As The Raven Dreams Podcast - 50 Of The BEST Scary Stories of 2025 - Part 1 | As The Raven Dreams Podcast

Starting point is 00:00:07 Hey, Raven. I'm usually just here to listen to your stories, and I rarely comment, but I was actually listening to some older videos where you mentioned you used to be in IT, and it made me think about an experience I had that I think is worth sharing. It was pretty terrifying for me, and I think it can also be a good lesson or warning for others. Maybe you'll agree. Back in late 2020, early 2021, I had been laid off and was desperately trying to find a new job, as my savings and unemployment were running low. I work in IT and have for many years, so I was hopeful that with my experience, I would be able to find something pretty quickly. However, I was getting a lot of interviews with no follow-ups, but then I got an email from someone, by the name of Rose Michelle. I got it in my professional email that I only used for work-related stuff.

Starting point is 00:01:10 I had it on my resume. I used it on applications, and it was tied to my accounts like LinkedIn, Snagajab and whatever else was out there. So while I knew that spam could happen, I was feeling like it could be legitimate if they got my email from one of those sites. She said she was a creative director

Starting point is 00:01:31 at a boutique, marketing agency based in Chicago. Her profile looked legitimate. It had over 500 connections, a work history that seemed to check out, and recommendations from other professionals in the industry. Though I didn't do research on all the people and other businesses, but the sheer amount told me that it had to be real. She said in the email that she'd found my portfolio through a mutual connection and

Starting point is 00:02:00 was impressed with my work. She explained that her agency was expanding and looking for remote graphic designers. But because of this and the salary she mentioned, which was almost double what I'd been hoping for, I was hopeful. But I know what some of you might be thinking. It has to be a scam, right? They hadn't even interviewed me yet and were already talking salary. That wasn't something that normally happened in this field. But this felt different.

Starting point is 00:02:32 There seemed to be way too much proof and backup to support this being a real company. They even had a great-looking website with working links that didn't set off any red flags. We had a video interview where she showed me the agency's current projects, and even gave me the names of other team members, saying that they were who I would directly be working with. The office I saw even appeared real. There was a large window to the side, and I could see. cubicle walls behind her. Even the way Rose spoke to me about the company and the job, she clearly knew the industry.

Starting point is 00:03:11 So after going over some normal interview questions in the job description, she said that she would pass the information onto her hiring manager, who would then reach out for the second and more formal interview. To my surprise, they called me the next day, and after a normal sounding interview, I was offered the job. I was ecstatic. I thought they do seem to have a decent-sized following already in the fact that they were expanding. I could really show off my skills here, and everything seemed to be turning around for me.

Starting point is 00:03:47 That same day, they asked me about payment methods, and I had to sign some paperwork digitally about agreeing to a background check. They said they would go ahead and start the onboarding process, and would just have a talk with me if anything, turned up from it, but I knew that it wouldn't. I provided them with my bank information for direct deposits, and my address so they could send me the work laptop and whatever else I needed. To my surprise, I received a package two days later that was dropped off at my apartment. There was a pretty simple shipping label on it with my address and name but no tracking numbers, and the return address had the name of a business and an address in Chicago. Clearly it had to be my laptop.

Starting point is 00:04:33 I opened it up, and I was honestly surprised to see the shell was scuffed up. It was missing one of the rubber feet on the bottom, and the screen was really dirty. I wondered if maybe it was damaged during shipping, but I couldn't explain why the screen was also dirty. Either way, I booted it up to see if it even worked, and I got the screen that was, was asking for the BIOS password. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to figure that out, so I emailed Rose, asking if I could call, and she called me. I told her about the laptop and its condition.

Starting point is 00:05:12 She apologized and said that with their expansion and reorg, they were lending out refurbished laptops from previous employers, and were planning on getting everyone who had a refurb unit a new one the following year. However, she said that it should have been at least cleaned beforehand, and that she would pass the information along. It made enough sense to me, so I moved on to the BIOS password issue, and that's where she seemed confused. She said that I should have received an email with all the login information.

Starting point is 00:05:45 While she was on the phone, I scoured my email, even the spam folder, and I didn't have anything. I even checked my personal email just in case, but I didn't get anything. She seemed upset about this and apologized again, making a joke about how disorganized they seem to be. And she said they were usually much better than this. I told her it was fine and even mentioned how new hire work is always so daunting, so I understood. That's when she suggested a, quote, temporary solution. and she said if I was okay with it,

Starting point is 00:06:22 I could install their proprietary design software on my personal computer while IT got back with us about the laptop. She even offered a $500 bonus on my first paycheck for the inconvenience of having to use my personal equipment. She explained that it would be active by user sessions, so once I got my work laptop set up, it would be deactivated on my personal system and I could then uninstall it.

Starting point is 00:06:49 Looking back, I realized that this was one of the moments I should have known something wasn't right. But once again, the bonus offer and mentioning the one person slash login per session made it seem real. She sent me a professional-looking installer package and walked me through setting it up over video chat. I was nervous about installing unknown software. I'm not a genius when it comes to technical and security stuff. I know some things, but not enough. I'm better at making your website look pretty, not securing it, if you know what I mean. Anyway, she stayed on the line the entire time, explaining each step.

Starting point is 00:07:35 The program looked legitimate, too, with a professional interface and everything. Then she had me speak to one of their IT guys who helped me with the session number and some keys for it. afterwards he said that it would take about eight to ten hours to complete the setup since they still had to activate my ID on their end anyways so he said that it should all be ready for me by Monday morning to begin work this all took place on a Friday so I left my laptop open and on as he instructed and finished up my night with dinner whatever else I did and then I went to bed thinking a lot of my anxiety then was probably just from starting a new job. Sadly, I was completely wrong. And the next day, my entire digital life imploded. I woke up to multiple alerts from financial accounts, and missed calls from those same banks and financial institutions.

Starting point is 00:08:37 The text started as alerts for information being changed on my accounts. There were a few charge alert texts, and when I called the bank, they said that my accounts were completely locked down due to a bunch of risky activity. My address and phone number were changed. There was a request for checks in a new debit card. Tons of changes were being made. And there was even an application for a credit card and a personal loan. Unfortunately, because of the amount of activity,

Starting point is 00:09:08 they couldn't do anything over the phone other than assure me that the accounts would actually remain closed until I went to a local branch with my ID to clear it all up in person. I started getting ready to head to the bank when I saw texts from friends and family too. They were asking me if my accounts, like social media, had been popped. I tried logging in and nothing was working. One of my friends sent pictures of the Facebook, Insta, Snapchat, and even Discord, where I was posting link after link of crypto scams. and other similar things.

Starting point is 00:09:47 That's when it hit me. It had to be my laptop. I ran to my office and my stomach dropped. I thought I was going to be sick. There on my screen was this horrible box that I'd seen in the news, on posts, etc. It was ransomware. They had everything. Any logins I've ever used?

Starting point is 00:10:10 Social media, banking, cloud, any documents like, taxes, all of it. Hell, I had sent them a picture of my ID, my social security number, and I gave them my bank account information for direct deposit. I tried to contact

Starting point is 00:10:28 Rose by phone, but of course the number didn't work. I couldn't log into my email, so I tried finding her or the business on LinkedIn. She didn't exist whatsoever, and neither did the business. How does a business

Starting point is 00:10:44 with hundreds of interactions and connections just disappear. I tried Googling the company and found a very similar one, but the name didn't end in ink, like the one that I had been working with. Now it was making sense. They were trying to look like a real, reputable company, which clearly worked. Just like that, they were gone, and so was all of my money, my security, and my identity. I spent the next week in a nightmare of course. going to banks, calling places, freezing credit, filing police reports, and trying to regain

Starting point is 00:11:21 control of not just my accounts, but my life. I tried taking my computer to both a professional and a friend whom I call a computer genius, and they both told me the same thing. You can try to wipe the computer, but that was about it, because there was no way I was going to give them more of my money. When I filed the police report, the detective that I spoke to told me how he had heard very similar situations plenty of times. The person that I spoke to was most likely the most real person there, or the face of the scam. He said they would change up their looks to look completely different from the last person and use a completely different name.

Starting point is 00:12:06 He explained how these scammers would install a remote access trojan, also known. as a rat, which gave them complete access to my computer and files, and when they got what they wanted, would insert ransomware. The one thing he was surprised about was that I actually received a laptop. Unfortunately, whoever dropped it off knocked once, and they were gone by the time I got to the door. I was also living in an apartment, so I didn't have anything like a ring camera to capture anyone. I did bring in the laptop in the box. it came in, and looking at it more, made me feel like even more of an idiot. The shipping label was obviously fake.

Starting point is 00:12:49 It was like a copied one, and it had a random number for tracking because it didn't exist. And when we looked up the address for the, quote, company, it went to some FedEx in Chicago. But speaking to someone at the actual company, which was an entertaining call on its own, they told me they didn't do anything through FedEx either. The laptop itself looked like it was clearly someone's computer, but was it one of theirs? Was it a victim that was scammed or maybe stolen? They asked to keep it for evidence, and I didn't hesitate. I honestly didn't want it in my house.

Starting point is 00:13:29 My friend wanted me to keep it so he could mess around with it, and while I was curious, I would rather give it to the police if there was any chance that it could help them. He did, however, set expectations, telling me the odds of finding these people were pretty much zero. But he was hopeful that they would catch one of them someday. It's been four years now, and I'm still dealing with the ripple effects.

Starting point is 00:13:58 I get calls about suspicious attempts on my accounts. My bureaus are all still frozen because I still get the random attempts for applications, hence even a car loan one time. I got most of my money back, but there was still a lot of irreparable damage that I will most likely always live with. Don't worry, I've never fallen for anything like that again. And I did finally find a real job with a real company, but I've definitely learned my lesson. If you're ever job hunting, be smart about it.

Starting point is 00:14:34 be wary of recruiters that reach out to you unsolicited and do heavy, heavy research on the company. And under absolutely no circumstances, should you download anything from someone that you don't know, no matter how legit it seems or how much money they promise you. Because, take it from me, it is not worth the risk. This was something that happened. to my daughter and I, back when she was seven years old.

Starting point is 00:15:17 I'm a stay-at-home dad. I do have a small business that I started myself that I handle from home, but my wife works in office. Since I'm home, I take care of a lot of stuff from my daughter, including taking her to and from school, and sometimes participating in the day trips her class holds. Some people might think that our family situation is a bit odd, but my wife and I both enjoy. it. She loves her job, and I love being able to be there for my little girl whenever she needs us. With me being home, I'm able to get her any time something happens. If she's feeling sick, or if she forgets something at home. I've even had to bring her some clothes to change into

Starting point is 00:16:01 after an accident at recess. It really works out the best for us. Sometimes when she's out of school for a holiday and conferences, I'll take her to the park so she can play with other kids. since she's an only child and, to be honest, to get some of that extra energy out of her system. That's what led us to this situation. My daughter, I'll call her Abby, seemed a little more stressed than normal because her best friend was moving

Starting point is 00:16:30 and she would be going to a different school. She was young and didn't understand the whole concept, so she was thinking that she would never see her again. In reality, her family was just moving to a nearby city, and she would just be in a different school district. But to Abby, it was the end of the world. The stresses of a seven-year-old child, huh? So I decided to take her to the park after school

Starting point is 00:16:55 in hopes of making her feel better and getting her mind off of her friend moving. We went to her favorite park that was about 15 minutes from our place. It was Abby's favorite because the main playground was castle-themed, and she loved to play king and queen. The park wasn't too busy either. There were two women sitting on a nearby bench talking and watching three other kids playing near the swings.

Starting point is 00:17:21 Abby immediately ran to the tower that has a slide that circles around, said tower. She got to the top, and we started playing together for a little while, until I told her that I was going to go sit on another nearby bench. I watched her from the bench as she played and shouted things out to herself, and then as expected she ran over to the other younger kids and started chatting with them. She's always been very outgoing. About 20 minutes after we arrived, I noticed a man enter the park. He was probably in his mid-forties, wearing jeans and a dark blue windbreaker despite the warmer weather.

Starting point is 00:18:03 He walked over, looked around, and then, of all places, sat next to me. There were several benches lining the park, so to sit next to me did kind of annoy me, as I knew it meant conversation was inevitable. I didn't mind talking to people, but there were certain times, like now, watching my daughter, that I wasn't interested in conversation. He chuckled and said, Eh, cute kid you got there, as he nodded towards Abby. I smiled and said thanks, as this was a conversation I was used to hearing at playground. He then mentioned how she looked just like his own daughter, and mentioned her unruly curls that you couldn't do anything with.

Starting point is 00:18:46 That got a chuckle out of me because her hair is incredibly curly, and we have no idea where she got it from. Both of our families have thin and straight hair. It made me ease up at first, but then I recalled that he came to the park alone. So I asked where his daughter was, playing it off like I was wanting to see. the comparison. He looked around the park and told me that she wasn't there yet. I didn't want to pry.

Starting point is 00:19:16 It kind of sounded to me like an arranged visit, so shared custody or whatnot. I was all too familiar with that as a kid myself. Our conversation kind of ended there, and I went back to watching Abby. Then the guy moved closer, leaned toward me, and asked me one of the most alarming things a parent could ever hear. Hey, do you think I could borrow her for a few hours? I remember looking over at him, and I had to have the most horrified and angry face I could muster. And I said, excuse me? This dude thought that I needed clarification to his question,

Starting point is 00:19:56 and he was trying to explain how he just wanted to borrow her for a few hours for father-daughter time. Like I said, I was horrified by his comment. and immediately became defensive of not only my own daughter but the other kids in that park. I wasn't the type to back down to stuff like that, especially if it involved my family. So, I told him straight. That's not a normal thing to ask someone, man. And frankly, it's incredibly inappropriate and creepy. The man just threw his head back and laughed, slapping his knee and everything like I had just told him the funniest joke.

Starting point is 00:20:36 He claimed he was just messing around and that the state was actually bringing his daughter there too so he could spend time with her. I didn't believe him for a second, but I tried to keep my face neutral. If that was his only way of seeing his daughter, that sucked, but there must have been a reason. And if what he asked me was his version of funny,

Starting point is 00:20:58 well, then maybe there was more to him. I reached down to grab the bag that I take with me. It has snacks, water, and... other things we might need while we're out, and as I did, the man said that we should set up a playdate for our girls. I didn't even respond to him. I just waved him off and walked up to Abby. I asked her if she wanted to go sit at the gazebo and have a snack, hoping to get away from this guy, and she agreed. She grabbed my hand and we walked together to the gazebo to have our snack. As we ate, and Abby told me about her day at school, I was taking in the view when I saw that same guy.

Starting point is 00:21:39 I noticed he was walking in a wide arc around the playground and I could see the two other women wrangling up their kids. I'm sure he was making them nervous too. But as he left the playground, I could tell that he was making his way closer to us. And to be honest, I didn't want to deal with him. I was afraid that I might say something worse to him, especially if he tried to say or do anything to my daughter. So I started wrapping up our snack, to which Abby started pouting a bit,

Starting point is 00:22:12 but I convinced her that we needed to get home and she could finish her snack in the car. I felt bad because we didn't stay long, but I was not feeling comfortable with him around, especially since he still did not have a kid with him. But to make things, worse. As we walked towards the parking lot, I saw him change directions, and he was now heading straight towards us. Tell me he wasn't following us at this point. I picked up my daughter

Starting point is 00:22:42 knowing that I would be able to get more distance between us that way, and she didn't mind. However, it was the yelling that started behind me that caused me to stop in my tracks. The guy started shouting, That man, he's taking my daughter. My stomach dropped. was he really accusing me of taking her? I was carrying a little girl and quite clearly in a rush to get out of the parking lot. I'm sure it didn't look good, even if it was a lie. But I didn't stop moving. I got to my car and started unlocking the door, hoping to get Abby in at least while I took care of this nonsense.

Starting point is 00:23:22 As I started unlocking it, the guy had clearly caught up and was still hollering about how I took his daughter. I looked around, and to my horror, there was a couple entering the park with their own little girl. They were looking right at us. I saw the dad approaching us, too, and I was not looking forward to this confrontation. I was conflicted. Do I just leave and risk them calling the cops on me? Possibly traumatizing my daughter with what that could entail? Do I stay and try to discuss it?

Starting point is 00:23:53 Because I'm not a fighter. I watched my mom get manhandled by far. too many boyfriends to know that violence was not going to solve anything, and once again, I didn't want my daughter to be afraid of me. But when the other dad approached, I could tell he was also the Papa Bear type and was not going to just let me leave with her, so I explained it all. I explained how Abby was clearly my daughter, still holding her as she hugged my neck, and that this guy was not only following us, but actually asked to borrow her.

Starting point is 00:24:26 The guy continued to argue that I was lying and had taken his daughter. The other dad suggested that neither of us move and said he was calling the cops. I felt bad for Abby, but it was for the best. If anything, I could prove she was my daughter. I didn't have her birth certificate on me or anything, but I had tons of photos on my phone, and I could show proof if needed. What the hell would that guy have? As the dad was on the phone, the other guy said,

Starting point is 00:24:56 seemed to get more and more angry and antsy. He kept saying how this was all just a waste of time and how he should just knock me out and leave. The dad tried to keep the peace between us both, but, based on how he was acting towards me and some of his gestures, I knew that he was believing me. He was trying to keep the other guy back from us. He would nod towards me and even try to talk to Abby to keep her calm by talking about his own little girl. Thankfully, that seemed to do the trick.

Starting point is 00:25:26 for her. She loved meeting new friends. It felt like forever, but the police finally arrived, and we all had to give our version of events to two different cops. I noticed the other dad that was there seemed to be pretty close to the cops as they talked and smiled. My immediate thought was that they must have known each other. After some time, they told me that I was good to leave with my daughter, and the other cops started restraining the guy in handcuffs. He started to shouting things from kidnapping to other ramblings that made no sense. I got Abby in her seats and buckled in, and I went to thank the other dad that stopped it. Apparently that guy's dad was a cop, so he was familiar with the lot of the other officers.

Starting point is 00:26:13 He said that he also knew from the start that she belonged to me with how she was holding on to me, versus trying to reach out to the other guy. I didn't even really think about it at the time, but none of them even tried to take her away from me. You would think if that was a concern that they wouldn't have at least taken her until it was sorted out. Either way, I thanked the man for his help because at that moment, it was hard to think straight. I know the guy didn't actually try anything with us, other than the accusations and then asking to borrow my daughter, so he probably didn't get arrested for that. But they obviously had something on him. I didn't ask, nor was it really any of my daughter. I didn't ask,

Starting point is 00:26:54 nor was it really any of my business. Thankfully, the whole thing must not have bothered Abby too much, because she fell asleep on the ride home. When my wife got home, I had one hell of a story for her. Now it's an ongoing joke between us that someone would accuse me of kidnapping her because of how little we look alike. She looked more like my wife,

Starting point is 00:27:18 minus the curly hair I mentioned, but she is definitely, as some would call it, a daddy's girl. She did everything with me and had a lot of my mannerisms and personality. I guess I can hold on to that at least. Bottom line, when it comes to your kids, there is no such thing as overreacting. Don't worry about being polite to creeps. Your child's safety always comes first. I was invited to this house party by one of my friends from work.

Starting point is 00:28:01 We had known each other for a few years. She'd been invited, but she was single. In fact, both of us were at the time. And she didn't want to go alone, so she invited me. I'm not usually the party type, especially when it was people that I didn't know, but with how much Yassena was begging me, I finally caved and agreed to go.

Starting point is 00:28:24 To be honest, I don't know why I agreed, other than to just be nice to a friend. I knew the likelihood of me having fun was going, to be slim. I wasn't going to know anyone and would have no one to talk to, so when we got there, I initially wasn't in the best of moods. Yassinia introduced me to a few other people, and then ran off to talk to someone else. I was left to linger around the living room and bobbed my head to the music. I was often scrolling through something on my phone, too. There were a few people that approached me and talked for a bit before they walked away, which was nice of them, too.

Starting point is 00:29:08 In between talking to some of those people is when I initially noticed him. He was a pretty tall guy, maybe mid-30s. He was leaning against the back living room wall. Other than being really tall, he stood out because he was carrying around a bottle of Jack and drinking straight from it. The way he looked at people that walked by Kind of made me uncomfortable I just told myself to avoid him

Starting point is 00:29:36 And hoped the bathroom wasn't town the hall That he was standing by Maybe an hour or two into the party I saw a girl that I recognized Her name was Rachel She was a barista at a coffee shop That I frequented most mornings I remember thinking

Starting point is 00:29:54 What are the odds that I would see her there and decided to call out to her. I knew her by name since we talked most mornings that I was there. She seemed to have the same surprised face as myself when she spotted me. She came over to me, laughing, and asked who I knew, and I jokingly said, really, no one. I told her about Yassinia who had invited me, and she said that she didn't know who that was. but she knew the person hosting, as it was a friend of their families. We started talking from there, but at some point,

Starting point is 00:30:33 I mistakenly made eye contact with the bottle of Jack guy. I'm just going to call him Jack. He winked and smiled at me, but I didn't reciprocate, and just looked the other way. I asked Rachel if she knew the guy, and she said that she didn't recognize him. I told her about how he made me feel, weird, and how he had just winked at me, and she sort of curled her lip.

Starting point is 00:31:00 She agreed that he seemed really awkward, and then also agreed that we should probably just avoid him. But, of course, as we talked and laughed, Jack ended up walking toward us, and I warned her as her back was turned to him. He approached, and while practically stepping in front of Rachel, he spoke to me. He tried to flirt. with me, but I couldn't get past how much he reeked of alcohol and cigarette smoke. It made my eyes burn. Rachel scoffed, and I said in a flat tone that we were having a conversation. He looked over

Starting point is 00:31:38 his shoulder at Rachel and laughed, and then looked back at me and made a pass. I was pissed. Not only did he just rudely step between us as we talked, and then he thought that I would just, what, drop my pants right there in an awful attempt at flirting? I called him out for being a jackass. Walked around him, and then motioned for Rachel to follow me. We both left him standing there, and we walked to the back patio. I hoped that he would get the hints, and we could just go back inside soon. It was cold, but I really didn't want to be around him anymore.

Starting point is 00:32:16 We did go back inside soon after, but stuck around the kitchen, picking at the random snacks covering the kitchen island. We spotted Jack a few more times pacing around the living room and coming and going through the front door. Eventually, he started getting in someone else's face, and then some guy approached him, the homeowner, according to Rachel, and told him that he needed to leave. They both pushed each other a few times, but then he eventually left. I remember feeling relieved, thinking I could finally.

Starting point is 00:32:52 relax with him gone. It was getting late. I was enjoying the party, thanks to Rachel showing up, but I mentioned that I was kind of just ready to head home soon, and she asked to come with me. I think we both had our fill of the party at that point, so I agreed, seeing as I wasn't working the next day anyways, and we prepared to head out. Before we left, Rachel said that she needed to use the bathroom, so while she went, I followed her upstairs and waited in the hallway.

Starting point is 00:33:26 I didn't know anyone else there, so when I find someone, I kind of just cling to them. I know some people might think that's weird, but that's just how I am. I didn't stand next to the bathroom door, though. I was standing around the corner at the top of the stairs. That way I could lean against the wall. The bathroom was down the hallway. While Rachel was in there, I could hear what sounded like people arguing. I peeked around the corner and looked over the balcony to see what was going on,

Starting point is 00:34:00 and that's when I saw Jack, back at the party, now fighting with someone. They were in each other's faces, shouting about the party being unfair. Jack said something derogatory about the women at the party, and the other guy told him to leave. I went back to my position. and since Rachel had given me her number earlier that night, I sent her a text about the guy being back. I went back to watching the show below when I saw Jack pull something from his pocket,

Starting point is 00:34:32 and time seemed to slow from there. Someone shouted, He's got a knife! And Jack lunged at the guy he was arguing with, causing him to bend forward holding his stomach. People started screaming and scurrying around, and that was about the time I felt a hand on my shoulder. I quickly turned to see Rachel, and, of course, I tried explaining to her what just happened.

Starting point is 00:34:58 As I explained, I could hear someone shouting, He stabbed him, leaving Rachel and I frozen in place. What were we supposed to do? Should we go down and join them and risk being a victim as well? Should we hide? Thankfully, Rachel was faster than me, and she already had her phone to her ear. She started whispering to the purse in the address and explaining what was going on.

Starting point is 00:35:25 I could still hear people screaming and scurrying below us. Furniture being moved? Things being thrown? And then Jack shouted out that anyone still there needed to come down to the living room at that moment, threatening that there would be consequences if they didn't. He then said something to someone downstairs and, I had a moment of relief that maybe he didn't say that to call out us specifically. Rachel then grabbed my arm and pulled me down the dark hallway we had previously been in.

Starting point is 00:35:59 She pulled me into a bedroom and started opening a window with a phone still to her ear. I helped her to get it open and watched as she pulled the screen out of the window. Then she motioned for me to follow her. We both climbed through the window and were standing on the roof that slid. slopes downwards into the backyard. It wasn't the top part of the roofs, so it wasn't as tall, but it was still a good way up. One that could definitely break, or at least fracture something, if you landed wrong. After some coercing, she finally convinced me that we needed to jump down and get away,

Starting point is 00:36:39 telling me the police were already on the way. I did it. I worked up the courage, still hearing shouts, and screaming inside, and I jumped. I landed on my feet, and they hurt like hell, but I managed. We ran to the side gate, easily unlocked it, and ran down the road where Rachel had parked. She had to park a little further down the street

Starting point is 00:37:05 due to all the cars taking up the space. We both got in, locking the doors, but kept the car off. We didn't want to alert the wrong person that we were there. It felt like an eternity sitting there in silence when we heard the police sirens getting loud. We watched as they passed us, and the sirens cut off as they pulled into the driveway. Now, feeling a little safer and worried about our friends, we got out of the car and slowly walked back to the house. I was honestly worried about Yosena. Was she still in the house?

Starting point is 00:37:42 Did she get out, or was she hurt? Rachel knew the person that lived there. Was she worried about them too? We reached the edge of the driveway and could hear shouting inside from the police, but shortly after, I saw them walk out, one cop on each side of Jack as they dragged him along. He was still fighting them, dragging his feet and wiggling around. An ambulance was already there and the paramedics were being rushed in by another officer. We started heading towards the house when another cop stopped us.

Starting point is 00:38:15 We explained that we had escaped the window upstairs, so they walked us away to ask what we saw. After a lot of back and forth, they finally allowed us to go in and look for our friends. I didn't see Yassania anywhere, but her car was still out front, so I was worried that she had been injured. I tried calling her and texting when she didn't answer her phone. The cop confirmed that only two people, other than Jack, were injured. One had been cut a few times, but they were minor, but the person I watched get stabbed was Caleb, the homeowner, which was the one that Rachel knew. After confirming that Caleb was going to be okay, we decided that there was nothing left for us to do,

Starting point is 00:39:01 and Rachel offered to take me home, which I accepted. On my way back, Yassena called me and said that she had ran through the back door with another friend, who had taken her home since her purse was still in the house. That's why her car was still there. I invited Rachel in and together the four of us sat in the living room going over what happened. It was such an insane night. We were all just having fun, even not knowing most of the people there. They were all still friendly and tried to include us in activities.

Starting point is 00:39:37 Then this guy showed up and not only ruined it, but traumatized a lot of people. I know we were only four out of the couple doesn't. people that were there, but none of us recognized Jack. We didn't know who it was, but Caleb obviously knew who they were. Who was this guy that decided the only solution was to try and kill someone? After that night, Rachel and I ended up becoming pretty good friends. I saw her at work a few days later, and she let me know that Caleb was okay. He had managed to stab him more in the side, missing any vital organs.

Starting point is 00:40:15 He had some pretty gnarly staples in his abdomen, though. Jack was later charged for assault, and as far as I know, he actually went to prison for some time, because this was not his first violent act. I try not to let it affect me, but when I go to parties now, I get nervous when it's around people I don't know, or the moment someone raises their voice, whether it's just playing around or someone is once again getting kicked out.

Starting point is 00:40:45 Because you just don't know what's going on in that person's head. And you really just don't know what seemingly little thing could make them snap. One thing no one ever taught me when I became a father was how to react to my own kid talking about his old life. No, he wasn't adopted. He wasn't an orphan. My wife gave birth to him and we've had him his entire life, but he seems to remember differently. From the moment my son, Claude, named after my grandfather, started showing interest in things, he seemed to be drawn to lighthouses.

Starting point is 00:41:35 We had a nautical theme in his room for a while, and we just assumed it was because of that. His walls were a dark blue with one wall of wallpaper that had a scenic view with the lighthouse. His mobile over his bed had a lighthouse, a boat, a helm, and other similarly themed. items. We just thought it was cute that he seemed really fascinated by it and clung to it. The way he watched the mobile move was like he was in pure awe of it all, and as he got older, he seemed to just stare at the wallpaper. His fascination really grew when he was able to talk, draw, and articulate more. Any type of blocks he played with, he always built a tall tower, and he would put one of his little people at the top of it.

Starting point is 00:42:26 He loved playing what he called boats and watchers. He did his best drawing lighthouses too, and even made a yellow circle around it, trying to indicate the light that circled. When he could talk more, he asked for more books about lighthouses. It was like any other child's obsession with dinosaurs or superheroes, his was just lighthouses. We found a few kids' books for him that were about the lighthouses, but he wanted more.

Starting point is 00:42:59 That kid doesn't have a mean bone in his body, but I could tell that he was expecting something different with the books. So we took him to the library so he could pick out his own. To my surprise, he went to basically an encyclopedia about lighthouses, a book that explained how they worked, listed different ones, the structure, and how long they've been in use. Not what I was expecting a kid to be interested in. He picked it out and immediately began flipping through the pages. I thought we would get home and he would just forget about the book, but surprisingly, he was sitting on his bedroom floor flipping through the pages and talking to himself about the different ones.

Starting point is 00:43:48 He was mumbling things like, no, not that one, kind of, but it was all gray. No, the windows weren't like that. It was such a strange but interesting thing. I'm a schoolteacher and my wife is an accountant. Neither of us have any particular interest in maritime history, and we live in Ohio, hundreds of miles from the ocean. So we never understood where this fixation came from. The only thing we would correlate it to was his bedroom theme, and we wondered, could we really have accidentally influenced him that much with it?

Starting point is 00:44:29 But we learned there was more to it, more than what he would say to us. When we took our first real family vacation together, we were talking about going to a theme park of sorts, such as Universal Studios, and we asked him what he would prefer. To our surprise, even still, he didn't want to go to any of those. He asked to go see a real lighthouse. We wanted the trip to be memorable for him and we felt going somewhere he didn't want or somewhere he wasn't interested in was not a good impression. So we changed our plans entirely to spend a week-long trip on the New England coast. While up there, we visited two different ones and even went to a museum, about them.

Starting point is 00:45:18 Claude loved it. He seemed very focused on what the people were saying in the museum and the lighthouses, and asking a lot of questions. But I still didn't understand his enthusiasm. I was absolutely willing to support it. But then we were passing one in Maine that changed everything. It wasn't one of the famous ones, just a modest lighthouse on a rocky outcropping near a tiny coastal town.

Starting point is 00:45:47 We weren't actually planning on stopping at it since there weren't any signs for it or anything, but Claude was insistent that we go. Similar to what I mentioned before, he's typically an easy-going kid, and typically pretty calm. But that morning, he was adamant. He wasn't asking as he normally did. It was more so, we have to go there. I need to see it. It's important.

Starting point is 00:46:15 The way he stressed this told my wife and I that we should stop. As we drove down the narrow coastal road, Claude seemed to become more and more eager to get out of the car. He was reaching up, trying to look out the window more, and constantly looking around the area. And as we drove, he said very matter-of-factly that the lighthouse entrance was to the right. We curved around the road, and there it was. the entrance directly to the right of the bend. There was no way to know that from where we were. We parked, and as my wife was unbuckling him, he mumbled,

Starting point is 00:46:56 I remember this one. She asked him to clarify, and he ignored her, and just began walking toward the lighthouse, which is when she told me what she heard. Once we reached the lighthouse, Claude put his hand on the gray stone and smiled, looking toward the top. His eyes looked watery like he was about to cry.

Starting point is 00:47:20 My wife asked him what was wrong and all he said was, I lived here a long time ago when I was grown up. My wife and I looked at each other, not really considering what he said at the time. I know at first I thought that he was just playing around like he did at home. Maybe this one he saw in one of his books and he liked it more than the others. but the way he said it, with that certainty, gave me the chills. There was a man right inside giving information and a tour of the lighthouse,

Starting point is 00:47:54 sharing some of the history of said lighthouse. As the man went through his normal information, Claude would respond with certain affirmations confirming what the man said was correct. Towards the top, as he continued talking, Claude touched part of the wall that looked slightly off. The man started explaining how lighthouses get damaged and examples of damage but Claude shook his head, telling him that he was incorrect.

Starting point is 00:48:23 He explained how that part of the lighthouse was damaged specifically and then said, I had to fix it myself because nobody could get out here for weeks. The man chuckled and made a joke about how many times the lighthouse keepers may be left alone for weeks or months due to storm. so it was possible. He asked my son if he knew who took care of this one and Claude didn't hesitate. I did. Charlie.

Starting point is 00:48:49 My wife and I looked down at him confused. His name was Claude, and his middle and last name were not even close to Charlie. So where did this come from? But even more shocking, the man said that he was correct, that Charles was the keeper from 1872 to 1891. I asked Claude if he had read about this lighthouse in his book, and he said no, that he couldn't find it. The man nodded and said that this was not a common lighthouse.

Starting point is 00:49:20 It was smaller than normal and so run down that it's not one that's portrayed in books or movies. He said that you only really knew of this one if you lived in the area or were part of the family that owned it. But he did talk a bit more about Charles. saying he was one of the longest-serving lighthouse keepers, and then Claude started asking more questions about the lighthouse and the surrounding area. He asked about the vegetable gardens south of the property, and about a particular type of lens that had been used in the 1880s.

Starting point is 00:49:54 The guide was visibly impressed by his knowledge and kept asking how he knew these things. The hair on my arm stood up because I had no explanation to offer either. From there, the man guided us to a small building near to the same. the lighthouse that had been turned into a small museum on one side and a general store on the other. There were a few glass displays with some of Charles' personal bloggings, including a pocket watch, an old warped logbook, and what looked like an old Deggerro-type photograph of a man I presumed to be Charles. Claude pressed his face against the glass and smiled. He looked up at us and said,

Starting point is 00:50:34 Yep, that's me. That was me. He pointed at the photo and then pulled his arm back, rubbing his left one. He said that the scar on Charles' left hand was from an accident. As he put it, I got that when I was fixing the lantern during a storm. The glass broke and cut me really bad. My wife nudged me at that point, and I knew why. Claude actually has a birthmark on his left hand,

Starting point is 00:51:02 nearly identical to Charles' scar from that picture. Walking away from the displays, there were small trinkets and gifts that you could purchase. Claude picked up a small book that was more informational about the town we were in than anything. It had a small section in it about Charles, too. He also grabbed a pamphlet about the town and the lighthouses in the area. Then he picked out a small notebook that was made to look similar to the logbook that we saw in the display case. Claude then asked if he could get those items. Well, they weren't exactly something a child would normally pick out.

Starting point is 00:51:40 The way he asked was very childlike. It was the first childlike thing he had said since we arrived. And because of the bizarre experience we all just witnessed, I couldn't say no. We approached the register and the woman looked just as amused by his selection. He explained to her that he was Charles and he was Charles, and he was. he wanted something to remember him by. We got to talking while she checked us out. She even gave us the book for free.

Starting point is 00:52:10 And we learned that the man at the lighthouse was her husband, and that Charles was actually her great, great, great uncle or something like that. The way Claude's face lit up to this was incredible. At that moment, he looks like a very happy and proud parent. As he listened to her go on about her family history and how she opened this show, as a way to honor his memory and pay the bills. Before we left, Claude asked if he could hug the woman and she agreed. He hugged her like he knew her his whole life,

Starting point is 00:52:45 like he'd been on this earth a lot longer than ten years. Afterwards, we left, and I don't think anything could have wiped the smile off of his face. As we left, my wife and I were at a loss for words, not knowing how to react to this new information. But Claude seemed different. He was calmer, peaceful. He thanked us for stopping by there and said, I'm glad we came here.

Starting point is 00:53:14 I think I needed to see it again to make sure I remembered. When we got back to the hotel, I asked Claude if he wanted to talk about it, and he sure did. He told us a few crazy stories about being on the water, how he was married but they never had. had children. He even told us about the storm that took his life, but the whole time he seemed to be an amazement as he recalled these past memories. Then, the rest of our trip, it was back to normal. Nothing could dampen his joy. He loved everywhere else we went and thanked us profusely

Starting point is 00:53:49 for the trip. Once we got back home, he read that book multiple times. He wrote in the logbook Charles' name, date of birth, and death, and which he went. where he was born. And that was it. He kept both on his shelf in his room, and after a year or so, he stopped talking about Charles. He still loved lighthouses,

Starting point is 00:54:11 but it wasn't nearly as obsessive. Thinking back on this event today, nearly a decade later, I'm still in awe. Neither my wife nor myself ever thought about reincarnation. We never really talked about our thoughts

Starting point is 00:54:27 or beliefs on it because we aren't really religious. but this really made us think more about it. We wanted to be completely supportive of him, but based on everything I've read, most kids who have similar memories, they tend to fade and forget about it, especially after getting some kind of closure.

Starting point is 00:54:48 But even though he doesn't talk about it anymore, he still has an appreciation for lighthouses, and he has kept that logbook ever since. It's something else here now, Something new. From exclusively on Paramount Plus. It's the series Stephen King calls Scary as Hell. Everything here is impossible, but it's also real.

Starting point is 00:55:16 Sci-fi vision calls it the best show streaming right now. We're running out of time and we still don't know the rules. Don't miss what the movie blog calls something you need to watch. Saving those children is how we all go home. From binge all episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus. I have a story that happened back in the very early 2000s, like 01 or 2002. It happened back when I was in sixth grade, so I would have been around 11 or 12 when it happened. It was an absolutely crazy thing that happened that didn't make sense to me back then,

Starting point is 00:55:56 and really it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me now, but I guess I can mentally understand what happened. Not really the why, though. The school I went to wasn't a bad school. In fact, it was one of the better schools in the area, but there was this one kid that was in my class that had issues. I think that's the best way to put it without actually knowing specifics about what was actually wrong with him. His name was Dan, and he was a bit off.

Starting point is 00:56:28 We all knew that he had the issues he had, but also this was just a different time, so I think he was. the school basically just wanted to treat him like every other kid and make adjustments if it became a problem. One thing I remember about him was that he would just go silent and stare at people with this intensity that was actually unsettling. I personally knew that he'd had a run in with another student at least once. It wasn't violent to the point of expulsion, but I remember that he got suspended for a few days because of what had happened. I'm not sure if that's

Starting point is 00:57:05 relevant to anything, but I think it paints a bit of a picture. He was a bit threatening. He hadn't been violent, but he definitely was not what most would consider a normal kid. So now that you know a bit about Dan, here is what happened. I'm sorry if this is formatted weird, as I'm a bit iffy on how to explain it properly without the timeline of events, when it happened versus when we all found out. One day when we were all filtering into the school, off the bus, things were a bit different than normal.

Starting point is 00:57:43 Normally, we were allowed to wait out front until the first bell rang, and then we would go to class. On that day, we were immediately ushered off the bus by some of the education assistants, and we were told to go directly to our classrooms. It was really strange to me at the time. There had never been a day where they had done anything like, that as far as I could remember.

Starting point is 00:58:07 We were all rushed into the classrooms, told to put our bags down, and sit at our desks, and then told that things would be explained in a little while. We all did as we were told and sat there whispering amongst ourselves, trying to figure out what was going on. At one point, our teacher, Ms. Evans, was talking to us about the morning, asking us questions, asking whether or not we knew what was going on. None of us did. I think she was fishing for information to see if any of us were in the know about the event,

Starting point is 00:58:41 and after a while she told us that there had been an incident and that it was going to be explained. Not long after that, the principal, Mr. Thompson, came over the intercom and filled in some of the blanks. He announced that one of the janitors, an older man named Freddie, had been injured, and explained that the police were going to be investigated. investigating the situation. He told us that we were all safe, but then basically stated that we were all expected to stay in our classrooms until told otherwise.

Starting point is 00:59:14 That day, we had indoor recess. We stayed in the classroom through the entire day, not even having gym class. We just stayed in the classroom and got an extra recess. As it always goes, though, the information did get out, and other students heard about what happened, and it spread pretty quickly.

Starting point is 00:59:37 It came alongside the fact that I noticed that Dan wasn't in class those two days. So, here's what I've been told about what went down. That morning, where we were all herded into our classrooms, the janitor Freddie had been attacked, and he had been attacked by Dan. It happened early in the morning, before anyone else had been at the school. Somehow, in a way that I've literally never heard an explanation for, Dan was in the school all night, and he was found by Freddy in the morning when he came in.

Starting point is 01:00:14 Dan had apparently stuck out the entire night of the school in one of the janitorial storage areas. I have no idea why he did that, other than he could and just did, but he did. In the morning, Freddy showed up to start the day, and he opened the storage room and he and Dan had surprised each other. Dan being who he was, attacked Freddy with something from the closet. We never found out what.

Starting point is 01:00:42 He just attacked this old man knocking him down and beating him. All of this was caught on camera. Mind you, it was the early aughts, so they weren't the best quality, but they had footage of it happening, and then of Dan running out of the school. The police ended up for the first. finding him hiding out on the school grounds in the small baseball diamond on the property. The school went into lockdown for a while, those two days, mostly because they didn't know if

Starting point is 01:01:11 this was a planned thing or if anyone else was in on it. When they decided that no one else was in on it, things went back to normal. The police investigation revealed that Dan had been struggling with some serious mental health issues. He'd been having violent thoughts for a long time, and he had never really received the help that he needed. They said it was a sudden outburst, but it felt like something that had been brewing for years. I don't think anyone ever figured out why he spent the night at the school, but it was pretty much why this happened.

Starting point is 01:01:47 The whole thing was incredibly disturbing. It shook the entire school community, and it made us realize that even in a place where we felt safe, bad things could happen. Freddie did end up making it, but he retired after this happened. I don't think anyone could blame him. The guy had been doing the job for years, and then some random kid jumped out of the storage closet at him. The poor guy was just getting to work, and this is what happened. I don't know what all happened to Dan.

Starting point is 01:02:19 Obviously, the police were involved, and he had committed a pretty serious battery on someone. In the end, I just kind of hope that he got the hell. help he needed. Because he definitely had something wrong with him, and this was just the worst possible outcome of what could have happened. For the longest time, I never understood why, or how even, people died in their cars during blizzards. I won't lie, I was one of those people that was quick to be judgmental. Just stay in your car, keep the exhaust pipe clear, run the engine periodically for heat, it all sounds so simple, until you're actually living it, until I almost became one of those statistics. This happened during a brutal storm that hit the north in 2019.

