Radio Rental - Episode 26

Episode Date: May 20, 2022

On today's tapes... >> Turn Back > Missing

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The study of birds. Okay, okay, fine. I wasn't birdwatching. Malachi's scared most of them off around here anyway. I guess you could say I'm doing a little rear-windowing. They have reason to believe a terrible crime was committed next door. And, well, I'm the Jimmy Stewart in this situation. Which means you'd have to be Grace Kelly. Lucky you.

I never get to be Grace Kelly. So, how about I pop in a tape for you while I continue piecing this mystery together? I'll give you more details on the other side. Enjoy. I was about 10 years old, born and raised in northeast Ohio, right outside of Cleveland. Suburban streets, middle class area, lots of woods surrounding it. So like if there's a development, it's lots of heavy wooded areas in between. Lots of this area just to kind of explore and adventure.

Younger kids, me and a couple of my buddies were hanging out at a friend's house, my friend Bradley. We were probably all around the age of 10. lived in an area where basically there's woods everywhere surrounding you. So a natural thing as kids to do, a fun thing to do in this area. Okay, we'll just go hike around, find new paths. It's kind of like your own little oasis away from your parents or whatever guardianship you have around you as a kid. Me and a couple of my buddies, we all met, we were playing together at a soccer team. One night, we're just all hanging out at my buddy's house, Bradley. It was like a winter night so there's not much fun things to do. We can't really play soccer outside, stuff like that, and it was kind of getting dark and we, you know, had a little bit more time to hang out so we were

like, okay, what is there to do? Bradley was like, hey, there's this area, there's just like basically these fields. We go through the woods, we can go like check it out, do something fun, hike. Hey, sure, why not? You know, something to do. So we all got bundled up basically to go on this little expedition and go outside. The idea was appealing to us, being kids that just like to be in the woods. Anything to get away from the parents and just do something fun. As an adult, there's options of fun things to do, but as a kid, it's winter in Ohio. You can't really go outside the house for basically anything. You're freezing. Besides the snowball fight, what is there really to do? And that appealing aspect of you have your own domain,

whereas it's like this unknown aspect. We're in the woods. It's safe. We live in Manor, Ohio. The worst thing that happens is a shoplifting ticket or something like that. So the woods almost feel like this even safer place away from people. So we all got bundled up, got in our hats, coats, or whatever, and we're walking out and all the leaves are off the trees. So you can hear the sound of our shoes hitting the snow. It was basically the only things that we could really hear besides maybe like a highway in the distance. Some wind blowing through the trees.

So we're walking and to get to the trail head in like the forest, we had to walk through some other people's backyards. As us three were like walking through some people's backyards and we're already getting excited, oh, we're already trespassing. We get to the trail head and it was like an instant, like, portal into darkness.

The second we entered the trailhead, it was like, pitch black. Big trees around us. The snow's on the ground. We're just walking. It's one of those moonless nights where basically there's no moon out, so anything that's out there just pitch black. It's really dark.

Our eyes are being forced to see more. It's very black, so it's very heavily wooded. So there's trees everywhere, like big tall trees. So if you're not paying attention on the trail, you're going to run right off into a tree or something like that. So there's lots of trees, lots of things to possibly see in the corner of your eye, starting to make out our surroundings. And the sounds really were heightened. Our senses felt very heightened in the moment, not only because it was very cold, but you're reinforced to see in a very dark night,

you're a little bit nervous. So everything, every little sound is, oh, a little leaf blows over there. Oh, you're looking over there. So we were instantly kind of felt like we crossed into an unwelcome territory. Almost like we walked by a no trespassing sign. That's what it felt like. We were just walking through the woods, honestly.

We weren't doing anything wrong. It felt unwelcoming. Just the vibe from the second we entered the woods, which was odd. So we all started joking. I remember to this day, we all were joking. We can't see anything, it's creepy. But at that time, I remember we had just watched a horror movie. We were like, oh, we were making a reference to the monster. Oh, we're going to run into this monster. We felt giddy. We felt nervous. Goosebumps all over. Like we were making jokes, basically saying, oh,

we're going to run into somebody, some creepo out here. All had this unanimous vibe we could feel off each other that it was, something was off. It just felt like we shouldn't be there. A kid's imagination is so wide. It's amazing to look at the world through the view of a child. We kind of all started to vocalize it to kind of comfort each other.

