As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 157 - Scary Family Gathering Stories & Retail Horror Stories

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

Today, on the 157 episode of the As The Raven Dreams podcast, we have 6 True Chilling stories. These stories come from the shadowy corners of reality, where everyday life takes an eerie twist & ordinary people experience the extraordinary. Today we will be diving into the horrors that can occur at Family Gatherings, as well as the terror of working retail. There are 2 Ad spots at around 14 min & 51 Min 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... BennyBean, LetsPlayCardGame, Jaime Childerhose , SherlonkTheWizard, Thomas, MagentaMegan 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're aboard of Viarai, Embarked and Profite. Embarked and celebrate. Rigolet. Publié. Savouring. Admire. And profite. Viarai, the voice we love that we love.

If you have a true scary story you'd like to share with the podcast, go to as the ravendreams.com and click the button to send it my way. Also, if the platform you're on has the option to rate the podcast or leave a comment, please consider doing so. And as always, thank you. I'm fairly new to your channel, but I do have a story that I wanted to share with you that happened to, well, not only me, but my family. It might be a little different from your normal, but it was still pretty scary for us, as well as creepy, so hopefully you and your audience will enjoy it. Here goes.

My dad's family owns a lot of acreage out in the middle of no way. Missouri. It's been handed down for a couple generations, and we used to visit a lot as a kid. I don't get down there as often now as an adult, maybe once a year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but that's about it. Currently, my great-grandma lives there. My great-granddad passed away some years ago, but after my great-grandma had a stroke two years ago, leaving her unable to do some things without help, my grandma moved in to be with her. We didn't know how much time she would have,

so a lot of us agreed that we should have an actual gathering down there so that we could be with her. Their home was a cute little three-bedroom house with a guest cabin behind it. The properties backed up to about 40 or 50 acres of dense forest, so when I say middle of nowhere, I really mean it. Once you get on that last road, there is nothing but trees and a lake, and if you're not paying attention, you'll miss the long driveway.

There's no cell reception, and they barely even have cable TV. I'm not currently with anyone, so I drove the two hours alone, but I arrived to a house full of family that I loved. My dad was there. My parents split some time ago. My brother and his wife, my sister and her little girl Kenzie, my grandparents, great-grandma, and plenty of aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was a packed house, but it was fun. I especially adored hanging out with my little niece Kenzie. She was nine at the time and was always a curious and adventurous little girl.

She loves to ask questions and get into things that she probably shouldn't, but she was always always. fun to watch because of it. She would definitely keep you moving. She'd brought along a small clipboard that opened where she stored her paper and her markers. She'd gotten it for her birthday, which was mid-November. I'd been watching her, and she said that she wanted to show me something, and took me out on the back porch. She set her paper on the wood table, took a stencil out of her clipboard, pressed it on the paper, and rolled her marker over it. When she finished, she had made what looked like a wooden textured smiley face. She was very proud of it, too, like it was magic.

I remembered using a similar texture thing as a kid where you rubbed the paper with graphite to reveal a picture, so I thought it was neat. I watched her as she continued to draw on the smiley face page, and we talked about how she had been. Then, completely casually, she asked me, without looking up, do you hear the singing in the woods, too? I remember being confused, telling her that I didn't know what she meant. She just shrugged and kept coloring while explaining.

She said there were pretty ladies who sang in the trees. They have such nice voices. I just looked at her funny. Like I mentioned, Kenzie has a fantastic imagination. She could come up with the whole story about a cool, looking rock she found and you'd be surprised that it came from a nine-year-old. My first thought was maybe she heard a bird song that she really liked. I've always been a huge bird person, so I asked her to sing the song, thinking maybe I could

help her out. She looked up with her head tilted and then she started humming. It was just a normal tweet or chime that I was expecting. She seemed to be humming a whole song with no lyrics. It wasn't very long, but she did repeat it a few times, which was even weirder to me. If she just made it up, I would think there wouldn't really be a pattern to it, and it would just be her humming for a few seconds. That wasn't the case.

When she finished, I asked her where she heard the song from, thinking maybe it was a song from a show she watched or something, but she just pointed to the woods and said, The ladies in the trees. They want me to come sing with them. I was confused, maybe even a little weirded out by it, but I just kind of let the conversation go not trying to carry it on. I would just ask my sister about it later. We continued coloring inside because it was chilly until dinner was ready.

We all ate together and it was fine and normal. Then we slowly dispersed as we finished. Some of the kids were eager to go back to what they were doing, some adults stayed in the dining room talking, while others went to the living room to sprawl out and maybe take a nap. After everyone was finally done picking at food and desserts, most of the adults were either in the living room or out front talking. The kids were off doing their own thing, and it was like any other day.

A lot of us adults had grown up there, so it wasn't like we were somewhere unknown. No one was really concerned about what the kids were. doing or where they were at, because we knew they were close by. They were either in the back room, the basement, or outside playing. But around 8 p.m., some people started heading out, knowing a long drive was ahead. Since it was just me, I had plans to stay overnight. My sister, Trish, walked away to get Kenzie while the rest of us continued talking. Shortly after Trish came back into the living room and asked us where Kinsey was. I shrugged as I hadn't seen her since we had dessert.

While someone else mentioned that she had been playing with a couple of the kids out back, Trish looked at us curiously saying she checked outside and didn't see her, nor was she in the back room or the basement. I agreed to help look for her thinking she was probably in another room, that she shouldn't be in, or maybe we were just missing her. She could be really quiet when she was focused on something. Since she had been coloring, I was thinking that maybe she was just ignoring our calls.

