Jim Harold's Campfire - Haunted House Guest - Jim Harold's Campfire 752

Episode Date: March 12, 2026

An old family home becomes the center of a chilling mystery when multiple people see the exact same shadowy figure moving around. Perhaps a dark chapter in the house's history holds the key to understanding it. Plus, we share a collection of strange moments including a Ouija board session that yields very precise answers, a ghost tour on a historic aircraft carrier that truly delivers, and a bizarre encounter with a classic car. This episode of Campfire reminds us that the unexplained can show up when we least expect it. --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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Ronda from Virginia is on the line. She's been listening for a few years thanks to her husband Matt. Now see how that works, folks. Matt told Rhonda about the Campfire. Now she's going to tell us this awesome story. That's how we get the listeners. That's how we get the stories. that's why you enjoy listening to the show.

So what is the moral of the story? Tell a friend about the show. Tell a family member about the show and share your stories. It all works together. Rhonda, thank you. And thank you. Matt, Matt, thank you and stay spooky. So Rhonda, you've got a story here about a friend who stayed over.

And they saw something very disturbing. Tell us what happened. Okay, so it's not a very long story, but it is a very interesting story. And I'll give just a hair of background about the house before I delve into the full story. The house that we live in was built in 1900. My family has lived here. Some member of my family has lived in this house probably since the 1940s. The house has seen birth and it's seen death.

My father was born in this house. And we've also had family members who's passed in the house. So, you know, the house has seen lots of coming and going as far as that goes. And so we have lived here since about 2013. And we haven't, my husband and I have never had any issues. Let's just put it at that. We've never, we've never seen anybody. We've never, we've never experienced anything.

But as you said, we had a friend who was staying over on a weekend. And he had stayed over on Friday night. And I had got up Saturday morning and he was on the couch. He had slept on the couch in the living room. And he was, he looked a little. He looked a little, shaking when I got up. I came down and I said, I said, hi, Mike, you know. And he said, can I tell you what happened?

I said, baby, what happened? And he said, when I sat up on the couch this morning, I looked at the TV. The TV kind of faces toward a window. So you can kind of see the window if you look into the TV and it's off. Okay. So he looked, he kind of sat up and kind of glanced up at the TV. when he first woke up, and he could clearly see the silhouette of a man behind him. Oh, man.

And so he, and this is of the morning. This is about 10 o'clock in the morning. So he goes to turn to see who it is, thinking it's my husband, but I'm, you know, we were upstairs. So he turns to look and he sees it float from the living room to the kitchen. Oh gosh. And I mean, plainly, plainly sees this. In the daytime, you know, he plainly saw it. So he tells me that and we discuss, you know, we start discussing things about ghosts and all.

Well, that's not all of it. So earlier, like I say, Mike came on Friday. We knew he was coming. My husband and I both worked. I had asked my mother if she would come down and gather up the trash and help us clean up a little bit before Mike got there. Well, so she had been down on Friday, and I knew this, but I hadn't talked to her to the following Monday. And so she and I are in the car, were riding around, and she said, did I tell you what happened? And I said, no, what's up?

Now, please understand, my mother is not, she doesn't believe in ghost. She's not a very skeptical person. She's very serious. Right. And she said, I saw something. in your house. And I said, what do you mean? You saw something in my house.

And she said, on Friday morning, when I came down to get the trash, she had been, we had a trash can that was kind of by my husband's chair, which was near where the TV would have been, you know. So she's getting the trash out of the trash can. She happens to look up toward that window once again. She sees the shadow of a man go from the living room to the kitchen. And I said, no way. I said, no way.

He said, yeah. And I said, Mike saw the same thing. Please understand that my mother and Mike are not friends. They don't know each other. She doesn't come down and visit when he's here. Like, they don't talk. They don't know each other. And I said, Mike saw the exact same thing.

She said, it scared her so bad that she had to double think about what she had actually seen. She said it made her do a double take because she couldn't believe it. Wow. So that's that's that story in a nutshell. But also, you know, like I say, the house has seen a lot of birth and death. It was also involved in a murder investigation in 1970. So we don't know.

Yeah, it's a long story, but long and short of it is, is that there were body parts found on the property. And they never did find all the fella. So we don't know. Oh, they didn't find all of them. Oh, boy. They didn't find all of him, no, sir. So we don't know. Like I say, me and my husband have never experienced anything negative here.

I've had family members say they've seen things in the house, you know, but and even when we went to buy the house, they were telling us, you know, we've seen this and we've seen that. And we're like, well, we've never had any negative experiences. But the fact that not just one, but two people saw the same thing on the same weekend blew my mind is all I know to say. Do you think it might be that murder victim or do you think it's a family member? Or do you have any theories? I'm not sure. Both times that they saw this person, they went from the living room to the kitchen. I had a cousin who passed away in the living room, and it's very possible that it could have been him. I don't think it was anything malicious.

I don't think it was anything malicious or mean or anything like that. But whatever it was, and it was in the spring of the year. So it was around this time of year. But we've never seen it again. Like we've never, never experienced anything, anything. But that was a very odd, odd story. Well, please keep us updated if you see that figure, somebody sees that figure again. That is amazing.

And these houses, you know, these older houses, I think they definitely carry energy. And it doesn't all have to be negative. It doesn't have to be, it could be just somebody passing through or, you know, some people believe that the time is kind of layered. So maybe it's not a ghost. Maybe it's a glimpse of the past. Who knows? but I know these things are real. Rhonda, thank you for joining us.

Thanks to Matt for telling you about the show. See, we would have never had that story without him. So tell your friends about the show. We do. We do. Well, not you. I was saying them out there. Not you. You already did your part. No, no, them out there. You guys share the show.

Rhonda's done her part. Matt has done her part. Rhonda, you and Matt stay spooky. Thank you, sir. You too. 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.

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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. Welcome to the Campfire. I am Jim Harold, and we got things started off with a bang. And if you're new here, that's what we do. We talk to real people about their real supernatural experiences.

Could be ghosts, could be cryptic creatures, could be UFOs, or my favorite head scratchers. But whatever they are, they are true. They are real. And they are amazing. And thank you to all of our storytellers today. And also a big thank you to all of our plus members out there today. you know, people wonder, well, Jim, how have you been able to make a go of this as a full-time endeavor since 2012? And there's one main reason for that. That's our Plus Club members.

If you want to support the show and get access to the whole back catalog of this show, going back to 2009, all you got to do is join our Plus Club, Jimherald.com slash plus. Jimherald.com slash plus. It makes our work possible, and we thank you very much. Also, something to consider is our free campfire community at virtual campfiregroup.com, virtual campfire group.com. None of the social media nonsense, none of the spammy ads, not every other post you look at AI generated, none of that. Real people, real stories, real community, and it's real accessible to you at no cost whatsoever. That is virtual campfiregroup.com, virtual campfiregroup.com. So I hope you'll take us up on both. of those things. The free community and also the Plus Club. One other thing we just did for the

Plus Club that was so much fun is we didn't ask me anything last week, myself and Dar, and we had it scheduled for an hour, and it went an hour and a half, and that was for Plus Club members only. So that's another great benefit of that. So check that out as well. We thank you so much, and now let's get on to more great Campfire Stories. Kirk is on the line from Canada. I love that we're getting so many Canadian participants and kudos to our friends up north in that great country of Canada. And Kirk has, if I had a sounder here, I play a Ouija board story.

So, Kirk, I'll let you take it away because we're always interested in Ouija board stories. Thanks, Jim. So let me start by saying this happened in the early 90s in Los Angeles. So we're talking like 30 some years ago, and I'll be honest, some of the details are foggy along the way, but the key bits stuck with me. So I used to go like to garage sales on the weekend, and I saw a Ouija board at a garage sale. And it was in the box. And I got it because, honestly, I didn't really believe it worked or anything like that.

