SW Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction 3
[quote]"Tonight, your challenge is to separate what is true from what is false. You will be presented with five stories. Some will be based on true events while others will be completely fictitious. Can you judge which are fact and which are fiction? To find out, you must enter a world of both truth and deception - a world that is beyond belief."[/quote]
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[center][big]#1 One House's Bloody Legacy[/big][/center]
Years ago, a Midwest American home was the site of a gruesome killing that left several people dead at the hands of a murderer who was never caught. Over the years, the house developed a reputation for being haunted with reports of people witnessing the killer roaming the hallways and hearing the faint screams of the victims. Because of this, many ghost hunters like to visit the house or even stay the night in hopes of recording their own paranormal encounters. Though one group of amateur ghost hunters who were staying the night in that house ended up with more than they bargained for. When the group were scattered all around the house looking for ghostly activity while communicating through two-way radios, one of them screamed for help over the radio and his friends found that he had been stabbed multiple times in the chest - his wounds were apparently self-inflicted. The incident occurred just past midnight at around 12:45 AM, which is believed to be around the same time the grisly murders occurred in that house all those years ago. The man was quickly rushed to the hospital where he was able to make a full recovery, but what happened is a most chilling coincidence. Perhaps a paranormal presence within the house decided to carry on the legacy of its history.
[center][big]#2 The Caretaker[/big][/center]
I'm what you might call an amateur ghost hunter. I prefer to work alone, which many say isn't safe for me since I'm just a woman on her own in these eerie old places, but I can take care of myself. Unlike most ghost hunters, I like to get permission from the landowners to explore places so I'm never trespassing. I recently got permission to explore an old haunted manor. I was excited because it was the biggest place I ever explored! But I didn't get far before someone else showed up asking what I was doing there. It was some tall man with a big bushy beard and wore a flat cap. He seemed unhappy that I was there and I was admittedly frightened, but I told him I had permission from the landowner to explore here. He knew who I was talking about and said "I thought I told him to keep people out of here before I renovate the place!" He then became friendly and introduced himself as Marcus and said he was the caretaker of the manor. I apologized for being there, but he was nice and said it was a misunderstanding. I left there feeling a bit embarrassed and unhappy about the landlord for not telling me about Marcus. I went to the landowner's office the next day to complain and he seemed confused and said there was no caretaker. But when I mentioned Marcus, he turned white and asked me if he was a tall man with a beard and if he happened to be wearing a flat cap. I answered yes, of course, and his next words still chill me to this day: "Marcus used to be the caretaker, but... he's been dead for 8 years."
[center][big]#3 The Wannabe Thug[/big][/center]
A young man who grew up in one of the poorest ghettos in his area longed to live the life of a gangster - what he considered the only way for him to make it in life. He was raised by his mother. She was no saint herself, but she knew where that lifestyle would lead him to and hated the idea of her son going down that path. She would tell him time and time again that he will regret it someday and end up hurting those he loves most. The boy loved his mother more than anything, but he was set on the idea of becoming a thug and resorted to petty crime. While he did catch the attention of the local gang, they still didn't take him seriously enough. They told him anyone can rob and deliver a beating to somebody and to prove himself, he needed to kill someone. Not just anyone, but a woman. The boy couldn't help but remember what his mom always told him but in spite of this, he agreed to it. The gang abducted a woman right off the street and brought her before the young man, bound and with a bag over her head. They handed him a knife and told him to stab her to death. He hesitated. Every part of him told him to back out while he still could, even as the other gangsters taunted him and told him he didn't have it in him. But then he did. He stabbed that woman numerous times. To prove how bad he could be, he said he'd look the woman in the eyes as she bled to death. But as he removed the bag covering her head, he discovered the woman was his own mother. Turns out what she said to her son all along was true - by resorting to the life of a thug, he would only end up hurting those he loved most. The other gangsters were impressed, but the young man couldn't live with the guilt and ended up taking his own life. But the gang forgot all about the whole thing almost immediately. To them, he was just another wannabe who couldn't handle thug life.
