WEBVTT 1 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:17.960 Hi, everyone, Welcome to Blurry Photos. I'm your host, David Flora. 2 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:21.839 Hi. Hello, Hey, what's up? Hi? What's going on? 3 00:00:21.960 --> 00:00:29.320 Ola meechu A Welcome in to the tenth edition of Campfire Ghost Stories. 4 00:00:30.440 --> 00:00:37.119 Got a fun collection of Pant's crappers here for you, including the traditional pom 5 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:43.399 and a couple of riddles in story form. Before I get into the stories 6 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:47.320 proper, I've got four pieces of news I'd like to share with you real 7 00:00:47.399 --> 00:00:53.640 quick here. Number one, I just celebrated my tenth year of podcasting, 8 00:00:53.840 --> 00:01:00.159 officially tenth calendar year. I started back in August of twenty twelve. Well, 9 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:06.680 I remember going to the Wren Fair in Bristol, Wisconsin with Dave's Deecco 10 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:11.519 and the rest of Damascus Steele podcast we were on before we started Blurry Photos, 11 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:15.480 and then I think it was the same day we came back and recorded 12 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:22.840 either the Alistair Crowley episode or the Nikola Tesla episode, and we were exhausted. 13 00:01:23.640 --> 00:01:27.040 It must have been Tesla because we had to figure out that the Crowley 14 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:34.400 episode was pretty crap because I had the microphone turned one way. Anyway, 15 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:41.079 Ten solid ass years pretty crazy. I don't think I've ever done anything for 16 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:45.920 ten years of my life. Maybe breathe, but even that suspect. Thank 17 00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:49.280 you guys for listening, Thanks for supporting me throughout the years, Old fans 18 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:53.480 and new alike. I appreciate you, guys, and I hope you have 19 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:57.079 enjoyed the journey with me. Second point of order, go vote. I'm 20 00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:02.719 up for two awards in the second annual Paranormality Podcast Awards. This is put 21 00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:12.199 on by paranormalitymag dot com. Paranormality Magazine and Blurry Photos is up for Best 22 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:17.840 Cryptozoology Show, which I will take after ten years of miscrypted contests, and 23 00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:23.520 Hysteria fifty one is up for Best Comedy Show. So please take just a 24 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:29.599 minute go over to paranormalitymag dot com, scroll down just a hair to find 25 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:35.680 the twenty twenty two Paranormality Podcast Awards voting and give our shows some love. 26 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:39.639 Now. You only have until September the eleventh to vote for this. This 27 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:44.599 isn't very long from now from when I'm releasing this episode, so if you 28 00:02:44.599 --> 00:02:49.199 get this in time, please run over to paranormalitymag dot com. Vote for 29 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:53.360 Blurry Photos and Hysteria fifty one Best Cryptozoology, Best Comedy, and help us 30 00:02:53.919 --> 00:03:00.360 get bona fide. Sure. Third want to remind you guys, I've got 31 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:07.159 a relatively new audiobook out. This one is called Bigfoot Frightening Encounters Collectors Edition, 32 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:10.759 Volume one through four. This is also by Tom Lyons, who did 33 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:16.840 the Living Among Bigfoot series, and these are all encounters that Tom has collected 34 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:24.800 and shared from different people's experiences with Sasquatch creatures all around the world, mostly 35 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:30.800 in the American South according to my accents anyway. But check that out on 36 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:36.319 audible dot com And if you don't have an audible account, you can get 37 00:03:36.360 --> 00:03:42.759 a free audiobook if you go to audible trial dot com slash blurry just the 38 00:03:42.759 --> 00:03:46.680 word blurry. You get a thirty day trial membership which you can cancel anytime, 39 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:52.240 and you get a free audiobook of your choice. It'd be great if 40 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:57.360 you guys could pick up one of those Living among Bigfoot or Bigfoot Frightening Encounters 41 00:03:57.400 --> 00:04:00.120 books that helps us out a ton and I think you'll get a kick out 42 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:04.879 of them. And lastly, a quick update about the documentary. Whereabout I 43 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:11.719 would say, optimistically about a month out from releasing the film, or at 44 00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:16.000 the very very least about a month out from signing a contract with a distributor 45 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:21.160 to get it on something like Amazon or Netflix or Hulu or whatever. But 46 00:04:21.319 --> 00:04:28.199 we are winding down to the release of Shadows in the Desert finally, and 47 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:31.079 I will be very excited to have this go live and for you guys to 48 00:04:31.079 --> 00:04:35.279 see what we've been worked on for the past fifteen years. Whatever it's been, 49 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:40.120 I don't know, sure feels like it, so I appreciate everybody's patience 50 00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:44.199 on that. So that'll do it for news, which means you guys can 51 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:50.360 settle in to your log or sleeping bag or hammock, throw some more wood 52 00:04:50.360 --> 00:04:55.519 on the fire, and double check that all the crane janglers are set and 53 00:04:55.600 --> 00:05:08.279 the goatmen traps are laid. It's time for campfire ghost stories. Ten enjoy 54 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:18.839 look at Me. One evening, when I was in my junior year of 55 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:23.040 high school, my mom and dad went out, leaving me home alone. 