Author's Note: This was meant to be posted earlier but I got distracted, watching episodes of The Office. Also have not yet properly read through the chapter. I read most of it but, I still need to do that ha.
I enjoyed writing this one; it was fun and the stories are ones that give me shivers whenever someone tells them.
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. I also do not own any of the stories used in this chapter. Links for where I read them from will be found at the end of the chapter.
Campfire Tales (#1) | Clowns, Licks & Disney
Uploaded by Gar Logan
25th November 2020
Length: 00:39:25
Gar's grinning face filled the whole frame before he backed away a little and waved his hands in a 'jazz' type of fashion.
He crouched down so that just his shoulders and head were visible, revealing those he had with him.
His horde of friends were situated behind Gar, all seated and gathered around the square shaped fire pit which had already been lit and was blazing high into the sky, embers dwindling off as the firewood crackled within the flames.
An orange glow from the fire lit up the surrounding area of the backyard, as well as illuminating each of their faces clearly.
There were mugs of hot cocoa and cold beer bottles dotted around the edge of the fire pit, alongside bowls of chips, pretzels and popcorn that each of them were helping themselves to here and there.
The sky was an inky black, smeared across space with scattered stars twinkling down on them amidst this Fall evening get together.
"Whaaat's up guys! It's me, Gar and welcome back to my channel!" He sang, his usual upbeat personality shining through as it always did.
"Hey again, Gar's people!" Came Wally's loud voice from where he sat on one of the padded outdoor lounge chairs, with Jenii in his lap, sharing a blanket and waving towards the camera with a grin, her pink locks cascading over her shoulders as she moved,
The light from the large window of the house behind them, poured out into the dark backyard, making it easier for Gar in terms of not having to put his camera light on.
Beside him, in another chair was Dick who smirked and flicked his wrist in a single wave motion. Kory was curled up on his lap, leaning into him, with a blanket nestled around them. She smiled brightly and wriggled her fingers in the direction of the camera, briefly looking down at Silkie who sat on the concrete, his own little raggedy blanket tucked around his back, as he panted and looked around, simply excited to be with all the people.
Vic sat in the next chair, his knees apart slightly with Karen sitting on a cushion on the floor between them. She grinned towards the camera and lifted her head a fraction, her hand reached out as she showed Silkie some attention, her fingers stroking through his soft fur.
When she made a single move to stop, Silkie whined and shuffled closer to her, dropping his head atop her thigh so she would keep going. Karen laughed and glanced up at Vic who smirked and rolled his eyes at the dog's antics.
Vic lifted a hand towards the camera and waved, securing the blanket around his shoulders a little more, as well as leaning down and ensuring Karen was warm enough with the blanket she had wrapped herself within too.
Then, there was Raven who offered the camera a tiny smile from where she was curled up on the chair, her knees drawn up near her chest with a fluffy black blanket draped over her lower half and an open book resting in one hand with a steaming cup of tea in the other.
She glanced upwards at the sky that was so very dark, considering it was the end of November before sniffling slightly, as if fighting the beginning of a seasonal cold.
The chair opposite Raven would be soon filled by Gar who was briefly standing up, to welcome his viewers into another one of his videos. Right now, Gar stood in the space between; right where the camera had been placed for the best angle to be able to capture everyone in the almost circle around the roaring fire pit.
Beside Gar's temporarily vacated chair, was Roy's seat where he was sitting, with his feet up on the edge of the fire pit, grinning at the camera and blowing kisses to Gar's admirers. His grey beanie was hiding the majority of his own hair kissed by fire and the blanket around his shoulders was sliding down from his movements, not that he appeared to be suffering from the late night cold all that much.
And lastly, in the chair that was slotted right between Roy and Wally was Donna who smiled at the camera and looked most amused by the shenanigans of the boys around her. She had her legs all folded up in a pretzel style, with a pastel coloured blanket cocooning the majority of her body.
The air was light and chipper, with the group mumbling and laughing amongst themselves.
Gar chuckled, "As you can see, we have visitors in the house once more. It's our weekly pizza night and we're making it a good one this week, since tomorrow is Thanksgiving and all of these lovely folks are spending it out of town."
"Hey, I'll stay right here if Vic feels like adding a seat for me." Donna smirked, looking over at the resident chef of the group.
The man in question chuckled, "I'm not doing a whole spread this year, Donna. I'm doing simple shit since Gar and Raven are leaving to visit their families late tomorrow afternoon and then Dick and Kory are heading for Gotham tomorrow evening, as well."
"Which means, big ol' house to ourselves for once, Vic." Karen cheered but it soon faded, "But I have a feeling Gar is gonna ruin that with somethin' spooky tonight."