We were like, oh yeah, we're about to, you know, run into a ghost or, you ghost or something silly like that. Or there's a demon out here. All of us grew up in a similar religious background. It's like, oh, we're going to be cast astray by a demon. We're all saying things like that. Bradley, the one who was leading us, had a flashlight. So he was the one, like the leader of the pack.

If you weren't in the scope of that flashlight, we couldn't see him. You know, if the flashlight was off, maybe our eyes would have adjusted. We could see a little better. But especially once we entered that tree line and entered the woods, outside the light of the houses and stuff, the only thing that we could see was in that flashlight. So basically, it was just pitch black besides what we could see down that narrow path kind of winding through

the trees bradley's walking he's got the flashlight going on uh we're joking we're just light-hearted like okay we're about to run into somebody right as we say that i notice this movement in the peripheral my eyes so i go what was? And the second I was walking and I see this movement in my peripheral, it was almost simultaneously as I turned, Bradley had seen the same thing in his vision. And it was right in the corner of his eye. So his flashlight almost kind of mirrored my first instinct. So that kind of confirmed, okay,

someone else saw something too. And so we all looked, we could see this head just move back. He shines his flashlight over. And we all three just look behind this tree. We just see this guy just peer around the tree and then move back real quick. We're just hearing this low, thick, intimidating voice.

I will turn back. And it wasn't just. I will turn back. And it wasn't just that he said turn back. It was like this thick Russian accent that was with it. It was almost like some KGB time traveler had just appeared in the woods in Manor, Ohio. And again, turn back. And this time it's loud. Every time it was a little bit more aggressive.

And he almost had to assert his presence. Bradley goes, uh, sir. Cuts us off. Steps out from the tree. And now the flashlight was lighting him up. Turn back. We could literally see his face and the gun that he was holding. Turn back.

When he went back behind the tree, it was like a blur. But then when he kind of peered out and then he showed us, purpose, obviously, intentionally, he showed us the gun. We could make out everything. Like, we could make out him. So that definitely,

instant chills down our spine, like frozen when we realized, oh, there's someone, we're not alone. There's someone out here with us. For a split second, I was petrified. At first, I thought, what is this?

Is it a ghost? Is it someone trying to hurt us? As a kid, I didn't really have much of a paranormal mindset yet because I really hadn't been exposed to the ghost stories. I hadn't really watched that many horror movies, so my mind didn't drift there. I thought it was someone out there trying to hurt us because he was so real. It was very intimidating, very authoritative.

Before you could even say a word for maybe two, three seconds, he'd turn back. Terrifying. And not only that was holding a gun made it terrifying, but this guy seemed like somebody who would hurt you. I don't know why. It seemed like somebody who you're scared of, you're intimidated by. Did we interrupt something? We can make out he's like wearing dark clothing,

like not camouflage, like a hunter, but like he's wearing dark clothing. He's holding like full ass shotgun. We're all like, what the heck is going on? Why? Again, he goes, you are listening to me now. Turn back. Now! We all turn around, just book it out of there.

I mean, we ran. I mean, we didn't come that far. We didn't even make it that far into the woods to where we were trying to go. The second we saw him, it was like chills from head to toe. I encountered something that I shouldn't have. So we all sprinted back. We ran back to the house. Like I was encountering something that was legitimately evil. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe

that's a kid's imagination running amok. But to us, it was such an odd encounter. We all view the woods as a safe place from us, from our parents, from our family, or whatever. The woods where we could go run off as kids and just be free, do our own thing, play in the river. That idea that that safe place was no longer safe was alarming. Like, this world that I'm so accustomed to is not the same as it used to be. I think that was a little bit alarming. Mixed along with the imagination of a child, you're running amok with all these

thoughts. So to this day, it's funny. Like you think you go and as a little kid, you're going to go blabber, but we kind of like kept it to ourselves. My theory behind that is because Bradley's mom was a little bit controlling. We knew if she knew all the other soccer moms would know. To this day, we'll joke around, like turn back. Like we'll send each other like a turn back message, like on Halloween or something as a joke, because it's like, we have these questions that we're left with. If you're out there in the woods hunting you wouldn't be out there at night. Why would you have a gun? Why would he have such a thick Russian accent?

