Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings, and Mysteries - 190. Reddit Scary Stories: The Darkest Things Hiding in Plain Sight (feat. Angela Giarratana & Morgan Absher)

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

Explore my Hungryroot Digital Cookbook "Kaelyn's Cookbook" and get 40% off your first order plus a free item in every box for life at https://hungryroot.com/HSPA creepy neighbor ruins cousin sleepovers forever when he takes it too far. A blind date turns into a fertility ritual!? An online stranger messages a private photo to an OP that was never posted previously, and a boyfriend discovers that his partner is hoarding every single thing he disposes of…yes, everything…it gets gross. Today we’re getting into some of the craziest stories from the internet with Angela from Smosh and Morgan from Two Hot Takes. TW: Stalking Find Angela here! https://www.instagram.com/angelagiovanagiarratana/?hl=en Find Morgan here! https://www.instagram.com/twohottakes/?hl=en Listen to mentioned episodes here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01d0Km1IHcghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS_6HxCb0kQhttps://youtu.be/9To4Mxnam7A?si=lkSbhMfwHq9rIm09&Love true crime, horror, folklore, and the unexplained? Join us in the Rogue Detecting Society on Patreon.Start for free to stay up to date on all things HSP with our newsletter, bonus content, and more. If you want to dive deeper into a community of fellow darkly curious listeners, upgrade for ad-free listening, monthly bonus episodes with topics voted on by members, merch perks, and Patreon-only group chats. High Council members also get Footnotes, our weekly after-show where Kaelyn dives deeper into the episode, recent true crime news, theories, and other scary stories from around the internet.Join free or go paid: https://www.patreon.com/heartstartspounding ❥๑━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━๑❥ About Heart Starts PoundingHosted by Kaelyn Moore, Heart Starts Pounding explores the terrifying, the mysterious, and the downright spooky. Kaelyn brings you chilling true crime, unexplained phenomena, and haunting stories from across the globe and submitted by listeners like you.Have a heart-pounding story to tell or a case request? Submit your story at https://www.heartstartspounding.com/storiesFollow Heart Starts Pounding:TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heartstartspounding Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartstartspounding/

This episode is brought to you by Hungry Root. If you've ever stared into your fridge at 6 p.m. with zero plan and zero inspiration, just know that I see you. Hungry Root changed all that for me. It's not just a meal kit. It combines meal kit convenience with a variety of a full grocery store. It learns the things I like, what I'm working towards, and also what fits my life. And then it delivers groceries and recipes tailored to me. I've tried things that I would have never picked on my own and actually loved them. Honestly, for me, the grocery store element of Hungry Root is a total game changer. I've used meal delivery services before, and I do love that Hungry Root provides really fresh, fast, easy meals that I can make at night.

But having a couple other groceries that I can just throw in the box, they also do snacks, desserts, little things to have on hand. It's a game changer. It feels much more full service than other meal delivery services I've tried. You can explore my digital cookbook, Kalin's cookbook, for free at HungryRoot.com slash HSP. and for a limited time, get 40% off your first order, plus a free item in every box for life with code HSP. Today, we're going to dive into some very spooky, very bizarre Reddit stories. And joining me are my two friends, Angela Giratana and Morgan Apture.

But quick, first, before we dive in, I just want to say thank you to all of the teachers out there in our heart size pounding community. Heart stars pounding was actually able to support over 40 classroom wish lists, all from teachers within our community. I really mean it when I say thank you for listening. you guys are the reason this show exists. And I hope that every teacher out there has an amazing start to the school year. Okay, this is Heart Starts Pounding. I'm Kailen-Mountain. I'm Kailen-Mor. We upload once a week, so make sure you're subscribed.

It's when your heart starts pounding. Welcome, guys. We're doing it. Okay, Morgan's got on the show before, but like, heartsized pounding listeners have been asking you for so long. Oh, my God. Highly requested. I'm popping my heart starts pounding cherry.

That was a tongue-wister. Yes. Yes. I cannot wait. And everyone's so excited to watch it. I have some spooky stories for us today, which I'm really excited about. But Angela, have you experienced anything spooky? And when I say spooky too, I don't necessarily mean paranormal.

I'm like, was there like a let's not meet type situation that you've ever been in? Ooh. Yeah. Something where your heart started pounding. See, I grew up in the church. So all my heart started pounding. It was like, is that the Holy Spirit? Or the devil?

Or the devil. Like Catholic Church? No. Oh. Like non-denominational hipster church. The worst kind. Wait, where are you from? I'm from the valley here.

Oh, interesting. Was it like a mega church type situation? Yeah, a little bit. A little bit. Okay. Yeah. Like a Hillsongy, like, type of. Okay.

But it was like, there were a lot of like cool ladies that were like open yourself up to feel the Holy Spirit in different ways. Yeah. And then sometimes you're like, are we feeling the Holy Spirit? spirit or is this house haunted? Yeah, for sure. I mean, so I grew up Catholic and then my husband grew up like Texas evangelical. So we had straight up demons in Catholicism and you were always kind of on the lookout for them and like there was like a guy that could go to your house and like exercise the demons. And then Matt grew up more like people speaking in tongues, like revival.

And mom's like that kind of, which also is its own kind of like spooky supernatural thing. Yes. Yeah, too. Well, okay, so I have a couple stories that I want to read us today. Some of them. are supernatural. I have this thing recently. I don't know what it is, but I feel like my sensibilities are getting a little darker. Like I'll start looking for stories and then I look at the list together. I'm like, some of these are really messed up. I don't think people will enjoy listening to them. So they actually might get darker as they go, but we'll start with some of the really bizarre ones. I have, okay, I actually am going to read this one first because you mentioned being in the church. So initially, we're kind of in the middle of what I call dark summer,

Like at summertime, I'm doing a lot of stories on heart starts pounding that have to do with like islands and shipwrecks and kind of summary things. And this story when I read it reminded me a lot of one of my favorite movies midsummer. Favorite? Yeah. That's like on your top. Yeah. Like letterbox top four. If I ever got that letterbox like microphone chipped on my face, I would say midsummer.

So I wasn't going to say anything but then Morgan said something. I was like, I've never known anyone that's like, I love that movie. It definitely. It traumatized me. I had nightmares for weeks. weeks. Really? Oh yeah. But is it like a comfort watch for you? I guess kind of. I think it's one of those movies. What I love about it is it feels like every time you watch it, you pick out more. There's so much. As a piece of art. You know, like there's a bear suit at the end and then you're seeing

like in her house there's like a picture of a bear and you're like the whole thing is so intentionally put together and as a breakup movie. It's great. Like their relationship I thought was so well constructed and it's fucked up, which I love. You know, like that. That's the stuff that I like. Yeah. No. When you put it that way. Okay.

I can get on board for you. It is like for your passion for it. Yeah. It's very beautiful. Florence Pugh. Let's go on. Florence. Her breakout role.

Oh, I love her. Wow. Oh my God. The cast is so good. But so this one is called, I thought my brother is being tricked into joining an MLM, but now I think it was a cult or something. This is from Reddit. It was, I have it initially as it was posted in Best of Reddit updates in March of 20, 22.

