As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 032 - Retail Stories and Late Night Horror FT. SwampDweller - 7 True Scary Stories

Episode Date: July 1, 2022

Hello and Welcome to the 32nd 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 about the terrors of Retail, and the scariness of the late night. It also features SwampDweller! ➤ 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 A huge thank you to all the authors of the stories! Including... Yo_its_bridgett, DitzyLizzy88, i-dont-sell-insurance, and any authors that requested anonymity.  ➤ 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

Welcome to aboard Via Rai. Embarked and profited. Embarked and relax. Cirotay. Bookinay. Oh, that also. And profite.

Viaray, the voice that we love that we love. 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. If you have a story you would like to hear featured on this podcast, please go to as the ravendreams.com and click the button to submit your story.

Also, if the platform you're listening on has the option to rate this podcast, please consider doing so. And thank you. Back when I was 18, right before I graduated high school, I got what I thought was a dream job at the time. It was a local computer store that sold anything that you could possibly need from pre-built desktops and laptops to the materials you needed to build your own. I loved it. It was like being in a toy store as a child. The problems started to start. arising when we had a new shift manager start. We'll call her B. Now, as mentioned, I was 18 when I started there and was 19 by the time B started there. I'm also a guy, smaller build, like I probably barely looked 19. If it wasn't for my height, people would probably think that I was still a kid.

So it was kind of weird when B would say how I reminded her of her own kid, and that she was old enough to be my mom, but would also make comments about me being adorable or cute. She would talk down to me, like it was obvious that I was less than her and then would poke fun at me, and when I would look visibly annoyed, she would fake an apology, or just say, oh, you know I'm just messing with you. and leave it at that. But I was the only person she did this with, so, yeah, it kind of pissed me off. I did my best to ignore her. I learned how much my safety and my feelings, I guess you could say, did not matter to her, though.

One day, while I was zoning the shelves in front, a woman came in, probably in her 40s, maybe early 50s. Anyway, she looked close to my mother's age, so I assumed that's how old she was. When she walked in, she looked up at the aisle signs and immediately looked confused. I saw that she was holding what looked like a laptop battery and a piece of paper, so I approached her to see if I could help. She immediately had a warm smile, thanked me,

and explained how her laptop battery fried so she needed a new one, but she also wanted to get a new charging cable since she was using one that didn't go to the laptop, and her son thought that she may have killed it that way. Then, on the piece of paper, she had written down the name and details of a specific hard drive that she wanted, saying her son was going to replace hers because she had a very small one. I confirmed that I could help her find everything she needed

and led the way to the goods, feeling confident. about this. Again, this was one of the things that I loved to do, so I was smiling and laughing with her as we made our way to the first aisle that we needed. The first thing that we looked for was the battery. We go to the aisle and show her the ones that were compatible for her system. There was a name brand that matched her laptop, and then other third-party brands. She asked me the difference in which one would be better. thankfully we didn't work on commission so I could give my honest opinion and not necessarily persuade them to go with the more expensive one. While explaining her options,

I noticed that she wasn't looking at the batteries, or like she was thinking, but just making eye contact and smiling the whole time. It was a bit awkward at first, so I would look over at the shelf and back at her to keep myself from getting distracted. When I finished, I paused for a second for her to decide or ask something else. But instead, she just giggled and said, Oh, you are too cute.

Again, she had to be close to my mother's age, so it was a weird comment, and I didn't know how to respond. Was she hitting on me, or just making a weird comment like B did? I gave an awkward chuckle, said thanks, and tried to move on. She grabbed the battery that I had suggested and had me lead the way to the next item, which was the charging cable. We went to the aisle with the ones that we had, and after looking at a few rows, I couldn't find the specific one that she needed. There were a few bins on the top shelf that had random ones and extras in there, so I thought I would look around in them to see if we might find the one that we need. I had to get a ladder to reach the top,

so I went and grabbed it and started climbing to the top to get to it. After grabbing a tub, I looked down to look at the steps, when I noticed this woman is again smiling and looking me up and down. I got back down to the floor trying to ignore her looks, and continued shuffling through the tub. That's when she made a comment about having big feet and asked what shoe size I wore. I awkwardly told her, and she made the comment,

Oh, you know what they say about guys with big feet right? And started giggling like a teenage girl. It was a stupid comment that I would expect from someone my age, not someone hers. I again just gave a half laugh and tried to regain my composure and apologized because we didn't have the specific cable. I offered to have it ordered for her, or suggested a few other places she could try as well. I put the tub on the bottom shelf not wanting to climb back up there, and suggested that we go to find her hard drive next. We got to the hard drives that she was looking for, and the one that was specifically written down was not cheap.

