As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 056 - Creepy Night Shift and Family Gathering Stories - 6 True Scary Stories

Episode Date: December 2, 2022

Hello and Welcome to the 56th 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 that occur on the overnight shift, as well as the terrors of family gatherings. ➤ 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 Thank you to all of the authors that have stories in today's Video...  WiseGalErin, Anonymous Hotel Staff, CallMeSteve, Hallie Anne, Cassie L. , VC, and any author that has 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

Beyevue at board of Vyarai. Embarked and profited. Embarked and relaxes. Cirotay. Bookinay. Oh, that also. And profite. Viaray, 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 it. so and thank you. When I was a teenager, I think around 16 or so, my parents and myself were invited to a family

reunion with my mom's side of the family. My mom was from a few states away from where I grew up, and I had never met most of her side of the family, so I thought it would be really cool to go and get to know the people that she grew up with and meet the people that I was related to and didn't know. My father was, unfortunately, not able to get out of a work trip that they wanted him to go on, so it was just me and my mom that were going to be going to the reunion. I was still pretty excited, though, and when it came time to go, I was anxious for the whole thing, but in a good way.

We got to my mom's hometown, and we were staying with her parents, my grandparents, for the whole weekend. I had met my grandparents and they were decent people, so that was a fine time overall. The first day of the reunion was a blast. Everyone was kind, we all introduced ourselves to the family, and I got to know some really great people. Then, around midday, I was talking to my mother and my grandmother, and they both looked past me with the look of complete and total. disgust. I obviously turned to see what they were so upset about, and all I saw was some older guy walking into the room with a big smile on his face. He quickly made his way over to the three of us, and he put his arms out to hug my mom, who quickly just patted him on the back and pulled away.

He then went to hug my grandmother too, but she turned to walk away from the situation, pretty much immediately. After getting the cold shoulder from my grandma, he seemed to get the hint, and he turned to walk away from us and go mingle with the rest of everyone else. As soon as he walked away, I asked my mom what that was all about, and she told me that that man was actually her half-brother. At one point, my grandfather had had an affair with another woman, and they had a child from that affair. It was a rocky point in everyone's life, and it damn near split my grandparents up. But, after a lot of rebuilding, they ended up getting back on track, and this man was that child. He was my mother's half-brother. I guess that this would technically make him my uncle.

From what she said, he had done some really bad things, and he wasn't invited to the reunion because of his past, and they did not know why he was there. I left it at that because my mom didn't really seem to want to talk about what he had done, and, well, I respected that, but I told her to just do her best to ignore him and enjoy the time with family. She agreed and said that she would. The second day was a bit more of the same, though I had told my mom that I wanted. wanted to go out and get to know some of the other members of the family. She had introduced me to a lot of them on day one,

but I wanted to socialize with them more and get to know them. She agreed, and she said that she was wanting to spend some time with my grandmother and her great-aunt anyways. We agreed that we would meet back up at lunch, and we went off to do our own thing. About an hour into the whole thing, that man from the day before, my sketchy uncle, came up and asked me who I was. I was a bit reluctant to even talk to him, but I'm also not the type to do well in awkward situations. So I just quietly and reluctantly responded.

I told him that my name was Cassie, and he then asked me who I was in the family. I stupidly told him that I was my mother's daughter, and his blank look changed to one that was beyond happy. He pushed his arms forward and pulled me into a hug, saying that he always wanted to meet me, and that I was such a lovely young lady. This hug was really weird to me because I wasn't really hugging him back,

but he held me way too tight and way too long for it to be comfortable. As soon as he let go, he said that he was my uncle, Nikki. And he then asked me what I had heard about him from my mom. I told him that I hadn't heard much about him at all, and he almost seemed relieved. He then told me that he wanted to get to know me better, and that we should get together at some point

so that he could be a part of my life. I just kind of smiled and laughed while nodding. He started telling me all about himself, saying that he didn't have much going on at the time, that he had made mistakes and that he doesn't have any kids, and that he had regretted that fact. He then made a comment about how he was single, like really emphasizing it,

almost to a creepy degree. He then asked me if I had a boyfriend. I said that I did back home. And then he started asking me if I was a virgin, and that was where I decided the conversation was over. I told him that I needed to go because I wasn't comfortable talking about it, and he started laughing, saying that that meant that I wasn't. He then started asking me how many guys I had been with,

what my favorite thing to do in bed was, and things like that. I pushed myself away from him, saying that I did not want to talk to him anymore. As I started walking away, he reached down and grabbed my wrist tightly, saying that I didn't have a choice in talking to him, and that he and I were going to get to know each other better. I pulled as hard as I could to get away from him, but he had an incredibly tight grip on me, and he was just sitting there laughing at the fact that I could not get away.

