A few months back, I moved in a town in the southern part of the United States.
I wanted to move to this town since it was much closer to my job. I work at a storage facility warehouse that lies between the nearby major city, and the meridional town that I moved to.
My options for residents were either in the city, which wasn’t something I’d enjoy or search for, since I dislike the city life.
The constant sounds of construction, blaring car horns, and barking dogs weren’t something I’d be interested in.
A small southern town, somewhere quiet, sounded like a much more appealing place to live.
While I was looking for houses for sale, my selection of houses was quite limited, as not many people here are looking to sell their houses. With that being said, there were only two houses that were up for grabs.
One of the houses was close to the center of the town.
Though, when I did my walkthrough of it, I was, well, let’s just say, not impressed.
The other house though, looked much more appealing, but the location wasn’t the best. The house itself butted right up next to one of the many farms that dotted in the area. Thus, making the house seem much more isolated.
The rows of nearby cornfields created a sort of natural wall around the entire property. This was the first thing I noticed about the house as I pulled off the main road and onto the driveway.
I never really enjoyed the thought of living out in the sticks but tried to look at the bright side. The peace and quiet would be a big plus as well as not having to worry about anyone bothering me.
I met with the realtor, and after an hour or so of looking at the house, I filled out all the necessary paperwork, and by the end of the month, I had completely moved in.
The house itself wasn’t very large. It was a basic single-story three-bedroom house. That being said, it was more than enough for me, especially considering the fact that I live alone.
Although the exterior of the house, at a glance, seemed somewhat weathered, the interior, on the other hand, was fully remodeled, which was a major selling point for me.
I quickly got settled in, and before I knew it, the house began to feel more like home.
Days went by fast, seemingly melding into weeks. I had gotten myself into a routine which aided in the time progressing faster, and before I knew it, summer months seemed like a distant memory.
As the fall weather showed up, despite me living in the south, it was still on the northern end of the state, which resulted in cooler weather and fallen leaves.
During autumn, I often thought back to my times as a child, running around in various costumes, trick-or-treating with friends, and shoveling mountains of candy in my mouth.
The first of October had arrived, and I was on my way home from work when I spotted something odd, regarding my neighbor’s farm.
It seemed like the owners were having some sort of bird problem as a newly placed scarecrow loomed partially above the cornfield.
I could just vaguely make out the outline of a body suspended in the air as the headlights of my truck passed over it. Looking out of my passenger-side window, I could still see the dark outline of the scarecrow in the distance.
As I glanced at this scarecrow, I could swear for the briefest of moments that I saw it move slightly. When I refocused my eyes however, it seemed stationary. I figured that work had simply taken its toll on my mind.
I arrived home not long after and called it a night.
The next morning, when I was walking to my truck to head to work, I looked towards the cornfield. I could see the scarecrow much more clearly now as the sun shone down brightly on it despite the cloudy and overcast sky above.
It was quite a distance away from my house so I could only see the upper torso through the cornfield. What I could see of it seemed quite ragged, as if someone had taken decades-old clothes and aimlessly sewn them together.
Straw shot up and out from its neck and wrists, giving its silhouette a jagged appearance. I couldn’t exactly make out what its face looked like though, since I had no time to further examine it as I had to leave for work.
A week had passed by without an issue and each day, as I’d head out to my truck, I’d spot the scarecrow still and silently doing its job.
Even though the scarecrow had been out there for a couple of days, my mind thought back to earlier, and I hadn’t noticed any birds around the crops themselves.
It seemed like the scarecrow wasn’t necessary or maybe it was just really good at scaring birds away.
Another consideration that came to mind was Halloween decoration, though I doubt any kids would come all the way out here to trick-or-treat.
About a week and a half ago, I had noticed something strange about that scarecrow.
I had the day off from work, so I spent that time doing chores and generally cleaning up my house.
When I took the trash outside, I saw that the scarecrow had gotten significantly closer to my house. It was so noticeable that it took me by surprise when I saw it.
It was now nearly on the edge of the cornfield.
Now, I wondered if my neighbor had moved it for some reason.
I wandered over to the edge of the cornfield where this scarecrow was perched up and scratched my chin as I stared up at it. I could see the face much better at this proximity.
It had a brown burlap sack as a head with roughly stitched X’s for eyes, and a small slit at the bottom, which seemed to be its mouth.
Overall, it didn’t seem like whoever made this thing put any effort into it.
I then turned to walk away from it, and just as my head turned to face away from it, I heard the crackling sound of twigs behind me.
I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around, but the scarecrow just sat there motionless as ever. I kept a constant watch on it as I made my way back to my house.
