As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 234 - 6 True Terrifying Stories (Uber Stories & Road trip Stories)

Episode Date: July 17, 2026

This episode has been an absolute NIGHTMARE to upload. This is literally my 5th attempt lol. Today, on the 234th episode of the As The Raven Dreams podcast, we have 6 True Chilling stories. These stories come from the shadowy corners of reality, where everyday life takes an eerie twist & ordinary people experience the extraordinary. Today we will be diving into The terrors of being a rideshare driver and other scary stories on the road. 2 Of the stories in his episode are True Crime Writeups written by me, Raven Adams. Would you like to participate in the postcard exchange? It comes with a free ATRD Sticker! Just Send a post card to the following... Lucas PO BOX 8198 Rochester, MN 55903 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 found at https://www.astheravendreams.com You can also send stories into my subreddit (r/theravensdream) or email them to me at [e-mail] Want to check out some ATRD Podcast Merch? ➤ https://teechip.com/stores/astheravendreams Or for signed merch ➤ https://ko-fi.com/AsTheRavenDreams I wrote a novel, "The Insomniac's Experiment" by Raven Adams! Check it out on amazon (Or you can email me for a signed copy!) Join Patreon to get early access and support the Podcast! ➤ https://www.patreon.com/AsTheRavenDreams Check out my gaming channel with my pal Ghost_Ink ➤ @superNefariousBros On YouTube Thank you to all of the authors that have stories in todays episode... Charlie, GML, Syd&Dani, GL As Well As Any Author That Has Requested Anonymity. TimeStamps… Ad breaks after Story 1 & Story 3 1 ➤ 1:42 2 ➤ 11:20 3 ➤ 19:34 4 ➤ 34:33 5 ➤ 46:04 6 ➤ 52:40 ----- 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 #UberStories Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey there, friends. Hope you're doing well. If not, I sincerely hope your day does get better. I gotta say, it's a little rough to feel good, uh, whenever it feels like the northern part of the continent is on fire. Um, reading about the fires up north is, it, it's a little mentally distressing as, I mean, obviously. I can only imagine how it is for people who are closer to the fires as, down here in southeast Minnesota, it's just the air that's struggling. So, I'm not meaning to depress. I just, I read about stuff this morning about the fires, and it's just, it's kind of weighing heavy in my mind.

So, yeah, if you're anywhere near those, please stay safe. Evacuate. If you are in an evacuation spot, please don't, don't play with fires. That's how it's a bad way to put that. My point, you know what I mean. You know what I mean. I don't need to preach the choir here. So anyways, I hope you are doing well, otherwise out there.

and I hope that you do have a great day and a good rest of your week. Today, we have some Uber slash ride share stories and some road trip stories. So hopefully these offer a good distraction from things and hopefully, yeah, you just enjoy them. If so, please do leave a comment if you're on Spotify. Elsewhere, well, you can't really leave a comment, so just rate the podcast if you're feeling, you know, like you want to. Honest ratings mean a lot. Spotify can rate as well. Yeah.

That's all friends. See you again soon. Until then. Much love and sleep well. This happened quite some time ago on one of the first road trips I've ever taken. And to be honest, I still don't know how to explain what happened. My friend Danielle and I were going to visit a friend that had moved out of state. She was getting married, but instead of having some crazy batch the red party, she just asked if we would be willing to

to visit and have a small get-together with her. The three of us have been an unbreakable trio since middle school, so it made sense. Danielle and I still lived close, so we figured we would just ride together and make a whole trip out of it. We had some pretty entry-level type jobs, so riding together would be cheaper for us, too. For myself, I had only been on one small road trip alone, which was barely a two-hour-a-hour. hour drive. Otherwise, it was just the ones I went on with my family. Danielle was about the same as me, but even less because her family didn't really take trips like that. This drive was going to be a

little over six hours, but we were smart about it. We made sure to pack plenty of fluids and healthy snacks to keep us going. We had a good stack of the best CDs to listen to, and I even bought a better GPS for this trip specifically, if that doesn't tell you how long ago this was. For the most part, the first couple of hours were fine. We had to make a few stops along the way, but we weren't stopped for more than 10 minutes. We left early enough that we didn't hit a lot of traffic, and we were out of the city by the time rush hour hit. Then we came across part of the highway that ran through what was basically a forest. There was a sign that we passed by, but it was so quick that neither of us even caught the name.

The road just slightly curved into it. No other way to go, and no missed exits either. Just a two-lane highway with the passing sections along the way. This was the way that the GPS had us going, just to clarify. The drive through the trees started out completely fine. It actually blocked out a lot of suns, so it was a bit cooler than it had been that morning. Early on, there was a truck that came up behind us and passed us and disappeared into the distance ahead. Otherwise, that was the only other vehicle we saw on the road.

Again, it wasn't strange to us or anything. We were kind of in the middle of nowhere. So we just kept driving and driving. The trees didn't change. The road didn't change, other than a slight curve or something. There was an occasional guardrail blocking what looked like a small runoff or maybe where part of the road was eroding, but the drive just seemed endless. However, neither of us had been on this route before, and our view wasn't changing, so of course it would seem like we were in some endless loop, right? Danny made a comment after changing out the CD again saying that it seemed like this was excruciatingly long.

She also needed to use the restroom again, but I did agree. Then, she made a comment about several of the trees having marks on them. There was a single horizontal line on them. Not every one, but every few feet or so. I assumed it was for some kind of planned construction. We saw that near home, too. Then some time passed, and she pointed out the guardrail that starts again. We talked about how sometimes in these situations, they probably only put them up in risky areas, like a ditch or something.

