- 4 months ago
- #darkfiles
- #midnighttales
- #horrorstories
Get ready for spine-chilling moments and eerie encounters in Dark Files: Midnight Tales. 🌩️
In this episode, we explore three terrifying true stories that took place during violent thunderstorms across the USA.
From mysterious figures appearing in lightning flashes ⚡ to strange knocks on the window during heavy rain 🌧️—these tales will send shivers down your spine.
Sit back, turn off the lights, and prepare yourself for a stormy night of horror…
🎧 Best experienced with headphones!
📖 Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:42 Story 1 – The Storm Watcher
5:10 Story 2 – Cabin in the Rain
10:25 Story 3 – The Knock at 3AM
14:50 Outro / Credits
💀 Subscribe for more terrifying true stories every midnight!
#DarkFiles #MidnightTales #HorrorStories
In this episode, we explore three terrifying true stories that took place during violent thunderstorms across the USA.
From mysterious figures appearing in lightning flashes ⚡ to strange knocks on the window during heavy rain 🌧️—these tales will send shivers down your spine.
Sit back, turn off the lights, and prepare yourself for a stormy night of horror…
🎧 Best experienced with headphones!
📖 Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:42 Story 1 – The Storm Watcher
5:10 Story 2 – Cabin in the Rain
10:25 Story 3 – The Knock at 3AM
14:50 Outro / Credits
💀 Subscribe for more terrifying true stories every midnight!
#DarkFiles #MidnightTales #HorrorStories
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00This happened to me a couple of weeks ago, and despite what I want to believe, I think
00:26it's still an ongoing issue.
00:28I don't exactly live in the woods, but my house is on the outskirts of what I'd call
00:33a nature-filled suburb, lots of trees, wildlife, and that sort of thing.
00:38One side of our house borders what I guess you could call a small woods, though it's
00:42more accurate to describe it as a wooded patch since it's only about a quarter mile from
00:46our property to the neighboring road on the other side.
00:50That road leads up and connects to another street, and on the other side of that road
00:54is this massive body of water that I've always been curious about.
00:58Growing up, I assumed it was some kind of reservoir since there are tons of no trespassing signs
01:03and government property signs posted all along the fence surrounding it.
01:07But here's the weird thing.
01:08The name of this supposed reservoir isn't listed on Google Maps or Apple Maps, which it definitely
01:13would be if it were an actual reservoir.
01:16I always found that kind of strange.
01:19I've looked it up multiple times over the years and never found any official information
01:23on it, but it's presence has definitely been an interesting topic of conversation
01:27among my siblings and I.
01:29I'm on varsity cross-country for my school, so I'm always looking for good places to run.
01:34That wooded area has become my go-to route because it's exactly a two-mile loop, through
01:38that patch of woods, along that road by the water, then back around.
01:43It's way quieter than running in my actual neighborhood, which doesn't have sidewalks and has these twisty
01:49roads with terrible visibility where people drive way too fast.
01:53The season was fast approaching, so I had recently ramped up my runs.
01:58The day everything went down, I could have sworn I heard some rustling behind me as I
02:01was making my way back through the woods after my run, but I figured it was probably just an
02:05animal.
02:07Fast forward to that night.
02:09During the summer, I always sleep with my windows open.
02:13I love the sounds of nature at night, especially when it rains, and boy did it rain that night.
02:19A few hours after getting back home, a massive thunderstorm erupted out of nowhere.
02:24It was glorious.
02:25I was lying in bed, listening to the rain and thunder, when I started drifting off.
02:31That's when I heard something that definitely wasn't part of the storm.
02:35It was soft at first, but it didn't go away.
02:38It was this soft sobbing or crying sound, and the more I listened, the more it sounded
02:43like it was coming from right beneath my bedroom window, and the more distinctly human it sounded.
02:49As if there was any doubt as to whether the sound could have been the result of the storm,
02:53a soft female voice cut through the raindrops.
02:57It said, clear as day, can you help me?
03:00I'm cold.
03:01I've never moved so fast in my life.
03:04It was like my primal instincts took over before fear could freeze me in place.
03:09I burst out of bed, ran to the front door, and sprinted around the side of the house toward my bedroom window.
03:15The rain was pelting so hard I was soaked within seconds, but I didn't care.
03:20I needed to do something.
03:22As scary as hearing that voice was, it had never occurred to me that something sinister was going on.
03:28My only thought was that someone was genuinely in danger, and as soon as I turned the corner, there she was.
03:34Huddled right underneath my window was a woman wearing white clothing, maybe a nightgown or a dress,
03:41and she was crouching like she was trying to stay under the small overhang of my window.
