As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 034 - 4th Of July And Stalker Horror Stories - 10 True Scary Stories

Episode Date: July 15, 2022

Hello and Welcome to the 34th 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 creepy things that happen on the 4th Of July, as well as some creepy stalker stories.  ➤ 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 Today's Video contains stories by the following Authors... RickySeeRickyDo, LilyBlossoms, KD, Kayla P, _queer_fox, a1440b, EasyMark, throwaway93647271, Southern-Builder-121, 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

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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. My story is one that's pretty messed up, and I'm not saying that lightly. Part of this was possibly the lowest point of my life, and was absolutely something that gave me some sort of PTSD, but it's an important story for me to tell the world, in my opinion. I was abused and mistreated by a person, and it's a bumpy rock.

so if that's not something you can stomach, then I don't recommend reading the rest of this. I dated a guy named Cole for most of my time in high school. I met him at the end of my freshman year, and we actually started dating at the beginning of my sophomore year, and were together until we graduated. Neither of us was one of the popular kids, and neither of us really stood out of the crowd.

So we just kind of really enjoyed each other's company and being together with someone that was like me was really nice. Well, that's what it was on the outside at least. To everyone in the school, my parents, and the public eye, we were just two shy high school kids that liked to hold hands. In private, however, he was emotionally manipulative and horribly controlling. My home life wasn't great. My parents argued non-stop, and they were always so aggressive with each other.

So, I guess as I was growing up, I kind of connected that with love. And when Cole started doing the same thing to me that they did to each other, I thought it was normal. It didn't take long for that emotional manipulation to turn into physical abuse. and then sexual abuse. Basically, if he wanted to do something, we would just do it, and I had to accept it, because he loved me and that was that. This went on for over a year, and a half until spring break of my senior year. I spent the week over at my grandmother's house in an attempt to get away from him,

even just for a little bit. though I framed it that I hadn't spent time with my granny for a while, which was true. While I was there, my grandma actually saw a bruise that was on my inner thigh, and the whole thing spiraled. I broke down, I told her everything. She was horrified to hear what had been happening between us. But once she calmed me down, she basically told me that I needed to exit the relationship as quickly as I could. We talked about it some more, and I agreed with her.

She had convinced me that I needed to get away from coal, and I needed to get away as soon as possible. Once spring break was over, he came over to my house, and I was adamant that we needed to spend the time in the living room instead of my room, because I knew what would happen if we went behind closed doors. Throughout the evening, I just kind of sat alone on the couch and kept my distance while I prepared for what I had to do. And then, once he had to leave, I ended up telling him that I thought we should take a break from each other. I saw by the look on his face that he wanted to smack me, something he had pretty much turned into his rebuttal when he thought what I said was wrong, but he didn't.

because my mom was in the other room, and he had to keep up his good kid appearances. He asked me if I was sure that I wanted to do that, in a way that was almost threatening. But I nodded, and I said that I enjoyed our time together, but that I needed some time to think things through. He basically left after that, but he did not leave me alone. He was dead set.

on quote unquote winning me back in some way. Whether that meant by telling me how much I meant to him or telling me that I would be sorry for what he had done, I tried my best to ignore the notes, the letters in the mailbox, the constant phone calls, but I couldn't ignore the literal brick through my window. Yes, he literally threw a brick through my window, complete with a small note attached to it that said,

I love you, Kayla, and I will die without you. Complete with his signature. Thankfully, that was enough to make this whole thing a lot easier, as my dad called the cops, and he was subsequently arrested, because he admitted that he did it. I was actually happy that this happened, because I would be able to move on, focus on school, and he wouldn't be there to distract or bother me anymore.

Now, I thought that was where it all ended. He was charged, told to stay away, and I finished high school without any issues. After I graduated, I moved out and then moved in with my grandparents and went to college. I spent four years furthering my education and living with them. Then, I went out and got my own place a few miles from their house at an apartment complex down the way. I lived there for six years, so at this point, I had been on my own for a decade. I had started my career, and I had met a guy that I was dating, and things were pretty serious.

Basically, I had moved on with my life, and I was happy, despite... what I had gone through. Recovery was difficult, but I felt like I had successfully managed to do so. Unfortunately, things went south really fast one random day, when I got a phone call from a number that I didn't know. I answered it, and I wish that I hadn't. As soon as I said hello, the voice on the other end said, Hey, Kayla, it's coal.

In a tone that was way too excited to be on this call. As soon as he said his name, my blood ran cold, and there were legitimate chills running down my spine. That was a voice that I never wanted to hear again. And the fact that he had somehow found my phone number was something else altogether. I kind of sheepishly said hi and then asked what he wanted. He laughed when I responded and then said something like,

don't sound so excited to talk to me, and then started in with what he was calling for. He asked me if I could be a reference for a job that he was applying for because he needed someone to tell them that he was a good person and willing to do the work. I basically just said okay and wrapped up the call as quickly as I could That feeling in my stomach whenever this happened

was literally the worst thing that I had felt since he and I were together I ended up telling my current boyfriend what happened and thankfully he was fully supportive and willing to keep me calm and talk me through the situation At the end of it he pretty much told me that I should just not answer any numbers that I don't recognize and just move on, pretend that it never happened.

He then followed up with, if I wanted, we could go up and change my phone number. I told him that it was okay, and that I would just not answer any more calls that I didn't recognize. That would have been a great solution, and probably would have been enough, if what happened next didn't happen. About a week after that happened, I went into the office to work, and sitting in the lobby was Cole. I opened the door and literally just froze the second that I saw him.

My heart was racing, and I'm pretty sure that I started hyperventilating because I was feeling dizzy. As soon as he saw me, He stood up and walked over to me, grabbing me and pulled me into a hug. I had no idea what to do, and I just kind of stood there frozen with his arms around me and not letting go. I wanted to cry. I wanted to throw up.

