As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 099 - Scary Autumn and Halloween Stories - 11 True Scary Stories

Episode Date: November 10, 2023

Welcome to the chilling ##th episode of The ATRD Podcast! Today, we will step into the shadowy corners of reality, where everyday life takes an eerie twist & ordinary people experience the extraordinary. Today we will be diving into stories about Scary things that happen in the fall, and horrifying haunts of Halloween! So, turn down the lights, tune in, and let the haunting tales of everyday people take you down that dark and creepy road. Remember, these aren't just stories... these are true experiences that remind us that our world can truly be scarier than fiction. Have a Story To Submit? ➤ https://www.astheravendreams.com Or Post to the Subreddit ➤ https://reddit.com/r/TheRavensDream Support the channel for Early Access AND more! Patreon ➤ https://patreon.com/AsTheRavenDreams Join ➤ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkW0ihdMHfBUjQrMKjRto6g/join Or Check out the Merch Store! ➤ https://teechip.com/stores/astheravendreams Thank you to all of the authors that have stories in today's Video... Midwest Michelle, StazeyChic, Lauren, OptimusPryme, TW, GroceryBoy, ExCommunicator, AAAAAAAAA, N.T.Rose, Q. Edwards, and any authors that requested anonymity. 'As The Raven Dreams' is a community where we explore the darker parts of human existence through true and harrowing stories. From sinister encounters with strangers and stalkers, to terrifying experiences that defy explanation and unsettling mysteries that linger in the shadows, I am here to tell you the most haunting narratives ever whispered. Much Love, and Sleep Well... ----- #TrueScaryStories #AsTheRavenDreams #RedditStories ➤ Stories include a content warning for language and sensitive/disturbing content. Viewer discretion is always advised. ➤ ALL Audio of this Podcast are copyright of AS THE RAVEN DREAMS / RAVEN ADAMS and may not be duplicated, in any format, without explicit permission ➤ If you like any of the following stories, consider subscribing! - Dark Web horror stories, creepy lets not meet stories, stalker stories, Glitch In The Matrix Stories, Unexplained Horror stories, Paranormal stories, cryptid encounter stories, Crazy ex lover stories, creepy neighbor stories, quantum immortality, true scary stories from reddit, or any other True horror Stories! ➤ And Remember; You are loved, you are important, and you are valid. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/astheravendreams/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/astheravendreams/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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you're listening on has the option to rate this podcast, please consider doing so and thank you so i never been the whole type to believe in ghost stories or the things that go bump in the night spiel i've always been a kind of skeptical person not because i think people like to lie about their experiences or anything but because i've never personally had an experience and i'm very evidence-oriented but when i had an experience back in autumn of 2016, I kind of changed from a skeptic to someone that more or less believes in the

paranormal. I had just turned 17 about a week prior, which meant that this was in mid-October, as my birthday is October 9th. It had just started to hit that point where the autumn air had that crisp bite to it, and the trees were showing off their fall colors. My mom and I were living in a rental, an old colonial house that year. It was just the two of us, as my dad had left us back whenever I was a kid. That house had character, to put it kindly. Creaky floorboards and windows that would whistle and rattle if the wind got too strong. I always thought it was atmospheric, perfect for that spooky autumn vibe,

hot chocolate, layered sweater, and watching old movies. I may have been a skeptic, but I still loved the season. That year was the first year where things would happen that would be weird and creepy. The events would start off small, mainly lights flickering. The lights in my bedroom would start to flicker at night. At first I blamed the wiring. The house was old as dirt, after all. I told my mom and she mentioned that I needed to check the light,

and make sure the bulb was in the housing right and that nothing felt loose. I did, and nothing seemed off, so I just kind of decided to live with it. After a while, the flickering would be joined by the sounds of footsteps. They were soft, but deliberate. As soon as the light would start flickering, I would start to hear these soft footsteps of someone tiptoeing down the hallway toward my bedroom, but then stopping as they got to my door. At first I thought it was my mom, but I would open the door and she wouldn't be anywhere near my room.

In fact, she would be fast asleep. I could even hear her snoring in the room across the hallway. The peak of all the weirdness actually happened one night during dinner. I think it was about a week or so after the footsteps started. My mom and I were sitting at our dining room table. We would actually sit and have dinner together frequently. and sit at that dining room table. It was a colder autumn night, so my mom had a little space heater in the dining room to keep us warm.

We were sitting there eating dinner, having a nice chat about how the day had gone, when the lights to the dining room randomly flicked off. We went from laughing and having a nice little chat to sitting silently in a room that was lit, only by the light orange glow of the space heater. We both kind of paused, and I'm guessing we were trying to figure out what had happened, and I mentioned that I would check the light switch. I got up, went over to the switch, and sure enough, it was turned off. It was weird, but whatever.

I just turned it back on, said that that was strange, and that was that. So we thought. About three or four minutes later, it happened again. We were back to talk. and then all the sudden it was dark. I sighed, and I mentioned to my mom that it was kind of annoying, and then asked why it was happening as I turned the light back on. After I hit the switch and turned back to my mom,

her face was white as a sheet. I asked if she was okay, but she just kind of stared at me for a moment and then said, When the light shut off, I saw something. I asked what it was that she saw, confused and a bit concerned. My mom wasn't usually like that. She said, it went dark, and then I saw eyes in the other room. Red eyes. Literally glowing red eyes.

I chuckled slightly and mentioned that she probably just saw the reflection or glow of the heater, but she shook her head and said, No, cute, I did not see her. a reflection. It was too high up, and these were bright, red, glowing eyes. I once again tried to explain it logically, saying that it was probably nothing, that it was just a light in the other room, trying anything to dismiss this as anything unnatural. As soon as I said something like, Mom, calm down.

I'm sure you're just seeing things. There was this major crashing sound that came from the kitchen. We both jumped, scared as hell at whatever that was. I ran into the kitchen to see what had happened, and much to my surprise the dish strainer was sitting on the ground, with the dishes all over the place, and several glasses and plates were shattered. I just stood there staring at the mess.

My mom came in and quietly said, What the hell is going on? At this point, I went from not believing to being filled with adrenaline and thinking, My God, this place is haunted by something malicious. There was no way for the distrainer to just fall off the counter. It wasn't at the edge. It was at least eight or so inches back and next to the sink.

The only way for this to have fallen like that would have been for it to have been yanked or shoved off of the counter. We spent a long time cleaning up the shattered glass and ceramic. With how shattered things were, it was like everything was shoved off and then down to the ground, with immense force. The whole time I was cleaning up, I was just sitting there shivering, trying to piece together the whole situation. But every time I would think about it, I would land on something paranormal. After that, the little things did not stop, but we never questioned it. It would click the lights off, open up cabinets randomly, but thankfully my mom said that she never saw the glowing red eyes again.

And there was never anything as destructive as that moment. I honestly think it was my denial that had made this entity mad, though I don't know what had caused the activity in the first place. after that night I didn't question any of it I just accepted things that happened undid whatever the spirits had done like the lights and such

and would randomly acknowledge the spirit asking it to stop messing with me to this day my mom says that these things still happen I obviously don't live there with her anymore but she says that while it's still happening there hasn't been anything else that was malicious.

This happened back whenever I was seven years old, and at the time it was the creepiest thing that I had ever experienced. I admit that it was kind of a nothing really happened event, and of course I didn't have much experience being seven years old, and the scarier things have happened further into my life, but this was seriously terrifying at the time. It was Halloween, which is obvious by the first of the time. fact that we were trick-or-treating at the time.

