Otherworld - Episode 80: Three Green Lights

Episode Date: May 13, 2024

While visiting his father as a teenager, William witnesses three green lights emerge from the forest and come towards him. He describes the feeling of being stalked and overcome like prey by these lights. Years later, he thinks this may have something to do with the dark emotional state he was going through at the time of this experience. Want more episodes? For bonus episodes and videos, sign up for the Otherworld Patreon Check out our Merch Follow us on: Instagram, TikTok, Twitter If you have experienced something paranormal or unexplained, email us your story at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Otherworld. I'm your host, Jack Wagner. This episode comes from a guy named William, and it's a story with a lot going on. He originally emailed me saying that he saw some orbs behind his dad's house. But as we got talking, he opened up more and more and eventually gave me the complete story and how it connects to some stuff that was going on in his personal life at the time. William's story, as you will very soon see, has a few different aspects to it, and it almost falls into a couple different categories, even though I try to avoid categories on the show altogether.

William has strong beliefs about what happened to him and what it might be connected to, but I have a feeling some of our listeners might think it was something else. Either way, both of these versions are unexplainable and very bizarre. I know I'm being quite vague, but I don't want to spoil the story. Either way, on Otherworld, I always think it's best to just let somebody tell their story the way they experienced it to the best of their abilities. And that's exactly what I did with this story. Just a heads up, this episode briefly discusses suicide and depression. This is episode 80.

The title is Three Green Lights, and you're listening to Otherworld. No? Is this Bobby? Yeah, it is. At its core, the science, you can't argue with it. I'm worried about all of a science. Up in the sky. It's almost frustrating that it's happening. I'm going to die.

I'm going to die. Everybody moves back into the line, even if it takes them ahead. Well, my name is William. I was born in Florida, but I was raised in Louisiana. That's actually where most of my family is from. I'm French, French Cajun. My parents divorced and I was very young. And my father stayed like on the East Coast, kind of in Florida.

And my mother, she moved us, you know, to Louisiana to be with family. And then she got married again to a man in the Air Force. And from there we moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where we pretty much lived a good portion of my life, at least. I would go back and forth to my dad's house, you know, I would live at my mom's place. Just kind of growing up in a very conservative evangelical home was, it was an experience for me. You know, myself now as an adult, I'm 30 now, but I'm not a particularly religious person. But, yeah, growing up in an evangelical household, I was very sure.

strict military parents was, it was difficult. I mean, like, I always joke with my wife, like, about my upbringing. There's, like, I'm sure you've seen that Adam Sandler movie, The Water Boy, but, you know, how his mom, you know, like, calls everything the devil. That's kind of how my mom was. You know, she was a very strict Baptist woman. And, I mean, my God, man, like, I wasn't even allowed to play, like, Pokemon. You know, my mom thought that they were, you know, like little demons that would, like, come out of the screen and possess me.

But, yeah, like, I wasn't allowed to, like, listen to music. I mean, like, I wasn't even allowed to have, like, certain friends and stuff at school if they also weren't, you know, good little Christian boys and girls. I mean, it was pretty crazy for a while there, man, like, especially in, um, high school, kind of around when this event actually took place. My parents were very strict about me, you know, staying focused on my schoolwork and being very, very involved in the church. So, I mean, I was on like, you know, the worship team. You know, I was doing like Bible studies and stuff. I mean, I was there like three or four days a week. But during that time, my lens on, spirituality and the paranormal was very limited to a, you know, a Euro-Christian-centric view.

