I’ve always had an inexplicable fascination with the supernatural. My friends, Sarah and Mark, share my love for the occult, so when we decided to go on a camping trip to the remote Blackwood Forest, supposedly super haunted but I couldn’t have been more thrilled.
It had been a couple of weeks since the group made plans to venture into the wilderness of Blackwood. I spent those weeks preparing for the trip. I bought a new tent, a sleeping bag, and stocked up on supplies.
As always Sarah and Mark were in high spirits, we were laughing and joking around the whole way there. We arrived and set out on a hike to find a campsite and we found a spot a few miles in. We set up camp and started a fire, we were telling ghost stories and roasting marshmallows. The first night was great, we spent the next morning hiking, exploring the woods, getting a feel for the area. It was a blast and it felt great to be in the outdoors. Nothing out of the ordinary for being in an area with such a unusual lore revolving it. Until later that night, we ended the day the same way as the previous one, telling ghost stories by the fire and roasting marshmellows and we went to bed. I awoke only an hour later to the sound of shuffling and branches breaking near my tent. I decided to investigate and I turned on my phones flashlight and unzipped my tent and stepped out and to my surprise, both Marks and Sarahs tents were wide open and empty.
They were no where to be found.
Agaisnt my better judgement I head into the woods in search of my friends, my flashlight casting eerie shadows on the trees as I’m walking, The air was thick and musty, and I could hear strange noises coming from somewhere in the distance. My heart was racing, but I couldn’t turn back now. I went towards the noise.
As I walked, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I spun around, but there was nothing there. I shrugged it off and kept moving and the noises grew louder, and I started to hear whispers.
I stopped dead in my tracks as I saw them. Dozens of people, some dressed in old-fashioned clothing, some dressed in more recent attire, And there was Sarah and Mark with them too. They were gathered around in a large circle in the middle of a clearing of trees. Chanting in an unknown language, and I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck starting to stand up.
Who were these people? Why are Mark and Sarah with them?
Something isnt right…
I wanted to turn and run, but my body wouldn’t obey. I was paralyzed with fear, unable to move or even scream for help. The people in the circle started to look up, their eyes locking onto mine. But something was wrong, as my eyes focused I realized there was something even more unnatural about what I was looking at. And then my heart dropped at the realization. There were just gaping holes where there eyes are suppose to be. Just eye sockets, no eyes, empty cold stares looking deep within my soul. My thoughts were running, Did they do that to Sarah and Mark? Why are they with them? This has to be a nightmare. I need to wake up. And then as if it was a chain reaction a smile lit on Sarahs face, then Marks, and it spread one by one around the group, this was not an ordinary smile, it was a smile so wide there jaws would crack and become mangled to fit it’s extreme width. A smile so unsettling I would want to physically harm my own eyes just not to see it anymore.
And they welcomed me with open arms.