56 00:05:23.879 --> 00:05:26.360 I had a lot of homework to do, so I spent the whole evening 57 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:30.519 sitting at the desk in my bedroom. My parents left the house around six 58 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:33.560 pm. While I was doing homework, I put on my headphones and listened 59 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:38.439 to loud music. There was a big storm that night, and my desk 60 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:42.000 was facing the window, so I could see the rain and the lightning outside. 61 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:46.879 My parents got back around eleven PM. When I saw their car drive 62 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:49.600 up, I took off the headphones. As soon as my mom opened the 63 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:55.000 front door and came inside. I heard her shout my name. What on 64 00:05:55.120 --> 00:06:00.399 earth happened in here? She demanded in an angry voice. Confused, I 65 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:03.680 ran downstairs. My mom was standing in the hallway with a furious look on 66 00:06:03.720 --> 00:06:08.000 her face. She pointed at the floor and yelled, was this you? 67 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:15.120 I looked down and saw the carpet was covered in muddy footprints. I have 68 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:17.920 no idea how those got there, I said. I spent the whole night 69 00:06:17.959 --> 00:06:23.319 at my desk doing my homework. I watched the look on her face changed 70 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:29.120 from anger to confusion, and then to fear. We both realized it at 71 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:34.959 the same time. Someone else must have been in the house. We followed 72 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:39.600 the trail of footprints, trying to make sense of the whole situation. They 73 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:44.399 started at the back door, which we usually left unlocked. Then we noticed 74 00:06:44.439 --> 00:06:48.480 something else. The footprints started at the back door, but there was no 75 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:54.240 trail of footprints leaving through the back door. All of a sudden, we 76 00:06:54.560 --> 00:07:00.040 hear something loud, a pounding noise that echoed throughout the house, then the 77 00:07:00.040 --> 00:07:04.399 sound of the front door being wrenched open and slammed shut again. We all 78 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:09.360 ran into the garage and locked the door behind us. My mom took out 79 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:13.079 her cell phone and called the police. Please come quickly, She shouted, 80 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:17.120 someone's in our house. After what seemed like hours, a patrol car arrived 81 00:07:17.160 --> 00:07:21.000 with two police officers, a male and a female. One officer stayed with 82 00:07:21.079 --> 00:07:25.399 us in the garage while the partner went through the house, searching it room 83 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:29.720 by room. When she came back, the female officer told us there was 84 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:32.120 no one in the house and it was safe to go back in. As 85 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:36.399 we were all breathing a sigh of relief, she asked whose bedroom was upstairs 86 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:41.920 on the left. My parents looked at me. It's mine, I told 87 00:07:41.959 --> 00:07:46.759 the officer. She asked us to follow her. As we walked through the 88 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:49.519 house, we could see a trail of muddy footprints leading from the back door 89 00:07:50.199 --> 00:07:55.319 through the living room, through the hallway, up the stairs, into my 90 00:07:55.399 --> 00:08:00.480 parents' bedroom, and then towards my room. They stopped at my doorway. 91 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:03.920 The female officer pointed at my door which had been opened the whole night. 92 00:08:05.160 --> 00:08:11.399 Scrawled on it in black marker was the following eight forty seven I see you 93 00:08:13.800 --> 00:08:18.000 eight fifty three you forgot to lock the back door. Eight fifty nine, 94 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:26.959 you seem focused. Nine twenty four. Turn around ninety seven. Look at 95 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:35.840 me ten fifteen, Look at me ten thirty seven, Look at me ten 96 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:41.879 forty nine. Look at me. For more than two hours. Someone had 97 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:48.799 been standing in my doorway watching me. To this day, I still shuddered 98 00:08:48.840 --> 00:09:09.600 to think what would have happened if I had turned around. Public bathroom a 99 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:18.279 riddle. I was walking home last night when I suddenly needed a bathroom. 100 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:22.120 I had to use a creepy old public bathroom was down at the end of 101 00:09:22.120 --> 00:09:26.240 a street full of abandoned houses. Very spooky. I went into the bathroom, 102 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:31.600 opened the door of the first stall, and peeked inside. There was 103 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:37.039 a graffiti on the walls. On the right it said this bathroom was haunted, 104 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:43.320 and on the left it said this writing will change. Pretty creepy. 105 00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:46.200 I went into the stall, pulled down my pants, and set on the 106 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:50.440 toilet. While I sat there, I started thinking about the strange graffiti. 