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WEBVTT
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I may not have grown up in a busy city,
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but I have been spoiled by a nearly endless amount
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of outdoor activities. Among those activities are hiking and camping,
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but one of the most enjoyable things about my hometown
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is the easy access to being on the water, specifically boating.
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I'm not even close to financially capable of owning a boat,
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but my friend Trevor is lucky enough to own one.
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Growing up, his family lived on the water and they've
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always had a decent sized boat. We would spend hours
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on that thing. When Trevor got his boating license, his
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dad would let us take the boat out. When we
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were in high school, we found a small island located
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on one of the boating routes we took. If I
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had to estimate the size of the island, I would
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guess that it was roughly the size of a big Walmart.
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All through high school, college, and early adulthood, we would
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frequent the island. Once in a while, there would be
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a few other people fishing or something like that, but
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most of the time it was empty. It was like
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our own little island. I assumed the reason it was
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empty a lot was that there wasn't really a good
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place to dock the boat. Obviously there was no dock,
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and it only had a small strip of shoreline. The
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rest of the island was surrounded by rocky cliffs and trees.
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Trevor would anchor the boat down, and we would swim
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the short distance to the shore. It seems like a hassle,
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but it really wasn't. Over the years, we explored every
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inch of the island. We even set up markers in
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certain areas so we knew where we were. In high school,
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we would play epic games of manhunt on the island.
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As we got older, it became more of a party
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spot where we could be loud and wild and do
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what people that age do. One of the crazier things
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about the island I noticed as I got older was
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that there was almost no wildlife on the island. No birds, nests,
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no small mammals, no reptiles. I mean, we rarely even
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saw bugs on the island, which is crazy. Whenever we
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would bring someone new to the island, we would tell
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them stories about it. Things like the island being cursed
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just to get a rise out of people. We made
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everything up, so I never believed there was anything to
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be scared of. Until one night, a few years ago,
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that I still can't really explain. Trevor had his own
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boat by this time in our lives. He suggested something
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to us that I couldn't believe we had never done before.
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He suggested that we stay overnight on the island. He
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could bring eight of us on his boat, and the
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eight of us could have a camp out on the island.
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It seemed like an amazing idea. especially because a girl
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named Megan and our friend group and I were crushing
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on each other at the time. This would be an
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ideal situation for us to get some alone time. We
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took off from the dock in the afternoon and arrived
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on the island around 4 in the afternoon. The first
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few hours were amazing. We gave Megan and the others
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a tour of the island. We showed them all the
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cool things we had discovered over the years. As night
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was falling, we cooked some hot dogs over a fire
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and started to have a couple of drinks. Up to
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this point of the night, It had been one of
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the best times I'd ever had on the island. Trevor
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kept the fire going and we all sat around it
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telling stories and just really enjoying the vibe. It was
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several hours into the night when I started to notice
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that Megan was acting a little strange. She was usually
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always laughing and smiling, but for some reason she was quiet.
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She looked almost like she was lost in thought. When
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I asked her if she was okay, she kept looking
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at the trees that were several feet away from where
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we were sitting. Before she answered me, She paused and
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Load full transcript
kept scanning the trees, which were just about as pitch
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black from where we were sitting. She said she kept
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hearing noises from the trees, noises that sounded like movement.
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I told her it was probably an animal, to which
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she brought up what we had told her earlier, that
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we had never seen an animal on the island before.
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I reminded her that we had also never been on
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the island overnight before, and that it was probably a
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nocturnal animal, and we had nothing to worry about. She
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still looked concerned as she continued squinting at the trees.
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She said, I don't think an animal's out there. I
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thought maybe she had too much to drink, but she
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barely finished her only beer. Everyone except Trevor and I
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started to get a little freaked out. Trevor's girlfriend, Rosie,
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asked if we were sure if we were the only
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ones on the island, and we were sure. There was
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no boat anchored anywhere, and we had walked the entire
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island earlier and didn't see any evidence that people were there.
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I was confident that the darkness was playing tricks on
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the eyes and ears of our friends. Once the fear
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came out, it was like we couldn't calm them down.