At this point, I started screaming to let me go, just trying to get the attention of anybody else there. Then, as people started seeing what was going on, they all started approaching and he pulled me closer, and he seriously whispered in my ear, If I catch you alone, you'll regret it. And then he shoved me away and started walking away from me and leaving the park. No one else could really see what was happening where we were, beyond me screaming to let me go, so they didn't really do much to stop him from walking away.

My mom came over when she realized that it was me screaming, and I told her what happened, and she told somebody to call the cops to try to stop him from getting away. They did call the cops, but by the time they got there, he was already gone, and they pretty much said that if he came back, we should call them immediately. Obviously, I was freaked out because, That was very creepy, and it was pretty clear that this guy was a predator. It was then that my mom started explaining more about my uncle and why they were surprised he was there.

Apparently, my uncle Nikki, had spent a number of years in prison, and they thought that he was still locked up. The reason he spent those years in prison was because he had actually assaulted my grandmother. He had broken into the house when she was home, and my grandfather was at work, and my mother was at school. This was back when she was still a teenager. He then assaulted my grandmother physically, and when he was caught, he claimed he did it because my grandmother had taken his father away from him. If I had known this at the time, I would not have engaged in conversation with him. I would have made sure to avoid him at all costs. Unfortunately, with how he acted towards me,

it was pretty clear that his behavior was not changed by prison, that he was still the monster that he was back then. Thankfully, this was the only time that I ever saw him, and he didn't come back to the reunion. My guess was because he knew he would probably get arrested. This was obviously also pretty, pretty traumatic for my grandmother as well, and she didn't really want to be involved in the reunion anymore. This was pretty terrifying for all of us, to be honest. I'm glad it just ended

with him being a creep towards me, and that he didn't cause any harm to anyone else while he was there. Lazzang sur-gillet, puissance-moyane for 15 minutes. We'd say that's their dojo. Pre-to-joo? Vive the pleasure with the Ojo! The casino on-line that proposes the more recent machine-ass-sou and the game of casino in direct. Profite of 50 tours gratu on Big Bas Bonanza.

Without exigance of mis, and with depemments instantane. Hey, I've gained. Woo-hoo! Sentire the pleasure. Play-Ojo! 188 and more, 1, 1,000,

10% per day-depos only 20% per capita. Depos minimum of $10. Veil to play to fashion responsible. The conditions apply so apply. I have quite a few horror stories

from when I was a front desk attendant for a hotel. But most of them take place. when I worked the overnights for the same location. I have a lot of experiences with genuinely creepy and weird people, but I think it would be more fun to share one of the experiences that was a bit more unexplainable,

unless just this one guy was kind of creepy. So, as I mentioned, I worked as the overnight front desk attendant for this hotel for a couple of years, actually. The schedule kind of sucked, and I had to really work to adjust my sleep schedule, and it made days off incredibly difficult, but the pay was decent for the time. And to be honest, I didn't have much going for me in my life beyond working there. The nights typically consisted of sitting at the front desk for hours, dealing with one or two people that would show up in the

middle of the night, and because they spent too much time on the road. And sometimes, I would have to take things up to rooms if there was an issue or an emergency. Beyond that, I would sit at the desk and pretty much just file out the paperwork that had to be done each night. The story that I want to share happened during my first year on the night shift. I don't recall the time of year, but I think it was early. winter or mid-fall. The whole thing started when I got a call from the third floor of the building.

It was a guest that I had checked in at the beginning of my shift, and when I checked him in, he seemed like a pretty decent person. He seemed sane, stable, and polite enough. I know that it sounds weird that I'm saying this, but I am saying it to demonstrate that he probably wasn't crazy. Anyways, he called down and asked if I could help him, and he asked me if there was anything I could do about the temperature of the room. I mentioned that there was a thermostat in the room,

and that most of them were set to a pretty standard temperature, something like 73. He then said that it was set to 73, but that the room was feeling really cold by the door, like there was a major draft coming in from the hallway. That was kind of weird since his room was literally in the middle of the hallway, so he was nowhere near any draft-causing spots, like windows or exits. I told him that I would go ahead and come up to see if I could help him out and check it out shortly.

After I had hung up the phone, I went ahead and placed the be-right back sign on the desk and went up to the third floor to see what was going on. When I got up there, I was a bit annoyed. The floor was a pretty standard temperature, but then I walked toward his room and noticed that this guy was actually not lying to me. As soon as I approached his door, it felt like the hallway went from this nice, ambient temperature to about 20 degrees or so colder.

