As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 191 - Dark Family Secret & In The Woods Stories

Episode Date: August 31, 2025

Today, on the 191st episode of the As The Raven Dreams podcast, we have 8 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 some Dark Family Secret Stories & Scary In The Woods/Hiking Stories Today's episode was partially written by Tom K, Find his other works here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DBVX81W7 If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like or rate the podcast, and leave me a comment with your thoughts if the platform your own supports it! I upload episodes every 3 days, so there are 2 days between new uploads. The podcast consists of new scary story collections, Glitch in the matrix collections, and also what I call the "Dark Dreams" collections (which are older stories, remastered and layered with rain sounds). If you have a story to submit, would like to find where to listen to the podcast, or want to find me on social media platforms, all of that info can be found at https://www.astheravendreams.com You can also send stories into my subreddit (r/theravensdream) or email them to me at [e-mail] Want to check out some ATRD Podcast Merch? ➤ https://teechip.com/stores/astheravendreams Or for signed merch ➤ https://ko-fi.com/AsTheRavenDreams I wrote a novel, "The Insomniac's Experiment" by Raven Adams! Check it out on amazon (Or you can email me for a signed copy!) Join Patreon to get early access and support the Podcast! ➤ https://www.patreon.com/AsTheRavenDreams Check out my gaming channel with my pal Ghost_Ink ➤ @superNefariousBros On YouTube Thank you to all of the authors that have stories in todays episode... Alec, Tom k, JonahInTheWoods, Andrea Jarrett, Morgan, Andrea Jarrett, Ari As Well As Any Author That Has Requested Anonymity. TimeStamps… Ad breaks after Story 1 & Story 4 1 ➤ 1:48 2 ➤ 12:36 3 ➤ 22:15 4 ➤ 28:27 5 ➤ 49:37 6 ➤ 55:44 7 ➤ 1:04:27 8 ➤ 1:12:03 ----- Disclaimer ➤ Episodes include a content warning for language and sensitive/disturbing content. Listener discretion is always advised. ALL Audio and visuals on this podcast are copyright of AS THE RAVEN DREAMS / RAVEN ADAMS and may not be duplicated, in any format. Bless This Mess. None of my audio is AI Generated, I am a real person reading real stories into a real microphone. #ScaryStories #UnexplainedMysteries #GlitchInTheMatrix Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to aboard, Viarai. Embarked and profite. Embarked and celebrate. Rigolet. Publiere. Savoy. Admire. Admire. And profite. Viaray, the voice that we have. Hey there, friends. Good afternoon, evening or morning, depending on where you are. And when you listen to this. Today, we have some hiking stories as well as some family secret stories. This collection of stories is a good one in my opinion. Though I kind of think I say that on all of them. They're all good in my opinion. I am a fan of all types and genres of scary stories, so it's hard for me not to say that. Anyways, this is a collection of stories, like I said, Dark Family Secrets and Hiking Stories. Hopefully you all enjoy them. Um, I don't really have much to say. Any, anything to mention here, I guess.

Nothing like too much to talk about this morning. When I'm recording this. Um, but hopefully, hopefully you are having a fantastic day and hopefully the rest of your week goes well. I really and genuinely hope that you have a great week. If you do have a story that you'd like to send into the channel or podcast, whatever want to call me, please do consider doing so. Astherravendreams.com,

there's a big button on the website to send in the stories. Or you can email them to me as the Raven Dreams at gmail.com. That's also an option. I get stories at both locations. And they both come straight to me, so I see them. And I don't usually miss them, so. Email is a little slower because the website keeps everything nice and collected.

It's a Red X page made by my friend, Stories After Midnight. So, yeah. All that said, friends, again, hope you have a great day. Hope I see you again here soon. But until then, enjoy the scary stories. Before I start this, I just want to say that what happened in my... my family was pretty messed up, but I won't be going into too much detail. I'm sure you all will be able to understand as I go along and maybe even figure it out.

It's something I absolutely hate about my family, especially with the way that everyone handled it, but I also wanted to share how brave of a person my aunt is as well. Growing up, I thought we had a pretty happy and healthy extended family. Not only did I love being with my siblings and parents, but my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were also wonderful people too. I loved how we may not see each other for a few months, but then we would all get together and continue right where we left off. We had your typical family holidays where everyone would get together at someone's house, or maybe even a rec center or park, and everyone just seemed very close. But, as kids do, I noticed that my aunt Becca's family was a little different than others. Aunt Becca had four kids, yet she never had their father around.

I had other aunts with uncles and vice versa, so it stood out to me. And as kids often do, we say or ask things that might make others uncomfortable, which is where I came in. At one time, I remember asking my aunt where my cousin's dad was. She was always so very nice to me about it, though. She would smile, and without skipping a beat, would tell me that sometimes couples don't get along like they used to, so they have to live separately.

I tried asking where he lived then, and, again, she would say that she wasn't sure, but that was okay, and change the subject. I certainly didn't understand or know better, so I just remember feeling sorry for my cousins, because I loved my dad. He helped me with a lot of stuff as a kid. Then, when we were on our way to another family party,

I asked my mom about it, and she very quickly dismissed me. She told me that I should never ask about that, and I should never bring it up to my aunt because it wasn't something for a kid to talk about. My mom was typically very nice, but the way she said that made it seem like I would, was in trouble, and I felt bad for even bringing it up. So I pretty much dropped it then.

I thought maybe I'll learn more as I got older, or maybe it really wasn't a big deal and I needed to let it go. But the older I got, the more I watched, and the more my curiosity would get the best of me. Aunt Becca was rarely around when my grandparents visited. My maternal grandparents, which would also be my aunt's parents. And clearly, this stood out. because why would you not want to see your own parents?

I, again, couldn't imagine that because I loved my parents. But yet she typically wasn't involved. If she was there and they showed up, she would keep her distance and would typically leave shortly after. At the two family reunions that I went to, she hovered near the back and didn't really go elsewhere. And when she did show up to a party after my grandparents were there, it would just be her and she rarely ever got out of the car. But that wasn't the only thing I would notice. It was the tension in the air.

I would catch some people getting quiet. I remember my aunt Lisa scoffed and walked out back, never engaging with Aunt Becca. But then my grandpa would always try to speak up, joke around, and just all in all, be the life of the party when she would show up. I know Becca could sense it too. too, if I could at least, which would make sense when she would just abruptly leave,

but still I couldn't figure out why it was all happening. My grandpa died when I was 14, and I remember my mom talking about the service and everyone being there. However, I noticed that Aunt Becca and her kids were not there. I remember asking about her because I was really close to her youngest who was, close to my age, hoping to connect with them and grieve together as kids. My mom once again told me that they couldn't make it and to not ask about them at the service. She had the same serious talk kind of tone, so once again I just left it alone. The older I got, the more the lack of information bothered me.

