As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 011 - Creepy January and Winter Stories - 06 True Scary Stories

Episode Date: January 21, 2022

Hello and Welcome to the 11th episode of The ATRD Podcast! Today we have some intriguing and terrifying stories submitted by everyday people. In Today's Episode we will have stories that all take place in either the Month of January, or Winter in general. The coldest months seem to bring the coldest chills... ➤ Want your story featured? Go to https://www.astheravendreams.com/Submit ➤ Want to know where to follow me on the internet? Go to https://www.astheravendreams.com/the-nevermore for all my links! ➤ You can also get EARLY ACCESS By joining my Patreon! https://patreon.com/astheravendreams ➤ All stories within are used w/ Either direct permission from the author- or under some level of CC license (where noted) True Stories are not verified, and should all be considered 'supposedly true'.  And Remember; You are loved, you are important, and you are valid. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/astheravendreams/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/astheravendreams/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I've never really told anyone about this story, with very few exceptions. Basically, I've only ever mentioned it to two people. One of them I'm married, and the other one really isn't in my life anymore. It didn't matter when I mentioned it to them, mostly because it was several years after the fact, and they didn't really seem interested in it when I told them about it, which probably speaks a little to why they aren't in my life anymore. Anyways, that said, I was listening to a few YouTube narrators tell creepy encounter stories, and I realized that I could go ahead and tell my story to the internet.

And then maybe someone out there would care. And maybe I'm overreacting with the whole thing, but it was just one of those situations that seriously freaked me out when I was younger, And it still kind of makes me sick to my stomach when I think about it now. I was young when this happened, like 14 or 15. Now, to tell you a bit more about who I was and how my life was back then, when I was around six, I ended up being dumped into the foster system and had been cycled through a couple of families for various reasons.

One of the things that you're not really told about the foster system, that you have to be a part of it to realize, there are people that adopt kids for money. It is absolutely a thing that happens, and when it does, the kids usually don't live their best lives. I was one of those kids. My foster parents had four other adoptees that they pretty much just ignored, and they collected a check each month from the government.

Because of this, I was pretty much left to my own devices from the time I was six to the time I was 16. After that, I had actually moved out of the foster home and in with the friend of mine, whom I actually ended up married to. Being left to do whatever I wanted most of my life led to me doing things that I was. I shouldn't have. I'm not going to beat around the bush. When I was 14 or so, I had already done a few different drugs, and I was already drinking pretty frequently with people I should not have been hanging out with.

I honestly don't even remember how I ended up with that crowd that I did, but I would frequently go out after school on Friday nights and hang out with people that were older than me. I would drink with them until I would black out, or until I just couldn't feel anything. Surprisingly, none of them ever did anything to me. I was 14 and very vulnerable, and seeing as how I would black out at the house with four or five guys that were anywhere between 17 and 24, they easily could have sexually assaulted me. But none of them ever even tried to even hit on me.

I think they looked at me as a younger sister, not enough to try to steer me in the right path, but enough that none of them looked at me in that way. That said, this specific event and situation was one where I wish I would have just drank until I blacked out, and slept it off over there, but I didn't. Now, for the most part, I would get to the point where I would have zero memory of the night before, But on this night, I wasn't feeling it, and I only drank enough to be kind of numb. I was still mostly conscious and able to focus.

Because of this, I decided that at around 1.30 in the morning, I would walk from their house to my house, which wasn't too far, but it was definitely far enough that a drunk 14-year-old girl should not have been considering walking it, especially since it was January and somewhere in the neighborhood of zero degrees Fahrenheit. But brave, stupid little old me was completely invincible, and I wanted to go home so I could sneak in and sleep in my own warm bed. I have no idea why I wanted to do that. I would have been warm and safe there. I just know that I wanted to.

The walk home started simple enough, I told them I was leaving, walked out into the snow-covered yard, and tried to keep my footing on the frozen sidewalk. About 300 feet from the house, I started thinking that this was stupid and that I was going to freeze to death, or fall and break something, but I was also a dumb kid and decided to just buck it up and go the whole way. Now, I wasn't exactly bundled up for snow,

but thankfully it had stopped at this point. I just had to deal with the wind and the freezing cold. I had a coat, sure, but I was also wearing shorts, which was something that I was definitely regretting pretty quickly. Despite these complaints, I was determined, and after about half an hour, I was at the home stretch. I could see my front yard from the corner that I was at, and I would be there and see.

somewhere close to five or ten minutes. As soon as I took the turn onto my street, I heard that sound of a front door and screen door opening, and then closing just to my left. I didn't think much of it at first, but then I heard someone yell, Hey, in my direction. I wanted to ignore it,

but my inebriated brain told me to look over and see who was calling for me. which was dumb, because I didn't know any of the people on this street, with the exception of our direct neighbors. I glanced over to see who it was, and my stare was met with an older man, probably somewhere in his 60s,

standing in his yard with his hands on his hips, and literally no clothes on. When I say no clothes, I mean nothing. No underwear, no robe, no socks, no shoes, not even a hat or anything. He was hanging out in all the glory of the day he was born. As soon as I made eye contact, his angered face quickly turned to a devious smile, and he said, Why are you out here so late, sweetheart? I turned back to look ahead so as to not be staring at this naked dude surrounded by snow

and just said, I'm just walking home, sorry to bother you, which was probably just a response that came from my dumb drunk brain. He then starts to walk towards me from his front door and says something like,

why don't you come on in? It's too cold to be out here. To which that same drunk brain, it decided to be a smart ass and say, yeah, I can tell. As soon as I made my snobes, quip, this dude started yelling obscenities at me as loud as he could, and started to speed up in my direction. As soon as I heard him running towards me, I took off into a sprint towards my house.

