Radio Rental - Episode 53

Episode Date: December 15, 2023

On today's tapes... >> Dirt Roads

I am so dreading groceries this week. Why? You can skip it. Oh, what? Just like that? Just like that. How about dinner with my third cousin? Skip it. Prince Fluffy's favorite treats? Skippable.

Midnight snacks? Skip. My neighbor's nightly saxophone practices? Uh, nope. You're on your own there. Could've skipped it. Should've skipped it. Skip to the good part and get groceries, meals, and more delivered right to your door on Skip. What could make your listening experience even better? Your feedback helps us grow and deliver the content you care about most. It's super simple. Just fill out our quick survey.

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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. Hello! Welcome in to Radio Rental, where I, Terry Carnation, Terrence Carnation, house a collection of VHS tapes

containing the scariest true stories you've ever heard in your life. That's right. Radio Rental is a cozy little video rental shop in... Location Redacted. I actually don't want to tell you where we're located because, well, frankly, some of you are very weird. You've already proven that you're into creepy stuff

just by showing up again today. Anyway, we're located somewhere cold. Now, don't go digging any further than that. That's the only clue you're getting. So, because of this chilly winter storm, I've got the fire going, keeping my toesies toasty. And I know what you're thinking. Wait, you have a wood-burning fireplace

inside of a video rental shop? Yes. Yes, I do. And no, it's not up to code, you fucking narc. Oh, it's spooky out there. Whoa, do you hear that wind? Spooky out there. Perfect mood for a scary story, no?

Let's pop in the first tape. I was 19. I was in the Navy, stationed in this little city right outside of Charleston. We had had a really big exam. It was the last exam for one of our classes. It was a really intense class. It was the last exam for one of our classes. It was a really intense class.

Everybody was kind of on that fence where it was like, you fail this test, you have to retake the entire course. Me and two of my buddies, P and T, we were all right there on that fence. We had gotten not very good results. Me and T and P, we knew we hadn't done very well on that fence. We'd gotten not very good results. Me and T and P, we knew we hadn't done very well on the exam. If we had failed that exam, we were going to have to retake the entire course.

Trying not to overthink the fact that we could be having to go back six weeks in training. So T had heard about this homemade ice cream place on the other side of Charleston. He asked if we wanted to go with him to go try it out. If we're going to fail, we at least should find out that we're going to fail with ice cream, right? T said he knew a shortcut. Me and P were both like, no, that's not a good idea.

He did not have a very good sense of direction. He could get lost in a shoebox. But he was pushing for it, and we were about to miss curfew. So we were like, you know what, whatever. We were already in trouble for failing our test. Might as well get in trouble for missing curfew too, right? We let him drive. We aren't really actively paying attention

to where we're going. P has a better sense of direction than I do. He keeps saying like, man, we're at least 45 minutes from base now. We're going the opposite direction of base. I don't know what shortcut you think you're getting us to, but we're going the wrong direction. And I'm just kind of going along for the ride. We just keep driving. We pass this gas station and it's got

the last gas station for so many miles sign. Dude, we're not headed back to base. Let's just turn around. But T was like, no, no, no, it's just right up here. It's just right up here. It's like five more minutes, and then we'll be right back on base. T's like, dude, just turn around. Your pride isn't worth us being two hours late for curfew.

And T's like, no, no, no, I swear, it's just right up here. We're going to make another turn, and we'll be back in like five minutes. We're so far down this road. We're driving through the middle of a forest. There aren't street lights anymore, it's just dark. T starts saying, yo, I gotta pee, I gotta hit the head.

We need to find some place to pull over so I can relieve myself. And we're like, dude, just pull off. There are trees on either side. We haven't seen another car in like 20 minutes. There's nothing to worry about. P was just like, no, no, no, I need some place to actually pull over. I need some place to actually pull over. He pulls off onto this little dirt road. Me and P were like, no, this is a bad idea. P grew up in New York City.

Me and P, we're both from the South. He doesn't know how real the shoot first, ask questions later thing is. And me and P were like trying to explain to him, you're going to get a shot on the other side of this tree. It could be somebody's house. Just stop, just stop. Let's go back. And T just keeps going.

