As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 036 - Dark Family Secret and Creepy Summer Stories - 09 True Scary Stories

Episode Date: July 29, 2022

Hello and Welcome to the 36th 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 horrors kept among family members, as well as the terrifying things that happen during the years hottest months.  ➤ 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... Jack S, Tessa, CL, LiterallyLemon, CheetosGuardian, Amanda, CamperCCD, Adrian and 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

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. WestJet, where your story takes off. Biennue at board of VIAE. Embarked and profited. Embarked and relax. Cirok, bookine,

oh, that also. And profite. Villaray, the voice that we love that we love. If you have a story you would like to hear featured on this podcast, please go to ashtheravendreams.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. Now, some people may read this and think maybe I was just an overreacting kid. And I misunderstood him.

But those people also didn't know my dad. They didn't know this giant bully that I knew all my life. He was easily six foot or more, and he had that burly farmer builds to him. He was all manly, no emotions, no fear, and this also meant that girls were a problem, as they were just a waste of space. I've kept this to myself my whole life, and I'll take it with me when I die, too, because I would never want someone, let alone my little sister, to ever feel like they weren't worth it.

My parents struggled to conceive, and finally gave birth to me when my mom was in her 30s. My father was almost 50. They thought their lives were perfect at this point. They had a boy. My father had someone to help and then take over the farm and carry on his family's name. What they didn't expect,

was my mother to get pregnant again. I, of course, was excited. I was going to have a little sibling to play with and share my toys with. My dad didn't quite share the excitement. I remember them arguing a bit about it, but my mom just kept talking about how it could be another boy, which would be helpful. I didn't care if they were a boy or a girl.

Neither did my mom, I think, but I could tell that a girl was definitely going to be a problem. Much to my father's disappointment, it was a girl. My mom refused to give her up for adoption, so after she was born, our home became a bit divided. Her name was Haley, and I loved her. I loved holding her, feeding her, and trying to play with her. My mom kept telling me that she was too young

and that I had to be careful with the small and hard toys. Every time I was with her, my dad looked angry and disappointed. He hated seeing me help her and refused to let me help with getting her dressed, or bathing her, saying that it was my mother's responsibility and not mine. He tried to pull me out into the barn to help with the animals as much as possible, but he was always very mean and demanding, so I hated helping him after a while. Thankfully, when he would leave for whatever reason, my mom would allow me to help her with preparing a bottle, changing my sister, just things like that.

Over the next few years, things were the same. When I came home from school, I would say hi to Haley, and then he would quickly want me outside helping. When Haley was a toddler, I was about ten. While having dinner, Haley started getting upset and she didn't want to eat. My mom commented on her not feeling well, but my dad was getting irritable. When she started whimpering like she was about to cry, my father used his already booming voice to yell at her to stop, or that she could go to bed without eating.

She looked terrified, and rightfully so. I remember him yelling a few times at me like that. Haley just sat there staring at her food while the rest of us finished dinner. Afterwards, he left the house, slamming the door behind him, leaving the rest of us at a silence table. I immediately slid over to Haley to comfort her as my mom picked up the plates. I got her to cheer up a bit, and I even got her to finish her food. We had a decent night afterwards, as I went to her room to play with her before we had to go to bed. My mom didn't want my dad to see me playing with her toys and caused another fight, though.

That night, I woke up needing to use the bathroom, but as I got up, I noticed that Haley's door was slightly open when it was always closed, per my dad's orders. I started looking in to make sure that she was okay, when I saw my dad kneeling over her bed, holding a pillow, as she slept. I was confused, and she was confused. curious as to what he was doing. But then what I heard him say terrified me.

It was like he was talking to her, and I'm paraphrasing this, but this is what I heard. I didn't want you. I didn't need you. You're nothing but a waste of resources and money. I can't even sell you off like my great paw did. I could just end you and feed you to the pigs,

and then you could be worth it to him. I was scared of my dad and scared of what he could do to her as he started raising the pillow to her face so I immediately ran to the kitchen grabbed a glass cup and threw it on the ground listening to it smashed to pieces sure enough both my mom and dad ran to the kitchen

I told them that I was thirsty and that I had dropped it my dad immediately yelled at me for breaking it and told my mom to clean it up as she went to get a broom. My dad and I just stared at each other for the longest time until he nodded at me and walked off, slamming their bedroom door. I helped my mom clean up the mess, and when I finally went back to bed,

I stayed up all night, waiting to see if he ever went back to her room. From that night on, I became her guardian, more so than a normal big brother. I tried not. to let her be alone as much as possible, and if she was, I was always checking in on her. But it didn't stop there.

I was always afraid that he might try something again, so I wanted to distract him, or make him realize that she needed just as much love and affection as myself. So, I started acting out. I refused to help him with the farm, and when I did help, I half-assed the work, and always complained about it. I let my grades slip some, but I still passed. Typically, it was after my mom confronted me. It was hard because I knew that I could do better,

and I hated disappointing my mom, but it was all to spite my father. As I became the problem child, Haley was looking more like the perfect one. She helped my mother with dinner, cleaning, and she rarely talked back to my father. She had great grades, and she always worked well with teachers and others. Unfortunately, she still couldn't earn my dad's love, I guess.

He would tell her that she was doing a great job, but I could tell that it wasn't the same as he used to give me. Even after getting into a fight with him and yelling that I should be more like my sister, he still wouldn't admit to being proud of her. He even became physically abusive at times, but it was always towards me. Even on those few occasions that he would fight with Haley, and I could see him ballast's fist, I would step in,

making some kind of comment, causing him to swing at me. At one point, Haley asked me why I acted the way I did. Even doing everything right, he would never look at her, smiling, saying how proud he was. Yet whenever I did the bare minimum,

he at least thanked him. thanked me for the help. I just told her that he was an ass, and then I always turned it into a speech. I told her to never stop being herself. I told her, don't change who you are for anyone, and do what makes her happy, and that's all that would matter.