Kory turned her head and smiled down at Karen, "Well, you will have Silkie to protect you, Bee."
Karen peered down at the dog snoring in her lap, "Oh yeah, he's super alert." She giggled, earning a similar response from the pooch's owner.
"I mean… Karen knows me too well… we are doing something tonight that's… a little creepy-"
"I knew it." Karen quietly crowed,
"But it's also something new that I wanted to introduce to the channel; something I hope we can keep doing since you guys come over a fair amount." Gar explained,
Wally lifted a hand from his spot in the circle, "Just putin' it out there but it'll happen anyways. Your guys' house is the biggest. It's a freakin' mansion. There is no question as to why we hang out here all the time."
Roy laughed and nodded in agreement, "Yeah, imagine doing all the cool stuff we do in one of our apartments. It wouldn't be half as fun."
"So… you guys just use us for our place?" Dick grinned,
Jenii inclined her head, "Sorry for you to find out like this but… yup."
Dick snorted whilst Kory smiled at the banter around the group.
"All the secrets are coming out tonight, guys. Damn." Gar laughed before clasping his hands together and diverting his attention back to the camera, levelled enough to spot each and every one of them.
"So, as I was saying… there's something new I wanna do. We're gonna be telling spooky campfire tales tonight; just like you would at summer camp and stuff. We got snacks, we got spooky stories and the main thing; we got a fire." Gar revealed, spreading his hands wide as he got further into his idea,
"Oooh… I got chills just as you said about it." Vic admitted, grinning at the concept.
Gar smirked, "My plan is that we'll do like… three stories? I'll kick it off since I know you guys have been sprung with the idea-"
"Oh! I have one!" Wally called, waving his arm back and forth,
Raising a brow at the camera, Gar's smirk only grew, "Or not." He relaxed his face and pointed a finger at the camera, "The stories can be ones from childhood or stories from online or that you've heard before… you know those good creepy stories you just know about and you'd share at sleepovers and shit as a kid? Those ones. The really spine tingling kind."
"Great." Kory groaned, dropping her face against Dick's neck at the prospect of being spooked before bed,
Gar smiled and retreated backwards until he was sitting back in his chair, "Now, I'm gonna try and keep it… relatively short since we don't want to die from the cold out here."
Raven rolled her eyes but smiled good naturedly as she marked her page and set her book aside, wanting to give her attention to her friends since they were doing a group thing now,
"It's cold, Gar but… I don't think it's quite that cold." She stated,
"You don't know that, babe. I could keel over from hypothermia right now!" He fretted, waving his arms around in a frantic manner,
Raven's smile widened, "Mhm…"
He matched her expression but turned his head in the direction of the camera's lens, "Okay, guys… everyone quieten down… let's set the mood to be scared shitless…" Gar murmured, dropping his tone to do just that,
The group around him settled down, their voices dropping to a hush before only the night time sounds of nocturnal creatures could be heard, along with the snapping of wood in the fire.
"I'll go first… and my story that I wanna tell is called, 'The Clown Statue In The Corner.'." Gar whispered, his eyes shifting to look between each of his friends,
"One night, Emily was babysitting for a wealthy family and she was excited since they had put the offer out there of making it a regular thing if it went well. It was her first time at the house and before the parents left for their evening out, the father mentioned that after she had put the children to bed, she could watch TV in their bedroom since it had the most channels available."
Gar cleared his throat, briefly looking at his friends, each of them captivated already.
"Later that night, after the children went to bed and were asleep, Emily headed to the parents' bedroom, turned on the huge TV and made herself comfortable on the bed, settling in to watch a show for a while."
"She should have checked Netflix." Wally murmured, earning a 'Shh.' from one of the girls.
Gar continued, "But… something felt off and Emily had a… strange feeling. She couldn't concentrate on the show properly because her attention kept drifting to something in the corner of the parents' bedroom. It was a life-sized statue of a clown, slightly hidden by the shadows in the room but… it was there and creepy enough to keep distracting her."
"Oh hell naw. Uh uh. Nope. I'd be drop kicking that statue right out the goddamn window." Vic vowed, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head at the very idea,
Gar smirked and kept going, "Emily kept trying to ignore the creepy statue in the corner of the room but she just couldn't. In the end she grabbed a blanket from the bed and threw it over the statue, shuddering as she did so. It helped a little but Emily still found herself sitting there, trying to watch TV with her gaze shifting towards it.
Just then, Emily got a phone call and decided to take it outside of the room so the noise from the TV wouldn't distract her. It was the children's father, calling to check that everything was alright.