Just two more seconds, just 10 more feet, just to the edge of the trees trees and then we'll be fine. You're going to get us killed. Your dignity is not worth my death. Then we break through the tree line. 200 feet in front of us, there was a bonfire. And immediately, T locks up the brakes. Our eyes are kind of adjusting to what's around us and there's dark figures around this bonfire wearing cloaks. Two dozen figures right in front of us. My stomach just dropped. As soon as the headlights hit them, they all turned to us. I felt like they were staring into my soul.

They all moved as one to turn to us. I felt very exposed. I just knew that my body said go and I needed to go. Me and P are just like, dude, go. Back up, back up, back up, let's go. Let's get out of here. P is making sure all the windows are rolled up. And he's screaming at T to go. And T's just frozen.

He's white knuckling the steering wheel, shaking, just like, oh my God, oh my God. He had no intention of moving. I knew that if they got to us, something bad was going to happen. I thought we were going to die. I thought we were going to be one of those groups of people that just disappeared mysteriously, never to be found. My fight or flight kicked in,

and I just needed to get out of there. I was in the back, and I actually, like, reached up and put the car in reverse and started slapping him, like, go, go, go, let's go. And that's really whenever he came back to life and started backing up. Whenever I put the car in reverse, in the taillights, there's a bunch of people.

Figures all behind us, slowly moving closer to the truck. They weren't moving like they were walking. They were all very steadily moving, floating towards us, closing in on us. We could hear them knocking, knocking on the windows, the doors hitting the truck. I thought we were gonna die. We're like, go, go, go, get out of here, go, go, go. T's like, I don't wanna hit him, I don't wanna hit him.

P looked at him and he said, it's either them or us, go. He starts backing up and they back up away from us and P had this big flashlight that his grandfather had given him after he graduated boot camp. He carried that thing with him everywhere. Once he realized what was going on, he was already pulling the flashlight up to use as a weapon. He turned it on and started flashing it in their eyes,

shining it in everybody's faces, trying to blind them. We're all freaking out, and I'm just like screaming at him, like, go, go, go, go, go, because he's barely, barely moving. They finally moved, and he just slammed on the gas, and we peeled out of there. Finally, we get to the other side of the trees, and we're back on the road.

They actually started to follow us down the trail. Until we could no longer see them in the headlights, they were there. They were coming towards us. I got the impression that they were waiting for us. T turned back around and we started heading back towards base and it's like crickets. Nobody's talking. Trying to catch our breath. I feel like we were all trying to figure out what we had seen, like what we had just experienced. We were all really

shaken and didn't really know how to put it into words. We didn't talk about it once we got back to base. We didn't talk about it for three or four days. I felt like there was this whole giant thing that we were just like ignoring. Me and P lived in the same barracks, so we walked to class together. We all found out that we weren't going to have to retake the test. We had all barely passed. And then we broke for lunch,

and we walked past the smoke pit, and T came up and joined us, and we were walking back, and P's like, hey, I gotta ask you guys something. Did you ever like, did you guys look at them? And I was like, I mean, yeah, we were all kind of looking at them, you know. He's like, no. Did you guys see their faces? And we were like, no.

He's like, dude, they didn't have faces. I looked all of them in the face, and they did not have faces. When he looked me in the eye and repeated himself, I knew he 100% believes they did not have faces. He's not one of those that says things that aren't true or embellishes stuff to make it more interesting. After that, T was just kind of like, you know what, guys, we don't ever need to talk about this again. Let's just move on. And we never talked about it again.

Ooh, chilling. And speaking of chilling, oh, it's getting cold in here again. Colder than a witch's nipple. Move over, Malachi. I need to poke the fire. Don't sit so close. You're going to send your whiskers off again. And then your spatial awareness will go to shit. I don't have to deal with that. I don't have to guide you around on a leash. There we go. Warming up.

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Let the gratitude flow. Visit BetterHelp.com to learn more and save 10% on your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com. Hey, it's gotten a little, uh, well, a little rougher out there. It's quite a winter storm, actually. I hope it, uh, doesn't, um... Susie, no, no, no, don't open the door. No, Susie. Oh, Susie. Blew out the fire. God damn it. Well, there goes the fire, and that was my last match.