This was back in about 2009, and she was looking for a 500-gigabyte drive. When she saw the price, she was pretty surprised, saying that her son failed to mention the price. So, I did what I usually did and offered some alternatives, like cheaper brands or maybe a smaller size. However, she was adamant that she got that one, specifically since that's the one he suggested, and she hesitantly grabbed it. She asked if there were any sales, discounts, or coupons, that she asked. could be applied to it. I told her there wasn't, but then remembered our store rewards club. When you signed up, you got a 10% off coupon for your first purchase as a member.

I told her if she hadn't done that yet, she could sign up at checkout and then use that as a coupon. She seemed pretty happy about that and hugged me, saying that I was smart and something like, ooh, I could just kiss you. Again, I laughed and asked her if that was all she needed, and if so, said that. I could check her out up front. Cue the next cheesy comment from her, of course. She said, I've been checking you out this whole time, sweetie,

and winked at me. I'm no good at flirting, and again, she was my mother's age, so it just felt incredibly awkward to me. So I led her to the front, smiling, when I saw B up there doing something at one of the registers. As I went around to the other side of the register, start the rewards page for her, she shouted out for B using her actual name, which made her do the

same. She came over and they hugged squealing like little girls. She asked B how she'd been and they chatted for a few moments when B noticed me standing there waiting, so they directed their attention to me. B said something like me being cute and patiently waiting, and the lady turned to look at me saying, is this the guy you were telling me about? She nodded, smiling. I'm sure I looked incredibly confused, because I was. They obviously knew each other, but she also talked to her about me, and what about, and also why?

The lady then said, Well, he definitely is a cutie, but he's ignored all my advances, while making a pouty face. Then B said something to me. along the lines of, Don't be a tease, Jake. She's just lonely in trying to find love. And her response was,

or just trying to get lucky, and they both started laughing. They thought this was totally appropriate, and it just made me feel more and more uncomfortable. I tried excusing myself so that I could leave this conversation, to which the lady grabbed my arm begging me to stay,

and B. told me that I needed to ring her, up. I told her that I wasn't feeling well and that I would get someone else to come up if she didn't want to do it. She then mocked me about me being nervous or scared, and that I shouldn't be because I was a guy and that I should learn to take compliment. I didn't want to say or do something that I would regret, so I just started walking away when the lady then groped me. I jumped back, and then I took off to the back, leaving them both laughing. I didn't know what to do. I was pacing back and forth, worried that B would be back there and probably give me an earful,

and then I was worried what would happen if I reported it. Would it really even matter? It was a customer that really was the problem, but B's comments did not help. I stayed back there for a while until one of my friends that worked there came back saying that B was looking for me. I asked him about the lady, and he told me that he hadn't seen her. I told him what happened, and he agreed that it was messed up, and that I should still report it, so I decided to just go home for the day and then report it the next day. I managed to leave a note on the manager door, saying that I was leaving for the day, Dodge B on my way out, and get in my car. However, that was not the end.

The lady was still in the parking lot and had noticed me and was doing a brisk walk towards my car smiling. I may have burned out of the parking lot. To not drag it out too much, I'll just say that that place lost a lot of my respect. I reported the situation to the assistant manager, and he blew it off, basically saying that maybe I just misunderstood the situation and that he was sure B didn't mean. anything by it. I even mentioned how the customer had groped me, and he partially agreed with B that I was a guy,

and that it's not like my life was in danger. I quit then and there. I grabbed my stuff, and told them to shove it, and left. My friend was out front on his break, and I told him everything that happened. Thankfully, he agreed with me that it was messed up. I told him to look out for himself and left. He's the only person that I still keep in contact with, but I never returned to that place, not even to shop.

Sorry, but that was just a really creepy experience. How can you say someone reminds you of their kid, and then in the same conversation flirt with them and touch them? It's just gross. Last winter, I had an experience in Congaree National Park outside of Columbia that brought me to to this show. It's a beautiful boardwalk that goes through the swamps and the cypress forest in them. If you look it up on the internet, this story will make some more sense. I lived in Columbia, South Carolina, and frequented Congaree National Park. So I'm rather familiar with the area. I often would jump the fence and walk the boardwalk at night, as it's super peaceful to walk the

swamp and hear all the wildlife. They don't typically have rangers or guards after hours, so I was always alone. The last time I did this was in October of 2021. I took my usual stroll with the flashlight. I should mention again between the insects and frogs, the sound is loud. But roughly a mile in, the sound completely stopped. I heard what I thought was my wife call me from the trail ahead, but she was not there. I was alone, and she was out of town. I then heard water sloshing to my right and saw nothing with my flashlight. I chalked it up to me being tired and kept moving. The wildlife started up shortly after again,

and everything was fine. Maybe 15 minutes later, I noticed it got eerily quiet once again and heard swamp water sloshing on my left. But this time, it was more deliberate, like somebody was walking with a purpose. I was in a thick portion of the cypress and couldn't see more than 20 feet in front of me,

and then I heard my wife's voice again. Again, she wasn't with me and she was out of town, certainly not moving through a swamp at 1 a.m. I saw a human silhouette for a split second, but it was distorted, off if you will, very skinny, pale, and taller than me at six foot tall. I noped the hell out of there and ran almost two miles back to my truck and didn't slow up until I heard the wildlife again. As I said, this is a boardwalk that's in a swamp in the boonies. Nobody is walking around in the water at night without a light, and I don't know of any big animal that walks in a bipedal pattern, and I have spent most of my life outdoors.

