As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 236 - 6 True Scary Stories (Creepy Kid Stories & Lakeside Horror)

Episode Date: August 2, 2026

Today, on the 236th 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 some creepy kid stories & some Lakeside horror stories. 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... Nick&Tamara, BeckysGotCakes, Raven Adams, CGW, Mrs. Willow, Hannah As Well As Any Author That Has Requested Anonymity. TimeStamps… Ad breaks after Story 1 & Story 3 1 ➤ 00:57 2 ➤ 10:29 3 ➤ 23:36 4 ➤ 36:41 5 ➤ 47:00 6 ➤ 59:29 ----- 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 #GlitchInTheMatrix Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey there, friends. Hope you are doing swimmingly on this. I don't even know what date is anymore. Sunday. It's Sunday. There we go. On this Sunday, it's been a bit of a week for me. Not going to lie. Not going to get into the details if you don't want me to. Which, anyways, it's just been a bit of a week. Yeah. So hopefully next week will be better. Today we have some lakeside stories and some creepy kid stories. Interesting little connection there. I mean, there is no connection, but I'm a sick collection. I'm just a silly boy, that's all.

Lakeside stories, creepy kid stories. Hope you enjoy them if you do. Let me know in the comments if you're on Spotify, leave a rating if you're on other platforms. Send your stories in if you got them as the Raven Dreams.com. And I'll see you next time. Enjoy. I wanted to share a story that happened to my family last summer, so I figured now would be a good time to do it. Every year my husband and I would go camping somewhere, and since having kids, we have continued that tradition.

Our kids are nine and six, and they love it. They love the idea of sleeping outside, intense, of course. They love fishing with their dad and even swimming in the lake. I will enjoy this with them while it lasts. Last summer, though, we took our normal trip to a popular lake in Tennessee. We'd been there before, so it was nothing. new. There weren't really any designated campgrounds, which was nice, so you could claim a spot just about anywhere, as long as you were out of the way. Because we have two younger kids,

we try to be mindful of that, and we'll either find a more isolated place or camp around others that have kids, too. After circling the lake a few times, we found a little area that was empty. It wasn't very big, and in fact it didn't have a lot of area around it, but we made it work. We had one large tent that had a small room attached to it that we let the kids stay in. There was only one way in and out, which was in the main big area, so we didn't have to worry about them trying to leave the tent alone. Not that they ever did, though. We got our space set up, and I lugged out the tub we brought that had some of their top. toys in it, ones we weren't worried about if they damaged them, brought them in the water,

or left them behind on accident. As mentioned, they loved swimming and spent most of the time in the water. So we had life jackets, arm floaties, and plenty of water toys for them too. That morning we made breakfast, and then they were eager to get in the water. I got them set up in their swimsuits, and I let them have at it. They were playing close by while I finished cleaning up our food mess, and my husband was prepping the fishing poles. They knew the rules, and the boundaries, about needing to stay close and not remove their life jackets,

so I wasn't overly concerned about them. I could see them the entire time and hear them as they talked and laughed. It was probably 15 to 20 minutes of them playing while my husband and I just kind of hung out. I had all the food put away, we kept it all in the car to make sure bugs and animals couldn't get to it. I helped my husband sort through some of the fishing stuff as we just talked. At one point, Sam, my oldest, ran over to us and said that he wanted to show off his new swimming trick. We watched from our seats as he ran back over to the water and just fell over face down into the water. His sister, Kara, was already laughing at him as he started floating toward her.

It was strange to me. I was expecting him to jump up and do something else, but he stayed like that for several seconds. He had on goggles with an attached snorkeler things, so he was breathing from it, but it was still kind of weird. He then started moving again and threw his hand up like a ta-da moment. I remember looking at my husband and we both had that, that was kind of weird look on our faces. but hey, kids can be weird, right? I asked him what that was, and he said it was his sleeping swim. My husband asked where he learned that, and to our surprise, he said,

from that man over there sleeping in the water. A record scratch? My nine-year-old just said, in a very matter-of-fact way, while smiling proudly, that he learned to swim face down from the man sleeping in the water. He clearly wasn't scared. Neither of them were, but I was certainly concerned. Where did they see a sleeping man in the water? So, of course, I had to ask.

That's when my daughter pointed down the lake. My husband and I quickly got up and started looking around. We went and stood at the edge of the water and looked out in the distance. While we were keeping an eye on the kids, we certainly weren't paying a lot of attention into the details. In the distance, slowly moving along with the water, was someone face down in the lake. At first, I wanted to believe that my eyes were deceiving me,

that it was just an oddly shaped log or debris in the water, but my husband pulled out his phone, zoomed in on the camera, and that was most certainly a person. My husband yelled out, calling them out by the color of their shirt like, hey, guy in the green shirt. But they didn't budge.

They didn't look up. Not that we quite expected them to. My fears quickly turned to, were they dead or unconscious? I told my husband that we had to do something, and he said that he was going to try to get around to the other side of the lake. He was closer to it at this point. He grabbed the keys and ran up to the van while I called for help. I explained to the operator what we were seeing, and had to describe to the best of my ability

where we were exactly on the lake. Unfortunately, the lake curved inward, some on our side, and it was all trees. Like I said, the area that we were in was pretty small. Once the body, for lack of a better word, got to the spot of trees, he was then out of my line of view and I could no longer see him. I couldn't exactly run through the trees to find him. it because I had my kids. They didn't have shoes on and I wasn't going to make them, two young kids run through the trees like that, and expect them to keep up with the larger strides of me.

So now, all I could do was wait for the cops to show up and my husband to return. I saw a cop roll by slowly, so I flagged them down. Shortly behind him was a park ranger for the area. I explained to them what we saw and the Ranger left to try and find the man too while the cop finished getting my statement. Shortly after, my husband came back with the Ranger and they both looked confused and defeated. I asked what had happened, and he said that he was able to follow him for a while, but then he had to go around a curve which broke his line of sight. Once emerging from the other side, he could no longer see the guy. He even walked through the trees and went wasted. deep into the water trying to see if he could find him, but he was gone, like he had just vanished.

