Otherworld - Episode 182 - Close to Home

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

During covid, Charlotte and her partner are hanging out in the backyard when they see something strange in the distance that slowly makes it's way uncomfortably close. Then, Sam and her friend Sophie head home after a night of stargazing to find something terrifying trespassing in the yard. 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. We've got a double feature for you this week, two stories from two different people, and we put these two together because they both involve encountering something unexplainable and possibly extraterrestrial, right outside the place where people often feel the most protected home. It's hard to imagine seeing something so extreme and to have it happen in a place as ordinary, as your own house, the place you know better than anything else, and you feel the most comfortable in. It brings up the question of why these things choose to manifest where they do if it's a choice at all. This first story comes from somebody named Charlotte who witnessed something unexplainable

in the sky with her now X during the early days of COVID in Montreal. What caught my eye in Charlotte's original email to us is how to you. How much she downplayed this experience. She said, and I quote, I don't like the story because I find it dissatisfying to tell. I guess I still don't know what to make of it. I just don't have anything to grip onto in terms of understanding what it is, which is dissatisfying. And I also feel like I sound totally nuts when I tell it, which isn't very often.

But I can also tell most people I've told it to don't fully believe me, which is fair. I don't think if I were them, I would believe me 100% either. Reading all of that, while knowing exactly what she did see, made me extra curious to talk to her because I assure you what Charlotte saw was not bland or dissatisfying at all. I'll let her take it from here. This episode is called Close to Home and you're listening to Otherworld. Is this Bobby?

Yeah, it is. At its core, the science, you can't argue. That's worried about all of a science. Up in the sky. It's almost frustrating that it's happening. I'm literally going to die. I'm going to die. It's like, wrong.

Everybody moves back into the light, even if it takes them a minute. I'm Charlotte. I'm 25. I'm from coastal BC. I live in Montreal. I've been here for about five years now. I graduated my bachelor's degree last summer. So I've just been taking kind of a gap here, just working and figuring out what I'm going to do this fall.

I work at a YMCA. as a lifeguard and aqua fit instructor, and then I also, I'm a busser as well. Aquafit instructor? Yeah, you know, like water aerobics. Like for the old ladies? Yeah. Wow. Mostly old ladies, but every once in a while there's an old dude,

and every once in a while, every once once in a while, there's a 30-something-year-old. I'm from a small town on the Sunshine Coast in BC. Now that I don't live there, I have much more of an appreciation for it, which is so classic. But it's really beautiful and like really special growing up like with so much forest around so many mountains, the ocean. Yeah, just so gorgeous. So much wildlife as well, bears, deer, sea otters, eagles, ravens, whales, all the good stuff. So anyway, you grow up in a place like that. and you think that the world is just like that.

And then you leave and you're like, no, not everywhere is like that. And I really miss the ocean a lot because it's just so special and beautiful and I love swimming. But I kind of resented it growing up because it's like, you know, small town vibe. Everyone knows each other. Everyone's in each other's business. You don't really have a sense of privacy. But yeah, small town, everyone knows each other. Everyone knows each other's business.

There's all this like gossip and drama. drama. How small are we talking here? I guess not that small for BC. When I was growing up, the population was about 15,000 people in the whole, like, regional district, which is pretty much just, like, the town, but then also includes some people, like, a little bit, like, north of town and south of town, which is still town. But, yeah, about 15,000 people is a little bit more now.

So it's small, but not as small as, like, a lot of other places in BC. Yeah, I graduated in 2019. At the time, I was still with my high school partner. And then we broke up in the winter of 2019. And then, like, shortly after that, I got together with the person who comes up in this story, who I saw this thing with.

So I was, like, working, I was working at a different pool than the one I do now, obviously, because I'm in Montreal. but I was working as a lifeguard in BC in my hometown. And I remember everyone like talking about it. It was like on the news like, oh, like this COVID thing, da-da-da-da. And I remember a guy on the maintenance team being like, they're not going to shut us down.

Like this thing is going to like, it's just going to be a couple weeks and then it'll blow over. Obviously that didn't happen. And the pool that I worked at did shut down. So I was on EI for a little bit. Yeah, it was interesting in BC. It's interesting, I guess, to learn about how everywhere in general, like, handled it differently. But in BC, the, like, provincial person responsible for, like, health and whatnot, her name was Dr. Bonnie Henry. And so she had a thing where, you know, we had to keep, like, your social distancing and all of that.

But we had a thing called, like, a bubble. So you had, like, a limited amount of people that you were. supposed to have in your bubble. So you weren't supposed to be in close contact, like close physical contact with more than, I think it was six people. And then also like the person in this story who saw this with me who was there, yeah, is my ex. And their dad was or is, I guess, a doctor and was like super paranoid about COVID, which makes sense. So I was not. I was not. I was not. And I was not allowed, like, in the house or anything. Me and my ex could only see each other, like, outside of the house, even though we were, like, in each other's bubble and everything. So, like,

they, at a certain point, my mom was, like, fine if they came over to our place. But I wasn't allowed to go, like, inside their physical home. So I was allowed to be, like, in the backyard. So especially at the initial lockdown period when everything was still, like, really, uncertain and we didn't have a lot of information on what was really going on and all of the restrictions were like really heavily in place um i wasn't seeing a lot of people obviously i wasn't working either so i was like seeing my family and then seeing this person and like a couple other friends um but mostly me and my ex would just like go on walks outside or like hang out outside or um i would often go over to their place, but again, like not inside, just outside in the backyard.