We searched every room in the house, even the closets and pantry, and we couldn't find her. The kids swore that they weren't playing hide-and-seek or something else that would make her stay hidden, and it wasn't some kind of prank, so where could she have gone? My sister was starting to worry, and reasonably so. Others kept joking that she had to be around there, as it's not like there were any strangers nearby. The stranger part I could believe.

But where else could she have gone? I went out back where the kids were and asked them again about Kenzie and when they last saw her. That's when one of my second cousins made the comment about the singing ladies. I did a double take and asked what? what he meant by that. He said that Kendi mentioned singing ladies in the woods, but he didn't like bugs, so he wouldn't go with her,

which had upset her. My stomach dropped. I asked if she went into the trees alone, and he said that he never saw her go, but she might have. If she went into those woods, we were not going to have a good time. There was a lot of acreage,

as I mentioned, and most of that, was trees. We could be searching for a long time depending on how far she got. What's worse is she just had her sweater on, not a large coat, which she needed if she was going to be out there long term. I went back and told the others immediately, and Trish was starting to panic. I followed her and some of the others back outside, and I told the other kids to go inside.

They stayed with my grandma, and we all went. went outside and started walking the tree line. Another problem we were facing was that it was 8 p.m. It was dark, and without any city lights, it was pitch black. We were using flashlights and our phones to light it up the best that we could, but we could still barely see. I tried to remain calm, but part of me was really worried. What were these singing ladies that Kenzie had mentioned prior?

Could they have been real people? And if so, where could they have come from? I was hoping that this whole thing was just some huge mistake and Kenzie would get a stern talking to about running off, but as the minutes passed, my optimism fizzled out. We all went deeper into the woods, shouting for Kenzie to come out. Trish's voice was shaking more and more,

and she told my dad that she was going to call for help. She wanted to get the police out there to help too, because the later it got, the more worked up she became, and understandably so. Who knows what all was out in those woods, just talking about wildlife, but what if there was something more? I contemplated the whole time on whether or not I should mention what she said to me, but I didn't want to make things worse. I just agreed with Trish that we could use all the help we could get in the woods. I went inside with Trish to try and keep her calm as she called it in. Due to where we were, they said that it would take some time to get out there, but that they would be there as soon as they could.

We then went back outside to continue searching in the meantime. We were out there for nearly two hours. The police had just shown up, and were getting all the information when we heard shouting from the trees. It was one of my cousins shouting. I found her. I've never seen my sister run so fast. I followed behind her until we got up to my cousin who was holding her in her arms.

She was awake, but she was shivering uncontrollably. Trish grabbed her and brought her inside, wrapping her up in a blanket and asking her why she went out into the trees. Kenzie looked terrified and like she was about to cry. I know Trish was scared, but I think it was making it worse. I tried to calm them both down and explained to her that we just got really scared because we couldn't find her and that she was gone for a long time. She finally calmed down and told us what happened, and it was more unsettling than I expected.

She explained how she'd heard the singing again, and according to her, she couldn't help herself. She said it was like her feet just moved on their own, and she didn't remember doing it. Then she said the singing just stopped, and she was suddenly really tired. She remembered sitting down on a fallen tree, and then that was it, until she woke up. She said that she was really cold, and when she noticed it was dark, too, she didn't know where she was and started crying. Then she heard someone coming and called out to them. Trish looked terrified and confused, while the cop that was listening smirked and said

that it sounded like someone did something they shouldn't and was trying to cover that up. But why would she lie about something like that? She'd already admitted to walking into the woods and getting lost. Why would she need to make up anything else? The cops still took down the info, and they left afterwards saying that they were just happy she was okay. Sure. It was already late, so my grandma told my sister to stay in the cabin, and she obliged. I was happy she stayed too.

I didn't think she'd be able to drive home safely with her mind so clouded with questions and concerns. I, for one, had a hard time sleeping. I admittedly never mentioned the singing lady to anyone, at least not that night or the following day. It ate at me for a few days afterwards, until I finally caved and told my sister. I feared that she would have been mad at me.

to my surprise though she wasn't she said that kendi told her about the singing ladies that night afterwards and again the next day she even hummed the same song to her she believed her too again it was so specific that it was hard to believe she made it all up just to go out into the woods trish even surprised me by asking me about what it could have been between possible animals or Maybe something a little more obscure, like legends or spirits. But we still have no answers. We haven't been back down there, neither Trish nor myself, and we're kind of worried about going unless we keep a really close eye on Kenzie. So my only question still remains unanswered. What could be back in those woods? This happened back in December of 2017.

This event left quite an impact on me for some time too, but most days I'm fine. I still have anxiety when shopping alone at night, even now being a bigger dude. 2016 to 2017 was a rough time for me. I'd been laid off earlier in 2016, and finally found a job early 2017. It seemed like a constant cycle of being broke, trying to catch up on all my bills, but in time, I did it. It was just me, so I worked my ass off and didn't have much of a social life, but I did it. Towards mid-2017, I was finally caught up on things and bills were back down to normal amounts. I was finally at the point that I wasn't literally living paycheck-to-paycheck, and I could breathe.

I was damn proud of myself for doing it on my own, and since I'd been saving up a little money, I wanted to treat myself to something. I'd been watching the new Nintendo Switch and kept telling myself that that was my goal. When I was back on my feet, I was going to get one, so any extra money I had, I saved up for one. Problem was that a lot of places were sold out. They claimed they were in stock, but when I went to pick it up, they said they were out. I probably went to four or five different places and got the same results. I'd practically given up, other than paying double the price of one on Amazon from a third party,

and I wasn't stupid enough to do that. So I was disappointed, but I just thought I would get one eventually and left it at that. But then, to my surprise, a week before Christmas, I got an email from a large retail chain saying they had switches, back in stock. I didn't get my hopes up, though, thinking I probably wouldn't get one in time. But one night, as I sat at home, I was going through stuff on my own when something reminded me of the email. I was off, and not doing much at the time, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to check out the store and see if they had any left.

