Otherworld - Episode 60: Bubbles

Episode Date: November 20, 2023

Indigo emailed us from Australia about the only time he has ever seen his fun-loving Uncle Owen get scared or upset while telling a story. Then, Owen joins us to tell his story firsthand, of the frightening experience he had while house-sitting and taking care of a dog named Bubbles. 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 story comes all the way from Sydney, Australia. It was sent in by a guy named Indigo, who I spoke to on the phone. And he told me about this story that his uncle told him, an uncle that was described to me as a bit of a character. And at this point, I was already kind of sold because I love uncles that are a bit of a character. It's my favorite type of uncle. So I was curious right off the bat.

The story itself sounded really interesting, especially given that it was coming from a person who is not normally thinking about this stuff. And when I actually talked to his uncle, I think me and Indigo were both surprised to learn some new details that were not mentioned originally that definitely changed the story a bit for us in a good way, in an unexpected way. I don't want to give away too much. I think it would be best to just start the episode and let it speak for itself. This is episode 60.

The title is Bubbles. And you're listening to Otherworld. Is this Bobby? Yes, it is. At its core, the science, you can't argue. I'm worried about all the science. Up in the sky. It's almost frustrating that it's happening.

I'm going to die. It's limbs were just like wrong. Everybody moves back into the light, even if it takes them in it. All right, I'm Indigo. I'm from Sydney, Australia, and my uncle will be the one telling the majority of the story. I just think it's like the goat of fucking ghost stories. Like, it's as good as it gets, it's completely unbelievable. And there's sort of a thing in my family, like, don't let truth get in the way of a good story. But with this one, like, he was, like, upset telling me. And he hasn't gone back and retold it. It's not one that he's happy to talk to people about it.

all. Like, it seems as real as any story out of my uncle's mouth gets. So I just feel like, yeah, you have to hear it, basically. How did I hear it first? I would have been like 14, 15, and I went and stayed with him for like, it's like year 10, like finishing high school. They send you off for a week to do work experience somewhere. And I was too lazy. I didn't get that shit sorted out. So I went and stayed with my uncle who worked at Disney, so I was like helping him edit. And so I wasn't really just file managing basically for him. And we just chilled out for the whole week. But he told me I'm pretty sure that week. And I remember him like getting shaky and like not finding it pleasant to be telling the story at all. And it sort of has just stuck with me since then. I think

we've talked about it like briefly in passing. And I know he's told my mom and my aunt, and they're like quite spiritual people and they're both kind of not ready to go there sort of thing. But my uncle's like a cynic. He's not, doesn't believe in any of this stuff at all. Still doesn't. Still refuses to believe in any of it, but is like, yeah, I don't quite know what else to say.

It's just that he's like rattled by it, hates talking about it. But at the same time, sees the humor in it as well because he was fucking terrified. scared as it gets, shooting his pants. What's this guy like? What's he normally like? Owen?

Well, he's like, I suppose the best way to say it is like he's like an older brother to me for sure. He's 10 years younger than my mom, so he was like 17, 18 when I was born. And I'm the eldest of all the cousins and siblings on either side. So he's like, yeah, he's my older brother, essentially. There's a good story when I was born. I was like just popped out. I'm in the hospital here in Sydney.

My uncle got a call. He was in a hot tub at a party with like all these girls he claims, you know. And he came through. He's like, yeah, 18 or whatever. And he pissed his name, Owen Clive Norling, the whole name on the side of the hospital. And like just, yeah, just raucous. He's a nightmare. But I love him to pieces.

And we don't get to see enough of each other. So I thought this was like a cool way to, you know, do something together, but it's like remote. Like he lives like six, seven hours drive from Sydney now. So yeah, no, Owen's the man. I love Owen to pieces. And I just think it's too good a story for it to be heard by like three people, his three family members, basically.

I'm Owen. I'm a video editor. I'm like 43 now. This would have happened back in, I think it's like 2000, the summer of 2000, 2000. 2001 is my guess. I was carefree, young, partying whenever I wanted.

