As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 245 - 6 True Scary Stories (FB Marketplace & Fast Food)

Episode Date: October 15, 2026

Today, on the 245th 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 horrors that occur on Facebook market & at Fast Food locations. Today's Episode is brought to you by Laffwicks Studio: go to https://www.astheravendreams.com/candles for more info on the collab! 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... Watermelon Sunshine, LowBallLarry, Ricky B., LookingForJeff, CodyBeeBop, GlowWormin As Well As Any Author That Has Requested Anonymity. TimeStamps… Ad breaks after Story 1 & Story 5 1 ➤ 01:16 2 ➤ 09:56 3 ➤ 19:19 Laffwicks Collab ➤ 28:23 4 ➤ 29:36 5 ➤ 38:54 6 ➤ 49:11 ----- 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

Join me and follow the podcast conspiracy theories, where we explore what's really going on behind the official narrative. Like, what if the Loch Ness monster isn't a monster at all, but an elephant? What do the richest 1% know that we don't? Why are they building all those bunkers? And really, what the heck is going on with the Denver airport? Join me every week to see just how high up this goes on the Spotify podcast, Conspiracy theories. listen on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. My rec league goalie says he plays for the love of the game.

You gave up six goals last week, Steve. Maybe play to win, huh? Like with Bet365. I get paid the second my team goes up big with early payout and can cash out at any time before the game ends. Come on, Steve. Bet365, the home of winning early. Must be 19 and older.

Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you were someone you know is concerns about gambling, visit connectxonterio.ca or call 1866 5 through 1,2,600. Terms and conditions apply. Well, hello there, friends. Hope you are doing well on this, the 15th of October, 2026th.

Somebody asked me to post today because it was their birthday. I don't remember who it was. I could go look, but I'm lazy, so I'm not going to. But I am going to give you guys an episode today, so hopefully you guys appreciate that. And if it is your birthday, be you that person or not, happy birthday.

If it's going to be your birthday soon, happy early birthday. If it was your birthday yesterday, I'm sorry. I forgot. Anyways, today we have some fast food and I'm going to put Facebook Marketplace, because that's the best, well, like, most well-known one other than Craigslist. But these aren't Craigslist stories. They're just online marketplace stories. So anyways, fast food and Facebook Marketplace stories. Hopefully you enjoy them.

They're good, creepy stuff. Only the worst things happen on Facebook Marketplace. That's not true. I bought a drum kit on Facebook marketplace for a hundred bucks and it was a damn good drum kit. It's an elis electric drum kit and I love it and still have it in my basement. So anyway, uh, yeah, enjoy the stories. Oh, see y'all soon. Till then, sleep well and take care.

This was something that happened back when I was working at a pizza place in the early 2000s. I was involved to the extent that I was there and I knew the actual person this affected. even if my part wasn't quite the same. You'll understand when I get more into the story. There was quite a revolving door at this place, but such was the case when it came to a lot of fast food places, right? There were a few of us that stuck around such as myself. A girl named Sadie, a guy named Zach,

and then the two shift managers named Andrew and Jeff. There were some other people, but I'm only going to call them out by name since, they were involved. We were all pretty young, this being one of our first jobs, so it was common for someone to be laid or call in because our cars weren't working. Or we couldn't get a ride or something along those lines. For us front-end people, we tried to see if someone else could cover our shift, if that was the case, but it wasn't usually required unless it was the weekend. That was when it got too busy to be short-staffed, but the shift managers had to make sure they had a

plan B if they couldn't make it in because they were the ones with the keys to get in and lock up. Jeff was flaky at best, unfortunately. I honestly don't know how he stayed around as long as he did. Jeff was late most days he worked. Sometimes people preferred working with him because we knew that we didn't have to be on time for our work. Or at least we wouldn't get nagged about being late because he would probably be late too. Most of the time, if he knew he was going to be really late, he would ask another lead to at least open up for him and claim to be on his way. I'd worked there long enough, though, that there were a few times where Jeff gave me the keys, and told me that he was going to be late, and just asked me to cover for him.

It was no big deal to me. I'd been there almost as long as Jeff at that point, so I knew the opening routine. but that doesn't mean that he was always prepared. Jeff was late more than not, and while we were able to make it work most of the days, there were a few times he was a no-call no-show. We'd call when he wasn't there at opening, then call another manager.

We'd call once inside, and around then he would answer and tell us he was on the way. It really did become an on-coing joke, but that's also why this situation became what it was. It was one of those days that I worked the earlier shift. I knew Jeff was opening, so I took my time getting there and ate my breakfast in the parking lot. He wasn't there five minutes after opening, so I tried calling him. After a few rings, it kicked over to voicemail.

I left my normal, joking message about him forgetting that he worked and hung up. After 15 minutes, I tried calling again and got the same thing. By now, Sadie had also shown up and we just sat outside the building. At 20 minutes past the hour, I called the other manager, Andrew, to let us in because we need to get in quickly to start getting ready for the day. He came out, and we all just started prepping everything for the day. Andrew tried calling Jeff a few times too, but he was getting angry and rightfully so. He was off that day, and now the calls were going to. straight to voicemail, like Jeff's phone had been turned off.

