Otherworld - Episode 39: Eilish Poe Pt. 2

Episode Date: July 17, 2023

We pick up where we left off in the last episode on November 3rd, 2020. Eilish was heading to bed and began receiving texts from her ex-boyfriend about wanting to reconcile. They only dated for a few months and had been broken up for a long time. It was strange and a little frustrating. Meanwhile, her roommate started hearing noises that sounded like somebody might be in the house. Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence, abuse, and other content that may not be suitable for certain listeners. We will be back next week for the next part of the series. To see photos related to this episode, click here Subscribe to Otherworld on Patreon for exclusive content and bonus interviews Check out our Merch Follow us on: Instagram, TikTok, Twitter If you have experienced something paranormal or unexplained, email us your full story at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Otherworld. I'm your host, Jack Wagner. This episode is the second part of a long series that we're doing. If you haven't heard part one, you should go back and start there. Before we begin, I want to warn you that this episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and many other things that might be difficult for certain listeners. I just wanted to give you guys a warning. In the last episode, we heard the events that led up to what happened to Eilish. She was 23, just starting her career as an elementary school teacher,

And she started seeing a guy named John. This story takes place in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, and I think it's really important to remember what it was like back then at the very start of the lockdown. Everything was shut down. There was not much to do, and it was hard to have a social life. It was a very weird time. Elish started hanging out with this guy named John, who she'd known as a couple years as a friend.

It eventually turned into dating. And after realizing it wasn't a good fit, she broke it off. it was only a few months. Elish broke it off in the summer, and she'd completely moved on with her life. And then all of the sudden, in November, she's trying to get to bed because she has school in the morning,

and she starts receiving these texts from John talking about wanting to reconcile. This is episode 39. Ilish Poe, Part 2, The Three Ghosts, and you're listening to Otherworld. Is it Bobby? At its core, the science, you can't argue. I'm worried about all the sightings.

Up in the sky. It's almost frustrating that it's happening. I'm literally, I'm going to die. I'm going to die. Everybody moves back into the light, even if it takes them a minute. So, November 3rd that night, I wasn't home. I was, I had recently, like, been seeing this other guy. Obviously, that did not work out, given, like, what's about, like, everything that's going to

to happen like that just didn't work out so it's 1130 i'm seeing this new guy he'd been in a really long-term relationship like eight years and they'd broken up i'd been in a long-term relationship had just ended this like what was supposed to be a summer fling ended up being horrible relationship and he was very much like we only saw each other like twice a week maybe like just hung out when it was convenient. We both had very different schedules and stuff like that. So I wasn't home. Megan was home. She was by herself. And like that night, she called her dad and she was just like, I swear I'm hearing things. Like I'm afraid somebody's in the house. He was like, it's probably wind, animals, you know, talked her down from it. I had like my clothes with me. Again, I was staying the night

at this guy's house. So I had like my outfit. It was pajama day for my class because of the walkathon that we just had. My class got like third place. So we got to like wear PJs, have this hot chocolate party. It was like just such a fun day. It was such a fun day. We had popcorn and I remember being so stressed out that morning. And by 10.30, I was like, okay, I'm feeling better. John had texted me like 10 more times the same exact shit. I never did anything like this. Like, that was your perception. We need, we can reconcern. this if you really want to and I really believe that you are my soulmate. It was extremely frustrating.

What was going through my mind is like, I cannot be more clear. And I could not be more adamant on it with him. That I was like, you need to listen to your friends. They are giving you good advice. You need to move on. You need to go to Denver or wherever you're going to go. and you need to forget about our very short relationship. Move on.

He just kept disregarding it, but then finally said something like, I'm so tired of giving my all to people and them letting me down. And I was like, letting you down? Letting you down? And it just felt comical almost. you are delusional. This cannot be what you really think.

