Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings, and Mysteries - 120: Reddit Scary Stories: Feral People, Hospital Hauntings, Close Calls with Killers,, and more (Feat. Morgan Absher)

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

Today, Morgan and I share our favorite scary stories from Reddit. Which ones haunt you the most? Get stickers! https://shop.heartstartspounding.com/ Subscribe on ⁠Patreon ⁠for bonus content and to become a member of our Rogue Detecting Society. Patrons have access to bonus content as well as other perks. And members of our High Council on Patreon have access to our after-show called Footnotes, where I share my case file with our producer, Matt. Apple subscriptions are now live! Get access to bonus episodes and more when you subscribe on Apple Podcasts. Follow on ⁠Tik Tok ⁠and ⁠Instagram⁠ for a daily dose of horror. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome to Heart Starts Pounding, a podcast of horrors, hauntings and mysteries. And today, I have a very special episode for everyone because I'm joined by Miss Morgan Absher. Hello, everyone. Morgan and I have a new show together, Clues. We do. Which, I mean, the response has been amazing.

I know so many people from Heart Starts Pounding are listening. I know. It's been so exciting to see. It's been insane to see. I really, I love the community we have going so far. We have a great community. We've done some really, like, intense deep dives too so far.

The first episode we did was on Lacey Peterson. We did The Golden State Killer, which is a huge case to cover. Massive. And then we have, like, really interesting ones coming up. Like, we did the case of Casey Anthony, which is... That one, yeah. I was blown away by that one. I still am, like, shocked that, you know,

nothing really came of it, but, hey, reasonable doubt. We get into all of that and... ALIANA BELLO, JR. Totally. That was one where I didn't realize how much I didn't know about the case until we really dove into the research. SHANNON COFFEY-BROCK, JR. That and Lacey Peterson. Which was such a wide spread, widely known in the media case. And that's something I saw in the comments too,

on the video, is so many people were like, I thought I wasn't gonna learn anything new. You guys went deeper than any other podcast did. So if you haven't listened already, you can listen to Clues basically wherever you get your podcasts. It's on YouTube, it's streaming everywhere, and that has been, like, really fun to work on with you. It's been great. I love it. I love working with you.

And I'm so excited for today because today we're gonna do kind of a classic... Well, this is new for Heart, Stars, Pounding. Okay. I wanted to find something that was, like, halfway between Heart, Stars, Pounding and Two Hot Takes, which is your show. We just recorded an episode. We did. I'm so excited for that one to come out.

But I wanted to find just really scary internet stories. And so we're gonna divide these up today. You have stories that you're gonna read. You're coming in cold too, which I'm excited for. I'm really excited for that because I... I don't do that often. No. Like ever.

Yeah, you usually like read through things, you know exactly what you're gonna say. But what I like about it being scary stories is I want to get your reaction as you're reading. I'm... You guys, I'm such a jump scare type person. I'm really excited for this experience. So your stories that you have are a little more grounded. They're horror of our world, I'll say.

And then the ones that I have are borderline supernatural. They're horror from some would say another realm. And so we're both gonna read our stories. And I want the audience to let me know which stories they think are scarier. I have some people that are all about, I want facts, I want science, I want the real world stories. And some people that are like,

I just want a really good ghost story. Tell me a really spooky ghost story. So I'm excited. We have a bunch from both. All right, shall we begin reading our stories? Okay, so you have the first one that I want you to read to me, because I haven't heard this one. Okay, it is titled, He Was Making Human Traps.

I grew up on the countryside, right next to a national park, frequently visited by nature lovers and bird enthusiasts. It was kind of the park where you're not really allowed to bike or ride horses, only walk or run. But 10 year old me felt it was a stupid rule and did so anyways, because the trails were perfect for it. I knew fully well that I wasn't supposed to do that, and was caught a few times but nothing much came of it apart from a half-hearted, don't do it again. And I did, of course, until one day something frightening happened that made me stop.

My family were horse breeders and I would often take off on the horses for a ride, usually in the Forbidden Park. This day, very early morning, the first day of the summer holiday, it was beautiful outdoors. Misty and foggy, yet a sky that promised a sunny day ahead. Since it was so early, before six o'clock, I knew there wouldn't be anyone on the trail to see me, so I let the horse set off full speed along the trail.

It only slowed down on the part of the trail that got steep on one side leading down to the river because the thought of one step too close to the edge was too much even for a kid with next to non-existent risk assessment skills. Suddenly, the horse came to a halt and refused to take another step. I grew up with horses all my life. I know that that usually indicates that you need to investigate. Is there something with the hooves? Did the horse spot something that spooked it? The hooves were fine, but the horse didn't move an inch. That's when I saw it. Someone had set up a trap, a thin, sharp metal wire across the trail, in perfect neck height for an adult. I stopped and looked around, but didn't see anyone. The wire was well attached to two

trees and impossible for me to remove, so I led the horse around it, and to do so, I had to walk a bit up into the wooden area, on the side of the trail. That's when I heard the singing. There is a song called Hey Tomtoman, and it was that melody, but the lyrics were different and sung in a muffled, sniggering voice. Today, I only remember parts of it, but translated it would have been something like, Hey, all you runners, come here passing, let the life blood pour out. I, as silently as I could, and with my heart in my throat, backed away, got up on the horse

and hurried back the way I came as fast as I could. I knew I had to tell someone about it, but at the same time wanted to avoid admitting to riding a huge and very forbidden horse on those protected trails. So now I had a problem. The old stories about a mad old man living in the shed in the woods, a shed that was once a cottage for the local hunter, came back to me as I hung on the horse for dear life. I got home and told my older brother what had happened. He went back there with me in tow. We found the wire trap and after a while of searching, we also found a spear-like pole in the ground, right on the spot where you'd land if you

came running and jumped over the fallen tree on the trail. That's when we called the police. The area was searched and several similar traps were found, but no sight of the old man. The following summer, though, there was big news in the local paper about spear-like poles being found right under the water surface, directly under that little tower you're supposed to dive from at the lake. And black garbage bags filled with big rocks were found on the narrow bridge crossing the river, so that if a car had hit it, risk is it would have gone off the road and into the water.