We had a local park that was owned by a church, and they liked to do this big Halloween event that was kind of like a trunk-or-treat thing, but it was almost like a little Halloween carnival. My dad agreed to take myself and my little sister, and I was over the moon. I was a little girl that loved everything spooky, and I was finally going to what I thought was going to be the pinnacle of all the whole, Halloween events, even though it was watered down and hosted Paya Church. I was obviously amped, and I thought it was going to be an amazing evening. My dad was busy keeping an eye on my little

sister, so at one point I had kind of wandered off to check out this haunted maze that they'd set up. I thought that I was old enough to handle it. I yelled to my dad that I was going to go to the maze and ignored him when he told me to wait for him in Lacey, my sister, who was three at the time. I was so engrossed that I didn't think anything of it, and just assumed that he was right behind me. I entered into the maze and made quick work of it. It was creepy, but it was super quick to get through. I pop out the other side, and I'm amped because they gave me this caramel apple as a prize for getting through. I immediately unwrapped it and bit into it,

and then looked around for my dad and sister, only to not see either of them. The crowd looked a bit thinner than I remembered, but neither of them were there. I walked around the side of the maze and out to the front, the main area of the festival, thinking that they would be there waiting, but still did not see them.

I was just kind of standing there like a lost puppy, Looking around, thinking, where did they go? After a few moments, I walked over towards the entrance, thinking that if they were looking for me, they would have me come to the front, right? They would go somewhere that I could be seen and was a common checkpoint. After a few moments of standing at the front, I saw this person wearing a mask standing off to the side, just kind of staring at me. He was wearing one of those exaggerated old-person face masks, the kind that are really wrinkly and flabby.

At first I just saw him standing there and didn't think anything of it, just a person standing off to the side in a creepy mask at a Halloween carnival. After about two or three minutes, I noticed that he hadn't turned away from me or walked anywhere else, and I was hitting a point of getting a bit worried, worried by it, because, again, it was creepy. I knew that something was off at that point. My heart was starting to speed up, and I could feel myself starting to cry.

Right about then, is when this creepy man in the mask started to walk toward me, and I choked as I just thought, This guy is going to kill me. Again, I was like seven, so that was just the random idea implanted in my little brain by the horror movies I've seen. I just stood there watching this creepy person walking toward me. And as he did, I watched as he reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a dog leash or a leather rope of some sort.

I was starting to shake as he slowly crept toward me with this rope in his hand. Thankfully, at the point where he hit the midway point between us, my dad walked up to me and asked where I'd been. I looked up at him with teary eyes and I couldn't speak. I just burst into tears at that point. He picked me up and told me that it would be okay, but that I needed to stay by him for the rest of the night so that he didn't lose me again.

I remember looking back to see if I could find the creepy man, but he was gone. What wasn't gone, though, was his mask. It was on the ground, as if he had taken it off and tossed it before walking away. I have literally no idea what his intentions were. The rope or leash or whatever it was was enough to scare the hell out of seven-year-old me, but the fact that he left the mask tells me, at least now, that he didn't want me to be able to point him out to my dad. I absolutely assume that this man had ill-intent,

but thankfully my dad showed up just in time. Like I mentioned, I know that this story. was kind of a nothing really happened story, but it was still terrifying to me at the time. I think this happened back around 2003 when we lived in Mississippi. I was about 14 at the time, and my little brother would have been around nine. We'd gone trick-or-treating for several years now, and last year we did a lot of it around our neighborhood by ourselves. I always loved going door-to-door, and it was even more fun when it was just the two of us. I felt like a grown-up being in charge of my little brother.

I was also really looking forward to this year because my brother and I really enjoyed the movie Lilo and Stitch, and he wanted to dress up as Stitch. I was really close to my brother, so I decided I would go as Lilo and make us a cute, matching pair, as well as an easy costume for me. While I do love Halloween and trick-or-treating, I had a sensory issue and still do, so I don't like to wear a lot of things or layers at once. I already had long dark hair, so I didn't even really need a wig. Just a cute little red dress, really.

The problem I'd had with this year, though, was what I was hearing on the news. There had been a report of at least a couple of kids that had gone missing. missing that were close to my age. I wasn't good with locations, so I don't remember what city it was in exactly, but I do remember that it took place close to us. It honestly scared me, as I realized how many times I was alone. My parents often left me at home with and without my brother when they had to run to the store or something short like that. I had to walk down the street to go to the bus stop, and my parents wouldn't even be able to see me from the front door.

I even rode my bike around the block or down to the little gas station by myself. Hearing the stories of the kids coming up missing alarmed me, but my parents didn't seem to think there was anything to worry about. When the new story came up, my mom would always make remarks about how stupid can you be, and would criticize the parents and blamed them for not watching their kids closely. However, she still told us to walk the block by ourselves, and when I asked if it was safe, she pretty much said,

Yeah, why wouldn't it be? Parents of the Year, right? And so we got all dressed up, and I made sure to bring my dad's shop flashlight, because it was made of some pretty hefty metal, and I stuffed it in my candy bag. I figured it would be good to have as both a light source and a possible weapon. I also made a mental note while we were out to keep a close eye on our surroundings. I was a little nervous since this whole night involved us going to strangers' houses alone,

but because Halloween was also one of my favorite holidays, I was determined to remain vigilant and also have a good time, so as to not worry or frighten my little brother. We made our way uphill first, as there were only three houses that way before we rounded the corner. After the turn, there was an empty house, because I remembered them recently renovating it, and then the road curved into a cul-de-sac that has four houses on it. We went to each one of those, and between just those few houses that we had gone to so far, our bags were already feeling pretty full.

Between our candy load and how excited my brother was, I was starting to loosen up a bit and have more fun with it. We left the dead end and continued down the road, making our way to a house that had really gone all out. The whole yard was covered in creepy decorations from a gory graveyard, moving ghosts in the tree, and they even made a path that you had to walk through to get to the door. One guy was even in a grim reaper costume, standing still until you walked by, and then he would scare you. I was surprised that my brother wanted to go through it, and, in fact, he laughed after getting scared. When we got to the door, the older couple complimented our costumes, gave us a big handful of candy, and asked us a few questions. After chatting, we left through the other side of the yard, and then back through the front.

front gate. As we walked a bit, my brother was getting excited about one of the little toys he noticed the last house had handed out, and he started digging into his bag while we walked. He was wanting to carry it with him, but I was trying to get him to stop until we got to the corner where there was better light. Unfortunately, the exact thing that I was wanting to avoid happened, when we nearly ran into someone in front of us. At first I looked up to see this tall man wearing some kind of hooded poncho or something.

When I think back to this event, I start to realize that I had no idea where this guy had come from. There was a small group of kids and adults ahead of us, but they had already moved on, and no one had walked by us since we left the house. I suppose he could have been behind us and gotten ahead when we stopped at the house, but I don't recall ever seeing someone ahead of us. Anyways, I gasped a bit as I stepped backwards and apologized to the man. His response to this was saying in a really creepy way, Oh, it's all right, baby girl, are you okay?

My parents don't even call me that, so it immediately made me feel weird. So I just said I was fine and grabbed my brother's hand and walked around him. I started feeling like I was being watched, so I looked back and saw the guy still standing there in the same spot, now facing towards us. I turned back around and tried to get my brother to speed up so that we could get to the next house. As we left the next one, that poncho guy was standing on the sidewalk right by the house. He was smiling and made a comment about our bags looking heavy

and asked if we needed help carrying them. Now, I wasn't very well-mannered when it came to being scared or people that made me uncomfortable. So, I just said, no, as firm and grown up as I could, and again pulled my brother along. I was really starting to become more panicked at this point, wondering what this guy's true intentions were. Surely it wasn't a ruse to take our candy. He was an adult, or at least looked like it. so he could have just gotten some on his own. So, if not the candy, what else would he want with young kids like Gus?

