As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 197 - Scary Close Call Stories & Other Stories From Listeners

Episode Date: October 12, 2025

Today, on the 197th episode of the As The Raven Dreams podcast, we have 11 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 Scary Close Call stories and a collection of other scary stories from listeners. 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... Adella, Conscious Observer, Superb_Country5440, WhereIsMyHairbrush24, A .C. Smart, Napa, Lilac L., BrianScott, BillyGoatTheThird, Tom K, UniverseJumper As Well As Any Author That Has Requested Anonymity. TimeStamps… Ad breaks after Story 1 & Story 5 1 ➤ 1:22 2 ➤ 5:25 3 ➤ 12:46 4 ➤ 22:15 5 ➤ 25:47 6 ➤ 35:56 7 ➤ 40:01 8 ➤ 42:27 9 ➤ 53:41 10 ➤ 57:35 11 ➤ 1:03:38 ----- 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. Note: The podcast nor the host endorses any advertisements played during the podcast, ads are not chosen by ATRD or Raven Adams, they are chosen automatically by the advertisement systems by the platforms that host the podcast. I do not endorse, support, or promote any opinions or statements made in any adverts played during the show. #ScaryStories #UnexplainedMysteries #CloseCallStories Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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am. Ahoy, hoi, my friends, how are you doing? On this lovely

Sunday halfway through October. Pretty crazy. Hopefully you're doing well. I'm doing pretty good. Um, I guess I should ask here randomly. Do you have any plans for Halloween?

If you do, let me know in the comments down below if you're on Spotify. If you're not on Spotify, well, you can't let me know. Also, if you have a story you want to share with the podcast and would like to hear, go to as the ravendreams.com and click the button to send it my way, or email it to as the ravendreams at gmail.com. both are valid options. So, yeah. All it said, friends,

I hope you enjoy the stories today. We have some stories from subscribers, some mixed stories just from listeners, and stories that are about close calls, times the submitter had a run-in with death, but didn't quite get taken down, if that makes sense. They're good stories, I promise. Anyways, hope you all enjoy.

Hope I see you again here soon, but until then, Much love and sleep well. Hi, Raven. I've been listening to your Glitch in the Matrix stories for years, and I only just recently started listening to other scary and strange stories that you have on your channel. And today, I realized I have one of those stories to tell. So, I live in New Zealand.

And about five years ago, my friend and I were volunteering on an uninhabited island called Matwehi. And if I mispronounce that, I apologize. Nobody lives here because it has many native and endangered animals like the Kiwi and Tuatara. We were helping to cut walking paths and plant native trees. The only people on the island were my friend and I, who were both girls in our early 20s, as well as the caretaker and his wife, who were the only people to live on the island permanently. We stayed three nights and would get time off working each day to explore the island. On the last day, my friend and I went separate directions, and although it was May, which is the middle of winter in New Zealand,

I went to the beach to sunbathe and have a swim, because it was very sunny. The walk from camp to the beach was about 40 minutes. I was laying on the beach when I noticed a boat about 50 meters offshore. There was a naked man standing on the deck. I imagined it must be a couple having a romantic holiday, together, and that they must not have expected anyone to be on this beach, as it's usually deserted. So I tried not to look in that direction to give privacy to whoever it was. Of course, I couldn't help myself, but glanced that way every so often, wondering if I would

spot another naked person with the man. I was giggling a little to myself, imagining how embarrassed they would be when they saw me. After about ten minutes of being there, I looked over and I noticed that the man was still alone, still naked, and he was now getting the dingy boat ready to take to the shore. He was looking in my direction, getting on board the little boat, and then he started to head my way, alone and still naked. All of a sudden I was very scared. The camp where I was staying was quite a ways back, and I was completely alone on the beach with a naked man coming towards me.

I got up and walked toward the bush where the path back was, and I kept looking over my shoulder. He got off the dinghy and started walking toward me, still naked. There was about a hundred meters between us, and I started running, terrified by now. I ran as fast as I could towards the camp. I continued to look back and I saw that he started running too, chasing me. At the time I was not very fit and I had a long way to go to get back to where people were, and it was so incredibly scary. I ran as fast as I could, and he just kept following me.

I would turn around every so often and see this naked man chasing behind me through the trees. I had a burning stitch in my side and I thought that I could. couldn't physically keep running, but every time I would stop, I could hear or see him coming from behind me. I've never had to push myself to run like that in my life, but I knew that I could not stop. Finally, I got back to the camp and I told the caretaker. The man was nowhere to be seen. We called the police and they sent a police boat to his boat, but apparently he denied it and there was nothing they could do. Sometimes, I... I wonder what he would have done if he had caught up to me.

Hey, everyone. I'm at my wits end and, frankly, starting to scare myself. I've been lurking here for a while, mostly reading other people's stories, but now I'm living something that I can't explain, and I need to know if anyone, anyone, has ever felt anything like this. Somewhere around three months ago, I was caught in a pretty chaotic situation downtown. Nothing super dramatic, but definitely jarring.

I was waiting for the light to change at a really busy intersection when out of nowhere, there was this unbelievably loud, high-pitched screech. Not like tires or metal, more like a pure vibrating frequency that seemed to vibrate through my bones. It lasted maybe a few seconds' tops, but it was, It was so disorienting that people actually stumbled and covered their ears. Everyone was looking around confused, but it just stopped. No crash, no explosion, no source.