And that's basically what I said back. Like, this is delusional. You did all these horrible things, and I was just, like, at my lowest point, and you couldn't see that. That's why it didn't work. I just finally was like, you need to stop texting me

or I'm going to get, like, police involved. I'm done. I don't want you to talk to me. You need to stop. You need to move on. And he said, like, what now is really eerie looking back. And I said, I won't text you anymore. Don't worry.

And that was it. That was the last text I'd gotten from him. It was about 12.30 p.m. in the afternoon. Still November 4th. I'm at lunch with my coworkers, so I'm, like, venting. about this. I'm like, y'all, this man, like, do you guys see this too? Like, I had them read the whole thing and they're like, this sounds like a day. One of my friends said it sounds like a high school breakup scene, like the way he was like, you're the right girl for me and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like,

I'm not trying to romanticize anything. I don't want to do this. Like, leave me alone. They just agreed that it was getting weird, getting really weird. And I was definitely not saying the things that he wanted me to say, which was a pattern in our relationship. I am very strong-willed. If I don't agree with you, you're probably going to know. And had the rest of my day with my students. It was super fun.

Again, we had this party. We, like, did a little dance party, watched a movie, drank hot chocolate, it was like the perfect day. After school ended, I stayed and talked to my coworker Amy for like an hour about John and just my frustration and she's married. So it was like nice to have that kind of perspective from somebody who's not my mom. She just gave me the advice of like, if you are genuinely not comfortable with him, you need to seek out help from law enforcement. If you don't have a lock on your door, get one. If you don't, like, she was very, I'm really grateful for that conversation with her. It wasn't all about him, but probably 80% of the conversation

was about that. So I just, you know, get in my car. It's like 4.30. I'm driving home. I go the same route every single day. And like, nothing felt strange. I'm just like listening to music. And I like open the garage once I get home. And we have like this garage like an electrical. thing. Like, I could open it from my phone if I wanted to. And so I know exactly what time I got home. It was 4.48 p.m. on November 4th, it was a Wednesday. I'm in my pajamas still. They're flamingo pajamas. I love flamingos. I've got these, like, big-ass flamingo slippers on that are poofy, pink. Yeah, I have, even have like a flamingo tattoo that I just got recently. And I have my little satchel purse on, a vest.

And I get home and I just noticed that the basement door was open, which was kind of weird at first, but my roommate Megan works in real estate. People would ask her to, like, store this stuff in the basement, and she'd go down there. And then when she made a sale, she'd, like, bring it back up. So I really didn't think it was too bizarre that it was open. I just closed it.

I didn't really think anything else of it. The way our house was laid out was there's the garage and that kind of opens into the kitchen and then the living room. And in front of the living room is the front door. But you couldn't like drive up to the front door. We really didn't use that door very much. And right next to the front door was the staircase to go upstairs. And that's where our rooms were, Megan and I. So you walk upstairs and there's two bedrooms, there's my bathroom and this like loft open space area.

I turn the corner and I start walking upstairs. I'm not thinking anything. Honestly, I can't recall exactly, but I'm like always singing or humming. I was probably singing or humming. I checked on Boomer. He wasn't our class pet yet. So he was just home and Boomer is my bunny.

His like litter box because he's potty trained was totally full. And so I was like, okay. So I really need to take this out. And I was like, I'm just going to do it right now while I'm thinking about it. And I just like opened my bunny's cage, grabbed his litter box out. My plan was to like walk back downstairs and go out the front door to dump it. So I started walking down the stairs and I made it about three quarters of the way down the stairs. And I heard my bedroom door open. I knew that it was my bedroom door

because Megan and I had this running joke about how creaky it was. So it was like a loud, like really loud, creaky door. And I'm almost glad that it creaked like that it creaked like. because it gave me that 0.5 seconds to kind of get ready for what was about to happen. So I'm going down the stairs and I turn my body halfway. So I'm looking at the wall and I see John run down the stairs. At the time, it's a. anybody's natural instinct to, of course, everybody's heard, fight, flight, freeze. And I was there to fight.

