1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,280 Tonight's story is called, I was looking for some peace and quiet. 2 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:08,280 Something else found me instead. 3 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:13,280 By reddit user Jamfranz. 4 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,280 I think I got scammed. 5 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:22,280 And it almost killed me. 6 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:29,280 The listing said, private cabin retreat, not another living soul around for miles. 7 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:33,280 I guess technically it wasn't wrong. 8 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:37,280 Yes, there were plenty of red flags. 9 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:44,280 But this was my first vacation by myself, so I thought I was just being overly paranoid. 10 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:50,280 The drive up was quiet and uneventful, but I got there much later than I'd hoped. 11 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:57,280 It was nearly dusk as I pulled into the long and winding dirt road leading to the cabin. 12 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:06,280 The entryway was shrouded in tall trees and for a moment I thought I saw someone watching me from just behind the tree line. 13 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,280 But I looked back and there was no one there. 14 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,280 I told myself I must have imagined it. 15 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:20,280 I'd just seen one of the shifting shadows from the setting sun among the heavy foliage. 16 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:28,280 When I'd first entered the address into my navigation app I was disappointed to see the address was for a campground. 17 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:35,280 The host had apparently cropped the image on the listing to make it look like a lone cabin. 18 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:37,280 I wasn't all that surprised though. 19 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:44,280 The place was ridiculously cheap and one of the few rentals in the area that were available at the time. 20 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:51,280 After the figure I'd thought I'd seen on the drive up, plus the way the trees nearly choked out what was left of the sun, 21 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:56,280 I wasn't upset at the idea of not being totally alone. 22 00:01:57,280 --> 00:02:06,280 I double checked the instructions I'd printed to find the combination to the lockbox and the notes, some of which were a bit odd. 23 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:10,280 You may not check out early. 24 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:12,280 Pool open to guests. 25 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:15,280 There are great hiking trails in the woods. 26 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:19,280 Enjoy your stay. Please take the trash out before you leave. 27 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:23,280 The pool is open to guests. 28 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:34,280 From the middle of the camp there was an ancient looking paved trail, cracked and uneven, that wound around the perimeter through the dense trees. 29 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:44,280 The area itself was beautiful, but as I walked along I passed cabin after cabin in varying states of disrepair. 30 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:49,280 Some had warped wood and caved in roofs. 31 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:55,280 Others had missing doors and rotted steps. 32 00:02:55,280 --> 00:03:00,280 One was nothing but the remains of a foundation. 33 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:07,280 There had been other cars in the parking lot, but it was eerily quiet. 34 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,280 There wasn't another guest in sight. 35 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:16,280 The absence of any living person was a presence in itself that loomed over the place. 36 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:20,280 I didn't feel peaceful at all. 37 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:23,280 It was unnerving. 38 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:32,280 I wondered if I had stumbled upon an old listing somehow, though they had certainly accepted my reservation and money. 39 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:39,280 I was about to turn back when I spotted it in the distance, the cabin from the pictures. 40 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:43,280 It looked well cared for, unlike the others. 41 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:48,280 I saw movement from the corner of my eye and jumped, already on edge. 42 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:52,280 After a moment I realized what it was. 43 00:03:52,280 --> 00:04:01,280 The remnants of a torn curtain fluttering along with the breeze through the busted out window of the cabin next door. 44 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:10,280 All of the other cabins looked to be vacant, the darkness within apparent through the blank and shattered windows. 45 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:17,280 I felt an awful, creeping apprehension and I strongly debated just leaving. 46 00:04:17,280 --> 00:04:27,280 It was almost dark and I didn't feel comfortable through the dark woods at night, especially with nowhere else to stay. 47 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:31,280 I figured I'd head out in the morning. 48 00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:40,280 A bit further down from my cabin I could see an old pool that I doubt had seen a swimmer in decades. 49 00:04:40,280 --> 00:04:49,280 Worn out looking children toys, shoes, trash, and other debris from the campsite littered the bottom of the deep end. 50 00:04:49,280 --> 00:04:53,280 Sun bleached and long forgotten. 51 00:04:53,280 --> 00:05:04,280 A wide and streaky rust colored stain painted one of the walls on the bottom of the cracking plaster ending at the pile of abandoned items. 52 00:05:04,280 --> 00:05:09,280 I thought of the pool open to guests note from the host. 53 00:05:09,280 --> 00:05:14,280 I guess they had some weird sense of humor. 54 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:21,280 Other than the screech of rusted hinges when I opened the door the cabin was in good condition. 55 00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:27,280 Although the decor looked to have last been updated in the 1970s. 56 00:05:27,280 --> 00:05:38,280 While looking around for a bit I found a few dust covered items that looked to be accidentally left behind by the previous guest and made a mental note to let the host know. 57 00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:44,280 I sat inside for a while looking out the grounds and the woods around me. 58 00:05:44,280 --> 00:05:53,280 For a moment out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw the pool filled with dark water. 59 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:58,280 Multiple pale and thin figures standing in it up to their shoulders. 60 00:05:58,280 --> 00:06:01,280 But when I turned to look it was empty. 61 00:06:01,280 --> 00:06:04,280 Just like it had always been. 62 00:06:04,280 --> 00:06:09,280 I assured myself I was just imagining things. 63 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:15,280 The solitude was even more apparent after the sun had fully set. 64 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:29,280 Far removed from the lights of the nearest town and with the moon drowned out by the clouds the campsite was blanketed in a level of darkness unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. 65 00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:36,280 That coupled with the silence made me feel completely alone in the world. 66 00:06:36,280 --> 00:06:46,280 The only sounds I'd occasionally hear were the wind through the leaves and the occasional soft slosh of moving water. 67 00:06:46,280 --> 00:06:50,280 I decided to call a friend just to hear another human voice. 68 00:06:50,280 --> 00:06:57,280 But I had no reception on my phone and the old rotary phone in the kitchen didn't work. 69 00:06:57,280 --> 00:07:00,280 I didn't even get a dial tone. 70 00:07:00,280 --> 00:07:05,280 Already regretting my decision to stay I turned in early. 