It was just a sudden violent sound that vanished. No one knew what it was and no one was able to explain it. We all just kind of laughed and said, wow, that was really weird and then moved on with our lives. As I was trying to get my bearings, still a little dizzy, I made eye contact with this guy across the street. He was standing near a lamppost, looking just as bewildered and a little pale as I felt. Our eyes locked for a long moment. It wasn't a romantic thing, just this shared, intense, what the hell was that moment. We both just kind of nodded at each other, and then the crowd started moving again.

and we went our separate ways. I thought nothing of it, just a weird blip in a mundane day. But then, about a week later, things started to get weird. I would be at home completely fine, and then I would randomly think of that guy, and I would get hit with this really intense wave of anxiety.

It was like a cold dread washing over me completely unprovoked. Or I would get this weird, metallic taste in my mouth and would start to feel like I was going to get sick. Like spinning room, I'm about to lose my lunch, levels of sick. This happened a few times, enough that I made an appointment with my doctor, who was booked up for like three weeks, so it was three weeks out. Of course, as soon as I booked the appointment, it pretty much stopped. But then other weird things would happen.

I would be doing laundry, and again, I would suddenly think of that guy and just get angry, like filled with rage, angry. I would get this jarring flash of sensory input, some shock to my system, and I would literally want to scream. I felt like I was a child having a tantrum, just wanting to throw myself to the floor and scream, kick, and cry. I'm a fairly stable person. least I like to believe that I am, and I have never had emotional issues like this. I kind of just dealt with this until my doctor's appointment. It did my best to explain what was going on without sounding like a crazy person.

From what she could tell, I was fine. Not pregnant, no major issues on any of the tests or blood work. She had a specialist that she wants me to see, but that's a near future thing, as they are also booked up. But from what she could tell, I was perfectly healthy. And it was probably just a passing thing. Maybe it was just anxiety. It mostly subsided, but I would still randomly get hit with the emotional bursts, and it got so unsettling that I started trying to find that guy.

I remembered his face pretty clearly, and the intersection. I spent way too much time scrolling through local news pages, looking at photos from nearby businesses on social media, just anything. It felt obsessive, but I had this gut feeling that he was connected. And then about a month ago, I found him. It was a photo from a local community event posted online. Same guy. I knew it instantly.

I won't share his information, obviously, but confirming that he existed only made things worse. Since then, the connection, whatever it is, has seemingly intensified. I feel constantly drained, like my own energy is being siphoned off. What I think are his emotions, which now often seem to be agitation or deep sadness or simmering resentment, hit me hard and often. Sometimes I hear what sounds like snippets of his thoughts. Not words that I understand, but that faint mental static or the emotional

tone of a frustrated internal monologue. The worst part is that feeling of being watched. Not physically, but like a constant unseen awareness is directed at me. I'll be in my apartment alone and suddenly get this overwhelming sensation that he's, I don't know, feeling me, knowing what I'm doing. It makes my skin crawl. I have literally no idea what to do. I've tried meditating, tried to ignore it, and I even yelled for it to stop, but nothing is doing it.

In fact, sometimes it feels like when I try to push it away, it gets worse, almost like a frustrated pushback. I know that I sound insane. I accept that. My friends would just tell me that I'm having a mental breakdown, which maybe I am, but I feel like I'm experiencing some sort of psychic link to someone that I've never met and will likely never meet again. So I have to ask, what the hell do I do? Is this a soulmate thing? Or is this some kind of weird universal joke in my life is the punchline?

How do you even begin to cope with someone else's entire emotional landscape bleeding into your life like this? and you just can't escape it. I'm seriously getting scared for my mental health, and possibly my physical health, and I'm pretty sure the specialist is just going to tell me that I'm fine physically, that this is all mental. Well, let me tell you, I'm definitely feeling mental. Back in the summer of 2022,

I was taking a road trip to see my family and some friends back home in Kansas City. The two years prior to 22 were a bit of a mess, as many of us know, and I was unable to go home like I usually did for the holidays. But since I couldn't do much other than school and work, I had saved up some money, and I thought I would spend the summer back home. I was going to be driving from Denver by myself, staying with my buddy Marcus, and surprising my parents when I got there.

so he got all the updates along the way. Now, I had made this drive a few times, so I had a slight idea of where I was, but that's about it. I have a notoriously bad sense of direction, so I would not be able to make the drive without GPS, but that's what my phone was for. I headed out after I got off work, which was about 5 p.m., and texted Marcus telling him I was on my way.

I knew it was going to be late by the time I got in, but that was okay because I was only going to want to crash when I got there anyways. The drive for most of it went fine. I stopped a few times to grab something to eat and use the restroom, but otherwise I was fine. That was until I was on the Kansas side. I think it was somewhere between Salina and Topeka when my phone froze. I had gotten a text and started responding when it just froze on the message. Nothing I did was working, so I was out my GPS. I had an exit that I was going to have to take soon, per what I remembered the GPS saying,

but I couldn't remember the name or how long until I had to take it. So a bit of panic set in. I just kept driving for a while, thinking I would just take the next exit and take. try to restart my phone. But what I didn't realize was that I must have been in a spot that didn't have an exit for quite some time. I managed to restart my phone and then did take the next exit that I saw, which put me in this little city that I had never heard of. It started with a B, I think. I pulled into an old gas station and the only reason I knew it was actually still in service was because of the old man sitting on a bench outside the store, reading a magazine.

