Otherworld - Episode 159: A Room on the Road

Episode Date: March 9, 2026

This episode follows two different working musicians as they go on tour and find themselves spending their nights in less than ideal circumstances. Colm, in Barcelona, is shocked to find objects moving on their own and a mysterious old woman barging into the apartment. Meanwhile, Shelby in New Orleans, must endure the night in a windowless, pitch-black room that harbors a dark and threatening presence. Check out our Merch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For business inquiries contact: [e-mail] If you have experienced something paranormal or unexplained, email us your story at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Otherworld. I am your host, Jack Wagner. In this episode, we have two shorter stories about being a touring musician and the horrors of the road, from attempted robberies to haunted houses and other uncomfortable places one has to crash while they're on tour. This first story comes from a guy named Colum. Interestingly enough, I met Collum while recording an episode, of Otherworld. He has been on the show before very briefly. In fact, now that I think about it, this might be one of the strangest ways that I've ever met a person. This was during the series of episodes titled Them. In that series, there was a very surreal moment where I suddenly

needed somebody to translate Norwegian for me. I'm sure many of you remember this. I sent out a bunch of very frantic messages to my friends. And very quickly, my friend Lily put me on a Zoom call with a couple people on the other side of the world who are willing to help me. And one of those people was call him. I did not know him then. I have since met him in person and hung out several times. He is a really nice guy who thankfully did not judge me for the incredibly strange first impression I must have made on him. In fact, it turns out that Colum has had some strange experiences of his own. The one you're about to hear takes place while he's on tour in Barcelona with his friend Louisa. I'll let them take it from here. This episode,

is called A Room on the Road and you're listening to Otherworld. Is this Bobby? Yes, it is. At its core, the science you can't argue with. I'm not worried about all the science. Up in the sky. It's almost frustrating that it's happening. I'm going to die.

I'm going to fly. It's slimmed. We're just like wrong. Everybody moves back into the light, even if it takes them a minute. My name is Colum. I grew up in Ireland. I'm Irish.

I grew up in a little town called McCroom, kind of in the countryside outside. of it. Really interesting place to grow up. So much history and standing stones and ring forts. It's really steeped in so much history and it's like such a strong energy there. And it was really nice growing up there. I really loved it. But you know, growing up in a small town and being interested in music was quite difficult. So as soon as I could, I started playing guitar and you know, looked at music as a way maybe to get out and, you know, travel. When I was 16, I started a band with my brother.

And yeah, we got signed pretty early on when I was 16 years old by Morrissey, which was really cool. Basically, his mother got a copy of our demo, like our first demo that we ever made. And Morrissey's mom loved, really loved our band. And I think he was at home in Manchester and his mom was playing this rough demo by this Irish band. And he just really liked it. And he faxed us and said, hey, I really like your music. and I'd love to put one of your songs on this compilation for Enemy magazine. It was called Songs to Save Your Life, and it was wild.

We were 16, 17 years old, and one of our songs was on this compilation that Morrisy made. So then he signed us, and we ended up releasing like a single on his label, and he took us on the road for a little while. We opened for him in Earl's Court in London on my 18th birthday, which was amazing. For me, it was just like that's all I wanted to do. I love music so much, and it was just so lucky to be able to travel and do all these amazing things that I'd always dreamed of.

So that took us on the road for a long time, and eventually we went to the US, and we toured for about six months, I think. We went everywhere, and, you know, some of it was DIY, and some of it was booked through a booking agent, and it was, like, one of the best experiences I think I'd ever had, to be honest. But lots of weird things happened, like we'd guns pulled on us a few times. We had a guy tried to attack us in our tent outside of Seattle and just some of the wildest things that you could imagine. But like nothing supernatural.

And that was something that I'd never really thought about that kind of thing. I just sort of, you know, you hear about ghost stories and things that happen to people. But you never really believe it until it happens to you, you know? Then you sort of, it kind of opens things up a little bit. And then you start kind of questioning things from the past. But basically, once I finished this US tour, went back to Ireland and had a few months break and had a mutual friend in Manchester

who messaged me and he says, you know, you should really meet this artist, Chelsea, Chelsea Crowell. She's based in Nashville. She's a singer-songwriter and sent me some of her music and I just really loved it. We started emailing and she, you know, wanted to come to Ireland and do some shows.

So I booked her, like a little DIY tour of Ireland and she came over and we became really, really good friends really quickly. And that was really fun and she eventually, you know, was like, you should come to Nashville and you should come hang out. And so I did. I went there for a few months and we did some shows together and we lived in this, this old house that her friend Amy owned. It's sort of this pre-civil war house in Nashville, really old and really beautiful, but quite, quite iris. a little bit strange. It definitely had an energy for sure,

but it was something I never thought about being in that house was that anything creepy was going to happen. But we started a little concert series for Planned Parenthood called The Backyard Opera and we would do concerts in the garden of this house and so many brilliant Nashville musicians came and we would do this once a month and I'd go back to Ireland and I might fly back for one of them.

But one time at that show, one of the bands were in the living room. And we had these candles in the living room and he took a photo of the candle. And then when he looked at the photograph, there was this woman in the background. And she looked like she was dressed, you know, from the 1800s. And it was really, really creepy, this photograph. And I remember looking at that and, you know, just sort of like, that can't be real. Like, I just couldn't believe this was real.

It just kind of spooked me. I guess that's like the first sort of thing that's ever happened where I was like, okay, this feels like this is, this is a ghost. If there's ever proof of a ghost, this is it. Wait, do you have that picture still or somebody? I do. Oh, I would love to see it. Yeah, I'll send you that picture. Oh, amazing. Rare people do. Yeah, I know, that's the thing. I was, I was really shocked, and it's, it's so visible. Like, it's, it's like the hair and the, she's wearing like this, this, like, veil over her head. She looks like a nurse or, you know, it's really, like, her features are just so pronounced as well.

Okay, please. Yeah, I'll send you that. And it was really funny as well. Like when they got sent the photograph, it kept deleting. Like, it just kept not showing up or corrupting on my phone and on other phones. It's really, really unusual. But yeah, I still have it and I'll send it to you. So after that trip, I go back to Ireland and Chelsea emails me and she's like, look, I've got a record coming out.

