As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 119 - Scary In The Woods, Night Shift and Past Life Stories - 09 True Scary Stories

Episode Date: April 12, 2024

Welcome to the chilling 119th 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 time spent in the woods, creepy happenings on the night shift, as well as some chilling past life 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... MarecWolfe, Riley, Nathan Wright, PastCarniBoy, Michael B, Grace’s Mom, Nurlybek2244, D. Hayes, Summer Character aka Cybernight Zero, As Well As Any Author That Has 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you have a story you would like to hear featured on this podcast, please go to ashtheravendreams.com and click the button to submit your story. Also, if the platform you're listening on has the option to rate this podcast, please consider doing so. And thank you. This is a story about my daughter, Madison. Madison was our firstborn child, so everything that happened with her, we were experiencing for the first time. She was born healthy and just seemed like a very happy baby. One of the things I remember as a kid was when my dad laid on his back and held us in the air on his feet.

We called it airplane, and we would make the sounds and everything. I loved it then, and I did it with Madison when she was a bit older too. She was always full of laughter and her eyes were wide with amazement as we did it. As she got older and could articulate things more, she would demand to wear a hat as we played airplane. And between the little gibberish and the few words that she could speak, she would seem to try to have a whole conversation as she was flying. We just thought it was what babies did.

When Maddie was about two, she would run all over the house with her arms out like she was an airplane. It was just something she liked to do. We both just thought that she enjoyed it because of us playing. But then, as she started talking and forming clearer sentences, she was saying things that didn't make sense for her age. One of her favorite things to say when she was scared or surprised was, oh, golly gosh.

The first time she said it, I wasn't home. It was just my wife. She thought it was funny as she had never heard it before and asked her where she learned to say. say it. She said that she looked at her confused and told her, I've always said that, and then continued to play. When I got home and my wife told me what happened, I was shocked, because I had heard that before, but not for Maddie. It was something my grandfather said all the time. I never heard anyone else say it, not even someone in my family.

My grandfather passed before my wife and I got together, so neither of them would have known that. There was no reason to even talk about him, really, but I did ask my parents if they had mentioned him or said that saying around Maddie, because they had watched her on occasion, but they said they hadn't. There was no reason to lie about it.

He wasn't a black sheep of the family or anything. He was well-loved and severely-me. missed, but she was too young to even know about death, so there was no reason to bring him up. Overall, we just chalked it up to a weird situation and let it go, even if she continued to say it, and it threw me off. Another significant event was when she was around four. I was looking at my wife's car in the garage after she was having some troubles with it. I am not a car guru, but I know something.

things that my dad taught me. So I was testing things. When Maddie walked in and, in her cute little voice, she asked me what I was doing. I told her that I was trying to fix mom's car, and she asked to see. She's always been a curious kid, so I lifted her up to stand on the bumper and look into the car.

She asked what happened. I tried to explain as simply as possible, because, well, you know, she's a child. She tried to put her arm down between parts, and I told her to stop because I didn't want her to get hurt. She put her other hand out to stop me and said, I know what I'm doing, Mikey. I was taken aback for a couple of reasons. I had never heard her voice get so stern before. I'm her father, and she has always called me as such.

My name is Michael, but not even my wife calls me Mikey. Very few people in my family do. One of those people was my grandfather. I just stared at her and watched as she struggled to reach into the car. She then pulled her arm out, exasperated, and said she couldn't reach it, but started explaining something down in the parts of the car. I put my hand in there and pulled out a clip that seemed to be warped and broken. She then explained, in a way that a child would,

that it was a bad broken part and that it wasn't closing. I was confused, so I just thanked her and she went back to her cute voice and walked out of the garage. I called my dad and explained to him what the car was doing and he literally explained the exact thing that Maddie had, that the part was bad and that it was causing an issue with the seal.

In other words, not closing. I replaced the part and The car seemed to be back to normal. How would my four-year-old that had never worked on a car, obviously, even know that, and know the purpose of the part? It was such a strange event. But the biggest memory that really made me realize there was something more going on here was one fourth of July night.

We just had a small thing at home with the three of us. It was getting late and we were picking up as Maddie was swinging. She liked to swing pretty high and jump off the swing, yelling, Gear Up, and then she would run around the yard like an airplane until she finally landed in the grass near us, sprawl out, and then stare up at the sky. She giggled and then said, Daddy, do you remember when I was a pilot? My wife and I just looked at each other confused. She'd never been on an airplane

Or actually even seen one up close My wife laughed and said When would you have been a pilot, Maddie? She rolled over Looked at my wife with this kind of Duh look on her face and said In my old life, remember? I tried to tell her that she'd only had this life

And ask her what she meant She had so much confidence in her voice As she told us that we were wrong and that she had an old life just before she died. We didn't really know what else to say, so we just let it go. Later that night, my wife and I talked about what she said, and tried to think of every possibility. We were always open with her and any questions she asked,

because she just always seemed like a really curious type of kid. She was very curious, and she wanted to know how things worked, but it was also a lot more modern stuff. Like when we got a flat screen TV, she was strangely amazed by the technology. She was amazed by the computer when I tried to search how the bulky tube TVs differed from plasma flat screens. But as we talked,

we couldn't think of any shows that we had watched about death or pilots. We weren't even really religious. Not even our parents, were outwardly religious, so reincarnation wasn't something that would have been talked about. Yet, here we were,

and my young daughter was talking about having a past life. Now, my wife and I are very open-minded, though. Not that we expected this with our first child, so after dinner one night, we started watching some unsolved mysteries, and there happened to be an episode

about reincarnation. I nudged my wife to look at Maddie, as she had stopped drawing and was watching the TV very intently. When it went to commercials, I asked, Hey, Maddie, do you think that's what happened to you? She turned around surprised and said, well, yeah, that's exactly what happened. I thought that I would try to see if she remembered anything else, so I asked her if she remembered her name. She didn't hesitate when I asked, and she said, Leo. I was

shocked for multiple reasons. It was crazy to hear her give a name, but she also gave the name of my grandfather. With her using his weird little catchphrase, knowing about cars and claiming she was a pilot,

that all matched my grandfather. He was in the Air Force, and he was a highly regarded pilot. When he retired, he had his own little car shop that he ran out of his garage. which was how my dad had learned as well. He was also one of the few people in my family that called me Mikey.