It started freaking me out more when I thought about the kids that had been kidnapped recently. Was this guy responsible for them? Was he trying to find a good opportunity to grab us too? I started looking around to see if there were any adults nearby, or even the group of children that I saw earlier thinking we would at least, to be safer with them, but they were even gone. My last hope was Ms. Marsha's house. Marcia was an older lady that worked at the front desk of the office where my mom worked.

She was very sweet, and she always gave my brother and I some kind of treat when we went there with my mom for any reason. She actually lived on the road parallel, or behind our home, basically, which was also the road that we were on. It was a few houses down after the corner, so I started telling my brother that we should go to her house first. He didn't seem to mind, possibly because he was reading the situation too, or he was just kidding tired. As we passed that first house, I heard the familiar creepy voice say, Hey, you missed one, didn't you? Before I could say anything, though, my brother yelled out, you're being weird.

So I again held his hand as we ran. I was scared that this guy could get mad at my brother's comment, although I was glad he said it, and possibly chase us, so I wanted to get there fast. We made it to her house, and I pushed my brother ahead of me, as I grabbed his back from him and he started knocking on the door. Thankfully, she was home, and had a bowl of candy in her arms. I frantically asked her if we could come in as I looked behind me and didn't see the guy.

She, of course, invited us in, shutting the door behind us and asking what was going on. I started explaining the situation to her, and she said that I did a very smart thing by trying to avoid him, and going to her house immediately. She gave us both some water, and we watched TV while she went to call our mom. After a short time there was a knock on the door. I was trying to keep calm thinking it was Halloween after all and was thinking it was probably just some kids. But when Marcia answered the door, it was the same guy.

He tried giving her some story about us being his kids and apologized for us running into her home. Marcia, knowing our parents, of course, told him off, saying he needed to leave as the cops. had already been called. I remember his face clearly at this point, trying to look past her at us, and I heard him say,

Oh, I must have the wrong house. Good night. And he walked away. She shut the door, but went and sat at the window, presumably watching where he went. It didn't take long for my parents to show up, and then the cops around the same time. We told them what had happened,

while we were out there, and described the guy to the best that we could since it was dark. I remember giving Marcia a big hug before we left, being incredibly thankful that she was there, as I would have been shy just asking some random person to come in their house. As far as I'm aware, the guy was never found, which is still terrifying, but sometimes I still wonder what his intentions were, and could it have been the same? guy from the news? Also, we just went home that night from there, and my parents followed us in the car the following years. I guess at least they agreed to do that. This happened in the heart of fall, the season where nature begins to wither away as we all prepare for that

cold grasp of winter. I'd always loved this time of the year. The cold breeze, a crunch of the leaves underfoot in that anticipation of the holidays right around the corner. I believe it was in the year 2002 that this happened. It was during this time that I experienced something that sent shivers down my spine, something that I still cannot personally explain 20-plus years later. I grew up in a very small town in Ohio, where everyone knew everyone. This may sound weird, some people, considering how everything seems so modernized nowadays, but my family owned,

and still owns, a modest-sized apple orchard which was our livelihood. Every fall we would harvest the apples for sale, and a majority of the townsfolk would come by for the fresh produce. It was a tradition, as far back as my great-grandparents, according to my dad at least, and it was a sign that fall had truly arrived in our little slice of the world. That year, the harvest was a good one. The trees were covered with the red and gold apples, and we were thrilled. One evening, my dad asked me to grab a basket and to do a final check on the far end of the orchard

to make sure that we hadn't missed any trees. I, of course, did what he asked. I grabbed a basket, and I headed out and to the orchard. the deepening afternoon sky. As I strolled through the rows of apple trees, I enjoyed the lovely atmosphere. The wind was blowing through the trees, causing that calming rustling sound to reverberate around me. And there were also a few birds chirping and randomly singing. As I reached the far end where the older trees stood, I felt an eerie calm.

It was almost too quiet out there as far as I could tell. I made it a point to just quickly check the trees because I was feeling rather anxious about being out there. I went from far left and started heading towards the right, checking for stragglers or anything missed previously. As I was picking a few of the apples that were still strung up, I heard something that sounded like a whisper. It was faint, seemingly carried by the autumn breeze.

I looked around thinking that it may have been my dad or my brother trying to mess with me, but I didn't see anyone or anything around. It was just me in the trees. I decided that I was just hearing things and immediately went back to doing what I was doing. After a few moments, I heard it again, this time a bit more clear. I pulled away from the tree and walked around for a moment. trying to see if I could figure out what was making the noise, or more likely who. Curiosity got the better of me. I set the basket down, and I took a few steps out into the

orchard and called out. Hello? I don't know what I was thinking or what I was going to do if there was someone out in the orchard. I wasn't exactly a large 11-year-old, but I was wanting to figure out what exactly was going on out there. I stood there for a few moments, waiting to hear anyone to call back. But I didn't. I shook my head and walked back to my basket, grabbing it so that I could finish up what I was doing and go back to the house. As soon as I grabbed the basket, I heard it again.

But this time I could actually hear what it was saying. The whisper was deep, and almost like a little. a growl, but its message was the opposite of that aggressive manner in which it was said. I stood there and heard this voice say, Help me. The problem was that this wasn't just a normal person out in the orchard asking for help. This sounded like some kind of demonic, raspy, and chilling voice as it called out to me. I'm not going to lie.

Hearing those words in that tone was enough. to bring me back down to earth, quicker than anything else ever has, and I panicked. I dropped my basket, and I ran back to the house as fast as I could. I burst through the back door, and I know for a fact that I was sobbing as I yelled for my dad. He ran down the stairs in a hurry, asking me what the hell was going on. I'm not sure what words actually got out of my mouth at that point. But I know that I told him that I'd heard somebody say something like, help me out in the orchard.

At least, I think, I got that out of my mouth. My dad nodded, told me to stay there, grabbed his shotgun, and then ran out the back door in a sprint. I stood there in the kitchen, literally shaking, crying for God knows what reason. And I started to worry that whatever was out there might ambush my dad, but at the same time I was thinking that he had his gun and I know that he was one hell of a shot, so if anything happened, he would be okay.

I was pretty clearly a confused mess, but again, I was 11, so I didn't exactly have a lot of life experience, outside of helping on the farm in our small town. After 15 minutes, my dad came trudging back through the back door with a bit of an angry look on his face. I remember him walking in and saying, Don't do that. It's not funny to joke around like that. I told him that I wasn't joking,

that I heard someone say help me at the end of the orchard, that it actually happened. And he just shook his head saying, well, if you really heard someone, they aren't there anymore, so nothing to worry about. He told me that I needed to finish picking on that tree that I was at, and that dinner would be ready in a few minutes. I just relented and walked back out into the orchard, which was now starting to get dark,

to get my basket and get back to the house. I got back to the tree, grabbed a couple more of the straggling apples, and started walking back. As I turned to walk back, I swear that I heard that creepy voice again, once more, saying, help me. But this time I just chose to ignore it. I made my way back to the house with my eyes closed and just thinking, it's all in your head. Dad says there's nothing there.

And that was it. Nothing more really happened, and after that, I did everything I possibly could to avoid that section of the orchard. To this day, I will not go back there. and when I get out to help my parents with their trees, I do so close to the house, at the younger front trees. I don't know what it was that was whispering to me. I don't know what it wanted for me,

and I have no idea what its intentions were, but I know that it was there, and I know that it was very real. I'm the second oldest of five kids, and while I didn't have a bad childhood, my parents were pretty strict, which I think was part of why I had a rebellious side. Those of you out there with similar parents should understand,

or maybe you might remember being told you couldn't do something or weren't allowed to go somewhere, and it only made you want to do it more, right? So this happened to be the result of one of those nights for me. My friends and I loved trick-or-treating. It started out as a small competition between a few of us to see who could get the most candy, and then we wanted to see who could come up with the creepiest costume.

