Sewers
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Sewers

ByCreepypasta.com
Sewers: story facts
Published on Creepypasta.com May 2013
Length 2,408 words · about 11 minutes to read
Story level Medium
Reader rating 8.8/10 from 756 votes
Category Beings and Entities
11 minute read
Rating: 8.76/10. From 756 votes.
Ranked #393 of 5,698 stories#156 in Beings and Entities
Vote breakdown
  1. 10436 (57.7%)
  2. 9167 (22.1%)
  3. 844 (5.8%)
  4. 716 (2.1%)
  5. 613 (1.7%)
  6. 519 (2.5%)
  7. 410 (1.3%)
  8. 39 (1.2%)
  9. 214 (1.9%)
  10. 128 (3.7%)
How scary was it?

A laptop computer was found in the city sewers on Monday, April 22nd of 2013, after screams were heard echoing from below. As far as authorities could tell, there was no owner. All picture files on the hard drive were corrupted, and forensics failed to reconstruct all but one of them. The reconstructed photo partially revealed a terrified man in his late teens or early twenties, and some sort of face behind him.
Analysts have disputed whether or not that actually is another face, or simply image noise created as a result of the reconstruction of the photo. Apart from the single image, all that remained on the laptop was a cryptic word file left open, unsaved. Some see this as the suicide note of a deranged lunatic. Others see it as a prank. All that is known for sure is that over the past three months, there have been over twenty disappearances, all leaving no trace.

**********

I just hope I can finish this. I need to tell it. I can’t NOT tell it. But I don’t have time to finish it. And that’s what’s horrifying. Because, if I don’t tell, then it might get the rest. I HAVE to. I’m on very limited time, but I’m gonna be as detailed as possible. So it doesn’t get the rest. Please bear with me, please listen to me.

I guess it all started three months ago, when we found that secret room. The room in the sewers with the little trap door under the rug. When that happened, everything went wrong. But I’m getting ahead of myself, I have to tell the full truth. Or else it will get the rest.

I’m nineteen years old. Me and my three best friends have always been fond of the sewers. We would go down there and explore, at first using rope, then chalk signs, then nothing at all as we learned every twist, turn, and passage to the point where we could find our way around in pitch darkness, something we’ve had to do on at least three occasions when our flashlights died.

Now, what’s strange, is that we never found the room. It was when James asked to join us that the room was discovered. James was more of an acquaintance than a friend, but we often found him hanging out with us. We never told him about our excursions to the sewers; most people thought of that as strange. We had known James for probably six months before he overheard us speaking about the sewers.

Of course, he wanted to know what we were talking about. So we told him, about how we went down into the sewers every now and again to explore. He, of course, wanted to join our next expedition. We said it was fine, and we went early the next Saturday.

James wasn’t very good with darkness. We found that out the hard way. Or maybe it was the darkness coupled with claustrophobia. I don’t know. But, once we got into the deeper levels of darkness, where the daylight ceased to exist, and the tunnels became black, he began to hyperventilate.

At first, it was almost unnoticeable. His breathing got quicker, and he moved closer to me. Then, without warning, he began to breathe wildly, and he dropped his flashlight. It hit the ground and went out, and just like that, he was sprinting, sprinting and screaming for help, down the dark tunnels.

We chased after him. Following his screams, we started to lose all of our sense of direction. We went deeper than we thought possible. We thought we knew these tunnels. But there was one small niche, that we had never noticed before, that led into an even older series of tunnels. We had to crawl on our stomachs to get through it, and it opened into a tunnel not much bigger than that. We had to crouch down to the point of being on our hands and knees to traverse it.

It’s in those same sewers that I’m sitting now, with hundreds of white Christmas lights strung up around me, and stretching down the tunnel. These won’t last forever. The battery I’m running them off of can only keep them lit for a few hours. But they keep me comfortable, and serve as a warning. The thing can’t stand to be in light. It’s coming for me, I know it. But the lights will go out before it can get to me, so I’ll know.

