Episode 3 - Terror Bird

THE PRESENCE OF HIDDEN CREATURES IS THE SUBJECT OF CONTINUED DEBATE

THE FOLLOWING STORY IS INSPIRED BY THE POSSIBILITY OF THEIR EXISTENCE

SOME VIEWERS MAY FIND THE MATERIAL TO BE EXTREMELY GRAPHIC AND DISTURBING

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED

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THERE ARE CREATURES THAT SCIENCE REFUSES OT RECOGNIZE,

BUT NEW TECHNOLOGY MAKES US QUESTION OF WHAT IS REAL.

IF OUR EYES SEE IT.....

IF OUR CAMERAS CAPTURE IT.....

DOES IT EXIST?

ENTER A REALM WHERE FACT MEETS FICTION,

SCIENCE MEETS LEGEND,

WHERE NIGHTMARES COME TO LIFE.

DO YOU BELIEVE?

LOST TAPES: TERROR BIRD

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Late April 1975

A call comes into a rural emergency services dispatch office in Novinka , from a woman reporting that "a giant ostrich-like creature" was trespassing in her cornfield.

A few seconds after the initial report, the woman screamed followed by a bird-like screech and the line goes dead.....

Local police are dispatched to the farmhouse and discover the woman dead..... with puncture wounds and scratch marks all over her body.

The assailant was never found, but similar reports has appeared around the town.

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In late October of 2007, Anna, a local animal caretaker in the town of Novinka , began to notice unusual activity around her cottage on the outskirts of town. Her animals were being disturbed at night by an unknown entity, and she began to discover bird-like scratch marks around her property. Fearful that her animals may be being stalked by a predator from the nearby forest, she purchased several security cameras and camcorder to investigate the situation and record her discoveries.

What would be recorded on her cameras was unlike anything she had ever encountered before.

These are her tapes... ..

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"So, about three days ago, give or take, I began to notice some strange things." A voice can be heard in the camcorder's microphone. The camera is focused on a nearby wall where a rabbit hutch can be seen. Several rabbits look back out through the hutch, as though wondering what the strange device now attached to their caretaker's face is. The camera zooms in to focus on some odd marks on the rabbit hutch. They look almost look like scratch marks.

"So, um, these marks have been showing up around my home. I don't know what could be causing them, but from a ordinary look, they might be from a large predatory bird. We have more than few around where I live, and I've seen them around more often lately." The camera zoomed in briefly on the marks before the scene switches to a brunette with sky blue eyes, walking along the edge of the woods. The camera shook a bit as Anna shuddered.

"I never was comfortable walking in the forest alone." She said behind the camera. "Just knowing that there are so many dangerous creatures in there. It'll surprise anyone to hear that from the local animal caretaker, but the truth is even I'm pretty scared of what's lurking in there, if only because I know what they can do."

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8:23 am

The camera is now focused on a small garden nearby. An old scarecrow can be seen hanging from a post in the middle of the field, it's arms held out by a wooden dowel and it's head hanging limply.

"I really need to restuff you." Anna's voice can be heard from behind it.

"Anna, darling!" A voice calls out, making Anna squeak in fright and nearly drop both the camera, before focusing on a woman with red hair and wearing glasses. Her sapphire eyes are looking at Anna with a mixture of concern and confusion. "Oh, I'm sorry to startle you darling, but I tried calling you earlier. It's our spa day, remember?" Anna let out a sheepish laugh after that.

"It was? Oh, I'm sorry, I lost track of time. I'm not late am I?" She asked.

"Oh not at all! Though, if I may ask, what are you doing with a camera? I didn't take you for the filmmaking type." Leslie asked.

"Oh no, I'm just inspecting my property. Remember when I told you about my animals getting scared at night?" Leslie nodded at that. "Well, I recently got some security cameras and I'm hoping I can find out what it is and stop it... if I can."

"I'm sure you can, nobody knows animals like you do." Leslie said.

"If it is an animal at all." Anna said worriedly.

"Oh, I'm sure it is. You do live a stone's throw from the forest." Leslie shuddered after speaking. "But we must leave now if we want to make our appointment."