The story that I'm going to tell, I was just over at my ex's place in the backyard. It was just us. We were just talking. And like, also I'll say we were not drinking or smoking anything or like nothing. Like, we were both just sober. And it was a summertime. One thing I'll add, I guess, is that in my hometown, in the summertime, it can be like 10 p.m. and there's still light in the sky, which is really special and beautiful.

So it wasn't like the peak peak of summer. It wasn't like, I think it was probably in August. So like the sun would be setting like a little before 10 p.m. type of thing. Yeah, we're just in the backyard. The house, like there's neighbors close enough by. Like it's not like a giant property. There's a front yard in a backyard. And it's like, I don't know, like early evening dinner time when we started hanging out.

Like full brightness, sun in the sky, beautiful day. We're just chilling. Just talking about whatever. And then, like, as we're talking, I start to just kind of notice, I guess, like, I, we were sitting kind of like side by side in the backyard. And this person was on the right of me. And so was, like, if you really kept going, so was Vancouver Island and the ocean and the horizon and all that, which is also where the sun sets.

Anyway, and so as I'm, like, looking over and, like, talking to my ex, I start to just, like, consistently notice the same kind of thing, like, way, way in the distance. It looked like, it's, like, over the ocean for sure. It looked like it could be over, like, it could have been coming from Vancouver Island or a nearby island called Texeda. So way far away. But as we're talking, like, I just started to, I don't remember like the first time I noticed it because it was just like something in the sky. I must have written it off.

But then eventually, like, as we're talking, time is going by. The evening is progressing. And I start to notice it more and more to the point where I'm like, okay, it's more noticeable, like more prominent in the sky. But it hasn't gone a certain trajectory that I would have expected it to. Like, it didn't go like left or right in the sky. like it was it was just kind of like stagnant in the same place but if anything over time it was like getting bigger so like coming closer and i remember pointing it out at a certain point just being like what is that like have you noticed that i like i've been seeing this thing like it but it hasn't moved

positioned da-da-da-da-da and my ex was just like oh like weird whatever like it's probably just an airplane or something and i was like yeah sure and then again like eventually i'm like well no that's not an airplane because it hasn't moved. Like it either would have passed over us by now if it was coming in this direction, which like would have been abnormal because we were not close. Like it's a small town, so we have an airport, but like you know it's always the same small planes coming from the same spot. Like they're just going to Vancouver basically.

So it wasn't one of those. And if it was anything else, like it didn't make sense. Like it would have either gone like left in the sky or right in the sky. or it would have like gone over us because at a certain point it's been like an hour since I first noticed it and then we're talking about that and then we just carry on talking about whatever I don't remember our conversation it probably wasn't anything worth noting and then again like what is that it gets to a point where I'm like hey there's no like we can't shrug this off anymore like that what is that and at this point it's

like a bit later like it's still bright out um but like the sun is definitely on its it's like golden hour like the sun is on its way down on the horizon and just all of a sudden basically like this thing is approaching us and like you can make it out more and it's not an airplane it's not a helicopter it's not anything that i know that i still to this day like know how to identify or to even get close and it just keeps approaching us to the point where as it's getting closer to dusk, it's fully hovering over the house. So like it's getting closer and closer. We're both like, what is that? Oh my God. Like it's coming here. Like it's coming this way. And then we both just like, I don't remember saying anything because it was so close and just started hovering like right

above the house, right above us. And we were both just like had just shut up because it was just insane. The perimeter, like the circumference of it, is large enough to kind of cover the perimeter of the house itself. And like I said, it was not a small house. It wasn't like a mansion or anything, but it was like a decently sized house. You know, two stories, multiple bedrooms, living room kitchen, a garage. And if I had been on the roof of the house, I swear I. could have stood up and reached up and touched it or like just jumped a little and been able to like

touch it with my hand it was that large and that close to us and it's just hovering there like fully centered over the house we're both just looking up at it not saying a word just I was just like jaw on the floor like what like one of those weird like pinched pinch yourself to see if you're dreaming type moments. Like I knew I wasn't dreaming, but like you can't, like how do you comprehend something like that? It was like pancakey. Kind of like if you put two frisbee's together

and then like the ends, the edges were like more tapered off, kind of like an almond. It didn't have, it was like classic flying saucer, I guess, but like without the little glass dome. and it was silver mostly not like not as shiny as a spoon or anything like that but it was like a kind of metallic silver and I couldn't make out anything like it was so weird I couldn't make out any parts um like any machinery any discernible parts or features really like like an airplane you can see like the seams I guess like the the way it was assembled like the different

discrete parts that make it into what it is. I didn't, I couldn't, and again, like, I'm close to this thing. Like, even though I wasn't obviously on the roof close enough to touch it, I was just sitting in the backyard. Like, I'm just looking up at it and it's right there. So I couldn't see any, like, discernible features, which is really strange. And then another part that's really strange is, like, in the middle, there's like a band of lights.