I think she took that to heart, too. She seemed to stop looking for approval, and I continued to just happily piss him off. I even stayed living at home after I graduated to make sure that I could guarantee her well-being. One of the last times that I actually talked to him was one night at home while we were both drinking. Haley had moved out, and I was on my way out.

We started talking about our successes and how I would own the farm one day if I straightened up and wanted it, and I wasn't really interested in the farm life, so I joked about selling it. The conversation turned a bit sour, and I spoke too much, as I made the comment, well, if I can't sell it, maybe I can just throw a pillow over it.

He looked confused at first, but then it finally seemed to click in his mind what I had said. The only thing he said to me after that was get out. Happily. I got up and told my mom goodbye, and I left with the few things that I had left there. I never saw or spoke to my dad, after that. Haley and I always stayed close, and I even talked to my mom often.

My dad is still alive, but as far as I've heard, the farm is going to go to my nephew after he's gone. Like I said, it may not be the creepiest to some, but I feel like I might have actually saved my sister that night. Lazzang surgellay, puissance-mojointed, for 15 minutes. We're like it's the Dojo. Prere to play. Vive the pleasure

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Sapplice. This is about my father's sister. Susan. My aunt, Sue, as we called her. My dad had seven siblings, three sisters and four brothers. He was the middle child and Sue was the second youngest. Growing up, I knew my grandparents as being very self-reliant and independent. They lived in the same house since they got married in the 30s, and I even stayed the night there with siblings or cousins on many occasions. they really were the glue that held the family together.

We had parties and holiday gatherings there, and it was always a great time. The only problem that ever came up was typically started by Sue. Now, not everyone in the family was well off. One of my uncles had his own business, an aunt was a realtor, and I think another uncle was some kind of doctor, or did something in the medical field. but I don't remember. Everyone else, however, just had normal lives.

Like, my dad was a semi-mechanic. My mom was a schoolteacher. Another uncle did carpentry. All seemingly normal jobs, so it's not like any part of my family was wealthy. I think my grandparents just had good savings and retirement, I suppose. Regardless, everyone was able to... support their own families. Everyone, that is, but Sue. She was the one that had odd jobs here and there, and never had one for more than six months, probably. She didn't complete high school, she had a kid

when she was 17, but she did get her GED. She started going to culinary school, but never finished it. She used her son as an excuse for that as well, but then his father actually won custody of him before she dropped out, so she didn't even have to care for him. I was old enough to understand what was going on, because she would always end up getting money from my grandparents, and even my dad and other aunts and uncles before. Some of them, like my uncle Ben, always refused to give her money. I think something happened that I'm still unaware of to this day that made him put his foot down. Things really started taking a turn when my grandfather passed. He had underlying heart conditions, and his cause of death was heart failure,

so I suppose the family knew that it was coming. He was in the hospital when he went, but I remember all of us going up there to see him and say our goodbyes. When he passed, as expected, just about everything went to my grandmother except for a few things, such as a vintage car that he gave to my oldest uncle, and he even had these accounts set up for me and my siblings and our cousins, which there were 12 of us total. They each had $500 in them, and they accrued interest, but they couldn't be touched by anyone but us kids, and not until we were 18. Nobody was upset about it, because since my grandmother had survived him, why wouldn't she get most of it?

It all made sense to my aunts and uncles, except for Sue. We had the celebration of life party the same day of his birthday, which was a little over a month after his passing, if I remember correctly. That's when we learned about these accounts. This did not sit well with Sue. She was visibly upset and had made comments about how much she did for them and that she wasn't being appreciated. Uncle Ben told her that she needed to calm down because even her son, that she didn't have custody of, got an account, and that it wasn't about her. She quickly left, making the party a bit awkward, but my grandma did what she normally did and brought it back around so that we all could have a good time. A few years later, my grandma had a fall on her front stairs, and she had to have hip surgery.

My parents actually picked her up from the hospital, and she stayed with us for about a week, until someone helped install a ramp next to her stairs. As mentioned, my grandparents had always been very independent, and my grandmother even after my grandfather passed, so it was really hard to let go of the independence when she was healed. It was quite the surprise to us when Sue kept showing up and staying at her place for days on end,

saying that she was going there to help her. Even though a lot of people thought it was weird, Sue actually seemed to be helping a lot. She helped her with her garden that she cherished, she mowed the lawn, and she even kept the house clean and dusted. Ben was even impressed, and we seemed to have a good time when we were

over there. Then we learned that part of the reason that she had been staying there was that she had been evicted, and she didn't have the money to find another place, as she wasn't working at the time. My grandma explained that she allowed her to move in until she was able to find a place, as long as she actually helped around her house. So she seemed to be under a spotlight, everyone watching what she did, but it didn't seem to phase her, which seemed to make everyone let their guard down, I suppose. Then my grandmother started having complications.

