Terror in the Woods (2017–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - Halloween Fright Night - full transcript

Bill and Charisse purchase a little cabin in the middle of a national forest. But their idyllic retirement home quickly turns into their worst nightmare as Bill and Charisse are tormented ...

I was frozen with fear.

I saw a figure

At least 7 to 8 feet tall
covered in hair.

It walked just like a person,

But it was smashing trees
like this as it went through.

And I see a huge fricking
boulder 15, 20 feet in the air.

It was something a normal human
could not have thrown.

That thing could kill us
with no problem.

My name is dave spinks.

It was the summer of 1983.

I was really excited because
I was getting to spend



The weekend with my grandfather.

We always had a great time.

We enjoyed hunting
and fishing together.

I was born in braxton county,
west virginia.

I come from a long line
of military people.

My dad was in the military.

Both my grandfathers
were in the military.

I went into the military because
it was a family tradition.

I felt obligated to a sense
to serve my country.

It was bred into me,
if you will.

I spent eight years active duty,

And I went into
federal law enforcement

For the u.S. Department
of justice.

Being born in west virginia,
we were --



Most west virginian boys are
born and raised into the woods.

We are taught
at a very young age

How to hunt and fish
and survive off the land.

I love the outdoors.

I've spent many, many nights
in the outdoors

And most of my life
in the outdoors.

In the summer of 1983,
I went on a fishing trip

With my grandfather
on the gauley river

In south central west virginia,
in nicholas county.

The state of west virginia
is nothing but woods

And rivers and mountains.

There's a several-county area
in west virginia

That there is a lot
of talk of people

Seeing different creatures,
if you will.

Our whole home state is --

It's all wilderness pretty much.

That area was one of
our favorite spots

'cause we always
did well fishing there.

We'd usually catch our limit.

We took enough
supplies for two days.

We took a tent, our sleeping
bags, our fishing gear.

Of course, I wanted to get
a line in the water right away,

So I kind of begged him.

He's laughing at me
'cause he knew

How excited I was, you know?

He's like,
"okay, son, go ahead.

Throw -- get your line
in the water."

The sun had gone down,
so it was a little bit gray,

You know, getting
that time before dark.

Boy, did you hear that?

Hey, da--

Davey!

Davey!

Caught a fish!
I got one!

Okay, okay.
No, no, not too much.

I was super-excited,
and I was --

You know, my grandpa's
yelling and barking orders at me

'cause he knew it was
a decent-sized fish

From the way I was fighting it.

Don't let it get away.
You got it.

I'm fighting and reeling it in,
reeling it in, and...

I'll get it.
I'll get it.

...He ran and got the net

And went out there
and grabbed it for me.

He weighed it.
It was 21/2 pounds.

Rainbow --
it was a nice one.

Settling before dark,

The animals kind of shut
down in the woods,

And the crickets
and the frogs come out

And start making their
noises for the night.

Go get us some firewood.

That's how you know
it's getting ready for dark.

It was very easy
to get firewood.

You could just go up
in the woods...

...You know, 20 yards,

And find all
the firewood you want.

It was just this big "a-waaah."

I mean,
I can't even re-create it.

I mean, you could feel it
just hit you.

I mean, I was like,
"what the hell just did that?"

The howl was
the most blood-curdling,

Scary thing I've ever
heard in my life.

There's nothing like
fresh-caught fish

And all that right
on the open fire.

I mean, the fish is just great,
and we've got fried potatoes,

Beans,
and cornbread from grandma.

I am done.

We're full, just sitting there
relaxing, you know, talking,

And then -- like, we're in
heaven right now, you know?

- Grandpa?
- Yeah?

How old were you when
you fought in the war?

17.

Did you ever kill anyone?

When it comes down to it,
you either take their life,

Or they take yours.

I'm gonna hit the hay.

Then it starts.

I'm scared to death.

I'm literally shaking all over.

I'm so scared, I can't move...

...Because it's the unknown.

I'm scared to death.

I'm literally shaking all over.

I'm so scared, I can't move...

...Because it's the unknown.

