Feb. 16, 2024

Your Scary Stories Episode #3: This is What Happens When You Step on the Stairs in the Woods

Your Scary Stories Episode #3: This is What Happens When You Step on the Stairs in the Woods

All the content from Your Scary Stories Episode #3. This was streamed live across social media on 1-1-2024. We share a story found online about the terrifying events that happened after a guy stepped onto a set of stairs he saw in the woods while on a...

Apple Podcasts podcast player badge
Spotify podcast player badge
Castro podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player badge
Spreaker podcast player badge
Apple Podcasts podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player iconSpreaker podcast player icon

All the content from Your Scary Stories Episode #3. This was streamed live across social media on 1-1-2024. We share a story found online about the terrifying events that happened after a guy stepped onto a set of stairs he saw in the woods while on a hiking trip. Your Scary Stories is a show where we share your true scary stories LIVE every Monday at 10:30pm EST. To learn more about the Show, or to submit your true scary story go to YourScaryStories.com Music- Author: Kevin MacLeod at - http://incompetech.com/

WEBVTT

1
00:00:05.320 --> 00:00:09.400
All right, all right, welcome
to your scary stories. We already have

2
00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:14.480
some people filing in, some comments
coming in. One from TikTok Wrestling soap

3
00:00:14.519 --> 00:00:19.160
Opera. I thought the show was
at ten thirty. It startly my fault.

4
00:00:19.719 --> 00:00:23.960
The dog had to go out and
held us up a bit crazy.

5
00:00:24.039 --> 00:00:28.839
Thing is he actually doesn't have a
dog I do. He's a golden doodle.

6
00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:31.679
That's the that's the part that I
really can't get over here. But

7
00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:35.640
he's the scariest part, a real
big puppy. And if I post a

8
00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:40.719
picture, we'll probably get more followers. So someone said, I thought Luke

9
00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:45.399
was searching for a fan to blow
onto the microphone for the show. No,

10
00:00:45.560 --> 00:00:49.000
but two seconds before we the thing
came on, we ran and turned

11
00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:54.240
off the air conditioner. That is
so great. Somebody said that, oh

12
00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:58.240
man, you're using an air conditioner
and the winner. Man, people are

13
00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:03.640
all over you, guys, people
are all it's he is now being critique.

14
00:01:03.319 --> 00:01:07.879
It's a heat pump, so it
does both air conditioning and heatings depending

15
00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:11.719
on what you wanted to do.
So an air commissioner because it looks like

16
00:01:11.799 --> 00:01:17.359
one. It sounds like a noisy
fan all the time. So I could

17
00:01:17.400 --> 00:01:23.000
have said the furnace. Yeah,
yeah, well all right, so let's

18
00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:25.680
get go in here. We've got
several people watching live, so we don't

19
00:01:25.719 --> 00:01:29.439
want to let them down. This
is your Scary Stories Live the podcast.

20
00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:34.599
These show where we share your scary
stories or various other scary stories across the

21
00:01:34.599 --> 00:01:41.400
Internet. And last week Jackie Moon
shared this story about these stairs in the

22
00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:45.439
woods that magically randomly show up in
the wood. So I was so intrigued

23
00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:49.799
by this story that I went out
and I was talking to them the whole

24
00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:52.480
time. I looked and I looked, and I read and I read,

25
00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:56.040
and I was so intrigued by it. And I found a story about what

26
00:01:56.200 --> 00:02:00.560
happened to an individual that's stepped on
or what I guess a dominos to things

27
00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:05.640
that happened when then an individual stepped
on these stairs in the woods and like

28
00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:08.039
a search and rescue guy, I
believe jack was who yes, parked of

29
00:02:08.039 --> 00:02:12.000
this story that made me keep researching. That was your story right at Search

30
00:02:12.039 --> 00:02:14.280
and Rescue guy. Yeah, it
was Search and rescue guy. He had

31
00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:15.960
he had a few stories. We
may revisit his stories in the future,

32
00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:20.479
but this story, again is about
what happens if you step on those creepy

33
00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:23.080
stairs in the woods, and you
guys, I'm gonna go ahead and go

34
00:02:23.080 --> 00:02:24.639
ahead and get it going. We
got people waiting, we're a little behind,

35
00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:29.080
so we'll go ahead and take off
here. And this is going to

36
00:02:29.159 --> 00:02:30.840
be told and kind of a I'm
going to be reading front the individual that

37
00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:36.000
shared this story. So okay,
So me and my friend Sam went to

38
00:02:36.039 --> 00:02:38.319
Michigan together on a hiking trip.
When you pull up, you see a

39
00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:42.719
lodge. When you hike to the
campsite, it's a very woodsy part of

40
00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:46.039
Michigan. The trail is like ten
feet wide, and then around you is

41
00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:49.560
pretty much all woods. There are
park guides that take you to the lodge

42
00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:52.919
to the camp site. You're allowed
to spread out because everyone is on the

43
00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:55.240
same trail, but everybody's within a
couple miles of each other. That's that's

44
00:02:55.240 --> 00:03:00.000
how the size of this is.
There's always a park ranger falling along sometimes

45
00:03:00.039 --> 00:03:01.439
in the distance. Because of the
size of the park and the amount of

46
00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:05.319
people. We're technically with a lot
of people, but it's just me and

47
00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:07.840
Sam. The lining of the trees
on the side of the trail are like

48
00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:12.000
really really dense. You couldn't see
a deer if it was ten feet in

49
00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:14.639
front of you. I look off
to the right and there's a gap in

50
00:03:14.680 --> 00:03:19.159
the trees. I see a staircase
one hundred yards into the woods. It

51
00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:22.159
sticks out completely. It's so out
of place. It looks like it got

52
00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:25.159
plucked up with a mansion. It
looks like something you were building, like

53
00:03:25.240 --> 00:03:30.479
a sim's house. You chose the
staircase, but then you put the staircase

54
00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:32.400
there. Then you deleted the rest
of the house. But at the top

55
00:03:32.439 --> 00:03:37.000
it just stopped, doesn't really go
anywhere. It's like ten feet high than

56
00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:38.919
nothing, which is so weird.
Sam and I look at each other.

57
00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:42.879
We didn't see the park ranger around, but we decided, hey, let's

58
00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:46.240
go check these stairs out. So
we started walking towards it. And the

59
00:03:46.280 --> 00:03:49.840
closer we get to it, the
more eerie things start to feel. I

60
00:03:49.879 --> 00:03:53.840
started to get the feeling that this
isn't like your local forests preserve. We're

61
00:03:53.879 --> 00:03:58.199
in the middle of deep woods,
like we're on a long nature adventure or

62
00:03:58.199 --> 00:04:01.240
something. Then you see something so
clearly man made out here. It sticks

63
00:04:01.240 --> 00:04:04.439
out. It's weird. Why is
it here? The stairs were glowing as

64
00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:10.120
if it's trying to attract me.
I started getting intrusive thoughts. Everything in

65
00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:13.840
my head is saying, go up
these stairs. I run up and just

66
00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:15.959
hop on the first step. I
have my hand on the railing and it

67
00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:18.920
puts up my feet on the first
step. This is where things start to

68
00:04:18.920 --> 00:04:24.519
get weird. The second I got
onto it, it almost felt like it

69
00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:28.759
had a light, little vibration to
it. I felt it on my feet,

70
00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:30.199
this vibrating, and on my hands. They were tingling a bit.

71
00:04:30.759 --> 00:04:33.240
I'm like laughing and giggling, like, oh, this is really weird.

72
00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:38.079
While I'm expecting the staircase. It
has carpet on the stairs. The railings

73
00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:41.639
are white. The carpets are blue, like a royal blue. And there's

74
00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:44.879
no debris. There's not a leaf, not a sprinkle of dirt, not

75
00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:48.639
any bugs or leaves or anything on
it. Strange. It's almost starts to

76
00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:53.759
feel like a trap. Part of
my head is saying keep going to the

77
00:04:53.800 --> 00:04:57.000
top. And then before I climbed
to the top of the stairs, I

78
00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:00.279
look back at my friend Sam.
He's looking at me like he's horrified.

79
00:05:00.680 --> 00:05:04.879
He's looking at me like something is
wrong with me, Like I'm clearly in

80
00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:09.079
distress. Then I look back at
the top, and I'm thinking should I

81
00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:13.240
go to the top? Sam then
grabs me by the hood and he yanks

82
00:05:13.319 --> 00:05:15.279
me off the stairs really really hard. Next thing I know, I'm on

83
00:05:15.319 --> 00:05:18.600
the ground laying face up. He
immediately comes up to me and says,

84
00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:21.639
are you okay? Yeah, dude, why did you pull me so hard?

85
00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:25.319
He asked me again, Are you
sure you're okay? I replied,

86
00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:29.800
what are you talking about? This
is when the conversation turned weird. I

87
00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:33.240
thought I was on there giggling and
having a good time, and he told

88
00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:36.600
me it seemed like I was actually
standing there having a standing seizure. I

89
00:05:36.600 --> 00:05:41.360
don't remember that, because my perspective
is I was laughing and the staircase is

90
00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:46.319
vibrating, and I'm having a decent
time, just really trying to figure out

91
00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:48.000
what it is because we have this
immaculate staircase in the middle of the woods.

92
00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:50.079
And he says, my eyes are
actually rolling in the back of my

93
00:05:50.120 --> 00:05:55.240
head and I'm having a seizure.
So he yanked me off as soon as

94
00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:57.720
he started to realize that I was
having a seizure. He said, no

95
00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:00.839
more than a few seconds past.
Honestly, I felt completely fine. No

96
00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:03.839
type of side effect or whatever.
He helped me in my feet and asked

97
00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:06.639
if I'm okay to walk and if
he needed to go get help, and

98
00:06:06.680 --> 00:06:11.759
I told him I'm fine and absolutely
do not need help, and let's get

99
00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:15.000
out of here. We hustled back
to the trail and nobody's around. It's

100
00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:17.600
all good. We've talked about it
for a little bit, but I have

101
00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:23.600
to convince him that I'm actually fine, fine to continue on and head back

102
00:06:23.639 --> 00:06:26.920
to the campsite. We finished up
the hike, and when we got back

103
00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:30.279
to the campsite, everybody's there.
It's all good. Nobody noticed anything or

104
00:06:30.360 --> 00:06:34.839
saw anything. Nothing dispersing going on. There's food being made. It's been

105
00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:39.920
a long hike. Everybody's tired.
While we're finishing up eating and everybody else

106
00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:44.040
is dispersing. I see the park
ranger looking at me with concern. I

107
00:06:44.120 --> 00:06:46.040
was debating with Sam if I should
tell the ranger what happened. Sam thought

108
00:06:46.040 --> 00:06:49.519
I should tell him, but honestly, I felt too embarrassed. Sam goes

109
00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:53.279
up to the tent and I decided
to go to the bathroom before heading to

110
00:06:53.319 --> 00:06:56.120
the tent. After using the bathroom
and on my way to the tent,

111
00:06:56.160 --> 00:07:00.720
the park ranger stops me. He
kind of looks pissed off off. He

112
00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:01.959
looks me in the face, looks
me right in the eyes, and he

113
00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:05.920
says, please tell me you didn't
touch the stairs. He repeats it again,

114
00:07:06.279 --> 00:07:10.560
Please tell me you didn't touch those
stairs. I told him I didn't

115
00:07:10.600 --> 00:07:13.879
break anything, and I didn't mess
with them, because I'm thinking maybe they

116
00:07:13.879 --> 00:07:17.279
are like a national landmark or something
important. He said, it's not about

117
00:07:17.319 --> 00:07:20.160
the stairs. I don't care that
you damage them. Did anything happen to

118
00:07:20.199 --> 00:07:24.920
you? I started to think he
was concerned about my health. I tried

119
00:07:24.920 --> 00:07:28.720
to downplay it, and I told
him my body threw a little bit of

120
00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:30.279
a fit. My friend said,
but I'm fine. Now I'm fine,

121
00:07:30.839 --> 00:07:33.920
because I'm thinking he's wondering, do
I have this guy who's a liability on

122
00:07:33.959 --> 00:07:39.480
my campsite. He seems upset that
I'm okay. He then tells me if

123
00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:42.959
something didn't happen to you, something's
going to happen to someone else. I

124
00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:46.959
thought, that's weird. That's not
where I thought he was gonna take this.

125
00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:49.680
He starts guilting me, telling me
there are women and children here,

126
00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:54.160
so if something didn't happen to you, something might happen to them. I

127
00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:58.040
can tell by the way this guy
is talking that he is absolutely positive that

128
00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:01.920
something horrible is going to happen because
I touched the stairs. I started pressing

129
00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:07.279
him because I'm wondering, why are
you actually like the stairs are so ominous?

130
00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:13.120
I start asking, why would you
take us on this hike by this

131
00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:18.240
dangerous staircase. He explains a little
bit, kind of like I should be

132
00:08:18.279 --> 00:08:22.160
in the know about these stairs.
He starts saying stuff like they pop up

133
00:08:22.199 --> 00:08:28.240
randomly, And suddenly I'm thinking this
guy is absolutely tripping. He's making things

134
00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:33.279
up. He's trying to talk to
me about touching this random staircase make it

135
00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:37.399
seem like something horrible is gonna happen. I leave this weirdo by himself because

136
00:08:37.559 --> 00:08:43.080
I'm gonna go to bed. I
want to try to enjoy this trip for

137
00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:46.519
the rest of the time we're here. The next day, we have a

138
00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:50.200
great time. You know. It's
Campsite's got a great lake. We're spending

139
00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:54.879
time in the water. Nothing weird
is happening. Everything's completely okay. In

140
00:08:54.879 --> 00:09:00.600
my head, that guy was tripping, he's super weird. Where fine.

141
00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:03.080
By the end of the day,
I had completely forgotten about what happened.

142
00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:07.679
Sam's over it and we go to
sleep because obviously when you're camping, you're

143
00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:16.440
spending so much time and energy outside
you're exhausted. So we hit the Hey

144
00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:22.919
it's early the next morning when we
hear something outside our tent, maybe around

145
00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:26.919
four am. The sun's gone an
hour from coming up, and we hear

146
00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:33.000
this ruckous sound outside, someone crying. We take a look and it's this

147
00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:39.559
young boy. We're like, what's
going on here? We all got our

148
00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:43.919
tents and there's already people around him. From what we could hear from people

149
00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:48.559
talking, his mom is gone,
his tent is gone, and all their

150
00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:52.600
belongings are gone. They start questioning
this kid and they're like, you know,

151
00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:58.360
where's your mom? This little kid
just points towards the trees. Apparently

152
00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:03.600
this kid's mom packed up all their
stuff went out on our own hike in

153
00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:07.159
the middle of the night. I'm
thinking, this is, uh, you

154
00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:09.360
know, mom of the air material
here? Why would someone do that?

155
00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:15.799
We formed a search party. Everybody's
coming together, like, all right,

156
00:10:15.799 --> 00:10:20.960
we're going to go look for this
lady. As we're walking towards the big

157
00:10:20.039 --> 00:10:24.600
group that's going on the search,
the art ranger walks by me and Sam,

158
00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:28.399
and he says some slick comments to
me, saying, you better hope

159
00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:31.480
we find her, because if we
don't, it's on you. At this

160
00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:35.720
point, I'm pretty pissed because this
is this strange guy, this is really

161
00:10:35.799 --> 00:10:41.279
weird guys telling me about this mythical
stairs, and now he's trying to blame

162
00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:43.759
me for this mom packing up her
stuff and leaving in the middle of the

163
00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:50.440
night. Sam asks why would he
say something like that to you? Which

164
00:10:50.600 --> 00:10:56.159
I get his confusion. Why would
somebody blame somebody for eating up and leaving

165
00:10:56.200 --> 00:11:00.200
in the middle of the night on
me? So I filled him in on

166
00:11:00.279 --> 00:11:05.399
the mythology of these staircases this ark
ranger had told me. Sam's face is

167
00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:11.639
expressing to me that he believes the
ranger and not me. I was being

168
00:11:11.639 --> 00:11:16.679
a little sarcastic about it, but
Sam seemed pretty serious. He tells me,

169
00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:22.240
I think we should probably check by
the stairs. Luckily, the search

170
00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:26.320
party is kind of directed towards the
area anyways, because we don't think this

171
00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:31.840
lady's going to go very far off
the trail. So like, all right,

172
00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:35.559
maybe she went back to the lodge. Maybe she was done with the

173
00:11:35.559 --> 00:11:39.360
campsite there, you know, there's
no sign of her. We didn't see

174
00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:43.919
anything at first. We're walking down
the trail that we came in, but

175
00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:50.639
once we get to the clearing,
this lady is sitting cross legged exactly where

176
00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:56.200
the stairs were. At this point, I'm a little freaked out. Well,

177
00:11:56.360 --> 00:12:00.600
I'm also like, of course she's
sitting there, like is she in

178
00:12:00.679 --> 00:12:05.480
on this as well? Like what's
going on here? Why is this lady

179
00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:11.039
sitting cross legged exactly where the stairs
were? And the stairs aren't there anymore?

