365 Nights of Fear

Night # 94 The Witching Hour

This next chilling tale is told about a friend who was working the night shift and discovered that strange things happen during the witching hour.

This story is about a friend of mine, we'll call her Danielle, who was working nights as a stocker. Danielle was coming back from her lunch break at 3 in the morning. She went back to stocking her department when the lights started flickering. A few minutes later they went out completely. She had never told anyone but she was afraid of the dark. The only two things that comforted her a little were that there were a few backup lights overhead and four other workers there. 

She could see in the distance that a co-worker had found a flashlight and she began to slowly make her way to the light when a scream emerged from the toy department. At that moment she could see the light fading as the co-worker made their way back to the toy department. Moments later she heard the panicked voice of Mike who was telling them that he could not locate Susan who had been the one screaming. Danielle was scared but knew they needed to locate her. She slowly made her way back to the toy department.

As she entered one of the aisles she jumped as one of the toy dogs went off. She had forgotten that the toy went off every time it sensed movement in the area. She searched and searched for Mike but now she could not find him. At first, she thought maybe they were playing a joke on her but as her flashlight caught something in the floor she knew they would not go that far. In the floor leading to the back wall, there was a trail of what looked like blood. Her mind began to race as the backup lights started to fade more and more. She knew that soon all of them would go out.

She left the department frantically searching for James and Greg. They were the only other workers there who had not disappeared. As she headed for the other side of the store where they worked she wanted to cry. The backup lights were steadily going out and there was only two left that were working. She could see the shadows thickening as more darkness took over. She thought about calling out to them but knew that might be a mistake after what she found in the toy department. 

Soon she heard Greg and James speaking by one of the grocery aisles and relief flooded over her. She began to walk briskly toward the sound of their voices. As she got within feet of the grocery section she heard a huge commotion. Shelves were beginning to shake and the terrified screams of James and Greg could be heard throughout the store. She stood there frozen in terror as she had no idea what was going on or what was attacking them in the dark. With the one backup light above her fading, she noticed a pool of something running in the floor beneath her feet. 

She grabbed her mouth suddenly to keep from screaming. She mustered all of the courage she could to turn around and slowly walk toward the other side of the store. She knew she could not help any of her coworkers now. She managed to get to the other side of the store when the power came back on. She stood there as the bright light blinded her. It took her a few seconds to get her eyes focused. She felt like she was waking up from a nightmare. What had just happened and did it really happen or was it just a dream? She made her way around the store but could not find any of her coworkers. The one thing that let her know it was not a dream were the pools of blood still covering certain places on the floor.

She made her way to the office and called the police. When the police arrived they collected the evidence but no one could find her coworkers. Danielle has been in intense therapy since that night. She received a call a couple of days later from the authorities. They brought her down to the station where they had to deliver the grisly news. Her coworkers and manager had been found in the back of the store. Unfortunately, whatever had killed them had left them pretty mangled up. They were stuffed inside the compactor and were found when the smell began to get overwhelming as authorities were still searching for clues.

To this day Danielle has nightmares about that night and they always seem to come at the same time: the witching hour. Whatever you do if you are working during the witching hour and the lights go off, run for your life and get out of the dark. Something comes out and whatever it is, it is not friendly.