As The Raven Dreams Podcast - Scary Stories For Dark Dreams - Vol 58 | ATRD Podcast

Episode Date: July 15, 2026

Today we have 13 More true scary stories with a late night ambience. Scary Stories For Dark Dreams is a collection of older stories, remastered and put together in a long form episode. This Collection includes the following stories; Scary Summer Stories, Past Life Stories & Scary Restaurant Stories. So, turn down the lights, tune in, and let the haunting tales of everyday people take you down that dark and creepy road. Remember, these aren't just stories... these are true experiences that remind us that our world can truly be scarier than fiction. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like or rate the podcast, and leave me a comment with your thoughts if the platform your own supports it! I upload episodes every 3 days, so there are 2 days between new uploads. The podcast consists of new scary story collections, Glitch in the matrix collections, and also what I call the "Dark Dreams" collections (which are older stories, remastered and layered with rain sounds). If you have a story to submit, would like to find where to listen to the podcast, or want to find me on social media platforms, all of that info can be found at https://www.astheravendreams.com You can also send stories into my subreddit (r/theravensdream) or email them to me at [e-mail] Want to check out some ATRD Podcast Merch? ➤ https://teechip.com/stores/astheravendreams Or for signed merch ➤ https://ko-fi.com/AsTheRavenDreams I wrote a novel, "The Insomniac's Experiment" by Raven Adams! Check it out on amazon (Or you can email me for a signed copy!) Join Patreon to get early access and support the Podcast! ➤ https://www.patreon.com/AsTheRavenDreams Check out my gaming channel with my pal Ghost_Ink ➤ @superNefariousBros On YouTube TIMESTAMPS One Ad After the First Story, No ads after that Story 1: 00:11 Story 2: 11:31 Story 3: 19:40 Story 4: 32:29 Story 5: 39:48 Story 6: 44:42 Story 7: 51:50 Story 8: 1:04:19 Story 9: 1:10:17 Story 10: 1:16:44 Story 11: 1:26:18 Story 12: 1:32:12 Story 13: 1:37:37 ----- 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 ➤ And Remember; You are loved, you are important, and you are valid. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Please play responsibly. is coming to Disney Plus, starring Emmy Rossum. Furious follows FBI agent Alice Black on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating serial killer. Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur. Don't miss the three-episode premiere of the Hulu original series Furious on July 27th, only on Hulu on Disney Plus. Hey there, friends.

I just want to say, you can do amazing things. Don't forget that, okay? Until next time, sleep well. I have a fairly short story about this one pretty creepy experience that happened to me a while back. I don't remember when exactly it was, but it was in 2022. That much I know. I think it was early spring, so probably March. It's not really relevance to the story, though, so I won't dwell on that too much.

I remember that I was having a bit of a strange day. It was one of those days where nothing felt right, and everything seemed to go wrong, but I didn't know why. It was late, and I decided to randomly try out this little diner that was in town. It was a neat little place. It had an old-school vibe to it, with the retro neon signs inside on the side. the walls and bright red tables. It had that vibe that I really dug, and they were playing old jazzy music, so I really just wanted to chill out for a bit after a long day and enjoy my time to myself. As I was walking toward the door, this random dude pretty much popped up out of nowhere.

Like, I didn't see him outside the building at all as I was approaching, and I really don't know where he was hiding. I jumped when he approached. approached me and he apologized, seeming sincere in his apology. We both kind of chuckled, and in between him saying sorry, and he started talking to me about some charity things. I really didn't mean to scare you, miss. I'm sorry. I just wanted to talk to you really quickly about a cause that we're trying to raise money for.

I'm with the local church, and we're trying to get some money together for our youth group, so they can take a trip. We're wanting to get up to South Dakota, so they can see Rushmore, and we're trying to get up to South Dakota, so they can see Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial, and just enjoy the beauty that is the Dakotas. At first, I was quick to brush him off, but when he mentioned the youth group and wanting to go see Rushmore, it got my attention.

I was raised in Fargo, so I loved the Dakotas. As he was giving his speech, however, another guy walked up behind him. Big guy, very bouncer-like. And while he was intimidating, he was also holding. a clipboard, so I just assumed that he was also with the church. He finished his whole speech, and I then asked how I could help out. He lit up and mentioned that they could take cash, or a check, or they could give me a card for their website to send money over PayPal.

I should have walked away, but I figured that I had ten bucks to spare, so I grabbed my wallet, pulled out a ten, and then handed it to him. And then the second man started to speak up. If you could also, please put your name on this list, with your phone number, and the amount that you're donating. It's for tax purposes. We have to fill this out to show that it was a donation and that you're a real person. That sounded legit, so I grabbed the clipboard and started to put down my information and stopped where it said address. I asked if I needed to write down my address.

address, and the bigger guy smirked and said, Oh, uh, well, I mean, I want you to. I looked up at him for a moment, because he wanted me to? He caught on and immediately shrunk, saying, I mean, they ask for it, but it's not necessary. Just your phone number. I put in the info, not adding my address, handed him the cash and the clipboard.

The first guy then thanked me. I said no problem and started heading back towards the door to the restaurant. The two men started to walk away, but when I glanced back at them, the bigger guy was very clearly staring at me. Like, purve, staring. I swear that he was drooling, and that's not to say that I am attractive. He was just purving out. I shook it off and walked in, grabbed a booth off to the side, near the back, and I asked for some coffee.

As soon as I got my coffee, my phone screen lit up with a call from an unknown number. I stared at it's like, what car warranty scammer's going to be calling me at 10 o'clock at night? And I answered it. When I said hello, I could hear someone on the other end breathing, like they were walking quickly. I said hello again, and then it got freaky. I could hear myself on the other end, like I was in the background. I immediately turned around, and much to my surprise, the bigger guy was standing right behind me. He quickly took a step forward and sat across from me in my booth, just staring at me,

with this creepy, cheesy grin, and that said something that I seriously didn't expect. Hey, I wanted to keep this going. I saw the way you looked at me when you were worried. walking away, and I know you saw me looking at you. I think that we should get to know each other better. I just stared at him for a moment. It was a bold move, and he had quite the gall to come in here and just join me uninvited, and taking my phone number from their list to call me like that,

though, thinking back, that may have been a bit of a power move to show that he had my information. Good thing I didn't put my address, huh? I then told him in no uncertain terms that I had a boyfriend, though I didn't at that time, and that I was not interested. Then he dropped a bomb on me. That's okay. I'm not really here to give you an option. I think you just need to go ahead and get up and come with me. I know that my non-verbals were showing as I gave him an ugly sneer like, you're choking, right? He just gave me this really creepy smile, this really, really terrifying grin and said,

Get up, come with me, and I won't have to hurt you. At this point I thought it was over. I was about to get abducted, and my options were to scream and cause a scene and risk this turning into a bigger thing than it was, which was absolutely the direction I was going, despite not knowing what he was planning or capable of, or go with him. Thankfully, I didn't have to do either. I was about to start yelling that he needed to leave, when the waitress that had taken my order came over and very loudly said,

Oh my goodness, girl, I haven't seen you in such a long time. I jumped and looked over at her. The man in the booth with me did the same. She continued. We were all talking about you the other day, talking about how it's been so quiet since you left us. Bob, the manager, was just talking about how much he missed you this morning. He's in the back. Come on. I know he wants to see you. Come with me.

She immediately put her arm around my shoulder and pulled me out of the booth. Just keeping her eyes on mine the entire time she pulled me away from the booth. I will say that I was obviously very confused and still rather jumpy. but she took me to the back and into the little office where the manager was sitting. When she got me to the office, the manager stood up and asked me if I was okay. I nodded and asked what was going on. He mentioned that he'd been watching the guys out front all night, and that he had a bad feeling about them,

because they had only been approaching women, and seemingly only women, at the door pretty much all night. When he confronted them earlier, they told him what it was for. They showed him credentials and proof for the fundraiser, but he still thought that it was a bit weird that they were collecting money so late at night. He told them that they could do what they did, but if a single person complained, they would be immediately asked to leave. Then, when I went through, he said that he saw the second guy,

the bigger guy that followed me into the diner, watching off to the side before he walked up. Then, when I entered the diner, the first guy seemed ready to head off, but the second guy sort of waved him away, and then slowly followed me into the diner. But then just sort of lingered near the door, watching me. Then, when he walked up and sat in the booth,

he said that my face went completely pale, and he knew right then that there was an issue. He was talking with my waitress. asking if I'd mentioned the guy joining me, and when she said no, that I was alone, he worked out that she'd go out and pretend that I was a former employee to get me back here. He then mentioned that the police had already been called, and asked that I waited in the back while they sorted it out. I did.

