The Shed Man

[Ringo]

Another thing that doesn't seem consistent with the "captive" scenario is that on the second day wyattj found the lock broken and the shed door open.

Why would an imprisoned person remain inside the shed if the door was open?

Furthermore ...

If wyattj was rummaging around inside the opened shed, how could he have missed the mystery entity if it had been inside the shed with him?

The scratching that freaked out young wyattj was described as coming from beneath the shed's floor. The figure / entity he saw was described as emerging from the shed.

This would seem to indicate the figure / entity was either inside the shed with wyattj or it somehow emerged into the shed's interior from beneath the floor.

I know it doesn't fit but I was just trying to see if there was another angle to it. Again, I mean no disrespect to wyattj's father and I realise that this is sensitive to even suggest. But as an intellectual excercise:

wyattj hears thumping noises from a locked shed and runs away scared
Father answers phone panting heavily as if in a struggle or doing something which requires effort
Father returns flustered, uncommunicative and offers an excuse of seeing "something" in the road. He then isolates and drinks beer.

The next day, the Father can't find the key to the padlock (as wyattj has it) and so he breaks open the lock to check inside.
Later, wyattj enters shed and sees signs of the previous days struggle (upturned bbq) and hears noises coming from under the floor (a possible trapdoor like in an episode of Life on Mars when they find an abductee under the floor of a shed). Maybe the scratching noises were the person trying to get out.
wyattj runs away, turns and sees a pale skinned "creature" running out of the shed and away. He was primed to see "something" unusual by his fathers suggestion. The creature is pale skinned from lack of sunlight and bent backed from being in a small hole.

So, my imagination can put that together. It's highly unlikely but I can't see a major flaw.

Again, I don't honestly think this is the answer but then again, I also don't think that an invisible "rake" monster was in the shed either.

 

[EnolaGaia]

... The next day, the Father can't find the key to the padlock (as wyattj has it) and so he breaks open the lock to check inside. ...

Maybe I've misinterpreted something about which I specifically questioned wyattj, but ...

As I understand it, the father wouldn't have had to break anything to open the shed the following morning. Wyattj had unlocked the lock, but hadn't removed it from the hasp, when he ran away to the house the day before.

The father (or anyone else coming from outside the shed) wouldn't need the key to open the door. He'd only need to remove the open lock from the hasp.

 

[wyattj]

I know it doesn't fit but I was just trying to see if there was another angle to it. Again, I mean no disrespect to wyattj's father and I realise that this is sensitive to even suggest. But as an intellectual excercise:

wyattj hears thumping noises from a locked shed and runs away scared
Father answers phone panting heavily as if in a struggle or doing something which requires effort
Father returns flustered, uncommunicative and offers an excuse of seeing "something" in the road. He then isolates and drinks beer.

The next day, the Father can't find the key to the padlock (as wyattj has it) and so he breaks open the lock to check inside.
Later, wyattj enters shed and sees signs of the previous days struggle (upturned bbq) and hears noises coming from under the floor (a possible trapdoor like in an episode of Life on Mars when they find an abductee under the floor of a shed). Maybe the scratching noises were the person trying to get out.
wyattj runs away, turns and sees a pale skinned "creature" running out of the shed and away. He was primed to see "something" unusual by his fathers suggestion. The creature is pale skinned from lack of sunlight and bent backed from being in a small hole.

So, my imagination can put that together. It's highly unlikely but I can't see a major flaw.

Again, I don't honestly think this is the answer but then again, I also don't think that an invisible "rake" monster was in the shed either.

Interesting theory Ringo. However, there are a few things I'd like to point out. Number one, my father usually always drunk one or two beers after work. It wasn't anything close to a drinking problem; he just wanted to relax after a hard days of work. Also, the noises under the floor were something that could have come from a different direction. The direction of the noise is something I noticed but I could have been mistaken. I believe it to be much more likely the sounds came from elsewhere in the shed. As I said, there was no crawlspace under the shed, and the floorboards were just regular wooden floorboards, I am sure of that.

Yes, it is strange that my father was panting when he answered the phone, but no reason to immediately accuse him. I would also like to add that the shed creature was Very pale, nothing like I've seen before on a human being. I highly doubt it was some guy or gal my father "imprisoned" in the shed. Furthermore, my father seeing 'something' on the road was not simply an excuse. He was genuinely spooked, I remember that. Perhaps the two incidents were separate, yes, but they weren't connected in the way you think.

