u/Syedasis

Authors note: I posted this a long time ago in the CreepCast subreddit before there was a specific area for putting fan made stories. This story was inspired from Hunter saying one episode (Camp Oakwood? Can't remember) that he wanted a good camp story. Well, this is my try (and likely fail to do that). Enjoy! Feedback is fine. Part two will be posted soon, respecting the 24 hour break up post rule.

In 2004 I won a Canada wide cash lottery after buying a scratch ticket with my smokes. It was one of those ‘set for life’ lotteries which nobody ever expects to win. Really, I thought it was a misreading the paper at first until I called the 1 800 number on the back, and confirmed I really was a winner. I won’t bore you with too many details, but it was one of the worst and best things that ever happened to me. After being allotted the money and having my face plastered everywhere (I regret consenting to that, but they don’t give you a lot of choice), my family became greedy. They guilted me for months after, forcing me to pay for everything under the sun. I didn’t want to be self centered or withhold from them, but it was exhausting. They gave me this issue before, after finishing my masters, assuming I must have an ‘educated’ job and therefore could always handle the bill. It’s because of this I decided I needed some air, country air, to clear my mind. Even if it was just for a little while.

That's how I ended up quitting my job and moving to Lake kiwetotam. 

The lake is located a few hundred kilometers from Saskatoon in Saskatchewan, Canada, near a little town called Almanac. My grandmother owned a small cabin outside the lake back in the day, making it my number one choice to return back to. I paired up with an old realtor friend in the area, and bought a big lot off of Lake kiwetotam. By big lot, I mean a couple hundred acres with a small cabin near the water. It was the peace and quiet I truly needed. 

It wasn’t long until I got bored. I completely fixed up the cabin, cleared away some of the overgrown areas in the summer following, but quickly I ran out of things to do. I felt a sort of depression hit me, and I fell into a slump over the winter. There are only so many books and puzzles one can read. I needed purpose. 

This subsided one evening when I was chatting with my friends over tea. One of them, Sharlene, was a parent to a few teenagers. She lamented to me how much she dreaded summer, how her kids had nothing to do as jobs were so few and far between. 

“...even if there's a camp or something, but all of them ‘round here cap out at age 12. So they run amok, do drugs, it's not good for them” 

That sparked an idea - a camp! I have all this room on my land and nothing to do with it. Why not do some good for the community and open a camp for the older ones? Most of my money had been sitting dormant as I saved up for nothing in particular, so I had enough funds to get it up and running. 

The plan commenced. I began networking with some of my neighbors, friends, all in hopes that we could band together and get the camp started. It was a success. Over the next summer we built small cabins, outhouses, sitting areas, and a proper jumping dock by the lake. Even better is that we received a grant from the RM, which covered the majority of the costs. That was a god send - turns out running a summer camp was more expensive than I thought. 

I suppose I am rushing through this part because it’s all context to where I find myself today. The camp soon was up and running. I called it Camp kiwetotam, not very creative I know. The first year or two was bumbly as I figured out all of the edges, but soon I found myself in a comfortable and enjoyable routine. 

I ran 4 sessions a summer, three of them were just for a week, and one was a whole month. The ones that were just a week typically were handled by local groups, such as bible camp and band camp. The full month one was mine, and all mine. My team and I would organize field trips, competitions, skill building activities, and more. 

My team! Almost forgot to mention them. It's half the reason I’m able to keep my head on straight. We got a team of revolving camp counselors, typically graduated high school students who were saving up some money. However, me, Bill, Majorie, and Pam were the full timers who pre-planned and managed everything else. Bill, an old retired fella from a few towns over, did grounds keeping and helped with fishing and trapping workshops. Majorie, Bill's wife, handles the kitchen staff, Pam, a young mom, helped me with accounting, filing, and would also manage the camp counselors and the hiring process. I handle the bigger decisions and help with loose ends when needed. It works well, and I couldn’t imagine doing this without them. 

We have been running this camp for 14 years and always enjoyed ourselves. The kids in the area were nice, a lot from small towns or farms, who were just happy to get out of the house and hangout with their friends. We watched as lifetime friendships bloomed, relationships started and ended, and kids learnt and relaxed. It was such an honour to be the face of this place. 

