Spring Break Horror Story

Mary's spring break horror story began the very first day when she left the campus with her boyfriend, Bill. They were on their way to the Great Smokey Mountains for a camping and fishing trip.

Each of them really enjoyed camping and fishing, but Mary was behind in her courses and didn't have time to make the arrangements for such a trip. Bill insisted that he could arrange the whole thing and despite her doubts and since he was so insistent, she relented.

He was supposed to rent them a cabin near the trout stream and she was under the impression that he had until she asked him why he had packed so much gear in his Bronco for a one-week vacation. That's when he let her in on his little "surprise," and told her that he had decided on his own without asking her that they were going to rough it in a tent.

It was about mid-morning and they were halfway up the mountain when they got a flat tire. Mary wanted to call the auto club but he insisted that he could change it. They were well off the road so again, she relented.

He told her it would take about twenty minutes or so and that he didn't need any help so she decided to take a walk in the woods. The forest was beautiful and it was more than twenty minutes when she got back to the car.

The whole car had been unloaded. Bill had to take everything off to get to the jack. It was almost two hours later by the time he changed the tire and loaded everything back into the Bronco.

The campsite was nice and close to the stream. They unloaded everything, set up the tent and headed to the trout stream with their fishing poles. At this point it was kind of nice. Mary was hoping they would catch enough trout to cook over an open fire rather than beans which is what he had brought along for food in case they didn't catch anything.

As it turned out, they caught two each and had a nice time at the stream. However, when they got back to the camp, cleaned up, got a fire going and cleaned the trout, Bill realized he had forgotten to include a pan to cook the fish. They had beans.

That evening, they had just settled into the tent for the night when it started to rain and the tent began to leak. The whole floor of the tent was wet and their sleeping bags were soaked. They slept in the Bronco.

The next morning dawned bright and sunny. They hung out the sleeping bags and wet clothes, cleaned everything up and headed to a store to buy a pan and get more supplies, which included duct tape to repair the used tent he had bought. Mary told him in no uncertain terms that she was NOT going to have beans again for dinner.

Late that afternoon, they went back to the stream and caught more trout. They had a very nice time and by early evening they were eating the fresh trout which they cooked over an open fire.

The sleeping bags and clothes were dry and everything seemed to be going okay until it started raining again. Bill insisted that he had repaired the tent and that it wouldn't leak.

Then Mary noticed that some of the other campers were packing up and leaving, but she really didn't think much about it at the time, except that perhaps the rain had discouraged them. She too was a bit reluctant, but got into the tent, believing they would probably be heading for the Bronco before the night was over.

During the night Mary was awakened by the sound of thunder and to her surprise, the tent wasn't leaking. The rain was coming down pretty hard and when she raised the flap, lightning flashed and she shouted, "Oh... my... God!"

The stream had risen and was only a couple of feet from their tent! They scrambled out and headed for the Bronco. There wasn't a single camper in the whole campground. Apparently, they knew to get out.

Having studied the situation for a moment, Bob decided that they had enough time to pack up the campsite and get out. Mary disagreed and told him the roads were flooding and that they needed to get to dry ground. But he got out saying, "Stay in the car. It won't take me long."

Mary slid across the seat and screamed, "Get back in the car right now!"

He stared blankly at her. She had never used that tone with him before. Hesitating, he got back into the car with a laugh and said, "Hey, if you're that scared, we'll leave."

The campgrounds were muddy and the dirt road that led down the mountain was flooded. Bill started down the road and the Bronco slid sideways into a ditch. They were stuck.

Rain fell hard all night as they sat in the car and watched the water rise across the campground. Even though they were in quite a predicament, they didn't appear to be in any danger because they were high above the water.

The rain ended just before dawn but the water kept rising. Their tent and supplies had all washed away. All they had were the clothes on their backs. But thankfully, Mary had her purse and Bill had his wallet so they had money and credit cards.

It was about two hours after daylight when they were about to get out and walk up the mountain to get help but a park ranger showed up and pulled them out. They gassed up the Bronco and went home.

Looking back on their spring break Mary had to admit one thing- she never had a dull moment. However, she certainly wouldn't want to do it again.