I was like, I am not much smaller than him. He was probably like six foot, like 150. I'm like 510, 511, 150. I could, I'm more like athletic than him. I could take him. Like, I can beat his ass. I can do this. That's what's going through my head.

I'm about just four or five steps up. And he was above me. He was two steps above me. And he was trying to put me in a chokehold. And I don't know if it was like the positioning that I was in. He couldn't fully get his elbow around my neck. And the entire time, I mean, I'm like trying to like elbow him in the stomach, like punch him, things like that. Just probably five seconds later, he pushes me down the stairs.

You know, I hit my back pretty hard. I still have injuries and trauma from that. And he proceeded to like run down the stairs. and he like grabbed me by the back of my hair. My hair was really long at the time. It was past my ribs. He shoved my head into the wall five or six times. I don't know how that didn't knock me out.

It made a hole in the drywall, like a forehead-sized hole in the dry wall. I think he wanted me. need to go unconscious. I didn't. But after that, he took out a knife. I don't know if it was like in his back pocket or if it was in his front pockets or anything like that. But it was just like a normal kitchen knife. When I tell this story to people, they're imagining like a giant steak knife, like the psychoesque steak knife. sized thing.

But it was just like a small kitchen knife. It was like four inches long, probably. But it was like this purpleish pink color. He like had overpowered me. I was fully on the ground. Again, I'm so dizzy. He'd just bashed my head in the wall a bunch of times. And he's stabbing me.

And it's pretty apparent that it was with the intent. to kill me. And so the entire time, I'm just, like, screaming out at the top of my lungs, I think about the loudest scream you've ever heard and then amplify it by, like, 10. Screaming out as loud as I can for my neighbors. I was saying their names specifically for my roommate, for her mom, just in case she, like, happen to be coming by, just screaming. For anyone.

The pace in which things are moving is so strange. You watch a movie and if somebody's getting attacked in a movie or there's a fight in the movie, everything is happening really, really fast. And in real life, it is probably happening at that same type of speed. But it feels like it's happening so slowly. You know, also when you like watch a movie and there's a scene, There's like music, things in the background, people talking maybe, I don't know. But when I was being attacked, the sheer like silence whenever I was not screaming was so intense.

Because it was just purely silent and this horrific thing is happening and it's just silent. It's so eerie because like you just don't, I think that a lot now, like, I'll be walking by a house and I'm like, would I know if somebody was getting hurt in there? Things like that. It's just, it was so quiet that it is just, it's really crazy. I'm thinking that I'm going to take this into my own hands. I'm trying everything that I possibly can. I punched him in his face many times. I'm punching him everywhere that I can.

I'm meeing him. I tried to go for the balls, everything that I possibly could do. And nothing was working. So I was like, well, let me just try to grab the knife. and then this is really hard for me and like something that I've just started talking about in therapy, but one of the most disturbing thoughts I've ever had

is that I'm going to have to kill him. And it just, as like a normal human, it's not something you think about. That's not a thought that people have. But in the moment, it felt like, I didn't have a choice. So I do, I grab the knife by the blade, and it completely slices my hand open.

It slices it to the bone. And if you aren't aware, your bones are not white. They're white, but they're stained yellow. I completely sliced my hand open. You could see everything in it. And when that happened, I could feel how weak I was. Up until that point, I was feeling strong. I was feeling like a little weekend, obviously,

but I was like, I can still do this. When that happened, I felt not defeated, but pretty powerless. physically. Yeah, when he pulled out the knife, I don't know exactly what through my head. I probably just thought what anybody thought would be like, okay, he's really trying. He's not just here to scare me. He's here to kill me. By that point, I was on the floor already from when he bashed my head and he just kind of threw me to the ground. I just was, I was scared and I was extremely confused because when did he get here? How did he just like appear in my room? He said he was moving. I had no

doubts of who it was. I mean, I saw him. He's the only person that would have any interest in harming me. But I tried to kind of like get into his head. And I was being very specific with what I was saying, how could you do this to me? Why would you want to hurt me? Please don't kill me. Please don't do this. Things like that. Calling him by name because he was so detached. He didn't have any expression at all. Not even like a furrowed brow or anything.

