Jim Harold's Campfire - Another Haunted Apartment - Jim Harold's Campfire 756

Episode Date: April 9, 2026

A quiet apartment turns anything but peaceful when an uneasy presence begins to make itself known. That's the lead story on today's Campfire which marks our 17th anniversary of producing this show! Thanks to everyone including storytellers, sponsors, and everyone who has contributed over the years! A nighttime vision hints at the history of a nearby graveyard. Shadow figures, undeniable signs from passed loved ones and more on this edition of Jim Harold's Campfire! NEWSLETTERGet Jim’s weekly free newsletter and a free Campfire ebook at the same time. Go here: https://jim-harold.kit.com/campfire-ebookVIRTUAL CAMPFIRE GROUPJoin our FREE online community at ⁠https://virtualcampfiregroup.com⁠YOUTUBE CHANNELBe sure to subscribe to Jim’s YouTube channel at: ⁠https://youtube.com/jimharold⁠ JOIN JIM’S SPOOKY STUDIO PLUS CLUBYou can get access to Jim’s entire back catalog of Campfire and a TON of exclusive content with the Spooky Studio Plus Club. Go to https://⁠jimharold.com/plus⁠ and signup to support the show and get access to our MASSIVE library of content!MERCHGo to ⁠https://jimharold.com/merch⁠ to get your Jim Harold T’s, sweatshirts, mugs, hats and more! BOOKSGet all SIX of Jim’s Campfire books here: https://jimharold.com/campfirebooks/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You said this place was steps from the water. We just haven't found the steps yet. How much did we save? Enough. Enough to get lost! Or you could book a stay with Hilton. Welcome to your oceanfront room. Just steps from the water.

The Hilton sale is on now. Book on Hilton.com or the Hilton app and save up to 20% to get the stay you expected. When you want savings, not surprises. It matters where you stay. Hilton, for the stay. When you need to build up your team to handle the growing chaos at work, use Indeed sponsored jobs. It gives your job post the boost it needs to be seen and helps reach people

with the right skills, certifications, and more. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Listeners of this shell will get a $75 sponsor job credit at Indeed.com slash podcast. That's Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. A haunted apartment and much more on this edition of Jim Herald's Campfire. Sit back, relax, and warm yourself by Jim Harold's Campfire. I always love talking to a fellow but guy and Jesse is here and you can see from his cap he roots for only the best baseball teams. The Cleveland Guardians go guards. Let's hope we have a big year.

Although I wish they would spend just a little bit in free agency, but that's neither here no there. I hope they do well this year. But Jesse is here to talk about an apartment and lots of strangeness that went on. Jesse, thank you for joining us. I appreciate it. I know you've been listening for a couple of years now. And please tell us, please tell us your story. Thanks, Jim. Yeah, so this was about like 15 years ago. My parents have an apartment on their property. It's just a single bedroom. and there's stairs that go up to the bedroom on the top floor,

and there's a living room in the kitchen on the bottom floor. And for a number of years, my brother and his wife and his daughter of them there. And during their time there, they didn't really mention anything weird or anything, but when they moved out and I told them, oh, hey, I'm going to be moving in, you know, from up at Mom and Dad's house and just getting my own space. They're like, oh, okay, well, let us know if you see anything weird. what did you see? And I said, they said, well, one time we were sitting there watching TV in the living room.

And the way that it is, the TV is in front and center. And there's two large windows on either side. And they said they were watching the TV, and they noticed movement on the right window. And they look over and they see this hunched over creature just kind of glide past in the dark in the evening. Huh. And I was like, that's pretty weird. They had dogs. And I was like, were your dogs outside?

You know, like anything like that? They said, no. That's what it looked like this. Like my brother said, it was like, I like this weird looking thing hunched over. I was like, that's really freaky. Okay. So I was like, okay, well, I'll let you know if I see anything like that.

So I move in. We clean up the whole place. My girlfriend was over helping help clean up and everything. And I didn't have much furniture. So I had a couch downstairs and a TV and a stand. and then my bed and a computer desk upstairs. And there's a fireplace upstairs too. So I had a mantle and I had some stuff on the mantel piece.

And, you know, like those grates, those grids that you put in front of a fireplace to catch. Right. Right. Right. That's there to an addresser. So I moved in and I remember the first few nights, I just had this really uneasy feeling. Like I'd get goosebumps. my hair would stand up, you know?

Right. And I would just like sense like uneasy, like somebody was there. Like there's some surprises. I was just freaked out. It totally feels like something's here. So I was so freaked out that the first couple of nights I slept with my light on because I was just like, you know, I was just so freaked out. And my dad even mentioned it.

He says, hey, you know, you left the lights on at night the other day. I said, yeah, I know, dad, it's pretty freaky back there. Something's going on. I don't know. He's like, huh, okay. So it was probably the third night or the fourth night, something like that. I got sick and tired of it because every night literally my hair is just stand up. I could goosebumps sitting there at my computer watching videos or whatever.

I was just there's got to be something here. So I stood up. I was like, who's here? You know, I basically stood up and I was like, who's here calling out? Like, what are you doing here? Why are you making me feel this way? And there's nothing. and my Bible was on the mantelpiece.

So I was like, I grabbed my Bible. I don't know why I did this. I just thought of it. I grabbed my Bible. I turned my back to the fireplace. I said, you don't like this, do you? I held it up. And is there something about this you don't like?

All of a sudden, there's just this boom, this huge boom. It was right behind me. And I screamed out, oh, you know, I turned around, look. And it sounded exactly like somebody had kicked. that grid, that great that you put in front of the fire place, somebody kicked it. And the noise and the vibration was so loud that some of the pieces of paper had on my mantle piece had fallen down. Wow. I was just like, I couldn't believe it.

I was like, what the heck was that? So I put my Bible on my dresser, and I'm looking at the mantle piece and checking to see what happened. And then I'm trying to move the fire grate, the grid. and the metal could like, you know, flex a little bit here. And I was like, maybe it was that. So I was torn around with it. It just wasn't the same noise. I had to kick or punch it to make the same noise how big of a force of it was.

Wow. That's something else. That's something else you showed it, the Bible. And is it, you don't like this? And it's like, yeah, I don't. Wow. It was very strange. So I was just freaked out.

And I just went up and down the house. You know, I was like, you're not welcome here. Jesus' name be gone, you know. And I just couldn't believe that had happened. I left the lights on that night, too, to sleep. Don't blame you. Yeah. But since then, after that moment, staying in the apartment,

nothing ever happened again. I kind of didn't have the same creeped out feelings, you know, at night. And everything calmed down. since then my sister moved in to that apartment she hasn't mentioned anything either but that was the one thing that really happened that freaked me out and it never happened again so what do you think it was I don't really know like it's a it was obviously some type of like ghost or spirit I don't know if it was like demon or anything like that but it didn't cross to me like that it was just something that was there and did that. So I think it was like some type of spirit

thing and there's something about that place. Like I didn't mention this earlier but my brother when he was young, you know, living there too. He said he saw like a glowing angel walked through the back wall of the apartment. Whoa. A glowing angel.

That's what he said. It looked like a glowing angel. This was when he was a kid, like 10, you know? I remember that story happening there. So there's been, like, weird activity with that place, you know, for a while. So something's happening. I don't know. Sounds like it.

Jesse, thank you for joining us. Go guards and stay spooky. Hey, stay spooky, Jim. Thank you. Welcome to the campfire. I am Jim Harold and so glad to be with you once again. And it is indeed the campfire. This is the show where real people come on and they share their real stories of the paranormal,

the supernatural. Sometimes they're scary. Sometimes they're heartwarming. Sometimes they're just plain old weird and you wonder what's going on. It's all part of the paranormal, all part of the campfire. And so glad to have you here, whether you're brand new, you've been listening for years. And if you have been listening for a while and you like the show, please pass along to a friend, send them a link. That is so important. YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you think they might be most likely to tune in. Please send them a link because that helps us so much. Also, we love to get your stories and submissions are now reopened at jimherald.com slash campfire. Jimherald.com slash campfire. We paused them for a while. Caught our breath, played catch up, and now we're ready to

take more great story. So please submit yours today. And then finally, I would ask you to check out our plus club at jimherald.com slash plus. You know, you can currently get $30. off your first year. That's over at Jimherald.com slash plus. That's for the supporting cast version, the direct version. And I think it's a great deal. We've not increased our prices since 2011. And you know, I think I kind of buried the lead here today.

