Jim Harold's Campfire - The Alien Mantis - Jim Harold's Campfire 779

Episode Date: September 21, 2026

This week’s Campfire gets strange in a hurry. A lifelong experiencer describes a terrifying nighttime encounter that became much harder to dismiss when her daughter independently described something eerily similar the next morning. We visit a house where shadows in doorways were almost routine. A glowing green figures, and a family dog seems to do the impossible. It’s an episode that leaves you wondering about how coincidence, memory, and the paranormal overlap in ways we still don’t understand. -- CHECK OUT ALL OF JIM’S FREE PODCASTS  Jim Harold's Campfire - Real people share real stories of paranormal encounters. The Paranormal Report - Our weekly paranormal show with Jim & Dar Harold. The Paranormal Podcast - The longest running paranormal podcast on the internet. Est. 2005. Jim interviews the greatest minds in the paranormal, UFOs, cryptids and more. Find them all at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, jimharold.com or wherever you get your podcasts! VIRTUAL CAMPFIRE GROUP Join our FREE online community at ⁠⁠⁠https://virtualcampfiregroup.com⁠⁠⁠  EVENTS Hope to see you soon at one of Jim’s live events: ⁠⁠https://jimharold.com/events⁠⁠  YOUTUBE CHANNEL Be sure to subscribe to Jim’s YouTube channel at: ⁠⁠⁠https://youtube.com/jimharold⁠⁠⁠   MERCH Go to ⁠⁠⁠https://jimharold.com/merch⁠⁠⁠ to get your Jim Harold T’s, sweatshirts, mugs, hats and more!   BOOKS Get all SIX of Jim’s Campfire books here: ⁠⁠https://jimharold.com/campfirebooks/⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did our caller encounter strange beings and get validation from her own child? It sure seems like it, and that's up next on Jim Harold's Campfire. Sit back, relax, and warm yourself by Jim Harold's Campfire. Next up on the Campfire is Suzanne. Now, you know, we've been getting a lot more UFO stories lately, which I really appreciate. I think it's so important because this definitely is a thing, and there's definitely in my mind at least something going on. And we love to hear these first-hand accounts.

And Suzanne has a pretty powerful one for us today. Suzanne, I know you've been listening for years. Thank you. And tell us what happened. Thank you. Hi, Jim. Thank you so much for having me. As he said, I have been listening for quite a long time.

And I really appreciate everything that you talk about. And the fact that you are looking for more UFO stories really piqued my ears a little bit because I have been seeing these things my entire life. And I always thought that I was just a strange person, and I always thought that maybe I just had very elaborate dreams. But until I would read Willie Strieber's Communion, which I'm sure you probably have heard of, and have heard other people say as well,

that he really seemed to open the door for more experiencers to come forward with their stories, myself included. But it wasn't until then that I, realized I was not the only one having these experiences. And it really made me think about all these crazy dreams that I had had. And I still kept it to myself because I thought, okay, I am a crazy person for having these experiences. And I can't tell anybody about it because they're going to, I don't know, just think I'm insane. So I kept it to myself for many, many years until 1989 I was living in California at the time

I was living in a town called Camarillo which is about 40 minutes north of Los Angeles and at the time I had a three-year-old daughter and I was engaged to be married and one night or actually let me preface this my ex-husband didn't know anything about my experiences but I figured that since we were getting married, I was going to be completely honest with him

about everything that I experienced. Right. And so I told him, I said, you know, I've been having these things happen to me my entire life, and I can't guarantee that they're not going to stop. And I also cannot guarantee that you won't be involved. And there's nothing I can do about it. And if you have a problem with that, then don't marry me.

Because... Wow. know, full disclosure. I don't, you know, and it was hard because, you know, I didn't want to not marry him. And he was said, oh, that's all right. And I thought, okay, great. So we, you know, kept the engagement. And so one night I'm laying in bed and I couldn't fall asleep. And I'm looking at the ceiling and all of a sudden I see all of these swirling different shapes like prismic shapes of different colors. Like, for example, there were, triangles and circles and squares of like if you were holding a crystal up through the window and the light was refracting through it. Right. And it was shining on the ceiling. That's what it looked like. And since our bedroom was on the second story, I figured, well, maybe there's a car driving down

the street and it's just shining its headlights and, but the blinds were shut. So I thought, okay, that's not happening. And so the more I looked at it, I couldn't understand then all of a sudden, this gold disc blew in from the right hand side of the bed over my body and manifested into a woman. Wow. Now, I couldn't, I knew she was standing there and I couldn't move my body. I realized at that at that point I was paralyzed except for my eyes. I could move my eyes. And so in my periphery, I could see her standing there and she was very tall.

She had long blonde hair. and I'm thinking in my head since I couldn't speak I'm so glad you don't look like what you look like because if you did I think I would lose my mind and she and she says back to me telepathically where I come from marriage is the most sacred part of our existence and I'm giving you the chance to experience this if you wish

and I'm thinking what but I could not even think about what she was saying. I was so, you know, just full of what was going on in the moment. And then she says, telepathically again, if you want to know what I look like, then look at the window. And I thought, okay, great, did I want to look at the window? But I did. But I couldn't move my head. So again, I moved my eyes and I shifted them to the right.

And I could see an enormous praying mantis being hanging from the window sill of my bedroom window. Now, which is interesting because the blinds, they weren't shut all the way so I could see its head. And at that moment, I'm screaming internally and I'm like trying to scream. My fiance is sleeping. And at that moment, my doorknob starts to wiggle. And she looks at the doorknob and she runs across the room and vanishes through the wall. And at that very moment, the door flies open and in walk these three blue beings, which I have drawn a picture and I'll share them on the virtual campfire site. Wow. And they looked like little blue Michelin men. They were kind of chunky. They had round

heads. They had little black eyes. But they were self-illuminating, almost like a cobalt blue. And they're standing at the foot of my bed. They're about three and a half, four feet tall. And they're speaking to me again telepathically saying, it's Elise. We can't get her to stop throwing up. At least, we're not. At least, is my three-year-old daughter. Huh. And I'm thinking, oh, my gosh, what?

And then I got this fight or flight feeling inside of me where I just broke out of my paralysis and I ran down the hall. And as I did, I heard her crying in her bedroom. So I go into her bedroom and she says, Mommy, Mommy, I'm going to. And she proceeds to project hell of mama all over the bed. At that moment, my fiancee comes in the room. He says, what's going on? I said, run the bathtub.

So he runs in the bathtub. I pick her up, bring her in the bathtub. He puts it in there. I changed her bed sheets. We dry her all off. I put her in bed and I lay with her until she falls asleep. Well, everything was fine after that. And then the morning we woke up like nothing happened.

Now, my fiancé and I had this inside joke because he knew of my experiences and he would say, did the visitors come last night because I slept like crap? And so this morning, we're in the kitchen, he started to say to the visitor. And I went like this. I said, don't say anything. My daughter had come downstairs and she was sitting at the kitchen table. And she was drawing a picture. And I got her cereal and some juice and I brought her over to the table.