I wanted to literally just stop existing. He was talking in my ear about how much he had missed me since high school, how happy he was. was to see me. He said that he was there for an interview to work in the IT department, which was the department that I worked in, and he said that he was so excited that he may end up working with me. Then he said something that made my heart stop. It could be just like old times. As soon as he said that, I immediately pulled myself away from him and walked away as quickly

as I could to go and talk to my manager. I walked into his office, and I knew that he could see that something was wrong, because he stood up and asked me if I was okay. I let loose. I asked him if there was someone named Cole there for an interview. He told me there was, and that he was there to interview for a position that was on our team. Then he asked me if I knew him. I explained everything to him.

I pretty much just dumped the entirety of my trauma on him, and I told him that Cole was the cause of it. He then followed that up with saying that he would keep what I said in mind and asked me if I had a restraining order on coal. I knew what that meant. It meant that he did not care, and that he was going to proceed as if I had never told him any of this. The restraining order question was a matter of covering himself legally.

I told him no, and he ended the conversation pretty much right away. I went back to my desk, but I think I spent most of that day in the bathroom just staring at the wall and having a panic attack. That was actually the last day that I worked there, because I knew what was going on. Some of you may say that it was purely coincidence that he was interviewing for the same company that I was working at, but it wasn't. he didn't seem surprised to see me. He never once said anything about not knowing I worked there, and his comments made me feel more like he knew it, and was just trying to pretend that he didn't.

I know, it sounds paranoid, but he got my number. He went to my office. He interviewed for a position on my team. None of this was a coincidence. Like I said, I ended up quitting that day. I didn't even put in my two weeks just in case.

I wasn't willing to give him any more time around me. I also did go and change my number after that day, so he didn't have it. Thankfully, this time around, I had more of a support system in place. My boyfriend, my grandparents, and a few of my other friends. They all supported me in my decision, and they helped me get my mind straight. So, that's it. That's the story of my horrible X that showed up randomly in my life ten years later. It was hard to get through, and I still feel like some days he's going to show back up in my life to cause me more distress, but thankfully he hasn't.

If he ever does, I'm honestly not sure what I will do, or what it will do to me. This happened to me back whenever I was 15. My birthday is on June 23rd, and we had just had a family party for me, including dinner of my choosing, which was at my favorite Mexican restaurant. Then we went home, opened my presents, and had cake and ice cream. Afterwards, we watched a movie together and had more snacks like popcorn and candy, so I crashed pretty hard afterwards. It was a fantastic day, until I went to bed and had a horrible nightmare that felt so real. In my dream, my mom, dad, older brother, and I had all gone to get our fireworks for the 4th of July. We got the stuff we normally did, like smoke bombs, parachutes, fountains, the whole works.

My dad always liked to end with the big show. So he bought a bunch of different mortars, letting us each pick out one too that we specifically wanted to see. Then we would pick out some random little things here and there that they showed on their display screen, or anything that really caught our eyes. Walking down one of the displays was this piece that was honeycomb-shaped. The color on the wrapper, however, were golden, yellow, and orange,

and the name was something to the effect, of dancing bees, or similar. It looked kind of cute, and it made me think of my mom because she had a butterfly garden in our front yard that was always filled with butterflies and bees. She loved it. I called her over to show her, and, as expected, her face lit up, and she told my dad that she wanted to get it, so naturally we did. Then, when we started lighting things off, my grandma and mom were sitting in their patio chair on our porch, while my dad and brother were starting to light off the bigger mortars.

I loved watching them, but I was still nervous about lighting them, so I just watched them from the porch as well. Then they got to the B-1 that my mom and I picked out. My brother lit it and ran towards my dad who was standing to the side near the garage. After waiting in anticipation, we saw the fuse die out with nothing more. After a few seconds, my dad agreed to go check it out, and as he approached it, there was a huge burst of light that came out of it, causing me to flinch. When I finally looked back up, my dad was on the ground with my brother standing over him, and that's when I noticed my hearing seemed to be muffled and was slowly.

coming back as I heard screaming around me getting louder and louder. I turned around to see my mom slumped back in her chair, with something big smashed in her face. Then I turned around, as I seemed to recognize the screams, which were coming from my grandmother. She was rolling around on the ground trying to put the flames that were seeming to engulf her. I just remember standing there frozen in place, not knowing what did. do. Do I check to see if my mom is even alive? Do I help my grandmother? What about my dad? The next thing I knew, I woke up in my bed, covered in sweat, and I just started shaking and crying. I had never had a dream or nightmare, rather, that felt so real. The terror was overwhelming.

I could feel the heat of the fire and the splitting headache from the loud blast. But it was all a dream. I got up and turned on my computer to check the date and time. And to my relief, it was around June 24th at about two or three in the morning. I went to the restroom to splash water on my face to try and calm my nerves before I finally laid back down. I turned on the TV to try to get my mind elsewhere before I finally did fall back asleep, telling myself it was just a dream. I was 15, as I said, so I didn't really talk to my parents about having bad dreams anymore,

so I just kind of kept it to myself, other than maybe a good friend of mine. They thought it was a pretty crazy dream, too, but then we all moved on from it. It wasn't until a few days later, when we went to go get our fireworks, that it would all come back to me. We went on that following Saturday when my dad was off work to go get our supplies. We picked out our normal items and then started looking at the mortars. I hadn't even thought of my dreams since then

because while it was pretty scary, it was just a dream. However, I would be lying if I said it didn't all come rushing back to me and make me hesitate when I saw that same dancing bees display sitting out. In this reality, though, I chose not to point it out to my mom. I didn't really believe in supernatural phenomena or whatever you want to call this, but I guess the dream messed me up enough to steer me away from it.

Though that doesn't stop other people, so when my brother noticed it, he immediately pointed it out to my mom. As expected, she liked it. it and wanted to get it. I was not comfortable with this idea whatsoever, so I tried all I could to talk them out of it. I suggested we get something else. I said the name was going to be misleading, and I even said I wasn't comfortable with it, or it didn't seem safe.

My dad immediately pointed out that I've never really been afraid of fireworks to the point that I didn't want them to get something, and then asked me what was wrong. I didn't want to look dumb or be made fun of by my brother potentially, so I just said it didn't look safe. As expected, my brother teased me about being scared while my dad tried to assure me it would be fine, and that we were all safe when it came to the fireworks, and they carried it off. I refused to carry it, and I made them put it in the shed in the back, as far away as possible from the house. So, the night of the fourth, we got all set up for our little show. This year it was only going to be the four of us, plus my grandmother.

