• Before I tell my story, I know what you’re thinking. This is just another ghost story or myth. It’s not real. These things don’t exist. Well, I’m sorry to tell you this, but you are wrong. The things I’m going to share happened. These things are real and people live them every day. We lie to ourselves that they don’t but deep down, everyone knows. How do you think we are capable of creating creatures such as Slender Man? With that said, open your mind to the things that exist in the darkness as I share with you the hell that some close to me was forced to live. It’s a story I was asked to keep to myself, but people need to know the truth. You need to know what stalks us during the day and watches our dark perversions at night, waiting to corrupt and destroy.


    It was the middle of January. Paranormal Activity had just hit theaters and brought found footage films back to the cinema. It also made ghost stories famous again, a feat that hadn’t occurred since The Exorcist caused controversy decades ago. Like most of us do, Chase enjoyed the scares yet refused to believe in the existence of the things that go bump in the night. Yet he was fascinated with the supernatural. His fascination, as you may have guessed, came from a desire to debunk them as myth. Whether it be a ghost or skinwalker or a wendigo or even a rougarou. If it was thought to exist but never proven, he’d make sure it was known it was nonexistent. He was told that doing such things often didn’t end well. After all, you have plenty of stories portraying this and even if they are fiction, all fiction holds some air of truth to it.


    Sadly, Chase is stubborn and refused to listen to warnings of the consequences that would befall him if he continued up on this path. Such ridicule is what pushed him to step his game up and disprove the existence of them one thing we all believe in. An entity that we all know of yet refuse to accept exists, it is an agent of pure evil and exists only to spread chaos and ruin. A malevolent entity that never lived and never died yet haunts your dreams, or rather, your nightmares. This, is where his hell began.


    In our childhood town there was a legend about an old abandoned chapel that, supposedly, had been defiled by evil deeds, namely the brutal murders of several nuns and a priest. The act was so heinous that the Catholic Church shut it down as a means to allow the world to forget the horror that caused such bad publicity for them. Of course, being abandoned with such a horrid past, kids began to spread rumors causing young teens to do worse thing possible. They broke in and held séances, played with Ouija boards, practiced necromancy, all of the usual taboos of the paranormal. As a result, the place had become known as a gateway to hell. Some even believed that it was hell itself. Ironically, according to legend, the church’s cellar was the one place that was still safe as it had been a room housing many religious objects offering protection to those who needed it. The rest of the building was full of spirits. I’m sure you see where this is going.


    Chase showed up at the church a few days before Christmas. Yes, Christmas. Not Halloween or some other pagan holiday that is felt to be connected to an increase in spiritual activity or satanic worship, but Christmas. Being such a diehard horror fan, Chase knew exactly how he should set up his equipment and the perfect time to do the EVP session. Once everything was ready, he and a few friends waited on the remains of the altar where the victims were supposedly killed. There were a large number of symbols and drawings that showed the different amounts of worship there. Even more evident than those symbols, however, was the blood that seemed to still be fresh on the altar.


    After hours of waiting and fooling around, it got dark. Soon after, 3:00a.m. rolled around. I know I know, it’s a massive cliché. However, it’s a very accurate one since, in the world of the paranormal, this is the time when spirits, especially those that seek ruin, are most active. That’s why movies are always portraying it as the time for things to go wrong. At any rate, 3 came around and Chase started up the EVP session. Meanwhile, in another room, his closest friend, Sarah, conducted an EVP session while using an Ouija board. The typical questions were asked and, as time went on, they received no response. Finally, Chase asked, “Why did someone slaughter the nuns and priest?” As he waited for a response, the crew could feel the tension in the air. Footsteps were heard in the distance as Sarah appeared, having gotten nothing from the Ouija board. Seconds continued to pass with nothing happening. Then, the fun started.


    Lights began to flicker in a corner by the entrance to the building. Strange scratching sounds could be heard above and below them. Before long, the group began to show some fear, huddling together to try and protect themselves. The scratching seemed to move, slowly inching toward them until, after getting mere feet from Chase, it stopped. A low, guttural growl was heard behind them. Everyone was filled with terror as they slowly turned around to find…a dog. The dog barked at a hole in the floor boards, a rat exiting soon after. Immediately securing the stray so no one could be hurt, the whole crew let out a sigh of relief. Nothing happened after another 3 hours of investigating. Dawn came around and it was decided that nothing would happen. So, they packed up and prepared to get some sleep and go over their EVPs to see if anything was captured.


    A week later, Sarah called Chase. She had been the one to sift through the EVPs and found something interesting. Her voice trembling, she explained she’d found a strange indescribable voice that answered his question on the altar. Only one word was uttered. “Me,” it said. Sarah had taken the time to amplify it and make sure that it wasn’t something else that she was mistaking for speech. It scared the hell out of her and she refused to have anything else to do with it. Chase accused her of faking it and deleted the sound files, destroying the evidence that something supernatural was going on at the church. According to him, Sarah moved out of her house soon after and he lost touch with her. She said she’d heard that these things could follow you and she didn’t want to be anywhere nearby the church. He said it felt like she was hiding something but refused to tell.