And I'm looking at this picture and I'm thinking, well, honey, what is that? That's really cute. And she says, oh, it's the animal from my dream last night. And I said, okay, now, mind you, I'm freaking out inside because it looks very similar to something that happened last night. And, but I didn't want her to know that I was alarmed. So I smiled. And I said, oh, that's very pretty, honey. So tell me about the animal.

I said, and it doesn't really look like an animal. And she says, well, they're not really animals, but they're not really people either. And I said, well, they? And she says, oh, yes, mommy. There were three of them. Whoa. And I said, what? Okay, so what were they doing, honey?

And she said, oh, well, they were smelling me and they were telling me that they loved me. Huh. And I said, well, what did they look like? And she said, they were blue. And I said, well, what? She drew this picture. And I said, well, what? what was that little, what's that little squiggly line over its head? And she said, oh, it's a cloud,

Mommy. They come from the clouds. Whoa. Right. Now, I've had some experiences in my lifetime, but I'd never had an experience that it involves someone else. This was the very first time that I had someone especially close to me even experiences. And I knew that, it was a reality and it was almost like my confirmation event i call it um because i felt like it was validation that the things that had been happening to me were real because she drew this picture and she saw what i saw and i know that we've heard things about you know shared dream experiences or you know just oh i don't know a time slip or you know so i tried to rock my brain thinking what else it could be other than what really happened

Now, that was in 1989, and I made a point from that point on to never watch another science fiction movie, take down all my UFO or books relating to extraterrestrials, put them in a box. Because I knew from my own experience, I was so afraid of, you know, what might be happening to her that I had no control over number one, which I was very angry about, mind you. sorry and um yeah that was really hard for me because i knew i had no control of what was happening and i couldn't control of not happening again and when she was an adult i didn't talk about it ever and when she was an adult i um it was about the same time that i decided i was going to start a blog and start a podcast and i said okay honey i'm doing this and i know that this happened to you and I would really like to share this. And she said, you know what, Mommy, I don't remember anything about it.

I don't believe in it. And I don't want to talk about it, which I have respected to this day. She will be 40 next month. And so we still never talked about it. And I totally respect her privacy for that. But she said, if you would like to share my story and you can use my name, I don't have a problem with it. Other than that, I'm on my own. That's amazing.

Now, let me ask you this. And it's amazing. The validation you got there, that is incredible from your daughter. And the fact that you had not prompted her in any way and she came back basically retelling the same story from her point of view and with an artist's representation. Now, let me ask you this. So the original lady that came to see you, did you feel that she was presenting herself like this blonde-haired kind of stereotypical human? a lot like what George Adamski explained with the blonde hair, blue eye kind of thing. But she was just putting that up as kind of a front to make you feel comfortable.

She really looked like a mantis. Is that essentially what you're thinking? Yes. That's what I think. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because it would be, you know, it's one thing if you see something that looks very human and it's like, whoa, what am I seeing here? But you're not like maybe as afraid. Whereas if you see a full body praying mantis in front of you. it's really going to freak out

freak out city yeah exactly well suzanne thank you by all means please put those pictures up in the virtual campfire group we appreciate it and I'll tell you

there is something going on with this you talked about Willie Streeper I've had the opportunity to interview him in the past and there are people who have experienced this and it's kind of a and you've probably heard me say this it's kind of unfortunate you know

if somebody sees a craft or something that looks like your craft people might say, oh, well, you saw something in the sky. But then when you start talking about an experience with a being, they might be a little more skeptical or raise an eyebrow. And that's unfortunate. And I think it's important that people like you who have experienced these things do come forward and say, hey, I've seen it.

I've seen it. I wasn't looking for it, but there it was a full-bodied praying mantis in my bedroom. Suzanne, thank you for a great campfire story. Stay spooky. Thank you so much, Jim. Stay spooky. Thanks for having me. Welcome to the Campfire.

I'm Jim Harold. So glad to be with you once again, and we've got some great stories. Geez, we started off with that first one. That was a humdinger, as they say, wow, how terrifying. And that validation, just amazing. If you're new here, we cover everything from UFOs to strange creatures, to ghosts, to cryptic creatures, head scratchers, and much more. and it is Jim Harold Campfire.

I'm Jim and so glad to be with you once again. And my goodness, we've got a great show in store for you this week. But first, I want to tell you about a couple of our other free shows. You can find wherever you're watching or listening to this show. There is the paranormal podcast, which I have done for many years since 2005. Recent guests include Jeff Belanger, World's Most Haunted Places. Carrie Ward about talking about her book that she says will make you psychic, and so much more.

And we hope, we hope that you will tune in to the paranormal podcast again, wherever you find the campfire. And new episodes are absolutely free. And then also the paranormal report. That is the weekly show I do with my bride, Dar Harold. And we talk about strange paranormal news. Could be UFOs, could be cryptic creatures, could be ghosts. but if it's in the news, it's paranormal, we talk about it.

And we give some of our opinions, too. And Darci's very outspoken. And sometimes we even disagree. We might even come on the cusp of arguing a little bit on the show. So got to get that juicy argument. So don't miss it. Tune in, the paranormal report wherever you find the campfire. So let's get to it.

More great campfire stories, and here they are. While we have a loyal listener, Julie is on the line from Los Angeles. We're so glad to talk with her. She's been listening for years. And she grew up in a haunted house, and she's going to tell us all about it. Julie, welcome to the show. Thank you for doing this. And tell us what happened.

So I grew up in Burbank, California. It was a corner house. And my grandmother would always tell me that it was a haunted house. In fact, we shared a room for a while. and she would love to tell me her stories. And if I didn't have my own experiences, I probably wouldn't believe her. But I'm going to start out with kind of her experiences. She would hear clothes in her closet, the hangars being moved all to one side with the door closed.

And she would get up and investigate and the clothes would be completely fine, completely normal. She would hear my mom calling her when she wasn't home. Yeah, it was pretty crazy. It gets a little crazier. One time she woke up to a lady standing at the edge of her bed, not facing her, and she kind of had a headpiece or a veil around her head. And as my grandmother sat up to investigate and kind of see who's standing at her bed, the lady kind of just turned and she wouldn't let her see her face. And she turned until she kind of disappeared. Yeah. The one that really stuck with me. me is our dog Teddy. He was alive at the time. He's a chunky Laso and he would always sleep with Granny. I think this was at the time that I got my own room so I wasn't sharing a room. But she said she woke up, had to go to the restroom, saw the dog, close the door behind her, did her business, came back, and the dog wasn't on the bed. So she's looking around her room. He's too chunky to fit under the bed. And she's like, okay, well, maybe somebody heard him scratching and he,

should they let him out. Right. So she went ahead, laid back down. And as she laid down, the dog jumped up on the bed and kind of surprised her because she was like, where were you? So she patted next to her and she's like, come lay next to me. And he just stood there at the edge of the bed, just staring at her. And she, she kept patting, like, you know, trying to get him, coax him over and he just wouldn't budge. He just stood there staring at her until he finally jumped down. And my grandmother sat up and she's like, what are you doing? You stupid dog.