Sometimes we had friends or aunts and uncles that would stop over, but they all had plans this year. I did my best to relax and enjoy the night because I did typically enjoy this holiday, and I didn't want some dream to ruin it for me. I helped my mom and grandma set up their chairs on the porch, and we started lighting the fireworks. I was actually starting to have fun when they got out the dancing bees from my mom. That's when it came back to the forefront of my mind, when I had that sense of deja vu as I walked out the door asking my mom where something was. In my dream, I had just walked out the door to ask her for something similar, and decided to wait because she was telling me they were about to light it off.

As she started telling me they were going to light it, and to go get my grandma, because she had gone inside for something, I told my mom instead to come inside with me. She declined, saying she didn't want to miss it, so I tried to convince her to watch it from the kitchen window as it faced out into the backyard. She again declined. I didn't know what else to do, so I stood there next to her, mentally freaking out over a stupid dream, but something wasn't right.

So as my dad yelled that he was lighting it and running off, I went back in the house, and then without thinking, I screamed for my mom to help me with Grandma. Sure enough, she did come running to me as I stood in the kitchen. When she came in and noticed Grandma was nowhere around me, she became pretty upset with me. She yelled at me like, What's gotten into you? And going on from there, when I heard my brother or my dad yelling.

We quickly ran back outside to see my brother frozen in place, and my dad spraying the water hose over our little fireworks platform. Then we noticed a big child. chunk of something on the porch that barely missed my mom's chair. It was still smoldering, so my mom had me run to get water to put it out to make sure it didn't burn anymore. Shortly after, my grandmother came back out looking just as confused as my mom. After we put it out, my dad explained to my mom what had happened.

He lit the display, and after returning to where they were standing, they noticed that the Wick had gone out. Then he noticed that we weren't outside, so he started walking towards the door to find out where we had gone, since this was specifically for my mom. When, out of nowhere, it exploded. They saw a few pieces go flying, but for the most part it had caught fire right where it was, so my dad rushed to grab the hose and put it out. After it cooled, my dad broke apart the piece.

that landed on the porch, and it seemed to be like a mortar shell of some sort that was warped, so it didn't seem like it could break open. This happened many years ago, so I don't quite remember how we explained it. But the scary part was, it would have definitely done damage if it had hit my mom. That is, if it hadn't killed her. I just remember shaking and crying when it all. happened and hugging my dad since he was okay. My mom then asked me what the hell was going on with me being so worried about this particular

firework, and I finally explained the dream that I had. To my surprise, my mom and grandma looked shocked, whereas my dad thought it was strange and my brother didn't really say much. We cleaned up the debris from that nightmare and continued with our night, with my brother teasing me every once in a while, with a, is this one safe to light? But I was still on edge, feeling relieved that we may have avoided something much worse, and then also scared that I may have predicted this. Not long after the Fourth of July celebrations, we started hearing and seeing in the news

about fireworks accidents, such as fires, injuries, and death. and would you believe me if I said the makers of that stupid dancing bees was listed? We weren't the only ones that had something happen, where it ended a lot worse for them. And it kind of creeps me out thinking, what if they had some kind of warning like I did? Would things have been different for them too? I've never had a dream before or after that felt as real as that one,

but it's just so strange that it happened. My grandma said that I probably have some kind of ability that I wasn't aware of before and wholeheartedly believes in me. This is why I adore her. To be honest, though, I don't think I want to experience that again. Seeing someone close to you die, whether in real life or a dream, can definitely be traumatizing. Oh, and always remember firework safety.

Long-time reader, first-time poster. A throwaway account for obvious reasons. Quick backstory. Around July and August of 2021, my city was under its second major COVID lockdown, where you were not allowed to have any guests over at your house. I had just moved back in with my parents in early July after my least. ended, and I did not renew it. I'm in my mid-20s.

My mother was a big stickler for the COVID laws, so my girlfriend was not even allowed on my big front porch, which, yeah, really annoying. Okay, to the story. My girlfriend and I would often go for walks around a local creek near my house, and we were a fresh couple, so we had certain needs, if you understand.

There was a hidden side path, attached to the main walkway that goes through the creek that we would sneak off into to yeah and yes we know it's messed up one night around 7 p.m it's wintertime so it's pitch black in this creek after about 5.30 we decided to walk to our spot my girlfriend was excited and decided to skip ahead of me i was walking slowly while she was about seven meters ahead of me once i turned to the corner onto the side area. I noticed that she was on her phone and she was acting suspiciously, checking the weather and other apps.

And then randomly she said, okay, it's time for me to go home. I was sort of just like, oh, okay, she doesn't want to do anything anymore, no worries. As we started walking away, she whispers, there's someone right behind you. And I'm like, what? I turned my head over my right shoulder, and there was a man in all black with his hoodie on, squatting and hiding in the bushes staring at us. Where this bush is, was on a top of a ledge about three to four feet above the path, so while the man in black was squatting and crouching, our faces were basically aligned.

I immediately said, What the hell? I was pretty caught off guard, so I said it weakly. And this man did not react at all. He didn't gasp, say hello, or excuse me, or any of the usual things a person would say if people noticed each other in the pitch black woods. He just stared at us as we walked away. I asked my girlfriend how she even noticed him, and she said when she walked down the trail before I got there, she saw the man on his phone, and as soon as she arrived, the man in the hoodie turned his phone.

off. We left that walkway and went up one sort of close by. Yeah, we're idiots. And as we were walking up the parallel side trail, we could see the man still hiding in the bushes and staring at us. There was only the faint light from the moon. While not really scary, it was more of a creepy, unexplained situation. So, a man hiding in the creek bushes? Let's not meet. I worked the late shift to pay for university, and I came home at midnight. I share a house with my mom, and I park my car in a garage that you can open with the remote control.