Normally I would think she was divorced. They broke up. Hell, maybe they even all had different dads, and that would have been fine. But the problem for me was how much my mom didn't want to talk about it. Not even my dad would. He would just tell me something about that's mom's family, and it was up to her to share. But what else could I do other than just drop it? Fast forward to when I was 22.

I stayed close to my youngest cousin, Terry. and found myself hanging out with him at his place one night. We got on the topic of family, and when I shared a story about my dad, he shared one similarly and talked about how his mom, my aunt Becca, did something similar for him. We had a good laugh and were reminiscing,

but I found that mystery of his dad creeping back up. Or maybe it was just the alcohol. Either way, it got me to ask. I remember Terry laughing, but it was a subtle laugh. He got quiet, and he said that there was a reason no one ever talked about their dad. Then he also included that it was the same reason everyone treated them like freets. That made me remember how people would alienate them and keep their distance, but I wasn't expecting the bombshell that he dropped on me. He explained that his older three siblings all had the same dad, and that he had had.

had a different dad. Then said that his sibling's father had always been at the family gatherings, but he paraded around as the fun-loving and kind guy that I called Grandpa. Shocked, didn't even begin to describe how I felt. At first, I was pissed at him. It wasn't a funny joke.

But after punching him in the arm and telling him such, his face alone told me that he was dead serious about this. He said he didn't know all the details, but he explained that his mom was 15 when she became pregnant with his oldest brother, then the second oldest when she was 17, and then 19 with her third kid. The math there at least made sense. Then he explained that she ran away at that point, leaving the two oldest with her parents, but she kept Ginger with her, the youngest. Terry explained that she ran away with the family friend trying to,

to escape the abuse. She had a difficult time caring for the kids knowing what they were a product of, but couldn't bring herself to leave the baby. The problem with all of that was the family friend was actually a friend of my grandfather, her dad. Sadly, he also took advantage of her, which is how she ended up pregnant with Terry.

At that point, the family started casting her out, calling her all kinds of names, as you could imagine. They shamed her for sleeping with Ken, the family friend, but no one seemed to believe her when she accused Grandpa of fathering the other three kids. Because of that, they kicked her out. My aunt was left homeless at the age of 20,

with three kids, pregnant with another, and no one was willing to help her. My mother was four years younger than her, still living in the same house. Eventually, Aunt Becca found a home for women where they helped her find temporary housing until she got a job and back up on her feet. At such a young age, and dropping out of school after her second child, she did it all on her own. She found work, raised my cousins, even through all the trauma and depression. She attempted to take her own life but was able to come back from it in the end, thanks to the people at the shelter where she was.

she went. It's no wonder that she didn't like to be at family parties. After learning that, I didn't want to be either. How could my family shun a child as she was a child at the time? Those are serious accusations for a child, and everyone looked the other way. I actually confronted my mom about it. I know she was younger and there wasn't much she could do, but at the same time, her reasoning did not help me. She claims that my grandfather never did anything to her, which is why she felt it was hard to believe. She was very uncomfortable talking about it with me, and asked me not to say anything to

Becca either. I didn't plan on it. I didn't need to tell her that I knew. I just wanted to show her how much she was loved and how strong I thought she was. I found myself spending more time with Aunt Becca. and all four of my cousins. I was already close to Terry, so it wasn't weird or anything, but I think she appreciated having more family around.

I included her and more things in my life, too. I've never brought it up with her either, and I think I would rather leave it like that. I'm not sure if my other cousins knew, but I assumed they did, and I'll just leave it as that. I've learned how horrible of a person my grandfather really was and how awful the rest of the family was for not helping such a young girl

but I can at least show my aunt Becca that she does matter I was listening to some of your videos when I heard a story that reminded me of something that happened to me last year so I wanted to share it with you first I will say that I'm a 24 year old guy I was 23 at the time of the story. I've always been into hiking and camping as it was something I did with my dad and siblings when we were younger. I haven't moved far from where I grew up, so all the places I regularly go hiking at, I know pretty well. Getting lost isn't something that happens, and I pretty much know the ins and outs of what to expect when I get out there. But one thing you really can't

account for are other people, and how they may react when you come across. cross them. For the most part, you can determine what a wild animal may do. Humans are a little more difficult. I had left work an hour early after having a rough day. I was in a bad mood and a little stressed out, so I decided to give myself a break and go for a hike. Being outdoors can lift my spirits quite a bit, so I thought this would be a good opportunity

to get out there. There's a nice forest that's about a good. 20-minute drive from town. Not exactly a popular hiking destination, but that's why I loved it. It was usually empty except for more experienced hikers, and it has these beautiful old growth sections. It was pretty serene. By the time I got home, changed, grabbed my gear, and drove to the forest, it was around 4 p.m. I also wanted to point out that when I arrived, my car was the only one in the little gravel parking lot. Now, it's possible that someone could have walked to the forest or maybe even rode a bike here, but there at least weren't any other cars in the lot.

Having walked it plenty of times before, I knew that I would get through it with a little sunlight left. It was late October, which was also my favorite time to walk through there. It was a little cooler, but not too bad. And the leaves changing colors were perfect for taking pictures, which I've also enjoyed. My mom is a photographer, so I guess they've both had a little influence on me. The trail is about two and a half miles long, and makes a loop through dense hardwood trees. About a mile in, there is a side trail that branches off, but I had never taken it before. It was marked on the map, but it was clearly an old path that was no longer kept up with, so I never bothered with it before, keeping to what I knew.

but for some reason that day, probably because of my mood, I decided to explore it instead. Going through that trail, it was quite obvious that it was abandoned. The grass and weeds swallowed what was left of the trail, branches would snag on my jacket, and I would have to maneuver my way over fallen logs and under low-hanging branches. I had to keep a mental note to check myself for ticks afterwards, which alone was pretty terrifying. I love being outdoors, but I cannot stand ticks. So, after about 20 minutes into this part of the hike, I came to a small clearing with an old dilapidated hunting blind.

At first I was confused because, while this was a decent-sized forest, it wasn't nearly big enough of an area to hunt in, and there were signs posted that hunting wasn't allowed. However, it did look very old and like it hadn't been used in years, so I assume that maybe someone left this behind some time ago. It did make for a cool focal point for some pictures, however, so I pulled out my phone to take a few. While messing with my photo settings,

I heard something in the distance that made me stop. It was a whistle, but not like a bird call, like another person whistling. But it wasn't like someone was whistling a song either. It was three very separate and sharp notes. I stood there and listened as it got louder, until it finally seemed to stay at the same decibel, like the person had stopped moving. I looked around the trees to see if I could find where it was coming from, and finally, I did.

