The Last Fire Watcher

I do not tell this story to people anymore because nobody believes the story about the fire lookout tower. Even the friends who were with me that night at the fire lookout tower refuse to talk about what happened at the fire lookout tower. It is one of those things where after years you almost convince yourself that the story about the fire lookout tower could not have happened the way you remember it.. Every once in a while something reminds you of the fire lookout tower and you realize you never really forgot about the fire lookout tower.

This happened back in 2022 when six of us decided to spend a weekend driving around Montana before summer ended. We did not have anything planned for the trip to Montana. We just wanted to get out of town waste some money on gas for the cars and enjoy ourselves before everyone got busy with life at home. We had rented a cabin near the mountains outside a place called Philipsburg. Honestly the first day was perfect at the cabin near Philipsburg. We went fishing listened to music joked around and ate too much junk food at the cabin near Philipsburg. Nothing strange happened at the cabin near Philipsburg. Nothing memorable happened at the cabin near Philipsburg. If we had just stayed at the cabin near Philipsburg none of this would have happened at the fire lookout tower.

On the night after we had been sitting around a fire for hours at the cabin near Philipsburg, one of my friends brought up an old story he had heard from his uncle about the fire lookout tower. Apparently somewhere in the area was an abandoned fire lookout tower that had been closed since the eighties. He said locals avoided the fire lookout tower because people would occasionally go missing around the fire lookout tower. Naturally we thought the story about the fire lookout tower was stupid. One of us. Said, “So basically every creepy story ever about a fire lookout tower?” Another friend joked, “Bro, if I die in an abandoned fire lookout tower tell people I got eaten by Bigfoot at the fire lookout tower.” We spent twenty minutes making fun of the thing about the fire lookout tower but eventually curiosity got the better of us about the fire lookout tower. It was not even that we believed the story about the fire lookout tower. We just wanted something to do. It was ten-thirty when we loaded back into the trucks and started following directions we had found online to find the fire lookout tower.

The drive to the fire lookout tower was longer than we expected. Eventually the pavement turned into gravel. Then the gravel turned into dirt. Trees covered everything around us on the way to the fire lookout tower. We did not pass a car for almost an hour on the way to the fire lookout tower. At one point one of us said, “Are we sure the fire lookout tower even exists?” Another replied, “The GPS says two miles to the fire lookout tower.” That is when somebody noticed we had not had service for thirty minutes on the way to the fire lookout tower. Nobody thought much of it. We were in the mountains all on the way to the fire lookout tower.. Then one of us looked out the window and quietly said, “Guys… Did anyone else see that thing on the way to the fire lookout tower?” Everyone started asking what he meant. He just shook his head. “Nothing. Probably nothing on the way to the fire lookout tower.” We made fun of him for getting scared on the way to the fire lookout tower. That was the end of it.

Ten minutes later we found the fire lookout tower. The fire lookout tower was taller than I expected rising above the trees like some shadow. The fire lookout tower looked ancient. Rust covered most of the metal and the stairs leading up to the fire lookout tower looked like they should have collapsed years ago. There were warning signs everywhere telling people to stay out of the fire lookout tower. Somebody immediately laughed and said, “Those signs are not stopping anybody from going into the fire lookout tower.” Another friend looked up. Said, “Dude, imagine climbing all that just to get tetanus at the fire lookout tower.” We all laughed. Looking back I remember one person saying, “You know what is weird about the fire lookout tower? There is no graffiti on the fire lookout tower.” He was right. Every abandoned place we had ever seen had graffiti. Broken windows. Trash. Something.. The fire lookout tower looked untouched. Like nobody had been there in decades at the fire lookout tower.

We made it halfway up the fire lookout tower before one of us noticed something on the stairs of the fire lookout tower. There was mud on the stairs of the fire lookout tower. Not dried mud. Fresh mud. Like someone had just climbed the fire lookout tower recently. One friend crouched down. Pointed. “Guys look at this on the stairs of the fire lookout tower.” The footprints led upward on the stairs of the fire lookout tower. Another friend smiled nervously. “Cool. Guess we are not the idiots out here at the fire lookout tower.”. Something felt wrong about the footprints on the stairs of the fire lookout tower. The prints did not look right. They were too long. Not huge, just… Stretched. Like somebody had feet that had somehow been pulled apart at the fire lookout tower. One person joked, “Maybe Slendermans got hiking boots at the fire lookout tower.” Nobody laughed.

When we reached the top of the fire lookout tower we found the cabin empty at the top of the fire lookout tower.. At least we thought it was empty at the top of the fire lookout tower. Dust covered everything at the top of the fire lookout tower. Old radios sat on shelves at the top of the fire lookout tower. Broken chairs were stacked against walls at the top of the fire lookout tower. One friend sat down. Said, “Okay this view’s actually worth it at the top of the fire lookout tower.” Another took out his phone to record at the top of the fire lookout tower. That is when somebody froze. “Who put that there at the top of the fire lookout tower?” Sitting in the center of the room at the top of the fire lookout tower was a coffee thermos. Brand new. Steam rising from the top of the coffee thermos. Everyone went silent. One of us laughed nervously. Said, “Nope.” Another whispered, “Someone’s here at the top of the fire lookout tower.” Nobody touched the coffee thermos.

Then we heard footsteps at the top of the fire lookout tower. Not below us at the top of the fire lookout tower. Above us at the top of the fire lookout tower. Everyone looked up at the top of the fire lookout tower. There should not have been anything above us at the top of the fire lookout tower. The room we stood in was the point of the fire lookout tower. One friend actually laughed because he thought someone was joking at the top of the fire lookout tower. “Very funny.”. The footsteps continued at the top of the fire lookout tower. Slow. Heavy. Walking directly over our heads at the top of the fire lookout tower.. Forth.. Forth. Nobody moved at the top of the fire lookout tower. One person whispered, “There’s no floor above us at the top of the fire lookout tower…” Another quietly replied, “I know about the top of the fire lookout tower.”

Then something knocked on the ceiling at the top of the fire lookout tower. Three times. Knock. Knock. Knock. Nobody spoke at the top of the fire lookout tower. Then from above us, at the top of the fire lookout tower a voice said: “Finally.”. It sounded exactly like one of us at the top of the fire lookout tower.

Credit: LandonStedman

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