1 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:09,960 Speaker 1: This happened almost four years ago. Now on a road 2 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:13,519 trip I was taking across the country. I'm a frequent 3 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:17,160 traveler and adventurer, going on long road trips and stopping 4 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:20,320 at great hiking and camping locations all around the nation. 5 00:00:21,519 --> 00:00:23,359 At the time, I had been on the road for 6 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:25,960 well over a month and was taking a short break 7 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:29,399 at a small town in Nevada. While at the bar 8 00:00:29,559 --> 00:00:31,760 talking with the locals, they asked me if I was 9 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:35,439 here to see the mines. I didn't know exactly what 10 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:38,280 they meant and asked for more details, and they all 11 00:00:38,359 --> 00:00:41,280 talked about how there were hundreds of abandoned mines and 12 00:00:41,439 --> 00:00:45,359 mining towns all over the state. When I went back 13 00:00:45,359 --> 00:00:47,640 to my camper that night, I looked it up and 14 00:00:47,679 --> 00:00:51,039 found all these interesting mines not far from where I was. 15 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:55,039 I had planned to just pass through Nevada as a whole, 16 00:00:55,439 --> 00:00:59,679 but after seeing this, I couldn't help myself. The next 17 00:00:59,759 --> 00:01:02,759 day I set out for one of the abandoned mining towns. 18 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:06,719 The actual hiking portion only took an hour and a half, 19 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:11,120 but it was mostly uphill. When I arrived, the town 20 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,200 was on a flat portion of the large hill. There 21 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:17,359 were twenty to thirty small wooden buildings, and in the 22 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,400 center of the town was a railroad leading into the 23 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:24,920 hill where the mine entrance was. I walked along this railroad, 24 00:01:25,079 --> 00:01:28,719 looking at the identical rows of wooden structures. I was 25 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:31,319 more interested in the actual mine than I was in 26 00:01:31,439 --> 00:01:35,079 the ghost town, but it was still cool to see. 27 00:01:35,159 --> 00:01:37,319 I checked out one of the structures, but it was 28 00:01:37,359 --> 00:01:39,239 full of dirt and rubble, and I was sure that 29 00:01:39,359 --> 00:01:43,439 all the others would probably be the same. At the 30 00:01:43,599 --> 00:01:46,400 entrance to the mine, I took out my flashlight and 31 00:01:46,439 --> 00:01:49,319 when I pointed it through, the tunnel was so long 32 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:53,400 that I couldn't even see the end. I started walking, 33 00:01:53,599 --> 00:01:57,200 and the further inside I got, the more quiet everything was, 34 00:01:57,719 --> 00:02:00,920 until eventually it was just the sound of my footsteps 35 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:05,879 echoing through the mine. After a couple minutes, I reached 36 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:08,159 the end of the railroad tracks and was met by 37 00:02:08,159 --> 00:02:13,039 a sign that said the area beyond was closed. Of course, 38 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:18,120 I walked past it. The tunnel very quickly became shallower 39 00:02:18,199 --> 00:02:21,520 and less well rounded. There was then a turn that 40 00:02:21,599 --> 00:02:24,520 started going down at a slope, and at one section 41 00:02:24,599 --> 00:02:28,319 of it the floor had caved in. Someone before me 42 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:31,840 had set up some makeshift walkway to get across the opening, 43 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:36,560 but it seemed incredibly dangerous and unstable. I pointed the 44 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:39,319 flashlight down, and the drop was enough to have me 45 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:43,199 permanently trapped if I were to fall. I decided to 46 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:45,479 turn back and went down one of the other side 47 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:49,120 passages that had passed up previously, and found myself at 48 00:02:49,159 --> 00:02:54,240 a ladder going down a steep tunnel again. I shined 49 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:56,719 my flashlight and saw that the bottom of the ladder 50 00:02:56,879 --> 00:03:01,479 wasn't even visible. I started my scent, but not long 51 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:06,280 into it I heard something from below. It was a 52 00:03:06,319 --> 00:03:10,840 loud thud echoing through the mine. The echo made it 53 00:03:10,879 --> 00:03:13,960 hard to know how close or far it was. I 54 00:03:14,039 --> 00:03:17,159 