Susie burned the rest of them earlier this week because that's apparently her only hobby. Little pyromaniac arsonist. Good work, Susie. Now there's a strong chance we will all die of hypothermia. Or starvation, or both. And you're not meaty enough

to live off of. Nor are you, Malachi. Okay. Thank you for your satanic giggles, Susie. Always a pleasure. Um, I don't know. Let's go to another tape.

Keep our minds off the cold. Here we go. My best friend in high school, his dad owned a used car parking lot. When he would get cars in, he would want to test drive them for about a week just to make sure he wasn't selling any obvious lemons. Didn't want to put a brand new car that he got into someone else's hands and they drive it down the road and it falls completely apart.

Every now and then he would give us one of the cars and tell us to just drive it around, let him know if we hear any knocks or bumps or if it putters out or anything. One day our eyes just went wide open when he showed us what we were to drive around. A little two-door sporty convertible manual transmission car. How cool are we? So he gives us a car and he says, look guys, this is a very powerful car. It's not like the hunk of junk that we normally drive around. Be careful. Don't speed. Don't do anything crazy. Just go out, drive it around, go get a burger, some sodas, just have a

good afternoon with it. He gives us the keys, he goes inside, we put the top down, cranks the car, and it probably wasn't the next corner that we revved it up and peeled out. We spent the afternoon just driving around like he suggested. We went and got burgers, some shakes,

talked about girls and played music loud. It was really great. Fast forward a little bit. We are in these back Mississippi roads. There's this one road that had a long stretch. I would say about a mile long. The road was elevated probably about 15 feet with these really steep embankments on both sides. There's nowhere really to pull over and he just gasses it. Gets into fifth

gear pretty fast. We're driving along and right in front of us was a car that was very likely going the speed limit. But to us he was going way too slow. So we get up to the car, get pretty close to the rear end of it. My best friend he says, hold on. He downshifts, revs the engine up, swerve into the other lane to pass him, and immediately there's a car less than 100 feet, one second away from us. I see the guy. I see him clear as day through his windshield.

Both hands are on his steering wheel, he braces, and you can tell he's slamming on the brakes because his whole body goes backwards. Both my friends and I, we both yell, oh, shit! Grab on to the oh, shit handle. Grab on to the dashboard. Clench your teeth. All of your muscles are just locked shut.

You feel your heart bumping. You feel the adrenaline going through your veins. You taste it. There was no room to get back into our lane. If we went the other way, we would have hit a tree. My eyes clenched shut, waited for that inevitable crunching metal, glass everywhere, completely losing control, going over the edge, and it never came. What the hell happened? You give it a few minutes waiting to feel the pain open my eyes expecting my friend to be huffing and puffing and be like holy shit dude i can't believe we did that that's not what happened

i look over his arm is out the window we're in the normal lane, just driving along, and nothing. I look around. The car that we tried to pass wasn't there. The car that was coming at us that we were supposed to crash into wasn't there. It's almost like that entire series of events, that five seconds, just didn't happen. It was the same beautiful day, same stretch of road, as far as I could tell. We were in the same spot that we should have been going forward.

Every single thing was the exact same, except for the two cars that should have been there were not. Why aren't the cars there? Why aren't we dead? Why are you normal? You know, what's the first thing you ask? The confusion in my head kind of took over more than anything. I do not understand where all of these cars went. I don't understand how we didn't crash.

I didn't understand why my best friend didn't have any reaction to it. You get to a certain point to where you're past the point of asking what the hell happened. We were alive. Everything was good. And so I just let it go. Fast forward to five years ago. My best friend at the time, we ended up in the same town together for like the night we ended up going out to get some beers hang out and talk this has been on the back of my mind ever since it happened so that's kind of when i brought it up i was like hey remember that time your dad had the mazda miata and he gave us the keys and we went driving around he's like yeah yeah that was a good day do you remember when we came up in that car and we passed it and another car was right there and we almost hit it?