You can get straight into the house through a door that connects the garage with the basement, which I normally do, except for Tuesday. where I go around the house to pull our trash can onto the street and then enter through the main door. Our house is surrounded by tall bushes so you can't see much of the street. It's a small rural village, and I know all the neighbors very well. On a Tuesday night that I returned from my shift,

and when I drove into our street, I noticed an unfamiliar car with its headlights on. Since I know my neighborhood so well, I was kind of confused about the car, but I couldn't see the license plates, nor the person sitting in the car clearly, since the light was blinding me. You only drive on to our street when you live there, or visit someone there since it only circles back to the main street when you follow it to the end. I open the gate in garage door remotely, and I drove inside.

From that point, I can only see the street through the gate, since the bushes are high on both sides, and I normally would have left the car and walked outside to grab the trash can. But that day, I got a long voice message from a friend and stayed in my car to listen to it. Seven minutes into the message, I lift my gaze and look into my rearview mirror, and I see a man standing in my driveway behind my car. He didn't move in any way. He just stood perfectly still and watched me.

I panicked and locked the doors, and then I grabbed the remote and closed the extremely slow garage gate. I just sat there for a moment and was too scared to leave the car, since I couldn't be sure that he didn't enter the garage before the door reached the floor. I also had to call my mother because the garage door into the basement was locked, since I had planned to use the main door. She later told me that she immediately went to the window. she can overview the streets and she lives on the first floor, but couldn't see the man or the car at that point. I told myself it was probably a neighbor who didn't think about how creepy he was acting, and that I didn't recognize him in the dark,

but I asked around and nobody knew the man. I only got the information that that type of car was seen slowly driving around our neighborhood the last few days. So my mom thinks that it was something. someone who wanted to surprise me and forced me to let him into the house to rob us. My grandma had just died, and nobody knew that my mom spent the nights over.

She thinks that he waited behind the bushes, and he got impatient or confused when I didn't exit the car. We never found out who it was. I'm new to this sub, and I'm not sure if this will catch anyone's interest. However, with the amount of true crime content, I consume now, I feel compelled to get this story out. I, 27, female, attended a big university in the Midwest and started bartending after a few weeks

after turning 21. It was a fairly small college-type bar. When I worked weekdays, I would be the only person in the entire bar from 4 to 9 p.m. until another bartender and bouncer came in. I'm very petite and I was young so this made me uneasy. But I was downtown and there were always a lot of people around. A man, whom I'm assuming was local, started figuring out which days I was there alone, and he seemed to always stop in.

He was short and stocky, but very muscular, covered in tattoos, always wore a fedora with a feather in it, and had very big gauge-type earrings that were shaped like bullhorns. This is probably irrelevant, but my point is that you couldn't miss him in a crowd. He started off making subtle remarks about how pretty and small I was, which I brushed off because this is pretty typical behavior in a bar environment, and I was a broke college student trying to make money. As time went on, during every encounter,

he would somehow slip something into the conversation about how petite I was and how I needed to learn to defend myself. Eventually, he started telling me about the martial arts classes that he was into and talked about wrestling maneuvers that he learned in all of his training and told me he'd love to teach me so I could defend myself if I ever needed to. He started offering to show me these different chokeholds, and was extremely persistent on showing me how to do them. No matter how where conversation started,

he would end up getting on the topic of different chokeholds and would tell me, I won't hurt you, I can just show you on the ground over here how you should do it. I always found a way to change the subject or acts like I was getting a phone call when he would start getting on to the topic. It started to become every time he was there.

Eventually I started texting my guy friends or the bar owner when I would see him walking past the bar, trying to see if I was there. Someone would come immediately. He caught on to this and stopped showing up. Now that I hear so many of these stories about predators with very specific sexual fetishes, I'm terrified to know that I didn't do more to protect myself in this situation. It's sad that as young women, especially in certain areas of work, we are taught to accept this kind of behavior and be polite and kind. I specifically remember this man asking me three or four different times where I lived, and I'm so glad that my instincts told me to lie.

I just hope no one else has encountered this man and been met with the worst outcome. I lived in a semi-smaller town back around 2014. It was one of those towns where everyone knew each other. We actually weren't allowed big fencing, but Chainlink was also a no-no, so most people either didn't have fencing, or you had to have one of the short brown or white fences. We had one on our place just to better separate our property line and plant other trance. trees and shrubs without being told we were over our property lines. I bring this up just to show how open our yards were, and the overall lack of privacy. It wasn't a bad thing, though, because all the neighbors were pretty great, except your one

nosy neighbor, but we just learned not to say much when they were around. Anyways, with this openness, people often had block parties or cookouts together, and they were a lot of fun. My wife and I were definitely the social types, so we typically attended them, and also seemed harder to avoid if we wanted to when she became pregnant. Everyone wanted to ask how she was doing, what our plans were for X, Y, and Z, and so on. After our daughter was born, it was just as fun as the other kids grew up with her and they all became friends. But, alas, every seemingly normal neighborhood has to have a dark side, right? There was a younger lady that lived nearby. She lived at the end of the block.

I'll call her May. May inherited her house from her parents as her father had passed, and her mother had moved into an assistant. assisted living type of deal. They didn't want to sell the house, so they gave it to her, as long as she kept up on any maintenance that it needed. I knew this based on what she had told my wife, and when I was volunteered to help fix or look at something for her place.

So, of course, May also showed up to the parties and was typically pleasant to be around. She could kind of get loud, but we never really feel. found an issue with it. Some of the older folks and families, with like four or five kids, didn't care for her, or at least how she handled herself, but I just steered clear of her while my wife just thought she was trying to live her best years. Regardless, no one ever really had a problem with her beyond those situations. One of the bigger block parties that we had was for the Fourth of July, of course.

It was typically a bring-your-own-one. fireworks and food, but there were a few cheap grills laid out for people to use, and they blocked off part of the road, and had standing solar lights sectioning off parts of it so the kids could safely light off fireworks. This year, my daughter was about six or seven. So she was just getting into really trying out anything, so we spent a lot of time close to her, of course, helping her light the little fountains, and then running off with her. We tried to set in the idea that you don't have to be afraid of them, because she didn't like the ones with loud noises,

but you also had to be careful and safe. When May showed up, she came over, said hi, gave our daughter a box of poppets, and went off to greet everyone else. She had brought a bag of candy and small fireworks, and was giving them to the kids. As it started getting darker, one of her friends showed up, and that's when the party really started for them. They started getting a bit louder and really enjoying themselves, which was making some people avoid them.

