My college years were the best years of my life, don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with the life I'm living but my memories of those four years are eternal. My advice to those who are still in college don't take it for granted because it definitely flies by. I went to a college on the beach, our campus was literally right on the water. This story happened when I was making a pledge with my pledge class which if you don't know it's basically a full semester start for everyone who pitched in for Frat in that semester most of what happened during pledging was better left undiscussed after all this was the last week of pledging before we officially became Brothers.

Normally this is the week where the fraternity kicks things up a notch, one could say for us it was normal understanding that at some point during the final week we would have to go through a trial on the beach this is what happens. The brothers would drive our class about 12 miles along the beach on Friday night, then we would have an hour to finish a big bucket of God knows what then they would take us down to the beach tied our wrists together blindfolded us took our phones, watches and shoes and left us there until the sun came up to go home or else we would be honest it was all completely Be honest with you. I'm quite worried about this but there's really nothing I can do, none of us can do anything.

I remember it was strangely cold that night but the excitement of being a bro and finally getting all this nonsense done was that stimulating the barrels was the easy part at this point, we were pretty comfortable with dividing the wine and pulling drinks if necessary, there were 15 of us after tying ourselves together, the brothers blindfolded everyone except Chandler, who was there at the front of the line, he It was our eyes but that was all the help we had. Our head of engagement was a big Mexican guy named Ramirez but he insisted we all call him Mr. It's Los poos like the restaurant in Breaking Bad he's a weird guy dude.

He outlined the rules to us one last time then joined the rest of the brothers and left. Now we are alone. I won't tell you every single name but my best friends in my pledge class are shandler whitworth jackson and vickram. at the end of the line and Whitworth was right in front of me, we started walking with Chandler led us, it was hell without a phone, there was really no way to know how many places we had covered or how much time we had left. All we could do was keep walking at first, we tried to liven up the Mood by talking and joking but eventually it got old after what I call 2 hours Walking, we trudged along in complete silence, occasionally someone stopped to vomit.

I began to separate even the sound of the ocean became silent as I walked, trapped within myself. His head was completely silent. Suddenly I felt the Rope tugging around my wrist so I took a few big steps forward and stopped assuming that Whitworth had fallen. Whitworth was clumsier than most people so this wasn't surprising at all. I didn't really have the strength or energy to ask him if he was okay so I just waited. I must have stood there like a statue for a full minute, feeling like something was wrong. I was about to say something when the rope around my wrist was pulled tight again and I continued walking and satisfied that Whitworth had not passed the track continued and I returned to the face outside the zone of me, I feel so bad.

I prayed that we were as close to the final stretch as we were supposed to be right then I did what I had to do This is my 10,000th step but there's something different than hitting wet sand , my feet hit the unmistakable thin layer of sea water. I took a few more steps and the water was deeper than my ankles. I was confused why Chandler was leading us into the water, The rope was pulled tight meaning Whitworth and the others in front of me were continuing to walk so I did the same. I guess I think someone needs to wash their feet for whatever reason if no one complains although I sure do. The water would not begin to rise ankle-high for a while, advancing and receding with the sway of the Waves soon after, though soon I felt the water begin to rise again until it comfortably around my shins.

Chandler was definitely playing a prank on us and for the life of me I couldn't understand why this stupid activity wasn't painful enough. The water only slowed us down for a few seconds before it began to make a faint sound in the distance from me. I perked up my ears and began to realize it was the sound of the boat engine idling as we continued on. The drone of the engine only got louder meaning it was getting closer or I was coming closer to it I started to feel really uncomfortable The water was almost up to my knees at this point I finally broke the hours of speechless silence guys what the hell are we doing What's under the water? I was confused and waited. Why didn't anyone answer me? My friends asked again with more concern. The voice was still blank. I could feel the panic starting to appear suddenly.

My blindness became suffocating I had to look around I raised my wrist towards my eyes trying to take off my blindfold as I did so The rope jerked away from me forcing my arms back again, I cursed, lowered my head to my fingers and removed the blindfold before the rope could be yanked away from me again to my horror, Whitworth was not my guide instead I found myself staring at a random middle-aged man holding The end of the rope tied around my wrist was frayed. I watched in shock as the rope broke in his hand and that's when I realized what had happened. caused that cut and I could make out three more Silhouettes standing on the ship.