'The kids are asleep.' Emily told him, 'And I'm just watching TV in your bedroom. I was wondering if it would be okay to watch it downstairs instead? The clown statue you have in there is creeping me out a little.'
There was silence on the other end of the line. It was unnerving. An odd reaction, she thought.
Suddenly, he was speaking to her and his voice was somewhat panicked.
'Emily, get the kids and get out of the house. Quickly.'
She started moving towards the children's room, confused but she did what he instructed.
'Why? What's wrong?' She asked.
'Please just grab the kids and go next door and wait there.'
She shook her head and hung up, hurrying to rouse the two children before she dashed down the stairs with them in her arms and ran to the neighbors house.
Once they were inside, she called the father back and asked again what was wrong.
His words chilled her to the bone.
'We don't have a clown statue, Emily.'."
Gar slowly grinned and sat back in his chair, looking pleased with the looks of horror and discomfort on his friends' faces, "The end."
"Ew! No. Nope. I don't like that." Jenii stressed, cringing and looking very uncomfortable.
"That's so weird. I mean… imagine having a life sized statue… of anything in your room, let alone it being a clown." Raven pointed out,
"Kory used to have a mannequin in our room." Dick stated and looked at his girlfriend suddenly, "And that just disappeared one day…"
Kory giggled and gently smacked his shoulder, "I used that to test out outfits for photoshoots and it broke. You helped me remove it. Remember?"
He chuckled, "Oh yeah."
She looked back towards Gar, "But agreed. That is horrifying."
"It's a good one. I think the worst part is… especially that version, is you don't actually know what or who it is in the clown get up." Roy mentioned,
"I mean, you could probably hazard a guess. I'm thinking murderer or pedophile or something considering he was A) dressed as a freaky ass clown and B) Was staring at this teenage girl for hours whilst there were kiddies next door. Nuh uh… something about that is mega suspish." Karen muttered,
Wally chuckled, "Yeah, as soon as you started telling it, I was like… oh! I know this one! I remember hearing it when we were in school I think? It was so creepy. Like… imagine you're just trying to chill and watch some TV and this fucking clown is staring at you and it's not even fake. It's a real person. Nope. I'm not down for any of that."
Vic offered Gar a few claps, "Nicely done, Grass stain. It was a good story to start off on."
Gar beamed, "Thanks. There were loads online and I've got some others prepared unless any of you guys have any?"
"Didn't Wally say he had one?" Raven reminded them,
Gar nodded and looked across at Wally who held his phone in one hand, scrolling with his thumb whilst he held the index finger of his other hand up towards them,
"Uh… yeah… I do have one that came into my head. I just need to find it." Wally murmured, his brows creased as he continued to search on his phone,
Donna cleared her throat and smirked, "I have one that... again… I think it is an older story but… it's definitely creepy and on the same kind of level as the clown statue one."
Gar extended his hands and grinned, "Go for it, Donna."
She straightened up in her seat and leaned forward, her elbows resting on her knees as she continued to sit cross legged, "Alright… this one is called, 'Humans Can Lick Too.'."
"I'm already creeped out by the name. God." Roy grimaced, pulling his blanket around him a little tighter,
Donna smirked and pressed on, "One night, a young girl was being left home alone whilst her parents went out but she wasn't worried or scared… she had her dog to protect her. A big fluffy collie which stayed by her side, constantly."
"Really? A story involving a dog? That's not very nice, Donna." Karen pointed out, cuddling Silkie closer to her,
The ebony haired woman gave her a sympathetic smile, "Sorry." She murmured before continuing, "The parents had told the young girl to lock all the doors and all the windows after they left. She did as they told her but… there was one window in the basement that would not close completely."
Donna peered around at her friends, "Trying as best as she could, she finally got the window shut but… it wouldn't lock. So, she left the window and went back upstairs. But, just to make sure that no one could get in, she put the dead-bolt lock of the basement door on."
"Then, she sat down and had some dinner, fed her dog before deciding to go to bed for the night. Settling down, she snuggled up in bed. Her dog slept underneath her bed and so she reached a hand down and let her dog lick her hand as she said goodnight to it."
Donna paused, allowing the eerie silence to creep in for a brief moment, eyeing up her friends. Jenii's eyes were wide already and Kory had pulled the blanket right up to her face, hiding her features beside her jade eyes which were blinking back at Donna, waiting to hear what came next.
"But, during the night, she woke with a start. The girl lay there, wondering what had woken her up when suddenly she heard a noise. It was a dripping sound and it seemed to be coming from the bathroom. She must have left the water running and now it was just dripping into the drain of her sink. So, thinking it was no big deal, she decided to go back to sleep.
