"The Dark Lullaby of Ashgrove Asylum" | CLANCYPASTA DOUBLE FEATURE

[00:00:01] On a foggy October night, my three friends and I stood outside the abandoned Ashgrove Asylum, its shadow stretching over us like some silent, lurking beast.

[00:00:13] The building loomed in the darkness, its cracked stone walls swallowed by ivy, windows shattered into sharp, jagged teeth.

[00:00:22] People called this place Cursed.

[00:00:25] Legends swirled around Ashgrove, tales passed down for generations about the mysterious disappearance of Nurse Evelyn Crane.

[00:00:35] She was a kind woman, they said, who cared for the patients as if they were family.

[00:00:41] But one night, she vanished, leaving only a chilling lullaby that echoed through the halls.

[00:00:48] It became known as The Nurse's Rhyme, a twisted warning that haunted the memories of the few who dared to enter.

[00:00:57] The words of her rhyme were whispered like a ghost story around campfires.

[00:01:03] Nurses come for those who wander. Nurses come to take you under.

[00:01:10] Some said that those who heard it were doomed to wander the asylum's halls forever, trapped in a trance, just as Nurse Crane was.

[00:01:22] We laughed it off, all of us, but now as we pushed open the rusty doors, our laughter had faded.

[00:01:29] We stepped inside, and a biting chill wrapped around us immediately, as if the asylum itself were breathing.

[00:01:39] The air was thick with a stench of mold and rot.

[00:01:43] The silence was so heavy, it felt as though the whole building was waiting, listening to us.

[00:01:49] I could hear our footsteps echo off the cracked tiles, each step a reminder of how alone we were, or how alone we should have been.

[00:02:00] After a few minutes of walking, Ethan's flashlight flickered and went out.

[00:02:06] He cursed, shaking it, but it stayed dark.

[00:02:10] Batteries were new, he muttered, his voice thin, almost swallowed by the silence.

[00:02:16] Just then, I thought I heard something.

[00:02:20] A faint whisper, so soft it was barely there, floating from the end of the corridor.

[00:02:26] My heart began to pound as a shiver crawled up my spine.

[00:02:31] I tried to convince myself it was the wind, but deep down, I knew better.

[00:02:38] We all did.

[00:02:40] We moved deeper into the asylum, the long corridors narrowing around us.

[00:02:46] And eventually reached what looked like an old operating room.

[00:02:50] The walls were painted with peeling gray paint, stained with something too dark to be rust.

[00:02:57] I felt the temperature drop again, as if the room itself were swallowing the warmth.

[00:03:04] Shadows clung to the walls, thick and unmoving.

[00:03:08] Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something flicker.

[00:03:13] A dark shape darting along the edges of my vision.

[00:03:17] I gasped, stepping back, bumping into Jake.

[00:03:21] Did you see that?

[00:03:23] I whispered, though I could barely breathe.

[00:03:26] But no one had seen anything.

[00:03:30] Only me.

[00:03:32] Still, we all felt it.

[00:03:34] The weight pressing in on us, like something terrible had just brushed past.

[00:03:40] The air seemed to thicken, wrapping around us, filling our lungs with an icy dread.

[00:03:49] Let's go.

[00:03:50] Sarah whispered, her voice barely audible, and we all nodded, silently grateful for the excuse

[00:03:57] to leave.

[00:03:58] But as we turned toward the door, it slammed shut, the sound echoing through the darkened

[00:04:04] halls like a gunshot.

[00:04:05] I lunged for the handle, pulling as hard as I could, but it wouldn't budge.

[00:04:11] My hands grew cold and clammy, each tug at the door leaving my heart pounding faster.

[00:04:18] A sudden gust of icy wind tore through the room, and that was when I heard it.

[00:04:25] An eerie lullaby, so faint and twisted that it sounded like it was coming from the walls

[00:04:31] themselves.

[00:04:32] I turned to look at Jake, and a chill froze me to the bone.

[00:04:39] His face had gone slack, his eyes empty and unfocused, as though he were staring straight

[00:04:46] through me.

[00:04:47] Then his mouth opened, and in a soft sing-song voice I didn't recognize, he began to mutter.

[00:04:57] Nurses come for those who wonder.

[00:05:01] Nurses come to take you under.

[00:05:06] My stomach twisted.

[00:05:08] I grabbed his arm, trying to shake him, but he just kept muttering, his voice growing softer,

[00:05:15] his eyes unfocused, fixed on something I couldn't see.

[00:05:20] Ethan and I pushed on the door again, slamming our shoulders into it, but it wouldn't move.

[00:05:26] The walls seemed to close in, shadows reaching out from the corners, stretching toward us like

[00:05:33] hands clawing for skin.

[00:05:35] And then the footsteps began.

[00:05:38] Slow, careful footsteps echoing down the hall.

[00:05:44] They grew louder, each one more measured, each one more intentional, like something or

[00:05:50] someone was coming for us.

[00:05:53] And the lullaby, it grew louder.

[00:05:57] Wrapping around us like a suffocating fog, I could feel a cold, lingering presence slide

[00:06:03] across my skin.

[00:06:05] The touch of fingers that weren't there, and a terrible realization settled in my chest,

[00:06:12] squeezing my heart with icy fingers.

[00:06:14] We hadn't found the ghost.

[00:06:18] The ghost had found us.

[00:06:22] I grabbed Sarah and Ethan, shouting that we had to go, but they just stared back at me

[00:06:29] with blank, hollow expression.

[00:06:32] Their eyes had that same glassy look Jake's did, empty, like they weren't seeing me anymore.

[00:06:41] Desperate, I shook each of them, screaming their names, but they only muttered softly.