We started putting together some of our own ideas, and my mom was at least willing to let me use any old clothes that my older brother couldn't wear anymore. In this particular year, I'd put together a kind of a mad scientist look. Now, I was in middle school, I believe 14 at the time, so we didn't have class parties, but a lot, if not most of the kids, still dressed up for Halloween. This year it happened to fall on a Friday, and I was pretty excited. I had dressed up, gotten everything ready to have a sugar-filled weekend, and then I was hit with the, you're too old to trick-or-treat. by none other than my parents.

That's what I mean by they were strict. Two years old, no more pacifier, no matter what. Six years old, no more nightlight. You should not be scared. I hated it. While my friends were going to be out collecting their own goods, they expected me to stay home and hand out candy with my older brother. But I had better plans.

If they weren't going to let them. me go, then I would complain until they let me go to a friend's house instead. That worked. So from there, I would be able to hang out and trick or treat with some other friends that lived in the same area. I'm just going to make up some names here. I stayed the night at Zach's house, and Brian and Jeff rode their bikes over so that we could all hang out.

Zach's parents were super chill, too. He was the oldest of three, but his two younger siblings, were too young to go out, so his parents didn't care if we went around the block together. They were pretty familiar with the neighborhood, and I even heard Zach and his parents talk about certain neighbors, so I think everyone assumed it was a safe place for us to walk around, and we weren't the only kids out there either. But that didn't mean that we were always successful. Towards the top or end of the street, we started running,

into some other kids that were trick-or-treating with their parents. When we saw other people, we were still polite. We let them go first, and we watched what we said. We may have cursed and probably said some inappropriate things when there weren't any adults around. However, there were a few houses that, when we were up there with the other kids, they would actually look at us funny and some even made those remarks. Aren't you getting too old for this? Usually, they would just give us a single piece of candy, unlike the younger kids around us.

We actually had a few that just flat out refused to give us any candy. To say that we were pretty disappointed or annoyed was probably an understatement. We hadn't been doing anything wrong, and we were all even dressed up. I didn't understand why it was such a big deal. However, we still made up for it. Before I continue, I just want to say that I know what we did was still wrong, even if those people chose not to give us candy, it was their choice. But at the time and age, all I saw was unfairness and I wanted revenge for it.

So if a house denied us candy, we became a little mischievous. If there was a pumpkin or other decoration out front, We would smash it. We may take one of their fake bones sticking out of the ground or tear down their fake spider webs. We were always quick about it, not lingering very long in case they heard or saw us, but it was our way of saying, next time just give us the treat. So we planned on circling the block by going to the right and back down the street behind Zach's house and back around. There was one house on the other street that we stopped at, just like all the others.

They didn't have any decorations out front, but they did have their porch light on, so we all agreed to try it anyways. We stepped back and talked while we waited for someone to answer the door. Shortly after, someone did. It was an older guy. He was shirtless and just wearing some shorts and slippers, with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. We all let out some kind of laugh, taking in his appearance, and greeted him with our normal chant.

However, in a gruff and unfriendly tone, the man declared, I don't give out candy to little brats like you, and waved his hand in a way that I can only describe as a shoe motion. Brian then asked why he even bothered answering the door, and the guy only laughed, flicked his cigarette onto the porch, and then slammed the door. on us. The disappointment of not only being denied candy, but the irritation of being called little brats, mind you this is the PG version of what he called us, had all of us pretty damn upset. Zach yelled out that he should turn his porch light off, and I remember yelling about how he should

put a shirt on next time. We all started walking away from the house, making fun of the guy, when all of the sudden we heard the door being slammed open. We turned around to look just in time to see that same guy, now pointing a gun at us. From that point on, it felt like it was all in slow motion. Before any of us could move, the guy fired. We all scattered, just trying to get out of his line of sight. I remember I ran to the right, the direction that we were already headed, and tried to hide

behind a large tree in the neighbor's yard. From that angle, the side of the guy's house was blocking the view. Unless he left his yard and actively looked, he wouldn't find me. But my bigger concern was where my three friends were. Were they okay? Were they hurt? As I hid behind the tree, my heart racing, I saw the neighbor's door open and an older couple looked around.

The woman spotted me quickly and pointed to me. the only thing on my mind at that point was getting help, and I needed an adult for that. I quickly yelled for them, saying the guy next door shot at us. The man walked towards me on the sidewalk and looked over at the other house, so I moved my head around the tree to look too. When I didn't see anyone, the man motioned for me to come over. I ran to them and started pleading with them that I needed to find my friends. The man told his wife to go back inside with me and call the cops.

Shortly after, the man came inside, pushing along Brian in front of him. He looked terrified, as he held up his bag with a big burnhole in it. We both sat silently in their living room as we waited for the cops to show up. When they arrived, we explained to them what had happened, and they confirmed they got a call from someone else that hurt the shots. They said they were going to go talk to the guy and then asked about calling our parents. As scared as I was, I did not want to involve my parents, so I just told them that I was staying with Zach and gave directions to their home. They put me and Brian in the back of their car, and we watched as they finished speaking to the older couple and then the guy next door.

Of course, he never answered. So, one cop stayed there while the other. other one took us back to Zach's place. Thankfully, Zach made it back to his place, and Jeff rode his bike home from there. When Zach got home, he told his parents, who had also called the cops and my parents. They arrived shortly after. That was one of the longest nights ever, explaining what happened over and over and trying to convince my parents that we did nothing wrong.

Apparently the guy claimed that he did it just to scare us off and defend his property, even though we had actually done nothing to him nor his property. Yes, we may have smarted off to him, but it was because of the way he talked to us. But afterwards we just left. And if he wasn't trying to shoot us, why did my friend end up with a bullet hole in his bag? That seemed pretty damn deliberate to me. The police told all of our parents that they would look into the matter further, but my parents basically said that his actions and how scared we were were as punishment enough.

They were not convinced that we were entirely innocent, but I still stand by the story to this day, now that I'm in my 30s. Nothing that we did that night warranted having a gun pointed at us, a bunch of 14-year-olds. So that ended up being, the last night that I tried trick-or-treating. I even got nervous when my parents started taking my younger siblings out. Because, overall, who knows what his real goal was there?

And what would he have done if he ended up hitting one of us? And was that normal for him? Now that I'm older, I wish that I could talk to that older couple and see what their experience was like living next to that psycho. Anyways, my point to this is that that was a very traumatic experience for all of us. And I really wish people would just let all kids trick-or-treat and avoid anything like this happening to anyone. This happened in 2018 on Halloween night. I was taking my two kids out trick-or-treating, and it was going to be the first year that my youngest actually went with us. Before then, he just stayed with my mom while I took my oldest, but now at the ages of six and four,

they were both going and they were both really excited about it. Since my youngest didn't really care what costume he was wearing as long as he got one, I decided to do the cheesy mom thing and get matching costumes. What I didn't expect was my oldest wanting to do it with us, so he went with Cat in the Hat, and my boys were thing one and thing two. We were really cute, and my youngest seemed to love the idea of my hat and whiskers. We started at my mom's place so that she could see us

and get pictures of us looking our best, and then we walked her neighborhood first. She lived in a nice area, and the majority of the people were retirees, so they loved seeing the kids and handing out lots of candy. We'd been doing the kids, well and we were all in good spirits, my youngest not showing any signs of slowing down. He was always trying to be in front of us and was adamant about trying to ring the doorbell

before we got to it. This one particular house was no different. There were two carved pumpkins resting in the grass, lining the sidewalk, and the porch light was on, our typical signs that we could try knocking. We approached the door, and after my youngest, Ruben rang the bell, we stepped back and waited as they excitedly held out their bags. After the normal allotted time that she would wait, no one came to the door. Rubin was ready to press the button again, so I had to explain to him that if they didn't answer, you walked away. This all took place probably within the span of just a few minutes, so after explaining this, I told them it was time to go and started ushering them to the gate. As we started walking out, I could hear a door

being unlocked, like the loud clunking sound of a deadbolt, and turned around to see the door being opened. Rubin noticed too and immediately went back to the door, holding out his bag again. But The moment that the door creaked open, I was hit with a sight that would never leave my conscience. It was a frail-looking woman, and her appearance was nothing short of alarming. She had on this raggedy old tank top. You could tell it was once white, but was now a very off-white. There was a hole near the side in a dark brown or red-colored stain towards the unraveling hem. Her bottom attire looked just like a pair.

of men's boxers, also very dirty and old-looking. As bad as this sounds, her face just added to the unsettling feeling. Her eyes were sunken in, one of them was bloodshot, as if something had happened to her. But her eyes remained wide open and constantly moving like she was looking for something or someone. Her hair was a tangled mess, bunched up, resting on her shoulder like it was once in a bun, I felt an immediate wave of unease wash over me as I rested my hands on my kid's shoulder. She seemed to notice this, which made me instantly feel bad for reacting the way I did. Maybe she was just ill or something, and we disturbed her.

