The Barn of Beating Hearts

I heard this story from one of my friends (let’s call her Gemma) in 8th grade. She went to a sleepover with this girl in her P.E. class. This girl she met, for the sake of confidentiality since I also knew her, will be called Ellie (not her real name).

Ellie was a bit of a strange character- antisocial, wore all black every day and hated all the loud girls who wore pink and didn’t like running in P.E. Unfortunately, my friend had only went to middle school in-person for 8th grade while most people returned the year prior, so there weren’t many people who hadn’t already filled up their social circle or were particularly excited to meet the awkward new girl.
Of course there were signs and whispers. Ellie always played the band Ghost on her phone and (although it’s a bit of a cliche) drew pentagrams in her notebook, but Gemma had attributed these behaviors to just teen rebellion against her parents or something.

A few months passed by with them having class together, and it was nearing the end of October. Ellie approached my friend and took her aside from the rest of the class so that they could talk together in a corner of the gym room. There was definitely a strange air about Ellie as she talked, but it was almost the end of the quarter, so everyone was acting a bit strange as the stress of grades started to get to everyone. She had apparently just wanted to invite Gemma to a sleepover she was hosting. Now, Gemma hadn’t been to a sleepover before, so she excitedly agreed! It was only after the incident occurred that she was able to pick up that strangeness as perhaps a kind of hesitation and nervousness for what was to come.

The day finally came. It was a chilly Saturday at around dusk, just as the sun started disappearing behind the horizon. Leaves had fallen on the sidewalk and started to stiffen- half of them losing their color and covering the land in an auburn shade- around her as she walked towards the address. Each leaf that cracked sounded a little too loud as she stepped on them.

The neighborhood was dead silent at sunset. Not a bird, not the rustle of squirrels in the trees, not even kids playing distantly in the background could be heard. Only the increasing rhythm of her heart and the too-loud leaves filled her head. “Crunch, thump, crunch, thump, crunch, thump, crunch, thump.” When she finally reached the house, Gemma took a breath and began to wipe her hands on her pants, ridding them of the nervousness as she mustered up the courage to knock. Just as she raised her hand to the door, it flew open, and there was Ellie. She stood in the doorway for a second, studying her face before stepping aside as if to let Gemma in, but she felt almost stuck in place. As if her body physically held her in place. Was this just nerves? Eventually she snapped out of it as Ellie looked at her strangely once more and asked “Are you going to come in? We have pizza for dinner!”
She walked in, taking in her surroundings. It was a fairly regular house for the area. Two floors with a basement, a few bedrooms. It was honestly really nice. She got some pizza, ate food with Ellie and her family while watching some strange show she’d never seen before, talked about classes and boys at school. This was a lot more fun than she’d thought she would have. Those feelings from before must have just been nerves…

Once they finished the show, they went downstairs to the basement. Walking in, there was a large living room with these ceiling-high sliding glass doors that faced towards the woods in the backyard. In this living room area, they set up their blankets and started playing board games. First Uno of course, then Trouble. Giggling and gossiping, any tension that was previously there, began to fade away. They continued this fun until it grew dark and they both lied down to rest. Just before bed however, they told of ghost stories they had previously heard, and Ellie brought up rumors of a haunted barn in the woods quite nearby. Allegedly, a woman had been murdered there almost exactly 3 years ago. A party where she got too drunk and fell from the upper level of the bar, snapping her neck in an unnatural way- almost parallel to her shoulders. Some say her ghost haunts it now as revenge. That she wasn’t really drunk but instead used as some sort of satanic offering. They told other stories of course, but this one stuck with Gemma. She had heard it from other friends, and she had no clue that it stood just in these woods. It was too close. After all the stories finished, they finally went to get some sleep. It was silent again, and Gemma just heard her heart, but she couldn’t shake that feeling of being watched. They were right outside of the glass pane, and anything from the outside could be looking in, but this felt different…eventually though Gemma tired from worrying and finally rested.