While I didn't want to ask, because a young child should not know and understand death yet, I did ask her how he died. She got up from the floor and came over to me, putting her little hand on my knee and looked me in the eyes. She had a look of pity on me, and in a lower, softer tone, she just said, I didn't kill myself, Mikey. It was my lungs.

They just gave out. But I'm okay now. Then she went and sat back down to watch TV. I tried not to let my wife see, or even Maddie see, but my eyes were admittedly filled with tears. I had to leave the room to compose myself. My grandfather had lung cancer. We all knew it.

It was too far in for chemo to make a difference, so they just gave him some medications to try to make him comfortable with however much time we had left. My grandmother came home from an appointment to find him slumped over in his chair, next to an open pill bottle, and it was assumed that he had ended his own life. He talked about how he didn't want anyone to have to take care of him, and he didn't want them to suffer through it. so he said that he would pray that God would take him before then.

That made us all think that he did it out of guilt or grief. That thought had loomed over our family for years, all of us feeling guilty for leaving him alone with his thoughts. But here my daughter was, claiming to be Leo, and telling me that it was the cancer after all, and that it was just his time to go. I was an obvious wreck and a mix of emotions

I finally calmed down and explained to my wife and then I called my parents again to ask if they had mentioned him at all to Maddie they once again said no I didn't tell them the whole thing because again I didn't think they would believe it and I really didn't want to upset my dad but I held what she said very clear close to my heart, and it comforted me knowing that he didn't suffer and that he was okay.

Maddie is now 26, and she remembers talking about it as a young child, but she said most of the memories are now gone. I think after she told us how he died, that it seemed he was finally able to move on, letting Maddie live her own life. Whether she really used to be my grandfather, or there was more to this, I will never know. But I will never forget it. And I'm lucky to have such a wonderful daughter and that second chance at a final goodbye. It's never too early to plan your summer story in Europe

with WestJet, from rolling countryside to cobblestone streets. Begin your next chapter. Book your seat at westjet.com or call your travel agent. WestJet, where your story takes off. There's something else yet. Something new. From exclusively on Paramount Plus. It's the series Stephen King calls scary as hell.

Everything here is impossible, but it's also real. Sci-fi vision calls it the best show streaming right now. We're running out of time and we still don't know the rules. Don't miss what the movie blog calls something you need to watch. Saving those children is how we all go home. From binge all episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus. This happened the summer that I turned 15. And I learned a pretty strong lesson.

A lesson that's etched into my very bones. And a reminder that sometimes you should just mind your own business. Being a teenager, I thought that I was invincible. And that I would never be confronted with the horrors of the world. Scary things only happened on TV and whatnot. Obviously, anyone can experience skills. things, but it's probably important to highlight that I had this

dumb, invincible mentality as a 15-year-old girl, which, I would say, made me way more vulnerable than a lot of people. And some of the things I did were incredibly stupid. This was one of those stupid things.

My name is Riley, and back then, my whole world was a small town cradled in a lot of forest and state preserve that hadn't yet been turned into shopping centers. That summer, I landed a pretty decent summer job at the only diner in town. It's not relevant, but I loved that job, because people knew that I was a high schooler,

and they tipped super well when I told them that I was trying to save up to buy a car for my 16th birthday. I was hired on to the late morning to afternoon and early evening shift, so I had to be there typically by 9 a.m. Obviously, I didn't have a car, and both of my parents worked. So I typically walked or cycled to the diner. When I walked, I would typically go down a path in the woods, because it was quicker, and there was a lot of wildlife to enjoy. I would take the trails until they got to a small railroad track,

and then take a left to follow the track to the diner, which was right next to them on the main road. The whole shortcut took about a half mile off of my trip, which to a 15-year-old is a lot. I took this trail for about two weeks, which I guess lulled me into more of a false sense of security. Nothing had happened yet, so nothing would happen, right? There were a few times while walking the trail that I felt like I was being watched,

or like somebody was nearby. but I never saw anyone, so I gradually convinced myself that it was a deer or something like that, and I was just being paranoid because of how secluded and quiet the trail was. Again, nothing could happen to Riley. Then, one day, that illusion of seclusion and safety shattered. I was walking the path like normal, when I paused because something looked out of place.

For more than 14 days, I did this walk on the trail and nothing had changed. Then, there was suddenly something different. Off to the side of the railroad track, a few feet away, was what looked like a lawn chair with a backpack sitting in it. I know now that I should have just kept going, ignoring the chair and the backpack. But I was curious as to why someone would have left a backpack by the tracks like that. I took a second to think about it, and I figured I would look into the pack, justifying it by saying that I could see if I could find an ID in it

and return it to whoever owned it. Surely that was the right thing to do. I say now with very heavy sarcasm. So I stepped over to the backpack, and I unzipped it, thinking it would be full of someone's paperwork or clothing or something. Boy was I surprised. when I found it full of several tightly wrapped and taped bricks of a white powder of some sort. I now know what it was, yes, but at the time I was sitting there thinking,

who put a backpack full of powdered sugar on a lawn chair in the woods? I didn't touch any of the bricks. I just stared at them for a second and tried to piece it together. My thoughts were then broken by the sound of footsteps behind me, and the feeling of something cold and metal being jammed against the back of my head. If you've never had a gun pushed against your scalp, it's a strange feeling that you instantly recognize as a gun. It's kind of hard to explain, but it's almost like the feeling of a gun barrel is an instinctual trigger in your brain, like you just know that it's a gun and that you're about to die.