107 00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:56.879 Maybe I'm superstitious, but I just had to take another look, and my 108 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:03.159 right it said this bathroom was haunted, and on the left it said this 109 00:10:03.240 --> 00:10:09.720 writing will change. HM. So if the writing didn't change, that means 110 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:18.519 that the bathroom isn't haunted. Right? What was wrong with that scenario? 111 00:10:20.919 --> 00:10:24.440 Standing outside the stall and looking in this bathroom was haunted was on the right, 112 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:28.840 this writing will change was on the left. If you entered the stall, 113 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:33.759 turned around and sat down, this bathroom was haunted would be on the 114 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:39.159 left, and this writing would change would be on the right. So the 115 00:10:39.240 --> 00:11:01.679 writing did change. Skeleton Lake by Algernon Blackwood. Loneliness of our moose camp 116 00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:07.559 on Skeleton Lake had impressed us from the beginning, and then cap back back 117 00:11:07.639 --> 00:11:11.879 woods five days by trail and canoe from civilization, and perhaps the singular name 118 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:16.919 contributed a little to the sensation of eeriness that made itself felt in the camp 119 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:22.000 circle when once the sun was down and the late October mists began rising from 120 00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:26.799 the lake and winding their way in among the tree trunks. For in these 121 00:11:26.840 --> 00:11:33.720 regions all names of lakes and hills and islands have their origin and some actual 122 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:37.639 event taking either the name of a chief participant, such as Smith's ridge, 123 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:43.440 or claiming a piece of the map by perpetuating some special feature of the journey 124 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:48.480 or the scenery, such as long island, deep rapids, or rainy lake. 125 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:56.360 All names thus have their meaning and are usually pretty recently acquired, while 126 00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:03.039 the majority or self explanatory and suggest human and pioneer relations. Skeleton Lake, 127 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:07.200 therefore, was a name full of suggestion, and though none of us knew 128 00:12:07.240 --> 00:12:11.519 the origin or the story of its birth, we were all conscious of a 129 00:12:11.639 --> 00:12:18.159 certain lugubrious atmosphere that haunted its shores and islands, and but for the evidences 130 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:24.000 of recent moose tracks in its neighborhood, we should probably have pitched our tents 131 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:30.480 elsewhere. For several hundred miles in any direction, we knew of only one 132 00:12:30.519 --> 00:12:33.480 other party of whites. They journeyed up on the train with us, getting 133 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:39.440 in at North Bay and hailing from Boston Way. A common goal and object 134 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:43.639 had served by way of introduction, but the acquaintance had made little progress. 135 00:12:43.879 --> 00:12:48.919 This noisy, aggressive Yankee didn't suit our fancy much as a possible neighbor, 136 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:54.480 and it was only a slight intimacy between his chief guide, Jake the Swede, 137 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:58.480 and one of our men that kept the thing going at all. They 138 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:01.399 went into camp on Beaver, fifty miles and more to the west of us. 139 00:13:03.559 --> 00:13:05.600 That was six weeks ago. It seemed as many months, for days 140 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:11.720 and nights passed slowly in these solitudes, and the scale of time changes wonderfully. 141 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:18.080 Our men always seemed to know by instincts pretty well are them other fellows 142 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:20.879 was moving? But in the interval no one had come across their trails, 143 00:13:22.039 --> 00:13:26.600 or once so much as heard their rifle shots. Our little camp consisted of 144 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:31.679 the Professor, his wife, a splendid shot and keen woodswoman, and myself. 145 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:37.279 We had a guide a peace, and hunted daily in pairs from before 146 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:41.399 sunrise till dark. It was our last evening in the woods, and the 147 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:46.960 Professor was lying in my little wedge tent, discussing the dangers of hunting alone 148 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:50.039 in couples. This way. The flap of the tent hung back and let 149 00:13:50.039 --> 00:13:56.159 in fragrant odors of cooking over an open wood fire. Everywhere there were bustle 150 00:13:56.240 --> 00:14:00.559 and preparation, and one canoe already lay packed with moose horns, her nose 151 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:05.519 pointing southwards. If an accident happened to one of them, he was saying 152 00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:11.200 the survivor's story when he returned to camp would be entirely unsupported evidence, wouldn't 153 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:15.240 it, because you see in order? And he went on laying down the 154 00:14:15.320 --> 00:14:20.240 law after the manner of professors, until I became so bored that my attention 155 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:22.840 began to wander to pictures and memories of the scenes. We were just about 156 00:14:22.840 --> 00:14:28.480 to leave Garden Lake, with its hundred islands, the rapids at a round 157 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:33.720 pond, the countless vistas, a forest crimson and gold in the autumn sunshine, 158 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:39.559 and the starlit nights we'd spent watching in cold, cramped positions for the 159 00:14:39.559 --> 00:14:45.320 wary moose on lonely lakes among the hills. The hum of the professor's voice 160 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:50.279 and time grew more soothing. A nod or a grunt was all the reply 161 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:56.600 he looked for. Fortunately, he loathed interruptions. I think I could almost 162 00:14:56.600 --> 00:15:00.960 have gone to sleep under his very nose. Perhaps I did sleep for a 163 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:05.759 brief interval. Then it all came about so quickly, and the tragedy of 164 00:15:05.799 --> 00:15:09.960 it was so unexpected and painful, throwing our peaceful camp into momentary confusion. 