I always just liked the design. That's like kind of cool wood grain and it had these interesting, you know, letters all through it and the sun and the moon and the hello, goodbye. Yes, no. I eventually became like a graphic designer and so it kind of makes sense. But even at that younger age, I was like, oh, I like the way this looks. So I didn't really believe in it. I just wanted it for like decor in the house. Sure.

And of course, that night we got home, my girlfriend and I and the friend that we had been out with. And we were like, you know, we have to try it. Right. And so we all sit sort of in a semicircle and we set it on our knees and we're resting our fingers on it really lightly and saying, you know, does anyone want to communicate? Is anybody there? And, you know, the Planchette kind of wiggles a little. you know, a millimeter here and there. I think we tried for like half hour, 45 minutes. Nothing came of it. Right. And so whatever. That's what we all expected. And I set it up as decor

and we didn't think about it again. And then a few months later, my girlfriend said, hey, do you want to try it again? And we're like, okay. So we sat down side by side or facing each other and we had the board on our knees and we're very lightly touching. And we're saying, is anyone there? Would anyone like to communicate? The same thing, little movements. But eventually it started kind of moving. And I don't know if you've ever tried one. But it started kind of cruising around. on its own and you know now we're looking each other going you're pushing it i'm not pushing it aren't you pushing it i swear you're pushing it right so we're we're both claiming that the other one's doing it um we ended up talking you know a little bit to some individual like it would move slowly and we could

kind of get a couple of answers out of them this is the part where i can't really remember too many details but there was a point where we were talking to someone and it was making some sense and then the answer started to get nonsensical and i i wish i could remember the details but i remember that things started to go a little weird and we said like who is that you this and it went to eight and it stopped. We were like, okay, that's weird. And it didn't go anymore. So we kind of started over and put our hands on and said, what anyone like to talk, whatever. And we managed to talk to another individual. And I think about 45 minutes in, like, it was moving. I remember it was like flying around the board and we're both again constantly accusing each other and stuff.

At one point, again, the answers got weird. We said, who is this? It went to eight. It stopped. So that's kind of a weird thing and kind of a side note. But at a certain point, we started one last time. We're saying, is anyone there? And we get a hold of somebody who, I can't remember how they said it, but they claimed they knew my girlfriend. And we were like, oh, that's kind of weird. And we said, what's her name? And she said, Marcia.

We asked whoever we were talking to, what's their name? They said, Marcia. And the girlfriend's thinking, who the heck is Marcia? And then she remembered, oh, I knew a Marcia in high school. who died. Could it be her? And so we asked, is this Marsha from high school?

And it was really interesting, Jim, the planchette went up to the Ouija logo and passed over OUI and stopped. And my girlfriend was like, oh, I knew her from French class in high school. So she was saying we. And so at this point, like, we've got goosebumps, you know, and our hands are standing up.

We're like, what the heck? Suddenly, this feels like a real person. I'll be honest, Jim. Up to this point, like, we were supposedly talking with things, it didn't always make sense. It was really easy to write it off as like, whatever they call it, the subconscious motor, you know, your fingers. Video motor effect.

Yeah, thank you. But this felt different because she had been clever enough to say we. And so we asked, you know, like, how is she now? And she spelled out happy. And we said, like, what's it like where you are? And she said, nice. And so we're sitting there thinking like, what do we say next? And we're trying to figure out, you know, we've got seemingly a live one and what do we talk about?

And while we're thinking of it, the planchette starts moving. And it spells out H or W-H-O-S-H-E. Who's he? This was like, this was an even freakier moment because, of course, she wouldn't know who I was. She went to school with my girlfriend. She didn't know who I was. And so she asked us, point-blank, who's he? And so that kind of freaked us out.

And my girlfriend said, oh, this is Kirk. And the plan shut spelled out, hi. And I think there was a hello on the board, but I remember it went to high. And so at this point, you know, she's reaching out asking us a question. And I feel like, okay, we've got a real somebody here. And at this point, I'm wondering, now my logical mind is like racing, trying to figure out, how could this possibly be happening? And, you know, Jim, I think you and I are of a similar age.

I don't know if you remember when we were growing up. when we were growing up, there were these courtesy phones in airports, and they'd say, like, Hey, Jim, white courtesy phone, and you could go and talk to the desk or whoever was looking for you. Yep. So I was kind of a sarcastic punk back then with a dark sense of humor, and we're sitting there trying to figure out, like, what to say next. And I'm sitting there thinking, how does this work? And I turned to my girlfriend, and I said, you know, do you think there's like Ouija boards positioned around the afterlife? And they, like, paid you on the PA system and say, Marsha, white courtesy Ouja, please, you know, Beijing, Marsha, White,

courtesy Ouija. My girlfriend starts laughing. The planchette shoots over to the no really fast and we can barely keep up with it. It goes around the... Yeah, it's shot to the no. Like in the middle of me trying to tell my joke, it's no. And then it did a loop around the board. It did a second

loop around the board, a third loop and we're barely keeping up with it. And on the third one, it flies off the top of the board and goes like across the house and hits the wall like 30 feet away. And we're both just sitting there stunned and frozen and scared. And we're both absolutely insisting, no, I didn't do that.

You know, like, I didn't throw the flesh out or whatever. And so that's kind of where it ended. Honestly, it was with that moment. It was just us going, like, what just happened? And did I upset your friend who has passed, you know? She didn't like your sense of human. She really did not appreciate it. So here's the question.

Did you ever play with it again? No, I knew you'd ask that. No, I actually, I kept the board, like, as a decor. but I ditched the planchette. I never, I disabled the communication device. I mean, we've had some pretty freaky, mainly like, I mean, we've had some over the last year, but some of the very early stories, we had some wild. One where planchette started going so fast, it was wearing like a figure eight pattern in the board.

Yeah, oh, wow. Someone else who had one that they said was walking across the floor, like, you know how it has the spine, like a book spine almost. said it was walking inch warm style across the floor. Oh, my goodness. One that wouldn't burn. Oh. Yeah.

So, I mean, yeah. But that, you know, the thing is I always say this is what I say about Ouija board. Because we have great guests. We've had Robert Merch, who is like the Vigil board god. We've also had Karen Dahlin, who is the Ouija Board goddess. And she, you know, that's not their form. normal title, but they're kind of the two of the top people. And they'll tell me, you know, it's a tool and blah, blah, blah, and da-da.

And I'm not saying they're wrong, but a chainsaw is also a tool. Now, if you have one of these guys that can do these fabulous ice sculptures with it and wood sculptures, you've seen it before with a chainsaw. Yes. I mean, yeah, that's great. If you hand it to me, I'm just as likely to cut off my arm. Exactly. So is a Ouija board like a spiritual chainsaw? I don't know.

I don't know. That's kind of how I feel. Like, I think if you were to ask me, would I do it again? I haven't. And I, you know, back then, I didn't really believe in any of this stuff. In the last several years, I've come around. I've been listening to you for a few years. But, you know, between the UAPs and other stuff, I'm like, I'm starting to really open up to this,

which is why I kind of remembered this story and wanted to tell it. But I'm also aware of, like, the Philip experiment up here in Toronto, where those ghosts, or did they create it? And, you know, did we create this person between us? I don't know. And so there's a part of me that feels like if I ever did it again. I would want somebody who knew what they were doing there because I, on some level, I feel like I'm opening a door, you know. Well, I will say this about the Philip experiment.

