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It was a very typical day, doing much of my typical maintenance work when I ran into what would become a very atypical situation. While clearing some overgrowth of brush on my land, I uncovered a hole. It was nothing to behold yet, but I did notice that some of the foliage and plants close to the hole were in worse shape than others. Being in the late fall season, I wouldn’t take note of this until sometime later.
After clearing a small perimeter around the hole, the first oddity I noticed was the preciseness of it. When an animal or person digs a hole, you can immediately tell. No circle is ever dug out too precisely. But this thing, it was immaculately round. In fact, it struck me so odd that I got out a tape measure and checked it. It was exactly 6 feet in circumference. The next anomaly I noticed was how dark this thing was.
“Hello?” I yelled into the hole. The resounding echo was much more than I expected. Holding my phone’s flashlight over it, everything looked like normal earth until about 10 feet down when everything seemed to vanish. Scratching my head, I looked around and found a small branch which I dropped into the hole. Very quickly, it disappeared and I never heard it hit the bottom.
Leaning in, I squinted to make out anything in the hole. A strange feeling overcame me, and a thought pushed itself into my head.
“Come in...”
I jumped back and scrambled away, mentally batting away the thought.
“Where the hell did that come from?”
I went about the rest of my day in a haze, trying not to think about the strange hole in my backyard. The more I ignored it, the more my mind drifted back to it. By the end of the day though, the strange morning felt like a dream. That night, I had recurring nightmares of falling into a deep chasm. The next week, I got a hold of my neighbor Randy.
“Oh, hey Eric! How are ya?”
“I’m okay I guess, Randy. Say, I was wondering if you wanted to come over for a bit.”
“Yeah, I guess so. Is...everything okay? You sound kinda tired.”
“I uh...haven’t slept too good lately. I’ll tell you more about it when you’re here.”
“Okay. Glad to help.”
Randy was simply the best neighbor, you couldn’t ask for better. He was a big man to say the least, but he had an even bigger heart. I felt relieved to have someone else check out this weird anomaly in my yard. He was a sensible guy and very pragmatic so I valued his input.
Within an hour, Randy came over and we chatted over some beers. Eventually the question came up about the hole. I briefly told him about the weird aspects of it, and he was instantly intrigued. Before long I brought him to the yard and over to the freshly cut overgrowth that once owned the hole.
“You do this?” He said with a furrowed brow.
“No, not at all. You see any loose dirt?” Randy glanced about, then shook his head.
“That is odd. I’ve never seen something so symmetrical.”
“That’s exactly what I said.”
“Yeah, real odd....”
“Shine your light down it.”
He obliged, and I knew by the look on his face he seemed bewildered. Randy looked up to the sky where the sun beamed overhead and back to the hole.
“Darker than it should be, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
Randy leaned in as close as he could safely, then recoiled suddenly.
“Did you hear it?” I said.
“It?” He sputtered, a look of extreme distress now lined his face. “You mean, her? That’s what I heard.” I glanced back at him, not understanding.
“I gotta go.” Randy took off without another word, and I stood for a moment in shock.
What did he hear? What could have made him so upset?70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIocPZ0vneK
I didn’t hear from Randy for the next week, and I finally went over to check on him. He spoke to me behind his screen door, which was unusual as he is a really friendly guy. Even through the obscured view I could tell he was disheveled.
“Randy, are you alright?” He looked in my direction and right through me.
“Twenty three years, Eric. Twenty three years and gone. Now this....I just can’t, Eric. I just can’t.”
He closed the door and locked it, and it was a while before I saw Randy again. I picked my brain all day trying to figure out what he meant by 23 years, until it hit me. My dear neighbor was a widower, and they were married 23 years before she passed. Had he...had he heard the voice of belated wife? It was a question I waned to ask, but it wasn’t worth the extra pain. Whatever Randy heard, it was enough for him right now.
So at this point I still didn’t know much, but I knew one thing...I wanted to cover that hole. I tried manually shoveling, but nothing came of it. I rented farm equipment, widened the hole just enough so I could dump large mounds of dirt into it, but I could never fill it. After these attempts, I was officially obsessed.
Over the next six months, I dedicated myself to studying the anomolies of this hole that existed in my own backyard. It felt like something sinister was close to me, and I needed to keep an eye on it to feel safe. The following are things I’ve learned about the hole.
Animals will not go anywhere near the hole. Any attempts result in aggravated behavior and possible harm. They will do anything to keep away from it, including biting or scratching. The depth of the hole cannot be determined. I’ve used measured tape as long as three football fields, and no sign of a bottom. When standing too close to the hole, anyone will feel an urge to flee. I’ve had ten volunteers for this and I’ve noticed that sometimes they are accompanied by a thought or a voice that isn’t theirs. I tried videotaping the hole, and every attempt is stifled after six seconds of recording. Even during the six seconds of footage, there are disturbances in the footage like indecipherable images and EVP’s that hinder the documentation.
I’ve reached out to the closest scientific community and while reluctant, they sent someone out to scout my claim. After showing them the hole for only five minutes along with my accompanying evidence, they sent out a team in less than a week. The aire in our small community is now charged with excitement, but I can’t bring myself to be excited. I’m only filled with the insatiable need to know. My farm has fallen in disrepair, as my actions and thoughts all revolve around the hole.
The first task completed by the scientists was to record any audio. They had a microphone attached to a cable...I couldn’t tell you exactly how long it was but I know that it was way longer than anything I’d used yet. Hoping for answers, I stood by the hole as they lowered it further into the chasm. The team of scientists stood by the laptop they’d synced with the microphone, anxiously anticipating their findings. As they got to the end of the cable line, noise began to creep through the speakers of their computer.