Ugh. That is insane. You never know who your neighbors are, truly. I've actually heard of this happening, like the wire thing. Oh, it's so bad, but like, I saw a TikTok or something recently where someone was snowmobiling

and it was posted to the trend and they were like sharing snowmobile videos and they were like, little does she know, her life will change in an instant, whatever. And her friend she was snowmobiling with hit one of these wires because a farmer didn't want someone going across their field. Oh, so they purposefully set it up so someone would hit their... I feel like if you're going fast enough, you can be decapitated.

You do. It happens. Oh my gosh. And the fact that the horse stopped and like saw it and knew, wow. I mean, you ride horses, they have a sense of things. They do. Horses. And they get spooked. They spook, and like the fact that this person

was able to stay on with the horse spooking and stopping, like, that is also hard to do. So, guardian angel luck all around. Yeah. Wow. That's really scary. I would just really try to not ever go near that property ever again. Because clearly, in the song too, kind of being symbolic of...

something that this person wanted to do. The lyrics were like, "'Let the lifeblood pour out of you.'" "'Hey, you runners, let the lifeblood pour out of you.'" "'Hey, all you runners, come here passing.'" "'Let the lifeblood pour out.'" I don't like it. No. It's giving sacrifice.

That one, that's very scary. That is very scary. What's up with the garbage bags? More poles in the water. Yeah. Like, shish kebab someone as they jump. And then rocks and garbage bags. Like, what else was in the garbage bags?

This person is like doing this for sport, I think, at that point. Yeah, absolutely. Just like waiting for someone to, like, just for the fun of it. Because it's not like, oh, I don't want them to come on my property. The setup feels like, oh, I want to watch someone

hit one of these traps. Absolutely. Absolutely. And just like the creepiness of that, to know someone in the woods is probably there and sees you, but you can't see them. Yes. Hey, I'm Tanks and Atchie here with my co-host... Investigators later....and we would like to tell you a little bit about our podcast, Psychopedia. Yes. And I'm just here to lighten things up a little bit with you, baby. You know, never at the expense of the victims though, obviously.

Come join our family of little psychos over on Psychopedia, available on the Odyssey app or wherever you listen to your podcasts. That actually kind of brings me to the story that I have for you. Oh, gosh. So this one, every month I have the Patreon members and Apple subscribers send me suggestions on what, like, the bonus episode should be, and the high council tier on Patreon can vote.

And every month, basically, the second most chosen topic is about feral people and feral children. And so I found a story, and it's never been number one, it's like literally always number two, but I found a story that someone wrote in the Backwoods Creepy subreddit, called, my grandfather had an encounter with f someone wrote in the Backwoods Creepy subreddit, called, My Grandfather Had an Encounter with Feral People in the 1950s.

Wow. So it begins, In early January of this year, I accompanied my grandfather down to eastern Tennessee to the small rural town he grew up in. While on this trip, my grandfather shared with me a lot of stories about his childhood, growing up in Appalachia, and a lot of other things.

I learned a lot about him that I simply never knew. One story in particular, however, was genuinely scary, and I had trouble sleeping the night after I heard it. I still occasionally have weird nightmares about it. Let me recount that story below. So in February of 1954, a few weeks before my grandfather turned 12, his family's little farm had been experiencing some attacks on their animals, mainly the chickens. And the weeks before they had lost seven or eight chickens from their flock of 30 or so. They had a small property an acre or two

in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, specifically near a place called Hall Mountain. One night during a fairly heavy snowstorm, my grandfather's family was awoken to the sounds of chickens screaming and flocking around their coop some 70 or so yards away from the house. My grandfather and his dad, Paul, immediately jumped into their boots and coats and ran outside to confront what they believed would be some coyotes. As they ran outside the back door, my great grandfather with his rifle and my grandfather

with his pellet gun both stopped dead in their tracks. As they saw what my grandfather described as, the nastiest, most foul looking human type creature you could possibly imagine. A light on in the barn illuminated the creature and my grandfather said that it was almost bare naked save for what looked like a pelt draped around its shoulders and it had a dead in the barn illuminated the creature and my grandfather said that it was almost bare-naked, save for what looked like a pelt draped around its shoulders, and it had a dead chicken in its mouth. His dad snapped out of shock, fired a few rounds at it, and he nicked it once on the upper thigh. It ran across a field initially on two legs before it dropped down

to all fours and disappeared into the woods. My grandfather and his dad stood there in shock. They stayed outside for a few hours pacing back and forth on the porch and waited for the creature to come back, but it never did. My grandfather said he hardly slept for the rest of that night. The next morning, he and his family basically decided that they needed to follow the blood trail that was left behind by whatever creature they saw last night. It looked like it had gone down into the holler on the mountain. So by 1230 that next day, my grandfather, his father and his uncle Peter and another cousin named Samuel were all walking northwest into the woods following that bloody trail left behind the previous night. My grandfather said it felt like it was like an hour before anyone spoke because they were all just so scared.