    Not too long after this, Chase finally got married. She was a single mother he met in college during a seminar on, get this, demonology. She was an amazing woman and her daughter was an angel. Both were happy together and the little girl loved having a father. Things were pretty normal until one day when the girl was talking to no one at the park, near the edge of the woods. He found that the girl had developed an imaginary friend. Oddly enough, when asked what his name was she merely replied “slendy.” Slender Man was becoming a big thing around this time and he shrugged it off. That is, until she described him as a short, slender man with dark skin and eyes. He was bald and wore a cloak. According to her, when others entered the room he would put his hood up, as if to hide his face from anyone else.


    Chase figured that she was merely an imaginative girl who over heard him telling his friends about Slender Man. After all, he did refer to our favorite creepy pasta super star as “slendy.” So, Chase ignored it. Everything was normal between him and his new wife and daughter. Months passed and Slendy stuck around. Soon, Chase began to notice something odd in his stepdaughter’s room. Scratch marks along the walls. He figured maybe it was from her toys. However, they seemed to slowly move downward towards the floor, being closer and closer each day. His wife had also begun to behave strangely, saying that something felt wrong in the house. Chase comforted her while concealing the marks. It all was just coincidence. That’s what he kept telling himself.


    One night, as Chase sifted through music for a bachelor party, he noticed an unnamed sound file that wasn’t there before. Curious, he opened it. After a few seconds passed to load and buffer the sound, Chase got a shock he would never forget. The sound file was the recording from his night at the church, the same indescribable voice saying, “me.” Freaked out, he deleted the file and looked up to notice the wall seemed darker outside of his door. Weird as it was, Chase ignored it as a trick of the light. His wife then entered, blocking the doorway. She said she’d be taking their daughter to see her grandmother the following day and left. The wall was no longer darker than usual.


    As promised, Chase’s stepdaughter was taken to her grandmother’s home. It was an odd morning as the young girl refused to leave, saying that she had a dream where a woman with wings warned her of the consequences. If she left, her “friend” would no longer pester her and turn its sights on her family, being much more aggressive than it had been with her. Eventually, they convinced her to leave. Although Chase didn’t believe his stepdaughter and thought she was just overreacting to a nightmare, he couldn’t help but worry. His mind went back to the scratch marks in the girl’s room. Due to work, he hadn’t checked it recently. Deciding that seeing that they were all still in a general location on the wall would prove it’s nothing to worry about, he went down the hall to check her room. Upon opening the door, he immediately saw what he was secretly hoping he wouldn’t.

    The marks had moved to the floor, moving closer to the bed where she slept. A fresh one seemed to be right next to her bed. Something seemed to be wrong with the floor, almost as if something had scorched it in that spot. After pondering the possibilities, Chase decided he was overreacting and ignored it. However, just to be safe, he placed a line of salt across the floor in the doorway. IF the supernatural was real and IF there was something in the house, this would keep it from leaving the room. That’s what he thought would happen anyway. He heard the door open and shut, his wife having just returned home.


    As she rounded the corner and looked at him she froze. Chase was standing there watching her watch him. He was confused and worried as pure terror seemed to envelope her. He looked around yet nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Nothing besides his wife’s now pale, horrified face that is. Walking towards her, he reached out, asking what was wrong. She didn’t move or speak. As he reached her he took her back into the family room and sat her down. This is when she seemed to snap out of it. Not once, however, did she ever speak of what horrified her so. Soon after, she left to stay with her mother as well, asking Chase to come with. Begging. He saw no reason for it and told her he’d be waiting for her and their daughter to come back. Chase still regrets his decision. It was his last chance to get away before it was too late.


    That night Chase had nightmares of something standing in his daughter’s room. Something inhuman and more horrifying than anything you could dream up. He told me the best way he could describe it was if a necromorph and a clicker had a love child (he’s a massive gamer and loves survival horror). Trust me, that is probably the most horrifying thing you could every see. Anyway, as he looked at it, it opened its disfigured mouth, the world “me” being all that was said. Suddenly, a rush of air blew past, breaking the salt line. He glanced down at the broken line then looked back up. It was gone. Chase awoke soon after to a feeling of dread and foreboding. Hopelessness and utter sorrow enveloped him. He also noticed a cold chill emanating from the door to his room. He glanced down and noticed a figure standing there. Once again, he heard the word “me” uttered in that horrid voice. He woke up from this nightmare. This time it was real. The feeling was gone and so was the cold.