As soon as the gun hit my head, I threw my hands up and yelped, only for a hand to go over my mouth. The person behind me was very quiet and meticulous as he spoke. Do not scream. You scream, you die. I nodded softly, and he moved his hand away and then continued. What's your name? I told him that my name was Riley. and that I didn't mean to touch a stuff, that I was just stupid and curious.

He ignored my comment and asked me how old I was, and to this day, I cannot help but laugh at my stupid answers. I told him that I was 15, and then rambled on that I was going to be 16 in October, as if the fact that I was going on 16 was going to mean anything else. He gave a slight chuckle and then said, Okay? And where do you live, Riley? I told him that I lived at the end of the path and that I was just walking to work. He cut me off and said, no.

Address. I want your address. I wasn't sure what to do. But when you think you're about to die, you tend to kind of just go along with it. I told him my exact street address and said that it was a bright blue house, like it really mattered. He then replied with, All right, Riley. I now know where you live.

You look like a good kid, a smart kid, and I can understand that you were curious. It was a mistake, but I think this is a good educational moment for you. So I want you to listen to what I tell you and really understand it, okay? Despite the edge and aggression in his voice, I remember that he almost sounded sympathetic,

like he felt sorry for me being in this situation. I just nodded in agreement, and he then finished his side of the conversation. You're going to keep walking forward. You're going to go to work, and you're going to live your day like nothing ever happened. You will not turn around, you will not look back. if you look back, or I think that you even got the slightest look at my face, I will kill you. You were never here, you never saw the backpack, and this morning never happened.

Do you understand? I once again nodded emphatically trying to convince him that I was more than willing to do what he was asking. Okay, good. Good girl, Riley. I'm also going to need you to promise me that you... aren't going to go to the cops about this, or tell anyone that might. Because if you do, I will know. And I know where you live. I'm also going to have to ask you to not take this trail for the rest of the month, until the 1st of July. After that, I don't care if you take it again, but until then, you find another way to work. Do you understand? When he said this, I

I actually spoke and said, Yes, sir, I understand. He gave a slight chuckle, and then told me that I was going to be okay, and then told me to go, and to remember what he said. I absolutely remembered, and there was no way that I would literally ever forget those words,

because I knew right then that he was completely serious. He would come to my house if I told anyone about it, and I wasn't going to risk. I didn't look back. I didn't turn around. I kept my eyes forward and walked down the track to work and just lived as normal. I don't know who this man was. I never figured out who in town it could have been. And honestly, I prefer it that way. I'm fine with never knowing. I never told the cops. I never told my parents or my friends. I told no one about this until I was much, much older, and had moved far away from town.

I learned a very valuable lesson that day. The main one being that minding your own business is a big deal, and if you decide that you're not going to, it could lead to a gun to the back of your head. I'm strangely grateful that this guy realized I was just a dumb kid, and that I had made a mistake, because he could have easily pulled the trigger and dumped my body, and I would not have been found for a couple of days at most.

It's strange to say that you're grateful that the person threatening your life decided you weren't worth the bullet. But that's where I ended up with my experience. Hi, Raven. I discovered your channel a few months ago and really enjoy your content. There will be three separate stories here, as they are all very short. The first one happened over 18 years ago. At the time I was working a night audit shift for a hotel right outside the city of Pittsburgh.

This particular night was busy for us, as it was New Year's Eve. Lots of people were coming in and out of the main lobby for pretty much the whole night, going to and from their parties, or to the bars, and it was a busy night for me. Around 1 a.m. or so, a tall, thin man came in appearing to be in distress and out of breath. He approached the front desk, which I was standing behind, and he told me that he needed a cab. His tone was urgent, but I couldn't figure out why. He didn't mention his car breaking down or where he was going either. So I wasn't sure why he needed a cab exactly.

He also failed to give me a name and a room number. So I didn't know if the man was staying with us. Come to think of it, why did he ask a hotel for a room number? a cab when there was a 24-hour gas station right up the road. It became obvious quickly that he was not a guest at our hotel. So I was suspicious. Yet I wanted him out of my hair, so I figured I would call a cab and have him wait outside. Again, this was a very busy and stressful night for me,

and besides that, I was suspicious and figured calling a cab for him might diffuse him. Anyway, after he asked for him, for a cab. I sat down and lifted the receiver to my ear and started to dial yellow cab, but stopped after the man said something else to interrupt me. You aren't calling the police, are you? He asked. I glanced up at him. My pulse raced when I saw the menacing in his eyes, and his face was beat red. I leaned back in my chair, unsure of what the man would do.

I denied calling the police to him, but the man continued to stay. me down. Don't lie to me, he said. Again, I denied it, but it was clear that he didn't believe me. When he finally turned around and stormed out, relief washed over me, even though he called me an expletive as he walked through the door. I could easily let the cussing me out part roll off my back knowing he was gone, and thankfully would never come back.

In retrospect, there's no telling what the man would do. if there hadn't been so many people around to witness it. He may have just been a man drunk on New Year's Eve looking to get home. On the other hand, working the night shift had made me familiar with the smell of alcohol on someone's breath, and I don't recall smelling it. He may have been on something stronger, something that may have made him aggressive. Either way, in that situation, made working the night shift each night by me for so long, all the scarier.

The next story took place about four years after the first one. It was 2010, and again I had the night audit position, this time at a different hotel, about 12 minutes from Pittsburgh International Airport. This hotel had a business center where our guests could print up their boarding passes

for their flights. One night, a man came in around 3 a.m. and said he needed to use a computer. I had my suspicions, but I gave him directions to the business center anyway. It's down the hall on the left, I told him. I figured giving him the benefit of the doubt was a better approach than being suspicious without legit cause. He thanked me and went down, trying to get in, but couldn't because he had no key. He returned a few minutes later and said, it's locked.