And he's just staring at her. And then finally he turns around and he just walks completely through the closed door, just completely through it. And he was alive. It's not like it was a ghost of the dog. So he walked like through it like like it was, it wasn't there almost, but he walked right through it while it was closed. Wow.

Yes. Yes. So that happened. Growing up, I would always see shadows in the doorways, kind of like if somebody was peeking in on you, and then they didn't want you to see, like, when you noticed, they didn't want you to see, so they, like, moved right away. That's what I would always see.

I would always see black shadows like that. I would always be creeped out, probably because my grandmother would tell me scary stories. But when I was 16, I was a young mom. and I'm going to tell you a little bit about the layout of the house because it kind of ties into the story. So I was sitting in my family room with my then-boyfriend, future husband, future ex-husband. We're sitting in the family room and we're watching TV. And the TV, so we're facing, it's the family room and then a den and then a living room. And there's where I'm sitting, I can see these two doors that kind of corner up to each other.

and one door you can see straight through to the living room and you can see a wall. And then another door goes to the hallway where there's two bedrooms and a bathroom. And so it's completely dark and I'm sitting in the family room and the TV, like I said, was situated where I can see every now and again a car would go by. It's a corner house, like I said. So the headlights would hit the wall in the living room. So it kind of draw my attention. So I kept getting, my eyes kept going up and I was nursing my baby.

Until one time there was a green, like a mint green light that was shining against the wall. And I'm like, those were some crazy headlights. What are those? So I'm looking and I realize it's not in the living room wall. It's coming from the doorway where the hall is from the bedrooms. Yeah. And I'm just staring, watching. And all of a sudden, this man.

this man shows up in the doorway, he's mint green, but he's like from the 1920s, 1930s, he's got his head, his hair combed to the side, kind of curls at the end. He had a big bushy mustache, a bow tie. He had his suspenders. I would say he was wearing a white button up shirt and probably some slacks, but I couldn't see him at the waist he started to disappear. So he had no legs, no feet. So he shows up in the doorway and he turns and he looks at me and we lock eyes. And I start freaking out. I'm like, oh my God. And so he continues to move from the doorway, from the hallway, into the doorway, into the living room. But as he's doing so, he's keeping his eyes locked in on me until his body turns so that he couldn't continue to look at me anymore. And then he just

disappears into my living room. And yeah, and I turned and I told my boyfriend. I'm like, oh my God, I just saw a ghost. And he was like, he didn't believe me. And he teased me the rest of the night. But I know what I saw. It was an actual ghost. I can still see him in my mind's eye right now.

You know, years ago, like very early in the campfire, and I think it might be in the first campfire book. By the way, Jim Harrow.com, you can get those books. but and also on Amazon I'm telling the audience not necessarily you Julie No but I want to get them Well there you go there you go

And I'll even autograph him if you get him on our merch session But anyway We had a story of a woman who saw a revolutionary War era ghost It was on the other part of the country Up in New England somewhere And it was green

Yeah So we had It sounds so cliche It sounds so cliche It was green Immediately I thought that. Yeah, I picture like the ghosts at Disneyland, the Halloween, the haunted house. That's what it reminded me of.

Well, you know, and I'm assuming that house is not in the family anymore. Is that house? No, no. My grandma sold it, so I don't know if it's haunted. I always wanted to go by and ask them if they had experiences. But, you know, some people bring out ghosts, right? Like, I still have experiences in my new home. I have experiences at my job.

I have experiences in Airbnbs that I can come on and share those with you. But yeah, and I don't know what it was, but it reminds me. So my grandmother passed away in 2023. I'm not going to cry. I was very close to her. So it was hard. So I went to a Reiki lady, which was like an energy healer. And she shared beautiful things with me.

But one of the things that stuck with me was that she said, my grandmother said she was everywhere and nowhere and with everyone and with no one at all at once. And I thought that was the most beautiful thing. And so I kind of think back at that man and I'm like, well, maybe he used to live here and maybe he passed or maybe he was just visiting the home, you know, because we weren't the first family to live in that home. I believe it was built in about the 1940s. Well, it's a great story, an interesting experience. Julie, thank you for listening and thank you for sharing your story in the campfire.

Stay spooky. You too. Thank you. Stay stupid. Scooby. Oh, my God. Spooky. Gee, gee, soing, Scoob.

I don't know if I can say, I don't know if I can stay spooky, but I'll stay spooky. You're going to edit that out. No, I'm not. Oh, no. Have a good day, Jim. Well, next up, the return of Travis. You remember he had been a long-time caller. We lost touch for a few years, but he came back recently and had just an amazing story of an audio ghost in many ways, kind of a replay at a park.

And now he's coming again a few weeks later with yet another fascinating story. Travis, welcome back to the show again. So glad we could reconnect and tell us what happened. Cool. Awesome. Okay, well, I'm sure that your listeners, if they heard the first story, they would understand how I go to this park and hang out with my buddies that are married. And like I said, they talk about their marriages and all that. I go down there late at night.

It's beautiful, beautiful, gorgeous park. So, this is the most recent one. About two weeks ago, I went down there and stupid me. I didn't call my buddies to see if they're going to be there. And they're like, hey, man, I've got a cold. The other one's like, I have to get up early. like, okay, well, you know, I was now at the park sitting at the picnic table. Mine of my own business, kind of in the moonlight, uh, reading on my nook kind of

kind of absorbing the ambiance. And a buddy of ours named Bragg, who, uh, he works very, he starts work, uh, late at night. And so he walks through the park, uh, late and I could get some exercise. And it was kind of moonlight. And I'm sitting there at the main, uh, picnic table, uh, in the dark, uh, with, you know, the moonlight coming down. And I could see. him coming and I heard him and he I'm on my nook and kindle and he comes down and goes high track oh oh I'm sorry excuse me and he walks off and I'm looking up from my nook and kindle I'm like huh okay that was weird what what was up that because he's seen me on my nook and kindle many times and I'm like you know why did he do that because he said oh I'm sorry you know pardon me

blah blah blah he walks off and I'm like okay well that's weird so about 15 minutes he comes background and I said, hey man, I said, what was up? And he said, well, I didn't want to bother you and your friend. And I said, what friend? I thought I was just sitting here on my Kindle. And he goes, no, he said the, he said the guy that was sitting by you. And I said, Greg, I said nobody was sitting by me. And he said, yes, there was. And he said, you were reading your notes and Kindle and you looked up. And he said this guy was sitting kind of next to you and was kind of staring off looking kind of staring off into space with a ball cap on. And he said, I didn't want to bother you guys if you were talking. And I said, man, nobody was here.

And he said, yeah, there was. And I said, okay, well, whatever. And I said, describe the guy. And he said, well, I could just kind of see him by the moonlight. He said he was kind of younger looking, thinner, white, and regular clothing with a baseball cap on. And he said he was sitting right next to you, man. And I said, Greg, I'm sorry. I said, nobody has been down here.