But… she felt nervous. So, she reached her hand over the edge of her bed, and let the dog lick her hand for reassurance that he would protect her.
And again, she woke up at 3:45am to the sound of the dripping. Drip. Drip. Drip. And again, she reached her hand down beneath her bed and let the dog lick her hand. Then, she fell back to sleep.
When the girl woke once more at 6:52am… she decided that she had had enough. She got out of bed, just in time to see her parents pulling up to the house.
'Good' She thought to herself, 'Now someone can fix the sink, because I know I didn't leave it running.'
With that, she walked into the bathroom and there was the collie dog… skinned and hung up on the curtain rod. The noise that she had heard was its blood… dripping into a puddle on the floor. The girl screamed and ran to her bedroom to get a weapon, in case someone was still in the house… and there, on the floor, right next to her bed was a small note, written in blood saying:
'HUMANS CAN LICK TOO.'."
Gar shuddered and wrapped his arms around himself, grinning as he did so, "Oooo! Nooo! That's awful. God, that gave me so many goosebumps!"
Kory's eyes were the size of dinner plates, "That is terrifying, Donna! We often do that with Silke but after hearing that story? Never. Again."
Donna laughed and appeared sheepish, "Aw, I'm sorry, Kory. I did half think not to, considering Silkie's right there."
Karen leaned down to the dog in question who was still snoozing, oblivious to the story that had just been shared, "Silkie, if any fucker gets in the house tomorrow night, you bite his ass. You bite it good."
Dick peeked around Kory, towards Vic and Karen, "I mean, we'd really appreciate it if we didn't come back from Gotham to a dead, skinned dog."
Vic pulled a sarcastic face, "Well, I mean, we can try to not let that happen, Dick. But, you know how many random dog murderers we get in this part of Jump."
Rolling his eyes, Dick smiled and flipped his friend off, causing Vic to give into a belly laugh.
"I have a question. How old was this girl?" Roy asked,
"Yeah and where did her parents go all night?" Jenii added, pointing at Roy as if he had made the best point ever,
"Who knows. I'm sensing very bad parenting red flags though." Raven interjected, taking a sip of her tea,
Gar smirked across at her before he grabbed a handful of chips and stuffed them into his mouth, washing it all down with his soda that was resting precariously on the edge of the fire pit, which was still stoked and providing them with a decent amount of warmth on this cold Fall evening.
"Wally, you ready with the next story?" Vic called,
He blinked suddenly, "Huh? Oh! Yeah, I think so. Sorry. I kinda stopped searching for mine cos' Donna's started to get good."
Donna grinned and held a hand out, "You're all very welcome. That was another one I heard a lot when we were in high school though. Have none of you heard that one before?"
There was a series of light mumbling and shaking of heads, telling her no, they had not.
Wally's arm shot up into the air, his phone enclosed in his fist, "I've got it!"
Gar smirked and nodded to the redhead, "Go ahead, dude."
"Right. Just… heads up, it's a bit longer than your guys' stories but I'll cut out the non essential bullshit." Wally vowed, giving them all a thumbs up before he looked down at his phone, casting a faint blue glow against his face,
Clearing his throat, Wally grinned, "Okay… this story is called, 'Abandoned by Disney' and it's also in first person."
He shuffled a little on his chair, with Jenii frowning and trying not to fall off his lap and onto the cold, hard ground.
"Some of you may have heard that Disney is responsible for at least one real, 'live' ghost town. Disney built the 'Treasure Island' resort in the Bahamas but... it didn't start off as a ghost town.
Disney ended up spending 30 million dollars on this resort. Then… they abandoned it.
It was said there were a whole bunch of structural and employee based issues which is why it was ultimately closed but… with Disney being Disney… I don't know, that story could in fact be true. Who knows. But, I don't think it was the main reason that it was left to rot though. So... why don't I buy the official story?
Because of Mowgli's Palace.
Mowgli's Palace started being built in the late 1990's and the concept was a jungle themed resort with a large… you guessed it, palace in the center of the whole thing. The whole idea was controversial from the start. There was a lot of scandal surrounding it all when Disney bought a whole butt load of land for the project. It was one of those situations where locals were evidently not happy to have things stripped from them in order to build a resort. But… we know how these things go.
Then, there was the concept art of it all. It got such a bad reaction and rightly so - they intended to have this Indian style palace surrounded by jungle and staffed with men and women in loincloths and tribal gear… well, suffice to say… people did not like any of that. Not. One. Bit.
Now, like anything where these things happen, a whole mess of arguments and protesting came from these negotiations and plans. But… Disney took that community and just broke it over its knee. Houses were razed, land was cleared and there wasn't a damn thing anyone could do or say about it.