But as far as, like, paranormal things go, most evangelicals, like, apart from, like, demon possession, I mean, like, you know, they don't really believe in that kind of thing, especially in my household. I remember growing up thinking, you know, like, ghosts aren't real. you know that's just like a lie from the devil or you know it's like the devil trying to entice you or something like that especially for me growing up when this you know event happened I had absolutely no context for what I was seeing or experiencing I'm going to start this is this is a part that I'm I was kind of hesitant to talk about but I think it has like a lot of a lot, it adds a lot of context to the story, and it's something that I kind of came to realize

more recently. When I was 16, my brother that was closest to me in age, he was my older brother, he left to mission trip. You know, he went to some Eastern European countries and, like, did some mission work over there. I think he was gone for almost a year. It's like at least nine months. He's come for a long time. But he left like during the summer. And this was the summer I was 16. I was struggling very much with mental health at the time. In an evangelical home, you know, I'm sure many people will understand the oppressive atmosphere. And I was suffering greatly from depression, which I did not understand at the time. At the time, I actually believed that, you know, like, God was punishing me.

You know, for, it's crazy. Like, I wasn't even a bad kid, but, like, I just thought that I was a terrible person. And at 16, I tried to take my life. And it's so dumb, too. I went out to like a movie with my friends. We went to go see Battle of Los Angeles. It's the shitty, sorry, I don't know if I can cuss or not. But it's a terrible sci-fi film that came out.

L.A. is invaded by aliens. And I went with my friends so I could just get out of my house and get it away from my parents. But after the movie was done, I went up to the parking garage with my friends and all of the parking garages in Vegas are like uncovered on the top floor. I climbed over that retaining wall and was on just on the edge of the building. You know, just sheer drop down. But they had absolutely no idea that I was even thinking about jumping.

Yeah, I just kind of slipped away behind them. And I mean, I could hear them on the other side of the wall. And they were just joking and talking. They had no idea what I was doing. And yeah, no, a security guard came out. And he started yelling at us. And he was like, you guys, get your asses inside. You know, I don't know what the hell you guys are doing.

I was so dangerous. You know, he saw that I was there. He's like, you like, get over the wall. And I, you know, I was 16. I was, and I'm, you know, a tiny kid. I was so scared. They caught us. Yeah, like everybody got their car plates ran

and their parents. called. It was like a whole ordeal. My parents lived like really close to it. I was, you know, just a few blocks down from my house, basically. So they drove over and they, they were like, what happened? And I was like, oh, you know, we were just being stupid on the roof. You know, like, were you guys, you know, like drinking or smoking, you know, doing drugs or I was like, no. Like, I don't even know how to get that stuff. And I just remember my mom asking me over and over like are you okay are you okay like what is happening you know like why won't you tell me what's happening and i just wouldn't tell them i refused to talk to them about it and i um just pretty much

like shut down emotionally after that yeah i pretty much closed myself off so that was the summer uh late summer pretty much from summer to fall i went to school did my homework, you know, eight, rode on the bus, and came home and slept. And that was it. It's all I did. But during this time, I got through like the fall part of school, and it was time for winter break. And every winter break, I went to go see my dad. I remember it was like right after Christmas. I got on a plane and flew out to Atlanta, Georgia. And I got in on a really late night flight. and my dad, you know, picks me up at the airport. And, you know, we drive to his house.

He lived in Marietta, Georgia at the time. And it was this beautiful home. It was in, like, a really cool community filled with, like, all these other, like, really beautiful homes. My dad had this really cool house. It was three levels. You pulled into his driveway, and it was, like, kind of on a hill, and all behind his house and his neighbor's house was just huge, a huge forest. It was really cool.

We pulled into his house. It was like either 11 or like 10. I remember like everyone was already like asleep. So I came home and, you know, I unloaded my luggage and everything and said, you know, hello and goodnight to everyone. Everyone went back to bed. I get like all set up. My dad goes to bed. The house is all dark and quiet.

