Hanging Man: My Gift To You is Death

Hello, my name is Daniel. I am a college student at a university I will not disclose. I hope this letter is found so you can be spared my fate. I have doomed myself with my own stupidity and now...that thing is coming after me. The Hanging Man. A hideous creature that acts like judge, jury, and executioner for the damned. I let him out, and now he is looking to finish me.

One night I was in the library studying for a math test with a some friends, Matt and Sam. we had been there on more than one occasion; however, the librarians were very strict with the attic area on the third floor. any student who would go up there would be banned from the library for a week. me and my friends were curious, naturally. maybe they had something very valuable up there that we could possibly take to the authorities for some hidden crime. regardless of what our curiousity stemmed from, all three of us went up the stairs guarded by a red rope. Matt was the only one who was unsure. he seemed to be anxious all the time, constantly worried about his rep rather too the point where he didn't drink or do drugs like we did. after some coercing from myself, he shut up with his protests as we stealthily passed behind the rope.

A spiraling staircase lay in wait to the attic. we walked silently, trying not to draw attention to ourselves. with every step, I could hear the faintest sound: water. it sounded like water dripping in a faucet, softly at first. As we ascended higher, the noise got louder, almost deafening, but deep within the discordent audio, I heard something else: a faint shrieking, almost woman-like in nature. the hairs on my arms stood on end as we reached the end of the stairs. Matt and Sam looked like death. I can tell they weren't the only ones who were hearing it. a door was at the top of the stairs about five feet away. the ground we stood upon seemed damp, giving us a very odd feeling in the pits of our stomachs. something was telling us, screaming to us to leave but we were hooked, fixated on getting to the door. we sent Sam to open the door, fearing something may be inside. a low cackal emenated from the room as He opened the door, gently opening it. the door gave a protestant creek as all of us walked in.

We saw the corpse of a woman hanging by a makeshift noose, blood trickling from her mouth. she was our age, naked, with the carving of a lidless eye on her forehead. we all jumped back and uttered a swear under are breath. I started to vomit on the floor due to the pugent stench in the air Sam and Matt ran out of the room and the door shut on the way out with a thud. putrid corpse. I was left alone in a pitch black room with a I ran to the door and jiggled the handle, it wouldn't budge. Tears welled up in my eyes as I frantically screamed for my friends. no answer. all I heard was the high pitched screaming, louder than before. It wa so deafening that I cringed in anguish as it resonated in my head. I searched around for a light. I managed to find a switch near the doorway. I flipped the switch cautiously, just wanting to find a way out. the light sprung on as I glanced around the room. their were bloodied pictures on the wall of people hanging from a trees, babie's skulls being smashed by sledgehammers. I felt the nausea build up in my throat again. there were some incoherent phrases I couldn't understand, some in latin, some in german and french. as my eyes reached the wall on the rear wall. I saw one sentence, in all capital letters which sent a chill down my spine

I AM THE HANGING MAN AND MY GIFT TO YOU IS DEATH

As I read over the last few words I heard a cackling again along with the screaming. I screamed as my head pounded and my ears bled from the noised. I collapsed on the ground as a shadow rose over me and pinned me to the ground on my back. i was paralyzed with the weight and with fear. a man stood over me. a man, completely naked stood over me, his eyes were sucken in and black, his body was skinny and pale and had a greyish slimy color to it. his breath smelled damp and almost like burnt flesh. He gnashed his teeth into a horrid grin that had a row of sharp, yellow teeth. I tried to run but I couldn't. something was holding me down. he whispered to me and it sounded like his word could pierce into my skull. the last thing I remember was him, smiling and saying those awful words which still ressonate in my head

Thank you for opening the door and releasing me. Now my gift to you is death.

A cacophony of evil, hellish laughter came bellowing out of him. he scratched into my arms with fingernails that seemed like talons. I passed out as soon as I saw the blood, my world going dark as he descended upon me. I woke up on a cot in the nurses office at my school. my arm was bandaged. my head felt like ice. I looked at the time and realized that it was almost five in the afternoon. I tried to convince myself that it was all a dream, and that I must have injured myself on accident today. at much protest of the nurses, I rose up onto my feet and limped out of the office. I trudged through the snow back to my dorm room, the heels of my feet sinking in. I looked into the distance and saw the snow falling from the trees as I walked passed. as I was ten feet away from my dorm, I him again. The Hanging Man, he grinned at me and licked his lips as he pointed to my window. I rushed up the stairs to my room. I found both Matt and Sam dead, their bodies looked desicated, and they wer hanging from the ceiling. I vomited and tears fell like the snow outside. I lamented to myself, wishing I had never opened that door. I had set free a monster, and now it was after me. If anyone reads this, please know that I am sorry for passing this burden onto you. please do not ever sleep with your light off, or it might be drawn to you. please learn from my mistakes and protect yourself.

...

Local news bulletin. A trio of three college students were found dead today in their dorm rooms. a suicide letter was found with the bodies telling of a mysterious and evil creature. no evidence of the room talked about in said letter has been located and no bodies have been found. Police are looking into it, but there does not seem to be to any indication that this was a murder. more on this as it develops.