As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 212 - Urbex Stories & Inner City Stories (Ft Marie's Field Of Nightmares)

Episode Date: February 9, 2026

Today, on the 212th 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 Scary Urbex Stories & Inner City Horror Stories. 2 Stories are narrated by my other half, Patience/Marie's Field Of Nightmares. Find her here: https://www.youtube.com/@mariesfieldofnightmares 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 on 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 fQound 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... Hidden Fox, Eric, AndyW, DirtyLaundryNoMore, Tom K, Samantha K As Well As Any Author That Has Requested Anonymity. TimeStamps… Ad breaks after Story 1 & Story 4 1 ➤ 1:16 2 ➤ 9:51 3 (narrated by Marie) ➤ 21:37 4 ➤ 44:29 5 ➤ 58:06 6 (narrated by Marie) ➤ 1:07:57 7 ➤ 1:20:12 8 ➤ 1:41:46 ----- 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 #UrbexStories Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I was supposed to go up on Sunday, but I just realized it's Super Bowl Sunday. No one's going to be listening to podcast today. So let's go ahead and push forward to Monday. Hopefully you're doing well on this Monday. Today we have some inner city stories and some Herbex stories. These burbex stories do feature my lovely other half, patience. Also known as Marie's Field of Nunes. nightmares on YouTube. You can find all of her other narrations there. She does not have a podcast

side, though, so you'd have to go to YouTube and find her. Um, all I ask is, if you don't enjoy her narrations, that's understandable. Just please be polite about it. My stuff's not for everyone. Her stuff's not for everyone. So it's understandable and acceptable if you don't quite enjoy it. But just be polite, it's all I ask. Um, yeah. Hopefully you enjoy this collection of stories, kind of both ends of it. Like I said, inner city, so heavily populated an urbex and so abandoned. right so empty anyways enjoy hope to see you again here soon but until then much love and i already said enjoy so i'm ending this intro i used to live in a small apartment complex in chicago it was the only place i could really afford with the job that i had at the time it wasn't the best but the rent included the utilities

which was a big saver for me i figured i would stay there for a year or two and move out once i saved up enough money. For the first few months, I took the same route home from the station every night. It took about 15 minutes total, which isn't bad on foot, but when you're exhausted after a 10 hour shift where you're on your feet all day, or it's freezing cold or pouring rain, every extra minute feels like torture. I considered getting a bike or something to save a little time, but I didn't have a place to store it, and I wasn't comfortable leaving it outside. Again, I didn't live in the best of areas.

It's not like I was at risk of being mugged every night on my way home. I'm also a guy and not a very small one, but if someone wanted to, they could easily take my bike from the stand out front, bike locks be damned. So, I tried to look for shortcuts, which is how I found this alley. It was Just one of those typical Chicago back alleys, narrow, running between two rows of old brick buildings, maybe 20 feet wide. During the day, it's just a normal-looking alley with dumpsters, some trash on the sides, and the occasional person cutting through, but at night, it's dark as hell. Because only one of the buildings had a back light, so it's pretty dim. For a lot of people, I'm sure it would have been a deterrent, but for me, it cut about five minutes off of my walk and on those rough nights, it made a huge difference.

I started using it regularly to get home. If I was in a good mood and it felt nice out, I might take the normal route, but most of the time I cut through the alley. When I first started taking it, I would hesitate at the entrance, looking around and thinking, maybe I shouldn't walk down the dark alley alone at 11pm, but I also felt like I was the person others would avoid based on my size. So I continued to take it, and nothing ever happened.

I would occasionally hear a mouse or a stray cat running around, but that was it. After a few weeks, it became a routine, and I'd barely even think about it as I rounded the corner to enter the alley. Then came one late night in mid-November. I remember the time because I'd been texting my sister about plans for my birthday that was coming up, that following weekend, as I walked home from the station. I turned into the alley like I always did, still looking down at my phone and barely paying attention. But as I walked, something started feeling different, like the air felt heavier if that makes any sense.

I can't really explain it. I looked up for my phone, but all I saw was the long alley with dark shadows along the sides, exactly what I was expecting to see. I told myself that I was just getting myself worked up and ignored it, and then went back to finishing my text. As I finished it, I dropped my phone to my side, still in my hand, and for a second, the alley felt like it was going on longer than usual. I know that sounds stupid, too.

Allies don't just get longer, but I was walking and felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. I saw the one streetlight peeking out from around the corner, but I felt like I had been walking forever towards it. I just told myself that I was tired, a little anxious, maybe even a bit paranoid, because I'd had too much coffee and not enough sleep. But that's when one of the shadows moved, causing me to stop it. my tracks. At least part of me wasn't going crazy. Like I mentioned earlier, I just spotted the shadows in a quick glance and didn't think about

what they were from. But now, seeing one move, I realized there's no way there could be shadows here. What I thought were shadows were actually people. I stopped walking and counted. There were at least six people, three on each side of the wall standing against it completely motionless. But because of how dark it was, all I could tell was that their shadows were all the same,

except for height. Their bodies were straight all the way up. The shoulders came to a point, curved around the head, which was also rounded. Basically, it looked like they were all wearing something that covered themselves entirely, like a hooded robe or a cloak of some sort. I couldn't make out any facial features.

I just remember being frozen in place, not knowing what to do. Did I just walk into something? I'd walk down the alley on every day of the week and have never run into this before. I tried to ease the tension by laughing a bit and said, Hell, y'all scared me. But none of them moved or said a word. It didn't even look like they were looking at me. It was like they were looking straight ahead, as if they were looking at each other.

That's when the hair on the back of my neck started to stand. Something wasn't right about this whole thing. Then I heard this weird gurgling sound coming from the opposite end of the alley. Like someone with a mouth full of liquid, like they were struggling. Then as if on cue, all six people moved their heads to look directly at me. That's when my fight-or-flight response finally kicked in and it definitely chose flight. There was no way in hell I was walking past. them and towards that gurgling sound.

I turned around and just sprinted back towards the entrance that I came from. As I reached the entrance again, I looked back to see if they were following me, and I saw all six of them, now standing in the middle of the alley, facing me and still not moving. I didn't stop running. I burst out of the alley and back onto the street and kept going. When I got to my apartment building, I slowed down, catching my breath and looked looking around to see if I was being followed. When I didn't see anyone around, I entered the building,

gone into my apartment, and immediately locked the door. I thought about calling the police, but admittedly, I didn't. I didn't even know what I was supposed to tell them. Hey, there's some weird people standing in an alley. Sorry, that's a lot of places in Chicago. Granted, I didn't know what the gurgling sound was, but I also didn't feel safe while. walking past six people to find out.

I was a big guy, but six people is a pit much for me to take on after a long shift. I even tried to rationalize it. Maybe it was some kind of art, installation, or experiment. But with them not responding to me or even blocking off the alley or leaving a warning at the entrance, it was all very strange to me. I checked local posts online to see if anyone else mentioned running into something similar and still came up empty-handed. The next day, I did not take the alley to work or home.

But the day after, I took it during the day, and it looked just as it always had. Nothing out of the ordinary. I took it that night, keeping my flashlight on the entire time, and there were no weird people or strange sounds, just as I expected. And I never experienced that again. At night, I always looked down. on the alley before I took it, and most of the time I did. But if I spotted one thing that looked off, even if the dumpster back there was open, I didn't take it. Risking my life for safety definitely

isn't worth saving those five minutes. My friend Isaac and I loved to explore run down, abandoned, and forgotten places. Most of the time we're talking buildings, but sometimes that also included open acres where buildings once stood, and were now taken back over by nature. Those are some of my favorites. But there's one building that I'll never forget about. It was an old hospital that had been closed for decades. It was shut down by authorities once everyone started realizing some of the unethical experiments and tests that they ran on patients.

Welcome to the American medical system. There were talks about it being sold to someone, who wanted to reopen it as some kind of spooky pedant breakfast. It certainly wasn't even close to getting to that point, but even so we wanted to check it out before that happened. Lots of people liked to make comments about it being haunted and for good reason. So we made some plans to check it out one evening, just the two of us. We parked at a store on the back side of the building

and hiked through the woods to avoid anyone seeing our car at the hospital. It did have a few no trespassing signs along the fence, so, yes, what we did was not legal, and I would not recommend it. Something about doing as I say, or whatever. Just approaching the building was pretty eerie. Multiple windows were broken and covered by boards or plastic. The lawn was not being cared for either, so it was overgrown with vines crawling over there.

the outside and nearby trees. We agreed that our best way would be through one of the boarded windows, and that way we could put it back up while we explored, and no one would know that we were in there. We pushed out one of the boards quite easily. Clearly, no one had been keeping up on the security and structure of the place either. The smell hit us immediately. It's not something a person might think about,

but a building or structure that sits stagnant, it like that, ends up getting its own smell. And when you do this frequently, like we do, you kind of anticipate what smell you might get. At first entering the hospital, there was this sickly sweet odor mixed with some kind of chemical, and it actually made my head hurt. It was a hospital, so chemicals and cleaners did make sense.