and it was as if it was like opaque glass or like frosted glass and then a light shining through that like diffused but I don't know what like I don't know that it was glass I don't know what anything was and another thing that's weird about it is the lights if you just glanced like looked up and then glanced away again Like you would think that the lights were all evenly spaced perfectly, like you would expect some type of machine to be made. But as I was staring up at it, not only could I not discern anything. Like, I also couldn't, like, the spacing of the lights seemed to be not,

it seemed to be not quite perfectly spaced. Like, nothing was quite, like, as you would expect it to be. yeah like in terms of the spacing of the lights and then also it it almost seemed like they were some of them were slightly brighter than others but just it like imperceptibly like like you know when the moon is moving in the sky or like you can see the sun setting and sometimes it's quite obvious and sometimes it's just like over time you realize like oh like the sun has definitely moved from where it was before but you could keep your eyes on the sun the whole time and like even though it's moving it's so slow that you can't quite make it, like you can't quite see that it's moving, but you know that it is.

Like, I don't know if that makes sense, but it was like that where I was like, the lights don't seem perfect. Like, they don't seem like logical or like they make sense, both in terms of like their brightness, kind of ebbing and flowing a little bit maybe. But also in terms of the distances between them, like it seemed. weird. And then also again, like, I couldn't tell, like, what the source of the lights was. Like, yeah, there was nothing quite familiar about it. So it's hovering over the house probably for, like, about a minute or a minute and a half. I don't think that we were really exchanging any

words or saying anything, especially at the start. I think there were a few, like, oh my gods, they're like, holy shit, you know. But we weren't really talking. We were both just like totally gobsmacked. Or at least I was. Like maybe, I don't know. Like I wasn't paying attention to my ex really at the start, especially like as it first was happening over the house. I was just like, like what? Like what the fuck is this? And what is it doing? What is it doing? Why is it here? Like I remember being so perplexed in the moment, but especially after and still now, like I, why, why, why, why?

Was that its trajectory? Why did it do that? Because it's so specific, like, to not just be a coincidence, but then I don't understand like the motivation of whatever to have chosen to hover over that house at that time in front of me and my ex like that. So, and I guess I remember also being like, like what now? Like what's going to happen now? Like what is happening and what's going to happen and what is this?

I didn't have at the time, like I didn't have a sense of dread or something like that. I just remember being completely bewildered. And that thing that you always hear about whenever some kind of strange event happens like this, where time is different, not in a sense of like lost time, just in a sense of like that. that maximum like two minutes probably like between a minute and a minute and a half where it's hovering over the house felt like every second counted like a year's worth. The time just had so much more weight and stretch to it, if that makes sense. So as it was coming, I didn't notice any sound at all. just that it arrived from way off in the distance, like over the ocean by the horizon

from wherever in the sky. As it's hovering over the house, again, no, no sound, no noise, no anything, like anything that you would expect from anything that exists in the world, like anything that moves, especially that fast and especially something that large makes sound like it it or produces wind or like movement or there's like there's like the physics of it like the laws of physics and stuff um it didn't have any of that it didn't do anything that it should have um and so at a certain point after like what feels like forever but it was really ultimately must have been a brief like I'm guessing that it must have been like under two minutes I feel confident about that but

really like the the felt sense of time is just so different that it's hard to say exactly anyway a certain point after that hovering and by this point it's dusk it goes like a little bit up away from the roof, but still in place, and then goes, I'm trying to think like what direction. It would have come from almost exactly west, like maybe a little bit northwest, and it leaves southeast. Anyway, as it leaves, yeah, it lifts up and then just goes over towards, again, the ocean, but like a different direction towards the ocean. and like over there's like a small like foresty it's not like a massive forest but there's like a bunch of trees

basically that it like passes over it doesn't like rustle any of the the leaves or branches it doesn't make any wushing sound and it left so quickly it took a long time to arrive from the first time that I really noticed it and remember noticing it to the time that it was over the house. it was like easily at least an hour an hour and a half it left like completely gone in less time than it hovered over the house like under a minute probably probably like 30 seconds and we're watching it leave and that's when we're exchanging more words more just like like what the hell like what the hell like nothing nothing uh revolutionary but just like or being more vocal like what the fuck and it's not like it was so far in the sky like it came right over the house

it was it was close enough that i should have been able to hear something whether it was just like the the wind that it produced um in the trees like rustling them around or like an engine or something and this is the detail that I, at the start, when I would tell like a couple people, like my mom or a couple of friends. This is the part that I omitted, that I now no longer omit, in part because there's another episode of Otherworld

where the person describes something pretty similar happening to them and described this like internal experience that I also had, but I never talked about because I was like, that's crazy. As it was hovering over the house, I had like a feeling. And again, like, I don't know what it was. I didn't see anything like a UFO with like a Martian in it. Like I didn't see anything like that. I didn't, I don't know what it was still. But I had a moment where I felt like, like a feeling of almost like eye contact. And again, like it didn't have discernible eye. I'm not suggesting it in a literal sense, but like a feeling within myself of like a kind of mutual awareness or like a mutual recognition.