And folks, if you're not familiar with it, look it up. It's a fascinating case in the 70s, a group of people who were interested in spiritualism and psychic phenomena, you know, did these seances and gatherings and basically created a ghost, almost like a Tulpa or a thought form. So folks, look it up. it's fascinating, but to me, even that is kind of supernatural. I mean, what is up? Absolutely. Even if it's not from the other side, if it's something you can create, well, isn't that just another category of wow?

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, I think we're in deep head scratcher territory. We are in deep head. I like that. Deep head scratcher territory. I'm going to have to steal that. Thank you, Kirk.

And thank you for sharing your story. A really cool one. Thank you so much. Thank you for calling us. us from up north and stay spooky. Stay spooky, Jim. Thank you. Next up, we have a loyal listener, a return caller, and a plus club member, Dominic from Pennsylvania.

He told me just now that he's up around episode 200. He's doing a re-listen to all the campfires being in the Plus Club, and he started, I think, last year, August or September, and you're up to 200. And you only have another 550 to go. So, but thank you so much. Dominic, I appreciate you and everybody who is a Plus Club member because without our Plus Club members, there would be no Spooky Studio. So thank you for that. And thank you for this story about telling you told us another great story not too long ago. But wow, this one, this really caught my eye.

Tell us what happened. So this occurred back in 2006, I would say I was again back in Jacksonville, Florida, my hometown. And I lived in a historic neighborhood and some of the streets are narrow. And so I'm driving and I get to a stop sign. And there must have been an event nearby because the parking on both sides of the street was packed. And so I met the stop sign and you have to look both ways. Of course, I couldn't see oncoming traffic. And as many cars as there were, there was really only room for one car coming in that direction. Like there was no way for two far as to go in opposite directions. So basically I'm sitting there and like,

well, I can't see if there's anybody coming. So I inch forward and inch forward and inch forward. And I don't see anybody. And so like, well, I'm just going to have to go for it and hope there's nobody. And so I accelerate. And of course,

there is a car coming right towards me. And it's one of those old 70s, maybe Cadillacs or something old that deals with huge. Big cars. Yeah. Big cars. I mean, I don't think people have an appreciation how big those cars were. But go ahead. Go ahead.

Absolutely. Yeah. So I was, well, so I braced for impact. But impact didn't come. And what happened, there was no way for this car to avoid my car. car. There's just no room. The only way it could have avoided me, maybe, is if it swerved to the right into the street that I was headed in that direction. But it didn't do that. It just literally kept going straight. And it was almost like the car went through my car. I can't think of any

other way to describe what happened. I don't recall seeing the driver, but it just went by me. and I was just sat there for a second, stunned. I was like, it doesn't, you know, I couldn't even think what, how that happened, how that, how we didn't collide because there was zero room for that to occur. I guess I consider that a head scratcher. I don't know. I definitely consider it. I definitely considered a head scratcher. No question whatsoever.

I mean, my goodness. It just disappeared. It just went right through you. That's amazing. So do you think, you know, I know what I'm leaning towards, do you think it was some kind of time slip? That makes sense, certainly. Yeah, I mean, I was in a historic neighborhood and historic park.

I can't, I don't have any other explanations for it. Yeah, those big old cars, that's such a cool era, though. I'm just, I'm an old soul. I love that kind of stuff. You know, I could just, with the eight-track player in there, you know, pumping some tunes. Absolutely. Plus, I was a little kid I grew up with those big hunks of metal, those big Detroit hunks of metal. So has that changed the way you think about things in terms of like timelines and time slips and all of that stuff?

I remain curious, but, and open-minded, but haven't never experienced that before or after. It's just something, one of those things. It's an interesting story, but I have no more answers, but always, always curious. Well, indeed, Dominic. Thank you so much for being a part of the show again. Thank you for all your support. all the best in getting through all those campfire shows. And we're going to keep making more so you can,

it's like Lucy at the Chocolate Factory. You've got to kind of try to catch up. But it's a good thing. But seriously, thank you for all of your support. Absolutely. My pleasure. Stay spooky. Stay spooky, Jim.

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So keep it real. Look for the seal. Real California milk. Next up on the campfire, we have a newer listener. Leslie is on the line. And you know, I always kind of gravitate to these stories that happen at bedtime because I think about, it is you when you're at your most vulnerable and most, I think, open to the other side as well. And one part, you know, some of these things can be scary. Some of them can be heartwarming. And we're going to talk to Leslie to find out what category hers fell under. Leslie, welcome to the show. Thanks. And I'm so glad that you found the show. I know you were talking about how you like the fact that it's real people telling their own stories and not somebody telling it for them. And you kind of got it.

That's what we're all about. So welcome to the fold. So tell us what happened. Well, this started, I had started dating a guy, and we went on one date. And I just remember the next morning after that first date, I was woken up very abruptly with this very forceful voice saying, you better marry my boy. It was so blunt. And I'm just, it woke me up so fast that I picked up the phone and I called, you know, the guy I just saw. And I said, you know, I don't know if this, I just had this feeling.

I said, was your dad? Was he a very like forced to be reckoned with? Because he, I just had. And I told him what happened basically. And he said, oh my gosh, that sounds like my dad. And I was like, this is freaking me out. And so he goes, well, what do you think? And I said, well, shoot, let's get married. You know, you know, it was just a joke at first, but you know. And so, you know, it's just we continue seeing each other.

It wasn't because of what happened. But that was my first experience with something like that. And I still wasn't 100% sure, you know, if that's what it was. Yeah, his dad, I've never met him, never met anyone in his family at this point because we had just, saw each other one time. And so, but we just communicated verbally on the phone. And then we decided to continue with the relationship. And as time went on, things just evolved. And yes, we did get married two years later. So it's kind of funny how that kind of stuff happens.

And so after that had happened, I'm a little shaky, sorry. That's all right. I got sick. Excuse me. It's okay. Take your time. I went to sleep because I was tired. I was sick.

I hadn't slept for quite some time. And I just felt this pressure like a pressure in my chest just like to sink. And the next thing I knew, I'm in front of his parents because they're both deceased. And it was almost like a, like I was on wheels, like moving. And they're in like this field. and they just looked at me and then all of a sudden his brother who had passed was sitting there on these steps

and just looked at me just very like I had known him but he just said it's not your time Wow yeah and I just I didn't know what that was about and as soon as he said that it was like I woke up I sat straight up in bed and I was just crying

because it was so emotional I didn't understand it and so it was just kind of frightening at the same time Like, what does this mean? Did I, like, is not breathing when I went to sleep? It was just a lot of things were still, I mean, I still think about it.

I just still can't explain it. But that was my second experience with his, to see his family. And then a few years ago, his other, his oldest brother had passed away from cancer. And this was kind of like, it was kind of special. but this one because we were on our way to his service and we had stopped at this rest stop to go to the bathroom. And I just remember washing my hands after and I just saw this bouquet of these wild. I can't remember the name of these wild flowers in this vase out of at a rest stop. You just don't technically see a bouquet of flowers sit on sink.

Right. And so I kind of got in the car and I told, you know, my husband about it. And I just told him, I said, this is really unusual. I said it's kind of different. And they were like brand, they were freshly picked. And we just went on to the service, got through that. And then we went to the potluck that they were having after the service. And I walked in and on the mantle, it was this huge wall.

and it was just base after base after vase, the same exact flowers picked. Wow. And yeah, it was amazing. And then he came. I saw him in a dream and it was really different with that one too because I just remember him getting off a bed. And he put on these jeans and this white t-shirt and this like short sleeve plaid, collared shirt button down. You know how they used to wear their jeans rolled up at the bottom and

t-shirts and flannels over him? And he just got up and he's just like woo-hoo, you know, and then he just darted outside. And I followed him out there. And all of a sudden we're at this lake and he's jumping off a boat. And he's just having this grand old time happy. And I think that was a good closure from me because you always wonder if they're okay on the other side, if they're happy, what usually happens. So to me, that was a comfort knowing that I just took it as he was happy and he was okay. So I told my husband about it, you know, and he's thinking, how come I never see my family?