Okay. So this is the story. Starts. I don't even really know where to start, to be honest, but me, female, 28, and my brother, male 25, have always been very close considering that we're only three years apart in age, and we started hanging out with the same friend circle in our mid-teens. I had to move back in with my parents. It's a long story. And my brother has been living in a house down the road from my parents' home for the past four years. He works from home, but only has a part-time job and he hates his job. He came over about a month ago for coffee during his lunch break. So we were chatting,

and he told me how his friend had set him up on a blind date. He was really excited. He went on the date a few nights ago, and I heard all about it the next day. I'm going to call this girl Sarah. He told me Sarah was gorgeous. She was a year older than him, tall and slim. She had long blonde hair and green eyes. He said she's probably one of the most beautiful women he's ever met. I was so happy for him because I don't think he's had a girlfriend since he was 18, and the way he was talking about this girl made it sound like they really got along. He brought up that at the end of the date, she did ask him if he would like to meet her aunt and her sisters because he'd mentioned that he was unhappy with his work life and that she and her family have their own business. I thought that was weird, but he sounded really excited about it. I did make my feelings known telling him it kind of sounded like it was an MLM and like they were going to try to recruit him. He just laughed it off and he said that he was going to go around to the house to discuss it. And if it was an MLM, he would nope right out of there. I said, okay, be safe, have fun. Call me if you need anything, et cetera.

A few days passed, and I sent him a text asking how it went. And he replied saying, it definitely wasn't an MLM. There were more people there than just Sarah's sister and aunt, though. He said there were around 11 women there, and he was the only guy. He said that there was a lot of Catholic imagery around the house. We're in Ireland, so I didn't really suspect anything of this, to be honest. But also, there were, like, weird wooden masks on the walls and locks of hair. hair inside of frames that they said belonged to deceased relatives. He got there and they made him

some tea and then all the women were just chit-chatting until the aunt, not really their aunt, just a woman in her late 40s, came out and told them all to be quiet. They all took their seats, including my brother, who sits down next to Sarah and the aunt begins to speak. He said he wasn't really 100% sure what she was talking about, but it sounded like she was reading gospel passages or something, bits of English and bits of another unidentifiable language. The aunt asked my brother to stand up beside her at the front of the living room and all the women started passing around a basket and filling it with money. Apparently, soon after this collection was finished, the women started singing in this other language and then they just dispersed around the house.

He said, from that moment onwards, it was just kind of like a regular party or get together. He was a bit baffled, but an hour later, all the women had left and he was helping sing. Sarah clean up glasses and plates when the aunt came over and sat down at the kitchen table. She handed my brother the basket of money, which he didn't take, and said to him that if he comes back every week for these meetings, he'll receive that same money, if not more, as payment for his presence. He asked Sarah later that night once he had left, what the heck had happened? And she said it was a family tradition and as a man he should be rewarded.

And she was really adamant about him coming back the next week. He ended up not going. He blocked her on everything. But what the hell did my brother just attend? Why were they giving him money for doing nothing? Also, I just want to make it clear that I know my brother very well and he's a very honest person. He did not provide any sort of service to these women, nor did they ask him to. He and I literally have no idea what any of this was about. So I want to read one of the comments that came under this because this helped make it a lot more sense. But someone goes, this could be a fertility ritual. It's not super common, but it does sound likely. So think about it. All the women in the house were of childbearing age between 18 and 30. Your brother was treated as an object rather than as a human being, which indicated he played some sort of prop role. And the whole thing sounds like it was a little bit ritualistic. I could be completely wrong, but that was my first take on it. And also, there's some, shall we say, slightly more holistic women in the southwest where I'm from. And I have heard of this kind of thing before.

Whoa. Yeah. I love your reaction. So he does this. There is an update of the sister who kind of sort of figured out what it is. After someone suggested it was a fertility ritual. I literally, the only thing that came to mind was that movie Hereditary. Yeah.

That one where like they do a ritual to bring the guy and like their God and they put him in the boy's body. Mm-hmm. And I'm like, either way. creepy Yes creepy And he was the only guy Yeah

And that he would get that bag of money And they were just gonna give him The whole collection thing of cash And then what What is he gonna do Is he gonna have sex with all of them So

That's what I was like I was envisioning I'm like no one gets money for free Yeah It feels like it was sort of like Like they were grooming it To become something The author did say

So the business I found out That was run by Sarah's grandmother basically does perform rituals every week where women who are trying to get pregnant come and essentially listen to her sermons with a man who's present so that they can absorb the masculine, whatever that means. Whoa. And it's supposed to help them conceive. The payment doesn't 100% go to the man.

He gets 30% and then the aunt takes 70%. Yeah, she's got to get some money. Yeah. She's doing a full service. So it is some, like it's weird. It's not really an MLM, but there is kind of like a, like the people have to go out and like recruit this. man to come in. That's why it made me think of midsummer because that's basically his thing.

Yeah, pretty Sarah going out there as your little carrot getting dangled. So his energy is what they need, like this masculine energy. Yes. I do wonder though if it would escalate because it is women who are trying to get pregnant. Like where would it, where would it end up? Yeah. I wonder what the success rates are. I wonder if she has an actual website. And like we have a 72% success rate. All you have to do is like drink tea next to like a dude we find. And then you get his masculine energy. You pay him a little bit of money.

Yeah. That can't be the end all because there's got to be. I know. That would be my fear with it. Yeah. I mean, I've heard of crazy things that people do to get pregnant. A lot of like mucinex. I've heard mucinex can help you get pregnant.

Really? Yeah. So I'm like, honestly, if you've struggled, I'm kind of like I get it. Why you'd like, why you'd sign up? up honestly sounds like a beautiful community of camaraderie and women going through the same thing. Well, no, but here's the thing, though. Beautiful. Yeah.

It is one of those things where I think so many people take advantage of women who can't get pregnant and want to. And then they run scams like this where they're like, well, if you stand near this man, like we actually found that this works and all you have to do is pay us money. Honestly, that's true. That's very manipulative. It's giving the acting class scene in L.A. Where all you got to do is kind of pay money and somebody with a lot of, like, wisdom comes out

and starts talking at you and you go, yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. And they go, you're in a community of people and you're all wanting the same thing. Yeah. And you have each other and you're leaning on each other. And then some acting classes just pray on the week and then get you to pay for this workshop and this thing. But I mean, that's a massive jump I made. But it reminds me of like that. Or it's community. Also a thing too where like you sign up for this class and sometimes someone will come out and be like, I have the key to success. And whatever they say is just so weird and off base and is like wrong. But in that time, it makes sense like when people are so desperate for. something that any type of confidence you're drawn to. Yeah. Because you're so like, I want a baby or I want this. Yeah. I mean, so we literally just were on two girls, one goes and we talked about Scientology because that came up. But I remember, I used to work at a talent agency and I would have to go through listings every week of like auditions. And I would send them to actors, whatever, we'd get people to go audition on stuff. And there were always ones that were like, have a meeting with a real manager or like

roundtable with a big Hollywood actor, whatever. You click on it. Nothing on it. It's. says Scientology, but the address is at the Scientology Center. And that's kind of how they would get people. Again, it's like get your confidence. Like we have the tools. Yeah. You know, which is also kind of like a weird culty thing too. So I'm like, I think it's just like an area where people are desperate for something. You're so susceptible to signing up for something like this. Yeah, no, you're very vulnerable. And you don't even realize. No, you don't. I wonder if Sarah, that was that her name, the blonde hair, Yeah, the girl. If she wanted a baby.

