Before I share my experience, I must warn you to never EVER try this game…
Almost a month ago, I read a forum about paranormal games you could play and I saw one that caught my eye. It was a game where you would go to an old and abandoned house and summon the spirits of its previous owners. When they are summoned you must hide for 3 hours. If you are found and caught before 3 hours, you will be branded with a curse that will make your life a living hell. If you are not caught before 3 hours, the spirits will cease to exist.
As a lover of the paranormal, I figured I would give this a try as there was an abandoned house not even 15 minutes away from my house.
I drove to the house the following night with all the items I needed to summon the spirits. A bag of ashes, 4 capsules of fake blood, a rose, a bowler hat, a doll and a baseball.
The house has been abandoned for 89 years now, it used to be a mansion that anyone would dream to live in but after years of weathering and teenagers starting fires and having fun by breaking stuff in it, the house is now identical to those you would see in horror films. Dark, falling apart and all around creepy.
I pulled out my phone and opened up the forum that had the instructions for the game.
I entered the house and read the first step. Enter the adults bedroom. Place the rose on one side of the bed and the hat on the other. Pour a capsule of blood on each and scatter ashes on them.
I followed the instructions and now realised the purpose of the items. An item for each member of the family, the blood and ashes, I guess, to bind the spirits to them.
I left the parents room, or what was left of it. Which was just a tattered mattress and old curtains.
I read the next instruction. Enter a child’s room. Place the doll on the bed, pour a capsule of blood on it and scatter ashes on it.
I searched long and hard and found the child’s room. It turns out that the one room was shared by two children, which was odd for a house of this size. The room was quite big, but like the parents room, all that was in it was some tattered mattresses and ripped curtains but there was also a huge hole in the dead centre of the room where I assumed the supports gave away from being too old.
I followed the instructions and did the same with the bat with the other bed.
I left that room and read the next instruction. Go to the front door and knock on it 3 times. Good luck.
I went to the front door, preparing myself for what was to come. Before knocking I had a quick look around for a spot to hide. I figured my best bet was the basement as it was nice and big for hiding/running. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door 3 times. As soon as I finished knocking I heard lots of squeaking from the mattresses upstairs and I knew that there was no turning back now.
I made a dash to the entrance to the basement and had a look around for a spot. There was a crack in the wall that was big enough for me to fit in. I squeezed into the crack and realised that it actually led to another room in the basement so at least I had an easy escape if I was found. I pulled some old wooden crates in front of the crack and began to wait.
I heard slow, heavy footsteps but also some quick and light ones. I also heard cracking and moaning, something that sent shivers down my spine.
I think nearly an hour and a half had passed when I heard the basement door opening. I hear the slow footsteps make their was down and I began to breathe as quietly as I could. I heard a cracking sound make its way out around the room. I decided to take a risk and peek out from behind the crates and what I saw almost made me vomit.
I saw a tall, skinny figure wearing a very beaten and worn out suit and also the hat I used, with the blood dripping down from it. It’s skin was pale and bits of it were hanging loose and some of it has been peeled down. It’s face was skinny and looked malnourished. It was literally a dead body. It’s leg bones making a loud cracking noise with every step it took. It turned its head over to the crates in one quick move and I ducked my head back in just in time.
I had to hold my breath longer than I ever had to before as what I’m assuming was the father gripped the crate with its long, skinny fingers that also make the cracking noise with each movement. Then in the blink if an eye it pulled away the crate and sent its arm into the crack. I managed to lower myself a little to avoid its arm but as I saw that it’s arm was getting further into the crack I realised that it was trying to lean into the crack.
I had to get out of there before it was able to see into the crack so I tried shimmying my way out of the crack without making too much noise. I managed to get out the other side and as I looked back in I could see the arm squirming around. I ducked to the side of the crack as to be out of that things line of sight.
I wasn’t sure what room I was in but it was very small and had 2 doors at each side of the room. Luckily for me there was some old chairs and other bits of junk alike. I barricaded each door with a chair that was weighed down by some junk. This way, if they tried to get in I could have some time to think of an escape. As I waited for something to happen, I thought about the situations, that these were definitely not spirits and how stupid I was to do this. I looked at my phone and saw that 2 hours had passed, I only needed to stay out of their reach for another hour and I win.
40 more minutes had passed when the door began shaking and then banging. One of them was trying to ram the door down! I decided to quietly remove the barricade from the other door and sneak out. This door led me to the main room in the basement where the crack was. I felt that there was no other way of hiding here to I went to leave the basement.
I reached the bottom of the stairs when I look down an adjacent hallway and saw the father finally getting into the room. That was my cue to leave.
I sneaked up the stairs and heard a new set of cracking noises. I peeked out the doorway and looked to my left to see the daughter walking away from the basement. She wore a small flowery dress and had what was left of her hair tied up in to pigtails. She clutched the doll tight, which was dripping blood. Like her father, she was very skinny and her skin was hanging loose, her bones cracking too.
When she entered a new room I left the doorway. I saw the front door to my right and felt that I should just leave the house and leave is hellish game. I got to the front door and tried to pull it open but it was nearly impossible, it kept forcing itself shut. It was like trying to open a car door on a very windy day but just much harder. I had to give up before one of those things found me. I figured the upstairs was my patience bet as it was probably searched first so they won’t check there.
As I make my way up the old stairs I found that they were creaking with each step I took. That’s when I heard the cracking sound from upstairs come over. One was still up there. I got back down as fast as I could and went through a doorway by the bottom of the steps which led to the living room. But the son was there, looking just like the others, dragging his bloody baseball bat on the ground behind him. I quickly backed out of that room and back to the bottom of the steps where the mother was now coming down. She wore a similar dress to her daughter and had the rose tucked behind her ear, which left a trail of blood down her face.
I went down the hallway, only to be blocked by the daughter. My last hope was the basement but then the father emerged. I retreated to the front door, trying with all my strength to open it but I just couldn’t. So there is was, cornered by all 4 members with no escape. All I could do was accept my fate. I slid down the wall, curled up into a ball and started to tear up. The 4 sets of cracking got louder and louder and so did my crying until all of it stopped.
No more cracking, no more footsteps. I had won. I looked up to see no one. It was just me. If I had left the basement any sooner I would have died by that door. I got up and tied the door. It opened with no hassle at all.
I drove home a changed man that night. Like a shell-shocked soldier.
It’s been almost a month now and I feel comfortable talking about it now. None of my friends or family believe me so I’m writing about it here, the one place where people may just believe me. All I ask is that you do not do that game. The cracking sound still haunts me. Those things still appear in my dreams. Please. Please don’t do it…