I don't think I had any form of permanent employment. So, you know, I was living life fast and loose and enjoying the shit out of it too. I think the hobbies were just nightclubbing. That was about it. Nightclubbing, maybe a bit of body surfing. to wash away the club. But that was about it.

You know, life was the next party back then, I think. Oh, man, this would have been easier for it was nighttime and I had a couple of tins in me. But, look, I was a product of the X-Files generation, so I suppose, you know, I wanted to believe. But the reality is probably more science-based. I'm like, there's no paranormal right.

Otherwise there'd just be too many souls out there floating around looking at what we do under the sheets. And that's just weird. So I still don't believe. But whatever happened that night was like super creepy. My best friend, his family was British. And they would go back to England for holidays and whatnot. And they had dogs and plants and all that type of stuff that you do when you've got a life going.

And I was probably the most responsible person the family knew, which is a state, well, I suppose. They went away on holidays and they were like, hey, can you look after our house and our plants and our dog? For like two months. I was like, for sure. This sounds great. I was like 19, 20, something like that, 21 maybe. The family that obviously were sort of long-term friends,

Sam was my best friend for probably all of high school. And I'd had a couple of houses leading up to that one. But last few years of my high schooling life, home life was a bit rough. So I pretty much just lived on couches from friends or friends of friends or wherever a couch was available. So I'd stayed in this house heaps of times. I basically had my own bed there. It was underneath Sam's Futon.

I'd just pull it out and sleep in the corner. It was an architect-designed type, low entry through a courtyard, all-brick, flat roof, and then as you entered it, it was just all view. So every room in the house had this massive, view over Middle Harbour. It was a pretty nice house. Slate floors probably built 70s, maybe early

80s, but pretty nice. It was a nice house. And there'd been lots of, you know, weird stuff. I don't even know how to explain the weird stuff. But the family felt there was something odd going on in this house. They'd talked about it and they'd researched it a little bit. Apparently there was a... It was built by a dude who was sort of in palliative care. He knew he was short of this life. And he built it with like a nurse's quarters downstairs. So they could just pop up and look after him

whenever he needed whatever it is that people need when they're in end of life type scenarios. there was always there was incident it just wasn't so extreme you know there were bumps and clunks like houses normally do

so when I took when I took the house for those two months looking after it it wasn't like I was well informed of the possibilities of this is a haunted house you know they also

because there was this downstairs flat, they would rent it out. And, you know, more than one tenant on more than one occasion would be like, oh, you guys are so loud, you know, you're up there stomping around. And they're like, what? Nobody stomps around, you know. We're just walking around normally. And they'd done a test like Nancy, the mother stayed upstairs and walked around like she does normally. And Kit and the tenant went downstairs to have a listen.

You couldn't hear a thing. I mean, it was like two foot of concrete. It was a serious floor had all, you know, that hydro heating in it and whatnot. It's not like a wooden floor that you can easily make a lot of noise on. So, you know, that happened on more than one occasion that these tenants down says, it'd be like, oh, man, stop stomping around, obviously proved that you can't make any sounds down there. So other weird stuff, I mean, I was sleeping there one night and woke up with, I'm aware of a phenomena where people wake up with the sensation of a ghost sitting on their chest.

And I'd never had it before that. And I woke up one night there just like, oh, what's going on? You're paralyzed. You're wide awake, but you can't do anything. I was like, oh, this is messed up. I don't know what's going on. It freaked me right out. But I just went back to sleep because there's nothing else he can do.

He's like, oh, well, back. to sleep. Subsequently, I've researched and I was like, oh yeah, happens to heaps of people. And, you know, medicine had a way of explaining it, but still, it's like, I don't know, if it's ever happened to you, you go, that's a really odd sensation. You don't want to do it again. So there was that, there was a little bit of sort of weird noise and a lot of doors and whatnot closing in this house. It was sort of renowned for it. It was on an almost like a cliff, sort of down into a deep gully into Middle Harbour.