Five days ago, I was driving home after a late shift. As I rounded the corner onto my street, I could already see the cornfield growing in the distance. The entire field seemed to sway like grass would on a windy day.
As I drove, I would occasionally take glances towards the field to see if I could spot the scarecrow, but I couldn’t.
As I pulled into my driveway, I angled my truck so the headlights would face the field in attempts to see if the scarecrow was actually gone, and much to my surprise, it was.
I figured that maybe my neighbor had taken it down for some reason.
As I sat there, staring into the empty cornfield, I thought I could see some corn swaying more than the rest, but I quickly disregarded it, and went inside.
Two days ago, is when something completely unexplainable happened.
I had yet another day off from work, this time, instead of spending the day doing chores and cleaning, I spent the majority of the day watching movies and television.
And before I knew it, the once morning sun had changed the sky into a dark radiant shade of orange.
As I sat on my sofa after a break of watching movies, I thought I heard a noise coming from my backyard. I got up and walked over to my back door and peeked out one of the windows.
My eyes grew wide as I couldn’t believe what I was looking at, standing in the clearing of my backyard, was that scarecrow.
How was it standing on its own two legs? Was beyond me.
Its feet were turned out the sides while its knees were slumped together, its shoulders dropped down to lifeless like arms which dangled at its sides, its head was slanted to the right as if it had no support from its neck.
I just stood there, frozen in fear and utter confusion, staring at it as the twilight sky had succumbed to the night.
As soon as the last rays of light faded in, I watched in horror as this thing started to twitch.
Its body seemed to jostle and move slightly like the oncoming night was doing something to it.
I turned away from the window for a moment to make sure my back door was locked, when I glanced back through the window once more, it was gone.
I scanned as much as I could of my backyard with the little light outside, jolting my head quickly from left to right.
The scarecrow was gone, I stood there trying to rationalize that my mind was playing tricks on me, that ever since I saw that scarecrow it had been subconsciously stuck inside my head, causing me to have some sort of hallucination.
I sped walked through my house double checking to make sure all my doors were locked, and windows tightly fastened.
I could feel my body slowly start to become tired and sluggish, and I decided that it was time for bed.
Nearly three hours after I had fallen asleep, I was suddenly awoken by a noise coming from my kitchen.
It sounded like something had gotten knocked off my kitchen counter. I quickly sat up in a daze and walked out into my living room.
My legs stiffened as I saw the silhouette of a person standing in my kitchen.
Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness of my house, I could see the bits of hay sticking out of its neck and torso.
The scarecrow had somehow gotten inside of my house.
I could feel my throat tighten and my hands become shaky, as I stared, frozen in fear, as it took fast shuffling steps towards me.
The crunch of hay under its weight made my skin crawl, as it approached its mouth began to open, the small line that had been cut into the burlap seemed to extend.
Inside, was a swirling mass of worms and maggots that seemed to crawl out and onto its face.
Through the insects, I could see what vaguely resembled teeth.
Though, they were completely black and spaced apart, they kind of looked like shark teeth.
It raised its limp arm towards me and continued its advance.
As if my body were on auto pilot, my legs seemed to slowly inch backwards.
I wasn’t sure what to do, as I couldn’t even think clearly in the moment.
Its gloved hands rested up on my shoulders and it brought its open and small mouth right to my face, some of the worms and maggots spilling onto my face and chest.
Feeling them crawling sent a jolt up my body bringing my arms up to shove this thing away.
When I did, it snapped its teeth at me like a snapping turtle, I braced my legs and pushed even harder which broke me free of its grasp.
I turned away from it and ran for my front door making sure to grab my keys and wallet from the coffee table nearby.
As I ran, I swatted off the bugs, until I could no longer feel that prickly sensation of them crawling on me.
I made it safely to my car and when I started it, my headlights turned on, in the open doorway of my home, I could see that scare crow still standing there, completely still.
I backed out of my driveway and drove all the way into town, I found a hotel to stay at for the time being and I’ve been here ever since.
Yesterday, I drove back to the house during the day to investigate, there was absolutely no sign of the scarecrow. Even the worms and maggots that were once on the floor of my kitchen, were gone.
What was even more odd, was when I inspected the back door.
I found that the back door was still locked, everything inside of my house was locked, aside from my front door which I had unlocked to escape.
I have no idea how that thing managed to get inside of my house.
I drove over to my neighbor’s house shortly after, and an old man answered the door.
I inquired about the scarecrow that he had put up in his field, though he only returned a confused expression.
When I asked about it, he said he hadn’t put up any scarecrow in his field whatsoever.
Completely confused, I apologized for bothering him and left.
I’m not sure where that scarecrow came from, or why it targeted me.
If any of you out there see a random scarecrow in a field, leave it alone, and get as far away from it as possible.