I turned back and I saw that he was following me as fast as he could. Thankfully, I was about 50 years younger, and probably close to 200 pounds lighter than him at the time. So I was able to get a bit of a lead. Unfortunately, around the point where I hit my yard, I realized two things. It was 1.30 in the morning. No one in my house was going to be awake, and I didn't have a key to the front door. My original plan of sneaking in wouldn't have worked as it was, and at this point I was stuck with having to break in.

But that wasn't going to work since I had the naked old man, seriously telling me into my own yard. The only thing I was going to be able to do was get into my backyard and hope that the outside door to the detached garage was unlocked, and then hope that he would eventually give up on his chase. I got to my yard and hopped the wooden fence, and immediately was hopeful that that would be enough to stop him. Almost as if he read my mind, he literally shouted,

Huh, you're going to make me work for you, huh? The tone of his voice seriously sickened me, and just replaying it in my head makes me get those same chills down my spine. I took off around the house and got to the rear garage door, and almost as if God himself responded to my panicked request, I grabbed the knob and it turned. I literally leapt into the garage and shut the door behind me, and then locked it. I was sitting there on the ground with my back against the door, freaking out, and thinking that this guy was seriously going to get me, that he was going to just break the glass on the door and open it and then abduct me.

I heard him huffing and shouting at me, saying things like how he only needed me for a couple of minutes, and how he promised that it wouldn't hurt too much. This guy was seriously a predator. and he was hunting me. I heard him walking around the backyard, I heard him put his hands in the garage doorknob and try it, and then I heard him yell something and walk away.

I would have to guess that he didn't realize I was in the garage because he kept walking around and calling out for me. I want to reiterate that this naked old man had run after me in the snow, climbed over a fence into my own home's backyard and was still yelling out for me. He obviously had no shame and no care about whether or not someone saw him or noticed him. He had a one-track mind, and getting to me was that track.

At some point in time, my brain gave up and my drunk self started to doze off sitting on the floor of the garage. I was freezing cold, drunk, and scared, but I was also exhausted, and I ended up just falling asleep right there against the door. My guess is, when he realized I wasn't outside anymore or wasn't in a place that he could get to me, he gave up and went back home. Mostly because, when I woke up, it was to one of my older brothers opening the garage door to leave for work. He basically told me to go inside and go to bed, which I did, mostly because I knew that this hangover was probably going to suck. This was seriously the most terrifying thing to have ever happened to me. The fact that this old, naked man was willing to run into the freezing weather to chase me down the street,

enter into my backyard to get to me, and then yell while right outside. my home about what he was going to do to me was, well, it was horrifying. It's even worse that either no one in my family woke up to it or cared enough to see what the hell was going on. Like I said, I'm much older now pushing into my late 40s and am married to someone that actually does love me. It just pains me and sickens me to know what he was probably likely. looking to do to me, and I'm thankful for the fact that I was able to get away from him.

But I also worry with how brazen he was about everything. I'm thinking that I may not have been the first person that he had targeted. This happened to me and my friend when we were 21. My dad was never in the picture, so it was always my mom and her man of the month. I never got along with them because they were all. always mean, abusive, or just used my mom to flirt with me, but she never believed me. Needless to say, my relationship with my mom definitely could have been better. I bring this up because as soon as I graduated high school, she sided with her boyfriend that I needed

to get my own place and stood in the doorway as I packed up as much stuff as I could and left. Thankfully, I have one of the best friends a girl could ask for, Jamie, and her and her mom agreed that I could stay there. Jamie was trying to figure out if she wanted to go to college, so her mom had no qualms about her living at home. I wasn't planning on going to college myself, but I already had a job and agreed to help pay the bills or rent while I was there. Jamie's mom, Carla, was the mom that I always wanted. She was kind, compassionate, and open with both of us, so my concerns and questions that I would normally ask my mom for help on, I went to her. I even had a pregnancy scare at one point, and they were the only two people that knew about it. I bring this up to help you understand a bit about my history

and why I was always with Jamie. I know I wasn't the best kid growing up. I skipped school some days. I drank, talked back to my mother, and would, what the police would call, run away. But they never did anything about it. I already knew. I should have been better for,

for myself, my own future, but I do still also blame my mother for this as well, because I never had a stable home that I could go to or trust, especially when there was a potential predator living under the same roof. With that being said, Jamie and I often partied with friends. We'd screw around at the mall or other retail stores, sometimes getting loud and we would be asked to leave, or would start getting heavily watched by AP or something. This incident happened to be one of those nights, that we went a little too crazy. It was January 24th.

