Some might ask how someone just decides to work as a grounds keeper in a graveyard. Not only does it sound absolutely terrifying, but also depressing too. Well in my case, I hated school, which is why after I got out of high school, I never really applied to any colleges or universities. Instead I sent applications for odd jobs, trying to get a feel for the real world. After switching jobs a couple times, I ended up as a night guard for my old high school, which was quite ironic since I had trashed that place numerous times before.

I actually worked at that place for close to a decade, before they laid me off. I realized I really loved doing guard duty. Having 10 years of experience on belt, on top of my big and threatening build, guaranteed that I'd get hired anywhere I wanted, regardless whether I had an education or not.

I switched the job atleast 4 times the following decade, not really liking the vibe of the places I was protecting.

Eventually though, I was offered to work as a grounds keeper in a local graveyard. There was a lot more work included for a grounds keeper as opposed to a night guard, but it also meant much larger pay, after a short trial period I just fell in love with the peace at the graveyard.

My duties included tidying up around the property, helping people find their loved ones incase they got lost, finding empty spots for the recently dead to rest in. And occasionally I cleaned up the graves that weren't getting any visitors, most of them diseased late 1800's, or early 1900's.

I've been working at the exact same place for 15 years now, and do I have scary stories to tell. But the one that terrifies me the most happened just last week.

I'm usually a day shift grounds keeper, meaning I have no reason to be at the graveyard at night, but occasionally I take a double shift, or cover for the night guard on duty, in case they are sick or on vacation. This was the case on the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th of december.

The property is lively and full of visitors leaving flowers for their passed loved ones during the day time, but during the night time its eerily quiet and cold, and quite frankly spooky. Sometimes I hear sounds. Sounds that you just cannot logically explain, but your mind just kind of filters them as logical, since they are happening at a graveyard. I've heard loud screams, screeches, wails, you name it.

But the night leading up to 22nd of december started off with a diferent sound, it was a ring tone. A default samsung ring tone, somewhere in the cemetery.

At first I assumed the obvious, someone must've lost their phone while they were visiting during the day, and now they're calling to see if someone found it.

I sighed loudly and walked off in the direction of where I last heard the sound, walking in between the graves, with my flashlight in hand.

I have grown used to the darkness, but the cold always got me, despite coming from europe, I was never able to even tolerate it.

I skimmed through the area I thought the phone was in, but wasn't able to find it, so I went back to my little hut at the edge of the graveyard and warmed myself up.

A single tap somewhere at the front of the cabin startled me, and I yelled out. "Who's there?"

I heard some shuffling sounds, and loud footsteps jogging off in the opposite direction. I sighed loudly again, because I knew I had to make sure whoever it was has actually left the property. So I grabbed my coat and flashlight and I went out again. Just as I opened the door I heard the same ring tone, it only played for around 10 seconds before it stopped.

I scanned around the cabin with my flashlight, noticing some very large foot prints, not shoe prints. This was no human intruder, but an animal. As a safety precaution, I went back into the cabin and grabbed my work issued gun.

I slowly walked around the eerily quiet cemetery, illuminating various headstones and graves with my flashlight. It was actually weird that it was this quiet, normally you'd be able to atleast hear the songs of crickets this late into the night, but not this one.

Unfortunately the graveyard was too big to completely explore, and by the time I cleared one area, the intruder could go around me and get into the area I already cleared, and I'd never know. So I gave up and walked back to the cabin. On my way there something caught my attention at the corner of my eye. It was a new grave, maybe a month old, not longer. It still wasn't tiled or properly cleaned up, at these parts it usually takes them atleast 2 to 3 months to do so. So the dirt was still fresh, some blown out candles and wilted flowers decorated it.

However there was something that shouldn't be there, footprints. On the dirt of the grave. They looked like nothing I'd seen before, not animal, or human. They were as wide as my two feet put together, and as long as a giant stone slab you see on the sidewalks around here.

I looked around one last time, turning a full 360 with my flash light, but found nothing, and I was glad I didn't. I didn't want to deal with whatever or whoever this was.