This meant that Andrew would have to cover until he did come in. Later on, Zach showed up and a couple more people, but Jeff never showed. As mentioned, this wasn't the first time he's done this, but Andrew was fed up. He called the GM and told him about it too, and he said that he would look into it. The entire day passed, and we didn't hear from Jeff. at all. We closed up and thought maybe we'd see him tomorrow since he was supposed to be covering the weekend. I was coming in a little later the next day, but when I got there, Andrew was in the back, not Jeff. He told us that he'd continued to try Jeff that day by calls and texts, and he never

responded. Andrew feared that he wouldn't be there the next day, or maybe this was his way of quitting, so he decided to come in just in case. Another day passes by. Nobody knows where Jeff is, and why he's not responding. But otherwise, it was a pretty normal day and no one really thought twice about it. That was up until the third day when two cops showed up, asking to speak to management. Now, the store had been broken into before, and we'd had authorities show up to talk to the GM about it, but typically that's something that's quickly talked about in the store. No one seemed to know why they were there that day. After they went to the office to speak to the GM, they called for Andrew, and then they called for me.

They asked a lot of questions about Jeff. When did I last see him? When did I last speak with him? What was the last thing that I talked to him about? Had he been acting weird at all? Then they asked for my phone number. Turns out, it was more than just Jeff. Jeff not showing up for work for two days.

Jeff was full-on missing. Three days ago, Jeff worked, and after they checked his punches, he didn't have a clockout punch. However, the store looked completely clean and locked up. Zach even said that he seemed completely fine that night before he left. He said Jeff was finishing stuff up on the computer but told Zach that he could go ahead and head out. After that, he was reported missing by his girlfriend and his mother, because he was also not answering their calls. They went to his apartment, and it also looked fine, but he wasn't there either. Neither was his car.

Since he was supposed to be working, they checked with us to see if any of us had heard from him, but all of our calls went unanswered too. They took our numbers in case they had any other questions, and that was pretty much it. We were all left stunned and trying to just continue on with the day. Some of us, like Andrew, felt really bad that he was pissed off about him not answering when this entire time the dude was actually missing. We didn't know if he was okay, if he was hurt, or if he left on his own accord. Later on, Andrew shared with us that he watched the store video footage with the GM of Jeff's last night at the store. and everything seemed completely and totally normal. He finished the stuff on the computer.

It was doing something on his phone. Then he packed up and left. He said that he didn't look like there was anything wrong with him either. To this day, nearly 20 years later, Jeff is still missing. The only updates we ever got was that his car was found in a city over from where we lived. and his cell phone was found in a nearby trash can and had been turned off. Now, of course, this was all in a game of telephone, so I'm not sure how much is accurate, but other than those updates, there's pretty much been nothing else listed or updated about his disappearance.

Now, Jeff was a flaky guy, sure, but I really don't think he was the type to just run away. I knew that he was really close to his mom and was talking about proposing, to his girlfriend some days, so why would he just leave them without telling them anything? I feel like somebody out there must know something, but other than our city and even smaller, the community he was known around, nobody talks about him. And that's kind of the worst part. But if it is true, if he did just run away, I hope wherever he is, he's safe and happy. Our fantasy commission says for him it's all about the friendships. Cute, Kevin, but I disagree.

Like with Bet365. I get paid the second my team goes up big with early payout and can cash out at any time before the game ends. No hard feelings, Kevin. Just faster payouts from Bet365. The home of winning early. Must be 19 and older. Ontario only.

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Hello, Raven. I wanted to start the cliche way and say, thank you for your podcast. I appreciate all of your work. Your content keeps me calm during random bouts of anxiety, etc. Well, thank you. I appreciate that.

With that out of the way, I wanted to write in and tell you all about what is likely the most terrifying thing I have ever experienced in my 27 years being alive. This happened a few years ago. I was in a bit of a bind in my life having issues with income. My job was cutting hours, and because I was the newest person there, I was getting hit the worst. And overall, I kind of just sucked with money.

Because of this, things were really tight. Unfortunately, rentals don't give a damn when things get difficult for you, so I had to do something to get money. And I had to do it quickly. I had my car, and I had a nice bike, a pedal bike, not like a motorcycle or anything. One, I had to pay gas for and insurance for, so it was adding to my costs. So I'm sure you can figure out what I decided needed to happen. I posted my good-quality mid-2000 sedan online, and I'm pretty sure I posted it on Facebook Marketplace. I don't remember the amount that I posted it for, but I know it was reasonable because I asked my dad how much I should sell it for and did what he recommended.

I want to mention that selling a car is a pain in the ass. There are so many people online that are flaky or weird about buying things. And a transaction that should be, you give me cash, I give you car keys, becomes a very quick hassle. I had one person who claimed to be an exotic dancer Tell me that she could give me Free private room sessions for a couple of months If I was willing to just give her the car Unfortunately, my landlord wouldn't accept lap dances

So I had to politely say no A few others sent messages and then ghosted my replies Greg, on the other hand, Was polite, punctual in his responses and was willing to pay me the asking price in cash. He even said that he didn't want to haggle. He would just pay me the cash that I was asking. After a few back-and-forth messages,

he made a comment about meeting up in a parking lot so that he could give it a test drive to make sure it would work for him. He said that he would be available the next day and wanted to meet up in the parking lot of a strip mall at around two in the afternoon. These were all green flags. bags. Quick, public place, middle of the day, full cash payment. When I showed up and found Greg sitting on the curb at the strip mall, I thought that he looked like an incredibly normal dude.

