Jim Harold's Campfire - Half Man Half Ghost - Jim Harold's Campfire 758

Episode Date: April 23, 2026

A child’s simple, matter-of-fact description hints at a connection to the other side. From there, the Campfire takes a darker turn with a chilling retelling of a childhood encounter that raises an unsettling question: what if monsters aren’t just stories? Along the way, this episode also explores an old funeral tradition not observed with possibly eerie consequences, a surreal travel experience that feels like stepping into the wrong reality, a shadowy presence tied to a dorm room, and a strange scenario in a Venetian apartment . It all adds up to a Campfire packed with high strangeness, where the ordinary world keeps slipping just enough to make you wonder what’s really out there. VIRTUAL 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

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Half man, half ghost. Up next on the campfire. Sit back, relax, and warm yourself by Jim Harold's Campfire. On the line, we have Brittany from Canada. Now I saw her nice setup there with the mic and the road pop filter and said, ah, she must be a podcaster. No, she's a singer. So how cool is that?

And you can even tell in her speaking voice, she has a very pleasant, pleasant voice. But the point here today is not to talk about that, but to talk about the story. And Brittany is going to tell us a story that surrounds her son and her dad. And we're so glad to have her with us. She's been listening for a few years. Brittany, welcome to the show and tell us what happened. Thank you, Jim. Yeah.

So my son, Declan, has always been pretty tapped in. It's been a real delight to see the world through his eyes in a spooky sort of way. and when my dad was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 24, yeah, it seemed to almost ramp up. It started with him seeing this kind of, he said there's a ghost at the end of the bed, and it was this woman figure within days of dad getting diagnosed. That was the first time that it was really clear that something was going on. But after my dad passed away, June, 20, 2025,

Declan, it took him a little while to understand because he was three. Sure, of course. So he was, yeah, he was just starting to kind of process it. And in the like depth of his grief, there seemed to be something kind of special happen where, I don't know, he woke up one morning at like 3 a.m., which is kind of the magic time, right? And he was like, he was just crying. And so I went into his room and I said, okay, buddy, I got him settled. And I was like, I'm going to go downstairs. I got to grab a snack.

I was hungry. And I was like, I'll come back up in a minute. So I went downstairs and I thought to myself, well, he's funny that he's so quiet. Normally he'd be like, mama, you know. And I thought I heard or felt, intuited this voice in my head that sounded like my dad saying, you're a good mom. And I was like, well, that's, that's nice, but I'm probably just comforting myself, you know? Right. So I went up to, you know, I came back upstairs and I was like, man, he's awful quiet. And he was laying in his bed and he was smiling. And he said, I saw Grampy. And I just like this,

like, wash, like this feeling whenever my body, like, whoa, that's wild. Yeah. And I was like, where was he? Like, I wanted all the details because I love this stuff, right? And I was like, where was he was like he was right over there about probably three or four feet away um i said what do you look like he said half ghost half person oh my lord so cute like a cute way to describe what a lot of people say right um yeah and he said he saw kind of like his head down to about his below his torso um and he was smiling and he said i love you decklin um i love you um which was really sweet it kind of felt like, yeah, just something, I wish that I could have seen him, of course, but I was so grateful that Declan got to. And since then, dad's shown up to him a number of times. He'll see him

at school sometimes as teachers. Some of them think that's amazing. Some of them get freaks them out. But he'll see my dad with him at school. He'll see him sometimes just when we're outside, he says he's climbing a tree or he's standing on someone's head just being silly, trying to make them laugh. So it's just been this really lovely thing to get to watch and to know that, you know, dad isn't going to miss out on his life, I guess, you know. That is so cool. And the thing is, is that, I mean, I believe he's seeing him.

He's got to be seeing him because where would he get half man, half ghost? Where would that, I mean, he's, what, three, four years old? Where would he get that phraseology from? Yeah, exactly, exactly. I just thought that was really... Yeah. Really neat. Because, I don't know, he usually would just say something would look like a ghost, like what he would see on, I don't know, on like cartoons or something.

Right. Half man, half ghost. Wow. Yeah, half ghost, half person. Really just clear like that. Like, of course, that's what he looked like, you know. And the thing is, is that I wonder as years go on how long he will continue to see him because they say they outgrow. Right? And I wonder if he'll remember it.

I hope he does. He's pretty obsessed with spooky things. So I think that's, I think he'll hopefully remember. And since he's become a fan of your show as well. So he loves it. We both love it. Thank you. I love to hear when families listen together. And I think, you know, obviously that's the way to do with kids. You know, some stories might not be appropriate, but some stories very much right. Yeah, you just skip those ones that aren't that are a little too scary.

or whatever, but I love to hear that. And the thing is, is that I'm so sorry about the loss of your dad, but I will say this, it's obvious he's still with you both. Yeah, yeah, he is. I know I've got more stories and I can call back another time, but yeah, he's made it clear a few times, which has been really awesome. It's something we talked about when he was in hospice. He wanted to find ways to come through, and I was like, I'll be watching, you know?

And he's done it. So, yeah. That's very sweet. Well, thank you so much for being on the show. Keep singing and stay spooky. Thank you. Thank you, Jim. Welcome to the campfire.

I am Jim Harold. So glad to be with you. And spring has sprung. And we're so happy here in Ohio. And I hope that you're having a great time of year. Wherever you are and whatever you do and whatever time you're listening or watching this. If you're not familiar, Jim, Harold's Camp Fire is the show where real people tell real stories in a real great way,

and we've been doing it for 17 years now. And the formula is pretty much the same from the beginning. Real people come on. They say, Jim, something weird happened. And I say, person, please tell us. And they tell us. And that's how we get these great stories. And we're so appreciative of all of our listeners.

Also very appreciative of our plus club members who can go back and get the whole. whole history and the whole backlog of the campfire going back to 2017 and so much more. It's actually what allows us to do this show. So if you would like to support the show and get the whole backlog of thousands of spooky stories, jimherald.com slash plus, Jimherald.com slash plus. We have a great deal going on now for our direct version that you can get $30 off your first year. That's fantastic. Or $5 off your first month. I often say it's on a monthly basis.

It is less than the price of a fast food meal these days and a lot better for you. And with that, we will get on to our first Campfire story. And here we go. We have a brand new listener, two weeks, David from Pennsylvania. And not only is he a brand new viewer and listener and has just signed up to tell his story. And please be like David and go to Jimherald.com slash Campfire to do the same. But I think he may have won the prize for the best all-time backdrop while we've been doing this in video with an actual campfire. That's beautiful. That's gorgeous. David, I love it.

Now the story's going to stick. Background's good. Oh, I don't think so. I don't think so at all. I think it's going to be great. In fact, I'm very interested because I shared with you, Dar is of Italian lineage 100%. And she has educated me about a lot of the traditions like the Moloic and all these different things are the Melokio, I think that the school people call it. You know, all of those different things. But this one she wasn't familiar with, but you are and you experienced it. We can't wait to hear about it. So tell us your story, David.

And thank you for signing up. No, the bad part is I was only six or seven years old when this happened. So it's kind of like I'm retelling the retellings of it that I remember. My mother just passed away. She was 90. I'm sorry. So she's the Italian inside of the family. Her maiden name was my last name is

which is German and my dad was German. And he kind of got a kick out of it because he would make fun of it but in a nice as you can be way. And they never really, he's the one that came up with the idea of we have to drop off the spirits. It was just,

it was known from my grandfather, if you go to a funeral or if you go to a viewing, you never go straight home because then something bad will happen in the household connected with the funeral or whatever, which is kind of creepy. But my dad always said it was like, I think they just wanted an excuse to go out to eat afterwards.

But he texted it, you know, we would go to it. It's not like we went to funerals all the time, But when we did, it was just don't forget, you've got to stop somewhere. It was just known. And my dad, one time, I remember this because my grandfather was real little. His name was Augie Panucci, good name. And he said, you know what?

I don't have time. We're just going to take you straight home today. And he actually opened the car door. And it looked like he was going to jump out. So my dad was like, okay, okay, okay, we'll go. So I think up in Cleveland, they have an Eaton Park. Did you ever hear of that restaurant? Oh, yeah.

