The Whispering Woods

On the outskirts of a small town lay a dense forest known as the Whispering Woods. Local legends claimed that the trees had a mind of their own and that those who entered after dark never returned. The townspeople believed the woods were haunted by the spirits of people who had gotten lost and died there.
One autumn evening, a skeptical teenager named Ethan decided to debunk the myths. Armed with a flashlight and his phone, he ventured into the woods. The air was crisp, and the moon hung low in the sky, casting long shadows through the trees.
As Ethan walked deeper into the forest, he began to hear faint whispers around him. At first, he thought it was just the wind rustling the leaves, but the whispers grew louder and clearer. They seemed to call out his name.

Suddenly, his flashlight flickered and died. Panic set in as he fumbled for his phone to use the flashlight app. Before he could turn it on, the phone slipped from his grasp and vanished into the undergrowth.
Ethan stood still, his heart pounding. In the darkness, he saw faint, ghostly lights floating among the trees. They moved closer, revealing shapes of people with hollow eyes and pale faces. The whispers now formed coherent words, urging him to follow.
Frozen with fear, Ethan couldn't move. The spirits surrounded him, their cold touch sending shivers down his spine. Then, a voice, clearer than the rest, spoke directly into his mind, "You should never have come here."
Ethan woke up the next morning, lying at the edge of the woods with no memory of how he got there. The townspeople said he was lucky—the woods had claimed another skeptic. But Ethan wasn't so sure. He often woke up in the night, hearing faint whispers in his ear, and he could never shake the feeling that the woods were still watching him.
Have you ever explored a place with a dark legend or experienced something unexplainable in a supposedly haunted location? Share your thoughts below!