Jim Harold's Campfire - Paranormal Pastry - Jim Harold's Campfire 776

Episode Date: September 1, 2026

Sometimes the strangest experiences come with a sense that someone, or something, is watching or maybe watching out for us. In this episode of Campfire, a childhood home has a mysterious presence, while a wrong turn on the New York City subway leads to a dangerous late-night situation and the sudden appearance of two unforgettable strangers. Then there’s a bizarre Thanksgiving tale complete with the sound of shattering glass and a culinary first in the annals of Campfire. Things take a darker turn in a park after midnight, when the desperate cries of a woman seem to move closer and closer. And that's only the start. It’s an episode full of guardians, echoes, synchronicities, and the kind of unexplained details that make you wonder whether coincidence is really enough of an explanation. -- NOTE: The topic of suicide was mentioned on this episode. Using the 988 Lifeline is free. 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. https://988lifeline.org/ -- VIRTUAL CAMPFIRE GROUPJoin our FREE online community at ⁠https://virtualcampfiregroup.com⁠EVENTSHope to see you soon at one of Jim’s live events: https://jimharold.com/eventsYOUTUBE 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

Don't you wish you could just hit skip on the worst parts of your life? You know the same way you can skip an ad? I get it. I'm Siyaya and I live in Ice Cove. I've made some questionable decisions that didn't end up the way I planned. And today I'm still figuring it out. Somehow things usually get worse before they get better. Apparently, that's how I roll.

So bundle up and come along for the bumpy ride. Don't miss the new season of North of North starting September 8th on CBC Gem. The Ghost who cried out for help up next on the campfire. Sit back, relax, and warm yourself by Jim Harold's Campfire. Now, over the years, people have heard about the Campfire in many ways, but I'm not familiar anybody hearing about it from a wedding at a wedding. That is so cool.

And Aliana says that's how she found out. Uncle Jason told her about it. So Uncle Jason, I know you've been listening for years. Thank you so much. and stay spooky. And thanks to Uncle Jason and all the Uncle Jason's out there that tell folks about this show. We have great callers like Eliana, who has a story.

And this sounds like a really interesting one. Eliana, welcome to the show. Tell us what happened. Thanks so much. So to preface this, as I've always been a huge advocate slash someone who's always believed in that there's something greater than ourselves. One thing I took from your podcast is connecting to the cosmic internet, which I really like that term. Referencing that a lot to people as I've been sharing this story.

And that first happened to me when I was really young. I have lived in the same house for 22 years of my life, grew up there as well. And from a young age, I have seen this entity, this woman, always in the same yellow. dress always kind of around and this started for as long as I can remember honestly um as little as five years old I remember seeing this woman and and knowing that she didn't belong per se she didn't really have a um she just wasn't I don't know she just never seemed to truly fit in and it wasn't a a presence that was uncomfortable or malicious. And that really made me interested in kind of tapping into this world of spirituality and

paranormal activity. Right. And through the years, I kept saying, mom, like, there's someone here. There's, like, we're not alone. And I think that maybe opened the door for her because she's also a big believer in the things that just can't be explained. and she started like hearing things, doors opening footsteps. She's also seen her as well.

And I think one of the biggest indications that we felt like we had someone with us is I would consistently smell female perfume in the lower area of our house, the kitchen area. And I know my mom and dad's cologne and perfume choices, I knew that it just didn't fit in. And when I would say, hey, like, who just sprayed a bottle of perfume in here? Everyone would be, nope, not me. And things kind of started manifesting even more for me, especially because I would see her in my dreams, which I didn't know if that was more of a childlike kind of fascination or if that was, you know, her kind of intercepting, you know, where I am or the plane that I'm on. and once again it was never a malicious or scary feeling. I definitely had times where I'm alone and I, you know, the hair would stand up on the back of my neck and I would just have this feeling that someone was looking at me, but I was

home alone. So I quickly knew that and became familiar with the fact that this was her and that it wasn't a scary feeling, more so just a feeling of something that maybe most people don't experience. And I really grew to just be like, oh, hey, well, she's here. Like, what's up? Good morning. And I think that one of the best things about her is that she kind of, like, took care of my family. A lot, like my mom and my sister both have had experiences where things have been moved around or they found things that they couldn't find for ages. And I think she's a woman in power because when my uncle, not Uncle Jason, but my other Uncle Todd, he came to visit us and he has always been

a non-believer at all. He's an engineer. He believes, you know, science. He has an explanation for everything. And he kind of just dismissed our little story about our ghost. And he was staying in our basement alone. And he was on a Zoom call similar to this. So facing, you know, a wall and talking on the phone. Right. And all of a sudden he felt like someone had touched his shoulder, like not grab or anything aggressive, but more of like an assertion, like kind of like, hey, I'm here, like trying to get someone's attention. And he thought it was my mom.

And he was like, I'm on a meeting. Like he didn't even turn around. So I'm on a meeting like kind of just like, you know, dismissed her and kept going. Right. And so after he was done, he came upstairs and he said, hey, I'm really sorry. Like this was a really important business call. I couldn't, you know, even turn around. What do you need?

And she goes, what are you talking about? And he goes, you just like touch my shoulder. Like I, you know, and she says, I've been running errands and at the grocery store for the last two hours. You've been completely home alone. And that, I think, was like the change. I think since then he's believed in it. but I really truly think the only person who's ever had a physical interaction with her has been the one person who's denied her existence openly and in like in the presence of our house,

like not just, you know, like in a space where maybe she could have overheard that or she could see it. And I just think that's, I just think that's kind of a funny story, but also a sweet story. And maybe I missed it, but who do you think she is? So I've done a little research on our house. And there were a few previous owners. So it's actually an American 4th Square, which is really cool. So it has a lot of history. It's a super old century house that's, like, registered through the city.

And it's one of those houses that you could have bought in a Sears catalog, right when Chicago was going to develop. And there's a few owners that was hard to find some information of. And some of them were women listed in the house. And I'm maybe thinking that maybe this was a spirit that was there before and had a connection to the house. because we don't have any history of anyone passing away in the house or anything too concerning in that sense. But I'm thinking maybe it's a previous owner or someone or a Chicago resident in that neighborhood who kind of wanted to take care of the next generation of people moving into the neighborhood. And I really see her as more of like a maternal kind of guardian spirit, like in that motherly sense. Like, I always feel like the emotions I felt around her were, like, I was safe and I was, you know, someone was just with me, but it wasn't, again, it wasn't uncomfortable or things didn't, you know, nothing bad ever happened.

So it wasn't really a negative. No, I didn't feel like there was a negative at all, actually. Actually, we, so my family moved to Maryland recently and this house is brand new and has no history and it makes me miss her. So I definitely miss her presence. I was the one who like felt her the most and felt, you know, had the most interactions and things happen. And when we moved, I told her that she was welcome to come with us if she wanted to. But I also told her that if she wanted to, you know, move on to wherever the next place is, that that was fine too. Or staying, you know, there was a new family coming with a, like, you know, with a baby and wanted to start their life in our new, in our old house.

And it's like you could help them too and just hang around. And I think she just either chose to stay or chose to move on because I haven't felt any kind of presence. I wonder if she said hello to the new people. Very interesting. Aliana, thank you so much. I appreciate thank you for being a part of the campfire. And thank you, Uncle Jason. You stay spooky. And Aliana, you stay spooky too. Yes, stay spooky. Thank you so much. Welcome to the campfire. I'm Jim Harold so glad to be with you once again. And I'm excited because we're releasing this on August 31st.

That means we're just a few days away from American Labor Day. And to me, the day after Labor Day, spooky season is on. So that means a couple of things. First of all, we would ask you to share the shows with a friend. Text them a link to it on YouTube or Spotify or Apple Podcast. Because this is the time of year when people are open to the spooky. and where better to find it right here on the campfire. So please, text out a link today.