He just didn't say a single thing and he didn't even show any motion. It was like, I want to call it animalistic behavior, but even you can tell when an animal is angry. It was so terrifying how plain his face was, just no expression at all. I was saying, like, don't do this, like, you don't want to do this. Your friends don't want you to do this. Things like that. Nothing. I got absolutely nothing out of that.

He is like on his knees, but over me. The primary, like, the primary regions that he stabbed me in are my, like, chest, torso, upper arms. I mean, talking to you now, I know you can see, like, scars and things. He was continually, like, stabbing me while I was bed. him to stop pleading, just trying to get any emotion out of him. That was just one of the many plans that I was thinking through in the moment. I was like, okay, you're going to fight him. Once the knife came out and he started actually stabbing me and stuff, it was like,

okay, now you have to kill him. Okay, plan be. didn't work. Plan C, tap into his psyche. That didn't work. So I tried to call from my phone. I tried to do the like, Hey Siri thing, which evidently I did not set up on my phone.

So that didn't work, but that completely shows you how conscious I was during this. Like I was very coherent making. plans. Okay, that didn't work. What can I do next? So then I was like, okay, we have an Amazon Echo in the kitchen. So I tried to call emergency services. I was like, Alexa, call 911. And it was like, I'm sorry. Emergency services cannot be made through this device. Please use your personal device, stuff like that. I'm like, really? I feel like if every single pay phone you could dial 911 for free. You didn't have to pay for it. Every single Amazon Echo or any product like that should have

that capability. It just should. That should be a thing. So that didn't work. So after I tried to call emergency services, I was like, okay, the echo is responding to my voice. I'm going to just shout numbers or people's names so that maybe it'll be connected to somebody's phone and it will call. And so I shout out, Alexa, call Megan. And then in my head, I'm like, Eilish, this is connected to Megan's phone. It's not going to be listed under Megan. This is her house. Alexa called Jennifer.

That's her mom. And then in my head, I'm like, duh, her name isn't listed as Jennifer, if that's her mom. Nobody lists their mom as their first name. You listed as mom. So then I'm like, Alexa, call mom. And just like in the heat of everything, I can register that Alexa was saying something. I just don't know what, but I know it didn't work. And so after my battle.

with Alexa, I just had to move on. The heat of everything was still going on. I'm still like actively being stopped and trying to fight him off. I'm like grabbing him by the wrists, everything as much as I possibly can, like physically can because I, I mean, I know it might come as a surprise, but I was super weak when I had lost so much blood. and I just was laying there still trying to fight him off and I had this thought, I don't know why it came into my head. I don't know how it got there, but I had like within the last month listened to, I think it was an interview. I'm honestly not sure if it was like a podcast or a documentary or something, but it was of Columbine survivors.

This person had said the way that they got out of that situation was by playing dead. And so I'm actively thinking I need to play dead. This is all I can do. I've tried to like physically overpower him, try to get something to call for help. help. Now I need to outsmart him. I need to outwit him and I need to play dead. And again, I don't know why I thought that, but I'm really glad I did. And so I had basically just kind of like stopped fighting. I kind of just put my arms, like, I'm laying on my back. My knees are up.

I just kind of put my arms like in my lap. He stabs me one final time again. I'm not fighting him off. So this was the deepest one probably. It was like directly under my right collarbone. And it goes in really, really deep. It actually ended up puncturing my lung. I'd find out later.

and because it punctured my lung, I think when I kind of rolled over onto my side, it made it seem like that was my last final breath. Because when it punctured my lung, it was this big exhale of like just a huge exhale. And I think that he truly thought, that that was it because he just stopped. Like as quickly as he'd started, he stopped.

And he just stared at me still on his knees for... Time was so strange during this whole thing. It felt like five minutes. Realistically, he probably just stared at me for like 10 seconds. but it felt like it was a really long time. And then he, like, got up. My eyes were closed, but they were just open enough that I could see just, like, his feet.