So it did get some odd breezes, which I think would explain these doors opening and closing, but still it just all added to the eerieness of this place. You know, Comfic bricks, old man dying, weird noises. anyway so I've been tasked with looking after it while they're gone away and of course as you do when you're 1920 you're like yeah I'm going to have people over I'm going to enjoy this place and as more people came over I'd always be telling them about the the creepy goans on in this place and everybody's like ooh creepy goings on and I'm like yeah but me and the ghost you know we're tight

now you know he knows me he's not freaking me out and I sort of probably did that a little bit too much. I sort of, you know, told everybody that me and the ghost were, you know, rad dudes, mad pals, whatever. Yeah, so I'd had heaps of people over in the lead-up. I probably had this place, like, for a month, you know, so I would have had sort of five, six, ten different groups of people through on occasion. And I'd often been telling them about the weirdness, because I think the weirdness,

as I started to stay there really soaked into me. I was like, there is definitely something odd about this joint. When you're staying there by yourself. And I, like, I'm not sure if I talked myself into how weird the place was by talking about it so much. Who knows? Okay, we have to take a quick break, but we will be right back. The night when it all got too much for me to handle.

I think people had been there earlier. I was telling the story again how me and the ghost were tight. and everybody had left and it was just me hot as hell like i don't know uh Sydney gets really ripe sort of late jan early feb into march it can get some pretty sticky nights so I'd had every door in this house open and just trying to cop a breeze trying to cool down looking after the dog sitting there watching the telly and I hear the dog, cute little dog, Bubbles. She was a, Bubbles was a little Jack Russell cross chihuahua.

Super cute little unit. Had like a light bulb, sort of caramel, caramel and white. And a little bit of a barrel. She was overfed most of the time. She was a good dog. I like Bubbles. I hear from another room. Sounds like she's playing with somebody.

Like, you know, that's sort of yappies, rap, rip, rip, rip, rip, rip, you know, happy yaps playing with somebody. I'm like, that's odd. Better go check out what Bubbles was doing. Head to the room where the noises are coming from and it's my mate's little sister's room who was, Molly who actually was, you know, the dog's parent, as it were.

Walk in there, no dog to be seen. I'm like, man, this is a bit odd. Step back out of the room. See the dog back in the lounge, room where I was. I'm like, eh, eh, whatever, back into the lounge room, hit down. Oh, man. There's like a single hallway.

There was no way for it to go around me or pass me. I mean, admittedly, on my way to that room, I may have looked right momentarily, and she could have scuttled past, but she had all these bells on her collar because she was always bolting, that that was probably unlikely. have heard the bells. So, but who knows? Everything's a possibility, right? So I'd gone to check out what the dog was up to.

Dog's not in there. Dog's back in the same room that I was out already. Bubbles, you know, whatever. Sit back down on the couch, sitting there. And this poster, they had this giant map of the world poster in the hallway. Like as big as you've ever seen a world map type poster, so like a single bed size type thing.

It was a real sort of statement piece of a map. And it came in the room like there was a cyclone outside. You know, I mean, like something had grabbed it. It was in the room with purpose, spinning around haphazard and then just, you know, settled. And I'm thinking, there's a little. no breeze I would have caught some of that you know something would have dried me down it was a real sticky night and I'm like ah no I don't want any of this so what any of this

and so like any sensible human I just sort of cranked up the volume on the TV just just tune this out I'm not participating in this I'm just watching loud TV sitting there in the TV, obviously if you sort of sit and square on, you've got a little bit of reflection of what's going on behind you. Some time has passed, obviously. I'm not still at maximum peak from this poster, but I'm not chill by any means, but I'm sitting there watching the telly. And I can just see the French doors behind me, which were full open, just, you know. This whole place was basically French doors. French doors in, French doors out, French doors everywhere. There was numerous verandas,

sort of Juliette-style balconies, whatnot. There was French doors everywhere. So I had them all open. And I just see in the reflection these two French doors coming together, like closing perfectly behind me. And these things were a painly asked to close when you wanted to close them. You know, you grab them. One doesn't line up and you'd sort of rattled them to make close. And these two doors just perfect. neatly closed him behind me, I hear him go click. And I was like, oh man, I don't like that at all.

