Jim Harold's Campfire - Something Was Speaking Through Him - Jim Harold's Campfire 759

Episode Date: April 30, 2026

Some of the strangest experiences don’t come with clear answers… just lingering questions that refuse to go away. In this episode, we hear a truly baffling story of a young child who, in the middle of an ordinary family trip, begins speaking in a way that feels completely out of place, almost as if someone—or something else—has stepped in. It’s the kind of moment that leaves everyone present stunned, searching for logic, and coming up empty. From there, the episode unfolds with stories that explore unseen forces, eerie encounters, and moments where reality itself seems to bend just enough to make you wonder what’s really going on beneath the surface. Whether it’s a sudden, overwhelming presence in a place that should feel safe, or a series of events that line up a little too perfectly, these stories carry that unmistakable Campfire feeling: unsettling, mysterious, and impossible to fully explain… but very real to the people who lived them. VIRTUAL CAMPFIRE GROUPJoin our FREE online community at ⁠https://virtualcampfiregroup.com⁠ YOUTUBE 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

Twizzlers keep the fun going. Yeah, I know. I just stopped whatever you were listening to to tell you that Twizzlers keep the fun going. Well, irony isn't my forte, but twisty, chewy, yummy Twizzler sure is. So think of Twizzlers as a little pallet cleanser for whatever's queued up, which, by the way, should be coming very soon. Like any second now. Okay, Twizzlers, time to keep the fun going.

Haunted houses and more on this edition of the Campfire. Sit back, relax, and warm yourself by Jim Harold's Campfire. What are those things about the campfire are these head scratcher stories, just ones that seem to come out of left field. They don't really make a whole lot of what we consider as logical sense. But yet they happen, and you're puzzled as to it. Well, why did that happen? What in the world's going on there?

And we have just such a story with Dee from Canada. We're so glad to have her on the line. Dee, welcome to the program. And this sounds amazing now. You've been listening since 2017, so thank you for that. But yeah, this is one of those that does kind of leave you scratching your head. Tell us what happened. I'll say.

Well, one thing that we learned in hindsight that I will share up front is that my son has a chocolate allergy and it causes sort of a panic attack reaction. It makes his heart race. and so he goes into fight, fighter freeze. Easily avoided now that we know that, but this is when he was seven, so around 13 years ago. And he was having this,

this was happening quite frequently. And so we thought, okay, we'll get him out into nature, we'll go camping, see if that settles his nervous system. And a friend of ours had a really rustic cabin off the grid, no running water. We thought it would be the perfect place, you know, take a break from screens. Sure.

And so off we go. And, of course, we brought chocolate to make s'mores. I mean, you're camping, right? Right, right. So, of course, the panic attack happened while we were up there. And so, but something that was different about when they happened at home versus when we were up at our friend's cabin was my son started to see. speak differently, went like he would have the panic and then he would sound like not like himself.

So he's seven years old, only ever watched Treehouse channel, very minimal exposure to, you know, other cultures and things. We hadn't traveled or anything. And he began to like sort of speak in other accents. And I mean, in many different ways, my husband and I started to notice and were like, did you notice? And he said, yeah, I noticed that. Like, okay, this is weird. So, but one in particular that stuck up to us, especially because he had no exposure to this accent before, was he started to speak like he was from the deep south. And it was during dinner. And yeah, he started speaking like an adult, not like a seven-year-old.

And with this southern accent and was criticizing my food, which he'd never eaten anything else. So that was surprising. He always liked my cooking, but he was talking about, you know, oh, it's so bland. How can anyone eat this? I'm not going to try and do the accent, just for the record, but I'll keep my dignity. But he, I also don't want to offend anyone doing it badly. But yeah, but he was saying, like, oh, your food is so bland. Like, oh, you're always talking about how protein is important.

Why are you always going on about protein? And, like, if you want me to eat it, you got to make it flavorful. like this is terrible, went on and on, like in the Southern accent and the, you know, the rest of the family were all just blinking at each other, like, what is going on? It was so bewildering. I didn't know what to make of it. We decided to end our camping trip early. It was starting to weird us out.

It was like not calming to anybody's nervous system. So we're like, okay, let's just go back home. And it was, it remained a mystery. to me what that was all about. And, you know, I kept trying to think of, like, could he have met someone at school? You know, like, could he have seen a show? I couldn't think of anywhere he would have even heard that. And even then, that doesn't explain why he suddenly didn't like his favorite food. So anyway, that just remained a mystery we lived with for the next 10 years. And 10 years later, I was hanging out with my girlfriends, including the friend who lent us her cabin.

And I didn't talk about this with people because it was like I thought they would just think I was nuts. So this was my first time telling her about what happened. I just decided to share the story. And so, you know, I let her know, you know, it was a really weird experience up there. And I told her about him speaking with the Southern accent. And she was like, that's someone on. I won't say the name. That's for anonymity.

But I said, what do you mean? That's so-and-so. She's like, oh, that's our friend. He died a few years ago before you went up. But we used to have a cooking contest, a barbecue contest, who could make the best spicy food. And so there was this fella and there was another woman who was from India. And they would compete with food from their cultures, trying to make the best. best, spiciest food. And they would do this every summer and try and outdo each other. And so she recognized, like, by my description, she recognized them. So you think that maybe to

some extent it's almost like he channeled this barbecue guy. That's what I'm thinking. I mean, it sounds crazy, but I don't really have another explanation. And our friend said, like, after telling me who she thought it was, she said, yeah, it's a bit of a portal up there. By the way. So apparently. I thought I would mention to you. You know, I'm going to throw something out there, and I've been thinking about this more lately, the question of reincarnation. Now, again, if somebody is a hardcore believer in reincarnation, I want to respect their beliefs. And maybe reincarnation is real, and maybe it is a thing.

But I want to throw out an alternate explanation that would describe a lot of the things that we hear from children and things about past lives. And maybe it could extend to something like this. I do believe that we are somehow kind of, and this is not an original idea, we're all tapped into this cosmic internet, and a collective mind kind of thing. And I believe, here's the analogy that I used, and I've used it many times. I remember when I got my first computer way back in 1990. I'm old. And I remember when I got it and it came, you know, this is when computers were just kind of getting going. And so it came with all these packages like Quicken and a basic word processor and stuff.

And you got all that stuff. And now it was all fine and that was cool to play with. But when the computer got a personality is when you took that phone line and you put it in the back of the computer down here in the States, we had something called Prodigy. Of course, there was also CompuServe. This is before the Internet really hit. But boy, tapping into that cosmic network really gave it, or not cosmic, but this international network. it was really before the web got going, really gave it a personality. And I think our brains like this. I mean, obviously, I mean, we learn stuff and we absorb stuff. But it's also like I would say like,

remember back in the day when he used to have those multi-mode stereos, you had the stereo that would have the cassette on it. It would have the, you know, the record player. Another old phrase. I miss those. And then it would have a radio. Now, here's the thing. You know, you could. could play basically the internal programs, your records and your tapes, but then when you turn to radio, you reached out. And I think our brains are like that. Our brains are a mix of stuff that we've programmed and we've learned and are in there. And then it connects to this cosmic network where we're all interconnected. That's why I think, you know, particularly if you're closed to someone, they can get injured and you somehow know it. Those kind of things. So you dial in.

So maybe when we hear these past life experiences, or maybe what happened to your son is not necessarily reincarnation, it might be tapping into that cosmic network and kind of channeling and pulling down those people, their memories, their thoughts from that cosmic internet. That's just kind of a working theory I have. Nothing particularly unique to me. I think other people have that theory. What do you think about that? That makes total sense to me as much as any of this ever makes sense. That's right. That's exactly right.