The cops and rangers said that they were looking around the area to see if he may have gotten snagged on something, if he was even alive, and maybe climbed out of the water, or if something may have dragged him under. They took our contact info in case they needed to reach out for more details, but otherwise they left. They left us with our thoughts and fears while our kids were none the wiser. They thought they saw this funny man in the water, and my husband and I were now concerned that there may have been a dead body in the same water that our kids were playing in. How do you tell a nine and six-year-old you suddenly didn't want them to play in the lake? The whole thing made us feel really uncomfortable, so we ended up leaving.

We let them fish, wanting to stick around in case anyone came back, but they never did. After we fished, we packed it all up and told them that we couldn't stay another night like we planned because it was supposed to rain. They were upset, but since we were a few hours out from home, we found some other things to do nearby before heading back. We never were contacted again by the cops. My husband was pretty torn up about it for a while. He thought it would be quicker to drive around to get closer to him and pull him out, rather than just swimming to him. while he could swim, he wasn't confident that he'd be able to pull this guy to shore safely. Or if he did get him to the other side, what would he do then?

Wait for someone to show up to help them while I called for help? He wouldn't even have a car with him over there. He said that he should have just swam out there, but I told him that it wasn't his fault. The fact that they were just gone makes me think that maybe he was just unconscious, came two and then probably panicked and swam to shore. He has seemed to have moved on from it now, but it was still rough there for a while, that guilt of not being able to save someone. It's just really strange to me that no one ever found or ran into someone matching the description we gave.

There was no missing person report, and nothing in the news about it either. So, really, we still have no idea what happened that day. But I just hope that the person turned out to be okay. Hey Raven, long-time listener, and I finally took the time to write up some experiences I think you might enjoy. This story is about none other than my own daughter, who I will call Lila. Her real name is Delilah, but we use her nickname more than anything. My husband has a pretty normal family. He has two siblings, but I was an only child with plenty of cousins.

When things started getting serious between us, we talked about kids, and it was something we both wanted. So, when we found out I was pregnant, we were both ecstatic. It was new and, yeah, kind of scary, but we were both really happy and ready for this new chapter of our lives. When she was born, we obviously had a lot to learn, but no one ever told me how to react or handle a child that may have some weird connection to the supernatural. roll. When Lila was a baby, we would catch her staring off toward the ceiling, or the corner of the room. Sometimes she just stared. Other times she would giggle and babble. We joked about her just being able to communicate with spirits and then let it be. She clearly wasn't upset, and no one was getting hurt. Then she had some imaginary friends when she was a bit older. A few of them came and went,

but there was one that seemed to stick around the longest. Lila said that her name was Martha, and she really liked Martha. She'd be in her room playing, and I would hear her having a whole conversation with someone. A few times I would check on her, and she would confirm that she was speaking to Martha. Again, nothing dangerous so we let her be. Then one day, as we were talking about her birthday, I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, and she told me that she wanted cherry because that was Martha's favorite, and she didn't get to have many birthdays.

A little strange, but so be it. Then on her birthday she enjoyed her cake, said it was perfect, but then she said that next year for her birthday, the only thing she wanted was a body for Martha. I looked at her confused and asked what she meant. She said that sometimes she had to help pick up pieces of Martha, because she didn't have a body like her to keep all of her insides in. She said it so matter-of-factly, and like someone would explain,

yeah, I think I'm going to get a bigger car because I just don't have as much leg room in this one. Like it was a normal conversation that someone might have. I did ask to see Martha, just because the comment about insides made me want to make sure that she wasn't actually playing with something she shouldn't be. and when I asked, she laughed at me, and then told me, You can't see her, that's why she needs a body, silly. So I just dropped it, thinking she probably wasn't playing with exposed wires or a dead animal. Another strange event happened later that same year.

We stopped at an estate sale in our area, and Lila was of course with us. We were looking at getting some new bookshelves because Lila loved to read and her little shelf was filling up fast. As we walked around, there was a small room, maybe the size of a small office that seemed to be filled with old toys. Most of them seemed to be more centered around boys, but there were a few dolls scattered around. Once Lila spotted the room, she asked to look, and I gave her permission. I was in the room next to it.

Shortly after, I stepped back into the room to see what she was doing. and saw her holding a doll like a baby. If all the toys in there and all the little things she could have gotten into, she grabs the creepiest doll in the room. It had matted, pinkish, orange-colored hair. The painted eyes were scuffed and partially scratched away. Not to mention, it had moving eyelids that one seemed to be stuck. The left hand looked chewed on and one of the legs was missing.

When she showed it to me, she said, Isn't she beautiful? That was not the phrase I was going to use to describe this thing. So, of course, she asked if she could have it. I asked if she was sure that she wanted it, and she was very confident with her answer. I agreed, and she followed me into the other room,

cradling the thing. She was caressing its hair and cheek and talking to it calmly the entire time. We didn't end up with any other. bookshelves there, but we did find a nice table for Lila's room, so we went to find the lady that was helping with the sales. As we showed her the ticket for the item, she saw Lila with the doll and asked her how old she was, and she answered. She asked if she wanted a prettier doll, and Lila looked up at her angrily. She told her that this doll was pretty enough. The woman, clearly embarrassed and put in her place, laughed and started talking to us again about our total.

As we were heading back to our vehicle, the woman who helped us started talking to another woman and nodded in our direction, which made the other woman look at us. Lila was standing next to me, waiting to open the door so she could get in. She held the doll to her ear and then covered her mouth and said, Oh no, that's mean! I asked her what she was talking about, and she pointed to the woman and said, They're laughing at Cecil. Cecil called them a bad name. Regardless of who said it, she never said the word out loud, so I wasn't concerned.

It kind of tickled me, honestly, and I told her that's why it's not nice to tell secrets, and she hopped in the van. On our way home, she thanked us for the doll again and said that she loved her, but was sad that Martha couldn't use it. I asked her if it was because she didn't have a body, so she couldn't play with it, and she corrected me and said that Martha couldn't have this doll's body because it already had a soul. Well, that just sounds lovely. She is still obsessed with that doll, or I guess should say, obsessed with Cecil to this day. I don't even know where she came up with that name. Another weird event we experienced with Lila was when she was around eight years old.