Like it just it made no sense. There's all these things in the way he was dressed too. Like why was he wearing dark clothing? Like if he was a hunter he would be wearing camo but it makes no sense to have a gun hunting. It was just a very odd thing. And in this area, to run into a Russian person ever, speaking that thick of a Russian, it's like you're going to remember them. So why there was this dude back there, some weird thing I thought of is that we ran into somebody

who had just committed a murder. I know that's a go-to, but that's, or committed some sort of crime, and he didn't want us to see him in the woods at night. Another theory we had, like I joked about is that we had encountered somebody who, who literally jumped the gap in the matrix somehow. Somehow he had ended up in Northeast Ohio in, you know, 21st century when, when he wasn't supposed to be. He could have been somebody who legitimately was hiding,

running from the law. Maybe it was something serious, maybe not. But somebody who just did something, did not want to have any collateral, and just sees these kids. I mean, three random kids, like young kids, just walking through the woods. I mean, that in itself would be like,

what are you boys doing out here? That kind of thing. It's winter. It's dark. It's nighttime. So he had to be caught off guard. He wasn't supposed to be there, but were we not supposed to be there as well? When we walked in the tree line, before we even saw this guy,

we felt like this weird energy of, you should not be here. And it wasn't like Bradley told us, hey, we're going to trespass on some guy's land. He's a real crazy guy, some gun owner. He's Russian or whatever. Nothing like that to set us up for like exploitation. We weren't doing anything illegal. So it's like, I'm no expert. I don't think it was something paranormal

or something that, you know, a ghost or something, some weird anomaly. I don't think it was that. I think we legitimately ran into someone who was an evil person, or I think we legitimately ran into a dark presence. I think we all kind of sensed that there was something malevolent,

something malicious about this guy's presence. Something was off there. Something didn't add up. So to this day, I theorize that he at least did something wrong and did not want us to get caught up in it. I definitely think he had a dark energy to him, for sure. We're back. And just in time for ads.

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I have an update on the heinous crime that I am certain I just witnessed. I saw the silhouette of a person brandishing a large knife. They cut open their lover right there in the living room. I heard screams and everything. But then there was a knock on their door, and the screams stopped abruptly. Disturbing, right? Well, while I do something about this mess, how about you watch another tape? Next story. I've always known I've wanted children from a young age. I had been married before, actually.

My husband and I, it's our second marriage for both of us, and it was something that we both really wanted. I'm actually a teacher, so children are kind of a part of my life. So it was really important to me to have children of my own. It was just one of those things that I knew that that's what I wanted in life. And we had always just wanted two. That just seemed like the perfect number for us. It starts when I had just gotten married.

My husband and I had started trying to have a baby for a while. We were having some issues, so after a couple months, we ended up having to get some intervention. I had gone to a clinic to make sure that everything was working. They said, okay, everything's there, everything's working, like there's no reason that you shouldn't be able to get pregnant. And so we did end up getting pregnant with my first child. Pregnancy was normal.

The only thing that I had issues with was a little bit of high blood pressure. I ended up having a C-section at 38 weeks and three days. The baby was very healthy. Everything went smoothly. When it came to the birth of my second child, at 37 weeks I ended up going into labor. I went to the hospital. They determined that I was going into labor so they called my doctor in. He came in and they took me off for the C-section that day.

We went back for the C-section. Everything was going well. The doctor was really good about explaining, okay, I'm doing this next, I'm doing this. The first thing they did, of course, was deliver the baby. She was beautiful and perfect. When they went in to do the C-section, I had asked them as well to tie my tubes. We had always just wanted two children.

When the doctor went in to tie my tubes after the birth of my child via the C-section, I heard some talking amongst the doctors. Wasn't sure what they were saying, but the doctor finally spoke up and said, so when did you get the right fallopian tube removed? I looked at him and said, I've never had my right fallopian tube removed. It should be there. I've never had any surgeries down there where I would have had anything removed. He said,

well, it is missing. It's not here. I asked him at that point, is it something that could have just happened spontaneously? Can that kind of thing happen? And he said, no, this is clearly a surgical procedure. I see the surgical scar tissue. He had been in the practice for almost 30 years. He's actually a retired doctor now, so he was very knowledgeable with what he was looking at and said this is very clearly a surgery and a surgical removal of the fallopian tube.

He ended up only tying the left fallopian tube, wrote it down in his notes that the right one was removed, finished up with a C-section, took us back to our room. We spent time with our baby, but I just couldn't get it out of my head. Having something taken from your body without your knowledge, without your consent, you're dealing with so many emotions.

