Otherworld - Episode 175: I Met God in a Burger King Parking Lot

Episode Date: July 20, 2026

Paul was driving up to Virginia to see his girlfriend at the time when he came across a hitchhiker. This man asked to be dropped off at a Burger King close to where Paul was heading and said that he was "going to meet Life and have some words with him." Confused, but intrigued, by this cryptic statement Paul agreed to take this hitchhiker to his destination. Once at Burger King, a man approached Paul in his truck and delivered strange prophetic messages with meanings that would only reveal themselves years later.Check out our Merch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠For business inquiries contact: [e-mail] you have experienced something paranormal or unexplained, email us your story at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[e-mail]

Welcome to Otherworld. I'm your host, Jack Wagner. The episode you're about to hear is probably the most surprising interview I have done on this show. It was originally sent in as a very brief and funny email. Funny enough that we even joked about it in a bonus episode of this show. The subject line of the email was something like, I met God in the parking lot of a Burger King. Now, I wasn't sure if the person sending this email was playing a joke on us. Maybe they were not in their right mind.

Either way, this person completely stopped responding to us, which only made me more curious about this story and what that email even meant. Eventually, this person came back and I scheduled an interview, And when the day finally came around, I remember I was in a terrible mood. I was extremely stressed and busy with other stuff going on in my life. And I hate to say it, but I was dreading having to sit down for an interview in that moment, especially one that might end up being absurd and a complete waste of my time.

Well, I got on, met this person, and we ended up talking for several hours, And by the end of that conversation, not only was I no longer in a bad mood, I felt completely better and I felt like a new person. This ended up being one of my favorite episodes of the show. It turns out the story was not a joke at all. And it was probably one of the most heartfelt conversations I've had while making Otherworld. It comes from a guy named Paul who is incredibly nervous during this interview and is probably nervous. nervous now, and it all started one day when he was young and on the way to meet his girlfriend, who lived in a different town, and decided to pick up a hitchhiker on the side of the road.

Just a heads up, this episode covers some topics that might be difficult for certain listeners, including suicide, violence, and war. I'll let Paul take it from here. This episode is called I Met God in a Burger King Park. lot and you're listening to other world. Is this Bobby? At its core, the science you can't argue. I'm not worried about all of a science. It's almost frustrating that it's happening.

I'm going to die. It's limbs were just wrong. Everybody moves back into the light, even if it takes them a minute. Okay, my name is Paul. I'm 43 years old. I'm an army brat. born in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. But I currently live in Winston-Sinland, North Carolina.

Moved around a lot because my dad was an army. Married, have one kid. She's 17, which is crazy, because I still feel like a kid. I'm currently a mechanic at a tobacco company. My dad got stationed in Europe a lot, which was really cool because I grew up in Belgium, France, Germany. And it was just really nice, like, moving around and seeing all those places.

My dad would take me to all these, like, historical sites. I was, God, 8, 9, 10. So, and that was back in the day where you can, like, run around, and he would just let me lose. And I would just run around the base. My dad retired in 95, and we came home to North Carolina. I was, I can't remember, but I was in eighth grade. I've got how old that is.

And it was a culture shock because I wasn't used to like, I guess American culture because I was used to being around all types of people. And coming home, North Carolina, it was just white country, aka rednecks. And they treated me different, which was weird because I am white. I had to get used to that. and started high school 97. Always knew I was going to join the military because of my dad. It was just no other choice.

Graduated July, 2001, right before September 11th. But I joined the Navy because the neighbor recruiter got to me first and tricked me on join the Seals, knowing I wasn't ready for the Seals, but I think that's why everyone joins the Navy. Yeah, I joined the Navy, thinking I was going to be in Navy SEAL, but that didn't happen. I was 18. It was July 17, 2001. I went off for Basic.

Of course, that means I was in Basic for 9-11, and I was a week before graduation when 9-11 happened. And I remember we were turning in in our gas mask. Yearly, you have to get pretty much dozed with CO-3. I don't know if it's called CO2 gas, but it's like it's tear gas. You know, like the cops use, put on a gas mask, and they take you in the building, and they put the tablet on a burner, and they fill the room up with tear gas, they make you take your gas mask off, and then you've got to breathe it in and say your name, social security number, and then it just lets you affect you.

And for some people, it doesn't hurt them. It affects me bad because, like, I would puke and snot would come out, and I'd be crying, but we were turning our gas mask, and I remember the door, like, busted open, and this dude was, like, yelling, they got us, they got us. And we didn't know what was going on. And our drill instructor told us to drop our gas mask,

and he marched us back to the barracks, and we weren't seeing cadence, which was weird. And it was funny because he brought us up front and told us to sit down, and he brought out a tent. television like the elementary school. And he turned a TV on, and it was a couple minutes before the second plane hit the tower. It was mind-boggling.

And, yeah, that was that. Honestly, I was thinking I wish I would have joined the Marines. Because at that point, I already took the test for Buds, and I failed. Because the level of physical fitness for the Seals was just so far above me. that I knew I couldn't reach it. And I was like, well, I got fucking four years, just a bullshit in the Navy. There's just no way I can reach it.

And now, like, it's obvious now we're going to go to war with whoever's attacking us. Because we didn't know at the time who was attacking us. And I was like, I wish I'd join the Marines. So I get orders to go to the ship. I spend six months in the Gulf. I hate every second of the Navy. It just wasn't for me.