I feel I should add that I wasn't high or sleep-deprived either. I typically like the woods at night as well. It's never too early to plan your summer story in Europe with WestJet, from rolling countryside to cobblestone streets. Begin your next chapter. Book your seat at westjet.com or call your travel agent. Where Your Story Takes Off I worked at an old video rental store in my early twenties.

No, it wasn't the blue and yellow one though, but one that could be found in smaller, rural cities. At one point, I had an accident outside of work, causing me to break my tibia. I, of course, was put in a cast and had to be on bed rest for a few weeks. As expected, though, my manager called me during this time, knowing I'm supposed to be resting, to ask if I could come in for about six hours. There's usually at least three people working, and one person had called in on this day, and the other then decided that they wanted to quit when they went to lunch. They left and just never came back. The manager had to do the schedule and something else, so he didn't have the ability to man the register at the same time.

He said he would give me an extra break and that I could sit down, of course, while I was there. I agreed, since I really couldn't afford missing a lot of work anyways. Thankfully, my roommate helped me and was kind enough to drive me there since I knew my mom would refuse to let me go. Once I got there, my manager helped me get set up in a chair, and a prop for my leg to rest on the bottom shelf behind the counter. It was definitely wonky, but it worked, and I really appreciated his efforts when he could have just told me to suck it up. Anyways, the evening was fine for the first few hours. People actually noticed my leg since the swinging door on the side was by the entrance,

so they could see my leg and the crutches leaning against the counter. Surprisingly, this made people more considerate in getting stuff themselves, or leaning in to hand me their payment method. It was about 8 p.m. when my manager came out saying they had to go get the key, because the person that quit was a shift manager and opened that day, so they had the key. It was a Tuesday, I think, or another weird weekday, so I knew that. that it was going to be a slower night, and I didn't have any problems being there alone. We weren't supposed to lock the door unless there was an emergency,

but they told me I could in case I needed to, so the store wasn't unoccupied. They left saying that it shouldn't take more than 20 minutes or so, and left. As I usually do, I brought a book with me to read and had music playing on the old radio that was up front. Shortly after, a guy came in and immediately looked around the store after greeting me. He made a quick comment about my leg, as people did, and after answering him, he walked off to look at the movies. He walked over to the horror section. He looked like an average guy, short hair, jeans, a shirt, average build, and height. Basically, he didn't stand out and didn't put off any weird vibes, either.

There was also a younger couple in there as well, so I just looked up at my book at times to watch them. After the couple left, the guy approached the counter, smiling, and asked if I was the only one here. We weren't supposed to be left alone, so I told him no, and that my manager was in the back working on the books. He raised his eyebrow like he was confused,

but then just shrugged and walked away. I was curious, but then started wondering if he was going to ask for a manager. That typically happened when they wanted to complain, of course, or get a fee waived, so I zoned out trying to think of an excuse as to why my manager couldn't come out, or why I couldn't go get them when he made his way back up to the counter. It made me jump, because he had tossed a few different movies onto the counter, said, I got a question for you. I looked up, smiling, and before I could respond,

he leaned in asking in a deeper, slower voice, which one of these movies would you watch on a first date? I kind of chuckled, as this was the first time I had gotten this question and looked down at his choices. I immediately noticed three of the four were not ones that I recognized. One was a movie that I knew, and actually liked, whereas the others looked a bit more risque.

We didn't have those kind of adult videos, but we did have rated R ones. When I saw him in the horror section, I figured that's what he had picked out, which made me laugh. When I looked up at him, he had a flat look on his face, like he was waiting for an actual answer. So I chose the one that I knew, smiling, saying that that was a good movie. I looked up to see that his face had now changed to one of disappointment. I just kind of waited a few moments to see if he would say something. But when he didn't, I tried to break the silence by saying, Sorry, I've just never seen the other ones.

Then he seemed to come back to the conversation with a smug grin. He said, nah, I get it. The other one would probably put you in the mood, right? And let out this little laugh. It was a bit awkward, as I'd never been asked something so personal by a complete stranger, so I looked towards the computer screen to try to ignore the question.

He didn't get the hint, though, and continued to stand there. In fact, he leaned in even more with his chest nearly on the counter and said, you are the only one here, aren't you? I looked up at him, pushing myself back as he was close to my face. After seeing his grin, I looked back down at the computer and asked him if he was going to get one of those videos, hoping to get him out of the store. This seemed like it was lasting forever. I continued looking down at the monitor, praying that he would just go away or something would happen, because I didn't have anything to defend myself with other than my crutch.