About 50 feet away or so, standing just behind a large oak tree, was a person. The thing was, they were mostly hidden, but I could clearly see part of their body. At first it tickled me because it was like a kid. not realizing they were too big to hide behind a little tree. So I smiled and waved, thinking maybe they were just being silly. Just two random people in the woods, trying not to scare each other, maybe. But after several seconds, they continued to just watch me without returning the gesture. They weren't smiling.

They didn't wave. They didn't speak. Just continued to stare. It was a little weird, but I just thought maybe they were, bad with people or strangers and decided it best to move on. So I took one more photo of the tree line with the sky, trying to, I guess, show them what I was doing there. Then I put my phone away and started walking. I only walked maybe 10 yards when I heard the whistle again, the same three notes.

But it didn't sound like it was further away like you would expect. Curious, I turned around and that person was still there. but now they were behind a different tree, maybe 40 feet away. They were keeping pace with me, but still staying just out of clear view. Were they doing that on purpose, maybe? Trying to obscure part of themselves, maybe so I couldn't make out what they looked like. From what I could see, a bulky red jacket with the hood up and dark pants, I couldn't even make out if they looked more masculine or feminine.

Still, it was weird to me, so I turned back around trying to act. normal and continued walking. Then I heard the whistling again, and I glanced back. Again, they were not only keeping up with me, but were getting closer. Finally, I turned back around to get a better look at them, and I think I saw some facial stumbles, so I assume they were more masculine. Still, they were clearly following me at this point, and only whistling, so I thought I should ask if they were okay, or if they needed help.

Maybe the whistling was some kind of signal that was lost on me, but they didn't respond, just continued to stare. I looked back once more and saw that they were maybe just a few feet away behind a tree, and my heart was racing at this point. I didn't want to know what could happen if they reached me, so I turned back to continue walking, and after a few steps, I bolted. But I could clearly hear the footsteps on fallen leaves behind me, going just as fast.

Now they were chasing me, and I was freaking out. I ran without looking back, trying to follow the trail as best I could. The whistle continued, but still sounded just as clear and even. Not how I would expect a whistle to sound when it was being done by someone running as fast as we were. How was that even possible? After what felt like forever, I finally saw the main trail ahead. I burst out of the side trail, looking back to see if they were still following me, but I didn't see them. They weren't there, not even peeking out from behind a tree.

But I wasn't going to take any chances, so I started jogging to get out of there. When I heard the whistle one more time. At this point, it sounded like it was back to about 40 feet behind me. I was not going to risk it, especially since I couldn't even see the person anymore, so I ran again. and didn't stop until I got to my car. I was shaking it out of breath. I got in and locked my doors. What the hell even was that?

I had never experienced anything like that before. Not in those woods or anywhere else, for that matter. I wish I was good at music to share what the whistle was because it was just as unsettling hearing it so many times. I did call the police and told them what happened, but I know that there wasn't much that they could really do at the time. I know the person didn't really do anything wrong, other than maybe just following me,

but they didn't follow me out of the woods. And I suppose they could just say that they were going the same way as me to leave. I did feel kind of foolish telling the police, but I also thought that it was probably best to report it in case something worse does ever come up. I didn't go back in those woods for the rest of that seas. but I did go last spring. Granted, I only took the regular more populated trail, but I didn't have any incidents there either.

I didn't even hear the whistling. So while I wish I hadn't experienced that at all, I hope that I was the only one, and that that person got a good laugh out of my fear. But also, I hope I never run into them again. Hi, it's me yet again. A few days ago I shared a story about how the woods I used to walk in as a child don't match my memories at all. There's another strange story that happened in those woods, specifically the one involving the weird cabin that I briefly mentioned in this story. I do have a few more stories linked to these woods that I will be sharing, like the time I was taken by something for a few hours when I was a child and then returned.

But on to the story. This actually happened when I was about 12 years old, around March or April of 2006. I didn't have a phone back then, and I was definitely one of those typical rebellious Midwestern preteens who didn't listen to the rules, especially when it came to my mom telling me to not go into certain parts of the woods behind our house. The day started off cold, somewhere between 25 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit. which is about negative 4 to 4 Celsius. The frost from the night before was starting to melt, and everything had that quiet, muddy stillness

that comes with the Midwest winters reluctantly trying to become spring. I know that feeling. I had a weird dream about the woods the night before, and even though it left me feeling uneasy, I shrugged it off. Still, I told my mom that I was going for a walk and headed out into the woods behind our yard. Instead of cutting through my neighbor's yard like I usually did, I went between the two main paths. It shaved about ten minutes off my walk.

As I got closer to the shortcut path, I was hit with a wave of nausea. I paused, ate one of the granola bars that I had packed, and stayed in that area for about 20 minutes. Something just felt wrong, but I pushed it aside and kept walking. Eventually, I got close enough to see the old cabin, though I was far enough away that anyone standing by it would not have seen me. That is when I spotted them, a man and a woman. The man looked really upset, and the woman was sobbing. She didn't seem to notice the man or me. She was wearing a black dress, not obviously old-fashioned, but definitely not modern either.

and a bonnet. We had an Amish community nearby, so I assumed that maybe she was just Amish. The man looked to be around my age, maybe a little older, and definitely not Amish. I backed up along the path to stay close to my family's side of the woods,

somewhere I could run from if I needed to. One thing stuck with me. Even though this boy looked my age, I didn't recognize him at all. I grew up in a tiny town in rural Illinois, and you always knew who everyone was, or at least who their cousins were. He stormed off in the direction of the creek, but he disappeared from sight way faster than he should have. That is when I saw something new. A creature that looked kind of like a coyote, but its fur was a dark, grayish black,

nothing like the usual tan colors we see in the Midwest. We don't have wolves in our region. At least we shouldn't. Then the woman let out this awful scream. It wasn't fully human. It sounded like something between a scream and an animal's cry, like something was changing. Suddenly there was a loud crash. I looked over the hill and saw that the old shed had collapsed, right where the woman had been standing. I ran closer, just long enough, to see a deformed, humanoid.

a white-looking arm poking out from under the rubble. The dress was the same. I turned and speedwalked straight back home. I didn't tell my parents everything, not the shapeshifter part. Just that I thought I saw someone get crushed when the shed collapsed. My mom scolded me first, saying that we told you not to go out there

and then went off about breaking rules again, and then she called our neighbors. Kyle and his wife Patricia, our neighbors, actually went out there to check. They confirmed that the shed had collapsed, but they didn't find anybody. Still, they seemed really uneasy. After that, they made it clear that I wasn't allowed to go into the woods alone anymore. They specifically told me not to go out there before noon or stay out past 245.