Like almost as if like obviously I knew I was observing it, but it was like, it felt like to me, whatever this was or whatever it was also somehow aware of me. I don't know how else to put that into words, but it was really strange and it's still, I actually still find that really unsettling. I mean, all of it. Originally what got me the most was the lack of physics of it, like the lack of, like, obeying or like adhering to, like, the laws of the world and, like, the laws of science.

the laws of anything. That was what really like stumped me for a while. And I remember like afterwards, you know, I went over it with my ex. Like, did you see that? What did you see? What, like, what was it like for you? And it matched for us both. And that was crazy.

But also I tried to like, I tried for a while to find like other. I tried to look into like UFO sightings and da-da-da-da-da, and like also military tech, to like try to see if there was some point of reference that was like close enough to what I saw that I could like make sense of what I saw through. I never found anything that matched it, of course, or that really came close.

But now the thing that I find like freaky, is that sentiment that I had of like being like kind of being observed or or just that it was there because I had noticed it like as if it like that song notice you notice me it was kind of like because it was so far away when I when I was noticing it for the first few times and then eventually when I was like, wait, this is worth pointing out. Like, it's so, it's still, like, I've noticed it over and over and it's still there, and this is weird. It's like it somehow knew or sensed that I was noticing it and, like, that I was curious about it.

And then, like, as if that was the reason that it came over. And I don't know Because like if it's an animal, right? Like if it's like a dog or a horse, there's like a match of curiosities, I guess. Like an animal, an animal's curiosity, I mean, even if it's like a bear is a innocent curiosity, even if it's like a predatory animal. Like it's still somewhat innocent if that makes sense. But this one, I don't know.

like it I would say more like it wanted as if it wanted me to know that that it knew that I saw it like as if it was like making a point almost if that makes sense whereas like a dog or a horse or even a bear wouldn't necessarily have that same angle to it or that layer you know what I mean like yeah it to me the way that I felt if I could try to put it in words was like it knew and noticed that I had noticed it and like wanted to make a point of specifically going right where I was. It's gone and, you know, we're both still letting out some like, oh my God, what the hell type of things. I specifically remember, you know, we're asking each other like, what, what was that? Like, neither of us have an answer. Like, you know, did you see that? Did you see that? We're both like, yeah, but like, you know, what was that? It's the big question. Neither of us have an answer. And then I immediately am like to really hung up on what was that. Like, what, like, how do I make sense of what just happened? You know, we're both in agreement that that was crazy and that it happened and da-da-da-da. But I'm like,

I need to like do something with this. Like I don't know what to do. And for me, I was like immediately after it had gone, I remember being like, you know, pointing out that it didn't make any sense. Like it didn't, like, did you hear any wind or any like engine sound or like any sound at all? I remember talking about like how it didn't make sense to me, how it left so fast. and on top of that not making any sound or anything. I'm trying to like explain it away.

Like I'm trying to like go over it all and like see, you know, rack my brain to see if between the two of us we can come up with some type of like way to account for what just happened. I immediately like after, you know, a few exchanges back and forth and whatever, like when the initial like shock somewhat settled i'm like on my phone looking up like UFO stuff like trying to try to see what i can find to see if there's something close by i'm like on like looking up like local news obviously wouldn't have been that out that past i'm on like the facebook groups that same night everything like i'm i'm immediately like trying to like come up with some type of answer.

Never, never got one. I don't think I've asked somebody this before. It's very simple, but what is it like to have seen a UFO? Like, I want to know. Yes. I feel like there's probably a lot of people listening who would love to see one and think it would be really cool, but I get the sense that you might not think so. Yeah, it's funny.

It's like, you know what they see. say about simple questions are the hardest to answer. I asked you this because you said you like skip UFO episodes. I think you think they're boring or whatever or dorsey. Like I wondered, yeah, like, is this embarrassing to you? Like what, like.

Yeah, yeah, okay. Yeah, it is embarrassing. It is embarrassing. Because I'm aware, I'm aware the whole time that it's like it sounds like a crock of shit. And it's not. Like it's really not, but I'm aware that it sounds that way. Like I sound, if not insane, I just sound like I'm full of shit.