Yeah. I think I had my cooking insulted by a spirit. I'm okay with that. You need more chili powder, D more chili powder. Yeah, yeah. And what's interesting is my son, like we talk. about this recently and he he remembers saying those things and intellectually you know he understands that like it wouldn't make sense for him to complain about my food being

bland when that's all he'd ever eaten but he sort of remembers it like it didn't feel unusual to him he didn't feel like taken over right or anything dramatic but but he doesn't remember it happening and and he doesn't remember the accent either like that's something that the other three of us in the family objectively of observed, but he doesn't have a conscious memory of it, which is interesting. Well, it is kind of interesting when you have a seven-year-old Canadian talking like, you know, an adult barbecue master from the deep south for no reason, you know, particularly, you know, if he watched a TV show, you know, they have those TV shows, you know,

where they do barbecue competitions and those kind of things. You know, if he was watching Guy Fierry or something like that, I mean, you could see it, but you said he never was exposed. We were like a pure treehouse channel family. Yeah. There you go. That was it. Well, I say some of the best campfire stories under with a question mark and not a period.

D, thanks for sharing yours. And thank you again and stay spooky. It was my pleasure. Stay spooky, Jim. Welcome to the campfire. I am Jim Harold. And we are just getting started sharing stories about the paranormal from real people. talking about true encounters, strange encounters.

And we've been doing it for a long time now. We just celebrated, what, our 17th anniversary? Unbelievable, unbelievable. But here we are. Thank you to our storytellers. And today's episode is dedicated to a very special storyteller, Ian. Ian was scheduled to be with us once again to share another story. But unfortunately, we received the news from his brother, Paul.

that Ian had passed unexpectedly. And I'm just very, very sorry to hear this. And our hearts go out to the family and our thoughts go out to Ian and may he rest in peace. And I believe that Ian is probably out there exploring the mysteries that we ponder on this show. So, Ian, God bless you and God bless you and your family. And it is one of the tough things about doing this show and doing the shows in general is when we learn of an experience or a storyteller, a guest passing, and our hearts go out to them. I do hope in some small way, though, and I include myself in this, once I'm gone, I hope that the archive of shows lives on and it tells our stories, your stories, my stories, our guest's stories, and is another way.

that we all can live on in some small measure. And I believe we live on regardless of a podcast or not. But I hope, you know, I hope sometime 100 years from now, somebody dusts off a dusty hard drive somewhere and says, what's this? And they turn it on. It's like, oh, this is pretty interesting stuff. And speaks to the human condition,

whether we're talking about 26 or 2126. So God bless Ian. God bless his family. And this episode is dedicated to the memory of Ian. And actually, to all of our storytellers that we've lost over the years now that I think of it. I think that's a good idea. And I also have another good idea for you. Another show we do absolutely free wherever you watch or listen to this show is the paranormal report. That is the weekly show that I do with my bride, And every year, every year, every week, we delve into paranormal topics, UFOs, ghosts, Sasquatch, cryptids, whatever is in the news. It's a lot of fun. And we get really boisterous. We get really animated. It's very different than the feel of this show.

And we even argue a little bit, you know, on different points. We have different viewpoints. But I think it's a great way to get a review of what's going on in the world of the paranormal. and I include all that stuff in it. And I have some fun too. We'll have a laugh or two, usually at my expense. Deservedly so. But it's a lot of fun.

I really enjoy it. And I think you'll enjoy it too. I realize not a lot of people in this audience even know of that show. That show should be the kind of comments we get on that show. We get more comments on our YouTube comments per capita on that show than any other show, including the campfire. And I'm like, it should be bigger. and I've got to do a better job of getting the word out, and so we're getting the word out.

Check out the paranormal report. Tell me what you think. I hope that you enjoy it free wherever you watch or listen to this show. Again, I'll put it up there one more time, brand new artwork, the paranormal report. Get it wherever you get your podcasts. And special thanks goes out to Marcia Trent. She had sent over a mock-up of this concept of art. We took it and did a little bit of a tweak and

redesign, but the concept was her idea, great concept. It kind of says what the show is all about and does so in kind of a fun way, which is kind of what we try to do with that show. So thank you, Marcia. Thank you to everyone who is tuned into the paranormal report, and thank you to all of you, because I know you're all going to give it a try. And I know that you're going to give this show a try. You're back here at the campfire to listen or watch once again. And here we go with more great stories. We have a return caller. Turi is back from Vermont. We're so glad to have him on the show once again. And he had a haunted encounter. And he's going to tell us all about Turi. Welcome back to the show. Thank you for

joining us and tell us what happened. Thanks for having me, Jim. Yeah. This is, I love getting on the show. This is my third time. So hopefully this one's, I can match my other stories. But yeah, so anyways, so the story takes place actually pretty recently. It happened a holiday Night couldn't couldn't be a more perfect set. I know. Halloween Night 2025. So my brother and I have a tradition of going to, it's a haunt in Lee, New Hampshire.

It's called Haunted Overload. I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's one of the biggest haunts in New England, which is, I don't know if it says. I would think a pretty haunted place, especially if you talk to my friend Jeff Belanger. Yeah, absolutely. I got Jeff's book.

Yeah, he's great. on your recommendation. So yeah, I love it. And yeah, so this was our, I think, our third year now in a row going. And we have this kind of tradition now where we stay at this haunted inn called Three Chimneys Inn in in Lee, New Hampshire. It's about 10 minutes from the haunt. And it's a perfect setting. I mean, the inn is supposedly haunted. There's a spirit of a woman on the premises, whatever. So we get to the haunt, which is awesome, by the way. If anybody's out in the New Hampshire area every year for Halloween, for like the week of Halloween and Halloween night, check out Haunted Overload. It's a great, really scary, amazing set. And it's all based off

recommendations. So it's pretty impressive. But so the haunt gets over. We're talking probably around 11 o'clock p.m. A Halloween, well, the night, the eve of Halloween. And we get back to the hotel room, And my brother likes to go out and get a drink. I don't drink. But so he did his thing. He's like, I'm going to go out, pick up some dinner for us, grab a drink and check out. The town is right on UNH, University of New Hampshire campus. So he went and did that.

And I stayed in the room. And me being a lover of all spooky things, I crave for it. My brother's like the opposite. He doesn't want to have a paranormal experience, but I crave it. And so third year in a row at this in, nothing had happened. Um, but the vibe was perfect. It was raining, foggy, and it was approaching midnight.

And I was like, you know what? I'm going to go out, uh, film a little bit, um, and see if I can catch anything at the cemetery. So, because it was like, it was just, it was just too creepy the, the atmosphere. So I went out of the room and I walked over to the, uh, the cemetery. And actually, how many, how many old haunted inns have cemeteries on their plot? I think that's a pretty cool, rare thing. So that in itself was,

Awesome. So yeah, so I walk over to the cemetery. I can like barely see anything because it's super foggy and glue me out. And I kind of just make it to the ledge of the cemetery. It's kind of like there's a parking lot that they made for the hotel, which is probably super old too. And then like, I don't know, a five foot drop. And then you have the cemetery like just below you. So I'm just standing on the ledge and I'm whip out my camera. And I'm like, oh, how cool is this. Two minutes to Halloween. Here I am at this haunted inn and I'm trying to film this cemetery that I can see just barely in, in, and everything, the mood I remember was so, I was so excited. Like there wasn't any, like I was not really scared. I mean, I guess fun scared, but like, and I hadn't even stepped foot onto the actual ground of the cemetery. And my phone, I remember specifically like the order of events. My phone, it was raining. So, My phone cut out when I was filming. And it just shorted out from the raindrops hitting it, I guess.

And then I hear this strange sound, like somewhere in the close distance. Again, I can't really see much. But, and then immediately after I hear the sound, I think it, I don't even know how to describe it. But I think I was honestly forced out, attacked by an entity from the cemetery because I literally got, I don't really know how to describe it. It was like a harsh force of wind almost. It felt like and it was like penetrating my head, almost like a serious panic attack. And just every ounce of my being, I just started running. I was like, whoa, what is that? And I just booked it. I had never experienced a feeling like that before. And so I don't know if the, if the spirits in the cemetery were mad at me,

like kind of taking light at the, you know, at joking around with them on Halloween and make, right, because they're all super old graves in there. But I literally, I, my whole body felt ill. And like, like I said, I booked. I panicked. I ran back to the hotel room. I sat down. I was like, you know, like not hyperventilating, but I was just like, something felt really wrong.

