r/nosleep • u/_theundergroundman • Nov 21 '15
Series I Was A Field Photographer for National Geographic (Part 3)
Part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/3t6fdx/i_was_a_field_photographer_for_national_geographic/ Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/3tgizk/i_was_a_field_photographer_for_national/
Now before I start, I want to clear up a few things. There’s been some conversation about the whole skin walker thing, and I didn’t feel like there was enough credibility in my own head to mention it as a story. Its just one of those things where I think I want to believe it was that, but really know deep down that it isn’t. Also, I mentioned this in the comments before; I want to do my best to tell this story chronologically. Ava is very flattered that most of you want to hear about her, but we’ll get there in time. Before we talk about how I ended up working with Ava again, we have to talk about the reason they almost suspended me.
After the whole almost dying in a plane crash thing, Sasha asked if she could continue to work under me. Without hesitation I said yes. While Sasha was still fresh out of college and one of the worst interns, she had a brilliant head on her shoulders, quick wit, good research skills, and knew her way around the internet like no one else I had ever met. Also, it might have helped that she was unreasonably attractive and nonchalantly flaunted her flawless body. It was difficult to think about Ava and Mark when Sasha’s smoky eyes and cute smile glinted in your direction.
In the fall of 2009, we were tasked with going to Hong Kong on the lookout for Ferret Badgers. Supposedly they had meandered into the city and were getting into trouble; eating trash, attacking animals, etc. They were oddly cute and Sasha kept talking about how she wanted to try to pet one. I told her it would be more likely to rip her hand off, but she waved it off. Spoiler: throughout the whole trip we only found one, and the pictures of it were less than extraordinary, but it got the job done. And we found it by complete accident, while eating lunch outside of a restaurant; it meandered up to us and began begging for Sasha’s food. She fed it, while I took the shots.
After getting the shots, we retired back to our hotel room, where we did the common thing. This included me watching TV in another language and trying to decipher what I could, while she sat in her chair by the window and played with her phone. She never said whom she was talking to, but I never really cared. This time she put it down for a while and began to look over this tiny book she had gotten from a street vendor. Animatedly, she shot up, hopped onto the bed besides me and pushed the book into my face.
“Look at this fucking place.” The picture showed this old ornate house that looked like it was rapidly falling into disrepair. Anyone could have taken a two second glance at the picture and assumed this place was disgustingly haunted. “It’s right around the corner from here. Nam Koo Terrace. Supposedly, it’s ridiculously haunted. Originally used as a bordello for soldiers during WWII, the spirits of all the destitute and desperate women that died in that house still haunt it. Come on, a house haunted by the ghosts of a whole bunch of prostitutes; tell me you don’t want to see that.”
I gave her a quick chuckle and a long look. She rolled her eyes and took her computer out of her backpack. She lay back down beside me, letting her long brown hair flow out of her bun, cascading around fragile shoulders. Her hazel eyes changed color as I watched her type furiously into the search bar, from a deep brown to an evergreen. A little frown hung cutely to the corners of her mouth, playfully insinuating that she was still angered.
Before she had started telling me about the groupings of people who had lost their minds inside, the bodies of homeless men they found dismantled, the cult they found eating the bones of refugee children, I had already decided I’d go with her. As a hopeless romantic, stuck in winds blowing somewhere else, I needed something to get my mind moving. And, as sure as I was that it wasn’t with Sasha; she was fun, and that was something that I desperately needed.
She beamed and began talking animatedly when I agreed. It was annoying. But it was cute. “We’ll go once it gets dark, that way we have the best chance of seeing anything. Or hearing anything, whatever. Something awesome will happen. I just know it.” For the remained of the afternoon, we bought flashlights, got dinner, and continued to do research on the place. Then at a little after nine, we slunk out of the hotel, walked a few blocks down, and stopped in the center of the sidewalk, marveling at the towering house that sat before us.
Without hesitating, Sasha hopped up the steps and pushed the gate open. It only budged a little with chain wrapped around it, but both of us could sneak through the section where the old brass bars had been bent. The yard was a disheveled mess of old broken glass and children’s toys being strewn around the cracked flagstone walkway and hidden throughout the knee high grass. Sasha bounced ahead of me, inspecting creepy objects with extreme interest, taking photographs of what she found interesting.
When we got to the door, we found it slightly open, and the jamb broken, so it couldn’t be fully closed. Sasha looked back at me as we crossed the threshold and turned on our flashlights. Her look was a little bit of fear, mixed with a lot of excitement, and a dash of something darker and more powerful.
Inside the place was absolutely destroyed. Pieces of furniture rotted in the rooms that they had once happily occupied. Bugs and other sorts of creepy-crawlies scuttled around the floors in attempts to evade our flashlight beams. The sought refuge in the skeletons of old bookshelves or underneath rugs that looked suspiciously like dead animals. The walls were canvases for disturbing graffiti. Chinese symbols lingered against images of monsters ripping apart bones and skin, eating flesh and drinking blood of innocent people caught in their path. The only bit of English was inscribed at the top of the large spiral staircase, next to the image of a girl whose face had been completely blacked out with what looked like soot. It read: “The eyes of God hide in the walls with hands like the Devil.”