And, of course, I have to add this: My father was an honest and good man, he would have been the last person to have "imprisoned" someone. I believe this incident was much more likely to have been my imagination or an actual wicked creature than have been my father's fault.
I'm sorry, Ringo, but I truly can't even consider this as a plausible explanation (in my personal opinion).


Oh, and as for the lock, I don't remember if I kept it after I ran or put it in the cabinet we usually placed it in. As I said before, the padlock was unlocked, you could easily open the door from the outside by that point. So, yes, my father could have opened it but not by "breaking" it, like the way you described. Also, why would he go in there; if he was so bad that he imprisoned someone, would he just look on inside, leave the door open, and then go off to work?

 

[Ringo]

Maybe I've misinterpreted something about which I specifically questioned wyattj, but ...

As I understand it, the father wouldn't have had to break anything to open the shed the following morning. Wyattj had unlocked the lock, but hadn't removed it from the hasp, when he ran away to the house the day before.

The father (or anyone else coming from outside the shed) wouldn't need the key to open the door. He'd only need to remove the open lock from the hasp.

And there falls the house of fictional cards I had built.

Interesting theory Ringo. However, there are a few things I'd like to point out. Number one, my father usually always drunk one or two beers after work. It wasn't anything close to a drinking problem; he just wanted to relax after a hard days of work. Also, the noises under the floor were something that could have come from a different direction. The direction of the noise is something I noticed but I could have been mistaken. I believe it to be much more likely the sounds came from elsewhere in the shed. As I said, there was no crawlspace under the shed, and the floorboards were just regular wooden floorboards, I am sure of that.

Yes, it is strange that my father was panting when he answered the phone, but no reason to immediately accuse him. I would also like to add that the shed creature was Very pale, nothing like I've seen before on a human being. I highly doubt it was some guy or gal my father "imprisoned" in the shed. Furthermore, my father seeing 'something' on the road was not simply an excuse. He was genuinely spooked, I remember that. Perhaps the two incidents were separate, yes, but they weren't connected in the way you think.

And, of course, I have to add this: My father was an honest and good man, he would have been the last person to have "imprisoned" someone. I believe this incident was much more likely to have been my imagination or an actual wicked creature than have been my father's fault.
I'm sorry, Ringo, but I truly can't even consider this as a plausible explanation (in my personal opinion).


Oh, and as for the lock, I don't remember if I kept it after I ran or put it in the cabinet we usually placed it in. As I said before, the padlock was unlocked, you could easily open the door from the outside by that point. So, yes, my father could have opened it but not by "breaking" it, like the way you described. Also, why would he go in there; if he was so bad that he imprisoned someone, would he just look on inside, leave the door open, and then go off to work?

Quite rightly so. I'm not, and never meant to actually acuse your father of anything untoward, I was just trying to do a spot of Sherlock Holmes type deduction. I think I've read too many of those stories. Somebody always seem to be held against their will somewhere!

But the narrative is still confusing, isn't it?

How did it get in there if the door was locked from the outside in the first place?
Maybe your Dad had encountered it previously and locked it in there but never told you. (Although I doubt he would then go off to work with a monster locked in the shed).

When he wasn't working late, maybe he was actually trying to examine/kill it?

If it smashed its way out then maybe it had hidden around the back of the shed. It maybe was scratcing on the walls from the outside that you heard. When you ran out and away and the thing ran back in to attack you. Seeing the shed was empty it exited just as you turned around to look. It then ran away.

A creepy and exciting story.

 

[EnolaGaia]

... How did it get in there if the door was locked from the outside in the first place?
Maybe your Dad had encountered it previously and locked it in there but never told you. (Although I doubt he would then go off to work with a monster locked in the shed). ...

Just for the record ...

All we know is that the padlock was unlocked and left hanging in the hasp sometime late in the afternoon on Day 1, whereas the shed's door was hanging open on the morning of Day 2.

In other words, there was a period of up to circa 12 hours or so during which the padlock could have been removed from the hasp, allowing the door to freely open.

For that matter, I'm not sure we can rule out the possibility that in his retreat on Day 1 wyattj had left the padlock turned or twisted so that it could have fallen off the hasp on its own (e.g., as a result of some vibration).

Keyed padlocks typically locate the keyhole on the bottom of the lock to prevent rain getting into it. If wyattj was in the act of unlocking the padlock he may well have needed to turn or twist it sideways or upside down to insert the key, it was in that position when he panicked and ran, and it may have temporarily remained in this unbalanced position as / after he fled. If it had remained in such an unbalanced position it wouldn't have taken much (e.g., a gust of wind) to make it fall completely off the hasp.