The store was just as busy as I was expecting it to be. some kids roaming around, running up and down the aisles, and adults too busy talking on the phone or arguing with someone else to even watch their kids. But I made my way to the electronics section pretty much unscathed, other than the fact that I seemed to have been being followed by AP. There were two men that were always within my line of sight and watching me. They were both in dark pants, black jacket,

and a beanie. They would stop and talk to each other and would act like they were looking at something on a nearby shelf, but every time I looked over, they would be looking at me. I was getting that feeling like I was being watched. They made it

pretty obvious. I thought AP was supposed to be in the background, not trying to size someone up like these guys were. I did my best to ignore it because I had one thing in mind and I was out of there. To my surprise, they still had two switches behind the locked shelf, and I was ecstatic.

I called someone over who pulled one out, and I paid for it there in the electronics section. Afterwards, she handed me the switch with the receipt, as they didn't have any bigger bags in the back. She told me just to show the person at the door as I left. I was in a good mood right there. I was in a good place. I had saved up. I was able to get my hands on a switch. I was ready to just get home and set it up. But as I walked to the front, I noticed those two guys still following me until I got to the registers.

There was no way they didn't see me pay for the switch. Not to mention, I didn't touch it until it was paid for. So why were they still following me? I decided to buy a soda, thinking maybe they would walk away at that point. The cashier rang it up, and I even showed her the receipt for the switch. By the time I was walking out, I glanced around and didn't see those guys. I thought they probably understood that I had already paid for it and decided to leave me alone.

Either way, I was getting out of there. The parking lot was pretty dark at this point, and no one was around from what I could tell. But then I started hearing someone walking behind me. I did a quick glance back, and my stomach dropped. The two guys in the store were now following me, and what I thought were beanies on their heads were now pulled down over their faces, revealing they were actually ski masks.

They weren't AP, but rather a couple of guys looking for an opportunistic moment. I sped up, taking my keys from my pocket so I could get into my car quickly. I was almost there, coming up behind my car when I felt someone yank on the back of my coat. I tried to keep my balance and pulled away, but then I was slammed into my car. My feet swept out from underneath me, and I was kicked multiple times.

I remember lying there, curled up, trying to protect my ribs and head. After several minutes of this, I finally feel something being pressed to the center of my back. One of them leaned in towards my head and said, Count to 60. Don't move before then. And then followed it up by making a pop sound, mimicking a gun. I laid their face against the cold asphalt, too terrified to move. I counted to 60 and then kept going. What if they thought that I had counted too fast?

What if they were nearby listening? By the time I reached 108, I was sobbing. I finally told myself that I needed to get up and started by looking around. When I didn't see anyone, I got to my feet and scanned the ground around me to assess the damage. My wallet was on the ground, open with my cards, and the cache was gone. My phone was gone, and even worse, my switch was gone. I was devastated.

I know it may sound stupid to some, but I was just attacked and I was upset. about a console. I could replace the cards. How could I even prove what happened to the console? And after everything I had been through the last year, this was supposed to be my moment of happiness. Something I could look back on and say that I did that, all on my own.

Feeling defeated and not knowing what else to do, I thought I could at least file a police report back in the store. As I walked in, I saw a woman standing inside the first half. of doors. She made eye contact with me and immediately asked if I was okay. I lost it. I broke down again and told this woman everything that had happened. She was probably close to my mother's age, and she immediately hugged me. She said as she was leaving, she saw two men wearing masks running away from the parking lot, and one of them shouted to go. She could see them run to the side of the

building and then a car took off. I thanked her for stopping and she explained how she wasn't comfortable walking in the parking lot by herself, so she had asked the door greeter to have someone walk with her, which is why she was waiting where she was. We both walked back into the store, and I told them that I needed to file a police report and to check the cameras. They refused to let me see the cameras, but they said they would show the cops if I did file something. The woman let me use her phone to call the police, and then we waited there for them. They filed the report. One of them went and watched the cameras and confirmed they could see the attack, but couldn't see the license plate of the car they left in.

Afterwards, I took my contact info. I had to give them my mom's number because I didn't have a phone, and they said they would reach out if they found anything. The lady that helped me gave me another hug and apologized for what had happened to me. It was very sweet of her to stick around, considering she had no reason to. She could have just left, but she stayed to help me, and at the time, that meant a lot to me. I went home, defeated, worse off than I was when I left, not knowing what else to do. I had my ID, but that was about it. Everything else was gone. I just went to bed thinking I would drive to my mom's house the next day and let her know what happened.

I actually woke up the next day to someone knocking on my bedroom door. I live alone. I slowly opened the door to see my mom standing on the other side, her eyes huge and filled with concern. She told me that there were cops waiting for me downstairs. She has a spare key to my place, and after getting a call from the police looking for me, she came over quickly and met the police at my place. I explained what happened to my mom as I threw some clothes on and went downstairs. The cop again asked me what all was taken that night.

I listed my cards, the amount of cash that I had, my phone, and of course, the purchase I had just made for the switch. He asked me if I still had the receipt, and I did. I had shoved it in my pants ready to get home. I got the receipt and showed it. showed it to the cops, and he said he actually had good news. Later that evening, they had arrested a few guys after they tried to break into a car in another parking lot. Someone spotted them, and called it in immediately. When they stopped them, they had a trunk full of stuff from consoles, toys.