And it seemed to attack. I don't know. I've never really heard of a spiritual entity attacking someone's like head. area or like pulsating like my brain. I don't I don't know how to describe it. All I can say is it felt like I was being pushed out physically by an unseen force from the area of the graveyard, just forced out. So you say you never had anything like this before? No. And I've had like a panic attack from like, you know, being in high school, maybe smoking a little too much or something weird like like that. But this came on out of nowhere. It wasn't like there was anything that I had done beforehand or and I like I

said the vibe was good i wasn't like scared out of my mind or anything i i was having a good time and then i just was hit with this overwhelming uh you know feeling and it just forced me to retract and run back to the room so i don't know i i don't know what what that was all about would you go would you under the same circumstances uh knowing what you know now having had that experience would you go back or you say you know i like spooky stuff but uh i'm not going back I'm going back. That night I even went back out. Nothing happened the second time. But because I was like, I like, I like being scared. But like I said, in this experience in particular, it was nothing that I like signed up for. It's just like I said, it's just.

Did you think maybe it was coming from a specific grave or a specific subset of graves or a certain area of the graveyard maybe? Kind of. Yeah. It kind of felt like a force of energy coming at me from my right. Like I said, it was just like the whole cemetery is in front of me. I don't know how long it was. It's basically like a huge rectangle. Not that big. But it felt like it was coming from the right side of me. And like I said, I was just like, whoa. And I just ran back to the room. And I called my brother. I was like, yo, for real, bro, I'm not even kidding around. I think I literally just got like attacked by a spirit. So it was crazy. When you went back, do you remember if you went back to the same area? Or did you go back to a different area? Yeah, I did.

Uh, kind of. Like, like I said, I never stepped foot into the actual cemetery until the next morning when there was, when it was daylight safety. Uh, but I kind of just like, you know, I went back outside and I was filming again and I, I was like, uh, kind of just slowly going toward the area. I don't even think I made it to like even the perimeter of the cemetery, but I just kind of like, tiptoed in that general direction. I was like, you know, just kind of, but I didn't sense anything weird that time. I was just kind of like. but so i wanted to mention too one thing the noise that i heard i found out what that was the next morning um i heard the noise again and it was a rooster uh it was there's a rooster farm off of the cemetery property so there was like some rooster uh playing around so it was the sound of a rooster that i heard which kind of because i didn't you know if you've heard a rooster crow it's kind of a weird noise yeah and usually it's in the morning more than it would be at night like that yeah and i and i look that up too and and they say yeah generally in the morning it can happen at night but usually when they're under distress or when they're you know stressed out or whatever and maybe the ghost was

i mean i'm not being funny maybe the ghost or the presence or whatever was freaking out the rooster maybe yeah you know or they could sense the energy yeah something like that because it happened like i said it all happened in a matter of seconds everything was perfectly fine until i i just can't describe it but it was definitely felt like a force. Like I was being, you know. It's interesting. When you go to those old graveyards, they're very interesting. And it really, I don't know, it's a different kind of feel.

I've never hit anything scary like that. But I remember when we went to England several years back before the pandemic and seeing those very old graveyards is like, this guy was around in like 1549 or something. It was just crazy. But then you remember, these were real people. This is not a cartoon. It's not fake. It's not, you know, the haunted mansion graveyard.

These are real graves with real people who had real lives. And it's kind of like it makes you think how quickly all of it goes. And I know even like where my parents lived, there was a little graveyard up on the side of a hill right across from the house. And it's the funniest thing when my parents got that house, there had been trees and stuff, right? Because they were down in a valley. There's a road and then there's a hill above the road. and on the hill it was all trees. Well, after they got the house, somebody cut down the trees, you know what was there.

It was a graveyard. And the funny thing is that because I went there a lot as a kid, it was a very inexpensive second. See, both of our houses would have been added up in less than the average American house. My parents had talent for buying very cheap houses. So for whatever reason. So anyway, this house, I mean, after a while the graveyard was there you didn't even think about i mean you could literally look up and see

the graveyard you became so because i used to go there every summer and you came so used to it you didn't even it didn't even phase you you know you would think living across from a graveyard would freak you out but you didn't even think about it after a while it was the weirdest thing that is weird i think for me i probably would think about it a lot something about graveyards like my cousin my cousin has a house in uh long island and it's a nice property they have And they found, like, when they first moved in, like, 25 years ago, we were kids and we were out in the woods and we found these old gravestones. They had buried their pets on the property. And so I just always think about that.

Like when I was there, you know, sleeping at night and just lying in bed, thinking about the graves on the property. It's just something spooky. It is. Well, the thing about that that struck me, it must have been like, you know, when they had the Spanish flu, like 1918 or whatever it was, because there were all like these small children. and, you know, they died within like six months of being born and things and just really, really sad. But, yeah, something to think about. Tori, thank you so much for sharing this spooky graveyard story. And I don't think I have to tell you, but stay spooky.

All right. Thanks, Jim. Tony is on the line from the Commonwealth of Virginia. And, you know, it's interesting because he said he was at a local establishment. He was sharing this story. He's going to share with us with a friend about a year ago. And the person he told to said, hey, that's a great story. That sounds like something you need to share on Jim Harold's Campfire.

And I think Tony was kind of like, well, what's Jim Harold's Campfire? He tuned in and here he is. So Tony, thank you so much. I appreciate it. And as I understand it, this is about weird occurrences at the family home. And we're going to tell us all about those weird occurrences. Thank you for joining us and tell us what happened. Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely. So I should preface this story by saying that one, the house was built in the 50s, like the early 50s, 19, I think it was 1952, if I'm not mistaken. And so it was built obviously during a very different time. And one of the things that we moved into the house, we're only the second owners of that house. The first owners are obviously the people that built the house. But one of the things that stuck out to my parents when they went in close on the house is that the deed itself, actually was a racially discriminatory deed to the house. Yeah, and so it was pretty common back in the day, especially like in the South, but also I read an article recently about California

where there were deeds that would essentially preclude certain groups, mostly black people from actually living in the houses, until the Fair Housing Act. I think it was like 68, I believe. Yeah, that's a terrible thing. I think they used to call it redlining. Yeah, it's very unfortunate. very unfortunate. But go ahead. I'm sorry.

And so the house itself, when my parents, they told us, obviously, when we got older, but when they went to, you know, sign all the paperwork and everything, and, you know, they were able to see the original deed of the house. And sure enough, it was one of those deeds. And so that was, like, really interesting for me in high school, just like learning that for my parents. I was like, wow, that's pretty interesting. As far as the house itself, like all throughout childhood, we all had different experiences with the house. So my sister and I, like, we would always just feel really weird. Like, there were just weird feelings that we would have all throughout the night.

Like, it was almost like when you were walking through, like, the living room, somebody was watching you. And obviously, like, we didn't see anything, but we could just, we felt like some eyes were on us as we were walking through the living room. Also, it's probably of note that the last owner of the house actually passed away in my parents' bedroom. Oh. Yeah. So that was something that they told us later on, too. And we were like, oh, yeah. Surprise.

You know, there's a, there used to be, I don't know what it is, but there's a site you can go and you can put in your address and they'll tell you if somebody physically died in your house. But go ahead. I'm sorry. Yeah. So we found out that she died in the house. And like, so that was like, but then we found that out like later on after we had already been talking about how weird we were feeling in the house. But anyway, like the, so more things that were happening in the house. My dad, his experience with the house is that he would always see at the bottom of the stairs and like the, and kind of like almost in the darkness, he would always see like just a weird glow like at the bottom of the stairs.