My point is that it's conceivable nobody / no entity removed the lock, and the shed door could have been open for an indeterminate length of time between the first and second days.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I'm thinking 'insane homeless person on the point of starvation' living in the crawlspace under the shed, got trapped by the padlock and finally made his escape?

 

[EnolaGaia]

I'm thinking 'insane homeless person on the point of starvation' living in the crawlspace under the shed, got trapped by the padlock and finally made his escape?

Wyattj already stated there wasn't a crawl space underneath the shed.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Wyattj already stated there wasn't a crawl space underneath the shed.

Rotten floorboards leaving a hole?
I'm clutching at straws.

 

[wyattj]

Just for the record ...

All we know is that the padlock was unlocked and left hanging in the hasp sometime late in the afternoon on Day 1, whereas the shed's door was hanging open on the morning of Day 2.

In other words, there was a period of up to circa 12 hours or so during which the padlock could have been removed from the hasp, allowing the door to freely open.

For that matter, I'm not sure we can rule out the possibility that in his retreat on Day 1 wyattj had left the padlock turned or twisted so that it could have fallen off the hasp on its own (e.g., as a result of some vibration).

Keyed padlocks typically locate the keyhole on the bottom of the lock to prevent rain getting into it. If wyattj was in the act of unlocking the padlock he may well have needed to turn or twist it sideways or upside down to insert the key, it was in that position when he panicked and ran, and it may have temporarily remained in this unbalanced position as / after he fled. If it had remained in such an unbalanced position it wouldn't have taken much (e.g., a gust of wind) to make it fall completely off the hasp.

My point is that it's conceivable nobody / no entity removed the lock, and the shed door could have been open for an indeterminate length of time between the first and second days.

Yes, it is possible that it could have fallen off as a result of wind, vibration, etc. I really don't recall the exact position of the padlock when I had opened it, but I do remember it had not fallen off the shed hatch yet.
I'd also like to note that after the incident, I'm pretty sure my father closed the shed and locked it. I believe he saw it and just thought I had forgotten to close it. Just for the record.

I did a little bit of digging to see if other people experienced the same sort of thing, and only came up with the urban myth: The melonheads. These humanoid creatures with 'bulbous' heads allegedly roamed forested areas and attacked people in places like Michigan, Ohio, and Connecticut just to name a few. This is the only humanoid creature I could find relative to the state of Michigan. Do any of you know of any myths in Michigan that match my experience with a little hint of truth?

 

[catseye]

I really really hate to ask this but...

is there any possibility that the 'shed events' could have been a dream, occasioned by your fears set off by a) the unexpected noise in the shed (which could have been something left propped against a wall falling over) and your father's unexpected reaction to your phone call? I know that certainly when I was up to around the age of twelve, I would have very clear dreams that were almost indistinguishable from real life. Some of them I can still remember over 50 years later. And your waking mind has 'made sense' of your dream by conflating it with real life?

I know the 'it was all a dream' scenariio is awful and a cliche and I don't want to impune your story, but children can have VERY clear dream recollections and sometimes an inability to tell them from real life. My own daughter reminds me (jokingly now) of the 'spaceman with the spiral eyes' that she saw in our living room (it was a dream, she told me about it in the morning, but somehow half believed it was real for a few days).

 

[Human_84]

Why would an imprisoned person remain inside the shed if the door was open?

Stockholm Syndrome?

the urban myth: The melonheads. These humanoid creatures with 'bulbous' heads allegedly roamed forested areas and attacked people in places like Michigan...

I've been to and investigated the infamous "Felt Mansion" where the legend of the Melonheads takes place. Didn't find anything interesting and it reeks of urban legend unfortunately. Wyatt, I think you may have skipped over my question by accident but which county did this shed incident take place in? I'm from Michigan too.

 

[Lobeydosser]

I'm thinking the noise was more likely from the roof area - as mentioned earlier the "creature" could have been up above you...
Also as Human84 says they are also from Michigan and judging by the avatar.... well if this was a night m shyamalan film .... Human84 turns out to be the creature ( I kid.... hopefully).

 

[Human_84]

I confess. I performed this stunt many times and I'm just trying to figure out which shed belonged to Wyatt.