"Oh dear, I'm coming!" Anna squealed. She walks over to a nearby hay bale and sets the camera down on it, forgetting to turn it off. Both friends wander off back into town, their voices happily chatting until they can no longer be heard by the camera's microphone. By chance, the camera is focused on the scarecrow. For a tense few moments, nothing can be seen.

Until two red large eyes can be seen emerging from the scarecrow's black painted eyes, growing brighter until they shine like two flames and it moved sideways away from the scarecrow to reveal a giant bird-like face. A low, animalistic growl is heard in the camera's microphone as it retreats back into the long grass.

Anna's journal for that day noted the recent scratch marks found near her rabbit hutch, as well as odd noises coming from the nearby forest, but otherwise was unremarkable.

Her animals reported that they had been hearing something moving in her small field, which she wrote off as wild animals from the forest raiding her vegetables, though security cameras did catch something odd moving in a patch of corn.

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8:12 pm

Later that night, the cameras have taken on a green tint as they scan the darkness. The camera on the field pans back and forth across the little cornfield. Another watches the chicken coop, while a third scans over the remaining animal habitats. A quick pan to the left and then to the right shows that the cornfield is undisturbed, the stalks occasionally swaying in the wind, and the scarecrow sitting on its post. The camera's vision suddenly flickers as it pans back, showing that the scarecrow is no longer on the post.

The scene flashes to another camera. Just off the screen, something is skulking past the rabbit hutch but gives it a wide berth when it spots something on the ground. But the scratching sound it makes on the rabbit hutch is enough to wake a sleeping bunny near the entrance, which turns to face the thing and lets out a loud scream of terror.

The thing bolts, while a window near the hutch glows with a light and then shoots open, and the brunette animal caretaker jumping out of the window to comfort the frightened bunny in full view of the camera.

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6:43 am

A burst of static appears before Anna's face comes into view on a webcam. Her eyes are drooping and baggy and her hair is unkempt. It's quite clear that she did not get enough sleep the previous night after the disturbance caused by the frightened bunny.

"Day two. So, I was woken up at about four o'clock in the morning when I heard Mrs. Cottontail screaming. It took me almost an hour to get her calmed down. She kept crying that there was something trying to get her babies. She just had a new litter and was deathly afraid for them." She begins, heaving a great sigh. "I finally had to let her and her family move into the house for the night. She tells me that it looked like my scarecrow in the cornfield and that its eyes were like fire. The description alone frightens me, but I'm beginning to think that it's perhaps a local hooligan trying to scare my poor animals. It is getting close to Nightmare Night." She is seen to shudder heavily. "I haven't checked my cameras yet, but I'll do that as soon as I get cleaned up and inspect the property again."

The scene changes to show the view from the camcorder, this time taking a look near the cornfield. The scarecrow hangs limply from the post, it's dark eyes seemingly staring at Anna as she inspects the little rows.

"OK, let's see... well nothing looks disturbed so far." She says. The camera pans around the rows as she scans for clues. Just then, a noise is heard to her left. The camera jolts to the left and catches some stalks gently waving.

"Hello?" She asks. But there is no answer.

Another scene shift and Anna is walking around the chicken coop. Her chickens are eating their breakfast while clucking as though in hushed tones, like they didn't want to be heard.

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10:21 pm

The camera opens as Anna heard the cries of suddenly frightened animals start sounding through the house. She rushes through rooms trying to calm the frightened sheltering animals.

"It's OK! It's just a power outage. I'll go look." Anna gulps audibly as she slowly makes her way through to the back door, a flashlight her only guide. She pans up to see that the back door camera near the rabbit hutch is down. Another gulp sounds as she makes her way cautiously toward where her power lines are.

Her breathing is growing with each passing moment, and her heartbeat is now just audible through the camera's microphone. Soon, she finds her power lines..... and discovers that they have been chewed up by an animal. She starts to whimper with fear.

"Could it be..." She whimpers, before suddenly hearing something behind her, whirling around in time to catch a mass of something rushing past her and into the small cornfield. The camera is now shaking despite the fact that image stabilization is on. Anna swallows loudly and makes her way over to the cornfield, the rows looking sinister in the dim light of her flashlight. She stops when she catches sight of the scarecrow. Her breathing is now deep and ragged.