Because you know what today is? Today is the 17th anniversary of the Campfire. And I just remembered to mention that. So I would like to thank the thousands of storytellers we have had over the years and the hundreds of thousands of listeners we've had over the years, all of our past sponsors, everybody who's been connected with the show. Of course, Maddie, for her help over all the years. Dar, of course, my family, Natalie's been a great editor over the year.

She kind of stepped away from that for the campfire, and now we have a great video editor. but everybody over the years who has contributed to the program, not just me, especially to our storytellers because they are the lifeblood. And speaking of which, maybe we should get to some stories. Happy anniversary, everybody, and here's the next great campfire story. She's been listening for a couple of years, and now she's stepping to the plate and telling her story. Tracy, thank you so much for joining us.

I really appreciate it. And please, please tell us what happened. All right. It was the night before Easter. I guess it was, my son was, and this is relevant, my son was around seven years old. So this would have been maybe 2010. And we're staying with my sister in Chalimar, Florida, and staying in my niece's bedroom. really, really high cathedral ceiling. And during the night, I kept waking up and kind of

rolling over my husband to hit the fan because it was going, you know how like, you know, sometimes box fans do that. And we had the, my son was on a pallet on the floor and I was sleeping near the wall and my husband was near the floor so every time I rolled over I had to kind of reach over him and I would pop the top with the fan right and we had all the lights off but the TV was on and I just had a t-shirt thrown over the the television well during the night I had probably hit this fan three or four times I wasn't getting a very good night's sleep but it just kept buzzing and the this particular time when it started to buzz, I had been sleeping towards the wall and I rolled over with my arm in the air to reach over my husband to pop it.

And there was a little girl hovering over my husband. Huh. And I could see her. I could see the TV through her. and I just sort of froze. And I stopped and I thought, you know, all of those logical things going through my head. Am I dreaming? No, I'm not dreaming because there were a lot of things going on right then.

I have dry eye during when I sleep. So I was, you know, I was trying to blink and moisturize my eyes and I had to peek. Can I say that on there? So sorry. Yes, that's okay. So that was that, that was a really intense sensation at the time. And I had just kind of frozen in place and I was up on one elbow. And as I'm going through all of these things, my arms started to quiver, you know, because I'm on one arm and I'm, I'm perched kind of weird, you know, and everything that's just sort of, you know, like Simon says, you know, stop right then and there.

Right. And I'm like, well, my scared, well, she's not looking at me. So no, I wasn't scared then. But, and then I thought my hand was up against my husband's back. And I thought, should I wake him up? And then I thought, well, what if I don't wake him up? But my movement makes this ghost or whatever it is look at me because I'm moving. So I was like, okay, so I'm not going to move.

Should I say anything? No, should I move? No. am I scared? Well, no, I'm still not scared because she's still not looking at me. And while I'm going through all of this in my head, she started to rise. And there was a, like I said, there was a cathedral ceiling, but there was a fan hanging down from the ceiling. And as she rose up towards the fan, she started to disintegrate from the bottom up. Oh, I wanted to say what she looked like. She was a She's a pretty little girl, like maybe eight or nine years old, and she had blonde hair,

and it was kind of, she had little bangs and a little blue nightgown, and she was holding her hands like this. And I thought that was so weird, because who does that? You know, it was kind of like a little choir girl. But anyway, she started to disintegrate from the bottom up as she was rising, and she never took her face from my husband. And she was just kind of looking down at him and with a little smile on her face. And she was so serene and so.

And by the time she got up to the ceiling, she had completely disappeared. And I was still frozen in that same spot. I still had to pee. My eyes were still dry and I'm blinking. And I'm thinking, what am I going to do? What should I do? Should I go back to sleep? The fan was still going.

so I hit the fan and I decided at that point now that I was scared so I didn't get up to pee. I don't know how I made it through the rest of the night, but the next morning, I did finally make it back to sleep and the next morning I took my husband aside and I told him and I said, she was looking at you. How does that make you feel? I said, does that make you scared? And he said, no, I feel like more like I was being protected or. just watched over. And they, my sister and her husband did do a background start to the property

and there wasn't anybody that died in there or anything. And it was sort of a mystery for years until, now this was 2010-ish, and around 2018, we had gotten divorced in 2015, but we were still friends. And he called me up one night and he said, you are not going to believe what just happened. He said he was managing a bar and he said this lady came in. He said, I didn't know who she was. I don't think I've ever seen her before, but she came, she kind of gave me a look and came straight to me and he said, she told him that he had a little girl around him that was watching over him. And I had had a miscarriage prior to my son. And so we just sort of figured that.

But how crazy? How crazy was that? That that happened. You know, some random woman said that to him. Some eight years after it happened. But I just, you know, I remember like it was yesterday. And it was just, I know, I know I was awake. There were so many things, you know, I was hearing and.

feeling and thinking and you just don't go through all of those things when you're when you're dreaming. Every single second of that. Yeah, I was going to ask you that, but you kind of addressed that. I was going to ask if you thought maybe you were dreaming because I know some people out there say, ah, she's dreaming, but you've ruled that out. So you've kind of honed in on this idea this may have been your daughter who passed. before she was born.

Is that, is that right? I don't see any other, or I don't. Well, it makes sense. I can't think of anything else it would have been. We don't have any, you know, small children that, that die when they were young. But, I mean, maybe on my ex-husband's side, maybe, but he didn't know of anything. And it just was so, it was just so crazy. I don't know why she wasn't looking at me, too.

You know, why was she looking at him? I don't know, but yeah, she was just, it was so serene and she just had this little smile in her face and she was so pretty. And it just was, it was adorable. And I want to be sensitive about this, but is that the thought that it might be her? Is that comforting in some way? It was to him. Me, I felt like I was a little bit removed from it because she wasn't looking at me. Right.

So I thought, now he ended up dying of COVID a couple years later. So I thought, I wonder, I wonder if, you know, maybe she was waiting on him, you know, or I don't know. It's so interesting you say that because earlier today, and I don't know which show this is going to be on, but we literally had someone who talked about loved ones, maybe a year before they died or something, they would start seeing their past loved ones. then they would pass away. So it's really interesting you said because it's very similar to the idea of that call earlier today. And as I always say, these shows produce themselves. I don't know if it'll be on the same show or not, but it's just weird like the universe said, okay, today we will cover this topic. Well, thank you, Tracy. Thank you for sharing that. And again, I think our connection, particularly with family, is very mysterious. It's very real. And it really

goes beyond death. I don't think there's any question about that. Tracy, thank you for sharing your story today on the campfire. Stay spooky. Stay spooky. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of

the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Bucks Slot Machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. The biggest prize in Yamaba's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary.

You win? Details at yamava.com must be 21 to enter. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. Feels like every product claims real protein these days. But real doesn't start on a label. It starts at the source. Like real California milk from California farm families, it's real dairy delivering high-quality, complete protein. All nine essential amino acids to help build muscle, give you energy, and keep you satisfied longer. So keep it real. Look for the seal. Real California milk.

Introducing the new best skin ever ultra slim precision concealer from Sephora Collection. It's full coverage with a matte finish and perfect for any look, whether you're building it up for a full glam moment or targeting correction for a more natural vibe. At only $12, it's great for affordable touchups on the go. Get this new must-have concealer at Sephora or at Sephora.com today. Next up on the campfire, we have a brand new caller. Emily is on a brand new listener, I should say, as well. Her friend Christy told her about the show.

So thank you, Christy. And stay spooky. I appreciate because that's how we get the word out. And Emily says she's had this story for years. she has become a campfire loyal listener and she said hey i'm going to go on the campfire and share it so we're so glad because that's what makes the show possible christie welcome to the show tell us what happened i'm emily but christie is the phone oh that's right see i am really bad in a thousand today folks you don't know i was running late having technical issues so emily thank you okay i'll get it

straight from here i've got all the incompetence out of my system for today at least and you can tell your story. Go ahead. I'm sorry. All right. No problem. Thank you so much and thank you so much for having me. This is very exciting. I'm, you know, I love stories that are strange, supernatural, ghost stories. So, and it was interesting to have my own experience that I feel compelled to share. So thank you for having me. So I actually, me and some friends went to New Orleans back in 2018 for a vacation. And We stayed in a house across from the St. Rock Cemetery right across the street from the Airbnb that we were seeing in. And so we had, you know, as you do in New Orleans, you maybe imbibe a little much. And there was a, just a little.