Yeah. Yeah. She must if she was part of this group. Also, there's no way the hair that was framed. That's not dead relatives. The minute I heard hair framed, I'm like, baby, baby's first haircut framed. Oh, yeah. It's got to be baby's hair.

Not dead. Even dead relatives. Like, you would have been better off saying that's our first haircut from my family. You do save the hair more. I feel like you save newborn's hair more than dead people's hair. I have never heard of saving a deceased person's hair. hair. That's so true. I've never heard of that. I've heard that just stuck out to me. I have heard about the baby's hair. Yeah. Even now with my baby, everyone's like, when do you got to shave his head?

When you get to keep the hair? Because it also apparently makes it grow back thicker. No, I've wanted to do it. People are really like trying to get us to do it. His hair is a little janky. Like, I'm not against it, you know. Oh. Oh. It grows back thicker. Yeah. You're like, my newborn's in a desperate need of a haircut. I know. Well, we were kind of joking at first. We were like, we got to get this guy of turkey. It was just like you had like the half court hairline. So is that true though? When you shave off a baby's hair, it's going to come back stronger or like thicker? What's a cultural thing?

My gut is a lot of communities. Yes. I think some people will bury it in the backyard also. Like that's a cultural thing. But my gut is that eventually their hair starts growing thicker anyways. So like you can't really say that one causes the other. Yeah. Because I remember like in high school or middle school, we'd all be like, be careful when you shave your legs.

when the first time you shave, you're like, it's going to come back really, really strong and really thick. Yeah. It was like so scary. My mom would say that because I would have to do my upper lip starting from like age 10. Like really, yeah. I was self-conscious of my arms. And I always was like, yeah, it's going to come back so thick and like you just have to be careful. Yeah.

Is that true? That's what I'm wondering. It's like. I think it depends on the part of your body. Yeah. Yeah. I always thought it was like, oh, your leg hair is out and it's getting bleached by the sun. So when you shave it off and it grows back, it's just darker anyways.

Oh, that makes so much more sense. That's what makes it look dark. I don't know. I still got dark chin hairs. And those are getting bleached by the sun every day. And they're still dark little guys coming in. You're walking around like this. That's been the hardest part about aging, I think, is finding more chin hairs every week.

Ever since I had a baby, it's unreal. Really? Your chin? No. Because I think my hormones are all messed up. Your chin's different. My chin. Do you not your boobs change?

No, I get ear hairs that I hate. Really? Like a... Don't look. But my chin's fine, y'all. Have you got to waxed over? My ears? No.

I waxed my nose recently and it was the most enjoyable experience in my life. Enjoyable? Mm-hmm. It feels painful. Nope. Didn't hurt. Stick it up and... Didn't hurt a wink.

Wow. But what... I don't know if I could do it. Hurting is one thing. Enjoying is another. Nice little tickle. Oh, you just like the tickle? Yeah.

And then it's just... Do you feel like you have a... I feel like you have a... I feel like a... High pain tolerance or low pain tolerance? Oh. Oh, okay. I have a low pain tolerance. I have a high pain tolerance. Really? Yeah, and I have to tell everybody. Yeah. You know, people do like to tell you when they have a high pain tolerance.

That's me. How'd you find that out? Um, a doctor once was just like, wow, that's, that's hard. You must have a high pain tolerance. Wow. No, that's flattering because you know how I found out? I have a low pain tolerance. I was giving birth. And the doctor came in. I was like, wow, you just have a really low pain tolerance. Shut. That is not the time. A doctor went, you're going to be in a baby about this. I think it was one of the nurses. It was hard to tell I was in so much pain. But, like, yeah, they're like, I guess you just have a really low pain tolerance. Who says that to someone giving birth? They'll say anything to women.

I know. You're kind of being a drama queen right now. Can you be a little more quiet? We got people trying to sleep here. I couldn't believe it. Can you smile? Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, my God. Yeah. It was, and they left the window open the whole time. I mean, I guess no one could really see what was going on inside. But I was just like, I felt like it was a performance, you know, the whole thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but I'm deeply upset for you.

They don't let us rest. What can I say? All right, shall we read another one? Yes. Let me read this one. Okay. This one is not from Reddit, so you might not have come across it. It's from like darkstories.net or something.

I really scoured the internet. Oh. Okay. It's just called my cousin's neighbor. So I was spending the night at one of my cousins house. I'll call him Charlie with all my other cousins. Now I should make it clear that we're not biological relatives. We're really close and so are our parents. So we're just like family. But we still got split off into boys and girls at this trip. This will make sense later. There were 11 of us, six boys and five girls. I don't know how our parents managed. Luckily, we were on a farm with quite a few acres surrounding the house. The boys would take the sunroom near the front of the house, while us girls would take the toy room at the back of the house. The boys had the sunroom because it was bigger and there were more boys. The toy room where we were staying, how

a door leading to the backyard where we would play games, swing on the swing sets, jump on the trampoline. We spent hours out there. In our backyard, there was a small section of dense forest. On the other side of that was Charlie's neighbor's house. He was a weird old guy. I'm guessing late 40s, early 50s. He would always coincidentally be in the forest between the two houses when we kids would go and play on the trampoline or if we were just in the backyard near the woods. worst of all, he would always talk to us, especially us girls. He'd say things like, hello ladies, is dad home? And you want to come to my house?

I made some cookies you could try. Every time we would say no and we would go inside. Charlie's mom and dad both told us to not listen to him and if he came onto our property to get one of the adults. He'd been warned by Charlie's father a few times. And once Charlie's father had come out armed because the man started getting aggressive. Charlie's mom said that we could also come get her if he tried anything, but we all knew that she was just as terrified as we were of this man. She would also get constantly harassed by him when she hung out the washing or fed the dogs at night, and she would get it much worse. Things like, is your husband home? When's the last time you've been satisfied?

And why don't you come by my house later? She would reply quietly and just like us go inside. One of the other times we were all staying at Charlie's, we saw her mother come in and call Charlie's. his father into the bedroom. Most of us were trying to hear what was happening on the other side of the door, but we heard muffled whispering and crying. Charlie's father then left with a weapon and walked out the door. Turns out the creepy man said something terrible to her mother and we never found out what it was. We know that it was something to do with ending all of us except Charlie's mother and kidnapping her and doing God knows what to her. We tried to get the police involved, but they gave him a verbal warning and they said that they couldn't really do anything else besides that due to a lack of evidence. Now, back to

what I firsthand experienced. We were playing on the trampoline after having a Nerf war when we heard rustling in the bushes. We all went quiet and my little cousin held on to me. I asked, what was that? Thinking that we were about to see some deer or maybe a coyote, I used to live in Australia, so I was pretty exciting about seeing more animals, especially American animals. Charlie hushed me and told me it probably wasn't that. It was dusk. I was high on sugar and surrounded by my cousins, being one of the oldest, I was feeling a bit brave. Who's there? I yelled. No response. Go on. Show yourself. My other cousin yelled. His name is Gabe. He's one of the other boys and he's probably the most outgoing in the group.