Yeah, we used to go to eat. In fact, my Italian father-in-law used to love that place. But anyway, go ahead. Yeah, my dad would joke around that that place is filled with spirits of all the times people stopped off there to drop them off before they go home. You know, and it was just that type of a joke where we would get in the restaurant and my dad would like brush the jokes, brush the spirits off of him and shake his legs and there's one on me and blah, blah, blah. It was good nature, but we would do that. And I just barely remember this because I was little. Now, the story that I sent to you had to do with, we had to go clear out to Ohio because back then we didn't have GPS.

So going out to like Maslin, it was Masselin, Ohio. Yeah, my dad was originally. And we went to the viewing, if I don't remember, because I was little. And we were on our way home. of course, my mom said, why don't we stop at the cheese factory? Because they knew, I remember the old man that lived there was named Joe. I forget his wife's name. But Joe and Maria, Joe and Maria had a cheese factory.

So that way we can stop at a place of business. My grandfather would always say, it's not a restaurant. It just has to be a place of business. You can't just go straight home to your family with whatever it was. He didn't even have a name for it. But anyway, so we go to the. parking lot of this cheese factory and I can remember this I must have been seven and everybody was headed towards the um the the the business part of it and I remember this old old

Italian guy came out and said David come come in the house I have cookies for you so instead of me going into the cheese factory I went and ran after him to his home so whatever we stayed there an hour or so and got back in the car didn't think anything of it we got back home went to bed everything normal the next day my mom yells down the steps george you won't believe this you won't believe this we just saw them joe died joe died last night and um he had a heart attack or something and my sister my i only have one sister i'm like a mistake baby i have a 14 she's 14 year old she's 14 year old difference than me but Anyway, she said, oh, my God, David killed Joe.

And everybody's like, what are you talking about? And they said, remember, he didn't go into the, he went straight into the house. He dropped the spirits off with him. And then so that was that story. Wow. Wow. That's a pretty good story. And, you know, I think some of the best stories, I love you were saying, oh, well, I was only six years old.

I actually enjoy those kinds of stories. Because to me, it's the stories that been told over and over and over. and we have some of those in my family that I was told I was involved in but happened, you know, like before I was born. And as long as my dad's still around, he's 90. My mom unfortunately passed a number of years ago. But these were stories that they told over and over and over. They never changed. And to me, that gives them more credibility, you know? I think it's awesome. I think it's an awesome story. So let me ask you this. Now here's the true test. David Today, 2026. goes to a funeral. It goes to a funeral. Do you still, do you still drop off the spirits at a place of business? It's the whole, it's the whole risk reward. Exactly.

But what can it hurt? Exactly. Yeah. Can't hurt might help. Well, David, pleasure to meet you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. So glad you found the show.

I got to go buy some merch. Hey, I agree. And, you know, I see you have that Penn State, the lion on there. I won't hold that against you. Both my girls, Ohio State girls, but I won't hold that against you. My son has the basement done in Buckeye stuff, so we're all in the place. Go, bucks. Excellent. Thanks, David. You have a great night. Stay spooky. Yeah, you too. Thank you. Hey y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up?

That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home. He always has such amazing stories. Gary from Canada is here once again.

And this time, he's going to talk about one of his adventures when he was very young and the strangeness that ensued. Welcome back. It's always a pleasure to hear you. I have such amazing stories. We're always glad to hear them. And tell us what happened. I appreciate that. This story, as you mentioned, happened when I was a young teenager. And as I mentioned in other stories, where I grew up as a young child and in my teens, I lived close to a large park with a lot of history, large woods and a large cliff face that dropped down onto a lake, all kinds of great areas with history over the last hundred and. 50 years. And this happened, a couple of friends and I, Dave and Rob, we were two of my good friends at the time. We would just go to the park. We'd, you know, do all the regular things. We'd toss a

football around, play baseball, walk through the trails, go fishing, do things like that. And we'd walk along the lakeshore looking for whatever washed up, whether it's dead fish or hoping maybe there's a washed-up alien, some googly-eyed alien washes up, but never found that. Buried treasure? Buried treasure, you name it, you know. So on one of these occasions as we were walking along the lakeshore, we were kind of looking up because there was a cliff face. They were just sand cliffs, and they were probably 200 or so feet high.

And we walked along, and we always noticed there was one stretch where it was open. There was a wooded area, but there was also an area where it was the sand cliffs where we could see hundreds, if not thousands of swallows that had pecked and clawed holes in there for nesting, I imagine. So they're constantly flying in and out. It was so cool to watch. So at one point, there were actually trails through the woods on top of that cliff, going right along the edge of the cliff, which was dangerous. The footing wasn't good.

There were tree roots and things. But one time we went up and walked along there and said, let's get up close to those bird holes there. So we went up there, we looked down, and we said, you know, there's enough of a slope that we can shimmy down if we're careful. There was kind of a sandy slope beside this kind of, area where the bird holes were. And that sand was more like winter packing snow. It was hard and they pecked in. And the other area where we shimmied down, we looked into the holes and we shouldn't have

done that, bothering the poor birds. But as we were investigating that area, one of us spotted a really big hole. We said, this is bizarre. This can't be a 500 pound swallow that's kind of living in this hole. So we said, that's a big hole. Like big meaning in diameter, I'm guessing maybe it was two or two and a half feet roughly round hole. So we said, that's kind of cool. What is in that? How did that hole get made? So, you know, I think it was Dave first. He kind of crawled halfway in, went in there and said, it's pitch dark. You can't see anything. So we decided we're going to come back the next day. And we came back the next day. And people have asked me in telling the story over the years, you know, why didn't you bring a flashlight? I don't know. We decided to bring a

candle on a little plastic plate and a lighter to light it. So what we did is Dave went in first. We had like a stubby candle lit that and he kind of pushed it on his hands and knees. We see him going, he going, oh, this is cool. Like there's a tight tunnel. Worked his way in and he got to, I don't know how many feet in, but he got to an area where there was a cave on the left and a cave on the right, which you said it was about five feet in diameter, maybe four feet high, carved out of this, you know, harder

sand and then he looked around there and then he went through another longer tunnel to the back where there was the last cave which had a much lower ceiling maybe three feet high but it was wider and thinner and he got in there and he said this is so cool and he mentioned that the candle blew out a couple of times but the one thing i remember he mentioned was the smell in there it smelled like death you know there's a smell if you smell a dead raccoon or he smell a dead animal there's that awful stench and he's like almost gagging we could hear him almost throwing up in his mouth like he's going oh this awful and then all of a sudden it was quiet and we're yelling into this cave and it's you know echoing off the caves and tunnels we're going you know Dave what's going on what's going

on you know you see anything and then he didn't respond for a while and then suddenly he goes what the you know f is that and we go what would you find and he goes there's something in this last cave here with me and he said what he mean something with it he says I can see its yellow eyes blinking. Oh, my God. Oh, man. What is it? Canary yellow eyes.

We're thinking, oh, maybe some rodents of a squirrel or a skunk or something's gotten back there. And so he's looking at it and he goes, it's making the weirdest sounds. It's this weird crunching sound. It's blinking these yellow eyes. And that smell is just overpowering. I'm like gagging. And so he comes crawling back out and we look at him.

And he's usually the loudmouth of the bunch. he was really, you know, extrovert. He's just usually really boisterous. So he comes out, he's white as a ghost, and he's just sitting there looking at the ground, and his mouth is like a big old, and he's just kind of not saying anything. Dave, what happened?

What did you see? He goes, just go in there. It's a weird-looking creature. I don't know what it is. I don't think it's an animal. It looks almost, you said it looked almost like a doll. How would a doll be moving? Right.

So then Robbler's laughed and he says, it's probably a squirrel or something. He said, let me go in there. So he took the plate and lit the candle, slowly pushed it in, went through the caves, went to the final cave, looked around, and all of a sudden I hear him, holy, you know, there is something back here.

And so he says, you've got to come see this. So he calls me. So he comes back out and anyways, he said, you know, your turn to go in. And I'm going, I believe you, I don't need to go in. And I suffer from claustrophobia. So I've never wanted to go into tight places. And I kind of think that happened because before this had happened, when I was a young kid,

probably before I was even 10 years old, probably eight or nine, hanging out with friends. We were hanging out at a gym and there was almost like a yoga mat that you work on. And we were playing there. And these typically other boys came in. And somehow they rolled me up inside this yoga mat. So my arms were pinned. and I was claustrophobic, and I said, I can't move.

