Jim Harold's Campfire - Monsters and Angels - Jim Harold's Campfire 746

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

An incredible encounter in New York’s Central Park and terrifying experiences in the Philippines. You’ll also hear haunting accounts tied to the moment of death, strange figures that appear and vanish without a trace, and classic Campfire head scratchers. Real people telling real stories on Jim Harold’s Campfire. -- NEWSLETTER Get Jim’s weekly free newsletter and a free Campfire ebook at the same time. Go here:  https://jim-harold.kit.com/campfire-ebook  VIRTUAL CAMPFIRE GROUP Join our FREE online community at  ⁠https://virtualcampfiregroup.com⁠  EVENTS Hope to see you soon at one of Jim’s live events:  https://jimharold.com/events  YOUTUBE CHANNEL Be sure to subscribe to Jim’s YouTube channel at:  ⁠https://youtube.com/jimharold⁠   JOIN JIM’S SPOOKY STUDIO PLUS CLUB You 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! MERCH Go to  ⁠https://jimharold.com/merch⁠  to get your Jim Harold T’s, sweatshirts, mugs, hats and more!  BOOKS Get 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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This and more on the campfire. Sit back, relax, and warm yourself by Jim Harold's campfire. Next up on the line is Sandy from Alabama. She's been listening for a few years and learned about us from the great, astonishing legends. We always thank Scott and Forst for spreading the word. Make sure you check out their shows as well. They do a great job. and I were talking about the radio business because we had that in common.

But she's going to tell us about something far more important. I'm not going to spoil it, but this is a remarkable story. Sandy, welcome to the show. Thank you for joining us and tell us what happened. Thank you, Jim. It's great to be here this morning. I was listening in early December. I think maybe the December 5th episode, and a gentleman was telling his story.

story about having had some heart problems and been in the ICU and seeing some sort of specter. And I could, this was before I was going to bed and I couldn't even go to sleep because I had had exactly the same story, except I had a twist. And I really, I said, well, I don't have to call in or something because I need to tell this gentleman that he's not crazy. someone else's had this happen. I had triple bypass surgery a year ago.

And while I was in the ICU, and I know I even would have written it off because I was under so much sedation, there was a big mirror over the bed, one so the nurses, I suppose, could walk down the hall and look in and see the patient. Sure. Well, when I would,

I woke up in the middle of the night, and I looked in that mirror and there was a person sitting with me. And I thought, well, they've let my husband spend the night or my, you know, or something. But it didn't look like him. And so I looked, turned my head and looked, and there was no one there. But then I looked at him again and he smiled and I had seen this person, this specter, once before in my life. So this is what I want to share.

I've seen this apparition twice. I used to work for the Mississippi Development Authority as their communications director. We each year had an event in New York City for Mississippians who had been moved to New York to work. And it was like a picnic in Central Park

a get-together. Cool. We were, go ahead. I just said that's very cool. That's going to neat. Yeah. So it was really a great event. The colleges came, different artists came.

We had musicians. It was a good way to show off the state of Mississippi as well as a way to have fun for the day. It was always on a Saturday in the spring near maybe March. I think. And so we were set up near the Banshell, if anyone's familiar with Central Park. I'm sure you have some listeners that are. So they should know the area in the park. We had like a street with tents lining each side with the artist and the different cities showcasing their areas.

We had a stage at the end with, I think, probably a blues band. We had Mississippi artist, and the Mississippi Development Authority's tourism office, which I was working for, had the welcome booth up toward the front. So I was in the welcome booth tent with a table in front of us, and we had material and maps and information so that people could stop then, they could find out we were having a catfish lunch, and what they needed to do to get a ticket and who they wanted to see, you know, sometimes people would come up and say,

well, I'm looking for the group from Ole Miss and I want to see them, so we would give them the information. It's a Saturday in Central Park. It's hot. Everybody had on shorts and T-shirts and tennis shoes. And so I'm standing there, and this gentleman comes up in a full suit.

I mean, very well-dressed, nice, nice-looking young man. And he approached us, and he looked at me and he said, may I pray with you? And now that may be strange to some of your listeners, but in Mississippi, that's not really all that's strange. Sure. And I grew up Baptist, and I didn't really think anything about it. I stepped out from under the tent.

And I said, yes, sir. And honestly, I needed it because my husband had passed away recently with pancreatic answer. And I was probably at the lowest point I've ever been in. Of course, this gentleman knows nothing about this, but I was ready to take anybody's prayers I can give. So I stepped out. I reached out. He held my hand. and he started to pray.

And it was a marvelous prayer, and it was so directed toward what I needed. I mean, even at one point he said something to me that I had never thought about before. He was talking about the Lord's prayer, and he said, give us this day our daily bread. He said, now that doesn't mean worry about tomorrow's daily bread or next year's daily bread, you worry about right now, are you okay in this second, in this moment, live moment by moment, and your life is going to get better. Everything's going to be great. And about that time, somebody said, Sandy, and I really dropped his hands and turned. and when I turned back around, because I was actually going to apologize, he was gone.

He was gone. And so I looked back at the other ladies that worked with me in the tent, and I said, what happened to the young man that was standing here? And they said, what young man? I said, well, I was just out here pray. Y'all didn't see me out here praying with this man all dressed in a suit. And they said, no, we've not seen any. but you and then I actually sort of turned around out into the midway type thing and people were

everywhere and I started saying does anybody seen that guy in the suit the nice looking young guy he was short and nobody nobody had seen him at all and I really up until that point had not thought that there was anything unusual about the whole incident. except I did think that his prayer was very targeted at what I really needed. And so that's really the end of that story. And then there he was in my hospital room. And so maybe, you know, I guess I thought about my faith growing up and that angels are messengers.

And that's sort of my take on it. that there he was again. You know, he was in my hospital room. It makes sense to me. It makes sense to me. And I think, you know, you were inspired by another caller we had, as you said, back in December, who had this angel visitation. And it's so funny, this has been coming up a lot on the shows. It's been coming up a lot.

We've had a lot of calls recently on this. And I do believe that's true. I very much believe it's true. and I think it is so awesome to know that someone or something is out there looking out for us. I mean, and I think most of us have had times where maybe we've missed close calls, or maybe we've had a very difficult time, even if we haven't seen something, that we feel that there's something helping us. And I do very much believe that.

I love this story, Sandy. I love it. And so you kind of figure you have somebody on your side. there, huh? And I mean, if the need arises, I bet he shows up again. I think I've always known, I had, you know, whether you feel like you have relatives around you or whatever, I think that good spirits, if you, well, there's just, there is paranormal in the world. There is. I agree. Thank you for sharing your story today is fantastic. Stay safe and stay spooky. Thank you. Stay spooky, Jim.

Welcome to the Campfire. I am Jim Herald. So glad to be with you once again. And wow, what a great story that was. And we got another story coming up that was a little bit scarier, a little bit scarier indeed. That's what we do here at the Campfire. And I appreciate it very much. And by the way, if you want to see us in person, we've got some upcoming library events. Check them out at Jimherald.com slash events. That's Jimherald.com slash events. We've got two of them. Two of them in February at the Cuyahoga County Public Library, and I hope you will join us there. And all the information is at jimherald.com slash events. Jimherald.com slash events. The only thing is you got to register. It's free, but you got to register. So please go over there to see where we're going to be at, and we'll see you there. And now let's see and listen to these great campfire stories.

A return caller, Cheyenne joins us. once again from California. And this time she has an incredible story about her dad. And I'll let her tell her, I'm not going to spoil it. But Cheyenne, I know you said you've been listening since 2012. That's a long time. I was actually young back then. But anyhow, and by the way, everybody listening,

I'm not 90 years old, even though many people listening think I am. So I always make those jokes and then people think I'm 90 years old. But anyway, that's neither here nor. there. We're here to talk to Cheyenne about her great story. Sheehan, welcome back and tell us what happened. Thank you. Well, these are my dad's stories. And the first one happened to his childhood friend. And then he had his own experience when he was an adult. So my dad grew up in the Philippines in the 70s. And he lived in the provinces of the Philippines. So that's basically the rural areas. So he lived in a village that was basically in the countryside, I guess you could say. And so

growing up, they had lots of fields and lots of trees and wooded areas to kind of go and play in. And that was really common for my dad and his friends to just disappear for the day, go play. And then when the sun started to come back down, that's when they knew it was time to go home. And so my dad's friend one day went out behind his home to the wooded area like they normally do to go play. And he unfortunately didn't make it home that day. He ended up going missing for three days. And so, yeah. And so, you know, once his family realized he had not come home that day, they, you know, immediately went into action. The next day, they were searching for him throughout their village in the surrounding areas, you know, friends, townspeople were looking for him. And they couldn't find him anywhere. He just completely disappeared off the face of the earth. And, you know, luckily, three days later, he did end up returning home. But he kind of just showed back up at home out of the blue. And everyone was like, you know, where have you been? Like, What happened to you?