You could tell the memory flooded back in. His face went white. I could tell the fear of that moment came back to him. He's like, holy shit, yeah. He said, what happened? What happened right there I don't know I've been thinking of this for 20 years and I don't know I was hoping you would tell me what happened while my eyes were closed you obviously

saw it you avoided it I don't know how the crash didn't happen what happened to that other car he goes I don't know I don't know how we avoided that. Me neither. And that's kind of just where it went to die. I started hearing about these things called glitches in the matrix. There's a lot of people out there who have had very similar experiences such as this, where your position in time and space seems to come unstuck from here and go to a different one. And if you believe all of this stuff, we died in this wreck. We crashed into this car. It was a bloody mess.

Maybe a head went flying. Whatever happened, we died in that wreck. Our consciousness changed timelines into a timeline where we didn't die. That is how I'm continuing on with this timeline. timelines into a timeline where we didn't die. That is how I'm continuing on with this timeline. What's strange about that, just last year, he and his family came to visit me. I've told my wife this story numerous times, and I wanted him to relay his side of the story, like what he saw and why it was such a shock with him.

Suddenly, while we're all sitting around eating dinner and I'm wanting him to tell the story, he doesn't remember it. He doesn't even remember me bringing it up while we were out having beers a few years ago. He just has no recollection whatsoever of that. That's when I kind of had the idea that something really strange is afoot here. So I didn't pursue it anymore. I didn't ask him anymore. I knew he wouldn't remember it at that point. All things being true, he has also switched timelines. The guy that I had beer with and remembered the story no longer remembers it.

If this is all true, it kind of makes me a little sad. I have parents that I love. I have siblings. And if I change timelines, there is a timeline out there that is real that my parents lost their son. There's a timeline out there that my daughters, whom I love so much, don't exist. I'm just glad I'm in this particular timeline. I believe it was Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller.

He said it's so strange that people will experience knocks in the night or gusts of wind and their first conclusion that they jump to is, oh, ghosts. There's got to be a gazillion explanations for all the different things. I just personally cannot explain this one experience. It was so real and so vivid and it still remains so vivid in my memory. I considered it being a hallucination. Maybe I dreamed it, but that wouldn't explain away how my friend recalled it while we were out for beers that one night. He remembered it that night, and it really kind of blew his mind as well. To have two hallucinations that are related so well to come up a third time, and when suddenly he can't explain it, he doesn't remember any of that conversation.

He doesn't remember the car crash or anything like that. If it was a hallucination, it would have to be a very long-term, recurring, detailed hallucination. Whatever happened to us erased his memory, at least temporarily, and didn't erase mine. For me to bring it up and for his memory to flood back in and to see that fear of that moment on his face. And then for it to be wiped again. Why do I keep the memory and why does he not? I cannot explain it. Okay, well, wasn't that fun? Oh my God, I'm so cold.

I can't feel my nose. Malachi, is it there? My nose, is it still there? Do I still even have a nose? Or do I look like Voldemort? Okay, Malachi, you don't need to be so rude. Anyway, it's ad time. Maybe they'll be selling a Snuggie of some kind or some Uggs.

I'd really like some Uggs right about now. And some Uggs with hot coals in them and a hot water bottle. Oh, my soul for a match. My kingdom for a Snuggie. Get ready for Las Vegas-style action at BetMGM, the king of online casinos. Enjoy casino games at your fingertips with the same Vegas-drift excitement MGM is famous for when you play classics like MGM Grand Millions or popular games like Blackjack, Baccarat, and Roulette. Download the BetMGM casino app today.

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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. Radio Rental today. And do me a favor, if you will, please check in on us next week to make sure that we're all here and thoroughly thawed. Now, Malachi, come here. I'm going to drape you over my shoulders like a mink shawl. All right, group hug, everyone, except you, Susie. Go stand in the corner. Susie, go stand in the corner like the Blair Witch Project.

Radio Rental is created by Payne Lindsay and brought to you by Tenderfoot TV. Lead producer is Eric Quintana. Executive producers are Payne Lindsay and brought to you by Tenderfoot TV. Lead producer is Eric Quintana. Executive producers are Payne Lindsay and Donald Albright. Hosted by Rainn Wilson as his character, Terry Carnation. Written and produced by Meredith Stedman. Additional writing by Mark Lachlan. Supervising producer is Tracy Kaplan. Associate producer is Jaja Muhammad.

Editing by Eric Quintana, Mike Rooney, and Meredith Stedman. 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 Odyssey. I'm Shara. Thank you. 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.