Lilith's Cabin

“"The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. For decades, few weary travelers on horse-back had ever had the steely-nerve to stay here...and lived to tell the tale." my husband said lowering his voice for dramatic effect, as he grabbed a stick to stoke the already blazing fire.

Their faces were all turned towards him, not just the boys, but the adults too. Their eyes bright and glistening in the orange-red glow of the firelight being cast over them on this cold winters night. The occasional icy gust feeding the burning embers within the flaming logs and causing tendrils of smoke to shoot sparks of glowing ash up into the moonless dark star-studded sky above us.

“Babe...you said you weren’t gonna tell them this story…” I said giving him a knowing look, as Dazz put his stick back down and resettled himself.

“Hush now my love...these aren’t just any old kids we’re tellin’ this story to...they’re Scouts! They’re not little kids anymore...they’re young men and they can handle it, this is what they asked me for – they wanted to hear the most scary campfire ghost story ever...and I can’t break a promise to them now, can I…? Don’t underestimate how brave they are...you are all brave Scouts aren’t you..?” Dazz asked, as he scanned all the faces of the twenty young males all dressed neatly in their uniforms, gathered round the fire (for gods sake, you could just about cut the testosterone in the air with a bloody feather right now!), boys ranging from 14-18yrs, whose parents had signed the permission slips for a weekend on our property – mustering, branding, riding horses, sleeping in tents, cooking over the campfire...all to gain their next badges and for some, their final badges.

“Yeah!!!” 20 excited shouting voices rang out, puffing up frosty breath into the darkness...40 fists pumping the air, feet stamping the frosty ground, some of their camp-guides for the weekend letting out whoops of enthusiasm too...it was undeniable, Dazz had them all at his beck and call…and they wanted the full experience...

“Okay okay, I get it (raising my hands in mock defeat to them all)...but...if you can’t sleep tonight...don’t say I didn’t warn you all…” I said with a slight shake of my head.

Dazz reached over and gave my arm a gentle squeeze and I caught him taking a quick glance out the corner of his eye towards the cabin...he knew what was coming...and so did I…

As the voices calmed and everyone cozied up closer to the fire, some of the younger boys gnawing on their finger nails, others with their arms crossed – mostly as a front from the older boys, broadcasting their ‘nothin’ scares me’ looks - Dazz cleared his throat and continued them all on their bone-chilling journey.

“So you already know this cabin here has a ghastly and mottled past...apart from the murders in the 1800’s, horse-thieves, cattle-rustling and the like throughout this region...but what I’m going to tell you all is a story that you don’t know...its filled with pure unadulterated horror and evil so terrifyingly scary, so I need you all to keep your wits about you as I recount to you the dark and bloody ghost story of this here haunted cabin that you’re all camping at...in these woods...right here tonight...(yes, there they are...the little gasps of anticipation from most the boys present...)

‘Lilith’s Cabin’ that had been abandoned for years, some say since the late 1700’s - long after her execution - prior to this though, it was Lilith's home. She tended her own vegetable garden, chopped her own wood for her stove, hunted for her own meats...until she met a soldier - and fell in love. They were inseparable and entirely happy from all accounts...until the day he left to fight in a war. She waited, day after day, month after month, year after year...waiting for his return. Any Soldier that rode on through she would enquire as to whether any knew of his whereabouts or when he would return...none did. Her despair turned to anger, her anger turned to ire, her ire eventually consuming her whole. Most of the legends state that this is when she turned to the sorcery or dark magic in her quest to find her love and bring him back to her...suffice to say, from that time on any man in uniform that came within a hundred yards of her cabin, was drawn to it...to her...with the cabin's presence so unassuming and quiet, nestled in these centuries old woods, none realised the mortal danger and peril they were about to face...

They say that the black-ribboned candle represents Lilith’s loss and eternal grieving for her one true love...and I can share with you that only a handful of die-hard souls have ever survived staying here when faced with that awesome sight upon the window sill...(as the fire pops and crackles, a few of the eager bodies round the fire give a little jump...yep, they’re on the edge of their seats...)

I’m just gonna say right now, that some round these parts say that if you see a black candle with a black ribbon burning in her window, run...run as fast as you can from this place...because if Lilith appears...she will get you...and...your remains may never be found…

Anyway, this particular night not too long ago, the cabin seemed to be gently pulsating, a faint light emitting through the exterior cracks, timber creaking and warping like a mirage in a heat haze, the window panes were like quicksilver - ebbing and flowing, shimmering and glossy...the candle was set and lit. Now she just had to wait...Lilith was back, Death had made herself at home...again.