He said, well, I know what I saw. And I'm like, okay, that's weird. Now, it gets even crazier. So I'm talking to my two other buddies. And they said really nonchalantly. They said, oh, yeah, well, I'd say about maybe eight years ago, there's a guy that was killed right around here, you know, where we sit, something about a drug deal gone bad.

You know, they said it really, really nonchalantly. Yeah, like, it was just like, oh, well, you know, whatever. So I asked Greg, I said, Greg, I need you to really think. And he said, he said, I swear on my life, there was a gentleman sitting right next you. And he said, now that I think about it, he said, this gentleman was not moving. he said they were just staring kind of off into space and not moving at all

he said now that I think about it it almost looked like two-dimensional kind of like a drawing of something and I said oh well you know and I'm like okay I said well I don't know who the gentleman was and you know I mean I don't want to assume anything but I could only surmise that it could possibly have been the man that was murdered about eight years ago

So I had a late-night buddy sitting next to me that I didn't even know was there. You know, the thing is that it seems like this is a really spooky place. Do you think that this place is like, I don't want to say a portal, but some kind of, you know, some places are spookier than others and seem to hold on to energy. Do you think that might be the case at this park? You know, you know, Jim, honestly, and when I say this, I mean what I mean, what I'm I say, if I knew the answer to that, I would know the answer to life. I think that every, I think every situation is different.

I think there are real, real time hauntings where you interact with them. I think there are, you know, replays, you know, stuff like that. And I don't know. All I know is that he said, yes, there was a gentleman sitting right next to you. And I, I wasn't scared. And, you know, when you ask other people, there's another individual that I know he's been going there for years. And he said, yeah, he said, I hear things and I hear people. And he said, no one's there.

And other than the woman, and hopefully my luck holds, it hasn't been anything negative or scary. So I'm afraid to say that because I don't want to jinx it. You know what I'm saying? Well, I know you said you have more stories. I hope you'll sign back up and tell those. And always a pleasure to have you on the show. So glad we can reconnect. Thank you for being on again, Travis, and stay spooky.

Thank you so much, man. Bye-bye. 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. Stream a new episode of North of North Tuesdays on CBC Gem. Reaching your audience on Spotify with display ads is easy. Use your existing creative and launch your first campaign in minutes with Spotify Ads Manager. Well, Lindsay's been listening since 2008. Wow, Lindsay, that is awesome.

She's been on the show several years ago as a storyteller, I think 2019. And she's back with, she said, Jim, I've got a bit of a head scratcher for you. So, you know, I love those stories. Lindsay, take it away. Thank you for joining us again. And thank you for your loyal listenership. Tell us what happened. Thank you so much.

I absolutely love you and all of your podcasts. Thank you. So I'm, like I said, this is a head scratcher because I'm not, I'm scratching my head right now. I'm not quite sure what to think of it, so maybe we could talk about that afterwards. But in April of 2025, there was a, I guess I won't tell the details, but there was just a really horrible situation in which an elderly man and his wife both were killed in their home, which was about a, yeah, really horrible. The details are bad. And that was only about a block and a half from me, and I did not know them. But it's a pretty close-knit neighborhood, so, you know, I'm sure I have plenty of neighbors that did know them.

Sure. So I was working from home, and I was sitting at my dining room table, and I don't know why. It could have just been, you know, just because I was thinking of it. I don't know. But it was a few months later, I would say it was probably. later in the summer. And I had this thought of, oh, that couple passed away that lived close to me. Like, what a sad situation been? You know, they went through their whole lives, being married forever. They had this home that they lived in for the past 50 years. And this awful thing happened. And they

both died. And I just probably spent, I wouldn't say I was obsessing over it, but I probably spent maybe 10 minutes or so just thinking about them. just how sad it was. And I'm not really like a religious person, but I still say like a little prayer or something in my mind, you know, hoping that they have some peace and that I kind of have some empathy for them and their situation. You know, and I have this really big garden and I grow a lot of flowers. So I just thought, all right, my lunchtime is coming around. I'm going to clip some flowers and make a little bouquet and we'll walk over there. The house is abandoned since then. I thought it only been a few months since they died.

So that's what I did. I cut some flowers. I walked over there. I sat them on their doorstep. And then, you know, Mo, I stood there for a little while. Just, I don't know, kind of talking to them, like, in my mind. I guess you probably know what I mean. Just like, I'm so sorry that you went.

And I left there and I thought really good about it. I thought, like, that's so nice, like, someone, me, like acknowledging this horrible situation. and if I were, I had died, that would be something that I would think was very special. So I went back home and I thought, okay, well, that's it. I've done what I need to do and I'm going to start working again. Now, I live in the city, in Philadelphia, but I don't live in like a very busy area. I'm kind of like on the outskirts. And we don't often get people knocking on our doors.

So I was back home, started working again, went up to Stad Bearers. to sit in my office and I heard a knock at the door. And I thought, oh, well, that's strange. You know, maybe it's like a delivery person. I guess you could call them a delivery person. Right. I went through the front of my house and I looked outside and there was a hearse in my driveway. Huh.

I was not going to a funeral. I was flat-bergasted. Really, I mean, I thought, why is there hurts here? So the knocking continued. and mom, I went downstairs, I opened the door, and it was the driver for the hearse, and he said, I'm here to pick you up for the funeral. And I said, oh, I'm, you must have the wrong house because I'm not, I'm not going to a funeral. Wow. On my street, there's, yeah. So it was not obviously lost on me that I had just spent the last half an hour or so, like, thinking about the death of these two.

And then a hearse shows up. So, you know, I checked with him, and there's an east. side of my street and a west side, and I think that he had meant to go to the east side. But I don't know, Jim, too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence, wouldn't you say? Yeah, yeah, you know, that is weird. That is weird, very strange. And with that situation, with those folks that lived there before, that's very sad. And to have this strangeness happen, that's just, that's kind of weird. So, I mean, in general, in general, did, did, you Did you continue to feel the presence after that? Did you feel their presence around after that?

So I did not. However, I've had some weird things happen, you know, synchronistically, I guess you'd say, like a synchronicity or other kind of head scratcher situations. And I would say when those types of things happen for me, I don't always feel, you know, this weird feeling in my stomach where I'm like wholly motley, like something really crazy just happened. But in this situation, I did have that feeling. I thought like this was, you know how sometimes you talk about them playing like

4D chess or something like that where they kind of influence or give you a sign that's particular to you? Yes. That's kind of how I sound, though. I felt like this was like an acknowledgement in some way. Yeah. And I could actually find out if they had had a funeral, but I thought what if their funeral I'm not sure. Wow. Interesting. Weird things happen. And I do think that, and I think it's pretty

well known that if somebody dies under extremely tragic circumstances, unexpected circumstances, that it seems like that ramps up the paranormal activity. I think that's pretty well accepted. Sounds like maybe that's what happened to you through these signs and so forth. For sure. Yeah. And Do we have time for one more? Yeah, go right ahead. Go ahead. Yeah, we've got to go ahead. Go ahead. So I get, I feel like I'm some sort of like antenna for the paranormal. Mm-hmm.

