"You Can Exit Through The Fireplace" | CLANCYPASTA ORIGINAL

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[00:00:34] I'm not an urban explorer, per se, but I do enjoy hiking. And every once in a while when

[00:00:40] making my way through a forest or remote area, I'll stumble across some kind of ruins.

[00:00:47] Maybe a little house that was probably owned by a farmer and his family 70 years ago or

[00:00:52] so. Maybe an outhouse or a small shed. Something like that. But that wouldn't be worth writing

[00:01:01] a story about. No.

[00:01:05] Today I want to tell you about the most bizarre and interesting abandoned place I ever found.

[00:01:14] So to tell you the truth, I wish I never discovered it.

[00:01:22] It was very early in the morning, one bright Saturday, probably about 6am. I had camped

[00:01:29] out somewhere deep in the woods, sleeping on a forest floor dominated by pine cones

[00:01:35] and small rabbit droppings. And so I was quite eager to get back on my way, hacking

[00:01:40] up as quickly as I could.

[00:01:44] I was pretty tired and ready to head home, but last night before sundown, I found myself

[00:01:50] staring at this very oddly shaped hill off north a little bit. It looked really tall

[00:01:57] and pointed at the top with this thick sloping base that I thought looked quite

[00:02:03] beautiful and out of place out here. I decided it would be cool to trek out there

[00:02:09] and explore it real quick before heading out.

[00:02:13] So up bright and early, I headed off north, and by the time I made it close enough to begin

[00:02:19] climbing to the top of the hill, I realized it wasn't quite as gigantic as I'd thought,

[00:02:25] but it was still a pretty cool shape.

[00:02:30] It was when I made it to the top, however, that I found the real interesting feature.

[00:02:38] Looking at the top of this little hill, I stared down the base to the other side where

[00:02:43] I found, surrounded by forest just like from behind, a small little shed no bigger than

[00:02:51] six foot by six foot in length and width made out of some dark wood with a little

[00:02:56] brick chimney hooking out of the top. It looked quite pretty honestly, especially

[00:03:03] against the sunrise.

[00:03:06] It is I watched the landscape before me. I noticed something odd about the thing.

[00:03:12] Strangely, there was smoke blowing from the chimney.

[00:03:18] Huh, this was quite strange indeed. Perhaps in the middle of winter or even the fall

[00:03:25] it makes sense to burn a fire out here but in the middle of summer?

[00:03:32] I looked all around and found no trace of a road or any easy way to get to or out of here.

[00:03:42] I looked back to the shed when I noticed a little flicker of light behind the one window

[00:03:47] facing my direction. I looked in my watch and felt the ache in my knees but staring

[00:03:55] at this strange little house I just couldn't resist investigating further.

[00:04:03] As I began working my way down the hill, I grabbed for my canteen to take a drink of

[00:04:09] water but to my extreme disappointment at myself it wasn't strapped in my belt.

[00:04:16] It took but a few moments to realize I must have left it back at the campsite lost

[00:04:21] in the hustle and bustle of my hurried packing to head out.

[00:04:25] Oh man I felt like an amateur, pausing for a moment as I wondered if I should go back

[00:04:32] but I realized if I'm just gonna check out the shed real quick and then head back that

[00:04:37] way on my way to town anyways then I should just wait a little bit.

[00:04:44] I wasn't that thirsty thankfully.

[00:04:47] So I pressed on.

[00:04:53] Reaching the shed, I walked close and peeked through the little window. It took a second

[00:04:59] for my eyes to adjust but when they did, I was greeted with the most cozy little

[00:05:05] sight.

[00:05:07] That was a little old lady sitting on a rocking chair reading a book, a fireplace burning

[00:05:14] just to her left. Her hair was bright white, curled up in a bun and her face was really

[00:05:21] pressed into that book.

[00:05:24] I watched curiously for a few moments and wondered how this old lady sustained herself

[00:05:30] so far out from the city.

[00:05:33] I mean we were miles away and I didn't see any car nearby and like I said there's no

[00:05:39] roads out here.

[00:05:43] It was as I continued staring, I realized I may have misjudged myself as I was getting

[00:05:51] pretty thirsty all of a sudden.

[00:05:54] I had the idea that this may give me an excuse to talk to the old lady for a minute

[00:06:00] you know ask her for a glass of water and inquire a little into her situation while

[00:06:05] I'm at it.

[00:06:07] So I walked over and knocked on the thick wooden door.

[00:06:13] My knocks rattled the tiny little shed and I rehearsed the introduction in my mind.

[00:06:19] But as the seconds passed and I stared at the wooden slab before me, no one came.