Like it was somebody trying to come up the stairs, but they would always just stand right there. And he would always see it late at night. My mom's experience, she probably had the creepiest one of them all. she had just put my sister and I, like, she had just made us turn our TVs off. We were going to bed and everything like that. And she obviously, my dad worked at night. He worked the graveyard shift. So she would, you know, make sure the house is locked up and everything like that,

tuck us in, send us to bed and everything. While she was in the room one night, she was, you know, just reading her Bible and everything. And all of a sudden, the bottom of the bed, like where her feet were, sunk down, like somebody sat on the bed with her. Oh, man. I'd be out of there so fast. Your mom's a stronger person than I am. But go ahead.

Yeah. And so it sunk down. And so she just started screaming. Like she started like quoting like Bible verse. She started screaming. She just like essentially lost it. Like kind of woke me and my sister up. We were like, what's going on?

She like turned every light on and like the back of the house. She was like freaking out. And outside of that, when we were walked through the backyard at night, it was always the same feeling we got. walking through the living room. It was like somebody was watching us walking through the backyard. So we always had these weird feelings in the house. The biggest thing is what culminated in, it was 2012, 2013. I always forget exactly the year it happened. But I was just down visiting my parents. I got an off work and instead of going home, I went straight down to visit my parents.

And my mom, she was like in the kitchen and something just drew me to this cabinet in the kitchen. And it was like one of the cabinets that like we just, it's a junk cabinet. Like everything just is thrown in there, old pots and pans and stuff and you just forget about it. Well, I just started like going through this cabinet. And all the way in the back of the cabinet was this extremely old Bible. It was like it was almost like it was like hide cow hide or something like that. It was just really old. And my parents were like, I've never seen that before.

I was like, where did this thing come from? And so I took it out and I like opened it. I was like, wow, this is interesting. So I opened it up. And sure enough, it was the previous owners of the house. It was their entire family tree. And it was dating back to like the 1800s. And you could just see names, their birth dates and death dates just written in by hand, like all the way back to like the, I think it was like the early to mid-1800s is when it began.

And so I was like, wow, this is kind of cool. Like maybe we could put this on like the dining room table. So we put it on the dining room table. Yeah, exactly. I put it on the dining room table. And at this point, so we moved into this house in 92, 91 or 92. This happened in 2012, 2013. I put it on the dining room table about a week later,

we received mail for the previous owner of the house. We just get a random letter in the mail. So like it was like AARP, but it was for like, I don't know if I can say the name of the person. You don't need to say the name, but it's the same, it's the same name. Okay. Okay. But yeah, so it showed up for her. And we were like, we haven't received any mail from this person since we moved into this house.

That's like really odd that that just happened. And I didn't even think about like the vibe. I was like, oh, that's really interesting. Like that just happened after we've been in this house for like well over 20 years. So, yeah, that happened. And then about two weeks later, I get a frantic call from my mom and my dad, and I'm like, what's going on? The entire kitchen burned down in the house. Oh, my Lord.

And when they, like the, so they were clearing the house out and everything. And one of the things, like, that's when I started thinking, I was like, okay, so these two weird occurrences just happened or whatever. And then I started thinking, I was like, wait, where is that Bible? Because like now I'm superstitious. I'm like, where is that Bible? So after like the, you know, going and clear out the kitchen and everything like that, I go into the living room. I'm like, we need to get this thing out of here. It is gone.

It is not on the table anymore. Like, I don't know if somebody grabbed it and moved it. But this thing was gone. I had to this day, I still, my mom doesn't know what happened to it. My dad doesn't know what happened to a sister. Like, none of us know what happened to this old Bible. But after like the fire and after the crew cleared out everything, it was no longer. on the table.

And after the fire happened, obviously my parents, they had to be out the house for a while while they were like renovating the kitchen and everything. Sure. But all four of us noticed that there is no longer any weird feelings in that house. Like we don't have any, like I walk through the backyard. I don't feel like anybody's staring at me. I walk through the living room. I don't feel like anybody staring at me.

And I don't know if that was the previous owner's last stand. I don't know exactly. So do you think that the previous owners were maybe antagonistic against you and your family? Yeah, potentially. And also our dog, too. She would always bark at random walls. And she would also bark in my parents' room all the time. She would look in my parents' room and just bark.

Even sometimes if people weren't even in there, she would just start barking in my parents' room. Just like, look through the door and just start barking. So we were like, yeah, this is like the house. all had a feeling that something was going on that house supernatural, but we didn't have any really strong sightings, but it was just maybe little things that, you know, we would catch a glance up here and there, but we were just, like, chalking up, like, my mind's playing tricks on me. Do you think that the fire was potentially caused by whatever was haunting the place? Do you think it played a role potentially, or was it something that was easily explainable?

So the, I think the fire department, I think they said something was. was with the stove, like the stove was like malfunctioning or something like that. It wasn't on, though. So like nobody had used the stove that entire day. It wasn't on. It just like somehow some wiring or something like that with the stove they said just caught on fire or something like that. Do you guys think that the ghosts caused it somehow, maybe, possibly? Yeah, it's possible.

Like the fact that everything went on around the same time, like the, I find the Bible, I get the letter. It is weird that all stopped afterwards. You know, it is weird that it seems like a weird coincidence that it stopped everywhere. But it sounds like nobody was hurting that fire, right? My dad, he hurt himself because he didn't notice it until he was, like, leaving the house. And so he, like, saw, like, all this smoke, like, billowing out of the kitchen. He left out of a different door in the house. He was about to go somewhere.

And then as he, like, turned back to look at the house, he saw, like, all the smoke billowing from the kitchen. So he tried to get his key to open the door. door and like he just was like oh no screw this until he punched the glass out with his hand and cut his hand well luckily it was anything you know i'm sure that wasn't good but you know at least did nobody got burned or smoke inhalation or nothing like that but man well i'll tell you you know i think most of the time that i've talked to people i think that ghosts or spirits are like neutral to nice. But I do think sometimes, you know, if somebody resents your presence or something or, you know, they feel it's their house and nobody else should have it, you know, I think that it could go the other way.

I think it could go the other way. And what I've always heard is, what I'm going to psychics and things, they say that, you know, we think all people, you know, they pass away. And if there's spirits around, all of a sudden they became angelic and all this stuff. And they said, no. Really, a person is the way in death that they are in life. If a spirit is kind and nice and friendly, that's the way they're going to be when they're a spirit. If they're not so kind, they're not so nice, and they're not so friendly,

that's going to be the way they are in spirit. And unfortunately, Tony, it seems like maybe you and your family ran into one like that. Mm-hmm. Yeah. We just, we gave, we assumed it was the previous owner of the house, the woman that passed away. We assumed it was her, we were like, so we were just joking.

call, like, say her name. Sometimes we're like, just to try to, you know, like, make it less creepy. We would just randomly say her name. And we're like, yeah, we're pretty sure that's her. Like, that is 100. Hey, Betty. Cut it out. Well, Tony, thank you so much. And I don't know what her name is.

We don't need to know her name. But thank you so much, Tony. I appreciate it. Thank you for listening. So glad that that person told you, if you ever see him again, tell him. I said thank you. And stay spooky. Thank you.

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Next up, we have a repeat caller, Michael from Oklahoma, and we're so glad to have him with us again. And, you know, I do believe there are certain people who have psychic gifts. And perhaps Michael may just be one of those people. He's going to tell us about some examples. in his life. Michael, welcome back to the show. Thank you. I always love it when people come back. That's very kind.

We didn't scare them away the first time, but we really appreciate and we appreciate all of our storytellers because without our storytellers, there is no show. Michael, please talk to us about these psychic abilities. Yes, well, I've always been interested in psychic ability, and so I've done a lot of research as a kid.

I was always reading books about how to test for that And it seemed like whenever I would try to test myself just out of curiosity with like cards and predicting what card would come up next, I could never get it right. And one day I saw something that like never getting it right would also be a sign that maybe you were psychic. So I never really gave up on that. And it seems like throughout my life, any time I've, even when I've moved completely new social circles and everything, somehow the word gets around that I'm psychic. and I don't know exactly how that starts. I know there have been a number of times and I'll be like driving down the road.

