As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 106 - Crazy Friend and Christmas Horror Stories - 6 True Scary Stories

Episode Date: January 7, 2024

Welcome to the chilling 106th 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 the horrors that occur on Christmas, as well as some Crazy Friend Horror Stories 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... Charlotte, Eric M, YouKnowWhoYouAre, Marcus W, Darlene J and others 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

Welcome to aboard of Viarai. Embarked and profited. Embarked and relaxes. Cirotay. Bookiné. Oh, that also. And profite. Viaray, the voice that we love that we love. Fan of soccer, you could assist at a moment historic.

You could get any of the final of the Cup of the World of the FIFA 2006 with Visa. It's just to have a card of credit visa BMO for participate. I just wanted to make a new intro for today's podcast to say, Happy New Year to everyone that is listening. This is the first podcast of 2024, and I can tell you it's going to be a great year, one way or another. So here, my friends, is to another trip around that big burning ball in the sky. I'm new to your channel, and I love the idea of being able to share our story. with you.

I feel like it allows more of a connection with your listeners, and you make it incredibly easy to do so, so thank you for that. I have one that I often share with my friends, so I thought I would share it with you, too. This happened to me back in 2014. I didn't have the best relationship with my family. Both of my parents were abusive in their own ways to me, and my two other siblings, but our paternal grandparents

were our safe haven. We liked to go over there as much as possible to have a safe place to sleep and to eat. And I think that they knew too, but didn't know how to handle it. Being an adult now, I think they had a hard time

knowing how horrible of a person their son was, and they didn't want to call the cops, or even CPS on him, and so they tried to make it up by taking care of us. I never was really close to my maternal grandparents, so they were really all that we had. My older brother ended up moving in with his dad, as he did have a different father,

while me and my little brother had to endure it until we were old enough to leave. I moved out when I turned 18 and into a place with my friend until I could get my own place. But I felt guilty, leaving my brother there. I felt like I was abandoning him, so once I had my own place, I tried to have him over as much as possible.

When he turned 16, our parents more or less kicked him out, because they wanted to use our room, even though I was a girl and we shared a room, as a rented room for their friend. My older brother's room was already turned into an office or game room. that none of us were allowed to go in. Because I wasn't willing to give them money for my brother, like I was paying child support for some weird reason, and they couldn't charge him for rent,

they told him to leave. I had my own place at this point, so I happily took him in until he moved out at 19. I told him that he could stay as long as he wanted, but he got a good job and got a place with his girlfriend at the time. Sorry that I went off on a bit of a tangent there, but it does help to explain why I spend Christmas the way that I do. None of us kids really spend time with our parents. My older brother talks to his dad, of course, but we have no contact with our mom or our dad.

Sometimes we'll text each other happy birthday, but that's about it. And when my paternal grandparents passed, we stopped even. getting together for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Us kids will get together and have dinner, but that's about it. So instead of sitting home alone, I like to make use of my time and put some good out into the world. I like to volunteer at a local homeless shelter. I help out year-round there, but I also like to go and decorate for Christmas. I make a lot of baked goods and put together little shelf-stable baskets for them,

and I passed them out. And I also help make a nice holiday dinner for all of them. I like to go the whole nine yards because, well, they deserve it. Everyone deserves to have a happy holiday. On this year, we actually had one hell of a snow and ice storm, so the shelter was even more packed than normal. We would have people just stay on those nights, that had bad weather and then leave the next day.

And it was looking like that was going to happen that night, too. Real quick, to explain the shelter layout just a bit, it has the main area which has a few TVs, some old couches, and tables. Towards the back is the kitchen with the buffet bar in front of it, where we pass out the trays of food. To the left of the kitchen, we had a few rows of rooms, and basically that just had beds and a small shelf, for drawers. All donated, thankfully.

So the night was going along smoothly with very minimal hiccups. People would line up, get their plate, then grab a gift bag at the end. We had some people that preferred to be left alone while others were very social, and did their best to be in the Christmas spirit. One of those people was a man named Rabbit. And no, I'm not sure if that was his legal name or anything. that's just what he told everyone to call him. Rabbit had been at the shelter for a few months already.

He seemed to really be trying to make the most of the situation, as he was always so cheerful and outgoing, and he was always singing. It was actually quite a breath of fresh air to be around. He helped keep the shelter clean and even helped others that were staying there. So when his demeanor completely changed, It definitely stood out to everyone. We had all been sitting around the lobby area,

some people reading, drawing, a few were playing a card game and others were just sitting by watching. Rabbit was one of those people playing the card game, and when the game ended, they were starting a new round. But Rabbit stood up and waved to them like he was done. His smile quickly dropped, and I noticed this as he sat back in the chair. I watched him at first thinking maybe he wasn't feeling well, but there was something about the empty stare that had me concerned.

I've experienced people that were under the influence, and even those with disorders like schizophrenia. This didn't seem like any of those, but at the same time, I didn't know what it was. I asked him if he was okay and he slowly turned his head towards me, his expression remaining the same and just said, I'm waiting. Then turned his head slowly back facing forward, but looking at nothing.