And I'd love to do like a tour of Europe. And I'd love you to join me and play guitar. You know, it'd be really small. Basically, Chelsea, me and our friend Louisa, who was sort of tour managing and driving and would jump in for some songs for backing vocals. So it was just like really small. All we needed was a car and two guitars, basically.

So they flew over to Ireland and we did two shows. And then we went to London. We did a really fun show there. And then we had two more shows in Paris and then a final show in Barcelona. So, you know, it was quite grueling. really long distances and not a huge amount of planning behind it. It was just sort of go with the flow. But after Paris, we were there for like, we were in Paris for about four days and it was pretty

exhausting and we were staying with some friends and it was kind of weird. And I remember I was sleeping under a table, you know, it was like not the most comfortable situation, but it was really fun. So then the next show was in Barcelona and we had to drive straight. And it was like an 11-hour drive from Paris to Barcelona. But the good part of it was that we would finish the tour and we'd have two days off in Barcelona and that was really exciting. So Louisa went on Craigslist basically

and found this really nice kind of 11th on the top floor of this residential building at a big balcony, overlooking Barcelona. It looked really cool. So we're really excited to go there. So after the 11 hour drive, we arrive in Barcelona and we are like

so tired and so exalted. and just so glad that this tour is almost over. Louisa drives us to the apartment. We take out all of our luggage and then she goes to find parking. And she drives like around the corner and a man on a motorcycle drives up next to her and is like banging on her window and he's like pull over, pull over like very aggressively. And she just got really freaked out and just sort of drove off. And when she came back, we realized he had slashed the tire and was basically trying to rob us.

So she was really shaken from that experience and we kind of had to like sit down and be like, okay, let's regroup here and let's get to get into the apartment and let's just like, let's relax, let's chill. So we go in, we get our luggage into the elevator. And when we're in there, there's a man and his son and his son maybe five and this man was probably in his 30s or 40s. And he asks us like, which floor are you going to? And we said the 11th floor. and he kind of looked at us in a kind of like a weird way, you know. And in hindsight, we didn't think much of it, but it was kind of unusual that he would do that. So anyway, we get to the apartment, we open the door, put our things inside, and it's really beautiful.

It's like this, a little old-fashioned, but really beautiful, like really spacious. Had this, like, beautiful balcony with, like, big furniture, a little table and chairs. And it's just like nice little kitchen and two-bedrooms. and there's basically a sofa bed in the kitchen that I was going to be sleeping on. So we're sort of looking around. I put my laptop on the coffee table. The coffee table is right by the sofa couch, and it's just glass on the top and then kind of like wood under it.

All that's on it is, I guess book, you know, to the side and otherwise it's clear. And I basically place it down. I'm very delicate with my computer. Like I take really good care of my computers, you know, on my laptops. So I place my laptop on the coffee table, like in the center of the coffee table. There's nothing around it. There's a guest book to the right of it. And yeah, you know, it's just right in the center of this coffee table.

And then when I walk away from it and I turn to go back, it lifts and spins. Like it flips off the table onto the ground. Like you could imagine putting your coffee, if you put your laptop on a coffee table and it was like slightly on the edge and it would slip off, which is, you know, it happens. But this was center of the coffee table and nothing around it. Like nothing could have made this happen.

Like I, yeah, it was, and it was a really like aggressive. It was like the way somebody would like, you know, someone was angry with you and they would like, you know, push your book off a table or something. It just felt very, it didn't feel very natural

the way that it flipped, you know? And it hit the floor very loudly to the point where I was like, oh, it's definitely broken. And I, I, I pick it up and I check and thankfully it was okay. It was one of the old Macbucks, like the really heavy ones. I don't know.

At the time, I didn't think anything of it. I was just like so tired. I was like, of course it fell off the table, you know. But it was really weird that that happened. And then there's a knock on the door and we open it and it's this old lady. And she keeps saying like, you need to pay the rent. You need to pay the rent. And we're a bit confused because, you know, we've done this through like a booking service.

So we're like, yeah, we've paid. Everything's okay. and we're like showing her the emails and she keeps saying, you need to pay the rent. And she kept saying there's six of you, there's six of you. And we're like,

no, there's just the three of us. You know, it's all good. And we call the guy who we did the booking through and he kind of, you know, he's like, look, it's okay. She owns the apartment. Her name's Carmen. She's just a little scaddy at the moment, you know.

So anyway, we go for dinner and come back. And as soon as we come back again, we hear knocking the door and it's Carmen again. And she's saying the same thing. you know, you need to pay the rent. There's six of you, there's six of you. So it was a little bit weird, but, you know, it's just, you know, she obviously owned the apartment and she was just, you know, worried, I guess.

So that night, we go to bed early because we're just absolutely wrecked. And I'm on the sofa couch. And every time I'm about to fall asleep, I hear like a little buzz in my ear, like a little like a, like a, like a, what to me sounded like maybe a mosquito. and it would always happen just when I was about to fall asleep, like just on the cusp of sleep. And it went on for hours. So I turned on the light and was just waiting for this mosquito.

I was waiting to kill this mosquito and nothing came. Eventually I passed out from exhaustion. So wake up in the morning and the girls are up as well and nobody is talking. Everybody is just completely just exhausted. And I kind of suggest, right, let's go for breakfast. we leave the apartment and as soon as we leave Louisa turns to me and she's like well

the apartment's haunted and I kind of laughed as like what do you mean it's haunted. Her experience was she was in bed and there was a little single bed next to her and she could see this like black like figure like completely black figure sitting on the bed looking at her

and she was in between sleep and just kept seeing this figure and then Chelsea had a very similar experience to me where she kept reaching to her ears, trying to, like, you know, thinking that she had her headphones on, but she didn't. And that kept happening to her as well.