You'll need your room key to access the room. I responded, I don't think you understand. I'm not a guest at this hotel. I then immediately informed him that the business center is only for our guests. He shook his head. It only take a few minutes. I just need to do one thing. Sorry, I said, but if you're not a guest here, you'll have to leave. I waited silently for a long minute before the man left the premises and didn't come back. The encounter wasn't all that scary, but it still creeped me out. I wondered why the guy, being a non-guest, would come into some hotel and ask to use a computer

just out of the blue, especially in the middle of the night like that. This last story will be brief. That same night, another man came in and approached the front desk. He looked anxious and fumbled for words for a bit. before managing to spit out that he needed to use the bathroom. Well, I was one for zero in my strange encounters for the night, but I didn't want to push my luck, so I let him use it. He walked to the bathroom, which was in the hall beside our front desk,

and then left without incident. It was uneventful in the end, but I couldn't help but wonder if the guy had planned on doing something to me, but maybe chickened out at the last minute. what would he have done, possibly held me at gunpoint to rob me, and I didn't want to think of the other possibilities. The encounters I had with strangers that night, and the first one, are reminders that were not always safe during the night shift, even if we feel that we are. Especially when you work with the public all night, as I did in those years. If you're listening to this, and you work at night, remember to all the moment.

always be on your guard. In fact, it's better to have someone working with you instead of just being by yourself. Because when you're in that situation, someone might come along and try to take advantage of you. Don't be fooled into thinking that just because you work in a well-lit area and are around other 24-hour businesses, that you aren't vulnerable to horrible people. For as long as I can remember, I've been having this. this recurring dream about an old town that comes alive at night with the sights of a carnival. The dream seemed to be less detailed and short at first, but over time, I've remembered more of it

and could recall more details. In the dreams, it was as if I was just walking around, taking in the sights of it all. I remember hearing people screaming from the riots. I remember the game booths and hearing the men call. out to gain attention. I even remember the smell of the popcorn and funnel cakes. I went to the fair with my family before, and the dreams started after that, so at first we all thought it was just because of that.

For years, I dreamt of that carnival, and all the festivities in it. I loved going to them every year, too, but while some kids were upset to have to leave the fun, it always seemed more severe than that. I almost felt homesick when we left, like I was leaving something behind. The obsession with the carnival slowly increased as I grew up. I always played in my room as if I was a carney, trying to get people to join in. I would set up all these stunts for my toys and stuffed animals, and even got my siblings involved and made play money for my parents to pay and attend.

I would dress as a clown, or something similar several times for Halloween. One of my birthdays was carnival themed, and my parents set up little booths for the snacks and the games. I even got this wonderful children's play tent that looked like it came straight from the carnival. Something about it all just brought me pure joy. But then, the dreams started to shift a bit. Instead of me walking around and enjoying it, it instead appeared that I was now sitting still while others continuously walked by me. Then it seemed like those walking by would always be staring at me.

They would keep walking, but everyone would glance over as they passed. I couldn't see myself, so I had no idea why. Even those dreams started with me entering the carnival, and had some pleasant part to them too. But the more people that looked at me, the more the dreams became less wanted. The people would slow down. Some would stop. Some would point and laugh while others looked scared, or almost like they took pity on me. I didn't understand it, but I was becoming angry. I wanted to shout at them to stop staring, but I couldn't bring myself to do so.

I knew what to say, but I just didn't seem to have a voice. Those dreams, they started changing as I grew up. I still enjoyed the carnival, but I was much less obsessed, until I started having these dreams. This made me again focus on it and question what the meaning of it all was. Did it have a meaning? Was there some kind of message behind it? Or was I just the lucky kid with a recurring dream that would just slowly drive me insane?

Because I was a pre-teen boy, I didn't like to show my feelings or weaknesses, so I never told anyone about the shift in my dreams. My parents had even practically stopped asking about them, so I felt that they weren't important, and maybe it was best for me to just try to ignore them. But I could tell that it was affecting me mentally. The dreams would enrage me, and I would wake up in a bad move. I seemed to pay more attention to the way people looked at me and treated me, almost to the point of paranoia and annoyance. I felt like I didn't belong. I felt like I was having more bad days than good.

But this was just how I lived my life, thinking it was just me. As a teenager, my family stopped going to the carnival, so it never really crossed my mind. That was until there was a commercial for a carnival, that was going to be in town. I don't know why, but it got my attention, and I felt like I needed to go. I brought it up to my parents,

asking them if they were interested, and they kind of looked at me strangely, asking why I would want to go. They also commented that they thought I grew out of it as a kid, and it really didn't answer my question. But I already knew the answer. It looked like if I wanted to go, I would be going alone.

So, when the time came, I told my parents I was going to go to a friend's house for a while and then set out to the carnival alone. To my surprise, the moment I stepped on to the carnival grounds, a wave of happiness and comfort washed over me. It felt like coming home after being away for a very long time. The lights, the laughter, all the smells and the energy. Everything seemed familiar. I remember just being overwhelmed with the feeling of belonging there. I didn't understand why I felt this way. I knew my obsession as a kid, but this just felt different.

As I roamed around, enjoying my time, I came across a section called something like The Bizarre and Strange, and was once again drawn to it. As I walked through, I saw people, like the sword-swallower, a contortionist, and even a fire juggler. And while most people would enjoy those sights, I was more focused on the spectators. Some of the things they said, or the jokes they made, put me on the offensive. Overall, though, the connection to the carnival was so strong that I felt like there had to be a reason.