Starting point is 01:03:20 Some of you might remember it. Temperatures dropped to around negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit, dozens of motorists had to be rescued from roads and highways. It was pretty bad. I was was actually driving back from visiting my sister for the weekend, trying to beat an incoming storm. We watched the forecast at her place that morning talking about a wintry mix, some saying it would hit overnight, others predicting late afternoon. The National Weather Service had issued a winter storm warning, but like many locals, I'd grown a bit complacent about some of the warnings. I felt I knew how to drive in it and was confident in my abilities.

Starting point is 01:04:05 I decided to risk it, thinking I could easily make the four-hour drive before anything serious developed. I was so incredibly wrong. The snow started about two hours into my drive. At first it wasn't bad, just light flakes that barely stuck to the road. But if you're at all familiar with the snow, you know just how fast things can change. Within 20 minutes, the wind had picked up, and the snow got thicker. The road was practically non-existent, and the few cars I had seen had either pulled off, exited with their hazards on, or were far ahead of me.

Starting point is 01:04:47 When I slowed down as much as I did, part of me said that I should turn around, but I fell into that deadly trap of thinking, I've already come this far, so I kept going. driving slower and slower as visibility continued to drop. My car's thermometer was showing the outside temp dropping rapidly. The mistake that nearly killed me came about two and a half hours into my drive. There was a steep incline that I had to take, and the roads hadn't been touched. I tried speeding up to get over, but very quickly, I started skidding.

Starting point is 01:05:24 My little car didn't stand a chance. I tried to back up some thinking maybe I needed more momentum, but no dice. I still couldn't get over that hill. But then you think, okay, turn around and find a path around it, which is what I was going to do, but the road was very narrow. I tried to do a K-turn and got stuck on the side of the road, in a little divot, I suppose. No matter how much I tried to drive through or back. back up, I was not budging, and the more I tried, the deeper of a hole I was putting myself in.

Starting point is 01:06:03 I even dug out the snow around my tires with my scraper, and tried pushing it while it was in neutral. Believe me, I know that that was stupid, too, but don't worry, it didn't work. I'm a fairly small girl, so there was no way I was moving it alone. So, I decided it was time to throw up the flag. I called 911 and advised them that I needed help as I was stuck in the snow. The dispatcher was kind but direct. They told me the highway patrol was overwhelmed. This obviously wasn't the first call they had about this,

Starting point is 01:06:41 and there were a bunch of accidents and other stranded motorists. It was going to be a while before they could reach me. She said if I had someone that could get me to safety, I could go that route, but only was going to be a while before they could reach me. Only if we were sure that they wouldn't be risking themselves. Otherwise, she told me to stay with my car, and she told me to do those basic things I mentioned before. Keep the exhaust pipe clear, run the engine, and conserve gas while staying warm.

Starting point is 01:07:11 The first two hours weren't bad. I had about half a tank of gas, an almost full 32-ounce cup of water, and my coffee thermos that I filled before I left my sisters because I'm one of those weirdos that drinks coffee all day. I also had a few meat sticks and cookies for me to snack on during my drive, so I still had a few of both left over. I had on a heavier winter coat, gloves, and a hat,

Starting point is 01:07:39 and I even had a blanket that I kept in my trunk with an emergency kit. After a fire and an apartment complex I used to live in traumatized me, I put together a little jump ship bag, if you will. and I kept it in my car. It had spare clothing, including necessities, a phone charger, and a few other things you wouldn't think about in those situations. I had my cell phone that still had a good amount of battery left, but I did have a charger in the car too, just in case, as well as my Kindle.

Starting point is 01:08:13 I called my sister to let her know what happened, and she even offered to have her husband come help me, but I refused. I was already two and a half hours in, and I didn't want him to risk getting out and getting stuck with me, although he did drive a truck. I also didn't want him to get most of the way and then have emergency services beat him there and have him waste the drive.

Starting point is 01:08:38 I told her I just wanted to let her know and that I would update her when I got out, and she agreed. I started to read from my Kindle and tried to just relax. The snowfall was pretty to work, watch, even if I was covered in it. But I had my coffee and my books, so I was trying to make the most of it. I got out of the car every so often to make sure the snow didn't pile up around my exhaust, and then I would get back in and run the car for those ten minutes. But as time passed, the snow didn't let up. In fact, it started coming down heavier and faster. I found myself checking my

Starting point is 01:09:20 exhaust more often, and even took some time to kick away the extra snow around the back to try and prevent build-up. This, of course, made me colder, so it took me longer to warm up when I got back in. I couldn't read anymore as it was making me drowsy, and I knew it was bad to fall asleep in a situation like this. So I switched to playing a game on my phone to keep me occupied. I would play it while I had my car on, so I could charge it, but it was struggling to keep up with the power I was using and charging at the same time, so I had to limit myself there, too. As the sun began to set, that's when things got a lot worse. The temperature had dropped to negative 5 degrees. Each time I opened the door, more cold air and snow blew in, and it would get

Starting point is 01:10:10 harder to warm the car back up. I thought maybe I could put more space in between each time I checked the exhaust, but I was too afraid to do that, thinking maybe I was feeling tired because the exhaust wasn't able to escape. So I continued checking, and would continue to get colder and start this process all over. The real terror started to set in around hour four. My gas was getting lower, down under a quarter of a tank, and my movement was getting sluggish. It was a struggle choosing between dangerously cold and low on gas, or running the engine longer to stay warm. I tried to distract myself by calling my sister back and acting like everything was fine. I told her that I was doing fine, just cold and bored, but I could hear it in her voice that she didn't believe me.

Starting point is 01:11:09 She again offered to come out and help, but I declined, and said that I would call the Highway Patrol to get an update, and she agreed to let me go. The dispatcher had given me two different numbers to call to get updates or report back if anything changed, so I called. To my surprise, they said they were trying to reach me, but there were two abandoned vehicles blocking them that they had to clear first, and make sure that no one was inside of them as well. By the fifth hour, I was fighting to stay awake. I was out of coffee.

Starting point is 01:11:48 I couldn't really afford to run my car anymore, so I could at least drive to a gas station. And I didn't want to kill the battery, so I didn't want to touch my phone anymore. I tried to recite the lyrics to songs or poems that I knew to keep my mind occupied, but it only half worked. My eyes were heavy, and I know I drifted off for a few. few moments at one point. I even rolled down the window hoping the cold air might cholt me awake, and grabbed my blanket wrapping it around me too. I knew this was bad, but I had to do something.

Starting point is 01:12:25 I risked using up more battery and grabbed my phone to call my sister, and asked her husband to make the drive. I didn't know how much longer it was going to take, but I needed to do something. And as I sat in the car bundled up, slowly drifting. in and out of consciousness, that was when I really started to get scared. My movements were slow, and while I was panicking in my mind, my heart rate was normal, even slower than normal. It was a truly weird experience, but I didn't know what I could even do about it. Then, at one point, I had my eyes closed reciting whatever I could, when I started seeing a bright light

Starting point is 01:13:08 reaching my eyelids. I opened my eyes to see a big truck coming towards me, and I think I nearly passed out then. I remember saying they can just watch me sleep, I'll be fine. I don't know how long I was out, but it felt like a long time. I was awoken to a knocking on my window, and I got out to see a cop in a tow truck driver standing by my door. I remember the tow truck driver's smile as he asked me if I was all right. He then said that I could go sit in his truck because he kept the heat running and helped myself to his coffee. My legs were sluggish, but I ran as fast as my body permitted.

Starting point is 01:13:51 I watched as the trucker pulled my car out of the pile, and that's when I realized just how much it had snowed. With the wind, the snow was nearly at the bottom of the windows on the passenger side, and there was probably about a foot on top. I had stopped checking the exhaust after I called my sister, so that had even started piling up. I could have suffocated. When all was said and done, they towed my car to the closest sign of life, a 24-7 gas station, and gave me directions around that hill.

Starting point is 01:14:27 I was one of the lucky ones that was able to get my car back that same day. Some people were having to wait until the next day because of how deep they were in. On the way, the truck driver was telling me how he had already rescued so many people that day that he had lost count, and he was probably going to be out for a few more hours before he even went home. I talked to him about how I had even thought about walking, and he told me I was smart for not doing that. He mentioned that the temps had dropped to negative 15 degrees, down to negative 40 with the wind, and I easily could have died from exposure. He said it like my father would have,

Starting point is 01:15:10 and it stuck with me ever since, that concern he had in his voice. This man had seen a lot, so I trusted his judgment. Once I was at the gas station, I thanked the truck driver and called my sister to tell them to turn around. But, per her demands, I did not try to drive home that night. I did find a nearby hotel, and agreed to stay there for the night.

Starting point is 01:15:36 After six hours of sitting in a cold car, I really wanted a hot meal and a warm bed. The next day was looking a lot better. They had already started plowing and treating the roads, but I still took the alternate route that the trucker gave me, and I got home with practically no further issues, just a little skidding here and there. I know that I was incredibly lucky.

Starting point is 01:16:03 If I had had less gas, if my phone had died or I didn't have a charger, or if I hadn't kept clearing my exhaust pipe, this story may not have existed. I thought my emergency bag had everything I needed, but I learned what it was missing. I put an extra set of gloves, a scarf, and a blanket in it, and I even got a mini shovel to keep in the back. And if they mention a storm, I don't even try. try to challenge it. Because until you're in that moment, you don't realize just how important each decision you make becomes. Everything happens decision by decision, each one seeming reasonable at the time, until you

Starting point is 01:16:51 find yourself trapped in a metal box while the snow piles higher and higher. Moral of the story, learn from my mistakes. And if you can, just stay home. I'm not usually the type to get into these sorts of things, and I don't do things that are illegal. I want to get that out there right away. I am pretty tech-savvy, but I use my computer for work, hobbies, and just the normal everyday user stuff. But I got curious at one point. I don't remember how or why my intrigues started, but I know there was a conversation with someone

Starting point is 01:17:41 I work with about things on the dark web. And that conversation led to interest, which led to me being stupid. Curiosity killed the cat, right? So, after that whole curiosity started to scratch at me, I decided I would just do it. I had no plans to do anything illegal. Not everything on the dark web is illegal. Some of it is just too edgy for the surface. And I knew how to be safe.

Starting point is 01:18:11 I watched a few tutorials on how Tor worked, how to use it, what the whole non-indexed thing meant, the difference between dark and deep, etc. I was educated in a very shallow sense. So I got Tor installed and running and read more on how to use it, and then started down a rabbit hole. One thing about using the dark web that you don't consider is how tense you feel when you're going through things. It's probably because of the social stigma, but everything I clicked felt grimy. Like I was one click away from committing a felony, which sounds kind of silly, I know. After a while, I ended up on this forum that was more or less just white text on a plain black background.

Starting point is 01:19:02 It was like a very plain text version of 4chan. More plain text than what 4chan even is. There were subjects about a few things, nothing too crazy. A lot of it was people talking about movies, where to download them, hacking, exploits, a lot of cybersecurity talk, honestly. There were a few that were talking about how they had scraped a database and wanted to sell the data, but I stayed away from that because I knew that that would have been bad. Then I found one that was a post from someone saying,

Starting point is 01:19:38 hey, today is my birthday, come to my party. And then there was an onion address listed after it. I don't know why I decided to check that link out. I don't know why I was like, hey, this will surely be a troll, or something about a legit party. But I decided that I wanted to know. The link took a long time to load. Or rather, it looked like it was taking a long time to load. It was just a black screen with a second.

Starting point is 01:20:08 spinning wheel making it look like something was coming. I sat there for like five minutes just waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. I assumed it was a dead link, so I closed it out and forgot about it. I didn't do much else after that on the dark web. I had satisfied my curiosity and was pretty much just done for a while. That is until the next day. This is when things got weird and scary. I was on Facebook, doom-scrolling like I always did in the mornings, when I got an event invite.

Starting point is 01:20:46 It popped up in my notifications and was simply titled, Come to my party. The profile picture was just a black square. The event image was just black, and there wasn't much info beyond a location and a very short description. The location for this event was an abandoned mall, about 15 minutes. from my house. I used to go there with my high school friends back before it closed, and after it closed, we broke in once, and we walked around, and it was creepy. It took me a few minutes of WTF to really put together the connection.

Starting point is 01:21:24 The whole, come to my party thing from that onion link that I clicked, and then this invite. The description is what did it for me. You clicked my link, now you have to come to my party. I freaked out. I mean, freaked out. I deleted the event invite, changed my Facebook privacy settings to completely lock everything down to private. Then, I got an email to my personal email address that had the same subject. Come to my party.

Starting point is 01:21:56 And the text in the email was just, you clicked my link, you have to come to my party. The address that had came from was a string of random characters. and the domain was also random characters. It was clearly some sort of spoof that wasn't a real address. I did not sleep that night. I spent the entire night doing security scans on my system, checking my files, researching how to find malware outside of scans,

Starting point is 01:22:25 but nothing came up on any of my security scans. I actually went through all of my accounts and changed all of my passwords, put tape over my webcam, and disconnected the computer from the network when I was done. I was feeling more than a bit paranoid, but it really did mess with me. Clearly this guy had gotten my information, at least my Facebook and my email, and he was messing with me. It was a prank. It had to be. I was dumb enough to click his link and he was just teaching me a lesson.

Starting point is 01:23:01 I was completely offline for the entire weekend, a full two days, slightly more than two days actually. I had to plug it back in to get some work done, so I did. At some point, I ended up back on Facebook, and I noticed that I had a friend request. I had locked everything down to friends of friends, so I was sure this wasn't anything related, but when I looked at the account, it was clearly a fake person. Black Square profile picture, no banner, their name was Anani Mouse, and they were, somehow, friends with my aunt. I declined the request and messaged my aunt telling her this guy wasn't real, and that she needed to unfriend him. I framed it like he's a scammer trying to steal money, something that would get her attention.

Starting point is 01:23:55 Again, I thought it was over, but the day after that, I got another email for. from another string of random characters. Though it was a bit different from the first, the subject said, R.E. My party. The email was just as cryptic as everything else. It said, You missed my party.

Starting point is 01:24:16 You were the guest of honor and you didn't show up. I'm so disappointed. And that was it. There was nothing else to explain the whole trick. Nothing to tell me what this guy wanted. That's literally, all it said. So I know that may sound anticlimactic,

Starting point is 01:24:36 but I have to tell you that I was terrified. I wasn't sure if there was going to be more of this, if this guy was going to come for me or what, but I was scared. Thankfully, there hasn't been another message, and this was over a year ago at this point. So I think that he's done with me. I haven't gotten back on tour,

Starting point is 01:25:00 or any dark web pages since this happened, and I have zero intention to ever go back again. I don't know what would have happened if I had showed up to the party, and I really don't even want to think about it. Who knows? Maybe there really was a party. Maybe they would have harvested my kidneys. Don't know, won't know. And at this point, I'm just glad to be past it.

Starting point is 01:25:27 of course, if I ever get another message from this guy, I'll make sure to make an update to all this, but for now, I think I'm in the clear. For starters, I'm a very skeptical person, pragmatic, and very down to earth, so to say. But what happened to me in my dream kind of changed everything. I was always very close to my grandparents on my father's side. I had a difficult family situation, and they were always. there for me. Ever since I can remember, me and my sister spent summer holidays on the countryside with my grandparents. When I was 10, we moved in the city near the countryside, and we spent every weekend with them. A few years ago, I moved to another country, and I could

Starting point is 01:26:25 only visit my family two to three times a year. When I was pregnant with my second child, my grandpa got sick. Nothing too serious, but there were some complications, and he did die. I was devastated, and I couldn't even go to the funeral because I was pregnant. My grandma started to get sick shortly after and died the next year. My oldest daughter had some health issues, and we were in the middle of a ton of doctor's appointments,

Starting point is 01:26:55 which were hard to get, and we just couldn't miss them. I was very sad that I missed another funeral, but we planned to visit the family in a few months, so that made me feel a little better, but I still felt sad and guilty. One night, though, I had a dream. Usually when I think of death and dead people in my dreams, I get really spooked.

Starting point is 01:27:20 But this time I felt really calm in this dream. I dreamt that my father was leading me to my grandparents' house. It was very dark and we came to the door. He said, you have to go in alone, so I did. There in the living room were my grandparents. The room was exactly as I remember it. It was very light and warm. My grandpa stood up kind of surprised to see me, but then he hugged me and said,

Starting point is 01:27:49 like he always used to. Hello, my little daughter. And I said, It's so good to see you. I miss you so much. What are you doing here? To which he said, I was just waiting for grandma.

Starting point is 01:28:03 And then he turned around and I looked at her. She was beautiful cheeks red, eyes bright and happy She just smiled She was very skinny and old when she died But now she was so full of life About the age she was when I was a little girl I hugged them both

Starting point is 01:28:23 And my grandpa just said Go, my daughter, we are fine Then I woke up in the middle of the night But surprisingly for me I wasn't scared at all I called my dad the next day and told him about it, and he told me that he dreamt about a light, a warm light flying and disappearing into the sky.

Starting point is 01:28:45 Today, I don't know if my guilt made up that dream so that I could say goodbye, or if my grandparents are somewhere where we're not allowed, and someone let me in for just a second. Either way, I felt better and at ease, knowing that they are together. Hello again, Raven. I hope you're doing well, and I have another story that I wanted to share with you about a recent situation a friend of mine and boss went through. Not sure what category it fits into. We'll call her Carly to protect her identity, as the situation is still being, quote, investigated.

Starting point is 01:29:35 But I figure you might be interested in a modern story that's scary and crazy. I named this story Tyler House because it centers around a house my friend has told me about that used to be a hangout spot for her and some of her friends and co-workers. After what has happened recently, this house is no longer the hangout spot. This was in summer, June of 2022. Carly is the manager of a pizza shop in a gas station lot in McDonough, Georgia. She's 27 years old. energetic, and fun. And a lot of her co-workers are her friends as well. She takes her job

Starting point is 01:30:17 seriously, but she's also a cool person to work for. Other employees at the coffee shop and gas station also know and love her, and her friends from high school and college also grew up in the area and still keep in touch. One of her longest friendships is one with the man that will call David to protect his identity. and unfortunately he had a bad run in with some more troublesome crowds in their youth and has been in prison for the past eight years. He was released on this year, and Carly had been working hard to save up for a place for herself and her daughter

Starting point is 01:30:55 so they could move out of her best friend's house, and she had hopes of rekindling the relationship she had started with David prior to his incarceration. They kept in contact by mail until the week finally came. came where David was released, and Carly couldn't wait to go pick him up. They spent a night together, and then Carly went to work, the same as always, excited that she could finally have the man that she loved back in her and her daughter's lives. Things went well for a week, and then changed when Carly returned home from work on a Friday evening in June, to find that David wasn't there, and he wasn't answering his phone calls or texts.

Starting point is 01:31:36 He had disabled the 360 tracking app on his phone as well, and Carly began to worry about him, since most of her friends and the few co-workers that also knew David hadn't heard from him or seen him in a week either. A week went by before a friend that we will call Peter showed up at her job and asked to speak to her out back. He told her that he had seen David briefly at the Tyler House a few days ago, and that he was planning to catch a ride to Florida, stay a few days, and then backpack to Georgia, on his own. Something that Carly knew meant that David was once again shuttling, using and most likely selling drugs again. She thanked Peter for his tip, and Peter informed her that David made sure to tell him and a few others not to tell Carly where he was. Later on that same day, Carly's grandmother called her to tell her that she'd heard from David

Starting point is 01:32:36 when he called asking her for money, and she told him that she didn't have any and wondered why he didn't ask Carly. David lied and told her that he was currently mad at Carly, because he came by her job and saw her sitting in her truck with another man and accused her of cheating on him. Carly was taken aback by the accusation, since it was true that, her and one of her best friends and co-workers would often take smoke breaks together, sometimes sitting in her truck on her brakes to do so, but her co-worker was not romantically interested in her, or any woman, in fact, since he loved men. Carly knew the story was trash, and she sent him several unanswered texts trying to get a hold of him, all of which were left on red and never responded to.

Starting point is 01:33:28 Carly's grandmother told her to not worry about the situation and that David would turn up soon on his own as he had often done in the past when he was angry and needed time to cool off. Carly went back to work and even though she worried for her friend she focused on doing her job. A week after that, a local police officer, Ben, walked into the pizza shop to order a meal and began to flirt with Carly, insisting the two hang out sometime off the clock and get to know one another.

Starting point is 01:34:01 She agreed to do so, and the two had dinner at her apartment. He asked her a lot of questions about herself and showed genuine interest. But it wasn't until the officer began to ask questions about her friends and family that Carly became slightly alarmed. Ben began to ask her about her hangout habits, and if she had been out in certain areas recently, and at one point, mentioned the area of McDonough not far from where the Tyler house was. She lied and told him that she didn't frequent that area, senting that something was off about the lineup of questioning. Midway into their visit, Ben got a call that he stepped outside her apartment door to take discreetly,

Starting point is 01:34:47 and minutes later came back in to tell her that he had to leave for work. Carly walked Ben to the front door of her apartment, where he told her that if she ever needed anything taken care of, he could help her out, no matter what it was. Carly dodged the unusual statement by telling Ben that he was sweet, and before he left, she realized he had left his jacket on her couch. She made a joke insisting that since he had left it there, she would keep it as a souvenir of their visit,

Starting point is 01:35:19 something that triggered Ben, since he rushed back into the house and took his jacket in a cold manner, insisting that he never leaves anything with anyone, which, again, gave Carly another odd sensation about him. He left briskly without saying anything else. That same night, hours later, Carly did get another text message that alarmed her. After not hearing from him for almost a month, Carly was surprised to see a message from an unsaved number in her texting app.

Starting point is 01:35:55 It wasn't a written message, however. It was a headshot of David, bruised, bleeding, and with a severely swollen black eye. She immediately tried to call him, but each call went straight to voicemail. So she texted him, asking what happened. All he texted back was, I'm okay, a rough night with friends. and then had a fight with my friend. I'll call you tomorrow.

Starting point is 01:36:23 Fed up with the drama surrounding David's whereabouts, Carly had her co-worker come over and watch her daughter as she decided to go looking for David on her own. And the first place she was going to look was the Tyler House. The Tyler House sat on 10 acres of a tree-covered land, bordered by a wooden fence, and the house itself was tucked deep inside, accessible only at the tail end of a snaking gravel driveway that stretched out a half mile from the main two-lane country road.

Starting point is 01:36:56 Apart from the two-story main house, there was a separate walk-in tool shed, a standalone carport, and several abandoned cars in the front of the house, as well as a few working vehicles parked on the right side of the house. She recognized the small sedan and pickup truck that belonged to the Tyler family. but the third vehicle parked slightly behind theirs was one she hadn't seen before. Behind the house was a greenhouse, an additional tool shed of a smaller size, and more tree-covered land that rose and fell, and eventually led to one of the many rivers that cut through the area. As she approached, she began to feel uneasy all over again,

Starting point is 01:37:41 as her additional attempts to call and text David continued to go unanswered. She never told David that she was going to the Tyler House, because she feared that if David was in more trouble than he let on, he would disappear on her and go off on his own again, even if he needed her help. Carly pulled her car up a few feet away from the house, and parked off to the side of the gravel driveway, and walked the rest of the way to the front door of the older White House she had known for many years.

Starting point is 01:38:13 The screen door was open, but the main door behind it was left. locked, so she knocked on it with the heavy fist to make sure that someone heard her. She didn't care about ringing the doorbell. In fact, she noticed that it was missing, but completely dismissed it, wanting simply to get someone's attention as soon as possible. She couldn't hear anyone talking inside the house, but seconds later, her friend Peter came to the door and opened it quickly with a terrified expression on his face. He demanded to know why she was there, and before she could answer, he shushed her and pulled her into the house,

Starting point is 01:38:51 locking the door behind him, and began guiding her past the cluttered living room and up the small carpeted staircase on the left side of the house. Once upstairs, Peter looked around and then opened the door on their right, pushing Carly into his bedroom and locking the door. Carly demanded that he'd tell her what was going on, and Peter once again shushed. her, noticeably terrified and trying his best to keep her quiet. What the hell are you doing here? You can't be here right now, Peter told Carly silently, but forcefully. Carly did her best to explain what was going on, including the text message she'd gotten from David a little while ago. Peter led out a frustrated sigh and opened his own phone to show all of the texts from David's original phone number, where he mentioned that he and

Starting point is 01:39:42 some friends were keeping tabs on a competing supplier in the area, waiting for a chance to take him down. Peter then showed her messages from David's new phone number from the past week, which detailed how he and a couple of male friends that Peter didn't know and had never seen before had attacked someone who was delivering drugs from a rival supplier, and beat him nearly to death before they robbed him of his product and his money. David apparently lost his own phone in the process, and had to get a new burner phone. They brought their loot to stash at the Tyler House, where the youngest son of the Tyler family, Mark Tyler,

Starting point is 01:40:22 was going to redistribute and sell the product himself. They threw a small party and invited a small group of extended friends who engaged in drinking in the usage of the product. Peter told Carly that, after being there for a couple of days, David and the two new friends decided to go out to a local bar for drinks several hours before Carly showed up to make contact with the local customer, and that was the last time he heard from David. Mark Tyler wasn't home either, and oddly enough wasn't answering any phone calls or texts all day. Carly was slightly confused, but she still wanted to know why Peter was acting so spooked. He told her that

Starting point is 01:41:06 About an hour before she arrived A black car that resembled An undercover police vehicle pulled up to the house and sat there for a long time Someone got out with the flashlight and began looking around their property but never rang the doorbell or knocked Peter had closed all of the blinds and curtains

Starting point is 01:41:25 Locked all the doors and had been hiding in his room until he saw the headlights of Carly's car pulling up the driveway And if he had known she was coming he would have told her to stay away from the house tonight. Carly's heart began to race even more as Peter opened the ring app and showed her the last video clip, which showed someone approaching the front door,

Starting point is 01:41:47 using a flashlight to blind the camera, and then forcibly removing the entire camera by hand. There was a split-second glimpse of the man's face, and Carly's eyes went wide when she realized she recognized who it was. Suddenly it made sense why Ben was asking about her friends, hangout patterns, and areas that she would go to hang out. There was a loud bang in the sound of breaking glass in the back of the house, and Peter and Carly knew that someone had broken into the back door of the Tyler House. They heard some slight rummaging around, and then loud, slow stumps on the staircase heading to their room. There were two firm knocks on the door, followed by an attempt to open.

Starting point is 01:42:32 opened the door, and finally the man spoke in a voice that Carly recognized all too well. Carly, I know you're here. I recognized your car outside. Ben stated calmly to her. Carly didn't answer, frozen in place and afraid to admit to herself that it was actually Ben the policeman, the guy she had just spent an entire evening with on the other side of the door. I was hoping you weren't involved in this situation, Carly. As you could see, it's pretty bad. Your friends are into some deep stuff, deeper than you know. Ben continued trying the door once more. Carly still couldn't bring herself to say anything back,

Starting point is 01:43:14 and almost screamed when three powerful fist knocks suddenly ring out against the wooden door again. Don't effing act dumb. I know you're in here. I've checked the entire house, and I know you're in that freaking room. Ben screamed through the door. This time Peter was the one who ain't. answered. Get the F out of here, man. I've already called the cops and they're on their way. Peter shouted back. Ben led out a dry laugh outside the door, which was much more eerie than everything

Starting point is 01:43:44 else he had done thus far. Carly, your friend in there doesn't know, does he? Ben asked casually through the door. Peter looked at Carly and she finally found her ability to speak, turning her head slightly away from the door to look back at him. He is the police, she whispered to him, her voice wavering with fear. Look, Carly, I'm going to have to resolve this whole situation. Your friends not only stole from some very influential people, but they also put my brother in the hospital in the process. Your dumbass boyfriend lost his phone, but my brother found it that night.

Starting point is 01:44:24 And now I have it. I know about David, and I know about his buddies, and I know all about you, too, Carly. I'm here to get our stuff back and clean house, and I really wished you hadn't come here tonight. Ben stated once more in a much more sinister manner. It suddenly dawned on Carly and Peter why Ben kept insisting that he really wished that she hadn't come there that night, and why Mark Tyler was nowhere to be found. Peter, when's the last time you saw Mark? Carly whispered.

Starting point is 01:44:59 He shrugged, approaching his window on the other side of the bed where he quickly began to undo the latches. There was a portion of the roof they could use to get down to the backyard, and if they moved fast enough, they could either hide in the shed or make a run for it to the river through the trees. As soon as the latch clicked, there was another rough jingle of the locked doorknob, and Carly didn't hesitate to slide the heavy wooden chest of drawers in front of the room door to buy them some time. Peter got the window open as heavy kicks began thumping out against the blocked door behind them, and Carly and Peter escaped onto the roof section of the back patio, and into the backyard where they ran for the tool shed.

Starting point is 01:45:43 The sound of heavier kicks and a few curse words rang out in the near distance, as Peter dialed 911 and then stopped and looked at Carly in the shadows. I can't do it. That house is loaded with drugs, and I know about all of it. Plus, this guy is a cop. There's a chance we might not make it out of this without him finding us. Peter reasoned frantically.

Starting point is 01:46:06 Look, if we can make it to my car out front, we can get out of here and go somewhere safe. Carly pleaded with him. The heavy thuds of kicks suddenly ended in a few seconds later. Ben was stepping through the broken glass of the back door, sweeping his floor. sweeping his flashlight across the backyard area behind the house. It was pitch black in the back of the house except for the glow of Ben's flashlight, but there was enough light from the moon itself to see. Carly and Peter maneuvered carefully around the backyard area,

Starting point is 01:46:38 using the trees and miscellaneous junk in the backyard. And when Ben approached the rear of the yard area leading further into the trees, Peter and Carly made a run for her car and escaped. On the way home, she called her co-worker and told her to get her daughter dressed and meet her at her mother's house. Once they got there, Carly told her mother and stepfather what happened, and they called the police. It was later revealed that there was no officer Ben working in that particular county, and that he most likely had purchased the uniform from a costume supplier and obtained a former police vehicle at an auction,

Starting point is 01:47:16 or had his vehicle made up to look like an undercover person. patrol car. Either way, Carly and her daughter didn't go back to their apartment for months, and Carly has already made plans to move. Peter and Carly were not able to get a hold of David for another month, but found out that he had made it safely to Florida where he intended to stay, somewhere safe until things blew over. Since his first phone had been lost and recovered by the fake officer Ben, he couldn't

Starting point is 01:47:47 trust any of his usual people and didn't have most of his contacts, but he pulled some strings to get safely out of the state. In August of 2022, a man fitting the description of Officer Ben was apprehended by actual county police officers, thanks to an anonymous tip. It's now 2025, and Mark Tyler still hasn't been found, and the case has since gone silent, not even making a blip on the local news. The Tyler family still awaits word in the whereabouts of Mark Tyler, or his remains.

Starting point is 01:48:25 I know that this is a longer email, and I appreciate your patience in reading it all. I got my friend's permission to submit this all to you, and thank you again for your time. I heard that you might be interested in creepy neighbors,

Starting point is 01:48:49 and I had a story that I wanted to share with you. There were definitely some pieces that were creepy, but bizarre and uncomfortable would also be good adjectives to describe her as well. This took place back in 2012. I was in my 30s and had moved into a small home that needed a little extra care. I lived alone, other than my two cats, and I was honestly looking forward to fixing some things on my own,

Starting point is 01:49:19 so I was willing to give it a chance, especially at the low cost of the house. I would have been crazy not to. There were a few things that I needed my brother's help with, but otherwise, it was all on me. Anyway, so I moved in, waved at a few neighbors, but no one was really doing the whole introduce themselves bit, which was fine. I wasn't doing it either. The older couple to my left stopped and talked to me when we went to get our mail at the same time,

Starting point is 01:49:51 but that was about it. But then there was my neighbor across the street. Nancy. I saw her occasionally outside sweeping off her front porch, sitting on her porch swing reading. I even saw her mowing her lawn once. She looked to be in her 60s or 70s, but she also looked like she kept herself healthy and in good shape.

Starting point is 01:50:16 One day as I was getting home from work, sitting in my car in my driveway, I saw her carrying a bunch of bags from the pets. store. She had two large bags of cat food, bags of litter, and then other small bags, including one of those feather wands

Starting point is 01:50:34 sticking out of the bag. I just remember thinking how cute it was that she must have had bags full of toys or treats and how well she treated the cats. Then, one day, she finally introduced herself when she was doing yard work, and I was checking my

Starting point is 01:50:50 mail. I asked her about her cats, not knowing what else to say, and I remember how her eyes lit up. She explained how she had a few, but joked about how she wasn't one of those crazy cat ladies. She explained how she kept them clean and fed, and they even had regular vet appointments. I mean, I certainly didn't think that she didn't take care of them, based on all the supplies that I'd see her bring home. Over time, she would tell me about her cats, calling them her babies and describing them her babies and describing their personalities, like they were people.

Starting point is 01:51:28 She mentioned how Patches was a troublemaker. Cotton was the jealous type and always wanted attention, and how Pete was the gentleman of the group, and always looked after the ladies. I remember the way she talked about them was a bit odd, like when she mentioned how they were picky eaters, or that they talked back to her when she tried to get them to behave. Again, I have cats too,

Starting point is 01:51:53 and sometimes we talk to them like they understand us, right? So maybe she was just eccentric with hers. Who was I to judge? That was typically how our conversations went. It was a bit about ourselves, how we were doing, and then our cats, and, well, that was okay. She was still one of the tamest neighbors I'd had, so no big deal. There were even a few times that she invited me over to see them

Starting point is 01:52:23 meant to have dinner or something, and I just never got the chance to accept the offer. I worked a pretty labor-intensive job. It was lifting and moving stuff a lot, so between that and home repairs, I was usually pretty exhausted in the evenings. But I still enjoyed talking with her when I did see her in passing. Then, there was one time that I actually ran into her at the grocery store. After talking for a bit, she explained how she was going to have to go out of town for a little while due to a family thing. After talking some, she asked me if I would be willing to feed them for her.

Starting point is 01:53:05 She said that she was only planning on being gone for a day, 24 hours at most, but she wanted to make sure they had plenty of food and water, and she said that Claude also needed eyedrops every 12 hours due to an infection. he had. She knew that I had cats and knew that I was obviously good with them, so why would I say no? I agreed, thinking a quick check on them after work wasn't going to ruin my night. She thanked me, profusely, explaining that she didn't trust a lot of people to not judge her about her cats and her way of living, but said that I seemed like an open-minded girl. I remember this because, at the time, I thought that was a really weird way of describing it. Open-minded?

Starting point is 01:53:56 To what? Having multiple cats? She gave me the date, saying that it was going to be the following week, and a few days after that, she came over to my place and gave me a spare key to get in. She also explained that sometimes Claude would get antsy, and that I may need to swaddle him to get the drops in. I understood that conundrum,

Starting point is 01:54:19 as one of my cats was impossible when it came to medication, but I was determined to get it done for her. I just had to do it once. I would have never guessed what I was getting myself into that night. I was expecting to see at least six cats, as I remembered at least six names at the time. I was expecting to maybe see the place a little messy, maybe a few more litter boxes everywhere and maybe even a lingering smell in the air.

Starting point is 01:54:55 Instead, I walked in and first noticed that the air smelled clean, like an air freshener. Great start. I walked through the mud room, and as I entered the living room, I saw several grown adults run out of the room or hide. Some of them left the room, but there were four that stayed in the room. the living room. Four grown adults, men, and women. None of them wearing more than underwear, sitting on what appeared to be a large dog bed

Starting point is 01:55:30 or blankets. One of them was lying on the couch, wearing what looked like a large purple and blue fur coat, and nothing else. And every single one of them was wearing a collar. I was mortified. I remember looking down. at the floor and apologizing, I said I was there per Nancy's request to feed her cats and give eye drops to one of them. I said that I would leave promptly after that, but then also suggested

Starting point is 01:56:00 coming back if needed. She didn't mention anything about other people living with her or even being there. Were they even supposed to be there? But then, as I stood frozen in the doorway, playing with my keys, a man and woman crawled on all fours toward me, and I started opening the door. The woman rubbed against my leg, meowing, and the guy, while on his knees, proudly held out the tag on his collar displaying the word Claude. Oh, hell no. I didn't know what this was, but I was not into it and I left immediately. I forgot to even lock the door. I went right back over to my house,

Starting point is 01:56:50 locked my own door and stared out at Nancy's house. What the hell did I just witness? What did I walk into? At no point in time did Nancy ever mention that her cats were actually humans pretending to be cats. Did she really not have any real cats? I immediately called my first. friend and told her what had just happened, and she thought it was weird, but also hilarious.

Starting point is 01:57:19 At the time, it was not funny to me. I didn't know what was happening or if I was being set up. I never went back there. I know she asked me to do this, but was she really expecting me to swaddle that man and give him eyedrops? Besides, they were human. They could feed themselves. The next day I waited to see Nancy come home and met her in her driveway.

Starting point is 01:57:45 She greeted me with a big smile and asked how they did for me. I confronted her. I told her what I saw when I went in there, and she laughed it off like it was the most normal thing in the world, still referring to them as her cats and how she took care of them. She even explained how they were all strays and that she saved them. What did that even mean? I tried to explain my discomfort with the situation, and she seemed genuinely confused.

Starting point is 01:58:19 She asked if it would help if they all wore fur coats next time. I declined, but then she seemed like she was trying to get me to reconsider. She mentioned how I should consider joining them, because a few of her tomcats had shown interest in me. Again, what did that mean? I again declined her invitation and said that I wasn't really comfortable with whatever that was. She seemed really disappointed, but all she could ask then was if I at least gave Claude his eyedrops. I went back home after that and hoped that I would never run into Nancy again because I was never going to be able to bring up cats with her ever again.

Starting point is 01:59:05 While I lived there, I would see her carry in those bags of food. I only ever saw her coming and going None of those other adults ever seemed to leave. She still waved at me when we were both outside, and I would wave back to be polite, but I could not get the scenes out of my head. I know they're probably all consenting adults, and they're doing whatever it is they enjoy,

Starting point is 01:59:32 but to not give any warning on something like that and letting someone go in there, expecting actual cats, was pretty terrifying to me at that moment, especially then saying that they were, quote, interested in me. Was she wanting or expecting me to join? I never talked to my other neighbors about it, thinking I really had no reason to tell people,

Starting point is 02:00:00 but part of me also wondered if any of them knew. I lived there for about a year, but due to a plumbing issue, I ended up moving, selling the home, and Nanty still lived in that same house, up to my last day in that neighborhood. Hello, Raven. I've only told the story to one other person before, and she didn't seem convinced that this was a real event that could actually happen in the real world. I can't blame her, as I still can't wrap my head around the encounter, no matter how many times I replay it in my mind. Anyway, I was on campus late one night due to a guest speaker running long, and then sticking around to answer questions and chat with the students.

Starting point is 02:00:56 If memory serves, the speaker was from the Association of Computing Machinery, and the chat was something about the challenges of creating interfaces between very formal and precise computers, and very informal and imprecise humans, yada, yada. You know, the typical computer. nerd stuff. Anyways, after we split up, everyone went their separate ways depending on where they were parked. I was thirsty, so I ducked into a building that had a water fountain.

Starting point is 02:01:27 When I exited the building, less than a minute later, I walked right into them, four orbs, floating silently and motionless. They floated about two meters above the ground, about two meters apart from each other and were initially about four or five meters in front of me. The orbs had two identifiable parts, an inner glowing part, perhaps the size of a softball, and an outer shell,

Starting point is 02:01:56 perhaps the size of a basketball. The inner part was just light, but the outer part had a noticeable texture. I think the best way to describe the outer shell surface would be like a Fresnel lens, like the kind that lighthouses use. made of a textured glass or acrylic or some other semi-transparent material. I can't say whether the inner orbs were green and the outer shell was clear,

Starting point is 02:02:23 or if the inner orb was white and the outer shell was green. Either way, the final product was pure green light being emitted. After about one to two seconds of sitting motionless, they started accelerating to my right, which would be due north. They moved in perfect sink and accelerated, at a constant rate, still making absolutely no sound. I don't know the rate of acceleration, but it only took about five or six seconds for them to be moving so fast that they were just a blur.

Starting point is 02:02:57 As for possible logical explanations, the only thing I can think of was that the water I drank had something in it that caused a hallucination. It's a long shot as no other evidence point in that direction, but I'm grasping at straws to explain this. Anyways, thanks for listening, and thanks for keeping an open mind. Being single during the pandemic made me realize just how bored and lonely I was. I lived alone at the time, so I spent a lot of days at home with little interaction with the outside world.

Starting point is 02:03:44 So, in 2021, I started feeling better about things, and wanted to start looking for someone again. I started with the few dating apps and told myself not to get my hopes up too high. Even if I just found some new friends to talk to, I would be happy. That's where I met James. We matched, and I was digging his bio. He was attractive, but didn't look overdone. He had a good job as a software engineer.

Starting point is 02:04:16 He seemed to share a lot of similar interests that I did. His photos showed him playing board games surrounded by people. There was a cool scenic picture of him on a dirt bike up in the canyons, among other normal profile pictures. We talked for about two weeks, and he seemed like a really down-to-earth guy. He was funny and explained how he was pretty competitive with board games, but said that Pictionary was his weakness since he couldn't draw. He even asked me about my hobbies,

Starting point is 02:04:49 and what I was interested in. He was engaged in the conversation the entire time and never got inappropriate or pushy. So when he asked if I wanted to meet up for coffee at a popular local cafe, I felt completely comfortable saying yes. We planned to meet that following Saturday in a public place, with lots of people around and totally safe.

Starting point is 02:05:15 I mean, he suggested the place too, so I had no quality. about it. It was about an hour before our date, and he messaged me with some bad news. He asked if I would be willing to change venues because the cafe we had planned on going to was temporarily closed due to a COVID exposure. This was believable at the time, too. I had never been there, so I did a quick search of the area.

Starting point is 02:05:44 It was in a fairly busy area and had good reviews, so I agreed. It was still public, so I was fine with it. It's not like he had control over the closure anyways. I arrived a little early as I normally do and figured that I would go on ahead and get a good table where we could have a little privacy. From the outside, it was a cozy looking shop that was attached to a small strip mall. But the inside was not what I was expecting. It was technically open, sure. but it was completely empty except for one elderly barista who looked half asleep.