We would really appreciate. We want to get a lot of new people in. So we can get a lot more great stories like the ones we're going to hear tonight. Then, secondly, if you want to support us and make sure that the ability for the spooky studio to continue to produce these shows exists, one great way to do it is joining our Plus Club,

Jimherald.com slash plus Jimherald.com. We have some great deals over there, some money-saving deals where you can get great deals, big money off of your first month or your first year. So please do check it out. We thank you so much. And now let's get on to this next great campfire story. Return callers. We got to love him. Matthew is on the line from Los Angeles.

We're so glad to have him with us today. and he has a story, you know, when you're visiting, when you're traveling, unusual things can happen. And it's kind of nice to have an angel in your corner. Matthew's going to talk to us about maybe just such a situation. Matthew, welcome back to the show. Thank you for joining us and tell us what happened. Thanks for having me, Jim. So I've been looking forward to sharing the story for a while.

About 30 years ago now, I made my second visit to New York City. you know, times have changed and technology is different. And, you know, when you're left to your own devices, getting around to town like New York can be pretty daunting, especially when you're basically. So I had gone to the city to visit, well, for a conference, but I was staying with a friend on the Upper West Side near Columbia University where she was studying. And on the weekend, I went down to the Times Square area, Lower East Side, was just hanging. out in the prime heat of Manhattan and going to concerts and meeting people. And it was a late night. And it was a Friday or Saturday night. It was a weekend night. It was considered a weekend night. And that makes sense later. But when we were finally done with our nighttime activities, and it was time for me to head back north to the Upper West Side, I got on the subway. And back then it was the red line. I think it was the one and the nine. The number of

numbers have changed. I think in New York now, the red line is just the two and the three, but it was the one and the nine at the time. And I got on the train and I proceeded north as usual doing what I thought I was supposed to do. And my stop was, I believe, 125th Street. So I got off at 1205th Street. And it's important to mention that it's probably about 12.301 in the morning, maybe a little bit later. So I got off at 125th Street. but when I got off the train, I noticed that things were very different than I expected them to be. The station was desolate. There was nobody around, very quiet, very eerie. And I got off the train, and there was one person on the platform. And it was a man who was leaning up against the wall with a long jacket on. and I just got creepy vibes immediately. And so I figure, well, I'll get above ground as fast as I can.

So I hustled up the stairs and I noticed that he had followed me up the stairs. Oh, boy. And when I got to the top of the subway entrance, it was like one of those shots in the movie where the subject stays still, but the camera pans back and everything revealed itself. And it was not the Upper West Side by Club. I didn't know where I was. I found out later where I was, but this was an entirely different neighborhood. Still 125th Street, but not where I expected to be desolate, creepy for me, not so creepy for people who live there, but the guy had continued following me. I figured what I needed to do was cross the street and go back down the other side and take the train back south and start over.

He followed me across the street. He followed me down onto the platform. There was nobody else on the other platform either going south. There was an attendant in the booth. She was sleeping and I couldn't get her to wake up. I beat on the glass and couldn't rouse her. So I guess I did what I thought was sensible. At the time, I started walking towards the tunnel. with the intention of walking off the platform and into the tunnel thinking that I was going to have to hide from this guy who had followed me down onto the platform. Oh, wow. That sounds... Not the sages decision. And looking back, it's obvious.

Like you don't walk into a subway tunnel ever. No, no. That's not the right move. And I realized that about 15, feet into the tunnel that this was probably stupid. And I looked back out and the guy was still following me. So I thought, well, I'm probably going to get killed in this tunnel, or at least on the platform, if I can get out of the tunnel in time. I exited the tunnel. He's still walking towards me, but further down the platform. And around the corner came a couple two of the most extravagantly,

exotically dressed humans I had ever seen, an African-American couple. He was carrying a staff, a Gandalf style staff. She had a piercing that went, I'll never forget, it went from like her nose to the corner of her eye, then back to her ear. And they were, you know, dressed in like authentic, I guess, maybe African attire, but very beautiful, patterned, ornate. And I just knew immediately that I needed to go to them. And as soon as I did, I was able to relax because she took my hand and I said, you know, jittery, I don't know what I did. I was downtown and I took the train and I got off. And she just said, on the weekend, the one in the nine runs express. You're at 125th Street, but you're in Spanish Harlem, I believe, it's on the east side of Manhattan.

She explained what had happened, and then he said, wait here for the train, take it back downtown, and then switch to, you know, whatever train I needed to take. Right. And shortly after that very brief, very comforting interaction, the train arrived on the platform. I don't remember paying any more attention to the fellow who was following. me who had followed me across the other platform. And once I boarded the train, I don't recall like tracking the couple any further. I don't think I spoke to them anymore.

But I know that they arrived out of nowhere, 1.30 in the morning in this desolate subway tunnel and got between me and this person who I think it's pretty safe to say had pretty nefarious intentions. He probably wasn't going to offer me the same advice. and I've never been able to tell for myself whether or not this was a good Samaritan situation or a supernatural situation, but it's always stuck with me. And I consider it to be more or less a guardian angel situation. You know, we've had numerous accounts of this kind of thing where people show up.

Maybe they're dressed in an unexpected way. Maybe they're in an unexpected place. but they come and they provide some kind of help. One of my favorites was one we had from Northern Ireland, and I'll try to encapsulate it very shortly here. But it was during the troubles, and I can't remember if the caller was a Protestant or a Catholic, but basically they ended up in the wrong side of town

or the wrong place at the wrong time. It was late at night. They had to walk across the bridge. It was one group that whatever opposite group they were of them, They had to walk through this group that was very belligerent. And they were obviously going to probably get beaten up at best and who knows what at worst. And this older lady comes. And she kind of basically scolds this group and said, leave that boy alone.

You know, and then they walk safely. And I think maybe it was two guys. But the long and short story is if I remember, and again, please go back to the archives to correct me if I'm wrong. The gist of it was something like this. Her son had died or jumped off the bridge or something where this happened at a bridge. And she was an older lady who that passed and she would come back to that bridge to make sure that people going across it would be safe. I forget if her son killed himself or was a victim of suicide or if he was killed in the troubles, which, you know, were very, you know, going on there in Northern Ireland. at that time. But somehow

she was a protective spirit that would literally come across and she was well known to the locals that would come and help people in trouble. And that's just one of many that we've had. This show has kind of convinced me because Angels, I was

thought, well, that's a nice fairy tale. I mean, I believe in the supernatural overall. But before this show, you know, a lot of times I thought, oh, that's a nice fairy tale. But the truth is, I've had multiple people, Matthews, you, including yourself, say, hey, I was in trouble and what appeared to be a human, but they were maybe dressed differently or they were in a place you wouldn't expect them to be or something

didn't, or they just appeared out of nowhere and then they just as quickly disappeared, multiple stories. I believe it's true, just like Hollywood. This just had an ethereal quality to it. And I think me making the mistake of walking into a subway tunnel was just setting a young person up for real danger, like just exceptional. You can't get much more dangerous than that because if you don't have the guy who's following you around, God knows what he's got in his head. You've got a train that's going to hit you in a tunnel.

I mean, you were in a pretty precarious situation. Thank goodness for those good folks or those good angels. Matthew, I love having an uplifting story on the campfire. This is such a one. Thank you so much for being a part of the campfire and stay spooky. Thanks, Jim. Stay spooky. You know, we're coming up on the fall big time.

Maybe by the time you see this, it'll actually be fall. And Thanksgiving is coming up. And usually that's a time, you know. I love Thanksgiving. It's a rest, particularly, you know, obviously for my American friends, I know our friends and Canada have their own Thanksgiving, I believe in October, but the American Thanksgiving, I love it, very peaceful time with family and giving thanks. watching football and all that good stuff.

Evan had a little bit different Thanksgiving time a while back, and he's going to tell us about his return caller. We're so glad to have him again. Evan, welcome back and tell us what happened this Thanksgiving time a while back. Yeah, and thanks for having me again, Jim. So this is Thanksgiving Eve. If anybody remembers the first time I called in a while ago, probably within a year of those events as well in the same area.