Curious, I tried to push it further and asked, Waiting for what, Rabbit? Without saying anything or looking at me, he stood up slowly and walked to the corner of the room, the literal corner, and just stared at it. His hands to his side and slightly hunched over. I decided to cautiously follow him. I know people can be unpredictable, so I didn't want to put myself in a dangerous situation,

but something told me that I needed to check on him. I told Peter, one of the other workers that was still in the kitchen, since he was male, in case I might need help, and he watched as I approached. Once at Rabbit's side, I asked him if he was okay, but he didn't respond. I asked him again what or who he was waiting for. He would not take his eyes off the corner of the room, but all he said was, you don't get it. His normally bright green eyes filled with happiness now looked glazed over and hollow.

It honestly worried me, so had Peter helped me escort him to the room that he'd been staying in. I was thinking maybe we could get him to lay. lay down, and then we wouldn't have to worry about him hurting himself, or someone else. Or so I thought. We continued with our night after that, everyone enjoying their meal, the little gift bags I made in each other's company, but I kept getting this nagging feeling at the back of my head that it could not shake. I asked one of the other volunteers if they had seen Rabbit at all, and they shook their

head. No one had seen him since he went to his room, and with this odd change in demeanor, I was actually worried about him. So, once again, I told him I was going to check on him, and Peter agreed to go with me. As I approached his room, I could see the door was slightly ajar, but the light was off. So maybe he was able to fall asleep. I slowly opened the door, but I could hear him softly talking and giggling, almost. When I didn't see him on the bed, I called out his name and reached for the light switch. And I still cannot get that sight out of my head. Once the light was on, I peeked my head to the other side of the room and spotted rabbit.

He was sitting in the chair, facing the wall, and pretty much drawing on it. with what looked like blood. He was everywhere. I soon realized that he was covered in blood from the torso down and on his hands. There was blood on the floor by him and the wall was covered with little pictures and phrases. All done in blood. This may sound weird, but if you've been around a lot of blood, I guess, or have ever had a serious injury, you know that coppery smell that it has, and that was all the room smelled like.

I immediately told Peter to call an ambulance, and I tried calmly asking if Rabbit was okay, but I didn't want to cause him panic. He looked at me smiling and said, I'm better than ever. I couldn't help but be taken aback. This man was obviously injured. He had to be. with this much blood around and him being the only one in the room.

I was surprised he was still conscious. Since he was still acting normal, I suppose, I tried asking him if he was hurt and not seeing any immediate source of the blood. I asked him where it came from. Sometimes you have to let the color out. They were trapped inside me, you see? He said, smiling at me with his arms outstretched. I did my best to remain calm and unbothered, but also tried to move fast to find out where he was bleeding from and stop it.

We grabbed a few towels and asked him to clean up, but he just started undressing and wrapping the towels around him, all while singing Christmas songs. When the medics arrived, we explained what happened and they started checking him out, but couldn't immediately find a wound. They told us to check on everyone else while they got him loaded up into the ambulance. After doing a check on the other guests and comparing it to the check-in book,

no one was missing, and no one was injured. So they packed up and they took him in. We were then left to clean up all the blood in the room. It seriously looked like a murder scene. It was eerie and almost hard to look at. We managed to get it cleaned up and blocked off the room due to the bleach smell, and just hoped that a rabbit would be okay. The rest of the night went on without any other incident, thankfully.

We have an emergency contact list at the shelter in case anything happens to the guests. They'll leave us names of people, if they have anyone, and sometimes we were even their emergency contact. In Rabbit's case, he had a brother listed, but we never heard from him, so we didn't know if it was really his brother, if they were estranged, etc. But he did show up at the shelter a few days after, to collect all of Rabbit's things. He told us that he was okay, but the bizarre part was that they couldn't find a wound that would have caused that much blood loss. They said it was definitely his blood, because he didn't. started to become faint and pale at the hospital.

But he kept up his cheery demeanor while he was there. He claimed that he didn't do anything to himself or didn't remember either. His brother was grabbing his things as he was going to stay with him for a little while, and he thanked us for looking after him. He said that he knew Rabbit wasn't in a good place, but he didn't realize that he was homeless, and he confided in us that he hated himself for not knowing sooner. We did our best to comfort him, because a lot of people that we see do the same.

Some won't tell their family and friends how they're living out of shame, or not wanting to burden them. I was just happy to see that he did have family that cared about him, and he was able to step in and help him. I just wish that I didn't have to witness what I did to learn that. So, there's my Christmas story. Thankfully, nothing that crazy has happened since then, but I do still volunteer there, so who knows what the next one will be like. Look, Air Canada, does a sold world. Super, an offer for the assort.

Station thermal, volcano. Parlant of volcanoes. You've seen the price for the Japan? Mmm, epargne and sushi. Wow, the solds are good for Mayork also. We could go to the plage and do that land. Or it'd say a long march on the board of the mare in Sicily. Hmm, I adore the canoly.

Attend, there's another... Decide, quick, this sold is dendurilimited. Reserved to R-Canada.com or at your agent of voyage. The conditions can't apply. Okay, so bear with me for this story here. This was a very real event, but it's still something that I have a hard time believing, and I was there for it. I used to live in an apartment with an old friend of mine named Wade.

We both got along great and rarely had disagreements or issues with chores or other duties around the apartment. The biggest issue that we ever really had was the following. Wade was going on a retreat for about a week. From what I got out of him, it was some religious thing. Now, I wasn't religious, but I knew that Wade's parents were, and that they were heavily involved in their church. Wade had never really expressed his views one way or another. It wasn't anything we ever really talked about.