It started last year, when the campers began to act differently. Not different as in ‘addicted to their phones', but acting unusual. The batch of kids last year were less playful, more serious. There was something floating under the surface that us full timers were never able to deduce. I suppose I brushed it off then, maybe just a rougher year at school or too many break ups to bring down the mood. Who knows. 

After this summer, I know now that this was only the start of what was to come. 

It was July 1st of 2024, the first day of the month-long camp. We had been up, Pam and I, pulling all nighters like I did in University. Last minute changes in registration, ordering stock, you name it. But nonetheless, we were up and ready to welcome our new batch of campers with open arms. It was my favourite day of the summer. 

We stood by the drop off point. The drop off point sat to the very south, with the rest of the camp looking like a box of cabins framing the edge of the trees. We had about 12 cabins in total, housing 6 campers in each. Each cabin was painted a colour, each named ‘cabin green’, ‘cabin purple’, etc. Each had an outhouse to the left. In the center were volleyball courts, bonfire pits, and other things which the campers used to death. On the west side was a stage and bleachers, mainly used by the band camp kids, but also for the welcome huddle and performance based competitions. To the east were the counsellors and the full timers (or admin) cabin. On the north side there was clearing of trees to the beach. 

“Official drop off time is ‘round 9am, so we are a tad early” I said, checking my watch. Bill and Marjorie were doing some last minute cleaning after a wind storm a few days back. 

“Well yeah of course, but you know how parents are. They like to be early” Pam commented back. 

“Your kids are opting to take an early swim, no?” I asked. Pam had two young twins, Takao and Misty, who always found a way to get to attend the camp too with the “cool older kids”. 

“I swear their father is a fish,” Pam chuckled, before a line of cars began to approach. 

From there, kids began to be dropped off. There was a larger influx of 12 year olds than the year prior, with a mix of 12-17 year old kids being allowed to attend. Kids unloaded out of vans with their suitcases, giving antsy goodbyes to nervous parents. We checked each camper in, assigned them a cabin colour and gave them instructions to sit by the stage. Really, I was thrilled. It looked like the campers were much more enthusiastic than last year, with people hugging and gaping at the amenities we had. Even the more serious campers from last year had lightened up. Soon, the kids gathered on the bleachers for the welcome huddle. The counselors stood behind me and the full timers, facing the crowd of campers vibrating with excitement. I couldn’t help but to feel relieved. 

“Welcome to Camp kiwetotam! My name is Macy and I am the founder of this camp. I’m so excited to have you all for this 2024 season, and can’t wait for y’all to make some memories and have loads of fun!” I addressed the quickly quieting crowd, before explaining the history behind the camp as well as the admin staff. 

“...and now we are here 14 years later! Let's get on with some housekeeping rules. First, no phones. Any contraband phones will be kept in the counselors or admin cabin for the remainder of the time. That being said, you can use our dial phones if you get homesick. Those are located in the admin cabin, just be sure to ask first. Second, we have a strict curfew of 11pm. Please be sure to be in your cabins at this hour. Third, and this should be obvious, no smoking, drinking, vaping, or anything of that sort. Fighting of course is a no, treat everyone how you want to be treated. Lastly, please refer to your itinerary for a list of activities that will be ongoing each day, as well as meal times. This-” I held up the thick itinerary which would be placed on each kid's bed “-will be like your bible for the next month. Always refer here first”. The crowd listened silently, with quiet whispers shuffling through the crowd. 

“Well, I shouldn’t keep y’all here any longer. For the rest of the first day, please feel free to mingle, get set up in your cabins, and explore all our amenities! Thanks for coming to camp this year and I can’t wait for an amazing month!” I finished enthusiastically, before a roar of chatter and movement commenced in front of us. Soon, there was no one left on the bleachers. The counselors went off to help the campers set up, and to introduce themselves personally to their cabin. The chaos spread out, to which I finally turned back to the full timers behind me. 

“Lovely speech, Macy” Bill spoke, holding his taped together cane. He wore a battered John Deere hat and overalls. 

“Thanks, I always feel weird doing the welcome greeting” I breathed a sign of relief. 

“Well you did great. Looks like the campers are excited too” Marjorie giggled. 