pointed my flashlight down, and while I didn't see the 55 00:03:17,199 --> 00:03:22,240 cause of the sound, I did see the bottom. I 56 00:03:22,319 --> 00:03:25,759 climbed down and found myself at the base of another passageway, 57 00:03:26,159 --> 00:03:30,039 and a few feet in I found what caused the thud. 58 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:32,840 There was a large rock sitting in the middle of 59 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:35,719 the tunnel, which I thought could have fallen from the ceiling, 60 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:38,360 but it wasn't hard to tell that it was an 61 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:43,159 entirely different kind of rock, which begged the question how 62 00:03:43,159 --> 00:03:47,840 did it fall and create a thud? I got my answer. 63 00:03:48,039 --> 00:03:52,840 When I pointed the flashlight further down the tunnel, two 64 00:03:53,159 --> 00:03:56,960 almost unidentifiable people stood in the middle of the passage, 65 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:02,080 about ten feet down, one man and one woman. I 66 00:04:02,159 --> 00:04:06,199 knew from one look that they were not explorers. The 67 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:08,800 way they looked at me was like they didn't even 68 00:04:08,879 --> 00:04:13,639 know I was a person. I started backing up, being 69 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:16,519 cautious with my movements to not make them feel threatened 70 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:20,439 in any way. When I got to the ladder, I dreaded, 71 00:04:20,519 --> 00:04:23,560 putting the flashlight in my pocket and started climbing up. 72 00:04:24,959 --> 00:04:28,279 Part of the way up, I swear I heard someone 73 00:04:28,399 --> 00:04:31,759 grab onto the rungs below me and begin climbing up quickly. 74 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:37,079 I looked down and saw nothing but darkness. I screamed 75 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:40,120 and began climbing up as fast as I could. I 76 00:04:40,199 --> 00:04:42,920 sprinted out of the mine and away from the ghost town. 77 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:48,120 During the hike back, I collected my thoughts, thinking maybe 78 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:50,519 what I heard was their footsteps, and in the moment 79 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:53,040 I'd just mistaken it for them climbing up after me. 80 00:04:53,519 --> 00:04:57,759 But it was still terrifying. I drove down to a 81 00:04:57,759 --> 00:05:00,800 police station in the area and reported what had happened, 82 00:05:01,079 --> 00:05:03,240 But as far as I know, the police didn't do 83 00:05:03,319 --> 00:05:06,600 any sort of search or anything, despite me telling them 84 00:05:06,639 --> 00:05:10,600 that they looked malnourished and deeply insane. Even if they 85 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:15,439 didn't know it themselves, they seriously needed help. I did 86 00:05:15,439 --> 00:05:18,639 some digging online since then and thought of some interesting 87 00:05:18,759 --> 00:05:20,759 theories as to why they may have been there. To 88 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:25,120 begin with, there were several cases from around the area 89 00:05:25,319 --> 00:05:28,399 of couples that went missing within the past ten years, 90 00:05:28,959 --> 00:05:32,600 mostly due to committing horrible crimes and likely running away 91 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:36,199 from the police. It just makes me think, how if 92 00:05:36,199 --> 00:05:38,839 that were to be true, and these were two people 93 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,800 who'd committed terrible crimes, then I was very lucky to 94 00:05:42,879 --> 00:05:58,800 have escaped after seeing them. Me and my best friend 95 00:05:58,879 --> 00:06:01,560 Glenn grew up in a small town far from any 96 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:06,240 big cities. The population was less than a thousand, so yeah, 97 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:10,920 it was very local and everyone knew everyone. Growing up, 98 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:14,079 rumors would spread about various creepy things that would go 99 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:17,319 on in the town, al most likely fake, but one 100 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:19,639 of the words that would spread was of this small 101 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,000 community a few miles out in the surrounding woods that 102 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:27,680 was abandoned decades ago. By the time Glen and I 103 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:30,600 were in high school, we found out from multiple people 104 00:06:30,759 --> 00:06:33,199 that the community was actually real and there was a 105 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:37,560 whole history to it. After finding that out, it was 106 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:40,120 impossible for us to resist the urge to go out 107 