My friend found out that she was pregnant with her first child, and she announced it when we went over to their place for game night. I was very excited for them, and all of our spirits were pretty high at that moment. We were talking about their plans for names, and other things that come along with having a child, when I noticed that Lila had stopped playing on the floor and was just watching our friend intently. She didn't look angry or shocked or even happy for that matter. It was like she was staring at her trying to figure something out. You know that look someone gets when they're trying to remind her. remember something. It was sort of like that. After some back and forth in her continuing to stay

like this, I asked her if she was okay. She seemed to snap out of whatever trance she was in and shrugged saying that she was fine, and then went back to what she was doing. I thought nothing else of it and just left it alone. Once we were back home, I talked briefly about it with my husband, as I was talking about getting rid of Lila's old baby stuff to donate to her. her. While we were talking, Lila stopped and asked who was having a baby. It was weird because she had been in the same room when we were all there talking, but I reminded her of my friend. She looked confused and told me that she didn't have a baby in her belly. It was a strange statement, but she still was young, so it was entirely possible she didn't understand.

I was trying to explain to her that the baby was just really small, and we couldn't see it, but she dismissed my reasoning. She flat out told me that I was wrong, and that she could sense it, but there was no living baby. I honestly didn't know how to respond to this, so I just dropped it and tried to change the subject. Just a week later, my friend confided in me that she hadn't been feeling well and went to the hospital due to a scare, and learned that she had miscarried. I never told her what Lila said, but that was the first time she had done something that actually gave me the chills.

One last thing Lila did that we still can't explain was when we were driving down south to visit my husband's side of the family. His parents live about four hours from us, and they invited us to spend the weekend with them for Father's Day, and we thought it would be a fun time. They live near a lake, and Lila loved fishing, so I thought it would be fun for her, her dad, and her grandpa to have some time together. On our drive, the highway that we took splits off and turns into a two-lane road, with nothing but open land on the sides.

There were a few random run-down barns or something sprinkled around. There's one house that's set back away from the highway but was surrounded by old cars and junk. It just looked like a junkyard. Basically. If the house wasn't set up on an incline, like it was, you wouldn't even be able to see it from the road. My husband and I were talking while Lila was in her booster seat reading aloud to her doll Cecil. Like I said, she brought it with her everywhere. In the middle of her book, I noticed that she had just stopped. I looked back to ask her if everything was okay, and I saw her watching out the window.

She asked where we were, and I gave her a vague idea. Not entirely sure exactly where we were either. And my husband confirmed. She then said that it looked creepy, which was a strange statement to me. It was daylight. Nothing was around, really, and of all the people, she was saying the road looked creepy. I asked her why she felt that way, and she said, well, it's a good place for someone to jump out and hurt someone.

Again, it was such a weird and out-of-nowhere comment. I looked over at my husband, as we often did in those situations, and noticed that he looked pale and was watching her from the mirror. I asked him if he was okay, and he said, yeah, and then quickly dropped it. He gave me the look of, I'll tell you later, that we also often did when we were around others, so I let it go. We both assured Lila that nothing would happen to us, and she dropped it, and just went back to her book.

Once we got back to his parents' house and settled in, the adults were talking while the kids were in the yard playing. His sister had two kids, and his brother had one. While we were talking, his mom, who always had the latest neighborhood gossip, was talking about someone who recently had gotten arrested. This reminded my husband about our drive, and he brought us. up that road. Apparently, when he was a teenager and just starting to drive around with his friends, his dad told him to adamantly avoid a certain road because of a local gang that would set up there to trick people. They would block the road and do different things to get people to pay or rob them. Sometimes they would hurt them, steal their car, and twice people had died.

This was apparently the same road that we took to get there. the very same one that Lila called creepy, which was why my husband was so shocked by her statement. There was no reason for her to know that. I didn't even know it, so it's not like she heard us talking about it. Delilah is now 14, and I feel like I was still helping her walk last week. She's still a very curious, smart, and kind girl, and she also still seems to have this weird, supernatural,

elements to her. She can sense things or seems to know things that she shouldn't. And I can't make sense of it. There were a few other things that she's done, but I feel like I've gone on long enough for this one. Maybe I can share more of Lila's adventures in the future, but for now, I'll just enjoy her company,

even if my own child does occasionally give me goosebumps. I have my own sort of business. I'm self-employed. and it's all work from home, which gives me a lot of free time. But although I was used to being home a lot, quarantine really made the loneliness set in. I found myself bored, so when one of our local animal shelters posted about needing help, I took it as a good opportunity to do something with my time.

I used to foster cats and dogs a few years prior, but had to stop when I was getting my business up and running. I was familiar with this shelter, and them with me, so I gave them a call to see where I could help out. Don't worry, this is related to my story, I promise. So I ended up taking home a mixed dog they called Dash. They called him this because, boy, can this dog run. They found him running along the highway, and he didn't seem scared of them, more relieved that they were there to rescue him. He ran, but instead of running away from them, he ran to the man that opened the back doors of a van. The first problem with Dash was that he was clearly part of a large dog breed.

His paws were huge, and they estimated that he was about six months old, and he was already quite large. The second was his high energy. He liked to jump on people, run around, etc. And before me, he had already been returned by three other families. The poor thing needed plenty of room to burn off that energy, and no one seemed to have the patience for him. He was a very sweet dog and great with literally every person or animal he came into contact with, so I decided to take him in. At the time, I just had a senior cat that was also super chill with everyone.

She was also used to other animals coming and going. So, I brought him home. I quickly realized how full my hands were with him around. I have a house, but it's not that big. However, the mid-level does go in a square, so he would often run in a circle inside. But he was also bad at stopping, and lots of things would end up knocked over. I do also have a decent-sized fenced-in yard, so he was free to run around it, too. I was hoping that he would eventually get it out of his system as he got a routine down.