Were you kidnapped? Did you run away? You know, tell us what happened. And sadly, you know, whatever happened to my dad's friend while he was missing those three days really traumatized him because he wouldn't speak. He ended up not speaking for a couple of weeks, actually. And so, you know, as time went on, he kind of got back into the group of things, started to come around. And he did eventually start speaking again. And when he did, that's when he was able to share with everybody what happened.

So what he explained. he explained that he had gone out to a big tree that was behind their home to go sit and kind of hang out and have a nice afternoon. And this wasn't like deep in the woods or far away. It was almost like in his backyard. Like he could still see from the tree. So he had gone to sit under the tree. He was just enjoying his time. And he explained that all of a sudden these goblin-like or gnome-like creatures emerged from the tree. describe them as little, like, tiny old men with pointy hats. That's how he explained them, had emerged from the tree and they captured him. He said that they took a rope and they tied him to the tree and they kept him there for three

days. That was what he explained to everyone, which is wild and baffling. But what's even more scary, I guess you could say, is that he said that as his family and everybody was searching for him, he could see them. you know, walking around, going through the area, shouting for him. He could hear them calling, like, you know, where are you, calling his name? And he was calling back. He was saying, like, I'm here.

Like, I'm here. Help me. I'm tied to this tree. These little gnome, like, guys captured me. And I'm stuck here. And nobody could hear him or see him. He was completely invisible. Wow.

Couldn't be hurt at all by anyone. Yeah. And, you know, he didn't say anything about. if they communicated with him at all or if they said anything to him. He just said after the third day, they let him go and he was able to go home. And that was the last time he had an experience with those creatures. And so my dad remembers him telling, you know, finally coming around and sharing this story with them. And, you know, in the Philippines, we have a lot of folklore.

And there is a creature like this called adwende. And so everybody kind of knows the folklore about it. And they were like, man, did you really have an experience with? with these stuendez or did he kind of come up with a coping mechanism for something that happened to him? I don't know. And so my dad is still on the fence. Like did that really happen or not. But he did say as they grew up and got older, you know, his friend's story never changed. He was adamant that that's what happened. But my dad was kind of like, I don't know if I believe in that or not. Well, when my dad was an adult, he also had an experience. And so around this time, I was probably

10 or 11, and my dad had a business where he imported and sold bamboo furniture from the Philippines. So he was back and forth between the Philippines and the U.S. a lot during that time. Okay. And so on one of his trips, he went with a friend and my dad's uncle who lived in the Philippines was going to introduce them to a family who, I believe, made bamboo furniture and kind of see if they could partner up. And so they were going to go over for a day. Yeah.

And so, you know, my dad's uncle. go takes them over for dinner one night. They arrive. They start meeting everybody. And one of the family members there is an elderly woman. And immediately upon their arrival, she starts telling them, you need to be careful where you're walking. You need to watch your step. I know there's a lot of, like, you know, it's dark here, there's shadows here. You need to be careful because there's a lot of Duendez here. So you need to be careful not to step on them. And again, Duende started these goblin creatures in our folklore. And my dad and his friend are like, okay, sure and you know they're cordial they're like oh absolutely of course but internally they're like

what the heck like yeah exactly yeah we just got here yeah and so you know they come in kind of get situated and you know when they have a moment my dad asked my uncle privately like like what what is going on like what is this about blend days and all this stuff and surprisingly my dad's uncle tells them you know I didn't want to tell you this before I brought you here I didn't want to influence your decision coming here but um actually this fan family that lives here is very into the paranormal. A lot of them are like psychics and mediums. And they're actually doing a seance this evening. And so my dad is like, what? Like, yeah, you should have told us this before we came here. Unfortunately, my dad and his friend did not partake of any

seance or anything like that, that evening. But they were just kind of weirded out and we're like, okay, let's just do what we need to do here. And then let's just go, like, as fast as possible. So they have their dinner. Everything goes fine. And, you know, as they're leaving, the family's escorting them out. And again, the elderly woman starts to tell them, you know, be careful on your way out. You need to watch your step. The Duendes are here. And you know what? As a matter of fact, the leader of the Duendez is right there and he's watching you. So you need to be careful. Oh, that's chilling. So they're freaked out and they're like, okay, like we're watching where we're going, you know. And, you know, I think she proceeds to tell them stuff. Like if you ever

upset at Duende, there's certain things you need to do to make sure that you apologize and all this stuff. And internally, my dad's like, this is crazy. Like, this is too much. We need to go. So they leave. And, you know, they're flabbergasted. They're like, okay, let's just chalk this up to hocus and it'll be a great story that we remember and let's just move on. So they go back to where they're lodging while they're there. They go to sleep, you know, kind of try to forget about what happened. Well, the next day, my dad wakes up in the morning and one of his legs is an excruciating pain. so much so that he can't walk. He can't even put any sort of pressure on it.

And this is out of nowhere. Like he's nothing happened, no injuries, no preexisting conditions that could have brought this on. It's completely out of the blue. And, you know, he's panicked. He's like, where did this come from? I can't walk. And he's in so much pain.

And as he's, you know, trying to game plan, what am I going to do here? He starts to remember that that woman that they met last night had explained to them, if you step on one of these duendis and you upset them, you're going to have to take a bunch of salt and you're going to have to throw it over your back and you need to apologize to them and let them know you're sorry for disrespecting them

and stepping on them. And my dad's desperate. The pain is so bad that he's like, okay, you know what? Maybe this is true. I'm just going to find some salt. So he does. And he starts throwing salt behind his back. And he's, you know, saying, like, I'm sorry if I disrespected you.

I'm sorry if I stepped on you. you know, I apologize. And sure enough, the pain in his leg starts to subside and eventually completely goes away. And then he never had any of the problems after that. And so that is the experience that my dad had. And, you know, to this day, he's still like, I don't know if that was real or not. But I remember when he came home from that trip, I was a kid and he told us the entire story. And as I've grown up and become an adult, there's just always the thing.

thought in the back of my head that if I'm walking in a dark place or if we're in the Philippines, I need to be careful and just be curious and make sure I say, excuse me, because you never know when a Dwenday is going to be there. I'll tell you, I don't discount it in the least because I think there's something going on and I think that it has the same thing at its root and it goes across different societies and maybe different cultures, different societies, call it different things, but it ties back to the same phenomenon.

It even goes back to the UFO question. If you look at somebody like Jacques Valet or somebody like that, there's this idea that there's this trickster and it shows up in very strange ways. I mean, over the years, you've listened for many years, so you know these stories.

We had a gentleman that called in and said he saw a leprechaun when he was a kid. And, you know, Oh, yeah, you saw a leprecha. And then decades later, his brother validated and said, I saw him too. Then we had just a few weeks ago, a couple months ago, a gentleman who was. Well, I don't know which one was. He was playing like outside in a tree or something.

And he saw this little person in leaves that went, oh, that reminded me of that. And I know there's probably many other ones that I'm forgetting about on the spot here that kind of map to that. I think, you know, that almost sounds like a parallel dimension or something. Like, it's almost like stranger things I need to say it, but it's like they're kind of sitting on top of each other and they can kind of see each other and they can't see each other. And that kind of makes a sense, that kind of makes sense of a lot of things like ghostlike activity or time slips or things like that. And it boils down to me to one quote. Not only is the universe stranger than we understand, it is stranger than we can understand. So I think while the average person might say, ah, come on now, I say, yeah, you know, it might be the case.

It might very well be the case. So I don't discount it at all. Thank you for sharing that. That was such an awesome story. And it sounds like your dad still struggles with it a little bit. He's kind of like on one side, he's like, oh, there might be something to this important. Yeah, definitely. I spoke to him recently just to confirm these stories before I shared him.

And he still is like, you know, I don't. No, 100% if it really was that or not, but makes us think. And I think that having that kind of like, you know, back and forth going on with him, that increases the veracity of the story. It's like he's not making it up or something. It's like he's even still struggling with it. Chey Ann, always a pleasure. If you ever have any more stories do, please call back in.

Thank you for being a longtime listener and stay spooky. Thanks, Jim. Stay spooky. When you need to build up your team to handle the growing chaos at work, use Indeed sponsored jobs. It gives your job post the boost it needs to be seen and helps reach people with the right skills, certifications, and more. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your

boxes. Listeners of this shelf will get a $75-sponsored job credit at Indeed.com slash podcast. That's Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indie 5. indeed sponsored jobs. Mori is on the line all the way from the United Kingdom.