Well, I was a gunner's mate. I would wake up like nine. because there's like no military structure in Navy. I'd go eat, then I'd go to the magazines, which pretty much we hold all the ammo, act like I'm cleaning, and then wait for lunch. The main thing I did was the underway replenishment,

which a boat would come up alongside us, and I would shoot an M-14 with a dummy round, with a rubber duck, with a line tied to it, and it would go overboard to the other ship. And I like doing that because I would actually try to shoot somebody. I mean, we wouldn't hurt them because it was rubber ducky, but I always aimed for somebody. And I was pretty good at it. But it was fun pulling the porch and like getting drunk.

And I mean, I was 18, just drinking my first, like, really taste of freedom and getting belligerent. I mean, I mean, we pulled into Italy. It was Sicily. They had, like, tables outside. And it felt so European to me. because I used to live in Europe, you know, and I was outside drinking their, like, coffees and little drinks. And I didn't know what to drink because I was so young,

so I ordered a martini, you know, shaking not stirred. And, like, I remember they had, like, this parade come by us. It was just so European, and people were, like, flipping and, like, spitting fire. And I thought that was cool. I had, like, five months left on a bid tour, which is six months. It was hot. There's no AC on the boat, except in your birthing where you sleep. All I did was try to hide because I was only like an E3, which has no rank so everyone could tell me what to do and just hate life until we came home.

Okay, when I was in A school, which is your school for the Navy, they asked me where I wanted to go and I told them I don't want to go anywhere near North Carolina. So, of course, they sent me to Norfolk, Virginia, which is like four hours from my house, which I hate it. And so when I came home for my first employment, I had like two weeks to leave. So I came home. I was 19 at the time. I thought I was so cool. So I wore my, like, dress uniform everywhere and, like, tried to pick up girls. And it kind of worked.

And that's how I met my girlfriend at the time, who, family had a restaurant in Hillsville, Virginia. And this is where the story goes into. Every weekend when I was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, I would drive home four hours. Because this is my home, North Carolina, and I was only four hours away. So I was like, I'll just drive home, you know,

because that's where I know where to go. So I was 19. It was the summertime. We were freshly dating, so every second that we could be together, we were together. So Friday, 1500, 3 o'clock, as soon as I got off work, I was hitting the highway and speeding home. God, this was kind of before cell phones.

And I remember they used to have phones on the pier. We had to put a quarter in the call. I remember calling her. She said she was going to work at the restaurant that day. And I said, I'll be there in like five hours flying down the road. Virginia, and I go through Mount Airy, and I come up 52. And the thing about me, like, and my family now hates it about me, I love to pick up hitchhikers. I don't know what it is.

It's just meeting new people and their stories, and you never know who you're going to pick up. Like, obviously, some of them might stink. Some of them might be a little high or drunk. You never know. It's just, I just love meeting them and in helping them. you know, because you help them go somewhere and you just talk to them, you know. So I'm going down the road,

listen to Red Hot Chili Peppers, and I see this guy walking up the mountain. This dude, I remember he had like the brown socks that come up to your knee, like the thick ones, and he had boots, an old-school rucksack with like the bedding rolled up on top. And I was like, look at this, dude. You know what I mean?

Like, there's just no way in hell I'm not going to pick this guy up. So I pull over, he walks up, and I'm just like, hey, man, where are you going? And he's like, I'm going to Hillsville. I'm going to go meet life. You know, I got, I mean, him's got some words. I'm tired of him taking advantage of me.

And I'm just thinking, oh, yeah, jump in. You know what I mean? Like, it's crazy. He said he was going to go meet life? He said he's going to go meet life. he's going to have some words with him because he's tired of him taking advantage of him and taking him for granted.

Life as a he? He spoke him as a he. When he said that, I was like, I kind of understood it. I was like, yeah, life sucks, you know. Everyone thinks that unless you're rich, but... How old was he? God, God, at the time,

pretty much my age now. He was like 40-something, but that was pretty old to me that time because I was like 19. I wasn't even old enough to drink, even though I was. When he said he was going to go meet life, I really didn't think he was going to go meet life. Like, once you hang out with, like, crazy people enough,

they will just say things and you'll be like, yeah, okay. But you don't like take it for like, oh, he's really going to do that. You know what I mean? He jumps in the truck. He didn't, like, stink. He didn't seem high or drunk. It just seemed like a regular guy. He said he's going to meet him at the Burger King in Hillsville, which I knew where it was at because it's just up the road from my girlfriend's restaurant.

And I was like, well, that's when I'm going anywhere. Let's go, man. And I started talking to him. I just asked him where he's from. He said he was from Michigan, and his name was Sebastian, which, you know, only time, the only thing I can think about was the lobster from the Little Mermaid. He was just a regular dude And he said he doesn't believe in working And making money for the man

Like he can live on his own I told him I was in the Navy You know and he was really anti-war And he didn't believe That we should be attacking people That weren't involved with anything And I don't want to get too political But the things he was saying

of course I didn't believe at the time because I was so brainwashed in thinking they were bad that we're good that they have to die because they hate us because of our freedoms and I remember he got pretty deep into it and I really wasn't picking up what he was putting down

but he got pretty conspiracy theory which I didn't understand until later in my life He said this was, everything that's happening is setting the world up for the antichrist to come into the world. And I was just like, because I was just beyond my understanding at the time. I was still a child. So I really didn't push the issue.

