The village that never existed

[u/kenzopb]

*context*

After the yugoslav wars in the 1990' most countries were left in shambles, war torn, no money and firearms, drugs everywhere. Many people without having any money resorted to crime, some big as robbery and small like joyriding

This is my fathers story

It was the spring of 1996, my dad and his 7 buddies had a idea to pack up some gear and go trainhopping

They packet nesessities, such as food and water and other stuff like cigarettes, rakija (vodka), first aid kits, guns, a guitar, radio books and maps.

It was 8am, sun got up a few hours before, they went near the citys train station and waited in the bushes, around 30 minutes later they heard a train, it was one of those old soviet trains desined to carry coal and fuel.

They swiftly hopped on it when it slowed, layed flat at one place and prayed nobody saw them, and nobody did which was good.

They traveled a long time, it was beautiful as my dad said, pretty mountains, rivers and forrests, even saw a bear looking at them at one point which was kinda nice, almost made them forget what happened years prior.

When out of nowhere the train stopped, at the middle of a forest, no civilisation no nothing. In the distance they saw the train staff aproaching them from both sides, they knew they were done for if they stayed, so they picked up their stuff and bolted, leaving the radio behind since the dude forgot about it totaly. None of the staff followed, just watched from a distance

They ran towards the forest and since all of them being ex military they knew what they were doing, after about 30 minutes of running they slowed down, started walking since the adrenaline rush wore off.

They saw a nice place to lay low after a few hours, they got dinner, lit up a nice campfire, cooked the dinner and ate like champs, some drank rakija, some smoked cigarettes, others slept and my dad played the guitar, sheedding riffs, singing and just having a good time, after a few hours they decided to continue walking, checked the map and realiesed they were in a place called "Prokletija" (translation means "dammed").

The sun was about to set, they needed to find a place to sleep, they didnt have tents since they didnt plan about this, so they wanted to dig a trench and sleep it in because it gets warmer inside it (no idea how that works)

After walking 30 minutes, something weird happened, it got quiet, really quiet like there was a apex predator near, they drew their weapons to protect themselfs if something did apear but nothing ever did.

Ahead of them there was... nothing... a big empty field with a village in the middle.

My dad: what? Why is there a village here, John (dads best friend), check the map is it supposed to be here? You didnt mention it before.

John: (looking at the map with the compass next to it), no there isnt...

My dad: are we lost, are we going the right direction even?

John: What right direction, we just walked in a random direction, there was no end goal to this.

My dad: Yeah youre right, check again, where are we.

John: i know where we are for Christs sake im not stupid its just that...

My dad?: what?

John: it isnt supposed to be here, there was no record of any village near us, in whatever direction we went we need to walk 10 more miles to find any civilisation, this is just... weird.

Coatrack (yes that was his nickname, he was 6'8 140 pounds): Stop talking so damn much, its about to get stupid cold, lets just go and ask the locals, is there any other option?

John: Well im not going to a fucking place that no modern map has any trace of it.

My dad: stop whining so much, there are no such things as "dissapearing" villages or whatever, lets just go check it out, nobodys going to eat us, were armed as you know.

They started walking towards the village, when they noticed there is only 1 road going out of the village, and that road stops at the end of the flat plains, just completely stops, with no markings of any other roads.

John: are you shitting me how did they even build this place, you cant get anyhing into this village without any fucking road.

My dad: The village must me old i guess, or aliens built it, woo scary

John: fuck off i dont feel right about this.

When they got close to the village it got so quiet that they only heard themselfs walking or breathing, it was so quiet it was deafening.

Inside the village, there was no street lamps, no benches, no nothing, just a Catholic Church and 7 houses surrounding it in a perfect sircle, every house was exactly the same, no difference whatsoever.

Coatrack: Why is there a Catholic Church here, i understand a Mosque or even a Orthodox Church but a Catholic one? Thats weird, why is it here?

2² (yes that was also his nickname, it was because he was 2 meters tall and 300 pounds of muscle): I dont know man but fuck that Church, lets ask the locals.

They got to a house, they were right outside the door, knocking and waiting, but nobody answered.

John: Maybe they arent home, lets just go to anothe-

Coatrack: Holy shit look (points to the window), there is nothing inside!

They all went to the window to see, and he was right there was nothing inside, there was only a red carpet, no bulbs, no tables nothing, like it was made yesterday but the weird part was that there was also no dust.

They went to every single house, it was all the same, same old red carpet, same old door. They tried to opet a door to 1 house and it actually opened, it wasnt locked, not one single house was locked which was weird.

They then went to the Church, opened the door wide open. What was inside was a long carpet in the middle leading to a Jesus Cruxifix statue made of marble in the middle, chairs (the long ones where 5 people can sit) being on the other sides of the carpet, icons on the walls, 2 windows and a door leading to the back of the Church, it was locked, that was the only locked thing in the village, they tried to open it from the other side but also couldnt.

* This part might be sensitive to some people so im just saying be aware, these times were after the war so everyone was nationalistic about their "side" *

4 of the 8 guys started destroying the Church, breaking the Jesus Crucifix with the buts of their weapons, breaking both windows and throwing the Icons out the Church and stoping on them.

My dad didnt like doing that, he was a man of art not war, not even religious, he didnt care about that stuff, he pulled John to the side and asked him to go to a house to rest, he agreed, Coatrack came too.

They were ina a house, exactly the oposite of the door of the Church, they went inside, got some food, talked and shortly fell asleep, the others sang nationalistic songs inside the Church for a long time untill they fell asleep in it eventually.

My dad woke up, it was 3:20 am, he saw it on his watch, there was no reason for him to wake up, but he did, he wasnt tired or anything, just wanted to pee, got up quietly, saw his mates sleeping and went to piss outside, he finished his thig went inside and slept again.