The lights inside were even off or dimmed. It was strange, to say the least. He looked up at me and we both nodded when we made eye contact, and then I looked back down at my phone to get maps pulled back up. The man then stood up, walked inside, and turned on the lights. I wasn't planning on stopping, but now that he had gotten up, I kind of felt obligated to. I guess that way I didn't look like I was going to rob the place either. I started plugging back in my destination and was confused when the time didn't add up. I was about at the same time that I was when my phone had locked up. It also had me turning back around, so had I gone too far somehow?

I didn't recall missing any other exits either. I figured maybe this would be a good reason to step inside the store and ask the man that worked there. I went in and grabbed a soda, and as he rang me up, he asked me where I was headed. As I explained to him where I was going and what happened, I remember the look of confusion and maybe even amusement on his face. He said that I was like 45 miles southwest of Topeka. Turns out, I hadn't just missed an exit. I had somehow gotten completely off I-70 and had been following some smaller highway for over an hour without even realizing it.

We both had a small laugh. I think he was enjoying this more, though. And he teased that this was exactly why phones slash GPSes are not always reliable in small places like that. He tried his best explaining how to get back to I-70, and I thanked him, and then was on my way. I'm sure that his directions were accurate, but again, being directionally challenged, I went back to my phone GPS and just hoped that it wouldn't freeze up again.

I texted my friend telling him that I had something holding me up, not wanting to admit that it was my fault just yet, and that I was back on the road. Back on the road and back on I-70, there were suddenly orange cones everywhere, and cops directing traffic off the highway. It was a complete detour, rooting everyone through some back roads to get around whatever was going on, and then back on the highway at an entrance ramp further down. Weird, and a minor inconvenience, but at least I could follow the other cars in front of me, and my GPS was still going.

While I was driving, Marcus called me and he sounded a bit concerned as he asked me if I was good. I laughed and told him, yeah, and explained how I just had some phone issues that delayed me. I asked why, and he said that it was nothing and that he would see me when I got there. It was a bit weird of him to just call, but I shrugged it off and continued my drive. Finally, I got to Marcus's place with no other issues, and he greeted me at the door, like we used to do. After I was in and he showed me where I would be staying, we sat and talked for a bit. That is when he dropped it on me.

He asked if I had any troubles on the road getting here, other than my getting lost, Snafu, and even asked if I saw any accidents. I told him no, but that there were several cop cars on part of the highway, routing people off the exit. That's when he looked at me all wide-eyed and said, Bro, you dodged a big bullet. He explained that there had been a massive collision on that same highway. There were a few cars and a semi-involved,

and three people were dead. He said that since he was up waiting for me, he had been notified of some breaking news that mentioned it. That's why he called me. He knew I had been on that highway, and since I mentioned being held up, he was concerned that I may have been involved. But get this,

the time of that accident was close to the time that I had texted him about being delayed, which meant that if my phone hadn't frozen, and if I hadn't missed my exit, I very well could have been involved in that accident, and worst of all, I could have died. Instead, that damn phone issue could have saved my life.

I was there for the aftermath, was routed around it, and that now all made sense. They had all the lanes blocked for most of the night. We both sat there in that moment of panic and surrealism and then tried to brush it off and move on. It was a little hard to sleep that night

with all the adrenaline, but I was okay. I surprised my parents the next day and decided against mentioning the accident. hoping they wouldn't put two and two together either. But it did make me stop and think about it more. My parents didn't even know that I was coming, so they could have gotten news that their youngest son died trying to come home. That kind of made me feel worse, to be honest.

Overall, my trip there turned out great, and it did make me appreciate things a little more, even the unexpected ones, like a phone freezing up. On my way home, I was a little more aware of my surroundings. I paid close attention to any cars around me, and semis made me nervous as hell. I made it back home safely and let everyone know how I was doing any time that I stopped.

But I also felt the weird guilt about being relieved. Three people did die, and here I am grateful that I took a wrong turn. It's a weird feeling, to be honest. I mean, that whole thing made me rethink about getting lost. Maybe all those wrong turns or delays or even little mishaps weren't just mistakes or inconveniences. Maybe they were to keep us safe and to avoid potentially dangerous situations. I just try to appreciate what I have now and tell myself that it's all happening in this exact order.

for a reason. It's been a very interesting life so far. I'm 31. I'm just going to wing it here and keep it short, but not leave out important details. I have around three stories that I'll send. I'm sending the first one your way now. I live in a small town in Upper Michigan,

way out in the woods, population of around 800, over a 30-mile radius. I used to play with my friend at this abandoned homemade baseball field that an elderly man had for many decades in his backyard unused and overgrown. When standing at home plate straight ahead, 100 yards is woods. To the right, 100 yards is woods, and to the left 200 yards down is a narrow field than my house.

