I am writing this as a warning or perhaps even a survival guide. You do not need to believe me; I know this will probably sound like some scary story you make up at a bonfire anyway, but I am writing this for whomever may find themself as I had. My name is Logan Winters, and I will be turning twenty next week. I attend the University of Michigan Tech which, for those who do not know, is in the upper peninsula of Michigan. During my first month of school, I heard it.

I can remember the first time I heard it vividly, though the day it happened has escaped my memory. I was making my way back from a friend’s place. We had met each other in a board game club, and now we were frequent visitors of one another. For the sake of his anonymity, we will call him Austin. After getting back to my room, I sat at my desk, opened my window, and got working. I certainly was not used to my homework load yet, but I had found it easy to focus late at night with the cold air blowing against me. It was then I heard it.

Click… Click… Tap- click… Tap- click- click… Click…

At first, it startled me. The sound seemed to have no rhyme or reason to its rhythm, but instead it merely swayed as if the wind was guiding it. I have tried so many methods to replicate the sound of the click, and this is the best way I have been able to describe it. Try to create a clicking sound with your tongue. You will notice that your tongue rolls behind your bottom teeth before popping up. Now, press down on your tongue with the roof of your mouth and slide the tongue back while trying to make the same clicking sound. It almost sounds like the squeal of a pig being slaughtered before popping into a singular click. This was the sound, though much more resonant. It tended to be accompanied by taps, which resembled fingers tapping against glass.

I investigated the sound, but I could not find a source. The clicking was most certainly from outside as it sounded distant, but the tapping seemed to be echoing from my very room. The clicking would seemingly vanish for an indeterminate amount of time before returning again. I attempted to ignore it and focus, but it seemed to only get louder as the night went on. Eventually, I closed my window and tried to go to bed, thinking it would be gone when I woke up. My imagination had admittedly gotten me worked up slightly, but I stayed calm and reasoned that it was likely just some piece of machinery making the noise outside the dorm.

As I laid there in my bed I found that the sound seemed to continue to get louder. I hugged my blanket tightly, praying for another moment of clarity when the sound would fade. After some time it did, and I closed my eyes hoping to sleep well finally. However, when the sound came back, I sighed. Was I going to get any sleep tonight? I opened my eyes, and my entire body immediately went cold. I saw it at the window. Its long body seemed to blend in with the darkness outside, but what I could clearly make out was its pure white face. It had two small black voids for eyes, and a mouth that went from one side of its face to the other. It seemed to have a permanent smile, and stared directly at me. It had no hair, nor eyes, or any other discernible human-like characteristics. I was stiff as a board, not daring to move. I could not even look away. Then, its head began to rotate. It moved its head in quick jolts, spinning it counter clockwise from its chin to its forehead. As it moved, it seemed to stop at set places, causing the clicks as it did so. I stared in horror as it did this, not letting its gaze leave me for a second. As its mouth arrived at the top of its head, it suddenly stopped. I watched as its mouth, now resembling a frown, seemed to slowly open. A part of me expected rows of sharp teeth, but what I got was worse. It was nothing. Its mouth opened into a black void of nothingness that seemed to consume all light that touched it. I screamed in horror, but then I awoke in a cold sweat.

Had it all been a dream? That was the only logical explanation, but I could not bring myself to believe that. I noticed I was about to be late for my first class of the day, so I grabbed my stuff and went running without giving the dream any more thought. I told myself over and over that I had simply had a terrible nightmare, but deep inside me I felt that there was more. However, I could not dwell on it, so I continued with my day to day life. It was a few days later when I heard it again. I had been hungry while studying late at night and decided to get McDonald’s since there was one not too far from my dorm and they were open 24/7. I was walking back when I heard it.

Click- click… Tap. Click… Click. Click. Click- tap- click…

My entire body immediately froze. I felt myself go pale as my face went hot. I could see the light of my dorm not too far away, but did I dare move? My eyes scanned left to right, but I did not move my head. I saw nothing but the large pines around me. I decided to run. I ran forward as fast as I could to my dorm, not daring to look around me. After arriving in the safety of my dorm, the sound seemed to fade away. Had I imagined it again? Perhaps I was simply tired. I already knew that all of this late night studying was not good for me. Reluctantly I decided not to investigate the matter any further, partly out of reason and partly out of fear. Once again I went to bed, but this time when I woke up the clicking did not stop.