It really made me wonder if they knew exactly what I was talking about. if maybe they had seen it too. My parents acted like I was just making stuff up, but my neighbors, they never said it directly, but they believed me. From then on, if I went walking out there, I did follow their rules. And every time I passed that shed, I would run until I crossed the creek. Here's the part that's probably the weirdest. I completely forgot about this.

Like, just fully forgot. It vanished from my memory just a month or two later. Then one day, Patricia asked me if I remembered what happened in the woods, and I had no idea what she was talking about. I looked her dead in the face and said no. She looked genuinely concerned, but also kind of relieved. Now that the memory has returned, I'm almost certain that she found something that confirmed what I saw.

Whether it was the arm, the damage, or something even more unsettling, I think she saw it too. Maybe not everything, but enough. Enough to believe me. Enough to warn me. And then enough to never talk about it ever again. Hi there. I've been listening to your podcast and lurking on your live streams for a few years now.

I don't talk a lot, but I finally had the time to sit down and write up this story about my family. It may not seem too scary to some people, but as an adult now and thinking back on how this happened to me as a child, it's pretty terrifying, especially knowing the details. I do want to add here that this did not take place in the U.S., and it was also the early 2000s. I won't say anything more than that with the location because it is a pretty big deal for my family, but also so that no one. gets this notion that someone should have done something different. What happened is what it is. My family members handled this the best way they thought they knew, and I will stand by them for that.

Growing up, after a certain age, specifically, I had these fragmented memories that never quite made sense. I was born a twin. I'm a male, and my twin was female. Seeing so many other people online with siblings and twins especially, I feel like I missed out on some great bonding there. Unlike others where twins were dressed to match, had fun photos taken together in the sorts, we were treated very differently. I recalled having very fun and loving parents. They doted on me, gave me everything I could ask for, and I genuinely thought that we had a great, happy family.

in childhood. But as for my sister, I'll call her Lily, she was constantly in trouble. I say, in trouble, because my parents were always scolding her. We would ask for extra meat during dinner, and when my parents would add more to my plate, they would tell my sister it wasn't ladylike for her to eat so much. I remember when I broke a cup once, and they kept me calm telling me it was okay and helped clean it up. But then Lily would spill her glass of water. I remember her being spanked, smacked on the hand and told to be more careful and forced to clean it up. She would be told that

she couldn't do a lot of the things that I did, claiming it was my stuff, my toys, etc. But I was always willing to share and play with her. She was my only sibling, and she was the same age as me. We liked the same things, and I wanted someone to play with. When my parents were preoccupied, we would play together, but when they would see her in my room, they would then yell at her, tell me it's not for her to play with, and kick her out of my room. I remember begging at one point to let her play with me, and they told me that she couldn't because she was being bad. I didn't know what she did, but it was my parents, so I had no reason to not believe them. So along she went, spending most of her time in her room. Both of us had separate activities and things that we would do.

Sometimes they overlapped, but it was very rare. One of those things we were occasionally allowed to do together was swim. We had an above-ground pool in our backyard, and during the summer, we swam probably once or twice a week. I hated being hot, especially since we didn't have much in ways of keeping the house cool, just fans in every room, but it also meant that I got to spend time with Lily. However, one of the things I got to do was take a swimming class.

I knew the basics on how to swim, how to keep afloat, really, but Lily did not. She struggled at times, but that's why she used the floating wings on her arms. I could tell that even though she was a bit nervous in the water, she still enjoyed it because we were together. I tried to show her some techniques to swim, such as the small paddling,

and she seemed to catch on a bit, and she loved it. We were, of course, younger, so if we wanted to swim, someone would have to be out there with us, typically our mom. However, if we got a little too loud in our play, she would tell us it was time to get out, so we always made sure to keep our voices low while we played to give us more time. The event that really changed my life and shattered what I once remembered of my childhood happened on one of those summer days. We were eight at the time.

It was hotter than it normally was, or what I was used to at least. Lily and I had been sitting on the floor in the living room with a fan blasting on our faces, watching something on TV. Lily asked about going swimming, and my mom very promptly told her no. She wasn't working at the time, just my father, so she was typically home with us. I waited for the next commercial break and asked my mom, knowing Lily probably got a different answer because it was her asking. As expected, my mom said calmly that we could swim after lunch. My mom would be making lunch soon after, as she typically did after checking on the goats, so I knew we didn't have long to wait.

Shortly after, Mom called us for lunch, so we both calmly went to the table, but tried to eat quickly. While we were eating, Mom called for Lily, but her voice was surprisingly more calm than it normally was when she calls for her. I knew we were both thinking, thinking this because we looked at each other with a bit of curiosity. She slowly gone up and made her way towards the back of our house, where she was calling from. Time is a weird concept as a kid.

I had finished eating while Lily still had about half of her sandwich, so I went back to the living room to watch TV. I don't know how long I had been there, but I think I had watched three full episodes of whatever cartoon it was. Before I noticed that Lily hadn't come back. I assumed my sister must have gotten in trouble, and that's why she was taking so long. That's how I had it in my head. If she was taking too long to do something, I would assume it was because she was getting in trouble. Anyway, after sitting there for a while, I found my mom in the laundry room and asked her if we could go swimming now, and she agreed. I ran off to put my trunks on, knowing my mom would be full.

following behind shortly. I ran to the back door, opened it, and as I climbed the pool ladder to wait, I saw her. My sister was face down in the pool, motionless. I was confused at first because she was still in her clothes, not her swimsuit. Then it finally connected. This wasn't right. This wasn't Lily trying to play a game. She was in danger.

I shouted for my mom several times, shouting that Lily needed help, but she didn't respond. I then jumped in the pool by myself to try and save her. I remember it being really hard for me to get her flipped over, but I did it. Then I pulled her toward the ladder. But that's when it stopped being easy. We were both eight. I couldn't lift her out of the pool on my own. She was soaked and still wearing pants and a shirt,

which also weighed her down. I remember my little arms wrapped around her, staring at her purple lips and screaming for my mom, but she never came, and I couldn't understand why. I left the door open, so there was no way she couldn't hear me. Thankfully, there was a man walking down the street as I was screaming for my mom, and he stopped immediately. He then jumped the fence and ran over to us.