I know this because it was my birthday, and I was turning 21. I wanted to go out and get my own drinks, and just party until I was sick. Jamie was cool with it, and, after some convincing, saying, Carla agreed to let us go as well, but told us to make sure we would call if we needed a ride or anything happened. We live in a large city, so we could walk just about everywhere, which was nice since I couldn't afford a car anyways. So we planned on hitting a few bars on this one block, and then just hanging around the area. We're both thinner girls, but I'd like to think that I could.

could handle my own if something happened. I also carried a pocket knife concealed as a key on my keychain, so I had a little protection. We got to the first bar, ordered some specific fancy mixer and got ID'd. Then they wished me a happy birthday. From there, we had a few drinks from people enjoying their nights as well. After a while, there was a large group of older women that, came in and kept staring at us, so we decided to bounce. We went to another one that was a tiny half-bar.

It looked like it was one building but cut in half for the bar, and the other side was a small printing shop. There were a few older men sitting in a booth watching TV, and the bartender was playing one of those bar-top video card games. We got a few drinks there, but if I as much as laughed, too loud, they all looked over at me, so we didn't stay there for very long. We found another one, and headed there, and this would be the one that we spent the rest of the night at. There were a few cars parked out front, but when we entered, they were pretty packed.

Most of the tables were full, and people were standing by the bar, talking, and dancing and having a good time. I knew that this would work for us too. We got in, got a few drinks, and just started screwing around. We tried playing darts and failed. We played pool and did an okay job, I thought. But there was one guy that kept trying to correct the moves that we were making. We didn't give a damn. We were already buzzed and were just impressed with being able to shoot the balls in the hole.

There were a couple of guys sitting at a tall table right next to their little dance floor, so I dared Jamie to go and see if she could get us free drinks. After some negotiating, she finally gave in and we walked up to their table and asked if we could sit our drinks there while we danced. They kind of looked at each other and grinned and said yes. We put some money on their little jukebox thing and started dancing. Thinking back on it, I'm sure we took it too far, but we were doing dumb dances, grinding on each other, things like that. After a few, one of the guys motioned us over and they bought us some drinks.

We also started doing shots, stuff I'd never had before, and just started talking and legit having a great time. After a while, they went and started dancing with us, doing the same. Several drinks and songs later, more and more people started buying us drinks, and we lost track of the original two guys we were sitting with, but that didn't stop us. Knowing me, though, I started getting too rowdy. Some broad was getting mad about us laughing and screwing around and told the bartender we were underage and had fake IDs. I was pretty pissed, pretty much tossing my idea at them, telling them it was real and to check it,

but they told us that we needed to leave. The fact that the bartender and the woman yelling at us were calling each other by their names tells me she was probably a regular, so of course they would just side with her. After a few more choice words, we gathered our stuff and started to leave. It was pretty cold that night. and with us being pretty intoxicated, we could hardly walk straight. We wanted to go to this local 24-hour taco place, and as we were talking and putting on our jackets,

a guy walked out of the bar and asked us if we needed a ride. Jamie started to say no, in that she would just use the phone to call her mom, but I insisted on getting a ride and not bothering Carla, since it was so late. I vaguely remember this guy sitting at the bar smoking, so I figured he was cool enough. I got in the back seat. Jamie sat up front since she knew the taco place better than I did and could give directions.

Like I said, I was pretty drunk. Jamie held herself a lot better than I could, and I am incredibly thankful for that to this day. She gave some direction as to where we were trying to go, and I made a dumb comment about the store across the street because it was dumb. As we buckled in, not expecting a long ride, we made some small talk with the guy when, in the middle of me talking, I noticed he didn't turn down the road that I thought was the road we needed to take. As I noticed this, Jamie seemed to as well.

And as we both looked over to tell the guy, the look on his face had changed to a very serious one, and he was gripping the steering wheel hard, with both hands staring forward. He looked up at me in the mirror, and I just remembered feeling terrified at that moment. It was the same feeling I got when my mom's boyfriend assaulted me, but there was nothing I could do,

and I've now put my best friend in the same situation. I started looking around the back seat to see if there was anything I could do or use, but there was nothing. The car was completely clean. All I could do was sit there in fear, watching as he drove by street after street and on to the highway. However, Jamie was the brave one in this case. She started talking to the guy and trying to get him to talk as well. She thanked him for the ride and said that she wished there were more people like him out there trying to protect younger girls. She said we were out for my 21st birthday and just trying to have a good time.

She said something to me and all I could choke out was, yep. She said she was excited to start college and make her mom and little brother proud. She did have a little brother at the time. He was around 12. She asked if he went to school and he gave short answers, saying yes, what he went for but then didn't talk much. She said what she was most excited about was being the first grandchild to go to college and to make her grandmother proud. Also true, but I could see what she was doing. She then asked him if he had someone that he was proud of or someone who was proud of him and he didn't answer.

We all just sat there quietly for a few when we finally heard him sniffle. He got off the highway, pulled up to a bus stop, and unlocked the doors. He told us to get out, and we both quietly but quickly jumped out of the car. He then said good luck in college and don't do anything you don't want to do, even if someone else says it's for your own good and then took off. That's when I hugged Chief. Amy tight, and she punched me in the arm and started crying. She told me as soon as she noticed he wasn't slowing down at the turn.