We continued on, but it was starting to feel weird. I was driving, so I know that I may have been focusing on the road more, but we had both stopped singing. There was something in the air, some kind of unsettling feeling that I couldn't quite pinpoint. But there was nothing around to make me feel that way. No other vehicles had come by. No wildlife or other strange things on the side of the road or in the road. But then Danny spoke. Okay, am I just crazy or did we not just pass that same guardrail?

She pointed out how the guardrail had some damage on it from the front. It was curling in on itself like someone had hit it. I watched as she pointed it out. Damaged guardrail starts, seven trees marked that were almost evenly spread out, with a large rock after the third tree. You could see the different layers in the rock. Like it broke off from somewhere, but there was no rock wall of any sort that we could see from the road. I started paying more attention and I was seeing the same thing.

Guardrail, three marked trees, rock, four marked trees, and then back to a normal drive for some time, until the guardrail started again. We were both confused and starting to panic, to be honest. We were literally following the GPS as it told us, but it seemed like this was never ending. How was that even possible? While I was panicking internally, Danny was doing it outwardly. She was freaking out, and also she still needed to use the restroom, and we didn't know when we would get out of this. We finally stopped on the side of the road, and while Danny took care of the business, I rebooted my GPS.

I don't know why, but I felt helpless and I had to try to do something. I got the address plugged in and was shocked to see that it said, that we still had nearly four hours remaining. There was no way that that was possible or even accurate. We'd been driving for a little over two hours before we hit the trees, and with the amount of CDs that we had gone through, we were definitely in those trees for another good hour, hour and a half. We should have a lot less than four hours to go.

With nothing else to do, we got back in the car and just hoped that it would end soon. The music was off and we just watched as we drove. Then the pattern stopped. We saw the guardrail and a few marked trees. Then back to regular trees. Not marked, no rocks. Then, in the distance, we saw the break in the trees. Admittedly, I was driving faster than I should have been too,

because I just wanted to get the hell out of there. But to be honest, that also should have been an indicator that we should have less than four hours left. We got through the trees, and by the setting sun, we could tell that a lot of time had clearly passed. Both of us were now thoroughly freaked out and confused, but thank God we were out of those trees. There was a sign for lodging coming up, and there was no doubt that we were getting off the highway. We stopped at a gas station to try and get our bearings back and talk about what happened. Looking at our cheap flip phones and the time in the gas station, they matched. We legitimately lost around four hours somehow, but we still somehow had four hours left of a six-hour trip.

It didn't make sense. Yes, we did have phones, but we didn't really consider calling anyone. Honestly, what could anyone have done if we did call? After that, we got to our friend's place, and while we had a fantastic time, we also told her about the drive through the trees because she also realized that we took way longer than we should have. Neither she nor her husband had any idea about the road through the trees, saying they didn't recall driving through anything similar whenever they moved here. So we all agreed that it was a bizarre situation and just said that we would make sure to avoid that road. We tried to map it out on the computer and said that we would take an exit before it happened, to avoid it at all cost.

But then we left, and we never came across those trees. We kept an eye out for the exit that we needed, and it never came up, but neither did the trees. We got home in six hours, and we were dumbfounded. Our friend was surprised but relieved, and we were just happy to be home, to be honest. We've visited her since then, both of us striving, and even the trips out there, we've not run into those trees. I don't know what happened that day on our way out there, but we've not been able to find it again. And while I would like some answers, I'm very happy to never come across that again. Furious is coming to Disney Plus, starring Emmy Rossum.

Furious follows FBI agent Alice Black on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating serial killer. Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur. Don't miss the three-episode premiere of the Hulu original series Furious on July 27th, only on Hulu on Disney Plus. Hello. I had a scary story that I wanted to share that I didn't experience, but my father did. It's a story that my dad doesn't like to offer, but we'll share when the situation is right.

Now, because of the final situation, I will keep our real location vague. You know how things go. Some people dig, and I don't want the wrong person to find out. My dad did not finish high school. He had to drop out to help take care of. of his parents' business when his dad fell ill. Unfortunately, he ended up passing, and they had to sell the business in order for his mom to stay afloat.

He worked from then on to help out with expenses, as his mother couldn't work much either. He bounced between small jobs for most of his early adult life. He was a janitor, worked in a factory, manual labor and the occasional odd job here and there. But somewhere in the 70s, he had the opportunity to be a contracted taxi driver. I remember him saying that he didn't have words to describe it, but it felt right.

He loved being a taxi driver. He used to say that it was the first job he ever had where he felt like he was truly good at something. He liked that people depended on him. He knew the city well as he was born and raised there and all the trips he took with his father prior. He knew it like the back of his hands. He's told me about some of the famous and important people he's picked up before, and about the ones that were really polite and genuine to him. The more money he made, the more he was able to keep up with his cab, too.

He kept up on the maintenance. He kept it clean inside and out. He even kept some small conveniences for the passengers, like water, mince, and cleaning wipes. He laughed about how that was something people did in Uber's now, and how he was one of the first to do it back then. He explained that some people would even ask for him specifically because many of the other drivers were bitter or unpleasant.

He would often make comments about making the most out of what you have, and he really walked the walk, too. But this was the one time that his mediocre job through his whole world upside down. He was having a normal evening and picked up a couple somewhere downtown. He said it was a Friday night, and the couple, a man and a woman were coming out of a high-end restaurant. They were also very well-dressed, the man in a suit, and the woman in a very elegant dress. He said that they were very clearly wealthy and they knew it, but they weren't rude about it.