It started with her seemingly just having the flu, or something like that, so we would just have to cancel holiday plans or reschedule. She still called and talked to us, but the parties became more and more different. When we did go over there, she looked noticeably different. She was thinner, sometimes she even had bruises on her arms and legs, and said that she was going through bouts of illnesses causing a loss of appetite,

so that's why she was losing weight. Of course, being grandma, she always made jokes about finally being skinny and things like that. She said that she was fine, as she was taking medications that she was prescribed, as well as vitamins, and we moved on. But she always seemed to have something wrong with her when we talked to her or visited. I know that she was older, she was in her 70s when this all happened, but my grandma had always been in great health. No cancers or other genetic diseases really on my paternal side,

so to see her going from healthy, even after hip surgery, and slowly becoming this frail woman, it was alarming. She always had a reason for her ailments, and Sue always seemed to be right there to explain more in detail as to what was going on. She would always go on about all the different medications that she had to take, and I think everyone seemed to question it. How could someone's health change so much? How come they always defaulted to these strong and sometimes harsh drugs,

for someone her age. My dad, and Uncle Ben and Roger, always became upset about the whole thing, and mentioned talking to her doctor about it because they didn't think that it was right. Grandma, however, would always try to calm them, telling them that she was fine and to not worry about her. But I knew that it would still eat at them. My dad talked with my mom a lot about it, and what options, if any, they would have. As time went on, her list of medications increased, and the worse she looked.

It obviously ate away at her as she always dressed her best, but she stopped wearing her sun dresses and hats, and was typically just wearing pants in a blouse, covering as much skin as possible. She still talked to everyone, but she wasn't the outgoing self that she had always been. It was heartbreaking. I was really close to her, so, when she seemed to not be able to focus on our conversations, it really started affecting me.

Then, one day, while we were having dinner, my dad got a phone call from Aunt Sue. She was inconsolable, as she had told him that my grandma had died. I had never seen my dad so upset in my life. We weren't allowed to go over there, so we stayed home with the neighbor, and my parents went to the house. I was old enough to know what was going on at this point, not to mention the conversations my parents had at home and with my aunts and uncles. It was a terrifying thought. They all thought, and still think, that Sue had something to do with it.

There was apparently a fight between Sue and Ben when they arrived. The death certificate said that she had died of natural causes, but they also found no proof of any of the illnesses that Sue claimed she had. Yet, she still had all the medications prescribed to her. The other reason everyone believed that she was involved was because everything in her will, other than those accounts for us kids, was signed over to Sue. My dad knew for a fact that the house was supposed to go to my youngest uncle, James.

His wife passed away from breast cancer. So he'd been raising three girls alone, and my grandparents had talked to some of the others about it, asked what they thought about the situation, and they all agreed with the decision. So the fact that it was now going to sue was unbelievable. Their life insurance, the house, my grandma's prized possessions, all for her to do with as she pleased. and she had no qualms with keeping it all for herself either. She told the family that we could come and get some things that she didn't want or have any use for, which, in all honesty, most were of no value, old furniture, knick-knacks, clothing, things that she would have just thrown away.

She had these beautiful dolls that I always loved holding and brushing their hair, and my grandma had told me that they would be mine one day. My aunt Sue tossed them out, so I snatched them up in a heartbeat, as well as some of her dresses. Other than those items, she pretty much just mocked or tormented the rest of the family, acting like she was better than all of them and that she earned it all because she took care of her for so long. Everyone always offered to help, but sometimes my grandma insisted that she was fine, or Sue would answer her and never allowed it. Shortly after everything was settled, she quickly sent a letter, delivered by a lawyer, to all of the siblings, including my brother, saying that they were to leave her alone and never talk to her again.

There was no actual court order or anything of that sort, so many people tried to contact her to find out what was going on, but she refused to ever talk to anyone. When I turned 18, I actually tried reaching out to her as well. But after saying who I was on the call, she acted like she didn't remember me and hung up. And that was the last time that I ever heard from her. In 2019, she actually passed away, most likely alone, as she never had any other kids or ever got married. We only found out through a mutual friend that she had passed. If she had anything to do with my grandmother's death, she took it to the grave with her,

and our family will always live with this hole in our life. This is actually about my wife's family. This had an impact on me, so I wanted to share, but for her privacy, I'm going to remain anonymous and use fake names. I met my wife, and, through a mutual friend at work, and we hit it off pretty quickly, and as we got to know each other more, that also included our families, history, and memories. Be them good or bad.

I remember when it first came up, she mentioned her parents in passing, and kind of skirted by the conversation. She said that her father died when she was young, maybe around 10, I believe. Her mom was still around, but, They've never had a very strong relationship. She was also an only child, so she didn't really have anyone to play with as a young child. She typically tried to change the topic or ask me more questions about myself.

I just assumed that she either didn't want to talk about herself, or maybe his death was still a sensitive topic to her. So, I always moved on without questioning it. As time went on in our relationship, I would slowly get more information surrounding her father's death. The way that she always found a way out of the conversation, and seeing her slowly become uncomfortable talking about it, it made me even more curious, but I also didn't want to pry or press my luck.

However, our relationships started getting more serious, which meant the family started to become more involved. She had met my parents a few times, but I hadn't met her mother. However, Anne came home in kind of a bad mood, and she said that her mother wanted to meet me, and that she invited us over for dinner. I thought it would be a good time, and I looked forward to it. But that's when she explained a little further to me about why she wasn't feeling the same way. She told me that her father's death wasn't expected.

So while she was young and barely knew him, her mom lost someone that she had been with for years, and it caused her a lot of grief and took her a long time to be okay again. She told me this following up with asking me not to bring him up, and father's in any way to just not upset her. I agreed, but I was still curious. So, I decided to ask her what had happened. I immediately regretted my decision when I saw the daggers that she shot me.

She was very short with me, but she told me that he was in an accident and that he died instantly. I apologized for asking and just left it at that. I could definitely see why that could be so traumatizing, especially when it's unexpected, so I just made a mental note to not ask about it again until she wanted to bring it up. Meeting Connie, her mom, went pretty well, I thought. When we got there, she greeted us with a smile and she hugged us both. She asked me about me and I avoided my parents with everything I could, and I thought that I had done well.