I'm not sure. But about five and a half years ago, my partner's mom passed away. And she was in California, nowhere near us. And I just thought, okay, I'm going to go sit outside in the backyard and just sit down and just think about her. this situation and this is bizarre. I went out there and I sat down on the ground and a, like a, I don't know if it's like a parakeet or like some sort of like really small bird you would keep in a cage, right yellow bow, just blew out of the sky and landed on my leg. And I was like, oh, that is really strange. And I was like, this is so strange. I had some bird seed, so I put it out, went into the house, came back up, it did it again. So I guess it was probably

someone's pet. But I go back inside and I was thinking that was strange and I just had this thought in my head or like a picture of blue baby shoes. And briefly I thought, okay, well, you know, my partner's a man. Maybe his mother died and I was thinking of him as a baby or something. But then the next day I found out that I was pregnant. And then about, you know, however many weeks later, I found out I was having a boy. So I felt, oh, I have goosebumps just talking about it. I really felt like just this culmination of, I don't know, sun mines. Very strange. But amazing.

I'm really amazing. Amazing. And I believe that the universe shows us signs. You know, it's interesting. I interviewed on the paranormal podcast, which everybody needs to check out where I do interviews with authors. I talked to the great writer Mitch Horowitz. He's done multiple books on, you know, manifesting and all these different kind of. parapsychological things.

And he knew David Lynch, the director. You know, Twin Peaks, Eraser had all of those things. And he said that David Lynch told him about, you know, I don't know if you've had the experience. Let's say you're doing something you're not fated to do. It seems like stuff gets into your way, like you keep beating your head against the brick wall. But in things where you're kind of, it seems like you're meant to go down a certain path, you have green lights. And apparently David Lynch told Mitch Horowitz

one time, he said, you got to look for the green lights. Look for the green lights. So I thought that was really interesting. And I think that plays into the universe maybe takes us or God or whatever you want to call it, takes us down certain paths and certain directions

we're supposed to go or certain things are going to happen and maybe steers us away from other things that is just like, yeah, this isn't in the cars. I do believe there is a choice to that. And that was the green light from the universe. You're going to have that baby. You're going to have that baby. I guess so. I didn't even know what I was driving. There you go. There you go. Well, Lindsay, thank you so much for being a loyal listener, 2008.

My goodness. We're coming in on 20 years of you listening almost. Wow. That's, you know, it's kind of like it's funny. We'll get calls now from people who are maybe in their 20s. You know, say, oh, I listened to you since I was 10 years old. I'm like, I feel really old. But really honored, too, really honored. You were probably 10 years old when you started listening. So thank you so. Thank you so much for listening.

Thanks, too. For watching. I appreciate it. Stay spooky. Hang on to your hats. Sherry is here with, oh boy, this is a spooky one. This is a spooky one. and Sherry is a new listener, just three or four months,

and look what Sherry's done. She's here telling her story. So if you've been listening for any time, but especially three or four months or longer, and I know that's most of you, what are you waiting for? I know you've got a story out there, Jimherald.com slash campfire to sign up to tell yours, just like Sherry did. Sherry, thank you for joining us from Nevada.

And please tell us this story. I'm not even going to give a hint because I don't want to spoil it. it's too good. Okay, well, this happened back in 1990. I was going to nursing school in Sacramento at the time, and I believe we just got out for summer break. And I'm from Tahoe originally, and so I was going to take my roommate, Angie, and her friend Rhonda, up to Tahoe. And I had to admit we were in our early 20s, so our plans were to go dancing, and that did involve some drinks and whatnot. And we got back to my friend's house where I was staying about, I think, 1.302 in the morning.

And we all went to sleep pretty quickly. I shared a queen-sized bed with Rhonda. I was sleeping on the left side, turned towards the right facing her. And then she was on the right side facing, turned to the right, facing the closet. And then my friend Angie was asleep in a sleep. in a sleeping bag with her feet maybe like three feet from the door. And so as somebody were the open door all the way, they would run into her. And I think we had been asleep maybe a couple of hours.

And I don't understand what woke me up because I was sleeping very heavily. It was like my eyes opened before I really completely came to. And I saw a man, I would say about the age I was at the time, walking alongside the bed, and then he crouched down, and he crouched and looked at Rhonda right in the face, and then he stood up and our eyes met. And it was like a telepathy thing. He basically let me know that he didn't mean to scare me. He didn't mean for me to see him.

he didn't think I was going to see him. And he was looking for somebody that he didn't find. And while he was staring at me, I saw him dissipate. And I guess I gasped and said, oh, my God, or something like that. And Rhonda turned and looked at me and she said, are you okay? And I said, yeah, never mind. I'm dreaming. And somehow I went right back to sleep.

And the next morning, we got up and we're all talking about, the night before, going out. And I completely forgot about this whole thing that happened in the middle night until Rhonda said, Sherry, do you remember last night? And as soon as she said that, it came back to me. And she told me, she woke up out of nothingness to a man staring at her in the face. And she said, she thought to herself, I'm going to close my eyes, turn to see as Sherry sees him and she said that's when she heard me gasp and say oh my god and she said i was staring over her and looking at somebody and she said i had roger rabbit eyes and um and she asked if i was okay and um you know that's when i said never mind i'm dreaming and um anyway we went over that conversation

And then Angie, meanwhile, said that she thought she heard the door open and she half asleep, you know, looked up and the door was shut. And she thought, well, that's where no one can get in. And she thought she saw somebody walking along the side of the bed. And she just thought she was dreaming and fell right back asleep. So that's basically the story. So all three of us experienced it. That is amazing. Now, I mean, the funny thing is, and I hear this a lot, people experience something amazing at nighttime, at bedtime, and they're like, oh, I'm going to go back asleep.

That's amazing to me, but I understand it because at the time, you're so disoriented, was I dreaming, whatever, but you got the affirmation from, you know, to other people. That's amazing. So he said it wasn't you. He's looking for somebody else. So he didn't seem threatening. any idea of who he was? And can you give us a little more on his physical appearance? Yeah, he, like I said, he, I think I was 23 at a time.

And he looked around that age. And I remember he had, you know, the 1990s flat top haircut that was popular at the time. And I don't remember the color of his shirt, but I just remember it was like a dark pair of jeans, dark, I want to say it was like a jacket or something on. And I mean, it happened, you know, I was half a seat. But I know Angie speculated that it was Rhonda's brother because he had passed away, maybe five or seven years, something like that beforehand. And he was 19 when he passed.

But Rhonda didn't think it was him. And I think she would have recognized him if it was her brother. So I don't think it was him. That's amazing. That's amazing. What a great story. I mean, it's just one of those things where it's just amazing, you know. I don't know what to make of it or say about it because there's really, you know, other than that possible history, but you didn't think it was, there really isn't anything specific that you can say, well, this was the history of the place and things like that, but it stands on its own.

