Thunderbirds Are Go

Range of Horror

by Lee Homer

Disclaimer: All rights reserved, Inspired immensely by the true events of the famed Skinwalker Ranch in Utah, I wanted to write a small horror story that was originally intended for this year's Halloween Special, but I was worried that I'd lose the story ideas by then. Reviews are welcome and I hope you enjoy them!

Day #05

John's Statement.

Alan was in a bad way. His tumble down the trail shocked the whole family. None of us could begin to imagine what happened to him and Gordon during their hiking trip. To be honest, I didn't know what to believe any more. We had only been on the ranch for a few days and already things were happening. The activity would vary from small incidences to large ones that would catch our attention. A lot of the time, things would move around in the kitchen and the bedrooms. One evening, I decided to assist Grandma with serving dinner. I set my plate down on the counter alongside the others while I went to grab a glass. When I turned back to face my plate, it had somehow slid across the counter on its own. That was an example of a small scale encounter. The scarier moments happened at night. Dealing with a low energy poltergeist was tolerable during the day because rarely ventured into the underground laboratory. Another aggressive entity would show itself each night though. It was on this night that I had the most terrifying experience of my life. Never had I miss being in space so much before.

Before I go into this, I want to clarify that I had two experiences in the space of a day, so I'll break them up into sections. The first experience happened during the day. It was late in the morning to be precise. Alan was in bed recovering, so I had volunteered to do his chores for him. I allocated a good few hours to sweep the back storeroom which was once an old barn. I never liked it in there. The energy in there never felt right. We always felt like we were being watched whenever one of us was sent in there. We used the old barn to store various equipment and utilities like a backup generator in case the power went out. I began to sweep the dust off the floor when I heard what sounded like a creak on the warped wooden floor. I looked around, adjusting my eyes to low lit conditions. The only source of light in that room came from a small window. You could see clear enough to know where you were going. As I continued to sweep the floor, the creaking sound persisted to the point that I felt like I wasn't alone. I set down my broom and listened to the sounds. The creaks gradually turned into footsteps. They didn't sound heavy like boots hitting the ground, more like a light pitter-patter sound a small animal would make. The seemed to come from the old barn door which had been nailed shut years ago. My rational side took over, half expecting it to be a prank of some kind. Gordon had an annoying habit of jump scaring everyone.

"Who's there?" I said aloud. "I can hear you walking around back there!"

The creaking persisted without a reply. I gripped the broom handle with both hands, preparing to use it as a weapon.

"Look, Gordon if that's you, cut it out. Now isn't the time to go sneaking up on people!"

A few moments later, the creaking morphed into a loud scuffle. Whatever was behind it must have been very clumsy, as it repeatedly knocked into some of the equipment that was stored in there. It also allowed me to work out where it was at. I shifted slightly, facing towards the small solitary window. My heart raced at what I saw next. A small scrawny figure stood to the right of the window, completely masked in shadow. I bit my lip in anticipation of what it was going to do. My rational mind had made a run for it, leaving my fear behind to deal with the situation. This little creature wasn't my brother. I raised my broom over my head and took a step towards it, hoping it would move away. Sure enough, it reacted, but not in the way I had hoped. Instead of backing away, it shuffled clumsily towards the light from the window. As it did, I caught a partial glimpse of what I could only describe as an alien being. It had a small scrawny arm with long fingers that felt its way along with the windowpane. I could make out the faint outline of ahead but without any defining features. As soon as I charged it, it scuttled back into the shadows without a sound. Without a second thought, I ran out of the room and grabbed a flashlight from the kitchen. When I returned, I scanned the whole room with it only to find nothing. Whatever I saw in there had simply vanished without a trace. Perplexed by this, I decided to shut the door and head outside for some fresh air.

