I'm Liz Sauer and this is ghost in the burbs. A podcast of ghost stories from Wellesley massachusetts, a warning. Adults who use adult language told me these frightening tales, These ghost stories aren't for kids. Next friday, we're traveling to sleepy Hollow for classic Haunts, but today we're going to stay right here in Wellesley, frankly, I'd much prefer the headless horseman to the monster. In our next tale, We're on a Ghost Story # 58. The rake.
Mhm, A terrifying monster named the rake initially gained momentum and notoriety as a creepypasta. Similarly to Slenderman, the rake may have begun in an author's imagination, but like pesky tapas tend to do, it appears to have broken through into our reality because enough people believed like so many paranormal oddities, the rake found its way to Wellesley, but before I tell you about that hot mess, I thought it might be fun to go back to the rakes origin story.
The creepypasta that unleashed this particularly scary monster into the world so that we may all land on the same page before our next neighbor shares her harrowing a counter with the rig. I'm going to read you the creepypasta that started it all with a little side commentary because as you've probably noticed, I have a hard time not interrupting The link is in the show notes, but without further Ado, here is the rake first posted to reddit almost exactly 12 years ago on April 27, 2009.
The rake During the summer of 2003 events in the northeastern United States involving a strange humanlike creature sparked brief local media interest before an apparent blackout was enacted little or no information was left intact as most online and written accounts of the creature were mysteriously destroyed, primarily focused in rural new york state. And once found in Idaho, self proclaimed witnesses told stories of their encounters with a creature of unknown origin.
Emotions range from extremely traumatic levels of fright and discomfort to an almost childlike sense of playfulness and curiosity. While they're published versions are no longer on record, the memories remain powerful. Several of the involved parties began looking for answers. That year, In early 2006, the collaboration had accumulated nearly two dozen documents dating between the 12th century and present day spanning four continents. In almost all cases, the stories were identical.
I've been in contact with a member of this group and was able to get some excerpts from their upcoming book. Okay, so then they just jump right in the excerpts here and the first one is called A Suicide Note 1964. As I prepare to take my life, I feel it necessary to assuage any guilt or pain I've introduced through this act is not the fault of anyone other than him. For once I awoke and felt his presence and once I awoke and saw his form.
Once again, I awoke and heard his voice and looked into his eyes. I cannot sleep without fear of what I might next awake to experience. I can not ever wake. Goodbye. Found in the same wooden box were two empty envelopes addressed to William and rose, and one loose personal letter with no envelope. Dearest lenny! I have prayed for you. He spoke your name alright, So here's the second excerpt that they list. A Journal entry Translated from Spanish 1880. I have experienced the greatest terror.
I have experienced, the greatest terror I have experienced. The greatest terror. I see his eyes when I close mine. They're hollow black. They saw me and pierced me his wet hand. I will not sleep, his voice unintelligible text, shivers with a wet hand, right yikes! Alright? And here is the 3rd entry. A Mariners Log 1691. He came to me in my sleep from the foot of my bed. I felt a sensation. He took everything. We must return to England. We shall not return here again at the request of the rake.
And here's a longer and final chilling, absurd From a witness. In 2006. Three years ago I had just returned from a trip from Niagara falls with my family for the 4th of July. We were all very exhausted after a long day of driving, so my husband and I put the kids right to bed and called it a night At about four a.m. I woke up thinking my husband had gotten up to use the restroom. I used the moment to steal back the sheets, only to wake him in the process.
I apologized and told him I thought he got out of bed. When he turned to face me he gasped and pulled his feet up from the end of the bed. So quickly his knee almost knocked me out of the bed. He then grabbed me and said nothing. After adjusting to the dark for half a second, I was able to see what caused the strange reaction at the foot of the bed, sitting and facing away from us. There was what appeared to be a naked man or a large hairless dog of some sort.
Its body position was disturbing and unnatural, as if it had been hit by a car or something. For some reason I was not instantly frightened by it, but more concerned as to its condition. At this point I was somewhat under the assumption that we're supposed to help him. Yeah, it wouldn't be my reaction, but let's listen. Um My husband was peering over his arm and knee tucked into the fetal position, occasionally glancing at me before returning to the creature again. What the hell! Right.