[00:06:47] Voices blending with the twisted lullaby filling the air.

[00:06:53] Nurse comes for those who wonder.

[00:06:57] Nurse comes to take you under.

[00:07:01] Their gazes drifted past me, toward the approaching footsteps.

[00:07:06] I backed away, feeling trapped, surrounded by the encroaching darkness in my friend's haunted faces.

[00:07:15] I didn't want to leave them, but the dread was crushing me, pushing me toward the door.

[00:07:21] I turned and ran, throwing my weight against the door with a final, desperate shove.

[00:07:28] And somehow, it gave way.

[00:07:30] I stumbled into the hallway, glancing back one last time to see the shadows, swallowing them,

[00:07:38] wrapping around my friends like tendrils of smoke.

[00:07:42] Their faces faded, their eyes lifeless, fixed on something just beyond the darkness.

[00:07:50] I called out, but they didn't respond, and the cold crept closer.

[00:07:57] And then the door slammed shut, locking them inside.

[00:08:02] I ran down the empty corridors, my footsteps echoing, the lullaby following me like a ghostly whisper.

[00:08:12] I didn't stop until I was outside, gasping for air, the asylum towering behind me, dark and silent.

[00:08:22] They never came out.

[00:08:27] The last thing I heard echoing in my mind was my friend's voices, barely a whisper in the darkness.

[00:08:36] Nurse comes for those who wonder.

[00:08:41] Nurse comes to take you under.

[00:08:45] I didn't mean to find it.

[00:09:02] It was just another sleepless night, scrolling through random subreddits,

[00:09:06] when I stumbled onto a post with no title, just a username.

[00:09:11] Error 404 found.

[00:09:15] Curious, I clicked.

[00:09:17] The page that loaded wasn't reddit.

[00:09:20] It was a black screen with two flashing words.

[00:09:24] Don't look.

[00:09:26] I laughed, thinking it was some cheap prank, but when I tried to close the tab, my computer froze.

[00:09:34] Then my phone buzzed.

[00:09:37] A new reddit notification lit up the screen.

[00:09:41] We told you not to look.

[00:09:44] I blinked, confused.

[00:09:46] It was a message from an unknown user.

[00:09:50] My smile faded.

[00:09:52] It was just a coincidence, right?

[00:09:54] But that night, as I lay in bed, my phone buzzed again.

[00:10:00] Another reddit notification.

[00:10:02] We see.

[00:10:06] My stomach dropped.

[00:10:09] I checked the app.

[00:10:10] It wasn't a comment or DM.

[00:10:13] It was coming from the same strange username.

[00:10:17] Error 404 found.

[00:10:21] I deleted the message, telling myself it was just a troll.

[00:10:25] But the next day, at 3.04am, my phone buzzed again.

[00:10:31] Another notification.

[00:10:34] We're closer.

[00:10:36] Panic washed over me.

[00:10:38] I hadn't signed up for anything.

[00:10:41] I changed my passwords, reset everything, even disconnected the wifi.

[00:10:46] But the next night, at the exact same time, 3.04am, my phone buzzed again.

[00:10:55] Almost there.

[00:10:58] I was terrified.

[00:10:59] I powered off my phone, threw it in a drawer, but at 3.04am, it turned itself on.

[00:11:08] The same notification appeared on the locked screen.

[00:11:13] One more night.

[00:11:17] I didn't sleep.

[00:11:19] I stayed awake, pacing, until 3.04am came again.

[00:11:24] This time, the message was different.

[00:11:28] Look outside.

[00:11:31] My heart pounded as I stumbled to the window, hands shaking.

[00:11:37] The street was quiet.

[00:11:39] Too quiet, like the air had been sucked out of the world.

[00:11:43] But beneath the streetlight, just beyond its reach, was something standing there.

[00:11:50] It was no ordinary shadow.

[00:11:53] It was tall, impossibly thin, its limbs twisted, bending at grotesque angles as if something had

[00:12:01] broken it, and rearranged the pieces wrong.

[00:12:05] It didn't move, but I knew it was watching me.

[00:12:08] It didn't have a face, only a gaping blackness where one should have been.

[00:12:15] And yet, it was staring, its head slightly tilted, like it was...

[00:12:21] Waiting for something.

[00:12:24] Then, the scratching began.

[00:12:27] Louder and louder, drilling into my skull.

[00:12:32] I gripped my head, falling back from the window, my pulse pounding in my ears.

[00:12:37] And then, just as suddenly as it had started, the sound stopped.

[00:12:44] Silence.

[00:12:45] I gasped, my breath shaking, and crawled back to the window.

[00:12:52] The streetlight flickered, and the shadow was gone.

[00:12:57] I let out a nervous laugh, my body trembling.

[00:13:02] Maybe it was all in my head.

[00:13:04] Maybe I was just...

[00:13:06] My phone buzzed again.

[00:13:10] We're here.

[00:13:12] My stomach dropped.

[00:13:15] I looked back out the window.

[00:13:17] Nothing.

[00:13:19] I stared out for a long moment, my heart pounding.

[00:13:24] Then, a soft sound.

[00:13:27] A creak echoed from behind me, coming from inside the room.

[00:13:34] Slowly, I turned around.

[00:13:37] The light flickered once, twice, then died completely.

[00:13:42] In the darkness, a shape moved.

[00:13:45] Closer, then closer still.

[00:13:48] Unfolding from the shadows like it had been hiding in the corners of the room all along.

[00:13:53] Its limbs cracked and stretched unnaturally, its faceless head turning toward me.

[00:14:02] I froze as its elongated fingers reached for me.

[00:14:07] Cold breath brushed against my face.

[00:14:12] The last thing I saw was a notification lighting up my phone screen in the dark.