Strange Cabin Fever

My experience happened a little over a year ago, and I hope that it never happens again.

It was the summer, and my family (that is to say my dad, his wife, three children whom we'll call Betty, Emily, and Nicky, their parents, and me) rented this really small log cabin built in 1878 or something like that in the middle of nowhere. It was directly beside a lake, so the view from the deck was beautiful.

Well, I knew from the moment I stepped inside that something was awry. It was pitch black inside of this cabin, and it was incredibly cold. My stepmom went in first, and after about 5 minutes, found the light switch for the hall and called us inside. The rest of that afternoon/evening was uneventful, but when we had to choose beds, it began to get wierd.

See, there is a large balcony that has three beds on it. Two small ones and a large one. Across from this balcony was a small room with two more beds in it. Well, Becky, age 8, and I decided that Emily, 3, and Nicky, 4, should sleep in that room. We sent them in with all of their things and shut the door so that they could go to sleep. Well, about 30 seconds later, they burst through the door, crying and screaming. I rushed over to them and asked what was wrong. Nicky told me that they didn't want to sleep in that room because it was scary and something about someone watching them. I slowly walked in to that room and understood why they were scared.

The room was midnight black even though it had a window, and almost so cold you could see your breath. I grabbed their stuff an ran out of that room. That night, they slept in the two small beds and I shared the large one with Becky. I also remember leaving the light in that room on. In the morning, however, it was off, and after many questions, I found that no one had turned it off that night. Also, that night I had really bad insomnia, which I never have.

Well, that kind of shook me up, but I didn't want to scare the kids, so I didn't tell them anything about it.

The rest of that day was also uneventful, but that night was one that I'll never forget.

All of the kids had gone to bed and I was, once again, awake with insomnia. The first strange thing that I noticed was the shadow of the doorknob to that wierd dark room. Now, this was no wierd doorknob, just a regular round one. But the shadow was shaped exactly like an old machine gun. I tried to ignore it and go to sleep, but I jsut couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched. Suddenly, I heard Becky turn over and looked at her. It took all of my willpower not to scream.

Becky's eyes were completely open, and I swear that they looked dead and glassy. I gently said her name and asked her if she was awake. She didn't answer, only shifted her hand. She stayed like that for about 3 minutes until she finally turned over again. I started to cry and ended up sleeping on the couch in the living room. The next morning, Becky remembered nothing at all about it. And the light in the room was once again off.

Needless to say, the next morning I was quite glad to leave that cabin, and I don't expect that I'll ever go back.