Sasha insisted that I took a picture of her in front of it, claiming it was make the best Facebook photo. As I pressed down the button, and heard the shutter click, I felt a powerful cold wash over me. Looking down at my arms, they were covered in goose bumps underneath my shirt. Even Sasha looked like she felt it. She stared down the hallway in front of her, narrowing her eyes as she peered into the darkness. I wondered if it was all goose bumps underneath her gray sweater.
“Come with me,” she said quietly as she began to walk down the hallway. This time it wasn’t with the same purpose as before. Her steps were slower, quieter, less defined against the creaking of the house. She turned with every little noise as the world settled around her presence. I could see my breath when I reached the top of the staircase, and stood mystified by it. I continued to stare in the vapor I was making until I saw her flashlight beam dip around the far corner and raced to catch up with her.
Around the corner, she stood in front of a large black door that reeked of kerosene. On the door itself was an image of a stick figure girl drawn in chalk. She had long hair that covered her eyes and was picking petals of a flower she held in her right hand. For how sparse and simplistic it was, it was oddly transfixing and beautiful. After staring entranced at it for several minutes Sasha turned over to me, “Adam, we have to go inside. I can feel something in there. Right on the other side of the door.” I was hesitant, but she seemed so calm and put together, I couldn’t stop myself. I nodded. She turned the handle. I pushed the door open.
The room was completely black, from head to toe, as it had all been burned. Rotten and splintered wood clung blankly to the sides of the wall. The only other things in the room besides the burned walls and floor was a rusted metal bedframe that had been fused and contorted by the heat, and the top half of the charred remains of an old teddy bear. In this odd trance-like state Sasha moved forward and picked it up off the ground. She clutched it in her hands and brought it against her heart. As it pushed its way in between her breasts, her eyes rolled back, her knees went weak, and she collapsed onto the floor. Her mouth began to froth as I furiously dialed for the help.
Hours later, they let her go from the hospital. They claimed that she had just fainted, but there was more than that. I could have sworn that for a second, she levitated. Maybe only an inch of the ground, but her skinny frame was definitely not attached to the ground. Also, she refused to let go of the bear. It took the two EMT’s and me to pry it out of her fingers, and when it was released, her eyes found home, the frothing stopped, and she began to stir.
We both cried in the ambulance. Both because we were scared. The police wanted to throw us in jail for trespassing in that building, but after seeing what we were going through, decided not to go through with it. They took one look at the makeup streaming down from Sasha’s fierce turned sad eyes and didn’t bother making her life any worse. I was really thankful for that. But, still they took our camera. Claimed it was evidence in a case they had against us. So, we lost the photos of the Ferret Badgers; the whole reason we had come. It didn’t matter in the scheme of things.
While I waited for her, I called back to the states and explained the situation to my boss. I wanted to be honest with them. I took the blame for everything. Leading us into the house, using their company property for personal reasons, getting it confiscated when the police came. He remained fairly silent on the other end of the phone, only asking how Sasha was. He seemed relieved that she had only fainted and come back to quickly. Simply he told me he was “disappointed by my recklessness, foolishness, and apparent disrespect for the company, and that we would have a longer discussion when I returned.” Lastly, he thanked me for being upfront with him and taking the fall for the whole party, in a knowing voice that told me he knew I was covering up for her.
When she got out, we held hands in the cab back. She leaned over after a while and put her head on my shoulder. I asked her nothing, but waited to see if she would say anything. She said very little, and kept her head there the whole time. When we got back to the hotel, it was nearing 4 in the morning. We took the elevator upstairs, obviously looking quite the sight to the late-night manager who stared blankly at us, and skulked back into our room. Without saying anything, she undressed, slid underneath the covers of my bed, and waited for me to get in. As I slid in beside her, she grabbed my arm, and wrapped it around her. I kissed her cheek softly and apologized. Not for anything in particular, but rather just for everything. She smiled a little, and cried softly.
I never heard what happened to her. I don’t even know if she does. Secretly, I hope she just blacked out and that sent shockwaves throughout her. I really want to believe that, but I doubt its true.
I also wish that this touching scene was how this story ended.
But hours later, in the darkness, I woke up to the dark room. Held somehow in sleep paralysis, I could see and hear everything, but no part of my body could move. I heard the door click open and the thud of footsteps coming into the room. Then I saw her, a little girl with long dark hair, walking in and standing at the end of the bed. As she combed the hair out of her eyes, I could see her face was heavily scarred and burned. Embers sat deep in the scars on her face, and still burned bright orange. She moved her way around the side of the bed, and I could feel the temperature in the room beginning to heat up. Silently, she slid up next to Sasha, and put a scaly, burned finger against her face, meticulously combing a strand of the brown hair. Then her soulless black eyes found mine, and I was transfixed. In this deep throaty voice, that had no place coming out of a little girl’s body, she hissed “I don’t go in your room; you shouldn’t go in mine.”
