Endless Thread - Screamtime: Haunted House, Holy Water

Episode Date: October 5, 2018

When Alex was in high school, he and his best friend used to break into abandoned houses. Alex was a tough guy, giving people hell. Until one night, in one of those abandoned houses... hell gave him something back.

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Produced by the ILAP at WBUR, Boston. Josh. Emery. Ben. Oh, yes. The three endless thread production team Amigos back together on microphones. And you know what that means. Snack time?

Like the thing where we eat tasty snacks and talk about Reddit stories? A Halloween version of snack time. Yep, all throughout the month of October, endless thread is bringing you scary stories from Reddit. Stories of the supernatural. Stories about children and creepy moments with family photo albums. A story about zombie ants. And a story about a creeping, searing feeling of impending doom. Josh had the genius idea of calling this series not snack time, but scream time.

Truth. And to introduce scream time, I think we should all give our best Halloween scream. You guys ready? Oh, sure. Yep. Three, two, one. I'm Ben Brock Johnson, and you are listening to Endless Thread, the show featuring stories from the vast ecosystem of online communities called Reddit.

I'm here with my co-host Amory Seberts and producer Josh Swartz, and we are coming to you from Boston's NPR station, WBUR. When I say haunted house, Amory, what comes up in your mind? I'm afraid of most houses in general, so I'd say anything that has more rooms than people living in it. Like if there are a bunch of empty rooms in a house, they've got to be haunted. Josh, what about you? I think about all those horror movies where there's like a group of unsuspecting teenagers

who decide for some unbeknownst reason to investigate something in a haunted house that clearly does not need further investigating. Yeah. All right, well, I think of the intro to that show. Tales from the Crypt with the skeleton in the basement that pops out of the coffin. Do you guys know what I'm talking about? Nope. No.

Sounds like another dated Ben Brock Johnson reference. I guess this old decrepit skeleton is showing his age. From the Crypt. Okay. This story we found is a kind of classic haunted house story. Troubled teens hanging out where they don't belong, symbolism, holy water, it's got it all. But it has this added layer of strangeness to it because it really happened, according to the guy who wrote about the experience on Reddit.

Hi, my name is Alex Acefi. My dad is from Afghanistan, and my mom is from Puerto Rico. I live out in Martinez, California. I'm 27 years old. Alex grew up in California's Central Valley. As a teenager, he was pretty skeptical of the supernatural. Before what happened those nights, I didn't really believe in goes. or none of that.

That was something, it was always those scary stories you heard about a friend's friend and whatnot. But after those visits to that house, I became a firm believer that I cannot be convinced otherwise. Yeah, Ryan, I met him when I was in third grade, actually. We met riding bikes.

He was outside riding his bike. I was outside riding my bike. So for years, we were just bond over riding bikes, taking them through the field. riding them off makeshift ramps, trying to race cars, and then we just grew up. And then eventually we got into exploring abandoned homes. So the story takes place in Modesto, California. The city I grew up in around my freshman or junior year, so 2006 to 2008, during the housing crisis.

It's been 10 years. So you kind of forget that this. There were whole neighborhoods that got turned into ghost towns by the housing crisis. Or neighborhoods where it was more like an encroaching blight. Certain streets were like mouths with random rotting teeth. Alex's hometown was one of those. Here and there you'd see abandoned houses. Some of them looked like they were hit pretty hard.

Other kids and gang members would tag it up and break into it and just smash it to pieces. It was just me and Ryan. And at first, we saw all these abandoned houses and we were like, why not? Let's go inside. We would always set out around 12 a.m. I always dressed dark, so it blend in, you know, dark colors blended with the night. And I tried to bring as little with me as possible, just travel light so that way I can run a lot faster from whatever. Ryan is funny.

He always had this, it wasn't really a trench coat, but it was like this military jacket. And he could shove so much like stuff in there. And that's exactly the way he would do. He just put a bunch of knives or whatever he needed. He didn't travel late. He carried, he was the artillery. The front yard was fenced off.

And outside the fence, there was a, there was no sidewalk. It was gravel. The backyard was not kept well. Grass was pretty tall. I had this really crappy flip phone. That was our only source of light. I remember I picked the brightest background, and I set the thing to full brightness.

