The Mausoleum and the Cult

Okay, so here's the deal, a while back now me and a close friend were on a bike ride. It was a typical summer's afternoon and we were pretty far out in the boonies, further than we usually we went out. Typically, our bike rides consisted of going about 3/4 of the way down a local bike trail which cut through the boonies and countryside on the northern side of our town.
This bike ride was different though. After discussing what to do after completing our customary bike ride, my friend told me of an interesting place we could check out since we were in the area. Interestingly enough my friend had never told me of this place before despite us having been in the area several times.
Obviously, he immediately gained my full attention when he began talking about it. He referred to it as "The Mausoleum." Upon further questioning, it became increasingly clear that he did not know much about "The Mausoleum." When my questions became unanswerable, I naturally asked how he knew about it to which he replied, "My brother told me about it."
After liberal amounts of gentle persuasion, I finally managed to get my friend to call his brother to ask what else he knew of this place. He told my friend all he knew, which to my displeasure, wasn't a whole lot. By this point though I was far to intrigued to just forget about it.
The phone call was now over and my friend seemed unusually unnerved. "My brother told me some interesting stuff about it but he said we shouldn't go there". "Why?" I replied. "He said weird folks hang around there, you know?" "No" I replied with laughter due to my friends unusual seriousness. "Occultists" He said with a stern look. At the time, I didn't really know what that meant so naturally, I let my ignorance cloud my judgement and we both unanimously decided that we would go.
We carried on riding till the trail came to an end at which we were faced with two options; to turn left or to turn right. Turning left would take us into a small suburb about 2 miles up the trail so this was not the right way to go. I knew this because I had friends who lived there. By logical reasoning, we decided to turn left and continue down a separate trail.
We continued to talk about what this place could possibly be like, passing the odd country home as we cycled down the trail. After a certain point, the mood changed. Many of the houses began to look sinister and were posted with no trespassing signs. All of the trees looked really old and had no leaves on them despite it being the middle of June. The trouble was, we didn't know where exactly this place was. It was described to my friend as being a tunnel with a very small opening.
After looking for the tunnel for a good 45 minutes, we plucked up the courage to ask someone. A local resident of the area left his house and began to walk towards his car. Before he could do so I asked if he could help us. When explaining our situation his facial expression became more and more anxious.
Once I had finished explained he hastily replied, "NO, I don't know what you're talking about." He then got in his his car and drive of down one of the many dirt roads that led into the woods. This would have been my second indication that what we were doing wasn't right however we continued. Another 10 minutes of riding ended us up at an entrance to a field with what looked to be woods on the other side of it.
At this point it was late in the day so we thought what the heck, we might as well try it. We each passed our bikes over the locked metal fence before we climbed over and then proceeded to walk across the 100 yards of corn. The ground was much too rough to cycle on.
At the end of the field, we were met with a small patch of wooded area which had a well traveled trail snaking through it. What was unusual about this trail was the distinct lack of general direction; It never seemed like it was going anywhere. Another odd thing about it was the fact that scattered around it were little dolls. I had never seen anything like them before so I can only describe them to you as voodoo doll looking thing except where the face would be they had what we thought to be blood stained cloth.
For obvious reasons, we didn't pick any of these up. Upon finding the end of the trail we were faced with a 6 foot tall wall in a circular shape which had some form of 17th century house on top of it. We both agreed that this place had to be it despite it's blatant lack of resemblance to the description we were provided.
My friend gave me a boost up the wall to the point where I was able to pull myself up. When I popped my head over the wall I was faced with something I did not expect. About 30 feet in front of me, I saw 5 cloaked people standing around a fire. I was also convinced that one of them saw me so I immediately let go of the wall and fell back onto my feet. My friend laughed at me at first before I sternly whispered to him to be quiet.
After about a minute of waiting my friend decided that I must have been playing a prank on him. He demanded I give him a boost which I reluctantly did and he looked over the wall and saw nothing. Nobody. No fire. I was shocked and confused so we decided that we would both go up.
Once we were both up, we took a look around the place, most of which was overgrown with weed and tall grass. I did find the remnants of a fire which looked like it hadn't been used in years so I put my hand on some of the charcoal. I got the shock of my life when I realised it was still red hot. I burned my fingers on it.
I told my friend but he just thought I was fucking with him again and the he told me to come round back of the house to where he had found something. In front of us was a door leading to what can only be described as the basement of this house.
We both decided to go down into the basement and use our phoned as a source of light. Not many houses have basements here so this was all new to me, I had no idea what to expect down there.
Once down in the basement we found what appeared to be shelves in the walls measuring about 1ft squared and going back into the wall by about 6 feet. We were very confused but frankly there wasn't a whole lot down there except for a weird smell. We went back up and explored the actual house though it was much the same. It had no windows, doors, furniture, floors or roof.
Whilst exploring, I came across a small plaque riveted into one of the walls. It was covered in moss and leaves so after removing these it read "De Laval House of the dead" and it had a little symbol beneath it which I can now confirm was a star of David.
Very calmly, yet sternly, I grabbed a hold of my friends arm and demanded that we leave. I knew there was something weird about the basement; all of those shelves were where they stored dead bodies which also explained the smell down there. Once we were of the farmers field we came back onto the trail and I explained to my friend why we had to leave. He still thought I was having him on and he wanted to go back.
By this point though it was nearly dark so we cycled the 3 miles back to our town. I said goodbye to him at his driveway then cycled home. I thought that was the end of it; It wasn't. Time passed as it does and me and that particular friend went our separate ways.
About a year and a half later, I received a text from him asking if I wanted to go again. I had no choice but to say no, I knew what that place was but my friend clearly didn't believe me. He replied, "Suit yourself, I'm going anyways. I'll tell you what happens." I really didn't think much of it, although I was worried for him I thought he would at least be going with some other people.
At about 3am that night, I received an unusual text which woke me up. It was from my friend and read "OUR HOUSE NOT YOURS LEAVE NOW, LEAVE!" It also had a picture attached which was a group of 5 hooded people around a fire, identical to the scene I had witnessed whilst there.
For the safety of me and those close to me I have decided not to add the picture to this story. I all thought it was a prank so I just forgot about it and got on with my life. A year later we were in high school and I hadn't seen that particular friend in a while. I am now finished high school and I still haven't seen him at all.
I have asked others what has happened to him and no one else seems to know either, they all just figured he moved away or something. A couple of weeks back I had some free time so I decided to check out the house that he lives in to check whether he had moved or not. It's only a 5 minute bike ride from me so it was no major task. He lives on the very edge of town in a weird area known as the lodge for unbeknown reasons.
The reason I say this is because it is on the edge of town it is not uncommon for there to be a few abandoned homes there. I arrived and to my surprise there were no cars around it despite the family owning about 4 cars. I rang the doorbell as I naturally would yet none answered.
I looked through the front window and saw an empty house with a few sheets of paper lying around on the floor. Creepy stuff eh? Do you know what makes it creepier? This actually happened!
Category:Ritual