So I assumed that this was something he may have been doing with his parents. Something they asked him to do. Or maybe he was genuinely interested in it and wanted to find himself. Either way, I supported him doing what made him happy and held down the place waiting for his return. But it was when he returned that things started getting a little weird. Wade returned late from his retreat one night.

I was already getting tired as I was watching TV in the living room when he came home, and he seemed wired and awake. I figured it was just the jitters and excitement, maybe from the flight, or that he was excited to share with me what he learned and experienced. He began explaining how the retreat went, while also not discussing what exactly it was for, so again, I assumed what it was for.

I ended up going to bed because I was pretty tired, but he still seemed very much awake. However, him being wide awake at night seemed to become the norm for him. In fact, even changed shifts at work so that he worked overnight. When he wasn't coming out to get ready for work, he stayed in his room and pretty much became reclusive, which was very odd for Wade. He was very much the type to be around people and talk non-stop, so it was definitely unlike him.

Slowly he even stopped having dinner with me. He would brag to others and tout how lucky he was to have me as a roommate, because I'd gone to culinary school and we rarely had a box meal. I even continued to make enough for him, but when it would go uneaten for a few days, I would just feel bad that the food was going to waste. Initially, I assumed that he was just adjusting to his new routine. But as time went on, it became clear that something was definitely wrong, especially when I noticed the heavy dark blankets now covering his window.

I could see one from the parking lot when I got out of my car, but it wasn't until I received a package for him during the day that I stumbled upon the horrifying truth. I was watching TV. in the living room when there was a knock on the door. It was a package it had to be signed for, and I realized it was for Wade. I made my way to Wade's room to give it to him, thinking that if I had to sign for it, it was probably important.

We had our own rule for entering each other's rooms. We always knocked if the door was closed, but even if we didn't answer, we could typically still enter, as long as our sign on the door wasn't flipped. It was kind of our coded way of saying do not disturb. Like if we wanted to be left alone or if we had a girl over. The signs were these cheap little superhero signs that his mom got us as a joke. But while one side was like a whiteboard, the other just had the superhero on it. So if it didn't have our name's sight out, we knew it meant do not disturb.

We did this because I'm epileptic, so I never locked my door and case I ever had a seizure, and he or someone else needed to get in. So, anyways, the sign showed his name, which meant that I could go in. I guess that he forgot to flip it or lock the door, because I don't think he wanted me to see what I saw. When I walked in, I saw Wade sitting at his desk with just his desk lamp on. However, he had blood on his cheeks and running down his arm. His pants and shirt were also wet with what I assumed to be blood coming from what looked like some kind of organ that he was eating from his hands.

He looked like an animal as he tore into that thing. I was disgusted and shocked and asked, Wade, what the hell are you doing? His response was even more unsettling. I didn't want you to find out this way, man, but I'm a vampirmed. I have to eat this so that I don't hurt you. He said as he shook the meat in his hand at me. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Wade was typically a pretty smart guy. He didn't really have much in way of crazy thoughts or ideas. And knowing the background that he came from, I didn't think he was much of a believer and stuff like that. Not knowing how to respond, I tossed his package on his bed and shut the door behind me, going to my own room. He didn't even try to talk to me the rest of the day, nor do I think he even came out of his room.

I mean, how were either one of us going to respond to that situation? But as I was once again watching TV one evening, he came out to go to work, and since he mustered up the courage to talk to me, I knew that I had to be a good friend and listen to his reasoning. He explained to me that shortly before the retreat, he started feeling ill, and was constantly tired and he didn't know why.

However, he made the cardinal's sin of trying to search for answers on the internet, and what did he stumble upon? That retreat. They explained the same symptoms he was experiencing and claimed to have the answers, so he thought he would check it out, expecting it to be some kind of clinical thing. What it really was, was some vampiric cult. They explained that he was feeling the way that he was because he was a bona fide vampire, and that he needed pure blood to survive.

That he needed to be in the dark at all times, and that's why he changed when he returned. It explained his change in shifts, the reclusiveness, and even his taste for, I guess, organ, meat. But the good thing about me is that I'm very blunt, and will tell you exactly what you need to hear. So I told him that he needed to go to a real doctor as it sounded like it could be medical, but that being diagnosed as a vampire was not it. He finally saw my side of things and agreed that he would at least go and see what they said. He did choose a 24-hour walk-in clinic, so I drove him there one night, and wouldn't you know it, he actually had some kind of deficiency that simple supplements and medication could fix.

no more needs for any bloody organ feasts, I swear it. I took him back home and after taking the supplement for a few days, he started feeling better. He even had more energy to the point that he changed his shift again because he was having trouble staying awake at night. I even watched him bring a bag full of organs that he kept in his mini fridge in his room because he didn't want me to see them or freeze them. He was buying these things weekly to eat.

thankfully he began eating regular food with me as well. That night, the terror reached its peak, but the relief that followed was immense. I thought that my friend was, no, not a vampire, but had gone crazy, and I didn't know how far he would have taken it if I hadn't caught him, or he hadn't told me. So, that's the story of my crazy friend Wade, and yes, I still give him crap about it to this day. So this happened to me many years ago. Throughout most of my middle school and my high school years,

I had this best friend that I will call Kendra. Kendra and I were pretty inseparable. We did everything together. We were typically at each other's houses, talking on the phone, chatting on Facebook, always something. As graduation got closer, we started making our life plans, and we knew that we wanted to get a place together. It didn't take us long to find a place and get approved for it. I was going to be attending the university and the next state over, and the drive from our place was only going to be about a 45-minute drive, which wasn't bad.