She looked down at the floor trying to figure out what to do when she saw two rolls of duct tape and an empty knife holder. So she went in to the guilt trip, hoping it would work before we started pleading. I'm thankful she was clear-headed enough to do this because I was frozen in fear thinking that was it. We walked over to a gas station and called her mom to come get us. We didn't have any info on the guy past him having a green car and what he looked like. We told Carla about it, and she freaked out.

We went and got prepaid phones that week. I'd like to think that I'm more careful now. I don't get into random people's cars. Hell, I won't even take Ubers because it gives me anxiety, and I don't go anywhere without someone knowing where I'm at, and my phone. So, to the guy that almost abducted us, thank you for changing your mind. I don't necessarily never want to meet you again, but I hope whatever demons were haunting you. I hope that they went away, and I hope you're doing better in life. this is a bit of an unconventional scary story, and to some it may seem more strange than terrifying,

but for me, it was probably one of the few moments in my life where I was seriously scared. I don't scare easily, and I do have a bit of a tough guy bravado about me, and sure I may be a bit ignorance to the ways of the world, but I don't scare easily, but I do have a bit of a tough guy bravado about me, and sure, I may be a bit of a bit of ignorance to the ways of the world, but I like to believe I can hold my own out here in this big, bad world. That said, no, when the whole thing went down, I was feeling like a wimp. So, in order to really tell the story, we have to establish some background. Of course, isn't that how all these scary stories go?

Back when this happened, I had just turned 17 a month prior. which would have been around December of 2014. I had applied for and successfully landed my first job at a certain sandwich shop. One that's definitely well-known, but nowhere near the size of subway or anything. Despite the fact that the interview was literally just, how old are you and have you ever worked fast food before, I was seriously excited to have landed the job at all. The shop had a handful of employees, a couple shift leads, a manager, and then an owner that owned two of the same shop.

I will also mention that not all the locations were franchised, such as his two locations. A lot of them were owned locally and independently, and basically just paid for the brand recognition. They had to follow the corporate guidelines for the product, but that was it. This being the case, it was actually kind of nice working there, as they paid better than the franchised locations, and they were a lot more lax on how things were done. So long as the place stayed clean and the customers stayed happy, we weren't harassed or pushed to do menial tasks just because we had free time. There wasn't a whole lot of free time, but when it wasn't busy, we were pretty much full. free to sit in the back and chat. One of the surprising things that I noticed when I started working there

was that the owner would occasionally work behind the line, and would also sometimes close the shop with the managers. This was a bit odd to me. I thought the whole point of owning a small place like this was to pretty much not work, but still reap the rewards. But it was also kind of nice, because the... The owner was a pretty legit dude. He was actually the person that I had my welcome aboard meeting with, and he was kind,

professional, and seemed to be genuinely supportive. The managers were pretty decent, and the rest of the staff did their job well enough. I think all of this really led to an environment that was welcoming for everyone, and the customers could tell. So, all that is the background. a good place to work, decent employees and management, and the owner was probably the nicest person to ever own a sandwich shop. With all that out there, it didn't take long for me to see some of what was actually going on, specifically with the owner.

I started the job in December, probably two weeks before Christmas, and in my second week, I was working a shift with the owner and, one of the managers. During the shift, a large black SUV pulled up to the front spot, and in walked two very well-dressed businessmen. At this point, we weren't busy, so I happily washed my hands, put on some gloves, and then turned around to ask how I could help these gentlemen. Now, again, I'm not a small dude, and I'm confident in my abilities to hold myself, but these

guys, something about them was intimidating. As soon as I turned around, one of the guys asked for Marcus, who was the owner of the establishment. Almost as if on cue, Marcus walks out from the back and tells me that he will take care of these two, and that I should go ahead and take a ten-minute break outside. He was very pushy about this, and as much as I didn't want to go out into the snow, I went ahead and did what he asked. As I was headed out the back door, I was stopped for a second by the manager,

and I told him that Marcus told me to go out back and take a break because of two guys asking for him in the front. As soon as I said this, he let me go and headed into the shop, but I could tell by the look on his face, these guys were a big deal. Now, when two grown men react to VIII, visitors like this, it's obvious that something is up, and it's either not legal or it's ethically questionable. In the end, it wasn't my business, so I let it go and took a

breakout back. About a week later, a situation like this played out the same when the same guys showed up, except this time Marcus wasn't there. I told them as such, and when I mentioned that I would be happy to help them, the look they gave me, it felt like daggers. I then mentioned that I could also go get my manager if that would help, and then shouted to the back for Corey, the manager that was there the last time this happened. He got to the front, and much like Marcus told me to go ahead and take a ten out back.