Starting point is 02:06:26 It was unusual to see a coffee place so empty around 11 o'clock in the morning. The ones that I typically frequented had a decent amount of people coming and going at all hours, but maybe this was just a slower hour for them. Still, I ordered a small latte in case everything went well and I wanted to stay longer. I grabbed a seat in the front corner and waited. Shortly after, I got a text from James saying that he was running a little late. No problem. I just did something on my phone to kill the time.

Starting point is 02:07:02 After 15 minutes passed, I texted him to ask if everything was still good and then didn't get a response. After 30 minutes, I was a mix of annoyed, disappointed, and concerned. Yeah, maybe I was stood up, but also could something have happened to him? I texted him one more time and told him that we could just try again later and prepared to leave. When the door chime finally alerted me that someone else was here, it was James. But it's not what I was expecting either. James certainly didn't look like his photos. If I had to guess, he was.

Starting point is 02:07:45 was probably closer to mid or late 40s rather than early 30s. He was also much heavier, and even his hair was a different color. In his photos, he had that nearly blueish black colored hair, but sitting in front of me he had almost a copper brown color. I get that people lose and gain weight, but looking at him more, even his jawline looked different. My face must have shown my suspicion because he apologized. He apologized, claiming that his photos were a little older, and that he had gained some COVID weight. Obviously, they were old photos, which, yes, I did have a problem with. I mean, have all the old photos of yourself, but have something current, too.

Starting point is 02:08:34 Because I know plenty of others would have had the same problem if I had done the same thing. I used to have really long hair, but after a bit of a breakdown, I shaved half my head and dyed it. And I know some people aren't into that, so I changed my profile picture to be as current as possible. It's the least I can do when on apps like this, so people know what to expect. Regardless, I wasn't going to be rude, nor was it a deal breaker for me, so I wasn't going to leave. I stayed and hoped that we could still get that same friendly conversation we had going on via text prior. But the conversation was not the same, and in fact was strange from the start. He kept asking oddly specific questions about where I lived, my day-to-day life.

Starting point is 02:09:32 He even asked if I lived alone. When I gave vague answers, he would press for detail. It's certainly not how James acted in the texts. So I tried to shift the focus on him. I asked him about his work and what he specifically did, but his story kept changing. First he said he worked at Microsoft, and then claimed he was only on a contract with them, but he actually worked at a local tech startup, and then said he was, quote, between jobs. Every time I called out an inconsistency, he would quickly change the subject.

Starting point is 02:10:12 About 45 minutes in, I decided that I'd had enough. He couldn't be honest with me, so I didn't owe him any more of my time. I made an excuse about needing to leave, and he offered to walk me to my car. Then he grabbed my elbow. Something about the way that he grabbed me and said that, made my hair stand. I don't know why, but I lied, and told him that I hadn't driven

Starting point is 02:10:41 and had just taken an Uber. But to confirm my bad feelings, he chuckled and said, you sure you didn't drive the blue Honda Civic? If he was late, there was no way he would have known what I drove. I tried my best to not show my surprise and laughed saying that it was a good guess,

Starting point is 02:11:01 but no, reaffirming that. that I had an Uber. He stared at me for several long seconds, like a parent trying to catch their child in a lie. I looked down at my phone and motioned to it, claiming that my Uber text me that they had arrived. I told him that I would text him later and rushed out the door. Instead of going to my car though, I speedwalked down that little strip and into the bookstore further down.

Starting point is 02:11:30 I went down one of the aisles so I couldn't be seen from the front window. window. After several minutes, probably looking shady myself, looking around, I bought a keychain out of guilt and left the store. I walked back to my car looking all over for him, but I didn't see him anywhere, thankfully. But there, under my wiper blade, was a napkin with sloppy writing on it that said, you shouldn't lie to people. Yes, this was creepy, but also, what room did he have to talk about lying. He couldn't even be honest about his job or send me a more current photo of himself.

Starting point is 02:12:11 I got in my car looking around once more, but noticed the parking lot was just as empty as it was when I got there. Once I was back in the safety of my own home, I texted him everything I was thinking. I told him I wasn't interested in seeing him anymore since he couldn't even be honest with me in person. But before I could even finish my tent,

Starting point is 02:12:33 He texted me, and it was ugly. He said that I was rude and shallow, and pointed out how I lied about the car thing again. He then made the, you women are all the same, comment, claiming I was shallow and that I wouldn't have given him a chance if he used a real picture of himself, practically admitting that those weren't even old photos, but someone completely different. I was willing to still talk to him, even though he looked different. because I still liked him as a person. Hell, I'm not the most fit or slim person either. That's why I said it wasn't a big deal.

Starting point is 02:13:14 What was a big deal was that he lied and he obviously was lying about his job. What else would he be willing to lie about? Was his real name even James? But the berating didn't end there. No, it ended with him saying, and I guess trigger warning here, that I was lucky he didn't slash my tires, or worse, my throat. I deleted the message and didn't even bother responding. I reported him on the dating app, blocked him on there, and his phone number,

Starting point is 02:13:48 who gets so upset by a rejection that they would threaten someone's life. I actually didn't get back on that app, and, in fact, went back to being by myself for a bit after that. I was too freaked out knowing that he was at. out there and had to live relatively close if the place we went to was about 25 minutes from me. He also knew what I drove. Would he be willing to follow through on that threat? Was he following me to places? I wasn't willing to take that risk. I told several people in my circle about it just in case and did my best not go anywhere alone. Thankfully, nothing happened after that. I did get some random

Starting point is 02:14:33 anonymous phone calls, but the few that I did answer, they would just hang up. I don't know if it was him calling from a blocked number or whatever, but if so, at least it wasn't anything else. While part of me wants to just say good riddance, I find myself hoping that he got the help that he needed to fight his inner demons and build his self-confidence. The genuine kind person that I met in the beginning makes me want to believe that that was his true self. At least, it's easier to hold on to that hope than to consider the more terrifying possibility. That it was all in act by a sociopath. With it being the season of celebrations, I wanted to share a story from two years ago that was mostly about my friend. She gave me

Starting point is 02:15:35 permission to tell it because, frankly, it's an important story to share. My friend and roommate, Paige, and I were wanting to have a little New Year's party at our place. We were renting an older duplex that was pretty close to our school, and they were open to anyone from what the landlord said, but it was typically students that rented them. I assumed because it was a great area, rent was cheap, and it wasn't the prettiest. A lot of us split our time between work and classes, rarely getting downtime. I know Paige and I certainly didn't mind the ugly brown paint peeling on the outside and the carpet that was beyond deep cleaning.

Starting point is 02:16:19 We threw together a rough pastel theme on the inside and slapped down some rugs and we were satisfied with it. Anyways, we were planning on only maybe 10 or so people showing up. It was a duplex. It's not like we had a huge house to party in. What we didn't anticipate were the people we invited, inviting others. So, we ended up with about 20 people there. It wasn't bad, though. Nobody was too rambunctious, and everyone seemed to get along. Some people brought drinks, and a few others brought extra snacks, which was also nice.

Starting point is 02:17:02 Most of us there drank that night, some more than others, so we just didn't. sat everything out on our kitchen table as a free-for-all. We had music playing, drinks flowing, people laughing and dancing. It was exactly what I was hoping for. Even Paige was having a good time, which was nice to see. She had been pretty stressed. She'd been having a rough semester with not only her classes, but her parents were also getting a divorce,

Starting point is 02:17:33 and it seemed like almost daily she was telling me about a call she got from one of them, trying to frame the other as the bad guy. She even told me she'd been having trouble sleeping, so she definitely needed a break. She started drinking pretty early into the night, since at first it was all fun for us. We were doing shots, playing a game, but then things started to change,

Starting point is 02:17:59 and I really should have noticed the red flags a lot sooner. Page had already gone through two beers and a few. shots before 10 p.m. And you could tell that she was fairly intoxicated. I wanted to tell her to get some water, but I also didn't want to be a killjoy. Instead, I just kept asking her a lot

Starting point is 02:18:21 if she was okay and how she was feeling. At one point, I even got her a glass of water and she drank about half of it before setting it down and never touching it again. I still regret my decisions.

Starting point is 02:18:37 By 11, she went from being the life of the party and dancing around to barely being able to stand. At first, people just thought she was drunk and laughed about it, but I noticed that her breathing was becoming irregular. I was in school to become an RN, and those things start to really stand out to you. I kept asking her if she was okay, and she finally said, I just need some air, and tried some. stumbling towards our back patio. I let her go, but it was still bothering me, so after a few minutes, I went to check on her. Her face was a ghastly pale color. Her lips seemed colorless.

Starting point is 02:19:23 She was sweating profusely despite standing out in the cold in a t-shirt and leggings. I asked her again if she was feeling okay and mentioned that she didn't look too good. That's when she looked over at me, her eyes glossy, and collapsed against the sliding door. I screamed, not expecting her to collapse the way she did, and immediately went down to pick her up. That's when the seizure started. A few people had since run to see what was happening,

Starting point is 02:19:55 and I asked them to help me. I held her head to keep her from smacking it, and yelled for someone to call 911. If you've never seen someone with a seizure in real life, then count yourself lucky. It's nothing like in the movies. We've talked about seizures extensively in school, so I knew what to expect,

Starting point is 02:20:16 but to actually have someone in my lap actively seizing, you just feel powerless. You want to be able to do more. Paige's body went rigid, her eyes rolled back, and she started making these horrible choking sounds. Someone inside was panicking and screaming about how she was going.

Starting point is 02:20:37 going to die, which really didn't help at all. Thankfully, I knew how to handle a seizure, but it still didn't stop my heart from racing. Our mutual friend Zachary was there, and I told him to watch the place, as I went with the paramedics and page. I didn't want her to be alone. I spent my New Year's countdown in the waiting room of an ER that year, pacing and waiting for them to tell me she was going to be okay. Finally, someone came out and told me that she was awake, and I could go see her, but they had a few questions for me.

Starting point is 02:21:15 I was confused at first because I figured she had just drank too much, but I was wrong. Way wrong. They asked me if I knew of any prescriptions that Page was on. I told them I wasn't aware of anything, so they then asked me if she used drugs recreationally. This question caught me off guard. I never knew Paige is the type to take anything like that. The hardest thing I'd ever seen Paige take was Excedrin if she had a severe migraine. What were they getting at?

Starting point is 02:21:49 That's when the doctor hit me with a hard wake-up call. They'd found an amphetamine in her system, as well as another drug that I won't mention here in her system. They said the combination of those and the alcohol is what was causing. the sweating, the collapse, and the seizure. They had to pump her stomach, and she also hadn't eaten, so she had an empty stomach to boot. I was floored. I would never have guessed this with Paige. Was she really using?

Starting point is 02:22:24 Or based on the second drug, did someone spike our drinks at our party? I felt fine. I later called Zach and asked him about everyone else, and he said that no one else had mentioned feeling ill either. I didn't want to say too much since it wasn't me, no matter how close the three of us were. He also said a lot of people left after we did, and the few that remained didn't drink anymore. They tried playing a board game, but the mood was definitely ruined. Eventually everyone left and Zach stayed behind to clean up the place for us.

Starting point is 02:23:01 Bless him. Finally, I went back to see her. so badly I wanted to yell at her, just say what were you thinking, but I knew that I needed to hear her out first. This wasn't like her. There had to be more to this whole thing. Thankfully she was honest with me and explained how she had bought some pills and had been taking them to help her studies and finals. She said someone told her about how much they helped them. Then between the stress of school and family, she had trouble sleeping. not thinking about the fact that what she was taking was an upper causing her heart rate to spike

Starting point is 02:23:42 and possibly not being able to sleep. But she then took those pills anyways. As for the last drug, the doctor had mentioned, Paige swears she never took any of that, and wasn't even too familiar with what it was or did. After talking to a doctor and a cop, the doctor called them due to the fact that there was a possible drug, or spiking, and that's the only thing we could think of.

Starting point is 02:24:10 Maybe someone spiked her drink, trying to take advantage of her already intoxicated state. I would like to say that we knew everyone there really well, but as the details of the parties spread and friends invited others, it became a little more complicated. I felt awful. I felt betrayed and vulnerable. Someone we possibly knew or someone they were friends with came into our home and tried to drug her, maybe even multiple people. There were a few people that we could absolutely roll out, but otherwise, we had no way to prove if someone did or did not. We had to provide the cops with some of our information, something about it being state law, even if we didn't press charges because of the situation. I gave them some names, but there were some that we just barely knew.

Starting point is 02:25:07 I even spoke with Zach to see if he could come up with the list of people that were there, or if we noticed anything suspicious. To this day, we still have no idea who could have done it. No one claims to have seen anything. Zach felt bad for not catching anything, but he was being an entertainer just as much as we were. I've known him since middle school, and Paige and he, met in high school. We were thick as thieves, so I knew that I could trust Zach. There are also some other reasons why I know he didn't do it that aren't relevance to this story, but the bottom

Starting point is 02:25:46 line is, I know he didn't do it in case anyone did suspect him. This experience turned out to be quite the awakening for both of us. Page learned that she needed to take better care of herself. She couldn't rely on controlled substances like that to get her through, and she now knows how stupid that was. If she would have been caught with it, she could have been charged with possession, or worse. Now, if she's stressing or trying to cram for finals, she just takes better care of herself and paces herself. I realize that I could have been a better friend, too.

Starting point is 02:26:26 When I see something off, like how she was acting early in the party, I speak up. I won't let anyone do that to themselves if I can help it. I'm going to school to be a nurse anyways, so how awful would it be if I just turned away from something like that? And lastly, we've all learned to put our foot down when it comes to parties or guests. If we don't know you, you're not allowed in our place, no matter what. This way we can keep better track of people and the drinks. So next time you go to a party, be aware of your surroundings, keep a hold of your drink and trust your gut. And, of course, the obvious, don't do drugs, kids.

Starting point is 02:27:15 I had something that happened to me in the winter of 2023, and it has definitely given me something to think about, but at the same time gave me a bit of peace of mind. For many years, my sister and I would go to this local coffee shop, every Friday and just enjoy our coffee, a muffin, and each other's company. We joked about how the muffin gave us more of a rush than the caffeine some days. We were both married, and I have a young son that was in school by the time we met up. But on the days he was off, he would come with me. My sister and son were almost as close as we were, and I loved.

Starting point is 02:28:06 loved it. But, sadly, my sister passed away in a freak car accident. Another car was going way too fast through an intersection, ran a red light, and hit her hard enough to make her car roll. It was an awful, awful time for my family that left me with nothing but questions and an empty space inside me. I was distraught for a very long time. I'm sure a lot of people would have been, Of course, I couldn't fathom going to the coffee shop. I tried for a few months to just get out of the house, but it was too painful. So I stayed away for a very long time. Depression and the pandemic kept me home for almost three years,

Starting point is 02:28:55 getting out only when necessary, or for the random family gatherings. It was difficult to even do anything for her birthday, but I did it for her. After seeing a therapist, I decided it was time for me to move forward, knowing that she wouldn't want me to stay home and mourn for her. She was far too outgoing and an introvert to allow me to stay home all the time. It's like I could feel her tugging on my arm, like we were teenagers again, her begging me to go with her to a birthday party. So I started going by the coffee shop, the same one that we went to every Friday. I decided it was a good way to still hold on to something close, but also break through the walls that I had built since I lost her.

Starting point is 02:29:44 At first, it started with me just sitting up there, not in the same spot that we sat, enjoying a coffee and reading a book, and eventually I was able to do some work up there. I worked for myself, and sometimes I had a lot of paperwork to do, so I took this as a time to get out of the house, have less distractions and get it done.

Starting point is 02:30:07 And the table that we used to sit at was perfect for it. It was in the corner by a large glass window. I could watch the sunrise, feel the warmth on my face, and be out of the way of the people coming and going. Again, it was difficult the first few times, but then afterwards, it felt right. It felt like I was supposed to be there, and it instantly made me more comfortable with it.

Starting point is 02:30:34 I expected to have an anxiety attack, like I so often did when I thought about this place initially, or her birthday, but that never happened. Instead, the familiar smell of the coffee, the soft jazz or oldies that they played, and the velvet-covered chairs almost made me feel closer to her, and it comforted me.

Starting point is 02:30:57 The more I sat up there, the more I started to notice the others, that frequented the coffee shop, including a man who I will refer to as art. He looked to me in his mid-30s, well-dressed, but also casual. He always ordered a dirty chai because I remember thinking I should try that.

Starting point is 02:31:17 Never had it before, would highly recommend it if you haven't. He always carried a large leather messenger bag, and then when he found his seat, typically in one of the lounge chairs in the center of the room, he would pull out a pretty battered sketchbook, and a container of various pencils, erasers, and other similar items. I think he may have had charcoal in there, too, based on how his hands looked some days.

Starting point is 02:31:46 I would catch glimpses of some of the pages in his book when he turned them, and I saw a lot of people, portrait styles. He was clearly very talented, and I remember thinking that it would be really really, neat to sit somewhere like in a coffee shop and sketch people and things for the day. I noticed he was there every Friday that I was there, and on the random extra days that I started going, he was also there before I even got there, already set up with his drink. I assumed he probably went up there often. While I worked, I would look over at him and see him

Starting point is 02:32:23 looking around and back down at his page intently, and one time I even caught him looking at his page intently, and one time I even caught him looking at me, but not in a weird or creepy way. In fact, when I noticed him looking at me, he didn't even look away. He got an eye full of whatever it was and then went back down to his page. I thought maybe he was just people watching, but with him furiously sketching away, I wondered if he was possibly drawing me. But there was nothing remarkable about me. either, so maybe it was just a theme or reference that he was using, someone sitting at a desk

Starting point is 02:33:03 or something of that sort. One day I had to leave earlier than normal, and I saw him shuffling his papers quickly around when I started packing up. I didn't think anything else about it. I just remember him moving things around, but he wasn't really packing up. It was almost as if he was trying to find something, or open his other book that he had with, with him searching those pages. Then there was the following week that I went up there.

Starting point is 02:33:33 Once again, he was there before me and already hard at work, nose down to his book. I got my drink and parked myself in my normal spot and started into my work as well. I glanced up at him when I noticed him once again moving things around, and he pulled out a different sketch pad. Then he went back to it. occasionally looking over at me. Since this had become a regular thing,

Starting point is 02:34:01 I started to become more curious about what he was drawing. I didn't want to be weird, but I wanted to ask him if I could see some of his work because I was intrigued and loved watching people in their groove and working so fluidly, especially when it came to art. Our mother, also a huge artist, instilled in us how powerful art can be

Starting point is 02:34:25 depending on the person. So it's always been something that I cherished watching. If I'm not watching your videos, I'm typically watching something artistic. But overall, I decided against it, not wanting to invade his boundaries or make him uncomfortable. I also know how some people prefer to not be disturbed, so I just continued my own work and thought to myself what he could be creating. That was, until I was in my own groove, and I noticed the man pushed the tape. table out and stretch, with a soft smile on his face, as he looked over his work. I went back to my work when the man ripped out a page, stood up, and to my surprise, walked over to me.

Starting point is 02:35:12 At my side he then handed me the page face down and nodded at me. Confused and curious, I flipped the page over. At first I was marveling at his abilities. This man was truly an artist. It looked like it was all pencil with a little ink for darker lines and some shadows. It showed me sitting at the same table with my laptop out, focusing on the screen. The woman in the picture was wearing a similar shirt that I was wearing last week, and the hair was pulled back in a clip, like I liked to wear my own.

Starting point is 02:35:48 But I also wasn't alone in the picture. Across from me sat a young woman, her face obscured by a large sunhound. hat, her hand nearly touching mine on the table. The details were incredible from the bits of hair in my face to the way I tucked my feet under the chair. But the woman sitting across from me was what made my heart drop. I told him it was incredible and that he was a fantastic artist, but then I asked about the woman in the photo, already having an idea.

Starting point is 02:36:22 I'll never forget the solemn smile, the kind reserved. for sympathy when he said, I like to draw the whole picture. Even when some are no longer present, they're still with you. I looked back down at the picture and nearly cried. That was my sister. She loved her sun hats

Starting point is 02:36:43 and had one to match nearly every dress that she owned. I had never seen this man before, and it had been nearly three years since I had even been up here with her. How could he possibly? possibly know who she was or what she looked like. He asked me who she was, and I explained that it looked like my sister who had died years prior. He looked like he understood.

Starting point is 02:37:08 He explained how he liked to help others heal through his work, and explained that my sister sat there with me every week that I was there. Was this why I felt so comfortable there? Because she was with me? I was a big baby at that moment. a big sobs falling down my face, and I'm sure that a few people looked at me, but I didn't care. I had struggled so long to go back to that coffee shop, not aware that my sister was waiting for me, to continue our ritual.

Starting point is 02:37:42 He gave his condolences, but then also told me that he hoped that his work may help me, and reminded me that I'm not alone, not by a long shot. I hugged that man like I had known him for years. years. He thanked me for allowing him to work. I thanked him profusely, and then he left. I wanted to cry and ask him so many more questions. How could he have known about my sister? He said that he drew what he saw and drew another person with me. If he had moved here recently, there was no way he could have known us. And I highly doubt that he pulled out a news article from a few years ago and read about a random fatal car accident naming my sister.

Starting point is 02:38:29 Even if he did, how would he have known that it was my sister? The most he may know is the name the barista called out, which was Kitty, because it's what my sister nicknamed me as a kid, and I always used it. It was easier for her to say that instead of Sissy. I may have had a lot of questions, but at the same time, I didn't really need any answers, because all I could do was smile and stare at the picture in front of me.

Starting point is 02:39:00 He clearly saw something more than what I did. He saw what I couldn't. And all those times I felt warm and comforted there. I wonder if it was my sister, sitting with me as we used to, just letting me know that she was still there, ready to pick up where we left off. When one of my favorite games came out back in 2016, I became obsessed with everything about it.

Starting point is 02:39:38 I even joined Facebook groups to share my experiences, the good and the bad, get the heads up on possible leaks, and maybe even find some others to play with. While watching a streamer who played the same game, I learned from people in the chat about a community discord server dedicated to the game, and I thought it would be fun to join too. Everyone was cool there. I even recognized a few people from the chat, and one of them that regularly posted in the Facebook group that I was in. It seemed very similar, except the Discord was definitely more organized, so you could ignore certain parts of it, like those that took the game way too seriously, or the, quote, angry room, where they just constantly complained about the game. I actually quite enjoyed checking it out. This is also where I met Trevor.

Starting point is 02:40:32 It's not his real name, I'm sure, but it's what he went by. He seemed normal at first. Funny, good at the game, quite active in the server, and always willing to help newer players improve. We actually played in the same group for about two weeks before he sent me a friend request, which I accepted, without really thinking about it. It was on Discord, so I knew I could just remove him. No problem, if I had to. But he really didn't act weird. He never said anything that could be remotely misconstrued as off-putting,

Starting point is 02:41:09 so I had no problems with it. We started chatting privately about different games, music, and other normal daily stuff like our pets. He told me that he was 28. I was 26 at the time, and where he worked, which was just a few hours from where I lived. He seemed genuinely interested in my life, but never pushed for personal information, which also made me feel comfortable talking to him. After about a month of regular gaming sessions and talking, Trevor mentioned how he was going to a work conference in my city,

Starting point is 02:41:45 and asked if I wanted to meet up to get coffee, since he wasn't familiar with the area, and that we should since we'd become such good friends. I remember thinking, we just play some games together. You know my cat's name in the city I live in. I wouldn't consider that to be a great friend, but I was nice because still, he wasn't being weird. I just politely declined saying I prefer to keep my gaming stuff online,

Starting point is 02:42:15 at least for right now. I also didn't want to feel like I was leading him on or anything. I'm not straight, so I know I wasn't shy. showing any interest in him. Anyway, he seemed to take it pretty well, saying that he totally understood, and I even gave him a suggestion on where to get some good local coffee. But while I thought we both handled that well, things started changing. The next day, he had messaged me about a weird coincidence.

Starting point is 02:42:48 He'd found my Instagram account. He claimed, through mutual followers. I hadn't told him anything past my first name or any of my socials, those I kept for people I knew personally. Yes, I followed some people on Insta, and was involved in some Facebook groups, but I also didn't have my Facebook and Instagram connected. He also specifically called out Instagram, not Facebook, so it wasn't the gaming group that I was in.

Starting point is 02:43:19 My name on Instagram is also a play on my memory. middle name, so not even my first name. My only thoughts were that he had to be purposefully and actively looking for me. I couldn't really get behind the idea of it being a coincidence. So this definitely set off some minor alarm bells. I was honest, and to the point, and told him that that was quite the coincidence, but that I didn't accept any follow requests for people I didn't personally know, and even mentioned that it was due to a weird random follower situation.

Starting point is 02:43:56 He once again said that he understood, and we dropped it. But then, a few hours after that, he sent me an invite to join him on Snapchat. He followed it up with, if I wanted to talk outside of Discord. At this point, I was a bit irritated. This was the third attempt to talk to me outside of the server, and I've declined the other offers. I understand he may have just been being friendly, and even friendships can cross boundaries,

Starting point is 02:44:28 but that still does not make it okay. So I confronted him about it. I told him I wasn't interested in talking outside of the server, and that I was uncomfortable with all of his attempts. He took a while to finally respond, and when he did, it was a simple apology saying he didn't mean to send the snap request to me. I honestly did not believe him, but that's fine. If he claimed he didn't, then it shouldn't happen again anyways,

Starting point is 02:44:59 now that he knew how I felt, right? Instead of accepting my feelings and wishes, however, he doubled down on the creepiness. He started sending me messages about specific places I had been to recently, places that I never mentioned in a public setting. He asked me about a restaurant that I went to and would always phrase it as if he had no idea. Hey, I saw this Thai place around X Street.

Starting point is 02:45:25 Do you know if they make this? Or when I stopped at a small market near my work. The farmer's market at this intersection has awesome street corn. He worked a few hours from me, so I assumed he also lived that far from me. Why would he be shopping around in places near me? The conference was one day, so I didn't understand. But the fact that he would ask these questions after I would leave these places made me feel like he was intimidating me. Like he was trying to prove a point.

Starting point is 02:46:01 It was such a strange thing to do, and I hated it. We started out just talking to each other and sharing mutual interests in a video game, but now, somehow, he knew where I was throughout the day. and at that point I was no longer comfortable going to places I would normally go. So, I ended up just leaving the server, and removing him as a friend on Discord, and then blocked him. I wanted nothing more to do with him. However, I then started getting friend requests on Discord from new accounts with no mutual servers or friends. And when those were all declined, then I got more follow requests and friend requests on Facebook, and Instagram.

Starting point is 02:46:47 I declined all of those too, but he was persistent. One day, my sister showed up at my place unannounced, and was asking if I was okay. Confused, I told her I was fine and didn't know what she was talking about. She said that she got a message on Facebook from some guy named Trevor, claiming to be a work friend. He told her that I had been acting strange and that he was worried about me, asking if she could check on me since I hadn't been to work in a few days, which prompted her to rush over. My confusion quickly turned to pure anger, as I asked her to show me the message, and sure enough, it was the same guy. His PFP was of himself in some cosplay, and several of his Instagram and

Starting point is 02:47:36 Facebook pages had similar pictures. I knew it was him. So, I told my sister everything that was happening and she was worried that he was following me. I definitely had a feeling that that was happening, because how else did he know where I went daily? But I had no way of proving it, really. The messages, maybe, but that was it. And I wasn't aware that he would be around or didn't think about it when I was out, so I rarely looked for him.

Starting point is 02:48:09 But as we considered this, something told me to look outside. I live in an apartment, with my place facing the parking lot out front. I looked around and spotted a car in the parking lot that was running, and I saw him, sitting in the car, looking around left and right. I knew it was him. If he'd been following me to those places previously, there was a high chance he followed me home too. So he probably knew the building I was in,

Starting point is 02:48:43 but maybe he didn't know where, apartment. What if he had lured my sister to my place to watch and see? I was livid. I wanted to storm out there right at that moment and chew him out, but my sister stopped me. She suggested that I call the police instead. Ultimately, I knew she was right, and I did call. I was surprised by how quickly they showed up, and with the way they pulled in, because I gave them a description of his car, they blocked him so he couldn't even try to leave. We watched from the window as they asked him to step out. They patted him down and were then talking to him.

Starting point is 02:49:27 One of the cops came up to my apartment, and we went over all the details again. I was smart. I took screenshots of all the conversations on Discord before I blocked him, so they could see his picture. or two. It was small, but the cop I talked to said he was confident it was the same guy. We waited inside for a bit until another cop came up, the one that was previously talking to Trevor, asking again for my side of the story. That's when he told me what Trevor had told them. He claimed to be waiting there for a friend, but when they asked for the friend's name and unit, he seemed to be trying to think of answers off the top of his head. He seemed to be trying to think of

Starting point is 02:50:08 answers off the top of his head. He said that his friend lived upstairs, but couldn't give the exact units or even floor. There were four floors. I gave them a description of some of the people in the building that I knew, but after checking with the front office, they confirmed that no one lived there by the name that he had given. After all was said and done, he was actually arrested, because he apparently had warrants. But I was given the option to file a protective order, and yes, I did just that. Why would you stalk someone when you have warrants? When someone could easily call the cops on you?

Starting point is 02:50:50 None of this made any sense. After this event, I didn't get any more messages from him. Friend requests, nothing. So maybe he got the hint. maybe whatever his warrants were for kept him busy. All I know is that he ruined something that was really fun for me. I did stay in one Facebook group, but removed myself from any other ones and just stuck with the friends I had made previously. I had tried to put myself out there more, and that was obviously a mistake.

Starting point is 02:51:23 I still don't know what his true intentions were, and I guess it's best that I never know. so long as he is never able to achieve them, whether it's with me or someone else. I moved to Massachusetts shortly after finishing college, finding my dream job there. I've always lived on the East Coast, but that was quite a drive from North Carolina for one person. But once I got there, I fell in love with the city, and that's still true to this day, but in 2022 my college graduating class was having a 10-year reunion than I was excited to attend. It was supposed to be in 2021, technically,

Starting point is 02:52:18 but we had pushed it back a year just to be safe. So, I was going to be making the drive back down to my hometown to see some family and friends. But because I had been in mass for so long and gotten used to the surrounding area, I decided to take a bit of a longer route to see more nearer. sites. I think I saw more than I bargained for. Instead of taking the interstate, I went for a route that was more focused on the rural scenery. I left early in the morning, packing my little hatchback with my belongings, a few snacks and drinks, and my excited Terrier Daisy. She loved car rides, and was just ready to bounce around the car old hey, I'm sure. I had my GPS on to keep a guide going,

Starting point is 02:53:05 but I also wasn't too concerned about following it. The actual reunion wouldn't be for two days, giving me plenty of time to take in the sights. I was also staying with my parents who were happy to have me home too, so I had some time on my hands. The drive started out perfectly. It was a sunny day, so we had the windows cracked, and Daisy was enjoying herself.

Starting point is 02:53:31 It wasn't until about 3 p.m. that the sky suddenly darkened, dramatically. I knew the weather where I lived was nice, but I didn't even consider weather conditions along the way, and we were about to drive right through a storm. Within about half an hour since it darkened, it began to downpour. The rain was so heavy that my wiper blades couldn't keep up. I slowed down quite a bit, barely able to see in front of me. Daisy was now lying in the seat watching me.

Starting point is 02:54:03 She's okay with rain and water, but not so much the roaring thunder. I drove like this for another hour before I decided I needed to stop. I wasn't making much progress at that speed, and it really wasn't safe. No matter what road I was on. I was concerned about hitting another car or an animal or even someone hitting me. I was in a smaller car, after all. So I drove even slower, turning on my hazard lights, and looking out for exits. I was hoping to find somewhere off the highway to stop until the storm led up, to check in with my parents, and maybe grab an actual meal.

Starting point is 02:54:48 I was too excited to get on the road, so I hadn't had much of a breakfast. Finally, I saw a familiar sign indicating food places and took the next exit. I could go left or right at the stop sign off the highway, but I couldn't see anything in either direction. I decided to go right, but the only thing I saw that way after a mile or two down the road was an old-looking gas station, where the building still stood, but the pump itself was gone. That place was long closed. I was doing okay, however. I still had plenty of gas, and neither of us were still.

Starting point is 02:55:28 starving, so I decided to just wait it out where we were. I checked my phone, and unfortunately I didn't have a signal, but I at least tried to send a text to my mom, thinking that it would send when it could. I even went back to my GPS, and it said that it was looking for a location. I remember thinking, man, this storm is really brutal. So, Daisy and I stayed in the car for some time, sharing a few pieces of jerky I had stashed away while I played a game on my phone. One of the few things I could do.

Starting point is 02:56:04 I don't remember exactly how long I was there, maybe half an hour or so, before I noticed the rain starting to let up. It turned into just a light drizzle. But where the rain stopped, a fog started creeping in. I rolled down the window and was shocked by just how much cooler it was from when we left. However, visibility was much better, so I figured I should go back the way I came and check out the other side of the highway, thinking maybe I would find the restaurants and some civilization that way. Back down the other way, however, it was just as desolate looking.

Starting point is 02:56:46 I was sure that I saw a sign off the highway that had two places listed on the food and lodging sign. Granted, I didn't recognize either place listed, so I assumed that it was just a local thing. Either way, where were they? I went a while down that same road until I finally happened to see a few houses pop up. I figured it was probably one of those little towns that just had the locals in it, but hoped they might at least have a little convenience store or something. I would once again stand corrected. I pulled through the little side street and saw it.

Starting point is 02:57:21 saw several small houses in a row on each side. But this is where it started getting weird. Some of the houses had some lawn decorations in them. A flag, a flamingo. One had a lawn chair and a small tricycle in the yard. One house had the front window and the door wide open. My first thought was that this must be one of those neighborhoods where no one locks their doors. It was cute at first, seeing a small community.

Starting point is 02:57:51 like that, but I assumed that I would at least run into someone or see someone in the area. Surely someone had to be nearby the house that had the door wide open, right? I stopped in front of the house and waited a few seconds, but no one ever came out of the house, or from the side. That's when I actually started looking closer at the houses. They all looked pretty worn with time. I could see the shingles sticking up on the house with the door open. Another one had what I first thought were thick curtains in the window, but it was actually a board. The siding was peeling and washed out, clearly fading with time. The yard was overgrown, but not unruly. I would guess that it had been mowed probably a month or two prior. I kept driving

Starting point is 02:58:43 until I came across a small yellow building that had a sign by the door that said something like moves eatery, or maybe it was maize. It was an uncommon name that started with an M. I remember that much. I stopped in the small lot in front of it and got out, leaving the window cracked for Daisy. I wasn't going to assume that dogs were allowed inside. Turns out, I didn't need to worry about that, however,

Starting point is 02:59:12 because its two was empty. But that place looked like it had been left in a rush. There were coffee mugs scattered across a few tables. One had a plate with what I think was bread on it. It was so dehydrated and shriveled up that I couldn't make it out entirely. There were a few empty plates on the bar and the floor still had trash and debris on it. I immediately felt like something was wrong. With this place or with myself.

Starting point is 02:59:43 I started feeling nauseated and light-headed, and my body started feeling so light-headed. and my body started feeling so light that I remember grabbing the booth, thinking I was going to float away. I was worried that I was about to pass out, because I had never felt like this before. I took a few deep breaths, and when I had my bearings back, I ran back to my car, where I found Daisy scratching incessantly and whimpering at the window. She didn't do that, even if she had to go to the bathroom. I jumped back into the car and sat there with my eyes closed trying to relax,

Starting point is 03:00:22 and that's when I noticed Daisy was trembling and still whimpering. I tried to be reasonable, though, and hooked her leash to her harness and opened the door, checking if maybe she did need to go. She didn't budge. So I grabbed her and got out of the car with her. Her tail remained down in between her legs and didn't move from where she was. I watched her as she stared over at the building, still shaking and whimpering.

Starting point is 03:00:52 Something was now freaking her out. Something I couldn't see. But I sure as hell felt it. Something was very wrong with that place. I scooped her back up, putting her in the passenger seat, and got in. Daisy didn't stop whimpering until we were back at the highway entrance ramp, and, to be honest, I was still feeling sick. my heart rate was skyrocketing too until we were gone. What's even worse is that I didn't have GPS service until I was back on the highway.

Starting point is 03:01:25 Thankfully, I at least knew the direction that I needed to go and drove for probably 10 to 15 minutes before it came back. I kept driving until I saw a food sign with modern places that I recognized. I had never been more thankful for a Taco Bell. I stopped to finally decompress for a moment and tried to look up where we were on my phone's map. Here's where it gets confusing. According to Google Maps, that place does not exist. Usually it shows the cities or small gray buildings or something

Starting point is 03:02:02 indicating that something was there, but it was empty. Just green for fields of grass. How is that possible? I know that things change, places close, and new places pop up, but we're talking about a whole little town just completely gone. The rest of my drive went fine. No weird towns and no weird feelings. I told my parents about it.

Starting point is 03:02:30 My dad was typically really good with directions, but neither could really place the location. They also found it strange that it wasn't on Google, Google either. My dad even pulled out his old Atlas and was studying the maps along the route that I told him, and there was no indication of any place being along that highway. It clearly existed because I saw it with my own eyes, but this place just did not exist anywhere, like it was just wiped off the face of the earth at some point. Then I started thinking about how everything was left, other than the grass, and I got creeped out.

Starting point is 03:03:09 It was as if it was literally wiped away, and everyone disappeared in the same way without a trace, without any plans. When I went back home the next week, I took the same path, hoping to find the town again to take some photos of it as proof, but I never found it. The food and lodging sign that I saw from the other direction wasn't even there. So my question is, did this place, this little mysterious town in the middle of nowhere, truly not exist? Was it not supposed to be in this reality? Is that why I myself started feeling light and why my dog was afraid of the place? I still do wonder if Daisy saw something that day that I couldn't. And to be honest, I don't know what terrifies me.

Starting point is 03:04:04 more about that place. I have an experience that I wanted to share because it's been so strange. I don't think it's necessarily scary, but definitely weird. I don't know if it'll fit anywhere on your podcast, but I wanted to send it in either way. It may have something to do with glitches or parallel universes or something, but I don't really know. I've been doing a lot of reading about these kinds of things, and obviously I listen to your show, so maybe my brain was influenced a bit by that. One of the things that I read was that strange

Starting point is 03:04:50 things tend to happen between three and four in the morning, something about it being the witching hour. The other day I was online, I think I was on Reddit, actually, and as I was scrolling down whatever subreddit it was, I noticed that every single posts that it had been posted three days ago. I scrolled for a while and I swear every single post was posted three days ago. This wasn't an unpopular subreddit, so for it to not have any posts for three full days, that would be a bit weird, right? It could have been a site glitch, and I know it's not a huge deal, but it's something that I wanted to mention, and there is more to all this, I promise.

Starting point is 03:05:35 The next day, my boyfriend decided to stay over. We're not living together yet, and we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like. So he comes over sometimes and just stays the night. We're both night owls, so it was once again about three-something in the morning, when he gets up and says that he wants a glass of juice. Nothing too crazy about that, but then I hear him shout from the kitchen. Hey, your milk went bad three days ago. At first it didn't mean much, but then I kind of just rolled the words around in my head

Starting point is 03:06:12 and thought about the whole three days thing. I mentioned it was weird, that it was exactly three days ago, and he laughed asking why it was weird. I sort of explained it to him, but he laughed it off, and we moved on. The next day, as I was pulling out of my parking spot at my apartment, one of my neighbors was pulling through and not paying enough attention, and they clipped the back end of my car. It wasn't a huge deal, but we did the whole stop and look at our cars thing.

Starting point is 03:06:43 They pulled into the spot next to mine, and we were both behind our cars exchanging information when I looked over at their car, and they had a temp tag that had expired. I absent-mindedly said, Oh, hey, your temp tag expired three days ago. I didn't even do the math in my head. It was just instinctual,

Starting point is 03:07:05 and worse yet it was factual. Their tag had expired three days prior. Thankfully, they had insurance and it all ended up fine, with the damage, I mean. On the next day, which I would like to mention is when the first day that I noticed the three days ago thing would be exactly three days ago, was an incredibly weird day involving the number three. I grabbed coffee, and it was $3 even.

Starting point is 03:07:33 It wasn't fancy just, basic coffee. I pulled into my work and noticed a license plate that was a vanity plate that was 333. I had a meeting that started at 2 that was supposed to end at 3, but it went on until exactly 3.33 p.m. I watched the clock during the whole meeting. The elevator when I left work stopped on the third floor, and no one was there to get in. Then, when I walked up to the door at my apartment complex, there were three perfectly black, round, and smooth stones, sitting on the welcome mats to the building. It sent to chill down my spine.

Starting point is 03:08:16 I was kind of freaking out about the whole three thing, and I was honestly thinking that I was about to die or something. Like this was some kind of weird omen telling me that my time was up. I wanted to grab them, as they were neat stones, like super smooth river rock, but I decided that if this were an omen, I needed to not acknowledge it and just let whatever was going to happen happened. What's crazy is that after that, there were no more threes. There was nothing crazy that happened, and I didn't notice anything else that was out of place.

Starting point is 03:08:53 I don't understand why those three days were so weird, why there were so many threes that happened on the third day, and I honestly don't want to know if I passed up some crucial. crazy happening by ignoring the stones or something. I'm glad to have gotten away from it all, but I'm still very weirded out. Like I said, this wasn't too scary, but it was an incredibly strange set of circumstances. This might be a little different from the stories you've read before,

Starting point is 03:09:36 but this was still something that not only came as a surprise to my family, but also affected me mentally. Growing up, I always knew my grandma was eccentric. Hell, the whole family knew that. She never acted like your normal, frail old lady. She laughed. She drank with the other adults. She danced, and she even tried to ride on my brother's skateboard.

Starting point is 03:10:01 She fell on her rear, but had a good laugh about it. I know that I loved her energy, and I told myself that I hope I was the same way when I got older. We had bi-weekly dinners at her place, too, every other Sunday, which went fine. She loved to share stories with us about being a kid herself, and she also had a lot of keepsakes. It was something that seemed so innocent, but my dad, my grandma's son, clearly seemed uncomfortable about it. She had a small shadow box in her china cabinet with baby teeth in it. Every single grandkids' baby teeth were in there and labeled with our names and the date they fell out.

Starting point is 03:10:46 Now, I know a lot of people keep their kids' teeth. Or one or two, maybe, so it's not abnormal. But she kept every single one. I remember when one of my teeth fell out, I talked about putting it under my pillow for the tooth fairy, and she begged me to just give it to her instead, offering her $20. for it.

