An AirBnB offer that seemingly was too good to be true caught my eye while planning a long weekend getaway with my friends.
It was a 6 bed/room cottage with a gorgeous view in the rocky mountains, and was only an hour drive out of my city. It’d be cool enough outside at night to warrant the hot tub there, and we’d get a beautiful view of the autumn trees in the daytime. I checked the forecast: 25°c for three days straight! The pricing was also good, splitting between the six of us would total $66 each.
I showed it to the company I’d be taking, and immediately we booked it.
I was the first one to arrive after a scenic drive with winding roads. It was fairly isolated, I couldn’t hear the noise pollution from the transcanada highway like you normally could if you stayed in Banff or Canmore.
That also meant I could hear the sounds of any approaching vehicles. I took in the scenery for about two minutes before the next car pulled up– it was Nick and Dakota. They lumbered out of Nick’s rusty but reliable car. They loosely gripped their belongings with them, which consisted mostly of books and pot.
“Shall we see if we didn’t get swindled with some shite cottage?” I asked them.
“May as well,” Nick replied nonchalantly.
The outside of the cottage matched the pictures to a tee. No doubt it had received immaculate care. The patios were spotless, the hot tub clean and large, the glass didn’t have a single smear or spot on it. It was only one level, but it was very large from the outside.
I noticed Dakota was staring into the trees and keeping himself unusually quiet.
“Not to your liking?” I inquired.
“It’s only a little bit different from BC,” Dakota hummed. “…But it’s nice. It’ll be good to relax here.”
Both of them were intelligent, but a bit snobby to a fault. They weren’t the easiest to impress, but they both looked out for me, and in turn, I valued their friendship and kept them included in my events.
A stiff wind sent chills down my spine, and I could tell Nick and Dakota both felt the cold, too.
“Let’s go inside,” I suggested. “Getting chilly.”
The inside was just as extravagant as the outside. The amount of space each area had was on par with miniature mansions. There was a fireplace, lots of couches, and each bed there was a king-sized one. A definite upgrade from my queen sized bed at home. The three of us called dibs on the first rooms, and I was satisfied with my view of a few mountains that the sun would perfectly set between at night.
Not only that, the pantry was chalked full of all sorts of non-perishable food. Funny, I didn’t see anything about food being given to us. I told everyone to pack accordingly, so we were gonna be filled up in no time.
Thumping could be heard in the distance, which alerted me.
“You guys hear that too, hey?” I asked Nick. He chuckled.
“I think the rest of your friends are here.”
I peeked out the window as the thumping got louder. He was right. The thumping was coming from the music that Xander, Brandon, and CJ were listening to in CJ’s SUV. I could hear them bellowing with enthusiasm from here. Hands swinging wildly out of the windows as CJ parked.
“Are you ready to feel how old we are?” Dakota asked Nick.
“I’m thankful I brought some earplugs,” Nick answered. “Should help with these fucking loons.”
“Cmon guys you’re not THAT much older than them,” I cooed. “What, five years?”
Nick and Dakota had just celebrated their 30th birthdays two months ago. My 24th was coming up in a week, so this was like a pre-party for that. The other three matched my age.
I hopped out of the cottage to greet the others.
“I hope you brought your A-game and a whole lotta alcohol!” I announced, arms open.
“Holy shit this place is nice!” CJ gasped, stepping out of the SUV. Brandon and Xander didn’t say much but gave me a pleasant nod as they hauled their coolers inside.
‘Didn’t get swindled, can’t find a flaw here yet,” I said, breathing in the fresh air and doing a 360 of my surroundings.
“I’m a little cold though…”
CJ checked his arms, the hair standing upwards on them. He brooded a little.
“Wasn’t it supposed to be hot this weekend?”
“Yeah I know…but hey, at least we have a hot tub.”
“Shit, ain’t that the truth.” He went inside with the others.
There was a definite difference in my two age groups. Dakota and Nick spent much of their time on the first day smoking weed and reading at the back patio. Xander and Brandon spent much of their time drinking heavily and getting rowdy with each other. They recently had an issue of liking the same girl (who I invited but couldn’t attend), who ultimately chose Xander.
I noticed them getting into a shoving match and I held back Xander, CJ got on Brandon.
“I don’t wanna play bouncer with you guys, wasn’t this shit behind you guys?” I said, still holding onto Xander. He was no match, and CJ was easily overpowering Brandon.
“Yeah but this asshat keeps saying how bad of a fuck I am to her,” Xander answered with a labored voice.