Seems like whenever I'm in a group, I always end up being the one driving. And I'll just have a feeling I need to change lanes and all of a sudden the truck in front of me will have a ladder fly out the back of the truck or something. And if we hadn't changed lanes, why it would have been impacted by that. So there are a lot of little examples like that,

but it's hard to pin down specifically what's caused each of the different groups that I've been in to believe that I'm psychic. Right. But it always seems like they come up with the idea I don't present it to them. So there's always been more things like that. When I was in junior high, I had a dream about kissing a girl, and it was very vivid, and it's one of those dreams that just sticks in your head for a long time.

Sure. And I met this woman in 2000, who I married, of course, and as soon as I kissed her, like, I remember it immediately. went back to that dream. It was her. Same kiss, same everything. And my wife and I both had dreams about our daughter before she was born and what she was going to look like, the hair, color, style length and all that. And she was born, and we both matched it exactly. Wow.

One of the examples that fits my memory the most is I'll be reading a book that just came out. And I'll know everything's going to happen in the book. I could tell you the characters, their names, exactly how the plot's going to play out. And I almost don't want to read the book, but then I do because I want to see if, like, have I read this before?

How could I read before? It just came out. But that's happened to me several times. The most prolific example that relates to something that somebody else experienced in college I was working in the cafeteria and I was standing in front of a tile wall washing dishes at a sink and my boss who I had not seen it all that day came in behind me and she said are you really psychic and without missing to be for some reason I immediately said

you're pregnant she had just stanged out that day and had not told anybody yet oh wow huh now so I mean it sounds like you you agree with these people you you feel that You do have these psychic abilities. Something is going on. I sometimes wonder if maybe like in the movie psych or the TV show, Scyke, where he's just hyper-observant, if maybe I'm doing something like that subconsciously. Right.

And I'm picking up on little cues. Right. For example, the woman being pregnant, maybe there was something very, very subtle about her physicality. But that wouldn't explain things like dreams, though, Michael. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how to explain it. I just wish that it was something that I could do at will or on command. Mm-hmm. Have you ever thought about doing any training or anything like that? Would you be interested in trying to hone those psychic gifts? Is that something that appeals to? You're just kind of like, well, I'll take it as it comes.

I would like to, but I kind of feel a little bit like, you know, in the Bible it talks about not testing the Lord your God. I feel like maybe there's something to this. as well. If you, like, try to test it or force it, it just isn't going to happen. It's not going to work. Right. Right. Right. I do believe, I mean, I've said it many times on the shows, I believe that almost everybody has some ability in terms of picking up on stuff. But I think it's like kind of catch as catch can. Sometimes you do. Sometimes you don't. It sounds like, and then on the other continuum, they're like these LeBron James, Steph Curry, you know, Tom Brady superstars of psychic ability and they you know they just

have it and then it sounds like you might be between like somebody like me like a normal person who might once in a while get a little inkling and that psychic superstar you're like longer on the continuum closer to the psychic superstar it's kind of what it sounds like like you might have

above average abilities you might not be quite at that psychic superstar point yet does that sound about right if that sounds exactly right and if I could if I had some way that I thought I could unlock or hone those skills, I absolutely would take the opportunity to try. Well, I'd be interested other people out there who have had kind of psychic flashes.

You know, I mean, I've had a couple of things that have happened. My favorite story of me of almost predicting something was, and I've told this on the show, and it's in one of the books, I think book one or two. When I was 18 years old or something, 17 or 18, I was in West Virginia where my parents were originally from. We would go every summer and visit. And I was walking with this young lady. And there was this big log truck parked on the side of the road. And it was a very rural area.

And we split up and I walked on one side and she walked on the other. And just as I was right near where the logs were, I'm like, for some reason, Jim, you need to get away from this truck. So I kind of quicken my pace a little bit. And then, you know, I forgot about because I was trying to impress this young lady, you know, to show how, you know, how charming I was. This is on our walk. We went about 10 or 15 feet. And then all the logs on the truck fell off on the side. I was walking.

Wow. Final destination. Yeah. So the question was, it was exactly what you said actually. I've always questioned was it A Was it me maybe hearing the chain starting to creak under pressure

And just kind of subconsciously Taking that in and And saying hey you need to go away from this Or was it some kind of psychic warning Or was it maybe like some kind of warning From a guardian angel or a past loved one Or something like that But it happened

I mean there's no guy This is not something I dream This is not something I came up with after I started doing the shows. My God, this had to be 1989 or something or 88 or 87, 88, somewhere. I mean, this was a long time ago. I'm old. But the point is that it's way before podcasting, way before I knew I was going to do anything like this. But that was one of those ones where I thought, man, you know, thereby the grace of God, you know, that that could have been it for me.

That could have been it. Well, Michael, thank you so much for the call. I appreciate it. And please keep us up to date. If you have any more of these psychic flashes and events, please keep us up to date. And always, thank you for coming back on the show. Stay spooky. Stay spooky, Jim. Thank you. Katrina is on the line from Connecticut. She's been listening to us well since the pandemic time. So many people found the shows at that time. And an awful thing. But hopefully, you know, we helped a few people to occupy. a few hours and maybe get their mind off of all the chaos in the world. And Katrina was doing a lot of painting back then. She listened to a lot of campfire at that time. So we're glad we helped her through the painting. And I've always said on the shows that there are dreams, like, you know, the dreams we have when we go supermarket and then we dream that we're flying on ahead of lettuce that night. You know, kind of the junk dreams. But then there's other dreams that are more meaningful

than that. And we're going to talk about one such dream. Katrina's with us to talk about it. Katrina, welcome to the show. Tell us what happened. Thank you for having me. So I don't, during the dream or this experience during sleeping, I don't really remember seeing anything or like being in the scene that I was dreaming about. It was more of a feeling that woke me up, a complete terror. I mean, I've had those before where I woke up with a start. but I have never felt anything like this in my life.

And I woke up at a little before 4 in the morning on July 4th last year. And when I woke up or right before I woke up, I remember thinking, oh, oh, it's coming. It's coming. And there's nothing we can do about it. It's coming. And we're done. We're doomed. Wow.

I kept that feeling that I was completely doomed. And I thought I woke up at four and stayed awake because I couldn't even go to sleep after that. And later that morning, I hadn't watched the news. We were busy getting ready for Fourth of July. And I talked to my neighbor across the street. And I told her, oh, my gosh, I've been up since four. You know, I had such terror and doom of a feeling. And she had woken up around that time, too.

And with that same feeling, oh, my God, here it comes. And we can't get out of the way. And then a little later in the morning, I saw the news, and I read about the terrible flood at Camp Mystic in Texas, which so, so sad. Very sad. And I told my husband about this and he said, you know, you need to honor that experience. You know, like it's something.

It's you just don't wake up like that. Right. With that crazy feeling of gut-wrenching terror. And then I slowly made the connection. I never thought that I would experience something like that. But around the same time that I was woken up with that feeling, that's when the flood started to happen at Camp Mystic. And I have to make that connection. I, it was terrible. And, you know, those poor kids and the counselors, so sad. Horrible. And, but I, I tend to agree with you

because, I mean, again, it falls into one of my favorite phrases. As you know, Katrina, too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence. Now, let me ask you this. And we've had other stories of this, we've had stories of 9-11 and so forth where people have premonitions or they somehow fall attached to it. Did you have any particular connection to Texas or this camp or any of this? No, nothing. I don't know very many people from, I know a few people who live in Texas, but I don't know. I didn't know a camper. I didn't know a counselor. It was just, I've never felt anything like that before in life. So how do you explain it? What are your thoughts? Either I was

tuned in for some reason I was tuned in and I felt what they were feeling that's the for lack of a better knowledge of how those things work I

I was feeling it I felt what they must have been feeling right you know I believe that there is this universal consciousness that we all tap into. I kind of think of it as like a psychic internet. And it's not an original thought by any means.