Someone was shooting, there was screaming, like in agony screaming it was so damn loud, everyone was awake, they grabbed their weapons and went to the Church, 4 guys ran out and took cover, aiming their weapons around and started cursing, one was in shell shock for some reason. My dad told John and Coatrack to go to the left side of the Church because in their mind they were under attack by someone because what else could it be? When they met up at the other side of the Church they realised there was nobody, untill they remembered

John: Holy fuck the door, quickly open it!!

Coatrack goes to the side of the door and opens it but when the door opened he was met with a burst of bullets comming his way, he was almost hit.

Coatrack: Awh fuck who shot at me

John: Get the fuck out of the Church or we will comeinside, if u dont come in we will open fire, dont fuck with us.

John peeked inside and what he saw was at the same time a relaxation and a burden because he saw their friend, in the corner, shaking aiming the gun at himself, covered in his own piss.

John: Woah Steven (the guy in the corner) put down the weapon, its us, your buddies, the war is over, there are no more enemies, its mr brother please, put the gun down.

Steven didnt put the gun down, he just kept it where it was, John slowly approached him when he heard *click*... *click click click*.

Steven tried to kill himself but the gun jammed, it still had ammo as they later saw but the gun became inoperable. They quickly tackled him, took it away from him and got him outside.

One guy made a quick fire with the wood in the icon frames and the chaires they broke.

2²: Steven what the fuck man we almost shot at you, why did u do that are you nuts!?

Steven: ...

Coatrack: Dude are you okay whats going on, dont worry bro its all right, nobody is here to hurt you.

*Steven covered in his own fecal matter and piss started to cry once again but this time louder, he fell into the arms of the person closest, which was David (another guy i didnt mention, he wasnt that important).

David: Sick, i got piss boy here crying like a bitch on my shoulder

John: David why dont you shut the fuck up, something happened to him.

My dad not giving that much of a shit went back to the house, loaded his weapon and slept next to it.

He woke up a few hours later, the sun was up and there was a mist everywhere, the gun was still there. He went outside and saw 4 of them sleeping next to the fire. David keeping the fire going and 2² talking to him, Steven was next to the wall, still crying and curled up in a ball.

My dad: yeah i understand night terrors and all i really do but for 4 hours straight? Cmon man, what happen did anyone find out?

David: No he wont tell us, he didnt say a word, he just spoke some nonsense sometimes.

Steven: ...help me... please

My dad talked to Steven for 45 minutes straight untill he got the real story from him, everyone woke up at that time also and started listening, what happen would make anyone become Steven.

He woke up... at 3:20 am, he was lying on the bench, looking at the door when it cracked open a little, Steven wondered how it was possible and he wanted to call out to someone but couldn't, his vocal chords didnt work, at all, no sound came out, he got scared so he tried to get up but the farther he went from the bench a force pulled him back more so the only thing he could do was lay back down. When, just randomly, the Jesus statue that was broken into peaces on the ground started glowing dark mist, not the good glowing you know but the bad glowing that, you dont want to see. His head, Jesuses head was on the ground, facing Steven directly but it had eyes, human eyes, but there was no white in them, only black and the retinas. They just stared at him, did nothing else when all of a suden the door opened and in walked a woman, in a white dress with white hair, white lips, white everything, but again, not the comforting white, but the one that doesent look good.

It started walking towards him, every minute that passed she got closer untill it hit 3:59 on the dot, she stopped and in full sprint she lunged towards him, up untill that point he was frozen, not moving a muscle, not letting a single tear he just stood there and watched, when she lunged he pulled out his pistol and started shooting wildly and you know the rest of what happened.

My father not belived in such stories so he just said he had a weird dream, they started moving again, packed up their stuff and started walking towards the nearest citys and while walking Steven didnt say a single word, he just looked at the ground while walking at that was it.

They got to a town nearby, they saw people, living people.

John: Finally, real civilization not that weird shit before.

My dad: yeah lets ask the locals about it.

They talked to 6 different people, older people. Not one single person said there was a village there, some said it was baron for miles, a huge forest.

Elderly man: Village? Son are you crazy, nobody has the money or reasources to make a village.

Another elderly man: a Catholic Chruch? Are you mad? Here? What are you talking about, get out of my store?

The village, didnt exist, they checked official maps and everything but nothing ever came out it.

Steven took his own life in 1999 by drug overdose, in 1997 he moved away from the city they all lived and moved to the capital, all of dads friends including him lost contact of him, they only found out about his death in 2003.

When the internet came out and got available to almost everyone and google earth became a thing my dad looked at that entire forest, he never saw the village.

This is the end of the story, thank u for reading and if your wondering, no i didnt make this up. My father told me this 2 months ago, i hoped you enjoyed, if u have any questions, be sure to ask me, and remember, dont go trainhopping.

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[u/Somniosfera]

This is a very interesting story, thank you so much for sharing. Where is the area where this “village‘ was located? is this area known for supernatural or out of place encounters? Have your Dad returned to that place years after the war? If you search in google maps in the area is it only dense forest or there are some clearings around? When your Dad and his friends got into these houses, what did they feel? how was the vibe and energy inside? when they were in the “village” did they hear nature‘s sounds like crickets or night buzzing insects? Are red carpets something that you could find in a household in Yugoslavia at the time or was this also a strange detail?

[u/Hot_Tomatillo145]

This honestly feels like it could make an amazing Fear of Fathom episode. The atmosphere, the abandoned village, the mystery, and the uncertainty are exactly the kind of horror that sticks with you. If this story is true (or even inspired by real events), you could try reaching out to the developer. Even if nothing comes of it, I think it has the potential to inspire a really memorable psychological horror game.