Radio Rental - Episode 35

Episode Date: May 5, 2023

On today's tapes... >> Blessing or Curse > Trapped

Thank you. stories we tackle next. Plus, you could win a nice prize just for sharing your thoughts. Head over to tenderfoot.tv slash survey and let your voice be heard, and you'll be entered to win a $100 Amazon gift card plus a Tenderfoot merch pack. It only takes a few minutes, and it makes a big difference. Thank you for being part of our community. We can't wait to hear from you. Hate waiting a week for the next episode of Radio Rental? Subscribe to Tenderfoot Plus to get early access to episodes, ad-free listening, and bonus scary stories. Visit tenderfootplus.com for details. The following podcast includes scary stories with content that could be triggering to some listeners.

Listener discretion is advised. No! No! That's his best friend! Oh, God. I didn't even know volleyballs could float. Oh, hello. I'm so sorry. I was just checking on the integrity of this tape.

It seems like everything is good to go and in working order. Okay, fine. You caught me. So I was watching Cast Away. That movie gets me every time. Just something about the tenderness between Tom Hanks and Wilson. I just... I find it so refreshing that the movie acknowledges the deep,

sacred, sometimes sensual bond between a man and a sporting good. That's all I'm saying. Anyway, I am guessing you did not come here to Radio Rental to watch Castaway with me. Your loss. Let's get into my collection of scary stories, because someone is afraid to be vulnerable. Haven't you heard? male fragility is in? I don't have to hide my fragile inner child anymore. Thank God.

Okay, here's your tape. Listen away. I was a junior at DePaul University in Chicago. I was working my way through college, so I got a job at a WAC center. I was a guest service associate, so that meant I was working at the front desk. I was the person responsible for checking guests in and out, managing the register, booking appointments, everything you can imagine that someone

who's running like a little boutique salon up front would do. This night in particular, I remember that I was closing. I was the only person up front, which meant that it was during the week a little bit slower, so they only needed one person manning the desk up front, and then a waxer in the back to do the waxing. If the waxer had a client, obviously they were in a private room. I wasn't able to disrupt them in any way. During that time, I would be by myself up front.

And because this was later at night, kind of near closing, I was trying to do whatever tasks I could so I could get ready to leave as soon as the last person came out and I could check them out and be done for the night. As I was cleaning and waiting for this woman in the back to be finished with her session, I sat back down behind the desk and I remember I sneakily pulled out my phone. That's when I heard the three beeps of the door opening that kind of alerted us to someone entering the store. Before I could even look up, I remember this stench. It was a mix of dirt, mold, urine, kind of smoky.

That was what prompted me to kind of shoot my head up. Definitely startled me in itself. Before I knew it, I looked up and there is a completely disheveled man in front of me. I, living in Chicago, know that there are an abundance of homeless people. So that was my initial thought, just the smell, the fact that the clothes were dirty, tattered.

He had a bunch of facial hair and his hair was a little unkempt. My initial reaction was to be as polite as possible and I kind of assumed that perhaps this gentleman wanted to use the restroom or maybe the phone, something that he might not have access to. I asked him if I could help him with something. Right as it came out of my mouth he let out these half scream, screech, guttural sounds that weren't even a language. This was unlike anything I've ever heard before.

I just know that it was truly terrifying and my heart dropped. I am just praying that the waxer in the back room is hearing what's going on. I don't know what to do because I can't run to the back room with the waxer and the woman that's in her session and I'm by myself. So reality kind of starts hitting me that I need to do something.