Wake-y, wake-y.
Rise and shine.

Come on, sleepyhead.
Rain's all gone.

We got fish to catch.

Come on, soldier.
Keep up.

Come on.

Catch up.

It was a beautiful day.

I'll never forget the day.

Just the sound of the river.

You know, there's something
about the sound of the river

That just calms you
and relaxes you.

Everything stopped.

It was like
a slow-motion time warp.

All the crickets stopped.

The frogs stopped.

Everything stopped
when that splash hit.

But you can tell
it was something very big

Because it went
deep in the water,

And then the water
explodes back out,

And then you hear the rain-down
of all the other water coming.

We don't see anything.

What was that, grandpa?
What was that?

Nothing's floating in the river.

You don't know what to think.

Your mind's racing,
trying to figure out

What the heck
could have caused that.

And I was asking him,
"what was that, grandpa?

What was that?"
'cause I'm scared a little bit.

You know, it scared me.

Grandpa said, "well, maybe
a rock rolled off the cliff,

Or an old, rotten
tree branch fell."

But where it fell,
I'm thinking, "there's no way

"because where it fell was out
in the middle of the river

And there's no trees
overhanging the river."

We were a little bit
on edge, you know,

Because something just
happened we couldn't explain.

It couldn't have been more than
a minute or two, and then...

My grandpa
jumped up out of his chair.

And I looked at his face,
and he was --

He had a scared
look on his face.

His eyes were wide,
like, you know, really wide,

Like he wasn't believing
what he was just hearing.

It was guttural.

It came from way deep down,

And it just echoed through
the whole fricking canyon

Like you can't even imagine.

I mean, you could feel it
just hit you.

I was frozen with fear.

Grandpa's eyes were like
he wasn't believing

What he was just hearing.

I'd never seen
that look on his face,

And it scared
the hell out of me.

Get to the truck, boy!

Get to the truck!

You heathens better knock it
off, or I'm gonna shoot!

I got behind the tire, and
I looked back at my grandpa,

'cause I heard the shotgun.

The howl was, like, louder
and more directed at us.

I hear something come through
the limbs of the trees.

And I see a huge fricking
boulder 15, 20 feet in the air.

It was something a normal
human could not have thrown.

There's no way.

I was petrified, and I was
peeking around the bumper.

Just can't believe my eyes,
what I'm seeing right now.

The trees just start shaking.

The tops of them are
just crashing together.

You could follow its path
from the tree movement.

They were probably
60-foot trees.

I don't even think a person
could do that.

That's when I caught
visual sight of it.

The chills went from my head
to my toes

like that.

The trees just start shaking.

And I see a huge fricking
boulder 15, 20 feet in the air.

It was something a normal
human could not have thrown.

There's no way.

I saw a figure over there
at least 7 to 8 feet tall

Covered in hair,
maybe 400 or 500 pounds.

Looking at it from
a child's eyes, it was huge.

It was way bigger
than my grandpa,

And, like I said, my grandpa
was a very big man -- 6'4".

And it dwarfed him.

I estimate it to be
7 or 8 feet tall.

And I've seen plenty
of bears and stuff.

It was not a bear.

It walked just like a person.

But it was smashing trees
like this as it went through.

Just grunting and growling
and hitting trees

And making the most
hellacious racket

You could ever imagine.

My grandfather's
about 20 yards from me

As I see him aiming the shotgun.

I knew, at that point,
he saw what I was seeing.

I'd never seen
that look on his face.

I've been shot at.
been in riots.

Never been that scared before.

He was looking at the creature,

And then he looked
at me like that,

And he said,
"get in the truck, boy."

Boy, get in the truck!

That's the only time I've
ever seen my grandfather run.

come on! Hurry up!

He knew that that thing --
I mean,

That thing could kill us
with no problem.

Run, grandpa!

- Hurry up!
- Come on, son. Get over.

Come on.

He said, "son, we're
getting out of here.

That thing is not of god."

Come on!
Start the car, grandpa.

Car, come on!

Come on!

And he slaps that thing in gear,
and we just burn out of there,

I mean, as fast
as that truck would go.