So it was a little weird, but at the same time, it's just, you know, like when you're exhausted and you're at your lowest, you know, it's just your mind definitely starts playing tricks on you. So we didn't really think much of it. And we just, you know, let's just get out into the city and have fun. And we didn't even think about it again. So that evening we get back to the apartment and, you know, there's a really heavy energy in this place. Like it definitely felt like you didn't want to be in this apartment alone or like, you know, it just, there was something to it.

Like it just felt very lived in. And it felt like maybe it only been like rented out for maybe a year or two. It didn't feel like an Airbnb. It felt like if this was somebody's apartment. So that night, I, when I go to sleep, I leave my lamp next to my bed. on because, you know, I was a little spooked, I guess. Around 5 a.m., I hear a door open, and I feel the door open and close, and then I can hear like footsteps, and it's like coming closer to me.

And I'm so exhausted, I don't want to open eyes. I'm just, I assume it's a person. And the steps get closer and closer, and then to the point where I feel a breath over my face. and I'm like so terrified to open my eyes. I don't want to open my eyes, but I can feel it over me and it's get to the point where I'm just like, I'm terrified.

I open my eyes and I see a, like there's a face right above my face, looking into my face, into my eyes. And I am paralyzed at that point. Just it's like your worst nightmare, you know, when you're in a new place. there's someone in your room and they're literally looking, like have their face over you. And it takes me, you know, it takes me like five seconds to realize,

like this is a person. Like this is, this is Carmen, you know? The lady from downstairs and she is like leaning over me and then sort of turns and reaches and turns off the lamp that's like right next to my pillow. But what brought me some ease is that this is a real person, you know? This isn't a spirit. And I kind of, something in me didn't want to, like, you know, shout and, like, make it weird, I guess.

I'm just being so Irish and so polite about it. I just sort of let it happen. And she just sort of walked out of the apartment. And I was just sort of, I don't know, I felt kind of bad, I guess, that, you know, something is obviously kind of wrong with her. She's obviously not all there. So it was a bit shocking, but that was a real person. So, like, this wasn't a ghost. So I go back to sleep, wake up in the morning, and we decide to call the guy that we booked the apartment from.

And we emailed him as well. We said, look, Carmen is coming into the apartment. And it's a little strange. And to have, like, no concept that you are in, you don't know this person and you're in this room with them, it's the middle of the night and you are going into the room and turning something off. It's so unpredictable. And that, for me, was really scary because you're like, what else could they do? Or do they think I'm a relative?

Or do they think I broke in, you know? So I was really freaked out by this. And he got back and he told us he was going to call her and he did. And he called us back and basically said that she had Alzheimer's and her family were sort of going to come and make sure she was okay. So that was it, you know, that was kind of the only shocking thing that could have happened and eventually we just sort of, you know, forgot about it. We played a show the following night in Barcelona, that was really fun, and we got home and passed out and everything was fine.

So on the last day, I wake up and I'm just sort of working on my computer by the balcony. I'm sitting on the couch and to my left is like the door, like the balcony door. And I look and what I can see is like the table and it's being pulled. Like, you know, so it's like, as if somebody, like, like I assumed somebody was on the other side pulling this table. I called out. I was like, hey, do you need a hand moving that? And the girls basically hear me and they, I know, I realize they're in their bedrooms. I stand up to go luck because I realize the girls, there's nobody, there should be nobody there.

And there is nobody there. It's just an empty balcony, chairs and table being dragged all over. long at the same time. So it wasn't like one tear moving. It was like the entire set was just dragging in a really like kind of smooth way. And this is like 11th floor balcony with like, you know, big heavy furniture. And it wasn't even windy. It was like a sunny Barcelona day. It was just so strange. Like I, I, I mean, at the time, you just your brain doesn't go, oh, that's a ghost or that's something, there's an energy doing that. You're just like, that is so strange. that that is happening. And it wasn't windy and it wasn't, it was just a sunny day. It was just

like a really bright sunny day. So I tell the girls and they're like, well, of course, yeah, of course that happened. This house is, this apartment is strange. And there's, you know, there's some energy here. There's something that is, it just, to me, it felt like just something was like unresolved or it just felt like you were like something has happened. There's something just, just something didn't feel right there. You know, it felt like, you know, like, you know, You know, when you're in a house and someone's having a big argument and you're sitting there and you're sort of watching two people have an argument, it kind of felt like that, if that makes sense. So the girls come back out and I tell them what happened and obviously they're completely freaked out as well. So me and Chelsea decide to go down into the lobby to basically work and like booking some flights.

And the internet was stronger down there. So we leave Louisa, have a shower. We told her we'd meet her in the lobby. So about like 30 minutes later, we're in the lobby and the elevator opens and Louisa is in like a towel and she's like, you know, wet from the shower and she's like pale and she's just shaking. Like she's shivering. She's like completely terrified. And she comes over to us and she's like, I can't go. I have to leave.

I have to leave. And we were like, like what happened? Okay. I'm Louisa. I was on tour with our friend Chelsea. and Colm had set up some European tour dates. And I was there to kind of help with merch and hang out with my friends and travel.

I'll just speak for myself because I don't remember clearly what Chelsea and Colm went through, but things got weird. Our first night there, we all went to our respective beds. And I remember, I was too scared to turn off the lights. And I remember the entire night feeling that somebody was standing over me to the point where I couldn't really sleep. It felt feminine and I was actually pretty scared.

The next morning I woke up and I walked into the living room and the look on Chelsea and Colm's faces were just, they looked at me like, what happened? And I was like, I think this place is haunted. So timeline is a little fuzzy. it was towards the end. I think we started packing up. I decided to take a shower. I was the only one in the apartment. The door was closed and I kept hearing something. And I was like, is that the door opening? Is there somebody in here? We all kind of know that feeling when we're in the shower that something else might be around or somebody else might be around.

So I kept like peeking out of the shower and nothing was there and the door was closed. And finally, I was terrified. And I don't think I had this conscious thought, but I was like, you know, I'm not. not going to be surprised if somebody's here. I'm going to, I'm going to go out there. So I put my towel on. I remember having soap in my hair and I walked out into the hallway and the hallway was pretty long and the bathroom was towards the end towards the two entrances to the back bedrooms. And so I looked down the hallway to where the light was, where like the big room was. And I saw a figure. It was like poking around the wall, like a dark figure. It was probably five feet tall, maybe a little bit taller. I was assuming it was feminine just because everything else I kind of felt in the apartment had been feminine.