The only thing I could think of is peeping up like, sir, you have to leave. Sir, like, Sir, you have to leave. Sir, sir, I think you have to leave. As I'm trying to get these words out, he's putting his hand in his pocket. He pulls out a rosary. He takes it in his hand, leans over the desk where he is essentially

maybe a few inches from me, and starts shaking this rosary in my direction while he continues to scream. I was purely frozen. It's almost like I was fixated on what was happening in front of me and wasn't able to move. Finally when I snapped back to reality I realized that I had to do something

because this guy was not going anywhere. He was firmly planted. Not only did he start screaming at me, now he's pushing this rosary in my face. Is he trying to convey a message? I wasn't going to stand there and kind of figure it out at this point. So I remember just screaming at him and saying, you got to get out of here. That didn't do much. Finally, I picked up the phone and told him that I was going to call the cops. This is what inspired him to turn around and leave. And as soon as he did so, I moved over to the door and I locked it immediately behind

him. He probably got four or five steps from the door outside when he heard me lock it and instantly turned around, came back to the door and started shaking it, trying to open it so hard. I remember that it was making this terrible, like banging noise. He started screaming, but this time putting his lips to the door.

I remember seeing his breath on the glass. I ran back to the phone. So this time when I picked up the phone and screamed again that I'm calling the police, I actually did. I was on the phone and screamed again that I'm calling the police. I actually did. I was on the phone with the police and they could hear him in the background screaming. I was trying to frantically describe the situation, trying to kind of balance giving them directions while also keeping my eyes on this guy who finally, after me being on the phone with the police,

ended up leaving. And I described to them which way he went, gave them whatever descriptions I could, and then they let me know that they were sending someone over on their way. That was the point in which the esthetician and her client came out from the back room and my colleague was giving me a confused look. I asked them immediately if they heard anything and they said that they just heard a conversation. I asked them if they heard screaming. Didn't give me any indication that they had. I kind of held back a lot of the details until the cops were there,

and it was just me, the police, and my colleague. Police get there. I give them the rundown of everything that just happened. There was two police officers, and as one was collecting the information, the other one pointed out that there was a camera by the door. And the camera sat on the door where, of course, it was pointing inside the store. It hit me, and I was like, yes, oh, my gosh, yes, there are cameras here.

That's amazing. Now we're going to have a video and probably still frames of this guy. I remember discussing next steps with the police officers. They can come back the next day so they can see the footage and get additional information on what he looks like. The police asked me if I could be the one who pulled the footage. I had absolutely no idea how to do that. I told them that I would call my manager.

She was actually gonna be working the next morning with me, and she told me that it shouldn't be a big deal, the footage doesn't erase. I think it had like a week timeframe before it went over itself. She would come meet me in the morning, and we could grab the footage and make sure it went over to the police officers. So I collected all their information.

They were going to try to send someone over the next day to finalize the report. I came in at 8. My manager probably came in around 8.30. As soon as she came in, she's like, all right, let's go on back and take a look at the footage. And so we get settled, and she pulls it up and goes back to the day before.

She's kind of flipping through, trying to get to around 9 o'clock before she pauses it. You see me at the counter, checking out guests, checking the final guest in, cleaning. Finally, you see the man enter, and I scream for her to stop and slow it down, and I'm like, here he is, here he is, here he is. So we watch, and you see everything play out like I described. You see me looking down at my phone at the desk. You see the door open, this man walking up to the desk, me looking up, and then it turns black.

It was black for probably the next 10 minutes. And it comes back, and the next thing you know is I am standing at the front desk with two police officers talking on the phone to my manager. Everything that went on, him starting to scream at me and putting the rosary in my face, him leaving and me locking the door, him trying to open the door and continuing to scream and scare the absolute shit out of me was just gone. It just went black.

My manager looks at me and she tries rewinding it. We try replaying it a few times and it's just gone. She starts to tell me that this has never happened before. I just started sobbing. Last night was a horror deal. It was done with. I went out with my friends. I kind of chuckled and laughed it off. And now this just brings an entirely different layer

to the situation that neither of us can explain. It made me feel like I was visited by something much more sinister than just a regular guy. Now to me, it was something much more, whether that was a warning or a curse. Emotions came over me and I remember my manager even let me leave because I was borderline having a panic attack. I hope it was just complete nonsense. Otherwise, it's a little scary to think that if it was a curse, what could be coming my way?