We love to hear from our fans in the UK. And, you know, we have a lot of campfire listeners over there, so we really, really appreciate it. And Mori has a story about his dad. Mori, you've been listening a couple years, I know. Thank you for that. And tell us about your dad's experience today. Okay, Jamal.

Thank you for having me on. first of all I have to take you back to the mid-1970s in the UK back then my dad was a very talented very keen amateur cricket player if you know anything about the game of cricket you will know it can go on for quite a long time on this one particular time maybe around 1975 he'd been playing all day came back home around 11 maybe maybe midnight so he's chilling out on the sofa over set he back then in the UK we only had had three TV channels and they all went off air around midnight.

So he kind of drifted off. So at this point, I had to jump back and give a little bit of context. So when my mum was around 14, her adoptive mother passed away. And they lived next door to a doctor and his wife. We'll call the Lady Betty for now if that's okay. And she became a kind of surrogate mother to my mom at a very difficult time. She had a daughter at the same age as my mom and they were best friends. So moving through time, mum meets dad, I come along, they're my brother,

both of us delivered at home by the doctor who's married to the Lady Betty, if you're still with me. Yes. And again, time moves on. So we remained family friends with Betty and the doctor, her husband. And moving forward now, back to the time when we kicked off the story, so back in the mid-70s, dad's fallen asleep. Around about that same week, the old lady Betty now very elderly and very sadly had a tragic accident.

She'd been walking her dog and stepped out from behind a parked car into the path of another vehicle and she was hit. So it's never going to be good, of course. And bearing in mind at this point she would have been in early 80s, I believe. So we got a phone call that week from Mum's friend, the daughter of Betty, to inform us of what had happened and tell us she was on life support. and it didn't look good. So that's kind of background to where we are. And dad, back from Cricket, fall asleep on the sofa. So he wakes up in the early hours of the morning

and he is certain that there is someone or something in the room with him. He's facing the back of the sofa at this point, but he can feel a very strong presence in the room looking at him. So he rolls over and sure enough there is something in the room with him. Now, my dad was a very pragmatic working class, down to Earth guy, but he says he saw this being. And he always felt a little stupid when he tried to describe it to me

because he said it looked like the Batman. Huh. He said, yeah, yeah, exactly. He said it got the impression. It was very powerful. The room was still quite dark, so he got mainly the silhouette. But he had the impression of arms folded across the chest,

like a mummy, if you can imagine that. But he also had the impression of the. being feathers and this thing was agitating itself moving in the way that a bird would move after it's just landed if you can picture that. He had the impression of what appeared to be pointy ears on top of the head and very powerful staring eyes that appeared to have a red tint or a red hue. Now being, as he was, as I mentioned already, a very down-to-earth guy, my dad didn't know what the hell was going on. He thought maybe this could be what happens when you die. He'd never seen anything like it. So he spoke to it, as you would. He just said,

what do you want? It may seem bizarre to address another otherworldly being in such a kind of straightforward way, but he didn't know what else to do. Now, at this point, Jim, either myself or my brother came down, walked through the living room, opened the door. It was a really hot mid-1970s summer and we'd have been heading toward the kitchen to go to the fridge for a drink of juice or whatever. At the moment this thing was disturbed. My dad said it leapt towards the window. And the room was filled with the sound of fluttering wings, pretty much as if you walk through a crowd of pigeons, you know?

Right. And he was even aware of a draft coming from the wings. So he turned away, fully expecting that he'd be a huge shattering of blasts. It went through the window, but there was nothing. When he looked back through the window, we lived by a train line back then. he could still see this thing and it seemed to be flying along the train line in a kind of up and down, big dipper kind of motion. And that was that. He looked at the BCR, as I believe you guys called them. It was back in the day when they just became publicly affordable.

Ferguson Video Star with this huge piano key handles you had to press down to play. And on the digital readout, he saw the time it was 3.15 a.m. So we move on to the morning and we get a phone call from the family of Betty. I'm sure you can guess what's coming to inform us that she passed away at 3.15 that morning. And she'd always said to us, Jim, she was a great teller of stories, but she always said to Mom and me and my brother, she would always keep an eye on us, don't worry, she would always be there even when she'd gone. She's a very spiritual woman. And what gives a story more credence for me? My dad never volunteered that story. It was only many years later, I heard him on the phone to his dad, my

granddad, who'd experienced something quite odd and it had been quite upsetting for him. And I heard my dad say, don't worry about it. There'll be no harm. It was like that bloody thing I saw that night when Betty died. So straight away, I said, Dad, what was that? Oh, it's nothing. Don't worry about it. He had a very broad Lancashire accent. Don't worry about it. No, it is nothing. Well, tell me that. And I finally got that story out of him. So, you know, there was no sense of being created for any sort of kudos or sort of brighten the kids. You know, it was something he would have kept to himself. I had not heard him.

That is an awesome story, Maury, and very well told, may I say very well told. But wow. Wow. Now, I got to tell you two things that I think of, and the one thing I'm blanking on, so I'm going to look it up here. My apologies, if you're watching on camera, I'm going to be looking away while I'm talking. But it reminds me. Last week, as we record this on January 20th, we had a guest on the paranormal podcast, one of my other shows, hospice nurse Julie. And she accounted and talked about seeing an angel.

But the angel, and it had connection to do with someone who was very ill and ready to die. And she said, but it reminded me a little bit of what you were saying. because it wasn't kind of the typical, you know, sweetness and light kind of thing like that. She said the thing that reminded me of what you said, she said, it was very powerful looking. Yeah. Like it was, I don't know if she said, the size of a car, but it was a being, but it was the size of the car. And very powerful. Not what you would necessarily expect.

And it's one of those things that really kind of went against expectations. It was an angel, but it was very powerful. The other thing, and I didn't get to look it up, but I remembered finally. What you're talking about also reminds me a little bit about the work of Dr. Raymond Moody, who invented the term near-death experience. And he did another book about shared death experience. and I don't know the exact time of her death. You know, I'm sure that's been kind of lost to the mists of time,

but I'm wondering if she was actively dying at that time, and that was kind of a shared death experience. But regardless, absolutely fascinating, Maury, absolutely fascinating. And I love your dad's reaction, kind of like, oh, it was nothing. Because I think, to me, when somebody has that reaction, it even makes it more credible, you know? Absolutely. time, but I have a real quickie, again, relating to my dad.

If there's not time, I'll call back. Sure, no, no. Okay. As I mentioned, my dad, he was a great believer in something beyond. He wasn't into ghost stories, but he was a spiritual rather than religious guy. Another story he told me, every Saturday morning, he would go to take his dad to the local pub. And his dad would sit with all the old pit men, all the old mine workers, and talk about the old days. Saturday morning, my dad is getting ready to go and pick him up.

He's in the car. And to his dying day, my dad swore to me. he heard a voice. It was everywhere and nowhere. It was discarnate. It was in his head, but it was also in the car. And it said, in a very male, very authoritative, or authoritative voice, it said, prepare yourself. Your father will die today.

Wow. Isn't it? I mean, I'm getting shivers down my back remembering my dad telling it to me now. He goes to pick up his dad, my granddad. They go to the pub. Back in those days, Jim, the pubs in the UK were close at three of three. o'clock in the afternoon. And they had what was called the last order's bell, where they rung a bell behind the bar, indicating it was time for you to get the final order of the day.

The last order's bell went, and my granddad dropped for the floor dead with a heart attack. It died in my dad's arms. Oh, my lord. I know, and you know, my dad, he was perplexed by this voice. He one time actually approached, there was a guy on the street preaching, a kind of missionary zeal kind of geese, vlogging his own particular type of religion, whatever that would have been. And my dad just recalled this story to him, recounted the story.

And the guy said, that was probably a demon, which really hacked me off because it disturbed my dad quite a lot. And he had no impression about being anything like that. He said, if anything, it was a kind of comforting voice. It was offering a warning. Literally, prepare yourself, your father will die today.

And he did. And again, And if you'd have known my dad, he's sadly not longer here. There was no BS about him, you know. Right. If it wasn't true, at least in his perception, he wouldn't have said it. And it haunts me to this day more so than the story about Betty and the strange angel, I think. I believe it 100%.

I believe it 100%. I do believe that we're given warnings. And I do believe some people are more perceptive to those kind of things and others. Maybe your dad was one of those people, even though he was kind of a very salt of the earth, you know, strong working class guy. Maybe he had that sensitivity and it came to play in both those instances. Fascinating story. A more fantastic story. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you for being a part of the program all the way from the UK and stay spooky. Thank you, Jim. Cheers. Bye. Next up on the campfire is Sabrina from Florida. She's been listening about three years. Thanks to her friend Joan.