There was a night that I wasn't feeling that well. We had been out all day. I was tired. So I was like, you know, sort of laying down before everybody else was going to bed. and I was in the room that I was staying in with a friend. And all the lights were on, but I kind of sort of had this uneasy feeling, just not feeling that great. And I was sort of, sort of, drowsy kind of going off to sleep.

And I was sort of in that in-between state where you're not asleep, but you're not fully awake, but your mind's sort of relaxing. And as I was in that state, I had this very clear, vision just pop into my head like as if it just was delivered to me of you know um this huge black dog um being followed by an elderly woman walking through the room that I was in um they were passing through as if they'd sort of just come from the wall on the right and were traveling in front of the bed and they weren't sort of aware of me but I was very aware of seeing them and it was very huge black dog but non-threatening. And it just really struck me and it startled me awake.

And my friend came in the room shortly after to use the restroom that was in our room. And I immediately was like, I just had this vision of this huge black dog and this woman in the room. And it just really stood out to me. And you know, I've had things like that happen in dreams. And I sort of know when to kind of pay attention and go, okay, this was very interesting. This feels important for some reason. So the next day, I tell everybody about my experience. And my friend goes, we should, you know, we should look up, you know, just go stories in general around New Orleans. And maybe there's some about the cemetery across the street.

So we start doing some research for just going online. And we look up St. Rock Cemetery across the street. And one of the first things we learned was that St. Rock was the patron saint of many things. but the number one thing being dogs. So even just then, I was like, oh, that's interesting, you know. And so we kept researching. And there were, you know, multiple sites on ghost sightings in New Orleans. And the lore around St. Rock Cemetery is that the number one siting in the cemetery,

or what's often, you know, being relayed as the cemetery, being seen is a huge black dogs. So that just sort of all the hair on my arms stood up because that's what I saw. Wow. Wow. And if I thought about it, like they were passing from the direction of the cemetery that was right across the street from us. And there was just so, yeah.

I mean, at first, yeah, they were the first initial accounts were like large dog. And I was like, okay, interesting. And specifically, it's a large black dog. Yeah, that is interesting. And I mean, I, I, I, I, you may not have heard it because you're relatively new here, but, um, I have a saying called too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence. And that seems like too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence that you would have. Because had you ever had any dreams before a sense of large black dogs walking through your room? No. That's what I figured. And it was such a specific, like it was right. And I grew up, you know, we had a, you know, we had a, a black lab growing up, right? But this dog was like massive. It was huge. It was like exactly as described. Well, and the thing is, I did a little bit more research about St. Rock. And there is,

you know, the story goes that he was helping to heal people with the plague. And he himself fell ill and retreated to the woods. And he credits his survival with a dog bringing him nourishment and licking his wound. So there's this other tie-in with a dog there. And I think for me, for my experience, it makes sense that the dog was non-threatening because it's sort of, if it's related to this lore at all, it's like this dog is like a healer and a protector,

or at least that's kind of how I sort of interpreted it for myself. Right. So this wasn't a scary thing per se. It was just a strange, more of a strange thing and something you weren't expecting. It was not, yeah, it wasn't scary. much as it was, I mean, it was startling to just sort of have this vision and then have it be connected to what are, you know, the sightings that people have, you know, told about this, this cemetery. Like that was, you know, it, it was eerie, but not, but yeah, the experience itself wasn't scary.

It was very, like, I think back on it very fondly because it was, they were just passing through, you know? Very cool. Very cool. Well, Emily, thank you so much for joining us. Christy, I got it right this time. Christy, thank you for telling Emily about it. Stay spooky.

Emily, thank you again. I hope you'll come back if you have more stories. I appreciate it. I hope you continue to enjoy the show and stick with it. And thanks again, thanks for sharing your story today on the Camp Fire and stay spooky. Thank you so much for having me. Return callers. You know that I love to have them on the show.

Priscilla is here. from California, and she's going to talk to us about a medium and a past loved one. Priscilla, welcome back to the show and tell us what happened. Hi, Jim. Thank you so much for having me again. So it's a pretty short story, but it's also a little bit of a workplace story, which I know you enjoy those as well. So I was at work a couple of weeks ago, actually. It's very recent.

And I have, there's a manager in my office I work in a corporate setting. And she is, she's a medium. She does a lot of tarot readings. She practices Reiki. She does a bunch of different things outside of her corporate job. And I've had tarot readings from her before, and it's a great experience. But in this case, I was actually on lunch. And she walked past me in the kitchen.

and she kind of just like said hi. We chatted a little bit about the weather, something super like casual, simple. And I went back to my desk to have lunch. And about five minutes later, she walks over to my desk. And she was like, hey, like, I wanted to talk to you about something. I know you're on lunch. She's like, but when you were in the kitchen and I walked past you, she's like, I had this really strong sense that somebody was with you.

She's like, it was a woman. She manifested herself to me. And she started describing this woman. She was like a light skin woman, short, hair, kind of curly, like red, either red hair, copper hair. And she said she was a very strong female figure in your life, possibly an aunt. aunt. And when she said possibly an aunt, I was like in the middle of doing my lunch and I swallowed my lunch really hard and my eyes got teary-eyed. And she said to me, she presented herself and she wanted me to tell you that she's very proud of you and that she loves you and that she's always with

you. Back, background on that is my aunt who was. My aunt who was like my second mother, passed away in 2013. And so that was a great, great loss for me. But I had never spoken to this manager about that. I mean, it's work. You know, you don't necessarily. Right. You keep it separate. Yeah. Exactly. You're not discussing those kinds of private details.

So I'd never spoken to her about that before. and she saw, sorry, I'm getting a little, a little flustered and emotional. It's okay. It's okay. She saw my reaction and my eyes watered and she was like, okay, she's like, so you, this is resonating with you. You can, you know, you understand where I'm coming from. And I was like nodding my head. And she was like, okay. She's like, well, then the message was for you. She's like, when I walked back to my desk, she's like, I felt this really strong sense to come and talk to you. She's like, it was like pulling me towards you. And so he gave me a

hug and she was just like, she reiterated that my aunt just wanted me to know that she was always with me and that she loved me. And I then told her, I was like, the description is accurate to a T. That's how I knew her my whole life. She always had like a red copper haircut, a hair, color, sorry, and a short haircut. And then I told her I'm actually wearing a ring that she gave to me right before she passed. So it was just such a strong experience for me. You know, I'm at work.

Working a desk job, you're not really thinking about these things, right? And it just was such a big surprise. and I don't know. Honestly, it had left me speechless. Like, after she walked away from my desk, I, like, cried for like 10 minutes on my lunch because I was just so moved by this experience, especially it being something that happened at work.

But, I mean, I don't know anybody else who's a medium or has those kinds of abilities. So I can only imagine that my aunt kind of knew that she had that special talent. and that she would be somebody that would be able to communicate that message to me effectively. Even though it was difficult in a way, I think I'm guessing that you felt it was a positive, no? Am I right? Absolutely, yeah.

It obviously, you know, it caught me off guard and it made me incredibly emotional, but it was so powerful to receive that message and to really know that our loved ones are always with us, even if we can't see them. And, you know, at this point, she passed in 2013. So it's been quite some time. So to know that she's always with me just kind of gave me a little breath of life, in a sense. That's awesome. Priscilla, we really appreciate when people share stories, particularly ones that are so personal to them. And I think it gives comfort not only to you, but to other people. So thank you for sharing your story today on the campfire.

Thank you for having me, Jim. Well, next up on the campfire, we have a return caller. Alexa from California has been back, and I think she's been on like three or four times, so we're so glad to have her again. And this story revolves around her son. Alexa, welcome back to the show. Thanks for joining us again and tell us what happened. Yeah, thanks for having me, Jim. Yeah, so my story is an encouraging one.

It happened probably about six or seven months ago. In order to kind of jump in, there's a little bit of a backstory to it. So my son has been struggling with some medical issues. And during this time, when we first started figuring out that there was something wrong, we couldn't quite put our finger on what it was. We were going to his pediatrician. We were going to an ear-nose-and-throat doctor. we were going to all these different referral appointments and trying to figure out what is wrong with our son.