It's also deeply dissatisfying. Like, it's so deeply dissatisfying because I have no, no answer at all. Like, no, there's no satisfaction in it in telling the story even. Like I said, I haven't told a lot of people. Recently, I've had a better time, like the more recent times that I've, like, shared my story with friends here and there. It's been better than in the past, partly I think because I had that encouragement from one person. But still, like, I'm telling it all and I know that I'm telling the truth as I experienced it. and I still am like in my head I'm like what what the hell like what am I talking about so I find it deeply

dissatisfying and kind of disturbing also like at the time I wouldn't have necessarily I don't think disturbing would be one of the first words to come to mind but like recently it's disturbing to me like I said, I find it really freaky the physics of it or like the lack of physics of it, like the technology aspect. And then also like the what some people maybe would think of as a coincidence that it like came to the house after I had pointed it out to my ex. But I, again, like I don't know what to make of it or anything, but one thing that I feel maybe the only thing that I feel like confident in saying is like that whatever for whatever reason it does not like that cannot be a coincidence like maybe it could have been a coincidence if it had just like passed over the house and kept going

but it stopped there like there's like a aspect of that that feels deliberate that I can't ignore but I also at the same time yeah like I can't ignore this any of it but I also can't go anywhere with it that can't do anything with it that that could do anything. There's nothing to do about it or to be done about it. I guess if it was like a paranormal story, like sometimes those are ongoing or whatever and sometimes they end up like resolving. Like eventually they usually like resolve and like there's like an end note. And of course like the sighting is over or whatever.

But I never, again, for so many different reasons, never wanted to see a UFO, never thought I would. It's not something I ever really thought about or like took very seriously. I'm glad, I guess, that I didn't, that it didn't think I was a cow and, like, scoop me up. But, um, I don't know. I wouldn't recommend it. I don't know. I, like, it's not that deep. It's not like I wish I could, I would have never seen it or whatever. Like, it's not, it's not anything like that. Like, I guess I'm closer to neutral, but like, I wouldn't wish to have experienced this. It's just really random that it did, I guess. But if it's random or not, I couldn't, I couldn't say, obviously.

So yeah, what it's like to have seen a UFO. Really weird. Not my favorite. Dissatisfying. Strange. And at least for me, it makes me feel like a totally nuts person. I couldn't really imagine, like, wanting that or, like, seeking that out or, like, hoping that it would happen to me.

But that's just me. All right. We'll be right back after this quick break. Gooday, I'm Justin Wolfers, host of the Platypus Economics podcast. If there's one thing I've learned from a career teaching economics, it's that your life is shaped by economic currents you'll never see. A single price tag can explain things a thousand experts can't. People who understand economics, they make better decisions in their careers,

their finances, their relationships, and their communities. And I want that for you. Listen to and follow Platterpus Economics, available now, wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you so much to Charlotte for talking to me. I know I laughed at her original email a bit and teased her somewhat for being so blasé about it. But after talking to her more,

I do understand where she's coming from. She saw this completely shocking, inexplicable craft in the sky out of nowhere, and then it was gone. It never happened again. There was no message or meaning or really, anything beyond that one moment. It was just this random, inexplicable occurrence. What is a person supposed to do with that? Especially when it was so brief, I ask myself that all the time. And to be honest,

if something like this happened to me, I think I would probably react in a way very similar to Charlotte. I think lastly, I'd say that the reason I liked Charlotte's reaction to this experience is that It seems to show that these types of sightings happen to all sorts of people, including ones who are completely disinterested in them, and don't really care too much that they have seen it after the fact. I find that really interesting. This next story comes from Sam. Sam grew up in New Jersey,

and after letting go of her dream of becoming an equestrian, she started spending most of her time with her best friend Sophie. One night, Sam and Sophie snuck out to do some stargazing, and while they were heading home, they encountered something in front of Sophie's house that they could not explain. I'll let Sam take it from here. My name is Sam. I'm 27, so this story happened honestly,

probably pretty close to exactly 10 years. ago. I've grown up in New Jersey, Hunterding County, which is a very farm-esque area. It's not like Norke at all. There's horses and cows and tons of farmland everywhere. I'm currently living in Pennsylvania. So I'm currently a vet tech taking care of animals, keeping them healthy, make them feel good when they're sick. I was a competitive equestrian for like 15 years, and I stopped riding my junior year of high school. I started riding when I was five, and I stopped when I was 17. I was competitive. I traveled New York, Florida, Mississippi, funnily enough

Kentucky it was like my entire life like I was spending like it was like a full time job the amount of time that I was spending there if not more I didn't really care about school I never liked school

I never cared about doing my homework or studying like my whole focus was just on riding and I thought that at that time I feel like I had my life together because I thought that's what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I was going to open up a facility. I was going to train, sell, compete, have clients. But my parents are divorced.

And it was a big point of contention between them financially because my mom felt like she needed extra help to support it. It's a very, very expensive thing to do, especially when you're competing. And it just, by the time I was 17, you know, my dad was very big on education. And that's like the time when you start applying to colleges and, you know, you take that next step. And he just kind of was like not really having it anymore. And it was causing so many fights. And I was getting caught in the middle of it. And so it kind of just like sucked the joy away.

And I decided I was like, you know what? I'm done. Like, I can't do this anymore. I quit. And I've continued working with horses on and off since then. I have like, crazily enough, I'm 27 and I've got like 20 years of experience with horses. I still consider them a big part of my life. And I'd like to, when I'm in a financially stable place, kind of introduce that back into a certain degree, not at the level that I was doing it at more for just fun this time.