Its head and its shoulder were backlit and I don't remember seeing any long hair. It was so fast. I was 100% terrified. I was alone. I was vulnerable. and there was something obviously there. It was obviously watching me. And when I looked at it and it presumably looked at me,

it immediately got out of frame. And then it ducked like behind the wall. So I booked it and I ran as fast as I could. I had to go right past where it had just been. I looked over my shoulder just to make sure there wasn't anything there. There was nothing there. And then I ran to the door and I ran downstairs. And I was on the fourth floor.

So I ran down to the, the lobby and I was in a towel soaking wet with soap in my hair probably like white as a ghost because I was terrified. I had already worked myself up a little bit to be scared and then to have confirmation was just it was terrifying. I have never run out of an apartment stopping wet in a towel before. I didn't think it was a landlady because it wasn't like a physical person and I wasn't scared of the landlady and I was terrified of this. It was like it had a different feeling. The landlady was kooky and kind of funny. We had this funny landlady who would like come into our apartment that was all kind of humorous.

This wasn't humorous. This wasn't fun. If the landlady had been there, it would have been like, hey, Carmen, what are you doing here? But there was, yeah, there was no humor or fun about this. It was dark. So I obviously had to go back up and get our luggage and everything. And it was just really, really, really, really. weird, like the amount of little things that were happening and, you know, and it was funny

because there was a guest book on the coffee table and I just had a quick look through and it was like, page one was like, we had a great stay here and page two was like ripped out and then it would be like page three like, oh, it was a really good time and then three pages ripped out. So it was, to me it felt like this has probably happened to a few other people. and after the case I did some research to see if anything had happened in that apartment you know it was like a really old residential building I couldn't find anything but

I just I just wonder like I just wonder like what who lived in that apartment was it Carmen's family was it did she live in that apartment at one point and I don't know like just the fact that she was so confused and there was just something drawing her to that apartment constantly that just felt really, really unusual and really strange. The fact that she kept saying, you have to pay the rent, there's six of you. That was really weird.

I mean, and she knew she kept seeing three of us, but she kept saying, there's six of you, there's six of you. And I don't know. You never really think about this stuff at the time, but then afterwards you're like, why was there six of us, you know? And the fact that each one of us had an experience. experience, I had experiences there. And it was all very different for all of us. For Louisa, it was this dark figure, this one dark figure that kept sort of, you know, watching her and

following her. For Chelsea, it was like the audio and hearing things. And same for me. But obviously, for me to see the furniture move, that was like really, it was really, really weird to witness that. And there was no earthquakes. There was like nothing like that. It was just heavy, heavy. furniture. This is like furniture that you put up to not get blown over basically. This is like very heavy. And it would take two people to move that table, you know? And the fact that it was dragging itself and the chairs were dragging with it is, it means it was a lot of force to move that. To actually, actually witness this and to watch this play out, the fact that Carmen was so involved in it and the fact that she came into the apartment, there was just something, obviously maybe

didn't want us there and something in this apartment didn't want us to be there. Once we finished the tour, I think we all flew back home. I went back to Ireland and I remember telling my family the story after. And then when you actually start telling the story, you start realizing how kind of insane it sounds, you know. But it's undeniable. Looking back, when you're in these situations, I mean, you don't jump to these conclusions that it's something spiritual.

And I guess like now in my life, this was in 2011. This is a long time ago. And looking back, it's like I really, you know, I believe that I'm quite spiritual, I would say. I'm not like religious, but I'm quite spiritual. And I do believe in, you know, alternate timelines. And I feel like there is more to it than this reality that we are in. And I think this experience really, really kind of helped come to that conclusion. I think I believe in that there's energy that is left behind.

And there's energy that is still needs to like resolve itself. needs to figure it out. And I think, you know, a lot of people are in tune with this, I think, and some people are completely, this never happens to them, you know. And I think for, even for Chelsea, I don't think she'd really experienced anything kind of supernatural in her life and was very skeptical about everything. I think Louisa had and was very in tune with that kind of energy. But for me, I mean, I've never experienced anything like this before. I would listen to these stories but I would never maybe believe them

or you know since then I don't think I've really experienced anything like that you know like I'm very I can definitely feel like pick up an energy in in certain places but I've never like witnessed

I've never witnessed anything like that again I don't know I wouldn't want to go back there to be honest you couldn't pay me to go back there all right thank you so much to Colum and Louis

for sharing their story. We're going to take a quick break, but when we're back, we're going to hear a second story from somebody named Shelby. All right. This next story comes from a woman named Shelby. She is also a musician, and she's in a band called Tube Alloys. She has spent a lot of time on the road. She has stayed in some very, very strange and uncomfortable places.

Her story takes place while she's in New Orleans. in the French Quarter, which is already a very spooky place. I think everybody knows that New Orleans is known to be incredibly haunted. In fact, I'm surprised we haven't had more stories come in from New Orleans. Shelby went there in 2017, and during this trip, she decided to stay in a hotel that was $88 a night. Honestly, any hotel in the French Quarter, for that price is probably going to result in some very frightening experiences.

And to make matters worse, they somehow got put into a hotel room that did not have windows, which I didn't even realize was a possibility in hotels. It got a lot weirder from there. I'll let Shelby explain for herself. Hello, my name is Shelby. I am from Fullerton, California. I'm a woman of many hats, I would say. But mainly I spend a lot of my time playing music.

I play guitar and drums and I sing. I currently play in a band called Tube Alloys. I have been in this band called Oogbogo for many years. Great name. Love it. Still love it so much. And I've spent a lot of time on the road with my friend Shannon Lay, who's an amazing folk indie guitar supernobes.