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Trevor pulled out a flashlight and told everyone to relax.
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He said he was going to point it at the
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trees and show everyone that nobody's in the woods and
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that their imagination had gotten off the rails. He slowly
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moved the flashlight beam horizontally across the tree line. Megan
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screamed and pointed. Everyone else jumped because of Megan. She
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said two people were standing in the woods as the
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flashlight passed. Nobody else saw it. Trevor moved the flashlight
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beam back, and sure enough, two people were standing next
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to the trees. The image of them staring back at
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us is one of the scariest things I've ever witnessed
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with my own eyes. They were almost completely hidden, which
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is why we didn't see them at first. Trevor jumped back,
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and the light beam went with him. When he got
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back up and shone the light in the same direction
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as the two people, they were gone. We started to panic.
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We definitely saw two people standing there, and now they weren't.
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Trevor started yelling in their direction, telling them to come out.
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Nothing happened. A few of us ran over there to
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intimidate them, which, in hindsight, was pretty stupid. When we
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got over there, nobody was there. We could hear laughing
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in the woods, but it was faint. I suggested to
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Trevor that we should leave, just in case these two
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meant us any kind of harm. I could tell Trevor's
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pride was hurt, but he ultimately agreed. We started to
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pack up our essentials and put the fire out. The
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entire time, Megan was telling us to hurry up because
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she could hear them laughing in the woods, but no
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matter where she put the light beam, she couldn't see them.
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We started back in the water so we could get
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on the boat. Just before Trevor and I could get
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on the boat, Megan screamed as she continued pointing the
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light onto the beach. The two people were now on
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the beach. I jumped onto the boat, and just as
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Trevor was getting on the boat, the woman called out
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Trevor's name. He stopped and looked back at her. She
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said that she wanted him to walk with her in
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the forest so that she could show him something cool.
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Then she could come back for the rest of us.
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Trevor almost went back to the island. It was almost
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like the only thought he had in that moment was
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going back. I grabbed him and essentially threw him back
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on the boat. He didn't say a thing or even
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mention that he looked like he was starting to head back.
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We got the anchor and departed from the island. As
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we were leaving, Megan kept the light on the island.
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The man was gone but the woman was on the
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shore watching us leave. We kept a light on her
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--> 00:07:05.920
until she walked back into the woods. Trevor took a
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small lap around the island to see if any boat
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was tied up anywhere and disturbingly there were none. These
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two people were already on the island when we arrived
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and we had no idea where they came from or
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how long they'd been there. The island was far enough
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away that it would be an incredibly hard swim especially
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for these two. Whenever I think about that night My
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brain goes to some insane places. There isn't anywhere on
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the island, at least that we know about, where you
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can hide. We would have heard them at some point
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when we were walking through the island in the afternoon.
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It was like these two people just appeared out of nowhere.
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Trevor and I went back to the island one more
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time after that night. It was the next day, and
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we went to try and see if there was any
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evidence of these two. A few feet into the woods,
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there was something leaning up against a tree. It was
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what looked like a human figure made from sticks. We
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didn't stay much longer after that. We got in Trevor's
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boat and left. I have no idea what happened for
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sure that night but I can confidently say that the
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island isn't right. For now I don't have any interest
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in going back but I am happy with the memories
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I made there. I want to share a story that's
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bothered me for a while now. Whenever I'm alone I
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tend to think back to this day, and my mind
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goes to some dark places. I've shared this story a
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couple of times, hoping that the person I tell will
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tell me that I'm crazy and overthinking things, but unfortunately,
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they think something bad happened as well. This is one
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of those stories that, if you think too much about it,
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you'll lose sleep. This happened to me a few years
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ago at the marina I used to keep my boat
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docked at. I've been docked at several marinas during my lifetime.
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And even though many of them have issues, they're not
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the type of place you think of scary events happening.
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Unless you're afraid of boats or water, marinas are usually
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harmless places. For most of my life, I've been alone.
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When I was old enough to get a boat, I
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saved my money and made it happen. Since I was
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19 years old, I've owned a boat. The summer of
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this story, I practically lived on the boat. That specific
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marina was quieter than most others, and I would just
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spend countless days relaxing, reading, fishing, and just living my life.