He grabbed Lily and pulled her out in one swoop, and I climbed down the ladder to be with her. I watched as he lied her on the ground and started doing chest compressions. His voice was still very calm as he asked me if I was alone. I told him my mom was home and he told me to go get her. I ran in the house expecting her to be in the back, on the phone or something, giving me some explanation as to why she wasn't coming, but instead I found her smoking in the kitchen.

There was no way that she didn't hear us outside. I told her what happened, and without a word or without a sense of urgency, she followed me outside. I watched as the man continued compressions and just prayed quietly that my sister would be okay. And finally, she coughed. He helped her to her side as she spit up more water. I was jumping and was excited that she'd woken up and watched the color. returned to her face. Then I looked up at my mom, thinking she would be excited too, but the look on her face was not

what I expected. It was not one of relief or concern, but of pure rage. Her expression was similar to what I saw when she was angry with Lily. The man offered to take us to the hospital, but my mother refused. She said that she would call our dad and have him take us. We only had one car at the time. The man then said a few things to my mom and left. Once he was gone, my mom sighed and said that she would call dad and then walked back inside.

I helped Lily inside her room so she could change, and afterwards we both sat on her bed, me holding her with the blanket around her. She was shaking. I told her that she was okay now, but I very clearly remember her looking up at me with tears in her eyes, and she said she was scared. I was trying to be a brave brother, but only older by two minutes, and I told her again that the man saved her so she'd be fine, but she just stayed silent after that. The rest of that night was a blur.

We watched TV together again, and our parents talked a lot in the kitchen. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I knew it wasn't a normal conversation. They both sounded angry as they spoke. We went to bed, but I wanted to stay with Lily, but my dad refused, saying it wasn't proper to sleep in the same room as a girl, and my sister at that. I thought it was weird because we had shared a room when we were much younger, but I didn't argue with it and I just went to bed. The next day, I woke up, got dressed, and went to the kitchen for breakfast. I noticed my sister wasn't there yet, and I noticed. I assumed that after yesterday, maybe she was just sleeping in a bit.

But after I finished my cereal, and she still wasn't there, I went to check on her. To my surprise and confusion, her room was empty. Her bed was still there, but her toys and clothes were all gone. Nothing but a few items remained. I ran to my mom and asked her where Lily had gone, and she knelt down, and told me that Lily had to go live with someone else because she was too much of a troubled child. I didn't understand this at the time,

and I remember telling my mom that whatever happened with the pool was an accident and that she didn't mean it. But she quickly stood back up and explained that she had disobeyed and was too naughty to keep around, so she had to go. Now, as an adult, I realize how stupid that sounds. It wasn't like she was an adult or even a teenager being rebellious. We were eight years old. How bad could she really be?

I was very sad for the longest time, knowing that I was alone now with no one to spend time with. Here's where it kept getting worse. I remember as a kid asking about Lily. I would ask if I could go see her, if I could call her, and every time they would say no. They would tell me that I should just forget about her and that she wasn't part of the family anymore. Over the years, I would still ask about her,

but it would become less and less, asking on our birthday, on holidays, and every time I brought her up, they would both scold me, saying that I was an only child, and that I needed to drop this whole sister thing. Eventually, I started to believe it. She was in my life for eight years.

But as another eight-plus years passed, she wasn't. So while I was in my head, I would gaslight myself that I must have these crazy memories. Maybe someone else is about a sister because I clearly didn't have one. When I was 18, my dad died of a heart attack. I was just finishing my school year when my mom came to pick me up and take us to the hospital where he had died. Now it was just the two of us, and while I tried to cling to her more, to be as close to her as I could, she felt the opposite. She distanced herself, would tell me to man up, and then went about life as normal. So I did my best to do the same.

But, apparently, my mom was also faking it. Three years later, my mom also passed from terminal cancer that she had told nobody about it. about. I learned about it after she passed, when the doctor talked to me about it with pity in her eyes. I couldn't understand it, any of it. I don't know why she wouldn't tell anyone. I was still young. I had just started my life, and now I had no one. My grandparents were gone, not that I was ever close to them either. My aunts and uncles were all distant, and now my parents were gone. But I felt like I couldn't even grieve, feeling my mom close to me and mocking me for not being a man.

My mom didn't have much of a funeral. I used what little money they had saved up for her burial, and it was just myself, her doctor and a priest there. But as I left the church, a woman pulled up in a car and called out for me. I recognized her, too, but I did. didn't know from where. She got out and she hugged me tightly, something I hadn't experienced since I was a child.

She told me that she was my aunt, my mother's sister. At first I was confused. Why did she not attend her own sister's funeral? I tried asking where she had been, partially angry with her, that I had to do this all alone, apparently 21. I could tell that she was upset and apologetic and meant it. She told me that it was actually my mom's wishes,

that she didn't want her anywhere near us. But then she explained that since she was gone, she felt that rule no longer applied. She said that she wanted to reconnect with me and asked if I wanted to come over to her place for dinner and to talk for a while. I was conflicted at first. There must have been a reason my mom didn't want her around, right?

But in that moment, as I felt so alone, I agreed. I figured it was the least I could do in worst-case scenario I could leave and just never talk to her ever again. I was not expecting everything I knew to blow up in my face at this dinner. There, in the kitchen, was my sister, that for many years I was told did not exist. I was shocked, confused, but also incredibly happy to see her. After some crying, my aunt and sister finally gave me some news I had been looking for. Lily explained how she was treated differently between us, and my aunt confirmed this. She even told me that when we were born, both of my parents were very upset that they were having a girl.

They wanted a boy, and that was it. so she unfortunately started out wrong for them. But she shared with me more about the pool incident. My mom had called her to the laundry room, as I remembered. She walked her to the backyard by going out the front door and around the back. This is why I didn't see them. And that's when my mom threw my sister in the pool. She said that she was talking to her about learning how to swim,

but was confused because she still had her clothes on. At first, Lily said that she thought she dropped her in, but when she called for her because she couldn't swim, she just watched her flail, until she finally turned back around and left her there to drown. I couldn't hear anything from where I was, because our walls were rather thick. You really couldn't hear people talking outside,

which is why my dad always went outside. to talk to his friends. I had no idea that while I was finishing my lunch and watching cartoons on TV, my sister was drowning in our backyard. To make it worse, my mother knew this and then told me I could go swimming. She let me go out there to find her like that. That's when everything started to make sense. The way they treated her, the way my mom looked furious when that,

man helped me save her, the fact that she was gone after that, it all added up. She claimed my sister climbed in there herself, and that's why they wanted to get rid of her, because she was such a problem child. But my aunt knew they didn't want a daughter, and she had witnessed how they treated us. So when she heard about the pool incident, she knew something was wrong and begged my mom to let her have her. My mom refused at first, but when my aunt accused her of trying to kill her own daughter, she finally let her take her in, but disowned my aunt in the process. This is why I never saw either of them again.