So just kind of set that stage. So my friends ran from college. I was in from college. They all kind of went out of state. So didn't get to see them a whole bunch except for holidays. So my parents went out of town actually for Thanksgiving and invited me to go. But since my friends were in, I decided I'm going to stay in and hang out with them as much as I could. So they're out of town, just me in the house.

And my room in that house had a really uneasy feeling to it for a long time. And there's actually another story one day that I would like to share that happens in that room as well. So just kind of like, hey, my parents are not there. I know I'm going to be there for like a week by myself. So I try to have my friends over as much as possible to not be alone and feel that kind of. kind of uneasy feeling. So Thanksgiving night or Thanksgiving Eve, the friends that were hanging out with me, you know, we hung out until about 1 a.m. and then they were like, all right, we got to go home.

You know, got to wake up next day for a holiday, be with friends and family. So they left and then it was just me. So I'm hanging out by myself now, got in bed, listened to coast to coast for a little while, actually. And so me and my childhood cat who's, you know, chilling on my bed. So we listen to coast to coast and then turn it off, try and go to sleep. I just can't fall asleep. Something doesn't feel right.

Kind of feeling like when you're a kid and you know you did something wrong and your parents are going to find out. So you're just kind of waiting. So really uneasy. Couldn't sleep. just kind of stuck there in this nebulous area. Something doesn't feel right, but I don't know what it is, and I don't know what to do.

So I just kind of keep watching the clock. Hours go by, ends up at, you know, see the clock and it's 4 a.m. So at that point, I'm like, sleep's not going to happen. I'm probably just going to lay here until the sun comes up and see what happens. So just kind of, you know, made that reservation. That's going to be my night. Well, probably like five minutes after that, I hear an incredibly loud shattering of glass. And it's coming from where the back patio doors are, which are just two large glass doors.

So my first thought is someone's breaking in to the house. So I hear that. I hear the sound of glass not only shattering, but then hitting, we had like tile floor. So hitting that and then as if it was, you know, spreading out on the tile floor, kind of scraping the floor. Well, my cat and my bed reacts to that, freaks out, you know, jumps out of bed, goes hide.

My parents actually had a cat as well. And it did not like me at all. So it would never come in my room. Well, it ran from wherever it was. as well into my room, which is crazy, also reacting to whatever this was. So at that point, I'm just terrified. I have no idea what's going on, don't know what to do or how to handle that situation. Sure.

I wish I could have been like, oh, I got up and, you know, address the situation and I was the hero, but I was terrified. So my, I guess, master plan was, I'll just sit still and see what happens. So I'm, you know, more frozen than I have. have been trying not to make any noise. Sure. And just to see what happens. And if something, you know, if you hear somebody or something else, then I'll, you know, snap into action.

Well, probably 10 minutes go by and I don't hear anything. So at that point, I'm like, okay, maybe I made noise. And if somebody was breaking in, they heard me and they ran off. Right. So I wait like another 10 minutes. So now it's probably 20 minutes or so. Nothing's happened. So I'm kind of figuring I'm okay.

So I slowly kind of got out of bed, walked down the hall, you know, made my way over there as cautiously as possible. And we had just had the house raised from, I say just, but it was years ago from Katrina, but we still never replaced the curtains that we had there. So we just had like a comforter, you know, kind of nailed up in front of the patio door. Well, it's intact. And I don't see any glass on the floor. I don't see anything out of place. I looked at the other windows surrounding the area. Don't see anything.

So I was not brave enough to move the blanket and see what was going on. So I just left it there, went back to bed wide awake until daybreak of the next day. As soon as it was like a reasonable hour, I called one of my friends, went to their house for Thanksgiving, got out of that place. So we were done at his house. his parents kind of gave us the okay to go do what we want. So we went back to my house and went into the backyard to kind of see what we could see. Don't see anything. Again, like no broken glass, no windows that are shattered.

Everything looks totally fine. So we kind of, you know, do a once-over of the backyard. Really don't have an explanation for anything. And I thought that that was it. And then as we're kind of heading back into the house, we had a four-chair patio table on the patio. And there's a patio cover on top of the patio. So not only is the table covering the chairs, but also the patio cover is covering the table. And under one of the chairs is one single bignet, which for people who may not know, as kind of a New Orleans don't.

nut. Right. And you're from Louisiana. So that would say like the most New Orleans thing you could possibly do. Correct. And usually they come in threes. If you get an order, it'll be in three. And there's powdered sugar on top of them. And anyone who's eaten a vignet knows that you cannot handle a vignet without getting powdered sugar everywhere. Correct. So we look down and it is one binae by itself, and all over the powdered sugar is intact, and there is no powdered sugar around the bignet at all. And it's just sitting underneath the chair, as if somebody had perfectly placed it there. No trash. The chair wasn't moved. It had somehow just appeared under this chair. So that was kind of a weird situation to have.

And so me and my friends are kind of just, you know, whatever. We're just writing it off. It's weird. Weird stuff happens. It's in New Orleans. Yeah. Who knows? So my parents come back in town and I tell my dad about this.

And as I'm telling him, I can tell that he's kind of, you know, recognizing what's going on and has something to add to it. So I finish. and then he tells me that while I was away at college, he had a very similar situation where he was in the room that I was in. He kind of turned my room into his guest room in office late at night and had an uneasy feeling. Here's glass shatter. Doesn't really know what to make of it. And figures just it's weird.

Who knows what happened? Well, the next day he goes out into the backyard. do some work. And under one of the chairs is a single donut, just a regular donut, but a glazed donut sitting where I saw the bignet. Wow. Is this ghost a baker or something? Yeah. So looking back on it, I feel like I didn't take advantage of this ghost who is leaving me pastries. I should have asked it for some other things. Now, I never had it in New Orleans. Unfortunately, I've not been to New Orleans, but I have had bignette. and they're delicious.

And I haven't, you know, again, I've not had a true New Orleans bignet, so I can't, I'm sure that I've missed out. I'm sure I've missed out. But hopefully there's still time. But, I mean, what do you make of this? I mean, it's just, and again, it gets back to we have these weird trickster things that go on. They just don't make a whole lot of sense, but they happen. And even you got that validation from your dad that it happened to him.

What do you make of all of this, if anything? I don't know. To tell you the truth, Jim, it is definitely one of those things that was super unique. And it's interesting because it's a great story that I get to tell. But I just, I don't know, honestly. My best explanation slash guess, you know, is perhaps it is kind of some sort of trickster spirit left over, you know, in the house or the property. And it decided. it's kind of have some fun with pastries and baked goods. I'm not sure. But at least it wasn't kind of overwhelmingly negative, which is kind of the next story that I want to get on and tell you about because that was not as friendly as leaving me delicious treats. So I don't know. I don't know what to make of it. And when my dad told me that, you know, he had a very similar experience and there's a donut, it just was kind of like, man, I don't know, validated it and then also led to more questions, right?

Like, what is this? And for all of the, you know, paranormal shows and podcasts that I listen to and, of course, this and people telling stories, I think this is the only time that I've heard of anyone getting, you know, a paranormal pastry. I like that paranormal pastry. And I got to tell you, I've been doing this show since 2000. been doing the paranormal podcast since 2005. Never heard a paranormal pastry story until now.

And that's why I love the campfire. You never know what you're going to hear. Evan, thank you for coming back on the show and stay spooky. Thanks so much, Jim. Anytime. Stay spooky. Well, if you have been listening to the campfire for years, we have an old friend on the line,

you will recognize his voice immediately. I think he always had such fascinating stories. and we kind of lost touch for a few years, but they always come back or most of the time. And we're so glad that Travis from California came back. And he has a number of stories to share. But tonight, this first call, he's just going to share one story for us, and there'll be more to come.

But we're so glad to have him back. Travis, how have you been, sir? Good to talk to you. Hello, you two. And starting right out of the gate for your longtime listeners, a very quick update. about my grandmother's house. They still do not live in the house.