Stacey, one of the girls, suggested loudly that we should go inside and check on dinner. Then the other kids went in except Charlie, Felix, Gabe, and I. Like my father, I was very territorial and I wanted to protect my cousins. We waited for a while and nothing happened. No more wrestling. Nothing. We all got bored and headed inside. Charlie and I were the closest to the woods and I was talking to her when we both heard a voice whisper and a not so quiet, Charlie, we both turned back white as ghosts and then we heard whistling, like slow whistling. We ran inside and we didn't tell Gabe or Felix what we had heard. Later that night, we had broken off into our makeshift. bedrooms and five of us girls were watching a movie. I can't remember what we were watching. I was just looking out of the open window. I thought the neighbor was looking in the woods for a lost dog or something, but I kept seeing flashes of light. By the end of the movie, the girls were asleep except for Charlie and I, and we were talking about school, boys, etc. When I saw a shadow of a man in the background near the trampoline, we both shot up. Could that be your dad? I asked. No, too short. Plus, you can hear him

snoring. In the silent night, we could hear the TV softly, the boy's occasional laugh, and her father's snoring. Then through the open window, that same whistling. Charlie and I thought one of the boys was trying to scare us, so we went in their room to tell them off. But when we got there, they were all watching a soccer game. They looked at us and we just turned around and headed back without a word. When we got back to that room, we saw Charlie's creepy old neighbor at the open window making that horrible whistle. I never believed freeze in fear until that very moment. Hey ladies, he smiled, holding something up that looked like a box cutter, trying to rip open the screen on the window. Charlie screamed so loud that I didn't even think that was humanly possible.

Everybody in that room shot up. The boys came running into the room, followed by Charlie's mother and father. Charlie's father ran after the guy as her mother called the police. Charlie's father came back about 10 minutes later, he found duct tape, rope, some sort of whip, and a lighter in that very same bush that we heard the rustling just hours before. Only God knows what he was planning to do that night. He was eventually found and he was finally arrested. He was put in jail, but I can't remember for how long. I hope it was for the rest of his life and that I never see him again. Oh my God. Yeah. I'm not okay. Horrifying. Start. Pounding.

I mean, it's one of those things, too, where you're like, goosebumps. On clues, we cover so many stories where it's like, how many times is this person have to be, like, saying things and doing things and pretending to be a cop and pulling people over and just like all this stuff where, like, they just technically can't get arrested for it. Yeah, there's not enough there yet. And then they just go and try to do something like this. It reminds me of the case, too. Was it Elizabeth Smart who, like the cousins after Elizabeth was taken? The sister, right, saw her. Sister or cousin had someone come up to their window at night and was like trying to get in through the screen.

Yeah, they tried to take her cousin too. I mean, like this is fully kidnapping. I think when the four of those kids were in the woods and he didn't go after them then. It was because he's only trying to get the one, which is probably Charlie based on, hey Charlie. Yeah. Like you avoided kidnapping. Like Charlie did. Yeah.

Yeah. And probably because of the numbers. And then when the girls were just isolated. Yeah. That's disgusting. Or the mom, because didn't he say something like threatening to the mom like I'm going to kill all the kids and take you? Insane. Yeah.

Insane. Horrible. Yeah, this stuff, I don't. I hear, I mean, this is extreme, but now that I have a kid, I hear so much online discourse about sleepovers in particular. What do you mean? Well, parents don't do them anymore. What? Sleepovers are kind of a thing of the past season.

Sleepovers are, they're gone for a lot of people. A lot of people don't. But I mean, think about it. Because now that I have a child, I sort of get it where you're like, I don't know the parents. You don't always know the parents. Like you have to know everyone in the house. You don't know if like the older brother is weird or like the sister is, I don't know, whatever. But like, no, sleepovers were always like kind of a risk.

Yeah. But then you would like sleepovers with your cousins were like some of my. I think families. Yeah. Family's a little different. Or like, hey. I'll be the one hosting the sleepovers. Like, I'm not going to let my kids stay somewhere, but like all host.

Yeah, yeah. Or like we do a group hotel room and like. Yeah. Like, it's more like. Especially with tablets everywhere. You're like, you can't control the internet in your friend's houses. You can only control yours. I think about that all the time.

I'm like, what if my son goes somewhere and people are just showing him things on the internet that I've tried to block in my house? Or they stumble on something because there's not anything like blocking it. I feel like that's what I'm more afraid of, honestly, is just like this internet age or like, I don't know, the kids have chatbot girlfriends because it's the future and that's the world we live in. And like that, I don't know. It's just like I can't protect him from that stuff. No. Wow. This is crazy. I think there's going to be like a lot of people that comment. Yeah. And they're like, I had someone follow me in a van. I had this. I had that. Like I think especially if you grew up in rural places, like there's stories in my like friend group where like someone was followed on their bike and it's just people are creepy with kids yeah kids like kids like kids discernment like like thinking about like when I grew up and there were some freaky people like if they had a bad vibe I don't know like a kid's not making that up no no no I know just being like oh that guy looks old and weird yeah they're not like, I feel like oftentimes you don't say anything because you're nervous to say stuff,

you know. Yeah, but your brain isn't developed enough to have these like biases. Yeah. You're just like, oh, I feel weird around this guy who's whistling. That like literally gut instinct. Yeah. That's just like trying to scare you and like save you. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I know. And I feel like kids often aren't believed. No. There was a story I covered on an episode where we were talking about cold cases that got solved after like a lot of time. where these two girls, it was like outside of Chicago in maybe the 60s,

it was one of the oldest cold cases in that area, or I think in all of Illinois that got solved. But they, these two little girls are playing outside in like the late 50s and this guy comes up and he's like, can I give you a piggyback ride? And one of the girls is like, one's eight, one's six. And the eight year old is like, this feels weird. I'm going to go get my mom. Goes inside, comes out. The six year old's gone. And the guy is gone.

And they're like, okay, how do we find this guy? It turns out years later on her deathbed, this woman goes, I know that my son killed Maria, was the little girl. I saw headlines of this. The police came to my house and asked where, because they had singled out this guy for, like, from the jump. So the police went to his house to be like, where were you around this time? And the mom was there. And he wasn't home, but the mom was like, he was with me the whole time. And she didn't know.

And she had this, like, gut feeling that he had done it. But she was like, he was here the whole time And they moved on. They didn't come back. They didn't look into him. And yeah, on her deathbed, she was like, I never said anything. But it was him. Or I'm pretty sure it was him.

I didn't witness a crime, but I lied. She was like, how dark of a person do you have to be? We're like, even though your mom didn't witness a crime, she knows you're capable of that. And she knows that's what you were probably doing when you weren't at her house. And like on her deathbed, she, oh, man. You've had another episode of this. It was like one of your mailbag episode. about the kid in Australia.

And I remember that the mom also kind of knew and covered up for him a little bit. Oh. With his gun and like... Are you talking about the shooter in Australia? I think it, yeah, where his parents were just like, no, he's fine, he's fine. They like bought him the gun. Yeah. The mom bought him the gun.

Yeah. Well, it is, it is, it's a, in their body, moms are going to protect their kid. And it is not okay. But you can see so many parents go into denial to just try to keep their kid. You know what? My dad told me when I was really young when I was probably like eight years old. He's like, if you ever commit a crime, I'm going to call the cops on you. But my dad like did try to call the cops on me when I was a teenager to be like I wasn't joking.