He had a shaved head, was wearing blue jeans and a black windbreaker jacket. I parked by him, got out, confirmed it was him, and we chattered about the car for just a few moments. He did the Normal stuff, walked around the car, gave the tires a slight kick, checked the paint, and asked if I was having any issues with it. And then he asked me why I was selling it. I decided to be honest. I told him that I needed the money for life expenses. He nodded, said that made sense, and then asked me calmly if we could take it around a quick loop on a nearby county highway to see how it shifts at higher speeds. I agreed.

I hopped into the passenger seat, Greg took the wheel, and we head out for what I thought was going to be a leisurely drive around the highway. At first, we kept up the small talk, but the second we hit the highway, Greg was pretty much shut down. Every answer was a single word or a grunt, like, uh-huh. I tried to ask if he was just looking for a new commuter, and he literally just said, Mm-hmm. It was around this point that I noticed Greg's right hand was over his right pocket, and he kept tapping or thumping something with his thumb.

I did not know this man, but, based on the tapping, the sound it was making, whatever was in his pocket was hard and decently sized. And that, to me, screamed, possibly gunned. Now, maybe it was for his pocket. protection, but I was sitting helpless in the passenger seat. I wasn't a threat. And the fact that he was keeping his hand close to it was making me feel a bit unsettled, to say the least. Then it got worse, as these stories always do. The turn that he needed to take to loop back toward the strip mall was

coming up. I even made a comment like, oh, uh, looks like this is where we need to turn. Greg just scoffed quietly at my comment and maintained the same speed he was going. Past that exit, it was mostly just farmland and woods. And that was not where I wanted to be with this strange guy. I made one last comment to gauge his reaction, hoping that he would laugh and say something like, oh, I'm just messing with you. I looked over and said, Hey, man, you missed the exit.

the next one isn't for like four or five miles. He just stared ahead, knuckles gripping the steering wheel and gave another, Mm-hmm. So, at this point, I knew that he heard me. I knew that he knew he had passed it, and he knew that I was getting suspicious.

Also, at this point, we're barreling down the highway toward a section of the county that isn't heavily populated. I may not be a genius, but I can put two and two together and get a number that's a little less than five. I realized that my calm confrontation wasn't going to get me anywhere, so I had to be dramatic. So, dramatic is what I decided to be. I looked back and made sure there were no cars behind us or near us, and when I was certain that the car was in the clear, I reached over, hit the hazard,

lights, and before Greg could even realize what I was doing, I grabbed the key, shifted it off, and yanked it out, and then pulled the handbrake handle as hard as I could. We both jolted forward. Thankfully, I was buckled in because that would have hurt otherwise, and the car screeched to a hard stop in the middle lane of the highway. Before Greg could get his bearings, I threw the door open and ran out into the middle shoulder of the highway, yelling and waving my arms at cars that were coming from the opposite direction.

I was sprinting down the road, waving and screeching like a lunatic, just hoping that literally anyone would stop to see what the hell I was doing. Now, did I expect anyone to stop? Not really. But I did expect that me acting like a crazy person would be enough to get Greg to panic and try to exit the situation. Thankfully, that is exactly what he did. I looked back once or twice and saw him open the door, get out slowly, and watch me for a few seconds.

It looked like he wanted to chase me, but I think the prospect of him chasing me and grabbing me in the middle of the highway, no matter how few cars were around, was enough to keep him from following through. He actually got out of the car and ran to the other side of the highway and then nonchalantly walked into the woods. It was at this point that I ran back to my car, started it, and I made my way down the highway to the next exit. That's where I pulled off and called the cops to let them know what had just happened. When the officer arrived to talk to me, he actually laughed when I told him that I was acting like the crazy person on the highway.

mentioning that they had actually had a couple of people calling 911 to report me. He took my information, and he asked if he could search my car for anything that Greg may have left, but of course he didn't leave anything behind. He mentioned that it was possible that he was going to drive me out to the middle of nowhere to rob me and steal my car, and that I may have actually saved my own life by doing what I did. He also mentioned that it was kind of stupid, and the guy could have just shot me right then and there.

But I think I prefer his first comment more than his second. So I'll just stick with that one. Hi, Raven. I have a story that I wanted to tell you about when I went to get a late night dinner. At the time of this story, I worked a later shift from about 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., but on this particular day, I got out even later because someone failed to do their job during the day. so we were left to do our own plus pick up the slack of others. Needless to say, I was exhausted, and I was in no mood to make myself something to eat.