That's quite the useless reaction. Uh In a flurry of motion, the creature scrambled around the side of the bed and then crawled quickly in a flailing sort of motion right along the bed until it was less than a foot from my husband's face. The creature was completely silent for about 30 seconds or probably closer to five. It just seemed like a while just looking at my husband. The creature then placed it's hand on his knee and ran into the hallway leading to the kids rooms.
I screamed and ran for the light switch, planning to stop him before he hurt my Children. When I got in the hallway, the light from the bedroom was enough to see it crouching and hunched over about 20 ft away. He turned around and looked directly at me, covered in blood. I flipped the switch on the wall and saw my daughter Clara. The creature ran down the stairs while my husband and I rushed to help our daughter. She was very badly injured and spoke only once more in her short life.
She said, here's the rake. My husband drove his car into a lake that night while rushing our daughter to the hospital. They did not survive being a small town news. Got around pretty quickly. The police were helpful at first and the local newspaper took a lot of interest as well. However, the story was never published and the local television news never followed up either. For several months.
My son Justin and I stayed in a hotel near my parents house after we decided to return home, I began looking for answers myself. I eventually located a man in the next town over who had a similar story. We got in contact and began talking about our experiences. He knew of two other people in new york who had seen the creature we now refer to as the rake.
I took the four of us about two solid years of hunting on the internet and writing letters to come up with a small collection of what we believe to be the accounts of the rake. None of them gave any details. History or follow up One journal had an entry involving the creature in its 1st 3 pages and never mentioned it again. A ship's log explained nothing of the encounter, saying only that they were told to leave by the rake. That was the last entry in the log.
There were however many instances where the creatures visit was one of a series of visits. The same person, multiple people also mentioned being spoken to my daughter included. This led us to wonder if the rake had visited any of us. Before our last encounter. I set up a digital recorder near my bed and left it running all night. Every night for two weeks I would tediously scan through the sounds of me rolling around in my bed each day. When I woke up.
By the end of the second week, I was quite used to the occasional sound of sleep while blurring through the recording at eight times the normal speed. This still took almost an hour every day. On the first day of the third week. I thought I heard something different. What I found was a shrill voice. It was the rake. I can't listen to it long enough to even begin to transcribe it. I haven't let anyone listen to it yet.
All I know is that I've heard it before and I now believe that it spoke when it was sitting in front of my husband. I don't remember hearing anything at the time but for some reason the voice on the recorder immediately brings me back to that moment. The thoughts that must have gone through my daughters head make me very upset. I have not seen the rake since he ruined my life but I know that he's been in my room while I've slept.
I know and fear that one night I'll wake up and see him staring at me the end properly spooky little monster story. Huh? I definitely don't like the idea of something crawling quickly in a flailing sort of motion along the side of the bed. He sh the description of this thing brings to mind the wendigo, who in the folklore of some northern Algonquin peoples is a cannibalistic giant, a person who has been transformed into a monster by the consumption of human flesh.
The Algonquin originally lived in the dense forest regions of the valley of the Ottawa River and its tributaries in present day Quebec. And Ontario Canada, that's not too far from northern new york though. It is incredibly far from Idaho but I googled it and northern Idaho and upstate new york kinda have similar climates. Come to think of it. Wellesley has hot, humid summers and bitterly cold winters too.
Maybe that's why one of those awful creatures made it so far south or maybe they have nothing to do with one another and a rake is just a rake. A wendigo, a wendigo. I've shared a few images of the wreck on my instagram account so you can take a look for yourself.
Of course, I got to mention that it kind of sort of totally looks like an alien, but I will refrain from commenting further anyhow, let's meet a wels land who can give us their own account of this creature, whatever the hell it is, luna bellamy hmm, how to describe her. Well, there's no doubt that she's from the Northeast chili, intelligent. I bet she went to a really good, really expensive college, great short layered haircut, no hair color, rich skin.
She's definitely been Fraxel and injected slow to laugh too serious for my taste, opinionated as all get out but somehow reserved at the same time like getting her full story out was like pulling teeth. But she shared her take on the covid vaccine without hesitation. It's great, we have it. But I don't believe their story line for a second either. They already knew something like this was coming and had the vaccine in the works or they have the ability to create any vaccine this quickly.
And they're not sharing the fact because it would cost them too much money. Say bye bye to cancer. HIV and they say bye bye to a lot of money. Hmm. Well that made me feel frightened and sad if it were true, incredibly angry. And then right back to frightened. I'm not a conspiracy theorist or some q person, she assured me, I just don't see how anyone could take the mixed bag of messages. We've been force fed this past year at face value.