There had to be something other than just enjoying it. But I didn't know what. I didn't know what to do with this information or where to go with it. But then, it was like going to the carnival awakened something in me. I had another dream, but this time it was clearer. I walked by a stall with a name, something along the lines of The Lizard Man. It was in first person, so it was as if the person was me. And I walked behind the stall and waited, as others were.

all walked by and stared. That's when the feelings of being watched and being angry came back. When I awoke, I quickly made a note of my dream, something I had started doing. I've never gone to a carnival or circus of any sort and seen something called the lizard man, and I felt something telling me that there was more to this. I started researching this more, and after a lot of digging around, I finally did. There was something called a freak show back in the 20s, where it was basically a showing of people and creatures with birth defects or unique abilities.

One of those people in the show went by The Lizard Man. His limbs hadn't formed properly, so they were much shorter than normal, and he had random patches all over his skin that were purple or grey in color, and almost scaly to the touch. people said he looked like he was a cross between a human and a lizard. Unfortunately, a lot of his personal information I couldn't find because of where he resided, and the show was not in the U.S., so it was all in a different language. But while I couldn't read it verbatim, I felt like I knew this person.

I felt like I knew what it said. And the only thing that makes sense to me, the only thing I can see to grasp about all of this, is that I used to be him. All of the recurring dreams about this old-timey carnival, of being behind a stall and being watched or made fun of, even all these issues and fears of people judging me and feeling like I have to be my best at all times. I feel like it really makes sense to me, and I feel like it all stems back to when I was him. My parents are both pretty religious, and they're very religious.

religion doesn't believe in reincarnation, so when I even brought up the idea of past lives, without even mentioning my opinion or experience, my dad laughed, and my mom told me that it all wasn't real. Needless to say, I didn't tell them about it. I did, however, tell a really close friend of mine, whose mom is really open-minded about things like that. They both believe me and her mom mentioned how there are past life regression therapists out there, and now I really want to go see one. I've since graduated and moved out, so now I feel like I can really focus on myself and what I want to do with my life. I want to see if I can get more information about my possible past, but also maybe get some closure so that I can move on and live a happy, normal life now, for both of us. So, this story is about the weirdest night shift I ever had.

Maybe not the creepiest, as I have certainly dealt with my share of creeps and people that were blazed out of their mind. Not looking down on people that deal with addiction, just saying they can do some terrifying things. I've obviously had my fair share of weird people stumble through the door on my overnight shift at the station where I work. but this night takes the cake. It was one of those shifts that kind of started off crappy. I was the only one working because the other overnight attendant was out sick with COVID. But of course, instead of the boss scheduling someone else, he just told me to suck it up,

and that things would be fine with just one person. He's kind of a cheapskate, obviously. Anyways, it's around 2 a.m., when this random guy walks in, to the station. Average height, a bit hefty, but mostly nondescript. He's got longer greasy hair, but that doesn't mean much. Most of the customers on the overnight come in looking like they don't really believe in self-care.

One thing I noted about him, though, was that he had an intense look on his face, like he was there with purpose. Now, I have been robbed before, and the guy had that same look. but he immediately walked to the counter and told me to give him the cash. This guy had the look, but turned and asked me if we carried R.C. Cola. I told him that we did, two liters and single-serve bottles, and mentioned that it was right by the Dr. Pepper in the second door from the left. Yes, I have the stores layout memorized.

He heads over, grabs three bottles of R.C, and a bag of the TGI Friday's potato skin chips and drops them on the counter. I ring him up and tell him his total. He pulls a few bills from his pocket. He then starts fumbling around for a moment and then mumbles an apology. That's when I notice he's about $2 and some change short on the purchase. I figure, based on this guy's intense frustration over not having the cash, that he'd had one hell of a night already.

So I tell him, Hey man, I got two bucks on me. Don't sweat it. I'll cover the rest. You just have a good rest of the night, all right? He starts to ask me if I'm sure, saying that he could just put something back, but I wave him off,

saying it's cool and to just pay it forward in the future if he can. He then gives me the biggest grin I've seen someone give. Like, I literally just changed his life. life, and then he reaches into his pocket. Now, at first, I'm thinking this was a test. And this guy was going to give me $100 for being kind. A guy can dream, right? But then he slides a handgun out of the inner pocket of his jacket.

Yeah, a gun. And I immediately think that I'm about to get robbed again. But the way he took the gun out didn't make sense for that to be his plan. He didn't do so threateningly. He pulled it out almost carefully, respectfully even. He then gently placed it on the counter and slid it over to me. Here, he said with his voice low and quiet. Take this as my way of saying thanks.

It'll save your life. Then, he gives me that same smile, a slight nod, and just walks out with his RC and potato chips. So, there I am, alone in a gas station at two-something in the morning, with a dirty handgun sitting on my counter. I'm thinking that this has to be a joke. There's no way that some dude just left a gun there as a payment for me covering $2. My second thought, is that something worse is going to happen, and I'm about to die like it's some kind of messed up horror movie. But nothing happens. The guy is just gone

The gun is sitting there And for several moments I'm just staring at it in silence I grabbed some plastic gloves from under the counter There was no way I was touching that thing bare-handed And put the gun in a plastic bag And then placed that on the floor behind me And called the cops

The officers arrive And they ask about a call they got Saying that someone had found a gun in the store I had to correct them and explain that I didn't find the gun that I was given the gun and they both looked at me like I was crazy or telling an awful joke I explained what happened and they both have this same look of this guy's high on their face but I assure them the whole thing played out just like I said I even showed them the security footage of the guy putting it

down and sliding it toward me they take the gun, thank me and tell me they'll be in touch if they have any further questions, and then tell me to call them if I see the guy again. The rest of the shift, I was nervous, thinking that this guy may come back for his weapon, realizing he gave it away to a stranger, but it was a relatively quiet night after that. I seriously felt crazy. Like who gives a gun to a gas station attendant as a thank you for buying their damn potato chips for them?