I smiled politely at her as my kids said trick-or-treat and waited for candy. After staring at us, she looked over us, scanning the area as if she was trying to find someone. She stepped back into her home and grabbed something from behind the door and returned with the transparent bowl full of loose M&Ms. She then took handfuls of them and threw them in my kid's bags. I don't mean packages of them either.

I mean opened, poured into a bowl that you would keep and eat yourself, but just handfuls of it, now just tossed into their bags. I was already distracted enough by that and her appearance, so I was taken aback when she started talking to me. But not because she was striking up a friendly conversation,

and commenting on our costumes. It was pleading. Help me, she said in a trembling whisper. I didn't know how to respond, or if I'd even heard her correctly, so I just responded with a, um, pardon me? She persisted, now whispering a bit louder as her eyes remained wide open and staring at me.

Help me, please. You won't let me leave. Help me. I was still in shock racing to comprehend the situation. Was this real? Did she really need help, or was this some kind of ruse? Or maybe even a really bad prank? If so, I couldn't fathom anyone finding this kind of scare amusing. I had young children with me, and the way that Reuben backed up into me told me that he was already feeling uncomfortable. I tried to remain calm and speak in a controlled tone to not give away that I was either falling for a prank or scared. Are you okay? I can call the cops for you. Her eyes soft in some, and she let out what I can only describe as a small whimper. She looked so sad as she slowly shut the door in our faces.

I never saw or heard another person, even though she mentioned a he. But either way, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. People wouldn't joke about something like that, right? Or at least wouldn't end the interaction like that. So, with this heavy on my mind, I took my kids out of the yard, walked down to the front of the next house, and called the police. I tried to keep my kids distracted by asking them questions and checking out all the goods they've gotten while I waited for the police. When they did arrive, I explained everything that I saw and heard, and they asked if I would stand by to confirm who came to the door, and I agreed. We stood behind one of the cop cars, as they approached the door and knocked, but when she answered, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

It was the same woman that I had just met less than 20 minutes ago, but she looked completely different. Her hair was now pinned back, but the ends were blunt, like it was obviously just cut. She was wearing a long black dress and appeared to have applied makeup. I couldn't see the dark circles around her eyes, and she was obviously wearing dark lipstick. She said they're smiling at the police officers, talking with her hands and even laughing. My heart sank as I watched her offer the officers a candy bar, not some loose M&Ms from a bowl. After a few minutes, the officers returned to us explaining that the woman did confirm the incident was a prank. She claimed to live alone and assured them that she was perfectly fine.

I couldn't help but feel skeptical. If it was all a prank, why had she changed her clothes? Why not simply say, yeah, it was a joke. Especially to the person you're trying to prank. The same person that said they were going to call the police. And there's no way that she didn't see me standing there. Why not apologize to me? And even more perplexing, why would she be?

cut her hair? That's not something you can undo, so what was the purpose of it? I shared my doubts with the officers, trying to emphasize the gravity of the situation and how sincere her pleas were. What if she was in genuine danger? What if she had to change because the person she spoke of noticed her? However, they told me they would look further into it, assuring me that they would reach out if they needed further information.

We finished our night shortly after that, the exhaustion catching up to us after that whole event. And as days turned into weeks, I never got a call or update from the police. My mom said that she never even heard or saw anything in the week or two that followed. She said she even drove by the house a few times and there was never any motion going on out there. I want to believe that it was a prank, but the fact that she's never even seen outside, only cements my thoughts that someone doesn't want her to be seen. I've even disturbingly looked over obituaries and missing person reports to see if maybe I could spot her, but there was nothing.

Of course, we have gone trick-or-treating since that year, including that same neighborhood. My mother still lives in the same place. However, since then, the porch light has been off, so we haven't even tried approaching the door. I just can't help but think about it. I often think about her, especially as Halloween approaches. I hope that it was just a terrible prank, and that she was terrible at it,

but I still fear that something sinister was happening and her one chance that she took failed, and that she still could be in trouble. I have a short, but... honestly terrifying story that happened to me about 15 years ago on Halloween night. For some backgrounds, I live in a fairly decent little town outside of a major city. It's more of a growing suburb than anything, and it's mostly pretty quiet. At the time of this story, I was 28, and my son was just turning 8,

so he was at that age where he still needed my help with a lot of things, but he was wanting to be more independent, so I was doing my best not to smother him. I was still doing what I could to make sure he was doing things right and didn't need my help. I'd raised him myself without his father, so it was tough, but it's part of being a parent. On this particular Halloween, he wanted to go trick-or-treating,

and I, of course, was going to go with him. but he also didn't want me hovering over him. He was, in his words, big enough to go to the door alone and knock. It was also rather cold and wet that year, so he and I made a compromise. I would drive the car to each road and direct him which houses to go to and would watch him from the car, and he would get to do it all himself unless he physically needed help. I would drive him to each street, and we would do this until he got tired, or it got too late. For most of the night, things went smoothly.

He was pretty happy to be walking between the houses on his own. I was happy that I was able to watch him and not upset him. He would go to the houses, say trick or treat, and if they would ask where his parents were, he would tell them that his mom was watching him from the car. car because he didn't need help. Most of the older people would laugh at his comments. Some of the younger ones, I think, had an issue with it, but we were both happy, so whatever. Every time he would get in the car, he would show me his bag and what they had given him,

and would tell me that he was having a lot of fun. So it was a great night. However, on one street, things. went from really fun to actually quite terrifying. We'd pulled up on the street and everything looked normal. A few of the houses were dark and there weren't many trick-or-treaters, but I figured that that was more because of the time than anything. It was getting late.

There were a few houses with their lights on, so I told him to go to the three houses and to come back to the car and then we would make a game plan from there. He said okay, hopped out of the car and started to go to the first house. As soon as I watched him go to the first house and then make his way to the second, I felt something cold at the side of my head. I started to look over toward whatever it was, but it clicked pretty fast. There was a guy dressed in all black, holding a gun to the side of my head, and he very quickly told me to get out of the car and not make a scene.

I was obviously panicking. My son was at one of the houses, and he was going to come back to the car soon, so I wasn't going to do anything to make this guy once to pull the trigger. I told him okay, and that I would do whatever he was asking, and I opened the door and stepped out. As soon as my feet hit the pavement, he shoved me off to the side and jumped into the car, and then took off down the road going way too fast. Thankfully, there weren't many people on this road at the time because, with how fast he was going, he would not have been able to stop if a child had walked out into the street.

I stood up, still freaking out, and I immediately ran over to the house that my son was at. He was still getting candy from them when I walked up, and the old man at the door looked up and smiled asking if I was his mother. I said that I was, and I think that he realized something was wrong right away based on my tone. I started to tell him what had just happened, and as soon as I said it, I pretty much started bawling.