[center][big]#4 The Gas Prowler[/big][/center]
Reports from a small town in the central US tell of a series of gas attacks that have been terrorizing its residents. They're claimed to be the work of a wicked gasser who sneaks up to peoples' homes at night and pumps a toxic gas into their bedrooms. The most common reports involve residents waking up to a sweet-smelling but strong odor coming from their windows that makes them violently ill and lose feeling in their legs with no explanation for the odor. But several people have witnessed a mysterious prowler fleeing from their windows shortly after noticing the odor in their home. A common description of this elusive gasser is that of a tall man wearing dark clothing and a gasmask. The nature of the gas is unknown, but some believe it to be a type of anesthetic. Authorities have investigated the matter extensively and despite finding some evidence of breaking and entering into some homes, it's been dismissed as a case of mass hysteria caused by nighttime wind shifts sending gas from a nearby industrial plant into people's opened windows. Still, many maintain that it's the work of a malicious gasser. If so, it leads one to believe that maybe this gasser was simply clever enough to cover his tracks and conduct his attacks at just the right time to where they could be mistaken for industrial pollution by authorities. We may never know.
[center][big]#5 Where Dogs Jump[/big][/center]
In a small rolling valley community, an unexplainable phenomenon has been occurring for years where dogs have been leaping to their deaths on one specific bridge crossing a ravine. The incidents happen seemingly without warning as the dogs suddenly jump off the side of the bridge and into the void below. Almost all of the dog suicides have happened at the same section of the bridge too, on the right-hand side between its two final parapets. Even more bizarrely, all the dogs who have jumped have been medium to large sized long-nosed breeds. For decades this apparently popular suicide site for dogs has been taking place with occasional reports of people losing their dogs after they felt compelled to jump to their deaths for seemingly no reason. Why that bridge? Why that specific spot on the bridge? Why only certain types of dogs? Disregarding the number of paranormal conjectures, many have been trying to find a more logical explanation for the phenomenon, but to no avail.
[sep]
Let me know in the comments which stories you think are real and which you think are fiction. And don't be a spoilsport if you happen to know any of them already! After an hour, I will post my own comment where I'll tell you the answers. Good luck!
[sep]
[center][big]#1 One House's Bloody Legacy[/big][/center]
Years ago, a Midwest American home was the site of a gruesome killing that left several people dead at the hands of a murderer who was never caught. Over the years, the house developed a reputation for being haunted with reports of people witnessing the killer roaming the hallways and hearing the faint screams of the victims. Because of this, many ghost hunters like to visit the house or even stay the night in hopes of recording their own paranormal encounters. Though one group of amateur ghost hunters who were staying the night in that house ended up with more than they bargained for. When the group were scattered all around the house looking for ghostly activity while communicating through two-way radios, one of them screamed for help over the radio and his friends found that he had been stabbed multiple times in the chest - his wounds were apparently self-inflicted. The incident occurred just past midnight at around 12:45 AM, which is believed to be around the same time the grisly murders occurred in that house all those years ago. The man was quickly rushed to the hospital where he was able to make a full recovery, but what happened is a most chilling coincidence. Perhaps a paranormal presence within the house decided to carry on the legacy of its history.
[center][big]#2 The Caretaker[/big][/center]
I'm what you might call an amateur ghost hunter. I prefer to work alone, which many say isn't safe for me since I'm just a woman on her own in these eerie old places, but I can take care of myself. Unlike most ghost hunters, I like to get permission from the landowners to explore places so I'm never trespassing. I recently got permission to explore an old haunted manor. I was excited because it was the biggest place I ever explored! But I didn't get far before someone else showed up asking what I was doing there. It was some tall man with a big bushy beard and wore a flat cap. He seemed unhappy that I was there and I was admittedly frightened, but I told him I had permission from the landowner to explore here. He knew who I was talking about and said "I thought I told him to keep people out of here before I renovate the place!" He then became friendly and introduced himself as Marcus and said he was the caretaker of the manor. I apologized for being there, but he was nice and said it was a misunderstanding. I left there feeling a bit embarrassed and unhappy about the landlord for not telling me about Marcus. I went to the landowner's office the next day to complain and he seemed confused and said there was no caretaker. But when I mentioned Marcus, he turned white and asked me if he was a tall man with a beard and if he happened to be wearing a flat cap. I answered yes, of course, and his next words still chill me to this day: "Marcus used to be the caretaker, but... he's been dead for 8 years."
