AOTP Campfire Tales Ep.13

Accounts of the Paranormal's Campfire Tales 

The Last Skate at Starlite Rink

In 1995, teens dared to break into the abandoned Starlite Rink, only to unleash a terrifying supernatural event.

Paranormal and mystery short stories told around the campfire, straight from our Accounts of the Paranormal YouTube channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9zKn4LcW3VJROe1-l9EAcQ

If you have an account to share and would like to be a guest on the show, email me at show@accountsoftheparanormal.com and tell me what you saw!

Accounts of the Paranormal -

Creator/Producer/Host: Gino Barreto

WEBSITE: https://accountsoftheparanormal.com/ 

YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9zKn4LcW3VJROe1-l9EAcQ 

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/accountsoftheparanormal/ 

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578228277599 

TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@accountsoftheparanormal

X: https://www.x.com/aotparapodcast

Accounts of the Paranormal (theme song) 

Written by: Gino Barreto / Produced by: Kobe Ofei

All music produced by: 

Kobe Ofei https://www.fiverr.com/kobeofei 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to Accounts of the Paranormal's Campfire Tales. I'm Julia, your host and guide into strange, unexplained history and chilling tales of the paranormal. Join us around the campfire for tonight's story. Back in the summer of 1995, every town had one place kids talked about like it was cursed. In Mill Creek, that place was Starlight Rank. It sat behind a dead strip mall, a low brick building with plywood over the windows and weeds growing through the cracked parking lot. Years before, kids had birthday parties there, teenagers skated under disco lights, and the arcade rang with quarters dropping into machines. Then one night, something happened. Some said a boy fell during a blackout and cracked his skull on the rink floor. Others said the owner locked up with someone still inside. But regardless of what really happened, by ninety five, Starlight was boarded up and whispered about by every teenager in town. That was why Chad Mercer dared his friends to break in. There were five of them, Chad, Chris, Melissa, Troy, and Angie. They rode their bikes there after midnight, laughing loud, trying not to seem scared. Ghost roller skaters, Troy said. What are they gonna do? Haunt us in leg warmers? Chad found a loose board near the back entrance, and they all squeezed inside. The air was cold, stale, and sweet with old candy and mildew. Their flashlights swept across dusty rental skates, a crooked snack bar menu, and rows of dead arcade machines. Miss Pac Man, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and ski ball lanes coated in dust. When they reached the rink, the floor stretched into darkness, smooth and pale beneath a motionless disco ball. Ladies and gentlemen, Chad said, stepping onto the floor, welcome back to Starlight. That was when the building answered. A single arcade machine beeped, and everyone froze. Then Miss Pacman lit up, then Mortal Kombat, then all of them. The arcade exploded with sound, music, digital voices, engines revving, coins clinking into slots that hadn't held power in years. Then, from above, speakers crackled, and a warped voice boomed through the rink. Couples skate the disco ball began to turn. Colored lights spun across the floor, and eighties music screamed through the building. From the skate counter came the sound of wheels rolling. One pair of rental skates moved by itself. Then another, then ten more. They rolled onto the rink floor, empty and upright, as if invisible feet filled them, circling faster and faster through the dust. Melissa, terrified, backed away. We need to leave. Behind them every arcade screen changed. Each one showed five figures standing in a dark skating rink. Them. Then the screens flashed their names Chad, Chris, Melissa, Troy, Angie. At the far end of the rink, a child laughed. Chad saw him beneath the disco ball, a boy in a striped shirt and old white skates. His face was pale. Who's there? Chad shouted. The boy lifted one hand and pointed, when suddenly a ski ball machine fired by itself, and a wooden ball flew down the lane, jumped the rail, and slammed into Troy's ankle, causing him to scream and fall to the rink floor. As he laid there in pain, the empty skate suddenly changed direction, circling him like sharks. Angie tried to help, but invisible hands dragged her onto the rink. She slid across the floor, screaming. Melissa grabbed Chad. Tell them you're sorry. Chad faced the boy. We're sorry, he shouted. We shouldn't have come in. For one second everything stopped. Then the boy smiled, and the speakers crackled again with that same warped voice. Last song. The music became deafening. The lights spun faster. Chris grabbed a broken chair and smashed it through the plywood covering a window. Go! One by one they crawled out the window to the barren parking lot. Chad went last. But before he escaped, he looked back. The rink was full now, not empty skates, but people. Dozens of shadowy kids circled beneath the spinning lights, and in the center, the boy in the striped shirt waved goodbye. The five friends never went near Starlight again. A week later, the building burned down. The fire chief said it was faulty wiring, though everyone knew the power had been cut for years. But sometimes, late at night, people driving past that empty lot swear they still hear the music. And beneath it, the soft, rolling sound of skates circling a rink that is no longer there.com, where you can access full episodes and links to all our socials. And while you're there, be sure to sign up for our blog so you never miss show info or other announcements. I'll see you next time.