My wife was still welcoming to them, but we were still watching our daughters, so after offering them the chairs that we brought, since she also had a blanket to sit on, they accepted the invite, but said, that they would be right back because May had to use the restroom. We were sitting almost across the street from our place, so my wife offered to let them use ours. But they insisted they would go back to her place and then off they went. We continued watching the show, taking turns with our daughter, when our friend came walking back asking if we had seen May. We told her no, not since she left with her,

and she said that she was gone when she got out of the bathroom. She said she thought she had walked back here instead of waiting, but was surprised to see her not sitting with us. So she walked back to her place, after joking about getting lost in her own house, and left. A short while later, she came back again, saying that she still couldn't find her. We still hadn't seen her since around when they left, and no one else at the party had either. everyone was doing their own thing, no, so no one stopped to help look for her or try to figure out where she went. I remember when we were packing up to leave. The party was still going, but our kid was getting tired and cranky, so we decided to head out.

At that point, we'd actually forgotten about the whole May thing until a couple days later. We were at home, and we had a cop knocking on our door. They said they were asking about May, as she had to be a couple of days later. apparently gone missing the night of the fourth, under suspicious circumstances. She visited her mom almost daily, and she just stopped showing up with no warning. And her purse was actually found in a ditch, and all-important belongings were left at home, like her keys and phone. We still hadn't seen her after they headed home that night, and hadn't since, so we unfortunately

weren't much help. It was on the local news, but... months passed and life just went on. She was never found and never returned. It wasn't until a little over a year later that our tiny town would get its answers. On my way to work, I saw several cops at one of the houses on the same street that we lived in. I learned when I got home that the guy that lived there had tried ending his life by sitting in his car that was on in an enclosed garage. However, authorities were able to get there in time to stop him,

mostly because of the phone call that he made to 911 with a confession. He said he was going to take his life, as he couldn't live with the guilt of having killed May a year prior. It took a while for us to finally get all the information, but gossip moved fast in that neighborhood too. The guy was apparently driving intoxicated and was trying to turn. turned down our block? May was probably already outside, ready to head back, and was in the road for whatever reason.

We don't know, but this guy had hit her. We unfortunately were towards the other end of the street, and if there was any noise, it was most likely drowned out by the fireworks. The guy then picked her up, took her back to his place, trying to figure out what to do with her, where she eventually passed from her injuries. I believe the report said she had internal bleeding. He then buried her in his unfinished basement, as part of the floor was just dirt and sand.

Within that time of him bringing her home, her friend was just inside, and came out looking for her everywhere. If she had stayed inside or her friend had come out just a few seconds sooner, this all may have been avoidable. Hell, if we would have insisted that she used our rest, room, it could have been avoided. And that really tore at my wife for a while.

So, we found out what happened to her, which was heartbreaking. But we also knew this guy, as he was part of the community as well. He also attended the parties that we had, and sickeningly attended a get-together that we had had at our place afterwards. This guy continued to parade around with the rest of us, and he knew something that we didn't. We talked about her on occasions with him right there. It must have done a number on him, though,

as it was quoted on the news, that he couldn't live with the guilt and wanted her family to have closure. There were so many emotions surrounding those two years, as the neighborhood seemed to crumble a bit afterwards. Some families moved out, including ourselves, because it was just a weird feeling. But the thought that we had a killer so close to us, on a regular basis,

was genuinely terrifying. I just never really know a person, right? This happened in the early 2000s. At the time, I lived in Florida and was about 13 years old. It was a different time, for sure, where a bunch of us kids would be outside messing around, digging in the mud, climbing trees, doing things that little boys did, all day and laid into the night. And on top of that, it was usually without adult supervision.

The neighborhood, as I remembered, it was pretty cool, too. No one that was dangerous, just your average people like my own family. I say this because it was normal for us older kids to go off and do our own thing, as long as we came home by whatever curfew we were given. But after this event, I didn't like to be out at night anymore, and never without an adult. It was the 4th of July, and my family was having their normal party with other relatives. It was my parents, me, my three siblings, my grandparents, aunt and uncle, and their two kids. One of my cousins, Joey, was close to my age and we were pretty much best friends.

They actually lived a few blocks over, so I would ride my bike over there to play with them. So when they showed up, we immediately started showing off the fireworks that we had, sharing and trading the goods, and went around the yard for things to blow up in color with firecrackers and smoke bombs. If you've never taken your sister's old Barbie doll to stain with smoke bombs and blow up, then you were missing out. So the day was going well, doing the day stuff that we were allowed to do, and then it started getting dark so the adults were setting up their spot on the sidewalk where they would be watching the show. Of course, I was the oldest, though, so we were always waiting to shoot off our stuff. After some time, one of my siblings started being a nuisance, doing things little siblings did, following me around, asking me to light off mine, copying me, the normal things.

When I told my parents we all pretty much got into trouble, and were told to stop arguing, or we would just have to go inside for the night. I was annoyed, so I just sat on the porch stewing, as Joey tried to cheer me up. We came up with a plan to get us away from the family for a while, and asked if Joey and I could walk down to the fireworks stand that wasn't far from us. After thinking it over, they finally agreed to let us go, giving me like 20 bucks to pick up a few things that they specifically wanted,

and we headed off, celebrating our small victory and having time to ourselves. Of course, we were still. still young boys, and were up to no good, and Joey still had his dad's lighter. So I brought some firecrackers for us to shoot off as we walked. We tossed a few in the road after a car passed, or threw some in the ditch next to the road as it had some water in it. If you've ever thrown firecrackers in water, you know the fun in watching it splash back up. So the further we went along the sidewalk, the fewer streetlights there were, as there was a lot of agricultural land on the side.