Nova Woman. Other than that, I think a lot of time I spent on the road is doing like tour managing stuff and general roadie stuff, selling merch, driving the whole thing where I can just get on the road, spent a lot of my time doing that. Growing up, I mean, I spent a lot of time just going to shows and I kind of threw myself immediately into music. I think I knew from a very young age I wanted to travel and get in the van and start doing some sort of traveling in the music department. Primarily, I would say my experience with touring, even to this day, I'm 32 years old, is the classic DIY. There's no real money we're doing it because we love it. There's no massive budget. There's no, you know, nobody backing us.

So most of the time, each night, it's a coordinated, you might know, somebody that lives in the city that would be so kind enough to host six to ten people, you know, all on a Tuesday night on their floor or whatever makeshift couch situation or how many sardined bodies can we fit in this nice person's apartment or house with roommates, usually too. God bless them as well. Where each night you never know, and sometimes you even ask on stage in between your songs who is a final, can you please help us, who can put us up tonight?

That, I think, brings in an environment of a ton of different experiences you could have each night where you never know whose house you're going to be in, which means you never know what you're going to get. And I'm talking maybe energy-wise, or if you're in a, you know, I've stayed in houses that were like the oldest thing I've ever seen, the most Victorian, like, cartoon image of a haunted house before. And I've heard a lot of creaking in the night or whatever, but you give it the woods breathing or whatever. But there's been some flickering lights and door slams.

And I would hear from a lot of people. They would share their fair share of ghost encounters or something odd in the middle of the night. Or did you hear that door slam out of nowhere and stuff where I could kind of shake it off? I never really took a hard stance on it. I'm a pretty open-minded person, but I never had anything like direct. slammed me in the face that that happened to me. It never really directly affected me until later on, I suppose. It was about 2017.

It was September, I remember, because I was traveling with two of my friends. Their names are Sarah and Brandy. We went on a little girl's trip to New Orleans, just to have a good time, but also my boyfriend at the time was in a band on tour, and they were playing in New Orleans on the night of his birthday. So it kind of was like a really nice two for one where I could see him. We could all go to the show, but we could get like a long girl's trip out of this, which was really fun.

So I booked this hotel in the French Quarter. It's called The French Market Inn. I don't want to give free press or anything, but they are definitely haunted. I chose this place because it looked amazing, had great reviews. It was so cheap and I don't have a lot of money. And I think it was literally like $88 a night, and it was just really beautiful. And that worked within our budget. I picked the place.

Everything's great. We check in. Everything's awesome. We set our stuff down. And I notice once we get in the room, why maybe it's a little bit cheaper than the other rooms is the place is so big. And I think it was converted from an old estate or an old place of business. I don't know, from the early 1800s or now it's a hotel.

but we got a room in the middle of the place. The room did not have any windows or any natural lighting. So it was just going to be pitch black unless we had a light on inside the room. I've never heard of a hotel room being like that. Yeah. I didn't really, you know, I don't really consider that when I'm picking a room, but, you know, I certainly do now. Everyone knows the history of New Orleans and the tourism around ghost encounters. It's just a very old place with a lot of spirits and a lot of history there with that.

So that definitely like kind of clicked into my brain once I went, oh, okay, this room is so old and so dark. By the way, when did this take place? 2017, I'd say. So almost 10 years ago. Yeah. And so based on just Googling, it seems like the price actually went down over the last 10 years at this hotel from $88 to $83 a night. kidding. Even with inflation, that's amazing. It defies all known economic models. Slamming deals at this place, you know. You might pay the price a little bit in other ways,

but it is a great walk-up price. But we put our stuff down. We got ready. We had a whole night. We just did the whole thing. We were in the French corner, so we went to Bourbon Street. We did the whole tourism thing. And I don't think we got back to our room until 233. So we We were doing it right. I think the timing is important because we were preparing to be maybe a little bit hungover. We wanted to sleep in. So with the no natural lighting coming up and my friend setting her alarm for 1130 or literally noon, that leaves a lot of time for darkness.

So I didn't pay any mind. I was sharing a bed with my friend Sarah and Brandy had the other bed. We just did that. Me and Sarah chose to bunk up together. Um, everything's totally normal. We're going to sleep. I hear a little faint snoring. No offense to my girlfriends, but everyone was sleeping soundly is what I'm trying to say.

I'm shortly behind them. Um, I am on my side. I'm kind of rolling over a little bit. And then I roll on my back and I'm falling asleep, like kind of trying to deep breathe. And I start to feel pressure. The best way to describe how it felt was as if you were laying on your, back and somebody is either standing over you or sitting beside your bed and they are taking like their flat palm and slowly kind of pushing almost like a massage style pushing into your legs and putting

more force and then it released and it almost felt like maybe something was like walking on me but it went up up my legs kind of on my torso and stomach but mainly on my legs and on my feet it felt like somebody was slowly pushing in different various parts of my legs. And I'm definitely awake still. I remember making sure it was kind of, I felt very silly, but I literally like moved my body around to make sure I wasn't in a dream state. And I like pinched myself because it was so dark in there. I had my eyes open, but it was hard to tell. But I like made sure that I wasn't in a dreaming state where maybe my body was just having a reaction. And I just started to feel. And I just started to feel the pressure that wasn't stopping, even if I kind of moved my body around, it would kind of come

back. And that just stayed the whole time. So I was feeling that, and I started to feel a little bit nervous, but I also tried to go into, like, I call it like hippie mindset where I'm like, okay, there is a ghost in here perhaps. That's okay. I'm in their space. I'm going to kumbaya all this and try to talk to them mentally and just send them a message that I appreciate them. I mean no harm. I would like to sleep, but I understand that they're there and that's okay. I was trying to make peace with the scenario, right? To even let myself sleep because it felt crazy, but it wasn't too offensive that I started to panic.

But it was ongoing so much that it really, I woke up my friend at a point. I felt like a four-year-old waking up their parents being like, I'm too scared to go to sleep. But she was like, it's okay, just go to sleep. But slowly, I think I started to get so scared. My heart was beating so much that whether I liked it or not, I was just almost starting to grab her. Like, I just got scared. And then she kind of shuffled me off. But I was like, okay, this is ridiculous.