He got out to open the door for them, and the man was kind, telling him that he would get the door for his lady and let him get back in the cab. My dad grew up with strict manners, so he stood by his door until they were in and still shut it for them. He felt it was rude to get into the cab and wait. He explained how the man gave an address, and after that, they kept themselves. They were clearly intoxicated, talking and giggling, but they weren't loud. The ride was otherwise normal. He was maybe 15 minutes into the drive when he stopped at a red light on a relatively quiet stretch of road. It was later, but it wasn't quite dark yet.

That's when another car pulls up alongside him in the left turn lane. He said that he didn't really pay any attention to it at first. They both had red lights and their light was red, so, of course, they would stop too. Then their light turned green, and they hadn't moved. My dad looked over at the car to see why they weren't moving. That's when he noticed their back with. window rolling down, and then a gun pointing at his cab. He explained how his next thoughts were on impulse.

He yelled, down, and ducked to the side of the passenger seat, covering his head. Then he described how loud the shots were. He explained that you never really know how to explain how loud a gunshot is until you actually experience it. He heard several shots, glass shattering, and the woman in his cab was screaming. He said that it felt like it went on forever, and he was holding his head so tightly that he started to feel dizzy. When it was finally over, he removed his arms from his head and waited a few more seconds before looking up. He looked up and saw that the car was gone, and then looked back at his passengers.

The man was clearly deceased, and the woman was barely alive. I won't go into too much detail beyond that. because I know how hard it was for my dad to even talk about it. He pulled the man out of the car and to the side of the road, and then tried to help the woman, but she died shortly after. After all was said and done, the police and the coroner came and got as much information from my dad as they could. Then he was left alone with a cab that he had to clean up himself.

He told me about how, after he left there, he walked around his cab and noticed that every single shot was aimed at the back passenger door, not a single one at his door or window. Like, his passengers were purposefully targeted and he didn't know why. But then he was questioned and interviewed more. He was interrogated and for a moment was probably considered a suspect. Eventually, it all made sense as to why. Without going into too much detail here,

the couple he picked up that night had been celebrating a win for them. The man was involved in some pretty shady things and had been caught. In order to save himself and his wife, he agreed to give up details in the person that ran the whole organization. Word got out on what he did and, well, you know the rest. My father may not have had the most high-end career, but he always kept his nose clean and took jobs that were on the other. up and up. He had no idea who these people were, and what had happened, and then he was accused

of being part of the setup. He told me about how depressed and terrified he was for the longest time. He was afraid the people that killed them would eventually come looking for him. I wasn't even an idea at the time, but he was with my mom and he was afraid for her life, too. He had to give a statement to the authorities, but they at least worked with him on not testimony. Thankfully, I am in the picture, so both of my parents did make it out unscathed. My dad took some time off before returning to cab work. He had to get it clean still, and even then he couldn't stomach driving around in the same car. Eventually he was able to get a new one, and after the smoke cleared, he went back to it.

He rarely talked about this event. As far as I know, there are only a few select family members that actually actually, actually know about it. When he did talk about it, it was clear that it had an impact, but he tried to keep up the brave face. Like it wasn't that big of a deal to him. But at least I knew the importance of the event, and the impact it had on him. My father passed away a few years back, and I still do think of this story. He gives me a reason to be brave, and even through tough times, he's the reason I can stay strong and hold on to hope that things will get better. that no matter what we're going through, you can persevere.

And thank you, Raven, for reading my story. Road trips are synonymous with complete freedom. The open highway, music playing, maybe a favorite audiobook or podcast talking to you as you navigate your way to your next destination. Nowadays, the anxiety that comes with long-distance trips is dramatically reduced thanks to societal expansion, cell phones, GPS, and digital tracking. But back in 1987, a road trip meant stepping into a zone of vulnerability.

Once you left the outer rims of the city, you were essentially off the grid. If something happened to go wrong, you were completely cut off from the people that you loved. For one Canadian couple, an overnight drive across the U.S. border would turn into one of the most baffling and chilling mysteries in the history of the Pacific Northwest. This case stumped investigators for more than three decades, leaving behind a scattered trail of clues across three counties, before a groundbreaking scientific miracle would finally expose the face of a monster. Our story begins on the morning of November 18, 1987.

20-year-old Jay Cook and his 18-year-old girlfriend, Tanya von Quillenberg, had packed up their 1977 Ford Club van, ready to hit the open road. They were high school sweethearts from the quiet community of Sonic British Columbia. This road trip wasn't just a chance to get out onto the highways. It was a routine errand for Jay's dad who ran a local furnace service and repair business. Jay was driving to Seattle to pick up some wholesale heating parts from Gensko Heating, located in the Soto District. The plan was simple enough.

Make the drive, pick up the parts, sleep in the van to save a little money, and then head back to home the next day. It was an overnight run, a simple and enjoyable little trip, and it was, as stated, routine for the family. Around mid-morning, the couple of the couple of the family. Whopo boarded the ferry from Victoria, crossing the water and arriving in Port Angeles, Washington, at around four in the afternoon. From there, they drove southeast on 101, cutting through some rural logging towns. A receipt found later indicated that they had stopped along Hood Canal for gas

at some point in their travels. By late evening, they had reached the Bremerton Ferry Terminal, and at exactly 10.16 p.m., they purchased the ticket for the ferry that would take them across the Puget Sound, directly to their destination in Seattle. The couple was last seen boarding, said Ferry, driving their bronze van into the dark. The morning of the 19th came, as mornings do, but Jay and Tanya failed to show up at the Gensko warehouse. Back in Canada, other family waited for a phone call from the couple, and then they waited for the sound of the van pulling up. What they got was that overwhelming, silence of anticipation.