There was a baggie filled with cards with different names on them and a box of phones, clearly belonging to other people. They said they started sorting through everything, and the cop that was at my place that morning was both there when I filed the report, and was going through the cards. So he wanted to reach out to me to come in and check the phones. What I didn't think about was that the receipt had the serial number for the switch, so I could bring it in so they could try and match it too. My mom went with me, and they said they didn't find any of my cards, nor did they find any cash. but my phone was in the box, and they could match the cereal to one of the switches they had. This had turned out to be one of the worst moments, but also quickly turned around.

I lost about a hundred bucks in cash, but I didn't have to replace my phone or the switch. I had to report my cards as stolen, but thankfully they had only used one of them to get gas. I realized that I got extremely lucky that night. they could have killed me, knowing they pressed something to my back that could have been a gun. I saw their faces in the store, so they had a reason. I could have never have gotten my stuff back, but they got too cocky and didn't stop when they did,

in turn getting themselves caught. I don't know if someone or something was watching over me, saying I had been through enough or what, but whatever it was, I'm incredibly thankful for it. I do still have some issues when it comes to being out at night alone, and I park as close as possible to buildings, and I always have my keys out and ready to either unlock my car or to use as a weapon. But, for the most part, if it can wait until the next day,

then I will wait to avoid putting myself in another potentially, dangerous situation. Hi, Raven. As always, thanks for all your great content. Thank you. I thought I would share a creepy retail experience I had a few years ago. This could be triggering to some, so just a heads up. I worked in a small retail store for a bit in the town I moved to.

It's the type that sells a bit of everything for a discount price. Being new to town and wanting to make a good, impression, which can be important in a small town, since everyone knows everyone and words spreads like wildfire. I'm also a fitness and vitality coach, and so it's in my nature to want to give people my heart and my attention, especially if they're having a rough day. And this is where the experience begins. There was this one particular regular customer, an older gentleman, who was a little rough

around the edges, but still polite. Nothing alarming, especially here. Many different characters, in other words. He would come in on the regular and chit-chat with me a little, some small-town charms, and as time went on, he started to open up to me about his life, which was a nightmare. I felt so bad for him.

Then, one day he came in and gave me a compliment that I looked beautiful that day. Nothing out of the ordinary. Older gentlemen seemed to compliment me most. I am married to an older man, so maybe I give off the older man vibes or something. Then, each visit moving forward, his compliments started getting provocative. He would mention the way that I looked in my clothes, how sexy I was and so on, which started to make me feel uncomfortable.

I didn't say anything at the time, though, because I felt silly making a scene or anything at work. So I uncomfortably laughed it off instead, and then D-Day finally came where he crossed the line. He was quite upset one day when he came in, and so I let him pour his heart out to me. I felt for him, but when he was leaving, I walked him to the door, which was at the end of the counter, and he thanked me and put his arm around my shoulder. and then slid his hand down my back and grabbed my behind. I pulled back and told him that that's out of bounds, but he was leaving and didn't say anything back.

I probably should have said something, but he was old, drunk, high, and I felt for him. So then he comes in again on another day. And as usual, as of late, starting to compliment me in a creepy way. so I finally tell him that I'm not cool with the way he's talking to me and behaving. He gets annoyed and starts to try to make me feel guilty and wrong, that he's complimenting me, and asks why is that so bad? Oi, shortly after, my co-worker came in to relieve me and take over her shift, and so I told her. She knew exactly who it was, and apparently he leaned over to her one day and whispered

a sexual comment in her ear. She then punched him. I'm not a violent person, but I couldn't help but laugh. Apparently, he has a reputation. She also told me other stories about him and a female customer, horse farmer, don't mess with the farmers, who cornered him one day and threatened to have him charged, or even beat up if he didn't stop harassing the women in town.

The thing with him is, he's always too drunk and high to ever remember, which does not make it okay, but hard to get the point across. I don't work there anymore, so I'm not sure whatever happened to him. Hopefully he was charged, or quit being a complete douche. And if that's all not creepy enough, silly me who gives her heart to everyone has learned that not everyone appreciates it. His energy was attached to me after the growth,

for two weeks until I did an entity removal. I could constantly see and hear him at the top left-hand corner of my vision, if that makes sense. My adrenaline was also off the rails until I removed his energy. Gross. But live and learn. Hey, Raven, here's something that happened to my family back in the early 2000s that, while we laugh about it now, it was pretty terrifying at the time. I lived with my dad and stepmom in a small house where I shared a room with my stepbrother, Peter.

We were close in age and got along most of the time, so it wasn't a problem. But my stepmom hardly cooked. I don't know if it was because she didn't know how or just didn't like to. Anyways, because she didn't cook, we never hosted any kind of big family gathering, like Thanksgiving. We may bring over a dessert, like. cookies because us kids would make them with their help, but that was about the extent of our part. Needless to say, we ended up at my grandparents or my aunts and uncles home. I liked going to my aunts and uncles because they had two kids, my cousins, Mike and Mallory.

Mike was my age, and Mallory was two years older than me. This meant that Peter and I would have something entertaining to do if we went there, so I preferred it. Again, I got along with Mallory and we used to play together as kids, but since she was a girl and a bit older, our interests slowly drifted. And that's okay. She always kept herself busy doing something. Once we arrived, Peter and I immediately went to Mike's room and started playing the SNS with him. Mallory said hi to us, but she'd been in the kitchen helping her mom, my aunt Lisa, with the cooking. This year was going to be a little different, however,

because my uncle Jim, it was going to be frying the turkey. I heard him talking to my dad about it and showing his setup in the garage. Those of you that have heard similar stories to this know that this was the first mistake, setting up a friar like that indoors. It was drizzling all day that day, so my uncle decided to move into the garage and just leave the door open. I remember the adults telling all of us kids to stay out of the garage.