She'll be like, you don't have to spoon your friend right now. So I'm just trying to make peace with this. and I'm doing breathing exercises to sleep. At a certain point, I just, I had my eyes open and I was completely frozen, but the room around me, it is the most insane thing I ever have gone through. The room, it turned like sinister energy, like a snap. The room was literally like dark red and vibrating,

like bright, sinister red. My vision, everything around me, it was like, Like a humming, angry energy all of a sudden was there where I was in contact with it. And I couldn't move my body, but I remember looking, you know, using my eyes to glance all over the room. And I see to my right side are these two little girls that were staring at me. And they were livid with me. It was clearly like I was not welcome there, but I was frozen. It was the most sinister energy thing I've ever experienced.

They both had dark hair. They were the same height. And I would say they were probably around like six, maybe eight at the top. I don't really remember what they were wearing, but they were both just kind of hovering, almost to like if we're laying down and they're on your right side. They were about at my like my chest area, like stomach torso. That's that close to me near my face.

But they weren't really doing anything movement style. They were just standing there and looking so angry and glaring at me. But we were stuck in this, like, humming, evil, vibrating dark red room thing for a crazy amount of time. But at a certain point, I kind of just was able to move my body where I, like, jolted out of it and could move over. And I shut my eyes so tightly because I almost started having like a panic attack. It was so terrifying that I couldn't move, but it really looked like a horror movie level. The room was literally vibrating. It was like shaking, angry energy-wise.

Like it was undeniably an angry entity. And I turned over, I don't really remember, like, other than processing it and making sure in the same way, like, I was moving my body around to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I was like putting my fingernails in my arms to make sure that I could feel. that and I had control over that movement, you know, so I wasn't in a dream. But at that point, I needed to get away from it. So I just closed my eyes and I refused to open them. I just couldn't do it. It was too scary. And so I was just holding my friend and waiting for something to just go away or hopefully they would go bother someone else. But I was so terrified and confused about what was happening because it's never happened to me in any way like that before. My heart is pounding

out of my chest. I wake up my friend again. This time, I'm still a four-year-old, but I'm like, Sarah, there is a ghost in here. I'm sorry I'm waking you up, but I'm freaked out. And that point, I am gripping her. We are spooning. There is no way this girl is getting out of my grip because I'm so fucking scared out of my mind. I'm almost laughing because I'm clocking the amount of time that I might have to go through this. Because I was self-conscious about waking everybody up, It's turning on a light because that was just too childish. I just kind of was like, I'm riding this out. This is, I'm in hell, but I'm not going to make too big of a deal out of this, you know.

But I was kind of freaking out about the timeline of my friend who set the alarm for 1130 with, you know, no natural light to kind of ease this out. So I was like, I don't even know what time it is, but time is going by so slow that I have to do this until noon. So I was just freaking out. I grabbed my friends there. I am spooning the hell out of her and my eyes are open. My heart is beating. I'm trying to just chill. I'm trying to like feel okay right now. But I had my back turn to where these girls were, right? And shortly after it felt like somebody was the same kind of amount of pressure I was speaking about on my legs with the same pacing. It was two fingers prodding my shoulder started to like push and like basically somebody slowly tapping on me on my shoulder slowly like pushing and in different parts of my shoulder so just different it would happen

just i'm like doing it to myself right now but it it was like four second pushes where they would get pretty deep and then release and then be another poke and another push and all over my my shoulder and back to kind of, they were fucking with me. They were trying to get my attention. But my eyes, I was so awake, but I was gripping my friend. I had my eyes shut. I would like, could not. I was so frozen in fear. I couldn't allow myself to open my eyes because I think if I did, I'm glad I didn't, because after that, I was like, I don't know if I'll come back from this if I open my eyes right now. But the, the prodding of the shoulder happened, I mean, literally for hours. I don't even know how to describe how psychedelically scary that was.

But it definitely happened to me. I was fully awake for it. I mean, I don't know how I couldn't be. So I just kind of chose to go into the fear, frozen state of holding my friend and letting this entity or two, or whatever how many there were, just kind of annoy the shit out of me and scare me all night until noon. So they were, I think, prodding my shoulder for about, I mean, hours.

I couldn't sleep. But at this point, I was like, all right, you guys can tap on my shoulder. Please don't hurt me. But it was the most, like, I have, like, way different levels of anxiety after this experience. So finally, I was lucky and the alarm went off. And I do remember it being noon because it was so funny to me that we chose that as the alarm time. And I, you know, I immediately went into the whole thing and told them exactly what I went through and that I'm not crazy. I've never had a ghost encounter like this. Of course, I was expecting some sort of roasting or denial or that's ridiculous what I went through. They were obliging me and spooked, but they were kind of like, that's ridiculous, Shelby, no way. And I slept great. And I was like, I don't really want to hear that you slept great right now, but I'm happy for you. And, you know, I just tried to laugh it off as much as I could because I wanted to have a good day.

But I, we got up. We had a really nice day. We got food. We wandered around. And this was the day that my boyfriend at the time was going to play a show nearby. So we had a whole nice time. We went to the show. And then it is critical information, I'd say, for this story because it was his birthday.

and he also got a room in the same hotel for one night while they're passing through. So I got to leave the haunted room and stay with him in his room, which he had so much stunning light. They had a window. And I was really relieved to have somebody with me, but also natural lighting. So I actually, that room was, I had no problem. I slept great. It was no, no spirits, no encounters myself.

in that night. But then the third night is he left and continued on the tour and I had to return back to the haunted room with my girlfriends. So there's this looming like what is going to happen back in this room. I don't know why I didn't. I'm just maybe too much of a people pleaser in environments. I should have just changed the room or something, but, you know, of course I didn't do that. So I went back the third night with my girlfriends that were staying in that room with the two beds. but the condition was I was so freaked out, obviously, to go back in there that I made them all share one big bed with me where I was in the middle, so we were all sandwiched the three of us in this stuffed queen-sized bed. And they're so nice that they obliged me. But contextually, it was the beginning of September in New Orleans, so humidity was probably 100%.