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One feature that this marina offered was something called a
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transit slip. What that means is that somebody can dock
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their boat at one of the docks for the night
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or a couple of days. The marina gives them a
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slip for an allotted amount of time. It's for people
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who travel or can't make it back to their specific marina.
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Over the years I've met tons of fascinating people from
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all over the country who use these transit slips to
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dock their boats. One afternoon this seemingly normal boat came
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to the marina and received a transit slip. The spot
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next to me was vacant so they docked the boat
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there for the night. As he was bringing the boat
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in I got out of mind to help him dock it.
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That's what a lot of boat people do. You help
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your neighbor. The guy yelled at me and told me
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he didn't want or need my help. I wasn't offended.
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I get some people don't want others near their boat,
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so I let him be. Once he secured his boat
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and tied it up, I introduced myself and told him
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that if he needed anything to just knock on my door.
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The guy looked at me, made almost no expression, and
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walked by me and back onto his boat. I'm a
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quiet guy, and I don't necessarily like small talk, but
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if someone says hello to me, I'll always respond. I
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was a little put off by this guy's lack of
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basic human interaction. After he walked by me and went
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back onto his boat, he went down into a small
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cabin and slammed the door. His boat was just big
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enough that he had a small walk-down cabin in the front,
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which I assume basically had a bed, and that's probably it.
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Before I walked back to my boat, I smelled something horrible.
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I started sniffing around my area and concluded that the
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smell was coming from his boat. It wasn't the smell
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of fish or body odor. It was worse than that.
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It was something overpowering. It was the worst thing I'd
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ever smelled in my life. The guy never gave me
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his name, but I noticed he had a coffee thermos
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next to the steering wheel, and the name on it
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said Buddy. About an hour had passed since he docked
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the boat, and I heard some commotion coming from his boat.
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It sounded like things smashing on the floor, and I
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heard a glass break. There was a small window on
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the side of his boat, but it was covered up.
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And then Buddy emerged from his cabin. He looked at me,
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and then kept walking down the dock toward the marina building.
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There was a shower and bathroom up there. I assumed
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that's where he was going. Even though I had tried
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helping him and talking to him, watching him walk away
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was actually the first time I got a decent look
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at him. He was about six feet tall and a
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husky fella. I would say he was in his late 60s.
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He was mostly bald, except for the white hair forming
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a horseshoe around his shining head. His most notable feature
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to me was his thick black glasses. They looked super
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magnified and took up half his face at least. He
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was gone about 10 minutes, maybe less. During that time,
241
00:12:05.929 --> 00:12:08.330
every few minutes, I would hear something banging around in
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00:12:08.370 --> 00:12:11.250
his boat with more of that muffled sound. I thought
243
00:12:11.289 --> 00:12:14.169
maybe he had a dog in there. When he came back,
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00:12:14.490 --> 00:12:17.190
I tried talking to him again. I told him that
245
00:12:17.210 --> 00:12:19.049
I heard something in his boat and that I just
246
00:12:19.070 --> 00:12:20.710
wanted to let him know if he had a dog.
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00:12:20.850 --> 00:12:22.570
There was a big field next to the marina where
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00:12:22.590 --> 00:12:24.549
he could take the dog out and let it run around.
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00:12:25.330 --> 00:12:26.879
He came over to the back of my boat where
250
00:12:26.919 --> 00:12:29.940
I was sitting, leaned down to me, and said, I
251
00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:33.360
don't have a dog. It's only me. Then he stormed
252
00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:35.679
back onto his boat and back down into the cabin.
253
00:12:36.360 --> 00:12:38.490
I couldn't imagine what was making all that noise while
254
00:12:38.529 --> 00:12:40.789
he was gone. If he didn't have a pet and
255
00:12:40.830 --> 00:12:42.970
he claimed he was alone, I had no idea what
256
00:12:43.009 --> 00:12:45.490
I was hearing. Once he was back on his boat,
257
00:12:45.789 --> 00:12:49.789
I didn't hear any more commotion or muffled sounds. The
258
00:12:49.830 --> 00:12:53.289
rest of the night was mostly uneventful. Every so often,
259
00:12:53.389 --> 00:12:55.509
I would catch that faint smell again if the wind
260
00:12:55.549 --> 00:12:59.009
started blowing. I got ready for bed around 10 that night.