    The next day a guy from his “ghost hunting” crew called him. Sarah had been found dead in her apartment . Apparently it was suicide. She had hung herself from the balcony in her room. Her bedroom door had a bunch furniture piled in front of it as if she had been trying to barricade herself in, hiding from something. Nearby was a note that simply said, “he followed me and keeps getting closer and closer. I’ve tried everything but nothing helps. I can’t take the terror of living knowing what he-no-IT wants from me. Chase, we never should have gone. That place was real, and we caught the attention of whatever was there. It’s why I left. I’m sorry I never said anything earlier. Maybe I could’ve saved you and myself.”


    Chase was overcome with depression and fear. He lowered his head in his doorway, weeping with grief over the loss of his friend. That’s when he noticed it. A scorch mark at his door and a scratch mark not far from it. Looking at his daughter’s room he realized the salt line had been broken. Chase wasn’t sure what to make of it yet, being his usual stubborn self, refused to believe it was anything paranormal. That night, as he fell asleep, he asked himself what it was that she saw that pushed her to suicide. He heard a voice say “me” nearby. The next morning, he awoke from a sound sleep. It shocked him massively. After going through his usual morning routine, he got ready to head to work while he made plans to head to Michigan where Sarah would be buried. Putting on his tie, he dropped his wedding band. As he bent over to pick it up from beneath his bed, he noticed another mark. It was a foot from his bed. After looking around he saw that there were no others besides the one next to his door. Chase began to do the only thing he felt could protect him. He grabbed his Bible and began to read.

    Lights flickered and a strange voice was heard speaking. He couldn’t understand what was being said however. It sounded like Latin but he wasn’t certain. As he walked, he heard scratching following him to the front door. Chase did not turn or falter. He steadily read as he walked , pushing his fear out of his mind and letting himself accept the truth and accept he needed faith to protect him. Upon leaving the house he heard what sounded to him like “te mors expectet.” He stayed with his family that night and had the home blessed the next day. They all moved back in and lived happily…for a few months.


    His stepdaughter started talking to herself. He ignored it until he heard that fear inspiring name. Slendy. Immediately Chase began taking measures to protect the family from this entity. Just when it seemed as if everything was working and this time they would be safe, the worst happened. That night everyone thought they smelled rotting meat or something else that was horrible. Unable to locate the smell, they assumed it was just a problem with the plumbing and it was decided a plumber would be called the next day. A voice woke Chase, the words “wake up” being whispered into his ear. He stood up and entered the hallway. Something seemed off. It was way too quiet and way too dark. He headed to the end of the hall and looked around. He saw nothing. Not until he heard a scream from his wife, holding their daughter not far away. As he turned he saw it. The thing from his dream. It was staring him in the eye, those dark holes seeming like they were trying to suck his soul from him. Its body was horribly twisted and deformed, flesh hanging from bone as pus bubbled from open wounds. Skin boiled in places and nothing seemed to be worse than the smell. It’s mouth opened and he heard the words "te mors expectet” uttered in an inhuman voice full of cruelty and hatred.



    It vanished as the walls bled. Chase beckoned his wife to follow him as they ran to the door. He led them to the bible in the family room and had them read passage after passage as he grabbed the keys and slipped on shoes. He flung open the door and they left. As they drove away they saw it watching them. Once the house was out of sight, they felt they were safe. That’s when it appeared in the road causing him to swerve and slam into a tree. No one died thankfully, yet his wife was seriously hurt and he had a few broken bones as well. Their daughter was completely unharmed. After moving away, Chase told a paranormal specialist he met about his ordeal. The specialist explained that he had investigated the church and although the violent murders were real, that was it. Everything else had been rumors…at least it was until a cult had taken hold of the building for a few months. They practiced necromancy there and summoned a diabolical. According to the specialist, he had gotten lucky. The demon they faced was probably once human but had had its soul warped and malformed turning it into something inhuman, or rather, something that forgot its humanity. He and his team had fled when they came across an entity calling itself Legion. An ancient evil. He’d been told the building was demolished and had even went to the remains of the church. What Chase didn’t expect was that the Church had been demolished before his “investigation.” A supernatural force had recreated it to lure them in and now the specialist believed that it was behind the murders. That it had taken hold of someone and committed them. Lucky for Chase and his family, his knowledge of the occult allowed him to protect them just enough to prevent it from following. Chase isn’t certain of this though as the last thing he heard before losing consciousness in the accident was, “you’ll never be rid of me.” They’ve moved to Cincinnati and from what he’s told me, things have been great.



    Last I saw him, he was acting strangely. Once or twice, I thought I’d noticed his eyes were pure black. Probably just my imagination. It smelled horrible there too, but he told me it was a plumbing issue. Actually, it was then that he told me that I could never tell a soul about what had happened to them. If my paranoia is accurate, then I may have put myself in danger. Sure, no one was killed (not directly anyway) by the evil that plagued him, but that phrase “te mors expectet” that it kept uttering means “death awaits you….”





    I don’t expect you to believe any of this. I don’t expect you to want to believe it’s real. I just hope that should you get curious about the supernatural, you’re smart about it. Thank you for listening to my story. I hope I didn’t put you in danger as well.