The rest of my night shift went uneventful, I didn't hear any more footsteps or ring tones. I did however notify animal control in the morning that there might be a bear or some other large animal in the area, judging by the size of the prints.

The following night was even weirder, I heard the same foot steps and the same ring tone all night long, but I never found the intruder, nor the ringing phone. One thing however made me stop looking altogether and instead barricade myself inside the cabin. The headstone of the dirt grave from the other night was not standing up straight anymore, but instead on the grass beside it, with another pair of large foot prints.

The last night was the most terrifying of them all.

It started as it usually did, I did my normal closing rounds around the site, making sure there were no people or animals wandering around, and then relaxed at the cabin.

At around midnight I heard a loud inhuman screech, comparable to the ones I've heard before. I had to go investigate as was protocol. When I stepped out of the cabin, I could hear the phone ringing, so instead of walking I ran in the direction of the sound, to shrink my search area. It didn't ring for long, but it definitely made it easier to look for.

So that's what I did, I looked for the stupid phone, having forgotten the screech completely.

I heard some foot steps in the darkness behind me, which startled me. I turned around to look at the origin of the sound, but there was nothing there. I sighed and continued searching, but the foot step came again, this time from the other side. And just like last time, there was nothing there. This happened a couple more times before I completely dismissed it as paranormal shit fucking with me, like many times before.

I never found the phone.

I returned to my cabin, but before I could even close the door behind me, the phone rang again. I got upset and just sprinted in the direction of the sound, leaving my flashlight and my gun at the cabin, big mistake.

This time, I managed to get really close to the sound, it was somewhere nearby the new grave, the same dirt grave with the foot prints, the pushed over headstone. My blood froze all over, because I found none of that. The headstone was gone and there were no foot prints. Instead the grave was dug out to the very bottom. I peered down into the hole. The casket was broken in half, and I couldn't see the woman that was supposed to be inside it.

The phone was still ringing just a couple dozen metres infront of me. I slowly made my way to the sound, and then it suddenly stopped, I stopped dead in my tracks, listening to the sounds around me.

Another loud screech resounded, this one almost right next to me. And thats when I saw the animal, if you can even call it that. It was no animal, it was a monster from your worst nightmares. It stood like a human, it towered well over 2 metres, maybe even over 3 metres. It had pitch black fur, its eyes too, were as black as the night itself, the only way you could even tell it had eyes was because they were reflecting the moon light. It stood crooked, it's arms long enough to look like tree branches. One of them held onto something on its shoulder. A body I realized. The other held onto a small object, a phone.

It looked straight at me and spoke, it's voice was deformed, not human. "Hel- lo- swe.. tieeee.." It tried to say in a sweet woman's voice, sounding nothing like it. The reality of my situation hit me when I tried to grasp my gun and realized I didn't have it. This creature bopped it's head to one side and spoke again, this time sounding more human than the last, but still not quite there. "I wan-t you-"

That was when I bolted it in the opposite direction, running faster than I ever did before, not even looking back. I could hear it screech again, I could hear it running after me with loud thumps. I got to the cabin first, and slammed the door shut gunning it for my gun. I pointed it at the door and waited. But nothing ever came, I heard no more sounds. I called the police right away. I informed them of what happened, of the phone, of the dug out grave.

"How could you even hear a phone ring, if it was in a casket, below the ground?" One of the officers on site asked, and I genuinely didn't have an answer for that, how the hell did I hear it ring?

"I'm not sure myself.." I responded, before adding, "Will you inform the family?"

"No, not yet, I don't want to ruin their christmas." The officer replied, and I nodded in understanding.

"We'd station an officer overnight, but its christmas, so we're short staffed unfortunately. Which is why I recommend you to stay home the next few days as well, for your own safety. We don't know what kind of animal is out here." He said.

"Okay officer, I will." I gave him a half smile, knowing full well that was no animal.

He excused himself and we said our goodbyes.

This was four days ago, and I still don't know what that creature was, it didn't look like a skin walker, nor anything I've ever seen or heard of, I tried researching it, but nothing came up. I wonder, what the hell did it want with that poor woman's dead body?