Point of all of this? Disney sunk time and millions into it and then split. It's not the first time they did it either since the same thing happened with the 'Treasure Island' resort I mentioned first.
Construction was complete. Visitors actually stayed at the resort. The surrounding communities were flooded with traffic and the usual hussle of tourists and whatnot.
Then it all just stopped.
Disney shut it down and nobody knew what the heck to think. Locals were fairly happy about it considering they didn't want it built in the first place.
I honestly didn't give the place another thought since hearing it closed over a decade ago. I live maybe 4 hours from Emerald Isle, so really, I only heard the rumblings and didn't experience any of it first-hand.
Then, I read this article from someone who had explored the Treasure Island resort and posted a whole big blog about all the crazy shit he found there. Stuff just… left behind. Things smashed, defaced, probably ruined by some pissed off former employees who lost their jobs.
What I'm getting at is that this blog about Treasure Island got me thinking. Even though, a lot of years had passed since its closing, I figured it might be cool to do some 'urban exploration' at Mowgli's Palace. Take some photos, write about my experience and see if there was anything I could take home as a memento.
I'm not going to say I wasted no time in getting there, because honestly, it took me another year after I first found that Treasure Island article to get around to going up to Mowgli's Palace."
Vic snorted from where he sat across from Wally, "Gar, this guy sounds like someone you'd wanna go bowling with."
"Hey, if he's exploring abandoned Disney shit, I'm there." Gar replied,
Wally scoffed but continued on, "Over the course of that year, I did a lot of research on the Palace resort… or rather, I tried to.
Naturally, no official Disney site or resource made any mention of the place.
Even weirder, was that nobody before myself had apparently thought to blog about the place or even post a photo. None of the local media had a single word about the place.
So, in the end, I could barely find the place. All I had to go on was an old ass map I'd received in the mail back in the 90s. It had been a promo item sent to people who had been to Disney world.
I didn't intend on hanging onto it; just got shoved into all my stuff from childhood. It wasn't until I started researching that I even remembered the damn thing.
Locals were no help either. Most people had moved to the area in recent years or were old people who just thought I was some dumb kid, talking nonsense.
But, I did find it. Eventually.
The drive took me through a huge corridor of overgrowth. Tropical plants that ran rampant and overpopulated the area mixed with other species of flora practically reclaiming the land. It was completely covered.
I was stunned when I reached the front gates of the resort. Big wooden gates that had chipped and withered with time, chunks gone from burrowing insects and woodpeckers. Hanging on the gate was a sheet of metal; a piece of random scrap with painted letters scrawled in black saying, 'ABANDONED BY DISNEY'. Clearly the handiwork or some past pissed off local or former employee as some kind of small protest.
There was a small gap in the gate that was big enough to shimmy through but not drive, so I picked up my camera and the map and I set off on foot.
The inner grounds of the place were just as overgrown as the entrance. There was this sort of clash between order and chaos; nature and man but nature was winning.
All that remained of any outdoor structures were broken, rotting and charred. What was most likely an information booth or an outdoor bar was now simply a pile of assorted debris chopped up by past vandalism and ravaged by weather.
The most interesting thing I saw on the grounds was a statue of Baloo, the bear from The Jungle Book which stood in the courtyard. He was frozen in a jovial wave toward no one, staring into empty space with a silly, toothy grin as bird shit covered whole swaths of his 'fur' and vines ensnared his platform.
I approached the main building - The Palace - only to find the outside of the building covered in graffiti where the original paint hadn't quite peeled or chipped away. The front doors weren't just open, they had been taken off their hinges and were stolen.
Above the front doors, or the gaping maw where they had been, someone had once again painted, 'ABANDONED BY DISNEY'.
I wish I could tell you about all the awesome stuff I saw inside the Palace. Forgotten statues, abandoned cash registers, a full fledged secret society of homeless bums… but no.
The inside of the building was so stark, so bare, that I actually think people had stolen the molding off the walls. Anything that was too big to steal… counters, desks, giant fake trees… they were resting amid this empty echo chamber that amplified my every step like a slow rat-a-tat of a machine gun.
I checked the map and headed to any place I thought might be in some way interesting."
"If this is real, I just wanna say that he's either super brave or really stupid to go alone." Roy pointed out,
Gar thrusted his arms out wide, "Right!? I was thinking the same thing cos' like… I know I like abandoned places but screw going all by yourself."
Karen shivered but her expression was one of concentration as she nodded to Wally, "Keep going, Wally."
He nodded and looked back down at his phone, "The kitchen was as you'd imagine… an industrial food prep area with all the appliances and space, no expenses spared. Every glass surface was broken, every door knocked off its hinges, every metal surface kicked and dented. The entire place smelled like very old piss.