165 00:15:11.799 --> 00:15:20.120 And now it all seems to have happened with the uncanny swiftness of a dream. 166 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:24.120 First there was the abrupt ceasing of the droning voice, and then the 167 00:15:24.200 --> 00:15:28.120 running of quick little steps over the pine needles, and the confusion of men's 168 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:33.559 voices, and the next instant, the professor's wife was at the tent door, 169 00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:37.960 hatless, her face white, her hunting bloomer's bagging at the wrong places, 170 00:15:37.960 --> 00:15:41.080 a rifle in her hand, and her words running into one another. 171 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:46.320 Anyhow, quick, Harry, it's rushton. I was asleep and it woke 172 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:52.159 me. Something's happened. You must deal with it. In a second we 173 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:56.320 were outside the tent with our rifles. My god, I heard the professor 174 00:15:56.360 --> 00:16:00.799 exclaim, as if he had first made the discovery it is rushed in I 175 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:07.759 saw the guides helping dragging a man out of a canoe. A brief space 176 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:11.759 of deep silence followed, in which I heard only the waves from the canoe 177 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:15.639 washing up on the sand. And then immediately after came the voice of a 178 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:22.240 man talking with amazing rapidity and with odd gaps between his words. He was 179 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:26.279 rushed in telling a story, and the tones of his voice, now whispering, 180 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:30.200 now almost shouting, mixed with sobs and solemn oaths and frequent appeals to 181 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:34.000 the deity. Somehow or other struck the false note at the very start, 182 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:41.600 and before any of us guests or knew anything at all, Something moved secretly 183 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:45.960 between his words, a shadow veiling the stars, destroying the peace of our 184 00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:52.159 little camp and touching us all personally with an undefinable sense of horror and distrust. 185 00:16:53.399 --> 00:16:56.240 I could see that group to this day, with all the detail of 186 00:16:56.240 --> 00:17:00.879 the good photograph, standing halfway between the firelight in the darkness, a slight 187 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:07.400 mist rising from the lake, the frosty stars, and our men in silence. 188 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:11.720 That was all sympathy. Dragon rushed and across the rocks towards the camp 189 00:17:11.799 --> 00:17:18.039 fire, their moccasins crunched on the sand and slipped several times on the stones 190 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:23.599 beneath the weight of a limp exhausted body. I can still see every inch 191 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:29.359 of the paired cedar branch he'd used for a paddle on that lonely and dreadful 192 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:33.240 journey. What struck me most, as it struck us all, was the 193 00:17:33.319 --> 00:17:37.039 limp exhaustion of his body compared to the strength of his utterance, and the 194 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:42.039 tear and rush of his words. A vigorous driving power was there at work, 195 00:17:42.359 --> 00:17:47.680 forcing out the tail, red hot and throbbing, full of discrepancies and 196 00:17:47.799 --> 00:17:52.680 the strangest contradictions. And the nature of this driving power I first began to 197 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:56.400 appreciate when they had lifted him into the circle of the firelight, and I 198 00:17:56.440 --> 00:18:03.279 saw his face gray under the ten terror in his eyes, tears too, 199 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:07.960 hair and beard awry, and listen to the wild stream of words pouring forth 200 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:14.240 without ceasing. I think we all understood then, but it was only after 201 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:19.039 many years that anyone dared to confess what he thought. There was Matt Morris, 202 00:18:19.079 --> 00:18:23.680 my guide, silver Fizz, whose real name was unknown, and who 203 00:18:23.720 --> 00:18:29.839 bore the title of his favorite drink, and huge Hank Milligan, all ears 204 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:34.000 and kind intention, and there was rushton pouring out as ready made tale, 205 00:18:34.519 --> 00:18:41.680 with ever shifting eyes turning from face to face seeking confirmation of details none had 206 00:18:41.720 --> 00:18:47.920 witnessed but himself and one other. Silver Fizz was the first to recover from 207 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:49.960 the shock of the thing, and to realize, with the natural sense of 208 00:18:51.079 --> 00:18:56.279 chivalry common to most genuine backwoodsman, that the man was at a terrible disadvantage. 209 00:18:56.880 --> 00:19:00.519 At any rate. He was the first to start putting the matter rights. 