This will paint the picture of the event that started everything. I was around six years old playing in my front yard, and I happened to look toward the abandoned baseball field, and I saw what looked to be a very tall, probably at least ten feet if I had to guess. The memory is vivid thing. It had black fur and resembled what we call Bigfoot. It was standing at home plate of the baseball field,

and it threw a giant rock probably a few feet wide, so very heavy, all the way into the woods straight ahead in a bit to the left my way. I could still hear the thump and the branches cracking to this day. I start to run toward it, out of curiosity, and the memory then fades. Whatever it was was very strong and very big. The next few years, a recurring event happened to me for at least a couple of years. I don't know how many times. It would always be dark out, very late at night.

I'd be sitting in my living room on the couch, and everyone would be sleeping, and I would always find myself staring at a pitch-black window, at a pair of bright red eyes that, to this day, I cannot think about them very long, or I get shaken up. The eyes were much further apart than hours and just bigger. time always felt like it stood still. It felt as if it was curious, and so was I. I don't recall any conversations, but I do recall feeling connected,

and maybe just because we looked at each other so much that it formed a connection. This happened for a couple of years. I don't know how often, but enough for it to feel normal. I don't know if it was a friend or something curious or something else entirely. I left that house at the age of 11. To this day, I cannot comfortably look out a window at night. I don't know how I would react if I saw those eyes again. Shortly after all this, UFOs and encounters entered my life.

I'll send those to you next time if you're interested, and thank you for taking the time to read this. I'm just a truth seeker, and these experiences have made me obsessed in a healthy way. Hello, I wanted to share something that happened to me last year. It may not be the scariest thing you've come across, but being in that moment really scared me and put some things into perspective. It started out as one of those typical weeks. My wife, who at the time was seven months pregnant, was having a rough time. Her car had broken down and had been in the shop,

so we were down to one car, which we were able to make work. work. Based on our schedules, I worked later than her. I typically dropped her off and then sometimes I picked her up, or she might get a ride from a coworker, depending on how quickly she needed to get home. She was having a very stressful week and reaching towards the end of the pregnancy. She was just having a really rough time. It was our first kid, so she was pretty worn out and was a trooper throughout the whole thing, even during the difficult months. moments. On this night, she texted me saying that she was going to get a ride from her co-worker since she was running behind, telling me that it was another rough day for her. She had a larger

and longer lunch because there was a corporate outing, which is probably what set her back to, and with how her appetite had been, or lack thereof, I knew she wasn't going to want dinner either. So I had some leftovers and just hung around at home until she got there. But as I sat around doing nothing like a bum, I decided I wanted to do something nice for her instead. With the weeks that she's had, I knew just the thing that would make her smile. She's been obsessed with this gelato from the ice cream shop throughout her pregnancy, and I thought that I would buy her a pint of it. I mean, when you don't want dinner, you typically just want ice cream, right?

So I started feeling like a genius and did some things here and there to prepare to go. I killed some time by picking up the living room, swapping out the laundry, and then before I left, I looked at the dishes in the sink. We had a few things in there from dinner, our bowls from breakfast, and then I had my reheated dinner and they hadn't been done yet. I know some people would call that lazy or whatever, but my goal the night before was just making sure the wife was comfortable after having a breakdown at work.

So I know that I needed to do the dishes too, and that was the plan, but I wanted to get the gelato before she got home. So I told myself that I would go get it real quick, get home, do the dishes, and then she could come back to a clean house and a lovely treat. Don't worry, I'm not trying to justify my laziness, it is all relevant to the story, I promise. The drive was fine, as it was only about 15 minutes from our house, if that. The place was very colorful and modern, with the back wall full of those little polaroids and post-its that anyone could add to. It was always fun to look through them.

I got in there, and there was a couple sitting at one of the tables enjoying their time, and one girl behind the counter. I'd seen her there before, a younger girl with short black hair, always very chipper and willing to let my wife sample different flavors, even though she still always got the same thing, pistachio and dark chocolate. Usually we just got the small cups for us, but today, I was spending a bit more to get a whole pint for her, and a little German chocolate cup for myself.

The girl working there said that I was a good person, and then asked where my wife was, and we had a small conversation about all that as she rang me up. I paid and thanked her and then began walking back to my car, feeling like I was doing a good thing. As I got in my car and buckled in, my wife texted me again saying that they were just about to leave, and I responded to her.

I thought this was even better because it gave me enough time to get back and get those dishes done. That's when all of my plans came. came crashing down. It took my brain a moment to process what exactly was happening. There was a loud pop, and at first I thought it may have been a car back firing, but then I heard the scream. I looked around and back towards the big window into the gelato shop

and saw a man standing there pointing a gun at the young girl that had just rung me up. I just remember staring into the building, trying to process if what I was seeing was real. I was just in there. I tried looking around and I could just barely see the top of the couple's head that had been sitting in there, just over the store stickers. I didn't know if anyone was hurt, but the girl looked terrified as this guy was clearly yelling at her. I finally came to and told myself that I needed to do something. I didn't know if anyone else had called the cops yet, but I had. I finally called them and reported what was happening, as I lied across my front seats not wanting the guy to see me in the car and possibly come out. I stayed in that position

for what felt like ours. The gelato, now in a bag on my floorboard. Then I heard the sirens. There was another gun shot and a bunch of shouting, and I finally looked up over the dash when I heard them shouting, gun. They had cuffed the guy with the gun, and another cop and paramedic were inside the store. That's when I looked around and saw the ambulance. I was worried that someone had been injured, and based on where the paramedic was, it must have been the couple. I remember being so terrified and feeling so bad for them.