I’m here to tell you that this cabin - Lilith’s Cabin has an insatiable appetite...the seduction, lust and torture that bore Lilith’s demise in life is now more pure and overpowering in death and with each passing year, her hunger continues to grow, it needs to be satiated – she needs to feed…to fuel her revenge on those that still walk these woods today…” (as dazz pauses for effect, I study the glowing faces around our fire, I can see that a few are slightly unnerved but for the most part all are leaning forward more, closer to the campfire and are in a state of rapture...)

Dazz continues...”She suffered excruciatingly at the hands of the puritans – they hung her from that giant oak behind you all (most the boys turn their heads to look at the giant oak in all its glory – the leaping flames of the fire casting strange moving shadows which seem to make the tree look like its breathing and its extended limbs are like giant beckoning arms, beckoning to them all...) and while she swung from that noose, she swore and cursed at them. And as they set a fire beneath Lilith to burn her alive – the townsfolk that had turned up to watch her execution were feeling unsettled, for they all knew they were in the presence of pure evil.

She had been found guilty of using witchcraft to lure and seduce young men into her cabin where she would then have her way with them...but the most horrific of her crimes against these young men was her lust for their young human flesh...she tore into their bodies and devoured their bloody organs and chunks of human flesh were reported to be strewn all over the cabin – but, for those who investigated and gave testimony at her trial, believed the most heinous and gut churning of her crimes that she should die for was her dancing around in her prey’s 'skin-suit' – she would peel off their skin whilst they were still alive, their bodies writhing and screaming until Death took them, and she would then dance around the fire wearing nothing except her victims blood-soaked skins like cloaks and chanting hellish curses...(I heard an audible gulp from beside me – one of the younger boys was wide-eyed and his breathing had increased..I knew I’d have to watch this one…), so the judge gave the execution order, and as she slowly burned atop this pyre of ancient logs and sticks, her body flailing back on forth on the end of that noose...Lilith cursed in some ancient malevolent tongue and promised all those there, in her last breaths before being cast through the gates of hell, of the excruciating vengeance she would wreak on all within her grasp - even beyond the grave. The fire consuming her flailing body and her screams were only silenced once the flames of her demise had risen to well above and engulfed her head...

If only they had listened..."

(Dazz throws another log on the fire...gasps from the same few younger lads as sparks rise up into the dark sky...but for the most part, they're all still completely entranced by his story-telling...I have to admit, these are a strong bunch of boys this visit...)

Dazz settles back in his seat and continues..."As with all that Lilith had chosen and consumed over the years before her death, the salacious hunger and dark energy of her cabin continued to grow...and even more-so following her death. The paper-thin veil between the living and the dead, here and the fiery underworld that Lilith rules is so sheer...if you stare into the fire and let it encompass you...that thin veil slowly dissipates...she will look into your soul, conjure up a spell to entrance you, and then...you belong to her...she’s here!...(dazz’s hand is lightening quick – there’s a burst of sparking embers within the fire...coloured tendrils blaze like fireworks and all the eyes have seen the colours...and from there it rises...there is no stopping it now – the unease...jumpiness setting in from most round the fire...a few look around at each other and a couple look over their shoulders, maybe for support from their guides, maybe just to reassure themselves and do a quick mental head-count that everyone was still present - no-one had wandered off into the darkening woods...Dazz leans forward a little and lowers his voice and continues...)...Her prey are subdued by the warmth washing over them from the blazing fire and as they gaze into the depths of the flames, they are mesmerized by the sparkling embers that waft up on unseen drafts into the heavens above, the calling of her cold dead fingers stroking at the napes of their necks...goose-bumps all over their bodies, shudders running up and down their spines, the tingle of their built-in alarm bells, the warning nerves deep in their bellies going unheeded – but not for Lilith – for she senses everything...it’s her time...she lights the candle – the ever-so inviting candle in the window, the look of warmth from within, the lulling and soft whispering in their ears, a gentle caress by dark unseen fingers grasping at their souls, and a gentle wave from the beautiful woman they can’t believe they didn’t see before, standing on the verandah in the open doorway of the warm and inviting cabin, and the only thoughts they can think now are of the silky touch of her flowing dress washing over them...they are now hers. They climb the steps, they go to her and she leads them into the glowing warmth of her cabin, latches the door behind them...