How come I don't see my dad? I don't see my brothers, you know? And I said, I don't know. I said, it just happens. And the funny thing is that I don't see my own family. You know, my father passed away when I was three, and I've never seen them. That's interesting. Yeah, I did find that interesting. And it was, I don't know, I'm just thinking that my husband's family has this really strong connection that I wasn't aware of, you know. Yeah.

And it all started when they said you've got to marry my boy, which I thought is pretty cool. Yeah, isn't that? It was, that was so abruptly and so forceful and so, like, he meant a business, you know, and he was an elder at his church. And he said, you know, when I talk to my husband now about it, you know, it's the way he, they didn't have microphones. They didn't use that in their church and stuff. So his boys had to be booming. And it was like, so all these little different instances with, you know, in-laws I've ever met. And, you know, I did see my mother. and long. I didn't get to spend a couple years of her before she passed. So it was kind of neat to see them. It gets emotional at times. But it just tells me that they're okay. You know, I've seen them. They're there. And so. And they're looking out for you. They're looking out for you too. Yes. Yes. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. And it's quite the connection. A lot of times, you know, in life you hear of people having a great connection with their in-laws, but it's kind of cool that you have the great connection from

beyond. Pretty neat stuff. Yes. Yes. And I am just, you know, I just wonder if I'm going to have another one. I'm just waiting to see if I will because every time my ask for it seems like it doesn't happen, but when you least expect it. So that's what happens. And so, but I definitely will have to call back because I've been dealing with some experiences since I was 10. I, with my childhood, going up in a house, you know, supposedly built on an Indian burial ground. So I do have some stories that I'll have to call back and tell you about. Well, we'll definitely want to hear that. Leslie, thank you so much.

And stay spooky. Stay spooky, Jim. Thank you. Amy has been listening for about 11 years, and we appreciate that very much. And she said she went looking for the paranormal while she's on the campfire. So you can kind of guess what happened. Amy, welcome to the show. Thank you for listening all these years, and thanks so much for sharing your story.

Tell us. Thanks, Jim. Yeah. This happened about, I think it was 2014 on Memorial Day weekend. And I live in California in San Francisco, and there's the Mord aircraft carrier, the USS Hornet. It's in Alameda, and it's a floating museum. And during that time, the 2014-ish, I had been watching paranormal shows, and I had seen one, I think it was ghost adventures. They had gone on the ship, and they didn't really get much evidence, if any, and I had read about it and all these stories about different happenings, seeing captains roaming around the halls, hearing noises and whatnot.

So I said to myself, I want to go. I want to see for myself what this is all about. And so I booked a ghost tour with my boyfriend at the time. And we went. And so it happens at night. It was Memorial Day weekend. And it was a nice evening. And we all get up.

You board, you know, it's moored in the water, but, you know, you don't sense at all that it's moving or anything. You get in and the first floor, like the main entry is the, is like the museum. And then there are ropes that tie off access to down below. And that's where you go for the ghost tours. Okay. And so here we were.

We were going around in all the different. There was like a group of maybe, there were several tours happening at once, but the thing is so big that you don't hear the other tours. You're in a group of maybe 10 or 12 people and maybe entire. there's maybe 30 or 40 people. And so tours disperse.

And so, you know, I was all excited. I had like a dat recorder with me. And my boyfriend was a total skeptic. So I just like him to do what he's going to do. He was humoring me. And so one of the things that got me was as we were going around different parts of the ship, there was an amateur ghost hunting group with. us. There was about three of them. And I have to say they were a bit distracting. And this will

come back later. And I was just really kind of, they had these bright lights. It was almost like a strobe light or something. I don't know exactly what it was. But they, one guy in particular was a little disrespectful. Like he expected everyone to be quiet for him. But then, you know, if you're somewhere and you're listening, he'd just kind of come in and blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, dude. You know, so I was kind of getting a little annoyed by that because I was really wanting to go and really see and experience it. And so at one point we went to the infirmary and they show like different, there's like an operating room with, you know, World War II kind of era, you know, physicians, tools and everything. And everything's behind like cases, glass cases. And you just

standing there and you, the tour guy gives you an overall, you know, summary of what happened in this space. And so we're all moving around. Maybe you're supposed to stay within the group. You're not supposed to go astray because you can get very easily lost down there. It's a veritable maze. And so, as we were in the infirmary, I started thinking to myself that, you know, It's Memorial Day weekend here, supposedly on the ship there, our men who served their country. And I was getting a little, how do I explain it? I was feeling bad because I felt like these ghost hunters with us, especially in this infirmary era, were just kind of wanting to get evidence. They were almost like treating like, come on, it's a circus, perform for us, you know?

Yeah. And I felt that was really disrespectful. Yeah. So against what I was supposed to do, I didn't stray far, but I did stray probably about 30 feet away from the group into this tiny little area of the infirmary called the burn unit. A burn unit is separate from the infirmary because how serious the injuries are, infection. You know, they have to, they, it was only this, it was the size of like a walking closet. it and it had two bucks. So, you know, like two and two in a very narrow space. And so when someone had a burn injury, this is where they went. And it had a special area in the infirmary with

special like medical equipment and whatnot. So I step away from the group and I go into the little infirmary area and I'm just standing there. And in my head, this might sound weird, but in my head, just said, you know, anyone who's here, I thank you for your service. It's Memorial Day. You're being remembered by all the country for everything you did, especially during World War II. And I apologize. I said, you know, I really apologize for the people that are in my group because I think, and this is all in my head. I'm saying it very clearly. Like, I'm putting it out there. And I'm just saying, you know, I'm sorry that they're treating you this way. And they just want you to like, you know, do do do do do do do do think juggle or something you know just like do a trick say something so what i did was in my mind i said i said to my i said whoever was there i said you know i don't i just want to know

have a confirmation you know are there are there you know servicemen here still on the ship do you you still have you know experiences here are you here and um i said you know you can give me sign, whatever you want. And so, you know, it's like pitch black in there. Right. And so I'm next to these on either side of me, the bunks. And the bunks are like metal. They have metal poles.

Yeah. And they have like kind of like that cot like kind of dip in the canvas area. Like, you know. And so I'm standing there. And no joke, within like two seconds, my ear is right next to. to this metal pole. It was as if someone took a monkey wrench, like a big wrench, and just banged the pole next to me. It was so loud, I could almost feel the vibrations from it. And Jim, when I tell you, I flew back like 10 feet out of that infirmary. I swear I did. Everyone in the

group, they could see me from afar. And all they do is they see this person. fly out and I you know I yelled inexplicative I was like holy you know and and everyone looked at me like what the heck is happening and I'm like did you just hear that sound they're like yeah I'm like okay I just had my experience without a doubt there were other times on the on the tour where you could hear sounds around but nothing nothing at all like what I experienced you know For whatever reason, someone responded to me and said, hey, yeah, I'm here. Ting. Wow, wow.

And I like what you said about the respect factor. You know, that's something that bugs me about some of the ghost hunting shows and that kind of thing. Particularly when you're going into homes, you're going into historic sites where, you know, people fought for their country. Yeah. You know, have a little respect, you know. Have a little respect. I'm not saying that paranormal investigation is wrong, just like I wouldn't say it's wrong to visit somebody's house.

Right. But have a little respect when you're doing it. I totally agree with you 110%. So this was truly... Go ahead. One thing I can add, if you don't mind. Sure, please do. When I wrote our tour guide, I gave her some feedback.