Bit more volume on the telly, probably maxed out on the volume now. I went to put the poster back because I'm like, you're looking after somebody's house, you don't want their shit wrecked when they come back. So I think I'd taken this opportunity of the French doors closing to like, probably prepping myself just to get out of there. And I'm like, well, I'm not going to leave this poster on the floor to get wrecked. So I got up thinking, I'll just go put it back up. I think it was on like a massive corkboard mount.

Got up to put it back, figuring it would have just ripped through the pins or whatever was holding it and got to where it was in the hallway. And I see the pins are still in the cork board. and I look at the poster and it's not ripped. It's like, you know, somebody must have taken the pins out. You know what I mean? Like if you pull a page out from behind a pin, it normally tears the corner out.

The poster was still fine and the pins were still in the wall. And I was like, okay, this is proper just giving me the hebes now. I'm not liking anything about this evening. I put the poster back up on the cork board stupidly went back to the lounge room because what else am I going to do? You know, I'm looking after this house. I'm going to turn up the volume some more.

So I've maxed out the town. Sitting there. And I was just like, this is too much. And I just went to leave. So I stood up off the couch. And it's one of those don't look back type moments. And I get to this set of doors,

these are the ones that lead out to the courtyard that I know is the closest way to get to my car and just get the fuck out. And I grab a hold of them and something grabs a hold of me, something gets me by the shoulders. And just, it's like ice being poured through your veins. Just, I froze.

I became stone, a statue. And in, The reflection. I can see the shape of a person doesn't have a head that's distinguishable. It's like it was like a silhouette of a human, you know, it was just the shadow of a human. But that's how reflections often are, especially if they're backlit, you know, like there's no detail. It's just silhouette behind me. And the weirdest part is the face.

Like the body was still, but the face was like it was sped up 3,000 times, you know, like it was just twitching out wild, but the body is one unit, you know, not moving static face. The feeling of ice getting poured down your back, I suppose, is similar to the sort of grabiness of this thing. Like it grabbed me. It had a hold of my shoulders and I was stuck. You know, you can't move. Like you've just been turned to stone.

I'm just absolutely proper petrified with fear. I'm like, I don't know. Have you ever been truly shit scared? It's just shit scared will stop you. I don't know. Have you ever had a dream where you're being chased? And, like, you just, you know you can run in real life, but all of a sudden you're like massively heavy, your legs are heavy, bodies heavy, like just getting driven into the ground. An immense weight is stopping your progress.

And that dog bubbles just lets out this angry little, whack! And it just freed me, bang, through the doors. I just walked out of that place. doors open, tele blaring all the lights on, straight into the car, keys in the ignition, dash lights up, 3.33 in the morning. And I'm just like, I don't know where I'm going, but I cannot go back into that house. And yeah, like, I don't know. There was a moment when I was in the car, I was like, what have I done?

He can't leave a house unlocked with a dog who's, you know, prone to wandering. And I'm like, well, there's just no fucking way I'm going back in that house. That is it. Just left the house as it was. TV, max volume, dog there. And I don't know if I'd probably still be there if that dog didn't bark. I don't know if the dog barked me out of my own shit in my pants. Ness.

Probably a bit of a verb for that. I don't know if the dog barked me out of just being terrified in my own brain. Or if the dog barked me. and it released the spook out of the demon. But yeah, next day when I came back, I was proper nervous on so many levels. Like, you know, just had this whole ordeal. Was it real?

Was it not? Who knows? But I was pretty worried that the dog will have bolted. And how do you explain that type of thing? But no, she was just there. probably waiting for food. And I just scooped her up, watered the plants, shut the doors. I turned off the telly.