But the smell of something potentially rotting away always puts me on edge. It could very easily be an animal, but it could also be something worse. Turning on our flashlight, we scanned the immediate area, and it was looking like your normal abandoned place. Graffiti on the walls, debris, wreckage. There was even a spot that looked like someone was once sleeping in there, but they were now long gone. We passed what looked like the reception area and went into a long corridor lined with doors. patient rooms.

Most were either locked or jammed. Unfortunately, doors and windows seize a lot when not in use. But then we walked further down and around a corner where a sign that once hung from the ceiling was now on the floor. The chain that had hung from looked like rust had eaten away at it. The signs said, overnight stay. So, more patient rooms, we assumed. but these probably had better beds than the ones that we had already checked out with those paper runners on them. That's when the whole vibe of the place started falling apart.

We entered the first room that was pretty empty, and a few others that had stuff here or there scattered around, but then we entered one room that had us pretty puzzled. The bed was still in the room, but was now on its side, and one of the side barriers had a pair of handcuffs attached to it. Pretty crazy with that alone, right? Well, then there was the wall behind the bed that had decent-sized dents in it, with dark, streaky stains running down them.

The dents were at head-level. It looked like the streaks were attempted to be wiped up too, but that clearly made it worse. I remember us both looking at each other with a sense of What the hell happened in there? It felt really weird being in that room. Like we weren't supposed to see it. We left the room and moved through the other ones.

There was another room that was pretty much empty except for some kind of mat, like a yoga mat in the corner. And there were scuffs on the floor in a circular pattern. It was as if it was worn that way from something going in a circle around the room. Someone was walking in a circle, or being dragged in a circle, maybe. Like the pattern on the floor was worn off or scuffed, if that makes sense. Still weird, but we went on.

Once we finished looking through the patient rooms, we found the hall leading to what we assumed were the offices of the doctors. and some sort of nurse station. The nurse station looked pretty empty, besides a few post-its that had fallen to the back of the desk wall. One of the notes had a medication request on it, and I remember the feeling that everything just seemed to abruptly stop existing in that place. Like everyone left in a rush, and questions were never answered.

Then we explored the offices, expecting to find something cool. maybe old papers, research, maybe even different diagrams to take as a reminder, but I didn't want anything from the room that we looked through. There was a filing cabinet that had a broken lock. It appeared that someone had yanked on the handle and dented up the part where the lock mechanism would be, possibly using a crowbar or something to the likes. There were a few loose papers in there, not much information. on them. It appeared they must have taken the confidential papers at least, or I hoped they did.

All the drawers and cabinets in the room were unlocked and didn't really have much in them. But the bottom drawer of the desk did. It looked like another one of those mats from the room that we saw earlier, but this one was rolled up and duct tape closed. At first glance, I'd say they did it just to keep it closed. But when Isaac pulled it out, we noticed two things. First was the weight. There was no way that this mat could weigh as much as it did. It was pretty heavy. And second, it wasn't uneven roll. It was bulging out in some places, and you could even see the gaps in the roll. Something was rolled up in this thing. Curiosity got the best of us, too, because Isaac set it on top of the desk, and we cut through the tape.

As we unrolled it, there were random items within each part. A doll arm, a birthday card directed to a daughter, a few thumbtacks, a clump of hair, a piece of cloth with another one of those dark stains on it, a picture torn showing just a woman, clearly removing someone from the photo, and then a small switchblade that was open. Isaac went to pick it up, and I stopped him. I was getting some really sinister, souvenir vibes from these items. With the items there, the, what I assumed to be a bloody rag, the picture, and the knife,

this looked like it could have been evidence. This was definitely important. I don't think the other things we found were related, but they didn't. definitely helped with the creepy setting of the place. We talked for a second about what we should do. We had been there over an hour at this point looking through everything, and I was no longer feeling safe. It wasn't the fear of getting caught,

but more so the fear of whomever left these items, coming back for them. And what if they caught us in the act? Thankfully, Isaac was right there with me, so we left the mat unrolled where it was, sitting on the desk. We picked up our pace and started walking back toward the window. Standing by the board, I started picking it up when, from behind us, we both heard a deep, angry voice say,

Who the hell are you? We didn't even turn around. I chucked the cheap board to the side, jumped out the window and looked over my shoulder just enough to make sure that Isaac was right behind me. Once confirmed, I took off running, no longer caring who saw us. We ran around the building, through those woods again, into the parking lot. We both looked around to make sure that no one had followed us before we got in the car. Once clear, we got in and drove off driving around different streets,

stopping at different stores just to prevent being followed. After we had calmed down, I drove back to Isaacs and we both went in. We went over everything we saw and that we heard, confirming that I wasn't the only one who heard the talking. I explained my theory on the rolled mat, and he also agreed that they seemed like they were souvenirs. Then we had to figure out how to report it. We weren't supposed to be there, and we could get in trouble if we admit it, but what if those items were part of a crime? I couldn't live with myself if I didn't tell somebody. So I looked up the anonymous crime-solver number for our area

and reported that a friend gave me the info about the items, and that they had just recently found it, and that was that. I kept it anonymous, of course, so I never had any follow-up with anyone. I also never saw or heard any news about that hospital or evidence being found, so I don't know if anything happened. I want to believe that it wasn't anything like that, that it was just someone keeping some weird items, maybe someone that's not all there,

or maybe even that it's someone messing around, but the choice of items just put me off. We never went back there, but it was never reopened or remodeled. In fact, it was demolished, and now it's just an empty field. taking with it so many unanswered questions. Hello, Raven. Surprised, this isn't Raven.

This is another entry from my old journal, which again, I'm really glad I found because so many of these entries inspire nostalgia from crazy things that have happened in my life. And then there are these stories where I kind of put myself into the crazy situations by being curious or daring. I elaborate on these journal entries for detail, mainly because when I originally wrote them, I didn't ever think I'd share them with anyone, and I didn't want to forget what I experienced back then.

So I tried to be as descriptive as possible. As I read through these again to share for the channel, I'll of course elaborate on details that weren't as clear to my younger self, As always, this is a true story. Irbeck's life is somewhat simple. You hear about an abandoned store, warehouse, mall, or anything, and you either drop what you're doing and immediately go check it out, or if you're more experienced, you plan a day to go do so.

For those who choose the latter, you're able to prepare a lot better, and sometimes even find out local lore or details about the places you're going to explore by using good old Google for some insight. This took place in fall of 2013. A former friend of mine and fellow student named Ashley, who we all called Sparrow, told me about a hospital that she and her boyfriend drove past while on the way home from visiting family. Apparently, there was a rumor that the hospital closed due to lack of funding,

and there were a few old rumors about medical malpractice, and potentially there being some lawsuits that shut down the hospital. But I didn't need to be convinced to want to go. Sparrow said, abandoned hospital, and I said, Heck yeah, let's do it. The other thing was that there apparently was a morgue beneath the same. this hospital, as many often had in their basement levels, and Sparrow was insistent that we check it out, which was a deal breaker for her boyfriend who didn't want to deal with a morgue,

but still I wanted to check out the rest of the building in general. Truth be told, I hated hospitals in general. But something about seeing one that was abandoned seemed exciting, so we planned a weekend visit, packed our gear bags, and I spent the night at Sparrow's house with her boyfriend who adamantly insisted we change our minds. We didn't. The next day was a mildly cooler day, and the trees, of course, were turning colors and shedding leaves like a bad fashion statement. In an hour or so past noon, Sparrow drove us to a small grove outside of town and headed down a short, tree-lined road that seemed to separate us from the current world. Sparrow made one final right turn from that winding road

onto the hospital entrance road where the abandoned hospital stood in all of its derelict glory, nestled among a few overgrown trees in an equally overgrown parking lot. I remember how excited Sparrow was as she parked near the back of the lot and all but rushed out of the small Toyota She drove, and we grabbed our bags from the trunk. It was a smaller hospital building with several floors, and it looked like it was built sometime in the 80s or 90s, with the brown-red brick look that spoke of decades of use. I remembered wondering why the road into the hospital wasn't fenced or blocked off,

as is often done with abandoned properties. but our excitement to get into the hospital overrode our objections as we began half walking, half jogging, to the circular front drop-off area. This is where we experienced what I've mentioned before as the distancing, which for anyone who hasn't heard any of my Urbeck stories, is what my friends and I used as a term to try to describe the feeling, of stepping into the frozen time that seems to be trapped around an abandoned property. As if you're leaving your current time

and entering into a time and place stuck in the past or forgotten by the current world. Some of you may understand this, and for any fellow Herbex peeps out there, I'm sure you know that hard to describe feeling I'm talking about, which words fail to count.