I was so angry with my parents. I remember how they treated her. I remembered the whole event in the pool, and I remember them denying every claim I had about having a sibling. Now, they're both dead. and I regret never being able to confront them about this, nor can I ever forgive them or see them in the same light. My sister doesn't harbor any ill will toward me,

knowing I was just a child. She has no love for my parents, partially because she hardly knows them, but also because she didn't know how to feel love with them. But thankfully, my aunt did. She took her in, and she treated her like her own child. and for that, I am incredibly thankful.

Because of her, I was able to reunite with my sister, with people that do truly care for both of us, and while I will always live with this anger and hatred towards my parents for all of this, and this guilt for how my sister was treated, my shoulders also feel a bit lighter now, now that I know that she's happy, healthy, and has always always, truly existed. So there's my family story. My mom tried to kill my sister, my dad was also aware of it, and both of them took this heinous act to their grave. Lazzang sur-joled,

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Hey, Raven. I hope this counts as a scary story. At least I was pretty nervous when this happened. No strange crypted creatures or Bigfoot appeared, but you know what? Nature itself can be just as dangerous. June 3rd's Big Tornado Warning with touchdowns in Kansas City reminded me of something that happened when I was 13. I'm glad that patience was safe and everything was.

was okay. Anyway, this happened back in 2006, so forgive me if I cannot remember specific details. I had a best friend, let's call her Bunny. She invited me out camping with her out by a lake with her family. I forget the name, but it was one of the many different state parks you could reserve a camping spot in. I had only gone camping like this once or twice before, so this seemed like a great opportunity to make memories. Bunny and her mom came over to pick me up off my front porch, and we went out to the lake for some good old camping fun. I couldn't help but notice how strong the winds were and how little did my young self know just what was in store that evening. We met up with the rest of Bunny's family, her little sister and stepdad. We learned that her mom

wasn't staying, that she was dropping us off, probably because the tent could only hold so many people, and stepdad had plans to sleep in the truck. As it was evening and still bright out, Bunny talked me into changing into my bathing suit, and we went swimming in the lake itself while her stepdad and little sister tried pitching the tent. They chose a high point on a hill with a tree nearby, and the wind was restless. Let me tell you, that water was cold. I tried to enjoy myself, but I was an anxious kid. I was hugging myself the whole time, scared of developing hypothermia, while Bunny hadn't to care in the world.

I was happy for her, though. Small detail added here. During our swim, I stepped on something sharp, and it broke off into my foot. We couldn't figure out what it was, but something had been into me. Now, shivering and miserable with the wind picking up, we left the lake and got changed at the park's public bathroom, and tried to help pitch the tent with her stepdad.

It turned out that not only did they fail to pitch the tent, after nearly an hour of fighting the strong winds, but her little sister was crying scared and she wanted to go home. As the sun was going down, stepdad decided that it was best to drive little sister home and leave us to 13-year-old girls alone to pitch the tent by ourselves. By this point, it was pitch dark, and it became very apparent that a storm was coming. I had no clue how to pitch a tent.

We had no flashlights, no point of reference or instruction, and we were on our own. Bunny wasn't entirely sure what she was doing either, but knew a little more than I did. Did I mention that we were just below a tree with lightning shooting all over the place? I was crying at this point, thinking I was going to die via lightning strike. Bunny was focused, still trying to do her part, but I'd completely stopped as I was having an anxiety attack. I've categorized this as a scary story because of the wild circumstances that we were under. Smartphones didn't really exist, so we couldn't check the weather forecast. It turns out, there was a severe thunderstorm warning in effect where we were, along with a tornado watch.

At one point we did in fact have to take shelter along with everyone else at the park. They were the large bathrooms built of solid concrete without windows, so we were safe and out of the rain for at least a little while. My foot still hurt with whatever got me in the lake, which about a week later, we discovered was a tooth from something. Urgent care couldn't figure out what it was. They gave me a tetanus shot, and I managed to remove it, by myself by hand.

That was something else. I can't remember why we didn't know what time it was when the storm finally died down, but I knew that I was exhausted. Finally, after hours of complete darkness, the tent was up. It didn't matter, though, because

soon after it was up, Bunny's stepdad finally came back, and I immediately went for the backseat of the car to lay down. Because of the severe thunderstorm and strong winds, He had hunkered down for the night and hoped for the best. He fed us McDonald's, helped us put down the tent that we just put up, and we went home.

As an adult, looking back, I can't help but to think what the hell was anyone thinking. All of it. It was very much a what-not-to-do situation, and so many bad things could have happened to us that night. We could have been struck by lightning. especially under that tree, kidnapped, or worse, especially since there was probably a tornado touchdown somewhere. My daughter's in Cub Scouts, which is different than Girl Scouts, as it's for everybody,

and you can guarantee, Raven, that I'm going to make sure my kid does not experience what I went through. She's already so better prepared for the world than I was around her age. I remember in one of my previous stories I explained, that my guardian angel must have been pulling their hair out watching over me as a kid. And I'm fairly sure that this was one of those times. This one is probably going to seem a bit odd for a family's secrets video, but given that Joseph Pistone's family was largely unaware of what he was doing,

in order to insulate them from the ramifications, it certainly qualifies. And it's such a juicy story and I'm super excited to share it with you. So who is Joseph Pestone? I'm glad you asked. Joseph D. Pistone is a bit of a legend now, but if the original head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, had his way, then the job that Pistone did, and excelled at,

would never have been a thing. Hoover detested the notion of using federal agents in an undercover capacity due to the likelihood of the agents becoming corrupt. Maybe in hindsight, looking at the result of Pistone's arduous work, he would rethink things. As for the heads of the bureau at the time, it proved that true value in placing agents under cover, and not just relying on informants for inside information. Prior to joining the FBI, Pistone actually worked as a teacher at Patterson School No. 10 for a year, and then for three years at the Office of Naval Intelligence before being sworn into the FBI in 19.