We weren't booked full, so there was only one other guest staying in a room near him, and their door didn't feel cold, so they didn't have the AC on or anything else. But, for some reason, the closer that I got to his door, the colder it felt. I knocked on his door to let him know that I at least felt what he was talking about. When he answered, I told him that he was definitely correct, that it was. colder but then said that I couldn't figure out what it was as there weren't any drafts and there was nothing that should have been causing the colder temps I then asked him if he wanted to go ahead and just move to another room and after a bit of contemplation he said that he would

we went through that whole process I got him in another room down the hall closer to the elevator and I apologized for the inconvenience He seemed satisfied with this resolution. So we moved on, and I thought that this was the end of it. Except, about 20 minutes later, he called down to the front desk again. This time, he was a lot less happy. He started going off about how someone had knocked on his door multiple times, but when he went to answer it, there was nobody there.

This was a really weird thing to have. happening, mostly because, like I mentioned, there was only one other person near him, and that person was an older gentleman that looked like he was there for business, not the type to knock and run. I pulled up the camera system to check if I could see his door, and sure enough, I could. I asked him when the last time it happened was, and he started telling me that it started happening almost as soon as he got settled into the new room and that it had been happening every couple of minutes.

He said that each time it happened, there would be no one on the other side of the door. So he assumed that they were knocking and running away. He then said that he had even walked around the hallways and not seen anybody hiding. As soon as he finished explaining this, I heard clear as day, three very aggressive knocks,

on the door of his room come through the phone. He then got up and angrily said, See, there's that SOB again. The problem was, I was staring at his door from the camera. There was nobody there. I even kind of said that under my breath, and at first I don't think he understood what I said,

because he responded with, yeah, right, because they knock and they run away. I then reiterated my statement by saying, saying, no, sir, I'm looking at your door from the camera. There's nobody there. As in, no one came to your door and knocked at all. He paused for a moment, but came back with a much less angry and much more confused tone, saying, But you heard the knocking, right?

I told him that I did hear it. But I said that at no point in time, Did anyone come to his door? Pretty much right away, we heard another very loud knock on the door. And he started saying, is there anyone there now? To which I responded, no. I could tell that he was starting to freak out. And to be honest, I was as well.

Between the weird drop and temperature around his old room, and now this phantom knocking, it seemed like some sort of spirit or ghost was following him and was seriously messing with this guy. I know it was just the two isolated events at this point, but they were bizarre and were not things that we had ever had reported. The knocking was definitely more terrifying than the cold spot, but both events kind of had me leaning in to,

supernatural or paranormal territory. After a few seconds of silence, I offered to move him to one of the more expensive rooms on another floor, basically upgrading him for free because of this. He did agree, and when he came down to the front desk, he was pretty pale and quite obviously freaking out. I asked him if he was going to be okay or if something else had happened, and he told me that

as soon as he left his room with his stuff, he started hearing something laughing. I kind of passed over his comment and told him that we would get him taken care of. I got him in one of our most expensive rooms, which was not on the third floor, and I told him that if there were any more issues, I would go ahead and offer him a full refund.

He just kind of nodded and slowly stepped back, to the elevator with zero energy in his step. A few things to wrap this story up. First things first, he did not have any more issues. When he checked out in the morning, I was told that he wanted to give praise to my manager for how I handled his issues,

basically saying that I went above and beyond for him. And to anyone that will say that he was faking the problems or doing something to cause them, I'm going to say that I highly doubt it. The cold spot issue, well, I guess he could have had the AC on in the room, but that would be kind of dumb to do if I was coming up to see why it was cold. Plus, it felt like it was more in the hallway than coming from his room. The knocking thing, I'm pretty certain, was not his doing.

After I got him in the third room, I actually went back, and watched the camera footage, and unless he was so committed to the bit that he opened his door and looked around confused each time, and then left to walk around the hallway and angrily threw the door open for his act, all without knowing that I could see him on camera, mind you, then I'm pretty certain that it was real.

On top of that, after he left his room, I saw him start to walk down the hallway. And then I watched him pause to look back and around for what I'm assuming was the laughing. I literally watched the color drain from this man's face on the footage, and there's really no way to fake fear that intense. Also, this was the only complaint that I ever received about all this, which makes me seriously think that whatever this was, was directly attached to him.