[00:06:27] I knocked a few times more and waited, but nothing.

[00:06:35] I walked back around to the window and pressed my face up against the glass.

[00:06:40] I squinted my eyes against the glare.

[00:06:43] I strained to take in the sight.

[00:06:47] What?

[00:06:49] I felt a wave of unease as I realized the old lady was nowhere to be seen.

[00:06:57] My eyes darted all over the place and it's not like there was anywhere for her to go,

[00:07:03] this was clearly a one room little shack.

[00:07:08] But she wasn't there.

[00:07:11] Her fireplace still raged however and that book she had been reading was now splayed

[00:07:17] open covers up on the floor like it had been thrown down in a hurry.

[00:07:25] A chill worked its way up my spine as I took in the sight.

[00:07:31] Something wasn't right here.

[00:07:36] I hesitantly walked back over to the door and though I felt it fairly futile decided

[00:07:43] to knock a few times more.

[00:07:45] Hello?

[00:07:48] I then shouted to cover myself.

[00:07:51] Hey, I was hiking through here and I forgot my water back at the campsite.

[00:07:57] I was wondering if you might be able to spare a bottle for my trip back.

[00:08:01] I can trade you for some trail mix.

[00:08:05] I cringed at myself without last sentence but waited for any reply.

[00:08:11] But again, nothing but silence.

[00:08:18] I suddenly found my hand gripped around the cold silver doorknob before me.

[00:08:26] I tried just to see if it would turn and it did.

[00:08:35] I didn't feel right about trespassing but something was different about this place.

[00:08:43] I decided to just take it easy and be careful.

[00:08:48] Hello?

[00:08:50] Excuse me?

[00:08:52] I said as I slowly opened the door.

[00:08:55] Is anyone here?

[00:08:57] I asked to play it safe once again.

[00:09:01] But eventually the door was completely open and that lady was indeed nowhere to be found.

[00:09:09] I walked in a couple steps and looked all around.

[00:09:13] Yep, just like I had thought.

[00:09:19] This was just a one room little shack, no kitchen, and not even a bathroom by the looks of it.

[00:09:28] Just a few black and white pictures hung up across the walls that aforementioned fireplace

[00:09:34] burning to the side, the little rocking chair I had seen the woman sitting on, and that

[00:09:42] book on the floor.

[00:09:46] I bent down to pick it up.

[00:09:49] It was a beautiful leather bound book in perfect condition, to which I read the title Alice

[00:09:56] in Wonderland, written in very fancy middle-aged type font right over the front cover.

[00:10:04] I laughed to myself.

[00:10:06] I hadn't read that book in years and wouldn't even really remember it much.

[00:10:12] I do have a few scenes from one of the movies printed into my memory for all time from

[00:10:18] childhood but its context is entirely lost on me.

[00:10:26] And that was when I heard it.

[00:10:31] From behind me came the sound of a voice, the high-pitched voice of a woman.

[00:10:39] And as I paused to listen, I shuddered as I heard the words,

[00:10:45] Help! Help! squeak out from the wall.

[00:10:51] I turned around quickly, but no one was there.

[00:10:57] Confused, I continued looking around where I heard the same calls for help once more.

[00:11:04] I then realized the sound was coming more from the floor than from the ceiling and

[00:11:11] definitely in the direction of the fireplace.

[00:11:16] That's when I heard.

[00:11:19] Down here, quick!

[00:11:22] I got down on my belly and looked up straight into the fireplace where I found to my great

[00:11:29] shock the face of a woman.

[00:11:33] It was behind the flames you see, the fire acting as a window pane or something of the

[00:11:39] sort between her face and mine.

[00:11:43] It was just her face, almost like the fireplace was perfectly fit to only reveal that.

[00:11:50] I couldn't tell if she was laying down on the floor like me or if her body was somehow

[00:11:57] under the floorboards.

[00:12:00] I just couldn't tell.

[00:12:05] I need you to help me. Help me get out of here!

[00:12:09] She pleaded, her hazel eyes sparkling with fear as I stared forward in near disbelief.

[00:12:17] I could barely get my mouth to move as I felt as though I was living in a dream.

[00:12:25] Um, I tried to begin.

[00:12:29] What? What's going on? What are you doing in there? What happened here?

[00:12:35] She had this horrible look of desperation and extreme impatience in her eyes.

[00:12:42] My aunt put me in here as punishment, she cried, looking more and more nervous as the

[00:12:50] moments passed.

[00:12:53] She's a very bad woman, a horrible, sadistic woman.

[00:12:58] You need to get me out of here quick before she returns. Only you can save me.

