Jacksonville, Florida, by itself, is not a very scary place.
But, there is a place north of Jacksonville where fear takes on a tangible form.
The place called Riverside Motel.
Updated 2/9/2020 – Riverside Motel has been abandoned for years.
Casual passersby can find the place near the Georgia/Florida border, along the U.S. 17.
There are two buildings on the lot making an L shape, the motel on one side and the liquor store to the other.
Casual passersby, though, are severely discouraged from seeking and entering the abandoned place.
Unless you want an adventurous encounter with the Flesh Rippers of Jacksonville.
Walk inside the Riverside Motel and see red
Going inside the Riverside Motel and getting out alive does not mean you had an adventure.
At least not according to our source, who preferred to be called Ed.
“I feel like a survivor,” he told us.
“As if I had been in a battle for my life and survived,” he added.
“And the worst part is, Stephen doesn’t even remember what happened.”
Ed and his friend went to the Riverside Motel on a dare.
What they found inside would haunt Ed forever, while his friend would have no memory of it.
That’s what having your mind taken over by evil entities would do to you.
“It happened as soon as we stepped inside one of the rooms,” Ed told us.
“I can’t even remember which one it was anymore.
“First, he fell to his knees,” he said.
“Then, he turned around, and his eyes were red.
But it did not stop there.”
As soon as Ed reached his friend, the man reached out and took Ed’s wrist.
“And I saw red.
Everywhere.
“It was on the walls, on the floor, on the beds, on every surface.
It seemed to drip from the windows.
I heard a storm right above us, even though I could see sunshine through the windows.
And then, his friend pulled him to the ground, his bloodshot eyes seeming to look right through him.
“I knew he wasn’t my friend anymore.
I knew something had taken over.”
Ed scrambled back and hit the wall. “It was wet,” he said.
“I felt it on my back.
I smelled the iron tang of blood.”
He reached blindly for anything, and found an object.
He hit his friend with it.
“It was as if a light went out.
He slumped to the ground.
“The sounds of the storm were gone.
There was no blood on the walls anymore, and my shirt was dry.”
Ed roused his friend, and dragged him outside to their car.
He had no memory of what had transpired.
The Flesh Rippers of Jacksonville will cause madness
Nobody has been able to take a photograph of these entities, but some people have tried to describe them to artists.
artissimo/tumblr
The thing about the Flesh Rippers is that no one really knows where they came from.
Locals from Jacksonville and the county say that they used to be residents in an asylum.
One night, all of them went mad and turned on the other patients and medical staff.
The legend goes on to say that the Flesh Rippers soon turned on each other.
When they were through, the walls and floors were covered in blood.
They say that the Flesh Rippers’ spirits roam the country, looking for places of bloodshed.
They find it, they settle in, and torture the minds of whoever crosses their way.
No one really knows what kind of bloodshed happened at the Riverside Motel near Jacksonville, Florida, to attract their presence.
But no one really dares to ask.
The Flesh Rippers will fry the mind of anyone who enters.