And then one of these guys pulls out a praying mantis that he caught. So they got me pinned sitting on top of me, and they put it up to my nose, and they said, it's going to crawl up your nose and lay eggs. And I had such a freaky, I was screaming trying to get out, and they wouldn't get off. My friend was trying to push them off. They're bullies. So that stuck with me. And ever since then claustrophobia, you know, and then when they said, you know,

go in there and see what it is, and as you go through this tunnel, your shoulders are scraping against the size because it's only two feet or so round or poster. So they say, well, you're a pussy or a wimp, and finally I just had to suck it up and say, you know, I don't want to have the rest of my life these guys are going to school saying,

look, but this guy's a wimp. So I sucked it up, went in there, and I started going in, shoulders scraping against the sand, and I feel like a big anaconda's wrapped around me. He's like sucking the breath out of me, every breath I take. And I go in, get to the first caves,

take a break, go through the second tunnel, go to the back. And they say, do you see it? You see it? I go, no, not yet. So he'll get closer. So I take the candle, I hold it up and starts flickering like crazy. I hold it, go closer to the back of that cave. And then I see something kind of hunkered down at the very back of the cave, kind of sitting there.

And I'm thinking, that does look like an old tattered doll. But it looks like kind of like a witch, meaning it had the blinking yellow eyes. It had this weird frizzled hair, you know, four or two long, just a long frizzled hair, it was a long crooked nose, and you could see it had this kind of a crooked mouth with these yellow teeth, but the sound that was, you know, that smell was there of death, but the sound it was making, I could best describe as, like, snapping tree branches, kind of a crackling sound, like bones or something breaking,

and then I'm looking at it and I said, I don't know what this is. I'm getting out of here. And the thing suddenly perked up. Oh, boy. And that's when all hell broke loose because this thing suddenly starts running towards me. Not only does it run towards me,

but from what I remember, it ran up the side of the tunnel. Then it was on the top of the tunnel, upside down. The way I was described, it sounded like an enraged, dungenous crab running across a cobblestone street.

And there was that, sound of like a hard shell, just like clacking. It must have been the something on it that was clamoring. I went running or scrambling out of my hands and knees so fast through that tunnel and those caves and got out of there. And once I got out, I ran away from them. I didn't stop to it. I went straight home. And then they followed me home. Yeah. And so they came home and they said, you know, what happened? So I explained to what happened. And we were all freaked out. And of course, we hadn't told our parents about all any of this. And, As it turns out later, I guess we had spoken in my room or someone's room and one of our parents

overheard what we had said about these spiral holes and that big hole we'd crawl into and then they figured that's very dangerous. What if that collapsed? Right. You could easily collapse and your kids dead. So they had contacted the authorities, I'm assuming the police. And the next time we went there to check things out, we realized that they, we found out that the police had come and they sent someone there and blew it up with dynamite.

they put a stick or sticks of dynamite in those caves just so it wasn't exposed because another child could go in there and it caves in and then they blame the city. You know what it reminded me of? It reminded me of it, the Tim Curry vision. Come down here, Georgie. We all float down here.

That kind of what, kind of what. Come down here, Gary, we all float down here. But a freaky thing, because I've had, I've had nightmares over the years, not so much anymore, but to have this freaky-looking thing and trying to make sense of it later, the smell of death and discussing it with Adelson at the time, it was probably some kind of an animal,

but what kind of an animal resembles that? It wasn't some animated doll that had a smell like death feature with blinking eyes and moving limbs that runs towards you and goes on the roof of the cave. But it probably had, it was an animal that had maybe animal, was it had caught and killed and it was eating it in there and there was that smell and that's why the candle kept going out yeah and you were you were going to be the next entree gary and maybe

we were hallucinating too with that smell that stench of death in there maybe that's not enough oxygen in your lungs maybe it makes you go a little wonky i don't know yeah but made a long story short my two friends uh dave ended up passing away in his late 30s massive heart attack and rob died. Not much later than that. He died in his mid-40s. And I'm still, I'm still around, and she's still tormenting me my nightmares occasionally. But it's one of those things that sticks with you, bizarre, but I like to think that it was some kind of a weird animal. And whatever it was, hopefully when they blew it up with dynamite, that was the end of it. That's terrifying. That's terrifying. And there are odd things out there. We do not understand,

Gary, and you're one of those people who has run into several of them. I'm a magnet for this stuff, I think. Well, but I think that's a real thing. I think some people tend to have more of the experiences. Maybe they're more open to it. Maybe they're more of, like you said, almost a magnet to it. I don't know, but I do believe that's absolutely case. But we always appreciate your willingness to share.

It's nice to share the stories anyways. But thank you for having me on. I appreciate it. Thanks so much, Gary. Stay spooky. Same to you, Jim. Stay spooky. Next up is Dylan, and we're so glad to speak with him today, and he's going to tell us about a supernatural and surreal experience.

Dylan, thank you for joining us. I appreciate it, and tell us what happened. Yeah, thank you. So, yeah, it's kind of a weird story where it's not something that I even necessarily thought of as being supernatural exactly so much as on the day. I was like, wow, all of this stuff is so weird what it's happening altogether. And then listening to the campfire here, I heard another storyteller actually tell a story of one of their travel experiences. And it kind of brought this one to mine for me. And I was like, you know, that was really strange.

So essentially what happened is when I was back in college, I went. to school in Boston, Massachusetts. And then my parents were living in Rhode Island. So I would often take the train from Boston, from South Station, into Providence, Rhode Island to go visit my parents. Sure. And so this particular day, I lived in the Harvard area. So I took the red line to go to South Station. And I got up in the morning, just normal as ever. And my phone wasn't really working. right. So normally I would like call my parents and let them know, oh yeah, I'm going to take this train or whatever, but it wasn't working right. So I kind of just put it away and carried on with my day to, you know, go on with my travels. I got into the red line train station there. And normally it's a very, very busy area. You know, Harvard Square, there's lots of people. There are lots of tourists and, you know, people going to school and all that stuff. So normally very, very busy. But this day, there was literally nobody else in the train station. And at first, I thought maybe there was, you know, something going on that the trains were actually closed and I'd just miss the signs or something.

But sure, the next train pulled right up. And then I was like, okay, I guess it's just a weird time of day. I happened to hit it, you know. And I went and got onto the train. and when I did, there was nobody in the train car, which, again, was very unusual. It's the red line. It's one of the busiest lines for the subway in Boston. So I was like, man, this is, you know, this is super strange. But again, I was like, maybe it's just that perfect time of day where, for whatever reason, there's not really anybody else around.

And so I kind of just sat down and we went along and over the next several stops, Nobody else got on, at least into my car. I didn't see the other cars. But nobody else got on. So I was like, man, that's so strange. And then we get to South Station. I get off. And there was a couple people around.

But again, it was very weirdly empty. It felt like, man, where is everybody, you know? And so when you're coming from the T up into South Station, you go up kind of a couple of staircases and then it opens up right into the whole train station so you kind of kind of see everything out in front of you as you come up the stairs. Right.

And so when I was coming up the stairs, I, you know, look out at everything and right in front of me just like a few paces ahead of the stairs. There's this man and he is standing, very rigidly up straight. His eyes are rolled back in his head and he is kind of shaking. He almost looked like

he was having like some sort of seizure but he was upright. So I'm like, oh my goodness, like what's happening is this person okay? And I'm looking around thinking like surely you know there's there's regular like EMS people in the train station there's like you know the train station security

and stuff. I'm thinking surely somebody is about to run over and see if this guy needs help. And I'm looking around and nobody else seems to notice him. Oh, man. Oh, man. It was so freaky because, you know, sure, there are people that, you know, they have substance abuse issues or whatever that maybe are experiencing some sort of situation. But normally somebody is still at least noticing, you know, like you're never, even if they're not necessarily rushing to help a person, you can see that other people can see them.

This did not feel like that. This felt like I was the only person that could see him, and it was very, very strange. And I was getting ready to go and actually try to get him some help and just reach out to the train security people. When I looked up behind him was the board that tells you when all the trains are ready to go. and I realized that my train was already in the station, and if I didn't run, I was going to miss it. So I was like, okay, well, like, he's literally surrounded by hundreds of people, so, you know, and he's in the center train station.