They live in a camper out on the backyard. I have heard once again that there's a massive activity and they're not living there. So that's all I know. So I just thought that I'd throw that out there right off the bat. Okay. So that's an update. If you had heard about Travis's, I believe, grandmother, very active house and they're still not living there. They're still not living there because so much is going on.

No. So what's this next story? I think it has to do with a park. Is that right? Yeah. I live in Cottonwood. And the park that this has to deal with is Bidwell Park. It is in Chico and California, of course.

And it's about maybe 52 miles, you know, 104 round trip. It might seem like a lot to drive, but it really is. It's a beautiful, beautiful park. And I have a couple buddies that, they go there if your listeners have ever seen King of the Hill, it's kind of an animated

television show and you see the guy standing out there drinking beer and talking about their lives. That's kind of what my buddies do down there. They go down there at night and they kind of, you know, drink beer and talk about their failed marriages and all that good stuff and I just kind of come down there and I listen.

It's like, okay, so anyway, long story, long story short, this happened in November of 2020, So it was about 1.30 in the morning. My buddies had left. And, of course, the park's completely dark, beautiful, beautiful starry night. And I have a thing on my phone that traces like astronomy and stuff like that. Well, I hadn't been going down there.

I'd only been going down there for about maybe a week. And it was about, like I said, 1, 115. I really shouldn't have even been in the park. But, you know, I just mind my own business. So I guess, you know, everybody just leaves me alone. That's fine. So I'm sitting at the course It's pitch black

And I'm sitting at the picnic table One of the picnic tables And I'd say about maybe Kind of in the back park I heard First of all I got a funny feeling Right off the bat And I kind of looked up and I thought

Huh So I hear a woman Kind of in the back of the park And she's kind of talking And I don't hear anybody else And then it gets louder And her talking gets louder and all of a sudden she's screaming,

don't do this, please don't do this. Oh my God, help me. No, no, no, no, no, no, don't do this. Don't do this. Help me, help me, help me, help me. And I have no weapons on me, okay? And I'm not really a fighter. So what I did is I'm like, well, you know, what's going?

And keep in mind, I would only hear her. It was like she was arguing with somebody, but I wasn't hearing them. Huh. It's like if you hear, yeah, it's like if you hear somebody arguing on the phone, you only hear their side. And even then I kept thinking, why am I not hearing whoever she's arguing with? So it got louder and it got more progressive.

And I thought, well, I don't know what to do. So it was getting more intense and more intense. So what I did is I got up and now let me tell you, I'm 511 and I'm about 190 and I have no rhythm in my body. And when I was in P.E., I couldn't hardly do it because I have no, no rhythm. But I'll tell you what, and even though I was in boots, This boy ran. Okay?

I'm going to tell you right now. Yeah. And so I ran across the bridge. Now, here's the thing. As I hit the bridge, the voice literally was right behind me. It was getting louder. And all I can tell you is it sounded echoy. I can't put it into any words.

And as I'm running, it's literally right behind me, getting closer and closer and closer. So I go across the bridge and right as I step out of that park, it's like a light switch was shut off. The voice stopped. Everything was gone. Zero. I mean nothing. So I didn't know what's going on. So I called the police.

And I said, hey, I said, you know, I'm here, blah, blah, blah. I gave him the address. And I said, I'm hearing this woman screaming and yelling, pleading for her life. And I don't know what to do. I have no weapons. I don't know. And they said, sir, get out of there. They said, we're on our way.

get gone, you know, because they said, we don't know what's going on. So I leave. And I, I call them the next day. And they said, sir, they said, we went out there. And they said, we have four to five squad cars out there. They said, we saw nothing, heard nothing. And I'm like, well, I know what I heard. And I said, this woman was in deep distress. I think she was being attacked for all I know. She was being killed. I don't know. And they said, well, you know, we, we didn't find anybody. Long story. So I'm talking to my buddies, and there's another guy that was there named Greg. And he goes, oh, he goes, well, you heard her too.

And I said, what do you mean that I heard her? And they said, oh, we hear her from time to time. And he didn't know anything. And he said, she says, oh, please don't do that. Oh, my God. Don't blah, blah, blah. And he goes, oh, he said, we've heard her for years and years and years. Wow.

And I said, so, I said, so are you telling me that what I heard wasn't real? And he said, well, I wouldn't say it's not real. He said, but it's not happening in real time. Right. And I said, so are you saying, are. Yeah, exactly. I said, so are you saying that what I heard was a repeat like a residual haunting of somebody that may have gotten attacked or even murdered years ago?

And I happened to hear it. And he said, well, I've heard her. And he pointed exactly to the spot. And he said a lot of people, he said, it always happens about maybe 12, 30 to 1, right? And I thought that's exactly when it happened. And he goes, well, he was really nonchalant. And he said, yeah, he said, we've all heard her. She's harmless.

And I'm like, okay, well, whatever. You know, it was like, okay, that's weird. But as I was running, though, the way that voice was literally, it was like trailing right behind me. and the millisecond that I stepped out of that park, the voice was gone like it never happened. So what I'm wondering, and there's probably, there might be a way to check it actually. If you look at like old,

we were just researching something, and you'd be amazed at what you could find in old newspapers and microfish and those kind of things. Some of are even digitized. I'm wondering if there was a murder or some kind of assault that happened in that park and what you're hearing is a woman and a replay of her desperately pleading

for her safety. Well, you know, it would have to be. There's no other explanation. I know what I heard. I know how it was following me. And, you know, the park that I'm talking about has been around since the 1800s. So, I mean, you know, I could have been anytime. Yeah.

I could have been any time. And all I know is I heard what I heard. The woman was in terrible distress. I certainly hope that if it was a repeat, that the individual is no longer in distress. It's just an audio repeat, not as opposed to a – where the individual is reliving it. You know what I'm trying to say? Right, exactly.

So you're just hearing like a replay, but they're not actually re-experienced. Well, Travis, I got to say once again, nothing has changed. You've stepped to the plate with a fascinating story. I know you have more, and I'm looking forward to them. So we'll say good evening for this particular story, but we'll be back with more to come. So everybody stayed tuned for that. And I'm so glad we can reconnect. It's great to reconnect with all friends.

Thanks for being on the show and stay spooky. Thank you so much. Nancy is on the line from the great state of Texas. We're so glad to have her. She has her stay spooky mug there. She says everything tastes better in it. And, well, I don't want to make false claims, but I think she's. She's on to something.

I think she's on to something. Jimherald.com's last merch. Nancy, thank you so much for joining us. This is a fascinating thing here you're going to talk about. We've talked about it on the shows recently. I don't understand it. I think it's kind of some of the best proof we have of the, or evidence we have of there being more than just the biological piece

that there is the soul and those kind of things. Talk to us about what happened to you. Sure. So when I was 12 years old, I had an out-of-body experience, my first and only one, and it had a lot of characteristics of a near-death experience. So to kind of set the scene, it was July 27th of 1988. I was about to turn 13. I was, you know, it was pre-internet, pre-podcast, at least for my family, pre-internet. This was the world of Latsky Kids, Encyclopedia Britannica, and drinking out of the hose, you know, saying out until the streetlights were still on.

And I knew nothing about, you know, OBEs or NDE or any of this type of stuff. I had kind of a little, a little, I guess, to set the story, I had kind of begun digging around and trying to develop. my ESP skills because, although I didn't know it at the time, I'm autistic. And I was having a lot of trouble connecting to peers of my own age, which I guess is redundant to say, but a lot of trouble connecting socially. And I just was desperate to connect to kind of anything. And I was from a very, very early age, already a spiritual seeker when this happened. So, but one night I went to bed. and it was like any other day.