We had a great dinner and we all talked and laughed. When we left, Anne agreed that it was. was a good time and she thanked me. From then on, our relationship grew, and I even began thinking about proposing to her. We'd been to Connie's place a few times, and everything went smoothly. Unfortunately, I think I got too comfortable with it, and I caused a slip-up. We went over there for our Christmas dinner with her, and to exchange a few gifts. We were talking, and joking, when something was brought up about genetics, which caused me,

to make a comment about fathers. I immediately realized what I had done by the look on Anne's face, and in my foolishness I tried to apologize and made a comment along the lines of my condolences. I don't remember what exactly I said. But Connie looked even more confused than distraught. I saw her look over at Anne and she said thanks,

and the table went silent. That was the most uncomfortable situation that I had ever been in. Right before we left, I used the restroom, and when I was coming back into the room, I noticed the two of them were having a quiet conversation, and Connie was holding a small gift box. When they noticed me, they cut it short, and Connie shoved the gift at Anna. I pretended not to notice or care about what was going on, since I had already screwed things up that night,

and we left with little being said. The car ride back was also silent and awkward, so I tried apologizing when Anne told me it was fine, and not to worry about it. So I dropped it, and we didn't hardly say a thing that night. We both went to bed together, but I would wake up a few hours later to an empty bed

as sobs came from the living room. I got up to see what was going on, and Anne was sitting on the floor with the gift box, and a letter sitting in front of her. It took a while to console her by just holding and trying to comfort her and not saying anything. She finally explained what the box and the letter was. It was from her father. He hadn't died, or at least, not like she had said. He didn't die years ago.

He had just died several months prior to this. event. He had been in prison the entire time for assaulting her. He had apparently been doing it for years, but her mom, Connie, had no idea. He threatened her that if she ever told, he would sell her to another country. She was a child at the time, so she didn't know any better and she didn't know the validity of the threats. Not to mention, they were all coming from her own father. Apparently, Connie had come home early, catching him in the act. She called the cops, and he was convicted.

Anne told me that she grew up with mixed feelings for both parents. She thought that her dad was the only one that cared for her, since he always told her that no one would love her like he did, including her mom, claiming that her mother never loved her. This was compounded by the fact that her mom never did anything about what he was doing, but the reason for that was because she didn't know what was happening. After her father was incarcerated, she felt like Connie blamed her for what happened, and always felt animosity from her.

She even asked about counseling, but her mom basically dismissed this as an option, but I don't remember her reasoning. It was like she didn't believe in it, which makes sense knowing who she is. mental health definitely isn't something that she believes in sadly because she could definitely benefit from it too anyways this caused anne to become more distant from her mother and she just treated her dad as if he was dead to be honest he could be for all she cared and i didn't blame her

this all came crashing down on her because the box contained a small beaded necklace with the letter a in it as well as a letter from her dad. It talked about how he found out he had cancer, and he wanted to make amends before he died, so he was asking for her forgiveness. But, included in it, was a copy of his death certificate,

confirming that he had died of complications from lung cancer. She had quite the argument with her mom the next day about it. She was understandably frustrated that she would give this to her, and now of all times. She said she wanted her to have closure, and that was about the only sense that I got out of it. Connie and Anne's relationship never seemed to get better. I proposed to her,

and when we got married, I got her on my insurance, and she was happy to see a therapist to finally put things to rest. She tried to get Connie to go with her or talk to her, but she never did. I personally don't think Connie holds any ill will towards her daughter, but I wonder if she feels responsible, and that's why she doesn't want to face it. However, that has been over a decade now, and Anne is such a happy and confident woman now, but I understand where she was coming from, and I think that will just always be something that we keep to ourselves. So, before we get into the story, it's probably best to get into some things about me as a person. I'm 24 years old, female, and I'm a bit into the darker aesthetics of life.

I like to wear black, my hair is dyed black, and, well, I wouldn't say I'm Gothic. I'm probably as close as you can get without having all the piercings and the trip pants. I'm also pretty heavy into fitness, so while I wear slightly oversized and black clothing, I also have one hell of a physique that I hide. I'm by no means a bodybuilder, but despite being a fairly small woman in my frame, I can flex and it's pretty well defined. For the most part, I got into weights and fitness for the health benefits, but I can also defend myself.

despite how most people see me. Being a bit on the shorter side, a lot of guys think that they can mess with me, or hit on me, and basically be physically assertive over me and that I'll be impressed. It doesn't work, and I'm not easily intimidated.

This event happened about a year ago, back in 2021. I had just moved into a new apartment complex because my old landlord decided that he didn't want to rent to people anymore, so my options were to make an offer to buy the house that I was renting, or get out. I chose to get out. Anyways, I moved into this nice little building,

into a one-bedroom apartment that was rather comfortable. It was just me and my Pomeranian, Cheeto. I had actually had Cheeto since he was a pup, and he was about four at the time of this story. And I will say that he is the sweetest little heel chomper that has ever existed. He and I took some time to get acquainted with the new area, and I figured since it was the start of summer, it would be a great idea to take little Cheeto around the block.

I hadn't been able to take him walking since the summer started because of having to pack and move, and just being way too tired with work. work, so I figured he could enjoy a nice stroll around the neighborhood. We were walking around the path enjoying the warm breeze when we encountered another person that was out on this nice summer evening. At first I thought it was nice to see someone else. I waved, said good evening, and he said hi, and I just kept going. After a few minutes of walking, I was starting to feel slightly on edge.

and I wasn't exactly sure why, so I figured I should go ahead and sit down for a moment. I walked over to one of the benches that was nearby, and I took a seat. And then I grabbed my water and took a big drink, thinking that maybe I was just feeling a bit exhausted or dehydrated. Cheeto jumped up on the bench and was sitting next to me, and the two of us were just staring out at the night. when he started to do that weird grunty growl that dogs do when they think something is up. He was looking back at the path that we had come from, and was just sort of making a slight gur sound. Now, like I said, Cheeto is a sweetheart,

and I've never seen him get aggressive, nor had I ever actually heard him get angry and growl. So I was a bit surprised. I kind of leaned over and looked down the path, and a little ways down was someone that was walking in my direction. This was a public place, so I really didn't think anything of it, but obviously Cheeto was not a fan of them, so I just pulled his leash a bit tighter and I waited for them to pass.