Joan, stay spooky. And thank you for spreading the word. And Sabrina's mom, Adriana, is a big fan of the show as well. So we appreciate that. Adriana, stay spooky. And Sabrina, she's wearing her campfire merch. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for getting that hoodie and spreading the word about the campfire.

Now, you have a family story. You have a story about your grandma, right? That's right. Absolutely. It's a really good one. Well, tell us what happened. All right. Well, I got some notes with me today, but I'm going to be telling you the story, just as I heard it, which is from my grandma's memory. So she's unfortunately no longer with us, but her two sisters who are still around. We're going to call them Amy and Noel. Okay.

I'll forget. Now, this story takes place in about the 1960s. to about the early 70s in Nicaragua. They lived in a house for about 14 years, so since they were about eight until their early 20s, where every night they happen to hear and see an old woman walking through the house. I think the craziest thing about it is it would begin the same every single night for all these years. they would hear someone walking on the roof, someone with very heavy footsteps, at which point they would hear, in their description, a body fall on the roof and start to roll its way down.

Oh, man. Yeah, they would hear this body then land in the garden and proceed to get up. And so in Spanish, they call them like, well, chancletas. You might have heard that word sandals, you know, like house sandals. They would start to hear those like house sandals walking the perimeter of the home first and then entering. This was a large one-story house. I do want to mention that it had a lot of windows. And in order for air to move through before the AC was actually incorporated, they had to leave all of their doors.

open at night and windows propped, for example. So they hear this, you know, persons start to walk through the house. And outside of their doors, all of them basically report seeing something like an old woman, like, like, Monhe, I guess, like a nun. I'm pulling up my cap because I feel like it's a good representation. They would quite literally see someone a hooded figure of like an old lady standing. Oh, man. Standing.

Yeah, standing at their door. And they noticed that she didn't have any feet. So it's not just my grandmother and her sisters, which are young at this point. My great-grandmother, she is feisty, a little like myself. And she was having an argument with her husband. and she asks him to come with her because she has to use the restroom. They had sort of an outhouse situation, you know, again, just the lay out of this house is real old. She takes him with her, but she's sleepy, and she puts her hands, her head in her hand.

She didn't really have to use the bathroom. She's just being, she's bugging, you know, she's being annoying. And so she rests her head in her hands and falls asleep. When she wakes up, she notices that my great-grandfather, he's not there. And upset, she starts to head to bed. She notices that the refrigerator doors open, and she doesn't pay too much attention. She's sleepy, thinks it's her husband, gets upset that he left her there to go have a snack. So she knocks the fridge closed with her hip and goes to lay in bed. Only when she does that, she lays directly on top of her husband, of my great-grandfather.

Hmm. So, I mean, this figure, did they think it was just messing with them or did it have sinister intentions? What do you think? Well, the story is interesting because, you know, they did have servants at this time. You know, of course, they're little girls. They have friends sleep over. All these different people are encountering the same thing. I watch your show a lot. And so it makes me think of maybe someone being stuck in a sort of like an energy loop. you know, like playing the same thing. But they played the Ouija board. And supposedly they were able to speak to the woman. They said that she and the sisters, I spoke to them before this call just to make sure we got all the details. But they say that basically she was the original owner of the home that the house was built for her. And back in those days, there was also no rules about, you know,

burials, for example, in Nicaragua. So she'd been buried on her land in her garden, and she just didn't like that they were there. So she enjoyed giving them a spook, you know. There you go. There you go. Well, Sabrina, thank you so much for sharing your story. Thanks to your mom, Adriana. Thanks to Joan for telling you about the show.

And thanks for sharing your story. And everybody, be like Sabrina. Share your stories on the campfire. Jim harold. dot com slash campfire. There you go. Stay. Best track it's ever. Excellent.

Excellent. Stay spooky. Sabrina, stay spooky. Thank you, Jim. Larissa is a repeat caller from Texas and she is back. She said with a short but sweet head scratcher and you know I love head scratchers and Larissa is going to lay one on us right now. Larissa, welcome to the show and tell us what happened with this head scratcher.

Yeah. So one evening, me and my daughter were heading somewhere. I really can't remember where we were going. But the way the street is set up, there is residential neighborhood on either side. So you just have a whole bunch of fences on either side. And of course, there's breaks when you go into the residential. So the sun was starting to go down. And all of a sudden, we saw what looked like a person.

in the tree and it just fell down. And we were like, oh my gosh, there's somebody that just fell from a tree. So this is just a couple of yards away from us. And so we keep going and then there's nobody there. Oh, man. And at this point, I'm like, okay, I know I seen that. I know she saw it because we both kind of were stunned. Like, oh, my gosh, this person's going to be really hurt.

And so we start to slow down. and there was nobody there, Jim. Like, absolutely nobody. It was almost like a Mario thing that happened, like whatever he goes through the tunnel kind of thing. But that person literally looked like they dropped. And I was like, oh, no, there's going to be somebody on the ground and it's going to, and it might be bad.

But no, we even slowed down. I was like, I think this is where it was. And there was nowhere anybody could go because the fences were all the way lined up. on each side. So we were just like, what is going on? So both of you were absolutely sure this was a person. Yes, it looked like a silhouette of person that was like on the branch or because of the bigger tree.

And then they just fell down to the ground. Like if they just fell off. So you have to have some kind of theory. What are your thoughts? I don't know. I don't know if it's like maybe a time slip or I was seeing something. I don't really know because I've had different experiences where like I'll see flashes of people. Right.

But this was the first time it looked like somebody that was like a real person and just fell. And so I don't know what to make of it. And she does it either. I mean, we even circled back to see if there was anybody like walking. Maybe there was a ditch there. No, nothing. Yeah. You know, it reminds me of stories we've had before where people, there was one,

this quite a while ago, a woman said her and her husband were driving and they saw this person walk into traffic like it was a crowded either surface road or freeway, I'm not sure, but there was a ton of traffic, moving traffic person walked into the middle of the road and just disappeared. And then we've had people who thought they hit somebody and they got out of their car and there was no one there. And that's, we've had multiple reports of that. So, So, yeah, maybe it's some kind of time slip, alternate dimension. And the cool thing is you had your daughter there with you. So it's like, hey, I saw this.

I know what I saw. But she saw it too. So that's like double reinforcement. Oh, no. What is happening? Yeah. And I did, Jim, I did at one time have this one instance. And it's really quick as well that I was driving, I think, on my way to Corpus.

And it was nighttime and everybody was asleep in the car. and I swear there was this big old, like, cattle dog looking, I don't know, it was really big. It looked like a dog in the middle of the road. And I swerved, and I was just fully expecting to hit it, nothing. And I slowed down, everybody was awake. I looked back. There was nothing there. It was like, it just disappeared.

So I didn't have anybody at that time to witness it. Right. It was just you. Do you think that maybe. because you've seen these things before, do you think you're more sensitive than the average person and maybe you are picking up on things that are actually there, but other things that other people might miss?

And maybe just maybe this ability has gone down to the next generation as well where your daughter is able to see things and be more perceptive than the average person. Do you think that's possible? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, given I used to work, you know, in the death care field and everything, thing. I mean, I think it just enhanced it. And now I don't work there anymore, but I think I've always been a little bit more sensitive than most people. Well, you know, again, we live in a weird

world. Stuff happens that you just can't explain. That's why you call it a head scratcher. Larissa, thanks for joining us once again on the campfire and stay spooky. You as well. What's the difference between butter and butter made from Real California dairy. It's the real California farm families behind it. Real people. Real care.

Real intention. Why? Because real matters. So whether you're pouring milk, melting cheese, or just grabbing one more spoonful of yogurt. Keep it real. Look for the seal. Real California milk by real California farm families.

Next up, we have a repeat caller. Sean is back from Ohio, and this time he has one of my favorite kind of stories. You know what those are, those head scratchers, the ones that make you go, hmm, what was that all about? So, Sean, welcome to the show. Welcome back, I should say.

You've been on before. Tell us what happened. It's good to be here again, Jim. Thank you. Okay, so this was a weird one. Completely forgot about this one, or I would have told you a long time ago. It just kind of came and went,

and just I forgot about it. But this is a pretty wild story. you know but anyways basically what happened was me and my two kids were living next to my grandfather and i was taking care of my grandfather this was about 2020 and i was taking care of him and then it ended up getting to the point where we were over there so much we were like hey why don't we just move in there and save i can save all this money you know so it would help me a lot so he agreed so we ended up moving into his house and um the last day that i was in my house something weird happened my kids already gone, mind you. They had already had their room set up over there at my grandpa's house.