It was too soft at first, so they cranked up the audio as loud as they could manage. When we all could hear it, we went pale instantly. There wasn’t any way to describe it accurately, but the sound....it was like listening to pure and unadulterated cries of agony. Low moans of pain, higher cries of crying for help, and layers of white noise that sounded like hissing. Even this couldn’t truly place what we heard, but the best I can say was that we were listening to lost souls or even the sounds of Hell itself.
“Turn it off.” One of the scientists urged. We were all too petrified and shocked at the moment, so we only looked at each other.
“TURN IT OFF NOW!” He screamed, and I began yelling at the computer guy to stop it. Even after the sound stopped, the man clutched his ears and fell to the ground. When the EMT’s arrived, he was still rocking back and forth and begging us to make it stop. He had a complete mental breakdown before our eyes, and only a short time after investigating this hole. Everyone awkwardly stood around, not knowing what to do.
“This....I think this should be covered up.” One of them said.
“I’ve tried,” I responded. She whipped around to me in surprise, so the force in my voice was apparent. “Those piles of dirt you see everywhere....that’s me trying to fill it in.”
“We could study it more....maybe if we knew what it is...” The other scientists seemed to conteomplate this. “Maybe we’d know what to do with it.”
“I don’t like it,” I cut in again. “The more I know about this thing, the less I want to know. My neighbor Randy, he’s barely himself anymore.”
“Could we maybe...talk to him?”
“No, absolutely not! He’s hanging on by a thread, bringing that up is only going to send him over the edge.”
The sound of a rustling bush snapped our heads around. Footsteps could be heard pounding through the woods.
“What was that?”
“Hold on,” I cautioned them, holding my hand up. I moved over to a clearing in the trees where I had a good view of Randy’s house. As I suspected, Randy appeared and made a beeline into his house. We all took a break for the day, relaxing inside my house and making possible plans for the future of this project. For today though, we’d seen enough...
I woke up that night from yet another uneasy sleep. While a sound didn’t wake me, I had that creeping suspicion that it was the reason I woke up. Looking around the house, I found all the scientists to be asleep. A snap of a branch pulled my attention back outside. As I lifted my blinds to look, the sound of one of my guests made me jump.
“Sorry,” she said with a hand over her mouth. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m a light sleeper.”
“It’s okay,” I said, scanning my eyes over the yard again. “I woke up, then thought I heard someone outside.” She soon joined me, and the sound of a branch came yet again.
“There,” she pointed to a section of the yard.
“Near the hole....ugh...this feels like a scary story waiting to happen.”
“That’s why you leave it alone and don’t investigate, Mr. Eric.”
I grabbed my flashlight and a gun, turning back to her with a smile before I went out the door.
“But in the scary story, they always investigate.”
She offered to be a lookout for me from the porch to which I quickly agreed. I made my way through the yard and to the clearing near the hole without a sound. When I clicked my light on, I gasped at the sight of a large silhouette. I couldn’t make out many details, only enough to know it wasn’t facing me. Maybe it was...
“Randy?” I called. The figure shuffled forward, then threw something into the hole. “Hey, what are you doing?” The person turned around, and I was somewhat relieved to see Randy looking back at me.
“What the hell....what are you doing?” Randy only stared back with empty, sullen eyes.
“Randy? What are you....”
“I’ll soon be with her now,” Randy replied. His tone was lifeless, making the hairs stand up on my neck. Then he broke into long peals of laughter, and took a step backward. Mind you, this laughter was nothing like Randy’s warm, infectious laugh. It felt unnatural, like something inside him was making him do it.
“Randy, stop!” The last I recall from this moment was Randy holding his arms to the side like a crucifix and falling backwards as his cackling laugher faded away.
“RANDY!” I ran to the edge of the hole, only catching the faintest glmpse of him. Before long, we were all around the hole, calling out to him. It was useless and desperate, as we all knew the end result. We soon called the police and made an official report. The next day we found out exactly what Randy was up to, and we’re still haunted by it to this day.
Police found shreds of cloth near the hole and Randy’s bed, so the information was pieced together. Apparently Randy had broken into the town cemetery that night, and dug up his poor wife. He wrapped her in the comforter from his bed and tossed her into the hole. Losing his grip on reality, he wanted to be united with his belated spouse. Grief can do awful things to a person, but I always blamed it on that damn hole. Things didn’t end there either.
Some folks chalk this next bit up to hysteria around the hole or people wanting attention, but there are people to this day who swear they’ve seen a woman matching the description of Randy’s wife around his property. I visit the hole everyday, hoping to one day understand what it is exactly. You’d think I’m crazy to tell you, but I thought once or twice I heard Randy screaming from within the hole. That’s just the thing about it, you’re never quite sure if what you experience around the hole is real or not. All we know is that there’s nothing good about that thing.
I want so desperately to sell this place. To get away from that hole would be the best thing for me, but every time I even think about I’ll go right back to wanting to know more. My psychiatrist has tried to help me, but nothing’s working. I’m still not sleeping and I’m just so tired. Even when I do sleep, I see that hole in my nightmares. I hear the cries of the damned and all the those lost souls. Sometimes I can hear my own voice among them, but that’s not the worst of it.
There are times lately when I’ll wake up and find myself standing over the hole, peering into the open void of damnation. I want to jump into it, but some part of me tells me to stay away. I’ve even broken through restraints to get to it. Everything feels so inevitable and hopeless.
Just last night, I found myself in this dream where I’m in the bottom of the pit, and I’m looking straight up. People lean over into the hole and call to me. So many people call to me, but my voice never comes out. I feel so lonely down here but that’s okay. It’s just a bad dream, and before long I’ll wake up.
Any time now...
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