And it was so hot. Even if you had a turbo AC on, it was the hottest place in the world. So three bodies stuffed in a bed, you know, we were just totally sweating like crazy, but I was snug in the middle of them when we went to sleep. And so I was trying to just fall asleep in the best way I could, but I felt like pretty protected. I remember being like, I'd rather have them be kind of annoyed with me than go through that again. So we go to sleep a few hours, I'd say go by, and then, you know, push cover. to shove, I do feel bad. My friend Brandy is like, girl, it is too hot in this bed. Like, I cannot sleep.

This is miserable. I'm moving to the other bed. So she moves to the scary bed, the one I had that experience. I didn't really love that I had now a window, an open space for me to be haunted again, but, you know, I picked my battles and at least I wasn't in the scary bed. Anyway, we transitioned back into some sort of sleep. Brandy's in the other bed by herself. And I'm going to say about an hour goes by. And me and Sarah, the whole room, was awoken by a shrill, terrified scream. Like, Brandy is screaming for her life. And we frantically find the light to turn it on.

And she's swatting at her ear, like, on her right side, kind of like as if there's a spider or something on her face, like kind of moving her hair out of the way, but like trying to just like swat away something, like something freaked her out in her ear. And she's like, oh, my God, oh my God. And she collects herself to tell us that she just felt something moving around and whispering in her ear. And at that point, I mean, I'm, I feel bad, but I'm also having a sense of relief that it's not just me and that I'm not crazy, that somebody else had some sort of, you know, entity experience in this room that, you know, I was getting roasted quite a bit that weekend for that.

And it did help me kind of put my own things into perspective because, of course, I was questioning my own reality and maybe it was just a dream or whatever. But after that happened, we were all freaked out, but it did kind of put things into perspective for me that that room had something very sinister afoot. What was it whispering? I don't really know. I think that she couldn't really pick out what was being said other than she felt breath and she felt something trying to. to speak and get in her ear and like moving her hair and like on her she felt something kind of touching her and trying to talk to her after we kind of calmed down from that experience I think brandy did indeed come back to the bed with us but it did as much as I was still terrified in a way

that it confirmed that everything happened to me in my recalling because I think I spent quite a bit a time trying to deny or, you know, maybe it was a dream or it was just some sort of powerful, you know, sleep paralysis experience. But after having a confirmed second person have a strange experience in the same room, it did kind of make me feel validated, but also it confirmed that it happened. And I'll never forget it. The second story I have is also in New Orleans, of course, This happened about two years after. I don't think I ever went back to New Orleans since that first experience with the girls' trip, but now I'm on tour in this story in 2019.

I was playing with my friend Shannon Lay in her band. We were about three weeks into a tour, and we were playing at One-Eyed Jacks in the French Quarter, which is a pretty legendary venue. It's been around for a long time, It's a building that has had some sort of theater. It's been a theater for a very long time. I want to say since the late 1800s.

I don't know. But it's a legendary spot, and I think it's pretty known for having some sort of. The French Quarter is a very old place, and spirits are abound. I was already a little bit nervous going back into New Orleans after that experience. I had a whole group of friends. were not staying at that hotel. But we, we loaded into the venue, probably around 4 p.m.

The structure as it goes, I don't need to over-explain it, but with playing a show on tour, you get there hours before doors. You come in, you bring in all your gear, and you set it up on the stage to do a sound check. So the only people in the building is my band and the sound person. and nobody else is wandering around. There's nobody that has to be there that early. So we have a great sound check. The guy who's doing sound for us is very nice. Everyone's in a great mood.

We all love New Orleans, and we have enough time to kind of wander around. So after sound check, everyone's kind of talking about where we should get food or where we should wander to. And the rest of the band picks a place, and I've been on tour for a couple weeks now, in a lot of DIY venues or some places that are smaller than others

and you don't really have a place to get ready and I wanted to kind of change and maybe have a place to sit down by myself to do my makeup or my hair or something because it's just, you know, you take those opportunities when you have them and this theater is so old and it had it in the backstage of it, it is set up kind of like a very old theater

with a thick red curtain that opens up when the band plays but there's also a big red curtain behind you. So if you pull that curtain back to the backstage, it is kind of more set up like a theater for musicals or something like that, not just for like shows. You could tell that there was a history from all types of performances where there was like a lot of theater lighting,

like dressing room lighting and seating for that and places like wardrobe racks and stuff like that to accommodate that. So I was pretty excited to be able to use that. So I told everybody that I'll catch up with them. I'm just going to take a little bit of time to get ready and pamper myself in this moment. So everyone leaves, the sound guy leaves, everyone's on a break before they open the doors for the show. And I just kind of pull that curtain back and grab my bag with all my getting ready stuff. And I pick just this one table that has the classic kind of theater lighting, like,

glam lighting to do my makeup and do my hair. So I put my bag down on the table and I'm kind of sorting through everything. And I'm standing where I'm facing the mirror. There's like a few chairs underneath this table for people to get ready with. And as I'm about to pull the chair, I'm looking at myself in the mirror, not thinking about it, but I'm looking down to grab the chair and as I look up into the mirror without thinking there is a man standing right behind me. And he is gesturing the same where he's taking the chair next to me or he's right next to me trying to pull out a chair with me to almost like in the same motion as me. He had a kind of like wool thick three-piece suit on.

I would say it's like a dark gray kind of brownish combo color. And he had, I don't want to say it was a top hat. It was like a bowler hat and he had facial hair and he was taller than me. I'm 5'3, but he was skinny. He had like a mustache and a little like well-kept beard. He was definitely not from the year 2019. But I only was able to see him through the mirror because I was facing it. So when I pulled the chair and I was sitting in it, I looked to my left and broke the, you know, the glance in the mirror and nobody was there.

So I didn't freak out. I actually thought this one was pretty cool because it was so vivid that this man was so from a different time. And he felt very friendly to me. It wasn't anything negative energy-wise. It did put me into a place where I was like, maybe I'm not going to sit back here for a really long time and do my makeup. So I calmly, you know, I was kind of smiling and laughing to myself, like did that really just happened, wow, because it really felt he was like 3D. He was like right next to me.