What is it? Young, the collective unconscious. So this is a very common thought, but I think there is a psychic internet. And sometimes, you know how like with a radio, like old AM radios, a certain time of night or something you tune in and let's say you're in Hartford, Connecticut,

and all of a sudden you can hear a station in Nashville, Tennessee. It's propagation where the waves bounce off the thing and they go further than they normally go. I think, and I just thought of this analogy, and I think it's a good one. I think there's sometimes where we kind of get that with our mental makeup and our thought process

and our psychic ability, that sometimes there's like this psychic propagation. Boy, that's pretty good. I don't know, I really like that. I think I just came up with that. But like this psychic, propagation where basically what happens is for whatever reason, whether it's maybe it's a loved one or something just clicks or something, for some unknown reason we have like these

psychic skywaves, this psychic propagation where we tune in to something bigger. Dr. Dean Radin has done some interesting work and they've put different sensors and things out and done measurements, and they could see before big world events that there's like this kind of psychic uptick. And he's a Ph.D. I mean, he's a serious guy, Dr. Dean Radin, R-A-D-I-N. I suggest everybody look him up. He's been on the shows before.

But anyway, I think that's what happens is I think sometimes maybe it's that event is so strong. I don't know why, but for some reasons, we tap in and have that. that psychic propagation and were hooked in for a while. And that's what I think probably happened to you. I remember it wasn't my story, but my roommate from college, she had a dream about the Challenger disaster in 86. And we, you know, we didn't,

we had like a little black and white TV in our room, in our apartment. And I just turned it on just to have some background sound. And there was coverage of right when it happened. And she was listening to the radio at the same time. And she came running out of her room. And she said, I dreamed about that last night. I can't believe it.

So I do know that it happens. And it happened to me and it happened to my roommate years ago. And it devastated her. Well, I believe it happens. And it sounds like it certainly happened to you. Thank you for sharing your experience today, Katrina. I'm so glad you found us. Glad we were able to help you through that painting project you were telling me about beforehand.

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Visit edc.ca to learn more. Tatiana is up next from Arkansas, and she has a fascinating story. She was referred to us by Christine and M over at, and that's why we drink. Be sure to listen to their great podcast. And Tatiana has a story here. It's a particularly interest to me. I explained to her that I am a big 20th century history buff, particularly very interested in the

events of November 22nd, 1963, when we lost President Kennedy. And I, for one, think that's when a lot of things in this country started to go south when that happened. And just to be clear, I wasn't around then. I don't want to make myself older than I am, but I do think that was a crucial and a very sad turning point. And Tatiana has a very sad turning point. and Tatiana has a very interesting experience, a very personal connection. So Tatiana, first of all, thank you for listening. Thank you for joining us. And tell us what happened.

Thank you, Jim. So this happened about, let's see, March of 2023, I want to say. My husband and I went to Dallas, and this wasn't the first time I had been there. I'd been there not at the museum, but in the area when I was about 16. So this was my second time back there, his first time. And we went to the museum, had a great time. I highly recommend going. It's affordable.

And it's a really good time. A lot of good information that I did not know. Right. And we were outside kind of walking near the grassy knoll and all that. And we were right at the spot where President Kennedy was assassinated. And they have, I don't know if. People have been there before, but they have these exes in the street to show you where he was shot. And it's kind of at like a weird intersection sort of thing.

And people were standing in the middle of the street and it's busy. It's Dallas. And I just kind of got this wave of just kind of like that general sickness just because people were kind of grinning and like taking thumbs up photos in front of where someone died. and it just felt wrong and I think most people kind of feel that way too so I didn't really think much of it and right as I stepped parallel to that X I got just out of nowhere a sharp pain

that went from the back of my neck out through the front of my eye and it was almost like the best way I can describe it is almost like having an immediate pull just sent through your eye and through the back of your head. Oh my word. And it was just kind of like a weird burning and electrical sensation. Definitely different from a migraine.

I'm fortunate to not suffer with migraines or anything or frequent headaches. So this was just really weird. And I kind of grabbed my neck and put my head down. And my husband was like, you look just like the photo. Oh, my. Lord. As soon as I stepped out of that X, it went away. And every time I walked back, that pain would come back. So, I mean, the kind of obvious question is, is that do you think you were kind of channeling a little bit of the pain that President Kennedy had that day? Do you think that's what was going on? I definitely think there was a connection there of some kind. My husband pointed it out.

to me that it was just like that. And he was like, you're feeling the pain from the back of your head out through the front. And I was like, yeah. And, yeah, I don't really know why it didn't happen to me when I was there when I was 16. Maybe going to the museum was a different factor. So. Do you feel in general that you were psychically sensitive or you tend to pick up on things from people? reluctantly so

Yeah Well that's remarkable That's remarkable And I think it sounds like to me you have a real appreciation for the history But I bet you after that You even had a greater appreciation Maybe and maybe it made even more of an impact Is that a fair statement?

Absolutely It definitely made Visiting Historical sites It made me kind of prepare a little bit more when I go there just in case something like that happens because it just it feels like it's random and I don't have any prior connection with these people or prior intense interest in their stories until I hear about it and then sometimes something might pop up. So definitely increased my interest in the specifics of history.

It's interesting because I believe this is the second story we've had regarding the JFK assassination on the campfire. And I'm remembering just the vague detail. So if I get something wrong and anybody out there has heard this story and I'm misstating anything, I apologize. But the caller, I believe, and this was a few years ago, it might have been before you started listening or it might have been shortly after, but it's been a few years. He had taken his son to some type of museum. Maybe it was the Henry Ford Museum. I'm not sure up in Detroit or up in Dearborn, I think it is. and that car that President Kennedy was in was the Lincoln Continental, which of course is manufactured by Ford.

And they had some kind of trinkets and things that you could get out of like a bubblegum machine. And for some reason, I think this is what he said. And if I'm wrong, folks, I apologize. It's just off the top of my head. That they had like a bust of Kennedy's head that you could get from the thing. It was like a commemoration. A little souvenir, Chatsky thing.

But I think it would actually make it. I'm not sure if it like, it wasn't like fully formed like you put the money in or something and it would create. I'm not sure. But when it came out, it had the red color at the side of its head or on its head. Like the item had, you know, and I think he even went to the point of saying, hey, you know, my child got this and this is very disturbing. Let's, you know, I don't know

if he wanted his money back or another one or what it was, but it was just a weird thing that that came across that way. And the artifact was there. The physical car, the president, was assassinated and was there. That's my recollection of the story. So, you know, there are,

you know, there may be a history. I'd be curious if anybody else has had any experiences like this. But I do believe, just like theaters are haunted, you know, many times it's discussed because there's so much emotion. Hospitals, life, death, birth, death, happy, sad, you know, obviously institutions, mental institutions, those kind of places. This is a place where there was a ton, a ton of emotion, sadness. So I got to believe somehow that leaks through. Tatiana, thank you so.

so much for joining us tonight on the Camp Fire and stay spooky. Thanks, Jim. Stay spooky. Before we get back to the next great story, I want to ask you to join my Plus Club. And basically the Plus Club is the thing that powers what we do. But more importantly for you, as a Campfire fan, it is the key that unlocks the whole treasure trove of all the Campfire episodes going back to 2000. We just recently had our anniversary, and, you know, we've produced over 750 episodes of the campfire. But over 740 of those are not accessible to you unless you are a plus club member.

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Join us, jimherald.com slash plus. Jimherald.com slash plus. And now back to the next great campfire story. Next up on the campfire is Kathy from Maryland. and she's one of those folks who lived in a house. Well, she may have had some unexpected house guests, let's say, and she's going to tell us all about. Kathy, thank you so much for joining us from the great state of Maryland

and tell us what happened. Thank you, Jim, and thank you to Dar and all your team. It's really great to be here. Thank you. So thank you. So I'm going to be looking over. I wrote some cliff notes to kind of keep it brief because I know I know we're on a schedule here.

