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Welcome to Dark Files: Midnight Tales, where real-life horror meets chilling storytelling.
In this episode, “The House in the Woods Took My Family”, a quiet escape into nature turns into a nightmare beyond imagination. What begins as a peaceful weekend becomes a haunting battle for survival against forces that should never have been disturbed.
Experience true terror inspired by real American horror stories — unexplained disappearances, cursed houses, and voices from the dark that whisper your name.
👁️🗨️ Stay tuned for more TRUE horror stories every week.
📚 Inspired by actual events and dark folklore.
🔔 Subscribe to Dark Files Midnight Tales for more terrifying experiences.
true horror stories, american horror stories, horror story, dark files, midnight tales, haunted house, scary story, real horror, paranormal, ghost story, creepy stories, supernatural, true scary stories, the house in the woods, haunted woods, possession, dark tales, mysterious disappearance, cursed house, real ghost encounters, usa horror story, true american horror, horror video, scary short film, ghost horror, midnight horror stories
In this episode, “The House in the Woods Took My Family”, a quiet escape into nature turns into a nightmare beyond imagination. What begins as a peaceful weekend becomes a haunting battle for survival against forces that should never have been disturbed.
Experience true terror inspired by real American horror stories — unexplained disappearances, cursed houses, and voices from the dark that whisper your name.
👁️🗨️ Stay tuned for more TRUE horror stories every week.
📚 Inspired by actual events and dark folklore.
🔔 Subscribe to Dark Files Midnight Tales for more terrifying experiences.
true horror stories, american horror stories, horror story, dark files, midnight tales, haunted house, scary story, real horror, paranormal, ghost story, creepy stories, supernatural, true scary stories, the house in the woods, haunted woods, possession, dark tales, mysterious disappearance, cursed house, real ghost encounters, usa horror story, true american horror, horror video, scary short film, ghost horror, midnight horror stories
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FunTranscript
00:00my name's eli and i never wanted to leave ohio my friends my school even the noise of the city
00:12i would have kept it all if i could but after my father's sudden death mom said we needed a fresh
00:19start she found the house online a two-story colonial tucked away in hollow grove pennsylvania
00:26the photos looked unreal red brick wraparound porch forest sprawling behind it like something
00:34from a postcard the price was suspiciously low but mom convinced herself it was a bankruptcy
00:41auction deal she never asked why no one else wanted it the house looked worse in person
00:47the shutters hung crooked the porch sagged and the red brick was faded almost brown up close
00:55the paint on the front door was blistered warped by years of damp still mom smiled like it was her
01:03dream come true the woods pressed against it like they wanted to swallow us whole no wind no birds
01:11just silence heavy enough to choke inside smelled of mildew and iron the walls felt patched like
01:19something was hidden underneath upstairs the floor vibrated faintly though no heat was running that
01:27night i lay in my room surrounded by unopened boxes listening to the suffocating quiet sleep wouldn't
01:35come around 2 15 a.m i heard it a knock not a creek not the house settling a deliberate hollow knock from
01:44downstairs i gripped my sheets paralyzed until curiosity got the better of me i slipped to the
01:51window and peered out at the woods that's when i saw him a man or at least the shape of one tall
01:59shoulders squared face hidden by shadow he stood at the tree line completely still as if carved from the
02:07darkness itself for several seconds he didn't move he didn't wave didn't step closer didn't make a sound
02:15just watched i blinked and he was gone i tried to convince myself i'd imagined it but the next morning
02:23when i went downstairs i saw something on the inside of the front door three faint scratches right where the
02:32knocking had been the morning after that first night i tried telling my mom what i'd heard she brushed
02:40it off calling it moving jitters but when i mentioned the man standing in the woods i caught something in
02:48her expression a flicker her smile faltered and her face went pale for the briefest second then just as
02:56quickly she forced the smile back as if pretending would make it less real at school i made the mistake
03:04of saying where i lived the reaction was immediate a few kids exchanged quick sharp glances one boy
03:12muttered something i didn't catch a girl named lauren leaned across her desk her voice barely above a
03:19whisper you moved into the hollow house the way she said it wasn't curious it was horrified what's the