It creeps me out, it makes my skin crawl. Honestly, it makes me a little bit nauseous because that is just stuff you don't fuck around with. Get ready for Las Vegas-style action at Ben MGM, the king of online casinos. Enjoy casino games at your fingertips We'll be right back. If you have questions or concerns about gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connexon Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BidMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Crime Writers On is the podcast where authors and 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. Ooh, well ha ha. Well, that was ghastly. Nothing like a Tom Hanks movie. Talk about a

hard transition. And, uh, speaking of hard transition, here's another one. Ooh, how about that last story? Oh, what a chill. What a way to confront your fears. And, well, you know, speaking of our fears, I've picked up a new hobby.

I've started tossing things into the void-like hole that has opened up in the corner of the room over there. Yeah, it's probably nothing to worry about. Anyway, I am just going to toss in this poem I was drafting up. Not my best work, anyway. Here we go. Ooh, what fun. Let's try something a little bit bigger. How about this clock radio? And into the darkness it goes! It's like playing fetch with a new pet. But the pet consumes whatever you feed it and grows larger and more powerful with every bite.

Okay, well, let's just not think about it too much. Let's go to the next tape! It was the spring of 2010. I was a freshman at the University of New Hampshire. I ended up finding this small loft just off campus. I lived there for the first semester before my cousin did a similar thing and transferred to UNH and because I already had housing I had him move in. It was April and it was a nice day outside.

I remember my cousin and I just wanting to get outside and enjoy the nice weather. We went out back and started just kicking a soccer ball around. In the middle of kicking a soccer ball back and forth in the backyard, we hear a tapping. Couldn't see where it was coming from. So we paused for a second, took a quick look around, didn't see anything, so just continued having fun. It happened again, maybe 20 seconds later, and that's when we saw her. Across the street there was an old woman. She was tapping on the window from inside of a second-story room, trying to get our attention.

She was an old lady, you know, probably somewhere in her late 80s. She had long, bony fingers that she was tapping on the window with. She had long light gray whitish hair, unkempt. And pale skin, somewhat of like a pointy chin and a pointy nose. All the features of a classic witch. We weren't really sure what was going on and why she was trying to get our attention. I hopped our fence and crossed the street

to get closer to the house. When I walked up to the building, I looked up to her and yelled up to her, trying to ask if there was anything wrong, if she needed any help. I could see her mouthing words, but she wasn't talking loud enough for me to hear. It was like she was talking as if I was right in front of her

and not a story below on the outside of the house. That struck me as odd as well. After a few minutes of trying to communicate that way, I realized that she was telling me that she was trapped on the second floor inside of that room. I yelled it back to her, just to verify. I asked her if she was trapped in there or locked in there. And she confirmed, she nodded her head, and said that she was.

My cousin was still in the backyard, watching this whole thing play out. I looked at him and we knew that we had to do something. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the elderly. Try to help them out whenever I can. I think that kind of struck a chord and you know I wanted to help her out. I looked at the driveway, didn't see any cars. I knocked on the front door hoping that someone would answer whether it's a son, daughter, but no one answered. Go to the back window to see if there's anyone that I could call for, see if anyone was home at all.

It seemed like she was the only one in the house. I decided I'd enter the house, but before I did, my cousin grabbed his cell phone and had 911 dialed ready to press send. We weren't sure what I was getting into. I walked back up to the window, told the lady that I was gonna come into the house to try to help, and she pointed me to a side door, which was unlocked. When I opened the door, it was a concrete hallway, and it was dark. Everything in this hallway just seemed off. It seemed really weird. There was old children's toys,

a rocking horse that looked like it was from the 50s. It just seemed out of place. And at the very end, there was a small staircase that spiraled up to the second floor. My mind started taking me to crazy places. I was half expecting someone to come out from behind me. I was being as cautious as I possibly could. I eventually get to the end of the hallway, start to slowly walk up the stairs.