So I was like, I got to go catch my train. So I run off, and then I get onto my train. And again, these trains, you know, between, like Boston and Providence, they're not as busy in the middle of the day. they're usually more like commuter trains. So it's, you know, different parts of the day that they'll be a bit more busy. But there's usually at least like several people in each car. Again, get onto the car.

There's nobody else in this one that I get on. And I'm like, man, that's so strange. But also I was like, all right, cool. I get the seat that I want, you know, and I sit down at the spot that's got the table and everything. So I can do some art and whatever during my ride. and then the train pulls out of the station and I check my phone again because I'm like, okay, like, you know,

it should be able to turn it on and get it working by now. And it still wasn't working right. And I was like, man, this is so weird. And, you know, I'm in the city. It's not like I don't have service or whatever. It just my messages weren't going through. I couldn't get calls to work.

And my phone bill was paid. So he's like, I don't know what's going on. It's like, whatever. my, you know, it's not the end of the world kind of thing. So turn my phone off again, figuring it just needs to be off for a little while. It'll figure itself out. And I sit back. And as we start going to approach the next station, the speakers in the train that announce each station go off.

But they go off at different times. So it's almost like it's echoing itself. Huh. These trains, you know, they have those old kind of sound systems and everything. So it has that very like scratchy sound to it. And then where it was echoing itself, it was, it genuinely felt demonic. It was so creepy and unsettling. And you couldn't really understand what it was saying because it was like overlapping itself.

I was like, okay, I don't want to be in this train for this whole ride. Like, I'm going to go walk into another car. So I walked into the next car. Nobody in there again. I'm like, this is just so weird. I can't be the only person, you know, for all this time. And so I'm like, whatever, I sit down. And then we ended up skipping the next couple of stops, which sometimes happens.

There's like trains that if there's not a lot of people on, they'll turn them into like express trains. So if they know that, you know, these are the stops that. that people usually don't need or whatever, they'll skip a few. And I was like, oh, cool, I'll get there earlier than expected. But then the ticketing agent never came by, which is also very strange. They always, always come by. I literally, other than that, couldn't remember a time where I didn't see the ticketing agent come by and scan my ticket. So it was very strange that that happened. And then when we finally get up to go to the next station, that they're actually stopping at, the speakers in this car start doing the same thing.

So at this point, I'm just like, okay, what is going on? Like, why everything is just a little bit off, everything is just a little unsettling. Like, it's nothing super crazy, but it's all adding up, you know? Right. And so I'm like, okay, you know, I put my headphones on. I turn my phone back on, and I just start listening to music. I still can't get any messages through. so I'm like, whatever.

I'm just kind of like, okay, if I just drown out the weird sounds with my music and carry on. So finally, I get to Providence train station and I get out of the train car and I see, you know, other people around. I'm kind of like, okay, my things are fine now, right? Like, I'll be fine. And I climb up out of the train station and go outside. And there's at the Providence train station, there's one side that you can go out where you kind of just see like the city. and then there's the other side where you are right out at the capital building. And so normally I would go out on the capital building side because that's just where

pick up kind of is. So I walk there and the second I walk out, there is this crazy rally happening. There are people in like big cars and trucks and they've got all kinds of like flags and things on their cars and they're yelling and they're screaming and they're honk. their horns and there's just like chaos it feels like I've like come out of the into this just crazy chaos thing and you know it was like the middle of the week it wasn't you know like a weekend where usually I feel like when people have rallies or protests or anything like that they're usually kind of on a weekend or whatever but just like the middle

of the day in the middle of the week and there's all these people all over the place and I'm like what is going on? It felt like some sort of like nightmare chaos thing, you know? And I was just like, okay, I can't even figure this out. So I turned around, I went back into the train station, and I just kind of like took a deep breath. I like closed my eyes and was like, okay, everything's fine. Like, you're fine. Whatever's going on is just a weird day. And I, you know, took that deep breath. And then I was like, okay. So I turn around, I walk out, back outside. The rally is gone. There's nobody there.

There's no trucks. There's no cars. There aren't people up at the Capitol building anymore. It's like I was gone for five minutes, maybe, and everybody's gone. That's bizarre. It was so strange. I really genuinely feel like the only way that I have ever been able to kind of explain, at least to myself, what happened, is that I must have been in some sort of like parallel situations. I was going to say, yeah, like in a.

another dimension or parallel universe or something. Exactly, yeah, where it was just like I was traveling, I slipped over to the other side here and all these weird things were happening because it wasn't supposed to be there. You know, like everything was a little off or whatever because I wasn't really supposed to be there. And then when I like took that deep breath and like recentered myself, I feel like maybe I somehow got back to my own dimension and time. line or whatever. Right. Makes sense.

And then my phone started working. I looked at my phone and I had like miss calls from my mom that I hadn't seen before. Wow. Like, oh yeah, I'm just circling around. Like, you know, like you didn't see all the trucks in the cars. She's like, what are you talking about? No, there wasn't anything there. I'm like, okay.

You know what that reminds me of is this was a little more severe. But I don't think it was a pretty. who called in, but they said it was their aunt or something, and this was in a major city, they had an appointment in the downtown area of this urban large metropolis. So they went down, this woman went down for her appointment. And as she was either getting in or out of her car, she saw a construction worker fall to their death. And she came home and she was very upset. And there was nothing, there was nothing, there was nothing. And, because she was telling her family, oh, my God, I saw this horrible thing.

Wait till you see it on the news. It's just horrible. And there was nothing. And then it was either later that night it happened. It actually happened. Oh, weird. A different time, or it was the next day. I can't remember.

Yeah. So it was like she was out of sync with time. Yeah. And I mean, we've had stories like this. I think. And I mean, we're, you. getting really kind of into the weeds. You know, that's why some people believe in something like the simulation theory. Is it just a glitch in the computer, the computer program? But I do believe

there are these weird time and space glitches where things like kind of like, what's that all about? Sounds like you ran into that. Yeah, definitely. That's what it felt like. And, you know, it was one of those things like I kind of said that each of those things on their own would have just been a weird part of my or whatever. But then... You put them all together. That was like, all right, something strange happened to me that day. High strangeness indeed. Dylan, thank you for joining us on the show and stay spooky.

My pleasure, Jim. Thank you. Bye. Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMDM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly, 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly.

have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you. Please contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor, free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. Next up on the show is Kristen from Illinois, and she has an interesting story about a dark figure. Kristen, welcome to the program and tell us what happened. Yeah, so this was back in 2019. I believe I was a sophomore junior at UIC, so University of Illinois, Chicago. So I had a dorm room, and it had four other or three other roommates in it.

And just for the layout, it was mirrored, like the dorm room. So my door, if I looked out my bedroom door, I could see like my other roommate's door from across the dorm. So I had just gotten back. It was either a Friday or Thursday night. My roommates had left for the weekend. So then it was just me and this big dorm by myself. I was in bed, just doom scrolling, whatever. And then I had to go to the bathroom.

At this point, I think it was like 3 a.m., you know, happy witching hour. And I get up and I open my door. And through, you know, I opened my door. I see my other roommates' door. I thought it was open at first. But then I saw, you know, there's people like to describe the black mass or the void, you know, it's just darker than dark shadow. Right. And, you know, that's what I saw.

That was clearly, you know, it was darker in the dorm, but there was just black shadow there. And it looked like it was trying to get into my roommate's door. And then, you know, I'm standing there just watching this thing because I think I was just frozen. and then I see it turned to me. So I just went back, closed my door, locked my door, one under my covers, because I thought that was going to help me. I don't think I slept at all that night. So then the next morning when I woke up, you know,

I never went to the bathroom that night either. So then the next day, I want to say it's around like 11 a.m. The dorm had a kitchen in it, So I was just cooking, minding my business, and I see something in the corner of my eye. And it's an old lady in my dorm. And she's like fully like she was in front of me. And I'm a spiritual medium. So a lot of the times I'll see like spirits and stuff like in my mind's eye.

Right, right. If that makes sense, this like, like she was in front of me. Like I could touch her like if I wanted to. She was there. and she was going directly from my roommate's door and then walked right into my room. Oh, my goodness. So I said, that's enough of that, turned off the stove, and I left for the day. Nighttime came, and I was still by myself, and I'm just scrolling or chatting through people's stories on, like, Instagram or Snapchat.