03:27hollow house i asked she glanced around before lowering her voice even further nobody lasts there
03:34families move in and then things happen people disappear i forced a laugh disappear like they move out
03:43lauren shook her head no like they're just gone when i pressed her she told me the story the whitman family
03:522002 the father disappeared first walking home from work one night two weeks later their little boy
04:00vanished from his bed and the mother they found her wandering barefoot on route six muttering about
04:08the man at the trees i wanted to dismiss it as small town rumor but lauren's face was too serious
04:16that night i couldn't help myself i searched online the local newspaper archives confirmed lauren's story
04:24the whitmans were real their tragedy was real the mother had been institutionalized the case file
04:32photo of her burned into my memory her eyes wide mouth open in a silent scream as though she were still
04:41seeing something no one else could but what unsettled me most wasn't her face it was was what she had
04:49written over and over in the margins of her police report 215 dozens of times that same night the noises
05:00started again only this time the knocking didn't come from the front door it came from inside the walls
05:07i sat up in bed heart racing as the sound echoed down the hallway a hollow deliberate rap muffled but
05:15unmistakable i pressed my ear to the wall then i heard a whisper too faint to understand but undeniably there
05:24not one voice but several overlapping like a broken chorus i backed away from the wall and turned on
05:32every light in my room i stayed like that until morning when i finally went downstairs i noticed
05:40something i hadn't seen the day before on the baseboard near the staircase right where the knocks had
05:46echoed through were tiny shapes carved into the wood they weren't random scratches they were symbols
05:55circles intersected by sharp lines triangles stacked on each other patterns i didn't recognize and they
06:02weren't old the wood was splintered fresh as though someone or something had carved them from inside the wall
06:11by the third week in hollow grove i started to feel like the house wasn't just old it was alive
06:20the noises no longer came only at 2 15 a.m anymore they came in whispers throughout the day but every time
06:29i pressed my ear to one of the metal grates the voices stopped as though they knew i was listening it
06:36wasn't one voice either it was many sometimes hurried like whispers being exchanged just beyond
06:43understanding other times low and guttural dragging syllables that made my skin crawl one night while
06:51brushing my teeth i heard my mom call from downstairs eli come down here a second her tone was casual
06:59calm but something about it was off my mom never called me eli not once to her i was always
07:06just ee i froze toothbrush in hand foam gathering at the corners of my mouth i padded softly into the
07:15hall peering down the staircase the living room was dark mom's bedroom light was off a glance at her door
07:23revealed it was cracked open inside i could hear the steady rhythm of her breathing she was asleep my stomach
07:30turned to ice then the voice came again sharper this time echoing faintly through the air vent at the
07:38top of the stairs eli come down it was her voice but not her voice the words were drawn out each syllable
07:50twisted just enough to make it sound wrong i backed away and locked myself in my room shoving a chair under the
07:57knob that night i didn't sleep the next morning i confronted mom i told her i wanted to leave she
08:05wouldn't hear it we can't afford to go anywhere else she snapped this is our home now you'll adjust
08:14but there was something brittle in her voice like she wasn't even convinced herself then she admitted
08:20something she hadn't before she got the house at a bankruptcy auction when i asked if she knew about
08:27the whitmans the family lauren told me about she sighed she said yes she knew but insisted ghosts weren't
08:36real yet when she looked at me her eyes didn't match her words that night i decided to test something
08:44while mom slept i placed my phone in the basement and hit record i left it there overnight sitting near
08:51the furnace the main artery of the vents the next morning i found a two-hour recording most of it was
08:58silence but right at 2 15 a.m that cursed time i heard it not knocking this time a voice deep rasping
09:08almost inhuman it said not you not yet the sound of it filled me with such primal dread i nearly
09:18dropped the phone my hands shook as i replayed it again and again hoping i'd misheard but the words
09:25were clear when i looked at the recording details my blood ran cold the file wasn't two hours long
09:33anymore somehow it was 12 hours upon hours of audio i hadn't recorded i scrolled through listening to
09:41fragments here and there and what i heard made me want to smash the phone to pieces my voice it was me