180
00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:18.200
Then my mind starts going like why
am I in this weird situation?

181
00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:22.600
Where is this weird park ranger?
Are they in hoots with each other?

182
00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:28.399
Something deranged going on? As this
person crazy, Me and Sam jog up

183
00:12:28.440 --> 00:12:33.399
to her, there's already people next
to her by this point, and as

184
00:12:33.399 --> 00:12:37.960
we're approaching her, I see their
clothes are tattered. Mind you, she's

185
00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:41.080
only been going like an hour and
a half stops and her clothes are all

186
00:12:41.120 --> 00:12:45.759
tattered. She looks like she got
dragged through the forest. She looks like

187
00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:50.559
bear girls after a week in Siberia
by himself eating earthworms. She looks sleep

188
00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:54.320
deprived. She looks like she hasn't
had food or water in a while.

189
00:12:54.519 --> 00:12:58.320
Her eyes are giving like a psychosis
kind of look to it. We get

190
00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:01.200
up to her and people already asking
her a question. One lady's like,

191
00:13:01.879 --> 00:13:05.559
what happened? Are you okay?
And she's just rocking back and forth.

192
00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:11.120
She says, what took you guys
so long? And the guy that's there,

193
00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:16.759
he says, don't worry, it's
only been like an hour. You

194
00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:20.399
need something to drink, and you're
safe now, and she just starts mumbling,

195
00:13:20.519 --> 00:13:24.519
it's been days. It's been days. Right then, I thought,

196
00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:30.440
okay, she is she crazy.
They're still question her, but she's not

197
00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:33.000
even answering their questions at this point. She's just kind of talking and mumbling

198
00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:37.720
to herself. I got a few
sentences as she mumbled out, it told

199
00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:43.799
me you'd come. It told me
i'd be safe by the stairs. Are

200
00:13:43.799 --> 00:13:48.399
you kidding me? It told me
you'd come. It told me i'd be

201
00:13:48.440 --> 00:13:52.879
saved by the stairs. The stairs
aren't even here. How does she even

202
00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:56.799
know that there were stairs here?
At this point, starting to believe the

203
00:13:56.799 --> 00:14:01.120
park ranger, I started to feel
guilty about this. Am I the reason

204
00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:07.639
this woman is in this deranged fit, sitting here in this clearing, the

205
00:14:07.639 --> 00:14:11.159
reality of the situation is starting to
hit me, and we get this lady

206
00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:13.000
up. We have to take her
back to the campsite because we can't take

207
00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:16.039
her to the lodge. We can't
take it to the hospital. We have

208
00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:20.080
to get back to the campsite where
everyone else is and that's where her kid

209
00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:24.159
is. All right, So that's
the end of part one. Let's unpack

210
00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:28.240
what we just went through here.
So they went camping. Sam and his

211
00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:33.559
friend with camping to Michigan an hiking
trip and not their first hike out into

212
00:14:33.559 --> 00:14:39.519
the woods, they see this staircase
perfectly Pristine's staircase. Some reason, he

213
00:14:39.559 --> 00:14:43.240
feels like he needs to go touch
the stairs. He's getting this feeling.

214
00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:46.399
It's attracting him. It seems to
be glowing. Even he runs up steps

215
00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:50.159
on the first step, his friend
Sam pulls him off. He's like,

216
00:14:50.200 --> 00:14:52.320
why the heck did you pull me
off so hard? What's going on?

217
00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:56.159
He said, you're having a seizure. But to him, he just felt

218
00:14:56.159 --> 00:15:00.320
like he was almost having this outer
body experience with his vibration, saying,

219
00:15:00.440 --> 00:15:03.919
just a weird sense of feeling.
As they're going back the park ranger somehow,

220
00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:07.960
he tells the park ranger about this, and the park ranger is very

221
00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:11.639
upset that he stepped on the steps. And at first he's confused, thinking,

222
00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:15.519
like, why is this guy so
upset upset that I stepped on these

223
00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:18.799
steps? Like it's this a national
landmark? Of these steps important? Are

224
00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:22.600
they significant? He says, I'm
not worried about the steps. It's something

225
00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:24.919
didn't happen to you, something happened
to somebody else. As we get into

226
00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:28.000
part two of this store, I
mean, excuse me. As we got

227
00:15:28.039 --> 00:15:31.960
on the second part of part one, we discovered that the next morning and

228
00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:33.519
early morning, they found out I
think it was before the sun rise,

229
00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:37.679
that one of the campers there was
missing. It was a child's mom was

230
00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:41.120
missing. They went into the woods, and this is where I'm gonna I

231
00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:43.600
don't want to mix it up,
Jack. They found her where the steps

232
00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:46.559
were, yes, right, but
they weren't there. Now the steps are

233
00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:50.399
not there. What was she saying? She was saying some weird things about

234
00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:54.559
this. Yeah, you're saying,
uh, you know, it took took

235
00:15:54.600 --> 00:15:56.399
forever to find her. It took
several days to find her, even though

236
00:15:58.120 --> 00:16:02.919
it was only about an hour or
so. She was saying that something told

237
00:16:02.919 --> 00:16:07.320
her she waked by the steps and
that they'd be safe there, and she

238
00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:10.559
looked like you, she has just
been dragged around and been in the woods

239
00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:15.120
for days, been in the wood
for days, ragged, tired in Hungary.

240
00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:18.919
In reality, she's only been in
the woods for a few hours at

241
00:16:18.919 --> 00:16:22.960
tops, and she wasn't far into
the woods right now, not from where

242
00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:26.399
they were, because they had just
gotten there from campsite. So that's where

243
00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:27.559
we left off here. We'll get
into a party here in a minute.

244
00:16:27.559 --> 00:16:32.200
But what's your guys feelings here?
When you first read through part one of

245
00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:36.279
this, I think that people are
actually pretty rational, you know, like,

246
00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:37.639
yeah, if you see some steps
in the woods, he'd be very

247
00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:41.000
tempted to be like, well,
I want to get up on those steps.

248
00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:44.720
I kind of check those out.
Unless you heard about this being a

249
00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:49.480
saying both different places like we have
before, and so like this does make

250
00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:55.120
sense for them to do this,
as he said. And also I feel

251
00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:59.879
like even the ranger, even though
he's kind of like scared of this happening,

252
00:16:59.879 --> 00:17:03.480
he wasn't too aggressive with how he
handled the situation. He was like,

253
00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:06.759
did you do this? Just tell
me right now? The way we

254
00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:10.960
know what's going on next? And
so I thought this is kind of a

255
00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:15.920
Yeah, like Jack said, pre
rational reactions by everybody so far, you

256
00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:19.400
put yourself in the person's shoes.
They had this happen to him, though.

257
00:17:19.480 --> 00:17:22.559
It probably seems like the ranger's acting
a little bit odd and he's so

258
00:17:22.599 --> 00:17:26.599
worried about these stairs. Yeah,
but the size of the woods and the

259
00:17:26.599 --> 00:17:30.279
amount of people there, the ranger
couldn't be everywhere at once, so therefore

260
00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:33.920
he didn't able to stop that.
But I guess that's something. Do you

261
00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:36.559
bring that up beforehand or is that
actually going to make somebody step on the

262
00:17:36.599 --> 00:17:38.480
stairs? You know? Yeah,
I would definitely, you know, increase

263
00:17:38.519 --> 00:17:41.960
the temptation, But also I do
wonder, well, rather not wonder.

264
00:17:42.039 --> 00:17:47.559
But it does seem to line up
with what most park rangers or search and

265
00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:49.240
rescue teams say, is it's like
just kind of leave the stairs alone.

266
00:17:49.240 --> 00:17:52.079
They don't really get it into it
too much. So and we're going to

267
00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:56.799
dive back into the story here.
Luke's gonna pick things back up. Luke,

268
00:17:56.839 --> 00:18:02.039
are you ready we get this lady
up started talking walking her back.

269
00:18:02.519 --> 00:18:06.039
Sam and I are a little bit
ahead of the three others that had found

270
00:18:06.039 --> 00:18:10.119
her. As we're walking back,
she's just rambling to herself in a really

271
00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:15.240
light voice, saying, it said
this, It said that. People who

272
00:18:15.240 --> 00:18:17.759
were with her were just trying to
console her. They were saying, hey,

273
00:18:17.799 --> 00:18:22.039
it's gonna be okay. Your son's
at the campsite. A really light

274
00:18:22.200 --> 00:18:26.799
voice, she says, son.
Everybody's being very gentle with her. She's

275
00:18:26.839 --> 00:18:30.079
been through a while, so nobody's
saying, oh, she's a number,

276
00:18:30.119 --> 00:18:33.400
her son is. At this point, the lady doesn't even know her own

277
00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:37.200
name her Her eyes are absolutely deranged. One of the group says, yes,

278
00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:41.720
yes, your son. She just
stairs and says, what's his name?

279
00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:45.119
Oh, your son? His name
is Nick. He's just giving her

280
00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:48.559
the answers that she needs to get
back to reality. She said. He's

281
00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:52.680
doing a great job consoling her.
As we're walking back, the guilt of

282
00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:56.839
me is rising, and all I
can think about is how much I want

283
00:18:56.839 --> 00:19:02.319
to apologize to this park ranger being
kind of just earlier, I was brushing

284
00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:06.599
him off about everything he said would
happened. It's a long walk. I

285
00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:08.519
have a lot of time to think
about when I'm going to say to them.

286
00:19:08.839 --> 00:19:12.079
Right when I see him, he
sees the woman and I swear to

287
00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:15.960
God, this man exhales for the
first size as I met him. He's

288
00:19:17.079 --> 00:19:19.640
so relieved that she's alive. I
walked right up to him. I just

289
00:19:19.640 --> 00:19:25.079
started apologizing. Tom. I fully
believe him. I'm sorry I did this.

290
00:19:25.799 --> 00:19:29.039
That's what I can do to help. He just kind of apologized for

291
00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:32.480
being hard on me. As he's
walking away, he says, I just

292
00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:37.519
needed you to know how serious this
situation is. Sorry for taking out you.

293
00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:42.480
I just hate finding dead kids.
That hit me like a bomb because

294
00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:45.680
he knew something horrible was going to
happen. He didn't know if it was

295
00:19:45.720 --> 00:19:49.079
going to be an adult or a
kid. He said it as if it's

296
00:19:49.160 --> 00:19:53.759
happened before, and that he's had
to find kids like that, and the

297
00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:59.240
idea of finding a kid in the
same state that she's in was absolutely heartbreaking.

298
00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:03.640
So at this point, we're trying
to get this lady better before her

299
00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:07.519
kid comes back from the excursion that
they all went on. We clean her

300
00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:11.720
up, get her food and water, and get her some new clothes,

301
00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:15.960
trying to get her back to normal
so the kid doesn't come back and see

302
00:20:15.960 --> 00:20:19.000
his mom and this horror will stay. Afterwards, we're just sitting around the

303
00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:23.839
campsite. She's all cleaned up and
looking a bit better. She's just sitting

304
00:20:23.880 --> 00:20:27.200
there at her hands folding her lap
and her knees touching each other, just

305
00:20:27.240 --> 00:20:33.359
sitting very delicately. She kind of
just looking around, still very spacey.

306
00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:38.559
She's not talking to anybody. She's
mumbling to herself a little bit, but

307
00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:42.200
she seems a little bit more put
together, a little bit more calm.

308
00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:47.359
She's pretty happy that she's back at
the campsite. As the kids are coming

309
00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:52.319
back, the entire group is kind
of expecting this big reunion moment. Everyone's

310
00:20:52.359 --> 00:20:56.359
expecting a warm embrace. We're all
happy, everything's okay. And when the

311
00:20:56.440 --> 00:21:00.880
kids come back, the son walked
up at the end of the camp everybody's

312
00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:03.440
looking at her, and everybody kind
of goes silent for this embrace. She

313
00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:07.960
looks up and she kind of sees
that everybody's looking at her. It's almost

314
00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:11.759
like she took it as a que
and she scans the kids and says,

315
00:21:11.160 --> 00:21:15.319
Nick, just really gently, we
go look at the kid, and the

316
00:21:15.400 --> 00:21:21.119
kid's scowling at his mom, like
he's looking at a stranger that he doesn't

317
00:21:21.240 --> 00:21:26.480
like. He gestures kind of like
a shrug and then she stops scanning kids

318
00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:32.559
and she locks in on him.
She almost stands up like a machine,

319
00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:37.279
just very robotically, no waste of
movements, and she lifts her hands slightly.

320
00:21:37.319 --> 00:21:41.759
She's inviting him to come give her
a hug, instead of coming to

321
00:21:41.799 --> 00:21:45.559
give him her coming to give him
a hug. The kids starts backing up,

322
00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:51.319
he starts crying. She says,
that's not my mom anymore. What

323
00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:55.359
my dad runs off. Now.
I look around the group. It feels

324
00:21:55.359 --> 00:22:00.480
so awkward and tense. Almost didn't
unfold how we're expecting. And everybody has

325
00:22:00.599 --> 00:22:04.359
this kind of sadness on their face. And I look and I see the

326
00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:07.920
park rangers face, and he's looking
at the woman like this. His world

327
00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:12.720
is being tore apart. He's more
anxious that seeing this entire time. And

328
00:22:12.759 --> 00:22:18.440
the woman of the campsite immediately go
up to the mom, trying to console

329
00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:22.559
tell her that the kids react to
trauma in different ways. He'll get over

330
00:22:22.599 --> 00:22:26.799
it and it's gonna be okay.
Her face is expressionless, as if she's

331
00:22:26.839 --> 00:22:32.799
not even hearing these women and just
looking right past them, and her eyes

332
00:22:32.839 --> 00:22:37.519
are just falling the kid. Everyone
else in the campsite starts dispersing because it's

333
00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:42.680
a very tense moment, except for
the park ranger. I see him talking

334
00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:47.519
to the camp guide. I seek
behind the east drop a little bit see

335
00:22:47.559 --> 00:22:51.200
what he's saying, and he's telling
the camp guide to tell call the father,

336
00:22:51.799 --> 00:22:53.960
telling him to come pick them both
up tomorrow. I can kind of

337
00:22:53.960 --> 00:22:57.200
tell that the camp guy is not
in the know because the way he's saying

338
00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:02.279
it to him. He's saying,
she does seeing fit to drive. He's

339
00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:06.440
talking as if he's not aware of
the gravitiest situation. The camp guide says

340
00:23:06.599 --> 00:23:10.799
yes and walks off. I was
still standing behind him, and he just

341
00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:15.440
sparks out come here. That's one
of those moments where you're like when you're

342
00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:19.160
sitting in the back of class messing
around and your teacher's writing on the white

343
00:23:19.160 --> 00:23:22.880
board and they call out your name
without even looking at you. Sent chills

344
00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:29.880
out my spine. I just immediately
walk up to the ranger and say,

345
00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:32.720
what do you want me to do? I'm in full soldier mode at this

346
00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:34.440
point in time, because this is
my fault. I want to help,

347
00:23:34.599 --> 00:23:38.119
I want to fix things. He
starts speaking to me very firmly. His

348
00:23:38.200 --> 00:23:42.240
eyes are completely locked in on the
mom. He's not even looking at me.

349
00:23:42.599 --> 00:23:47.240
He then says, all keep eyes
on her. You take care of

350
00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:49.759
the kid. The father can't get
here until tomorrow. By no means that

351
00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:53.119
she interact with this kid until he
gets here. Do you understand me.

352
00:23:55.400 --> 00:23:57.039
He doesn't want to lie to this
kid. He has to entertain him.