And I just said, you know, I really enjoyed the tour. I wrote her a direct email. And I just said, I was a bit distracted. though, by that paranormal group that was with us. And so she invited me back for free. I didn't have to pay. She said, tell me, you come back. And so I went on the tour again, and nothing happened there except this.

When we were in the infirmary again, that little area was closed off with a rope. And I was like, oh, that's funny that they won't let people in there anymore. Maybe something broke, you know, whatever. So I'm there, and I stick my... head into the infirmary just like it is dark pitch black and it was the weirdest experience ever I felt like I stuck my head into oblivion like imagine being on like a spaceship and like you imagine like sticking your head out the ship like it felt like whoa like I am in some infinite space here and it was it was like

I don't know how to explain it. It was like one of these hyper-real things where it was a door to an infirmary, but it was a door to something else at that moment. It was insane. It was really, it didn't scare me, but I was like, wow, there's something going on in there, you know? Pretty cool stuff, pretty cool stuff. And the other thing that I'll say is another, a positive out of the paranormal thing, you know, in terms of investigation and visiting historic sites,

there's a positive to it too. It allows these organizations that keep these places open for historic purposes and stuff. It helps them with the funding. You know, paranormal tourism is huge. Huge. So I think it's a good thing. Yeah. You know, visit the places and go within the rules and be respectful and have a good time. Absolutely. They have one of the USS Hornet was one, the aircraft carriers that retrieved one of the Apollo missions. And, they actually have the Apollo capsule on the floor of the museum. So there's a lot of cool stuff. If you live in Northern California or you're visiting, the USS Hornet Tour is pretty darn cool. Well, your story was pretty cool. You're pretty cool, Amy. Thank you so much, Amy.

And thank you for being a part of the show. Stay spooky. Stay spooky. Thanks, Jim. Well, thanks for tuning into the show. We're going to get right back to it, but I got to talk to you about two things are very important. first one is absolutely free.

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There's certain people over the years of doing the different shows who really stand out and we have just such a person today. Russ from Pennsylvania is here. And Russ was a frequent guest on, I think you won't believe what happened to me show that I used to do with Dar before the paranormal report came along and always enjoyed talking to Russ. And now we're going to talk about some supernatural stuff. And it all revolves around a family home. Russ, I'm fascinated about this historic home. Please tell us all about it.

And good to talk to you again. I really mean. Great. Great to talk to you too, Jim. and I'm sorry not to see Darre this morning. Just a quick overview, a little background story, and people might want to visit it too. It's called Elwood Manor, and it was built in 1790 by the Jones family,

and it was active in a Revolutionary War. The owner of the house was under Light Horse Harry Lee, who was a very famous, a cavalryman officer in American Revolutionary War. war, and it was also as a father to Robert Ely, who, you know, we know for the U.S. Civil War, and also Lafayette. So Light Horse Harry Lee wrote his memoirs in the house because he unfortunately lost all his money gambling after the war, and Lafayette visited the house, and he, and actually they got their troops together to march to the Battle of Yorktown, which, of course, was very important in ending the American Revolution.

Civil War Grant in the Overland campaign in 1864, his goal was to capture Richmond and defeat the Army Northern Virginia under Robert Lee. And the Union had over 100,000 troops, and Robert Lee only had about 60,000. So if he knew if he fought them an open battle, there'd be no way that he could win. So he moved his troops into the woods, and it was called the Wilderness Battle. troops couldn't even see each other from 20, 30 feet away because the woods were so, you know, overgrown. So 160,000 troops were involved. They had over 35,000 casualties. And a real problem was, with all these black powder weapons going off, they let the woods on fire. And so it was unbelievably horrific. People that were wounded, that couldn't get out, many of them burned

death because of what's caught on fire. So Grant had his headquarters about 100 yards from the house. General Burnside used the house as his headquarters, and that's where the saying Burnside started. You know, if you look him up, he had these crazy, like munchups. So side burns, Burnside. Yeah, side burns. That's where it started, General Burnside. And it was used as Civil War Hospital, bloodstained the floors, piles of amputated arms and legs, you know, on the property. be. Stonewall Jackson was the very famous Southern General, was wounded by Zon Troops when he was recodoring the area. And his arm is buried in the backyard. It was amputated and buried there. Yeah. And Robert Lee made the famous quote that General Jackson has lost his left arm. I've lost

my right, meaning because he's been such an important general. I was a history major in college. I love all this stuff, you know. But anyhow, my wife's family bought the house in 1907. They wanted to use it as a farm. Her father wanted to retire out there. But the house was in need of so much repair. They decided to donate it to the Parks Department. And with a help, and I'll mention this now, because of the unfortunate circumstances yesterday,

Robert Duval, who lived near, was very instrumental in helping raise funds for the restoration of Elwood. And he worked with my wife's sister, Carolyn Ellsner, and they put a team together and raised a lot of money. And, you know, the Parks Department did. And so the house is fully restored and now open to the public. Okay. So now, supernatural events. I'll read some that are known. I have not seen them, but I do have an event that I witness. Apparitions, of course, as you would expect, Civil War soldiers and tree lines, end offenses at dusk. of the feeling of being watched. There is a story about a nine-year-old boy named Jeffrey.

I've never seen him, but supposedly he is in the house. I haven't researched to see if he lived there, but he is cited. There is a soldier that he was badly wounded. The family went off to church services, and he went to an upstairs bedroom and hung himself. And that door opens and closes by itself. I've heard that from my wife's grandfather. And cold spots, unfortunately, groans and screams. You heard occasionally.

Now, what my wife's grandfather told me and my father-in-law told me when they were living in the house, they would see blue lights going between the house and the old spring house. So it was almost like people were carrying water, you know, to the back and forth. they would hear music. There was a place where musicians in the house could go, and it wouldn't be seen by the attendees at a party. And they would play, you know, the harpsichord or, you know, whatever, violins. And so now and then the family would hear just one chord of music, and then it would stop. And that happened, that happened, you know, periodically three or four times a year, just out of the blue. One time, they leased a bunch of feet. fields to area farmers to farm. And when it, when they came back to the house, the farmers said, boy, you must have had some party going on there. And they said, what do you mean? They said, well, you know, we heard lots of talking and music and sound like a big party. And they said, no,

we were all away. The house was locked up. And by the way, the house didn't have any electricity. So we don't know about that one. My grandfather-in-law and grandfather said the covers were pulled off beds. When the house is being restored, Parks Department had workers there and had all their tools locked up in the basement. And when they would come back in the morning periodically, all the tools would be removed for the boxes and laid out on the wooden, not in the wooden, on the earthen floor in the basement.

Have no explanation because the house being a historical site was all locked up, had alarm systems, had cameras and everything. So I don't know. My experience, which is pretty interesting, the way the house works, you walk in and is a staircase that goes upstairs and you got one bedroom, two bedrooms, the third bedroom. And then it just ends. You can't go anywhere else. You have to go back down the stairs. And in that third bedroom, the last one, there was a long family story history.

about a poor guy that he asked the woman to marry him, she wouldn't marry him. And so he shot himself in the head in that bedroom, killed himself. Yeah, and blood soaked into the floor. And everybody tried to get it out. They tried grinding it out, you know, taking a floor down. They tried all types of cleaners. Finally, they just gave up and they painted the wooden floor black in there. and my wife said when she was a little girl visiting out there to farm, you know, she would never sleep in a bedroom, you know, would sleep in it.

Yeah, it was just creepy, you know. But the experience that I had, I went out when the Parks Department was working on, this is a long time ago. This is like 1977, so quite a while ago. But I was talking to the Parks Department, Ranger's wife. and, you know, very sober, you know, very, you know, very normal person, you know, and, you know, he worked and her husband worked for the Parks Department. He was a ranger there. And I said, well, how do you like living here? And she was, oh, it's beautiful, beautiful, very quiet, very interesting, you know.