His uncle Peter, who was much more of a hunter, stopped everyone and pointed at something slightly up the trail, tracks leading up to a spot in the snow that was soaked in blood. My grandfather said it looked like something had keeled over and died. And what really shocked them as they approached it, however, was how it appeared like whatever had laid there had been dragged deeper into the woods. So they had begun following the

new trail that had been dug through the snow and began noticing that there were multiple sets of tracks. Tracks that seemed to have been made by bare human feet alongside the dragged trail. It was at this moment that my grandfather noticed his father switching the safety of his rifle to off. They trekked along the trail further until they reached a small frozen stream and on the other side of the stream, tucked under a massive cliff overhang, was a cave entrance. My grandfather said it was about 20 feet across, maybe 6 and a half feet tall at its tallest, and the bloody drag marks and the multiple tracks led right across the stream and into the cave.

My great grandfather said that he was going to go into the cave, and if he didn't shout back that he was okay in five minutes, everyone needed to run back home and call the police. And then he walked over the river and stood at the cave entrance before shining a lightbulb into it and slowly walking in. My grandfather said he waited about four minutes before they heard his dad's voice, and it seemed like an eternity. But they saw him come out and my grandfather said that he was pale as a ghost and he hardly spoke on the entire hike back. They asked him to tell them what he saw, but he wouldn't budge and he said that they would talk later. And they all returned to my grandfather's house around three o'clock in the afternoon.

Finally, later that day, my grandfather's father sat everyone down and said that he was ready to tell them what they had seen in the cave. And he said, I went into that cave and I saw people. They aren't people like you or me or anyone we know. They're very different. They live deep in the woods and they don't leave hardly ever. They're almost like animals. I suppose you might call them wild. It seems like they lived deep in those woods and holler longer than anyone has ever been there. We saw the person that I think I shot last night. He must've. And his people were giving him a burial, I believe.

They saw us, they acknowledged us, and they didn't seem mad, but I know we weren't welcome back. Everything over there is theirs, and we will leave them to it. My grandfather said that this was the only time his father ever spoke of what he saw in that cave. And then the author says, I know the whole feral people concept is up in the air,

and most people don't believe it, which I completely understand. Honestly, I still don't think I do either. But the way my grandfather spoke about it, the sincerity with which he spoke and the tone of his voice during certain parts of the story, I fully believe he was being honest. He truly saw his father fatally shoot a feral human being, and his father truly saw a feral community living in a cave deep in the Appalachian hills. Oh, I got the chills multiple times. Do you know the lore of the feral people in Appalachia at all?

Not super well. I've, like, seen a video here and there about, like, people going in and investigating and interviewing them. Yeah. here and there about, like, people going in and investigating and interviewing them. Like, language development's not as ours is. It's really interesting, but I fully believe this. There's like a theory that, I know one of the leading theories is that during the Great Depression, people couldn't really live in society anymore.

They didn't have any money. So they started their own communities in the hills. And that's where the idea of feral people came from. And then, but some people go even further and say, no, these are like in the descent. I don't know if you've seen that horror movie, but... Why was I thinking of that? I've learned. It came up the other day too.

But yeah, they've been down there so long. Yeah, they start adapting to the area, right? Like they don't use sight, they just use sound. Yeah. Same for these cave feral people. I think they're definitely out there. There's so much we don't see. I also believe in Bigfoot, so...

I don't know, like, I think there's just creatures, like the Loch Ness Monster. They might be few and far between, but there's so many stories about seeing them and encountering them that, like, you have so many different people all over saying the same thing. For a lot of history, too. A lot of these stories, especially in Appalachia,

have been being told for hundreds of years. So, and people have been seeing these things, and they swear they see these things, and then people come in and they're like, no, it's not real, Like, there's no one there. Well, there's like the Appalachia, like, scream too, right? Where it's like, if you hear that scream, you need to go. Oh, yeah, they say that. Right.

And like the same with the whistling in the woods and the... Yeah. The fact he went into the cave... Insane. So brave. No, thanks. I wouldn't have gone. No, like you saw the blood, like clearly there's

multiple of the, it's a pool and multiple other tracks, like they dragged them back, no. Uh-uh. Mm-mm. No. So that one really spooks me. I hope the listeners that keep voting for the feral people every month enjoyed that one because...

That was a hard read at, like, midnight last night. Oh, my gosh. Now I'm like, what would you do if you were in the woods and you encountered someone? Book it. I'd be so gone. See, here's where I toy. Here's where I'm like, do you just act really crazy? Like, they say with certain bears, you know, the bear saying...

Oh, yeah, you have to start screaming and looking big. And you can scare them away. The thing is, I don't think I'm scaring away another person. A bear is gonna get confused and be like, think I'm bigger than I am or more dangerous than I am. I don't think I can fool a person. This is giving the same energy as, like, a gorilla versus a hundred men. That's like, who would make it out.

Yeah, who would win, Morgan or a feral person. Oh, probably the feral person, honestly. I'm scrappy, but they're stronger. Okay, do you want to read this next one that I have picked up for you, story number three? Okay, this one is, my brother saw a ghost as a kid. I was about seven years old, my brother about ten.