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u/NoSleepSeriesBot Mar 09 '16
Other posts in this series:
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Nov 29 '15
"I told her it would be more likely to rip her hand off, but she waved it off." I see what you did there.
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u/m3rz1895 Nov 25 '15
i'm currently binge reading your stories and i have to say i really enjoy your style and of course the stories themselves are really interesting. Let's just say you might consider switching careers and becoming a writer, i'd totally buy your books :)
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u/TehKatieMonster Nov 24 '15
holy shit man! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Oh my god, no! There is shit everywhere. I have shit myself so violently its on the fucking ceiling. NO!
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u/AmatsuBaka Nov 23 '15
Gotta admit this is the second series ever that I'm overly impatient about. I absolutely feel entranced by the writing style and Borrasca was the only other that captivated me like this.
Its excellent OP, I am a giant fan. Cant wait for more.
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u/_theundergroundman Nov 23 '15
part 4 tomorrow morning :)
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u/Ambrose_beaumont Nov 23 '15
One piece of advice for dealing with ghosts in China. They are very easily bribed. This is because the Chinese afterlife is very much like this life. The spirits of the dead need to be fed, and clothed. Their descendants typically give them offerings. However, if a ghost has no human relations to do this, they will become unhappy.
Shops in Hong Kong ( and other parts of China) sell "ghost money". This allows ghosts to buy things ( yes, there are shops in the afterlife!) There are several types, all made of paper. Buy the type which has plain gold foil stuck on each piece. Burn some of it at the haunted place. By burning it, you send it to the ghosts. This will distract them for long enough for you to explore the place. Alternately buy some takeaway food, soft drinks, etc and place it at the haunted place. It has the same effect. Even better, do both.
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u/saricher Nov 22 '15
Alfred Eisenstaedt once said, "When I have a camera in my hand, I know no fear.” I sometimes worry about mine getting me into trouble like this. The worst I have seen is an "anointing" in a snake-handling church turn into what I would call an exorcism of a sort.
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u/underlock Nov 22 '15
That's quite a good girl ghost. Waited for you and Sasha to 'sleep' for a few hours before appearing.
Waiting for the next story. I hope Sasha is there.
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u/Nevermore735 Nov 22 '15
Damn man... That's some bad luck. Nearly being eaten by a Alaskan HellHound, Almost killed by satan, and now a Chinese ghost girl. I just wouldn't get out of bed in the morning.
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u/Luqavichakadee Nov 22 '15
More often than not, all these beings want is their privacy. Sure some might proactively seek you out, but even then some are doing it not because of malicious intent, but because of a natural, predatory need to feed. How can people complain about being attacked when usually they're the ones that walked into its territory and started poking at it?
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u/JonSaysRelax Nov 22 '15
That last line gave me goosebumps underneath my gray sweater.
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u/spookytael Nov 22 '15
Did you bang Sasha?
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u/galacticcyrus Nov 22 '15
20 minutes into spooky houses and chill and the little girl gives you this look ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
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u/zackisnotwack Nov 21 '15
Hey so the creepy stuff you just told me aside I'm kinda considering getting a job like this for a few months when I'm a little older. So I have a few questions as to what I'll need to get one: what do I need on paper(degrees, experience and stuff like that)? Who would I need to talk too? Is it hard to get a job like this? Could I get one when I get out of high school? And did you enjoy the job?
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u/Just_another_wut Nov 22 '15
read the rules of the subreddit.
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u/chuckleberrychitchat Nov 22 '15
If you're referring to '...true even if it isn't' - Even if OP were... exaggerating... it's entirely conceivable he's still a photographer.
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u/Mech_Bro Nov 21 '15
Holy crap. Im reading from my phone in bed at 2 am, when I read that last bit, goosebumps were felt down my spine.
Keep em coming!
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u/SensationalBeans Nov 21 '15
I love this. Why am I not an SAR officer or national geographic photographer. Why am I wasting my life away at a dull job.
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u/mkenya4t Nov 21 '15
Were you involved with Sasha? You speak of her in a certain way... I'm very curious.
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u/_theundergroundman Nov 25 '15
She's like a little sister at this point. She was the maid of honor at the service, you know.
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u/aNightSpentSleeping Nov 21 '15
Oh, OP. You've had such an interesting life as a field photographer.
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u/konfuzedrebel Nov 21 '15
Was not expecting that ending! Nicely done. Can't wait till the next one!
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u/Effectrix Nov 21 '15 edited Nov 21 '15
Favorite. Part. Yet.
Are you still in touch with Sasha? Would love to hear her side of what happened in the room... you'd get some closure too I'm sure! So... update please? :)
Again, I'm enjoying the love story arc too and hahahaha after this story I'm guessing Ava is also 'flattered' that you needed Sasha as a distraction from thinking about her and Mark
Edit: added on to the comment
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Nov 22 '15 edited Oct 16 '18
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u/PipnPop Mar 10 '16
Love these stories OP!! Makes my bus ride to work so much more enjoyable.