Urban exploration is a pretty popular part of Reddit these days; people checking out dark and often creepy abandoned warehouses and factories. One explorer was checking out one such factory when he decided to take a picture in the dark with the flash on.

Needless to say, he nearly shat himself when he looked at his camera and saw the silhouette at the end of the long, dark hallway:

Bravely, he got a little closer and took a second picture, again in complete darkness remember:

Closer still…

Turns out it was someone’s (awesome) idea of a prank and our brave explorer can breathe easy again. Well played, whoever thought this one up:

Here’s how the dude on Reddit described it:

…As I hopped back out into the main factory floor, I could see the faint beams of their flashlights flickering at the bottom of the staircase some 30 yards away. For only a moment, I caught a glance to my right of a darkened tunnel with a circular arch above it, and red and orange pipes lining either side. It seemed so out of place in the factory floor, like it was new or barely used, maybe some long-forgotten passageway around the hustle and bustle of the Sugar Mill beyond it.

I moved toward the tunnel, readying my camera as I felt the little hairs on the back of my neck stand tall. The cold was setting in, and I could not longer hear my party’s voices in the distance. I couldn’t hear anything but my quiet, careful footstep on a bolt or creaky metal panel. I stood in the entrance, just beneath the arch of the tunnel. It was dark in there, so I popped up my flash on my new camera and held down the trigger, not expecting anything. As I held it down for it to focus and I stared at the tiny, LCD screen I saw it. I saw that tall, dark figure staring straight back at me from the other side of the tunnel.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.

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