It was well past our bedtime when our mom woke up off of the couch and put us to bed. Our dad worked construction out of town back then, so it was often just the three of us at the house for weeks at a time. Up the stairs and to the immediate right was our parents' bedroom. Going left put you in the middle of a hallway, taking another left down that hallway led to my brother's room. The opposite end was my room, which was also across the hall from our upstairs bathroom. At the end of the hallway are windowed doors we always kept locked and rarely used. The

door on my end led to a balcony overlooking our front yard, and the door on my brother's end opened up to our back porch. The house kind of leans into a small hill. My brother and mom both had a habit of waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. I only knew this because I was always a light sleeper and they just couldn't help flushing with the door wide open. This night, however, my brother stopped on his way to his room and came back towards the bathroom. He said, quote, I'm going to try to pee before I go to bed. The past few nights, I've been too afraid to walk to the bathroom. I keep seeing a man wearing

stripes at the end of the hallway. I don't know if my mom wrote it off as my brother telling ghost stories to try to scare me or if she was already half asleep and didn't catch it, but she didn't react at all to my brother's confession. I, on the other hand, was terrified by it. The fear of seeing a ghost like that at the end of the hallway or through the windows is the reason I started running from the stairs to my bedroom at night. Years later, when I was about 18, my mom and I were having a conversation in her car about a dog we had for a very short time when I was little.

We were sharing stories about Max's tendency towards destroying my shoes and other unruly behavior when my mom blurted out, quote, "'Do you remember that time I opened the front door for the cops and max ran inside the kitchen and started tearing open that big bag of dog food we had? This really caught me by surprise because in all the years I lived in that house, we never once called the cops.

Gun owner family in a quiet rural West Virginia neighborhood, etc. Asked her what she was talking about, and she looked equally surprised as if she had just revealed something by accident. Quote, Oh, that's right. I never told you because you were too young at the time. One night I woke up hearing noises outside my window. And when I looked, I saw a man staring into my bedroom. She went on to describe how turning on the lights caused him to take off running and how she grabbed my dad's pistol before calling the cops. I can't remember all the details I gave them when they showed up. Tall, white male, wearing a striped shirt and jeans, short dark hair, something like that. They said it matched

the description of a man they were looking for in the area. It turns out he had escaped from jail on a murder charge. Now I know it sounds so obvious hearing those two stories back to back, but it wasn't until a few years ago, in my mid-twenties, that I pieced together that my brother had unknowingly warned us about a murderer who spent multiple nights casing our home. Oh, my gosh. Ugh! Oh, and the kid saw him first. And everyone thought it was a ghost.

Multiple nights. Multiple. Yeah, it sounds like he was casing the house if it was multiple nights. It's giving Golden State. It's like that was his MO, like to case the house at night. And, yes. Oh, my gosh. I mean, that's the thing is, like, there's people who break in

because of an opportunity, they see an open window or an unlocked door and they'll go in. But if someone is casing your house, they are looking to do real damage. Yeah, especially he got out of jail on a murder charge. Murder charge. Oh, that's freaky of jail on a murder charge. Murder charge. Oh, that's freaky. We talked about this when we just did your episode, the idea of like, do you tell someone

the whole story so they know? Like, do you tell the kid? Yeah, I think you do. Or do you let them think it was a ghost? Wait, I don't know what's... It's hard because like, unless you find out that he's caught, you would want your kids to know, like, hey, if you see this man, run inside, it's not a ghost. Yeah, true.

Because they're thinking it's just this apparition, and it's like, it's fine, I'll just keep walking, it's just a ghost. No, this is a physical being that could snatch you. Call the police immediately if you see him. It's not just like, oh, scary ghost in the house. Yeah, no, it's like, hey, if you see a guy, striped shirt, do not open the door, call the cops, like, it's not a ghost.

Because these two kids didn't react, and they had both seen him. Right, right. Yeah, you gotta tell. I think you have to say something, maybe. If I was a kid and I knew that there was a murderer casing my house, I would still be in therapy over that. Age-appropriate terms, stranger danger.

Yes, right, right. Don't let him in. If you see this stranger, he was in jail murderer casing my house, I would still be in therapy over that. Age appropriate terms. Stranger danger. Yes, right, right. Don't let him in. If you see this stranger, he was in jail on an ice cream charge, and just let us know. We'll call the police. Yeah, that's how you do it. Yeah, he stole someone's ice cream. He stole someone's ice cream.

And it's very important you don't talk to him. From early morning workouts that need a boost, to late night drives that need vibes, a good playlist can help you make the most out of your everyday. And when it comes to everyday spending, you can count on the PC Insider's World Elite MasterCard to help you earn the most PC optimum points everywhere you shop. With the best playlists, you never miss a good song. With this card, you never miss out on getting the most points on everyday purchases. The PC Insider's World Elite Master Mastercard. The card for living unlimited.

Conditions apply to all benefits. Visit the more you match, the better. We also have top table games like our incredible Super Spin Roulette, Blackjack, and a huge selection of slots. So there you have it. How can you match that? Check out PrizeMatcher and see why it's never ordinary at Bet 365. Must be 19 or older, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you or someone you know has concerns about gambling, visit connexontario.ca, T's and Z's apply.

I have two stories for you to pick between. Luckily, they are not super, like, real world horror. I won't say real. Like, of our world horror, they're a little more supernatural. So, I have a story from someone who works search and rescue. And then I have one from someone who works in a haunted hospital. Mmm. They're both gonna be so good. I know. I used to work in a hospital. Let's go hospital. Mmm. They're both gonna be so poisoned.

I know. I used to work in a hospital. Let's go hospital. Yeah, okay, that's what I thought you were gonna choose. And then I wanna know if you've ever encountered anything scary in a hospital. I get so many listeners who are like, dude, I work in a hospital, and the weirdest stuff ever happens there.