I sat back there with the waitress, stressing out, probably crying the whole time. She was hugging me, telling me that I was safe. When the cops showed up, the guy had left, obviously, but they asked me some questions about what he'd said, what they approached me about out front, and so on. I told them what he'd said in the booth, how he had basically threatened me, saying that I was going to go with him. They got the camera footage from the diner of the guy, and the vehicle that he'd come in, they also got information about the church the guys worked for. after the cops left, the manager asked me if I could call someone to make sure that I made it home safely,

because he didn't want me leaving alone just in case. I called my brother, and I told him about the whole situation, and he immediately came to follow me home. I cannot express how thankful I am for that manager, and that he was attentive and that the waitress was good at acting, because she was super convincing. He could have looked the other way and thought, that's none of my business. He could have just ignored the whole thing. But because he was attentive and intuitive, he knew something was going on,

and he made sure that nothing happened to me. I did make it home fine, and I never saw those guys again, and I have no idea if the cops were able to do anything about it. I also ended up making that diner a regular hangout spot for me. Though I made sure to never go alone after that night. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales,

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Test drive it at your local Subaru dealer or visit Subaru.ca. I have a story that was seriously the most terrifying thing to ever happen to me. I used to work the closing shift of a pizza place. I was a delivery driver and they closed at midnight. The drivers were expected to help clean up the restaurant to close, so I would usually get out around one or so. After work, I would always go to this little gas station slash convenience store that was open 24 hours, and most of the times that I went the front counter was being worked by a guy named Dan. Dan was a 50-something-year-old man that really didn't seem to have much going for him.

But it was friendly enough, and I was able to have a decent conversation with him each time that I would visit. The thing about this convenience store, they only had one person working each overnight shift from the hours of midnight to around 5 in the morning. Obviously, this wasn't ideal, and was a huge security risk for the store, and that person in general. Because of this, and because they expected to get a bit more foot traffic this summer, they had installed what was basically a business. buzzer system. After 10 p.m., the cashier had to hit the button to unlock the front door for the person that was outside, and this seemed like it was safe enough. Basically, Dan could decide if he wanted to let someone in the store or not, though he was told to let everyone in that wasn't wearing your stereotypical robber attire. On the night that this event happened, I worked a bit later

than normal because we were really busy at the store. So we had a lot of dishes that we needed to do. Because it was almost two in the morning, I decided that I would go get some caffeine and then head home to play a game for a few hours. My sleep schedule was already screwed up, so I figured why not just pull an all-nighter. I pulled up to the store. Dan saw me and waved me in before hitting the buzzer. I walked in and asked him how he was doing, just making small talk and asking about the night. He told me that I was late, and I told him how busy the restaurant was. Basically, we just made some really banter-filled small talk, about nothing in particular. After a few minutes, I saw a man walk toward the counter from around where the drink freezer was,

and I told Dan that I would let him get back to work while I went to get my monster, The man that approached the counter, he looked a bit raggedy. I'm not trying to be insulting. He just kind of looked like he may have been homeless. He was wearing a large jacket in the middle of July, and was also wearing a ski cap on top of his head. Being the summer, I could only imagine that he was incredibly uncomfortable in the heat. I turned to walk away from the counter to get my drink, when I heard Dan say, Oh, just the water this evening.

And then the man started screaming something at him. I turned around to see what the hell was going on, and I realized what he was yelling. The homeless-looking guy was yelling, give me the money, and pointing a gun straight at Dan's head. As soon as he realized that I was looking at him, he pointed the gun at me and told me to get behind the counter.

I put my hands up and complied. walking back behind the counter and standing with my back to the wall. He keeps yelling at Dan to give him the money, or else he would just kill us both. Dan was scrambling and struggling to open the register. I think the nerves were beating the crap out of him, and for some reason he couldn't think about what buttons to press to get it open. The whole time he's scrambling to press the buttons, this guy is pushing the gun into his forehead and screaming that he had five seconds,

before he pulled the trigger. Dan pushed the button and put his hands up, and then the register shot open. The man grabbed all the cash from the drawer and immediately took off towards the front door. He went to push it open, but of course it wouldn't open because it had to be buzzed. After a couple of seconds of him trying to get it open,

he stepped back and shot the door several times, causing the glass to shatter, and then he booked it. Thankfully, while fumbling over the register, Dan had pressed the button on the register to set off the silent alarm. A few minutes after the man had taken off, the police pulled up with their guns drawn, and they ran into the store. We told the officers about the man and told him which way he had went. One of the officers got back in the car and started driving around the block to find the guy. The officers took statements from both of us and asked to...

to watch the camera footage so they could get a visual of the perp. They did the whole thing they normally did, dusted for prints, got the footage, and then took our information so that they could call us if necessary. Obviously, I was panicking inside, and Dan was freaking out. He called the owner and told him that he needed to come out and figure out what to do about the door,

and then when he got off the phone with him, he told me to go get my drink and get the hell out of there. I went and got my energy drink, though I'm pretty sure I could have just stayed awake on pure adrenaline, and when I went to pay for it, he told me that it was on him that night. I just kind of nodded and left. After all this was said and done, I actually found out this wasn't the guy's first robbery. It wasn't even his first robbery that night. Apparently the little convenience store was,

actually the third spot that he had hit that evening. The first store he robbed was a grocery store on the other side of the state line, and the second was another gas station that was about 20 minutes north of us. The thing is, at the other gas station, he had actually shot the clerk because he wouldn't cooperate. The guy wasn't killed because he shot him in the shoulder, but he was obviously injured pretty badly. and he wasn't actually homeless.

He was only using that as a disguise to make himself look larger than he was, and harder to identify. Since he had hit two other places that night, the police were actually pretty heavy out on the streets, which is why they were quick to get there, and they actually caught the guy a few blocks up the road where he was getting into his getaway car. It was seriously terrifying to be a bystander. in this robbery. And considering he had shot the other clerk, I can imagine that if Dan had any more trouble with the register,

he likely would have shot him, too. It scares the hell out of me to consider how close our lives came to their end. But I am thankful that it ended without casualties. After this happened, the store decided that they would just close for the overnight shift for a while, and I decided that after work, I would just go straight home. It could have been much, much worse for sure, but it was still the scariest thing that has ever happened to me.

Okay, so this is a story about not only my past life, I guess, but also my best friends. People always joke around about us, not in a mean way, really, but I just don't think they understand it. We don't really share our story with others too often because they don't seem to get it, but after hearing all of the stories that you've done previously, I feel like our story would fit here with you and your audience, and I would love to share it with more people that are open-minded, so here it is. And all began when my family relocated to a new city. We had one major move prior. we'd moved to a different state, and I remember feeling stressed about it, at the age of like eight, not wanting to leave my room. I loved it, but when they said that I could choose the color of my new

room, it made me feel better about it. Then, when I was 10 or 11, we moved again, but this time it was just to a different city but the same state. However, while they would be going to a whole new school, having to meet new friends and, once again, leave behind my awesome pink bedroom, I somehow felt better about it. I was actually excited about it, for no other real reason other than just moving. No one thought much of it at the time. Maybe my parents were relieved that I wasn't as difficult about it. Who knows?

