Scary/eerie story time
I know Halloween has passed, but today I couldn’t help thinking about something weird that happened to me once.
A few years ago I was leaving work around 6pm, and it was very dark outside. Usually, when I’d walk to the train station from my work, I’d take a well-lit pedestrian/ bicycle pathway that ran along the train line. Eventually, if I kept following that path for a few minutes, I’d end up at the train station, so this was my everyday routine. Usually, some of my colleagues would be walking down the pathway too, so I’d rarely be alone. But tonight I left last. I worked in an industrial area full of factories, warehouses, car mechanics and smash repairers, so there were no houses in the area at all, and after dark it was completely silent and dead.
That night, however, the usual pathway I took had been blocked off by construction work and I couldn’t get through. There was no other alternative but to go through the winding streets in this industrial area. Unfortunately, there were no street lights, no one around, all the businesses were closed, and it was pitch black and completely silent. It was totally scary to walk through these silent streets. It was a little cold as well, and there was a very slight fog.
I was walking really carefully, paying attention with all my senses in case someone was hiding in the bushes, or some strange people maybe hanging around the factories at night. I was trying to walk super quietly and even breathe really quietly too, trying to not draw attention to myself. I could barely see in front of me. Suddenly, as I am nearing the end of the road and getting closer to the train station, I heard this really strange and amazing music.
This music was intoxicating, it compelled me to follow it. It was like music I’d never heard anywhere on Earth. The closest thing I could compare it to might be music that you hear at a temple, as if there was a festival. There were the sounds of symbols, flutes, drums, guitars, singing, clapping...as if every instrument possible was being played, but it sounded otherworldly. Trying to compare it to something else is nearly impossible. I only thought it sounded like temple music because that was the closest thing I could think of, but even then it is not an accurate description of what I heard that night.
I couldn’t resist following the sound, it made me feel excited, curious, and drunk, and without clearly thinking things through, I decided to walk up a road that I know to be a dead end. The road was dark and empty, and I thought maybe there was a temple down the end of the road that I hadn’t discovered or maybe had been recently built. Excited and nervous, I continued down this road, quietly noticing in the back of my mind that there were no cars or lights indicating that people might be gathering and celebrating. But the sound of the drums was so intoxicating that I could feel it pulsing in my blood, and I continued, ignoring the warning signs of danger.
As I continued on the path, I began to approach the end of the cul-de-sac, and it was then my inner emergency brake suddenly got pulled. As if I was awoken from a trance, I looked up and saw that in front of me was a completely empty and derelict warehouse with boarded-up windows. It was barricaded in by fences of the kind seen at construction sites, and the building looked ready for demolition. And that’s when I realised the music was coming from this empty building. Suddenly, the air felt eerie and cold, and I looked around to see maybe if an event was occurring at the back of the building that I just couldn’t see. But there was no light to create shadows, no candle flickers, and no indication of people around the area. It was just dead.
And that’s when I realised I nearly got spirited away. I stood there for a second, wide-eyed and chilled to the bone. And then suddenly I turned and ran as fast as I could.