He stands up, and then he, like, opens my front door to leave. and it like hit me in the back of the like upper back, lower neck region, the door hit me. And I just kind of like was pushed up a little bit. And I'm trying to be as still as I physically can. I was terrified. I was so terrified that just he would see my finger twitch or something. and he would just start stabbing me again. And I think my theory is that he realizes I'm going to have to like move her body if I want to go through this door because I was in the way.

That's my thought process because he closed the door. And then he's just standing there again. Again, this feels like an eternity. it was probably realistically like a two-minute period after I decided to play dead. And then he like gets back down onto his knees. I'm just trying to be as still as I can. I'm not opening my eyes. I're just like resting there.

I'm not squinting my eyes because that'll show that I'm able to squint them. I just am trying to be as still as possible. And he reaches over me, over my, you know, quote unquote, dead body and puts the knife behind me. I don't know why. Don't know what the thought process there was. I didn't even realize that's what he did at first. I had no idea why he was reaching over me,

but it was like I was holding my breath as tight as I could. I could just feel like my whole body like, It felt so tense, but I guess it was, it didn't look it on the outside. And then he turned the corner and walked away. And I just, even though I knew he was gone, I just felt like I needed to wait and lay in that exact position for a few more minutes because I was afraid he was going to come back up. and see that I wasn't actually dead. And, like, my left cheek was, like, on the ground, and I could just feel, like, my tears puddling in this one spot on my cheek

because I'd just been in that same spot for several minutes, trying not to cry, but just they were coming out. I couldn't help it. I never got any confirmation that he was gone. I didn't hear a door close or anything like that. I just waited until I felt confidently enough that he was gone. I'm going to pause and just get a drink of water. Nope, for sure.

Do you have any questions? I mean, a lot, but also none right now. You're a really good storyteller. Thank you. I feel like it. I just, you know, don't. I don't have that. Validation.

You're doing an amazing job. I cannot believe this happened just a couple years ago, and you're telling me this right now. Get your water, and we'll go to a quick break and be right back. Okay. So he never said anything the entire time, like when somebody's attacking you or just, you know, in movies and in struggling, like scenes where people are struggling.

They're at least, like, grunting, making noises. things like that, or, you know, saying cuss words, just fly out of your mouth. I know for me they were. I was like, what the fuck? How could you do this? Like just saying all these things. And I didn't get anything out of him at all, not even expression. And for me, that was part of the scariest thing.

It was horrifying that he had no emotion at all. The only thing that made me feel that he had any emotion left in him or any thought processes, like, yes, there's still a human in here, was that he didn't go through the front door. And again, that's just based in theory. I don't even know if he wasn't going through the front door of the courtesy of like or just, you know, frustration of I'm going to have to move her body. But it made me think that there's some sort of conscious thought in there. Whereas everything else was like borderline animalistic behavior. So that gave me the thought that there was still some human left in there.

When I felt confident enough that he was gone, I decided quickly, find your phone. It's here. It's somewhere on you. Whatever your thoughts are on this situation, I know I've said it, but reimagine that I was in flamingo pajamas and flamingo slippers and just how. specific and weird that outfit was, I'm like realizing quickly, you don't have any pockets. These are pajamas. There's not pockets in your pants. I'm like trying to look around me to see if it's like falling on the floor. I was really afraid that he took it. I had a big fear that even though I didn't

notice it, him taking my phone that somehow he had gotten a hold of it. Um, And I realized that my arm didn't work at all. It was, the nerve had been completely severed, completely severed. I didn't know that in the moment. All I knew was that, like, my arm isn't working. And it worked from, like, the elbow down a little bit. Like, I could kind of move it. I could move my fingers.

But that was pretty much it. I couldn't move my shoulder. So, you know, whatever you're doing or wherever you are, just pretend you're reaching out to grab something. That's your shoulder movement. You can't physically grab something unless you're, like, laying down. and it's right there like in an arm's reach, but you can't without your shoulder movement.