[center][big]#3 The Wannabe Thug[/big][/center]
A young man who grew up in one of the poorest ghettos in his area longed to live the life of a gangster - what he considered the only way for him to make it in life. He was raised by his mother. She was no saint herself, but she knew where that lifestyle would lead him to and hated the idea of her son going down that path. She would tell him time and time again that he will regret it someday and end up hurting those he loves most. The boy loved his mother more than anything, but he was set on the idea of becoming a thug and resorted to petty crime. While he did catch the attention of the local gang, they still didn't take him seriously enough. They told him anyone can rob and deliver a beating to somebody and to prove himself, he needed to kill someone. Not just anyone, but a woman. The boy couldn't help but remember what his mom always told him but in spite of this, he agreed to it. The gang abducted a woman right off the street and brought her before the young man, bound and with a bag over her head. They handed him a knife and told him to stab her to death. He hesitated. Every part of him told him to back out while he still could, even as the other gangsters taunted him and told him he didn't have it in him. But then he did. He stabbed that woman numerous times. To prove how bad he could be, he said he'd look the woman in the eyes as she bled to death. But as he removed the bag covering her head, he discovered the woman was his own mother. Turns out what she said to her son all along was true - by resorting to the life of a thug, he would only end up hurting those he loved most. The other gangsters were impressed, but the young man couldn't live with the guilt and ended up taking his own life. But the gang forgot all about the whole thing almost immediately. To them, he was just another wannabe who couldn't handle thug life.
[center][big]#4 The Gas Prowler[/big][/center]
Reports from a small town in the central US tell of a series of gas attacks that have been terrorizing its residents. They're claimed to be the work of a wicked gasser who sneaks up to peoples' homes at night and pumps a toxic gas into their bedrooms. The most common reports involve residents waking up to a sweet-smelling but strong odor coming from their windows that makes them violently ill and lose feeling in their legs with no explanation for the odor. But several people have witnessed a mysterious prowler fleeing from their windows shortly after noticing the odor in their home. A common description of this elusive gasser is that of a tall man wearing dark clothing and a gasmask. The nature of the gas is unknown, but some believe it to be a type of anesthetic. Authorities have investigated the matter extensively and despite finding some evidence of breaking and entering into some homes, it's been dismissed as a case of mass hysteria caused by nighttime wind shifts sending gas from a nearby industrial plant into people's opened windows. Still, many maintain that it's the work of a malicious gasser. If so, it leads one to believe that maybe this gasser was simply clever enough to cover his tracks and conduct his attacks at just the right time to where they could be mistaken for industrial pollution by authorities. We may never know.
[center][big]#5 Where Dogs Jump[/big][/center]
In a small rolling valley community, an unexplainable phenomenon has been occurring for years where dogs have been leaping to their deaths on one specific bridge crossing a ravine. The incidents happen seemingly without warning as the dogs suddenly jump off the side of the bridge and into the void below. Almost all of the dog suicides have happened at the same section of the bridge too, on the right-hand side between its two final parapets. Even more bizarrely, all the dogs who have jumped have been medium to large sized long-nosed breeds. For decades this apparently popular suicide site for dogs has been taking place with occasional reports of people losing their dogs after they felt compelled to jump to their deaths for seemingly no reason. Why that bridge? Why that specific spot on the bridge? Why only certain types of dogs? Disregarding the number of paranormal conjectures, many have been trying to find a more logical explanation for the phenomenon, but to no avail.
[sep]
Let me know in the comments which stories you think are real and which you think are fiction. And don't be a spoilsport if you happen to know any of them already! After an hour, I will post my own comment where I'll tell you the answers. Good luck!