And I saw that my, you know, roommate had a story, and I clicked on her story. and it was one of those funeral like obituary cards. Right. And it was her grandmother that I saw in my dorm. Ah. So she was that identifiable from the obituary card. Yeah. Like.

Wow. Exactly. And just the energy she was giving off, though, was such, like she was looking for something. So I don't know what she was looking for, but it wasn't like a happy energy. So I was wondering maybe she left too. early, like had some stuff she didn't, you know, complete. But, because it wasn't like anything towards me, like negative, but she was just needed to find something. And I just think I was in her way. Wow, wow, wow. Yeah, that's something else. I got to tell you,

these shadow people experiences, I think they're fascinating. And so many people experience them. They experience them. And it's, I feel like it's certainly definitely a real thing out there. Do you think because you have this mediumship ability that you're more prone to see these kind of things? I guess by definition you would be, right? Oh, a thousand percent. Like growing, like, that's just one. This is the story I usually tell people that they're like, oh, you ever seen anything scary? I'm like, let me tell you. But throughout my, throughout my entire life. Like, yeah, there was a shadow guy following my mom around. for a very long time that I would always see when I was a kid and like I had an understanding

with him after I yelled at him. So it was just, yeah, but I knew it was attached to my roommate directly because once she moved out, it left too. And it was only there for a few days. Well, I do believe, I think it's like anything else in life. You know, some people are more musical. Some people are more athletic. Some people have, you know, their great at tech or whatever. They have talent, specific talents. I think while we all have some level of psychic awareness and psychic ability, you know, yeah, people argue in the room and you walk in the room and you realize there have been an argument, although there's no like physical evidence or anything. You can just feel that energy. I think we all tap into that a certain amount, but I do believe there are people. And it

Sounds like you're one of those people who has a heightened ability for that. It's just the way it is. Well, Kristen, thank you so much for joining us tonight and for sharing your story on the Campfire. Hope you'll come back and tell us more. Sounds like you've got plenty. Stay spooky. Stay spooky. Thank you so much.

You know, we are getting a lot of callers from up north, Canada. And I, for one, could not be more pleased. love that great country and the people and it's such great people. And Lauren is from Canada and she's going to tell us a story about actually when she was in another great country when she was living in Venice, which is probably a story in and of itself, but something very unusual happened when she was there and she's going to tell us about it. Lauren, welcome to the show and tell us what happened when you were living in Venice.

Hey, Jim, thank you so much for having me. I've been wanting to call in with this story for a while. I'm just such a huge fan of what you and Dar do. Thank you. Thanks for having me on. Yeah. So, you know, actually when I called in with this story, I didn't realize this, but it would have been actually 10 years ago to the day that I was still living in this apartment.

And I didn't click in. That didn't sort of, I didn't clue into that until I placed the request to call into your show. But, yeah, 10 years ago today, I would have been winding down my internship in Venice, and I would have been preparing to make the big move back home after living abroad for a period of almost two years. So that's kind of interesting timing. So, yeah, so as you said, I did get the amazing opportunity to do a graduate degree abroad. I was very lucky and fortunate. It actually happened to be in the city where my mom grew up. So I had a lot of family in a city called Trieste, which is about two hours away from Venice on the northern coast of, or on the northern side of Italy at border Slovenia.

And I had a wonderful time there in class and then had this amazing opportunity to do my eight-month internship in Venice. And so I made the trek to Venice in the fall of 2015. This is my little PSA for people who want to visit Venice. Most of your listeners, maybe you yourself, if you've ever visited Italy, you've probably gone to Venice in the spring or the summer. Don't do that. It is packed with tourists. Everything is extremely overpriced. It is super hot and the canals smell bad and it's just not the best time to go. I actually really encourage everybody to go in the fall or in the winter. And that's when I, yeah, that's when I have the pleasure of living in Venice. I love the spooky stuff. So if you're into the spooky stuff,

that is the best time to go. Venice becomes very spooky. and eerie and beautiful. It's dark. It got dark early. The canals are all dimly lit with gas lights and there's this mist that settles on the canals and you can just sort of see the gondolas rocking in the water and the smell of roasted chestnuts from the street vendors. It's just a really special time to be in Venice and just kind of adds to the creepiness of what I'm about to tell you. So I got my apartment there and was starting my internship. It was all a little bit helter-skelter had to find a place to live and, you know, kind of get settled quickly as I was starting an internship there. So got the keys to this beautiful little apartment that I found in the

heart of one of the largest zones of the mainland of Venice. So got the keys, you know, had my bags, had made the two-hour journey from Trieste to Venice and had all my luggage with me and was super tired, moved into this beautiful apartment that was down this little. alleyway. I think I was the only person living on the street. I swear to God, I didn't see another soul the entire time I lived there. It was row housing. And the first thing I noticed was how old everything is. I mean, obviously, like, everything in Europe is super old, way older than anything we think is old in Canada. You know, we have century homes. We put a plaque on and you go to Europe. And it's like, this is a building from the year eight. And exactly. Exactly. I have the same observation

here in the States, oh, it's a century home. And they're like, it's brand new, you know, over there. It's amazing. But now we can't change the paint or the windows because it's, you know, some kind of museum. But anyway, Europe is really, really, really old. And so this apartment was super old. And but it was charming. Everything was very heavy, like, very, like you could see the heavy wooden beams. The original beams are still there. And everything was big and heavy and made of stone. And I just remember it being very dark and heavy, but also very charming. So it was a perfect little spot for me. And I lived there alone.

So, you know, it had everything I needed, a washing machine, which was nice, a small kitchen, a bathroom, a living room, and a huge bedroom. And I remember walking into the bedroom and just being taken aback by this massive, heavy-duty sleigh mahogany bed. And it was so beautiful. And I thought, oh, my God, this bed must be 200 years old. So I was, you know, so tired. my first night there, crawled into bed, and I was a little bit stressed because I did have to go

into the Greater Venice area to work the next day. It's an area called Mestre. I don't know if anybody has heard of that, but it's sort of the town over from the island. And, you know, so I'm getting ready to go to bed and I'm trying to go to sleep. And I start hearing, as I turn the lights out, I start hearing this very strange tapping sound. And, you know, I know what it sounds like, the house is settling. I know what that sounds like. That's not it. I know what a creaky bed sounds like. If you're rolling over and you sort of, you know, hear that. Like I know what that sounds like. And this just wasn't that. It was like a rhythmic tapping. Like it would be like tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. And I would just keep doing that. Like, almost like it was somebody tapping along to a tune that they were humming in their head.

And I'm trying to figure out where it was coming from. And I would sit up in bed and it would stop. And then it would start again. And then I would roll over thinking maybe it's just the way that I'm lying in the bed. And then it would stop. And then it would start again. And then like the tune would change night to night. It was like somebody was like it was clearly in the room.

And it was almost like it was coming from the headboard. And it was like somebody was standing by the bed and like tapping along to a song. And it was the strangest thing. I eventually just kind of got used to it because, I mean, I had to go to work, right? Like, I had to get some sleep. Sure. I never felt threatened by it. It never felt malicious.

It just sort of felt like someone was standing there tapping me a little lullaby or something as I was trying to go to sleep. And it wouldn't happen every night. And it wouldn't happen throughout the entire night. Like, it's not as though I would wake up at three in the morning and it would still be tapping. It would just, it would stop. But it would always happen around the time that I'd be trying to go to bed. So this just kind of went on. Fast forward a few months. My parents decide they're going to come in, crash my place. Thanks, mom and dad. Yeah. Well, you know, they were helping me pay for the rent. Well, that's different. That's different. I guess they felt like they were entitled to do that. So naturally, they take the bed. You know, they show up. It's a long journey across the pond. They're tired. That first night we go to dinner. And,

And then we're, you know, going through our bedtime routine. And I'm about to get onto the couch for the next 10 days. And I say to them, oh, by the way, don't be surprised if the bed plays you a little song before you go to sleep. And they're like, what the hell are you talking about? How much wine did you have with dinner? And I'm like, okay, you tell me then tomorrow morning. You tell me if I'm crazy or not, but you're going to hear a little tapping tune. And it's not going to be the house settling. So don't give me that crap, you know. It's going to be something. very different. Yeah. So they're like, okay, you're nuts and they went to bed. The next morning, we're sitting around the breakfast table and I say, so, what did you hear? Did you hear anything strange? And they both kind of get this odd look on their face and they look at each other and they were like, well, you're not entirely wrong. It was like a rhythmic tapping. And that was really strange. And I'm like, I told you. I mean, I wasn't making this up. And they're like, well, and, you know, I'm just trying to figure out what that could have been, but you're, you're absolutely right. It was rather bizarre, and it was kind of like this rhythmic tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.