Thankfully, there was a nearby fast food place that was open until 2 in the morning, so I could grab something and eat it on the way home before crashing for the night. I pulled up to the drive-thru window, and I was the only one in line. The lights were off in the lobby, but that was typically how it was. The lobby closed around 9 or 10, leaving just the drive-thru open. I started looking over the menu when I was greeted by a very loud and lively voice. The voice very excitedly greeted me and asked me how I was doing. I was in a bad mood right before this, but hearing someone so chipper working, even later than me,

was kind of starting to soft me up a little bit. I remember smiling, a bit amused by their demeanor, and I greeted them back. After a small exchange, I placed my order, and they began to sing my order back to me, which got a full-blown laugh out of me. They told me to pull forward, which I did, already in a better mood than when I started. Then I pull up to the window, and I'm greeted by a man with his hair and a bun, with this biggest, creepiest, wide-mouth smile I'd ever seen. He was waving excitedly at me, and all I could think of was the movie with that smiling people.

I swear he was looking just like that. Bloodshot, wide eyes, big teeth showing in his smile, and just waving. I was slightly taken aback by this, and I was now thinking, was this some kind of prank? Was there someone else back there that wasn't on this and just why? watching my reaction? Or was this guy just naturally like this? Or, of course, could he possibly be on something?

No matter the case, I had already placed my order, so I just needed to get my food and leave. I gave him my card and watched as he seemed to fumble with the card reader. He tried to swipe it upside down and then flipped it around. It still didn't work, but he was laughing about it. Then he bent the card to flick it at the screen and picked it up after it fell on the floor. And then he handed it back to me with an exaggerated pouting face, telling me that the card reader wasn't working and asked if I had another way to pay. I went to scramble through my wallet.

Thankfully, I usually had some cash on me because of my job, so I handed him a five and a bunch of ones to cover the cost. He took the cash, put his hands together, and bowed. thanking me. I remember smiling like, this is really weird, but at least it's almost over. I watched him set the cash down, and then he turned to the drink machine behind him.

He began filling my cup, so I could see him smiling and start to laugh. He was just watching the cup fill. The window was still open, so I knew there was nobody talking or saying anything funny. He handed me my cup, and then walked around to the side, presumably where the kitchen was, and he came back with a bag and handed it out to me. It was strange because most places make sure to complete the payment part before giving the food, but he hadn't yet given me my change.

But I waited. After he handed me the bag of food, I set it in the seat and looked back with my handout, ready to take the change. But he was back to just standing there and staring at me. Before I could say what I was waiting for, he lit out this hysterical laugh turning toward the cash register, and then he slammed his head right down on the counter before falling to the ground. I remember audibly yelling, what the f? Before opening my door to look in the window to see if this guy had just knocked his own ass out. I managed to squeeze out and look in the window to see this guy lying face up, still laughing, but his face was now bloody around his nose and mouth.

I hollered out, hey, is anyone else in there? Hoping that maybe the person that made my food would come up, but no one ever did. Then, the laughing guy stood up, still cackling, and wiped his face on his arm. I took my head out the window and was getting back in the car, getting ready to call the police, a medic or maybe an exorcist. I was about to just forget the change, but as I was getting back in my car, I heard this guy opening the drawer.

Then he stuck his hand up the window, and in a sing-song voice, he says, Here's your change, sir. I put my hand out below his so he could drop the change in, and I felt the coins hit my hand. I pulled my hand back in, ready to drive off, when I realized my hand felt wet. I opened it up, and among the coins in my hands sat a broken tooth with blood on it.

I jumped, pulling my hand back, and the coins and subsequent tooth went flying in my car. The guy at the window was now doubled over laughing. I peeled out of there. This was no longer funny. I was creeped out, grossed out, and I really didn't know how else to react. I drove all the way home, grabbed my food with my other hand and got into my apartment, all with my one hand, refusing to touch anything with my left. I dropped all the stuff on the kitchen counter and went to wash my hands immediately. What the hell even was that?

Was that guy high on something? Was he hallucinating? Who could just smash their own face like that, pull out a tooth and hand it to a customer, and think that it was funny? I was back to being in a weird mood and didn't even know what to do about it now. I contemplated contacting the corporate number about it, but then I thought that that guy needed help above anything, so I looked up the non-emergency number and reported what had happened. The guy that answered seemed hesitant about my story, and I mean, who wouldn't be?

But ultimately, they said they would send someone out to the restaurant to take a look, and that was the end of it. But I was still home late, and I wasn't even sure if I was hungry at that point. But I did pay for my food and go through the whole experience, so I opened the bag. I ordered a single hamburger and fries. The entire bag was filled with cold and clearly old French fries. They weren't in a carton or anything, just a brown bag full of French fries. I didn't even get what I ordered. Great, so this now added to my confusion.

Was there no one back there making the orders? Was it just this guy in there? And where did all these fries come from? Were they his, maybe? The questions just kept piling up. I tossed the bag of fries and went to bed after that. It wasn't until the next day that I remembered that I had thrown some random tooth into my car. So, before I had to go to work, I went out to my car to look for it and get rid of it.

I couldn't find it. I looked in all the crevices, pulled out the floor mats. I even checked the center console and the glove box for it, even though they were closed and there was no way it could have gotten in there. I found most of the coins, though. I even went back inside and searched my clothing in case it fell into a pocket or a flap or maybe my shoe, but still nothing. And to this day, I still have not found it.