Mike's room was basically on the other side of the back wall of the garage, so we could hear some muffled talking when people were in there or the garage door opened. As a kid, I thought it was weird and would be annoying, but Mike said that you got used to it quickly, so he didn't hardly notice it anymore. While we were playing, I suddenly heard a loud, whoosh-like sound. It sounded like a giant match being struck.

That was the only way I could think to describe it. Then it was quickly followed by Mallory's screaming, and it wasn't her playful scream like she did when I scared her or teased her. This was more out of terror. Then I heard a lot of stomping, like people running, and my aunt Lisa screaming. We had the door slightly open

so we could hear the talking and screaming, pretty well. All three of us were looking at the door, listening. I got up ready to check out what was happening when all of a sudden my stepmom was in the doorway waving us all to go. She said to get out of the house through the back door, and Peter started asking why. I just remember the fear in her voice when she pleaded with us to just go. Mike started to grab something and she stopped him saying we needed to go now, and he dropped whatever he had. We all went out the back door and walked around the other side of the house to get to the front. That's when I started seeing the smoke. Black clouds were gushing from the garage. It was so

thick that I couldn't see inside it. But then I saw my uncle rolling on the ground and my aunt smacking him with a towel. I'd never seen anything like that in real life, and let me tell you, if you haven't either, it's terrifying. As you watch it in your mind, you think there's no way anyone could survive something like that. It was insane and terrifying. My dad was waving a fire extinguisher at the garage, and I could hear sirens approaching. Everyone that was there was outside, but I still watched in horror as my uncle lied on the ground, moaning in pain, and the garage billowed with smoke. The fire truck arrived, and we all stood on the sidewalk as we watched them put out the fire.

A paramedic helped my uncle onto a stretcher, and my aunt went with them. I just remember my uncle looking over at us kids and smiling, saying, Hey, sorry about the turkey, kiddos, as they wheeled him off. I could tell that he was still in a lot of pain, but he still took the time to smile and make sure that we knew he would be okay. That's what I loved about my uncle Jim. After the fireman checked out the house to make sure everything was okay and stable, we all went to the hospital to check up on my aunt and uncle. He was awake and coherent,

and his burns were surprisingly not too severe. He had second-degree burns on his chest, due to the oil and type of material his sweater was made of, but the rest was only first degree. He got extremely lucky. While most of us waited in the hospital, my dad went out and got us Chinese food for dinner, and I for one was incredibly thankful they were open. They had saved our Thanksgiving, and we all enjoyed it sitting in the hospital cafeteria.

After everything happened, I heard pieces of the event from my cousin Mallory and the others over time. Mallory liked to help a lot and was intrigued by the whole turkey friar thing, so my uncle told her when he was dropping in the turkey so she could watch. She stood in the doorway as he lowered the partially thawed turkey, as my aunt told us. That was his second mistake. The turkey was still partially frozen, and it was supposed to be completely thawed, something that my aunt was concerned about. And lastly, he didn't measure the oil correctly. He treated it like anything else he would fry in a skillet, so when he lowered it, the oil overflowed.

Some of it splashed on the floor and close to the burner, which caused a small flame that he quickly put out. But as it heated up, my uncle also turned up the heat, thinking the turkey had cooled it down some. When he did this, something popped, shooting hot oil out of the pot. It hit his chest, and in his quick response to take his shirt off

because of the burning, he managed to nudge the pot, and that's when things went from bad to awful. It spilled and some landed on the burner, and that is all it took. Instant's inferno. Flames hit my uncle. My cousin started screaming,

making my aunt run in there. She tried to put him out, but the garage was still on. fire. That's when my uncle still had the wherewithal to tell them about the tank in there and to get out of the house. That was about when my stepmom came and ushered us out. My uncle had a few butane tanks, I believe, is what they were called, in his garage, that he used for stuff and he was worried about them exploding. Surprisingly even being on the shelf close to the door, they weren't touched. Overall, the garage had some...

pretty hefty damage, but the rest of the house managed to be unscathed. My dad teases my uncle a lot. It's his brother anyways, and we'll sometimes call him deep-fried Jim. He's still in good spirits about it, but I think he learned his lesson. My aunts definitely won't allow him to try it again, and we went back to the old-fashioned baked turkeys. But at least we know that, in worst case, We could rely on the local Chinese restaurants to save our holiday dinner. If you asked me what working in retail would be like in my 20s, would you believe me if I said it included filing a police report over a toaster oven?

I was working at a pretty popular department store attached to a mall for about four years after graduating high school. The work was fine. If you've worked retail, you'll only. understand that statement. Most days were good. Sometimes you got out late and had obnoxious customers, but it wasn't terrible. I could tolerate the difficult ones for the most part.

Eventually, they would leave the store, but they had plenty of other places to walk around and keep them distracted, giving them the chance to calm down, which is why I liked working there in particular. But during the holidays, and especially Black Friday, I like to calm. learned to hate being out in public. Customers at the mall and in my store would just become unreasonable. They locked their eyes on one thing, they had a goal set,

and they refused to let anything else get in their way. The lines were overwhelming, seeing people lining up outside of our pull-down gates. We would have to wait for security to guard the door while we slid underneath it, just to make sure they didn't try to follow us in. People get crazy, and that's what leads me to this story. On this Black Friday, the theme was home appliances.

That's where our largest sales were going to be this year. We did have specials in sales in other departments, like clothing and jewelry, but appliances were our focus. It was something upper management came up with after they got their predictions of what would sell best this year. whatever. So, needless to say, some of the deals were pretty steep, and I was surprised by how many people bought a new fridge just because you could get a $100 gift card. At the time, I was working in the Home Goods sections,

so I was going to be one of the associates dealing with those people, and I was prepared to deal with some crazy that day, no matter where I was stationed. For the first few hours, I was surprised at how well it was working, We had a ticket system that we were using for electronics and larger items, so we didn't have people carrying the items around, and possibly getting them snatched from their carts.