I forgot to have my manager bring the cordless phone up front, so I didn't even have a phone on me. My phone had broken in the accident, and I couldn't afford a new one at the time. Thank God, someone finally walked into the store, and it was one of our regulars, a guy named Tom. I looked over at him, and I'm sure that I must have had a look at him, of relief on my face.

He said hi, calling me by my name, and I did the same. The creep wasn't in my face at this point, but was still leaning on the counter. Tom then walked over to the new releases, which were the aisle right in front of the counter, by me. They were typically the pricier rentals, so he kept them closer to the front. The creep noticed this and let out a slight chuckle, as he grabbed the four videos and slowly walked away. watching me the entire time.

Every so often, Tom looked over at me and then to that guy. He made a motion towards me as of saying, what's his deal? And I just shrugged wide-eyed. The guy eventually walked out without even renting anything. Shortly after, another person walked in and Tom came up to the counter to ask what that guy was doing. Without going into detail, I told him that he was being really, creepy. That's when he told me why he came over here. He was usually here on Fridays, and he always checked out one of the old Western movies and a kid's movie. He had like a six-year-old girl. So it was

odd seeing him in here on a Tuesday and looking at the new releases. I understood what he was doing at that point. He said he was at the McDonald's across the street and that same creep was over there, being very weird to one of the workers there, and making really suggestive comments. Tom was an ex-cop, so he watched the guy closely as he left and saw that he walked across the street and was worried that he would try to start something over here too.

And that's when he decided to come over here to check. I was never so thankful that he came in here because I didn't know what else this guy may have tried. Like I said, I'm a smaller girl, and I was in a cast. I wouldn't be able to literally stand my ground very well, let alone defend myself. Tom stayed until my manager got back, and after explaining everything to him, he went and looked at the area where he went, and noticed he had sliced open one of the cases and stole the DVD.

Funnily enough, it was the movie that I had suggested. Lucky for us, this was enough to ban him from our store, and my manager promised he would make sure that no one was ever working alone again, even though we weren't supposed to in the first place. And to the creepy guy, I just hope that you and I never meet again. A few years ago, a couple of old military buddies of mine, and I decided that we wanted to go take a road trip, around some seemingly random places here in the good old US of A.

The three of us knew each other way back in grade school, and we all grew up together, which eventually led to us all joining the army. Two of us got deployed, myself and James, but Ricky ended up with an honorable discharge because of a medical issue. He was actually diagnosed with the heart condition that caused problems with the muscle, and they determined that he wouldn't have been able to be. sent overseas. Not really relevant, but it helps to show that we all knew each other really well, and we all trusted each other. We had all been home for a few years, and we were pretty much told

that we were back permanently, barring any craziness when we would be called back. Because we were finally back home and not likely to be called out, we wanted to take a road trip out to some of the more open parts of the country, like the national parks down in Utah. Our plan was to head east through Nevada, and then into Utah to go see the canyons out there, and we planned to head to Bryce and Zion National Parks. I don't remember why we wanted to go these routes, but the three of us agreed that we weren't getting any younger, and now was the time to go see the sites that this part of the country had to offer.

because it was early spring, and it wasn't getting too terribly hot yet, we decided that we would make it a point to camp out either in the open or just spend the night sleeping in the car when necessary. Ricky had a decent-sized van that had more than enough space for all of us to push the seats back and sleep, while one slept in the back seat. We packed up all of our things, made sure we had enough cash to get gas and any supplies, and the three of us headed out onto the road with nothing more than a basic sense of, let's drive east until we get too tired to drive any more, and then we'll enjoy the

great outdoors. This plan worked for most of the first day. We took turns driving for a few hours, trying to spread it out amongst the three of us as much as we could, but also making sure that we weren't too tired. We planned on taking I-80 most of the way. We planned on taking I-80 most of the but also decided that we would take a small detour in Utah to head down 196 toward the Dugway military base. None of us had ever been there, but I wanted to see the area for really no reason. Plus, from there, we could just head south for a few hours

to hit the areas for Bryce and Zion National Parks. Now, I'm not stupid. I know that even with a military background, you don't just drive to a military base, and you sure as hell don't camp anywhere near the ground that isn't a designated camping area. So, after we got around that area, we made a trip out to a small campground about 30 or so minutes to the northwest, and we made our plans to stay there for the night. The night that we got there, it was absolutely beautiful.