The older the building, the more that sensation of distancing from the current world you'll feel. I digress. One of the front wooden panels on one of the main entrance doors was pushed in, so we entered through there and stood in an open space that was obviously a front reception or waiting room of sorts and began to look around. The first thing I notice about most abandoned places is often how silent they are first and foremost and in a world full of noise hearing something so still and undisturbed can be a little unnerving.

Next on the list of unnerving things was the smell, which started off like stale urine or an unflushed toilet and seemed to grow the further in we went. Sparrow and I kept close, watching our steps and looking through the windows of closed rooms and open doors of others, all of which were either partially or completely empty on the first floor,

and we found a stairwell at the back end of the first floor's hallway. Remember, this building is abandoned, so there's little to no light. outside of bringing a flashlight or headlamps like we wore, since we believed in being hands-free during our explorations. Sometimes you'll get ambient light through windows or holes in the roofs, but multi-floored buildings are usually very dark inside. That being said, flat out, right off the bat,

stairwells and abandoned buildings are creepy, dark, and feel ominous. So, without our headlamp, it was almost completely dark. Sparrow wanted to check out the other floors, one by one. And to be fair, I'll skip the uninteresting ones. The second and third floors were completely empty, apart from basic debris, and the room doors were all opened. There were some areas that had fallen in, sealing tiles and hanging light fixtures and wires,

but ultimately nothing too exciting. The third floor had a lot of ceiling tiles missing, some graffiti, in a few leftover hospital beds which Sparrow and I found confusing, because she said those beds were expensive. We also found a full, stocked vending machine that looked like someone took a chainsaw to it in a Coca-Cola machine with the front cover wide open and everything inside of it was empty. There was a room that had a biohazard sign on the door but the door looked like it was kicked in

and inside the room all of the glass on the cases were broken and the floor was littered with both glass and small pills. We were careful walking through this floor, since it seemed to have more debris in the hallways too. The fourth floor was where things got interesting. The first thing I noticed was that the damage on that floor seemed more deliberate and egregious. I remember the holes in the walls.

The hanging light fixture seemed more like, they were ripped down rather than falling from lack of maintenance. The floors were scratched up and stained. Some had miscellaneous papers, trays, and even what we figured out were syringes strewn about. And overall, it looked like total chaos had been unleashed. The room doors were all dented, and they looked like they took a beating. One was even propped on the doorframe and looked like it had been removed from the hinges forcibly

and there were piles of trash and other indistinct debris all over the floors. One room near the far end of the hall had windows that were busted out and air from outside was coming in and that's when we saw the backpack and water bottles that were filled with what we assumed was urine. Sparrow said that judging by the layers of thick dust coating these items, someone was probably squatting here a while ago and left their gear. We reached the end of the hallway and this was the first time we noticed the elevator doors. The shaft was actually open.

And even as curious as Sparrow and I were, we apparently drew the line at going to take a look. down the shaft. We headed back to the stairwell and Sparrow said instead of going up to the fifth and final floor, she wanted to go check out the morgue. That way, if we started losing daylight, it wouldn't be too dark. I know I skipped through some of the details of the less interesting floors, but in real time, we were in this building for a few hours. Enough for us to noticed the golden haze of sunlight, signaling that the evening was approaching. The plan was that we'd check out the morgue, since it was honestly the initial highlight of this trip, and then, if we felt like it, hit the fifth floor, or see if there was roof access to a

helipad or something like that. We stayed in the stairwell, which, again, in an empty building is creepy enough, but as we approached the first floor, I remember hearing what sounded like running on one of the hallways above us. Sparrow and I froze because, as far as we knew, we'd been alone this entire time. There were a few distant shuffles, and then the building went eerily silent again. Sparrow and I exchanged looks, and I could tell she was using her eyes to plead with me to hurry up and go to the morgue, and I told her that her faces only worked on her boyfriend, but I agreed to still go. As we descended the last sections of the stairwell, that scent I mentioned earlier in this

story that was reminiscent of stale urine or an unflashed toilet got stronger and began to add whiffs of what I tried to describe as spoiled meat. when I originally wrote this journal entry. We were back on the first floor where the stairwell didn't go any lower and Sparrow didn't waste any time looking around the hallway just outside the stairwell exit. Long story short, there was a door further down a hallway at the rear of the hospital's first floor that had another staircase behind it, leading down to what we concluded, was the basement morgue.

If our eyes didn't find it, our noses definitely did, since that horrible smell from earlier that seemed to permeate the front lobby was stronger by the door. There was a missing panel to the right of the door, which we assumed was where the security lock for the door had been ripped out, and the door itself, though still intact, wasn't locked. We didn't know anything about protocols for hospitals, but we did find it interesting that the morgue wasn't accessible from the main stairwell.

Again, I digress. We, of course, entered the morgue stairwell, hearts pounding, and feeling a mix of adrenaline and uneasiness, since this was the first time we'd seen a morgue in real life, and as we rounded the corner of the final stairwell, steps down to the metal door, which looked untouched, but was strangely open. The lock mechanism for that door was also missing, but once we opened the door, we were simultaneously slapped in the face with a whole new level of creepy,

in an aggressively horrible smell of mold and something sour and rotten. I remember the gagging sensation when we opened the door, As if the air was pulled out of our nostrils and replaced with hot garbage and rank food. It was unusual to say the least, but it's not the first time an abandoned place had an odor. Just the first time we'd been in an abandoned hospital, so we had no idea what to expect. Ahead of us was a hallway, and there were a couple of rooms from what we could, see from our headlamps. Also, just a note, that it was pitch black down there, and without our headlamps, we wouldn't have been able to see. The air was stale, and both Sparrow and

I looked at each other again in the glow of our headlamps and decided to press on. The room on the right was empty, but had two giant fixtures coming out of the ceiling. which we took a minute to examine since they reminded us of the lights we saw above operating tables in hospital TV shows. The floor was slick with dust and insulation from where the roofing tiles above had fallen down, and the floor also had some dark brown or black stains on it that we did our best to avoid. The room across the hall was similar, only the giant, light fixtures were missing, and there was a giant collection of empty cabinets on the far wall, which we didn't bother to touch or explore.

Further down the hall, we found one more room that was so filled with clutter we couldn't go in. Random boxes, furniture, and what looked like refrigerators were piled up inside the room, and the rink smell seemed to be constant. between this room and the last room up ahead. The final room on the hallway was the room we simultaneously were dreading and yet excited to find. We recognized the neat rows of stainless steel doors in the body freezers on the far side of the wall of this longer and slightly wider final room. Strangely enough, the room itself was empty, save a few odd table, like carts with wheels on them, which we didn't know what they were for. All of the freezer doors were closed, and I remember exchanging looks with Sparrow again.

She seemed to be mesmerized, elated even, staring at the morgue freezers with genuine intrigue. I have to admit it, it was the first time I had ever seen anything like that in person, and I actually wrote in my journal that all I was hoping in that moment was that Sparrow didn't want to open one of the coolers and that nothing was in them. The world will never know because we didn't touch them. There was a fear that came with seeing what we saw, a heaviness that said, this is your limit, don't push it. And we knew that there were certain things you just don't want to find out.

The odd smell wasn't lost on us. Since if anything was left down here for as long as this place was closed, it definitely would have rotted. But as we returned to the main hallway, we saw that the end of the hall, actually turned right and led to what looked like a larger elevator further down, which was blocked with more of the refrigerator-looking items. And I remember the random wheelchair sitting in the hall in front of the unusual blockade.

We decided to head back up to the main floor after this and considered our exploration over at this point since we could go no further. We exited the morgue level and went back up the stairs to the hospital main floor and finally made our way to the front lobby. We looked around again, noticing the front lobby area had less outdoor light coming in due to the setting sun outside and then exited the abandoned hospital and walked back towards Sparrow's car. Apparently, we weren't alone in our exploration. after all.

Because upon arriving at Sparrow's Toyota Rav, we noticed that the driver's side window had been broken and her door left open. Strangely enough, nothing was missing from her car, and it didn't look like anyone tried to hotwire it either. To this day, it still confuses me why that happened, but Sparrow's boyfriend gave her an earful, about it after she dropped me off at my place and went home to him that evening.

About a week after exploration, Sparrow ended up telling me she wasn't going to do any more urbics after one of our martial arts classes together, and then I didn't see her for another week after that. She ended up blocking me on social media and never responded to any of my calls or text and then eventually blocked my phone number as well. It took me a couple of months to figure out what happened, and our head instructor at the martial arts program we trained in, finally told us what happened to Sparrow. She'd gotten sick not long after our exploration, and though she was bedridden for a couple of weeks, she recovered, and then her boyfriend got sick right after, only he didn't recover the way she did.