210 00:19:00.759 --> 00:19:04.599 Never mind telling it just now, he said, in a gruff voice, 211 00:19:04.599 --> 00:19:08.440 but with real gentleness. Get it by deed first, then let her 212 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:12.640 go afterwards. But I have a horn of whiskey too. It ain't all 213 00:19:12.680 --> 00:19:17.640 packed yet, I guess good, need to drink a thing, cried the 214 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:19.480 other. Good Lord, don't you see, man, I want to talk 215 00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:22.720 to someone first. I want to get it out of me so someone can 216 00:19:22.759 --> 00:19:27.759 answer answer. I've had nothing but trees to talk with for three days. 217 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:34.880 I can't carry it alone any longer, those cursed silent trees. I told 218 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:40.559 it to him a thousand times. Just see here. It was this way 219 00:19:40.759 --> 00:19:44.880 when we still looked fearfully about him, when we realized it was useless to 220 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:49.799 stop him, the story was bound to come, and come it did now. 221 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:53.319 The story itself was nothing out of the way. Such tales are told 222 00:19:53.319 --> 00:19:56.880 by the dozen round any campfire, where men who have knocked about in the 223 00:19:56.920 --> 00:20:02.039 woods are in the circle. It was way he told it that made our 224 00:20:02.119 --> 00:20:06.759 flesh creep. He was near the truth all along, but he was skimming 225 00:20:06.839 --> 00:20:10.559 it, and the skimming took off the cream that might have saved his soul. 226 00:20:11.480 --> 00:20:15.519 Of course, he smothered it in words odd, words too melodramatic, 227 00:20:15.960 --> 00:20:19.559 poetic, out of the way, words that lie just on the edge of 228 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:25.039 frenzy. Of course, Two, he kept asking us, each in turn, 229 00:20:25.240 --> 00:20:30.519 scanning our faces with those restless, frightened eyes of his, what would 230 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:36.200 you have done? What else could I do? And was that my fault? 231 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:40.759 But that was nothing, for he was no milk and water fellow who 232 00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:45.200 dealt in hints and suggestions. He told his story boldly, forcing his conclusions 233 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:49.680 upon us, as if we'd been so many wax cylinders of a phonograph that 234 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:55.160 would repeat accurately what had been told us. And these questions I've mentioned, 235 00:20:55.319 --> 00:20:59.920 he used to emphasize any special point that he seemed to think required such empa 236 00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:07.200 fact was, however, the picture of what had actually happened was so vivid 237 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:11.839 still in his own mind that it reached hours by a process of telepathy which 238 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:18.440 he could not control or prevent. All through his true false words, this 239 00:21:18.839 --> 00:21:23.680 picture stood forth in fearful detail against the shadows behind him. He could not 240 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:33.279 veil much less obliterated. We knew, and I always thought he knew that 241 00:21:33.319 --> 00:21:37.480 we knew. The story itself, as I said, was sufficiently ordinary. 242 00:21:38.119 --> 00:21:41.720 Jake and himself and a nine foot canoe had upset in the middle of the 243 00:21:41.799 --> 00:21:48.440 lake and had held hands across the upturned craft for several hours, eventually cutting 244 00:21:48.440 --> 00:21:52.359 holes in her ribs to stick their arms through and grasp hands lest the numbness 245 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:56.480 of the cold water should overcome them. They were miles from shore, and 246 00:21:56.559 --> 00:22:00.519 the wind was drifting them down upon little island. But when they got within 247 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:06.400 a few hundred yards of the island, they realized, to their horror that 248 00:22:06.440 --> 00:22:11.079 they would after all, drift past it. It was then the quarrel began. 249 00:22:12.279 --> 00:22:17.839 Jake was for leaving the canoe and swimming rushed and believed in waiting till 250 00:22:17.880 --> 00:22:22.039 they actually had passed the island and were sheltered from the wind. Then they 251 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:26.880 could make the island easily by swimming, canoe and all. But Jake refused 252 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:30.039 to give in, and after a short struggle and rushed and admitted there was 253 00:22:30.039 --> 00:22:34.559 a struggle, got free from the canoe and disappeared without a single cry. 254 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:40.880 Rushed and held on, proved the correctness of his theory, and finally made 255 00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:44.720 the island canoe and all, after being in the water over five hours. 256 00:22:45.160 --> 00:22:49.680 He described to us how he crawled up onto the shore and fainted at once, 257 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:55.119 with his feet lying half in the water. How lost and terrified he 258 00:22:55.160 --> 00:22:59.839 felt, upon regaining consciousness in the dark, how the canoe had drifted away, 259 00:23:00.039 --> 00:23:03.279 and his extraordinary luck, and finding it caught again at the end of 260 00:23:03.319 --> 00:23:07.279 the island by a projecting cedar branch. He told us that the little axe 261 00:23:07.640 --> 00:23:11.799 nether bit of real luck, had caught in the thwart when the canoe turned 262 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:15.960 over, and how the little bottle in his pocket holding the emergency matches was 263 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:21.640 whole and dry. He made a blazing fire and searched the island from end 264 00:23:21.640 --> 00:23:25.440 to end, calling upon Jake in the darkness, but getting no answer, 265 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:32.400 until finally so many half drowned men seemed to come crawling up out of the 266 00:23:32.440 --> 00:23:37.119 water and onto the rocks and vanish among the shadows. When he came up 267 00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:42.640 with them, that he lost his nerve completely and returned to lie down by 268 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:48.279 the fire till the daylight came. He then cut about or replaced the lost 269 00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:52.000 paddles, and after one more useless search for his lost companion, he got 270 00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:56.920 into