By this point, I kind of just assumed the situation was flat out, something illegal, like drugs, and I didn't want to be involved with it. So I just said screw it and went out to my car. It was snowing, and if I was going to take a break, I was going to do so comfortably. For about a month, this didn't happen. No suited men, no scared managers, nothing like that. And things were pretty normal at the store. Then, somewhere around the end of January,

I was working with the owner on a closing shift, and the manager that was supposed to be on duty had to call in, so it was just the two of us. We had finished up the dinner shift for the night, and I was in the back doing dishes and cleaning when I heard Marcus say something like, sorry, we're actually closing up for the night. But he trailed off near the end,

like he was surprised by something. I thought maybe it was someone he knew, completely blanking on the two guys, so I just kept doing the dishes. Until I looked over and saw him walking back, being followed by, you guessed it, the two fancy guys from the black SUV. The only difference was that this time, they were pushing him to the back and they both had guns trained right on him. This is where I kind of fell apart mentally, and began to be able. became that wimp. I pretty much just pushed myself with my back against the wall, and put my

hands up in hopes that I wouldn't be a victim of whatever was going on here. I think they were a bit surprised to see me there and not the other manager, because they paused for a moment, and started talking to each other in a language that I didn't understand. Marcus then said something to them in that same language. I'm assuming telling them that I had nothing to do with any of what was going on, and to leave me alone. They didn't seem to like him back-talking, as one of them shoved him to the ground and then pointed the gun at me. To say that I became a baby would be an understatement.

I was 17. I'd been working, making sandwiches for a little over a month, and I'd been working to save money for a car, which was a dumb thing to think about, but it was all I could get into my brain. I was about to die and not get my car. This was the end of it for me, and I had no idea why. The guy that wasn't pointing his gun at me,

grabbed me by the shirt and walked me over to the walk-in. He stood me facing away from him and kicked the back of my knee so that I fell into a kneeling position. This was that make-or-break moment, and I honestly thought I was dead. Thankfully, I heard him. grab something and then felt him tying my hands and feet up and duct tape. He tied me up to the point where I couldn't move at all, and then shoved me down and shut the door.

I just kind of laid there on the floor and stared at the meat on the shelf and thought, my God, those guys were cartel or something, and I almost just died. I tried to listen to what was being said, but they were speaking the other language, so I had no idea what they were saying. I heard Marcus screaming, I heard them yelling, and then I heard the door to the back slam shuts, and nothing.

It was silent. I was seriously tied up, in the walk-in, and it was about 10 o'clock at night. No one was going to be coming into that store until around nine the next morning. and my parents probably weren't going to worry about me since I had a habit of crashing at my friend's houses. What's worse, with how cold it was, how scared I was, and how much adrenaline was seriously making my heart pump, there was no way I was going to fall asleep.

I just kind of sat there and stared at the wall for the entire night and felt like I was freezing. Thankfully, this was the walk-in fridge and not the actual freezer, so while it was cold, it probably wasn't going to kill me. The next morning, I was beyond ecstatic to hear someone come in, and I was screaming as loud as I could to get their attention. Needless to say, they were a bit more than shocked to find me bound and lying on the floor. They got me out, and they called the cops, as, well as the manager, who showed up in five minutes flat and started asking questions about the whole thing. He was there and trying to gather more information than the police were, which made me realize that he had a stake in this whole thing, too.

He didn't really seem keen on speaking to the police about the whole thing, but after I was questioned, I was given a number to call with more information and told that I could leave. That's, honestly, my whole story with this. To the best of my knowledge, they never found the owner, dead or alive, or the two men. And my guess is that they're no longer in the country. The store actually ended up closing, and I'm pretty sure the police started investigating the whole thing, but they didn't bother me anymore after that. I also didn't go back after that night.

and decided to just focus on school. I will say that I feel bad about whatever happened to Marcus, but I'm beyond thankful that they decided I wasn't enough of a threat that they needed to take me with them, wherever it is that they went. My parents own property in a very rural area in Minnesota. I loved going up there in early January for our late Christmas, and staying for the week.

They have a little guest cabin that I typically stayed in, so I have my privacy, but it's only ever me and my dog. Not that I minded, though, because it feels like I have my own place. I live in Texas with two roommates that I could do without, so it's nice to have some quiet. I'm from Minnesota, but I moved to Texas for school and was planning to move back once I graduated. I hate your highways, Texas. Anyways, the snowfall at my parents' property was almost therapeutic. During the day, it was always dead silent like the snow just buried anything that made a sound, and at night it was only ever lit up by the moon.

Otherwise, it was pitch black. Like, you can't even see your hands in front of your face. I always enjoyed walking around back in the trees because it reminded me of my childhood. I would go back there and have a whole imaginary fortress, friends, enemies, and creatures to fight off. So walking back there as an adult brought back memories, and I always seemed to find something that I left, hid, or lost.

I got there the first week of January since we were. we were on holiday break. Went in and talked with my parents. Had some coffee. I swear they drank coffee all day long. Mom knew that I would be there around dinner, so she already started making my favorite casserole. After eating, I went to the cabin to get ready for bed.

