Down the Stairs/Home Forever | Campfire Stories with MrBallen

MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

Two chilling true stories are shared in this episode of MrBallen's Campfire Stories: a group of high school students ventures into an abando

Key takeaways

• The abandoned dorm story highlights how fear and peer pressure can lead individuals into dangerous situations despite clear warnings.

Main topics

• Supernatural occurrences in abandoned buildings

Notable quotes

"I think I found the door that leads down to the basement."

Conclusion

These stories serve as modern campfire tales that blend real events wi

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Welcome back to the campfire. Tonight I have two very weird and equally creepy stories to share that in many ways are perfect for this setting. Stories to be told by a campfire. But before we get into tonight's stories, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right campfire because that's all we do and we upload two, three, even four times every week. So if that's of interest to you, please invite the like button to go camping with you, but don't tell them that you've secretly lined the inside of their sleeping bag with itching powder. Also please subscribe to our channel and turn on all notifications so you don't miss any of our weekly uploads. Okay, let's get into tonight's stories. Speaker 1 (1:05) On the morning of April 25th, 2013, a 17-year-old high school senior named Henry was standing in the courtyard of this old abandoned dorm building that was on his school's campus in Tianjin, which is a major city in northeastern China. Now, Henry at this time was actually supposed to be with the rest of the students in his gym class right now playing badminton on the school's outdoor courts, but the courts were all full. Speaker 1 (1:30) So Henry and one of his friends, whose name was Wen, had decided to start their own game in this courtyard instead, even though they were not technically supposed to be over here at all. And so Henry, he hit the badminton shuttlecock towards Wen, and they were bouncing it back and forth, when suddenly Henry heard somebody calling his name. And so Henry, you know, he turned to see who was calling to him, and he saw two other boys who were heading towards their courtyard, and they too. Speaker 1 (1:56) were holding badminton rackets. And Henry, as soon as he saw who these two were, he broke into a big smile because one of them was one of his other classmates, whose name was Lee, who he was friends with. But the other was his childhood best friend, Pan Bowen. Henry and Pan had been very close ever since elementary school, and now they're high school seniors. And they had a ton in common. They were both tall and thin. They wore glasses. They were both kind of quiet and nerdy. Speaker 1 (2:25) and they both loved video games. But Henry and Pan of late had not had a chance to spend much time together because they were both very busy studying for something called the Gaokao, which is China's national college entrance exam. This test is sort of like the SAT in America, except realistically it's way more high stakes because it's literally the only thing that some colleges in China take into account for admissions. And so if Henry and Pan wanted to get into good colleges, they needed to ace this test. So they had both spent the last several months basically studying upwards of 14 hours every single day. And as a result, they didn't see their friends much, including each other. And so this was a nice break from that. Speaker 1 (3:11) And so Henry, he's so jazzed up, you know, he sees his buddies coming over here. And so he calls out to Pan as he's getting closer and he goes, hey, and he hits the badminton shuttlecock towards Pan. And Pan, he's ready. He's got his racket and he hit it back, but it sort of veered off to the side and it bounced along the ground in front of one of the dorm buildings. And then before anybody could stop it, the shuttlecock fell into an open window that led into this Speaker 1 (3:40) abandoned dorm building's basement. A minute later, Henry, Pan, Lee, and Wen all gathered around this basement window. And this basement, it was just for ventilation, so it was only a couple of inches tall. And when Henry knelt down and tried to peek inside to see where the shuttlecock had gone, all he could see inside was darkness. And so he turned back to the group and said they'd just have to go back to the gym and get a new shuttlecock. But Pan said he'd Speaker 1 (4:09) didn't want to do that. They weren't technically supposed to be playing over here at all. And so if they admitted that they had lost the shuttlecock, you know, it's entirely possible that one thing might lead to another and they might discover, you know, where the lost shuttlecock was. It was in this off-limits area. And so Pan's like, I don't want to get