You have a newborn, but now you've just found out that something in your body that has always been there is suddenly gone without explanation. I touched base with the doctor. He ended up going back in the records. I had both of my C-sections at the same hospital. So he was able to go back and look at the records from the first C-section and see that in the notes it was written that everything was intact, both fallopian tubes were there,

everything was fine and there was nothing noted. In between both of those C-sections, I never had any surgeries at all. There's no reason that it should have been missing. It was a really interesting kind of whirlwind of emotions, because on one end I'm really, really happy. My baby girl is born. I have the family that I've always wanted. But you

also just feel as if someone were to tell you that we went in and you're missing a kidney. There's no reason for that to happen. My mind started going like, was I abducted by aliens? Did someone kidnap me and give me some kind of drug and do this surgery? And somehow I was none the wiser? Did I wake up in bed and just never know? I don't even have missing time where I'm thinking back to where, oh, you know what? That was a really weird experience where I woke up in a stranger's house I'm a married teacher with the child there's no time in place where that would have even been possible

your mind just goes to am I in another dimension we all have weird things happen but this is just something that you can't explain away. You don't just lose a fallopian tube due to surgery. That just doesn't happen. You don't wake up and, you know, there's a mysterious surgery that you don't remember. My husband is very... He went with that original explanation of it had to have

been the first doctor that did it and somehow got all of the team to agree to lie about it. He would never think oh it was aliens or it was this or it was that. I would remember if something happened like that. I did end up contacting this woman who claimed to be a psychic just because I was like, I want to know what happened to my fallopian tube. In her mind, she saw aliens take it. I try to be open-minded about things, and that was her explanation. I just, I really don't know. I don't know what happened. When I did share my story, I had a lot of people reply to me with very similar stories where they would go in for a

scheduled surgery and something was not there that should have been there. That something was surgically removed and it was really shocking to see how many people had actually had similar experiences, not specifically to a fallopian tube, but to other things where there was just these unexplained surgeries where people had no recollection, no time in their life where they would have had a surgery like this. The doctor never did have an explanation. He never came back and said, this is what I think happened. He just kind of stayed quiet and focused on just me being a new mom and making sure everything went well from that point on. One of the last C-sections he did was for a woman with an unexplained missing fallopian tube. It's baffling. journalists talk about the latest true crime series, documentaries, and podcasts. Talk about what's on the charts and find those up-and-coming podcasts you'll be talking about.

It's like a fun and smart book club discussing what makes good storytelling and teaching how to become a critical listener. Or not. And stick around for the Crime Writers Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down reviews. It's the original true crime review podcast. Crime Writers On, Wherever you get your podcasts. Like probably right here. Uh, hello.

Okay, well, so bad news. I guess I didn't actually witness a cold-blooded killing. I called the proper authorities and it turns out my neighbor was simply reupholstering a couch while watching a highly explicit adult video at full volume.

I should have known there'd be a perfectly rational explanation. Haven't we all been in that situation before? I know I have. I mean, who are we to judge, really? Oh, well. At least you were here with me for the whole rollercoaster. Oh, what fun! What fun we have here at Radio Rental.

So until next time, this is Terry Carnation telling you to stay spooky out there. Radio Rental is created by Payne Lindsay and brought to you by Tenderfoot TV. Executive Producers Payne Lindsay and Donald Albright. Hosted by Rainn Wilson as his character, Terry Carnation. Produced by Payne Lindsay, Mike Rooney, and Meredith Stedman. With additional production by Eric Quintana. Written by Meredith Stedman.

Additional writing by Mark Laughlin. Sound design by Cooper Skinner. Original score by Makeup and Vanity Set. Cover art by Trevor Eiler and Rob Sheridan. If you have a Radio Rental story that you'd like to share, please email us at yourscarystory at gmail.com or contact us via the form on our website, radiorentalusa.com.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter at Radio Rental. You can also follow the illustrious Terry Carnation on social media. Just search at Terry Carnation. Thank you. and the team at Cadence 13. On behalf of the Radio Rental Store, we'd love it if you'd subscribe, rate, and review. And don't forget to share our show with a friend of the genre. Thanks for listening. I'm Nadine Bailey. I've been a ghost tour guide for 20 years and have taken people into haunted places

to uncover macabre tales and dark secrets. On my podcast, Haunted Canada, I share bone-chilling stories of the unexplained. Search for Haunted Canada on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you're listening right now. Then join me if you dare.