I just let him have this moment. Because this was just like news to me because I didn't understand this at the time. I would just be like, mm-hmm, okay, and just let them talk, you know. because it was only like 15 more minutes. And he starts telling me about his book. He's writing for Civil War about the Civil War. And I told him I was going to go meet my girlfriend. And then he was all like kind of being like a creepy old man.

He was like, oh yeah, you know, young girls and stuff. And I was like, man, this guy's like really out there. I remember before we pull in the Burger King, I was like, so it's life going to be here. And I remember he said, I hope so. I've called him out plenty of times. He really has never showed up. And so we pull in the Burger King. It's still sunny out.

Pulling in, I look to my left. There's an old guy sitting on the curb with a button-up shirt, khaki shorts, flip-flops, white long hair, and a white beard smoking a cigarette. and he's like looking at us and like I come to a stop because I'm looking at him and Sebastian next to me

he goes about fucking time and he like he jumps out but I'm looking at the guy and like he stands up and he's walking toward me and it was I couldn't really take my eyes off of him because it was like I was thinking I was like there's this no way

you know what I mean he had like an aura about him. It wasn't like paranormal. He just looked like a good dude. You know what I mean? Like, you know how you see something? Oh, that's a good dude, you know?

I remember I wasn't scared. Like, he didn't look like old, old because his skin wasn't wrinkly. It was kind of like smooth. And his hair was combed back. It just looked pretty cool. You know what I mean? He walked up to me.

I remember he put his hand on the door. He goes, thanks for bringing them. I really didn't want to walk to meet them. And I'm just like taking back. And about this time Sebastian runs up to him. And like they hug, like they know each other. And like they separate.

And they like, he's like, go inside. You know, I got to have a couple wars from. And the dude's like, okay, make sure you get some money because I don't have no money for food. And so Sebastian grabs his book bag out of the back of my truck. and goes inside. I'm sitting in my truck. I have the window down,

and he had his hand on the door, like looking at me, and this, wherever he was turns to me. And I asked him, I said, Sebastian told me that your life, and he said, I'm just a person doing my job. And I remember, like, he said,

well, I got to go. He said, thank you for bringing them. And he goes, just remember when the shadow falls, duck. I had no idea what that meant, of course, until later on in my life. He said, told me to remember when shadows fall, don't forget the duck. And he walks away, and I'm just like, I'm sitting there dumbstruck, and he stops and he comes back. And he's like, can I get a 20 for lunch? I had him the money on my pocket, and I ask him, as he walks away, I said, how do I die?

Because that's the only thing I can think I really just say, and he stopped. And he kind of looked down, and he, like, turned and looked at me. And he said, at the end, check your pockets. And he's like, all right. He's like, I got to go. That's it. And he just walks away and goes into Burger King. I'm dumbfounded. I don't know what to say. I don't know what to do. So I just drive off and go meet my girlfriend. What made you want to ask him such a question? Well, if he was life, of course, he's going to know when I die. So I kind of wanted to know at the time, which I don't want to know now.

Did you think he was life? No. Maybe an angel. is. Like, did he have that kind of energy about him? Did he seem a little more than human or something like that? I've never seen, like,

an angel or a ghost or anything paranormal, per se. I mean, like, when I first contacted you guys, like, I was, which I am now, I'm still scared to tell the story because this is going to reach millions of people. thousands of people. I've just told people that I've known. And like, I don't know who this person

was. And what if he is? Like, that means I'm going to meet this person when I pass from this world. And it's just going to be like, hi. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. I don't want to piss him off. You drive off. What's going through your head? What are you thinking? I wasn't thinking too. I mean, I was thinking about it, but I mean, it was, I was more thinking about getting to the restaurant. I mean, I just, I put it in the back of my head, just something to tell a crazy story about. I wasn't excited about it. It was just, well, that's crazy. I pull off.

I mean, I keep glances in the rearview mirror. He, like, waves at me goodbye. And I just pull around and drive off to hurry up to the restaurant. I remember telling my girlfriend at the time of the story. She didn't think anything about it. She just made fun of me, paid no attention to it. And that was it until years later. It's after I got out the Navy and joined the Army.

This is two years later, I just did another deployment. My ship at the time was decommissioning. It was 2004. They come up to me and say, do you want to have an early out, six months early? And I was like, hell, yeah. I want to have six months early out. And they shove a paper in front of me. I signed it.

In December 17, 2004, I'm out of the Navy. And I've never been more happy in my life, you know. And driving home. And I started dating this new girl. She tells me she's pregnant in like January. which is kind of, you know, real soon for me, but I'm stupid guy, you know what I mean? I don't think too much about it. I'm thinking to myself, well, I got to do the right thing, marry this woman,

I got to raise this child because I'm not going to be no deadbeat dad, you know, and just not take care of the kid. So I go to the Army recruiter. He tells me I have to wait six months until once you get out of the service to rejoin. And I had like, I just got out in December, so I got like five more months. So I'm like, okay, you'll see me back. The day hit six months. I remember I used to take her to every doctor's appointment because I didn't have a job.

I was just living up my parents playing GameCube. One doctor's appointment, she tells me not to go, that she'll take care of herself. And I was like, okay, well, whatever. And she called me up on my singular phone. I don't know if you remember those. She told me, because the kid wasn't mine, which turned out. It wasn't mine that she got pregnant two months before I came home. So we separated.

Next month, I meet my future wife, which I've been married to for 19 years now. I fell in love. I'm talking head over hills. I've never felt like this before. I'm talking just. I remember the day I met her, my buddy called me up. and he said, you need to get over this house, dude. There's this cute blonde over here, and I know how you like blondes.