the canoe, fearing every moment he would upset again, and crossed over 271 00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:02.599 to the mainland. You roughly the position of our camping place, And after 272 00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:07.920 paddling day and night and making many weary portages without food or covering, he 273 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:12.359 reached us two days later. This more or less was a story, and 274 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:18.960 we, knowing whereof he spoke, knew that every word was literally true, 275 00:24:18.440 --> 00:24:22.960 and at the same time went to the building up of a hideous and prodigious 276 00:24:22.039 --> 00:24:27.720 lie. Once the recital was over, he collapsed, and Silver Fizz, 277 00:24:27.799 --> 00:24:32.480 after a general expression of sympathy from the rest of us, came again to 278 00:24:32.519 --> 00:24:36.160 the rescue. Now, mister, you just got to eat, drink, 279 00:24:36.359 --> 00:24:40.400 whether you've a mind too or no. And Matt Morris cooked that night, 280 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:44.599 soon had the fried trout, bacon, and the wheat cakes and hot coffee 281 00:24:44.599 --> 00:24:48.960 passing around a rather silent and oppressed circle. So we ate around the fire 282 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:55.160 ravenously, as we'd eaten every night for the past six weeks, but with 283 00:24:55.279 --> 00:25:00.160 this difference that there was one among us who was more than ravenous, and 284 00:25:00.279 --> 00:25:06.839 he gorged in spite of all our devices, he somehow kept himself the center 285 00:25:06.839 --> 00:25:11.359 of observation. When his tin mug was empty, Morris instantly passed the tea 286 00:25:11.400 --> 00:25:15.200 pail. When he began to mop up the bacon, grease. With the 287 00:25:15.240 --> 00:25:19.079 dough on his fork, Hank reached out for the frying pan, and the 288 00:25:19.160 --> 00:25:25.200 can of steaming boiled potatoes was always by his side. And there was another 289 00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:30.279 difference as well. He was sick, terribly sick before the mill was over, 290 00:25:30.920 --> 00:25:34.759 and this sudden nausea after food was more eloquent than words of what the 291 00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:41.920 man had passed through on his dreadful foodless ghost haunted journey of forty miles to 292 00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:47.039 our camp in the darkness. He thought he'd go crazy, He said. 293 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:52.680 There were voices in the trees, and figures that were always lifting themselves out 294 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:56.559 of the water or from behind boulders to look at him make awful signs. 295 00:25:59.559 --> 00:26:03.720 Jake constantly peered at him through the underbrush, and everywhere the shadows were moving 296 00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:11.000 with eyes, footsteps, and following shapes. We tried hard to talk of 297 00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:14.599 other things, but it was no use, for he was bursting with the 298 00:26:14.640 --> 00:26:18.720 rehearsal of this story and refused to allow himself the chances we were so willing 299 00:26:18.759 --> 00:26:23.839 and anxious to grant him. After a good night's rest, he might have 300 00:26:23.920 --> 00:26:29.759 had more self control and better judgment and would probably have acted differently, But 301 00:26:29.920 --> 00:26:34.480 as it was, we found it impossible to help him. Once the pipes 302 00:26:34.519 --> 00:26:38.880 were lit and the dishes cleared away, it was useless to pretend any longer. 303 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:44.640 The sparks from the burning log zig zagged upwards into a sky brilliant with 304 00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:51.079 stars. Was all wonderfully still and peaceful, and the forest odors floated to 305 00:26:51.160 --> 00:26:55.880 us on the sharp autumn air. The cedar fire smelt sweet, and we 306 00:26:55.920 --> 00:27:00.640 could just hear the gentle wash of tiny waves along the shore. All was 307 00:27:00.680 --> 00:27:07.119 calm, beautiful, and remote from the world of men. And passion was 308 00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:14.640 indeed a night to touch the soul. And yet I think none of us 309 00:27:14.680 --> 00:27:18.400 heated these things. A bull moose might have thrust his great head over our 310 00:27:18.440 --> 00:27:25.920 shoulders and have escaped unnoticed. The death of Jake. The Swede, with 311 00:27:25.960 --> 00:27:30.359 its sinister setting, was a real presence that held the center of the stage 312 00:27:30.359 --> 00:27:36.119 and compelled attention. You won't perhaps scared to come along, mister, said 313 00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:40.039 Morris by way of a beginning. But I guess I'll go with one of 314 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:45.160 the boys are in the avant for it, sure, said Hank. Jake 315 00:27:45.240 --> 00:27:48.680 and I done some biggest trips together in the old days, and I'll do 316 00:27:48.759 --> 00:27:52.519 that much for him. It's deep water, they tell me. Round that 317 00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:57.759 islands, added silver Fizz, we'll find it. Chure pop if it's there. 318 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:03.880 They all spoke of the body as it There was a minute or two 319 00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:07.400 of heavy silence, and then rushed and again burst out with a story and 320 00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:12.160 almost the identical words he'd used before. It's almost as if he'd learned at 321 00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:17.640 my heart. He wholly failed to appreciate the efforts of the others to let 322 00:28:17.720 --> 00:28:22.640 him off. Silver Fizz rushed in, hoping to stop him. Morris and 323 00:28:22.759 --> 00:28:26.240 Hank closely following his lead. I once knew another traveling partner of his, 324 00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:32.279 he began quickly used to live down moose. J'all rapid's way? Is that 325 00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:37.680 so? Said Hank kind the useful sort of feller, chimed in Morris. 