I was recently called upon to babysit my niece. My sister and her husband were traveling out of state for a wedding. Considering we live in the same town and I come at the cheap cost of a large cheese pizza I was my sister's first call. That's what family is for.
As I made my way through the front door I barely had time to drop my overnight bag on the floor before being led away by tiny hands towards the living room. After sipping on only the finest selection of pretend tea we were conversing over pizza slices. More accurately I was asking her about her life and she was answering each question with genuine enthusiasm. The positivity and excitement in each answer she gave was infectious. You sometimes forget how optimistic of a world view kids have when they’re that young. We finished our pizza, and it was time for bed.
As I tucked her in and flicked off the light switch. I started to leave but stopped. I had almost forgotten to turn on her night light. My niece was deathly afraid of the dark as I learned the last time I babysat.
"Sweetheart where's your night light? I don't see it."
"I don't need a night light anymore. I have Mr. Googly Eyes."
"Mr. Googly Eyes? Who's that?"
"He's my friend. He watches me when I sleep.”
Okay. That’s a bit disturbing.
"Why is he called Mr. Googly Eyes?
"Because that's his name silly. Well that’s what I call him because his eyes are like the googly eyes I use in art class. His real name is really weird."
"Why does he watch you when you sleep?"
"Because he doesn't blink."
"Why doesn't he blink?"
"He can't. He doesn't have eyelids."
That part freaked me out. Suddenly I had the urge to flip on the lights, but I remained calm and dug a bit deeper.
"Oh okay. Where is Mr. Googly Eyes now?"
"I don't know. He only shows up when the lights are out after mommy and daddy are asleep. But I know he's in the room with me when I see his eyes in the dark."
That was my cue to stop asking questions. I wished her goodnight and closed her door. Admittedly I was now a little creeped out. I was going to have to have a serious talk with my sister and her husband when they got back. We are all big horror fans. Clearly her daughter had seen something they had watched from a movie or television show.
I settled back on the couch with some leftover pizza and scrolled through my sister's streaming services. I needed something, anything to get my mind off the horrific image of Mr. Googly Eyes that was being crafted in my head. I settled on a comedy tv series and tried to relax. I may have been too relaxed because before I knew it I was fast asleep. I guess my niece's creepy night watcher hadn't gotten to me too much. At least that was what I thought.
It may have only been a few hours later but suddenly I was jarred awake from my peaceful sleep by what sounded like whispering in my ear. You ever reach the point of a nightmare where something so scary happens your vision goes out in the dream. It's terrifying. You still feel a presence around you, but your mind refuses to visualize it. I would've given anything for to have happened to me when I finally met Mr. Googly Eyes.
My niece was right. He doesn’t blink. Ever. She was also right about the fact he has no eyelids. But she was wrong, he doesn’t only show up when the lights are out. I saw what watches my niece sleep at night. He was hairless from the shoulders up cloaked in a black shroud. Ears too small to be for anything for balance. His nose took rapid inhales before blowing hot air back into my face. The twin white shining blood shot orbs but black like cracked eggshells. Surrounding his eyes were scarlet rings of exposed skin. His mouth hung open and was nothing but a black hole. Then to my horror his lips uncurled, and his gnarly caramel-colored teeth appeared. He whispered to me in his demented voice.
“Go to sleep.”
In that moment I passed out.
I awoke the next morning with the lights still on and the television screen asking if I wish to continue viewing. I needed a lot things in that moment. Coffee? Definitely. A therapist? Perhaps. More than anything I needed to make sure my niece was safe. I walked slowly to her room and opened the door. Still sleeping without a care in the world. The innocence of youth on full display.
I went through the motions the rest of my time there until my sister eventually returned home. I think she could sense something was off but probably didn’t feel like getting into it after a long trip. I thought that’s why she called me today. Instead, I was getting attitude because her daughter now refused to go to sleep without a night light. I was confused and asked why? She said that through tears her daughter said that Mr. Googly Eyes couldn’t watch over her anymore. He has to watch me sleep at night now.
AprilFolly2024 💘 💀
The following is compiled from a collection of social media posts made by Scott Anders during the evening of April 1st, 2022. The posts have been compiled into roughly chronological order, to create a coherent narrative based on what Mr. Anders experienced that evening, and his train of thought during the period of time he made these posts. Some corrections to spelling and grammar have been made and additional context has been provided where necessary.
Compilation begins as follows:
Well shit.
I think I’m gonna die…
—
I’m gonna die and all I can do right now is sit in this fucking broom closet, tapping away at my phone while I’ve still got battery life and a signal.
—
Y’know I used to think that posts like this were stupid. ‘Oh, I’m super fucked, but I’m gonna take some time to whip out my phone and explain everything that’s happening in great detail!’ but here I am doing it because this is probably the only way that anyone is going to know what happened to me. My family… my friends…
Jesus fucking Christ…
—
I told myself I wasn’t going to ramble and just keep it to the point. But simply saying: ‘I’m stuck in a broom closet under the Red Pine Campus of Upper Lake University and there’s something wandering around out there’ really doesn’t fully encapsulate the level of fucked I’m currently at.