It was on November 20th that the family decided to report Jay and Tanya missing, and sparking a frantic multi-agency search across the border. It was another four days until that search would take its first horrifying turn. A passerby was traveling down Parsons Creek Road, a quiet and isolated bypass in Skagit County, near a tiny town called Alger. where they noticed something was nestled in the wet brush and leaves of a roadside dish. It was Tanya.

She was partially clothed and an autopsy confirmed that she had been bound with zip ties, sexually assaulted, and killed by a single gunshot to the back of the head at close range from a 380 caliber handgun. Finding Tanya's body was a dark but significant turn of events in this investigation. Clearly something horrifying had happened on this routine road trip, but a handful of secondary questions quickly formed. Where was Jay? Where was their van?

The next day, November 25th, a partial answer to these questions came. In downtown Bellingham, around 30 miles north of where Tanya had been found, a local noticed a bronze van parked and locked up in a lot near Statenholly Streets, right near the Greyhound bus terminal. It was, of course, Jay's dad, Ford Club wagon. As detectives processed the van, they found that it was a secondary crime scene. There were zip ties left behind, identical to those that had bound Tanya's wrists,

along with a pair of disposable plastic gloves. It was then assumed that the killer had used their own van to kidnap the couple, possibly to make it look like the couple had simply run away. Investigators found Tanya's wallet and keys discarded nearby. It was noted at this point that several key items were still missing. Jay's canvas bag and Tanya's prize Minota X-735-millimeter camera. And of course, there was still no sign of Jay. That is, until Thanksgiving of that year.

November 26th, when the final piece of the physical puzzle was found. Nearly 60 miles south of where Tanya was discovered, along a desolate stretch of Crescent Lake Road near Monroe, Washington, a searcher stumbled upon Jay's body. He had been left near the Snacombe River, and it was clear that he had been met with an incredibly violent end. He had been beaten with heavy, blunt stones, bound, and then eventually strangled to death. His killer had covered his body with a coarse blue blanket, and in a deeply unsettling and sadistic touch, had stuffed a pack of cigarettes down his throat. Outside of the horrific details of the two murders,

the sheer geography of the crimes was mind-boggling. The killer had left a trail of evidence scattered across an 80-mile corridor, spanning three separate counties. In the late 1980s, sheriff's departments didn't really have shared digital databases. They communicated via paper and phone calls. The scattering of the bodies, the van and the personal items across different jurisdictions, it was a successful exploitation of these gaps by the killer.

For years, the case sat frozen. The detectives had one crucial golden piece of evidence in this case. They had recovered semen samples from Tanya's body and clothing and had extracted a clean DNA profile of the killer. But in the late 80s and into the 90s, DNA technology was still in its infancy. Even when the national database CODIS was created, it was only relevant if the killer's DNA was already in the system for a previous felony conviction. Because the killer had no major criminal record, having his DNA was like having the answer to every question related to the case, but it was muddled and illegible.

One can only imagine the frustration felt by the investigators to have what is essentially an encrypted answer to the case, and no way to decryptive. it. As the years dragged on, the families were subjected to a special kind of psychological torture. In the months following the murders, both the Cook and the Von Koenberg families had received taunting and graphic greeting cards in the mail. The cards were postmarked from Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, and they contained very detailed and sadistic descriptions of how Jay and Tanya died. For over 20 years, detectives chased down the this lead, firmly believing that the killer was doing what he could to taunt the families, to break them, and bring himself some kind of sick and sadistic pleasure. The problem was that

this was only partially true. It was about sick and sadistic pleasure, but it wasn't the killer. In 2010, authorities finally caught up with the writer, a 78-year-old Canadian transient with severe mental health issues. As it turned out, this man had nothing to do with the murders. He was just a sick and obsessive reader, who had managed to cold details from the newspapers and construct a cruel multi-decade hoax. This was a heartbreaking dead end for multiple reasons. There was another spark of hope while the investigation sat cold.

In 1990, the telephoto lens from Tanya's missing Manila camera was traced to a pawn shop in Portland, Oregon. However, the shop's records were too old and incomplete, leaving this thread just another dead end. Decades passed. The family grew older and continued to carry their heavy and unresolved grief. After so many days without answers, that grief shifted to a gut-wrenching feeling that the monster who took Jay and Tanya's lives that night back in November would never be named. But in 2017, 30 years, after the crime had occurred, Detective Jim Sharf of the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office decided to take one more shot at the case. He partnered with a specialized lab in Virginia

called Parabon Nanolabs. The first step to this revised investigation was to take the DNA and utilize what is known as snapshot DNA phenotyping. By analyzing the genetic markers of the DNA sample, they could predict the suspect's physical traits. eye color, skin tone, facial structure. In April of 2018, police released digital composite sketches of what the killer would have potentially looked like at ages 25, 45, and 65. But a sketch is just a sketch. To find the real name,

investigators brought in a legendary genetic genealogist named C.C. Moore. This is where the investigation went from here are some possibilities to, we have the answers. Moore took the DNA profile of the killer and uploaded it to GED match, a public genealogy database where everyday people upload their DNA in order to help build family trees. Within two hours, Moore found what she had called a web of matches. She identified two people who shared a significant amount of DNA with the killer, indicating that they were his second cousins.