So I never really had a group of friends throughout school. Like my friends were always at the barn. So I spent a lot of time in my classes in high school, kind of like alone, like keeping to myself. And sophomore year of high school, I had a study hall. And I just sat in the back and kept to myself. And my best friend Sophie, she had a group of friends in that study hall. but one day she just decided to like come over and sit with me. She started coming and sitting with me in study hall and we quickly became very close friends.

We bonded a lot on music, specifically the Beatles. And then we quickly started hanging out going to parties and having sleepovers and just like being angsty teenage kids. I never really liked having people come over my playoff. It was pretty met. My mom remarried when I was 10, and we moved into my stepdad's house, and it wasn't really meant for five people between her and him, my stepbrother, my brother and me. So it was very crowded and small, and she had a really nice house. So we would always go over there, and we would sneak out at night. We would, she would turn the alarm system off and then crack open the back sliding glass door. and we just go out the back, you know, do our thing, sneak back in, or we just straight up lie to both of our parents and say we were going, like I would be like, oh, I'm sleeping over her place, or she would be like, oh, I'm sleeping over Sam's place,

and then we would just wind up going somewhere else entirely different and just smoking, weed, drinking, listening to music, even, you know, tripping acid at points. We were a little experimental. This was the summer of 2016, I believe. So she lived on a cul-de-sac. There were probably 10 houses, max 15 houses. It was one way in, one way out.

They were really nice houses. And across from her street was this big field. And we decided one night that we just wanted to sneak out and, you know, set up like a blanket and just smoke in the field and look at the stars, play some music, and just like enjoy the moment, enjoy being alive, like being introspective, all that kind of good stuff. So, yeah, we, it started with us sneaking out, walking down her street, going across the street into the street into the that field and smoking some weed. We set up a blanket. We sat down. We had rolled a crappy joint with just like dirt weed and we were sharing it between the two of us. Just looking at the stars, talking, listening to music, just it was summer, like feeling the nice warm air. There was a little bit of warm breeze, just enjoying life. Nothing too crazy. We probably snuck out at around 10.30.

And honestly, I don't really like remember much about being like there, like in the field. Because when I look back, my mind is just all I remember is the aftermath. But we decided. I started to, I started getting like just a weird feeling. Like I just started feeling a bit uneasy, almost like like a pit in my stomach type feeling. So we decided to walk back at around like 1145, 12 a.m. And it was not a far walk because it, like I said, it was just one way into her neighborhood, one way out. And this field was directly across the street from the entrance of her neighborhood. it was probably like a seven-minute walk back to her house.

I had been feeling uneasy, like a little restless since we started walking, not when we were sitting down in the field and just enjoying the stars and all of that. It only started when we started walking back. Once I saw her driveway, once that was in my view, I specifically remember turning to her and I said, thank God, like, we've made it back because I felt relief knowing that, like, her house was in my sight that in my mind, I'm like, we're at her, we're at the base of her driveway, we're home. Like, we made it.

Like, end of story. So I said that to her. And she was just like, yeah, like, you know, like she agreed. She's like, yes, we're back. So we get to the base of her driveway right before the base of her driveway. And I say, thank God we've made it back. And how her house was set up was like the driveway was to the left of her house. So if you're standing right before the base of her driveway and you're looking at the house,

there's her front door, the front entrance. And then as you come up the driveway, to the right, there are two garage doors. There's spotlights that were on attached to her garage. and then if he went past the garage doors and wrapped around the back side of the house to the right, she had a deck and a pretty large deck and two sliding glass doors, and we had left the one sliding glass door slightly cracked. After I, you know, tell her how I'm relieved or whatever, you know, just feeling safe seeing her house tangibly in front of me,

We start walking up the driveway and we get probably like right about halfway up the driveway. And she just stops dead in her tracks. And I must have been looking at the ground. I don't know, but I see her stop dead in her tracks. So I turn and I look, she was on my left. I turned to my left and I look at her and I see her staring straight ahead, just dead silent. So I follow her gaze and there is this thing crouched down over what I assume to be a septic tank. It was some structure that was in her yard that had always been in her yard that you could tell was like partially underground, but some of it like was also above ground.

And it was just crouched over this septic tank, I assume. and then it sees us looking at it and it kind of like it doesn't stand up straight right away but it kind of just like moves its upper body to the side to look at us and I mean just complete shock like it was like the feeling of life or death I was like is this like am I going to die like is this how it goes down, like, what the fuck is that? Like, the human mind can't even fully comprehend. To this day, I still feel like I can't even fully comprehend what was in front of me. When it was crouched down, I couldn't tell how tall it actually was.

It was very, very skinny and lanky, so I think being crouched down didn't really give a good picture into the full height. It was so white, like paper white, but with a gray hue. It wasn't like looking at a piece of paper. It was like looking at like a light, something that's like a light slate gray color, but just like so pale. And honestly, I don't remember if it had like distinguishable features on its face. But I remember it looked like it was like clothed.