It apparently got so bad that he had to be hospitalized and eventually flown out of state for treatment. Sparrow went with him and moved permanently out of state. Our class was saddened to hear the news and our instructor told us that was all she had told him in a single text she'd sent explaining her absences. After class that day, I remember he asked me to hang back a bit to talk, and he asked about if I knew anything else about Sparrow,

since he knew I hung out with her and her boyfriend outside of classes. I told him that he knew more than I did, and that Sparrow had already blocked me months ago after telling me she wasn't going to be attending classes or going on any more explorations. I did tell him about her car being broken into, even though nothing was stolen and he nodded but didn't say anything back. To this day, I still don't really know why Sparrow blocked me,

though I did suspect that maybe something from the hospital made Sparrow sick and maybe she brought it back to her boyfriend. I don't know, but I was there too and I didn't get it. sick at all. My standard practice was to shower immediately, trash bag and launder anything worn on an urbex trip, and disinfect shoes since we end up walking around in places that are unsanitary and often messy. Either way, that's my story from 2013 about the hospital from my journal of unusual experiences. I used to go to this old lawn. back when I lived in this apartment in 2011.

There were no hookups in the apartment, just good old-fashioned community ones that were either always full of clothes when I tried to use them or out of order. So I just started going to a laundromat. That way I knew when my stuff was done, I didn't have to wait on others. In the beginning, I did like going there because, for being a laundromat, it was actually pretty chill. There was a variety of people there, old and young, people with kids, people alone. But everyone respected each other and their belongings.

There was a mom that made her kids stay with her as they played at the table, refusing to let them run around the store, which was nice. Sometimes I brought my schoolwork there and did it while I was waiting. This may sound weird, but it wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting the place to be like what you see in movies and on TV. Dirty, run down, some rickety old fan in the corner trying to cool off the entire store. Maybe some shady people in there, but it wasn't like that at all. In fact, the owners seemed to try and steer any of that away from the store.

It was a couple that ran the place, probably in their 50s or around there. I believe their names were Mike and Stacey, which I only found out based on their little printouts that they had at the front of the store on the bulletin board. It was like a meet-the-owners type of thing, but I think it may have been for complaints, too. I remember one lady complaining about the machine not running its full cycle, and Stacey argued that it did and showed her the difference in settings.

She asked for a manager, and Stacey pointed at the sign saying that she was the owner. Their little argument made me chuckle. Anyway, that's how I knew their first names, but that was about all I really knew of them, other than they seemed to be pretty nice people. They had a coffee pot at the front of the store that I saw Mike visiting a lot. They had vending machines, but they also had a little snack bar set up by the coffee with some simple granola bars, single-serve candies, things like that. Again, not something I would have expected of.

a laundromat. I usually went there on Sunday mornings, since it was the one day I had completely off from school or work. I got in around noon and would get settled into my normal routine. But there was one day that I came in, and there was a guy sitting in my normal spot. It's probably the only reason I noticed him. But I liked that spot because it was in the corner of the building, but by one of the large windows, with machines right next to it, so I could keep an end.

I had my stuff as I switched my clothes out. I also liked it because I could see the back counter from that spot, which is why I saw their pictures and got to hear the conversations of other customers and the owners. So I was a little disappointed, but I took a table in that same row, but on the opposite end. I started the first load and went and sat back down and felt like I was being watched, so I looked up. The guy that was in my spot was staring at me, just watching me. He had his arms crossed and was just staring, until he finally locked eyes and he gave this little smirk. I immediately looked back down to my books and did my best to ignore him.

He was there the entire time that my clothes were in the watch cycle until I saw Stacey standing behind the counter, also watching him. The guy apparently noticed and he slowly got up, not grabbing any clothes, waved at her and then left. Weird situation, but I was just glad he was gone. But the following Sunday, shortly after I arrived, he also showed up. I was in my normal spot, but he sat at the table across from me, so now he was even closer and making me even more uncomfortable.

I put in one of my earbuds and tried to drown him out and not look up as much as possible. I just wanted to get this over with and was hoping he would leave soon. Shortly after, he walked over to the vending machine and I heard him kick it, so I looked up. He then went to the coffee machine and started picking through the snack basket. I again looked back down until he walked back to his seat with a handful of candy bars. It looked like he had taken all of them. Once again, he slowly sat back down, and he slowly ate all of the candy that he grabbed, but he was throwing the wrappers on the floor, right in front of his spot.

He may have been making me feel uncomfortable, but that really irked me. This was an adult we were talking about, so why was he doing that? But he stayed there for a good half hour since I was there at least that, and he watched everyone that came and went. There was an older lady that even started to do her laundry, but she kept looking at the guy until she actually left. I don't know if she ever came back for her clothes either. As I was waiting for my clothes to dry, Mike came out of the back, and I saw him angrily approach this guy.

I was expecting him to say something about the rappers or just loitering because he hadn't done any laundry either. He was here after me, and I didn't see him put anything in or take anything out the entire time. I paused my music, wanting to listen to what was being said. Much like the earlier conversation I mentioned, I'm nosy and just like to listen. Mike told the guy that he needed to pick up his mess and then leave. In a very sarcastic tone, the guy claimed he was there to do laundry, but Mike cut him off saying that he was watching him and that he hadn't started a single load yet, and was only scaring the customers.

The guy then laughed, like an actual laugh, and not a nervous laugh. Mike was a big guy. If I had to guess, I would say around 300 pounds and easily six foot. The guy that was in there was younger, maybe a little older than me, which at the time I was 22, but he wasn't much taller than me and I was barely over five foot. But this guy did not look worried in the slightest. Mike then told him that if he didn't leave, he would call the police. So, after a stare down that felt like forever, the guy got up, laughing once more and leaving his trash on the floor, walked out. He didn't take any clothes with him either.

Mike watched him leave, picked up his trash, and then walked back to the counter. I didn't go that following week, partially because that guy made me nervous, and partially because I didn't have enough time anyway. So, the week after, I had a little extra to wash. I also knew that I wasn't going to have time that following Sundays, so I went early, Saturday instead, since I didn't work until later that evening. I got to the laundromat around 8 a.m. and there was only one person there at the time.

I went to my spot and started loading the washer. As I pressed the loud buttons, I realized that the music that's usually playing was off. Just something I noticed, and I thought maybe it was because it was early or they forgot to turn it on. Then, as I waited, I went over to the coffee pot to make myself some,

since I was up early, but it was empty. But not just empty. It was like it was never made that day. It was empty and clean, and the machine was cold. I've come in earlier than eight, and it was always made. It wasn't a big deal, but it was still something I noticed, like the music. I went back to my spot, and as I sat down, something felt off. The coffee not being made, the music being off.

The large blinds were still down on the windows, and the older lady that was there pointed out that the TV wasn't on either. Of course, she made a joke about missing the morning news, but it was strange. One of the owners was always there when I came in. There were a few other employees there, but one of them opened. I used to go there at opening and they would always greet me, so to not see them and everything being, being not normal, it just felt off. The whole atmosphere actually felt off. At one point, as I sat there with the machines running,

I almost felt this overwhelming fear and I couldn't figure out why. I also didn't know what to do about it, so I just kept looking around and tried to keep myself calm. After about an hour, two more people showed up and than an employee. One of the other people complained to the woman that came in about the coffee not being ready and not knowing where the remote was. She said she would grab it from the back and then walked off.

Not even ten seconds later, all I heard was this blood-curdling scream. I jumped out of my seat, and the others in there all stopped what they were doing and looked toward the counter, where it came from. One of the guys slowly walked up to the counter trying to walk toward the back when the employee came out screaming to call 911.

I was frozen in place, not knowing what to do. The man ran to the back with her, and I heard someone on the phone by me. I felt terrible. I didn't know what was happening, and I just stood there. And then I just sat there waiting. For what? I have no idea. The paramedic showed up quickly and ran to the back with a stretcher. The rest of us stood there in this whole.

horrible silence just waiting. When they came out, the man and the employee had blood all over their arms, and the paramedics were pushing out a stretcher with Mike on it, with bloody towels and bandages all over him. His eyes were open, and his face was gray. For such a large guy, he looked so small and frail on that stretcher. It knocked the wind out of me seeing him like that. As they wheeled him out, a cop came in and asked all of us, to stay there so they could take our statements.

They started with the closest to the front, which was the bloody guy and the employee, and then another one started questioning the lady there. Then they got to me. They asked me if I saw or heard anything. I explained that when I got there, the older lady was the only person that I saw, but I did mention the irregularities with the coffee, the blinds, etc. They asked me for the times, wanting to know more specific. fix, and I was thankfully able to pinpoint it based on when I got there and the timer on the

machine. But it was how he asked me and the lady multiple times. And you guys didn't see anything? I know that I didn't. Everything felt off, and now I know why, but I didn't see anything that would throw me off. At least nothing making me feel like Mike was in the back bleeding out. I went home that afternoon and skipped class. I felt awful after that.

