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Nightfall Crypt
  • 7/4/2025
In 2017, a church hiking trip takes a horrifying turn when two terrified teens witness something lurking outside their cabin deep in the woods. As snapping branches draw closer and glowing eyes pierce the dark, one truth becomes undeniable—they weren’t alone on the Pioneer Trail. But what they saw doesn't match any known animal… and it remembers them.
Transcript
00:00Back in 2017, I found myself reluctantly agreeing to join the Pioneer Trail hike,
00:07a multi-day trek through the dense Oregon forest. Despite the supposedly scenic route,
00:14a deep-seated unease gnawed at me, a feeling my gut seemed to understand better than I did.
00:21It wasn't nerves or anxiety, but a palpable sense that something was off.
00:26As we set off on our hike, the forest was eerily silent, as if it was holding its breath in anticipation of something sinister.
00:37The sun was hidden behind thick grey clouds, and the air was heavy with the scent of damp leaves and pine sap.
00:45The only sounds were our footsteps on the gravel and the occasional awkward joke from the older teens,
00:51adding to the growing sense of dread that hung in the air like a heavy fog.
00:58We hiked for hours, ten miles that felt like twenty.
01:02At our breakpoint, I sat on a mossy rock and opened a granola bar, but I couldn't eat.
01:09The persistent feeling of being watched, like a pair of unseen eyes boring into my back, wouldn't dissipate.
01:18It was as if the very air around me was alive with unseen malevolence,
01:23intensifying my unease and paranoia with each passing moment.
01:28That first night, we stayed in a ranger's cabin, wooden, old, creaky, and half-swallowed by the forest.
01:37It had no electricity, just battery lanterns and cold running water from a rust-stained sink.
01:45My bunk faced a window that looked out into the woods.
01:49I remember pulling the curtains shut and muttering,
01:51After dinner, we did the usual campfire songs and ghost stories.
01:58Ironically, that part I liked.
02:01But later, back in the cabin,
02:04my stomach turned sour from those spicy takis I'd stupidly inhaled.
02:09I grabbed my flashlight and snuck outside to use the latrine.
02:13That's when I heard it.
02:14The first crack.
02:16A single branch snapped deep in the woods.
02:19Then another.
02:20It's not random.
02:22Not like a squirrel or deer.
02:24It sounded deliberate.
02:26Heavy.
02:27Something big was walking out there.
02:29When I heard the first crack,
02:31my heart skipped a beat.
02:34It wasn't a random sound like a squirrel or a deer.
02:37It was deliberate and heavy.
02:39And it sounded like something big was walking out there.
02:43Then came more cracks.
02:45Closer now.
02:47One after another.
02:48Rhythmic and slow.
02:50Like footsteps.
02:52I pulled myself to the window and parted the curtain just a sliver.
02:58My breath caught in my throat.
03:01About thirty feet from the cabin,
03:03a figure materialized between the trees.
03:05It was tall, over six feet easily, and thin in a way that defied nature.
03:13Its limbs were too long, its posture too rigid, as if it was struggling to imitate something human.
03:20But the most terrifying part?
03:22It's eyes.
03:25Two searing red orbs burned from its gaunt face.
03:29They didn't glow like animal eyes reflecting light, as if they were alive, pulsating with a sinister energy.
03:36I instinctively ducked down, my whole body trembling with fear.
03:41My mind raced with the question, what the hell did I just see?
03:46What the hell did I just see?
03:48I shook my bunkmate awake, Jeremy.
04:22Clearly disoriented, mirroring my fear and uncertainty.
04:27The fear of the unknown was palpable in the air, thick and suffocating,
04:31as we both struggled to grasp what we had just witnessed.
04:36I need you to look.
04:38I saw something out there.
04:40He sighed but leaned toward the window.
04:44There's nothing.
04:46He froze.
04:47His voice stopped cold.
04:50We didn't say another word.
04:52We slid back under our sleeping bags,
04:54shut the blinds,
04:55and prayed it wouldn't come closer.
04:58But it did.
04:59The snapping branches returned,
05:03louder now.
05:04The floorboards creaked.
05:06Something was circling the cabin.
05:08We heard soft, scraping sounds,
05:11fingernails on wood.
05:13At one point,
05:14something brushed the outside wall behind my bunk,
05:17slow and deliberate.
05:19I held my breath so long I nearly passed out.
05:23There was a low, growling hum at one point.
05:27Jeremy clutched his flashlight
05:28but didn't turn it on.
05:31We both knew light might draw it closer.
05:34It stayed outside for what felt like hours.
05:37Then, silence.
05:40At dawn, it was gone.
05:43Outside, branches were broken everywhere.
05:46Deep, uneven footprints pressed into the muddy ground.
05:50Too long, too narrow,
05:51not like anything we'd ever seen.
05:54One counsellor said it might have been a sick elk.
05:58Another suggested a prank by local teens.
06:01But none of it made sense.
06:03And the prints?
06:04They just stopped mid-trail as it vanished.
06:07That night, no one slept well.
06:10Even the counsellors seemed tense.
06:14Around midnight,
06:15a girl from Cabin B screamed.
06:18Said she saw something watching her from the tree line.
06:21Something tall, pale and crawling.
06:23Jeremy and I never told anyone the whole truth.
06:28They wouldn't believe us.
06:30Hell,
06:31I wouldn't have believed it
06:32if I hadn't seen it myself.
06:35The last night before we left,
06:38I swear I heard breathing outside my window.
06:41Not wind.
06:42Not snoring.
06:44Breathing.
06:46Shallow.
06:46Hungry.
06:47I stayed perfectly still until sunrise.
06:52When I looked again,
06:54scratches had appeared on the windowsill.
06:56Deep.
06:57Fresh.
06:58Since that summer,
07:00I haven't hiked again.
07:02I won't go near the Pioneer Trail.
07:04Because whatever we saw,
07:06it wasn't an animal.
07:07It wasn't human.
07:09It was watching us.
07:10And it still is.
07:12Sometimes I feel it.
07:14Even now,
07:15years later.
07:16Like something followed me back.
07:19It waits.
07:20Just beyond the tree line.
07:22Just outside the window.
07:24Waiting for me to come back.
07:26But I never will.
07:28And it still is.
07:30Sometimes,
07:31I feel it.
07:33Even now,
07:34years later.
07:36Like something followed me back.
07:38It waits.
07:40Just beyond the tree line.
07:42Just outside the window.
07:44Waiting for me to come back.
07:46But I never will.
07:48I made that decision that night.
07:50And it's a promise I intend to keep.
07:52All right.
07:52I don't know.
07:53I just want to.
07:53I'm going to try it.
07:54I don't know.
07:54I don't know.
07:55I'm going to try it.
07:55I'm going to try it.
07:55I just want to.
07:56I'm going to try it.
07:57To be there.