They were not there. There was literally a bed by bed left in the room, and that's it. Nothing plugged in, no lamps, no, literally everything was cleaned out except my bed. That was the last thing I was cleaning out. And this was the last night that I was going to stay there. And it was the last night that I stayed there. And I'm sleeping and it's the middle of the night. I don't know. It's around like midnight. And all of a sudden, what sounded like a gunshot goes off. next to my head. And I mean, it was definitely louder than a firecracker, maybe like a smaller caliber gun just right next to my head. Mind you, I didn't have any guns over there or anything. Nothing like, you know, I didn't let a gun go off or anything. So obviously I hop up, you know,

like a scared cat and... Sure. Yeah, I'm looking around like, you know, what in the world was that? Well, I don't see anything, you know, nothing out of the ordinary, but I know for a fact that. heard it. It was super loud. You know, my ears were ringing. And I'm just looking around like, what in the world? So I start looking through my house and searched through my house. Well, the back door was locked, so no one could have came through that. It was a sliding glass patio door, and it had a, you know, a piece of wood down so nobody could open that. And then no one came in through the garage. That all was shut. And then also the front door was locked. So I'm like,

this is really weird. Like, the only thing I could think of in my head was, you know, is somebody messing with me? Like one of my kids or something? And threw a firecracker in my room and or something. But if they would have did that, the only way that would have happened is they would have had to go out the front door. So the next day, I went to my next door neighbor's house who has cameras everywhere. And he looked it up in exactly the time that I told him it happened. You could see the explosion from my bedroom window. Right. Like, yeah, light reached like all the way to the street. And we watched and no one came in or out of my house except me. Because about five minutes after that, I got freaked out and I was like, I'm going to sleep on his couch.

I'm done with this house. And I left. So that's all you see on the video is the light, you know, like explosion. And then you see me like five minutes later, you know, high telling it over to my, to my grandfather's house. But there was nobody in the house with you. There were no firearms in the house, no firecrackers, no fireworks, no nothing. And it just came. So it looked like it came from inside the house. Oh, definitely. Yeah. It was. I mean, I heard it. It was like right next to my head. Wow.

It was super loud. It was really loud. And I looked at the electric, my first thought, you know, trying to think a lot, even though I definitely have dealt with paranormal, as you know, paranormal experiences. But my first, I tried to rationalize it at first. Sure. Thinking maybe this is like an electrical thing, like maybe something popped. But I'm looking at the outlets.

There's nothing plugged in and there's no soot or anything coming out of the plugs. There's no, like there's nothing even plugged in. I'm like, there's, this couldn't have. been electrical, you know? All the lights were out. I mean, this was way louder than anything that I've ever heard, you know, next to my head. Do you have any theories? Zero. I wish I did. I have no clue. All I know is, you know, we looked it up and I know that I'm not crazy because my neighbor could see the, you could see exactly the time I said it happened. You know, you could see it from his ring doorbell camera. It was just like a white light, Jim.

It was just huge. It was just... So, any theories? Yeah, none. I have no idea. I hope that someone on your show hears this and says, hey, that happened to me because I have zero clue. I really don't know. You know, I've had quite a few paranormal experiences, so I wouldn't put it past a paranormal

experience, you know, maybe something from some other dimension or on the other side was messing with me, maybe somehow. I have no idea, but like I said, there was no firearms in the house, no... firecrackers no one came in or out i mean 100% it happened and it was even recorded on my next see my grandpa lived two houses over and the guy in between us you could see it on you know from his cameras again it's a head scratcher it's one that leaves you going it's like i always say that old things things that make you go hmm and this is one of those things that make you go well sean uh thank you so much for coming back on the show. You are a loyal supporter. I appreciate it. I wish you and your

girlfriend all the best. And thank you for coming back on the campfire and stay spooky. Stay spooky, Jim. Thank you. Jan is on the line from Arizona and she says she's a proud member of the class of 25. She just started listening and we're so glad to have her. And she has a very poignant story about her dad. Jan, welcome. Thank you for signing up so quickly. We're Right out of the gate, I appreciate it, and tell us what happened. Thank you. Very welcome. Okay.

The day this all happened was March 9th of 1997, and the way I know that is because my father passed away on March 8th of 1997. And I, you know, was laying in bed the next. on the ninth and it was dusk. It was almost, it was almost daylight, but not completely. And I sat up in the bed and I looked down at the bottom of my bed and my dad was standing, leaning on my bedpost. And he was as clear as could be, and he was wearing the same clothes that he always wears, because my dad had had dementia for a long time before he passed away. And, you know, so little by little, he didn't know who we were. He didn't know where he was. He didn't know, he didn't even know

who he was when he passed by a mirror kind of thing. So he was confused. He couldn't get his words up, just like so many other people that have to deal with a family member that do this. So, my dad, getting back to my dad standing by my bedpost, I looked and I said to him, Dad, what are you doing here? And he looked back at me and he said, it's time for you to go. And I went, what did you say? and he said, it's time for you to go. And I thought about it for a second, and then I went, no, dad, it's time for you to go.

And he said, oh, and that was the last thing I heard from him, and he was gone. And the reason in my heart, I believe that it was really him is because he was still confused when he said that to me. Yeah. Wow. So what are those? Are those apparitions or what? I don't know what to call that experience. Well, I mean, and this was right before he passed. Is that right? No, right after. Okay. We're only catching part of your face there. If you can move your phone so we can see your face. So, you know, deathbed apparitions. But I mean, usually it happens, you know, some of this happens, you know, the time of

death and those kind of things. But it's very common from what I understand. And again, Jan, I don't know how much you've listened. I never claim to be an expert. I'm just a person who's talked to a lot of people and interviewed a lot of people who are experts. So I am not an expert. But it very much kind of seems to go along with what I've heard about, about death, death appurations around the time of death. But this seems to have happened a little bit after, you know, the next day or so. But maybe they're in a transitory state, you know, maybe he's He was in, yeah, yeah. So, no, wait, it happened. I'm sorry, I'm getting confused. It happened the day before or it happened the day after? Day after he passed. Day after he passed, yeah. Well, maybe he was still in some kind of transitory state, you know. But to me, it seems, you know, very, very possible. And I bet that was a very vivid dream. Was that a very vivid dream? Oh, yeah. It felt like he was there. Oh, and so one of my questions to you was,

if this is what I thought it was, do they talk to people? I mean, like our little conversation that we had when I said, Oh, I've heard a lot of stories like that. Yeah. I've heard a lot of stories about people getting messages from loved ones where they actually talk to them. Sure. Absolutely. Yeah, I don't know.

So mine was short, but it was sweet because I would have, you know, had them come back to see me every night if I could. know, so. But, I mean, did that give you some kind of degree? I mean, of course, when your parent dies, you're sad and you're grieving and all that, but did that give you any kind of closure like you knew he was still going on? Did that make you feel a little bit? I think so, because I know that the day before we weren't able to get there on time,

and I was feeling terrible about it, you know, not being there when he passed. And I thought, well, maybe that was just his way of saying his goodbye since I wasn't there. So I don't know. Well, it's tough. It's tough, Jan. It's tough. And I thank you so much for joining us. And I appreciate you being a part of the campfire tonight.

Well, thank you for having me and I will be sure to continue listening. Stay spooky. Stay spooky, Jim. Bye. Well, thanks for tuning in to 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. Virtual Campfiregroup.com, virtual campfiregroup.com.

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We've got thousands of Facebook. people over there sharing their campfire stories, maybe sharing their opinions on a paranormal podcast interview that we did, sharing their own stories, sharing their own images, sharing so much. And you're missing out if you're not a part of it. And the best part of all, it's free. It doesn't cost you a penny. It costs me.

It costs me to pay for the platform for the community. But we kind of got tired of the social media sites. We're probably not as active as we used to be. I didn't notice that. And we want a place where he could say, hey, if you're interested in our content, what we do, our story, the story of our listeners, go to virtual campfire group.com. You don't have to deal with all the AI nonsense. You don't have to deal with a bunch of spammy ads. You just get the content.

People are loving it. There is no catch. The only catch is you got to sign up. Virtualcampfiregroup.com. Virtual campfiregroup.com. I hope to see you there. Now, for the other part, now this one costs, but it's pretty inexpensive. Somebody told me that it is less than a fast food meal these days for a month of our Plus

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Plus, we release eight extra pieces of content exclusively for Plus Club members each and every month. And we've been doing that since the Plus Club began. Well, gosh, what's it been? 14, 15 years ago, something like that. So there's a plethora of interviews, the back catalog of Campfire going all the way back to 09. the paranormal podcast going back all the way to 05, and plus your support.

It's how we keep this thing rolling. And we want to keep it rolling, but we can only do it with your help. So please join today at jimherald.com slash plus. That is jimherald.com slash plus. And we thank you for your consideration. Back to the show and stay spooky. Next up on the campfire, Stephen, he's been listening for about a year. He's from Missouri, the show me state, as I've said before.