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:43,879 there and see what all the talk was about. We 108 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:46,680 tried planning the whole trip out, but in the end 109 00:06:46,879 --> 00:06:49,759 we just packed a backpack with some water and flashlights, 110 00:06:50,079 --> 00:06:54,040 then headed into the woods. We got some basic directions 111 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,439 to this poorly made trail that supposedly led there, and 112 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:00,720 we followed it down for about three miles, but then 113 00:07:00,759 --> 00:07:04,160 it ended there were no other trails or anything. It 114 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:07,800 was just a dead end. My immediate thought was that 115 00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:10,879 we'd been set up by some elaborate prank, but Glenn 116 00:07:10,959 --> 00:07:14,560 wasn't convinced. He somehow got me to follow him for 117 00:07:14,639 --> 00:07:18,160 another half mile through the woods, not following any trail 118 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:23,279 or directions. By then, we'd already been out longer than expected, 119 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:27,319 and the sun wasn't at its highest. I was nervous 120 00:07:27,319 --> 00:07:30,480 about getting lost without the sunlight or a clear path 121 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:34,480 to follow, But just before we turned back, Glen spotted 122 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:37,800 a shape in the distance. It was too far to 123 00:07:37,879 --> 00:07:41,920 see exactly what, but it was rigid, indefinitely man made. 124 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:46,399 As we got closer, the shape revealed itself to be 125 00:07:46,439 --> 00:07:50,680 a worn and broken down cabin. The roof had caved in, 126 00:07:50,959 --> 00:07:53,360 and it looked like people had been around here recently. 127 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:55,839 But when we walked around to the other side of 128 00:07:55,839 --> 00:07:58,639 the cabin, there was a large field where all the 129 00:07:58,759 --> 00:08:03,399 trees had been cut down. In the field stood six 130 00:08:03,519 --> 00:08:07,439 cabins of varying sizes, along with a few other structures 131 00:08:07,439 --> 00:08:10,839 that I couldn't really identify. Both of us were shot 132 00:08:10,959 --> 00:08:14,360 to actually have found this place, and in person, it 133 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:18,160 was way creepier than we ever could have imagined. The 134 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:21,000 houses were all falling apart in one way or another. 135 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:24,839 We walked over to one of the cabins close to 136 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:28,319 us and went inside. It was trashed, but it looked 137 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:31,480 like most of the furniture, like wooden chairs and tables, 138 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,519 were still intact and sitting in the same place they 139 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:39,360 had been decades ago. The sunset was casting long shadows 140 00:08:39,399 --> 00:08:42,320 on everything, which really just gave it all an eerie feeling. 141 00:08:43,799 --> 00:08:45,960 I went into what I think was supposed to be 142 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:49,240 the bedroom, but as I looked around, I heard someone 143 00:08:49,279 --> 00:08:54,120 walking outside the cabin. I turned around to give Glen 144 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:59,320 a nervous look, but he wasn't there, staying quiet, I 145 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:01,480 looked through a track on the wall to see if 146 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:05,279 the person outside was Glen, but as the footsteps came closer, 147 00:09:05,519 --> 00:09:08,919 I caught sight of them. It was a tall, old 148 00:09:09,039 --> 00:09:13,240 man i'd say mid fifties, half naked, and the clothes 149 00:09:13,279 --> 00:09:17,679 he did have on were torn and disgusting. He walked 150 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:20,480 past the cabin and I turned back and started looking 151 00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:23,200 through the rooms for Glenn, but he must have left 152 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:27,279 at some point. I exited through an empty window frame 153 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:29,919 and stayed behind the cabin as I tried to scan 154 00:09:30,039 --> 00:09:33,000 the whole field for any sign of Glen, but I 155 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:37,120 saw no signs of him. I assumed he was exploring 156 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:39,639 one of the other houses, but I had no idea 157 00:09:39,639 --> 00:09:41,279 of if he was even aware of this man that 158 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:46,000 had just entered the abandoned community. In my frantic state 159 