09:49calling for help whispering in panic begging someone to get me out my own voice layered over itself in
09:56loops as though i'd been trapped inside those vents screaming for someone to hear me but here's the
10:03thing i'd never said those words not once when i confronted mom again she lost her temper enough eli
10:12she yelled slamming her fist on her fist on the table but her eyes betrayed her they were bloodshot
10:19sunken and she looked like she hadn't slept in days that night i woke up to the sound of her
10:26footsteps in the hall i peeked through a crack in my door she wasn't walking to the bathroom or kitchen
10:33she was standing in front of the vent in the hallway whispering into it her voice was low trembling but i
10:40heard one thing clearly before she shuffled back to her room he wants him not me i thought i had grown
10:48used to the house the whispers the vents the scratches but the woods the woods were different they didn't
10:56just surround hollow grove they pressed in on it as if the house were an island trapped in a sea of dark
11:04trees lauren had insisted on coming over that friday night i didn't want her to every part of me screamed to
11:12keep her away but when she teased that i was chickening out of my own haunted backyard i gave in
11:20maybe i needed someone else to see what i saw maybe i wanted proof i wasn't losing my mind we slipped out
11:27the back door close to midnight flashlights cutting narrow cones through the heavy dark the woods seemed
11:34thicker than they had from the porch branches like skeletal fingers arching overhead dead leaves crunching
11:43under our shoes loud enough to wake the whole town after a few minutes the air changed it grew heavier
11:51thicker like we'd stepped into a place where the air hadn't been stirred in years even lauren noticed
11:58she whispered it feels wrong here like like no birds ever come she was right no rustling no insects
12:08not even the sound of wind just our breathing that's when we found the clearing it was perfectly
12:15circular like it had been carved into the earth with a blade no grass no weeds just black soil that
12:22looked charred as if something had burned the life out of it long ago in the center was a ring of stones
12:30uneven and cracked but unmistakably deliberate on one of them faint under the beam of my flashlight was a
12:38carving whitman my blood turned cold lauren muttered something i didn't catch and bent to touch the stone
12:46before i could stop her the air shifted again colder this time sharp like stepping into a freezer and
12:54then we heard it footsteps not quick not stumbling heavy deliberate the sound came from just beyond the
13:02tree line circling us slowly i swung my flashlight into the trees but the beam seemed weaker swallowed by
13:09the dark all i caught were shapes that looked almost human but stretched distorted moving just
13:16outside the light lauren's hand clamped around my arm her nails dug into me hard eli she whispered
13:25there's someone out there i wanted to tell her to run but my throat felt locked i couldn't breathe the
13:32thing stepped closer and for the first time i saw it it wasn't just tall it was wrong its arms hung too long
13:41almost to its knees its head cocked at an angle too sharp for a human neck the trees bent around it
13:49shadows clinging to its frame like it was pulling the dark with it it stopped at the edge of the circle
13:56staring we backed away step by trembling step that's when lauren gasped she dropped her flashlight fumbling at
14:05her shirt i turned and saw why three long bloody scratches had appeared across her stomach tearing
14:12through fabric and skin alike she hadn't touched anything nothing was near her it was like invisible
14:20claws had raked across her her flashlight flickered once before dying completely in the dark i heard
14:28something low guttural almost a laugh i yanked her by the arm and we bolted tearing through the woods blindly
14:37branches whipping at our faces behind us the footsteps quickened closing in the sound of leaves and cracking
14:45branches followed always just far enough back to keep us running never close enough to see when we
14:53stumbled out of the trees and onto the lawn the house didn't feel like safety it loomed waiting but
15:00it was all we had i slammed the back door shut and locked it chest heaving lauren leaned against the wall
15:08pale as death she lifted her shirt again and the scratches were worse redder deeper as though they had
15:15spread spread while we ran eli she whispered shaking it doesn't want me it wants you and then from the woods
15:24outside came three knocks slow patient on the trees themselves as if something out there was waiting
15:35the house didn't sleep anymore it breathed every wall groaned as if lungs pressed behind it
15:43every pipe rattled like veins filled with rushing blood by that last night i'd stopped trying to