As I started to walk up the stairs and make it to that second floor, I saw her. A couple things stuck out as very odd. This doorway to the room that she was in, it seemed like the door that you would see on the exterior of a house. It had glass panels in it so I could see right through it. I saw her just sitting in a rocking chair watching TV

like nothing was wrong. Five minutes prior, she was getting our attention saying that she's locked in this room. That really struck me as odd and made my mind race even more than it already was. She's not acting like she's trapped. She's acting like nothing is wrong. If nothing is wrong, why am I in this stranger's house?

I'm staring at her. So I knocked on the door. As soon as I knocked on the door, she, without turning to face me, without looking away from the TV she was watching, says, come in. I turn the doorknob and I find that I can't. There's no deadbolt, no kind of lock that's preventing that. Even still, I can't open the door. I took a step back, and I looked down. That's when I saw it.

A screwdriver jammed into the floor, preventing the door from opening. On my end, oh shit, I just walked into a trap. I messed up. I was convinced that someone was going to come up from behind me and hit me over the head with a hammer. And that was going to be it. The grittiness of a flathead screwdriver just jammed into the floor,

just made everything go through my head. Clearly, someone is keeping this woman in this room against her will. I backed away. I told her I was going to get help, and I got the fuck out of that building. I run outside. I tell my cousin to call the cops. They get out of their police cars, guns drawn, and surround the building. As they're getting ready to enter, a car pulls into the driveway. A couple gets out of the car. The police tell them why they're here,

that they got a call. The police came back to us afterwards and explained what the homeowners had told them. Turns out this lady was their mother and she was suffering from dementia. Every time they left the house to run an errand, go to the grocery store, go to the post office, they would lock her in that room using the screwdriver so that she couldn't wander off. Dementia wow, this is actually insane.

My next reaction was, wow, this is actually pretty sad. She was suffering from a disease and the homeowners, they dealt with it in the best way that they thought to deal with it. I thought that was probably one of the craziest ways to deal with that type of situation. I don't know if the couple had got into any trouble with the police. I don't know how that ended. But I do know that they had stopped locking her in that room. After reading about the issue a little more, I found that it's unfortunately a fairly common thing that people in this situation do. Illegal, but common.

I lived in that house for another six months or so. Occasionally we would see the old woman walking around the property. Every time we saw her, we were just glad that she wasn't being locked away. Yikes, I wouldn't want to be in their shoes. Shush, Malachi. Now, speaking of shoes, what if I threw one of my Skechers into the void? Oh, I feel like I would enjoy that. Oh, wow, it's getting pretty... sizable.

Well, better feed the beast. No, I'm not talking about you, Malachi. When will enough be enough, Malachi? You can't just eat all day. All right. Time to give this sketchers sheep up a good toss. Hey, hey, hey, hey, Malachi, quit playing with the laces. Okay, here we go. One, two, three!

No, Malachi, This isn't fetch! No! Malachi, no! Oh, God, Malachi, no! Oh, what have I done? That's it. I'm going into the abyss. Well, not right this second. I have to prepare first. I need a rope. I'll tie it to the cash register and lower myself in, a la Poltergeist.

And Stranger Things, which rips off Poltergeist. I need to prepare for the trials ahead. So, I'll see you next week. Stay safe out there and, by God, don't ever throw your Skechers into any vacuous interdimensional chasms. Keep those bad boys on your feet where they belong. Let the preparation begin. I'm going to need to lube up my skin. Now, where's that Crisco?

How am I going to journey into the multiverse with only one shoe? I need to go shoe shopping. I'll get some vans. Thank you. Editing by Eric Quintana, Mike Rooney, Sean Nerney, and Sydney Evans Additional writing by Mark Laughlin Sound design, mix, and master by Cooper Skinner Additional sound design and mixing by Devin Johnson Original score by Makeup and Vanity Set Video editing by Dylan Harrington

Cover artwork by Trevor Eiler and Rob Sheridan Special thanks to Oren Rosenbaum and the team at UTA, the Nord Group, Station 16, Beck Media and Marketing, and the team at Cadence 13. 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 USA dot 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. On behalf of the Radio Rental store, we'd love it if you'd subscribe, rate, and review. 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 Podcast, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you're listening right now. Then join me if you dare.