There's more to the story for one thing that's no natural virus, Nothing was man made, which is fine. We all know they're doing it. I just don't care for having smoke blown up my asa about handwashing and Clorox wipes when we're dealing with a biological weapon. You should have heard her opinion on meghan and harry but we don't have time for that.
We want to hear about the rake luna lives in a heavily forested part of town that borders dover, yep, that dover, the one with the infamous demon high strangeness all around. Indeed. Her house is located on my favorite street in town. I personally wouldn't want to live there, but it is the coolest. It is a winding tree lined spooktacular road that weaves its way past a farm whose cows hang in the freaking woods.
You guys then meanders along lake wa been for a titch before entering dense forest, only a handful of driveways pop off this glorious road leading to utter fortresses. If I may share a ridiculously nerdy thing I like to do when I need inspiration or to get in a spooky mood for writing. I drive up and down this road blasting this song pure giant suite number one in the Hall of the Mountain King. I don't know why it works, but it does. It's like this weird hack when I do it. Not always.
But most of the time I'll see flashes of a story from start to finish as if I'm watching the trailer for it. I can't recognize faces worth a damn. And directions may as well be in another language, but give me a made up name and about 15 minutes in the car to imagine with that song playing in the background and I have a spooky story to show, for it. brains are so weird.
Anyways, I've always wondered about the people who live on that creep fest of a road Luna and her family have lived there for about 14 years and nothing of note happened aside from the occasional coyote sighting until this past March. A good portion of the siding was ripped off the side of the house. We didn't hear it happening and we don't often go in that portion of the yard in the winter. I didn't notice it until we had a warm snap in March and was cleaning up the yard.
So who knows when it actually happened. But it was unsettling at the time. We believed it was something only a person could accomplish. I have a 15 year old and a 12 year old boy and girl in that order, they swore up and down that they didn't do it. I never really thought they had, but I had to ask, even though it would have been out of character for either of them to be that destructive.
My husband john and I were left with the unsettling idea that someone came up the driveway, Which is about 75 ft long. Mind you or they come from the woods, which I don't have to tell you are very heavy in that part of town. I reported it to the police. A nice young man came out and took a look around, but he didn't find anything of note. He reminded us to keep the alarm system armed and suggested it might be some of the girls from the college screwing around. Wellesley.
College girls have never struck me as a sort who get a kick out of vandalism. But what do I know, luna said dryly. The visit from the police left us with zero sense of relief. But I was glad that the incident was on record. We used our alarm system absolutely religiously. Mostly for peace of mind, but in all those years that we've lived there, we never needed it until that thing began coming around.
One thing I found on something that I believe proves that this thing, whatever it is has intelligence is that until we discovered the vandalism to our home, we had no problems whatsoever with our security system. But the week following the discovery of the ruined siding, the alarm company called three separate nights because the system kept indicating that the sliding doors in our sunroom had been compromised.
The doors held firm, but we did find streaks of mud on them indicating it had been trying like held against side. We were told that it was probably several raccoons causing trouble even though the marks were far too large to be made by such small animals. The police suggested we installed cameras for peace of mind which we did whatever that thing is, it is not an animal, it has powers. What kind of powers? The seconds ticked by as luna considered the question.
Finally, she said, I apologize, I haven't had a good night's sleep in weeks. I'm sorry if I'm scattered, but it's happened so fast and there are things that in hindsight, I see we're connected. You're not scattered at all. I told her she laughed and rubbed her eyes. Trust me, I'm scattered. Sorry. Okay, so the thing ripped off the siding and then tried to get into the sliding doors. It was all very unnerving. But we are practical people naive as it may have been. I still felt safe in our house.
The alarm system was doing its job and the police showed up quickly when they were alerted by our security company And then one morning I was upstairs getting ready for the day john and the kids were out running errands. So I was home alone. I just turned off my hair dryer when I heard the alarm panel and our bedroom alert, it wasn't the usual beep beep that it makes when the door opens or even the crazed beeping. It does when the alarm trips it sounded different glitchy.