To my surprise, the person that walked by was the guy that we had crossed paths with from earlier. Not too terrifying. or anything, just a bit weird that he turned around and was now going back the way he had come from. But I figured he was just walking a specific path, and I let it go. I watched him as he started walking past me, but noted that he was slowing down a bit as he got in front of me. When he got about a foot to the left of the bench, he paused and pulled out his cell phone, and he was just staring at the screen, like whatever he was doing. was super important.

I was a bit weirded out by it, so I figured I would just remove myself from the situation and go back home. As soon as I got up and started to walk away, he reached over toward me and grabbed my arm and started to pull me away from the bench and toward the road. I just stood my ground and resisted him while he kept trying to pull me towards the street. Cheeto was barking at him, and I was yelling at him. and I was yelling at him to let go of me. After a few minutes of struggling, I basically reached my right arm back and hit him straight in the jaw,

which knocked him off balance. I knelt down, grabbed Cheeto, and took off back towards the main street of the property. As I was running, I turned back to see if the man was chasing me, but he wasn't. He had gotten up and was running back toward a car that had pulled up on the side of the road. I stopped for a moment and watched as he jumped in, and they peeled off down the road and took a right on the next street. I have no idea what the hell they were planning, but it definitely felt like some kind of abduction attempt.

I'm guessing the guy saw me and thought that I would be an easy mark, since I'm short, and he definitely didn't expect me to deck him. I ended up reporting the situation to the rental office and the police, And the property installed more lights along the path, which wasn't really much of a reaction, but I guess it was something. The cops never got back with me on it, which tells me that they have no idea who it was or have any extra information. The only thing that bothers me is that the guy seemed to not really be hesitant or bothered by what he did, which makes me think that I may not have been their first mark. Thankfully, I wasn't as easy to take as they thought I was.

I just hope that no one else fell victim to them after that. I've always been a bit of a nature buff, and I love to visit the national parks any chance that I get. My favorites are the ones that are the vast and open rocky areas out in the southwest, like Bryce Canyon and such. There's something about the bright red rocks, the big open canyon and completely unincorporated areas, that gets to me. It's the isolation and the disconnection, I think, that I really love.

If you're out there and you keep to yourself as best you can, you likely won't see another soul the entire day. One summer, my boyfriend and I decided that we would go camping in the park and would then go backcountry hiking the next morning. We usually just spent a day in the canyon parks, but I wanted to spend the night because, well, I just did. It was summer. I wanted to camp. Pretty much the end of story on that. I hadn't been camping since I was in my preteen years and still talked to my dad.

So I thought it would be a really fun way for us to spend some time together. We found a part of the grounds that was accessible, but still pretty often. to itself, and we started to set up our tent. The spot that we chose was, like I said, fairly isolated, but was also pretty close to a spot of the park that had a nice-sized drop-off. That may sound scary to some, but to me, it was all about the view. A drop-off meant that we would get to see the sky at night, and possibly the thick fog in the morning, depending on how the weather treated us.

In my opinion, it was perfect. My boyfriend wasn't a fan of being so close to a steep drop and so far away from other campers, but he relented when I told him how much I liked it. After we got everything set up, the sun was already starting to set, so we decided that we would make a small pit for a fire. We got the fire going and we're just sitting around, watching the sunset, and enjoying the view of the night sky. After a bit of this, I kind of got this weird feeling like something was staring at me.

You know the one, that weird spine chill that happens when your instincts are scratching at your brain to do something. I mentioned this to him, and he told me that it was probably just a coyote or something, and that as long as we stayed near the fire and didn't pay it too much attention, it would likely just go away. I nodded in agreement, and we went back to watching the fire burn while enjoying a light breeze. Not long after that, I heard what sounded like someone whispering right behind me. This caused me to jump up and turn around, and as soon as I did, my boyfriend said, Oh, you heard that too? I said that I did and that it sounded like someone was whispering.

We both turned to look, but there wasn't anybody there. He mentioned that it could have been another camper, but that just didn't seem to feel right to me. Something about this felt off, like it wasn't a person or a camper that was just messing with us. No sooner than me saying that, we heard what sounded like a yelling coming from the side of our campsite that was over the drop-off. When I say there was someone yelling, it sounded like someone was pleading for somebody to help them. like they had fallen down and were hurt. The thing about it, though, the yelling never really said the word help. It never really said any coherent words.

It just kind of sounded like someone was making noise similar to words, but they couldn't quite get it right. You know how little kids talk, but the words that they say aren't all there, like they're still learning? Yeah, it was just like that. My boyfriend said that we should have. at least look and see if we could see someone over the drop-off, and then we should get someone that works for the parks to check it out. We got up and looked over the edge to see if there

was someone there, but I couldn't see anyone. My boyfriend grabbed his flashlight, and was shining it down into the ravine, and after kind of panning it back and forth, the light hit something. I don't know if it was a person or what, but the second thing that's the second thing. the light hit it, the thing made a mad dash behind a tree. And we immediately heard the yelling again. It was definitely coming from this thing, whatever the hell it was. And again, it wasn't using words. It was just making sounds that were close to words. And it sounded like it was in distress, but they were not actual words. My boyfriend said that we should go ahead and pack up and head back to the Rangers and let them know that there was someone down in the ravine.

