Advertisement
Please wait...

The Tundra



Estimated reading time — 3 minutes

The native villagers around these parts say that there’s a stretch of tundra just north of here that is occupied by benevolent spirits. These spirits grant insight and warning to whoever visits them at night, once the sun has disappeared entirely and left the world in jet darkness. I drove out to the middle of the frozen expanse of ice and waited, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever commanded these people’s reverence. They send their children out, bundled in furs to keep from freezing, on the eve of their 15th birthday to seek an audience with these spirits. Once they have achieved this, the children run home to their parents to share the news. From then on these children are considered adults in the village. Engaged couples visit this tundra on the night before their wedding. The entire village stays up all night awaiting their return, as it is upon their return that the couple either decides to proceed with their marriage, or to abandon it. The elderly visit the tundra whenever they are sick or ailing, and often make their condition worse by staying all night in the cold. When they return, however, it is most often with an air of sheer serenity.

So I waited, curious to see what phenomenon might inspire people so powerfully. I waited for hours, bundled in my parka and sitting on the hood of my pickup. I waited until I felt that I was going to freeze to death, even in my thick clothing.

I heard the spirit before I saw it. A crunching of snow in the silence made me jump off my truck and spin around. A hunched, gray-skinned man stood a few meters away. Sad, yellowed eyes stared back at me, set inside a skull from which sprouted only a few greasy hairs. He breathed heavily, with a rattle that shook his fragile ribcage, and one of his arms looked as if it had been messily broken and then neglected, allowing it to knit back together imperfectly. Badly scarred flesh marred his splayed legs. The man stared at me for perhaps ten seconds, breathing in the frigid air and exhaling a sickly dribble of steam, before disappearing when I blinked my eyes.

Advertisements

I spun around, looking for the man, but he was truly gone. Approaching where he had stood, I found a pair of bloody footprints in the snow. Frantic with fear, I got into my pickup and headed for the village as fast as the ice would allow. A few villagers were waiting for me when I arrived, knowing that I had gone out and curious as to what might happen. I hastily got out of my truck and, approaching the nearest villager, I demanded, “What is so benevolent about these spirits? What is so insightful? How do these spirits help you?”

“What did you see?” he asked, the look on his face now mirroring the fear in mine.

“I saw a man, horribly disfigured and desperately sick!” I screamed into his face, and the rest of the villagers around us backed away a step. “Why? What does that mean?” I begged him.

“The spirits show only one thing,” the man explained. “They show their visitors, a year in the future.”


Credit: David Feuling (AmazonTwitterFacebookRedditPatreon)

Advertisements

This story was submitted to Creepypasta.com by a fellow reader. To submit your own creepypasta tale for consideration and publication to this site, visit our submissions page today.

Advertisements

Check out David Feuling’s critically-acclaimed trilogy of novellas, The American Demon Waltz, now available on Amazon.com.

All three novellas in the trilogy described below are included in the compilation:

“Bravo Juliet” is a survival horror military thriller, and the first novella by acclaimed fiction author, David Feuling. It tells the story of an elite soldier serving under US Army Special Project: Acrylic Geist, before she is betrayed and left to die in the wilderness of war-torn Vietnam. Brutal injuries, debilitating sickness, and the growing Lovecraftian threat of “The Maw” test not only Bobby’s will to survive, but her grasp on sanity itself.

Advertisements

“Witness to Those Waiting” is the second book in the “Bravo Juliet” series. Master Specialist Barbara Balk returns to investigate the subterranean mazes carved out beneath Kosovo’s towns and streets. From her entry through the Ngordhje churchyard, she must face undead horrors and ancient evils alike in her quest to return to the surface with answers.

“Vechnaya L’Vitsa” pits Corporal Barbara Balk against new foes in the depths of U.S. Covert Command Outpost (USCCO) #241. Leading a team of six soldiers and tasked with defending the experimental LISEMEC superweapon until it is ready to fire, can Bobby hold out long enough while under siege? Her resolve will be tested by supernatural forces, enemy sabotage, and the expansive Antarctic wasteland itself.

Please wait...

Copyright Statement: Unless explicitly stated, all stories published on Creepypasta.com are the property of (and under copyright to) their respective authors, and may not be narrated or performed under any circumstance.

88 thoughts on “The Tundra”

  1. Well done, that was a good pasta. Great ending, I would love to see more endings that I don’t expect.

    Have an ice day.

  2. Interesting story, but maybe one year in the future is not really enough considering the premises. I mean, I can understand why a soon-to-be-married couple, or a sick elder, might get insight by seeing themselves how they will be in one year, but what can a 15yo boy possibly learn from seeing himself when he’s gonna be 16?