And that was our source of light. There's a door that leads straight into the garage. And in the garage is another door that goes into the kitchen. Both those doors were unlocked, and that's how we got in. It was empty. There was no furniture, none of that. So after we did our full round through the house, we found ourselves back in the kitchen,

and above the kitchen doorway there was a bronze shield ornament hanging above. It didn't even look nice, honestly. It looked old, dirty. After I pulled it down, I did take a look at it, and then I was just too lazy to put it back up. I tried putting it back on the hooks, but I just couldn't figure it out. So I threw it at my feet.

And as I did that, I took a step into the further into the kitchen where Ryan was standing. And as I took that step, I could hear something slide across the floor. It was the marble floor, and I can hear something slide across it, and it hit the wall.

So me and Ryan kind of just sat there, staring at each other, because we didn't know what the hell that was. So we both go down there to go see what it was. This is freaky. But Ryan and Alex investigate, and they're relieved to find the shield. Alex thinks he kicked it by accident when he took a step in.

I mean, he doesn't actually believe that, but that's what they agree to tell each other. And they figure out how to place it back where it originally was above the kitchen doorway. And then I took another step in, back into the kitchen. and behind me I could hear the metal hit the floor and slide across the ground again. There was definitely someone in the house.

Like there had to be someone else in there with us. And we were just too scared to go any further. So we left through that back door that was in the back room. And we started to make her away home. And I think like a week goes by, I think I mentioned it to a few friends. So they were just like, Oh, no, that didn't happen.

Well, let's go check it out. So we took them with us. And we went through the same way. The door was still unlocked through the garage and then through the kitchen. As I'm walking into the garage, I noticed this shelf full of light bulbs. And I'm the last one into the house through the kitchen. And as I shut the door behind me, it sounded like someone was just pulling the light bulbs out of their boxes and just throwing them on the ground. You could just hear just all the glass, just breaking on the floor.

And we all froze. And I was super scared because I was next to the door. So I thought someone was just going to run inside and just attack us. The friends who had come to the house for the first time are fully spooked. One of them says, that's it. I'm out. So the group decides to leave. And they get out of the house as fast as they can, through the back door and into the long grass.

I'm about midway through the backyard and I turn around and I notice Ryan's not right behind me he's still inside the house and he's staring down the hallway he's doing like a lean behind a wall looking down the hallway

but against that wall there was a door that was off its hinges and I'm calling Ryan I'm like yo it's time to go we're leaving and he's not listening to me so I call him a few more times I'm just like Ryan I get progressively louder

and then finally he looks it. And then he takes a step forward. And I could see the door. It looked like someone tried to slam the door on top of it. That's when he ran towards me. And I was like, holy shit, dude, the door just like flew on top of you. And we both just like ran towards the group. Once the kids scramble out of the yard and into the street where there's more light, one of the new explorers says there's something wrong with his leg, where he feels this terrible burning sensation. And he pulls up his pants, and I'm sure enough, he's got three scratches that go up his,

that start from his ankle and go like midway through his calf. These scratches clawed up the kid's leg. They look really weird. The kid who got them has no explanation. He's just terrified. He was like, I'm never going back there ever again. That kid didn't. But Alex and Ryan, guess what?

They went back. Why, Emory? Why? Why did they go back? Hubris, foolishness, who knows what inspires these horror movie moves? Either way, we are going back into the house with them in a minute.

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the creative studio from WBUR's Business Partnerships team. Become a thought leader. Recruit new talent. Reach new audiences. Whatever your goal, we can help. Discover how the magic is made at wbUR.org slash creative studio. It would be easy to write off Alex's haunted house story, except we have someone to corroborate it. My name's AJ. Alex is a friend and Ryan, Ryan's my brother. Alex is the kind of guy that if he sees something or whatever happens, in a situation. Like, it could be anything.

He gets excited about it, but he doesn't exaggerate. Pretty much take him at his word. Ryan and Alex came back one night. Like, they, I mean, just like any other night, you know, after school, they would go off on their adventure and just roam in the city. Well, they came back with a story and was like, dude, this crazy stuff happened. You know, of course, I'm like, yeah, right. But they're like, yeah, dude, let's go look at it.