And I'm just like, whatever, dude. Like, where are you at? And he's like, he told me it was in Yackenville, which was like 45 minutes from me. I was like, there's no way I'm driving 45 minutes for some blonde girl. And like, she picked up the phone. And like, she had this country accent that was just, oh, my God. And I was like, and she told me she wanted beer. And I was like, I'll be there.

And like, I walked into the apartment. She was sitting in front of the television, listening to music, and she stood up. And I remember she had these blue jeans and these, like, the old school flip-flops that had the hard backs and this blonde hair. And it was, I didn't, I don't want to say I fell in love at first sight, but I was in love. Like, I was just like, oh, my God. Like, and then she, like, grabbed the beer out of my hand. And she started, like, kind of yelling at me. And I know that sounds bad, but she's a firecracker.

That's just who she is. And I've never had a woman talk to me like that. And I was just like, I'm going to marry this woman. Like, that's it. Like, and I did. I made her mind. Where I lived was 45 minutes from my job or 50 minutes. Her mom worked at the same factory, and they lived 15 minutes from it.

She got her mom to let me move in with them. and her mom and her would drive to work, and I would live in the house with her, my wife, which was my girlfriend. It was just, you just imagine a 20-year-old at that time. Just, I was in top of the world. I had no plans of going back into the Army, but I know how stupid this sounds.

But you remember that Green Day song, Wake Me Up when September ends? Yes. That music video, I saw that music video, and I saw the quote-unquote, like, Army when what they were doing, I was like, I fucking want to do that. I want to go shoot people. I want to go die from my country.

I want to fucking do that. The propaganda worked on you, bro. It fucking, it was bad. And I remember I was telling him about it. And she was like, no, there's no way. I can't lose you. I don't want you to go. And I was like, I got to do it for my country.

And it was terrible. It's been a long time since I've seen that music video. But I feel like the intended message was not, how great it is to be overseas fighting in the Middle East while the love of your life is at home. Isn't it like probably the opposite? Yeah.

Isn't it probably about like wanting to not be overseas and be when September ends? It got me. It got me, man. And it has that young actress in it that was in the movie 13 and she was in true blood. my wife is beautiful

and I'm not just saying that because she's my wife but she is like out of my league I really don't know to this day how I got her but she she looks like the girl off the girl next door the blonde

you've seen that movie I swear to God she looks just like her I knew if I left every dude would be at her door and I just couldn't I couldn't leave yet but her mom leaves her husband at the time, which we were living at the house together,

and we literally had nowhere to go. And we moved in with her dad, which her dad is, he's something else. God rest of soul. So I'm living at his house, and I'm like, there's just no way I can keep this up. I can't live here because he's just a mean person. And I was thinking to myself, I'll just go join the army. And I can get Heather out of here. And we can go start our own life.

So I go talk to recruiter, what, November 2007? And I was in basic February 2008 in the Army looking stupid, and ACUs, not knowing what to do yet, but it was crazy. I'd sign up. I was in 94 Fox, which was pretty much Night Vision and Repair. They offered me $40,000 to sign up for this job. And I was like, okay, you know, they tell me I was shovel shit. I'll do that for 40,000.

I was in AIT in Georgia, Fort Gordon. I was there for four months for AIT, which seemed to be a little long, but it's whatever. And then, like, during that time, my wife was only, like, two hours away in North Carolina. During those times, she would drive down. I get my first orders. My first orders is the Camp Casey Korea, which is six to six, thousand miles in the wrong direction. And she was pregnant, and I was just like, I was going to be there for a year.

I was going to miss the pregnancy. I was going to miss the birth. And I was, it was just heartbroken. She was upset. I was upset. But what are you going to do? You can't tell the government no. I mean, you can't tell the government no.

You could say, like, wake me up when September ends and I can go home. Oh, man. Yeah, you're right. When you go to Korea, the halfway through the year is called R&R. You get to come home, but you have to buy your own plane ticket, which was like $1,000 to fly from Korea to home. It so happened that the six months was land during the last two weeks of my wife's pregnancy. And I was playing world at war on the most crappiest internet in the world in South Korea.

and I had my Dell computer with Windows Live. It wasn't even Skype at the time. And I get a call and I open it up. And I remember seeing her and she had blood just coming out. And she's like, oh my God, and I'm drunk off my ass. I'm talking, just wasted. Because that's all you're doing, Korea, is drink and play cold duty. That's it.

She's like, I'm having the baby. You've got to come home right now. And I was like, well, how the hell am I going to do that? And I see a bunch of, like, paramedics. come in the room and like they take care of her and like they take her away and like it's just a blank screen and like I'm still playing world at war to war like looking at the screen and I'm like well shit I got to try to go home and it's like god midnight is where I'm at and I call the first sergeant from the duty phone at staff duty and I wake him up and he was mad that I was calling him but it wasn't

even nothing bad I was just trying to go home because I was going home Monday it was this Friday Saturday morning I was going home Monday for mid-tour and I was I was I was calling. I was like, hey, can you just approve my leave like now, like a day or two, half early so I can go home. Like, I'll find a bus. I'll buy earlier a ticket. So I can go home, like, be with my wife. And he was like,

no, you can wait until Monday. So I waited until Monday. I get home. And I remember I walked into the room. And my wife, she was in the room by herself. She was like watching TV. And she had that little

medical gown on. I remember she just looked over at me and she's like, what's up? Because she was like out of it, you know, because she just had a baby. You know, we hug and we kiss. And I remember talking to her. And then it occurred to me.