We were there for a few hours and all of us noticed the little things that were off but didn't think to check the back or maybe call someone with the store seemingly practically unattended. I remember sitting at home worrying if he was dead. I did find a news article about it, but it didn't give any names.

It did say that the victim survived, which at least made me feel a little better. Then the rumors started coming out, as well as another local report about some kind of underground gambling hall going on that Mike may have been involved in, and that he may have been attacked for it. Now, all of this being rumored, of course, and not having any proof, it did make me think about the guy that showed up those few times I was there.

He was not there to do any laundry, but the way that Mike got aggressive with him, and the way the man didn't seem phased, makes me wonder if it was related. I went back a few times after that, but I only saw Mike once. Stacey was usually there with two guys that wore the uniform shirts, so I assumed they were new employees, possibly security in a way, but it was too weird for me.

I still had this internal guilt for not doing anything for him. I know that we didn't know he was back there, but the fact that he was dying within feet of us is not a good feeling. I should have called a non-emergency line or maybe looked for a number for the owners. I should have trusted my gut, but I didn't, and I've had to live with that. I'm going to say up front that if you feel some kind of way about John Lennon, then this piece is not going to be for you. I, Tom K., absolutely love John Lennon and the Beatles,

so I'm going to probably talk very highly of Mr. Lennon, and the aforementioned band. So this piece may come off as a little more biased than some of my other work, because, to a degree, it will be. Formal disclaimer, the views, opinions, and exposition expressed in this script are not necessarily those of me, Raven, or other people associated with the As the Raven Dreams podcast, which is just me, and are those solely of writer Tom Kay. I wanted to do this script because it's about someone that I have a tremendous amount,

of love and respect for. Yet when I actually tried to start it, I kind of stumbled a little bit. How does one tell the story of a man like John Lennon? How do you sum up a man that literally touched the lives of millions of people? A man that championed a worldview that changed the way people thought about the world. I suppose I should maybe start at the beginning, just for those that may not know just who John Lennon is beyond he was the guy in the Beatles, right?

To say that John's early years were tumultuous would be a little bit of an understatement. He was born in the 1940s to a father of Irish descent named Alfred Lennon and his mother Julia. His father was largely absent for his first four years of John's life as he was a merchant seaman. In 1944, his father went AWOL and returned home to find his wife pregnant with another man's baby. In 1946, his life would take a very dramatic turn when he was forced to choose between his mother and his father.

Witnesses to the incidents say that, to call it dramatic, is very accurate. Watching John be made to choose. Although there are some disputed versions of the story. Some say that twice John chose his father, but when Julia began to walk away, he ran after her crying. Others say it was mutually agreed upon that Julia, take him. During his adolescence, John primarily lived with his aunt Mimi and her husband. It was also when he started becoming interested in music, and in 1956 his mother would buy him his first guitar, a cheap acoustic piece. It was also in 1956 that John would start a band called

The Quarrymen. While John unquestionably had ambitions to become famous, and often declared that he would be, claims his aunt was skeptical of, He probably never imagined that starting that band would change his life and make him one of the most famous musicians to have ever lived. In 1958, an event would occur that would have a very lasting impact on John for the rest of his life and career. His mother, Julia, who had been one of the only people truly supportive of John's artistic pursuits, was killed when she was struck by a car walking home. This event would, as you can imagine, have a terrible image.

impact on John. For two dark years, he spiraled out of control, drinking far too much and fighting. Later on, John's own words would sum up how he felt about that period of his life. I was consumed by blind rage. His mother's death would not always cast that dark shadow over his life, though. With time, John would find a way to turn her legacy into a source of creative inspiration, writing such songs as Julia that were in her honor, which is truly a beautiful tribute. Creatively speaking, the quarrymen were doing very well. They had started playing in 1956, and by 1957 they were beginning to make waves

with their unique blend of skiffle and rock and roll. This was also when John met Paul McCartney, who would join the group that same year. John's aunt did not approve of his friendship with Paul, nor did Paul's parents approve of John, saying that he would, quote, get their son into trouble, quote. At the age of 14, George Harrison was recommended as the lead guitarist for their group. McCartney brought the idea to John, but initially he dismissed the idea saying Harrison was too young. Those doubts vanished, however, when he heard the boy play.

With Harrison, McCartney and Lennon altogether, the first incarnation of the Beatles was born in 1960. with John's friend Stuart Sutcliffe playing bass for the band as their fourth. The most famous lineup wouldn't come together until 1962, when drummer Ringo Starr would join the band. Along with some other shuffles and the members, we ended up with McCartney, Harrison, Lennon, and Starr, which sounds like a law firm. The 60s were truly a golden time for the boys from Liverpool

as their popularity exploded worldwide. They were not without their controversies, though. such as the time that John said that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus, a comment that earned the group and John specifically a lot of backlash. These included death threats, the burning of beetle records, at some point even the clan were involved. Like I said, a lot of backlash. Things became so intense that the Beatles actually stopped touring as a result.

It was kind of one of those meetings of cosmic chants that interested, produced John to the woman he would spend the rest of his life with, the Japanese artist, Yokohono. The pair first met in 1966 at an art show where some of her pieces were on display. They wouldn't actually start dating until 1968, and the couple were married in 1969. Right off, they started some of the activism that would come to define much of John's later career. In the wake of their wedding, they didn't disappear for a private retreat to celebrate their honeymoon, The pair had an agenda, and they wanted to share it with the world.

This was their first, now-famous, bed-in. For March 25th to March 31st, the newlyweds invited the press into their hotel room. John and Yoko literally just stayed in bed for the entire week, wearing pajamas and talking about peace for hours. They used this time to voice their anti-Vietnam views, with John saying, were selling peace the way others sell soap, and we think that peace could use some advertising.

After some very tumultuous years in the 1970s, by 1975, John had settled into what many would call his house husband years. While still active politically, it was in a much diminished capacity compared to the early 70s. John also took this chance to step almost entirely away from the music business. On his 35th birthday, John and Yoko's son, Sean Ono, Lenin, was born. By this time, the young family was living in New York at the Dakota building, and that's where most of their time was spent. Now, forgive me for having gotten a little biographical here, but honestly I've been kind of stalling,

because I know exactly what we're building towards, and it's not a fun thing to have to talk about. But in 1979, John started getting the old creative it. as it were. And during a sailing trip, he went on to Bermuda, where he had to weather a storm, his creativity was reignited. This led to him and Yoko writing the album Double Fantasy, which was their first album together since 1975. The recording for the album went on through the summer of 1980, with the album finally released

in November of that year. And now here we are, the part of this that I have been dreading since I started writing it. December 8, 1980. John Lennon would meet a fan that he signed a record for and take a picture with, and then go on about his day thinking nothing more of it. That day he would do an interview for a radio station, and then Yoko and John went to the studio to do some work on a song of theirs. Later that night, just a little before 11 p.m., a couple would return to their home at the Dakota. The fan that he had met earlier that day was Mark David Chapman, and when he returned home that night, he encountered the man again. Only this time, Chapman would shoot John Lennon four times

at close range. With the shots being fired at 10.50 p.m., by 11 p.m., John was at Roosevelt Hospital, now called Sinai Hospital, where they tried absolutely everything they could to save John. but with the injuries he had taken, there was no hope of him surviving. Bullets had torn through his lung and done other massive internal damage to the artist, and by 11.15 p.m. of December 8, 1980, John Lennon had died. I really don't have much to add to this one.

The story really kind of speaks for itself. It's a hard story to tell, especially with John just getting back into his career. That second act for him and Yoko was right within reach. But it was all struck down by one man, one cold December night in the Big Apple, New York City. May he rest in peace, John Lennon. I wanted to share an event that was kind of my first experience with urban exploring. This happened back when I was around six years old, so in the early 2000s. I know that seems absurd for Irbex, but hang in there with me.

It's been two decades, but I swear, I remember every detail like it happened yesterday. I'm pretty sure my mom still doesn't believe me, but I know what I saw. I know what happened, even if I couldn't quite explain it at that age. This happened over the summer. My dad was the main worker, but my mom cleaned houses when requested and when she was available. She was great at it, but I remember it being a pain as a kid because our house was always so clean and spotless that she would be stressed if she saw toothpaste batter on the mirror. But that's just how she is, and it could definitely be worse.