Here's where things got truly bizarre, though. About a week or so later, one of the officers come back while he's off duty to get some coffee. But he recognizes me, and he decides to fill me in on a bit of information. Turns out, the gun was hot. It had been stolen, and potentially used in a homicide a little while back, about three blocks from my gas station. They were still trying to piece everything together, but this was a huge lead for them in that case, since they now had the weapon, and the guy's fingerprints on it, as well as the footage from the store. So, in the end, him, I guess, gifting me this gun was a good thing,

because it helped to potentially solve a robbery slash homicide from a while back. Of course, I have no idea why he thought I should have the gun, as if I wasn't going to call the police and give it to them. But maybe he really thought I wouldn't? No clue. I worked that overnight shift for about six months after that, but I had a point where I wanted to change things up. So I moved to days at the same station.

Thankfully nothing more like that has ever happened since. Neither to me nor the poor souls that work the overnights there now. There have been other weird and creepy things for sure, but nothing quite like that. I used to live in a small town in Michigan that was surrounded by forest. The woods were literally our backyard playground, and sometimes the backdrops to some strange, non-nerving experiences. I've seen UFOs. I've seen creepy people in the woods. And maybe someday I'll write those out, though some of the other.

them are pretty basic and uneventful. This experience is also kind of uneventful, but it was weird and I figure it's worth telling because I seriously have no idea what I saw. One afternoon, on spring break, I was incredibly bored, which happened often as a 16-year-old. I was bored to the point that I was thinking about things, and I recalled my dad once telling me about a cave that he and his friends would hang out in and get stoned. My dad was the hippie type. I'm not. But I am into wilderness and wanted to check this cave out to see if it was still there

or if it had collapsed or whatever. Again, I was a bored teenager and figured I would kill time if nothing else. I only had a rough idea of where the cave was, but I figured I was well-versed in the art of hiking, so I would find it. eventually. So there I was, in the deep woods with the sunlight gleaming down on everything, and making it a bit warmer than it had been all week. It was eerily quiet out in the woods, but I kind of liked the seclusion. So I pressed on. After a couple of hours, I hit a point where I figured

I would find Bigfoot before I found the damp cave. So I took a minute to sit on a stump and eat my sandwich that I'd packed for my lunch. While I was sitting there, just staring out into the woods and gnawing on a ham and cheese sandwich, I heard this strange rustling coming from down in a ravine near me. It was a pretty shallow ravine. It looked like it had been dug up and left for whatever reason, like someone was going to expand a sewage line in this direction and just gave up. It was pretty wide, like it went on for a while.

while, but it wasn't too deep, maybe five foot at most. I figured the rustling was a deer or some small animal, and I was curious, so I went to check it out. I crouched down to be small and quiet as I could, and walked over to the edge to see if I could spot it, thinking I was going to see a deer or a raccoon or something like that. What I saw, though, I have never been able to identify. This thing, whatever the hell it was, slinked out of a small brush in the ravine, and then stood up. When I say stood up, I mean that it was crawling on all fours, and then stood up on two and started walking normally.

Almost human-like. It wasn't very tall, maybe two feet at most. It was covered in fur that looked kind of matted, I guess. It looked rough, like it had mange or, something like that. When it stood up, I noticed how long its front arms were. They were the length of most of its body, and it looked like they were not part of its normal anatomy.

They were thin, bony, whereas its legs in midsection were thicker. It had what looked like inch-long claws at the end of each of these elongated arms. The head was even worse, and more out of place. It looked almost reptilian. and it was flat, featureless, and it had some fur, but if I had to place it, I would almost say that it had the head shape of an iguana, or a bearded dragon. Nothing about this creature looked right. I sat there and watched it over the edge of the ravine, trying to figure out what kind of chimera this little beast was.

I watched as it reached down into the brush, and it grabbed the dead carcass of some small animal. maybe a rabbit or squirrel, and it started eating it, bones and all. It just sat there devouring this seemingly long-deceased animal, and I couldn't help but whisper, What the hell is that? This is right about the time it perked up and looked back to notice me. The screech this thing let out was mind-numbing. It sounded like a three-year-old child screeching for their mother. It was high-pitched, loud, and it sent this disgusting chill down my spine.

After it screamed, it lifted its arms and actually threw what it was eating at me. It threw the carcass in my direction. I then watched as it got back down to all fours and took off at what I can only describe as an unnatural speed. I ran back to the house, the whole time trying to figure out what kind of messes. up freaky mutated otter I had just discovered. But otters have faces that are cute and distinguishable.

And they don't have long mouths like that thing did. And I don't think they eat dead carcasses. I know raccoons are scavengers, but there's no way this thing was a raccoon. Its arms were way too long and the head was just wrong. I'm thankful that it didn't decide

I was a threat, because if it had rushed at me with those claws, I don't think I would have gotten away unscathed. If anyone has seen this thing up in Michigan, please let me know. And if anyone has seen it anywhere else, well, then that means there's more than one of these, and that's a terrifying thing to consider. Hello, Raven. Thank you for doing such great work.

I hope you're having a great start to the year. I am, though. It's March, so I'm not sure if it's where to start anymore. I thought about sending you this story, but I needed to check my facts with my sister beforehand. This was in the early 90s, and I don't remember why my sister and I were home alone. My sister was around 14 years old, and I was 11. At this time, we lived in a small town in the Pacific Northwest, and we were bored. We decided to take a walk.

After leaving a note from my mom, we took off. Now, this town was about 20 houses at most. The only thing it had was a post office. There was an old school that was overgrown, but had a basketball hoop that was still standing. We walked past the school and made our way to an old rail crossing. The tracks had been removed, but it had not gotten overgrown yet. We followed the old trail deeper into the woods and caught sight of a rock wall that looked easy to climb. So we decided to climb up and see what we could see.