But none of that happened. He was always wired. He made a mess with his food and water, acting like he never ate, and would sometimes have accidents in the house with no real warnings. He was taken out at the shelter regularly, and with me working from home, I often took him out as well. He would just stop what he was doing and go. And, yes, it both continued.

confused and frustrated me. There were a few other things, but over time, I was finding myself getting more and more frustrated. The thought of surrendering him again came to mind, but each time I would feel immediately guilty about it. So, I kept sticking with it, reminding myself that I was doing a good thing, that it was good for him and good for the shelter. After one exhausting week, I found myself wanting a break. just something to get me out of the house and hopefully decompress. But so as to not be selfish,

I wanted to give all three of us a break at the same time. I decided that I would take Dash out to the lake for the day so that we could enjoy the water, run around, wear him out enough to just sit and read for a little while. Also, while giving my cat, cookie, a break. My sister named her for me. There's a lake not too far. from my home. I would say it's a little over an hour, and it's a decent area.

There's a small campground on the other side where the start of a long hiking trail is, too, but I like going to the front side that is just a small gravel parking lot, an old swing sets, and then the lake. There's less to do on that side, so there are typically fewer people around, which is exactly what I was hoping for. I wanted to be able to let Dash run around freely, and play fetch without having to worry about other people getting him excited. Yes, he did have a collar and a leash on, but I didn't always have a hold of the leash. I know some people will have a problem with that, and so be it, but I was at my wits end and he was a very nice dog. He just had way too much energy. Since this was the first time Dash had been

by the lake, he also wanted to walk around everywhere to check it out. To my amusement, he also really liked the water. He would just barely get in to get his feet wet, and then would jump around it. It was actually pretty cute. We played fetch for a bit until it was no longer fun for him, and then I'd just kind of let him run. He loved doing circles, and I wasn't afraid that he was going to take off either. He liked people too much, I think. He ran around, and after a while, I noticed that he started slowing down. That was my indication that he was actually getting tired. So, we found a spot in the grass by a little tree and just kind of sat down. I brought along snacks and water for the both of us, too, and that's where we stayed while I got to do some reading.

Dash even fell asleep for a bit. Really quick, I did want to mention that when I got there, there were two other cars in the parking lot. One was empty, and I didn't see anyone else around, and the other one had an older couple still sitting in the car drinking coffee. They waved at me and that was it. This was pretty typical for this side of the lake, as I mentioned, plus with the quarantine, there were fewer people around anyways. So while we were running around, the couple never got out of their car, and I never saw anyone else come or go from the other car.

But while we were lounging in the grass, I noticed Dash was now sitting with his head up looking around. I followed the direction of his gaze, but I didn't. I didn't see anything or anyone. I assumed the wind must have caught something and got his attention. I went back to reading when I heard him start making those little soft barks. I looked up and tried to pet him, but he quickly stood up and continued the little barking. I didn't know what had his attention like that because he never did that.

I did keep a tighter hold of his leash, though, because I didn't want him to take off. You never know when pets are acting abnormal. But then something did finally catch my eye. I saw a man several feet away walking out from some of the trees in the distance, and Dash was looking right at him too. We met eyes, and the guy did a half wave. I smiled and nodded and then went back to my book to not make things more awkward. Dash, however, continued standing and making sounds of this guy.

Without looking up from my book, I could tell that the guy was walking toward us. He passed by the little entrance that took you to the parking lot too and then continued to my direction. Once he was closer, he said good morning. It was closer to two in the afternoon at this point, though. He tried making small talk, but Dash was still at attention and now was growling. Again, this dog loved everything that moved, and especially those that could pet him, so him acting the way he was was already kind of putting me on edge. I did notice, however, that he would occasionally talk with his hands,

though he never took his right hand out of his jacket pocket. Even when the guy was pointing at the parking lot on the right, he turned his whole body to point with his left hand. Now, I will say, the conversation was simple enough. It was nothing weird, but without dash acting how he was and how close this guy was getting, I was starting to get uncomfortable. We were still in the throes of the pandemic, and I didn't have a mask on me, obviously.

So I looked at my watch and made a comment out loud about needing to get back home and started to stand up. I noticed as I did this, and as I packed up my bag and blanket, Dash stayed right between us, refusing to move. If that guy stepped to the side, so would Dash. I tried to wish the guy a good day, but he cut me off to say,

So that's it. You're just going to walk away like we weren't having a conversation? I'll remind you there was no real conversation. He was asking a few questions, and I answered. I asked him the same, and he answered. Then there would be a few seconds of silence before he asked another unrelated question. It was the type of conversation you have with a stranger in an elevator. When I stood up, I was trying to say something like, well, have a nice day before he then cut me off.

And now he was mad at me? Even though I didn't have to, I apologized and told him that my dog was acting weird and that we had already been out there for a good four hours. So it was time that I got him home. But his response, as I mentioned, how long we had been out there, was, I know. I didn't see him around once, so all I could have. think was, was he hiding in the trees and just watching us? Of course, none of that really clicked in my head until after I left. Anyway, I told him that it was just time for us to go, and that's when he started to become a bit unhinged. He went on some rant about how all girls are the

same, and we were just too stuck up. I was taken aback. We'd barely spoken. He'd made no indication that he was into me, and I certainly was not into him. I needed to get out of that situation, so I just told him, Hey, I'm sorry you had a misconception here, but that's not my fault. And as I turned to walk away, this guy then grabbed at my jacket hard enough to make me step backward, demanding that I apologize. However, he barely got the words out before Dash jumped at him and latched onto his arm. He started yelling and swinging his arm, but Dash was not letting go.

I finally got him to let go by actually. picking him up and walking away with him, which was not easy. This guy was yelling at me the entire time, threatening to sue me and to have my dog killed. I was freaked out, but I didn't leave. Dash and I got in my car, locked the doors, and I called the cops. I was scared that he was going to try to approach my car, but he just paced down by the lake. When the cops arrived, I told them what happened. I admitted that Dash bit him, but it was clearly to protect him.

me, even though I had never seen Dash do something like that before. But I also explained that this guy had grabbed me, which is why the dog attacked. Thankfully, since he was a foster dog, he had all of his shots, and he was chipped. Another cop went and talked to the guy, and of course he didn't admit to grabbing me. He just said that he reached out to shake my hand when the dog attacked. The problem is he grabbed my jacket, so I didn't have any marks, but he did. Thankfully, Dash was back to his normal self while the police were around. I let him out, on his leash still, and he let them pet him and even lick them. They agreed that he didn't seem like an aggressive dog.