Typically, when she was cleaning a home, it was when she was when we were, we were all at school or daycare. I was the youngest of four kids and had a half day and my mom had a house to clean. I got the details of the job in the house when I was a little older and understood better. She was paid to help clean out someone's house that had passed away. The thing is, it wasn't like the person had been living there, then recently died, and was not being sold or something. The person that owned the home was moved to some sort of hospital where they died, and the home actually sat abandoned basically for years. My mom told me that they were willing to pay her a good chunk of money for this place, which is why she agreed to take it. She just said she was under the

impression the place was more empty and literally just needed to be cleaned. However, that was not the case. There was still a lot in there, and they asked her to get out as much as she could, but said that she didn't have to worry about the furniture, appliances, or any large items. So she did what she could, and on this day, she had my dad help her since he was off. I don't remember why. I just remember her being happy to have his help with both the house and with keeping an eye on me since I would be out of school. So there we were at this house. They had set up a small area for me in the yard to play and stay out of the way

while also keeping an eye on me, or so they thought. I walked with them through the house as they talked about the best way to tackle certain areas. When we went upstairs, we looked at a room that was clearly for a young child. It had a teddy bear wallpaper with pastel green paint. There was one of those small foam fold-out kids recliners that I always wanted in the corner. It was The Lion King themed in an old light-colored trunk against the back wall

that looked covered in stickers. My mom was just showing my dad the rooms and they were discussing what would work best and what she needed him to do. My thought process was that I just wanted to go through that trunk and play on that chair, but I was told no. She said it was too dusty in the house, and she didn't want me playing around in there. I pouted, but there was nothing else I could do about it. Until a little later, when they were both too busy to realize I had snuck off.

I told them I needed to use the bathroom, and at that age, my parents were quick to show me where to go. But I was also capable of doing it myself, so after my mom showed me where the bathroom was, she walked away, telling me to go back outside when I was done. I could hear them busying themselves, moving stuff around while I was in the bathroom. They had already cleared out one room and my mom was vacuuming it. That was when I took the opportunity to run up the stairs behind them when they wouldn't notice. Now, alone on the floor above them, I was free to explore the rooms on my own, which was exactly what I did. I went back to the kids' room I had seen earlier and started looking through stuff.

I opened the closet because I had a small tub in mine filled with toys and expected to see the same, but there were just some old clothes hanging up. So then I went and folded out the foam chair, ready to make myself a place to chill with whatever toys I found. Then I moved to the trunk, ready to dig in. But here's the thing. I didn't want to alert my parents that I was upstairs. So I kept the light on in the bathroom, but didn't turn the lights on upstairs. So the room wasn't completely illuminated.

The only light coming in was the light coming in from the windows that only had some of those old plastic blinds on them that were open. So not completely bright in there, but I wasn't in the dark either. I actually didn't scare easily, which is weird to say as a kid. The dark didn't bother me. I didn't have issues with monsters or bad dreams waking me. So being in a room that was a little darker, I was totally fine with.

But what I learned that day was that I was not comfortable with the feeling of being watched. I had started going through the trunk and while there was more clothing in there, there were also a few toys present, including some kind of dinosaur figure that had a moving mouth. I was holding it when I started feeling like I was being watched.

And at first I thought, oh, I've been caught, so I waited to hear one of my parents call my name. But that never happened. So I slowly turned to look at what was staring at me. I was seriously expecting my parents, but there was no one else there. But what I saw or didn't see was more alarming and confusing. Something was blocking the door. way. It was tall, or at least it seemed tall to my little self. I could see a dark form starting from the

floor. I could see what I thought were arms with very long fingers, but they appeared webbed with how they were attached. The shoulders looked very broad, and the head was round, no hair and no facial features. It was as if it was just a silhouette, but that made no sense. Based on the lighting, there was no reason for them to be in the dark the way they were. And to make it even more confusing, they were also slightly transparent. I could see right through them, right to the mirror hanging on the wall behind them, reflecting light from the window. So how was this possible?

Someone was standing there, but I could see right through them. The other thing I remember at the time was the smell. It was faint at first, but the more I focused on the figure, the stronger it seemed to get. It smelled kind of bitter or sour, with a slight floor, or sweet smell mixed with something metallic. It made my teeth hurt. I couldn't quite make sense of it at the time,

but as an adult, it became more disturbing to me. It reminded me of when my grandpa was really sick and we saw him in the hospital. Then, when my mom helped take care of him at home, and lastly, when he passed and we went to a service. I now recognize that as being the smell of death in embalming fluids. And while all this was circling in my head, I was just staring at this thing, wondering why it wasn't moving. And for the first time in a while, I was actually scared.

I didn't know what to do. It was blocking my only way out of the room. I stayed like that, standing by the trunk for what seemed like several minutes. Finally, the only thing that came to mind was to do what I was always taught, and that was to have manners. They were clearly blocking my way, so I did the only thing that seemed reasonable. I asked it to move. I remember saying, you're blocking the door. can I please go?

And I waited there. For a moment, nothing happened. It continued to block the doorway. But then, slowly, it began to move. I watched it move towards the left, away from the doorframe.

Once I could no longer see it, I slowly approached the door, looked down the hall where they went, and it was empty. I took that chance to run. I ran down the stairs as fast as I could and ran into my dad in the living room. He asked me why I was upstairs,

and without looking at him, I told him someone was up there. He told me to go out to my mom, and he went upstairs. She looked just as confused, wondering why I was inside. Clearly, my parents had no idea, I was still inside, so my plan worked, I guess.

I was explaining to her what I did and saw when my dad came walking out too. He said no one was up there and my mom told me to explain to him too and I did. Both of them told me no one was there and that I was probably just seeing a shadow or something and scolded me for going up there alone. I was told to not move from my blanket spot in the yard unless they told me I could and that was that. When we went home, I tried talking about it a few times but they always shut me down saying I was imagining things

and that was the end of it. But I know what I saw and I know what happened. And maybe that set things off for me but I have loved urban exploring since then. Finding old places and things left behind like that has always been fun to try and think about its history or story. I haven't had much more in ways of paranormal experiences since then, but I will tell you, I will never forget my manners.

You never know. Politeness might just go a long way. Hello, Raven. and as promised before, from my old journal, I've got plenty of crazy stories to share. And in light of October being both my birthday month and the spooky season, I wanted to share a few of the stories that fit the mood. My apologies for taking so long to get to these fox. This was back in 2013, during the summer after my final semester at Community College.

Since I remember this incident quite well, I'm going to use my writing skills to elaborate where my journal was a lot less descriptive. Mainly because back when I wrote about this, I never expected to tell anyone else about it. Thanks to Raven's awesome channel, these stories of mine can be shared with an audience that loves and appreciates the sharing of crazy true stories.

Thank you, Raven, for the awesome family you've created and I apologize for the length of this journal entry. Thank you for being a part. part of that family fox and never apologize for the length of your stories. As always, this is a true story. There was a rather nice mall back where I used to live that was rather popular during the 90s and early 2000s, until it made news headlines due to a shooting that broke out in the food court near the mall's movie theater. Without getting into too many details about this incident,

just know that several bystanders who had nothing to do with the incident were unfortunately killed, along with one of the suspects who also fired on police officers after a brief standoff. The mall itself was closed for a little while due to an investigation, which ultimately sealed its fate, even though it did open up again after the investigation into the incident ended. The mall did try everything it could to get back to the once chipper energy and atmosphere it had, but obviously, since this is an urbex story, you can accurately conclude that the efforts fell short. Eventually the mall closed and was left abandoned, and around the time that I was in college,

I had gotten into exploring a few abandoned buildings with one of my friends. Even though the story behind what we called murder mall was scary enough, my friend Derek, who we affectionately called Cap and Crunch, and I always said that at some point, we would inevitably go explore the huge complex for ourselves. Derek got the nickname Captain Crunch because he was a large, muscular guy who trained at the same martial arts school as me, and he had a habit of breaking small things,

like phones, controllers, and buttons. And one time he drank too much at a birthday party and jumped into his coffee table, shattering it instantly all while proclaiming, I am Cap and Crunch, which his wife did film for proof. Both of us were little kids when the mall was originally open, and would have most likely been in middle school around the time it was officially closed. I don't remember going to the mall,

But my parents told me that they had a couple of carnivals and their giant parking lots that we visited as a family when I was a small child. Anyway, we decided to pick a Saturday during the summer of 2013 to finally go and check out the mall, since Derek said that we had waited long enough, and he wanted to do one more exploration before he officially moved out of state. I agreed, of course, and I remember how nervous. we both were on the drive up to the mall. Just to clarify, this mall was huge. Like the kind of place you would have to take frequent breaks to make it from one side to the other. Plus, it had an upper level.

The entire property was fenced off, however. There were several sections that were fallen in, torn open, or otherwise compromised, and Derek parked his car across the street from it at a gas station. We did a final check on our bags. I usually packed basics, like a med kit, small water flask, headlamp, small tool kit, and a standard lighter. And since we didn't play about our safety, I made sure to have at least a couple of knives on me, as well as an additional one inside the med kit. Derek packed similar things, but he preferred standard book bags to the small, agile, single sling bags that I

So we could also include items like a climbing rope, a poncho, and some of his army gear that I didn't recognize at the time. We also began to carry walkie-talkies, which we kept fully charged and on our person, as a recent addition to our gear after we got separated from friends exploring an old aquarium a year or so prior. We ran across the street from the gas station, followed the fence until we found a decent-sized opening, and entered the large parking lot that preceded the massive mall, like a looming, ominous front porch. For any fellow Urbex people listening to this story, I'm sure that you can agree,

or have at least experienced what I'm about to say. There's a weird transition when you step from the world of the living, moving, loud, and every day, into a place that's frozen in time. abandoned and seems more like an alternate universe to the world that you know. We used to call it the distance effect, a minor reference to the feeling of moving away from society as we know it, to a place that seems forgotten by our world.