Before my second experience happened, I told the family what I had witnessed in the storeroom earlier. Now usually, such a story would be met with laughter and ridicule from Gordon and Virgil, but since the Stag-Man incident, they were quick to believe me. We ordered take out for dinner that night seeing as the poltergeist activity played havoc with Grandma's sanity. It was getting dark and we were all began to feel a strange malevolence encompass the house. As I said earlier, there's a sinister presence that comes out at night. We never saw anything at this point, but it was there, like a foreshadowing of what was yet to come. At around 9 pm, I accompanied Scott and Virgil out on the front porch for a breath of air. It was a warm and sticky night, and a bug zapper hummed in the background. I was discussing the activity with my brothers when we were drawn towards a strange light in the distance. As it traversed the valley road, it split into two distinct lights, resembling the appearance of a car's headlights.

"What is that? Who could be visiting us at this hour?" Scott asked.

"Could it be Lady Penelope?" Virgil guessed. "Perhaps Gordon called her or something. Maybe she's come to help?"

Somehow, I didn't get the impression that it was FAB One at all. We all agreed that the lights didn't make a sound. We didn't hear a car engine or anything. As the lights drifted closer, we began to note a pattern of colours that flashed within the spheres. Flecks of green, red and purple light lit up the property around us. I felt my hairs stand up on end by a surge of electromagnetic energy which these lights irradiated. I felt warm and clammy as if I had stepped underneath a heat lamp. I glanced over at Scott and Virgil who stood there paralysed. They stared out at the lights, motionless without a single blink. It felt as if time had slowed around us too, and yet I didn't feel scared in the slightest. After a few minutes, the lights suddenly levitated off the ground and hovered a few feet in the air. Each of them projected a pencil-thin beam of blue light which stabbed into the dust. In my scrambled state of mind, I watched two small beings materialise from within the beams. They matched the same appearance of the being I saw in the storeroom. Only this time, I was able to see their faces. They had enlarged heads that looked heavy for their scrawny bodies. They had two large eyes which were as black as the void of space. They had no other features such as nose, ears and mouth, just the eyes. I quickly found myself in a standoff with these beings. I couldn't move, and they didn't move either. It was as if they were curious about our presence as I was at theirs.

The beings would periodically converse with each other about us through a series of clicks and squeals. As soon as they were done with us, they vanished back into the beam of lights. Then, as if they had been unplugged at the wall, the lights dissipated into the night. We shortly regained control of our bodies. Confused and disoriented, we fell against the wooden rail, to regain our strength. Kayo and Gordon ran out to check on us. They had witnessed the lights from the sitting room. They explained that they tried to call out to us, but we were unresponsive. My nose felt wet so I wiped it with my sleeve and found that it was blood. Whatever caused my nose to bleed also hit Scott and Virgil. I felt nauseous and dizzy after that as if something had zapped my body of my energy. My equilibrium was off too. As I sat down and tried to regather my senses, I concluded that the lights were responsible.

We went inside the house, bolting the door behind us. I proceeded to collapse in the armchair from exhaustion. My skin felt like it had been burnt by the sun. I remember hearing a tremble in Scott's voice. He felt like he had lost his control over the situation. We always looked to him as a leader and the one we could look up to for motivation and wisdom, but instead, he trembled in fear along with the rest of us. We spent the rest of the night in silence, huddled around the living room TV. None of us slept that night apart from Alan who was oblivious to the whole affair. Did I experience alien entities that night? Sure it sounds ridiculous, but with the increasing activity happening around the property, anything is possible.

I just want to clarify something before I finish this statement. After we patched up Alan and put him to bed, Grandma called my Dad to inform him of the situation. He demanded that we all return to the island at once, which I suppose would be the normal thing to do. However, we had a deep discussion about it, sharing our fear that we could potentially bring whatever it was back with us to the island where it would fester there. We couldn't take that chance and agreed to remain at the ranch to get to bottom of all of this. You have to remember that this house belonged to our mother and we weren't prepared to lose it to these entities. It wouldn't be long before we finally decided to do something about it.