Yeah, people have done that, too. You took the ticket to the register that would have the barcode and serial number on it, and you took it to a room towards the front, and they went and got the item for you. Pretty smooth system. But that wasn't all the items. and not everyone was willing to be patience or consider it. I'd been walking around the aisles in my area,

making sure we didn't have any spills or large messes, trying to keep them at least free of things to cause injuries or lawsuits. I heard a few voices that sounded like people arguing, but trying to keep their voices low. So I started searching for them. It didn't take long before I came across two women, standing uncomfortably close to each other, both gripping the same boxed toaster oven.

It wasn't our cheapest model, but it also wasn't that expensive either. Just a normal-looking thing that wasn't even listed on the main event Doorbusters list. One of them was an older woman, probably in her late 50s, who was red-faced and breathing heavily. The other one was maybe mid-30s. She looked a lot younger, but, I could tell that she was still older than me. The younger woman, however, had this eerily calm expression that sent warning bells ringing.

I'd seen that look before in a lot of my friends, and others close to my age. It's that look of confidence before the exact opposite that you're expecting to happen happens. I approached them, but still kept some distance between them, and asked what was going on. The older woman turned her head and looked at me still gripping the box. She said the toaster oven was on the shelf with a tag for like $499, but the younger woman is saying that she saw it first so it was hers. The younger woman then cut her off saying she was wrong, that it's actually on sale for 159 down from 210,

explaining how she'd been watching for this specific item for a while, and it was finally on sale. She then made a remark about how the older woman was just lying to try to get us to honor a mistake that wasn't there, calling the older woman cheap. They started bickering some more, so I pulled out my handheld and scanned the barcode. It confirmed the price was $1.59.99 on sale. I explained this to both of them, and the older woman cut me off. I don't give a damn what it says. The tag said $499, and you have to honor it.

It's the law. Yeah, that's not how that works. There was no policy at our store about honoring something if it's in the wrong spot, and it certainly wasn't a law. There weren't even any tags on the shelves for that amount. I don't know where she saw or got the idea that this thing was $49. I tried explaining this to the older woman, and still they are tugging in the box,

and the older woman says she was wanting to buy it for her grandson, saying he's been wanting one for months. Your grandson? Wanted a toaster oven? All I could think was how old was he? I tried responding to her when the younger woman cut me off. Nobody cares about your grandson. And she started laughing.

That's when the older woman shoved the box at the younger one, making her fall backwards to the ground, hitting her head on a nearby cart in the process. I was shocked by what I had just witnessed. I went to help the woman up when the older one said she wanted to speak to my manager. Before she could even finish her sentence, the younger woman pounced on her, pushing me aside in the process. They both fell into a nearby display of curigs and coffee makers,

and they both just started punching and screaming. I stood dumbfounded for a moment. The younger woman had won the fight with the toaster oven. All she had to do was walk away with her prize, but instead she attacked the other woman. I stood dumbfounded for a moment, watching the two of them until others started gathering, pulling out their phones. I walkieed for help, and I tried to jump between the two of them to break it up, but they were like animals. The older woman had a firm grasp of the younger girl's hair, but the younger one was still swinging wildly at the other.

It took one of our security guards and two male managers to finally pull these two apart. We had them sitting on the floor, separated, and they still continued to scream at each other about the prices and Christmas and their responsibilities as parents. I was concerned about their parental ability. We had to wait for the police and an ambulance to show up to check them out. I saw them wrap up the younger woman's hand and patch up the older woman's face.

After I gave my statement to the police, they showed me a handful of price stickers and asked if they were ours. They almost looked like those little yard sale stickers, but some had printed numbers on them and others were written on. I declined, saying we didn't use stickers like. that. The cop then explained how they were found on the older woman, but she refused to say anything other than they weren't hers. It was odd, until I thought back to the whole situation. Looking over the box that started the whole thing, there was a sticker on the side of it. The same sticker the cops showed me with a printed 4999. This woman was really making sale stickers, and putting them on things to try and get a steeper discount.

This was the first time I had ever seen that. Ultimately, both women ended up banned from the store, and the company charged them for the damages, and I'll just say that it was more than $49, or even $210. Still, I'm shocked at how far people are willing to take things to try and save $50. bucks. I see similar stories on the news, and I just want to scream at these people. What is the point? I continued working in retail for a few years after that, until I got a nice office job, but I still do not understand some people's logic on Black Friday deals. Just if you see a good

deal like that, and you realize you're not the only one looking at it, let's. Let's see. Let it go. Just let it go. I promise you, the jail time is not worth the money that you would save. Lazzang sur-joled, puissance-molyne, for 15 minutes. We're like to dojo. Fere to play the pleasure with Leo Jo. The casino in-line that proposes the most recent machine-ass-sou

and the games of casino in direct. Profite of 50 tours, gratu, on Big Bas Bonanza, without exigance of mis-mise and with the payments instantane. Hey, I've got gained! Woohoo! My pleasure play, oh Joe. 18 and plus, 1st, first depots only, exclude in Ontario,

50 tours gratuys on the machine-assoubeck-based Bonanza. Depos minimum of $10. Veil to be in a fashion responsible. The conditions apply. My family always had big get-togethers for the holidays. Most of the time, it was at our place, since we had a pretty spacious house. But sometimes it was at my grandparents' house too.