 

[MetaChick]

These pale white humanoid creatures seem to be enjoying a resurgence, especially here in the States. No one is really sure what they are, though it is generally thought that they are subterranean or cave dwelling creatures. Although they sometimes go by the name of rake or ghoul, there is an entire Reddit thread devoted to the general category "Crawlers", and the accounts are fascinating!

 

[Eponastill]

Hi Metachick! A "rake"? That seems to be a new name for such ghastly things?! I wonder if it's a mishearing of 'wraith'? Anyway it's clearly gained a foothold.

 

[EnolaGaia]

... A "rake"? That seems to be a new name for such ghastly things?! I wonder if it's a mishearing of 'wraith'? Anyway it's clearly gained a foothold.

I've never been able to trace the notion of a "rake" farther back than online creepypasta - e.g.:

https://creepypasta.fandom.com/wiki/The_Rake

Neither have I been able to associate the name with any earlier folkloric / mythical / etc. figure. As MetaChick points out, these figures may be the latter-day versions of earlier things.

My working theory is that "rake" is a label a relatively modern composite figure providing a name and common reference for the focal entity in a variety of stories from all over North America.

If anyone can provide tangible (i.e., documented and date-able) clues to the origins of the "rake" figure I'd love to see them.

 

[Naughty_Felid]

I've never been able to trace the notion of a "rake" farther back than online creepypasta - e.g.:

https://creepypasta.fandom.com/wiki/The_Rake

Neither have I been able to associate the name with any earlier folkloric / mythical / etc. figure. As MetaChick points out, these figures may be the latter-day versions of earlier things.

My working theory is that "rake" is a label a relatively modern composite figure providing a name and common reference for the focal entity in a variety of stories from all over North America.

If anyone can provide tangible (i.e., documented and date-able) clues to the origins of the "rake" figure I'd love to see them.

I doubt it. From the hours of podcast phone-ins I listen to "The Rake" made its real impact within the last year. This is when it finally seeped into the "spooky" culture. If anything I reckon it will overtake "Slenderman" soon - the "Hat Man" is still hanging in there though.

Slenderman is so old-hatman these days...

What you are seeing is rapid movement in the scary ghosts of growing up. I give "The Rake" about a year and a half before it's replaced.

People are not talking about ghost stories anymore around campfires with tents, in the woods - it's all done over the net - that's why people get bored so easily.

That's why typical- ghosts/spirits/demons are so easily discarded.

Can I have a sociology degree, please??

 

[Krepostnoi]

Can I have a sociology degree, please??

Oi! I'm not having that. I'm really fed up with these cheap shots at how easy it is, apparently, to get a social science degree. I worked hard for mine, I'll have you know. It's not fair just to make a glib remark and write off three weeks' work.

 

[Indrid Frost]

I want to be very sensitive when I ask this questions so no offence intended and here goes:

Do you think it is possible that your Dad was holding someone against their will in the shed? How often were you in the shed? Were you allowed there or had it been off limits for a while? Had he dug a hide hole under the shed floor?

The thought occurred to me that the noise, the heavy breathing of your father and his hurried return and then beer and silence could all be accounted for by some sort of aggressive struggle. The pale skinned, wide eyed, emaciated person you saw may have been the terrified captive blinking out into the sunlight, unsure of where to run to before finally vaulting to safety.

I know that's a strange and serious thing to ask and I am not accusing your father of anything untoward, it's just that I read a lot of Sherlock Holmes and this solution seems like something that would fit the initial consultaion.

Another thing I thought of was maybe your Dad wasn't working late those few times but he was in the shed with a lady friend having some adult fun. He maybe, accidentally of course, hit the answer button when you called him? Hence his heavy breathing and then hurried/harrassed return to the house. But you mention that the padlock was locked as you approached so I don't think that's the answer either.

Likewise, it's not possible that your Dad was in the shed alone and made the noise you heard (on the first visit) as the door was locked from the outside. He wouldn't be the first man to hide in a shed instead of going to work but maybe that's not it either.

Having sexy times or just hiding doesn't explain what you say the day after.

Whatever you saw could be explained in a few ways if it wasn't, as you remember, a strange "rake" like creature. When I was younger I convinced myself that I saw an evil goblin standing in some bushes looking at me. It wasn't just any old goblin, it was a goblin I had seen in a movie. I can see it clear in my head now as if I were there looking at it now. It terrified me so much that I ran home. I even saw it move. Yet it is a false memory. I saw some bushes move and my brain added a goblin (for some reason).

It could have been a sick animal but I don't know. It sounds like a real 3 pipe mystery.

Lol your one funny guy