03:45I approached her cautiously and asked if she needed help.
03:49The whole situation felt like a fever dream, but then things went from zero to a hundred in a matter of seconds.
03:56As soon as she noticed me, she sprang up and rushes straight at me with a surge of energy I hadn't expected.
04:02Without much time to react, I braced myself for contact, but mid-stride, she seemed to hesitate.
04:10Maybe she noticed how tall I am, I can't say for sure.
04:12But instead of engaging me, she deviated from her collision course and veered off towards the woods.
04:18I stood there in shock as she disappeared into the darkness, running impossibly fast for someone with no shoes on.
04:27I didn't follow her.
04:28I immediately went back inside, still dripping from head to toe, and I woke my dad up.
04:33When I told him what happened, he was just as freaked out as I was.
04:38We went around and made sure every door and window in the house was locked.
04:42We talked about calling the police, but it was already after midnight, and we figured that by the time they showed up, the woman would be long gone.
04:49Plus, searching those woods in a thunderstorm seemed like it would be pointless and potentially dangerous for whoever had to do it, if they even agreed to.
04:58So we decided to just deal with it in the morning if necessary.
05:02I managed to fall back asleep eventually, and the next couple of days were completely normal.
05:07My dad and I chalked the whole thing up to one of two potential explanations.
05:12A homeless person looking for shelter, or someone who was mid-mental break.
05:17But what happened that night wasn't the end of the ordeal.
05:20In fact, it was more like the beginning.
05:23Maybe a week after the initial incident, I was going on one of my usual runs.
05:28As I was making my way up to the connecting road, I happened to glance through the barbed wire fence at the water.
05:34To my surprise, there was actually movement down by the water's edge.
05:39I stopped running and looked more closely.
05:42There, sitting on the water's edge with her feet dangling in, was a woman.
05:47I froze in complete terror.
05:49I mean, how was she even there?
05:51The fence around that property doesn't have any holes that I've ever seen, and it's topped with barbed wire.
05:56Not to mention the fact that it's like ten feet tall to begin with.
05:59I must have made some kind of noise.
06:01Maybe I gasped or something.
06:03Because even though I was pretty far away, she suddenly turned her head and looked directly at me.
06:09In that moment, there was no doubt in my mind that she was the same woman who had been underneath my bedroom window during that thunderstorm.
06:16The moment she saw me, she got up and ran toward the fence with this completely crazed look in her eyes.
06:21She pressed her face right against the chain link and just stood there smiling at me, and it was not a normal smile, I'm telling you.
06:30I yelled that I was calling the police, hoping that would scare her off, and I guess it did.
06:34Because as soon as I said that, she turned and dove straight into the water.
06:39It was so unsettling and so unnatural that I felt unsafe just standing there.
06:44I called 911 immediately and tried to explain the situation.
06:48I tried to keep her in sight, but she swam out of view before the police showed up.
06:52When they finally did, they took my statement and said they'd investigate the area.
06:57They told me to go about my day normally, which I was kind of shocked by.
07:02I haven't seen her again since then, but I've started hearing noises outside my bedroom window at night.
07:07Not crying like the first time, but just general sounds of someone moving out there.
07:13It's making me really paranoid, and I just know something else is going to happen.
07:18I've actually been reluctant to go running because I don't want to run into her again.
07:22I get that she's probably psychotic and probably followed me home after a run one day,
07:27but what remains the biggest mystery to me is how she ended up on the other side of the fence.
07:32My sister and I have spent hours looking for a way in there.
07:36I'm telling you, it's impossible.
07:38My cousin Nick is one of those conspiracy theorist types,
07:41and he's convinced that there's something more to the reservoir that the government wants to hide,
07:45but I think that's ridiculous.
07:48Still, I've never felt more unsettled than my own home.
07:50I'll just go ahead and say it.
08:02I'm a middle-aged man in a failed marriage.
08:04My wife and I fight over everything.
08:07I can't really remember what my wife and I were fighting about this time.
08:10Probably something stupid.
08:12I ended up storming out of the house, something that happens all too often.
08:16Usually, I just get a hotel room in a situation like this, but I didn't want her chasing after me,
08:22so I decided on a different option.
08:24I own a piece of property in the middle of nowhere that I've been meaning to repurpose.
08:29I think it used to be a shooting range or something like that.
08:32I honestly don't know.
08:34The previous owner died, and his estate just wanted to get rid of it.
08:38The building itself is this weird concrete block structure
08:41with a few warehouse-type rooms downstairs and an office area upstairs.