  3. the hash slinging slasher

    i liked it, a bit predictable… but still i really liked it. It’s not the kind of crap yourself horror story, but the kind that you hear used as a kids campfire story :)

  4. HOLY SHIT
    THAT IS FREAKY AS SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    but it would be worse if you saw yourself the next day

  5. So guy goes into frozen tundra and most likely when he\’s on the verge of succumbing to frost bite, he starts hallucinating. Also WHO WAS BLOODY FOOTPRINT

  6. So guy goes into frozen tundra and most likely when he’s on the verge of succumbing to frost bite, he starts hallucinating. Also WHO WAS BLOODY FOOTPRINT

  7. BEST PASTA WHERE YOU GO TO AN AREA AND GET SCREWED EVER.

    I love twisty pasta, when it’s not like “Oh, hey, look, remember that nice, sweet old lady you all loved so much through the story? Yeah, she’s Satan. Remember the protagonist? He’s working for her. The antagonist? He’s a T-rex that can shoot laser beams. This was all a dream.” Cause that sucks. This was finely cooked, with lovely grammar, good descriptions, and just the right amount of maggots. Not something you’d look in your closet for, but creepy nonetheless.

    10/10.

  8. Hey! Yeah i didnt really get this one.. Its not really Cool? C’mon Pasta thats not creepy unless your fat!. So yeah guys stop writing depressing stories, lighten up! and Get laid!!

    :D

  9. Seriously, what is up with Locations. This is the third story I read that’s just really sad/melancholy. Loved the concept, simple but very clever.

  10. i thought the ending would be like: the man saw no spirit, he saw an actual human being which needed help but he ignored him and left it to its death

  11. retarded smurf under your bed

    @ncfangirl i always sleep with my dog and why would you feel sad for that guy i would have run him over

  12. At first I was like, “This is going to be boring isn’t it?” And then is started reading, and then I was like, “Aww, that poor guy, why would you be scared of him…? He just needs a hug!” And then a few seconds before it said I was like, “Oh no, that guy is going to be that guy! Aw, poor guy…”

    Anyway, it was good, IMO. A nice twist, and it made me feel for the ghost even before I knew who it was. Although I would like more creepy in this pasta. Like the ones from last night…I slept with the light on, and with the dog. :-X

  13. Never take the Tundra lightly, it can drive a man insane…

    Its the nothing-ness…
    The whiteness…
    The endless-ness…
    Stretching on beyond the human imagination
    Desolation of the soul…

    OH MY GOD!!

    Ice flow – nowhere to go
    Ice flow – nowhere to go
    Lost in the blinding whiteness of the Tundraaaaaaaaa!

    Check him out!
    They call him the shrew
    Arms in short then with the claw

    I’m little Johnny Frostbite
    Moving around
    Freezin’ you up freezing you down
    Like an icicle
    Coming in your tent in the pink light scissor bite
    Arctic death
    Infinite night

    They call me Tundra boy
    Because I move like an Arctic – lizard
    When the Blizzard strikes I disappear like a pipedream
    All that’s left is the gleam – on a tent peg

    Boosh Boosh – stronger than a moose
    Don’t lock your door or we’ll come through your roof – top
    Stop look around take your mind off the floor
    Because the Boosh is loose and we’re a little bit raw

    Ice, flow, nowhere to go
    Ice, flow, nowhere to go
    Lost in the blinding whiteness of the Tundra. Ooooowwwww!

  14. I don’t recall posting on this one when I first read it. I’m re-reading old pastas and posting on the ones I really enjoyed. This one definitely makes it on my favorites list. Very well done!

  15. I assumed the ending would be something of the such, but it was better than I expected!
    Wonderful pasta. I will let it linger on my pallet.

  16. A year in the future seems a bit short. People typically are happy their first year of marriage, and a 15 year old seeing their 16 year old future self isn’t exactly going to be an astronomical change.

    Something like five years into the future would make a bit more sense to me, but I liked the setup.

  17. MOAR!!! I liked this one. It is what pastas are supposed to be. Short little dishes that creep you out.

    Then who was idiot that thinks he was “fist”?

  18. Pretty good, I for one didn’t see it coming. Not all that scary, but entertaining nonetheless. I wish it was a little longer, though.

  19. Pretty good…though somewhat cliche. It was a bit predictable, but its descriptions and historical backup were great.

  20. It was really good up until the end. The ending was too generic, and felt like some boring horror story.

  21. I found it enjoyable if not a little predictable. I really liked the description of the man in the future, though.

  22. Feaster of Fear

    Hrm….I sort of liked this pasta…..almost like a ritual pasta told from the perspective of someone who performed it, and yet…..it doesn’t lack a storyline. It even has a twist at the end, albeit a bit predictable. All in all, I say this is a good pasta.

  23. I kinda liked this one, it’s the first pasta in a while that genuinely sent a chill through me at the end

  24. Fist post!
    Also, ending seemed a bit too obvious once it started describing in detail the injuries of the old man/future guy.

Leave a Reply to Sinn Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top