Starting point is 03:11:09 That was a lot more than I ever expected to get for a tooth, so I just gave them to her. Again, yeah, it was a little weird to my kid's self, but we just joked about my grandma being the real tooth fairy. But other than teeth, she also liked to collect hair. She cut her own hair and would occasionally cut ours if we wanted it, but if she did, she would immediately collect the hair by hand, brushing it off. and adding it to a small baggie. I remember one year cutting my hair really short,

Starting point is 03:11:44 at the time it was down to my mid back, and I cut it to my shoulders. She loved it, but then also asked for the hair. I remember how upset she was when my dad said that he didn't keep it. I didn't get the argument on either side, being upset that you didn't get to keep someone's hair and being so upset about someone else wanting to keep it. So, yes.

Starting point is 03:12:08 She was a very eccentric person, but she was also one of my favorite people. She came over to our place one time to visit, and I showed her my room, because I wanted to show her a collection that I had started. It was of deformed or different flowers, leaves and rocks. If the flower was multicolored, the leaves were deformed or the veins seemed to make a picture, or a unique rock, I kept them. I took them from the yard, school, parks, anywhere I found them. She seemed to enjoy it and said that I clearly had the family collecting jeans, just like her. I remember her caressing one of my rocks and saying, It's in our blood, your father just doesn't understand it.

Starting point is 03:12:55 I just liked collecting weird stuff. So did she, but mine felt less intrusive. But at the time, I just thought it wasn't that big of a deal. But then, my grandmother passed away, peacefully, in her sleep. It was unexpected, but she didn't suffer or anything, which at least gave us all that peace of mind. Because it was unexpected, my dad was left to handle her estate. He had three living siblings, one he hadn't spoken to for many years, and the other two wanted nothing to do with any of her stuff.

Starting point is 03:13:32 So he was the only option to settle at all. Grandma's house was bigger than ours, and since it was now my dad's, I didn't understand why my parents just didn't move into it, giving us more room. But we were allowed to be there as he cleaned it out, saying that we could take whatever we wanted as a keepsake. While several of us were scattered around the house, I decided to take the opportunity to peek through the attic. I always wanted to go through there because it seemed to be one of those cozy and hidden spots that intrigued me as a key. kid, but my grandma never allowed me in. She always said that she kept her treasure in there, which as a kid only made me want to go through it all even more. So I went through it. As I entered, I realized the look of it was underwhelming. It was old and dusty for the most part, except for one

Starting point is 03:14:26 corner in the front that seemed to be completely cleaned. There were boxes and tubs stacked methodically in each one with a name on them. Most names I recognized. My mom and dad, my two uncles that passed, my other living aunts and uncle, my cousins, and even one for me and my brother. I first assumed it was either our belongings that she had, or maybe boxes that were meant for us. Maybe instead of a will, she just had things in these boxes for each person. So I grabbed my box to go through it. Clearly it was meant for me, right?

Starting point is 03:15:04 I wish I hadn't done that. When I opened my box, there was nothing in there that I wanted. Inside was a bag of hair. There were used bloody tissues with a piece of tape with writing on it. Nosebleed April 2002. There was a small envelope filled with what I think was fingernail clippings. I even saw my old retainer that I thought I had lost, but my name and age was written on it. I was weirded out, but I decided to go through.

Starting point is 03:15:34 a different box, hoping to find something better. I opened my brother's box and found similar items. But there were some used band-aids with dates written on them. But then there was also a jar filled with a yellowed liquid, and something long and thin, something organic in the jar. The top of the jar was written umbilical stump with my brother's birthday on it. I was pretty creeped out at this point. what the hell was my grandma doing with all this stuff?

Starting point is 03:16:08 Used bloody tissues and other organic materials? I knew that she collected teeth and hair, but this was crazy to me. She had boxes labeled for everyone. Just opening them, I could see much of the same things. I ran out of the attic and downstairs to tell my parents what I had found, and I remember the color draining from my dad's face. He told me that he would take care of it and went upstairs, telling me to stay out. For the rest of the day, I could tell that the atmosphere was tense.

Starting point is 03:16:44 My dad carried out all those boxes and tubs, threw them in the back of his truck, and, when it was full, he left and then came back with an empty truck. I tried asking my mom about it, but she wouldn't really say much other than how my grandma liked to collect mementos about everyone she loved. But that all seemed extreme. Bloody tissues, scabs, an umbilical cord. That seemed creepy to me. But when my mom told me not to bring it up around my dad, I just had to keep it to myself after that. I got to keep a few things from my grandma,

Starting point is 03:17:23 one of which was her old vanity. When they asked me if I wanted it, I agreed to take it, and while I waited for them to clear a path to take it, I opened all the drawers to clean it out. There were some old hair pins and clips that I threw away because I didn't use those. She had an old hairbrush in there that was a pretty floral pattern on it, so I kept it. And there was also a notebook underneath it. I took both and put them into a small box that I had started for the stuff I was keeping before my parents saw.

Starting point is 03:17:56 I wanted to go through it to see if anything was in there. if it was a diary, if it had contact information, or maybe even just doodles or something from her that I thought would be cool. Well, that journal contained nothing of what I was expecting. There were pages of what looked like journal entries, some tame, like talking about her day or if something important happened, like someone coming over or the anniversary of my grandpa's death. Other pages had small things taped to them, like more hair,

Starting point is 03:18:29 or what I can only describe as scabs. Each one had a description by it, just like the boxes from the attic. There was an entire page that was dedicated to me when I had to get stitches in my arm. My grandpa had built a tree house in the backyard, and there was a nail sticking out in one of the wooden steps that was nailed into the tree. I slipped on my way down, slicing the back of my leg open. My grandma not only kept that nail, but she pulled off the bit of stings. skin that was stuck to it.

Starting point is 03:19:01 Then she had a page that she wrote about me. She mentioned how I seemed to get injured a lot, and believed I was doing it in order to collect more pieces of myself. She mentioned how I was a lot like her with wanting to collect mementos of others to remember them, pure and unchanged. Once again, I was pretty creeped out. With how deep the nail cut me open, I was terrified I was going to lose my leg. I was still a very young kid at that point, keep in mind.

Starting point is 03:19:33 To me, a lot of blood where it shouldn't be was equal to a death sentence. I was too afraid to even go back up to that treehouse after that. In fact, blood in general freaked me out. When I had a nosebleed, I would nearly pass out at the sight. So I certainly wouldn't be keeping something like that. And an umbilical cord? No, that was disturbing. Nothing about that was something I would ever do.

Starting point is 03:20:00 I didn't tell my parents about the journal, but I did trash it. I closed it, threw it in my bin, and threw more stuff on top of it, so I didn't have to look at it. Over the next few days, I became more focused on myself and my belongings. Why would my grandma think that I was like her? I collected some weird things like my flowers and rocks, but they weren't things from my family. But then I saw the pencil that I kept that my friend had chewed on because she moved.

Starting point is 03:20:31 I remembered the notebook cover I ripped off and kept that my crush had licked. It was an inside joke in class. I remembered the popsicle stick that I kept that my brother had given me because it had a joke on it, after he had eaten the popsicle. They may seem fairly normal to someone from the outside, but after what I found at my grandmas and her claiming that I was like her, I freaked out. I did not want to end up like her, keeping weird things like that.

Starting point is 03:21:03 I got rid of all of it, even her hairbrush. I know this may seem like a non-issue to some people, but the idea of my grandma, this kind and funny woman, someone that I looked up to, collecting these weird and maybe even disturbing things from people both alive and dead, it was all too much for me. It had a lasting effect on me for years and caused me to have even worse issues with biological happenings.

Starting point is 03:21:32 I flushed any tissues with blood on them to make sure no one could keep them. I wrapped up used band-aids to hide what was in there. I even had issues with brushing my hair. I would make sure that it was all together and also discreetly throw it away. It left me with this irrational fear that someone would come along and collect these things from me.

Starting point is 03:21:54 Now, of course, as an adult, I have gotten better about it. But I still catch myself staring at my trash bin, wondering if I should do something more about that tissue I just threw away. I know that this was a really weird story, but I really wanted to share my grandma's creepy obsession that had an everlasting impact on me. Hi, Raven. I recently started watching, or rather listening to, listening to your videos and quickly became a fan. This last week you posted a video on creepy neighbor stories, and I have one. It's bizarre and a little long, but here it is.

Starting point is 03:22:46 A few years ago, around 2017, I, 23, female, started working at a mall that had historically been a famous jail that was later converted. It has many creepy stories for another time. Anyway, I was sitting outside the main entrance having my lunch break on one of the public benches, as we didn't have a staff room. This bleached blonde lady in her late 30s comes up to me and asks if I could take her picture. Something about her eyes was off, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I, being raised to be extremely polite, accepted, thinking she might be a tourist, and aimed for the arch with the jail name on it to be visible in the picture.

Starting point is 03:23:35 She saw me taking a step back and stopped me. No, no, take a photo of my hair. I was surprised, but since I already had her phone in my hand, I thought, whatever, and took a couple of pictures and handed it back. Without asking her, she started on a rant. I need the pictures from my lawyer. That B word messed up my hair. I was thinking bad hairdresser, as clearly her hair was recently bleached and had chemical damage.

Starting point is 03:24:06 But boy, was I wrong. She continued. You see, I recently broke up with my fiancé, and his new B-word doesn't stop harassing me. She keeps sending drones to spy on me. They look like insects, you see, and they zoom past my hair and they damage it. I was in shock. She was clearly nuts. I tried to excuse myself saying that my break was over and that I needed to get back.

Starting point is 03:24:34 She tried to grab my shirt and followed me straight to the store, up three floors, mind you, ranting about the drones. I quickly went into the store's deposits and my supervisor followed, as were not allowed up there on break. I explained what happened and thankfully she left. A few days go by and me and my partner get news that a small, studio apartment his family owns is vacant, and we can use it. It's close to my job, so we start getting it ready, paints, new floors, etc.

Starting point is 03:25:10 One night I was headed to the empty apartment from my job and see this lady get on the same bus, with a uniform from a different store inside the mall. I think, crap, she works here too, and apparently the same shift. This is a nightmare. I do my best to hide my face, but to my surprise, she gets off at the same stop. She gets off at the front, and I get off at the back door and quickly dart behind the newspaper kiosk and watch her. To my absolute horror, she crosses the street and heads into the building that I'm about to move into. I wait a few minutes before going in myself and tell my partner about the coincidence.

Starting point is 03:25:54 I can't believe she's going to be my future neighbor. This is not good. How could I be this unlucky? I was holding hope that she was just visiting someone, but that hope was short-lived. This is followed by weeks of me doing my best to dodge her, but... One day I was waiting for the elevator, and she comes into the tiny hallway. She, unfortunately, recognizes me and grabs my arm holding tight. I hold my breath.

Starting point is 03:26:25 She starts asking if I had seen the drones. Knowing it's dangerous to confront delusions head on, I say, not today. She seemed to calm down and let go. I lied that I was waiting for a delivery and let her take the elevator alone. I noted that she got off on floor nine. I started calling her The Loco de Nueve, roughly the crazy woman from the ninth. This went on for a few more weeks, me dodging her both on the bus and the building and stores, sometimes running into her and her grabbing me and telling me some crazy conspiracy about the government and surveillance and not letting go.

Starting point is 03:27:10 She kept pressuring me to tell her which apartment I lived in, and I kept lying that I was visiting. One day, we're unloading furniture in my worst ragged clothes and hair in a bun, so my blonde tips were hidden. And also, without my glasses, because I didn't want to damage them. And she asked my partner if I was the one who worked at the mall. And my cunning love knowing how scared I was, said, No, her sister works in the mall, but we're the ones moving here. She was just helping to paint.

Starting point is 03:27:44 They look similar, but her sister is a blonde. My girlfriend has brown hair. See? And this lady seemed consistent. convinced and left us alone. Later that week, I dyed my hair back to its natural brown, and she would do a double take when she saw me, but didn't grab me again. Eventually I had a weekday off,

Starting point is 03:28:07 and was making small talk with the doorman, who, because of my hours, I usually missed. I asked about her. He said that she was in the middle of an eviction process. Apparently she had a ton of cats in this tiny apartment. Never cleaned up after them. A pipe burst in her bathroom. And she never told the owner or the building maintenance and let a slow leak creep for months,

Starting point is 03:28:32 affecting four floors down. And she constantly terrorized the two adjacent apartments checking for drones at early hours of the morning and asking everyone if they know the girl that worked at the mall. I was sad for her, but so relieved when she was finally evicted. She'd become obsessed with me. All I did was try to be polite and help a stranger take a picture. And now, I think twice, before being kind.

Starting point is 03:29:12 Hi, Raven. I've been listening now for a while, and I love the stories. I rarely go to bed without setting up a playlist of yours to sleep to. Thank you. I've had a number of odd experiences in my life, but have always found a way to rationalize them, except this one. To set the scene, this happened in about 2010,

Starting point is 03:29:35 in the city where I live on the south coast of England. At the time, I had a girlfriend with a son who was about 12. She lived in a big, dark Victorian house that needed a lot of work done, and was always cold and frankly a bit creepy. Lots of people reported having paranormal experiences in this house, and I often thought that this could be because of the heavy bombing and death toll that this area received in World War II.

Starting point is 03:30:07 The Germans were aiming for the nearby dogs. Until this incident, however, I had experienced nothing myself. If I remember correctly, she had received the house in her divorce settlement and had also moved her elderly parents in as they were becoming infirm and struggling to cope on their own. The house was big enough, so they could have their own space but still have an eye kept on them, without it being too obvious. The one time the four of them would be guaranteed to be together was for the traditional Sunday roast dinner, which they took very seriously. The household was completed by a very old and robust silver tabby cat, who was a real street fighter cat of almost 20 years, with lumps out of his ears,

Starting point is 03:30:58 and a permanent expression that said he wasn't going to tolerate any of your BS. This cat was such a loved family pet, and almost part of the furniture, that when he suddenly crawled under the sofa one day and died, everyone was quite distraught. With his distinctive croaky meow, almost like an elderly person's voice, he would beg for scraps under the kitchen table during the aforementioned Sunday dinners. There being no cat,

Starting point is 03:31:28 had made these occasions feel a bit sad and incomplete, and his absence was really felt. On the third Sunday after the cat had been buried in the back garden, I was sitting down for Sunday dinner with my girlfriend and her family, when, to everyone's surprise, a loud distinctive meow came from under the table, and everyone had heard it at the same time. In shock, we all stopped eating, put down our cutlery, and searched for a cat. Under the table, in all the kitchen cupboards and the rest of the house almost, but nothing. This would have been enough in itself to convince me, but a couple of days later something similar happened. My girlfriend and I were watching TV in the evening when I realized the time had gotten late,

Starting point is 03:32:18 and I needed to get home as I had an early shift the following day. Just as I was getting my coat, from the hallway, came the same meow. My girlfriend's mother had just gone to brush her teeth before bed, and she put her head over the banister and exclaimed, I heard that too. So, there it is. Two occurrences witnessed by first five and then three people at the same time. I have no way of explaining that away. Whether it's residual energy, or if cats still need feeding beyond the grave, I don't know.

Starting point is 03:32:56 Anyway, keep up the good work and make your channel go from strength to strength. It was the summer of 1998. I was with my then-girlfriend on a short trip not far from where we both lived at the time. Let's say somewhere in Belgium. That's as specific as I'm willing to get. She was about to move away for college, and I was struggling with it, so we took this little nature escape to talk, to process the change. maybe to decide what we were going to do with our relationship. The place we went to was somewhere I knew from childhood.

Starting point is 03:33:43 A local river valley, quiet, rural, a slow meandering stream cutting through farmland and clusters of willows. A typical countryside over here. We stood by the water's edge. It was dark by then, and we were holding each other. She looked out over my shoulder and I looked over hers. That's what it happened. At first I thought I was seeing the sunset in reverse, like a film being rewound.

Starting point is 03:34:14 Something bright orange and glowing rose slowly behind the trees in the distance. The sun had set maybe half an hour earlier, so this made no sense, but it was happening. Literally, not figuratively. A ball of light just climbing up from behind the trees, just like the sun. Except the sky didn't react the way it should. No horizon glow. No ambient lights, just darkness. And this thing.

Starting point is 03:34:45 I felt something shift in my chest, a tightening. I was about to call out to her when the glowing orb dipped behind the trees again. Gone. Like it had never been there. I turned to her, eyes wide, trying to explain what I had just seen. My voice was shaky, out of her. breath. You're not going to believe this, I said. I saw something. Something really weird. And right then, it came back. The exact same orb rose again from behind the trees.

Starting point is 03:35:21 But this time, my girlfriend saw it too. It climbed into the sky slowly, eerily smooth, and with it came a ring. A ring of spinning lights. Vivid, saturated colors rotating like a kaleidoscope, green, blue, red, violet. It was beautiful and terrifying all at once. The lights pulsed hypnotically. Some of them almost seemed to burn into our vision. Not painfully, but compelling. Like your eyes refused to look away.

Starting point is 03:35:56 She gasped, Oh my God. We both stood frozen. No sound? Just this silent glowing, fear, maybe 15 to 20 meters in diameter, getting bigger. That's when we realized that it wasn't just hovering, it was coming closer. Smooth, deliberate, not aggressive, but unstoppable.

Starting point is 03:36:22 It was maybe 300 meters away when I panicked. Run. We bolted down to the field where I had parked. Jumped in the car. I drove like a man possessed. The rest of that evening was a blur. We barely spoke. She couldn't sleep, and I barely blinked.

Starting point is 03:36:41 The next morning, I suggested that we go back. Maybe we would find something. Tracks, a burn mark, crop circles, I don't know. It was before the days of Google Maps, so we tried to pinpoint the location on an old-fashioned map. We biked there, we searched, and we found nothing. That afternoon I went back again. alone. She didn't want to talk about it anymore. She'd seen it, yes, but she wanted to move on.

Starting point is 03:37:11 I couldn't. I had to go. I walked my bike into the woods, through narrowing paths, until even riding wasn't possible. Eventually I was deep in the part of the forest I barely recognized. And then I heard them, voices. Clear, but I couldn't tell what language was being spoken. The words were muffled. I crept forward, my heart hammering, and that's when I saw them. Three, maybe four men, standing at the edge of the woods at what I believed had been the sight of the orb. Two of them were uniforms and the others were in civilian clothes. At first they didn't notice me, but as I stepped closer, one turned. I walked toward him. Are you here because of what happened last night? I asked. He stared at me, not confused, not angry, just blank.

Starting point is 03:38:10 Like I'd spoke in a language he didn't understand. Then he turned to his colleague who was facing away from us and said nothing. That's when it hit me. This guy looked Uber American. Not just foreign, but American. Unfashionable khakis, faded jean shirt, chunky white sneakers. The kind of look you would see on a dad at Disney World. His haircut, his posture, his silence.

Starting point is 03:38:37 It's something we easily spot as Europeans. Another man approached, also in plain clothes, but he looked local. Behind him, a uniform officer followed. They came right up to me. You can't be here, the local policeman said. There's an ongoing federal investigation. Is it about the lights? I asked, from last night. I'm not authorized to comment.

Starting point is 03:39:04 Please just leave the area now. The American-looking man said something I couldn't understand. Not because I don't speak English, but because he was speaking around me. Like I wasn't even there. It was clear who was in charge. The others deferred to him. He didn't wear a badge or have any ID, but his presence screamed authority. I left, slowly.

Starting point is 03:39:31 But I looked back, and they were still watching me. Later that day, I told my family and friends. A few weeks later, I returned to the area, but by then it was too late. The place looked normal, empty, like nothing had ever happened. Years later, I asked the local police if they ever had federal or local agents going to that specific area for an investigation. They looked at me like I was crazy. And those men, I never saw them again. Not during traffic stops, not in town.

Starting point is 03:40:04 not anywhere. I had a pretty normal childhood. I had three siblings, one older, two younger, that I got along with most of the time. My parents were still together, and they were pretty normal people. I even had my normal group of friends that I stuck to through most of my childhood as well, but there was one part that started normal that escalated pretty quickly, and I still think about it on occasion. I had this friend growing up that I'll call April.

Starting point is 03:40:48 We'd been super close, and she was my usual go-to for those invite-one friend events. We were so much alike, and I'm sure that's why we got along so well. But one thing that I didn't like about her wasn't her at all, but her older brother who I'll call Corey. Corey was five years older than us, and he was an outright jerk. to put it nicely. He always tried to do things to annoy April or pick a fight. He would barge into her room to knock something over.

Starting point is 03:41:25 He had tossed water at us before, ruining one of my coloring books, just really anything to be a nuisance. But it never made sense to me because every time April would yell at him and her parents would reprimand him. I never understood why he kept it up, knowing he was going to get in trouble. He also was never just mean to her. He directed his bullying at me a lot too.

Starting point is 03:41:52 He would make fun of me. His favorite thing was about my braces and skin condition. I used to have eczema really bad on my face. He would make jokes, throw stuff at me. He'd even tripped me and pushed me before. I didn't really do anything other than yell at him to stop, and when April would say something too, he would once again get in trouble. It was just something we dealt with when I wanted to go over to her house.

Starting point is 03:42:22 She went to my house more than anything, but when I would go to hers, I would just brace myself for having to deal with Corey at times. Like I mentioned, I had been friends with April for a very long time. So, as we grew up and changed together, so did Corey. At the time of this story, we were both 14 and Corey was now 19. He was actually going to a nearby college and worked at the same shop as his dad, but he was still living at home. Unfortunately, he was still his same bullying self, but with a twist.

Starting point is 03:43:01 Now, he gave off these weird vibes. His bullying became more about my body, teasing about how I had developed. I was compared to other girls his age, and he made weird nicknames for me. April always told him to knock it off. Being older, she stood up to him more. I typically just ignored him and he would walk off since it wasn't getting to me anymore. Due to there being a holiday on a Monday, we had a longer weekend, so my parents agreed to let me stay at April's on a Sunday. Her parents were going to be going out that night for a friend's part,

Starting point is 03:43:41 so we were going to have the place to ourselves. Well, mostly. Corey would be there too, and we expected the normal from him, but we both agreed that it was worth it to be adult-free. We started by watching music videos in the living room. Early 2000s in cable TV meant we had MTV on demand, and it was one of our favorite things to do.

Starting point is 03:44:06 Everything started fine. We hadn't really seen Corey much, until later that night. We were still in the living room when he finally came out and greeted me with one of the names he liked to call me, and we both ignored him. He sat in the recliner and was watching TV with us, and when we talked,

Starting point is 03:44:28 he would try to push himself into the conversation. But he would actually say something relevant. He wasn't doing his normal obnoxious things that he did. It was weird, but a nice change. I'll be honest. But as we watched TV, I felt like I was being stared at and would look over at him

Starting point is 03:44:49 to see him staring at me. It was weird and I really didn't understand why. At one point in the night, April's parents called the home phone and asked her to change out the laundry as she'd forgotten. She got off the phone,

Starting point is 03:45:05 informed me that she would be back and then went downstairs. After she left, he looked around the corner where the basement stairs were, and then went and sat next to me on the couch, putting his arm behind it. I remember looking at him funny, but ultimately just went back to the show and ignored him. Shortly after, he tried talking to me, but it was a normal conversation. Something I wasn't used to with him. I remember talking to him like I was expecting it to turn into a joke at some point, but it never did.

Starting point is 03:45:41 He asked if I was ready to be done with school. About my siblings? All of that. But then, his questions turned a bit more personal. He asked if I had a boyfriend, currently or before, how far I'd gone with the boy and commented on how grown up I looked compared to last year. I just tried to be vague and give short answers because it was making me feel really. uncomfortable. Then he put his hand on my knee and offered to experiment with me if I wanted.

Starting point is 03:46:14 I jumped off the couch and went to the bathroom, locking myself in until I heard April come back upstairs. I was scared he may try to stop me if he saw me go downstairs, so I went to a room that would make sense and I could lock the door. When I heard April come up and tell Corey to move, I hollered for her. When she met me, I pulled her into the bathroom and told her what Corey had said and done. She apologized and agreed that he had been weird lately. She even said that he had asked about me,

Starting point is 03:46:48 and when I was coming over again. Neither of us expected him to get like this, otherwise we would have just gone to my house. We instead decided to move it to her room for the rest of the night to avoid him. After doing whatever in her room for a few hours, with no interruptions from Corey, we got ready for bed, as both of us were getting pretty tired. She had a pretty big bed, so we were both on it, me on the side closest to the door. I'm not sure how long I was out, but I remember waking up at some point and it was still dark outside. I remember being in that weird state between sleeping and waking up.

Starting point is 03:47:32 where everything feels slightly unreal. As I lied there, trying to fall back to sleep, something made me open my eyes again. I looked around the room as I was facing the door, and that's when it finally registered in my head. The door was cracked open. The light in the hallway was shining right on my face, and there was a dark figure in the doorway.

Starting point is 03:47:58 I blinked a few times trying to focus, but no matter what I did, the figure was still there. I was trying to remember if we left the door open or not, because that was the only thing that I could think of, until the figure started moving. It entered the room slowly and turned, and that's when I realized it was Corey. He shut the door,

Starting point is 03:48:24 and then I watched his figure from the little moonlight that was coming in through the window, as he walked slowly towards the bed, bed. I had completely froze. I couldn't move, and I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what I could do. Your brain does weird things and moments of fear and probably being half awake at that matter, and mine decided that if I stayed still and kept my eyes mostly closed, that he would just

Starting point is 03:48:52 go away, that maybe if he realized I wasn't awake to witness his torment, then he wouldn't bother. But I now know that's not what he was going for. Corey knelt at the edge of the bed, and I could hear him breathing. I held my eyes mostly closed and watched him as he started reaching for the blanket. I had balled some of it into my fist and tucked my hand under my head to hold it in place, but I could feel him pulling on it. He finally managed to yank it out of my hand, which made me jump. There was no way he didn't know I was awake at that point. He whispered my name, and the next thing I heard was,

Starting point is 03:49:36 What are you doing in my room? Corey jumped back, and I sat up to see April turning on her lamp. She kept screaming at him, and he made his way towards the door with his hands out, like he was trying to calm her down. I remember pulling the blanket back up around me and listening to Corey say, be quiet. April kept yelling at him, and her parents were now in the room yelling as well.

Starting point is 03:50:03 April told her parents what she saw, and to my surprise, she woke up to the jolt of him pulling down the blanket. They asked me the same, and I told them how I saw him walk into the room. I saw their dad's face turn red, and he grabbed Corey by his shirt and dragged him out of the room. Her mom came over to us and apologized,

Starting point is 03:50:24 and April demanded that she should get a lock for her door, and her mom nodded. She stayed there with us to try and calm us down and talk to us. She tried telling us about the party. They apparently hadn't even been home very long before this happened. It was nice of her to do this, but I could still hear her dad yelling and Corey apologizing repeatedly in the next room. After some time, her mom left the room and told us to go back to sleep. sleep. It took us a while. April was asking me what all happened and apologized, but I think we were

Starting point is 03:51:02 both a bit too awake to sleep again. The next morning, I waited until April was awake before we left her room. When we stepped into the living room, her dad was asleep on the couch, and Corey was nowhere around. April later told me that her dad probably slept out there to make sure he didn't try anything again. I didn't know this at the time, but her parents told my parents what had happened, and I wasn't allowed back over there. I was kind of upset, but at the same time, okay with it. April was still able to stay at our place. At that age, I was creeped out, but the fact that nothing worse happened, and I never saw him again,

Starting point is 03:51:48 it was enough to make me push it behind me. Once I started high school, April started. started hanging out with a different crowd, and we drifted apart. No hate or anything, we just weren't the same people. But this all came back up around, now that I'm an adult, because she had actually recently added me on Facebook. I noticed that, as we chatted, she never brought up her brother. And I feared maybe he died or something,

Starting point is 03:52:18 and I really didn't want to talk about it. I saw that her father had passed away from her previous posts, and she didn't mention it, so I assumed it was the same situation. Until I started looking for him, I don't know why I did it, but I guess I was just curious where the guy that tried to flirt with a child ended up. Turns out, he's actually doing time for assault and domestic battery. So, I guess some people never change.

Starting point is 03:52:50 I'm thankful that April wasn't like that, and that her parents even seemed to believe. leave us. Her parents were always very kind and supportive, so it's strange to me that he ended up the way that he did. I can only hope that his other victims were able to heal and move on with their lives. This story happened to me back in the summer of 2018 when I was transitioning into eighth grade. I went to a sleepaway camp in the Appalachian Mountains. I considered at a second home for me. I didn't really have to worry about schoolwork, besides summer homework, and I made some of the greatest friends I ever had there. This is one of my main reasons of why

Starting point is 03:53:45 summer is my favorite season. I got along with literally everyone at the camp, except this one person made me see how dangerous people can really be. That summer, there was a new counselor whose name was Art. He looked to be about in his 50s due to his 50s due to his. his white hair and slight wrinkled skin. Being a camp counselor in your 50s does not seem right to me. I don't know about you guys, but it gives off peto vibes to me. When me and my bunk first met him, he seemed like a trustworthy person. For the first week of camp, he helped us clean our bunk when it was dirty and talked to us

Starting point is 03:54:25 whenever we were feeling down. Me and my bunk didn't have any problem with him for the start, but the girls around camp would talk behind Art's back, and they would say things like, he's a creepy old man that probably preys on children. After all, he was way older than all the other counselors, so I could see where they were coming from. One night, things got a little intense. We had a recess night, where we got to do whatever we wanted,

Starting point is 03:54:53 and me and my fellow bunkmates played tennis with each other. During the game, Art would watch us the whole time. During that time, he would give off a big grin, that looked like how Pennywise the clown from IT would grin. I actually thought this was creepy. Why was he smiling like that? Was he really who the girls had said he was? Part of me actually thought that he was just admiring how much fun we were all having.

Starting point is 03:55:20 It didn't stop there, though. One other night when I came out of the shower, I saw a shaving cream bottle. Now, this is when I started to go through my puberty phases, but I did. didn't have any facial hair yet. I walked over to the bottle where it was on the bathroom's sink, and I grabbed it and examined the whole thing. As soon as I did that, though, I felt tense hand grips touched my arms.

Starting point is 03:55:47 I turned around to see who it was, and it was art. His facial expression had such a demeanor. He then spoke. Listen to me, you little C word that I can't say and keep this monetized. I'm not going to have you ever touch my belonging, You got that? I didn't know what was going on because everything had happened was so fast. I was really scared, so I just complied with...

Starting point is 03:56:12 Yes. Good. You better not do it again, or else I'm going to kill you. He threatened. I then walked out of the bathroom with my bathrobe still on and was still shaking from what had just happened seconds ago. I was surprised that no one else in the bunk had even heard the whole encounter. I didn't feel comfortable telling any of the same. one about this. It was just

Starting point is 03:56:34 embarrassing. Later I was able to cool off, but from there I'll try my best to avoid art as much as I could. It was now the end of the first week of camp, and one last thing happened that almost made me want to go home and never return to the camp.

Starting point is 03:56:50 It was like a Tuesday or Wednesday night on the second week of camp. And me and my bunk were just heading back from movie night, which the camp decided to do that night. It was also Hart's night off. This made me happy because I didn't feel safe around him knowing that he had threatened me just days before. I got back to the cabin and about 15 minutes inside the cabin I heard

Starting point is 03:57:14 screaming from a far distance. There were definitely like 10 little girls screaming. This went on for like another minute and then it stopped. Me and all of my other bunkmates looked at each other in confusion as to what could possibly have been going on out there. We had three councillors present with us that night, and two councillors told us to stay here as they were going to investigate what was happening. The other councillors stayed with us. We all listened and stayed put. About an hour and a half passed, and our two councillors were still gone.

Starting point is 03:57:52 Something major had to have happened. It was also time for lights out, and so the counsellor who was still with us, Turned the lights off and we were all in bed. I guess that we would all find out what happened the next morning. Morning time then came and we were eating breakfast at the camp's dining hall. We were allowed to sit wherever we wanted to, and that's what I did. I sat down with a few of my bunkmates and some older girls sat down with us. As we were eating, one of the girls finally told us the story of what had happened, that previous night.

Starting point is 03:58:26 One of the younger girls' cabins heard some noise from their bathroom last night, while their counselors were outside talking to each other. The girls went to go see what the noise was, and when they reached the bathroom stall where the noise was coming from, they opened the door and they all saw the one and only 50-year-old counselor, art, sitting on the toilet with his pants down, revealing himself. He then smiled and said, Hey, pretty girls.

Starting point is 03:58:55 That's when all the girls screamed and ran out of the cabin, which were the screams that we heard. They ran so far deep into the woods while one of the two other counselors followed behind. Art was still inside the bathroom while two of their counselors remained at the cabin, and the other counselors, including two of mine, went inside. They all saw him still sitting on the toilet with his pants down. That's when three male counselors wrestled Art to the ground and held him down there. Another counselor then called for the camp police on his walkie-talkie, and said everything that all went down.

Starting point is 03:59:32 When the police arrived, Art was still down in the same position, and that's when he was taken away in a police car. He was still in custody that morning, and that young girl's bunk had to sleep in a couple of other girls' cabins because they were clearly not safe there. Everyone at my table just stopped eating and all of our jaws were dropped. I'm sure every other table was talking about it as well. My heart went out to all the little girls who had seen true terror that last night.

Starting point is 04:00:03 I did one more summer after that summer at the sleepaway camp, and nothing that severe ever happened again. Art, obviously, never returned again to the camp, and I wouldn't be too surprised if he is still being held in some sort of institution to keep him away from children. Monsters like him should be held in prison for a very long time, maybe even life. I hope he's getting all the hard time he deserves in prison because child predators like him do not belong in this world. Hi, Raven. First time poster here, but I drive 600 miles a week for my job, and I find your podcast to be an incredible way to pass the time and miles.

Starting point is 04:00:58 That said, let me get right to it. It was late July 1998, and my family and I were getting ready to go on a trip out west. We were slated to fly from New York to Las Vegas, spend a few days out there, and then road trip from Vegas to visit various sites in Utah and Arizona, before finally arriving in Los Angeles to spend some time with some old family friends, who had moved there several years prior. I was 13 years old at the time, and at about 10 p.m.,

Starting point is 04:01:35 I lay in bed unable to sleep due to the anticipation and excitement of my first trip out west. I could hear my parents moving about the house, cleaning, and packing their last remaining items. I shared a room with my little brother at the time, and he couldn't sleep either, so we spent our time talking about what we might do and see on the trip. My family lived in an older home.

Starting point is 04:02:03 It was built in the 1940s by my grandfather. He passed suddenly in 1976, leaving the house to my dad. The window in the upstairs bedrooms were original at this time. It wood framed with no insulation or tinting. They often rattled during winter windstorms, and did not do the greatest job of keeping out cold drafts in the winter, nor heat in the summer. They also did not do a great job of insulating our bedroom from noise outside.

Starting point is 04:02:37 And as we talked, we could faintly hear the slam of our minivan door outside on the driveway below as our parents finished packing it for our 5 a.m. departure to the airport. Our bedroom was situated on the second floor, in the southwest corner of the house. There were two windows, one facing west and one facing south. At the time, we had no air conditioning in the house, so we relied on open windows to let the cool nighttime breezes flow through the rooms to cool them down.

Starting point is 04:03:12 However, there was one problem with that, the window facing west. The one which overlooked the driveway some 20 feet below had been stuck shut for as long as I could remember. I figured it was because this particular window, which, faced west, endured the brutal lashing of the snow and cold winds in the winter, followed by long stretches of direct sunlight during the hot summer days. Over time, this warped the window frames such that the window was stuck in place.

Starting point is 04:03:45 On the hottest nights, I remember it being so hot in our bedroom that, even fans did little to cool my brother and I off. He and I would often try our hardest to open this window to get a cross breeze going. He and I standing on his bed, counting to three, and heaving with all of our might to open it to no avail. It never so much as budged. On many occasions, after much complaining to our dad, we watched in disappointment as he, a six-foot-tall, 200-pound man,

Starting point is 04:04:20 tried as he might to open it with no success. This particular night was no different. At 10 p.m., it was still in the 70s outside and very humid. And my brother and I knew that sleep would be even more difficult with the stale, hot air in the room, combined with our excitement. We also knew, however, that Dad was far too busy getting ready to be bothered with trying in vain to open that window, so. we let it be. Eventually our exhaustion got the best of us,

Starting point is 04:04:55 and we both drifted off to sleep. Several hours later, I was lashed awake by a terrible sound. It was a loud, bang, and it jolted me awake in such a way that I never thought possible. To me, it sounded like an explosion. I not only heard it, but seemingly felt its impact.

Starting point is 04:05:18 When it happened, I was instantly sitting in a moment. up in my bed, my eyes darting frantically around the room to ascertain the cause. It was dark in there, the only light coming from the blue lava lamp that my brother and I kept on as a nightlight. As my brain awakened and my eyes adjusted, I could see a small human figure darting across the room. By its gait, and the way that it moved, I knew instantly that it was my brother. He was whimpering in fear, a sound I'll never forget for the rest of my life. Pure, primal fear.

Starting point is 04:05:59 I could hear his frantic footfalls across the hardwood floors as he scrambled for the door, and that's when I realized what had made the sound. It was the bedroom door. A nocturnal thunderstorm had come up in the middle of the night, and stirred up brief but violent wind gusts. I felt a cold, damp breeze washed throughout the road, room, it was both refreshing but somewhat unsettling, for I had never felt a breeze that strong in this bedroom, having only one functional window.

Starting point is 04:06:31 Then, lightning flashed, and I was able to finally see what had slammed the door with such great force. Though only briefly illuminated, by the blinding lightning outside, I saw clearly that the window, the one which had been seized shut for years and years, was still. standing open. Not just a little bit open, but all the way, wide open. This allowed the wind from the storm to come in from both directions, creating positive pressure in the room and slamming our bedroom door with explosive force.

Starting point is 04:07:08 I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And as the roll of thunder began to follow the lightning strikes, my mom and dad frantically entered the room, having both also been awakened by the noise. Their first order of business was to calm my little brother down, who was now in the midst of a full-blown panic attack. They sat him on his bed as my dad quickly shut both windows. My parents seemingly unfazed by the window. They ignored everything as they tended to my brother.

Starting point is 04:07:40 After a few moments, I spoke up. Mom, Dad? I asked. Who opened the window? They both went silent, and I knew from their silence that they were as surprised as I was that this window which had been frozen shut for, as long as anyone could remember, had been found wide open to the driveway 20 feet below. It must have been the storm, just go back to sleep. My mom replied, in a tone of voice that lacked any confidence or certainty. They left the room shortly after, and my brother quickly fell back.

Starting point is 04:08:18 into a deep sleep. Not me. I lay awake, heart-pounding. Knowing full well anything of this world was not opening that window. I mentally recalled all the times my dad, who was a good-sized man and who worked out in our home gym regularly, tried and failed to open that window. I turned to face the wall so as not to look at it and put my head under my pillow. and eventually returned to sleep. From then on, every time I brought up the topic of the thunderstorm and the window,

Starting point is 04:08:58 my mom and dad dismissed it as the work of the storm, and quickly changed the subject. But to this very day, all I can do is wonder. After my relationship ended with the long-term boyfriend, I fell into a pretty dark place. I spent almost two years living off of delivery food and takeout, and I barely left my apartment except for work, or the rare occasion I went to a friend or family,

Starting point is 04:09:39 but that was rare. I had lost all confidence in myself and let myself go, no longer caring about myself. The breakup was hard. It wasn't expected, and it took a lot out of me. I was depressed and barely recognized, myself in the mirror. By November of 2023, I was finally tired of my attitude and how I was treating myself. I wanted my life back. I wanted to get out more with my friends and have fun again,

Starting point is 04:10:13 so I made myself a New Year's resolution to get back into shape. I planned out meals and snacks in advance to stop myself from eating out. I joined a local gym that was 24 hours and fairly cheap. I was feeling pretty motivated with my plans. I went to the gym after work to give myself plenty of time. The first week or so was exactly what you would expect.

Starting point is 04:10:40 Awkwardly fumbling with machines, trying to remember proper form from videos and feeling completely out of place. The gym was big on being judgment-free and it showed. No one watched you or made fun of you. Or at

Starting point is 04:10:55 least they didn't make it obvious. but as I struggled to figure out some of the machines, that's when I noticed him. He was taller, maybe mid-30s and definitely in better shape than myself. I kept catching him looking in my direction, and initially my insecurities kicked in hard. I thought he was definitely amused watching the fat girl struggle, and I was anticipating seeing him laugh or pointing me out to someone else. But then he smiled and wretched. winked at me, and I felt this rush of validation that I hadn't experienced since my breakup.

Starting point is 04:11:34 I smiled back, but left it at that. The negative voices were telling me it was just him being nice because I caught him staring and nothing more. But the next day that I went, he was there, and he approached me while I was trying to figure out the cable machine. He walked in front of me, still keeping some distance, and asked if he could give me some tips on that machine. He told me his name was James. He then showed me some techniques and how to hold the ropes. He even asked what my goals were and suggested some workout routines. We even joked when he swore he wasn't a fitness trainer trying to solicit services.

Starting point is 04:12:16 The entire time he made eye contact with me, kept his distance, and always had a warm and encouraging smile that made me feel. feel like maybe I could actually do this. I even had what seemed to be a possible friend to cheer me on and help hold me accountable. Looking back, I should have noticed how he always seemed to be there, no matter what time I went to the gym. Morning, afternoon, evening, somehow James was always around. But for some time, I enjoyed the attention that he showed me.

Starting point is 04:12:50 He was a great-looking guy and could easily be hanging out with any. anyone, but he chose me. Eventually, the warm feelings he gave me did start to crumble. He started giving more unsolicited advice, but it wasn't like the helpful tips he used to give. Instead, he would come up behind me during my exercises, like one time I was doing squats. He then put his hands on my hips to, quote, adjust my position. I froze in place. His hands lingered way too long and and I kind of felt sick to my stomach. I turned around really fast to get his hands off of me, and his once encouraging smile now looked creepy.

Starting point is 04:13:34 All I could think to compare it to was a predator watching his prey. I felt more like a target than a friend or an acquaintance. That's when I really started going at different times. I went later at night knowing he usually left at the same time as me, but when I would get there and he was there, he would linger at machines and watch me. He was already covered in sweat, telling me he had already been there for some time,

Starting point is 04:14:03 but he was now staying longer, possibly because of me. I stayed by the machines close to the front, and I only used the ones where I face outward so he couldn't come up behind me anymore, but that didn't stop him. He would still walk around me, try to put his arm around the small of my back,

Starting point is 04:14:22 when I switched out the weights, etc. I didn't know what to do, and I felt stupid. I welcomed his company at first, but now he was crossing boundaries, and in public for that matter. I watched movies and read books, and I always knew what I would do in those situations, but then when it actually happens to you and you freeze,

Starting point is 04:14:45 you don't know what you should do. You question everything you do, and when you're in a relationship similar to what I was prior, to this, you question your options even more. So I just decided to avoid him all together and started going to a different gym. I went there a few times and was starting to feel better about it and my decision, until my stomach dropped as I saw James walk into the gym. He scanned the area like he was looking for someone.