Like don't mess up. And I was like, that actually might be something I take with me as a parent. It's a be like I'm not your buddy in this. Like Brian Coatburger or not Brian Coatberger, but Brian Laundry's mom. who was like, if you kill someone, I'll hide the body with you. She was in love with him. Yeah. And you're like, love doesn't look like one thing.

Yeah. It looks like accountability and truth and like, yeah. Yes. Yes, 100%. So. God, these poor cousins, they were just playing nerve. I know. And then I would be so scared to go to that house.

No. It's like ruined the cousin's sleepovers. I also can't believe I just learned sleepovers are over. That's crazy Did you do a lot as a kid? Yeah Yeah But it did take me

I was like Not one of those kids That was allowed to do sleepovers Too much later Interesting Yeah because my parents Were like Pretty nervous about it

At first I think if your kid has a cell phone And can call you If something happens Then I'm like Okay Yeah But you just have to really trust

They know right and wrong Because I was going to sleepovers And older brother Alcohol Yeah Oh my God Better be safe than sorry That's so scary

sneaking out, going to boys' houses. Because you have one friend's parent that doesn't care. Yeah. That's always how it is. Oh, we're staying at so-and-so's house. It's a free-for-all. Oh, my God. Meanwhile, we're doing an interactive retelling of Bethlehem.

And we're like, let's go home and sleep over at each other's house and sleep on the trampolence. We were church in the morning. Oh, my God. Nobody was drinking, doing alcohol. No one was doing alcohol. Pepperman Schnapps at 13. Oh, my God. That's.

It's too young. It makes me scared. As a parent. As like a teenager, I would have been like, hell yeah, drinking scoffs at 13. And now I'm like, no. No, oh my God. I hope. Everyone jokes like with the dog food comment.

I don't know if you'll get this or if you, whatever. But it grinds my gears when I hear comments from people in my life that are basically like, your baby's going to be your karma one day. You're going to get all that back. And I'm like, oh. Wait, like. Don't wish that upon me. Oh, interesting. Like you misbehaved as a child and now when you have a kid, like that's going to be your karma.

Yeah. And I'm like, no, I don't buy it. Yeah, I don't buy it. If you think you're going to be a smarter parent because you broke the rules. Thank you. So you know what rules to do. Yes. Yes. Yes. Like really kind of hurt my feelings. I'm like, was I that bad? The best parents are the ones that are like, I did this. I recognize this. Here's how to do it safe. Yeah. I agree. It's like if you're going to have peppermint shmop. Peppermint schnaps at 13, don't get behind. the wheel. Yeah. Don't do that either, but like parents said just like, no. Yeah. So were your parents strict? Then? My parents were like, they were strict in the silence. That makes sense. Like they were never like, you can't do this, you can't do this, you can't do this. They would just be like, oh. Or I remember it was right when texting was a thing. And I had like a flip phone.

And my dad, when I would go on sleepovers, he was like, I need to hear from you. And my dad would always text me like, you good or something. And I would never text me. because you're just like you put your phone down it's not like a smartphone back in the day it's just like a chain to your parents so I would just like throw it in my backpack and then he'd be like I need to hear from you if you don't respond within

an hour you can't go on your own like I need to hear from you and that was the hardest learning curve for me growing up would he come pick you up if you didn't listen or he would call their parents yeah yeah he wasn't and then they'd be like tell her to check her phone and it was just getting me

in the habit of communicating was I guess the thing. That's really good. But like I remember I wasn't allowed to like, were you guys allowed to go to the mall with your friends without a parent? Yeah, I bought my first thong anywhere at the mall by myself at 9.

At 9? I know you guys. You bought a thong when you were 9 years old? I think the first somebody used to thong I was 24. I think I was in my 20s too. Duluth, Minnesota man. I had an older friend. She was 14.

I was 9. We biked to the mall. Bad. You got to really just Wow. Thongs were so scary. My kids are going to be out. I don't have a leash until they're 20. Just. I mean, yeah.

You're like, if you want to wear a thong, do it in the house. I'm a cool mom. If you want to wear a thorn. They're also just uncomfortable. And when you're so young, it's like, so uncomfortable. Try to fit in with my older friend. Yeah. I mean, a nine-year-old and a 14-year-old is an interesting pairing. Bad. Yeah, it's not great. Different. I remember I had a cousin. I I don't know if everyone has this cousin. Same difference of like I was nine, she was 14. And every time she came over, she had some story of like, my friend got held at knife point. Like just, oh my God.

My friend Tim's in jail again. Like, and she's 14. Like, I'm not sure if any of this was true. But she just always, it was like scared straight almost, like just crazy stories. There is the liar friend that's like, I have a chat like boyfriend and he's 54. And you're like, what? Like, yeah, I talk to him on Club Penguin. Which actually, if it's Club Penguin, it probably is a 54-year-old man talking to her.

That was bad. Is Club Penguin still around? Yeah, because I get a sleepovers aren't. I played it. I for sure played it in COVID. Like, it was at least around during COVID. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my God.

Club Penguin people would, like, simulate sex. I know. Oh, my God. I thought that was only on the Sims. No, and I think predators would go into Club Penguin being like, okay, there's a bunch of nine-year-olds in here. Get a life. Get a job. Yeah.

If that's the way... Sorry. No, seriously. I just got really angry. I know. It's scary. Get a hobby. Yes.

People need more hobbies. You want to abuse kids on a fake penguin island? Yeah. It's a scary thought. Get a hobby. It's horrible. Take a shower. Yeah.

Well, that's dark. Yeah. I was going to say sleepovers don't have to be over the week. You could all have a sleepover. Well, we were thinking about doing like a girls retreat away for a weekend if you want to do that. Would you be creative? Would you be down for Ouija board, though? Absolutely not.

I'll just go on a little walk. Yeah, just go on a walk. You guys do that? I'm going to a little walk. Just got to go and walk. Can you imagine if we have an adult sleepover? There's like demons in the house. No, it's not.

We have an adult sleepover and I'm like, I'm leaving. That's not fair. If you take that out of the mouth. You're like, I just have to text my dad by midnight. I literally get my dad to pick me up. And he's like, you're in your sleep. 30s. Everything cool? Dad, they're doing Ouija boards here. Come get me. Please. Yeah. I feel like you would actually like really... I feel like you'd draw in some probably positive energy, though,

with your Ouichie board. I think that's the nicest compliment I've ever heard. You'd have like... If I did a Ouija board, I'd bring in good vibes. You'd have like Mother Teresa trying to talk to you. Oh yeah, that would be... Yeah. That's so nice. You'd get like Casper the friendly ghost. You just have aura. That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard. This episode is brought to you by sleep doctor. Here is something that I used to tell myself. Once the baby sleeps through the night, I'm going to feel normal again. And then he started sleeping through the night and I still woke up very, very, very tired.

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But this is just called my online friend. I use the app, Kakao Talk, which is a Korean app that lets me talk to people worldwide. Mostly people from South Korea. I also have screenshots to back up the story if anyone needs them. Last night, I had a message from someone called Gungnam Guest House. I thought that someone had just added me randomly. That's pretty normal. And I didn't mind it too much as I usually do get random people adding me.