The rest of that day was uneventful. Some kids came up and introduced themselves personally to me, clearly rehearsed and encouraged by their parents. Others stuck to their cabins, likely conversing or doing whatever kids do. Others right away went to the beach, or started a fire in the pit. Me on the other hand, I still had work to do on the admin side. I let the other full timers enjoy a day of relaxation though, as burnout is something we all want to avoid. 

Later around 9pm, I sent out my last bulk requests from my small office in the back of the admin cabin. My office was littered with papers, old advertisements for the camp, and other random assortments of kid gifts and special memories. I peered around, the glow of the computer lighting up the memories on the wall. I was about to shut down my computer, when there was a knock at the door. 

“C’mon in” I said, as I began to straighten up my desk. Marjorie walked in, wearing her sunflower dress. 

“Macy, honey, I’m worried about something. Can I sit down?” Marjorie had a different tone from her sweet grandma-like self. I looked up quickly, gesturing to her to sit. 

“Yeah of course, something wrong?”

“Well, I don’t know. I was hoping you could tell me” A short silence commenced. 

“When I was sitting at the lake, the kids started acting all strange” she replied

“How so?” I quickly responded. Marjorie had a bad habit of beating around the bush. 

“Okay, so I was sitting and sun tanning. Campers were playing, swimming, whatever. And- well you’re going to think I’m crazy, but the wind stopped” 

“Okay…?” I said, visibly confused. Saskatchewan is a windy province, being mainly prairie land. It was strange to hear the description of the wind simply stopping altogether. 

“No, no no. Like it was windy before, being on the open lake, and the wind just stopped dead. When it stopped, something got the kids attention in the far tree line at the other side of the lake. I swear the water went still too. They were just… staring. It was unnerving. I tried to talk to one of them, Bobbie I think her name was? One of the older gals. Nothing. For a whole minute. Their eyes looked distant, scared even, I tried to wave a hand in front of them. It was like they were in a trance. I was about to get up to shake some sense into these campers, but suddenly the wind came back, and their attention was broken. They all exchanged glances, looking at each other with these wide eyes, before quickly running out of the water, and back into the main area. I tried to call them, ask what happened, but they ignored me. Most of them even left their floaties and snacks. I-I guess I didn’t know who to tell. Their eyes…. It was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. Once looking back at the lake, I saw what they were likely looking at - two figures, one holding a flickering light. It looked like it was flickering a pattern? But once they saw me, they quickly left. It was hard to see them without my glasses” Marjorie ended with a headshake, holding herself tight. 

“Where did they go after they ran away?” I asked quickly

“I don’t know, I went to follow but I’m nowhere near as fast. I assume they went into their cabins, but I don’t know which cabin each kid is in. That's why I came to tell you…” Marjorie sighed, looking confused and defeated. 

This was weird. Real weird. Everything from the wind to their behavior. But the wind could have been a coincidence, and their behavior could have been a prank? Or maybe they saw a big animal and got spooked. It overall was weird but there's always an explanation. I felt myself inserting a large amount of skepticism as Marjorie confessed to not being able to see without her glasses. 

“Wait, you said Bobbie was there?” I said aloud. Bobbie was 17, she had been coming since she was 12. Most of us knew her pretty well and knew she could give us some information. 

“Yeah, I just don’t know which cabin she's in”

“She's in cabin Indigo, lets walk there together” I stood up, and we walked wordlessly to the cabin, avoiding the excited and noisy campers. 

Walking over to the cabin, most kids were enjoying the rest of the day before curfew started. We figured this was a good time to check in with Bobbie to see what happened. I knocked on the door, to which another campmate answered. 

“Hi there, we are looking for Bobbie?” I asked

“Oh, uh, yeah. We can send her out” the camper shut the door quickly. Marjorie and I looked at each other funny. It took about a minute for Bobbie to emerge. 

“Hey Bobbie. You’re not in trouble, but we gotta talk about what happened at the beach earlier today okay? We just want to make sure everyone's okay”  I spoke to Bobbie calmly. 

Bobbie looked at me hesitantly. 

“You can tell us, we are mainly worried about the safety of you and everyone else here, rather than trying to get anyone into trouble” 

Silence ensued for a minute or two. Bobbie's face strained and softened, as if she were putting together something in her head. We waited patiently. 

“We saw them in the daylight this time” Bobbie spoke suddenly, sitting on the front steps of the cabin. We sat next to her. 

