Craig's Night of TERROR!! Bruh-ha-ha-haaaa

The old YMCA building.

This setup begins way before we even set foot on the airplane to Philadelphia. Chris and I have wondered about ways to scare Craig and/or Mel on the trip. Although we came up with a few good ones we felt we had to use the old YWCA, (an old, spooky, two-story building), as one of the ways to scare them.
About a month or two before the trip all of us would meet at restaurants and go over plans for the trip. This is when Chris and I fabricated a story about the old YWCA and how it had become haunted. We began by telling Craig and Mel that long ago a little boy was murdered at the "Y" (YWCA) and that sometimes at night you could hear his cries echoing in the dark nights (Bruh-ha-ha-haaaa). We also said that although there had been some attempts by the locals to get the "Y" up and going again, those attempts never lasted because people were too frightened to stay in that building. So it was abandoned.
Of course both of them were very skeptical and Craig stated that there are no such things as ghosts and that Chris and I were basically full of it. We told him it was a known story and that the locals, still to this day, hear the screaming cries at night (Bruh-ha-ha-haaaa). So we dared Craig to go up to the "Y" at night and do something to test his manhood. Craig agreed and Chris and I knew we had to get him.

So on Saturday, July 10th, Chris and I decided to go hiking. I made sure to bring some fishing string I had just in case we needed it. I reminded Chris about the trick and we walked to the "Y" and looked for a way to set up Craig.
We found a basement-like room that was once a big restroom of some sort. I went in and looked around and found a long wire on the ground and an old dipper. I attached the wire to the dipper and dragged the dipper along the concrete ground and I knew the sound it made as it was dragged would scare Craig.
Chris found a 2x4 piece of wood on the ground and we tied some fishing string around it and leaned the wood on the wall so when we pulled it it would make a loud bang. We tested it and when that board slammed on the concrete ground it made a loud banging echo.
Chris took the spool of the fishing string and while I held on to one end of the string he walked down the hill about 30 yards and tied his end of the string to a stick and stuck it in the ground. Then we did the same thing to the wire. Chris took the spool down the hill and I tied one end of the wire to the dipper and he tied the other end to a stick and stuck it in the ground next to the other stick.
There are really only two ways of getting to the "Y" from our cottage, through the woods or through a road. With this in mind on our way back to the cottage, Chris and I knew we had to bring Craig through the wooded route so he wouldn't trip on our concealed fishing string. We also had to bring up the "Y" and 'Craig's dare' without giving any clue that we were setting him up.
So Chris decided to bring up going to the pond at night again and he was going to ask me if I wanted to go with them. I would say no and Chris would tease me about being scared. Then Chris would get Craig to also agree that I was scared, which we knew he would. I would then say to Craig that he wouldn't even go to the "Y" at night. Then we knew we'd have him.
____

(Left photo: First part of wooded route.) We were going through this at night with very dim flashlights. It was spooky. (Center photo: Middle part of wooded route.) (Right photo: Last part of wooded route. You can see the YMCA coming into view.)

So later that night around 10 p.m. we put our plan into action and it was working perfect. We left the cottage and were spooked by a dog barking at us at the neighbors next door. As we walked through the woods, which was scary to me, we told Craig he had to stand at the dark doorway, without a flashlight, for at least one minute. I think he kind of figured we'd scare him so we told Craig that we'd be down the hill, far enough away from any suspicion.
___

(Left photo: You can barely see the dark door opening on the bottom right part of the building next to the big tree.) (Right photo: This is the angle we had when we pulled the strings. The dark door opening is near the closet corner of the building, next to the big tree.)

Chris and I started walking down the hill looking for our sticks and at the same time Craig walks to the dark opening and starts saying, "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice...come out ghost." Just then we find our sticks and I begin slowly pulling my string and Craig suddenly says, "Whoa, what is that??" Just then I hear a loud BANG!!, which was Chris pulling on his string and his wood slamming on the ground. Then I look over my shoulder at Chris and he is already running down the hill towards the road. I then drop my string and not even three steps down the hill I see something, white, pass by me very fast. It was Craig and his white T-shirt hauling butt down the hill. Finally Craig reaches Chris down at the road and 40 seconds later I catch up to them.
We asked Craig what he heard and he says, "First I hear a 'HEYYY', (Craig whispering) then I hear a loud bang". Chris and I went along and just kept adding to his fright. We kept looking behind us to see if anyone or anything following us, and saying things like, "SHHH!!..did you hear that? Something's out there. I heard something. We better hurry up and get indoors". I'll tell you what; those guys can sure walk fast. Then before we got to the cottage we expected to hear the dog barking at us again, but there was no bark. We walked into the cottage and told Mel what had happened. Craig sat on a couch and kept saying; "This is messed up. Oh man. This sucks."
I kept asking Craig, "Ah Craig, man, are you sure you heard something? You're not just messing with us, are you man?"
He said, "I swear to God. I heard something."
Then I said, "That's really freaky man". (Trying to keep my poise and not bust out laughing). "Ah man…what did..What did it sound like again?", I asked.
Craig said, "It sounded like someone was in there and it said 'Heyyy'". Then Craig gathers himself and says, "You guys sure you had nothing to do with this?".
I immediately respond, "How could we? You saw us. We were too far from you to do anything". He nods in agreement and just stares ahead. We could tell he was really spooked.
Mel kept asking us questions and she was beginning to freak out. Chris went to hold her and at the same time whispered in her ear what we did and after all that she was still freaked. Craig kept saying, "I wonder if anyone was following us."
I said, "If they did that dog outside would've barked." He agreed. But then to add to his scared state of mind I told him some Native American folklore. I said, "But Craig, my elders use to say that when things used to walk around at night, I'm talking immortal things, dogs always knew to be quiet when they were around".
Craig's says, "Seriously?"
I'm like, "Yeah man."
He's like, "Damn."
That night I slept good, Craig however, smelling of urine, didn't fare so well that night.