So you know what? Fuck it. I’m gonna fucking ramble!
—
This was just supposed to be a fucking prank… we were just fucking with Sherman. It was fucking Ray’s idea!
Note: Sherman Tiles and Ray Morris, who were also both students attending Upper Lake University were also found in the campus basement that evening. Two other students, Kayden Harrison and Hunter Mcstotts were also found on scene.
—
Ray said he’d done it before, it was funny. We were gonna take him down to the basement and ditch him. Let him find his own way out. Just a fucking prank…
—
Always heard it was a maze down here. Empty classrooms, storage rooms, stuff like that. This building is fucking old. Guess it was one of the first ones they built or something, and the layout is weird so I guess it’s easy to get lost even with a map? I dunno. I was always in the other campus.
—
Ray said that we were just gonna have some drinks, go down to the basement of the old campus and play hide and seek. I’d heard a few people did it before. The messed up layout made it hard for people to find you. I mean, it sounded like fun… kinda childish, I guess but still fun… I mean, why the fuck not play hide and seek down here?
—
Fuck me, it just sounds so fucking stupid now. ‘Yeah sure. Let’s go play hide and seek in the basement of the old weird historic campus building!’ Fantastic fucking idea!
—
Ray and the guys wanted to ditch Sherman when we got down there. That was the joke. Make him hide, then ditch him. Kayden said he’d pulled the same joke on him, back when they first met. Ray’s just an asshole like that, I guess.
—
Fucker once swapped the water in my kettle for sprite, right before I tried to make some ramen. You wanna know what happens when you boil sprite? It basically goes back to being a syrup, which is a BITCH to clean out of an electric kettle!
—
Still I guess he never meant anything by it…? I mean we all fucking liked Sherman! He was good people! Kinda shy, but like, still good people… we were just gonna mess with him a bit… Fuck… Ray probably didn’t know what we were getting into… he couldn’t have…
—
Sherman probably knew we were up to something… he probably knew… didn’t think it would go down like this, but he probably knew. He still went along with us when we said we were gonna play hide and seek at the old campus.
—
We went in right before the last classes for the day got out. Nobody really looks around after they let out. Figured we’d have the place to ourselves. I did see some cameras around, but Ray said not to worry about it.
—
Shit I heard something!
—
Quiet again. Guess I’m not fucking dead yet… hurrah.
—
This place really is a maze… all the halls and the rooms look the same. It’s fucking creepy down here when there’s no one else around. Didn’t let it get to me at the time… now though?
—
Lotta old classrooms down here too. I dated a girl who went to this campus for a bit. She was into history. She had her classes down here. Said they had a lot of shit in storage too. Saw a space that looked like an archive or something earlier. Idk. Maybe I should’ve tried hiding in there.
—
Hate this… nothing to do but wait and ramble… if I’m gonna die I’d rather just die already… the waiting is the worst part.
—
Fuck it… continuing on. We started the game. Sherman, Hunter, Kayden, me, Ray… Ray said he was It. Told us all to go hide while he counted down from 50. We did. Dunno where Hunter went, but I saw Kayden go into one of the nearby classrooms. Sherman went further down the hall, probably looking for a really good spot.
—
I know Kayden and Hunter didn’t really even fucking bother REALLY hiding. Once Ray did his countdown, I’m pretty sure Hunter just came out immediately. Kayden and I made him work for it, but we didn’t go too far. He found us.
—
I kinda wanted to play some more rounds… y’know… feel like a kid again, or something. The other guys wanted to jet and get drinks though.
—
Ray seemed to know the way back, but we saw a couple of guys in the hallway before we made it to the stairs. Cops or campus security by the look of them. They saw us and we just bolted. I lost Hunter, Ray and Kayden while we were running. I think they went down a different hall or hid in one of the rooms? I don't fucking know! Got lost running. When I looked back they were all gone. Didn’t think too much on it at the time. Figured we were kinda getting our game of Hide and Seek anyways, just with higher stakes.
Note: Officers Cody Georgeton and Keith Orleans had been in the process of responding to another emergency call at the time. These are the Officers who likely encountered the students as they were attempting to leave the scene.
—
I ended up in one of the old classrooms. I took cover in the dark. Place had a weird, sorta metallic smell to it, but I didn’t think too much about it at the time. I just hid behind one of the desks and listened to see if anyone got close.
—
I did hear footsteps. Someone walking past the classroom. Heard them stop… then the lights came on. Then the screaming started.
—
The guy who’d followed me in, he started freaking out. Started to try to radio for backup. I didn’t hear exactly what was being said. I just knew he was losing his shit… and that’s about when I saw it. The guy on the floor.
—
I only saw the arm but I could see the pool of blood around them. I knew that’s what the officer was losing his shit over. There was an actual fucking body down here!