He told me to come inside, so the two of us stepped in, and he said that he would call the police. His wife came over and asked what had happened, and he told her, and, honestly, the whole thing was such a terrifying, an embarrassing mess. Here I was, with my eight-year-old son, in some random old couple's house, crying my eyes out because some rando had just carjacked me. Of course, my brain was sifting through those anxious thoughts

about how it would have gone if my son was in the car at the time, how it would have traumatized him, all that. They called the cops, and the old lady got some water for myself and my son. And we sat there while we held a pretty nice conversation with them. She actually gave him the rest of the candy, and they shut off their light, and then she showed him how to crochet or knit, I don't really remember. He was entertained, and thankfully didn't really understand the whole situation beyond something bad had happened. When the cops got there, I gave them all the information that I had on the guy, but I didn't really see his face.

I did see the logo on his jacket, and I gave them all the information on my car, of course. After they left, the old man said that he would take the two of us home. Thankfully, I had a spare key hidden in the front yard, so we could at least get into the house. The whole time I was apologizing to the man for the inconvenience, and he just told me that he was happy to help, and was sorry that the whole thing had happened.

after we got home my son wanted to stay up and watch some scary movies and as much as I wanted to tell him no because it was late I just said screw it and let him enjoy the night I ended up falling asleep on the couch while he was watching some creepy movie and the next morning when I woke up he was passed out on the floor with candy wrappers everywhere I ended up calling him out of school that next day

and I called out of work so that we could just hang out together at the house, since I knew he wasn't going to be up to going to school, and I wasn't really in the right mindset to go to work. To wrap this up, they did find my car after a few days, but they never found the guy. The car was abandoned on the side of the highway after he had blown a tire, and one of the wheels was pretty messed up. But, thankfully,

Somehow, there wasn't any damage that couldn't be repaired. It was expensive, sure, but thankfully my parents were able to help me. I can't imagine how stressful it would have been if they couldn't have. When he got a bit older, I did finally explain to him what actually happened, mostly because I've always tried to be open with him. He didn't really remember that night, so at least I know that he wasn't traumatized by the whole thing. For me, however, that was the most terrifying Halloween I had ever had, and it's probably the scariest thing to happen to me personally. We did go trick-or-treating for a couple of years after that, but we stuck to our block.

So, to everyone out there, stay diligent, and make sure that you don't let anyone sneak up on you like I did. Halloween is supposed to be a fun night. So make sure that you're staying safe out there so that everyone can enjoy the holidays festivities. This happened back whenever I was six years old, and while I can't remember every detail, I can remember most of what happened. It was in the autumn, right around Halloween. I live near a local amusement park that had this fun Halloween event that they would do every year, and there were basically two levels to it.

The adult event, which was actually a big haunted house, and the kid event, which was this cute little spooky thing for little kids. I was an only kid, so I think my parents wanted to do everything to give me a great childhood. And they did, this wasn't a shot at them at all. I just wanted to explain that they did a lot to do things with me when I was really young. We went to the amusement park every year for several years, and it was a really fun time, minus the aforementioned year when I was six. My love for the macabre started back then, actually.

I have always loved the spookiness of the season, and I can thank my mom for that. I think that's why they took me to the Halloween events at that park every year. It was good memories, but she also loved it. and she wanted to mold me into loving the spooky season two. The whole park was completely transformed into a Halloween fun land. Hay bales, scarecrowes, plastic skeletons hung up all over the place. In all the photos, it looks super cheesy, but for a six-year-old, it was magical, like stepping into another world.

One of the main things I remember is that the park always smelled like caramel popcorn, I don't know why I remember that specifically, but it's one of my core memories of the place. Sorry, I know that that was a bit long-winded. I don't mean to stretch this out too much. I'm just a bit nostalgic. My sixth year alive was, if I remember correctly, based on the pictures my parents still have, the third year that we had been going to the park. And in spite of what happened, it was not the last.

time. At one point during the afternoon, I remember telling my parents that I was feeling hungry and that I wanted caramel corn. My mom mentioned that she had to go to the restroom and told my dad to take me to the popcorn vendor to get some caramel popcorn, and that she would meet us back at the tables. My dad and I walked over to the vendor and he was getting the popcorn together to purchase, getting the money out and whatnot. At that point, I was just standing there waiting, and I got very distracted by, of all things, a balloon cart. I remember that I saw a balloon at the cart that was shaped like a bat,

and I wanted it, so I shuffled my little kid feet over to the cart to look at it. I was just standing there staring at the balloon when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I immediately thought it was my dad and said, Dad, can we get that balloon? And looked up. As soon as my eyes met with the eyes that were over me, I realized that it was not, my dad. It was just some random guy.

As soon as our eyes met, this man smiled and said, Of course, honey. And then handed the man at the balloon cart some cash, and grabbed the balloon, and then handed the string to me. I grabbed it hesitantly and just stared at this man. He sort of pushed me along slightly, getting me a few steps ahead of the cart.

I watched as he pulled a cell phone out of his pocket. It was one of those old Nokia's, if I recall. You know the type. And he started pushing the buttons on it, but kept his other hand on my shoulder. My little six-year-old brain was starting to ring alarm bells. something was off. I remembered my mom telling me things like,

don't walk away with strangers and all that, but I was also a bit frozen in confusion, as this man had just bought me this balloon, and he had a grip on my shoulder. I said something like, I gotta go find my dad. The man glanced down at me from his phone and gave me a big grin and then said,

Oh, that's okay. I know your dad. He's out in the parking lot. Come on, let's go find him. Even at that age, I knew that something was really off. My dad would not be in the parking lot. He would be at the popcorn stand as that's where I saw him last. I wasn't that far from the stand, but for some dumb reason, my little brain wasn't even looking for him. I was just staring at this guy and probably thinking, what is this guy doing? Why is he doing this? As I thought this, he started pushing me a bit harder, getting me to walk forward, and for whatever reason I kept walking.

I was scared, obviously, and I did not want to go with him. I think that I was just having a panic attack at that age, and I didn't know what else to do. Then I did what was probably the smartest thing I have literally ever done. We were walking, him behind me with his hand on my shoulder, and I spotted a person dressed in a clown costume. He was standing there waving at random people, and at one point we made eye contact. As soon as we did, I shouted,

I can't find my dad, help me find my dad! As soon as I shouted this, the clown stopped, his act and stood up straight. I'm pretty sure that he was staring at the man that was pushing me. As soon as I yelled this and caught the clown's attention, the man let go of my shoulder and just kept walking right past me, as if he hadn't had anything to do with me. Like, he wasn't just pushing me towards the front gate.

The clown shouted, trying to get people's attention and trying to get the attention of security, I would guess, saying, hey stop that man the man with a blue baseball cap green t-shirt somebody stop him he then knelt down toward me

and asked me if that man was my dad I shook my head no and told him that he said he was going to take me to my dad and then I didn't know him I remember the look on his face he may have been dressed like a clown but he looked horrified he grabbed my hand and asked me if I

was okay, asked me my name, and then asked if that man had hurt me in any way. I told him that he didn't hurt me and that I just wanted to find my dad. He nodded, and he asked me where I'd last seen him. I told him that we were getting popcorn, and he told me to come with him, and that he would find my dad. Interestingly, looking back, this was nearly the same situation as the other man, but the whole vibe was different. I trusted the clown, and I knew he wasn't going to hurt me. He led me over to the popcorn stand,

and he asked me if I saw my dad. I looked around and told him I didn't, and he asked the vendor to call for security and have them make an announcement that I was waiting at the popcorn stand for my dad. After a few moments, I did, see my dad, and I told him. He immediately waved to my parents, and they ran over.

