Central City Boogieman

Central City isn’t big by any stretch of the imagination. It’s located right outside of Deadwood, South Dakota. The town is small, very small. If you’re curious on the population, it isn’t much. In fact it’s hard to even recognize it as a town but it is. Central City is currently made up of one hundred and thirty five residents. That’s hardly anything if you begin to think about it. Most big cities have more people on one street than this entire city does. Heck even some apartment complexes house more than one hundred and thirty five people, yet there is a city made up of that many people.

Now to the question of what makes this city special. Why should it mentioned and talked about? There are many mysterious things in South

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Dakota. They range from the Black Hills all the way to the Badlands and even further. This state really is quite amazing once you take in all the history and beauty. There is, however, something in Central City that very few know about. There is only one hotel in Central City, Central City Inn. It’s not highly talked about, for good reason, but this hotel has a past. It has a, well some people call it a demon, others refer to it as a monster. Either way, it is a creature that for most, haunts every part of their being. If you stay in this hotel there is a chance either you’ll come out terrified or you won’t ever leave.

What is it that makes this hotel so scary? It’s a monster that isn’t talked about too much. It’s a creature that has taken a backseat in the scare game. It happens to be one that is more terrifying that most. The Boogieman, lives in Central City. He’s been there since the town was founded. No one is quite sure how he came to be or why he chose this town but he’s here and he’s chosen this hotel as his home.

When residents come to stay, usually the first night is like any other, check in and sleeping as normal. The second night is where things get…strange. A figure is heard to appear. This thing almost looks human. Once he comes closer it’s apparent he’s far from normal. His face looks like it’s been painted. Almost like a clown. It’s not paint and he has piercings all over. They’re in

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his nose, ears and even lips. The tops of his ears have small piercings and the bottoms are gauged out. His clothes are ripped up and worn out. The boogieman carries a staff around with him. It has a shrunken skull on the top of it and is wrapped with some sort of material all the way down. Most people don’t know this but the material it’s wrapped in is skin. A combination of human and animal skin. The boogieman has no preference on the lives he takes just that he feeds his hunger and remains in the horror stories.

It’s strange but he has a feeling of being forgotten. His fear is real for this world. If he ends up being forgotten he disappears. When you’re a monster who lives off the fear of others that becomes a fear of your own. What happens if you’re forgotten and no one is scared of you anymore. The town rallies up and decides that enough is enough. It’s something that the boogieman has yet to deal with and hopes for his sake, is a long ways off to come.

Ted and Roy happened to be passing through South Dakota. They heard of an old gambling town that had some history to it. On their way to Deadwood all of the rooms had said they were full. On their GPS they saw that there was a town just outside of Deadwood called Central City. There was one room left available. Roy was driving the car so Ted made the call and reserved the room. When they reached the hotel they knew they were in for a treat.

On the front of the hotel was a old sign that was barely hanging on by two chains. When a strong breeze came through it banged against the building. It was painted in a faded cream color and the wooden siding had been peeling off for what looked like decades. When the two boys checked in at the front desk a little old lady was there. She looked to be about 150 years old, with a raspy voice and large reading classes. The front desk smelled of cigarettes and cigars. There also may have been possibly a hint of liquor involved. Hard to imagine not drinking to pass the time in a town so small. There looked to be only two business establishments in Central City. One was the hotel and the other was a gas station located a few blocks down the road.

The old lady gave the boys their room key, it was an actual key and they went back outside and down the side of the building to room 104. There was a car parked down a few spaces in front of room 107. Other than that they seemed to be the only ones there, which was odd when

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she told them there was only one room left. It was possible the other guests hadn’t shown up yet. The sun was slowly setting. Ted and Roy walked down to the gas station to grab some late night snacks and headed back to their room. When they arrived back at the hotel there still weren’t any other cars there. Just the same one parked in front of room 107. They walked into their room, shut and bolted the door. The TV that was in there still had the old antenna on it. The only station they could pick up was a local news station but it was better than nothing. They both played games on their phones and did some youtubing.

It was getting close to calling it a day when they heard a knock on the door. Ted climbed out of his bed and opened the curtain on the window to peek out and see who was there. The little old lady was standing at the door. He opened up the door and with a groggy voice she said, “What do you want?”. Ted looked at her and back at Roy with a confused look. He replied, “I don’t need anything. We never called to the front.” She shook her head, flapped her hand at him and walked back towards the office. Both men had a strange feeling in their guts. Fifteen minutes later the someone knocked on the door again. This time Roy got up but didn’t look out the curtain first. He just opened the door and when he did, there wasn’t anyone there. He looked back at Ted and made sure that he had heard the door knock too. Ted nodded and their night was beginning to look a little more strange. Of course they would end up choosing a haunted hotel. It was just their luck.

It was close to midnight and both of them were trying their best to stay awake. Their eyelids flt like they weighed about four hundred pounds each. They each heard another knock. This time it wasn’t coming from the front door. The knock came from the closest. Adrenaline was

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running through them. They were wide awake. Both of them got up and walked towards the closet door. They opened it up as fast they could. There wasn’t anyone or anything there. Just some coat hangers swaying back and forth. Another bang came from the bathroom. Ted and Roy jumped about three feet in the air and turned around. Looking at each other and wondering what in the world was going on. They inched their way to the bathroom and opened up the door to find that the window had been cracked open. Each of them had a good laugh and turned around when the closet door slammed back open and out popped….the boogieman.

Both men screamed at the top of their lungs and began hyperventilating. They didn’t know what this thing was or how it had come into their room. The boogieman stood up and cocked his head. He looked at them funny and had drool coming out of his mouth, dripping down his chin and onto the floor. He started to shake his staff and began to bang on it on the floor. It started with slow knocks and then gradually became faster. The boys were backing up and finally came to a halt. There was a wall there and they couldn’t move any further. The boogieman started shaking his head and laughing hysterically. It was almost a high pitched hyena noise. He raised both his arms up and then swung them down. All the lights went out and it was completely dark in the room. Suddenly the boogieman’s head lit up and his eyes glowed red and black. He said to the boys, “I’M THE BOOGIEMAN!”

The little old woman sat in the office. She was smoking a cigarette and grinning ever so slightly. She looked at a picture she had on her desk of a little boy dressed up in a scary costume for Halloween. She mumbled under her breath, “That’s my boy.”

The End