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:48,720 of moving around the outside of the cabin and searching 160 00:09:48,759 --> 00:09:52,000 for Glen, I realized I'd lost sight of the man. 161 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:56,399 I was struggling to keep myself calm, and the whole 162 00:09:56,440 --> 00:10:00,720 woods was getting darker by the minute. Then all of 163 00:10:00,759 --> 00:10:04,080 a sudden, there was a horrifying scream from the other 164 00:10:04,159 --> 00:10:07,799 side of the abandoned town. I peered around the cabin 165 00:10:08,039 --> 00:10:12,279 and saw Glen running through the open field. Once he 166 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:15,679 saw me, we both ran into the woods back toward home. 167 00:10:16,919 --> 00:10:20,080 Thankfully we found the trail before the sun fully set, 168 00:10:20,399 --> 00:10:22,919 because once the sun went down, we could only see 169 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:27,519 a few feet ahead. When we finally got back, I 170 00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:31,120 asked Glen what happened. He said he was exploring one 171 00:10:31,159 --> 00:10:33,960 of the houses, and as he did, he started to 172 00:10:34,039 --> 00:10:36,720 realize that it didn't look as abandoned as the others, 173 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:41,639 and someone was likely living there. When he turned to leave, 174 00:10:42,039 --> 00:10:44,799 the same man I'd seen was standing on the other 175 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:48,879 side of the cabin holding a knife. He described his 176 00:10:49,039 --> 00:10:52,519 eyes as having a look of hunger, and without hesitation, 177 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:57,320 the man charged at him. Glenn screamed and ran, and 178 00:10:57,399 --> 00:11:01,279 I guess the man didn't chase very far. We don't 179 00:11:01,279 --> 00:11:03,279 know what that man would have done to us, but 180 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:05,679 it was stupid to have even gone to that abandoned 181 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:09,159 town in the first place, and it almost cost us 182 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:23,720 our lives to figure that out. Last year was my 183 00:11:23,799 --> 00:11:26,240 senior year of high school, and my friend group was 184 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:29,279 always full of dumb ideas. All it took was a 185 00:11:29,279 --> 00:11:31,600 boring weekend night for us to go out and find 186 00:11:31,639 --> 00:11:35,559 anything to entertain us. That's exactly what happened this night. 187 00:11:36,279 --> 00:11:38,840 It was me and my two other friends hanging out 188 00:11:38,919 --> 00:11:41,960 and just trying to think of something to do. One 189 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:45,080 of them, Mikey, had been talking of this abandoned place 190 00:11:45,159 --> 00:11:48,519 nearby for the past few weeks. We pushed it off 191 00:11:48,519 --> 00:11:51,039 for a while, but now with nothing to do, it 192 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:53,919 didn't sound all that bad of an idea to go exploring. 193 00:11:54,799 --> 00:11:56,320 He said it was a house on the edge of 194 00:11:56,399 --> 00:11:59,960 town where all the farmland was, but aside from the locate, 195 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:03,600 that was about all he knew. Me and the other 196 00:12:03,639 --> 00:12:06,960 friend shrugged and said why not, and within fifteen minutes 197 00:12:07,039 --> 00:12:09,919 we were on the road. We drove for a half 198 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:12,720 hour until we reached the point where Mikey said to 199 00:12:12,759 --> 00:12:15,960 turn off onto an unpaved road, and a few minutes 200 00:12:16,039 --> 00:12:18,360 later we exited the tree line and were right in 201 00:12:18,399 --> 00:12:21,799 front of the house. It was a very large house 202 00:12:21,879 --> 00:12:25,679 with a huge plot of abandoned farmland around it. We 203 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:28,039 got out of the car and each took a flashlight, 204 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:32,679 then approached the front door. I turned the knob and 205 00:12:32,799 --> 00:12:35,480 it was unlocked, but when I tried shoving it open, 206 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:38,200 it was blocked by something heavy on the other side. 207 00:12:39,279 --> 00:12:41,519 We went around to the back and tried the back door, 208 00:12:41,840 --> 00:12:46,200 but that door was locked. We resorted to crawling through 209 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:51,879 a busted window on the side of the house. As 210 00:12:51,919 --> 00:12:55,600 soon as we were in, a strong, awful smell took over. 211 00:12:56,559 --> 00:12:59,840 It was like a mixture of mold and rotting animal carcass. 