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00:13:00.049 --> 00:13:02.809
After seeing him on the dock several hours prior, he
262
00:13:02.870 --> 00:13:05.190
never came back out of his cabin for the entire night.
263
00:13:06.580 --> 00:13:08.700
At 3 in the morning, I woke up to that
264
00:13:08.779 --> 00:13:12.259
same sound. It sounded like a struggle of some kind
265
00:13:12.340 --> 00:13:16.000
happening on his boat. Except this time, I heard Buddy.
266
00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:19.519
He kept saying shut up with an aggressive tone. It
267
00:13:19.559 --> 00:13:22.399
sounded like he was trying to be quiet. I didn't
268
00:13:22.419 --> 00:13:26.120
hear another voice except for whatever that strained, muffled sound was.
269
00:13:27.220 --> 00:13:29.460
I heard him yell the word enough and then everything
270
00:13:29.500 --> 00:13:32.419
was quiet again. I stayed up the rest of the
271
00:13:32.470 --> 00:13:35.110
night after that. I tried to think about what I
272
00:13:35.149 --> 00:13:38.570
heard and I just wasn't sure. The rest of the night,
273
00:13:38.690 --> 00:13:41.169
Buddy was quiet and there was no other commotion over there.
274
00:13:42.169 --> 00:13:44.730
At 7 that morning, Buddy left his cabin with a
275
00:13:44.769 --> 00:13:47.610
duffel bag and was heading for the bathrooms. I knew
276
00:13:47.690 --> 00:13:49.990
it was a bad idea, but something compelled me to
277
00:13:50.049 --> 00:13:52.269
go to his boat and see if anyone was in trouble.
278
00:13:53.409 --> 00:13:54.769
I waited for him to get all the way down
279
00:13:54.820 --> 00:13:57.600
to the dock and out of sight. I snuck over
280
00:13:57.639 -->
00:13:59.659
to his boat, and as soon as I set foot
281
00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:03.320
on it, the smell almost knocked me over. I went
282
00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:05.220
to the cabin door and saw that it had a
283
00:14:05.299 --> 00:14:07.960
custom door and lock on it. I knocked on the
284
00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:10.799
door and asked if anyone was inside. I was trying
285
00:14:10.840 --> 00:14:12.990
to think of some lie just in case I got caught,
286
00:14:13.350 --> 00:14:16.429
but instead of silence or somebody answering the door, I
287
00:14:16.470 --> 00:14:19.429
heard that strained, muffled sound again, and this time it
288
00:14:19.610 --> 00:14:22.710
was much louder since I was so close. I tried
289
00:14:22.789 --> 00:14:25.250
asking again if anyone was down there, and it was
290
00:14:25.269 --> 00:14:28.159
like the sound got even louder, almost like it was pleading.
291
00:14:29.139 --> 00:14:31.059
I didn't know what to do, and I didn't know
292
00:14:31.080 --> 00:14:33.240
when Buddy was going to come back, so I left.
293
00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:36.159
I ran back to my boat and down into my cabin.
294
00:14:36.740 --> 00:14:40.129
I contemplated calling the police, but I didn't. It's easy
295
00:14:40.190 --> 00:14:42.590
for someone who wasn't in this situation hearing it now
296
00:14:42.710 --> 00:14:45.210
to say they would have called the cops, but hindsight's
297
00:14:45.250 --> 00:14:49.169
always 20-20. In these moments, as you're unfolding, you have
298
00:14:49.210 --> 00:14:51.629
a million things running through your mind, and one of
299
00:14:51.669 --> 00:14:55.629
those things is that you're overreacting and overthinking things. That's
300
00:14:55.669 --> 00:14:59.070
how I felt. I had to be overthinking whatever was happening.