He's not going to show us, but he's going to tell us about his story, his workplace story. And Stephen, I understand from your submission, your electrician. I'm sure that electricians get to go into a lot of interesting buildings, a lot of interesting houses. And you had an experience you wanted to share. Thank you so much for joining us. Tell us what happened. All right. Yeah.

So like you said, I'm an electrician. And around the St. Louis area, we do have a lot of houses, a lot of old. houses and I was doing this whole house remodel basically and the um these homeowners were living in the basement and I kind of won't go into how the basement set up but I was in the back corner kind of doing some work in the panel. And as I'm sitting there, I'm doing work, I don't, I can't remember if I was listening to you or if I was listening to music or something, but I just, I remember seeing something out of the corner of my eye and then I heard the, I don't know if you know that kids clap

little thing. It had like the two arms on it that clap back. Oh yeah yeah yeah click click click click click like like like exactly. Exactly so I saw that and then I started to hear it moving and it was just I heard it clapping it was really creepy and that was all out of my peripheral vision so I'm I'm just sitting there just kind of like frozen after that like do I look do what do I do I feel like I can't move you know so I finally you know just get the nerve to just turn over and the way was like it was it was looking through a jack and jill bathroom i don't know if you know what that is but it was yeah or on either side yep and i don't see anything so i'm like okay this is really creepy now so then i walk over there and where i saw the little hands moving there was a pedestal vanity right

there and there's no way anybody could like like hide themselves right there or still right kids on top of it plus there was nobody home you know except for the workers so then i'm freaking out you know And then I'm like, I'm just going to get out of here. So I went right back to stairs. And I'm like, I could do some stuff up here for a little bit. So I do that. And then, you know, towards the end of the day, I have to go back down there to finish up what I was doing. And so another guy that I was working with, he's like, I'll come down there and just hang out with you.

And I have some stuff to do down there too. So we were just talking there, you know, just kind of shooting the stuff. And then all of a sudden we see the light come on in the bedroom. And we both immediately just stop. Like, oh, my gosh. what's going on now and then it turns out the homeowner did come home right there and we didn't see her coming in and we were both like kind of like he had some experiences and that was my experience there and we were both just like on edge and then yeah as soon as we saw the light come on and we're just

like oh and then she comes walking out and she's like oh i didn't mean to scare you and we're both just like yeah like wide-eyed and pale-faced and she's like oh did something happen to you and so i kind of explained it and she's like oh yeah that kind of happens to people when they're in the house, you know, especially we're not here. Somebody died in the house previously. I was like, oh, thanks for telling us that. After the fact, good Lord. So she didn't seem surprised at all.

Like, this just happens. Nope. Yeah. It apparently just happened to them. And then there was, so when you were there to be clear, there was nobody home. There weren't any kids in the home. Just, there were people home, but they were doing work on the upstairs. I was the only person downstairs. Right. But the people that were there were the workers, right? the other workers. Yeah. It wasn't a kid. Now, did you see the clapper thing or did it seem to

disappear as well? It was just out of my core of the orange or green, whatever, out of the corner of my eye. And that's when I started to hear the cut, cut, cut, clap. And I was like, oh, I'm not going to move right now. So it wasn't sitting in the bathroom, though, or anything after you were done and just like, oh, man, that's creepy. And that strikes me as like, I don't know that there are a lot of kids playing with those in 2025. That seems like kind of like an old. school toy, you know? I mean, it was old whenever I was a little kid back in the early 2000s. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't even think it was, it was old when I was a kid in 1912. But, no, that's just weird. That's just weird. So I'm guessing, have you had other experiences at other places? Because I'm sure you work in a lot of older facilities and stuff like that in homes and things.

Yeah, I mean, there's been finding footprints in sawdust that you just cut something. Wow. You know, there'll be a footprint right there. You take down drywall and there's handprints all over. Do you get a feeling when you walk into one of these places? Like, ooh, there's something going on here. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

I'm kind of known at my job as like one of the paranormal guys. You're the ghost detector. Yeah, yeah. I'll walk you in a house and just be like, look, goosebumps. Goose bumps. I have them. Something's here. Oh, boy.

I'll just get that feeling. My mom definitely had it when she was a kid. And I had it when I was a kid. So she's like, oh, that's probably your spiritual thing. And I'm like, yeah, probably. Oh, that's neat. Stephen, thank you for listening. I appreciate it.

Thanks for the hard work you do out there, electricians, man. That's a hard job. That's an important job, too. Thank you so much for what you do. And thank you for being a part of the campfire. And stay spooky. Thank you very much, Jim. Stay spooky.

Another return caller. We put out the call, and Chris has answered it once again. and he has a story about his aunt and his son. And we're so glad to have Chris with us. Chris, welcome back and tell us what happened. Thanks, Jim. Yeah, last time we spoke, I had kind of a spooky story. I definitely think this one falls more on the inspiring and happy side in the end.

So my aunt, who was like second mom, very close. she passed away in 2015, actually the same day that my middle son was born. And that was really difficult for me, of course. Just for a little background, it's relevant for the story. My aunt was a very Christian woman and very inspiring in that regard. During the time around her death and the years after, I was struggling with my faith. I didn't have any faith, really. Since then, I've had a sort of awakening, if you would, and come to the church. So it was around the time of her death, she had given my kids and myself a lot of frogs. This sort of, during her illness, it was symbolic of forever reliant on God. And she gave my boys these little squeaky toy frogs. And really,

it was just my one son at the time. So a couple days after her death, My middle son was still in the hospital with my wife, and I was changing my oldest son's clothes for the day, right? Get him dressed. And he picks up one of these little green frogs. And at the time, he couldn't speak. He had a couple of words, maybe mom, dad, in his vocabulary, picks up one of these frogs, looks at me. As he can see, I'm emotional. I was obviously thinking about my aunt.

And he said, peace, as clear as day. And I said, what did you say? And he said, peace again and smiled at me and handed me this little frog. So I thought, you know, he's got to be speaking on behalf of my aunt. You know, she speaks for him to let me know that she is, you know, at peace. And one, after that, one more occurrence, as I'm still kind of struggling with her passing and my faith, this is probably six months later, he picks up his little children's Bible and hands it to me and says truth. And I can't explain these things. These words are not in his vocabulary at all.

Since then, he's not had any spirit speak through him that I'm aware of anyway. But these two events were really touching for me and I think helped me find my faith. You know, it's one of those things, I think, that people will communicate on the other side will communicate in ways that are meaningful to the family, you know, to somebody else that might not mean what it means to you guys. And then the part about the Bible, that's amazing. So it's very comforting to know. And the ironic thing is, Kristen, you have no way of knowing this. And I'm not sure if these are going to be in the same show or not. But we, you know, we have these sessions where we open up slots.

And we don't tell people what to call in about or anything. But this morning, our first call was about a father who had hidden some money. And after his death, the caller's uncle was communicated to and directed him towards the money. Then the second call was an uncle who was like a father to someone. and the caller talked about the communication. And now you're calling in with an aunt who was like a mom. I just think it's funny how sometimes the show produces itself and how we just do some weird coincidence,

or maybe it's too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence, we get these multiple colors talking on very similar subjects. And it's like, is somebody trying to get a message to us that there's really something to this stuff? I think that may be the case. Yep. And I really think there is something to it. I can't explain it otherwise. I have a couple of other instances with my aunt sort of communicating in other ways. My uncle's sitting me a text one day. I hadn't talked to him in months. I'm having a rough day. He sends me a message with a bunch of frog emojis and that's it on that day. And, you know, her, obviously her husband. So she's definitely my guardian angel and looking out for me. And the thing is that you've said something earlier. You know, your last story was kind of spooky, scary, that kind of thing.

And I think that's really important on the show is that, yeah, we have the, ooh, this terrible thing happened and it was super scary. And that is a part of the campfire. But also part are these heartwarming stories. And I think those are just every bit as important to get through. Chris, thanks for sharing your story today. And stay spooky. Thank you, Jim. Stay spooky, Jen.

Thank you. Mandy is a new listener from Tennessee, and we're so glad to have her. And of course, and that's why we drink. They are telling everybody, and we appreciate it very much. And Mandy is going to tell us about a terrifying visitation or encounter. And Mandy, we don't get a lot of these stories, but boy, in a way, I'm glad that we don't because it sounds like it's absolutely terrifying. Tell us what happened.