They asked if I wanted to press charges, but did tell me that the guy chose not to, so I chose not to as well. My thought was hopefully that he had learned his lesson. In the end, they let me leave, and I took Dash for an ice cream cone. and I went there feeling stressed out and feeling guilty about possibly taking Dash back to the shelter, but that day at the lake really changed both of us. He seemed to mellow out a lot after that day. He still got his energy burst and ran around, but he didn't jump on people after that,

and for the most part, he would be chill during the day while I worked. He did seem to be more protective over me, however, when he met new people. I don't know what really changed in him, or why that I don't know what really changed in him, or why that guy specifically seemed to set him off, but all I can think is that he sensed something that I couldn't. I definitely adopted Dash permanently, and he's still with me to this day. I think we both know how differently things could have gone that day, and I will forever be thankful to have him by my side.

Hey, Raven. It's been a while, but I finally had some time to write out some more experiences with some of the kiddos that I've taught in the past. I mentioned a while back that I would send some more in, so here we are. As I've mentioned in the past, I've been a teacher for quite some time at this point, and have taught at a few different schools and even grades. This first one was at a school where I started as a substitute teacher, and was then brought on full time.

I was going to be teaching a first grade class. Most of the kids I had already seen or met from other classes I filled in for, But there were a few new students sprinkled in. One of the assignments that we were doing in class was making a picture about your hero. It had to be someone in real life because you were basically going to be presenting it like an award to them. The kids all had different ones. Parents, relatives, a friend, or maybe a neighbor. We talked about what made them heroes in their eyes.

They were supposed to draw a picture with something that made them a picture. them heroic, and a paragraph introducing them and explaining what they did. Then they all got a little trophy where they could put their hero's name on it, and then give it to them. I was walking around the desks, looking at their work and helping them when they were stuck, when I walked by one student's desk that I'll call Michael. He was already coloring in his picture, and I paused when I saw it. Keep in mind this is a first-grader drawing.

There was a yellow car with a person sitting on the top. This is how he drew the drivers. He always drew them on the roof of the car. And then there was a smaller person standing next to the back door of the car, most likely riding in the back seat. And in the front of the car was a person that looked like they were lying down. There was a large red square over the top of the person lying down that covered most of their body except their head.

I asked Michael who he was drawing, and he pointed to the driver. said that it was his mom. Looking at how long the car was, ended being yellow, I was wondering if maybe his mom drove a bus. And seeing the person in the red was making me really hope that they were just waiting for the bus. So I asked him if that's what the person was doing. He didn't look up at me or seem sad or scared. He just continued to color as he said,

No, they're dead, and their mom ran him over. The mom in the picture was smiling along with the person in the back. I tried to ask him what he meant by that, and he explained that his mom was his hero because she didn't let anything stop her. I was shocked, to say the least. The implications here were obviously alarming, and what are you supposed to do with that kind of information? He even confirmed the person in the back was him. Had he actually witnessed this happen and really? real life? I told him that I liked his mom being his choice, and the reason that she was

basically unstoppable, but I helped him choose a better picture. I did, however, take his original picture, and when his mom picked him up that day, I stopped to talk to her. She was mortified. She mentioned right before school started they were running around getting school supplies. Michael has three other siblings, when they accidentally hit a car in front of them. She said, said they had cut her off and slammed their brakes when she honked causing a minor fender bender. However, the person in the car got out and lied on the ground complaining that their back was broken and that they needed to call the cops. His mom was clearly upset and admitted the kids were in the back seatbelts, and they were fine. But she shouted things like not having time for this and

thinks that's where he got it from. The person didn't die and was just fine. They actually got up when the police arrived and drove off. She apologized profusely for the situation and said that she would talk to him at home. I was honestly just glad that she wasn't really a maniac killer because I don't know what I would have done in that situation. It just goes to show you how impressionable kids really can be. Going back to when I was still a sub, I was filling in at a school that I don't often teach at, so I didn't know the kids as well. But there was one girl that I remembered quite well because she had a birthmark on the right side of her neck that was almost the shape of a heart. I don't remember her name, so I'll call her Lisa.

Lisa was such an interesting child. She was so sweet and always willing to help, and she wanted to help pass out supplies and class. She helped other kids that were injured or being bullied at recess. She even picked flowers and brought them to me on a few occasions. But then she would have her bad days, and boy were those bad. This kid didn't just throw a tantrum. She became very violent, so violent that the other kids would avoid her. Worse yet, nothing seemed to calm her down, not even me or the other adults. One day, she kept interrupting class, and after multiple warnings, I told her to sit in the hallway.

When they misbehaved, they would have to take their chair and sit in the hallway until they were allowed to join class again. After the lecture was done and they were all working on their own, I went out to the hall to talk to Lisa. I bent down and talked to her like I would my own kid. She just had the angriest look on her face. I mean, if if looks could kill, she nailed it. When she finally spoke, the only thing she said was, I'm going to tie you up and cut your head off. It was the angriest, most monotone voice that she could manage.

I did my best not to react, but I did tell her that what she said was not okay and she should apologize, but she refused. Feeling like I was just not going to win with her, I let her back in the classroom, telling her to behave and then later typed up an email to her parents about the situation. I'm not one to tell people how to raise their kids, but they needed to know about the things that she was saying, and when she was violent, which she had been in the past. The next day, Lisa seemed to be in a much better mood. Not her normal, cheerful one, but at least she didn't seem to be in a bad mood. However, I noticed that she was wearing her backpack backwards, like on her chest, or carrying it close to her. She even sat at her desk with it when they're supposed to put them in their cubbies. It was a struggle to get her to put it up, but she finally relented. Every time I walked toward the back of the room, I noticed that she would watch me.