The huge freezer, not even remotely cool now, had shelves upon shelves of emptiness. Hooks hung from the ceiling, probably for hanging cuts of meat and as I stood inside for a moment, I noticed they were swinging.
Each hook swung in a random direction but their movements were so slow and small that it was almost impossible to see. I assumed it had been caused by my footsteps so I stopped one from swinging by clutching it in my fist, then carefully letting go but within seconds, it started to swing once more.
The bathrooms were in much the same state as the rest of the place. Smashed porcelain lined the floors and the sinks had marks down them; a mix of grime and decay.
There were plenty of rooms in the resort but naturally, I didn't have time to look through them all. The few I did peer into were similarly wrecked and I didn't expect to find anything there.
At the front doors of the palace again, I figured I hadn't found anything of note and had wasted the trip up.
As I looked out the door, I noticed something interesting in the courtyard that I had apparently missed. Something that would give me at least ONE thing to show for all my trouble, even if it was just a photograph.
There, a lifelike statue of a python sat, maybe eighty feet long, all coiled up and 'sunning' itself on a pedestal right in the center of the area. It was almost time for the sun to start setting so the light fell onto the object in the perfect way for a picture.
I approached the python and snapped a photo. Then I stood on my toes and snapped another. I moved closer again to get detail of its face.
Slowly, casually, the python lifted its head, looked directly into my eyes, turned and slithered off the pedestal, across the grass and into the trees. All eighty feet of it.
Disney had released all their exotic animals onto the grounds. Right there on my map was the 'Reptile House'. I should have known.
I was dumbfounded, just utterly stupefied. My mouth must've been hanging open for the longest time before I came back down to Earth and snapped it shut. I blinked a few times and backed away from where the snake had been, back toward the palace.
Even though it was totally gone, I still wasn't taking any chances and backed my way into the building.
I looked for a place to sit down as my legs were feeling a bit like jelly at this point. Of course, there was no place to sit down unless I wanted to recline in the broken glass and dead leaf carpet.
I had seen some stairs near the palace's lobby and decided to go have a seat there until I felt better.
The staircase was far enough away from the front of the building to be relatively clean, save for a startling accumulation of dust. I pulled a wedge of metal off the wall, once again painted with the 'ABANDONED BY DISNEY' motto I'd become accustomed to. I put the wedge on the stairs and sat on top of it.
The stairway led downward, below ground level. Using my camera flash as a sort of improvised flashlight, I could see that the staircase ended in a metal mesh door with a padlock. A dusty sign on the door read, 'MASCOTS ONLY! THANK YOU!'.
This perked up my spirits slightly for two reasons. One, a Mascots-Only area would have definitely had some interesting stuff back in the day… and Two, the padlock was still in place. Nobody had gone down there. Not the vandals, not the looters - nobody.
This was the one place I could actually 'explore' and perhaps find something interesting to photograph or wantonly steal.
It didn't take much to bust the lock. Time and decay had done most of the work for me and I was able to snap it off pretty quickly - something nobody else had apparently thought of, or hadn't been able to do at the time."
"Oh why am I starting to get a really weird feeling…" Karen murmured, knees now at her chin as she listened intently.
Wally eyed her for a moment before his gaze was back on his phone screen.
"The Mascots-Only area was a startling and very welcomed change from the rest of the building I'd seen. For one, every second or third fluorescent light overhead was illuminated, even though they flickered and faded randomly. Also, nothing had been stolen or broken, even if age and exposure were definitely taking their toll.
Tables had note pads and pens, there were clocks… even a punch-in clock on the wall, complete with filled-out time cards. Chairs were scattered around and there was even a small break room with an old, static-filled TV and long rotted-out food and drink on the counters.
It was like one of those post-apocalyptic movies where everything is left in the state of evacuation.
As I walked the maze-like sub-basement hallways of the Mascots-Only area, the sights just became more and more interesting. As I went further, desks and tables were knocked over, papers scattered and almost melded with the damp floor, and a large carpet of mold was slowly overtaking the real rotting crimson floor-covering.
Everything was just sort of 'squishy'. Anything wood disintegrated into mush when I applied even the least amount of force and clothing items hanging on hooks in one of the rooms simply fell to moist threads if I tried to unhook them.
One thing that annoyed me was that the light was becoming more sparse and unreliable as I went further into the dark, suffocating depths of the place.
Eventually, I reached a blakc and yellow striped door with the words, 'CHARACTER PREP 1' stencilled on it.