They were probably just out on a nice date or enjoying a little treat like myself, only to be shot at. I stayed in my car, not knowing if I should get out and tell someone that I called or just leave. So I rolled down my window and waited for someone to notice me. I did take the time to text my wife that I stepped out, thinking now she would beat me home, kicking myself for the whole thing. I didn't tell her where I was going because it was supposed to be a surprise. I didn't even leave a note. So if I had been in there, or shot, even, she would have no eye.

idea where I was, and I wouldn't have even been able to answer my phone if she did try to contact me. And that was a terrifying thought for me. Thankfully, one of the cops did notice me, and so I started talking to him. I told him why I was there and that I had called it in. He was trying to be optimistic, I'm sure, but he told me that it was a good thing I got there and left when I had, and said how the other man in there had been shot, but it wasn't life-threatening. which did make me feel a little better. Finally, I got to go home.

Now with the gelato, more of a soup, and tell my wife everything that had happened. She freaked out. She cried, and she laughed. In that order, too. She was scared to hear that I was sort of involved in the whole thing and being in her current state. She cried for me,

cried for the kind gesture of getting her the gelato, and then laughed that, it would be our luck with the week we were having. But she also made a very good point as we spoke about it. If I had stayed and done the dishes before I went, like I had debated, I may have been walking into that store at the same time that the gunman showed up. I could have already been inside or maybe even walking to the door with him. And that terrified me.

A simple change like that, a simple change in the order of things that I did. did, and I could have been in there, and this could have gone a lot worse. And the cop showed up about the time the operator told me they would, so did anyone else even call for help, or was it luck that I would be out there and call it in? It was one of those I almost literally dodged a bullet. I learned about a week later from the news and things found between local pages and social media that the shooter was the ex of another girl that had worked there.

He showed up for whatever reason to try and talk to her, and when the girl told him she wasn't there, he didn't believe her and started yelling. That's what made the other guy that was there tried to stand between them, and that's why he got shot. I saw a post from the local news where his fiancé was interviewed and ended up finding her on Facebook

and pieced together more of the story. So, overall, it was a crazy situation that shouldn't have happened. And with just a few choices I made, I nearly avoided it. Because if I was in there, I think I would have done the same thing that man did to protect that young girl. She was too young, too full of life, and I hope that that didn't cause lasting damage to her. So, there you have it. Other than my kid being born, that was probably one of the scariest things I've ever experienced. And if there's anything to learn here, it's that sometimes procrastination can save lives.

The dishes can wait. Life is unpredictable enough as it is. I listen to you most nights, and I've had a few ghost experiences over it. over the years. This is one of them. I hadn't lived in Newcastle for years, but the memory that haunts me the most comes from my teens back in the mid-80s.

I was about 14 then running with the street kid named Bo. He was 16, rough around the edges, but he had this way of lighting up a room with a grin. Later on, the Newcastle Herald would dub him the king of the street kids, but to me, He was just bow, my mate. We were inseparable. Weekends, I would ride the train from Shortland to Wickham just to meet him.

Sometimes he'd be at the pink elephant markets, slipping things into his pockets like it was a game. Other times he would show up at my house, and my mom, never knowing he was homeless, would pile food on his plate smiling as if feeding him might fix everything. We roam the cemeteries, alleys, train stations. we were kids chasing mischief. But beneath it all, Bo carried a heaviness that I couldn't name back then. He would vanish for days at a time. I'd search the streets for him until my feet blistered.

I hated those silences more than anything. One night, after hours of looking, I sat alone on the Wickham train platform, exhausted and close to tears. Bo crept up behind me, laughing as I jumped up. out of my skin. I was furious and relieved all at once. He was tipsy but alive. That was Bo, always testing me,

always slipping back into my life when I thought I had lost him. But then came the silence that didn't break. A week, two weeks, nothing. I wasted away with worry dragging myself through school. My stomach nodded with hunger and grief. And then, one Saturday night, I found myself wandering Hunter Street, past the shuttered pink elephant markets, over the bridge, towards Islington. The Wickham pub roared with drunken voices, so I slipped on to the quiet park beside it.

The moon was full, the night was alive with trains, crickets, the distant rev of cars. I sat on a bench, breathing, just listening. For the first time in weeks, I felt almost safe. Then I heard a sound beside me, and a shadow sat on the bench. Pete? The voice was his. I'm sorry. So, sorry.

My throat locked up. Bo? I messed up and I couldn't find you, Pete. Tears burned down my face. Where have you been? What do you mean? Silence. I turned and he was gone.

The bench was empty. The night's. sounds rushed back in, the clatter of trains, the jeers of drunkards from the pub. My calls for him were swallowed by their laughter. A week later, I was at school waiting for the principal, when I noticed a newspaper lying on the chair beside me. I never cared for the news, but the photo froze me. Bo crouched low, dressed in black, graffiti behind him.