He would have a 17-year-long career and retire in 1986. The case that would end up building his reputation and serving as the cornerstone for his endeavors, since departing the FBI, would come about in 1976 when he volunteered to go undercover with the mafia. Which, in and of itself, sounds a bit crazy to think about. Someone actually volunteered for this incredibly deadly assignment. In 1974, he was transferred from his initial assignment in Jacksonville, Florida, to the office in New York, where he was to infiltrate a notorious vehicle theft ring that had been operating with near impunity in the area. The work he did during the assignment resulted in more than 30 arrests,

and greatly increased Pistone's profile within the Bureau in law enforcement as a whole. After this assignment was when he volunteered to infiltrate the New York crime families and gather all of the evidence he could, and inform on their activities every step of the way. The operation took months to set up, and as part of the prep work, the FBI erased all traces of Joseph Pistone from their records, and denied that he worked there to anyone, that called the office trying to reach him.

It was as if Joseph Pistone had never been an FBI agent at all. Of course, they still gave him an assumed identity as a jewel thief, which was how he got his foot in the door with Jilly Greca and his entourage from the Colombo crime family. After six months, he was able to build a relationship with a member of the Bonanno crime family named Anthony Mira. Using both his relationship and the reputation he had built for himself, working with Greca's boys,

the transition was rather smooth for him, and he quickly began to get notice among the family. The assignment was initially meant to last about six months, and then it was going to be over. However, it turned into a multi-year operation that, at its end, would result in over 100 arrests of mafia members and completely decimate the bananaeful. family in multiple ways.

After Mira was sent to prison, Pistone was brought under the tutelage of a Bonano family soldier by the name of Benjamin Lefty Rigero. Pistone would go on to form ties with people as far away as Milwaukee and its crime family. In 1979, after the murder of Carmine Gallant, Pistone found himself reporting to Dominic, sunny black, Napolitano. And this is where business, as the... they say, starts to pick up. During this time, Pistone started a very lucrative business venture down in Holiday, Florida,

where he worked alongside another undercover FBI agent, Tony Rossi. This business venture being called the King's Court Bottle Club. During his time down in Florida, Napolitano reached out to him in an attempt to contract him to kill Alphonse, Sunny Red, Indelacado's son, Anthony, Bruno, and Delacado. The Palatano was hoping to make Pistone a made man within the family, and killing Indelicado would do just that, turn him in to a made man. There had been a previous attempt on Bruno's life, which he escaped by no-showing a meeting,

that resulted in the deaths of his father, Philip Giacone, and Dominic Trencherra. It was at this time the FBI pulled the plug on Pistone's operation, citing that it was becoming far too dangerous to continue any longer. Pistone wanted to continue the operation until December when he was set to become a made man, however the Bureau would not allow this, and instead set an end date for July 26, 1981. After Pistone had departed, other FBI agents informed Napolitano that his longtime associate had been an undercover FBI agent the entire time.

Napolitano wouldn't survive that summer, as in August of 1981, he was murdered for letting an FBI agent infiltrate the family. In typical mob fashion, he was shot dead and his hands were removed. Ruggiero was arrested later that month, and Anthony Miro was murdered in February of 1982. Later that same year, Ruggiero alongside the three other members of the Bonanno crime family, were convicted after a trial that lasted for six weeks. They were all sentenced to 15 years for racketeering conspiracy. The mafia put a $500,000 bounty on Pistone's head and kicked the Bonanno family from the Mafia Commission. It was only after FBI agents paid a visit to the mafia bosses in New York

that the bounty was dropped with Paul Castellano, the head of the commission, saying that murdering an FBI agent in his family would draw too much attention and considered the matter dropped, probably wisely. On August 2nd, 1982, Pistone would testify publicly for the first time. The evidence he had gathered over his time undercover would result in over 200 indictments and over 100 convictions of mafia members.

And even though he would resign from the FBI in 1986, he would still testify if called upon. The infiltration of Pistone had left the Bonanno family utterly decimated, and kicked off the commission. Although long-term, this may have been to their benefit, as in the resulting Mafia Commission trial, they were no longer a part of that case, and therefore escaped all prosecution by the courts. One of the truly amazing parts of this whole story

is the fact that he was somehow able to keep his family removed from all the craziness. All this that was going on during this time, until it was all over, that is. Currently, Pestone lives, of course, in an undisclosed location with his wife and three daughters, all under-assumed names. But since his leaving the bureau, Pistone has remained quite active. He's published several books, both fiction and non-fiction, including The Way of the Wise Guy and the Good Guys, with the son of Joseph Bonanno, Salvador Bonano.

He also authored deep cover, mobbed up, and snake eyes. On top of these written projects, he's also worked as a consultant on a little movie project about his time undercover with the Bonanno family. He was there to add some authenticity to the fictionalized accounting of the case. You might have heard of it, actually, and since you're probably asking, who the heck is Joseph Postone? I'll let you know that the title of the movie just happens to be the name that you may know Joseph Postone by. And that name is Donnie Brasco. Okay, for starters. This happened when I was around four years old.

It would have been the year 1998. I'm currently a 31-year-old woman. To preface, my parents adopted me when I was four from DCFS, which is also known as CPS or Child Protective Services and other locations. This occurred in Illinois and we will call it DCFS or Department of Child and Children. family services. I find this part important because this didn't happen until after the adoption was official, and I wasn't just a foster kid anymore. Legally, I was their kid. I suppose this story might be slightly triggering to some because there is mention of parental neglect.

They genuinely didn't notice or care that I was missing for a few hours. My family is especially crappy, and didn't really plan on keeping me, so, please, Please don't hold the contents of this story against all adoptive families. This is not an accurate representation of all of them. So, as I mentioned, I had been officially adopted and we had a woods in our backyards. In the 90s, at least in my hometown, it wasn't unheard of for parents to let their children wander off to visit friends down the road or hang out in the backyard without them. If you've heard the stories I've submitted about the haunted arrowhead I found in the woods, the shapeshifter situation, or the potential stable portal in the woods that I couldn't always find,

you'll know that the woods in my backyard are very weird. They're never malicious toward me exactly, except for this one time in particular. I'm not even sure if I could consider it malicious, or if it was just a spirit saying, hey, don't leave your child unattended to my parents. I was playing in the sandbox. We had the one that was shaped like a turtle, peak 90s nostalgia there.

I saw this cute little puppy sitting by my cat, Min Min Min the First, near the entrance of the woods. I walked over to it and tried to pet it, but it started walking into the woods, and so did my cat. Me being me, a four-year-old who just wanted to pet the puppy, I followed it. It stayed about a foot in front of me at all times. Eventually, we got to a clearing with the half circle of tree stumps that could be used as chairs and a fire pit in the middle.

We didn't have anything like this anywhere in the woods. Eventually, I got the puppy to come to me and I was so happy. Then I realized, I had absolutely no idea. how to get back. Nothing looked familiar. I would walk the trails with my parents sometimes, so I had a pretty good idea of where they went and how they looked, and this area matched none of the ones I was familiar with.