I’m hiding here because this is the last place it will expect me to go. It’s looking for me. But it wouldn’t think that I would go into its sewers, its very back yard. I know that it will find me, and soon. But I just hope that this will prolong the inevitable. Long enough for me to get my story out. I’ve got my phone programmed to dial 911 in two hours. And I’ve got a camera, with night vision, ready to record when it shows up. So the cops will know, to stop it.

I just hope they can.

We eventually tracked down James, and he was sitting outside a big rusty door. It looked like it hadn’t been touched in years. Somehow we convinced ourselves to open it and oh my god I just wish we hadnt this crap would have NEVER HAPPENED IF NOT FOR THAT STUPID DOOR OH MY GOD IM GONNA DIE AND

I have to stop. Panicking won’t do anything to help me. I’m past help. Have I told you our names? There was me- Curt, and then James, Alan, Josh and Chris.

Writing down facts help me calm down. Just bear with me. I’m almost there.

We went in the door. That was a mistake. In the room, was an ancient chair, and a threadbare rug. Not much else, except a table full of disturbing instruments. And a calendar. The calendar was old and faded, and a dark yellow, but I could just barely make out dates in the faded ink.

The calendar was dated for 1903. Over a hundred years prior.

The table had what looked like torture tools set on it. I recognized a thumbscrew. Josh cut himself on some kind of twisted knife-hook-thing. Hammers and nails. I shudder thinking of what some of the other instruments were used for. There was what looked like the remains of a skeleton on another table in the corner of the room.

A rectangular table with Metal rings at each corner, and decayed ropes through those metal rings. I felt sick.

Also read: Ascension

We decided then that we needed to get out, but Alan tripped over the rug and kicked it to the side. There was a trap door under it. Again, curiosity got the best of us, and we opened it, against James’s protests. It was pitch black down there. An old ladder led down, but that was it. We shined our lights in, and there were several things that might have once been human remains, but were now nearly dust.

At this point, something came over James. He climbed down the ladder into the hole, against our protests. After a moment, his light flickered and then died. Nothing but silence from down below. We were just beginning to panic when he casually walked into view.

He smiled up at us.

His eyes were just empty bleeding sockets.

We all just stood there in stunned silence, and then our lights wavered and flickered out. Mine flickered back on for a split second, and we saw some THING standing behind him. I don’t know what it was. Yes I do.

It was IT. The thing that’s been hunting me and my friends.

It looked very angry. It looked horrifying. It was dead blue skin and decomposing face. I could see its skull through its cheeks. It looked female. It had long decayed hair, and a bony frame. What looked like slashes in its dead cheeks, and gashes around its empty sockets. It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I think, that if I would have seen it for more than a split nanosecond, I would have gone insane. Gone insane or dropped dead.

The light lasted for a fraction of a second, a fraction of a second that has haunted me every minute of every day since then, and then everything was dark and James was screaming. I ran. Everyone else ran too, but I was the first. We scattered. Floundering in the dark, in the unknown. I don’t know how long I was down there. It felt like centuries.

Eventually, I made it to the surface. It was pitch dark in the dead of night. I remembered that we had gone in during the early morning hours.

I went home. It was four o’clock in the morning. All I remember is turning every light in the house on, blasting Looney Tunes on the TV, and then passing out.

The next day, I found out that only Alan and Chris had made it out the previous night. We went to the police and they organized a manhunt. Twenty people went into the sewers that night. Me, Alan, and Chris were not among them. We vowed to never step foot in those tunnels again. The manhunt never found that room.

We never told them about it. We agreed to tell them that we had found a section of sewer that we hadn’t explored before, and gotten separated and lost.

The search was unsuccessful. After a week, the police were forced to call it off. And the rest is history. Over the next several months, everyone who went into those sewers has disappeared, without a trace. Alan, Chris, gone. I’m the only one le

Oh fuck I think a light just went out. The darkness is coming, and I think I can see her or it whatever the fuck it is shit

Im the only one left you cant go into the sewers. They need to find the room and SHUT THE TRAPDOOR and SHUT THE OTHER DOOR so it cant get out

oh god the lights are going out oh shit oh fuck fuck look for my camera and shut the doors PLEASE YOU HAVE TO

**********

Police found a dropped camera deep within the sewage tunnels. No one has spoken about what footage is on the camera, and all to see the footage have committed suicide soon thereafter. Police are currently working with city records to conduct a coordinated search of the sewer system to find the location spoken of in the file….