Note: Officer Georgeton is confirmed to have radioed in to report the discovery of a body, later noted as belonging to one Professor Kevin Schmitt, who was part of the Upper Lake University History department. According to colleagues, Schmitt had stayed late at the campus that evening at the request of an associate from the University of Toronto, (identified as Professor Raymond Henry) who had asked to examine an item the college had supposedly archived.
—
The Officer was still freaking out… and I was about to come out and just let him do his thing. I mean, fuck… hiding in the fucking campus after hours is one thing but an actual fucking dead body?
—
Soon as I started getting up though, I saw the thing behind him. He didn’t see it. I did. Then he was freaking out for a different reason.
—
The fucking screams… God I can still hear the fucking screams…
—
I could hear it killing him…
—
I just hid… I hid like a little chickenshit bitch, I didn’t want to go out there! I just hid… I just fucking hid… tried not to breathe, tried not to cry…
—
I saw it for a moment. I saw a suit of old armor. Rusted. Damaged. Thought it was moving on its own at first, but thinking back I’m sure there had to be something or someone in there. There was blood dripping through the plates of metal. And the way it was going after that cop…
—
I didn’t watch what it was doing. Didn’t want it to see me. But after it left and I finally saw the body…
—
It took him apart.
—
The pieces weren’t anywhere to be found though… almost like it took them with it. I don’t know…
—
Soon as it was gone, I tried to run. Tried to go back the way I came, but I couldn’t find the stairwell. Found another classroom to hide in and closed the door behind me, then tried to call Ray. No answer.
—
Tried Kayden and Hunter too. Even tried Sherman. The phone would ring but no one would pick up. After a while, I got scared. Tried to find my way out again. Thought I heard screaming at one point, but it was far away.
—
When I went looking for the stairs, I just got more lost. No maps. Hard to find my way around. And I heard more screaming. I’m certain it was Hunter’s voice… I swear it was him screaming, him crying, him dying…
—
Found another body after a while.
Not Hunter.
Ray… I think.
He was so torn up, I couldn’t even recognize him. I think he was wearing Ray’s sweater, but I don’t know for sure.
—
Not long after, I heard the gunshots. Probably the second cop that was down here… although judging by the screams I heard after, I don’t think he killed that thing. Soon as I heard those, I started looking for a place to hide for good.
—
Now I’m in here… in this fucking broom closet, hoping to God that it doesn’t fucking find me.
—
I did call the cops. I tried to tell them there was something going on. But the lady on the phone… I told her where I was, and she got all quiet, like she was thinking. Then she just says to me: “I’m sorry there’s nothing more we can do at this time.” before she hangs up.
—
Tried calling back. 911 won’t answer me.
—
I thought one of those officers called for backup? Where's the backup? This thing killed two cops, didn’t it? Why aren’t they doing anything about it?
—
Last screams I heard were an hour ago. I don’t know if anyone else is left. Sometimes I hear noises, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near me.
—
I tried to find a map of this place online, but what I did find doesn’t make sense and I don’t know where I am. Maybe if I can get a landmark I can get out? But I don’t know what’s gonna happen if I go out there.
—
No… I’m gonna stay put. I don’t want to die like everyone else… I don’t…
—
It’s still quiet.
—
Is nobody coming????
—
It’s been hours now… campus should be open, right? I don’t see anything on the news. Nothing. I don’t hear anything out there either.
—
Someone would’ve come by now, right?
—
Why hasn’t anyone come? Why isn’t there anyone else around?
—
No one else is coming…
—
Maybe it’s clear? Maybe I can make a run for it? I just need to find a landmark and I can get out, I think?
—
It’s still quiet. I’m going to try.
Compilation ends.
Following reports of an incident occurring at the Red Pine Campus of Upper Lake University, local law enforcement were ordered to shut down the building while the proper team was called in to investigate.
During their investigation, the bodies of Scott Anders, Ray Morris, Sherman Tiles, Kayden Harrison, Hunter Mcstotts, Professor Kevin Schmitt, Professor Raymond Henry, Officer Cody Georgeton, and Officer Keith Orleans were discovered in various positions around the basement. All had been severely mauled, with the assailant having removed bones, organs and pieces of flesh from the deceased. It is worth noting that the body of Scott Anders was found close to the stairwell leading to the main floor. He was believed to have been the final victim.
The subsequent investigation determined that Professor Raymond Henry had been on site to discuss a certain artifact with Professor Schmitt. Emails between Professors Henry and Schmitt indicated that Henry had been interested in fragments of armor that allegedly had some connection to a Proto Sumerian cult. Henry had been under the impression that an artifact he’d come into possession of may be related to said armor, and had wanted to investigate further. This is noteworthy, because neither the armor nor the artifact Henry had brought with him were recovered from the scene. Neither Henry nor Schmitt had any pre-existing relationship with Scott Anders, Ray Morris, Sherman Tiles, Hunter Mcstotts or Kayden Harrison. The four students are believed to have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, an assertion backed up by Anders' final posts.
As of time of filing - this case remains unsolved.