301
00:15:00.049 --> 00:15:02.269
While I was down there staring at my phone, I
302
00:15:02.289 --> 00:15:05.149
looked up at my window, and standing right there was Buddy.
303
00:15:05.980 --> 00:15:08.860
It made me jump. He was looking at me through
304
00:15:08.899 --> 00:15:11.620
my window, but he didn't say anything or do anything.
305
00:15:12.370 --> 00:15:14.210
He looked at me for a moment and then went
306
00:15:14.250 --> 00:15:16.850
back to his boat. I watched him as he walked
307
00:15:16.909 --> 00:15:19.830
back toward the door. He stopped at his cabin door
308
00:15:19.870 --> 00:15:22.110
for a moment before he opened it, almost like he
309
00:15:22.129 --> 00:15:25.409
was thinking about something. He started to untie his boat
310
00:15:25.490 --> 00:15:28.909
and leave the dock. This time I didn't offer to help, obviously.
311
00:15:30.049 --> 00:15:32.250
This guy gave me the worst vibes I've ever felt
312
00:15:32.289 --> 00:15:35.980
from another human being. I've met rude and vile people before,
313
00:15:36.059 --> 00:15:38.399
but for some reason, this guy gave me a feeling
314
00:15:38.419 --> 00:15:40.679
in the pit of my stomach that I've never felt before.
315
00:15:41.860 --> 00:15:44.559
As I watched him sail away, I never saw him again.
316
00:15:45.460 --> 00:15:48.720
This happened years ago, and I'm still plagued by this experience.
317
00:15:49.580 --> 00:15:52.230
I try to tell myself that I'm overreacting, but then
318
00:15:52.259 --> 00:15:55.470
I think, what if I'm not overreacting? What if that
319
00:15:55.490 --> 00:15:57.509
guy had some person tied up in his boat, and
320
00:15:57.610 --> 00:16:00.159
I did nothing? I grew up in an area where
321
00:16:00.179 --> 00:16:02.779
you could constantly hear your neighbors fighting with one another.
322
00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:05.200
And it sounded like someone could die at any second
323
00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:08.519
and nobody called the police. And nobody ever died. You
324
00:16:08.539 --> 00:16:11.580
kind of just ignored other people's personal business. And that's
325
00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:14.940
unfortunately what I did here. I'm not one for having
326
00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:17.769
an overreactive imagination. But this is the one time I
327
00:16:17.809 --> 00:16:20.809
hope that my thoughts are incorrect. And hopefully Buddy isn't
328
00:16:20.830 --> 00:16:34.529
the monster I think he might have been. I don't
329
00:16:34.549 --> 00:16:37.570
believe in curses. I'm sharing the story of something that
330
00:16:37.629 --> 00:16:39.840
happened to me a few months ago, mainly because I'm
331
00:16:39.909 --> 00:16:43.399
interested in what people think. I figured that, as a
332
00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:47.039
modern society, we've moved past things like curses and folklore.
333
00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:50.340
A little more than three months ago, me and my
334
00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:53.019
other two friends, Dustin and Chris, went out on Dustin's
335
00:16:53.080 --> 00:16:56.139
boat to fish. Whenever the three of us are fortunate
336
00:16:56.179 --> 00:16:58.059
enough to have the same day off, we try to
337
00:16:58.100 --> 00:17:00.620
take advantage of the opportunity and get out on his boat.
338
00:17:01.340 --> 00:17:03.860
We tended to leave Dustin's house around dawn and spend
339
00:17:03.879 --> 00:17:06.140
the majority of the morning fishing whenever we went out.
340
00:17:06.769 --> 00:17:10.569
This specific day was no different. About 30 minutes into
341
00:17:10.609 --> 00:17:13.549
our trip, I heard Dustin start to mumble under his breath.
342
00:17:14.569 --> 00:17:17.049
We asked him what was wrong, and he pointed up ahead.
343
00:17:17.890 --> 00:17:20.970
Just on the horizon was a beautiful boat. I'm not
344
00:17:21.009 --> 00:17:22.880
a boat guy, even though I fish as much as
345
00:17:22.930 --> 00:17:25.460
I can. I don't know the first thing about boats.