**********

Detective Alexander Sherridan sits down in front of the television. He had requested a copy of the tape that has so disturbed anyone who has watched it, and now he has it. He feels apprehension building. Should he watch this? Some think it is cursed. However, Sherridan is not a superstitions man. He puts the tape in and presses play. A young man comes on the screen, the same from the picture. He is screaming, while behind him the lights are rapidly going out, moving in sequence towards him. What he is screaming is mostly incoherent, and what Sherridan is able to make out is simply more of the same of what he said in the word document– “close the doors.”
Suddenly the last lights flash out spectacularly, and there is a small glimpse of the laptop before the camera goes dark. What ensues are some of the most horrifying screams that Sherridan has ever heard, but he only barely registers these. He refuses to believe what he thinks he saw. To be sure, he rewinds the video, and plays it again. And again. And again.
Finally, he pauses it and goes forward frame by frame, until he sees the image he feared. Just as the lights flash for the final time, there is a woman grabbing the young man. Except he is not sure that she is a woman. It has no eyes. They look like they were gouged out at some point. There are slashes in her face, or what is left of its face. It is mostly decayed bone, with some skin stretching over it. The teeth are worn nubs. Sherridan averts his eyes. He can’t look at this thing anymore.
He notices at that moment, in the background, stand other things. People that have disappeared. All decaying. All with no eyes. They seem to be looking directly at him, accusingly almost. He tells himself that that is impossible, as they have no eyes. Then he notices motion.
The woman holding the young man pulls her face in some caricature of a smile. Then, she begins digging her fingers into his face. He begins screaming, as she literally rips his eyes out of his head. Sherridan runs forward and presses the power button on the TV. Nothing happens. The woman/thing continues to rip the eyes out of the man’s head, and Sherridan begins screaming with him, as he feels his sanity begin to slip. He rips the plug to the TV out of the wall.
Nothing happens. He retches as the thing pulls the remains of the eyes out, and begins pressing them into her own sockets. He turns and runs full force towards the wooden baseball bat mounted on the wall. He grabs it. He intends to destroy the TV. As he runs back towards the television, the he raises the bat. Just as he’s about to swing and destroy the screen, the thing winks at him with its new eyes.
Whatever vestiges of sanity that are left in Alexander Sherridan shatter at that moment. He drops the bat and stumbles backward into the next room. All he knows is that that thing knows where he is and how to get to him. And he knows that he doesn’t want that to happen.
As he presses the barrel of his police issue Glock into his temple, he vaguely recalls some urban legend or quote or something he’d heard somewhere about how if someone dies a violent death, their spirit stays there, angry, forever. “Fuck that,” he says out loud, before squeezing the trigger.
On the television screen, all that is seen is a terrified young man in a bright flash of light. Nothing more.

Credit To – Matt M. – read more of his work at http://mattmhorror.wordpress.com

Alive

8.48/10 · 582 votes
· Beings and Entities

Introduction Fear of the unknown... a fear that almost all humans feel, an outcome that is uncertain. The…

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89 Comments

  1. HOLY FUCK that is the creepiest story I know about YET. I have to give credit to this guy, and his story. I rate 10/10, good pasta bro.

    Reply

  2. I’m a little worried about the lack of comments at this point…

    I’m completely open to constructive criticism guys.

    Reply

    1. What about Unconstructive criticism? I love the story and have no actual faults to point out but I CAN say stuff like I don’t like the names for the characters? I’m trying to write a story and am in no way envious of your skill. I like the fact that mine looks like glittery poo next to yours. So there! :-) :-) xxxxx

      Reply

  4. Outstanding story! Really I’m astonished! This was brilliantly written and so creepy! I think I just lost all my sanity along withe wet one else who read this 10/10

    Reply

    1. I had originally planned to make one, and attach it. But other stuff ended up coming up, and I never got the time for it. I wrote the majority of the story in mid-April, but then couldn’t get back to it for several weeks. Final edits were LITERALLY done at the last possible second, and the story was submitted at 11:30 on the last day of open submissions. I wish I COULD have done a picture. I might make one and get derpbutt to insert it in the story.