71 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:19,280 Hoping the night would pass quickly I wondered if they'd give me a refund on the other two nights but based on their note about not checking out early figured probably not. 72 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:22,280 I had almost fallen asleep when I heard it. 73 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:27,280 The tap tap tap and scraping against the window. 74 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:30,280 It didn't concern me at first. 75 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:35,280 I assumed the wind had picked up and I was hearing one of the many trees surrounding the cabin. 76 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:40,280 But then I heard the protest of metal hinges on the front door. 77 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:42,280 I bolted upright. 78 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:45,280 I must have forgotten to lock it behind me. 79 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:51,280 The old wooden floorboards of the kitchen creaked under the weight of whomever had come inside. 80 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:57,280 I locked the bedroom door and grabbed my phone only to remember that I had no service. 81 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:06,280 Unsure of what else to do I pushed the only other piece of furniture in the room in front of the door and wedged myself under the bed. 82 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:14,280 Their steps sounded wet and made an awful squelching sound on the carpet in the hallway. 83 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:17,280 The sound of their footsteps became louder. 84 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:19,280 Closer. 85 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:22,280 The intruder paused. 86 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:25,280 The door opened further down the hall. 87 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:28,280 One of the other bedrooms. 88 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:33,280 Another set of footsteps continued on even after the first had paused. 89 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:35,280 There were more than one of them. 90 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:36,280 Methodically. 91 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:38,280 Slowly. 92 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:41,280 I heard someone enter each room. 93 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:43,280 Walk around it. 94 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:44,280 Leave. 95 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:47,280 They were working their way down the hall. 96 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:50,280 Closer and closer to the room I was in. 97 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:56,280 I really thought I was experiencing what were to be my final moments on this earth. 98 00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:58,280 Tap, tap, tap. 99 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:03,280 That time it came from my bedroom door. 100 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:08,280 And in the closer proximity I could hear the scrape of the long nails on the rough wood. 101 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:12,280 They turned the handle and I held my breath. 102 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:17,280 Hoping the flimsy looking lock would hold when it didn't open. 103 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:22,280 They alternated between tapping at the door and slamming against it. 104 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:33,280 I heard the slow and deliberate steps of one of them leaving and not long after the tapping on the window resumed. 105 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:40,280 Sometimes I'd hear the painfully shrill sound of something sharp being dragged along the glass. 106 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:44,280 I spent every moment of that night wide awake. 107 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:49,280 With my heart pounding in time with the taps at the door and windows. 108 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:55,280 It was nearly dawn when I finally heard the last pair of footsteps fade into the distance. 109 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,280 The front door open and closed for the last time. 110 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:01,280 I waited another couple of hours. 111 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:04,280 For the sun to be high above the horizon. 112 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:08,280 Before I felt brave enough to open the bedroom door. 113 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:11,280 I somewhat expected someone to be out there. 114 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:15,280 Quietly and patiently waiting for me. 115 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:19,280 But there was nothing to indicate there had ever been anyone there at all. 116 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:23,280 Except for all the dried muddy footprints all over the wood floors. 117 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:27,280 And the still damp carpet. 118 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:30,280 I gathered my things as fast as I could. 119 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:34,280 Outside I could see where the prints continued. 120 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:37,280 They circled my car multiple times. 121 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:41,280 Made trips to and from the bedroom window. 122 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:50,280 I saw that they originated from and ended at the long, dry pool into which they disappeared. 123 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:53,280 I noticed something else odd about the prints. 124 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:56,280 They were misshapen. 125 00:10:56,280 --> 00:11:01,280 They looked to be made by bare feet but the proportions were off. 126 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:06,280 The image they suggested resembled no feet I had ever seen before. 127 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:10,280 I loaded everything back into the car as fast as I could. 128 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:14,280 I didn't even look back in my rear view mirror. 129 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:17,280 As soon as I felt safe and had reception. 130 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:19,280 I went to message the host. 131 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:23,280 Both to ask for a refund and to let them know what happened. 132 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:26,280 They never responded to me. 133 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:32,280 I decided to contact the company but noticed that the listing had been removed. 134 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:37,280 Not long after though, it was back up again. 135 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:41,280 I filed a complaint but it took a month for it to get taken down. 136 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:44,280 I'm still not sure if it'll show back up again. 137 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:50,280 I wanted to share my experience to encourage people to make better decisions than I did. 138 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:56,280 If things don't feel right, please don't ignore the red flags. 139 00:11:56,280 --> 00:12:02,280 And if you see this listing, do not book it. 140 00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:07,280 You've been listening to Scrying Pool Horror. 141 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:15,280 I'll be releasing new episodes bi-weekly so if you enjoyed tonight's show, please consider subscribing and please leave a like and a review. 142 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:19,280 It'll help me get more visibility and more traction since I'm just starting out. 143 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:30,280 You can follow me on YouTube at youtube.com/@TheScryingPool as well as on your favorite podcasting platform like Apple Podcasts or Spotify. 144 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:33,280 I want to thank you for listening to tonight's show. 145 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:42,280 It's nice to see that when I post things there are listeners out there that enjoy these scary stories just as much as I do. 146 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:50,280 Until next time, sweet dreams.