I screamed bloody murder before he had a chance to react, yanking my arm up as hard as I could, while at the same time I lifted one leg out of the water and kicked him in the chest with all my might. luckily I was able to concentrate. The rope broke from his hand. He grabbed my shirt to try to break his fall but the fabric tore was deafening. He screamed as he plunged into the water with with a large patch on my white pledge t-shirt but I moved as fast as I could face the land, my wrists still tied. A few seconds passed before I heard a splash in the distance as someone jumped off the boat. I didn't even look behind me. I just kept moving. I was halfway out onto the sand when something shot off to the right. over my head maybe a few inches from my right ear was the knife I watched as it grazed me before disappearing into the water I was in complete shock but the adrenaline was working its magic I was on the ground and for the first time I looked back and there were two men in the water and two people on the boat. They didn't chase me anymore but just stared blankly at me. The closest man was still holding on to the piece of white shirt that had been torn off in the water My Fray.

Wasting another second. I ran up the beach and out to the road now past Sunrise but my friend was the last thing on my mind. I flagged down the nearest car and after pleading to use their phone, they called the police. it didn't help that when the police showed up, the four men were probably off somewhere in that tiny boat of theirs. I lied to the police about what happened, worried that there might be consequences for Frat, luckily they didn't ask me. not too much of a crap for my brothers they were actually more angry at chandler for not realizing what happened even though he swore he didn't hear anything then i became brother and everything returned to normal. Some time later, a few weeks later, some friends and I were playing on the sand behind the house when Jackson noticed something in the distance, a stick sticking out. out of the sand and tied to the stick was a piece of white cloth.

That was torn off my t-shirt the design on the torn stick was unmistakable it's still my shirt to this day I don't know how they knew which group I belonged to among my brothers think they might have recognized my t-shirt piece but I have more sinister Theories. I think it's very possible that they knew our fraternity would send us pledges on that beach that night in helplessness and blindness. I think they most likely planned the whole thing around that stupid tradition. burst in and kidnap whoever they were I probably wasn't lucky enough to be in the back of, it still gives me chills to this day. I still wonder what could have happened to me if I had gotten on that boat, the police have always been useless for almost a number of years now they never found anything.

This happened to me about a year ago today, which is why I'm writing about it now. I am a 19 year old college student preparing to join my campus fraternity. I go to a big party school down South and Creek living is valued there for privacy reasons. I won't get into specifics, but this particular night was my opening night, meaning the night that my class of 20 students and I would officially become fraternity brothers during the joining process. Over the course of several months, the brothers would make us do weird things like blindfold us and take us to strange places you know, typical burning things, this was one of the nights we were Blindfolded and left the student union house around 10:30 p.m.

The brothers took our phones and drove us to a mystery location, split between a few different cars to make sure we all got there along the way. They made us try and Miz some corny song while it was on full volume, we always had to do these annoying tasks while blindfolded I guess it's a part of the whole hot thing after about 20 minutes of driving, the car stopped and i heard the door open and close. I felt a hand grab my arm and quietly lead me out of the car, we had walked about 200 km. Then I was asked to sit down and be quiet. I was sitting on the grass so I assumed we were in a field or something. I could also tell that I was sitting close to everyone because I heard them sit down and I also heard the brothers talking to each other. among them fell silent after about a minute of sitting in silence.

I heard a voice speaking to all of us, saying a lot of things related to the brotherhood but mostly about how we were deemed worthy of being part of the Brotherhood the whole time. For 30 minutes I sat silently, occasionally hearing footsteps and movements around me. I guess they might be doing the final initiations with each person like taking them away to talk to them privately. I don't know for sure but being blindfolded means I'm left only to my imagination. There was a time when the footsteps disappeared and all I was left with were the sounds of crickets and leaves rustling in the night.

I started to feel uncomfortable because I must have been sitting there silently for about 20 minutes then suddenly I heard the footsteps of one of my brothers walking up to me and I felt a hand grab my neck. my hand and lead me away. He didn't say a word and neither did I. I just wanted to get it over with so I could take that stupid blindfold off as we walked. I could feel the ground beneath me shift from grass to rougher terrain. I could tell that we was walking through a forest when I felt tree branches and bushes rubbing against my body, we had been walking for a while and at one point the blindfold became very uncomfortable around my eyes. I told him this and asked if we could stop for a second so I could adjust, he stopped and let me go as I stood there rubbing my eyes from under the blindfold I heard a hoarse voice he said in a low voice to take it off I hesitated for a second not knowing what to say his voice disappointed me because it didn't sound like a voice I realized that there was no need to say that I took it off and the What I was greeted with was nothing like what I imagined.