      Reply

        1. I might do just that. I feel like that’s something that should be included. Also, thanks for getting it published so quickly. I thought that with me submitting it so late that if it ended up published it would be in late June or early July.

        2. Well, to be frank, it shouldn’t have. But my tablet was doing its thing again where going too far into the queue caused me to time out (this can happen sometimes if the queue is REALLY full and my ISP is being a jerk – both are true lately), so I just gave in and went through the latest submissions (queue is like email, it displays most recent first) so that I could at least get SOME reading done.

          I’m back to the earliest submissions in the queue now, though.

  12. This was one of those pastas that I scroll through really slowly towards the end, line by line, until I reach the end of the story. I was 100% certain that there would be a picture after this! Kinda glad there wasn’t, to be honest.

    Reply

  15. I’m still deciding how I feel about this. I think there were some things that I really liked, specifically the way James’ demise was discussed. It was crisp, shocking, and did not seem to get too bogged down in splashing gore all over the screen. I’m a very visual reader, and so the image of the lights flickering and revealing James and the creature was very interesting. Stuff with eyes squicks me out, so that was a pretty creepy idea to me.

    On the other hand, I feel like this had the same problems as many other “found” pastas. It began to explain why he was typing all of this out, but it still didn’t make sense. If something was coming to kill me and I wanted one last chance to save the world, I’m not sure writing out a detailed description of every single step would be on my mind. Also, the squished keys at the end should be left out. I’m also confused as to why he opted to hide in the sewers, since the rest of the story suggests that it lives in the sewers and attacks people who are in it. Maybe I missed something and it came out of the sewers to hunt the others down.

    The final scene with the video added a dimension of power to the creature, which was needed, I think. My main critique there was how the description of it was so similar to the initial one given by the first narrator. There were some differences, but I don’t think the second description added anything to my image of the woman, so it seemed redundant.

    I have typed WAY too long. I think as a creature, it’s pretty interesting, and sets up a creepy monster that might creep out of the sewers. It has some flaws, and falls into some cliche horror/creepypasta tropes, but it also managed to create a creepy atmosphere and monster. 7/10

    Reply

    1. In all honesty, I completely agree with you on the squished keys deal. They were from my first draft, and I forgot to remove them in my last-minute editing spree on the 11th. ORIGINALLY, the “Alexander Sherridan” scene didn’t exist. But the five or six people I had proofread over the story said they felt like the video should have been described, and after reading through the story a second time, I agreed with them. I just forgot to take the squished keys out when I submitted it (hint, hint, Derpbutt…).

      Now, onto the sewers. The monster has been coming out of the sewers to hunt down anyone who has been in them since the door was opened. The protagonist rationalizes that since the thing is leaving the tunnels to hunt people down, it wouldn’t expect him to go down into them. HE perceives it as buying him time. Whether or not it does, I don’t know. I’m the type of author who likes to leave it to ambiguity. It could have bought him time, or it could have significantly shortened his life span. It’s up to the reader to decide. And I think that the protagonist really was hoping that if he was wrong about the doors being the key to stopping it, then maybe someone who read the file would be able to read between the lines and find out how to REALLY stop it. So that’s why he was trying to be as detailed as he could.

      As the author, I can perceive every part of the story that the reader can’t, and it’s not easy to realize I left something basic out, or wasn’t descriptive enough in the motives.

      (Sorry for the wall of text… this is my first creepypasta submitted/published, and I want to respond to everyone. Haha.)

      Thanks for the critique!

      Reply

      1. Hint taken, but please email me and tell me specifically what you want removed/replaced/etc. I’m on pot #4 of coffee today and still feel like an idiot, so I need specifics. Otherwise I might screw something up due to brain fog!