“It’s ‘cause you are, man, Kaleigh deserves someone who can last more than a minute!” Brandon barked back.
“Who the fuck cares about that we’re here to have a good time,” CJ said, giving an extra squeeze on his hold.
There was a moment of silence apart from the music that was playing in the living room.
We both let go of our squabbling friends, and Brandon left in a huff.
“I’m going for a walk, don’t let Rasputin there follow me unless he wants a beating!!” Brandon yelled, flipping off Xander. Xander stroked his lengthy beard and scoffed. I couldn’t help but chuckle, Brandon’s description of Xander was accurate.
“Hey you shouldn’t be going alone!” I called out, but it fell on deaf ears.
I sighed, leaving the living room to join Dakota on the patio outside. Dakota offered me a joint and I gladly accepted it. As I lit it up with him he gestured over to something I didn’t notice while I was inspecting the place before. It was a sign that had been nailed above the door I had just walked out of.
“Extreme caution: Do NOT go out alone at night, they WILL find you…” I read aloud. I turned back to Dakota. “What do you think they are?”
Dakota shrugged. “Bears maybe? It’s the pre-hibernation season, after all. Didn’t mention it in the ad did they?”
I took a look at the sun. It was about three hours before it’d be noticeably dark out. Nick joined the two of us and lit up a joint as well.
“Where were you?” Dakota asked.
“In my room trying my hardest not to laugh at Jay’s shit friends go at it,” Nick sneered. I rolled my eyes. I pondered between my drags. The sign weighing on my mind.
“Think I should look for Brandon?” I finally asked, breaking the silence.
“Nah, he’ll be fine. The trails here don’t stretch long according to the map,” Nick said. “Let him have his boohoo and he’ll be back soon enough.”
The two older guys always kept me a little grounded, and I was grateful for it. I noticed things were back to normal after I peeked into the window. Xander and CJ were gaming and laughing like they normally do.
Two hours had passed and Brandon still hadn’t returned. I pulled up the ad for the cottage, and nothing in the description had mentioned the sign anywhere. Not even the owners mentioned it in the ad.
I sat at the table stirring my Dark and Stormy I made for myself glaring at the ad. I must’ve been glaring hard because Xander slowly approached me, seating himself.
“Everything alright man?” he asked me. I postured myself up, snapping out of my thoughts.
“Yeah just, weirded out by that sign outside, looking at the ad and there’s not a goddamn thing. Concerned about Brandon going off on his own, ya know?”
Xander raised an eyebrow. “A sign?” I gestured over to the back entrance, and he went to read it, and came back to me.
“That’s awfully weird,” he said. “Good thing it’s just Brandon.”
“But he contributed man, he’s a friend, too. But now I’m nervous that they are gonna find me if I go out looking for him,” I worried. “I’m just trying not to think about it…”
Xander gave me an assuring pat on the back. “How about you DON’T think about it and come play some games with CJ and your old folks.” I chuckled and proceeded to play some beer pong with the rest of them.
Another hour passed, and the five of us piled into the hot tub together. We had all drank ourselves into losing track of time, and I had completely forgotten about Brandon. The sun was basically set and the view of the stars had me in awe. We had all gotten to shooting the shit when CJ piped up.
“Where’s Brandon? He back yet?”
There was a pause. I took a deep breath.
“BRANDON!?” I shouted out, my voice echoing into the mountain range. I shouted some more.
“BRANDON BRANDON BRANDON! BRANDON L. LAWRENCE GET OVER HERE!” CJ called out into the rocks and trees.
We heard what sounded like a warped echo of CJ’s voice in the distance. I raised an eyebrow at that, but assumed it was the distance CJ’s mighty voice carried.
“Well if we’re smart, unlike Brandon there, we should be inside by now,” Dakota suggested. “Keep one of the doors unlocked for him, I guess.”
A heavy cold breeze hit all of us, it even made the hot tub feel like an ice bath. We all flinched, getting ourselves back into the cottage without a word.
The alcohol put us to sleep not long after.
“Dude, you gotta get up,” CJ shook me awake. I turned on the lamp on my bedside table instinctively. I rubbed my eyes awake, looking at CJ. His eyes were wide with fear. He was shaking as he slapped the switch on the lamp. We were plunged back into darkness once again.
“What the hell, man?” I said, sitting myself up. I wrapped my blankets around me, the place was freezing.
“There’s something outside,” he said in a frantic, hushed tone.
“Is it Brandon?”
“I don’t think so, Brandon doesn’t walk on four legs!”