It felt like I could have looked behind me and there was somebody, you know, a real person right there. And so I was sitting there for a second. I just put my hair up in a ponytail. I grab my stuff and I just calmly exit that backstage area and meet my friends wherever they were and immediately tell them. And they were, you know, it was pretty exciting this one. And they were, we all kind of knew the history of stuff.

And they were really into the, into spirits and stories like that. So we were just talking about it for a while. But, you know, the show happened. We went on with our evening. And after we play, I am sitting at the bar and I'm talking to the bartender that has worked there for a really long time. And just kind of without trying to alarm anybody or just, I wanted to make sure that I really saw it without giving too much away.

at first. So when I approached the bartender and asked them if the place was haunted in any way, if they knew of any spirit encounters, the woman I was speaking to got really excited. And she asked me, did you see the man or did you see the woman? And that was like, oh, my God, no way. And so I said, I saw a man. She asked me to describe him, but I was like, I kind of want you to describe him. I don't want to give it away. Like, I really want to make sure that I saw this. And she was like, when people see him, he is an older man. He's wearing a three-piece suit that's kind of like dark gray or brown. And he only visits, I think she kind of said it in a cheeky way, which I felt very nice.

But she was like, he only visits people he likes. And he usually only visits women. So I was very excited about, you know, like I got chosen almost. And she said his name was Nico. And I guess other people have had experiences with this ghost. So I felt like it was such a cool kind of honor, but it was very psychedelic to have her tell me exactly what he looked like because it really did confirm for me what I saw, you know.

I mean, living with this now, it's just there has to be some humor around it. I can accept that it happened, but I don't want it to become something where I know it's always going to continue or it has to mean something negative. I kind of am trying to, I find it, you know, I'm trying to make peace with it in a way where it's exciting. I don't love it when I'm asleep in or trying to sleep somewhere new because I do get the, the heart pounding and I can't really fall asleep because I'm just so afraid that something's going to happen to me. So I have to kind of kumbaya myself in those moments and do breathing. exercises. But now I just kind of, I just accept that it might happen to me and that I'll be okay

no matter what. And I am pretty picky, choosy about if I am going to be in New Orleans where I'm going to stay. I'm kind of tempted to try to reach out to that first hotel. You should. I mean, there is stuff online that I did limited, like, is this place haunted? And I almost wanted to call it myself before. But it's worth maybe. calling the front desk and asking. I mean, do you want to try calling them? I'll call them if not. Sure, let's do it.

Okay, so I'm going to call them now. Thank you for calling the French market in. Does that sound okay? Okay. Do you hear this? French market and reservation. Tehrerra speaking. How may I ask you?

Hi there. I'm just calling. I have a pretty funny question, I suppose. I stayed at your hotel a few years. ago. But I was just curious. I was just speaking to a friend about this and it sparked my curiosity. But do you have any stories or confirmation that maybe the hotel is haunted? No, ma'am, I do not. Nobody else has come to you. Maybe have you heard from any coworkers or anything that anyone else has shared interesting experiences there? Because it's just so old.

No, ma'am. I haven't been told anything about spirits or books or anything. Okay, well thank you for your time You're welcome, have a great day Bye bye Well, she's in denial I had to mute myself because I was trying to laugh And also there is so much online If you look up French market in there's like a lot of

But maybe she's trying to get You know, maybe she doesn't want to scare anyone I mean also she's working reservations Yeah There's a good chance she just works for a call center And doesn't actually work for that actual hotel Well, it's actually, now that I'm scanning my memory, when we were checking out that time, I definitely was like, hey, is this place haunted? And they, you know, whoever I was speaking to, I think lightly nudged towards it. But they, you know, maybe they feel a little uncomfortable saying that because it would dissuade people from staying there. And it's already 88 bucks a night. When I was looking it up to kind of recall this story that, you know, those like now on Google it has the AI kind of red handprints. Whoa. It said this place also is known to be haunted when it's like you Google French market in.

And there's like highlights about the place. I'm going to do it again right now. Yeah. Built in the 1800s in the French quarter. I mean, hello. That's the answer itself. People saying their bed shaking the middle of the night. Really? Yeah. That's kind of what my vibrating. The vibrating. There weren't even just to clarify. There are no vibrating beds in the place. Okay. Old style. you know adult hotel vibe there was that was not happening like yeah i just wrote haunted next to it and on trip advisor lovely room and haunted i just saw that one yeah i mean that i that's my testimony as

well it was a lovely room but yes it was haunted all right thank you so much to shelby for sharing that story and doing her best to help me research this hotel as you could see it is not always as simple to investigate this sort of thing, as you might think. That being said, we did spend quite some time reading reviews of this place after we finished the interview, and there were a surprising amount of people who had similar experiences to Shelby, and we also found a lot of other unrelated but equally crazy anecdotes from this hotel, which is not particularly surprising.

After reading all of that and hearing Shelby's story, let me just give a word of advice. I think if you ever find yourself in the French quarter, it might be worth spending a little bit more than $88 to stay in a hotel room that, at the very least, has windows. Thank you once again to Colum, Louisa, and Shelby. This episode was called A Room on the Road. and you've been listening to Otherworld. Otherworld is executive produced and hosted by myself, Jack Wagner. Our producers are Theo Schaefer,

Theo Krantz, Haley Pearson, and Nikki Kate Delgado. Our theme song is by Cobra Man. The soundtrack of this episode is by North Americans and Juice Jackal. Please show us your support by subscribing, leaving a five-star review, and telling your friends about the show.

If you want to hear bonus episodes of Otherworld, you could become a patron at patreon.com slash otherworld. Our social media is at Otherworld Pod. Thank you to the team at Odyssey, Leah Reese Dennis, Mara Curran, Josephina Francis, Eric Donnelly, Kate Rose, Colin Gaynor, and Hillary Schuff. Follow and listen to Otherworld now for free on the Odyssey app

or wherever you get your podcasts. And finally, if you or somebody you know has experienced something paranormal, supernatural, or unexplained, you could send us your stories at Stories at OtherSympathes. the worldpod.com.