I was about to wander off again, but the puppy started barking at me, so I came back to sit down. Eventually, I was joined by three to five people who I can't remember much about. One of them seemed to be a young boy. About 12 years old. There was another little girl who I didn't recognize, and to be honest, we didn't hit it off at all. She was kind of rude.

There were three adult people, but I can't remember any of their details. I just know, intuitively, I could tell that they were safe people. They seemed extremely upset and confused about how I got there and why my parents hadn't come looking for me yet. I had been out there for about an hour and 15 minutes at this point. I had given them my address so they could help me get home. They told me to please wait there with them for a little longer,

and if my parents didn't come looking for me in another hour, they would contact their friend who had a walkie-talkie to come with a map so they could take me home. I stayed there overnight. I was fighting the urge to sleep because I didn't know. these people. The 12-year-old boy told me to get some rest because these were his parents, and he knew they wouldn't do anything. I didn't particularly trust him, so I fought sleep until midnight, until my body just gave into it. In the morning, I was still there. The boy's parents seemed extremely upset that I was still there, and expressed that they needed to move on in about

three more days to a different camping spot. Their walkie-talkie friends seemed to have an incredibly hard time finding us as well. It was almost like we had all entered a dimensional tear between one timeline and another. Eventually, I ended up taking another nap, only to be woken up about an hour later, because their friend had arrived. It seems that he found the map. I had been there for about 36 hours at this point, so there was no way. way that my parents hadn't noticed I was missing. I expressed to them seriously that they should just keep me at this point because

clearly my family didn't want me. They said, oh, sweetie, of course they want you. But one of them seemed to have doubts about this and just kept it to themselves. They said I was a lovely girl, but they would be in a lot of trouble if they kept me. So they would take me back, but keep looking out for me in the future. We finally found the trail that connected back to my parents' house, and they brought me to them. My parents called them names, despite these being the people who had been keeping me safe for well over 24 hours, and insisted that I'd only been gone for 15 minutes.

Well, I'm pretty sure that, according to the calendar, I'd actually been missing for more like a week. During my time in the woods, they insisted that I shouldn't wander off on my own, and told me if I thought I saw anything or anyone by the campgrounds at night to not acknowledge it because it's not friendly. I don't know if they were Faye, spirit guides, friends and family from a timeline where my parents didn't adopt me or just spirits. Regardless, I never had anything particularly bad happen in the woods again, but I've never physically seen these people again.

Sometimes I feel like instead of experiencing glitches in the magey, or tears in dimensions, maybe I am a physical glitch in the matrix. I've experienced too many weird things to discount it as just an occasional glitch. I wonder if there's some sort of scientific factor that makes certain people more prone to experiencing glitches and more likely to develop psychic gifts. I'm sure there's something. Also, if anyone is wondering about the puppy, I'm pretty sure that it was a Cocker Spaniel Shizu Mix. Maybe I was led astray by the Faye, but then saved by someone or something else.

I'm completely unsure. I want to share a story that happened to my brother's friend a few years ago. They're independent filmmakers who often explore remote areas looking for unique shooting locations. One such trip turned into something they never talk about now, not without lowering their voices or quickly changing the topic. It began like any other location scouting trip. A small group of them drove out towards the outskirts of our small town, looking for natural backdrops like forests, streams, anything untouched. One of them had heard from a local about a lesser-known trail that supposedly led to a waterfall hidden deep within the woods.

It wasn't marked on any map. They parked near the edge of the dirt road, packed light, and began walking. The trail was narrow, and wide, with thorny bushes and towering trees that blocked most of the light. It extended about four kilometers, peaceful, but unsettling in silence. There were no birds, no rustling leaves, and not even really the sound of the wind. Just the crunch of their footsteps on dry soil. When they finally reached the end, what they saw took their breath away.

A beautiful, untouched waterfall emerged from a cliff, cascading into a pool, and to a pool. that shimmered in the scattering sunlight. It didn't feel real. The area was surrounded by blackstone, moss, and vines. It was eerily quiet, yet somehow calming like it had been waiting for them. They spent a while there, took videos, clicked photos, laughed, joked about shooting an entire film just at this spot. The mood was light until one of them checked his watch. It was nearly 5.15 p.m.

And in the forest, after five, everything changes. The light dimmed unnaturally fast. Not like sunset, more like someone had drawn a grayish blue curtain across the sky. The air felt denser, heavier, like breathing through a wet cloth. They decided to head back immediately, but as they turned to leave, they heard something, something that sounded like whispers. At first it was faint, like distant murmurs carried by the wind, but then they started to grow sharper, too sharp.

Words that were foreign, low, repetitive, floating just on the edge of their hearing. They stopped, thinking that they were people nearby. They called out, no answer. Then one of them turned to glance back at the waterfall and froze. At the far end of the clearing barely visible through the mist stood a tall figure. Extremely tall, too tall. Its body was covered in what looked like dark matted hair.

It didn't move and didn't flinch. It just stood there hunched slightly forward, watching. Its eyes were a dull, pale yellow and sunken. They didn't glow, but they stood out, like they didn't belong in the frame of its body. And the whispers, they weren't really echoing around them anymore. They were inside their heads. Each one of them later described hearing different things. One heard his father's voice,

calling his name calmly. Another heard soft humming like a lullaby. Another said they heard a child giggling, but all of them every single one felt the same thing. They were being told to stay. Their instincts kicked in. They didn't speak and didn't think they just ran. Four kilometers through the forest in near darkness.

Thorns ripped their skin. One of them twisted his ankles but didn't stop. The whispers faded slowly behind. them, but the feelings didn't, that suffocating sense of being watched from the trees, from the shadows, from everywhere. When they finally reached the car, they slammed the doors shut and sat in silence, catching their breath. No one said a word until they were halfway back to the city.

And here's where it gets stranger. When they reached home, they checked their phones and camera. All the photos were corrupted. The drone footage was blank. The GPS route they had tracked were gone. The location where the waterfall existed was no longer traceable. A week later, they tried to go back and this time during the day, with others, but no matter how many turns they took, they never found that trail again. It's like the forest let them in once and then erased the path behind them.

Now, none of them joke about location scouting. They don't even shoot in forests anymore. and if you ever bring up waterfalls around them, they seem to go quiet. Some places don't want to be found, and when they are, they whisper you into silence. They've been very distant about a lot of things ever since. Some incidents really do change people. 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 supports 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 side 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.

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 that you. love and sleep well.