353
00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:00.400
Mind you, He's been working with
kids forever. So then he says,

354
00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:04.119
at this point, I know that
I had to build up a comfortable relationship

355
00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:07.599
with the kid, which I wasn't
worried about. When I get to Nick,

356
00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:11.160
he's playing bags with himself off to
the side. I just walk up

357
00:24:11.240 --> 00:24:15.440
and I say, best two out
of three. I start cracking jokes.

358
00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:18.799
It's easy to make kids laugh,
It's easy to make kids forget what's going

359
00:24:18.839 --> 00:24:22.400
on. We're having a pretty good
time until one of the other kids walks

360
00:24:22.519 --> 00:24:26.559
up and put both of his hands
over his face. Are you gonna cry

361
00:24:26.599 --> 00:24:29.799
again? And starts laughing and runs
off. I look at Nick and I

362
00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:33.240
ask what was that about? Nick
says, I told him who my mom

363
00:24:33.319 --> 00:24:36.519
left with last night. I asked, who did your mom leave with last

364
00:24:36.599 --> 00:24:38.279
night? He told me he saw
her holding hands with a man as she

365
00:24:38.359 --> 00:24:42.519
walked into the forest last night.
What did he look like? And Nick

366
00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:47.319
just holds up his thumbs and rubs
it and says, his face looked like

367
00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:52.279
this. I have no clue what
that means, so I immediately start asking

368
00:24:52.359 --> 00:24:55.079
follow up questions. What color was
his skin, what was he wearing?

369
00:24:55.400 --> 00:24:59.160
And Nick just goes he was completely
pale. I said, did he have

370
00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:03.400
any distinguished facial features, like his
eyebrows with a bushy, bright eyes,

371
00:25:03.480 --> 00:25:06.519
big nose, anything like that.
He told me he didn't have any of

372
00:25:06.519 --> 00:25:08.720
those at all, no features at
all. I'm thinking, apparently there's some

373
00:25:08.759 --> 00:25:11.599
weirdo walking around in a mask drawing
women in the woods in the middle of

374
00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:17.200
the night. Inside I'm freaking out, but I don't want to. I

375
00:25:17.240 --> 00:25:19.720
don't want Nick to see that,
so I start reassuring him, letting him

376
00:25:19.720 --> 00:25:22.240
know that he's safe and we're not
going to let that man hurt you.

377
00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:27.000
He's not coming back. I want
to keep distracting him and giving him a

378
00:25:27.039 --> 00:25:30.279
fun time, but I need to
go report this back to Sam, so

379
00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:33.799
I make an excuse to go back
to the tent. I give Sam a

380
00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:38.519
nods signaling we need to talk.
The second the tent zips close and I'm

381
00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:42.720
about to start speaking about everything,
all this new information I just learned about.

382
00:25:42.920 --> 00:25:48.119
Sam cuts me off. I go, I have so much to tell

383
00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:51.240
you, he said me. First, he has a guilty look on his

384
00:25:51.279 --> 00:25:52.519
face and says to me, I've
been spying on her. And I know

385
00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:56.559
this is gonna sound weird, really
weird, but I was in the group

386
00:25:56.599 --> 00:26:00.759
with her. And you know when
people are in a group in that moment

387
00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:06.400
when everybody starts laughing and then one
person is left laughing when everybody else has

388
00:26:06.440 --> 00:26:10.480
stopped, Well, that happened.
She was a last one laughing, and

389
00:26:10.519 --> 00:26:12.720
I looked at her, and for
a split second, she was still laughing,

390
00:26:12.759 --> 00:26:17.799
but her mouth was closed and she
wasn't moving at all. Nobody else

391
00:26:17.799 --> 00:26:21.680
saw it but me, and it
irked me so bad. I haven't been

392
00:26:21.720 --> 00:26:26.039
able to stop watching this woman,
or leaf make sure she's not been left

393
00:26:26.039 --> 00:26:27.119
alone with the rest of the day. I've been spying on her the entire

394
00:26:27.160 --> 00:26:32.319
time. I'll be honest. I
wasn't fully sold on this idea, so

395
00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:34.559
I asked, Okay, like Sam, what has she been doing? He

396
00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:41.039
replied, When there's nobody around her, she sits motionless, motionless, And

397
00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:45.240
I'm not talking about relaxing. I'm
talking about this woman is not moving at

398
00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:48.880
all. I said, what do
you mean if nobody's around, you've been

399
00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:52.200
following her around. He then holds
up a pair of binoculars, and I

400
00:26:52.200 --> 00:26:55.559
could tell he was a little proud
to show me of the commitment he had

401
00:26:55.559 --> 00:26:59.279
to do this spy work. And
then he says, I've been watching her

402
00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:02.359
with these. I watched her for
thirty minutes straight. She did not move,

403
00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:04.920
she did not blink, she was
not breathing. She looked like an

404
00:27:04.920 --> 00:27:10.039
empty vessel. And then when somebody
walks near her, she starts blinking.

405
00:27:10.119 --> 00:27:12.559
Then she forces out a weird smile. She starts looking around as if she's

406
00:27:12.599 --> 00:27:18.319
taking in nature, and then she
starts fake breathing. Imagine a mime pret

407
00:27:18.920 --> 00:27:23.599
pretending like he's breathing, and then
holding back saying anything more. So I

408
00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:26.480
told him, bro, just spit
it out. I can tell you have

409
00:27:26.519 --> 00:27:30.200
something more to say. As he
went quiet, he explained, you know,

410
00:27:30.759 --> 00:27:33.319
you know how she was saying,
it's telling her to do this,

411
00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:38.359
it's telling her to do that.
I don't think it's it telling her to

412
00:27:38.359 --> 00:27:42.039
do anything. I think she is
the it. I don't even get a

413
00:27:42.039 --> 00:27:45.480
feeling Sam about all the smooth faced
man stuff that Nick had told me before.

414
00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:48.519
He says, we got to tell
the ranger right now. I got

415
00:27:48.599 --> 00:27:52.519
up and followed. We walked up
to the ranger and Sam just starts pouring

416
00:27:52.599 --> 00:27:55.680
his heart out about all the evidence
that he's found throughout the day, and

417
00:27:55.720 --> 00:28:00.640
the ranger was listening, patiently,
nodding, And then right when when Sam

418
00:28:00.680 --> 00:28:03.759
finished, the ranger says, don't
worry, boys, we're on the same

419
00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:08.839
page. There's no chance I'm letting
that thing leave my park. There's no

420
00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:11.200
way I'm letting that thing leave my
park. I'm thinking, did you just

421
00:28:11.240 --> 00:28:15.400
say that thing if she possessed?
The ranger goes on, You guys have

422
00:28:15.480 --> 00:28:19.039
no idea how lucky we are that
the kid doesn't trust her. It is

423
00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:22.880
critical, absolutely critical. We do
not let it get out of the park

424
00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:26.640
and the only way you can get
out of the park is if it manipulates

425
00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:30.079
a loved one to escort it out
of the park. We have to keep

426
00:28:30.200 --> 00:28:33.640
Nick away from her. We have
to keep them completely separated until the dad

427
00:28:33.640 --> 00:28:37.519
gets here tomorrow morning. I already
told the camp guide to send all the

428
00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:41.240
kids paddle boating for the remainder of
the day, so it has no chance

429
00:28:41.319 --> 00:28:42.880
of talking to him for the rest
of the day. You need to monitor

430
00:28:42.920 --> 00:28:45.960
her. And then when that kid
gets back before the sun goes down,

431
00:28:47.960 --> 00:28:51.720
you need to get him to his
tent immediately. This is what we gotta

432
00:28:51.759 --> 00:28:55.079
do. We'll be home free once
the father gets here tomorrow morning. So

433
00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:59.559
before I even get to really digest
any of this new information that's just been

434
00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:03.440
my way, me and Sam hustle
back to the common area just to keep

435
00:29:03.480 --> 00:29:07.440
an eye on her to make sure
she's not running off. When we get

436
00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:11.039
back there, we see she's not
dormant anymore. She's a little bit more

437
00:29:11.079 --> 00:29:17.000
active today, and she's walking around
the campsite asking different group of campers they've

438
00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:19.480
seen her son. All the campers
are still being nice and gentle with her

439
00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:25.319
because they kind of know what's happened. They're just telling her all the kids

440
00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:29.160
went pattle voating, it's fine,
they'll be back later. But by the

441
00:29:29.160 --> 00:29:33.519
third time her asking each group,
you could tell you could tell and kind

442
00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:36.119
of see that the campers were getting
a little bit annoyed to frustrated with her.

443
00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:38.839
She goes back up to this one
group to ask them for the fourth

444
00:29:38.920 --> 00:29:44.279
or fifth time and one burly country
looking dude kind of blurts out, kind

445
00:29:44.279 --> 00:29:47.640
of in a jokingly manner, that
dad getting here tomorrow won't come soon enough,

446
00:29:47.680 --> 00:29:51.079
Am I right? Then his wife
or girlfriend hits him on the shoulder

447
00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:55.599
and told it, sorry, he's
being rude, honey, be patient.

448
00:29:55.680 --> 00:29:59.640
The morning will come very quickly.
Then it starts repeating what the lady said,

449
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:03.119
as if it was taking in new
information and formulating a new question to

450
00:30:03.160 --> 00:30:06.119
ask. It repeats itself three times, my husband's going to be here in

451
00:30:06.119 --> 00:30:07.640
the morning. My husband's going to
be here in the morning. My husband's

452
00:30:07.640 --> 00:30:11.279
going to be here in the morning. And then she looks back at the

453
00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:14.079
group and asks, do you know
what time my husband's going to be here

454
00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:17.519
in the morning? And they shook
their heads no. She walked away,

455
00:30:17.559 --> 00:30:21.039
but a little bit more frantic this
time. I don't really know how to

456
00:30:21.079 --> 00:30:22.519
explain it, but the only way
I can explain it is that she turned

457
00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:26.960
more like to an active panic,
as if she knows it's crunch time.

458
00:30:27.359 --> 00:30:33.200
She only has one day to convince
this kid to take her home. She

459
00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:37.519
continues to walk group to group,
just repeating herself, do you know what

460
00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:38.559
time my husband's going to get here, you know what time my husband's gonna

461
00:30:38.559 --> 00:30:44.039
get here. It literally walks around
asking the same question, getting the same

462
00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:49.839
answers. So, just to recap, then the sun's freaking out when he

463
00:30:49.880 --> 00:30:53.480
sees her completely. That's not my
mom anymore. That is not my mom.

464
00:30:53.920 --> 00:30:56.720
They start looking into this more.
They being in the park ranger,

465
00:30:56.799 --> 00:31:00.319
him and his friend. They're all
realizing how the thing is acting weird,

466
00:31:00.920 --> 00:31:06.720
almost like a demonic force in somebody's
body, trying to figure out what's going

467
00:31:06.759 --> 00:31:10.000
on. Doesn't really know who her
son is, doesn't know the situation,

468
00:31:10.160 --> 00:31:12.920
asking a lot of questions, trying
to get answers. They've called the dad

469
00:31:14.119 --> 00:31:17.440
to come pick the boy up tomorrow
and they have a game plan to completely

470
00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:22.119
separate the two until the morning,
because the park rangers fear is this thing

471
00:31:22.200 --> 00:31:27.400
can leave the park only if it's
able to manipulate a loved one to take

472
00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:30.319
it home, and then from there, we don't know what terrible things would

473
00:31:30.319 --> 00:31:37.160
happen. Yeah, and the park
rangers like general attitude is like he's seen

474
00:31:37.160 --> 00:31:41.319
this before. Yeah, he seems
like this isn't the crazy to him,

475
00:31:41.440 --> 00:31:45.200
Like it's like he's been in this
situation before. It's definitely seeing a thing

476
00:31:45.319 --> 00:31:48.359
or two. By this point,
it's kind of like it goes back to

477
00:31:48.400 --> 00:31:51.960
the same thing we talked about,
this stairs in the woods. Apparently this

478
00:31:52.039 --> 00:31:55.799
happens, these mysterious stairs in the
woods, and they're dangers. They're dangerous,

479
00:31:56.160 --> 00:31:59.400
forced to be dealt with. Yeah, it's pretty messed up. The

480
00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:04.720
part where it's repeating itself over and
over again that that's generally junior really terrifying,

481
00:32:06.039 --> 00:32:08.160
but it's doing it again as if
it needs to collect this and like

482
00:32:08.200 --> 00:32:13.400
it has to process it figure out
what to mimic and act and do next,

483
00:32:14.079 --> 00:32:17.440
right, because it's like just sitting
there when no one's watching it and

484
00:32:17.960 --> 00:32:22.319
it's not doing anything. Yeah,
it's just kind of yeah, it's just

485
00:32:22.359 --> 00:32:25.440
like whatever someone talks to it,
it starts to just behave like they're behaving

486
00:32:25.519 --> 00:32:30.000
or something like that. It's just
to pretend to be human. I guess.

487
00:32:30.200 --> 00:32:31.559
Yeah. It's like not even breathing
when nobody's near it. It's not

488
00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:35.680
even moving and it's not doing anything. Then as somebody comes to your bike,

489
00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:38.759
it comes alive and then like almost
like it snaps into character or something.

490
00:32:39.240 --> 00:32:44.119
Jack, you want to pick the
story back up here. Okay,

491
00:32:44.279 --> 00:32:49.000
the sun starts coming down and the
kids start coming home from battle boarding.

492
00:32:50.079 --> 00:32:52.640
We're coming up on dinner time and
everybody meets in the common area to eat.

493
00:32:53.759 --> 00:32:58.799
We can't just obviously keep a mom
separate from her kid without other campers

494
00:32:58.799 --> 00:33:04.480
getting really suspicious. So me and
Sam go meet with Nick before he re

495
00:33:04.599 --> 00:33:08.000
enters the campsite because we just want
to avoid this situation entirely. If we

496
00:33:09.519 --> 00:33:14.319
just get through this part, we
get him in his tent and they we're

497
00:33:14.359 --> 00:33:20.119
home free. We got the kids
safe, and we're all good. So

498
00:33:20.200 --> 00:33:23.960
we're just assuming that if fall,
maybe it'll follow the herd, you know,

499
00:33:24.119 --> 00:33:29.519
go get food like everyone else is
getting food. We could just get

500
00:33:29.640 --> 00:33:36.720
Nick to his tent and we'll be
set. So I have Sam go make

501
00:33:37.000 --> 00:33:40.200
a couple of plates of food for
us while we escort Nick to his tent.

502
00:33:43.079 --> 00:33:46.440
But within a couple of minutes,
while Sam was getting our food and

503
00:33:46.519 --> 00:33:52.839
I'm getting to the tent, it
must have slipped away, because when we

504
00:33:52.920 --> 00:34:01.000
get to Nick's tent, he and
zips it this thing that listens or it's

505
00:34:01.039 --> 00:34:07.559
just not his Mom immediately pops out
and grabs him by the arms and says,

506
00:34:07.680 --> 00:34:10.440
you're not gonna leave without mommy.
I wish I could say I did

507
00:34:10.519 --> 00:34:14.400
something heroic, but I had just
let out a little bit of scream and

508
00:34:14.480 --> 00:34:19.159
a double hand gripped Nick's string backpack
because I don't want to risk touching this

509
00:34:19.239 --> 00:34:22.199
thing, and I swung him behind
me really hard because I was trying to

510
00:34:22.199 --> 00:34:24.480
get him. He wasn't trying to
get into like a cup of war with

511
00:34:24.480 --> 00:34:28.880
this thing. When I tell you, in this moment, I was mortified

512
00:34:28.920 --> 00:34:34.079
because I was the only thing in
between her and Nick. I felt fight

513
00:34:34.159 --> 00:34:37.440
or flight gripping in. I had
to remind myself that this isn't a woman,

514
00:34:38.280 --> 00:34:43.880
and if it takes a step forward, I'm not flying. I'm standing

515
00:34:43.920 --> 00:34:50.880
here. The only words I could
get out were are you good? And

516
00:34:50.920 --> 00:34:57.119
then it just said kind of softly
and menacing. We need a long time.

