The Woman of the Sticks

Welcome to Scary Story podcast. A group of friends goes out to the woods, only to be warned of a terrifying legend. But could it be true? My name is Edwin and here's a scary story. We got to the cabin at around six, mostly because we had to wait around for Emilia and her parents to lecture us about going out to the woods for making content. They wanted a video call in the evening, and they packed way too many emergency kits. They over explained how to use it, repeated that we shouldn't do anything dumb. The drive was about three and a half hours away, and that was surprise. We got there before it got too dark. The place was rented by Hwan's parents for his birthday. It was supposed to have a really good Wi Fi connection, but it only worked inside the cabin. Fortunately, our phones actually worked out there. Still, I don't think it was meant for all of us to watch so much YouTube and scroll on ticks all day like we wanted to. Sarah was a TikToker slash instagrammer and making it work with almost thirty thousand subscribers by that point, so she brought all of her equipment. The rest of us try to make it seem like a cool creator type of hangout, similar to what we had found on a random YouTube channel Sarah was excited about. Mind you, none of us actually knew what we were doing as far as content. We had loose ideas on stuff here and there, but we were still at the cringe stage. Five of us in a cabin that was meant for four people meant that one of us had to take the couch or the floor. Juan was the first to volunteer, but he was a birthday boy, so he got the bottom bunk that was by the bathroom, while Emilia and I got the large bed and Sarah got the couch. Mondo had already put his backpack on the top bunk, so nobody questioned him on it. Immediately after setting our stuff down, we went to the porch area to see if we could light up the fire pit that had for us. The two guys had gone out to grab wood from the bundles by the side of the house when we all froze after hearing the sound of something breaking on the path coming up to the cabin. It was subtle and sudden, the kind that echoes with itself. We all looked over the car, maybe thirty or so feet down the path when I spotted us shape. It was blue in color, I think, floating across the path. It was jumping like it would somehow avoid being seen if it didn't touch the dirt. My eyes opened wide as I turned to look at Emilia. She was looking at Sarah's phone, who was recording the whole thing in silence. We all got up quickly and went straight for the guys, who looked at her, waving hands as we signaled them to come in. They set the bundles of wood down so carefully that it angered me, but they finally rushed in and we shut the door behind them. Sarah was by the window from the kitchen area, well what they called the kitchen. It was really just a microwave and an electric stovetop, barely any room to do anything else, but it did have a large window. We all screamed when Sarah turned off the light. She started laughing nervously while explaining that she couldn't see outside if we had our lights on. So there we were, like they say, it happens with your influencer friends, adjusting ourselves to what she wanted. Mondo rushed toward the window by the living room and asked us what we had seen. A man in blue, Emilia said, whispering loud enough for all of us to hear. A man, I asked, just a little bit louder. That thing was not a man. It was too short for it to be of man. It was like a walking jacket, a walking jacket. I realized what I had said right away, and Juan started laughing, breaking the silence and minor freak out we were all experiencing. Sarah shushed us off from the window and talked to her phone again, pinching to zoom on her phone as she said something to it that we couldn't hear. Oh what, Mondo yelled out, his voice booming across the walls. There it is. Look. We all stayed quiet, huddled together in the dark in front of the windows as we watched this small figure in blue, like the kind of a hiking jacket, and the ridiculous colors, the ones that always make you stand out when you use them anywhere else. We could all see it swaying across the path that led up to the cabin, too obvious for us to think that it wanted to hide. From us. It was zigzagging from edge to edge until it reached the car. Right at that moment, without saying a word, Mondo went straight toward the door. It's going for my car. Screw this, he said, opening it wide and yelling out toward it before it even opened. Sarah was right behind him now with her phone held up high and over his right shoulder. A soft voice came from out there, a woman walking up the path. Juan flicked on the porch light. A short, old woman was walking up toward the cabin, and Mondo stopped in his tracks. Sarah was still describing the scene to her phone. Slowly, we all started filtering out of the cabin door until we were all behind Mondo. The woman's face was hidden under a hood. It wasn't a hiking jacket, but it wasn't even blue. It was a dirty, white, hooded sweater. She was looking at us through the flap over her forehead as she pointed at us and spoke to Mondo in a near whisper, and then without saying hello or goodbye, she turned around and walked right back toward the entrance of the property, passed the car and disappeared somewhere in the darkness of the forest. Mondo was walking up to the cabin when we started questioning him. Who was she? What does she want? What does she say? Sarah was off to the corner of the cabin by the bundles of wood, now walking on selfie mode, pacing around the fire pit. She's crazy, Monto said, shrugging us off as he went over Twan and asked him about the rental. Did your parents say anything about this lady? I can call them and ask, one said, reaching for his pocket. But what does