We opted to pull the tents out and spend the full evening outside under the stars. We got the camp set up right next to the night. where we parked the van, and we had a really small fire going as it was getting a bit chilly. We spent the entire night chatting about random things that we wanted to do now that we were home, and just having a nice evening as three friends out in the middle of nowhere. A couple of hours later, right before we were about to call it a night, we were all just sitting there and heard what sounded like a weird screaming. We all kind of stopped and looked around,

the area to see if we could see anything, but I think we all quickly went to the same conclusion, coyotes. We'd all heard them before, and the sound was pretty close to what we knew to be coyotes, so we moved on from there and decided that it wasn't a huge deal. We just needed to keep an eye out for them if they got closer. We all decided to call it a night and head to sleep, thinking that we could just get through the creepy sounds

that they were making if we passed out. We all started getting in our tents, and that was when it went from probably coyotes to what the absolute hell is out there. The screaming changed in pitch from that high screech to a much lower tone, and then it started to change even more into what sounded like legitimate laughter. We tried to justify it as just being an animal, but it almost sounded like this thing was a person, laughing in an almost cartoonishly evil way,

if that makes any sense. It would laugh, slowly change into that high-pitched screeching, and then shift back to the lower-pitched laughter. We decided that it wasn't worth sleeping outside, and that we would just pack our stuff and head to a nearby hotel or parking lot to spend the rest of the night. We shoved our tents and everything else back into the van in record time, and within ten minutes we're back on the road. We got back in the car, Ricky started the van up and hit the headlights, and we could see something.

It was standing out behind a large rock, probably 40 or so feet away. I couldn't really make out a shape of what this thing was, but it was bipedal, and it was watching us. The other guys said that it looked kind of human, but something about it was off. Like, it was a human mixed with something else. I remember it had a person-like shape, but the face that I saw was not that of a person. It was more of a creature. After a few seconds of us just staring at this thing and it staring back at us, Ricky hit the high beams and it reacted to them by pulling itself behind them.

the rock. We decided that we did not want to know, nor did we need to know what the hell this thing was. We gunned it back onto the road and decided to just get back to heading south and stop at the first sign of civilization. The three of us did not say a word about the thing the entire time we were on the road that night. I think we were all trying to come up with a logical explanation for what it was. We didn't have any other encounters or anything like that, and we pressed on with the road trip as normal afterwards. We've only spoken about this thing once or twice since,

and I think we all want to say that this thing was maybe an escaped military experiment, because we were so close to the base, but we also don't want to think about that possibility. I have no idea if it was just some freak animal out there, or if it was a cryptid of some sort, but I know that I will never forget about it. I've been friends with this guy named Ryan for eight years now. We met in fourth grade.

We just finished our junior year of high school. He and I have both been a fan of random walks for quite some time. We've been doing it for a couple of years now during the winter, spring, summer, and fall. Safe to say we love taking walks. He lives a few blocks away from a cemetery. We go straight two blocks to get there and take a right down a hill. There's this bridge we go through, then there's the cemetery.

It's on a large hill, so most of it is not very visible unless you're up there. We got a little distant during our eighth grade year and didn't hang out too much. I became the popular kid, which was shocking since I've always been an introvert. But anyways, I digress. The point I'm making is we didn't go on many walks. together. We rekindled our friendship our first year when COVID hit. We hung out more and talked more. We started walking to the cemetery more and noticed this yellow sports car that would be parked there. We didn't think too much of it. Maybe someone was grieving. It's a cemetery after

all. We continued walking there and the yellow car was at the same spot every single time we went. The lights were turned off. It just sat there for hours at a time. Again, we didn't think. We didn't think too much of it. After becoming a little more distant my sophomore year, we began hanging out more during the beginning of our junior year. We went to the cemetery like usual, and there was the same yellow car. It was just there doing nothing. We both know it wasn't a worker since the vehicle, just parked in the middle of the path you can drive through, not at the parking lot near the buildings, but we still carried on. Fast forward to May of 2022, we were just about to finish our junior year. We went to the cemetery at around 9 p.m. since I got a job at a pizza place in January.

I always worked 4 to 9, sometimes 4 to 8. Every weekday besides Thursday. We walked like usual, talking about true crime, how dry our love lives are, and about movies coming out soon. We noticed the car wasn't there for once. The cemetery has a lot of hills and stretches out. There are maybe a few thousand graves, with still a lot of room. You must walk up a mountain to get to the main area, and most of the graveyard is still not visible because of the hills. We continue walking to where the car usually parks, since we've never been there. We continue talking about our issues and notice of vehicle driving in the path. We didn't think too much of it, but when it came close to us, we saw that it was yellow, the same type of headlights, the same license plate. It was dark out then,

so we relied on our flashlights on our phones. We got a little freaked out but carried on. We walked a little bit more until the yellow car stopped at its usual place. We stopped roughly 30 feet away from the vehicle for a second with our flashlights. We heard the door open and footsteps approach us. We freaked out and shut off our phone. We bolted away. We were faster than the person, but we knew they were running after us.

I asked Ryan in a whisper if he brought pepper spray with him, and of course he didn't bring it the one time that we needed it. We hid behind big gravestones for a minute, waiting to see if this person would run by, but they didn't come. They must have given up. We waited for a couple of more minutes and bolted out of the cemetery, entirely out of breath. We joked about it a little since before we went into the graveyard, we said, Imagine if something terrifying were to happen to us.