She knows her dinner will be ready shortly…

On entering the cabin, the neon-blues and amethyst-pinks of her prey’s auras are flickering like little sparks of brightly coloured lightening as her spell is cast. She breathes them in deeply...As she exhales so closely to their parted lips, they allow her magical ether to flow into their bodies, numbing their senses and heightening their awareness of her. Their awareness of her womanly body – so close to theirs...they breathe her in again and again, their eyes glaze over, their pupils dilate till even the irises seem to be the most purest black inky pools floating in the abyss of their skulls. Her prey don’t feel their souls being shredded by the long black snaking tendrils of her curse as it winds its way through their muscular bodies. Death is dancing with them now…

The blood-lust is heady and overwhelming – it takes every ounce of her immortal self-control to continue this slow and meandering game – like a cat toying with a terrified mouse, keeping it cornered, tousling, fighting for its survival...She, Lilith, is the Supreme Empress of Hell....her manipulation of everything around them – the fire, the lure, the scent of lust, the distortion of all rationality...her preys emit waves of desire, the desire to give so totally and completely to her is akin to the most powerful of drugs – she is the total empowerment of an addiction...’(again he pauses momentarily for effect...and to catch glimpses of the mouths around the fire that are truly agape now...their eyes wide and glistening, everything tinted by the flickering firelight...Dazz has them all under his spell now...he continues to build to the crescendo...I can’t wait...the excitement is ramping up...)

He presses on...‘She mounts her prey, poised above them...then thrusts her black jagged claws into their chests (Dazz's hands look like claws ripping at an invisible carcass)... and they succumb to the Beast. She screams like a banshee and they have nothing more than a whimper now as she rips open their throats with her razor-sharp teeth...her gnashing teeth tear into the tasty young male flesh, blood spurting out of severed arteries...she runs her bloodied claws over their tight chests and slices down to the bones of her prey’s rib-cage, she wants that prize...their bloody still beating hearts... she rips and tears...and then she feeds - she feasts greedily. Lapping at the warm blood running across their damp and torn skin from the heat of their feverish bodies...she licks with her forked tongue over her bloodied and gored fangs, her eyes roll back into her head - she can taste the dying essences of her preys life force still on her lips...then lifts herself off her prey and tears them limb from limb…blood splattering across the timber mantel of the fireplace, the flames leaping as drops sizzle on burning logs…human flesh is splattered and strewn about the cabin floor...she cups the pooling blood in her hands and pours it over her throat and down her breasts...in the light cast by the blazing fire...she lets out the satanic cry of a thousand dead witches!!!…”

(right at that moment...there’s a blood-curdling scream that comes from the cabin – everyone round that fire almost jumps clean out of their skin...every face turns instantly to face the cabin...and all hell breaks loose...arms are grabbing at each other - there’s bodies tripping over bodies...boys pushing each other trying to get up and get away...total bewilderment on all their faces...the boys guides are grabbing and yelling, all trying to calm them down...it’s too late...and they all know it...they’ve all seen the burning black candle in the window...)

It’s at this point that Dazz calls it quits for anymore campfire story telling tonight. We know the candle in the window was the icing on the proverbial cake, even after the blood curdling scream – care of a recording that I had made for this occasion and remotely set for just the right moment of impact - and giving them all a truly mind-blowing experience!

For all those present here, I can safely say that this night of terrors will live in their memories for decades to come and I’m sure they will carry on this terrifying campfire ghost story to their friends...and in all probability – their future children...I pity those that are yet to be scarred by this story...

It took Dazz, myself and the half-dozen camp-guides approximately 4 hours to calm these boys to the point where we didn’t need to accompany them to the toilet…mind you, I believe from what I witnessed myself, that the majority of them actually peed next to the giant oak tree that night – all the while they never moved their eyes from those woody leafy limbs for fear they may be snatched up while no-one was looking...Aaah! I can only say their imaginations ran wild tonight...and into the early hours of the next morning...

But I tell you what, not a word of a lie, from that moment on, not one of these boys looked at us the same again...most wary of our presence (not that they would ever admit mind you) – even after the whole set-up had been explained to them...and still, most of them were up all night, some of them even dragged their sleeping bags over by the fire as I’m sure they didn’t want to be the only one in a tent by themselves...who could blame them... after all, 2 adults, Dazz and I had single-handedly scared the living crap out of this entire Scout unit!

They certainly got what they asked for...and plenty more I can assure you...and last but not least, yes, they all got their badges too...and lived to tell the tale!