I remember both of them looking as exasperated as I was feeling. My mom ran over and hugged me. My dad started thanking the clown for finding me, and I remember him telling my dad about the other man, and mentioning that he had gotten a good look at him and that they were going to do a sweep to see if they could find him. I don't know if they ever did find him, though. I just remember that.

that my parents were extra clingy, and they gave me a stern talking to about the whole thing. We didn't get to spend much more time there that day, though, and I didn't get to ride any of the rides, and I was pretty upset, but at the same time, I knew that the event was really scary for my parents. Obviously, I didn't know the whole situation, and how close it was, until I was much older. While most people are scared of clowns, after that, I actually had the opposite idea of them. They were my heroes. That one clown had saved me, and I cannot thank him enough for listening to me and believing me. I was glad that I'd had that idea at that age, that I hadn't just completely frozen,

and I thank that man for quite possibly saving my life. growing up in the 90s trick-or-treating was a sacred ritual for us kids in our small suburban town we didn't have urban legends about ghosts goblins or monsters we were the type that would listen to the whispers

about which houses in the area were giving out king-sized candy bars there was one house at the end of the street that Tommy claimed was haunted by demons a claim that he made without evidence or even reason not really relevant, but it does tell you the kind of kids that we were. Back in 97 was the year that this happened,

and this was a Halloween that was more than terrifying for me and my group of friends. That year was a cold year for trick-or-treating. It was a chilly evening with a slight mist that was threatening our night with rain, and the wind was starting to act like we were going to get storms. We were quickly marching house to house, with our pillowcases, they were starting to get kind of heavy. Our pack was four kids, Tommy, as I mentioned, Lily and her younger brother, Jordan, and myself. The three of us were 12, and Jordan was nine years old.

And with how small our town was, we were pretty much told to just walk the few neighborhoods, and get the candy and get back to the house. We were not supervised. none of the kids in town really were. We'd been through most of the normal route and decided that we were going to head toward a neighborhood that was a bit out of the way, a neighborhood that we normally didn't go through

and weren't supposed to go through. This was a bit of a different area of our small town. The houses were a bit further apart, and there were a lot more trees that lined the properties. In my mind, that meant that they were likely to give away more candy, because there were fewer people, right? It made sense at the time, to me at least. We went to a couple of the first few houses and had decent halls. Nothing crazy, but we were not willing to give up.

We kept on down the road, until we got to a house that caused us to hesitate. This house was something else in touch. entirely. Old, slightly falling apart, and the entire yard was littered with animal statues. When I say it was littered, I mean there were no more than two or three feet of the yard that did not have a statue in it. Owls, cats, dogs, lions, birds, gnomes, just a bunch of random and slightly creepy statues in all directions, all turned to face the walkway from the street to the door. We all just stood there looking at the house, waiting for anyone to go up to the house. Basically, no one in our group moved until someone else was going to move.

Suddenly, Tommy said something stupid, like, I think that it's a witch that lives there. I immediately scoffed when he said that, like, full-on, pf. I told him that that was dumb, because there was no such thing as witches, and that it was probably just some old lady that liked animals a lot. I rolled my eyes and decided that I would be the one to go knock on the door and get the candy, and that my lame friends could stay behind. I stepped down the walkway toward the door, and I will mention that, as I was walking toward the door,

it felt a bit oppressive. I felt the eyes of all those statues on me. It felt like they were all staring at me with malicious intent, and were going to jump at literally any moment. Of course, none of them did, but it was the feeling that seemed to overwhelm me. I got to the door and I knocked, since it didn't look like there was a doorbell. I really didn't even know if anyone was going to answer, but after about two minutes, there was a loud creaking sound that started in front of me.

The door slowly opened in a manner that can only be, described as unsettling. And, on the other side of the door, was an older woman. I won't get insulting with my description. I will just say that she looked a bit ghastly. She was very pale and had large eyes that seemed too big for her skull, and was dressed in an old nightgown. As soon as she saw me, she shifted to a large smile and looked excited.

Ah, a trick-or-treater. How delightful! And she just sort of stood there for a moment as we stared each other awkwardly. I was a bit caught off guard by her sudden excitement, considering the eerie vibe of the house. I tried to maintain my composure and broke the silence by saying, Um, trick-or-treat? She smiled again and commented, you're the first person to come to the house tonight. I haven't had any other kids come up and get their treats.

I again just stood there like, Okay, that's cool, can I get my candy, please? Obviously, I didn't say that. I just grinned and nodded slightly in agreement. She looked over to my group of friends that were standing at the end of her walking path, and then back to me and laughed. Huh, I see you're the brave one, huh? I once again nodded and just said,

Yeah, I guess. Then it got creepy. She stepped forward slightly and said, Why don't you come inside? I have some special treats just in the kitchen. Despite my initial bravado about approaching the house, I was starting to regret my decision, and I felt a chill run down my spine.

Oh, no, thank you, ma'am. I think I should get going. Sorry. But as I said that, her hand shot out, and she gripped my wrist like a vice grip. No, no, no. It's cold out here. Come inside and warm up. I felt as she started to pull me towards the house with what almost felt like inhuman strength. I tried to pull my arm away from her and was screaming help. I felt so small in that moment, lost in this creepy moment with this old woman trying to drag me into her house. At this point, Jordan, Lily's younger brother, became the brave one of the group.

He started shouting, hey, leave him alone, followed by the sound of candy smacking into the side of the house and the porch. The distraction was enough for her to briefly loosen her grip, and I was able to pull away. I turned and bolted, sprinting back towards my friends. As we took off down the road, we could hear this old woman laughing like a maniac and saying that she would find us. We didn't stop running for several blocks. Our breathing was ragged and we were all running on pure adrenaline. As soon as we stopped, Tommy looked at me with a pale face. Dude, I was just joking about there being a witch living there.

I didn't think she'd actually try to drag you into the house. When he said this, we all kind of chuckled, like, yeah, good call on that one, Tommy. Once we all caught our breaths, we decided to just head back home, that we'd gotten enough candy and that the excitement of the night was more than enough for the whole year. When we got back to Tommy's house, we sorted through our candy, did some trades before we all went our separate ways to get home. We never told our parents, and I think that was because we knew that we would get in trouble for going that far from home. So we just kept it as a lesson amongst our group. That was the last year that we all went trick-or-treating, too. When we hit our teen years, it just didn't seem as interesting.

Obviously, Jordan had a couple of years left before he was done, but he just went with his dad instead of going with Lily. About a year or so later, that house was torn down, and all the statues disappeared. I would guess that the creepy old woman passed away at some point, or maybe she moved away. I saw a few people on here talking about bad experiences they had as kids during Halloween, and it brought back a pretty terrible memory that I had pushed to the back of my mind. This happened when I was around 11 years old. Like any kid, I was excited for Halloween. I don't know about other places, but my school let you come in the day of Halloween in full costume.

And then at the end of the day, the final class was changed out for a mini trunk-or-treat-style event for us. After school, we'd go home and hang out until it was around 7 or 8 p.m., and then head out for trick-or-treating. I remember being especially excited this year because my mom finally managed to find a Harry Potter costume that wasn't used or old, and it also came with the Quidditch broom. I was also very obsessed with Harry Potter, so this was a huge thing for me at the time.

We set out on the first round of houses, that being our neighbors, and since we all knew each other and hung out with the other families quite a lot, we always got first come first serve, and they gave us the good stuff. Full-sized candy bars, Reese's, Hershey's, Snickers. It was a kid's dream. They only did it for the kids that they knew, and my mom told me it was because there was a chance other families started earlier,

and we might miss out on some good candy later on, so they wanted to make sure we had something good by the end of the night. After we finished with the neighbor's house, we stretched around the block and hit all of the neighboring streets. We landed on the final street for the night at about 10 p.m. I had to get a second bag just to fit the rest of the candy. Being an only child had its benefits. When we hit the final street, we noticed that all the lights and the houses were out, except for one.