Starting point is 04:15:15 I felt sick. I was on one of the elliptical machines that faced the front, so there was no way to pretend I didn't see him, and I definitely didn't want him touching me again, so I stopped. I immediately went to the locker room and waited a few minutes before I swiftly walked out and toward the exit. That's when I heard my name. I didn't want to turn around, but I did, and sure enough, it was James. I was just walking towards my car, but I stopped and walked back towards the lit-up building, thinking I would at least be safer there than in the dark parking lot. I just made sure to keep my distance and would take a step back every time he tried to move closer.

Starting point is 04:16:00 He laughed and made a comment about, what are the odds that we would run into each other at a different gym? I made a vague comment about how it was odd, which wasn't a lie. What was his reasoning to go to a different gym? Then, his smile fell and he just looked at me wide-eyed and said, you're not trying to avoid me, are you, Kaylee? I was spooked. I didn't know how to respond and how he would respond to whatever I said.

Starting point is 04:16:32 I just remember giving a shaking, no, and making some excuse about that one being a little easier to get to. Then he broke the creepy stare and started to laugh and said that he was just messing around with me, and that he understood. I was freaking out internally, whether it was just a joke, it seriously scared the hell out of me. He was being a creep as is with touching me.

Starting point is 04:16:59 But that? That was just flat out scary. He then wished me a good night, and I quickly walked away towards my car. I didn't look back. I rushed to my car, keys ready to unlock it, and then quickly got in and locked the doors again. And when I looked up to where we were standing, James was still there watching me. I still remember the chills I got watching him stare at me and smile.

Starting point is 04:17:25 I stopped going to the gym altogether, not knowing what to do. At that point, I had only run into him at the gym, and I felt like there wasn't anything I could do about it either. So, my solution was to avoid the gym and figure out another method of exercising, be it a different gym altogether or just working out at home. However, that wouldn't be the last time that I saw him. I was working at a bank at the time, and while I was with a customer in my office, one of my tellers came in and told me someone was here to see me. She had a big smile on her face, which just confused me more.

Starting point is 04:18:06 Who could possibly be here? I just assumed it was another customer that specifically asked for me, since I was a personal banker, and asked her to tell them to wait for me in the lobby. But she stopped me and said that it was my fitness trainer. I immediately felt sick. I certainly didn't have a fitness trainer, but I had a feeling I knew who it was. I excused myself from my office, apologizing to my customer, and, lo and behold, there's James, standing in my lobby, holding flowers.

Starting point is 04:18:41 I never told him where I worked, so how the hell did he find out? As a few people stood by watching with smiles on their faces, I could only feel embarrassed. I finally mustered up the courage to stand my ground and asked him why he was there. He had that same smug grin and said that he missed seeing me at the gym and wanted to make sure I was sticking to my goals and workout. I told him that he needed to leave immediately and to leave me alone. I was loud enough to get the attention of the security guard who came over. I told him that he needed to go, and I watched James's face change from that friendly smile,

Starting point is 04:19:22 to one that told me that I would regret what I just did. I saw the people around me now trying not to make eye contact. I was so embarrassed and terrified. He had the courage to show up at my work, and for what? It's not like he even said anything romantic or asked me on a date. that felt more intimidating almost, like an I know where you work type of message. Worse yet, I still didn't know what I could do.

Starting point is 04:19:54 I ended up talking to my brother about it because he was a cop, and he highly suggested that I file a report and try to get a protective order. He said since he had shown up at my work and was making me as uncomfortable as he was, there was plenty of reason to do so. So I went with him to the police station and filed a report the next day. I remember them asking questions about if he knew where I lived, or if he was ever at my place, or if he was on any of my social medias. I hadn't even thought about that,

Starting point is 04:20:29 and frantically scrolled through friends and followers on what I had since I started going to the gym. I didn't find any profiles with the name James, nor did I see his picture on any of them. But what if he just didn't have a picture of himself? Or what if his profile was named something different? I didn't know what other choice I had, so I ended up deleting my Instagram and Snapchat and did a huge cleanup on my Facebook. I was left with only family and close friends.

Starting point is 04:21:03 I wasn't comfortable going back to the gyms, so I did what I could from home, buying a few weights and bands and did my best. I didn't see him after that, thankfully. However, I did get a friend request from someone by the name of Michael. I checked out the profile first because I couldn't think of anyone I knew with the name Michael, but when I looked closer at his picture, it was definitely James. I don't know if he was using a different name, maybe his middle name, but he was wearing the same hat he always wore at the gym.

Starting point is 04:21:38 I not only declined it, but I also blocked him. I had a message request, too, because you can't even message me unless you are a friend, and I just deleted it, assuming it was probably him, too. And that was the last time I had any sort of contact with him. It was such a surreal experience for me. I thought I'd just found a possible friend, someone to help me on this new journey, but he went way over some boundaries, and that was not okay. He knew very little about me.

Starting point is 04:22:16 He knew my first name and my fitness goals, I guess which consisted of saying I needed to lose weight. I didn't tell him anything about where I worked or lived, and certainly didn't give him enough information to find me on social media. So when he showed up at my work, I was pretty creeped out. Maybe some people might think I overreacted, but to not give any indication of the reason for showing up, and the look on his face,

Starting point is 04:22:45 it made the whole thing seem more malicious than good intent. I guess I'll just go back to keeping to myself because even the seemingly nice guy who just wanted to help appeared to have other creepy intentions. And as for James, let's just never meet again. I am from a huge Italian-American family. My mom had 12 siblings, and they in turn had numerous children.

Starting point is 04:23:22 We have never even counted the number of first cousins on mom's side, because there are just so many of us. For the purpose of this story, I will estimate that there were approximately 40 of us first cousins running around at a family gathering. As a tradition in our family, and many Italian families, the majority of my uncles named their first born. sons, Savatore, after my maternal grandfather. This will be crucial to the story later. My mother Maria was the eldest child, and as I mentioned, she was very close to her family. For the record, not that it's relevant to this particular story, but we were also super close to dad's side of the family.

Starting point is 04:24:04 He had four siblings, and there were only 12 cousins on that side of the family. None named Salvatore. My mom's older brother Carl suffered a heartbreaking tragedy when his wife died in childbirth. My cousin, Sow was born a strong, healthy, and apparently beautiful baby, with no mother to care for him. My uncle was said to be completely overcome with grief and unable to manage work while caring for a newborn baby, who reminded him of the loss of his beloved wife. His sister Maria immediately stepped up and took the baby into our home. home. She loved and cared for him almost as if he were her own, and they bonded.

Starting point is 04:24:46 My uncle visited often, and when Sal was four years old, he met a woman who professed her love and devotion to both my uncle and his son. When the new couple married, Sal moved out with much heartbreak for the little boy and his beloved auntie. The saddest part is that the new stepmother, my aunt, felt comfortable showing her true colors immediately after Savvatore moved. in. She was not interested in having a young child in her home, and she made no attempt to hide her dislike of the poor motherless child. Sal often tried to run away to return to his loving Aunt Maria. My uncle, determined to have his son live with him, and rightfully so, would come and bring him home every time. He was said to be loved by his father. Unfortunately, his father was

Starting point is 04:25:37 unwilling or unable to acknowledge the emotional impact that his wife's new behavior was having on the young boy. Sal grew up angry at his father, and although other family members really tried throughout the years to get Carl to see the damage, that this woman was inflicting on his son, he was blinded by her. Sal moved away and only kept in touch with his aunt Maria, a few uncles, and tried to keep in touch with his little half-sister. Sal is a good person. As you can imagine throughout the years, the rest of the family gathered often to celebrate every event under the sun. My mother, being the most nurturing human alive, was very close to many of her nephews and nieces. She taught me how to be an auntie, and I love her for that.

Starting point is 04:26:25 Your nephews and nieces are the most important children in your life right next to your own kids. That was always her motto. She treated them all like her own kids. No one ever needed an invitation to our home, and it was often, completely unexpectedly, filled with 20 to 50 people for Sunday dinner. I actually thought that was how everyone grew up when I was a child. The six other cells visited often and always came over to tell Aunt Maria of their accomplishments, often bringing her sweet little gifts, like freshly caught fish or a plant, because making her proud was a truly wonderful feeling for all of us, and everyone who ever met her

Starting point is 04:27:06 adored her. I realize this is a lot of background with not much paranormal stuff yet, but I am getting to it. Here is where the paranormal begins. My father, Tony, passed when I was very young. When I was sick or very sad, I always felt and even saw his presence, but I chalked it up to my very vivid child's imagination. My dad was a kind and loving man, called a gentle giant by many. He was an engineer by trade, but his avocation was tennis. That big, strong man was all grace and rhythm on the courts, and he found it very relaxing.

Starting point is 04:27:45 Obviously, since we were his children, when dad passed, he, sadly, never met his grandchildren. It is without a doubt in my mind that this man would have been an incredible grandfather. I believe this was proven correct one day when the grandkids came into the house, telling me they wanted to play tennis. My mom, of course, had tennis courts in the backyard. I laughed and told the kids that we would teach them when they were a bit older, and they said, Oh, we already know how to play, because Pop Pop Pop showed us how. Now, the children call their other grandfather-grandpa, so I don't know where a four-and-five-year-old picked up Pop-Pop, but I thought I should go along with a creative play.

Starting point is 04:28:28 I said, Really? Cool. Show me. They took me out and showed me how to hold the racket, explained the rules, and described my dad perfectly. I didn't want to accept this until they said,

Starting point is 04:28:42 he had a white t-shirt on and white shorts. He looked kind of funny. There was a weird squiggle on his shirt. What now? They described my dad's tennis outfit to a tee, and there were no photos of him in his tennis white, on display. They also said that he smelled like he had perfume on.

Starting point is 04:29:01 My dad always put on aftershave and or cologne because my mom loved it. Please know that I used creative license in my description due to privacy concerns. Some people and my family are a tad uncomfortable sharing these stories. Now, on to my adult story. When mom passed when I was in my late 20s, I was devastated and I wasn't the only person who took her passing hard. The funeral home was packed every single night with family and friends from around the globe. She was, as I mentioned, much loved. I cannot begin to describe the gorgeous floral arrangements and copious amounts of food that continued to arrive for days.

Starting point is 04:29:43 It was a great comfort to myself and my siblings to see the outpouring of love for Mom. And she was more than deserving of the love bestowed upon her. The world never felt or looked the same to me after her passing. The sun never shone quite as brightly in my world, if that makes sense. I would often dream of her at night. I knew that these were clearly just dreams and nothing more, but I would wake up smiling. One of her grandchildren dreamt of her nearly every night. This was the grandchild closest to her.

Starting point is 04:30:19 I cannot say whether these were dreams or visitations, as they're not mine to us. One night I fell asleep, and I was awakened by a noise inside my head. My husband remained fully asleep. I saw my mother hovering near my bedroom slightly above the door in a white gown. She looked so young, vibrant, and healthy. This event took place many years ago, but I can still recall every single detail. It felt very different than any dream I ever had in my life. but it was the middle of the night, and it felt so real, but I was aware that she was deceased.

Starting point is 04:31:01 She said, call Sal, you have to call Sal. And as quickly as she came, she vanished. I fell back to sleep and thought to myself, that was strange. Why would Mom visit me and say that? But I immediately knew without a doubt which Sal she meant out of all the Sal's. including uncles and cousins. I awoke and went about my day, but I couldn't shake the visitation from the night before

Starting point is 04:31:32 or the directive I had been given by my mother. I'm not sure whether you know this or not, but when an Italian mom asks something of you, you do it. Also, I knew it was important, but I had no idea why. I've never had a dream that I couldn't shake, but this visit from Mom was definitely different. It's as if she wouldn't allow me to forget it. First, I had to obtain Sal's new number because he had moved again.

Starting point is 04:32:02 I called that very evening. This is the conversation. Sal's longtime partner. Hi, how are you? Me. You're going to think I've lost my mind, but Aunt Maria told me to call and speak to Sal. I hear crying on the other end of the line. I'm sorry, did I say something?

Starting point is 04:32:20 something to upset you? And then the partner said, you have to say those exact words to your cousin. He absolutely needs to hear that. Long story short, my cousin, completely estranged from everyone in the family, just a few days prior, had received a very serious medical diagnosis.

Starting point is 04:32:41 He was obviously depressed, feeling alone, and very much deserted by his family. If you recall, his father chose his stepmother, over him throughout his entire life. My mother and a few of my aunts and uncles loved and supported him, but the pain of parental neglect cuts deep. His dad was clueless, but the rest of the family understood the intense hurt and pain that the poor child and later adults lived through.

Starting point is 04:33:10 No one understood it more deeply than his beloved Aunt Maria. We spoke for over an hour. Sal, as many years my senior, and this was the long time. longest conversation we had in our lives. He openly shared how he felt. I listened and reminded him how strong his aunt's love must be that she would come to me and insist that I contact him. He cried.

Starting point is 04:33:35 I honestly have never known him to cry in my entire life. He asked if I thought our uncles would be open to contact, and I immediately told him that everyone absolutely wants to hear from him. Eventually, he reunited with his. our family. He even decided to call his father, and they resumed superficial, very casual contact prior to my uncle's passing. I believe Sal did this mainly to contact his younger half-sister, whom he loved dearly. It is my belief that the one brief visit from Maria was necessary to help Sal get his motivation back to fight his illness. Fortunately, he fully recovered. Clearly, there's

Starting point is 04:34:17 no scientific evidence that proves the visitation, or the fact that Sal's new outlook on life helped him combat the disease. Conversely, there's no evidence to suggest otherwise. I know that my mother loved her nephew dearly as one of her own, but I couldn't possibly begin to explain any other portion of my story. Thank you for reading the story, Raven. You rock. It was the summer of 99, and, like most days, my best of my best of my story,

Starting point is 04:34:57 best friend and I were playing in the woods near our neighborhood. We spent countless afternoons there, riding our bikes along the dirt trails or running around with our cap guns. Those little toy revolvers that popped when you pulled the trigger, leaving behind the sharp smell of burnt caps. That day, we weren't on our bikes, just playing and running around. At some point, I ended up at the bottom of a dirt hill, about 10 feet tall, where the woods started. My friend stood at the top out in the open. I looked up at him, waiting for him to do something.

Starting point is 04:35:35 Instead, he just froze. His face changed, his expression twisting into something I couldn't understand. Then without a word, he turned and ran. I yelled after him, Hey, where are you going? As soon as the words left my mouth, I heard his voice yell back. It isn't safe here. Run.

Starting point is 04:35:58 I didn't stop to think. I ran. I scrambled up the dirt hill as fast as I could. If I had my bike, I wouldn't have made it up in time. I would have been stuck struggling. I didn't stop running until we were back at his house. When I caught up to him, I was yelling, What the heck are you doing, man?

Starting point is 04:36:20 He was pale and still out of breath, and his voice was shaky. There was something behind you. A sinking feeling hit my stomach. Who? It wasn't a person. I didn't understand what he meant at first. He wasn't saying someone. He was saying something.

Starting point is 04:36:41 It was all black. No face, no features just black. And its eyes? They were red. A cold wave ran through me, but I forced a nervous laugh. Well, good thing you told me to run. That's when his face changed again. He looked at me like I had just said something that didn't make sense.

Starting point is 04:37:04 I didn't tell you to run, he said. I stared at him. Yeah, you did. I yelled, where are you going and you yelled back. It isn't safe here, run. He shook his head slowly. I never heard you yell anything, and I never said anything back. I just stood there.

Starting point is 04:37:24 my mind racing. If he hadn't yelled back at me, then who did? To this day, I have no explanation. I never turned around. I never saw the thing he saw, but I know this. Something was there. Something that shouldn't have been. And something, or someone, made sure that I didn't stay long enough to find out what it wanted.

Starting point is 04:37:52 I moved in with my mind. my girlfriend back in 2017, and at the time I didn't really know her neighbors. She said that everyone seemed to keep to themselves, so I didn't really have a reason to know them either. There were no introductions or anything like that. I did see one guy that walked his dog in the mornings and nights passing her place. There were two old ladies that would walk by too. Then there was some kind of work van that parked on the road in front of her neighbor's place every weekend.

Starting point is 04:38:37 I think those were the few things I noticed that were recurring in her area, but otherwise I didn't know any of them or anything about them. I already spent a lot of time over there, so it was nothing new at the time of me moving in. But before I moved in, I had never stayed there overnight on

Starting point is 04:38:59 Sundays due to having to go to the office on Monday. It was about a 45-minute drive from her place and only 15 from mine, so I usually stayed home those nights. Overall, it was cheaper to have less rent and utilities to pay and drive a little further once a week. So I didn't often see the Sunday night routines of the neighborhood until one night. I had to run to the store around 10 p.m. When I came home, I saw a familiar kid standing in our driveway behind my girlfriend's car.

Starting point is 04:39:39 I got out and asked if he was okay, and he said he was fine. I asked if he needed anything, and he said no, as he just smiled at me. I shrugged it off and made a joke saying not to stay out too late, and went inside. He was about 12 or 13, if I had to guess, and had his bike next to him, so I figured he maybe just stopped to rest for a moment. It was odd to use our driveway for his rest stop, but he was harmless. I saw him riding his bike up and down the street before,

Starting point is 04:40:14 so he wasn't exactly a stranger, and he lived two houses down, so he was definitely from the neighborhood. But then a few weeks after that event, I was coming home from a friend's place, and again I pulled into the driveway, with that kid standing behind her car. He was wearing a jacket and had on a large backpack, just like last time.

Starting point is 04:40:38 I greeted him again and he waved at me. This time I was a bit more curious. He again was standing next to his bike, but it caught my attention when I pulled in because he was leaning to one side, as if he was trying to see something or look for something. So I approached him. and asked what he was doing. I certainly didn't expect the response that he gave. He said that he liked to watch people do things.

Starting point is 04:41:10 I asked him what he meant, and he smiled as he said, I like watching people do things when they don't know someone is watching. Something about the way he said that made my skin crawl. I asked him if he spied on people, and he shrugged, but then turned and pointed at a house.

Starting point is 04:41:32 He said that the old man in that house threw his dog around. He pointed at the house across the street. She must be sick because she takes a lot of pills. He then pointed at another house further down and said that the boy there smoked in his room to hide it from his parents. I was startled, but at the same time, amazed. This kid was basically watching. watching other people from the yard, from the driveway, and no one saw him, no one reported it? But then I thought more about it because it's not like he was at the window.

Starting point is 04:42:12 He was standing in our driveway a good several feet from the house. I made a joke about him having supervision, and he pulled his backpack off and pulled out a pair of pretty hefty binoculars. And there it was. He seemed pretty proud of this too. He kept talking as he looked at the binoculars, and it was the way he said this that made it creepy. His voice was monotone, but almost sinister for such a small kid. I like watching people when they think they're alone. Something about that was incredibly off-putting.

Starting point is 04:42:51 I told him that he shouldn't be outside alone, especially when it was dark. And he must have taken that as a challenge. He smiled at me and said that he also sees stuff through tiny bathroom windows. I was confused at first because he didn't point out a house like he did to the others. Then I finally caught on. Our bathroom had a small window that was higher up than normal. It didn't even open and neither of us really understood why it was there. It was also high up enough that my girlfriend didn't have a car.

Starting point is 04:43:26 curtain over it or anything. She just had some small decorations sitting on the window sill. There was no way he could see anything in the bathroom from the ground. If he was talking about our window, then he had to be deliberately trying to look into it. There was a tree situated right between the front yard and the small side yard where the bathroom was. I asked him if he was climbing in the tree and he said that he was. That means he was in the yard, which means trespassing.

Starting point is 04:44:01 This kid was purposely climbing in our tree to see in our window, and God knows what all he had seen. And how long had he been doing that? Did he do that when my girlfriend was alone? I told him that he needed to leave, now, and stay out of our yard, our trees, and our driveway, because otherwise I would tell his parents. He was clearly upset, and I guess confused because he asked why. I told him that what he was doing was wrong,

Starting point is 04:44:35 and that he could get into serious trouble for it. I don't think he understood how serious it was because he just shrugged again and walked off with his bike. I waited to go inside until I saw him disappear over the hill. I went in, and I told my girlfriend immediately what had happened. She was just as surprised and creeped out as I was. We put something in the window that night until we were able to get a curtain that following week. It was probably about two weeks after that event.

Starting point is 04:45:09 I went out to get my mail and saw that same neighbor kid riding his bike toward me. I ignored him, but he stopped in front of me, and he actually asked me why we blocked out the window. Obviously, the only way he would have known is, if he tried looking again. So I was a little more straightforward with him. I told him that looking into other people's windows like that was creepy and illegal,

Starting point is 04:45:37 and that he needed to stop before he got hurt or got the cops called on him. He again just shrugged and left on his bike. I went inside and once again explained to my girlfriend what had happened. We both thought that his parents needed to know about his behavior, but neither of us knew where he lived exactly. Our next idea was to set up cameras to catch him, and maybe if we called the cops then,

Starting point is 04:46:06 it would scare him enough to stop, or at least maybe he would tell the cops where he lived. So, we went to a local hardware store and got a few cameras that day. We even put one in the bathroom window facing out. It didn't take long to catch him, him either. The next day the bathroom camera went off and we could see him climbing up the tree. My girlfriend called the cops and I went to confront him to make sure he didn't try to run. Thankfully, he was his normal calm demeanor, but refused to climb down the tree when I asked him to.

Starting point is 04:46:44 He said that he had just got there and didn't want to leave yet. So he made it easier on us as we waited for the cops. What I was not expecting was the cops to call him by name as they demanded he get out of the tree. He explained to us that he had been reported by several people in the neighborhood, so they were pretty used to him. The problem was that his dad didn't seem to care. He had two younger siblings,

Starting point is 04:47:13 and his dad focused most of his time on them, and when the police would bring him home, the dad would only say that he was just doing things curious, boys his age did. Sorry, but as a man, I was never curious enough to spy on my neighbors. The police didn't inform us that due to his age, they couldn't charge him with anything, but his dad did get a warning, saying that if he was caught again, he could face parental liability charges for it.

Starting point is 04:47:44 Good news was that, after that, we didn't catch him in our tree again. However, the camera did see him standing at the edge of the driveway a few times, making sure to not enter anyone's property line and holding on to his binoculars. At least we had some thick blackout curtains that we kept closed. Oh, and before I forget, because it had been asked when I posted this story elsewhere, yes, the dog is safe. I told the cops about what he said that night, and they said that the whole thing had become a pretty crazy case,

Starting point is 04:48:22 but the dog was taken away and was given a good home. Just a quick heads up, this story does require a content warning, as it does dabble into some very, very serious and potentially triggering topics in some detail, not a ton of detail, but definitely some. So these topic matters do involve, um, abuse and violence at the hands of a family member, so that's just the trigger warning there. And we'll continue to the story now.

Starting point is 04:49:06 I'm pretty new to your channel, but I'm fairly keen on the family secrets and similar videos because of something that happened to me as a young child. It was a pretty dark and terrifying moment in mine and my mother's life, but now that I'm almost 50, I have healed for the most part. I know my mother doesn't like to talk about it, however. It's taken me a while to finally sit down and type all this up, but I decided I would like to share the story with you and your audience, too. Before I get started, I do want to warn you that it is pretty graphic

Starting point is 04:49:42 and deals with domestic abuse. I'll only include the stuff relevant to the story, but I just wanted to give you a trigger warning in case someone doesn't want to listen. I also want to say that I was pretty young, and while I remember a lot of it, there are parts that my mother had to tell me about, or explained, so there will be both perspectives in this.

Starting point is 04:50:05 Here it goes. This happened back in the summer of 1987, when I was eight years old. My father was a horrible human being. My mother and he were forced into what many would refer to as a shotgun wedding. Mistakes were made, and I was born into a very hostile environment. While my mother did everything she could to raise me,

Starting point is 04:50:31 take care of me and give me the love every child should know, my father was the opposite. All he wanted back then was, for lack of a better word, one night stands. But his luck ran out when my mom was the first one that got pregnant. He didn't want a kid, let alone a family. He still wanted to be carefree and be with anyone he, wanted. Of course, a ring and a child didn't stop him. He still did what he wanted, had affairs,

Starting point is 04:51:01 stayed away for nights on end, and my mom, who was only 16 at the time, couldn't do anything about it. There were several times where she went without eating to make sure that I could. And before anyone asks, no, her family didn't want to help either. They practically disowned her after she confessed that she was pregnant. She tried to work where she could, wherever they would allow her to bring in a baby, until I was old enough to go to school. But the older I got,

Starting point is 04:51:33 the more I witnessed, and even experienced the abuse. When he was home, he was three sheets to the wind. My mom did her best to just ignore him and avoid him, but sometimes that wasn't enough. He would find some reason to be angry with her, He would find a reason to beat her.

Starting point is 04:51:54 I used to cry when I saw it, but then he would smack me around and tell me to be a man, so I had to look away, put my head down just to prevent getting hit. But then something miraculous happened. I was out of school, sick, and my mom didn't want to leave me at home alone, so she brought me to work. At the time, she was cleaning houses and had brought me with her to one of her customers' homes. It was an older woman, the kind that I wished was my own grandmother. She was what I would imagine in a grandma. When I would go with my mother to her home, she always had something prepared for me.

Starting point is 04:52:34 She had no kids, no sign that any lived or visited but for me, specifically. She bought a small basket with a few toys, and some books for me to keep occupied while I was there. She was a wonderful human being. I remember listening to my mother and her talk, and she did everything she could to convince my mother to leave my father. She said that she would help her, and even offered to let her stay in her guest room until she found her own place. I remember begging my mother to take it. I remember telling her how I would have so much more fun here with her, but I think it was a pride thing. And I could never blame her for that.

Starting point is 04:53:17 She wanted to do it all on her own, so she declined the offer. Until one day my father beat her so hard she didn't leave the house for a week. I remember how swollen her I was and how awful I felt looking at it as much as I did. I remember the guilt because it was my fault. He had grabbed her by her hair, and I kicked him in the leg, yelling at him to let her go. He kicked me hard enough to toss me back, causing my mom to react, turning his attention. and back to her. When she was able to open her other eye again,

Starting point is 04:53:51 she went back to work, and that was when that woman offered again. That time she took it. I remember my mom packing a large suitcase with all of my clothes, and told me to fill the box with all of my favorite toys because she couldn't promise that I would get to keep all of them. I remember being really sad about it, but I could tell by the tone in her voice that this was important,

Starting point is 04:54:14 so I did as she asked. I remember taking the suitcase and the box to the woman's house, and she actually had given us full rain of her basement. There's actually a decent-sized room down there where we kept our stuff and a small area behind the room, with a divider separating the laundry area. She told me that I could use that as my own playroom, and I was pretty excited about it.

Starting point is 04:54:41 It was almost the size of my room anyhow. The next day, my mom, My mom picked me up from school and told me that she would be doing that from now on, and to not get on the bus again. Everything was fine for those first few days. My mom was basically the living housekeeper, but the woman still cooked for us sometimes, giving my mom a break. And it just made me realize even more how much I was missing out on such a loving and safe home environment. She asked me about school, and she told me stories. I could tell my mother was a lot happier and relaxed being there too.

Starting point is 04:55:19 I was ready for this life. Then, there was that normal day at the grocery store where everything came undone. It was a Sunday morning. My mother and I went to the grocery store for one of the errands that she would run. As we were heading to the car, another car pulled up next to us, and we heard a familiar voice call out, saying my mother's name. I saw the way her whole body went rigid, just as she did at home. We both turned and saw my dad sitting in some car that we didn't recognize.

Starting point is 04:55:54 My mom did her best to be strong. I could hear it in her voice as she asked him what he wanted, something she would have never done at home. He claimed that he wanted to talk, and she refused. He made a comment about going to the police because he wanted to see his kid. After some hushed arguing, my mom begging him. him not to do this, her shoulders finally dropped as he demanded we get in the car. She said that she was technically working, so we had to make this quick, and told me to hop in the back,

Starting point is 04:56:25 assuring me everything would be okay. I will add here that, at this point, my mother was already working on the custody part and a restraining order, but at the time, back in the 80s, it was more of a challenge for her, at least, with the police that she worked with. I don't know if anyone had a different experience with it. Her fear was since the custody wasn't finalized, she didn't want him to risk claiming that she kidnapped him and then lose her chance of getting full custody. Again, I don't blame her for this.

Starting point is 04:57:00 She did everything she could. So we did as he demanded. We got in the car, and he sped off. My mom asked where we were going, and he said somewhere they could talk in private as a family. I remember thinking he was just going to take us home, but that wasn't the case at all. He kept going down roads I wasn't familiar with, gravel streets with no signs, until we arrived at some old farmhouse in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere.

Starting point is 04:57:30 There was nothing else around us, not a single soul or car on that road that we took. What's worse is that I had drifted off multiple times, and from what my mother told me afterwards, we were driving for a little over. an hour. He took us somewhere far away from what we knew. My mom didn't move from the seats, so neither did I. My dad got out, walked around to her side, and dragged her out of the car. I watched, terrified as she fell to the ground being dragged by her arm. Then he opened my door and started doing the same to me. I got out a bit more willingly, not wanting to get scratched up. He then yanked my mother up yelling at her to get inside.

Starting point is 04:58:17 I remember clinging to my mother, afraid to let her go. Once inside the house, it was nearly furnished, but everything was covered in dust. I didn't know where we were what this place was. He told me to go sit on the couch, and he turned on this old TV that was playing something I was not interested in. I think they were talking about lawn care or something, but I just pretended to be interested in it. not wanting to turn around and witness what was happening behind me. I could piece it together in my head from the sounds alone.

Starting point is 04:58:52 There was yelling, You don't get to leave me, you didn't want us in the first place. There were sounds of flesh hitting flesh, sounds of pain and crying from my mom, yelling, and all I could do was stare at the TV in front of me and cry. Knowing the moment that he saw the tears or heard me crying, I would get the same.

Starting point is 04:59:15 I don't know how long it went on, but it felt like ours. Going through different shows. Eventually, I heard him tell her that if we even thought about leaving, he would kill us. Then I heard the front door slam shut. I turned around and saw my mother in the worst condition I had ever seen her in. I just wanted to hug her and hold her and take away all of her pain, but I knew at that age I couldn't do anything. for us.

Starting point is 04:59:44 We were there for six days. Six days of him beating her senseless, telling her to do things such as make us dinner. She struggled to move and he beat her more because of it. But after the second day, he started tying her to the chair when he left. I didn't know it at the time, but I had fallen asleep after she comforted me and she was looking for a way to leave when he caught her in the act. So any time he left the house or even slept,

Starting point is 05:00:12 She stayed there tied to the chair. He just told me not to move from the spot in the tiny living room or else he would do the same to me. I was afraid that I was going to die if he did, so I listened. The fourth day she sat in the chair by the wall, slumped over, hardly moving. She didn't eat the day prior, and she hadn't eaten that day either. I was scared. I was afraid that she was dying and she would leave me with him. I tried to get her to drink water from my cup, but she choked, and I remember crying thinking

Starting point is 05:00:48 that I was making it worse. But she still did her best for me. She would look up occasionally and try to smile at me and whisper that we would be okay. I don't know if she believed it, but she still tried to do what she could from that chair to comfort me. But looking back at it now and talking to her about it, she had a plan. She was still planning an escape for us, or at least me. She was in a lot of pain and she definitely needed medical attention,

Starting point is 05:01:19 but she made herself look weaker than she was. On the sixth day, he tied her up as he did, told me to stay on the couch and walked to the bathroom to take a shower. Once we heard the shower start, I watched her as she shifted and wiggled, wensing more than usual. I watched over, staying on the couch, as she shifted. and looked over towards the hall where the bathroom was. Miraculously, she had freed her hand.

Starting point is 05:01:47 I watched closer as she tried to lean over to her feet and immediately shot back up with a groan. She looked at me trying to smile, which made her lip bleed. She held a finger to her lips, indicating to stay quiet, but then motioned me over there. She told me sternly but quietly that she needed my help untying her feet. I knew this could be bad. I knew that any moment he could catch her and kill her, but I didn't waste any energy.

Starting point is 05:02:16 I immediately went to work on her feet. I couldn't untie my own shoes yet, so I struggled to figure out the knot, but with her little words of encouragement in pointing me in the right direction, I got them loose enough for her to pull her feet through. As soon as she was freed, she grabbed my shoulders and told me to listen carefully. She said that no matter what happens next, no matter what I hear, No matter what happened to her, I should run. Then she told me that I had to remember this next part.

Starting point is 05:02:47 She told me a series of directions. Right, left, left, right, straight, left, right. She told me it was very important to remember that. We repeated it together several times, and then she made me repeat it until I got it right. She told me to put my shoes on and she stood by the door trying to slip on her own. That's when I heard the most terrifying thing in my life. What the hell are you doing? We both jumped in turn to see my dad in his boxers staring at us.

Starting point is 05:03:19 His face red and twisted in anger. The water was still running. He had tricked us, whether it was intentional or not. He walked towards my mom, and I remember feeling like I was going to have an accident. He instilled that much terror in me. He grabbed my mom by the same. the throat and her last words at that point were, run. I remember watching for a split second as he grabbed her and slammed her to the ground.

Starting point is 05:03:48 I opened the door and hesitated for a split second. I almost turned around to look, but the sound my mother made scared me as much as my father's voice. I knew if I turned around, I wouldn't be able to leave, so I ran. God help me, I ran down that road repeating the pattern in my head. Right, left, left, right, straight, left, left. right, trying everything I could to remember it. I got as far as the first few turns, but my child's brain was a jumbled mess of fear, confusion, guilt, and sadness.

Starting point is 05:04:22 I feared for my own life as well as my mother's. I was sad that I left her behind. I felt guilty for not being able to save her and confused as to why he was doing all of this. He didn't care when we were around and then he did after her. we left, but continued into his normal routine, but ten times worse. All I could do was run and hope I remembered the right directions. Then I heard one of the best sounds I had heard all week, tires on gravel approaching. They were coming from the direction I was going, but for a moment I was terrified that it could be my father coming for me. I stopped and started slowly walking backwards,

Starting point is 05:05:05 ready to run back through the field that I had come from. But the car that I saw was not what my dad had been driving. It was a station wagon, and I watched as they slowed down, and a little old lady opened the driver's side door. She looked at me confused, and asked where I came from, and I just broke down. I remember shivering, but I wasn't cold, and telling her that he was killing my mom. She asked me where, and I just remember. saying the directions my mom gave me.

Starting point is 05:05:39 She told me to get in the car and she drove me a while, asking me about myself until I fell sleep. Everything after that is fragments. I remember waking up in the car and being at some kind of auto mechanic shop. There was a car with no tires on it and large farming equipment. I noticed the woman wasn't in the car and I began to panic. I know I was nowhere near my dad, but I was still worried that she may be taking me back there, or even worse, that my mom wasn't getting the help she desperately needed. The woman came back out shortly after, seeing me in tears and comforted me again, and told me one of the best things I'd ever heard. She told me they found my mom and she was going to be okay. She took me to the hospital a few hours after that,

Starting point is 05:06:28 and she waited with me until my mom was out of surgery. She had a broken eye sock, and she had a broken eye sock, it, a ruptured spleen in a fractured skull. Two broken ribs and four fractures. Every breath she took hurt. She refused to eat because of a concussion she had, making her sick to even look at food. When they found her, she was lying unconscious on the back porch. Her head split open and barely breathing. Apparently my dad thought he had killed her and they found him digging in the backyard.

Starting point is 05:07:02 You can kind of see what I'm getting at here. The paramedics told her that if they had been ten minutes later, he would have been right. She was in the hospital for weeks, but that woman we moved in with showed up and took care of me until we brought my mother home. My mother survived nearly dying by the hands of a man that was supposed to love her and protect her. And even through all the fear in her little body, she still made sure that I would get out alive. She had remembered the directions it took to get there and simplified them for me to remember. She won't admit it, but I don't think she expected to leave there alive.

Starting point is 05:07:41 She's in her 60s now, and she's still the strongest person I've ever known. Most of the physical scars have healed, but she still gets some pretty bad migraines. My dad died back in prison in 99 after getting into a fight with another inmate. he had an aneurysm. Mother says that it's only proof that violence will eventually consume everyone who lives by it. So there's my story of the most terrifying thing to happen not only to me, but my mother as well. And to anyone that might be going through anything remotely similar, just know that you are worth the effort and the time. Someone out there is willing to help.

Starting point is 05:08:26 Just know that you're not alone and when you're ready to be. to take action, we're here for you too. Hello, this is the first time that I've done something like this, writing up my story in this sense, so I apologize if it reads funny or if I may jump around. But I wanted to share a story about something that happened to me my freshman year of high school. I went to a pretty normal high school. I was the oldest of three kids, and therefore, when I started high school, I had no siblings there to lean on. I had no cousins, so the only people that I knew that would be there were my friends,

Starting point is 05:09:14 who were just as nervous as I was to attend a new school. I did okay in school, though. I got A's and B's, except a C in chemistry because I hated chemistry, but otherwise I would say I was a pretty good student. At the time of this event, I was 15 years old. My English teacher went on maternity leave in October, and we had a few rotating substitutes for the first two weeks, and then we finally had a permanent sub, if that's even a thing. I refer to him as Mr. Miles. He was going to be our sub until our normal English teacher returned the next semester. He was probably in his early to mid-30s. He didn't dress old like a lot of the other teachers, and was immediately popular with the students because he was quote, chill, compared to the other teachers as well.

Starting point is 05:10:09 He wasn't as strict when it came to deadlines, homework, or even having our phones out in class. He even gave us time at the beginning of each class to finish homework if we didn't get it done. If we finished class early, he didn't care if we had our phones out listening to music or playing a game on it. He would sit on the edge of his desk instead of behind it and talked to us all like we were his equals. At first, I thought he was one of those kinds of teachers trying to connect with students. That wasn't an uncommon thing. There were a few teachers that tried to approach, and sometimes it worked. But looking back, I should have noticed how he singled out certain students' attention,

Starting point is 05:10:53 especially me. I was going through a rough time that school year. My parents had been fighting a lot lately. I was seeing my dad a lot less, and less to the point. where he even stopped coming home. I didn't know if it was work, or if that's why they were fighting, or if he was going to leave us, or if Mom had just kicked him out. Whatever the reason, he was rarely home at that point.

Starting point is 05:11:21 Then, over that summer, my parents finally explained how they were getting a divorce. It wasn't our fault. They both loved us, and all the other colors that come with it. Even though I knew things weren't right, I was still devastated. I loved both of my parents and was close to them, but when they finally broke the news to us, I guess it gave my dad permission to leave for good and never bothered to come back to see us.

Starting point is 05:11:48 He barely called anymore, and when he did, it was awkward small talk. He called on my birthday, which was in September, and asked me about how my summer vacation went. That's how long it had been since I had spoken. with him. It hit me pretty hard at that age. My two siblings were a lot younger, so maybe they didn't fully understand, but I certainly did. And having a parent you look up to just leave and not bother to do anything with you, and then decline any offers you make to see them hurts pretty bad. So, needless to say, I was stressed and my grades were slipping. I had trouble caring

Starting point is 05:12:29 about schoolwork because he wasn't there to encourage me or tell me how proud he was. Sure, my mom did, but she was stretched so thin now taking care of the three of us, and working that she couldn't devote as much attention to us. I didn't talk as much in school. I wasn't the chipper and normal giggly self, either. I just did what I could and went home. To my surprise, however, Mr. Miles seemed to notice the change in my demeanor as well. As we were leaving, he asked me to stay behind for a moment saying that he had a question about a paper I turned in.

Starting point is 05:13:06 To my surprise, he asked if I was okay, mentioning how I seemed down. I didn't realize just how much I was holding in because I broke. I told him about my parents' divorce and how my dad never calls and how it made me feel. Mr. Miles was sympathetic, and he told me how his parents had divorced when he was in high school. school too, so he totally understood what I was going through. He had some encouraging words for me, trying to explain that things will get better. I calmed down, thanked him for the words, and as I was leaving, he handed me a post-it note with a phone number on it. He said any time I needed to talk, I could call him or text him if that's easier. I thanked him and left.

Starting point is 05:13:55 On the way home, I texted him and told him who I was and thanked him for talking with me. I could see how desperately I was craving some kind of father figure in my life, and nowadays, I know that that was the hook and he knew it too. My dad had basically disappeared, and he was a kind male figure who seemed to actually care about what I was going through, and to be honest, it felt good to have a male adult who actually wanted to listen to me, At the time, it didn't seem weird at all. Our school counselor didn't have much to say or many solutions, other than the normal,

Starting point is 05:14:34 it's not your fault. It'll get better, just cheer up. I also knew other teachers who gave students their contact info for any homework questions, so it wasn't unusual in my eyes. At first, our texts were exactly what I needed. He would ask how I was doing, how classes were going, and even how my siblings were. I would vent about my mom working late or classes that I struggled with. He would give me advice that seemed wise and thoughtful,

Starting point is 05:15:06 and I even started looking at him as a mentor that I clearly needed. But after about two weeks, something changed. He started texting me almost daily, and even when I hadn't reached out first, like even on weekends. especially on the weekends. At first it was just checking in, asking about my day, and then he started sending me memes or song recommendations. None of them were inappropriate, though,

Starting point is 05:15:37 but it still started feeling less like mentorship and more like something else. Possibly a friendship? Is maybe what I was thinking. I was a kid and it still seemed okay, but now I know that adults don't make. make friends with kids. Shortly after the text started coming in at more inappropriate times. I would get them late at night, all days of the week.

Starting point is 05:16:04 What are you up to? Can't sleep. Are you still awake? One night, around midnight, he even said that he had watched a movie that reminded him of me. It was something that I had never heard of and don't remember. I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable about it, but I didn't know how to bring it up. To be honest, I was flattered by the attention, especially when everything else in my life felt so chaotic. Then there was one week that I stayed home for two days after feeling sick. I got a text from Mr. Miles saying that he was going to make a packet

Starting point is 05:16:38 for my missed work for my mom to come pick up. I didn't respond because I didn't feel well, and my mom already told me she was going to go pick up my schoolwork. While my mom was gone, I got another text from him that said, I wish I could bring you soup and take care of you. That one made me feel even worse, so I ignored it too. I was already feeling nauseated, and that did not help. Over the weekend, I started feeling better, but he continued to text me.