I was like, oh yeah, I have a kid. So we go to the next room and like where she's in a little whatever that thing was, big old tray. And I remember, do you have kids? My wife's actually pregnant with our first. you're going to know this when she has as soon as that child, when you lay eyes on that child, your blood memory is going to, and you're going to be like, I love this kid no matter what. It's instant. And I'm just like, I love this child. It was just so crazy. I just remember that to his day. I remember I was just crying. I was holding her. And it's just, congratulations on your kids, though. I remember I got two weeks home. My daughter, she had like a condition because my wife had a, oh my gosh, she's going to kill me. I don't remember.

But she had like emergency pregnancy. Well, they had to have emergency C-section. And like, my wife couldn't have died. Like, she tells the story so much better than me. She's going to kill me. I don't remember it. But she lost, like, so much blood. And then, like, my wife, my daughter had to stay in the hospital.

Like, the two weeks I was home from leave, it was crazy. All right. We'll be right back after this quick break. Hey there. It's Jill Schlesinger. I'm launching a new show. It's called Money Moves. And your money is going.

to move. We're going to help you make better financial decisions. We're going to call out the BS you're finding all over social media. We're going to give you actionable guidance to make your financial life clearer, less stressful. We're going to answer your financial questions and take the mystery out of your financial life. Follow and listen to Money Moves with Jill Schlesinger, wherever you get your podcast. Did Korea, came home. I got orders to Fort Hood, Texas, the great place. I hate Texas. I will walk around Texas before I drop through Texas.

But the only thing good about Texas is the H-E-B, which is the grocery store. I'm in Texas six months. I come on down to orders to Afghanistan. Marmal, Vob Marmal, which is in RC North. I go to Afghanistan. I'm chilling in Afghanistan. It's hot. Hot as hot.

My first week in Afghanistan, you have to like climatize the weather because it's like a hundred. It's like doom, the movie, you know what I'm saying? Like you're just desert and it's heat and you're like, you're dying. You just want water all the time. And the only water you have is hot because there's no refrigerator, there's no AC, and you're just sitting in a tent dying. But they had a mile away from our tent city where we'd sleep at. They had an MWR tent, like a mile so away where you can get on the phone. and try to call home, or you can try to get on the internet,

but it would take you like 20 minutes to log on to MySpace. This is MySpace at the time, how far back it was, like right before Facebook hit. And I remember I was on the computer, and I was trying to log on, because I remember I called my wife, and she yelled at me. It's like, you need to get Facebook. And I was like, why do I need Facebook? What is Facebook? I got MySpace.

It's good enough. And I remember I had My Chemical Romance for my intro song, you know, and I don't want to get rid of that. And I was sitting at the computer trying to like, make a Facebook in Afghanistan internet. And my stomach said, blo, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, oh, my God. And I didn't want to get up.

Because when you go to the MWR tent, there's a mile long line just to get on the computer anyway. And you only have 15 minutes per turn. And if I got up to go shit, I would lose my spot. Like, I don't want to get up. But it reached the point, well, I had to get up to go. Because if I didn't, I was going to fuck your shit myself. So I get up, I grab my M4, my,

weapon and I'm running to like the port-a-john because like that's the only place they got to go to bathroom over there's the port-a-jans and they're everywhere over there and I'm like speedwalking like to run walk you know how those people do and I'm halfway to the port-a-jong and I'm talking water just flies out of me down my leg and every down my boot it's in my boot and I'm trying to clean myself up and in the port-a-jong which is like 150 anyway and I'm dying of sweat so I finally clean myself up And I'm like, I'm going to have to like walk all the way back by myself, dried shit all over me, caked and just blazing hot. So what I do is I get back into the tent and I get lucky and nobody's in there really. And so I changed my pants real quick and I'd go throw it in the trash.

And the next morning they were like, oh my God, we're having a formation. And you're not supposed to have formations downrange because there's a lot of people together. and when there's a lot of people to go, like everyone can die at once. It's like incoming comes and gets everybody at one time, so you're not supposed to, like, gathering groups, you know? And I was like, damn, this is supposed to be serious. The battalion commander walks up,

and he holds up ACUs with shit all over them. And they're my pants with shit all over them. And he's like, don't fucking throw away your pants in the trash. And it just, I thought it was funny because he was holding the shit in my pants. About a month into Marmal, the commander says that we're splitting up the battalion and half of us are going to Conduce and the other half is staying here and I get picked to go to Conduce.

Marmal was like easy peasy. It was a German fob and the Germans paid, they paid off the Taliban not to attack them. And so it was pretty easy at Marmal, but Conduce was like the action was at. And I was pretty happy at the time Okay, this is like Okay, I'm gonna tell you this But I don't know if you want to put this in a story Do you know what a Jody is?

That's the guy that fucks your wife when you're downrange So I got fucking Jodied So I'm down range This is probably the second month She's in hood with my daughter who's like not even a year old, she starts vanishing. We don't know where she's at, what she's doing.

My mother-in-law, she, like, goes the hood to, like, find out what's going on because I can't get a hold of her. No one knows where my wife's going. Like, no one can get a hold of her. And, like, this is stressing me out because, like, I can't fix anything. I'm in fucking Afghanistan, fucking just stressed out of my mind.