Speak of the devil. I wonder what would have happened to us that night if they caught us. I wonder just what they would have done to us. I'm glad that Ryan and I took extreme caution when we saw that car. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't be writing this right now. I have a story that happened back whenever I was about 17 and lived in the small town that I was born and raised in. I don't really want to put too much out there about where it is,

just saying that it's a southern Midwest, in a town that no one here would probably know the name of. If it helps, the most exciting thing that happened to me while I lived there was when I got a job working the overnight shift at the new Casey's General Store during the summer between my junior and senior years. If you're unfamiliar with what a Casey's is, it's a gas station that also sells some fairly mediocre pizza and a lot of candy, but sometimes that mediocre pizza just hits differently. It's really hard to explain, honestly, but it's an okay place to work if you don't mind cashiering and sweeping for hours on end. Anyways, when I hit 16, my parents were really pushy about me getting a job to pay for myself. And then, when I hit 17, they were really pushy about me getting a job. I get it.

We didn't have a lot of money as a family, and I was not. the oldest of three kids, and I don't necessarily blame them, but it was still incredibly stressful to be essentially pushed out into the world like that. They honestly were breathing down my neck and telling me to get out, but it is what it is. It wasn't even like I wasn't doing well in school. I wasn't valedictorian by any means, but I was an A-B average student. In the end, I basically just got tired of the nagging and went out to look for a part-time job, so they would quit asking. Thankfully, my town had just opened up a new gas station on the corner. That gas station was, you guessed it, the Casey's General Store.

It was an incredibly simple interview process. I told them that I had literally no experience in anything, and they told me that I would start the next Monday. simpler times, I guess. Anyways, I went home and told my parents that I got hired for the overnight at Casey's, and they were less than thrilled. My dad asked why I didn't ask to work during the days, and then mentioned that I wouldn't be able to work there for more than a few months on that shift because of school. I shrugged it off and told him that he wanted me to get a job, so I got a job.

Even better, it was a job that. that I could walk to. It was just down the block, and even at night, our small town had little to no traffic. When I started, the job went about as one would expect it to. I went through their couple hours of onboarding and was told that I was going to shadow Ronald, the overnight cashier. I actually knew who Ronald was from around town, if that tells you how smaller town was. Ronald was a 60-something-year-old man that had one hell of a beer gut and a long white beard.

Kind of looked like Santa Claus, to be honest. Ronald was also kind of a pain. He was told to train me, and he took that personally, basically telling me that I had to do what he said as soon as he said it. I just nodded and started watching him do his job. He would occasionally tell me to run here, get this or that, and I would. It was pretty boring, to be completely honest with you.

I shadowed him for about a week, which is way too much time, considering it was just learning how to run the register and sweep or refix the shelves when it wasn't busy. Of course, that boring part of the job, ended pretty much the first night that I was put on register alone, while Ronald was told to stock and clean the store, I knew what I was doing, so I rang up a few people within the first couple of hours with minimal issues.

Then, around one in the morning, we had a guy walk in the door that was very clearly inebriated. When I say clearly, I mean this guy was practically swaying, and you could barely understand what he was saying when he spoke. He walked up to the counter with a pack of some sort of beer and basically told me to ring it up because he, quote, wasn't done with the night. I kind of stared at him for a moment and was trying to decide if I could say no to this guy, considering he was clearly already hammered. Thankfully, I didn't have to do much thinking about it.

Ronald walked up and pushed me aside to tell this guy, guy that he would not be purchasing the alcohol, as he was clearly drunk. This guy was very unhappy with that statement, and he started screaming at Ronald and calling him any number of unsavory names. I remember Ronald basically saying, You can call me whatever you want. I'm not selling to you, and you need to leave before I call the cops. After a bit more back and forth, he finally yelled something and walked away from the counter, and as soon as he did, Ronald looked over at me and told me to go get the phone from the back office to call the cops. At first I didn't get why, but then it kind of clicked.

This guy obviously drove here like this, and we definitely needed to get the police out here to be aware that this man was about to get on the road. I agreed and stepped to get the phone off the receiver, and as soon as I dialed 911, I heard that the man was about to get on the road. I agreed, and stepped the phone I heard the bell on the door again, and then the sound of this guy yelling something. The operator answered, and I told her that we had a drunk guy that had come into the store, and that he was attempting to buy more alcohol, and then also mentioned that he had driven up to the store. She asked if he was still there, and I told her that he had just re-entered the store and was now yelling at my coworker. As soon as I said this, I heard the man screaming,

and then I heard Ronald yelling something back to the man. I couldn't tell what was being said, but I could tell that Ronald sounded somewhat panicked. I assumed he was just concerned that this guy was coming back in, that is, until I heard the loud bang. I heard two gunshots in secession. Like this guy had pulled the trigger twice on Ronald, and then I heard the sound of a body falling to the ground. I immediately shut and locked the back office door and told the operator that he had just shot my coworker