So I want to check when I opened the bathroom door, It was freezing. I could feel a breeze just streaming through the bedroom. The alarm panel was going nuts so I attempted to enter our code but it wouldn't accept it. My cell phone rang and I know it was the alarm company letting me know that they were sending someone out. I stepped out onto the upstairs landing as I answered the call and I could see that the front door was wide open. That's why it was so damn cold.
I told the dispatcher to send the police right away and hold up in my bedroom until they arrived. That's really scary. How long did it take them together? Not that long, but far too long if you know what I mean. I finally got the alarm to stop that incessant beeping and dragged an armchair in front of the door because I could hear the things stalking through the first floor. It shuffled around the foyer for a time and came halfway up the stairs.
The poor woman on the phone with me from the alarm company. She must have thought I lost my mind. Holy sh it. What did you think was out there? Honestly, I thought it might be a bear. I know how absurd that sounds, but it was large and the way it's footsteps sounded. Big paws, big claws, that's all I could think. The police three of them checked the house from top to bottom. They didn't find a thing.
But what truly threw me off kilter was the fact that someone or whatever that thing was had opened every single door and window on the first floor. The policemen were on high alert. In fact, at first I don't think they believed me that there was anyone in the house. I don't fault them for it.
The situation was ludicrous, but I insisted they speak with the alarm company dispatcher so she could provide her take on the situation once she weighed in, they understood that it wasn't some sick bid for attention. Did they find any sign of an intruder? Mud had been tracked into the foyer. It was assumed that that was its main of entrance, but there were no marks on the windows or the mud room or sliding glass doors?
The damn thing just came in, opened the house, then disappeared into thin air. What did they tell you to do, luna smirked, Keep the alarm set so scary! It gets worse. I was backing out of my garage one night and was about to put it in drive. When something in the backup camera caught my attention, something ran behind the car. I looked behind me and couldn't see anything. The backup lights weren't bright enough. So I looked at the screen again and saw eyes reflected in the car's lights.
Oh no. Yeah, there are bushes beside the driveway so I couldn't see the thing. Just the eyes. I thought it might be a coyote until it moved forward out of the bushes, luna shifted in her seat, distinctly uncomfortable with the memory. You are familiar with the idea that a car's night camera display is black and white. Yes. Well when it came out of those bushes, jesus, it almost glowed. What did it look like?
It looks like a person with a long misshapen head has a smooth body and moves like a person walking on their hands and feet. But the head, she shivered. The neck looks hyperextended back so that the creature can look straight forward. I couldn't really see its feet but it has a sloped back like a sway back horse. I should have thrown the car in reverse and hit the damn thing but I was so shocked by it all I could think of was getting the hell away. So I tore out of the driveway. The rake.
Claire whispered, she'd been silent for a time and I assumed she'd been just as enthralled as I was by luna's story, what's a rake? I asked are you getting something from the spirits, luna asked nervously. My guy just mentioned a name. Um Just one second. Okay, it's a monster. Claire continued. What does it do? Not sure? How do you know it's a rake? I saw one in between a long time ago and her description sounds like the thing I saw. It shouldn't be down here though. What do you mean down here?
What is the ghost saying, luna asked impatiently. She knows that the monster on your property is called a rake and she just said it doesn't belong here. Just one more second. Okay. They are ancient and there aren't many of them. They come from up north. An elemental, no powerful, like an elemental and ancient like one, but it has no actual tied to the earth. It's self serving. It's like a demon mixed with an earth spirit. Oh well luna insisted.
It sounds as though the thing stalking your house is a mix between an earth spirit and a demon. But what does it want to know? How do I get rid of it? I paused and listened to Claire's advice. You're probably not going to like this. I said after a long moment, but you basically have to move at least across town if not further. These things claim a territory for themselves and stay within certain boundaries and they like the woods.
So if you were to move to a more populated area, you'd be much better off. I hate neighborhoods, luna complained. I shrugged. Sorry, I suppose that isn't the worst thing. But I just have to be sure if we move, will it still be able to get into my head? I blinked. Wait, what? It's not just stalking our home? It communicates. I thought the ghost would know that. What exactly does it communicate warnings about what luna looked uncomfortable. I'm sure it's just trying to scare me.
I raised my eyebrows but remained silent and waited, luna crossed her arms over her chest. I'm going to be completely honest with you. I'm afraid that if I tell you everything, you will think that I'm either lying or delusional. I promise. I won't think that, I said simply. She studied my face briefly, then looked away. I don't want these images in my mind any longer. They're so vibrant that it's as if the tragedies have already happened. I have no proof.