He then shouted down that we were going to get help, and we quickly got our stuff back into the car and drove down to the entrance. We got to the Ranger Station and told him that we thought there was someone down in the ravine that was yelling for help, but we weren't sure if we saw them or not. They said that they would go check out the area to see if they could find them, and thanked us for the information. We got back in the car, and I asked if we were going to find a new spot to camp. My boyfriend literally laughed at me and said, Hell no, I don't know what that thing was, but I know that it was not human.

I'm not spending the night out here with that thing anywhere near me. As upset as I was that we weren't spending the night out in the park, I actually agreed. It wasn't worth it. We went back early in the morning, and my boyfriend said that he wanted to ask the ranger if they found anything. He said that they got to where we had mentioned, and they heard something, but they weren't sure what it was. When they went down into the drop-off to see if there was someone down there, they didn't find anybody. There was what looked like an abandoned tent filled with trash, but it hadn't been used for a while, based on its condition.

I don't think this helped him feel any better, to be honest, but he asked, so they answered. We never went back to that particular area after dark when this all happened, and I haven't convinced him to go camping again yet. I think this actually freaked him out, which I get. It was unsettling for sure, and I don't think we'll know exactly what the hell that thing was. I have a story that was seriously the most terrifying thing to ever happen to me. I used to work the closing shift of a pizza place. I was a delivery driver, and they closed at midnight.

The drivers were expected to help clean up the restaurant to close, so I would usually get out around one or so. After work, I would always go to this little gas station slash convenience store, that was open 24 hours, and most of the times that I went, the front counter was being worked by a guy named Dan. Dan was a 50-something-year-old man that really didn't seem to have much going for him. But it was friendly enough, and I was able to have a decent conversation with him each time that I would visit.

The thing about this convenience store, they only had one person working each other. each overnight shift from the hours of midnight to around five in the morning. Obviously, this wasn't ideal and was a huge security risk for the store, and that person in general. Because of this, and because they expected to get a bit more foot traffic this summer, they had installed what was basically a buzzer system. After 10 p.m., the cashier had to hit the button to unlock the front door, for the person that was outside. And this seemed like it was safe enough.

Basically, Dan could decide if he wanted to let someone in the store or not, though he was told to let everyone in that wasn't wearing your stereotypical robber attire. On the night that this event happened, I worked a bit later than normal because we were really busy at the store. So we had a lot of dishes that we needed to do. Because it was almost two in the morning, I decided that I would go get some caffeine and then head home to play a game for a few hours. My sleep schedule was already screwed up, so I figured why not just pull an all-nighter. I pulled up to the store.

Dan saw me and waved me in before hitting the buzzer. I walked in and asked him how he was doing, just making small talk and asking about the night. He told me that I was late, and I told him how busy the restaurant was. Basically, we just made some really banter-filled small talk, about nothing in particular. After a few minutes, I saw a man walk toward the counter from around where the drink freezer was, and I told Dan that I would let him get back to work while I went to get my monster. The man that approached the counter, he looked a bit raggedy. I'm not trying to be insulting.

He just kind of looked like he may have been homeless. He was wearing a large jacket in the middle of July, and was also wearing a ski cap on top of his head. Being the summer, I could only imagine that he was incredibly uncomfortable in the heat. I turned to walk away from the counter to get my drink, when I heard Dan say, Oh, just the water this evening, and then the man started screaming something at him.

I turned around to see what the hell was going on, and I realized what he was yelling. The homeless-looking guy was yelling, give me the money, and pointing a gun straight at Dan's head. As soon as he realized that I was looking at him, he pointed the gun at me and told me to get behind the counter. I put my hands up and complied, walking back behind the counter and standing with my back to the wall. He keeps yelling at Dan to give him the money, or else he would just kill us both. Dan was scrambling and struggling to open the register. I think the nerves were beating the crap out of him, and for some reason he couldn't think about what buttons to press to get it open.

The whole time he's scrambling to press the buttons, this guy is pushing the gun into his forehead and screaming that he had five seconds before he pulled the trigger. Dan pushed the button and put his hand. hands up, and then the register shot open. The man grabbed all the cash from the drawer and immediately took off towards the front door. He went to push it open, but of course it wouldn't open because it had to be buzzed. After a couple of seconds of him trying to get it open, he stepped back and shot the door several times, causing the glass to shatter, and then he booked it.

Thankfully, while fumbling over the register, Dan had pressed the button on the door. the register to set off the silent alarm. A few minutes after the man had taken off, the police pulled up with their guns drawn, and they ran into the store. We told the officers about the man and told him which way he had went. One of the officers got back in the car and started driving around the block to find the guy. The officers took statements from both of us and asked to watch the camera footage so they could get a visual of the perp. They did the whole thing.

thing they normally did, dusted for prints, got the footage, and then took our information so that they could call us if necessary. Obviously, I was panicking inside, and Dan was freaking out. He called the owner and told him that he needed to come out and figure out what to do about the door, and then when he got off the phone with him, he told me to go get my drink and get the hell out of there. I went and got my energy drink, though I'm pretty sure I could have. just stayed awake on pure adrenaline, and when I went to pay for it, he told me that it was on him that night.

I just kind of nodded and left. After all this was said and done, I actually found out this wasn't the guy's first robbery. It wasn't even his first robbery that night. Apparently the little convenience store was actually the third spot that he had hit that evening. The first store he robbed was a grocery store on the other side of the state line, and the second was another gas station that was about 20 minutes north of us. The thing is, at the other gas station, he had actually shot the clerk because he wouldn't cooperate.