326 00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:41.680 All the idea of the men had was to stop the tongue wagon before the 327 00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:45.559 discrepancies became so glaring that we should be forced to take notice of them and 328 00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:51.519 ask questions. But just as well try and stop an angry bull moose on 329 00:28:51.559 --> 00:28:55.640 the run, or prevent Beaver Creek freezing in midwinter by throwing in pebbles near 330 00:28:55.680 --> 00:29:00.039 the shore. Out it came, and though the discrepancy this time was insignificant. 331 00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:03.720 It somehow brought us all in a second, face to face with the 332 00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:10.160 inevitable and dreaded climax. So I tramped all over that little bit of an 333 00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:12.759 island, hoping he might somehow have gotten in without my knowing it, and 334 00:29:12.839 --> 00:29:18.640 always thinking I heard that awful last cry of his in the darkness. And 335 00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:22.359 then the night dropped down impenetrably like a damn big blanket out of the sky, 336 00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:29.480 and all eyes fell away from his face. Hank poked up the logs 337 00:29:29.480 --> 00:29:33.200 with his boot. Morris seized a number and his bare fingers to light his 338 00:29:33.319 --> 00:29:37.000 pipe, although it was already emitting clouds of smoke. But the Professor caught 339 00:29:37.039 --> 00:29:41.680 the ball flying. I thought you said, he sank without a cry, 340 00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:45.920 he remarked, quietly, looking straight up into the frightened face opposite, and 341 00:29:45.960 --> 00:29:53.200 then riddling mercilessly. The confused explanation that followed. The cumulative effect of all 342 00:29:53.240 --> 00:30:00.319 these forces, hitherto so rigorously repressed, now made itself felt, and the 343 00:30:00.359 --> 00:30:04.920 circle spontaneously broke up, everybody moving at once by a common instinct. The 344 00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:11.079 professor's wife left the party abruptly with excuses about an early start the next morning. 345 00:30:11.880 --> 00:30:15.599 She shook hands with rushed and mumbling something about his comfort in the night. 346 00:30:15.559 --> 00:30:21.200 The question of comfort, however, devolved, by force of circumstances, 347 00:30:21.279 --> 00:30:26.640 upon myself, and he shared my tent just before wrapping up in my double 348 00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:32.759 blankets for the night was bitterly cold. He turned and began to explain that 349 00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:36.160 he had a habit of talking in a sleep, and hoped I would wake 350 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:41.759 him if he disturbed me by doing so. Well. He did talking asleep, 351 00:30:41.559 --> 00:30:47.200 and had disturbed me very much. Indeed, the anger and violence of 352 00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:51.799 his words remained with me to this day, and it was clear in a 353 00:30:51.839 --> 00:30:56.839 minute, and he was living over again some portion of the scene upon the 354 00:30:56.960 --> 00:31:03.000 lake. I listened horror struck for a moment or two, and then understood 355 00:31:03.079 --> 00:31:08.319 that I was face to face with one or two alternatives. I must continue 356 00:31:08.400 --> 00:31:15.640 an unwilling eavesdropper, or I must waken him. The former was impossible for 357 00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:19.200 me, yet I shrank from the ladder with the greatest repugnance, And in 358 00:31:19.319 --> 00:31:23.359 my dilemma I saw the only way out of the difficulty, and had once 359 00:31:23.400 --> 00:31:29.839 accepted it. Told though it was, I crawled stealthily out of my warm 360 00:31:29.920 --> 00:31:33.599 sleeping bag and left the tent, intending to keep the old fire alight under 361 00:31:33.640 --> 00:31:37.920 the stars and spend the remaining hours till daylight in the open. As soon 362 00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:44.240 as I got out, I noticed at once another figure moving silently along the 363 00:31:44.279 --> 00:31:48.240 shore. It was Hank Milligan, and it was plain enough what it was 364 00:31:48.279 --> 00:31:51.799 doing. He was examining the holes that had been cut in the upper ribs 365 00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:55.880 of the canoe. You look half ashamed when I came up to him and 366 00:31:56.240 --> 00:32:00.279 mumbled something about not being able to sleep for the cold air. Standing together 367 00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:06.759 beside the overturned canoe, we both saw that the holes were far too small 368 00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:09.880 for a man's hand and arm, and could not possibly have been cut by 369 00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:15.599 two men hanging on for their lives in deep water. Those holes had been 370 00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:22.200 made. Afterwards, Hank said nothing to me, and I said nothing to 371 00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:25.880 Hank, and presently he moved off to collect logs for the fire, which 372 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:31.000 needed replenishing, for it was a piercingly cold night and there were many degrees 373 00:32:31.000 --> 00:32:37.480 at frost. Three days later, Hank and Silver Fizz followed with stumbling footsteps 374 00:32:37.720 --> 00:32:44.079 the old Indian trail that leads from Beaver Creek to the southwards. A hammock 375 00:32:44.200 --> 00:32:47.559 was slung between them, and it weighed heavily. Yet neither of the men 376 00:32:47.599 --> 00:32:54.759 complained, and indeed speech between them was almost nothing. Their thoughts, however, 377 00:32:55.240 --> 00:33:00.160 were exceedingly busy, and the terrible secret of the wood which formed their 378 00:33:00.200 --> 00:33:06.359 burden weighed far more heavily than the uncouth, shifting mass that lay in the 379 00:33:06.400 --> 00:33:12.799 swinging hammock and tugged so severely at their shoulders. They had found it in 380 00:33:12.920 --> 00:33:15.880 four feet of water, not more than a couple of yards from the lee 381 00:33:15.960 --> 00:33:19.839 shore of the island. And then the back of the head was a long, 382 00:33:20.680 --> 00:33:36.960 terrible wound which no man could possibly have inflicted upon himself. Haunted tunnel 383 00:33:37.079 --> 00:33:44.839 a riddle. There was a tunnel that was said to be haunted. Three 384 00:33:44.839 --> 00:33:49.279 school girls decided to go there one evening to test their courage. When they 385 00:33:49.319 --> 00:33:52.200 looked into the tunnel, it was pitch black, and the girls started to 386 00:33:52.200 --> 00:33:57.720 lose their nerve. They decided to hold hands and run through the tunnel. 