And he was in a lot of pain and there was a lot of swelling. And he's three. So he was just this little body and you as a parent are struggling to figure out like how do you take care of your son? How do you make him better? Sure. And I had gone to church with my husband and we were just chatting about the, the current events happening around my son's medical condition. And we were really struggling. We had wanted to adopt and we wanted to expand our family. So at this point, we took a pause on that until we

figured out what was going on with our son. And we wanted to find different jobs so that way we can accommodate all these doctor's appointments and, you know, being able to have a shorter commute in response to some of these things going on. And on top of that, we were just having people say, like, oh, why haven't you done this? I would have done that. And, oh, well, what are you going to do? Well, as a mom, you should be doing all this stuff. So we just felt really down.

That's easy to say when they're not in the position. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So we just felt really down in the dumps. And I had taken my son to an air nose and throat specialist. And this was kind of one of the last appointments before they were telling us, you need to go to Stanford and kind of get more support. from the, you know, a higher medical field.

So it was a particularly painful appointment for my son. And so, you know, in the examination room, he's screaming, he's crying. There's a lot going on. And, you know, as a mom, you're kind of having to hold them down while they're doing some of their, their examinations. And so we were in line getting ready to schedule another appointment. And the line kind of cuts through the lobby. So a lot of folks are sitting down and filling out their intake appointments. And I'm trying to make my son cheer up a little bit.

He's still crying. He's got this huge band-aid where they cut him. And so he's a little discouraged and sad. And a week prior, I had told people at church, you know, I really wish that God would just kind of let me look behind the curtain. Just give me a little something to know that I'm on the right track because I'm feeling really doubt. and I'm trying to be cheerful for my son, but at the same time, my bucket is empty. And so as we wait in line to schedule this appointment, this woman looks up at me, and I wrote it down. So I'm going to kind of look over here really quick.

She looked at me and she said, I just wanted to tell you that you have a good family. You're a good mom. I know these doctor appointments are hard on moms, but you're doing what you have to do for him to get better. And I was kind of shocked because there was no leading up to that conversation. She kind of just looked up from her intake form and said it. And I was kind of shocked. And so I smiled and said, thank you. And she just smiled and she went down filling out her intake form.

So I thought, well, that was really nice. Bizarre, but nice. And then I went to go schedule my son's appointment. And as I was leaving, I was trying to say like, oh, have a good day. but she didn't even acknowledge me. She kind of just kept writing. It was almost as if she didn't even know who I was or we never had a conversation. And so, yeah, I went to my car and I was kind of thinking about it.

I was writing down what this woman said. And I thought, you know, it's really bizarre that, you know, she's feeling the need to kind of speak out and to say those kind words to me. But she never acknowledged my son. And I feel like as a mom, if you maybe heard a kid's scream, in the examination room or, you know, you just saw that a kid was sad. I feel like your first instinct is always to look at the little kid and say, oh, I'm so sorry, or hang in there, or you're going to get better.

Right. And this woman, this woman never looked at my son. She didn't acknowledge him. It was almost as if what she was saying wasn't meant for him. And she looked directly at me and said, you know, all those things in every sentence kind of hit a different point that my husband and I were struggling with. Are we giving enough time to our family? Am I doing everything that we need to do to support our son?

And every sentence, I feel like, was kind of that peek behind the curtain. It was all those different little words of affirmation that I needed to know, okay, this is really hard, but we're on the right track. So I kind of think there was some divine intervention or an angel kind of giving me those words. I have an explanation. I have an explanation. And some people like, oh, Jim's getting religious now. But that's okay. I mean, I think that's part of this supernatural.

You know, for me, it must have believed in a higher being. I think that basically, and, you know, some people might sound, boy, this sounds out there. I think that basically God took control of that woman and communicated that message directly to you. And who knows, maybe it was done in such a way that she didn't even realize it. That's what I'm thinking. It's because it really felt like she didn't. Because what you just read back is like that would be a prepared statement if somebody wanted to address your specific reason. And I'm sure that she deals with a lot of people who have these kind of situations and have some of the same general concerns.

But it seemed too specific not to be meant exactly for you. Absolutely. I mean, this woman was like a patient. She's just sitting in the lobby waiting for an appointment. No idea who I am. no idea of our circumstances, no idea how long we've been struggling. It felt like a specific message for me. And, yeah, whether it was God directly or whatever it is, it was definitely a divine power.

Wow. And your son, he's doing okay now, I hope? He is. There's some kind of light at the end of the tunnel and the next couple months I'm hoping it'll all be squared away. Excellent. Well, bless you and your family. Thank you for sharing this heartwarming story on the campfire. And of course, as always, stay spooky.

Stay spooky. Thanks so much, Jim. Your summer starts now with Memorial Day deals at the Home Depot. It's time to fire up summer cookouts with the next grill, four-burner gas grill, on special buy for only $199. And entertain all season with the Hampton Bay, West Grove, seven-piece outdoor dining set for only $499. This Memorial Day get low prices guaranteed at the Home Depot.

While supplies last, price invalid May 14th or May 27th. U.S. only exclusions apply. See Home Depot.com slash price match for details. Bonjour, compadre. It's the... Priceline negotiator! How do I negotiate so many great travel deals? My greatest gadget.

The Price Line app. It's got hotel deals, flight deals, rental car deals, all of those deals in a bundle. Deals. Game Day deals. Concert trip deals. No one deals more deals than Price Line. Hold your horses. There's more. The app lets you filter hotels by neighborhood, vibe, star level, and amenities like pools and spas and beach fronts. Wait, I'm not done. Stop cutting me up.

Nice line. Next up on the campfire is Kristen, and she has a spooky story for us. She heard about us from that great podcast, and that's why we drink. Christina and M are always so nice about spreading the word about the show. So I will try to reciprocate in my small way, and if you haven't checked out, there's a lot. show, please do. Although I think almost everybody listening probably has because they're so popular. So, but anyhow, Kristen is here. Welcome, Kristen. Thank you for joining us and tell us your story. Thank you so much for having me. So I am going to talk a little bit about an experience that I had in the Edinburgh vaults. In July 2025, I was really lucky. I took a couple weeks off work and did some traveling. I went to the UK, to London, to Amsterdam, to visit a friend of mine, and to Edinburgh as well.

And originally, a friend was supposed to travel with me from London to Edinburgh. And that person ended up coming down with COVID while we were in London and ended up having to head back to their home. And I stayed in Edinburgh by myself. My first time traveling internationally by myself, it was absolutely fantastic. And what? One of the things that I had really wanted to do there was go on a tour of the Edinburgh vaults. There are a bunch of different tour companies you can go with. I don't know if it's okay to say like what specific company I went with. I don't think it's necessary.

Okay. If you don't feel it's necessary to destroy. No, they were awesome. I just don't want to like, you know, advertise stuff if you're not. No, give the name of them. I mean, if it's a good thing, go ahead and give their name. Yeah, they are Merkett, like Mirkat, Tours at Annaburah. And you meet at this location on the Royal Mile,

and you start the tour there, and they took you around a little bit through Edinburgh and primed the tour with some different stories of body snatchers and what it was like to live in Edinburgh back in the past, and a little bit of information about how the vaults were built. They're not actually underground. They are built into a bridge. And it's like the series of rooms. And originally they were supposed to be used for merchants who had their buildings up on a bridge.

And these were supposed to be like storage rooms and shop rooms and stuff like that. They did not seal them. So they became very damp and unpleasant to be in. And all of the merchants moved in. And supposedly what then happened is kind of a red light district. moved in after the merchants left. And these vaults were used, possibly for body smuggling, for people lived in them, people who were living in poverty.

And apparently just a lot of, like, really unpleasant things probably happen there. They're certainly not nice to be in. When I started the tour, one of the first things that they asked was, have you been on a ghost tour before? And I hadn't. and haven't really had any supernatural experiences myself. But one thing I had joked is said, my sister and I joke that my mom is a little bit psychic and has had some things happen to her. And the guide goes, well, you know, some people shine brighter than others.

And, you know, I was like, yeah, certainly. When we started the tour and actually went into the vaults, immediately I had this sense that I was not supposed to be there. Whenever I tour a place or I see something, I really like to take a couple pictures to remember the place to start and then just kind of be present and enjoy the tour. That makes sense. But yeah, I immediately put my hands in my pockets and I felt like if I took my camera out and I took a picture, there would be something in the picture that I didn't want to see. and I felt very sure that if I looked anywhere in the room other than directly at the guide, I would see something that I didn't want to see and almost immediately started feeling physically ill. Now, these are very dark places. There's absolutely no natural light.