But she said, I've got to tell you, this house is haunted. And I said, what do you mean? And she said, well, the other day, I heard heavy footsteps going up the stairs. and they went past the first bedroom, the second bedroom, and I went into that bedroom with a black floor. And I walked out and I called up to my husband, hey, hey, you know, are you here? And no response, I walked up and there was nobody there.

She said there's absolutely no way anybody could have gotten out of the house because it's staircase along the wall up to that bedroom. And then it ends. I mean, you'd have to jump. And if you jump, you, you know, you'd fall. 15 or 20 feet, you know. So that's my story about Elwood. It's an interesting place from a historical point of view. There have been many famous people that have been there. It's a beautiful, quiet place to visit. And it's in the middle of the American Civil War battlefield. So for people

interested in history, it's a very interesting place to be. And of course, with Stonewall Jackson's aren't buried in the backyard. That's pretty cool, too. Yeah. I'm really believe that these places like Gettysburg and this Elwood and in places like this, I believe they hold that energy. I mean, it's so intense. It's kind of like, you know, we've talked on the shows about theaters, haunted theaters. And in theaters, you know, people who are in showbiz are, tend to be high strong. Yeah.

You know, creative types. Right. And I think, you know, and they're on the stage and there's good, there's bad, there's happy, they're sad and all that kind of permeates, you know, the building material and the physical space of it, and I think it sticks around. I think the same thing about battlefields and in places like this home that's doubled as a hospital. I mean, the thing is, is that this is life and death. You can't have any stronger emotions in the whole human condition than what these people experienced. You know, they're fighting for their cause. So there's emotion there. You know, they're

they're faced with death 24-7. They're faced with great physical pain and injury. Yes. You can't think of anything. It's got so much energy tied into it. I believe that some of that sticks around, and maybe that's what these works are seeing. Russ, always good to talk to you.

Thank you, Jim. It was so great. And I love the show. I've been listening for, I don't know, 10, 15 years. I love it. I'm going to listen to it today when I go to the gym. So thank you so much for, for what you guys do and to you and Dar all best, huh?

All right. Yes, sir. Stay spooky. Stay spooky. Next up, we have a return caller. Todd is in Saskatchelman, and it's January 20th. I was telling him it's been cold over here, and he was telling me it's minus 16 Celsius today, which is about three Fahrenheit.

Right now, as I record this, actually, I'm looking 13 Fahrenheit, so we're a little more balmy, slightly more balmy. Not too much. Shorts weather. And I like how what you said. You said it's cold in Saskatchewan, but it's a dry cold. I like that. Right.

I like that. So I do believe in signs. I believe that we get signs. We ask for signs. We get for signs. Todd has just such a story. He's going to share it with us now. Todd, welcome back and tell us what happened.

Thanks, Jim. So, yeah, I, so I'm a suicide attempt, survivor and I've been sober for a little over nine years. And yeah, I'm a mental health advocate now and for addictions and things. So, um, but lately, you know, this fall, I've been struggling again, which happens. I mean, it, I'm, it's not, uh, the type of depression I have, it's chronic. It's not, it's not situational. So these things happen.

So I've been seeing a therapist again, uh, twice a week and, you know, trying to, uh, you know, make things a little better. And, you know, in some sessions, you, uh, some sessions go well and some don't. And the other day, um, my, my therapist was, we were working on things to be grateful for, uh, because gratitude is a, is a huge thing. Um, and honestly, I was struggling other than, you know, the basic things like, you know, my family friends, I have heat, things like that. Um, and so her homework for me was to, to really think about till the next session,

things I am truly grateful for and to think really hard. On my way home, I was, you know, thinking about the session. And I, and I remember I thought back to before I had stopped drinking before I started seeing therapists years ago, just how hard life was on a daily basis. And a part of that was because of drinking. And I thought, well, well, there you go. There's, I'm, I'm very grateful for my sobriety. Uh, and I, and I, and that's, I really, really am.

Um, it's sacred to me, uh, which reminded me back, oh, I was in early sobriety, maybe a couple years sober, not even. And I was struggling, um, as people do in early sobriety, uh, not just with sobriety, but with like with my mental health and thoughts and things. And I was kind of in between two jobs. Um, there was, I was working out of place that, you know, paid well was full time. But I also got this job offer that didn't pay as well. It was not going to be full time, but it was going to be more, you know, more fulfilling of a job, if that makes any sense to you. And so I was struggling. I was struggling what to do.

And I really wasn't happy at the place that I was. And, you know, like I said, I was early sobriety. So, you know, any kind of life transition of any type, you know, it's, it's even harder to deal with. And then I thought back to my, my 12-step group stuff. And, you know, there's, it's not a religious thing. It's a spiritual thing. Big difference.

People screw it up all the time. But, you know, we have a higher power. I can, you know, basically, it's about not having to, I don't have to be control of everything. I can just have faith that whatever's out there can, can help me through some stuff. I don't have to worry about everything. And so I thought, oh, we're not right. there's this option. So I felt silly doing it as a lot of people do the first time they're prang or whatever.

And I asked for, I asked, I just asked for a sign, asked for some guidance. I didn't ask for anything specific other than a sign or guidance or, you know, which way I should be going in this transition. And it was maybe three hours later. I went outside. I was having my lunch break. I went outside and I ran into someone I was in treatment with years before and I hadn't seen him since. And I mean, that was like a bit of a spark.

And I thought, well, that's pretty cool because the place that I was, the place that offered me a job was actually the treatment center I went to. They actually offered me a position. So I was like, wow, okay, this is this is pretty obvious. And so anyway, I went up in Game of Hug, and we talked for a bed and, and he was going to school too. He was going to be, uh, he's going into social work. And, and I said, boy, I'm really struggling right now. I don't know what to do.

And he said, you know what? It's not about money. It's about helping others. It's about being fulfilled, going home at night, knowing that you, you know, that you're satisfied with what you're doing. Sure. And I thought, wow, that's, that's, I don't know how much bigger of a sign you can get than that.

So anyway, I went back to work and as my brain does, over the next day or two, I poopooed the whole thing. And I started getting pretty upset again and worried and frustrated and not knowing what to do and weighing pros and cons. I was basically obsessing about it and it was driving me nuts. And, you know, so I poo poohed that a little bit. And I thought, you know what, I'm going to, I'm going to ask for guidance again or ask. for a sign again, but I'm going to put a stipulation on it. Like, if, if a caveat. Yeah.

So give me a sign, but it has to be within the next 10 minutes. And I kid you not, within five minutes, I stepped outside my, my job again. And there was another person I went to treatment with again, another person that was in recovery and doing well. And this guy had seen since then either. And like, I'm, I'm sure the guy looked at me like, and he thought I saw a ghost or something because the way I was looking at him. I was just like, I was like, what the hell are you doing here? I said to him.

He's like, I'm living my life. I'm going, I'm downtown. I'm doing stuff. So anyway, we had a good hug and a good chat and stuff. And, um, uh, I mean, there was no denying that. There was no. I know you say a lot. There's, it's too big of a coincidence to be a coincidence.

Yeah. And I just thought there's no, there's no way. Like, I mean, I asked for specifics. I asked for a time frame. Like, I don't know how it was like, There you go, Todd. There's your son. Yeah.

Yeah, just slapped me upside the head. And so, yeah, that later that day, I went inside and gave my two weeks notice or whatever it was. And I went and worked in the treatment center that I went to. And, you know, it was very, very fulfilling and satisfying and an amazing. But eventually COVID hit and it shut down and stuff. So now I'm still working kind of in the field of mental health and addictions. But yeah. Well, two things I want to mention.