Starting point is 05:17:11 He mentioned that if I was confused about any of the work, we could meet up somewhere and he would help me, and then offered to pick me up, too. I told him that I was fine and that I didn't, need any help, and he did seem to back off a bit, giving me my weekend to not think about it. But that following week at school, I finally understood that what was happening here was not okay. It was not normal. Mr. Miles asked me to stay after class, to talk to me about my assignment, and my stomach was in knots. He asked me about the essay that we were writing, and asked if I understood

Starting point is 05:17:50 the topic. I was already done with my draft and turned it in, so what would I not have understood? But as he asked questions, I noticed that he was standing too close, or he would touch my shoulder or arm. At one point, when he asked me how I was feeling, he rubbed my back, around the center, so not too low, thankfully. But maybe that was just because we were still at the school. That made me feel incredibly uncomfortable, so I backed away, saying I had to get to my next class. But he abused his power, knowing I was going to need a pass to my next class at this point, so he slowly went to his desk, wrote a pass, all the while watching me, looking at me up and down.

Starting point is 05:18:40 I had never felt so uncomfortable in my life. From then on, I knew that I needed to distance myself. I didn't know what else to do. To my young self, I didn't know if what he was doing was really all that bad, or if I was just being overdramatic. Would my counselor take my concerns seriously? I tried going to her when I had troubles with the divorce and was basically told to suck it up. My mom had been so busy and absent that I didn't want to bother her with something that was seemingly just me overreacting. So the only thing I thought I had left to do was just ignore his texts and try to avoid him at school.

Starting point is 05:19:22 It all came to a head when I went to my locker during one of my classes to grab something. I heard Mr. Miles' voice calling my name, and he approached my locker. He asked me about not responding to his texts, and I just said that I had been busy. I tried to leave quickly after that, but he grabbed my arm and let his hands slide down to mine, and then said that he had been worried about me. I yanked my hand away and told him to leave me alone and then ran back to my class. Later that same day, my friend stopped me on our way to the buses, and she confronted me about Mr. Miles.

Starting point is 05:20:01 She had apparently left her own class to use the restroom and saw us. She wanted to say hi to me, but she caught him grabbing my arm and she was immediately scared. I didn't even think about bringing it up. to my friends. I mean, what could they do about it? But I told her everything. I showed her the texts, and about him stopping me in the classroom, too. She backed me up. She confirmed that everything I was feeling was valid and that what he was doing was not okay, and was very disturbing. She even offered to go with me to tell my mom, but I told her that I would do it alone that

Starting point is 05:20:40 night. I was terrified. Part of me felt guilty that I let it go on as long as I had. Part of me also felt bad that I could possibly cause him to lose his job, and that I was betraying him. That he was supportive of me when my father wasn't, so was this really the right thing to do? But my friend convinced me that there was no loyalty in that situation. It wasn't just a teacher caring for their student. What he was doing was predatory, and he'd crossed way too many lines. So, I told my mom.

Starting point is 05:21:18 That night, I started asking her what to do in a hypothetical situation, and in that moment, no matter how busy she may have seemed, I knew that she was completely there for me. Her face changed to a very concerned and worried look, and then asked if that was what was happening to me. I confirmed, but I left out that it was a teacher, until she asked for the person. That was the moment I felt bad. I knew that she was trying not to cry because I could see her eyes watering, but she apologized to me and told me that no matter what,

Starting point is 05:21:55 I should always come to her for any concerns, especially things like that. She told me that she would take care of it all and not delete any of the text messages from him. The next day, she kept me home from school, and I heard her on the phone a lot. I ended up staying home for the rest of that week, and my mom went and got my schoolwork. When I returned the next week, we had a new English sub, and Mr. Miles was nowhere to be seen. I didn't know how any of that worked, so I thought maybe he just quits or got fired. It was odd for a few weeks, but then I started feeling better about things, and my mom and I actually became a lot closer.

Starting point is 05:22:39 But we were high school kids, and the rumors began to spread fast. Multiple girls were called to the principal's office, one by one, including myself. So it was pretty obvious to me what was happening. I was not the only girl that he had been doing this to. My mom and I later had a pretty long and heartfelt conversation about the whole thing. She told me that he was a very sick man, and that I was brink. to speak up, because many others were not. The part that scares me is that the main reason I did

Starting point is 05:23:15 was because my other friend had encouraged me to. I wonder how long I would have suffered through it if she hadn't witnessed what happened. I later learned that he was fired, and obviously lost his teaching license. After a lot of investigations and my mom taking me to some kind of courthouse or police station, he was even arrested and is now doing time.

Starting point is 05:23:43 Clearly this kind of blew up, which is why I'm keeping names, dates, and details vague, because I don't want my info out there again. But he is actually still locked up, thankfully. It does give me some relief knowing that he can't do this to other girls, but it also terrifies me to think about what the police may have learned or found, due to the fact that he is still in prison. However, since this experience, my relationship with my mom has really grown, and we became very close.

Starting point is 05:24:18 I'm still great friends with the other one that helped me that day, and my dad is about the same, but I don't let it control my life either. As a young adult, I know what a healthy relationship is, and I now know how to spot red flags. All I can say is as a kid, no matter what age you are, if someone makes you feel uncomfortable or makes you feel pressured, someone is out there to listen to you. Even if it doesn't seem like it, you are not alone. And if you have kids, please do take their concerns seriously.

Starting point is 05:24:56 They're coming to you for help because you should be their protector. Don't wait until it may be too late. Hey Raven, I found your podcast a few months ago and have been binge listening ever since. I wanted to share a story about how I may have been targeted at a store for possible kidnapping. I went to one of those big grocery stores to pick up some groceries. As I was walking through the aisles, I noticed a man standing at the end of one. I didn't think much of it at first and moved on to the next aisle, which happened to be the woman's product.

Starting point is 05:25:42 section. That's when I noticed the same man entering the aisle as well. I thought maybe he's just grabbing something for his girlfriend or wife. I brushed it off and continued shopping, but as I turned into another aisle, I saw him again, standing at the other end. That's when I started to feel uneasy. He had no items in his hands, and it was odd that he kept appearing wherever I went. My stomach dropped and I told myself to stay calm. I decided to go to another aisle across the store where I needed to grab something anyway. As I reached for an item, I suddenly felt like someone was behind me. I slightly turned my head and saw someone standing pretty close.

Starting point is 05:26:29 I don't know what gave me the courage, but I quickly stepped forward and then swung my basket around to create distance and shouted, What do you want, man? He looked stunned. as if he hadn't expected me to say anything. Without a word, he shook his head and quickly left. There was no one else in the aisle, and I didn't see anyone nearby. I started to reach to my hip just in case he came back, and that's when I realized I had left my pocket knife in the car.

Starting point is 05:26:59 Earlier that day, I had gone to the courthouse and had taken it out, leaving it in the car door. Feeling even more on edge, I went to the canned goods aisle and thought, if he comes back, I can use a can as a weapon. At that point, anything within reach was a potential weapon. I grabbed my remaining items and headed toward the milk aisle, and that's when I noticed him again, this time with a large group of people, some in their early twenties and others older. They were speaking to each other, but still no one had any items.

Starting point is 05:27:35 It was strange. I should have told someone at the store. store, but all I wanted to do was leave. I went through the self-checkout and saw the group exiting the store, and I decided to wait for about ten minutes, browsing the plant section to see if I could spot which direction they went. But I never did. Eventually, I took the chance and just hurried to my car.

Starting point is 05:27:59 Looking back, I regret not alerting someone. I don't know why I didn't. I took a long winding route home, even turning down random streets, to make sure that I sure that no one was following me. A trip that should have taken 10 minutes ended up taking 30. When I finally got home, I told my husband, and he agreed that I should have reported it. It's an experience that I will never forget, and a reminder to always stay aware of my surroundings. So, this is going to be a little different than some crypted stories you've read before, but it was still something that happened to me that I wanted to share with you.

Starting point is 05:28:48 I've been a photographer for many years, primarily focusing on landscapes. I've done this independently and for myself, and I've taken them for clients, and I've also been contracted to take photos for surveyors. I've been all over the U.S., but my favorite place to photograph is the American Southwest. It actually got me to move to New Mexico for that reason, too. I've witnessed and captured dust storms that made midday look like night. Flash floods that make new canyons and minutes, and those calm, gorgeous sunsets that paint the sky in colors that most photos never could quite capture, even with the most advanced equipment. But something happened to me back in 2021 during a trip to Utah that defies any natural explanation that I've been able to find.

Starting point is 05:29:39 I was planning on checking out a national park that I hadn't visited before. I was planning on exploring part of a less visited area due to a different. being so isolated, and to be honest, less eventful for a normal tourist attraction. There weren't any places to stop for a picnic, not much shade, either. The climb was steep, and it probably looked a bit plain to the normal person, but I loved the vast openness of those canyons. I registered my planned route with a ranger as required. That way they knew where I would be, but otherwise I would be entirely alone. I was a good way through my trek

Starting point is 05:30:21 and had spent hours already taking photos of everything from different angles. Mood shots, all of it. As the sun moved across the sky casting shadows on rocks and sandstone, I took more photos as the shadows were creating new views that I loved. The idea that you could only witness these shots at specific times of day and that I could capture these moments made me excited. I was so absorbed in my work that I didn't notice the light beginning to fade until the shadows had grown long enough to swallow the canyon floor. When I realized that I was still a few hours away from a good stopping place, I quickly packed up my gear.

Starting point is 05:31:03 But as I packed up, I saw some of the sand moving oddly along the canyon floor. Now, if you've spent time in the desert, you know that sand shifts constantly from the wind, forming ripples and patterns at time. It was almost like that, but at the same time, different. A lot different. It was more deliberate, almost purposeful. It was like small streams of sand were converging and moving around the slight breeze that was flowing through the canyon. I watch as those same streams gathered into formations, formations that suspiciously looked human-sized but narrower, with elongated proportions.

Starting point is 05:31:45 There were three of them, composed into formations. entirely of swirling sand particles that somehow maintained their form despite the impossibility of the whole thing. I stood in awe of what I was seeing. I tried to come up with an explanation, too. Maybe it was due to the wind catching the pillars and boulders, causing the sand to form like that. Maybe I was dehydrated and just seeing things. Unfortunately, it had me so transfixed that I had totally forgotten about grabbing my camera to capture the site. That was until it appeared that they were moving toward me.

Starting point is 05:32:22 Not walking exactly, but flowing across the ground while still maintaining their vaguely humanoid shapes. I backed away, now trying to pull out my camera. I was in awe when I first saw these things, but I finally came to and started fumbling with my bag to set up the camera. Because, of course, as we photographers do, we document first, run later. I managed to take several quick shots before turning to make my way out of the canyon. Between it getting later and darker in Utah, I knew that could get dangerous. Not to mention, whatever these things were, were closing in. The path ahead required climbing up a steep sandstone slope to reach the rim, and I was about halfway up when I messed up.

Starting point is 05:33:10 I had gripped on to a seemingly solid protrusion of rock when it crumbled beneath my fingers. Time seemed to be in slow motion as I felt myself begin to fall back, with nothing to stop my fall. It wasn't too steep of a fall, as in I wouldn't have died, but I would probably be severely injured. I watched as my camera bag pointed straight down, pulling me with it. Most disturbingly, the sand formations suddenly raced toward me with impossible speed. My first reaction was to throw one arm up to protect my face. closing my eyes, I braced for impact. But instead of hitting the ground,

Starting point is 05:33:50 I felt something grasp my right arm with surprising strength, yanking it upward. The force jolted my bag loose, and I heard it tumble to the ground. Yet I remained suspended, one arm held firmly by something. I looked down with disappointment at my bag, but then it dawned on me that something caught me or had grabbed me.

Starting point is 05:34:14 There was nothing around that I could have been snagged on either. That's when I looked up and found myself dangling from the ledge. My right arm extended upward at an uncomfortable angle. Sand swirled around my wrist and forearm. It wasn't solid. I could see right through it. But it wasn't insubstantial either. Then I swear I felt something pulling me up until I could grab onto another ledge with my other hand.

Starting point is 05:34:42 and at that moment my right arm was freed. I put my foot on a solid piece of rock and pulled myself the rest of the way up. I sat on the ground and looked around as I watched the sand formation in front of me disperse into the air. After taking a moment to collect myself, I remembered my camera and crawled to the ledge to look over. There at the bottom, I saw my bag next to more sand. It wasn't moving, just maintaining its position as if waiting for something, I don't know why I did this, but I said out loud, please don't let it be broken. Don't let something or some one snatch it up before I can get to it.

Starting point is 05:35:23 I found a better path down, as I scooted down it's on my bottom. Once on the same level, I slowly made my way to my camera bag. I saw that sand figure still lingering nearby, so I slowly reached from my bag. And once again, said out loud, I'm just going to reach down and grab this. As I got closer, I swear the sand moved, and I grabbed my bag, and then went back to my spot that I had scooted down and crawled back up. Once back to the top, on solid ground, I regained my composure and started making my way through the trail. But before I left that area, I heard a voice. It was warped, almost like someone trying to talk underwater.

Starting point is 05:36:06 I couldn't tell what was said, but I knew that there were words. Something was talking or trying to. And with the voice, I saw another sand figure in the distance. The disembodied voice did it for me. Putting that with the sand then led me to the conclusion that these things were living, and I couldn't really explain that. I held on to my bag and I ran. I didn't stop.

Starting point is 05:36:32 I ran until I reached one of the rest buildings. This one was unmanned, but it had restrooms, a drinking fountain, and some vending machines. I sat on one of the benches to catch my breath. After about ten minutes or so, I told myself that I needed to get going. It was going to be dark quickly, and I wasn't planning on camping, nor did I have any camping supplies. So I had to get back to the entrance. Thankfully, I can get into the right mindset and get done what I needed to,

Starting point is 05:37:03 so I got back to the entrance probably in record time. This entire time, however, I was in a sort of trance. kind of just going through the motions. I was even on autopilot as I drove back to the hotel. Once there, I undressed, preparing to take a cold shower, when I noticed how sensitive my arm felt when my shirt touched it. I looked down and saw that my right wrist and lower arm was red, and sensitive to the touch.

Starting point is 05:37:32 It was like it had been rubbed raw by something rough. A rock, maybe, or sandpaper. It's like it all came rushing back to me at that moment. I went back to my camera and tried to turn it on, and it wouldn't. I opened the back compartment where the rechargeable batteries and SD card was, and to my surprise, sand fell out of it and onto the desk. The camera was in a case, and in my camera bag. The bag had a few camera lenses, sunscreen, my sunglasses, and a few other small items in it.

Starting point is 05:38:06 So how could it have been filled with sand? That's when I noticed the lenses were completely scuffed. They weren't cracked, but once again it looked like something rough had been rubbed across them. I couldn't make sense of how that was even possible. I could see it being cracked from the fall, maybe the plastic even being chipped or damaged, but to have full scuffs like that, similar to how my wrist now was,

Starting point is 05:38:32 it made no sense to me, until I remembered the sand figures. Could that even be possible? Were those things really alive? And did they save me? Is that what had a hold of my arm? I mean, with the weird rash or whatever it was in my arm, it's the only thing I could think of. So maybe they tried to save my camera, too?

Starting point is 05:38:55 I left the hotel the next day. It was supposed to be a simple trip, so I went home eagerly wanting to check the memory card in my camera since it wouldn't power on. Thankfully, it did work, but the photos were. underwhelming to say the least. There were my initial photos that came out fine, but closer to the last photo, they weren't normal, nor were they something I would normally take. Some had dark spots on them like there were shadows on very specific parts of the pictures. And closer to the end of them, they became pretty fuzzy, like a photo I took on my first

Starting point is 05:39:31 camera phone. But how was that even possible? This was an expensive Canon camera. I didn't have a filter to make photos look like that. It didn't make sense. Something was eating at me that my wrist and camera and lenses, and the photos all had to be related to those sand figures. I started looking into it, searching online some about sand figures, but for the most part,

Starting point is 05:39:59 all I kept getting was info about some little-known indie film, about ghost figures that could control the wind around them, sand, dirt, trees, leaves, just things like that. There was a brief snippet claiming it was based on a true legend, but then I couldn't even find information on what they claimed to be in the movie. So I'm at a loss. Something was out there that day with me, and contrary to what I'm used to with cryptids or unidentified creatures,

Starting point is 05:40:28 it didn't seem to be afraid of me or wants to hurt me. In fact, it saved me. It saved me from a potential awful injury. And to be honest, I'm thankful for it. I just had a raw arm for about a week, but I got a good cream that helped. I do want to go back and see, while better prepared, if I can get better photos or maybe a video of it, at the risk of my camera. Unfortunately, life does what it does, and I haven't had the time or money to go back out there. But when I do, mark my word, I will share any.

Starting point is 05:41:03 anything I come across. In the meantime, I would love to hear if anyone has heard of these creatures and what they mean or their purpose, and why I was chosen to be saved. This happened about a decade ago when I was visiting my aunt in a small town in rural Vermont. For a bit of context, I was 23 at the time of this story, and I was a lot closer to my Aunt Sharr than I ever was with my parents. She's my mom's sister, married young, then divorced, no kids, but she seemed to understand kids better than my parents. She was always loving and welcoming.

Starting point is 05:41:55 She didn't judge me or make me feel like I wasn't good enough. Needless to say, she was my home away from home and basically a second mother to me. So when she was going to have knee surgery, I picked up some of my stuff to stay with her for a few weeks to help her recover. Aunt Sharr lives in a town that had maybe 1,500 people total. There was your town center, which had a handful of stores, like a single grocery store, a gas station on both ends, which I always thought was silly because they were never busy, as well as some other little shops around. Then there were just miles of winding roads sprinkled with random farmhouses and cabin-style houses.

Starting point is 05:42:39 My aunt lived on an old farmhouse, about two miles from the town center, so she lived in the, quote, busy part of town. So, she had a few neighbors around and even saw some people walking by to get to the gas station. I swear, I think smoking was an extracurricular activity in that place, and my aunt was one of them. So, anyway, while I was there, I would spend my morning taking care of her, making her. making sure she was comfortable and had everything she needed. She did have internet, so I would spend a few hours working throughout the day, too. I would make our meals for us, so she didn't have to. Sometimes I would go for a walk and just explore the area before going home again

Starting point is 05:43:27 to make dinner or watch a movie with my aunt. It was a pretty simple daily schedule, and quite frankly, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed my walks because even if the town was small and run down, it was also a cozy little place. Most people were friendly enough, if not a bit reserved, to outsiders like me, which was fine. About a mile from my aunt's house was this bright yellow house that stood out against the typically muted colors of the other homes. It was well maintained with a sturdy black barred fence around the property. The yard was mowed in the blooming bushes near. the mailbox were even trimmed, and in order.

Starting point is 05:44:11 I passed it a few times during my walks and thought nothing much of it, other than the owner really cares about their home and lawn. Occasionally, when I took my walks in the afternoon, I would stop at the bloomed bushes to watch the bees fly around, and yes, literally smell the flowers. I think they were some kind of butterfly bush, but they smelled marvelous, and I could even smell them on a good, windy day. On one of my walks, I decided to try a new route, which would have me loop behind my

Starting point is 05:44:45 aunt's property and bring me back to the main road. As I rounded a bend in the road, I realized I was approaching the yellow house from the back. From that angle, I could see a detached garage and a large shed behind the main house, all of it's in that same matching yellow. But this time I saw a man in the backyard working on something at a table. He must have sensed I was watching him because he looked up at me and waved. I smiled and waved back, and he called out, Beautiful Day for a walk. I agreed.

Starting point is 05:45:22 And while I didn't plan on stopping, I did slow down some expecting a small conversation. He seemed normal enough. Probably in his 50s, average build, wearing a t-shirt and khaki shorts. He asked if I was staying with Sharr, and I confirmed with a raised eyebrow, curious as to how he knew. I told him I was her niece and was staying with her for a few weeks. He then asked how she was doing, after her surgery, and this seemed to ease my mind a bit. I thought, of course, Kelly, you're in a small town. Everybody probably knows everyone else, so it made sense in my mind.

Starting point is 05:46:04 I explained that she was doing well and just in a bit of pain at times. He nodded along listening to me from the other side of the decorative fence. His face then lit up saying that he had something for my aunt that he needed to return to her anyways, and offered me a glass of lemonade saying it was homemade. I know, normally alarm bells should have been ringing, or at least telling me to be cautious, but the man was old enough to be my father and he knew my aunt.

Starting point is 05:46:36 Surely she would have mentioned me to him and others. So I agreed to have a glass of lemonade with him. He motioned me to his gate and opened it to let me in, to which I walked into his yard and sat on one of the plastic lawn chairs nearby. When I approached, he had been standing over a table with a cloth. From where I was standing, it looked like he was cleaning something. but I couldn't quite tell what it was. Now, I can see that he had a large set of knives, daggers,

Starting point is 05:47:10 and even a sword of some sort laid out on a towel next to some sort of cleaner. When he returned with the two glasses, he must have noticed me looking at the table and asked me if I was a collector. I told him that I didn't collect things with blades, but that I did have other collections. That's when I took a sip of the lemonade. However, it tasted off. I couldn't quite place what it was, though.

Starting point is 05:47:39 It wasn't exactly bitter, but it wasn't sweet, either. It's just that something was definitely off about it, and I didn't know what. After the collection conversation, he called out that I wasn't wearing a ring, and asked if I was married or seeing someone. At first I said no, which was the truth, but then me always. being a nervous person, I felt the need to lie. I said that I wasn't married, but I was seeing someone, and it all came out in a stuttering mess.

Starting point is 05:48:12 No, well, yeah, well, not married, but yes, I am seeing somebody. He seemed to be amused by my response and chuckled. He said he wasn't married or with anyone anymore. Then, he suggested that we should go have dinner somewhere while I was in town. He said this like we were old friends, surprised to see me in wanting to catch up. I was also surprised because of our age difference. I didn't even know him and he just assumed that his offer was completely normal. I thanked him for the offer but then declined,

Starting point is 05:48:50 saying that I was just there to help my aunt out and then I would be leaving. I noticed he became a bit more, how to put it, aggressive, yet friendly? He sat his lemonade down, picked up the cloth and a blade, and began wiping it down again. He said in that aggressive yet calm tone, well, you can take the night off.

Starting point is 05:49:14 She's not going to die overnight from a knee injury. It wasn't him asking, it was him telling me to. And I immediately became uncomfortable with the whole situation. As I watched him wipe the blades down, it started making me feel overwhelmed. filmed and dizzy, that I chalked it up to me just being awkward and out in the heat.

Starting point is 05:49:36 Clearly I needed more water. I sat the glass down on the same table as I tried to think of a way to leave. Then, he asked me a really specific and suspicious question. He asked me if I was feeling okay, and when I hesitated and mentioned that I was feeling a little sick, he then asked me if I was feeling tired. In fact, I was. I was fine while I was walking, and even when I got back from my walk, I might feel a little worn out, but not the way that I was feeling at that moment.

Starting point is 05:50:11 I realized that what I was feeling was dizzy and, yeah, tired. But why? It just came on out of nowhere, because I felt fine when I left for my walk. That's when he picked up my glass of lemonade, insisted that I drink the rest of it, claiming it would help. At that moment, I was getting pretty worried. I realized that I was in this man's backyard, a man whose name that I didn't even know as we never shared names.

Starting point is 05:50:44 My aunt didn't know where I was because she was under the impression that I had just gone for a walk. Part of me felt silly, but I started panicking a bit and stood up saying that I needed to get back to my aunt. That is when he grabbed my arm and told me that I needed to stay. It was like I was frozen in place, unable to move. We all say I would never let that happen, and I'm guilty of that too, but for some reason,

Starting point is 05:51:14 I was too scared to move, too scared to really do anything. But when I didn't go back to sit in the chair either, it still seemed to make him mad. He looked angry. and he made a comment that I will never forget. He said, This is my town.

Starting point is 05:51:33 I'm part of the city council, and when I want something, I get it. Something about that comment was more sinister than the words itself. Being afraid for myself and how I was feeling, I asked him to let go of my arm. And surprisingly he did. He stepped back and laughed,

Starting point is 05:51:54 talking about how my generation was too self. self-centered and greedy, that we didn't care about anyone else, and that we needed to learn to respect our elders. As he said this, I stepped backwards a few times, then quickly made my way to the gate. He didn't stop me, he didn't say another word, he just went back to cleaning the knives as I opened the gate. I'm not much of a runner, but I don't think I've ever run so much as I did after that to get back to my aunt's house. When I got back and burst through the front door, I knew that my aunt could see the terror on my face, and she asked me what was wrong. I told her about the guy in the yellow house, and I watched as my aunt looked very concerned. She explained how that guy was named, well, guy, actually, and she said that he was a real creep.

Starting point is 05:52:52 She apologized for not mentioning him, but she also didn't expect to be. him to come out of his house and harass someone on the street after being bullied basically to stay home. Curious and concerned about what I had just gotten myself involved in, I asked her to tell me more. She explained how he was with the city council at one point, but he was kicked out due to some sort of inappropriate conduct. She mentioned, when she got married, he would try to hit on her all the time and try to fight her husband.

Starting point is 05:53:27 He also tried to get way too handsy and aggressive with one of the waitresses at their little restaurant slash bar down the way, so he was kicked out of there, too. They couldn't really do much to him legally, so a lot of people just bullied him to stay out of certain

Starting point is 05:53:43 stores and just steer clear of him, which was probably why none of the other residents, including my aunt, mentioned him, thinking he would just keep to himself. But the more I thought about the interaction, the more creeped out I got. I remember that he said he had something to return to my aunt, and he never did bring it out with the lemonade.

Starting point is 05:54:09 According to my aunt, he would never have anything of hers that she willingly gave him, so she felt that it was just another lie. Then I was worried about the lemonade. It had a strange taste, and I started feeling strange afterwards. I wondered if he could have done something to it, maybe spiked it, but then what could he have possibly put in it that I would feel the effects after two sips? I took a normal drink the first time, which is when I noticed that it tasted funny, and then I just tried a small sip, holding it in my mouth long enough to try and identify the taste,

Starting point is 05:54:46 but I couldn't. If he did drug it, it was strong, but at least it wasn't enough to not. me out and I was able to get back with minimal issues. After that, I stayed pretty close to her home, just walking up and down the streets, if anything. I never saw him again. I was worried for my aunt at first, like what if he tried to do something to her because of me, or because she had knee troubles now, but she assured me that she would be fine, joking about her arms being able to swing her metal bats just fine. I even visited her on occasion after that, and he's come up occasionally.

Starting point is 05:55:30 She said that she still had not heard anything about him, so I guess he was back to being a creepy hermit. Hopefully no one else had family visiting and got reeled in like I did from his pseudo-friendly neighbor disguise. Hello, Raven, long-time listener here. I adore your work and how respectful, kind, and kind. genuine you are. Well, thank you. I'm going to try my best to remember everything accurately, since I've not written these experiences down before. For starters, I grew up in a country home

Starting point is 05:56:14 about 10 minutes away from my hometown. My parents bought our country house before I was adopted into the family, and have already made a home out of it. My first paranormal experience was told to me by my older brother. When I was about four years old, he was babysitting me while my parents were out for the evening. We did what we did best and watched a movie together. During the middle of the movie, I turned and looked towards the dining table and asked, Big Brother, who is that lady sitting at the table? She looks like Corella DeVille.

Starting point is 05:56:49 He said that he felt the blood drain from his face and he froze. He didn't know how to answer me or even turn around. around to look for himself. As I got older, my family would tell me what they had experienced before I was born. My grandmother was in the yard helping with gardening one day, and happened to look into our living room window, and was shocked to see a little boy skipping in a circle. He wore a white t-shirt and had dark hair, and I did not have a little brother, and my siblings are ten years older than me.

Starting point is 05:57:24 Also, there was nobody home, which is why she was doing the gardening for my mother that day. My father was the one to experience more than one paranormal event than the rest of us. He was walking by his tool shed one day and happened to notice an older man sitting on the front steps. He walked toward the shed to see who it was, and the man disappeared into thin air. I was also told the story of an elderly cat we once had. This cat was the absolute worst. He would attack my siblings and nobody was able to pet or be around him. We would get coyotes around our yard that would unfortunately attack our pets,

Starting point is 05:58:05 and one day this cat was attacked. My father chased the coyote away and walked up to the cat just before he passed. As my father got closer, he saw this cat's face morph into a human face and quickly change back before its last breath. I will admit, I have never felt alone in this house. Sometimes it was comforting and sometimes it gave an eerie ambience. One night, for example, I was in the tub and it was just me and my mother home. She was sitting in the computer room down the hall while I had my bath time.

Starting point is 05:58:42 I played with my Barbies, and I heard whispering and then I froze. When I listened, it stopped. I continued to play and it would start again. I listened to the whispering and decided to call out to my mother. After I called out, the whispering stopped again. My mother came into the bathroom and asked what was wrong. I asked her if she was talking to me or even talking on the phone. She said no, and was confused about why I was asking.

Starting point is 05:59:13 I didn't bother to tell her and just continued my bath. My parents were told that the country houses used to be cabins and were often rented out before realtors turn them into houses to sell to the townspeople. We did not know the land's history beforehand, and there weren't any disturbing occurrences found online either. Yes, I have tried looking into it. To this day, we don't know why we have seen these spirits. And I don't think we ever will. I started working as a receptionist in my 20s while I was going to school to become a social worker. I've always loved. I've always loved loved doing clerical work and the likes. I remember my mom working as the assistant to the principal

Starting point is 06:00:08 of the local elementary school, and I loved seeing her dress up, and that always stuck with me. So I fit in quite well with these jobs, and I loved it. I had finally found a place that offered me the job and got me out of retail, so I was pretty excited to get in there, and since it was a law firm. Maybe I could even grow with them due to the field I was wanting to get into. I'd been working there for about six months at the time of this event. By now, I was pretty comfortable with the job. I had the basics down. I was well organized and prepared for any request that someone made. The attorneys and staff were all nice and patient with me too, which, if I may say, was a pleasant surprise. From what you see in movies and shows,

Starting point is 06:00:58 I would have expected them all to be impatient and not very friendly, but it was the exact opposite with that place, and I loved them for it. But there was still that underlying pressure when you're new. You want to prove that you can handle things without bothering anyone. That's where our package delivery system and this event comes into play. Due to our building having some pretty confidential information, everyone had to check in at the front, through me. When we had packages delivered, we would get the recipient's name, call them to confirm they were expecting something, and, once confirmed, sign for it,

Starting point is 06:01:38 and either take it to their office or they would pick it up at my desk. Sometimes there were special circumstances, where attorneys would ask me to just accept things on their behalf, but that was only after they gave me advanced notice. One evening, a lot of attorneys and a few paralegals were staying late due to some kind of emergency, emergency meeting about a high-profile case. I remember two attorneys specifically seemed pretty stressed about the past week about it,

Starting point is 06:02:07 so something like this was to be expected. My shift was typically over at 5 p.m., but I offered to stay late, knowing they may need some things and they were having dinner catered, so I was getting a free meal out of it too. Working that late, there's not much for me to do anyways, so I was typically either reading or maybe working on schoolwork. However, around 7 p.m., a delivery man showed up. According to his hat, he worked for, I'll just say, a very common delivery service.

Starting point is 06:02:43 But something about his uniform seemed off. It looked right, the colors were what I was used to seeing, but the shirt just seemed kind of weird. It also looked pretty worn out. and I remember thinking, do they make them pay to get new uniforms because, geez, his was looking rough. I also noticed he didn't have a name tag, like I was used to seeing as well,

Starting point is 06:03:10 but with it being as late as it was, I chalked it up to this possibly being his last delivery, and he was already checked out. No big deal, however. We had most of our deliveries through this company because we used them for shipping stuff, and they were quite aware of our procedures as well. But it was still odd that we were getting a delivery this late,

Starting point is 06:03:33 especially since our normal guy had already come by earlier that day with a few packages. It was possible to have more delivered, but just a few of these oddities were standing out to me. The guy greeted me, asked how I was doing, and he sat a small box down on the counter between us. He held out a small tablet-like device, and said, that I just had to confirm the address was correct and sign. Then he mentioned that there were two packages. He explained how there was a larger box still in his truck and asked for help with it. He started making a joke about carrying it in when I asked who the recipient was.

Starting point is 06:04:14 He stopped, still smiling, and looked at the box like he was trying to find a name, and then he said he just needed to confirm the address. I remember looking at him with a rae. raised eyebrow at first, but he gave a slight chuckle and mentioned that this was how he usually did it. The other lady here just confirmed the address on the screen and signed for it, and then again pointed to the screen with the address. I stayed polite and apologized, saying that this was how I was trained to handle packages, and again asked if he could just confirm the recipient. I even placed my hand on the box to try and turn it to see the name,

Starting point is 06:04:55 carrying on my same polite but firm demeanor, but he grabbed the box and put it back under his arm. His friendly demeanor was now slipping and he sighed, saying that this wasn't his first day, that he knew how to do his job, and that he's delivered packages here plenty of times prior, and that I was delaying him being able to go home as we were his last delivery. I again apologized but said that I didn't even know who the package was for,

Starting point is 06:05:23 so I couldn't just confirm the address. I even explained that I have to call the person the package was for to confirm it. Finally, he gave another dramatic sigh and started tapping on his tablet pretty hard. Then he gave a name and read off our address. I smiled and again apologized and told him it would be just a moment. I went to my computer because I didn't immediately recognize the name. I had most of the attorneys and some of the paralegals down, but this name wasn't familiar. So I went to the directory list.

Starting point is 06:06:01 That person didn't exist. There wasn't a list of previous employees or anything either, so I couldn't verify if maybe it was for someone that had left. I didn't know what to do next. Everyone that was in the office was in that meeting, and they asked to not be disturbed. The whole time I was looking for this guy, checking my emails, notes, and DMs to see if there was anything about this delivery. This guy was huffing and saying it's not that complicated, that it shouldn't take this long and so forth. Finally, I told the guy that I thought that he had the wrong address, because that person did not work here. He rolled his eyes and said that because the address matched, that's all he needed, and we told him.

Starting point is 06:06:49 We had to figure out the rest. Then, he said that he would just mark that I refused to sign, but then demanded that I help him with the other box in his truck. I was getting more nervous about this whole thing. If I refused to sign, I would think they would just leave with the package, and then I would deal with the consequences of someone possibly not getting their package. Why was this guy instead insistent on me going out to his truck?

Starting point is 06:07:16 Not to mention, what was he expecting a 140-pound woman in heels to do that he couldn't? I didn't know what I should do. I was told that the attorneys were not to be disturbed, but this guy was refusing to leave. Should I just continue being firm and tell him he'll have to come back? What if he causes a scene? He was already clearly irritated by my requests in the time I was taking. but then my direct managers, the people that employ me, told me to not disturb them unless it was urgent.

Starting point is 06:07:52 This clearly was not an urgent situation, but I didn't know what else to do. I even thought maybe I should just get the damn package, and if it turns out to be wrong, then it would just sit at my desk until they came back to pick it up. It wouldn't be our fault, I wouldn't think. But something was still dead. digging at me about this whole situation.

Starting point is 06:08:16 Why was this guy so adamant that I help him with this package? Why didn't he have a dolly or something similar, if it truly was that large? So I finally came to my senses and called one of the paralegals that worked there. He went by Skip, and he had helped me out a lot when I first started. He also wasn't much older than me. He was in his 30s, I believe. leave, and I think his down-to-earth personality made him a lot more approachable than others. Unfortunately, he didn't pick up when I called, so I was still back to where I started.

Starting point is 06:08:56 I started telling the guy that I was going to have to refuse the package, but he immediately told me no, and that I was being very difficult about the whole thing. Next thing I hear is a door closing and in come skip. The amount of relief that I felt at that moment was monumental. Skip smiled at me and asked what was going on and I explained the situation. I noticed the guy was now looking down at the tablet, partially facing away from Skip. He just said in an annoyed tone, I just need someone to sign for the package and she's refusing.

Starting point is 06:09:34 So I explained that there was more to it. I told Skip how he had a large box in his truck that he wanted to be. my help with, and the recipient didn't match anyone that worked here. Skip got closer and backed me up. He told the guy that all packages had to be approved by the recipient, and seeing as no one worked here by that name, we couldn't accept the package. He also told him that I was not to leave my desk since I was the only receptionist, and if he needed help, then he would need to take that up with his employer to properly prepare him for that,

Starting point is 06:10:09 as it was not the customer's responsibility. Then he tried to ask his store location because he said the normal guy knew their procedures quite well. The guy didn't seem to like this, judging by the way he turned and started walking back out the door, saying something about us refusing the delivery and flinging the door open. After he left, Skip walked to the door and watched as he drove away. I also noticed that he left the box sitting on my counter.

Starting point is 06:10:39 That confirmed my suspicion right there that this was not legit. Skip came back to my desk and told me not to touch the box and used my desk phone to call someone. A lot happened long after that guy left. Skip had called the police due to the box being left there, and they had us all exit the building. They had to treat it like a bomb, of course. This was a law firm, so having some unhappy people wasn't uncommon.

Starting point is 06:11:09 However, the box just had a bunch of old newspapers and a brick to make it heavier. Nothing else. Skip had also contacted the local delivery service we used, and they were able to confirm that they only had the earlier shipment that day, with our usual guy. But as for this suspicious guy, they had no record of him even working there. Skip even explained his uniform, and they confirmed our suspicions too. The shirt was definitely not theirs,

Starting point is 06:11:38 as the color on it was not correct. This guy had made a fake shirt and hat and brought in a decoy box. Everyone assumed that he was just after someone specific there, but if so, why would he lie about the name? Why not give the name of the actual person? Because that would have possibly netted them better results. But then the police circled back to him

Starting point is 06:12:03 wanting help with a package outside and insisting that I help. They mentioned how they had similar reports of someone going to offices, schools, and even homes. They would then ask for help with a larger package. Every time, it was a woman that he asked for help from. All but one of them refused. They told him to either do it himself or offered to get someone else that was around to help. If so, he would leave.

Starting point is 06:12:33 But the one woman that agreed to help, when they got outside, He tried to push her into the back of the van, but she fought like hell, and ran back into the building where they locked it down. All those that saw this guy pull up and the woman that went out all said that his van was plain white. It had no indication that it was the delivery company he mentioned. I assume that's probably why they refused to help too. In the end, Skipp and the police all assured me that I did the right thing by refusing. And even one of the partners told me that if any delivery person ever gave them a hard time about our procedure to call him, and he would take care of it.

Starting point is 06:13:18 And that alone was a relief. I was so worried about doing my job right, and without any help, that I almost considered going out there and just handling it myself. But with my size, I don't know how well I would have been able to fight him off. Luckily, we had cameras facing the parking lot, and we were able to provide the footage to the police since it captured the plate number, hoping they could finally catch this guy. We never heard any updates, or at least I didn't within my time there. I worked there the entire time that I was in school, which was a good few years, and I even left on good terms. And I still talked to some of them frequently, and none of them have mentioned that guy.

Starting point is 06:14:06 All that I can say is, I hope that he and I never meet again. But I also hope that he never tried that on another woman. This is a bit older, but back in 2014, I was a studying wildlife biologist specializing in amphibian research. I had spent many years around that time waiting through swamps in the southeast part of the states, documenting different species and population densities. What I'm about to share is something that happened to me on one of those research trips that still confounds me to this day. Now, I will say, being a biologist slash scientist, I've always approached supernatural things with skepticism. I believe most have some kind of rational explanations.

Starting point is 06:15:06 Misidentified known animals, environmental changes, or illnesses that cause creatures in wildlife, and even plants to adapt to survive. And the rest, I just held on to them being good old-fashioned tall tales. And when it comes to swamps especially, you were bound to hear some kind of legend about them any time they were brought up. Anyway, on this particular trip, we had a research team of five that consisted of two graduate students, myself and a girl named Stacy, one of our professors and mentors named Jerry, and a local guide named Calvin who, knew the area like the back of his hand. We were there to survey a potential new species of a salamander, and I was pretty stoked for it.

Starting point is 06:15:54 Obviously, I love marine biology, but salamanders were one of my favorite little guys to study. And the ones that we were after were primarily nocturnal, so we would be doing this at night. The first two nights passed uneventfully at that. We collected some specimens, took some water samples, and recorded a lot of data. We even found time to have some fun with it all too. Calvin was a hoot and showed us different plants and different uses they had. He told us stories of things that he and his little brother did as a kid in similar swamps, and we all laughed and enjoyed the time together.

Starting point is 06:16:33 But on our third night, things started to change. We went deeper in the swamp than we had ventured previously, hoping to have better chances at seeing these salamanders. The water was darker there, almost black, and by the high concentration of tannins from the vegetation in the water decomposing. And the massive trees lining the swamps only made it that much more intimidating. Being out there in the dark surrounded by those trees, it can really put in perspective how small you really are in our vast world.

Starting point is 06:17:06 That's why I love what I do. It was probably around 2 a.m., when we had split into two pairs to cover more ground. I was with Calvin and Stacy went with Jerry. We were probably about 50 yards apart in different channels, but still with an earshot of each other. Calvin and I were standing in a waste deep water, headlamps on, scanning the surface for movement, when I noticed it became unnaturally quiet. In the swamps, there is literally always noise. Frog calling, insect chirping, maybe even the occasional splash of fish or fish.

Starting point is 06:17:44 turtles, but suddenly there was nothing except the soft sound of water moving around us as we moved. I had stopped moving when I noticed it, and shortly after I stopped, Calvin did the same. After looking both ways and behind him, he groaned and said, Nah, something ain't right. He scanned the waters with his flashlight, quickly, but also with determination. That's when we heard it. A strange vocalization that I still struck to describe accurately. It wasn't the hiss of an alligator or a snapper, or the call of any amphibian that I've ever heard of personally or read about or studied.

Starting point is 06:18:25 The closest comparison I've ever come to, and this is with the help of others that were out there that night, was of a rusty door hinge slowly being opened. But at the same time, it was a lot deeper, maybe slowed down with the vibrato quality that seemed to resonate through the water itself. I could literally feel it through my boots and waiters in my feet. When I heard it, I immediately looked at Calvin. He was familiar with this area.

Starting point is 06:18:55 Surely he would know, or at least make me feel more comfortable with the situation. But looking over at him, he had frozen in place. I tried asking what that was, and he slowly shook his head and demanded that we get back to the boat at once. His voice very serious and tight. Before I could react, we heard splashing from the direction of Stacey and Jerry, followed by Stacy screaming. We immediately started towards them, struggling to get through the thick mud. When we rounded a bend in the channel, we saw both of them scrambling to get back toward us. Their headlamps on, but Jerry was completely wet and covered in mud.