15:50convince myself things were normal lauren had begged me not to stay another day but mom refused to leave
15:58she said the house was ours now muttering like it had chosen us her skin looked gray her eyes hollowed
16:06sometimes i'd wake to find her standing in the kitchen with every drawer open whispering
16:12into the air like someone was answering her that evening i tried one last time mom we have to go
16:20please she didn't even look at me just stirred her tea and said flatly the woods already know your name
16:27where would we run it was the first time i realized she wasn't just tired she was gone i sat on the couch
16:34tv buzzing sing static when the clock hit 2 15 a.m the air changed instantly cold so sharp it made my
16:43teeth ache then it started the knocking not from the walls or the trees this time but from every door
16:51in the house at once bedroom doors closet doors even cabinet doors in the kitchen slammed and rattled
16:58like invisible fists pounded them in unison it was deafening my mom screamed upstairs but her scream
17:07wasn't just fear it was rage like she was arguing with something only she could see i ran for her room
17:15but halfway up the stairs every light in the house flickered out in the dark something brushed past me
17:23ice cold whispering my name in a voice not my own when i reached mom's door she was on the floor clutching
17:31her head shrieking he said it's you eli he said it's always been you the walls quivered paint cracking
17:40as if the house itself was stretching a deep rumble shook through the floorboards then silence from the
17:47vent above us came a sound that made my stomach twist it wasn't a whisper this time it was breathing
17:54heavy wet breathing like something enormous crouched just behind the grates i tried to drag mom toward
18:02the stairs but she fought me clawing at my arms you can't run from him she spat don't you understand he's
18:11already inside then from the from the front door came one single knock louder than a gunshot we froze
18:19the door creaked open on its own the night wind howled in carrying with it a smell like rotting soil
18:27and there he was the figure from the woods tall wrong his head still cocked at that unnatural angle
18:35arms dragging at his sides he didn't step in he just stood there filling the doorway his presence
18:42heavier than any shadow the knocking from the other doors stopped everything fell silent except mom's
18:49sobs and then without moving his lips his voice filled the house it's your turn the floor split with
18:58a cracking sound the boards gave way in the hallway revealing nothing beneath no basement no foundation
19:06just a black void that breathed the air sucked downward pulling at us like a vacuum i grabbed the
19:14doorframe with one hand clutching mom with the other but she tore free crawling toward him on all fours
19:20whispering take him not me take him before i could pull her back she was gone swallowed by the dark hole
19:29where the floor had been i screamed but her voice didn't echo back nothing did just silence the figure
19:37tilted its head further watching me then in a blink it vanished the front door slammed shut so hard it cracked
19:46the glass i was alone and the last thing i heard before the blackness swallowed me before i woke up in
19:54the hospital two days later was the sound of knocking slow patient from beneath the floorboards
20:03i woke in a hospital bed the sunlight harsh against my eyes my body ached my mind even more they told me
20:11a neighbor found me unconscious on the porch my mom she was gone no trace no clues just vanished the police
20:21labeled it a missing person's case but i knew better since that night every house i've lived in feels wrong
20:29even miles away the shadows seem too long the walls too tight i tried to move on tried to convince myself
20:37it was over but the house hollow grove it had marked me it began with the knocks always at the same time
20:462 15 a.m three knocks patient deliberate echoing through the dark sometimes i hear whispers my own
20:54voice calling from nowhere sometimes i see movement out of the corner of my eye tall thin impossible and then
21:03the phone phone calls started private numbers when i play the voicemails it's always my own voice
21:11saying things i've never said warning me taunting me once i thought i saw her my mom standing in the
21:19corner of my bedroom pale and trembling but before i could reach her she vanished leaving only the smell
21:26of mildew and wet leaves i know now that hollow grove was never just a house it was a portal a lure and
21:35its darkness isn't bound to the walls or the woods it's bound to the ones it touches and one day it will
21:41come for me and every night as the clock ticks closer to 2 15 i hear it not outside not upstairs behind me
21:51whispering wet rasping not you not yet and i know i will never escape hollow grove
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