The next story I'm going to share with you guys concerns a certain cabin. Now, before I go on, I should say older cabins, those being the first ones built by the first campers were all named after characters from Disney's classic animated movie “Bambi”. One of the first cabins that was completed was named after the main character, the adorable young fawn Bambie. It is also rumored to be the most haunted and the most active with paranormal activity. 

Who or what is supposed to haunt it is up for some debate. Some say the cabin is haunted by the spirit of a teenage girl who hung herself because she missed her period. The girl believed she was pregnant after having her first sexual encounter with a boy scout. Other scouts believe the cabin is haunted by a demonic spirit that was conjured up one summer by a few careless scouts who started to play around with a homemade spirit board.

Whatever it is, it has left it's mark on the cabin. The cabin often remains shuttled for most of the summer. Which is odd because considering the cabin is located right in the center of the camp, it should be the most requested cabin. But it remains firmly shut for most of the summer.

Now the following story was told to by a scout named Sarah Percy. Sarah Percy is a transgender scout,one of the few transgender scouts in the camp. I mention this fact because I believe her being transgender had something to do with triggering the paranormal event she recounted to me. 

When fellow scouts ask me, “Is Bambi haunted?” I have to tell them that yes, it's haunted. Because I know for certain that that cabin is haunted. Now on the outside it looks like any of the other cabins here at camp. It is made from pine logs, it has a black slate roof and a brick chimney. It is cooled by ceiling fans in the summer and warmed by a log fire in the winter. Pretty much the picture perfect.

And what's neat about Bambi is just a stone's throw away from the cabin is this little stone patio that has a little make-shift grill. An old iron table sits in the middle of this stone patio and surrounding the patio is about four old iron chairs. Inside it neat too, their four beds and of course on the ceiling two big old ceiling fans.

All it all, it should be the most desirable cabin. Scouts should be lined up for miles to get into that cabin. But oddly enough it remains shuttled for most of the year.  The only time the staff open it up is when the camp gets too crowded. Which is rare I'm told.

Anyway, one summer I had volunteered to be part of the “Clean Up Crew” here at camp. Now every camp has a “Clean Up Crew” that normally has a bunch of scouts who volunteer to stay after the camp has closed up for the season to do minor clean up jobs around the camp. The jobs range from minor to major. Minor would be like mopping out the cabins and major would be repairing the roads and trails.

Now, one such job I had to do was mop out Bambi. Now, Bambi was the last cabin on the list and it was late into the afternoon when I finally reached the cabin. Now, iron gray storm clouds that were very pregnant with rain had been hanging over the camp all day And they seemed almost busting at the seams when I started to clean Bambi.

Now, I'd been charged with doing a “Deep Clean” on Bambi that meant I had to clean the windows, sweep, mop, and scrub the floorboards with a pushbroom. Pretty much it had to as clean as a whistle before I left. And all of that takes time, plus I was tired.

So I took my time, a few hours in and I was only halfway done. I broke off cleaning when I heard the supper bell being rung. Now, normally the supper bell is normally a sign that all camp activities are done for the day. Normally some form of vespers follow supper, and that normally brings an official end of the camp day.

Anyway, I went to get supper, and as expected I attended vespers with the rest of the scouts that had stayed back to help clean up the camp. And well I returned to my cabin..I settled on returning to Bambi first thing in the morning to finish the job.

Breakfast came late that morning as the rain clouds that had gathered over the camp had finally busted open. Thunder echoed in the hollow and white, hot streaks of lighting crisscrossed the sky. Large, heavy drops of rain fell sideways. The low laying areas of the camp became flooded with water, 

Despite this nasty weather, I bravely set forth to finish cleaning the cabin. Now, something felt off, I felt it the moment I walked into the cabin. I felt like somebody was watching me. I tried my best to settle down and get into a steady rhythm of work. But something felt off.

It started with small things, I would look up to find the broom I was using had been moved halfway across the cabin. The old rag I was using to dust the bed post would vanish only to reappear a few moments later. Minor things that kind of made me annoyed and slowly caused my blood to start to boil. Then these small things snowballed into bigger things.

The old wooden door would fly open, the ceiling fan started to spin, even though the power was off. Then to my horror the lights started to flicker on and off. I was a little freaked out by this, okay I was really freaked out. So much so that I was about to abandon this job. But then it happen. The wooden door slammed shut. The lights all turned off and the ceiling fan that had up to this point been spinning wildly around just stopped.

The heavy shades dropped down and I found myself cloaked in total darkness. And then it appeared. A ghostly phantom, the twisted figure of a young woman. Her face pinched, her eyes black, void of emotion and smooth as a eye, her skin a pastel white, her clothing in tattered and for a moment I swear I could see phantom flames licking at her flesh. 

“WHY DON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONG!” The phantom screamed and from all around me the voice seemed to echo the voice that seemed to fill the cabin. It was so loud it made my ear drums pond. 

“DO YOU KNOW WHAT KIND OF HELL I LIVE IN?!” The phantom roared again and this time all around me I saw the flicker of orange and red flames, the flames licked at my skin but did not burn me. The flames though they appeared real did not give off any warmth of heat. They seemed real but at the same time they were not real.

“DON'T YOU KNOW! THAT BY COMING IN HERE! YOU REMIND ME OF MY MISTAKE, OF WHAT I DID IN A MOMENT OF WEAKNESS. I WISH YOU COULD FEEL THE PAIN I FELT, FEEL THE HUMILIATION I FELT, FEEL THAT SENSE OF DREAD, FEEL WITH YOUR OWN BODY THE PAIN I FELT, FEEL THE NEVER ENDING SUFFERING, GET A TASTE OF  MY DAMNATION!”

Now, I know typing in all caps lock is often frowned upon by most English teachers. And I'm sure their a few seasoned writers who are just inching at the chance to jump down my throat for writing the above passage in all caps. But that's just how it felt, like somebody was screaming at me, like the voice seemed to echo all around me. 

And then, I remember this phantom reached out with her boney hands and wrapped her boney fingers around my neck and then I felt her fingers starting to wrap around my throat and slowly but surely they started to close my wind pipe.

And all the while all this was going on. There loomed in the background a shadow figure. A demonic looking being with skin the color of cooled lava. A ball head, horns that sprouted out the side of the head, the horns that looked like the horns of a deer. It was naked, with the lower half of the being taking the shape of a deer. I mean that, it looked like a deer, down to hooved legs and deer-like legs. And the thing seemed to be laughing.

And then it was over, everything vanished, it was like somebody flipped an invisible switch. But I could still feel the invisible hands around my neck, I could still feel the phantom flames licking at my heels and I could still hear the echoes of the phantom yelling. 

So when people ask me if Bambie is haunted, I simply dare them to spend the night. Most refuse. But the few who are brave enough to take the dare, always come back changed a little bit hollowed out.