517
00:34:57.920 --> 00:35:02.519
Don't make me scream eybark at Nick
to go get the ranger, because

518
00:35:02.599 --> 00:35:07.519
the only thing I want at this
moment is authority. Figure here is like

519
00:35:07.280 --> 00:35:12.199
me, but I have no idea
what the thing is. So Nick books

520
00:35:12.199 --> 00:35:15.039
it and I'm just kind of frozen
there staring at this thing, waiting for

521
00:35:15.119 --> 00:35:17.920
it to scream and make me look
like maybe like a creep or something.

522
00:35:17.920 --> 00:35:22.360
In front of the entire camp,
But it just stands there for a few

523
00:35:22.360 --> 00:35:25.000
moments with its eyes staring around like
it's searching for something in its head,

524
00:35:25.199 --> 00:35:30.360
almost as if it's trying to remember
something. And just like that, its

525
00:35:30.480 --> 00:35:35.199
eyes lock onto me, and I
brace myself because I think it's gonna let

526
00:35:35.199 --> 00:35:40.119
out this horrific scream. I was
expecting the scene that this thing is about

527
00:35:40.119 --> 00:35:45.840
to make when it finally explodes into
a scream, but that's not what happens.

528
00:35:46.199 --> 00:35:50.679
You know. I get a little
confused and almost a little bit relieved,

529
00:35:50.719 --> 00:35:53.960
because in that moment, I realized
that this thing only mimics sounds.

530
00:35:54.119 --> 00:35:59.960
This thing has no gauge of human
inflection or social cues, because the scream

531
00:36:00.360 --> 00:36:06.599
that it did didn't match the situation. I expected to scream in horror,

532
00:36:07.159 --> 00:36:10.519
as if it was accusing me of
attacking her or something, but instead it

533
00:36:10.639 --> 00:36:17.119
screams as as like a little girl
was playing. I peak for a quick

534
00:36:17.320 --> 00:36:21.559
second, just kind of see the
camper's reactions, and I get a little

535
00:36:21.599 --> 00:36:24.159
bit relieved, just because I see
a few of them are actually rolling their

536
00:36:24.159 --> 00:36:29.960
eyes at this point. They think
really fed up with this person's behavior.

537
00:36:30.079 --> 00:36:32.599
And the slight relief that I had
disappears immediately when I look back at it,

538
00:36:32.639 --> 00:36:38.559
because it abruptly stopped screaming. I
could tell it didn't. It's almost

539
00:36:38.559 --> 00:36:43.239
like it couldn't. It understood that
it wasn't working. Whatever it was trying

540
00:36:43.239 --> 00:36:47.280
to do, it wasn't working.
And its chin tucks in a little bit

541
00:36:47.320 --> 00:36:52.519
and starts looking at me at the
top of its eyes as if it's honing

542
00:36:52.559 --> 00:36:55.719
in on me. And the adrenaline
my chest starts pumping because I don't know

543
00:36:55.719 --> 00:37:02.840
what this thing's going to run away
or attack. It almost looked a bit

544
00:37:02.880 --> 00:37:07.960
happy about how scared I was.
He gave a little bit of a smirk

545
00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:15.559
and replied, are you good in
my voice with his mouth closed, exactly

546
00:37:15.760 --> 00:37:20.159
how I had just said it to
them. It did it as if it

547
00:37:20.199 --> 00:37:22.679
was threatening me. If I get
in the way of her leaving with Nick,

548
00:37:23.239 --> 00:37:29.079
it could mimic me and leave with
Sam. That moment felt like it

549
00:37:29.159 --> 00:37:34.480
lasted forever. Finally I felt somebody
grab my shoulder. I looked back at

550
00:37:34.480 --> 00:37:38.599
it. It's the ranger. He
has this confidence in his face that he's

551
00:37:38.639 --> 00:37:42.880
about to just handle the situation,
which makes me feel a lot safer.

552
00:37:43.400 --> 00:37:46.119
He loudly says, don't let this
thing intimidate you. It could only take

553
00:37:46.159 --> 00:37:51.280
your form if it could put you
in a trance. And the only way

554
00:37:51.320 --> 00:37:54.119
he could put you in a trance
is if you're a neebrid He didn't drink

555
00:37:54.159 --> 00:37:59.239
anything tonight, right, I just
nod my head no, I mean no,

556
00:37:59.360 --> 00:38:02.079
I then you're good. And he
looks at her and just says,

557
00:38:02.119 --> 00:38:05.679
go to sleep, your husband's going
to be here in the morning, and

558
00:38:05.719 --> 00:38:09.960
brushes her off. Her eyes light
up as if she likes what he just

559
00:38:10.039 --> 00:38:15.800
said, and she almost scurries back
into her tent. And as we're walking

560
00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:19.840
away, I hear repeating to herself, almost joyfully, my husband is going

561
00:38:19.920 --> 00:38:22.840
to be here in the morning.
My husband's going to be here in the

562
00:38:22.840 --> 00:38:28.119
morning. We start walking away and
I see Sam walking up with the plates

563
00:38:28.159 --> 00:38:30.599
of food. We look on his
face was like, you know, hey,

564
00:38:30.679 --> 00:38:32.960
what happened. The ranger tells me
and Sam to come eat dinner with

565
00:38:34.039 --> 00:38:38.480
him, that we deserve a little
bit of an explanation. While we're walking

566
00:38:38.920 --> 00:38:42.920
where we usually eat dinner, a
little bit away from the campers, I

567
00:38:42.960 --> 00:38:46.159
see Nick in between two camp guys
and he's safe. So I'm a little

568
00:38:46.199 --> 00:38:50.440
bit more relaxed at this point,
and the questions start flowing in my head.

569
00:38:50.440 --> 00:38:53.719
Then I'm about to ask this guy
because I've got thousands. We sit

570
00:38:53.880 --> 00:38:58.880
down. The first question that comes
to my head is, so you know

571
00:38:58.960 --> 00:39:05.159
what that thing is? Then Ranger
says, kind of all the other rangers

572
00:39:05.159 --> 00:39:08.760
call a mimic. I've heard plenty
of stories about them. I've only had

573
00:39:08.960 --> 00:39:15.239
one other personal experience with it.
My working theory is that interacting with the

574
00:39:15.280 --> 00:39:22.559
stairs almost calls to them. Whenever
the Stairs are involved, it feels like

575
00:39:22.599 --> 00:39:27.159
it attracts everything. We're very fortunate
that we had a lucky draw with the

576
00:39:27.199 --> 00:39:31.280
mimic because it could have been something
so much worse. I immediately think,

577
00:39:31.480 --> 00:39:36.960
if we're lucky with this thing,
what else is in this park? The

578
00:39:37.039 --> 00:39:40.440
ranger just keeps going on with the
story. So what we do know is

579
00:39:40.519 --> 00:39:46.039
these things think target people that are
under the influence of something. The last

580
00:39:46.079 --> 00:39:52.599
time I had to deal with it
one it tricked this hippie guy that came

581
00:39:52.679 --> 00:39:55.400
here by himself. He was an
easy target and I was the one.

582
00:39:55.440 --> 00:40:00.400
I saw him walk into the forest
with it. I thought about chase them

583
00:40:00.400 --> 00:40:02.840
and interveniing, but once they hit
the tree line, it's almost like they

584
00:40:02.960 --> 00:40:08.239
dissolved into the woods. Think to
myself, that's exactly what Nick told me.

585
00:40:09.519 --> 00:40:15.440
So this ranger is definitely onto something. The ranger goes on and says

586
00:40:15.639 --> 00:40:19.679
when the hippie wandered back into the
camp, he knew it definitely wasn't him

587
00:40:20.079 --> 00:40:23.719
because he was talking really formal,
and this guy was the opposite of formals.

588
00:40:23.960 --> 00:40:29.719
Everything he did was laid back,
chill, hippie vibe. We came

589
00:40:29.800 --> 00:40:35.599
back very eloquently, asking very specific
questions in a monotone way. I knew

590
00:40:35.679 --> 00:40:40.800
something was wrong. Started walking around
the camp asking everybody who he came here

591
00:40:40.880 --> 00:40:44.800
with, and he was trying to
figure out if he had any loved ones

592
00:40:44.920 --> 00:40:50.360
or family nearby before he got taken
by this thing. He was very open

593
00:40:50.400 --> 00:40:53.920
with me and everybody else that he
was a traveling nomad and he had nobody

594
00:40:53.960 --> 00:40:59.639
really significant in his life in general. And when all the other campers started

595
00:40:59.639 --> 00:41:04.159
there high back to the lodge,
he wouldn't leave the campsite, and I

596
00:41:04.159 --> 00:41:08.039
told him I couldn't leave the campsite
without everyone, and he was my responsibility.

597
00:41:08.599 --> 00:41:12.960
He said, he can't leave the
campsite without somebody that loves him.

598
00:41:13.440 --> 00:41:16.199
He got really frantic. It was
pleaded with me to call someone for him.

599
00:41:16.519 --> 00:41:20.639
I told him that he need to
put any eye on his emergency contact

600
00:41:20.639 --> 00:41:23.440
for him. There was nobody to
call or ever seeing the feet on his

601
00:41:23.559 --> 00:41:28.519
face. The last thing that sent
to me is I ran out of time,

602
00:41:28.639 --> 00:41:32.400
and that he backed towards the tree
line. It's almost of his face

603
00:41:32.480 --> 00:41:37.760
dissolved and he struggled up and became
part of the forest. And two days

604
00:41:37.800 --> 00:41:42.599
later we randomly found that hit be
at the bottom of a pit about a

605
00:41:42.599 --> 00:41:47.639
mile off the campsite. The autopsy
said died of starvation two days earlier.

606
00:41:49.440 --> 00:41:52.039
So it's my assumption that these things
can't survive without a living hosts. They

607
00:41:52.119 --> 00:41:55.639
trick you, then they trap you, then they mimic you, and they

608
00:41:55.679 --> 00:42:00.199
try to commendment somebody to take them
home. Seems like they can't leave the

609
00:42:00.239 --> 00:42:05.559
park unless somebody loves them escorts them
out. The way she's been acting almost

610
00:42:05.639 --> 00:42:08.679
confirms that with me, because it
seems like she's been abided by the same

611
00:42:08.800 --> 00:42:13.519
rules. But we let this thing
out and he gets this city or town.

612
00:42:13.760 --> 00:42:16.800
We have no idea how much standwards
this thing could do. I cut

613
00:42:16.880 --> 00:42:20.480
him off and I asked him,
how were we going to get the husband

614
00:42:20.599 --> 00:42:24.119
to leave this lady. He confidantly
says, let me handle that. We

615
00:42:24.199 --> 00:42:29.159
just see a focus on getting Nick
to the lodge and trapping that thing here,

616
00:42:29.199 --> 00:42:32.920
so to focus on finding the real
her while she's still alive. Sam

617
00:42:34.000 --> 00:42:37.360
stands up says we're going to extract
Nick at six hundred, make the handoff

618
00:42:37.480 --> 00:42:43.519
the father, and we orchestrate a
grid style search party starting east to the

619
00:42:43.559 --> 00:42:47.519
campsite. When Nick leaves. That
gives approximately ten hours a shurch sight before

620
00:42:47.559 --> 00:42:52.559
the sun up goes down. Sam
kinds what the switch started to taking control

621
00:42:52.639 --> 00:42:57.679
of the situation, because as core, he's a tactical minded, a well

622
00:42:57.719 --> 00:43:02.039
trained army ranger. He was an
armyer for about ten years. The park

623
00:43:02.159 --> 00:43:06.960
ranger says, we're coming up on
day three. If we don't fight her

624
00:43:06.960 --> 00:43:12.039
tomorrow, we might not find her
alive. He dismisses us and tells us

625
00:43:12.039 --> 00:43:15.239
to get some rest. So me
and Sam just clear our plates really quick

626
00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:19.119
to get some calories. Then we
hustled back to our tents so we can

627
00:43:19.360 --> 00:43:23.000
get as much sleep as possible before
the morning search. But once we get

628
00:43:23.039 --> 00:43:25.920
back to the tent, I'm just
lying there with my eyes open. I've

629
00:43:25.960 --> 00:43:30.400
had a really tough time sleeping.
I just keep thinking about her repeating with

630
00:43:30.559 --> 00:43:35.239
my voice. I just can't get
that image on my head. Hear my

631
00:43:35.280 --> 00:43:38.280
own voice being spoken to me.
Can't express to you how eerie it is

632
00:43:38.280 --> 00:43:44.079
to hear your own voice when it's
not coming from recording. And Sam knew

633
00:43:44.079 --> 00:43:47.239
exactly what I was thinking. He
just blurred out, porcupine. I said,

634
00:43:47.280 --> 00:43:52.360
what if that's our code word,
porcupine if any point we get split

635
00:43:52.440 --> 00:43:57.199
up or something crazy happens. You
just asked you what code word is,

636
00:43:57.679 --> 00:44:00.519
so you know it's me has set
to be. I recognize you. Sure

637
00:44:00.960 --> 00:44:06.039
gives me just enough relief to fall
asleep, but it sure did not stop

638
00:44:06.079 --> 00:44:10.599
me from having nightmares all night.
Wow, that's creepy as hell. It

639
00:44:10.719 --> 00:44:15.440
sounds like, though, that they
finally feel as if they have the situation

640
00:44:15.559 --> 00:44:22.559
under control. They have a plan
in place. Yes, this thing needs

641
00:44:22.599 --> 00:44:28.159
to be taken home by someone that
loves it. That's what the creature's plan

642
00:44:28.320 --> 00:44:32.760
is. So they're trying to find
what they believe is like the host body,

643
00:44:32.840 --> 00:44:37.440
right, they're trying to find the
actual mother. Yes, well,

644
00:44:37.480 --> 00:44:39.760
it's still a lot, and in
order to do that, they have to

645
00:44:39.760 --> 00:44:45.360
continue to keep these two apart because
in the morning the next part I'm about

646
00:44:45.360 --> 00:44:50.000
to get into, the father is
coming, and when the father gets there,

647
00:44:50.239 --> 00:44:52.280
they got to get back to the
lodge. They got to get the

648
00:44:52.360 --> 00:44:54.320
kid with the father and get him
out of here so he's out of danger.

649
00:44:54.559 --> 00:44:58.280
And at that point in time,
the thing is going to really struggle

650
00:44:58.960 --> 00:45:04.159
to leave these woods without being able
to attach itself to a loved one.

651
00:45:04.679 --> 00:45:08.119
So they're planned in place. They
are going to get up in the morning.

652
00:45:08.119 --> 00:45:13.920
First thing, get that kid across
the camp the forest to the excuse

653
00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:15.639
me, the campground, through the
forest to the lodge, get it with

654
00:45:15.679 --> 00:45:20.440
his dad, and then they have
to go find the real mother in the

655
00:45:20.440 --> 00:45:24.960
woods then to go from there.
They did establish a safety word. They

656
00:45:24.960 --> 00:45:29.559
said, hey, if something happens
to us tomorrow, if we get split

657
00:45:29.639 --> 00:45:32.159
up, the safety word is porcupine. The reason they established the safety word

658
00:45:32.199 --> 00:45:36.239
is, like I said, because
this thing's a mimic, right. They

659
00:45:36.280 --> 00:45:39.719
don't know when it's that it somehow
became the host of your body, your

660
00:45:39.760 --> 00:45:44.880
mind. So they have a plan
in place. At least here. It

661
00:45:44.920 --> 00:45:46.880
doesn't even need to look like you, just sound like you. It could

662
00:45:46.920 --> 00:45:52.039
look like someone else and still sound
like you. So it's like extra scary

663
00:45:52.039 --> 00:45:54.039
because it could be anywhere. Yeah, it's so freaky. What it copied

664
00:45:54.039 --> 00:45:58.280
his repeated his voice, I mean
what he said in his exact voice.

665
00:45:58.320 --> 00:46:01.480
That's that's absolutely and saying I don't
know, all right, I'm gonna start

666
00:46:01.480 --> 00:46:06.920
storry back up in the next morning. I abruptly woke up the next morning

667
00:46:07.000 --> 00:46:09.000
right as the sun was coming up, and I saw Sam was already getting

668
00:46:09.039 --> 00:46:12.880
ready, so I jumped up to
catch up. Because every moment that we're

669
00:46:12.920 --> 00:46:15.480
still here, the woman is still
out there in the wood suffering. I

670
00:46:15.519 --> 00:46:20.639
get ready like I'm late for the
first day of school. Rangers already at

671
00:46:20.639 --> 00:46:23.360
the edge of the campsite with a
appears to be groggy, tired Nick.