she say? He stayed quiet until we were all inside, waiting for him to speak. She seemed off. Something was strange about this woman. Wasn't there Sarah? We all looked around Sarah. Mondo went straight to the door, expecting to see Sarah out by the fire pit, but there was nothing there. He yelled out her name and rushed outside. Emelia's voice fading behind him as she told him to calm down. She was probably out by the car recording something. Sarah. I could hear Mondo yelling in the front of the cabin. He came rushing back to the door and went straight for his backpack, pulling out a knife in a flashlight. It's tough to explain how you know when a young man is scared, a certain face of determination. Worried that to this day I can't manage to put into words. Kwan rushed behind him Emily I followed a few steps away, trying to calm them down. I couldn't think of anything else to do, so I pulled out my phone to see if maybe Sarah had posted something, and to my surprise, she was live. I joined it right away. It was pitch black, with only the light of her phone lighting up what appeared to be a dirt trail. Forty other people were watching her already, and I could see the comments Sarah go back, and then more comments started filtering in. That isn't Sarah? Did you all see that? What was that? On the left? What is that? There was a flicker of light on one side of the screen, and it was growing larger and brighter. Ninety people watching. I started running toward the rest near the beginning of the path to the cabin. I showed them the phone. When we reached the dirt road. Mondo started the screen, his thumb hovering over the chat as if your account ticked pasted a hundred The flickering light on Sarah's live stream was growing stronger, casting long, stretching shadows across a dirt path she was walking on. She wasn't talking, which was unlike her, and staid. There was only the sound of the leaves crunching underfoot and a distant, rhythmic tapping. It was like wood knocking against wood. Juan snatched the phone from my hand. She's way out there. That's not near the car. Mondo clenched his jaw, gripping the flashlight tightly as he stormed outside. His knife was held low. We're not waiting, We're getting her. Amelia hesitated. What if she just what if she's just messing with us? One way to find out, one muttered, Following Mondo down the steps. I ran after them. The cold night air was tightening around my chest, and the path past the car was darker than I thought it would be. As soon as we passed the tree line, the cabin's porch light became a dull glow behind us. Sarah's live stream was still going. The screen shuddered as she turned her phone tover the ground, stepping carefully over roots and loose rocks. The tapping sound was louder. Now it was closer. The chat was exploding with frantic messages, Look up, Look up behind you? Where is that knocking coming from? Who? Wishy? We stopped in our tracks. A thin earie whistle drifted through the trees ahead of us, rising and falling like someone hum ming a lullaby. Just out of reach. Mondo clicked on his flashlight, the beam cutting through the darkness. Sarah no response, and then movement. At first it looked like Sarah, a figure in the distance, swaying slightly, the phone still held out in front of her. The closer we got, the less sense it made. Her head was tilted too far to the side, and her neck bent at an awkward angle. Her shoulders robbed back and forth, like she was fighting against invisible strings. And then she turned. The phone camera caught it in real time, the chat filling with frantic, unreadable messages. Sarah's face was loose, her lips were parted slightly, but her expression was blank empty. Her eyes glowed faintly from the phone's light, but they weren't looking at the screen. They weren't looking at anything at all. She was standing, but her feet weren't touching the ground, or at least it didn't look that way. And then behind her, just past the reach of the light, was something else, a shape, a woman. Her limbs were long and possibly thin, as though she had been stretched from branch to branch. Her hair hung entangled strands over her face, nodded with sticks and leaves. Her hands, bony and clad, pressed against Sarah's shoulders, and she was humming. It was the same, soft, eerie tune. Mondo lunched forward, her head snapped up, revealing hollow, splintered eyes, two empty voids staring back at us. Her lips curled upward, and in a voice that was not her own, she whispered, stay just a little longer. Sarah's phone fell to the ground, and the screen went black, and then she was gone, the woman, the whispering. It all vanished into the night, leaving only the echo of the tapping wood and the distant sound of something laughing deep in the woods. We all ran towards Sarah through the brush and rocks that were in the way. I tripped on some of the longer branches that were around her, but Juan and Mondo managed to get to Sarah first. I could at least tell that she was alive. Emilia reached for Sarah's phone. Save the live stream, I yelled. Emilia, I, confused, stared at the screen as the comments continued. One hundred and sixty four people watching now asking how Sarah was. We managed to get back to the cabin and Sarah I was acting strange, but she managed to walk and assisted from the door to the couch. Mely I reached for one of the emergency kits that her dad had packed and pulled out some stuff to treat some cuts and wounds, almost right away, but still they remained untouched. She had headed me Sarah's phone as the stream ended and she saved the video. We all sat there in silence for a while, not knowing how to start to ask Sarah about what had just happened. We had all seen this woman, this thing from the woods. It wasn't quite nine pm yet, and still the silence around the cabin