So I started at my new school, and yes, I was excited. but also still a bit nervous, and maybe even shy. However, I didn't get to really be the quiet, reclusive new kid, because, as I walked into the room, there was a young girl standing in the back, like she was expecting me, and she was all smiles. Her name was Lily, and she immediately ran up to me and gave me a warm, huge hug. As she hugged me, she whispered to her. to me, I've been looking all over for you, and she pulled back still wearing that same big smile. It was strange. She made me feel like I immediately belonged here, but also as if I've known her my

whole life. I just accepted it for what it was and found my place at my desk, next to hers, per her request. From that day forward, our friendship and bond blossomed at an astonishing pace. we immediately became close friends, closer than any of my previous friendships that I've had. It was as though we were two pieces of the same puzzle, fitting together in everything that we did or said. Our interests aligned perfectly, our pet peeves matched,

and it was uncanny how often we knew what the other was thinking, or how we could complete each other's thoughts and sentences as we got older. However, nobody else seemed to grasp our connection to one another, nor could they understand the depths of our friendship. It seemed to transcend a normal BFF situation, and while I could sense that it was a strong friendship, I didn't think of it as anything else. But for Lily, there was more to it. Over time, she would make comments like, I'm so happy that you're finally here. I've been waiting forever for you to come back. And then the statement that really made me curious.

I'm so happy that we got to do this again. I used to just think that they were weird comments and never said anything about it, thinking it was just Lily. At this point, we were probably around 12. I know that I thought the comments were a little out there, but it was always something that I could shrug off. She was highly intelligent, but also had a quirky side to her, so I just thought it was her odd choice of words. But that last comment really made me question things, and since it got the best of me, I questioned her about those almost cryptic comments.

She looked at me bewildered and asked, You don't remember? You don't remember us before these bodies? I was confused what on earth did she mean by these bodies. I know that I had to have a weird look on my face, and I know that she could read it, too. She looked surprised, and maybe even a bit disappointed as she said, Oh, I thought you knew already. She asked me if I remembered my last life, the one where we grew up together.

Again, I made a comment to her about. about not knowing what she was talking about, and was confused about the growing up part. We were still kids. We hadn't grown up yet. And I certainly hadn't known her the 12 years I'd been on this earth. I asked her what she meant, and after giving me another look of pity, she agreed to explain but made me promise not to tell anyone as they wouldn't believe her. I promised. She began to tell the story of two friends from a time long ago. She said those two girls were us. They did everything that they could together.

They met in high school and had been inseparable since. They shopped together. They did chores together. They even went to each other's houses as adults just to talk and hang out. She described how they were both married, but while their husbands worked, they found time to be together to do whatever they wanted. Lily even stopped her story to say that we were living at the wrong time. She then explained how, even though they were just friends, it didn't stop people from gossiping and spreading rumors. Dangerous rumors for that time.

The first time she explained this to me, that was pretty much where she left the story, telling me that the two of us once lived in a different life at a different time. I was still shocked and confused. At the time, I didn't even know of the phrase past lives or what reincarnation was. However, at the same time, I believed her. I had no reason to. I still didn't even fully understand what she was talking about, but something was making sense in my head,

or telling me that what she was saying was the truth. I told her that while I didn't fully understand the concept, I did believe her. So, after embracing what she explained as the truth, she became more open with me and told me even more stories of things that she remembered from the past. She said that while she had darker blonde hair and I had black hair in this life, it was the opposite. She said that she looked completely different, but said that she knew it was me because my green eyes looked exactly the same. She told me about different things that we liked to do, like gardening. We had started a garden at her home where we grew all kinds of different flowers,

and sold them as is, or made oils and soaps with them. Her stories were always fun to listen to, as she made it seem so magical, and like we genuinely enjoyed our lives. But she never explained how we ended up in our current life. Once again, I asked her about it. I asked her why did we get a second life in the first place. She seemed hesitant to tell me, saying that it made her sad, but I barely understood this as is, so I wanted to know as much as possible. possible. Reluctantly, she finally agreed to explain it. As mentioned, the rumors and gossip that

revolved around us only got worse, to the point that had caused suspicion in my husband at the time. We'd gotten into an argument, he became violence, and I succumbed to my injuries. Lily said that no one would talk to her about it when she showed up at my home and saw the medics. When she finally found out what had happened, everyone blamed her, saying that she ruined mine and her own marriage. Saying that she was heartbroken was an understatement. She was inconsolable for weeks, and no one seemed to care. She said her husband didn't seem to have the same thoughts, but he also wasn't comforting her. It was at a time where men didn't normally show their feelings or their soft sides.

She then told me how she couldn't get past that feeling of guilt and sorrow, and only saw one way out of it. She left a letter, explaining everything, and then locked herself in the basement. But after she finished explaining the ending, she immediately perked back up and said that we shouldn't be sad because we were given a second chance. She said that she remembered her past life at a younger age, but when she talked about it or questioned it with her problem. parents, they also had no clue what she was talking about, which made her think that no one would understand or remember, so she never talked about it again. That was until she had a dream where she was talking to someone who told her that I had come back to, and that we would meet again. That was what kept her going. Then, when I walked into class that day, she knew that it was me.

It was kind of hard to take it all in at such a young age, but everything I said that she told me about, and I believed her. The manner in which she explained it all and the emotions that she expressed as she told me everything was enough for me to know that it was the truth. I remember asking my parents about reincarnation around the same time, and the most I was really told was that it wasn't part of their religion, and they were very clear about that. I could tell that they didn't once to even entertain the idea, so when they asked me where I'd heard it from,

I just told them that I saw it in a magazine. From then on, I never talked to anyone else about our past lives, except for Lily. Getting to the present time, we're both in our late twenties. We're both married to, very loving and understanding husbands. And the four of us actually get along really well and spend a lot of time together. I actually have a little girl and Lily is pregnant with her first as well.

If I could remember my past life, I'm sure that our bond that we have now is just as strong as our previous one. Once again, we do a lot of the same things together. I also felt comfortable enough to explain. our past lives to my husband, and while he didn't understand it at first, when Lily started explaining it more while her and her husband were over, I could see the look of intrigue as he listened. As mentioned, they have both been very understanding and open-minded. Overall, I could not ask for a better life.

The family that I've created and chosen, are truly the ones that have been there the most for me, and the most important. And for that, I am incredibly thankful for whatever it was that gave Lily and I a second chance. I've always been a bit of a nature buff, and I love to visit the national parks any chance that I get. My favorites are the ones that are the vast and open rocky areas out in the southwest, like Bryce Canyon, and such. There's something about the bright red rocks, the big open canyon, and completely unincorporated areas, that gets to me. It's the isolation and the disconnection I think that I really love. If you're out there and you keep to yourself as best you can, you likely won't see another soul the

entire day. One summer, my boyfriend and I decided that we would go camping in the park, and would then go backcountry hiking the next morning. We usually just spent a day in the canyon parks, but I wanted to spend the night because... Well, I just did. It was summer. I wanted to camp. Pretty much the end of story on that. I hadn't been camping since I was in my pre-teen years and still talked to my dad.

So I thought it would be a really fun way for us to spend some time together. We found a part of the grounds that was accessible, but still pretty off to itself, and we started to set up our tent. The spot that we chose was, like I said, fairly isolated, but was also pretty close to a spot of the park that had a nice-sized drop-off. That may sound scary to some, but to me, it was all about the view. A drop-off meant that we would get to see the sky at night. and possibly the thick fog in the morning, depending on how the weather treated us. In my opinion, it was perfect. My boyfriend wasn't a fan of being so close to a steep drop and so far away from other campers,

but he relented when I told him how much I liked it. After we got everything set up, the sun was already starting to set, so we decided that we would make a small pit for a fire. We got the fire going and we're just sitting around, watching the sunset, and enjoying the view of the night's sky. After a bit of this, I kind of got this weird feeling like something was staring at me. You know the one, that weird spine chill that happens when your instincts are scratching at your brain to do something. I mentioned this to him, and he told me that it was probably just a coyote or something, and that as long as we stayed near the fire and didn't pay it too much attention, it would likely just go away.

I nodded in agreement, and we went back to watching the fire burn while enjoying a light breeze. Not long after that, I heard what sounded like someone whispering right behind me. This caused me to jump up and turn around, and as soon as I did, my boyfriend said, Oh, you heard that too? I said that I did and that it sounded like someone was whispering. We both turned to look, but there wasn't anybody there. He mentioned that it could have been another camper, but that just didn't seem to feel right to me. Something about this felt off, like it wasn't a person or a camper that was just messing with us.