The climb was taller than we thought. It was only about 100 feet or so, but it was steep. I think it was a hill that the rail company had blasted out of the way. This left a rugged cliff that was pretty sheer. The old drill holes left us away to climb. They had rough edges that we could grab. This made the climb seem easier than it really was. As we were going up, my sister had knocked a rock loose that hit me in my face and knocked my glasses off.

I had wanted to stop then, to at least get my glasses. But my sister just said that we would get them on the way back. At the top of the hill, we realized that it was the edge of a plateau, I guess. It was a flat spot that had been cleared by logging. It's hard to explain. From below it looked like a small hill, and that we would get a good look of the valley. Instead, it was a foothill of a small mountain range,

this flat spot leading to mountains in the distance. There were no trees left standing. All the trunks were grayed and decaying. The undergrowth had run rampant, vines tried to catch your feet, old sticks covered holes in the ground. It would have been so easy to turn an ankle or break a leg. We wandered for a while and no one.

noticed it was getting dark. We needed to get home. I think we were already late. Our mom was going to be worried. We hadn't marked our trails, so it took some time to find our way back to where we came up. Looking around was hard for me. Without my glasses, anything outside of three feet was blurry. When we made it back, I was trying to find a place to climb down, or at least where we climbed up. when we couldn't figure it out my sister suggested jumping without my glasses I couldn't tell if it was a really long way down or not

but I was not going to jump we stood there and argued for a time I finally told her jump if you want I'm going to find a house and ask to use the phone I started to walk away afraid that my sister was going to jump she was headstrong like that

but she followed I had a hard time in the dark. Neither of us thought to bring flashlights. Eventually we found a house with lights on. Apparently, either people went to bed early around here, or it was mostly vacation homes. I was almost ready to try to break into a house, just to use the phone. My sister took the lead and knocked on the door. A nice woman answered the door.

She wouldn't let us inside because her daughter was sick with a feet. and she didn't want to pass it on to us. So she brought out her phone. She even wiped it with alcohol before handing it over. My sister left a message from my mom. She was out looking for us and handed the phone back. The woman asked if we were able to get a hold of our mom and my sister said no. The lady asked us what we wanted to do and I said,

If he can point us to our town, we'll start walking. I didn't think we could be that far from home since we walked here. When I told her what town we were from, she was shocked. Apparently going over the cliff and through the flat rise took us about 25 minutes from our town by car. The road back had to go around the rise and then double back to get to our house. When we said that we would start walking, she objected. She went back inside real quick and checked on her child, and she then told us that she would drive us home. The lady was so nice.

She left her sick kid at home to drive us lost kids home. When we got home, our car wasn't in the driveway. But not five seconds after, our mom pulled up. Mom was so happy to see us. Apparently she'd been out driving the route we said we were going to use in our note. From what she said, she'd been driving on the shoulder at like five miles an hour trying to find us. Not only that, but our little lapdog, Holly, who was the size of a cat, was sniffing the air and barking like she smelled us. My mom would stop the car and get out to let Holly try and find us.

She'd been coming back every so often to check the phone or see if we made it home. So, when we were standing in the driveway, She rushed to hug us. After exchanging some words with the lady and profusely thanking her, Mom let the lady leave. The next day, we went to look for my glasses, because we couldn't afford to buy new ones. When my sister saw the cliff and how high it was,

she looked at me and said, I'm glad you talked to me out of jumping. When my mom heard this, she looked mortified. You thought about jumping down? that's like a hundred feet. In reality, it was only about half that. It's still enough to seriously damage or kill us. At the base of the cliff, we found my glasses, too.

They only had a small scuff on the metal, where the rock had hit them. Anyway, thank you for reading this Raven, and I'm a huge fan of your work. Lazzang sur-gely, puissance-moleaned, for 15 minutes. We'd say that's their dojo. Pre to play to enjoy? Vive the pleasure with Leo Jo. The casino in line

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this happened around like 2021 and sometimes I still find it hard to grasp. For context, I now live in a different place and along with most of my relatives so I feel safer saying this on here. The reason I'm posting this is for people to learn and possibly caution themselves from my experience.

I'd say the place that I lived in was just pretty old. It wasn't densely populated nor empty. It had wooded areas around it. You could cycle to the mall, school, and other normal places, but you would have to take a car to go to places like the hospital. I was basically in my last year of high school. being an only child and a girl on top of that made my parents overprotective and I was naturally more cautious than the rest of my friend group

I didn't really mind being that way though because I always thought that that was the better option so teenagers from school would have these outdoor get-togethers in the woods a few kilometers away from the school it was just common for people to lounge out and about chilling until 3 a.m. or something. Including me, it was a group of four. They decided since it was our last year

that we should probably drink together in the woods. Obviously, looking back, stupid freaking idea. But it wasn't unsafe. And it wasn't deep in the woods either. There's a pretty clear trail in a small open-ish area where people would like to get their dogs and whatnot. We plan to do it.

it on a Thursday because my parents would be out, and the rest would convince theirs that we were having a sleepover. Now we bought the alcohol and some other stuff to just chill out. There were no others that day because it was a week day, and quite chilly out as well. It was pretty lively. You could see the houses from the distance, and people would be driving around as well. So naturally we felt safer. We walked on the trails for about one minute when I felt uneasy.

I felt like we were being watched or something like that, and I looked over to one of my friends. She looked a little distressed, but we just shrugged it off. We walked only a few minutes more and found our spot. We started drinking and basically spent like one hour and approximately 30 minutes of gossiping and having those deep talks while being drunk. I didn't drink too much, and neither did my other friends. We were just a little tipsy. Now, we forgot about the brief weird feeling we had felt while walking, until we heard something

from the thick trees in front of us. Even though we were loud, we all heard it. It was this weird snicker-slash-giggle. I got up from this tree log that I was sitting on and dragged my friends back a little. We had a fire going and two torches, but still really couldn't see into that area. It wasn't that close to us. Think around four doors away if you placed them horizontally. So the fact that we heard that laugh was just insane to me.