And sometime in the middle of the night or the very early morning, I have no idea what time it started. But I remember my kind of consciousness became aware that I was sitting at the head of a long conference table and that I could not move. The only thing that I could move was my eyes. And sitting around the conference table, table, there were a bunch of older people in suits, business suits. And they all, you know,

if I had to guess age probably were in their 60s or 70s, but they were all very polished and distinguished looking. And they were all sitting there kind of with their hands, you know, folded in front of them with almost like, if I seem to remember, they have like almost like a folder in front of each person looking straight at me. And it was as though I, had just suddenly appeared there. There was a light in the room. It looked like a conference room, but, and again, keep in mind,

I knew nothing about these paradigms and attributes to these experiences at that time. Up in the right-hand corner of the room, there was a different kind of light. It was very, very white, bright, pulsating, and in retrospect, it was conscious. And as I'm sitting there and I'm completely frozen in my chair,

not knowing why I'm there and who are these people staring at me, I become aware of a different sort of presence sitting right next to me in a chair, right next to me on my left side. And I can kind of see their knees as they're sitting there. But again, I can't turn my head. And this person to me in a male voice, when I lived on earth, I had a dog and it died. And when that happened, my consciousness completely shifted to,

me physically being back in my bed in my bedroom. I opened my eyes for a moment. Again, I couldn't move my body because I had sleep paralysis. Didn't know what that was. But I opened my eyes and I saw the morning light start to stream into my bedroom. And I said out loud in response to this guy, I said, pity. Like, what a pity your dog died. And then I closed my eyes and I opened them. And this time I was in my bathroom, in my house, which happened to be kind of like an on-sweet bathroom. There was like a door from my bedroom. You could walk into the bathroom, but you could also get to it by walking out and into the hallway into the bathroom, if you get the idea. So when I opened my eyes back up after saying pity, suddenly I was leaning forward on my bathroom counter and I physically felt the hard, cold countertop on my forearm.

and I'm leaning forward and I'm staring at my face in the mirror. And I don't know why, but I become aware of like I'm excruciatingly exhausted and all I want to do is go back into my bed. So I push myself up and I physically feel myself doing this, push myself up to turn and open the bathroom door to walk out into the hallway and go back in my bedroom. I don't know why that's the way I wanted to go, but that's the way I wanted to go. So I turned to open the door, standing blocking the doorway, was this very, very tall guy. And I don't know how I knew, but intuitively, I just knew that this was the guy who had been sitting next to me in the conference room. He, if I had to describe him, he was very tall, very conventionally good-looking mid-20s, I would say perhaps mixed indigenous. and being that, I mean, I don't know,

like this was all happening in El Paso, Texas. I live here in El Paso. And I don't know if that played into it at all or not. But he was standing there. And although, you know, he was, like I said, he was a good looking guy. There was no sort of attraction to him in that way. I just knew that it was the guy from the other place

and that he was keeping me from getting back into my bedroom. And I was extremely annoyed with him. He was standing there and he kind of had this look on his face like, I don't know, like he was confronting me almost to like let me know like I'm here. And so I look at him and I was like, would you get out of the way, please? I want to go back to bed. And he started laughing so hard. Like he threw his head back and his hair, he had long, dark, beautiful hair just cascaded back.

and he laughed so hard. And I was so annoyed with him. So I took this arm and I pushed past him. And I remember physically feeling pushing past him. And I went past him. I went and I walked into my bedroom. And I just sort of like, I don't know why, but I didn't, I didn't turn to look at the bed. I sort of walked in and looked at the window where the light was filling the room. And then I just sort of backed up and sat on the edge of my bed and went to lay down. But when I went to lay down, it wasn't like laying on a soft bed. It was like laying on a very irregular, dense, sharp pile of bricks. And it was very, very painful. But I went to lay down and I remember myself feeling as though I were sort of tossing and turning. But at the same time, it didn't necessarily feel like.

like my body was tossing and turning, if that makes sense. So eventually I kind of, I open my eyes, I'm laying in my bed, and at this point, I'm awake, and I see this guy standing over at the corner of my, like the edge of my bed. And he starts taking his hands, and he starts pressing me, like pressing down, like pressing down on my abdomen, pressing down, pressing down, pressing down. And I'm feeling the sharp kind of bricks underneath me start to subside, but it's very uncomfortable, and he's annoying me so much. I just want him to go away. And I close my eyes and I open them and he's still there. And he leans over and he kisses my left eyelid. And I close my eyes. I open them. He's gone. So at this point, I'm completely awake. I mean, I was anyway from the past. little while, but now he's gone, and I'm awake and I'm laying in my bed, and I'm still paralyzed, but I'm slowly, you know, over the next few minutes, able to kind of turn my head and look at my

digital alarm clock on the table, like, next to my bed, and I can see it. It probably took like 15 minutes for me to be able to start moving. And when I was able to finally get up, I had a raging headache. And so all day long, I was, you know, thinking about it, thinking about this experience and just trying to figure out what the heck just happened to me. And so that night when I went to bed, I set a prayer and I said, God, I don't know what the heck just happened, but I need more information, please let me see this guy again, just to be able to talk to him. Sure. And so this, what happened next felt like, didn't have a component of feeling like I was physically out of my body per se.

But it was unusual to me very strange because never in my whole life before or since have I been able to intentionally dream about somebody. So in this dream on the second night, I dreamt of him. he and I were standing side by side on a very, very long white stretch of beach. Or I guess I should say maybe it was a lake side kind of a beach, because off to the left, there was a lavender colored lake and the water was coming in and out. Somehow I knew it was a lake. It wasn't an ocean, but it was very, it was huge. And the water was purple.

And so we're walking on this white sand side by side. and I just say to him, or no, he says to me, okay, and I want to preface this by saying, sometimes I think that in spiritual experiences, things can get lost in translation. But he said to me, when I lived on earth, my family owned a tortilla stand. And I am trying so hard not to laugh, right? Because I don't know who this guy is, what he's capable of, and I'm trying to be respectful. And I'm just thoughtful and I nod and I'm like, okay. And we keep walking.

And I said, what do I call you? And he just kind of thought for a minute and he said, edge. Edge. Edge. And edge, EDGE, edge. And so I was like, okay. So then he just kept walking down the sand off into the distance and I had this feeling that I wasn't supposed to follow him.

So kind of, you know, after all this happened, again, this being the era of landline telephones and answering machines and MTV, I didn't know what else to do, but turned to books. My family had an encyclopedia Britannica. So it took me several months before I finally, you know, went to this page, went to this page in these different volumes and went to the library. and I stumbled across a term called out-of-body experience. And I knew that that was what I had, you know, what I had experienced. But then it wasn't until my, a few years ago that I really started watching videos about near-death experiences. And I came to realize that there were actually several things about what happened to me that align with a lot of people who report in near-death experiences. you know, the white light sitting before a council,

sort of like maybe they're deciding your fate to send you back or not into your body. And all of those are things that happened to me. And having, when I now believe, Ed was a spirit guide who helped to put me back into my body because it wasn't my time yet. And perhaps, you know, perhaps I was on the verge of, I don't know, coming a little too close to death because in my 40s, I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and

dysanonomia, both which caused me to hold my breath, you know, a great deal. I have to have, like, now I sleep with the CPAP. But in watching videos on NDEs in recent history, I heard there's an organization, what are they called, I think it's IANs, I-A-N-D-S, the International Association of mere death experiences or studies. Yep. They've, they, uh, have said that sometimes people do have experiences without actually dying that have qualities of traditional NBEs. So, um, I, I suspect that this is what happened to me.