Now I have to go to conduce, you know what I'm saying? We're, like, shit's popping off. and I'm freaking out. I'm like, where's my wife? And I finally get to the phone one day, and I remember my mother-in-law, she's like, I can tell, like, something's up, you know? And she's like, I'm not going to tell you anything,

but she tells me the name of this dude. And when she says this dude's name, to this man, I knew it as soon as she said this dude's name. Like, I knew what was up, and I'm just thinking, like, like, how could you do this to me, you know? Like, I'm not perfect. I feel like I was a good dude, you know?

Like, I didn't, well, I drank a little bit, but I didn't do drugs. I didn't cheat, you know, I work, I come home. I want to be a family man. And she's fucking some dude. And like, I snap. I start volunteering for, like, every mission, every convoy, everything. I wanted to die. You know what I mean?

Like, I wanted to die. You know what I mean? Like, that's the only thing I wanted to do was, like, die. And no matter what I did, I couldn't kill myself. I couldn't do it. I didn't have the balls to put a fucking gun in my head and shoot myself. But I wanted to fucking die. I remember the commander, we would do these missions

where we go talk to the elders out in the village and where we got the conduce. Commander's like, we're going to go do a shura, and we're going to go talk to the elder, and we're going to try to get them to calm down and not attack us so much. We're going to take them some emmarees. go take them some water, whatever, some cots, whatever.

We're just go talk to these people because they are people, you know what I mean? They're just trying to live. And if I think if people come to my town, my country and start killing people and tell me what to do, damn right, I'm going to fucking attack them too, you know what I mean? So I started volunteering for the turret gunner on a 50 cow. So somebody would snipe me, somebody would shoot me, somebody kill me, IED, you know, I wanted to die. I'd have no reason to live. I wanted to hurt my wife the way she was hurting me, you know.

So we go to this village. I don't remember the name of it like it matters. I was in a Humvee. In the Humvee, there is a turret on top of it, and it has plates on each side. And there's a harness that holds you in place that's supposed to stop you from falling out. If the Humvee like tips over,

and you kind of like sit down in this harness as a little seat. I was in a turret, and my commander, Captain Torres, his call sign was Shadow 6. When I learned my commander's name was Shadow 6, the story kind of came up to me because I used to tell the story to people, you know, like when the shadow falls, duck.

And I was like, well, if I ever see the commander fall, you know, I'm hitting dirt. you know what I'm saying? So we pull up into the village. There's a dirt road that leads up into the mountains, and there's pretty much huts. Like, no one's there. And, like, they're supposed to meet us in town.

And people get out, they're post security. The commander gets out. I was just scanning. The commander got out. He was walking around. Like, something happened where, like, I wouldn't say, things slowed down, but my vision narrowed in on the commander and like everything focused on him.

It was like I was having a moment. It was like I was in the zone and I was just looking at him and I was just like, you know what I mean? And he trips and he falls. And I hit the quick release on my harness in the turret because when the shadow falls duck, as soon as I hit it, I fall. When I drop, I hear a round go over my head, and I remember I hit my ass, and I remember seeing Sergeant kid's face in my right in my face, and he's going, what the fuck are you doing return fire? Now, if I hadn't a drop, it took me out, which I wanted. That's the thing at the time I wanted to die. Like, I wanted to.

I wanted to die. And, I mean, at the time, like, if I had a choice, I wouldn't have ducked. I would have welcomed it. I wanted it. I wanted to die. I wanted it to happen. It just, it didn't happen because of what old dude told me. Well, when I hit my ass and Sergeant Kidd was yelling at me,

I snapped right into it when he was yelling at me. I mean, like training kicked in, just returned fire. I mean, there was a couple rounds, like RPG rounds. There was no IED, but it wasn't very long. It was probably a couple minutes. I think they just wanted to send a message that they were there. Maybe, I don't know. It didn't last very long.

No one got really hurt. We had to cease fire because no one was firing back. And then we returned back to the fob. There's more of like adrenaline rush during a gunfight. Like you get like, you get pretty worked up. And like your mind at the time doesn't think things really. just doing your job but afterwards

you know of course I reflected about what happened in the story but I was more upset that it didn't happen that I didn't die and of course my ego kicked in

I was like well maybe I'm special maybe I'm chosen you know and of course I'm not I'm nobody but I went to talk to my battle, Christopher, because he's the only one really that was understand what was going on. And I told him about the story about way back in the day and how, like, I picked up his hitchhiker.

And, like, I met, quote-unquote life or somebody. He told me the story and, like, how it kind of just saved me. He told me I was crazy and then I was a drunk, stay off the dope. And he was atheist, so he didn't believe anything. He pretty much just made fun of me. But that's what you're doing in the Army. You make fun of each other. That's how you get through it.

He told everybody, of course, about my story then. And it got back to the commander, and the commander had me on all convoys now and had me pretty much watch him every now and then, if you ever went anywhere. because I was good luck. That happened 2008, so that's nine.

The other one didn't happen until God, 10 years later. I get out of the Army 2018. I made Staff Sergeant. I had 10 years in the Army. I thought I was hot shit. I was about to drop my recruiter packet

and I come home. I'm like just live a loving life. You know, I'm in the best state of my life. I'm fucking strong as shit. I just scored fucking 290 in my PT test. Ain't nobody tell me nothing. You know what I'm saying? A wife goes, I don't want to do this no more.