Starting point is 06:19:38 Jerry started saying something about feeling something on his leg but stopped mid-sentence, as a massive displacement of water surged from behind them. It was as if something large had submerged suddenly, but what could it have been? Unfortunately, in a swamp there were a few possibilities, and none of them were good for us. Calvin and I helped the other two across, Jerry being a little frazzled and Stacey a smaller and now terrified woman,

Starting point is 06:20:06 and we all got back into our small research boat. Once aboard, Stacey and Jerry began explaining what happened. Stacey said that she saw a dark shape moving through the water, but became nervous by the size. This isn't the first time I had done something like this with Stacy. She wasn't the type to be nervous about getting in knee-deep swamp waters. She was, however, concerned by the size of whatever was below the surface. Her first thought was an alligator, but she said the movement pattern was all wrong. Gators create a distinctive wake when swimming. and she said the way the shape submerged with the precision it did didn't match either.

Starting point is 06:20:49 Jerry also mentioned the shape was far too elongated, especially where the neck would be, and the movements were too fluid, almost serpentine in motion. Stacey also said that when the light caught it briefly, she could make out what looked like ridges or plates running down its back. I asked them if it could possibly have been an alligator gar, which can get pretty big and have armored scales, but Jerry shook his head no,

Starting point is 06:21:17 saying that it moved wrong, too fluid. But then he also explained why Stacey screamed and why he was covered in mud. While they were looking around, Jerry said he felt something grab onto his leg, explaining how it felt just like a hand, like individual fingers wrapping around his leg and then pulled his leg forward,

Starting point is 06:21:41 causing him to fall and startling Stacey. With all of us confused and, to be frank, a little disturbed, we decided to end the night's research early in return to our field station. I was still fairly new to this kind of stuff, but seeing Jerry and Calvin obviously on edge made the whole thing worse. I remember Calvin using the boat's spotlight, sweeping it across the water behind us, clearly looking or watching for something.

Starting point is 06:22:11 I asked him, since he was from the area, if he had any suggestions on what they could have seen and he shook his head and just didn't say anything for the rest of the ride. He didn't need to say anything, though. The look on his face spoke volumes. The next morning we went back out there to check on our equipment when I discovered that one of our underwater field cameras, which we had left recording overnight in the area,

Starting point is 06:22:37 was now missing. What's worse was that the cable that had it seen, secured to the tree had been severed. That cable was stainless steel. It wasn't frayed or broken, but cut cleanly like with a sharp object. When I brought this information back to the others, Jerry had a look of confusion,

Starting point is 06:22:57 where Calvin was not having it whatsoever. He started talking about how there were all kinds of rumors about the swamps out there, how there was something living in them that's been there for years. I myself was curious. especially with what we experienced the night before. He said that his father had witnessed something similar when he was younger,

Starting point is 06:23:18 and so did his nephew, saying he actually got part of it on camera. He described what the thing looked like when he saw it rise from the waters. He said that it was bigger than a fishing boat, serpentine in shape, with a very long body, but when the front half breached the water, it had very thick plates across its back and long arms. Imagine a snake with thick scales like a turtle, but much larger, and give that snake arms.

Starting point is 06:23:50 If I heard this from anyone else, I would think it was someone describing something that a child had drawn. It sounded comical, but the look on Calvin's eyes told me that he was not messing around. This was real, and this was something he witnessed. Stacey was already on edge, but Calvin wanted nothing to do with the air. area that we were in. He suggested some other areas of the swamp, and after Jerry being grabbed, I think he was just as willing to move on. We moved our research area to a different part of the swamp, and we actually had better

Starting point is 06:24:25 results. There was no issue with the sounds of the swamp disappearing, and no unsettling vibes either. I don't know if it was related or not, but there was a divide where the water was cut off, basically splitting it into two parts. Maybe whatever that thing was can't completely breach the water and therefore only sticks to that side. I've tried to do a lot of research on what that thing could have been. I looked up uncommon and rare sightings of creatures in those same swamps, but nothing matches the description or even the size of the thing. I'm sharing this with you because I have had people completely serious.

Starting point is 06:25:06 Tell me that it could be some kind of lizard man. but it wasn't even human shaped. The closest thing to a human was that it had arms, but the size was massive, and it had matching scales or plates to match. To this day, it is still something that confounds me on a scientific level, but the sheer size of it, and the fact that it pulled Jerry under,

Starting point is 06:25:32 makes me think that this thing was not happy with us being there, and we were quite clearly inferior compared to it. These are the things that remind me of just how much is out there that we don't know about, that we don't see or understand. And to be honest, I'm okay with it staying that way. Hey, my story comes from a place of relative skepticism. However, my family have always believed in aliens, and it was a frequent discussion at the dinner table.

Starting point is 06:26:15 My dad and uncles have intense beliefs that not only are they real, but they have regularly visited Earth, have set up secret colonies here, and it will only be a matter of time before they're confirmed to be around. I think they may have listened to too many podcasts and watched Men in Black too much. My mom believes there is life on other planets, but doubts they would ever come and visit us. I have always been in the middle. I think other life forms exist on other planets, but I don't think they're here. My family lives in a relatively boring suburb. There are no nearby forests or military bases that could have impacted this.

Starting point is 06:27:02 It's made up of a mixture of blue-collar and white-collar workers, relatively low crime and pretty average all up. I was out at night with some friends at the... the local skate park. Before anyone assumes we were drinking or high, no, we weren't. And not through lack of interest. It's just that none of us had the funds in order to get anything. It was around 10 p.m. and I know because I got a snap from my girlfriend wanting to know who I was with and why I was at the park. Both of us have our locations turned on. She's been concerned about one of my friends' sisters trying to get too close to me.

Starting point is 06:27:43 No feelings on my end, but I told her where I was and she wanted to call me to check. We video chatted. I showed her where I was and she settled down when she saw that no girls were with us. We were shooting the stuff for a while and she asked what the lights were above my head. I laughed thinking she was joking until I saw them behind me. A series of yellow lights rapidly flashed, moving to one area and then starting up again. The lights would go from large to small. It was unsettling because it was doing this over houses. I don't know what they were doing.

Starting point is 06:28:26 It didn't move like a plane or a helicopter would. It was too fast and too sudden. My suburb isn't the most remote, but we aren't on any flight patterns. to the local airports, so there's no reasons why they would appear. So what could it have been? If anyone has any ideas, I do want to hear what they could be. I worried about it. A friend started recording it so we'd have proof of what was happening.

Starting point is 06:28:56 It ended about five minutes later. No more than that. I asked my girlfriend what she thought when I realized the call had ended. Worse yet, My phone was now at 1% battery. It was at 70% not too long before, so what had drained my battery? My friend checked his phone for the recording only to find it completely blurred. We've recorded late at night previously with no issues.

Starting point is 06:29:26 The files were corrupted, and he couldn't send them to anyone. I don't know if they were aliens or maybe some secret government aircraft that they were testing out. When I went home and told my parents about what happened, they were excited to hear it. My dad is convinced that it was Graze scouting for new targets, and that we were lucky we weren't being taken. I have been out late at night since then, and I haven't seen any more of the strange lights. I tried looking online to see if anyone else saw the strange lights in the sky, and, well, there was one TikTok that has since been deleted. I wish I had saved it, but it was blurry too,

Starting point is 06:30:10 and there was a strange buzzing sound that had played. Other than that one video, I didn't find or hear about it anywhere. I don't know what caused that kind of interference with electronics, and it's irritating not to have the evidence of what happened. I like having proof of it, and without it, I feel crazy. If I was drunk, high, or faded, then I might have disregarded it. So, I don't know what they were, but maybe they were aliens.

Starting point is 06:30:43 I still wish to see one someday, or to have answers about what exactly I saw. If it was a new aircraft, why were they testing it so far from an airport or an Air Force base? It doesn't make sense. Not sure if he'll do my story, Raven, but I hope you like it. Well, I am, and I did. I've been listening since 2020, and this is the first story that I've sent in. Hey, Raven, I figured it would be time to recall some of the craziest adventures from my adulthood. Specifically, when I worked for a small business that was both an electronic recycling center

Starting point is 06:31:30 and a computer repair and resale shop. The first one of this saga of true crazy stories is one that I'll call the phone. simply because that's what the story was technically about. But there's, of course, more to it. I don't know if this would count as a workplace horror or just a creepy encounter, but here goes. In 2022, I worked for the newly formed Electronics Recycling Center location for a small chain of computer repair and resale stores, and was there for a couple of years.

Starting point is 06:32:05 Since I knew the owner and had substantial skills in repairing, building, and building, otherwise fixing computers, I was brought on board to help with simple tasks like refurbishing what computers we could for sale in the storefront, listing electronics that we tested for either sale as used or for parts on the company eBay page, and otherwise helping market and promote the business, since I knew my way around social media and have extensive knowledge as a social media a marketer. Here and there, I would also accompany my co-worker on pickups, where companies we knew would call us to go pick up their old computers and electronics with our box truck. We had perks working there aside from being paid, that is. For example, we had dibs on certain

Starting point is 06:32:50 electronic parts, and could build or fix up our own computers, and I myself built about three of them. One was for my wife who actually needed an all-in-one for her home business. The building was actually a remodeled single-story house, which has been converted into a recycle center after the owner purchased it from the city. That's enough backstory on the job. So now we get to the reason why this store is creepy. Part of my job was taking whatever people donated, or whatever we hauled off in the truck,

Starting point is 06:33:25 and testing it to see if it turned on, was usable for parts or was genuinely just garbage. This meant dismantling devices, checking batteries, and pretty much playing around with electronics all day. And for a nerd like me, it was exactly what I was looking for in a job. There was a day a few months after I started working there that a box of old tablets and iPhones came in. And when I mean old,

Starting point is 06:33:54 we are talking first-generation I-eastern iPhones. iPads, and a few of the iPhone 3s and 4s. I went through my process and began checking the devices, but there was one particular iPhone 4 that had actually turned on, and seemed to still work pretty well. It had a background photo that looked like a teenage girl, and then I noticed the back of the phone was bedazzled with the little plastic jewels, so it clicked that this had to be some teenage girl's old phone before she got a new one. I kept on checking the device.

Starting point is 06:34:27 It won't tell you everything we did since we have tricks as repair guys for getting into and wiping devices. And once I connected it to the test Wi-Fi, suddenly the phone began to buzz. All kinds of notifications. Mainly text messages began to pop up. And eventually the phone ended up ringing. I told my co-worker who told me to turn the phone off and ignore it, which the owner also backed up his comment. with, wipe it and get it ready to sell on eBay.

Starting point is 06:34:59 This wasn't uncommon since people often left old electronics of all kinds with data still on them. And we did forensically wipe devices and drives before ever reselling anything. So, I sat the phone aside and continued to work. About an hour later, my co-worker and the owner left with the box truck to go pick up another round of donated electronics from an old office building across town and said they would be back in a few minutes. I've worked the recycle center alone before, and I knew what to do, so I wasn't worried. Boy, was I wrong. The iPhone rang a few times, and then text messages began streaming through it,

Starting point is 06:35:41 and I didn't read any of them, mainly because I was trying to prepare the eBay listing for the device, and get the model number before having to wipe the phone and store it in the back. I connected the phone to the iTunes' death, desktop software, and saw that it was named Haley's iPhone. And once I got the info, I shut the phone off, but not before getting a glimpse at the last message on the screen from someone named Kelsey. Oh my God, your phone's back on. Where are you? Please call us. I don't know who any of these people were, but not long after I shut off the phone, the business phone for our recycle center began ringing. The first time I picked it up,

Starting point is 06:36:23 no one said anything and then hung up. The second time a woman was asking about our hours of operation and seeing if she could drop off her son's flat screen since she got him a new one. The third through fifth times, the phone rang no one said anything and eventually I stopped answering it because it was creepy. And now I was beginning to feel nervous. I locked the front office door since our recycling center location wasn't a walk-in type business, and since we had a lot of electronics all around us on shelves. The owner permitted it,

Starting point is 06:36:59 especially when one of us was working alone. And I'm glad that I locked that door. From my station, I could see out the front windows into the tiny parking lot, and we usually kept the blind's closed so that people couldn't see inside, especially after hours. I noticed that a small blue sedan and pulled up rather quickly from the road, but the man inside seemed to be sitting there in his car and didn't get out. I watched him right up until I got a call from the owner asking me to check for a specific type of computer part in the back storage area, which I did go look for. But while I was back there, I noticed something through the blinds of the small window near the back door,

Starting point is 06:37:44 which was also in the storage area. The man from the car up front was actively walking around the back door, of our building, looking around frantically. And then he spotted the back door. It was locked and bolted. But the man tried the door and then began pounding on it and kicking it. I moved back towards the front workstation area and told my boss, who was still on the phone, that someone was trying to get into the recycle center by force.

Starting point is 06:38:12 He told me he would call the cops while he checked the cameras around the outside of the building and to see who it was. I don't know why I didn't just call the police myself, but the man was definitely trying to get in. The owner was smart, so all the rear windows had blinds and bars on them to keep people from seeing or breaking in. But our front door was still a regular house door, and eventually the man came around the building yelling and screaming about something,

Starting point is 06:38:42 and then eventually began banging on the front door too, which was also bolted and locked. I also slid a chair under the doorknob to help secure it. Not sure if it would help, but apart from that, there were plenty of heavy items within arm's reach that I could throw if I needed to. You know, if he actually got in. The man shouted at the door something that sounded like, I'm going to game over you like Pac-Man, or something ridiculous.

Starting point is 06:39:12 And he looked like he was in his mid-40s, balding, a Caucasian guy with an unbuttoned short-sleeved. shirt with a tank top under it and shorts. He wasn't fat, but he wasn't far from it, and he had thin, rimmed glasses. I remember this because it's what I told the police when I hung up on my boss and called them myself. The local police station wasn't far from our location, and the man shouted that he could hear me and said he just wanted the goddamn phone, and that we had no right to keep it from him. It took me a minute to really put it all together. But since the only phone I had worked on that day that turned on was the iPhone 4 that belonged to Haley,

Starting point is 06:39:56 I assumed he was either a related person to her or had something to do with her. But I wasn't about to find out why he was trying to break into our store, and I stayed quiet. The police pulled up quickly while he was out front, and the man tried to run, but the officer was able to chase him down. After speaking with officers who did take the man into custody and apparently he had a gun on him, the phone was given to the officers who said that the man might have been able to track the phone once it was reactivated. And since we didn't know the person who dropped the phone off in our recycle bin, we couldn't tell the officers who actually gave us the device.

Starting point is 06:40:37 But they did take Haley's phone and all the phones and tablets from that box as evidence. I wore latex gloves when working in the recycling center, but they said either way that they would be able to get it to their lab and figure out what they needed to know. I hadn't wiped the phone or done anything to the data, so it was pretty much good to go. They also brought a team out and went over the man's car with nothing shy of a fine-toothed comb,

Starting point is 06:41:06 and also had it towed away afterwards. A few days later, the owner told my co-worker and I that the police contacted him and told him that the phone belonged to a girl who had gone missing from her high school, and that the man who had come looking for her phone was now a suspect in her disappearance. They requested copies of our security footage

Starting point is 06:41:28 and took a statement from me since I was there when everything happened. They asked me if I had made any copies of the information from the phone when I first connected it to the desktop. I told them I wasn't sure since I didn't really have a chance to do much with it before it started ringing, and I told them that I didn't read any of the messages, except for the last one from Kelsey, who turned out to be Haley's best friend,

Starting point is 06:41:53 who was devastated by her disappearance. The officers were at my computer station for a while, seeing if anything was backed up onto the computer, and then said that they would be in touch if they had any other questions. The whole ordeal was crazy for me, and explaining it to my wife when I got home was even more of a task. We didn't hear back from the police after that, and about a week later we saw a story in the local paper. Yes, we still get those, that a man connected with the disappearance of a few high school teenage girls had been apprehended during an attempted break-in at a local business.

Starting point is 06:42:34 They left out the name of our store, and in this small photo near the story, the man's mugshot had been posted, and it was definitely him. Only now he was sporting an orange jumpsuit. Apparently, he was going to prison, but was cooperating with investigators to identify and locate the others involved in the ring of kidnappings. I still never knew why he came to get the phone, and even as I think of it now, It didn't make any sense. Crazy people do crazy things, but one thing is for sure. Had that man gotten inside the store, there would have been a lot of heavy computer equipment going airborne.

Starting point is 06:43:18 I also still never understood what the man meant when he said he would game over me like Pac-Man. No idea, but as baffling as it is, I'm glad that I never found out. Also, the lady who called me. called that day and wanted to drop off the flat screen from her son did eventually come in. And since we don't recycle TVs, she let me keep the 43-inch beauty as a gift for working hard. She had no idea what happened at our center days before.

Starting point is 06:43:52 I've lived in a pretty populated area for most of my life. It's so congested that I don't even own a car, and in fact, I take that I take this. the train to most places. When it's nice, I might walk or ride my bike instead, but for the most part, it's the train. My work also covers the cost of the past due to their going green initiative, which was one less thing I had to pay for. I also work at a hospital, so I think it was their way of trying to get less cars on the road and to make more room for emergency vehicles.

Starting point is 06:44:41 Still, not a bad thing in my opinion. So while on the train, I try to be pretty observant and aware of the people around me. You never know when you may be the only person available to help someone in need, or when something goes down that you need to pretend you didn't see, for your own safety. It rarely happened, but it still did, and even as a guy, I knew when it was best to mind my own business. but there was something that happened on one of my rides a few years ago that I wanted to share. I was taking the train around 2 a.m. after a late night at work.

Starting point is 06:45:23 I'm an ER nurse, and that night in particular, we had two critical patients come in that we were working on pretty consistently. I was exhausted, but we saved lives, so I was happy. I remember finding a seat and decompressing on the ride. anticipating going home to my apartment and passing out for the next eight hours. I pulled out my phone and was responding to a message as we came upon another stop. A few people got on and some changed cars, including a woman who looked a bit dishevelled. She was wearing a short, shimmering dress and lace-up heels.

Starting point is 06:46:03 Her hair was curled but now looked frizzy like it had been messed with, and she loosely carried one of the smallest purses I'd ever seen. My first thought was, she was probably heading home after having too many drinks in a nearby pub. As she entered the bus, she seemed to scan the car nervously, and when her eyes met mine, her whole face lit up with recognition.

Starting point is 06:46:29 She had a wide smile as she approached my seat. She said hi and sat next to me, really close. The seats were more. more bench-like, fitting two people comfortably, but she had sat close enough to nearly be sitting on my lap. It was definitely unexpected. I had no idea who this chick was, but she sat by me like she recognized me. I was confused, but I thought maybe she'd mistaken me for someone else. Now that she was next to me, I could smell the alcohol on her. She began asking how I was,

Starting point is 06:47:05 how my night was going, even with her words being slightly slurred. But while her speech was slurred, her eyes didn't match. They were alert, focused, almost pleading. She would look around the train before turning her attention back to me. I played along, telling her about my night and what I did. She told me the same, as I wondered where this was going. Then her conversation started becoming more flirtatious. She said that I was really cute and asked if I was seeing anyone,

Starting point is 06:47:40 and I told her no, which wasn't a lie. Then she smiled at me and offered to have me come home with her. She said that she would make it worth my time, smiling. Was this really happening? Did this woman really just get on the train and immediately try to take a stranger home? I politely declined and said that I needed. needed to get home, but to my surprise, she pushed it. She said I could stay there and that she would even make breakfast for us.

Starting point is 06:48:11 She was attractive and definitely my type, but none of this seemed right. She was clearly under the influence in trying this with a complete stranger, and I didn't feel comfortable with it, so I again declined, mentioning that she was drunk and instead I offered her my number, saying that maybe we could get together another time. Around this time, the train was slowing down, and I heard the doors opening for the car in front of us, going into hours. She quickly looked up and backed down at me, grabbing my hand. She squeezed it, and while looking me in the eyes, smiled, and said,

Starting point is 06:48:53 Please? That's when it finally clicked. The nervous scanning of the car, the full, forced cheerfulness, and now the desperate pleas in her eye. I realized what was going on. There were two guys now walking into our car, and I asked her if she needed help. I could literally see the relief in her eyes immediately. She smiled and hugged me, and I fell into the roll, putting my arms around her.

Starting point is 06:49:23 I looked up and saw the two men looking over the seats, and when they got to ours, they didn't take their eyes off. off of me. They looked over both of us and sat in the seats behind us. She then looked up at me and whispered, next stop, and tried to laugh, so I played along. As the train pulled into the station, the doors slid open and we stood together. She grabbed my hand and we both started walking to the doors. But I noticed the other two guys stood up with us. I could tell that they were right behind me. As we exited the train, barely out the door, I heard one of the men call out.

Starting point is 06:50:07 She stayed close, but we both turned around. The man asked if I was with her, and I confirmed. Then he made the comment, that's funny, she certainly didn't act like she had a man back at, insert name of pub. The other guy made the same comments about what she was doing, and she responded saying that she was just having fun. that she wasn't trying to hook up with anyone. I could kind of get the picture of what had happened here.

Starting point is 06:50:36 In between the remarks about her, one of them asked me her name. Well, crap, she didn't tell me her name, so I had to try my best to play it off. I stood a bit more in between them and told them that she's clearly not interested in to step off before I called the cops. And everything went by way too fast after that. The first guy kind of chuckled and turned towards the other and then swung forward, punching me in the gut. I went down pretty fast. I'm not a big guy by any means. The two of them began kicking me repeatedly, and I could hear the woman screaming, as well as a few other people that were at the stop.

Starting point is 06:51:18 I remember a few people being there, but I remember nothing about them. I do remember the intercom going off, saying, something along the lines of security to platform four. The girl kept screaming, stop. And then finally, one guy yelled at the other, let's go, let's go. Then the other guy spat at me and said, Control your girl.

Starting point is 06:51:43 And then they both ran off. The next hour or so was a blur of transit police statements and paramedics surrounding me. Thankfully, I didn't have any broken ribs, but was incredibly sore and bruised. They insisted that I go to the hospital, though, to make sure there was no internal bleeding. And I agreed. The woman stayed by me and apologized profusely.

Starting point is 06:52:09 She kept saying it was her fault and how she should have never involved me, but to be honest, I'm glad she did. I'm glad that she was brave enough to approach me for help, because I would take that beating again in a heartbeat. Who knows what they would have tried with her had she been alone? When talking to the cops, she explained how she was dancing, how they kept trying to dance with her, but they were touching and grabbing her so she left. They followed her on to the train, and that's when she quickly made her way to my car and spotted me, deciding that I would help her. She said that she saw my badge that I still had clipped on my jacket, and when she approached and saw it was for a hospital, she knew she could trust me. That was one of those moments that I was proud of the work that I did. She knew that she could trust me and chose me.

Starting point is 06:53:05 I got beat up for it, but I may have saved her from a much worse fate. The hospital visit confirmed that nothing serious was wrong, so I was good to finally go home hours later. The woman, whose name was Kate, thanked me, and that was the last time I saw her. I never heard anything else about the men, however, so I don't know if they were ever caught. That was probably one of the craziest and scariest things to ever happen to me, though. And while I would do it all over again to help someone, I hope that I never meet those guys again. I love your podcast and have been listening to it for some time now.

Starting point is 06:54:00 It's given me inspiration to finally write down all my crazy stories. mostly paranormal, so I'll likely be sending more in. The story is one that had me really creeped out, and have never been able to explain what it was. After some deep dives online, I've come to the conclusion that it must have been some sort of crypted, like a mimic, a rake, or something similar to a walker. It took place in 2021, three years ago, at my family's cabin in the mountains of Southern, on Utah just north of Zion's National Park. I was visiting family in that neck of the woods, pun somewhat intended,

Starting point is 06:54:43 and wasn't even planning on going to the big family cabin all of my relatives shared on my mom's side of the family. But I was chatting with my aunt who was staying with her kids and grandkids that weekend, and she told me to stop by while I was in the area. I hadn't been to my family cabin in quite a few years. Being busy and not living nearby anymore, so I figured what the heck. It'll be fun.

Starting point is 06:55:09 I ended up staying later in the day than I was expecting, due to enjoying visiting family. And I didn't want to drive the windy, bumpy dirt roads in the dark. So one of my cousins was nice and insisted that I stay, and pulled out the hide-a-bed from the couch on the main floor near the front door of the cabin to sleep on. Needless to say, there was no rebuttal for me. It was fun being there again, and in those familiar mountains with lots of memories from my childhood,

Starting point is 06:55:41 none of which had ever been creepy before. That night, after everyone had gone to sleep, some cousins upstairs sleeping on beds, one cousin and his family sleeping in their camper trailer outside, and my aunt sleeping in a tent with her dog just right outside of the cabin, because she liked that sort of thing. I decided to go out onto the front deck with a blanket by myself to look at the stars. Since I was at an elevation of about 10,000 feet, I knew I would get a good show of the night sky. And I've always been a night owl and loved the moon.

Starting point is 06:56:19 It was about midnight and the sky was clear and scattered with stars, and it was breathtaking. I'd only been outside for maybe five minutes or less, enjoying the quiet, mountain night air before I had a sudden rush of what felt like tunnel vision, where everything suddenly getting darker and more enclosed. Things just started feeling really eerie out of absolutely nowhere, and even more quiet. I sat there for another minute wondering what is going on. Why do I feel weird? It was almost like the stars got dimmer and I was feeling really uneasy, like someone was watching me, and like I couldn't breathe. So I immediately went back inside the cabin and crawled into bed to shake it off and just go to sleep. After lying under the

Starting point is 06:57:10 blankets for not even two minutes, my eyes popped right back open as I started to hear a faint cry in the distance of what sounded like a female voice saying help me over and over. The inflection of the cry didn't change, and it was just the same slow, high-pitched cry of, help me. If I'm being honest, it sounded really whiny and off. It continued for about ten minutes. I thought, maybe someone out there really needs help. Or what if one of my cousins is just watching a movie on their iPad and I can hear it?

Starting point is 06:57:48 But that wouldn't make any sense. A movie of a woman repeatedly saying, help me over and over for ten minutes straight? It was so creepy and I was frozen in place, so I just laid there until I inevitably fell asleep. The next morning I woke up to little cousins laughing and playing and others making breakfast. The sun was shining and I didn't feel too weird anymore. At breakfast, I started to ask everyone if anyone had heard a woman yelling in the distance,

Starting point is 06:58:19 saying, help me. Or if anyone had been watching a movie on their eye, pad or phones. Everyone shook their head no. I even asked some of the older kids, but no one heard a thing. Then my aunt, the one who had slept in a tent just outside the cabin, piped up. I didn't hear anything, but my dog was growling at my tent door a little after midnight and woke me up. She said that he didn't lay down to sleep the whole night, just sat there staring at the tent's zipper door. If I've learned anything so far in this life, it's to always trust a dog when they're uneasy. So, it turns out that only me and my aunt's dog heard whatever was out there crying out for help.

Starting point is 06:59:09 Although, I think if I had gone looking for whatever was making that cry, I never would have come back. Hi, Raven. I'm a new listener to your podcast, and I've listened to so many already, which encouraged me to write you a couple of stories of my own. I've had a few paranormal experiences in my lifetime. I do have quite a few different stories, so I'm not sure if you just want to tell one or multiple of them. Starting off with just a quick little background, I'm a 16-year-old female, and ever since I was little, I feel like I've been able to communicate slash see many sorts of spirits. It's super weird, I know, but it's so weird to me even. For starters, a little background to this story.

Starting point is 07:00:08 I have a little sister. I was probably around 7 to 8 years old when this happened. Our house was kind of small, and so the setup was my room on one side, and my sisters were directly across from mine. My parents slept in the basement. Mind you, this happened many times, and so whenever I got scared,

Starting point is 07:00:31 I went downstairs to sleep with my parents. So, it was at night. My mom had just tucked me and my sister in, and we both used to keep our doors open, because it was scary. So, obviously, I could see straight into my sister's room. I had a loft bed at the time. It's like a bunk bed, but without a bottom bunk,

Starting point is 07:00:55 just for stuff like storage, work, space, etc. For some reason, I always woke up in the dead middle of the night. I'm not quite sure why, but everyone thought that it was weird too. It didn't matter if I went to bed late or early. I always woke up dead in the middle of the night. It used to terrify me. Anyways, that specific night I had woken up for some reason, and I was wide awake, and so I opened my eyes and looked around.

Starting point is 07:01:29 Here's where I absolutely freak out. I look over towards my sister's room and I just see this huge figure standing right outside her door just staring at me. It was definitely taller than the door. It didn't really have a face, I guess. It was a completely black figure just standing there. So obviously I'm literally eight years old and I cover myself up with every blanket on my bed and didn't. not look. I didn't get up, and I couldn't fall back asleep. My whole body was shaking so badly. This experience has haunted me for years and years. I'm not too sure if it's the same spirit,

Starting point is 07:02:16 but ever since then, I constantly feel like I'm being watched, and sometimes out of the corner of my eye I can see a tall, dark figure scurry through. To this day, it's a day, it still haunts me and I'm always whipping my head around as if I've seen something. I don't know how to get it away or to leave. Has this happened to anyone else before? Or maybe I'm just crazy. Super short side note as well. There are so many more experiences with the paranormal I've had, but they are super short.

Starting point is 07:02:53 Anyways, a short little story. So I work at a hotel as a housekeeper. The weird thing is, the hotel is supposedly haunted. It crease me out a little because I'm always listening to your podcasts while working. And ever since I started working there last year, it's been really weird. Like, I always see figures out of the corner of my eye time and time again. I've heard a really, really deep voice saying my name, making me literally run out of the room no matter what I'm doing.

Starting point is 07:03:26 but I think I was most scared when I came home from work. I had brought this really weird cowbell that I found inside a hotel room, and I brought it home. Our house is currently set up like mine in my sister's room are upstairs, and my parents' room is downstairs. I was messing with my mom saying, like, oh, if I ring this bell, it's summon spirits. Stupid, I know. But I ring it, because it's literally just a bell. bell. Nothing weird, right? I mean beside the fact that I brought it home from a haunted hotel. Anyway, I rang it and then had gone upstairs to change my clothes. You know when you can hear someone

Starting point is 07:04:09 walking behind you? If you have creaky floors like my house does, I walked upstairs into my room and I swear I heard my dog coming in behind me. So I turned around to pet him and greet him. Well, he was actually downstairs laying on the couch. I'm not even kidding, my heart dropped. It seriously scared the hell out of me because it literally sounded like my dog, which made me start thinking about 100 billion different things. It almost sounded like a little child walking behind me. It sounds so dumb, but, like, what if the thing from the hotel followed me home?

Starting point is 07:04:53 I have seriously debated quitting because it scares me so much seeing and hearing things. But also, I feel like I'm one of the very select people that can see and hear them because I've had connections with the afterlife many times. Like I said, I have so many more stories, but they are quite short. Please do let me know if you want to hear them. I love telling people my stories, but I just wish that they wouldn't happen to me. About six months ago, I submitted a post about the haunted house that I was living in. We moved out recently, and I wasn't planning to post about it again, but the last few weeks I lived there, I experienced an increase in paranormal activity.

Starting point is 07:05:48 I had always seen glimpses of a face peering around my bedroom doorway. It was very tall, nearly to the top of the doorframe, leaning at an angle as though it was crouching to look at. inside. I would also see a small child standing or running in and out of the doorway. They were both completely dark figures, but not black. It's hard to explain, but they have this swirling texture. They were very solid shapes, and not translucent. I had to learn to ignore them, but I started seeing them all over the house as I was preparing to move. Even if there wasn't a doorway, like leaning around the side of the kitchen cabinets, or the corner of the hallways, or window blinds.

Starting point is 07:06:35 In my previous post, I mentioned the little kid entity imitating my little brother. I continued to hear it running around and getting into my brother's toys until the day we left. I noticed things that I was packing would be rearranged when I was the only one in the house. Like, I had a neat stack where everything was in the order that it needed. to be, loaded into the truck, and when I brought out the next box from my room, my boxes would be in my mom's pile, opened, or just unstacked and placed in some random order. I also kept seeing a mass of some kind in the bathtub. I thought that it was a bear a few times, but it was mostly just a huge blob made of the same swirling texture as the doorway things. It was very large and moved around a lot but would vanish instantly if I turned on the light. But the thing that made me want to talk about this house again

Starting point is 07:07:32 was the weirdest shadow person experience I have ever had. I mentioned in my previous post that I see them a lot, but this was very different than any others that I have seen. I was in my room one night and I had just called my cats in for the night, and one of them hadn't come in yet. I was feeding the other two when I heard. him meowing at the front door. I went to let him in, but when I was halfway to the door, I saw a tall figure step around the corner in front of me and stand in front of the hallways.

Starting point is 07:08:05 It was a solid black shadow person, wearing a bright orange t-shirt. He didn't have any pants. He was muscular and taller than me, I'm five-two, and he was maybe an inch or two more than I was. I stood facing him, waiting for him to move for around 30 seconds, and I felt very angry that he was there. My cat meowed again and I said out loud, staring into this thing's face, move now or I will hurt you. He flinched and slowly stepped back into the living room. And after a few seconds, I stuck my head around the corner to make sure he was gone.

Starting point is 07:08:46 Then I let my cat in. The rest of that night and the next day were weirdly uneventful. But the next night, I had a dream that I was getting my four-year-old brother and myself dressed, and ready to go somewhere with my mom when she gets home from work. I knew she would be on her way home and wanted to be ready when she got there. But then I heard someone pounding on the door demanding to be let in. I looked out the peephole, but I didn't see anyone, even in the dream. I got this sick feeling in my stomach.

Starting point is 07:09:21 I reached to lock the door, but the shadow person I saw in the hallway opened it faster than I could, breaking one of the hinges off with the force. I ran and hid my brother in the closet, trying to distract him with his tablet. I listened to the shadow person stomping around the house, which was empty except for the beds and the bedrooms. I heard him slamming doors and somehow I knew he had a knife. At one point I heard him close himself in a room and grabbed my brother to try to make a run for the door, but I got a feeling that there were more people outside, so I ran through the living room, which had changed.

Starting point is 07:10:01 It was much larger with concrete pillars spaced evenly throughout. Thinking about it now, it looked like some kind of liminal space. As we made it through to where my mom's room should be, the part of the house changed to one I had lived in when I was six or seven. and I locked me in my brother in the room that had been my parents when we lived there. My brother was talking really loud, getting frustrated and not wanting to stay in the room, and I couldn't get signal to call my mom or 911. So I put my brother in the closet and gave him my phone as a distraction,

Starting point is 07:10:38 and I snuck out of the room, locking the door behind me. There was nothing I could use as a weapon, but I saw the shadow-prone. person in the living room, walking between the pillars. I yelled at him, I never said you could come in. You can't be here. You can't hurt us. He shrugged and said, fine, I'll get you next time, and waved his knife at me as he walked out the door, closing it behind him, and everything went back to the way it was supposed to be and then faded to black, which was also unusual for me because my dreams end very abruptly. I never saw the shadow person again, but I'm still shaken by the interaction, and I don't know what to make of it.

Starting point is 07:11:24 I've never been that close to a shadow person, and have never been able to look directly at them before or since. Hey everybody. I was randomly suggested this subreddit by a Reddit notification, and after reading a couple of posts and realizing there was a popular shadow person tag here, I thought I would share my own experience from when I was a child, with the entity that I've called the Shadow Girl for as long as I can remember. It should be said that I'm 19 male now, and all three of the events I'm about to describe happened when I was pretty young, from around 6 to 8.

Starting point is 07:12:13 When I was younger and my parents were still married, it was me, my one older brother, my two younger sisters, and my parents. Obviously. My dad is in a very high post-secondary educational position, what she got when we were young in Winnipeg, where I still live now. As he was in the process of getting this position, we lived half the time in Winnipeg as we looked for a place to live there, and half the time in a house across the U.S. border in Pembina.

Starting point is 07:12:45 We eventually got a house in Winnipeg, and we slowly moved into that house from the Pembina house, over some period of time. I don't really remember how long, but it isn't important. The first encounter. I was in the second grade when I saw her at our newer house. I had come home from school and very soon after, decided that I wanted to play Minecraft on our family tablet,

Starting point is 07:13:11 which was kept charging in my parents' room on the second floor of our house. I ran up our curved staircase and turned right immediately through the door, way of my parents' room. As I entered and stood to face my parents' bed, the tablets directly across the room from the foot of their bed, I saw her. I stood completely in shock. The pitch-black silhouette of a young girl in a puffy dress

Starting point is 07:13:38 was sitting on the foot of my parents' bed, staring straight forward at the wall ahead of her. I didn't know what to do, but I felt paralyzed as I watched her. She ever so slowly turned her head to look at me with these saucer-like white eyes, just an absence of black on her face, where instead was white, and those were her eyes. I slowly leaned out of my parents' doorway after a couple of seconds of eye contact and yelled downstairs. Dad? Dad? But nothing back.

Starting point is 07:14:17 And so as I peeked into the room, she was gone. just gone. I was afraid, so I stepped carefully, but still retrieved the tablet, and scurried downstairs as if something were nipping at my ankles. Pembina is a small town now, and it was even smaller when I was young. In our house, which we called the little house, or the Pembina house, there was a very creepy basement, a main floor and a second floor. My brother and I shared the room on the second floor, as did my sisters, and my parents slept in a room on the main floor. Now, the second encounter. I don't remember the context for why I was going to my room or anything, or how far apart this was from the first encounter.

Starting point is 07:15:07 But I rounded a corner to enter the stairwell, and I remember distinctly I was looking at my feet on the first two steps. I then looked up the stairs and froze as I saw her at the top of the stairs. Again, just staring at me. I don't know what had gotten into me at this time, but I was annoyed enough at this thing for showing up that I went up the stairs at a full sprint to try to catch her. I watched as her whole body just turned without lifting her legs and walked so slowly around the corner and up the stairs,

Starting point is 07:15:44 which led to the second floor just past the corner. I made it to the top, and, surprise, surprise, she was nowhere. I looked in every room upstairs, and nothing. She disappeared again. Then the last encounter. This happened at our Pembina house. I was a very outdoorsy kid and loved catching bugs and collecting rocks and building forts and everything. It was awesome.

Starting point is 07:16:14 in our backyard, and I had caught a butterfly with a glass from our kitchen, and decided that the best place to store it was in my sister's closet, under a glass, with a single branch. My logic was that it would be safe and not be found or stolen by anyone since my sisters didn't use their closet. I slid a piece of paper under the glass to seal the butterfly in, and I remember that the paper had a drawing I had done of the iron robot from that animated kids movie of the same name.

Starting point is 07:16:47 Very crudely drawn, but I remember that fun detail. Anyway, the next day I went back, up the stairs to the second floor, into my sister's closet, and to my surprise, discovered a very dead butterfly. I was very sad, and I looked out my sister's window at that moment, and immediately caught her gaze. She was standing far out in our yard, very far, but she was looking up at me through the window. I put down the butterfly and slowly walked to the window, not breaking eye contact. After about a minute of her staring, she once again turned without moving her legs and almost

Starting point is 07:17:31 floated off to the side, out of view behind a hedge. To this day, I have no explanation further than her being a shadow person. and I was first introduced to that revelation in the sixth grade when I was reading a haunted Canada book which had a story detailing a shadow person. I hope people don't think that I'm just making things up as I try to include every detail I could remember. To this day, I'm still scared that she's watching sometimes.

Starting point is 07:18:04 But it's just paranoia, I'm sure, since I haven't seen her since then. Anyways, if people are not even, liked this, I have a lot more ghost encounters that my whole family has experienced after my parents' divorce, which I'd be happy to share. Have a great day, and thank you for reading. I wanted to share an experience that I had over a decade ago, but when I do share it, I never share specific details about the location or myself, as I don't know who might see this and want to try to find me or my coworkers. So, yes, some details may be vague or names changed. Back in 2011, I was working as a

Starting point is 07:19:00 wildlife photographer, specializing in night photography, nocturnal creatures and large predators. My job often took me to some pretty remote locations where I could spend days alone, tracking and documenting their behavior. I was never really a free. of the animals either. Seeing them in their natural habitat, witnessing how they lived their day-to-day life, was pretty thrilling. Not many people that I knew truly understood

Starting point is 07:19:31 what all I did. The solitude also never bothered me. In fact, I cherished it. It added to the idea that I was alone with these creatures, experiencing moments that someone else would never see. But my opinion on Being alone in places like this changed very quickly one night in September. I had set up my little base camp about 15 miles from the closest town, if you could call it that.

Starting point is 07:20:03 It was more so a very small community, each home with a lot of acreage and a grocery store that was just as small. The location was perfect, far enough from light pollution to get crystal clear night shots, but still close enough to civilization if there was an emergency. I had already been there two nights and had gotten some incredible footage of a wolf pack hunting. I may not have been terrified, but man, did that get my heart rate up? Wolves are beautiful to watch. On the third night, around 2 a.m., I was in my usual spot,

Starting point is 07:20:43 a small clearing on the ridge that gave me a good vantage point of the valley below. The temps had even dropped to the 40s, Fahrenheit, this was in the U.S., so. I had a jacket and gloves. I had my camera mounted to my tripod, and my sensor on that beeped when it found movement. I was pretty deep into the trees, which also didn't allow for much moonlight to come through. But shortly after my stakeout session, I noticed something unusual. I can no longer hear the owl in the distance. and even the crickets seemed to go silent.

Starting point is 07:21:22 If you've spent enough time in the wilderness, you know that when nature goes quiet, it's usually a sign that something is wrong. My first thought was that it could be a mountain lion, so I quickly packed up some of my gear and prepared to retreat to my truck about a quarter mile away. Mountain lions are probably one of the few animals that I can respect. I will take some pretty great picks from my truck,

Starting point is 07:21:47 and be protected from any claws or teeth. As I was securing my camera, I noticed light above me. At first I thought it was the moon coming through the trees as they swayed, but with how much light there was, that meant there had to be a lot of swaying, which made me wonder if there was a storm coming. That was probably scarier for me than the animals. I had a lot of equipment that I had to try to get peasant. packed up, if so, to keep it from getting wet.

Starting point is 07:22:21 But when I looked up, my heart dropped. The light wasn't coming from the moon. There was a perfect circle of lights hovering silently, probably 500 feet above the tree line. The lights weren't bright like spotlights either, which is why I thought it was the moon. They were more like a dull orange and yellow embers arranged in a geometric pattern that seemed to pulse slightly.

Starting point is 07:22:52 My first rational thought was that it must be a drone. It had to be. But this thing was massive. It had to be at least 100 feet in diameter, and it was completely silent. You can typically hear the worrying from a drone, but this thing had nothing. It wasn't the kind of silence you get from a distance either. It was a natural absence of sound that seemed to create an unsettling void in the air itself. I'd love to say that I was brave enough to grab my camera and document it, but I was completely paralyzed.

Starting point is 07:23:30 I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, I almost couldn't blink, not wanting to miss this. This thing remained stationary for what felt like minutes but was probably only a few seconds. Then, without warning, a beam of light shot down from the object. It appeared to be scanning the area. It reminded me of when you shine a flashlight through fog. It wasn't slow and methodical like in a pattern. It was faster and all over the place, like someone was searching for something. It wasn't too bright or stationary.