At the moment, I have around 350 friends who I don't really know and have only talked to them using this site. The first message I received from this person seemed normal. She told me that she wanted help with learning English and that she lives in London. I was happy to help her, especially because I'm from the UK too. and I've never met anyone who was so close to me. She sent me three pictures of herself, which showed me that she was a normal girl of Asian ethnicity.

She seemed nice and I proceeded to talk to her. However, things got weird quickly. She sent me a picture of myself that I took last year and had never been put onto my cacao profile. It was on my Facebook. I gave her the benefit of the doubt and thought that maybe she had found me on Facebook. My heart started racing when a second picture mess. came through, though. This time it was a picture of me when I was 15. I had never sent this to anyone. I was in

my pajamas. I had messy hair. I have no clue how she got this picture. She told me that the pictures were on her old phone, but I had never posted it anywhere, so I don't know how she would have gotten it. She then sent me my number and added a ha ha at the end. I was terrified. She even changed her display name to say I'm and then my name instead of her name. I had no idea what was going on. My stomach dropped. I felt so sick. She proceeded to tell me that she's a hacker and she managed to hack into my phone. However, I did not believe this as she couldn't answer basic questions like where I lived or my full, full government name. After a while of trying to find out who she was, she told me a couple of hints, like she's from London. She was meeting her boyfriend in

Bloomsbury and that we had once been friends and actually had met. That shocked me because I know that I have not met this person before. She told me that when she was 14 and I was 13, we had met up, but she wouldn't tell me what we did. She started to get angry that I couldn't remember her and she told me that I was mean, but I know that I've never met her. I have no idea how she got my ID or how she got my pictures and number. All I'll say is that I'm terrified. So I think specifically, too, this person was using like an anonymous name on this app. And that's why it was weird that like she had this person. Her name name.

Her name. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, it is very freaky to me because I like the internet is so big. And there's just so many people out there. And I don't know. I can see stuff like this. It feels very plausible, honestly, though, that it could happen to any of us.

Yeah. Like anyone out there like this could in today's day and age, like this could happen to you so easily. Yeah. And it's so scary. Like getting a picture that you've never posted anywhere sent to you. You as a kid? Yeah. Well, I think today kids use more anonymous apps than we used.

We didn't have a lot of anonymous stuff. I remember using like Omegal and Chat Roulette. And there was like Form Spring or something where you could. I remember Form Spring where you would kind of like wish terror on your life and put it on your like. Who has a crush on me? Yeah. Like what do you have to tell me that you want? want to say to my face.

Yeah. And then you'd walk through the halls and you'd be like, did she say that? Oh. Who said that? Was it her? Like who was spreading stuff about me, whatever? But I can't think of any more than really those things. Maybe like Cole Penguin.

Yik yak. That was when I was in college. But now you can do everything anonymously as a kid. What? I mean, Instagram, you don't have to use your real name on Instagram. So no one really knows who anyone is. You can use Reddit. But also there's like kick and like, I don't know, just like all these apps.

That's scary because like I, I just. read this story about this guy who turned out to be like an internet troll and his wife found all of his pose and that's terrifying like that is so terrifying. I think we need like like, like you know like the DMV gives you like lessons for the road. I think we need like a you can't go online until you like take internet safety. Yeah, you should have internet etiquette too. Like you should absolutely have to do like bare minimum. Yeah. Don't drink and drive. Like bare minimum don't do these things. Yeah. Or else you are susceptible to people finding your stuff.

Yeah. Yes. Yeah, definitely like to protect yourself. Also, yeah. Yeah, don't wish ill on people. Don't convince people to do bad things. Well, one thing that I didn't even know that my husband Matt told me, he was like, anytime you take a picture in the house, make sure that the Wi-Fi router is not in the frame.

Because people can get the number off the Wi-Fi router and hack your Wi-Fi that way. And I don't, I don't know if he's being extra paranoid, but apparently it happens. I could see it. You know you're not supposed to do people. piece signs. So they've been saying you shouldn't even with AI now, you shouldn't even do like piece signs in your photos anymore because they can zoom

in on your fingerprints and take your fingerprints. I had heard piece signs for every picture. Just do them like this now. Backwards. Like, show off your cute nails. Well, we're going to go get them done. It's fine. Mine aren't done either. Mine aren't done either. I'm not going to brag, but I do have the target stickons on

even though I am missing my thumb. I love. This is so cute. The other day there was a it actually wasn't the other day. It was like a little bit ago. A couple months ago at Smosh. We're all doing these like, we're doing these like sign these posters on an Instagram live. And I go, we're signing them. And I had this like memory from when I did this like internet crazy musical that this lady was like really paranoid about signatures. So I look over while we're on the live, I go, hey, everybody, don't use your real signature. And they're like, what? I didn't think to like stop down. Yeah. And I go, hey, yeah. So nobody. Do you use that on chat? And it made the live so awkward. Don't do that. And it made the live so awkward. And I don't know if people are saying, don't do it real signature.

I guess that is a good thought though because someone could be like, oh yeah, I'm just going to sign a bunch of checks to myself as Angela now. I guess. I don't think that. But maybe they couldn't do that. But still, to like have that thought in the middle of the library you're signing stuff. So scary. Yeah.

Or even if you take a picture of like a tree on a walk like near your house. Yeah. I know. You have to be so careful. Locations data is embedded in your photos. I think she was a K-pop idol or maybe she just lived in South Korea. But she took a picture and in her eye a guy was able to figure out what train station she was at. And most likely what time she would take the train and he showed up and killed her.

That's a guy. Get a hobby. Get a life. Yes. Yes. What do you mean? Too much time on his hands. You're zooming in enough to see where they're at in their eye.

Too much time on your hands? That's like those videos. Haven't you seen them as like drop a pit anywhere and I'll figure it out? And they just like look at a couple trees in the landscape. And they're like, that's blah, blah, blah. That guy terracized me. Videos, people find those fun. And I don't like that fun.

That guy is using it for good and he has the absolute opportunity to use it for pure evil because he can find anyone. Yeah. I know. That's good to use it for good. It's so unsettling. Like I love people, listeners. but like I'll get letters from listeners sometimes sent to my like address. And I'm like, there's a P-O box.

Please don't do this. Oh, they found your home address. Don't do this. Horrifying. Yeah. Do people get really like obsessed with you guys at Smosh? Like are there people that are like, oh, I'm married to Angela and she just doesn't know it yet. No, we have, yeah, we have some crazy interactions, I'll say.

Yeah, yeah. My favorite was there was a meet and greet. I don't know if I've ever said this on a podcast. There was a meet and greet where, and there's a lot of us, right? There's like 14 or 15 of us. Big cast. So we're doing this meet and greet. And you're kind of talking to the masses and you're taking one big group picture.

Each person comes up, sees a big group and smiles with us. And then that person walks away. And this person walked up and points at me in the back and goes, can I say something to you? She's like a mother, an older lady. She goes, I need to talk to you. And everyone's like, are you good? And I was like, we have to hear this. Yeah.

This is the crazy. Because there's all these kids. And then a woman's like, I need to talk. speak to you. And I was like, you safe. And I was like, I have to hear it. Yeah, very important message. Yeah.

She whispers into my ear. Everyone believes in you except yourself. And then walks away. Oh, my God. And she thought she was building me. And everyone was like, you good. And I went the funniest thing. Just happened.