I'm just sitting on the couch. He had like a really big sectional couch in his living room. It faced these windows that, they were like these really beautiful big bay windows. And they were like floor to ceiling. And you could see like the entire forest. It was really cool. I always loved like just like sitting in front of. of the windows and like watching all the squirrels and stuff out there. Yeah, it was, it was really

dark outside and the house was dark and I looked out into the forest. Um, and I saw, uh, I saw like, uh, I thought it was like a firefly or something, just kind of out amongst the trees. And it's dark outside. I mean, like, there's like moonlight so you can see the, you can see outside. And there's like, you know, people have porch lights and stuff, but it's dark outside. It's, it's like midnight. And I saw this little, you know, circular, you know, just like a little orb out there in the tree line. Like towards the base of the trees, though, it wasn't high up. It was like, close to the forest floor. And it looked

remarkably like a firefly, like very, that green color. You know, very green, translucent, very, like, brilliant. It might have been, like, 70 yards from my dad's house. And it looked just like a little firefly. I mean, like, I didn't...

I honestly didn't, like, even think anything of it because it was kind of far away. And I, like, I didn't even I thought like maybe it was like a bug or something, but like knew in my mind that it's the dead of December. There are absolutely no fireflies out there. There's no bioluminescent anything out there. And that's exactly what it looked like to me. It was like something that was bioluminescent. You know, it was that glowing green color that you see. And it was just kind of like wiggling around,

Just kind of like bobbing around, just very slowly. Not even faster than like a person would walk, you know, very, very leisurely pace, just kind of picking its way through the little trees out there. And it got up to, it got like a little bit past the neighbor's house that was out there. And once it got there, like I could really see it. You know, I could see like, oh shit, like this is a little ball of light that's out there in the woods. I got up from the couch and I just stood at the window. And I just kind of watched this thing.

Kind of bob through the little trees, you know, bob through all the trees out there. And it became apparent to me that it wasn't one. There was three little lights, all just kind of like, not like trailing each other, but like, they were just like, all like just like weaving through the trees, like right above the forest floor. Once I could tell that it was three lights, 50, 40 yards away, I could see them very well from this window because I was like looking down on them. You know, my dad's house is built into a hill, so I'm, who stories up, looking down into the woods. And many of the trees are taller than the house, but I could still see, you know, down into the woods. And I couldn't look away. Once I could tell that it was three lights, I became very aware that I could not look away.

And I got like, I got really scared. I got very, very freaked out. And I just remember seeing these little lights, you know, bobbing and weaving through the trees. And they were, like, coming towards me. They were, like, floating in my direction, you know, walking in my direction. I don't know, man. They wouldn't let me look away. Like, I don't know what it was.

I don't know what it wanted for me, but it wouldn't let me stop looking at it. It made me really scared. And I've been afraid before. I mean, like, my God, like a few months before, you know, I'd just been standing on the side of building, trying to kill myself, you know. Like, I was scared out of my mind. And I was just watching these things. And, like, I remember I'm looking, I'm just standing at the window. And like I can't move.

I can't turn around. My hands are like locked at my side. And I'm just like shaking with fear. And these little, these little balls of light come up to my dad's like fence. And he had like a, I don't know, it must have been like a seven or eight foot fence. He had like a really tall wooden fence all around his backyard. I used to like, you know, go out in the woods and stuff out there. And, I mean, it's a tall fence.

You know, you wouldn't just, like, hop over it. These lights just, like, went right over it. They, like, floated over the top of this really tall fence. They, like, made their way through the woods and came right up to the fence. And they just came right over. And once they came over the fence, I was like, oh, shit. Like, I didn't know what they were. I didn't know what was happening.

But once they came over the fence or coming towards me, like I was like, oh shit, like they, they want something from me. You know, they're coming to me. And no matter how I want this interaction to go, you know, like I have absolutely no city in the matter. The only feeling that I got from it was predatory. You know, it wanted to pray on whatever was going on, whatever this opportunity that had arisen. You know, like this is a feeding frenzy. You know, it's time to go. And that's just, that was very much the feeling that I was having inside of me.

You know, just like being panicked and terrified and being like, oh, my God, like, this thing wants to pray upon me. I felt totally powerless. Like, I couldn't move. You're trapped. You know, you are, you're caught and you're going to stay right where I want you to. At this point, they were, you know, They had always been floating, but they were like airborne. They were floating in the air towards me.