No sooner than me saying that, we heard what sounded like a yelling coming from the side of our campsite that was over. the drop-off. When I say there was someone yelling, it sounded like someone was pleading for somebody to help them, like they had fallen down and were hurt. The thing about it, though, the yelling never really said the word help. It never really said any coherent words. It just kind of sounded like someone was making noise similar to words, but they couldn't quite get it right. You know how little kids talk, but the words that they say aren't all there. Like they're still learning. Yeah, it was just like that. My boyfriend said that we should at least look and see if we could see someone over the drop-off, and then we should get someone that works for the parks to check it out.

We got up and looked over the edge to see if there was someone there, but I couldn't see anyone. My boyfriend grabbed his flashlight, and was shining it down into the ravine, and after kind of panning it back and forth, the light hit something. I don't know if it was a person or what, but the second the light hit it, the thing made a mad dash behind a tree, and we immediately heard the yelling again. It was definitely coming from this thing, whatever the hell it was. And again, it wasn't using words. It was just making sounds that were close to words. And it was, It sounded like it was in distress, but they were not actual words. My boyfriend said that we should go ahead and pack up and head back to the Rangers and let them know that there was someone down in the ravine.

He then shouted down that we were going to get help, and we quickly got our stuff back into the car and drove down to the entrance. We got to the Ranger Station and told him that we thought there was someone down in the ravine that was yelling for help, but we weren't. sure if we saw them or not. They said that they would go check out the area to see if they could find them and thanked us for the information. We got back in the car and I asked if we were going to find a new spot to camp. My boyfriend literally laughed at me and said, Hell no, I don't know what that thing was, but I know that it was not human. I'm not spending the night out here with that thing anywhere near me. As upset as I was that we weren't spending the night out in the park, I actually agreed. It wasn't worth it.

We went back early in the morning, and my boyfriend said that he wanted to ask the ranger if they found anything. He said that they got to where we had mentioned, and they heard something, but they weren't sure what it was. When they went down into the drop-off to see if there was someone down there, they didn't find anybody. There was what looked like an abandoned tent filled with trash, but it hadn't been used for a while, based on its condition. I don't think this helped him feel any better, to be honest, but he asked, so they answered. We never went back to that particular area after dark when this all happened, and I haven't convinced him to go camping again yet. I think this actually freaked him out, which I get.

It was unsettling for sure, and I don't think we'll know exactly what the hell that thing was. Working as a bartender at a small-chain barn grill has given me my fair share of stories. Ones that I will most likely send in to you one day, but I have one that I feel is worth sharing because of, well, everything about it. I've seen just about every type of person walk through the door, but literally none of them made as much of a mark. on my memory as Eric. Eric was the new guy, just starting off as a bartender after having worked at Starbucks for a couple of years. This was his second shift at the restaurant, and my first shift working with him. From the get-go, something about him felt a bit off.

He was quiet, sure, but it was more than that. There was a certain tension, like he was always on edge. That evening started off as every other. The bar filled up. The energy of the room grew. As we got busier, I had to tell Eric to start taking over some smaller tasks, and to let me know if he got any complicated drink orders. That was until a certain regular customer came in that was known to be a bit extra. He usually got a bit rowdy.

He was usually irate over nothing in particular. And he was just kind of an a-hole. That night he was particularly abrasive, hurling his demands and complaints to the point that it was honestly getting on my nerves. I was used to handling difficult customers, though, so I approached him, trying to diffuse the situation. I tried to talk the guy down, tell him that if he had any issues that I could help him, or if that wasn't enough, I would go get the manager. He then said something to the effect of, Well, I wouldn't have any issues if this new guy you working with wasn't such a... I'm not going to include the last two words.

The first one was a slur for someone who was mentally handicapped, and the second was a slur based on the fact that Eric was Hispanic. You can piece it together from that. I tried to interject and tell the man to leave, but before I could get a word in, I watched as Eric's face twisted into one of pure rage. He grabbed a glass bottle from the shelf behind us, smashed it against the counter,

and pointed the jagged edge towards the now sober and stunt customer. Shouting, say it again. If you really feel that way, then say it again. Come on, own it. Say what you think of me one more time. The entire restaurant just kind of froze and watched as Eric held the glass. and the customer just stared at him with his eyes wide and his mouth open. Then instinct kicked in, and I rushed over to grab Eric to try to calm him down.

After a few seconds, Eric nodded and handed me the bottle, ending the standoff with Seems you don't have the stones to really say what you think, huh? The customer didn't wait for anything else to be said, as he jumped up and stumbled away from the bar. I want to add that I could tell that this man had visibly peed his pants. And I'm adding this because, while Eric's reaction was definitely more violent than what would be appropriate, I didn't feel bad for that customer at all. His racist and demeaning remark were just disgusting.

And he was always like that, so it was almost satisfying to see him get put in his place. Obviously, Eric was let go on the spot, and the police did get involved. They took Eric in, and they asked us a bunch of questions. I told them that the man was provoking Eric, and that while he overreacted, the other man was not innocent. This night really showed me that there are some people that you just shouldn't mess with. That some people carry more rage inside them than what is obvious. And I really hope that Eric didn't get too much trouble for what happened. That customer, who, like I mentioned, was a regular,

never came back to the bar. The restaurant also tightened their hiring process a bit, and we all had to take a class on de-escalation and how to handle rude customers. But the manager also implemented a zero-tolerance rule. If a customer then said anything disparaging like that, we were told to get the manager, and that they would then kick them out on the spot.

So, before we get into the story, it's probably best to get into some things about me as a person. I'm 24 years old, female, and I'm a bit into the darker aesthetics of life. I like to wear black, my hair is dyed black, and, well, I wouldn't say I'm Gothic. I'm probably as close as you can get without having all the piercings and the trip pants. I'm also pretty heavy into fitness, so while I wear it. slightly oversized and black clothing, I also have one hell of a physique that I hide. I'm by no means a bodybuilder, but despite being a fairly small woman in my frame, I can flex and it's pretty well

defined. For the most part, I got into weights and fitness for the health benefits, but I can also defend myself, despite how most people see me. Being a bit on the shorter side, a lot of guys think that they can mess with me, or hit on me, and basically be physically assertive over me and that I'll be impressed. It doesn't work, and I'm not easily intimidated. This event happened about a year ago, back in 2021. I had just moved into a new apartment complex because my old landlord decided that he didn't want to rent to people anymore, so my options were to make an

offer to buy the house that I was renting, or get out. I chose to get out. Anyways, I moved into this nice little building, into a one-bedroom apartment that was rather comfortable. It was just me and my Pomeranian, Cheeto. I had actually had Cheeto since he was a pup, and he was about four at the time of this story. And I will say that he is the sweetest little heel chomper that has ever existed. He and I took some time to get acquainted with the new area, and I figured since it was the start of summer, it would be a great idea to take little Cheeto around the block. I hadn't been able to take him walking since the summer started because of having to pack and move, and just being way too tired with work. So I figured he could enjoy a nice stroll around the neighborhood.

We were walking around the path enjoying the warm breeze when we encountered another person that was out on this nice summer evening. At first I thought it was nice to see someone else. I waved, said good evening, and he said hi, and I just kept going. After a few minutes of walking, I was starting to feel slightly on edge. And I wasn't exactly sure why, so I figured I should go ahead. and sit down for a moment. I walked over to one of the benches that was nearby, and I took a seat. And then I grabbed my water and took a big drink, thinking that maybe I was just feeling a bit exhausted, or dehydrated. Cheeto jumped up on the bench and was sitting next to me,

and the two of us were just staring out at the night. When he started to do that weird, grunty growl that dogs do when they think something is up. He was looking back at the path that we had come from, and was just sort of making a slight, gur sound. Now, like I said, Cheeto is a sweetheart, and I've never seen him get aggressive, nor had I ever actually heard him get angry and growl. So, I was a bit surprised. I kind of leaned over and looked down the path, and a little ways down was someone that was

walking in my direction. This was a public place, so I really didn't think anything of it, but obviously Cheeto was not a fan of them. So I just pulled his leash a bit tighter and I waited for them to pass. To my surprise, the person that walked by was the guy that we had crossed paths with from earlier. Not too terrifying or anything, just a bit weird that he turned around and was now going back the way he had come from. but I figured he was just walking a specific path and I let it go. I watched him as he started walking past me, but noted that he was slowing down a bit as he got in front of me.