What an amazing experience. Now, how did that change the way that you feel about the paranormal or did it change the way you feel about the paranormal? or did it change the way you feel about the paranormal? Well, I always believed in it. And I actually grew up in a house where lots of things happened. And I didn't think I had seen anything, but now I wonder if I had. I think I had some things happened before that, but really just didn't believe myself until this, that event happened where two other people saw it with me.

since and I've had many other things happen that I don't know, it's like it's opened me up or something. I don't know. So you think maybe that experience kind of made you more open to other experiences leading to you having more experiences. Or maybe at least I became aware of them after that. Right. Wow. That is so cool. What a cool story. What a cool story. And, you know, this stuff, I always say this, but this stuff is real. Too many people come on with amazing stories like this, Sherry.

And it is just amazing. And thank you for, you know, stepping up by now a lot of people are shy about sharing their story. They've been listening years and they've got a story and they're like, oh, I don't know if I should tell it. And I understand. I mean, I'm not trying to be incenses of people. I know it can be intimidating, but we're just having a conversation. So I guess my point is this is thank you for, you know, right out of the gate sharing your story. I appreciate it.

I hope more people go to Jim Harrell.com. slash campfire and do you just like you did. Sherry, thank you for being on the show tonight and stay spooky. Stay spooky, Jim. Thank you so much having me. Now, many of us through life have lost friends. I lost my best friend last year to brain cancer. It's a very sad situation.

It's sad when you lose your best friend. And unfortunately, Deborah's with us. Not unfortunately she's with us, but unfortunately, she's dealt with the same thing and she lost her best friend. but her best friend is still around and she's going to tell us how she knows that. Deborah, welcome to the show. I know, Deborah, I'm not going to get in specifics,

but she was like, you know, the Postal Service, nor sleet nor snow nor dark of night will stop. Nothing was going to stop, Deborah. She was determined she's here. She fought through various issues and she's here to tell her story. So, Deborah, please tell us what happened. Thank you.

I'm excited to be here. Thank you for having me. Yes, so you're right. lost my best friend about 11 years ago this past month was the anniversary of her death. And she and I met a long time ago when our sons, she had one son and I had one son. They were both in kindergarten when we met. And the boys quickly became besties. And so naturally we're together a lot.

And we became inseparable because I was married at the time. husband traveled and actually lived in New York during the work week. We were in Colorado. And he'd come home on the weekends. So she was like my stand-in husband, what she called herself. So we became very close. And I feel like sometimes with the spooky stories, you lose sight of, not lose sight of, but people tell the stories about what happened.

And that's the focus rather than the personality of the person. You know what I mean? That's a good point. Mm-hmm. And I feel like if you kind of know a little bit about who she was, it all sort of comes together and the two of us together. But she just, I just loved her from the minute I met her. We, she's big, big bubbly personality, big voice. I could hear her laugh across the room, across the school practically.

Oh. And just we were both singers and performers and just, just click. and our sons were introverts, go figure. So we were the big personalities of the four of us. But she, and for some reason, we had a five-year difference. She was younger than me, but she sort of took on like a motherly, almost big sister role with me. And that'll come into play later. But anyway, so the other thing that brought us really close in this does, it is important to the story.

we had a really strong connection that most people would never yet without going into too much. We were both domestic violence survivors and our sons grew up faster than they had to. They went through a lot more than a mama's heart can bear. So that being said, she would comfort me. I had a lot of personal and legal stuff with all of that going on, as did she. And sometimes we would just cry together. And, you know, we got it. We understood it more than anyone else could. So, you know, she would just kind of hold me sometimes when I cried. And she'd kind of do the, I don't even know what you call it. Like you're kind of scratching someone's arm around, you know,

giving somebody comfort, whatever. So I'm jumping forward to the first time. Yeah, I'm going to come back to something later. But okay. The first time that I realized she was there was about probably a month after she passed. And we, I had at that time separated, I was going through separation from my husband at the time, selling the house and moving into my own place. And just having lost her and my son having lost his best friend and just overcome with emotion. So I'm driving from one house to another, you know, a couple miles away. And I just lost it.

I'm just bawling, right? And driving and, you know, just kind of frustrated, exasperated late at night. And all of a sudden, I feel like this, what I thought was a bug on me. And I'm going like this. Like, yeah. And all of a sudden, it wouldn't stop. And I turn and I was like, Robin? Like, I felt like she was there with me.

Oh, wow. And rather, you know, it didn't creep me out. I didn't, I don't even know how to explain it. I was comforted. And so I just started, like, chatting with her. You know, this is crazy. This is too much to deal with. So that was pretty cool.

But the first, the first interesting thing in her being gone was the day that she passed away was a very sudden death. We knew that it might happen at some point. but didn't realize how fast. So the day that she passed away was on a weekend, and I didn't learn for a few days after. My then sort of divorcing husband at the time, we were out doing yard work, and I'm just picking things up, whatever.

And I look down. I'm like, oh, look at that. And I pick up this rock, just a perfectly heart-shaped rock. And I'm not one to ever notice. stuff. So I went, well, that's kind of cool. And for some reason, I stuck at my pocket, took it inside. And I felt like when I realized she'd passed that that was her sending me this rock, people send what pennies, feathers and things. She never stopped sending me rocks. And it wasn't like a subtle,

you know, I'm looking through the rocks for them. They would be right in the middle of a paved street with nothing else. no other rocks, but boom, just this one rock right there in the street. And usually when I needed it, you know, whenever I was going through something intense, I went through court stuff, like I said, and one time walking into the courtroom, there was a rock right in front of it. Oh, wow. Yeah, that was pretty cool. And coming out on a different day, I have four-day trial with all of this.

Anyway, right in front of an ice cream shop at the end of this terminal. There was one right there, and I went, thank you, because I knew she was with me for that. So that was cool. The rocks, I mean, I had, I saved them all for a long time. I had jars and jars. And finally, after a few moves, I got rid of most of them, so I have a handful now. But I came across several years later after all of this, I was moving again, and I came across a different rock. And I looked at it and I went, what is this?

Why do, why do I have this rock? Well, when our sons were in first grade, they, I don't even know what they called it. They had this, they learned how to create something, market it, sell it, you know, all their own. And they had just a bizarre thing on the last day of it so they could buy each other's goods. And I was a classroom mom, so I was there. And I had some play money. and I bought this rock from her son and he had painted a heart on it.

I kid you not, when I saw that I just got chills. And I went and found the rock that I found of hers. It was the exact same shape. And it was not like a perfect heart. It was sort of a, you know, like a sidewalk. So that was just, that really got me.

So she's always been there. But yeah. They're still around. They're still around, I believe. I believe it. I believe it. I'm still waiting for my friend to give me that sign. But he will, even though he was a non-believer, I believe that one day he will give me that sign. So, Rich, wherever you are, giving that sign. I'm telling me that sign. Deborah, thank you so much. Maybe it'll just be glimmering of the lights, too. She does that too. Yeah. Yeah. There'll be something. There'll be something. I'm convinced. It will happen. Deborah, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you. And I'm sorry that happened, but I'm glad your friend is still with you and in your heart. Stay spooky. Thank you.