The fireworks stand was in an old farm supply shop that is usually empty until this time of the year. After we went over a small hill, we could see the building in the distance. As we were walking, though, we saw what looked like a person on the other side of the road up ahead, but the shape of them made us stare a little longer than we should have. They looked like they were wearing a thick jacket Or had a blanket wrapped around them Again, it was July, and in Florida This was not something you normally saw someone wearing,

So it was definitely an odd sight for us to see But we pretty much just left it at that. We continued on, Occasionally looking up at them to see if they were still just standing there when they started walking down the street in our direction, but on the other side of the road still. At this point, we had stopped talking, and we had reached the part where we were both across from each other,

so we slowed to a stop to look at them. He was standing almost directly under the streetlight, but, from what I could tell, the outlines and colors, they weren't from a jacket. It was some kind of fur suit, but it wouldn't be as weird if it was a set though. No, this was creepier because you could tell that it was piece-mealed together. The bottom part looked yellow or tan in color, and it seemed to look really dirty.

The top part looked purple or blue, and the fur looked longer or thicker, but also looked extremely matted. It kind of looked like a really old stuffed animal that was left out in the element for days. Then there was the mask. It had a long snout like that of a dog, maybe. But the fur or hair was really long going down the back of the mask, and again, it looked like a mess. It looked like someone found different pieces of a costume in different dumpsters and decided to make it into one.

And if there's one thing it succeeded at, it was looking unsettling. They turned their head and just stared at us, which is when we got a better look at the mask. But we really didn't know how to react other than to just stare back at them. Then they made some kind of aggressive motion toward us. Sorry, I don't know how to explain the motion he made, but it was kind of like he was telling us to back up. But he was growling as he did it. This definitely made us jump up a bit, and then we decided we should probably keep going and try not to look at them anymore.

We picked up our pace and again had started talking about the situation, but not long after that, we heard the quick shuffling of what sounded like someone running, so we turned around only to find this terrifying, furry man running toward us. Yeah, that would have been terrifying, alone, but they were running toward us on all fours. It was like they were galloping and the motion looked normal, other than their legs clearly being longer than their arms. So we did what any terrified child would do and we took off running towards the fireworks building, screaming.

We started hearing the growling sounds again as they were starting to catch up to us, but we made it to the building and quickly ran inside, as we saw several people. will turn and look at us in shock. An older lady then swiftly approached us and told us we would have to leave because this wasn't a place to mess around. We tried to explain to her what had happened, frightened that she was going to force us back out there with that thing around, but she looked out the door and told us that we could make our purchase,

but then would have to leave afterwards. So we agreed. We tried to compose ourselves the best we could and walk around to gather, what we wanted and what we were asked to get. It certainly didn't stop the lady from watching us the whole time we were in there, though. I'm sure we may have looked a little suspicious, as we did just kind of glance over a lot of the items to try to buy us some time, as we weren't ready to go back out there.

After going over each aisle, we finally bought our items to the front and paid for them, trying to be as polite as possible. I asked the person that rang us up if they had a phone that we could use to call home, hoping that someone might be able to pick us up instead. Hesitantly they brought up a cordless phone and tried calling, but to no surprise, no one answered. So, we decided it was time for us to buck up and head home. The only benefit this time was that we had more fireworks,

including Roman candles that we were hoping to be able to fire at this person if they came back for us. We started our speedwalk back to my place, trying to act cool and fine, but I know that I was still scared, and I know Joey was too by the look on his face, and the fact that we kept both looking around. Thankfully, my dad must have thought that something was up, and as we round at the corner, I recognized his truck and we immediately ran over to it. We jumped in the back, telling him that we already got everything and to just go home. When we got back home, we explained to them what had happened, but of course they didn't believe us. My mom and aunt kept claiming that we probably just didn't see the person clearly,

and my dad and uncle teased that they were probably just doing it to scare people. but whatever the case, after that, I never really liked going outside at night, and I never went anywhere without an adult that could fight off some man-bear dog thing. And the fact that instead of running at us like a human they dropped to their hands and feet and ran at us, is an image I just cannot forget. Joey and I still bring it up on occasion when we're together, and he remembers it just as I do.

It still freaks me out to think what could have happened if they did catch up to us and what their plans were. But whatever they were, I'm glad we ruined them. And I hope they weren't able to follow through with any other targets. The story takes place several years ago. In the early to mid-2000s, I think it was 2006, because at the time, I was living with my aunt and uncle in the middle of pretty much nowhere Midwest. I won't get into the whole why I was living with them thing,

because it's not really relevant. Just know that I had crappy parents, and they were the next best thing. But they really did live in what was pretty much the middle of nowhere. The town, if you could call it that, that we lived in had a really small population. and pretty much everyone knew everyone else. It was basically one of those small towns where, if you pulled into someone's driveway, you would get met with the business end of a double barrel.

On top of this, they lived on what was essentially a long dirt road that literally just ended. There were no turnarounds or side roads. It was just one long dirt path with gravel on it that went the length of a few properties, and then stopped at a tree line. It didn't even have one of those metal guardrails to stop you at the end. It was just forest and a small ravine pretty much.

This meant that the people that came down the road were typically just the people that lived there, or were visiting someone that lived there. Very rarely did we get someone that would drive all the way down the road, find that it ended, and then turn around to go somewhere else. Now that you have an idea of what it was like, I'll get on to what actually happened. I was 16 at the time, and had recently gotten my driver's license, so I was the one that drove to the only gas station to get snacks, or would drive out to the grocery store to pick up the few things that we needed.

I was pretty much just taking every single opportunity that I could to get into the car and go, since I now legally could. This was especially true since it was summer break, because otherwise I would just be sitting in the house with my little brother, and that was not something I wanted to do. It was pretty early in the morning, sometime around eight or so, because my uncle had just gotten up,

and was complaining that we were out of both creamer and milk for his coffee, and he was getting grumpy because of it. I told him that I would just go ahead and run to the store to get what he needed if he wanted me to. He said that I could go, but then told me to take Jimmy, my little brother. I really didn't want to, but I wasn't going to fight him on it. We got in the car, headed out down the drive, and on to, the road towards the main roads. A few minutes into the drive,

I saw what looked like a car sitting on the side of the road with the hood up, which is also something you don't usually see around here. I slowed down as we approached, and I saw a man in a button-down shirt and nice pants, just kind of standing there in front of the car, looking at it like he was annoyed or frustrated. I asked him if he was okay, and he was. and he laughed and then walked over to my window.

