The Thing That Wore My Brother's Face
By EerieStory | July 2026 | 8 min read
The Appalachian Mountains have inspired terrifying legends for generations. This original horror story follows two brothers whose hunting trip turns into a nightmare after one of them follows a mysterious voice into the woods. Sometimes, the mountains don't take people—they send something else back.
The Hunting Trip
People who grow up near the Appalachian Mountains learn one rule before they learn how to hunt.
Never answer a voice calling your name after dark.
Old-timers don't laugh when they say it. They lower their voices. They refuse to explain further. They simply tell you to keep walking, no matter who you think is calling.
I always believed those stories were nothing more than mountain folklore.
Until my brother disappeared.
About an hour later, while tracking deer through thick pines, I heard something impossible.
A whisper.
"Nathan..."
It wasn't loud.
It sounded almost... familiar.
Nathan froze.
His eyes drifted toward the trees.
I asked if he heard it.
He didn't answer.
The whisper came again.
"Nathan..."
Without saying a single word, he slowly walked into the forest.
Not running.
Not scared.
Almost like he was sleepwalking.
I followed immediately.
"Nathan!"
No response.
Within seconds, he disappeared behind the trees.
I searched everywhere.
Twenty minutes passed.
The woods became painfully quiet.
Then...
Nathan stepped out from between two trees.
Smiling.
"I've been looking for you," he said.
Something about him felt...
Wrong.
But I couldn't explain why.
When we finally returned home, our German Shepherd, Ranger, sprinted toward us.
Then he stopped.
His ears flattened.
A deep growl echoed from his throat.
He wasn't looking at me.
He was staring directly at Nathan.
Nathan laughed.
"What's wrong with him?"
Ranger refused to move.
When Nathan walked toward the porch, Ranger blocked the doorway.
The dog had never behaved like that before.
That night, I couldn't sleep.
Around midnight...
Someone whispered from outside my bedroom door.
"Nathan..."
I opened the door.
The hallway was empty.
Nathan's bedroom door remained closed.
But outside his bedroom window...
Something moved in the darkness.
Nathan Came Back Different
The next morning, Nathan acted like nothing had happened.
He remembered hunting.
He remembered leaving the house.
But he couldn't remember hearing the whisper.
Or disappearing.
It was as if those twenty minutes had vanished from his memory.
Outside, I noticed something strange.
Fresh footprints circled the cabin.
They weren't human.
The tracks were too long.
Too narrow.
And each footprint ended in sharp claw-like impressions.
They stopped directly beneath Nathan's bedroom window.
Inside the room, wet mud covered the wooden floor beneath the window.
The window was locked.
No broken glass.
No sign of forced entry.
Ranger refused to go upstairs.
Every time Nathan walked by...
The dog backed away with his tail tucked.
Then I looked outside again.
If Nathan had been inside all night...
Who had been standing beneath his window?
The Abandoned Mine
The following morning, Nathan disappeared again.
I found him walking silently toward an abandoned mining trail deep in the mountains.
He never looked back.
Never spoke.
He simply walked.
Ranger stayed close beside me, growling nonstop.
The trail ended at an old coal mine abandoned decades earlier.
The entrance looked ready to collapse.
Rusted rails disappeared into complete darkness.
Nathan walked inside.
Without hesitation.
I followed.
The deeper we went, the colder the air became.
Long claw marks covered the tunnel walls.
Not scratches.
Gouges.
Something enormous had carved them into solid rock.
Then Ranger suddenly stopped.
He barked into the darkness.
I pointed my flashlight ahead.
Someone stood at the end of the tunnel.
Nathan.
He smiled.
Then I heard footsteps behind me.
I turned.
Nathan was standing beside me.
My blood froze.
I looked back toward the tunnel.
The other Nathan smiled even wider.
His voice echoed through the mine.
"You're following the wrong brother."
The Real Nathan
I ran after the figure standing deeper inside the tunnel.
It moved slowly.
Almost inviting me closer.
Around the next bend...
I found Nathan's hunting backpack lying on the ground.
Covered in dried blood.
His hunting knife rested beside it.
Then I heard crying.
Hidden beneath broken wooden beams...
The real Nathan was tied up, weak but alive.
Before I could reach him...
The smiling Nathan stepped from the shadows.
Its body twisted.
Bones cracked.
Its skin stretched.
Its smile widened beyond anything human.
Then its face began peeling away.
Beneath my brother's face...
Was something else.
Its head stretched into a pale deer skull.
Massive antlers scraped the tunnel ceiling.
Its arms lengthened into black claws.
Its glowing eyes never blinked.
The creature smiled.
Not with lips.
But with rows of jagged teeth hidden beneath the stolen face.
Ranger lunged first.
The creature screamed.
I grabbed Nathan and pulled him free.
We ran.
Behind us, the thing laughed.
Not angry.
Amused.
As though it knew escape didn't matter.
We burst from the mine just as sunrise touched the mountain peaks.
The creature never crossed into daylight.
At least...
Not that morning.
Nathan survived.
But he never remembered what happened inside those woods.
He still can't explain those missing hours.
Sometimes he wakes in the middle of the night and whispers names he doesn't recognize.
Ranger died a few years later.
He never trusted Nathan again.
Even now...
Whenever I drive through the Appalachian Mountains after sunset...
I keep my windows rolled up.
Sometimes...
I hear someone calling my name from the trees.
The voice sounds exactly like my brother.
I never answer.
Because people think the mountains take lives.
They're wrong.
Sometimes...
They simply send something else back wearing your face.
If you ever hear someone calling your name in the Appalachian Mountains... make absolutely sure they're still human before you answer.
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