The headline said that he had hung himself. In that same park, opposite. the Wickham pub weeks earlier. But I had seen him. I'd spoken to him. To this day, I believe that Wickham Park is haunted. Not by strangers, nor shadows, but by Bo himself, still searching and lingering. And one day, I will find him again.

Hello, Raven. I recently stumbled upon your podcast while drawing and doing puzzles a few days ago. and have enjoyed listening to them. I have a story that I'm not sure if it's a glitch in the Matrix or a UFO sighting, but I don't know where else to post this. So this was back in probably 2020, when my family and I were driving home from a trip to Florida. I was in the backseat of the car and looking out the window at the clouds.

I like to watch clouds and find images in them to draw. When I saw something in the sky, It was very high up, like as high as one of those commercial planes that you see, but it didn't look like a plane at all. For a description, it was shaped sort of like an uppercase Y with two points going off of the front and one in the back. There was also barely any center to it, just three points that met in the middle. On top of this, there was a second object trailing behind the craft, which was shaped like a craft. crescent moon. The thing is, I couldn't see anything attaching this crescent to the first craft. It was just floating behind it. The whole thing, both crafts seemed to be made of metal,

as it looked shiny. Something else that was weird was that the triangle craft was not moving with the long point first as planes do, but was rather moving as if the cockpit was directly in between the first two points where they met the center. I watched this thing in the sky for a few moments before I saw it go behind a cloud. I got out the old iPhone that I had so I could take a picture of it when it came back out from behind the clouds, but it never did. It just vanished. I never saw that strange of an aircraft again, and I'm still not sure what it was, because I've never seen any real aircraft that looked anything like it.

Anyway, I hope this story makes it into a video or podcast, and thank you for taking the time to read it. I have other stories to share, ones that actually are creepy glitches, and maybe I will sometime. So, this story is going to be a little different, but it still scares the hell out of me, so I wanted to share it. Several years back, back when I was still in my 20s and still running off of energy drinks and protein bars, I would party a lot. I was big into music, still am, but I would go to just about any concert that I could. I followed all my favorite bands like Hawks, and if they were even remotely close, I tried to go to the concert. I even liked going to some of these smaller, local, and cover bands.

They were typically just as fun, and, if anything, the drinks there would make it fun. This is where I kind of landed myself into some trouble. I'd been sick with the flu and was out of work for almost a week, which completely wrecked my paycheck. It was a little shorter, and I had some unexpected bills come up, so I was cutting it pretty close, but I was able to keep everything afloat. I finally got back to work, and my friend told me that one of our favorite bands was going to be coming to town. I was ecstatic. I hadn't seen these guys in a few years, and they put on one hell of a show.

I don't want to say who it was, because I think a lot of people would be able to figure out my general location. Anyway, we for sure both wanted to get tickets, but I had to get paid again before I could even think about buying them. So, we waited anxiously to buy the tickets until the following week, and slowly watching the amounts left. I was getting nervous that they would sell out, but finally Friday came around, I got paid, so I went in to buy them. That is where the problems began. I went straight through the venue and they said they were sold out. I've run into that before, but typically they weren't actually and they were just basically holding tickets back for purchase at the door. So I tried a few ticket places online with no luck.

I even physically went to the venue to see if I could just buy the tickets at the box office, and they said that they couldn't sell tickets for a future event. So I went back home empty-handed and upset that we probably wouldn't be able to make the concert. I started checking on some sites that I had used in the past to buy tickets that individuals were selling, people that couldn't go and now needed to sell them, and of course the occasional scalper. I didn't want to go that path because I know that they were typically overpriced, and I really wanted to see these guys. I hadn't even been to an actual concert in a while due to life just getting in the way. So I made the decision to buy tickets from this person on set site.

He claimed that he bought several tickets for him and his friends, but a few people cancelled on him, so he was just trying to recoup some of the money they lost. He had a few general admission tickets, but then he also had some for the balcony area to the side. They weren't much more either. I believe $100 each versus about 60s, so I asked for the balcony ones, knowing my friend would be super excited for it too. I paid him through PayPal, and he sent me a screenshot of the QR code and code for each ticket. I thanked him and even told him that if he had another. balcony one, that he was welcome to join us since he saved me some stress. And he agreed,

saying he'd be happy to. I didn't mind. He just made our entire night, and now I was back to being excited for this concert. So fast forward two weeks to the night of the concert, we were both dressed up and looking nice, and standing in the already long line to get in. We finally got to the front of the line, and the girl there first looked at my paper. that I printed out with the codes, like she was confused. I remember her mumbling something and then trying to scan the code. It clearly didn't capture it. She said that it wasn't accepting it, and she asked me where I bought the tickets from.

I explained that it was from an individual trying to sell tickets that he had bought, and then she asked me to show her the confirmation that I got from it. I explained how I paid via PayPal, and he just emailed me the screenshots. She then asked us to stand to the side for her manager, and that's when I started to get concerned. What was wrong with my tickets? Finally, the manager showed up, and I explained everything to him, and he explained that the tickets appeared to be fake. I was shocked and scared. I showed him the payment and the email, freaking out thinking that he may have thought we faked the tickets.

