A solo hike through autumn wilderness becomes a nightmare when a single misstep triggers a forgotten bear trap buried beneath the leaves. Pinned and bleeding as daylight fades, Sarah faces the terrible mathematics of survival: no cell signal, miles from the nearest trail, and the temperature dropping toward freezing. But the cold isn't what kills in these woods. As darkness falls and the forest comes alive with night sounds, she realizes the rusted jaws clamping her leg aren't just holding her in place—they're ringing a dinner bell. The trap was set decades ago for an animal that's still out there. Still hungry. And the scent of fresh blood carries far on the mountain air.

TRIGGER WARNINGS

Content Warning: This story contains graphic depictions of extreme violence, severe injury, and death. Readers will encounter detailed descriptions of entrapment, blood loss, broken bones, prolonged physical suffering, and a fatal animal attack. The narrative includes explicit body horror, dismemberment, and an extended death scene told from the victim's perspective. Themes of isolation, helplessness, and inescapable doom pervade throughout. This content is intended for mature audiences only. Please prioritize your mental health and well-being when deciding whether to listen this story.

When a desperate tenant moves into a furnished apartment to escape their past, they dismiss the vintage rotary phone as a charming relic from the 1960s. But soon the impossible happens—the unplugged phone begins to ring. A ghost story about loneliness, connection, and the impossibility of outrunning what calls for you in the dark.

TRIGGER WARNINGS

This story includes graphic descriptions of strangulation and murder, depictions of violence against women, themes of stalking and predatory behavior, and intense psychological horror involving loss of control and inescapable danger.

There are scenes of physical violence, asphyxiation, and a detailed account of a murder that takes place both in the story's past and is partially reenacted in the present timeline. The story also explores themes of extreme isolation, paranoia, and sleep deprivation that may be distressing to some listeners.

If any of these topics are difficult for you, please consider whether this episode is right for you at this time. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

Podcast Description

Welcome to the Shadows is a supernatural anthology podcast that exists in the space between heartbeats, in the pause before sleep takes you.

Hosted by the mysterious Keeper—a being who exists outside of time in a library built from echoes—each episode tells the story of someone who died with their truth unheard, their ending unexplained, their final moments unobserved.

This is not a library of books. It is a collection of residue. The last words never spoken. The confessions that died on tongues. The secrets that dissolved into silence.

Each story can only be told once. When the Keeper speaks it aloud, it dissolves—returns to the void it came from. But for that brief moment, you bear witness. And in your listening, the dead exist again.

One last time.

Welcome to the Shadows is a fiction podcast for those who linger in doorways, who notice when the light changes, who hear whispers in static. It's for anyone who has ever wondered: what happens to the stories no one was there to hear.