made it feel like the middle of the night, the time when you're too afraid to get up to go to the bathroom, and the time when you hear those strange taps on your ceiling, like those times when every single tap on the wall sounds like echoes calling our names if we listened close enough, Sarah, I spoke first, Mondo, Do you remember what that strange lady said, the one that came up to the cabin. Yes, about the woman of the sticks to stay inside? Did she record it? Sarah, still shaking up but unafraid to watch herself on a screen, scrolled down her phone and played the whole recording of the encounter, the one with the crazy lady from earlier, and for the first time, I managed to see what she actually looked like. White hair, large nose, and missing teeth. Nothing menacing, just worn skin like it happens with age. She seemed kind but afraid, although still a little off, like she was wearing a mask. Still, Mondo was listening to her speak without interrupting a single word, and just like all of us were that night. Around Sarah's phone, there were several warnings that she gave that made chills run down my spine. Save the fire for tomorrow, stay indoors tonight. There is something not a lot of people know about this area of the woods, and to find out about the real history of the place, the area was cursed. Please stay indoors, she said. Sarah then jumps to the conversation and asks what happens around there, to which the old lady replies the woman of the sticks. Sarah laughs and turns the camera to herself, mocking what she just heard. Modo says that there's no problem, thanks her, and then shrugs it off. And then as the woman was turning away to head back to the trail, she says something that none of us could understand. Sarah's next video is of her talking about the conversation, which we all promptly ignored and then faced each other in silence. Again it Melia broke it. We saw the Woman of the sticks. She's real. Her eyes were red and swollen. When I got next to her and try to calm her down. Kwan and Mondo talked about what they had both seen, describing her out loud as if the memories themselves were going to fade, were reassuring themselves that what they saw actually happened. Sarah's phone screen turned on a notification announcing that her recording was ready. One of the guys got closer to the phone, asking if Sarah was okay with watching it. It was strange for everyone, though nobody said it, how calm. Sarah was almost eager to talk about what had just happened, how this thing could have taken her. Maybe it was all made up, Maybe she was messing with us for the content, as they say. Emilia was too scared to get close to the phone or to the window, so she was leaning against me in an awkward position, with her shoulder digging into my ribs. Sarah press play. She was pointing the camera to herself as she walked closer to the woods. We could see the cabin behind her. It was already dark out, though it was lit by one of the exterior lamps on the corner of the property. As she stepped out over the trail, she begins to respond to a comment, someone asking her about the story of the Woman of the Sticks. The phone screen glowed in the dimly lit cabin, casting a pale light over their faces, and no one spoke. No one moved. Do you want to watch the whole thing? Sarah asked, We should watch it, one said finally no. Emilia whispered, we saw enough, but Sarah unpaused the video. It began with Sarah's face filling the screen, slightly pixelated under the poor lighting, and she was grinning, her voice chipper as she narrated. Okay, guys, so I just met the creepiest lady ever, Like she came out of nowhere and started talking about some woman of the sticks or whatever. She said we should stay inside tonight, but I mean, come on. In the background, the glow of the porch light shrank into the distance. She went out way too far, Mondo muttered under his breath, gripping the edge of the couch. Knock, knock, knock. The sound came through the phone's tiny speaker. Three taps and then silence. Do you hear that? Sarah's recorded voice asked. Her tone was shifting. It was less playful and more uncertain. The chat on the screen was full of live comments. Nope, go back, Sarah, don't something moved behind you. The camera turned sharply, a blur of branches and shadows. Nothing there, Sarah laughed nervously in the recording. Okay, kind of weird, but I don't see anything. And then the knocking started again. It was closer this time. The group watching the recording tensed, and then something changed. Sarah stopped walking and the camera tilted downward toward her feet. Her shadows stretched across a dirt path, but something was wrong with it. The shadow wasn't hers alone. Behind her, another shape loomed, barely visible. It was taller, thinner, its limbs way too long. A sharp intake of breath came from the video. Sarah turned the camera around quickly, too quickly, and the screen blurred, catching nothing, darkness, and then a whisper. It wasn't Sarah's voice. It wasn't a voice any of them recognized. You see me now? The chat exploded with frantic messages, who said that behind you? Run now? Sarah's breathing became shaky, and then her footsteps stopped and the recording. She slowly turned the camera back to her face. Her pupils were dilated, her breath was uneven. For the first time, I thought she looked truly afraid. She opened her mouth to speak or to scream, but the video cut to darkness. The cabin fell into silence, and the recording ended. Sarah sat back on the couch, stretching her arms. Well that was something, Emilia shuddered. You were in danger, Sarah smirked, Yeah, but I got the footage. Do you know how many views it is? Gonna get Mondo exhaled, sharply, shaking his head. You almost died, Sarah. Sarah just shrugged, but I didn't. No one had an answer for