I had actually worked on a project. it was more like a contest, I feel, but for whatever legal reason they didn't call it a contest, where I won a scholarship to this university. They had a great program that was in the field that I wanted to major, so there was no way that I was passing up the opportunity. Kendra was going to be attending the local community college, which was only about 20 minutes from our place, so even closer for her. She said that she was just going to be attending.

to start there because she still wasn't quite sure what she wanted to major in. We even both worked at the high-end department store, but at different locations. When we got our place together, she transferred to the store that I worked at because she claimed that she had some issues with someone she was working with. It was such a great time in the beginning. It was like we were still in school. Sometimes we rode to work together. we would go grocery shopping together,

or even just hang out at home talking, joking, and gossiping just as we always did. Sometimes we even sat out on our patio and did our homework together, or just complained about doing it at times. But things started to change, and I would have never expected any of this from Kendra. One of the first red flags was her growing resentment whenever I mentioned plans involving anyone other than her.

It would start as just saying that I was going to hang out with someone from uni or someone that I used to work with. She would sound upset, and my initial reaction would be to apologize and ask if she wanted to join. She always declined, and then would say with a smile, No, go have fun with your friend, it's fine. But it was pretty obviously a fake happiness for me. Me, not really knowing how to handle conflict, would just say okay and leave.

But it became less fake and more passive remarks. Even when I would bring someone over to hang out with, she was always rude to them, and then even to me, but would apologize immediately after they left, giving some lame excuse about not feeling well or something like that. We got into a small argument when I said that I was going to be going to be a little. to see my mom and my sister. Ever since I was around 12 or 13, my mom would take one day out of every month and take my sister and I out on a mom-daughter day.

My dad did the same thing with my brother. It was just a time for us to talk about anything and everything, vent, share accomplishments, really whatever we wanted. And I absolutely appreciated it. We kept up with it after I moved out. Because I think all of us kind of missed me being around. My sister was still in high school at the time.

When I was getting ready to leave, Kendra asked about going with me, and I apologized and told her that this was the one time that I would really decline it, as it was my time with them. She threw a fit. She accused me of not involving her in anything, and forgetting about her. I didn't understand where this was.

was coming from because she knew about this get-together. I didn't really understand why she was so upset. But one of the biggest blows came out when, after I made dinner for us, I said I was going to meet up with a friend from uni to work on a project that was coming up. And once again, she made remarks about me being annoying. I didn't know where this came from and asked her what her problem was. She unleashed some pretty hurtful torrents of accusations and belittling of me for my academic choices.

She actually tried to guilt-trip me for choosing to go to uni instead of the community college with her. She said that I was supposed to be willing to go to school with her since we were supposed to be best friends. Then she kept making remarks about being Ms. Perfect and how I felt like I was better than her because of it. I was pretty upset. She knew how hard I had worked for that scholarship

and how important it was to me. She had even encouraged me to pursue it, so I didn't understand. Why did I have to bend over to attend the same school as her when she had no drive and no goals in her life? Was I supposed to give up mine? So those incidents alone caused a pretty big rift in our friendship. We still had good days after that, but it wasn't the same. I felt like I had to tiptoe around things that I would talk about to not set her off.

I even told my mom about it, and she said that if she kept this up, then I should consider not renewing the lease with her when it was up. And I sadly had to agree. The next big blow-up would come when I started seeing this guy from my school. When I would be with him, Kendra would blow up my phone like a stalker or possessive and jealous partner. I say this because my boyfriend actually thought maybe I was seeing someone else and was hiding it from him. When he finally came over one day and met her, he finally understood. And he believed me when he saw how overbearing she was.

She even had the audacity to tell me that she didn't like it when I bought friends over and that he wasn't allowed to come back. I can understand not wanting someone over that makes you uncomfortable, and if your name is on the lease, like it was for both of us, I think you have the right to say this. But that's obviously not what this was. He had come over maybe four times. Once to have dinner, once while he was.

waited for me to get ready, once to work on homework with me, and another to just pick me up. He never even stayed there overnight. He was never in the room alone with her. She was obviously, again just mad at me, and was using this as a way to punish me. So, finally, it was my turn to snap. And I told her that she was acting like a jealous X, and that I didn't appreciate her treating me like that. I left and actually stayed with my boyfriend for the weekend. One of those days I was off, and the other day I did have to work. I cringed at having to see her.

However, she never showed up. It was a normal day that she worked, so even though I was mad, I was kind of concerned for her. She hadn't messaged me all week and she wasn't responding to me, so I left early to go home and check on her. Getting home, she was definitely there, but she wouldn't come out of her room. She yelled at me through the door that she was fine and that she just wasn't ready to talk to me. She sounded okay, so I just went about the day until I had to leave for school that evening. I didn't see her again until the next day at work, where she would finally show up. but I wasn't the first one to see her.