So I'm predominantly right-handed. So I was like, okay, I'm just going to have to do everything left-handed. I'm going to be okay. I'm going to buy my phone. I'm going to get myself out of here. Still really hopeful of everything. And when I was sitting up, that's when I realized like, hey,

you're still wearing your purse. Your purse is on you. Look inside of it. My fingers were barely working on my right hand and on my left hand, my entire left arm was starting to go numb. I ended up getting a good grip on it from the back of it and being able to dump it out. But my phone wasn't in it.

My like wallet, keys, you know, mask, hand sanitizer, everything dumped on the floor. It got covered in blood very quickly. And I still don't have my phone. Nothing was working. I was like losing confidence really quickly. I like tried to wrap my arm, my right arm, around the banister to like lift myself up.

And I was just so weak. My head felt like it weighed 8 million pounds. I just kind of fell back. Because my head felt like it weighed so much. I just felt like I needed a break. Like I couldn't catch a break through all of it. The only thing that had worked was playing dead. I just truly felt like I needed to breathe

and take a second to like collect my thoughts and how I was going to get out of this situation. I mean, I tried to get up. There was no way I was walking out of there, like standing out of there. It just wasn't going to happen. I was so weak. And so I'm like laying there on my back. And when I'm laying there, I was looking up and looked into the half bath that was next to the staircase. And I was, And this is the part that I don't normally tell a ton of people. But it's when some strange stuff started happening. Things are like starting to appear in front of me.

And the first thing I see is what I continuously describe as like a carousel of people, not like an actual, like, you know, one at the fair with animals and stuff, but like a photo carousel of like people. And there are people that are, or were currently in my life, like my loved ones, my family, my roommate Megan, just my friends, some of my coworkers, things like that. They were just kind of like, sort of. circling around me. And this is like, I'm laying on my back. This is all like happening above me, like almost in, like midair.

And I'm just seeing these people and they're like there for a second moving, not still. And then they're gone very quickly. It was like that. It was like the people were there. They were moving. They weren't saying anything. it just felt like I was watching videos of them, but then they would just be gone,

and then it would be like onto the next person. That quickly ended, and what happened next is like what I call three ghosts. And people have a lot of opinions on it. what it really was, what they think it could have been, but, I mean, in reality, they weren't there. They don't know. But this is what I saw. I was still laying in the same position, laying down in front of me,

right in front of, there's a bathroom right next to the base of the stairs, just a small half bath. my paternal grandmother was standing there. And she passed away in 2014. She was standing there, just kind of quaintly, like, smiling at me. She didn't, like, wave or anything like that. She was just there. She was wearing, like, a navy sweater.

and this like gold necklace. And actually it was like a chain necklace and my dad wears it all the time. So it's like an actual thing that she wore frequently. And she's standing there and just in front of me, I was not unconscious. Throughout this whole thing I've been completely coherent, completely. just awake and probably the most awake I've ever been in my entire life, because I'm literally trying not to die. So you're pretty wired in that situation. And she's just standing there and it's not like a light behind her, like an orb or anything like that. Like she's like physically

standing there in the doorway. and it happened so quickly that I did not say anything. I was really relieved to see her. I felt it just felt super comforting to see her because it at that point had been six years since she'd passed and I didn't get to spend time with her before she died. And it just, felt really nice to see her there in a really, like, healthy state. She, before she passed,

she had a lot of back issues. She, like, was pretty, like, hunched over. She was, like, standing tall and just there, just so clearly there. And then she wasn't. And then she was gone. it was really joyful, but it was quickly like, why is Jeannie here? And like a second later, like maybe, almost like as if Jeannie faded in or faded out, the next person faded in. The next person that I saw was my friend Vicky. And she was one of my best friends. we met in college. She was still my best friend out of college once we'd both graduated and everything.