One match belonged to a Washington residence named Chelsea Rustad. Using public records, Moore mapped out Chelsea's family tree, tracing back to her great-grandfather's sister, a woman named Blanche, and from Blanche, Moore moved forward through the generations, looking for any male descendants who would have been in the Puget Sound area at the time of the murder, back in November of 1987. And, from the icy silence that seemed to surround this 30-year-old murder, there was one name shouted back to investigators.

William Earl Talbot II. At the time of the murder, he was a 24-year-old trucker living just miles from where the bodies were found. Undercover detectives immediately started tailing Talbot as he drove his truck routes. They watched him closely, and they waited for a chance to get his DNA. One day on this tale, a paper coffee cup happened to fall out of the door of his truck and land on the pavement. The second he drove away, detectives swooped in and bagged the cup. The DNA match was perfect. It was 100%.

Williams' DNA left on Tanya's clothing 31 years prior. From here, there were some slightly rocky things happening as the legal system did its job. job. Taubit was found guilty and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without possibility of parole in June of 2019. Of course, the world of true crime is rarely that simple and direct. In December of 2021, an appeal at court shocked the community by overturning this conviction. Their reasoning, there was a major mistake during the jury selection. A single juror had made comments that she had a history of domestic. abuse in her family, and admitted that she would struggle with staying objective. When she was asked if she could guarantee fairness in this case, she stated, I can't guarantee anything, right?

It was ruled that the juror had exhibited a clear bias and should have been dismissed. However, this was not the evasion of justice that it may seem. The Washington State Supreme Court took the case, and they ruled that the conviction should stay. They found that the juror indeed had showed bias, and should have been removed. However, it was also stated that Talbot's defense attorney had several extra-peremptory challenges left during selection, and they had the power to remove her prior to the case. They had chosen not to, which then waived their right to challenge the jury selection on appeal.

With this, the case was closed. And William Talbot II. remains behind bars at the Washington State Penitentiary, locked away for the rest of his life. A simple road trip that began in 1987 ended in a courtroom 32 years later, leaving behind a legacy that changed the face of forensics. It proved that no matter how far the killer runs

and no matter how long they hide in the background, their own DNA will eventually tell the truth. The open road is synonymous with freedom, a freedom that Jay and Tanya should have enjoyed as they made their simple trip to Seattle, and a freedom that William Talbot II will thankfully never experience again. I've been listening to your videos for some time now, and I always thought that I wished I had something to share, but at the same time I was thankful that I didn't. However, the more I talked about it with my wife, she made me realize that I actually do have a few stories I could share. I used to work for a rideshare service, a smaller local company, so not one of the more popular ones. And I have quite a few stories that I could go on for days, but most of them are not very entertaining. more so just your normal crazy customer or even a really awesome and memorable one but i do have a couple scary ones that i thought i could share

the first one happened closer to when i started the job this company offered both on-the-spot pickups as well as reserving ones to the company itself when it was slow i would drive around until a request came up sometimes i would park at busy areas and have lunch, knowing that somebody else would come along. It was typically in those downtown areas near the convention centers, places like that. And that's what I did on this day. I noticed there was a lot of parking being used at this hotel, so I assumed there was some kind of event going on that week. I parked nearby and read as I waited to see a group of people leaving.

After some time, people started coming out in groups. I saw some of them walk down the street, some entered the parking garage, and others seemed to stand around, most likely waiting for their own ride. There were three people that walked down the street some, a man and two women. The two women hugged, and then one of them walked across the street, and the man and the second woman got into a cab two ahead of me. Shortly after she got in, a woman tapped on my window asking if I was available. I said yes and she hopped in. She asked me how I was doing, and I answered, and she casually told me to follow the cab with a couple in front, saying they were heading to the same place. She was also dressed business casuals, so I figured they were all heading to the same location.

We made a little small talk, and she confirmed that she was there for a business conference, but was vague on what it was about, just mentioning that it was in the medical, field. I figured it was just a business need-to-know type deal, and it wasn't really my business, so I didn't pry. After that, we really didn't say much. I followed the other cab until we pulled up next to a business center. It was part of a strip with several organizations in this one tall building, so they could be going anywhere in that thing. When they parked, my customer said that I could just drop them off where I was, and while that was uncommon, it wasn't necessarily weird. They tossed some bills at me and rushed out the door. The amount that gave me was way more than the fare and a tip, so I wanted to make sure that she meant to give me the amount she did.

However, she was already out the door and walking down the sidewalk. I went to drive toward her, but of course, I could only go as far as traffic would let me. But then, what came next went so fast. I could barely process it. I called for the woman out my window, and when she glanced at me, she looked angry, but also looked like someone with intent, or like she had a target. She quickly looked away from me, holding her hand in her purse, and then shouted toward the couple that we were following. They were standing out front, talking, and when my customer shouted, they looked up, and while the woman looked confused, the guy looked scared. That's when my customer pulled out a huge kitchen knife from her purse, held it over her head,

and then lunged at the couple. The woman jumped back screaming. The man stepped in between the two of them, and I saw the knife go into his shoulder. It wasn't very deep because she managed to pull it out without much effort. I quickly yanked out my phone and called 911 as I heard people yelling and screaming. Some ran down the street, and other than that. Others seemed to gather trying to stop this knife-wielding woman. Authorities arrived pretty quickly and did arrest the woman, but others managed to restrain her in the meantime.

