Scary Stories - The Backwoods

August 20, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In the Louisiana backwoods, a routine chore turned into a nightmare. After a storm, the narrator—a young man living with his family on 57 acres of swampy, mosquito-ridden land—went to check the old levee that protects their house from flooding. What should have been a 30-minute walk became a hours-long ordeal through a forest that had subtly, terrifyingly changed. Trees were stripped bare by deer rubs, the trail seemed to loop without repeating, and then he saw it: a massive, black, watery creature tearing down the levee trench, radiating what he could only describe as "true evil." He barely escaped by scrambling up the bank, and on his frantic run home, he stumbled over a crude wooden altar—a small, deliberately made structure with a figurine. He crushed it under his heel. The creature did not follow. Now, sitting by a fire, he is left wondering if the woods have always been haunted, or if something—or someone—has changed them.

The Unreliable Landscape

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What you'll learn

1 Scary Stories - The Backwoods
2 (01:00) **Setting the Scene: The Louisiana Woods** - The narrator describes the brutal reality of the Louisiana backwoods: relentless mud, mosquitoes, poison ivy, and constant rain that floods their 57-acre property.
3 (03:24) **The Routine and the Weirdness** - The narrator explains that the woods contain strange things, but the real trouble begins during a routine post-storm levee check.
4 (05:40) **The Creepy Quiet and the Falling Tree** - The narrator starts their walk and immediately notices something off: a tree falls right in front of them, which is unusual for a calm day with no recent storm.
5 (06:45) **The Deer Rubs: A Sign of Disturbance** - The narrator notices every tree within reach has been stripped of bark by deer — far more than normal, with blood on broken antler nubs.
6 (08:06) **Lost in the Woods: Time and Space Break** - The narrator walks for hours on what should be a 30-minute trail, marking trees to avoid circling, but never passes the same tree twice.
7 (09:57) **The Sound: A Low Rumble Becomes a Monster** - The narrator hears a low rumble like an earthquake or train, growing louder from behind, and turns to face the levee.

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Show Notes

We learnt one thing as kids, when your playing in the backwoods, always stay away from the water

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