So somewhere in my car is a stranger's tooth, and I don't know if I'm ever going to find it. So, I guess thank you to the creepy guy at the local fast food place. I cannot bring myself to go back there, and I don't think I ever will. Today's episode is brought to you in partnership with Lafwick Studio. Lafwick Studio makes candles that inspire, and we've partnered to bring you to candles based on this podcast you were listening to. The Raven's Dream is a dreamy white sage and lavender

that will help you stay cozy as you drift into the dark, and a glitch in reality, which is a deja vu-inducing citrus and sandalwood, certain to make your world feel a bit out of sync. All of Lafwick's soy candles are hand-pored in the great state of Vermont, are paraben and dye-free, plant-based, have cotton wicks and come in recycled can containers. The As the Raven Dreams cross Lafwick Studio Co-Lab feature sent chosen by me, Raven, as well as gorgeous labels, if I may say so myself, designed by me specifically for this collaboration.

I'm super excited to be working with Lafewicks, and I sincerely hope that you'll take the time to check these candles out, as well as all the other great offerings that Lafewicks has in store. For more information, just go to astherravendreams.com slash candles, and a huge thank you. Thank you to Lafwick Studio for partnering with me to make this possible. And now back to the stories. For those crazy few years during the pandemic, when everything seemed to be shut down and everyone was going crazy shut in their homes, I decided that I needed to do something. I was one of the people that was temporarily let go, temporarily turned into permanently, but we won't talk about that, when things started happening.

I hit a point where I decided that I couldn't sit inside anymore or else I was going to start removing walls. So, I decided that I would put my body to use, not in the way that you may be thinking. I decided I was basically going to become a handyman or whatever. I was decently fit, able to lift a good amount of weight, and I knew what I was doing for the most part. I just lacked the tools to do what I wanted to do. I jumped online to see if I could find someone local that had some tools for sale that I could get for cheap. I happened to stumble across an ad that basically said storage unit with tools and other things. Need cleared out. Owner left state, willing to sell all items for $250, but unit must be emptied immediately upon sale. He had a picture of the content of the unit. And from what I could see,

this was something that I needed. I called the guy up, and I asked if it was still available. The guy said it was, but he needed it cleared out that night, so if I could bring $200 cash and empty it out before midnight, it was mine. I told him I would take it, figuring this had to be fate. He sent me a text message with the gate code in the address to the facility, adding at the end, 200 cash, it's all yours. It was around 9.30 when I got there as it was a bit of a drive.

I punched in the coat at the gate and turned where he had told me to turn, and I saw the guy standing outside the unit looking like he was pacing back and forth, almost like he was nervous. Then as I pull up, I see that the dude has a big can of monster energy drink in his hand, and I realized he probably wasn't nervous. He was on a caffeine high. I parked my truck just past the unit, got out and introduced myself.

And then I asked if I could give the unit just a quick once over to make absolutely sure. He seemed annoyed with the request, but I called his concern saying that I was still definitely interested. I just wanted to make sure he didn't take all the items that had value out while he was waiting for me. I tried to say it like I was joking, but I don't think he had much of a sense of humor. He relented and opened the door. motioning for me to go ahead. I looked around really quick, saw everything that I was interested in and said that we were good to go. I pulled out the cash from my pocket, and I handed it to the man and said that I would get right to loading it up.

I started taking some of the boxes to my truck, loading them up one by one, when the guy walks up and tells me that he would be right back, that he needed to run somewhere down the road, and that he would be back before I finished. It was a bit odd of him to tell me I really didn't need him there while I was loading my truck since he wasn't helping but I just said okay and kept on.

I saw him walk over to his own car, I think it was an HHR and he drove off down the path. But then about five minutes after that I saw him drive back to the same aisle and park at the end facing my direction. He basically parked at the end of the building front end of the car facing toward me, with the headlights and the engine off.

I figured, whatever, he was just going to watch me for a bit, I guess, and maybe he'd come back when I got closer to being done. Anything to avoid helping. I spent about 45 minutes lifting the heavy items, sorting them in the back of my truck and sweating my back end off, trying to get everything up into the bed, in a way that would make this work with a single trip. I was nearing the end of the whole thing when I heard the screechy sound of the front gate opening to the storage facility,

which made me realize I hadn't heard that when the guy said he was leaving, which kind of made the whole thing even weirder. Then I heard the sound of another car coming down the lane from the opposite end where Mr. Weirdo was parked, and watching me. I was in the middle of carrying a miter saw to the back of my truck when I heard an old man shouting. I turn and look up to find that this guy is shouting at me. He jumps out of his car and the whole time is yelling incoherently. But the main theme, in kinder words, was,

What the hell are you doing in my storage unit? I stop and look at the man and then back at the unit, and with that little bit of information, things kind of clicked. I put the mitersaw down and walked toward the man with my hands up in front of me, telling him that I had just purchased the contents of the unit from another man. I told him that I had found the ad online and that I'd called the guy and agreed to buying it all. I showed him the text the guy sent me in the screenshot of the ad. And then I threw in, uh, the guy is actually parked down there.

and pointed toward the car. As soon as I pointed, the guy started up as HHR and floored it in our direction. The old guy immediately jumped back in his car and quickly moved it in a way that blocked the entire lane. So the only way this guy was going to be able to get out was if he threw his car in reverse and backed out the entire way. The problem with that was that the old guy had jumped out of his car with his phone next to his face, and shouted, I already have the cops coming, Mark. Don't even bother trying to get away.