and that we needed the police there now. She told me to calm down and that they were on their way and asked me what the guy looked like. I described him as best as I could and told him what car he was driving, but I didn't know the plate number. As she's asking me questions about as much as she can and telling me to stay calm, calm, I start to hear the sound of the doorknob to the back office be forcefully shaken. I whispered that the man was trying to break into the back office, and she told me that the officers were less than a minute away and to stay as quiet as I could, or to hide if possible. I was in a small room that had been converted into the manager's office. The only thing to hide under was a folding table that had been converted into a desk,

or behind the rack of soda syrups that went to the fountain machine. I just kind of sat there thinking, my God, this is where I die. I'm going to be shot because some drunk guy wanted more beer and we wouldn't sell it to him. I remember thinking that this was the dumbest reason for this to happen, and that this all spun out of control for the stupidest of things. I was almost thankful that he was drunk at that moment, though,

because he couldn't seem to figure out how to open the door, and it apparently never occurred to him to just kick it. It was a really flimsy door, one solid kick near the lock, and it would have flown open. Thankfully, that just never occurred to him, and after a few moments of him trying to turn the knob and push the door, I heard the sound of him walking back through the emergency exit, which then triggered the alarm.

Like I said, I just kind of sat there in a daze for several moments, until I heard the officer yelling out into the store, and then I heard one of them knock on the door. I told him it was just me in the room, and he asked me to open the door, so I did. They stepped in to clear the room and then gave me a quick pat-down, since they really weren't sure who the shooter was beyond a basic description. Once that happened, they escorted me out of the office and out to the front of the building. When I got out there, I saw the EMTs lifting Ronald out onto the stretcher and getting him out of the building. Thankfully, he wasn't dead, just in bad shape with the blood loss and the injuries. They asked me about what had happened, and I explained it all from start to finish. How he came in drunk, we were a few.

used sale, and then he came back with a gun. They'd called the owner and the manager of the store to come down so they could get the security footage, and they asked me if I needed to contact someone to come and get me. I told him I was just going to go ahead and walk home that I lived down the block, and they seemed a bit hesitant to let me go, to be honest. That was my first night on the register by myself, and my last night working there. I genuinely could not bring myself to go back after that. After that night, the store actually stopped being 24-7 for a while,

probably because it was the only shooting that had happened in our town in a very long time, and no one was willing to work that shift after everything. My parents seemed disappointed that I didn't want to go back to working there, but after explaining to them what was going through my mind when the guy was trying to bust into the office, I think they kind of got the picture. It was seriously traumatizing, and I really feel like I came close to death. If he had managed to open that door, I would have most likely been shot and killed. I'm thankful that didn't happen, and that Ronald wasn't killed, but it's definitely one of those

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Depos minimum of $10. Paying money to pay pay for example. The conditions apply. I used to work in an edgy and popular clothing store when I was younger. I shopped there all the time as a teen when I had the money, so I thought it would be really fun to work there and get discounts, right? While the discount was cool,

I learned a lot about people, and I think that proved to be more beneficial in the long run. I had my share of bad and even creepy customers. One of the worst times I remember was around Halloween. The one that I started at, was in an outdoor strip mall. It went in a square, basically. You could walk around the outside area

to the different stores or restaurants, and the one I was in was pretty much in the corner, between a shoe store and an ice cream shop. And we sold our fair share of spooky apparel and accessories, as well as a few costumes, so it wasn't abnormal to see people coming in wearing one, or all decked out in cosplay. We just really had a few basic rules, which were no masks could be worn inside the building, and obviously no weapons.

It was a few days before Halloween, on a Saturday night, there was a group of people that came in that were all in costume, or their attempted costumes. Some of them were just wearing a shirt with fake blood on it, or a dress with a witch hat, that kind of thing. They were being kind of loud, laughing and screaming, knocking over some of the display items. I noticed in all this commotion that someone was wearing a Michael Myers mask and jumpsuit, and they were just standing over there with them. I hadn't noticed when they walked in if he'd had it on at the time, so I asked him to remove it. Instead of doing so, he just looked over at me and then looked away. So I paged my manager Carlos to let him know, knowing that he wouldn't put up with it.

He then walked over to them and told him he needed to take the mask off, or he would have to leave, as it was store policy. Again, the guy just stared at him and cocked his head to the side like he was confused. The other people nearby were all whispering and giggling, so he told them that if their friend, didn't take off the mask, he was going to make them all leave. One of the girls responded saying that he wasn't with them, and they just thought it was funny that this guy was taking it so seriously. The store isn't that big, so I could see the back of the store from the front,

and I could hear them from the most part if I'm standing in the front of the counter, which I was, of course, because I'm still nosy. With all this going on, he then told my... that he needs to leave, and ushers him to the front of the store with little hesitation or fight, thankfully. The rest of them seemed to carry on as normal. They purchased a few cheap things and left, making me think that the other guy really wasn't with them. After about an hour or so, we got a call to the store that I answered. It was a guy asking really weird questions.

