Nothing like renting a cabin in the woods to get the creative juices flowin'! Australian comic book author, playwright, and screenwriter, Tom Taylor, decided to rent this solitude cabin in hopes of getting some work done. When he arrived at his Airbnb, it wasn't exactly the peace and quiet he expected... This story has more twists and turns than a daytime soap opera, from mysterious wind chimes to a sinister teddy bear. Get comfy because you're in for a wild ride!
So, hey.
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
I somehow managed to book a creepy log cabin to do some intensive writing in for a few days...
I’ve been laughing to myself about just how cliched-horror-movie this cabin is. But at 5.30am, out of nowhere, despite it blowing a gale out there for hours, wind chimes start chiming for the first time from the porch...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
Now, I’m just about to go to bed, but I’m not sleeping through annoying, spontaneous wind chimes, so I head out there...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
And I see the wind chimes hanging on a rusty hook. I figure I can reach them, and I walk out onto the porch in my socks.
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
And the door immediately slams shut behind me. Of course...
I frantically check the door’s not locked. It isn’t. I’m not stuck on this porch in this gale in my socks and a T-shirt. But I do hear something in the bushes...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
I don’t think much of it. There’s been possums running all over the roof all night (cute Australian possums, not those weird US ones). It’s the bush, things are allowed to move in bushes...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
I manage to stand on my tippy toes and grab the rusted wind chimes from the rusted nail they’re hanging on, and I hear the noise again...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
Now I’m kind of giggling to myself because of how creeped out I’m feeling, so I grab my phone to take a photo of the murder cabin I’m writing in for a few days. Here it is... pic.twitter.com/M6iFVSJofI
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
And straight after I take the photo, there’s a flash. I check to see if my phone’s flash is on - it is. I try to turn it off to take another photo, but something flashes over me...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
And it didn’t come from my phone...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
And there’s the sound again. But this time it’s heavier. Like a footstep...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
And there’s another flash against the wall of the cabin.
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
I pull my phone out of my pocket, thinking I’ve left the torch on, which I somehow have, and I manage to shine it in my own face as I try to turn it off to take another photo of the cabin...
But then I realize I didn’t shine my phone in my face. Something else flashed in my face, & my brain is yelling at me...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
I’m telling myself I’m being stupid and that I did flash my own face & the ‘footstep’ was probably a kangaroo or something, so I turn to confront the animal making the sound, and...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
And, at 5.30am, in the dark, outside the murder cabin, SOMEONE IS STANDING THERE...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
I can’t see their face. They’re wearing a head torch...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
And I’m running. I know I slipped at some stage in my socks, as I ran up the porch. I definitely kicked the wind chimes. I ran through the door and slammed it shut and locked it...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
And here’s the thing. Several tweets later, I’m sure it was probably just a super-early-morning jogger or something, who was curious about the guy standing in his socks taking photos of a cabin with a flash...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
But if it wasn’t, I’m letting you all know, just in case.
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
And here’s this helpful picture I accidentally took mid-panic-run, if you need photographic evidence to go with this testimony. pic.twitter.com/pEHJ551JGP
Update: I just heard the wind chimes again. The wind chimes I know for fact aren’t hanging up anymore.
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
THIS IS SCREWED. I am not joking. Lying in bed and the bedroom door just suddenly blew open with a bang...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
OH. COME ON! pic.twitter.com/lq7WXNUteU
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 25, 2019
I realize it’s been 8 hours. Just wanted to let you all know, I’m okay.
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
The story didn’t end there, but my phone battery did, and the charger was in my car OUTSIDE - so, you know, physically impossible to retrieve...
So, this is what happened next.
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
Before my phone died, I spoke to my wife and told her I was sure I’d be fine.
And then I took a video... of the bedroom ceiling...
I’m lying in bed, and the ceiling is making this sound... and then my phone dies... pic.twitter.com/wU7NHvXoCz
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
I’m lying there staring at the ceiling, which is apparently counting down to my death, when the wind chimes rattle across the porch floor, and then something very big runs across the roof...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
I’m assuming it was a large possum, and definitely not a hellbeast.
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
Eventually, exhausted, I close my eyes...
And I wake up to a BANG!
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
I’m instantly more awake than I’ve ever been before. I’m on my feet, but I don’t remember getting out of bed...
Someone is BASHING ON THE FRONT DOOR...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
I’m standing motionless, in my underwear, ignoring the still-ticking ceiling, trying not to breathe too loud, trying not to make a single sound. I AM A PETRIFIED NINJA...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
The bashing starts again...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
Without stopping to do anything sensible that would make me feel less vulnerable, like put on pants, I walk slowly to the front door, and there’s a large shadow on the venetian blinds. A very big person is standing on the porch of this remote cabin...
The bashing starts again.
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
I, eloquently, call out, “WHAT?!”
The bashing stops...
I see the guy shift and he calls out.
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
“Package”...
After the night I’ve had l, there’s no way I’m opening the door to a stranger delivering a package to a remote cabin...
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
Also, I’m in my underwear.
Also, I can’t open the door because I frantically locked it during the night and I have no idea what I’ve done with the keys...
He calls out, “Can you sign for it?”
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
After a way-too-long-and-awkward-pause, I say, “Um... No?”
...
Helpfully, I call out, “Just leave it, mate!”
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
“I can’t really...”
“JUST LEAVE IT!”
...
So, what are we thinking?
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
Still-beating heart or trapped soul? pic.twitter.com/SxOOnVNkxe
Why are so many of you asking me what’s in the mysterious package?
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
Why the hell would I open it? You think I’m going to bring it INSIDE??
No. It stays outside. With the wind chimes. pic.twitter.com/5Ebx5diiHy
Okay. I brought it inside.
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
But I’m keeping it inside the fire safety cage. pic.twitter.com/M8yFPZJdQ7
WHAT?? pic.twitter.com/BAAX7FnGOQ
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
There is NOTHING in the fireplace, people. I’m here for four more nights. Don’t do this to me. pic.twitter.com/ehzq4y4OHy
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
Okay. Yes, I see the bear thing in the fireplace. I assume it was a weird reflection, and it looks cuddly, so I’m not worried. But to the people who pointed out what looks like a person standing in the window of the cabin in the photo I took last night, YOU ARE NOT HELPING. pic.twitter.com/EX8QlJ1udE
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 26, 2019
So, there are two bedside tables in my room. And, seriously, I almost didn’t bother sharing this because it’s just so... blatant.
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) March 27, 2019
Try harder, cabin. Where’s the subtlety?
Anyway, I opened one and... pic.twitter.com/KKOLg0uMM4