Stay spooky. Spotify, it's Jay Shetty. Are you one of those media strategy people? Scrolling through spreadsheets, searching for an audience that pays twice as much attention to your ads than they do on social? Let me introduce you to fans. And they're here with me on Spotify. Trust me, I know fans. They don't skip.

They stay for hours. They don't move on, they manifest. They're not a demographic group. They're fans. Spotify advertising. You're among fans. Oh, I love to hear from new listeners, and we have a new listener on the line.

I am talking about Jordan from Arkansas, and she found us when Apple spot lit us back in the Halloween time this last year. So thank you, Apple. Please feel free to do it again. No, we really do appreciate. Thank you. Our friends at Apple, they're always so great. sharing the campfire love.

And before we get to it, we have some very important business. I want to say a big stay spooky to your son, Max, who listens to select episodes. Mom vets them first, which I think is smart. And then let's Max listen now and then. So we thank Max, a big stay spooky to Max. Now, Jordan, you have a story about, I believe it's your husband's grandma and something very, very impactful that happened. Could you please tell us what happened? Yes, yes. Thank you, Jim. So this story starts in 2016. And I was just had gotten married, we'd be married just a little over a year. And it was winter break for, I'm a teacher. And so on Valentine's Day weekend, we had a winter break. And unfortunately, we had to go up to South, or excuse me, St. Louis, because my husband's grandmother,

unfortunately had cancer, and so we needed to go and visit her because the doctor had said that she only had a couple of days at that point. So we made our way up there, and we, a little backstory, kind of, we had not told anyone that we were trying to have a baby. And we had only been married just a little over a year at this point. And so it was still something that we were just very secretive about and it was just our first time. So we are on our way up there and then we get there. We get to St. Louis and we, the first night that we get there, she's very out of it, really incoherent. And so to be expected. And so we did stay the night, hoping that the next day would be better. And thankfully it was. We got there. And this actually happened around 1 a.m. I believe that

next day. And we, all day, really, she had been really coherent and she'd been talking. And so at this point, though, all of the family had kind of gathered around her and we were all talking to her. And she was going one by one and holding their hands and talking to them. And considering this was my husband's family, I was kind of in the back. And so she was talking to my husband. She was holding his hand and she reached for me like through all the people and she like kind of pulled me forward and she held my hand and she looked at me and she said and you're eating for two so take care of that baby wow yes and so I mean nobody knew it was it was insane so we had not said a word and so I started crying everybody starts looking at me like do you have something to tell us

And I'm like, no, like, even if I was, like, it would be way too soon to know. And so I look at my husband and he's looking at me and we're both just crying. And so it was really, it was a really incredible moment. She was very close to God. And we are. We're a very Christian relationship with Christ's family. And so we, the next day, unfortunately, she did pass away. Yes.

And so thank you. But we, everybody, even though it was a very sad time, I think everybody kind of looks for some hope. And so everybody, they were asking me, like, do you know? Like, do you know, like what's going on? And at her funeral, they just kept asking, you know, because, and I was like, there's really just no way to tell yet, you know. And so she passed on Valentine's Day, actually. And so I think her funeral was just a couple of days later. And my husband at the time, he worked offshore.

And so he had gone back to work. And it was actually on leap day of that year. It was on the 29th of February. And I called him and I said, okay, listen, like, I can't wait any longer. Like, it's early enough now or late enough now that I can take a test and see. He was like, just do it. Like, do it and call me back. And so I took the test and I was pregnant.

There you go. There you go. Grandma knew. Grandma knew. And I do believe that people particularly, I would think when, you know, they're close to the end, they could see things and things like that. And that had to be, you know, it's great that, you know, you had your son this story, as I understand it's about Max. And that's great. But it also had to be comforting, too, about the whole.

situation, I would think. Very comforting. Yeah. And kind of the next biggest piece to the story is, so obviously right now it's February. So something every year during the month of February, we have something happen in our home. And so the very first year, so my son at the time, he was born in November. So he was only a couple of months old. and he when not me and my husband were sitting in the living room we had put him to bed a couple of hours before that and we were just watching TV well all of a sudden we heard him start crying

and so I instinctively you know like look up and where our living room is and where we were sitting you could see down our long hallway where the bedrooms were and so I look up and as I look as I do I see like this flat mist or this like cloud kind of go from my bedroom across the hall into his room. And within five or ten seconds, he stopped crying completely. Like, he just went back to sleep. And to add, he is a terrible sleeper. He was.

And so he was not going to sleep until somebody would come in there whenever he was little. Wow. Wow. Very, very, very cool. Well, it's a great story. And I think it's very comforting to you, I'm sure. and great because of Max, of course, and just knowing, you know, these folks, when they're ready to pass, I think they do know things. I think they do have a connection. And obviously, she had that connection. And a great connection to you. It's kind of cool how, you know, you felt like you should stand back. But she said, no, I want to talk with you. I want to talk to you about this grandbaby that's coming. So I think that is awesome. Jordan, thank you for sharing your story on the campfire.

Thank you so much for having me, Jen. Stay spooky. Stay spooky. Next up on the campfire is a long time listener. We're talking about Taylor from Minnesota. He's been listening, my goodness, since 2013. Can you believe that? 2013, Tyler.

Thank you so much for that. I really, really do appreciate that. And so glad to have you on the show. So please tell us your story and I can't wait to hear this head scratcher. Thank you again. Yeah, it's good to be here. Um, yes. So this is a head scratcher UFO story. Um, it's been one that's puzzled me quite a bit for the last few years. This happened back in May of 2021. I was on my way to my moms to visit a friend who, um, we were actually working on a project together at the time. And, um, while on the road, so a little bit of a, um, topographical explanation. I'm driving on the freeway. and hitting one of those clover leaves where I'm taking an exit

and I'm going to basically drive underneath the freeway I was just on to then go west towards my destination. And as I'm coming down the exit ramp, I see over the freeway some sort of object. It was various shades of gray, light grays, dark grays, metallic. It seemed like it was probably made of metal, although it wasn't particularly shiny.

And it was kind of an amalgamation of different angles. So, you know, lots of right angles. No real curves, as I was reflecting back on this, I don't remember any rounded shapes of any kind, but it really was just a very abstract kind of assemblage of angles. If I had to guess how big it was, I would say probably roughly the size of like a jet airplane or like a large helicopter or something like that.

And I see, you know, like I say, I'm coming down the exit ramp. I have not yet gone under the bridge. I see it over over the top of the bridge. And I think, well, what is that? That's a little weird. I didn't notice it when I was driving ultimately next to it on the top of the freeway. And I go, I pass underneath as I continue on to, you know, and I'm starting to accelerate now. I'm continuing on to this next freeway.

and I look up and to my left at where this thing is and it's still there. I still see it. It's pretty weird looking. It's totally stationary. Probably if I had to guess maybe 100 to 150 feet up in the air. Really close to the freeway. I mean, like this, I was very close to this thing. And it was I think about 3 p.m.