So this came from a thread where someone was asking, any hospital patients or workers with ghost stories? Okay. Obviously, it got a ton of responses, because these people just encounter so much. I'm sad, I'm ready. So this person goes, I worked in a very large hospital that had multiple buildings

and big parking lots. Staff had to park in a lot that was a hike at the best of times, and just a pain in the ass in bad weather. But at least the buildings were connected by this underground walkway. I started around 7am and I got there early to avoid commuter traffic, which meant I was usually in the underground walkway alone after 6am. It was for sure over 400 feet long. The hallway had those metal doors at intervals with push bars and glass that had metal grids in them like schools had.

Many times I'd be there before the maintenance staff who would unlock the doors in the hallway, which meant that I would be blocked from getting to my workspace and I'd have to wait in the hallway until they made the journey down to unlock all of the doors. Otherwise, I would have to go back to the beginning and walk upstairs through the hospital corridors. There were probably connecting ways to get upstairs, but I just

didn't know how. One time I was in the underground hallway and walking to my workspace and I noticed a guy a couple hundred feet in front of me outside of a huge white door. I had no idea where that led to hospitals have a ton of doors. I'm walking and I'm walking and he's just standing there facing the wall. And I'm walking and I'm walking and in the blink of an eye, he's no longer standing there. Right in front of my view, he's gone. Okay, whatever. That was strange. There were no other doors right there that he could have ducked into. Finally, I get up to where he was standing and I just keep on going to my desk.

Some days or weeks later, it was raining out and one of my coworkers comes in soaking wet and I ask her why she just didn't take the lower hallway. And she says she won't walk down there because strange things have happened. I asked for more info and she says that she's worked there for years and many workers have seen people just standing there. And then they will vanish in a blink. All outside of the door. What door? I asked. The big white door? Yes, she says. That's the morgue door. And she's having none of that after seeing someone blink out of existence as she was walking down the hallway. I casually asked other workers if that was the morgue door in fact and they all confirmed yikes. But I did keep using the hallway anyways. I'm not going to walk in the rain or snow. So ghosts get out of my way. I have places to be

and things to go do. Oh my gosh. Yeah, no, I would not be able to use that hallway. No way. I fully believe so that is like always outside the morgue door too. Like they're all being seen outside of the same door. TAMARA Yeah. They're probably passing. They're going hopefully somewhere passing on. Gosh. ALIHA Probably confused too.

Like, this is not my house. Where am I? Yeah. TAMARA No. And like, I don't know where you fall on this. If you are like ghosts are only there sometimes or like they're probably always there, but we just can't see them. I don't know where you fall on this. If you are like, ghosts are only there sometimes, or like, they're probably always there, but we just can't see them.

I don't know where you fall, but I'm like, oh, God, just to be down there. And it's like, what if you accidentally go into a little portal? Yeah, some people believe they're on loops. So sometimes you'll see like one person who's just kind of always standing there and can't really interact with the environment.

And that person is maybe on a loop and doesn't know what else is happening. And then other people, they say that there's like two kinds of ghosts, right? There's like those ghosts. And then the other kind of ghosts that are like a little bit more with it and they'll look at you. And maybe they'll say something or reach at you. It seems like they can interact with the space

a little bit more. But it seems like, I mean, if it's just one guy who's always looking at the door, that's some sort of loop that he's trapped in. That's so sad too. I know. We've done a few paranormal episodes, and like, we take a lot of listener write-ins

from, like, for Too Hot Takes and for my dad's show, Father Knows Something. And we've had a few people share pictures after, like, their encounters where, like, they have physical marks. Oh, my gosh. And to have that energy people share pictures after, like, their encounters where, like, they have physical marks. Oh, my gosh. And to have that energy and the entity can, like, touch and hurt you, like, that to me is...

I just wouldn't want to take a chance. I get so many pictures from people and I love it. I love when they send me photos, because it's just so scary. I actually have a listener who has reached out before and shared their paranormal stories and just the way that energy can hold on to a location or a place and impact things.

Like, he's actually a paranormal researcher and ended up going and visiting this hotel that his uncle had bought in Chicago. And he shows up to the hotel and he's like, it's not under construction. Like, what was my uncle talking about? It's beautifully restored. And he walks in and meets a guy, Bellhop,

and the manager, and has full conversations with them, and gets a tour, and sees this grand ballroom, and meets kitchen staff. And all of a sudden, like, he's like, we gotta call him. Like, something's off, whatever. So he goes outside to call his uncle, and he's like, hey, like, are you sure it's okay that we come in and investigate? Like, you're operational.

And he goes, what? No, we're not. We haven't even started construction yet. All of a sudden, all of their batteries drain on their phones, their cameras, everything. He turns around, the facade or whatever he saw, completely gone. Ooh, yeah, those time slip stories get me so good. Oh, my God, it's a real person.

He's shared his credentials with me, like doesn't want me to share them publicly, and then has sent me other stories. Like he works in a haunted museum right now, and I'm like, I want to go meet him, but I'm like, I fully believe it. You can't tell me that story and then have it just be, it's too good.

I know, it's so specific to just like invented it. I know, I'm gonna get the hotel name. Maybe we go there for a haunted recording. I would love to time slip. I would love it. What if you get stuck? I'm okay with it. I guess it depends on the time, but... Depends on the time. Let's go. Let's try something new. You know, I don't know. 2025.

It's a little rough here. So maybe I know what if you times up to like the 1100s and you're in just, I don't know. I see that's a risk. That is a risk that you take. That's a risk. I don't know. I don't know. Wow. All right. Do you want to read the next one? Ooh, yeah. I think there's two back-to-back ones that you're supposed to read. They're in the same category. Okay. I'm ready. So, this is titled, Two Pregnant Women Stories. This one's coming from Reddit user eczblack.