The giant parking lot was like a battlefield between modernization and nature, as trees, towering weeds and thick, relentless patches of grass, burst from, from the cracks and crevices in what used to be flat, smooth asphalt for a parking lot. And Derek and I were crossing where we could, careful to mind our steps for broken glass, stray roots, or anything that could end our trip too soon. As the mall building grew closer, and I remember writing about this, it felt like the loud, busy world around the mall was silent, and the air was thick, heavy, and stagnant. Murder Mall had several entries, which were located inside department stores on each end,

the food court at the main entrance, and the theater at what everyone considered to be the rear of the mall. The theater and the front entrances were known to be blocked off due to the rumors we'd heard prior to our own exploration, but we just happened to be on the side of the mall where an entry was possible, and this is somewhat where I show my age and the age of said mall. We entered through the frames of what were once the glass doors of a foley's, watching our step as we avoided much of the glass, trash, and miscellaneous content. If you know what a foley's is, or remember the Red Apple's sale, congratulations. People think that we're old.

Anyway, even with the sun beaming overhead outside, the inside of the department store was dark, and the scent of old wood, dust, and fowl. water filled the air. Derek was the first to put on his headlamp and turn it on, followed by me doing the same, along with a pair of black workout gloves that I usually wore to protect my hands in case I had to climb or grab onto something.

Foley's was mainly empty, except for a few of the aisles, clothes, racks, and other abandoned materials that we passed. And the walls were either damaged or covered with graffiti, no matter where we looked. Halfway through the store were two escalators that traveled up to the second floor, both of which were roped off.

And I remember looking at the one on the right, which had a bunch of metal chairs piled on it, all the way to the next floor. You couldn't see the next floor from the bottom floor unless you rode the escalator up, and I got chills when I saw it for some reason. Why would there be a bunch of metal chairs clocking up an escalator? Derek and I pressed on, intending to make it to the main mall corridor before it got too late into the day.

And we did exit Foley's into one of the main walkways of the mall, which hosted stores on the left and the right, and some of which had security gates closed on them, and others that didn't. Light was coming in through the frosted glass roofing high up as we observed the typical upper and lower walkways that most malls have, craning our necks to see the remnants of storefront signs and businesses that used to be there. We knew that we didn't have time to explore them all, but we did keep mental notes of the place as we walked through the quiet, almost unnaturally still walkway. The center areas of the bottom floors had fountains here and there. which explained the foul water smell, and as we walked we saw where greenery had overtaken portions of the store as well.

Some shops still looked fairly stocked, while others looked completely gutted. All of them were alone, abandoned, and forgotten. We reached an area that looked like a main junction between all four main paths of the mall. It was an area with damaged, checkered marble floor, a few run-down dessert carts, and the live garden centerpiece had been overtaken and overgrown with weeds, and other small trees that seemed to have sprouted

from pure opportunity. Derek found one of the old plastic mall directory signs that told us where we were and motioned for me to come over. Let's go here next and make this trip interesting, he told me with a grin. He was pointing at the movie theater area which was where the shootout that sealed the mall's fate occurred. I wanted to decline, but curiosity also burned in me deeply,

since there was a chance that we would never get to see this mall again after today. Derek was moving. I didn't have a car. And, well, my parents never actually signed off on me free running around, or otherwise exploring abandoned buildings, so there was no way I could ask them to drive. brought me off at the local abandoned mall so I could explore. I agreed, and we headed to the junction on the right side of the mall. This is where things began to change about our trip. As we walked, it seemed to get darker, for lack of a better description.

It was hot and stuffy, being summertime, but the walkway on the right side of the mall had a cold and chilly feel in the air, it seemed heavier than normal. I heard something behind me when we were passing a large play area for kids, and when I turned to look, I thought that I saw a kid ducking into the ball pit. It threw me off so badly that Derek turned around to ask me if I was okay, and then even went and looked at the ball pit when I told him what I saw. What's scary to me is how much crap they just left in this mall.

I mean, there's clothes. Shoes? Even some of the claw games still have prizes in here. Derek joked, trying to lift my spirit as he walked past me, determined to reach the theater area. I wrote down what he said because I made a note in my journal that for someone who seemed as fearless as Derek, he was showing signs that none of us had ever seen from him before, signs of being rattled. We pressed on from there, passed by this abandoned car. that we assumed was one of the win-me-raffle vehicles you often see in malls. That's when we both began hearing what sounded like someone playing loud music up ahead.

Derek and I knew that it was possible that we might run into some homeless people, or even other explorers on our trip, but this was weird to us. The music seemed like it was coming from a loud speaker, and as far as we had seen, there wasn't any power in the mall. So we stopped for a second, and then Derek jogged a few feet ahead to take a look, giving me a hand signal to stay back as he did. Once he was a few yards away, the music stopped abruptly, and the mall went silent again. I ran over to Derek immediately.

Before I could say anything, we heard the sound of running feet go past us on the floor above, and we both started scanning the upper walkway with our eyes, trying to figure out what we had just heard. Derek was noticeably bothered, and I was beginning to feel my heart racing as we looked around trying to figure out what we could do. It's starting to get interesting, Derek admitted with a chuckle.

I gave him a, you don't say, expression, and he shrugged in motion for me to follow him as he began walking further into the chaos of whatever was going on with this path. The odd occurrences did not stop there. When we passed a gourmet popcorn store, we could smell freshly popped popcorn, despite the store being closed and gated off.

We watched a pair of old Nike shoes jump off the shelf when we passed by a Pala shoe store, and no, that's not a typo. The shoes didn't just fall. They quite literally went up from a flat shelving that they had been sitting on, and smacked onto the floor when we looked. An old Gallagher arcade game flickered on and then died when we passed by the Family Fun Center, and a loud thud that I still to this day cannot explain happened behind us,

as if someone dropped what I can best describe as a boulder on the ground behind us. We finally arrived at the infamous food court, and just ahead of us was the movie theater. and when I tell you the energy in that area felt off, it's an understatement. The rest of them all seemed dead, stale, and mildly creepy, but the area in this food court seemed aware for a lack of a better term. There were more weird creaks and random noises. We heard what sounded like voices of people shopping in the distance, even some laughter. Derek kept looking over the empty bolted-down tables the food court back and forth as if he was unsure about something.

And I remember being afraid to scare him if I spoke suddenly or walked up too briskly. He never told me what he was doing. But to me it looked like he had seen something. He waved his hand backward at me as if to tell me to move back. And I remember my heart began racing once more and the air. felt increasingly tense and anxious. Freeze, hands up! An authoritative voice shouted from behind us.

We turned and noticed the distinct silhouette of a police officer in uniform shining what we believed was a flashlight in our faces. There was something off about the brightness of the flashlight, as if it was too dim to be as bright as it was. Because I remember that it didn't seem to illuminate Derek and Hustra.

but it was bright enough to keep us from seeing the officer's face. Derek and I instinctively put our hands up as Derek turned to speak to the officer. We're just exploring, officer, we haven't done anything wrong, he stated. The officer just stood there, his face hidden behind the glow of his flashlight, and he stared at us. I kept my hands up, heart pounding like mad, and Derek seemed a lot more composed than I was. but also seemed confused. The officer moved his right hand to what I assume was his radio on his right shoulder, and I'm using a different name for the sake of the story,

but he said something along the lines of, Dispatch, this is Peterson, into his radio, and then followed up with having two potential shoplifting suspects in custody. Derek looked over at me and shook his head and then started backing up slowly. I remember trying to get him to stop moving, but his eyes were now completely wide and filled with fear. We need to go right now, Derek said, not caring that the officer could hear him.

What are you talking about? We don't need to make this worse, I pleaded with him. Derek stopped walking backwards and put his hands down, looking at me with genuine fear this time. We need to go. That is not a... an officer. Derek told me quickly.

What are you talking about? I whispered back to him, noticing that the officer seemed to be watching us talk, and didn't seem to be approaching or even acknowledging that Derek had put his hands down. Derek lit out a sigh, and then looked over at the officer and back at me with remorse. That's not normal behavior at all. I put my hands down, and the officer didn't say anything about it. Plus, dispatch is not responding to him because he's not able to call dispatch. Also, the name that officer gave was Officer Peterson.