Here's how the conversation went. Him. No, I'm not okay. I was driving down the road and this thing just stopped running. I don't know what's wrong with it. You wouldn't happen to have a phone I could use, would you? Me. No, I don't.

Sorry. Were you going to see someone down this way? I could point you to their house and they could probably help you. Mind you, this was 2006. Most people didn't have cell phones on them at the time, much less out here. Him, that's all right. Could you give me a ride up the road to the gas station so I could call someone? It's just me out here, and I don't really know where I am.

This was a bit of a weird statement to me. He definitely looked out of place, but to be on this road usually meant you knew where you were going. Me? Oh, this is my uncle's car, and I don't know. don't think he'd want me to have a stranger in it. What I can do, though, let me turn around and go get him, and I'll let him know where you are, so he can come out this way. He actually owns a mechanic shop, so he can either tell you what's wrong, or get you towed out to the shop, and I'm sure he'll be able to fix it. When I said this, he kind of looked upset or disappointed, which was weird to me. I was basically offering to get him a certified mechanic to look at his car for free. since he was stuck here. My uncle had been working on cars for something like 30 years at this point. There was nothing that he couldn't diagnose or fix at the shop.

The guy kind of just looked around and shook his head, and then leaned in and said, Could you guys just go ahead and give me a ride? I think that would be the better way to do this. That's when my brother leaned forward and started talking. He asked, Is that guy with you too? and pointed towards the trees by the car.

The guy looked shocked and then turned around to look at the trees, then asked in a sheepish way, uh, oh, what, what guy? My brother once again pointed and said, that guy right there,

behind the tree, he's been standing there for a while. Will he need a ride too? Now, my brother can be a bit annoying at times with how he was, but this was practically, the thing that saved us in this situation. As soon as the guy realized that we knew the other guy was there,

he didn't really seem to know what to say. After a couple seconds of mumbling and jumping around with his words, he seemed to motion to the other guy. And as soon as I saw him start walking out of the trees with a gun in his hands, I booked it. I knew exactly what was going on here. And I knew that I needed to get as far away from this as quickly. as I could, I slammed the gas pedal and took off.

I'm pretty sure I actually ran over the first guy's foot on the way. After what felt like forever of driving down the road at top speed, I looked back, slowed down, and I turned out on to the main road where everything was. When I finally parked in the parking lot at the grocery store, I just kind of sat there with my heart racing and panicking inside. My brother, on the other hand, was just like, huh, that was weird. When I was certain that I wasn't going to die from a heart attack,

we got out and quickly ran into the store. I went over to the desk and asked to use their phone to call my uncle. I told him that some guys were parked on our street and that one of them had a gun, and that they tried to carjack us. I honestly think that they were more likely trying to kidnap us and take the car too, but I just stuck with the carjacking. He told me to stay there until he got up to the store

and said that he was going to call the cops. When the officer got to the store, my brother and I told him about the whole thing. We told them about the car, the guy, the second guy with the gun. They did a sweep of the area, but they never found any of them. My uncle said that he didn't see them either when he drove down the road. My guess, they probably took off when we did, because they knew that the cops would be there soon. It was really bizarre for them to do this in the middle of a rural area, on a road where it's just a bunch of country folk.

But at the same time, I guess if you have the patience, you could get a mark pretty easily, since people out that way are always willing to stop and help. It was the only time that there were any reports of anything like this, and I never saw the two guys again, which tells me that they weren't from around there. And honestly, I hope that I never do see them again. When I was in my 20s, I was unmedicated, bipolar, and I was dealing with an immense amount of unprocessed trauma. being bipolar, I was also being super promiscuous and just not making good choices. I was using OKCupid and matched with a guy that seemed pretty normal. He worked at a smoke shop, had a dog, no kids, and was married.

Come to find out, they were looking for someone who would be down for a threesome. We talked for a few weeks and then he invited me over. I was manic. Like, manic, manic, manic. And said yes. I walked to the street corner of my apartment and told him where I was. He picked me up in a newer BMW, and we drove across the town to his place. When I get there, the vibe was awkward, if that makes sense.

I met his wife, and we all chatted. She told me that she was an RN at the local hospital and was showing me her tattoos, and after a while he offered to make us drinks. My mom always told me to be careful taking drinks from strangers at bars and such, but my dumb ass assumed it was fine since I was already at the house. Still, I watched him. He had several mini vodka bottles and was pouring them into glasses. He had a juice of some kind and then served them.

It tasted like an order. a narrowly cheap, crappy drink. Way too much booze, and it was dry. After a while, I felt super anxious. His wife had gone into the bedroom, and I was alone with her husband. Something was off. I felt nauseous, and just overall got sick. I worked at the hospital, and I assumed that I had just picked up a bug.

I stood up, and it felt like the entire world had shifted. I damn near fell over the couch. I didn't think I had drink that much, but then thought that I must have. I grabbed my bag and I tell him that I was going to call a cab and go home. Immediately he stood up and loudly said, No, you can't. He said it almost too fast and frantic. It scared the crap out of me, and I knew immediately that I needed to leave.

I told him I wasn't staying and that. I was leaving. He tried to block the door, but being shorter than him, I ducked under his arm. He tried to grab my shoulder, but I shook him off, and I swung at him. My blow landed on his throat and knocked the wind out of him. I took the opportunity and ran as fast as I could out the door and into the street. I had a cab number saved in my phone from a really nice cabby. It was his personal cell phone number, and he was a close friend of someone that I knew well. I don't know why, but I called him. He answered, groggy and clearly just woken out of a slumber.

I'm sobbing as I tell him what happened. He perked up right away and told me to walk to the gas station across the way and wait for him there. Less than five minutes later, he was pulling into the parking lot. He jumped out and ran over to me. He had remembered taking me home, so he knew the address. already. He told me to have a friend meet me at my house and to stay with me. My friend met us there and brought me inside. I don't remember the rest at all. Apparently I was acting erratic and making no sense. She called 911 and an ambulance came. I woke up in the hospital.

The doctors were telling me that I had such a high amount of benzodiazepans in my system, that it was a miracle I made at home alive. I filed a police report, and the nurse was arrested. I'm not really sure what happened from there, but I'm so grateful for that cabby that came to my rescue. I have a story that happened to me and my wife back in July of 1998. We were both fairly young. I think I was 22 at the time, which would have made her 23.