So my story starts in 1990. I drove to a small town on the eastern shore of Maryland. I was interviewed to be a public school teacher, and I was hired, and it was a wonderful career. When I went to the small town, the Board of Education at the time it had been built in like 1910, so it had that nice early 20th century architecture. I went in for my interview. I came out. I was still kind of pumped up. So I sat in my car and I kind of like looked around and checked out the neighborhood around me. And I was really smitten with this three-story home that was right next door to the Board of Education.

And this home I found out later was built in 1889. But I remember sitting there looking at it thinking, oh my God, that home is beautiful. I would love to live in a place like that. Well, lo and behold, three years later, I did find myself living in there. And as I said, it was built in 1889. It was clean-and style. It had a large wraparound front porch and beautiful maple trees, like a park-like setting in the front. It was just absolutely wonderful. It had been cut up into like five apartments in the middle of the 20th century. And the apartment that I rented had been owned by the landlady.

It was huge. It had like an entryway in the front that had been blocked off in terms. changed, that had been turned into a dining room. There had been two twin parlors on either side. One of the parlors had been turned into my living room. So I remember shortly after I moved into the apartment, I felt like I was being watched and kind of observed. And there was a large wooden staircase going from the living room up into the second floor of the apartment. And one day I was cleaning it. I was actually like down on my hands and knees scrubbing with like Murphy's oil soaking water. And I felt like somebody was watching me. Huh. So I stood up and I turned around and I

didn't see anything. But I had this impression of a woman standing in the middle of the living room, kind of staring up at me and kind of judging me. Like, what are you doing here? What are you in my space for? That was the feeling of God. That's, that's kind of freaky. You know, it's one thing, because we've had calls, we just had a call recently. Someone, you know, kind of a friendly ghost, you know, and that's kind of nice or whatever. But then when they start judging you and getting all judgy, wow, ooh. It didn't feel unfriendly, but it felt like somebody felt like I was in their space. So even though I felt ridiculous saying this, I'm like, you know, ma'am, I'm in your face.

I know this is your home, but now it's my home. and I promised to take really good care of it. And I just went on with my day. So a few months after that, I adopted a beautiful dog named Shadow. And Shadow was just really calm, really quiet. Again, I'm on that stairwell, and I'm walking down into the living room, and I see Shadow sitting in the middle of the living room looking up, like, you know, have dogs smile.

And I felt like she saw something too. So I was like, okay, Shadow, tell the lady I said hi, because I can't see her, went on with my day. And, and you know, that feeling, it got less and less. But I never really felt like I was alone in that apartment. So years later, I was weeding in the back. there were like old gardens that had been kind of abandoned. And one of the neighbor ladies and I, we would go out there and clean them up. And there were these hydrangeas back by my back kitchen door, which was the entry into my apartment.

And I was weaving them. And I found this little button. And it was kind of smashed and it was tin, I think. And it had like an anchor and a rope on it. And I thought, that looks like a naval insignia. That's really cool. So I took it in the house and I showed it to some friends and I forgot about it. and then a few months later I was out weeding again

and this time I was in like an iris bed in the backyard and I felt like somebody was walking toward me couldn't see anybody but I had the sense that it was this really tall man walking toward me I looked up and I thought no you're imagining things it was just a shadow from a tree back there right when I went about my business didn't think anything more of it but kind of felt like, you know, I was experienced residual hauntings, for lack of a better word, from people that had inhabited that space.

I didn't think they were interacting with me at all, but I felt like I was picking up on something. So the final thing that happened to me, and this was the one that really did scare the hell out of me, later on that summer, in the lower floor, there was no air conditioning. this was the early 1990s. And there was no air conditioning. So I would keep the windows open at night. Well, one night I fell asleep on the sofa, watching TV. I guess I got up at like two or three in the morning.

I walked into what had been the original entryway. This was now currently my dining room. In the front of this dining room, you could see there was like a marble slab where the two doors that entered the house originally had been, but in the 30s, I think, it had been converted into windows that faced out. Now, these were casement windows. So in order to close them, I had to take the, there were like little latches and there were two screens and you had to pull the screens inward into the home and then you had to reach out and pull these casement windows shut, right? So I shut one, no big deal. I go to shut the next one and this hand like reaches toward me. And it's like a white,

it's like a white, gray hand and it's got this sleeve. And on the sleeve are these like three braided stripes. And I actually shrieked him. Oh, I guess I would. The captain came to get you. Or I don't know. I should know that, but I don't know what that rank is. But dang. I don't know. I don't know. I'm missing that because I found that button. I had. I had, you know, months before that, I had found the button with the insignia, and then I saw this apparition. This is the only time I saw something. The arm came and it had the stripes on the sleeve. Whoa.

I think, and it was, it was, it was so random. You know, I had forgotten about the button. I had forgotten about other things that happened. But then I see this, you know, this arm, and it faded, and I shrieked, shut everything, ran upstairs, and I did not sleep well that night. Well, years later, the house was sold to a local family, and they took it from being five apartments into being a multi-generational home. So at this time, I'm now working part-time. I'm still teaching, but I'm also working part-time as a cashier in a hardware store. And the gentleman who bought the property comes in, and he's buying stuff, you know, and fix up his house.

And I said to him, hey, have you had any weird experiences? in the building and he's like he kind of gives me this kind of like side eye and he goes no I haven't but my daughter has so she shows up about a week later and she proceeds to tell me that she's seeing shadows moving now they're doing renovation so they're moving things I don't know if they removed walls and the structure I don't know what they did but she seemed to feel that there was a presence there also and now I told her about my experience And her eyes got really big. Apparently, she had gone down into the basement of the building, found an old photo

album, and she found a picture of a woman sitting on the front steps, probably like in the 40s or 50s, I don't know. Yeah. And next to her stood a tall gentleman, and he was wearing what appeared to be a naval uniform. Oh, that ties it together with a bow. Wow. He was really upset over losing that button.

That's what it was. But go ahead. I don't know. But when she told me her version of what she saw, I thought, okay, well, good. I'm not the only weirdo that experience things there. Well, I'm proud to be a weirdo. And I don't think we are weirdos. I think we're just people who are open to what the universe is really all about.

which is a lot of things we don't understand. Kathy, thank you so much for sharing your story. I know you were a little nervous. You did a great job. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. You too, Jim. Take care.

Susan is on the line from New Jersey. We're so glad to have her. And she's only here because of her daughter, Emily. See how that works, folks? Friends, family members tell their friends and family members about the campfire. And we get great stories and great new listeners. Susan, thank you for joining us today to share your story. I appreciate it.

And thank you, Emily, and Emily, stay spooky. So, Susan, your story is about a sign you were looking for. Could you tell us about it? Yes, yes. So I'm going to show you a picture of this is my mom, Barbara, and this is Emily. Okay. And my mom passed away last June. June 2025.

I'm sorry. Oh, thank you. And oddly enough, she passed away five years to the date that my father passed away. Huh. They've been divorced for like 50 years, so I don't think it was like, you know, they were soulmates or, right, right. I think this one was truly just a coincidence. So, you know, you hear, there's a lot of callers who call in and they ask for signs

from loved ones and they get them. I specifically remember a woman calling in and saying she asked her mom to send her an owl. Yes. And like very soon after there was an owl in an unusual place that just sat there and looked at her. So I decided I would ask my mom to send me a sign. And so I'm from New Jersey. And I'm sure you've heard of the infamous Jersey shore. Yes.

I was down the shore one day. and I asked my mom to send me a shell. But I wanted to find it in the town that I live in, which is called Bridgewater, which is landlocked. It's in central Jersey. The name is a misnomer because there are neither bridges nor water.