And I'm looking out at this window. There's the patio deck in front of me. And these lights come right over the deck. And they come right outside of that window. And like, they were like right in front of my face. You know, they were like just a few feet away from me. And yeah, they came right up in front of me. And I'm, you know, I'm inside the house looking out the window and they're right in front of me, about eye level, about three, four feet away.

No joke. Like, maybe a little bit bigger than a soft ball. It's just like a little ball of bioluminescent light. It's just glowing. Totally brilliant. The only thing that I can describe it like is like, you know, glow in the dark, you know, bioluminescent, that type of light, you know, just that like fire. that like green fire that's contained within a life, they were like, they were in front of me,

and they were spaced out. So all three of them were at eye level, maybe like two feet between each other, like arranged horizontally. They started like bobbing up and down, just vertically. And it started out kind of slow. And it was almost like a dance, you know, like just kind of that very rhythmic,

movement, but they were, like, synced up with each other. They were each doing their own thing. It was, like, really slow at first. I thought it was, like, beautiful, you know? Like, it was, it was just so crazy and never seen, it literally never seen anything like this before. Yeah, it started out really slow with, like, each one, just kind of, like, pulsing almost, you know, just kind of, like, bobbing up and down, like, almost in the water, you know, like, when you're fishing, you got like a little bobber in the water that bobbing, that jerking motion just up and down and then it just started

speeding up and they're each randomly bobbing but it just got fast and I remember seeing like it like you know it was going so fast it was like blurring

and that fear feeling crept up from like the pit of my stomach all the way to my chest, and I can feel it like gripping into my throat and into my chest. And I wanted to scream and yell, but it couldn't do anything, couldn't move. I remember, like, I've had panic attacks before my life, but that, like, feeling of, like, I can't do anything. I can't go anywhere.

You know, this is just going to overtake you. But I, like, couldn't look away. And these things are putting on this display. You know, I don't know what they're doing. They started going really fast. And I was out. Yeah, I, like, blacked out. I don't know what happened after that.

We'll be right back after this quick break. Yeah, the next morning, I woke up and I'm pretty sure I woke up pretty late. I remember like the sun is in the house. Like it was late. And I remember like everyone was upstairs. You know, I could hear them up there. And I'm a very light sleeper.

I wake up at anything. I was like sat up on the couch. And I was scared, man. I like woke up and I was like going through the mental check process. did that happen? Did I go crazy? And I remember like going through that and I was like, oh no, like I'm very scared, very emotional about this, very, very scared. And I remember like waking up and being like, oh my God, like I don't, I don't know what happened after that. And I was really worried. I woke up on the couch, but like I didn't put myself there. You know, I,

I didn't get there. I don't know how I ended up there. The last thing I remember, I was standing at the window, and then the next morning, it's daytime. It's morning time, late morning, and I'm on the couch. The fact that people are talking upstairs, and I didn't wake up before then is weird for me. I should have woken up way before, even with a light coming in.

That would have woken me up, too. But no, I was just, I was completely knocked unconscious on the couch, and I don't, like, I had no idea how I got there. And I woke up with a really bad headache. And I actually had, I felt sore like you would feel sore like after, you know, you've been running for a while. There was actually a very acute kind of burning pain in my left wrist, kind of where the joint meets almost. I was obviously pretty concerned about it because my wrist was like burning it. hurt really bad, but it wasn't red. I didn't put this together until a few days later,

but the pain I was feeling in my wrist is because there was something that was underneath my skin that was not there before this event. My skin wasn't raised, it wasn't irritated. It was just it looked like a little dark gray piece of something that was just in my skin. It was just in my skin a few centimeters down. I've gotten splinters and stuff before and you, you know, you feel them and you see them anytime they go in. But yeah, this was not there before. I, like most people, didn't tell anybody.