I don't want to be in the army. If you don't get out, I'm leaving you. I'm taking your daughter. I'm going home. And I'm just like, well, fuck, you know, because I was up for reenlistment. And I was like, I was about to sign over another four, six years in my life, retire, you know what I mean?

And I was like, well, shit, like, I don't want to lose my kid. Like, I can't lose my daughter, you know, because at this point, like, even now, me and my daughter are best friends. Like, we've always had a connection. Like, she has my personality. We like the same things, video games, anime, TV shows, music, whatever, you know. I couldn't live without my daughter. Like, I couldn't do it.

Like, I couldn't imagine another man raising my daughter. Like, I would, there's just no way. There's no way. I couldn't do it. So I get out of the Army. We come home to Carolina because this is a home. She's from Carolina. I always claim Carolina.

I get home. I don't know how I do it, but I land the best job. I land a six-figure supervisor job. I am not qualified for. I'm not. But they think because of my military service that they're going to overlook a bachelor's degree and that I can do this. And to this day, I don't know how I land.

this job. And I'm just like, holy shit, I'm just the luckiest man in the world. We have this house, nice house. I'm making money. I'm living it. But I start drinking. I keep thinking about the army, how much of the failure I am. I gave it up. I like, I'm supposed to be in the army. That's the only thing I've done in my life that I felt like I was doing something. I started doing dope. I got addicted to heroin. I got addicted to meth. I was drinking. I was in a bad place, bad place. It got to the point I overdosed a couple of times. I was having nightmares.

My wife couldn't sleep in the bed with me because I would freak out, have nightmares, start swinging or something. I don't know. She was sleeping on the couch. She had me involuntary committed twice, which it broke me. I couldn't handle that. Like, I'm not crazy, you know. I didn't, I didn't, at the time, I didn't know what I was going through. I didn't not know what was happening to me.

I mean, now I know, I mean, I went to doctors. I got diagnosed, I had PTSD. I like manic depressive, all this crap. And I'm better now. I got help. That's the time. I was out of control. One night, I overdosed on some heroin, and I remember when I did it,

the instant I did it, I knew it was too much because I felt it. And I said, oh, shit. And the next thing I remember, I woke up, there's cops, there's EMS, they're all around me, and they're strapping me in this gurney, and they said they had to hit me with like four Norgans, and they're taking me to the hospital because they said I tried to kill myself. And I'm like, why would I? No, I didn't try to kill myself. And if I try to kill myself, I'm not going to do it, wasted on dope. That's why I do to get high, you know what I mean?

Fuck. I get to the hospital. Like, my wife has me sent away again. I get arrested. I lost my job. When I was in county, I got served with a 50B, got fired for my job. I had no money. I wasted all my money.

I was living with my dad's couch. It was Christmas. Broke. No job. No wife. Couldn't see my daughter. If I tried to contact my wife or my daughter, I'd 150 days in jail. I was in a bad spot.

I was bad, dude. And it felt like I was in Afghanistan again. I wanted to die. And this time, I had the fucking balls to do it. So I took my dad's 38, bottle of bean, gym beam, got a bag of dope. I got a hotel room and I was going to put that 38 in my heart

and I was going to fucking shoot my heart because I was trying to be all fucking cool about it like my heart's broke anyway I'm just going to fucking get rid of it and I got fucked up man I got fucked up and I remember to sit at the edge of the bed and I grabbed that 38

and it was cold and that same feeling that when I was down range came over me that narrow in the vision, and I put it against my heart. I put my thumb on the trigger, and I put the hammer back, check the pockets. And I checked my pocket. And there was a fucking drawing, my daughter did.

It was a stick figure of me in the Army holding her hand, and I didn't do it. I threw everything away. I got rid of everything, all the dope, the liquor. I went back to the house. I just My dad I remember sitting on the couch He just cussed me

Yelling at me Where are you What are you doing You dope fiend What's wrong with you Piece of shit Can't take care of your family And of his gun

He called me a pussy I just I just kept thinking My wife My daughter My daughter man Like I got clean

I quit drinking, I quit doing drugs. I started going to the VA. I started talking to, like, a psychiatrist. I had, I talked to them every week on my phone, like, during a little video session. They helped me out a lot, man. Oh, my God. Like, I thought I was weak. I didn't like talk to no doctor.

They helped me out, got me through stuff. She dropped the 50B. She cried, I cried, I don't know. She told me to come home that we can do this, we can work through this. I went home. I haven't touched anything since that moment on the edge of the bed. Nothing. I can't even think about drinking drugs.

That's, God, nine years now. Yeah, I'm happy now. I got a great job. Making good money, money in the bank. My wife's got her own little business where she does stuff. I'm not going to say what she does because, you know, I don't want people who she is or I am. I don't know, man. But she's got her own little business, like, at a salon.

My daughter, she's a junior. She's going to prom next month. Like, what the fuck? But yeah. When I think back on that time, I picked up that hit-hiker, things are supposed to happen. I was supposed to pick him up. He was supposed to tell me that story. I was supposed to go to Burger King and meet life.

I was supposed to go through trials and tribulations of my life. That guy was supposed to tell me, this duck, not killing myself. Because if you didn't, I wouldn't be here. And my daughter wouldn't have a father. And if it wasn't for that, him telling me those stupid little things, I wouldn't be here. I'd just be a stat, another veteran commit suicide or another guy died down range. Nobody cares about. I mean, I'm still scared about the story and telling y'all because what if I was supposed to tell anybody?