672
00:46:27.679 --> 00:46:30.079
All of us climb into one of
those off roading golf carts. Thank god

673
00:46:30.159 --> 00:46:32.840
we had a vehicle, because I
was not looking forward to a fifteen mile

674
00:46:32.960 --> 00:46:37.559
hike there and back and then joining
a search party. Me and see them

675
00:46:37.599 --> 00:46:43.039
jogg up, and we just hopped
the back seat quietly because we're trying to

676
00:46:43.079 --> 00:46:46.880
execute this mission and get this over
with. When the ranger turns on the

677
00:46:46.880 --> 00:46:53.800
engine, we hear we hear a
zip come from a tent. The zippers

678
00:46:53.880 --> 00:47:00.599
being opened, and it comes storming
out of her tent towards our cart.

679
00:47:00.199 --> 00:47:05.360
We start driving away and it's a
little downhill the hole as we descend,

680
00:47:05.960 --> 00:47:08.320
so once we are about thirty feet
away, you can't see over the ridge

681
00:47:08.360 --> 00:47:13.199
there anymore, but you could see
her storming up to the edge of the

682
00:47:13.199 --> 00:47:15.840
trail and just stand there. This
woman looked very angry that we lied to

683
00:47:15.880 --> 00:47:20.599
her. She stands dead center of
the trail for about five seconds, then

684
00:47:20.639 --> 00:47:23.519
she just turns and sprints into the
tree line. Sam sees it and asks,

685
00:47:23.599 --> 00:47:27.760
where do you think she went?
The ranger cuts us off and says,

686
00:47:27.880 --> 00:47:30.559
keep your head on a swivel.
She's getting desperate. We're driving for

687
00:47:30.599 --> 00:47:34.679
about ten minutes and the trail continues
to get more and more narrow as we

688
00:47:34.719 --> 00:47:38.199
go. It's about a five miles
stretch or the trees are just about three

689
00:47:38.239 --> 00:47:43.360
feet away from each side of the
cart, and for the next five miles

690
00:47:43.400 --> 00:47:46.679
we find out exactly where she went. She was periodically popping out of the

691
00:47:46.679 --> 00:47:51.719
tree line, screaming things at Nick, Mommy loves you, Take mommy home.

692
00:47:52.199 --> 00:47:57.280
Where's your father? She just continued
to scream and cry, please don't

693
00:47:57.320 --> 00:48:00.360
leave me, Please, don't leave
me. She never made it a tempt

694
00:48:00.400 --> 00:48:02.840
on the vehicle. It just seemed
like she was tracking us and following us

695
00:48:02.840 --> 00:48:07.559
and continuing to try and manipulate Nick. But let me tell you, it

696
00:48:07.599 --> 00:48:12.119
never got less creepy that she was
always ahead of us. And finally we

697
00:48:12.159 --> 00:48:15.800
get to the lodge and we see
the father out front, standing outside of

698
00:48:15.800 --> 00:48:20.960
his truck, looking pretty confused and
frustrated. We tactically pull up neck to

699
00:48:21.000 --> 00:48:23.519
the truck, planning to get Nick
into his vehicle as soon as possible and

700
00:48:23.519 --> 00:48:27.039
as quickly to get him out of
there. But the second we stop,

701
00:48:27.159 --> 00:48:29.840
Nick jumps out of the vehicle and
runs his dad, crying, see and

702
00:48:29.880 --> 00:48:31.920
I want to go home. His
dad gives him a quick pat on the

703
00:48:31.960 --> 00:48:35.559
back and says, don't worry,
I'm taking you home. Wait in the

704
00:48:35.599 --> 00:48:39.480
car. I have to talk to
these guys real quick. We walk up

705
00:48:39.760 --> 00:48:44.280
and he walks up to excuse us. We're walking up to him, and

706
00:48:44.360 --> 00:48:46.800
he says to us, and he
seems very frustrated when he asks this,

707
00:48:47.199 --> 00:48:50.480
are you guys gonna tell me why
I had to rush here first thing in

708
00:48:50.519 --> 00:48:53.320
the morning. I have no idea
what we're gonna tell this guy, But

709
00:48:53.360 --> 00:48:57.280
we need to get him out of
here as quick as possible. The ranger

710
00:48:57.320 --> 00:49:00.559
steps up and quickly replies the chod
on this campsite needs to be here with

711
00:49:00.599 --> 00:49:06.239
a responsible adult. As a father's
asking where the mother is, she pops

712
00:49:06.280 --> 00:49:08.519
up out of the woods, completely
out of nowhere. She is hauling it

713
00:49:08.559 --> 00:49:13.320
towards us, announcing to everybody,
the whole crowd, there, finally my

714
00:49:13.400 --> 00:49:16.519
husband is here. Finally my husband
is here. She's walking up to him,

715
00:49:17.199 --> 00:49:20.559
starting to approach him, kind of
like maybe like she's looking for a

716
00:49:20.639 --> 00:49:23.119
hug or looking to be embraced.
He puts his hand up and he starts

717
00:49:23.119 --> 00:49:27.119
backing up towards his truck, and
he says, I cannot believe you right

718
00:49:27.159 --> 00:49:30.280
now. She just kind of says
in a sad voice, I just want

719
00:49:30.280 --> 00:49:34.639
my husband to take me home.
He cuts her off immediately. He talks

720
00:49:34.679 --> 00:49:37.079
over her and says, Kristen,
don't play that shit. We've been divorced

721
00:49:37.079 --> 00:49:42.880
for over a year. He starts
scanning her. He's looking her up and

722
00:49:42.920 --> 00:49:46.719
down and with a look of disgust
on his face. And I take a

723
00:49:46.719 --> 00:49:50.960
look at her. She's looking really
drawn out, sleep deprived and exhausted.

724
00:49:51.000 --> 00:49:53.000
In that moment, I can't help
but wonder if she's in mayor of the

725
00:49:53.039 --> 00:49:57.679
real Christin. But the father cuts
off my train of thought and says,

726
00:49:58.079 --> 00:50:00.320
you promised me you were done drinking, and I gave you one week alone

727
00:50:00.360 --> 00:50:05.000
with him, and you can't keep
yourself together. She gets out a little

728
00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:07.760
bit, a little whimper and says, can you please just take me home?

729
00:50:07.760 --> 00:50:12.880
And he says absolutely not. Pull
yourself together and take yourself home.

730
00:50:13.440 --> 00:50:16.599
He then storms to his vehicle and
drives off. I'm thinking, wow,

731
00:50:16.639 --> 00:50:21.280
I can't believe this did our job
before us. For a brief second,

732
00:50:21.320 --> 00:50:23.440
it felt like we won, like
a victory. This is until she takes

733
00:50:23.480 --> 00:50:28.760
off, sprinting back into the trees. The three of us look at each

734
00:50:28.760 --> 00:50:30.840
other and we all have an understanding
what is happening. She's trying to beat

735
00:50:30.920 --> 00:50:35.679
us back to the camp so so
you can switch into somebody else before we

736
00:50:35.719 --> 00:50:39.119
get there. That moment of relief
immediately turned into the most bumpy, chaotic

737
00:50:39.159 --> 00:50:44.440
off roading experience of my life,
because we have no idea how long it's

738
00:50:44.480 --> 00:50:46.000
going to take her to get back, but we know, at even our

739
00:50:46.039 --> 00:50:51.280
top speed, it's going to take
us several minutes. The ride back was

740
00:50:51.320 --> 00:50:53.000
far too loud for any of us
to talk and have any sort of type

741
00:50:53.000 --> 00:50:55.639
of conversation. So I'm just in
my head thinking, what are we going

742
00:50:55.679 --> 00:50:59.320
to do with her when we get
when we have to go search for the

743
00:50:59.360 --> 00:51:02.760
real christ what's the point in finding
her if we come back and it's a

744
00:51:04.199 --> 00:51:06.480
and it's found a new host already, and we're gonna have to go through

745
00:51:06.480 --> 00:51:08.760
the same process all over again.
When we pull up to the campsite,

746
00:51:08.800 --> 00:51:13.719
I was damn near expecting this thing
to be dragging somebody else into the woods,

747
00:51:13.840 --> 00:51:16.119
with how desperate it looked when it
darted towards the tree line end of

748
00:51:16.159 --> 00:51:21.719
the woods before we left the area. Come to our surprise, the campsite

749
00:51:21.719 --> 00:51:23.719
is completely vacant. Sand just blurts
out, where is everybody? The ranger

750
00:51:23.719 --> 00:51:29.960
Filt tells us that he had the
camp guides take everybody onto the pontoons for

751
00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:32.559
a fishing day, so nobody was
at the campsite for her to pray on

752
00:51:32.599 --> 00:51:37.360
while we were gone, but they
might get back before we find the real

753
00:51:37.440 --> 00:51:42.079
Christens. So we have to make
this thing come with us on any by

754
00:51:42.119 --> 00:51:45.400
any means necessary. We hop off
the call of cart. We are walking

755
00:51:45.480 --> 00:51:49.760
with the with purpose now towards the
campsite, assuming that she's hiding somewhere,

756
00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:52.280
But she's just sitting in the middle
of the campsite on a log by the

757
00:51:52.320 --> 00:51:57.239
bonfire, rocking back and forwards.
I see something on the log next to

758
00:51:57.280 --> 00:52:00.920
her. As we get closer,
I realized that I'm seeing three crows sitting

759
00:52:00.960 --> 00:52:04.519
on the log next to her.
They're just standing there, perfectly perched up

760
00:52:04.599 --> 00:52:07.480
on this log, with the exact
same spacing between them, as if they're

761
00:52:07.519 --> 00:52:13.880
in a form forming something. As
we're walking up, I'm mentally preparing to

762
00:52:13.880 --> 00:52:15.840
have to fight this thing and drag
it into the forest with us to search

763
00:52:15.920 --> 00:52:22.000
for the real Christin. I could
tell by the way everybody was walking up

764
00:52:22.039 --> 00:52:25.880
that nobody has any idea how this
interaction's gonna go. Assuming she's going to

765
00:52:25.920 --> 00:52:30.000
be violent, that's all we could
assume. But I know that I'm prepared

766
00:52:30.039 --> 00:52:32.039
to do whatever I have to do
to save the real Christin. I know

767
00:52:32.159 --> 00:52:37.079
they are too. The park ranger
sternly says to it, you're coming with

768
00:52:37.159 --> 00:52:42.079
us right now. She just keeps
rocking and mumbling. She's mumbling this,

769
00:52:44.480 --> 00:52:46.000
do you know what the crows are? Do you know about the crows.

770
00:52:46.039 --> 00:52:49.239
He cuts her off immediately. He
says, you're coming in the forest with

771
00:52:49.320 --> 00:52:52.000
us right now to find that woman. It looks up at us, almost

772
00:52:52.039 --> 00:52:58.679
excited, with real optimistic look on
its face. It's really delicately standing up

773
00:52:58.760 --> 00:53:00.559
and starts walking towards the tree line
and says, I'd love to go in

774
00:53:00.599 --> 00:53:06.679
the forest with you. Sam immediately
takes charge and says, let's do a

775
00:53:06.760 --> 00:53:10.519
triangle formation. Sam points to the
ranger and says, you're at the front,

776
00:53:10.599 --> 00:53:15.800
and me and Doug will be on
either side of her. Doug will

777
00:53:15.840 --> 00:53:19.280
scan the right, I'll scan the
left, and she'll stay in the middle

778
00:53:19.280 --> 00:53:22.719
of all of us so she can't
get away from us. Me and the

779
00:53:22.800 --> 00:53:28.480
ranger are both not sure about this, so the mimic seems okay with this

780
00:53:28.599 --> 00:53:32.760
idea and just takes her place in
the middle of the formation. It makes

781
00:53:32.800 --> 00:53:40.320
me very uncomfortable with how willingly she
wants to do this, but we don't

782
00:53:40.320 --> 00:53:45.159
have a choice at this point,
and we need to just go. We

783
00:53:45.239 --> 00:53:49.800
started to go into the tree line. I'm trying to do my job and

784
00:53:50.039 --> 00:53:52.880
just keep scanning the right for clues
or you know, where we can find

785
00:53:52.960 --> 00:54:00.360
Christen. But I can't help but
keep checking on her. Sure it's not

786
00:54:00.400 --> 00:54:06.119
getting any crazy ideas. But we're
walking about three minutes when I peek back

787
00:54:07.159 --> 00:54:09.400
and there's something different about it.
I take a better look at her,

788
00:54:09.480 --> 00:54:15.079
and her face looks full and vibrant, her bags under her eyes are gone,

789
00:54:15.119 --> 00:54:19.800
her posture perfect. She's almost giving
off an aura early similar to the

790
00:54:19.840 --> 00:54:22.800
glow of stairs. The forest is
super dense and there's not a lot of

791
00:54:22.800 --> 00:54:28.039
sunlight that gets through the trees.
Sam and the ranger look completely shaded,

792
00:54:28.239 --> 00:54:32.360
but she looks like the sunlight is
hitting her. This makes me internally panic

793
00:54:32.400 --> 00:54:37.360
because I already didn't like how happy
she was to come in here. I

794
00:54:37.519 --> 00:54:40.480
really don't like that. Once we're
in here, she seems to be thriving.

795
00:54:43.599 --> 00:54:46.000
I look away from her, just
to start looking for more clues.

796
00:54:46.440 --> 00:54:52.079
As we keep hiking, everything in
the forest starts looking the same. I

797
00:54:52.159 --> 00:54:55.480
start to feel a little disoriented and
dizzy, but I just focus on the

798
00:54:55.519 --> 00:55:00.000
trees. Before I know it,
I feel like a lot of time has

799
00:55:00.039 --> 00:55:05.079
passed. I'm out of touch with
the situation. It feels like I'm an

800
00:55:05.079 --> 00:55:08.840
infinite loop of paranoia, and I
realize I haven't checked on her or anybody

801
00:55:08.880 --> 00:55:14.679
else in the group before, it
feels like ours. So when I finally

802
00:55:14.679 --> 00:55:19.599
pulled myself together away from the haze, I panned back to the group and

803
00:55:19.639 --> 00:55:28.800
the park ranger is standing where she
was in between me and Sam, and

804
00:55:28.840 --> 00:55:34.480
she's at the front of the group. Me, Sam, and the ranger

805
00:55:34.519 --> 00:55:37.480
are just standing single file behind her. I have no idea when that switch

806
00:55:37.559 --> 00:55:42.360
happened. I can tell that Sam
and the ranger haven't realized that which happened

807
00:55:42.400 --> 00:55:45.199
yet. I'm not even looking for
clues at this point. I'm just disoriented

808
00:55:45.199 --> 00:55:51.079
and confused, barely remembering why we're
even out here, until the park ranger

809
00:55:51.079 --> 00:55:53.679
shakes his head really hard, like
he's shaking the trance off, and blurts

810
00:55:53.679 --> 00:56:01.119
out stop. He slaps me and
Sam and that yes, stop us from

811
00:56:01.159 --> 00:56:05.320
walking. This is the first time
I've seen a real panic in the Ranger's

812
00:56:05.360 --> 00:56:09.440
eyes. He starts questioning me and
Sam if we have any idea how long

813
00:56:09.480 --> 00:56:13.800
we've been out here or what direction
we went. We all frantically check our

814
00:56:13.880 --> 00:56:17.159
watches and phones, but none of
them seemed to be working. She had

815
00:56:17.159 --> 00:56:21.880
stopped walking about ten feet ahead of
us and just turned around and calmly looking

816
00:56:21.880 --> 00:56:25.599
at us. The ranger storms up
and yells, where'd you take us?

817
00:56:27.280 --> 00:56:32.840
Aggressive? Borderline violent? She just
gently replies, I took you where we

818
00:56:32.840 --> 00:56:38.559
were meant to go. Silly.
She just lightly lifts her hands and points

819
00:56:38.840 --> 00:56:43.679
to her right. We all turn
our gaze and see this massive, hallowed

820
00:56:43.679 --> 00:56:47.360
out tree with a big oval gap
in the front of it, with glass

821
00:56:47.360 --> 00:56:52.519
stairs spiraling around the outside of it. There were like the stairs that you

822
00:56:52.559 --> 00:56:55.480
would see in the loft, but
they were sticking out of the bark of

823
00:56:55.519 --> 00:57:00.679
the tree. And I realized that
the real Kristen is sitting in a fetal

824
00:57:00.679 --> 00:57:04.960
position, completely motionless, inside the
oval gap, and we're just standing there.

