7 Jun 2025
Dream
The monster within – The bogeyman isn't always supernatural; sometimes, it’s someone
A group of cousins inherited a large estate house. None of them wanted to sell it, but no one wanted the burden of living in it alone either. So they came up with an idea: turn part of the home into a hostel. That way, they could keep the house in the family, share ownership, and make it a business venture.
But something was wrong.
Guests who stayed in one specific wing of the house always left early—terrified. They spoke of an eerie, echoing laugh and loud scraping sounds in the night. In the mornings, scratch marks would appear on the windows and around the entrances. No one could explain them. One by one, the cousins grew frustrated, trying to keep the hostel running while rumors of hauntings ruined their reputation before the business even had a chance.
Everyone who stayed in that wing described the same terrifying vision: a huge, wet-looking shadow figure holding a massive, S-shaped club covered in spikes. Sometimes it appeared with a second, smaller figure. The image haunted dreams and left a creeping fear even in daylight.
Eventually, the cousins decided to step away from the house temporarily. They had no answers and were planning to meet with the bank to talk about loans and try to fix the damage to the house's exterior. While they were gone, I happened to be visiting for a tour. Because of an approaching storm, they let me stay in the house for free. They said I could just experience it for myself—maybe it would change my mind about the stories. I accepted.
That night, the storm hit hard. I could sense something was off—not inside the house, but nearby. As I passed the laundry room, I saw it: the shadowy figure from everyone’s dreams. But this time, it wasn’t just a shadow. The lightning lit up the room—and it was a real person. A tall, soaked figure, with that same twisted, spiked club, and beside them, a second person. They were trying to get inside the house.
I wanted to scream, but I was frozen. Powerless.
It turns out the “haunting” wasn’t supernatural. The truth was far worse. The figures were a disgruntled former employee and their partner. The employee had been kicked out of the household years ago after getting involved with a shady person tied to a gang. But that wasn’t all—they were actually a second cousin, someone the family had rejected and cut off from the inheritance.
Seeking revenge, they began a campaign to ruin the family. They scared off guests, vandalized the property, and fed false reports to banks to prevent the cousins from getting loans. Their goal was to see the house rot and fall apart—just like they felt when they were denied a place in it.