First of all, I want to mention you talked about the topic of suicidal ideation, those kind of things. I want to remind people as we try to do on this show. And I believe this is in Canada as well. The 988 Lifeline, when you call text or chat, the 988 Lifeline, your conversation is confidential. The 988 lifeline provides you judgment-free care. Talking with someone can help save your life. So before you do anything, call that 9-88 lifeline.

We want you around and safe and happy. And that's a first step. Call that that lifeline. We always want to suggest that. And also, you said that you're kind of working. I think you are working in it with your podcast. Give us a minute on the podcast. What it is and where we can find it.

Sure. I appreciate that. It's called bunny hugs and mental health. And I speak to all types of professionals and people with lived experience about all types of mental health and addictions, stories. And yeah, survivors of it. I talk to families who have lost loved ones and everything else. So it's just a big umbrella, a bit like the paranormal, I suppose. But it's incredibly satisfying.

still. And because I have been struggling a little bit, I've actually taken a break from it from a couple months, but there's like 300 episodes that people can scan through and listen to. So, yeah, I will be back. I will be back. I'm just, you know, sometimes you just got to take care of yourself. Absolutely. I agree 110%.

Well, Todd, you keep doing the great work you're doing to help people, everybody, check out his podcast. And thank you for being a part. of the campfire and sharing this story. My pleasure. Thank you so much, Jim. It's always a pleasure talking with you. Bonjour, compadre. It's the... Priceline negotiator.

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Hold your horses. There's more. The app lets you filter hotels by neighborhood. star level and amenities like pools and spas and beach fronts and wait i'm not done stop cutting me up 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 ocean front room just steps from the water the hilton sale is on now book on hilton dot 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. Well, he's been listening since 2012. We appreciate very much. Dave from the UK is on the line and he's going to tell us about a walk. Well, it wasn't your average walk. Let's just say that. Dave, thank you for joining us. Appreciate your loyal listenership over the years and please tell us what

happened. Well, thanks, Jim. Thank you for all your hard work. You and Dahl have certainly enlightened my life over the last 14, 13 years, yeah. Should go better than that, shouldn't. Yeah, no, it was 1974, August, six years old, visiting family in rural Ireland. We were visiting both sides of the family, my dad and my mum's. My dad was primarily the west coast of Ireland. My mum was on the East Coast. We'd done my dad's side of the family. This was now a visit to Wicklow to visit my mum's family. My nan lived in a typical old stone cottage.

It was a beautiful place right on the top of a hill with a great view of the rolling Wicklow hills and the surrounding area. The only thing was, it was slightly scary. The way up to it was just a cobbled stone track obviously been there hundreds of years bounded by two stone walls either side and obviously there was a forested canopy over the top

so at night it did get very very dark anyway the story was last day of the trip my nan and I decided that we would take a walk down from her cottage to see the animals at the bottom there was a little paddock at the bottom of the hill that had horses and donkeys

and she decided to take me by the hand and walk down and introduce me to the animals. As we were walking down the hill, everything seemed fine, the sunlight was coming through the trees. It was beautiful. Didn't think anything of it. So we're enjoying our time down at the bottom. And then my nan realized that time was getting on, the shadows were growing and obviously the sun was going down. So she said, right, time to go back. So we headed back up the hill. as we headed back up the track, all I can say was it was almost like somebody had thrown a blanket over the top of the trees. Huh.

So it was it was pitch black. You basically couldn't see either side of the track. And the scary thing was you couldn't even see light coming from a cottage at the top. It was that dark. So obviously being a six-year-old kid, I was slightly scared. So I grasped hold of Nan's hand even tighter. And we started walking up the hill. And anyway, it was definitely quiet.

There was no animals, no birds, no anything. And all of a sudden there was a rustling in the trees to our left. I said, and what's that in there? She goes, oh, that's just the animals. You know, they come out for food at night and they scourge and do stuff and, you know, don't worry about it sort of thing. But, you know, I did think it was a bit strange because she seemed to know a bit more than she was letting on. Anyway, this went on for about 30 seconds to a minute, and I looked over to the left again,

and through the branches of the trees, I noticed a pair of red eyes staring at me. And obviously, I was completely taken back, trying to hide behind my man's side. And I said, Nan, Nan, look, look, can you see them? She goes, don't look, don't look. Don't let them see you. So I thought, okay, that's a bit peculiar. So anyway, we carried on, I suppose all in all, the walk was probably about two minutes

from the bottom to the top. So probably about, you know, three quarters away through. Again, obviously, begrudgingly looked around front of my nan, and there it was, a pair of eyes following me all the way to the very top. So obviously, you know, I was petrified. Anyway, we managed to get in, and I said to my nan, what was that? She goes, oh, don't worry. It was only animals.

You know, don't worry you. And again, being a six-year-old kid, I suppose, yeah, Nann knows best. So anyway, I told my parents and they just, oh, no, Nan, my mum told us that, you know, it was just the animals. So don't worry about it, you'll be fine. So I didn't think anything of it. And then, obviously, we had a lovely family evening. All sat around the fire, singing songs, and as they do in Ireland, drinking tea.

And we all went off to bed and, um, we all went off to bed and, um, fell off quite deeply into a sleep. I was in the same bedroom as my mum and dad. And woke up, I was woken up, probably about, I know, about half one, two o'clock by this almighty screech, this scream, this wailing. And I just couldn't understand what it was. I was scared witless, obviously being a six-year-old kid.

So I woke my parents up. I said, what is that? What is that? Can you hear that? And they couldn't hear anything. They said, oh, no, you must have been dreaming. Just go back to sleep. So anyway, I do what most six-year-old kids do, put the blankets over my head, put the pillow over my head, and, you know, tried to shut it all out.

Eventually, I did fall back to sleep. Next morning, I spoke to my name, and she said, how did you get on? Do you sleep well last night? I said, well, I had a bit of a dream then. It was this horrible noise that I kept hearing. She said, oh, don't worry about it. It was just probably spooked by the animals in the trees, you know, as we walked up the hill. So again, I didn't think any more of it.

We said our goodbyes and we drove away. Anyway, got home. It was a fairly long drive. They lived in Wicklow, so we had to drive into Dublin to jump on the ferry. So that was a couple of hours on the ferry. And then probably at that time, it was probably a four or five,

maybe six hours even drive home. So literally we just got in. And I remember my dad dragging me from the car because I was asleep. I didn't want to move. I was quite comfortable. And I walked through the door. And my eldest brother said, Dad, Dad, you better take this phone call quickly.

So anyway, my dad obviously was a bit of alarm to the phone call. It was Ireland. My nan had actually died literally that day. Oh, my. So as we arrived home, they had to, obviously, pack again and head straight back to Ireland because they don't hang around. They bury them very, very quickly in Ireland. So, yeah, she had actually passed away in the time from us leaving her.

her to arrive in home. Wow. Wow. What a powerful story. Now, how has that impacted you in terms of the way you look at all of this stuff? Do you think it kind of created your interest in all this? I look at it as a gateway. My interaction with that red-eyed creature, it shaped the way I saw life, I guess. It sort of opened my eyes to things that necessarily I hadn't thought about before. And it basically, you know, scared the hell out of me and made me more interested and wanting to find out more about it. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only time that I saw that creature. Oh, my.

