Here I go again, with another eight creepy stories from my place
of origin. This time, I have included some (said to be) haunted
places, unknown to the Western world, and of course one true story
that has happened over and over throughout the centuries.1. A
church in a watery grave
A church, a place where one searches for peace, help, and God.
But when this sanctuary falls victim to the claws of time and the
elements, it becomes a rotting reminder of times past. And so begin
the stories, particularly one, told and retold among the locals.Two
pairs of young students decided to go for a drive to a small
mountain village, next to an artificial lake created in the 1940s.
Not accounting for time, the couples found themselves driving
through a dark, narrow path in the middle of the night. About 2
miles after they passed a dam, their car suddenly came to a halt,
and no matter what they did, it wouldn't start again. Frustrated by
their failed attempts to restart the car, they came out of the
vehicle only to be faced with a bloodcurdling sight.Right in front
of the sunken church, on the tiny meadow, they saw people, all
dressed up, laughing, dancing, disturbing the numb silence. The
vague light from their car, hinted that something was not quite
right with the crowd. Freaked out by the view, they entered their
only means of escape which miraculously, started on the first try.
Next thing they knew, the crowd disappeared in a blink of an eye,
just as it had appeared. Upon arriving back in their hometown,
(located about 20 miles away from the village) and still shaken by
the sight, they all gathered in the home of the driver.With little,
or next to no sleep, the next morning they asked their friend's
grandmother if she knew anything about what they saw. Upon hearing
what they went through, she told them about a cemetery near the
sunken church. In order for the lake to be made, the locals had to
flood both the church and it's cemetery. The last event that never
got to happen, was a wedding. The bride had taken her own life,
once she heard that her soon to be husband had been brutally
murdered, hence the ghostly wedding party celebrating in the
meadow.2. One's resting place
This one made me think twice about spending a night at a
friend's house. It goes something like this:Three childhood friends
were having a sleepover at a small weekend house where the
grandmother of one of them used to live. It all went well during
the day, they enjoyed the idyllic, country landscapes, barbecuing,
and having a good time in general. But the true nightmares for the
host didn't begin until that night. Having only two beds inside the
tiny house, she decided to sleep in the bed of her deceased
grandmother, who had been dead more than a year. Not wanting to
creep her friends out, she didn't say anything before going to
bed.As slumber gently took over, she felt two ice cold hands over
her neck. Upon opening her eyes, she saw her dead grandmother above
her, rage distorting her pale face, choking her restlessly.
Paralyzed and frozen in fear, she could barely breathe let alone
scream. Somehow, luck found a way around the angry entity and one
of her friends heard her violent gasping for air. She turned on the
lights, and the nightmare seemed to be over.The girl, as freaked
out as she was, still didn't want to say a word to her friends, she
snuggled beside them in the other bed, in a desperate attempt to
leave the incident behind.However, the night was far from over.
Daunting footsteps dragged them away from their drowsiness. But
what turned their blood into ice, was hearing the other bed crack,
and seeing the blanket rise, as if someone was getting ready to
rest in the bed just a few feet away. Even with the lights on, they
could still make out a figure beneath the cover, somehow they found
the strength to get the hell out of the house, and spend the night
inside their car.The next morning, once the sun appeared in the
sky, the hosting friend told them about her grandmother, and how
she lived and died in the tiny cottage. Jeez, she only wanted her
bed back, what's the big deal? Well, the catch is she was one hell
of a grandmother, having served with the Partisans, she was
responsible for more than one death during the riots in the Balkans
during WWII.3. Where tragedy dwells
Ah, the haunted green castle, and it's disturbing history, that
includes a story about a doctor who moved in with his wife, son and
two daughters, decades before WWII. The family seemed to lead a
peaceful life in the green castle, but a few months later, one of
the daughters fell off a horse, breaking her back and suffering an
excruciating death. Soon after, the son became ill after spending
time around the well at the back of the house. One night, having
heard someone calling out his name, sick and delirious, he fell
into the well and drowned.With the parents still mourning the death
of their children, they failed to notice the changes their last
daughter went through. The little girl had begun talking to
herself, often refusing to eat, and spending her days, even nights
around the back of the house. About a year after the death of her
siblings, her head was found inside the rusty old bucket of the
well.Unable to deal with the tragic deaths of her children, their
mother hung herself. Her husband followed, splattering his brains
all over the walls of what he thought was going to be their dream
home.Unfortunately, the house was demolished about a year ago, so
the truth about it's inhabitants may be lost forever. Or is it?4. A
bridge is but a bridge
For some reason, bridges have always been a subject of many
urban legends in the Balkans. The stories are many, but I chose
this one because of obvious reasons.There was a river in the
Balkans where no bridge could ever stand. Upon countless efforts to
build one, a man finally appeared with the determination necessary
to solve the problem once and for all. Ignoring the locals and
their rumors about a supposed curse, one afternoon he fell asleep
before the shore of the river with only one question on his mind -
how to built a bridge that would withstand the river's strength?In
his slumber, he saw the figure of tall dark man coming out of the
water, nearing him with a mischievous grin. The shadow kneeled in
front of him, glaring at him with two huge, pitch black eyes.
