759 boy and try to figure out where he comes from, and they had just 265 00:22:56.839 --> 00:23:00.839 solved it or something. The episode had ended, and during that commercial break 266 00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:07.680 they had been getting ready to go to bed when they heard it, the 267 00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:15.680 knocking. It wasn't like anything they had heard before. Elsie pressed a mute 268 00:23:15.720 --> 00:23:18.359 button on the television, wondering if maybe it had been the channel they were 269 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:25.480 watching. They were both looking out toward the hallway, which was now completely 270 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:30.400 dark, as they waited for any sign of movement that may have caused a 271 00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:37.359 knox, and Elsie paused a story and looked at the time once more, 272 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:42.160 she started speaking a little bit faster, a sense of desperation in her voice. 273 00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:49.039 They were both completely still that night when suddenly they heard the knocking again. 274 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:53.240 There was no way to know where the sounds were coming from, and, 275 00:23:53.319 --> 00:23:57.880 despite Elsie's best effort to keep it together, her being the older one 276 00:23:57.880 --> 00:24:02.799 after all, he yelled out for her dad, who immediately opened up the 277 00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:07.519 door in the upstairs area and came running down the stairs. He knew what 278 00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:11.839 had happened. He went straight for the door, but upon opening it, 279 00:24:14.759 --> 00:24:18.920 he gasped, slammed the door shut, locked it, and ordered them to 280 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:26.880 follow him. The knocks were heavy now immediately behind them, unclear if they 281 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:30.279 were coming from the front door, from a window, or from the floor. 282 00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:36.559 Jenna was crying the whole time, not quite understanding what was going on, 283 00:24:36.680 --> 00:24:41.400 but aware that something wasn't the way it was supposed to be. They 284 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:45.759 ran up the stairs and into Elsie's parents' bedroom, where her mom was just 285 00:24:45.799 --> 00:24:51.480 as confused, but hugged them both, reassuring the girls that things were going 286 00:24:51.559 --> 00:24:56.640 to be okay. Her dad used the phone to call someone and briefly explained 287 00:24:56.640 --> 00:25:02.839 the situation, only saying the boy is back. The boy is back. 288 00:25:03.079 --> 00:25:07.119 Whoever he was talking to was begging him not to call the thing by any 289 00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:11.960 name. He was angry when he asked how else was he supposed to explain 290 00:25:12.039 --> 00:25:18.480 what happened without describing it. Elsie's dad never spoke much more about what he 291 00:25:18.519 --> 00:25:22.440 had seen, and all of the images Elsie and Jenna had ever gotten etched 292 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:30.200 into their minds was about a boy, one that they had never seen themselves. 293 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:37.119 Elsie looked at the phone and then showed it to me twelve oh one 294 00:25:37.359 --> 00:25:44.480 am. We looked at each other, relieved. Alex turned to Jenna to 295 00:25:44.559 --> 00:25:48.559 ask if the story was in fact true, and without leaving Elsie's shoulder, 296 00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:55.880 she said that yeah, that she still remembers it and that it scared her 297 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:03.720 for a very long time, but didn't say much else. We all once 298 00:26:03.759 --> 00:26:07.559 again simply sat there and the dining room area of the house lost in the 299 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:15.200 story that had once scared everyone but had finally died down. It was Alex 300 00:26:15.240 --> 00:26:19.480 who finally asked if that's why the living room looks different in the pictures from 301 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:25.319 back then, And as it turns out, yeah, the living room had 302 00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:30.000 been broken and replaced after they did some digging in that area, they found 303 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:36.319 several clay pots, scraps of remains of an old fire pit there, but 304 00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:42.880 nothing more. He then asked if we still hear the Knox, the knox 305 00:26:42.920 --> 00:26:49.039 of the little Boy, And right at that moment, it's when the whole 306 00:26:49.119 --> 00:26:56.119 house went dark. Jenna screamed and I felt as Alex ran around the table 307 00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:59.839 to get to Elsie. I took the phone out of my pocket and turned 308 00:26:59.880 --> 00:27:03.160 off the flashlight aimed away from us. When all three of them screamed, 309 00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:08.799 I asked what happened, what had they seen? But nobody spoke up. 310 00:27:11.400 --> 00:27:17.279 Elsie's trembling voice kept saying that we should go, that we should go upstairs. 311 00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:21.319 All three of them stood up in unison, and I followed behind them 312 00:27:21.400 --> 00:27:25.400 as we walked up to the second floor. I was the last one in 313 00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:30.200 line, the flashlight aimed directly at my feet, afraid of shining it behind 314 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:34.119 me as we climbed, almost pushing each other to get there first. We 315 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:40.440 finally made it into Elsie's room. Alex and Jenna sat on the bed, 316 00:27:41.319 --> 00:27:48.440 Elsie on her chair, and I stood behind Elsie. With zero words coming 317 00:27:48.440 --> 00:27:55.960 out of any of her mouths. Those thirty seconds or so felt like an 318 00:27:55.960 --> 00:28:03.240 eternity. I pointed at half bitten cookie Alex had brought with him and smiled. 319 00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:11.480 Elsie smile too. Alex and Jenna looked down at the cookie and then 320 00:28:11.559 --> 00:28:19.000 back at each other, confused and probably relieved to be upstairs, safe in 321 00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:41.359 a room, and not alone. If you want to support the show and 322 00:28:41.400 --> 00:28:45.480 get add free episodes at the same time, please check out scaryplus dot com 323 00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:49.400 or try it for free on Apple Podcasts. Let me know what you thought 324 00:28:49.400 --> 00:28:52.839 of this story, and then share any theories or fan arts over to me 325 00:28:53.119 --> 00:28:59.559 at Hello at scarystory dot com or on social media. You can find my 326 00:28:59.640 --> 00:29:03.279 information at Edwin FM by entering it into your browser, and in case you're 327 00:29:03.319 --> 00:29:07.279 on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, you can find my links there. 328 00:29:07.319 --> 00:29:11.640 Up next, be sure to check out True Scary Story, where people share 329 00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:19.559 their own terrifying experiences firsthand. Thank you very much for listening, See you soon.