The Tunnels

After having written two posts about my old town, Junctionville and the weird things that transpired while the town was still around. Recently I began thinking more about that town, and I began to remember something that happened to me. I have no idea how I had forgotten this memory, perhaps I repressed it due to how much it affected me. This will probably be my last post. I don’t really care if you believe me or not. Anyways, here is what I can remember.
I was around 17 at the time of this story and I was out with my friend whom I shall refer to as Charlie. I don’t remember whose idea it was, but one of us came up with the idea of exploring the rumored tunnels. You see, there was a local legend among the few teens that actualy lived in Junctionville that there were these abandoned mine tunnels that stretched underneath the town and went on for miles. After the closure of the mine, it was simply beacuse there were not nearly enough coal in the ground to finance the town, so it was abandoned and the mines were left empty. People are prohibited from entering these tunnels, but as teens do, they tend to ignore these warnings and trespass anyway. Strangely enough, there is nothing that is keeping people from entering these tunnels as the entrances are not actually guarded, which is strange when you take into account that this is Junctionville. There are rumors that people have entered and gone too far and too deep into these dark tunnels to never be seen again. From what I can remember, there were actual missing persons that were linked with these tunnels, but strangely, the local police never searched for these individuals once it became clear that they had gone into the tunnels. Most of the local authorities refused to step foot anywhere close to these mine entrances. Of course, Charlie knew the location of one of these entrances and decided to show it to me.
The one that Charlie showed me was located nearby that weird factory that I mentioned in my second post. It barely even resembled the entrance of a cave, as it was more like a pocket in the ground. However, if you were to shine your light into it, you would see that it was a small passageway that continued on further into the ground. This was likely not created by man, as it was more likely the result of natural causes such as a collapsed tunnel that opened up a new section that connected with the mine network. Charlie went first. He got down on his hands and knees and began to crawl in through the gap and then crouched the rest of the way, only stopping to check if I was keeping up. Remember that I was not an experienced cave explorer and much less a spelunker. I was wearing some simple clothes, a hoodie and sneakers, not the right clothing for cave diving. I cut myself in a good few places around my elbows, knees and arms. Thankfully, the passage became less narrow and soon enough we found ourselves in the tunnels. It was damp and cold down there, which was to be expected. The thing that I took notice of was the absolute darkness. Up till this point I had never been in complete darkness, even during the middle of the night, as there was always the light of the moon. Down here, the only source of light was our flashlights. The light was only bright enough to illuminate around 8 feet into the dark.
We decided on a direction and began making our way through the tunnel. There were the occasional helmet and wooden crate that you would come across, but other than that, there were mostly just wooden beams that held the place together. Somehow I had the belief that I would be able to hear the rumbling of cars on the road above us, but with how deep down we went, I came to the understanding that it was likely not possible to hear much of anything from above ground.
We would occasionally stop to take breaks and photograph the journey with our phones. It was on one of these short breaks that I saw something. On one of the uneven rock walls, there was a strange symbol. It looked like it had been drawn with chalk and it reminded me of something like The Blair Witch Project or Ted the Caver. It resembled that peace sign but it was upside down and it had an X in the middle with four lines protruding from the outer circle like that of a cross.
I pointed it out to Charlie, but he didn’t seem all that interested. We continued on deeper into the tunnels until we came to a section that had seemingly collapsed. This is where we decided to end our adventure and we began making our way back. It was during this that we both saw it. We had missed it earlier because it was partially blocked by a crate, but when we started making our way back, we finally noticed it. Well, more like Charlie noticed it. He bumped me in the shoulder and shined his light at the small opening behind the crate which was barely visible. As he pushed the crate out of the way, I noticed it again, that same symbol. It was drawn with the same white marker on the side that had been facing the small hole.
Now, when I was crawling through that small entrance earlier and then crouching through the passage, I did feel a slight discomfort. The mining tunnel was also quite creepy, but when I saw that same symbol again, I felt a shiver crawling up my back.
Charlie shined his flashlight into the hole and then looked up at me.
-Dude, there is like a small passage here. After looking into the small hole for a few seconds, he turned to me and asked. Wanna explore it?
I really had no intention of doing that, and mind you, I was the type of teen that was willing to follow a friend into an abandoned mine. I don’t really remember what I said, but I think I made up an excuse that my battery was running low on the flashlight and that we should head back. But I do remember that he responded by pulling out his phone and turning on the flashlight function. He then stared at me with a look of smugness.
-You have one of these, don’t you? He wiggled his phone in demonstration.
After a few seconds of silent hesitation from me, he sighed and proposed that he would crawl inside for a bit and come back shortly while I could wait here. I decided to agree with this suggestion as, and with slight shame, I will admit that I was not as worried about him putting himself in danger as I was for my own safety. Call me cold and callous but that is just how I felt.