I just kind of chalked it up to, I didn't chalk it up to anything, really. This was one of those experiences where I was, I constantly have thought about. whether or not it actually happened to me. Because it's just one of those things where it's like that doesn't, it's not normal, you know, you don't just, that doesn't happen. What happened to the thing? Is it still in your wrist? I actually took it out a few years later.

I got kind of freaked out one night about, I don't know, I must have been 18 or 19. And I got freaked out one night. So I did a little personal surgery. I'm from the South, man. I would never go to the doctor for something I could do myself. I cut this thing out of me. And it was so weird. It was like a dark, it was like half, the size of like half a grain of rice.

It was pretty small. And it was dark, blue, kind of grayish in appearance. Like definitely looked almost, metallic. When I took it out of my wrist, actually, it was like embedded into my wrist. There were like all sorts of little, I don't know if it was like just clotted blood things that had been there for a while, but there were all these little pieces of like organic matter from my body that had attached to this little object in my wrist. One of the truly bizarre things about it is it was like perfectly like egg-shaped. It was really small.

but it was, I mean, it was totally smooth. It wasn't like it was like a metal splinter or something. You know, that's all jagged and stuff like that. This thing was totally smooth. I very much kept this to myself. And like I had a lot of life happen between then and me sharing this now. And I mean, I remember telling my wife about it. Yeah, after we had gotten married and everything.

And she didn't think I was crazy. And I told my best friend, too. And I remember he was, like, scared. And I remember, like, when I told him this story, he was like, I've never had anything, like, paranormal happened to me. So, like, don't know how to place it. I believe you, but I don't know how to place it. And that's, like, how I felt for many years.

Like, I knew this happened, but I just did not know how to place it. And for many years, like, I just thought it was, like, a weird thing that had happened. But I called my dad on my birthday a few months ago. And we talk every now and then. But we were talking about his house because this event was on my mind. I'd been thinking about it a lot. And I was like, hey, did anything weird ever happen in that house? Because they moved a few years ago.

I think they're living in Florida now. He like perked up on the phone. He was like, there were so many things that happened in that house that, you know, just crazy things. They would hear, like, chanting. They would hear, like, drums and, like, soldier calls, just all sorts of wild, like, things that they would just hear in the night. And my dad was telling me, like, he would be sleeping.

He and his wife would be sleeping. And every now and again, they would be woken up because, like, a drum procession. would like go through their house. And he then went on to tell me that their neighbors, in all of the houses that kind of bordered this forest area, also had Civil War apparitions in their home. And these are like my dad's like neighbors, like close friends to them.

And, you know, I shared with him my experience, but he said that house was so wonderful. but at night, the whole thing changed. The whole atmosphere would change. And he didn't know what to make of it either. For many years, actually, I almost attributed this to like a, almost like a UFO, you know,

an alien abduction type of deal. You know, you hear people talk about like, oh, you know, they took me up and they, you know, they probed me and they put something there. but I just I don't know man it was truly bizarre

I mean I still have you know the scarring and everything from when I cut this thing out you know I I can look at it every day you know it's there on my body as the you know

as the years have kind of progressed I don't think I don't think any like any civilization would come here like to put a little piece of metal

under your skin I that just seems like outrageous to me to even think about but wait what do you think it is because I feel like a lot of people listening are going to think it was some kind of abduction certainly what it sounds like I don't know I it's so anytime I think about this event I I always feel that there was some type of, like, transaction. You know, there was something that happened. God, man, I don't know, like, how it got there. I don't know what it was. And, like, it's pretty concerning. And, like, I mean, I've worked, you know, like maintenance jobs and stuff for the past, you know,

10 years of my life. You know, I've gotten tons and tons of splinters and, you know, like metal shaving cuts and stuff. And I have never, ever had anything like this. like in my body before. And I've had some splinters and stuff go down pretty far, but I've never had anything like this happen before. To be honest, I don't like talking about this part of it because it's so strange. It's just deeply concerning because, like, I mean, if there are things or forces out there,

you know, that are messing with you, and they're like, they can do wacky stuff. You know, that just doesn't make sense. That's deeply concerning to me. I really, really think that the emotional state I was in had a lot to do with this encounter. I don't know. I mean, obviously, I mean, I've said it a million times. I have no idea what this thing was.