[00:13:03] But she'll be home any minute now, she was only going out for bread. She's already been gone for an hour.

[00:13:11] It was too much information, too fast and too urgent.

[00:13:18] I was now officially horrified and was running on blind panic and instinct now.

[00:13:26] If I was a little more stable-minded at that moment then perhaps I would have questioned

[00:13:32] how the old lady could have been gone for an hour when I had seen her through the window just moments before.

[00:13:43] Snapping out of it a little, I whispered, How can I help?

[00:13:48] Feeling my pulse continue to quicken.

[00:13:52] I saw a glimmer in the poor woman's eye as she said,

[00:13:57] Oh, there's only one way, one way to help me. You've got to crawl in here with me and quick.

[00:14:09] The fire continued to blaze between her and I as I processed her words.

[00:14:18] Um, you want me to crawl through the fire to get to you? I asked, hoping I misunderstood.

[00:14:31] Yes, exactly, she proclaimed. And don't worry, it won't harm you. It's just a little flame and it's the only way to rescue me.

[00:14:43] Something wasn't adding up here.

[00:14:48] Uh, then why don't you just crawl through it to me to get out? I asked, feeling still like I must be missing something.

[00:15:02] Me? She came back as if offended.

[00:15:07] I'm far too fragile to withstand the flames, but to you it's just a little heat.

[00:15:12] Come on, you're big and strong and robust, and you're wasting time. There is no time.

[00:15:21] I continued staring at her as I rolled her request through my mind.

[00:15:27] There was one thing I knew for sure, and that was that there was no situation in which I would burn myself alive crawling through a fireplace to get to her.

[00:15:40] As if that could have even made sense to begin with.

[00:15:44] Something was very wrong here, very wrong.

[00:15:50] And as I focused back on her eyes, I thought I saw her previous brown irises flash a startling maroon.

[00:16:02] I suddenly knew for an absolute fact that I should have never opened that door.

[00:16:11] I should have never been here, actually. I felt my heart beating a mile a minute.

[00:16:20] Listen, I'll uh... I'll call for help. I'll get help, I just need to get to town to a payphone.

[00:16:29] I said, standing up as quickly as I possibly could.

[00:16:34] What? No, you can't! She screamed from behind as I went for the door like my life depended on it.

[00:16:44] But to my initial confusion and eventual horror, as I pulled at the knob twisting as hard as I possibly could, I found the door would not budge.

[00:16:59] Oh darn it, that door gets stuck sometimes.

[00:17:05] The voice from behind me spoke again though this time something was different.

[00:17:12] Where before it was clearly the high pitched voice of a young woman. Now it sounded slightly more gravely, slightly deeper and with a strange affectation.

[00:17:27] But that's okay, she went on.

[00:17:32] You can just exit through the fireplace.

[00:17:35] Just get down on the floor again, just crawl on into the flames.

[00:17:40] Crawl to me, Richard.

[00:17:45] I stopped fumbling at the door knob as I felt another jolt of horror rip through me.

[00:17:53] How in God's name did she know my name?

[00:17:58] Oh, I knew I should have never ever bothered with this place if there was any assurance in this world.

[00:18:05] It was that I had fallen into a trap and that trap was trying to suck me in any and every way down into the burning pits of that fireplace.

[00:18:19] And worse, whatever followed beyond.

[00:18:24] What would find me there? I wasn't sure but I knew I had to avoid it at any and all costs.

[00:18:35] Completely exhausted and unable to get the knob to so much as turn a millimeter.

[00:18:43] I swung back around, which is where I realized something was happening.

[00:18:50] Something horrible was happening so strange that I didn't even know what was different at first.

[00:18:57] But it took me just a few seconds to realize the nightmarish impossibility before me.

[00:19:07] Though I hadn't moved so much as an inch, the fireplace that was previously about five or six feet behind me was now no further than two and a half foot.

[00:19:20] And the ceiling was nearly pressing down against my head.

[00:19:27] My breath quickened as I fought back a horrible scream.

[00:19:35] Don't worry, the now deep and horribly gravelly voice beckoned from the fireplace.

[00:19:44] This usually doesn't even sting and resistance will only ensure the most unbearable pain.

[00:19:57] In a blind panic, my eyes scanned all around as the room continued to shrink.

[00:20:04] The sound of the burning embers of the fireplace growing louder and louder in intensity.

[00:20:13] Looking to my right, I suddenly felt a glimmer of hope when I realized that the window, though shrinking, yes, was in fact currently still there.

[00:20:25] Though if I waited any longer than a moment, it would be too small to fit through.

[00:20:33] Without so much as a few seconds to ponder the option, I took it.