When he got about a foot to the left of the bench, he paused and pulled out his cell phone, and he was just staring at the screen, like whatever he was doing was super important. I was a bit weirded out by it, so I figured I would just remove myself from the situation and go back home. As soon as I got up and started to walk away, he reached over toward me and grabbed my arm and started to pull me away from the bench and toward the road.

I just stood my ground and resisted him while he kept trying to pull me towards the street. Cheeto was barking at him, and I was yelling at him to let go of me. After a few minutes of struggling, I basically, reached my right arm back and hit him straight in the jaw, which knocked him off balance. I knelt down, grabbed Cheeto, and took off back towards the main street of the property. As I was running, I turned back to see if the man was chasing me, but he wasn't. He had gotten up and was running back toward a car that had pulled up on the side of the road. I stopped for a moment and watched as he jumped in, and they peeled off down the road and took a right on the next,

street. I have no idea what the hell they were planning, but it definitely felt like some kind of abduction attempt. I'm guessing the guy saw me and thought that I would be an easy mark, since I'm short, and he definitely didn't expect me to deck him. I ended up reporting the situation to the rental office, and the police, and the property installed more lights along the path, which wasn't really much of a reaction, but I... I guess it was something. The cops never got back with me on it, which tells me that they have no idea who it was or have any extra information.

The only thing that bothers me is that the guy seemed to not really be hesitant or bothered by what he did, which makes me think that I may not have been their first mark. Thankfully, I wasn't as easy to take as they thought I was. I just hope that no one else fell victim to them after that. Hello, I would like to share an experience that my daughter actually had as a seven-year-old. I've been researching and watching a lot about past lives, thanks to her as well. And I'm learning a lot about it, too. This all started about five or six years ago.

My daughter, Brooke, was home from school for a snow day, and I was quite frankly feeling pretty crummy. I'd been laying on the couch, watching TV, trying not to appear miserable on the outside, and Brooke was in her room playing. I could hear her TV and her talking as if she was playing with her toys. As I laid there just trying to relax,

I started hearing some unusual sound effects and phrases coming from her that I had never really heard before. She was making sounds like an airplane, as well as acting as if she was talking to someone. It wasn't alarming, but it still caught my attention, and being curious, I got up to check on her and see what she was doing. I approached the open door and watched as she was sitting at her desk, holding a piece of paper that she had drawn some kind of W shape on and cut out. She had asked to use the scissors earlier. As she held on to the paper rocking it side to side,

she also moved her hands back and forth, as if she was pulling levers and pushing buttons. She also had on my husband's old broken headset. She's very creative and likes to play with things like that, so when he went to throw it away, she asked if she could have it. As she sat there wearing the headset, moving her arms around and was speaking the whole time using phrases and jargon that I had never heard before. Roger, this is Mustang 12, engines humming smoothly, altitude 15,000 feet.

I stood there dumbfounded, not having any clue where she would have picked any of this up. I had figured out that she was pretending to fly an airplane, but as to how she knew those terms was lost on me. Neither me nor my husband have watched anything about planes. I couldn't even think of anyone that she may have been around that could have watched or talked about planes either. She always talked like a normal seven-year-old would. She had a slight lisp at the time, but it wasn't really noticeable, unless she got really excited about what she was talking about. But when I watched her, her voice was steady, monotone. and not a single slip in her speech.

I had never seen this before, and I had no explanation for it. I stayed where I was, listening to her. She described landing the plane, and when it was stopped, she put her steering wheel down, took her headset off, and sighed. I didn't mean to startle her, but as she did that, I softly called out for her, making her jump. I cheerfully said, What are you playing, Brooke?

I was flying, Mommy. I was up in the sky in a big plane, just like I used to. Obviously confused, I asked more questions. What do you mean like you used to? She had never been on a plane, and, in fact, I had only been on one before she was even born. My husband had been, due to his job, but she had only ever gone with me once to drop him off. not even in the airport when I used to fly planes

my favorite was a P-51 Mustang and I was really really good at it she then went to her desk and started pointing at her wheel and random parts on her desk she was naming off what I assume were different switches and gauges I don't remember everything she said

but I wish I would have asked her about them again and written them all down I just know that I stood there over her desk as she spoke in confidence about her plane, trying to grasp what I was listening to. After she finished her explanation, I asked her how she knew all of this, and that's what started me down this rabbit hole. She said, I just know it. I learned it from school that grown-ups go to.

I was very good at it, but the bad guys broke my plane, and I couldn't stop it. but I want to fly planes again. It was a lot of fun. Granted, that was paraphrased a bit, but that was basically what she explained. I had heard of kids talking about a potential past life before, but never really thought more into it. Not expecting that to ever be something that I would experience. You know, the whole, well, that would never happen to me. But I began to ask Brooke more questions.

about what she was talking about, and how long she had remembered this. She said that she's remembered it for a long time, but couldn't really pinpoint it. She was still a child, though. I then asked her if she remembered anything else other than airplanes. She sat on her bed, squeezing her eyes closed, and smiling, and then she said the name. Martha. I remember Martha. She was very pretty like you, Mommy.

And I loved her. I'm sad that I can't see her anymore. She looked a little sad when she said this, even though she was smiling, but she said it with such conviction. How could I not believe her? We also don't have anyone in our family that I could think of named Martha. I even asked my husband and my mom if they knew of anyone, and they couldn't recall anyone either.

Still feeling a bit surprised by this new information, I brought her into the kitchen to have lunch. The rest of the day continued on as normal, but I couldn't wait to tell my husband when he got home. When he did, and I explained everything to him, I could tell by the look on his face that he was a bit skeptical about it. He tried to reason it just like I did. She must have heard about planes or something and repeated it, but... I explained to him how detailed she was. There was no way she could have heard this somewhere and memorized it to that extent. She gets her favorite SpongeBob quotes wrong sometimes, and she's obsessed with that show.

My husband started coming around to the idea and was even more convinced, when he heard her talking about it in front of him. She even mentioned how her name used to be Peter, and that she wanted to marry Martha when she came to. back from her last trip. But that that's when the accident happened. She would bring it up on other occasions after that day, too. While we were outside playing in the snow, she crawled along the ground and shouted out other quotes that sounded like military terms.

My husband had a hard time reasoning that went away. Both of our grandfathers and my grandmother were military when they were younger. That was how my grandparents had met. but they've all since passed, so she wouldn't have heard it from them. I had been casually looking into past life stuff at this point, but when she came up to me one day and asked me if I knew Martha or how to find her, I felt the urge to look more into this. She seemed so sincere, and she was so sad when she said that she wanted to make sure Martha was happy after she was gone.

I considered looking into a therapist who specialized. and past-life regressions for children, but I couldn't find anyone in our area that would have been convenient, and I didn't want to put her through something that could potentially put her through trauma or give her PTSD, if she remembered something worse than flying a plane that crashed. What I did do was check out historical information at my local library in hopes to find closure for the person my daughter used to be.

While my daughter was in school, I went to the library and started looking for anything I could about a pilot, possibly some kind of military pilot by the name of Peter. I was on the right path, but the info I was finding was limited. But then the librarian gave me a good suggestion. She mentioned a local historian that collected a lot of old war memorabilia and hosted many events about them. She suggested that I asked him about it, and gave me his contact info, so I did just that. I contacted the man and explained what little info I had, but just kind of explained that I was looking to expand a family tree. To my surprise, he was actually able to find something in a newspaper similar to an obituary, but more of a mass one for those enlisted that may have passed or were missing.

There was a Peter listed as having passed away after a plane accident. The man then helped me find more info on this Peter, and we found another article with the picture of Peter, and, you guessed it, his lovely Martha. They were at some kind of ball or dance. The names were printed under the photo. That solidified it in me. Everything Brooke had told me had to be true. We didn't know this Peter or Martha, but somehow Brooke did. This man made a copy of the picture for me, and I took it home with me.