But also, no, but also. Except you. In that moment, she like cut so deep into your soul. I'm like, babe, you're not my mom. Go home. You can't talk to me like that. I think the sentiment was that she wanted to build me up. Yeah.

But it felt like she pants to me. It's a backhand. Yeah. Oh, but like backhand and calm. Also, everyone believes in you accept yourself. How much did she pay to tell you that? She did pay a lot.

Maybe, I don't know. I'm like, was she... That's Morgan. Your brain? Yeah. How much she paid to tell you that? Yeah. She bought a VMP meeting brief.

Yeah. To tell you that. Maybe she really thought. I needed to believe it. Just... In hindsight, do you think that there was any

truth to that? I think it was like one of those like... It's a very old millennial core thing too. Like with that

One Direction song, you don't know you're beautiful and that's what makes you beautiful. Yeah. And like being like, oh,

I think I'm gonna help you realize how beautiful you are because you don't know it. You don't know it. Yeah. And you're like, it's not that I don't know it. There's blocks.

I'm working on it. Yeah. You know, like that's kind of how I feel about everybody where they're like, girlie, You got this.

And you're like, I know. Yeah. I just, and that I think is just like an old way of instilling confidence where it's like assuming that no people don't want to be confident. Like that woman assumed that I didn't want to believe in myself. Of course I want to. Yeah. I remember watching this interview with Alona Maher.

Yeah. Yeah. And someone asked her like, how do you deal with imposter syndrome? And she's like, what's that? And they're like, you know, like the feeling. But this person just assumed that she had it as like a woman. And she's like, no, like, I worked really hard my whole life. Like, I think I should be here.

And, like, people just couldn't understand her saying that. But it is that idea of, like, you're an Olympic athlete, but you probably don't even think you should be here. Yeah. Yeah. You know, that way of thinking. And we don't put that on men. And I think when girls just happen to be, like, self-deprecating to be funny or to just,

like, I don't know, call out your flaws because maybe you're a little self-aware. They're like, she's insecure. Yes. I got to tell her that she should believe in herself because we all do. Yeah. But I do believe that that woman was just trying to build me up. But it was very funny. Totally.

Totally. Imposter syndrome is something I deal with a lot. And I'm just like, I look at it after and I'm like, why? You got invited in that room. You were clearly wanted in that room. You're meant to be in that room. Why are you feeling weird? Yeah.

But to have someone whisper that in your ear, it would hurt my feelings. Yeah, to call you out specifically. Yeah. I got to say, like of the whole cast, like you're the one that doesn't believe in. Yeah. She's like, I want to talk to her. Yeah. Yeah. Very funny. Yeah, I did have, this is so different, but one time I went to a lunch and this guy sat next to me, it was like our friends, maybe birthday. And so he was there or like something, but it was like a friend of a friend sat next to me and he goes, God put me next to you because he wants me to tell me a secret. And I was like, maybe he's joking, whatever. And then he like very clearly was not joking. And he kept pasturing me the whole lunch to be like, I just can really feel that like God put me here right now. And he wants you to tell me something about yourself that you haven't told anyone.

one before. What? I just kept being like, I don't know if that's God or if that's someone else. Or like, I don't know what's telling you that. But like, I don't think that's appropriate. Like, we're at a lunch with people. And then he like spent the next 45 minutes trying to convince me that the world was flat. So, oh. I think he had a lot going on. I think there's a lot. I want to make out with you right now. Yeah. I think we should kiss at this table. And then watch him die. That is so weird. I would make up something so insane. Me too. Just to toy with him. I should have messed with him. But I think it really. I should have messed with him. But I think it really. I really threw me at the time because I was like there for my friend. I didn't know a lot of the

people there. And now this guy is like really dogging on me to like tell him something. God told me that you were going to tell me a secret is. Yeah. About you. That's about me. About me. You're cheating on your wife, aren't you? Yeah. Like that's just so weird. Yeah. No, God told me that you're having an affair. I'd be like, oh, you want to know about me? What? Tell me about you. Obviously you're something to get off your chest. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I was so confused by it. But I also wondered if it was like a just like, you know how some people do like, did you ever work at a job or like you were in a sorority where they're like, okay, everyone's going to go around to share a secret. And then like you feel a lot of pressure to share something very big because like people start crying and stuff.

It's like I think people will try to force vulnerability in order to like connect. Get close or like sometimes I have something on you. I don't know. But like yeah. So I think I think it was like a forced vulnerability thing. Thank God you didn't share. At a lunch. Yeah.

You know the name of the restaurant? Like a dinner, maybe. We were at a restaurant called sushi kuchi. Isn't that a horrible name for a restaurant? I'll probably cut that because, like, no shame to them. But like sushi kucci and he's trying to get me to tell them a secret. That's like how does it even go to eat there? I know.

I think they're doing that on purpose, though. Yeah. It's sushi kuchi. I think it was like a mistranslation or something. It's kind of got a ring to it though when you say it fast like that. I'm like girls lunch. Sushi Kudji. Kind of want to do it now.

I know. Should do it for the plot. Pretty good, too. Okay, so the next one actually kind of in line with like weird relationship stuff. This was a story I found you might have heard it. It's also on best friend of... This episode is brought to you by Shopify. I think everybody knows someone who's been talking about their business idea forever.

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There are updates I'm really going to search to make sure that there's updates on this one. So this one is me or my 21 male girlfriend, 20 female, has a creepy box above the wardrobe. and it was originally posted in relationship advice in 2019. We have been together for just over a year, and we never had any issues apart from minor arguments that are easily resolved. Up until recently, I've never noticed anything strange about her behavior. A few days ago, she left her room at university to go to a lecture in the morning, and she left me there.

Up until that day, I've never looked through her things because I've never felt the need to. She has this space above the wardrobe where she keeps boxes and stuff, so I couldn't see inside of them. but boredom got the better of me and I just wanted to see what she was storing. I found a box at the back, which was like a Ted Baker cardboard box that a handbag had come in or something.

And when I opened it, I found so many random things that I used to own. There were odd socks in there that she had taken a toothbrush that I thought I had lost after a holiday, bits of hair from what I think was my comb, toenail clippings, receipts that I think she stole for my wallet. She even has things like empty wrappers of food that I know were mine.

There was a piece of glass in there, but I don't know where that's from. There was a USB charger. A half used bar of soap, boxer shorts, use gum, a spoon, used plasters from God knows when. Honestly, the things in the box were so random, but I recognize a lot of little bits that had gone missing over the past year. The most worrying thing in this box, though, was a used condom that I found in there. I don't even know how she managed to keep that. and also a few empty condom wrappers as well. I even found a little tablet in there that looked like my antibiotics that I had taken for my tonsils before Christmas. And I definitely remember

losing one of my last dosage. I can't remember what else was in there because I just put it back and left. She does not know I found this yet. My girlfriend behaves normally and this is the first time I've seen anything weird. She's never acted obsessive or creepy or anything. I don't want to confront her about it because she's going to know that I was looking through her things. But then again, What else am I supposed to do? I love her so much and I am genuinely scared. I have been sat here trying hard to come up with logical explanations as to why she is doing this. Any ideas?