The guy wasn't killed because he shot him in the shoulder, but he was obviously injured pretty badly. And he wasn't actually homeless. he was only using that as a disguise to make himself look larger than he was, and harder to identify. Since he had hit two other places that night, the police were actually pretty heavy out on the streets, which is why they were quick to get there, and they actually caught the guy a few blocks up the road where he was getting into his getaway car. It was seriously terrifying to be a bystander in this robbery,

and considering he had shot the other close, I can imagine that if Dan had any more trouble with the register, he likely would have shot him, too. It scares the hell out of me to consider how close our lives came to their end, but I am thankful that it ended without casualties. After this happened, the store decided that they would just close for the overnight shift for a while, and I decided that after work, I would just go straight home. It could have been much, much worse for sure, but it was still the scariest thing that has ever happened to me. Back when I was 14, my family and I went on a summer vacation down south. My aunt lived that way, and we hadn't seen her for a few years, so my mom and decided that we would all drive that way and stay with her.

Of course, this was a long drive, and it was a long drive. and it was them plus the three of us kids. So they decided to split the drive up into two or three days instead of just going straight the whole way. I was pretty excited because this meant that we would be staying in a hotel. Staying in a hotel meant that I would get to go swimming in a swimming pool. This may not sound like anything exciting to other people, but where I live there were no public pools.

and I got to go swimming maybe once or twice a year, and I honestly loved swimming. We get out on the road for what feels like forever, not stopping because my dad was a stickler for making the most out of the time on the road, and when we get to the hotel that we were staying at, I was obviously psyched. It was way nicer than I expected it to be, and on the way to the elevator, I saw the pool.

It was decent-sized, and it had what looked like a small hot tub off to the side. I was just super excited to get out of the room and get into the pool, and we hadn't even gotten to our floor yet. As soon as we got to our room, which were adjoining rooms with the in-between doors, I threw my bag on the floor and immediately grabbed my bathing suit, and then went over and asked my mom and dad if I could head down to the door. the pool. At first, my dad told me that I needed to wait for him to go down there with me, but my mom basically told my dad to just let me go and enjoy it, and then they could head down a few

minutes after. My dad seemed like he really didn't want that, but my mom could tell that I really wanted to go. She said that I could go, so long as I took my two siblings with me and didn't do anything too crazy until they got down there. I agreed, and I said that I would be as careful as I could until they got down. I ran down the stairs and made my way to the pool as quickly as I could, with my two brothers lagging behind me. They hadn't even changed yet, so when we got down to the pool, they had to run into the restrooms to get changed,

and I immediately jumped into the pool. After I jumped in, I noticed that I wasn't. wasn't alone in the room, and there was an employee that was cleaning up the area. As soon as I had jumped in, he turned around to look at me and he said, Hey, no jumping in the pool. And I apologized. As soon as he heard me, and then saw me, he walked over to the pool and asked where my parents were. I told them that they were on their way down and that I had just beat them here,

thinking that he was going to tell me that I couldn't be in the pool without an adult. As soon as I said this, he squatted down by the edge of the pool and was just sitting there staring at me. I had no idea what was going on, but I figured that he may have caught on that my statement was a lie. He repeated what I said to me, but it was like in a tone that was really creepy. Like, huh, your parents are on their way down, huh? You sure about that, cutie? I just kind of stood there and said, Yeah, they're on their way.

He then smirked and asked me how old I was. I responded with 14, which was true. And he just kind of laughed and stood back up. And then he made a comment that was truly freaky. He just shook his head and said, I bet I could get you out of that pool and into my car before anyone even noticed what had happened to you. I just sat there and stared at him as he turned to walk away and went back to cleaning the window, as if he hadn't literally just told me that he could kidnap me without issue.

After a few moments of just sitting there, my two brothers ran into the room and jumped in beside me. And once again, the man turned to say, hey, no jumping in the pool. They both apologized to him and then went on with swimming. I wasn't really feeling much like swimming at that point. So I just sat in the water watching the man as he finished cleaning the glass. As he turned to leave, he made sure to make eye contact with me, and then winked, saying, I'll see you later. I just remember his tone and the way he smirked at me.

It was legitimately creepy. Thankfully, I didn't see this guy the rest of the time that we were. were there, since we were only there for the night, and we left pretty early in the morning. I never mentioned it to my parents, or told anyone about this, because I seriously didn't think anyone would do anything. Now I know that I should have reported it to them, or to someone that worked there, but at the time, I just didn't know what to say about it. To be completely honest, This whole situation was enough to make me never want to go swimming at a hotel ever again. When this took place, I was around 15 years old.

Back in my teenage years, I used to spend a lot of my summer break out fishing with my dad and my uncle, and they knew all of the good spots to go, including some places that were on private property. My uncle lived out there, and he knew most of the people that owned the land, so, for the most part, we were typically allowed to fish on them without question. On this day, we had decided to go to one of the small ponds that was on the farm of my uncle's friend, and we decided that we were going to go early in the morning. Now, I hated these morning trips, because I was a teenager and I just wanted to sleep until noon on my summer breaks. But you know how it goes.

This pond was surrounded by a barbed wire fence So it was definitely not in an area where people would be around it Or question whether or not it was private But we had come in from the front of the property So we had pretty easy access to it Obviously when we got to the water and started to get comfortable There was nobody around It was just the three of us

Things were going pretty well for the first couple of hours, but as the morning started to drive on, the bites were becoming less and less. I was pretty well focused on the water and my bobber, but I looked over and noticed that my dad and uncle both had their lines out of the water. They were standing off to the side and whispering to each other. I couldn't hear what they were saying, so I asked if they were okay and what they were doing. My dad told me not to worry about it. I just went back. and watching my line and decided that it wasn't super important. After a few minutes, my dad came back over and said that I needed to go ahead and reel in.