346
00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:28.140
Chris and I saw a boat on the horizon and
347
00:17:28.180 --> 00:17:31.329
nothing more. but Dustin noticed something as we got closer.
348
00:17:32.109 --> 00:17:34.990
It was barely noticeable at first, but the
closer we got,
349
00:17:35.339 --> 00:17:38.220
the more noticeable it was. The boat had an orange
350
00:17:38.299 --> 00:17:41.039
flag flying on it. On the orange flag were these
351
00:17:41.099 --> 00:17:44.140
two black shapes. I didn't know this at the time,
352
00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:47.119
but Dustin informed us that this specific flag was known
353
00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:52.140
as a VDS flag, which stands for Visual Distress Signal. Ordinarily,
354
00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:55.079
we would never approach another boat like this, especially on
355
00:17:55.140 --> 00:17:57.390
such a massive body of water. but if they were
356
00:17:57.430 --> 00:18:00.809
really in distress, we needed to help. As we got
357
00:18:00.849 --> 00:18:04.130
close to the boat, Dustin slowed down. He shouted from
358
00:18:04.170 --> 00:18:06.970
his boat if everything was okay, but there was no response.
359
00:18:07.930 --> 00:18:10.559
As Dustin maintained control of his boat, I tried looking
360
00:18:10.599 --> 00:18:12.440
at the other boat to see if I could see anything.
361
00:18:13.400 --> 00:18:16.640
From my vantage point, I couldn't see anyone. The boat
362
00:18:16.680 --> 00:18:19.380
was huge. Dustin told us the size of the boat
363
00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:22.259
is considered a yacht, a small one, but still way
364
00:18:22.279 --> 00:18:25.690
bigger than Dustin's little fishing boat. Chris asked if we
365
00:18:25.710 --> 00:18:29.640
should just leave. Dustin wasn't sure. I tried calling for help,
366
00:18:29.799 --> 00:18:31.599
but there was no service at all where we were.
367
00:18:32.279 --> 00:18:34.000
I told Dustin I would jump over to the boat
368
00:18:34.059 --> 00:18:36.700
and make sure everything was okay on their end. He
369
00:18:36.740 --> 00:18:39.460
didn't love the idea. In case some older guy was
370
00:18:39.539 --> 00:18:41.579
sick or something, and then he sees me on the boat,
371
00:18:41.740 --> 00:18:43.240
he didn't want them to have a heart attack or
372
00:18:43.309 --> 00:18:46.329
something horrible. That was even more reason for me to
373
00:18:46.369 --> 00:18:49.650
jump over and make sure everything was okay. We argued
374
00:18:49.690 --> 00:18:51.329
for a bit, but then he agreed to let me
375
00:18:51.369 --> 00:18:53.150
jump over onto the other boat when I told him
376
00:18:53.190 --> 00:18:55.970
I was CPR certified and somebody inside may need help.
377
00:18:56.849 --> 00:18:59.049
Dustin got as close as he could, and I jumped
378
00:18:59.069 --> 00:19:01.759
to the back of the yacht. I kept yelling, asking
379
00:19:01.819 --> 00:19:03.859
if anybody was there, and letting them know that I
380
00:19:03.900 --> 00:19:06.660
was answering the distress call. I wanted to make sure
381
00:19:06.700 --> 00:19:09.599
I was loud enough to announce myself. On the bow
382
00:19:09.640 --> 00:19:11.339
of the boat where I just boarded, there were a
383
00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:13.819
bunch of cushioned seats
and a table, and it looked
384
00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:16.859
like somebody had been there not long ago. Four fishing
385
00:19:16.920 --> 00:19:18.970
rods looked like they were getting ready to be used.