I got out of bed, shivering like crazy as I threw on some clothes. CJ ushered me to the living room, where the rest of the guys were already up. All of them were on high alert. I lurched over to the group.
“What’s going on? It’s like two in the morning?” I grumpily demanded.
“Something’s walking around I already told you,” CJ hissed. I didn’t hear anything like I normally could.
“Where do you think it is, Nick? You heard it first,” Dakota asked, sounding much calmer than the others.
“Probably by Jay’s room,” Nick grumbled.
I started hearing what was outside. It was brushing up against the outside of the house. It took heavy steps. I peeked towards my room as the door cracked open.
“Oh fuck”
I saw a lumbering creature with grizzled fur pass my window. It made a gurgling sound as it passed my open window.
“Is that a bear?” Xander asked.
“Looks that way,” Nick said. “Lets wait till it goes away before we head back to bed.”
“Brandon’s still not back,” CJ said, a little louder. “I swear to god if that bear got him.”
The moving thing outside stopped, then circled back in the other direction at a faster pace. The back door was a glass one, and it wasn’t covered up. We were about to see our night terror in the flesh. We all braced, looking for something to defend ourselves with.
It was a bear, but something was wrong with it. It was the size of a grizzly, but it had very mangy fur, when the bear tripped the motion light outside, I noticed that one of its paws looked like it had been chewed up. It also had multiple gashes in its side. I could smell the blood from here, and it was foul.
“Holy shit, what do we do?” I whined. I had never seen such a wounded, large beast in front of me before. Wounded animals are dangerous, but what the hell could’ve wounded a grizzly like that?
“Stay. Still.” Dakota hissed. “It’ll piss off soon enough, but if it breaks the glass we make a break for it.
My eyes darted around the room, and when I peered back through the window in my room, I noticed something swaying in the treeline. More like something crashing through the trees.
The bear was walking away from the cottage when I heard the shriek. It damn near popped our eardrums, but I could hear the swift scurrying of something fast approaching from the side. I kicked my door shut, hoping it wouldn’t make much noise.
“That definitely wasn’t the bear,” Xander groaned, covering his ears.
“Hide!” I yelled, ducking behind the couch instinctively. There was enough room that the couches made cover for all of us. I kept my eyes out looking towards the wounded animal when the carnage unfolded.
A long, very bony arm, grabbed the bear by the head, and snapped its neck. I heard what I could only describe as a giggle coming from…whatever did that. The thing stepped more into view.
It was gigantic and thin, and when it lowered its head it had a long mane and a dog-like face. It walked on two legs. Much of its hair draped over its naked, wrinkly body. It began to chew on the bear’s head. It peered at us, and CJ pulled my head back behind the couch.
“Oh god, did it see us?” I whispered, nearly crying.
“What IS that?” CJ cried, doing his best to keep quiet.
“That’s fucking scary, man,” Nick whispered, his composure loosening. “I hope it’s only the bear it’s after. Let’s keep out of sight.”
I heard something touch the glass, then drop. It sounded like it was smearing something on the window. I didn’t dare look at that.
We heard it step around, but eventually it began walking away from the camp. I had to know. I poked my head up from behind the couch and saw it.
There were three of them now, the two newer ones smaller than the first. They dragged the bear behind as they ran away into the mountains on all fours.
None of us moved from our spot, nor did any of us really sleep. We’d periodically check on one another to make sure we were good, but truthfully, none of us were. Some of us contemplated on calling the cops, or the owners of the cottage but that was objected to for at least the night.
It was about 4:30am when Dakota finally stood up.
“Guys…” he said. Even in the darkness I could tell he was turning pale.
More of us stood up, first Nick, then CJ, then me, then Xander lastly.
“Is that…?” CJ slowly asked.
I damn near fainted. At the glass door, there was a bloody smear that coated the door from a few feet up, to the ground. There was a lump of something on the ground outside. I had hoped it was a chunk of bear, but I was dead wrong.
Nick got up and opened the door slowly, and the stench of death wafted into the cottage.
“Oh shit…” he groaned, and proceeded to puke outside around the corner. I was fearful something was gonna jump out and maul him to death, but he made it inside quickly.
The lump of flesh outside was Brandon’s maimed, severed head.
We all made it back into town, but I don’t DARE spending another night at a remote cabin or cottage in the Rockies. You’re better off at a hotel in Banff or Canmore. Ideally you’re better off spending the night far from these mountains.
Just stay out of the Rockies at night, no matter where. If you’re alone, they probably will find you.