In the end, it was super weird and a genuinely creepy situation, and I kind of felt bad for the guy. By the time he got into the new room, it was already past midnight, and I'm concerned that he didn't sleep very well. I do hope that whatever this was wasn't actually attached, and was just messing with him for that night for some reason, and I hope that he made it wherever he was going safely. And also, to that man,

I'm sorry that your stay at our hotel was so eventful. I have a creepy story that happened way back when I was like 11, back in the mid to late 80s. I want to start this story by saying that my aunt Sherry was not mentally okay. She very clearly had a mental sickness that was never, taken care of or addressed. And it's entirely likely that this was because of the time. Mental illness is taken very seriously now, but 30-ish years ago, people were basically just

called crazy and locked away or ignored. It's a sad truth, but it is the truth. I know a lot of people back then that had their crazy family member that they all just didn't talk to. Anyways, as I said, my aunt had mental illnesses that were not addressed, and because of this, she was shunned by a lot of the family and excluded from most things that we did. I was only ten at first, but I saw what they were doing, and it really did upset me that they treated her like this.

Because of this, I tried to be as nice and talkative to her as I could when I saw her. her. Most of the time when I saw her, she was pretty normal, and we would have conversations about myself and what I was doing at school, which wasn't much just being a kid. However, there were times where she would be having her issues, and she would start to tell me things that I didn't understand. There was one point where she told me that I needed to be cleansed, because I was being inhabited by a demon. I remember that exact sentence, because it was weird. I asked her how I would do that,

and she told me to cut myself with a knife and drain the evil from my body. This was one of those moments where I did see that she wasn't all there, but I still didn't want to just avoid her because she had problems. Unfortunately, this leads to the end of her. event in question that this story is about. It was actually on the day of my 11th birthday party that this all happened. My actual birthday was in the middle of the week, so my parents had given me my gifts

during the week. They then told me that we could have a small get-together with some family on that Saturday. I, of course, asked if we could invite my aunt Sherry. My mother was incredibly reluctant to agree to my request. but after I begged, she ended up saying that she would call her and ask her if she wanted to come. On the day of my gathering, a few of my family members did show up, including my cousins and my other aunt and uncle. And then my Aunt Sherry finally showed up as well. I was over the moon that she was there.

As soon as she got there, I started talking to her and asking her all about how she was doing, and she was asking me about school. It went pretty normal for a while. We chatted about everything, and then I decided I wanted to show her what I had gotten for my birthday. I brought her over to my room, and I showed her my new pet rabbit that my parents had just gotten for me. He was a cute little black and white rabbit,

and he was incredibly friendly. I was able to take him out and show her while holding him, and she told me that he was the cutest rabbit that she had ever seen. I was so happy that she approved of him, and I loved him, so it was a great moment. After a few minutes of petting him and talking with Sherry, my mom called us into the living room saying that dinner was ready. I went ahead and put him back into the cage, and we went to go eat. Again, everything was normal during the dinner.

We all chatted like normal, my aunt said, seemed calm and collected, which made me happy, and it was a great time. After we all ate, my mom said that we were going to do the cake in a few moments, and my aunt Sherry asked if we could wait a moment while she went to the restroom. We all agreed. She walked away down the hall, and I sat there with a lot of anticipation. After about ten or so minutes, my aunt still wasn't back yet. and we were all getting kind of impatient,

especially myself. My mom said that she would go check to see if Sherry was okay. I agreed, and we all just sat there and waited in silence. Then that silence was broken, by my mother screaming my aunt's name and the chaos that followed. My aunt came running out of the hallway into the living room where everyone was waiting, and she was covered in what looked like blood.

She was screaming that she was sorry, that she didn't mean to do it, and that she only did it because she needed to remove the demons from my life. I'm sure that the situation that occurred is kind of obvious, but I'll go over it in basic details. Sherry went over to the restroom. She did what she needed to do, but then she had a room. random urge to go into my bedroom. When she did, she said that she was told by a higher power that the rabbit needed to die

because he was a demon, and he was going to kill me. Not going into further detail beyond that or what she actually did, but she did kill my new pet rabbit. And my mom walked in on it. After she was trying to explain herself, my dad threw her out of the other. the house and screamed at her to leave and to never come back. I was traumatized by this whole event, and obviously my little family get-together for my birthday was over. I wasn't allowed or able to go back into my room for over a week

until my parents got the whole room cleaned up and got the cage removed. Thankfully, I didn't see the scene that was left because it probably would have killed me. I wish that this story had some kind of happy ending, or a silver lining, or that I could say that this was a breaking point for my aunt Sherry to get help. But it wasn't. I was very much traumatized by this whole thing, and it made me change my mind about my aunt. I wanted to be friends with her, but I couldn't after this. She tried to come over to the house to apologize to me once more,

but I wanted nothing to do with her, and my dad told her that if she ever came back, he would have her arrested. That day was actually the last time that I ever saw her. I think this whole situation was the final escalation of her mental problems, because about a month after this, she actually ended her own life. There wasn't a note or anything. She had just taken her own life, and that was it. As I mentioned in the beginning, I hate that all of this happened.