A few people that I worked with had made jokes about my twin being here, and when I saw her, I was shocked. She had gorgeous mid-length coppery blonde hair. She had cut it into a bob, dyed it black, and had hot pink bangs, just like mine. It was pretty clearly obvious what she was doing, but yet she was completely chipper and in a really good mood,

even when she saw me. Not knowing how to react, she said that she just wanted to try something different. I mean, what do you say to your estranged friend who is now looking exactly like you? But that same week, she would come home with a nose piercing,

than an eyebrow piercing, just like me. I tried to ask her what she was thinking and what she was trying to do, and she acted like she didn't understand the question. One of the biggest betrayals came after her transformation. I was hanging out with my boyfriend at school when he started looking at his phone confused. I asked him what was going on, and he asked me if I had created a new Facebook profile.

I told him no when he showed me a profile that tried to add him as a friend. It was Kendra. I knew it was. She was obviously trying to copy my profile picture, but you know your friends. This was her, but her name was something different, almost cryptic. I don't remember what it was because it was a weird mix-up of my name. Curious about what her goal was, I told him to add her. He did, and immediately after she started messaging him and flirting with him,

with him. She kept saying that she wanted to hook up with him, and as she continued, I was getting angrier and angrier. So they set up a time that night, and both of us showed up with her. To say that she was surprised to see me there was an understatement. I flew off the handle. I demanded to know what the hell her problem was, why she was doing everything she had done so far, why she was trying to look like me. Why was she trying to become me? And in a completely normal, unfazed tone, she mentioned that she thought if she was a little more like me,

that I would like her more, or that others would like her and that she would be successful. I did not understand her mentality. We were always outgoing and had many friends in school. We both hung out with a lot of other girls that all got along with both of us. She was very attractive and dated here and there too. I didn't know why she was doing this.

I told her that she was being unreasonable and, to be honest, pretty creepy. So I once again left. I called my mom that night and actually stayed at home. My parents told me it was probably best to go ahead and move out for safety reasons and that I was welcome to stay with them. They were just as shocked as I was. They adored Kendra, and she was treated like one of their kids. Kendra had a good family, too.

She had two younger siblings, and I knew her parents. They were both always caring and very supportive. I did end up moving out that week. I told the property owner and paid my half of the rent and the fee for breaking the lease. I wrote a letter to Kendra saying that I was moving out and that her side of the rent. was still required, but that mine had been taken care of. She never called or texted me after that, not even via Facebook or something, so I just thought there goes a lost friendship.

However, while she never contacted me by her number or her original Facebook profile, she had tried to add me as a friend under various names. And I've even gotten calls from random numbers of just breathing. The Facebook profiles are definitely her because she uses the same photos. But while I can't be certain that the phone numbers are all her, it's pretty damning that it didn't start until after I moved out. Like I said, this happened quite some time ago, but I still get random Facebook requests from her and she still looks like me.

I even changed my hair. And wouldn't you know it? she somehow found out and changed hers, too. It's just creepy to me that after so long, she is still out there, watching me, following me around, and she cannot seem to move on. So, Kendra, in the off chance that you see this,

please, please move on, and just leave me alone. The following events still come, up and cause difficulties for me at times, even six years later. And I promise you that all of this was real. Sometime after high school, I moved out of state for a job opportunity. After some time, I was given the option to move back home with my job, and I immediately grabbed the opportunity.

Wyoming was beautiful, but it never sadly felt like home. So I happily moved back and I happily moved back. started getting settled into my old life and catching up with some old friends. One day I went to a local coffee shop to grab myself a treat before work for the day, and I spotted someone that looked familiar. The feeling must have been mutual because she was staring back at me awfully hard. I smiled at her, and she waved me over. She'd been sitting alone on her laptop.

When I walked over, she closed it and asked if I went to a certain high school. I confirmed, and at that time, it finally clicked for both of us. We definitely went to school together, and we used to be pretty good friends. I'll call her Alexa. We actually went to middle school together and freshman year of high school before she moved away and we lost touch. I was surprised that we both remembered. She was always very outgoing and fun to be around, so I was pretty excited to see her. and she was looking happy and healthy.

We agreed to meet up for dinner at some point to catch up more. Our first meetup was like stepping into a time machine. We had so much to talk about and reminisce on from our childhood. We discussed the teachers that we truly hated, the boys that we crushed on, and even talked about some secrets and rumors that we'd heard. We then moved on to talking about our current lives. We talked about where we lived, college, and what we did for a living. Alexa seemed to be in a good place in her life, judging by how happy she looked.

She was also dressed nicely, and she said that she loved her job. She had started college, but said that she didn't really like how it was going, so she dropped out. But then she had landed a really great job anyways, that she'd been doing for the last two years or so. I asked her what it was that she was doing. It didn't really dawn on me at first, but she told me that she worked in sales. I thought that was pretty impressive because it's not something I was ever good at.

I had a job for about two months in sales, and I hated it. So I was impressed and congratulated her for it. We started hanging out a lot more. Typically, it was on the weekends, as I worked the normal Monday through Friday. But as she described it, she set her own hours

and would ask me to go out with her sporadically throughout the week. When we were together, we were usually going out to clubs, having dinner and drinks, just things like that, and I made the comments about her job being more flexible and she agreed.

She even suggested that I should try working with her. I declined. saying that I could never make it as sales was not my forte, as mentioned. But she was very pushy. She would say that my looks could reel in plenty of sales alone, and that I just needed to work with it. I laughed it off and told her that I would keep that in mind, but that I wasn't really interested.