Then, when it was time for recess, she tried to take it with her, and I again told her that she couldn't. She knew this, and that it would be safest in her cubby. She left it there, but then told me not to look in it. Strange, but okay. Of course, while the class was out for recess, I did search her bag. We are allowed to do this if we have a reason, such as if we suspect one of the students may have taken something that didn't belong to them, or in this case was acting suspicious. It was something that we, of course, saw more often the older students. I opened her bag, and down at the bottom I saw what looked like shoe strings and a small hunting knife,

in a sheath. Now, I wasn't afraid that this little girl was going to tie me up and kill me, but I was worried that she may have had intent. She knew what she was doing, or wanted to do with these items. I immediately called the principal. He came to my classroom, and I showed him the bag. I had C-Ced him in the email to Lisa's mom, so he knew about what happened the day prior. He told me that he would contact her parents and,

thanked me. Lisa was taken to the office after recess as well. We finished up with class that day, and before the bell rang, I got a call to meet at the principal's office after my students were on the buses. Okay, a little weird and nerve-wracking for me. To my surprise, Lisa was still there, but now with her very angry-looking mother. She said that she was insulted by my email, and that I clearly had the wrong child because her little girl would never say such a thing. The principal, thankfully, had my back and explained what we found in her backpack. Again, her mom dismissed it saying that all kids play with shoestrings and get into things they shouldn't, referencing the knife.

It was apparently her dad's who had a pretty large collection. She then said that it was my fault because I was new to the school and class and I clearly didn't fit in here, and then they stormed off. Again, the principal was very reasonable, and he assured me that I did nothing wrong. I didn't see Lisa in school again after that, so I don't know if they switched schools or if she homeschooled her. All I know is that I'm confident Lisa knew what she was doing with those items. Whether or not she would have tried to follow through on anything, I guess I'll never know. So, there are a couple more kids that I've had the pleasure of meeting.

Thankfully, one didn't end up as creepy as I first thought, but in both cases it's still a reminder of how impressionable kids can be. I do still love teaching, and even these moments are worth it in the long run. I just have to stay on my toes whenever the kids are around. If you ever find yourself driving through the northern reaches of Washington State, you may eventually find yourself heading down U.S. Highway 101. As you wind through the dense and towering trees that make the forest known as Olympic National Park, and you look out your window, you may see Lake Crescent. It's a breathtaking sight. Seriously.

Give it a quick Google and swap over to the images tab. It's an absolutely beautiful part of the state. The water is a striking, crystal clear blue-green that reflects the snowy peaks towering in the background. The best word I can think of to describe it is peaceful. That piece, as beautiful as it is, comes with an underlying whisper-filled and fairly dark reputation. It is a lake born of violence, formed about 8,000 years ago when a massive mountain landslide crashed down damming a local creek and filling the deep valley with near-freezing glacial runoff. A slight aside that I found interesting, the local Native American tribes actually have a legend about the lake.

They say that Mount Storm King became so angered by warring tribes that he threw a massive boulder down to cut the water in two, which then created Lake Crescent. And from these colorful beginnings, it was whispered that the lake does not give up its dead. The depths of the lake are immense. It plunges to an officially recorded 600 feet, though it is believed by some geologists that there are unexplored trenches that could go a thousand feet deep or more, into complete and total darkness. Because the water is so cold and deep, things that sink into those trenches usually stay there.

The lake's reputation for swallowing secrets is so legendary that even notorious serial killer Israel Keyes told the FBI, that he sunk a victim deep into the icy depths of a nearby lake, which led the FBI to do some research, and they made a call that it was likely Lake Crescent due to how effective it would be at hiding a body. Another case connected to Lake Crescent is the case of Russell and Blanche Warren. Back in the summer of 1929, the couple had picked up a brand new washing machine from town. Then they started the drive back and vanished without a trace. Seventy years later, searchers found what looked like a washing machine lid freezing in the lake's depth.

And then a year later, they found the rusted remains of their car under a steep underwater cliff, known as Ambulance Point. The bodies of Russell and Blanche were never recovered. By the way, Ambulance Point, the cliff where they found the rusted car, got its name from another horrifying event that happened back in the 1960s. An ambulance careened off the road and sank there. The medics escaped, but the injured logger they were trying to save, the man strapped to a gurney, sank into the darkness and was never seen again. Now, you may be asking, Raven, why have you spent the last several minutes telling us about the

cursed history and geological traits of a random lake in Washington state? Well, my friends, that is because today I wanted to tell a story about one time when the lake broke its own rules. And for once, it did give up its dead. A story so bizarre that it rewrote regional folklore and stunned the professionals that worked on the case. The story behind this mystery began in the mid-1930s, when a woman named Hallie Latham arrived on the Olympic Peninsula. The 35-year-old had grown up on a farm. Kentucky, but as a young adult, she had made her to point to move further and further west, always looking for a fresh start. She eventually found a job working as a waitress at the Lake Crescent

Tavern, a popular tourist resort sitting on the water's edge. It was there that she met a man named Montgomery Illingworth, or Monty, as he was more commonly called. Monty was a handsome, charismatic, beer truck driver, and the two of them fell for each other quickly. They were eventually married in 1936, and then the marriage almost immediately turned into a nightmare. Soon after marrying, the relationship became volatile. Friends, neighbors, and co-workers frequently witnessed the two screaming at each other in public places. Hallie was the jealous type, frequently accusing Monty of cheating on her with other women. Worse yet, these These accusations ended up being completely true.

Monty was, in fact, a cheater. These arguments would frequently go from loud words to violence. Clearly, the two of them were toxic for each other, and the relationship should have ended. Then, on the night of December 22nd, 1937, it sort of did. The noise from the Ellingworth Holmes ceased, and Halley vanished into the thin air. When friends and coworkers asked where Hallie was, Monty would calmly shrug it off and tell them that she had packed her bags to run off with some Navy officer. To make his story look even more believable, Monty waited a few years before filing for divorce, pointing blame at her and stating abandonment. Not long after that, he moved to California to start a new life with the daughter of a wealthy timber tycoon.