The door wouldn't open at first. I figured this was probably where the costumes were kept and I definitely wanted a photograph of that twisted, stinking mess. Try as I might, whatever angle or trick I tried, the door wouldn't budge.
That is, until I gave up and started to walk away. That was when there was a slight popping sound and the door creaked open slowly.
Inside, the room was completely dark. Pitch black. I used the camera flash to look for a light switch in the wall by the door but there was nothing.
As I made my search, I was jarred out of my sense of excitement by a loud electrical buzz. Rows of lights overhead suddenly flashed to life, flickering and fading in and out like the rest I had passed.
It took a second for my eyes to adjust, and it seemed like the light was going to just keep getting brighter until all the bulbs exploded… but just when I thought it would reach that critical stage, the lights dimmed and seemed to settle.
The room was exactly as I had pictured it. Various Disney costumes hung on the walls, fully put together like strange cartoon cadavers hung from invisible nooses.
There was an entire rack of those stupid loincloths and 'native' clothes on hangers toward the back.
What I found odd, and what I wanted to photograph right away, was a Mickey Mouse costume at the center of the room. Unlike the other costumes, it was lying on its back in the center of the floor like a murder victim. The fur on the costume was rotten and shedding, creating bare patches.
And what was even odder, however, was the coloring of the costume. It was like a photo negative of the actual Mickey Mouse. Black where he should be white and white where he should be black. His normally red overalls were light blue.
The sight was off-putting enough that I actually put off photographing the thing until last.
I took a picture of the costumes hanging on the walls. Upward angles, downward angles, side shots to show an entire row of frozen, putrid cartoon faces, some with plastic eyes missing.
Then I decided to stage a shot. Just one of the bedraggled character heads on the slick, grimy floor.
I reached for the headpiece of a Donald Duck costume and carefully removed it so the thing wouldn't fall apart in my hands.
As I looked into the face of the wide-eyed, moldering head, a loud clattering sound made me jump with fright.
I looked down at my feet, and there between my shoes was a human skull. It had fallen out of the mascot head and shattered into pieces at my feet; only the empty face and lower jaw remained, staring up at me.
I dropped the Duck head immediately, as you'd expect and moved for the door. As I stood in the doorway, I looked back to the skull on the floor.
I had to take a picture of it, you know? I had to, for any number of reasons that may seem silly, but only if you don't think it through.
I'd need proof of what happened, especially if Disney was going to somehow make this go away. I had no doubt in my mind, right from the start, that even if it was just gross negligence, Disney was responsible for this.
That's when Mickey, that photo negative, opposite-Mickey in the middle of the floor… started to get up.
First sitting up, then climbing to its feet, the Mickey Mouse costume… or whoever was inside of it, stood there at the center of the room, its fake face just staring directly at me.
With shaking hands, a violently thrashing heart and legs that had once again turned to jelly, I managed to lift the camera and aim it at the opposite creature now quietly sizing me up.
The digital camera's screen displayed only dead pixels in the shape of the thing. It was a perfect silhouette of the Mickey costume. As the camera moved in my unsteady hands, the dead pizels spread, marring the screen wherever Mickey's outline move to.
Then the camera died. Went blank and quiet and… broken.
I raised my eyes once again to the Micket Mouse costume.
'Hey' it said in a hushed, perverted, but perfectly executed Mickey Mouse voice, 'Wanna see my head come off?'
It started to pull at its own head, working its clumsy, glove-clad fingers around its neck with clawing, impatient movements similar to a wounded man trying to pull himself free of a predator's jaws…
As it worked its digits into its neck… so much blood… so much thick, chunky, yellow blood…
I turned away as I heard a sickening tearing of cloth and flesh… only cared about getting away. Above the doorway out of this room, I saw the final message clawed into the metal with bone or fingernails…
'ABANDONED BY GOD'
I never got te pictures out of the camera. I never wrote the blog about it. After I ran from that place, fled for my sanity if not my very life, I knew why Disney didn't want anyone to know about this place.
They didn't want anyone like me getting in.
They didn't want anything like that getting out."
As Wally finished, he put his phone down and reared back into his seat, waiting for reactions but the group remained utterly stunned into silence.
"What the…" Vic whispered,
"Fuck that…" Roy included,
"Dude, that's fucking terrifying… I have the worst chills right now." Gar admitted, his whole body quivering from the story they had just been told.
"That has honestly ruined Disney for me, Wally." Jenii huffed, staring down at her boyfriend in fear and annoyance,
Kory had her eyes shut and was minutely shaking her head, "I have the images in my head and it is now burned into my brain…"
Wally grinned, "Right? How messed up is that one? I found it a few years ago and I remember reading it and being like… what the actual fuck."