There were nights that we would go out, and if it got too late, sometimes she would crash at my place. But when I would get up in the morning, or when we were just chilling in my living room, she would see things and make these weird comments, like when she saw my laptop. She said that it looked sick, and I was telling her about the specs,

and she said, How can you afford a laptop like that doing what you do? Sorry, I don't want to say what I do for several reasons, including this incident. I was kind of taken aback by the comment, but I just said that I did. I'd saved up and that it was on sale and left it at that. But when she would see other things around my house or things that I wore,

she would joke that I was a credit card junkie, and that they would get me in trouble or that I must have a sugar daddy. It was weird, definitely, but I never lived outside of my means. I wasn't in debt, actually. I just knew how to budget well and had money set aside for emergencies. or when I wanted to splurge a bit on myself. Still, while the comments were weird, I just thought maybe she experienced something similar,

so she knew what that kind of thing looked like. Hell, she had nice things, too, so maybe that's how she got there. Maybe the job that she touted so hard wasn't as great as she had made it out to be. But back to her job thing. I did notice that she still never told me what company she even worked for. and I was still quite curious about it. One night while we were having drinks, I noticed that she seemed to be particularly busy on her phone,

constantly messaging someone. It didn't really bother me, as it wasn't like she was being rude or ignoring me. A girl was a pro at multitasking, but I did ask her if everything was okay, and she just happily nodded and said that she was working. So, finally, I don't know. just came out with it.

Where exactly do you work? What company has you working sales around the clock? I said this jokingly. That's when she told me she worked for herself. So now I was even more curious. Finally, and with a creepy grin, she pulled out her phone and showed me a barrage of messages. Messages from guys, and a lot of them.

Every single one of them were calling her a different name, saying they loved her, asking her about her day, asking if she needed anything and some other things that I won't put into words, but you get the picture. She was leading all of these men on, and she was bragging about it. She talked about how so many of them were gullible, how she makes thousands between them on a weekly basis. She even bragged about how some of them had considered ending it with her, or started to start to catching on, but they were married, and she blackmailed them. I was horrified, as she explained all of this to me, but I did my best not to express it. I'm sure that I failed, though.

I just remembered saying something like, wow, Alexa, that seems really intense and a lot of work to keep up with it. Is it really worth it? She gave me a disapproving look and made a comment about how I sounded like a disappointed parent, and then laughed. So I laughed with her and told her that I just couldn't do something like that.

She then turned her whole body to face me, in a low and curious tone, she said, Are you going to snitch on me now? She sounded so serious, compared to how cheerful her tone had been all night. But I just told her no and said that that was a silly question. She then started laughing, but quickly made eye contact,

again, and back in her chirp of voice, she said, Oh good, I didn't want to have to dump you in a ditch somewhere. I kind of like you. And then proceeded to laugh again. I laughed with her, but I just remembered how uncomfortable the rest of that night made me feel. Once I went home that night, I started to become a bit paranoid. What she was doing was a huge deal. My mom has worked in banking her whole life,

and she warned me and told me about many scams out there, and to always be on the lookout for them. But was Alexa being serious? Was she really willing to hurt me or possibly kill me for that lifestyle? I took a day for myself to reflect and decide on what I should do. I ultimately knew what the right thing to do was, but what proof did I have? How would they even be able to catch her or charge her? not to mention

the look in her eyes seemed very real so still in a bit of fear I decided to start by distancing myself from her at first I just declined her invites saying something would come up or that I wasn't feeling well but then she showed up at my place knocking on the door with a bottle of sprite and a container of soup I thanked her expecting her to just leave

but she seemed insistent on staying and wanting to come in. I tried to act sick and tell her that it could be contagious, as I got it from someone at work, but it did little to dissuade her. I finally got her to stand down telling her that I was fine, and that as soon as I was better, that we should hang out. She smiled and agreed, and after hugging me, she walked off. I went back inside, and that's when I noticed that the sprite had been open.

But nothing seemed to be missing from the bottle. Knowing Alexa, kind of, I could see her pouring herself a glass first, but that obviously wasn't the case. Something immediately felt wrong, so I just put it all in the fridge and forgot about it. But then I would start to actually get sick. This time it was due to stress.

Shortly after all this, I started getting bombarded with messages, calls, Alerts and emails for new bank accounts being opened. Credit cards, checking accounts, even loans being applied for in my name. I also received alerts about attempts being made to access my accounts online. I started to panic. Someone had obviously stolen my identity, but at the time I didn't know how or when. I was very careful with everything I did, thanks to my mom.

I followed the normal steps of filing all the reports necessary and closing any accounts that I didn't request. But when I got the statements of my actual card, I saw some of the activity, and it finally started adding up. A lot of the transactions being made were either in my same area or were places that I was not familiar with but I had heard of before. by Alexa. She loved shopping at Ulta. I did not. And there were tons of charges from there. I knew that it had to be her.

All those intrusive comments and questions about my finances, this had to be why. While I wasn't in the room, she must have been snooping around to get as much information as she could. And I guess if I wasn't willing to join in on her scams, she would have to drain me of any funds that she could. I knew that I had to take action at this point, so I started by talking to my mom.

I explained everything to her, everything Alexa was doing and what I suspected her of doing. She stressed the severity of the situation, and she urged me to go to the police. The first step was to report anything, and then they could take it from there. Feeling skeptical, but, ultimately knowing it was for the best, I did file a report, and to my surprise, they actually did make

me feel like it would make a difference. I stopped hearing from Alexa around the time all the reports started coming in. She just stopped initiating conversations, so I did too. I think we both knew why. But I provided the police report information to any banks that I had an open case with, and even that became easier. Accounts were closed and finalized, and I was starting to come out of it mostly unscathed. But that's also because they apparently were already on Alexis Trail. She wasn't just a scammer and a fraudster.