Obviously, the 1930s was a completely different time. There was no real way to know where someone was, and when someone moved, they pretty much left your life for good. People could slip away unnoticed, and Monty had claimed that Hallie had done just that. So, people accepted his story, and that was the end of it. But as always, the truth has a strange way of rising to the surface. sometimes, literally. On July 6th of 1940, nearly three years after Halley's disappearance,

Lewis Rolfe and his brother were out on Lake Crescent in a small boat, just enjoying a quiet afternoon of fishing. As they drifted near the steep and rocky walls of Sledgehammer Point, they noticed something pale floating just beneath the surface of the water. They rode closer in what they said, saw made their blood run as cold as the icy depths upon which they had spent their day. Floating in the water was a large and tightly bound bundle, wrapped securely in two gray blankets and hog tied from top to bottom with a heavy rope. The two of them immediately got to shore

and called the local sheriff Charles Kemp. When police pulled the bundle out of the lake and brought it in, they prepared themselves for the worst. They expected skeletal remains or a a highly decomposed body. What they got was way more shocking. It was the body of a woman that almost didn't appear dead. She looked like a classical, finely carved marble statue. Her flesh was perfectly intact, hard to the touch, and remarkably, she was completely odorless. Medical examiners quickly realized they were looking at an incredibly rare phenomenon.

The deep, freezing, and highly mineral-rich water of Lake Crescent had acted like a natural refrigerator. The waters had halted all-natural decomposition, and the unique alkaline minerals in the water had reacted to the natural fats in her body, essentially turning her outer layers into a hard and waxy soap, a process known as suponification. Because of this waxy armor, her physical clues were preserved in time. When she was examined, pathologists could clearly see deep bruising and hemorrhaging, indicating that she hadn't drowned, she had been beaten and then strangled to death. Her killer had wrapped her in blankets, had tied her up and weighed her down with heavy rocks, and left her in the depths of Lake Crescent,

believing that he had successfully gotten away with the crime only for the lake to preserve his victim in near perfect form for investigators. There was a bit of a challenge in identifying her. Her hands had been exposed to the elements. Her fingertips were gone. Her face was unrecognizable. At first, detectives thought that she may have been a missing girl from Chicago, but medical records quickly ruled that out. A breakthrough came when the dentist looked inside of her mouth

and found a unique identifier, a six-tooth dental bridge made of beaten gold. Sheriff Kemp had the detail of the gold dental work drawn up and sent the information over to 5,000 dentists across the country. A few months later, a dentist in a tiny town in South Dakota opened the mail and was shocked to find his work. He went to his records and confirmed that the exact gold bridge had been made for a young woman named Halley.

With this, the Lady of the Lake had her name back. Halley's friends were called in and they quickly identified the green dress and distinctive clothing preserved on the waxy body. Now the police had a murder victim, and with the information they had about her disappearance, they also had a suspect, Monty Ellingworth, her husband. The hardest part was what was to come next. They had to prove that he was the one to put Halley in the lake. And every single answer they needed lay in the same. the very rope used to tie her up. Back in December of 1937, Harry Brooks, a employee of the LaPole Resort, on the west end of the water, was working.

At a seemingly random time in the middle of the freezing night, Monty rushed into his shop and seemed frantic. He asked to borrow 50 feet of heavy rope, stating that he needed to tow a stalled car down the road. Harry obliged, thinking he was helping someone help a person that was stuck out there in the night. However, Monty never returned the rope, and for obvious reasons. Surprisingly, Harry still had the spool for the rope in the shop, and he gave it to the investigators. Under the microscope, the two ropes were a flawless match. Monty was arrested in California, extradited back to Washington, and stood trial in late 1941. He desperately claimed that the body wasn't his wife, that she was still alive out there somewhere,

but the prosecution had a mountain of physical evidence. They brought in the dentist, they brought in the dress, the matching rope. They painted a vivid and chilling picture of what happened that night. And in March of 1942, the jury found Monty Ellingworth guilty of second-degree murder, sentencing him to life in prison. Monty only served nine years of his sentence and was paroled in 195. He then disappeared from public record until his eventual death in 1975. Monty had chosen Lake Crescent because he believed that its dark deep waters would swallow his secrets forever. He trusted the legends of said lake that it would never give up its dead.

What he didn't count on was that the very waters would turn against him, preserving the truth, and literally carrying Halley back to the surface so that justice could be done. Back when I was younger and into my college years, I was a full-time babysitter. My parents let me live with them while I was in college since I continued to work. It's not like I was much of a nuisance or anything either. I had the entire basement to myself, including my own bathrooms, so unless I was off from both work and school, which wasn't very often, they rarely saw me. But I was thankful that I could always come home to a meal waiting for me. It was one less thing that I had to worry about. Anyway, during my time as a babysitter, I mostly dealt with good kids because, while I've always loved kids, I wouldn't tallly.

the ones that just wanted to cause trouble. But that didn't mean that I always had a perfect streak of well-behaved kids. One of those times came up when I got an offer to watch a little girl named Mariah. At the time, I had a profile set up on Craigslist and this babysitter's website. Mariah's mom, Terry, reached out to me asking for availability, and we set up a time to meet her, her husband Rich, and also Mariah. It was something a lot of families did and something I preferred as well, to just make sure that you'd jive with each other well enough.

When I arrived at their place, Terry opened the door to greet me, and I immediately saw little Mariah standing behind her mom, slightly leaning on the recliner in the living room. She was just looking at me like a normal little kid when they're meeting a stranger. Terry led me into the living room and introduced me to Mariah. I bent down to be at face level with her and put out my hands to shake it. I always find it amusing to shake a kid's hand and see how they react. I remember always watching my parents do it, and it looked so grown up, and I can tell that I wasn't the only one that thought that.

Some kids would do it with a huge grin on their face, and some of them were just goofy, and some of them would just pull me into a hug or a high-five instead. But I did this with Mariah, and she just stared at me, not even looking at my hand. Terry told her to not be shy and introduce herself, and she looked up at her mother with the same expressionless face. Then she snapped her head back down at me with this huge, clearly faked smile, pulled as tight as she could, and said, Hi, I'm Mariah. I laughed a bit because it was clearly forced and Terry chuckled at it too. After that, she offered me a seat on the couch and we started talking.

Mariah went back to the recliner and plopped in it, going right back to her zoned outface. Other than Mariah seeming a bit goofy to strangers, she seemed like a pretty normal kid. I liked Terry and Rich, and they both seemed impressed by my history. so they asked me if I would be able to watch her that following week, and I agreed. Fast forward to that week, so I drove out to their place. Terry answered the door and continued to rush around getting ready. She gave me a few notes, such as where Mariah's snacks were kept, emergency contacts, etc. We had gone over the rules when we first met, so we got that out of the way.