One of the responders who was killed here years ago during that mall shootout, Derek stated firmly. My whole body went cold. Derek was right. This officer didn't seem to actually be acknowledging or responding to us directly at all. In fact, the officer seemed as if he just came out of nowhere. We didn't see or hear him walk up to us. He just seemed to appear and shout orders. I looked over at Derek, but before he could say anything else,

the officer made this growling laughing sound that seemed to echo off the walls. And then he started running toward us. There was something bone-chilling about him. Each step he took brought heavy waves of fear and without further hesitation, Derek grabbed my arm and took. off running. We ran like crazy down the main walkway of the mall toward the center junction, where we hooked a left back to the main walkway that led to Foley's, where we were able to slip out of the mall completely. We could hear stomping footsteps thundering behind us the entire time,

but we didn't dare look behind us to see the officer following us. We didn't stop running until we made it across the parking lot and out of the fence. I remember how quiet it was on the ride back home, and I think it was because we didn't really know what to say to each other about the experience. We had only experienced a tiny portion of the mall, but silently we both began to understand why the mall might have ended up being completely abandoned. We never heard anyone else talk about experiencing any of the things we experienced, when we went there,

but then again, it wasn't something that a lot of people we knew were into. Most of the lore surrounding what we called murder mall was speculation from the actual news stories about the initial shootout. And then the final coverage about it was simply that the mall was closing. There were no obituaries or tributes for the families of the victims and officers who were killed during that incident. But again, beyond a bit of the victims. these things, nothing else was ever said about the future of them all grounds, or any other odd experiences like the one Derek and I had there. However, that doesn't mean that no one else has experienced what we did, or worse. Anyways, that's one of my crazy journal entries from

2013, about another crazy experience in my crazy life. So, I usually just look at it. So I usually just look around these parts and don't have much to say, but I actually do have a story that I wanted to go ahead and share from a few months back. Thinking about it now freaks me out because of all the things you read about online when it comes to trafficking and all that. And the whole thing happened in broad daylight. I think that's the worst part. I live in a fairly decent apartment building downtown in a major city. I don't want to say which major city, I'll just say that it's to the south. It's got a large population and most people here don't suck. It's a decent complex that has a doorman during the day and some cameras that are pointed at most

the hallways and the doors. And I probably pay way too much, but I like the location and I feel mostly safe here. I work a pretty standard eight to five, so I'm usually home by six. On this particular day that this happened, I had actually taken a half day, because I had a doctor's appointment at once, so I was home by two in the afternoon. I had just gotten in, kicked my shoes off, and was about to finally get something to eat for lunch when there was a knock on my door. I'm pretty careful. I always check the people. Standing outside were two people, a man and a woman. Both looked to be in their late 30s to early 40s, and they were wearing identical navy blue polo shirts, kind of like a uniform.

Just as well, they both had clipboards, and the man was holding up what looked like an ID badge, but was just far enough away that I couldn't actually read it clearly through the glass. It just kind of looked generic, like something you could make, print off, and laminated home in about 30 minutes. The guy then spoke up. I'm guessing that he had heard me moving inside or something. He said, City Wellness Check Initiative. We're here for a mandatory wellness check of all residents in this building.

This felt like a very confusing potential red flag. Mandatory wellness check from the city? All residents of the building? At two in the afternoon? That was a bit. strange, but I'm also fairly new to this part of town, and sometimes stuff happens that I'm not aware of. Still, a little voice in my head was saying, yeah, no, this isn't legit. I decided that I would at least respond through the door to try and see what the hell they were going on about.

I said, okay, what is this about? Which felt kind of silly since they had kind of told me. The woman then spoke and gave a bit of a strained and fake smile, saying, Oh, it's just a few questions about your living situation. It's all standard. And then she gestured her to her clipboard. She then asked me for my first name and said in a very assured way, We don't need your last name, just the first name for privacy reasons. Almost like she was trying to get me to feel more comfortable with the whole thing.

Oh, we care about your private. we're so legitimate. I told them that it was Sam. I didn't mention that it was short for Samantha, but they could probably have figured that out. They asked one or two more generic questions about the rental property, like what my monthly payment was

and how much I paid in utilities. Then, the questions got strange. The man spoke up again and asked, Do you live alone? He then looked like he had written, something down on the clipboard before I even answered. Now I do live alone, but I'm not about to tell two random strangers at my door that. So I lied, trying to sound casual.

Uh, my roommate's at work right now. He made a show of ticking a box and then looked back up and asked, and when are you normally at work, just in case we need to come back? I swear when he said come back, he stretched it slightly almost like he was warning me that they would be back. I told him that I couldn't really answer the question because I was home randomly depending on my work's need for staff. This also wasn't true. I was pretty much never home during the day, but again, they didn't need to know that. Then, the woman asked the question that was the absolute line for me.

The indication that this wasn't a wellness check, this was some kind of vulnerability check. She asked, And your windows, do they have any additional security locks or security systems? Anything to tell you if someone opens them from the outside, for instance? The thing about this question was that it was very direct. It was very straightforward in what she was asking. But it felt strange because why the hell would anyone tell them that? Especially after the other two questions.

I asked them to hold on for just a moment saying that I was getting a phone call and would be right back. That I absolutely had to take it. I then pulled out my phone and immediately called the building management office. The manager of the property answered pretty much immediately and I put the phone on speaker. Hey, John, it's Sam from apartment number X. A quick question. Do you have any knowledge of city workers doing some kind of mandatory wellness check on the building right now? There are two people here that are asking some very intrusive questions about the building security and about whether I live alone.

There was a quick beat of silence before John replied with, uh, no? Let me get someone up to your floor from security. I then heard him start talking in the background, probably into a walkie, to someone else. I looked back through the peephole again and the two people were gone. No, we'll be right back, sir goodbye is just gone. I mentioned it to John and he told me that he was still sending someone up to talk to me about it because this could be something way more serious. They came up and asked me a couple of questions,

about the whole thing, and said that they would check the cameras to see how they got in and what they looked like, and then mentioned that they were going to report it to the police as well to make sure that they're aware of whatever it was, and that they may want to speak with me about it, too. The next day I actually went down and spoke to John in person. I knew he would be in. He said that the two people had actually entered through the main door, and that they'd sneaked in when the doorman wasn't there. They never gave an ID or anything, but they did look official. However, he said that they looked like they were going to my door specifically,

because they didn't stop or slow down. They went straight to the stairs, straight to my floor, and knocked. They came in no more than a few minutes after I had, so they may have been following me, but at the same time, how did they know specifically which apartment was mine? The kicker came a few days later. I was chatting with another woman in my building, and she mentioned that the same thing had happened to her,

but she just blew it off. The people showed up and mentioned that it was a mandatory wellness check, but she wasn't as willing to talk to them as I was. She was short with them, and said that she would refuse to answer some of the questions. But then they also asked her if she had a dog. Honestly, the scariest part of all this was the implications. It seemed like they were targeting single women.

Both myself and the other woman were both single, and it seemed like they may have been gathering intel on our living situation. Again, not for wellness or vulnerability. They were trying to see if we, were vulnerable. I don't even want to think about what could have happened next or what they were actually planning. Nowadays, I just yell, not interested, if someone knocks on my door and I'm not expecting anyone. I don't even bother with the people.

And believe me, the security chains on my door are always on and the deadbolt is always locked. At this point, I don't care who it is. If they want my attention, and I know them, they'll call or text me. Hello there, friends, Raven here. Welcome to the end of this episode of As the Raven Dreams. I hope that you genuinely enjoyed this collection of scary stories, as I enjoyed putting them together for you. If the platform you're on has the option to follow the podcast or leave ratings or reviews,

please do consider doing so as it helps the podcast grow. Of course, if you enjoy the content that is. If you didn't enjoy it, then feel free to also leave a rating as honesty is important, and I take all feedback seriously. Also, I do have a YouTube channel. It's a lot of the same content, but we do live streams on Saturdays around 6 p.m. Central, so if you're free one Saturday night and want to come over and say hi, I would love to have you there. We just kind of have a good time doing whatever we want for the few hours that I'm online. You can also join the Patreon, patreon.com, as the Raven Dream. for early access to all this content. Check out the website as the ravendreams.com for information and where you can listen to the podcast,

find all my social media links, find the merch store, and send in your own stories to keep the podcast going, as it pretty much exists on crowdsourced content at this point. All of you really do keep the show going, so a huge thank you for that. Also on the website is information about the book that I wrote, titled The Insomniacs Experiment by Raven Adams. It's a psychological thriller, and I think it's pretty good. You might actually like it. Check it out. It's available on Amazon.

Or if you want a signed copy, you can email me to see if I have any left, and I will absolutely oblige if I do. All that said, friends, I hope you have a lovely rest of your day. I hope I see you again here very soon. But until then, remember that you are loved. You are valid. You are important. And the world is a better place with you in it. Don't forget that.

Until next time, much love and sleep well. well.