My aunt had problems that were never addressed or diagnosed, and it caused trauma for myself and my family, and ultimately, led to her death. Like I mentioned, mental issues were a lot more taboo just 30 years ago. They weren't always addressed, and people with the issues were sometimes exiled. That's pretty much what happened here. I hope that Sherry did find peace after she left this life.

And I wish that I could tell her that I do forgive her, and that I know it wasn't her doing. It was the mental issues, the disease that controlled her mind. I know that she loved me. I know that she cared about me, and I'm honestly sorry that I couldn't have done anything else for her. I have an interesting little story that happened to myself and my family during our Thanksgiving get-together in 2021. For some foundation to this story, my family has always been very close.

We've typically always spent holidays together, and my grandmother has always been the pillar upon which our family connections were built. When my grandfather passed away unexpectedly in 2005, we all came to together. as a family to make sure that she had everything she needed and it really brought us all closer together from that moment on the entire family made it a point to put the time aside to have a great get-together for pretty much every holiday Easter 4th of July Christmas and of course Thanksgiving even before my grandfather passed away Thanksgiving was a day for my grandmother. She was the one that was all about preparing the meal,

getting the tables set up for everyone, making sure everyone was well fed. It was her day to take care of the family, at her personal request for the most part. None of us ever expected her to do anything, and we always tried to intervene to get her to take it easy, but she was the type to shush us and tell her to let her, in her words, do the work to prove she was still useful.

None of us ever wanted to push her or question her. We just let her do what she wanted to do and offered to help where we could. All of this is to say that my grandmother was very well loved, very well cherished, and that Thanksgiving was an important holiday for her and the family. In around June of 2021, my grandmother got really sick.

I don't remember the exact diagnosis, but it was a form of cancer that she'd once had that had gone into remission. But it was attacking her again, and it seemed like it was hitting her a lot harder. Honestly, everyone was expecting the worst because of her age and how quickly she went from doing okay to being able to barely get out of bed.

She knew what was going on. and she and I talked a lot about things while she was in bed. There was one conversation that we had about the rest of the year, and I had mentioned that Thanksgiving was going to be a sad day if she wasn't there. I want to add here that she was very accepting of the situation, and she was very open about her mortality, so, while some people may see this as a strange comment, it was one that was very normal in this context. She looked at me with a very stern face and said,

No, Valerie, I will be at Thanksgiving. She said it with intense conviction that told me she was being dead serious. I smiled and agreed with her, just saying that I'd see her there and how much I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, that was the last time that I got to see her alive, as she did succumb to her illness a couple of weeks later, Later. Obviously, everyone was devastated, though we knew it was likely going to happen. We went through the normal morning. We had a lovely service for her that was packed with my family,

both close and extended, and the entire day was us all remembering her and talking about how much she was loved and was going to be missed. Fast forward to November of 2021, we were all trying to figure out what exactly we were going to do for the holiday. My aunt and uncle had inherited my grandmother's house when she passed, and they were living there, but we didn't really want to burden them with everyone showing up. Thankfully, they actually told everyone that they wanted to have Thanksgiving at the house, in a sort of way to honor my late grandmother. We all agreed.

We made plans to have the day there at their house. I had actually had some photographs printed and framed for my aunt and uncle of my grandmother, and we put them in her room on her dresser. They had kept her room pretty much the way that she had left it, mostly because they didn't need the extra space yet, and it was just a nice way to still remember her. Dinner rolled around and we were all sat at the table, and before we ate my aunt mentioned saying a few words for my grandmother,

in lieu of grace. Basically, a way for telling her how much she was loved and missed. A few minutes into this whole thing, and things kind of started feeling a bit odd. I'm not sure how to explain it beyond saying something like it felt like the room was full of static or electricity, or like there was just a lot of energy that had filled the room. When we finally got through the whole thing,

I made a bit of a joke about how grandma would tell us all to shush and stop talking her up like this. And as soon as I said that, the lights in the kitchen dimmed. I don't mean that they were slightly dimmed. I mean that they went to about half lit for nearly a full second. Honestly, I think we all knew what it was. My grandma was telling us that I was right and that she didn't want any more of the sappy stuff.

I laughed and just said, Told you. The whole family chuckled and we all moved on to eating our dinner. After we ate, and after most everyone had left, those of us that were still there were having a nice chat about how the year had gone, how much everyone had done that year, and our plans for the next. After a bit of talking, I got up to go to the restroom and on my way back there, I noticed that the door to my grandmother's room was slightly opened, and the light was on. I went into the room and was honestly taken aback for a moment.