in trouble. I think we should just go in there and get this thing. And then before anybody could stop him, Pan got up and he walked right over to the front entrance of this abandoned dorm building and Speaker 1 (4:37) he reached for the door handle. And like, right as he's doing this, Henry got up and he was about to call out like, dude, we cannot go in there. Like, this is going to get us in more trouble than anybody finding out about a lost shuttlecock. Like, don't go in there. But Henry watched as Pan, he turned the handle on this door and clearly it was unlocked. And so Pan, he opened the door, pushed it open and stepped inside. A minute later. Speaker 1 (5:04) Henry as well had made his way over, and he was now standing inside the entryway of this abandoned dorm building next to Pan and then also Lee. The fourth friend, Wen, had decided that this was not for them. They would stay outside and stand guard in case any teachers showed up. But realistically, they just did not want to go in there. However, despite the fact that these other three now had, you know, an official lookout outside to keep them out of trouble, so to speak, Speaker 1 (5:31) Henry, just in being inside of this building, he couldn't help but feel really freaked out. The air inside of this building reeked of mildew, and it was so cold that literally Henry's like shivering. Now, the front entryway where they were standing was relatively well lit because there were a couple of open windows that let in a bunch of light. But beyond the entryway, basically the hallways that went in different directions. You know, Henry's looking down each of them, and they were totally dark, because there were no windows, at least no open windows. Things were blocked by old furniture and things that had sort of cluttered up against the side of the walls. And so it's really dark and ominous. And so Henry, he's standing in the entryway wondering, like, how do we even begin to find the way down to the basement? Like, I don't want to go down these hallways. Speaker 1 (6:19) But as he's standing there, suddenly Henry, he realizes Pan has wandered off already. He's gone down the right hallway. He can't see him anymore. He sort of vanished into the darkness, but he can hear him. And so Henry and Lee, they're watching. And then they hear this metallic sort of scraping sound. And it's the sound of Pan opening up a door that led off that hallway. He had gone down the hallway and found a door. He was opening it up. And he calls out to Henry and to Lee and says, hey. Speaker 1 (6:48) I think I found the door that leads down to the basement. And so Henry and Lee, it's sort of like, well, you know, Pan's leading the charge here and we're already in here. Like, let's just go get this thing. And so even though they were hesitant, they walked down this dark hallway until they eventually saw, they saw Pan and he was standing with the door open. And Henry, he peered into this, the stairwell that did lead down to the basement. Speaker 1 (7:13) And it was very dark. The only light that made it into the stairwell was from up in this hallway area, which wasn't that light to begin with. But with the limited light that was going down there, all Henry could see was just clutter on these stairs. Like they were practically completely obstructed. There was furniture, there were desks and chairs that looked like they'd almost been dumped into the stairwell. And so navigating these stairs would have been hard even with the lights on. And so at this point, Speaker 1 (7:40) Henry, he just had this sudden overwhelming feeling that they really ought to just leave. Like this didn't feel right. This felt dangerous. It felt just sort of reckless. And he actually said out loud, like, hey, let's just forget about the shuttlecock. Like, who cares? If we get in trouble, we get in trouble. But this is not worth it. Let's just go out with Wynn. Let's go back. Let's just forget about this. But Pan is like, nah, like. Speaker 1 (8:05) we're already in here. Let's just go down and get it. Like, it's not a big deal. You know, Pan was like, it's my fault it's in here. I feel responsible. I just want to go down and get it and not get us in trouble. And then again, without, you know, getting a chance to try to stop his friend, Pan just started walking down the stairs or really climbing on the furniture and chairs, making his way down. And so Henry turns to Lee, who's still right next to him, you know, trying to get some support here. Like, come on, we got to stop this guy. Speaker 1 (8:34) But Lee's like, meh, we're already here. And so Lee starts making his way across the furniture and the stuff, making his way down the stairs. And so Henry's like, all right, I guess I'm going too. So we kind of propped the door open to make sure as much light would come in as he could get. And then he began the descent as well. Now, at first, for Henry,