Assuming the devil had came to take his soul, the builder tried
fleeing, only to realize he was in between a dream and reality.But
the devil didn't want his soul, he offered the knowledge of how to
build a bridge that would last forever. Of course, the Devil had a
few conditions of his own: the bridge had to be made within 40
days; a minute more and he would go down with it. He wished for the
shadow of the builder's wife to be entombed in the bridge (meaning
the soul of his wife), and finally, the Devil wanted his image to
be forever engraved into the structure. He wanted to be both
visible and invisible, both touchable and non-existing. If the
builder could not do it, the Devil would take his soul as well.Not
knowing what the strange creature meant by the last two conditions,
and mesmerized by his desire to build the bridge for the sake of
his villagers, the builder accepted the conditions, and indeed
finished within 40 days.This resulted in a structure that survived
for more than five hundred years, and the gruesome death of the
builder's wife, who was stomped to death by a horse the second she
placed a foot on her husband's glorious achievement.The builder got
away with his life and never again saw the shadowy figure that had
whispered in his ear, not realizing that he stared right into the
devil's eyes each time he looked at the bridge.5. Child's play
Here's another example that people should seriously consider the
history of a place before deciding to build anything, let alone a
kindergarten! This story took me awhile to investigate, since
people won't even talk about it, not to mention post anything on
the internet.About 25 years ago, people decided to built a
kindergarten on a supposedly empty space. As it turned out, the
place was taken after all. Troubles begun during it's construction,
curious accidents, sudden deaths of workers, every architect and
engineer's worst nightmare. Somehow, after summoning both Christian
and Islamic priests to bless the area, the accidents seemingly
decreased, and the construction ran it's course.One month after
opening, the kindergarten was immediately closed. Authorities never
gave any particular reason, but what the employees and children
went through didn't stay under the rug.It begun with the employees,
they often counted more children in the afternoons than in the
mornings. Slowly, it progressed with the children too. Groups of
kids, all began seeing the same "imaginary" friends, talking to
them, playing games with them (Imagine a kid, dancing around alone
with his palms gripping nothing but air). But that was just the tip
of the iceberg, the children failed to understand that what they
were seeing, were souls of their buried friends, taking an
afternoon nap right underneath their beds.The employees soon
noticed the strange behavior, and summoned priests, both Christian
and Muslim. That only made things worst; screams, between walls of
empty rooms, doors opening and closing on their own, water running
out of closed faucets, windows and light bulbs shattering with no
reason, voices of babies screaming their lungs out; all things that
happened during the daylight hours. Once darkness fell, strange
shadows roamed inside the empty building, before the eyes of the
petrified night shift guards.What really put the last drop in the
glass, was an incident that almost gave two caregivers a heart
attack. The children were all tucked in, inside the wide sleeping
area, peacefully taking their afternoon nap. The sitters were
disturbed by creepy cackling. At first, they thought a prankster
was fooling around with them. Their blood froze once they saw all
kids sound asleep, yet the laughter only got deeper. Not able to
locate the source, they entered the sleeping area, only to hear gut
wrenching whispers coming from the corners of the room, accompanied
by the smell of rotting corpses, filling the ice cold air. In a
blink of an eye, they woke the kids up, and yanked them in to the
yard, where they waited for the parents to come and pick them
up.The children never returned to that kindergarten again. Two
decades later, authorities decided to renovate, and open it once
again, but this time it closed after only one day. The building is
in use even today, as a shelter for foreigners and I can't even
imagine what they are going through.6. The rider
Imagine you're lying in bed, sinking into the soft, warm
mattress, feeling the bliss of the long desired rest after a hard
day, and suddenly your consciousness becomes imprisoned inside an
unresponsive, paralyzed body. Barely able to stuff air into your
lungs, screaming internally but not able to let out a noise, you
feel the weight of something, pressing against every molecule of
your being. It all ends up in no more than 30 excruciating seconds,
just before you see your blanket levitating above the bed.I know
this state is known as sleep paralysis, but here in the Balkans,
sometimes the imagination takes precedence over reason. Such is the
story of a rider with a golden hat, disturbing the sleep of some