that. The cabin felt suffocating. The silence wasn't just fear now, it was something worse, something unspoken. Sarah sat on the couch, her legs curled under her, typing on her phone. She wasn't scared, not even rattled. She was smug. Emilia was still curled up near me, her knees hugged to her chest. Juan was pacing, mumbling curses under his breath, and Mondo sat at the table, gripping the handle of his knife, staring at Sarah. She barely noticed. Her thumbs tapped furiously against the screen, lips curled in the slightest smirk. Monto's jaw clenched. Who are you texting? Sarah? She didn't look up. No one liar, she sighed, rolling her eyes like he was some over dramatic sibling. Fine, just some people in a group chat, nothing serious. Kwan stopped pacing. What people? Sarah hesitated, just for a second, but it was enough. Mondo lunged forward and grabbed her phone. Hey, Sarah shrieked, reaching for it, but Mondo was already flipping through her text. The air in the cabin thickened, and then he froze. Emilia got up, slowly peering over his shoulder. What does it say? Mando's face darkened, his hands gripped the phone so hard that his knuckles went white. Sarah lunged again, but Juan after wrists, what did you do? Sarah? She went still, her mouth opening slightly. A long, awkward beat of silence, and then Juan turned the phone toward them, his voice shaking. Sarah planned this and yeah. The texts were all there, a group chat with three unknown numbers, plans and instructions in it. Sarah said that she was going to go onto the woods around nine to just stay hidden behind the trees. The replies were saying that they were going to knock on the walls a bit before that to make it creepy. Sarah replied, perfect, Just don't let them see you. They replied, don't worry, we'll make it look real. The final messages were from just minutes ago, as they sat in silence after the live stream ended. Wow, this works so well. They totally believed it yeah, look convincing. I'll edit the video later, maybe add a voice filter to the whisper's lol. The next message said weird thing though, Who was that guy? Sarah replied with question marks. They responded with the dude in the video looked like he was right behind you, but none of us were that close. Sarah responded, what are you talking about? Sarah's phone vibrated. It was a message from them, dude, check the recording. There was silence. No one spoke. The weight of the deception hit all at once. It was ancher, disbelief and betrayal. But something was off the unknown person in Sarah's group chat. They sounded genuinely confused. Then Emelia whispered play the video. Sarah hesitated, suddenly looking pale. Guys, come on, it was just a prank. Play it. Mondo's voice left no room for argument. Sarah swallowed and pulled up the raw video file, the one saved directly to her phone before the stream ended. It was during her screen recording, like she always did. The cabin was dead silent. As the footage played, Sarah was walking alone in the woods, smirking at the camera. She was acting scared for the audience, and then the knocking sounds. The chat on the recording blew up. Viewers were reacting in real time, but now watching it back, something was different, something was wrong. As Sarah turned the camera toward the trees, a man was standing there. It was tall, motionless, too still. He was dressed in dark clothes. His face was obscured by Shah. Sarah kept moving, oblivious, talking to the stream, but the man was still following a few feet behind her. He was never getting closer, never slowing down, and none of them had seen him in real life, only in the video. Sarah's breathing became shaky as she scrubbed through the footage, hands trembling. I it has to be one of them. But as she fast forwarded, she reached the moment when Mondo and Juan appeared in the distance. It was the exact second Sarah's friends entered the frame. They were holding this strange figure made out of sticks, and that's when the man turned and walked away. He didn't walk into the trees, though, not into the shadows. He just vanished. It was as if he had only been there for Sarah, as if he had been The video ended and the screen went black. Sarah was shaking. Now, I don't I don't understand. Mondo stood up, staring down at her. He faked everything. There was silence but that he pointed at the phone. That wasn't fake. Sarah looked sick. Who who was he? No one had an answer. Suddenly, Juan muttered, we need to leave. Amelia grabbed her bag. Mondo didn't even bother to unpack, so he was ready to go. Everyone pretty much had their backpacks there. Sarah. I just sat there, still holding her phone, not moving. The others rushed for the car, throwing open the doors. The first beams of morning light crept over the trees. Quan turned the key, the injun roaring to life. Sarah, come on, She didn't move. She just sat there, staring at the screen, eyes wide mouthed, slightly open. A notification popped up on her phone, and you comment somewhere on her account. Why didn't you run when you saw him? Sarah whispered to herself. I didn't see him. The car horn blared, She flinched, snapping out of it, and ran. The second she was inside, Juan floored the gas. No one spoke as a cabin disappeared. Behind them. No one dared to look back, no one ever went back, and no one ever figured out who the man in the video was. Scary Story podcast is written and produced by me Edwin Karubias. The idea for this story was submitted on our Spotify comments the Tale of a Creature in the Woods with a slight twist. Let me know what you thought of it. If you can drop some stars from me in the ratings and reviews, I would really appreciate it. And if you're following this podcast, I will tell you another story next week. Thank you very much for listening. Keep it Scary everyone, See you soon.