And I thought if my mom could get a shell there, that would be a real sign. So one Saturday morning, I was running through my neighborhood. I take a morning run. It's more like a shuffle. And I look down on the sidewalk and I found, let's see if I can show this. I found this little tiny thing.

Yeah, put it up a little bit closer to your face. We can't see it. There you go. No. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, it looks just like a shell. It is shell shaped. Right.

There we go. Yeah, we're not seeing it there. Oh, sorry. All right. Anyway, we saw it. Take my word for it. It's a tiny little shell shaped. shape. I know it is not really a shell. It is actually a fungus. It's just the shape that the

mushrooms on this one particular tree was growing in. But I found it and I lost my mind. I started jumping up and down in the middle of the street and yelling and saying, thank you, mom, and crying. And I called my daughter Emily and told her. And I just really felt like this was a sign from my mom. And I've held on to this little shell thing since the summertime, and I will keep it as long as it stays intact. Well, I think that is awesome. And you wouldn't expect, you know, a shell in the sidewalk while you're walking in New Jersey necessarily. Or, I mean, you wouldn't, I mean, I think that it's remarkable that you got it. I think that is so cool.

Yeah, me too. So. It meant a lot. And I do think they get back to us in ways we understand, in many times in ways that we asked. We had somebody recently hummingbirds. And there were all these like elaborate things with hummingbirds. And the father actually would have, which was wild. I guess the father who had passed would the hummingbird would eat out of his hand or something.

And hummingbirds are typically so skittish. Right, right. Yeah. But it certainly, it certainly. And then after his passing, I believe what happened, they started seeing hummingbirds that would come and visit on a regular basis and so forth. I do believe things certainly happen. Susan, thank you. Thank Emily.

And stay spooky. Stay spooky, Jim. Thank you very much. Christy is on the line once again from Ohio. She's been on the show multiple times. Always has such interesting stories. And this story is about her mom. And Christy, you were telling me before, you lost your mom around the holiday time, and I'm very sorry for your loss.

I'm very sorry for your loss. Yeah, so my mom and I and my daughter kind of share a sensitivity, I guess. My mother hasn't had the experiences that my daughter and I have, but she was very in tune with feeling energy and especially. if things were to be avoided, if something was a danger or something to that extent. So this story happened back in 1992. I was looking to transfer colleges. And I was going to a small private college in Virginia, and I was looking at some places further south. So during my spring break, my mom and my grandma and I took a little road trip.

to do some campus visits. And so the first place that we went was St. Augustine, Florida. And Flagler College took over what used to be the Ponsolion Hotel. And I didn't know anything about the area. I'd never been there before. I didn't know anything about the hotel or about the area. But they were a good teaching university, so that's why I was interested. So we go there to have the tour and the grounds are beautiful.

The old hotel, I mean, it has a grand staircase. There's all this really dark, ornate, carved wood inside. It's just beautiful inside. As a part of the tour, I was allowed to sit in on a class, which I thought was great. So the building, they had the, and the class. class in, they took us there. And right away, we go in the building and it was really bright. There was tons of light. It just felt dark and heavy to me. This was kind of before I started having a lot of experiences. So I felt it, but it wasn't overwhelming or anything. And my parents weren't

crazy about me transferring. So I certainly wasn't going to be. volunteer that information. I was keeping my mouth shut. I was going to wait and form my opinion later, but I sat in on the class. Everything was fine. And I came out and my mom and my grandma met me outside the door. And of course, it's a change of classes, tons of people and it's busy, but I could see that my mother had been crying. And I just, I first thought of what happened? You know, dad's back in Virginia, you know, something, something is wrong. And, you know, she could tell I wanted to know what happened, but she's like, let's just go out. Let's just wait so I go outside. So I go out there. And I know this isn't just a Southern mama thing, but I got, I got this finger. And it was, you,

you are not going here. You will not go here. Like, and she started getting emotional again. And he said, what happened? And she said, I don't know what it is. I don't know if something bad is going to happen in general. I don't know if this place is just bad or I don't know if something bad is going to happen to you. But you will not go here. We're done discussing it. And I mean, I knew my mama well enough to like the discussion was over.

that was it. I never shared with her what I had felt like that that was it. I certainly didn't feel anything the way that she did. So the discussion was over. We went to the other college in Georgia. I immediately felt like I was at home at that school. You know, it was an easy decision to make. I didn't think anything else of that. You know, things like that have happened throughout my life. And certainly since that time, I've had lots of experiences like that. Very short, very to the point of this isn't a place where you need to be. You know, we usually don't know why.

It's, I don't need to be here. So years later, when my oldest was getting ready to go into high school, my friend and I had kids the same age and we're talking about thinking about colleges and college visits and things and so I relayed that story to her kind of as a well I hope this doesn't happen anything and um you know this is what at least 15 years later if not more um and a couple of days after she and I talked she sent me this message he was like you know you got to call me. And of course, the internet wasn't then in 92 what it was 20 years later. That's right. And she said, you were not going to believe what I found out. I don't know why I had never looked into

the school, the hotel, the area. Don't know why. Just never did. Life was busy. And she said, I think your mama had a right to feel what she felt. So apparently, saying Augustine is, one of the most haunted places in Florida. The Pondas de Leon Hotel in particular has at least three to five well-known spirits that are a problem. And oddly enough, two of them are reportedly more of a problem in the girls' dorms. And I'm not sure if it's the girls' dorms or the boys' dorms, but a couple of their rooms have had such an issue and no one will stay in them, so they made them storage rooms. Oh, wow. Wow.

But yeah, if you look up Flagler College, the Ponce de Leon Hotel, Henry Flagler, who is the man who built the Ponce de Leon Hotel, he supposedly is still there. a couple of his wives and mistresses supposedly are there for various reasons. And apparently the area around St. Augustine is the oldest city in the country because, you know, it was, I'm almost sure it was under Spanish rule before Jamestown, potentially. The Castillo de San Marcos Fort is there and obviously is very, very old. There's a lighthouse there. There's an old jail. And they all supposedly are very, very haunted.

But I just never thought to look it up. But once my friend kind of did that, and she was like, I think there was plenty for your mom to pick up on. So, yeah, I think she was right. Well, you know what they say. Mother knows best, right? They're always knows best. Absolutely.

But I am grateful. that my daughter and I have kind of inherited that from her. It is certainly, you know, helped me before. We took a trip to New Orleans about 12 years ago. And my husband, who is the skeptic, who never feels anything,

sees anything, hears anything. The whole city that day had kind of felt heavy, but we had a particular issue at the French market, and it was just about sunset. And when my husband felt what I was feeling, that's what I kind of got scared. Yeah, when the skeptics. Yeah, when the skeptic gets it, then we, it was just a moment. I don't know what had, nothing had happened, but we both looked each other at the same time and said,

it's time to go. We need to leave. and we did. But, you know, when the skeptics get on board with what's happening, that's a little scarier to me. That makes sense. Christy, thank you so much. And bless your mom and bless you guys. You know, it's got to be tough.

And I know the holidays are tough. And, you know, we're recording this in mid-February. It's not been that long. So take care and my condolences. And thank you for being a part of the show once again. Thank you, Jim. Thanks for joining us again on the Campfire. And thank you to all of our great storytellers.

We appreciate it because without those storytellers, we would not have a show. Speaking of which, if you want to tell your story, submissions are currently open as of this release, April 30th. So please, please, please sign up to tell your story at jimherald.com slash campfire. That's jimherald.com slash campfire. Also, if you enjoy this show, please share a link with a friend or a family member, someone who is into the spooky. Just text them a link. You could text them a link to the YouTube channel, or this video on YouTube, you could text a link to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you think they're most likely to consume the content.

You know, think of your audience. If they're a YouTube person, send them a YouTube link. If they're an Apple podcast person, send them that, so forth and so on. We would appreciate it very much because we don't have those big marketing budgets, but we have you, and that's way more important. We'll talk to you next time. Have a great week, everybody. Stay safe. And as always, you know the rest. Stay spooky. Bye-bye.