I could see this guy, I guess Mark, who up to this point I didn't actually know the name of, screaming in his car at this old man. And I could see the old man on the phone with the cops yelling that he needed someone there immediately and that Mark was trying to run him over with his car. That part was a bit over the top, but I understood what the old man was doing.

So, anyway, I was brought in as an unwitting accomplice to Mark's attempt to basically liquidate his father's tools. And Mark had a bit of a drug problem, probably why he disappeared for five or so minutes, and he owed money to some people that he didn't want to owe money to. And because of that, he needed a few hundred bucks very quickly. Mark, unbeknownst to his father, the old man, had apparently brought him to him. broken into his house and gotten a hold of the extra key to the storage unit and happened to find a note somewhere in the house that had the gate code. Mark then put up an ad to sell

the items and I happened to be one of the first people to see it. I was a complete victim of timing. Well, while I was loading up the items in the unit, one of his dad's friends had driven by and saw me, some random dude, removing a bunch of boxes and tools from a storage unit. and he called the old man, which led to our confrontation. The cop showed up pretty quickly, probably because the old man had mentioned that his life was in danger, and it took a good amount of convincing that I was not a part of this scheme. Thankfully, I had taken screenshots of the post, because it was no longer up online, and thankfully Mark had been dumb enough to send me that last text that said, 200 and it's yours.

Because that was pretty much what sealed the deal, that I was also a victim in this, Mark was arrested and charged for felony grand larceny since the total value of the unit was way over a thousand bucks. Thankfully, the old guy didn't think that I was actually a bad person, and he apologized for coming in hot at me. But I told him that I would have done the same. He and I spent another hour and a half unloading all the items out of my truck and back into his unit, it, which was a really fun way to undo all of the work that I had already done. By the time we were done, it was around midnight.

I was exhausted, and out a couple hundred dollars, but at least I didn't end up an unwitting accomplice to that larceny charge. And thankfully, the old guy didn't lose literally every high-value tool he had ever purchased. This is a story about the time I worked at this sandwich and soup shop. And no, it wasn't a known franchise like the ones you may be thinking. This was a regional place. It only had about four stores open and only in our state. Also, no, they are no longer around.

This was actually my second job. I worked at another more popular chain before this one, but I quit because this sandwich place offered me more and better hours. So the job itself was fine. It was similar to other sub-shops, in which you topped it however you wanted, but we had more customizable options, and the bread was from a local bakery, which, I think, added to the fact that there were only four stores. Anyway, we had cold cuts and toasted subs. We also did soups and salads that were fairly mid. Salads were all fresh, but the soups came in frozen.

They weren't a big cellar anyway. I started out as just a line worker helping with orders and the likes. I also cleaned the lobby and refilled the drink dispensers. We didn't have a drive-through or delivery, but we did have phone and pickups, and that was usually just used by the regulars. The day typically consisted of two or three of us line workers, plus a shift manager. The owner came in, not infrequently, so we knew who he was,

and he was typically a pretty chill guy. I'll just call him Steve. Now, Steve liked his stores. Anytime he came in, he would end up getting something to eat, but then sometimes, he would also leave stuff in the back of the store. One time he left a baby car seat saying he wouldn't need it because the kids had outgrown it. He claimed he was trying to sell it, but eventually his wife came and picked it up. He left an old printer there that he just,

kept moving around, and one of the shift managers, Terry, told him that we needed to do something with it, because it was taking up a lot of space. Basically, he liked to use our little back office area as a storage unit, even though it was very tiny back there. There was enough room for the walk-in freezer, a couple of shelves for our non-refrigerated items, and in the back corner was a small table with the store's computer that we used for clocking in and out, stocking, and other store stuff. There wasn't a lot of space for all the stuff that he would bring in back there. One of the things Steve did not like, however, were the inspections.

Sometimes we got warnings, and sometimes we didn't, as usual. When they were here, he had to be here, so sometimes he had to drop whatever he was doing and come out to the store so they could begin. Sometimes Steve liked to take his sweet time, thinking he was wasting the inspector's time, and that they would end up leaving, but that literally never worked. On the day in question, we had a scheduled inspection that most of us were prepared for. We had done some deep cleaning in those places that aren't normally touched, but otherwise, I'd say we actually did a decent job on our cleaning.

and Steve even showed up before the inspector to make sure everything looked up to par for him and he agreed on our quality. When the inspector showed up, they shook hands and started in the lobby. We proceeded as normal, waiting on customers and keeping up with the supplies as they ran low. Then, the two of them made their way to the back. I could see them when I was facing the back counter and could hear some slight chatter, but otherwise really didn't pay attention to them. It was the afternoon and I was the only one there at the time with help coming in about an hour. The shift lead was in the back at the computer doing whatever payroll or scheduling thing they were doing.

I was staying busy between helping the customers and wiping down tables and stuff when I started hearing the talking again. It was a bit muffled, so I couldn't make out what was being said, which made me assume they were. were in the walk-in freezer. You could hear people talking in there if they were loud enough, which was good, in case someone was ever stuck in it. However, the door was pretty crappy and didn't stay shut unless you pushed on it really hard, so that was never really a concern. But the more I listened, the more it didn't just sound like people talking.