"Like… no doubt, I bet it's 100% fake." Dick presumed, "But jesus… what a story. I have physical goosebumps on my arms right now."
Raven smiled slightly from where she was cooped up on her seat, "I think that one was my favorite… just because it was… so unnerving."
"Could you imagine? Like… what would you do if we went to an abandoned place, like we do and that kinda shit happened?" Gar asked, pointedly looking at Vic, Kory, Dick and Raven.
"Do not. You will jinx it." Kory yelped, pointing a finger at him,
Gar chuckled, "What? So, no matter where we go next that's abandoned, we'll just find an old Mickey Mouse suit?"
Kory waved her hands around, "Shh! You are speaking it into existence!"
Karen shook her head, "No, man… there are just… too many things wrong with that story. I've got the weirdest feeling down my spine."
"I mean, the red flags are there. He's on his own, he didn't book it outta there when he saw some big ass snake and then, he decided, yep, I'll head down these stairs and this flickering hallway. Surely, part of your brain would be like; y'know what? Probably shouldn't." Wally voiced, shrugging his shoulders,
"True. I would be out of there, the minute I saw the first 'abandoned' sign. Why would you ever see that and go, 'Oh boy, can't wait to get in there.'?" Donna snorted, her shoulders relaxing as they talked it over,
Dick chuckled and shook his head, rolling his shoulders back a little, "God, it was when you mentioned the hooks, I was like… this feels… super weird. And then you said about the stairs below ground level and it was just like, 'Nope'."
Wally grinned over at his best friend, "You mean, you wouldn't feel just totally calm in that place?"
Gar shuddered and lifted his shoulders to his head, cringing, "Ugh, I'm gonna need to watch something funny before bed. That was super creepy. I think I agree with Rae; that was my favorite too. Screw the one I told."
Roy smirked, "I don't know, this one was freaky and a proper scary story but… I think the clown one was my favourite if only cos' clowns are weird."
"Are you kiddin'? So are possessed, perverted Mickey Mouse costumes, dude." Vic stated,
Karen tilted her head as she pondered the stories, "I think they're all pretty nightmare inducing but… the dog one is probably my favorite. That gave me super bad chills. This Disney one did too but it got a bit too like what the heck, y'know?"
Dick hummed a flat note and pursed his lips together as he thought about it, "Mine was either the dog or the Disney one. Both have that… icky kind of feeling after listening, y'know?" He paused and nudged Kory's shoulder with his chin, "What about yours, Kor?"
She looked at him with a most incredulous expression, "None of them. They were all petrifying and I would prefer to forget each of them."
Her boyfriend raised an eyebrow.
"But… possibly the Disney one had me freaking out the most." Kory affirmed,
Jenii nodded in response to what Kory had said, "She has a point though; they were all really good, freaky stories. Good job Gar, Donna and Wally."
She smiled and lightly clapped her fingers together, grinning at Wally who looked more than happy to be acknowledged for the story he had shared.
Gar chuckled and leaned forward, ever so slightly, his head turned towards the lens of the camera that had been trained on them this whole time, "What'd you guys think? Were they spooky? I think they were fairly scary."
Roy threaded his fingers together atop of his stomach and he narrowed his eyes at Gar, "Hey, so, do we have to… prepare a scary story every time we have pizza night now?"
Shaking his head, Gar leaned back slightly, "No, I'll always have stories in my pocket, in case. But, it's sharing spooky stories so… if you guys have one, share it."
Nodding, Roy leaned back into his chair and sighed, "We need something less dark to do now, just saying."
"Anyone up for a gaming marathon in the game room?" Vic suggested, earning instant nods from the majority of the boys in the group,
Gar smirked and stood up, shuffling until he was directly in front of the camera, just like he had been when he'd introduced the video.
"Alright, guys. So that's it for the first of my 'campfire tales' videos. I hope you like this idea and please let me know in the comments below. Do you know any that I should write down in case?" He paused and jerked a thumb in the direction of the house behind them, "We're gonna go and play some games for a while to try and forget the creepy stories."
He cleared his throat and slapped his hands together, "If you liked this video, don't forget to smash the like button and hit subscribe to stay up to date with the videos I post in the future. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow and I will see you all in the next video!"
Gar lifted a hand, with two fingers already in a saluting manner, whilst his friends all started waving and grinning at the camera in the background. Gar chuckled and held his fingers up,
"Peace!"
Author's Note: I was going to try and link the stories but ff doesnt allow that. The first two are just general urban legend type of story so Idk if anyone owns it as such. But, the Disney one is a proper full written piece over on creepy pasta. I recommend reading it. I did copy a LOT of it but reading the whole thing gives things a spookier thing.