Like, it was not naked. It was wearing what looked to me to be just an average navy track suit. And it almost even seemed like it was like wearing a hood. But it definitely would have been bald. There was no hair. It was just like a grayish, a light gray translucent-looking creature. Not translucent in the sense that you could see through it, but it was just so pale. and like it was such a stark contrast against the dark night and the green grass and the trees that were behind her yard.

It was just shocking. And when it got up, like it like almost got up in two phases because it wasn't, it didn't realize we were there. And then this all happened so fast, by the way, but it winds up getting up slowly and then takes all. across her backyard. I don't know if it took off towards the woods because there were woods behind her backyard that she had a neighbor like next to her on both sides. So like it kind of,

it could have been running towards the woods or it could have been running then and to go into the neighbor's yard. But it took off running. And it's each like stride was like five to six feet wide. Like it, it had a massive. step. And I should also mention how when it got up after being crouched down, its arms like were very stiff and lanky and just like stuck to its side. So it moved when it stood up before taking off.

It just moved in a very non-human way. It was very, very stiff. It's almost like its arms didn't even move. Like it got up like a board and then just took off across her backyard. And it was almost like, what's the word I'm looking for? I mean, fluid, slightly like elegant, I'd say, as funny as that sounds, because just the way it was covering ground was like crazy. The most vivid part, like right before we ran away was it had, I mean, there was like this. septic tank that it was crouched down over, which was like right after the asphalt ended in her driveway and the grass began. And she had a pretty big yard. There were a bunch of trees. Like it was very wooded behind her grassy yard. And I just like it covered ground from the septic tank to the

middle of her yard so fast. And the last like image that I have of it is probably right kind of in the middle of her yard aiming either towards the woods or towards her neighbor's yard. It wasn't even standing fully upright. Like it was a little hunched over, not like super hunched over, but like its shoulders were kind of rounded. And just like the contrast of the skin that I was able to see against the dark tree outline was like crazy. Like it was. It was so. so, so pale, but it looked like it was like wearing some kind of fabric that was like a dark color. The way it moved was just so otherworldly. I just seeing it run and cover ground like that, like was insane. It was so tall. It moved so quickly. And honestly, like the shock that it felt when we

saw it like we were both parties were equally as shocked like it did not expect to be seen by like two young girls it didn't expect to be seen by anything it stopped what it was doing it looked at us looking at it and then it got the hell out of there i mean we looked at it for as long as we could but once once it started running we started running we don't say anything right away it's honestly kind of like comedic what happened next to me because we without even words we both reached out for each other's hands and we locked hands and we took off together holding hands which I just love because I feel like I'm the type of person in a situation like that where most people I probably would have just been like well I hope you're following me because I'm running and like

That's that. But we both just instinctively went to grab each other's hands. We're like, we're in this together. We locked hands and we ran around to the front of her house and ran up onto her front entryway. Like there were two stairs. We ran up the two stairs and now we're standing right at her front door. We're like holding each other because this like never in my life have I felt fear. like this. Like I literally was like, is this, are we, are we going to die? Like, is something going to happen to us? And for some reason, being the young kids that we were, we didn't think that ringing the doorbell and waking her mom was an option. Like, going through the front door, not an option. We just had to gather our strength and walk back around to the back and sneak in

the way we had snuck out. Mind you, her mom, what a problem. probably have been annoyed and, like, gave us a very minor scolding, but it wouldn't have been worse than if that thing was, like, in her yard waiting for us. But it was not an option. We could not wake her mom. So we were standing there probably for, like, five minutes, just trying to, like, talk each other into having the strength to go back around. And I will never forget. We're holding, like, we're holding onto each other's shoulders and we're like, it was just a deer. It was just a deer. We kept repeating to each other. We're like, it was just a deer. It was just a deer. Trying to convince our minds and convince ourselves that,

like, we had it in us to go back around to her backyard and sneak in. We gather ourselves. I mean, we're scared shitless. I'm surprised I didn't piss my pants. honestly, neither of us did. I don't know how. We're so scared. Um, we gather our strength. Probably five minutes, maybe max 10 minutes have gone by where we're just like, we also wanted to give it some time to like leave the scene, hopefully. Um, so after some time had passed and we tried to convince each other that it was just a deer and that there was no danger or anything like that. We didn't just see something so strange, like unexplainable, like the human mind can't even comprehend it. We start walking. We came down the front stairs of her front entrance, followed the

little path that led to the driveway. And then when we were walking on the driveway, we went past the garage doors, and we wrapped around the corner and worked our way up onto her back. deck and meanwhile our head is on a swivel like we are so so scared but we get to the sliding glass door and we sneak back inside and we shut it and we lock it and we're just dead silent for 10 minutes like just not uttering a word to each other just silent and once we were inside and we felt you know, a little bit safer. We were still scared. We were like, she had, um, we were in her kitchen and she had a window, like, above her sink. And we were so scared to look out the window. Like, we did not want to look out and just see its face, like, staring in at us. But the first thing

that we said, after the silence broke, one of us said it. I don't remember which was, that was not a deer. And once the silence was broken with that, you know, whoever initially said it, like her, either her or I, the other one of us was like, yeah, no, like, that was not a deer. And then we kind of just started dissecting what we actually saw. I remember she was the one, like, I was just in complete shock. I was sitting down. She was standing, and she was kind of like going through what, like, how that thing moved. Like, I remember her being, like, reenacting the crouched position and then reenacting.

it getting up and standing. And when she reenacted the way it got up, like, I just went cold because it was so, she did it so perfectly the way it was like non-human and stiff, but at the same time, like fluid, I, like, it felt like I was like seeing it. Like, it just made me realize that like we did see the same exact thing. You know what I mean? Like seeing her reenact what we saw, I was like, oh my God. God, like, yeah, that is what we saw.