I was standing face to face with a tall guy dressed in black wearing a Vendetta mask. I let out a shrill scream and jumped back partially. i thought this was just a prank but before a word could come out of my mouth he rushed at me screaming he was taking me with him we wrestled on the ground and i could Knowing that he was trying to strangle me, I used all my strength to throw him off of me. I stood up and rushed in the opposite direction using nothing but the Moonlight to guide me back, my heart beating a million times. a minute and I kept looking back because I was afraid he was following me. Finally I heard people shouting my name and I almost bumped into one of the fraternity brothers. I told him in jumbled jumbled words that some random guy wearing a mask led me into the woods and tried to hit me but before I could warn them five more times. or six of them rushed past me with flashlights trying to chase him, one of them stayed with me to calm me down and get me back to safety once we got out of the woods.

I realized we were in the backyard, probably of one of the brothers. The houses I saw had almost the entire fraternity standing on the porch looking at us with amazement. I asked them what the hell was going on, they said that because it was dark and I was the last one in line the brother who was supposed to escort me somehow overlooked me being there and completely forgot I they said a few minutes later, one of them thought they saw movement in the woods, at the same time they realized I wasn't in their group. I was so shocked that I couldn't I wasn't even angry about it, none of them knew who the man was but some of the brothers speculated that it might be a fraternity brother. other brothers as soon as the flashlight flashed from the trees and I saw them running towards us, they told everyone to go get the car.

Got out of there and returned to campus immediately. Without asking any questions they locked the house and one of them was on the phone with the police during the trip back. I was bombarded with questions and I answered them as best I could with my mind still racing. I wondered where that man came from, why he wore a mask, which he could. led me to I played scenarios in my head as if it could be a brother of a rival brotherhood trying to steal from me before I was initiated without explaining why the two brothers locked the house again and called the police although I didn't know until the next day when one of the brothers who ran after him told me what they found in those woods and what they found. found not what I expected as they were running they saw a light in the distance they were silent as they got closer they realized it was a fire in the middle of a clearing standing around the fire there was a people dressed all in black and wearing white Vendetta Masks chanted and threw things into the fire.

One of the brothers stepped on a Tree Branch so loudly that all the massed men turned around and faced them. They stood there like something out of a horror movie. The Mysterious Men suddenly started running in their direction. fled and returned where they told the others to leave and called the police. It seemed like we had somehow entered some kind of cult ritual meeting. I couldn't sleep for many nights after that and I tried my best to get out of my head. However, about this situation, I heard something from the fraternity a few days later and shivered for life. back when a few of them were playing football in the backyard of that house, they found a white Vendetta mask hanging on a tree nearby, they called the police and the police took it as evidence and investigation. I'm not sure if those guys were caught or if the police could do anything. I'm not sure what the hell those strange people are doing in that forest.

I've been thinking about this experience a lot lately and I'm glad I have nothing left but a crazy story. It's been 8 years since I graduated college. I went to Cooper Union, a small technical school right in the middle of Going to school in Manhattan in New York City was amazing and I wouldn't trade it for anything back then we didn't have many friendships so I definitely would have joined any that I could , just to make sure I'll have parties to attend. and it's okay, I'm a relatively normal kid so it shouldn't be too hard to get a bid, most Pledge events are pretty tame but I'll soon find out what they compensate me for.

I'm not in trouble for revealing the story but it happened so long ago that I think it's probably safe to talk about it. I doubt my old friend is still making commitments to even do this. I sure hope they weren't anyway. The big thing we did during the start was walk around on the subway. I can't remember exactly where this was but there was an old abandoned subway station. abandoned that teenagers often explore our friends will take the US in from one of the active platforms walk to the abandoned subway station get a few pictures and then continue to the active platform next activity, we were provided with a Metro timetable to ensure that there was no chance of a train circling while we were vulnerable. We will have plenty of time to get on the abandoned platform, wait for an incoming train to pass and then get to the next station. I know what you might be thinking but no, we don't have to run away from the train line. was pretty well planned and we all had plenty of time to get across the tracks all we had to do was avoid the dangerous third rail and we would be fine.