He's not saying a word.

He's just driving us
out of there.

I couldn't stop thinking about
and running the whole thing

Back over in my head over
and over at what I just saw.

It was the most scary thing I've
ever been through in my life.

And to see him scared,
mr. Unshakable,

Mr. Our family rock,
it scared me even more.

He drove around
for a little while,

And I guess he was trying
to gather himself, too.

Son...

Probably ought not
to tell no one about this.

People will think
we're crazy.

We kind of made a pact together
not to tell anyone.

Me and my grandfather
never talked about this story,

Even up until the day he died.

Hey.

You done good today, kiddo.

It took him over 30 years
to share the story with anyone,

And then he didn't
share it with anyone

Until two weeks before he died.

I grew up in the woods,

And I spent a lot
of time in the woods,

And it took me a long time
to go back in the woods.

And even to this day,

I still don't feel
comfortable in the woods.

And I never go in without
a heavy firearm with me.

Until you actually experience
something like that,

You think it's all
a bunch of hogwash.

But until you live it, it's
a whole different ballgame then.

There's stuff out there
we don't understand yet.

There's still things
that we do not understand.

It changed my life, really.

An experience I'll never forget.

There's monsters out there.

That was the scariest thing

That's ever, ever, ever
happened to me.

Are you seeing that?!

It made the hair on the back
of my neck stand up.

Whatever was in that cave
was following us

To make sure that
we did not come back.

Let's go, let's go!

Did you see that?

There's something out there...

Can't be explained.

My name is lesla settle.

And I'm from
louisville, kentucky.

My name is zach winstead,

And I'm from
louisville, kentucky.

What a beautiful afternoon.

I met lesla through
a mutual friend,

And from the get-go,
we hit it off.

Her personality was inviting
and upbeat and energetic.

Zach and I became friends

For probably going on
almost 10 years, maybe.

We just like to hang out.

In louisville, there is a state
park called e.P. "tom" sawyer,

And it's a huge, huge park
in the middle of louisville.

It's a beautiful park.

Just be mindful that that park
used to have really bad history.

I had no idea
of the history behind the park,

But after meeting lesla,

That's when I actually
when I found for the first time

That that's where
lakeland asylum

Was before being torn down.

I mean, that's where
you sent the crazies,

The people who didn't fit
into society, the outcasts.

We just got a whim,
and we decided,

"let's go to
the lakeland asylum."

The asylum ruins
are that way, right?

Yeah.
You want to go?

Yeah, sure.

Back in that time,
at insane asylums,

The treatments were inhumane.

It was used for
all kinds of things --

Lobotomies, water-shock therapy,

Electroshock therapy.

They did all kinds
of experiments.

And once you got put in there,
they didn't come back for you.

The asylum
is pretty out of the way.

It makes me wonder
if they're trying to hide it.

So I think they purposefully
put it within a wooded area

Outside of the public's view.

There's actual burial grounds

That the
university of louisville

Has excavated where
they buried the patients,

And when you walk through it,

There's actually dips where they
would just bury body over body.

There's at least
5,000 people buried there.

How much of the old building
was left standing

After they pulled it down?

Just the basement
and a cave underneath.

A cave?

We decided,
"let's go to this cave."

I had no idea that there was
anything more within the woods

Than what met the eye.

It's creepy walking to the cave.

I always call it
the blair witch trail

'cause that's
what it looks like.

If you don't know where the cave
is, you won't find it.

I mean, I was born and raised
right by it and never knew

That cave was there

Until probably 10 years ago,

So that's how off
and hidden it is.

You were right.

It is creepy.

There's a lot of stories
about the caves.

There was a lot of suicides
that were there.

Some people say people go
in there and do witchcraft

And all that stuff.

There's a tunnel
at the back.

There is a tunnel
that runs through the cave.

Story goes that when
the insane asylum was there,

The patients would try
to escape through the cave,

Not knowing that it eventually
ended in a dead end.

Being in the cave,
that's when the fear kicks in.

You just feel like
somebody's watching you

When you go to the cave.