When Brooke came home from school, I showed her the picture and asked her if she knew who it was, folding over the bottom so she couldn't see the names. She let out a huge gasp, and explained that it was her and Martha at some kind of serviceman's ball. I forget what she called it off the top of my head. head. She hugged me and thanked me for finding it, but when I asked her if she wanted to keep the picture, she said no. She said that she had really just wanted to see her one more time. I didn't ask her about her past life and memories after that. If she brought it up, then we would talk about it. But otherwise, I left it alone. And I think that's exactly what was supposed to

happened. Over time, I noticed that she didn't talk about it as much, nor did she play the airplane game like she used to. I thought about this at one point and asked her about it, and she seemed completely confused. I mentioned Peter, and she laughed at me saying, No, Mommy, I'm Brooke. So, I'm pretty sure what I did helped Peter realize that he had passed, and, since I believed his story and acknowledged it, he was able to move on. It was an incredible experience, but I'm also thankful that it didn't stick around for her, in fear of it causing distress for her as she got older. Writing this out for you, though, has made me really consider putting together a short book,

or a journal, maybe, of all the experiences that we had from this extraordinary phenomenon. just to have something to look back on, and maybe she'll broke when she's older. If I do, I'll be sure to share it with you, too. And thank you for reading. Back when I was 14, my family and I went on a summer vacation down south. My aunt lived that way, and we hadn't seen her for a few years, so my mom and decided that we would all drive that way and stay with her. Of course, this was a long drive, and it was them plus the three of us kids. So, they decided to split the drive up into two or three days, instead of just going straight the whole way.

I was pretty excited because this meant that we would be staying in a hotel. Staying in a hotel meant that I would get to go swimming in a swimming pool. This may not sound like anything exciting to other people, but where I live, there are, were no public pools. And I got to go swimming maybe once or twice a year, and I honestly loved swimming. We get out on the road for what feels like forever, not stopping because my dad was a stickler for making the most out of the time on the road. And when we get to the hotel that we were staying at, I was obviously psyched. It was way nicer than I expected it to be. And on the way to the elevator, I saw the pool.

It was decent-sized, and it had what looked like a small hot tub off to the side. I was just super excited to get out of the room and get into the pool, and we hadn't even gotten to our floor yet. As soon as we got to our room, which were adjoining rooms with the in-between doors, I threw my bag on the floor and immediately grabbed my bathing suit, and then went over and asked my mom and dad if I could head down to the pool. At first, my dad told me that I needed to wait for him to go down there with me, but my mom basically told my dad to just let me go and enjoy it, and then they could head down a few minutes after. My dad seemed like he really didn't want that,

but my mom could tell that I really wanted to go. She said that I could go, so long as I took my two siblings with me, and didn't do anything too crazy until they got down there. I agreed, and I said that I would be as careful as I could until they got down. I ran down the stairs and made my way to the pool as quickly as I could, with my two brothers lagging behind me. They hadn't even changed yet, so when we got down to the pool,

they had to run into the restrooms to get changed, and I immediately jumped into the pool. after I jumped in I noticed that I wasn't alone in the room and there was an employee that was cleaning up the area as soon as I had jumped in he turned around to look at me and he said hey no jumping in the pool

and I apologized as soon as he heard me and then saw me he walked over to the pool and asked where my parents were I told them that they were on their way down and that I had just beat them here thinking that he was going to tell me that I couldn't be in the pool without an adult. As soon as I said this, he squatted down by the edge of the pool and was just sitting there staring at me. I had no idea what was going on, but I figured that he may have caught on that my statement was a lie.

He repeated what I said to me, but it was like in a tone that was really creepy. Like, huh, you're... Parents are on their way down, huh? You sure about that, cutie? I just kind of stood there and said, Yeah, they're on their way. He then smirked and asked me how old I was. I responded with 14, which was true.

And he just kind of laughed and stood back up. And then he made a comment that was truly freaky. He just shook his head and said, I bet I could get you out of that pool and into my car before anyone even noticed what had happened to you. I just sat there and stared at him, as he turned to walk away and went back to cleaning the window, as if he hadn't literally just told me that he could kidnap me without issue. After a few moments of just sitting there, my two brothers ran into the room and jumped in beside me. And once again, the man turned to say,

Hey, no jumping in the pool. They both apologized to him and then went on with swimming. I wasn't really feeling much like swimming at that point. So I just sat in the water watching the man as he finished cleaning the glass. As he turned to leave, he made sure to make eye contact with me, and then winked, saying, I'll see you later. I just remember his tone in the way he smirked at me. It was legitimately creepy.

Thankfully, I didn't see this guy the rest of the time that we were there, since we were only there for the night, and we left pretty early in the morning. I never mentioned it to my parents, or told anyone about this, because I seriously didn't think anyone would do anything. Now I know that I should have reported it to them, or to someone that worked there, but at the time, At the time, I just didn't know what to say about it. To be completely honest, this whole situation was enough to make me never want to go swimming at a hotel ever again. I used to work at a certain 24-hour diner that serves waffles, the house of waffles, if you will.

And honestly, it was probably one of the best jobs that I've ever had. I worked the night shift, and the manager on that shift was super laid back. And as long as we kept the line clean and the customers happy, we were pretty well allowed to do whatever we wanted, within reason. On the night where this happened, it was a rather busy and stressful night, which did happen from time to time. I had just come off of my shift, so it was around three o'clock in the morning, I believe, and after having served about 150 waffles, I was pretty well ready to get home and go to bed.

The employee parking lot was a small cramped space off to the back of the diner. It was large enough for only a few cars, and if you worked a full shift, you usually had to park in the front of the building. I had gotten one of the closer spots in the back lot. It was a bit tucked off at the side and a bit darker than the rest of the lot, but it felt secure enough, plus it was the employee lot, so it was surely safer than being out in the main lot with everyone else. Right?

Yeah, that was the night that I learned that that was completely wrong. As I approached my car, keys in hand, ready to hit the unlock button, hop in and head home, I noticed something odd. There was another car that was haphazardly parked in the employee lot. Like they weren't parked in the lots, but off to the side and behind another person's car. I paused and sort of stared at it for a moment, thinking that it was strange. As I was staring at it, I heard the engine turn over and the headlights kicked on. I just kind of thought that it was someone doing something they probably shouldn't have been,

and they saw me and realized that they weren't as hidden as they thought. I shrugged it off, thinking they would just go ahead and leave and kept on towards my car. As I got to my car, I reached my hand in my pocket to grab my phone, only to realize I didn't have it. I had accidentally left it inside. I huffed a bit at my stupidity, shut my door, and started back towards the back entrance of the restaurant. As I was walking back, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a man getting out of the car that was now sitting there idling. I only saw him out of the corner of my eye, but I knew that he was there, and I knew that he was walking toward me, and I was now extremely.

nervous. I picked up my pace, but the man started shouting for me to hold on, and that he wanted to talk to me. He was, unfortunately, faster than I was, and he caught up to me, grabbing my arm. As he grabbed me, I started to scream, and I reached out and banged on the back door as hard as I could, trying to pull away from his grip. I kept screaming and trying to hit or kick the door to get anyone's attention. He kept pulling me away from the door and I was near certain that this was the end for me. This guy was going to get me in his car and drive off. Thankfully, that is not what happened. And me banging on the door was enough to catch the attention of our cook. To describe our cook is to describe the most intimidating man I have ever seen.

Though knowing him, I know that he's a good. He's also the most kind-hearted giant ever. Andre was a six-and-a-half-foot-tall man that had to be almost 300 pounds. And while Andre had a bit of fat on him from eating the food at our diner, he also liked to hit the weights. And under that slight chubbiness, there was a ton of muscle. So when he threw the door open and was holding a hammer and came out shouting at the man that had a hold of me, We both jumped. The man took one look at Andre, let me go, and made a mad dash back toward his car.

Andre took off toward the car as the guy started to reverse out as fast as he could. I then witnessed what was probably the most terrifying thing I have ever seen. I watched as Andre pulled his arm back and threw the hammer at the windshield. And I swear that hammer went through the damn glass and hit the guy in the face. It definitely broke the windshield, and I'm pretty sure it went all the way through, so he now had a massive crushed spot in the front of his car. The guy Gunditson took off out of the parking lot, leaving me standing there behind Andre, who I now considered my savior. He asked me if I was okay, took me back inside, and we contacted the police. This was the day that we all learned that the cameras in the back lot, the employee lot,

didn't actually work. They had apparently stopped working at some point in the last year or two, and the owner never bothered to get them fixed. He did after this, but it was too little too late. I was given a few days off after this, and when I came back, I was told to park in the closest spot, and the manager implemented a new rule that no one was allowed to walk to their cars alone. someone had to, at the very least, be at the door and watch them get into their car at the end of the shift.