08:45It's actually pretty big, despite being only a few rooms.
08:48I figured I'd spend the night there.
08:51There was no way she'd be able to find me.
08:54I drove the 20 minutes through the increasingly desolate roads,
08:57and about halfway there, I noticed dark clouds building up.
09:01By the time I got there, I could hear thunder rumbling in the distance.
09:06I parked in what used to be a parking lot just as the first drops of rain started falling.
09:11I keep a spare set of keys hidden behind a loose piece of siding,
09:14which I was able to locate pretty easily.
09:17By the time I got settled, the storm had really picked up.
09:21The building has metal roofing, and the rain was coming down hard enough
09:24that it sounded like someone was dumping gravel on the roof.
09:27There's a decently comfortable cot in what I assume used to be the office on the second floor.
09:32That's where I'd be sleeping.
09:34Once I got settled, I finally felt some peace for the first time in weeks,
09:38despite the storm outside. Actually, the sound of the rain was kind of soothing.
09:43It made the place feel completely cut off from the world.
09:46But of course, nice things never last. Not for me, at least.
09:50The moment I started getting drowsy, I was ripped back to reality,
09:54when the sound of shattering glass broke through the noise of the storm.
09:58My heart immediately started pounding.
10:00I lay there for maybe 30 seconds, listening over the drumming of rain on the metal roof,
10:05trying to figure out what direction the sound had come from.
10:09I keep a hunting rifle in one of the adjacent rooms there, mostly so my wife doesn't know I own it.
10:14So I grabbed it as quietly as I could, and started making my way down the stairs.
10:19I stood there at the bottom of the stairwell, listening for something other than the sounds of rain,
10:24but there was nothing. Complete silence except for the storm.
10:28I decided to search the entire building methodically.
10:32I went room by room, rifle ready, checking every closet and corner.
10:37In the back room, I found what I was looking for.
10:40One of the boarded up windows had a hole punched through it,
10:43with glass scattered on the floor inside. But that was it.
10:47There were no signs of entry, and despite the window being shattered,
10:50there wasn't enough room for someone to fit through it.
10:53Still though, I was paranoid to my core.
10:57I spent another 20 minutes examining the property,
10:59but I couldn't find anything that even remotely looked out of place.
11:03I figured it was probably just vandals who threw a rock through the window,
11:06and took off when they heard it break.
11:09I found some cardboard in one of the other rooms and taped it over the hole,
11:12then went back upstairs.
11:14I kept the rifle next to the cot just in case, but I was pretty convinced whoever it was had already left.
11:21I'm not sure how long I'd been lying there, maybe an hour,
11:24when I heard what I thought were footsteps moving below me.
11:28It was hard to tell over the rain, but it sounded like someone walking slowly,
11:32trying to move quietly under the cover of the storm noise.
11:35I again grabbed the rifle and crept to the top of the stairs,
11:39this time not risking alerting the intruder by walking down.
11:42The footsteps had stopped though, but there was no way they could have heard me.
11:47I waited there like a statue for maybe 5 minutes, feeling beads of sweat start forming on my forehead.
11:53I ended up searching the place again, but again there was nothing.
11:57I started wondering if I was imagining things or if whoever had been there had snuck out before I noticed them.
12:03That didn't explain how all the doors were still locked though.
12:05This time I went outside into the pouring rain and searched the perimeter with my phone's flashlight.
12:12There were no vehicles nearby or any signs that someone had been there.
12:16It was starting to freak me out.
12:18Part of me wished I'd find something just to assure myself I wasn't going crazy.
12:23I went back upstairs and tried to rationalize what I heard.
12:26Between the rain on the metal roof and the general creaking that old buildings do during storms,
12:30there were a dozen explanations for sounds that might seem like footsteps.
12:35I tried to focus on getting some sleep, telling myself I was being paranoid, but that wasn't the end of it.
12:41Before I could even settle in again, I heard what sounded like furniture being dragged across the floor below me.
12:46This was different, not something that could be explained by the storm.
12:51The unmistakable sound of something heavy being pushed or pulled across concrete is not something a storm could create, not in a million years.
12:59This time I didn't hesitate.
13:01I grabbed the rifle and stormed downstairs, living on every light switch I could find.
13:06I was getting angry now, which was probably better than being scared.
13:09I yelled out into the darkness that I wasn't messing around, that I was armed, and that I wasn't afraid to defend myself or my property.
13:17My voice echoed through the empty rooms and then died away into silence.
13:22Nothing had been moved and no one answered me.
13:25You might be wondering why I didn't call the police at that point.
