The Campus Killer

When two fellow classmates disappear, and news spreads of a possible serial killer on the loose, a Florida college student locks herself in for the night on Halloween in 1978, only to learn she might not be alone in the house.

Created & Produced by Samuel Weston Evans
Written & Directed by Samuel Weston Evans
Sound-Designed & Edited by Samuel Weston Evans

Vocal Performances by:
Brooke Hall as Debbie
Samuel Weston Evans as The Keeper

Cover Art Illustrated by Mongemanuk.std
Special Thanks to Ren Dara Santiago
Website: https://aloneintheattic.buzzsprout.com/
Instagram: @_aloneintheattic

Transcript

Hello, my friend.

Halloween night, what a perfect evening to spend with the ghosts. Are you set for another scary story?

Splendid. Happy haunting.

Which ghost will call to you tonight?

How fitting. The kitchen knife you hold in your hand belonged to Debbie Calhoun, a college student who had a harrowing Halloween. This is the tale of...“The Campus Killer.”

As always: close your eyes, open your ears, and journey back to that frightful evening.


It was October 31st, 1978, in Gainesville, Florida.

I was two months into my sophomore year of college and was living in a house right next to campus with my two friends, Patti and Carol. The three of us were all in the same sorority together and they were going out to a Halloween party hosted by one of the fraternities. But I chose not to go, so I was left alone in the house with Carol’s cat.

I had my reasons for not wanting to go out to the party that night. Over the previous couple weeks, two students had gone missing. They were both sorority girls, so many people, including myself, started to suspect there was a serial killer on the loose targeting young women like me.

Ted Bundy was arrested earlier in the year for murdering dozens of young women, two of whom he killed in the Chi Omega house at Florida State. So it was very plausible that another psycho was doing something similar on our campus. Being from Tallahassee, I knew some of the girls in that sorority, and hearing about what they witnessed during Bundy’s attack horrified me. So, after the two girls went missing from our campus, I started to get really paranoid. I had also just seen Halloween at the movies that weekend, so I was even more on edge.

If there was some murderer out there targeting us, I did not want to be in a large group of sorority girls on Halloween night. I tried to get Patti and Carol to stay home with me, but they didn’t think there was anything to worry about. They said that even if there was some crazy killer on the loose, the boys would protect them at the party. But I didn’t have as much trust in those boys as they did. How did we know it wasn’t one of them or another student on campus who was behind the disappearances?

But I couldn’t seem to convince them, so they headed off to the party and left me on my own in the quiet house. I closed the door behind them and locked both bolts. I peered out the window and watched them merge into the stream of costumed students heading towards the frat houses. I saw Dracula and Frankenstein, several Princess Leias and Darth Vaders, and one couple dressed as Sandy and Danny from Grease. There were a few Michael Myers as well. One of them looked like he was staring at me through the window, so I quickly closed the curtain and made sure all the windows and doors were locked.

Once I was sealed in for the night, I sat in the living room with a bowl of candy and turned on the television. On NBC, a movie called Stranger in Our House was premiering, so I decided to watch it. I watched for a little while, and right as something scary was about to happen...

The phone rang. I went to the kitchen to answer it. “Hello.” But there was no response. “Hello?” I could hear someone breathing on the other end. “Who is this?” But they still didn’t say anything. “Real funny. Happy Halloween, asshole.” I hung up, figuring it was just one of the boys playing a prank.

I went back to the living room and continued watching the movie. But then I heard a knock at the door. I slowly got up and walked over to it, then looked through the peephole. I didn’t see anyone. Just another person playing tricks on Halloween. I walked back to the couch, but just as I was about to sit down...

I heard another knock. I carefully creeped back to the door and peered through the peephole again. There was no one outside. I looked around and even peeked through the window from behind the curtain, but I didn’t see anyone. I felt a bit uneasy, so I checked the bolts on the door to make sure it was still fully locked.

I didn’t want anyone else coming up to the house, so I turned off all the lights to make it look like no one was home. Left in the dark, I curled back up on the couch, with only the glow from the TV screen illuminating the room. I turned the volume down too, so no one outside would be able to hear.

Suddenly, I heard a crash from upstairs. My whole body tensed up. “What was that?” I quickly got up and grabbed a knife from the kitchen. I quietly stepped towards the stairs and peered up from the bottom. I didn’t see anything, so I listened for a moment. Everything was quiet.

I carefully crept up each step until I got to the top. On the left was Carol’s room, so I peered in and turned on the light. Her cat was on the ground, next to a shattered vase. The tension in my body melted away. “What are you doing? You nearly gave me a heart attack.” I picked him up and put him on the bed and then started to clean up the pieces of glass on the ground. “Your mom is not gonna be happy with you.” He looked uneasy too and started hissing at me, which he never normally did.

I then noticed that the window in the corner was open. I had forgotten to check the upstairs windows when I was locking up, so I shut it and then went into Patti’s room to make sure her window was closed too. It was locked, so now every window and door in the whole house was sealed.

But then I noticed her phone on her bedside table was off the hook. I put it back, and right as I was about to leave her room, it started ringing. She was the only one who had her own personal line in the house, so I didn’t want to answer it, but it kept ringing. Finally, I decided to pick it up. I listened for someone to say “hello,” but all I could hear was faint breathing. It sounded like what I heard on the call downstairs. The breathing got louder and grew into something scarier until...it cut out. I hung up and then dialed 9-1-1 to report the call, but I couldn’t get through. The line was dead.

Suddenly, I heard a strange noise coming from downstairs. “What is that cat doing now?” I left Patti’s room, and when I got downstairs and went into the living room, I saw that the TV was staticky. The cat was sitting in front of it, hissing louder. I needed all the scary sounds to stop. I put the knife down on the coffee table to try to fix the TV. I grabbed the antennas and adjusted them at different angles, but nothing helped. I tried changing the channel, but it was only static.

I ran into the kitchen to check if the downstairs phone was working, but it wasn’t fully on the hook. "Did I leave it like that?" I didn’t think so, but I must have. I picked up the receiver to make a call, but only heard silence. The kitchen line was dead too.

Suddenly, I heard a knock on the door, louder than before. It almost sounded like it came from inside the house. My whole body tensed up again. I quietly hung the phone up and went into the living room to get my knife...but it was gone. My blood ran cold. I looked at the front door and saw that both bolts were unlocked.

Suddenly, the TV shut off. The house was completely dark. The cat started hissing again and then I heard footsteps moving towards me. I ran to the front door, but—


Debbie Calhoun vanished that night, another victim of a violent killer, on one horrifying Halloween. But tonight her haunting has come to an end and her spirit has been released by you.

There are mere moments left of this Halloween night and your time here is limited before the dawn. I had agreed to explain more, but cannot reveal too much, for your own good. The reason you are welcome here only at night and need to depart before daybreak, is because you must be gone when HE returns...

My brother...If he sees you—

He is almost here now. Quickly, you must be going!

Keep watch and listen for the door. You shall be welcomed back to the Attic again. The spirits and I thank you for listening.

Stay safe out there...and don’t be home alone on Halloween night.


Thank you for listening to Alone in the Attic. Tonight's episode was written, directed, and edited by Samuel Weston Evans, with vocal performances by Brooke Hall as Debbie and Samuel Weston Evans as The Keeper.

Join us next October for another season of terrifying tales and to find out what secrets are hiding...Alone in the Attic.