[00:20:40] I took a quick pace to my left and then doing my best to cover my face with my arms.

[00:20:46] I ran and hurled myself through the window, shattering the shrinking glass to a million pieces.

[00:20:56] I fell to the ground hard, nearly knocking the wind out of me.

[00:21:02] And to make matters a little worse, I cut myself pretty bad on the glass all up and down my arms.

[00:21:10] When I finally caught my breath, I was panting and choking hard.

[00:21:15] I hadn't realized it until then, but the smoke from the fireplace had begun flowing into the room in the moments before I jumped out.

[00:21:24] And I found myself choking out lungfuls of deep, black soot.

[00:21:32] However, as I rolled onto my back and looked down past my feet at the scene of the horror I just barely escaped, an entirely different emotion flooded my being.

[00:21:48] Plain old confusion took over, as I stared before me not at that shed or its shrinking variant however that would appear from the outside.

[00:22:00] No, I found something entirely different.

[00:22:07] Before me was the rotten remains of a little shed, clearly no younger than 60 years old.

[00:22:15] And that's being generous.

[00:22:18] Only two walls stood erect, the rest either partially or fully collapsed and rotted away.

[00:22:26] The roof gone, and the chimney nothing but a pile of bricks to the side.

[00:22:33] I picked myself up off the ground and carefully walked forward to get a better look, and looked all around while I was at it.

[00:22:43] No, this was it.

[00:22:46] This was the only man-made feature in sight.

[00:22:50] This had to be it.

[00:22:55] As I stared at this bizarre sight before me, I began to wonder, had I suffered a stroke or something?

[00:23:08] Did I hit my head on the way up the hill and fantasize the whole thing on the way down?

[00:23:14] Was that possible?

[00:23:16] Or maybe, was I actually still back at my campsite sleeping away on the forest floor completely unaware that this little adventure was nothing more than a dream?

[00:23:31] Or was it as simple as the fact of losing my mind?

[00:23:38] All of this seemed equally possible as I walked forward, closer to the abandoned ruins.

[00:23:46] I walked inside, nor what should have been inside, which wasn't hard given the lack of walls.

[00:23:56] A light breeze met the side of my face, and a few dried leaves that littered the floor floated away, revealing something light brown just underneath.

[00:24:09] I bent down and pushed some more of the leaves away to find a little book.

[00:24:16] Well, I think it used to be a big book, but all of the pages were completely clumped together and rotted from the rain and bad weather over the years, and the covers themselves were half burnt.

[00:24:30] But on one side, I could make out the word, Alice, in a faded but clearly once-glowing golden thought.

[00:24:41] My God, I thought. And the book slipped from my grasp.

[00:24:50] I stood there for another moment, listening to the wind that continued to pick up all around me as I suddenly decided it was time to get out of there as fast as humanly possible.

[00:25:04] I began jogging back up the hill, not looking back as I crossed the hump, and after picking up the much needed water bottle back at my old campsite, eventually made it back to my car in the parking lot about two miles south.

[00:25:21] It's been many years now, over a decade in fact.

[00:25:28] But I think about that day often. I used to be sure I lost my mind, and that what happened there was nothing more than a nightmare or a demonic delusion.

[00:25:42] But in the years since, a thought has crossed my mind that every time it does feels more and more accurate to the reality of the situation.

[00:25:55] What if, at the top of that hill, I unknowingly found myself at a crossroad, a boundary, let's say, where this reality meets another?

[00:26:09] Maybe it's more accurate to say where this timeline meets another.

[00:26:15] But regardless, I feel it's possible that what happened there on that day did in fact occur.

[00:26:24] Maybe I did see that old woman reading a book in the light of her fireplace.

[00:26:30] Maybe I did see that young woman trapped behind the flames.

[00:26:36] Maybe it all happened.

[00:26:39] But maybe it happened 50 years ago, or 150 years ago, or a thousand years ago, or maybe it happened in another world altogether.

[00:26:54] I don't know. I just don't know.

[00:26:59] But what I do know for sure is that I haven't tracked those woods since the day I stumbled across that abandoned place, and I don't plan to ever again.

[00:27:24] Thank you for listening to tonight's episode of Clancy Pasta. I really hope you enjoyed.

[00:27:39] If you did, consider following for more, and if you'd like to listen to ad-free episodes, you can go to patreon.com.

[00:27:46] And if you'd like to hear new episodes first, you can go to youtube.com.

[00:27:52] Huge thanks to all of my Patreon supporters and YouTube members, and my Instagram is at ClancyPasta and same with Twitter.

[00:28:02] Alright, I hope you're all having a great night, and I'll talk to you soon. Cheers.