"Lone Wolf Radio" (Haunted Gaming)
Firstly I should point out that this isn’t a horror story. There is no blood, demons, or monsters in the machine. This is simply a recollection of events that have occurred to me while playing the game ‘Fallout New Vegas’. I’ve had the game for a while now- the Ultimate Edition, and for the most part there are no more glitches or bugs than you’d expect for the game. I bought it first hand from a high-street store in perfect condition. It was on PS3, so obviously there were no mods. These details have been included so that you understand that it was just a regular disc.
To understand this tale you’ll need a bit of background information on Lone Wolf Radio, a location in the game. Originally, Lone Wolf Radio was going to be what the name suggested, a radio station hosted by Lone Wolf, a crazy old man. He would ramble and rant inanely at random times of day, however never later than 11PM. This silence would continue until 3AM, where the station would return with Lone Wolf and a child, screaming. The Lone Wolf would announce ‘Everyone is gone. You are all alone. Let it all end’ and then brutally murder the child. This would start a quest which would give the option of killing the Lone Wolf or joining forces with him to murder a child, learning a perk that would let you murder more children.
Obviously due to the horrific nature the content was scrapped half-way through development and never included in the game, although the Lone Wolf Radio trailer still exists, showing on the walls remnants of the insane rants. Upon hearing the story of Lone Wolf Radio, I was captivated. Who at Obsidian ever thought that the station could be a good idea? Yet it wasn’t just the eerie atmosphere that interested me, it was the air of mystery. Fallout games have a lot of hidden content and lore that’s barely hinted at and hard to access, and I wanted a piece of this.
And so for several weeks of real life, I hung around the location for a few hours per day toying about. I tried waiting for a day in the various spots, bringing certain combinations of companions, wearing specific faction armour that could link to the Lone Wolf story in a desperate attempt to trigger that tiny little piece of code that could change the game. As time went on I grew less and less interested. I had other games to play.
After a few months off of playing other games and exhausting my gaming funds I decided to return to New Vegas to dig around some more. I quickly covered previous ground, trying all sorts of odd combinations. Nothing happened. As time progressed I continued playing but also watched TV and internet videos at the same time as playing, as I have a computer near my TV. This is where I found the creepypasta community, although I didn’t think much about it at the time. I barely watched the game, mindlessly running in circles around the trailer and jumping. I don’t even know why I carried on and was considering stopping until the following events occurred.
It was late at night in game as well as in real life, and I was absent-minded walking in circles while watching Friends on my computer. A loud ‘BANG’ surprised me. After a second I realized the sound probably didn’t come from Friends and I spun around to look at the game. The sound was too loud for a distant enemy to be shooting. This was nothing new for me however, every time a companion kills you are treated to a loud and visceral kill-cam and I assumed this is what had happened. But I had left all my companions at home. In a state between apprehension and excitement that something had finally happened, I ran from the hut, looking for my enemy. There were no red blips on the compass. I returned to the trailer, scanning the location to see anything different. I had spent so much time around the place I knew where every little item was meant to be, to know if anything was missing. I entered the trailer. Nothing. Outside. Nothing. Down the slope the trailer was standing on. Nothing.
I turned around back up the slope. Behind the trailer was a red smear on the ground; the structure obscuring my view. I turned the corner to look and on the floor was the body of an old man in a suit and hat laying rag doll on the ground, surrounded with a splatter of blood. Since New Vegas is a relatively gory game the blood did not surprise me. I interacted with the body, the character was called ‘Heck Gunderson’. I didn’t recognize the name, however it’s worth mentioning that I didn’t play many of the quests in the game. On his body was the suit, a hat and a shotgun. Could the shotgun have made the sound? I consulted my pip-boy. The thing was in disrepair, and couldn’t have fired a shot without breaking. Also, I looked at the time. It was 3:47.
I was ecstatic. Finally ages of wasting time had paid off, even if I wasn’t too sure what I had just witnessed or if it meant anything at all. I waited several in-game hours, until the time was nearly 3 again. I then stood watching the spot where Gunderson’s body was still lying. Nothing happened. After a few minutes I consulted my pip-boy. 4:28. Why had nothing happened? I approached the spot and circled it a bit, never letting it out of my sight. After a while I realized that nothing was happening and I turned my back, ready to go for a bit of a walk. BANG! I spun around, hearing this time in much more detail the gunshot which had awoken my just a short time ago. As a music tech student, it is worth me pointing out that New Vegas had a gun sound quite different from the previous games. The sounds are cleaner and crisper than in the previous games. This sound didn’t fit with the others, being more dirty and distorted. That’s probably irrelevant but it stuck out to me.
Lying in wait for me this time was the corpse of Sunny Smiles. I was distraught, I had liked Sunny! In her inventory was her leather armor and varmint rifle. I moved to the other side of the trailer and waited again, this time hoping a character I liked would be spared. The victim this time was Pretty Sarah, a character I only knew about through my browsing the Fallout Wiki. On her was only a revolver. What did these characters have in common? Why did they die, was it some kind of Easter Egg or just a glitch? I hoped that time would tell. I waited again, and when the executioner’s shot was fired I peered over the three bodies. Cheyenne. If you don’t know, Cheyenne is Sunny Smiles’ dog. I wasn’t aware dogs were part of this thing to, but I shrugged my real shoulders and examined the body. What happened next was the most terrifying part of my tale to experience, in a dark room as I was. As soon as I went to interact with the body, a haunting howl echoed through the speakers, much louder than any other sound in the game. It was a ghastly combination between wolf and man. I jumped up in real life, unsure of whether the sound was actually from the game or from my garden or house. I ran downstairs and examined. Sufficiently pleased that it was actually the game I returned to the console and repeated my experiments.
There are no important details from now on, however the pattern continued. Major Dhatri, Daisy Whitman, Sergeant Andrews, Violetta. Man, Woman, Man, Dog. Three humans, and then a dog. Three Dog. Howl.
I didn’t return to the save file after that. Not out of fear or loathing, but because after so many iterations of the pattern it was nearly unplayable with so many characters missing. I played on other saves and everything seemed in order. Of course I didn’t spend as much time at Lone Wolf Radio, just to be safe.