“Who's them?” Marjorie asked. 

“We call them the signal men. Ever since I first came here, they would show up at night, We only saw them when… well… we broke curfew and went out past midnight. It became like a game to see who would see them first. They never did anything but flicker a light in a specific pattern. I never could see what they looked like. But I guess we never saw them in the daytime” Bobbie finished hesitantly. 

“Is that who you were looking at? It was like you were in a trance” Marjorie began to take over, likely from intrigue. 

“...yep” 

Now this is getting real. I trusted that Bobbie would tell the truth, and had good enough eyesight to not mix up a lamppost for a person. 

“So you're telling me there's a strange group of people who have been signaling to you campers for years, and nobody ever told me?” I tried to keep my voice low. This seemed predatory, especially because the lake had very few people living around it. Nobody who would do this, anyways. Around this area was dense forest, with prairie land following close to the south. Who knew what or who was lurking in the woods on the other side of the lake? The thought gave me shivers.

“We were breaking curfew, I didn’t want to get in trouble. Besides, they are just shining a light. It was… during the day. Anyways, we are busy. Can I go?” Bobbie looked like she wanted to leave, so I allowed her to not cause any more distress. 

“She's telling the truth I think, I think I saw them too” Marjorie quickly sputtered as the cabin indigo door slammed shut. 

“Yeah, but I’m more upset that nobody told me. It's not a big lake, someone could realistically swim across to where those men were. Or they could come over here. I’m just saying, flashing lights? They could have been trying to lure them. I need to make some phone calls, maybe talk to the police to see if any calls had been made about strange lurkers” I spoke, listing out what were the best actions to do at this point. 

“Fair. I suppose I’ll keep my eyes peeled. I’ll tell Bill too. We’ll figure this out, honey’ Marjorie declared, before quickly hobbling towards where her husband was relaxing. I sighed. 

Something about this scene was weird. What was with the trance the campers were put into? Why did the wind stop? Was Marjorie really seeing right if she didn’t have her glasses? Why was the typically upbeat and excitable Bobbie acting so odd? And who the hell were these signal men? So many questions, and very few answers left my head spinning like crazy. But I had to start somewhere. 

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During the next few days, I made what felt like hundreds of phone calls. I called the local authorities of the area, who agreed to do a search of the area where Marjorie and Bobbie said they saw the ‘signal men’. I talked to some people around the lake, the only lead I ever got was from one of my grandma's old neighbors, Hilda. When I gave her a call and asked if she knew everything, she practically exploded. 

“You mean to say your campers have been seeing them signal people for how long??” she questioned, her phone fizzing as the line connection was poor. 

“Years. Never told me a thing”. I replied

"Here' s me thinkin’ they disappeared when you were a girl” Hilda gave a wheezy cough. 

“What? You know them?”

“Yes honey, and you did too when you were a girl. Have you really forgotten? Maybe the city got to you like it has to my kiddos too” Hilda sighed. 

“No, I swear I’ve never heard of this. Please, tell me more. I’m worried about the safety of my campers” I half demanded of the poor old woman over the phone. 

“The signal men, well, they come at night. All the way ‘cross the lake. Typically too late for me to ever catch them. Sometimes it's one, I’ve seen as many as five. Of course, since it's at night, you can’t really see what they look like. But I do know they have some sort of signaling light that they flash out upon the water. I used to think it was morse code and tried to translate it. Nothing came of that” 

I stayed silent, beckoning for more

“From what I was told, these men have been linked to many disappearances. Typically, if people go swimming out into the water late enough and don’t come back, it's believed that these men got them. My mother told me they are dangerous, how the light would lure people to look closer, to which they never would come back. I guess it's hard to say what's true or fiction, it's an old legend. But if I were you, I wouldn’t let no camper go anywhere near them. I think they’re spirits”

“Hilda, one of my campers said one came out during the day. What could be the reason for that?” 

The line went quiet for a moment

“Hilda?”

“What else happened?”

“Huh?”

“No, honey, there's more that happened. They don’t just do that. Did they provoke them? Did someone swim over? What? Who did this?” Hilda demanded

“Nobody swam over, but according to Marjorie she saw them freeze in place and stare at them, before running away in fear” I repeated

“It would be wise to prohibit swimming for the rest of the month. Anything to keep them away from them, anything” her voice sounded closer to the phone. 