And so, you know, my dad being an engineer and very logical and reductionist materialist starts giving me this song and dance about how, well, you know, it's a wood bed. So it's from a tree and a tree has rings and the plant cells. And, oh, you know, when you move in the bed, it's sort of the sand, the tree going around the sand. And I'm like, oh, I didn't realize you were also a plant biologist. Okay. If that's the explanation you want to stick with, then you go right ahead. But that just sounds almost more insane to me than, you know, the alternative, which is that it could be, it could be something residual that's, you know, hanging around the apartment. So they heard it, too, is the point. So anyway, they go home, fast forward a few more months. And this is kind of where my

story comes to an end. I fly home for the holidays, but then I had to come back very early in January to wrap up my thesis and I was going to be going into the last half of my internship. So I remember it being like the early days of January that I flew out of YYZ. And I have to give a little shout out to another caller that you had on your show a few weeks ago that aired. It was a man talking about some beige-suited Cheshire. Oh yeah, Gary, Gary from Kim. Canada, yes. Yeah, in the Toronto Pearson basement parking lot. And I had to laugh at that because that's the airport that I fly in and out of all the time.

And that's the airport that I was flying out of that day. So, yeah, that made me stop and pause for a second when I heard that story. So I'm flying in a Y, Y, YZ, Canadian winters being what they are. Of course, my flight was delayed. And I just remember it being a whole kerfuffle getting back to my apartment in Venice. I almost missed my connection in Rome, and it was just like trains, planes and automobiles. When you land in Marco Polo Airport, you have to take a bus for like 45 minutes to the Vaporito stop, which is like the water bus when you get to the island of Venice.

And then I had to get on a boat and go for like another, you know, 20 to 25 minutes with all my luggage. And by the time I finally got back to my door, it had been like 14 hours of traveling. and I was so tired. And again, I was very stressed because I knew I would have to go into work early the next day. And I just kind of wanted to go to bed. So I managed to get all my stuff up the stairs and into this apartment and get myself showered and get in bed. And I'd almost forgotten that this tapping business was still a thing.

So I'm trying to go to sleep and I'm so exhausted. And the tapping starts up again. And for the life of me, I don't know. I was just exhausted. I had it. So for the life of me, I don't know what possessed me to do this, but I sat up in bed in the dark. I was at my wits end and I just said, not tonight. Like, you've played me your little weird song.

It's been lovely, but you can't do this to me right now. I've been traveling for a million hours. I have to get up for work. Do this another time, but not tonight. And Jim, I swear to you, it stopped. I lived there for another two months and I didn't hear it again. That makes sense to me. That makes sense to me because years ago, I interviewed the great and unfortunately now late, Brad Steiger.

He wrote many, many paranormal books about different topics, ghosts, UFOs, all those things. He was like the preeminent author of paranormal books for many decades and he wrote a ton of them. And he said, in his experience, he had very very very important. similar experience. He was up working, I think, in his attic that he had fashions as a writing studio. And one night he was on deadline or something. It was important work that he was doing. He was under pressure to get it done. And there was something bugging him, some kind of spirit. And he said something to the effect of cut it out. I'm trying to get some work done here. And it cut it out.

I've heard exactly that before Sometimes you just put my You know It's just like a person Sometimes you know A person's bugging you And even if it's somebody You like

You know you're like Hey just cut it out I'm not in the mood I'm not in the mood And you know they'll go away Sounds like it's a same for the spirits Plus you get bonus points We're using the word curfuffle

Oh Did I win a prize? I didn't know Well there is no prize It's just my admiration because I thought I was one of the few people ever use that word kerfuffle. Cool word, cool word. Well, Lauren, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Thank you for sharing it. And as I was telling you before, this phantom music kind of thing is not new. We've had stories of it over the years and a couple recently. So thank you so much for being part of the campfire. Stay spooky. Thank you, Jim. I appreciate it. Before we get back to the next great story, I want to ask you to join my Plus Club.

And basically the Plus Club is the thing that powers what we do. But more importantly for you, as a Campfire fan, it is the key that unlocks the whole treasure trove of all the Campfire episodes going back to 2009. We just recently had our anniversary. and, you know, we've produced over 750 episodes of the campfire. But over 740 of those are not accessible to you unless you are a Plus Club member. And that's just the beginning. In addition to that 740 plus Campfire episodes that you get access to, you get access to the whole back catalog of the paranormal podcast going back to 2005,

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And now back to the next great campfire story. I love to hear from our longtime listeners and now viewers that we're doing video. Wendy is on the line from Pennsylvania. She's been listening since 2010. Ken, I was young back then. I know. But regardless, be that as it may, Wendy's here, plus club member also.

Thank you, Wendy. And you're going to take us back a while. This is a story about, well, I don't want to, it's something happening to you and your friend. I'll put it that way. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for all the longtime support. And please do tell us what happened.

Okay, Jim. Nervous, Jim. So I'll try my best. Oh, don't be nervous. Don't be, you've known me for a long time. Long time. Long time. Okay.

Well, this was in, well, it pretty much spans the year of 1985. I grew up in upstate New York, Lake. The place that I grew up was Erieville, New York. So it is very Erieville in Erieville at times. And this was an especially eerie year. So we, I grew up there and I lived on a lake, grew up on a lake. And it was a place where the, obviously the summers were really rocking, you know. We had a lot of the people who came in just for the summer.

Sure. And the camps. Yep. And we were year-round. So we spanned the whole year. And in 85, it was the winter. And the winters in Erieville at that time were really kind of brutal. And the middle of nowhere on the lake.

And it was real death-lit. So I was babysitting for these people who, lived on the lake, and they lived on a place called Funk Road. And Funk Road, it's kind of hard to describe, but it's like a horseshoe. And the main road, it kind of goes around and it spans the lake on one side. And it is, you know, the end of Funk Road comes up and gets Tuscarora, which is more of a main road, where I lived off of Tuscaro Road. And the other it just, the other horseshoe, the other part that comes up, hits Tuscarra Road as well. And so it's the horseshoe.

And my friend and I were, or I'm sorry, I was babysitting on Funk Road for these people and a little baby. And they came home. And that evening, and the woman, I forget her name, a long time ago. And she said to me, have you heard about that, like anything about that light that is up in the woods, you know, around Funk Road? And it was in the middle. So they lived on Funk Road. It's a little tiny road. It wasn't even like, I would say, it was just a, it wasn't even like a half mile long.

But like I said, it kind of came out towards the lake. So you were kind of walking on the lake at the time. Right. And she said that in the middle of that horseshoe were these trees. And in the top of the trees, there was this light that would kind of hang out and sort of in this one tree. And nobody around that lived there year around could figure out why it was sitting there. It was way up in the top of the trees and it just sat there. And it was a large light.

It just kind of glowed up there, and there was no electrical run up there or anything. So nobody could explain why it was there. And she told me about this, and it kind of, like, intrigued me. I was always kind of into the paranormal. I love that kind of stuff. But I didn't think much about it, you know. And so that was in the winter. And then in the late, later summer, and the people were.

still, most of the people were in the camps, and it was in very active time at the lake. And my friends, Ann, and I were walking around the lake, and it took about, it was like a small lake, five miles. And we got the Funk Road, and we decided to take Funk Road instead of just going on Tuscarra, because it's more scenic, it's more interesting. And we started up there, and it was getting, it was probably about, I would say it was summer, but it was getting to be about like, I don't know, 6.30, 7 o'clock, and everything was kind of like dimming. You know, the light was dimming and it was getting kind of dark out.

But we could still see everything. And we were walking and I started telling her, I remembered, and I started telling her about this light that was in the top of the trees in the middle of Funk Road. And she was, and Anne was very skittish. And I like to kind of, the one kind of thing I felt, I, you know, we were friends since I was six or we were both six. And so I was kind of ras and slight hung out there. Right. And she's getting really, really ash and like very skittish. And she was just like, you know what?