I don't work there anymore. Andre does, and he's officially my best friend at this point because that man most likely saved my life. And watching him throw a claw hammer through a windshield was something else. I have no idea if they caught the guy, but I never heard from them. if nothing else, hopefully Andre scared the hell out of him, and hopefully he learned his lesson. I'm a mom of three kids, ages 14, 9, and 5. As many may be aware, 2020 opened up some schooling possibilities, and I think both my kids and I loved it. I was already working remotely, but now my kids were home with me, and we always were

made the most of it. We all got set up at our dining room table, and I even brought my laptop in there to work with them. We got very creative with our activities as a family, and even our meals. I feel like I got to learn more about my kids in that time and became even closer to them, and I was thankful for that. The story is related to one of those moments. While we were all working at the table, my night 9-year-old, Ali, became frustrated with her work, so I stopped to help her. My 5-year-old, Jaden, has a late birthday. It's in October, so he wouldn't start kindergarten until the following year. However, he loved being a part of this, and making him sit-it-out would just be mean,

so I got a few workbooks for him online, that he could work on with us, and he was satisfied with that. Every day he would come to the table with his cute little play computer, some books and crayons, and it was always adorable. One of the pages in his workbook was a section for him to color in different people and different occupations, such as a doctor, a police officer, a fireman, etc. He was talking about everything he was coloring, but when he came across the fireman, he seemed to pause, staring at it. before he finally started coloring again. I just thought that he was trying to decide how to color it, or something like that. I knew that he couldn't read it so well, so I knew that he wasn't reading the page,

but it was pretty obviously a fireman. He had on the uniform, the front of the truck was behind him, and he was holding the long hose. Jaden also loved fire trucks. So when he started coloring, I made a comment about it, asking what color he was going to make the dog sitting next to the man. He told me that he was going to make it look like our current dog, Sparky, and continued coloring. I smiled, let him do as he was doing as I did my own work. Shortly after, he then looked at me and asked,

Do you remember when I was big? I looked at him smiling and said, said, you're a big boy now. He rolled his eyes and said, No, when it was big like you, a grown-up. A little confused, I told him, well, you aren't a grown-up yet, hon, but you will be.

Just don't grow up too fast on me. He held out his arms on the table like he was exasperated and explained. No, I used to be big, but then my bedroom was on fire, and I got really hot, and the fireman helped me get out, but it was too hard to breathe, and I got too tired. It wasn't his fault, but that's why I want to be a fireman.

I want to help people, too. My first thought was, what the heck did my kid watch recently? My oldest, Spencer, was looking back and forth between me and Jaden, obviously just as confused as I was. I asked Jaden why he would say all that. and he had the most serious look that a five-year-old could have and said that he didn't know but he could remember it. Spencer waved his arms in the air and said,

Ooh, he was reincarnated, and started laughing. I gave him the mom look. If you're a parent, you know what I'm talking about. Once he lowered his arms, Jaden asked what that meant, but I told him it wasn't important and to continue working, which he did. I was confused by this conversation. I guess reincarnation was a possible explanation, but I was a skeptic, to be honest.

I told my husband about it when he returned home, and when we put Jaden to bed that night, we asked him about it again. Jaden explained the exact same thing. He explained how he was an adult, how he'd gone to bed, and woke up feeling really hot. He said that he couldn't touch the door knob because it hurt him. He then told me what the fireman looked like, and sadly explained how he got too tired by the time he was out, so he went to sleep. But that he couldn't remember anything after that.

My husband asked him out loud where he had heard that from, and he said, From my head! I remember it! We just left that alone and went to bed. talking about it in our own room. At first we both kind of thought that it was creepy, but also assumed that he must have seen it somewhere. There was no other explanation for this.

Nothing, at least, that made sense. I don't know if it was because we showed interest in his stories or what, but Jaden started talking about the past life more. He was brushing his teeth and started playing with his hair, and I asked what he was doing. He said that his hair used to be really dark, like Iron Man's, and he asked me why he didn't have a beard like he used to. All of my kids have reddish-orange hair, never dark hair.

Neither did my husband deny, so I told him that he didn't have dark hair, and that he would get a beard when he got older. Again, becoming annoyed by me, he turned to me hands out and slowly said, when I was a grown-up. I just apologized and told him I was having trouble understanding. He told me that it was okay, and he gave the best explanation that a five-year-old could, about, you guessed it, a reincarnation.

He mentioned how he felt tired after the fire, and that all he could see was dark. He said that he waited there until he heard someone calling his name, and then got mad because he couldn't remember his name. And then someone told him his new name was Jaden. The next thing he remembered after that was a bright light, and being really cold. Then he said that he was here. It was such a strange thing to listen to, considering how consistent he was with his story.

The details all remained the same. Jaden mentioned his other life on multiple occasions, and it was probably consistent throughout the rest of the year. But then, one night while everyone was asleep, I heard a soft, Mommy, being whispered to me. I rolled over and opened my eyes to see Jaden just standing there over me, holding his little light-up dinosaur. I asked him if he was okay,

because it was unusual for him to come to our room. My other two were very attached, but Jaden had always been pretty independent. As soon as we got him his own big kid bed, he stayed in his room every night with no issues. He looked at me smiling and simply said, I remember now. My name?

It was Arthur. But I'm happy here as Jaden. Thank you for being my mom. He then patted me on the head and walked back out of the room. I got up to go check on him being half awake. I had no idea what he was going on about. I got to his room to see him lay back down in his bed,

tell me good nights, and then he fell asleep. The next morning, I asked him about it while we ate breakfast, and he basically had no recollection of this. Spencer suggested that maybe he was sleepwalking, but his choice of words was what stood out to me. However, no matter how many times I asked Jaden about it or mentioned the other person in the fire, he looked at me confused. He said that his name was Jaden, and that it always had been.

So, I guess that's over. His memory or vision lasted a little under a year, and after remembering his name, it was done. Since then, it has not been brought up again by him. But the rest of us remember what he said and described. But now I find myself conflicted on what exactly it was that my kid experienced. Way, way back whenever I was a little kid, my father loved to make it a point to be a part of my life and every chance that he could. I won't say that it was a permanent thing, as he and I don't really speak much anymore, but every single. summer up until I was 16, he made it a point to plan this super important camping trip with

myself and my brother. My brother hated it. I absolutely loved it, and I would look forward to it literally every single year. My dad would plan for a few days off from his job, make us pack up the essentials, and then on the day of the trip we would get up at like three or four in the morning to drive the several hours to the same campgrounds, as every other year. You would always take us to the same location, and we would always camp in the exact same spot. From there, we would go fishing, hiking, nature watching, just everything like that that you can do in nature. Now, like I said, my dad made a point

to do this with us. While we aren't on the same page anymore, and aren't on talking terms, for reasons that are beyond the scope of this story. These days out in the woods are some of my most cherished core memories, and I will never forget how much fun I had doing all the things we did. Because I remembered how fun it was, I wanted to create the same memories in connection with my own son. So, when he was around nine years old, I decided that we would plan to take a trip to the same campgrounds

that my dad had taken me to. It took me a really long time to convince my wife that we should go camping. And when she finally agreed, she basically told me that if literally anything went wrong, we had to go home immediately. I relented, because I knew that she wasn't going to budge on this, so I agreed and said that we would be super careful, and I promised that it would be a great time for all three of us. We got all of our stuff together, and we headed out on to the road. It was early enough that the summer sun wasn't quite beating down, but it was definitely starting to warm up. I could tell that she wasn't happy with that fact that it was going to likely be hot,

but I told her that I couldn't control the weather and that it would be a lot nicer in the evenings. We got to the spot and got out of the truck, and I just kind of took a deep breath in while I was. stepped out onto the grass. The minute my eyes landed on the plot of land, a huge rush of nostalgia hit me. I remembered all the times that my dad and I spent out there fishing, bird watching, and just enjoying the summer days. We started to unpack and set up our tent, and I was telling my wife about all the things that I wanted to do while we were there. She said that she wanted to get some pictures of birds out in the woods, and that, despite the heat, she was pretty excited to spend some time

out in the wilderness. After we got the tent set up and we were convinced that we were ready to camp, my wife asked if we could check out the surrounding area before the sun went down. I agreed. I was pretty psyched to see how much things had changed since I was last there. We started out into the woods, and my wife was taking pictures of everything she could find. She was taking picks of literally everything she saw, deer, birds, squirrels, and then I noticed that she had paused while staring through the viewfinder of her digital camera. I asked if everything was okay or if there was something that she saw, and she said that there was something up ahead that she wanted to check out. We walked up to where she was pointing her camera, and I was pretty shocked by what was there. Right in front of us was what looked like a seven-foot-by-three-four-foot-large rectangular area

that appeared to have been dug up and refilled with dirt. It was pretty obviously recent, but it looked like it could have maybe been a few days or a couple of weeks since it was filled in. My wife then asked me if this was a camping thing, but I had a pretty good feeling that it was much, much worse. I told her that this was the one thing that would go wrong, and that we needed to go ahead and pack up. She was a bit confused, but I mentioned that we needed to report this to the police. She didn't follow at first, but after we got the stuff in the car and we were heading back out,