Yeah, no, it was kind of terrifying. So, yes, so a few years ago, my husband and I were like, hey, we're wanting to camp. We're going to go to Shenandoah. So we, of course, drove to Virginia. A beautiful afternoon. It was a fall. I think it was about 2014. So we got there and we don't look up any of the hotels or, of course, you know, what the history is beforehand. We just like, cool. It's right by the entrance of the parkway. and the trails. So we're like, we're going to stay here. So it was Hotel Strausburg. And so we got there and we retired, eight hours driving from Tennessee to Virginia. And we got there. It was fine.

It was great. We actually had dinner. Very old hotel. If the listeners haven't heard of it. So I believe it was built in the late 1800s. And of course, it was. was a hospital in the 1900s. Ah.

Yes. So we got there and, you know, we were fine. You know, we're a fun loving people, you know, we live in a cabin in the woods. You know, we're just, you know, nature-oriented and liked to hike. Got there. It was fine. So it was, we stayed there one night. And nothing really happens to us, but this one night.

So we got there. We had dinner at the hotel. We went to bed. Everything was fantastic. So about, I know this is so weird, but same morning. It was like 2, 3 o'clock in the morning, same time. And everybody talks about. So John, my husband, goes up and he's like, he goes to the bathroom.

So you know when you're asleep and your spouse, you know when they get up. Sure. Right. You know when they get up to go wherever. So it's just, you just feel it. So we were in the hotel. Nothing like this ever happened before or since then. So I got there and he went to the restroom and I felt this thing just sit on top of me.

Oh, my. Yeah, it was pretty crazy. So it sat on top of me and just kind of like just like a heavy weight and wouldn't let me. go and I couldn't scream. And of course, although I was trying to, like, hey, hey, what's going on, John? You know, come to bed. This is crazy. So when, as soon as he comes back in from the restroom, it lifts off me. And I was like, hey, that was creepy. I said, did you hear me scream for your name? And he said, of course not. This is no. And after that, I just, I just, I. I just, I just, I I couldn't go back to sleep.

And it was already two, three in the morning. So it was only a couple hours until daybreak. So we got up, of course, you know, the next morning, I took a shower with the door open because I couldn't, you know, really trust the room anymore. Yeah, that's kind of terrifying. Yeah, yeah. And then we proceeded to, you know, just kind of chalk it up to,

well, that was weird. And then, of course, my husband being, you know, the techie, you know, kind of nerd. He's like, yeah, I think that was sleep paralysis. Yeah, sure. I believe in that. But it's never happened before or since. So, but I tell you something that was added after we started hiking, we stayed at the National Park. And the next night, John woke up screaming. Oh, my Lord. Yeah. He said, hey, do you see that? It's right there by her bed. And I said, no, I don't see what you're seeing. Are you okay? He just woke up screaming. And then, of course, being the skeptic that he is, I guess,

you know, he's like, you know what? Never mind. It's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing. So that was a little interesting. But then we had a great rest of the trip. So, but yeah, that's, that's the story. It was interesting. What do you think it was? Well, the hotel is closed now, and it was on the second floor that we stayed. It was a very creepy room. I mean, if you see pictures of Hotel Strasbourg, you could tell that it was, it has an ambience. Let's just say that. Yeah, I have no idea, but I guess it's never happened.

So I just thought I'd share my story because I thought it was pretty interesting. Well, you know, that is the lifeblood of the campfire. When folks share their stories are really a pretty important. Appreciate it, Mandy. Glad nothing followed you home, you know, after those couple of experience, you and your husband. Now, you said he's a skeptic, so even though that happened to him, he's still pretty died in the wool skeptic, I'm guessing. Oh, definitely. Oh, yeah. Well, you keep working on him. You keep working on him.

And I know you're a Plus Club member, too, and I appreciate that very much. Mandy, thank you for being on the show tonight and stay spooky. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good night and you stay spooky also. Bye. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Buckslot Machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. The biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40,000.

Ann. Details at yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. Next up on the campfire is T.J. from Indiana, there she is, if you're watching on the video. And she's going to tell us about a caretaker ghost who in the end didn't exhibit much care at all. And we're so glad to have her on the show. TJ, welcome to the program. I know you've been listening for about a year and a half. And you said, I can't find you. anything I like better, and I like the sound of that. That's true. So, T.J., tell us what happened. Thanks for joining us. All right. Thanks, Jim. Nice to meet you.

So I grew up in upstate, rural New York, and in a very small, I say country house, not farmhouse. We didn't have a farm. But it was a very, very tiny house. The upstairs was more of an attic, but we used it as a bedroom for my brother and I when we were young. And to get to that, you walked in the front door. And there was a stairway with a door on it, a very dark stairway, and just went up to this room with the, you know, slanted ceilings. Uh-huh.

In my house, I always heard creeks and grounds, obviously. It was very old built in the early 1900s, moved to where we lived in the country, about a quarter mile with a horse and, I guess, a horse and buggy something. So this house was old. You always heard something. I was growing up. I would hear creeks on the stairs all the time. I started to notice something odd when my parents would argue a lot before they separated, obviously, as that happens.

And I would hear someone come up the stairs in the night while we were in bed. And I just thought, you know, it was my mom checking on me. You know, they'd been arguing. Maybe she was just checking to make sure we were sleeping. And I never really thought much of it. But what it really gets interesting is one night and I was in seventh grade, laying on my bed as we did in the late 80s, 87 or so, reading letters that we'd written to friends at school, listening to the radio. and upstairs by myself, my mom and brother were downstairs.

And all of a sudden, my radio turns off, and at the same time, the box of letters that had been sitting on my nightstand flipped onto the floor. Huh. And, you know, both of those happening, I just was like, wait, what? The radio, you know, I thought maybe there was loose wire or something. I grew up with secondhand thing, so that happened a lot. Sure.

But the box of letters was sitting flat in the middle of the nightstand. So I knew it wasn't near the edge. It wouldn't have flipped, you know, no animals to knock it over. So I had this fear that I didn't really experience before. And I kind of yelled for my mom. She came up and, you know, my mind's racing that, you know, there's a ghost. And it's probably we were on maybe so need a burial ground or or something of that nature. And I said, Mom, trying to explain to her what happened. She's trying to calm me down. And she's like, no, no, that's fine, honey. I said, what was on this land before we were here? And she said, I think cows. I said, we have a ghost cow. It's just, why is it here? I mean, I'm just seventh grade. I'm scared. So she calmed me down.

Yeah, you know, something must have happened. It was nothing really much. Well, as time went on, probably probably a few weeks later, you know, I still heard the, in the stairway, whatever. I said to my mom one night, Mom, you don't have to come check on us anymore. You know, we're fine.

We're upstairs sleeping. You know, she said, what? I said, you don't have to come check on us. You know, I'm getting old enough. And she said, honey, I don't. I said, Mom, I hear you. You know, she just kind of brushed her. She says, no, that's not me.

So I thought, okay, okay. So then I got used to hearing it. And I would know that, okay, it's not my mom, but I don't know what it is, but I'm not going to worry because I would count the stairs. And we did have 13 stairs in that little dark stairway. I would hear it get to 13 and it would go back down. I would go to sleep. That happened for a few months until one night.

I counted 12, 13, 14. Oh, boy. 15. So I could hear it. And now this room that we shared, my brother, there was a window on each end. My brother's bed was alongside the window. Mine was facing a window. So I had the back of my headboard to the middle of the room, kind of separate it for us.

I heard it kind of walk, and I knew it wasn't the steps of my mother, kind of shuffle over to the foot of my brother's bed. He was sleeping. He didn't know. Blankets up to my neck. I can hear it coming. over towards my bed. I don't move. I just freeze. Eyes closed thinking, it'll just think I'm sleeping. And I hear it come to the back of my headboard. And then I had a bookcase behind my headboard.

I hear that bookcase creak. And all I can tell you, Jim, is it felt like someone was leaning on that bookcase peering over my headboard at me. And eyes closed, blankets to my chin. And I just waited. I wasn't going to yell. I wasn't going to. to, you know, run because I had to go through the stairway to get to my mother anyway. I just waited and I heard it go back down the stairway. That happened, you know, not very frequently, but it would happen. I would still hear it in the stairway, but it would pretty much come upstairs a couple times a month you would hear.

Wow. Over the years. Yeah, yeah. And I would still tell my mother, but she kind of just, I don't know at the time if she wasn't wanting us to be too scared or she just, you know, I think that's what it was. She was more just trying to protect us. Oh, honey, I, you know, I don't know. It's probably something. Maybe it's an angel or, you know, she kind of just blew it off. Well, that went on for a couple of years. Until we moved out, we moved to help my brother. And while we moved out, I had a cousin who

stayed at our house for us for a couple months. And he had been there about a week. And I saw him at my aunt's house and I said, hey. I said, have you seen our, heard our ghost yet? You know, because by this time, I was very comfortable with it. And Jim, that was the first time I've ever seen color drain from a person's face. Oh, wow. I mean, I really didn't think that he had heard it, but it drained it. And my mom looked at him, she goes, you heard it? He goes, yeah, upstairs. She's like, all the time, I hear stuff moving around. What he had done is he had moved in and he had taken a bunch of his stuff, put it upstairs where our bedroom was, but he didn't use it as a bedroom. He just showed stuff at the top of the stairs. and he said every night he would hear things being moved around.