The next morning, I got up around eight to my dog, DJ, needing to go out. I was still groggy, so I just threw on my boots, still in my pajamas, and opened the door. Being such a large area, I wasn't worried about him running off or anything. He's a St. Bernard, gifted to me by my parents, and was about four at the time, so he always had a lot of energy. I should have known better, because of the about three minutes I stood there, He was instead playing in the snow. I got him back inside and decided to get dressed and walk around for a few before bothering my parents. As I mentioned, DJ was very well-trained, so if I told him to come back, stay put, follow me, he would listen,

and he could also tell when I was upset and would comfort me or protect me. As I mentioned earlier, since I got DJ from my parents, this wasn't the first time he'd been back in those trees either. So, we started walking back there, jumped over a small ditch, and through the trees. As expected, it was completely silent. There was a slight hum from the wind blowing, the taps of tree branches hitting each other or bending, and the crunch of snow beneath our feet. I was just walking and trying to identify the different trees when I noticed I didn't hear DJ walking with me. I stopped and looked around and realized that he had stopped walking a few feet back.

I called for him, and he just stood there, looking at me. After a few more times, he finally came, but he walked slowly to me. I was thinking maybe he was wrong. ready to go back, but it was unlike him to tire out so quickly. So, I decided to keep going a bit, and if he stopped again, we would head back and maybe go out there again tomorrow. Not much further, though, he stopped again, and I noticed because he started whimpering. I looked back again and said, What's wrong, DJ? That's when I noticed he kept turning his head sideways.

like he was listening for something. So I got quiet and listened as well. After a few seconds of not hearing anything, I tried to get him to keep going when he started growling, and then I heard something that sounded like a tree breaking or snapping. It was possibly just a tree breaking under the weight of the snow, but DJ's reaction had me on edge, that it may have been a wild animal,

So I decided to head back. I didn't want to disturb it, and I definitely didn't want either one of us hurt. I turned around and started walking back and called for DJ, but he didn't move. He continued to just stare straight ahead, growling. I finally raised my voice and said, DJ, let's go, now. Then I heard my voice. clear as though I repeated myself saying, DJ, let's go. It wasn't like an echo.

It was like I just listened to my voice being recorded and then replayed. I had no idea what I was hearing at that point, and it freaked me out, so I knew there was no playing around. I tugged DJ by his collar and yelled for him to go again, and he finally took off with me. I was walking quickly with DJ right beside me when I then heard a blood-curdling scream. It made me jump and cover my ears. There were no houses nearby, so at this point, I'm hauling ass out of there. Thankfully, DJ followed running ahead of me and then just stopped, turning around and barking.

I looked back to see nothing there, but suddenly felt like someone pushed me down from my back. I landed in the snow, and DJ was nearly on top of me with his fur raised, growling, and barking so much. There was drool flying everywhere. I just sat there dumbfounded, trying to figure out what had just happened. I looked around, and I didn't see anything that I could have tripped on, and I saw no one or nothing nearby that could have pushed me either. I had to try and calm DJ down and finally snapped him back. I've never seen him like this, but at least I knew he was good at protecting.

My roommates always screwed around like they were punching me, and he would bark at them but nothing like this. I got up, my legs were a bit shaky, but at this point I was out of the trees. The cabin was close by, so I... I walked over to it, looked around one more time, and then DJ and I rushed inside, locking the door. I stayed there, sitting on the couch with my dog for quite some time until we passed out. For being four, he was huge and could keep you warm, so it wasn't hard to fall back asleep on him. Not to mention all the energy we had just expelled. I woke up to a knock on the door, which was my dad.

I didn't know what to tell him about what had happened at the time, because I had no real idea of how to explain it. Everything I could think of just made me sound crazy. Later that night, after dinner, my dad asked if I went out into the trees yet because he knew I liked going back there. I must have had a look on my face because he asked me what was wrong.

I just told them that I think I made. have disturbed something back there, and it got DJ worked up, so I just went back to the cabin. They just suggested what it could have been, and then left it at that. I didn't mention anything else about it to them, but the next day, I walked over to where I entered the trees and noticed that there was one set of footsteps, and also DJ's tracks, but there was also a drag mark serpentining behind me. I wasn't carrying anything that would have caused it, nor was it from my dog because I could see his tracks with mine. I could tell DJ was on alert, though, so we just went back.

I hung out at my parents' place most of the day and then headed home from there. I've still never mentioned it to my parents, but I told a close friend of mine, who thought it could be some kind of being that could mimic voices, but I'm still not sure if I believe in all that. What else could have copied my voice so perfectly? Since then, I try not to think about it, but when I go back up there, it's immediately on my mind, and I always wonder if DJ remembers it, too. 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. 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. So I have a creepy story that happened back when I used to do snow removal for a bunch of rental

properties. So back around 2010. For a slight bit of backstory, I worked for a small company that did contract work for the aforementioned rentals. They would load us up two or three to a pickup. We would go out to the properties while it was snowing or just after a snowstorm, and it would be our job to plow out the parking lots, shovel the main stretch of sidewalk, and, and it would be our job. and drop some ice melt, and just make sure everything was good to go for the residents by the time they got up to go to work. We weren't exactly detail-oriented, we were pretty much just told to move the snow out of the way, and make sure that no one would slip, fall, or otherwise hurt themselves in the common areas. It was probably one of the most strenuous jobs a person could.

possibly do. Wake up at 3 in the morning, load up into a truck, gets to the sights, and start shoveling. That last part was my main duty. I didn't get to drive the truck. I was the newbies, so I was told to run the shovels on the sidewalks and drop the ice melt. It was miserable, but it paid all right for what it was. Plus, I only had to work about five hours. hours on the days where we had to do the removals. So, on the date in question, back around 2010, our area had gotten a lot of snow and we had four properties we were supposed to do, which meant that we were going to be out until around eight, removing the snow. We loaded up, and we got through the first three with relative ease.