It became a, I wouldn't say partner, but a big part of my later life, shall we say. And yeah, some scary things happened later in life. But that's time for another story. But yeah, that certainly sort of ignited the flame, so it speak. And I respect your idea to tell it in a different time because that way each story can stand on its own. But did it kind of similarly turn up at times of crisis and those kind of things? Would that be fair to say? initially no but eventually yes it got more and more intense and obviously the feelings that went with that presence

not only affected me but affected my partner my family i wasn't the only one to see it once it once i'd learned the techniques to let it know that it couldn't do anything to me it then decided that my then girlfriend, my future wife, was fair game. So it basically turned its sights on her. So, yeah, it was a long-grim process. I hope that we can get more details on a future call about that. But thank you for sharing this story today on the campfire. Thank you very much. Thanks, Jim. Stay spooky. Stay spooky. Oh, we're so blessed to have such great listeners around the world. And very much so in the

We get a lot of callers from the UK. I love it. I love it. And Maggie is on the line. Now, she moved into a house, and there were some things about that house you should know about. She's going to tell you all about it. Maggie, welcome to the show. Tell us what happened.

Thank you so much. Yeah. Okay. So this is about five or six years ago now that I moved into a lovely home from the outside, in a big garden, big bay windows, it just looked really welcoming from the outside. However, when I moved in, I don't know what it was. After a couple of days or so, I've got an unsettling feeling. I just felt like I was being watched, and I couldn't put my finger on it.

But I thought, you know, it's the creeks and the groves of a new house. It's probably nothing. It's probably my mind going over time, so to speak. So I did start noticing things out of the corner of my eye. I'd blink and think, I'm sure I've just seen a shadow go past the window, but I thought, I don't know. I started to doubt myself, I thought, probably not. But then there was cold spots in certain places of the house.

And particularly you hear about basements, especially in the USA, well, it's similar over here as well. We have cellars and they're pretty much scary, dark places. And they didn't like to go down there on my own. Anyway, a couple of, I think about a week into there. I went to bed, everything seemed fine, fast to sleep, got woke up about 2 o'clock in the morning. I could feel somebody or something touching my foot. And I know I wasn't dreaming it because I could feel the sensation. My heart was racing.

I thought, what the heck? So obviously, light went on, jumped out of bed, pull the covers back, look under the bed. Obviously, there's nothing there. I was just frozen. I thought, and I know what I felt. So after that, I thought, there's no. way I'm going to bed. I'm not going to tuck the covers in tightly every night because it kind of put a bit of a chill. A chill into me to be fair. But then I thought perhaps it was it a vivid dream.

I don't know. Maybe it was a one-off. So that was that the first incident. But not long after that, a couple of nights later, I woke up again in the middle of the night. This time, my iPhone was switched off and it was on the bedside table and it was speaking, the Siri part of the phone, was speaking instructions and it was saying out loud I can't help with that request my phone was actually off and it was speaking out loud

this is ridiculous weird that's weird it's so scary I mean the room was completely silent apart from this Siri on the iPhone responding to something it carried on for a few seconds so I knew at this point

this is not in my head this is real I'm not dreaming it I'm wide away I can hear it now so after that things kind of they escalated not at night time funnily enough through the day I'd go into the kitchen and start cooking a meal or just doing general chores and I noticed the door in the kitchen which had been fine before

it would start clicking shut behind me and when I tried to push it there was like resistance like somebody was holding the other side and it began like this tug of war game where I was pulling and pushing and I just could not open the door and then it flung open. I thought, oh, for goodness sake, it's getting worse and I just, I didn't know what to think after that.

The door had never been a problem before. Anyway, so that was another incident and I knew for it and I knew there was something in that house. I could just sense it. I didn't feel it was anything dark at that point. Then I sat here footsteps along the hallway, up and down the stairs, running very quickly, like a child.

Anyway, so after that, a couple of weeks of that drama, I mentioned it at work to a colleague one day. And she knew a psychic medium. And you know what? I'm going to message her and see if she can pull anything out of this and explain your story. And within an hour, she'd got a reply. And the medium said to her that there was a spirit in the house. It was a little girl who had lived there years before. and she described her as very mischievous, playful, curious, almost somebody but liked attention.

And she said, don't be afraid, it's not going to harm you. But weirdly after that, it kind of did reassure me, and I felt the activity didn't bother me as much after that, but it did continue. But I kind of learned to live with it. You know, it was one of those things where I thought, I can hear the footsteps, the door stuck again, there's noises all over the house. You know, the cat would stare vividly at the wall and follow something around the room that you couldn't see. After about a year or so, I did move out of there, actually. We did find a different house to live in. And the funny thing after that, that's not the end of the story, every now and then I drive past the house because it was on my way to work and just look out of curiosity.

And then one day, funny enough, I was stuck in traffic, big traffic jazz. I'm coming up to the traffic lights, and I was sitting in my car directly facing the house. And I don't know why, but I just turned, and I was looking at the garden, and I looked up to the window. And there in the window, I saw a figure of a young girl, long blonde hair, almost like with a Victorian kind of dress on. I thought, oh, well, obviously, somebody else has moved in there now, and they're experiencing what I'm experiencing. Never thought any more of it. then a couple of days later I found out that no the house was still empty and it had not been

nobody had moved in it was and then a chill went up my spine and I knew I just knew exactly that yeah that was that was a little girl that was in the house with me but having seen her then through the window I don't know I kind of felt kind of sorry for her like she was trapped there and she probably just did want attention to be fair and it was nothing malicious

but yeah it did kind of when you're living through that It is quite spooky. It's quite a spooky thing to go through. But yeah, then for someone to turn around and go, well, actually, no, it's still empty. And then a friend of mine, who I knew, had a cousin who was going to move into the house with rented accommodation at that time.

And I didn't know whether to sort of tell them about the story of the hauntings, but I didn't say anything because I thought, no, let them see if they experience it for themselves, you know. And I never heard anything back, so. But yeah, it's just one of those stories that stuck in my mind vividly. Yeah. It's one of those things where really these things do happen.

It reminds me a little of the story, although this was way more kind of malicious. Mark, I believe, from Michigan here in the States. Last year told us a story where his house had been haunted and it was actually causing him turmoil. He was a small kid. and later the house caught on fire. Yeah. And he was out in the yard looking at it and he saw this figure looking back at him. And he looked like, I don't know that you guys have it over in England, but we have this brand of breakfast oats called Quaker Oates.

Yeah, we have those. Yeah. And he said the ghost looked like that guy. No, obvious, it wasn't the Quaker Oats guy. But it was just a similar kind of staring back. I do believe that. I do believe that. And in particular, these older houses, and the thing is, and I've said this many times, you know, in the United States, if something is a hundred years old, it's a central home, you know. Over there, it's like, this is new, you know, because you guys have so much richness of history. And, you know, I remember going, I forget where it was, it wasn't Tower of London, it was somewhere. We saw the oldest wooden door in England. It was from like the year of 1,000. I mean, it just, it's amazing. And then I remember going in. to one of the pubs that dated to the 14 or 1500s and thinking, and I was having a beer and I'm like, there's a guy standing here 400 years ago, doing the same thing I am.

It's crazy. It's amazing. It's amazing. Yeah. There's a lot of folklore tales from the UK, you know, and there's such many layers of history. You can quite understand why a lot of these places have got some sort of, you know, activity that's perhaps you're stuck going around in a loop. Very true.

Very true. Maggie, always a pleasure to speak to our UK listeners. Thank you for being on the show and stay spooky. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Take care. Bye-bye. Thanks so much to all of our storytellers and thank you for joining us today on the Campfire.

And if you're watching on the YouTube channel, just make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel. There is no cost to it and it helps us a lot. Also, we would ask that you share the show with a friend. That's how we grow the show. the audience, that's how we grow the pool of great stories like the ones that you heard tonight. So please, just whatever app they use, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever it might be, send somebody you know who you think would like the show. Text them a link. Do it, do it right now if you're someplace safe to do so, because that's how we spread the word and make the campfire

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