Um, yes. So. So, I mean, I'm guessing that this has further kind of reinforced the idea, uh, that, um, the soul is separate in your mind, that we're not just some biological um, um, um, that we do have a soul. I'm assuming that's the case. Um, absolutely. And I want to say to, I think that sometimes, you know, besides just my experience, I know that a lot of people, when they're young, have, you know, either some kind of, um, poltergeist activity or other types of spiritual experiences. And I believe that a lot of these are by design to intentionally set upon a spiritual path to be

sort of opening or initiatory experiences. Because, I mean, at least in my case, and what does it do? It makes you question your entire framework for reality at a very young age. And I don't think, maybe in some cases, I mean, who knows? But I suspect more often than not, it's for a reason. Because you know as as i think it was newton said one of the laws of thermodynamics it's like energy is never wasted wouldn't wouldn't something like that have i don't know a reason behind it to um anyway yeah i think that uh can't we can't we measure the weight of the human soul isn't it like 21 grams exactly so um it's definitely um it's definitely it completely blew my mind as a kid and just sort of started the ball rolling for a series of life and

and consciousness shaping experiences. It's been an adventure. Nancy, thank you for joining us. I'm so glad that you joined us on the campfire and stay spooky. You too. Thank you, Jim. Do you wish you could just hit skip on the worst parts of your life? You know the same way you can skip an ad? I get it. I'm Siaiaa and I live in Ice Cove. I've made some questionable decisions that didn't end up the way I planned.

And today I'm still figuring it out. Somehow things usually get worse before they get better. Apparently, that's how I roll. So bundle up and come along for the bumpy ride. Don't miss the new season of North of North starting September 8th on CBC Gem. Next up on the campfire is Leslie from Oregon. We're so glad to have her.

And this is going to be a good one. It's a haunted apartment. Leslie, welcome to the show. Tell us what happened. Thank you for having me, Jim. This is a story about an apartment I had long time ago. It was about late 70s. And it was in Southern California.

I lived there for a pretty short time. So it's not a lot. It's a short story, but I lived there with my father. And I remember when we first moved in, it felt kind of like somebody was sad there. I don't know what that was. I wasn't sure. There was a big picture window in the living room, but there was a building right next door. So all you were doing was looking at this brick wall.

And I remember feeling like somebody sat in that living room, looking out that week. was really depressed, really sad. And I thought, you know, that's just odd because I did have some depression issues back then. And I thought, is this me or is this someone else? But it didn't feel like me. So anyway, one night I was in the watching all by myself. And all of a sudden, the teapot started screaming in the kitchen.

Huh. And I'd scared that you know what out of me. Sure. I jumped up and went into the kitchen. and the flame under the teapot was full blast. Oh, man. And I thought, well, that's weird. Did I turn this on?

Was I going to have tea? And I thought, I don't remember turning it on. And I thought, well, I must have just forgot, you know, it was the 70s. You know, I did my share of drugs. Well, I appreciate your honesty, Leslie. So I took the teapot off, turned everything off, and didn't think of it again. about, oh, a couple weeks later, same situation. I was just sitting in the apartment by myself.

And all of a sudden, the blender just started going full blast. And again, scared the, you know what, out of me. I jumped up. I go into the kitchen. I'm standing there looking to this blender, spinning at speed. And I realized, oh, did this have the same thing to do as the teapot? So I turned the blender off and I unplugged all of the appliances and I thought maybe I shouldn't keep anything on the stove. So I made sure from then on nothing was ever on the stove.

And I thought, so somebody is here. And then I would say, I'm not sure of the time length. Like I said, I didn't live there very long, but I would say within a few weeks later, I was woke up very early in the morning. with my table next to my bed shaking. And it is Southern California, and we had had an earthquake about two weeks prior to that. And I woke up thinking, oh, another earthquake,

and I sat up in bed, and I looked around the room, but nothing else was moving in the room. And I looked back over at the table by my bed, and it was just shaking like crazy. And I thought, oh, again. and it's I actually had been since I was a kid I've done Ouija boards and seances and things so I you know ghosts weren't new to me and I was mad because they woke me up so early so I put my hand out and I laid back down and I said why did you wake me up so early it's my day off I wanted to

sleep in and I slammed my hand down onto the table and when I did that the table dropped I did not realize that it had been hovering a couple inches off the floor. Oh, wow. So it was hovering and shaking. Oh, my goodness. That kind of scared me. I went, oh, did not realize that. So I thought, well, okay, this is getting interesting.

And I thought that was the end of the story. But the more I went over the story in my head to tell you today, I realized something else happened in that apartment that I did not connect. And that is, one day my dad came in and he told me that the neighbor was getting upset because of the noise I was making at night.

And I said, what do you mean noise I'm making at night? And he said, well, apparently you're having visitors over and you're just getting busy all night long and your headboard's hitting the wall. And I said, what? I hadn't had any visitors over. over. And I thought, well, that's just crazy. And I thought, well, I do, I don't sleep well. And I do toss and turn a lot. So I thought maybe that's was it. Maybe I was tossed it and turning and the

headboard was it in the wall. But I never heard it. I thought it was on. I went into my bedroom, sat on the bed, kind of bounced around. The headboard touched the wall, but it didn't really hit it. It didn't make any noise. But I thought, well, I'll make sure. So I went in, got a hand towel, folded it up. I put it between the headboard and the wall, bounced around on the wall, the bed, no sound, no movement. I thought, well, that takes care of it. And then about a week or so later, my dad comes home and tells me, you know, the neighbor is getting really mad. He says, you need to knock off the noise. He can't sleep. He needs to get up in the morning and go to work. I said, I'm not doing anything. I said, there is no noise coming from my room. Took my dad in the room.

I showed him, I bounced around on the bed, showed him that the headboard was not moving over there. So my dad kind of huffed and walked off. And like I said, I just never connected that. But I have a feeling that maybe because I told him to my ghost friend to knock it off and leave me alone, maybe he went next door to bug that guy. Yeah, maybe. Either that, maybe. Trying to get me into trouble.

I don't know. Now, I'm assuming that you probably, maybe it's wrong assumption, did you know a lot about the history of the place? I know a lot of times when you rent. You just find a place you rent there, you stay there, whatever, and you don't really know the history of the place you're just looking for a place to stay. Was that the case or did you know anything about the history, maybe who or what this was? No, it wasn't even that old of an apartment complex. Huh. And I didn't and I was only like 18, 19.

I was just out of high school. So I thought of pretty quickly after that. So I never found out. But I always wondered if maybe somebody died in that apartment or something. I don't know. But the apartment wasn't old. So I don't know. Just thought that was weird.

It's the only place I ever lived where I had that kind of activity. Well, I got to say this. You undersold it in your submission because he said haunted apartment. You should have said highly haunted apartment. Department. Leslie, thank you for your support. I know we had some tech issues, so thanks for working with us through those. And thank you for being on the show tonight and stay spooky. You know, you've been getting a lot of head scratchers lately. And this one certainly falls into that camp and it has to do with Jesse's dad. Jesse, welcome to the show. I know you've been listening for several years. Appreciate it. Tell us what happened. So it was his birthday, August 9th. It's been, this would be his second birthday since he's passed.

And it was, you know, a typical day. I wasn't like particularly missing him extra or anything that day. So it was kind of random, but I went to the store, a store I'd never really been to before because my wife and I just moved here in May. And so I went to this low. and never been there before. And when I was leaving, this truck pulled up,

and this guy was yelling out of the passenger seat. Just, I know you, I know you. And I was like, I've never seen you before. I don't think I know you. But he was insistent, whoever was driving kind of parked in front of the garden area. So he was right there, you know, still in the passenger seat, leaning out,

insisting he knew me. And I kept saying, I don't, I really don't. I said, especially I just moved here, so I really don't know you. And he said, no, what's your name? Where did you come from? And I told him, my name's Jesse. I was in Raleigh, and he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, Jesse,

and just kept saying my name. Huh. And I was getting, like, a little bit weirded out. So I just kind of said, oh, I must have a familiar face, and kind of said, have a good one, and went to walk off. and he started saying my name again and I turned around and he was like asleep out of the window of the car

and it was it was just really weird like I don't know what to make of it but like it was just the fact he kept saying my name over and over and he did sound like my dad and this was on what would have been your dad's birthday right? Yeah it was on his birthday

So it's kind of like what you've said, just the pairing of it all was really coincidental. Yeah, you know, I don't know how to place that. I had a weird, and you've been listening for a few years, so you probably heard this story. I had a weird experience regarding my late mom at a store. Did you hear that one? Have you heard me tell that before? Maybe. Maybe.