386
00:19:19.789 --> 00:19:21.930
On the table were three coffee mugs that still had
387
00:19:22.029 --> 00:19:24.539
steam coming out of them. one of the seats was
388
00:19:24.599 --> 00:19:27.180
a nice Michigan State pullover jacket that looked like it
389
00:19:27.220 --> 00:19:30.019
had just been thrown down. I made my way to
390
00:19:30.059 --> 00:19:33.279
a sliding door that was wide open. I continued shouting,
391
00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:36.700
asking if anyone needed help. I noticed while I was
392
00:19:36.740 --> 00:19:39.410
walking to the sliding door that there were several muddy
393
00:19:39.470 --> 00:19:41.970
footprints of various sizes all over the back part of
394
00:19:41.990 --> 00:19:45.470
the boat. On its own, that's not that weird, especially
395
00:19:45.490 --> 00:19:48.569
if you're out fishing. The weird part is that it
396
00:19:48.609 --> 00:19:51.140
seemed like nobody was on this boat even with all
397
00:19:51.180 --> 00:19:54.220
this evidence. I walked into the room, and it was
398
00:19:54.259 --> 00:19:57.099
a mess. All the cabinets were open, and there was
399
00:19:57.140 --> 00:20:00.099
stuff all over the floor. Straight ahead was a bed
400
00:20:00.140 --> 00:20:03.559
that was tucked into this little nook. In the right situation,
401
00:20:03.779 --> 00:20:06.680
it looked cozy. Nothing was on the bed except for
402
00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:08.930
a bunch of pillows and blankets that were all balled
403
00:20:08.990 --> 00:20:11.680
up against the walls. The last place I needed to
404
00:20:11.720 --> 00:20:15.380
look was the bathroom, and the door was closed. My
405
00:20:15.420 --> 00:20:18.509
heart was racing, not because I was scared, but because
406
00:20:18.549 --> 00:20:20.549
I half expected to see a person in there passed
407
00:20:20.670 --> 00:20:24.509
out or worse. I slowly opened the door, and just
408
00:20:24.549 --> 00:20:26.809
like the rest of the boat, the bathroom was empty.
409
00:20:27.849 --> 00:20:30.039
I walked back into the big room and started walking
410
00:20:30.059 --> 00:20:33.079
toward the sliding door. Out of the corner of my eye,
411
00:20:33.380 --> 00:20:36.940
I saw something moving. I turned around quickly, and I
412
00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:39.839
saw the pillows falling off the bed and the blanket shifting.
413
00:20:41.259 --> 00:20:44.160
A frail, older woman sat up and looked right at me.
414
00:20:44.869 --> 00:20:46.650
I tried to assure the woman that I'm only here
415
00:20:46.670 --> 00:20:49.710
to help because I saw the flag. The woman didn't
416
00:20:49.750 --> 00:20:54.609
react at all. She sat there completely emotionless. She barely
417
00:20:54.670 --> 00:20:57.039
looked like she was breathing. If I didn't see her
418
00:20:57.079 --> 00:20:59.299
move a second ago and then blink a few times,
419
00:20:59.660 --> 00:21:02.900
I'd think she was dead. She was small, her hair
420
00:21:02.940 --> 00:21:05.579
was braided, and her skin was tan and looked like rubber.
421
00:21:06.180 --> 00:21:08.339
Her eyes just looked back as she stared at me.
422
00:21:08.940 --> 00:21:12.119
It felt like she was staring through me. I tried
423
00:21:12.140 --> 00:21:14.440
my best to sound comforting and I told the woman
424
00:21:14.460 --> 00:21:16.319
that I was going back to Dustin's boat and that
425
00:21:16.339 --> 00:21:19.099
we were going to help. I ran out and jumped
426
00:21:19.160 --> 00:21:21.700
back over to Dustin's boat. I told them we need
427
00:21:21.740 --> 00:21:24.119
to ride until we can call for help. I told
428
00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:26.019
them about the woman alone on the boat and she
429
00:21:26.039 --> 00:21:27.960
looked like she was in shock or something because she
430
00:21:28.009 --> 00:21:31.390
was hiding and then how she just sat there. While
431
00:21:31.430 --> 00:21:33.730
Dustin and Chris were trying to understand what I was saying,
432
00:21:34.009 --> 00:21:36.269
the woman appeared from the sliding door and walked to
433
00:21:36.309 --> 00:21:38.609
the back of the boat where the orange flag was flying.