But I know it is getting into the house and putting things into my mind as I sleep, john and the kids are affected by it. Thank God I'm the one that wants to torment. Hold on. So it's showing you things like psychically, I suppose that's what you would call it. I hate the word premonition, but I believe that's what it's transmitting to me. A harbinger claire said quietly. Harbinger. That's bad. Right? Very think mothman, mothman is real. Claire remains silent.
I don't know all of these terms, luna said, obviously frustrated. Sorry. The mothman was a creature that showed itself to a bunch of people in this town called Point Pleasant West Virginia. I saw the movie. I meant the other word harbinger. Oh right. It's something that does just what you're describing. It alerts people to future advance like the mothman did with the bridge collapse or like hearing a banshee signals. Death is coming.
Of course, that doesn't mean what they show you will actually happen. This thing could be a trickster. I went on noting the shade of green in his face had taken on that bridge collapse. Might have had nothing to do with mothman and banshees are just folktales. No, they're not. Claire cheated. What exactly is it showing you? I asked, ignoring her tsunamis and extremely vivid and painful detail. Can you tell where it happens?
Not it, there's more than one, two on the east coast and one on the west simultaneously. But how could that? I keep seeing these things that look like small submarines hit the ocean floor and it causes shockwaves that trigger the tsunamis. Fuck, No one makes it new york. My God! So many people die, They drown right in the buildings florida. I mean it simply disappears. It's just not there anymore. The force of the water is too great in California.
The tsunami is only the beginning earthquakes get triggered and then they fan out halfway across the country. Maybe it's just trying to scare you. No. If what it's showing you is coming. I'm not saying that it is, but if it is showing you the future then it can't be all that bad. If it's trying to warn you, maybe it just wants you to tell people. I didn't say it was warning us. I blanked. But you said I misspoke. I should have said threatening rather than warning.
There's malice behind these premonitions or whatever you want to call them. Besides, who could I tell? Who would believe me? What use is a warning like this? Even if I could get someone in our government to believe me, How could anyone stop someone from using such a weapon against us? Might even trigger us to take the first shot. Well then why, I don't know. That's why I got in touch with you. It's excited about the negative energy created by what's to come.
That's how Harbingers feed and they extend the energy source back by creating fear before the actual event Claire explained. So you're saying this is actually going to happen? I screeched. Oh my God, is that what the ghost just said. Don't play dumb, claire admonished you've sent something big coming for a while now. Well sure but I thought it would be another nightmare virus strain or a terrorist attack. But that's what she just described to you An attack on our country. So it's real.
This is really going to happen. Luna's voice was shaky. Maybe it's just trying to scare you. I suggested uselessly for the second time. We have to move luna said more to herself than to me. Yeah you probably should before that thing can show you anything else. No I mean yes of course. But we need to get away from the coast. Tsunamis can't reach this far inland can they were like what 16 17 miles from boston. The water doesn't make it this far but the survivors do there's more afterwards.
I mean it'll be awful. Luna grabbed her purse off the picnic bench and slung it over her shoulder. You should think about leaving to the earthquakes make it about halfway across the country. But maybe Illinois or Missouri will be safe safer. Once the survivors fan out though she stood you should really think about moving to swinging her leg over the bench to stand. She turned to go almost as an afterthought she looked back at me. Thank you. I needed confirmation.
Tell your ghost that I appreciate her. Then she walked to her car and drove away. Oh my God I groaned. Crazy. Right so that's all going to happen. Why didn't we think to ask her when Clara sniffed? It's probably only 5050. What you made it sound like a sure thing. Nothing is a sure thing. Claire. That woman is going to move to Missouri. It'll be good for her. Mhm. Friends through your Ghosts in the burbs merch purchases. You've already raised. $375 for Wellesley books.
Prison book fund reading is an escape that every human being deserves. So all merch proceeds for the month of april will support this cause if you so desire snap up a water bottle or mug or whatever. I went through the prison book wish list and this is totally pie in the sky. But if we get to around $600 we can sweep the entire list. Let's do it. Head to ghost in the burbs dot com for all the links. And this is Ben Ghosts in the burbs. Good night. Sleep tight. And don't forget your nightlight.
Mm hmm.