The one that I went into was lit fully by candlelight, so it's very atmospheric. Eric. And these are also very damp spaces. So while, you know, they're very clean, there could be mold or different things that certainly can contribute to feeling ill. Right. But I love caves. For example, I like touring a lot of different places. I've been in underground wine vaults and Cincinnati, Ohio, which are awesome to tour. You know what? It reminds me of it real quick. I was at, when I went to England in 2019, we went to St. Martin's. It was like underground crypt. It was... Yes, St. Martins in the fields. The crypt is now a restaurant. And that actually is such a

cool space. I've been lucky enough to eat there. The floors are actually former headstones. It's a really cool space. But to me, like, it was a really lovely space. And this was just totally different. It didn't feel welcoming at all. I think that you can kind of feel a space, times if people were really happy there or people were really sad or a bad thing happened there. And it felt like this was not a good place. And I immediately had a tension headache that was just a band of constriction around my head. And as we went through the different rooms, the tunnels that we were in were kind of a U-shape. The thing about the vaults is there's tons of them, tons of companies have tours. I think some of them are actually used for clubs,

like dance clubs and things like that. So we were only in a very small section of them, and it was very quiet. I didn't hear anything. But the sense of being unwelcome just got stronger and stronger as we move through the vaults. There's a sort of pathway or alleyway that you go through on this tour that connects this faults to others. And this is supposed to be where this spirit called Mr. Boots,

hangs out a lot and he's a very unpleasant. I know. It's just, that just sounds creepy. It is not the vibe. It's not the vibe. He is supposedly possibly a former watchman or something. He's very possessive of the vaults. He doesn't like people there. He's called Mr. Boots because you can sometimes hear him stomping. And he has whispered at people and told them to get out. Supposedly his breath smells very strongly of whisks. sounds like very unpleasant. I did not experience anything with him. But we went through this hallway and we went into another little room that the tour guide said, we call this the safe room.

Mr. Boots doesn't come in here. And this was an adult only tour. I know. Mr. Boots doesn't come in this room. And there are three ghosts that supposedly are present in this room. there is a ghost of a cobbler who probably used this room as a workshop and they did find like cobbler's tools and different things down here when they excavated these vaults. And he apparently is very friendly and smiley and kind and like to compliment people's shoes.

There's a ghost of a little boy and there's a ghost of a woman in black. And there always is a woman in black, right, as M. and Christine say. And the guide said, but the reason we think why Mr. Boots doesn't come in here is because this is her room. And in this room, I just immediately, I had felt progressively more ill as the time kind of went on. And I started to feel really nauseous and just sort of starting to feel like I was going to faint. And I also became just very angry, kind of out of nowhere. And as the guy talked about this woman, the backstory to this woman, according to a medium that had visited, was that she had lost a child in some kind of very traumatic way and that she was very, very angry about this. She particularly did not like pregnant women and had punched pregnant women before to the point where.

at one time, a guide who worked for the company who was pregnant decided to hold off leading tours because of the risk of this woman causing harm. Oh, my Lord. And there was no specifics about, like, why this woman was down here, how she had lost a child. But the guide said one of the things that people sometimes feel is anger because she's very angry. and the guide said she hangs out in the right corner of the room and I looked around and that was exactly where I was standing and really felt if I looked to the ground to the right of me in the corner that there would be something there and kind of glanced and immediately glanced back

and looked at the guide because it was just really awful and the feeling that I got as I was feeling the anger was that maybe, and I have no idea if this is true, I did not ask the company about it. I feel a little bit crazy, like even talking about it, is that she went down there because she was pregnant and she could not have the child and she was trying to have some kind of medical procedure to end the pregnancy. And that that had gone wrong and that is how she had died. and that she was angry about it and angry that she couldn't have the child. And that's why she was so angry at like pregnant people. Maybe.

Again, I have no idea if this is true. But the thing is, too, I have never wanted children. I love children. They're fantastic. I have lots of nieces and nephews, both by, you know, blood and by, like, families of choice. But I actually had my fallopian tubes removed to the extent. never wanted to be pregnant. And I don't know if there was a connection there between my feeling that she had needed

to end a pregnancy medically for reasons of not being able to be pregnant or something. But I remember just being so angry. And also just thinking, if this tour goes on much longer, I'm going to need to tell the guide I need to leave because I'm going to pass out. Wow. And luckily, the tour was about to wrap us. We went into one more room and this room, I looked at it and the guide invited everybody to go in and I was like, I shouldn't go in that room. That's not a room that's for me. And I ended up being the only person standing out in the hallway and ended up being in the hallway by myself because the guide also stepped into the room. And the guide was like, well, she's the only one who had the right idea. She stayed out here in the hallway because this is Mr. Boots room. And he gets very, very mad when people are in here. and talked about how Mr. Boots had like interacted with the people in there as well.

And luckily at that point, that was the end of the tour, and we went back upstairs, and that anger just stayed with me. And you know how you can feel when you're angry right at the base of your throat, like right at the top of your chest. And we went upstairs, and I kind of hung out for a little bit because I did want to talk to the guide. She came over, and she's like, I could tell that you were feeling something. And I remember I just said she's so angry. Like she's just so angry down there. And the guide was like, yeah, other tour guides sometimes describe her in a little different way.

I don't because I feel like that's disrespectful to her. And I have no idea what she meant by that. But I remember just being like if she went down there for the reason why I feel like she went down there, she should be angry. That this was something that she felt like she needed to do. do. And then I just needed to walk out because I was just so uncomfortable. And the tour ends in a room that is directly above the vaults. And I was like, I'm too close. I need to go and walk back to my hotel. And I was staying in the grass market, this very cool, very historical area. There's a view of the castle from the hotel I stayed in. It's right next to Greyfriars Kirkyard. There are a lot of pubs that are supposedly haunted here. They did a lot of executions here. And I remember I went back to my hotel and the two nights I was there, I slept with the lights on. I don't blame him. I don't blame you. I'm in my mid-30s. I haven't done that in years, but that feeling of not being wanted. And like I wasn't supposed to be there, stayed with me. And it almost felt like something had followed me. And I don't know if that's true. But I was so uncomfortable, I slept with the lights on. And I was really wishing that my friend had been able to come.

One, because I wanted somebody to hear, like, did you have any experiences down here? Did you feel anything? Like, was this all in my head? But also because it was scary to be alone in that room. And it was a nice hotel. You know, it was lovely. Well, fascinating stuff. And England, oh, my gosh, the history, I loved going there.

I can't believe it's been seven years. I hope that I get back before I shuffle off this moral coil because it's just amazing. I absolutely love it. But it can be spooky too. Kristen, thanks for sharing your story tonight on the campfire. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. Kevin is on the line from Washington State. We're so glad to have him with us.

And he has a story about his grandpa's house that actually goes beyond his grandpa's house. Kevin, thank you for. joining us, I appreciate it and tell us what? I have a pleasure. Yeah, well, it starts when I was a boy. I lived in my grandfather's house, a little bit of background. He didn't build the full house, but most of it, all of my aunts and uncles are born in this house.

Most of my siblings were born in this house as well. And as a child, I remember sitting in front of the TV and off to the right, at night, would be the kitchen. And the kitchen was dark. And I would always look up and look into the kitchen. And I would see this figure that would always walk from the back of the kitchen towards the doorway where I was sitting. And I could never, you know, what's the word? I could never sit there to see what would happen, what would happen if they would.

got to the door, I'd always turn away because I'd be too scared. Sure. And yeah, so, but I mean, it was almost, well, most nights that I would do that. And I, um, I, I recognized or, I mean, I didn't recognize the figure, but I could, I could see the shape. I could see the hair and everything. But, of course, I could not see any facial features because it was, you know, a, you know, dark. I know how a lot of people

see shadow figures as non-human or demonic or all this I don't I personally do not believe in that right so but that stopped when I was maybe eight or nine and never really thought of it again until many years later I moved to another small town in northwest Iowa and I'd be out walking on some of the back roads at night.

And every now and then I would see movement up in the trees. And I'm quite sure these are not related, but it was just, you know, I'm kind of keeping it along that same, you know, shadow figure type story. And I would see like shapes in the trees. And so one time I, you know, stopped and watched. And it looked like these shadow figures were like following me, jumping, like, from tree to tree. Oh, man.