387 00:33:58.680 --> 00:34:01.440 They ran through the darkness and didn't stop running until they reached the end. 388 00:34:02.200 --> 00:34:07.279 When they came out the other side without anything happening to them, the girls 389 00:34:07.279 --> 00:34:12.920 were gasping for breath and laughing. Holding hands made it less scary, said 390 00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:15.440 one girl. I'm glad I was in the middle, said the other, 391 00:34:15.920 --> 00:34:23.440 Me too, said the third. What was wrong with this story? With 392 00:34:23.679 --> 00:34:39.079 three girls? Only one should have been in the middle. The corpse are 393 00:34:39.159 --> 00:34:52.239 Charles Baudelaire, Remember, my beloved, what thing we met by the roadside 394 00:34:52.280 --> 00:34:58.679 on that sweet summer day. They're on a grassy couch with pebble set a 395 00:34:58.840 --> 00:35:06.679 Loathsomebody lay the wanton limbs, stiff stretched into the air, steaming with exhalations, 396 00:35:06.840 --> 00:35:13.039 violent dank, in ruthless scenic fashion, had laid bare the swollen side 397 00:35:13.119 --> 00:35:17.760 and flank on this decay. The sun shone hot from heaven, as though 398 00:35:17.800 --> 00:35:23.480 with chimic heat, to broil and burn none too nature all that she had 399 00:35:23.519 --> 00:35:30.559 given a hundredfold return. The sky smiled down upon the horror there, as 400 00:35:30.599 --> 00:35:37.599 on a flower that opens to the day, so awful an infection smote the 401 00:35:37.719 --> 00:35:45.039 air almost you swooned away. The swarming flies hummed on the putrid side. 402 00:35:45.519 --> 00:35:51.719 Whence poured the maggots in a darkling stream that ran along these tatters of life's 403 00:35:51.760 --> 00:35:58.400 pride with a liquescent gleam, And like a wave, the maggots rose and 404 00:35:58.559 --> 00:36:04.360 fell. The murmuring flies swirled round in busy strife. It seemed as though 405 00:36:04.360 --> 00:36:10.119 a vague breath came to swell and multiply with life, the hideous corpse from 406 00:36:10.119 --> 00:36:15.880 all this living world, as music, as of wind and water ran or 407 00:36:15.920 --> 00:36:21.880 as of grain, and rhythmic motion swirled by the swift winnower's fan, And 408 00:36:21.960 --> 00:36:27.000 then the vague forms like a dream died out, or like some distant scene 409 00:36:27.079 --> 00:36:32.559 that slowly falls upon the artist's canvas that, with doubt the only half recalls. 410 00:36:34.760 --> 00:36:37.400 A homeless dog behind the boulders, lay and watched us, both with 411 00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:43.639 angry eyes, forlorn, waiting a chance to come and take away the morsel 412 00:36:43.840 --> 00:36:47.800 she had torn. And you, even you, will be like this drear 413 00:36:47.960 --> 00:36:53.760 thing, a vile infection. Man may not endure star that I yearned to, 414 00:36:54.320 --> 00:37:00.119 sun that lights my spring, Oh, passionate and pure, Yes, 415 00:37:00.440 --> 00:37:07.400 such will you be queen of every grace When the last sacramental words are said, 416 00:37:07.480 --> 00:37:15.559 and beneath grass and flowers that lovely face molders among the dead. Then, 417 00:37:15.800 --> 00:37:20.719 oh beloved, whisper to the worm that crawls up to devour you with 418 00:37:20.800 --> 00:37:27.360 a kiss, that I still garden memory. The dear form of love that 419 00:37:27.519 --> 00:37:37.840 comes to this. There you go. There are your campfire ghost stories for 420 00:37:37.920 --> 00:37:44.280 twenty twenty two, and one more marshmallow to roast over the fire ponds. 421 00:37:52.480 --> 00:37:55.639 There was once a teenage boy who was doing his homework quietly and peacefully one 422 00:37:55.760 --> 00:38:00.960 night when a notification kept popping up on his computer. Unfortunately, he was 423 00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:07.280 so engrossed in his homework he couldn't see the notifications popping up every ten minutes 424 00:38:07.400 --> 00:38:12.920 or so, and after two hours he realized he'd been missing messages from some 425 00:38:13.079 --> 00:38:17.280 unknown cinder. And when he opened up his Microsoft Mail account, the last 426 00:38:17.360 --> 00:38:24.440 five messages were all just outlook at me, outlook at me, outlook at 427 00:38:24.480 --> 00:38:34.920 me. There was once a small hunting crew up in Canada who came upon 428 00:38:34.960 --> 00:38:39.559 a wild eyed and frightened individual who had also been hunting not too far away. 429 00:38:40.360 --> 00:38:45.000 Oddly enough, his skin was bright green, as if it had been 430 00:38:45.039 --> 00:38:49.760 stained by something, although at first they chalked it up to just being frightened, 431 00:38:50.239 --> 00:38:53.760 but the man kept telling of a hunting partner he had who had succumbed 432 00:38:53.760 --> 00:39:00.559 to the elements at a nearby watering spot. As it turned out, the 433 00:39:00.599 --> 00:39:06.599 man wasn't green from fright at losing a companion. He had actually drowned the 434 00:39:06.639 --> 00:39:17.679 man in some jiggly lime dessert on an island at Gelatine Lake. That'll be 435 00:39:17.760 --> 00:39:22.960 your puns, That'll be your campfire goot Stories episode for this year. Thank 436 00:39:23.000 --> 00:39:27.840 you guys for listening, Thanks for hanging out and supporting the show. Don't 437 00:39:27.840 --> 00:39:31.280 forget to follow on social media and get yourself an extra episode a month by 438 00:39:31.360 --> 00:39:37.880 joining my Patreon and patreon dot com slash blurry Photos. And don't forget to 439 00:39:37.880 --> 00:39:43.039 watch me stream some games on Twitch dot tv slash blurry Photos. I'm in 440 00:39:43.119 --> 00:39:47.360 the middle of a sky Rim run right now with a few mods installed, 441 00:39:47.800 --> 00:39:52.519 so it should be pretty fun. I've got an interview coming up in the 442 00:39:52.559 --> 00:39:55.440 next episode, and then I think we'll be on our way to blurry Photober 443 00:39:55.559 --> 00:39:59.920 for this year, lots of stuff going on. Hope you guys are staying 444 00:40:00.159 --> 00:40:05.719 cool and having good times. And thanks again for listening for this episode of 445 00:40:05.840 --> 00:40:12.719 Blurry Photos. I have been David the tunnel handholder Flora. Don't stop blur even