Back in 2006, we went to my paternal grandparents' place from my dad's side of the family on Thanksgiving. day. Then for my mom's side, we were going back to hosting at our place that following Sunday. I was 14 at the time, and was the oldest of three kids. I also had several cousins that were younger than me. If you're the oldest sibling or cousin, you probably understand this sentiment, but that meant that I was the cool sister or cousin, because I had a lot of stuff they didn't have,

or that they wanted to play with, such as my own Nintendo DS and computer. Needless to say, when we hosted, a lot, if not all, of the kids would end up in my room. I didn't mind, however, I loved hanging out with them and being the boss. They were all well-behaved, for the most part, and it kept me entertained, too.

But I was also thankful they chose to hang out with me this year, fearing what could have happened to them if they hadn't. Besides my parents, my baby brother, and my little sister, our other family members to show up were my grandma and grandpa, my aunt, Margaret, and Uncle Charlie, and their two kids, Rudy, and Charlotte. There was also my Aunt Beth and her kid, Jake. As they started to arrive, I was already in my room doing something on my computer. Slowly, the younger kids all trickled in, watching me over my shoulder or asking to play my DS.

After about an hour, my room was filled with four kids under the age of 10 plus me. My baby brother was still an infant, so my mom kept a hold of him, or he was at least passed around to the adults a lot. Rudy and Jake liked to take turns on my DS, which I was fine with. Sometimes I had to get on to them about fighting, but they typically listened. My little sister, Chloe, liked to play with my dolls that I usually kept on my shelf, but I would take them down for her. I was more about collecting them than playing with them at that age anyways. Charlotte was the oldest of the bunch.

She was ten, exactly, so she would go back and forth between playing with Chloe or watching me on my computer. Sometimes they would all stop and watch a funny video with me, but for the most part, I kept them pretty occupied. After we had dinner, we all returned to my room while I heard the adults talking and laughing in the living room. My grandma came into my room once to check on us, but otherwise, we were left to our own devices. Rudy had lost some interest in the DS after some time, and was now going back and forth between all of us and asking about some of the board games. that I had. I started pulling some of them out from my shelf when I heard a loud bang come from the front of the house. My shelf on the wall was facing the living room and it shook, so I just assumed that somebody opened or shut the front door too hard and didn't think anything else of it.

But as Rudy looked over the games and talked to himself, I started hearing what sounded like people yelling in the living room. Then, I heard the crashing sounds. Now I knew that something was wrong. No one that was there had any patterns of getting belligerent or fighting, so it was something I wasn't used to hearing with them. Part of me wanted to go check out whatever was happening, and when I looked over to see Charlotte and Chloe looking at the door too, it pushed me to get up and check.

I remember making a joke to the girls that the grown-ups were being louder than us, and they smiled and went back to playing. My door was cracked open because it got warm in my room if I didn't, so I pushed it open a bit and leaned out of the door frame. I could hear an unfamiliar voice talking, more like yelling or arguing, and my concern was that I didn't recognize it. I crept towards the stairway and looked over the railing. My room was upstairs and I could look over the stairs at the top and get a perfect view of the living room.

It was one of my favorite things to do as a kid when I would watch them wrap the presents for Santa. I don't think they thought that through very well. Anyways, I slowly looked over and what I saw terrified me. There was a man that I didn't recognize standing by the front door, holding a gun and pointing it towards the couch my aunt, my mom and my dad sat. My grandma and Uncle Charlie were in the chairs opposite the couch.

My grandma in the chair right next to the man. I remember her face was one of terror. Her eyes were so wide that it startled me. I couldn't see my grandpa or Aunt Margaret, so I assumed they were probably in the kitchen. Maybe the doorway or something. The man was in a brown coat, similar to the one that I saw my dad wear.

His hair was a little longer, but also looked messy and unwashed. And I could see his hand that was holding the gun was shaking. I knew something was wrong, but there wasn't much I could do about it. If I even tried to walk down the stairs, he would see me. But when I heard my Aunt Beth try to say something, he yelled at her to stay still and said something along the lines of, The next one of you to move gets leaden their skull. I'm not playing.

At least, that's the censored version. That's when I knew this was really bad. I slowly crept back to my room and shut the door completely. I watched the kids play. Jake still wrapped up in the DS, but the other ones were now looking at me or the door. I smiled trying to remain calm and to not scare them and told them to just keep playing.

Charlotte tried to ask about the sound, and I said they were just talking about something important. She wanted to go down there to be with her mom, but I told her that they were watching something on the TV that the kids weren't allowed to see. So she stayed, but it was obviously about to start crying. I had to act fast to keep them calm and safe, not knowing who this person was or what they wanted.

So I came up with an idea. I asked them all to play house with me. It was something most of them, most of the time, liked to play. I told them this time we would play like it was Christmas, and that if they went to bed early, Santa could bring them presents. It took me a moment to get me to convince Jake, but I told him that whatever they got from Santa, they would get to keep. Jake looked at me like he was trying to challenge,

but I promised him I wasn't lying, so he agreed. He probably thought that I was going to give him my. DS, but I figured that he would get over it eventually. I told them all to find a place to sleep, and they all found their spots. The girls curled up sharing my beanbag chair and stuffed animals, happy to oblige. Jake took one side of my bed, Rudy took the other, gripping on to one of my pillows. I told them that this was going to be a contest, and if they didn't play along, it was going to hurt my feelings enough to kick them out of my room. I hated being like that to them, but I was trying my best to make this convincing and figure out how to keep them all still.