2.3 p.m. So the freeway was, you know, plenty populated. There were a lot of cars on the road. I look back. you know, I look at this object back at the road, back at the object, back at the road, etc. I'm doing this a few times as I'm accelerating. And I'm also making sure I'm not, you know, hitting cars and stuff. And as I look back maybe the fourth or fifth time, it's just totally gone.

It's just not there anymore. You know, and again, I'm a little bit bewildered. So I'm doing the same thing, looking back at the road, back at where this thing was, and it's still just gone. So, huh. I do remember glancing around at other people on the road to see, you know, is anybody else noticing this? Is anyone pulling over? Like, what's going on here? Right.

And nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I remember I used, I've got a like a smart watch. So I used, I used that to text a speech, my friend who I was going to meet. And I said, hey, I actually went and found the text message the other day. I said something along the lines of, I just saw something weird, remind me to tell you. And I continued on my way. Another 10, 15 minutes to get to my mom's and met up with this friend. We went for a little bit of a walk.

And I by this point had completely forgotten about what I'd seen. And so, you know, saying hi, we're talking about the project we're working on. We get outside. We start walking. And a few minutes into the walk, he says, oh, you said you saw something weird. What was it? And it, like, it hit me because I'm no stranger to like the paranormal and like this kind of like strange stuff, right?

And so the notion, I'm sure you've seen this before, right? People experience something very weird and then they like forget about it. Yeah, which surprises me, but people get busy. We have busy lives, right? Yeah. Yeah. And I, uh, I explained what happened just like I just told you took a couple minutes to tell the story.

And, you know, he's listening and asking questions. And by this point, we had kind of walked, uh, across, uh, across. a creek up a hill into a neighborhood. This is like in a suburban area. And he says, well, about, you know, like, I'm having a hard time picturing this. About how far away was it? About like what size was it in the sky? And I said, well, let me think about how to describe this.

And all of a sudden, a helicopter comes out of nowhere into this neighborhood, residential neighborhood, flying extremely low, you know, flies over the trees. and it comes from from our left and it twists almost 180 degrees like it's like it's out of control like it's spinning out of control and you know takes a second and it kind of recovers and then it

continues on the same direction it was going so um I said I pointed up at you know at it and I said it was about that far away and roughly that size and he kind of nods his head and goes huh what was that about like this random helicopter

almost crashing out of nowhere And as I was reflecting on this story, it was a bright yellow helicopter. And I just did a little bit of research before this call, actually, and found out that that's a common color scheme used by the DNR in Minnesota for emergency vehicles. Oh, okay. So I think it may have been a DNR helicopter. Huh. Huh. You know, it's one of those things.

So many people see so many things weird in the sky that, you know, that I don't discount any kinds of stories. those kind of things. It's very interesting, very interesting indeed. Now, let me ask you this. I mean, what has been your viewpoint of the whole UFO question throughout and what's your viewpoint of it now? That's a good question. I don't have a very good answer. I tend to think it's probably not aliens. I know plenty of people who've had experiences that feel pretty convinced that their situation is. extraterrestrials, I believe that they experienced what they did, but I just, I think at least for this thing, it wasn't. I don't know that I could put my finger on it. I think there's too many different kinds of UFO experiences out there ranging from, you know, unknown or unidentified physical crafts to, you know, strange light phenomenon to, um,

whatever, all kinds of otherworldly stuff. that I think it's hard to pinpoint what it is. Very interesting experience, Taylor. I appreciate it very much. Thank you for joining us today on the campfire. Thank you, Jim. Stay spooky. Next up is Brandy from the Great State,

the Garden State, if I remember correctly, New Jersey. We're so glad to have her on. She's been listening for a few years. And I am always fascinated about these stories about beloved pets and how they may leave us physically, but they're still around. And Brandy is going to talk to us about a story along those lives. Brandy, thank you for joining us. Tell us what happened. Of course. Thank you. So a few years ago, we actually lost our cat. She was about 10 years old.

And I used to call her my sole cat. She meant everything to me. And it was, it was, it was, was hard, but probably about a few months ago, I was, we were in bed sleeping, probably about 3 a.m. comes around, and I, like, am woken up by something. I look at the end of my bed, and it looks like there is, like, this cat sitting there. I have a cat now. She's a tuxedo, same color as the one who passed. So I thought it was her, and I was like, I'm going to reach out and try to pet her. And when I reached out, it's like she just disappeared, just like gone from the end of the bed.

And I was like, that's really weird. And I just kind of fell back asleep. I didn't think anything of it. Thought maybe she jumped down or something. But I woke up the next morning. My wife got up, went to go get ready. And I hear this noise from my closet. and it turns out my other cat ended up locking herself in the closet overnight.

Huh. So there was no way it could have been her. So I opened the closet, let her out. She runs straight to the litter box, Grateful. And I tell my wife about it. And she was like, that's really weird because I thought I saw her sitting at the end of the bed. Wow. And I was like, I didn't know you saw that.

that too. And yeah, that was probably one of the first times I maybe saw with my eyes, my cat come back to me. Wow. Did that, how did that make you feel? Realizing in the morning, it kind of made me feel like a mix of sad but also happy, knowing that she's still here with us in some way. We've had many cases of that, whether it's somebody hearing, you know, for example, dog tags, especially like the old school dog tags. They had a certain jingle and people will, you know, have a dog that passes and they'll hear that particular jingle or they'll put their hand down beside their bed and their dog who has passed is there to be petted. And they start petting him and realize, wait a minute. Brutus isn't here anymore

or whatever the dog's name is. It's really, I do believe they go on and I believe they come back and show themselves. It's never happened to me, but it's happened to so many people that I've talked to on the show. It seems to be a very, very real thing. And it's really assuring because, you know,

we just had our dog, Teddy, who was very ill for a couple of days. And we thought, I mean, he's quite elderly. He's either 14, 15 or 16 years old. We can't figure out which because we got in his rescue. But he's a very old dog. And we thought we were going to be faced with some tough decisions. Luckily, he's rebounded like nothing was ever wrong with him.

And we can't quite figure out what happened there. But they really are members of the family. And like any member of the family, it's very reassuring when they come back and just say hi. Brandy, thank you for sharing your story on the campfire tonight. Stay Spooky. Thank you, Jim. Stay Spooky. Thanks so much for having joined us on the Campfire this week.

I appreciate it. And if you want even more, you can't get enough, join my Plus Club over at Jimherald.com slash plus. We've got some great pricing over there for you. And it's just a good old time, a good old time. And it supports our show. And you get the whole back catalog of the Campfire. or the paranormal podcast, exclusive content.

New episodes don't have ads for Camp Fire and the Paranormal podcast. If you are a member, it's a great deal. And we haven't raised the price since we started the Plus Club. I think back in 2011, not raised the prices. Is there anything that's not raised their price since 2011? Yes, there is. The Spooky Studio Plus Jim Harold Plus Club. And it helps us do these shows.

So please make sure to check it out and join today. Jimherald.com slash plus. So you never run out of spooky stories during this spooky season. We thank you so much for joining us. We'll talk to you next time. Have a great week, everybody. And stay spooky.

Bye-bye.