No real problems besides being cold as hell and dealing with the mild case. of frostbite, and then we headed out to the final property, which was a bit of an uppity-style property. By that, I mean that it was a full-on rental property that was owned by a big real estate company, and it was a bunch of townhomes and duplexes around what was essentially its own block. The part that makes it uppity were the people, prices, and the properties, requirements. The people were snooty, the prices were outrageous

for the area, and the property management were the only people that we ever had problems with. For the most part, the properties we worked with had one requirement, make the snow not block the way of cars. This specific property, however,

was super-anal about where the snow went, the direction that we plowed in, and the type of ice melts that we used. Yes, they had a specific brand that they required we used because they claimed it was less harmful to the cement. We get the first half of the property done and cleared out, and when we get to the southeast corner, we notice that there's already a pile of snow in one of the parking spots.

Like someone had used a small plow or a large shovel to move it into a pile about four feet or so tall, and they had filled the entire handicapped spot. We kind of sat there for a moment, trying to figure out what to do. If we should call the office, tell them that one of their tenants had left a pile of snow shoveled in one of the spots,

but I made a comment about how they would just blame us because it wasn't in the designated snow zone. My boss sighed and paused for a second, thinking about what we should do. The spot wasn't large enough for him to maneuver in, and there were cars next to it anyways, which meant we were going to have to get out and move the snow back out into the parking lot, so we could then plow it into the correct area. This meant a lot of manual labor to move a pile of snow,

just to repile the snow elsewhere. which then also meant that I was the one that had to get out and do it. I hopped out of the truck and walked back to get the shovel, and then went over to the pile of snow and attempted to push some of it off the top. And of course, it had become a chunk of ice more than just a pile of snow. I smacked at some with the shovel to loosen it up, but had to climb over it and start breaking chunks off. but I was getting nowhere fast.

I motioned for my boss and our co-worker to come over and help me. They parked and grabbed the shovels, and we all started chipping away at the parking lot iceberg. It took us a few minutes to get a good portion of it out of the parking lot, but when we had gotten most the way through, I noticed that there was actually something in the snow pile. It didn't take long for all three of us, to realize what we were looking at.

It was an arm, and that arm was attached to a torso. This pile of snow that a tenant had packed so carefully into this parking spot wasn't done out of frustration of said tenant. This was a temporary grave. We immediately dropped the shovels and ran back to the truck. My boss grabbed the phone and called 911 to report it, and he told me to call the property management. The management showed up first, then the police, and the EMS,

though EMS wasn't going to be able to do much. This person was quite obviously dead. They had us help remove the ice as best as we could from around her, so they could get her out and attempt to identify. As soon as we were able to get her uncovered, it was pretty clear how she died. There were multiple stab wounds to the chest and stomach area. The management was able to identify her right away.

It was one of their elderly tenants that lived in the building that was just to the right of the parking spot. They told the police that she lived alone and that no one in the area had any problems with her or anything. We were pretty much told by management that our job was done. there, and the police thanked us for our help. We packed our stuff back up and decided that we were done for the day. My boss said that he felt like we should take a couple days off because of how messed up this

situation really was. After a few days when we all met back up, my boss had actually told us that he was able to contact the management of the property and talk with them about the situation. And they told him a little bit more about it. it. This older woman was a decent tenant, but she had apparently moved her son into the basement without the knowledge of management. And her son had a drug problem. It was basically a case of her wanting him to live with her and get better, but he was set in his ways. And apparently they'd had a disagreement that night, and he killed her and then buried her in the snow somewhere around three in the

morning. If we had chosen to do our route backwards, as we sometimes did, and we went to that property first thing, we probably would have run into him burying her. We all kind of guessed that he knew she would likely be found eventually, in that it would be easier to just cover her in the snow, as it was likely to not melt for a couple of weeks. Plus, he may have thought that we would just pile more snow on to the spot when we plowed it. He was caught, thankfully, because he had taken his mother's car and attempted to get as far away as he could. Thankfully, he was the main suspect, and they put out a call for the car.

So, when it was spotted literally two towns over that same day, he was pulled in, and he told them about what he had done. I actually did this job for a couple more years after this incident, but every time we approached a pile of snow that was more than a foot high, I think my boss and I both kind of clenched, wondering if it was going to happen again. Thankfully, it never did. When I was younger, I seemed to get sick a lot.

If someone around me was ill, I would catch it. A lot of different food. also seemed to make me sick to the point that I would curl up in a ball and sleep. My parents would later have tests done to find out what could be wrong with me, but I bring this up to explain the situation further. My parents weren't neglecting me because it was a normal occurrence for me, and I would just wait for it to pass. Not to mention, I was old enough at this point to stay home by myself.