The two of us had moved away pretty much as soon as we could and had made a comfortable little life for ourselves about three states away from where we grew up. Of course, this meant, and still does mean, that we have to fly back home anytime anything anything important or worthy of celebrating happens to our family. Well, in this particular year, my sister was getting married, and she wanted to have her wedding on July 3rd, which would mean that our whole thing, family would be there to celebrate on July 4th. Normally, we hadn't flown back on the 4th, but because my sister was getting married, we were pretty much told that it was important to do so.

So, we packed our bags and got ready for the trip back home. We had, of course, decided that flying would be our preferred method of travel, as neither of us wanted to spend a ton of time driving across the Midwest. This was also pre-2001, so flying was a bit more laid back, and there wasn't a ton of security to make the event stressful. We got to the airport and parked the car, and then got into the building. We got our luggage checked, went through the basic security checks to get out of the lobby area, where the gates are. By the time we were there and ready, we still had about an hour and a half before our flight. So, we decided to just kind of hang out.

Again, 1998, so we didn't have phones or a laptop to kill time with, unfortunately. About 30 minutes into us sitting there, I had started to doze off, and my wife was pretty much nose down into the book that she was reading. When I heard a man saying something that I couldn't quite make out. I then heard my wife respond to him, and this made me jump up from my half-asleep state to fully awake. When I opened my eyes and sat up, I think it kind of startled the guy because he sort of jumped a bit too. When he noticed I was awake, he seemed to no longer be interested in standing in front of us, kind of just shuffled away. It was weird, but I just laughed and then looked over to her and, asked what the hell he had wanted.

She said that he asked her if she knew how to fly a plane, and when she said no, he said that he could teach her if she was interested. And apparently that was the entirety of the conversation. I said all right, and then decided that it wasn't worth too much more attention, and that I would just go back to my nap. No more than around 15 minutes or so later, there was an announcement over the speakers at the airport that was asking everyone to remain where they were

and stated that there was a situation that was being dealt with. They then stated that this may cause delays and apologized for the inconvenience. It was a bit strange for an announcement to be made to the entire airport, but I assumed that there was something going on with the systems or air control or something like that. We still had at least half an hour until we got on the plane, so I wasn't too terribly worried about the whole thing. That is, until about five or so minutes later when the police showed up.

And it wasn't just one or two officers. It looked like it was the entire police department for the county. They were all wearing what looked like tactical gear, and several of them had the big guns. They were sweeping the floor asking people for ID and to see their tickets. Most people were checked, and then they were told to go to the other end of the lobby. That was that. However, a few of us were checked and then told to wait by the opposite wall while they finished the sweep. Then, when they got those of us against the second wall, they started pulling us away individually and asking us strange questions.

They actually pulled myself and my wife apart before they started talking to us. I remember the question seemed incredibly strange at the time. The first thing the officer asked me for was my full name and address. Then he asked me where I was going. I told him everything and said that we were going to visit my family, and he started asking me why we were headed there, who exactly we were going to see. just a ton of really personal questions about our trip.

Then he asked me if I was aware of what was going on, and I told him I had no idea. He then asked if I had spoken to anyone in the airport while I was there. At first I told him no, but then I mentioned that some random dude came up and asked my wife if she knew how to fly a plane. He nodded at my answer, and then told me to go ahead and get him. get back with the group. Around this time, they had finished asking my wife the questions as well, and she went back

with me to the wall. This was pretty much where we stayed for another hour, which put us as late for takeoff on our flight, but no one was able to go anywhere. The officers had put the entire airport on what was essentially a lockdown. Then, a little while after that, the announcement came. back through and mentioned that we all needed to go to our gates, and that they would begin boarding specific flights, and taking off as soon as possible. We got to our gate, and we waited as every other flight seemed to be boarding but ours.

Then, we pretty much found out why our flight wasn't going anywhere, and why the police were scrutinizing our group more than the others. As we were sitting there, several officers came through the boarding area from where our plane was sitting, and they were basically carrying that man from earlier, the one that asked my wife about flying the plane. He was screaming incoherently as they took him out of the tunnel thing, and out of the airport altogether. Obviously this was a bit strange.

None of us had been able to board, so him being on the plane was a bit odd. After they had gotten him out of the airport, and as they were wrapping the scene up, I actually stopped one of the officers, and I asked him what exactly had happened. Thankfully, he was one of the cops that had questioned me, so he was willing to inform me.

He said this guy had somehow gotten past the security people at the gate, and then managed to get onto the plane when only the pilots were on. He then trying to break down the door to the captain's area, saying that he needed to get on to get on. get in so he could fly the plane because he needed to teach his new girlfriend. Obviously, they put on the call with

security immediately, but then they asked him about who his friend was, where he was flying to. He told them it was the pretty lady he just met in the airport. This would be why they were asking my wife and I about the whole thing.

My guess, they saw us talking to him on the security cameras and wanted to make sure we weren't in on some plot to hijack a plane. Thankfully, the guy seemed to be completely nuts, so once we gave them our information, and both told them that we didn't know the guy that was talking to us, they were happy with it and determined that he was acting alone. That was pretty much the end of it.

The officers stayed at the airport until all the passengers were on the plane, and we took off as normal without any issues. We were about an hour or so late getting in, but that really wasn't a big deal, especially since we now had one hell of a story to tell the family. Hey there, friends. That was today's episode of the As the Raven Dreams podcast, and I really hope that you all enjoyed this collection of scary stories. If you did, please do consider checking out my YouTube channel

where I do these same stories, but a little bit early. than I do them here on the podcast form, and also in slightly different collections. If you really enjoy the podcast, please do consider giving it a rating of any sort if the platform you're listening on has ratings. Any honest rating is appreciated by me, be it five-star, one-star, however you want to do it. Just know that rating the podcast helps tremendously. And if you would like to support further, I do have a Patreon and channel memberships if you'd like to do things on the YouTube side. where for as little as a dollar a month they get early access to my content. Never ever expected, but always appreciated.

That said, friends, I hope that I do see you on the next episode of this podcast. And of course, until then, sleep well.