Yeah, it was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen. And, of course, I, that happened maybe once or maybe two or three times that I saw that. the first couple times I just saw the movement but one time I watched it and they were as I'm walking I'm seeing you know I don't remember if I saw like one or two figures but they were like jumping from tree to tree and I didn't go over there much after that at night

and then another time again if you know Iowa I was probably a lot like Ohio a lot of farmland Right. And so one fall, like just after that, while one fall I'm driving home from work at night. And again, I see movement out of the corner of my eye. And I'm going probably, you know, 50 miles an hour.

And I see, again, to, again, again, I don't know what to, you know, how else to explain, but just shadow figures. Like racing coming towards me at an angle and where they were, you know, coming, I'm driving and they're coming at an angle and racing across the harvested cornfield towards my car. And of course, I'm, you know, like late at night and here I am, you know, no other car anywhere

in sight. And yeah, it was just, and again, I don't know how it is, you know, the small towns out, out your way, but there's absolutely no street lights. It's just moonlight and that's it. So, yeah, so that's kind of where this was. And I haven't experienced that since. So this has been, this last time was probably about, oh, 20, 12, 2013.

So, and I've since actually moved back out to Seattle. So I don't, I don't really experience that dark, small town like I used to at that time. But yeah, it was, it was a little, a little unnerving. Why do you, why do you think this thing followed you? I, I, I, I, it's, it's hard to say. I think part of it was, I was starting to open up. to that type of thing. I'm borderline kind of psychic medium a little bit.

I unfortunately have closed it off. You know, I've got a wall up, so I don't really experience it as much as I used to. So it's, I was having a friend of mine helped me kind of open up a little bit. And I think that's what that was. When I was younger, I think it was just probably, I think I know who it was that was at my grandfather's house.

Because I never met my uncle, but I think it was my uncle. Interesting. I never knew. He passed away when I was very young, and I never knew. So I think it may have been his, I don't know, younger self, perhaps. And it did kind of fit his description from what my dad told me. But these other ones, I don't know. You don't know.

Those, I'm pretty sure, were, you know, non-human entities, perhaps. Again, I don't believe in demons, so I don't believe in that aspect. But, yeah. It always interests me when I talk to people who have the gift, as it were, you know, because I always joke I'm about as psychic as a board. Although I do think we inherently all have a low level of ability. Oh, yeah. But then I think there are people who are like superstars.

They're like, you know, the Steph Currys, the LeBron, James, the Yochovics of the psychic world. And I think that some people have it. And it's just an interesting thing. It always fascinates me how they can turn it on, how they can turn it off. It would seem like to me it would almost be a blessing, but maybe in some ways I don't want to say, curse, but, you know, difficult to deal with getting all of these rushing, rushing things coming at you. Well, Kevin, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your story. I appreciate it very much. And as I always tell all of our callers, to each and every caller, Kevin and everybody, thank you for doing the show because we wouldn't have a show if it wasn't for our

experiencers, our storytellers, our callers. And we appreciate it very much. And we appreciate you, Kevin. Stay spooky. As you and you as well, Jim, pleasure. Relax and let Ralph's delivery handle your grocery shopping this week. We start with only the freshest items, then review your list and carefully choose each one. Then we pack it all up and deliver it in as little as 30 minutes, so you can feel confident it's what you ordered. Fresh groceries, your way, with Ralph's delivery and pickup. And right now, you can save $20 on your first delivery or pickup order. Ralph's fresh for everyone.

This is a Bose moment. You've been there. Small talks going nowhere, but then the Bose speaker kicks in. Music you can feel fills the room and no more chat with Danny from accounts. Your life deserves music. Your music deserves Bose. Find your perfect product at Bose.com. Next up on the campfire is Katie from Louisiana and she's been listening for actually a little less than a year.

and here she is telling her story. And I say, be like Katie. Tell your story. Sign up at jimherald.com slash campfire. And another thing, I have to compliment Katie on her choice of fashion. Yes, from our mausoleum of merch. Thank you, Katie. And you too can get your lovely shirt.

Jimherald.com slash merch. Jimherald.com slash merch. So the bottom line is be like Katie. That's the take-home message. Plus, she has a really cool story to share, and she's going to do that. Now, Katie, welcome to the show and tell us what happened. Hey, Jim. Thanks. So, unfortunately, we lost my father-in-law to pancreatic cancer just back in September, so very recently.

I'm sorry. Thank you. Yeah, it was a tough one. But so at the graveside service at the funeral, just in all the. the feelings, you know. Of course. I just was thinking to myself, you know, oh, come on. What's your sign going to be? You know, because I'm very much a believer in signs and getting little messages and God

winks and things like that. So I was just thinking, oh, pop, that's what we called him was pop. Pop, what's your going to be? Come on. Just tell me. I just have to know. And before the priest started all of the services and everything, I looked up and a hummingbird dipped directly over his casket.

There were no hummingbirds in the cemetery. There were lots of dragonflies, but no hummingbirds. Curious. Yeah, so that was a big one. And he always did have in our backyard, or the backyard, you know, hummingbird feeders and things like that, always making sure it was full and he loved them. And then not too long ago, about a month ago, actually, it was freezing cold here in South Louisiana, which is rare, and not humming bird season at all. And we were just doing laundry, you know, and we have our back door as a big glass pane so you can see out into our backyard.

And I was turned around. My husband was kind of facing the window while we're folding our clothes. And all of a sudden we hear this, pop. and I kind of look and I said what on earth was that? And my husband said, a hummingbird just flew straight into our window. Oh, man.

Into our back window. And then I'm thinking, well, okay, given what happened at the graveside service, I figured that's pop sign. So, hey, pop, and he hated the winter. He hated the cold too. So maybe he wanted to come in and get warm. I don't know.

But, and so before I decided to tell the story, story I went and spoke to my mother-in-law just to, you know, check in with her and make sure that she was okay with her. And so she goes, what are you going to say? And I told her the gist of, you know, these two little instances. And she said, oh, my gosh, do you know that pop used to catch hummingbirds? And I said, what? And she said, oh, yeah, they used to fly straight up to his face.

they would let him put them in his hand and he would just pet him a little and then they would just he would let him go and they would just fly away. Wow. And I did not know that before I had my two experiences. Yeah. Yeah. So I think we got our sign. I think so too.

And that says something about your father-in-law. I mean, usually, you know, in my experience, hummingbirds are very skittish. So the fact they felt comfortable enough to, to. to light in his hand and stay there for a little bit. That almost says like they kind of sense that he was a kinder, a gentler soul. Mm-hmm. Definitely.

Yeah. Wow. Wow. Yes, there are signs. And again, I always say this. I think that on the other side, many times they're very good at picking out signs that are very specific to their situation, very specific to their loved ones, whereas maybe a hummingbird wouldn't mean anything to anybody else.

because of this situation, it meant so much more. So I think they kind of pick and choose like, what can I, what can I, what kind of sign can I give that will really resonate and hit home? And I think these stories always help people. I think they're of great comfort. Katie, thank you so much for listening and for sharing your story today on the campfire. You're welcome. Thanks for having me.

Stay spooky. Stay spooky. She has been listening for about a year. I'm talking about Tara from. Illinois, and we thank her for joining us, and she has an experience she'd like to share. Tara, thank you for joining us. I appreciate it very much, and tell us your campfire experience. Well, thank you for having me. I wanted to tell a story about my late husband, and he was sort of a interesting kind of fellow. He had a great sense of humor.

and he was probably one of the most people-oriented people that I've ever met. I've been a nurse for about 40 years, so the story I have is about when he passed. And just to give you a little drop of insight into his personality, the last two weeks of his life, We had had him in hospice in our house, in our home together. And he was busy, very busy trying to get things together so that I wouldn't have to worry about so much after he passed. And one of the things that he did for me was he gave the local funeral home a call. And he was, he'd been a. He used cars salesmen. He bought cars at auto auctions. And so he was kind of a wheeler dealer kind of guy.

And I can laugh about this now. And at the time, I laughed with him because he called the local funeral home and said, hey, I can't remember the fellow's name, but he said, hey, Bill, how are you doing? This is John. He said, I'd like to, I'm probably going to be giving you a little business. business. Anyway, so he made his own arrangements pretty much, and it was just kind of funny. And we laughed because it was totally his personality. But anyway, as he was slowly coming to the point where I knew he would be passing. I had his brother had come to stay with me from Florida, one of his brothers.