I could hear it all the time. It would still continue its trend of having random starts and stops, but it now echoed in my ears all day and night. I tried to ignore it, but my anxiety was immense. Often when it was really loud I would lock myself in my bathroom and have panic attacks. I could not focus on school; I could not talk to people; I could do nothing. Eventually I stopped attending classes and my extracurricular activities. The clicking no longer seemed distant, but it felt as if it was coming from inside me. I would sometimes pass out when the sounds were too loud and then wake up covered in cuts. Was I going insane? Hope came through a knock at my door. It was Austin.

We talked for some time, and he comforted me. He had been worried after I stopped attending the club and did not respond to any of his text messages. He noted that I had grown significantly slimmer and was rather pale. Perhaps I was desperate or maybe I just wanted someone to comfort me, but I decided to tell Austin about the clicking. I left my dream out, but I told him that the sound haunted me. He was surprisingly understanding, and he offered to help me find professional help. Maybe I really was going schizophrenic. I accepted his offer; I would do anything to make the sounds stop. Soon I began to meet with a professional once a week, and they tried to consult me on how to make the sounds go away. I tried everything, and even began searching up resources on the internet, but nothing had a lasting effect. Finally, Austin texted me with an idea. He had been planning to go backpacking for a while, and he decided that going together might help me. One of the running theories that my counselor had was that the sound was caused by stress, so disassociating from the busyness of college could help.

I agreed, and within three days we were driving to the middle of nowhere. We wasted no time. After parking off some dirt road that Austin said he frequented as a teenager, we began to head deep into the woods. Austin had much more experience in backpacking than I, so I gladly let him lead the way. The forest was almost tranquil, and before I knew it I had forgotten about the clicking and now only focused on cracking jokes as we walked. As night came over the horizon, Austin and I set up camp. He got a campfire going, and we both roasted brats over it as we talked.

We had been talking until the late hours of the night, and finally I could tell we both were getting tired. I offered to put away everything for Austin, but he insisted that I get shut-eye first. We playfully bickered about who should do what, but that was disturbed when a sound echoed through the forest, a woman’s scream. Austin and I both looked around, but we could not see any lights in the distance. The scream had come from behind me and sounded distant. I looked back at Austin and then down at my phone, thinking to call the police. I was about to dial 911 when I heard it.

Click… Click… Tap-click… Click… Click-tap… Tap-tap-tap-click… Click. Click…

I froze. Perhaps I was more afraid than usual because of my brief moment of respite. I looked up at Austin and was horrified to see his blank stare. He was looking at something directly behind me. His body was pale and his hand slowly began to reach for the hatchet he had on the ground next to him. My entire body began to shake; I already knew the truth, yet I wanted to imagine that if I just closed my eyes it would all be inside my head.

Somehow, I found the strength to move. I suddenly jumped forward, rolling beside the fire as I looked back. There it was, its slim body seeming to dangle from the trees directly above where I had been sitting. Its face was still as I remembered, and I was horrified as it stood completely still. I looked at Austin, who had gotten his hatchet, and then back at the creature. The flames of the fire sparked upwards, and they revealed something that had been hidden in the darkness. Dangling from the creature’s black body was a singular human leg that seemed to connect into the rest of the creature’s body. The creature suddenly clicked, and its head jolted counter clockwise. As it moved into place, I heard something snap, and blood began to pour out from the edges of the creature’s white face. The human leg suddenly jolted from the body before hanging limply once again.

Austin suddenly lunged forward and struck at the creature. He attempted to strike it in the head, but the creature suddenly opened its mouth so widely that the entire head practically became a void of nothingness, and consumed the hatchet. Austin stumbled back as the creature closed its mouth and looked at him before clicking its head once more. I felt hopelessness build inside me once more, but managed to garner the courage to act. I kicked the campfire, sending burning pieces of wood towards the creature. It suddenly reclined, and what I heard was chilling. As fire caught onto the white face of the creature, it retreated into the woods, and began to let out a putrid scream. It sounded like that of the woman from earlier, but it sounded as if she was gurgling through a liquid. The sound grew distant at a horrifying rate; just how fast was that thing?

The fire ended up spreading. We called the police and told them that shortly after we had heard a woman scream while backpacking, a wild animal had attacked us and knocked into our campfire. Somehow, they believed it. The fire was eventually contained, and the story given by the cops was that the woman was killed by a black bear that was causing havoc in the forest. Austin and I both agreed to never tell anyone the truth, but I feel like I have to share this.

If you hear clicking at night, you are not going insane.

If you hear clicking at night, you are not going insane.

I do not know why that thing did not kill me, but I am not going to take this chance for granted. If it finds you, do not succumb to madness, or you may end up like it. I only hope that you are able to find this post and find a way to survive.