She then told me that Mariah was in her room playing and assured me that she would probably spend most of the day in there anyways. She went and told her goodbye and then left, leaving the two of us to our day for the next six hours. I went and greeted Mariah to at least let her know that I was there. When I walked into her room, she was sitting on her bed, brushing a doll's hair. I sat hi and asked her how she was doing, and she did the same thing as the first time I met her. She turned and looked at me and gave me the most painfully fake smile. She said that she was good, and I just told her that I would be out in the living room if she needed anything. She continued to stare at me smiling and nodded. I just kind of backed away.

She was clearly an eccentric child, is all I thought. I stayed in the living room, juggling between watching TV and working on some schoolwork. It was getting close to noon, so I figured I would see if Mariah wanted to have lunch. I headed to the kitchen to see what our options were for lunch before I asked her, but she scared the hell out of me on the way. To get to the kitchen, you had to pass the hallway where Mariah and her parents' bedrooms were. As I walked by, I saw a small, dark figure standing in the hallway, and it made me jump and scream.

I called out for Mariah, but she didn't move and didn't say anything. I turned on the light, and noted. noticed that she had changed. She was no longer wearing the pajama pants that she was in in a random shirt. Now she was in a long, light pink dress, still holding that same doll. I asked her why she was just standing in the dark and she didn't reply. I asked her if she was okay and she just nodded. Then I asked if she was hungry and wanted lunch. She nodded again. So I just walked away into the kitchen so I could calm myself down. After a few moments, Mariah came in and I asked her if she wanted chicken and fries, and she nodded.

I started pulling out some plates, but noticed that she continued to stand there. I told her that she could come have a seat, and I jumped again as I heard her slowly pulling the chair from the table, making it screech the entire time. I looked back at her, and I watched her place the doll in the chair, slowly push it in and then pull one out for her seat. So, clearly, some weird things already, but I didn't really know her, and I tried to get her to open up some. While I waited on her food, I asked about her doll, if it was her favorite. She flatly said, no. I asked her if she had named the doll, and she looked over at it, and bluntly said, She doesn't deserve a name.

Then she slowly looked back at the table. Okay, great conversation. I gave her her plates and then made myself a sandwich. I kept looking back at her as I made mine and I watched her rip every single nugget in half, sniff both pieces, and then eat them. This was from her own house. Why was she acting like she didn't know what she was eating? Now, people have all sorts of eating habits, so again I let it go. As you can tell, I was very good at it.

I was very good at trying to make everything seem normal. I guess that was my way of trying to cope. I don't know. After she was done eating, she put her plate on the counter, grabbed her doll, and went back to her room. I cleaned up, and then I went back to the living room myself. I wasn't there very long, maybe 20 minutes or so, and I decided that I needed to co-check on her.

I know some kids are totally content with playing in their room all day, but I hadn't heard a sound from her room, and she also never came out to use the restroom or even get a drink. I got up and walked toward her room where the door remained wide open. I was surprised to see her standing in the middle of the room staring straight at the doorway, like she was expecting me. She had a lot of dolls, maybe a dozen or so different ones sitting along the edge of her bed in a neat line. There were Barbies, baby dolls, and even two that looked at. like these knock-off American girl dolls. I asked her what she was doing, and she asked me in a flat tone,

Can you play dolls with me? Um, okay, sure. Maybe this would get her to open up with me, I thought. I agreed and started walking in her room when she directed me to sit in a certain spot on the floor. I obliged. Once I was sitting, she started looking over her dolls and picked out several, thinking over each one. I told her how I loved how well she took care of all of her dolls, and she bluntly responded with,

I have 16 and a half dolls. She had a half doll. The dolls that she picked out, she then put in a circle around the front of me like I was going to be presenting to them. Once she set them down, she grabbed the rest to put around herself. I went to grab one, and she smacked my hand and told me that they're supposed to sit. So I asked her how we played. We're playing the silent game. I waited for more of an explanation, but after the dolls were in place, she sat cross-legged and rested her chin on her hands.

I figured out how to play, I guess. I didn't really know what to do, so I raised my hand and she looked over at me. I asked her what the rules were, and she just looked at me funny. I guess I deserved that one. She told me that you have to be quiet, and then looked over to the corner of her room where a chest was. And then she eerily said she wasn't very good at it. I don't like her. There was a doll over there, but at first glance, I just saw it as a dropped doll.

Until I did a double-take and realized that doll was actually missing its head, and looked like it had been thrown in that direction. Wonderful. I remained silent for I have no idea how long. She never moved. I shifted some, and she just watched me each time. Then I heard my phone ring, which was in the living room. I mouthed sorry to Mariah and got up to answer, thanking whomever was calling to myself.

It was actually Terry wanting to check in on us, and then she said that she might be running a little late and apologized. I told her it was no problem. and we hung up. I didn't want to go back to her room, thinking that she would ask me to come back. I did go check on her about an hour later, and she was in that same position, but one of the dolls around her was now missing. I stayed in the living room, checking on her once in a while until her parents got home.

I was honest with her mom. I told her what she was doing and asked if she had done that before. She said that she had, but that she had no idea why. She was never yelled at or got in trouble for being loud. In fact, she was never a loud child, saying that she preferred playing quietly in her room. I just accepted it as who she was, and that she'd probably grow out of it. I watched her once more the week after, same day and time, and she acted the same way. The only difference was that she now had a new doll that she carried around with her.

That doll had a darker complexion with short, dark hair like myself. I also noticed that she had drawn a flower on the leg near the ankle. I have darker skin with short dark hair and a flower tattoo on my ankle. She also named the doll Hannah, which is my name. Then, she told me that Hannah was bad at listening. I did not play the silent game with her that day. I should not have been so creeped out by a small child, but she checked all of the boxes. Thankfully, Terry told me that her mom would be able to watch her, so she no longer needed me, which was a relief.

I didn't know how to tell her that I no longer wanted to watch her daughter. And I do hope that she's grown out of whatever that phase was. Hello there, friends, Raven here. Welcome to the end of this episode of 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 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, as it pretty much exists on crowdsourced content at this point. All of you really do keep this 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.