I felt the need to stick around since I had brought that woman to the location, and I'm glad that I did stick around. I learned a huge lesson that day. The story was, my customer was the ex-wife of the man that I saw. I don't know the story of who the other woman was. but I'm sure we all can have our theories. Either way, I felt horrible knowing that I had brought her to the location and learned about the dangers of people telling you to just follow another person. In fact, the company that I worked for gave me a good talking to about it

and made an official policy that we are not allowed to follow other cars. The customer has to give us the specific destination address. And I promise you that I never let that happen again. The second event happened closer to the end of my time working ride share. This was one that was scheduled through the company. I picked him up later, around 10 p.m. or so, and was outside of an apartment complex. Nothing too crazy. The guy got in the back carrying a large duffel bag.

A little weird, especially because they weren't going to an airport or hotel, but it is what it is. The guy said a few short things with me, but... Otherwise, he didn't really talk much at first. I get it. Small talk is hard for some people. The thing that was the most grueling was that the drive was about 20 minutes out, and with no talking, it can get a little awkward.

The drive, however, started fine. He was quiet, but you could hear him texting in the back, music down low. And then shortly after, I heard some curious sounds. It was like metal on metal, kind of like a click-clack sound. And then I heard something talking, and when I looked back, his face was lit up by the screen of the phone. I couldn't tell you the exact terms used, but basically, it was explaining the individual pieces of a gun. I looked around, and sure enough, it was in his lap, the gun.

I immediately began to panic. This man had a weapon on him and was either listening to a video on putting one together or taking it apart. One of those obviously was more preferable than the other. I remember my heart rate speeding up and I was in a situation where I really didn't know what to do. Do I call him out that I see it?

How would he react? Or was I just supposed to act like I saw nothing? Then his phone started ringing. I thought maybe it would distinguish. distract him from whatever he was doing or planning on doing, but the conversation didn't make me feel any better. It sounded like he was talking about legal stuff. He mentioned something about what they found and how he needed to get ahead of this before next week, and then mentioned a lawyer. He wasn't yelling, but there was definitely a slight hint of irritation in his voice.

My brain was not helping me here either. I was starting to panic and feeling like I was about to become a witness. witness to something, which meant that I was a loose end. I've never had a good poker face. I'll tell you that right now, so I'm sure that was the dead giveaway for him. He finished his call and sat back in his seat, and for a second we made eye contact. That's when the guy set up real quick, and in the most light tone, he said, Oh, man, you probably think I'm the creepiest person you've ever had in this car.

I didn't know how to respond, so I didn't. But then he started to laugh. I looked back to see him tossing metal pieces back into his duffel bag and continued a quieter laugh as he said. Man, I am so sorry, I swear, I wasn't doing anything illegal. I'm not going to hurt you. Let me tell you, it should have been a relief. And it was a little bit, but I was still nervous. Those were just words, after all.

But then he explained everything. He said that I had picked him up from his mom's apartment. His dad had passed away a few months ago, and his mom was wanting to get rid of his dad's gun. He said that he didn't know the first thing about guns and was trying to take it apart to be safer and to clean it up some, but he was ultimately just planning on selling it. He said that he didn't even have any ammunition for it. he joked that he should have just waited until he was home to start dismantling it. That did make sense, because he had tossed it into his bag in at least two pieces. Then he explained that his call was for work.

He was talking to his business partner about some kind of legal dispute going on, and that they were going to end up needing a lawyer to get involved if it didn't get resolved soon. By the time he finished explaining, I was laughing too. I was in tears, actually. I made a joke that I was ready to pull over in pocket-dial 911, and the guy was laughing at apologizing profusely, saying I had every right to, and how he would both be talking about this for years. He wasn't wrong for me, at least. His destination was his girlfriend's house. He was actually in a car wreck that had told him as someone had run a red light on him, which is why he was using our services.

and his girlfriend's dad owned a shooting range, so he wanted to bring the gun to her place for him to check it out. The rest of the ride seemed to fly by after that. We talked about the situation, about his work, and then talked about my other experiences in the job. When we finally got to his girlfriend's place, the guy shook my hand and gave me a $60 tip, not including the cost of the fare he had already paid for through the app.

He thanked me, and again, apologized for being creepy. But I told him everything turned out fine, and we both got a good laugh about it. I went home and told my wife, and she two laughed, but also joked that I apparently need to screen my customers better. So those are my experiences as a rideshare driver. I have a few more, but I think these two were probably the most memorable for me. Hopefully, that little bit of humor at the end there can lighten the most. mood some too. Take care, Raven.

Back in 2018, I was taking a kind of impromptu road trip to surprise my girlfriend. She was at university with very little chance of getting out. It was Friday and with nothing else to do after work, I said why the hell not? And I decided to drive out to see her for the weekend. Because it was so spur of the moment, I told my roommates that I would be gone for the weekend, But that was it. I went home and packed a quick bag and then headed out. It was around six when I finally got on the road,

and the drive was about seven hours, so I was going to be driving through the night. We were both night owls, and she had called and text a few times along the way, so I knew that she would be awake, too. Unfortunately, about four or five hours into the drive, my car started shaking. and the tire light came on.

I pulled over, grabbed the little flashlight that I kept in my glove box, and got out to check. Of course, I would have a blown tire. I was not really a car guy. I knew how to change my tire and a few other minor things, thanks to my dad, but I didn't like doing it because I knew that it would take me longer than others that were actually good at it. After my slight twinge of anger, I moved on and started the process of getting it changed. I pulled out the little jack that I kept in my car and pulled out my spare. While I was working on the lugs, a car slowly pulled over behind me with their brights on.