I mentioned that what we saw was probably a grave. She went as pale as a ghost and agreed that that was enough to cancel the trip. We reported it to the cops. I told them that we were out hiking in the area and that we found what looked like a grave. They said they would check it out, but obviously never told us anything more than that. We decided to make plans to do something else, and to stay in a hotel for a couple of days. We just went to the zoo instead of camping. I haven't been able to convince her to go camping ever since, but honestly, I can't.

Blame her. I work at an average Americanized Italian restaurant as a waitress. It isn't the most popular place in town, but it certainly isn't the worst place either. Before you ask, no, it is not Olive Garden. Sometimes we'll put discounts out online, or in the paper, so people can come in and get the food cheaper. This is relevant to part of the issue that we had with them. We tend to get a lot of suburban moms and their kids, especially at lunchtime. We didn't have any more tables other than one that was reserved, and a woman came in with her three children. They all had to be under 10 years old. She argued with the hostess, but this isn't exactly unusual. I don't really know what happened because I'm not the hostess, and I was just focusing on my job. One of my tables left,

and then she was seated in my section. When I walked over, said hello, and asked if she was ready to order, she looked at me as though I was dirt under her shoe. People aren't always polite to wait staff, so I ignored it and kept going. I had a feeling that I wasn't going to get much of a tip. Her and her kids ordered their meals. I put the order in and brought them their drinks. She didn't look up from her phone to say thank you, but her kids did.

Again, not exactly uncommon. I told them that their food would be done soon, left and went to deal with some other tables. I didn't see what happened as I was in the kitchen getting plates for another table, when I heard loud screaming coming from inside. I saw her standing up and yelling at another woman. Both of them were screaming at the top of their lungs, pushing each other, and then they had some sort of awkward slap fight. outside of a workplace, it almost would have been funny.

But their kids nearly got hit in the process. I put the plates down and went to try to get to the bottom of what was going on. Something about accidentally hitting each other with their chair, I guess? Rather than apologizing the two women decided to make a scene. One threatened us by saying she was going to tell her husband who was a judge, and the other was threatening to sue us. Neither of them listened when I asked them to stop. My manager, who is pretty cool, came over and told them that they were embarrassing themselves.

They argued with her for a while before the other customers started to get incredibly angry about having their meals disturbed. They started telling the two women to shut up, and it broke into the two women just paying and then leaving. All of their kids looked so damn embarrassed by how their parents were behaving. But this isn't the end of it. I don't know who did it, but they started flooding all of our social media with bad reviews from fake accounts. Saying the food was terrible and that the staff was even worse. Okay, fair enough. We'd it out and it'll fade.

But we would then start getting fake bookings that started to negatively impact the business itself. So we had to change the system. We guessed it was one of the two because there hadn't been any other issues. before. These things were both pretty tame compared to what happened next. I got a text from my manager asking me to come in a little early, and when I came in, there was paint all over the windows. The plants outside had been smashed and broken, and finally we had some camera footage to let us know who it was. And you guessed it, one of the Karens came back to get back at us. We finally had proofs, so the same

staff had to clean up her mess, and the owners made a report to the police. She was charged for it. We then started to receive angry phone calls about trying to ruin the life of a mother. The husband finally came in, paid us off, apologized for her behavior, and the charges were dropped. We still randomly get the negative reviews. I'll never come here ever again. This is a terrible restaurant, blah, blah. I came to work one day, and sure enough, the non-vandalizing Karen was seated at a table with the menu,

and was super quiet in comparison to how she was. So much for her ranting comment. She was served, she paid quietly, and left with no drama. Overall, it was pretty anticlimatic, until we realized that she tried lying by saying the staff was treating her unfairly and even threatened her. The manager told her that after everything, she was lucky she was even permitted inside the store. And she told us that she would be coming back. So, yeah, that's my encounter with two Karens. Oh, and if she does come back and causes any trouble at all, I'll send that story in.

Thanks, Raven. You have an awesome channel. Thank you. When this took place, I was around 15 years old. Back in my teenage years, I used to spend a lot of my summer break out fishing with my dad and my uncle, and they knew all of the good spots to go, including some places that were on private property. My uncle lived out there, and he knew most of the people that owned the land. So, for the most part, we were typically allowed to fish on them without question. On this day, we had decided to go to one of the small ponds that was on the farm

of my uncle's friend, and we decided that we were going to go early in the morning. Now, I hated these morning trips, because I was a teenager and I just wanted to sleep until noon on my summer breaks. But you know how it goes. This pond was surrounded by a barbed wire fence, so it was definitely not in an area where people would be around it, or question whether or not it was private. But we had come in from the front of the property, so we had pretty easy access to it. Obviously, when we got to the water and started to get comfortable, there was nobody around. It was just the three of us.

Things were going pretty well for the first couple of hours, but as the morning started to drive on, the bites were becoming less and less. I was pretty well focused on the water and my bobber, but I looked over and noticed that my dad and uncle both had their lines, out of the water. They were standing off to the side and whispering to each other. I couldn't hear what they were saying, so I asked if they were okay and what they were doing. My dad told me not to worry about it. I just went back to watching my line and decided that it wasn't super important.

After a few minutes, my dad came back over and said that I needed to go ahead and reel in. I was confused because I figured that we were going to be. be there for a few hours more, but he told me that we needed to go ahead and head off. I got all my stuff together, got up, and I heard my dad say something like, where did he go? My uncle looked around and then said, I don't see him anymore. I asked who they were talking about, and again, they both told me to hush. I was annoyed, sure, but I was also 15. I just assumed that something was going on and they didn't want to tell me. As we were walking back to the car, I heard what sounded like a seriously loud bang,

almost like a really big firecracker going off nearby. As soon as it happened, my uncle and my dad grabbed me and jumped down into a small gully. I asked again what was going on, and they ignored me again. After a few moments, my uncle said that we needed to leave the gear and and run to the car. My dad agreed. He told me to leave the fishing stuff, which I was upset about, and I told him that I didn't want to leave it behind.

He just told me to do it, and that we would come back for it. For the sake of not just going on and on about this whole thing, we left the fishing gear, and we made it back to the car and drove back to my uncle's friend's house. They were all talking in the living room, and they told me to just sit on the car. the couch and not move. Then my uncle and his friend went back out onto the property. Both of them had guns. After they left, I told my dad that he needed to tell me what was going on, and he surprisingly

did. He told me that while we were fishing, they had noticed that there was a guy standing in the trees that was watching us. He just stood there for a while and didn't move. And then when my dad waved at him, he said that the guy brandished a gun. That was about the time that he said we needed to go ahead and leave, and then as we were walking back, that loud bang was apparently the guy shooting at us. After scouting the property, they said that they didn't find anyone,

but they did find a few spots where rounds had hit trees, and they weren't far off from where we were standing when the shot went off. Obviously, I was a bit freaked out, and mad that my dad didn't tell me what was happening. But I get it. It was pretty terrifying, and they never figured out who it was. We also never went back out to that pond, even though the person that owned the land added a better fence in the back area where the pond was.

I think the whole thing just kind of got to my dad and uncle a bit too much for them to go back.