And so he put his flashlight in his mouth, turned off the flashlight function of his phone and began crawling into the passage. From what I managed to see I could tell that the hole was bent upwards which at least meant that my friend wouldn’t end up as John Jones. It had a strange pattern against the sides as it was perfectly rounded with what seemed to be a strange spiraling pattern the continued on into the strange passage. I sat down on the crate that had been hiding the hole and began to wait.
I cannot preface how much of a difference just having someone accompanying you can make in a situation like this. As I sat there alone in the dark, I realized just how creeped out I was getting. I tried my best to push the feeling down, but it just kept coming back.
As I was sitting there in the dark, I heard something. It was not the sound of a roar or a scream or a deranged laugh that you might have expected. It was the sound of rumbling, like rock against rock. Then it grew quiet. Due to the echo that accompanied the sound, it was impossible to tell where the noise had originated from. Then it became quiet again. I just sat there and turned my head back and fro from one side and then to the other side of the tunnel. The place that went back to the entrance and the one that ended in the collapsed section. I sat there for a moment with my eyes wide open and with the expression of a deer in the headlights. I stood up and went over to the hole and shined my light into the cramped passage in hopes of seeing my friend’s shoes as he was making his way back. But I couldn’t see him, just darkness. I thought about calling out to him, but something in my gut made me hesitate. I decided to push the feeling aside as I convinced myself that everything was fine and I called out for Charlie.
-Charlie, are you okay, man?
My voice bounced around in the dark and echoed through the tunnel. That is when I heard it. A second sound that emitted throughout the mine. The sound of what I can only describe as the pants-shitting sound of footsteps getting louder and louder. This time, I managed to make out from which direction it was coming from, when the third sound was heard. Have you ever heard the sound of a scream. And I do not mean the sound that someone makes on a rollercoaster, or when stubbing their toe or yelling out in anger. This was nothing like that. It was a scream of absolute madness. It didn’t sound human, it was too shrill and too guttural. It reminded me of the weird scream foxes make mixed with the sound of a crow. It was also at the same time somehow deep, like an angry bear. The footsteps were heavy and sounded more like heavy thuds than that of a person. In that moment, any thought for my friend vanished as I stared in wide-eyed terror in the direction of the sound. Whatever it was, it was coming my way. I turned around to run back to the small passage that we had entered the mine with. But I forgot about the crate and I tripped over it. I lost grip of my flashlight as I fell to the floor. With a shatter, the flashlight hit the hard stone ground and broke. I was plunged in complete darkness. The echoing sounds of stomping footsteps helped me know which direction I was facing. I stood up and began to run. The thing about mining tunnels is that they are often not completely straight. I kept running into the hard, jagged walls and tripping over myself. I didn’t care though, as pure fear and terror made me pick myself up and continue running. It was impossible to tell just how close that thing was to me because of the echo. I came to the gutting realization that I would not be able to tell when I reached the passage on the side of a wall due to the dark. That is when I remembered Charlie wiggling his phone. I reached for my pocket and thankfully, I had not dropped it. I turned on the flashlight function and continued on. I passed the previous symbol that I had seen earlier. Looking at it only heightened my fear somehow. I kept running and running. Again I heard the terrible scream from behind me. This time it was much closer. I dared not stop and turn around. Finally I reached the way we had entered and I immidietly began crouching through the passage. I was going so fast that I was getting cut pretty badly. While a third of the way through I heard the footsteps stop and then replaced by aggressive shuffling. I realized that it was trying to squeeze through to get to me. I let out an unconcious cry as I realized this and I shined my phone’s light back through the passage before quickly continuing forward. In the quick instance of me looking back, I saw something move. All I managed to make out was the color of a deep blood red and what I assumed were sharp teeth. When I finally began to glimpse a glimmer of light, I could feel myself almost cry out in relief, but I didn’t stop for a second. I didn’t even stop when the sounds stopped and it became quiet aside from my desperate speed-crouching and heavy panting.
I pressed myself through the opening and crawled away from the entrance. I finally looked back as I lay on the ground. It was finally then that I noticed it. The small engraved symbol from the cave that was carved on the stone right above the opening.
They never did manage to find Charlie and no one ever decided to even attempt to look for him once they realized where he had gone missing. I now understand why the police don’t do anything. There is no way that my friend is still alive. And going down there would only get more people killed. The opening was blocked with a boulder and everyone just kinda moved on. I never did though. I sometimes think back to that moment when I chose to abandon Charlie down in those mines. Could I have done more to convince him to leave with me earlier, instead of going into that small passage. I wonder if that thing got him. Maybe there is more than just one. After all, when I reached the passage at the side of the wall in those dark tunnels, I could have sworn that I heard a second pair of footsteps echoing from the other side of the tunnel.
I am also thinking back to that symbol. The uniforms of the security guards, the black cars, and painted on the door of the main entrance of that factory. Did they also have that symbol on them? Maybe I am simply missremembering things. For now, I am just gonna post this and then head to bed. My migraines are acting up again. For some reason, I have been quite sick for the last week. Hope it clears up soon.

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OptimalDecimal Other November 06, 2025 at 2:38 pm 0 0