AI Summary
5 min readThe Levee Check That Went Wrong
The woods in Louisiana are not like normal woods. They are mud, mosquitoes, and poison ivy, with a seventy-year-old levee that keeps the family house from flooding every time it rains. After every bad storm, someone has to walk the trail to check that levee. This time, it was the narrator's turn. He left the house after an early supper, expecting a thirty-minute walk. What he got was a two-hour hike through a forest that seemed to have rearranged itself, a mile-long sprint from something he can only describe as "true evil," and a smashed voodoo doll that may have been the only reason he made it home alive.
The Woods Before the Storm
The family property is fifty-seven acres in rural Louisiana, bordered by a small stream that swells dangerously after rain. The levee—a "rinky dink ass levy" built by some unknown redneck engineer decades ago—is the only thing standing between the house and an impromptu lake. Checking it is routine, but the woods are full of strange things: old sheds, car seats miles from any road, piles of sheet metal, and the occasional uncovered water well or human remains.
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What you'll learn
- 1 Scary Stories - The Backwoods: Investigative Navigation Outline
- 2 (01:00) **Setting the Scene: Louisiana Backwoods** - The narrator describes the harsh reality of the Louisiana woods: poison ivy, endless mud, mosquitoes, and a ramshackle 70-year-old levee that protects their 57-acre property from flooding.
- 3 (03:24) **The Woods' Strange History** - The property is littered with odd discoveries: old sheds, car seats miles from roads, piles of sheet metal, and occasionally uncovered remains of animals or people.
- 4 (05:17) **The Warning: Don't Trust the Levees** - The narrator issues a direct warning: avoid drainage and runoff systems, especially levees, and never check them alone or near sunset.
- 5 (06:08) **First Signs of Wrongness** - After the latest storm, the woods feel off: bugs and birds are slow to start, and a healthy hardwood tree falls directly in front of the narrator.
- 6 (07:11) **The Deer Rubs: A Warning in the Trees** - Every tree within reach is stripped of bark, with broken antler nubs and blood on the ground, as if every male deer in 50 miles fought or marked territory aggressively.
- 7 (08:55) **Getting Lost on a Familiar Trail** - A 30-minute walk stretches into hours as the narrator walks without reaching the levee, marking trees but never passing the same one twice.
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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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