And Vicki took her own life in February of 2020. So it had been about nine months since she'd passed. And Vicky was genuinely like the most unique person. in the world. She was just independent and proud and just, just she loved being weird. And those people are just great to like have around. And even like when I saw her like again, she was in that same spot. She was in front of me. Like I'm still on the floor, obviously. And she's just in front of me, like, standing in this doorway of the bathroom. And she's wearing this green sweatshirt. She, like, almost exclusively wore sweatshirts and, like, a choker. And her hair was up

in this, like, half scrunchy look. And so, I mean, it is a crystal clear image of what she was wearing. She was also just kind of standing there, same as like my genie. She had this like comforting smile on her face. She didn't gesture really to me in any way. She was just standing there. I just felt so fucking happy to see her because she committed suicide. And I mean, I am still, you know, almost three. years later, it's still grieving her. But it felt like a bonus time just even for five seconds or

however long it was just to see her and be near her again. But then I quickly started feeling really, really scared because I was like, I'm seeing two people that meant. so, so much to me and that I loved and we're close with that are both dead. Like, this is, this is it. I'm about to die. I just felt like, I'm not super religious, but I was like, this is how they're, like, welcoming me into, you know, wherever they are, whether it's heaven or whatever, wherever, this is how they're welcoming. me in. And I just remember starting the like that sense of comfort and like ease and like vulnerability just was like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Like, no, I'm, I'm getting really freaked

out. And I just felt like I was starting to panic a little bit. Um, then again, quickly. Vicky started to fade out and another person started to fade in. The next person that I saw was not someone who I was particularly close with. And I don't ever try to say that I was close with her. You know, when people die, people are always saying that they were close with them. I'm not that way. I wasn't that close with her. But the next person I saw was a woman named Alyssa, who grew up in the same hometown as me.

She, like, moved to the same town when I was in fifth grade. And, oh, man, I just remember thinking she was so cool. And just, you know, even as we got older, she just had like this super crude sense of humor. And I really always admire people like that that just kind of say exactly what they're feeling. And she definitely was like a no bullshit type of person. We were like friends in middle school. We played on the same basketball team and stuff like that. And then just as we got older, high school, we didn't have any classes.

together ever. We both didn't play basketball anymore. And she ended up moving at some point to another school. On October 2nd, 2020, Alyssa was murdered by her former boyfriend. She was in this long custody battle with him. She'd gone to the police. She'd feared him. She publicly put in a go-fund me when she was trying to raise, like, family court money that she was afraid of him and that she was afraid of what he was going to do next. He was dressed in blackface and a friend.

fake beard and in broad daylight stabbed her, I want to say more than 20 times and shot her. And when I saw her, I felt no comfort. I felt just an overwhelming sense of urgency of she is here to warn me. do not let this be you. This can't be you. She was standing same as the others in the doorway directly in front of me. She had on like a tight purple t-shirt. I don't even know when the last time I saw her in person was or like had a real conversation with her that wasn't like a. Happy birthday on Facebook or bullshit like that.

She was there for a reason. She was there to get me out of there. And I mean that in a literal sense because the other two, they were smiling, they were happy. That's what it felt like with Jeannie and Vicky. And when I saw Alyssa, her eyes were like, bugging out of her head. They were like bulging out. She looked frantic. It was urgent. It wasn't comforting at all. If it had been any other situation, it would have probably scared the shit out of me.

But it was frantic. At first, it was almost like she was gesturing like a no way. Arms crossing in the air. because all of this is happening and there's no voice. And then after that, like a get off, like, Palm's facing me. She's kind of like flicking them in the air. And then it was like one big one where Palm's still facing me, full extension, one final big push where she pushed the air hard. And then when that happened, it felt like her energy.

was passing through me. The next thing I know, and I've said this to so many people, is I felt like one, she pushed me, but then she pulled me. And I mean literally pulled me up. And I was sitting upright. And I hadn't been sitting upright,

no support on my own, at all this entire time. I think that a lot of people are like, that was just your brain surviving or that was an angel or, I mean, people have a lot of different ideas, but what I am telling you is it was as real as seeing just an alive person in the room.