poor souls.There was once a wealthy trader who had seven sons. Six
of them were strong, masculine boys, but the last boy was weak and
sickly. At a time when plague roamed their village, their mother
banished the youngest son from the home, saying he would get sick
and kill them all off. Barely a teenager, the boy looked back at
his hardened mother, casting a horrible curse. He wished the plague
to strike them with no mercy, destroying their estate, killing her
precious sons. He only wanted her eyes to see how her children die,
one by one devoured by the illness, and her voice to be screaming
out his name.She paid no mind to the boy's words, and let him go,
to wander alone in the cruel world. The boy became a wealthy man,
and his words came true. His family, their wealth, everything and
everyone except his mother perished into nothingness. One day, the
homesick boy inside of him desired to see his family again, to show
them his success. He put on a golden hat he got as a gift from a
sultan, and headed for his village.Upon seeing him, his old mother
thought he was either the sultan, or sent by the sultan to take the
last remaining thing she had in the world - her estate. She grabbed
a rock, and threw it at the stranger's horse, causing him to fall
and break his neck. When she got closer, having recognized her last
living son, she screamed out his name until her heart stopped
beating.People say that the man still roams the streets, searching
for his mother and when he finds himself off the horse's back, he
rides unsuspecting victims about to fall asleep. It is said that if
one manages to take the golden hat off the rider's head, great
fortune will follow him for the rest of his/her life. But how do
you take something you can't even see?7. Pale beauty on the back
seat
Well I think this one is circling in many regions, but still I
decided to give you the Balkan version of it.In the pouring summer
rain long after midnight, a cab driver was restlessly fighting off
his fatigue on his way home. He wanted to get away from the rain as
quickly as possible, so instead of taking his usual route, he took
a shortcut through a wooded area beside the road. One he had never
passed before, for some reason. Barely able to make out anything
outside, he saw a scarcely clothed young woman, soaking wet under
the flood coming from above. Walking alone beside the dark road,
she didn't seem to be in any kind of hurry despite the late hour or
the weather. At first, he thought of passing by her, but being a
father of two girls himself, he decided to stop and talk to her.She
would have walked right past him, if he hadn't spoken to her. He
asked the beautiful creature, what on Earth was she doing outside,
she answered she was headed home, since her house was just a mile
away. The man felt sorry for her, and offered to take her home. Not
waiting to hear the offer twice, she sat in the back seat, all the
while hiding half of her face from the driver. He gave her his
coat, since her shivers didn't seem to stop, even some time after
entering the car.She didn't say much, except for the direction
where she lived. Sensing the girl had troubles of her own, the
driver didn't insist on conversation, drove to the address she gave
him, and watched as she entered a tiny house beside the road. On
his way home, he remembered that he had forgotten to take his coat
back, but paid little mind since he decided to go back the next
morning.And so he did, but instead of the young girl, an older,
petite woman dressed in black answered the door. Thinking nothing
of it, he asked for his coat, but the woman knew nothing of it. He
explained about the passenger he left late in the night, a
beautiful young woman he watched enter the house. The woman burst
into tears, in front of the puzzled cab driver, and proceeded to
explaining that her daughter had died in a tragic accident just a
few years back.She had been coming home with her friends from a
night out, one of the girls got sick so they stopped their vehicle
so she could take in some fresh air. As she crossed the road to
check upon her friend, a truck appeared out of nowhere, hitting her
sideways, breaking her skull, spine, and ripping half of her face
off.Skeptical as he was about anything paranormal, the man didn't
believe his ears. Not having his coat, and tired of explaining, the
woman told him where her daughter's grave was. The man went to the
cemetery, and as he neared the supposed grave, he saw his black
coat hanging on the tombstone. Not only was it still wet from the
rain from the previous night, but it was also soaked in blood, but
only from the left side, the half she tried to hide.OK, so I'm not
taking on a cab driving career any time soon, or ever!8. Cadaver
for a groom
This one is just a plain tragedy, perhaps one that might have
been avoided, since there was a warning sign.A single mother of two
grown sons was twisting and turning in her bed, struggling to get
some sleep, just two nights before the wedding of her eldest son.