With a gasp she startled awake. Was it a nightmare? She couldn’t quite tell why she had woken up until she turned to look around and saw Ellie sitting up and staring at her, or was it at something in the glass behind her. “...Hello?” Gemma nervously uttered as she attempted to break the silence. Ellie responded after a moment. “We should check out that barn.” Now, Gemma instinctively grabbed to check the time on her phone. It was around 11;30 now and it was pitch black outside. Not only was this insanely irresponsible, but how would they even find the barn at this time of night? Gemma began to voice her concerns to Ellie as she motioned for Gemma to quiet her voice. “Shhhh, we can’t have them hearing us.” she said pointing upstairs. “Plus, I’ve been there plenty. I’ve practically gotten the route memorized, and flashlights tend to come in handy for these situations.” Ellie then pulled out two flashlights out of her bag, motioning one to Gemma. Gemma hesitated for a second. “This is really stupid, I mean who goes into the woods at night?!?!!!” she thought. However, she didn’t really have any other friends and really couldn’t risk losing the only one she had, so she reluctantly grabbed the flashlight from Ellie’s hand.

Being careful to not make any sound with opening the glass doors, Ellie slowly slid them open. A chill sent down Gemma’s spine as cold air rushed in. She was having second thoughts, but maybe she was too far deep already. They set off into the woods, flashlights lighting their way. Eventually, they made it to the barn. It was likely around midnight now, and Gemma could swear she saw lights coming from the barn. They were faint, almost like candles. As they both walked in, the smell of smoke filled the room, and they both froze. There. On the ground. There were candles.

The candles, with wisps of smoke surrounding them like a just-used gun, seemed freshly used- which was weird as the girls had just arrived together.
The candles were in a sort of pentagon shape? Or maybe a circle? There were five, evenly spaced…like a pentagram.

Dread filled Gemma, and she scurried over to Ellie. She whispered, mostly to herself “oh my god, oh my god, oh my god” as her heartbeat began again, the blood flowing quicker now “oh my ‘thump’ god oh ‘thump’ my ‘thump’ god oh ‘thump’ my ‘thump’ god ‘thump.’”

Ellie pushed her away now. She seemed scared now too as she looked around. Suddenly she stopped in her tracks- transfixed by something in the distance. Gemma slowly approached her, trying to catch a glimpse at what got her attention. Then she saw it.

White. A glistening white in the forest. It seemed almost human, but there was something off. The head. It swung side-to side. Hitting either side of the girl’s shoulders with each swing like some messed up seesaw “thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.” Gemma gasped. She recognised that “thump.” She knew it well. The head. It swung with her heart. She froze.

The candles. All the same distance from her. There were markings on the floor. Ellie… was she smiling?!?!! Oh. Oh. OH. She was in the center of the circle. The circle made for the girl with the broken neck. The circle surrounding where she died all those years ago. The circle where it all went wrong for her. She locked eyes with the disfigured girl in the woods, still frozen, but the girl took a step toward the barn.

Gemma snapped out of it. She ran, faster than she ever had before. She heard her heart “thump, thump, thump, thump” but instead of making her stop or take a deep breath as usual, it only fueled her speed. She couldn’t tell if it was behind her or not. She didn’t want to find out. She just ran. Anywhere. She just ran. Eventually she made it to a highway, running into the middle of the road until someone agreed to call the cops.

The police took her in to ask her what happened, and this is the tale she told. The officers went to check the barn out, but ended up finding nothing out of the ordinary, but she insisted on what she saw. Ellie explained that Gemma simply got up in the middle of the night but ran away out of nowhere, taking a flashlight with her as she left. No one had any evidence of Gemma’s story, so she was sent to receive psychiatric help and eventually diagnosed now with a severe fear of her own heartbeat, a horrid thing to live with, but I know her. She was a reasonable girl, and she wouldn’t say something like that without reason. This story still haunts me to this day, and I can only hope that no other dare to visit that barn of beating hearts.