When I opened the door, I swear that I saw my grandmother sitting on her bed, holding one of the photos that I had printed of her. Within that second she was gone, but the picture was still lying on the bed. I know that some people could say that this was just a hallucination, that it wasn't really her, but I can't even begin to explain how real it was.

She was really there, at least in spirit. And the fact that the picture was lying on the bed, which is not where it was placed originally, tells me all that I need to know. No one had gone into her room that night. I'm certain of it, so there's no way for that frame to have moved, much less halfway across the bedroom on to.

her bed. I know that this wasn't necessarily creepy, but it was heartwarming to me, and I really wanted to share it. Now that Thanksgiving is coming up again and we've all agreed to have dinner at the house for another year, I'm curious if I'm going to see my grandmother once more, or if she's already passed on. Either way, she knows that she was loved, and that she is loved, and that she will always be missed by the family.

And I like to believe that these two little events were her keeping her promise about being there for Thanksgiving and letting us know that she will always be with us in spirit. I used to work at a restaurant that was open pretty late, but it was also attached to a bar that was open until midnight. When the restaurant closed, the bar stayed open and served some, menu items, but not everything. It was normal for people to go to the bar and order appetizers and drinks, but they always pushed hard to get people to order more than that on the restaurant's side.

They had a rewards program where you could get a free appetizer after 10 visits, so when they redeemed that, the manager always nagged us to push them into ordering a meal, or even dessert, to try and recover the cost. I guess. Their beliefs, not mine or the other servers. So, anyways, it was one of those shifts that I worked until midnight, so I was going to be moving over to the bar side. I remember that it was almost 10 p.m. because that was when the restaurant closed,

and we just had a couple, a male and female, come in and they had specifically asked to sit at one of the tables near the front door. This was actually pretty uncommon because most people wanted to sit in the booths which lined the sides or in the back. It wasn't something that caused me to become suspicious of them, or think that they were weird or anything. It was just a bit out of place, is all. So I got them seated, started to hand them a menu when they said they didn't need one, and then asked if they could just get the chips and salsa appetizer, and to waters with lemons.

Again, people did that a lot, so I didn't question it, and I took their order to the back. However, there were a few things that I did find a bit odd. Since it was so close to us closing, I did find it weird that they didn't just go to the bar side for chips.

Those people typically went over there anyways, and those that just order an appetizer usually sit around and talk for a few hours. So, I will say that part of me was a little whiny when I started thinking that they were going to keep me here on this side of the restaurant longer, causing me to run behind on cleaning. We weren't allowed to sweep or vacuum the floors if there were any customers in the dining area, so I would have to wait until they were done before I could finish. but the other thing that I noticed was that both of the shirts they were wearing

still had the tag hanging on them it writes under the arm I saw this when he was pushing the menu back at me and when I brought out their drinks she was tucking hers into the shirt again it was weird but I also have heard stories where people bought stuff and they then just kept the tags on it so they could return it

not my thing but to each their own. I saw him tapping on the little table kiosk, so I figured he was redeeming the appetizer anyway. So if they were just cheap, then so be it. I made better tips on the bar side anyways. After I brought out the drinks, I walked by them once to let them know that their food would be out shortly, and they were very short and quick to dismiss me.

Again, whatever. if they were going to be that kind of customer, then we'll just get through it and move on with my night, right? However, my boss did not see it that way. He'd been pacing the kitchen and when he still didn't see a ticket come back for them, the only other occupied table was already eating. He questioned me about it, becoming impatient as he was wanting to go home too.

There was another manager on the bar side, so unlike me, he was going to be able to be able to be able, to just go home. I told him that they didn't want any entrees. They just wanted the appetizer. He became annoyed that he was being held back because someone wanted something they could

just get from the grocery store across the street. His words, not mine. He then told me to go and offer them something else, like a beer or the daily soup or something like that, to try and get some money out of them. I reluctantly did what was asked of me. As I approached the table, I noticed that they were leaning in and talking quietly, but then stopped when we made eye contact. I didn't want to do this as is, so I tried to be chill about it, mentioning that we had a new chili recipe, and I offered some of that.