She didn't even notice when slumber fell over her eyes, and a
strange dream played before them. She saw her late husband, sitting
on the rustic chair right next to her bed, all dressed up with his
hands one over another. He spoke to her about their sons, about how
well she raised them, how proud he was that one of them was soon to
be groom and a father.The woman knew not about a grandson, so just
before she could get the chance to ask him, he stood up and got
closer, saying there wasn't much time, and how she mustn't let the
boys go to the planned bachelor party. After those words, he
vanished and the woman awoke, still sensing the odor of the man she
loved and lost more than ten years ago.Thinking her nerves were
playing tricks with her head, she ignored the dream, for a while
anyway. Not wanting to disturb the happiness of her eldest son,
minutes before they left the house, she told her second son of her
dream, warning him to be careful, since he was the troublemaker of
the family. He laughed it off, but still promised his mother
everything would be alright.They went out, drinking, having fun
with friends, celebrating the last night of freedom his brother
had. They sat down in a tavern, one more than 20 miles away from
their village, wanting to let off some steam in a place where no
one knew who they were. They drank their way into the night, to a
point where the little brother forgot all about his mother's dream
and his promise. They met up with some girls with a questionable
morality (the innkeeper pointed them out as a bit loose) and the
night seemed to go without a hitch.That is, until the enraged older
brothers of the girls entered the premises. Drunk and angry, they
yanked their sisters off the laps of the strangers, and proceeded
to the exit along with them. Things would have ended there, but one
young man just couldn't keep his temper under control. Yes, it was
the brother of the soon to be groom, yelling they paid good money
for their company, not knowing he was getting in the middle of a
family matter.Four enraged, hulking men turned back, and attacked
the five insolent strangers with no mercy. When he saw a knife,
about to enter the heart of his younger brother, the man not
destined to become a husband and a father, stood before the blade,
taking the blow right into his heart. The blade plunged, and then
twisted inside his chest, killing him almost instantly.Frantic
about his brother's death, the second son loaded the lifeless body
on his back, thinking and hoping there was still a chance he could
be alive. He walked for 20 miles with his brother on his back,
stabbed and beaten he somehow managed to bring him home.Their
mother had just dressed for the upcoming wedding, her nerves were
all over the place, pacing in the hall, wondering where her sons
were. Just as she opened the door, thinking the boys may come any
second, her eyes sunk into every parent's worst nightmare. Her
youngest son, smeared in blood was traversing the yard toward her.
She ran to help him, but when she got closer, her heart almost
stopped from the pain. Her eldest son fell off his brother's back,
and his shirt told the story of his death. Turned dark red where
his heart used to beat, a river of dry blood went down his pants,
to the new shoes he had bought for the occasion.His mother buried
him in the shirt he was supposed to crown his love into
marriage.I'm sorry for the long post, but I felt these stories
deserved to be presented into the right light. I hope people enjoy
them.