Case #5342: The Scream at The Platz
short horror story
This case has been filed by private investigators at Bob Oppenheimer Detective Agency Incorporated.
Jeremy Hudson, Jessica Parker, and Jenny Dershowitz each lived together in a relatively expensive apartment complex called The Platz in the Atlanta Metropolitan area for about three years. They were what many would call “yuppies” trying their best to advance their respective careers. Jeremy was working as a management consultant, Jessica was a nurse, and Jenny too was a nurse at a nearby hospital. According to information provided from all their places of work, they each had wonderful reputations from those they worked with. None of these people were involved in any known romantic relationships during the time they lived with each other. They were all 31 years of age when a peculiar incident was recorded as taking place at their residence.
A complaint was sent by one of their neighbors at 9:31 P.M. about a horrific scream taking place where they lived. According to this older retired woman named Susan MacKinnon, the scream sounded like “Bloody murder, like they were… in the middle of being… roasted alive or… hunted down by some creep or serial killer.” Susan would repeatedly make pauses as she was audibly shaking on the other end of the call. Susan talked over the phone with the apartment complex representative that the more benign explanation that these people were just in the middle of seeing a brown recluse spider or large venomous snake seemed plausible. However, after pondering that possible lighter version of what happened, she went back to her original hypothesis and stated that what happened to the three yuppies was “most definitely criminal.” Her last words before she hung up were, “I heard the sound of mischievous laughter along with those screams.”
If it weren’t for a few other residents at The Platz making complaints that same day about the screams, such a case could’ve been easily dismissed. A possibility not entertained by Susan could’ve been that the three were into weird sado-masochistic rituals. However, the fact that these screams were causing such considerable commotion indicated that there was at least something to the claim that they were more than just a typical domestic dispute getting out of hand or encountering a poisonous insect.
Something was definitely off.
Martha Stewart, a longtime resident of The Platz, recorded in a phone call later that day with the same apartment complex representative that the screams were sustained over a period of about “two to three minutes.” She continued, “There is no other way to describe it. It was murder. I know what I heard. Do you think I’m crazy? It was straight out of a horror movie! My ears don’t deceive me.” Martha was reassured that her testimony was valid, and that her concerns would be addressed in an adequate manner shortly. That unfortunately didn’t calm Martha down. Like Susan, she was very disturbed with what transpired. She sent her complaint a bit later than Susan’s at 9:35 P.M.
The last resident who was recorded as giving testimony of that night was someone who knew the yuppies. It was a 32-year-old man named Terrence Scott. He said this incident occurred at around 9:30 P.M. He described the whole situation in fuller detail than the other two as well. A full transcript of what he said the day after the incident at 10:21 A.M. will be provided below.
“Hi, my name is Terrence Scott. I think I’ve just heard the most horrifying thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life. So, I was walking down my hallway past where Jeremy, Jessica, and Jenny live. I had just gone out to get a late bite at Subway and was walking to my room. Suddenly, I heard the most horrifying scream from the other end of their door. The scream must’ve been really intense because I was wearing noise cancelling headphones, and the scream still went through them. I took off my headphones and went to where I heard the scream coming from. It was behind the door to their apartment. I put my ear next to the door and knocked three times. ‘Hello?’ I remember saying. Suddenly I heard Jenny say, ‘Terrence, help me! Open the door! They’re coming after me! Help!’ I tried to open the door immediately. Jenny was clearly in trouble. Only… the door wouldn’t open fully. I pushed against the door, and it was as if there was a force pushing back against me. Someone was on the other side trying to keep me from getting in. The door definitely wasn’t locked. Jenny had unlocked it for me, I had turned the knob, and then… There was this person trying to prevent from coming in. I continued to hear the screams of Jenny until… Silence. ‘Jenny!’ I yelled out to her. No response. I stayed behind the door hyperventilating. I thought about running away immediately and going off to call the police. Only, what happened next was truly what one could call a mindfuck. The door was opened for me. Who I saw in front of me was… Jenny. ‘Um Jenny,’ I remember starting out with, ‘you were yelling to be saved. I just heard you. Is everything okay? What happened?’ What she said next perplexed me. She said, and I quote, ‘Nothing’s the mater Terrence. I was just off my psychiatric medication. I forgot to take it the night before and went into a state of manic psychosis. Complete paranoid delirium. Sorry to scare you, but I’m better now though.’ I knew these people well. I went out to lunch with them, we chatted often, did fun hobbies together on weekends, etc. What I didn’t like above all was the stare she gave me. She had trouble blinking. The other roommates, Jeremy and Jessica, were right behind her, giving me these unnerving wide-eyed stares. I’ve known these people forever, and their behavior following Jenny calling me for help was just super creepy.”
The recording ended there. Terrence was thanked for his contribution and sent on his merry way. According to an update that was received recently, Terrence had gone to weekly therapy sessions and had been prescribed 20 milligram tablets of anti-depressants in order to restore him back to a sense of psycho-behavioral equilibrium or balance.
One theory as to what happened that night has been proposed by a mysterious woman named Dorothy Jenkins. She was a highly reputable parapsychologist and ghost hunter. She was head of an organization titled Strange and Surreal Incorporated. Giving a call to the Agency, she had this to say a week after the incident.
“I’ve been doing some thorough research on Jeremy, Jenny, and Jessica, and something stuck out like a needle in a haystack. These three people owned three cats. Nothing too out of the ordinary by the looks of it, and thinking about this scientifically, it wouldn’t be right to infer anything like what I’m about to tell you from this fact alone. Being curious, I went through the available social media posts of Jenny, Jeremy, and Jessica. Out of these three, Jenny posted most often. She posted on Facebook on a weekly basis, and she posted on Instagram on a nearly daily basis. Starting about a month before Jenny’s ‘scream’, Jenny posted an odd social media post about her cat. She wrote, ‘My kitty Tom has been acting weird lately. He’s been going to the bathroom on the toilet rather than his litter box, and I’ve seen him staring at pages from my books. I know it seems stupid, but it’s like Tom thinks he’s human. It’s cute, but unsettling. Any feedback would be welcome.’ She made a similar post on Facebook a week before the ‘scream,’ stating, ‘It isn’t just Tom. Jessica’s and Jeremy’s cats have been acting strange too. They now sit together in a circle. I think I saw one of them nod. If they keep this up, I’m giving these cats away. I love them dearly, but I’m not even sure they’re my cats anymore.’ Her last media post was on Instagram. It was simply a photo of Tom the cat staring into her phone camera. The post read, ‘Tom understands me.’ The last bit of evidence I’ll share before putting out my informed conclusion is thus. The day after the incident took place, there were no sign in the apartment building of any of the cats according to the officers who were charged with inspecting the apartment room. It is my conclusion from all this that Jenny, Jessica, and Jeremy are no longer themselves. They are rather their cats who have become them. They are without a doubt bakeneko, a type of obake (お化け). They’re malevolent and highly intelligent shapeshifter household cats that kill and eat their masters, bury their bones, and then transform into their masters.”
The case is still open-ended, but some of the Agency’s private investigators accept Dorothy Jenkins’ theory.