Then the guy snapped back. We just want our chips, man. That's it. So, I smiled. and said that's no problem, promising that I would be right back with them. I went back to the kitchen and told the boss that that was a no-go and started to grab their chips. He became more annoyed, and told me to keep an eye on them, thinking they were just going to run out without paying. I tried to argue that they were probably just going to redeem the reward, but he didn't like to be told he was wrong, so I brought them their food and went back to the kitchen to talk with the show.

chef. I don't really know what was up with my boss that night. He was usually an ass, but that night he was worse than normal. He would not let up on this couple. He stopped pushing the food thing, because I guess he realized that that would have kept him there longer, but he was adamant that they were going to do a dine and dash since they got a refill and sat close to the door. So, I was told to do a walk by their table every couple of minutes, and I mean literally two minutes max. The couple seemed to be just as annoyed as I was, because the last time that I approached them, the guy went off, but it was what he said that was concerning. I walked up to the table and I was going to mention paying at the kiosk, when the guy yelled,

in a cleaner version, Dude, leave us the hell alone. We're only here for an alibi, for Christ's sake. He said this as if it was something a normal person would say, shoving another chip in his mouth. The woman would not make eye contact with me and continued to look down at the table. I just walked away and told my boss what they said,

yelling at him that if he was so worried about it, then he could go talk to them himself. I refused to go back to that table, pissed off and also a little freaked out. Why would you say that out loud and what would you need an alibi for? I told the chef about what was said and I just walked by the doorway to see if they would leave a card or cash or something. However, we got the notification on the screen in the back that the chips were redeemed, leaving them with no bill to pay. So I checked again for them, and I saw them take off out the front door. I went over to their table, noticed that they took their receipt and nothing else.

After that, I just cleaned up, still replaying the whole event in my mind. The rest of that night went fine, and thankfully, I never saw that couple again. I contemplated reporting it to the authorities just in case there was something more sinister behind that comment, but I was hoping he just said that to get me to leave them alone. Because, if not, it was pretty stupid. When they redeemed their reward, it shows us the email address, name, and phone number for the account that was logged in. Sure, all of it could have been fake, but there was still a chance that it was real and could trace back to one of them. I held on to the info for the time being, until I heard reports,

about some car break-ins where someone had been shot and killed. One of them had happened that same night, and was within the general area. That was enough to at least report it to the police, just in case it could be related. Unfortunately, if it was, I never found out. I never heard anything about the case or from the cops that took my statements, so I have no idea. I still do think about it at times, one who, how real that statement he made was, and also hoping that they don't think I'm a risk or try to find me.

At least I don't work there anymore, or even live in the same state, so I guess I'm probably safe. This happened back when I was a teenager, probably about 15 years ago now. I lived in a smaller town where, if something happened to you, the whole town seemed to know before the end of the week. This also meant that people knew who not to mess with or talk about,

if you catch my drift. I was just lucky enough to work for one of those people, and lucky that he treated me like his own daughter. I worked at a local pawn shop, and just in case, I'm going to make up some names, too. It was run by a guy named Tony. Tony was a big guy, physically, and in popularity and personality. Everyone knew him, and was either close to him, steered clear of him, or was on his bad side.

My dad used to work for him, and I thought that he was a good guy, so he suggested that I apply at the pawn shop, thinking he would be able to help me get the job. Of course, it worked, and shortly after, his wife was showing me around and telling me how to use the register. I was mainly working after school, helping ring people up and cleaning up shelves. After I graduated, I continued to work there for a few years since I was making decent money, and trying to go to a local community college. That's when I really started tackling the night shifts, and I got to see a bit more of why Tony was so popular. You see, the pawn shop was a legit business up front.

People were always bringing stuff to trade or have appraised. The size of the building was big enough to have quite the collection of stuff too from housewares, toys, electronics, weapons, and a lot more. So there were plenty of purchases being made all day long. But, at night, Tony had a whole other business being conducted in the back. He ran poker tournaments. And I'm assuming that definitely helped fluff the numbers for the shop as well,

as being why some of the people avoided him. As I got older and after I left the pawn shop, I learned that it definitely wasn't small bets going on back there. So, while he had his game going on in the back, he had someone running the front, leaving the store open often late into the night. This was used as a cover for why they were still open, I suppose. Once I turned 18, I started working that same late night shift. Surprisingly, we still had some people coming in at nights to look around the place. or maybe Tony's friends picking up some consolation prizes.

We also had people coming in at all hours, with all kinds of odd items, looking to make some fast money. After watching others and being taught some of the simpler methods of inspecting items, I was able to offer prices as well. I also learned how to put my foot down and not get walked all over when it's not what they were expecting. I also had Tony and Margaret on my side in most cases. So, when I had a guy come in with some old comic books,

I expected the whole thing to be pretty routine. It was super late when this guy came in. I remember this because I figured it was just another one of those guys that was expecting me to not look too closely, thinking I would be too tired or uncaring. I've had people come in with things as stupid, as a rock and trying to claim it was part of the boulder that sealed Jesus in his tomb before he came back.