I was confused because I figured that we were going to be there for a few hours more, but he told me that we needed to go ahead and head off. I got all my stuff together, got up, and I heard my dad say something like, where did he go? My uncle looked around and then said, I don't see him anymore. I asked who they were talking about, and again, they both told me to hush.

I was annoyed, sure, but I was also 15. I just assumed that something was going on and they didn't want to tell me. As we were walking back to the car, I heard what sounded like a seriously loud bang, almost like a really big firecracker going off nearby. As soon as it happened, my uncle and my dad grabbed me and jumped down into a small gully. I asked again what was going on, and they ignored me again.

After a few moments, my uncle said that we needed to leave the gear and run to the car. My dad agreed. He told me to leave the fishing stuff, which I was upset about, and I told him that I didn't want to leave it behind. He just told me to do it, and that we were. we would come back for it. For the sake of not just going on and on about this whole thing, we left the fishing gear, and we made it back to the car and drove back to my uncle's friend's house.

They were all talking in the living room, and they told me to just sit on the couch and not move. Then, my uncle and his friend went back out onto the property. Both of them had guns. After they left, I told my dad that he needed to tell me what was going on. on, and he surprisingly did. He told me that while we were fishing, they had noticed that there was a guy standing in the trees that was watching us. He just stood there for a while and didn't move.

And then when my dad waved at him, he said that the guy brandished a gun. That was about the time that he said we needed to go ahead and leave, and then as we were walking back, that loud bang was apparently the guy shooting at us. after scouting the property, they said that they didn't find anyone, but they did find a few spots where rounds had hit trees, and they weren't far off from where we were standing when the shot went off. Obviously, I was a bit freaked out,

and mad that my dad didn't tell me what was happening. But I get it. It was pretty terrifying, and they never figured out who it was. We also never went back out to that pond, even though the person that owned the land added a better fence in the back area where the pond was. I think the whole thing just kind of got to my dad and uncle a bit too much for them to go back. Way, way, way back whenever I was a little kid,

my father loved to make it a point to be a part of my life and every chance that it could. I won't say that it was a permanent thing as he and I don't really speak much anymore. But every summer up until I was 16, he made it a point to plan this super important camping trip with myself and my brother. My brother hated it. I absolutely loved it, and I would look forward to it literally every single year. My dad would plan for a few days off from his job, make us pack up the essentials, and then on the day of the trip we would get up at like three or four in the morning to drive the several hours to the same campgrounds, as every other year.

You would always take us to the same location, and we would always camp in the exact same spot. From there, we would go fishing, hiking, nature watching, just everything like that that you can do in nature. Now, like I said, my dad made a point to do this with us. While we aren't on the same page anymore, and aren't on talking terms for reasons that are beyond the scope of this story. These days out in the woods are some of my most cherished core memories,

and I will never forget how much fun I had doing all the things we did. Because I remembered how fun it was, I wanted to create the same memories in connection with my own son. So, when he was around nine years old, I decided that we would plan to take a trip to the same campgrounds that my dad had taken me to. It took me a really long time to convince my wife that we should go camping. And when she finally agreed, she basically told me that if literally anything went wrong,

we had to go home immediately. I relented, because I knew that she wasn't going to budge on this, so I agreed and said that we would be super careful, and I promised that it would be a great time for all three of us. We got all of our stuff together, and we headed out on to the road. It was early enough that the summer sun wasn't quite beating down, but it was definitely starting to warm up. I could tell that she wasn't happy with that fact that it was going to likely be hot,

but I told her that I couldn't control the weather and that it would be a lot nicer in the evenings. We got to the spot and got out of the truck, and it just kind of took a deep breath in while I was. I stepped out on to the grass. The minute my eyes landed on the plot of land, a huge rush of nostalgia hit me. I remembered all the times that my dad and I spent out there, fishing, bird watching, and just enjoying the summer days. We started to unpack and set up our tent,

and I was telling my wife about all the things that I wanted to do while we were there. She said that she wanted to get some pictures of birds out in the woods, and that, despite the heat, she was pretty excited to spend some time out in the wilderness. After we got the tent set up and we were convinced that we were ready to camp, my wife asked if we could check out the surrounding area before the sun went down. I agreed. I was pretty psyched to see how much things had changed since I was last there.

We started out into the woods, and my wife was taking pictures of everything she could find. She was taking picks of literally everything she saw, deer, birds, squirrels, and then I noticed that she had paused while staring through the viewfinder of her digital camera. I asked if everything was okay or if there was something that she saw, and she said that there was something up ahead that she wanted to check out. We walked up to where she was pointing her camera, and I was pretty shocked by what was there. Right in front of us was what looked like a seven-foot-by-three-four-foot-large rectangular area

that appeared to have been dug up and refilled with dirt. It was pretty obviously recent, but it looked like it could have maybe been a few days or a couple of weeks since it was filled in. My wife then asked me if this was a camping thing, but I had a pretty good feeling that it was much, much worse. I told her that this was the one thing that would go wrong, and that we needed to go ahead and pack up. She was a bit confused, but I mentioned that we needed to report this to the police. She didn't follow at first, but after we got the stuff in the car and we were heading back out,

I mentioned that what we saw was probably a grave. She went as pale as a ghost and agreed that that was enough to cancel the trip, We reported it to the cops. I told them that we were out hiking in the area and that we found what looked like a grave. They said they would check it out, but obviously never told us anything more than that. We decided to make plans to do something else, and to stay in a hotel for a couple of days. We just went to the zoo instead of camping. I haven't been able to convince her to go camping ever since, but honestly, I can't.

Blame her. 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 earlier 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.