The Starkman

I have a story to tell everyone online. I understand that posting it here is probably not the best choice since most people would think of it as fake, but I don't care. This NEEDS to get out there somehow. I am not going to say my name, as I wish to remain anonymous.

So anyway, back when I was 8 or 9 (I'm 17 right now), I moved into a huge house in the countryside of Illinois. I think it had around 9 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. We had two living rooms, I can remember that much at least. I remember when we moved in, the cellar door had a pad lock on it and was covered with dead leaves and spiderwebs. I begged my mother repeatedly for the first few days we moved in to go down there, yet she would always yell at me every single time I'd ask.

One night, I was staying up past midnight because it was the "cool" thing to do back then. At around 1:13 AM, I saw the backyard porch light turn on. It usually didn't turn on unless there was movement. I sneaked quietly toward the door with my heart racing in fear. I moved the curtains over a tiny bit so that whatever was on the outside couldn't see me, but I could see it. I couldn't see anything, so I cracked open the door a little. To my surprise, my dog barked in my face from the other side. Thank God.

I opened the door to let her in and she ran quickly over my feet to the living room. I walked onto the porch and watched the empty field that was way in the back of my yard. It was a windy night, so the wheat and corn crops were swinging with the wind. Every now and again, cars from down the road would zoom by with really loud engines. Being a child, it scared me quite a lot.

Suddenly, I saw an area in the cornfield stay still while the wind still shook. It looked as if a man were standing there, spreading the crops apart while he watched me. I got really scared, but I couldn't resist my curiosity. I threw a rock at the silhouette and watched as it scattered back into the field. Must have been a wild dog or something. At least, that's what I thought.

The next day, my mother made me grab some corn from the field for dinner that night. I went to pluck some, but something in my body just stood still every time I went in the area that the silhouette was. I felt cold too. I only picked 6 pieces of corn, but I was sure that was enough. I just wanted to get the hell out of there. I brought them to my mother and continued with playing with my toys.

During the night, I did the exact same thing I did the night before. I went onto the porch and stared into the field. I don't know why, but I really wanted to see that thing again. Just like the night before, I saw it standing in the field. "Hey, who are you?" I called out to it. After I yelled, it ran into my yard. I couldn't really see what it was, but it walked on all fours. It ran at an extreme speed, so fast that I couldn't even follow it's leg movement.

It stood in my yard, staring at me. The only thing I could see on it was it's eyes and legs. I could barely even make out the outline of its back and head. I heard it snarl and growl as its bloody eyes met mine. Petrified, I ran into the house, and I'm damn sure that it followed me to the door. I was too quick to let it get me though. I ran into my room and hid under the blankets for the rest of the night.

The next morning, I told my mom everything that had happened for the past few nights. She yelled at me like usual and told me it was just my imagination. I got mad at her and ran outside to play. As I was playing, I saw the cellar door and got the urge to go down there again. Knowing my mother would never let me go down there, I went into the shed and got my father's chain cutters. I cut open the lock and the door immediately started to shake. I threw the door open and looked at the strangely neat stairs. They looked as if someone had been cleaning them.

I walked down the stairs and searched the wall for a light switch. I found it successfully and tried to turn it on. The lights flickered on for a split second and shut back off. In that second though, I saw a figure of a man standing in the center of the room. No, it wasn't a man. It was some sort of creature. It had long claws with an extremely skinny body. "Where is my dog?" It softly moaned. That's when I saw it turn around. It had the same exact red eyes as the creature from the field. Was that his dog? "It's in the field!" I shouted.

The lights switched on and I got a full look at him. He wore very old, rotted clothing with holes and scratches all over. He had very faint, see-through white skin. His fangs were sharp and of the same transparency. He whistled...I think. I heard the sound of claws running down the stairs. I blinked, and just like that, he was gone. I turned the light off and quickly ran away out of the terror that I had just witnessed.

I closed the door and never returned to that cellar. A few years ago, though, I had awoke to the sound of tapping at the foot of my bed. It was him. The stark figure. "Would you like to meet my old friends?" he asked me. I silently nodded and walked out of bed as he signaled me to follow him. He walked with me through my yard until we hit the cornfield. He disappeared and left me there alone. I had no clue what that was, but I continued on to bed thinking it was a hallucination or PTSD of some sort.

We moved out of that house last year and I now live in the urban area of Springfield. This isn't the end though. Yesterday, I felt very curious at what was in the cornfield. I went to the old house, but there were no new owners. It was abandoned. I jumped the fence and smashed the front door down. I went through the house until I reached my bedroom. The door was gone. Inside, there was writing on the wall that read "Why didn't you enter?". It smelled God awful in that house as if something had died. I had to get out of there.

I ran into the yard and found a withered field. That was the field. I walked over all of the dead plants and found what looked like the skin of an animal of some sort under a giant stone. On the skin, was writing. It was a list of names and they were all scratched out. That is, except for the first one. That one was mine.

I threw the skin away and walked to the cellar. I had to find this thing no matter what. I went in, and it smelled the worst down there. I turned the light on and to my surprise, the electric worked. The place was abandoned, so how? I soon found my answer next to me. There was a small door that led to a sub-cellar. I went in, and to my horror, there were tons of dead bodies. Around 9 or 10 were scattered and slaughtered throughout the room. It looked as if something had been eating them.

I ran out of there and fled the area. That night, I took the liberty of researching this creature. It seems that a few others have had experiences like mine too. They all described it as a "Stark-like" man. Readers, if you ever experience this, please don't go any further into it. I don't think you'll enjoy having an experience like mine. You might even die, so PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, JUST STAY AWAY FROM THIS THING.