825
00:57:04.960 --> 00:57:07.639
I just believe for a moment in
question to start flooding my brain.

826
00:57:07.360 --> 00:57:10.599
Why would this thing take us directly
to Kristen? Is it surrendering? Is

827
00:57:10.639 --> 00:57:14.400
it a trap? Was it planning
to lead us here the whole time?

828
00:57:15.599 --> 00:57:19.960
I take a better look at the
tree, and it's giving off some the

829
00:57:20.000 --> 00:57:22.840
same illumination that her in the first
staircase we're given off. I start to

830
00:57:22.840 --> 00:57:28.480
get those intrusive thoughts again. I
feel oddly drawn to it, but I

831
00:57:28.519 --> 00:57:31.280
know better than to act on them
because of what happened the first time I

832
00:57:31.320 --> 00:57:35.840
look back at the other guys to
see their reactions on their faces. But

833
00:57:35.880 --> 00:57:37.599
when I look at Sam, the
mimic is right next to them, with

834
00:57:37.719 --> 00:57:43.039
her hand on his shoulder, whispering
in his ear. I didn't see this

835
00:57:43.079 --> 00:57:45.400
thing walk up to him. I
take a step towards them. Before I

836
00:57:45.559 --> 00:57:52.119
get a word out, it whips
his head towards me and says porcupine.

837
00:57:54.360 --> 00:57:59.679
Sam's eyes are completely glazed over.
He's just staring at the tree motionless.

838
00:57:59.800 --> 00:58:04.199
Takes a slight pause, tilts her
head, takes her hand off his shoulder,

839
00:58:04.239 --> 00:58:07.800
and he immediately starts spreading towards the
tree. He gets a little bit

840
00:58:07.840 --> 00:58:12.360
of a head start of me,
but I start chasing him right away because

841
00:58:12.559 --> 00:58:15.679
I could tell this something is off. As we're getting closer to the tree,

842
00:58:15.159 --> 00:58:20.159
I can tell he's not spreading towards
Kristen. He's sprinting towards stairs.

843
00:58:20.840 --> 00:58:23.199
The direction he's spreading is like five
degrees off from the oval gap. But

844
00:58:23.920 --> 00:58:27.760
I close it on him and I
get one hand on his back. I'm

845
00:58:27.760 --> 00:58:31.360
slowing him down, but I can't
stop him from getting to the second step

846
00:58:32.039 --> 00:58:36.280
of the stairs, and once he
touched it, it felt start. The

847
00:58:36.280 --> 00:58:39.440
stairs gave off a vibrating pulse with
each step. It's almost like somebody banging

848
00:58:39.440 --> 00:58:44.039
on a drum. I gave my
second hand on and rib him up stairs.

849
00:58:44.519 --> 00:58:45.480
I get him to the ground.
I have to restrain him with all

850
00:58:45.480 --> 00:58:50.599
my strength because he's trying as hard
as he can get back at these stairs.

851
00:58:50.800 --> 00:58:53.039
Sam is not small or feeble by
any means, and I have to

852
00:58:53.119 --> 00:58:57.559
use all my strength to restrain him. But he's not fighting me. He's

853
00:58:57.679 --> 00:59:00.880
not hitting me, he's not pushing
me. He's not even looking at me.

854
00:59:00.960 --> 00:59:02.840
His eyes are fixated on the stairs, and he's just clawing to get

855
00:59:02.880 --> 00:59:06.440
back to them. Gets to the
point where I don't even think I could

856
00:59:06.480 --> 00:59:10.800
restrain him any longer, until he
suddenly stops and goes limp. His eyes

857
00:59:10.840 --> 00:59:15.199
revert back to normal. He just
looks at me and goes what happened?

858
00:59:15.840 --> 00:59:20.360
He seems okay? So I look
to see what stopped him, and I

859
00:59:20.360 --> 00:59:25.119
see the ranger pulling Christen out of
the tree. It seems like the moment

860
00:59:25.159 --> 00:59:29.800
he pulled her out, he stopped. Me and the ranger look at each

861
00:59:29.800 --> 00:59:32.920
other as to say, what now. We all look back towards the mimic,

862
00:59:34.000 --> 00:59:38.719
and this thing had a satisfied devious
look on his face. That wasn't

863
00:59:38.760 --> 00:59:43.440
until his face started to fade away
to nothing, and just like the ranger

864
00:59:43.440 --> 00:59:46.679
explaining with the hippie, starts to
evaporate, and once it completely disappears,

865
00:59:46.840 --> 00:59:51.119
I look back to Sam to see
if he's okay, and he gives me

866
00:59:51.199 --> 00:59:57.480
the nod that it's all good.
This is messed up. This is creepy

867
00:59:57.480 --> 01:00:01.760
as hell. So this, this
mimic of Kristen with the missing person that

868
01:00:01.760 --> 01:00:05.440
they're looking for at this point in
time. Now got the son out of

869
01:00:05.440 --> 01:00:13.199
the park safely. This thing leads
them to her. But before doing that,

870
01:00:13.880 --> 01:00:17.000
they're all walking along and they somehow
get in this trance where and the

871
01:00:17.039 --> 01:00:22.280
person telling the sharing the story says
he's just looking for clues. Then he

872
01:00:22.599 --> 01:00:27.719
looks back in the in the strategic
position they were all walking in with him

873
01:00:27.760 --> 01:00:30.000
to the left, his friend of
the right, and the park ranger leading

874
01:00:30.000 --> 01:00:34.679
the pack with the with it,
as we're calling it, the mimic in

875
01:00:34.760 --> 01:00:37.480
the middle. All of a sudden, when he looks back in this trance,

876
01:00:38.039 --> 01:00:43.360
everything's changed. The lineup's changed,
the way they're walking's changed. It

877
01:00:43.440 --> 01:00:45.719
was as if she was leading them
where to go. Now, Yeah,

878
01:00:45.760 --> 01:00:51.000
she was in the front now and
the ranger was in the center, and

879
01:00:51.039 --> 01:00:55.519
they were all following her for an
amount of time unknown amount of time,

880
01:00:57.119 --> 01:01:00.719
and it seems like the ranger finally
who this time, is just falling behind,

881
01:01:00.760 --> 01:01:02.719
right, they're all just falling her. Now he snaps out of the

882
01:01:02.760 --> 01:01:07.119
trance and he says like stop,
taps the other guys on the back or

883
01:01:07.199 --> 01:01:08.960
chest or what it said, to
kind of get them out of the trance.

884
01:01:09.079 --> 01:01:15.400
And yeah, you get the feeling
that he was just desperate to get

885
01:01:15.400 --> 01:01:19.000
them out of that chance because they
said slaps them on the chest. You

886
01:01:19.079 --> 01:01:22.880
can imagine the feeling of like his
desperation at this point, like, you

887
01:01:22.920 --> 01:01:27.320
know, he doesn't know how long
they've been walking like this, and he

888
01:01:27.400 --> 01:01:31.960
knows something bad happened. The saying
was suddenly leading them. I could feel

889
01:01:32.119 --> 01:01:35.760
like when he described it, I
can almost feel the force of like,

890
01:01:35.840 --> 01:01:38.440
yeah, that damn just slapping them
across the chest to like knock them their

891
01:01:38.519 --> 01:01:45.000
senses back. End. Yeah,
that was a very spooky part of the

892
01:01:45.119 --> 01:01:49.119
story. It's this whole part there, but all along she actually led them

893
01:01:49.119 --> 01:01:52.199
to the real person who was sitting
in a walltout area of a tree with

894
01:01:52.599 --> 01:01:58.239
a new set of stairs right by
her. So they all start heading towards

895
01:01:58.280 --> 01:02:00.079
her. They don't know he actually
he doesn't know him and his friend are

896
01:02:00.079 --> 01:02:02.960
heading towards her the stairs. He
knows he's feeling the urge you go to

897
01:02:04.000 --> 01:02:06.400
the stairs, but he's not got
to do that. This time, spread

898
01:02:06.440 --> 01:02:09.719
takes off running on to the stairs, and he has to yank him off.

899
01:02:09.960 --> 01:02:13.960
Really an identical situation to what happened
with him earlier, except for I

900
01:02:13.960 --> 01:02:16.960
think his friend made it up an
extra step. And then he's basically holding

901
01:02:16.960 --> 01:02:20.880
his friend down that his friend's going
nuts, wants to get right back up,

902
01:02:21.039 --> 01:02:22.519
has to get on them stairs in
the woods, And all of a

903
01:02:22.519 --> 01:02:27.440
sudden, he just stops, stops
fighting it, stops fighting that urge.

904
01:02:27.519 --> 01:02:30.079
And as soon as he stops,
he looks over and he happens to see

905
01:02:30.079 --> 01:02:34.079
that the exact same time where the
park ranger is pulling the real Christen out

906
01:02:34.119 --> 01:02:38.559
of the tree. And then this
thing, just like the park ranger said

907
01:02:38.599 --> 01:02:43.519
happened with the hippie earlier. They
went missing, and which is you know

908
01:02:43.599 --> 01:02:45.159
that the next day they found the
dead body of the hippie and they said

909
01:02:45.159 --> 01:02:47.679
it was two days later, which
is creepy enough as it is, but

910
01:02:47.760 --> 01:02:52.639
yeah, it just evaporates into the
woods. Yeah, and and le s

911
01:02:52.679 --> 01:02:55.000
Ky go back up the hole in
the tree. You know, you've heard

912
01:02:55.039 --> 01:03:01.880
stories of of mimics or changelings.
They're always there's some kind of hole in

913
01:03:01.920 --> 01:03:07.360
the tree, kind of connection to
their beginning, their origin, or their

914
01:03:07.360 --> 01:03:09.800
birth. Yeah. So, uh, just to see that kind of pop

915
01:03:09.880 --> 01:03:14.679
up again, I was like,
yeah, I'm settling even And I think

916
01:03:14.719 --> 01:03:17.559
the the troubling part is even though
the park rangers basically predicted like how this

917
01:03:17.599 --> 01:03:22.480
could play out, he still is
powerless, right, and became victim to

918
01:03:22.480 --> 01:03:25.559
the trance. And let's not forget
about the creepiest thing about the trance,

919
01:03:27.800 --> 01:03:30.800
that is, when Sam realized they're
in the trance, he started walking towards

920
01:03:31.320 --> 01:03:36.519
his friend because he saw this mimic
talking in his friend's shoulder. I said,

921
01:03:36.559 --> 01:03:38.159
Sam, right, I met it
wrong his friend of Sam's shoulder,

922
01:03:38.480 --> 01:03:40.960
Yeah, I mean it was like
at a hand on the shoulder, right

923
01:03:40.960 --> 01:03:45.760
and talking like whispering into Sam's ear, And before he could get close enough,

924
01:03:45.760 --> 01:03:50.559
the thing just whifts its heather out
at him and says this safe word

925
01:03:50.559 --> 01:03:53.920
that they established the night before porky. Right, they're laying in the Tan

926
01:03:54.000 --> 01:03:57.760
and I and they said, porky, pine is are safe word. If

927
01:03:57.800 --> 01:04:01.360
anything happens, we're spread out,
split apart, anything weird happens at all,

928
01:04:01.960 --> 01:04:04.719
we will know if each other's okay, if the word for you kinda

929
01:04:04.760 --> 01:04:09.760
said And that's what the mimic just
said to him, right, yeah,

930
01:04:10.199 --> 01:04:13.280
yeah, so yeah, I wonder
it was this, you know, was

931
01:04:13.320 --> 01:04:16.800
it able to read it mined or
was the you know, mimic listening to

932
01:04:16.840 --> 01:04:24.840
them the night before, like nearby? Yeah, it's either way. The

933
01:04:24.880 --> 01:04:28.840
creepiest part might be that the mimic
seems happy, like it just accomplished something.

934
01:04:28.920 --> 01:04:33.079
Yes, the devious smile they described
her. Jesus, are you ready

935
01:04:33.119 --> 01:04:35.599
to pull this back up? Luke? They just found the real prison here

936
01:04:35.639 --> 01:04:40.480
and the mimics vanished off into the
woods, evaporated, I think, is

937
01:04:40.480 --> 01:04:45.000
what was said. Yep. So
we immediately start putting all of our attention

938
01:04:45.159 --> 01:04:49.199
towards Kristen, a hell around her
and rangers giving her water. We're so

939
01:04:49.440 --> 01:04:55.519
relieved. Why she starts slowly regaining
consciousness. It takes about full minute for

940
01:04:55.599 --> 01:04:59.880
her start making sounds of her eyes
starting to open. When she looks going

941
01:05:00.280 --> 01:05:03.960
enough. The ranger asks if she's
okay, and she just says, what

942
01:05:04.039 --> 01:05:10.440
took you guys long? It's been
days. The ranger follows up and asks

943
01:05:10.440 --> 01:05:14.559
her if she remembers anything. She
barely gets out It told me you'd come,

944
01:05:14.840 --> 01:05:18.800
told me i'd be safe by the
stairs. I didn't realize why that

945
01:05:18.880 --> 01:05:24.559
rubbed me the wrong way until Sam
whispered to me, that's exactly what the

946
01:05:24.639 --> 01:05:30.199
mimic said when we first found it. This realization, to me was absolutely

947
01:05:30.400 --> 01:05:35.039
world shattering, because I realized that
we didn't win. It's like the mimic

948
01:05:35.159 --> 01:05:39.119
knew we were going to find her
like this, and it's mocking us from

949
01:05:39.119 --> 01:05:45.119
the beginning. Then even more questions
started flooding my mind. Did not want

950
01:05:45.199 --> 01:05:47.639
to get out of the park.
What's this motive just to get us back

951
01:05:47.679 --> 01:05:55.679
to the stairs. Why this thing
looks so deviously satisfied. We're tending to

952
01:05:55.760 --> 01:06:00.280
Kristen while I'm internally turning these questions
over into my head. She severely just

953
01:06:00.440 --> 01:06:05.039
dehydrated and starving, so I really
don't have time to think. We just

954
01:06:05.039 --> 01:06:11.920
have her slowly rehydrating from the Ranger's
canteen and nimbling on protein bars. From

955
01:06:11.960 --> 01:06:15.000
Sam's pack. I want to leave
so bad, but we have to wait

956
01:06:15.079 --> 01:06:19.000
till she's strong enough to walk herself
for us. Is way too dense for

957
01:06:19.079 --> 01:06:23.760
us the carrier, so we just
assist her about thirty one feet away from

958
01:06:23.800 --> 01:06:27.360
the stairs because it doesn't feel right
just hanging out right next to them.

959
01:06:28.960 --> 01:06:30.840
We have to wait there for about
a half hour. The part of me

960
01:06:31.039 --> 01:06:35.000
is very curious to see if the
stairs disappear or transform in any way.

961
01:06:35.679 --> 01:06:41.599
We don't start questioning it Kristen immediately
because we want her to just focus on

962
01:06:41.840 --> 01:06:45.960
getting better. We all just focused
on being as gentle and consoling as we

963
01:06:46.079 --> 01:06:51.280
possibly can. I could tell we
all don't want her to see how shaken

964
01:06:51.400 --> 01:06:56.840
up we are, because we just
wanted to feel safe. Once she seems

965
01:06:56.880 --> 01:07:00.800
calm and content enough, we all
kind of huddle up start a game plan.

966
01:07:00.440 --> 01:07:03.599
Our phones are working out, and
even though the data is kind of

967
01:07:03.639 --> 01:07:08.360
spotty, we could see that we're
only a mile away from the camp.