And we were in complete shock. Honestly, we decompressed for a little bit, just inside in her kitchen, like, talking it through. And then, I mean, I think we just went to bed or tried to. Like, I'm sure we were laying in bed, like, tossing and turning a little bit, unable to sleep. But we didn't really do anything after that. we were just completely shocked. For a long time, we were scared of her backyard at night. Like, we tried to avoid it completely.

We did not, like, and in my head, and I told her, I was, like, the odds of, like, us seeing that again are basically zero. Like, we probably, in theory, have nothing to worry about because what are the chances that, like, that's going to happen again, you know what I mean? But we still were very wary. We were scared of the kitchen window for a while. We did not want to look out that damn kitchen window. We told a couple people we did wind up telling her mom a few weeks later.

We just had to. We had to get it off our chest. Her mom didn't really take it too crazy. I think she probably in her head was like, what the hell? Like, sure, ladies, sure, yeah. You saw that. like hope you're doing okay type of situation she didn't have a big reaction to it um our friends that we told they were like whoa you know that's crazy like i think they believed us i like to think

they believed us their reaction kind of made it seem like they did but at the same time it's like how can someone react to hearing that like unless they actually were there themselves you know Like there's only so much you can say. And I try to read the people who I tell it to. I try to like read their reaction to see if they think I'm lying or like if they can put themselves in that position and like really try to get into the experience. Or if they're just like, yeah, like that's crazy. Like wow.

And kind of like don't really think about it much deeper. So we remained friends all through the beginning of COVID. but she was dating this guy. She had been dating him for a while, but just as kind of time went on, it became more of a toxic relationship, and they'd argue a lot, and I didn't like him.

I thought she deserved better. I didn't agree with how he was treating her, and, you know, she would come to me when they would argue, and I would try to get her to see my side, and get her to see that she deserves more. And so I did create a little bit of distance because, I mean, there's only so much you can say. And when someone is, like, in a situation like this,

like, it just, it gets heavy. And I was always, I was always there for her. And she knew that. But I also needed her to know that, like, I don't agree with this. Like, and I'm not just gonna, you know, act like this is okay and like everything's sunshine and rainbows you know and then in 2021 she wound up passing away very unexpectedly um and now i i miss her every single day um but also like this crazy

story that was shared with another person she's she's gone and i just have it to myself now. It's just crazy because to experience something like that, you know, that's a once in a lifetime. That's even less than once in a lifetime. Like people, you know, most people are never going to experience something like that and to have experienced it with her. And we used to tell the story together.

And we were on the same exact page. We saw the same exact thing. We experienced it the same exact way. And now to have her goals. on and I'm the only one left kind of carrying the story and like living with what we saw. It's a very weird feeling. And part of the reason why I wanted to come on here is because I love your podcast. I love your audience.

And I want to share it for myself, but also to kind of keep it alive for her as well. And I like to think that now, wherever she is, I like to believe there's an afterlife. I don't know if it's just to make myself feel better, but I truly, truly do believe that there is one at my core. And I like to think that she has seen it all. She can see anything she wants to see. And I like to believe that she has an answer as to what this was. And I like to believe that whenever my time comes,

I can go directly to her and be like, break that down for me. like, what did we see that night so many years ago? Thank you so much to both Charlotte and Sam for sharing their stories. You know, whether or not these experiences are two sides of the same phenomena, I know that Sam felt like what they saw might be extraterrestrial. And I will say that the idea of this creature in Sam's story wearing a sort of outfit or like a jump suit is pretty interesting because it's quite common in reports from people who have been abducted that they describe seeing these beings wearing a sort of jumpsuit

or a second layer of skin or something that's kind of in between. Although that being said, I will say her story and her experience is very unique and a lot different than the stories of people who end up seeing beings in those jumpsuits. I don't think I've ever heard one exactly like Sam's. my condolences to Sam for the loss of her best friend. I am very glad that this experience serves as a positive memory for the two of them and also a way for her to process the tragic loss.

Part of the reason I want to put these two stories together is because they're opposites in some ways. For Charlotte, her experience was in some ways meaningless and in the case of Sam the experience sort of took on a meaning of its own because it's such an emotional, powerful, positive memory of her and her best friend. This episode was called Close to Home, 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 Wiccafe's Springs Eternal, Juice Jackal, and North Americans. Our artwork is by Coltysack 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

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.