Turned off the telly, shut the doors. Scooped up the dog, gone. I think I just came back on occasion in the daytime to water the plants from there on until they came home. Told them what had happened. And they were all like, oh man, we know that place is messed up. You shouldn't have goaded the... ghost. You shouldn't have said you were chill with it. I don't. You know, retrospect, this all makes

perfect sense. You don't, you don't hassle a ghost. You don't say you're cool with it, especially if you're not cool with it. You don't brag about being a ghost friend if you actually haven't gotten down with that ghost. On a side note of adding just how weird this whole night was, my girlfriend at the time had been staying with me a lot. you know, looking after this dog and whatnot. When I rang her the next day, before I even dropped my whole big spooking story on her, she was telling me, oh, man, I had some crazy dreams last night. Bubbles was in my room and, like, the sound of her little bells on the collar,

woke me up. I woke up and, you know, saw the car. clock, it was 333, and she was all confused. She's like, hang on, I'm not even in the same house as Bubbles anymore. Like, Bubbles isn't here, and she went to sleep. And then I told her my story, and then she fucking lost it. She was like, what? That's it.

Hectic creepy. And it was. It was quite odd. That was a whole other layer of odd to the story. What was her dream? the dog that I'd been minding, Bubbles, was in her room. And it was, like, it actually woke her up. The dog, in the dream, woke her up,

and she woke up thinking Bubbles was in her room. And you know how you wake up, you're sort of, where am I, where am I? And she's like, oh, Bubbles, go away, go to bed. And she's like, hang on, I'm across the city in a totally different house. Bubbles isn't here. Bubbles has never been to that house. This is so weird and so unlike me that I rarely like jump in with theories but for some reason that gave me the chills.

Oh dude, the whole thing. I'm getting the chills at bubbles because it's like, was bubbles trying to protect you the entire time? I don't know. I'm getting all chilly. This is why I don't like tell them the story. Because like bubbles, I don't know. I don't know what Bubbles was doing in the room.

Bubbles saved you, and then at the same time, Bubbles woke up your girlfriend. The exact same time, across the city, in a dream. That is weird. The whole thing was mega weird. I still think there's got to be some form of logical explanation for it all, but... That is weird, dude. that is a weird one.

Wow. It still freaks me out telling the story. I get the chills down the back. I can remember that thing grabbing me and it's terrifying. But you still don't believe in ghosts? Well, it doesn't make any sense. There can't be ghosts. There just can't be ghosts.

Or is it more like you don't want there to be ghosts? No. I'm like, there can't be ghosts. the maths doesn't work, right? If everything that ever died up until this point is stuck on this earth, like there'd just be ghosts everywhere. You couldn't find a place to have a wank. Somebody is watching you.

Well, ghost, demons. No, demon was the way to explain the sort of the look of it. It wasn't like a white sheet ghost. You know, it was more how the movies go sort of black specks. sort of shady figure is why I call it a demon. I don't believe in ghosts, demons, aliens, none of that stuff. But I do know it scared the living shit out. All right, thank you so much to Indigo and his uncle Owen for telling us that story.

I love that one. I just like these guys and I was very surprised that the story went in the direction that it ended up going. Indigo did not know any of that stuff about bubbles appearing in the girlfriend's room. I don't even know if Owen fully made that connection until he said it out loud to me. I think all three of us right there in the interview realized that maybe Bubbles had more to do with all of this than we originally believed. That brings us to the end of this episode. This has been episode 60. The title is Bubbles.

and you've been listening to Otherworld. Otherworld is executive produced and hosted by myself, Jack Wagner. Our theme song is by Coberman. The soundtrack of this episode was by Juice Jackal and North Americans. The song you're hearing right now is Promises by Bunny. This episode was edited and engineered by Theo Schaefer. Our artwork is by Coltacac Studios. Production Help by Nikki Kate Delgado and Haley Pearson.

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