He apologized and assured us that he believed. us that we were just victims, but he asked if he could keep the papers that I printed to report to the police about the fakes, explaining how it's all been pretty bad. He even showed us what their codes looked like, pointing out that it was long and almost barcode-like, not the normal square QR code. He then gave us a few suggestions, like trying to fight it with PayPal or the bank to get our money back. Unfortunately, since it was inside, he couldn't let us. He couldn't let us. us in, but he said that if we waited around for everyone else to get in, then we could be first to buy any remaining tickets. He also gave both of us a free t-shirt for the venue, which was

really nice of him. We thanked him for trusting us, and he went back inside, leaving us to wait and watch all of these other people go in. The line seemed never-ending, and to be honest, that was pretty discouraging. We were both thinking that they weren't going to have any tickets left, and standing there was just making us feel worse, so we decided to just pass on the whole thing. We instead went to a little bar and grill for dinner and drinks, then went to another bar for even more drinks. We blasted the band's music, and even the Uber driver got into it and plated for us. Maybe it was because we were pretty drunk, but he also did get a pretty big tip from us too. We were upset that we didn't get to go to the concert and that I was out $200.

But we ended up making a great night out of it anyways, and we were thankful for everyone involved. We ended up back at my place, and my friends stayed there. The next morning my phone was blowing up with texts and missed calls, people asking if we were okay to answer ASAP and call people back. My sister, my mom, a few friends. I was trying to figure out what the heck was with all the worried messages. I started with my sister and said that I was home and asked why, explaining that we didn't go to the concert.

While I was responding to my mom, my sister called me. I was not expecting what she told me. She said that there was some kind of fight that broke out at the concert, and someone started shooting people. One person had died, and several more were injured. I was shocked. I told her that we never even got in, and I could hear the relief in her voice.

She said that she would send me the news article, and I let her go so I could respond to everyone else. I got up and went to the living room to check on my friend, who was still ungracefully passed out. I woke her up and told her what had happened, and she seemed to have the same reaction that I did, grabbing her phone and seeing all the missed calls and texts. We sat there clearing through all the messages,

and I finally got to read the story. It said that there was some kind of altercation, and someone was asked to leave. That's when the person pulled out a weapon. It didn't say what they had, but then another person brandished a gun and began shooting. They shot the guy that first had a weapon and then shot someone else nearby, which was the person that died.

Then several others were shot. It also didn't specify if there was another shooter or if it was all the same guy, but both people that had weapons or started it had been arrested. It was even on the news later that night as they interviewed some comments, concert goers. The place looked like a mess. Some people looked terrified and were crying. I was just in shock. We were supposed to be at that very concert, and because we wouldn't even have been on the balcony, if we got in at all, we would have been on the floor, and probably near the back, too, since we would have been one of the last ones in. Since the shooting took place close to the door, as the person was being

escort it out, we could have been right there by it, possibly shot, maybe killed. It was way too close for comfort, and I had to talk my friend down from a full-blown panic attack, both of us getting that survivor's guilt in a way. We were upset about being out $200 when others were right there in that moment, struggling to survive or get away, or maybe even grieving over a friend. or a family member or a partner that they'd lost. Things were a bit weird for us for a few days. We certainly couldn't bring ourselves to listen to their music the days following,

and I still felt a twinge of guilt when something negative happened. Like, I had no right to be upset. But over time, we both got better about it. It was an awful thing to happen, and we respected the situation for what it was. but I just became incredibly thankful for how things turned out for us. Getting scammed was potentially a lifesaver for us, and I don't take that lightly now. It did take a while before either of us wanted to go to another concert,

but eventually we did. And thankfully, there have been no other incidents like that. Now I just have a handful of people that require me to message them before we go, and after, which... I can live with. I won't take these fateful moments for granted anymore. I'm not sure how you want to categorize this one, Raven. It's a familiar subject, but one I haven't heard you cover,

and it's courtesy of the least likely source, my dad. We call my dad the world's greatest skeptic, but there are two exceptions to this disbelief. He can witchwater, which was a huge shock to him, and he has seen spontaneous human combustion. I've known about the latter for most of my life, but he's never been willing to talk about it when I asked him. Last month, though, I was working on something in the kitchen as he was doing the dishes,

and he asked offhand the subject of spontaneous human combustion ever came up in my studies. Well, it never came up in my forensic anthropology studies, but I have studied the phenomenon for reasons I'll have to have to be. to tell you about some other time. So I responded, casually, so as not to scare him into silence, that the sources I've seen generally concluded that it was unexplained. He agreed that it was true of his experience, too. Mind you, even decades after retirement,

Dad is a firefighter to the bone. Even after he became disabled, he trained others, instituted changes in the local volunteer front. fire department that made fire insurance available for our rural area for the first time ever, and sent reports to insurance companies when he recognized the signs of arson. In short, he knows his stuff, but he had no explanation for what he found that day. It happened early in his career, 1959 or 1960, in Santa Rosa, California. They arrived at the scene due to a neighbor.

reporting smoke. When they arrived, the captain took one sniff of the air and announced that someone was dead and burned inside the house. How did he know? Maybe from his years of experience as a firefighter. Maybe he was a World War II veteran. Dad didn't know. But when they got inside, they found a man dead on the armchair with not much left of him but parts of his extremities and some cremains. But nothing else in the room was burned, and even the chair had little damage. Apparently it freaked everyone out enough

that no one talked about it after. As far as Dad knows, there was no investigation. Dad didn't have anything else to say about that, but it wasn't the end of the conversation. I'm not going to betray any confidences, but I want to tell you all that what haunted my dad all these years later isn't the mysterious fate of that individual. What haunts dad is the eventual fate of his captain.

