AI Summary
5 min readScary Stories — Abandoned
The narrator, an overnight shelf stocker who lives for adrenaline rushes like bungee jumping and reckless driving, never believed in shadow people. Those stories about humanoid black figures that stalk people and leave trails of terror were just "fun creepy reads" to him, entertainment for breaks during his boring life. So when his group of thrill-seeker friends proposed exploring an abandoned asylum built in the early 1800s and closed since the 1920s, he shrugged and went along. He figured if he were a ghost, he'd find something better to do than lurk in a collapsing building—though he admitted it might be fun to scare the hell out of people who came snooping around. That thought process persuaded him to join the five-person group: himself, Johnny, Susan, Tim, and a friend they called Speed Bump Steve.
Speed Bump earned his nickname after accepting a dare to race down a winding two-lane road at midnight without headlights. He hit a speed bump so fast coming through a parking lot that it threw his car into a spin, which turned into an end-over-end flip. He totaled the car but survived. "Hence the name, speed bump," the narrator notes dryly. They never let him drive anywhere.
The Asylum's Invitation
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
Never miss an episode of Scary Stories
Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What you'll learn
- 1 (02:16) **Introduction: From Skeptic to Survivor** - The narrator sets up their disbelief in shadow people and their mundane life as an overnight shelf stocker, establishing why they agreed to explore an abandoned asylum.
- 2 (05:31) **The Asylum's History and First Impressions** - The group arrives at the asylum, learning its dark past as a place where the mentally ill were hidden away from society.
- 3 (11:06) **Exploring the First and Second Floors** - The group navigates the crumbling building, with the narrator noticing strange movements in the shadows.
- 4 (13:57) **The First Encounter: Red Eyes on the Stairs** - At the top of the third-floor stairs, the narrator sees two red eyes staring back at them in a window reflection.
- 5 (14:48) **The Fifth Shadow Appears** - As the sun sets, the narrator notices five shadows on the wall instead of four, and one refuses to behave like a normal shadow.
- 6 (16:14) **The Rules: Don't Let It Touch You** - Susan explains the shadow person's lore: it makes people disappear, having killed a child by throwing them down stairs.
- 7 (17:39) **First Victim: Johnny Disappears** - The group runs for the stairs, but the shadow races alongside them as a fifth shadow on the wall.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
I used to look through abandoned buildings, NOT ANYMORE..
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
More from this podcast
Scary Stories →