968
01:07:09.320 --> 01:07:12.079
Once I let them know how close
you are, I could see it in

969
01:07:12.119 --> 01:07:16.239
their face that we had the exact
same experience, because they're as a surprise

970
01:07:16.320 --> 01:07:19.880
as I am. Because I felt
like whatever the moment did to us went

971
01:07:19.920 --> 01:07:26.400
on for hours. Before we could
start talking get into detail about any of

972
01:07:26.400 --> 01:07:30.639
our experiences, Kristen speaks up.
Of course, she asks to see if

973
01:07:30.760 --> 01:07:33.800
Nick is safe and okay. At
this point, she's standing up and seems

974
01:07:33.880 --> 01:07:39.320
okay to start walking, So we
walk over to her and ensure that Nick

975
01:07:39.400 --> 01:07:43.400
is safe with his father. We
calmly explained to her that we didn't feel

976
01:07:43.400 --> 01:07:46.199
safe having Nick at the campsite while
we were looking for just in case he

977
01:07:46.280 --> 01:07:50.960
tried to run off and look for
her himself. She had a little bit

978
01:07:51.000 --> 01:07:56.360
of a shame in her face.
She nodded and accepted that as a pretty

979
01:07:56.360 --> 01:08:01.559
reasonable explanation. The ranger asked if
she's okay to start walking back to camp,

980
01:08:01.880 --> 01:08:06.039
and she nodded obediently. So we
got all of our stuff and start

981
01:08:06.079 --> 01:08:12.280
walking. We're about twenty feet before
the most futrid rotten smell hits my nose.

982
01:08:13.159 --> 01:08:16.039
I know we all smell it at
once based on everybody's body language,

983
01:08:16.359 --> 01:08:20.199
and immediately whip my head around see
if the sorcerers the stairs, and of

984
01:08:20.239 --> 01:08:26.560
course the stairs are nowhere to be
found. And the ranger looks as lest

985
01:08:26.680 --> 01:08:30.279
that says we need to leave right
now. We all feel guilty rushing Kristen

986
01:08:31.520 --> 01:08:35.000
and after all she's been through.
But it's clear that Ranger feels like we

987
01:08:35.239 --> 01:08:40.119
leave the area with a sense of
urgency, so we really start picking up

988
01:08:40.159 --> 01:08:43.880
the pace. But it feels like
the smell is falling. It smells like

989
01:08:43.920 --> 01:08:48.560
a mix of sour sewage rotten meaning
sulfur. After five straight minutes of it

990
01:08:48.720 --> 01:08:54.760
not losing any intensity, I ask, what does that smell? Sam replies

991
01:08:54.840 --> 01:08:58.680
quietly, because I don't think he
wants Kristin to hear it's a carcass,

992
01:08:59.439 --> 01:09:03.359
says with the certainly that I know
is from experience. I wisher back one

993
01:09:03.399 --> 01:09:10.760
of their carcasses. Ranger cuts me
off and says it's carcass, but he

994
01:09:10.800 --> 01:09:14.520
says in a way that Kristen wouldn't
be able to tell what he actually meant.

995
01:09:14.840 --> 01:09:17.520
But me and Sam knew what he
was implying, and the look on

996
01:09:17.600 --> 01:09:25.079
his face was also implying we should
be quiet. Finish our whispering conversation by

997
01:09:25.079 --> 01:09:28.159
saying, if you see antlers,
keep your head down, keep walking.

998
01:09:29.039 --> 01:09:32.680
I know I can't reply verbally,
but internally I was cynically joking to myself,

999
01:09:32.760 --> 01:09:36.920
Great, I don't just worry about
magical stairs in the faceless mimic.

1000
01:09:38.319 --> 01:09:43.760
But now I have to worry about
territorial stinky elk now momentarily forgot that the

1001
01:09:43.760 --> 01:09:47.119
most dangerous thing here is still mother
Nature and the last thing when he needs

1002
01:09:47.159 --> 01:09:51.319
to be rushed by a six hundred
pound elk. We get through most of

1003
01:09:51.359 --> 01:09:56.720
the hike back with zero complications,
but we could see the start of the

1004
01:09:56.800 --> 01:10:00.920
edge of the campsite through the trees. We're all about one hundred yards away

1005
01:10:00.920 --> 01:10:04.199
from the finish line when we hear
an elk scream from behind us. You've

1006
01:10:04.239 --> 01:10:10.319
never heard an elk scream. It's
horrifying and borderline human like. I encourage

1007
01:10:10.319 --> 01:10:13.640
you to look it up on you
too. We start to pick up the

1008
01:10:13.640 --> 01:10:17.239
speed a little bit until we're twenty
feet away from the campsite. Elk let's

1009
01:10:17.279 --> 01:10:21.640
out a second scream, but the
tone changes a little bit. Half second

1010
01:10:21.640 --> 01:10:29.640
into the scream, it sounds like
a young boy screaming mom. Kristen Panicky

1011
01:10:29.800 --> 01:10:34.079
whips her heads around towards Ranger and
says, that was nick, I thought

1012
01:10:34.079 --> 01:10:39.680
you said my son was safe.
Ranger grabs her both so shoulders, not

1013
01:10:39.720 --> 01:10:44.039
in an aggressive voice, but a
way that he's about to say she needs

1014
01:10:44.079 --> 01:10:48.920
to listen. I promise you that
was not your son. Right now,

1015
01:10:49.000 --> 01:10:53.279
we just need to get you to
the lodge and the second we get there

1016
01:10:53.399 --> 01:10:58.439
will call him, I promise,
okay. And then to break the tension

1017
01:10:58.439 --> 01:11:00.000
a little bit, he said with
a smile, I just found you.

1018
01:11:00.079 --> 01:11:05.279
Please don't go running off of the
woods again. This comforted Kristen enough forget

1019
01:11:05.279 --> 01:11:11.399
her through the trees. When we
get out of the woods, it felt

1020
01:11:11.439 --> 01:11:15.520
like I could finally breathe again.
We were only in there for about three

1021
01:11:15.560 --> 01:11:19.119
hours, but with everything that happened, I couldn't believe that it was just

1022
01:11:19.239 --> 01:11:24.720
past nude. The campsite was still
empty, but we needed to get Kristen

1023
01:11:24.760 --> 01:11:29.199
into a vehicle and headed to the
lodge before anybody came back because it raised

1024
01:11:29.199 --> 01:11:31.680
a lot of questions with other campers. Why is she still here? There's

1025
01:11:31.720 --> 01:11:35.760
common knowledge that she was going to
leave that morning. We could tell she's

1026
01:11:35.800 --> 01:11:40.439
peeking towards the campsite looking for her
belongings. But the ranger gets ahead of

1027
01:11:40.479 --> 01:11:43.880
it and he says, don't worry. Your stuff left when Nick did.

1028
01:11:44.520 --> 01:11:46.640
It was a great quick thinking by
the ranger. So now let's get you

1029
01:11:46.680 --> 01:11:49.479
home. And the ranger said in
my head, I'm considering asking her what

1030
01:11:49.600 --> 01:11:54.399
she remembers. But during the two
minute walk to the vehicle, I can

1031
01:11:54.439 --> 01:11:58.000
tell that she's fully under the impression
that she had a couple too many and

1032
01:11:58.039 --> 01:12:00.720
got herself lost in the woods.
I can see the embarrassment building on her

1033
01:12:00.760 --> 01:12:06.279
face. Our current situation, that's
kind of ideal, because we just need

1034
01:12:06.319 --> 01:12:10.079
to get her at it here as
soon as possible. She climbs into the

1035
01:12:10.199 --> 01:12:14.960
vehicle, but before she but before
they drive off, the park ranger walkie

1036
01:12:14.960 --> 01:12:17.760
talkies the camp guides. He alerts
them to bring the campers back to the

1037
01:12:17.800 --> 01:12:23.199
camp site because there's an aggressive elk
in the area and he doesn't want them

1038
01:12:23.199 --> 01:12:27.680
walking back after dark where they can't
see one coming. And on the other

1039
01:12:27.800 --> 01:12:30.560
end, the camp guide, one
of the other camp GUIDs replies, don't

1040
01:12:30.560 --> 01:12:35.119
worry, we're already on our way
back because an aggressive, quick full cold

1041
01:12:35.199 --> 01:12:40.760
front has moved through and nobody's dressed
for it. I don't know what it

1042
01:12:40.840 --> 01:12:45.039
was about the camp guide saying that, but it puts a sense of urgency

1043
01:12:45.039 --> 01:12:47.560
into the ranger as he starts to
walk away to the vehicle, but it

1044
01:12:47.600 --> 01:12:51.279
shouts back to us before he gets
in. Boys I'll get back as soon

1045
01:12:51.319 --> 01:12:55.479
as I can. Stay away from
the tree line and if you smell it

1046
01:12:55.920 --> 01:13:01.239
hide. We nervously watch him drive
off. It's on and I'm absolutely exhausted.

1047
01:13:01.720 --> 01:13:06.680
I catch myself just thinking about the
devious look on the mimixed face before

1048
01:13:06.680 --> 01:13:11.640
it disappeared and evaporated into nothing into
the forest. It reminds me to check

1049
01:13:11.640 --> 01:13:13.880
on my friend. This is the
first time Sam and I have been able

1050
01:13:13.920 --> 01:13:15.880
to have a minute to talk since
everything that's gone down. So I just

1051
01:13:15.920 --> 01:13:20.920
opened up the conversation with should we
leave, and Sam goes, we can't.

1052
01:13:21.880 --> 01:13:25.520
If it was just you that touched
the stairs, I'd say let's go,

1053
01:13:25.960 --> 01:13:29.359
But I cannot leave, knowing that
I might have just made everything worse

1054
01:13:29.479 --> 01:13:34.880
when I stepped on the steps.
Well, I was not surprised with that

1055
01:13:34.960 --> 01:13:40.439
answer at all, because that's exactly
what I was thinking earlier when everything happened

1056
01:13:40.439 --> 01:13:44.640
to me. I tried to comfort
him a little bit more. I even

1057
01:13:44.640 --> 01:13:47.920
asked the question because it was the
first thing he came in my mind.

1058
01:13:48.439 --> 01:13:54.560
Pretty crazy, how we were in
that time loop back there. Don't really

1059
01:13:54.640 --> 01:13:57.680
understand that. Sam looks at me
funny, and he says, time loop

1060
01:13:58.000 --> 01:14:00.560
Mine wasn't like that at all.
Mine felt like sleep paralysis. I saw

1061
01:14:00.600 --> 01:14:04.760
everything happening. I saw you losing
it. I saw the ranger voluntarily switched

1062
01:14:04.760 --> 01:14:09.079
spots with her, and I was
trying to scream, but nothing would come

1063
01:14:09.079 --> 01:14:14.560
out. And then she started talking
to me, but not out loud.

1064
01:14:14.960 --> 01:14:16.760
She was talking to me in my
head. She just kept telling me that

1065
01:14:16.840 --> 01:14:20.640
it was my turn to go out
the steps and that we should really stop

1066
01:14:20.680 --> 01:14:25.880
fighting it, and there was nothing
that we could do, and she just

1067
01:14:25.960 --> 01:14:29.640
kept asking me, do I know
what the crows mean? And then I

1068
01:14:29.800 --> 01:14:32.800
asked him. I asked, Sam, did she tell you what they meant?

1069
01:14:33.079 --> 01:14:35.680
Like? What does she mean by
that? Because I haven't been able

1070
01:14:35.680 --> 01:14:39.600
to stop thinking about it this whole
time. And Sam says no, she

1071
01:14:39.720 --> 01:14:43.760
just kept tawning me with the question
about the crows. But she did say

1072
01:14:43.760 --> 01:14:46.600
that we'll know what they mean when
we get back to the camp. That

1073
01:14:46.720 --> 01:14:50.319
was basically our cue to start walking
back to the camp because we're both looking

1074
01:14:50.319 --> 01:14:54.880
for answers. I kept the dialogue
going and I asked him, if our

1075
01:14:54.920 --> 01:14:58.840
experiences were so different, what do
we think happened to the ranger. He

1076
01:14:58.960 --> 01:15:02.680
jokingly replied, I'm sure it was
something unique and horrible, But I'm more

1077
01:15:02.720 --> 01:15:06.680
interested to see what he knows about
the source of that smell. We walked

1078
01:15:06.720 --> 01:15:11.680
quietly for a second, straight ahead
towards the logs to sit down. We

1079
01:15:11.680 --> 01:15:14.880
could see from a distance the crows
were still perched exactly where they were,

1080
01:15:15.560 --> 01:15:18.920
and we just set on the log
straight across from them. It's funny,

1081
01:15:18.920 --> 01:15:21.359
because we were so tired, we
didn't even have enough energy to be scared

1082
01:15:21.359 --> 01:15:25.640
of the crows at this point in
time. We were just sitting having a

1083
01:15:25.720 --> 01:15:30.000
standoff with these things. They're staring
at us and we're staring at them,

1084
01:15:30.520 --> 01:15:34.039
and then one all the way to
the left, the crow all the way

1085
01:15:34.079 --> 01:15:39.119
to the left just squawks out of
nowhere and just flies off. We just

1086
01:15:39.159 --> 01:15:43.520
look at each other and nod.
It turns out the mimic was right.

1087
01:15:44.159 --> 01:15:47.640
We knew exactly what they meant,
the crows meant. Sam just casually says

1088
01:15:47.680 --> 01:15:50.600
one down, two to go,
and then he follows up and kind of

1089
01:15:50.760 --> 01:15:56.239
shamefully asked me, did I do
what you did? He was implying,

1090
01:15:56.319 --> 01:15:59.039
you know, did he have a
seizure as well? I said no,

1091
01:15:59.119 --> 01:16:00.439
It just seemed like you were really
trying hard to get at the top of

1092
01:16:00.439 --> 01:16:04.159
the stairs, rushing as fast as
as fast as you could, but I

1093
01:16:04.159 --> 01:16:08.560
stopped before you could get I stopped
you before you could get there. He

1094
01:16:08.600 --> 01:16:11.359
says, did you feel that vibrations? And I said, yeah, same

1095
01:16:11.399 --> 01:16:14.199
thing happened, and you you know, same thing happened with him a step

1096
01:16:14.319 --> 01:16:16.920
on them. He asked me,
do you think there's a correlation between how

1097
01:16:16.920 --> 01:16:20.800
many steps you go up in the
severity of the consequences? I replied,

1098
01:16:20.840 --> 01:16:27.520
I really hope not. And then
right then we hear laughing and talking approaching

1099
01:16:27.600 --> 01:16:30.159
us. It's the group of campers
coming back from fishing. Luckily, the

1100
01:16:30.279 --> 01:16:34.680
chatter sounds very nice and pleasant,
so that gives us a little bit of

1101
01:16:34.680 --> 01:16:38.840
relief because we know nothing bad happened
to that while they were out. Me

1102
01:16:38.880 --> 01:16:44.039
and Sam do are best to keep
everything out of control, obviously, so

1103
01:16:44.119 --> 01:16:47.600
nobody else knew. We didn't want
them to show uncomfortable. Everybody else is

1104
01:16:47.680 --> 01:16:51.439
unloading all their gear and gathering around
them for lunch. Once everybody's settled in,

1105
01:16:51.800 --> 01:16:55.800
one of the camp guides starts going
around and he's doing a head count

1106
01:16:56.600 --> 01:17:00.159
and he shouts, were one short. Everybody look around, who's missing?

1107
01:17:00.760 --> 01:17:03.479
Everybody looks around for the immediate family
or friends or loved ones. And then

1108
01:17:03.479 --> 01:17:08.560
two guys speak up playfully. They're
both in their early thirties, like real

1109
01:17:08.640 --> 01:17:12.640
outdoor looking types. They said,
don't worry, guys, that's just our

1110
01:17:12.640 --> 01:17:15.840
buddy Pete. Sam and I looked
at each other in fear and couldn't help

1111
01:17:15.880 --> 01:17:19.479
but assume that this was a result
of the stairs in the woods being stepped

1112
01:17:19.520 --> 01:17:27.359
on again to be continued. Oh, man, wish I gotta know what

1113
01:17:27.359 --> 01:17:30.600
happens next. Yeah, there's another
apart. Man, Well, did dive

1114
01:17:30.680 --> 01:17:33.159
into that later? I mean,
wow, uh hell, what a cool

1115
01:17:33.199 --> 01:17:36.800
story. Though. Yeah, So
when I said this over to you guys,

1116
01:17:36.840 --> 01:17:40.680
I sent it over in batches,
like I'm gonna read this part.

1117
01:17:40.760 --> 01:17:42.640
Jack, You're gonna read this part. Luke, you're gonna read this part.