        Reply

        2. I sent in an email, but I don’t know if you received it or not. I replied to the email telling me when my submission would be published.

        3. I’ll go check. Lately gmail has had a habit of sending responses to filed emails directly to its category and not displaying the new message in my inbox or on the category name. I’m not sure why it’s doing this, as it’s only happening to some conversations and not others. If I don’t reply tonight, feel free to resend.

  18. This was scary o-o can that thing use the television as a way to tell where you are? Anyways, awesome story! :-D

    Reply

  19. I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT!
    I love that it is a take on IT. Without being TO much like the original story, just enough to keep it but still be different. Pennywise as a female….probably one of the most freaky things i have ever heard.
    Fan-friggin-Tastic

    Reply

  20. Great pasta! Only bad thing I can say is that the switches from past to present tense threw me off a bit. However, I must say, that if I were in that kind of a situation I would probably react the same. All in all great work!

    Reply

  22. The last sentence of the introduction doesn’t really connect to the rest of the introduction.. I’m guessing it’s meant to be like a news report, and a news report would make everything fit together so we can see the reason behind what they say. Otherwise it’s like two separate incidences, for some reason told in the same story.
    I liked the story though! I was definitely creeped out!

    Reply

  23. Omg this pasta is extra creepy luv it tho good writing some bits I got kinda confused but that’s ok cos I figured it out

    Reply

  24. Hey!

    It’s been a while since we’ve had logpastas; this one used the format mainly for atmospheric purposes, using the typing to illustrate the protagonist’s descent into panic. IMO, while the story itself was quite solid, I felt some parts were driven to egregiousness – perhaps exacerbated by the format.

    I felt that the log format, coupled with the character’s actions, lent the story credibility; the narrative is quiet and the details normal. The voice was distinctive enough that the gradual change in mood was palpable.

    Though I felt the CAPS LOCK and punctuation-less spazzes were a bit crude and overdone, it does contribute to the plot. Curt is very clearly freaking out. I do believe it could’ve been more plausible if it was a voice log instead of a written document, but that’s just me.

    Interestingly, the narrative continues to the postscript in logpasta, but from a different perspective. This part to me was dragged out and egregious with its splatterfest, but it did conclude the pasta in a form.

    IMO, the weakest part of the pasta was the subsequent reveal and description of the monster. Actions alone would’ve sufficiently underlined how creepy the monster was. Maybe it’s inevitable given the format’s retrospective quality but the ambiguity is gone quite early, and I thought the list of it’s rattled as description felt a bit laundry-list, almost prosaic. I thought it could’ve been better if the descriptions were left for the postscript.

    All in all, a good logpasta, if a bit overdone in some parts. 7.5/10

    Reply

    1. Aha! I was looking forward to your comment, and you didn’t disappoint. As a young writer who is trying to get into the world of real publishing, this constructive criticism is like absolute gold to me. I know some authors who get offended by it, but I find it to be nice to know what I’m doing good and bad. Creepypasta is a surprisingly good place to get it, as most commenters are friendly and well-meaning. I really look forward to the next submissions period, because I’ve got a solid month and a half to write down some of my other stories.

      Thanks for reading, and thanks for the critique.

      Reply

      1. Thanks! I’m glad you feel I’ve contributed to your stay!

        I agree. Creepypasta is quite friendly, despite (because of?) the subject matter, and due to no small effort on the very involved admin’s part. Plus, the stories are usually fresh in some ways.

        I look forward to your subsequent submissions. ^_^

        Reply

  26. Good pasta. Didn’t enjoy the ending much. Kinda felt rushed a bit. But it was still pretty good.

    Reply

  29. Wow this is a delicious pasta! I normally don’t get scared by these, but this one was freaking creepy! This is by far my favorite pasta. I thought people couldn’t come up with good stories like this anymore… Faith in humanity restored my friend.

    Reply

  30. Wow…great pasta. I really like pastas of this sort. And this one is am amongst the best in my opinion! 10/10

    Reply

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