Let's drop this and let's just keep walking. Just keep walking. And I was like, okay, you know. And I was like, what's up? And she's just like, just keep walking. Just keep walking. Don't say a word. Let's just keep going.

And like when we were little kids, we used to race. And I was a lot faster than her. She wasn't the greatest runner, you know? And when you're a little kid, that's kind of your claim to fame type thing. Right. So she was just like, just keep walking. Just keep, you know, we'll just keep going. And I was like, what is up?

And she, I, um, I, look back and there is the light. I mean, it was right behind us and it was sort of bobbed, like right behind us. And it was sort of bobbing along. And I swear to God, it was like, I don't know. It was like maybe six feet away from us head length. I mean, we were walking along. And it was just sort of bobbing behind us.

And it was the size of like an inflatable ball. It was pretty big. I mean, it was a little bit bigger than a basketball, I'd say. And it was shimmer. And it was white, and it was shimmery, and it was just kind of bobbing along in back of us. And I was like, this ain't right, you know? And I looked back and there it was. And it was, you know, it was just, so we started, I started booking.

I started running down Funk Road. And Funk Road eventually turned up this big hill and then it hit Tuscarora. And I lived on Tuscarora Road. which was another like half mile down the road. So I'm running and she's trying to keep up with me and we're running and we're kind of like, you know, I'm screaming and it kept following us. And like I said, it was like maybe six feet behind us. I mean, it was right on us.

And we're running up. And Plunk Road, it's a hill and then it hits Tuscarora. And it, it was just. you know, right behind us. I kept looking back and there it was. And I got onto Tuscgar Road, which is the main road, and then there's like trees, and then you go down and you hit the lake. So it's not right on the lake, but it's, there's a bunch of trees and a bunch of camps. And then you go right on to, you know, onto the lake. So, but you can't really see the lake from where it is. And I look back as we're going on to Tuscarora to go to my house,

or running towards my house. And I see it just absolutely turn and then zoom at like this turbo pace across the trees onto the lake. And I kind of knew in my heart it was gone. Like it was not, I mean, it was just fast. It was like, you know, and by that time we were winded out of breath. And, you know, we just started like I was like, we can walk now, you know. But it was just like the turbo. pace of it just flying out over those trees. And what happened is we ran home and got my mom. We

were screaming and yelling. Sure. And we went and looked for it and we couldn't find it anywhere. But it was the most inexplicable. And so I talked to Ann, and we keep in touch pretty well. And she lived still in upstate New York, but, you know, not on the lake anymore. And I'm in Pennsylvania. but we talk quite often. And I said, I need to talk to you because I'm going to be doing Jim Herald's campfire. And I'm really, and I said, I don't know if we have the same story because we have discussed it in the past. But sometimes I'd like, oh, there's like a little discrepancy here and there. And, you know, I got to thinking, holy crap, is this like, did I just imagine some of the things here?

Right. And we talked about our stories and she said, Wendy, the one. One difference about our stories here is the fact that I saw it way before you did. And it wasn't that it was following us. She saw it in the trees. And it was, like I said, it was getting dark. And she could see it moving from tree to tree in the top of these trees, just kind of floating. And she kept thinking, I don't know what that is.

And it was before I started telling her the story, which honestly enough. And the only reason the story was really triggered is because. Um, uh, we were on Funk Road and that's where I heard. And I was like, hey, I got a story for you. And by that point, it's following us. And, and so I like, and so she said, I saw it along the trees, moving through the trees and I couldn't, she's like, I really didn't like, I didn't, I couldn't understand what it was. And that was a way before I saw it. I thought, I saw it only when I first turned back and she said, crap, it's behind us. So

yeah. And it was just absolutely incredible. And she said, you know, later on when we were talking, she was like, what do you think it was? And I alien, you know, and I was like, you know, I did

not get that feeling. I got the feeling that it was definitely sentient, you know, it knew. See, that's interesting. That's interesting because people don't think about that, but there are a lot of cases where they feel like the UFO is communicating with them, the UFO is aware of them, and in some ways by movement or whatever,

they're interacting with it. That's, you know, that's more common than I think people put stock into. Yeah, but I didn't, you know, later on, you know, I heard that it started from the graveyard. Like, they would see that. And then it kind of settled into those trees. graveyard was like two years or I'm sorry two miles away so it was a long while but that was that

so I really always thought it was more of a spiritual like a like a you know like a spirit thing I don't know you know that's all hearsay about that little part but I kind of get that vibe more than the you know extraterrestrial thing for sure and that but yeah it was it was incredible and I just got like one quickie, one quickie. Sure. After that, it was the same year. And I didn't have paranormal. It was kind of a, you know, in the summer it was very desolate.

I'm sorry, in the winter, it was very desolate because all the summer people left. You know, it was very quiet and very, very snowy. And but it was kind of an eerie place anyway. But that winter following, because it was, that was late summer. It was actually not winter yet. It was before winter, but all the summer people had left and it was getting really quiet. I got off the bus from school. I was a junior in high school.

And I got off the bus and I went into, I had to get something in our garage. And my dad wasn't great about maintaining things. And we had a garage that was located across the street and it had an old school push-up. door and it was this heavy door but you'd push it up and for all the years that I remember you know that I know it it stayed up you'd just push it up use all your might it would kind of crawl up and stay there and that year um later on and you know it was like I said around it was fall and I was going in to get something and I was leaving to go across the street and go back into my house after school and I'm in there and I get that just really horrific feeling like like like an evil presence,

you know, and I could really feel it. It was really kind of terrifying and in that garage. And as I was leaving, as I was leaving the garage, the door, which is really heavy on the rollers, but it was sort of stuck up there when you'd put it up there. it never. It slammed down like a guillotine. I mean, it was it slammed down really hard. If it had hit me, I think it would have killed me because I was just walking right. I was just out of the threshold and it slammed down. And this thing, it just never, it never did that.

You push it up and it would stay wherever it was. I put it all the way up. And so it wasn't, you know, it wasn't kind of half. down, but you could have put a half down and it would just sit there because it was kind of old and, you know, and, and it never did that before, never, you know, afterward, but I didn't really go in that garage much afterward. I don't blame you. Yeah, yeah, but it was terrifying because it just went and I just, like I said, I was in the garage and I was like, something's really off.

I just think that I don't, I really don't. don't believe that it had much to do with that light or the orb that followed us. I think it was more of a, I think it was more of a, just into, unto itself kind of a strange situation. It was sort of like a different, it didn't, I don't think, I just think it was like a really, I think the veil was very thin around that time, you know, around that whole year. Yeah, interesting. And also the age, You know, I think that adolescents and teenagers, they seem to have, you know, higher energy and stuff. And I think that that does play into things like poltergeist and things. And it would make sense that might in these other venues as well.

Wendy, thank you so much for your support. Much appreciated it. Been with us for 16 years. Really appreciate it very much. And stay spooky. Stay spooky, Jim. Thank you. Next up on the campfire is Bridget from.

Iowa and her daughter Brenna told her about the show. Ooh, about 10 years ago. So thank you, Brenna, and thank you, Bridget Brenna. Did a great thing by sharing the show. And let that be a lesson because that's how we get new listeners, but not only new listeners, we get new storytellers. So if you want to hear more great stories, share the love, tell somebody about the campfire, text them a link to it today to this very episode.

You can do that in YouTube. You can do that from Spotify. You can do that in Apple Podcasts, wherever you listen and say, hey, check out this Campfire show. I think you might like it. And you might end up hearing a very interesting story like the one we're about to hear from Bridget. And this is about your grandma. And I got to say, we have been doing this show almost 17 years. And I don't think I've ever heard a story like this.

Yeah, thanks for having me, Jim. This is amazing. Thank you. Tell us what happened. So 27 years ago, my grandma passed away in a tragic car accident. And I lived next door to her my whole life. And so we were obviously very close. And my grandma appears in a very unique way.

She's, you know, she's not a bird. She's none of that. So when I was young, she always had fruit on her countertop. And she had fruit flies. And we kind of teased her as a family. Like we would joke around like someday you're going to haunt us as a fruit fly. And it's not a haunting, but she is always with us. Let me tell you.