I've never heard a sound
like this before.

Over to the right-hand side,
in the cave,

There's still
the original tiles.

I mean, that's what
it sounded like --

Someone picked up
one of those tiles

And threw it as hard as they
could up against that cave wall.

At first, we were like,
"well, maybe somebody

Was in the cave with us,

And we just didn't see them."

Anybody there?

But there wasn't
anybody in there.

You -- you've got flashlights
in the car, right?

She said, "I think
we should go,"

'cause it was starting
to get dark at that point.

We decided to go back
and get a flashlight,

And she wanted to try to catch
the sound on a recording.

What's that?

I want to record it.

Okay.

I think, this time,
my adrenaline

Was pumping a little more.

It's exciting to walk
through woods, you know,

With a flashlight with you
after the park's closed.

At this point, we should
not have been there.

I'm even more excited to go back
because now we have flashlights.

We can see inside the cave
and figure out what that noise

Was that we initially heard.

The only way to do that
was to go into the cave

And to get a good look
at everything.

It's really dark
in there.

You sure you want
to go in there?

Yeah.

I want to know
what that noise was.

The flashlights weren't
strong enough

To be able to fully illuminate
the cave,

So we slowly kept moving
closer and closer.

You know when you have
something tell you,

"don't do it,"
but you still want to do it?

Well, that's what
happened to us.

Lesla turned
the recorder on and was like,

"if someone or something's here,

Can you please make
that noise again?"

Is someone in there?!

Crack.

I mean, I can't explain
how loud this noise was.

It was crazy.

It made the hair on the back
of my neck stand up.

I wasn't sure what to believe
at that point.

Are you seeing that?!

No, no.

We're just like, "okay,"

Trying figure out what happened.

We're looking at the ceiling.
We're looking at the walls.

Hey!

It's broken.

Mine, too.

The final time
is what truly scared me.

aah!

Aah!

I'm getting out of here.

All right.

Aah!

I felt physically ill.

It's working.

What happened back there?

I don't know.

So, we were walking back up
the hill to the parking lot

Where her car was parked,

And at this point,
you could hear something,

What sounded like a crack
in the woods next to us.

And it sounded like someone
took a big old limb

And cracked it as hard
as they could on the tree.

You see that?

Something was following us.

I'm out of here.

Something was following us.

Zach took off, and I'm just
standing there, going,

"wait. You left me.
Wait for me."

I took off immediately,
and I felt bad for lesla

'cause I did not wait
for her at all.

And on the right side of us,
it's, like, the line of trees

From where we just came out.

All the way down, crack...

Crack...

...Like it was following us
back to the car.

Whatever was in that cave
was following us

To make sure
that we did not come back.

Lesla!

Come on, come on,
come on, come on.

Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!
Let's go, let's go!

Let's go!

I cannot explain
how loud this was.

It sounded like someone
took a metal bat

And hit it as hard as they
could up against this building.

Come on, come on.

Come on!

Come on!
Come on!

Zach and I both get in the car,

And we're just
shaking our heads.

We're like,
"what just happened?"

I was confused
and dazed and scared.

And I normally don't
get scared like that,

But that was the scariest thing

That's ever, ever, ever
happened to me.

To be a skeptic is good,
but with e.P. "tom" sawyer,

To be honest, there's no being
a skeptic out there at all.

I mean, if you are a skeptic,
go out there.

You won't be anymore.

I never in a million years

Would believe anyone else
that told me this story,

But when it happens to you,
and you feel it,

And you go through the emotions
and the physical changes,

And the hair stands up
on the back of your neck,

And you feel like you're
in danger, it's different.

It will make you believe.

What just happened?

That night at the cave

Is definitely
the most unexplainable

And most jarring situation
I've been in.

I've never been made
to feel so threatened

By something that I could
not physically see

Or physically hear or explain.

It was an experience
that I haven't had since.

I don't know if I want to have
that experience again.

It's hard to explain.

It's hard for people to believe,
but it happened.

I mean, you can't make up
something like that.

There's something out there...

Can't be explained.