For me to hear the voices as well as I did, and based on the inflection, they were pretty loud. Most likely, yelling. The only people in the freezer were probably Steve and the inspector. I didn't hear the shift lead, Hannah's voice at all. In fact, I looked back there and could still see her at the computer. As I was working on a customer's order, the yelling became unmistakable. The door was cracked open, and I could hear the inspector start to say something to Steve, as Steve shouted at him to just get the hell out of my shop already. The inspector then started walking back toward the front,

where I was, and he had a distinct look on his face. I looked back down at the half-made sandwich in front of me for literally a split second before I saw another body coming towards us in my peripheral. I looked up just in time to see Steve grabbing a large metal sheet pan and raising it over his head, and then slamming it down on the head of the inspector.

I was practically frozen in place. The customer screamed and ran toward the door. I watched the inspector stumble, and then Steve finished pushing him to the floor. From there, he was just punching the hell out of this guy's head and screaming at him. Like I said, I was stunned, and I didn't know what to do. Hannah ran to the front and started yelling at Steve to stop, which finally brought me back to the present. Hannah was a smaller girl. There was no way she would be able to stop them, and I wasn't going to let her. I finally got behind Steve, and I did my best to pull him off the guy.

He was able to get a good swing on Steve, enough to get loose the rest of the way, and he was back to standing. He was wiping his face as he walked toward the exit, where I noticed. the customers were already on the phone with someone. Steve was still shouting at the guy, as we both held him back, pleading to go sit in the back room. It didn't take long for the police to arrive, thanks to that customer. Steve kept trying to leave through the back, claiming he just wanted to get something out of his car, but Hannah was refusing to let him go.

She apparently knew him better than I did. They talked to the inspector. and an ambulance arrived to get him all checked out too, and then the police came and talked to the three of us. Shortly after, Steve was handcuffed and taken away, and Hannah had to call his wife to explain what had happened. It wouldn't be until a few days later that I learned the full story, and let me tell you, folks, it was pretty stupid.

As I mentioned earlier, Steve liked to use the store as his personal storage at times. that also included the walk-in freezer. Someone Steve knew, a friend or something, had gone hunting and offered Steve a lot of venison. His wife does not like venison, and with how much there was, he couldn't fit it in his freezer at the time. So his solution was to store it in the restaurant's freezer.

I didn't really know what it was, but I knew it wasn't something for the store. He had it in a separate bin up on a high shelf. The problem with this, though, was that we did not sell anything with venison in the store, and food establishments have a pretty strict standard when it comes to sanitation, across contamination, etc. And Steve putting that in there was a huge no-no. And the inspector called it out,

especially because it wasn't even wrapped and stored properly. When he pulled it down, the container actually leaked on him. He explained to Steve the problem with this, and that's when Steve started getting defensive. He mentioned the fines, and Steve became more irritated, and then unexpectedly, he actually tried to bribe the inspector. When that didn't work, the inspector threatened to report his bribery attempt, and it became an argument. The inspector tried to walk away, and that's where the sheet pan came into play. into play. Hannah had worked for him for some time and had become close to his wife, so she got the

full story from her when she had to go bail him out. She then told me about it since I was already there. When he got out, he was pretty bitter for a few days, but otherwise went back to his old self. He did seem to learn a lesson, and he stopped storing stuff in the freezers, after we all had to empty it out and clean it out, which was probably the worst part about working there. Unfortunately, the store didn't last very long after that, and it ended up closing later that same year. So that's the whole story of my old boss from a sub-shop, and how he got arrested for assaulting some poor health inspector just trying to do his job. Just don't store your mystery meets in a store's freezer. That's the best advice I can give.

Our fantasy commission says for him it's all about the friendships. Cute, Kevin, but I disagree. Like with Bet365. I get paid the second my team goes up big with early payout and can cash out at any time before the game ends. No hard feelings, Kevin. Just faster payouts from Bet365. The home of winning early.

Must be 19 and older. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you were someone you know is concerns about gambling, visit connectsontario.ca. Or call 1866 5 through 1-2600.600. Terms and conditions apply. I have a fairly short but creepy Facebook marketplace story that I wanted to share with you

because I know that at least one other person out there has probably gone through something like this. A while back, I don't remember exactly when, but it was quite a while ago. I had an old coffee table that was solid oak. I liked the table, but it was heavy, and it didn't really fit the aesthetic of my living room. I ended up buying a new table. One of those were the top lifts up and it has storage and all that. And it was perfect for what I needed. This meant that I now needed to get rid of the big oak one.

And I knew someone out there would probably buy it. So I posted it to the marketplace for 50 bucks, and if someone offered me 20, they could just have it. One thing to mention is that I don't live in a heavily populated area. I live on the outskirts of town, and it's about 20 minutes to get anywhere that's heavily populated. I've lived here for a very specific reason. I don't like people. So, I listed the table as PPU, which for those that don't know, means porch pickup, because I had no way to transport this table anywhere.