13:28It was partly because I wasn't sure what I'd tell them, but mostly because the property isn't completely up to code, and that's putting it generously.
13:35The last thing I needed was to bring official attention to the place, but standing there in that empty building, rifle in hand, yelling into the darkness, something suddenly shifted.
13:46In an instant, my frustrated anger transformed into pure, cold fear.
13:52It was more than just a changing attitude.
13:54It was like something icy washed over me, I could feel it, and every instinct I had was screaming at me to get as far away from that place as possible.
14:02I don't know what triggered it exactly, but I knew I had to leave.
14:07I quickly gathered my things, returned the rifle to its hiding place, and turned off all the lights.
14:13The storm was still raging outside, but I didn't care.
14:17I locked up the building and drove back home through the worst of the weather.
14:21It's been a little while since that happened, but I plan to go back in a few days, or whenever I have time, really.
14:27I want to go back and investigate, maybe install some kind of security system to see if anything's actually happening there, or if it was just my imagination.
14:36As far as what actually happened that night, I have no idea.
14:40Either someone was actually there and was able to hide from me, or I'm starting to lose my mind.
14:45I don't know which is scarier, and I really don't want to think about any kind of third possibility, because that scares me even more.
14:51My name is Jason.
15:02I live in a pretty rural area, where you have to drive at least half an hour to get to anywhere interesting.
15:07This happened to me three Fridays ago.
15:10My buddy Leo and I had driven out to this house party a few towns over.
15:14It wasn't a big banger or anything, just one of those chill gatherings where people hang out in someone's backyard playing beer pong and listening to music.
15:23A little college-y, to be honest, but there's not much to do around my neck of the woods if I'm being real.
15:28I was the DD that night, so I'd been nursing the same beer for like three hours while Leo was doing his usual thing, getting progressively louder and more philosophical as the night went on.
15:39He was pretty plastered by the time we left around 1am, which was funny, up until I realized I'd become his de facto babysitter.
15:47After finally dragging him away from the girl he was flirting with, I ushered him into my car to make the 20-something minute drive back home.
15:54The weather had gotten pretty nasty while we were at the party, though.
15:58What started as a somewhat refreshing drizzle had become a torrential downpour that made it hard to see more than 30 feet ahead.
16:04I had to slow down to like 30 on roads I'd normally tear through at like 60.
16:10Leo kept complaining, first about my driving, then about the music, and finally about how badly he needed to piss.
16:17I told him we were 15 minutes from home max, but he kept going on about it.
16:22His tantrum was becoming insufferable, so after another 5 minutes of him whining, I gave up.
16:28I pulled over on this random stretch of road next to what looked like cornfields, though it was hard to tell in the dark and rain.
16:34We were literally in the middle of nowhere, no houses visible, no streetlights, just farmland on both sides of the road.
16:42I told him he could go ahead and get soaked for all I care, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't listening, because he was already halfway out the car before I was even finished talking.
16:51He practically fell out of the passenger seat and stumbled off toward the field, disappearing within seconds.
16:57The rain was coming down hard enough that I could barely see him once he got 10 feet away.
17:01The literal moment he staggered out of sight, I remember I had an umbrella in my back seat.
17:07I sat there for a minute with the engine running, but then figured I might as well take advantage of the stop too.
17:13So I grabbed my umbrella, locked the door out of habit, and walked off in the opposite direction from where Leo had gone.
17:19I found a spot maybe 20 yards from the car, right at the edge of where the gravel met the crops.
17:26As I was standing there, I could have sworn I heard something rustling back near the car, something other than the deafening sounds of the storm.
17:34Without altering my stance, I looked back over my shoulder toward the car, but didn't see anything.
17:39I had the keys in my pocket and knew I locked the car, so I didn't think much of it.
17:45I finished up and headed back, surprised to find that Leo wasn't standing by the car yet.
17:51A few minutes passed, then 5, then another 5.
17:55Still no Leo though.
17:57I was getting pissed.
17:58What should have been a quick 20 minute drive home was turning into this whole 45 minute ordeal, and I had to be up early the next morning.
18:05I was about to honk the horn, when I saw movement in the side mirror.
18:10Leo was sprinting toward the passenger door, and even through the rain and darkness, I could tell something was wrong.
18:17The second he got in, before he even had the door closed, he was screaming at me to drive.
18:23As if some kind of survival instinct activated in me, I pulled out of there as fast as I could, but with the rain and all, it wasn't like I could speed.
18:30Leo started explaining that while he was doing his business, he saw what he thought was me somewhere to his right.
18:37The person started walking deeper into the field, and Leo, in his drunk logic, thought I was messing with him, or maybe that I was drunker than I'd let on.