Pretty sure my dog saved me from a dangerous encounter. I was very pregnant and was leaving the grocery store with my cart. Lexi was waiting for me in the car. She loved the car rides when the weather was good. So I was loading up the groceries and realized that a man I had seen sitting in a car before I went into the store was still there and was watching me. He got out of his car and asked if I needed assistance, which I get, I was very pregnant, it was the polite thing to do, but something about it immediately put me on alert.

I was completely unnerved by him and still can't state exactly what it was. I said no thanks, I've got it, but he continued to get out of his vehicle and walk towards my car. Lexi had been snuggled up on the front seat and must have heard that there was some concern in my voice or something. Dude continued to walk my direction, claiming he just wanted to help. I continued to say, no, I don't need help. No worries. As the man approached the hatch of my vehicle where I was loading the groceries, Lexi sprang up from the front seat, leapt over the back seat,

and jumped to the cargo area and started growling and baring her teeth. It was dark, and she was an all-black dog, so she seemingly appeared from nowhere. That was the only thing that made the dude back up and leave. He started cursing at me, calling me names for not accepting his help, and for me letting my dog threaten him. It will say, thank goodness it was dark, because Lexi was a cardigan Welsh Gorgie that was all black and was far less intimidating looking in the daylight. She looked like a black lab puppy but had super short, stumpy legs.

She stayed right by my ankles the rest of the night once we were home, would not let me out of her sight. Oh, my gosh. Oh, thank God the dog was there. And also to be offended that someone's like, you didn't let me help you. No. I'll tear your motives.

Yes, absolutely. And I think the second one that you have too is another one that's like, in that same category. Okay. So why don't you read that one and then we'll discuss. This one is coming from Manito Bears. I was pregnant with my first child in 2001. Right before my due date, I was obviously really pregnant.

I was shopping in Walmart, and I started to notice this woman on every aisle I went to. I would guess she was in her mid-30s. When I went to the baby section to look at the clothes, she started asking me questions. At first, the baby section to look at the clothes, she started asking me questions. At first, they were common, like about the gender. Then the questions started getting strange. Was I married? Did we have a house or an apartment? She commented on my accent and was curious if we had anyone in the area. I am from Michigan

and was stationed in Florida, visiting for the birth. Kind of odd. I was 20, young, but I was married and my husband and I were both active duty, living off base in a rental house. I just told her yes, we were excited and to have a good rest of her day. She then started actually following me, telling me her husband was outside of the store and they could help me take my groceries to my house. That's when I got really nervous.

I told her I was fine, thanks, that my husband was home and could help me. She then told me they had a big truck and that she would buy me a large baby item. I politely declined and she was so insistent, becoming aggressive. She then offered to buy my husband a grill, since we didn't need any baby things. I was getting panicky at this point, because I knew this lady was not right. I went to check out, so did she. She got out before me, and I watched her race walk out of the store, and sure enough, she and her husband were pulled along the curb at the front near the pop machines.

They were in a beat-up old yellow box truck. Husband rolls down the window and says, quote, We'd be happy to help you with that. I again declined and went to my car. I loaded up and watched for a minute. They didn't move. They just watched me. As soon as I pulled out, they did too. I hauled ass out of there, and they were only behind

me for a minute or two. I still drove around crying for about 30 minutes, making sure they were gone, before I had to pee and needed to go home. I'm now 44, and that is the first and one of just a few times that I've felt that level of fear in my life. What do you think they were trying to do? Kidnapper. Steal her baby. And steal the baby. 100%. Ah.

Whew. That is a question I have for any of my listeners who have been pregnant, but are people weird to you? Yes. Like how often do you see such scary stories of... You're also so vulnerable when you're pregnant. You can't run that fast. Like, I think people see you as just an easy target sometimes.

They do. I think they really do. And people that are sick and twisted, who are they gonna go after? The most vulnerable? The woman with the cankles, I can't run that fast to get away. Yeah. Yeah. And then... but to also want to steal the baby. There's cases where that happens even amongst friends.

Like the woman who faked being pregnant while her friend was pregnant, and then killed her and took the baby. And like took the baby. And that is not the only time that's happened. I feel like I've read a couple stories where someone believes that they can just take someone else's baby and no one will ask questions.

Like... I mean, it brings us back to the episode you had on Georgia Tan. Yeah. Like, it's that kind of same, like, I did hear or saw in one source that I read on it that she would also, like, steal babies. Like, she would tell the mother that the baby died and then take it.

There was, I mean, we talked about it in the episode. There was one night where every mother that gave birth believed that their child died because the staff told them. And Georgia had all of the kids taken out of the hospital. Because everyone was in her pocket. What the... What amount of money is worth doing that to people? I don't know.

Like, she's not giving them, like... She was selling those kids for about $200,000 a pop though. She was making so, like in today's money, but she was making so much money. And so I wonder if that, like that couple, I wonder if the intention was, oh, I'm going to take a baby, and that we're gonna raise it as our baby.

Or I'm gonna take this baby and I have someone I can sell it to. I was thinking sale. Yeah, oh, really? Some sort of weird adoption air quotes on that ring. Underground adoption thing. Yeah, because I don't think they were necessarily trying to kidnap her. I think they wanted to see where she lives so that they could then stalk her after the birth and take the baby. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, the...