So what happened to me was, is that I went, there used to be. a guy we used to, there was a guy years ago who joked about me being a millionaire, which is a laugh, and said, oh, you can have all this fancy equipment. So one of the listeners, Mike, I think, is his name. We always joke about me being a millionaire if I say I get a new piece of equipment. So that's a joke. The reason I mentioned that is because this was at a dollar store. I was getting some envelopes at a dollar store. So that tells you the kind of millionaire I am. But anyway, so I was at the dollar store getting some, yeah, basically mailing envelopes and stuff. So I saw this woman who looked just like my mom.

She looked so much like my mom probably 10, 15 years earlier. She looked younger like the age. My mom would have been, but back it up by 15 or 20 years. So much so. If I had been in a store and I had been with my mom and we got separated, I would think that was my mom. I mean, she wore the same kind of tennis shoes,

the same kind of every, the clothing, the glasses, the hairstyle. everything was the same. And I thought, that's just, and this is after she passed. And it was just like, this is weird. It was a few years after she passed, maybe three or four years. I don't know. Yeah. It's really weird.

Well, but it got weirder. So anyway, I go up to pay for my envelopes and who's in front of me. She's in front of me. This woman's in front of me. And she turns to me. And my first thought is like, she's not an identical twin but damn does she look like her quite a bit like she could be a sister she turns to me and she hands me this bottle of Pepsi and said can you open this for me

now again that i guess that's innocuous but i've been on the planet quite a while now and i've been quite a few stores i've never had anybody turn around and say can you open this pop for me now she paid for it she wasn't shoplifted or anything right it's just weird it was just a weird thing that this woman who happened to look like my mom's close sister, turned around and ask me. And I always said, was that some weird sign from my mom? So when you said the thing with the store happened, I kind of put it in a similar category. Yeah. Yeah, because it's like when I told my wife about it, she was kind of like, I don't know, but because she's not super into the paranormal, but me and my sisters always have been. And even our dad, when we were very young, he would always

take us haunted house hunting. We would just drive around, find a house, go in it. Like an abandoned house, probably, you know, illegal. But he was just having fun. And so I think because of that, we've always been a little bit sensitive to that kind of stuff. Like, I've had many other things happen to me. I could probably call in again and have a whole other. But yeah, it was the pairing of it all.

And I know sometimes people will say, like, oh, I feel like I know you. but it was just weird the way he was insisting on it. Yeah. And then just saying my name over and over. Yeah. These old things, Jesse, they make us think it's kind of like, what was that about? Did it have any significance? And the fact that he sounded like your dad, that asked to it too.

And then also just fell asleep out of the window. Yeah, that's bizarre. I know. I've never seen anything like that in my life. Like, and I've always heard, too, like, if people get, like a medium, if they let someone speak through them, they get really tired. I've heard that before. But it's the way that he had just said my name after I said see ya and went to walk off.

He said my name, so I turned back around. He was asleep, like head hanging out the window. I took a picture, but... But you felt like he was a real human. It wasn't like it was a ghost or an angel or something. No, I think he was real. And I think he could have been a little bit inebriated. So I don't know if that made him easier for my dad to kind of slip into him.

Yeah, I don't know. It was just really, really bizarre. And when it happened, I was like, I feel like Jim would really like the story. Because it just doesn't make any sense. No. But it's strange, really strange. But it still happened. It still happened.

And it does seem to be that connection with the birth date and the voice and everything. Yeah. Jesse, as I often say the best campfire stories many times don't end with a period. they end with a question mark. And this one, certainly in that category. Jesse, thank you for joining us on the campfire. Stay spooky. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up is Stephen, and he deserves a special oak leaf cluster, a special star by his name, because he got up. It's 3 a.m. in his neck of the woods in Australia, and we're so glad to have him with us. And in this particular recording session, and I don't know what show this is going to air on, we had a lot of head scratcher calls, which I love. And we have yet another.

Stephen from Australia, I know you've been on before. Welcome back to the show. Thank you so much. And wow, thank you for getting up so early to be a part of the program and can't wait to hear your story. Tell us what happened. Okay. So when COVID happened, we had pretty drastic laws in Victoria and Australia and Australia.

And we'll sort of isolate to our homes. And so on that premise, I decided to buy a blunt. of land about 350 kilometers out in the bush so that if that happened again we could get away from the city and that type of thing and I also do a bit of gold prospecting. Oh, cool. And so, yeah, so we bought two acres of land out at a place called Red Bank in Victoria. And it has 95 people there. It's a tiny little town.

There's no shock or anything. It's just sort of a community of people. and put a caravan on the block and, you know, went out there in gold detecting and sit out there on the weekends and that. Anyway, one night it was the 24th of March, 2023, and I was sitting there and I had like a projector there. I'd project under the van and I'd watch the football that we have here.

And I was sitting there watching the football. I'm by myself. I've got a stake going on the bar. and all the rest of it. And I was sitting there watching, something out of the corner of my, I can see a white flicking, like a kicking action.

Yeah. And I'm sitting there going, what's that, I'm looking at this tree. And so I ring my partner, and I'm saying to a, you're not going to believe that. I thought there's someone hanging in the tree

kicking their legs out. And I had like a red jacket on white, white pants. Huh. I just going, go down and have a look. And I know my brain saying, It's not happening. That's not real.

Right. But it looked exactly like it. So I've walked down the back of the block getting close and coast of this tree. And this is so freaky. It's like legs are kicking and I can see arms movement. It's spinning me out. But I know it's not a person. I know that's not what it is.

And I walked in and I pick up the iPad and I'm trying to take a photo while I'm on the phone with my iPhone. And it's not showing it at all. There's nothing in that frame. So there was no point. it was just a tree. But I'm looking at it and going, I can see this. I'm thinking, am I having a stroke or something? And so I walked up closer and then all of a sudden, it's not legs.

It's a piece of paper. And then it's a sign and it's flicking in the wind and it's doing this motion. And then I realize that the tree shape is just a tree. It's just a tree. And so it was that paradolia effect. But it was very weird, you know, it was unusual. And so it's freaky. So I went back, watched my football and that.

that and packed up for the night. And I couldn't really see that image anymore. It sort of vanished altogether. Anyway, I told my neighbor the next day, and she goes, it's a weird little town. We've had so many strange things happen here. And she even mentioned one time they found a hand in the middle of the road, which is... Good Lord.

That's strange. Now, let me ask you this. Now, I don't know a lot about Australian history. So, immediately when you said white pants and a red coat, if I'm correct, the British redcoats at one time or another in the 18th and 19th century were in Australia. Yeah, that's right. Well, that was actually, their house used to be a police station. And they had the big gold rush coming to the town for about two years.

There was like 3,000 people there. And that tree was called the hobos tree where all the hobos would gather. Yeah. And the people who didn't have tents and that and would just sleep under it. So it was just a weird thing, you know? I was going to say, you know, maybe it was somebody, you know, back in the day hung one of the red coats and you were seeing like a flashback in time. But this isn't the story, though. The story is so much better because then that was on the 24th of March in 2023.

And then on the 29th, and I told her, and then on the 29th of March, I get a phone call from the neighbor going, you're not going to believe what's happened. But in that town of 95 people, just bring it up here because I've got the story, a geocacia was rescued after hanging upside down by his feet in a harness in a tree in Red Bank, Victoria. Passers, both found him at 11 a.m. He'd spent several hours overnight trapped. He was airlifted to the Alfred Hospital. That had to be careful with him because he'd been upside down for so long. Stuck in the tree in a town of 95 people a week like.

later. Too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence. That's weird. It's just a weird story. That's weird. Wow. So do you think it was the paper, though? Do you think it was the paper?

Do you think it was just parodalia? It was paladalia, but I'm just saying a week later in that town of 95 people, someone is stuck in a tree. It was like foreshadowing. Yeah. That's weird. Yeah, that's weird. It was just a weird thing. Yeah, it is indeed.