And he and I were sitting kind of laying in bed with my husband, and we're watching John's favorite thing was Vikings football. So we had a football game on. Yeah. And we both knew it was going to be soon. And at any rate, rather, the moment that he passed, we both felt the strangest sensation. And we looked at each other and I said to his brother, I'm like, did you feel that? And he said, yeah, you know that look that you give somebody when you're not sure what you experienced, but you know the other person did as well, and he was looking at me the same way.

And what we both felt, I think simultaneously, as John took his last breath and exhaled, you could feel him leave the room. And it was a sensation. The sensation was like, have you ever been in one of those arenas that are like puffed up with air? They're blown up with... Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And you know how you walk through the door and there's that immediate kind of zip, you know, feeling where air's being sucked out. You know, I know it's...

There's positive pressure inside and negative would be on the outside. And it was that sensation. we both had looked up at the ceiling where we felt his spirit exit. And I've been present for, you know, a number of deaths as a nurse for 40 years. I've never felt that before. I've gone into a room before when you can tell that person is no longer there, but maybe the heart is still beating, you know. And the body's not quite done, but the spirit has exited the building.

And it was just the oddest thing. We both felt it, and we both knew immediately that he was gone. And he was, I wasn't surprised or anything, but it was an unusual thing for both of us, I think, to have experienced. I called his hospice nurse to come. And she was an interesting character as well. She was like very holistic and like a kundalini yogi in her other life as outside of nursing. And, you know, immediately when she came in the house, she was like, taking care of things. She was kind of like the perfect person to have. And she wanted to know

right away where, where there was a window, because we were in the bedroom and it was kind of covered up. The window in that room was kind of covered up with the headboard. And anyway, and I said, why do you want a window? And she said, sometimes spirit needs to have a place to leave. And so she always opens a window and and I said well there's one right next to us in the bathroom but I said he's gone we we both felt him leave and she said well I'm just going to open it in case and I was like okay but it was just one of those things that kind of proved to me that were more than just the physical you know way more than the physical. And his spirit leaving, he was such a big personality.

It didn't surprise me when I felt him leave. But it did kind of confirm to me things that I already knew, you know, that we're much more than just the physical body. And we have the spirit body and he was on his way. You know, science is just starting to come to grips with some things. I think I just saw something about a Princeton study where they talk about the fact that we're all connected mentally and so forth. And that explains, at least it starts to explain the idea of why people can have things like telepathy or an impact on a relative who's halfway across the country. There's so much science doesn't understand.

But I think humans have understood for eons that we have souls. And yours is not the first story, although it's a great one, of somebody who saw basically or felt the soul exit at time of death. And I think that's so true. I mean, it just, it's, I think it just is. I mean, we are so much more. I mean, I think we know when we see, you know, let's say that somebody's passed and we go see them at a few. funeral or whatever. We go pay their respects. And of course, you know, you see them and you want to submit it. Most people want to see the person, I understand. But we know they're not there. We know that

their spirit is somewhere else. Well, my sympathies on your loss, but the good news is, you know, John is still around. And so does your little friend there, too. So, Tara, thank you so much for sharing your story tonight on the camp. Thank you. Thank you. Well, we have a return caller. Alan from Missouri is calling in from the show me state. And he's not going to show us, but he's going to tell us. And by the way, what he has shown us here is he's got excellent taste in fashion. He has his stay spooky shirt on. You can get one just like at jimherald.com slash merch. And Alan, thank you for your support. And thanks for sharing this other story. Your other story was great. I love this story. Tell us what happened.

Well, my uncle, this is his story, really. I'm telling it for him. And this was probably back in the mid-50s, but my grandma was really sick with pneumonia. In fact, the doctor didn't think she's going to make it through the night. And my uncle went in there, I don't know whether just a check on her or if he needed something, but he went in a room, he saw three people like beings. And he said they looked like they were made a white light sitting on her bed.

And then they looked, and when they saw that, he saw them, they stood up and just floated through the ceiling. And, yeah, the next day, my grandma was on the road to recovery. She was on the mend for the next day. Wow. You know, it reminds me, we had a story not too long ago. I don't know if you saw it because it's just been, as we record this, it was in the last couple of weeks. A gentleman had a recording of his late mom who talked about when she was a little girl. And this, like, ghostly priest showed up.

She was at a hospital and nobody else saw him. I think the mother and the girl saw him. And then she suddenly got better. I believe that stuff happens. I believe there are angels. I believe that we can be visited and that we can be helped. I'm on board. I'm on board.

Absolutely, yeah. This sounds like one of those family stories has been around for a long time. I just only heard it recently, which is weird. I'm like, Dad, you know me on my life. Why are you just now bringing out the angel story? But yeah. Yeah. Well, that's the thing.

And I say this when I give my library talks. Tell your stories, folks. And it doesn't even have, first of all, I mean, I love it when people come on this show and tell their stories. And I encourage you to do that, Jimherald.com slash campfire. But it's more important. The most important thing is you tell your family and you tell your friends. Because I know there are many family stories. and some of them are spooky, scary, supernatural,

and some of them are just funny things. Like my dad tells a story, and he's 90 years old, the time that he painted his hair green because he saw the movie The Boy with a green hair, which is a very old movie. And my grandma said he was going to be the boy with a red butt. I don't think that's exactly what she said, but that was the idea.

But anyway, the point, was is that it's important to share your stories. To your point, you never heard that story before. So if you've got family stories or things that happen to you in your life, whether they're paranormal or not, I highly encourage you to tell them. And if you get brave enough, certainly come on this show and tell them jimherald.com slash can't fire. Awesome story. And all these oral tradition stories or whatever, if you think about it, they're just one generation from being gone forever, you know. That's right. That's right. Share your stories now. I know my mom, who has unfortunately passed many stories that she tells me and I tell my wife and I tell my kids

because, you know, if I don't tell them, those stories end with me and they would have ended with her if she wouldn't have told them. So tell your stories. Share your stories. It's really important. Alan, thank you for sharing yours tonight. And also, you also, not only do you have the shirt, you have the hoodie too. So thanks so much, Alan. Stay spooky. Stay spooky. Next up on the campfire is Kathleen. She was actually on a show that I used to do with Dar. You know, we do the paranormal report with Dar now, and you should definitely check that out.

But we used to do before that we do a show, you can't believe what happened to me. And Kathleen was on that one, too. So good to talk with her again. By the way, make sure you check out the paranormal report. It's really, really cool. But anyhow, Kathleen has a story which I can best describe as terrifying. Kathleen, tell us what happened. Yeah, hi, I'm Kathleen. I'm from Illinois. So this happened while I was on a trip to do a retreat, a spirul to retreat followed by birdwatching. So I decided to extend my trip and do check out some Arctic species in a place called Saxon Bog, which is in northern central Minnesota. So the day that what happened, when what happened happened, so I was actually having a really good day and what happened that evening just came out of nowhere.

So I had just photographed, taken this amazing photograph of a northern hawk owl flying. And it swooped down and caught a vole right in front of me. And I got some really professional looking pictures. So I was really excited pulling into the hotel that evening because I'd also seen a snowy owl as well, which is a species I had never seen in the wild before. So I pulled into the hotel. And as I passed the hotel, I saw that there was. the ship that later I found out had been used to transfer iron ore. But essentially it was staying

on a barrier island that was off of Lake Superior. And I was planning to drive back to the Chicago area on the way home. So I get into the hotel and everything seems okay. And so I order food. It had a pool in the center of it so people were happy and laughing. So I didn't really expect anything weird. And that evening, I was just, I remember I was just in a good mood. Like I was downloading pictures onto my laptop. And I was just really excited and planning to enter some photos into a photo contest. And then I went to bed. And that's when like just things just went crazy.

So it started in the dream space and then ended up with physical manifestations after in the hotel room. So in the dream, I think I dreamt. that something was tugging the sheets off of my bed in the hotel. And I'm usually kind of consider myself open and curious. So in the dream, I said, okay, well, that's kind of cool. Do that again. And it did it again. But then there was imagery of being of like needles and being pricked with a needle.

And I'm like, okay, whoa, that's not okay. Right. And I'm like, stop, stop, stop. Yeah. So in the dream, I start packing up my stuff, which is odd because I'm still in the hotel room, but it's a dream. So I start packing up my stuff. And then there's when these two individuals come into the room. And I was just telling them in the dream, I'm like, look, I'll leave.