We can help you unload the groceries in your house. Like, we need to see where you live. That's spooky. I... See, I'm like, I try not to be super pessimistic about people, but no one is this nice and helpful in today's times. And like, even, you know, now, you know, she's 44, like 20 years ago, like... Or people who...

Oh. People who are that nice usually do back off if you insist you're okay. Exactly. It's the like, no, oh, you don't need a baby gift, I'll buy you a grill. Like, you're just looking for a way in at that point. You want to see where I live.

You're not trying to be nice anymore. No. Yeah, totally. That is... Makes my skin crawl. You're just looking for a way in at that point. You're not trying to be nice anymore. No. Yeah. Totally. Wow. That is... makes my skin crawl. That's insane. Both of them very lucky.

Oh, this is it. The day you finally ask for that big promotion. You're in front of your mirror with your Starbucks coffee. Be confident. Assertive. Remember eye contact. But also, remember to blink. Smile. But not too much. That's weird. What if you aren't any good at your job? What if they demote you instead? Okay. Don't be silly. You're smart. You're

driven. You're going to be late if you keep talking to the mirror. This promotion is yours. Go get them. Starbucks. It's never just coffee. Okay, I have one more for you. And then we're gonna share our own personal stories and speak of things that happen to us. So, this one is another hospital-ish one, because I know you worked in a hospital. And I like hearing your perspective on things.

This one is called, and actually, I'll have to grab my phone, because today when I was going through these stories, I got a voice memo from a listener who had a story that fit into this category. So I'm going to play you that too. But this one is called The Man in the Corner. So this was on a Reddit thread that asked, Redditors who have worked around death and burial,

what's your best ghost story? And it spawned this whole thread, where one person basically said, I worked within hospice in long-term care. And the spookiest phenomenon was the man in the corner. It happens all the time for people who are actively dying. They see a shadowy man in the corner of their room. So another commenter wrote,

I witnessed this firsthand when I helped a family member who was on hospice. The creepiest part was that myself and the other workers saw a shadow man moving out of the corner of our eyes on multiple occasions before her passing. If they hadn't witnessed it too, I would have thought I was losing it. Fortunately, she did reach for it and she wanted to go. So that's interesting. And then someone else wrote, holy crap, this happens often in the facility I worked at. They constantly would beg us to tell the person in the corner that they weren't ready.

And then another person goes, it just keeps going. They say, this just unlocked a memory for me. My grandmother was still able to walk and was in and out of nursing homes, and she would get up and go out the front door constantly at weird hours because she said, the man in the room was coming for her. So eventually someone asks,

is this man in the corner perceived as bad or as dangerous to a patient? And someone had an answer to it. They said, I would have to say it depends on the patient and their reaction upon seeing the man. I like to think that seeing the man in the corner helps them be ready for what's coming next, death. And sometimes the patients react negatively to it,

like freaking out, crying, asking for help. And other times, they just tell me he's there without any reaction at all. That makes me sad. I had a patient way back in 2018 who saw his wife before he passed though, and he cried for help and I still can't forget his voice. His wife passed years before he did and he died that weekend. Okay. So this comes from Marley who sent me this today. So in this, she's referencing a time where I did an episode where I had a hospice nurse on, and she confirms a lot of this. But one of the stories she talks about is, like,

seeing a kid bouncing a ball is another common thing that people report seeing before they die. So you'll hear her reference that. So my great-grandma had a stroke on my 16th birthday, and she ended up in a nursing home. She didn't pass from the stroke, but was severely handicapped from it. And she would try and talk to us,

but it was very gurgled because she was having a lot of problems with her muscular functions on her mouth. So she was talking to us in the nursing home and she was telling us, everyone coming to see her and she was listening out like her kids and blah, blah, blah. And she would tell these stories about the men in the white, or the men in the black cloaks

that would stand at the foot of her bed, but they weren't coming for her yet. And we just assumed that was some type of hallucination. And she would tell us about the kids that were coming into her room and playing with the ball. And I can't imagine that the person who you spoke to who worked at the nursing home was the same nursing facility that my great grandmother was in. Because what are the chances of that? So this is happening at like multiple places that people are seeing or hearing children playing

and like giggling and playing with the ball and the ball piece specifically, not just like playing. She specified like with a ball, with a ball. I just can't even handle it, but that's all. Wow. Yeah. She sent me that story and she was like freaking out. She sent me a message before it too. Cause she was like, I cannot believe you talked about this, because no one in my family can make sense of like this thing that my great-grandmother experienced. Yeah, the kids and the ball is interesting. Yeah, that one I can't figure out.

The kids playing with the balls. And so many people talk about that. Kids running around. I wonder if it's a thing where like in the hospital, there's places where children play. And I don't know what it is. And so many people talk about that. Kids running around. I wonder if it's a thing where, like, in the hospital, there's places where children play. Yeah, I don't know what it is. Or children that have passed or they're playing. And you're just like, if you're on the brink,

you're like the veil. I feel like the veil, people call it the veil, it's like it's slipping. And so if you're on the brink, it's like, you start being more susceptible to that energy because, like, you're kind of in this in-between. Yeah. I wonder. Yeah. I wonder... Yeah, we did talk about that a little bit

in that episode of like how the weirdest stuff tends to happen on either side of someone dying. It's like the days leading up and the days after. There's just weird stuff that happens. Yeah. My cousin has had a really crazy experience and then I'll share mine. Yeah, I wanna hear yours. We're keeping them here. I know, I'm keeping them here long. So my grandma passed, and like, everyone in our family

had like some sort of encounter, whether it was like a dream, because I do think people can visit you in your dreams. Oh, they can, yeah. So my dad had that. But my one cousin... Both cousins actually had experiences, but the one kept like falling asleep, and every time he would wake up,

it was like Oceans 11 or whatever playing on the TV. And the song they would play was like the song my grandma loved. It got played at her funeral. And multiple different nights, he woke up to Oceans 11 playing, and it was that song. Oh, my gosh. And then my other cousin, doing something, watching TV, and there's something on, like, a cooking channel

or food network, whatever. They're doing a tour of the Seas Candy Shop here in LA. And my grandma loved Seas Candy. That was her go-to. And she's like, oh, this is funny, Doris loved Seas. Sure enough, guess who's shopping through the aisle at the Cease candy store on this Food Network special? My grandma. Yeah.