I pointed the flashlight straight into the area and no one came out. I sat back down, and when I turned the flashlight off, there was a silhouette coming out. I switched the flashlight on to blind that person while my other friends did the same. We started yelling and getting ready to run when I saw the most horrifying sight of my life. It was this man who we had never seen before. He had this plastered on smile and his hair was covered in dirt. He was pale and his eyes were almost like he was not looking at us, but just in our general direction.

I can't really explain it, but it was just textbook creepy. We all ran for it. My very drunk friends even managed to snap out of it. We got to my house. I lived the closest to the place and said that we would call the cops. We were absolutely scared of our parents, but it didn't matter. We called the cops, and they found nothing. Word got out and people pretty much stayed away from the path.

at nighttime, and a couple of the guys in our school managed to get their dads, and all with guns, to find the guy. But nothing ever came of it. Fast forward to like one month later, we didn't talk about it much and never did anything like that again. I got a pocket knife and a pepper spray to keep. I went home after school and was exhausted, so I decided to take a nap. My dad was at work, and my mom was visiting her sister. I suddenly woke up to this weird sound. We only had one story and the walls were not too thick. I locked all the doors and even the windows out of habit.

Still, fearing for the worst, I locked my room door and kind of looked out my window. There was nothing. I grabbed a bat and my phone heading out of my room. I looked at all the doors and, Everything was locked. There was like this weird shuffling outside of my house, and I looked out through the window of my living room.

I kid you not, it was the same dude from the woods. He was just outside walking in this erratic, eerie way, which sent me into a spiral. He somehow saw me and started saying, Hi there, very loudly. I called the police, and after that, I told him to screw off. Then he started saying my name and all of my friend's names.

The police came and questioned him. He has no history of mental illness. He had no clinical disorder. And after enough torture, he confessed to, quote, liking young women. He's in jail now. Probably we'll get out in a couple of years. Edit, by torture I meant. interrogation. My dad has a friend who's a cop, and the cop told him that the guy would scream when they

asked him things. He was also guilty of attempted essay and harassment, but that's all that I know of. I've been having this memory for a long time now. I started remembering only small parts since I was seven, and kept remembering bits and pieces throughout my life. I'm going to go out and say it. This memory that I have is of the other side. There I was in a void. I could not see anything. I did not have a sense of cold or heat or emotions like anger, because I did not have a body. I was there floating at the great speed, toying and playing around, since I realized that I was an orb of light.

I was floating there happy, I guess, in every direction, just messing around like a child. The other glimpse of my memory is that of me waiting in a line like a queue, like in an airport, waiting for check-in. And it was a white, I guess everything was white, and there were other orbs like me. The other memory I have is of choosing my life. I don't know what led me to want to experience life, but I really did not want to miss out since everybody was doing it. and it was kind of like FOMO. So, anyway, the choosing phase there were beings with me, male and female energy, male to my right and female to my left.

I was presented with thousands of different planets, worlds to live in. Like, literally, there were so many I could choose from. And it was like it was presented on a screen. In those I saw futuristic cities, like metropolis types, And the feeling that I get from that world was that it was a very advanced civilization. And on the other screen, I saw these reptilian humanoid beings in a cave. Or rather, he just got out of the cave to view the landscape. It was night, and it was a dark blue, rocky area slash world.

It was overwhelming to choose just one life, and I did sense that there was a pressure to hurry up, so I was kind of recommended by the beings, guides, entities, to go to the planet Earth. So then I was to decide which of the family and years I wanted to incarnate to, and what life I was going to have. There were maybe three or four options to choose from. Anyways, I was kind of interested or rather considering to choose options, but I was again recommended to choose one family over others,

or rather, I guess, I wanted to at least incarnate in the country, city that was most advanced. I saw glimpses of what that life would be like, and I saw that I would get to experience life in other countries. I saw what my body would look like. So, anyway, the advantages of this life would be to get to experience life in other countries, and this life would be much more relaxed in comparison to other options. But there was going to be suffering internally. Life after 20s, I guess, was going to be a struggle. And I saw that I would get to live until my 80s or 90s.

I only saw like moments or glimpses of the life that I am living now. From the point of my orb's self, I was excited for this life. I would say naive. And I knew that this was not going to be easy, but it was the easiest from the other options. I also remember telling them that I want to remember, and that there were now three beings discussing this, and I couldn't perceive them or didn't know what they were saying. I didn't know if there were always three, or if it was just because I didn't notice the third one. The male one to my right did not communicate much.

It was, like, professional, like he was just doing his job. But the female one to my left was loving and caring. I also sensed other orbs, too. They were like me, choosing, I guess. I should also mention that choosing part was happening in a darkness and void area. The next memory after this is of me floating over planet Earth. And I felt like there was a pressure behind me to hurry up, and through some device or pool or tube thing, I entered,

or rather was sucked magnetically. and instantly the first feeling I got was fear. I was shot like a bullet to earth at great speed. I said to myself to remember this memory. I willed it that I want to remember. And there as I was being bulleted to earth, like zooming at the speed of light, from my perspective I wanted to stop and explore the earth as a floating orb, but I couldn't control the force.

As I was approaching to the destination, I decided I was going to research everything about this planet and feel this freedom again. Then there was white light, or rather a flash, signifying that I already entered the womb. And boom, darkness again. But then it was so warm,

and occasionally I felt that I was being fed. It was strange to me, since, as me, I didn't need anything such as food, water, or air. And then after that, there was another memory of everything being blue. The other memory begins of me slowly shifting from third perspective of me perceiving my body to the first person perspective. I was excited. I ran to the mirror to see as I looked, and I realized that it was not me, and that I was in a body. I was surprised that I could move my hands for the first time. So there you go. This is my memory from the other side.

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.