John Barry

It was Rose’s 3rd year on staff as a counselor. She had done resident camp since she was 10 and she was now 20. She knew Camp Christopher very well from the front gate to the woods beyond the stables in the back. It was the last week of resident camp and she had been assigned counselor of John Barry. She was excited to be working with older girls. She had been with the younger cabins for the previous 2 weeks. Rose waited out by the parking lot for her campers to arrive. It was a beautiful sunny day with a perfect occasional breeze. As her girls arrived she got them all in a group and started to greet one another talking about what they were excited to do while at camp. Eventually, the last girl arrived and they headed to their cabin to unpack. They had pasta for dinner and then went to flagpole and song time. Opening campfire went really well and all of the cabins had creative skits that all of staff and campers enjoyed. Afterwards, the cabins turned in for the night. Rose took her girls back to John Barry from trip site, where opening campfire had taken place. That night Rose was very tired and couldn’t wait to fall asleep after telling her cabin a story. jJust as the group of girls were approaching their cabin, it started to rain. It was a slight drizzle at first and then picked up to a torrential downpour withi



n seconds. The girls all crowded inside and made their way to their beds. Rose told them the story of Manville over the beat of rain while the girls steadily fell asleep.

The next morning camp was engulfed by a wave of fog and everything had been drenched by the rain from the previous night. John Barry made their way to breakfast and afterwards continued to prayer service. They had a nature hike for their first period. As the girls headed out into the woods, Rose finally got a sense of peace as she took in the green tranquility surrounding her. They headed upstream all the way to the natural spring. Though it had been a muddy and humid walk, all of the girls enjoyed it very much. 

The rest of the day went fairly well, considering the wet condition of almost every activity they were scheduled to do. It was pretty slippery at low ropes and playing gaga was almost impossible now that it had turned into more of a mud pit. But Rose and her campers were still having a great time. The day had gone by fast and by snipe hunt for night program, the girls were all ready for bed. Rose was roving her cabin tonight and she was ready to tell another story to get the girls to bed when one of her girls, Sam, comes up to her crying. Rose asks her what’s going on, thinking to herself that she just misses her family. Sam told her that she is pretty sure she left her grandmothers bracelet by the spring in the woods. Rose tells her that they could go find it tomorrow but Sam explains in a sobbing tantrum that she has never slept without that bracelet. Rose sighs and then gets up out of her bed. Then a great idea comes to her head. “Who wants to go on a night hike?” she asks her girls. Almost immediately, every girl springs up and gives their approval of Rose’s question. So they all get their shoes and their sweatshirts and head out to the woods. As they cross the bridge behind low ropes, a few girls turn on their flashlights. They get to the creek and then start their way up. 

They begin to come to the clearing where the spring is and Rose tells the campers of John Barry to spread out with a buddy to look for Sam’s bracelet. Rose takes Sam, who is still crying, over to the creek and they begin to look by some rocks. Just as Rose takes out her flashlight, the clouds above reveal a full moon and light up the woods around them. Rose sees a sparkle on the ground only a few feet away from her. She goes to it only to find Sam’s bracelet. She picks it up and gives it to Sam, who has stopped crying but now has a more worried look in her face. “Here you go” says Rose. Sam looks at the bracelet and grabs it frantically but says nothing. Sam was staring deep into the woods with a frightened half moon lit face. “What’s wrong?” asked Rose. Again. No answer. Rose kneeled down and grabbed her shoulder. “Sam?”. Sam suddenly said “I think I saw something moving”. Rose looked to the spot where Sam was still staring and saw nothing but the outlines of tall pine trees. “It was probably just a deer” exclaimed Rose. Sam shook her head and the two of them turned to return to the group of girls. As they were coming out of the creek, Rose didn’t see any of the girls in the spot where she had told them to meet back up. “John Barry!” shouted Rose, trying to gather her group back together. The clouds covered the moon light again. Rose wraps her backpack around her arm to retrieve her flashlight and then she hears a snap somewhere off in the distance. “Alright girls come on over” she says blindly towards the direction of the sound. Rose turns on her flashlight and points it to the ground producing a circle of light around her and Sam. “C’mon girls let’s go back we found the bracelet”. Again there is another crunch of sound but still no girls. Rose points her flashlight towards the trees. A rush of coldness takes over Rose’s body. Everything around her becomes motionless. There is no sound. There is no words. There are no girls. Only a hunched over figure with its back faced towards Rose and Sam. Rose tries to scream but nothing comes out, only gasps of air. And as the naked skeletal being slowly rises and turns, Rose can see a mural of blood covering the faceless creature. All she can make out of the head is a gaping mouth full of teeth and full of flesh. Rose falls backwards into the muddy earth, bringing Sam with her. The flashlight breaks. Sam starts to scream. Rose looks around desperately for some sort of rock or stick to protect them as she has gathered her senses again. The moon light pours back in. Rose sees it. It jumps into the trees above in the direction of the two girls. They stumble around trying to find their balance. Rose grabs Sam’s hand and they run back towards the way they came. Rose can hear the branches snapping and breath of the creature behind them quickly approaching. The girls keep running. Sam trips and Rose tries to pick her up. Then it lands in front of the girls. And for a moment Rose can see the torn fabric of her camper’s shirts stuck in the demonic twisted creature’s long protruding finger nails. As it rises above them from its lunge from the treetops, Rose finds grip of Sam’s trembling hand. She squeezes tight and waits for what’s to come. The clouds cover the moonlight.

All that was found the next day was a few remains of the girls and ripped up pieces of clothing, shoes, and bags. Police unsurely filed this incident as a “Bear Attack”. And no more questions were asked. Sam’s grandmother had camped back when she was a kid. The bracelet she had given to Sam was something she had found in the creek in the woods. This bracelet belonged to the thing who made the cabin of John Barry disappear. The thing who had been around longer than camp. This being was a creation from hell itself sent up to the world to seek revenge on those who took from it. Camp Christopher proclaimed John Barry to be haunted. Reports of nightmares and sights of a tall skeletal monster kept pouring in. The cabin was torn down and everyone slowly moved on from their terrible loss of Rose and the girls. To this day that thing still lives out there somewhere, watching closely. So the next time you’re in the woods and you see something out of the ordinary, don’t take it or it might take you