That was the first part. Which I think I had heard a story like this of a man who was keeping little mementos of his wife like in a tile above their bathroom. So I don't know if this is a thing that some people do. Like if it's a weird compulsion. Yeah. Like I used to or like when I was younger, I would keep everything. Like any rapper, like I was like obsessed with. Yeah.

I think I first started to understand that time was going by. I started to be like, oh my God, don't like any homework assignment I had. I'd keep it all. Oh, interesting. And there's like that. But then there's other people stuff. Yeah. Yeah.

I had a little cousin. It was so funny. She must have been like six or seven. And she had this little keepsake box in her closet. And because she's so young, like her parents go through her stuff. And they opened it and it was like a dead frog, like hair. There was like muddy stuff from a lake in the coins. Oh.

It was really just a weirdo. Like for her, it was probably so innocent. Like I'm down by the creek. I'm putting stuff on my box. Yeah. And to them it looked like a witch's box of potions or something. Yeah. It does sound familiar.

But in my head, I was waiting for there to be a tooth in the box. So I'm not sure if I've heard this one. I'd have to look in the little archives. So you've heard other ones of people. doing this though. Oh, God, it's really, it's ringing a bell. And I'm gonna, I'm gonna let you take it away, but just the used condom. It's like, I get momentum boxes. Yeah. But the used condom. The condom was tough. That's bad. That's part of year. Even the like, I can like kind of maybe get my head around somebody being like, I love my boyfriend so much. I want to keep his stuff. I don't know. But like, it's Tony else. I just, I love that guy. Condom is just, I just, my first thought was a voodoo doll. Oh, yeah. Like, it's just given I need to. I need a. all these pieces of him. It does, yes. It does feel like a potion in the making. Yeah, because what do you need for a love potion? Have we ever gone to a witchcraft store now?

Drop it in the comments. I'm sure we have people who know. Because I feel like we've talked about Etsy witches before. A huge. And sometimes- I think they got banned recently. All of them? A lot of them. Etsy took witches off. I would really love a good witch. I really want to do like an umbilical cutting ceremony, a little candle thing. Yeah, I think I need to cleanse. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I'm like maybe it's, maybe it's like, a positive thing. Maybe she's trying to help him. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Maybe. Okay. If I'm opening one, I'm surprised that this person, this OP, didn't open the rest of the boxes because there's a bunch of boxes. So let me go through. I think there's a little bit more to this. There are some of the updates. So update one.

My girlfriend is currently in the bath and I took this opportunity to take another look at the box. She has been completely normal and unsuspecting that I know about it. And a lot of people ask to see the contents of the box. So here it is. took a picture, it is not there anymore. I would not take a picture of that. I know, and put it on the internet. There's a couple of things that we learned about it from the comments on this photo. So, and then they go on to say after reading the comments, I'm torn, I don't believe that my girlfriend would hurt me, but I don't know how to approach her with this odd behavior. I feel sick and afraid when I think about the box. And then I think of her cute face. I can't bring myself to confront her about it. I'm trying hard to think of normal, rational explanations to tell myself that this is not

weird. And someone does say, why are there three phones in the box? So I do have a sense that there were three phones in this box. They go, whose phones are they? And what happened to the owners? And the OP says, I don't know about two of them. There's a smash iPod in the box that's a first generation iPod touch that I owned. I had it somewhere and it was in the box and I didn't even notice it was gone. So she must have taken his iPod Touch first gen at some point. And then someone says that looks like more than one dosage of medication. O.P. says there was a single loose antibiotic that you can't see in the image. No idea where that other medication is from. It looks like it might be birth control, but she's not taking birth control as far as I'm aware. And then someone says, a quick Google

search says that it is most definitely birth control. They don't look used, though, which makes it even stranger. And someone said, looks like a box of souvenirs. A normal souvenir is a greeting card or maybe a found coin used, like, but a used Q-tip or anything. with bodily fluids taken without permission or agreement is very abnormal. Worst case scenario, mental illness and gone girl-esque plans to potentially frame or trap you if you leave. And then we do have an update from a couple days after they posted this. Someone, the O.P, says, thank you for all the advice. I really appreciate it. My friend recommended that I post on here, and it really has helped. So I told my girlfriend that I found the box. And she didn't seem bothered in the

slightest that I found it. She is quite sensitive, so I expected tears, but got none. She kind of brushed it off like it just wasn't a big deal at all. I told her that the gross stuff was unacceptable and that she was wrong to take my Parker pens that belonged to my granddad. So she was taking like really important stuff too. She said that she had the intention of returning those to me. It was the best case scenario compared to the other possible explanations. She said that she was keeping them because they made her feel close to me. And I guess I can understand that or at least try to because I love her. She said she's going to dispose of the things in the box. I'm quite satisfied with that. We have agreed that in the future, she will keep things like

movie tickets from a date, things that are normal. But what are you going to do with the sinus antibiotics? I know, yeah, the toenails. Like, it still doesn't explain the toenails. Do we think she's a klepto? Yeah, maybe a little bit of a klepto. But it's weird because it's stealing stuff that's free. Like, cleptos to me are stealing money out of purses and... So my... I guess the I, iPod touch, maybe. But like, it's really weird. So I think it is an illness. But my best friend lived with someone who for three years kept stealing, like really small little

thing. So she'd steal like a mascara tube that was like dry and about to be done. It was just the power of stealing. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So I had a neighbor that stole my lip gloss when I was in the fifth grade. And it was kind of, it was like used lip gloss. It was like, what is the point of that?

Yeah. But it felt like a like, oh, just taking it. Yeah. So it's easy stuff. Call her, call that neighbor out. No kidding. We're still friends. I've forgiven her. Oh, really?

That's sweet. Yeah, I mean, I think she had problems when she was young. No, we all were little. How did we all take it off? So weird when we were little. Yeah. And you don't know. You're learning like what it means to have stuff and then take something from somebody else.

It's crazy. Yes. To be like a 10 year old girl to be like, I'm going to take this. Like for sure. I mean, one time I went to my friend's house and we literally cooked dog food into a cake and gave it to her dad. Like, no way. Yeah. And at the time we thought it was so funny.

And now I'm like, I would be so mad. Oh, my, like, son and his friends did that to me. Whoa. Anyways, what weird things did you guys do? Okay, wait. I want to go back to this. No, that's pretty crazy. Dog food.

Dog food into the cake. I've never done any tampering, but my best friend did put, she did pee in the lemonade that they sold at their lemonade stand. That's so much worse. That's really bad. Yeah, that feels legal. That's, yeah. Don't trust lemonade stands.

This was really fun. for having me. This was good. So much for doing this. I'm so excited. This is our conclusion to Dark Summer. So thank you for being here. Dark Summer's over. And it ends with us. It's coming to a close. Fall is starting tomorrow. So thank you guys so much for being here. Where can everyone find you both? You could find me at Morgan, at Morgan. I don't know her handle at two out takes. And where can they find you? You can find me at Angela Gertana on everything. Perfect. Beautiful. All right. Thanks, everyone. Bye. Heartsters Pounding is written and produced by me, Kayla Moore. Our associate producer is Juno Hobbs.

HeartSair's Pounding is also produced by Matt Brown. Sound design a mix by Red Room Creative. Video editing by Creative Step. Special thanks to Travis Dunlap, Grace and Jernigan, the team at WME. Have a heart pounding story or a case request. Check out heartsars pounding.com.