She had already, like, she had passed. But like, to be watching TV at that moment, you see this woman that's gone, like on the, like, what? And you're thinking, oh, Cease. I probably believe a lot of it, more so, because of the experience I had. Yeah, tell me about it. I'm so curious. So during one of my occupational therapy,

like, internships, I worked at a hospital out in Palm Springs. And you would think, oh, the hospital's where you had your experience. Nope. Never had a hospital experience. I was staying at a classmate's mom's, like, Airbnb. So she had... It was like, you'd walk in the house and you were in the living room, and it kind of just, like, carried into the kitchen.

And then all the bedrooms were, like, off of this L-shaped hallway. And at the end of the hallway was, like, laundry in the garage. So I was in the first room, because it was, like, the biggest. And so one night, I'm like going to bed, asleep, but I get woken up by like footsteps in the hallway. And there was no other Airbnb guest, like I was the only one in that house. And all I could hear is like...

Like bare feet, pitter pattering across the hallway. And I'm like, what the hell? And all of a sudden, the light, like, I can see under the crack of my door, the light is going on and off. And like, I could hear mumbled voices. And they weren't in my room, but they were like, clearly in the hallway, but I couldn't tell where they were in the hallway, like, how close

because of the L shape. But I was going crazy. I'm like, just go to bed. Just go to bed. Please go to bed. It was so real. And people are like, you probably had a sleep paralysis dream. I'm like, no. I know what I heard. I know what I saw with the light underneath the door. Like, it was real.

Yeah. And could you move at the time too? Because that's like the key. I remember pulling the blanket over my head. Yeah, so it's not sleep paralysis. And I'm like, I definitely wasn't dreaming. It was like, it was so real. And then a couple weeks later, the classmate's cousin, who's like the nephew

of this woman that owns the house, he moves in. So he's now staying in a bedroom down the hall. And I get home from work one day, and I'm doing laundry, and he comes out and he goes, did you unlock that other bedroom door? I'm like, what? He goes, that bedroom door's unlocked. And I'm like, no, I didn't touch it.

And what's really weird is because of that experience, I was so scared of that house, that any time I'd walk down the hallway, I would check the doorknobs to make sure all the other bedrooms were locked, and no one is secretly living in this house with me. True. All locked. I'd just gone down there and done it

because I was doing my laundry. And so he goes, yeah, when I came home from work, that bedroom door was wide open. Oh! Like, okay, great. Yeah, it's the opening of the doors. Great. Ooh, great. You said this was Palm Springs? Palm Springs, like, Cathedral City, and like, this, great. Yeah, it's the opening of the doors. Great. Ooh, great. You said this was Palm Springs?

Palm Springs, like, Cathedral City, and, like, this house was so locked down, like, there were bars in the sliding glass doors. Like, the windows had bars, like, you know, where you could put it in the tracks, you can't open them. There were locks, but also on the locks, there were chains. So no one was getting in and no one was getting out, because if I set the chain,

you can't undo it to get out, and then the chain would be off. Yeah. The chain was still on, doors were always locked. There was no one seemingly coming and going. So my only logical explanation, paranormal. That's spooky. I mean, it does sound like a ghost. They all... A lot of the ghost stories I get to

are them kind of just messing with you. It's like the door is just open, and you're like, -"What? Why?" -"It's insane. I just... I really hope my new house isn't haunted." Well, it's already off to a bad start. I know. The door was moving. I found a bone in the backyard. I'm like, it's not going well, guys.

Yeah. It's fine. You have to keep me posted on that. I feel like you're gonna see something me posted on that. I know. I feel like you're gonna see something in there. I think I will. It definitely has just different energy in there. If you just feel it.

So I'm gonna bring in like a little spiritualist to do a proper cleanse, I think. I think that's smart. Yeah, just do a little cleanse. Start on the right foot. Can't be too careful. You can't be too careful. These houses, some of the houses are like,

I mean, I say old, they're not really that old, but some of them are kind of old. Hey, the earth they're built on is old. And I don't know what happened there. That's what people forget. Yeah. It's like, it doesn't have to be just the bones of the house. It's like the area, there's a lot of energy everywhere.

Yeah. But I'm curious to hear from the audience. Now that you've heard all these stories, both paranormal and true crime of our world, what kinds of stories do you guys find the scariest? Because it's always a mix. Like, I have a feeling some people are actually gonna find like the pregnancy stories the scariest,

because that could just happen to anyone. It's so tangible. It's so real. So tangible. For me, I think... knowing that the ghost I'm seeing outside my window is actually a guy that escaped from prison, that's maybe the scariest to me, but you guys, let us know in the comments

wherever you listen. I'm curious. I wanna hear what you guys think. And that's all we have for you today. Stream Clues, listen to Clues wherever you get your podcasts. And I will see you later this week for another episode on our main feed. And until next time, stay curious.