We'll show you. And when AJ gets there with his little brother, Ryan and Alex, the vibe of the place immediately just doesn't sit right with AJ. It looked like it has not been taken care of in months. And, you know, I was thinking it could be like a homeless person was sleeping there or something. But I think if it was a homeless person, one of us would have seen or heard a person. This time, before the guys go into the house, they cased the joint a little more from the outside.

I kind of wanted to take a closer look at the house and next to the house. There were some bushes. So I kind of step closer in that direction. I start to get really scared for some reason. Like this sense of dread just came over me. And as I'm turning away to walk towards the group, something from the corner of my eye, it's hard to say what it was,

but it looked like something jumped out of the bushes. Some black humanoid thing jumped out of the bushes, and then into the tall grass. And it did this really weird motion. It looked like from the corner of my eye, it did like a leapfrog out of the bushes and then into the tall grass. And I snapped my head over real quick.

And nothing was there. I didn't see anything. So I was like, holy shit. Like, what was that? Did I really see something out of the corner of my eye? So I kind of like hustle over to the group. And I was like, yo, I think I think I just saw something. And then we're like, you know, we kind of just like take a glance and look and we don't see anyone.

So we just like kind of like brush it off and ignore it. We make our way to the kitchen. And we're chatting in the kitchen. I'm sitting on the sent window sill. And across to me is AJ and he's looking inside the living room. I feel like a tugging on the back of my shirt. And just like, you know, just like thinking it's one of the guys. I'm like, hey, do you knock it off.

Well, there's nowhere behind me. I'm realizing that everybody's in front of me. And as AJ's turning around to face us, To me, it looked like someone pulled him into the room. Like, they wrapped a rope around his waist, and whatever it was, just yanked him into the room. He was so scared. Like, he was hanging onto the walls for dear life.

Like, he was just smacking everything, just trying to hold on to something, but it pulled him hard, and he couldn't hold on to the door frame. So he fell on his butt, and as soon as he fell on his butt, he jumped up, and he ran over to me. And I'm like, okay, that's when I was like,

yeah, it's time to go. And he was like, I want to get the fuck out of here. And on our way home, that's where I notice Ryan starts to have, well, Ryan mentions his pain on his back. And he's grimacing pretty hard. I've known Ryan for years. He's got the highest pain taunts I've ever, and anyone I've ever met. You could pop him in the face, and he would just smile and throw the punches right back, act like nothing. So Alex lifts up to his shirt, and he sees like a, it's like a big scratch.

It looked like somebody with like three fingers or a claw or something. Well, I'm going to say it looked like somebody with three fingers just like scratched him from his shoulder all the way down to like his hip. You can imagine it like someone took a little tiny metal wire and scratched down your leg or something. And it left the thinnest scratch. But it was deep. It drew blood.

And then we started making our way home further. And then he notices his pocket knife. and is missing. My brother Ryan, he had this pocket knife and that he always carried him. He always had a knife. And he was like, I got to go back for that. I was pissed off.

I was like, dude, how did you lose that? You know, at first we were just like, you know what, let's just, it's gone. We'll come back in the morning or it's gone. He was just like, no, dude, that's my favorite knife. So, of course, I'm not going to let him go back in there alone. So we both go back. This is a terrible idea,

but they do it anyway. And immediately when they get into the house, the guys realize they've made a big mistake. This house has come alive. That's when the banging got really loud. The banging and we think something was getting thrown. Whenever we would leave a room, the thrashing would start behind us,

and then we would hear throwing it further down in front of us. It just sounded like someone was thrashing inside the walls. And we could hear it all throughout the house. Every time they race into another room, to confront whoever or whatever is doing this, the sound moves elsewhere in the house. And worse, the guys can't find the knife in any of the rooms. I mean, there was nothing, no evidence of his knife anywhere.

Like, no hallway, no bedroom, it was gone. So they decided to get out of there before something really bad happens. They head towards the kitchen and the front door. And as we creep up on the front door, my light starts to show more and more. and you could see the big-ass knife, like someone with all their might, shoved it into the door. But we heard nothing, no sound.