One night in January, after dinner, I started to feel nauseous, so I took my medication and went to lay down on the couch. My little sister wanted to spend her Christmas and birthday money. Her birthday is December 30th, but she couldn't wait any longer. I told my parents they could take her and that I would stay home and sleep. I wanted to be left alone anyways, so I didn't have to be. a problem with it either. They finally agreed after convincing them I would be fine, and reminded my mom of their returns that she needed to make as well. They left around five or six. It wasn't quite dark yet, so they said they would call when they were close to home, so I could turn on the porch light.

Now, with them gone, I laid on the couch turning the TV on something to fall asleep to, and slowly drifted off. It had been an hour or so when I was startled awake by something on the TV. I grabbed the remote to turn it down, and as I readjusted on the couch, I looked over to the large window in the living room and noticed it was dark. Then, I noticed that there seemed to be a figure in the window as well. I wear glasses, and I didn't have them on at the time, so... I just thought I wasn't seeing something right. So I just stared at the figure for the longest time, trying to focus and get my brain to figure out what I was looking at.

After a few moments, I leaned over to the table to put on my glasses, and that's when I started to realize that it was definitely a person staring back at me. I could see the outline of a hood, their shoulders and their arms. then I started thinking, What the hell do I do? This person is staring back at me and they know what I look like. Will they try to rush in at me if I try something? I slowly started to lay back down on the couch,

like I didn't notice them, and grab my phone with my eyes close. I guess I thought I was being sneaky and making it look like I wasn't going to call 911, but that was when I was. when the window was smashed in. I just remember screaming and running to my parents' bedroom, which was in the far back side of the house.

I wanted to get as far away as possible, and since it was on the bottom floor, it had a window that I could possibly go through. I ran back there, immediately locked the door and called 911. My parents' room had a big walk-in closet, and the operator told me to hide in there until I heard the police show up. I was scared, and I had a million things going through my mind. You always think you know what you would do in these situations,

until they happen, and then you hope that the operator can save you and tell you everything you need to do to survive. I also wanted to call my parents, and the operator was actually awesome enough to have someone call them somehow, which was also a relief. Like I said, it was already dark, so it had been a few hours, and I expected that they would be home soon. It felt like forever, but after checking the call records,

it had only been about seven minutes, I think, before I heard the cops calling out, and I hung up and came out with them. When I walked out, one met me at my parents' door, and there were two more in the living room. It was freezing in there with the window, of course, but my attention was averted when the officer showed me this rock with what looked like paper and tape on it.

I asked them if it was a note, and they said yes, and asked if there was anyone they could think of that would want to hurt me or my family. And I had no clue. My mom was a nurse, and my dad did construction. Not like they could really. have enemies and then my sister and I were still in school. Last I checked, we didn't have people that hated us to this level.

Thankfully, my parents showed up soon after, and I didn't want to let go of my dad. They asked them the same thing, and then showed us the note. It said something like, next time it won't be your window, it's time to pay up. The cop asked us if we knew someone that would do this again, or if any of us owed someone and we all said no. My dad had to get the window boarded up, and our neighbor came over and helped. Because of this happening, and not being able to get the window fixed that week, my dad went and bought some security cameras, and had one pointed at the door and window, both back and front doors and the driveway.

He also wouldn't let me stay home by myself anymore. I felt safer with the cameras because we got alerted when someone approached the areas, but I didn't like staying home at night by myself anyways. Now, it had been two weeks or so since this had happened, and the window has since been fixed. It was one evening. I had gone to my room to just chill when I got to. an alert on the camera.

Most of the time I ignored them, unless it was the one at the front door and this one happened to be. So, I tapped on it, and there was a guy that walked up to the door, put something under the rug, and took off. I was about to go to check on it when I started hearing my parents shouting. I went to the living room and saw my mom standing at the door, on the phone, and my dad is down the drive. driveway. I finally learned what all happened when my mom showed me the envelope. It had a letter in it that said, sorry about the window, with a $100 bill in it. My dad had seen the alert as well, and tried to chase the guy, but he got away. They called the cops to report it and showed them the video where the guy wasn't even trying to hide his face. It wasn't long after that they found and caught the guy.

Apparently he'd felt bad and decided to try and pay for the window. I recently learned from my parents that the guy that broke our window knew our neighbor and was probably trying to break hers, but that's just old people gossip that I haven't been able to confirm. Either way, it was a terrifying situation for my teenage self. and now I don't like sleeping in the living room unless the curtains are completely closed and if it's going to be dark soon I recommend you turn on the porch lights and you should always make sure that your doors are locked that was today's episode of the as the raven dreams podcast

thank you so very much for listening and I really hope you enjoyed these scary stories If you want to support the channel further, please do consider checking out my YouTube channel. Just search As the Raven Dreams on YouTube and subscribing. You can also join the channel or go to my Patreon for early access to all of my content, all of it's appreciated, and never expected. But if it happens, thank you. All that said, friends, I will see you on the next episode of the As the Raven Dreams podcast. But of course, until then, sleep well.

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