She was involved in something far more severe. She was actually facing charges related to the death of one of her victims. I don't know if it was physically her doing, or if it could have been out of guilt or embarrassment, or maybe from her blackmailing them. But when I heard about it, it really set in for me just who I had become friends with. So maybe my fears of her weren't all that made up.

Maybe it wasn't just paranoia. And maybe I did save my life and possibly the lives of others. So, my last word of advice, I guess, If you see something, say something. You never truly know how much of it could help someone else. Out. Hey, Raven, this may be a little different than what you normally do, but I still thought you would appreciate it.

This happened Christmas Eve in 2018. I was living in Colorado at the time, in a small two-bedroom house by myself. It was my first owned place, and I was enjoying. my new home in a quieter neighborhood, outside of the bigger city life that I had left behind. My grandparents had their own piece of land, and I loved seeing them out there in the quiet, peaceful nights. It's actually what convinced me to move to the home that I have now. That night was going just as planned. I had the day off, as well as Christmas Day, and the day

after. My mom was to pick up my grandma from her home Christmas morning, and I was going to meet them back at my parents' place with my other siblings. And to make it even better, it had started snowing. It was going to turn out to be a perfect Christmas with everyone together and a beautiful blanket of snow on the ground. After watching TV and drinking one of my favorite hot chocolate bombs, I decided to call it a night, knowing that I was going to need to be up early to get my car cleaned off.

I remember the details from here perfectly. I can't forget it. I went to bed around 10 p.m. and was abruptly awoken to a phone call at 2.24 a.m. The number shown was listed as unknown, but knowing the time, I answered it to make sure it wasn't an emergency. But all I heard was a faint and almost inaudible whisper. I couldn't make out any of the words.

I said hello a few more times, but the whispering continued until the line just went dead. I was confused, if not a little annoyed. Who would prank call someone on Christmas Eve, right? I just laid back down and tried to go back to sleep, but my phone started going off again, from another unknown number. I answered the same way, and just like the last time, all that was there was the whispering. The annoyance was now overtaking the confusion that they were still calling me.

I asked, Who is this? But the whispering only continued. And I was nowhere closer to being able to make out what was being said. Then once again, the call just ended. This time I tried to see if I could call the number back, but it wouldn't. It was like a blocked number, so there was, no way to call it or even block it.

I was pretty awake at this point, but still tried to sleep, knowing that if I didn't, it was going to be a very long day. However, I once again received a call, and this time I answered with a bit more annoyance in my voice. What do you want? I said aggressively into the phone. Again, the whispering continued until I could make out one word. Marcus.

It was my name. Because I could make that out, I tried to listen closer to the whispering to see if I could hear something else. Was someone in trouble? Were they calling me for help but all they could do was whisper? I pushed the phone harder to my ear, plugging the other one with my finger, when out of nowhere the whispering was interrupted by a very loud train whistle.

It had actually made me jump. Pulling the phone away from my face, I continued to hear the train whistle for several more seconds, before it eventually faded, and the call ended again. Now, I was, for sure, awake, and I wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep. The train whistle was obviously unexpected. I didn't live near any train tracks, so I knew at least that the call wasn't coming from around my area, but, Then where? And again, who was it that was calling me? Like I said, it was two-something in the morning.

I was groggy, confused, and now startled. So I wasn't thinking straight and definitely was not going back to sleep. I went back to the living room thinking maybe I could watch some TV and doze off and there. But every little sound was making me jump. The creeks in the floor, the ice maker clicking on, and even the tapping on the window from my sun catcher outside. Thankfully, my phone didn't ring again, but damage was already done. Eventually, I must have fallen asleep in the living room at some point,

because I woke up to the alarm on my phone at 6 a.m. I tried to snooze at some, but eventually I just got up. I was still feeling pretty tired and now had a little bit of a stiff neck, but I knew that I needed to get moving. I had taken a shower and then went out to start cleaning off my car. It was probably around eight at this point when I got a call from my mother. Her voice was shaky, and she asked me where I was and what I was doing. I told her that I was about to head over to her place, but asked her what was wrong.

I knew my mom, and I could tell that something was wrong, and her explanation forever changed our Christmas. She told me that she had gone to pick up my grandma, but she didn't answer the door so she had to let herself in. Not really unusual, especially if my grandma didn't hear the door or was in the bathroom or something. We even installed a ring doorbell so that she could be notified on her phone, but she also liked to sit her phone down somewhere and then forget about it.

She was definitely not attached to her phone like us kids, as she would always tell us jokingly. But when my mom entered, she knew that something was wrong when the TV wasn't on, and the coffee maker was empty. She called out to her and got no response, so she went to her room. My mom found my grandmother unresponsive,

and after help arrived, they pronounced her. My mom already knew that she was gone. She didn't suffer and she wasn't hurt. She passed quietly and peacefully in her sleep that night. That's when I think I pieced things together. When we got her death certificate, I saw that the approximate time of death was around 2.30 a.m. Then I started thinking back to those calls that I got. Was that my grandma?