And that was definitely going to make a sound. I would at least make a huge thud throughout the whole house, but we heard absolutely nothing. And the knife was just sticking in the door. So we grabbed the knife. And we went home and I never went back after that. I don't think I ever went back after that. I don't do stuff like that.

that anymore. I don't know if it was the house, but I grew out of it at a time. But every house I went to after that, I always, deep down, I was afraid that it would happen again. Me and Ryan would always question, what if this house is just like that old one? Why do you think you never got scratched? That's a good question. Ryan at his house, he had holy water. And every night, before I went out, I would dump my hands in there, make the sign of the cross over my body just to protect me from whatever was going to happen in the night. And I honestly think it was the holy water. It was vacant for a while until I'm not sure who moved in, but they had some old lady there

and she was creepy. Her hair was really thin and she kind of looked always like she was in a daze sitting on her porch. Every time I walked by the house, I always stared at it. And sometimes she'd be outside staring back at me. For the people who don't believe it, I don't blame you. It sounds crazy. It sounds like I made it up.

I swear all my life, everything in that Reddit post and everything I've said today is true. While we were getting this story from Alex and AJ, we were having trouble getting one more important voice, Ryan. The other guys said he works long shifts and he's not really into answering his phone. but one day we called, and he picked up. Yeah, my name's Ryan Date. I live in Modesto, California, and I was one of the other guys that went into the house.

When I remembered hearing that it used to be like an older, kind of like a joint living old folks home. What about these scratches? You got scratched one night, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, actually. I think my brother was there at the time. I'm not 100% sure. as we were leaving, I just had this burning pain in my back.

I lifted up my shirt, and I guess there was three long scratch marks from like the top of my neck all the way down to my lower back. What did you think it was when you first discovered that? Honestly, at that point, I did think it was something like paranormal, something that goes to me. 100% do believe in the paranormal now. It's not like you've seen the movies, but definitely very close to. The kicker of this whole story is, I suppose, what this house has become. Yeah, people do live there now. It's an old folks home.

And we called the company that runs the home to try to talk to them. And they would not talk to us. Yeah, I'm not authorized to give any information out. In a way, that's okay. Because, as AJ said, there's this school of thought where the more you talk about paranormal stuff, the more you might be affected by it. So maybe it's better we don't tell. them anything else.

Well, next week, we've got another scream time story for you, a chilling account from Reddit, about a creature that hits you with venom so powerful it makes you want to die. If somebody had offered me a gun, I'd have just gone, thank you, I'm off the planet. That's next week's episode of Endless Threads scream time. Endless Thread is a production of WBUR, Boston's NPR station in partnership with Reddit. By the way, today's story is included in this season of the podcast Spooked from Snap Judgment. Thanks to Glenn Washington, Eliza Smith, Erica Lance, Jasmine Aguilera, Mark Ristich, and Anna Sussman. We are huge fans of Snap Judgment and spooked from WMIC Studios.

If you don't already, please check those shows out and subscribe. If you don't subscribe, we will send the ghouls your way the next time they ask us who to hunt mercilessly. Our show is a dream realized by Jessica Alpert, who says Urban Exploring is, Not my job. Iris Adler is our executive producer, and she says our haunted house episode is... Perfect timing. Mix and sound designed by Paul Vicus and John Parati, and they think humanoid creatures and bushes are... Mildly awesome.

Our web producer is Megan Kelly, and when we asked her if she's a jock or nerd, she said... Have we met? Michael Pope is our advisor, Reddit, and he uses his flip phone for... Casual conversation. Our fellow producer Josh Swartz can also say that Endless Thread is... Something I made. Extra production assistance from Jamie. Lindberg. Our intern is Candace Limb. Our theme music is by Squelcher. Thanks to Redditor Mike

Phillips Art for this week's artwork. It is called Inktober Haunted House. On Reddit, we are Endless underscore Thread. If you want to contribute art for an upcoming episode or give us a juicy story tip so we can tell it like we did today, hit us up there. My co-host and producer is Amory Seavertson. I'm senior producer and host Ben Brock Johnson. I'll love myself out.