Stories of a Sate Beach Lifeguard

So I thought you all might be interested to hear a few of the stories my friend told me about his work as a state beach lifeguard. The state we live in is in the northern part of the U.S. and is one of the more popular beaches in our area. Aside for stupid, drunk, and stoned people, there are also the mentally unstable. And then there's a few stories that, he says, never really sat right with him. These few occurrences haven't ever really been solved.

• This happened when my friend was slightly younger, and pretty new as a lifeguard, maybe only his second or third year. By this time, however, he was already pretty much ahead of everyone else in terms of responsibility and compassion. Every so often, they would get a call after the beach closed for the night that a kid would be spotted swimming in the deep end. Well, less swimming and more bobbing up and down, kind of treading water from side to side. The deep end is probably six or so feet deep, and is dangerous even for adults to go into since there's small occasional sinkholes that can make it much deeper. There's a kiddie section for children that's basically in the shallows, where children are supposed to be. And when the beach closes, no-one is supposed to go into the water, though you can continue walking on the beach.

Not knowing this, he gets a call in to go find this kid that's just been spotted, floating around in the deep end. He goes out to the beach and scans the area and spots the kid off in one of the corners of the pool, since they hadn't taken up the lines yet. He calls to the kid to come in, but the kid just kind of bobs around some more, and gives no indication he's coming out. So my friend is left with no option but to go in after the kid which he does.

My friend is an excellent swimmer, and reaches the deep end pretty quickly, only to find the kid had disappeared. Before he goes underwater to search, the kid surfaces past the line, about ten to fifteen feet away, still bobbing and not saying a word. Friend calls out to him to swim his way, but the kid simply sinks back under without uttering a sound. Maybe there was something in the way he did it, but it apparently creeped out my friend. However, still being a good person at heart, he also submerges and swims out past the line to follow the kid.

This happens twice more. The kid about ten or fifteen feet away from my friend, silent and bobbing, before sinking back down and resurfacing further away. My friend said he stopped when he realized the sun was down and he could no longer see the beach. He said he turned around and swam straight for shore after the kid sunk down a third time.

He called out for a water patrol (basically him and another lifeguard in a canoe) but finding nothing, told the park ranger to keep an eye out for the kid. Telling me this story, he said the kid was about eight or so, and definitely not capable of swimming out from the beach for such a long distance and not get tired. He said there was definitely something eerie and not right about the kid, completely silent, and just sinking down out of sight.

• As I mentioned before, a lot of stupid, drunk, high, and mentally unstable also frequent the beach. Since the beach is also surrounded by a rather dense and expansive state park, this compounds the danger and effort required to save people if they go missing. This summer, just as they were about to close, they get a report of an old woman who couldn't find her grandson. She seems slightly confused and dazed, and the guards had to keep questioning her to get answers. They eventually get out from her that he's about three, and the last time she saw him was in the water. He was playing at the edge of the water and he just disappeared.

So naturally, as according to protocol, they clear the water and go out in a line, calling for the kid. They get all the way to the deep end and find nothing, so they move off further down the beach, and still find nothing. They radio out to the park rangers and toll-booth guard to keep an eye out for the kid. They look in the water for about another half hour before they get a report of a child matching the missing kid's description near the mouth of the park trail. They take the old lady and go find the kid- he's got a long scratch down one arm, and he's wearing the bright blue swim trunks the lady said he had been wearing. However, his water shoes are gone, and he had strands of lakeweed stuck to his body. Bear in mind, this is about two or three miles from where he had been last spotted, and without having been abducted and brought there, it would have been impossible for him to travel that distance in that amount of time.

Since he's very little, it's hard to get a clear answer out of him. But the little boy was very adamant that a "lady with a big, big smile" lead him out here. She promised him chocolate, and wore some kind of a long dress. She hadn't been anyone he knew, and when he imitated her "smile" for them, he made a kind of hiss that little kids make when they're talking about monsters. At this point, he wasn't sure if the kid's imagination was just getting away from him, but the child also imitated the way the woman walked, which was backwards.

• Last one, since I feel like this must be getting pretty long. I've mentioned my friend is an excellent swimmer- this last year, he's broken all his swimming records, and can go a mile without needing a rest (which I find utterly ridiculous). He's always the one chosen to go for longer rescues, such as if someone has swum past the lines, or fallen from a boat or something. He's also the one who pulls the lines, which are anchored to the floor of the lake with heavy buoys. Sometimes, he says, he'll occasionally experiencing something "holding him down" underwater. A few weeks ago, as he was gathering the lines, he very clearly felt someone settling onto his shoulders, as if sitting there. He dropped the lines and fought to throw the person off, thinking it was one of the other guards fucking around. He managed to throw the person off, but upon resurfacing, he could find no-one else in the water with him. Leaving the lines there, he nevertheless went back to shore gathered the rest of his guards and gave them a sound chewing out about not roughhousing in the water, since it was a way people could get hurt. All the other guards denied being near the water, and after hearing the story, wouldn't approach the water for the rest of the night.

My friend said he'd experienced the sensation before, but never so powerfully. Such as swimming a few times in the morning to get limbered up, he would feel something grab his ankle or wrist. He said it wasn't lake detritus, or lakeweed, since he knew the feeling of both. It was as if someone had grabbed him and wouldn't let go, but each time the sensation vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared.

He has a few more stories, and then stories from the park ranger, who has experienced even crazier shit, according to his stories.

EDIT: Hey everyone, I have more stories for you here