I don't want any problems, yada, yada, yada. They corner me in the bathroom. Now, this is the dream. This is still the dream? This is still the dream. Yeah. So they corner me in the bathroom. And, you know, I remember I had one behind me and I had one in front of me.

And they started, they started talking to one another in what sounded like Eastern European. Like I was guessing in the dream that it was Russian. And they seemed to be like a labor type, like someone that did heavy labor. Right. That's the impression that I got. So, you know, again, I was saying, hey, look, I just want to go. I just want to get out of here. after they um so i'm in between them and then one from behind grabs me and i remember in the dream it was

super vivid it was like the hands were cold and very dead and blue and i got like the impression that there was some some um trauma around drowning with them um and so like i remember they the one grabbed me and i screamed stop and then they let me go where i woke up and I woke up and I was just completely terrified. And when I woke up, the room was a complete icebox. Like, it was super cold and it was definitely not the way I had said it that night. And I couldn't get the lights to turn on. Like I had all kinds of stuff going wrong in the hotel room itself.

So I ended up trying, I debated actually leaving early because like things were just in the hotel room were just weird. Between it being really cold and that vivid nightmare, like I actually thought about checking out early. which I've never done before at a hotel. So I ended up just fumbling my way to the heater and just turning it up. And then I just, what I did was I envision like the circular protection around me. And just like and just saying, okay, you can't really, you know, nothing is going to, going to harm me while I'm here. So I just kind of did that, that like meditation and just kind of like had this bubble kind of go down around me.

Like, you're not going to mess with my dreams anymore or do anything else to me. So somehow I managed to get back to sleep. And then I woke up. And again, I decided against leaving because I didn't, I had the long drive ahead in me. And I didn't want to be tired and trying to drive like in the winter. It just wasn't going to happen. So I think I actually asked at the hotel, I'm like, is this island haunted? And the woman looked at me like it was crazy.

So I started I started Googling the place and I found out that actually the hotel didn't seem to have any rumors but the ship that was on the island did have rumors of being haunted. And I found out that it had actually had several accidents and had run aground several times and almost shipwrecked. So that was interesting. And so I'm like, okay, I'm not going to stick around. I'm going to, you know, after I had breakfast, I headed out. And I was loading up the car and then all of a sudden the keys just disappeared from my pocket. It was almost like they didn't want me to leave. So I'm sitting there looking for it, thinking I misplaced it.

I didn't find it. And I said, and then I said to the hotel room, I'm like, okay, give it back. And then I reappeared in my pocket again. So I kind of, like, if I seem to recall that I chewed them out twice. So once when they, once after the night. nightmare and again, like when I couldn't find my hotel keys. But after that, I booked it. So essentially, you think these spirits were messing with you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Although later when I talked to a friend of mine who's a medium after, and I also talked to, before I getting into that, I also talked to someone else who used to work on a ship in that area. It was being used to a museum. And he told me that that particular. ship that I was by had had a reputation of being a toxic workplace and not a good place to work.

So, yeah, yeah, so it was interesting. Interesting. Yeah, so I ended up actually researching some of the history of it just because I'm a nerd. But, and that was a really odd experience. So, yeah. But later I talked to my friend, who is the medium, and she's done great readings for me for my cat, like, or for my animals. Like I had one animal that had dental surgery.

He woke me up like to plaintive cries. And then I saw a text message that says, Emmett needs his pain medication now. So from her. So she's pretty, yeah, she's pretty on the ball. Pretty. Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

Yeah. But she actually told me that they were, that these entities were not good people in life. That there actually had been a human victim. Yeah. And she essentially said, They saw a woman traveling alone at a target, which was kind of scary. Well, you know, I do believe this.

I've had psychics tell me, look, you know, there's this thing that when somebody passes, oh, they suddenly become sweetness and light. And a lot of the psychics tell me, no, no. People pretty much are what they are. If they're nice people over here, they're nice people over there. If they're not so nice, they don't suddenly sprout angel wings and become great. Exactly, exactly. So, yeah, I don't mind staying at a haunted hotel, but I won't be staying at that one again.

That one. Don't blame you. No way. So, yeah, yeah. Kathleen, thank you for joining us tonight on the campfire and stay spooky. We have a return caller Renault from Canada is back, and he had a terrifying story before. And he has some other stories to share. Renaud, welcome back to the show. Thank you so much for joining us and tell us what happened.

Thank you for having me, Jim. Well, I said last time about the big safe in the house. I learned later after I talked to my parents about our recording. I told her about it. And then they told me. some new things that I didn't know. Well, let me just say one thing. Let me just say one thing.

For folks who were listening before, Renaud had a house where there was a lot of what seemed to be paranormal activity and there was this safe in it. So I just wanted to explain that to maybe people that didn't hear the story before. But go ahead. I'm sorry. As I told before, there was a big safe in the basement, a big safe with a big skeleton key. and I learned that there's there

there was putting the money of all the church in that faith and as I told before in the previous story we found the journal of the accountant

and the doctor of the town and apparently there was a big fire just next the house where's the The nuns were, there was a coven there. Well, it took fire and he stole all the money and left the village.

So one time, that's the instance I did forget to tell you. There's an instance I was with two of my friends. So I said, hey, my house is untended, you know. let's go see the big safe in the basement. So my friend was reaching to the trap door to go to the basement. And there were some music playing in the background. Not too loud, nothing. But as soon as he touched the door to the basement,

the trap door to the basement, the speaker went all the way up. so it was loud, loud, loud, loud, loud, loud. It goes down to the minimum and goes right to the same place it was before. So it just let go out the door and said, no, I'm not going down there. No way. So that was it. It's just something that I learned after about.

the money and then probably something didn't want us to go down there just to see Yeah, that sounds like that might be the case because I know you had said before that that house was just an incredible amount of activity there.

Lots of disturbing things happened. So what was this trans body experience? Well, my transbody experience It's happened probably near the same time. I was coming back from the farm, so it was pretty early maybe 8 o'clock in the morning. So I decided I'm going to go take a nap.

And I'm trying and trying. I put my cover over my head to hide the light. I'm trying to go to sleep. but it doesn't work. It doesn't work at all. Seems like an eternity pass, maybe like at least half an hour. So suddenly, I'm getting some sound,

sound of the sound of waves, sound of seal. I was near beach. I was totally near beach suddenly. and where I am not near a beach at all. So I just stood up, look at the clock, and only three minutes past since I was beginning to try to sleep. But for me, it was like at least half an hour.

And suddenly, I just fell down my bed, fell down my bed. So I was probably going somewhere, but my art began to palpate, to my art was going crazy. And I woke up for real this time, and that's it. Only three minutes past, as for me, it seemed like it was half an hour at least. Do you feel as though, now, obviously, you don't feel that was a dream. You felt that you went, you kind of astrally traveled. Is that correct? Well, at the time, as I was hearing the way, I was going to, I was going through my bed at full speed.

It was black all around me. My art was, I was shaking from this experience. And never, never I will forget it. Well, Renaud, thank you so much for joining us once again and sharing your experience on the campfire. It was my pleasure to make it clearer. Well, always glad to have you. Stay spooky. Stay spooky, Jim.

Thanks so much for joining us on this. edition of Jim Harold's Campfire. I appreciate it very much. And please tell a friend today about the campfire. Text them a link. Text them a YouTube link, a Spotify link, an Apple podcast link, wherever they're most receptive. We believe that there are many, many more listeners out there. They just don't know about the Campfire and that's where you come in. So please help us out. Also, a big thank you to all of our storytellers and a reminder, our Campfire. submissions are now reopened at jim herald.com slash campfire so please share your stories your stories make the show and we'd appreciate it very much don't forget our plus club at jimherald

dot com slash plus jim herald dot com slash plus it's uh we think it's a great deal new episodes plus members get them no ads and uh i think that's a big improvement we've made in the show plus we're doing all those remastered episodes we just did one this week for vampires on the paranormal podcast. And it was an oldie but a goodie with Dr. Bob Curran, a great interview about the lore and legend of vampires. But you're only get to listen to it if you're a member of the Plus Club. Jimherald.com slash plus. And over there now there's a deal where you can get $30 off your first year. So check it out. We thank you so much. We'll talk to you next time. Have a great week. Everybody, stay safe. And of course, stay

spooky. Bye-bye.