It was late, so it wasn't unusual for other families to get tired of the Halloween festivities, and bow out later in the night, shutting all the lights off so no one else would show up. Most of the houses would put out the rest of the candy in a bowl or a chair, so the kids could at least get something. We cleared out the bowls, and we hit the final house, the only one with the lights on. This one didn't just have lights. It had decorations blasting out of every side of the house. giant blow-up ghost and skeletons, orange and purple string lights,

even a giant Jack Skellington on the roof towering over the rest of the property. My mom at this point was tired of getting out of the car, so she said that since it was the last house, and it was the most exciting to look at, that I could just go myself. We lived in a pretty pristine neighborhood, so neither of us were worried about something happening.

I excitedly got out of the car and trotted through the glowing path to the front door. I wish I could describe how it felt. There was Halloween music blasting through speakers somewhere on the property, and the decorations enveloped you when you were dead center. It was a dream to a Halloween obsessive kid such as myself. I reached the door and pushed the doorbell that looked like a severed eyeball. It rung throughout the house and made weird bell chimes a kid. into that of a dinner bell.

After a few moments, the door swung open, and a very tall, lanky man in a Jack Skellington costume, greeted me with a freakishly toothy smile. Hello there, little one, and happy Halloween, the man said. I smiled, I couldn't help myself, it was all so theatrical and unreal. Trick or treat, I yelled out. I held out my bag and, waiting for the man to drop what I could only assume as the best candy hall I was going to get tonight, judging by the production budget of whatever was going on. Right, you are, Mr. Potter. Why don't you come inside and check out my full candy room?

I frowned. My mom wouldn't like that. Sorry, I replied. Oh, come on. It's Halloween. I have more candy in here than you have ever seen. I looked back at my mom's car and she was staring at the road. I could see her nodding off already. All right, maybe just a peek, I guess, I said. Excellence, come get your treats. As soon as I entered the house, the door slammed behind me, and the man picked me up and ran upstairs with me over his shoulder. I instinctively screamed for help,

the man covering my mouth just after I got the first few pleas out. The man then tossed me on the floor and closed the door, locking it behind him. I pounded on the door, begging and screaming to be let out. That's when I heard a loud commotion coming from somewhere in the house. Then a loud crash rang through the house,

and then the tumbling, bumps, and sounds of fighting and thrashing. Sam? Sam, where are you? I heard my mom call out. Mom, I'm upstairs. Help me, please? I screamed and pounded on the locked door. I heard loud, footsteps coming up the stairs followed by the doorknob jiggling.

Honey, you have to unlock the door. My mom yelled out. I can't. It's locked from the other side. Honey, I'm going to need you to back up really far from the door, okay? I got up and backed up from the door. Suddenly, loud footsteps pounded through the hallway on the other side, and something crashed into the door, sending it flying. Oh, sweetie, are you hurt?

Oh, my God, baby. my mom cried as she picked me up and squeezed me. She carried me downstairs. The man was pinned on the ground by one of our neighbors, who happened to see the man lure me into the house just moments before as he was coming up to send his kids to the door. The guy was arrested,

and the news stated that he was some kind of known sex offender or threats to the local neighborhoods. I'm so very thankful for my mom, and that my neighbor happens to be there at the right time. I have no idea what would have happened if he hadn't shown up. My trick-or-treating days are long over. I don't have any kids in the family who are still into it, and none of my friends have children who participate in it either.

Sad, but that's how it is. So I make up for it by dressing up for Halloween and giving the neighborhood kids something to look forward to. It isn't uncommon for me to get 10 and sometimes 20 groups of kids, so I make sure that I'm well supplied. I am an introvert and I don't really talk to people, except on Halloween. It's how I was able to meet and befriend some of my neighbors over the years. I had just closed the door and heard a horde of costumed kids run off to the next house. I was about to sit down when I heard another knock.

It was dark, but it certainly wasn't late. I groaned, getting up, and opened the door to see a woman with a stereotypical Karen get-up. I couldn't tell if she was in a costume, or if that's how she actually looked. She looked me up and down with the rudest look on her face. I was dressed up as a cheesy vampire that year. Can I help you? I asked her, and she gave me a smug-smirk, and then asked if I had given her child any mini bags of treats.

It was possible. I asked what her child was dressed up as and if there were any problems. She told me that her child had a nut allergy, and that my bag had caused him to get sick. Now, I try to be accommodating. I have separate mini bags with no nuts, vegan stuff, etc., to try to cater to everyone. Whenever the kids get their treat bags,

I ask them if they have anything, that I need to know, or diets to keep in mind. A lot of the local kids already know this. She looked like I had asked her an offensive question. I told her that a lot of trick-or-treaters came to my door and that I would offer alternatives. It was the child's or parents' job to tell me which ones they wanted. She said there had to be a reason why I was so happy to have kids over. I couldn't believe this.

I told her to go ahead and just leave my process. and not return. She started having an adult tantrum and left. I never saw her walking with any child. That woman even had the audacity to kick over one of my pumpkins on her way out. I was pretty upset about it. I didn't want to spoil it for the rest of the kids, though, and just kept doing my things. One of my neighbors came over with one of her older kids, and we had a bit of gossip.

I asked her if she knew her, and apparently the same. the woman had taken a photo of my house and posted it to the community Facebook, telling people that I was trying to poison people's kids. I don't use Facebook anymore. She told me not to worry

and that there were a lot of comments defending me. I couldn't believe it. She told me that she'd come over to check on me after the school run to see how I was doing. I couldn't believe that this lady was so angry about this.

I still don't. don't know who her kid was. Nothing else happened with her until the next year's Halloween rolled around. I didn't want to let one person spoil things, so I got everything ready. Some of the moms mentioned it when they came around, and assured me that they didn't believe it. Come to find out, this crazy Karen lady was still posting about it on Facebook, and trying to spread awareness about me apparently poisoning children. I don't understand why she developed this vendetta against me.

One of the comments I saw was interesting. Apparently none of her children had any allergies to anything. Some of the family and friends were commenting on the post and even asked why the kids had been left out unsupervised. I didn't even recognize her kids as people who had come to my door. So, I guess that she just made it all up and decided to attack me? A friend told me that this was well beyond drama, and that I needed to consider taking her to court if it continued. I actually notified her, and she backed off, and apparently that was the end of it.

Halloween, trick-or-treating kept going as planned. I often wondered about it, though. What would have happened if I didn't really know anyone in the community, and I ended up being shunned because of that crazy lady? Anyway, that's my story. trick-or-treating is still fun, and that's my one event that kind of hurt it for me. I'm not really sure if a Karen story is considered scary, though, but I hope you enjoyed it. Hey there, friends.

I hope that you enjoyed this collection of scary stories on this episode of the As the Raven Dreams podcast. If you did, make sure that you follow the podcast on whatever platform that you're, And if the platform you are on has a rate the podcast option, please consider doing so. Those ratings push the podcast into the algorithm, and we all know how the algorithm controls everything, so yeah. I also do have a Patreon. If you go to patreon.com slash as the Raven Dreams, you can support the channel further. For as little as a dollar a month, you can get early access to all of my content in audio format. The content's a little different, as it's based on what I upload to my YouTube side,

but it's the same stories, just in different collections of stories than how they're presented here. Speaking of stories, if you have one you would like to submit to me, please go to as the ravendreams.com and click the button in the middle of the screen that says submit your story. These stories are mostly sourced by listeners, so let's keep the podcast alive. If you've got one, I'd love to read it. Anyways, friends, I hope you're all having a beautiful day and a lovely week. And I hope I see you again very soon. But until then, remember you're loved, you're valid, you're important.

You're the best you that you can be, never forget it. And until next time, much love and sleep well.