I was a big urban explorer before college so this was actually more exciting, nerve wracking. It was some random day of the week at 3:00 a.m. when our brothers made us get on the subway. I'm pretty sure they chose this time because ships were rare and we would be protected at all costs, there were about 10 of us. I tell you it was a beautiful trip. the school is small you don't need to know everyone's name but i should mention that my best friend in my pledge class is an alb ian guy named rker he is the funniest guy you will ever meet my friends and I always say he should try and do stand up comedy he also smokes a lot of weed which is very important to this story the group of us entered the subway without got hurt and I went up to the back because everyone else was so scared it was very dark in there and our brothers only gave us two flashlights to share those flashlights and one Cheap film cameras were all we had at first. I was given one of the flashlights to keep in the back but I quickly showed it to one of my pledge brothers who was whining about not being able to see for even less than 30 seconds while walking and rker had his first genius idea.

He pulled a pre-rolled joint from his jacket and grinned signaling me to stop. I don't have enough to share, he whispered, nodding toward the others, who hadn't noticed. What we were doing was against my better judgment. I had to know when I would get the chance to shine in a subway tunnel again, the two of us smoking while watching The Other Guys TR go further away from us, their laughter echoing started to slow down, we had finished the pot, we were quite a distance behind. Riker's stuff was really strong and I found myself being a bit more absent minded than I wanted to since my stamina was definitely not as high as his, the two of us picked up the pace to catch up with the rest of us in the group but rker noticed something in our path, we had no light so all we could see was someone's silhouette and the dim tunnel lights.

I strained my eyes a little more. there was definitely a person in there just standing motionless in the middle of the tracks facing us, actually it was a bit creepy David called rer His voice cut through The silence of the tunnel the person on the tracks didn't answer right away then David's voice called back to us from the far end of the line the two of us were stunned the person in front of us was a stranger as if David's voice was someone like the change, the person on the track caught running at full speed towards us Wards, the two of us turned around and backed up in such a way that we came to my height. I felt like I was about to have a panic attack. Sprint's figure was strangely silent as if we were being chased by a shadow, this guy must be so light it was impossible to imagine Riker holding my arm tightly. tightened his stupid confidence disappeared completely faster he hissed fear in his voice imitating my own I know we still have some time before the next train comes but run wrong direction just feels wrong rker must have thought so too because he frantically pulled me aside signaling us to cross the median onto another street when he realized we could have kept going back original station but I was so high that I just blindly followed the rker, we crossed the median and sped back towards the abandoned station.

Now things were even scarier even though we didn't really know when a train would come barreling towards us on this line. tracking but at least we were on track. I hoped Riker's actions were enough to sway Shake whoever was chasing us but clearly not whoever was behind us also crossed the median and continued running after us. The problem was that there were only a few places where the median could be crossed so we had to pray that we found another place before a train back to the place we had just used was no longer an option. again, my heart was pounding but rker and I were able to widen the distance between us and the pursuer, we kept running even though we looked for a place to cross but with no luck

Riker started Ed cursing continuously and I started to feel nauseous, we kept running still looking for a place to cross right then the tracks started shaking and we could see the light starting to come through Out at the far end of the tunnel, a train is coming. damn, I was about to turn around and fight whoever was behind us but then rker shouted right here, running towards the median by some miracle, the next crossing point is right there in front of us and the two of us crossed back to the original line, we sprinted as one another 30 yards and caught up with the rest of the people on the platform, the rker explained the whole thing while I leaned over and Throw up, less than 30 seconds later.

The train on the other track rushed towards the rker and the rest of the people were ready to confront whoever was chasing us, no one appeared although we thought the worst but just then we heard a Another crazy scream from somewhere far away to this day. I still don't know how that person avoided the train we were waiting for to pass. our track and then sprinted out of there in hindsight and I probably just met some homeless guy who was drugged and probably didn't even pose a threat to us , fear took over in that moment although I guess that explains the stupid decision we made to try to cross the median. I'm sure we both could have fended off that guy too but I'm glad we didn't have to.