Oh my gosh. My mom said, you didn't give him a pathway. So he didn't stay there much longer. We moved back in. Now, mind you, when we live there, was in the stairway and upstairs, that's it. I became very comfortable. I felt it was a male. I felt it was just looking out for us, checking on us.

You know, I get a little scared, you know, like, as you would, hearing something you can't see. but really didn't feel anything bad at all. In fact, I would joke a lot of times. I left my yearbook pictures on my bed one day as I was cutting them from my friends, as you did. And I said, oh, if you'd like one, help yourself. And I went downstairs to have dinner with my mom and brother. And when I came back up, this stuff was moved,

but he didn't take a picture. And so I kind of joked, oh, well, they're not good enough to take. You know, just things would be moved. We'd see things different places. I was becoming a very angsty teenager. or so, you know, in my er phase and nothing bothered me. But there were times that things would, if things were moved and I couldn't find them, I'd get real angry, you know, like, stop touching my stuff. And, you know, one night I'm sitting doing my,

when we moved back in, I have to tell you, it was only upstairs and in the stairway. My cousin said he heard things, oh, down in the kitchen, they're rattling, and my mom and I got worried. You never heard anything downstairs. Well, we moved back in, and I was taking stuff upstairs. and I had a toaster oven. Probably, I'm guessing why I had it was to take to the kitchen, but in my teenage furry, I wanted to go upstairs and call my friend on my bedroom phone. So I took it upstairs to my room.

And I remember setting it on a chair, and I'm talking to her on the phone, and then suddenly the toaster oven door opens, and the great inside of it just flies out across the room. Huh. You hear me? Yeah, I can hear you. So the great inside. the rack just flies across the room

and not like it just slid out like it went good 12 feet Wow and I said oh goodness why was that of course hearing that clatter in the noise my mom comes upstairs and she had now become very protective get downstairs you're not going to stay up here

with this you know and I regularly went downstairs about a couple weeks later I'm doing my homework on my bed and my light goes out it's over on my stereo and I look up and I think again I think like loose wire old house the light comes back on.

I start to do my homework. The light goes out. I lift my head up, stop writing. Light comes on. We went back and forth until suddenly I was like, okay, that's enough. I've got school work to do. And I started to get angry.

The angrier I got, Jim, the faster the light went on and off until I'm yelling, the light's flickering, and it just goes out. And it doesn't come back on. Wow. My mom hears the noise. My brother went down to tell,

he's like, he's scared, you know, a younger brother. She said, get downstairs, get downstairs. you know. But we're seeing a pattern and thinking like it would never been like that. It was never harming, you know, always just caretaking. Well, during this time, my mom has had experiences downstairs that she hadn't told us about. One day she's downstairs. She hears the cat walking on the piano.

She looks up and looks out the front window and there's the cat on the outside sitting on the windowsill. We only had one cat. So it wasn't the cat. And she said at that moment, she looked over her shoulder. and she saw like herself looking down on herself. And she said, if you're scared, say that you're scared. And that she said, I'm scared and it went away. And she would hear stuff downstairs, you know, who's quite often.

Now, why I had moved downstairs? And the only thing I can tell you is it didn't feel like the same energy. You know, it didn't feel like that caretaker energy that I'd had before. It felt like he was still there, but it felt like something else was seeping in. So you don't think the negativity was from him necessarily? Maybe it was another entity? I think the caretick, like, and because I could still feel it sometimes that calm, he kind of, it's weird, he brought a familiarity. Like when you had it for so long, I don't know, people have said this when you have been haunted, I guess.

It kind of becomes familiar. And so it didn't feel like that familiarity, even though I was yelling at it as though it was the same. I don't think it was the same. And I'll tell you why. My mother had another experience where she was downstairs in her bedroom. One night she felt the cat start to crawl on her bed, on her foot, and then she felt it on her other foot. And then on her hand, they had one cat.

But that's what it felt like. There was no cat. It just felt like that crawling on her. And it was holding down her hands and feet, she said. She said her bed, she couldn't move. Her bed started to shake. And she started to pray. My mom was a Christian woman.

Always had the Christian radio station on, you know, protecting us constantly in prayer. She said she started to pray. Her bed started to shake so badly that it was kind of coming off the floor. And she said, it seemed like it took forever. But she continued to pray and then suddenly it just stopped. And she could move. She ran upstairs to check on us because she thought Shirley had woken us and we were sound asleep. And she said she at that point figured it was a spiritual battle.

So this is about the time I go to college. I go to college. Now my younger brother stayed at home. He really won't talk about what happened. I said, you know, did you ever experience anything? Was it just me? Because they kind of made me feel like I was a little crazy. And he's, you know, one day I got him to say, he said, he didn't want to talk about it,

but one day he said, well, when you left, who do you think they picked on? And that's all he would say about it. And he wouldn't go back to that, you know, didn't have any desire to go back there. Anyway, we're coming to the end. I go to college. I come home. One of the last times I was in that house by myself, Jim. I was downstairs in the kitchen.

And it was getting about dusk. You get a little dark and shadowy in the house. And I call these gremlin, the little dark one you see out the corner of the guy that move here and there. So I was sitting in the kitchen and I look up because you feel that feeling. And I see them darting in the living room, right? And I always just pretend most of my first instinct is pretend, I don't see you. I'm just going to live my life. I don't know you're there.

Let's go back to what I'm doing. But I look up again and they're darting, but they seem closer. And I start to get this feeling that hadn't had before. It was a fear, but it was a sick in your gut fear. Just something I'd not. And the third time I looked up and they were getting closer. And I really felt like I had to get out of there. Never felt like that in the house I grew up then.

I called my brother. I said, hey, can you come pick me up, whatever? I wait for him. Now I have to go through the living room to get out there. door. I just think, how am I going to do this? So I just steal myself up and I run through the living room, out the door, gone, right? I hadn't been back to that house. That was probably the last time I was in that house. My mom ended up moving. She ended up passing away. I moved out of state, married, divorced, whatever. But 15 years later, I go back to where our house was. In that time,

the house had been burned by the fire department as practice because it was abandoned at that point. So I went up just to see the land. I was always, you know, in the trees and always gave me a happy feeling. I go up there. I see the foundation. I'm standing there just looking at, wow, this was a really tiny house. And I'm kind of thinking of things. And suddenly, Jim, I get that feeling that I hadn't experienced in years. That fearful, you're being watched, sick in your gut feeling. And, you know, my thinking was the house has burned down. Like none of that stuff. because he has the spirits have gone, right? That's where happens.

I can tell you, I again, pretend it was like, everything's fine, bird your tweeting. I start to back away. Like, I'm just going to go to my car and I feel, I, it's not an audio. It's in my head. We're still here. That's all I could get.

We're still here. And we're like, like, like, it wasn't one. It was like a, like a thick. All I can say is it was a thickness, whether it was multiple spirits or one real big one, it was a thickness to whatever was there. And I thought, maybe it's just tied to the lane. I walked down, got my car, the entire time feeling like I was being watched and drove off.

And really, I haven't been back to that land since. But yeah, that's the story. that's, you know, I always thought when the house burned or something like that, that it's gone, but apparently it's still on that land. Now, you mentioned that you thought maybe this spirit, the more sinister malevolent spirit, was not the caretaker necessarily. Do you have any theories as to what it was? You know, when I would ask my oldest brother, because he was like the knowledge of the family,

and, you know, the house came from my step-grandfather's brother. My step-grandfather's brother apparently hung himself in the stairway was the story. Do I know, it didn't feel like anything familiar. You know, I've had relatives that had passed. And before I was born, my mom had I had a brother who passed as a baby. But it didn't feel like someone I knew. It just felt like something that wanted to care. You know, maybe it was related.

Maybe it wasn't. I'm not sure. But the other, it just felt like something ancient. It felt like something that has been. And that just to have, there's a fear. I mean, for me, I can get scared at something. But to get that guttural, like that nauseous, this is really bad feeling. And to think that I was done with it and I was just going back there to reminisce.

And it was still, it saw me. Well, T.J., thank you so much for joining us, sharing your story and stay spooky. You as well. Thank you. A huge thanks to all of our storytellers on the Campfire. We couldn't do it without them. And if you want to tell your story, just go over to Jimherald.com slash campfire. That's Jimherald.com slash campfire. And sign up.

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