The problem with this assumption was, one, I don't half-ass things when my boss is Tony, and two, I'm actually an avid comic book collector, thanks to my dad. So this guy comes in with one of those bank boxes that was heavily damaged. The bottom of it looked soft and warped. like it was wet and recently dried out, and there was no lid. This already had me thinking that the comics were probably in bad condition. He did have them all in sleeves, though, so I guess he had that going for him. He said that they were all original prints,

and that we should be grateful that he chose us to sell them to. I started pulling out a few of them to inspect them, but I could instantly tell that they were not, as rare and special as he implied. To not bore anyone with the details, I'll just say that the most damning part was where the copyright in pricing was obviously altered, as it was slightly skewed,

and you could see a fine dark line, like something was printed or stamped there. It wasn't raised like it was taped over, but I've seen that, too. Hoping to not cause a scene, I offered the guy like $25 for the box. There were probably about a hundred or so comics in there, and I was expecting to throw them in the $1 or less comic bin that we had,

so we could make some kind of profit off of them. The guy reacted like I had just kicked his dog, saying that he had rare comics in there. I told him that there may be some rare ones, sure, but due to the damage that most of them had. had, they're not worth it to go through each one separately. I then suggested that he take them to an actual licensed appraiser, and then he could come back and we could talk more then.

Or, he could sort through them himself. He then said that that was the reason he brought them here for me to do it. Again, I told him that I wasn't a licensed appraiser, and also, I didn't have the time to go through his stuff. But he begged to differ, claiming that that was my job. After some petty arguments and name-calling, I then said fine for that. I'll take the whole box for $10, or you can get out. That's when he really started throwing the derogatory remarks, and saying that I didn't

know anything because I was just some naive little girl. Channeling my inner Tony, I yelled at him to get the hell out, and, and I was, you know, and to take his crappy knock-off comics with him. His idea for a response was to threaten me and said he would come back and slit my throat while he stood over my body. Now, I can usually be pretty level-headed, but that, that caused me to really scream to get the F out of my store. Of course, this got the guy's attention in the back,

so Tony and one of his friends came up and asked, what was going on. I told them what had happened and what his response was, but Tony was already walking up to this guy, ready to toss him out the front door by his ears, I'm sure.

But the guy quickly walked out with his comics without another word. We all watched for a bit making sure that he actually left and then went back to our night. I know that I did a few things around the shop, watched some

movie that we had there, and I helped escort some of Tony's friends out, but the rest of the night seemed to go fine. It was probably somewhere around 11 p.m. that Tony came out and told me that I could go ahead and head home. He usually stays behinds to lock up, and I'm still very thankful for that fact. As I was walking to my car, which was at the edge of the lot, it wasn't very big, so probably five or six spots from the building, I walked by a car that had just turned their headlights off. Normally, I wouldn't think much of this, but since we were closing, it caught my attention that they were turning off and not coming back on, like they were going to leave. I had stopped just past the car, and I watched as the comic guy got out of that car.

I immediately was on edge and started putting my car. keys between my fingers, contemplating if I should run to my car or towards him to run back to the building. I chose to run towards the building, praying that I would get Tony's attention. However, I could hear him speeding up towards me as well, but as soon as I grabbed the door to open it, I felt my hair being pulled knocking me to the ground. I yelled for Tony and thank God he had excellent hearing, or something, because he swung that door open so fast, smacking my ankle with it, and that guy was immediately on the ground. There were some good punches being thrown by Tony, as well as a few threats before he finally

let that guy leave. I know he tried not to scare me any more than I already was, but the guy had a knife. I saw it fall to the ground, but I was in such a shock that I didn't even. think about picking it up. Tony did, though. He hid it from me as he went back inside. I know that he didn't want me to call the cops because of his things in the back, so I didn't. I did tell him that if the guy came back during the day, I would consider it since he wouldn't

have anything going on, and he agreed to that. He made sure that I was okay, though, and he followed me home just to make sure I was safe. I also ended up getting a nice extra bonus that week for my hard work, quote-unquote. Tony had always been like another father or uncle to me, and I never had problems with him, so I definitely didn't want to cause any problems for him. So, yeah, I may have been stupid for not calling the cops, but the fact that I never saw that guy again made me think that Tony probably got through to him. I was still pretty freaked out there for a few weeks when I had to work at night or work

alone. I know that not every pawn shop is going to have someone like Tony, but a word of advice, threatening somebody over a few dumb comic books probably isn't good for your health. Oh, and to the comic book guy, you had better hope that we never meet again. 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 rave and a video. 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 first. the next episode of this podcast. And of course, until then, sleep well.