212 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:03,960 I mean, this was the worst smell I'd ever experienced 213 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,600 by a long shot. My friends didn't seem as fazed 214 00:13:07,639 --> 00:13:11,639 as I was, so we kept moving in. Right away, 215 00:13:11,919 --> 00:13:16,279 we noticed footprints all throughout the dusty hallway floors. We 216 00:13:16,399 --> 00:13:19,080 thought nothing of it because we figured this place had 217 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:22,480 basically been a tourist attraction for stupid teenagers like us. 218 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:27,600 The whole place was unnervingly empty, though there wasn't any 219 00:13:27,639 --> 00:13:31,919 old furniture or garbage on the floor. As we walked 220 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:34,799 through the first few rooms, we reached the hallway that 221 00:13:34,879 --> 00:13:37,759 led to the front door, and against the front door 222 00:13:38,039 --> 00:13:40,519 was an old couch with a bunch of boxes on 223 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:44,480 top of it. Whoever had done that had taken what 224 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:47,879 looked like everything from inside the house just to block 225 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:52,240 the front door from opening. We continued up the stairs 226 00:13:52,399 --> 00:13:55,879 to see if the upstairs rooms were emptied too. At 227 00:13:55,879 --> 00:13:58,600 the top of the steps, I shined my flashlight down 228 00:13:58,639 --> 00:14:03,200 the hallway, there were three doors. We opened the first 229 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:06,960 two and they were both empty bedrooms. Then I opened 230 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:10,320 the third, and not surprisingly, it was empty two. But 231 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:14,200 this room was much smaller than the others. The reason 232 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:16,559 this confused all of us was because there were no 233 00:14:16,639 --> 00:14:19,320 more rooms next to it, so based on the layout 234 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:21,759 of the house, it was easy to assume that this 235 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:24,159 room was supposed to be double the size of the others. 236 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:28,200 Since there were no more doors. With nothing left to see, 237 00:14:28,519 --> 00:14:31,120 we started back down the stairs, but as we got 238 00:14:31,159 --> 00:14:37,360 halfway down, we all heard the same thing. It sounded 239 00:14:37,399 --> 00:14:41,720 like a ball hitting the floor, rolling, then quickly and 240 00:14:41,799 --> 00:14:46,279 intentionally being stopped. It came from upstairs, where we just 241 00:14:46,399 --> 00:14:50,960 were Cautiously, We checked each of the rooms again and 242 00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:54,919 found nothing. All of us hearing the exact same thing 243 00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:58,360 made it extra odd because we all knew it happened, 244 00:14:58,639 --> 00:15:03,080 but there was nothing upstairs. After that, we were all 245 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:06,000 getting uncomfortable and we quickly left the house through the 246 00:15:06,039 --> 00:15:09,080 same window we came in from. We walked to the 247 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:12,480 front where the car was and got in. Just before 248 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:16,200 I pulled out, though, I noticed two windows upstairs on 249 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:19,720 the left side of the house, and I specifically remembered 250 00:15:19,799 --> 00:15:22,799 that the small room we were confused by only had 251 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:27,240 one window. I pointed this out to my friends and 252 00:15:27,279 --> 00:15:30,399 we all sat there staring at the second floor windows 253 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:33,559 and trying to figure out what was going on. Then 254 00:15:33,639 --> 00:15:36,600 there was a sudden flicker of a shadow moving across 255 00:15:36,639 --> 00:15:40,360 the blinds, followed by a dim light glowing from behind 256 00:15:40,399 --> 00:15:44,080 the window. In the light, the figure of a man 257 00:15:44,159 --> 00:15:48,559 could be seen looking out the window at us. I 258 00:15:48,639 --> 00:15:51,360 put the car in drive, did a U turn, and 259 00:15:51,559 --> 00:15:54,159 sped down the dirt road, getting out of there as 260 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:59,840 fast as possible. After some discussion, Mikey convinced us to 261 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:03,480 call the police, but the police found nothing in the house. 262 00:16:04,399 --> 00:16:08,720 Whoever was there had moved out and probably took everything 263 00:16:08,799 --> 00:16:12,879 with them. When I think back on it now, I'm 264 00:16:12,919 --> 00:16:15,240 just happy that we didn't try too hard to search 265 00:16:15,279 --> 00:16:18,279 for any more rooms when we were up there. If 266 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:21,240 we did, I wouldn't doubt it if whoever was hiding 267 00:16:21,279 --> 00:16:24,679 in there was prepared to take drastic measures not to 268 00:16:24,759 --> 00:16:27,000 be found.