I’m gonna leave out specific names and locations for the sake of privacy. This account takes place on a Marine Corps base on the west coast about 2 weeks ago. For those who don’t know, barracks duty is where 2 marines will stay up for 24 hours and stay at a desk at the front of a given building, with the occasional patrol of the area to maintain good order and discipline (make sure dumb shit doesn’t happen during the late hours of the night). Now that we’ve gotten the general explanation out of the way we can get to the actual story.
I’m on duty with one of my buddies on a Saturday. The day starts off as any duty shift does. Hanging out, shooting the shit at our desk, listening to music, and doodling dicks as per the usual. It’s a quiet day, obviously because it’s a Saturday, no one wants to be hanging out around the barracks on a Saturday if they can help it. We go the whole day without seeing any other marines except for the officer and the sergeant in charge of us for the night a handful of times. Nighttime comes around and it’s raining like a motherfucker (ironic I know). I have quite literally never seen it rain this hard in the 3 years I have been stationed in California. This is adding to the argument that no one wants to be out and about.
Feet kicked up on the desk, Waylon Jennings playing, cherry Skoal filled lip, and white monster in hand. 3 am finally rolls around, my buddy and I are talking about whatever came to mind, favorite pornstars, how work sucks, what beer we’re gonna drink when we’re off duty. I get this weird gut feeling that something isn’t right, but I’m not gonna kill the vibe by saying something when it’s probably nothing. Eventually, my buddy says something to the effect of “Something’s wrong, don’t tell me it’s just me and I’m going crazy cause it’s 3am” I agree with him, but neither of us really know what the issue is. I turn down the music on my laptop so we can hear if maybe a drunk marine is getting rowdy in our building or if someone decides to do a backflip off the 5th deck, and that’s why the vibe is off tonight.
The room we are in has windows directly to our right that lead outside to where you can see the other 2 buildings where the rest of the duties are. to our left is a door and a set of windows looking into the laundry room with a single locking door to the outside inside of that laundry room, as well as a window to the outside. In front of us is a windowed door to the kitchen. and an emergency exit. The only door to the kitchen is that door. the exit to the building is a set of glass doors about 20 feet in front of us to the left. Eventually, we say fuck it, let’s go ask the other duties if they’ve been walking around checking out their area, or if they’ve seen or heard anything.
sure enough, the consensus was that something wasn’t right. we are walking back to our post and we see another marine walking towards us, minus the red armband and pistol belt we all have to wear on duty. He doesn’t acknowledge us and is looking down and away from us like he’s up to no good. I’m thinking, why is there a marine walking around in full cammies when it isn’t during the work week, at about 3:30 am on a Sunday, in the rain. He passes us and I say “Hey man, what are you doing?” Loud enough so he could hear. No response, I then yell “Hey dude, what’s your issue.” Nothing again. Me and my buddy do a fast walk to him to see what’s up, he then passes the corner to the left. We’re about 2 seconds behind him. When we turn the corner there is no one there. My heart sinks to my stomach. “What the actual fuck dude, there’s no way.” we split up and jog around the area in case this guy was somehow able to make a 50 to 75-yard dash to the back of either of the buildings. Nothing. We are both done being outside at this point and briskly walk back to our post.
I fill out the log book with a non-spooky version of what I just told and sit at the desk quietly listening to music. Me and my buddy kept talking to a minimum the rest of the night because we were both creeped out from what we just experienced. He goes to every single door and window on the floor and checks that they’re locked. He sits back down and goes back to whatever he was doing on his phone. something is fucking with the door on the outside of the laundry room, somehow the motion lights don’t activate. the wind isn’t blowing that hard, and last time I checked. Wind doesn’t jerk on doorknobs. I creep over and throw the door open. sure enough, the motion lights turn on. Nothing. Back to the desk I go. Ready to nope the fuck out of there. I turn off the music and sit there looking out the windows waiting to see some crazy shit. 30 mins later, the same deal happens with the emergency exit. I ignore it because that’s not something I want to deal with. It continues for 15 mins. at this point, it’s about 5 am. 3 hours go by with nothing else. I get off duty and go straight to my room. Has anyone else had an experience like this? Military or otherwise, or any theories as to what’s creeping around Southern California?