People, you gentlemen, in particular, please hear me. The most courageous thing you can ever do in your life is to ask for help. When things get bad, please find the courage to seek help. Don't try to self-medicate with substance and never assume that you are alone. alone. More people care about you than you have any idea of. They are willing to help, and will bear the scars for life if your problems overwhelm you, and they don't realize it's happening until it's too late. That's the end of my PSA. Just remember, as Raven keeps telling us, you are loved, you are valid, you are important, and don't forget it. I'm one of your listeners,

and I thought I would send in some of my stories. I'll start with the ones that I've been thinking about recently. I recall becoming self-aware. I don't remember what age I was, but I think it was before I went to kindergarten. I woke up one day looking at my hands with the strangest feeling like I'm me. The strange thing is that I have some memories before that happened, and I remember thinking about things I shouldn't have understood at that age. In particular, I remember thinking about becoming self-aware, how it would be a major milestone for years to come, and I would try writing it down, find a place to hide the paper so I might stumble across it when I was older.

There was something I wanted to warn myself about, too, a future event, but my mind jumped to a different topic, and I never wrote anything down. Second story I think it was in second grade going into third grade right after school got out for the summer I had an extremely vivid dream literally exactly like reality where I was back for the next school year

I was so annoyed with it that I literally just skipped my summer this wasn't like the first day of school it was like I started halfway into the year or something So I go home and the rest of the day played out like it normally would. But I remember it felt so long. It ended when I fell asleep in my dream. I was confused, waking up like, was that a dream?

It felt like I lived out an entire day in the dream. Later after school went back into session, I had a day that played out exactly like the one in the dream did. I had problems differentiated. between reality and my dreams that following year. Third, around the time of my second story is when I remember my first flash forwards starting. Let me explain what I mean by that. Randomly, I would have a quick flash of an image pop up in my mind, with a brief set of text describing the background context for it.

These would always later happen and I would flash back in deja vu to when I saw it for the first time. The text would always somehow apply to it as well. The first one I actually remember in full is kind of funny, although I was extremely mad when it happened to me. I believe it was during the summer leading up to my sixth grade year when I had the flash forward. I was given the perspective of standing behind a kid that I went to school with,

bending over and grabbing a binder from a shelf at the far end of the classroom. room, with desks on either side. It was funny because you could see his butt showing. Apologies for being crass. In the image, the text said, your first Saturday school. So, come sixth grade, first period, math, the teacher was very particular about tardies. I hated her class and her especially. You could be given a tardy while being in the room.

Anyway, more or less that event played, and it caused me to get a Saturday school from the amount of tardies that I'd had, most of which were from her because she was freaking ridiculous. They got more frequent as time went on, and looking back, they always highlighted a minor event in my young life. Fourth story, skipping past an event similar in type to this, more personal, doesn't involve death, though. in 10th grade we had a classmate die in a house fire right before Christmas. The last time I saw her, I had a voice pop up in my mind and say that I would never see her again. And I had images of her friends crying. I felt like she was going to die, but I didn't warn her because I had nothing to do with her at all.

And how could she believe me anyway? I kind of feel guilty that I didn't warn her now. but I wasn't in the best spirits from being depressed from my home life at the time. Fifth, on a different topic, a couple of years ago, I tried working as a janitor, terrible experience. While I was retrieving something from summer cleaning,

I saw a figure peek around the corner at me to a T section in the hallway. At first I thought it was my boss, but then I realized it was too tall. I got a little closer and realized that this thing had no. discernible features. It was solid black, like a shadow, but 3D. The best I can compare it to is those old paranormal shows, like the Haunted with the CGI recreations of events.

It looked exactly like one of the CGI shadow creature things. And sixth. This is my last one that I'll write. This is probably the only experience I've had that I think could be a glitch or something similar. I was standing out waiting to be picked up from a school event when I noticed a car approaching from the north. It looked to be some type of sedan, dark in color. To set the setting, there's hardly anything obstructing my view other than a few trees. Just as this vehicle would be obstructed for a second by one particular tree, about a football field away, it just vanished.

It was just inexplicably... Gone. Hey Raven. This happened to my dad, Mike, last week, and he told me that I could post it on here, so here I go. I should preface this by saying that my entire family is religious, including myself. Last weekend, my dad developed a heat stroke that put him down for several days. During that time, my dad prayed that he would be able to get closer to God. He felt like he wasn't a good enough Christian. Literally the next day, my dad got into his partners, that's work partner, not life partner, van and found a coin sitting on the sheet. His partner came out and told him that he found the coin and thought of my dad, knowing that he's a Christian. He read the first two lines and thought it was a really

cool message, and then he put it away. When he got home, he read the entire thing front and back. I have a couple of pictures of the coin so you can see for yourself. I hope this makes it into a video as I'm a really big fan of the channel. 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

them 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 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.