An unusual thing. It is. Yeah. You know, there's stuff like that in history where weird coincidences have happened. So, for example, the American President Abraham Lincoln and the American President John Kennedy were both assassinated. And Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln, and Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy. You know, I just like weird like coincidences. And it just, you know, it almost sometimes you think is it a.

cosmic sign? Is it, you know, I don't know. I don't know the answer. It's a weird world. I do have one other quick story. Sure, go ahead. Is a bit pointed. My father passed away 14 months ago. I'm sorry. Yeah, that's right. And he was extremely loved by a family. Anyway, my mom, my sister and myself were in a text message each. You know, he just in a group text on the iPhone.

Yeah. And anyway, we're sending text to each other. And it's bizarre. They had a text message, sitting in a text message of just silly things, you know, just someone made a wool jacket or whatever that was funny. And all of a sudden we get a, it says, I'll say my dad, I'll just say dad. So dad at gmail.com has joined the group from an email address. And this is two months later.

It says, dad at gmail.com has joined the group. And then the text message comes through, I'm. And then it goes, Ian Garland. from gmail.com has left the group i've got his computer sitting here of his phones and all that are here so they don't i don't know how that turned up on that screen so i had a look everywhere and i can't find it but i don't even know how you can join a chat group from an email address yeah i i don't know either if anyone has any ideas i'd like to know because that's so weird you know people have commented on this kind of thing before and i say well you know if

if a ghost or a spirit can open and close a drawer, move a glass, or do things physically, why couldn't they do things with technology? It just says, to me, it's just an extension of the world around us. You know, it's all about electrons that they can move electrons and make things happen. Yeah, electricity is the thing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, Stephen, I know you got up early to do this. I really appreciate.

Thank you so much. Thank you. And we're always great to hear from our friends in Australia. Thank you so much. Great stories and stay spooky. Same, right. Thanks, mate. Cheers.

Next up on the campfire is Rachel from England. We're getting such great participation from England in the UK. We really appreciate it very much. And one thing that I find very interesting is this idea of synchronicities. And Rachel has a couple of fascinating ones to tell us about. Rachel, welcome to the program. Tell us what happened. Hi, Jim. Thanks for having me. So my first story, so both stories are to do with the same person. They're just two short stories, really weird experiences that I had. And the first one, so I grew up in London, but my mom and her family are from Liverpool in the northwest, which is a few hours away. And I decided to move there on my own.

to go to college, and this was in 2013 when I was 19. And I didn't know anyone there, and it's a big city, so I was a bit nervous about making friends and just not knowing anyone. Sure. Yeah, it's the population of Liverpool is about 1.5 million people, so it is quite a big city in the UK. So I started college and on the first day I did find it quite hard to make friends which is normal for me. Like I'm autistic ADHD and I do find it quite hard to make like proper friends with people.

Like I would much rather have a few really close friends who have got loads in common. with rather than just like talk to everyone and make small talk. So I find that hard. Anyway, so I was speaking to a few people, didn't really feel a connection with anyone really, sort of just, I was sort of going off my adrenaline on that first day. And then, so I met this girl Jess and it was just one of those instances where straight away you just feel some sort of connection like both had so much in common she was really creative and eccentric and I just felt immediately we just like understood each other so yeah so we had a lot in common um like I said and a few months down the line

I ended up going to her family home which was in the next town so she was from Liverpool the big city but her and her family lived in the next it's not a small town it's quite a big town anyway that'll be relevant later on

so yeah I went to her house met her parents and her dog and as soon as I saw the dog I just said is your dog seven years old from a farm in Heighton which is it's like a place in Liverpool

and I didn't know anything about the place sorry I'm just trying to explain this in a way that make sense right so I'd said is this dog seven years old from a farm in Heighton and her parents just looked at me and Jess obviously they just looked at me like yes how the hell did you know that and I just said your dog is absolutely identical to my uncle's dog and I mean it's a Jack Russell, but it doesn't look like a Jack Russell. It looks really unique. It kind of, it,

I've never seen another dog that looks exactly the same. It's just a unique dog. And so yeah, they named the farm where they got it from, the lady who they got the dog from. And then I spoke to my uncle and he confirmed the same details, the same name of the lady of, and, you know, of the farm, the same lady. And it turned out that my uncle was friends with this lady who had a small farm because my uncle, my cousin had a pony on this farm. But the lady, she wasn't like a dog breeder or anything. So it's not like there's loads of these dogs around everywhere.

It turned out that the two dogs were from the same litter. So they were born at the same time. Wow. What are their chances? I know. It was, yeah, it was bizarre. And like I said, for me to make friends with anyone in a city of 1.5 million people, it was just so, so bizarre, just shocking.

Yeah, you had to meet the person, which was a needle in the Hig. stack and then the person had to have the dog and then it lines up with all the details. That is quite the synchronicity, Rachel. Right. And then so the next story is about the same friend. And this was a few months later. And when I was at college, I was in student accommodation. And I had like turntables and speakers in my room and everything.

I was really into music. So every weekend I'd have my friends over, just like a few friends from college. And there was this boy who lived in the building as well. And he was from the town. So the same town that I said my friend and her parents lived, which was near, but not in the city of Liverpool. It was the next big town. So I kept saying to my friend, Jets,

You need to meet him. He was called Sam. Just thought maybe they might know each other or have some mutual friends or something. Anyway, so Jess is there and Sam comes in and I introduce them. And they're just chatting to each other. And so Jess says to Sam,

whereabouts in this town do you live because my family have just moved house last week and so he names the area or the smaller area and then she says oh yeah that's where we lived and then he names the street and then it's the same street and then he names the house number and it's the same house. So Jess's family had just sold their house the week before. And Sam's family had bought the house, the same house, and moved into it. Yeah. So the chances of that, again, are just, we were just absolutely speechless.

That is amazing. That is amazing. So, I mean, what do you? think is behind it? I mean, we've had other things that we have one very similar to that story about the same house and we've had stories about this and again

it might be a coincidence, but I was saying, Rachel, you may have heard me use it too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence. What do you think is behind all this? Yeah, I I've heard you say that and I definitely agree I think

I kind of believe in like glitches in the matrix and like just synchronicities can just happen. Like the universe seemed to want me and Jess to be friends and kept sort of making these weird situations arise. So yeah, I think we were supposed to be friends, basically. Very cool, very cool. And I do believe that the universe helps put people together.

I mean, even the story of me and my wife, if we had met in college and we lost touch for, gosh, three years or more, a little over three years. This is way back, way back before your time, very early precursor to the Internet that we had in my area. It was through a university. And I logged on and I saw her name and she had a unique last name. And I messaged her very rudimentary text only saying, hey, are you the person that was? went to Such and Set School? And she said, yeah, and we talked for about 30 minutes on the computer back and forth.

And I said, well, this is silly. I'll just give you my phone number. And she's had my phone number ever since, Rachel. So, and it was just, I happened. And the funny thing was, this was in the very early days of personal computers. And it was when you had to, like, hook your phone to a phone line, you know. And I didn't use that computer for months. and I said, you know what, I'm going to fire up the computer tonight and go on, it was called Freenet.

I'm going to go on Freenet and I'm just going to, you know, scan around and see what's going on. If that had been a day before, day after, a couple hours before, a couple hours after my life is totally different. Totally different. Like that, it definitely happens if you're open to noticing it. That's true. Rachel, thank you for joining us tonight on the Camp Fire. Thanks for sharing your story and you stay spooky. Thanks, Jim.

Stay spooky. Thanks so much for joining us today on the Campfire. I appreciate it very much. Thanks to all of our storytellers. And if you'd like to join in on the fun, you can sign up to tell your story at jimherald.com slash campfire. Jimherald.com slash campfire. Please share the show with a friend.

It's so important. It's so important. Another thing, we have some library talks here in Northeastern Ohio coming up in September and October. So please go to Jimherald.com slash events to find out all the deets on that. Thank you so much. Thanks for tuning in and we'll talk to you next time. Have a great week, everybody. Stay safe.

And, of course, stay spooky. Bye-bye.