It was that real. It wasn't like ghostly. they were in the doorway, two feet in front of me, maybe, maybe two feet in front of me. And they were as real as you and me. Like, they were there. And so I really do feel like maybe we all have access to this stuff and we don't see or experience them until we're in a time of need. or things like that. I don't know. Again, I don't have all of the answers, but I can tell you what I saw is what I saw and they were there with me in that room.

I think Vicky and my grandma Jeannie, they were there to help me in a way I don't really understand quite yet, but I think Alyssa was there to help me live. And she was there as a warning, like, don't Don't let this happen. Seeing Alyssa really kicked my ass into high gear to finding my phone. I went from laying flat on my back to like trying to get up on the banister, like using the support, like almost like when you're taking your drunk friend home and they're like hanging on the rail. And then she pulled me up and I'm sitting straight up, straight up.

And I was like, it's go time. And they were gone. Alyssa was gone. Vicky was gone. Jeannie was gone. As soon as I felt that feeling of like getting lifted up, she was gone. I didn't see her like fade out. It was just like gone.

And I looked around me and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm so dizzy. Like I'm starting to get really woozy. I've lost so much blood. I'm so dehydrated. I've like cried out any water that I had left in me. And I'm looking around just seeing maybe it fell on the floor somewhere. It didn't. And then I was like, oh my God, like he took it.

And I started getting like really afraid again. And then I just thought about how Alyssa was there and how she was so urgent. and I was like, there's no time to, like, dwell. You need to urgently keep looking. When I leaned back down, the vest that I was wearing slid off of my, like, stomach area where it was, like, naturally resting, and it hit the floor. And I just hear, like, a thud, a clunk.

And I'm like, my phone is in my vest pocket. and I out loud was like, oh my God. And so, oh my gosh, I tried like five different ways to get my phone out of that pocket. Like my fingers were not functioning at this point on either hand. It was like every second that passed by, I was getting weaker and weaker and weaker. So I finally like was able to grab my, like, the right hand zipper

and I just like pushed it and it fell to the floor. Thank God it like landed face up. And I tried to like type in the emergency button like on the iPhone and my fingers were so soaked. with blood that I couldn't type anything, that I couldn't, like that it wasn't sensing my touch on the screen. That's how like just covered I was. And so I ended up, and you can try this if you have like an iPhone or probably like any touchscreen phone, but like I like used my fingers like my knuckles and I pushed in the volume and the lock.

And then it appeared. It was like emergency SOS. Like same with like when you turn your phone off. The emergency SOS was right there just like staring at me. And I was like, oh my God. And I tried to slide it again. Tried to slide it outworking. I'm just getting like blood on my phone.

And so this is what you can try is you can like use your nose on your phone. And it'll work. I'm so serious. And so I slid my nose across the screen. And it worked. And I slide my little nose across the screen and clicked my nose again on the speaker button. And then I hear 911,

what's the address of your emergency? And I just rolled back onto my back and I just was so relieved. 911. What's the address of your emergency? Say that one more time for verification. Why, hurry? So many time.

Okay. Hold on for a second. I'm going to get you some help. Okay, I got it here. Thanks. Ma'am? Yep. Where is he right now?

I hope now. I think he looks. I can't get my arm. A lot of help coming. All right. We will be back next week with more of Ilish's incredible story. This series is not even remotely over,

and there's a lot more to come. If you like this episode, please share it and tell your friends. Otherworld is still a new show, and I'm so excited for people to hear this series. Once again, thank you so much to Ilish Po for sharing this story and letting us help her tell it. This has been episode 39,

Islish Poe Part 2, The Three Ghosts, and you've been listening to Otherworld. Otherworld is executive produced and hosted by myself, Jack Wagner. Our theme song is by Cobra Man. Original score of this episode is by Juice Jackal. This episode was edited by myself and engineered by Theo Schaefer. The artwork for our show is by Coltac 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 can become a

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