He asked what time we closed. How many people were working there tonight, and if one of them was a manager? At first, they almost seemed like normal questions. We've had people ask how many were working in person, in case they had a larger purchase and needed help carrying it out. And, of course, you're always going to have people asking about a manager, so I answered them accordingly. That night, however, it was two of us and the manager,

But one person finished their shift about three hours before closing, so it was just going to be me and Carlos that closed up. Then, they said something like, Oh, I see, thank you, and hung up. Weird, but oh well. About ten minutes later or so, we got another call. I could tell it was the same guy by the sound of his voice and his inflections. This time, his questions were about.

bit more suspicious. He asked if we locked the doors at all for any reason while we were open. I told him no, only when we were closed, of course. And then, he asked who normally locked up the store and had the key. It was weird, but I really didn't know how else to avoid the question, so I just said that that was all on the manager's list of responsibilities. But then he asked, what do you do if there's an emergency?

Curious and probably falling for something, I asked what he meant. Then he asked, What if there was a fire? What are you supposed to do? Or perhaps a robbery or hostage situation? At that point, I just said that we would act accordingly and then hung up on him.

Even though it was kind of weird and creepy to ask, I was more so worried about hanging up on a customer, so I hollered for Carlos to come to the front, since there weren't any customers at the time. He came up, and I explained to him what had happened, and he agreed that those questions were pretty suspicious, and that he thought I did the right thing by hanging up on him. He said to page him if the guy calls back,

and then headed back to what he was doing. A little on edge, I tried to forget about it, it and continued playing the game that I was playing on my phone. I already did my rounds at the shelves, and there was no point in sweeping until we closed, so I really had nothing else to do. So about 20 minutes in, we get another call. I answer it, prepared to go get Carlos, but this time the voice seemed muffled, like something may have been covering their face or their phone.

This time, the person asked where the manager was, but the way that they said it was creepy. You know how there are some voices that are just unsettling, and that one, or at least how they asked the question, made me really uncomfortable. I started to get up to walk to the back, but the phone still wasn't a cordless one, so I was going to have to put it down to get Carlos. I wasn't going to tell the caller that, though, so I just said, they're right here. Would you like to talk to them? Hoping to get out of the conversation as well, I was expecting a yes or a no,

but instead, their response was, it certainly doesn't look like they're with you, Bridget. So, my thoughts, how the hell did they know my name? And how the hell would they know that my manager wasn't. up front. Now, they definitely could have been fibbing on one trying to call me out, but since they used

my name, I was kind of creeped out again. I tried just asking again if they wanted to talk to the manager, but they didn't respond. Thinking they hung up, I started pulling the phone down from my ear and yelled for Carlos. I turned to put the phone on the receiver, which would put me facing the front doors and the wall of glass when I saw someone standing in front of it. It made me jump because I wasn't expecting it, of course, but it only got worse. That's when I realized that it was someone in a Michael Myers mask and jumpsuit holding a phone to their ear. I noped out of there real quick and ran to the back.

I didn't know if I would make it to the front doors to lock it in time, so that was my first reaction. Carlos was coming up front, so being the young small girl that I was, and freaking out, he tried to calm me down to find out what was going on. After explaining what happened, he told me to go ahead and use the phone in the back to call 911 and said he was going to check out the front. I called them, gave them the info, and after waiting a few minutes, I left the room to make sure that Carlos was okay. He was standing right by the doors looking around, but the guy was nowhere to be found. The cops came, and after getting the information, they stayed around for a bit to see if they would call back or even come back to the store, but they never did. The store phone didn't even have a caller ID, so I don't know if they were able to do anything with the phones. We weren't allowed to close early, but Carlos, Carlos, might be able to close early.

But Carlos must have been able to tell that I was pretty shaken up, so he let me go home early. A police officer escorted me to my car, and I went straight home, locking all of my doors and windows. I worked that next evening with Carlos, even though I didn't want to be there at all, but at least this time someone was working with me the whole night. However, it wasn't much of a relief, as when I got there, I was informed that someone was trying to break into the store that last night. There were visible scratches all over the door and lock, as well as even the glass, like someone was scraping it with something really sharp.

I don't know if this person was just doing it to pull a prank, or if they were trying to seriously harm us or do damage, but either way, it was not funny at all. Not to mention, I still have no idea how they knew my name. If it was the same guy as earlier, I wasn't even close enough for them to see my name tag. Some people take their stupid Halloween pranks too far. I really didn't feel safe thereafter that, and it was no one's fault but that guy, so thankfully I was able to transfer to a different store, and I never had any similar experience

at that one. So, Mr. Myers, I hope that we never meet again, and also, your jokes are not funny. 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.