“I can try, but swimming is one of the main attractions. With the police investigation going on I don’t want to scare the campers” 

“I… I wish you luck, sweetie” Hilda finished, before the line went dead. 

Over the next few days, I identified some of the campers who were apart of the initial incident, including Bobbie, Fiona, Emmanuel, and Ameli. After talking to each, most were hesitant to give me any information at all. Even worse, these campers had started skipping day activities to stay in their cabins. We started asking the camp counselors to keep an eye on them, try and encourage them to participate. After three days, they refused to even leave their beds. 

On this third day, I began calling their parents to let them know of the situation. Most gave little care or believability to what happened, thinking it was an elaborate story to go home early. 

Even worse, the investigation, or ‘investigation’ turned up no leads.  Really the local police didn’t have the time or resources to put into my report, with a haphazard search into the area turning up no leads.  

Hilda's call had put me on edge. It's apparent that whoever these men are have been there for a long time, and now their behavior was escalating. I guess the stress was getting to me. I found myself going into an internet deep dive to see if there was any information that people had been leaving out. Every search leads to a dead end, with little to no resources on the matter. 

It was the night of the third day, and I decided I had to go see these lights for myself. I closed my laptop, which had been hurting my eyes from all the research. During this time I felt so cut off from what was going on, as I shut myself off from a lot of the activities during my search. I stretched, grabbed a flashlight, and headed out to the beach. 

It was no later than midnight when I walked out onto the shore. My flashlight failed to illuminate the scene in front of me well, but I managed to navigate my way to the water. The wind was low, and the moon was just a small slit in the sky. It was a calm, tranquil night. I suppose that's why I moved out here all those years ago, to get away from the light and sound pollution. To really reconnect and take a breather from the fast paced life. I looked out into the black water, it was impossible to see further than a meter in front of you.

Silence. I stood out there for a few minutes, taking in the ambiance. 

I took my flashlight and illuminated the water a few meters away, only to see what looked like an oval shaped rock in the water. I almost dropped the flashlight. It was a face peeking out of the water - the face of Elesa, one of our newer campers. Her face at first appeared to be asleep, but when I illuminated her face, she suddenly awoke with a blood curdling scream. 

“HELP ME OH GOD PLEASE HELP” her eyes shifted over to me as they began to tear up. “GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE” 

I didn’t hesitate, I jumped into the water and swam out to Elesa. The water felt like sludge, and I struggled to get out to her. I hoisted her over my shoulder, and as I turned my back to the water a bright flash of flickering light illuminated the lake. I saw the shadow of my hunched over self through the aggressive light. I seized up, as when the light started, an orchestra of scared screams of what sounded like hundreds of teens filled the air. I fell back into the water, before scrambling back up to quickly take Elesa to shore so I could see what was happening. 

An intense strobe light had taken over the lake, and at least 15 campers' faces were peeking out of the water. The light seemed to have awakened them, to which they all were screaming bloody murder. Crying, screaming, some looked to be grabbing at their own faces. I looked to the source of the light, there was no question it was the signal men. I could see it was two, one wearing a hoodie and jeans and the other a heavy coat. They both seemed to be covering their faces, either not to be seen or to avoid hurting their eyes from the light. 

“LEAVE MY CAMPERS ALONE!” I screamed, what else was there to say? I was panicking as much as they were.

 With that, the flashing stopped, and the men were no longer visible. In the darkness, I heard the screaming cries of the campers as they begged for the light to come back. 

I spent the next 30 minutes pulling campers out of the dark water. Some of them had started to sink so deep that only their nose was visible. I pulled them all out, got them towels, they wouldn’t stop crying, screaming. No amount of consolation made any difference. I tried to figure out what happened, how they got into this situation, but my attempts were in vain as the campers couldn’t stop shaking to tell me anything. At this point, I called the full timers for back up as even I started to feel not well from being in the presence of the light. Maybe it was stress, placebo, who knows. 

That night was a blur. I barely remember the full timers coming to bring all the campers back to their cabins. I just remember waking up the next day in different clothes, with the image and sounds of 15 screaming kids, near drowning in the lake I call home. 

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