I stopped long enough to see what they were doing, and I saw two people get out of the driver's side and front passenger side. With the lights, I couldn't see their faces or features. but based on their shape, I could tell that they were both probably guys. I just said something like, how's it going? And the driver replied and then approached my car. They asked me what happened, and I just said that I must have run over something because my tire was flat. They asked if I needed any help, and, to be honest, it was a little strange. I clearly wasn't struggling and confused.

The car was already jacked up and I was pulling off the lug nuts, but they thought that I needed help. Either way, I wasn't going to say no. Like I said, I hate car maintenance, like some people hate doing the dishes. Yes, I will take it in if I can, so since they offered, I agreed and stood up. Figuring with the two of them, they could probably get it done faster than I could anyways. The driver then got down and started working on it while the passenger leaned on my car. The passenger was making some small talk with me while the driver was grunting and struggling just to get the lugs off. The conversation seemed normal at first, like asking where I was headed, seeing I was from the state over.

Then, things started to feel a little off. It wasn't just the normal awkward feeling of meeting and talking about. to a stranger. The guy working on my tire was sighing a lot and looking a bit confused. He said something to the other guy who had to lean down to hear him. I couldn't make out what they were saying. Then the passenger stood back up and glanced around my car, making it pretty obvious. That's when the weird feeling really started to sink in.

The way that he was looking around and in my car, the way they were mumbling to each other, clearly not wanting me to hear, and then remembering he asked if someone was expecting me. This no longer felt like a good Samaritan just trying to help out. I tried to keep up appearances, although I'm not a big guy. I told them if they were having problems with the tire that I could just go ahead and do it, no big deal. The driver then stood up, said something to the other guy, and then started walking up. to me. I didn't really have much in the way of options. I didn't have a weapon or anything either. I was just straight up with them. Look, man, I'm a broke college student. I've got like

40 bucks to my name and a crappy out-of-data cell phone. I'm just trying to get home to my parents who let me live with them since I can't afford my apartment anymore. The driver then looked back at the passenger who nodded towards their car, and they both backed up. Then they told me to be safe, and they both got back into their car and left. Once they were finally gone, I felt like I could breathe again. That was clearly going the way that I was suspecting it would, and I was surprised when they left. I finished changing my tire, trying to get it done already and move on, so I wasn't really thinking about it, but once I was back on the road and only had my thoughts, I realized how bad that situation really. could have gone.

I was in the middle of nowhere, basically. It was late at night with no one else around. The only person that knew where I was going was my roommate, and he didn't even know where exactly I was. He knew what uni she was going to, but that was it. If something happened to me, I doubt anyone would have known, at least not right away. So that kind of freaked me out a bit.

But I kept myself, and when I finally got to my girlfriend's place, it all melted away with how excited and surprised she was to see me. I didn't tell her what happened, because I didn't want her to feel bad, but I was better about telling people where I was going after that. I would text her or someone else to say when I left and when I arrived, so if I took longer than normal or didn't text them at all, they should know that something was up. I also left there earlier in the day to make sure I was driving in daylight the entire time. I won't be dealing with that ever again. Driving a cab or for a ride-share service is definitely a unique gig, one with its own unique set of issues. On one hand, you have the freedom of driving out on the open road, possibly working for yourself,

getting to hear the stories of those that you pick up. But, on the other hand, you're also sitting alone in a car, sometimes in the dark, picking up total strangers with next to know knowledge of the person that took the seat right behind you. Usually when a shift ends, it ends with decent tips and a quiet drive home. However, that's not always the case. For this story, we have to head out to the Mountain Resort town of Banff, Alberta, where a young driver took one last fare, and unknowingly stepped into a trap. This is the story of Lucy Termal,

a story that starts out in a lone taxi, shakes up a peaceful community, and ends by changing the history of forensic science forever. To fully understand how shocking this case was, you have to picture Banff in the spring of 1990. A simpler time, for sure, tucked away in the Canadian Rockies standing like a post-car, perfect tourist destination.

At the time, the population of Banff sat at around 7,000 people, and that population had been feeling safe and secure. Banff hadn't seen the word homicide in a headline for over 30 years. It was the kind of town where the serenity and community led to people leaving doors unlocked, that kind of town where you wave at strangers, never look over your shoulder. and never consider what could happen. Lucy Termal was one such resident. At 23 years old, Lucy was originally from Montreal,

but like a lot of young and adventurous Canadians, she moved out west to Alberta for that mountain lifestyle. To pay her bills and maintain her independence, Lucy took a job driving a cab for a local company called Taxi Taxi. On the night of Thursday, May 17, 1990, Lucy's shift was going smoothly, as anyone would have expected. At around 10 p.m., she pulled up to the historic Bantz Spring Hotel to pick up what was her last fair for the night. A young man, and two young women climbed into her cab.

The young man was 18-year-old Ryan Jason Love, a high school dropout who had moved to Bantf with a few friends and was working as a housekeeper at said hotel. Nothing about love stood out at that moment. He just seemed like a normal everyday person trying to make ends meet, and he needed a ride home. What wasn't obvious was love's desperation. He was scheduled to fly out of town the next day to attend a big family reunion, but he was completely broke. Flying home and meeting with his family meant that he had to stand in front of everyone and tell them that he had nothing. He was terrified that he was going to look like a failure in front of them. This fear led love to make a dark decision.

