One Friday evening on June 30th 2011, a young girl and her family are preparing to take a trip to her family’s campsite. They get the car all packed and start on the road towards the campsite. After a little over an hour of being on the road, they finally arrive at the campsite. April, the young girl, gets out of the car and runs over to Grandma Betty. 

“Hi April!!!” Grandma Betty says with open arms.

“Grandma!!! I missed you so much.” said April while running into her arms. 

Marie and Michael, April’s parents, are unpacking the car. They get out their big tent and camping chairs. Max, April’s older brother, is getting out the food for dinner and smores for the big bonfire later! Max goes to set down the food under the pavilion and calls Charlie over. Charlie, their dog,  jumps out of the back seat and trots over to Max. April goes back over to her parents and starts helping them set up the tent. April is only 5 so she doesn’t really know how to help. Michael sees that April is struggling and says,

“April, Hun, why don’t you go grab the blankets and pillows and start setting them up inside the tent. Me and your momma got this.”

“Okay Dad!” April responds, still excited to help.

Once everything gets set up, everyone goes to the pavilion to catch up and play some games. Grandma Betty brought some crafts to do as well! She explains to April and Sam how to do them and they start working on them. While they are working on them, April has to go to the bathroom.

“Mommy I have to go potty!” 

“Okay baby, lets go to the potty, thank you for telling me” Marie answers back proudly. 

On the way to the bathroom they pass by the old house. It’s slowly falling down and not in good shape at all. The house is barely standing, no one can go inside of it. It has cracks in the siding and all of the shingles on the roof are either broken or falling off. April hates this house, she has always been scared of it. It’s something about how old and broken it is that creeps her out. 

When April and Marie return to the pavilion, everyone decides to go swimming. April runs to put her watermelon swimsuit on. The family goes down to the creek and sets up their camping chairs on the creek bed. They swim and have a blast for about 3 hours then go back up to the pavilion for dinner. April and Grandma Betty walk over to Betty’s truck to get the rest of the food out. April jumps up and sits in the bed of the truck and starts looking at the old house. Marie and Michael start walking up to the truck to help get some supplies. 

“Grandma?” April asks, kind of worrisome. 

“Yeah A?” Betty responds.

April points at a window in the old house, “Do you see that?”

Grandma Betty Looks at the window, “See what baby?”

April responds, “The old man!”

“What old man A?” Michael walks up,

“The old man from Potosi.” April responds.

Everyone looks at each other and laughs. An old man from Potosi is the most random thing they’ve all heard today. They grab the supplies and walk back to the pavilion. Michael starts up the grill and Grandma Betty sets out plates and utensils. Michael grills some hamburgers and hot dogs. While they are eating dinner “The Old Man from Potosi” gets brought up. 

“So April, what does this old man from Potosi look like?” Asks Michael.

“Who?” Sam asks,

“April saw an old man sitting in the window of the old house.” Michael responds.

Sam didn’t seem surprised, “Hm, weird.”.

“He has bright white hair and wears glasses.” April continues, “His face is all wrinkly and he’s wearing a jean jacket.”

“Well he sounds like a nice old man.” Marie says.

“I don’t know, he was pretty scary, I couldn’t see one of his arms either.” April looks shaken up. 

It’s starting to get dark out so the family decides to start the bonfire. 

“Max, help me get some logs for the fire please.” Michael asks.

Max and Michael go to get wood for the fire while Betty and Marie go to get the smores. April is left alone at the pavilion but is still able to be seen by Marie. She can’t stop thinking about the old man and how scary he looked. He didn’t blink, he just rocked back and forth in the window, in his rocking chair. He stared straight at April with an odd smile that sent chills down her back. April was zoning out while thinking about it. 

“You okay honey?” Grandma Betty asks,

April breaks out of the zone, “Yeah grandma I’m okay.” She responds. 

“What are you thinking about Bud?” Marie asks.

“The Old Man, I don’t understand why you guys couldn’t see him. He was right there!” April responds, she sounds a little more scared than earlier. 

They hear something behind them and April stares off into the distance, her eyes start to widen and she points.

“He’s right there.” She whispers. 

Marie and Grandma Betty turn around. The Old Man is standing in the pitch dark, only lit up by the party lights hanging from the pavilion. They all freeze, Half of his face is burnt to the crisp and he doesn’t have his right arm or left leg. Michael and Max come walking back from getting the logs and sees them all wide-eyed and frozen. 

“What are you guys looking at?” Asks Michael all worried.

Betty raises her arm slowly and points at the old man, no one says a word. In dead silence, Max and Michael look at the Old Man and freeze. Charlie then walks up and starts barking at the old man, but he doesn’t break eye contact with April. April has chills all over her body. He’s looking at her and smiling with that same creepy smile. She starts to scream, everyone then looks at her and surrounds her. Marie puts her arms around April and holds her close. 

“Leave us alone!” Michael screams. 

The old man’s smile drops and he turns around. He starts going back to the house. Everyone’s eyes follow him as he glides up the hill and into the house, the only thing moving was his head. Everyone then turns back to April.

“I’m so sorry we didn’t believe you A.” Michael says.

“I never want to see him again,” April responds, still wide-eyed and shaking. 

Nobody wanted to stay outside after seeing him. They all walk to their tents and go to sleep. But, April couldn’t seem to fall asleep. The image of the old man’s creepy burnt smile was burned into her brain. She finally closes her eyes and falls asleep. She then is woken up by a raspy voice screaming “WAKE UP”. She jumps up screaming and crying. The sun is up, it’s the next morning. 

Marie runs over “It’s okay baby, it was just a dream.

April knows it wasn’t a dream, it was the Old Man from Potosi. April hears a crash and looks over to the old house. The top floor fell in and it’s on fire, Michael is burning it down. 

Michael walks over to the tent, “Don’t worry A, the old man won’t bother us anymore.” 

After a few hours of packing everything up and riding on the four wheeler a couple of times, they leave the camp grounds to go home. Each time they go back to the campsite, they never see the old man. Although the Old Man from Potosi is gone from the grounds, the image of his creepy burnt smile still lives in April’s brain for many years.