Starting point is 07:24:10 It looked like it was coming from the edge of the line. lights, not the center. Again, I would like to say that I ran at this point trying to hide from the light, but I couldn't run. My feet felt like cement. I watched as the light got closer and closer to me. And once it reached me, I remember the light being extremely bright and warm. I had to close my eyes.

Starting point is 07:24:37 You could physically feel the change in temperature. I remember standing there. thinking at one point that this was it. This was how I was going to die because I was too stupid to run. I started having all of these memories run through my mind, the good, and the bad.

Starting point is 07:24:56 But it wasn't even like I was trying to think about past memories and regret. It was like someone was forcing me to share them. Like, fifth birthday, now your first pet, its name, now your first stitches,

Starting point is 07:25:12 first death, first crush, how old were you, your first job? It all flashed by like someone was flipping through a book, and my head was feeling warmer and warmer. Then it all stopped, and my mind went blank. I could feel my heart rate slow, and I suddenly felt extremely calm. And then I heard a calm but monotone voice. You are being observed. You will continue.

Starting point is 07:25:42 You are safe. After that, I opened my eyes and broke from my paralysis. I quickly ran as fast as I could towards my truck. I fumbled with the keys but finally got in and locked the doors. I watched as the light got closer and closer to my truck. I tried starting it, but nothing happened. It was like the battery was completely dead. I went from my phone and it wouldn't turn on, like it was dead.

Starting point is 07:26:12 dead, even though it should have had over 80% left. I even grabbed my camera to ready it for a picture and it wouldn't turn on. It took a rechargeable battery pack that I had swapped out that morning. I brought four packs, three for the days I would be there and an extra pack. There was no way they were all dead. All I could do was wait for the light to pass and hope that it wouldn't happen again. The lights caught up to my truck and lit it up. And then, just as suddenly as it all began, everything stopped.

Starting point is 07:26:49 The lights vanished in the blink of an eye. My phone booted on and still had over 80% life, as I was expecting. My camera wouldn't power on, but my truck did start up. I couldn't leave my other equipment behind, so I drove my truck further into the trees, hoping I wouldn't get stuck. I quickly packed it all up, certainly not wanting to stay there and lugged it all back down to my truck. Thankfully, it wasn't as far of a walk. I got the hell out of that area and slept in my truck in the grocery store parking lot in that nearby town.

Starting point is 07:27:27 Because as freaked out as I was from that experience, I also felt exhausted and surprisingly crushed pretty fast. The next morning I tried my camera again and it still was. wouldn't turn on. I called a friend, knowing they were open-minded, and explained what I had witnessed. They said the same thing than I was thinking. It had to be some kind of UFO. I didn't tell him about the memories or what I heard, wanting to tell him that all in person. But when I did, he seemed shocked, and maybe even a bit terrified.

Starting point is 07:28:06 He thinks that that was something looking through. my memories, not me personally doing it. He also thinks that it was speaking to me, possibly telling me to keep calm. Hence, honestly, how could I not believe him? What else could it have been? I certainly didn't say that to myself. The memory thing, maybe that was me, but it was such a strange set of memories and in such an exact order that it's hard to imagine that it was me alone.

Starting point is 07:28:37 I just don't know what to believe. I was never the type to think that we were the only intelligent beings in this vast universe, but to witness something like that was surreal. I've told several people since then, and some believe me, but more just tried to explain it away to which, I mean, to each their own, but I know what I saw, I know what I felt, and I know what I heard out there. Also, one other thing that leads me to believe there was something more going on out there. My camera wouldn't turn on because it looked like it had basically been melted from the inside.

Starting point is 07:29:20 The components looked fried, bits of internal plastic melted, and the SD card that was in it was warped. I lost all of the photos I had taken that weekend. So if anyone can explain how I could have done it. that too, I'm happy to listen. But between the lights, the talking, my camera, truck, and phone not working, I'm apt to believe that it's not in my head. Hi, Raven. First off, I just want to say how much I enjoy your videos. I usually listen to them while working and it genuinely feels like I have a friend keeping me company in the background. Pleasure's mine, my friend. Anyway, I don't know. I

Starting point is 07:30:16 I live in a small city called Deradun, nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas, in the states of Uttarakand, India. So this all started on the 4th of August 2022. I used to study in a school near the Miawala area, and it's probably the most popular school in that particular area, so they try at all means to not let this information get out of the school, but, coming from someone who lived through it, I can assure you it actually happened. So a little context for the actual event that followed. It was a clear, sunny Thursday in school. Regular classes were going on.

Starting point is 07:30:58 Practice for inter-school dance and music competitions were going on in the music and dance rooms of the school, and everything seemed normal to us. But as soon as the bell rang for the end of the school day, news started spreading that some girl in the dance room fainted while practicing, And slowly the news started to get more detailed as people started saying that the girl had a heart attack, that she was foaming from her mouth and had gotten rushed to the hospital. This was told to us by people that were present at the scene, so we had no choice but to believe them. Later that day, around 8 p.m. at night, we all got a message from our school confirming the unfortunate news.

Starting point is 07:31:40 The girl was one grade senior to us studying in the 12th commerce, and she had unfortunately passed away, the reason of which was not stated in the notice. It wasn't clear whether she died on the spot or at the hospital, but what we got to know from friends who were present there is that she died on the spot in the school itself. This was the notice. With profound grief and sorrow,

Starting point is 07:32:06 we regret to inform the sad demise of our beloved students of name withdrawn, Academy, the school will remain closed for the next two days. The school will reopen on Monday, 8-8-2020, regards the principal. Our school gave us two days of leave and did a few minutes of silence to mourn for our loss. The news came out that the chairman called priest and did Pugia, religious practice in school, and the priest was our friend's father. In the academic session of 2022 to 2023, the dance. class was in the basement. But for the next academic session, they shifted the class to the new

Starting point is 07:32:45 building along with the art room and music class. Everything was going normal for a few months, but then one day something strange happened. So it was early in the morning, an assembly was going on, and our accountancy teacher, who must not be named since he really didn't want to be associated with this incident. He used to get mad at anybody who asked him about this. He wasn't usually a strict teacher, in fact, he was very funny and sarcastic, in his late 20s, but for some reason, whenever we asked him about this incident, he used to get all serious. Anyway, he was standing at the back of the line and started to feel a bit sick. So, he went back to his class, which was 11th Commerce B.

Starting point is 07:33:28 One thing you should know is that 11th Commerce B was shifted down to the basement, where the dance class used to be. As our teacher approached his class, he took a class. glance around the classroom, which was empty because assembly was going on. And he sat on the chair and put his head down. Now, as the assembly usually goes on, the office staff who sit on the CCTV monitor usually checks if there are any students sitting in the class, because that wasn't allowed in any case, unless asked for permission.

Starting point is 07:34:00 Such as if a student got sick during or before the assembly, they used to go to the sick room. So like any other day, that day too, a ma'am was checking the CCTV camera until something in particular caught her attention. She quickly double-checked it and rushed to the class in the basement. As she entered the class, she saw that our accountancy teacher was sitting there with his head on the table. She got a bit confused at first, so she decided to ask our teacher about it. She said, sir, where is that girl who was sitting with you just now? Sir got a bit confused. He said,

Starting point is 07:34:39 What are you talking about, ma'am? It was just me the whole time. Nobody entered or left the classroom. But ma'am was sure about what she saw, and so was sir. Both of them thought that the other one was messing with them, but what happened next, baffled them both. After a few minutes of discussion, ma'am finally said that if he doesn't believe, Avery could check the CCTV footage. Both of them went to the office to check it, and sure enough, ma'am was right.

Starting point is 07:35:09 There was a girl sitting in the front bench right in front of our teacher, who appeared to be old enough to be in class 12. She was wearing our uniform, but not the right one, since we all were wearing our house uniform that day, but she was wearing the main uniform, white Kerta with blue polka dots and blue saw water. but they couldn't really tell who she was because the cameras are in the back of the class, so faces are not really visible. Not only that, she was sitting so still, just not moving a muscle and looking right at our teacher. This creeped both of them out. The news spread like a wildfire.

Starting point is 07:35:51 Every teacher was talking about it for a day, but from the next day nobody uttered a word about it. I suppose management found out, and to protect the goodwill of our school, they had shut everyone up. But that was not the only thing that happened. The school decided to forbid entry into that particular region of the basement and shifted those classes on upper floors giving it the name of maintenance. Even though everything was fine in those classes, and there was no maintenance work going on there at all. We could see because the library is right next to it.

Starting point is 07:36:26 It stayed closed for a few months until they opened it up again, but now instead of 11th Commerce B, they made another art room there for juniors. No maintenance work was ever done until that time either. We tried to ask our teachers about it, but they would just shut us up. It's been one and a half years since that incident, and we still don't know who that girl actually was in the footage, or what they saw on the CCTV when Mayam entered the class. Did she disappear?

Starting point is 07:36:56 Was she still veered? visible on the camera? I guess we'll never know. So, this one might be a little weird for you. It may be a little different than what you might normally do because it's not exactly creepy. But it is pretty bizarre to me and maybe even some kind of parallel existence, I think. Either way, it's just something that I have to share, and I think you'll appreciate it too. I've been taking the red line every morning for many years now.

Starting point is 07:37:35 It's become part of my everyday life. And, like many of us, I am a creature of habit, and have my routine down to a science. I know exactly what time I have to leave by. I stand in the same spot while I wait for the train, and then sit in the same car in the same spot near the middle doors. And like most commuters, I people watch, and I start to recognize the other regulars on the route. There was a guy who was usually dressed in a suit, carrying a thermos with the picture of a family on it, like one of those cute customized mugs. There were two older ladies that sat in the back and always had these very animated conversations.

Starting point is 07:38:21 There was another guy I only saw occasionally, but he had on some sort of maroon colored uniform and had a large messenger bag. All normal, everyday people going about this. their lives. But then there was one girl that I started seeing that caught my attention. She got on two stops after me. At first, I noticed her because she looked a lot like me. Same shoulder-length brown hair, similar height and build, an even similar kind of style. That artsy but professional look that says probably works at a gallery or design studio.

Starting point is 07:39:02 Real quote from a friend of mine. but I really started paying attention when I realized that she had worn the same outfit three days in a row. It was this oversized cream-colored sweater, brown pants, and these unique red boots. At first, you may be thinking, just as I did, that maybe she had multiple versions of the same outfit. I'm guilty of buying the same sweater in different colors, if I like it enough,

Starting point is 07:39:32 but it wasn't just the same style of her. clothes. It was the same thing, because her sweater had what appeared to be a coffee stain on it. Her hair was kind of messy, too. Either it was down and frizzy, pulled back in a low ponytail, or maybe thrown in a lopsided messy bun, like she couldn't be bothered with it. I remember seeing it, the satin on her sweater, and thinking, same, girl, I've had those days, and I had sympathy for her. This is why I remembered her in the way she looked. But she wore this exact same outfit for three days in a row,

Starting point is 07:40:13 and I definitely noticed. By the fourth day, I was very fascinated and curious. Same outfit, same coffee stain, same messy bun. She even stood in the same spot in the same way, standing with her weight on her left foot, while holding her phone in her right hand. I tried to run it through in my head. Maybe she was staying somewhere other than home

Starting point is 07:40:39 and didn't have a change of clothes. Maybe she didn't have much in ways of options. I wasn't sure. Was it interesting to notice? Yeah. But I tried my best to not think about it more than that because I didn't know her situation, right? Part of me did think about taking a picture

Starting point is 07:41:00 to make sure I wasn't a matter. imagining things, but I also told myself that it would be creepy. You know, taking a picture of a stranger on a train? Yeah, no thanks. But this went on for two weeks straight. I still didn't, but that is when I really wanted to take a picture. I started feeling like I was in some weird loop. Like I was going in circles and until something changed, something differentiated,

Starting point is 07:41:30 I would continue this loop. That maybe she was in this weird loop too. Did she see it? Was she aware of it? Because other than the messy hair and stained sweater, she didn't look disheveled, stressed, nothing. She looked normal. I even saw their other regulars,

Starting point is 07:41:53 but they seemed to act like she wasn't really there. The old ladies that liked to look at everyone on the train didn't even glance at her. No one said excuse me to her as they passed her since she was standing. So, why was this happening? Why was this girl that I had never seen prior, now taking the train daily wearing the exact same thing?

Starting point is 07:42:16 Same clothes, same boots, same phone case, silver ring on her middle finger, same posture. Everything was the same. And I swear I seemed to be the only one, to notice. I felt like I was losing my mind,

Starting point is 07:42:33 or that this was all some huge prank or experiment to see if anyone would notice. Then, one day, I was having one of those mornings. You know the type. My hair refused to cooperate, and I was running low on time, so I just threw it all in a messy clip. I was wearing my old comfortable jeans with the worn spot since I wasn't feeling well. I was still groggy as I was getting ready to leave, and I fumbled my coffee cup while trying to put my phone in my pocket, spilling it down the side of my shirt and sweater.

Starting point is 07:43:07 I was already running late, so I didn't have time to change. I just told myself that I would deal with it being a little cold at work and not wear my sweater. My shirt was darker, so I could at least hide it there. So I rushed out the door, now wearing my coffee instead of getting to enjoy it. I got to the train and I sat in my regular spot, and then we stopped where the other girl would get on. And at that moment, I almost didn't recognize her. Her hair was styled, sailing in soft waves with braids on the sides,

Starting point is 07:43:44 all pinned back by a large flower. She was wearing a long-sleeved blue dress and looked so pretty and put together in a way that made my coffee stained self feel even more dishevelled. I was surprised by this change, but also refreshed to see it, especially on that day. That weekend, I got some extra sleep and started feeling better. I went to bed early that Sunday and had my clothes picked out. The next morning, I made an extra effort, did my makeup, my hair was nicely done. I wore one of my favorite frilly blouses and a new pair of jeans that I bought.

Starting point is 07:44:23 That same morning on the train, I anticipated that when I was a little bit of the train, I anticipated that whatever cycle we were in was broken and looked forward to seeing the same girl. But she got on wearing that same stained sweater and messy hair. What happened? What was so different about yesterday? Why did she wear something different? So I started thinking about it more and the only thing I could think of was myself. I was running late and wasn't put together like I usually was.

Starting point is 07:44:57 It was like we were polar opposites. Was that it? So I decided to test that theory. The next day I wore leggings in an oversized sweater. My hair was unwashed and pulled into a ponytail and I skipped the makeup other than some chapstick. Astonishingly, she looked beautiful and dressed up, wearing a pink skirt and heels with her hair curled. Was this some kind of parallel version of myself? Can no one else see her because of this?

Starting point is 07:45:29 Did she have people on her train that could see me? How did we end up on the same train anyways? I had never seen her prior to this incident. I wanted to talk to her, maybe just small talk to see what she might say. Maybe she noticed our similarities too, but I was worried that either she would think I was crazy, talking to some random stranger about being another version of me, or if it was real. What could I mess up from talking to her?

Starting point is 07:46:00 So I did the only thing I was brave enough to do. I watched. I watched how I had bad days and she looked stunning. I had good days and she was back in the sweater. But it did do a little good for me because when I'm having one of those rough days, those days where your shirt just doesn't feel comfortable on you and your hair isn't cooperating. Well, I can't help but smile knowing that she,

Starting point is 07:46:27 probably feels unstoppable. I've been flipping houses for most of my life. I did it with my own father for many years and continued doing it independently after he retired. I've seen many weird things in unique homes, as well as some interesting things that were left behind. But there was one time that I found something that was actually quite terrifying,

Starting point is 07:47:02 something that I never really got answers about. This was back in the early 2000s. I had bought this property at a bank auction that had been abandoned for quite some time. The previous owner had been moved to hospice care, and with no family stepping up to handle the estate, the bank had taken possession of the home. The price was a steal considering the neighborhood and the overall condition, too. It definitely needed some care since it sat empty for so long,

Starting point is 07:47:33 but structurally, it was sound. I would only need to clean the place out, do some thorough cleaning, and make a few cosmetic repairs. My first walk-through revealed what I typically found in those situations, some scattered personal items strin about, a few boxes in the basement, and the usual debris of a life suddenly interrupted. It was all that I was used to seeing, maybe even less for the room. remarkable than normal, which was fine by me. After the walkthrough and securing the required permits, I could finally begin working on it. When it comes to cleaning and throwing stuff out, I like to start on the first floor and

Starting point is 07:48:19 then the basement and then go up. This way I have a clear path to the door. The first floor was pretty clear and not worth doing more until I ripped out the carpet, so I decided to work on the basement. I knew there were a few boxes down there anyways, so I started there. The basement was unfinished, but dry, with concrete floors and block walls. Nothing unusual was noted in the inspection, and to be honest, it was plenty for me. If there were leaks or cracks in the walls, it could become a bigger problem, so being dry and unfinished was perfect. I started by gathering the boxes and being curious, I wanted to go through them before tossing everything in a dumpster. After all, I did own the place now, so the items in it were also mine.

Starting point is 07:49:11 The contents in the box started out pretty normal. There were some random cables strewn about, two dragon sculptures that were broken, a small plastic organizer box, think tackle box style. But in a box underneath a few sheets were some newspaper clippings about a car access from the 80s, as well as an obituary for a woman and a man. There were some photos of three people. I assume maybe the previous owners and a sketchbook with some random drawings in it. That's when I noticed something that hadn't caught my eye during the inspection.

Starting point is 07:49:50 A slight depression in the concrete floor near the back wall. Looking closer, I could see what appeared to be a trap door painted over to match the concrete floor. There was a small dip in the paint, and even a few cracks forming on it, results of a quick and cheap paint job. But this door wasn't mentioned in any of the paperwork, and I thoroughly went through it all, so I was certain the bank probably didn't know about it either. Now, I'm a pretty practical guy. After many years of renovating old houses, you learn not to jump at shadows. Secret rooms aren't that uncommon in older homes. People use them for storage, storm shelters, or bunkers maybe.

Starting point is 07:50:38 And some were even used during the Prohibition era. But something about this one felt different. I pulled out my multi-tool and broke around most of the painted crevice. Then, finding the concave curved handle, I pulled it open. There wasn't even a lock. I looked down and it was just, pitch black. At first glance, you couldn't even see the ground and how far down it went.

Starting point is 07:51:06 I pulled out my small flashlight that I had attached to my belt, and surprisingly, it wasn't that far of a drop. Again, I don't scare easily, and after shining my lights around in the room and not seeing anything dangerous, I dropped down into it. It was probably about six feet exactly, because I was six-four, and I was six-four, and in my work boots I had to duck a bit. Thankfully, I had decent upper body strength because I didn't notice until after I dropped down there

Starting point is 07:51:39 that there was no ladder, no steps to get back up. I would have to pull myself back out. I shined my light around the room, and what I saw was, frankly, curious and unsettling. There were deep gouges in the cement walls near the trap door, as well as in the wooden door itself, like scratch marks.

Starting point is 07:52:02 The room was very small. Reaching my arms out, I could almost reach from each side to the opposite wall. The wall furthest from the door had a dark stain on the concrete and an old empty metal bucket in the corner. But even with how empty it was, it spoke loud and clear to me. It's hard to explain,

Starting point is 07:52:25 but something felt deeply wrong. Something bad happened in there. I got out of there and not wanting to disturb anything else, I called the police. Maybe I was being overly cautious, but those scratch marks and that stain and the cover-up of the door, it painted a picture that I didn't want to think about. The detectives came and I explained to them that I was the new owner and showed proof. They took a lot of photos, and they asked if they could take the box as, that were left, to which I agreed.

Starting point is 07:53:00 They spent several hours down there, but then that was it. I was told to not do anything to the house until they reached back out. A few days later, I got a brief call saying that I was free to proceed with my renovations. They never told me if they found anything significant or asked me any questions. But I was far too curious to just let this go. I started looking into the history of the house and its previous owner. I briefly mentioned the old man who lived there previously, but he ended up in hospice care with dementia. He was once married and they had one child together, a son.

Starting point is 07:53:42 His wife died many years earlier, and he was left to raise their kid alone. Here is where it gets creepy. The son had lived at home, with his dad, and was a suspect in his girlfriend's disappearance back in the 80s. The girlfriend was never found, and the son died in that car accident, the one I found the newspaper clipping for, before the case was resolved. It's still listed as an open cold case. I barely found that information because of how old it was.

Starting point is 07:54:17 Sometimes, I wondered if the truth about what happened to that girl and what took place in that secret room in the basement were related. Hell, I thought about reaching out to her family myself with what I found, but what would you even say in that situation? Hey, I found a creepy room and some newspaper clippings. It doesn't really prove anything. I also wondered how much the father knew, how much was locked away in his deteriorating mind.

Starting point is 07:54:50 But I had no right to. to really pry into something like that. No matter what did or didn't happen, I'm sure two families were devastated by the events and I didn't want to drudge it all back up. So all I could do was when I did best. I finished the renovations, I replaced the creepy trap door with a proper cellar door

Starting point is 07:55:15 and added some steps to it and even installed some shelving to try and give it a less sinister purpose. The rest of the house, I completed as normal, and I didn't find anything else near as interesting as the basement. The house sold quickly to a younger couple. When I was alone with the guy, I told him about the basement because I had a feeling no one else would. I couldn't not tell them. I'm not sure that I totally believe in the paranormal, but I do believe in karma, and I'm not putting that on me or anyone else. But the guy seemed more impressed by my cover-up job than anything, and it didn't dissuade them from buying the house either.

Starting point is 07:56:01 I don't want to name where the house is or the previous owners, because even though it's been years, decades even, people still live there. And I don't want their privacy interrupted. But just knowing that I may have found out about a dark family secret, a secret that some may have taken to their great. Rave still kind of haunts the back of my mind. Hello, Raven. I came across your channel a few months back, and I thoroughly enjoy listening to you narrate. And can I just dash that I truly appreciate the careful and considerate way you read,

Starting point is 07:56:49 especially the more traumatic stories? With that said, onto my story. I'm refraining from giving names, hopefully the reason will become evident. this is not a story about any of my crazy exes, but rather my mother's. She met a man through a text-based dating service in 2005, before smartphones were a thing, particularly here in the UK. My mom was smitten at first sight, however. When I first met him, I had an instant dislike of him, and I told my mom that there was

Starting point is 07:57:26 something off about him. She, of course, brushed me off. telling me that I was being silly, and that I should give him a chance. It wasn't long before his mask fell off, and my hunch proved to be correct. It started as it always does with Little Diggs. Snide comments, she was wrong, he was right. Anyone who's been through this knows how it starts, slowly, until they've taken full control. My sister and I, as well as some of my mom's friends, kept trying to,

Starting point is 07:58:00 convince her to dump him, but she was adamant that he was a good person, and she wanted to help him, and so he moved in with her. Believe me, none of us were happy about that. He then started restricting her movements. If anyone wanted to spend time with her, it had to be at the house, and only when he was there, so minimal chance of a girly chat. On one of the rare occasions, Mom and I were able to meet up without him, I tried again to get her to kick him out, and she said that she couldn't, because he was threatening to get myself and my sister in trouble with the police. He knew people that could plant drugs, etc. I tried telling her that they were empty threats.

Starting point is 07:58:49 He didn't even know where I lived, but, sadly, as you can probably guess, he'd managed to get it into her head, and she believed he could and he would. He forced her to move to a different town, far enough away from her family and friends so that we couldn't get to her. That's when he got violent with her. She finally listened to us and left him. I moved with her to yet another town, helped her settle into a new home and job. That's when she told me that he'd started pushing her around the house. And on several occasions, pushing her to the floor while screaming obsessing.

Starting point is 07:59:30 She said her. I'm not a small woman, and I was more than ready to take a baseball bat to his skull. I'm sure many people would feel the same, but she stopped me. Months go by, and we're now in 2006. Mum moved to a bigger and nicer house, and I moved to my own little house, not too far from her. The next few months were uneventful until that summer she called me to say that they had talked. gotten back together and that he was moving in. I won't lie, I called her a bloody idiot.

Starting point is 08:00:08 There was no way he had changed. But like all abusers, he was able to turn on the charm and she fell for it. As predicted, he hadn't changed, and he gradually went back to his old horrible ways. As Mum earned more than he did, she was expected to pay for everything, the last. being a puppy in early 2007. I say last, because shortly after that, my mom arrived at my house

Starting point is 08:00:38 and informed me that he had choked her into an unconsciousness that morning. Angry, I asked if she had finally wiped the crap from her eyes, and was ready to rid herself of him. She replied, yes, but that she needed my help. She's my mom, how could I not?

Starting point is 08:00:58 I forced her to go to the police. She had visible bruises and a red hand-shaped mark on her neck. Thankfully, the police acted immediately. They went to the magistrate court, and they got an order for this horrible man to be escorted out of the county. When we went back to the house, the police monitored him while he packed his things in his car. That is when he said that he wouldn't leave until he had his puppy. Remember, my mom paid for that puppy. Her name is on the paperwork, and we knew that he would just dump the puppy at a shelter.

Starting point is 08:01:36 He didn't care for the pup. It would only be a form of punishment for my mom who adored her dogs. He was escorted to the county border, but, alas, that was as far as our county police could go, and he knew that. So all he did was go over the border, sat at the services for a couple of hours, and, yeah, you guessed, drove back to our hometown. From then on he stalked my mom. Silent phone calls, notes taped her car, the works. Mum was terrified, and I became her bodyguard going everywhere with her,

Starting point is 08:02:16 and I moved back in with her when she moved to a nice house on the countryside. The only place I couldn't be with her was her place of work. It was quiet for a few weeks, and then the notes started a bit. appearing again. It was my job to let the dogs out at night, and often I thought I saw something moving in the bushes. But it's the countryside, so I thought foxes. Reasonable, right?

Starting point is 08:02:46 Until one night the puppy went over to the bushes, and something or someone snarled at the pup. After that, the only way to get the pup to go out for the bathroom was to put her lead on and walk her out. I'm now positive it was him. We knew if he was going to do anything violent, it would be at her work, because I couldn't be there. About a month after the snarling bush incident, I was out shopping while mum was at work. We had just hung up the phone after she called me to remind me to pick her up her medication. Then I had a weird feeling that something was wrong. I desperately wanted to call her boss and make sure she was escorted to her car, but mom hadn't told anyone at work about what was happening. So I knew she would be embarrassed and

Starting point is 08:03:37 furious with me, and I was honestly afraid. My mom could be scary and quite insulting when she was angry, so I didn't make that call. I wish that I had. I'll spend the rest of my life regretting my decision. Her fury would have been better than what happened. About mid-afternoon that day, I was talking to my then-boyfriend and told him I had a feeling I would never see my mom again. I wasn't exactly right or wrong because I did see her one more time. Four days later, when my sister and I identified her body. I should have made that phone call. That monster, that psycho was there that day. And as my mom was putting her work bits in her car, he struck.

Starting point is 08:04:31 He murdered our beautiful mom, just because she had finally stood up to him. He was arrested and I gave evidence. However, there was an order stopping myself and my sister from attending court after giving evidence, and all we were told was you don't need to hear more than you already know. so I'm guessing that more happened at the scene. I was in my early 20s, my sister a few years older, so maybe they felt that we were too young or just that there were things her daughters shouldn't know about.

Starting point is 08:05:07 I don't know. He was sentenced to life, and I hope he rots like the piece of garbage that he is. We gave mom a proper send-off, her funeral was beautiful, and the church was packed. I think that we did her proud. At least, I hope we did. I love you, Mom.

Starting point is 08:05:28 I wrote this, not to put people off of online dating. Not everyone is a crazy psycho killer. I met my husband online, and he's the sweetest, kindest, most gentle person I've ever met. But rather I write to advise and remind you to take notice of those red flags. When the first one is raised, that is when you get out. Don't sit around, waiting for more,

Starting point is 08:05:59 or hoping things will change for the better. They won't. They never do. And don't ignore family and close friends when they tell you something isn't right. Because more often than not, they may be right. I don't know if this will make it on to your channel, Raven, but if it does or doesn't,

Starting point is 08:06:21 thank you for taking the time. to read my story. I did something very stupid, and I would like to share it with you all in the hopes that you won't make the same mistake as me. I had spent three years of my life basically becoming one with my couch. Due to the pandemic, my job became full and permanently remote, and I got a little too comfortable not leaving my house, and that's practically what I did between 2020 and 2023. My once active lifestyle became a distant memory as I navigated life between my bedroom

Starting point is 08:07:07 and my home office, with occasional trips to the kitchen and bathroom. By the end of 2023, I was sick of those four walls. So, my New Year's resolution for 2024 was to get back to being active. I used to hike a lot. I had a lot of gear and even used to blog about it.

Starting point is 08:07:32 So I told myself that I was going to get back into it. I wanted to start walking weekly and take as many hiking trips as I could. But before anyone questions this, I live far from the U.S. I live where January is peak summer and the trails are beautiful, so January was my time to get back into it. I pulled out my gear to make sure it was all in good good, condition still, and determined what I needed to replace. I did some research, or so I thought, on some locations, and picked what was labeled as an intermediate trail about an hour out from where I lived. In my mind, I was still the same person who used to do 15-kilometer hikes every weekend.

Starting point is 08:08:19 I ignored the fact that my only exercise for the past three years had pretty much been going to the grocery store or the mailbox. I got to the trail around 9 a.m. And it was already hitting 35 degrees, about 95 Fahrenheit for you Americans. I had packed what I thought was enough water, two 750 milliliter bottles. I read that you should drink about 500 milliliters per hour of hiking. The trail was supposed to take about three hours, so the math seemed simple enough. I was also a pretty big water drinker, so I was also a pretty big water drinker, so I was was confident that I would be okay. My first kilometer felt great. I was proud of myself for

Starting point is 08:09:04 actually getting out there and sticking to it. I had missed it. The tall trees provided patches of shade and there was even a light breeze. I felt unstoppable. Like I was finally taking my once active life back. The energy was coming back to me and I was already thinking about my next hike and where I wanted to go. By the second kilometer, my shirt was soaked through with sweat, but I pushed on. I kept thinking about all the motivational things I got from my dad, from my sister, and even my friends that were encouraging me to do this. Even as I started getting tired, I told myself that it was just because I was getting back

Starting point is 08:09:48 to it, and I just had to push through the pain and exhaustion, and I would eventually get that second wind. Around the third kilometer, things started going wrong. I noticed my breaths were more like short gasps, and my legs felt super heavy. Even when I was hiking frequently, I would be tired afterwards, but not like that. My legs felt like cement, and it became difficult to walk more than a few steps without having to stop to catch my breath. I had already finished with one of the bottles of water and was halfway through the second. The trail was getting steeper with a lot of loose rocks that made it even harder to walk up. Part of me thought that I should just turn back.

Starting point is 08:10:37 That way I could at least get rest under the shade of the trees, but then I also felt like doing that would be admitting defeat. and there was no way that my ego would let me do that on my first day. I don't remember exactly when I thought I was in danger, but I remember starting to get disoriented. The trees were all looking the same. I couldn't recall if I'd passed unique boulders before or not. Was I going in circles? My vision was getting fuzzy around the edges, and my skin had stopped sweating.

Starting point is 08:11:12 A bad sign I vaguely remember. from when I took first aid and read about when I got into hiking. Then the last thing I remembered was trying to sit down and completely missing the rock that I was aiming for. I fell backwards and crumpled to the ground. I remember lying there.

Starting point is 08:11:32 My heart was pounding so hard that I could feel it in my gums. I tried reaching for my bag not knowing what I would do when I got to it anyways. I didn't really get service out of the time. there and I was out of water. I guess maybe it was a comfort at the time. Either way, I couldn't reach it because of how heavy my arms felt. I don't know how long I was there lying on the

Starting point is 08:11:59 ground in the middle of nowhere. I remember drifting in and out seeing the sun move. Because of this, I was no longer in the patch of shade that I'd collapsed in. At that moment, I was terrified. I thought I was going to fry there and that was it. Maybe someone would find me before I got too bad. But then I heard footsteps on the trail. I wanted to look for them, to call out for help, but my body betrayed me. I could barely turn my head to look for them. I couldn't even keep my eyes open. Then I felt the cooling on my face like I was once again in the shade. I opened my eyes and saw someone standing over me, some older man. He said something, but I either didn't understand it, or he said it quietly.

Starting point is 08:12:51 I couldn't quite make it out. Then I felt my head being lifted and something hitting my lips. Finally, I could make out the voice. They kept saying, small sips, open up, and similar things. I was drinking something sweet, and it was the best thing I had ever tasted at that moment. Then I felt my head go back down, and I felt my body being dragged. All I could think about at that time was all those true crime podcasts. I couldn't move my body and now I was being dragged somewhere.

Starting point is 08:13:29 That was how people disappeared, right? If not for the heat or dehydration, this was how I was going to die. My mind was in a weird place, and I was clearly thinking irrationally. I don't know how long I was in and out at that point, but when I finally came to, I saw an older man sitting next to me eating something and reading a book. He looked over at me and explained that I had heat exhaustion and was probably close to a heat stroke. Not to mention, I was dehydrated. He gave me a pretty simple but stern talking to about not over-exerting yourself and bringing plenty of water. He then gave me the rest of the bottle of what he had me sipping on, which had an electrolyte mix in it.

Starting point is 08:14:20 He sat there with me a little while longer, and we got to talking about what happened. I explained my resolution and what I had done. He laughed, not in a mean way, but agreed that it was good of me to get back out there, but that I went about it the wrong way. I knew he was right. I had pushed it. I should have started easier and I definitely should have overpacked on water. I messed up and it really could have cost me my life.

Starting point is 08:14:52 I ended up walking the rest of the trail with that man and he gave me another bottle of water and something salty to snack on. He told me how that trail was one of his favorites and that he was out there nearly weekly since he had retired. I was incredibly thankful that he was too. No one else passed us, so. I easily could have died on that trail. Once we were back at the entrance, he asked if I was okay to drive,

Starting point is 08:15:19 and offered to take me to a nearby hospital to get checked out first. But I declined, not wanting to take up any more of his time. I did go to the hospital, and they made sure that I didn't have a heat stroke, and had plenty of fluids in me. They told me I was incredibly lucky that the man had found me too, because they had a few people come in. from heat-related conditions. It wasn't until then that it all really hit me.

Starting point is 08:15:48 I had been out there on the trails for about six hours. That man took it slow with me. He even stopped to make sure I was okay and could move again before we started walking. Hell, he could have left me or done worse, but he was too good for any of that. And for that, I will always be thankful. From there, I dialed it back a bit. I started on some easier trails and packed plenty of water, or went somewhere that had places to refill your water.

Starting point is 08:16:22 Now I'm back to hiking as I normally do, but now I also have a better understanding of signs that could lead to something more serious. That way, I can stop it before it happens, whether it's to myself or someone that I'm hiking with. So, to anyone else out there starting on a similar journey or goal, go easy on yourself. If you're making even the smallest difference, it's still progress. So don't immediately push yourself. Respect the fact that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is know your limits,

Starting point is 08:17:00 and try again another day. As a kid, my little sister and I always, prayed for those snow days the moment we heard it was going to snow. We lived in the Midwest, so snow wasn't unusual for us, but it did have a knack for shutting schools down when we got a good amount. We got lucky one year when they closed our school at nearly the last minute. We were excited because we wanted to play in the snow all day, and now we could. Our neighborhood was filled with kids, and we got along with most of them, so we'd planned to all play together. The more of us meant better snowball fights and faster made walls.

Starting point is 08:17:53 We got dressed that morning in multiple layers, parents' orders, before finally getting outside. We lived right around the bend on our street, so the side yard between ours and the Henderson's was wider than normal. This meant more of an open canvas for us to play in. First, we had to go gather some other kids. This was back in the early 2000s, so it was pretty normal for us to just walk around to someone's house and ask if their kids could play. Eventually, we got Maria, who lived two houses to the left of us.

Starting point is 08:18:28 Brett, who was further up the road, and the twins, Jacob and Jackie, came running down the hill to play with us too. Once the six of us were together, we all started walking back down to the bend. As we walked back, I remember hearing the familiar grinding sound of a plow scraping the road. Shortly after, I saw it zoom past us,

Starting point is 08:18:50 and even as a 12-year-old, I knew that he was going too fast. My dad always talked about how to respect the snow, and any weather for that matter, because it can and will always make a difference in your drive. I yelled out, Slow down! And everyone else followed suit. We also called them a jerk,

Starting point is 08:19:12 but then my sister, Amy, reminded us that the windrow could benefit us for access to more snow, or even a wall. So we quickly forgot about it and moved on. The more we played, the hotter I got, as I had on a long-sleeved shirt, a sweater and a thick neon pink coat, along with my hat, a scarf, and, well, everything else. So I took off my heavy coat and left it in the snow near the front of the house. as a child would.

Starting point is 08:19:44 We were playing as normal, going back to the front to gather more snow, when the plow driver came by again. This time he went around the bend close to the curb, hitting the dip that was along the edge. It had been there for as long as I could remember, and everyone on that block knew to avoid it. But if you weren't used to driving down that road,

Starting point is 08:20:06 you may not realize that it was there. Either way, the driver had. hit it and splashed some of us with the dirty, snowy slush in that hole. I took the brunt end of it, and my whole left side was covered. I was soaked and angry. I hated being wet like that, and I knew that I didn't want to be out in the cold like that either. So, I told everyone that I would be back after I went to change. I told my mom what had happened since I was the only one that came back.

Starting point is 08:20:41 As I changed, my mom was debating even letting me go back out, saying that the plow driver was being reckless. However, I begged her to let us continue playing, and she finally gave in. She told us that, if we saw him again, I needed to let her know immediately, and I promised her that I would. When I got back outside, Brett's older brother had showed up, and they were all working on rebuilding our first wall and building a third. We got them all completed, and we're trying to decide how to split up into teams before we started our game. We played some version of Capture the Flag with the Snowball Fight, and we had a lot of fun. I was on a team with my little sister, Amy, and Maria, and we were at the wall closest to the road. In the middle of our game, Jacob stopped and pointed toward us and shouted,

Starting point is 08:21:37 he's coming back. I looked behind us and saw the plow driver coming down the road again. At first, I was annoyed, because I knew that if I told my mom she would want us to go back in. But then my stomach dropped. The plow was up, and he was just gunning it toward the bend. So why was he even going down our street?

Starting point is 08:22:03 Even worse, he was practically flying down the road. way faster than he should have been. That bend was infamous for unfamiliar people taking it way too fast, and I knew what was about to happen. He hadn't started turning yet, and with how fast he was going, he was headed right for our base, right where Amy stood. I don't remember making the decision to move. I just remember grabbing Amy and shoving her as hard as I could toward the yard.

Starting point is 08:22:35 Maria already ran off, and once Amy was out of the way, I ran towards her. I wasn't thinking. I just thought that I could get her out of the way faster by shoving her rather than making her run, picking her up even, or dragging her. She was the youngest of our group at only seven. So she was definitely slower than the rest of us, especially in all the layers of clothes that she wore. As I reached out and went to grab her arm to continue pulling her, I heard the truck roar past us, and the tires skidding. It all seemed to play out in slow motion.

Starting point is 08:23:15 I looked back and watched in horror as the truck jumped the curb, fish-tailed through our snow wall, ran over my pink coat, and then continued flailing through the yard and around the bend, until it finally slammed into our community mailbox station further around it. The sound was incredible. Metal screaming against metal, the mailboxes ripping from the post and the truck's engine racing. Before any of us kids could even move, people started pouring out of their houses.

Starting point is 08:23:49 My mom was one of them, but Mr. Martinez, Maria's dad, was one of the first ones out, and he stormed towards the truck. I had never seen Mr. Martinez look angry before. He was always the gentle guy who helped anywhere he could. Sometimes he took us to school when we were running late and when I stayed over with Maria. He made the best ice cream sandwiches. Mr. Martinez ran straight to the truck and started yelling at it. We all watched as he yanked open the door and stood on the step, shouting at the guy.

Starting point is 08:24:24 Then he dragged the driver out of the truck, by the back of his jacket, and I remembered the sound of his feet hitting the ground and him being dragged across the snow. Mr. Martinez stood over the man shaking him, yelling things like, what the hell is wrong with you?

Starting point is 08:24:41 There are kids out here. I could hear the guy's shaky voice. He was scared, but he just kept repeating, I'm sorry, over and over. My dad, Ms. Martinez, and another neighbor ran up to them,

Starting point is 08:24:56 and were trying to get Mr. Martinez off of the man while I noticed my mom was on the phone telling someone what was happening. I calmed Amy down as she was now in tears, terrified of everything that was happening, but otherwise, us kids still just stood there in awe, watching this all play out. My mom then asked us what happened,

Starting point is 08:25:19 and a few of us explained what we saw. That's about the time the cops showed up too. There were a few of them, and they all seemed to take turns talking to us kids with our parents, some of the adults, and the plow truck driver. The sun was starting to set, and we all went to my house to watch TV until everyone else's parents showed up, too. The last thing I remembered about that night was watching out the window as a tow truck hauled away the plow truck. The driver was handcuffed, and I'm pretty sure he was put in the back of a car. a cop car, and some people helped pick up the mailbox station and were assessing the damage.

Starting point is 08:26:02 When everyone was back inside, my parents told me that it was very smart of me to move my sister out of the way, and it was a nice feeling, but it didn't last long. I noticed my mom had tossed my coat in a laundry hamper, and when I saw all the giant treadmarks across it, I remember crying. What if I had been wearing it? What if I was lying in the snow right there or even my sister? There was no way that we would have survived getting run over by the plow truck. And it was an incredibly terrifying and awakening moment for me.

Starting point is 08:26:40 My parents made sure that we knew we did nothing wrong in that situation, but also it made me more aware of the dangers of the road. We had walked in the grass-covered snow because the sidewalk was still covered. but since then I now pay attention to any car approaching us and it would make me nervous for many years after that when we got older my parents and even Maria shared more about what happened that we missed Maria said that her parents were talking and her dad mentioned the guy reeked of alcohol but when he approached the truck he yelled at him that we needed to stay out of the streets

Starting point is 08:27:21 then his tone completely changed when he was yanked out of the safety of the truck. That's when Mr. Martinez could smell him. My parents told me that he did get arrested that night because he was heavily intoxicated. I've got kids of my own these days, and while I don't have panic attacks when I see a plow truck, I am still very protective of my kids, especially when it comes to them playing outside. We don't have backyards where I live, so they only have the front yard to play in, but I have very hard-set boundaries of where they are allowed to play.

Starting point is 08:28:02 And I stay out there with them the entire time. I want them to be a kid and have fun and venture around, just like I did, but some lessons, you just can't forget.

As The Raven Dreams Podcast - 50 Of The BEST Scary Stories of 2025 - Part 1 | As The Raven Dreams Podcast

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.