"I-is there anyone in h-here?" She weakly calls out. "Hello?" For a few moments, nothing happens, the only view being a profile shot of the scarecrow. But then suddenly, the head swings over to look at Anna with bright red glowing eyes.

Anna screams behind the camera in sheer horror as the scarecrow falls and reveals a large bird-like creature with a long neck and a head of a large bird. It was a Titanis Walleri, an extinct carnivorous and flightless bird. Its beaks opens as it screeches and prepares to stab Anna with its beak, but she ducks and makes a run for it.

"No!" Anna cries, immediately sprinting to escape whatever this monster is. The creature howls at her, trying to grab her from the air as she begins to run away. "Go away! Leave my animals alone!" She shouts at it as it chases her, but she manages to gain ground on it and run past her cottage and kept running until she was in the middle of the town square. The camera turns toward her as she scans the area around her, her eyes wide with terror and tears streaking down her face.

"What was that thing!?" The cries, before realizing how far she's run in a blind panic. "Oh no..... the animals..... what have I done?!"

Her thoughts are interrupted when she hears a growl and turns the camera to see the flightless bird running towards her screeching, with the same red eyes as the scarecrow monster as it intends to have Anna as its next meal. "No!" Anna screamed as she ran away, still holding the camera and crying in horror and panic. She keeps running until she sees the familiar outline of Leslie's house., all its windows darkened. Throwing all caution to the wind, Anna runs up and starts pounding on the door.

"Leslie! Leslie, please let me in! Leslie!" She cried, turning the camera to see the monster sprinting through the street towards her. "AAAAAH! Leslie hurry!" She cries. The door suddenly flings open to reveal the redheaded female.

"Anna, what's wrong! You sound like..." She's interrupted as Anna barges in and slams the door shut, crying and trying to hold it shut. "Anna, please, what happened?" Leslie asked, concern evident in her voice.

"Help me hold the door!" Anna cried, trying to hold the door and the camera at the same time. "We can't let it in! We can't let it in!"

"We can't let what in?" Leslie asks before some slams hard into the door and bursts it open slightly, revealing the monster's flaming red eyes with an bone-chilling screech.

"Aaaaaaahhhhh!" Leslie's scream echoes through the room as she rushes to help Anna hold the door. The creature continues to claw and pound on the door before its screeching stops and the two girls breath a sigh of relief at the seeming peace. Leslie turns to Anna's camera as she locks the door.

"What in God's name was that?" She asked.

"I think it's what's been stalking my animals. I think it's..." Anna is interrupted by the sound of glass breaking. "It's coming through the window!" She cries as the camera pans to see the creature bashing its head through a broken window pane.

"Quick, upstairs, my study doubles as a panic room!" Leslie cries, leading her friend up the stairs to her flat while the creature shrieks after them. She leads Anna into her study and slams the door shut before double locking it. She looks into the camera. "I think we're safe now-"

Only for the door to suddenly fly off its hinges and the creature to rear up before them, screeching. The creature then starts toward them, Anna crying in terror and Leslie screaming. It opens its beak and in order to strike and kill Anna as she prepares for it to strike a death blow, only for Leslie to jump on her feet and grab a .44 Magnum and points it at the carnivorous bird and fired once.

"Get away from my friend, you beast!" Leslie roars at it, firing again as the bullet hit its chest, causing the creature to recoil back, screaming in pain. Leslie then kept firing before firing one bullet directly into its brain The creature shakes its head about, shrieking in agony before finally collapsing to the floor, dead.

Anna keeps the camera focused on the body for a few moments, both women breathing heavily. "Is it... d-dead?" She asked behind the camera.

"I think so." Leslie said, sitting on her bed to try and catch her breath. Anna turns back to the spot and looks at it. Nothing happens. The creature is apparently dead.

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Fearful to return back to her property that night, Anna spent the night at Leslie's. The next day, she returned to her cottage. Despite clearly being frightened, all of her animals were safe and unharmed.

Since that fateful night, neither she nor her animals have been bothered by any nocturnal visitors.

The creature's body has been given to local authorities to be examined. DNA tests matched no known species of birds. Leading us to wonder....

Does it live among us?

LOST TAPES: TERROR BIRD