So I guess the first time I really thought like, oh my gosh, Grandma is arriving in a fruit fly form. I was at Christmas Eve Mass with our whole family. this is you know we live in Iowa and it's I don't know about you Jim but fruit flies are common in the winter no they're not they are not not in northeast Ohio either no it's cold and it's just not a common thing so we're at Christmas Eve Mass and I'm not kidding a fruit fly flies right into my face and then disappears and by the way it was her birthday on Christmas Eve so that was a the first time, I was like, okay, I think grandma's going to, you know, show herself. But it was a, you know,

this would, by this point, like other people had seen fruit flies and are like, I think grandma's coming in the form of a fruit fly. So this is, this is our story. Yeah. So many times over the years, we'll, we're at family gatherings. We're all together. And we'll all say, oh, Grandma's here. She's a fruit fly. You know, grandma's here. So as time goes on, my oldest daughter gets pregnant and we're having our first grandbaby and we're super excited. She, you know, as a progresses, as a mom, I'm super, you know, nervous for her, concerned. Sure.

Yeah. You know, worried about her. You know, we have three daughters and it's, yeah, I was just so. nervous for her. And I was praying to grandma. And so we, my daughter's overdue. She says, mom, you know, she's depressed. She's kind of like, I want this baby to come. Can you, can we meet you for lunch? I said, sure, honey. We'll meet for lunch. We meet for lunch. And we order our water with, you know, and the waiter brings around waters for everybody. And on my glass is handwritten, Like I, like, Pan painted the word grandma.

Only my glass. Only my glass has anything on it. It was just strange. And literally a second later, here comes grandma, flies around right in our face, do to do, all the way around the table, and gone. And so the next day, you know, she has her OB appointment. And she's in the doctor's office. And in the face of the doctor comes a nap.

And the doctor says, oh, my gosh, what is that? We're talking February, too. This is February in Iowa, in a doctor's office. And in her face, a nap. And the doctor is like, what is going on? I don't know what this is. And my daughter says, oh, it's just my grandma. And so then that night, she goes into labor and we have our first grandbaby the next, like he arrives that night.

So I'm thinking, you know, grandma's got powers here. Yeah. Let us know. Absolutely. So I love this story because, you know, Nats don't earn at doctor's office. So we're at our friend's house, playing cards, having good fun. This is again in the dead of winter, having so much fun. And my friend is, you know, she's like, yeah, yeah, you're a kook.

Your grandma's a gnat. Whatever. You're kooky. And so I said, please, can I tell the story of the nat again? Because she's heard it many times. And she's like, sure, tell it again. And I start telling this story. And Jim, I'm not kidding.

A gnat flies right in my friend's face. And it was hilarious. I'm dying laughing. We're all just like, she's like, you got to be kidding me. This is crazy. And she's like, okay, I believe you. Your grandma's a nat. Amazing. Amazing. Yeah. So present day, our middle daughter is now pregnant. And I'm like, this is why I'm on your show because I said to grandma, grandma, if you, if you, if you, show yourself, I'm going to call it to Jim Herald, and here I am. There you are. There you are. I love it. Yeah, so, yeah, there's more. Let me tell you. Oh, okay. Keep going. Keep going. Sorry. I don't. I don't.

No, it's all right. You're good. So we all get together for our old, the grandson's birthday party. And my other daughter is due, like babies do. And we're at a bowling alley. celebrating our six-year-old grandson's birthday party. And sure enough, like there's grandma, flies around, says hi to all of us, and then she's gone. And so then we thought, oh, baby's coming. Well, baby didn't come. Not yet.

So they eventually go for an induction and they send her home and I'm like, grandma, I'm disappointed. I thought baby was supposed to come. Like that baby wasn't coming. So the next time they go in for induction, grandma, my husband and I, they leave, they go in for induction. My husband and I go out to eat in a restaurant and sure enough, there's grandma right in my face. And no baby, no baby.

But at the time, I am praying really hard to grandma and to my father-in-law who had passed like five years ago. Just praying, sorry if I get emotional. And so as it turns out, baby, we have a little nephew who passed of leukemia as an infant. And it turned out that our granddaughter had the baby on his birthday and named him the same middle name unbeknownst to her. She had forgotten his middle name. And so I think my father-in-law stepped in on this one. I just love stories like this because I think, you know, when people hear the campfire, and we do usually lead with the scary story, because honestly, that's what gets people to tune in.

I mean, I have to be honest. But the thing is, is that I always make sure we have two or three stories in every episode, like this, because I think it's important for people to realize that the paranormal, the supernatural, is a continuum. And yeah, there can be spooky, scary stuff. And I personally believe there are some scary entities out there. But I think just as much, maybe even more, there's stories like you where a loved one reaches back and makes contact.

And maybe multiple times over the year. And they do it always in a way that seems to tie. into, you know, the history of the relationship, or you've always joked about her haunting you guys as a fruit fly. And then, boom, that's what's happened over all these years. And I had a similar thing with my uncle over as something as weird as a crane game, you know, those games, would they have the claw? And there was a very specific sign that I got, which seems kind of odd, but, you know, it's very unique, just like a fruit fly. They find a way to get a message to you, and they do it in a way that's almost unmistakable.

Yes, absolutely. Yeah, they are with it, always. Well, thank you. Thank your daughter so much for being a part of the Campfire family. We appreciate it. Thanks for sharing this great story. And, of course, stay spooky. Stay spooky.

Dreams. You know, I think that we have those dreams that are just kind of like we go to the supermarket in the pro-produce section. and, you know, that night we dream we're flying on a head of lettuce. I mean, there's those kind of dreams. But I also believe that there are dreams that are meaningful and maybe give us clues, whether it's a connection with a past loved one, or maybe it's a premonition of things to come.

Samuel has an interesting dream or a series of dreams to tell us about from Montana. He's been listened since about 2020. And we're so glad to have him. Samuel, thanks for joining us tonight on the campfire and tell us. your story. Thanks for having me, Jim. My story is basically a recurring dream growing up where I would walk into the kitchen, like wake up out of dead sleep here, like a loud banging coming from the basement, which was through the kitchen. I would walk through the kitchen in this dream, and apparently I was sleepwalking at the same time, according to my parents.

And I'd look down the stairs to see where the noise had come from, and there'd be this little old lady hanging out at the bottom of the stairs. And I would hear a crash to the side of me and look over and try to see where that crash came from, look back down the stairs, and then I would, the way it would be gone, I'd feel a cold hand on the back of my, or on my back, and then shove me down the stairs, and then I'd wake up right then and there every single time. Wow. Wow. And happened all throughout my childhood many, many times. It just chills a little bit, just talking about it. So what happened subsequently? Well, so later on, I ended up going with some buddies to the local library.

They had all the old newspaper clippings and found out that an old lady that fairly well matched the description had actually passed in that house a couple decades prior. Wow. Huh. That's interesting. So you tapped into her, you tapped into her, her energy. It sounds like obviously. I sure felt like it and always had an uneasy feeling in the house. Well, that's the thing.

And plus, and how old were you again when this happened? This was anywhere from like, you know, 5 to 12 or something like that. See, that's the thing. I believe that's the thing. because I believe that that kids, young kids, have a connection to the spiritual world that we, you know, we grow up, we become too smart, whatever, we quote grow out of it.

Yeah. But in some ways I think we become less intelligent, if you know what I'm saying. Yeah, well, closer to them further from the veil anyway. Exactly. That's what they say. Exactly. So that was the whole experience.

But that is a remarkable experience. you kept having these dreams and then you got the validation with this lady. Yep. Crazy stuff. Something else. Something else. Samuel, thank you for joining us tonight on the campfire and stay spooky. Thank you, Jim.

You stay spooky as well. I'll probably have some more stories to tell you at some point. Appreciate the time. Sounds good to me. We love to hear from those repeat callers. Thanks, Samuel. Thank you. Thanks for joining us on Jim Harrell.

Campfire, I appreciate it very, very much. And if you want to get some cool Jim Harold Campfire and stay spooky merch, I could tell you where you can do it. You can go to Jimherald.com slash merch. Jimherald.com slash merch. We have hoodies. We have t-shirts. We have caps. We have mugs. We have a whole cornycopia of curated curiosities that Dar has come together with. And people seem to love it. And I got to say, Dar does a great job on that. Jimherald.com slash merch. Thank you to all of our storytellers. Be sure to tell your story at jimheral.com slash canfire.

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