18:46So he followed.
18:48He said he followed for a while, not entirely sure what I was doing and too drunk to analyze the situation properly.
18:55Eventually, the figure turned around, and Leo realized it definitely wasn't me.
18:59He said he couldn't make out any details in the darkness, but it was clearly someone else.
19:05The whole explanation took maybe 30 seconds, but before he could even finish talking, I felt the car start drifting sharply to the right, and then came the unmistakable sound of a flat tire.
19:16It was literally a worst-case scenario.
19:18Continuing the drive was not an option.
19:20The car was pulling way too much.
19:23Reluctantly, I pulled over.
19:25We were maybe half a mile from where we'd originally stopped.
19:29Not close enough for it to be an immediate danger, but not exactly far enough for me to feel comfortable.
19:35I snapped at Leo to get out of the car and help me out, since he was responsible for landing us in this mess.
19:40But when I walked around the car to inspect the flat, my anger at Leo became fear.
19:46Pure fear.
19:46There, lodged in the sidewall of my rear passenger tire, was a screwdriver.
19:53There was about a 0% chance that it happened coincidentally.
19:57Someone had jammed it in there, and with force too, judging from how deep the puncture was.
20:02Leo started freaking out, but I snapped at him to get it together.
20:05The two of us rushed to change the tire, which was especially nerve-wracking in the pouring rain.
20:11I didn't want to think about who had sabotaged my car or why, but with every passing second, my hands got shakier and shakier.
20:19I felt like someone was going to catch up to us at any moment.
20:22The fear was so sickening, I actually started feeling nauseous, which is something that no nightmare can ever match.
20:29I was finishing tightening up the last lug nuts, when all of a sudden, a scream rang out from somewhere behind us.
20:36It was clearly a woman's scream, which made the situation ten times scarier, since the person Leo claimed to have seen was a man.
20:43I threw the tools in the trunk, ditched the tire, and got back in the car as fast as I could.
20:48But as I was pulling away, Leo started tugging my arm, saying that we had to go back because someone was in trouble.
20:55I told him there was no way I was going back, even though a part of me felt like I was making the wrong decision.
21:01Leo called 911 as I drove away, giving the operator our location, or as close as he could figure it.
21:07Leo was furious with me the whole ride home, saying someone could be dying back there, but I couldn't bring myself to turn the car around.
21:14I was just too afraid.
21:15I didn't say much until we were pulling into my driveway, trying to ignore Leo calling me out for being a coward and whatnot.
21:23Instead of dropping Leo off, the two of us sat in my driveway to try and make sense of everything.
21:29Leo was convinced that the scream came from someone who was being attacked or stalked by the person he'd seen,
21:34and he felt guilty that we had just driven away instead of helping.
21:38But I wasn't so sure about that theory.
21:40If someone was out there doing something sinister to another person, why would they ever draw attention to themselves by puncturing a passing car's tire?
21:48To me, that seemed like the last thing you'd want to do if you were trying to hurt someone without being caught.
21:52Plus, if there really were a woman in trouble, she would have been able to see our car in headlights when we first pulled over.
21:59Why wait until after we had driven off to call for help?
22:03It didn't make any sense, and as I was explaining my rationale to Leo,
22:06I finally felt that I could vocalize what had, until then, just been a gut feeling telling me to get out of there.
22:12The scream must have been part of some kind of trap, like maybe there were multiple people out there.
22:18It wasn't out of the realm of possibility.
22:20But even that theory doesn't make much sense, which writing this all out is making me realize.
22:26Actually, that theory sounds equally as absurd.
22:29Who in their right mind would stop their car on that random road at that hour of the night?
22:34There's no way someone could have hatched a plot to lure a traveler out of their car there, in the pouring rain no less.
22:39Leo and I argued back and forth about it for a while, ultimately agreeing to disagree.
22:45I called the police station the next morning to see if they had found anything,
22:49but they said their officers had searched the area and found no evidence of anyone being there.
22:54Even more strangely, they hadn't found my tire either, which threw yet another wrinkle into things.
23:00Although I guess it's possible they just weren't looking in the right place.
23:04A few days later, Leo suggested that maybe it was actually the woman,
23:08not the man who had punctured my tire, maybe trying to draw our attention.
23:13Why they would do that instead of scream, I have no idea.
23:16The whole thing honestly has no explanation that sits right with me,
23:20but I really don't want to think about what it would mean if Leo's right.
23:24If there really had been someone in trouble out there, whose fate I sealed by driving away.
23:28Now let's see.
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