Basically, the situation is, you tell me you want it, I give the address, you take the item off of the port or driveway, and just leave the money under the doormat, or, in my case, the attached mailbox. And all is right in the world. Obviously this means people will have your address, but I wasn't terribly concerned about that. I take my personal security very seriously, if you get what I mean. The morning after I listed the table, I got a little bit of the table. I got a message from someone named Dan saying that they would swing by at 2 p.m. to pick the table up, if that was an option. I had to work in office that day, so I wasn't going to be there, but I figured the dude was just going to pick up the table and leave some cash.

It wasn't a transaction that required my presence. I told him that was fine, gave him the address, and told him it would be in the driveway under a blue tarp, in case it rained. and I also requested that he leave the money in the mailbox that was by the front door. When I got home that day, I saw that the table was still in the driveway. A bit annoyed, I messaged Dan saying, Hey, I see you couldn't come get the table today. Are you still interested? People flaking is not uncommon on Facebook Marketplace, so I assumed that's what this was.

But then Dan messaged me back. saying, Oh, I came by around two, but I saw your golden retriever was asleep on your couch, and I didn't want to ring the doorbell and wake him up. I figured I would just wait until you got home. Alongside the cold ball forming in the pit of my stomach were a handful of red flags. The first, PPU, or porch pickup, means you don't knock or ring the doorbell. You take the item, you leave the money.

and there is zero necessary dialogue. The second, I never mentioned that I had a dog, obviously. So in order for him to know that I had a dog, he would have had to have looked in the window. Even if he could assume that I had a dog from the outside, like the little hutch or his toys or whatever, he specifically mentioned that my pup was a retriever, which was correct, by the way.

Now he kind of let it be known that he was looking in the windows. by saying he saw my dog asleep on the couch. But this also raised flag number three. You can't see into my living room from the front windows by the door. I put blackout curtains up on that window because it faces west. And when the sun would set, it would be hard to watch TV. So, in order for someone to look in a window and see my pup asleep on the couch, they would have to walk to the side of the house.

the north facing side, and look in one of those windows, which is on the opposite end of the house from where the driveway and the table was. All of this added up to a few possibilities, the main one being that he was looking in the windows and scouting out the house. One of my means of security is that I actually do have two cameras, one in the backyard, and one on the shed that faces the north side of the house. I checked the camera timeline to see what the heck this guy was doing, and there was 12 minutes of footage

of this guy looking in every single window on the north and east side of the house, and giving every single window a little hug to see if it would lift. For 12 full minutes, this guy was trying to see if he could get into the house through one of the windows. Obviously, responding to the ad was just a ruse to get out to the property and check it out. So, I decided to go ahead and just call the police to report an attempted break-in, because he did physically touch all the windows and was clearly trying to open them. What was more interesting is, when the police showed up only a few minutes later,

the first thing that the officer asked me was if I owned the green sedan that was parked at the end of the driveway, and idling. I have a longer driveway that's blocked from the road's view by trees. I asked him what he was talking about. Apparently when he pulled up, there was a green sedan that was sitting at the end of the driveway with the engines still running, and parked at an angle that was partially in the road, but there was nobody in it. I told him that wasn't mine, but I didn't know whose it was. Based on the type of call this was and the weird nature of it being parked there, he told me that he was going to call in another unit and then speak with me.

To not stretch this out much further, I'll try to wrap it up here. The car was gone by the time the other officer got there. He'd written down the plate just in case, and when they ran it, it was clearly not to that vehicle. The plate was registered to an SUV of some kind, and the name that came back was not one that I knew. Odds are, this was Dan, but he had likely stolen a plate and put it on that car to look legit. The cops took a copy of my statement and the footage, and of course, when I went to give them the info on Dan from Facebook, the account was gone.

They never got back on whether or not they found the guy, but decided that was the end for me. That was the last time I ever did a porch pickup. I installed two more cameras, so every inch of my house and most of the driveway is covered, and I installed a security system just in case. I also slept with my protection near me just in case, prepared for if Dan ever decided to come back in the middle of the night, though he never did. While Dan didn't get anywhere with this,

it is still freaky to think about how close I got to Dan potentially doing something more. and I likely only avoided a confrontation because a police officer showed up. Hello there, friends, Raven here. Welcome to the end of this episode of As the Raven Dreams. I hope that you genuinely enjoyed this collection of scary stories, as I enjoyed putting them together for you. If the platform you're on has the option to follow the podcast or leave ratings or reviews, please do consider doing so as it helps the podcast grow.

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

and send in your own stories to keep the podcast going, as it pretty much exists on crowdsourced content at this point. All of you really do keep 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. All that said, friends, I hope you have a lovely rest of your day. I hope I see you again here very soon. But until then, remember that you are loved. You are valid. You are important. And the world is a better place with you in it.

Don't forget that. Until next time, much love and sleep well. My rec league goalie says he plays for the love of the game. You gave up six goals last week, Steve? Maybe play to win, huh? Like with Bet365. I get paid the second my team goes up big with early payout and can cash out at any time before the game ends.

Steve, Bet365, the home of winning early. Must be 19 and older, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you were someone you know is concerns about gambling, visit connectsontario.ca, or call 1866 5 through 1.20. 600. Terms and conditions apply.