Maybe what if it was just information for me? I don't know. when you sent us to the email you said that you think you met God at Burger King do you think that's who it was no no no I really don't I really don't think it was God I don't think God came off his throne and came down to Burger King in Hillsville Virginia to tell me not to do stupid shit I really don't think that he's got more important things to do. I'd like to think he wouldn't have needed $20 as well.

There you go. There you go. What do you think he was? An angel. Time traveler? Sure as hell wasn't the devil. I really didn't grow up until I was like 38. I was a child, man.

I was doing so many stupid things. And like, you would think the first instance of something like that happening in my life I would grow up, but I didn't. I haven't learned everything yet. I'm still going through it. I'm still trying. I'm taking it one day at a time, and I appreciate the help that I do get.

And, well, I mean, I still pick up his hikers to this day. And the last time I did it, my daughter was in the car, and she yelled at me. Me and the daughter, we were coming home from the mall. And I was getting gas. We were coming home. She likes the little bobbleheads. What are they called?

Funkal Pops. We bought some of them, and I was getting gas, and I saw this homeless girl, but she was young. You know what I mean? And it caught my eye. I'm like, God, man, she's way too young. You know she's getting taken advantage of. And I felt it, man.

I felt bad for her. And she kind of like locked eyes in me. And I was like, oh, man, please don't come over. I got my daughter in the car. I can't say no. I'm going to try to help her, you know what I mean? And she walked up to me. She's like, can you please give me right up the road?

And I was like, yes, like, don't get in the car yet because my daughter, she's really, like, shy and stuff. So I ran aside and, like, I paid and I ran back out. I got all the junk out of my pastor's seat. She sat down. What did she say? Her name was Maria, Maria. And my daughter, I remember looking at the baby. at Riviamara, my daughter was just staring at.

You know how women look at you. They give you that look. And I was just like, oh, God, she's going to yell at me later. And I told her, like, I just turn your music up. And we're going down to, she told her she needed to go to the hotel room behind the Mexican restaurant. And I was looking at her, and she was shaking. She was sweating. It's, like, cold outside.

And I was like, man, she doesn't withdrawals. And I looked at her, and I was like, I know you can't tell right now. but I've been where you're at. I know exactly what you're going through. And she looked at me like, shut up, you know? Like, you don't know. Like, you're just saying that. I was like, no, I've been there.

I've been in addiction. I know what it does to you. I was like, can I help you? Can I give you some money? Or like, she's like, I have nowhere to go. I need to have no phone. Like, I got to borrow your phone call. I call my dad.

I was like, of course, like Jesus, you know. know, like, please stay in the car and call because you're not going to run away with my phone, you know what I mean? And she called her dad and, you know, they had like a little conversation. I tried to like stay out of it, you know what I mean? And he come and picked her up. And I did that. I helped her, you know what I mean? When Maria left the car, my daughter, she screamed at me like, she could hurt you.

She could have hurt me. She could have took our funkel pop. She could have robbed the cars. I was like, there's no way. And then she told, like, my wife, her mom. And oh, my God, she yelled at me. I'm scared to her. I mean, she's 5-5-120, but, God, I'm scared right now.

But I'm going to pick up Hitchhackers every time I see one because it's just something I've done since I was 16. I love it. I love the experience. I love the thrill of it. Like, just you never know who's going to get in your car. You just don't know. It could be anybody.

It could be the richest person in the world, or it could be the poorest person in the world, or it could be an angel that saves your life, or you could help some woman who's on the street who needs her dad. That's why I do it, you know. Passing along, you know. I think that's the old saying, you know.

Okay, thank you so much to Paul for sharing his story with me. You know, what's really interesting about this one, this episode starts out with Paul talking about why he liked picking up hitchhikers, how you don't know who they're going to be, and you get to sit there, listen to their story, and see into their world for a little bit. And in this episode, Paul was doing exactly that with his hitchhiker.

And by the end of the interview, I found myself kind of feeling like I was driving my own car and listening to Paul's life story as if he was a hitchhiker that I picked up. Like I mentioned before, I had almost no information about this story before meeting Paul.

I was really starting this interview and meeting him off of a one-line email that I didn't even fully understand, but I am so glad that I ended up talking to him and hearing this story. I think it's a really,

really great thing to be able to see into somebody's world for just a little bit to get a honest portrait of a person, the good, the bad, the unexplainable, all of it.

I am so thankful to Paul for sharing this story. I wish him the best with everything. I want to also give a special thank you to Paul's wife. who he loves very much. I know he was very nervous

about her hearing this episode. If she does hear it, I hope she likes it as much as I did. This episode was called I Met God in a Burger King parking lot, 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 Nicky Kate Delgado. Our theme song is by COVID. The soundtrack of this episode is by North Americans and Juice Jackal. Our artwork is by Coldestack Studios. 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, Mora 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 Otherworldpod.com. What final lessons do you think you learn from all of this? It's hard to say, man, you know. You put me on the spot again like earlier. I freeze up when he put me on the spot. I tell you one thing, though,

the guy that my wife cheated on me with is on fucking sight. It's on. No, I know you're laughing. That would be the funniest way to add in the episode. I know his name and that's it. But I know it's going to happen, Wendy. And I'm going to hand my keys and my phone

of my wife and like you bail me the fuck out of jail but this fucking day is coming and it's been coming and i can't wait oh that might that might have to be an alternate ending of this but do you do you think life would approve of this i'll take that sin