Once they were in position, facing towards the wall, I turned off the light, keeping my computer screensaver on for some light, knowing that my sister still had problems with the dark. I tried to quietly make comments about what they liked, and even in fear, I smiled a bit when I heard Charlotte squeak a little when I heard Charlotte squeak a little, I mentioned her favorite doll of mine. I reminded them not to get up until I said Merry Christmas and kicked on the lights. I then lied on the floor myself in front of my bed, using the back pillow from my chair and covering up with my robe. I chose this position because it was close to my nightstand where I also had my own landline phone. Yes, that same year in May, my parents put in my own phone. It was still the same landline as the house, but,

I felt grown up with my little phone in my room. I pulled it off the nightstand, trying to hide it with my pillow. I called 911 trying to whisper and to not alert the kids. As I talked to the operator, I told them that someone had broken into the house and that they had a gun. I told them the address and then told them that all the kids were in my room. I tried to say that I couldn't really talk because I was needing to stay quiet, but I was also trying to listen downstairs. I could hear them yelling more and it was multiple voices.

I was terrified that someone was going to get shot. Then I heard the sound of feet stomping up the stairs. My heart was racing and I softly said again to keep your eyes closed. Shortly after, I heard my door open. I held the phone to my chest hoping that he wouldn't see it or hear the operator asking if I was still there. After what felt like hours, the person at the door made a clicking sound with his mouth and slammed my door shut. I looked up and saw Jake staring at the door.

I told him to look back down, and when he did, I picked the phone back up. I told them what had just happened, and they said that the cops were almost there. I sat up, knowing I had to do something now that he possibly knew we were in here. I assumed it was the guy because they didn't say any of our names or ask if we were okay. As I got up to at least keep the kids motivated, I grabbed the doll and put it in Charlotte's arms. I quickly ripped out a page of related stickers for Jake, knowing that he loved playing my Mario game, and scanned the room for something for the other two. As I did this, I heard another loud pop and screaming from downstairs.

Then there was a lot of shuffling. and my dad yelling, help me grab his legs. I think the kids were scared at this point, because they weren't looking. And, in fact, they were burying their head deeper into the pillow and stuffed animals. Then I heard the sirens. I heard the front door opening and my mom yelling. I tried to continue playing along, but I wanted to know what was going on.

Was someone hurt? Was there something I could do or should? do? I quickly grabbed a stuffed animal for my sister and my beloved mini sorry board game for Rudy. I loved my minis, but it was worth it.

I cracked my door open and heard radio chatter and felt a moment of relief. The police had actually arrived. I shut the door again and kicked on the light and gave my best Santa voice saying, Merry Christmas to the kids. They all opened their eyes,

and I actually think I got the same feeling parents must get when their kids opened their presents. They were all ecstatic to see what they had. I had given away my favorite doll, a stuffy that I adored, and stickers in a game from my collection, but it was worth it. They were all happy to see what they got, and Rudy was even surprised. I knew he loved playing it. I told them they could keep them if they promised to continue listening like they did and stay in the room.

They agreed, and I told them that I would be right back. I went back to the hall and looked down at the living room. My dad was already coming upstairs, and he hugged me and asked if we were okay. I looked and saw two cops inside talking to my mom and Aunt Beth. The coffee table was overturned, and the light was knocked down. I told my dad we were fine and asked what had happened, and he said that someone had broken in. but it was taken care of.

The guy was obviously arrested, and after all the talking going on, the kids stayed in my room until my sister and Charlotte fell asleep for real. The boys were playing a game on my computer. I'd been listening from upstairs, and I got pieces of what had happened. After all was said and done, the kids ended up staying the night with us, but I just let them have my room while I slept in my sister's.

room. It wasn't until I was a little older that I learned more about what actually happened and who that man was. Apparently, it was my Aunt Beth's ex-boyfriend. They briefly dated, but she quickly learned that he was not a good person. He was very violent and an alcoholic. She didn't want Jake to grow up around that, so she left him. He apparently didn't take it too well and he had been stalking her, hence how he ended up at our place that night. He claimed that he wanted to talk to her, but he was clearly under the influence and had a gun, so no one was comfortable with the situation. Eventually, he slipped up and shot the wall, which gave my dad the chance to tackle him.

They actually told me they were surprised by how fast the police showed up because none of them had had the chance to call, and they were actually proud of me for calling them. I never really thought much more on what I did, other than great. I kept them busy and out of danger. But when I explained to them that night what we did in the room, I remember my mom crying and saying how proud she was of me. She said that what I did was very smart and brave. No one knows what his intentions were with going up and checking the rooms,

nor did we know what he would have done if we were awake and looked at him. To this day, I still think back to that moment in how terrifying it was, but also how even as a child myself still, I was able to process everything, and somehow knew exactly what I needed to do. I'm still close with my siblings and cousins, and I would do it all again just to keep them safe. But I would personally rather hope that they or their future kids

are never put in a similar situation. Hey there, friends. I hope that you enjoyed this collection of scary stories on this episode of the As the Raven Dreams podcast. If the platform you're on has the option to follow podcast and you enjoyed my work, please do consider doing so. Also, leaving ratings and reviews are super important for the algorithm to support the growth of the podcast.

I'm just one guy doing this. I don't have a team. It's literally just me doing everything. So any support like that is greatly appreciated. Never expected, though. So if you go above and beyond with that, I do appreciate it. Some platforms also allow you to leave comments, and if you feel inclined to do so, please do. I would appreciate that. I do have a Patreon in a merch store that you can also check out if you want to support a little further. The Patreon site of things get you early access to all of my content. It is formatted differently as it goes in line with what my YouTube channel is, but it is the same stories, just different collections. There is also a website astherravendreams.com, where you can

check out pretty much everything about me, my social media platforms, fiction stories I've written if you want to read those, as well as submitting your own stories, which there's a big button on the front page you click to do so, and those stories basically keep the podcast alive, to be honest with you. So, yeah. All that said, friends, I do hope that I see you again here very soon. Until then, remember that you are loved, that you are valid, that you are important. You're the best you that you can be. Don't forget it. And until next time, much love and sleep well.