She had a cell phone and I had her number saved. Sure, so it should have showed up if she did call me physically. but maybe it wasn't that kind of call. I even proved that when we had her phone and I checked the records. There were no calls to me. I didn't really want to say it to anyone, but I did ask if my parents or siblings got any weird or prank calls that night. They all said no.

So I got these strange calls of whispering, and my name being whispered at the same time of her death. Oh, and to add to it, she actually lived fairly close to a train yard. Train whistles were very common around her place, so I really felt like this was possible. Was she calling to let me know? Was that her last attempt to reach me and say goodbye? I still think about that night on a regular basis, especially around this time of year, and I hold on to it as a last connection.

that I had with my grandmother. She was always the type to play little pranks on us grandkids, even as we became adults. And I now recognize this as her way of one last hurrah before she left this place. And I smile

when I think about it. I was definitely confused and, yeah, kind of annoyed at first, but now I feel lucky that I got the call. We make sure to keep up our normal Christmas traditions, as we know that's what she would have wanted, not for us to be sad or mournful.

And I always smile when I hear a train whistle, too. Christmas has always been a very heartfelt and magical time for our family. Most of the family has dispersed throughout the Midwest, some on the West Coast, and we don't get to see each other very often. I still live in my hometown, so I get to see my grandma and parents on the regular. But there are those of us that only come together during this specific time of year. Like a lot of people, my grandmother and grandfather basically run the holidays.

Everyone shows up at their house because it's big enough for everyone, and they love hosting. They've hosted as far back as I can remember. And on Christmas, it is... everyone there for the celebrations. That scene being painted for you, I have a story about a very specific Christmas that happened a long time ago. One that, well, let's just say that it stuck with everyone. I was around six years old at that time.

That age where Christmas is still this amazing and magical time of the year, and where the mention of Santa Claus would get me all giddy and excited. The room was full of relatives, people talking to each other, enjoying the company. My cousins and I were all gathered around the Christmas tree and trying to guess which gifts were ours. My grandma was in the kitchen with my mom, and really, it was just a great afternoon. Then, suddenly, the festive atmosphere was shattered by a loud bang on the front door, which caught everyone's attention. Before anyone could react and go to the door to see who it was, the door literally burst open,

and in walked a man dressed like Santa Claus. He wasn't a jolly and rosy-cheeked Santa that I was used to. I remember thinking that he looked sad, and like he needed to wash his hair. But in my eyes, he was Santa, and I was excited. He bellowed out a classic, Ho, ho, ho! As he staggered into the room. I remember shouting,

Guys, it's Santa! And when I looked around, I remember seeing the adults all just standing there and staring at this man that was trudging into the house. To me, it was just Santa making this really cool, dramatic entrance. And I was sitting there clapping in delight, completely unaware of what exactly. was going on and why everyone else looked like they were upset or confused.

My dad stepped into the room and angrily asked who the hell this man was. I remember I was angry with him for being so rude to Santa. Santa lit out a harsh laugh and said, I'm Santa. I'm just here to spread some holiday love and cheer. It was then that my aunt paled and said, Rick? I asked who Rick was, of course, and I didn't get an answer. Then Santa laughed and said,

Oh, there's my dear ex-wife, looking jolly as always. I was super excited at this point, because again, in my head, my aunt was once married to Santa Claus. I was confused as to why she was calling him Rick, though. didn't know his name was Rick. It was about this point that my dad stepped up again and told this man that he needed to leave, saying that he had ten seconds to get out

before he called the cops. It was about this point where the situation shifted in my mind. Clearly this wasn't okay. This Santa, apparently, wasn't supposed to be there and had definitely done something wrong. This was proven to me when the man said, Now, let's not ruin Christmas for everyone.

We don't want things to get ugly. I mean, I might have a gun in here. It was about this point that my mom grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the scene. The whole time I'm asking about why Santa would have a gun in his sack and said, Who asked for a gun for Christmas?

It was such an awkward situation for me, and I'm sure my cousins is. well, but I was just so confused as to what was going on. I remember that while my mom was talking to me in the kitchen, about nothing in particular, I could hear people shouting in the living room, including Santa, and people just telling him to get out of the house. At some point he must have realized that he was outnumbered, because he did leave. I recall the rest of that night being very, very saddened. The entire festivity had been ruined for me.

My dad had called the cops to report what had happened because the guy had threatened us, but also because he was clearly drunk and was driving away. I remember my dad talking to the cops and me trying to tell them not to arrest Santa, and said that he just needed a hug because he was sad. Well, I found out much later that Rick was, apparently, my... aunt's ex-husband, as he'd mentioned. They had been divorced for over three years due to his abusive behavior and his alcoholism. He had no other connections to our family,

and his unexpected terrifying intrusion on our Christmas gathering was a pretty horrible reminder of my aunt's past. My mom actually told me about all of this quite a few years later. When I absentmindedly asked her about the random guy who showed up to him, Christmas dressed as Santa that one year. It was a scary story to be told, especially how excited I was to see this man that I thought was a symbol for joy, when, in reality, he was an abusive drunk

that was there to just cause terror in my aunt's life. Thankfully, nothing more happened, and he did just leave without doing anything else, but it still altered how I, and a lot of our family looked at Christmas. 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 utilizing. 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 can be, never forget it. And until next time, much love and sleep well. Lazzang sur-gely, puissance-moleaned for 15 minutes.

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