434
00:21:39.529 --> 00:21:42.579
She slowly started to lower the flag Once she had
435
00:21:42.619 --> 00:21:44.759
it in her hands, she threw it under the table
436
00:21:44.920 --> 00:21:48.380
and slowly walked back inside. We didn't know what to do.
437
00:21:48.920 --> 00:21:51.140
She got rid of the flag, but I argued that
438
00:21:51.160 --> 00:21:54.519
this woman didn't look well. She looked like she needed assistance.
439
00:21:55.460 --> 00:21:58.069
Dustin agreed and started heading back in the direction we
440
00:21:58.109 --> 00:21:59.970
came until I could get a signal on my phone.
441
00:22:00.509 --> 00:22:03.210
Once I got a signal, I called the police. I
442
00:22:03.250 --> 00:22:05.569
told them about the boat with the distress flag and
443
00:22:05.589 --> 00:22:07.970
that the woman was alone. Even though there was a
444
00:22:08.029 --> 00:22:10.349
lot of evidence to the contrary, they said they were
445
00:22:10.369 --> 00:22:12.960
going to take a look. Not knowing how long that
446
00:22:12.980 --> 00:22:15.599
would take, we decided to head back, just in case
447
00:22:15.619 --> 00:22:18.660
she needed help before the police boat arrived. When we
448
00:22:18.700 --> 00:22:20.960
got to the location where the boat just was, it
449
00:22:21.000 --> 00:22:23.599
was gone. We had no idea what way she could
450
00:22:23.640 --> 00:22:26.940
have gone, so we couldn't follow her. We never made
451
00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:29.619
it fishing that morning. We were so worked up from
452
00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:31.740
all of that, we just decided to head back and
453
00:22:31.900 --> 00:22:34.680
hang out at Dustin's house. We never heard back from
454
00:22:34.700 --> 00:22:36.980
the police. I have no idea if they followed up
455
00:22:37.059 --> 00:22:38.819
on it or just ignored it because there was no
456
00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:42.480
boat when they arrived. Something happened that morning. When I
457
00:22:42.519 --> 00:22:44.920
think about all the pieces, I add them up, and
458
00:22:44.940 --> 00:22:48.500
the results always terrify me. This woman summoned us with
459
00:22:48.539 --> 00:22:51.220
a distress flag, and after I boarded the boat, she
460
00:22:51.259 --> 00:22:54.769
took the flag down and didn't speak one word. I
461
00:22:54.809 --> 00:22:57.109
can't figure out why she was hiding, and why there
462
00:22:57.130 --> 00:22:59.450
was so much evidence of others on the boat, mainly
463
00:22:59.490 --> 00:23:02.869
the hot, steaming mugs of coffee, but only this small,
464
00:23:03.190 --> 00:23:06.390
ragged woman. The reason why some of my friends think
465
00:23:06.450 --> 00:23:09.069
I was cursed is after boarding that boat that morning,
466
00:23:09.349 --> 00:23:12.420
I've had a streak of terrible luck. Everything from losing
467
00:23:12.460 --> 00:23:16.410
my job to totaling my car. Dustin's elderly father told
468
00:23:16.470 --> 00:23:18.990
us about some old folklore about a curse on the water,
469
00:23:19.410 --> 00:23:22.029
but I don't believe that for a second. I think
470
00:23:22.049 --> 00:23:24.490
the bad luck is just a coincidence, and blaming it
471
00:23:24.549 --> 00:23:27.410
on a curse is a convenient scapegoat. I don't know
472
00:23:27.450 --> 00:23:30.069
what happened that morning. I know what I saw, and
473
00:23:30.089 --> 00:23:33.029
I didn't see anyone else on that boat. I'm sharing
474
00:23:33.069 --> 00:23:35.069
this story in the hopes that it gets read, and
475
00:23:35.089 --> 00:23:37.710
I would love to hear what other people think. Am
476
00:23:37.789 --> 00:23:40.650
I cursed? Did this woman commit a heinous crime before
477
00:23:40.690 --> 00:23:43.490
I showed up? Or is everything just a wild and
478
00:23:43.569 --> 00:23:44.569
crazy coincidence?