He resolved to rob a cab driver at knife point, so he could get the cash that he needed. Lucy drove the group across town and dropped the two women off at a party, leaving only love in the back seat. He told her to keep driving, directing her toward a residential street, further and further into the night. Once they were isolated, he put his plan into action. Love pulled out a large custom-designed hunting knife and demanded Lucy hand over all of her cash. Love was expecting an easy target. He figured that Lucy would just hand over the cash and let him walk away. No one was going to risk their life for a few hundred dollars at most, right?

For Lucy Termel, however, the situation was tense and terrifying. This random man had just pulled a large knife on her. They were on a dark and isolated road. There was no way for Lucy to know if this was simply a robbery or if Love had much darker intentions. As such, Lucy fought back. She managed to unlock her door and bolt out of the cab, running down the dark street in an attempt to get away from her attacker.

Love panicked. He chased her down, cornered her and attacked her, stabbing her 17. times, and leaving her to bleed to death in the middle of the road. He then ran back to the taxi, grabbed the cash, which had been little more than $100, and sped off into the night. The aftermath of the attack unfolded in a chaotic blur. Just minutes after the murder, another driver working for taxi taxi, spotted Lucy's car being driven erratically.

Suspecting that the car had been stolen, the driver started chasing it. He managed to follow it down a dead-end road where Love then realized he was trapped, to which he then jumped out of the taxi and ran into the woods. Around the same time, a passerby happened upon Lucy's body as they walked down a residential street. The chaos unfurled quickly, and within minutes, the police had barricades set up. In a heartbreaking twist of fate, Lucy's boyfriend was driving home, from his own late-night work shift, and had to actually take a detour around the barricades. In this detour, he passed by the crime scene, saw them working around a body that was covered

and lying on the asphalt, and at that time he had no idea that it was Lucy. That is, not until the RCMP officers knocked on his door, a few hours later to break the news. When the RCMP investigated the cab, they hit a wall. On one hand, they had a lot of evidence. A custom hunting knife tossed in a nearby driveway. Blood stains in the cab that didn't match Lucy. She had fought so hard that she managed to cut her attacker, meaning he had left his own blood behind.

But in 1990, matching blood to a suspect was not the simpler task that it is today. Banff was packed with tourists and transient summer workers. When police started looking into the backgrounds of the young men in town, they discovered that 70% of the young men working there had a criminal record. At one point, early in the investigation, police actually questioned Ryan Love. But he managed to slip through their fingers with a simple lie. He told them that he had left Banff the day before the murder. In reality, he flew out the day after the killing.

using the plane tickets his family had bought for him. With that, he managed to blend right back into the background and go on as if nothing happened. For nearly two years, Lucy's case sat frozen. Her family in the entire town of Bant feared that her killer had managed to get away, that there would never be justice. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, an anonymous tip came in. someone informed the police that they recognized that custom, unique hunting knife that was found at the crime scene, and they knew exactly who it belonged to, Ryan Love.

Detectives brought Love back in for questioning, and this time his story started to crack. He admitted to police that the knife was his but claimed that it had been stolen from him before the murder happened. The stench of this story had an officer suspicious. However, there was a major legal hurdle in their way. By the early 90s, DNA testing was starting to become a major forensics tool in solving crimes. But Canadian law at the time did not allow police to force suspects into giving samples. And, of course, Love flatly refused to cooperate. With Love now in the crosshairs as the prime suspect, the RCMP decided to get

creative. They launched an incredibly elaborate undercover sting operation, where two young officers went into the community to befriend love, pretending to be members of a gang looking for newer recruits. Over the course of five weeks, they hung out with him, drank with him, and they slowly gained his trust. Officers bided their time until they could get exactly what they needed, and the time was absolutely worth it. One of the officers playfully reached over and managed to pluck a hair from Love's head. Then, at one point, Love blew his nose and threw the tissue into the trash. These two samples were collected and sent directly to the forensics labs,

where scientists use a technique called PCR amplification, which allows degraded samples to be copied until they have enough DNA to run the full test. And as we all have come to expect, the DNA match. the DNA match was perfect. The DNA from Love's hair and tissue matched the blood left in Lucy's cab. In June of 1994, Ryan Jason Love was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. He tried to appeal the conviction, claiming that the undercover officers obtained his DNA through unreasonable search, which violated his rights. The courts threw out this appeal.

which actually changed Canadian history. It forced the Parliament to officially amend the criminal code, creating DNA warrants so that police would never have to run another five-week sting just to get a sample from a violent suspect. Now, there is a little more to the story. Ryan Love has had a volatile run through the parole system, being given day parole in 2011 and full parole in 2012, which he violated in 2021 when he and his girlfriend broke up,

leading him to a violent rage that ended up with several smashed windows. He was then given a second chance at parole in March of 2022, which he again violated, then was given a third chance, as recently as April of 2024. He remains under strict conditions to maintain his parole, but the way I see it, he has a mixed, and oftentimes violent history. Whether or not Lucy was truly given justice,

seeing as how this man's life sentence has included him getting out on parole numerous times, is not for me to say. What is important is that we remember Lucy for who she was, and always keep in mind who she could have been. May her family find peace, and may she always rest in peace. And, finally, to all my rideshare drivers that may be listening, may you stay safe on the road and never encounter anyone like the horrible human that cut Lucy Turmel's life much too short.

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 once 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 slash as the Raven Dreams, for early access to all this content. Check out the website, astherravendreams.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,

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.

Although 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.