1118
01:17:42.680 --> 01:17:45.079
Did you guys read the whole story? Though? I read, I

1119
01:17:45.119 --> 01:17:47.000
was going to read it all,
but then I thought to myself that I

1120
01:17:47.079 --> 01:17:53.479
kind of I was I kind of
wanted to experience it live, and so

1121
01:17:53.560 --> 01:17:55.800
I was like, yeah, I'm
going to spoil it for myself. So

1122
01:17:55.960 --> 01:18:00.960
I ended up not reading the whole
thing in one sitting. That was also

1123
01:18:00.119 --> 01:18:05.399
my kind of feeling. I was
like, you know, I could get

1124
01:18:05.439 --> 01:18:10.439
into my portion and I can experience
that. But then I was like,

1125
01:18:10.520 --> 01:18:15.439
I want to hear the experience of
hearing the story from you guys when you

1126
01:18:15.479 --> 01:18:18.399
do your guys' portions, and that
way I can kind of get a feeling

1127
01:18:18.479 --> 01:18:23.399
of how our listeners might feel as
well. So I was just like in

1128
01:18:23.439 --> 01:18:26.000
this mindset, like you know what, I could read this whole thing,

1129
01:18:26.279 --> 01:18:29.880
bash it out real fast, and
then go from there. But then I

1130
01:18:29.920 --> 01:18:31.600
was like, man, I just
I wanted to see what it's like being

1131
01:18:31.600 --> 01:18:35.119
on the other side of this listening
to it being read off by people.

1132
01:18:35.640 --> 01:18:40.279
And so I was like excited to
hear how you guys did your takes because

1133
01:18:40.279 --> 01:18:42.720
I knew how I was going to
do mine, and so I was like,

1134
01:18:42.800 --> 01:18:44.720
you know, I want to hear
how you guys do. And so

1135
01:18:44.920 --> 01:18:49.560
I really enjoyed experiencing it with everybody
else except for the parts that were I

1136
01:18:49.600 --> 01:18:53.600
had edited into mine. I knew
it was going to be a little bit

1137
01:18:53.640 --> 01:18:57.760
different because the last couple of weeks
we've just been sharing a story boom table

1138
01:18:57.800 --> 01:19:00.560
talk right afterwards. But I was
curious would they actually read the whole thing

1139
01:19:00.720 --> 01:19:04.359
like obviously I had, I mean, I was so into this I did,

1140
01:19:04.439 --> 01:19:06.520
so I was kind of looking for
your reactions as we went along.

1141
01:19:06.560 --> 01:19:10.039
I don't how did you guys feel
about We'll get back to the story in

1142
01:19:10.039 --> 01:19:12.479
a second. How did you feel
about the change in pace this week?

1143
01:19:12.840 --> 01:19:15.119
Obviously it's not something I think we
could do every week, but I really

1144
01:19:15.199 --> 01:19:19.279
enjoyed it. It really felt like
we were kind of like weaving the story

1145
01:19:19.359 --> 01:19:24.239
together while we're reading it. Yeah, I felt like we were in school,

1146
01:19:24.279 --> 01:19:27.119
like taking her in to reading.
Well, we were actually pat right.

1147
01:19:27.199 --> 01:19:30.960
Yeah. I was gonna say a
slightly more ancient form of that,

1148
01:19:30.039 --> 01:19:36.760
it would be like a Viking Skalds
would take turns telling a ghost story and

1149
01:19:36.920 --> 01:19:42.760
says this is a very druidic story
as it is with the mimics and the

1150
01:19:42.880 --> 01:19:46.119
crows, which kind of reminds me
of Odin's Ravens in a way. I

1151
01:19:46.359 --> 01:19:50.439
was thinking more like that, but
similar, that's exactly same thing. I

1152
01:19:50.479 --> 01:19:55.560
was thinking, Look, that's exactly
thing. Yeah, that's that's what Pilgrims

1153
01:19:55.560 --> 01:19:58.720
and the Vikings and all that stuff. What do you guys think about this

1154
01:19:58.760 --> 01:20:00.640
story? Though? It was a
so last week we talked about the stairs

1155
01:20:00.680 --> 01:20:03.279
in the woods, and then I
was able to find this. I really

1156
01:20:03.359 --> 01:20:09.920
love this. I always enjoy stories
involved going into the woods. I've always

1157
01:20:09.960 --> 01:20:14.560
liked going into the woods as a
kid, not at night, that was

1158
01:20:14.800 --> 01:20:17.119
That's where I drew the line.
Not searchingly for a missing people, no,

1159
01:20:17.119 --> 01:20:20.239
no, but I would you know, go on trails, go on

1160
01:20:20.319 --> 01:20:24.439
hikes and things like that, and
you just stare off out there and you're

1161
01:20:24.439 --> 01:20:27.760
just like, what kind of things
are going on out here when when no

1162
01:20:27.800 --> 01:20:30.520
one's watching, you know, it's
just the animals and just stuff like that.

1163
01:20:30.159 --> 01:20:36.079
So I've always enjoyed woods and wood
based stories. I guess I'm always

1164
01:20:36.079 --> 01:20:42.720
been a big fan of preachers too, Like you know, things that someone

1165
01:20:42.800 --> 01:20:46.319
might have conjured and some past life, some sort of weird thing that shouldn't

1166
01:20:46.319 --> 01:20:53.199
be here. And so like this
idea of something coming into our world or

1167
01:20:53.640 --> 01:20:59.199
being attracted to someone because they interact
with something from their world. That kind

1168
01:20:59.239 --> 01:21:03.600
of story always is like the perfect
type of like story for me, Like,

1169
01:21:03.720 --> 01:21:06.319
you know, it gives you a
little bit of a chill, but

1170
01:21:06.399 --> 01:21:11.319
it's also like you know, it
kind of harkens back to old and religions

1171
01:21:11.359 --> 01:21:15.319
and stuff about you know, their
you know, rich listic offerings or something

1172
01:21:15.439 --> 01:21:18.560
you know, just some sort of
dark creature in the woods. So I've

1173
01:21:18.560 --> 01:21:23.560
always liked stories like that in general, So this has been absolutely awesome to

1174
01:21:23.600 --> 01:21:28.840
listen to and to talk about.
People commenting, Jesus, that's terrifying,

1175
01:21:29.680 --> 01:21:33.159
crazy story. Some people like the
change up seems more more than not.

1176
01:21:33.279 --> 01:21:36.880
The only person thought they like kind
of us. I think it's hard to

1177
01:21:36.880 --> 01:21:41.239
pay attention that long. But the
good thing about this is you can always

1178
01:21:41.239 --> 01:21:44.279
come back and listen to it later. But we do appreciate everybody listening to

1179
01:21:44.279 --> 01:21:46.840
it live there for sure. I
thought this was like a good follow up

1180
01:21:47.119 --> 01:21:50.840
to what Jack teased last week.
Then yeah, you know what happened when

1181
01:21:50.880 --> 01:21:54.800
you touch the stairs in the woods. This story is a little bit everywhere.

1182
01:21:55.039 --> 01:21:57.920
I got a lot of controversy around
it. I will say one thing,

1183
01:21:59.640 --> 01:22:02.399
it's a great story. I mean, wow, how creative? Is

1184
01:22:02.399 --> 01:22:05.520
there another part to this? Like
this, I cut it off because I

1185
01:22:05.600 --> 01:22:09.279
knew I knew it would be it
would be past our time. Well,

1186
01:22:09.279 --> 01:22:12.520
I definitely want to rest. Yeah, oh yeah, there's more. I

1187
01:22:12.640 --> 01:22:15.680
uh, there's basically a second half. There's about the same amount left again

1188
01:22:16.359 --> 01:22:19.560
length. Yeah, I would like
to like to revisit for sure, And

1189
01:22:20.479 --> 01:22:25.199
uh, get the ending, get
get the final bits of the story.

1190
01:22:25.840 --> 01:22:28.960
Yeah. Yeah, so I don't
know. That's what happens when you step

1191
01:22:29.000 --> 01:22:31.239
on the stairs in the wood said, yeah, don't do it. It's

1192
01:22:31.479 --> 01:22:34.840
to say the fuck off. I
know. We're just we're just talking here.

1193
01:22:34.880 --> 01:22:38.920
People are commenting along. That's fine, we're just wrapping things up.

1194
01:22:39.560 --> 01:22:43.159
The mimic character, Luke Jack.
We'll let luc go first. But what

1195
01:22:43.199 --> 01:22:47.800
did you think about the mimic character. Mimics are a very interesting creature in

1196
01:22:47.920 --> 01:22:54.439
different lore and like stories, there's
always different like shape shifters or something that

1197
01:22:54.640 --> 01:22:59.520
like takes on the form of someone
that gets lost, or they deliberately adduct

1198
01:22:59.560 --> 01:23:03.760
people. I always I like those
stories a lot. Jack actually mentioned something

1199
01:23:03.760 --> 01:23:09.640
about the tree with the Old Wolf
opening, and that has come up in

1200
01:23:09.680 --> 01:23:13.640
a lot of them also, so
that must be, you know, some

1201
01:23:13.680 --> 01:23:17.520
sort of connection to an ancient story
of some sort. I find them to

1202
01:23:17.560 --> 01:23:25.199
be absolutely terrifying, because the worst
thing I can imagine is something looking exactly

1203
01:23:25.359 --> 01:23:30.239
right but being wrong. Actually,
uh, what's his name? Stephen King

1204
01:23:30.720 --> 01:23:34.960
said that the most terrifying thing he
could come up think of would be to

1205
01:23:35.119 --> 01:23:41.279
walk into his house and find everything
replaced with the exact copy of itself.

1206
01:23:41.840 --> 01:23:45.079
And so that's kind of like the
feeling you get from a mimic. Yeah,

1207
01:23:45.439 --> 01:23:47.279
you know, kind of like to
go on from that the mimics and

1208
01:23:48.119 --> 01:23:54.039
you know, I guess the times
a're called changelings or yeah, changelings or

1209
01:23:54.079 --> 01:23:56.840
even sci fi stories, I guess
what's the other thing, Well, there's

1210
01:23:56.840 --> 01:24:00.199
something opper or what the heck is
that word? Oh? Yeah, uh

1211
01:24:00.840 --> 01:24:04.720
like what was it? Doppel ganger? Doppelganger? Yeah, yeah, And

1212
01:24:04.760 --> 01:24:10.239
it's just like this, you know, this idea that someone you knew is

1213
01:24:11.119 --> 01:24:14.199
not that person, and it just
is pretending to be that person. Like

1214
01:24:14.199 --> 01:24:15.680
I said, like sci fi movies
had like the pod people, you know,

1215
01:24:15.760 --> 01:24:20.560
it was like just you know,
a fake uh, and you're just

1216
01:24:20.600 --> 01:24:23.479
like, you know, what happens
to the real person? What happens the

1217
01:24:23.479 --> 01:24:29.399
person I knew? And and just
seeing this person or thing pretend uh to

1218
01:24:29.520 --> 01:24:32.520
be a person. This is very
unsettling. It's unsettling on every in every

1219
01:24:32.520 --> 01:24:36.760
angle. And uh yeah, yeah, for sure stories of of of of

1220
01:24:36.880 --> 01:24:41.520
mimics or change things or doppel gangers
that yeah, you can't help but be

1221
01:24:41.640 --> 01:24:45.960
incredibly fascinated about them. UFOs are
talked about more mainstream these days, and

1222
01:24:46.039 --> 01:24:49.359
there's just it kind of brings me
back to that when I'm thinking that there's

1223
01:24:49.399 --> 01:24:55.199
a whole huge forest, there's a
whole ocean, there's a whole whatever it

1224
01:24:55.239 --> 01:24:59.079
may be that we don't really inhabit, so we don't really understand. Maybe

1225
01:24:59.079 --> 01:25:01.279
we don't really understand where we're at
now. But you know, to think

1226
01:25:01.319 --> 01:25:04.119
about what's in the woods that you
don't know, the things you don't know

1227
01:25:04.159 --> 01:25:09.760
about is terrifying. And I think
that for me when the comment was made

1228
01:25:09.760 --> 01:25:13.319
that they were almost the ranger said
they were almost lucky, that this was

1229
01:25:13.319 --> 01:25:15.960
the mimic that you're dealing with.
Yeah, and you know, he mentions

1230
01:25:15.960 --> 01:25:19.520
at the end of this of this
segment of the story where there's the elk

1231
01:25:19.760 --> 01:25:24.640
and there's the what's going on with
the crow is what's going on with you

1232
01:25:24.680 --> 01:25:28.920
know this like carcass, like smell
that there's you know, what else is

1233
01:25:28.960 --> 01:25:31.880
going to if you smell it?
Hide right exactly? You know. And

1234
01:25:31.920 --> 01:25:34.439
also a lot of times people say, like, you know, we're humans,

1235
01:25:34.439 --> 01:25:38.439
were the or the king of the
planet or whatever, but yet we

1236
01:25:39.279 --> 01:25:42.119
stay out of the woods, you
know, we stay off the mountaintop,

1237
01:25:42.279 --> 01:25:45.000
so we stay out of the bottom
of the ocean. We stay far away

1238
01:25:45.039 --> 01:25:48.439
from all of these locations that make
up most of the planet, And yeah,

1239
01:25:48.520 --> 01:25:51.640
you wonder to some degree, it's
like, well, yeah, obviously

1240
01:25:51.640 --> 01:25:57.319
it's logical, but you know,
maybe there's also more reasons than we can

1241
01:25:57.600 --> 01:26:00.680
fully understand why we've always done that. We've always stayed out of those areas

1242
01:26:00.760 --> 01:26:03.880
we live, where we live,
and whatever else is out there where that's

1243
01:26:03.920 --> 01:26:10.079
out there, guys, spend another
fun episode. Yes, let's feel exhausted

1244
01:26:10.119 --> 01:26:14.159
from all the reading, though,
Yeah, there are some long stretches there.

1245
01:26:14.199 --> 01:26:16.319
I tried to split it up evenly, right, I gave you all

1246
01:26:16.439 --> 01:26:19.359
the worst, but there was a
part where they said they were exhausted it's

1247
01:26:19.359 --> 01:26:21.760
only new and I was like,
yeah, I mean I kind of feel

1248
01:26:21.800 --> 01:26:26.359
this exhaustion just from the you know, through the story, you can kind

1249
01:26:26.359 --> 01:26:30.600
of feel like they're exertion they're going
through. Yeah, I agree. Well,

1250
01:26:30.640 --> 01:26:32.640
yeah, so everybody listening live and
those of you listened later. We

1251
01:26:32.680 --> 01:26:36.680
do this live every Monday at ten
thirty pm. If Luke's not walking his

1252
01:26:36.920 --> 01:26:45.800
cat at that time is a big
Doug. We're gonna we'll do this every

1253
01:26:45.840 --> 01:26:47.920
week, you know, less holiday
or something coming up. It was a

1254
01:26:48.119 --> 01:26:50.840
it was another fun week, though, I'm excited about what the future brings.

1255
01:26:51.159 --> 01:26:56.800
You want to get us some stories
we are I think this stream to

1256
01:26:56.840 --> 01:26:59.399
the Facebook. I finally got that
set out, So look for your scary

1257
01:26:59.399 --> 01:27:04.239
stories on Facebook. It's also on
Twitter. You can also I'll let you

1258
01:27:04.319 --> 01:27:06.960
plug the discord and all that other
shit, Luke, because I don't know.

1259
01:27:08.000 --> 01:27:12.439
But it's also you can look up
my profiles on Everything's Podcast Father.

1260
01:27:12.439 --> 01:27:14.960
It's also there, Luke. You
have a couple of communities that you set

1261
01:27:15.039 --> 01:27:19.479
up. Yes, we have a
discord, which is your scary storage discord.

1262
01:27:19.520 --> 01:27:24.199
I need to put that link on
our Facebook. I haven't done that

1263
01:27:24.279 --> 01:27:31.640
yet. We also have a Reddit
page so called share your Scary Stories and

1264
01:27:32.039 --> 01:27:36.520
yeah, you can catch me on
there on discord or read it as John

1265
01:27:36.600 --> 01:27:44.039
Daily Programmer. I handle most of
that stuff. We're still setting up your

1266
01:27:44.079 --> 01:27:45.880
scary stories dot com. You can
just submit there, or you can contact

1267
01:27:45.960 --> 01:27:49.359
us wherever. We just told you
guys, I'm going to hit this outro.

1268
01:27:49.520 --> 01:27:51.640
We're gonna be done with it.
What do you think? Yeah,

1269
01:27:51.680 --> 01:27:53.560
we'll see you next time.