I don't know what it wanted. But I do feel like it wanted something from me. And I think that my emotional state at the time had a lot to do with it. I think these things, like, were interested in what was going on with me. When you attempt to take your life, like, that messes with your brain big time. And that messes with your, I'm not a Christian. I don't, you know, I don't believe in, like, a soul. But, like, I do believe in, like, human spirit.

And I believe that that probably does something to it, you know, something not great. And I just remember these things wanted me. And it felt like they, like, wanted to, like, you know, they wanted to, like, consume me. And I just remember being, like, when I was scared, it was scared, like, yeah, it's scary to see something new and something that doesn't make sense. But this was different. This was like, they're making me feel really bad. They're getting something from this exchange, me being either so scared or so vulnerable. I remember being there and standing and being like, oh, my God.

Like, these things are going to, like, get inside. You know, they're going to take something from me or, you know, they like, they want me. I don't know, like, how else to describe that. Like, it's kind of a weird feeling, you know, like, it did not feel like a person. You know, this wasn't like a, there was nothing humid about this. You know, this was like an animal. You know, it just, it wanted something from me. And it was, I don't know.

It's such a weird thing, but like, I really do think it's connected. I think that that type of energy I was putting out, that, like, negativity and that, like, almost like anti-human spirit, you know, I think that that's blood in the water for many of these, you know, dark powers or, you know, entities that are, here, or roaming around or lurking wherever they may be. Yeah, I don't know, man. It's the craziest thing that's ever happened to me. And I live a very painfully boring life. Okay. Thank you so much to William for sharing his experience.

I'm sure you can understand now what I was referring to in the intro. William isn't sure what this was exactly, but he thinks it was something that, was praying on him, specifically because of that dark state he was in at the time leading up to all this. And he also seems to think that it was connected to the ghost sightings that have happened in the house and around that neighborhood. He even mentioned to me something about a neighbor getting mysteriously sick, just some strange occurrences happening in the houses around those woods.

Of course, I told him that I'm pretty sure a lot of people listening to this will think this was UFO related for obvious reasons. But I think that's what makes this one so fascinating. William also told me that he did take pictures of the object, but that was 10 years ago, and those pictures are stuck on an old, broken phone. I told him to please do everything he can to go try to get those pictures off the phone

because I would love to see this thing. So fingers crossed. It's probably also worth pointing out, William was originally very hesitant to talk about the stuff with his wrist. Originally, he just told me that he had experienced some strange pain. Eventually, he did give me more specifics, and I was completely shocked. I mean, this is such a strange one. It's also a really good example of how resilient and adaptable humans are.

Like the fact that somebody can experience this one night, and then in the morning, take it all in, decide they're going to keep it to themselves, and then essentially just move on. He probably went and had breakfast with his family and forced himself to forget about it. Like that, that's pretty wild. And it's a pattern that I've seen a lot with the stories that come into the show.

So, thank you so much to William for telling me the story. This has been episode 80. The title is Three Green Lights, and you've been listening to Otherworld. Otherworld is executive produced and hosted by myself Jack Wagoner, Our theme song is by Cobra Man. The soundtrack of this episode is by Juice Jackal and North Americans.

This episode was edited and engineered by Theo Schaefer. Our artwork is by Coldestack Studios. Production help by Nikki Kate Delgado and Haley Pearson. 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, you could become a patron at patreon.com slash Otherworld. Our social media is at Otherworld Pod.

Thank you to the team at Odyssey, J.D. Crowley, Jenna Weiss-Berman, Lee Arese Dennis, Rob Morandi, Eric Donnelly, Matt Casey, Morric Curran, Josephina Francis, 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 can send us your story at Stories at Otherworldpod.com.